#was so good to have the kiddos back tho <3

[hoshigray]

Now look here, it's sugardaddy! x sugar baby! reader time >>:3 So here's the rundown: the reader is a college senior who works part-time in a diner and finds out that their favorite customer, Toji, is a sugar daddy and wants to initiate courtship. Although it is a proposition you fail to see yourself saying no to, is this something you can see yourself being in the long run?

A/n: This prompt was picked on a poll to celebrate getting over 50 followers, only for me to get to 100 right after!!?? Y'all...can I give you a hug? ;w; No, oh okay. Anyways, I won't make another poll, BUT I'll be opening thirsts/requests soon!! >:D I just gotta make myself a disclaimer list before we let those lil fantasies of yours fly, lol. But yeah, this is my first time posting a fic over 1k+, so I hope y'all like it. Also, bonus: there's art drawn by Moi (@hoshigaby)?? You'll have to scroll down to find it tho :33 Okay, I'm sorry, go ahead and read!!!

Cw: soft dom! Toji x fem! reader - implied age gap (the reader is in their early 20s, Toji's around early or mid-30s) - mating press - cervix fucking - oral (fem! receiving) - pussy drunk Toji - breeding - daddy kink - overstimulation (fem! receiving) - pet names (baby, babygirl, darlin', good girl, honey, kid/kiddo, mama, princess, sweetie, sweetheart) - praise - clitoral play (Toji pinches your clit) - reader isn't a virgin but, it's the first time you and Toji have sex.

Wc: 4.9k

"Oh look, your favorite is here."

10 o'clock, it's closing time. All the servers and bussers are ready to buss down tables and sweep the floors, hosts at the front split up tips and head straight home, and the cooks clean the kitchen and throw out the trash. All there's left is the silence of the dining area, where not a single customer is in sight.

Well, minus the one Utahime points out to you.

You turn to the bar area, where almost all the tables are empty, and all the high-rise televisions are turned off. All but for one, which was showing a football game.

A man is watching the screen, sitting in a booth at the far end with a glass of beer on the table. He's wearing a black turtleneck covered with a denim jacket, white fur on the collar, and a silver chain contrasting the black clothing. You gaze downwards to his black jeans pants, where his left foot seems to be tapping the ground. He's waiting for someone.

Once his eyes catch your approaching figure, his deadpanned face shows a smile in recognition. He was waiting for you.

And you smile back as you walk towards him.

The familiarity with this man comes from a year working at the diner. His name is Toji Fushiguro, and he's been a regular even before you started working here. And to make things funnier, he was the first customer you served after a week and a half of training. You can recall when you accidentally put milk and sugar in his specifically requested black coffee, to which you apologized profusely ("Heh, it's alright, darlin'" He flashed a smile that was meant to reassure you. "The first time that's ever happened to me.").

It was there that you found yourself being the only person that's served him. At first, you thought of it as some sort of joke after the coffee mishap, but now, unless you're there to take his order, he'll only have a beer or black coffee with all the other servers. The crew often pokes fun at you, stating you're the older man's favorite. And you gotta admit, it makes your heart swoon knowing this is true.

"There she is," Toji watches you approach him with his foot finally stopped tapping the checkered floor beneath him. "My adorable lil' server."

You giggle as you sit on the cushioned booth seat across from him. "It's good to see you, Mr. Fushiguro. I hope life's been good for you." You wave goodbye to the guy behind the bar counter, who turns off the TV still on as Toji focuses on something else. You promised to be the last person to turn off the lights and lock the doors before leaving, so now it's just you and Toji.

"I thought I told you to drop the Mr. Fushiguro, kid." He reprimands you with his playful smile, the right corner of his lip quirking his scar upward. "And I could ask you the same thing. How's college goin', darlin'?"

An exaggerated sigh leaves your system. "It's going alright. Can't believe I'm about to be done after the next semester, but the senioritis hasn't hit me too strong yet, thank God. And I can't wait to graduate with all this debt on my back~!" You flash the fakest beaming smile with two thumbs up.

Toji chuckles at your fraud enthusiasm. "Mmmm, I bet. But I know you're smarter than me and most people who work for me, so I'm sure you'll do just fine."

"Yeah, I'd like to think so, too." Your chipper attitude dwindles, and Toji notices the change in tone.

"What's up? You don't think you'll get yourself a job?"

"Umm, well," You cough to clear your throat from awkwardness. "I tried signing up for plenty of internships. Some of them shut me down, others just haven't replied back. And I guess it's just me overthinking, but I worry that I won't get a job in something I like..."

"Aww, princess," Toji rises from his cushioned spot to move to your side, sitting close to you with his big jean-covered thigh brushing yours. He places a hand on your back to rub comforting circles. "That's just the thoughts in your head."

You groan into your hands. "I know, that's why I don't know why I'm beating myself up about it so much... But it's okay! I know I'll be fine because I still have this job keeping me going for a year."

Toji raises a brow. "You wanna be a server all your life? Wanna serve me my black coffee and BLT sandwich til my last breath?"

You hit his chest in amusement. "Well, no, but if it comes down to it, I don't mind. I'll just take up more jobs or maybe make a side hustle. Either way, I know Mei Mei will help me out. I'm sure everyone here will if they have the chance."

"I could also help you."

Your hands instantly go up defensively. "No, Mr. Fushiguro, I wouldn't want that! I'm sure you're pretty busy, and I don't want my troubles to burden you."

Toji's eyebrows knit together, his sharp eyes surveying your defensive stance. "It wouldn't be trouble if I'm the one offerin' to help you, honey."

"Yes, but even so..." You look at your lap as your fingers dance with each other to ease your anxiousness. "It would feel unbefitting to have a customer — a valuable one such as you — to help me with my financial problems. Seeing you smile at me when I serve you your coffee...I'm perfectly content with just."

Your gaze locks into your fidgety fingers, saying the last part was probably unnecessary. Yet it was true; Toji had always been patient with you whenever he stopped by, even going the extra mile by giving you a seriously generous tip after his meals. You know you didn't deserve it, but he's already at the door before you can argue with him. If his gracious action was just a mere small percent of what he could do, then he's done plenty for you than needed.

Toji, however, didn't see it that way. He hums as he leans back onto the booth seat, his hand now snaking to the back of your neck, his thumb caressing the nook of your neck and trapezius.

"Well," He breaks the silence, you're listening. "What if we take this outside of customer service?"

The brows are pulled together as you turn to him in slight confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"I've been thinking for quite a while," with his hand maneuvering to rest on your shoulder, he sighs and straightens himself up. "Your manager, Mei Mei, right? I talked with her not too long ago, telling her how much of a hard worker you are and how even while still in school and suffering with assignments, you still smile and make sure the customers enjoy their time here."

You give him a thanks, and he continues on. "Which is why I told her about what I wanna do. So here's my proposition: I'll pay for everything for you. Your debt, bills, clothes, whatever it is your pretty lil' head is worryin' 'bout."

Toji's promise does sound comforting to the ears, but you think about your part in all this. "So, do I have to work for you?"

He chuckles. "No, baby, not working fr' me. But there is something I want you to do."

"Yes?"

Toji doesn't give you a clear answer, staring at your face with a soft smile. You wonder why he's being odd until his face leans forward, and the hand on your shoulder pushes you into a kiss. You let out a yelp into his mouth, but the shock diminishes once you succumb to his warm, intoxicating lips. He tastes like beer, definitely from his drink.

He removes his lips from you, and you faintly exhale in an unsteady breath. "Mmmm, yer too much fr' me, sweetie." Toji groans and kisses down your neck while you place a hand on his chest to grip his turtleneck for support before you dissolve into his arms. And although you shouldn't be at your work at this time of night doing this, it felt too good to end.

"I want you to be with me," Toji says in-between smooches on your neck, moving to paint the other side with his pecks. "You're so good to me, darlin', always being such a good girl." He nibbles on your clavicle, and a soft gasp rewards his eardrums. "Lemme take care of you, y/n."

All that's going through your head is the feeling of his lips on your body and the arousing throbbing sense happening in your nether core.

"Hmm, whaddya say, baby?" His lips are too close to your ear as he playfully bites the lobe. Your thighs rub against one another, and you know there's a wet spot in your panties. "Gonna be my perfect girl?"

If you don't give him an answer quick, you're bound to melt right on this seat, and being a whimpering mess to his touch is embarrassing enough.

"Haaaah...Y-yes," You finally answer in weak whispers, mind spinning and eyes glossy. "I wanna—Ahaaa...I wanna be yours."

You can feel Toji's lips curl into a smile. He lifts his head to look at you, and a hand comes up to cup your face before he gives you a soft kiss on your quivering lips.

"My good girl."

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A few months have passed since you and Toji formed this new relationship. And getting used to certain things is still a challenge.

For one: covering up your new lifestyle is never easy when you're out with people you know. During winter break, you went to dinner with your friends and offered to pay for the whole table. They looked at you as if you were talking nonsense ("Girl, where the hell you get that kind of money to be covering for all of us?" "For real, is this the same diner you've been working at? Are they hiring?").

Another thing that wasn't easy to get accustomed to was Toji spoiling you. Since you're a college student, Toji only sees you every other weekend when he has time. During those days, Toji doesn't hold back in showering you with gifts and affection. Between the fancy dates in expensive restaurants, riding rides at fun amusement parks, or the bags of new clothes you bring back to your dorm, it was something you didn't expect to happen so quickly. Your roommates constantly tease you about this "mystery man" who makes it known you're his special lady.

But outside of that, the most significant change was you and Toji. To say you two got closer was too easy to put into words. Sure, the money was there, so you could finally get a good night's rest without worrying too much about your school debt or bills. However, you knew this went beyond the dollar bills and the fancy clothes.

Come to find out, Toji knows and remembers things that amaze you. There was a time he bought you a whole wardrobe worth of dresses because he remembered you had to cancel dates with your friends since you had nothing cute to wear. Or the time he got you a box of your favorite teas, even though you briefly mentioned them to him during a talk way back from recollection.

And even away from the materialistic things, you can feel how much Toji loves you. You can feel it in his eyes whenever he's looking at you. You can feel it when you try to argue yourself out of trying an outfit you don't think will be good on you, but Toji coaxes you into it because he knows — not thinks, knows you'll look good wearing it. You can feel it in his hands when they hold yours, when he places a hand on your thigh and rubs it in loving warmth, or when he caresses your cheek when he kisses you goodbye when you two have to return to your own lives.

It's a type of love you didn't see yourself being on the other end of. The more immersed you are, the harder it is to imagine yourself out of it.

Spring break is now upon us, and Toji has invited you to join him overseas for a business trip. You tried to decline, saying it's his trip and you don't want to intrude on his business. That argument was immediately shut down ("Tch, believe me, sweetheart, you're saving me from bashing someone's head in if you're close to me than not. Plus, I wanna see you wear that cute swimsuit I got you."), so he dragged you on his private jet, and now we're here.

During the day is when he's away for work, so you spend the morning either in the penthouse suite you two are staying in, outside taking pictures to show Toji later or looking around at the little shops nearby. Toji is done with work around the early afternoon, so you two spend time together exploring the country, trying new foods, and taking walks around the area while talking about how your day went until the sun goes down.

Everything goes well until Thursday when Toji texts you saying something happened at work and that he'd be at the suite later than usual. Well, it's 7:45, the sun is starting to go down, and Toji is still nowhere in sight. I hope everything is alright on his end.

You're unsure about going outside for a walk on the off-chance you stay out too late. And if something happens to you while Toji isn't close by, that'll give him more to worry about on his plate, and you definitely don't want that for him.

So, you look around the penthouse to see if there's anything to keep you occupied until Toji's return, and then what catches your eye is the swimming pool outside on the terrace which you haven't tried yet. That'll do!

You go to change into a swimsuit, a cute two-piece that Toji bought for you when you two went shopping together. After a quick shower, you enter the pool and enjoy the calm waters while watching the sunset, leaving a beautiful array of colors painting the sky over you.

Tomorrow is your last day here while Toji will do business, and then you're back to school on Monday. The fact that you'll be graduating debt free still blows your mind. Toji really fulfilled his promise and took care of your worries.

Is that to say that your relationship ends once you touch that diploma?

You lift your feet and lay on your back to allow the water to hold you up, ears covered in the water and face looking into the sky as you're lost in your thoughts.

It wouldn't be too far off if Toji wanted to close this whole thing off when you graduate, as the point was for you to not worry about debt and such. That much you understood from the very beginning. But what happens after that? Do you two just go back to being acquaintances that only meet at the diner? And what about the stuff he got you? Do they stay with you forever? And do you have to fight memories of him every time you see them?

What about all the touches, all the hand-holding, all the cuddles, and all the kisses? Are they supposed to mean nothing to you the next time you see his face?

You're thankful for the water keeping you afloat in the pool, but having these thoughts attack your brain just makes you want to sink in loathing.

Until you feel something tickle your feet, having your body react in a state of panic. No longer floating on your back, you search for whatever is torturing your feet. Only to find Toji in front of you wearing black trunks, he chuckles lowly, and your heart sinks in embarrassment.

"T-Toji," You swim up to greet him. "How long were you back from work?"

"For about 10 minutes," He watches you move through the water, following you to sit in the shallow part of the pool for you two to talk. "I saw you in the pool and thought I'd join. I tried callin' out to ya, but the water was blocking your ears."

"Hehe, sorry about that. I was thinking about something. How was work?"

His face went into a deep scowl with rolled eyes, and you giggle at his nonverbal response. "Had I not known I was comin' back here to see you, I'd probably fucked that rookie up."

"That bad?"

He hums and brings you closer to him with his hand on your shoulder. "But don't worry 'bout it. And you? What were you thinking about?"

"Hmm? Oh, it was nothing," your encouraging response is fictitious.

Toji lowers a brow. "Try again."

"No, honest! It was nothing, Toji."

"Don't make me tickle you again, kiddo." You freeze and look at his face. His sharp gaze and slight grin speak for themselves about his seriousness.

A sigh is withdraw from your lips. "I was just thinking about how I'd be leaving on Saturday and being halfway done with my senior year of college."

"And?"

"And, uhh," You gulp and avert your eyes to your lap, your fingers swaying with the pool water. "I was also thinking about me... and you?"

There's silence, the lack of response eating you alive. Then you feel Toji's hand grip your shoulder.

"Are you scared I won't be with you after you graduate?"

He hit the nail because you don't answer for a few seconds. Your eyes still avoid him.

But Toji still persists. "Do you not want to be with me?"

Your head turns to face him in haste, taking you aback at how fast you were. "No! I don't want this to end. I'm grateful for how close you and I have become. I want... I want..." You fall silent once more as your head moves back to your lap as if you'd find the words you want to express lying there.

Using his free hand, Toji grabs your chin to look his way again. "What do you want, baby? Use your words fr' me."

The intense gaze of his jade-green eyes captures your attention, practically daring you to look away from him. The warmth of your cheeks spreads around your face, and you gulp before answering.

"I really appreciate all that you've done for me. And I...I really like you, Toji. I want to be with you." His face doesn't change as you ramble on, causing you to move your eyes to avoid the awkward stare. "But I wouldn't blame you if you want to stop with where we—"

Your sentence was interrupted by Toji's kiss, and a squeak was suppressed between the two lips. You exhale in bliss as your hands find purchase on his solid chest. He deepens the kiss when his hand is posted at the back of your neck.

You break the kiss to breathe, Toji's gruff chuckles fills the warm air.

"You're too adorable, princess. Do you really think I'd want to let my precious girl away from my sight?" You open your mouth to interject, but Toji lifts your hand and brings it to his lips, kissing each knuckle. "Listen here, darlin'. I didn't offer to take care of your debt on a whim. I adore the fuckin' shit out of you, and I was gonna wait til your graduation to ask if you'd still want this thing to be official."

"But now that I hear you're interested," his big hand holds yours, fingers intertwined as his thumb brushes your forefinger. "Are ya up for it?"

You breathe slowly to ease your heart, beating at an irregular tempo. You grip his hand in return and offer a sheepish smile.

"Yes. I'd like that very much, Toji."

He smirks and kisses your cheek. "Good girl." Toji has his arms placed behind your back and under your legs. Then he stands up while picking up your figure bridal style. He grins hard when you squeal in surprise as your arms sling around his neck.

"Let's shower," he walks out of the pool and into the suite. "And then afterward, I'll show you how much I've been itchin' to make you be my girl for real."

The heat on your face grows tenfold, and Toji barks a laugh when you hide your face. You can only mentally pray for yourself for what's to come.

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That little prayer did absolutely nothing!

Now you're lying on the bed nude and wet from the shower as the water droplets on your body slide down to the satin sheets beneath you. Your hands cover your mouth, trying to suppress the moans and sobs from exiting your lips.

And the cause of this is the man currently nestled between your legs. You can see the raven hair between your inner thighs, but you feel a wet muscle lapping around your vulva. The lewd noises of Toji eating you out fill the room and has you writhing in discomfort, and you try to slowly move your lower region away from his ravaging mouth.

"Aht aht, you're not goin' anywhere, mama." Toji's rough hands grip your waist and pull you back down, his nose brushing your clit as you jerk upwards. He lifts his head to look at you, and the image of your slick smeared all over his mouth and chin almost makes you faint.

"Put those hands down, baby. Let Daddy hear that sweet voice of yours." He uses one hand to play with your pussy, middle and forefinger abuse your inner lips as his thumb grinds down on your sweet bud. Your eyes shoot up for the stars, and you're forced to do what he says, hands gripping the sheets while your cries are out for him to hear.

"Aahhhh!! Haaah, T-Toji!! 'S too much, too—Ooohh!" His tongue returns between your cunt, licking and tasting the sticky fluid coating your pussy. Your eyes are watering, your mind starts to feel dizzy, and your legs can't stay still to save your life. He's been doing this for 15 minutes!!

You clutch his hair and wail out his name in pleasure, earning a moan from Toji as his grip on your thighs gets tighter.

