#threw myself at my bed and had to take a 3 minute break

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box Series— Quinn Hughes Edition (Fifteen)

Hughes Palooza Edition

SEASON MASTERLIST

previous: fourteen

hi i’m back! i had to take a much needed break <3 trying to post every game when i was so behind got to me and it wasn't fun to watch anymore. because of this, i’ll only be posting special games (like when the guys play each other), record breaking games, and reslly any game i have the motivation to (like if it's chaotic and quinn/trev get penalties). i’m not pushing myself anymore i hope y'all understand🤍

and because there was a lot of tense feelings after this game for devils fans, i decided to make this post *mostly* about the millers

JANUARY 6, 2023

yourusername

liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes, and 18,439 others

yourusername welcome back to my postgame penalty box update show: hughes palooza MILLER EXTRAVAGANZA EDITION!

THE colin miller, number 24 on the devils, number 6 in my heart (his number on the stars iydk), scored not only his first goal of the season, 🚨BUT HIS SECOND GOAL, TOO🚨 pop OFF step dad!!! congrats on being third star of the game!

and OUR miller, mr. jt, ceo of shaking his head at my nonsense (he loves me), scored two goals 1 minute and 4 seconds apart!

WE GOT A MILLER DICK TRICK EVERYBODY! two from jt, and two from colin! 2 + 2 = 4!!

✨now for the accomplishments✨

my best friend, my lifeline, loser of the postgame mario kart competition, quintin jerome hughes, has best the canucks franchise record for most multi point games by a defenseman last night with his 69th (😏) game! I'M SO UNBELIEVABLY PROUD OF YOU, HUGGY BEAR! this is the second record (that isn't his own) he's broken this season, and we're not even halfway through! he also has the most points from all defenseman in the league currently! (10th overall!)

and demmer had his 100th career win tonight! we love a milestone!

and luke played, too! he was definitely there!

i’m so proud of the valiant effort and fight everyone on the ice put into the game tonight! especially colin! i love colin! go colin! i’ll be mailing jack your first goal trophy!

happy miller extravaganza everyone! xoxo, sissy🤍

edit: luke is the rookie defenseman points leader and he threw a fit so i’m adding this so he'll stop being annoying. proud of you, lukey poo!

edit: petey also scored twice and was first star of the game! and he also whined so i had to include this! yay petey!

tagged _quinnhughes, lhughes_06, colinmiller1029, and j.tmiller9

view all 406 comments

lhughes_06 i feel personally victimized by this post

yourusername personally, i think i victimized other people more

_eliaspettersson @/j.tmiller9 she's talking about you

yourusername @_eliaspettersson i’m going to victimize you.

_eliaspettersson @/yourusername you did by not including me

lhughes_06 @/yourusername we deserve justice

yourusername @/lhughes_06 @_eliaspetterson fine you cry babies! happy?

lhughes_06 good enough

_eliaspettersson i’ll take it

yourusername you two are lucky i love you🙄

lhughes_06 aww i love you, too, sissy

_eliaspettersson love you!

user17 MILLER DICK TRICK HA

_quinnhughes my pictures are way better than i thought they'd be

yourusername you beat another record so i decided to be nice <3 i love you!

_quinnhughes i love you, too

lhughes_06 @_quinnhughes she was mean to me

_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 that sounds like a you problem

lhughes_06 @_quinnhughes @/yourusername get out of my apartment

yourusername @/lhughes_06 "i'm not letting you go back to california. you're moving in and we're getting bunk beds"

lhughes_06 @/yourusername rat

yourusername @/lhughes_06 mwah!

jackhughes we would've won if i was there

yourusername oh look another cry baby

jackhughes we would've!

yourusername your team came close without you! and you can't prove shit! be happy for your brother! i'm literally taking care of you! i will leave you alone to die!

jackhughes @_quinnhughes good job

yourusername good boy

_quinnhughes @/jackhughes thanks

user8 okay but they would've won with jack...

yourusername hi! the devils put in an insane amount of effort and came back from a three goal deficit at the beginning of the third. the canucks basically doubled their amount of offensive zone time and yet the devils still pushed through all their adversity and was so close in the end. you're dismissing all of the other players great work and play by claiming that just jack alone would've changed that. yeah, he probably would've made an impact, but the canucks have been in the top ten of the league all season and nico daws still held his own pretty well and stopped a good portion of their shots against a team that was top of the league for a hot second and was 5th coming into the game. every devils player played to the best of their abilities and there were some unlikely heroes, another thing you're dismissing. jack is my brother and i love him, but he is not the only player on the devils. it's a team. a team that came so close in the end with almost half of the amount of sog. don't dismiss the rest of the team. be proud of them all.

user81 preach!!

j.tmiller9 i thought you loved me

yourusername i do! why would you think otherwise?!

j.tmiller9 i got the worst photos out of everyone!

yourusername well i couldn't do it to colin! and quinn beat a record so i had to be mostly nice! and they barely showed luke proof of life! somebody had to be the one to give good content! congratulations! it was you! i love you🩵

j.tmiller9 you could've been nice to everyone! you're such a sweet girl!

_quinnhughes @/j.tmiller9 she's deranged and this is how she shows her love

j.tmiller9 @_quinnhughes do i need to show her how to love in other ways?

_quinnhughes @/j.tmiller9 you can try but it probably won't work

jackhughes @/j.tmiller9 it's best to accept it

lhughes_06 @/j.tmiller9 this just means she loves you so much and trusts that you won't leave her for doing this

j.tmiller9 @/yourusername i love you, too! i'm here for you!

jackhughes @/j.tmiller9 she's emotional and under my shirt but she says "i love him so much he's one of the best people i’ve ever met and i'm buying him a present for being so nice"

user96 quinn hughes beat a record to make up for being the only hughes that didn't score last game

colinmiller1029 thank you! but i’m a little confused

yourusername COLIN! STEP DAD!

colinmiller1029 step dad?

jackhughes @/yourusername sissy, you're supposed to ask before you give people father figure titles

jackhughes @/colinmiller1029 she's a little obsessed with you i'm so sorry

yourusername @/colinmiller1029 hi i know we've only met twice but will you be my step dad? i already have a dad (troy terry) and then a real dad so your duties aren't that bad!

colinmiller1029 duties?

jackhughes @/colinmiller1029 dealing with her nonsense is the only thing. it'll be pretty easy for you since you were a dallas star. she started a gang with wyatt, ty, and thomas

colinmiller1029 @/yourusername sure! but as your step dad, i should probably tell you that you shouldn't start gangs

yourusername @/colinmiller1029 it's a little too late for that, sorry! it was delly's idea!

colinmiller1029 that sounds about right

jackhughes @/colinmiller1029 and that is what your duties are! see? easy enough

user56 LUKE LOOKED SO GOOD DURING THE ANTHEM FUCK

trevorzegras come home the kids miss you

jamie.drysdale @/yourusername mason and i are the kids

yourusername @/trevorzegras @/jamie.drysdale soon! i promise! i’m getting some much needed brother time! (send help jack's whiney)

trevorzegras have fun! i love you, forever!

yourusername you're the worst! i love you, always!

jamie.drysdale mwah!

[snitchcrimsonwrites]

Maybe pt. 2

Pairing: Norm MacLean X Female Reader or OC

Former friends to a relationship?

Life is pretty easy in Vault 33 until you're trying to rekindle a former friendship and raiders attack. Now, our main characters are trying to navigate newfound feelings all while undercovering the mysteries of Vault 33. Stay tuned. Follows the main storyline of season 1; some events may be reordered for plot.

Some of the conversation feels a little clunky, but we want these two to make up and move on, right?

Part 1 Here Part 7 Here Part 12 Here

Part 3 Here Part 8 Here

Part 4 Here Part 9 Here

Part 5 Here Part 10 Here

Part 6 Here Part 11 Here

Norm hates this feeling. Laying in bed, he can feel his stomach twisted in knots. This gut-wrenching feeling has kept him up most of the night, realizing he’s got to make a decision. As far as he’s deduced from his sleepless night of pondering, he’s got two primary options. 

Option A. He pretends yesterday’s conversation with (Y/N) never happened, and they continue exchanging small talk, pleasantries, and those awkward neighbor half-waves until the end of time. The scaredy cat in him prefers this option. It avoids confrontation and maintains the status quo they’ve held for the last couple of years. It is simple and lacks any unnecessary entanglements. Things just go on according to plan. He’s done it before, it can easily be done again. 

OR he can proceed with Option B to confront (Y/N) about what she said in the cafeteria yesterday. This option has sparked his curious side. Cause that entire interaction was odd, wasn’t it? Norm had so many questions, but are they worth pursuing? Opening that can of worms could lead to more problems, more decisions, and fewer answers. No. He needed to know. Curiosity might just kill the cat, but at least he’d be able to sleep at night. 

(Y/N) worked in one of the maintenance labs as Vault 33’s official Pip-Boy Programmer—one of the perks of doing well on the Vault G.O.A.T exams. Norm was eager, planning to stop by the lab first thing before he headed to his desk. Unless someone had major issues with their Pip-Boy, they’d probably have the lab to themselves that early. Alright, it was decided. He threw off the certified Vault-Tec comforter, climbed out of bed, and headed toward the shower to get ready. 

—--------------------

You were already at your desk, pretending to be occupied, when Norm MacLean appeared in the doorway of the lab, leaning on the doorframe and fiddling with his Pip-Boy. Truth be told, you were half-expecting him, especially after yesterday. But maybe not this soon. You were hoping he’d stew on this decision for at least a day.

“Good Morning, Norm. Pip-Boy on the fritz?” you ask, knowing full well that the reason he was here had nothing to do with his Pip-Boy. Even if his Pip-Boy was malfunctioning, Norm was more than capable of taking care of that repair without your assistance. 

“Yeah, I think I’m having some software issues. Do you think you could do a diagnostic run for me?” 

You smile, “Of course. If you wouldn’t mind taking it off and filling out the repair form, I can start right away.” 

He complies, handing you his Pip-Boy and taking the clipboard with the attached Vault-Tec paperwork. As he starts on the paperwork, he estimates he’s got roughly twenty minutes of fake errand cover to work with. 

You attach the Pip-Boy to the diagnostic cable running from your computer, load up the program, and wait. “It will just be a few minutes to get a full picture of what’s going on,” you reassure him. 

“That’s fine. My supervisor knows I was having a few issues with it this morning,” Norm says, barely looking up from the clipboard. 

The two of you fall into awkward silence, neither wanting to be the first to break it. 

You relent. “Hey, I’m sorry if yesterday made you uncomfortable. I know we haven’t spoken much at all lately, but I heard about what happened from Reg, and I just couldn’t stop myself from coming over. It wasn’t right of me to use your situation as my catharsis, especially since we had that failing out. I should have respected that. We can continue on as we were, friendly neighbors in the same Vault.” The words stuck in your throat on the way out. That’s not what you wanted, but if that’s what Norm came here to say, better get it out of the way sooner. 

Oof, now he felt terrible. Norm should have known you’d apologize for thinking you made him uncomfortable. That’s your nature. You’ve always been empathic to the needs of your friends. He needs to come clean. 

“I never wanted that.” 

I’m sorry. What did he say? He never wanted that. To stop being friends? Your brain was going a mile a minute, swirling with questions, too many to vocalize at once. Thankfully, Norm elaborated before you even tried. 

“I never wanted to stop being friends, but the closer we got to graduation, the more effort you seemed to put into exams and passing, being the best in the class. You had ambitions and goals, and (Y/N) you could achieve them. You didn’t need to be dragged down by the Black Sheep of Vault 33.” He tries not to think about his label, and usually, it doesn’t bother him. But right now,  it weighs on him; it feels laminated across his forehead, defining him. 

“Norman,” you manage to sigh out. “I’ve always admired that about you. That’s what I meant yesterday. I wish I had the confidence to act that way before now; I’m sure I’d be much happier. After my dad passed away, I wasn’t sure how I was going to navigate,” you gesture to the air around you, "everything. I was on my own, and subconsciously, I picked up on the reality that the better I did in that classroom or for the Vault, the more control I thought I could have over my life.” 

She didn’t need to explain. He knew exactly what she meant. It is kind of an unspoken rule of Vault 33. Obviously, those who did well on their exams got matched into the most coveted jobs within the vault, but those placements also impacted other situations. Those higher-achieving students had more say in when and to whom they were married, more access to leadership positions, and the list goes on. 

“I had no idea how my life would go, but at least I knew I wanted a hand on the steering wheel. I mean, I’m not sure if I actually want to be married or if that’s part of the programming to be in a relationship, but whatever happens, I want it to at least feel as though I made the decision." You pause and add, "Seriously, could you imagine if I got stuck having to marry Chad Johnston?” 

Norm snorted. The juxtaposition of his former classmates as a married couple was hilarious. Those two couldn’t be more opposites. “Well, at least he’d have someone to teach him to read,” he managed between laughs. 

This garnered a snicker from you as well. “Haha, you’re hilarious,” you say in the most sarcastic tone you can muster. “So, what do you think? Can we act like adults and finally move on? Or do we double down on whatever self-destructive tendencies we’ve got going on here?” 

“Hmmm, I don’t know about you, but I’m really leaning into that second one.” He pauses and puts his hand to his chin. “On the other hand, it might be nice to have lunch with someone I’m not related to.”

DING. “Vault-Tec Pip-Boy diagnostic program is now complete, no issues were detected.” 

You both smile. “Well, it looks like the software issues seemed to have resolved themselves.” 

“Isn’t technology incredible?” Norm asks as he stands to leave. 

[neo404]

I’m not sure if you would be comfortable with writing this but I was thinking about how nick finds out his bf cuts and it’s rly sad but cute. It’s ok if ur not comfortable though

Kiss it better.

Summary: Nick find you on your bathroom after relapsing.

Tw: SH, mention of blood and a blade.

Note: I didn't wanted to make this too graphic, so it isn’t, please if this makes you feel bad in any way dont read it, be safe and take care<3

I look down at the floor, my heart aches and I cant cry anymore. I hear my phone ring for the 17th time and I feel worse, Im the worst boyfriend, Im the worst.

I hear the door of my bathroom opening up and I see someone kneeling in front of me.

"Baby... no." I cant look at him in the face, I feel weak and embarrased, Nicks voice breaks when he speaks. "Stay here, don't move."

Nick has always been careful around me, he knows me better than I do. We have grown together, and when we started dating I got better, better enough to not be a danger to myself, I still had pretty shitty days, but he was there. I don't know what happened today, I just couldnt anymore.

"Im back." He whispers, Nick sits besides me and gently grabs my arm, I shut my eyes in pain, he apologizes and starts patting a wet cotton over my wrist.

"Im sorry."

"Dont be."

"Im sorry."

Nick patched me up, he kissed my hand and on top of my bandages. I feel my eyes water again, his lips kiss below my eye catching a falling tear. Nick helps me walk to my bed, he even helps me change clothes, he makes me wear one of the shirts he leaves here 'just in case'. I sit on the bed and wait for him, I hear him move around in the bathroom, I know he is cleaning up a bit, he defenitly threw away the blade and he is probably searching for more. After a few minutes Nick comes out, he turns off the light and closes the door.

