#support club for Allison

[ninugh29]

Who do you think was Five’s favorite sibling?

I personally think it was either Klaus or Viktor but that’s just me 🙏

[the-upside-down-umbrella]

Partners? Partners.

Five Hargreeves x Fem!Reader

Summary: Y/N Hargreeves, formerly of the Sparrow Academy, finds herself virtually alone in the reset timeline. The Umbrella’s bring her in to their chaos and she builds something new for herself while still navigating the grief of losing her family. She’s happy in the simplicity. That is, until the one Hargreeves she can’t seem to win over comes to her with an offer she might not be able to refuse.

Warnings: Some cursing. Some angst.

(Part 1/?)

A/N: This one will be 4 or 5 parts. A bit of a coffee shop AU if you squint

——————

She missed her family. She missed them so desperately that sometimes when she dreamt of them at night, she would wake up in tears as the loneliness set in and she realized that her dreams were the only place she would see them again. They had been dysfunctional and as far as families go, not that close, but they had been hers. She would never understand how she had survived everything, how she had made it through the reset when the others did not. She technically had Ben but he had distanced himself not just from the Umbrella’s, but from her, as soon as they fell into this timeline. Now he was in prison for a white-collar bitcoin crime and he refused to have visitors altogether. She was well and truly the last of her family.

It got easier with time and she fell into a predictable, mundane routine. For the first time in her life, she was forced to slow down and be a normal human being. No powers. No Sparrow Academy. Just living and surviving.

She found an apartment with a roommate who mostly kept to themselves and a stable, if not a bit boring, job as a barista at a local coffee shop just a block from home. It wasn’t much and some months she was barely scraping by, but it was a start and she was happy.

The other Hargreeves children, the Umbrellas, brought her into the fold of their chaotic family and soon, she began to feel less alone.

She had brunch with Luther every Sunday at his club. They spent that time talking about Sloane, keeping her memory alive between them. She shared her childhood memories of her sister and Luther soaked it all in, grateful to receive any little piece of new information about his wife that he could get. She was thankful for that time with him and happy that someone loved Sloane the way she always deserved to be loved. Even if it was just for a moment.

Diego and Lila had her over for family game night at least once a month and she had coffee with Lila every week at the shop. Their children called her aunt and she made sure that they were properly spoiled, much to their parent's dismay.

She made the trek to Victor’s bar often in the evenings not just for the free drinks, but because he was actually wonderful company and he made sure to carve out time to sit and talk with her whenever he could take a break from running things. Like her, she suspected that he also felt a bit lonely.

Klaus and Allison came as a pair these days. Their dynamic was a sight to behold as Klaus navigated his newfound sobriety, and Allison pulled together a life doing what she loved, to support her daughter. She loved being around them.

But there was one particular family member that Y/N could not quite figure out.

Five.

Apart from their initial interaction at Sloane and Luther’s wedding where he had drunkenly accosted her about her powers, he had barely acknowledged her existence. While she was building relationships with his other siblings, he kept her at arm's length. Sure, he was cordial with her at family events and dinners, but that’s where he drew the line. He rebuffed every attempt she made at finding a connection with him.

That is until he started showing up every morning at the coffee shop she worked at. The same time every morning and the same, predictable order.

The first time he walked through the door she was taken aback. She knew he lived on the other side of town but she chalked it up to some work thing bringing him there.

He made his order, indulged her in small talk, and sat down, opening up a newspaper to read while he sipped his coffee.

She thought it was a one-off, but was very surprised when he turned up the next morning at the same time.

And then the morning after that and the morning after that.

He began conversing with her for longer periods of time, asking questions about her day-to-day life after the reset and even sharing some tidbits of information about himself. She knew he worked for the CIA and had recently moved into a new apartment.

A few weeks went by and each day was the same. It reached the point that she would have his coffee made and the donut he liked set aside before he even made it through the door.

But after a while, her curiosity began to get the better of her. Why was he here? Why was he suddenly showing interest in her and what she was doing with her life? It was making her crazy!

“Your black, boring coffee, sir,” Y/N said in the most sugary sweet voice she could muster, setting the cup down in front of the irritating man in front of her.

Five immediately picked it up and took a deep sip, “Fantastic as usual.”

She pulled the chair out across from him and sat down with a huff, “Cut the crap, Five. We both know you have much closer coffee shops to your apartment. Why, may I ask, do you insist on frequenting mine? Is it just to pester me?”

“Maybe I just like your company,” Five shrugged, leaning back to observe her.

This poked at her ire even more. He was always doing that. Just observing her like some sort of animal in an enclosure. Always there at his little table near the window. Rain or shine.

“Oh please!” She scoffed, “You’ve never given any indication that you even like me, let alone enjoy my company. In fact, until you started showing up here every day, I was pretty sure you hated me. So, again, cut the crap and tell me why you’re really here.”

“Fine,” he said, sitting his mug down so that he could give her his full, undivided attention, “I have a proposition for you.”

“This should be good.”

“My boss wants me to take on a partner,” he explained, “but the problem with that is that I don’t really trust…anyone really. But I’ve watched you these last few years, Y/N, and I know that you’re smart, analytical, and incredibly sharp. Your powers fine-tuned all of your senses and even if you don’t have them anymore, that’s still there. And that’s what I want in a partner.”

“Five, I’m not even trained to work for the CIA,” she reminded him, “I’m sure they’re not going to just let some random person join ranks without experience.”

“But you do have experience,” he insisted, “you’re a Sparrow. You’ve literally been trained since birth to be a fighter, a spy, or whatever else Dad needed us to be.”

“Need I remind you that neither the sparrows nor the umbrellas existed in this timeline? So none of that is going to mean jack shit to anyone.”

“It will if I forge a few documents,” he said, leaning forward so that he could get a clear look at her, “How do you think I got this far looking this young? I’ll do the same for you and everyone will think you’re an FBI transfer. They’ll be none the wiser. Trust me, not everyone high up is as smart as they’d like to think they are.”

She doubted anyone was that stupid.

“Five, this might come as a surprise to you, but I actually really like my life here,” she told him, “it’s peaceful and easy and I don’t really need any more than that. After so long of fighting and striving for perfection for the Sparrows, I’m ready to just settle down and live slowly. So, thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”

“You say that,” he chuckled, “you say that you want peace and quiet but I know that’s just something you tell yourself. Because I’ve told myself the same thing and it didn’t suit me. But let’s face it, you’re as unhinged as me. You NEED the chaos. You thrive on it.”

“You’re really not doing yourself any favors here, Five,” she hissed. “Besides, why me? Why haven’t you asked Diego? Hasn’t he been bugging you about bringing in his resume? Make him your partner.”

“Diego and Lila have enough going on in their lives,” he waved her off, “And Diego is a skilled fighter but he lacks in the brains department. Trust me.”

With that final statement, Five stood up and pushed in his chair before downing the last dredges of his coffee, “Just think about it, okay? And until then, I’ll be here every day, as usual. No one makes a cup of coffee quite like you.”

With a wink he left her sitting at the table alone, wondering why on earth she was actually considering his offer.

[worldgreatestarchersimp]

Dating the Hargreeves would include

Navigation | Umbrella Academy Masterlist

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

The Hargreeves x gn!reader

Lila Pitts x gn!reader

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Gifs are not mine

English is not my first language

A/n: Guess it looks like I´m starting to write again. So my requests are open again. But trought my time and school schedule it could take some time, because I´m also having big exams comming.

Luther Hargreeves

You love hearing stories about his life on the moon. He mostly thinks that his stories are boring but you assure him that you like them.

Since he lived on the moon you are his first everything. maybe not his first love Like in everything. First kiss, first time, ... Because of that felt insecure. He tought you would leave him because of this.

He was also scared how you´d react of his condition. He kept it a secret until Diego told him to tell you.

You were shocked at first but you didn´t mind one more reason to hate his dad

He´s the biggest softy and very protective over you.

He alwyas takes you out to cute picnics.

Diego Hargreeves

Let´s say he has type: badass people

You both meet in the box club.

He teaches how to throw knives

You both are gym rats. And always competion each other.

He´s trying so hard to be the ´Alpha-Male´ but fails miserably.

You and him annoying the rest of the family with prankwars

He´s a big cocky wannabe who shamelessly flirts with anytime and everywhere.

His love language is physical touch. He´s a big sucker for cuddling and doesn´t if he is big or little spoon rigth now.

You are saving him from from stupid actions and descision he might would do.

Allison Hargreeves

Fighting with her together against rasicm (it does not matter if you´re black or white or idk)

Raising Claire together. Spoiler alert she absolut loves you.

Being always on your side. We are not supporting S3 Allison inthis household

Finding Luther weird. Not for his condition. but for hid behaviour towards your girlfriend.

Finding her power extrem cool. But after hearing that faked her whole life with her power, the first big fight began. She assured you she wouldn´t do that to you and only did it to het ex because she tought she was a failure.

You wanted to believe her but you were scared that you were also in her curse or whatever it got called.

It was suprisly Luther who brought you two back together.

Klaus Hargreeves

Spontaneous roadtrips somewhere in the world.

You are the only person who knows he´s non-binary.

You both are the funny duo everyone is annoyed of. Like recreating memes at midnight or laughing always by just looking at each other.

You´re taking his drug problemn serious and helping him to sober up.

You are his second and hopefully last love.

Going shopping and catwalking the new clothes all over the hous just to annoy his family more. The only one who seem to enjoy it is ghostie Benerino.

He tells you at random momtents how much he loves you.

Viktor Hargreeves

He had massive trust issuses at first thanks to that bitch

To his birthday you bought him a violin, so could find peace in his playing again. But he got lowkey scared to end the world again. But he tried it anyways one night. When you heard him playing it was so beautiful. Since then he plays every night for you.

You comfort him after his nightmares.

Teaching him some self-defense.

Growing from hating Luther to liking loving him. And starting to hate Allison.

He teaches you how to play violin.

You are always reading to him, because he likes your voice and it comforts him but this little bean sleps always in

Lila Pitts

SARCASM

Your realationship is full of sarcastic comments. What confussed the Hargreeves and other people.

You are the only one she trusts after hearing, that her ´mother´ killed her parenets.

You two meet, because you were her mission, but she fell for you. So your realationship started with trust issues.

Suprisly it was Five who got you both together and played wingman.

She´s very cocky, but so are you. One thing she loves about you.

Teaming together upwith Five, because he´s the only one who´s not a man-child, acording to you.

She´s saving you from stupid actions and descision you might would do.

[blue-lollipops-and-ice-clouds]

Sleep Token's "The 100 Songs That Changed Our World" Article.

(Source - photos courtesy the lovely jawsofeden)

Transcript:

100 - Sleep Token

The Summoning

(Take Me Back To Eden, 2023)

The meteoric rise of Sleep Token caught us all by surprise. At the start of 2023, the mysterious masked band were one of the metal underground's buzziest names. Led by enigmatic vocalist Vessel, they were a band to watch, for sure, but firmly attracted the niche passion of a cult following.

Then came the song that would change everything. On consecutive days in early January, the band released two singles from their third album, Take Me Back To Eden: the burning, crashing Chokehold, followed by The Summoning - and it was the latter track that would turn them into an Earth-conquering, expectation-shattering phenomenon.

Veering between depraved tech metal, soulful vocals and shimmering electronics, an enormous, hymnal chorus gave way to an Earth-shifting breakdown and screams. Intricate and groove heavy, The Surmoning was more like three songs seamlessly crafted into one genre-fluid modern masterpiece. And it still had its trump card to play: a bendy, thirst-trap, funk outro that went viral on TikTok, turning the internet intoalusty Take1 puddle. Suddenly, Sleep Token were the most talked-about band on the planet.

"THERE ARE HINTS OF EARLY SLIPKNOT THERE."

COREY TAYLOR

"It took me three listens of [The Sumroning] to realise that when they do that whole psychedelic section at the end, that it's actually the same chorus as it was before, only in a completely different way," Evanescence's Amy Lee told Revolver. "And I love it even more that. I thought they just went a whole new direction and wrote a new part, and then I was like, 'Wait, that's the same...but not at all'."

Sleep Token weren't the most obvious choice for a commercial breakthrough. The success of The Summoning, an unconventional, seven-minute, brutal shapeshifter, bucks just about every music industry trend there is.

"It's going to a lot of different places, and I think there isn't any other band out there right now that's able to do that," Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford said earlier this year.

The Summoning set a chain reaction in motion that was unprecedented in modern metal. In just a few weeks, the band saw their Spotify figures jump from the thousands into the millions. To date, the track has been streamed more than 123 million times on Spotify and 19 million on YouTube. On release, Take Me Back To Eden went straight in at No.3 in the UK and was the most streamed metal album of 2023. When the band announced a show at Wembley Arena, tickets sold out in 10 minutes.

Earlier this year, they left the metal-heavy roster of Spinefarm Records for RCA, the home of mainstream megastars Justin Timberlake and rapper Doja Cat.

"In heavy music, or even in just rock, even in the last decade or 15 years, there's so few stories of bands ever breaking through," says Health bassist and producer, John Famiglietti, who supported the band at Wembley and sees Sleep Token's success as proof metal still can resonate on a massive scale. "This is one of the few times I've seen a band go from a fucking club to an arena in six months. And I don't know the last time that happened."

It's worth pointing out that in the social media era where celebrities and artists are more accessible than ever, Sleep Token have achieved all of this on their own terms. To date, they've barely done any press, while their masked mystique is all part of the allure. Last year, fans reacted with outrage when bassist III's identity and birth certificate were allegedly leaked online, seemingly leading to a decision to wipe the band's Instagram.

"There are hints of early Slipknot there," Knot vocalist Corey Taylor told The Allison Hagendorf Show in 2023, thinking back to the early internet days before Slipknot removed their masks. "At first, we were like, 'Nope. You get nothing. This is what you get, you figure it out. We'll let the music speak for ourselves.

Today, Sleep Token are being mentioned in the same breath as potential future Download headliners Ghost, Gojira, and Architects. The only difference? Sleep Token have managed to ascend to the same level as those bands in a fraction of the time. Metal needs new superstars who will push things forward, innovate and keep the scene relevant - and with Sleep Token we have a band we can believe in. DL

[5five5five5five5five5five]

please old man/bookclub five headcanons, I loved ur last post about him!

hope you're feeling okay :]

Gasp!

I'm going to assume normal bookclub bc idk what s4 "bookclub" is. But I can totally ramble off about him in a casual club for books.

