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teribst · 2 months

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What's the Difference

A STORY BY

MIKE

Jennifer was born on May 19, 2020. I had stood by, an 18 year old boy-man, the wall watching the miracle of birth as my beautiful wife Kim struggled with her labor. It was so sudden, and there she was, our baby girl baby came out of her mom, and I watched as a nurse quickly took her from the doctor. She sucked some gunk for her nose, rubbed some cream over her eyes then still covered in gunk she wrapped the baby in a towel. That's how she brought my Jinny to me, “Here, hold her while we clean up her mom.”

I knew something was wrong when another nurse took the baby from my arms, saying, “Come with me and let’s get the baby cleaned up.”

Twenty minutes later, I was told Kim had hemorrhaged, and there was nothing they could do to stop the bleeding. She had passed away without ever getting to hold or see Jinny.

I was crushed and it was crazy hard at first, but soon enough, I got my act together, and while I missed her mom a lot, a lot, Jinny became the center of my world.

We went through it all together, colic, learning to walk, the cuts, bumps, scrapes, and bruises. She was about 3 when the tubes were put in her ears, and then at 7 had her tonsils out. And along the way, we did all of the girl stuff, you know, dance lessons, swimming, girly things, but it was never long to last, because she soon would lose interest. So we would move on to something else.

She was 9 when she came home from school and said she wanted to play softball. They had played a game in her gym class at school, and she loved it.

And so softball it was. She was on the school team and joined the city girl's softball league and flourished at it. I was having a blast watching her grow and took her to every game and ball practice you could think of, and though it all we had become inseparable.

We’d had the same pediatrician since she was a baby, and when she was, if I remember right, she was just going into JR high school she had to have a sports physical. I, of course, went to the room with them, and as they went through the exam, DR. Renay closed the curtain for part of the exam and I could hear she was asking Jenny all kinds of questions through the curtain. After the curtain was pulled open, Jinny smiled at me as I made faces at her behind the doctor's back. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. She looked at Renay, “I’m sorry, but my ass-hat dad is sitting back there making faces at me. It’s something he started doing when I was little to get me to relax when we came to see you.” She looked at me, “Daddy, I’m not five anymore.”

Chuckling, the doctor rolled on her stool over to her small desk and began typing on her computer. “Well, I don’t think that's such a bad thing.” She turned on her stool and smiled at me. Then she turned to Jenny, “Jenny, honey are your breasts sore? It didn’t seem like it when I examined them, but I still need to ask.”

“Sometimes at night, but not bad, or I would have told Dad.”

Renay turned back to me, “Ok, the doctor part is never over, but now I'm talking to you as both a doctor who is also a woman. She looked at Jenny. You’re starting to develop and change into a young woman. That's why they seem a little sore. So as time goes by and your breasts grow, they are going to hurt. Um, no, they can be really painful, we hope not, but anyway, they will start to hurt. When you get home from school or baseball or wherever, a couple of Tyonal will help, and you ice them just like any other sore muscle, believe me, it will help.” She held up her hand and began to move it. “Also, by moving your hand in a slow circular motion like this, you know the drill, wax on wax off, doing it gently rubbing them much like a sore muscle in your leg or arm.” She looked at me, “I think Jenny will know when she wants to wear a bra every day, but in the meantime, as she develops, you may want to think about getting her a couple of sports bras to kind of help with all of the bouncing around involved with baseball.” She looked back at Jenny, “And it’s not going to happen tomorrow, but I checked, and while your hymen is still intact and in place, it is torn. I’m guessing that's from the vigorous activity of baseball. But anyway, I would suggest using tampons when you start having your period. They are not as messy as a Kotex and also help to keep any odor away from down there. Oh, and honey, I would keep one and a pair of panties in my bag just in case.” She reached up and took the paper she had printed out of the printer and smiled as she handed it to me, “Any girl things I can help you with, please call me.”

On the way home, I asked her, “What do you want to do for dinner?”

She smiled, “I think a hot fudge Sundae would be a nice holdover, and then later on, we could order something and just eat in.”

“We can do that.”

Later we ordered Chinese food, and after it was delivered, I called back to her in her room, “Foods here, honey.”

It wasn’t anything different than she had done at least a million times before. She came out of her room in nothing but her white cotton panties.

In fact, for her whole life, both of us had spent a lot of time just barely dressed, if we dressed at all. She saw me looking, and I guess I had got a funny look on my face. We had a habit of eating at the coffee table while sitting on the floor, and she was quiet as we blessed the food and began to eat. I asked, “What's wrong?”

“ When Dr Renay asked, I didn't want to say anything but my boobs really hurt. I guess that I am afraid things are going to change just because I’m growing boobs. We, you and me, have been who we are my whole life, so what’s the difference if I get boobs or not?”

I sat quietly and ate as I mulled over what she had asked, “I guess there isn’t any. I just don’t want to be creepy, Daddy.”

She laughed, “I’ll let you know.”

A few nights later at bed time I was walking past Jinny's bedroom and her door was open. “Dad.”

“Ya.” I went back leaning on her door jam looking at her laying in the dim light from the door. She was covered to her waist with the bed sheet.

“I’m out of Curel, do you have any?”

“Sure, hold on and I’ll get it for you.”

A couple of minutes later in my boxers I walked back into her room saying, "Here ya go.”

“Will you do it for me?”

“I don’t know honey, I…”

“Dad, you have been touching me in one way or another all my life. I think you trying to make my boobs stop hurting so bad will be ok.”

I didn’t say anything, I just sat down on the side of the bed and put some of the sweet smelling lotion in my hands and rubbed them together. I started with her left breast and began to move my slick hands over it. I felt it as her light pink nipple grew hard under the palm of my hand and took my right hand putting it on her other breast. I rubbed them in a circular motion like the doctor told us to do, “Are you ok?”

“Um hum.” I saw the slight smile come to her lips, “But are you?”

“Yes,” I don’t know what made me do it, but I pulled on her nipples just a little, “But I think this is something you could do.”

“It is, but I like this better.”

And so it became something we did every night right before lights out.

The next big event came at her Saturday baseball game. She had gotten a good swing and hit the baseball hard. I sat watching her and knew she was running full steam trying to turn a double into a triple. I was yelling but in my head I was, “Come on you got it come on!” Then as she got close to 3rd base she dropped onto her butt going for a foot first slide into 3rd base. It happened so fast, the cleat on her left shoe somehow snagged and set tight in the dirt, and the momentum of her slide turned her sideways in a spin and as her hand slid across the base she let out an almost blood-curdling scream. Her body had turned but her stuck foot meant that her leg didn’t. Suddenly all she could do was lay on her side crying out while her hands were around her thigh holding her leg.

When I got to her besides the pain there was fear in her eyes, “Daddy it hurts so bad!”

I know it was only a few minutes but it seemed like an hour before the ambulance got to us and a couple of hours later we rolled out of the hospital with her leg in a brace from her ankle to her hip. The doc said it was a very severely pulled hamstring. He wanted her off her feet for about a week and then to start slowly walking on it. He said she would be able to take the brace off if she was laying around but had to have it on to walk, and she would be in the brace for at least a month.

His prescription was to keep it elevated for at least a few days, put ice on it, and massage it.

We got her home and thank the lord the Tylenol with codeine had time to kick in, I don’t know that I could have got the five-foot-six-inch young woman in the house if I’d had to try and carry her 125 pounds of muscle.

I said, "It’s almost a toss-up between your bedroom and the recliner.”

“Nope I want to be out here with the big TV.”

And so that's where she was, and that's where she slept that first night.

And I slept in mine not 5 feet from her.

I was in the kitchen making coffee when I called my office and took the next few days off from work. It wasn’t hard, hell I own the company, and my secretary of 6 years told me not to worry, she had everything under control and would call if she needed me.

I had just put down my cell when Jinny called out, “OH! OH SHIT! DAD!”

Her eyes were big when I got to her, “What is it?”

“I got to pee!” I got her crutch and pushed the recliner down. I had just got her to her feet and she began to cry, “Oh daddy I'm sorry.” and pee began to run down out of her panties.

“It’s oh honey it’s not the first time I have had to clean you up, we got this. Can you stand there while I get some things?”

She leaned onto her crutch, “Yes,” she ran her hand over her face and pushed her blond hair back out of her wet with tears eyes. I came back in with a warm wet washcloth and I sat the towel I had brought in with me on the arm of her chair, “Daddy, I know you have done this before but not that I can ever remember.”

I was on my knees in front of her, “You were three when you were housebroken.” As I pulled her little bikini panties down I realized they were not going to fit over the massive plastic leg brace, “I’m going to have to cut the side of your panties to get them off.” I pulled out my razor-sharp pocket knife and a half second later her panties were in the puddle of pee on the floor. I did everything I could to keep this whole thing from being any more humiliating for her than I knew it already was, and working quickly I had her all washed up and was helping her sit back down on the recliner with a clean dry towel under her butt.

I got her a rubber scrunchy for her hair with a brush and as she fixed her hair I went in got a cup of coffee and made us some ham and eggs. The rest of the morning I puttered around the house cleaning and picking up, then at lunchtime ordered pizza for us.