When he sits beside me I hug him tightly, he hugs me back, I bury my face on the crook of his neck and he kisses my head, both of his big arms making me feel secure.

"Im sorry." I cry again.

"Dont be. Please, dont be. It's not your fault, please dont do it again, I know your cant promise that but... please." His voice breaks and I know he is crying too, I feel terrible for making him feel this way.

"I wont, Im sorry."

"I love you. I love you. You are all I want and more, I want to help, please dont ignore me when you feel bad, im here."

"I know, im sorry."

"Say something else, i cant hear you say that again."

"So-... Can you kiss me?"

"Yes. Where? Tell me how, tell me how can I make you feel better." I move my head up, out foreheads are touching, his watery blue eyes lock with mine.

"Kiss me until I fall asleep." I whisper. Nick nods. He kisses my lips softly, so caring and gently like he was an artist and I was his greatest work. He laid me down on my bed, covered me with my blanket and laid down besides me. He kissed my lips again, so gentle and caring, lips before tongue, just like the movies, but without the acting, it was real. I wrapped one arm around him and he pulled me closer, he then started to pepper kisses on my wer cheeks, on my nose, eyebrows, jawz ears, everywhere his lips could reach.

His low whispers and kisses calms me down, my eyes close even when I fight it back, I fall asleep on his chest. He doesn't let go of me, his arms hold me together like gold holds broken porcelain, his lips comforted me like death to the hurt.

Taglist: @freshloveforthefit @shywolfapricotfan @sturnphilia @matty-bear @thenickgirl @stvrniolvsp @paige05 @soursturniolo @miloisdone1 @teenagetrash00 @lovely-calypso @h3arts4harry @malirosee

[lemonnsss]

Moral of the Story pt.2

Warnings: cheating, illusions to sex, angst, not BETA'D we die like men.

A/N: It's finally here! Sorry for making y'all wait two extra weeks, enjoy!

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Taglist: @vicmc624, @mostlymarvelgirl, @yvonneeeee, @beetlejuicesupremacy, @moonlightreader649, @whattheduckisupkyle, @chrisevans-realwife, @nekoannie-chan, @mrsbarnes32557038, @imyourbratzdoll

Word count: 1.2k

Within a few days, I'd moved across the country. Even though anyone from Xavier's could fly over without warning, I thought it would be good for me. I wanted to escape Jean and the heartache she brought with her. Jean had everything. I had left, she had Logan, and I'm sure she would find a way to manipulate Scott again. Just like always done.

Given the circumstances, I wasn't looking forward to my return as a teacher. I had worked as a secretary for a lawyer through college to be able to pay for tuition, and I decided that would be my best bet.

I sat in my bed at the hotel, craning my neck at my laptop screen. Finding a job here was a lot harder than I had anticipated. After a few hours, I had finally found a decent opening. It was a higher-level position at a conglomerate major enough for even me to have heard of. I suppose it's not shocking how much the former CEO is always in the news. A fact that makes sense with the understanding that almost every eligible lady threw herself at him and, oh, how could I forget, one of his board members and most trusted advisors had tried to kill him. Twice. 

I set up the meeting for the day after tomorrow, fearing that the next day would be filled with an intense migraine, a common side-effect of driving past 2 A.M. trying to make it to California in the shortest time possible. I got up, placed my computer on the provided desk, plugged it in, and begrudgingly moved to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

The next day came, and for the second time this week, I'd been right in the type of way I loathe. When I got up, I could barely move, my muscles aching after spending the past few days stuck in my car, only taking a few long breaks to get some rest and about a half dozen times each day for food, drinks, and the restroom. Changing into something comfortable, I left my hotel room. The search for a decent coffee shop now beginning.

After about half an hour, I found a place that looked decent enough. I walked in, and it felt like all eyes were on me. The feel of burning gazes, the sudden urge to make myself as small as possible, and the waves of dread crashing down on me. My symptoms of anxiety. An all too familiar feeling. I looked up at the menu, order already in mind. 

 “Hi! I’ll get a hazelnut latte with almond milk if you have it. Oh, and it says on the menu that there’s a white chocolate scone. I’ll have one of those as well.”

 “Okay, an almond-hazel-latte with a white scone. Who’s it for?”

 “Uh, Kyrie.”

 “Okay, Kai. Someone’ll call when your order’s done.”

 “Okay, thank y-“

 “Please, go find a seat.”

I backed away awkwardly. Slightly raising my arms, hands up in thumbs up. I walked away, putting my arms down, looking for a table to work at.

To no surprise, most tables were empty. For those occupied, their occupants were dressed in semi-professional attire, almost definitely catching up before going to work; the separation between their lives and my own shifted into something all the more evident. 

After about ten minutes, a barista called for the fake name I had given them. I got up and grabbed my order.

I sat at a table away from the windows and took out my laptop. I opened my email, checking for any new correspondents, to see almost 200 new emails, over half of which were from Logan and the other teachers of Xaviers. I went to Logan's profile, blocked him, and used the search bar to delete his previous messages. I don't need to read the pity speech of someone who doesn't value me as even a human being.

I scrolled through and saw an email from Scott, an unusual occurrence for him. I clicked to open it but didn't get the chance to read it, the screech of someone pulling at the table's other chair making it exceptionally difficult.

“Why are you- why did you sit down?”

 “I’m hiding from my bodyguard who is very determined to stay aware of my whereabouts. Even if he thinks it’s me sitting with you. He won’t interrupt our conversation. So, what's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" said a man with dark brown hair in an expensive-looking suit, "You're new around here aren't you?"

Great. Preppy, rich white guy hiding from his bodyguard, the horror. I laid my head on my hand and took a sip of my coffee.

 "And how would you know if I was? My attitude, my dress, perhaps an unusual drained look plastered on my face." A cheeky tone in my voice. It didn't matter if I was exhausted; this could be fun.

 "I was going to say your accent, but sure, let's go with one of those."

 "What do I get?" I took a bite of my scone. It wasn't as good as I had hoped but not far from what I had expected.

 "I'm sorry, pardon?" Moved his torso to face me.

 "What do I get if I don't rat you out?"

"You get a conversation with me, not something afforded to most." He leaned back.

The door rings. A bigger man in a suit with short, curly hair, a goatee, and sunglasses walks in. The man in front of me gives me a slightly urgent stare.

"I want a favor. Anything, anytime. Within reason, of course."

"Okay, fine; that works for me, just well, you know help." His voice was now a low whisper.

"Pleasure doing business with you," I say as I grab him by the tie, pulling him into a kiss. After a few seconds, I pull away slightly. I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on his supposed bodyguard. The man in question was looking the other way, an almost abashed look on his face.

"Wow, I was not expecting that."

"I'd recommend getting used to it, sweetheart."

His bodyguard took a final look around the room, figuring his client was somewhere else. Just as he entered he left, without a single word.

Hearing the door close he leaned back stretching almost, "So, what do you want? Money, political support, a fun time maybe. I mean with the kiss you gave me I would think the last of which."

"I'll pass. I just moved here, and I need a job. So, If my interview tomorrow goes to shit, your company or whatever you do is the backup now. Congrats!" My voice was now full of sarcasm. 

"Hand me your phone, now. Don't be shy." I opened and closed my hand repeatedly to affirm my statement. 

"Pushy, are we?" He sat up lightly and pulled out the latest iPhone. I should have expected that. I grabbed it and slid the lock screen open.

"Really? You don't have a password? Mr.," I paused with the new knowledge of who this man was, "Mr. Stark. Know what? I'll call in that favor right about now."

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for letting out our* indoor cat?

i (24 they/them) live with my mother (51 she/her) and my sister (29 she/her), altho both of us have moved out and lived on our own, but moved back into our childhood home due to economic/health stuff, mostly caused by the pandemic

during the time living on her own, my sister has gotten a dog and two cats. while we all love them and take care of them, i would be lying if my mother and i didn't expect her to, and be annoyed when she isn't, be their primary caretaker

both my sister and myself are against outdoor cats. i dont think its safe for the cat or the local ecosystem, and she agrees. one cat however does not care for our opinons, and tries to escape by any means, having learned to open doors, both with normal handles, and the garden ones, and we had to start locking everything up even when people are at home. due to his tenacity, he is always wearing a collar now, has been microchipped, and is up to date on all outdoor cat vaccinations just in case he does slip away

before you say we should take him on walks — we tried but he starts thrashing so violently in his harness he breaks out of it and runs off. trying to tire him out at home hasn't really been working, cuz he just doesn't want to play with us in the limited space — he likes getting chased

the issue is. i have migraines that have gotten much worse over the past year. i finally started medication about two weeks ago, but apparently it will only start showing any results after 2-3 months

one of the ways the cat tries to get us to let him out is by screaming bloody murder. i think you can guess where this is going

i asked my sister to take him to her room, and she has, but 1) we share a wall so it was still painful, and 2) she works from home, and after about 20 minutes she threw him out and said that sorry, but she just cant have him there. her door locks. mine doesnt. so even if i close the door he will open them and stand by my bed meowing as loud as he can

i was having a bad one. i-have-broken-a-bone-and-this-is-worse bad one. extreme photosensitivity and double vision, sounds hurting, nausea. honestly looking back at it, i probably shouldve called emergency services it was that bad. but i obviously havent been thinking clearly, and all i wanted was for the sound to STOP. so i let him out and went back to being miserable in a dark room

usually when he slips out, we tell my sister immediately, but i didn't. i guess she assumed he gave up. she found out when he showed up at her window couple of hours later

my sister is obviously majorly pissed at me. mam grew up with barncats, so she thinks cats should be allowed to come and go, but since its my sisters cat, she respects him being indoors — but shes annoyed by the racket, and thinks that its on my sister to find a solution, and being mad at me for this is her own problem. i feel really bad bc i really do think that letting hinm out like this is dangerous for him, but i genuinely felt like my head was going to explode

What are these acronyms?

[earthtoharlow]

Sunday Kind of Love

Chapter 3

AN: hope you enjoy 😉

Previous chapters

I rifle through piles of toys and stuffed animals on the floor. Brooklyn is gonna be late. It’s Wednesday and we have been doing good for the past week making sure we left the house for school on time.

“Brooklyn!” I yell. Where the hell are they, I always put them in the same place; the basket near the door.

“Brooklyn!” I yell again as I walk down the hallway to her room. I poke my head in quickly and see my daughter laying on her stomach watching cartoons on her bed.

“Honey, if we don’t leave in the next 3 minutes, you’re gonna be super late to school.” Brooklyn turns her attention away from the tv and looks at me “but momma, the show is just getting to the good part!”

I ignore her and a scramble to get her shoes and socks on. “I know baby, but we have the dvd remember. We can watch this episode anytime. Now, have you seen momma’s car keys? I can’t find them anywhere and we’re really gonna be late.”

I look up and see Brooklyn with her arms crossed with a pout on her face. “Please, Brooklyn. Please help your momma out.”

“They’re on the kitchen table, you threw them down after we came back from the store”

“Perfect, come on let’s go” I darted out of the room in a complete fluster and found my keys sitting right on the table, exactly where she said I left them. “Hiding again” I huffed to myself. I slung Brooklyn’s backpack on one arm and grab her hand as we leave the house. We’re gonna be so late.

I was driving in silence for a few minutes before I heard Brooklyn speak from the backseat. “Can we listen to some music?” I look at her through the mirror and nod my head.

As I turn on the radio, the opening chords of “First Class” by Jack Harlow comes on. Just as I was about to turn the station, I noticed Brooklyn in the back nodding her head along and shaking her fingers.

“And I can put you in (first class, up in the sky)…”

I tap my fingers along the steering wheel and sing softly to the rest of the song. Soon we were both giggling and singing along to the radio as we pulled up to the school. I looked at the clock and noticed we made it with 5 minutes to spare. I quickly unbuckle Brooklyn from her car seat and walk her into the preschool. I walk her to the front door and bend down to her height.

“Ok give momma kisses, I promise to be here at the same time as I always am to pick you up.” I told her softly before I started messing with the edges of her hair making sure it was in place.

“Mom! Stop it!” Brooklyn whines before holding her pinky out for me to grab. I kissed our joined fingers and whispered “I love you, Lyn. Have a good day”

“I love you too, bye!” Brooklyn says before she runs off to class before she ends up late. I turn with a sigh before heading out the school and make my way back to my car so I can start my own work at home.

——————————————————————————-

“So...have you texted her?” Urban turned away from the game for a moment to look over at Jack. “What?” he questioned him before continuing to play 2K

“Dude, don’t play dumb, you know, the girl with the kid who you haven’t stopped talking about since Sunday?”

“What?! I haven’t been talking about her all week!” He huffed. “Yeah sure, buddy!” There was silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

“Should I text her? I mean I don’t want to be a bother.” Urban said nervously. Jack pausing the game so he could look at his friend.

“She wouldn’t have given you her number if she didn’t want you to reach out to her. She even told you she works from home. She’s interested or at least wants to get to know you.” Jack tells Urban before picking up the controller again

“I guess you’re right.”

“Wait...what did you say” “I’m not saying it again”

“Hold on—“

“Shut up.”

It was noon when I decided to take a break from my computer. Being a freelance Graphic Designer had its perks but staring at the computer all day long can really hurt your eyes. I push back from my desk and grab my phone. I always put it on do not disturb while I’m working. I looked down and was shocked to see I had a text from Urban.

Urban: hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight? Maybe go see a movie or something?

Urban: and of course little miss Brooklyn is invited

I smile as I read his message. I felt giddy at the thought of hanging out with him somewhere other than the ice cream shop.

Y/N: I would love too!

I bite my lip wondering if I should invite him to Brooklyn and I “The week is almost over, let’s have a movie night” It wouldn’t hurt to have another person join in on our fun. Something about Urban makes me trust him. I don’t get bad vibes from him like I did….I shake my head before I could even start to think about Brooklyn’s father. I quickly send Urban another text.

Y/N: I have an idea, how about you come over and join our weekly movie night we do? There will be drinks and popcorn! It’s Brooklyn’s night to pick so I totally understand if you aren’t in the mood to watch a Disney movie lol :)

I nervously toss my phone after sending the text. I tried to keep myself busy by trying to get back to work but nothing was stopping my mind from spinning. Maybe, it was too soon to invite him over. I mean, I’m just a stranger. He wouldn’t have texted me if he thought I was a creep. Maybe. I mean…he is white. Before I could stress myself out any further, I hear my phone ding. I quickly grab my phone and see it’s a reply from Urban.

Urban: You had me at popcorn, I would love to join. Should I bring anything special?

Y/N: No, I’m a pro at this. You just bring yourself!

Y/N: . Actually, I would bring a blanket and maybe a pillow. Brooklyn likes to hog all the cover!

Urban: Sounds perfect, I can’t wait.