He can tell you're close to finishing, so he helps you. His tongue slides from your wet center to your clitoris, licking and sucking on the extremely sensitive bud, his teeth lightly pressing down on the pearl.

Your release comes instantly, and your walls spasm as you cry in pure euphoria. Your head pushed deep into the pillow below you, letting your body finish reacting to the climax. However, Toji doesn't wait for you when his mouth drinks your essence. His tongue attacked your sore velvety walls, having you gasp for air.

When he's done, he finally withdraws from between your legs and kneels before you, taking in your disheveled figure. Your tear-stricken face and hooded eyes peer up at him as he wipes his face of your excess come, licking the rest from the back of his hand.

Toji snickers hoarsely. "Sorry, sweetheart, you tasted so fuckin' good I couldn't help myself. Besides," you watch his hands trail down to his dick as he places himself on your messy vagina. "Gotta get you prepped up fr' me."

He puts a pillow under your lower back to raise your hips more. Seeing his dick for the first time has you in mental turmoil. Toji notices you looking and sneers, pulling your hips to him so his balls practically kiss your opening, his dick on full display on your lower abdomen. The girth alone has your cunt pulsating in anticipation, and good God, the length of that thing. It's not the first dick you've seen in your life, but it's definitely the biggest challenge you've come across.

I hope those 15 minutes of prep were enough.

You come back to your senses when you feel the tip of his hefty member circling the corners of your folds, and your slick aids him as a lubricant.

"Ready, babygirl?" You exhale a nervous breath and nod for confirmation. "Okay, we're gonna start real slow."

Toji began to push the tip in, your folds being spread open to accommodate the foreign object intruding into your tight hole. You close your eyes and hold your breath, the pain worsening by the second. You take one breath, and Toji pushes further. With another breath, he goes further. Another-

A giant gasp takes over you as the tip of Toji's cock enters you. And Toji takes his time pushing himself further into you, using every fiber of his being not to rut into your tight walls off the jump.

"Haaah, hmmm, oh fuck," That's easier said than done with you gripping onto him like your life depended on it. Once he's pushed his whole cock into you, your words come out as a babbling mess, gripping his arms for support. He looks down at your disarranged self, chuckling at such a wonderful sight. "You look really fuckin' sexy layin' under me, baby."

"God...Toji," Tears stream down your cheeks, wincing at the pain down south. "'S too muuu-ch, too big for—Hnnngh!!" A sudden thrust of the hips has you biting down on your bottom lip.

"C'mon now, I thought I told you about that. I already let it slide once or twice." Toji places your legs on his shoulders and leans close to you, his body weight adding onto yours as the base of his cock grinds into your sex. "What's my new name, mama?"

"Ah!! I'm sorry, Daddy." The title comes through sobs.

Toji grins from ear to ear, wiping your tears with his calloused fingers. "Good girl," he kisses your forehead as you adjust to his girthy length. "So fuckin' pretty fr' Daddy." He takes your lips with his soft ones before moving his hips in a slow yet rough rhythm.

The mating press has your body submit to him, taking in his cock as it sinks deep into your swollen core. And it only gets worse when his pace gets faster, hitting your sweet spots accurately. At this rate, you're bound to cum earlier than necessary.

Then you feel his tip abruptly touch your cervix, and the wail you let out is picked up by Toji's ears. "Oh? Think I found what I was lookin' for." His hips grind deep in you, his tip abusing your poor cervix to the point you speak in tongues. "Feelin' good, princess?"

"Fuck, Daddyyyy, please, I'm-Ahaaah, Ohhh!" His irrational pace has your brain turning to mush, his cock bullying your insides. The sound of his balls slapping against your squelching folds has you squeezing him harder. "I'm gonna cu-cumm!!"

Toji hisses into your ear, the tone of his voice dominating your senses. "Oooooh, don't grip on me like that, sweetie. Gonna end up — Mmmph! Shit, shit, shit, shit...Gonna give you a baby."

You reach to cup his face through watery eyes glazed in a haze. "Please, Daddy, I want it," You know you're talking nonsense, but why care when you're feeling this fucking good. "Inside, I want it, inside!"

"Heh, be careful with what you wish for, mama." He kisses you again as his hips become erratic, and he moves a hand to your clit and pinches it, whining into your mouth when you're cunt clutches onto him one final time.

You cum around his cock and push your head back on the pillows, your gushy walls spasming around his length, prompting Toji to cum inside you after a few more thrusts. You two moan into each other's mouths, riding each other's high until your bodies calm down.

The two of you pant heavily once the kiss is broken apart, and his deep emerald orbs take in your dazed expression. He smiles when he notices drool on the side of your mouth, using a thumb to wipe it off for you.

"My sweet darlin'," Toji kisses your cheek and sighs deeply into your embrace. "You're too good fr' me, baby."

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"Did I say that I want your babies?"

You're resting with Toji, your head relaxed on his chest as you sit between his legs. The television in the bedroom plays an episode of a sitcom, anything for you two to look at and enjoy a moment of peace together.

He snickers at your question, his chest rising and falling as you lay on him feels nice. "Yeah, you kinda did."

"Wow, that sex must've screwed something up in my head."

"Yeah, my dick had you wanting to risk it all." He snorts when you playfully hit his arm. "Don't worry, we can find some plan b in the morning."

Turning to face Toji, still watching TV, you furrow your brows. "We? What about work?"

"I have tomorrow off. It's your last day, and I don't feel like going back to work, or else I'll be sour all fuckin day. Much rather spend it with you than with some morons."

You look at Toji for a little longer before you smile and kiss his cheek, catching the older man off guard as you nestle into his warm body. "Thank you, Toji. For everything."

The thanks carry a deeper meaning. Not a single ounce of doubt clouds your mind now that you've gotten the closure you wanted. Thinking about how your life brought you to this moment, you're happy with your decision to pursue this relationship and more. And it's thanks to this man for making it possible.

Toji still stares at you before he scoffs and kisses your temple.

"No problem, kiddo."

[urhoneycombwitch]

imagine being loved by me

🍯 honey flavour: your love has stood the test of time, thus far, but a party fit for a rockstar brings up some bitter emotions.

🐝 the bees: rockstar!Eddie x jealous!Reader

wc: 8k

cw: drugs and alcohol consumption, mentions of weight gain (eddie’s, in a positive manner), R has panic/anxiety attack, jealousy (talked about and resolved tho), softdom!Reader, softdom!Eddie, oral (E and R receiving), R has breasts + a V and referred to with she/her pronouns, P in V sex, cumming inside w/out protection

foreword: timeline is wobbly and may not align perfectly w canon bc I’m bad at math so shhhh suspend ur disbelief. based on this anon thank you v much anon <3

___

It’s the coldest January Hawkins has seen in ages. Snow banks sit high on the roadsides, air thick with snowflakes, three-AM fog brought in courtesy of the bitter wind chill. 

Under the yellow floodlight of a nearby streetlamp, your boyfriend is sucking down the last of a joint while you stamp your feet against the gravel parking lot.

“C’mon, Eddie,” you whine, crossing the arms of your fleeced puffer jacket, bouncing on your heels to keep the blood flowing. “My toes are gonna get frostbite.”

“A touch dramatic,” Eddie replies, unbothered. The cherry of the joint between his lips burns orange, casting a warm glow over Eddie’s cheekbones, the twinkle of snowflakes caught in his bangs. “I told you to go in without me, princess. Warmer in there.”

“Without you? As if.” You pull the pity card, and it works, ‘cuz it always does- that boy has got to learn how to say no to you, one of these days. 

Not today, though, because Eddie is tamping out the ember on the sole of his boot and crunching up the snowy path to sling an arm around your neck.

“Grub time,” he says against your hair, pressing his cold lips to the side of your forehead as you both make your way into Benny’s Burgers.

The heated air is a welcome relief, and save for a couple of old-timers at a side table, you and Eddie are the only customers in the place. 

Benny greets you both from where he’s flipping patties on the kitchen grill, waving a spatula at the corner booth- “All yours, kiddos. Want the usual?”

You and Eddie call out affirmatives as you sink into opposing seats, unwrapping yourselves from all your winter gear as you go.

“God bless Benny Hammond for expanding his night hours,” you say, piling your green scarf on the tabletop. “This is a good tradition for us, y’know. Post-band practice smoking and coffee- very rock and roll.”

“I concur.” Eddie tosses his knit hat at you playfully. “You, my lady, have the most rock ‘n roll soul I ever did see.”

As Benny approaches with two mugs of steaming coffee, you muse aloud, “Not sure if the amount of sugar you’re about to dump in your coffee is very metal, per se...”

“Y’hear that, Benny?” Eddie grabs a fistful of sugar packets and shakes them indignantly. “My girl’s trying to keep me on the straight and narrow. How’s a rockstar s’posed to live in these conditions?”

“Lord knows,” Benny says, sardonic, setting the mugs down and turning back to the kitchen.

Eddie winces as his hands wrap around the heat of the mug, and you notice right away. “Your fingers splitting again? I have that salve that you used last time, but it’s back at the trailer.”

He puts his hand face-up onto the table, and you slip yours into his, the deep fingertip grooves from guitar strings rough against your soft palm.

“I’ll live. Plus, it’s kind of metal, right?” Eddie runs a calloused thumb across the back of your hand.

You squeeze back, give him a wink. “Very metal.”

Eddie’s been working himself to the bone lately. Trying to stay in school and not drop out is a feat in itself, but compounded with the band practices that have only ramped up in length recently, it’s a lot to balance.

He hasn’t complained at all, of course. It’s not really in his nature.

In the past few weeks, however, he’s been imbued with this near-manic energy, a renewed sense of purpose. In between your own fitful sleeps you often wake in the early hours of the morning to find Eddie hunched over his desk, pen flying across his notebook as he reworks an old song or outlines a new one. Not that you weren’t proud of him before, but seeing him apply this newfound passion to his music has been a huge source of joy for you. 

And, if you’re being really honest, also a major turn on. I mean, the boy’s got swagger like no other, and you’re so glad he’s finally utilizing it on stage. Even if that stage is in the middle of a piece of shit dive bar. Still counts, in your book.

Benny drops off baskets of hot fries, a burger for Eddie, and a BLT for you. Methodic and familiar, you offload half your fries to Eddie’s basket as he slides his burger towards you for the first bite. 

After a few minutes of peaceful eating, Eddie balls up a napkin in his fist and raps the table with his knuckles. “So, uh. Kind of have some news.”

You slot the ketchup bottle back into its metal holder and look up with raised brows. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He looks suddenly nervous, knee knocking into the underside of the table as he bounces his leg compulsively. “You remember Paige Warner? Graduated in ‘81, brother is a baseball jock?”

When you nod, Eddie blows out a breath- his unease is kind of setting you on edge. 

“What about Paige Warner?” you prompt.

“She moved out to L.A. for a job and she’s working this scouting gig for some bigshot record,” he continues, absently pulling the thin napkin in his hands into pieces, staring vacantly at the mess. “And she wants Corroded Coffin to record and send out a demo to the label.”

As the news sinks in, your jaw drops. “Holy shit. What?”

“Yeah.” Eddie’s fidgeting with the paper scraps now, still not making eye contact with you. “She wants us to start recording next week. I haven’t told anyone else, yet, I wanted to make sure you were the first-”

You interrupt him with an excited little squeal (drawing glares from the old guys across the diner) and shove up from your side of the table to throw your arms around Eddie.

“Holy shit,” you repeat, laughing as Eddie pulls you into his lap- “Eddie, that’s amazing!”

“You think so?” he asks, your enthusiasm allowing his own to creep in; He slides his hands to your denim-clad hips, his self-professed favorite stress toy (well, tied for favorite with your thighs). 

“How come you were so nervous to tell me?” You ask him, gently, tucking his dark hair behind his ears so you can see his face better. “Were you thinking I’d react differently?”

He looks up at you wide-eyed, shakes his head- “No, no, I wasn’t worried about you reacting a certain way. I just… I’m just worried about what this’ll mean. You know. For us.”

“Us?” You echo, encouraging him to continue. 

Eddie squeezes at your hips, presses the crown of his head against your collarbone like he’s mustering up the courage to speak. “Yeah, us. I know L.A. isn’t your dream- shit, I don’t even know if it’s mine- but you didn’t sign up to go on the road like this. You’ve got college to consider, and-”

“So I’ll take a gap year,” you interrupt, putting a hand to his cheek to make him look at you again, and when he starts to protest, you talk over him. “No, Eddie, I’m serious. I don’t know what the hell I wanna do with my life yet anyways. Following my hot rockstar boyfriend to a new town sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”

He shakes his head again, and you can feel his dimples spring to life under your hand as he teases, “Gonna be my little groupie?”

“And more,” you confirm, giving him a kiss (chaste, so as not to invoke any more ire from the grumpy other customers) and sliding off his lap to return to your own seat. “I’ll be your assistant extraordinaire, if you want. Or bodyguard. Make sure none of the other groupie chicks get too close.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, fondly. “You’re the only groupie I need, sweetheart.”

Settling back into your respective seats, you both work on the last basket of fries while chatting genially about the future. Eddie mentions getting an apartment in Los Angeles, so there’s less of a commute, which branches the conversation into the logistics of a cross-country move, and then on to more important topics such as the alleged coolness of west-coast parties. 

“Who’s your celebrity hall pass?” you ask, out of pure interest, dipping a fry into the well of ketchup. “Like, say you’re rubbing elbows at some famous muckety-muck’s party and someone catches your eye. Who’re you taking back to the motel for a slutty roll in the hay?”

Eddie snickers at your phrasing, then says, “I mean, preferably, my super hot girlfriend-”

You throw a fry at his head. “That’s such a cop-out answer. In this hypothetical, Joan Jett is in red leather petting up on you and you’re saying you wouldn’t take her up on a one-night stand?”

A laugh bursts out of Eddie, a real, proper one where he throws his head back. “Are you actively encouraging me to hook up with some bimbo at a random party? Without you? Unlikely scenario on all fronts, babe.”

This earns him another launched fry, and he squawks, trying to shake it out of its place caught in his hair as you reprimand him- “Joan Jett is not some bimbo, watch your mouth! And what I’m saying is, if you didn’t at least try to score us a threesome with her, I’d be pissed.”

“Okay, baby,” Eddie soothes you a tad derisively, likely a ploy to avoid more flying food- “if I meet Joan Jett I will do my level best to get her in our bed. Scout’s honor.”

He holds up two fingers and wiggles them obscenely, grinning when you laugh again. “All right, Nosey McGee. Who are you taking home from the party?”

You hum, eyes flicking up to the ceiling, contemplating the options. “I guess I could be talked into a night with Kirk Hammett.”

Eddie’s turn to launch a fry. “You slut,” he chuckles, “That was a way quicker answer than mine.”

“Okay, fine. If I meet Kirk Hammett, I promise to at least make a bid for threesome. Deal?” You extend your pinkie across the table.

Eddie loops his little finger into yours. “Deal.”

____

The memory of that cozy diner evening years ago fades as you shake yourself to the present.

You aren’t two highschool kids with lofty dreams, anymore- after Eddie’s recovery from all that Upside Down bullshit in ‘86, Corroded Coffin took off. Even though Paige didn’t end up coming through with any deals, Eddie and his bandmates fought like hell to get signed- and by the end of that year, a small record label in the heart of downtown Chicago had taken the bait.

Corroded Coffin turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to Arken Records; by the spring of ‘87, business was booming thanks to the help of Corroded’s debut album, The Banished Ones- their new single was a chart-topper for over 6 weeks. (Smash Hit magazine’s latest review was titled “Fresh Sound Rises from Dirt Nowhere.” You have the paper clipping saved in your ever-growing folder with “rockstar boyfriend!!!” handwritten in black ink.) 

And in a few weeks, the band will set off on their first real tour, starting in Chicago and ending with a bang in an already sold-out show in Hawkins- Dustin, Steve, and the rest of the gang with VIP front-row seats, of course. 

As much as you and Eddie have grown and matured in the past few years, the core of you both has remained the same. Eddie is still just as dorky, goofy, and caring as he always has been, while you’ve kept that tenacious spirit and quick wit that he fell in love with back in the early days of dating. Even now, with his popularity rising and his rockstar dreams on their way to coming true, Eddie constantly brings his focus back to you. 

Pillow talks in cushy hotel beds, late night ramblings over post-show whiskeys, holding hands in the back of yet another cab- when he could be talking about the thousands of exciting things happening in his own life, Eddie is asking about you.

Did you talk to Robin last night, sweetheart? How’s ‘ol Birdie doin? What do you wanna wear to that dinner thingy tomorrow… could go naked for all I care. In fact you probably should because of feminism and all that. Did you sleep okay last night? Let me look at ya. You thinkin’ any more about those applications you got?

You’d taken a gap year to support Eddie, which you were happy to do, but with ‘87 drawing to a close, he’s been more insistent lately that you take a look at all your college options. Honestly, you’ve been enjoying the adventures that come with touring way too much to consider going back to the rigidity of school. 

And plus, having the love of your life nearly bleed out in your arms in a parallel dimension has totally realigned your priorities. If folks thought you and Eddie were attached at the hip before… 

He’ll likely argue you into academia, eventually. He always rolls high on persuasion. Damn him.

For now, you’ve got a party to attend. 

Arken Records is playing host, on the last night of 1987- in celebration of Corroded Coffin’s success and to kick off the New Year’s festivities, they’ve rented out a house in east Chicago for the event. 

Well, house isn’t the right word. More like mansion. Vaulted ceilings tall as a church’s, huge windows overlooking the Chicago river, a grand chandelier with flickering candles in nearly every room. 

When you and Eddie had toured the place a few days previous, he’d made a joking complaint low in your ear about not having the time to fuck you on every surface. Your laugh had reverberated off the sweeping mahogany floorboards, mostly at the expense of Eddie’s poor publicist who’d happened to hear his comment. (Melanie had really been putting in overtime lately; you made a mental note to send her a very nice flower arrangement and vouchers for a spa trip.)