Talking over a mouth full of pizza she said, “You didn’t say anything.”

I instantly knew what she was talking about, “What should I have said about what?”

“That I have hair down there, crap Dad it's on my legs and under my arms and, well, just, well it’s everywhere! I mean dad it’s even in my butt crack.” She looked me in the eyes, ”Don’t sit there and act like you didn’t see it.”

“Yes I saw it, and no I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to embarrass you any more than you already were.”

“I’m ok, I guess it helped that you didn’t make a big deal out of any of it.” She looked at me, “Most of the girls, well I’d say all of the older girls shave everything.” She shoved more pizza into her mouth, “I read that shaving isn’t a thing in Europe.” She shrugged, asking, “What’s the difference?”

“Well, it's cleaner. I mean it's hard enough to keep the folds in a girl's pussy clean and dry without it being all wet and covered in pee. In my mind no matter how much you wipe it, unless it's washed with water, it still has pee in some places. I would guess that between your legs and under arm pits kinda go hand in hand with that whole smelly thing, but shaved legs are just more feminine.” I pointed to my very hairy legs, “You don’t want to look like this.”

Jenny smiled, “I have never heard you say pussy before.”

I chuckled, “What should I call a woo hoo?”

She laughed out loud, “No and it’s not a pee pee either it’s a dick.”

“You're pretty smart for a girl that's still peeing in her panties.”

She tossed some pizza crust at me laughing, “That’s not fair.”

“Mr. King, this is Tammy Higens, the school nurse. I need you to come and pick Jinny up here in my nurses office at the school.”

“Is she hurt, or sick?”

“No, no it’s nothing like that. She has a bit of a mess, and is embarrassed, so I think she should just go home.”

The light of understanding came on, “I’ll be there in, um 20 minutes.”

“No rush, she is fine in here with me. I have her doing some filing for me.”

When I got there she had a gym towel wrapped around her waist. She smiled at me saying, “Thanks Miss H.”

Miss H, a very fine looking woman about 35 smiled at her. “You're very welcome.” She looked at me, “She was pretty well prepared, but sometimes the first time can be a lot. You can be proud of her. She handled it all very well.”

At the truck Jinn smiled at me, “Do you know the difference between a boy and a girl?”

“No, what is it sweetheart?”

“Boys don’t try to bleed to death once a month or have to ask their dad to take them to buy a bra.”

It was 3 days before her 14th birthday.

A few weeks later we were having a dinner of BBQed brisket, smoked corn and brown beans. “Daddy we need to talk about things, and I have questions.”

“OK, I’m ready.”

“I had some pretty bad cramps during my period. I wanted to know about it and called Dr. Renay. She is such a sweet woman, but anyway she told me that birth control might help with that. She said the one she would want to give me is called Nexplanon, she explained it as a kind of a capsule that is about a 16th of an inch long placed under the skin of the under part of the arm,” she pointed to herself just below her armpit, “Right here.”

“I’ll talk to Rena about it, but just because I let you do it doesn’t mean you can, well, become sexually active.” I took a bite of brisket, “What's next?”

She smiled, “You don’t have to worry dad. There is only one guy I would ever want to screw and he is totally clueless.” Her eyes searched my face as she went on, “I looked it up on google but I don’t really understand anything about circumcision.” She took up a spoon full of beans, “Why in the world would you do that to yourself or your baby boy? And what's the difference?”

“That kind of came from out in left field didn’t it?” I chuckled, “Ok, well, Jewish people do it to their boys when they are babies. I don’t know enough about Judaism to tell you why. And I have no idea why American women do it to their kids. Some people say it's because it's cleaner. And if you ask someone they will say, oh it doesn't hurt and they won't remember it anyway. That's bull shit. It hurts like hell and I don’t care if they remember it or not.” I looked at her, “I think, hell I don’t know what I think. There are a bunch of nut jobs out in the far eastern deserts, that take their little girls and cut out their clitorises. I read they do it so they can’t enjoy sex. Also up until I think the middle 60 the doctors right here in the U.S. did what they called sexing. If a little girl was born with a button that they deemed to be over sized she was operated on and made into a boy. Same with a baby boy, if he was born with a small penis they would change him into a girl. Tell me that wouldn’t screw them up in the head, always being a boy but wondering why you want to do girl things. Anyway it's all screwed up however you look at it.”

She frowned. “Well thank you for not doing that to me, I like mine,” She chuckled, “A lot.” Her eyebrows wagged up and down at me, “I have seen you and you're not ‘CUT’ are you?”

“No I’m not.”

“Will you show me, what’s the difference?” I kind of gave her a look, “Oh daddy I have seen it before, I just want to know more.”

“Jinnifer.” She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, “Well shit.” I stood up pushing my boxers down as I did. I watched her lean forward looking “It doesn’t look anything like the cut ones I have seen on the internet.” I couldn’t seem to stop it and as she looked I began to stiffen. Without looking away she asked, “What does skinning it back mean?” By this time I wasn’t quite half hard, “And does it feel rubbery?” Her hand came out so quick I hardly saw it, and then she took me in her hand. “Oh it’s so soft!” She slid her hand down toward my balls pulling the loose skin with it and the head of my dick slipped out of its sheath, “Oh skinning it back, ok I get it.”

I was getting harder in her hand “Ok honey, you have seen it and need to stop.”

There was something in her eyes, “Does it get harder, um it’s big but if it’s all the way hard is it bigger?” Her hand was moving slowly over my shaft, pulling, pushing and lifting it close to her face as she was looking at it.

My mind was screaming, “Step back. Just pull away.” And again it was so quick I had no time to respond, “Shit Jenny, I’m sorry baby I’m gonna cum!” She moved closer to it and suddenly I was in her mouth and she was sucking it, her hand was moving on my shaft as I emptied pumping rope after rope into her sucking mouth. I wasn’t me in my head as I pulled her up to her feet pulling her to me as my lips found hers. She still had some of my seed in her mouth as I slipped my tongue between her lips. I pulled back looking at her, “God what did you do? I’m so sorry I let that happen, so sorry. Oh honey I didn’t mea….”

“Daddy it wasn’t you. It was me and you did just what I wanted you to do.”

It was a couple of days before I could talk to her. I was angry at myself for letting it happen. I was angry at Jinny for doing it and again I was angry because I had wanted it.

I walked in and sat on the coffee table in front of her, “Jinny, we need to talk.” I watched her eyes search my face and saw hurt in them. “Honey I hope you can forgive me for what I let happen the other night.” She didn’t say anything, she just looked at me. I guess, well it was, shit if any one ever found out about it I would be put in jail and you would be living with your grandmother. Its incest and its gainst the law in almost every country on the planet. Honey I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you I didn’t want it, I did. And I‘m not going to lie and tell you I didn’t like it, I did. But I am going to tell you that it can’t happen again.”

She scowled at me a little, “What's the difference between making love and being taken?”

“Making love is kind, gentle and caring, simply letting the heat of lust take you where it will. There is no love in being taken. It just plan and simple I’m going to bend you over the table and fuck you and your wanting me to do it. Its just plain old fucking between 2 people that are really hot for each other.”

She gave me a look. “I love you. You just let me know when you're ready, I’ll be here.”

“Oh sweetheart.” I sighed in resignation, “If only it was that simple.”

Things almost but not quite went back to normal. It was her eyes, and for the most part was that when I looked into them I could see the look in them looking at me with my cock in my mouth. That I knew would be forever burned into my brain.

Time moved on as it always does and Jenny went to the University Of Texas on a softball scholarship. She made the hour drive back and forth every day and as she became more mature she took the house completely over and made us a wonderful home.

I’d had one hell of a hard day out in the 100 degree Texas heat with no shade. I was so hot when we stopped work at 3:30 in the afternoon I was so shaky I was a little afraid to drive home.

I made it and the truck's AC seemed to help, but I almost collapsed as I walked in through the living room door. Jenny was instantly there, “What's wrong, crap dad your face is bright red. Here, sit here, I’m calling an ambulance!”

I sort of smiled, “I'm just too hot that's all. I’ll get into the shower and sit under some cool water for a while. That should fix me up.”

I was moving to the bedroom and my shower when she turned me into hers saying, “I have the shower bench in mine.”

She was flurry of movement and somehow I was naked and sitting under not cold but very cool water. She left me alone for a minute and came back asking, “Are you cramping anywhere?” She held out a bottle of pickle juice. “Drink this and let's see if we can get your potassium up.” I sort of smiled remembering me thinking the coach was crazy when he gave the girls all pickle juice on hot days in the sun playing softball.

Then she was naked and in the shower with me and staring at my feet began to rub them then up my legs, working up and down from one leg to the other, “This will get the blood moving through you so it can cool off.” From some place she came out with a thermometer, “Tongue up.” She looked closely at me, “Your face isn’t so red,” She pulled the thin glass tube out of my mouth, “And you're down to a 100.” She still had concern on her beautiful face when she looked at me “Just sit here for a few more minutes while I’m out getting something cold for you to drink.”