Y/N: Me too, come around 5:30. I’ll see you then :)

I sent him my address before putting my phone back on silent so I could finish more work before I had to pick up Brooklyn. Tonight is going to be fun.

—————————————————————————

“Mommy hurry! We have to get the fort set up before he gets here! Everything has to be perfect!” Brooklyn whines as she begins trying to drag the kitchen chairs in the living room

“Baby it’s not even 5 yet, we have plenty of time. I promise.” I tell her before helping her with the chairs.

“Mr. Urban could show up early and we won’t have anything ready! That would be super...super no I got it! It would be super embarrassing!!” Brooklyn says with a huff and pushes her freshly washed hair out her face.

“Let’s take a deep breath and calm down, everything will be fine. Why don’t you go figure out what movie you wanna watch while I set up the fort.” I tell her, she nods her head and bounces off to find a movie. “Crazy girl” I muttered before I started grabbing all the pillows off the couch.

I was starting to pop the popcorn when there was a knock on the door. Before I could leave the kitchen, tiny footsteps ran past me. “Wait a minute young lady, what did I say about answering doors without me?”

“Sorry I’m just so excited!” “Me too Lyn, me too.”

I take a deep breath and reach for the doorknob. I open the door and there stands Urban dressed in joggers and a dark colored hoodie.

“Hey, uh I brought some candy. I hope that’s okay, I just figured you can’t have a movie night without candy. “ Urban says holding up the bags of candy

I smiled at him and let him inside. “Well it’s a good thing everyone in this house loves eating candy, good job.” Before he could respond back, Brooklyn was tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. Urban bends down to her height so he could make eye contact.

“Mr. Urban! I’m so happy you’re here, do you wanna go check out the fort?” She says grabbing his hand. He looks up at you with a look of confusion and mouths “fort?” but you give nothing away as you just give him a smile. He turns back to Brooklyn, “lead the way, kid!”

Brooklyn giggles and begins tugging him towards the living room. Urban stops wide eyed as he sees the pretty big pillow fort in the room. “This is amazing, Brooklyn! Did you do this all by yourself?” She starts to sway shyly next to him before shaking her head. “No momma, helped me”

“You guys did such a great job! Wow” Urban turns to me and gives a smile. “Thank you for inviting me.”

“It’s no problem, how about you guys get settled in while i grab the popcorn and then we can get comfortable and start the movie?”

As you were walking back to the living room you paused as you heard Urban and Brooklyn talking

“So what movie are we watching tonight?” I heard Urban ask Brooklyn

“Only the greatest movie in the world! Moana!” Brooklyn exclaims. “Moana? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.” Brooklyn then lets out a small gasp. “what?! Mr. urban that’s crazy talk!” Urban lets out small chuckle

“Well it’s a good thing I’m here tonight to watch it with you and your mom.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna love it! Soon it’s gonna be your favorite movie too!”

Taking that as my cue to join, I get the movie setup and start to make my way inside the pillow fort. I was surprised to see Brooklyn sitting so close to our guest. If she got any closer I’m sure she would’ve been sitting on his lap. I’ve never seen Brooklyn so comfortable with someone so fast. I was even more surprised that Urban didn’t seem to mind. I pressed play as the three of us settled into the movie.

I smiled as I looked over and saw Brooklyn giggling at the movie. Brooklyn and I had a rough year leading up to our move to Atlanta so it was nice seeing her with a smile on her face. Urban seemed to be enjoying the movie as well, watching with a smile on his face and whispering questions to Brooklyn when something confused him. The fuzzy feeling I was feeling in my stomach while watching them interact lowkey made me nervous. I was scared to let another man into our lives especially so soon after everything with Brooklyn’s dad. I could tell Brooklyn was starting to get attached.

Urban must have noticed me staring because he turned from the movie, smiled and offered me some of the candy he brought over. I held my hand out as he dumped some in my hand. Just as I was about to speak, Brooklyn spoke first.

“Ok everyone shush, this is my favorite part!” Urban and I turned towards to the tv as Moana was about to start singing

“I've been staring at the edge of the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing why…”

The fort was tall enough for Brooklyn to stand up and spin around. She played on giving us a show as she grabbed the remote and pretended it was a microphone.

“One day I'll knoooooow, If I go, there's just no telling how far I'll go!”

After her performance, Urban and I give her a round of applause and she crosses her feet at the ankles and gives us a dramatic bow. She then dramatically flops back down on the pillows next to me.

—————————————————————————

As the movie came to an end Brooklyn was slowly falling asleep in my lap. I tell Urban to wait for me in the kitchen as I go and carry her off to bed. I gently press a kiss to her forehead and close the door behind me.

“It was nice having you here tonight, even though you had to watch a Disney film.” I say with a slight smile.

“I had fun, honestly. I very much enjoyed the multiple musical performances we got during the watch” he says with a chuckle. “Oh yeah that girl really knows how to work a stage!” I say.

“If you aren’t in a hurry to go home, I can warm us up some pizza and we can watch another movie? I mean, it’s still pretty early.” I asked. I had a lot of fun with him tonight and I didn’t really want the night to end just yet.

“You had me at pizza”

The both of you stood and made your way back to the living room, you stopped when you realized that the pillow fort was still up. It would take too much time to take everything down. Urban informed you that he was fine watching another movie under the fort and you guys both settled in.

“So…” I looked over and grinned at him. “What should we watch?”

Urban Wyatt just added to his story!

[numbugwritingblog]

Just Your Ordinary Invincible Bystander (Chapter 3)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

19/7/2018

Jane didn’t much care for the clothes she had on.

These plain pants and shirt just pulled her body in the wrong ways, and the coat she had on was all one size too big.

But she only had a few more minutes to deal with this, as she walked towards her house, her home. Given how much she caused the cars she climbed in to tilt, she wasn’t sure how public transportation would take it. Her weight was definitely above human norm.

Still, it wasn’t long until she got home. Lawn was mowed and the front yard was cleaned up. Thank god Legacy had looked after her home, her brother. She made her way up to the front door. It had been 5 months since she disappeared, but to her it felt like only two days had passed.

She rang the doorbell.

Already she heard running, someone practically crashing into the door in order to swing it wide open.

It was Scooter, staring right at Jane, grinning wide with tears in his eyes. He then swung the wire door wide open, running to hug her as quickly as he could, sobbing loudly all the while. “You’re here! You’re back!”

He was taller, only a few centimetres but she could tell immediately. She could also tell that his grip was as tight as he could make it, she felt every ounce of strength and yet not feel at all squeezed by his grip.

“I’m sorry for taking so long,” Jane said softly, hugging him back.

“Ow!”

Jane flinched back at her brother’s yelp of pain, and upon realising it was from her let out a quick apology. Even as he felt his sore back, Scooter continued to look Jane in the eye. “... Hug me… Please…”

“But-” Jane paused, she knew that she’d have to get into the whole thing right away to explain why that hug had hurt. “... I’ll be as soft as I can.” She pulled him in for a hug again, this time making sure to put absolutely no pressure on his back at all. It felt stiff, uncomfortable, and unnatural to be hugging like this. But it was how she had to hug him now.

Said hug lasted for a while, even as Legacy came walking in and keeping quiet. Jane didn’t want it to end, she wanted Scooter to know how much she wanted to be there for him the whole time, and how much she hated missing out on five months. Just as much, Scooter didn’t want it to end, he wanted Jane to know just how much he missed her, and how he kept his promise the whole time.

When the hug finally ended, Jane looked over to Legacy with a warm smile, walking up and offering a hug - before awkwardly retracting it. Scooter couldn’t handle it, she didn’t want to hurt Legacy. “Thank you so much for looking after Scooter while I was missing. It's so good to see you in person after so long too, I just wish it was in better circumstances.”

Legacy let out a sigh and tried to pull Jane in for a hug. Her weight threw Legacy through a loop, but it took just a moment to regain her balance with Jane’s strong support, and she instead held onto Jane for her hug. “He lost his parents and his sister, I couldn’t let him lose his home too.”

In mention of his parents, Scooter stood up and walked back along the hallway, retreating to his room. Not a word, not a moment of hesitation, he was just gone.

Legacy watched him leave silently, letting out a sigh. He didn’t want to think about his parents, did he? She turned back to Jane, breaking the hug. “What happened?”

“I…” Jane closed her eyes, thinking back to that base she woke up in, having to flail her way out with how her body was like now… “Not now. I promise I’ll tell you, but right now I just want to lay down and sleep in my own bed.”

Legacy nodded. “I kept your room clean, but I didn’t go in it besides that. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of anything while you were just missing.”

“Thank you.” Jane made her way to the bedroom, seeing that it really was left pristine, her sheets made and her clothes all put away. She closed her door, trudging to the bed and dropping down right onto it.

-SNAP-

… And she broke the bed. Ah well, that’s a problem for future Jane. For right now she just let herself relax, closing her eyes as she let this complete exhaustion catch up to her. It was the earliest and the fastest she had fallen asleep in her life.

…

And just over in the next room, Scooter had gotten to his desk, pulling out one specific comic book. One he had not read yet. One that he didn’t even put in his collection yet. His hands were shaky. His sister was back, and he had kept his promise. And still it was hard to accept it was real.

Could his parents come back too?

No, no, don’t think about that! He can’t! He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he waited for Jane for a reason, and slowly flipped open the first page.

---

20/7/2018

-KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-

The sun was barely over the horizon, morning light basking the few rooms which had their curtains open. Legacy was deep asleep, and Scooter was snoring peacefully.

The only one awake was Jane, having fallen asleep rather early. She’d get to her feet, making her way over to the front door. She’d peek through first, seeing two wolves in suits, one white furred and the other black furred. They better not be travelling salesmen.

She opened up the door, not saying a word as she looked at them through the wire door.

It was the white wolf who spoke up immediately. “I am Agent Pepper, and this is Agent Brine, we came as representatives of the United Federation government.”

Oh.

Oh.

“And what do you want?” she said in a distinctly negative tone as she eyed the two wolves with suspicion.

“We want you to remain silent about the actions of former General Thomas.”

Jane was silent for a solid few seconds, glaring at the two of them with utter incredulity. “I don’t know what you did to me, but from what I can tell you’re crazy if you think you’ll be able to kill me.”

“No, we know,” Agent Brine clarified. “We’re here to negotiate your silence.”

Jane raised another brow. “And what are you offering?”

“$100,000 dollars.” Agent Pepper presented a check right off the bat, holding it shy of the wire door.

“Make it double-”

“Deal.” Agent Pepper interrupted Jane, putting the check away to write a second one.

“And,” Jane spoke in a louder voice, glaring at the white wolf for interrupting her. “I want to know what you did to me.”

“That’s classified.” Agent Pepper spoke up immediately.

“And so’s my fucking back, so if you want my silence you can at least tell me what you shoved in there.”

There was silence as the two wolves looked at each other. “We’d better call HQ,” Agent Pepper whispered to his ally.

The black wolf shook his head and turned back to Jane. “Very well, you can know.”

Agent Pepper lowered his sunglasses, eyes wide. “But-”

“She already knows classified secrets, if the press gets to her before she’s agreed then that classified information is leaking out.”

“Good,” Jane said with an exasperated sigh.

Agent Pepper scowled at his partner, but otherwise kept silence.

“You might as well tell my brother and my friend, there’s no way they won’t see whatever it is on my back, and you said you wanted to keep it a secret, didn’t you?”

The two wolves let out a sigh in unison as Jane opened up the door. That was an agreement if anything was.

“Would you like some coffee? Tea?”

---

By now Scooter and Legacy had both woken up, the former happily eating cereal (dinosaur egg oatmeal, his favourite) as the latter was sitting with Jane and the two agents. In front of them, two contracts laid on the table, signed by both Jane and Legacy. The two had just signed to keep quiet.

“So everyone’s awake,” Jane said softly. “You can tell us what’s going on.”

Agent Pepper glared at Agent Brine for a moment, before speaking up. “What you have in your spine is-”

“You have something in your spine?!” Scooter called out, unwittingly spitting milk and oatmeal out of his mouth from the shock.

“... Is an unknown material we discovered, unlike anything else we’ve ever catalogued. It’s heat resistant, cold resistant, and the most durable material we have ever discovered on the planet, and we have tried every form of testing that would not otherwise leave any long term effects on it to test. Only former General Thomas knew how to melt it down, and even that was by a process that takes multiple weeks each time.”

Jane glared at the mention of General Thomas. “And what did you do to me?”

Agent Brine turned to Agent Pepper, giving a slow nod. “He discovered that, when supplied with an electrical charge, the metal supplies its properties to nearby material, as long as it is partially encased within.”

“Or further.”

“Given the difficulty in un-melting it once it cooled, it was agreed to begin experimentation on deceased individuals donated to us.”

“Deceased?!” Jane got to her feet, eyes wide.

Legacy gasped, looking over to Jane, and then back to the agents. “You mean… Jane…” She put a hand to her face, fighting back tears.

Even Scooter picked up quickly, leaving the room immediately (leaving his cereal abandoned).

“Yes,” one of the agents approved. “Nobody questioned anything at the time because we knew we’d have to install it before muscle death set in, it was the first subject available in months.”

Jane was completely silent, staring down at her hands. She…

She was dead?

For five months?!

The first question on her mind was clear.

“How…” She took a deep breath in, steeling herself for any possible answer. “... How did I come back?”

The answer she got was the one she was expecting the least.

“We still don’t know. We integrated the replacement spine immediately and then kept it on low charge while we got our first tests ready. You gained consciousness the moment we switched to a high charge.”

Jane dropped down onto the soft chair, hearing a creak as her weight pushed against it. Speechless.

It was Legacy who turned back to the agents. “What… Is Jane going to be alright?”

Agent Pepper gave a nod. “We’re at work on a replacement charge as we speak, as the material’s weight will cause pain - and eventually death - if the charge runs out - and we’re working on creating custom furniture, given the additional weight caused by the device. Along with that you have a new doctor you will be seeing from now on.”

“Very… generous.”

“We need to handle accommodations ourselves, given the confidential nature.”

This time it was Legacy who spoke up, her face pale from hearing that her friend had died. “… Who did this, again?”

Agent Brine took a breath in to speak, but it was neither of the agents who got a word out.

“General Thomas.” It was Jane who spoke, her tone in a low growl at just thinking of that man. “What is going to happen to him?”

Both agents were silent at first, before Agent Brine finally spoke up. “Former General Thomas has gone missing following the incident. He is currently wanted for the incident, and will likely face life in prison without parole.”

Jane curled one hand into a fist, so tightly that it would’ve crushed anyone else’s. “He killed me.”

“We know-”

“HE KILLED ME!” Jane swung back to her feet, rage building within herself - both agents uncharacteristically flinching back. “YOU JUST LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT?!”

Agent Pepper shook his head. “We’re upset about it too, this is already a public scandal and he’s left billions of dollars uselessly tucked away in the back of a civilian.”

“Billions of- HE KILLED ME!”

“And he will answer for it.” Agent Brine stood up after speaking, nodding. “You can be sure of that.”