The party was in full swing by the time you and Eddie arrived, fashionably late, and he had been folded into the throng of other musicians and partygoers against his will pretty much immediately- which you’d expected. The last hour, he’s been throwing you piteous looks from his spot across the room, where he hasn’t had the chance to move an inch with the amount of people keeping the conversation going. You’ve slipped to his side a few times, refreshing his drink, letting him curl an arm around your waist as you perch on his knee, only half-focused on whatever story some producer is saying as Eddie’s hand trails up your thigh. 

You’re back on the nearest wall again, sipping champagne, taking it all in. There are probably over a hundred people crammed into this banquet room, bass thumping through the floorboards, tables shoved to the outer corners making space for a makeshift dance space. 

The air is hazy with smoke from various cigarettes and joints; as the night has progressed, the smell of freshly-applied cologne has been replaced with heady sweat as the dance floor calls more people to writhe and grind in groups and partners. Eddie is still stuck in the lone pod of living room chairs, surrounded by a rapt audience of people crammed in to hear him better over the blaring music.

He looks damn good tonight, in a cut-off black tee and his favorite ripped jeans, leather jacket hung on the chair behind him. Silver catches the light from every angle- on the chains at his hips, around his neck, glinting off his rings as he gestures animatedly mid-story. He’d asked you to do his eyeliner at the hotel earlier, and although it’s smudged and blurred at the edges now he’s still pulling it off. Tiny silver stars, hand-drawn with your eyeshadow brush, twinkle across his cheeks like freckles.

Eddie wanted to match with you, whined until you added a belt made of gold-plated stars to your outfit. You went simple, the gold to his silver- belt cinching your short black satin slip dress, delicate brass rings and bracelets around your fingers and bare forearms. The one piece of silver you are wearing is a chain around your neck, Eddie’s guitar pick nestled snug between your breasts. 

You still resolutely refuse to wear heels, even after Eddie’s stylist cajoled you into practicing on stilettos for a disastrous media training session last month- tonight you’re in a chic pair of Mary Janes with the slightest suggestion of a heel. Compromise. 

There’s a big laugh from the crowd in the corner again as Eddie knocks a hand into Gareth’s chest for emphasis, nearly knocking the younger boy off his seat. You stare unabashedly at Eddie’s forearms, biceps on full display; he’s filled out a bit since leaving home, his usually lean frame boasting a bit more weight and bulk now that he’s got consistent access to well-rounded meals. 

He’s looking healthy, down right glowy. You’re thinking about that smattered trail of dark hair that slides down the crest of his stomach, now with extra padding enough to sink your teeth into. As if he knows, Eddie catches your eye from across the room and winks, cheekily. 

You shiver and unconsciously press your thighs together, hiding your grin with another swallow of champagne.

The alcohol turns a bit sour going down, though, as a crimped-haired blonde girl worms her way to Eddie’s side, laughing a little too loudly at the joke he just told. When she places a manicured hand on one of his shoulders, the thin stem of your glass nearly snaps in your grip.

The thing about rockstars is they have crazy sex appeal. The thing about your rockstar is he’s only interested in you, something that has been proved many times over.

So why is tonight hitting you so hard? Why do you feel nauseous the longer Eddie lets some random woman’s hand stay on his bare skin when you know he’s going home with you, and only you?

Maybe it’s the alcohol, or the overcrowded room, or the memories of Benny’s diner still lingering like a bruise in your mind. Hard to pinpoint exactly. All you know is that jealousy is gnawing like a thing raw and seeking in the pit of your stomach, and if you don’t get out of this stuffy room soon you’re gonna do something tabloid-worthy, like cry in the middle of a New Year’s Eve party.

By the grace of some god you make it across the dance floor and into a side bathroom unscathed, the pulsing sound of the party blissfully dimming as you shut the door behind you. Your mind whirls as you grip the gilded sink for stability, blinking hard at the tears beginning to form. 

You love having a boyfriend who’s larger than life. You love that he’s taking up space and getting to use that charm that was nurtured on the DM throne back in Hawkins. You’re so proud of him, you really are. 

You’re just starting to hate the way other people’s surface-level love of him makes you feel.

Because that’s what it is, right? Just surface-level, you reason with yourself- the level of intimacy that you and Eddie have is unmatched, something that the newly-formed masses of admirers won’t ever get to experience.

Christ, can jealousy give you hives? You grab a handful of paper towels and soak them in cold tap water, then press the damp bundle to your chest, breath stuttering.

You’ve never been the jealous type, or the overbearing type- it’s a new feeling, and maybe that’s why it feels so scary. The more you try to tamp it down, the more it rears its ugly head, making you, in turn, feel embarrassed for having such a strong reaction in the first place.

It’s a vicious cycle that’s only seeming to gain speed as you realize you haven’t yet managed a full breath since coming to your hiding spot. Your lungs are pinched and burning as you drop the soggy paper into the sink, leaning into the lip of the porcelain to steady yourself.

There’s a knock on the door, and you choke out “Just a minute”, not sure if the person on the other side can even hear you over the music when Eddie’s voice leaks through.

“Baby? That you in there?”

Against your better judgment, you open the door, and he crams in the small space, locking it again behind himself.

“There you are, I saw you leave and thought you were getting a drink or something but then you didn’t come back and- are you okay?”

He interrupts his own stream of consciousness when he notices the state you’re in. You give him a trembly smile, waving a hand dismissively.

“Yeah, all good. I’ll come back with you, just needed to pee.”

Eddie is not so easily thrown off the scent. He murmurs your name, sliding his hand into yours, looking at you with a wounded puppy gaze- fuck, you can’t have a breakdown. Not here, not on New Year’s in some knockoff-Playboy’s bathroom.

And certainly not in front of Eddie, who’s asking you to tell him what’s wrong, what happened, with an increasingly pleading tone that’s really, really not helping your whole Don’t Cry agenda. 

Hoping your voice doesn’t break, you clear your throat and pull your hand from his grasp. “Nothing happened, okay? I just had too much to drink, feeling overly sentimental or something. I’m okay.”

You think your white lie was convincing enough when Eddie reaches back for the door handle, that maybe he’ll rejoin the party and leave you to have a good cry, but after poking his head out the doorway briefly he grabs onto your wrist, tugging you to his side and hissing “Quick!”

And then you’re both making a break for it down the mostly-empty hallway, Eddie pulling you smoothly past a wall of expensive-looking oil paintings before going through a set of double doors that lead to the outside.

It’s December in Chicago, which means a light layer of snow covers the terraced garden that Eddie is leading you through, stopping at a stone bench flanked by two scraggly bushes. 

“Made it,” he huffs with exertion, dropping your hand to shrug his leather jacket off in favor of draping it around your own shoulders.

“You’re gonna be cold,” you sniffle, partly from the tears, partly from the crisp night air.

“Yeah,” he agrees easily, wrapping you in a hug. You press your forehead to his chest. “Got my girl to keep me warm, though.”

You stay like this for a few moments, his arms solid around you, breaths coming easier as the familiar smell of his tangy skin and that spicy bar soap he uses fills your senses.

“You gonna tell me what’s wrong?” he asks, gently, holding you at arm’s length to study your face.

When you shrug, unsure of where to start, he lets go of you and walks backwards, taking an unflinching seat on the snow-covered bench.

You gasp despite yourself, reaching to pull him up even as he twists out of your grasp- “Eddie, jesus, you’re literally gonna freeze your ass off. Get up!”

But he’s solid in his seat, widening his stance, boots planted on the ground- “I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours, so you better start talking before my jeans freeze to the concrete.”

“It’s nothing,” you insist, but he’s giving you that look again, the one that cracks through the tough exterior every time, and you wrap your arms around yourself under the warmth of his jacket as you admit, “Okay, fine. It’s something. I’m just… having an overreaction.”

“To the shellfish?” he deadpans.

“No, asshole, to the blonde girl who was rubbing up on you earlier,” you snap.

Eddie blinks, genuine confusion in his voice- “There was a blonde girl… rubbing up on me?”

“She was petting your shoulder,” you continue, scuffing the toe of your shoe against the ground. “She was touching you, and I got- jealous, I guess.”

“Baby, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t remember her, at all,” Eddie emphasizes, spreading a palm flat against his chest in a gesture of sincerity, hair shifting across his shoulders as he cocks his head to the side.

His face is too familiar, too earnest for you to be able to say what you’re feeling without bursting into tears, so you turn on your heel, pacing a short loop in front of the bench, your breath hanging in misty clouds as you speak. 

“It’s not even about her, necessarily. It’s about me and my stupid emotions. I’m not usually like this- jealous, you know? Like, I’m so proud of you, and everything you’ve accomplished, and I don’t mind sharing you, really I don’t, it’s just…”

You pause in your pacing, let your head drop back to look at the inky black sky pinpricked with stars, and your next words fall out like a confession.

“I just feel like I’m in mourning.”

You can feel his eyes on you still, as you loose the feeling that’s been caught tight in your chest. “It sounds so dramatic, when I say it like that. But I think that’s what it is. I miss when it was just the two of us, in this little bubble where no one knew our names and we just had each other.”

As the words leave your mouth, you scramble to explain, to soften the blow, hands tightening around your upper arms as you turn back to face the boy on the bench. “And I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, or, like, a total jealous bitch, because I really love you and I hope you know I’m not- are you laughing?”

Eddie tries his best to stifle the laughter into his fist when he sees how indignant you look. He rises from the bench, still a bit mirthful, pulling you back into his space. “Sorry, honey, I’m not making fun of you, I promise.”

You’re glaring at him now, and he ducks to kiss at the lines between your brow before pulling back and saying, “I think what you’re feeling is normal, and I don’t think you’re overreacting at all. Remember that asshole at the Smith Center party who kept trying to get your number right in front of me?”

“Vaguely.”

“I wanted to punch his lights out. Make a real scene, kiss you sloppy in front of some cameras.” Eddie cups your face in his hands, soothing his thumb against the wetness of your lashline. “What I’m saying is, I get jealous, too. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

“But…” there’s a well of emotions that you’re drawing from, and it’s not empty yet, one nagging thought still surfacing. “But these girls that are coming on to you, they’re like… really hot. I don’t look anything like them.”

Eddie frowns. “Are you seriously trying to make a case for yourself on the grounds of not being really hot? That’s not gonna hold up in court, gorgeous. I mean… have you even looked in a mirror recently?”

He lightly taps his knuckle against your head, trying to get you to crack a smile, but you’re not ready to give in yet. 

“You don’t think you’ll get bored of me?” you whisper, dropping your eyes from his consuming gaze to the wyvern inked on the inside of his arm. 

“Sweetheart…” Eddie sounds genuinely pained. The ink in his skin stretches as he slips a hand to the back of your neck, cold rings against your skin making you shiver. “I couldn’t ever get bored of you. Not in a million years. We've been through too much together for you to think like that, hm?”

He strokes his thumb down the column of your neck, those doey brown eyes on you again. “Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever be jealous, ‘cuz god knows it makes me hot under the collar when you are. But I’m sayin’ I never wanna make you feel like you need to earn me, okay?”

His thumb tracks back up to the hollow of your jaw, taps twice questioningly, and you nod, letting out a shaky, “Okay.”

When he kisses you, it feels like every other time- comfortable, grounding, familiar. His tongue presses against the seam of your lips, and you let him lick into your mouth, gripping at his arms, flushing hot as you give it back to him in spades.

With a short groan, he pulls back, a wet click as your mouths separate- “As much as I wanna jump your bones in this wintry wonderland, I think the snow might’ve actually frozen my balls off.”

You giggle, spanning your hands around the meat of his waist, kissing up into his mouth again- “Poor baby. Want me to warm ‘em up in my mouth?”

He gives a solid smack to your ass for that, his palm smoothing over the stinging skin with condescension when you yelp- “All dish and no take, baby? Not exactly fair.”

____

Despite your weak protestations that you both should probably rejoin the party, at least until midnight, Eddie insists on taking you back to the hotel. 

“This party blows, anyways,” he says over his shoulder to you as he leads you back through the halls of the house. “If I hear one more Tears for Fears track I might throw myself into the river from one of the hundred balconies in this place.”

He manages to track down Melanie with some effort, winding his way through the throng of people to where she’d been chatting with a reporter, plucking at her elbow to get her away from the crowd and into the quieter hallway with you.  

“We gotta scoot, Mel,” he tells her, really hamming up the charm as the young publicist widens her eyes. “Think you can get us a ride outta here?”

“Mr. Munson, you can’t just leave,” Melanie insists, frazzled. “Someone from Rolling Stone has been waiting for the last hour to talk to you, if you could just-”

“No can do.” Eddie shakes his head, mock-apologetic. “There’s been an accident. Of a personal nature.”

You manage to choke down your laughter as Eddie turns around to show off the dark stains on the back of his jeans. They’re just wet from the snow that he sat in earlier, of course, but it looks convincing enough to make Melanie blanch and pinch the bridge of her nose.

“I’ll have a cab out front in ten for you both. Please keep a low profile until then.”

Eddie gives a sharp salute and you mouth an apology at her before she retreats to find a phone.

Okay, so maybe add a hefty bonus to that Nice Things for Melanie list of yours. 

____

One of the perks of having a rockstar for a boyfriend is the sweet digs- the label shelled out for Chicago’s finest penthouse suite; an entire luxurious upper floor with a private elevator, windows overlooking the far-below city lights, and a sunken bath big enough for two.

Also included? Soundproof walls.

A perk you’re very grateful for as Eddie walks you backwards into the room, sucking a mark with stinging teeth into your neck as you moan, then giggle breathily, admonishing- “Christ, Eddie, slow down. We have all night.”

Eddie pulls back just far enough to frown down at you, his hands slipping under the hem of your dress to squeeze at your ass. His rings are cold against your bare flesh, and he grins when you shiver. “Uh huh. Sure do have all night. You gonna take advantage of that?”

He wiggles his eyebrows, cheekily, but that smirk drops from his face in record time the second you shove him to the bed. As his knees give out in favor of sitting on the mattress, you steady your hands against his broad shoulders to swing yourself into his lap.

Eddie’s looking up at you, cinnamon eyes darkened with lust- it makes your stomach flip something awful. Your skin feels alight with heat as Eddie’s hands drip like water down your sides, then to your parted thighs.

You sigh into his mouth as his fingers trace the front of your underwear, the silk sticky with your arousal.

“Oh, baby,” Eddie says, equal parts admonishment and pitying as you squirm into his touch. “What’s got you this worked up, hm?”

He’s asking like he doesn’t know- like he didn’t tease you with filthy whispers and wandering hands in the back of the car the whole way here. 

“Whaddya think,” you scoff, not quite ready to give in yet, enjoying the thrill of being cagey as Eddie hooks a finger to tuck your panties to the side.

He grins, simmering, enjoying the chase just as much as you. His middle finger swipes through your folds and you shudder in his arms, hands tightening into the meat of his shoulders as he brings the wetness up to your clit.

Eddie rubs quick, steady circles until you’re mewling, bucking hips grinding down to seek more friction. You can feel the wetness seeping out of your core, dampening his jeans as he licks back into your mouth, capturing the soft noises you’re making as he winds you up.

“Can’t believe a pretty thing like you has anything to be jealous of.” Eddie noses at the spot under your jaw, and when you let your head fall back on a hinge to grant him access, he sucks another mark into the column of your throat. “‘M all yours, sweetheart. You gonna take what’s yours?”

Truth be told, your mind went fuzzy the second Eddie got his hands on your clit, the consistent build of pleasure sparking between your legs rather distracting. You’d almost forgotten how the night had started, but you let the jealousy and possessiveness creep back in as you push at Eddie’s chest.

He goes down easily, toeing his boots off and lying flat on the mattress; big hands settle on your waist as you rest your weight into him, warm cunt pressing against the bulge of his clothed cock.

At a light drag of your nails against his bare chest and across his nipple, Eddie groans low, squeezing your hips and rucking into you.

“You’re all mine, Eddie, right?” 

His pupils nearly eclipsing their soft brown irises, Eddie stares up at you like you hang the moon and stars every night just for him. “Yeah, sweetheart. ‘M all yours. Lemme show you.”

Eddie pulls at the backs of your legs, helping you shuffle up his body until your knees are dipping into the mattress at either side of his head. Your core hovers just above Eddie’s mouth- you can feel his breath speed up on the inside of your thigh at this new position. 

“Oh, fuck, Eddie- jesus… christ,” the last word ending in a moan as Eddie’s tongue licks a wet stripe through your folds. 

He pulls you closer with an arm over each thigh until you’re sitting on his face, his nose hitting your clit with each tilt of his head. You’ve got no idea how he’s able to breathe down there but you’re hardly able to hold onto that thought when his tongue has started plunging in and out of you.

Automatically, your hands shoot out to stabilize yourself- one hand goes to the headboard and the other ends up in his hair, gripping the roots hard. Eddie groans, sending vibrations that make your cunt clench around his lithe tongue.

“Like the taste of my pussy, baby?” you coo down at him, regaining some of your breath to give him attitude. 

Reaching a hand back to palm at his cock, you say “No one else can have you like this, hm?”

Eddie catches your eyes as he mouths wetly at your clit, then sucks it into his mouth. Your thighs shake around his ears, your orgasm unfurling in clenching ripples.

“Oh, yeah, Eddie, fuck, I’m coming- just like that, fuck fuck fuck…”

He doesn’t stop suckling at you until you’re gushing around his mouth, then pulling him off by his hair to make him stop.

Eddie heaves in a breath, kissing at the inside of your thigh, his lips and chin shiny with your release. “God, baby. Such pretty noises for me.”

“Mhm.” You shuffle down until your hips are aligned over his, then lean in to lick his mouth clean. “Gonna make some pretty ones for me, now?”

After helping pull his shirt off, Eddie whines softly as you press kisses down his bare chest, and by the time your mouth is pressing over that dark trail of hair that leads into his denim, Eddie’s begging.

“Please, angel, please- need your mouth. Do anything for it, baby, please…”

You rub your cheek against his bulge before pulling back to pop the button on his jeans, then help him shift them down and off his body. Once his black briefs join the growing pile of floor clothes, Eddie’s completely bare and at your mercy.