*he reads the books too fast and gets more peeved at the others who end up going very very slow. If someone doesn't finish a book, he admittly makes a comment "why are you in a book club if you can't finish a book is beyond me but-" old man shrug. It's not a fight worth having, he's just being a dick.

* brings the members strawberries and other fresh produce when he can. He likes showing off the stuff he grows and brings snacks.

*gets REALLY into the books. It's like he gets a micro fandom to be in every month. He reads it though like 3 times and then listens to the audio book once. Looks up if there's anything else. Maybe even discovers fanfiction...but he tries not to get that desperate.....he's read a few for particularly addictive books.

*has given a huge ramble about how the Great Gatsby would have been better and a lot of stuff settled if Gatsby and caraway kissed. He does it so casually too like he's not trying to make a progressive point or spark bigger queer discussion. He just genuinely thinks that's the answer to the book. More man kissing.

* speaking of, the more queer books they end up reading, the more he questions his everything. He probably has gone up to Viktor about stuff in these books and try to weasel out a "no it's not like that. Your totally a normal cishet man five." but neh it's ALWAYS "yeah that seems very realistic to the queer existence. Why so curious?" And he ends up not being able to admit he connects with said books. Viktor knows but he's not going to hound his brother any time soon. Five knows once he leaves the closet,there's people waiting to be supportive.

*the old ladies there can't stop babying him. He tries very hard to be as old man and as mature as he can but they don't listen and pinch his cheeks and pat his head. He is trying to do less sudden grandma wrist breaking to he takes it for the most part. They can be wrong. He will keep doing what he does. And he hates to admit the attention from women in his age range is nice. Sad he can't make any moves.

* for the holidays the bookclub goes caroling. Five isn't a fan but tags along. They most likely end up at one of his siblings houses and he gets cold feet. They can't see him in a dorky sweater and singing. Last Christmas he threw a fit about sweaters. But if he doesn't move, the club will leave him in the snow. Ruthless old farts.

Allison answers the door. Around 5 old people, 4 local parents and......five??? They stare daggers at eachother as five poorly sings oh holy night with the group. Then leaves. The other members noticed the tension but didn't want to say much.

*Lila tried to join once to get 'in' with the parents that are involved but was so booooored. "Five, no one should be having this much fun talking this much about a book. Period. Im almost concerned that you have finally gone senial."

*if five didn't like a book, he makes a PowerPoint on why and how. He is very detailed in his opinions. He wishes the others would do the same but no body can match his freak.

*he brings mr. Pennycrumb with him bc service dog and everyone there loves him.

* I think everyone assumes five is just a very lonely mentally or physically ill young man and try there best to be nice. He isn't fond of there borderline pity but he enjoys there company none the less.

* Diana from the PTA makes the best lemon cookies. Five eats more than he should.

*on top of book club, they like to take outings together to walk around and see the community. Do easy elderly friendly geocashes and eat at local cafes. Five likes when they go to the library because then they can snoop around for more books.

I hope you like these :3

[phoenix-manga]

Evonie Apfel

CV: Hikasa Yoko

Biographical Information

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Birthday: March 6

Starsign: Pisces

Height: 175 cm

Eye Color: Forest green

Hair Color: Black

Professional Status

Dorm: Pommeneige

School Year: 3rd Year

Class: 3-B | Student no. 3

Occupation: Student | Dorm Leader

Club: Theater Club

Best Subject: General Magic

Fun Facts

Favorite Food: Apple Dumplings

Least Favorite Food: Brussel Sprouts

Dislikes: Handling Highness’ tantrums and poachers

Hobby: Singing rock songs and fencing

Talents: Fast Reflexes

Idol Stats

Performance: Flexible range of vocals depending on the genre

Choreography: Quick to adjust to different choreography styles

Styling Jewel Outfits: Elegant | Gothic | Cool

Evonie doesn’t mind if she gets a bit dirty when accomplishing a task but she makes sure that she still looks presentable and cleans up to maintain her image as a dorm leader.

She is decently sociable but it is clear that there is a wall she puts up. If she is with people she can be vulnerable around, she doesn’t hold back on what her opinion is to an extent. Those close to her know that she will support her friends throughout their issues.

She has a mild level of patience; she can tolerate small mistakes but if the mistakes keep repeating then she might have to consult the person to see if there is anything wrong.

But if it is anything like Allison does, she definitely won’t tolerate that will sternly reprimand them. Her patience reaching its limit is rather rare, but when it happens then expect yelling and spells being thrown about.

Evonie is good at multitasking, she can hold a full conversation even if she is not looking at what she is doing to face the person she is speaking to. It’s something she developed at home.

She is very competitive, it is something she developed with her dads, and she loved the feeling of being victorious. So, if she ever loses, she is determined to come up with ways to win next time. It may get irritating to lose but she is a good sport, unless she finds out the opponent is cheating, then she won’t tolerate that.

Although she is aware of people and their behavior, she doesn’t always have an accurate conclusion of what the person would do and she would be a bit suspicious but without any concrete evidence she will drop her assumptions and leave it alone.

She makes sure she has proper table manners when eating, but if she is in private, she will slouch and eat to her own standards of comfort, she still keeps in mind of any crumbs that might fall.

Like Snow White, she has a fear of anything scary. She dislikes going to dark places by herself and if she sees something out of the corner of her eye then she will turn her head so fast to make sure nothing was there. She loses her composure and will activate fight or flight mode on instinct.

Hometown: Town of Orchard Fields

Family Life

Evonie was adopted by Rote and Schnee Apfel who became her parental figures. Her birthmother gave birth to her but knows that her illness will be detrimental for Evonie’s future. She contacts the Apfel couple who were acquaintances of hers and asked them to adopt Evonie.

The couple agrees and they raised Evonie in the Town of Orchard Fields. The house is built near a border with a large forest with a lot of wildlife and plants, it’s like a big backyard for her to explore.

Rote was the closest acquaintance of Evonie’s birthmother and it was he who made the decision to adopt the girl. Schnee teases him how during the first few years of raising a baby he went overboard in baby-proofing the house that they had so many pillows and Styrofoam than they know what to do with.

Evonie grew up as a polite girl, though she always had this curiosity to anything she thought might be a cute animal. Schnee made sure to teach her about the safety precautions when approaching a wild animal after he saw his daughter come home with a boar.

Though he doesn’t cook as much as Rote, he does know one recipe that he always taught Evonie, it was apple desserts that were pulled from his great grandmother’s cookbook. He’s kept that cookbook with him and hopes to one day pass it down to Evonie. Evonie’s favorite is the apple dumplings made by Schnee, she can’t get enough of it.

Childhood Memories

At first, Evonie was enjoying her time at school because everyone was very friendly to her. Of course, she is kind to them back to the point where she didn’t want to disappoint them. Until she found the outcast kid that the kids make fun of because of their appearance.

Evonie builds up courage to defend them and befriend the outcast. Which she thought was the right thing to do, at first, the outcast and Evonie got along and they were grateful for their help.

It wasn’t until the other kids cornered them and told the outcast how Evonie was just being nice because they were pitiful and how dare they think they’re equal to Evonie. This made them bitter and slowly drift apart from Evonie who had no clue what was going on.

When she heard news of her friend moving away, she wanted to say goodbye but when she managed to face them, the outcast hurled blame at her for their suffering. Telling her how she has it easy because she’ pretty and she thinks she’s so great but she was arrogant.

Evonie was silent but tears were flowing down her face, both of their parents heard the commotion and awkwardly bid farewell, they didn’t know what was wrong because they thought they got along well.

After that friend left, Evonie took what they said to heart and soon she started to realize how people kept complimenting her appearance instead of her skills. The people who admired her didn’t care about her at all, they just wanted to feel like they’re the popular clique by including Evonie. The ones who didn’t made it clear that they think she’s got it easy because of her looks.

This led Evonie to change her perspective, she didn’t wear pretty dresses unless it was necessary but she kept it simple and didn’t go all out. She didn’t socialize as much with people and often spent her days helping out at home or exploring the forest.

She preferred the company of animals more than people, knowing they care more about her compassion rather than her appearance.

The words of her ex-friend still linger her to this day, she would internally get annoyed whenever someone says she’s better suited for something else or disregards her effort.

Evonie is a 3rd Year Pommeneige student and is the current dorm leader.

Evonie is a model student, always makes sure to be efficient and ensure her dorm students wouldn’t fall behind by offering to help them in their studies to the best of her abilities. When she takes a break, it would be either a walk through the woods or just snacking on anything she craves.

The dorm students at first were unsure of s dorm leader who doesn’t quite portray the innocence of the Princess of the Dwarves, but they find her diligence and mature aura appealing and sometimes compares her to a prince. They nicknamed her the “Apple Knight”.

Evonie excels more when it comes to sports, especially fencing. Her Papa taught her and often sparred with her when he has time. Cooking is also another strong point in her education besides general subjects.

Regarding magic, she is more combat focused and often likes to physically incorporate spells with her movement like swinging a sword.

She thought that most students in DCA would be like the ones back home, only caring about appearances but she finds out that there are a lot of different girls here. She feels at ease to know that she can at least lift the weight on her shoulders.

Somewhere down the line, she developed this second persona to fully explore her wild side. Evonie wanted to feel free without having to think twice about her image. So, she set up a persona to really let herself go.

She showed up as a mystery idol once and it all developed from there. People have called her persona “The Masked Maiden” and she takes great measure to make sure no one can figure out her identity. So much so that she joined the theater club to improve her façade.

Evonie’s grades are fairly high, though she enjoys PE more because their coach has thrilling obstacle courses that really spark her motivation. Evonie is most skilled at fencing compared to the rest of the exercises.

School Relationships

Evonie is more drawn to befriend girls who can light up the competitive fire in her as well as genuinely enjoying her company. Vidya and Jinlong became her rivals due to their athleticism and how they always do things their way. Evonie admires them for wanting to be true to themselves so she follows their example.

Ella is another close friend of Evonie, though she barely remembers meeting Ella. Ella remembers Evonie as the Glaciel family went to Orchard Fields for a vacation and she remembers this pretty girl with dark hair who was nice enough to show her around the stalls and offer her some apple tarts. Though Ella seems like someone Evonie wouldn’t befriend at first, the girl’s kindness won her over.

They got even closer when Ella confided about her previous stepmother who left scars on her, mentally and physically. Evonie has not experienced that kind of abuse but she understands when Ella worries about appearance and wanting to hide what bothered them. She tends to shield Ella from anything bothering her out of habit.

Allison was a pain in the neck for Evonie, she can’t find common ground with the girl at all! She can somewhat understand not wanting to do etiquette but it’s still a class requirement. Evonie thinks she’s too reckless while Allison thinks Evonie is too hung up on maintaining an image. The only time those two can agree on something is through cooking, thought that ends quickly when Allison slips any raw fruit other than apples into her mouth.

Perrine and Evonie often share recipes and both found a common ground in sharing family traditions learned from past generations. Though Evonie can’t decide whether to be impressed or revolted when Perrine makes that weird food combination and eats it like it was 5 star.

Evonie’s relationship with Applette, her dorm fairy, is akin to her seeking comfort in the little creature. Applette’s form is derived from Evonie’s desire to feel genuine connections with other people. Applette is always sweet and kind, a contrast with Evonie’s cool and somewhat stern personality.

The fairy is there to be sympathetic as well as paint Evonie as a reliable sister figure to the dorm students.

Highness

Highness is a purple peacock that was given to Evonie when Schnee found an abandoned egg in the forest but there was no parent to be found. Highness was rather clingy as a chick, always looking for Evonie and crying whenever she went to school.

But Evonie still can’t understand how his attitude changed when he grew up, she guessed it might have been puberty that made him this way. She remembered using up all her saved money to buy him all those pricey bird products… it was definitely when she put too much effort into his care that he became this way.

Highness is arrogant and would stomp on anyone that he doesn’t deem worthy to get close to his personal space. Not even Evonie was spared but he does it less often when the threat of being sent to the vet was used.

Highness has his own personal trunk full of jewelry that he has Evonie dress him with, she doesn’t tell him that they’re mostly made from glass by Ella. There was no way that Evonie could afford such expensive jewelry so imitations are good enough as long as he doesn’t know.

Her unique magic is called, “Friends of the Forest”. The unique magic developed when Evonie felt awful after the confrontation with the ex-friend that she made the mistake of running into the forest during a rainstorm. She ended up crying under a hollow log from how hurt and scared she was.

Remembering the lullaby her dad often sang to her when she was scared, she quietly hummed the song unaware that the animals in the forest gathered around to comfort her. She was shocked at first to see so many animals around her but they brought her the comfort she needed until her parents found her.

Evonie often did this in private because it felt like her sanctuary if she ever gets stressed. She’s developed a soft spot for animals, Highness is a complicated case though.

She also excels in using fire magic due to her living in the woods and her family often having to camp out on special occasions. She can also use this offensively during matches by either setting projectiles or a dome trap.

Rote Apfel

Rote Apfel is called, “Dad” by Evonie and he has red hair and a large build that may seem intimidating but he is actually quite sweet and efficient in several handiwork around the household. Rote is only muscular because he did a lot of errands before which included chopping wood and heavy lifting.

He runs an animal sanctuary that cares for injured or abandoned animals. Quite a few of them have been adopted as family pets so it is expected to find a few animals lounging in their household.

Rote can’t help himself, all of the animals seem so cute to him, and he wished he had a bigger house to adopt them all. Schnee had to remind him that there is a limit to how many animals they can keep in the house.

Rote taught Evonie a lot of life hacks and tips on easy fixes on problems that usually need professionals to fix.

He is such a protective papa bear and often times his pouting face looks so intimidating without even meaning to. He is the empath that contrasts with Schnee’s parenting style.

Schnee Apfel

Schnee Apfel is called, “Papa” by Evonie and he has white hair and a slim build but he is very athletic with good reflexes. At first glance, he doesn’t seem intimidating due to his beautiful face but the moment he gets angry is when he becomes terrifying.

It comes with his job as a park ranger, he works in the town’s tourist park. There are times when he was called to handle a rampaging animal that might harm people nearby. But there are also entitled bastards or people with barely a brain cell who get themselves into trouble at the park.

Schnee doesn’t tolerate any nonsense in the park and is often called to handle the problematic visitors.

Schnee was the strict parent but he doesn’t go overboard in discipline. Most of the punishments when Evonie did something wrong was just household chores while he explains to her why it was wrong. He makes sure to properly teach her without being too harsh as he knows that children will be children.