Jane just let out a sigh, this time carefully sitting back in her chair so as to not break it anymore than she already has.

Silence took over the room, the two agents entirely unflinching while Legacy was looking about awkwardly. “How- how about we…” she lost the words, unsure of what to say.

“Get out.” Jane said to the two agents. “I don’t want to hear another word ever again.”

The agents gave a nod, one offering a card to Legacy. “If there’s any issues relating to the spine, call us.”

“There is one,” Legacy spoke up.

“Can’t you remove it? Then she can live her life as normal?”

Their complete silence only served to give Legacy an answer. “... You can’t, can you?”

More silence.

“... Did it mess with her spine?”

“It replaced her old spine.” Agent Brine made his way to the door, opening it up and letting Agent Pepper through. He turned to the three of them, opening his mouth to speak, only for no words to come. After a second, he gave up. “This will conclude our meeting. Remember, this never happened.”

He then closed the door, leaving the three alone.

Jane looked down to her hands, her breath heavy. “I can’t believe it…”

Legacy got up, wincing in pain as she made her way over to Jane. “It will be okay.”

“How?” Jane called out. “I died, got my back carved out for some scary tech, and now if I don’t do the softest of fucking hugs I risk breaking my brother’s back! How will it be okay?!”

Legacy was quiet for a moment, leaning in to gently hug Jane. “Because we’ll be here for you.”

Jane looked back to Legacy. She said nothing, but the tears filling her eyes said everything as she leaned in to - very gently - hug Legacy back.

“You’re right,” Jane said softly. “I mean, how hard can it be?”

---

21/7/2018

“Hello, Mr. Stanley’s office, what can I help you with?”

Finally gotten through to the office, Jane let a small breath in. She didn’t want to do this, but that sum of money wasn’t going to last forever. “Hello, this is Jane Shawcross, I called in to see how soon I could resume my job?”

“Resume? As in?”

“I am an employee at your boss’s company, I was absent because I was kidnapped. How soon can I resume?”

“Let me see the work file…”

Jane let out a small sigh as she waited for approval, twirling the cord on her phone all the while. It should be just a moment before she-

“Apologies ma’am, but there aren’t any openings to resume your job from 5 and a half months ago.”

“What.”

“You will need to apply for a different job at the company. Our interview is on the website.”

“I’ve been there for a whole year!” Jane called out as she got to her feet. “You can’t just kick me out, I-!”

“I hear you,” the lady said. “But your old position’s been filled, there’s nothing I can do.”

Jane let out a heavy breath in, feeling her body clench up. “It’s- I need to- you- why?!” It took her a second to realise that when she clenched her fist she broke the phone. Great, jobless and now she broke the house phone. She dropped the broken pieces onto the table, resting her head on her now spare hand. She had to make that money last until her next job, and everything she wrecked was going to add onto that tab.

Relax, relax. It’s 200k, it’s going to last long enough.

---

22/07/2018

“What’s wrong with the car?” Jane asked aloud, opening up the hood of the car.

Legacy let out a sigh. “I don’t know, it just stopped working today.” She sat down on the front bench, watching Jane at work as she shuffled through her purse. “I’ll get the keys ready! As soon as I find them…”

Jane opened up the car’s hood, taking a look inside. “Shouldn’t need them. Let’s see…” As Jane worked on the mechanics inside the car, she found herself still needing to control her strength. But at the same time, tools she needed before to manage certain things she could now circumvent with even a tiny bit of her strength put in, leaving her with just the precision tools to manage.

“... This looks like the problem,” Jane said aloud, leaning in closer to the car - her weight already enough to tilt its weight amongst its four wheels. Tinkering deep inside… “And… done!” Jane very carefully closed the hood of the car, careful not to damage it by accident.

“That’s great!” Legacy called out eagerly, finally managing to locate the electronic key from within her maze of a purse. “And look! I found them now, we can take it for a test drive!” She leaned an arm out, pushing the button to unlock the doors.

The flash of light as the car unlocked stole Jane’s attention for a moment, the wolf’s body tense as she blinked mindlessly.

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Legacy said happily, clueless to her friend’s reaction. “I can even turn it on from a distance, watch!”

Before Jane could say anything the lights flicked back on right in front of her face, Jane’s eyes lost within the light.

This… Was… That night. She was heading home, when… That car… Thomas! He’s going to run her over…! She knew she couldn’t get away, she couldn’t run, all she could do was wait for the inevitable. She jerked a hand out to defend herself.

The hard metallic crunch and loud, awful scraping snapped her back to reality. It had all happened in less than a second, and yet she was already panting heavily, fur on end as it took her a moment to realise what just happened.

Legacy’s car… The front of it was snapped open. The car folded in on itself from the force. A wheel even came loose. The gate behind the car didn’t fare much better, about a quarter broken off entirely, and another quarter barely hanging on to their posts. She punched it.

She punched it.

She punched it! “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Jane quickly yelled out as she turned to Legacy. “I- I don’t know what came over me!” Still panting erratically, she walked right up to Legacy to hug her - but she stopped just shy. She didn’t want to hurt Legacy.

“...” Legacy was still silent, just staring as her car had been ruined in less than a second. Finally she realised that her friend had spoken to her, turning to Jane in the eyes. “You? What… happened?”

Jane paused to think back, her fur still on end. What happened? She… “I panicked.”

“What?”

“I saw the lights on, and then… I panicked.”

“You mean the car lights?” Legacy asked aloud, turning to the wreck. “But why would… Oh! Did… Was that how he?”

Jane gulped, turning back to the wrecked car. “... I don’t want to talk about it.”

Legacy let out a sigh. “I understand… I’m sorry for bringing up-”

“I don’t. Want. To talk. About it.”

Legacy nodded, turning back inside. “... It will be fine. I can bring Scooter to school on the bus tomorrow. Then we can buy a new car and pay to have it fixed.”

Yes. More money to spend. Maybe the 200k won’t last as long as she thought it would.

---

24/07/2018

Jane was waving goodbye to Scooter and Jane, smiling wide as her brother was about to attend another of his classes. She waited until they were on the bus before she turned around to go back in. She needed to start her job hunting right away, afterall.

-SNAP-

… She broke the front door right off its hinges. This was going to keep happening, wasn’t it?

---

26/07/2018

It was early in the morning. Still half asleep, Jane got up to her feet to start the day. Stumbling over to the window, she slid it open to let the fresh air in.

-SHATTER-

… And broke the window from the force of sliding it, glass shattered across the floor.

---

27/0702018

Jane was walking down the street - with her car at god knows where and Legacy’s absolutely totalled, walking was the best bet she had.

But she wasn’t alone on her trip today, no Scooter was along with her. Afterall, she was walking to the comic book store for him, might as well take this excuse to make him get some exercise too, and then he can pick the specific comic of his choice (not that he was going to pick anything other than Wild Wolf…). Besides, why shouldn’t she treat him for a week of studies going well?

“This is so great,” Scooter said excitedly, tail swishing back and forth as he followed right along his sister. Jane should absolutely do this more often, what with how excited he is about-

“I get to tell people I have a real life superheroine as a sister!” Wait, what?

“Scooter…” Jane let out a small sigh, shaking her head. “I’m not a superheroine.”

“Yeah you are!” Scooter called out as he defiantly huffed his chest. “You’re like.. Super strong! And you're invincible! I mean you’re probably going to find out a new superpower in like, a week!”

“Superheroes aren’t real, they’re little guys in comic books going around saving people. I’m just Jane.”

“You’re a good person.” Scooter wasn’t having it. “I know you’ll save people when it really comes down to it. It’s just like Steamroller!”

“I’ve got work! I’ve got you to look after!-”

“Hey, I’m 12! I’m a big kid!”

“-I can’t just throw that away whenever some crisis calls!”

“Yeah you can!” Scooter got in front of Jane, crossing his arms.

His sister hurriedly stopped at this, letting out a faint grumble. “Scooter, you’re not supposed to stop in front of people. Especially when they’re so strong they can accidentally break your back just because they didn’t stop in time.”

“You just need a costume!”

“Think of how long it would take to get changed.”

“And a base!”

“With what money? The government cash needs to last.”

“You’ve got the powers, the heart, the tragic backstory-”

“Woah woah, what? Tragic backstory? I mean it’s just me.”

Scooter opened his mouth, before he went silent. Ears drooping down.

Wordlessly, Jane understood what he meant, her ears drooping down in kind. “... It’s just me.”

Scooter took a deep breath in, looking Jane in the eye. “You’ve got to.”

“Scooter…”

“Mum and dad would be proud.”

The glare Scooter got from his sister immediately told him that he said something he shouldn’t have.

“Home. Now.”

“Wha- but the comic book!” Scooter yelled out.

“Don’t you dare use mum and dad like that. We’re headed home right now, you can get your comic another day.”

“But-”

“Now.”

Scooter huffed, crossing his arms as he stomped back from right behind Jane, grumbling under his breath all the while. “Didn’t want the stupid comic book anyways…”

Jane shook her head, putting a hand up against it slowly. Hopefully this is the worst of her problems…

---

Blistering snowstorms kept this well hidden, a thick white veil ensuring anyone who came without some means of navigation wound up lost and dead.

Fortunately, he always came prepared.

Kicking open the door of the old, abandoned lab open, Thomas dragged the heavy crate in alongside the four heavy lifters he had hired. “And that should be $10,000 each for the trouble,” he said, casually passing over the money to them.

They pocketed the cash, counting amongst themselves as Thomas made his way to the generator, powering it up. In a burst, the lights all came on at once, as multiple devices began booting up at once. His private lab, away from the seeing eyes of anyone who would go after him.

“Remember,” Thomas said. “Not a soul is to know where this is.”

“You got it,” one of them answered, pulling out their map to navigate a way back.

All the while Thomas made his way to the main computer, waiting for it to finish booting up. He was going to get his weapon back. No matter the costs.

And to do that, he needed to plan.

[stayandot8]

Track Six: Fairytale

Genre: Fluff

Relationship type: established boyfriend/girlfriend

Important Contents: Part 6 in Playlist. Longest part yet so if you read, thank you. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I know this isn't what the song is directly about but I decided to put my own spin on it. Okay? Okay. Hope you enjoyed. <3

WC: 3.2k

Next Part I Last Part I masterlist I Add-on

6. Fairytale

I hadn’t really heard from Chan that day and I didn’t plan on going to Chan’s that night. But when Han sent me that text, I had no other choice.

Han: Hey I think you need to come over tonight. Chan got a text earlier and he hasn’t come out of his room for hours. I’ve tried just about everything to get him to come out or eat or anything. You’re my last hope

Me: I’m already there. Hang tight.

I threw on my shoes as quickly as I could muster and bolted out the door, my feet carrying me straight over. The kitchen was dark when I opened the door, the only light in the room coming from the overhead lights over the stove. I searched the room for Han who poked his head out to motion for me to follow him into the silence of the hallway. My heart was racing and I was surprised he couldn’t hear it. I spotted the plate that was outside the familiar door, still full of food. I paused in my place, my eyes slowly raised to Han who looked depleted as he spotted the same thing I did. He raised his eyes to me again, giving a sad nod. 

“He’s been like this almost all day. Nothing has worked, even Felix couldn’t get him to open the door. It’s unlocked though. We checked just in case. It seemed like he wanted to be alone so we just let him be, thinking he would come out on his own but he hasn’t. I didn’t think he would be mad if it was you though.”

I nodded in understanding and patted him on the shoulder. 

“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks for telling me.” He gave me a sad smile as I ruffled his hair. He left me to it, closing his bedroom door behind him. 

I braced myself at his door, taking a deep breath and gathering myself for what I might face. I had yet to see Chan like this but now was as good a time as ever. If I could help him somehow, then it was worth anything he could throw at me. 

I opened the door a little quicker than I meant to see Chan sitting on his bed, his eyes glued to his feet, arms crossed, his headphones on both ears and being swallowed in his sweatshirt. The motion of the door caught his eye and he just stared at me for a minute, unmoved. I was afraid he would yell for me to get out. Or at least Chan’s version of yelling. But then his chest started rising quicker, his brows furrowing and lips quivering as he shut his eyes. I closed the door quickly and rushed to him, throwing my arms around him as he burst into sobs. I lowered him to rest on my chest, his heaving growing more intense as the tears fell. He clung to me like a child, his sobs only breaking to breathe. I hadn’t seen him like this before and it was bringing tears to my eyes. I had no choice but to cry along with him even though I had no idea why he was upset. Seeing him like this was such a stark change to the usual Chan I was used to but on the other hand I felt honored that he could be this way with me and not the others. It was all I could do not to pry for the reason, so I settled for sending my hand down his back in what I hoped was a comforting touch, quickly confirmed by him not shoving me away.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours, his sobbing lightening slowly until he was occasionally sniffling. My hand never left his back while my other had found the back of his head and into his hair. The occasional kiss to the head seemed to help him regain himself. So I pulled out the last trick in my book. I figured he was exhausted so I could at least try to help him sleep. I quietly started to sing to him the first song that popped into my head. 

I’m gonna pick up the pieces

And build a Lego House

When things go wrong we could knock it down

He didn’t seem to mind as his sniffling slowed even more as I continued on. 

My three words have two meanings

There’s one thing on my mind

It’s all for you

His breathing had slowed to even, long draws by the end of the song. I brought my serenade to a close with the final words and whispered his name. He didn’t respond. I had my answer when his snores started, deep and loud. Those were the ‘I am absolutely exhausted’ ones, reserved when he hadn’t slept well in a while. I didn’t have the heart to wake him to sleep on his own pillow and quite frankly, I didn’t want to. Well, if I really thought about it, he was sleeping on his own pillow. The thought made me smile as I nestled further into his bed, holding him tighter and letting my eyes fall. 

***

I was roused awake when I felt Chan remove his hands from around me, his eyes still not fully open as he sat up and climbed off me. His feet shuffled him into his bathroom and I heard the sink turn on. I moved to my side to face the door he had disappeared behind, sleep still fogging my brain to understand what had woken him. The door had cracked open and a hand popped out with a toothbrush in it, still in the package. He bought me a toothbrush. For his place. And just when I thought I couldn’t love him more… I slowly moved from his bed, begrudgingly giving up the warmth he left behind and headed for the hand outstretched. I took the package out of his hand and waited for him to be done, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed. The door opened again and out he came, eyes still half closed and shuffled to the bed as he laid on his pillow and brought the covers up to his chin. I heard him sigh from the bathroom as I took my turn to brush my teeth and splash water on my face. I didn’t know when he took the time to put an extra shirt in there but there it was, folded up beside the sink just waiting for me. 

Now fully changed into sleeping attire, I took the short hike back to the empty side of the bed, slipping under the covers beside him. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to be touched so I just let him lay there for a minute, probably exhausted both physically and mentally. I was resigned to just sleeping beside him until his arm stretched out behind him and grappled for something. He found what he was looking for and brought my arm around him and interlocked our fingers. I scooted closer to him until I was face to face with the back of his head and kissed him once, twice, three times. It was our signal to each other to express our feelings since we hadn’t said the words out loud yet. Physical expressions were always easier for me and I was elated when he expressed the same. The gesture had become more frequent after that. 