He gets on his elbows to watch as you mouth at the inside of his thigh, dark hair splayed around his shoulders, chest heaving when you ignore his leaking cock in favor of grazing your teeth against a sensitive spot. “Fuckin’- christ, sweetheart. Come on. Please?”

“Sound pretty when you beg,” you say, mildly, kissing across his heavy sack, hiding a smile when the contact makes him jolt. “Gonna do it some more?”

You keep eye contact as you take one of his balls into your mouth, watching his own eyes roll back so far you can see the whites of them as you use your tongue on him. 

“-yeah, baby, yeah- just like that- fucking, fuck, you’re killin’ me…”

Eddie sounds wrecked already, and a hot flush of pride courses through your body at the knowledge that he could come from just this and it’d be you getting him there. 

You mouth over to the other side of his sack, rolling the skin wiry with coarse hair against your tongue as Eddie moans above you. When your hand wraps around the base of his cock, starting to move in tandem with the pull of your mouth, Eddie makes a noise like he’s been punched.

A line of drool breaks and hits wet against your chin as you straighten up, settling yourself into the V of his legs and using his thighs as handholds while you begin to kiss up the line of his leaking cock.

He’s got a gorgeous dick, truly. Thick and long, curving slightly to the right, a pretty blue vein snaking up the underside that you lathe your tongue against, seeking out the salty brine at the ruddy head.

Eddie moans, brokenly, white-knuckled hands twisting into the sheets. When your mouth closes around the tip, his elbows give out, leaving him flat against the mattress as you work his length further in.

“Oh my god. Oh, fuck, baby. Please don’t stop. Please. Y’feel so good…”

You hum around the stretch of him in your mouth, relaxing your throat to draw him in a bit more. The spiky jealousy from earlier really is your biggest motivator here; covetous, you’re thinking back to all those first times with Eddie- trembling hands under your bedsheets back in Hawkins, stilted voices and giggles to cover up the awkwardness of trying to learn the other person’s body.

No one will ever know him like you do. No one will ever have all that shared history, those fumbling nights that slowly turned to lovesick days; memories of him on his knees for you, learning all the little things that make you tick, memorizing the song of your body.

The boy is all yours. 

Your throat automatically constricts at the intrusion of Eddie’s cock slipping past your soft palate- his hips cant up, which you can hardly fault him for, patient as he’s been with your retrospective and teasing.

Before he can apologize you’re sitting up, wiping at the excess drool with the back of your hand and shucking your dress over your head, letting it and your belt fall to the floor with a soft clunk.

Eddie reaches for you again as you slide your panties down and off, and you let him help you up his body, your knees coming to rest alongside the lightly raised scar tissue at his sides. You stroke a hand down his chest, giving in to a moment of softness before seating yourself fully in Eddie’s lap.

His hands snap to your hips, a near-brutal squeeze as you sink onto his cock. The stretch is always an adjustment, but you’re so wet right now that he slides in easily, a breathy moan from the both of you as the walls of your cunt fit snug around his sizeable length.

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” The crown of Eddie’s head is pressed back into the bed, veins in his taut neck on full display as your hips start to swivel, blunt nails scraping into the soft flesh of your waist. “Just like that, sweetheart. Fuck me.”

With your knees planted on either side of his body, you begin to bounce in steady, rhythmic earnest, going for gold, the desire to bring your boy to the babbling edge overtaking every other thought.

“Feel so good, Eds, so big… can barely fit…” There’s a wet squelch accompanying each bounce now, slick dripping down to the base of his cock, your vice of a cunt flexing with every movement.

“S’all you, baby,” Eddie rasps out, toes curling in the efforts to keep his orgasm at bay for awhile longer. “Got a perfect pussy. Takin’ me so well.”

He’s almost in delirium territory, with you chasing after that bright unwinding pleasure at both of your cores; your hips stutter, hands flat on Eddie’s chest to center yourself, a hunger that you can’t seem to satiate gnawing at the edges.

Eddie notices immediately, feels the falter in your motion and brings his hands to your forearms, rubbing a path up them soothingly- “What’s wrong, angel, hm?”

You’re not sure how to put it into words, wishing (not for the first time) that you could just rest your forehead against his and transmit all the complexities of your emotions through touch alone. 

Instead, you sigh out the name that you use when you’re done with taking, a name that lights Eddie up from head to toe as you say it- “Teddy.”

In one swift movement, Eddie slips an arm behind your back and flips you to the mattress, his hair a curtain around both your faces as he leans in to whisper against your mouth- “Teddy’s got you. Arms around me.”

You’re quick to obey, looping your arms around Eddie’s wide shoulders. He slides one hand up the back of your leg, pushing a knee up until it’s at your chest, mouth dropping open briefly when the new angle allows the head of his cock to kiss against that gummy upper wall of your cunt.

“Bored of you,” he huffs, recalling your words from earlier with disdain. “You’re talkin’ to the guy who memorized the first six chapters of The Hobbit just to recite for your bedtime.”

A quick thrust of his pelvis into yours has your stomach clenching in anticipation, brows on a tilt and knitting together as Eddie grins down at you. “Got a wicked attention span, baby. Lemme show you.”

He starts slow, agonizingly so, every inch of his thick cock dragging in and out, wetness pooling down your ass and probably the sheets, too; errant thoughts of housekeeping are rapidly erased as Eddie begins snapping his hips into yours in faster tempo.

He’s working to find that spot, the one that turns your brain to mush and is guaranteed to cause full-body muscle fatigue from the force of your orgasm. Your back arches off the bed, breasts pushing into Eddie’s chest, one arm still supporting your lower back as he laughs hoarsely, half-amazement and half-pride.

“That’s the spot, huh, sweetheart? Atta girl. M’all yours. Take it. Good girl…”

With each thrust, the wiry patch of hair dusted across Eddie’s pubic bone grinds slick and filthy against your clit. You’re so close to the edge now, a wave of pleasure cresting as you look up at Eddie.

There are two thin tracks of black makeup trailing down his face from where tears have made a mess of his eyeliner; rosy spots of flushed color in his cheeks, eyes like twin pools of chocolate, locked with yours as he rocks into you. 

He’s learned the song of your body so well, knows every chord to strike- his hand leaves your leg to grasp at your breast, calloused palm against pebbled nipple sending more shockwaves through your body, applying just the right amount of pressure to make you sing for him.

“All yours,” you gasp out, and it feels like victory when his hips stutter and the cresting wave crashes around you both at the same time.

The pleasure roils through your gut, clit throbbing and cunt spasming around Eddie’s cock as he spills into you. 

A wrecked, broken string of moans leaves you as you ride out the highs together. Eddie presses his forehead to your collarbone as he chants your name, twitching out the last of his spend, warmth blooming inside. 

The quiet that follows is filled with shaking breaths, soft kisses, murmurs of “good job, sweetheart” as you both float back down to earth.

Eddie stays in you for longer than usual, his draped weight a grounding comfort as you trail gentle fingertips up and down his skin, lovingly against the scars that interrupt the smooth flesh of his back. Through the closed windows, you can hear the distant sounds of car horns and the deep boom of fireworks. 

Sometime in the last foggy hour of lovemaking, 1987 has given way to a new year. 

Eddie pulls his heavy head up from your chest to press kisses to your collarbone. “Happy new year, lover.”

You tuck his hair behind his ears, hands squishing lightly at his cheeks to bring his face close enough for a kiss. “Happy new year to you. Hell of a way to kick it off.”

Eventually, Eddie extricates himself from the intoxicating heat of your body (with minimal whining) and brings a warm washcloth to tenderly wipe away the mess between your thighs. Once you’re both cleaned up, he stretches out against the sheets, pulling the covers up as you hook a leg around his waist and snuggle in. 

“So I was thinking,” he starts, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head, “I wanna take a trip back to Hawkins. Before the tour.”

Your hand stills in its rhythmic circles against Eddie’s chest; heart in your throat, you tilt your chin up so you can gauge Eddie’s reaction. “...yeah?”

“Yeah.” Eddie picks up your hand on his chest, twining his fingers with your as his other hand settles on your bare hip beneath the sheets. “Could visit Wayne for a few days, fool around in that twin bed like we’re teens again.”

He grins at your giggle, taps playfully at your hip- “Gonna parade you around all our old haunts. You’ve gotten even hotter since we left, babe. Gotta really rub it in the faces of those Hawkins Tigers burnouts whose best dates are their own left hands.”

You snort, and Eddie looks pleased again, but then sobers a bit before saying- “I mean, I’ve got my piece of home with me. But I think it could be good, to visit. Just the two of us.”

You’re quiet for a moment, a longing for home that you’ve managed to ignore these past few years resurfacing. “Can we get high and go to that diner? I mean, Nell’s isn’t as good as Benny’s was, but I’ve been craving a Hawkins milkshake.”

“Christ.” Eddie hides his smile in the crook of your neck, dimples springing to life. “You could ask for the Mona Lisa and I’d find a way to get it to you. Fries and a milkshake, that all I need to keep my girl happy?”

“Yeah,” you reply, a contented noise as Eddie settles against your chest again. “That’s all I need.”

___

thank u thank u for reading if you made it this far have a little kiss from me to you <3 xx lulu

[in-daddy-price-we-trust]

All I Wanted - Part 3

summary: when you are kidnapped discovered by TF141 they can't help but fall in love.

pairing: 141 x fem!teen!reader (platonic)

warnings: mentions of child abuse, drugs, canon typical violence, kidnapping

Part 1 Part 2

A/N: so uh.. not dead.. I kinda forgot about thos between school and life so apologies for not posting.. for two months.. anyways, enjoy the chapter <3

You POV

Soap continued to ramble on about this and that, with Gaz occasionally butting in when necessary, as the pair showcased the base to you and how they weren't staying much longer. Something about how they had better chances finding this Nombre person in Mexico, where they were originally.

Gaz brought up the other members when they entered the shooting range, just past the training room. Apparently the barracks were deeper into the facility, (how much you believe that you aren't entirely sure). He pointed to two figures standing next to eachother, conversing with adoration in their eyes, "That's Alejandro-" you followed his finger to the taller of the two, "-And that's Rudy, they're a package deal if you get what I mean," To ensure his comment came across perfectly, Gaz shot you a wink.

With a clap on the back, Soap pushed you towards the two lovebirds. It was Alejandro who noticed you first, "Ah, here she is! Hola, niña, estas muy pequeño!" Rudy looked at the man fiercely before elbowing him in the ribs, "Qué? I was just pointing out the obvious mi vida!" A long sigh left Rudy at Alejandro's incompetence.

"So sorry about him, Ale can be, stupid occasionally," Rudy's smile was warm and inviting. Alejandro scowled at Rudy before giving a sympathetic grin towards you, a nod of the head as an apology.

"Do you want to show us how well you can shoot?" Soap gestured to the gun poking out of the duffle bag, a cheeky look in his eyes.

You moved too quickly for them to register, the eye piercing pink with hello kitty, kirby and cat stickers moulded into the metal of the rifle. A sparkly purple keychain dangling from it, blue stars twinkling alongside. The hold was confident, strong and firm, an aim to please familiar to the hardened soldiers.

Gaz gave a soft chuckle at the obvious excitement, pointing in the direction of the shooting range. Lines of plywood separating lanes with hip level metallic benches. Long pathways with human shaped targets, most paper but a few were made of a harder substance such as cardboard. Some of these were hidden behind more bits of scrap wood.

Practically skipping over and setting up the perfect first shot. And that's what it was; well maybe to some it could have been better but instantly the gun continued to fire again at a different target, and then another and another. Bullet casings falling past your face at each reload.

To be honest, you could have gone the whole day, it was when a hand on your shoulder pulled you away from the rhythmic sound of metal hitting the cold concrete. The action made you jerk, a startled yelp following as you whipped your head to the side, staring up at Skully. A very audible gulp was heard throughout the now silent room.

For a while nothing happened. A staring contest happening between the two of you before he spoke up, "..Sorry.." his voice was rough and deep, the words so softly spoken you were sure you misheard the behemoth of a man. "Good shot kiddo, but think about breathing. You're gonna make yourself pass out if you hold ya' breath for that long, hmm?" His eyes were an endless void of darkness, the coffee and gold colours swirling into a beautiful helix of patterns. The words soaked into your brain as you came to the conclusion.

"Yes Sir!" The smile plastered on your face was one of pure adoration, the twinkle in your eyes matching that on the glitter sparkling on the rifle, still clasped in your almost too small hands.

-

The shooting lasted a while. Each man giving tips and tricks to you, letting you improve on your gunmanship. Eventually, the sun slowly lowered in the sky, and the canteen opened for dinner. A selection of grimy looking slop, greens, beans and a lukewarm soup.

They gave recommendations of what to have and what to avoid (mostly the slop). The soup was better than you thought. Leek and potato. Though, there weren't any potatoes in it, just soft clumps of leek with other veggies thrown in to pad it out.

Tables weren't assigned in the mess hall, but it seemed each group had claimed a table. You bit your lip, standing in the middle, tray in hand. A whistle caught your attention, Gaz calling you over to their table.

You set the tray down next to Ghost before Price walked in, marching over to table 141. He gave you a warm smile as he saw you eating. "Glad to see ya eating, dolly," in return, you gleamed up at him, a spoonful of soup making its way down your throat.

At least half an hour passed, the group chattering and giggling at the stories and jokes that were passed around, before a yawn interrupted the fun. It was Soap who noticed - "Aye lass, ya tir'd?" a meek nod a was All it took before he started to rise, being stopped by the Captain.

"I've got her Johnny. Cmon dolly, I'll show ya you're room," A hum was all that followed.

The walk was comfortable, going back through the winding halls and plain walls. Price stopped abruptly at one of the doors, Knockin on the solid wood. "Here ya are. I put ya next to me, hope you don't mind, you get a bigger room- and~" He drew out the ending as he opened the door, "-an ensuite bathroom!"

You giggled at the man, going in and exploring the room a bit. "Does that mean I have to listen to your snoring, sir?" It was said cheekily, the smirk evident on your face and the chuckle on his lips.

"Aye, so better invest in some ear plugs!"

Giggles erupted from you, turning to face him. Braces were on show with how wide your grin was. "Thank you.." was all that was said. And a nod was all that was needed, Price turned leaving the room with a click of the door.

You faceplanted onto the bed, soft duvet covers wrapping around you like a burrito as sleep quickly overcame you. Soft snores left you as the moon rises high into the sky.

-

taglist: @urfavsunkissedleo @greenkiki @daryldixonh0e @elijahssuit @theunknownartistsworld @rafaelacallinybbay @cycy-nicole @romanticizedillness @thedeluded @blueoorchid @guiltyconfessions @r3dc4ndy @unnoticed-human @crazyfandomist @jaymum @chb-7 @chromslover @connierk690 @lilpothoscuttings @darkfaethedestroyer @cptg00s3 @elvyshiarieko @8-29pm @howlerwolfmax @minkyungseokie @tapioca-marzipan @cinnamoroll-things @kittythebloodykiller @thicc-plum @phoenixmistycal @marytvirgin @eddiesbitch83 @dwkfan @kdkj122920 @deakyspuff @dressycobra7 @swaggbella @sarraa-26 @autrefleur @revengze @elvyshiarieko @dweebsthings @maeplayscello

[majorproblems77]

So, because I have way too much time on my hands.

@trippygalaxy I blame you for this

Introducing a new segment - Skyward Sword Link ranks the beds of Skyloft

(Yes I found and slept in everyone I could - no I don't regret it man got a month's worth of sleep)

Starting with the academy beds (Not including his)

Fledge

8/10 - cute vibes, like the plants.

Crawlin

3/10 - Lower bunks are overrated

Groose

0/10 - Crawlin is a bitch and wouldn't let me sleep

Karane

7/10 - Bed kinda short, rooms got cute vibes tho

Zelda

10/10 - But Link misses his girlfriend

Instructor horwell

100/10 - Got Mia cuddles 10/10 would sleep again

Instructor Owlan

7/10 - Love a good book, but this is ridiculous

Now for the rest of Skyloft

Orielle and Parrow

7/10 - Good vibes but just different flavours of the same bed

Peatrice's house

4/10 - Bamboo aint the most comfy and the heart bed is just odd

Piper's house

2/10 - house is too cramped not comfy vibes for sleeping

Kukiel's House

9/10 - Massive bed best for starfishing good rest

Beedle's airship

1/10 - Bad for the back, awful for the rest, never again

Pipit's house

2/10 - SO... MUCH.... DUST

Rupin's house

4/10 - Identical beds, but the curtains are nice I guess?

Bertie's house

5/10 - Average bed, kiddo was loud tho...

Gondo' house

6/10 - Same bed different flavours, but with nice colours :D

Sparrot's house

7/10 - Good vibes again, here for the pretty lights above the bed

Fave napping bench

100000/10 - Best spot to nap on the island, great view

Hope you enjoyed looking through this totally pointless post :D

I spent way to long on this hahaha

[himbo-in-limbo]

[a random head canon thingy idk cuz my I pad is charging n I can't draw rn 😞] Glamrock Bonnie/Glamrock Freddy

_____________________

I like to think Bonnie often goes off on his guitar during live performances (leaning towards it sounding like heavy metal) n often forgets he's playing for children LMAO

The kids love it regardless but the gangs like "dude again?" His longest solo was like a good 3 minutes...

He craves to have artistic freedom, I'm assuming the rest do as well tbh

Imagine hearing Freddy practicing his vocals, since we see chica shredding her guitar in her spare time I wonder if he dose the same?

I bet Freddy also likes to help whichever staff member is doing heavy lifting n he sees them struggling with the cargo n just goes "Oh please it's the least I can do! You all do so much for us, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourselves."

Also likes to help because Freddy has trouble just doing nothing...he needs to be doing something!

Or else he gets a bit antsy

Which is why he loves conversing n little tasks!