He is the tough love kind of father which contrasts Rote’s parenting style.

Character’s name derives from “Ebony” with a few letter changes while her last name, “Apfel” is the German word for Apple.

Evonie can’t eat any other fruit raw besides apples, it’s still a mystery to her as to why. They’re fine when it comes to desserts or even jam but the raw product never fails to make her dislike it.

Despite her confidence, she actually can’t stand anything related to horror. She will shriek and hide away.

Her early concept was supposed to be a more confident and badass, Snow White. Her first two designs looked too similar to Weiss Schnee from RWBY, so she was redesigned.

[ninyard]

since I love the way you write about kevandreil/jerejean I'm here to ask you the hc things for either Dan or Allison.

Just because I know you're powerful when you write yk <3

thank you!! (obviously only if you want and you're still doing it)

oh ALLISON my lover my darling. i am constrained by the prompts of these hcs but allison is my wife. my darling. my muse. id die for her.

realistic headcanon: allison has a really low tolerance for how much she can take people talking about or doing drugs in front of her. since seth's death, she gets triggered really easily when drugs are mentioned around her. she is terrified of other people overdosing in front of her/not noticing that somebody is overdosing. if she's at a party and knows somebody is on coke or MDMA it drives her crazy because she will obsessively watch them all night to make sure they're okay, or she'll give herself really bad anxiety when she can't find them thinking that they've overdosed. (she gets really into harm reduction and stuff once she's left college and maybe works with college athletes to keep them safe if/when they're doing drugs)

may not be realistic it is hilarious: she had a notes app note in her phone of evidence to support her case that andrew and neil were a thing before it'd been proven. she knew from the moment of the kathy ferdinand show that something was up and she started documenting it all like

day/month: neil went out clubbing with the monsters for a second time. willingly.

day/month: neil stared at andrew again today. for way too long btw.

day/month: andrew looked like he wanted to kill neil today. but like. endearingly?

it's really long and Dan thinks she's literally insane until she reads it all and goes okay...maybe i see where you're coming from now...

heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends: allison noticed kevins weird relationship with food INSTANTLY. she confronts him about it after a while because it was really starting to bother her, he tells her she's seeing things, and so she goes to andrew about it because she's freaked herself out that kevin is going to pass out during a game or something, andrew obviously laughs at her and tells her to fuck off, but after a while of just watching she talks to him about it again. for some reason he decides to explain the truth to her, and she understands that it's not really a body image issue for him, but a bad habit he's kept from the nest. she tells him about the dietician she's worked with, and they get to know each other a bit better, and even though they """hate""" each other, they actually get along pretty well. they understand each other in a weird way. i think they're way more alike than they think tbh!!!

unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own: allison and kevin? they fuck. if they're drunk n horny they'll 100% hook up with each other. maybe they quietly hooked up in the cabins too. they'd never date but they're 1000000% each other's #1 booty call.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

With one of my favourite modern celebrations coming up next week, Galentines, I wanted to recommend some books about friendship and empowerment that I have loved.

Alexa start playing Perfect Night by Le Sserafim*, it's time to recommend some books!

(*or any other empowering anthem you know of)

Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships that changed history by Sam Maggs - a graphic novel that explores different famous friendships in history, this book is a fantastic read that delivers everything you ever wanted to know by so many women in history. Spanning the arts, activism and science and diverse, this is definitely perfect for Galentines.

Empress & Aniya by Candice Carty-Williams - a YA short read that sometimes stretches your disbelief to breaking point but charming nonetheless, this book is definitely about friendship and being there for your friends when they are going through terrible situations. If you have Audible you can listen to this book for free as part of their plus catalogue, I'd recommend you do if you want a charming cosy read for a couple of hours.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - I mean, they are sisters I guess, but they are supportive of one another and that's what friendship is, like a good bra, supportive. The story of the March sisters and their lives, my favourite is Jo but I think anyone can relate to all of these women as they grow up, get married and live their lives. A very accessible classic with some beautiful editions, it's a must have for your bookshelf.

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades - A poetically book about young brown women growing up in Brooklyn, New York, Brown Girls is a fantastic read as this group of friends come of age in a city that never stops and has a look into the inequalities these young women face as they find their space in their world.

The Strange Case Of The Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss - The story of The Athena Club, who are all daughters of fictional villains, be that Doctor Jekyll or Van Helsing later on in this series, this book is extraordinary fantasy and a fantastic book on a group of friends brought together in strange circumstances, plus a dash of Sherlock Holmes, literally.

Giant Days by John Allison - This comic covers the years of three girls as they figure who they are at university, be that Susan, Daisy or Esther, these girls are some of my still favourite characters and all of them have their relateable moments to laugh, cry or cringe at. One of my favourite graphic novel series, these three are some of my favourite friendships in ficition.

What would you recommend? I'd love to hear what books you love!

Hope you have a wonderful Galentines!

Vee xo

[cactusspatz]

pre-reveals YT recs

I hardly ever manage to do these before reveals, but I love the anonymous aspect of Yuletide, so I made an effort! Two prior recs here for Goblin Emperor and Nine Worlds, and these are in alphabetical order by fandom:

(Batman: WFA) It Takes a Village

Roy and Jason are pining from afar. Romantic strategery isn't Dick's forte. As per normal, it's a good thing the women are around.

Very cute WFA romcom. I especially enjoyed Lois's contribution.

(Breakfast Club) Mirror Mirror

In which Allison and Claire trade makeovers. Adorable!

(Biggles) In Step

Biggles and von Stalhein are taken prisoner together. Worse: they're handcuffed together.

Chock full of tropes: best enemies! handcuffed together! daring escape! adrenaline fueled sex! pining! Happy Yuletide to me!

(Jeeves & Wooster) Supporting Partner's Suit

Never let it be said that Bertie Wooster will abandon a pal in need, even if that pal is a woman who is temporarily in possession of his body and he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.

In which Bertie bodyswaps with Honoria Glossop for maximum hilarity and inadvertent lesbian yentaing.

(Knives Out) the most riveting intermission

“Rough day, eh?” Phillip asked. “Confounding. Absolutely confounding,” was how the man chose to answer. “The crux of the matter seems most certainly to be banquet, and yet not a hint of malice was cooked into any of the dishes. No poison in the duck, nothing slipped in the wine. For the life of me, I can’t parse it out.” Phillip stared at him for a moment, before throwing out another handful of rice to the ducks. “I’m sorry, what?”

Adorkable first meeting.

(Princess Tutu) To Dream Upon Paper and Silk

While cleaning the practice rooms at the end of the day, Ahiru comes upon Rue preparing her pointe shoes for the week to come.

Vivid and wistful missing scene. Canon levels of pre-friendship - er, pining for friendship?

(Temeraire) Intercession

During the ragged flight from Istanbul, Granby and an injured Tharkay reach an understanding.

Lovely character piece.

[lgbt-cishet-movie-tournament]

The loser is either too queer to be a cishet movie or too cishet to be queer...

How is it cishet media?

TBC: features 2 primary cishet romances (claire/bender, allison/andy)

9t5: Everyone here cishet and the main women have or had a husband at some point.

How is it lgbt?

TBC: the entire movie is about learning how to not conform to strict roles that society has assigned to u, which feels like an inherently very queer theme to me. allison especially is deeply gnc. also brian screams transgender

9t5 Dolly Parton smokes a blunt with her girl best friends at a bar. And support each other in the workplace.

[morganwrites12672]

I was hoping maybe a gareth x reader where the reader is closer to an artistic Allison from the breakfast club type and they end up running into eachtoher after a drug deal with eddie and becoming close friends into lovers and gareth is protective of reader when she trips on the walk back to the school? Thank you so much I absolutely love your writing!

Ofc! Thx for answering my question!

Gareth Emerson x Reader

'Youre cute when you're flustered'

You had met Eddie Munson in detention. He was a pretty cool guy, and you both had similar style and reputations.

This was how you had met Gareth Emerson.

You were walking through the woods to find that picnic table, you were almost out of weed. It was a very convenient spot. Far enough away the jocks would never find you, but close enough that you could there and back on your lunch, or free period.

He cute, you don't think anyone could deny that, he was really cute.

"Wow, I'm not that special," you joked and Eddie, of course, did a dramatic flay of his hands.

"This isn't what it looks like," he insists and you play a long. Gareth standa there looking shocked.

"You're cheating on me?" You demand and Eddie stifles a laugh. Gareth looks confused, very confused.

"No, I'm not Gareth tell her," Eddie insists. Gareth is to stunned to speak. You and Eddie break down laughing and Gareth let's out a nervous chuckle.

"I think we've given him enough hell," you say and Eddie gives a slight pout. Gareth smiles at you. Damn, he is cute.

"I'm yn," you say and plop down at the table and slide Eddie some cash. Gareth stutters for a moment before speaking.

"Gareth, Gareth Emerson," he says. You grab your weed from Eddie and get up.

"So, eds, you ditching today?" You ask and Eddie looks like he is debating the answer. He replays a yes and you decide to walk back with Gareth, some of you still had to keep decent grades.

"How do you know Eddie?" Gareth asks. He hadn't seen you before, you looked like the type to be eddies secret girlfriend or something. He hoped not, you were cute. Very cute.

"He's, uh been my dealer for a while. I met him in middle school, we were the two most targeted outcasts, the only difference is if you don't provoke the jocks they leave you alone," you pause," Mostly," you say with a wink before jogging a little.

Gareth walks faster to catch up with you, "What do you mean?" He asks. Damn he was cute when confused.

"I may have provoked them, with minimal contact," you say and Gareth groans he want the answer, "Fine. I do stupid shit, I dyed the jerseys pink one year, or the time I hid Jason's stupid lucky shoes," you say and Gareth gasps.

"You are the one who dyed all of the uniforms? and the game where Jason couldn't find his shoes, you know they lost the game," Gareth says. Sure, you seemed a lot like Eddie, but less targety.

"You're cute when you're flustered," you say and Gareth blushes slightly.

"Um, so are you and Eddie dating?" Gareth asks.

"No, why do you want to take me out?" You joke and Gareth blushes and stutters a no.

"Shit," you mutter as you stumble over a lose tree root. Gareth quickly helps you up and looks super concerned.

"Shit, shit, are you okay?" He asks and you shrug as you stand up and brush off your pants.

"Mentally or physically?" You ask and Gareth lauhgs. HE IS SO GODDAMN CUTE. You couldn't help it, his curly brown hair, and those freckles.

"Maybe we could hang out tonight? I have a new Dio record at my place," you suggest. God, if he said no you would be humiliated.

"Sure," he says to fast and scolds himself. He was being a idiot.

"I know I've said this, but you're cute when you're flustered," you say with a laugh and he gives a slight chuckle.

From meeting him at a drug deal with your friend, Eddie, to going to listen to Dio together.

______________________________________________

Loved this idea!

Requests are open, my pinned post has my full list of characters I write for!

If you liked this fic, please help support me and reblog!

[cgsf]

Teen Wolf fanfiction recs — Stiles/Danny

••••••

"How Stiles Stilinski Blocked His Own Shot (To Make-Out)" (T) by salvadore | 7,036 | Danny and Stiles played at marriage as kids, but it didn't end well. Stiles has the chance to make it right. Maybe.

"A Fever Moon" (E) by morphosyntactic | 4,649 | Danny has only ever been human, and he’s pretty sure there’s meant to be some kind of rule, an unwritten moral code of the gay scene: you are not obligated to be every straight boy’s experiment, you should leave them to work through their confusion alone. The thing is, though, Danny is one of just two guys who are out and proud in the whole school. Beacon Hills is a small town.

"The Stilinski Magic" (T) by kim47 | 921 | Stiles kisses Danny. Danny is somewhat confused by this.

"This Is Going To Be A Three 'Dude' Conversation" (M) by Dusk | 1,856 | "Dude," Jackson said, and Danny stopped what he was doing, because when Jackson started sentences with 'dude', he was either about to share something deeply personal or about to try and get them expelled for excessive pussy jokes, and Danny had problems with both of those options.

"Virgin State of Mind" (E) by recrudescence | 3,395 | Stiles needs to get laid or risk becoming the next virgin sacrifice. Fortunately, Danny is an altruistic kind of guy.

"Four Times Danny and Stiles Hooked Up, and One Time They Didn't" (E) by Chash | 1,056 | They're kind of friends at this point--Danny is, according to Stiles, the only other regular human in their group. Allison doesn't count because she's trained in combat, and Lydia apparently has magical immunity or something. So yeah, Stiles thinks this means he and Danny should be BFFs.

"At the Edges" (M) by anonymous | 93,895 | Jackson still won’t meet his eyes. “Do you want to know what’s going on?” he asks, finally, and Danny, even though he has had half a year to decide whether he wants the truth, even though he has been thinking about this since Scott McCall made first line, since that weird night in the club, since the boy he’d been crushing on disappeared, since a fuck-ton of death got shoved into a few short months, since Jackson died but actually didn’t, since Stiles came to school with his face black and blue and Lydia had stood in the middle of a hallway and catcalled at him, and Stiles had laughed—not blushed, not flailed, but laughed—since the whole school turned on its head, Danny has been deciding whether he wants to know.

"Next Thursday" (T) by wldnst | 18,210 | In which Stiles Stilinski has a werewolf for a best friend, a support group for that, hot chocolate with Lydia Martin and Danny Mahealani every Thursday evening, and an extremely anticlimactic coming out experience.

"You Taste Like Glitter" (T) by dizzzylu | 4,247 | There was a time in Danny's life when he'd have sworn he had better things to do than sit in a club and check out the latest guy his ex is trying to hook up with. That is not the case tonight.

"Buoyancy" (M) by ethrosdemonforreal | 14,548 | Danny crushes on people he shouldn’t. He figures everyone does. The awkwardness is universal. He can usually play it cool because he’s had so much practice. Usually he’d turn to Jackson to be mocked out of self-pity. Jackson’s good at reminding Danny to just be human and not set his expectations for himself too high. Yeah, that won’t work here.

"i never conquered, rarely came" (E) by nicheinhischest | 5,893 | “Um,” Stiles’ legs are jittery, bouncing up and down on the toes of his shoes in an effort to curb his nerves. “Did you know if you Google search ‘first time anal sex’ you get forty-nine million results -” Danny closes his eyes. “Stiles, do you ever shut up even a little.” “No,” Stiles says exasperatedly. “I don’t, actually.”