I intertwined our legs like always and rested my forehead square in between his shoulders when I felt him bring our hands to his lips and kiss them. Once, twice, three times. He squeezed my hand harder as he clutched them to his chest. I heard him whisper under his breath, barely able to hear him.

“Hannah’s birthday was today.” I felt him sigh into our hands. Hannah. His sister. 

 I couldn’t close my eyes until I heard him start to breathe heavily again, a tear falling down as I rested my head. 

***

The sunshine was brighter than normal, rousing me awake again. Chan was still asleep beside me, snoring away. He needed it and after the night he had, I wanted to return the favor he always did when I stayed here. I untangled our limbs without him waking up somehow and put on some pants I found of his and stumbled my way to the kitchen where I was met by Han, already sitting at the counter with a mug and an empty plate in front of him. He turned to me when he heard the shuffle of shoes on the floor. His brows shot up in question, a gleam of hope in his eyes. 

“I got him to sleep.” I said as I started getting pans out of the cabinets. I reached for the fridge to grab the eggs but Han had beaten me to it. He grabbed the half-empty bacon package for me too and put them beside the stovetop and leaned against the counter beside me, facing the hallway and brows furrowed deep in thought. I continued on. “He mentioned something about Hannah’s birthday being yesterday.” 

Han’s eyes lit up in recognition at the name and began nodding his head. 

“His sister. I can’t believe I forgot. Yeah, he hasn’t been there for her birthday since we debuted. I’ve seen him get upset about it before but never like that. It must have just hit him harder this year.” He thought for a moment as the eggs started cooking. “Ah I know. She’s eighteen this year. That must be why.” 

“She’s back in Australia, right? He must miss her and his brother too.” I said to the pan of bacon. Even thinking about being apart from my parents for as long as he had made my heart break on a level I didn’t like thinking about. “He must miss all of them so much…”

I had my plan as the bacon finished and I plated my boyfriend’s breakfast. 

“Han, I have an idea but I need your help. I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”

***

Two plates in hand, I nudged the door open with my foot. Chan had just opened his eyes when I put the plates on his bedside table. He cracked a smile when he spotted me, puckering his lips. I gave him what he wanted as I sat beside him, forcing him to sit up. I handed him his plate and grabbed my own and dug in, him doing the same. 

We didn’t speak much but it was a comfortable silence. I took his plate when he was done and left to go put them in the sink. My phone buzzed beside the sink as I washed the dishes I had used.

Han: They agreed to one week. Sorry I couldn’t get him longer.

Me: Thank you. That’s plenty. I owe you something expensive.

Han: I do it for the shiny things :) 

It was the biggest I had smiled in 24 hours. I couldn’t wait to tell him. I finished up in the kitchen and ran back to his room. Once I was back in his room, he was scrolling on his phone but he put it down when he heard me close the door. He held out his arms and I fell back into them, him pulling me into the same position we were in the night before but reversed. I would’ve been content to lay there all morning until I broke the silence. 

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” I hoped he would take the bait and tell me so I could surprise him. 

“I think I owe it to you. You did cook me breakfast after all.” He cleared his throat before he began. “My sister Hannah’s birthday was yesterday. She turned eighteen. I called her like I do every year and her voice…” He trailed off. After some deep breaths he started again. “Her voice sounded so grown up. I haven’t been able to be with her for her birthday since… I don’t even remember. She’s an adult now and I just couldn’t help but think of all the years and things that I’ve missed out on because of my work. I love it but I can’t help but wonder what or where I would be if I wasn’t here doing this. If I would even be here…” 

It hurt me hearing him talk like this. I knew there had been enough crying in the last twelve hours but I couldn’t help them. I was glad he couldn’t see my face as he continued.

“Anyways, I got a text from her when we got off the phone that said ‘don’t worry about it, you’ll be here next year’ and I couldn’t say anything back. I couldn’t even give a comforting ‘for sure’, you know? I couldn’t be strong for her anymore. It just… hit me. I just got so tired of missing them and I can’t do anything about it. Everything I do is for them and I just… couldn’t take it anymore. I came in here and just threw on my music and just… zoned out.”

“Han texted me saying he was worried about you. Said you wouldn’t even let Felix in.”

“I didn’t know he was there. I haven't been zoned out like that in a while.” Well, that was worrying. Maybe this trip was coming at just the right time…

“So it’s been a while since you’ve been home, huh?” I tried not to sound too excited but the tone in my voice gave me away. He brought my face up to meet his eyes and bore into my eyes. I couldn’t help the grin that slowly started to make its way across my lips. He continued to stare in confusion. 

“What have you done?” He wouldn’t let go of my chin which made it impossible to hide from that piercing gaze. He knew he only needed to stare at me long enough until I cracked. 

“Pack your bags Bang, you’re going home. For a week at least.” He dropped his grip in shock, his face blank as he processed. I scrambled off of him and traipsed over to his closet to pull out his suitcase and lugged it over the bed. I waited with baited breath as he sat, only breaking his comatose state to say one word.

“How?”

“I asked Han to help me. He negotiated with management and they agreed to let you off for a week. It’s all Han could get you. You leave either tonight or tomorrow morning, whichever you want.” I watched his face flip between shock and disbelief and about a dozen other emotions he couldn’t put a name to. “Is that okay? I thought you would be excited about it but I didn’t even think about what your schedule might be. I thought Han would’ve said something if you had something big coming up but he didn’t say anything so I thought-” Apparently the only thing that could shut me up these days were his lips. This kiss was more than surface-level, his appreciation tangible through his movements. His arms snaked across my waist and he yanked me up into his arms and spun us around all the while keeping our lips attached. When he broke us apart, his eyes were again wet. He reached for my hands to bring them between us, holding me in place. 

“I didn’t think it was something you would do on your own. Everyone knows you’re a workaholic so I took it upon myself. Maybe dragged Han into it but he was a willing participant. Now I have to buy him something shiny.” I was breathless now, wishing he would say something. He still hadn’t said more than one word aloud since I sprung it on him. 

“What have I done to deserve you?”

“Just existing is enough for me.”

***

Since this wasn’t a public outing nor an official one, I was allowed to accompany him to the airport. From the outside, we looked like just another couple, holding hands and walking through the airport and seeing each other off. His hat and his mask helped cover his identity while my mask was doing everything it could to hide my deep frown. I knew this was my idea and doing and he would only be gone for a week but I missed him already. I pulled him to a stop just before the waiting area. 

“They won’t let me pass through after this point.” I said through my mask, wondering if he was having as much trouble as I was at keeping my voice steady. He looked at me through the gap between his hat and mask. I would never get used to that look of adoration from him. It made me feel all bubbly inside and chased away every bad feeling I had. 

“I’ll call you every day. Just like at the beginning.” His eyes squinted with his smile. He pulled me into an embrace, sniffing my fill of him while I could. “Thank you.” He whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. This was going to be a long week.

“You better.” I said to his chest. “Or else I’m going to fly there myself and kick your ass.” His chest reverberated with his laughter. 

“Don’t worry about that. I’d miss you too much not to hear your voice.” At least I could hold on to that. 

I slowly pulled my face out of his chest, his arms still tightly secured around me and unwilling to let go just yet. 

“Next time, come with me. I’m dying to show you my hometown.” His hopeful eyes were impossible to say no to so I nodded.

“I promise the next time I force you to go home, I will come with you.” I smiled up at him, trying to let him see my sincerity as best I could. He could tell because I saw my sincerity reflected back in his eyes. He pulled me in for one last hug. “Now get outta here before you miss your flight. And tell Hannah I said happy birthday. That you are my gift to her.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that.” He said as he chuckled and turned to grab his duffel and plane bag. He walked backwards all the way to the escalators to take him to the next floor, never taking his eyes off me. People had to move out of his way as he walked backwards slowly. “Tell Han to stay out of my room!” He shouted from across the room. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it occupied for you.” I let out my first true laugh since we had arrived. 

“Please do!” He laughed with me as he backed up to the step that would take him away from me. 

“Bring me back something this time!” I shouted, not caring who heard me or who looked at me for shouting so loudly.

He blew three kisses as he rode the escalator up. I caught each of them and held them to my heart as he disappeared, heading home. 

[tiny-lady-journal]

It's been 24 hours without her.

I threw the blanket she had nearly died on in the washing machine as soon as I got home. I didn't want to erase the memory of her loving that blanket, but I couldn't stand to see the dried vomit that had crusted on it. I still haven't moved it to the dryer.

My mom swiftly removed her items when I asked. I knew having to look at them, unused with a layer of dust, would break me into millions of pieces over time.

I slept with my door completely closed for the first time in 3 years.

I couldn't look at the foot of my bed when I woke up in the morning because I knew she wouldn't be there.

I struggled to answer my boyfriend's text this morning when he asked me how I was holding up; I sat and stared at a wall for what felt like too long, trying to figure out how to tell him that my world has flipped on its head and nothing feels right anymore. I settled on, "I cried and everything feels weird".

I had to shut the curtain to my closet, because her bed was on top of my dresser, and I couldn't bear to see that spot devoid of both small cat and small bed.

I cried over that, hard. I screamed that I had killed my baby, that I had made a mistake, that I wish I could have saved her, and that I wish she had never gotten sick.

I then had to tell myself, over and over, that I did the right thing, that I did all I could within my power to help her, and that taking away her pain was my way of helping her when she needed me most.

I shoved the churu and the water dropper in a box in my room, remnants of our last few heartbreaking days together. That, least of all, could I look at.

I deleted the Stardew Valley file I had made prior to her getting sick. I played it when she was getting worse. I didn't want it to exist anymore, not with the memory of it tainted with looking over at her every 5 minutes to see if she was still breathing.

I looked at pet urns, then had to take a break because it felt like my little lady was reduced to tacky cartoon cats and cheap looking ceramic pots, and it made me cry all over again. I would give her a sapphire-encrusted gilded urn if I could. I would have given her the stars if she asked.

I cried when I got water from the fridge because there was no tiny lady getting under my feet, screaming at me and begging for nice cold water because she didn't care for the temperature of her water fountain.

I keep shifting in my seat, waiting for her to crawl up my chair, ignore my attempts at trying to interact with her, and climb me and the chair like a jungle gym so she could get to the windowsill to watch the birds or meow at passing cars.

I keep hearing the little tinkle of her bell, just within earshot. Either I'm hallucinating, or she's letting me know she's near.

A bird tapped its beak on my window while I was laying in a puddle of my own tears. I looked up a spiritual meaning behind it, and cried even harder at my search results.

What I did manage to do today though, despite it all:

I watched Twilight. I did psychology notes. I ate pizza. I brushed my hair. I brushed my teeth. I washed my face. I took a bath. I played Stardew Valley. I put Contrapoints on in the background for something besides my own thoughts to listen to. I drew a little, and got frustrated with it. I flipped off my Canvas notifications (my cat just died, fuck off, I don't have the emotional capacity to think about the anthropological origins of religion right now). I answered texts. I existed. I survived day one.

[shipskicksandgiggles]

14. 32. steddie. gimme. (please <3)

ask and you shall receive

prompts: “Pants!!! Pants!!!” and “You’ve never been on a first date? I don’t believe you.” (from this list)

read First First Date here on ao3

~~~

“Hey Steve, are you here? I was just wondering-”

“Woah woah woah woah!” 

“What the hell dude? Pants!!! Pants!!!”

“Maybe if you knocked like a normal person, we wouldn’t have this problem!” Steve shouted, pulling his pants on. “Can’t a man get dressed without worrying someone will barge into his room? How the hell did you even get into my house?”

Eddie sat down on his bed and pulled a pillow close to his chest. “Your hide-a-key is under a rock, Harrington. It does not take a genius to figure that out.”

“Ignoring that you broke into my house, what are you doing here?”

“No reason, I just had a question about a movie. More importantly however, why are you getting dressed up? Is the great Steve Harrington finally going on a date after such a long dry spell?”

He threw a sock at his face. “And what if I was? What if I was already on a date? You’d regret busting into my room like that if I had company, I’ll tell you that for sure, Munson.”

“Well I already caught you with your pants down, and I’ve seen you without a shirt on, so I can’t imagine it getting too much worse. Seriously though, who’s the lucky lady?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would actually. I know it’s not Robin or Nancy, and like half the ladies in Hawkins in your age range have already rejected you so I’m curious who she is.”

Steve finished fastening his belt buckle and raised an eyebrow at Eddie. “Does this really look like a first date outfit to you?”

“I don’t know, does it?”

“This is much more casual than what I would wear on a first date. First date outfits can make or break the whole thing. If you show up looking like a mess, you’ve already lost.”

“Should I be taking notes?”

“Maybe. What do you wear on first dates?”

“I’d probably wear something like what I normally wear I guess.”

“You guess?”

“It’s not like anyone wanted to go out with Eddie “The Freak” Munson. Then I was accused of murder and oddly enough that didn’t help with the whole dating scene, so yeah. I don’t have any idea what I would wear.”

“You’ve never been on a first date? I don’t believe you.”

“Start believing it, Steve-o. It’s fine, I’ll take your word on the outfit, but you have yet to explain why you’re wearing it.”

“Dude, you’re like 20, how have you never been on a first date? Whatever, whatever, moving on,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face. “It’s kind of for a stupid reason.”

“Which is…?” Eddie pushed, leaning towards him. 

“So, sometimes when I don’t feel like going out with a girl, I’ll take myself out. Just get food, see a movie, walk around by myself. It’s like a date, but without the effort that you go to with girls.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It is, and that’s what I was going to spend my night doing, but now I’m concerned about you, Munson.”

“It’s whatever man. There’s not really much you can do about it.”

“Hey now, there might be something,” Steve said. “We could always go out, I could walk you through what I usually do so you have an idea of what to do when the time comes.”

“C’mon Harrington, I’m not going to hijack your night of food and movies just because I’ve been the most unpopular kid in Hawkins my whole life. You’ve already got your outfit put together, and I don’t want to intrude. I can go at any time.”

“Who said anything about me changing? I’m sure we can find a compromise so I can walk you through this and we still have a good night.”

~~~

Half an hour later found them sitting in a Rally’s parking lot, sipping on sodas and milkshakes and sharing an order of fries.

“Fancy, I know,” Steve said. “Usually I’d take my date to a place with real tables.”  

“Like where?” 

Steve thought for a minute. “You know that diner on the main road coming into town?”

“The one that has the good jukebox?”

“Yeah that one. That’s a good spot. You can split a milkshake, get some food. It’s nice.”

“We can split a milkshake here too,” Eddie said, swiping Steve’s cup and taking a sip. “Vanilla, Harrington? Really?”

“Hey now, it’s probably better than whatever you got.”

“Wanna bet?” he asked, holding out his own drink. 

Steve took a drink and then immediately turned and spit. “What the hell is that?”

Eddie laughed so hard he almost fell over. “It’s Cherry Coke. Do you hate it that much?”