Bonnie calls the people closest to him "Carrot cake" bc he loves it sm and he loves them sm

In terms of the OG Trio I see chica being the one they protect the most like that's their baby sister to them 🥺♥️

Side note that it's a shame we don't have enough interactions between chica n Freddy in the game...

Like I wanna know if their just as close to each other as Freddy and Bonnie were

Bonnie gets excited hearing stories that the staff members tell him (if he's friends with em) about the outside world...

He LOVE'S it when they share their favorite music with him! He likes to analyze the guitar solos n usually that sneaks into the next concert hehe

He wants to go outside so bad...he often looks outside any windows and wishes he could just step outside for a bit...

This is also something I think the rest have in common.

They are happy working with the kids! They love their job! They would just like to feel the sun n quite literally touch grass...at least once!

Going back to Bonnie loving carrot cake he dose actually have a slight problem with it similar to chica...just don't leave your slice unattended with him, like a magic trick it'll disappear ✨

I like to think Bonnie originally didn't have eye liner but he saw one of the staff members have some on and he just told them "I want that! Can you put that on me?!" And ever since then it's been a part of his iconic look

Freddy laughs to hard at simple jokes like dad jokes kill him, which is why when he tells them sometimes he can't finish the joke 💀

His laugh is so cute n contagious 😭♥️

Everyone groans but they laugh at Freddy's reaction anyways

Bonnie's laugh is dorky, he snorts on occasion and the others call him out n he gets embarrassed

All in good fun of course!

If Bonnie were to blush I like to imagine that his whole face goes red like you can always tell when he's flustered hehe

Honestly I believe Freddy has that classy rizz, like he's such a gentleman, he'd court you properly is all I'm saying

As for Bonnie he's flirty, if he likes you he'll be teasing you a lot

He likes to bully his crush a tiny bit by making em all flustered, and yes he challenges you to bowling quite often!

It's his favorite bonding activity what can you do

He's such a good teacher for bowling too! Has to be for the kiddos of course!

All in all these boys have a heart of gold

They'll inspire you in some way n leave you feeling happy! And you do the same for them! Their still learning how to modify their hugging power tho!

It's strong! 🧡💙

[ladylooch]

The Spiral [Lio Meier] - Part 4

A/N: One more part after this! things are starting to turn around for our Lio 🤭

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: allergic reaction, lots of medical talk, angst, childhood trauma themes

ICYMI Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The morning after his concussion, Lio thinks it would have been better to have been crushed by a garbage truck. His head hurts so bad, worse than any hangover headache or migraine he’s had in his life. But worse than that is the fog that has settled into his brain. Details of last night are fuzzy- the game, Lucie, their conversation. He thinks things are better, but is worried about facing her this morning.

He rolls over to his back, tentatively opening his eyes. The world doesn’t swirl like it had been last night. But he feels like the front of his forehead is going to explode off from the pressure. Is that normal? Fuck.

Slowly, Lio adjusts his position to sit up. The smell of something baking hits his nose. He smiles. Lucie is still here. It takes awhile before Lio can get out of bed, changed, and hit the bathroom. By the time he is done with that, he feels like he could go back to sleep. Instead, he drags himself towards the kitchen. Lucie is at the stove, a large stack of pancakes to her left. As he gets closer, he can see the rainbow sprinkles poking out of the cakes.

“Lucie pancakes.” He chuckles, approaching her.

“They still hit even as an adult.” She shrugs.

“Doesn’t Stell think these are her creation?”

“Yeah because of her dad.” Lucie rolls her eyes. “Connor thinks she created everything, even though I made these all the time when I was pregnant with her.”

“So he thinks because she was there, she made them?”

“He thinks she created the craving for me, so it’s from her.” 

“Your mom could set that straight.”

“Mmm, I don’t think anyone can set that man straight about his sweet girl.” Lucie takes off two more pancakes. “Sit down and eat. You look awful.”

“Thanks.” Lio mumbles, resting his head delicately in his palm. He sets his elbow on the counter watching as Lucie slaps two pancakes on his plate. “Still hate syrup?”

“Yep.” Lio confirms, picking up his fork to cut into a pancake.

“I heard from Ben. He wanted you to check in when you got up.” Lio nods, grabbing his phone.

While he eats small bites, him and Ben talk about how Lio is feeling. Ben is concerned about the intensity of Lio’s headache. He wants him to go to the hospital for a CT scan. 

“Can you send a car? Lucie needs to go home to her family.” 

“No, I can take you.” She says, waving away his worries. “Con is taking Stell to the rink for practice. She is loving her mommy-free life right now.” Ben and Lio chat more. The team doctor is going to meet them at the hospital and they will know more after the imaging is processed.

Lucie and Lio finish breakfast, then head into Newark. Lucie waits while Lio is being scanned and afterwards while they wait for the radiologist to do a quick read. Everything looks good. Lio’s brain isn’t showing any damage, but he does have one hell of a concussion. The news is good. Lio feels like he can breathe and be more at peace with where he is at.

“You’re going to have to take it easy.” The doctor reminds him. “At least two weeks before you do any exercise.” Lio agrees. He can’t imagine getting on the ice right now with how shitty he feels.

“Is it okay if I drop you off and head out?” Lucie asks Lio when they are back in the car. “Connor is going to the Children’s Hospital to see some of his kiddos. I need to get home before he leaves again.” 

“Yeah, I will be fine. Thank you for staying with me. And.. um tell Connor thanks too. I appreciate it. Know he isn’t my biggest fan.”

Lucie drops Lio in front of his building, then heads back towards her city. Lio’s doorman greets him warmly, opening the big door for him.

“Thanks, Charlie.” 

“Tough one last night, Mr. Meier.”

“Hey, boys pulled out the win tho.” Lio waves as he walks through.

“Your mama is waiting for you in your apartment. She was mighty frazzled this morning.” Lio stops in his tracks. There are two people who have unlimited access to his apartment besides him. One just dropped him off. The other lives in Switzerland. 

“Ah, thanks. Moms…” Lio trails off with a shrug. 

Lio seriously contemplates sprinting out of his building. Doctor’s orders be damned. The only woman to ever love him unconditionally is upstairs and he is not ready to face her. Not ready to see her after the horrible things he said to her. Not ready to face his own shame and self-hatred. It’s why he left Switzerland without seeing her even after telling his dad he wouldn’t do that. He doesn’t deserve her or her love. 

But she is here. Already. He knows how many hoops she must have jumped through to get to him. He senses his dad’s involvement as well. The strings Timo Meier would have pulled for her are unlimited. So Lio Meier gets into the elevator and rises the 6 floors to his awaiting fate. Outside his apartment door, he takes a deep breath, then puts his key in the lock. He pushes the door open, not seeing her on the couch like he expected. 

“Mama?” He calls into the apartment. 

“Lee?” He hears her call from deep inside. She comes rushing out of his room. With zero hesitation, she grabs him and wraps him into her body for a hug. “Oh” She sighs, holding his head against hers. She sucks in a deep breath then lets out a relieved sigh at having him close to her. “Are you okay?” Her brown eyes are deeply pained. Lio closes his eyes, unable to see more. 

“Um, well, I guess but also no. What are you doing?”

“Your laundry.”

“Of course.” He chuckles, shaking his head. He has been grown for awhile, but she still insists on taking care of him. It makes Lio less worried for whatever is to come.

“Well, I was very anxious waiting for you. I had to do something.” She insists, waving a hand in front of her face. “Now, go sit down. I have lemon water, hot oatmeal and toast ready for you.” She gently guides him forward. “And vitamins. You need extra nutrients to get better.”

“Mama.” Lio sighs when she turns to head back to the kitchen. He feels like such a piece of shit with how she is jumping right in to take care of him. The undeserving suffocates him, tightening his throat until he struggles to breathe. “Don’t do this.” He finally chokes out. “Don’t double down and love me harder right now.”

“Lee.” Emma comes back to him, putting her hands on his cheeks. She kisses his forehead, right over where his head aches so badly. “I am never going to stop loving you hard or taking care of you. I’m your mother.” She runs her fingers through his hair, then moves back into the kitchen. His blue eyes follow her.

“Is dad here?”

“Yes, of course. Boys are with Uncle Neeks and Auntie Lex, but Livy is coming this weekend.”

“You both didn’t have to come and Liv needs to stay in California. She has school.”

“Mmm, but we did.” Emma looks over her shoulder at him. “We needed to see that you were going to be okay.”

“Dad isn’t here now?” Lio looks down the hall towards his bedroom.

“No, we felt like it’s you and I that need to talk. Not the three of us.” Lio looks away. “Don’t be mad at daddy. It was me. He didn’t want to do it.” Lio’s blue eyes find her again in the kitchen.

“You don’t get to tell me to not be mad at him.” He whispers.

“Probably not. But I love your dad very much and if I can save him from your wrath, I want to.” 

Lio goes to the couch, sitting down, laying his head back on the top. He is exhausted from his morning. He feels the air of his mom coming around the couch. She puts her hand on his forehead, smoothing the wrinkle of distress there. 

“What’s the news?”

“Concussion.” Lio mumbles. 

“Is your brain okay?”

“Yes.” Emma sighs in obvious relief. Her hand drops to his shoulder. She strokes her hand there, quietly contemplating where to go next. When Lio opens his eyes, she begins.

“Lio, daddy and I love you more than I even know how to say. I never thought I would have to find words to express how much and I’m deeply sorry that you’ve been so hurt.” She sighs, running her hand through her hair, then looking out the floor to ceiling windows to the city. His apartment is only a few blocks from where her and Timo lived when she was pregnant with Lio. That feels like so long ago, but she tries to go back to who she was then to give Lio more insight into their life.

“I was the one who wanted to fudge your story. I know daddy told you that this summer, but he doesn’t know all of the things that went into that. You and I had experiences when you were a baby that made me feel very protective of you. People judged. They were horrible and social media made our life so accessible, even as Daddy and I tried to hide you. But this was never because we were ashamed or didn’t love you.” Disgust and substantial disagreement scrunches Emma’s nose. “It was the exact opposite.” Emma puts her hands on her cheeks for a moment, then continues.

“When you were 10 months old, the Devils were playing in the Eastern Conference finals. Daddy was hurt. He was playing through it as he always does, so he wasn’t performing very well. People were upset.” Lio watches his mom become increasingly uncomfortable. “You and I were out at a store after the Devils went down in the series. There was an incident in public where someone came up to you, a little baby, and called you that name…” Emma closes her eyes. “They went on to literally blamed the entire playoff situation on the fact that you were born out of wedlock. Daddy’s play as well. We were being punished for our sin of having you.”

Lio can see how much this still hurts his mom decades later.

“I’m sorry, mom.” He says sincerely. 

“That person got to me.” Emma shakes her head. “I felt you deserved a better story. A more picture perfect story because of how much joy and purpose you brought to our lives. I..” She sighs. “I felt like we ruined your childhood before it had even really begun. I tried to fix it the way I knew how. Instead I hurt you.” 

“But Lio, please know, I have loved you since the moment I knew of you even when I was crying on a bathroom floor. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to figure it out for you. When I got up off that tile, whatever decision daddy wanted wasn’t going to shake my decision. You were coming because I wanted you. It would be me and you against the world.” Emma stops, looking at him, then she chuckles. “But daddy wasn’t going anywhere. He was all in. He loved us so much. You’ve seen the videos from when I was pregnant with you. Nothing about that was forced.”

Lio remembers the one of his dad laughing hard as a three week old Lio tried to latch onto Timo’s big chest. The pictures of him on the ice at The Rock for the first time in skates that looked massive on his feet. Tons of videos of Lio and Timo napping together the year of the Devils first cup run. He looks across his apartment at a picture of his parents and him with the cup. It was only Lio and them at that time. Well, his mom was pregnant with Livy, but they barely knew that. Although the most difficult to win trophy in sports is right there, his dad’s hands are on a young Lio, engulfing him and his mom in his sweaty equipment.

“It felt like a lie.” Lio hears himself say. He gestures to the picture. Emma follows his gaze. “Like it looked like that. But then you and dad would make a comment about wanting me so bad you couldn’t wait and my whole life felt like a lie.” Emma swallows hard, nodding.

“I see that now, Lee. I’m very sorry. But that was real. That was our life, baby.” She reaches for his hand.

“It hurt me.” He whispers. Emma winces, then runs her hand up his arm to squeeze his shoulder.

“I know. I am so sorry. I hope you can forgive me.” Emma purses her lips together, then looks at Lio with tears in her eyes. She brushes her thumb over the hairs behind his ear. “So loved. So wanted. Never a mistake.” Lio nods, then reaches to hug her. They hold one another tightly. 

“Love you, mama.” Lio inhales heavily. “I can see how you wanted to protect me.” 

“I love you, Lee. So much sweet boy.” When they pull apart, Emma stands to grab Lio more water, then comes back to the couch.

“She wasn’t even pregnant.” Lio confesses. “False positive.” 

“Oh.” Emma blinks. This is the first time she is hearing this. “How does that make you feel?”

“Relieved.” Lio answers honestly. “More than any of the other reasons I said this summer… I just don’t want kids, mama.”  Emma nods. She has suspected so for awhile. 

“It’s your life. You get to decide. But you need to be more careful because at some point, it becomes not your choice.” 

“Kay, pot.” Lio jokes with a light-hearted smirk. Emma tisks, chuckling and smacking Lio’s leg.

“Don’t slut shame your mother. You didn’t see how good James Bond looked that night.”

- - -

A brisk and skin drying wind has picked up on the East coast in the middle of November. Old man winter is roaring its way to the East coast with a winter storm warning in effect beginning tomorrow. With the impending weather, things are sure to get dicey in the booming metropolis of New York City. Despite the lingering effects of his concussion agitating him today, Lio is currently being dragged from room to room in the Bubble Planet by Stella Wood.

“This way! This way!” She yells, struggling to pull his heavy weight with her little body.

“Stell, I’m coming. Just chill.” He laughs.

“She doesn’t know that word. She’s three.” Lucie jokes back to him. 

They weave through room after room, each one more exciting than the last. Stella is having the time of her life, especially when she is on Lio’s shoulders, getting to touch the bubbles falling from the ceiling.

“Mama, this is the best day! I wish daddy could come!” Lucie and Lio avoid looking at each other, just like they avoid the giant elephant that is Connor Wood between them.

Although Lucie and Connor have discussed more about what happened this summer, he is not ready to move on. It got particularly heated when Lucie asked if Stella could see Lio. Connor questioned Lucie’s motives, worried about the implications and confusion Stella would have about Connor not being there. These were fair and valid points, but her inquisitiveness hurt less than her tears about missing Lio.

“Baby, you do what you need to do, but I’m not interested in spending time with him or fixing this. I’ve made concessions along the way. This is where I am at. Stell stays here with me.” 

Lucie respected that. She dropped it completely. But suddenly the next morning, Connor had given her quiet permission for her to bring Stella to breakfast with Lio. That was a month ago. Connor heads to the rink on days when his girls are meeting up with Lio, always having an excuse about training or treatment or nutrition. Lucie kisses him extra hard on those days, wanting him to know she loves him deeply and understands so much of this is difficult for them.

Now, as she watches Stella up on Lio’s shoulders, all she can fathom is the immense hole Connor’s absence brings. 

“Baby, are you getting hungry?” Lucie asks her daughter as they bop out onto the New York avenue.

“Yeah.”

“What do you want?”

“Mac and cheese!”

“You had that for dinner last night.” Lucie laughs.

“She is a good Swiss girl!” Lio nods approvingly. 

“Her favorite is Kraft.” Lucie points out.

“We’ll work on it. She’s three, ya know.” He jostles Lucie’s shoulder, then immediately regrets it at the way the world swirls upright for a minute. “Oof.” He rubs at his temples.

“Careful, Lee. No setbacks.” Lucie cautions, gripping his shoulder.

The three of them head a few blocks down to a diner, settling into a red booth with huge, plastic menus and a coloring page for Stella. Lio sits on her side of the booth, taking turns coloring a troll in a field of daisy. 

“Not pink!” Stella scrunches her nose, pushing Lio’s hand away.

“What? You said I could pick any color.”

“Yeah, any one but pink.”

“You love pink?”

“When I was two.”

Lucie and Lio both snort, attempting to pursue their lips to keep their laughter in. Stella Wood is an absolute hoot. 

“Can I share a milkshake with you?” Lucia asks Lio.

“I was gonna share with Stell.” 

“Oh, I see how it is.” She raises her eyebrows then looks away with a smirk at her menu. She decides on a simple Strawberry shake. “Stell, do you want to share with uncle Lee?”

“Yeah.” 

“Which flavor?”

“Reese’s! His favorite!” 

“No, you can’t have those, baby. You’re allergic to peanuts.”

“No peanuts in there?”

“Yes, there is peanut butter.” Lucie calmly reminds her.

“Sorry, Uncle Lee. I get sick.” She pats her little pot belly. 

“It’s okay. I was thinking chocolate.”

“Oh yes.” The little girl sighs happily.

The waitress comes and takes their orders. The adults grab cheeseburgers with fries while Stella happily exclaims she needs Mac and Cheese. The waitress practically swoons out of her Keds at how sweetly Stella thanks her for going to get their food. More coloring is done and a quick few games of hangman using three letter words like cat and dog and hat. Stella is getting so good at her ABCs. The milkshakes come out first. Stella watches in awe as the shake is split between two cups for her and her uncle.

“You gonna be able to finish that?” Lio asks. 

“Mhm.” Stella nods enthusiastically. With one hand she grabs the glass while the other helps her balance on the table top. She sucks up the milkshake quickly, then sputters, coughing. 

“Oh, that was a big sip. It’s cold, huh?” Lucie chuckles, handing Stella her water glass. She holds it up to the little girl’s lips for a sip.

“Ah!” She exclaims. “Mmmm.” She sucks up more of the thick liquid. Lio and Lucie chuckle, watching Stella enjoy her ice cream. Lio leans back farther in the booth, looking across the table at his cousin.

“I’ve had so much fun with you today. I missed this.”