"Blood Pounding in Our Veins" (M) by minusoneday | 41,305 | Stiles figured that Mrs. McCall finding out Scott’s secret would change things, but he’s completely unprepared for the very first thing she does, which is to invite Isaac to move in with her and Scott.

"Pink Lemonade" 🔒 (T) by luulapants | 999 | It wasn’t that he was into Stilinski. Of course not. He’d hardly seen the little bastard since high school, both of them flitting in and out of Beacon Hills at mismatched intervals. It was partly that someone had, apparently, helped Stiles “dress for the occasion” of a gay club: skin-tight black tank top and honest-to-god white leather pants. It should have looked ridiculous. It did! And Danny wasn’t into Stilinski, especially not in that. If anything, it was cultural appropriation.

"Just a social construct" (E) by queerly_it_is | 2,073 | "I really was kidding," Danny says. It'd be more of a put-down if it wasn't said against Stiles' mouth, if his hands weren't on Stiles' hips while Stiles just sort of twitches against the wall he's being pressed into. He mumbles back, "I really wasn't," trying to get Danny to use more tongue. Stiles is maybe already a little addicted to Danny's tongue. It's a problem.

••••••

I will add more as I find them.

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Joni Mitchell - “Summertime” (Live, July 24, 2022)

Accompanied by Ben Lusher’s jazz-lounge piano, Celisse’s blues-club electric guitar and a cast of singers including Lucius, Allison Russell, Brandi Carlile and others, Joni Mitchell declared: the livin’ is easy at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival.

That Mitchell delivered the line from “Summertime” without irony was itself ironic. Then 78, seated and surrounded by a huge supporting cast, Mitchell was performing in public for the first time in two decades.

And she pulled it off. The voice isn’t anywhere near familiar. But Mitchell’s ability as a singer is intact. And she managed to use what’s left of her instrument for all it was worth.

No one can blame her friends and collaborators for being overly enthused; however, their attempts to inject themselves detract from, rather than enhance, the performance. For while Mitchell may be diminished, she is not derelict.

“Summertime” follows “Both Sides Now” from the forthcoming (July 28) release of At Newport, which presents Mitchell’s surprise, July 24, 2022, appearance in its entirety.

Grade card: Joni Mitchell - “Summertime” (Live 7/24/22) - B-

7/24/23

[oddeyevibes]

Chapter 3 - String of Light

Summary

You and Allison rekindle as Allison seeks your help in rekindling with Vanya as you’re introduced to her new friend.

Warnings? Click here

Then

Your very first performance at Club Galerie was one you never forgot about. You had prepared all week, ready to dazzle. When you first approached Hera about using your powers, she was hesitant, worried that some of the other performers might grow jealous. Eventually, she relented, hoping that--at the end of the day--it all be about preference.

And it worked out that way. Everyone was supportive of each other, including you. It was a feeling that was foreign to you. Words of encouragement and appreciation without ever having to hear your father bring down the mood about how you could’ve done this that way or done that this way. No backhanded compliments just…being loved for who you are and the art you create.

You were allowed to just bask in the afterglow of so many people liking you. Not as The Light or Number 8 but just…Y/N and Sister Iris. It was a wonderful feeling. As you lay there on the stage, you wondered if your siblings were also chasing this feeling, in their own ways.

“You just gonna lay there or are you gonna help?” Beth laughed.

“Can I just enjoy the moment?”

“You can…after we clean this place up.”

You groaned as you sat up. You were still in your white sequin debut attire with a nice headdress still secured on top and a pair of knee-high boots.

“Ugh, it should be illegal for me to have to still do this.”

“Mother did tell you that performing is not gonna get you out of newbie duties. You wanted to be the hardheaded one.”

You walked up behind her, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t think of it as being hard-headed as much as it is…leaving responses up to interpretation.”

“Mmhmm, being hard-headed.”

The entrance to the open was slowly opened with a few soft thuds as if the person coming in this late was already.

“We’re closed!” You yelled without turning back to face the person. “Come back at 5 pm tomorrow and you'll get a drink.”

“Glowbug?”

The voice was out of it, slurring their words. There was only ever one person that called you that. You turned to see an intoxicated Klaus leaning against the door for support, a cigarette hanging on for dear life between his lips and a black flask in his hand.

“Klaus?”

Beth focused her attention on him. “You know him?”

“That’s…my brother.”

“The strong one?”

“No, the one that can see ghosts.”

“Ohhhh. Well, he still can’t be here.”

You nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll take care of it.” You went over to Klaus who looked at you like you were a ghost that came back from the dead.

“I can’t believe it’s you~. Look at how grown up you are!” Klaus squished your cheeks which allowed the cold flask to touch your skin.

“Klaus, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”

“I was just…hanging with some friends and we got kicked out. I was just heading home then Ben saw the poster and we had to see you.”

“Well, you’re a little late for that performance. Also, I thought you couldn’t see ghosts when you were high.”

“Yeah…well…Ben’s become a pain in the ass in death.” Klaus leaned in closer, giving you a whiff of the alcohol on his breath. “Doesn’t know how to take a hint.”

“Well, as glad as I am to see you…you still can’t be here. We’re closed.”

Klaus looked past you to the messy stage. “Aww…but I wanted to watch your show.”

“Like I said, come back tomorrow and you can. Go home. Get some sleep and eat something.” You gently pushed him out of the club, closing the door behind you. “Bye Klaus~”

He gave you a limp wave as he was left outside.

“Glowbug is all grown up.” He pouted as he wandered off, smiling to himself like an idiot. He was happier than you know to reunite with you.

——✨——

Soft knocking on your door woke you up. You slowly slid out of bed, nearly tripping on your suitcase as you walked over to the door, opening it to reveal Allison.

“Oh.”

You tried shutting the door on her face but she stopped it, forcing you to open the door. You leaned against it in a nonchalant manner.

“Can I help you?”

“Look, yesterday…was not good.”

“No shit.”

“But for a moment, during that fight, there was this moment of us just…not fighting.”

“How short-lived it was.”

“I’m going to visit Vanya. Do you wanna come with?”

Your brows raised. “You want me to come with you?”

Allison flashed an awkward smile. “I thought about what you said last night and…maybe you’re right.”

“.......uh-huh…”

“So I might need your help in…not saying the wrong thing to Vanya. You have more experience than I do. So please?”

“.......Let me get dressed.”

“One more thing.”

You turned back around.

“It’s mom…”

——✨——

The cab ride between the two of you was awkward as hell at first. Even the cabbie didn’t know what to do with all the silent tension. It wasn’t until Allison spoke up first.

“So, I heard from Klaus that you’re a dancer now.”

You nodded. “Burlesque, hyper drag, the works.”

“Wow…I…never would’ve guessed that performing is something you’d be into. I always imagined that if we weren’t forced to be heroes, you’d go somewhere with your art. You were always really good.”

“I was. Still am. I never wanted to make money off of it. I just needed an escape.”

The conversation fizzled out as the both of you avoided each other’s gaze by looking out your respective windows. Allison glanced over to you. Last night’s argument was…not what she wanted when she envisioned reuniting with her family, especially her sisters.

She didn’t sleep too well about what you said. Not particularly about her marriage but more about her treatment of Vanya. When she first watched the surveillance footage, she had thought back to how you all excluded Vanya when you were younger. She told Pogo that she’d never want Claire to be treated that way.

Even as an adult, she was falling into the same pattern. When she sided with Diego last night, she thought it was for Vanya’s protection but throughout the whole night, hindsight told her that there was a better way to convey that message. She could’ve defended Vanya like you did. She could’ve offered to walk Vanya home. She could’ve asked Vanya to stay just so they could protect her better.

There were better options and she fell back on old habits. It cut deep. She swore off using her abilities because of how they hurt the one she loved the most but what good was it if you made no change to anything else?

“About last night…you were right.” Allison finally spoke. “I shouldn’t have sided with Diego…in that way.”

“By that way, you mean completely hurt her feelings, yeah?”

Allison nodded. “These past few years, I realized that I haven’t been the best big sister and I want to change that…and maybe I can’t do it alone. So whenever I mess up, I would love it if you and Vanya told me. I want to be closer with you both.”

You reflected on Allison’s words. You could be a brat, or you could be mature. No one likes a brat…outside of the bedroom. “You know, I was really happy that you wanted to talk. I just let my sort of festering emotions get in the way of having an actual conversation. I didn’t really know how to start that topic.”

A smile formed on Allison’s face. Progress.

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m even still mad at you…or anyone. Especially not dad, since karma's finally caught up with him.” You joked.

Allison was shocked but also slightly amused as she playfully hit your arm.

“What? Luther might not like it, but he was bound to be murdered by someone. He didn’t fuck either of us up enough for us to do it clearly. But seriously…”

You reached your hand across the seat and gently took Allison’s hand in your own.

“I’m happy that you want to make growth and I don’t mind being the angel on your shoulder. I really do wanna be a family with you guys again…well…as much of a family as we could possibly achieve.”

Your sister let out a soft laugh. The silence came back but this time it was less constricting.

“So, Vanya’s seeing someone.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, some guy named Leonard.”

“Oh yeah? You met him?”

“Once…for a little bit.”

“And?”

“I don’t know how I feel about him yet but she seems like she might like this guy.”

“Is this a don’t be weird conversation we’re having? Are you worried I’m gonna scare the boyfriend off?”

“No, I was just letting you know. She’s never been in a relationship and I don’t want her first one to be…a disaster.”

“I see. We can always stalk him.”

“Y/N!”

“What? It’s public information. It’s not a crime, we do it all the time at the club to make sure customers aren’t wanted serial killers or something. A lot of folks wanna feel protected at our club.”

“That doesn’t--”

“Don’t knock it till you try it. What’s his last name?”

Allison stammered as she took in this new information about you. At least when Klaus toes the line of illegal activities, it’s because he’s not sober. You’re doing this in a perfect state of mind.

——✨——

The cab dropped you off in front of Vanya’s apartment complex. You and Allison exchanged light-hearted small talk as you made your way to Vanya’s apartment. It was a nice feeling. Just being able to get along.

However, the both of you slowed down as you noticed Vanya’s door was opened slightly. Allison pushed you behind her instinctively as she inched closer toward the door, pushing on it slightly.

“Vanya?”

There was no answer. You both exchanged looks before fully entering the apartment. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, giving the both of you some peace of mind as Allison walked over to the small circular dining table, placing her purse on the surface.

Shadows moving in a backroom caught your eye. Something about how the figure moved didn’t sit right with you. You reached out a hand to Allison and pointed in the direction of Vanya’s bedroom. Without saying words, both you and Allison got into positions that allowed you to strike first and Allison being able to help subdue whoever this was.

As the mystery man exited the room, you were able to get a better glimpse of his features. It was a white man that looked like he could be around your age wearing casual civilian clothes. He didn’t look like he was with the two intruders that attacked last night.

Once he walked past you, you threw a leg out to trip him to the floor with a loud thud. Then Allison grabbed onto him causing the man to shout out her name.

“Allison! Wait!”

Allison stopped once she recognized the voice, she loosened her grip. “Leonard?”

“The guy Vanya’s been seeing?” You chimed in, still staring him down.

Allison nodded. “Sorry about that. We thought you were a…um…where is Vanya?”

“She’s at rehearsal,” Leonard replied, getting back to his feet. “She…she left her keys at my place last night. I was just returning them.”

The tension seemed to leave Allison’s body but the reasoning was confusing to you. “And now you’re in her apartment?” You questioned him.

“Excuse me?”

“You could’ve left the key with the landlord or you could’ve waited for her at the theater to give them to her but you straight up came inside her apartment.”

Leonard stammered, trying to find the right words. Trying to appear as harmless as possible to two former superheroes that could kill him in under a second. “I’m sorry if I scared you two.”

Allison nodded, appearing cordial. “Why were you inside her apartment, though?” Finishing your interrogation.

Leonard laughed nervously. “It’s kind of embarrassing. I had to use the restroom.”

There was no immediate response as the both of you eyed him suspiciously, your gaze seemingly putting him under more scrutiny as Allison folded her arms.

“If you don’t mind me asking…why are you two here?” His eyes darting between the both of you.

You shot him a look that blatantly said excuse you. Allison was also thrown off by the question.

“Excuse me?”

“No, it’s just…from what I heard, you didn’t want anything to do with Vanya yesterday. So, I was just wondering--”

You inched forward, your hand circling out and catching Leonard’s attention. “Woah, woah, woah, woah! I don’t know where you got the audacity, but I need you to take it back to the store you got it from cause you don’t have ANY business running your mouth like that about shit you don’t know, got it?”

Allison was taken aback by your words but nodded in agreement. It was one thing for arguments with each other but watching the same girl that froze up whenever she was being scolded tell some dude off was an entirely different ballgame. Even more, which sibling did she learn that from, if at all?

Leonard was stunned before flashing a smile. “You’re right.” He chuckled. “Probably not.”

“Not probably, DEFINITELY.” You corrected him.

“Right. Uh, it was nice seeing you. I guess I’ll just…drop these off to Vanya at rehearsal like you said.” He motioned in your direction.

Allison raised a hand to stop him. “You know what? I’ll take the keys to her.” She held out her hand, waiting.

Leonard shot her an odd look before putting on that same smile and dropping it into her palm. “Sure. Whatever’s easiest, right? It was nice finally meeting you, Y/N.”

You watched as Leonard left the apartment, closing the door behind him. Once the both of you were sure he wasn’t in earshot, you turned to one another.

“I don’t like him.” You were blunt. “He’s weird, he’s creepy, and he’s rude.”

Allison chuckled, looking back towards the front door. “Yeah…he definitely is a weird one.” There was a pause. “We should probably get these to Vanya.”

——✨——

You had arrived at Vanya’s rehearsal building. Allison flipped through the pages of a magazine with her husband and Claire plastered on the front with the phrase we’re doing fine in bold lettering. As you leaned against a nearby wall, you realized you hadn’t really apologized for what you said to Allison last night.

“Y/N?”

Vanya called out to you as she approached you two as Allison folded the magazine in her hand.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Looking for you.” You answered.

Allison spoke up next. “We wanted to let you know about Mom.”

Vanya looked between the two of you. “What happened?”

“Vanya, she’s…she’s gone.”

Vanya looked in your direction as if she was expecting this to be some sick practical joke. You merely nodded, allowing it to sink in.

Vanya looked back at Allison. “I thought we were gonna wait a bit.”