I sat there with my eyes closed for I don't know how long, more than just a few minutes I think and relaxed a little when Jenny came back. She was still naked of course, and beautiful, so fucking beautiful. “Ok DA, let's get you outta there and all dried off. She stepped into the shower, shut the water off before turning and offering me her hand. “Just step onto the mat and I’ll get you all dried off.”

At the time I was just a little light headed and was thankful for the help and to be honest her drying my back seemed to make my skin tingle. She ran the towel over me everywhere, even letting her fingers slide the towel between my but cheeks, “Ok turn for me.” And again she started at my feet working up until she reached my balls, I closed my eyes at her touch as it became cottony soft as she gently caressed them, and it was amazing when her hand went to my dick, and I moaned “mmmm.” as she gently dried it even skinning it back to get under the skin. She felt me begin to lengthen in her hand and stood up looking into my eye as she dried my belly. But it was as her hands found my chest that she leaned in and I made no effort to stop her as she kissed me very softly.

She was a little breathless when she stepped back, “Um…I have some lemon aid for you in the living room and I ordered Pizza for us.” She picked up a T-shirt, “Here slip this on, I’m afraid once you start to warm back to normal you might get a chill.”

The doorbell rang and I watched Jenny as she slipped on a t-shirt that was just a little longer than her butt cheeks leaving them barely covered when she went to the door and paid for the pie. She sat everything up and when I slipped off my chair down onto the floor I found I was suddenly starving. The rest of the evening she kept a very close eye on me making sure I was doing better.

Bed time came around and I was standing naked in my room. I was just turning to sit on the side of the bed when she came into the room. I smiled at her, “Honey I’m ok and I’m pretty sure I can tuck myself in.”

She gave me a look. “This won’t be the first time you and I have slept in the same bed so hush.” She pulled the T-shirt off over her head letting it drop to the floor. “Besides, what difference in the way the world spins will it make?”

I couldn’t help myself and it wasn’t lost on her that I had stiffened as I watched her pull the sheet back. I said nothing and got in bed as well.

The lights had been off for a few minutes and I was laying on my back when I felt her turn and move over closer to me. Her lips seemed to be very close to my ear and she spoke very softly, “tell me daddy do you remember us snuggling when I was little?”

“Yes,” I smiled into the dark, “yes and I loved it.”

“So did I.”

She moved over on her side and as she laid her head on my shoulder like she always had her now full breast mashed into my chest as her leg bent coming to rest on top of my madingley hard cock. “Do you know what the difference is between now and then?”

As though it had a mind of its own my hand went to her back and began moving slowly up and down it, “No what the difference?”

It was kind of in one move as she came over me taking my dick in her hand as she rose up placed it at her opening and slowly slid down on me, “I wasn’t going to fuck you back then, but honey I am now.”

Once I was in her as deep as she could get me she sighed, “I have wanted to feel like this for fucking ever!” She began to move sort of grind her clit into my pubic bone, “Oh yes, yes,” It came to her slowly “oh god o god AAAAA” She jackhammered into me as she came again, “Oh oh, oh god Oh god yes aaaaaaaaaa.”

“Jenny,”

“Yes oh yesss cum with me aaaa, oh so hot, so burning hot. Aaaa”

And her chest came to rest on mine as I felt the inside of her trembling.

I was still in her and hard as her lips found mine and she moaned softly into me. “Mmmm” she broke the kiss giggling, “Daddy can I have more?”

At this point I would love to say we fucked for hours and while I did last longer the second time she did came on me I don’t know how many times.

The next morning we slept late and when I woke her it was with kisses on her lips, then her breasts, tummy and down over her hairless mound. She didn’t last long when my tongue found her clit and I stayed with her as she was grunting while humping into my face, her hands on the back of my head pulling me closer.

When she relaxed a little I kissed my way up her body and easily slipped into her sheath sliding deep into her belly as I kissed her letting her taste herself on my lips. She had still been close from her cum and came again as I was sliding in. “oh, Oo yesss, fuck me.”

And I did long slow and steady with her crying out over and over as she came. “When I couldn't hold it anylong I pushed deep into her belly “OOHSIT JENNY!”

Her arms went around my neck as her legs came up around my waist locking me into her. She whispered into my ear, “I love having you in me like this. I moved to kiss her as softly as I could while she held me like that until I grew soft and slipped out and she whispered “I love you.”

“Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

I went down the hall to my office and the lock box. She was sitting up Indian style on a folded towel and she was smiling when she looked at me, “No one ever told me you would make such a mess out of me.

I chuckled, “Sorry.” as I moved back onto the bed and facing her with my right foot tucked up under me and sat facing her while placing a small wooden box between us. I opened the box “This ring belonged to your grandmother.” I laid it on the bed and looked at her, “Jenny, shit I don’t know where to start.”

“Just tell me.”

“I would love it if you got your nipples and belly button pierced and I would also love for you to wear this ring in your button.” I reached into the box taking out another ring “Give me your left hand.” And I slipped the ring on her finger. “I guess if you and I are going to live as husband and wife you should wear your mothers ring.”

I saw tera come to her eyes, “Oh yes, yes I can think of nothing I could ever want more than to live as your wife and for us to take care of each other just as we have always done.” She tilted her head to the side “But after tonight,” She grinned, “you will be called Mr. or husband by me. Oh how I have wanted you to be my Mr. and yes I’ll happily get the piercings done for you.” She shook her head, “But right now I want a bowl of ice cream and your scooping.

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recycledchicken · 2 years

Text

A Historic Moment in Gaming (Chapter 2)

Part 1 / Part 2 (You are here!) / Part 3

(https://archiveofourown.org/works/40814790/chapters/102965613#workskin)

Summary: The museum is restless and the exhibits have gone stir crazy. Larry Daley can only think of one solution; buy a Wii.

A buzz had spread across the museum.

No, I am not referring to that one time where a hive was discovered in the Western Diorama and the miniature cowboys attempted to tame the swarm as if they were flying fuzzy horses.

I guess you can say they weren't very friendly neigh-buzz.

Neither am I talking about the time where a fire-drill happened and most of the exhibits treated the buzzing alarm as the end of the world.

Since the night of Larry’s break-down, rumours had spread from exhibit to exhibit; they all knew he had come up with some sort of solution to stop everyone causing anarchy around the museum, but what the solution was they didn’t know.

So, when Larry emerged from the security office carrying a large brown box, his closest friends were eagerly waiting for him at the front desk.

“What have you got in that there box, sonny?” Theodore Roosevelt asked. He was standing next to Sacajawea, their hands interlocked.

Larry momentarily frowned. Two wax figures could find love, but he couldn’t?

“Well,” Larry shook off his divorced-dad mentality and slipped into his previous salesman identity that he had used during his television appearances.

“It is something that is going to change your life.” he grinned.

Sacajawea’s eyes widened. “Is it new clothes so we don’t have to wear the same thing every night?” she asked hopefully.

Larry’s grin faltered for a split second. “Uh, no.”

Octavius padded to the edge of the information desk and stared up. “You have discovered a new tablet that allows us to roam around during the day?”

“Still no.” Larry’s smile had become forced. When he saw Teddy about to open his mouth, Larry quickly interrupted him.

“But!” he shouted a little too brash. Teddy shut his mouth, slightly offended.

Larry internally sighed. He didn’t want to disappoint them even more. Besides, the Wii would still impress them, right? You could play ‘Animal Crossing’ and ‘Kirby’s Adventure’ on that thing. Or so he was told. Nicky was more of a gamer than him. Although, not to toot his own horn or anything, but Larry was the Wii Sports Tennis Champion of the family.

Well, that was a self-proclaimed title.

Larry added some enthusiasm to his voice as he lowered the box onto the desk.

“It's actually a-”

“Woah there, Gigantor!”

Larry swiftly lifted the box back into the air. Under the shadow of the box, Jedediah stood protectively in front of Octavius. His hands threateningly hovered over his gun holders.

“Watch where you’re puttin’ stuff!” the cowboy miniature hollered. “You nearly flattened Octavius.”

He paused before adding. “And me.”

Larry put the box onto the floor and then held up his hands. “Sorry, Jed. Didn't, uh, see you there.”

“That's what all you big people say!” Jedediah huffed and pointed a gloved finger. “And what do you need a box for, anyhow? I was promised humiliation at his finest!”

“Humiliation?” Larry asked. He blinked and looked around. No one else seemed surprised at what was just said.

“Uh, okay. Well,” Larry said. “I don’t know who promised you that. But you’re in for a surprise, because inside that box is a-”

Octavius smirked and nudged Jedediah. “Doesn’t he mean, ‘Urine’ for a surprise?”

“Whoo!” the two miniatures laughed and high-fived each other.

“Phew, awh’ man,” Jedediah wiped a tear from his eye. “Sometimes it scares me, y’know? - How much ofa’ comedic genius I am.”

Octavius leaned towards him. “But that was my joke.” Jedediah waved a dismissive hand.

“Yeah, well, we’re a team. All your ideas are technically mine.”