“Me too.” Lucie murmur. Stella coughs again, loudly, then seems to gag. Stella sits up straighter, looking Lucie in the eyes with wide orbs. “Are you okay, baby?” Lucie straightens. Lio sits up as well, reaching out for Stella. She makes a wheezing noise, then sticks her tongue out. 

“Oh my god. Stell?” Lucie covers her mouth, watching a red, angry rash begin to form on Stella’s face. Lio grabs Stella as she begins to sway backward.

“She is very warm.”

“What is going on?” Lucie whispers, she looks around the table then she smells it, the faintest whiff of peanut butter coming from the ice cream in the glass Stella was drinking. “Oh my god. Peanut butter.” She reaches for her purse, fumbling around. “Um.. ohmygod.”

“Do you have an Epipen?”

“Um.” She nods vigorously, beginning to pant herself. Her stomach tightens, fear dashes down her spine. She rips her hands through the contents of her purse, looking for the injection she always carries with her since the first reaction Stella had a few months ago in Switzerland. But it wasn’t like this. It was nothing close to this. 

“Luc, come on.” Lio calls to his cousin, picking up Stella into his arms. “You’re okay, baby. It’s okay!” He tries for a cheery voice as Stella being to sob. “Luc, dump the purse out.” Lucie picks the bag up, emptying it from the handles. Lio sees the EpiPen immediately, tossing the cap off hastily. He does the injection, pausing to watch Stella’s reaction. Her wheezing gets tighter, but she can no longer speak to him or even cry. Lio’s heart is racing in his chest as he watches her struggle.

“Do you have another one?”

“No! It’s with Connor at home.” She shakes her head frantically. “Oh my god. Someone call an ambulance!” Lucie sobs out to the restaurant. In the haste of dumping her purse out, her phone fell underneath the booth. But she is frozen in paralysis. She can’t move. She can’t breathe. She is forced to watch her baby struggle.

Adrenaline takes over Lio like he was injected with the epinephrine. He calculates out where they are in the city, the amount of time it will take for an ambulance to get there and he knows Stella’s chances of making it are slim with how much she is struggling even after her first injection. He has seen this before with a kid in school when they still lived in Jersey. 

“There isn’t time for the ambulance. I’m taking her to Children’s.” The hospital is at the end of the three blocks they walked from Bubble Planet, close to Lucie’s car. Lio secures Stella to his chest and begins to run from the restaurant. He leaves Lucie at the table to scramble her things back into her bag. He runs as fast as his body will go. Stella jostles against his shoulder, going limper and limper and Lio quite literally races against time. 

“You’re going to be okay, Stell. it’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He promises the little girl in his arms. 

Tears blur his vision. His concussion rears it’s ugly head, pulsing against his temples and making the sidewalk shift with his blurred vision. He can’t let that stop him. Stella needs him. He pushes his injured and weak body to go harder the next block, dodging pedestrians and cabs in walk ways and dogs on leashes. He hits the emergency entrance of the hospital, screaming for help. 

“Help! Please! My nieces is going into shock! She was exposed to peanuts!” Nurses swarm him, snatching Stell immediately and taking over. 

“Did you give her Epinephrine?”

“How was she exposed?”

“Is this her first exposure?”

Lio answers the questions as best he can. Yes, ingested and no. He looks over his shoulder, wondering when he can expect to see Lucie. But then they are taking Stella away on her bed. Another nurse holds him back as they rush down the hall with her. 

“Sir, I need you to wait in the lobby.”

She is right. He needs to wait for Lucie anyway. But that doesn’t make it easier to turn around. He heads to the doors he just sprinted through, avoiding the gazes of curious onlookers. He walks outside into the cold air. His chest tightens immediately and he turns to the side, looking for something he can vomit into. But then he sees Lucie Wood, rushing down the sidewalk, clutching her purse to her chest, sobbing so loud he can hear every inhale and exhale of her shaking body.

“Luc, they’ve got her.” Lio calls to her. He opens his arms up and Lucie collapses into his body. His shirt is immediately wet from her face. Large hiccups shudder her frame against him. He squeezes her tight, smoothing her hair down. “It’s going to be okay.” Lio whispers to her, hoping that maybe if they chant that together, it will make it real.

Several minutes pass. Lucie continues to sob into Lio’s body, even after he moves her inside to get out of the wind. The doctors come out looking for him, finding him and Lucie together. Stella is stable. They can go see her, but she will need to stay for several hours for monitoring as they had to give her two more injections. Lucie heads right into her daughter’s room, curling up with the little girl who looks drugged and exhausted in the center.

“Mama is here. You’re okay.” She cries to her daughter. Stella is upset and shaken from the ordeal. She clings to Lucie like a monkey, balling her shirt up in her little fists. 

“LuLu, do you want me to call Connor?”

“Yes.” Lucie whispers, barely able to get the word out of her shaking lips. She reaches into the back pocket of her jeans, handing her phone to him. “If you call he won’t answer.” She says simply. Lio tries to brush that off like it doesn’t hurt, but it stings as bad as the wind biting his cheeks during his sprint to the hospital. 

Lio takes a deep breath, then clicks on Connor’s contact. His heart is pounding in his chest like he’s about to take a face-off in the final minute of a trailing game. He licks his lips, leaning agains the wall, waiting on the call to connect.

“Hey baby! I’m just about to leave.”

“Ah.” Lio coughs. “Hey, it’s Lio.”

Silence.

“Where is Lucie?” A definite snap tightens the words through the line. 

“She’s with Stella. She asked me to call you and tell you what is going on.”

“What? Are they okay? What..” 

“Lucie is okay.” Lio starts.

“Stell? Whats wrong with her!?” Connor’s voice is beginning to escalate. “What did you do, Lio?” Connor snaps. Lio closes his eyes. 

“I didn’t do anything. It was a mistake at the restaurant.”

“Fuck!” Connor yells. “Where are you?”

“At Children’s hospital off 34th.”

“You have to tell me what happened, Lio.”

“I’m trying to, but you’re not letting me get much out here, man.” Connor sighs. Lio takes his silence as compliance. “We were out grabbing lunch and she had an allergic reaction and we had to bring her to the hospital. Her Epipen wasn’t enough.”

“Fuck, I have the second one. We usually have the two together, but Lucie and I had plans the other night and…” Connor’s voice is distraught.

“It happens. But you should get down here. They need you.”

“I’m on my way.” 

Lio removes the phone from his ear, looking at the lock screen of Lucie, Connor and Stella. Lio took that photo of them this summer in Switzerland, before everything happened. He sighs heavily, then comes back into the room.

“Connor is coming.” Lio assures Lucie. She doesn’t take her crying eyes off the little girl in her arms. She sniffs and nods in acknowledgement, continuing to touch her daughter’s face soothingly. Lio can’t tell if it’s for Stella or Lucie.

Connor Wood arrives thirty minutes later with squeaking sneakers on the tile floor of the hospital hallway. Lucie and Stella are dozing in an overwhelmed sleep. Lio sits in the chair next to them with one hand on Stella, rubbing her arm. Lucie’s hand clings to his wrist, needing comfort in one of the worst moments of her life. 

“I’m a terrible mom.” She had told Lio tearfully.

“You’re not. It was scary.” 

“What if you weren’t there?”

“It doesn’t matter. I was.”

“Luc! Stell!” Connor rushes into the room then locks in on Lio. He shifts his worried eyes to the bed, seeing Lucie and Stella curled together. His lips pull into a deep frown, then his eyes seemingly dim when he takes in Lio in the place he should be.

“They’re resting, Lucie is pretty upset.” Lio says as he slowly works his wrist out of Lucie’s grasp. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to see me. I’ll leave now, I just didn’t want to leave the girls alone before you got here.”

“What happened?” Connor asks. Lio can see the way his chest rapidly raises and falls beneath the Rangers logo on his chest.

“Stella somehow got a peanut butter shake at the diner. Wrong order. She had some and started having a severe reaction.” Connor’s face gets ghostly pale. He puts his hand on his head over his blue hat, waiting for more. “Um, Luc, She… she panicked. It was all scary. Truly awful. But I gave Stell the injection, but it didn’t do enough. She became mostly unresponsive.” Connor closes his eyes, bringing his hands to his face in anguish. “There wasn’t time to wait for help, so I grabbed Stella and ran here with her.” 

“You ran?”

“Yeah. Stell didn’t have time.” Lio reiterates. If he is mad at Lio for that, then so be it. Maybe it was reckless, but Lio had to make a judgement call and Stell is going to be okay because of it. Connor stares at Lio. Then suddenly he steps forward around the bed. Lio stands up taller, preparing for anything. Connor wraps an arm around Lio’s shoulders to bring him into his body. Lio brings his hands up, clasping Connor’s back as they share a deep, sincere hug. 

“Thank you.” Connor whispers, tears coating his voice. Lio squeezes Connor tighter, not wanting to let go of his best friend. Suddenly, it hits Lio. How close they were to losing Stell. How dire she had looked when he ran through the doors of the ER. How Lucie had every right to be that terrified at the table. It had been bad. Horrible. Worst case scenario. 

Lio can’t help it. He begins to sob. Everything that has happened the last few months weeps out of him. From losing Savannah, to screaming at his parents, to only having his little sister, to losing the three people in this room with him. His concussion… almost losing Stella on that New York street.

“It’s okay, Lee. She’s going to be okay.” Connor puts his hand on Lio’s head. “You saved our girl.” Lio nods, shuddering as he pulls away. Both men wipe their faces with their hands, then look over to the two girls laying in the bed. Stella has a sleepy grin on her face, watching them.

“Daddy!” She giggles, reaching out to him, flexing and unflexing her fingers for him to come closer.

“Hi baby.” Connor smiles brightly, leaning down to kiss her cheeks. “Can I lay with you and mama?” 

“Yeah.” Stella yawns as she says the word. 

“Sleepy.” Connor chuckles, kissing her again. He curls her and Lucie into his body, trying to be careful not to wake his wife. Lucie jolts up at the feeling of his hands on her. “Me, Luc. It’s me.” She visibly relaxes when she sees her husband. “I’m here.” He brushes her cheek with his thumb. 

Lio watches from the end of the bed, then anxiously rubs at his forehead. He clears his throat, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Um, well I’ll head out so you all can be together.”

“No, don’t go.” Lucie shakes her head. 

“It’s okay, Luc. I’ll see you later.” 

“You should stay with us.” Connor says softly. “We want you here.” The insinuation of the we has the corners of Lio’s mouth sliding up.

Lio makes his way back to the chair by the bedside, sitting down in it. Him and Connor share a look of understanding. Lucie trails her nails along Stella’s back as another big yawn stretches her little mouth. 

“Uncle Lee?” Stella murmurs.

“Hm?”

“You gonna be here when I wake up?”

“Yeah, Stell.” He sighs. “I’ll be right here.”

[gagegh0st]

Batfamily Kiddos And My Hc's Even though nobody asked for them

New series asshats! "-- hcs even though nobody asked for them will be a returning series you little shitfucks.

Dick Grayson

He has a really good music taste, loves a good jazz, funk, or jersey club song

Collects certain hand sanitizers because he likes the smell

He hoards magazines about himself so that once he becomes a parent, he can show them to his kids.

Has a soft spot for birds.

Night owl

Always wanted a parakeet but Alfie and Dad said no.

Really likes travelling to hot places

Cant swim, almost drowned the last time he was in a pool

Barbara Gordon

Really allergic to cats (Red eyes, hives, all the works)

She was a total nightcore kid back in middle school

Has multiple sets of joint problems that have been left untreated for actual years

Big fanfiction person

Collects plushies of bats because she likes them

Graphic novel addict

Dyes the tips of her hair different shades of red

Absolutely fucking hates tight jeans

Jason Todd

Been book buddies with Alfred since he was really young

Absolutely terrible at driving

Started greying prematurely, he dyes all of it but the white piece.

He takes melatonin before bed because of him having anxiety

Can't hold a girlfriend for shit, too promiscuous to stay single tho.

He had lots of pet fish growing up

He has a rose garden and is very proud of it

Wants to retire one day to be an old guy with a nice garden and literally a. single. child, that's it. All he needs.

Damian Wayne

Listens to way inappropriate music for his age

Thinks he's grown but he always has homework due

The bitchiest little sibling you will ever meet, he is a huge snitch too.

Always having an identity crisis.

Had really traditionally girly interests growing up (Ex: Fables, Flowers, Balet, and Barbies <3, what a sweet child)

Isn't allowed to have a girlfriend ever according to Bruce.

Laughs at inappropriate times a lot

Chronically wears vests because he thinks that it flatters his figure. (It doesn't, Alfred knows this but wants Dames to feel his best even if it makes him look short.)

Tim Drake

Was obsessed with wolves when he was young

Loves a funky-print suit

Really likes painting with gouache or watercolour

Big-ol Adhd brain

Wears the same coat without washing it for at least six months

Plays really funky indie games

Really likes feeling pretty, paints his nails, curls his hair, or even gets himself some new jewelry

Got his ears pierced when he was young, and has tons more ear piercings and plans to get his nose bridge pierced even though Bruce said he would kill him.

Stephanie Brown

Started coding at an early age

Collects old metal stuff

Special interest is welding and glass blowing

Very fond of bears, especially pandas.

A cheese connoisseur

Designs all the suits for the batfam

HTML is the love of her life

Aro ace and only Bruce knows, he's chill about it tho.

Cassandra Cain

Hearing problems GALORE

Uses some forms of AAC because of hearing problems and speech impediment (Lisp and Stutter)

More brooding than most of the boys

Really likes scrapbooking

Watches kids shows for fun because she had a really fucked up childhood

Absolutely never cries in front of the other siblings

Bruce is her shoulder to cry on because he gives such good advice

Crochets Before bed because it's a good stress reliever.

Duke Thomas

Haircut always stays fresh asf

Dissociates a lot

Always was a math person, didn't like reading growing up because of vision problems

Really loves chickens and has names for all of the chickens they own

Collects action figures of farm animals

A very faithful partner, he doesn't get into relationships with people he doesn't see a future with

Has a very fun textured closet but sticks with the yellow.

Collects cool pens and gives them to Alfred so he can have something cute to write with when he writes down groceries.

OK BYE CHAMOY PICKLES !! ILY, DRINK WATER, SHOWER, GET UP, STRETCH, AND KEEP BEING AWESOME!!!

[karlwriting]

You lost Toji’s pay cheque

Featuring - Toji (contains spoilers)

re-blogs and likes are appreciated :))

Just fluff <3

You are in big trouble.

Toji gave you a cheque this morning before he went to work. He is in his usual tightly-fitted black t-shirt and grey sweat pants. You can never get tired of his physique. Lord his arms can just crush you.

"Just go to the bank and they know what to do, thank you kiddo. I am going now. Call me if anything happens." he gave you a kiss then headed out.

And you lost the cheque on your way to the bank.

If you remember it correctly, that cheque has 'USD$200,000' printed on it. Just thinking about it makes your whole body shivers. He never tells you how he got so much money every time, and you never bother to ask cuz you respect his privacy.

Although Toji seems to earn much, he never buys something expensive. He enjoys affordable healthy meal you two make together, staying indoors to watch documentaries on Netflix and cuddle (tho at the end you are not able to tell Netflix that you are still here cuz you are drowned in intense pleasure, Your man's stamina is no joke.)

'Shit... where did it go?' you check your bag once more, but unfortunately the miracle did not happen. Toji is out to work and probably will be back by midnight, so you got a lot of time to look around. You start searching from your shared apartment to all the places you have been today.

'Its already 9pm... should i look for few more hours? I am so tired.' You sit down on the bench to massage your legs. You went to a few police stations, the cafe you stayed this afternoon, and many places but none of them give you good news.

You feel like you about to cry cuz you lost such a huge amount of money. You bow you head down to hold your tears, suddenly you feel someone is standing next to you. You lift you head to see who it is.

"Kiddo- Wait what happened? Are you hurt? It's alright now, nothing bad will happen to you cuz I am here, come here baby." Toji immediately kneels down on one knee in front of you when he sees you are crying helplessly. He came home early today but found the apartment empty, it worries him so much that he immediately went out to look for you.

He cups your cheeks with his huge palms, gently massaging them. you want to see Toji's face but your eyes are too blurry, you can only feel the leathery skin of his palms.

This man fears nothing in this world, except your tears. He doesn’t fear how the Zenin family treated him before he met you, but seeing you cry is unbearable. He pulls you close to hug you tightly, left hand stroking you spine like you are a baby. A smell of sandalwood goes into your nose.

"Sorry I came late." He kisses the corner of your eyes, heart almost broken feeling your upper body shaking.

‘Did some bastards hurt you?’ A huge wave of rage fills his heart.

'I'll torture those bastards in the most terrific way possible.' Torturing someone is a piece of cake to him, he even kills people without feeling any sense of immorality. But he never lets you know.

"Toji I lost the cheque on my way to the bank… I am sorry." You spoke with few hiccups as you feel better in his arms.

"Mhm, is it the only reason you are crying? Please tell me you are not hurt." He didn't stop stroking you spine.

"No I am not, but I lost the cheque-'

"Don't mind the cheque, money means nothing to me when I've got you. Now let’s go home, shall we?” He turns around and gestures you to climb on his back, he is gonna carry you home. He gets up carefully to make sure you are holding on tight.

“Aren’t you curious of how i got this much money?” He asked on the way home. His muscular back feels amazing to lie on, it’s like you will never get hurt when this man is around you.

“You will tell me when you want to, everyone got secrets.”

‘That’s why you are so special to me.’ Toji knows he is not a person who expresses himself openly. But to you, he will try.

On the way home, Toji tells you how bad he was treated in the Zenin family. He never got financial support, even got locked up in a room full of curses. After becoming an adult, he earned a lot with his ability but he never found true happiness. Before he met you, he spent all his money in a speed of light cuz he was gonna earn them back anyways.

“Then here you are, a kiddo who suddenly runs into my life. You make me want to plan my future - a future that i am not alone. I start to enjoy simple things, i even developed a daily or weekly routine with you which i never thought of. So what’s so important with money if my baby is not happy?”