“I guess I wasn’t expecting that. Can I?” He held out his hand to take the cup again. This time, he didn’t spit it out. “That’s not terrible, but I think I’ll stick with my milkshake.”

“God, you’re such a stereotypical prep. Doesn’t it get exhausting?”

“Sometimes I need to go into an alternate dimension to blow off some steam, but usually I’m alright.”

They balled up their trash and tossed it in the nearest bin once they were finished. 

“You never did tell me what you usually wear,” Eddie noted. “I think you look good in what you’ve got on, so I can’t imagine what you wear on a first date.”

“I just try to look a little nicer,” Steve shrugged. “Like maybe wear a nice sweater, a good button up, pay some extra attention to my hair. It’s not like I dress up in a suit and tie but a little extra work goes a long way.”

“Makes sense. Where to next?”

~~~

“So when I go by myself, I don’t care so much about what I see, but if I were with someone, I wouldn’t think about what I wanted to see. So like on my own I might see SpaceCamp, but if I were with a girl, we might see The Great Mouse Detective. Disney’s all the rage.”

“Oh The Labyrinth is in theaters! Have you seen it yet?” Eddie was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. 

“I have not, but there is no better time than the present. Two for Labyrinth please,” he asked the attendant. 

He handed them the tickets and they made their way up to concessions. “You don’t need to pay for me,” Eddie told him. 

Steve shrugged. “Habit I guess. I always pay for whoever I’m with.”

“In that case, let me get your popcorn. Want any candy? I like red hots.”

“With your popcorn?”

“Stevie, I’ll dump the box into my popcorn.”

“It’s official, you’re insane. I’ll share with you.”

“That’s the spirit. Come on, the movie’s starting soon.”

~~~

“Holy that, that was incredible!”

“Bowie is a legend, man, I’m telling you,” Eddie said as they walked back out to the car. “Where to next?”

“If you were a girl, I would have picked you up at your house, so unless she wanted something more, I would drop her back off at her place. You however showed up at my house unannounced, so we’ll go back there.”

“And all of your first dates go like that?”

“More or less,” Steve said, turning onto the main road. “Sometimes we’ll do something else. Go see a concert, get coffee, or if there’s a sporting event going on we’ll go to that. Or sometimes we won’t make it to the date at all and skip straight to after.”

“Alright, alright, I respect that. Back to your place it is then.”

“You know, since you’re in a band, you might be able to get away with taking them to one of your gigs as a date,” Steve said offhandedly as they pulled back into his driveway. “It might be fun to have someone backstage waiting for you after the show. Plus some people really dig rockers nowadays.”

“Is that so?”

“The whole tattoos and jacket thing? For sure. And you play guitar, so that’s a major bonus. Chicks love that in a guy.”

“Good to know,” Eddie said, stepping out of the car. 

“You can come inside, by the way, I’m not kicking you out just because the date is over.”

“So now I can experience the after part of a Steve Harrington date?” Eddie teased. 

“Only if you ask nicely,” Steve returned. “And honestly, I was just going to change into sweats and watch bad TV if you want to join me.”

“That sounds lovely.”

True to his word, Steve changed into comfier clothes and even offered some to Eddie as well. After Steve changed, he sat down on the couch, pointed Eddie towards the bathroom, and started flipping through channels. 

Not much was on, mostly just reruns and game shows, so he picked a random one and let it fade to the background. 

Eddie emerged a moment later, looking much different in Steve’s clothes. “I’m guessing you don’t usually offer this to your dates?”

“I’m usually more invested in getting their clothes off, yeah,” he admitted. 

“Sex,” Eddie stated more than asked. 

“I’d be happy with a shirtless heavy makeout session if she didn’t want to go all the way.”

“Such a gentleman.” He sat in the armchair next to the couch. “What are we watching?”

“You’ve never made out with anybody either, have you?” Steve asked, ignoring his question. 

“That would be a negative. Going to give me some pointers on that too?”

“Wouldn’t hurt. Stand up, let me show you something.”

Eddie did as he was instructed. 

“So you want to let them control it at first. Let them hold your face, your neck, maybe they get a hand in your hair,” Steve said, cradling his face and neck lightly as he went over them. “Depending on who they are, they might tug a little on your hair, which you have the perfect hair for that, but it’s usually more about them guiding your movements.”

“As for how you move, start at their hips, and do what feels natural. Pull them closer, pick them up if you can, stuff like that. And if it leads to something more, well,” Steve tilted his head slightly. “That’s usually a more intuitive process.”

He became suddenly aware of how close they were, having demonstrated the movement by pulling Eddie flush up against him. 

“And who usually starts it?” Eddie asked quietly. 

“Usually it’s a pretty mutual decision.”

He met Eddie in the middle. 

“Mutual?” he asked between kisses. 

“Yeah,” Steve answered. “It’s mutual.”

He let himself be pushed backwards onto the couch where Eddie straddled him. He reached up and tugged him back down again. 

That damn hair. 

“Damn Harrington, you got something in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