Larry raised his hands in desperation. “What is going on?”

“Oh! Oh!” Jedediah whispered loudly to Octavius. “Bet he’s going to do it into the box!” They both giggled like high-school bullies. Larry looked around for an explanation, but none was offered.

“Does anyone want to, I don’t know, kindly explain what is going on? Is this some sort of funny inside joke? A little inside joke that the nightguard isn’t allowed to know?” Larry asked.

“Why,” Ahkmenrah said calmly, pouting his lip and glancing at the ceiling. “I merely said to everyone you were going to present your ‘Wii’ to us.”

“And you explained what a Wii is, right?” Larry interrogated. Ahkmenrah couldn’t meet his eye.

“You explained what a Wii is, right?” Larry repeated in a strained, panicked voice. His mouth was agape. He thought Ahkmenrah was a good-hearted prince. But despite 4,000 years to become wise he had not lost his teenage immaturity.

Oh, Larry would not forget this.

Before Larry could explain himself, Teddy unhooked his arm from Sacajawea and stepped forward.

“I, for one, find your decision most brave, Lawrence.” He placed a hand on Larry’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “Back in my day, to show my authority, I would hunt and kill the most dangerous animals I could find.”

He shook his head and chuckled softly. “But I never would’ve had the confidence to relieve myself in front of an audience to affirm my leadership.”

“Thanks, Teddy, but I'm not-”

The president had already made his way back to his partner. Sacajawea slipped her hand back into his. He put his mouth to her ear.

“Must be a modern thing.” he whispered.

“Or maybe he’s finally snapped. People cope with stress in strange ways. And he’s been under a lot of stress.” she whispered back. They both looked at Larry with similar sympathetic expressions. Larry felt a vein bulge on his forehead.

He took a deep breath, held for five seconds and then let out a slow, loud sigh.

This was a technique he and Ahkmenrah had taught the Huns and Civil War Mannequins in an attempt to subdue their anger and decrease fights. The Mannequins may not have mouths, but it was the thought that counted. Actually, it greatly distressed them and made them even worse. Larry theorised it was because they realised, they couldn’t breathe. Or talk. Or scream. Even theorising didn’t help the situation as the topic of screaming sent Ahkmenrah into a tizzy.

Speaking of Huns, Atilla was stood next to Ahkmenrah, watching the amusing situation play out. Lately, he had been very adamant on leaning the English language and would only nudge the pharaoh when he struggled to understand what had just been said. His warrior pride made him a more independent learner.

“Well, there has been a... misunderstanding.” Larry swallowed. “But what's in here is going to change your-... It's going to stop you guys stop making a mess of the museum.”

Atilla placed Jedediah and Octavius on each of his shoulders. Larry put the box onto the desk.

Larry let a few seconds go by to build up suspense. This was a technique he used to help sell his inventions when he-

“Oh, good God, man!” Octavius shouted out impatiently. “Open it up already!”

Thank you for reading! I really enjoyed writing this!

#night at the museum #fanfic #larry daley #natm octavius #ahkmenrah #natm sacagawea #natm jedediah #natm teddy roosevelt #natm

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wideouts4life · 2 years

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youtube

NFL Week 5

This weekend had me screaming like crazy at the amount of fantastic plays made by wideouts. Because I’m into sports investing (betting) and have created a system where I don’t lose (writing a book about that now) I do watch some college football. At times It does fill me with nostalgia. I remember what it was like sleeping at the nice hotels and flying to different states and having police escorts to the hotels and stadiums. Believe it or not but I miss the 16-miles worth of running in 20lbs of football gear 3 times a week excluding game days. I try to only watch the games of the kids I once coached. I sit on my couch with loose sheets of paper scattered around me smoking whatever bomb ass weed I happen to have stored in my mason jars. This past weekend I picked up an ounce of Lemon Cherry Gelato which did me right considered I just finished my last Gary Payton joint Friday night. If I didn’t blaze I couldn’t watch a full game. The commentators are f**king awful. Plus when you become a Master or Guru at something it’s like death watching bad shit.

I’m a perfectionist to a certain extent. What makes me excel at teaching and coaching wideouts is that I built a progressive system that efficiently and effectively builds their games to elite status in the shortest or fastest amount of time. If an athlete follows my program he could achieve lower levels of mastery in 5-7 years. And what I mean by lower levels is that the wideout would operate on pure animal instinct. Now depending on the age of when I start with that kid and if I actually coach them in season will affect their game proportionately. An example of this is the Detroit Lions 2nd-year pro Amon-Ra St. Brown. I first worked with his eldest brother Equanimeous when Amon-Ra was in 8th grade. He began working on footwork and cone drills that I previously used when I began training NFL prospects back in 2008. Along with that was his ability to soak up instruction I gave his brother and the other wideouts who played for the 7on7 team that I coached.

His dad would ask me for drills and the reason behind some of the drills. Having an athletic father who’s into performance really helped his maturation as well. So while the other kids may have trained/practice one or twice over the weekend. The St. Browns would lift 3 days during the week and if I remember correctly have two days of cones and ladders. For two years before I accepted the coaching job at Mater Dei High School; The wideouts I trained (I’ll make a list one day) worked with me twice a weekend from middle of December until the end of June.

In Robert Greene’s book Mastery the author explains that in order to achieve mastery one must complete at least 10,000 hours of a certain thing. And the 10,000 hours have to be the right practice or the person will not master the skill. Not only did Ra have two older brothers to mimic and learn from. He and middle brother Osiris (played at Stanford) didn’t make our top traveling 7on7 team. And as heated as his dad was at all the coaches, I’m sure this was additive fuel to prove the coaches wrong. Mind you the other two coaches Matthew Hatchette and Edell Sheppard played in the NFL. Coaching matters. Having the right coach changes an athletes everything. Just Imagine if Michael Jordan didn’t play for Dean Smith in college, who retried as the winningest coach in NCAA history in 1997. He wouldn’t be the best because he wouldn’t have learned from a Master teacher. This is in part why I think Lebron James could never be greater than Jordan. No matter how great Lebron’s IQ he never was taught by a great or Legend which some would argue is the reason for him being the greatest because of that glaring factor.

In the summer of 2016 Osiris and Amon-Ra told their dad they wanted me to be their wideout coach after the wide-receiver coach at Mater Dei quit. What the kids or any of my friends didn’t know is that I was driven to be the best wideout coach/trainer the world had ever saw. I was fortunate to have a good teacher in Keith Williams who I hear is coaching with the Baltimore Ravens and a great coach in Brent Brennan (HC San Jose State). For the life of me I could never figure out how Keith came up with the drills that we practiced in college. At first when I began training and like all novices we start with the pallet of someone we first learned from mimicking their every word of instruction. When John Brown reached out to me with the proposition I nonchalantly told him no because I was about to start my Master’s program and I honestly didn’t think I could possibly coach (which is a huge commitment) and obtain my master’s degree in a one-year accelerated program where each week was equivalent to four weeks. After some persuading I agreed to meet the head coach because I’m the type of person who’s always open for opportunity.

I was known and respected by all the trainer and coaches but none of them would say I was the best. Everyone knew I was the best but starting my coaching career at Sylmar High School where the population is 99% black and hispanic and is considered a hood school out of San Fernando Valley didn’t attract big schools. Plus I didn’t have a big named kid who played for me. Yes, I trained Trent Irwin (Stanford), Joseph Lewis (USC), Jalen Hall (Oregon) EQ. St Brown (Notre Dame) Iman ‘Biggie’ Marshall(USC) and so many other kids but none of them played for me so the credit went to their coach as it should. Here’s the crazy thing about greats, they usually start somewhere small before they get that big opportunity. In 3-years at Sylmar, we finished 7-4, 8-4, and 11-3 losing in the championship game to Hamilton High. I was paid $300, $0, and $1500 over 3 seasons driving from South Central and Inglewood 50 minutes to the Valley 6 days a week. Who know’s what the fuck was I thinking but I guess in order to be the best you have to do what others are not willing to do.

At the time I still considered Keith as the best. I would tell the other coaches that I was coached by the best and even showed deference to Keith. But what kept driving me was how arrogant Keith became because of the college jobs he began obtaining. There were two questions I began asking myself as I would hear Keith tell me he was better than me. The first question was if you are the best how come you never coached a number 1 wideout? The best always attract the best. Number two question was if you were the best how come you haven’t had a wideout drafted in the first round in the year you coached them? And number 3 how could you be the best without having any championship rings. This would be the detriment to Keith’s so called self-given guru moniker in my opinion. Today he still has no rings. I have this theory that wherever he coaches the team ends up sorry (Ravens 8-9 last season). And I knew once I coached a number 1 and won a championship Keith couldn’t f**k with me. And to this day he still can’t f**k with me

After meeting Bruce Rollinson at USC during a 7on7 tournament the Monarchs were playing in he offered me the job because he saw how many of his players came up to me giving me hugs. Initially I declined the offer because he was disrespectful with his offer. I countered, he accepted, we shook hands and the rest is history. The reason I took the job was because I knew this would solidify my greatness. I had just came off an 11-2 season coaching at Cathedral High School losing in the 3rd-round of playoffs. I coached Renard Bell who’s in his senior season with the Washington State Cougars. But I don’t take any credit besides his 1st-team and offensive player of the year awards because he had the offer and was committed there before I coached him. Champ Flemmings who currently plays for Arkansas State and Jamire Calvin who’s at Mississippi State both went to Oregon State and Washington State had zero offers prior to me coaching them. And as good of the job I did with that group my peers still could not find it in their hearts to say I was the best.