Toji feels surprised that he actually opens up to someone, and it feels good. He decides to tell you about his job someday, he needs time.

“I won’t let that happen again, i promise.” Your eyes become watery again.

“I have a method to prevent this from happening again.” Toji smirks.

“And what’s that?”

“Punishment.”

Seems you get into a real trouble this time.

[caitlynmeow]

The post about Cass' gf/wife was wholesome. Could you give some hcs about those kiddos appearance-wise or personality-wise or anything really ?

omg yes! ok so they do end up having three daughters because Cass is a big family person and she can't exist in any other way c:

First daughter:

She takes after her mom in terms of looks: blonde hair and blue eyes.

Her name is Aurelia

She was born on May 25.

She's curious and always asking questions.

She's a chatterbox and very social.

Stranger danger? Not this baby! She's always smiling at strangers and probably wouldn't stop to think twice before going with a strange person anymore.

Definitely can't take your eyes off of her because she'll get herself abducted (she just wants to make friends)

Generally, she's an easygoing fun baby, although can be a huge brat but her mothers adore her and don't see anything wrong.

Being the first granddaughter, Aurelia was somewhat smug. She wouldn't always approach her grandmother or aunties, just being aloof and somewhat arrogant.

The birth of her younger sister changed that entirely. Suddenly, she's super affectionate and doesn't stop talking and loving everyone's company.

Second daughter

One day, wife said that she needed to fly home for a quick matter that she needed to take care of before returning to Romania. Cassandra kinda sorta blew things out of proportion and somehow made it seem as if her wife was leaving her.

While wife was trying to make sense of the sudden outburst, she realized suddenly ‘Oh my god you’re pregnant!’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not. Don’t try to change the subject’

‘I’m not changing the subject, I’m putting two and two together,’ Because Cassandra is crazy but this is a different kind of crazy and wife saw it before while her wife was pregnant with their first child. She knows it when she sees it.

Out of pure spite, Cassandra got tested just so that she can throw the negative test in her wife’s face.

The rest came out positive.

She still insisted that her wife was leaving her and Aurelia and just— doing whatever.

Wife had to get Alcina involved because Cassandra started packing 😭

Alcina, knowing that no one is leaving anyone, told wife to go and that she'll handle Cassandra. She did let her daughter and granddaughter stay in the castle for the duration of their time apart because Alcina secretly wants to spend a lot of time with her granddaughter (Cass is going to calm down on her own anyway)

A few phone calls later, Casaandra's sanity was back and all was good (she still stayed in the castle until her wife returned tho)

After more bouts of insanity (it's hormones okay, Cass is not guilty of anything because the fetus was driving her insane daily)

Their second daughter was born on December 12

Her name is Adelina

She takes after both of her mothers, she has Cassandra’s brown hair and wife's blue eyes.

Definitely not having her birthday combined with Christmas, absolutely not.

Cassandra makes sure that all of Adelina’s birthdays are huge for that reason alone, and she gets presents both on her birthday and on Christmas because these are two separate occasions.

She has selective mutism- with her family and friends she’s wild and talkative and the life of any social setting. With strangers? She doesn’t say a word.

When she started school, it took her about a week to warm up to her teacher and classmates before turning into a chatterbox.

She's very smart. during pre-k, she was moved from her class and into the older kids class (she was a 2-year-old in a class of 3-year-olds) because she wasn't having fun with the other 2-year-olds. she's amrt and needs the mental stimulation.

Third daughter

She takes after Cassandra, brown hair and golden eyes.

They were celebrating Alcina’s birthday when in the evening Cassandra’s water broke and they had to go to the hospital.

The baby was born on the same day, barely two minutes before midnight.

When Alcina walked into the room to look at her youngest granddaughter, she wasn’t expecting what came out of Cassandra’s mouth.

The baby was small, and sleeping.

Usually, by the time Cassandra had any of her daughters, they always were torn between two different names and couldn’t really pick one. Aurelia was the only one who had her name picked out. Adelina was almost named Amelia and perhaps Amelia is what this new baby is going to be named.

Or so Alcina thought.

‘She kinda ruined your birthday’ Cassandra said. ‘We’re naming her after you’

'and she also looks like you' wife joked (but not really since Cass looks a lot like Alcina herself and this baby is following in their footsteps)

Perhaps for the first time in her life, Alcina was speechless.

Alcina is born on May 2, just like her grandmother.

[medufasa]

Cool lachambers fics

For @zzzzivy , and anyone else who cares

Everything I Ever Knew About Chris Chambers (*ongoing* - (by heartsflutter; Ao3)

Let The Butterfly Soar (by Goddess Myzt (pretty damn slashy warning) - fanfiction.net))

A 3 parter: Of Sinking Or Swimming (first), In A Savage land (second), The Roaring Silence (third and final)(all by Nenia; they posted it on both fanfiction.net & Ao3) < I believe this was the one I fucking bawled my eyes out on that I talked about before

- Down By The River

- Promise (both by i-nv-u50; fanfiction.net)

Testing the waters (by itbeme: fanfiction.net) in all seriousness I can't remember what happens in this one for the life of me but I did read it

Sweltering Cigarette (by Novelnova; fanfiction.net) (warning,, slashy at times, I believe)

Summer Racing (by NeonTypewritters; fanfiction.net)

Kiss Off (by Princess Lo; fanfiction.net)

A Feeling (by daveylover75; fanfiction.net) A cute little short one

2 parter: Chambers Charm (first), All Knowing Ace Chambers Charm (second and final) (both by iPlu; fanfiction.net)

Paper Prayer (by LadyLove5000; fanfiction.net)

Like Catching Lighting (by Jomellie; fanfiction.net)

Wonderwall (by PolkadotSunstar; fanfiction.net)

Only a Dream? (by BoatsAgainsTheCurrent;

fanfiction.net) < they've made quite a few sbm books (at least one other one being another lachambers fic that I haven't read yet)

A Chris Chambers Holiday (by CherryCokesandWinterSmokes; fanfiction.net)

- All I Want For Christmas

- Stand By You (both by Cynaro of Notre Dame; fanfiction.net) < a bit overly dramatic I recall, but I was invested nonetheless. I also liked the stupid little notes they'd add about the new world order or something at the end of each chapter

Letters (by okayros; fanfiction.net) < very short and sweet!

LaChambers Christmas Story (by cyclops-kiddo; fanfiction.net)

Another 3 parter: Those Were The Days (first), Just Once In My Life (second), It's All Coming Back To Me Now (third and final) (all by secretdemeanor; fanfiction.net)

Stand by Me Always (by Subliminally Profound; fanfiction.net)

Our Home Is Eachother (MauMauKa; fanfiction.net) < the author is questionable... 😭

Stand By Me: Come Go With Me (by TheGeorgieB; fanfiction.net)

Beyond Back Harlow road (by Novem; fanfiction.net) < Muah

- The Price Of Milk (by paper-star-paper-cup; fanfiction.net) < I actually really liked this one ngl tho the plot was kinda crazy

- Wake Up, You've Got Boy Problems (same author and site as previous) < I really liked this one too lol

The Game (by queenofbleach; fanfiction.net & Wattpad) < YALL OK this one was FUCKING CRAZY despite the how unassuming the title is like I actually felt bad reading this cuz it's so..... Yeah. But the ending was sweet. Very fucking slashy,, Chris was a huge dick in this one

Stand By Me (by RavenclawDoll; fanfiction.net)

Maybe You Should've Stayed Someone I Know (by LivieBear; Ao3) < I fucking love how the suspense sorta played near the end of it

Lachambers- Forbidden (by Imvnlla; Ao3 & Wattpad) < this one was soo freaking cute it was like a gay Romeo and Juliet fr. It remains unfinished by one chapter which is probably never going to get completed but it's mostly finished; you could easily figure out an ending from where it ended (slashy in chapter 7)

Lachambers- What If? (Same author and sites as previous) < This one was so good too I think it was one of my first lachambers fics I've read. Slashy and dramatic tho

Une Danse Pour l'Eternité - [ Lachambers ] - (by kass2812; Ao3) < it's all in French pretty much, but there's an option to translate the page into English and it's a pretty solid translation I find. Super cute

these chemical reactions are dividing me (try to keep my eyes closed) (by s0ld_it; Ao3)

One of Our Stories (by BlueDaria; Ao3)

And If This Is What It Takes (by unbelieve; Ao3) < this one was great,, also one of my firsts

Five times they asked eachother if they were ok and one time they didn't have to (by ellsmax; Ao3) < literally the tilte; 6 short cute scenarios

swear I was born in the doorway (by Second_hand_news; Ao3) < modern era 😱😱

Last Chance (by octothorpetopus; Ao3)

Blue-eyed Blond (by fuckfacerichie; Ao3) < what a name, eh? Anyways I like the fics more when they're actually together but dis is cute

Feeling Blue (But Never in Your Arms)

(Anonymous writer; Ao3) < REALLYYYYYY self deprecating but like it gets sweeter since they have eachother and stuff .. aged up smut tho be warned

Where's my love? (by marvelous_inactive; Ao3) < wild and feels kinda unfinished or bittersweet, rather

- Astronomy In Reverse

- Bright Out (both by lachances; Ao3)

yeah ! (by bitchbabytears; Ao3)

Teeth (by hyperrbolic_orange; Ao3)

A Generic GordieChris Slash Fic (by Izout; Ao3) < I fucking laughed the first time reading this

I Won't Be Afraid (by DirtiestGirlInAmerica (LaynaVile); Ao3)) < sad

Letting Go (by Kass; Ao3)

I can't remember shit for most of these but ik I've read all of them and liked em

I may add more later idk I know practically all lachambers fics out there no fucking lie. There's maybe 7 I haven't actually read but I know where to find them 😭 I wish there was more /g

[vacantgodling]

@void-botanist the rant incoming ⬇️⬇️⬇️

KASPIAN CALDWIN is a werewolf as aforementioned and he’s actually a single father with 3 separate litters (hence why his story was called ‘litter support’ before i thought he could fit well with hue and jihan and added him to the bunch). tl;dr his first litter was with a woman who groomed him 😬 and he had them young and he barely has contact with them, the second litter the mom passed away during childbirth and the grandmother of his kids hates him bc she blames him for it (she never liked him when he and his baby mama were dating). she managed to get primary custody of that litter and tries to badmouth him to the kids but they adore him and wanna spend time with him more (these are the ones who go to school with ozzi; the first litter is slightly older than esther). finally, he has a third litter with a one night stand gone wrong but he and the mom (corah) have a really good relationship as friends and they coparent. these kiddos are young and he spends more time with them but Man they are a handful LMAO. here’s a more in depth explanation of his situation actually. i forgot i wrote that lol.

to support all his kids (well the second and third litters really) he works like LOOOOONG ass hours as a construction/handyman/day laborer/honestly whoever will hire him) but he’s always barely scraping by. he and jihan end up meeting at a mutual friends house randomly. jihan offers to help with his kiddos since kas is clearly stressed and barely knows how to be a dad, and kas doesn’t really care about giving han blood in exchange bc unlike SOME people (hue cough) giving blood makes him sleepy so it helps him take a nap LMAO. han has never fed on his neck tho that’s too intimate.

he’s a good guy, just got into a Lot of bad situations in his youth and he’s just about pushing forty still trying to straighten it all out. he’ll probably think more about living his own life when the kids are all grown (so he says) but corah is always nagging him to actually LIVE a little. he listens to her. barely. i don’t really know where i want his story to go per se—nor do i know if i wanna make him a partner or not or if i should test the waters of him and corah actually getting together. thing is—they never were a couple. literally they were drunk, fucked, she got pregnant and they’ve been strictly friends ever since. (not that their kids understand that lmao, ESPECIALLY not gwin). but he’s a really sweet guy and he’s always down to help anyone in a bad situation even if it comes before his own needs. he and han are actually pretty alike and laid back like that. i care He.

—

at the interviews yeah they’re sitting—cuz it’s not for esther it’s actually mostly for them. tldr the WRP (witch resurgence program) matched witches with supernatural couples to deal with the sudden influx of witches suddenly returning to existence after being basically hunted out of existence. jihan and hue were chosen bc they were a couple and stable, but also because jihan (like some older creatures) has dealt with witches before, bc he’s so old lmao. bc esther is actually particularly powerful, and because this is the first group of witch children to make it to college age (esther and her peers) they need all hands on deck while they navigate these changes, so there have always been constant check ins from the government to see how es and ozzi were doing. the interviews themselves aren’t the weird part, it’s just they also get interviewed about their personal lives and relationships because (some) witches have powers strongly tied to their emotions and an unhappy or unstable home life could trigger Bad Shit LMAO. plus the government is trying to understand the toll of magic on families you get the idea. they’re both SUPER well behaved—almost. Too behaved if that makes sense. even if hue is the divorcer it’s not because he doesn’t love jihan—far from it, he’s divorcing him bc he loves him too much (i can’t make it make sense either) so he would never bad mouth him and same thing for han. but they’re not a couple. but the interviewer keeps saying mr. and mr. rvynwell and asking them about their yknow. marriage. so they’re both just so. awkward with it. they don’t deny it bc again cuz of the special circumstances of the WRP “technically” they can’t divorce but at the same time. they are super divorced. LMAO. so it’s mostly just them being extremely stilted and awkward and hue wanting to PERISH bc this is a nightmare

—

100000% that is what hue is doing he is so dramatic he’s so stupid like i cant make this man nor his midlife crisis make sense. he’s really just standing in a parking lot staring at a photo of he and jihan cuz (insert social media app) gave him a reminder of their like 20th anniversary or some shit and he’s like. losing it. quietly. in the middle of a street. but losing it. he’s so dumb i love him.

—

also yeah💀 he mostly waited to tell jihan how he felt bc he promised his older sister agni (who got pregnant and dropped out of college to take care of the litter) that he wouldn’t get into a serious relationship or have kids until he graduated. he takes his promises quite seriously, and because he KNEW jihan was special he like. held out for two extra years after realizing he liked him just so he could get his degree LMAO. but he absolutely scared off a n y o n e else who looked at han—hue kind of has a jealous streak if you couldn’t tell. he’s not like. Possessive (he’s not hya) but he gets jealous lmao

[magicalqueennightmare]

Sins & Amends Chapter 3

Gif not mine. (We're gonna pretend it's Billy for the sake of this chapter tho)

Billy Russo x Female Reader (60 part story)

This follows pre- the punisher into the storyline of daredevil, punisher season 1 and beyond

This is NOT Canon Billy. This is decent human being Billy left with bad options over worse decisions

This was also posted to A03 under: WaywardGaPeach. That account and this one is the only place you'll see me post this. If you see it on any other platform/account know it's not me.

Chapter Summary: During Billy and Frank's time stateside you and Billy start to form an actual friendship

It took a little while for you and Billy to really start to warm up to each other. The fact of your best friends being married meant the two of you were thrown together quite a lot. Somewhere along the way he'd dropped the flirtatious banter and really started to be at ease around you. While it was true he was gorgeous and charming as hell you knew you were probably far from his type from the start so it was easy to shove him into a friend category.

It didn't take you long to pick up on the fact that Billy used his god given features to hide behind at times. He was a lot more than his looks. When it came to the kids you could see how much they loved him just watching them with him. His bond with Frank was just as strong as the one you had with Maria and the two of them with Curtis? Sounded like three brothers hanging out.

Before the guys left on their next deployment all of you were having dinner at the Castle house. All meaning Frank,Maria,Frank Jr, Lisa,Billy and you considering Curtis was having dinner with his aunt. Lisa was sitting between you and Billy and kept tapping his arm then when he'd lean down she'd whisper something in his ear and the both of them would crack smiles that made you question what exactly they were hatching up "Easy there aunt Y/N I don't try to stop your fun with the kiddos, don't try to stop mine" Billy replied with a wink before turning his attention back to something Frank had said. It'd only been a little under two months since they'd been home but you'd gotten to know Billy pretty well during that time.

When dinner was over and you were headed out to the cab you'd call to take you home Billy stopped you at the door "Y/N can I split that cab with you so I don't have to wait on another one?" You nodded "Yea sure" since the kids were already in bed you both called out goodbyes to Maria and Frank before stepping out into the cool night air.

--------------------

The cab ride was silent until you got to your place and Billy climbed out behind you. "You aren't going home Russo?" You asked and he shrugged "I can walk from here plus this way I make sure you get home ok" You narrowed your eyes for a moment as you stared at him until he grinned "Frankie might have asked me to make sure you got home since it's so late"

You couldn't help the smile. Frank was always going to be overly protective but you loved him for it. "Well c'mon then might as well walk me to my door" He fell in step next to you until you opened the door leading into your apartment building. You hesitated before stepping inside and bit your bottom lip in thought before finally letting the thought that had playing around in your head spill out "Does anyone write you when you're gone?"

He actually looked stunned for a moment which made you shrink down in humiliation. You knew enough about his past to know he didn't have any birth family. Why the hell had you asked something so personal? You started to attempt to back track but he'd already schooled his features back in place to respond "No. Are you offering?" You knew him well enough to tell he was being sarcastic so when you answered "Actually, yes" you watched as a few different emotions flickered across his face.

He was silent for a moment then licked his lips before nodding "I'd like that" "Good. Now good night. I'll see you tomorrow for the farewell dinner?" "I'll see you tomorrow" He smiled then turned to walk away after making sure you'd gotten in the building safely.

The day Frank and Billy were to leave again you'd just got off a eighteen hour shift and wanted nothing more than to crash for a few hours but when Maria called to ask if you'd go to the airport with her and the kids you instead grabbed a quick shower and tried to see just how much coffee you could manage to pour down your throat before she called to call she was outside your apartment building.

When she called to say she was downstairs you grabbed your to go cup of coffee off the counter and headed down willing yourself to seem lively enough to give Frank a good send off and to be there for her and the kids. You hadn't expected to open the side door of her van to find Billy's long legged ass sitting on the back seat.