“It was those psychopaths last night. They killed her. We found her this morning.” Allison’s eyes glanced at you for a moment before you urged her on with a head gesture. “Listen…last night, what I said--”

“No, no, don’t…don’t worry about it.”

Your sisters simply stood there so you decided to cut in and break the silence, dangling Vanya’s keys in front of both of them.

“We have your keys.”

“Why do you have my keys?”

“It’s a long story.” Allison sighed.

Another awkward pause between the two.

‘Way to make a girl feel like the odd one out.’ You started walking off. “Let’s go get drinks!”

——✨——

Meanwhile

If you listened in to one of the motel rooms, you’d hear a vacuum blaring through the walls. If you had really good hearing, you’d hear a man struggling inside the room, tucked away in the closet. Tied to a chair with a combination of blood, sweat, and tears covering his body.

Klaus has been through a lot. Not just today but ever since the day he was born. The one day of his childhood that changed the entire trajectory of his mental stability being the day that Reginald locked him inside of a mausoleum. All of those spirits were just so…angry at him. He was just a child, what could he possibly have done for them? Especially when he’s locked away like this?

Whenever his mind was clear enough, before the nightmares came back, he often questioned why they didn’t just talk to him. Maybe it’s because spirits are assholes that had nothing better to do than to scar a child. Could anyone really blame him for turning his back on them? In his absolute moment of weakness, they made him experience such a level of distress that even nowadays, he’s never dealt with before.

Sure, maybe drugs and liquor wasn’t the right answer but it worked. Worked in a way therapy never and self-help never could. He could only keep himself busy for so long until the nightmares came back. He didn’t want to deal with them then and he damn sure didn’t want to deal with them now.

None of the others really understood it, each of them offering something their own empty encouragements and rules to living a better life. Klaus loved his siblings he really did…but they didn’t deal with anything. Reginald Hargreeves fucked them all up and it showed in different ways. In a way that he noticed but no one else really seemed to and because of that, he felt somewhat responsible for getting them to loosen up more.

Luther practically tailed your father around like an obedient puppy with separation anxiety. Diego needed to feel important because he was always just Number 2, in the eyes of Sir Hargreeves. He never accepted that your numbers were simply an indicator of who got picked up in what order. Allison always wanted some sort of acknowledgment from your dad. She just wanted to be told that she was doing a good job. Then there was Vanya, who only knew how to sink out of view. Hell, even Ben, ghost, and all had his own issues. Covering his hurt with bitchy woe-is-me. Sure being dead’s gotta suck but Ben was always pushing and pushing and Klaus, being the brat he is, pushed back even harder. Anything to make up for the fact that he was dead.

Then there was you. You who gave off the feeling of someone recovered from their trauma. You were glamorous. A far cry from your former demeanor. But who Klaus could see through easily whenever he came to watch your shows. You wanted to be seen, wanted to prove that you could stand on your own. Prove that you were a big girl. You didn’t need Dad’s resources, you didn’t need the comfort of Ben, you’d find your way.

Sometimes he thinks you did but other times…there were cracks. He notices it all the time when he crashes at your place. Where you’re overly nurturing towards him. You make him food, keep his clothes cleaned, and even pay out of pocket for the rehab centers he got checked in but never made any real progress. You were his safety net…and it was another aspect of his life he felt shitty about.

He’ll never tell you that. He doesn’t know if it’ll make you feel like garbage or make you upset. If you were mad at him, he could handle it but if you got mad at yourself after everything you’ve done for him, he doesn’t know how he could possibly drown that out.

Being tied up was making him think a lot. That and…Ben. He was panicking his ass off and the only words of advice Ben had been stay calm. Withdrawal be damned. What he wouldn’t give to be out of it right now.

“You know what the worst part of being dead is? You’re stuck! Nowhere to go. Nowhere to change. That’s the real torture, if you gotta know.” Ben droned on and on. “Watching your brother take for granted everything you lost and pissing it all away. Watching your sister give him too many chances when he doesn’t deserve it.”

This was all just overwhelming for Klaus. He didn’t really believe in a god but if there was someone listening he prayed they find a way to tell his siblings where he was exactly.

——✨——

You, Vanya, and Allison had found a bar nearby that had a comfy atmosphere with its dim lighting, murmured conversations, and smooth jazz playing in the background. You had sat next to Vanya while Allison sat across from y’all. Allison had taken it upon herself to start filling in Vanya about what had transpired earlier today. Unsurprisingly, Vanya didn’t believe it.

“Leonard wouldn’t. I mean, I can’t even imagine.”

“How long have you known this guy to say that, Vanya?”

Allison tried a more understanding approach, not really having the same privilege to be so casual in the same way you could.

���Uh, I get it. I don’t wanna believe it either, but why would he tell you he’s going to work, and then letting himself into your place?”

Vanya shrugged. “To use the bathroom? Like he said?”

“Or to be a creep.” You threw out, Allison agreed.

“He wouldn’t.”

“Again, how can you know?”

“Rifling through your stuff? Planning on stealing something? I mean…jerk off on your Mr. Snuggles teddy bear?”

“No! No, stop.” Vanya took a swig of her drink, pushing the image out of her head.

“Look, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but sometimes, men are unredeemable shits.”

Vanya looked to both of you before relenting. “Well, maybe, but…I like this one.” Allison let out a defeated sigh as Vanya kept on going. “I know it’s weird, ‘cause we only knew each other for a few days, but…Leonard felt real. Like he saw something in me no one else did.”

A feeling of sympathy washed over you, of course, making you think of you and Ben during your youth. Coupled with Vanya’s treatment over the years, it wasn’t hard to see where she was coming from. You gave her a gentle pat on the back.

“I know the feeling.” Allison let out a laugh. “God, I haven’t felt like that since I was a kid.”

“Luther?”

Allison shook her head. “Does everyone know?”

A soft chuckle escaped Vanya’s lips. “I’m the last person who should be speaking for everyone, but…I always suspected. You two were so close.”

You giggled. “That’s putting lightly, you guys were about as subtle as a peacock in a padded room.” You told her nonchalantly, bringing the glass up to your lips. The two laughing at your bizarre comment.

Once the laughter died down, Allison’s smile faded away. “Yeah, well, he’s not speaking to me, either… Here we are.”

Vanya raised her glass. “Yay sisters?”

The both of you joined, a lovely clink of glasses commemorating this session of sibling bonding.

——✨——

Then

Reginald Hargreeves never viewed you all as children and he never would. Those are the thoughts that filled your mind back then. A sea of countless books in the library of varying genres wasted no time in letting you figure out that you and your siblings were lab rats for this man. Sold off by your mothers, who never intended on having you in the first place.

Which meant that you were legally under Reginald Hargreeves’ “care” and that meant that he could to push each and every one of you to limits you didn’t know you had. All in an attempt to master your abilities and leave with you with a therapy bill.

For you, this treatment meant you’d spend days sitting your hands in large bowls of ice-cold water. Being forced to constantly endure hours of keeping that damned barrier up despite how much it hurt your hands, your fingers especially. At first, it was a sign that you could go back to your room and cry it out. However, at some point, it meant that you would be put in the bright room.

A room especially made for you, filled with fluorescent lights. If you couldn’t actively improve your powers then you were made to do so passively. The others were under strict orders to never enter without Reginald’s permission. The time spent there varied. Sometimes it was only until your hands felt better, other times it was a whole night. On one terrible occasion, you were left in there for a whole week.

It was like a padded room without the cushiony walls and floors. The walls were coated with white paint and the floor was fitted with white tiles. There was a twin-size bed in the corner with white metal framing and white sheets. The sheet meant to “cover” you were thin and allowed the lights to bleed through, never giving you an escape. Lastly, there was a small square table with two chairs seated across from each other. Of course, all were white as well.

You were so confused about how this room was supposed to enhance your powers since the only thing coming out of this whole experience were the headaches it was causing. Did your dad care? Of course not. Means to an end.

You were in the bed, covering your face with the pillow to block out the lights, attempting to get some sleep.

The sound of the room door unlocking caught your attention along with the sound of shoes clicking against the tiles.

“Number 8!” Your dad’s voice boomed throughout the room. “How do expect to improve your capabilities if you’re hiding in the dark?!”

You sat up, holding the pillow over your head, still blocking out the light.

“I wanna go back to my room.” You sounded like you were tired and crying.

Reginald stared at you for a moment. “And what progress have you made since you’ve entered the bright room?”

You were stumped. Fumbling to think of an answer. “I don’t….my hands still hurt.”

“Number 8, you and your siblings are meant to save the world. How can anyone rely on you if you spend more time thinking of excuses than bettering yourself? Is that a hero?”

“I wanna play with the others.”

Reginald huffed. “You will stay here until tomorrow. Do remember what you were put in here for, Number 8.”

Reginald marched over to you, snatching the pillow from your hands and heading back to the door. Your heart sank as you watched the door close, not even having the energy to cry out for him to come back but the distress made itself noticeable through the flickering lights that picked up in frequency when you started crying. Of course, you didn’t even realize it.

——✨——

After everything, you ended up using your uniform blazer to cover your eyes. It was the next day when you heard the door open again, slowly this time. You peeked out from the jacket to see a familiar face poke his head through the door. Ben.

“Hey.” He called out to you in a whispered volume.

“Ben?” You groaned. “How…how’d you get in?”

You watched him as he placed a thick book down between the frame and the door, making it impossible for the door’s close-to-lock feature to activate.

When he turned and walked over to you, you saw he was holding a small blanket in his hand.

“Dad went out so I wanted to bring you something to cover your eyes.” He sits down on the bed next to you. “You just gotta make sure you hide it whenever dad comes into the room.”

You placed the blanket and your lap and gave Ben a soft smile. “Thank you.”

“Dad’s not letting you leave again?”

You shook your head. “I don’t even know what to do.”

Ben observed the room in thought, his eyes squinted when they moved past the light. “Do you wanna try something?”

“Like what?”

“Well…what if you could…turn off the light?”

You shrugged. “I can’t do that. I can only heal people and make shields.”

Ben gave you a reassuring smile. “Let’s try it.”

The two of you moved to the table, you had placed the blanket around your shoulders, letting it cover the back of the chair.

“What should I do?”

“Try…focusing on the lights. Maybe imagine them turning off and see if that works.”

You looked up at the lights with a strained look before shutting them, the image of those lights turning off repeated in your mind.

“Did I do it?”

Ben went to shake his head but remembered that your eyes were still closed. “No.”

You let out a defeated exhale and you reopened your eyes, looking at Ben in defeat.

“Try with your hands, everything about your power seems to be connected to your hand anyway.”

“Ben, I’m tired.”

“Come on, if we figure something out you can go back to your room, ok?”

You gave him a nod before raising a hand towards the lights and closing your eyes once again, envisioning the lights turning off. Ben kept watch and sat in awe as your hand began glowing its signature white hue and the lights’ brightness began to falter.

Almost like watching sand falling, Ben kept on looking as specks of white dust descended down from the bulbs to your fingertips, the glow going back and forth between dim and bright with a casual fade. Eventually, the light went away as you lowered your hand and slowly opened your eyes.

“Woah…” Ben silently let out as you looked over your hands.

The faint stinging was long gone and your skin felt rejuvenated. In fact, you soon realized…you were feeling rejuvenated. The fatigue from crying and the pulsing headache faded as if the day never happened.

Ben leaned in closer. “You ok?”

You smiled and nodded. “I feel great.” You squinted up at the lights before returning your attention back to your palms. “What just happened?”

“I think you took energy from the light.” Ben gave you a big smile. “Maybe it heals you? Hey,”

You looked back up at him.

“Try…doing it…faster?”

You tilted your head in confusion, causing Ben to slide the chair around the table and get closer to you.

“Like…” He rapidly tapped his foot, thinking of the right words. “Imagine the lights like a bunch of string and you're pulling it. Remember when we kept pulling on the string of that scarf and watched as it got smaller and smaller?”

It took a moment to remember but when you did, you nodded in his direction. “Yeah?”

“Try thinking of the light like that. Maybe that’s how you can turn it off.”

“Ok, ok.”

You closed your eyes once more and held out both of your palms. In your mind, the long light bulb turned into a fabric. You envisioned grabbing at a loose string and began pulling on it. Meanwhile, Ben watched once more as soft white hues covered your palms and small specks of the light came drizzling down.

His focus switched between you and the light as the brightness began to dim. Ben smiled as he looked on.

“You’re doing it, Y/N.”

Within your mind’s eye, it was like you were standing on a table, continuously pulling the string allowing for a pool of white fabric to fall to the table’s surface. You noticed the room dimming as well and you got excited.

Maybe a little too excited. There was a brief pause before you threw caution to the wind, getting a tight grip with both hands on the string and yanking it down with such a strong force. Loud glass popping noises snatched you out of your thoughts with a scream as Ben covered his head with his hands.

The bright room was now quite the opposite. With only one window, the only light was the sun outside as you and Ben looked at each other in shock before looking up at the broken lights above you.

The room was quiet for a moment before soft laughter filled the room. Ben watched as you giggled. “I think I took too much.”

With that reassurance that you were ok, he started laughing along with you. “I guess you don’t have to worry about the bright room anymore.”

The giggling between the two of you picked and was only halted when the door swung open, revealing your father standing there with his famous disappointed look. It managed to undo all of that joy in a matter of seconds.

“Number 6, this room is for Number 8 only! You have no reason to be here!” He pushed the door open more, giving Ben space to exit through before turning his attention back to you and looking at the lights.

You were stuck sitting there with your mouth slightly open as you waited for him to say something. Reginald straightened his posture.

“Number 8, you’re allowed to leave for now until the lights in this room have been repaired.”

You were relieved. Quickly running out of the room with the blanket Ben offered you trailing behind you as you shouted for Ben to wait up. For Reginald, this marked another semi-successful method for upgrading your abilities, mental turmoil be damned. By the time it was time for you and your siblings’ first mission, you’d be ready.

[schrijverr]

Life Is Ours, We Live It Our Way 6

Chapter 6 out of 18

Genderqueer Stevie with platonic soulmates Robin and Eddie living their best queer life.

In this chapter, after celebrating Halloween, the horror movies creep into Stevie’s nightmares. When they get too much he drives to Eddie’s house in a panic. She snaps about her name and comes out, Eddie and Robin accepting him. Meanwhile, the kids have figured out the fake dating and Will, who found support in Stevie feels betrayed. It all comes to a head at their weekly DnD game.