Steve practically growled. “Why don’t you come down here and find out?”

~~~

When he woke up the next morning, tangled around Eddie, he thought that that might have been the best first date he had ever gone on.

[skykittywhatchamahcallit]

Actually I’ve decided I do want to talk about it- I think it’s important information.

TW for some medical stuff and abortion and vomiting mentions.

last year, after the overturn of roe v wade, I got pregnant and needed an abortion. I had to drive to California to get one. Let’s talk about it.

Before I knew/found out:

I had spend the month smoking and drinking and doing drugs(I am not a saint), I had sex once(unprotected), and was on antibiotics(they didn’t pregnancy test me). I was feeling ill, my period is a little erratic, and I was one week late. I decided to take a test to relieve myself of stress. Whoopsie.

We bought 6 pregnancy tests. I took them all. All of them were positives. I started disassociating at this point out of fear.

Found out

I told my mom. I recruited my boyfriend and best friend for help(me and my boyfriend also talked about this as a very real possibility previously- communication is very important)

Set a planned parenthood appointment out of state, paid in full at the appointment.

At the appointment- I was nervous. They were playing the worst music I’ve ever heard in a doctors office over the radio(headphones next time.) I was emotionally fragile, they were playing songs like “apologize” by onerepublic. I got a pregnancy test, a transvaginal ultrasound, and then everything was explained to me by a pharmacist. The doctor and the pharmacist both told me after the first pill- there was no going back. I was stared at as I took the pill. I got ibuprofen, anti nausea meds, and the 4 pills I was suppose to take the following morning. I went home- I was fine but tired. Until the next morning.

I felt ill, tried eating, and waited for the dreaded time to take the medication. I threw up before I took the anti nausea meds. I had to take them twice. I took ibuprofen, I put the 4 abortion pills in my cheeks and waited, nauseously, for them to melt before I could swallow them.

30 minutes after taking the pills- I started feeling even more sick. My abdomen was starting to cramp in waves. Slowly ramping up, I vomited about 6 times over the course of the next 2 or 3 hours. The pain was unimaginable- it came in waves. Heat packs were the only thing that helped me combat the pain. Imagine the drops and rises you feel in a rollercoaster- that’s how startling and terrifying the pain was. You’ll also feel like you need to poop during this.(I think it’s sort of like a mix of cramps and labor pain?)

After about 4 hours, the pain started to subside, I’d cried my eyes out and thrown up more than I’d thrown up in the past 3 years in only 2 hours. I fell asleep after the pain calmed down enough for me to not lie in bed writhing and crying. I was woken up to eat food and drink water and take more painkillers and ibuprofen. The next 3 days that’s all I really did. Eat, sleep, drink water, relax. I never got the same cramps- but my abdomen ached the entire time with shorter, less extreme cramps. After 3 days I started taking longer breaks between painkillers and lowering the dose. After 6 days I finally started to feel more normal- but I was still bleeding.

I bled for about 2 weeks. I felt more normal after a week. My body’s cycle caught up after about 2 months, and then my emotions caught up after about 6 months. It did change the way I thought about kids and pregnancy- but I have a feeling it has to do with hormones.

Your first best form of contraceptive is not getting pregnant- and your second is an abortion. If you need to get one, if you want to get one, do it. Ask for better painkillers- have heat packs ready, have a friend/lover/family member willing to sit there while you go through the most difficult part and to help take care of you. You’ll be alright.

My inbox is open to questions, and I am more then happy to help you with anything you need to know.

[desolateice]

HELLO my dearest favourite writer! I heard you were sick, so get well soon <3

Can I ask how you write so much in such a small time? Do you have a schedule to keep you in check, or do you just write as soon as motivation springs? I have wanted to write something for the longest time, I really wanted to write a long story but for I've never been able to do it consistently. Do you plan your stories or is it a more "go with the flow thing"? Or a mix of both :0

Apologies for the amount of questions, and take your time with answering!! I just wanted to learn more about writing and I figured I'd ask you!!

Hello anon!

I seem to be on the mend, thank you for your well wishes! I was definitely under the weather for about a little over a week.

So this got away from me. 😅 It’s massive, there’s mild spoilers for fics as I talk about writing them below this cut and also again...the entirety of it is massive. Thank you for asking anon, happy writing and best of luck on your long story. 💖

I do not recommend what I do. I…do almost nothing else. 😅 Mr. Miyagi would be so disappointed in me. There's like no life balance at the moment. During the pandemic I've become a bit of a hermit, more than I normally was/am and so I threw myself into writing. Pretty much any time I have free time and I’m not working or doing chores, I'm writing.

It is a 0/10 do not recommend. That week I was out sick was going to be my attempt at being social again to sort of re-balance and well that failed because instead I had to stay in my room. You don't want to know the amount of tasks, even creative projects, I'm currently avoiding by burying deeper into fic writing.

Like even when I'm not writing, if I'm doing something that doesn't require my brain whether it's baking or cleaning, I'm daydreaming the story. Or showering. Part of why I take long showers is to like de-stress but I'm also trying to figure out plot holes and trying to solve them and usually I do. 😅I cannot recommend a good shower or bath more. I don't know what it is about them.

I would say when I was younger I'd spend my entire breaks writing and in between classes I was writing, and then I started a blog where I reviewed stuff and I'd read that those style blogs did better if you had a consistent posting schedule. So I'd do a lot of work, cram out as many blog posts in a day as I could and then schedule them and I think that habit I instilled in myself from blogging just sort of became a wildfire. I think that mixed with a pretty good word per minute typing is how I crank out so much so fast. I blame my dad, when I was little he told me learning to type was important and so I got to sit in front of the family computer and just write and write and write and play typing games. He also had an old school type writer and I was allowed to play with that too. When I'm in the zone I'm cruising along because of that, though I misspell a lot and I’ve learned to go back and fix that later, or hope to catch it later. My biggest one is teh instead of the. But I've also been to writing conferences and a lot of interviews with writers and that schedule you ask about is always something they talk about.

Writers with full time jobs will try and find a time in their schedule that works for them to write, even if it's a short period of time. Writers with kids will get up early or stay up late to write when their kids have gone to bed. It's really what works best for you. When are you most creative? When does your mind run wild with a story idea?

One of the recent interviews I watched was with Naomi Hirahara, she said she did the Pomodoro method. A Pomodoro is a tomato timer, you might've seen one in kitchen, their kind of cute. But what she does is she calls a friend and they both set a timer for 15 minutes and then write, no distractions. No looking stuff up, no checking social media or your phone, nothing. No self editing or going back to fix things. Just writing as much as you can.

Because you're rushing, because you're being timed, and you've got a friend keeping you accountable you kind of don't think about the words or if they're good or bad you just write and get it out and onto the page. And then they share their word count and just cheer each other on.

It’s also called sprinting. I didn’t know about it until I joined Discord and joined in on some sprints with a sprinting bot and other writers and it can be a lot of fun because you’re working on your own thing but together and there’s comradely and you’re just cheering each other on.

And I think it's important to occasionally write like that. I put brackets for stuff I have to skip over or research more later. [like this] so that I know to come back to it later, or if I'm struggling with a part and know I can skip ahead I'll do something like [Johnny and Daniel go to the beach and try balancing on the poles(?)] and then skip to the part that I have in my head. And then when I have more time I go back and read that note and then fill in that spot, research and fill in the blanks. And if I'm stuck with a spot I'm writing I try and think about what's needed. Sometimes I can fill in what I'd expect to be an entire chapter with a line, or sometimes I just let the characters talk, or I throw in another, or I go back.

Sometimes there's something wrong a couple paragraphs above which is why I'm stuck. Or, I swap fics. Work on a different one for a bit. Semifreddo exists because I got stuck on "Cherry Cordial". I was like hmm I'm stuck, let's go look at this other prompt oh hey idea, ran with it, finished a draft of it and realized oh, solved the issue I was having with "Cherry Cordial". Schedule or inspiration: Sometimes it's both. I save writing after everyone goes to bed and then I let it eat into my sleep, do not recommend, especially because generally I need 9 hours to function and I love to sleep.

Or I write a lot on the weekends when I don't have plans.

Sometimes I start to fall asleep. With Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I would stay up late trying to write as much as possible because I knew it was going to be long and because I tried to do a chapter a day. I’d also get up early and write before I had work. 

So once the posting caught up with me I'd try to write as much as I could when I could at night so I could read it over the next day to publish it and I'd read it over during my lunch break so that I could publish it before dinner and...my sleep suffered.

Now when I get that level of tired I try to go to bed. Because it's not healthy. It was a fun challenge and I honestly needed a distraction from life, but it wasn't sustainable. I will say though that when I'm tired like that sometimes I'll scribble down the skeleton of the idea so that when I have energy I can come back to it, then go to bed after the thought is written down. That balance is important. Like okay, on Saturday I cleaned. I was feeling a bit better and needed to clean and disinfect and I thought this should take just a little bit of time and then I can write. And it took all day. I was so mad and it was kind of a bummer to put away all my Halloween stuff, especially all the baking stuff I didn’t get around to using because I was sick. But I’m sitting here now and it’s so neat and organized and it feels so much better and I’m glad I did it. Even if I lost that time I meant to write. My space needed it, I needed it for my mental health and it was a good thing to do for future me. And I need to work on that more because I kind of feel like a feral cat or something and don’t want to leave and go out but then I do, I go out and meet a friend for a catch up at a cafe, or go to high tea or go to my local library or just spend all day with friends and I feel better. Which again, is exactly why I don’t recommend my style or schedule because oof, my balance and alignment is out of whack and I’m still trying to figure it out. I do think it’s important to give yourself time to write, to find that time, even if it’s 15 minutes once a week. Right now it’s Nanowrimo (National Writing Month, though it’s international) And people challenge themselves to crank out a novel in a month by writing daily. The fun of it is that there’s an official website and there are meetings and a sense of community.

There might be stuff happening near you, and if not there’s plenty of stuff online. I do want to warn you that you can be your hardest critic, especially with a schedule and to not get too upset if you miss a day in your schedule or a week.

Life happens, what’s important is that you enjoy it and have fun and to get back up, take care of yourself and try again. The more you do it, the easier it’ll get. I’m going to share one of their author pep talks with you. This one is from Audrey Niffenegger.

Dear Novelist,

I am sitting at my desk, staring at my computer screen, contemplating National Novel Writing Month with admiration and horror. Admiration for those of you who threw yourselves into writing your novels with furious devotion and a passionate determination to write 1666.66 words per day, and horror at the thought of doing this myself.

I’m a very slow writer. Slow works for me. I have all the bad habits my fellow writers warn you not to fall into: I procrastinate. I write a bit and wander off to think it over and come back two weeks later. I have no schedule, no regular habits, no fetishes, no daily word quota. I incubate ideas for years and once I start to work on them I can spend more years happily researching esoteric bits and bobs that may not even end up in the novel. I am terribly caffeine dependent. I edit while I write.

Surely you don’t do any of that stuff, or you’d be doomed to slowness and would not excel at this National Novel Writing Month thing. My first novel took me four and a half years to write; the second took seven years, though that was because I fell so in love with the research (I was working as a volunteer tour guide at Highgate Cemetery in London) that I had a hard time stopping so I could finish the book. I once spent fourteen years working on a graphic novel.

Why do I let this happen? Because it’s fun. Now that you have created your fictional people and the world they live in, you have probably discovered that they are terrific company and that they are all living in your brain. Suddenly you have a party in your head (a la that old Talking Heads song) and it is hard to make that party happen any faster than it wants to happen. And when the party is finally over, you will feel bereft and alone. So why not slow down and have the maximum experience?

I once studied painting with Ed Paschke, who invited me and my classmates to visit his studio. He was working on six paintings simultaneously. We asked him why, and he replied that he could finish one painting a week or six paintings in six weeks. He preferred to take longer because more things might happen to him in those six weeks, he might have more ideas about any one of the six paintings. He liked to take it slow.

National Novel Writing Month was a chance to jolt your story onto the page, to use the magic of a deadline to whap out your novel. Now that it is December, I hope you will kick back, have a cup of coffee, reread your 50,000 words, ponder a bit, and then… go for a walk. And on that walk I hope your novel will unclench itself in your brain and let you begin the long, slow, delightful work of rewriting it.

With very best wishes for the health of your novel,

Audrey Niffenegger

The reason why I share this is because it’s lovely and because she a bit the opposite of me. She writes slowly, takes her time, and she loves it.

One true piece of writing advice is that everyone does it differently, so you have to take the advice that works for you and figure out your own path.

It might be fixing a schedule, it might be writing every time inspiration strikes and writing like that line in one of the Hamilton songs (”How do you write like you’re running out of time?”) which I fear sometimes is me 😅, or you might just write when you have time. It’s what people do. They write before their kids get up, or after they go to bed, or they write on their train commute, or they give themselves an hour that is devoted only to writing. I took quite a few years off from writing fic, from writing my own stories, but I never stopped writing. I journaled, I wrote poems, I wrote blog posts and I read.

Reading is so important and figuring out why it is can help. I had so many classes try to make me read Moby Dick and I managed to avoid reading it by just reading chapters that we talked about and nothing else, but the point was to understand the way Herman Melville described things and the voice he used.

I had to read the Sermon over and over again and hated it. 😅 It’s so...convoluted. It didn’t work for me, but then one day I didn’t have a lot of options of things to read because I was somewhere where I could get my hands on English books easily but classics are generally free online and I read it and you know what? I enjoyed it and it’s because it starts with the “there was only one bed” trope. But it’s still not one I particularly want to go back to and I got it. I got why I was made to read it so many times. On the other hand for long books I’ve read two massive ‘classic’ books. Ulysses and The Count of Monte Cristo.

 Ulysses is great for studying different styles. Each chapter is a parody of a different style. However it’s hard to follow. You can’t just pick it up and float along with the story. It’s full of ye olde memes and pop culture references and all sorts of stuff that James Joyce put in that I just didn’t get. I had to read it with like three different guides and I still hated it at the end, but I respect the different styles of every chapter and the mechanics of the book as well as the books history itself as a banned book that no one would publish for it’s crude content. Meanwhile, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all time favorite books. The way the Alexandre Dumas planned out his story and layer and laid out such a tale of revenge is honestly just my jam. The only other long form story I love in such a way that pulls this plot layering off that I’ve found is One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. (I’m no longer caught up because I tend to let the arcs finish before I pick them it up again and I’ve let several years worth of arcs build up) But reading is important, you learn so much from reading. Different styles, different ways to write and you absorb so much subconsciously. I’ve been told I need to read The Song of Achilles because it’s a style opposite of mine. It’s succinct and apparently the grammar and the way it’s told would do me some good. 😅 But parody is also a great exercise. Short stories are good place to start. Kafka for example, The Metamorphosis has been studied, torn apart by English classes and writers, and parodied over and over again. It’s not my favorite but that’s because to me reading Kafka is like trying to run through quicksand. But his ability to write the nightmare that is bureaucracy and real life, oof, add to that the idea that you wake up as a bug and are still being treated the same and still have to figure out how to get out of bed and get to work? That hits in a really just poignant and a depressing kind of pessimistic way. 

The reason I enjoy writing fic is because there’s a sense of community that is somewhat already built in. When you write your own stuff you’ve got to seek that out, because writing is a relatively lonely hobby. There’s a reason sewing circles and book clubs exist. Because there’s something comforting in knowing you’re not alone. Writing classes can be fun, libraries usually have writing clubs, it can be scary, because writing can be such a personal experience, but I mention it because you never know what feedback on your writing will give you and what advice you might get when you get stuck. Plus they usually give you writing exercises which are a great way to warm up. Which honestly is one of the reasons I love the allvalley100. Being given a prompt and a word limit is a great warm up and it’s a good exercise since I tend to write so much generally. I mean look at this. 😅 I didn’t mean for this to get so long and I’m not done yet... So challenging myself to just 100 words is great for me to exercise my writing muscles. It’s why I also love the Halloween prompts, because I can essentially look at them and think okay what of these sparks my interest? Aliens? I love those sci-fy stories like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the TV shows like The Neighbors, the early seasons of 3rd Rock from the Sun, and 3Below. I know what it’s like to move to another country where the language isn’t my native one. And then I just had fun with it. A lot of fun, because I hadn’t played with a sub-genre I enjoy so much which are the alien tries to understand what it’s like to live on earth and ends up making great points about culture and life. 

That is one where I just went with the flow. I had an idea of where I wanted to go, I mean the goal is always romance, so I kind of know where I’m going, but I like jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone to get there. And I definitely made mistakes and then had to go back and figure them out. Like Daniel’s heart beats in the first chapter and I belatedly after having so much fun with language realized the “lore” of the story and the alien culture and then realized whoops...his heart already beat once, do I go back and fix that? It’d already been published, so I just had to figure it out, how to fit that mistake into the story.

I also totally get nervous before I post things. I write and then I’m like ahhhh, and there have been times where I write a new story or start something and think oh no one is going to like this but me. But I’m working on that. Because it shouldn’t matter. As long as I’m enjoying it and entertaining myself it doesn’t matter. I think the first chapter of Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I had it in Ao3 and I had to like force myself to hit the post button and had squeezed my eyes shut and then like ran away from my computer because I was writing something that was for me. I was entertaining myself and didn’t know if anyone else would like it. I almost didn’t. I started it for myself and was like I don’t have to share this, but then I decided, screw it, I’m going to post it. But I still ran away from my computer and got so nervous.

Usually in my head I have a vague idea of what I want to happen, like in the start of Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I knew I wanted to go through the movies because I wanted the whole point to be a ripple effect, by making one change Johnny changed not just his future, but everyone else’s. So I was telling myself the big climatic fight from TKK2 over and over again and it kept changing while I was writing the first arc and slowly making my way there. Originally I kept it the same as the film but put Johnny in the audience, and then realized he’d never forgive Chozen if he threatened Kumiko and tried to kill Daniel, and that Johnny wasn’t the type of person to just sit in the audience, so I had to move him, I had to change the story. Because I wanted to keep that friendship, that crush and not destroy everything. Because in my mind Johnny was fuming from the audience, comforting Yukie but murderous and holding back because Mr. Miyagi wasn’t panicking and he believed in Daniel and I realized that it just didn’t work.

He had to be a part of it. The whole point of Root Beer Floats and Green Tea is that actions and fixing things changes everything and I had to figure out Chozen better and why, if I wanted them to get along so I could pull Chozen into that third movie as well, I had to keep them friends. I had to bridge a gap that the original plot of TKK2 and the friendship I had for all of them in my mind just didn’t match. So I was toying with the future plot while writing the first arc. There were so many showers where I told myself that fight over and over again until I finally figured out the way I wanted it to go. 😅 I tend to think up where I want something to go, and there’s a scene I want to get to and then I work on the steps it takes to get there. If it’s too far away I will write down a quick list of everything to get there. Like I have done that with Buku Buku Cha because I know where I want it to go and what I want to happen though sometimes I change the route just a bit, but I knew I’d set it aside for all the Halloween prompts and run out of time to work on it so I have a list of everything so I won’t forget. And when I was writing the final arc of Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I listed all the plot points I wanted to hit before I ended the story, and those ended up, for the most part, becoming chapters because the entire thing got away from me.