You climbed across Lisa's car seat and nearly landed in Billy's lap when your foot caught the underside of the seat "Well are you falling for me after all?" he asked with a smirk which caused you to roll your eyes "Sleep deprivation is a serious thing Russo. Might make you seem appealing" "Oh Bill she gets that point" Frank called from the front seat as you sat down next to Billy and Maria pulled out onto the road.

He glanced at your coffee mug before asking "How long of a shift you getting off of?" "Eighteen" You replied stifling a yawn. "I know you came for Maria but it's nice seeing friendly faces before getting on the plane" he said after a moment so you reached over and bumped his leg to get his attention before saying "I came for you and Frankie too. We're basically friends now Billy and as long as you're Frank's best friend you're stuck with me anyways"

"Well finally something good comes out that friendship" he replied with a wink when Frank growled "I heard that Bill" from the front seat.

--------------------

You were used to the routine with Frank pretty much. He'd say his goodbyes to Maria then the kids then pull you into a hug during which he'd usually whisper his thanks for you being there for them in your ear before pulling away.

You watched Billy standing to the side so after the kids hugged their dad and told him goodbye you leaned down to them and motioned for them to come closer "Yes ma'am?" Lisa asked so you nodded towards Billy "I think uncle Billy needs some goodbyes too. What you think?" they both scurried off to hug him goodbye but you were caught off guard when Lisa said "Aunt Y/N are you gonna hug uncle Billy like you do daddy?"

You cut your eyes at Maria and Frank who were both a bit misty eyed at once again being seperated but seeming a bit amused too so instead of making a show you simply walked over to Billy and pulled him down into a hug. When he slid his arms around you your breath caught in your throat. Damn he smelled amazing and felt even better. "Thanks Y/N" he whispered then once you pulled away from each other he added "Take care and I'll be looking for a letter"

--------------------

You stood with Maria and the kids until the plane was taking off then the four of you headed for the parking lot you and her both carrying a kid. "I'm tired Ria" you admitted and she smiled "Let's go home. You can take a nap in mine and Frank's bed and then we can get some take out with the kids" "That sounds good to me" you agreed.

You had just slid into the passenger seat when she asked "Did Billy said he'd be looking for a letter?" You shrugged "Yea I said I'd write him. I mean I've always written Frank and Curt so that's a friend thing to do right?" She nodded "Yea Billy only has us so it'll be good for him" then pulled out onto the road.

Tags: @intothesoul

@weallhaveadestiny

[the-roo-too]

candy -> kim jiwoo ver

aka the fluff alphabet

admiration (what does she absolutely adore about you)- you’re childish, like her! she loves that you feel so close to her :(( you’re two kiddos in love i don’t make the rules

body (what’s her favourite body part of yours)- see that pout on the pic above? that’s the face she makes when you don’t let her squish your cheeks >:( don’t resist it

cuddling (how she likes to cuddle)- a very specific position, jiwoo likes your head on her chest while she’s on her back <33 she can hog you tightly and you’re legally not allowed to complain

dates (what’s her ideal date)- pls take her to build-a-bear :(( YOU CAN GET MATCHING ONES OMG CNDNDSBB jiwoo will make sure you have a collection of stuffies from every date ever

emotions (how does she express her emotions around you)- very open bby <3 she’s young but like understands exactly why communication in relationship is important

family (does she want one)- she was born last month i don’t think y’all be planning family

holding hands (does she like to hold hands)- yes 🤭🤭🤭 also swinging them as you walk? me thinks yes 🫶🫶🫶

injuries (what would she do if you got hurt)- call one of her unnies or the hospital. her emergency contact is haewon and if something minor happens, like you cutting your knee on a glass piece while on a will, jiwoo calls the leader. if you broke your leg she’s riding with you the ambulance 🛣️

jokes (does she like to joke around)- yes, you’re both very goofy. i feel like jiwoo is the type to start prank wars with you 😭😭 beware, she’s good at coming up with new ones

kisses (how does she like to kiss you)- she’s a baby and gives you the softest cheek kisses. THEY NEED TO BE VERY LOUD THO. when she gives you a smooch during the practice, bae throws you two a disgusted look, as she could hear it from the other side of the room

love (what’s her love language)- the prank wars i mentioned? jiwoo likes to joke with you, that’s her love language. you have so many inside jokes it’s hard to keep up

memory (what’s her favourite memory together)- your first date- arcade. she won you a plushie and she will spend the rest of her life bragging about it (she won’t mention the part about how many tries it took her tho)

nighttime (how does sleeping with her look like)- similar to cuddling honestly. but she’s the big spoon 🐢 she wants to hog you, awake or asleep

oddity (what’s a quirky thing about her)- i’m sorry, everything about jiwoo is a bit odd 🥲 i’m a good way ofc. her obsession with your cheeks is a bit weird, but say something and i’ll break your legs

pet names (what does she like to call you)- baby, bear, my love, you name it. jiwoo likes the classics but won’t mind if you call her something different

quality time (how does she like to spend time with you)- she sits you down with her and you both once again go over every single plushie she owns, what’s their name (and why), when they were ‘born’ and where is it from!

rush (does she rush into things)- yes 👹 you want kids? ok, bear plushie or frog plushie? house? 🤨 which legos? jiwoo does rush into things, but she rarely takes them seriously

secrets (how open is she with you)- you don’t have secrets, you have TEA. all the juicy things about jiwoo’s members 😼

time (how long did it take for her to confess)- two weeks maybe? she met you, was starstrucked, wanted to go on a date with you. it would actually take no time only if she didn’t spend the two weeks on planning out the actual first date

upset (what’s her reaction when you’re upset)- pouts with you and gives your cheek a loving smooch. that’s if she wasn’t the cause of your sadness but spoiler alert, she never is 🫶

visibility (is she afraid of the public opinion)- she isn’t afraid of what people’s say, but rather how it would affect your relationship. of course you both would push through anything, but still, things could be tough

warrior (how often do you fight)- y’all are kids, the worst fight you had was when you and jiwoo argued who would be the father and the mother of the new plushie. no other fights

x-ray (is she able to read you)- she’s great at that 🤭 emotion wise, craving wise. jiwoo is smart 🫡 and does her very best for you 🫶🫶

yes (how would she propose to you)- she is FIVE no marriage for any of you 🤨 go watch gabby’s dollhouse or smth

zen (what makes her feel calm)- jiwoo’s stressed? hand my girl your hand pls :( she’ll be happy with that! the little touch really makes her calm

part of [the fluff series]

[lowkeyremi]

Spread love to fanfic writers! Answer these questions about your fanfics then send this to 5 other fanfic writers Name a fic you loved writing the most. Name a fic that others loved but you didn’t care for as much. Name a fic you had the most fun writing. Name a fic that you are the most proud of. Name a fic that you wish had gotten more recognition. Name your happiest/saddest/most comedic fics!

remi's note: hi anon!!!! i actually like this cuz it gives me time to really think about my fics!!

but here is my opinion for each question:

Name a fic you loved writing the most: Morning w the kids (bakugo x reader) i haven't written for bakugo in awhile and the funny thing is when i first started watching/reading bnha i HATED bakugo with a passion. but i started reading fics and i just knew i had to write something about domestic bakugo. the whole time i was writing i was just smiling about how cute he would be with his kiddos. AND LET ME TELL YOU him cooking breakfast with baby shoko strapped to his chest AHHHHH it did something to me. gosh i love him.

Name a fic that others loved but you didn’t care for as much: Enchanted (gojo x reader) i think the only reason i didn't like it was because i don't usually write for gojo and i was trying not to mischaracterize him. after i posted it i didn't look at it again. i think if i put more time and thought into it it could have been a lot better :)

Name a fic you had the most fun writing: def the haikyuu dads series! Haikyuu men as fathers: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 (hehe there'll be a part 5 one day, someone has brought to my attention that i didn't do papa ushi) After reading some of the amazing domestic haikyuu dad fics by @emmyrosee (sorry for the tag, but i have to give credit when it's due) i decided my first post was gonna be about some of the boys i love and it ended up becoming a little series. haikyuu is superrrrrrr close to my heart so writing them as dads was a lot of fun!!

Name a fic that you are the most proud of: goshhhh this is so hard but it has to be Bringing him home (atsumu x reader) i loveeeee silly tsumu. i think besides my haikyuu dad series this was one of my first posts to really blow up back then (now it's obvi my jjk stuff but ahhhhh) i'd always wanted to right something about atsumu and i feel like i got his characterization down while righting that fic too!

Name a fic that you wish had gotten more recognition: I'm home (sakusa x black!reader) anything i write about kiyoomi seems to flop D: i loveee to read a good kiyo fic tho which is why a wrote about him. lol i was just gonna post today about how my kiyoomi stuff flops. it's okay tho as long as i like what i wrote i can be happy

Name your happiest/saddest/most comedic fics:

happiest: bday drabble (kirishima x reader) and Bestfriend hcs (sero x reader) most of my fics are really happy but these ones in particular are super sappy and fun :)

funniest: nanami in a compression shirt, JJK men as dads, "daddy I threw up.." (jjk x reader) and how they react when you "bro/bruh" them (aot x reader) what can i say? i like silly stuff

saddest: (i can't write angst for the life of me) I found you (yakuza!au) (eren x reader) looking back it was kind of cringe but i guess it was angst??? i tried??? no i didnt lolll i can't do angst like i want to. i always wanna write gut wrenching angst but it ends up being fluff :P

[awesomedurraworld]

Happy early Birthday! Congrats on another year older(soon). I’d love to get to know you better by asking questions for your birthday. That was a clever idea.

I really don’t know any good, interesting questions, but here we go anyway:

1. What is(are) you current favourite book and/or show? And what was(were) your first favourite book and/or show you can remember when you were younger?

2. If you could visit one place fictional or not without consequence, where would you choose? And on a side note, would it be a good place to have a birthday party? XD

3. Have writing and drawing always been some of your hobbies? And what are some your others that you find interesting?

4. Basic birthday question… What is your favourite cake flavour? And if you are like me and don’t like cake, what is your substitute?

5. Last question. I want to write you a gift fic for your birthday. What would you like for me to write for you? Tropes… Ideas… (Just note that the only fandom I know we share is fma)

Have a wonderful birthday!

thank you so much for sending your ask 🥹 and the birthday wishes! I hope yours was as magical as you wanted it last week 💖🫶🏻

okay, on to the questions!

Some of my favorite books and or tv shows! Funnily now, I don't read original books as much as I used to when I was younger, tho I do enjoy visiting and rereading my favorite seriess from when I was a young teen! If I saw another part of these series now that I dont own I would 100% buy it haha. My main three-book series are Dork dairies ( I own the whole collection!) Cupcake Diaries, ( I own all the books that my bookstore has 🥲.) and Whatever After ( up till book 7.)

I never was into the more famous book series, like Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson and his Pals series, even with us having these in our home library- for some reason they never interested me

As for Tv shows!! now that is an easier one 😌 Ages 4-8 The earliest favorite tv show that I could remember is Postman Pat and Strawberry Shortcake and Friends ( the 2009 show.)

Ages 9-11 of course as I grew older I fell in love with Sofia the first, Doc Macstuffines, Jack and the Neverland Pirates, and Handy Manny, and Heidi too, and wild Krats with odd squad!

when I turned 12 I fell in love with Ronja the thief’s daughter and the mysterious cities of gold, alongside little women and the Robinson family

14-17 As a younger teen, I loved loved loooved Young Justice alongside of different classics and the shows I liked as a tween.

17- now My young adult years I have enjoyed different animes such as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Mob Psycho 100, Ranking of Kings, Kaguya-sama love is war, Spy x family, and Attack on Titan. And different shows like When Calls the Heart and timeless! And because I babysit some kiddos I also enjoy watching kids shows 😭 I legit follow the story line bahaha

My favorite books as a kid were many many many short stories that I know that they can't be found online since they were probably written in my mother language and were on the older side, plus many of them here translated to my language and might have changed the titles, BUT, “ the sick bear” and the “the scared bear” and “ the pegion that wanted to drive a bus?” Yes these are some of the ones I recall finding them online and in different languages

OKAY, moving to where I would like to visit! That is a tough question 😂 I always like to imagine myself in different universes and myself in different shows and stuff- so no idea. BUT probably neverland in the Tinkerbell movies? Or maybe like, Resembool because it is so pretty. I love the soft happy villages 💛 and yes these places are good place for birthdays 😌

Writing has been a hobby, that my parents, nurtured in me, since I was such a talkative person, they used to encourage me to write! I loved drawing as a kid, and not as much as a tween/ early teens. I loved coloring more then. Same with writing actually, I got back to it in March 2020 and developed my own writing style! As for my other hobbies, I love to sew felt things and stitch, I also am a paper crafter, and I collect a crazy amount of papers haha. I like also building Legos and wooden 3D puzzles! I also like fixing books and currently I found an odd joy in cleaning?

Birthday cake! Alright so, Up till I was 14, I would ask for either my mom’s chocolate cake or, vallinia cake with green apples and caramel on the side, BUUUUUUTTTTT, when I turned 15 and up till now, I asked for a huge cookie for my cake haha, It all started when my mom and I went to a cookie shop and we saw these huge cookies and she jokingly said, “ what do you think? Your next birthday cake.” I was like, “ bet.”

And yea! These are it hehe, I would love to share more about myself!

I am the firstborn in my family, I have younger siblings! I share a room with my sisters, and my favorite colors are pink and peach, but I do like all of the colors heh, I used to wear glasses and I took them off this January! Currently fighting some Hyperthyroidism, I never had the chance to date yet, and I graduated the third on my class, ( looking at my chemistry teacher 😒)

I guess that is it! If anyone wants to get to know more I would love to answer your questions 🫂 have a good day everyone! Love ya

( also, can you guess how old I am from the fact I shared? 👀)

[shewritesallnight]

Ohhhhhhhhohohohohohohohoho!!!!!!

It's all coming together now!!!!

Time for a long over due rant and some theories. Volume 10 was juicy 🧃🧃🧃

Spoilers below! I'm SERIOUS do not read if you aren't caught up to volume 10. I don't want to ruin anything for you!

This madness got loooooooooooong 😭

First and foremost the time line is fucked. Good luck getting everything in order but hey, I've tried here.

Let's break it down to the basics. The way I see it, we have 3 main characters.

𖢺 Our resident skeleton boi ~ Sasaki

ຊ Our resident snake boi ~ Rei, who I will refer to as Rei (present day Slayer); and Adult Rei (past adult life)

℘ Owner 🖤

For today we are gonna focus on Sasaki and Owner with a dash of Rei

⊱⋅─────────────────────⋅⊰

From what I can tell, there have been 4 versions of Sasaki (that we know of)

𖢺 Oldest version: Singing Bone ~ we know this is the oldest version since Owner tells us that this is the first time they met.

𖢺 Super Old Sasaki: from volumes 7 & 9 ~ this version is the Sasaki with Adult Rei who reveals himself as a skeletal monster. Adult Rei blows him on the spot you KNOW what panel I'm talking about!

𖢺 Adult Sasaki: from volume 8 ~ this is the incarnation who was arrested for political writings and whose will-o-the-whisp moved on. He even stated himself that it was in his previous life that he was a novelist (obviously he is aware of his own reincarnations (at some point in each life))

𖢺 Then there is Sasaki ~ our present day kiddo.

What we know so far about Sasaki & Rei:

~ Sasaki & Rei have been reincarnated multiple times (tho so far we've only seen 2 reincarnations of Rei)

~ They have a history as far as their lives shown in volumes 7 & 9 (possibly more)

𖢺 Sasaki our sweet walking bag of bones does die (tho it's not clear how long each of his lives are) and then is reborn. Presumably due to Owner burying him each time.

ຊ Rei comes from a cursed family line that there are so many curses now that they must continue the family line in order to prevent the curses/malice from taking over.

ຊ In order to become an "adult" and gain control of the malice the males in the family have to eat their fathers.

What we know about Owner:

℘ They are a "trueborn monster" per the mermaid huntsman in volume 6

℘ They have no true form as mentioned by Owner multiple times thru out the series and most recently reiterated in volume 10: "long ago I was merely darkness" and that they had no face or body.

℘ But now they can manipulate their form/body (tho there is nothing under the skin) yet they can't age. We see this in volume 5 where the fox spirit stole Owner's adult body after a bet and Owner never appears as an adult.

℘ They are immortal (it seems) based off of Owner's own words in volume 7 that they "have all the time in the world"

Now the reoccuring theme of Saskai's existence is revolved around "people feeling complete by filling the void that is him". (Which I find interesting since Owner has no true form... little bit more on this at the end)

Super Old Sasaki was a student wanting to become a writer and was working on a manuscript so he frequented the Inn to focus on his writing.

Now in volume 10, when Owner employs Sasaki he starts by having him clean his old room (which has to be 100s of years old by now) I THINK Owner was hoping to maybe jog his memory and get some sort of reaction from him.

Also in volume 10, Owner tells Sasaki that he went looking for SO Sasaki/Adult Sasaki and that "No matter what form he takes I will always be there to greet him. After all, I want to keep playing together."

In a previous post I mentioned that I believe that Owner thought of Rei in a parental way and that I was unsure his thoughts on Sasaki.

My feeling now is more that Owner is in love with Sasaki's soul. Hence why they reject anyone who confesses their love to them. But they keep coming back to Sasaki during each of his lives.

Owner is also very cautious about all the Sasakis. They always come to his aid, so much so that present day Sasaki states that he's not worried about being cursed because he knows that Owner will help him.

For Rei, I'm still getting parental vibes from Owner. I also think that the only reason Owner stepped in to assist (or whatever he is doing) with Rei's family is ultimately for Sasaki. It seems that they are connected and perhaps Owner is trying to set up the breaking of the curse to free Sasaki's entanglement with it so that they can be together.

If we wanna get weird, would Owner take over Sasaki's body?? They would truly be together then- Sasaki would be "filled" and Owner would have a true body.

All in all, I absolutely love this series. The artwork BLOWS MY MIND EVERYTIME!!!! I wish we could see it animated 😩 and I'm excited to see where Matsuri takes it.

TELL US OWNER'S SECRETS!!!! 🖤