Accepting the job was a no brainer and for me because it was bigger than the chance to win a championship. I was about to coach some of the best wideouts from our 7on7 teams. Osiris St. Brown (Stanford) was a top-20 wideout. Amon-Ra St Brown was ranked #4 or #6 at wideout in his class. Nikko Remegio (Cal/Fresno State) was coming into his own. He had a crazy summer and had begun receiving offers. Everyone in the football world except the parents know that a kids ranking and scholarship offers are null avoid because no kid can receive an official offer until July 15 after they have completed their junior year. Bru Mccoy (Texas, USC,Tennessee) was another Animal heading into his sophomore season. We lost in the finals that year to St John Bosco after going undefeated in the first 13 games. But for me it was a win. I was the first coach and I believe still the only coach to have 4 wideouts make 1st-team all Trinity-League in what’s considered the best league in California if not the country.

Now all I had left to achieve was becoming a champion. Amon-Ra received his #1 ranking, my kid Jamire Calvin had become an Army All-American and during the off-season is when I finally achieved Mastery. From spring 2008 until the spring of 2017 I dedicated my life to being the best. I chose wideouts over dating, partying, trips, you name it. I can’t explain the explosion that went off in my head. But I remember everything about the night I had figured out the keys to wideout play. It’s indescribable but what I can say is that your mind just never stops creating ways to enhance the play of your subject. Because I was tedious, meticulous, eager, persistent, enthusiastic, and chasing something to help others this helped propel me to being called the wideout guru, an adjective given to me not one made up like my former coach.

I tell part of this story because it needs to be said but more importantly it’s the reason I can’t watch college ball the way I once did. The kids are sorry. There’s a lot of bad wideout play. Don’t get me wrong some of this kids are making incredible plays and the athleticism of today’s players is nothing short of amazing. The NFL wideouts can get away with bad habits because the quarterbacks are really good and at the end of the day the only thing that matters is did the player make the play or not.

Gabe Davis gets my WOW award for his ability to make big time plays. His first catch and touchdown was 98-yards of pure beauty. His second touchdown of 62-yards came by way of an incredible one-hand catch giving him 3 catches for 171 yards and 2 TD’s. Davante Adams probably would have split the award (3 catches, 124 yards, 2 TD’s) with Davis but he bobbled an incomplete pass late in the 4th quarter that a player of his caliber must make. Then he got pressed on the final play of the game and ran into his player which enflamed him to the point of slamming his helmet and pushing a photographer on his way to the locker room. At Wideouts4Life we do not condone this type of behavior but we understand emotions get the best of us sometimes.

Justin “Mama here comes that man” Jefferson put on a show. The man had 12 catches on 13 targets for 154 yards. Jefferson didn’t score but he played one hell of a game and even completed a pass. It will tough on opposing defenses to stop the young lad. If I were a betting man which I am I might not to start wagering the prop bets on Cooper Kupp having over 90 yards. Kupp got damn near that total on a shallow cross route running away from Cowboys corner Trevon Diggs with a 1-hand catch then accelerating past the boys’ defense for 75 yards. Mike “Big Dogg” Williams had a dog performance against the Cleveland Browns. Williams finished the day with 10 catches for 134 yards on a variety of catches. His lone big play came on a 38-yard post pattern where he high pointed the ball over the defender. Stefon Diggs might be the best in the game right now. The game is really easy for him. I remember years ago I would watch his workout videos on youtube and admired not only how hard he worked but that he was doing the right work. It’s no surprise that he’s making db’s look foolish on a weekly basis. Diggs caught 8 balls for 102 yards with one score.

We only had 9 players who caught for 100 yards. Jakobi Myers of the New England Patriots reached the century mark on 7 catches and 1 touchdown. Marvin Jones of the Jacksonville Jaguars hauled in 7 catches for 104 yards with no scores. And Tyler Lockett of the Seattle Seahawks scored twice 5 of his catches for 102 yards. I expect us to have more 100 yard performances next week and can’t wait to watch. Wideouts Let’s Go!

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francesderwent · 3 years

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the most crush-worthy man in the Penderwicks universe is Nick Geiger, but he is also the biggest pain in the butt, and the two are one and the same. he shows up and is like “you love me don’t you?”, and you’re like “yes”, and he says “awesome, I devised a fitness regimen just for you. sixty sit-ups. go.“

#Cate rereads #the amount of charisma this fictional jock has is actually crazy #he’s NO ONE’s love interest!!!#but Everyone loves him so much that they routinely weep about it #and they do all the crazy sports drills he wants them to

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hanmine · 2 years

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[ 𝟖:𝟒𝟗 𝐏𝐌 ] — 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐌𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐔𝐉𝐈

“so you have nothing you want to tell me?” you glare at hanma, and he sits there and pouts—which is funny enough seeing as he’s a rather intimidating man, but right now, nothing seems to be very funny to you. he simply sits there with his arms crossed, shaking his head.

“no, i didn’t do shit,” he grumbles.

“okay,” you nod. “you didn’t do shit, cool. you also didn’t perhaps…oh, i don’t know…tell other people to do shit for you then?” your boyfriend simply shrugs, planting his feet onto the coffee table—and you’ve told him a million times over not to, but it’s hard to get through his thick skull, this you know better than anyone.

and hanma (the one who lacks rationale) and you (the one who has enough rationale to make up for his lack thereof) are an unlikely duo, but it works. until sometimes it doesn’t. but even then, only the two of you could find a way to mend that.

and you’re almost certain the smashed windows of your coworker’s car, and the threatening note taped to his bedroom window, and even the visible black eye he sported to work today has something to do with your boyfriend, even if he wasn’t the one to exactly do them. but hanma is stubborn as he is unhinged, and he sits there with utmost denial as you continue to drill him.

“nope,” he simply denies.

“shuji,” you raise a brow, and sometimes you feel like hanma is a toddler, and you’re his fed up mother—except it’s entirely too late to leave him on a front doorstep and ring the bell, leaving him to whichever lucky (also see: unlucky) soul that happens to be behind that door.

“i didn’t fucking do shit,” he grumbles, but he doesn’t meet your gaze. because even if hanma isn’t exactly the most morally steered of men, he’s not exactly one to lie—well, at least not to you, anyone else is fair game.

sighing, you rub your temples, and the stress from the day is already enough, but the added tension of your crazy and thrill chasing boyfriend is enough to make your skull feel heavy. hanma slumps into your couch, sulking to himself that you’re making such a big deal over what could be coincidences in his eyes.

you both know they’re not.

“shuji, i know you’re behind this. why’re you targeting my coworker? he’s a nice guy,” you press, and a vein all but pops in his forehead.

“yeah,” he chuckles menacingly. “real nice dude. so fucking nice. a little too nice, don’t ya think?”

and it all adds up, the way he eyes your coworker when he picks you up, the way he seems to simultaneously steer the conversation to something else when you bring them up, yet ask questions himself every chance he gets. hanma shuji, you decide, is quite dangerous when he’s jealous, and you outta be careful if you don’t want your poor coworker’s blood on your hands.

“you’re sending people to harass my coworker because you’re a little jealous?” you snort, and hanma scowls, absolutely hating, loathing, despising the slight glee in your eyes.

he thinks his next plan will involve cold blooded murder.

“i like games,” he shrugs. “and i have no problem being a little ruthless so i can win.” he shoots you a crazed little smile. it’s one you should run from, but you’re not as normal as you once thought—otherwise you wouldn’t find it as cute as you do. “it’s much more thrilling that way,” he smirks.

“and here you were, just the other day, having a grand old time watching me get jealous,” you chuckle, poking his cheek. his scowl returns, and your coworker better hope that hanma wakes up on the right side of bed tomorrow morning, things might end poorly for him if not.

“you’re cute when you’re all mad,” he says smugly. “pretty little thing, your face gets all twisted,” he chuckles. shaking your head, you climb onto his lap, and his hands find purchase of your waist, rubbing up and down the sides slowly.

perhaps everyone’s a little crazy deep down, or perhaps hanma is simply a bad influence, but the thought of seeing that bitch from your last outing drop dead doesn’t sound entirely too bad.

“i’d say you’re hot,” you murmur, pressing kisses across his jaw, trailing right below his lips and hovering over them, “but i don’t wanna encourage the homicide of my engaged coworker,” you mumble.

he leans in, closing the gap and connecting your lips, and you can’t help but let the thoughts muddle, letting hanma take over your conscience. you’re sure if he played his cards right, he could convince you right now in this state to let his plans continue, but you’re also aware that he won’t. he’s far too weak to you—and it’s a weakness he welcomes.