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: Nightmare, panic attack, the misgendering that comes of not being out, unintentional biphobia, unintentionally nearly getting outed

~~~~~~~~~

Halloween

Halloween falls on a Friday, which means they are celebrating instead of playing DnD. Everyone in Hawkins is gathering at the Byers house to eat too much candy and watch scary movies.

They have agreed to dress up, because the kids love it and they’re all sad that they’re getting too old to go trick or treating. The only one who still can is Erica, but she thinks herself too cool for it, so she isn’t going.

Stevie isn’t going to do anything drastic, but it’s a good excuse to ask Robin to do his makeup and he’s not going to let that pass.

The three of them have told the kids they’re going as characters from The Breakfast Club, but what they haven’t told them is that they’re going as the opposite of who they stereotypically are. Robin is going as Clair Standish the princess, Eddie is going as Andrew Clarke the jock, while Stevie scored himself John Bender the criminal. A part of him wanted to go as Allison Reynolds the freak, but that would require too much conversation.

Still, Robin managed to get her hands on some of Nancy’s clothes and thrifted some, while Stevie raided Eddie’s closet and Eddie hers. And indeed, Robin did his eyeliner, which feels very nice and validating even if no one knows.

All in all, she’d say that they look pretty good.

When they turn up, they’re greeted by Hopper, which isn’t unusual since he has moved in with Joyce as had been a long time coming. He’s in his uniform, not very creative, however, it is very Hopper.

Then Joyce greets them, dressed in a striped prisoner costume and Hopper’s ‘costume’ makes a little more sense. She waves them in with a big grin, laughing at the costume choices.

The costumes are also a hit by the kids, who all laugh at Eddie in something other than his usual attire with Dustin exclaiming that he can’t believe Eddie would betray the nerds like that. Stevie also gets attention, with Erica noting how he basically switched styles with Eddie, which isn’t really incorrect. Max comments on Robin: “I still can only see very shittily, but even to me that’s just wrong.”

It’s a fun night even if the kids get way too hyper on sugar and practically bounce around.

At some point, Stevie needs to get away from the movies for a bit. He has already seen this one and she needs to rest her eyes to prevent a headache. So, he does the dishes, finding peace in the repetitive motions.

In a similar manner to last week, Will comes up next to him and grabs a towel to dry. Stevie knows that Will wants to talk about it again, but he leaves the pace up to the kid. She of all people understands needing to take some time.

“I- I’m gay,” Will says softly after a few minutes.

“Thank you for trusting me with that. I’m so proud of you,” Stevie smiles, stopping with washing the dishes to hug the baby Byers.

Will melts into her arms and she sways them gently. After a second, Stevie says: “That isn’t an easy thing to say, but I’m glad you told me. If you ever need anything, you can come to me, alright. And if you ever do want to tell people, I’ve got your back.”

As a reply, Will clutches closer and takes a shudder-y breath. Then he softly admits: “I want to tell my mom, but I don’t know what she’ll say.”

A stab of pain goes through Stevie’s heart at the words. Joyce is the best woman, the best mother, he knows. If he had a mom like her, he’d likely anguish about it too. And the worst part is that Stevie also doesn’t know what Joyce Byers thinks of queer people. The not knowing makes it so much worse that she’s so nice, because it will only hurt more if she’s terrible about it.

“That is very scary,” Stevie agrees, searching for words to make it better, but being a bit at a loss, since his only similar experience was with the kids. “Do you want my advice?”

“Yes, please,” Will says, not letting go.

Stevie dries her hands, so she can hold Will better as she says: “I think it’s good to put a feeler out first. Mention a queer celebrity, like Bowie, Boy George or Elton John, see how she feels about them. Make sure it can’t become personal. You want to be able deny it. And I know that sucks and I have faith that your mom will be so nice about it, but we’ve got to be safe.”

“I hate this,” Will mutters.

“God, me too,” Stevie sighs. “It’s the worst part about the whole thing, but trust me. You won’t be alone. We stick together. I’m looking out for you now. If you need support or help or just a listening but non-judgmental ear, I’m here for you.” He echoes Madame Tucker, his example in how to deal with all of this.

She can feel her shirt becoming a bit wet where Will is resting his head, but she doesn’t mention it and just holds him close.

“You’re the best. Thank you so much, Steve,” Will says fiercely.

Stevie just smiles and ignores the name – he’s used to that now. He replies: “It’s not a problem, Will, I promise.”

They stand there a little longer, before Will lets go. He wipes his eyes, but doesn’t acknowledge it, so they wordlessly go back to doing the dishes.

By the time, they’re done, the group is picking another movie. It always gets loud, so they hear the racket and share a look, before making their way back into the fray. When they appear in the doorway, Eddie immediately exclaims: “Stevie! Come, I need you to have my back.”

“What do I get out of it?” she asks as she comes closer, planning to retake her spot in front of the love seat, leaning against Robin and Eddie, who are squashed together on it.

“My undying gratitude?” Eddie offers.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Stevie pretends to consider it. “What am I backing you up on?”

“You’ve got to tell these idiots that The Labyrinth is a cinematic masterpiece,” Eddie tells him, sending him a look that says ‘we both know Bowie is hot, don’t leave me hanging here.’

“Give me a better bribe and I’m right there,” Stevie replies with a grin, ignoring the protests from the kids.

“Hell yeah, Stevie,” Eddie exclaims, pulling Stevie onto his and Robin’s lap, as he says: “A throne for your cooperation, princess?”

Stevie feels his own cheeks burning as he feels the weight of everyone’s eyes on him. She’s aware the kids semi-know she isn’t straight and this looks a certain type of way. And it’s a certain type of way he’s trying to avoid feeling.

Yet, he can’t ignore how nice it is to be close to Robin and Eddie. They’re her people and she loves them and sitting in their laps is much better than the cold floor. So, she leans into it, dramatically swooning as she exclaims: “Oh my, a strong jock is sweeping me off my feet, how can I refuse?”

“I hate that you just called me a jock, even under these circumstances, but I shall take the support!” Eddie grins, situating Stevie better before saying: “Babysitter’s on my side, we’re watching The Labyrinth next.”

All the kids start to protest, voices lapping over each other, until Joyce cuts in and rightfully points out that Stevie hasn’t picked a movie all night and if he supports Eddie, then they’re watching the movie.

Stevie notes that she hasn’t said anything about how Stevie was pulled into Eddie’s lap by the man and is now comfortably lounging against him, legs thrown over Robin’s.

Once the movie starts, he looks to meet Will’s gaze and gives him a grin and a thumbs up with a nod to Joyce. It wasn’t intentional, but if it helps it helps and by the look he gets back, it helps. So, he can’t be mad about it.

By the time the movie ends, all the kids have fallen asleep on top of each other, making Stevie wonder why they even wanted to pick so badly.

Eddie, Robin and her help Joyce with the clean up, before softly saying their goodbyes. They bring Eddie home first, before Stevie drives Robin to her house, letting her excited mom take a picture of their ‘couple costume’ something that had been unintentional, but works out well. Telling her some lie about a party they’d been to and how neither of them had drank, which was true.

At home, she removes the makeup with a smile, before falling into bed, exhausted after the fun night.

However, his brain has decided to be a dick. He hadn’t been scared of any of the movies, but it seems his brain has taken the imagery and decided to revamp all his nightmares with the new pieces it has collected.

This pattern continues on for the rest of the week. By the time Thursday rolls around, she’s gotten maybe ten hours of sleep total that week and is running on fumes, glad she has Friday off this week due to picking up a shift for someone earlier.

Robin has been sending him glances all week and he knows he looks like shit. She hasn’t had the energy to style her hair, making it more noticeable how much it has grown, as she keeps blowing it out the way. Not to mention the concealer he used for his eye bags.

“I know,” he says as she comes in. “I’ve been sleeping a bit rough. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine, I have tomorrow off and I’m going to rest, okay. Naps, all goddamn day.”

“Okay,” she replies, giving Stevie a smile that speaks much louder than anything she could say about how happy she is with the reassurance.

After those weeks when he was struggling, it seems everyone has gotten more worried whenever he’s a bit out of it. On one hand it’s nice that they care, but on the other, Stevie doesn’t really know how to handle the fact that they care. Still, he thinks he’s getting there. Maybe. If he’s lucky, she doesn’t have to be and can just rest Friday and be okay again and not worry them more.

But it’s not meant to be.

Stevie can’t catch a break and his restful night to start of his weekend is more terrible than any before it.

She shoots up in bed in cold sweat and heavy breaths, scream dying in his throat. In her minds eye she can still see Eddie die, feel how the life drained out from underneath her hands. He knows he needs to see him. Now.

Before he’s even aware of it, she’s out of bed, uncaring about the fact that she’s in tiny shorts and a big shirt and it’s November. He stumbles out of the house and into his car, driving on autopilot to the Munson bungalow.

If it gets truly bad, he usually goes to Robin after nightmares, but she also has parents who think they’re dating, so maybe showing up in the middle of the night isn’t the best idea.

And that’s how he finds herself on Eddie’s doorstep, desperately ringing the bell at 3:00 AM, feeling like she can kneel over any moment. She isn’t sure whether it will be from anxiety or exhaustion.

The door flies open and Eddie stands there in full sleep mused glory, holding lamp as weapon, which he drops when he sees Stevie standing there, shaking. Blinking the last bit of sleep out of his eyes, he asks in a soft voice: “What are you doing here, sweetheart?”

Afterwards, Stevie isn’t sure what aspect of the question broke him, but he lunges forwards and buries her face in Eddie neck, heaving a deep relieved breath, before bursting into tears. She just needs to make sure he’s warm, alive and breathing. The release of seeing him alright and well is enough to break him after the horrid week he’s had.

Eddie is probably even more confused, likely also concerned, but he just holds Stevie close and whispers assurances in her hair.

The two of them must make quite a pair as they stand on the Munson doorstep.

They could have stood there for hours or only minutes and Stevie wouldn’t have known. But at some point Eddie deems it long enough and leads him further inside, softly saying: “You’ll freeze out there, Stevie. What were you thinking in those clothes?”

He leads them to the couch and pulls Stevie closely next to him, so that she can rest her ear over his heart while he hugs her tightly with one arm. His other arm is used to pull a blanket over them so that they can warm up.

Stevie is hardly aware of any of it. All she can focus on is Eddie being alive, trying to tell herself that her dreams aren’t real. Everyone is okay. He’s okay. They’re all fine.

She only becomes aware that Eddie must have been unsuccessfully trying to get his attention for a while when he hears him say: “Just hurry, Robbie. He seems really out of it,” before there’s a click of the phone.

“Wha?” he asks, blinking.

“There you are, sweetheart. Hi,” Eddie practically coos, trying to keep his voice soothing so that he’ll stay and pay attention. “Focus on me. Yeah, that’s good, like that. You’re okay, Stevie. We’re all okay. It was just a dream.”

“You’re okay?” he asks to check anyway, because it just seemed so real and she’s so scared right now and she feels so very small.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Eddie assures him. “I’m right here. You’re doing so well. Just stay here with me, Stevie.”

And Stevie truly tries, but he’s just so exhausted and Eddie is comfortable, warm and real. So, it’s really a loosing battle. Her blinks become heavier and heavier and he hates to see Eddie look so panicked, so she offers an apology before blinking out again.

When he wakes up again, it’s with a terror of something he can’t remember amplified by waking up alone when he hadn’t gone to sleep like that and a sound in the hallway. He shoots into an upright position, hands ready to fight as he wildly looks around.

He meets Robin’s terrified eyes with her own, Eddie right behind her. It catches up to Stevie that she’s had another nightmare and that Eddie has apparently called Robin here.

Any fight she had left, drains out of her and she falls to her knees. He’s been through much already this night and his heart is still trying to beat out of his chest. She hates how she woke both Eddie and Robin with her own bullshit, that he couldn’t even deal with this on his own.

Tears start to fall and she heaves deep breaths that do nothing to supply air. Around him, he can hear her friends move, but it all feels like it’s far away.

A hand grabs his own and he startles, meeting Robin’s eyes again as she puts it on her own chest and starts to breath. She tells him: “Come on, breathe with me. Follow my lead. Please. I need you to breathe, Steve.”

She rarely calls her Steve and somehow she can’t handle it on top of everything right now. So, he snaps: “Don’t- Don’t call me th- that. I ha- hate it,” before choking on another breath.

“That’s okay, we won’t, sweetheart,” Eddie assures her, rubbing her back. “It’s no problem. Right now you just need to focus on breathing. In, yeah like that, that’s good. And out. Slowly. And in again.” He demonstrates. “And out. There you go. Doing so well, princess.”

Slowly Stevie starts to come back to herself. His breathing becomes more regular and easier and with it, exhaustion sets in once more, along with the guilt. He whispers: “’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, dingus,” Robin tells him.

“Yeah, you scared us, but I’m so glad you came to me. I hate to think about you dealing with this on your own,” Eddie backs her up, still cradling Stevie to his side. “You did so good, I promise. Don’t be sorry.”

Like it has done all evening, the comforting praise settles into Stevie’s chest and calms her. He’s still exhausted, but he doesn’t feel as much anxiety anymore.

Still, he is so tired of being on edge, of being afraid to go to sleep, of being slow in his brain and movement, of feeling that bone deep drag of exhaustion. And she can’t help but whimper: “I’m just so, so tired,” in a broken voice.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Eddie murmurs sympathetically. “I know. You’ve been so strong and you shouldn’t have to be. You need the rest. Lets get you to bed, promise me and Robbie won’t leave you, okay? We’ll be there all night and you can check that we’re okay whenever you want. How does that sound, sweetheart?”

“Good,” he sniffles.

He’s feeling absolutely pathetic, but unable to stop it. She’s too exhausted to do anything but follow Eddie’s soothing voice as he leads her to bed and holds her closely to his chest like he’d done in the motel. Robin is on his other side, never letting go of his hand.

When she falls asleep, she’s curled into a little ball, clutching Robin’s hand and burrowing as much into Eddie as he can.

Waking up for the third time is very different. It’s much slower and without terror for the first time that week. She’s surrounded by warmth and feels peaceful for a moment, before she realizes what that warmth is and how he got there.

She freezes, loosing whatever calm she had. He doesn’t open his eyes, only screwing them close as she curls further into a ball. Stevie isn’t ready to face the day.