So I suppose it’s a bit of both. For Root Beer Floats and Green Tea I knew kind of how I wanted it to end. I knew the scene I wanted, to see how everything had changed, all the people who loved them and were a part of their lives still through Daniel’s eyes and what Johnny decided to do, the thing that made him actually happy and that was how I’d kind of wanted it to end from the beginning though I hadn’t decided what Johnny would do at the start. But I wanted to pull everyone in, because I kind of viewed Cobra Kai as lonely. That they’d let go of all these people in their lives for so long, and were just starting to build their communities thirty or so plus years later. And I thought, if we make one change at the beginning the ripple effect could be massive, a moment of mutual kindness that turns into love, a chance to be kind to one another and listen, it might be bumpy, but it could improve everyone’s lives. By letting Mr. Miyagi interact with Johnny, by giving him guiding and care there’s a chance to keep him from becoming a self-destructive alcoholic like he is in the show and maybe he wouldn’t loose touch with those who loved him and Daniel wouldn’t be alone for so long. (I mean he has Mr. Miyagi, but still I wanted to bring them more. I nearly brought them all the Cobra Kai people too 😅 But then decided it was too much and I had to stop because my original idea nearly made Amanda their wedding planner and dear friend, but then there would’ve had to be another arc and I got tired.) It didn’t end up being the end end, I wrote it earlier than the rest of the final arc, before I switched to finishing up other fics like Konpeito, because I needed to get that image down and out and then I worked my way back towards it when I finally sat down to finish the rest of Root Beer Floats and Green Tea. Originally that was the end end.

TLDR: I don’t think I have a schedule but I do, I write whenever I’ve got time and if I don’t I try and take notes so I don’t forget. I also do a mix of planning but usually I’m more of a go with the flow writer. I have plot points I generally want to get to do and then work my way to them.

[kpophubb]

Heyy~ it's me! Your Hee Anonie !

Also yes Hapoy Belated Hee Day! This angst is my gift ?? Idk 🫠

P-2 !

You were going to break up with him. Yes. It was going to hurt like fuck but it's for the better. You don't deserve to be treated this way. Tight schedules are one thing but this is too much. It's getting to his head.

How dare he yell at you as if you are the one in wrong. Honestly a part of you really felt bad and cried the entire night over the fact he was throwing away your food. But it's not about the food now. It's about him lying to you. To the members about you. And knocking off your sincerity just like that.

You have called him about 7 times now. It's been 3 hours since the last call. Honestly you have given up now. It's been a terrible day. The work was long, it started raining and obviously you didn't have an umbrella, you come back home to no replies from your beloved boyfriend. That night you wake up with a fever.

You text Hee. Asking if he could come over. He replies with "I'm busy". Oh, so he isn't gonna talk about the previous 15 messages and 7 missed calls ?? Fine then. Fever or not. You weren't gonna ask help from someone who isn't interested. Thankfully you atleast had good friends who respond and help you in the time of need.

It's been two days since then. You haven't texted him. He hasn't obviously sent anything your way. You didn't want to do this. Looks like you weren't getting much choice.

You were gonna break things off over a text message. A new low for you but he was the one not cooperating. Should've gotten hints with "I have something important to talk" "I want to talk about us" etc.

You sent him the message. He reads it and calls you. So now he is interested in communication? Oh wow. scoffing you pick up the call. He doesn't even give you a chance and goes on

"Babe please don't do this-"

You don't need or want to hear his bullshit so you tell him to keep it to himself, how he threw away your sincerity and how unwell you were 2 days ago. Coughing, throwing up and going out in fever to buy your meds. Thankfully your friends were there to help you through it. Honestly you were just gonna cut the call. Already having a headache from a 3 minute conversation. It's what he says next that actually makes you stop.

"I have been sick for a week now. I have been under a lot of pressure. I didn't want to put pressure on you, that's why I have been distant. I really love you y/n"

It sounds so stupid but somehow you feel super bad now. He was sick too. He didn't have you either when he was unwell. This doesn't fix any of his behaviour. But just hearing him. His sweet voice. Communicating. Telling you how he has been makes you rethink everything.

He says he can't come over now because he is still sick and doctors have advised him bed rest. That night, you and him talk peacefully (for the first time in months for 30 mins)

Although you felt very guilty you also felt that maybe you two could fix this after all ......

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Ok SO I KNOW NOT THE DIRECTION WE ALL WERE HOPING FOR BUT WAIT FOR IT OK OK ???

ALSO ILYSM AND ily talking to you!!! Also I am soo happy you like my soft/angst hours or just communicating with me !!! (Hee take notes) I love sending you asks and just can't help myself when they get tooooo long !!

Also yes Gyu the pretty boy with the best humour, sensitivity, and visuals. He is gonna make y/n happy....or is he 🤨🤨 dkdjdjWAIT FOR IT 🤌

Ik this is vv long but still one last thing-

Pls your tmi are so imp and cute and msndkd that I have to address them ALL in full detail in another message itself. So firstly I really hope you enjoy your vacation because I know for a fact that Med School is not at all easy and you totally need a huge long vacation to enjoy yourself because you are not going to be able to get a breather or as much time as one would like to chill when it all starts. And I want our asks to be something you look fondly back at when you are busy in med school soo I am gonna try and send the best asks hehehe !!!

Also gyu the pretty savior!! We stan 🙌

Hello and welcome back again my lady 🥺🫶🏻 you know when I saw this ask it was 1:30 am last night and I remember the last thing I saw before dozing off was your ask, I locked my screen like that and fell asleep the next second. And then right when I woke up today morning, I came to check this ask again so I went to sleep and woke up with your ask. How lovable!🥹🤍

Wow omg where is the story going!😭 this is so unpredictable (which just makes it sm more interesting) poor y/n.. she’s going through so much. HEE IS BEING SO MANIPULATIVE OMG he treats her like trash and now that..she wants to set herself free and move on he’s being so convincing and toxic to tie her down? Istg if I were in y/n’s place I’d also melt and be convinced If he used the sickness card on me and started being nice again…but I want to tell y/n to REMEMBER ALL THE OTHER TIMES he treated her like trash and OUTRIGHT DISRESPECTED HER? Huh? That’s when he WASN’T sick which obviously shows he doesn’t care about her. And PLEASE, I need gyu good role 🫶🏻☹️ I’m so rooting for gyu x y/n moments because I’m on gyu’s team !!💖😤 y/n deserves a guy who can treat her right and fix all her broken with love and support. I’m so eager to see where the story is headed, this is SO interesting to me ngl! What a brain you’ve got- just WOW! *~*

-now coming to you again <3

• omg aww I never thought you’d actually find my useless tmis cute >.< I just like talking to you sm I always feel like I should add sth in my ask to keep the conversation going!

• DID YOU JUST SEE WHAT RELEASED enhypen manifesto tour in ASIA?😭 they’re going to Bangkok NOW IM HOPEFUL SOMEDAY THEY WILL COME TO MALAYSIA TOO. (That is where I’ll be moving for uni so I just hope they come at the right time when I’ll be able to see them. I will cry my eyes out if I ever miss that opportunity)

• I really wanna see my enhypen irl and most of all there’s sth I want to give Jake although I’m not really sure if I can ever give it to him..but.. there’s a scrapbook I’ve been making for Jake.It’s a life goal at this point to give it to him cause I just want him to know how much I love him and he means to me. That’s more than enough for me. :’) <3

• I do not intend to come off as nagging, but did you read the fic I suggested? 😭 I’m just so curious to hear YOUR OPINION cause it’s angsty too bdhdhsie ik you’re so BUSY SO check it only if you’re free!

• also I know I might not be able to be as active when my life continues again, that is why I’m writing and posting as much as I can now. This blog is like a museum for me- a museum filled with my precious feelings of fangirling and happiness that was gifted to me by enhypen. I want it to be a place where I can look back and reminisce about my magical time and capture my memories as memories are the most precious thing I believe!

• but ofc I wouldn’t want to stop talking to you I know SO I WILL check and hope that we get to exchange one ask atleast once a week. 🥺 I hope we just become closer and closer and have more fun times together 💓

•take care and love you so much more 💛

[ Here is heesun cute heart for you to give you a mood boost! <3 *kissy* 💋 ]

[perfection-ishh]

5 | 30 | 2024 | thursday

journal entry

12:30pm | woke up. tapering off my medication, so I didn’t take it today (and consequently forgot to take my vitamins). fed the boys, almost immediately made myself an iced coffee and sat down to set up my desk space to draw before work.

1:30pm | lurked in the art and study chatrooms on the lofi girl discord for some motivation, then looked up some sketching videos and some drawing exercises. decided to practice perspective and 3D shapes, mainly cubes and boxes. took me an unreasonably long time to realize I could just draw two slightly overlapping squares / rectangles and then just connect them with lines. figured it out though.

2:30pm | ate a piece of sourdough with butter and made myself my second coffee, which ended up really upsetting my stomach. started getting ready for work, and fed the boys one more time before I left. my employer is having a potluck today over our dinner break, so I stopped and picked up some a dozen of glazed donuts from the local grocery shop bakery. they were only like $6 and they legitimately make the best donuts I have ever had, so I thought they’d be good to bring to work. I also picked up a crème filled one topped with sprinkles for myself. ate it as soon as I got to work since I was running ahead of schedule.

6:15pm | I’ve been at work for about two hours now. it’s a pretty decent day. my job is pretty boring and tedious so I’ve just been catching up on the tht podcast, hiding my ear bud under my hoodie as usual even though it’s terribly hot in here. I realized that being able to work for myself and have more freedom in my work environment is really great motivation to get my BA and save as much as I can to pay off my loans.

10:00pm | dinner was nice! my department had a potluck and I got to eat a bunch of food, although some of the textures nauseated me, mainly the gristly taco meat someone made. any time I bite into gristle or tendon, it makes me want to gag. it’s a shame because the food tasted great, I just couldn’t get over the textures. I was able to try most of the dishes without issue though! I had a soft taco, some buffalo chicken dip with a couple of tortilla chips, a couple of cookies and a donut total. I also polished off damn near an entire box of cheezits since I got to work too. obviously I did eat way more than I wanted to today, but that was to be expected. I tend to binge at food centered social events, so I’m still navigating that. ah well.

12:00am | last break was pretty meh. I spent most of it using a weight loss calculator because I’m trying to set a calorie limit that’ll help me lose 100lb in a year. I drafted a meal plan for the weekend and made a list of groceries. at least I have one less thing to figure out next week.

3:00am | now my weekend can start! I’m ready to go home and get ready for bed. jammed with my spotify dj on the way home. once I got home I sat in my car for ten minutes changing my phone wallpapers and widgets. it looks nice!

5:00am | once I got in my door, I fed the boys, tried to clean up my elder cat’s snotty lil nose, and kinda went back and forth with those two tasks on and off for about 20 minutes since his nose was really plugged up and it made it hard for him to smell his food. plus a bathroom break in there somewhere. then I washed up a little, changed into an oversized tee, and threw on an episode of the harley quinn animated series. at this point though, I’m pretty exhausted. I’m laying in bed now and close to drifting off.

[justintaco]

[prelovednikaidou]

corrupt; draken, ken ryuguji [01]

Summary:

In which you met the man of your past, but he didn't come back to remind you of the bitter break-up. Draken had one thing in mind and it was to never let you leave his side ever again. Distance made the heart grow fonder but he'd rather let you spend the rest of your life hating him if it meant you'd never leave his sight.

"I don't wish you well when you ain't with me, I want you crying."

Warning:

mention of suicide, oral receiving (reader),

a/n: taglist are open up to 10 users! comment '☁️'

Word count: 2.1k

series masterlist

[01: jealousy]

Draken wanted to take you away.

The curves of your spine, flowing down to the slope of your well-rounded bottom flesh, he watched the symmetrical dimple right above your butt - mocking him that those precious intimate spots were no longer his possession to own.

It wasn't only him who shared the same thought; everyone in this crowded room had their eyes glued on you. As if you were holding those guests captive, you felt immense pressure on your feet and thighs, quivered before you wrapped your leg around the shining pole.

Spinning, spinning, spinning.

Those blinding lights showered your sweating figure in all fairness, the sound of Abel's voice had long dimmed down, it meant that your show was done. It was silent in a minute,

lifting your face - your lips curled into a hunting smile and the room soared with cheers, crumpled money tossed across the stage, but your sense of content was suppressed by the overwhelming tension.

A pair of black pupils were starring at you - pinning you to where you stood. He was among the crowd, all in his glory without care but you. You felt something burst inside your chest, unable to tear your focus from him.

This longing for him is toxic.

Flashes of memories where those sober eyes bore into yours when he pumped his fat cock into your tight cunt until his thick cum over spilled, the same eyes that once shone with so much love but turned cold.

"Dollface!"

A shout from backstage startled you from your daze, another coworker came up and escorted you down, assisting you to take off the painful high heels.

"What's with you?" She threw a curious stare your way.

You still couldn't wrap your mind. He was there. Flesh and soul, presented in front of you. It was a brief eye contact but it was enough. Enough to tell you that he was coming back for you.

It had been years since the two of you chose to split up, making your paths without each other's companion.

"I, I've got to go. I forgot that I locked the windows, my cat's probably waiting for me. He's been out for 3 days so he's starving I think. Y'all can continue without me,"

You stood but your knees turned weak at the sudden arrival of him, standing by the door. A few steps taken back, you lost all rationality to stay calm because your heart thumped loudly.

Standing tall on his 6' ft, athletic and young Draken was nowhere to be seen but replaced - with a mature adult man that induced everything he carried into lust.

The robust body looked incredibly fit, lean, and you could see the strong outlines of his defined chest and abdominal muscles from the black shirt. If it was years ago, those leather jackets wouldn't suit him - he'd look like those up-start wannabe gangsters.

But it was different now. It clung to his broad shoulders perfectly, he wasn't as cheap as those local pranksters. The dark jeans also did little job in hiding his long legs. He was indeed a member of a gang; eerie and cruel - but he had never look this good that you want to fuck.

Draken's presence was enough to brush away every man in the room that you belonged to him. Your little admirers couldn't even look at him in the eyes, let alone make up a fight.

They left with a strong sense of defeat; no wonder you never once accept any confessions, turned out you have such a man waiting.

"Why is he here? This area is off-limits. Only staff is allowed. Naoki, guide him out." You forced yourself to mutter those words, uncaring to look at him with your back facing him.

Naoki sighed, this man literally slipped $750 under the table just to meet you. Those incompetent flies who claimed to love you didn't even spare this much effort. She only signaled him to step in before she whispered to you,

"Remember the guy I told you? The one that booked a whole session for your private room? He's that guy. It's just that he arrived a little early than the arranged meeting but it'll be great if you can build a connection with him."

You glared back, "Then send him back. We still have a week before that, right? I'm tired. I can't keep up with this," You pushed off her hand from your shoulder, began to take off your wig. His eyes were still the same; always undressing you naked.

Naoki could only grit her teeth, the money already landed in her pocket. What if he asked it back? She can't let such a great deal slip so she greeted him,

"She's a bit tired from the recent show. How about we push this to tomorrow? She's got free time on her hand to rest too." At least, this would do, right?

"If I have so much time on my hands, I wouldn't have come a week early. So you guess it yourself." His voice has changed too. It was an octave lower, you immediately rubbed your thighs together before you waved a hand.

"Haaa... leave us, Naoki. But I need you to go to my house. I wasn't joking about what I said earlier."

Naoki hurriedly nodded, clutching to her pocket before her eyes warily darted from Draken to you. Is this a couple feud? She noted in her head that she'd help this guy soon in the future - who doesn't want easy money?

"Okay, I will. Sir...? Err.. hope you have a pleasant chat with Dollface. I will excuse myself then ." The hindrance in Draken's eyes finally left the room, the door closed in a thump and the subtle tension thickened.

He didn't say anything, only leaned his body by the door as he watched you wiped off your makeup. This was his morning view back when you were still wet behind ears about pole dancing. You'd come back at the crack of drawn and he'd already been out to his workshop.

"Dollface."

Stubborn like a little cat, your doe eyes didn't look up from your make-up bag and he could see through your act to be so busy. He loved how feisty you've become after years. It eased his heart that you could chase off those little shit.

"It suits you, [Y/N]. Face so pretty like a doll. Make one's heart itch to keep around. But I wonder why the name sounds so familiar."

"State your business. I'm heading home straight after this so don't expect a lap dance or something."

"Then that's the plan. I'll drive you home, eh?"

That damn 'eh'. He picked up your habit too well that the time he spent with you shaped him into copying your habit. It sounded cute but your heart still couldn't forgive him. Let him suffer a little.

"Don't need to. My boyfriend is great at doing his job. So do me a favor and let me rest quickly, how about that?"

Now, you were looking at him through the mirror. It was just too hard for you to muster yourself to face him directly. Draken didn't seem shaken. He stood straightly, you clenched your thighs tighter.

"Have I ever been quick in everything when I'm with you, [Y/N]?" His towering figure gawked over your smaller frame - casting his shadow over you as his sharp facial features caught your attention.

"Can't remember. Maybe? Because I said it just now almost like a reflex." You replied, not backing down but instead, squaring up to him that your ample breasts brushed against his torso.

His cologne didn't smell like the tacky, cheap body spray he used to own. This one smelled so expensive, alienated your memory of his familiar scent.

"Now you're getting older, your memory is getting rusty, dollface. Should I put on a play and see if you can call anything in mind?" You felt your breath became heavier but he didn't let you lose your focus yet.

Your chin was tugged upwards, the shadow of his cap cast upon his face and you remembered now; it was his eyes. Because he wasn't vocal about his feelings, you could understand everything from his eyes.

"You've grown softer, Draken. I almost threw up listening to you talk like this. What, are you changing jobs now? Don't tell me you went from a gangster to a con artist."

No, you were lying to yourself. Draken didn't change but improved. Change can be something bad but he never did anything that would bring him down. He just got better.

And it was true when the velvety touch on your beating pulse suddenly moved to your lips before he squished your cheeks in his hand.

"Fucking hot as hell but so damn annoying." He laughed, the light from his eyes never return, only replaced by a wicked glint.

He wanted to take you to his place, fuck you in his bed until you couldn't walk properly so he'd have more reasons to keep you at his place. He wanted to swallow you whole and he barely even started but why was it so damn hard to have you?

"Don't dare to think of anything nasty. You might not care about commitment in a relationship, but I do. So take your hands off me, Draken."

"Kenie. It's Kenie for you."

Your lips were so plump and wet, his other arm wrapped around your waist - hoisting you up to his body before he leaned by the dresser.

You shrieked when his scalding hot palm touched your naked back and as he untied the strings of your bra, he smiled at your face as he said,

"Do you think I'm going to believe that, dollface? Do you really think I don't know that this pussy hasn't been fucked well for months? I have eyes across this ward. You don't get to fool me."

Heat rose to your face, your small hands pushed on his shoulders, "You're still up in my business? Sounds like someone can't fucking move on."

He nodded, ripping off your lacey bralette and his big hands began to palm your heavy breast - carelessly rubbing your nipple with his thumb. You fought the urge to moan, you hold onto his shoulder for dear strength.

"You're right. I can't move on." Your breath hitched, he nuzzled his face to the column of your neck, inhaling so deep, and wrapped his arms tightly around your body. He missed you so much. So much that if you ran away again, he'd just kill himself.

"I fucked my fist thinking of you. I got this hard just by thinking of you. I'm not ashamed of it."

"That's your problem, Draken. I'm not you. I'm living my best life right now, and sorry that I can still cum just with my fingers."

"That's my girl," He pushed you until your back met the concrete wall, your eyes widened when he took off his cap and put it on you before he dropped to his knees.

"I am aware of your appetite, [Y/N]. You won't be happy with such a small meal. You always keep coming back to have your tight pussy stuffed. Even when we were living together, you couldn't stop begging my dick every night."

"What the hell are you talking about-" You pushed his forehead away from your private part, one hand covering your pussy but he gripped the side of your hips - bringing you straight to his mouth.

"I don't care if you use me as your favorite Cherry Twins. But don't deny that I made you cummed the hardest when I was in your life, dollface."

Your eyes became misty, his words just flew through your head - empty when his mouth latched on your clothed crotch, lapping on the small fabric that the nudge of his tongue probed on your budding clit.

Cherry Twins were the name he gave to your vibrators. Since he was always out when you were at home, he'd make you use them to your greedy cunt - even made a video call so he could jerk off in the public restroom.

You were wild, but he taught you to live even wilder.

Next page: chapter [02] →

a/n : next chapter is full smut bcs thats the only thing my brain's capable of. Taglist are open up to 10 users! Comment '☁️’.

Taglist: @hanmascult @q-the-rockaholic @hikkarins