“so i can’t kill him?” he pouts, making you chuckle softly. tussling a few loose strands of his hair, you plant a kiss to his forehead, shaking your head.

“no, shuji. do not kill him, or i’ll kill you.” he huffs, rolling his eyes.

“you’re never getting with someone that’s not me,” he grins widely at you, trailing a finger to rub softly over your cheek. you lean into the touch. “you know that right?”

“oh, you bet i do,” you snort.

and it’s true, hanma will chase the ends of the earth to make sure no other man ends up by your side—no man other than him. but you’re not entirely mad at the prospect.

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earlgreydream · 3 years

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training.

| stucky x reader | smut | fluff |

anon requested. plz write a squirting fic with stucky & Bucky holds the reader down

dom!stucky helping you train & things get steamy

“Y/N, let’s go,” Steve called, watching you stretch in the corner of the gym. You nodded, bouncing to your feet and walking up to the mat in the center of the room.

The training room was empty, barring you, Steve, and Bucky. School kept you busy during the day, leaving you to practice your fighting and defense at night. You didn’t mind, preferring to have the gym to yourself, able to train privately with your two super-soldier boyfriends.

“Driving me crazy watching you stretch like that,” Bucky stated, taking your hand and helping you onto the sparring mat.

Both boys struggled to keep their eyes off of you when you showed up to train in tiny spandex shorts and a sports bra. It was easier to move that way, and you needed all the help you could get during their intense sessions. Both men were shirtless, and your adrenaline was pulsing with sexual energy. You pushed the impure thoughts out of your head, trying to focus so you didn’t get the life beaten out of you.

Steve watched as you practiced dodging hits from Bucky, moving swiftly out of the way of the blows. He tried to grab you, and you dropped low, managing to sweep him off of his feet by grabbing his ankle and yanking it out from under him.

“Damn,” Steve smirked at you proudly, and you jumped on top of Bucky, shoving him back down before he could get up.

“Think you’re so fucking smooth?” Bucky asked, flipping the two of you over, pinning you down to the mat. The surface was cold against your back, and amusement flashed in his silver eyes, along with lust, his eyes trailing down your body. He loved pinning you below him, proving that your body would bend to his will, even during your training. Steve adjusted himself, knowing he couldn’t get this hard while you worked, because he was up to work with you next.

You used the instant of Bucky’s distraction to bring your knee up to his abdomen. He shouted, loosening his grip on you, unintentionally allowing you to slip out from under him. You kicked him down, standing on top of his back with a pleased grin.

“How was that, Captain?” you asked Steve cheekily.

“Very good, honey,” he tried not to laugh.

Bucky knocked you off, and you fell hard against the mat.

“Hey! You’re not allowed to be mad that I’m doing well!” you cried, the breath knocked out of you from the impact.

He slapped your ass, not caring that you were succeeding in combat training. You shrieked at the sting that spread through your skin, and you gave Bucky a vicious look. You were annoyed at how aroused you were getting, at the action certainly didn’t help.

“Buck, that’s enough.”

Steve walked over, helping you to your feet. You thanked him, giving Bucky another scathing look.

“Hey, cut the attitude. Go run,” Steve said, pointing to the padded track that stretched around the perimeter of the gym. You sighed but obeyed, jogging around the room.

“Fuck, she’s going to kill me,” Bucky whispered, watching your body bounce as you ran. Steve agreed, definitely admiring your ass. You could feel their heated gazes, and it made you slick between your thighs. You had to train, but you were quickly going hungry for sex.

You joined them once you finished your lap, sweat giving your skin a sheen. Bucky whistled at you, and you couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping your lips.

“Come here,” you said, pulling him into a kiss. You were startled about how starved it was, his tongue instantly pushing into your mouth. He gripped your ass in his hands, and Steve scolded the two of you.

You boxed with Steve, doing the drills that Bucky shouted out at you. Your breathing increased, your chest rising and falling quickly and your body bouncing on the mat as you delivered punches and kicks to the pads he held.

The boys didn’t care as you grew tired, and you wrestled with Bucky, rolling around on the mat. Your thighs went around his head as you tried to roll the two of you over, but he knocked you down, his hands pinning you to the mat as he buried his face between your legs.

“I want to fuck you so damn bad,” he growled into the spandex, making you moan with need, unable to hide it any longer.

“Please, Bucky,” you begged.

“Sergeant, to you. We’re still training,” Steve corrected, your eyes rolling back at the command.

Your hips were shoved to the ground, and Bucky climbed over you, kissing up your bare torso.

“Doll, you wanted to get fucked, didn’t you? Wearing the one you know I like,” he growled, nipping at you through the sports bra that held you in place.

“Yes, Sergeant,” you answered, trying to roll your hips up into his.

Bucky pulled down the zipper with his teeth, freeing you as the sports bra fell open. Steve swore, tossing his sweats off, kneeling down behind your head.

Bucky couldn’t keep his hands from your chest, tugging at your nipples and making you squeal and writhe under him.

“Want your Captain to fuck your mouth?” Bucky asked, smirking at you.

“Yes, please!” You parted your lips, making Steve laugh darkly and cradle your head in his large hands.

“So needy, honey. You’re so horny you’ll take dick anywhere you can get it, huh?” Steve teased, and you felt yourself growing even more soaked.

You moaned as he fucked into your mouth, burying himself in your throat. Steve groaned as you opened your jaw, running your tongue along the veins of his cock.

“Fuck,” he swore, his blonde head falling back. He struggled not to slam into your throat, being careful as he rolled forward steadily.

You jolted as Bucky lightly bit down on your soft skin, delighting in the sound you made. He let off you, kneeling between your legs and pulling the spandex from your hips.

“She’s fucking soaked, Stevie,” he gasped, running his fingers through your glistening slit.

“All that from being thrown around by us?” Steve asked, knowing very well you couldn’t answer with your mouth still full of him.

Bucky held your thighs open before his tongue replaced your fingers, the muscle dragging through your folds and pushing inside of you with shallow thrusts. You moaned around Steve, making the soldier’s hips stutter.

Bucky ate you out, holding your hips still and pressing his tongue flat against your cunt, making you squeal around Steve.

“I’m going to come, honey,” Steve’s voice was deep and raspy, sending heat shuddering through you.

You gripped his thighs on either side of your head as he spilled down your throat, filling your mouth with his taste. You swallowed all of it, your eyes glassy as you gazed up at him.

“So good for your Captain,” he praised you, leaning down to press a heady kiss to your lips.

“Bucky!” You yelled as you came, gushing onto his chin, gasping as he lapped it all up.

“You look so hot when you come, doll,” Bucky wiped his mouth, letting you catch your breath.

You started to get up, but Steve stopped you, his hand wrapping around your neck and pulling you into a messy makeout session, distracting you as Bucky pried your legs back open.

Steve laid you back down on the mat, groping your tits as Bucky knelt between your thighs.

“Beg, doll,” Bucky smirked, brushing his tip against your clit, through your folds, teasing you.

“Please fuck me, Sergeant. I need to feel you in my pussy,” you whined, biting your lip and arching your back off of the floor. Steve smirked as you shuddered under his touch.

He rolled forward into you, stretching you out and satiating your throbbing need to be filled. Pleasure erupted through your body and you moaned, pushing your hips against his, trying to pull him deeper inside of you.

The air was thick and sexually charged. You were sensitive from your first orgasm, and you shuddered as Bucky’s tip brushed against your g-spot. The pressure was quickly rebuilding in your belly, and you were dangerously close to a second orgasm as Bucky rocked steadily into your pussy, encouraged by Steve’s teasing hands.

“I’m close, I can’t hold it,” you warned, unable to fight it off.

“You’re going to wait until we tell you, doll,” Bucky ordered, squeezing your thighs. Tears threatened to fall as you tried to hold back, and a choked shriek escaped you as he came inside of you, riding out his own orgasm with shallow thrusts, painting the inside of your velvet walls with his release.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” you squeezed his wrist, your vision blurring.

“Go ahead,” Steve granted you permission, and the pressure gave way, sending a powerful orgasm rushing through you. Your legs were shaky under Bucky’s hands, all of your nerves sparking like a live wire. Tears slid from your eyes, and Steve kissed them off your cheeks.

“You look so gorgeous when you fell apart, honey, all spread open and getting fucked here on the floor,” his deep voice shot down your spine and settled in your cunt. Bucky felt your walls seize around him at Steve’s lewd words rolling from his lips.

“Does it turn you on to hear Steve tell you filthy things?” Bucky asked, his gaze alerting you that he demanded an answer.

“Yes!” you confessed, blushing.

There was no reason to be embarrassed about it, especially given what you were doing. They reveled in seeing you so shy, tearing your walls down as they took turns fucking the doubt from your mind. Neither of the boys teased you to shame you, they ate up your confidence in your sexuality, and they wanted to know how best to please you. Despite their dominance over you, they did everything for you, striving to extract as much pleasure from you as possible.

And fuck, they were so good at it.