However, that’s not for him to decide, because both Eddie and Robin are already awake and notice how she froze up and hid. Robin squeezes the hand she’s still holding, while Eddie whispers into the ear he’s still cuddled up behind: “Hey there, sweetheart. We won’t bite, promise. Can you open your eyes?”

Last night’s tears have turned crusty in her eyes, so he has to blink a few times, before she can properly open them.

Mentally she tries to convince herself that it won’t be that bad. Eddie and Robin were cool in the motel when he broke down and they were glad he showed up last night, now all he has to do is find an explanation for how she snapped about her name in the middle of a panic attack.

With his eyes open, she meets Robin’s, who smiles kindly at him and asks: “Sleep well, dingus? You know after everything. I mean, I know you didn’t sleep the best overall, but you didn’t wake up again after, but that doesn’t have to mean anything, you know? So, just checking.”

Her rambles are a welcome comfort and he smiles: “Yeah, I slept well. Sorry for bothering both of you.”

“Oi, don’t be a dumbass, Stevie,” Eddie scolds, still very much pressed up behind her. “We said we were glad you showed up instead of trying to deal by yourself and we meant it. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.”

Stevie tries to curl into herself to get away from the nice words, blushing as he hides. “I know,” she softly says, “but I can’t help it. I know you two don’t always sleep the best either and I don’t wanna be the one messing it up when you do manage to sleep.”

“Dingus,” Robin sighs, giving his hand a squeeze that he returns.

“I’m sorry,” she says and Eddie and Robin groan, making him wince.

“No, you’re not allowed to be sorry,” Eddie tells her, sitting up and nearly making her whine at the loss of the heat behind him. “It’s against the rules now. I’m going to make us breakfast and you are going to enjoy it and not feel guilty about it. We all sleep better together. It wasn’t a hardship, okay, Stevie?”

“Okay,” she gives in, not really feeling like making more of a fuss. One good night’s rest doesn’t solve a week of exhaustion and he’s still on edge about the name thing that both of them have yet to mention.

Eddie shoves a sweater in her face, telling him: “You’ll catch a cold otherwise, I don’t know how you didn’t freeze on your way over here.”

“Thanks,” he says as he slips it on, not commenting on what Eddie said.

Robin follows Eddie down the stairs in her own stolen sweater, while Stevie cleans up in the bathroom. She looks a mess, but not too much. However, without the concealer it will be even more noticeable in the morning light.

He softly pads down the hall aware of the fact that Wayne must have come home at some point and is now sleeping.

In the kitchen, Eddie is playing his music on a low level, equally aware of that fact, as he dances along and makes eggs, one of the few things he can make. Robin is making coffee, because she can’t make anything else at all. For a moment Stevie just watches them, wondering how she got so lucky with his friends.

Breakfast is a quiet affair, all still waking up and enjoying the silence.

“Do either of you have work today?” Stevie asks after a moment, remembering that it’s Friday and he just got lucky to not have to work. She doesn’t want to be the reason Eddie or Robin get shit form their bosses.

“I got an afternoon shift,” Robin shrugs.

“I also got today off, I try to plan Friday as a free day whenever I can to dot the last i’s on the campaign and stuff,” Eddie explains. “Doesn’t always work out, but it’s nice when it does.”

“That’s good,” Stevie smiles, before realizing that he is now the one that broke the peaceful silence, practically giving the others an invitation to start questioning him.

“You told me yesterday you’ve been sleeping a bit rough. How long has this been happening?” Robin asks.

Okay, that’s a question she can answer. Might be a bit embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the breakdown yesterday. “This past week,” she admits. “Turns out I don’t do horror movies that well anymore, which sucks.”

“Jikes,” Robin winces in sympathy.

“Why didn’t you say anything, sweetheart?” Eddie asks then. “We could have done something before it got this bad.”

“I’m stupid,” Stevie throws his hands up. “Is that what you want to hear? I’m an idiot, who let it get bad and now I ruined everyone’s night. Happy now?” She already feels terrible about what happened, she doesn’t need a lecture about how stupid he’d been, he already knows.

“No, I’m not happy,” Eddie says, crossing his arms and frowning. “Why would I be happy with that answer, Steve-ie, Stevie?”

Great, not only is Eddie disappointed in him now, but they definitely remember the name thing, not to mention that Eddie wanted to use his- his normal name? Old name? Eddie never uses Steve. So, he’s double disappointed, because Stevie keeps messing up.

Both Eddie and Robin are looking at her now and she wants to disappear. He makes a helpless movement and says: “I don’t know.”

Immediately their faces soften and Stevie isn’t sure if that’s a good thing, until Eddie sighs: “That’s okay, Stevie. We’re not happy with you thinking you’re stupid, because you’re not. You’re not, sweetheart, and I hate it when you trash talk yourself.”

“Oh,” Stevie says. A part of her knows that her friends don’t think the things his father always tells her. But it’s still new to hear people say he’s not stupid, even if they don’t really think it, it can be a bit of a joke among their friends. Though Stevie has noticed Eddie and Robin haven’t been making it recently.

It’s a nice revelation.

“God, Stevie, you’re making it really hard to be disappointed at your self-care skills when you pull that cute face,” Eddie smiles.

“What?” Stevie squeaks, feeling how she blushes. Eddie can just say those things and it messes with him, because he probably doesn’t even notice he does it, but he says those things and they’re so validating. Stevie wants to be cute. And according to Eddie he is and that’s nice.

“There you do again,” Eddie groans. “Come on, Robbie, back me up.”

“You do look a bit like a puppy,” Robin agrees. “But more like a kicked puppy. Like, you are surprised by the fact that someone was nice and it’s a bit heartbreaking and also kind of makes me want to squeeze your face.”

“Stop,” he protests, blushing.

“Alright, alright,” Eddie laughs, before turning serious again. “But we really mean it when we say come to us, princess. We’re soulmates, right? We support each other. We want to support you, so why won’t you let us? We want to. Do you get that, Stevie, do you understand?”

His tone clearly demands an answer and though it makes Stevie uncomfortable, she’s also flustered and overwhelmed by the love for these two people. They want to care for her. It’s still crazy, no matter how many times they’ve shown him.

“Do you understand, sweetheart?” Eddie prompts, before Stevie can reply, finally processing that he’s not going to deny them something they want. Even if he’s not at the point where he understand why they would want to.

“I understand,” she says softly. “Thank you for caring.”

“Hey, no problem,” Eddie smiles. “That’s what friends are for.”

A small silence falls wherein they all just take a second to breathe. Stevie almost lets herself hope that they’re not going to mention the whole name thing.

Though, he can’t deny a small part wants them to ask. If they do, he won’t deny it, he can’t. She cares too much for them to be able to do that and she wants to tell them, really, she does. It just terrifies him and he doesn’t know how to bring it up.

But he’s only just accepting that Eddie and Robin are there for her, that they’re not going to leave him behind. And if they do after that, well, he doesn’t know if he’ll survive that. So, she still hopes that they’ve forgotten.

“Dingus,” Robin breaks their silence, looking like she’s picking her words carefully, which she doesn’t often do. “You said something else yesterday. About your name. Want to talk about that a bit more?”

Stevie is sure she must do a great impression of a deer in headlights, because Eddie puts a placating hand on his shoulder and says: “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to, sweetheart.” Eddie gives Robin a look. “We ask, because you seemed upset about it.”

Shamefully, Stevie looks down. This is going to be the moment of truth. She quickly glances around, she didn’t bring much since she fled here last night, so he can see his keys on the coffee table. They know how he likes to sit closest to the door, which means he has an easy escape should that prove necessary.

“Usually, I- I can handle it. Sorry for snapping yesterday, it’s not your fault I haven’t- I haven’t told you guys yet,” Stevie sighs, hyping himself up with little success. Fuck, he’s really doing this right now. Holy shit.

“Told us what?” Eddie says, sounding concerned when Stevie stays quiet for a moment. Robin behind him with anxious eyes.

“I’m- I’m not a boy,” he whispers. “I’m just not. I don’t like being Steve, I don’t want to be Steve, it’s not me. I like being Stevie, just Stevie. Not a boy, nor a girl. Just me.”

The silence is deafening.

Stevie doesn’t dare look up. She doesn’t want to see confusion turn into hate or disgust. Right now, he’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the explosion that’s bound to come. It was stupid for him to say anything.

A hand lands on her shoulder and she nearly jumps out of her skin, as she’s tugged to the side. Soon he’s wrapped up in the smell of weed, motor oil and sweat. Eddie. It takes him a moment to compute that Eddie is hugging her.

Fuck, Eddie is hugging him. He’s okay. They’re okay. Stevie is not being beaten up or insulted by friends today.

Relief floods through her and he clings to Eddie, unable to stop the tears. He just cries, soaking Eddie’s shirt, because he was so goddamn scared. But Eddie is hugging him and he’s pretty sure Robin is holding her hand from across the table.

It’s not the most comfortable position, but Stevie is pretty sure that not even the threat of a demogorgon could move him.

After a few long moments, sounds start to filter back in as she comes back to herself. She hears Eddie say: “We’re so proud of you for telling us. Thank you so much, Stevie. You did great. Just let it out. It must have been so scary. But you did it! You did it. We’re here for you. We’re so so proud that you told us.”

“Yeah, we love you,” Robin says squeezing his hand. “We want to see you happy and if this makes you happy, we support you. Thank you so much for trusting us with it.”

She pulls herself out of the hug to wipe the tears from his eyes with his sleeve. He lets out a wet chuckle and says: “Sorry, I just keep crying. Not the best company.”

“Don’t be silly, sweetheart,” Eddie says, aiding in wiping her face clean of tears. “You just came out, we all know how scary that can be. Not to mention the shit nights you’ve had.”

“You truly look like shit, Stevie,” Robin agrees, spoken like a true best friend. “You’re allowed to be sad is what I mean. That sounded a lot worse when I said it than in my head, because I was thinking about it more, like, you look like shit so you probably feel like shit, because life has been a little shit, you know. But when I said it, it was just mean. You know I’m blunt. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Robbie,” Stevie smiles at her. “I get it, thank you. Both of you.” He makes sure to look them both in the eye as she thanks them, because she truly means it.

“Of course,” Robin smiles back.

“Yeah, no problem,” Eddie agrees. “Is there anything else you want to change besides the name? Or people we can or can’t tell? Words that make you uncomfortable?”

Stevie ducks her head. He’s so relieved that they’re being cool and nice, but she has already discovered that she has difficulty talking about it. When he officially came out to Madame Tucker over the phone after experimenting, this was the hardest part.

However, it must be done. Stevie knows he’ll feel better after and she knows Eddie and Robin well enough to know that they’ll keep pushing if he doesn’t. They’re really adamant about making sure she’s comfortable.

“I- I don’t mind he/him, but I’ve also been using she/her in my head,” he stammers. “But either is fine, really. And- and I don’t like being referred to as a man or a boy or a girl or a woman, you know, those sort of terms. But what you’ve been doing is just fine, mostly. Like, I don’t mind the ‘sweetheart’ or ‘princess’ those have been kind of validating honestly, and ‘dingus’ is totally fine too.”

“That’s good to hear,” Eddie smiles, looking a bit proud of himself, which is honestly adorable.

“As for telling people, I don’t know,” Stevie shrugs. “The kids seemed okay with the whole bisexual thing, but this is a whole other ballpark, you know. Not to mention that none of us know what Joyce and Hopper think. For now, I’m just keeping it on the down low. Only you and Madame Tucker know.”

“The drag queen?” Eddie asks.

“Told you I get phone numbers,” Stevie smirks, before nodding: “She’s been very helpful. We talk on the phone.”

“So just not around anyone, like the kids, we can do that. Right, Eddie?” Robin says, looking a bit scared. “I mean, I have a motor mouth. I really don’t want to mess up, because I don’t want to hurt Stevie, like I would be the worst friend, person even, if I did that and what-”

“You’re not gonna out Stevie, okay,” Eddie cuts Robin off before she can spiral. “You wouldn’t do that to her. You know that, Robbie.”

A warmth fills Stevie’s chest at their words. There is such an easy acceptance, neither of them really missing a beat as they incorporate the new pieces of him into their life.

“Robs, don’t worry, you’re gonna be fine,” Stevie assures her, as she backs up Eddie. “You knew how to shut up even with Russians interrogating you and injecting you with truth serum. If you can do it in those circumstances, you can not tell the kids. You’re gonna be fine. Besides, you can keep using Stevie with them around. We can pass that off as just a nickname.”

Robin takes a deep breath. “You’re right. You’re right. I can do that,” she nods, almost as if she’s giving herself a pep-talk.

Eddie and Stevie meet gazes as they simultaneously turn to the other with a fond look, as if to ask ‘are you seeing this? Our soulmate is such a sweet dork’ and their fond look only turns into a grin as they see that the other agrees.

There’s a weight off his shoulders now that Stevie has told Eddie and Robin. They still love him, they’re still here.

She’s going to be okay.

It’s the best feeling and he lets himself bask in it as they continue drinking their coffee. Until Robin has to leave if she wants to get ready before her shift. Stevie chokes up a bit when she finds out Robin walked to Eddie’s bungalow just to be there for her.

He offers to drive her, but they find out he’s forgotten his glasses at home in his hurry to get to Eddie in the night. They scold her for being unsafe and Eddie drives Robin to her house to get changed before driving her to Family Video. Stevie promises to pick her up so she can hang around while the others play DnD later.

Eddie also drives Stevie to her own house. He asks Eddie if it’s okay to come back with him and just hang around until it’s time to pick up the kids, not yet wanting to be alone. Luckily, Eddie gets that and assures her it’s not a problem.

Hanging around Eddie has always been great, like he can be herself around him. But now, she feels even more free.

At his house, she picked up a pair of more light gray high-waist sweats and a pink cropped sweater, to give himself a figure he’s more comfortable with. It’s not like he feels the need to do something extreme, the dresses and skirts he has squirreled away from her mother’s closet are nice as is the makeup, but Stevie mostly wants to be comfortable. She found it can be the little things that validate him the most.

It’s a bit nerve wracking to change out of his day clothes that she’ll wear later when going out, but when he comes back into the room, Eddie only gives him an up and down, wolf whistling as he winks: “Looking good, princess.”

“Shut up,” she rolls her eyes, but he can’t deny that happy feeling in his chest at the words.

She doesn’t have much to do, but being alone has never been a good time for him and Eddie is more than happy with the company. They’re both a bit lonely like that with Stevie’s parents always away and Wayne working the night shift and having an opposite schedule. So hanging out together works in their favor.

Eddie, however, religiously keeps his notes away from Stevie, who likes being surprised too much to peak, though he gets it.