You’d never experienced anything like the two of them, and any relationship or sex that predated them was rendered completely irrelevant. They blew your mind over and over again, taking you to heights of pleasure you had no idea were even possible.

“I know you have another one in you, doll,” Bucky grinned, and you blushed, shaking your head.

“I’ve already come twice-”

“You can do it again, it’ll feel so good, I promise,” Steve kissed you, dragging you back onto his lap. He pushed his legs between yours, spreading you open on top of his body.

You were hypersensitive already, and out of breath from the training and sex with the men who had superhuman stamina. Steve’s fingers pushed inside of you, curling forward and brushing your spongey walls, making you writhe on his lap. Bucky’s lips caught yours, tasting Steve still on your tongue. You moaned into his mouth as Steve fingered you quickly, lewd noises filling the gym as his fingers slid in and out of your pussy, slick from both yours and Bucky’s come. Bucky’s hand went between you, rubbing your clit as Steve pushed two fingers deep inside of you. He leaned back on his heels, watching you squirm and beg incoherently for more.

“Captain!” you shrieked, about to snap.

White-hot euphoria burned through you like fire, searing everything inside of you and swirling in your clit. You screamed and pulled on Steve’s hair as it shattered, electricity sparking through every inch of your skin. You squirted all over their hands and the padding below you, soaking everything between your legs. You panted, trying to draw air into your lungs and recover from the intensity, melting back into Steve’s arms.

“That was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Bucky praised you, making your cheeks rosy. You’d never done that before, and you were suddenly shy around them, hiding your face.

“You alright, baby? That was a lot, huh?” Steve chuckled softly, kissing your cheek and hugging you tightly against him.

“Yes, holy shit,” you swore, closing your legs and curling up into Steve.

Your legs were still trembling slightly, even once they’d cleaned you up enough to slide your shorts back up your legs and rezipping your bra so you could walk through Stark Tower back to your room.

“You did great, doll.” Bucky kissed your cheek before following you back to your room, turning on the shower as Steve set you down.

“I’m not letting you shower with me, I can’t go another round, and I know you two. Go shower and come back,” you laughed, pushing them out of your bathroom.

You got clean, sitting on the tiled seat in your shower, still weak on your feet. Once the water started to go cold, you got out and dried off. You searched through your things, pulling a clean pair of cotton shorts on your legs and Bucky’s NASA hoodie, letting the fabric swallow you up. You wrapped your arms around yourself, breathing in Bucky’s scent that lingered on his clothes, like sandalwood and lemons. It instantly relaxed you, taking the edge off of your raw nerves.

Your muscles were a little sore, and you grabbed a bottle of lotion from your dresser. The door opened and Steve and Bucky entered, Steve immediately going to stretch out on your bed. Bucky smiled when he saw you in his hoodie, and he hugged you from behind, kissing the back of your head.

“Do you mind?” you asked, handing him the bottle.

“Of course not.”

You sat on the bed and Bucky massaged the lotion into your muscles, patiently listening to you talk about your day. Steve’s soft blue eyes never left yours, playing with your fingers, his head resting in your lap.

“Can we skip training tomorrow? I’m exhausted,” you asked, and Bucky smirked.

“Yeah, I suppose you can have one day off.”

“So generous,” you giggled, leaning into his side as he settled down next to you.

“We can always work out another way,” Steve suggested teasingly.

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thegreatstoryteller · 2 years

Text

Team Support

@mrcavanaughtf Get well soon!

I wasn’t feeling well after a long day at work. Probably had a temperature. Probably should’ve gotten some rest. Probably should’ve stopped working after I got home too.

Unfortunately I punished myself further and continued to put pen to paper and went right back to work. That’s when I got a strange notification though. My phone alerted me to something called: NFL Cares wants YOU.

Curious of this strange app I didn’t remember downloading I opened it. There flashed a screen with a surprsing message.

“Thanks for being such a fan of the LA Chargers! We want to show some appreciation to one of biggest supporters with a chance to be right by the action! You’ll be given a personal thank you from each member of our team! It’s the least we can do for one of our best guys! See you soon! - J. B.”

Now this certainly felt like a scam, but maybe it was my optimism or my ill ridden brain... it all sounded too good to be true and yet... I found myself clicking accept after the long list of terms and conditions.

Before I knew it I was overcome by a wave of exhaustion. I guess my tiredness finally caught up to me, except I seemed to be woken up to a bright room filled with football players and people beaming at me.

Suddenly a man, who must have been pretty short as I seemingly towered over him approached and said. “Hey big guy, big thanks for all your hard work out there.”

I had no idea who this was but I reached out and with a big hand, shook his in appreciation. I looked down and traced the huge paw of a hand to an even larger forearm and bicep. Finally stumbling back and tripping as I realized all of me was huge. I turned my head and understood. I was Joey Bosa!

“Yo, Bosa you ok?” I heard as I mentally gathered myself. I looked up in awe to see the L.A. charger wide receiver Mike Williams!

“I uh... gosh this is gonna sound crazy but I’m not-” I began trying to make sense of all this craziness at once, only seeing Mike laugh and offer me a hand up. It was so odd to meet eyes with a guy who I know would tower over me in real life, only now I seemed to have an inch on him as I got to my feet.

“Bro, it’s alright. We do this for all our big fans. Don’t sweat it. Just remember. You’re Joey Bosa now. Enjoy the ride! He’s certainly gonna enjoy yours till this all plays out.” Mike says patting you on the back.

Your eyes widen. “He knew!? Did they all know!?” I thought to myself as I stared wide eyed at the athlete. I look around the locker room, filled with huge handsome men going about their business. But not just that. Some looked my way, smiled, laughed, commented on how I was still getting used to things. I had no idea what to make of any of this, but from the tent that was growing in my pants I sure hoped no one minded.

The shrill piercing sound of a whistle, broke me out of my temporary embarrassment. Somehow I recognized that shouting that followed to be from the coach and knew I had to get out on the field.

“Alright men. We do an intense few drills right now and you all can get to know the new guy later! Let’s go!”

Once again I was stunned only this time I went to a locker that was labled as “Bosa” and got ready for some drills. Some passing teammates even slapped my ass as I slid on my athletic shorts. It was hard not to marvel at this body when others were so physical it. Each fabric of clothing seemed to cling to where all the big bulging muscles I had now were.

I jogged out of the locker and saw a bright football field where guys were already running drills. I quickly joined them and got into the rhythm of things. I don’t think I’d ever sweat that much in my life. I’ve done sports and workouts before, but this was next level. I was pushing my new body to physical feats I’d never dreamed possible. So it was no surprise that just one hour later I was kneeling on the ground tired, but feeling so pumped.

I threw my shirt aside, exposing my broad shoulders and heaving chest to the cooler air around. Mike came by once more and smirked.

“Hope we didn’t wear you out too badly Bosa. You know the team still has to give you their personal thank you messages too, so you can’t wipe out on us yet.” Mike delivered this news with such a confident grin I swore he was trying to say something more.

“Thanks Mike. Damn. Like I’m really loving all this. It’s like a dream come true! All the drills, all the skills. It’s just coming to me as easy as breathing. How long is this gonna last?” I asked.

With a shrug Mike replied, “Don’t know man. I’ve been here awhile and no one’s told me it’s ending soon.”

Once again I gasp, shocked. “You mean!?” I begin before Mike cuts me off.

“You know it Joey. Now let’s hit the showers and maybe I can give you your thank you in one of the steam rooms.

With that Mike walked off, leaving me gawking at his beautiful backside. I didn’t know how this happened, but at that point it had never felt better being a fan.

#thegreatstoryteller #body swap

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uwuowotf2waslife · 2 years

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who do you head cannon to be the best parent out of the mercs? From best to worst

I think yall know how this will go...

Heavy (best dad-bear dad, will make pirosky and broscht ❤️-)

Scout (sports dad, will be a clown 24/7 to keep the litter entertained)

Engie ( bbq dad, dad jokes overload and maybe help his kids build a nuclear reactor for science fairs projects)

Demo ( kids and bombs dont mix well together - or mix really well depending on your humor - e.g. why youve been banned from all the public schools from the district for cherry bombs in locker rooms and stink bombs on the principals office)

Sniper ( kinda introverted, will have a heart attack/aneurism if his kids have parties in the house while his there, but hey- camper dad, his kids want to go to Disneyland? Buckle up and pass the snacks front, lil ankle bitter, we goin road tripping through the states tonight )

Medic (he will try to get the kids interested in doctor stuff- traumatic or fascinatingly morbid- depending on the kids)

Pybro (kinda goodish-wont hurt them but they get distracted easily and in all honesty, couldn't care less about kids)

Yall know whos the bottom of the tier list, but he is crazy rich and probably shove them into snobby private schools and make em all smansy fancy doctors/lawyers/ CEO ya know the drill

#tf2 fandom #tf2 imagines #tf2 headcanons #tf2 x reader #parent mercs #soft for these horrible times

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astaroth1357 · 3 years

Text

Demigod MC Series: Poseidon

Fishy fishy fishy… I honestly could write 100 more things for Poseidon MC and Levi. I just love the dynamic between an insecure, otaku shut-in and a chill California surfer dead set on becoming his friend.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon

For anyone unaware, Poseidon is also the god of horses. I know it's a weird combo, but I didn't write the mythos.