Still, as he lays there on the couch, listening while Eddie scribbles away at the table, he can’t help but say: “I changed my backup character. Remember when I asked you for a new sheet two weeks ago?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Eddie tells her, looking up from his writing.

“That wasn’t because I didn’t want to fuck with you,” Stevie admits. “Well, that too, but- uhm, I- I made a female backup.”

It’s terrifying to have that in the open and she hears a surprised noise from the table, something she pointedly doesn’t look at. He doesn’t want to see Eddie’s expressive and inquiring eyes right now, she tells those eyes too much.

“I don’t know if I ever want to play her, you know. After the bi thing I dropped last time, I don’t want them poking around that notion until I’m ready, but I like having it there. DnD is all fantasy, you know, I can still hide behind ‘it’s just a game’ and have it mean nothing,” he continues.

He sighs and fiddles with the hem of her shirt. Eddie is waiting for him to go on, sensing that he isn’t done, just needs a moment to gather her thoughts.

“And it’s not like I want to be a girl or some shit. I thought about it for a moment, but it’s not for me. Seems like a lot of work,” she says and Eddie snorts. “But everyone everywhere will always see me as a man. That’s just a fact. So having DnD character be a girl would kind of be like having a space where the opposite is true. It’s a nice fantasy to have, I guess.”

“DnD is all about fantasy,” Eddie agrees. “And the moment you feel comfortable with the kids knowing you can tell me and I’ll find a way to kill Sir Stephen, so you can switch.”

“That’s nice, thank you, Eds.”

“No worries. Do you want me to do anything during DnD? You know, about Sir Stephen, since he is very much a guy when you’re not.” Eddie is looking at him with questioning concerned eyes, now that he finally managed to scrounge up the courage to look back.

“Nah,” she shakes her head assuring Eddie. “I have come to live with Sir Stephen. I’ve been removing him from myself and what I would do a bit. It helps me view him as a character instead of a fantasy version of me.”

“Alright, that’s good,” Eddie smiles. “Tell me if it changes.”

“I will.”

“Can I ask about you backup?” Eddie asks. “Or do you want to keep your mystery lady to yourself for a little longer?”

Stevie shoots upright. He is really proud of her, okay, give him a break. She’s been dying to tell someone since he made the character, Madame Tucker just doesn’t get DnD (and it is frankly hilarious that he is in the position that Dustin was in back when Stevie first started babysitting the kids).

“Her name is Lady Stevie the Striking,” he excitedly tells Eddie. “She’s an elf barbarian and she is like the prettiest most ethereal person ever, I’m talking high elven noble blood in her veins, but she’s just so mad at the world. Because she wants to fight, but her parents didn’t let her because she’s supposed to be a lady and help in their political empire, but she went out anyway. She’s kind of disowned.”

And Stevie rambles on about Lady Stevie for little while. Glad that Eddie gets that it is nice if someone listens.

When she’s done talking Eddie is looking almost as excited as she is. “Holy shit, Lady Stevie sounds fucking epic, princess. That backstory alone gave me so many ideas. I’m usually not a DM that gets joy out of killing party members, but killing Sir Stephen will be delightful.”

“Maybe a bit cathartic, honestly,” Stevie pipes in happily, before sagging and sighing, “If I ever get the courage of getting him killed.”

“Hey, no pressure, if you never do that’s fine. You don’t owe anyone shit, okay,” Eddie says fiercely. “If you decide you won’t tell the kids, we’ll bully Robbie into a oneshot and you can play Lady Stevie the Striking there. Don’t you worry.”

“Fuck, you’re so nice about this,” Stevie chokes out, nearly crying again. “This is so much better than I ever expected. Thank you. Thanks, really.”

“I feel like respecting your identity is just basic human decency, but in today’s social climate, I get it. But still, it’s not a problem, Stevie. I do it with pleasure,” Eddie assures him. “Besides, I’d be a pretty shit soulmate if I didn’t.”

“Are you going to keep using the soulmate thing to bully me and get me to accept your care for the rest of time?” Stevie complains.

“Yup, better get used to it, sweetheart. You’re stuck with me,” Eddie grins, sticking out his tongue.

“What a nightmare,” Stevie swoons dramatically, though she doesn’t mean it in the slightest and both of them know it. The thought of being stuck with Eddie and Robin forever sounds like the greatest fucking thing ever.

When it’s time to pick up Robin and some of the kids, Stevie changes his clothes. The kids will all bike, save Will and Erica, so he’s swinging by the school beforehand to get them too. He’s already excited about tonight, glad to hang out with his twerps, plus Eddie and Robin.

Arriving at the school dims her mood somewhat. The kids with their bikes take off when Erica and Will can get to the car safely, though Dustin gives him a knowing look she can’t decipher and Mike glares, while Lucas elbows him.

All of this becomes even less clear when Will enters her car, thunder cloud above his head. Stevie asks if anything happened, but that only makes Will more moody as he ignores the two.

Stevie tries pushing but it doesn’t work and when they get to Family Video and Robin gets in already rambling about how boring shifts are without him and how much customers can suck, Will huffs and looks out of the window.

Robin gives Stevie a questioning look and she shrugs helplessly. Both turning a bit concerned, but they decide to stay quiet. Though neither can help it as they steal glances at the baby Byers the entire ride to Eddie’s.

Will slams the car door as he hurries out the moment Stevie has parked. Both Stevie and Robin jump at the sound and Stevie asks Erica: “Did anything happened today? At school maybe?”

Erica looks between them, before replying: “Nothing at school no.”

“At home then?” Robin pushes, knowing how Stevie worries.

“Is he okay?” Stevie asks.

“Nothing like that, lets just go before I get blamed for being late,” Erica says, getting out and not giving them more.

With slight apprehension Stevie and Robin follow her into the bungalow, where the others are already setting up. When they get in Dustin practically materializes in front of them and demands: “Why didn’t you tell me you were dating?”

Oh, fuck, the kids found out about that. Stevie forces himself to give off a relaxed posture and answers: “Because it’s none of your business and I knew you’d be insufferable about it.”

“You could have told me! I had to hear it from Lucas, who heard it from his mom, because she talked to Mrs. Wheeler, who had been to brunch with Mrs. Buckley,” Dustin pouts, looking a bit offended. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I do. I do trust you,” Stevie assures him, hating the position he’s in even if he put herself there. “I just want some semblance of privacy and I know that you’ve been dying to say ‘I told you so’ ever since you found out.”

“Well, I did tell you so,” Dustin shrugs, placated. “Like ages ago. At Starcourt, before the Russian elevator even.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Stevie rolls her eyes, giving a look to Robin, who nearly dies laughing at the smug kid, who couldn't be more wrong.

“So, how long have you been together? Who confessed? What was your first date like?” Dustin asks them.

They haven’t really thought about answers for that and both of them look at each other, pulling a blank. Panic sets in a bit. Luckily Eddie is right there and also in the know, so he calls out: “Oi, dipshits, this is not the interrogate Robbie and Stevie hour. We’re playing DnD, lets go. I put effort into this shit.”

“Yeah, it’s not about them right now,” Will spits, almost venomous and Stevie gets a sinking feeling in his stomach that he knows what this is about. He gives Eddie a look, who frowns back, neither of them looking forward to seeing how this will unfold.

Everyone does catch on, however, and drops the topic as they all settle down around the table, while Eddie begins the narration where they left off last time.

It’s a bit tense at first, but soon they’re all having fun. Will relaxes a bit, though he still doesn’t really engage with Stevie, who tries to let it go and have fun anyway. But that’s not really helped by Mike, who has decided to back Will’s foul mood and is a bit more vocal about it, sniping at her here and there.

Eddie shuts it down when it happens so it doesn’t get out of hand, but when it does happen it hurts a bit anyway.

They all see how it’s brewing and it comes to a head when they’re trying to get into the dungeon past some guards. Stevie tries to seduce one of them as a distraction, so the others can sneak by, a routine move at this point.

“Steve is flirting with a girl, we’re back to normal,” Will rolls his eyes as he scowls.

“What?” Stevie chokes out in surprise.

“Yeah, you’re so fucking happy with Robin apparently. Bit out of nowhere. And you can’t even keep that up, already flirting with some girl, just like that guy last time,” Will snipes as everyone in the table turns back to look at Stevie, wondering where this will go.

“It’s just a game,” Stevie tells him, panicking. “It’s not like I’m cheating on her.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. It's just a game. It's fucking fantasy. Not real. None of it is to you,” Will says angrily and it’s unclear if the watery eyes are from anger, hurt or both.

The words punch Stevie in the throat. She knows how much her support meant to Will at Halloween and the game before. He hadn’t realized the kid would see this as a betrayal and it hurts. He bared his soul to the kid and now it’s getting thrown back in his face, like she has faked it.

She wants to explain. Wants to tell Will that he’s still on his side, but she doesn’t dare. The last thing they need is the kids questioning his relationship with Robin. She needs it for safety. At least until they can move out. Not to mention that he doesn’t want to out Will to his friends, since she hasn’t heard of him coming out yet.

But still, even if he was really dating Robin that wouldn't mean he’s less bisexual. Less queer. He still gets it. It’s still her as well.

However, after this shit show, the last thing she wants to do is officially come out to all the little twerps. It would seem like a defense and with the mood everyone is in, he doesn’t want risk any of them saying something they don’t mean. Or do mean. Both of which will suck.

Luckily, Eddie steps in again, his hero this evening. He slams his hand on the table and points to Will as he says: “Stop that. Don’t talk to Stevie like that, Byers. I mean it. You’re being unreasonable and you’re in the wrong here.”

“You don’t get it,” Will snaps.

“I get that you’re in a foul mood and taking it out on Stevie. And he doesn’t deserve it, so cut it out right now,” Eddie tells him calmly, but with an edge in his tone.

“No! You don’t understand, none of you do. He said he was b-”

“Stop,” Eddie cuts Will of before he can out Stevie and spit more venom. “I do get it, Will. I do. I know exactly what’s happening in your brain, so I know that you don’t understand right now. This will always be just a game in the end. It’s great for escape and trying things, but it doesn’t have to mean anything unless you want it to.”

“You’re on his side now?” Mike asks, backing up Will. “You can’t play favorites.”

“Right now, maybe I am, because this is supposed to be fun. Fun,” Eddie snaps back. He rarely snaps at any of the kids. “I’m a flaming homosexual and I still play all the girls you flirt with, as well as the guys. That doesn’t make me less gay. Same goes for anyone else here. It is just a fucking game.”

And with that, the whole room falls deathly silent, all the kids looking at Eddie with wide eyes.

~~

A/N:

Oehh a cliff hanger, I don’t think I’ve done that in this work yet

Note: Outing anyone is never cool, no matter the circumstances and what horrible thing you think the other has done. Someone’s sexuality should never be weaponized against them. No matter how much I understand why Will felt betrayed, he will be told that wasn’t okay next chapter. This isn’t a dunk on his character, but he’s also a kid trying to find himself. He’s not going to be perfect about it.

Ngl, I hate talking about my gender to people and what does and does not make me comfortable, bc I hate the attention and talking about my feelings, so I’m giving Stevie the success I never had (like, I’m 90% certain my dad missed me coming out… twice now, bc I’m so bad at it… oops)

((I have a male DnD character, bc sometimes it’s just gender to play the opposite of your AGAB, even if you don’t have a gender yourself))

also for those wondering why Robin and Stevie won’t date for real bc now Stevie isn’t a man, I’m genderwise like Stevie but in a relationship I present myself on the women end (iew me as a woman) of the spectrum, for Stevie’s that’s a man, hope this helps <3

(also romantic Stobin creeps me out)

[devilsgatewayhq]

Name: Dean ‘Jagger’ MacNally Age: 60 Occupation: Bike Shop Owner in Eureka, CA Time living in Tonopah: He has been in Tonopah for the last month, he is visiting town, currently residing in Eureka, CA Neighborhood: Webster Village Gang Affiliation: President of the Sons of Silence - Eureka Charter Face Claim: Karl Urban

Biography:

Dean MacNally was born in a small Catholic infirmary on the outskirts of Dublin. When he was just four weeks old, his father abandoned the family, leaving his mother to raise three young children on her own. Growing up in poverty, Dean made the difficult to quit school against his mother's wishes at the age of 15 in order to assist his mother with whatever bills he could. Despite his strong Catholic faith, Dean could never find it in his heart to forgive his father for abandoning their family without a trace. By his eighteenth birthday, he had made the choice to leave Ireland behind for good. His oldest brother had already established a life for himself in a quiet Nevada town named Tonopah Valley. With the help of a friend he had met on his various encounters with the law, Dean was connected with someone who had been in expert in document forgery, and in no time had a one way ticket to America. Before turning twenty-one, Dean had found himself in trouble with the law more times than he could count. By his twenty-fifth birthday, he had landed himself in prison for eight months, serving a sentence for a felony drug offense. He found a home in Tonopah Valley, the same place his brother had called home prior. Here, he met Sonny Walker and with the help of Michael Monroe, Serkan Tezel, and five others the Sons of Silence was founded. The motorcycle club ignited a deep passion for Harley-Davidson, and he spent his time and effort helping it become what it now is today. It was in this new chapter of his life that he crossed paths with Allison "Ally" McAbee, and they immediately fell head over heels for one another. Dean and Ally wasted no time tying the knot in an intimate courthouse ceremony. Rowan was their first-born child, and shortly after, they were blessed with twins, Riley and Maeve, followed by the arrival of Aiden a few years later. Dean cherished the role of being a father even more than being a member of the Sons of Silence. It allowed him to become the father he had always wanted for himself.

Over time, Ally received a call from her father, delivering the heartbreaking news of her mother's passing. He needed help managing the small family diner her parents had owned for over fifty years. Without hesitation, Ally agreed, and Dean supported her. They made the decision to relocate to Ally's hometown in Eureka, California. All four of their kids were grown, and the only one who agreed to move had been their youngest, Aiden. Dean, in turn, secured a transfer to the Eureka charter, gradually working his way up to earning the president patch. However, upon learning of the growing tensions brewing back in Tonopah, he, along with a few other Eureka members, decided to come to the aid of the Tonopah charter, offering help and manpower wherever it was needed.

Headcannon:

His best friend was Cole’s uncle, Michael.

He was Cole Monroe’s sponsor as a prospect.

His favorite word to use is cunt, no reason.

He goes by Jagger, a nickname he earned while in prison.

Ally is the absolute love of his life, and he would do anything for her.

He loves being a father more than anything else in the world