Lucifer

…..

They came out of the portal….

On a horse….

They brought the mortal down to the Devildom…

On a goddamn horse….

There's a demigod on a live horse brandishing a weapon and doing laps around the Student Council Room…

Congratulations, he already wants to pull his hair out!!

Honestly, it would have been preferable to pluck them out of the sea. At least then they'd just need a towel! What the hell��were they going to do with an entire horse!?

And his nightmare didn't stop there. Poseidon is a notoriously mercurial god, prone to bouts of anger and spitefulness for reasons far less grievous than kidnapping his children…

Their apology was swift and (seemingly) effective, though the tide waters around the Devildom did rise by several feet for some time…

As for the MC… uh… Well, they're an energetic one to say the least…

Lucifer hasn't met a more active individual since Mammon. They horseback ride, swim, surf, skateboard, and probably do ten other things - the point is, they Hardly. Keep. Still!

They're also annoyingly easygoing… He can't count the number of times they've told him to, "Just chill out," or, "Hang loose…" What does that even mean??

Between having to order a stable made for their horse and just trying to keep up with them, Lucifer already thinks this mortal has caused him more trouble than they're worth… At least they keep Mammon busy...

Mammon

Upon first meeting them atop their horse, Sunset, his first thought was of course:

"I wonder if I sell that...?"

After that, they nearly fed him to sharks for trying to take their beloved steed on same night. Safe to say, he never touched a hair on its head again…

These two had a rocky start, but their relationship mended fairly quickly. As it turns out, the MC is literally one of those "go with the flow" types. You can say it was water under the bridge soon enough.

Mammon actually thinks the MC is a hell of a lot of fun, even if they're super laid-back. Most of the time, they won’t take his drive for money (or fear of his bills) all that seriously and tell him that he’s worrying too much, but they’ll still lend a hand if its on their way.

He finds their ability to control water pretty cool as well. Levi has it to some extent, but the MC can make a whole-ass whirlpool or use water like a whip!

He once begged them to call up some rare fish for him to sell, but they got all pseudo-philosophical on him about how “trading life for material wealth” is “not cool, dude...”

He also made the mistake of challenging them to a splash fight only once…. They managed to drench the whole family with a single wave….

The only thing that bothers him is their weird insistence on being Levi's "Best Buddy…" Why would someone like them even bother with a shut in??

Is it the water? … Probably water. Levi, that lucky bastard…

Leviathan

Thinks they're a big normie, no scratch that, a HUGE normie! The biggest normie he's ever met!! They skateboard and horseback ride for Devil's sake!!

...But they’re also, undoubtedly, the best friend he could've ever asked for.

To be fair to Levi, their friendship was sort of forced upon him. The MC took one look at him, his aquatic-themed room, and his pet goldfish then declared their new friendship status at that moment.

Unfortunately for him, though, they're energetic, extroverted, and generally have little understanding of personal space… aka, an introvert's worst nightmare…

The next month could accurately be described as the MC doing everything in their power to make their stubborn "senpai" like them.

They would drag him out to the aquarium, beach, or pool; they befriended Henry so he could put in a good word for them; and they'd even bring him little gifts or trinkets they'd find on the ocean floor. Pretty shells and stuff like a cat bringing its master a dead mouse.

After he finally began to accept them as a persistent fixture in his life, he introduced them to gaming and anime and started accepting them little by little...

By the end of their stay, these two were practically inseparable. Not just because they like spending time together, but because they figured out they could have a telepathic link due to Levi being part sea serpent.

No matter how far they are, they can always have a chat! (That no one else can hear so people think they’re just crazy...)

Satan

Satan honestly isn't the MC's biggest fan, he generally finds them too loud and gregarious for his liking. But their horse…?

He never really thought that he'd be a horse man... Yet it didn’t really take long for Satan to adore Sunset, their beautiful golden-maned mare. Apparently she's not their only horse, but by far their favorite traveling companion.

Sunset is a wonderful horse - brave, strong, and well-trained. It only took a few weeks before he was regularly sneaking out to the stables to brush her fur or feed her apples...

After the MC taught him how to ride, that was it. All other forms of transportation were inferior to him now.

Satan would ride Sunset everywhere and he looked damn good doing it! It takes all that fairytale Prince Charming thing he has going on and puts it through the roof.

It's a good thing too, because when I say everywhere, I do mean everywhere. Lucifer had to put seals on the House doors to keep Satan from riding Sunset through the hallways...

Of course, he’ll always let the MC have Sunset back when they need her!... with a little complaining but nothing terrible.

The MC doesn't mind much because Sunset likes him and they know he takes good care of her, but the rest of the House is slightly unnerved at how quickly he went horse crazy… What if they brought a giant crab instead?? No one wants to deal with crab-Satan...

Asmodeus

Their body is just scrumptious. Oh, how he could look at their swimsuit-clad figure all day!! 😩

Between the swimming and the fighting, their form is toned to all hell and he can't get enough of it! Yes baby, yes!! Take those clothes off again!!! He'll help~! 😘

When he's not staring at them “totally respectfully,” then he's inviting them out to pool parties or begging them to take him riding...

There are parts of horseback riding he doesn’t like, the smell and the jostling specifically, but there is a kind of… romance to it, no?

He loves having the chance to snuggle up to the MC as they trot around the Devildom! It's so romantic, like they’re his knight in shining armor! (Or his demigod in a damp swimsuit, either works. 😏)

His Devilgram is just full of selfies of him and MC riding on the back of Sunset or sitting by the edge of the pool or them in the middle of a swim meet…

Yeah his Devilgram is now a one part him and one part MC-Appreciation account.

After the pact he'll eventually cool down some and stop staring at them like a sex-object, but even then he'll be at every swim meet. Don't you worry~

Beelzebub

He actually really likes them! It's great to finally have another athlete in the House. 😊

The MC joined the RAD swim team just as soon the coach was able to convince Diavolo that having the child of a water god wasn't completely cheating...

Since swim and fangol practice ends at about the same time, they walk home together a lot and complain about... sports things... (Forgive me, I don’t know sports. Uhm... Rival teams? Coaches? That one drill everyone hates? Stuff like that.)

Beel also can surf, skate, and snowboard so the two have a healthy competition going. They're about on equal footing so they tie often (except in surfing but Beel doesn't think that should count cause they’re probably cheating).

The only thing that he has to watch out for is Sunset… As in, he has to watch himself around Sunset because he absolutely could eat her on accident…

Look, he doesn't want to and he doesn't even like horse meat that much, but even he has to admit there are times he gets hungry enough to consider it…

Of course, he knows that if he ever did Satan would rip him limb from limb then the MC would drown the rest so he really, really tries to control himself… but still… She’s a very healthy horse...

At least he didn’t try to sell her like Mammon. The MC hung him over a shark tank for that stunt… He’d feel bad, but Mammon kind of had it coming.

Belphegor

The first time they met, the MC smelled like beach water and called him "dude-bro…" He didn't like his prospects.

For a while, he genuinely thought that they had a lump of sand where their brain was. They were just too chill!! Here he was saying that he's being held captive and they were like, "Well that sucks, man… I'll help ya, but I've got practice tomorrow. You can wait, right?"

It's not like he expected them to jump on top of it, but some urgency would have been nice…

When they eventually got around to helping him, he was actually looking forward to choking the life out of them for the extra wait. Unfortunately, they apparently had a horse…

Yeah, Belphie found out just a bit too late that the MC could summon their steed to them whenever they wanted and ended up with Sunset's hooves firmly bucking into his back for his trouble…

What followed was Belphegor running circles around the attic from the weapon-totting MC riding their terrifying murder horse until Lucifer finally intervened....

Thank the gods he wasn’t near any water….

As it would turn out later, as long as he's not being held captive in an attic Belphie kind of vibes with their laid-backness… They say they approach life "one wave at a time" or something.

He could care less about what that actually means, but what it translates to is "Stop stressing out and just keep chill" which he's all about.

Everybody should just chill out!... dude…. Nah, he'll let them stick to the “dude”-thing, it feels weird...

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me demigods

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mustyrosewater · 3 years

Text

• 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧 || 𝙣𝙞𝙠𝙞 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙖 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧 ↠ NSFW

warnings ↠ swearing, bratiness, nsfw activites, s e x, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it kids) niki being a bit rough

word count ↠ 8,045 (i know right?)

synopsis ↠ after being caught in a restricted area during a race by niki lauda, he intends to make your life a living hell

your body flops onto the couch of your fathers study, your father who despite clicking away on his typewriter, still manages to look up at you and scrunch his face up at the sight of what you'd chosen to wear. even if he didn't say anything, you could tell by the look on his face that your clothing of choice was the reason.

looking up at the ceiling of your fathers study, delicate patterns painted into the white surface, providing a rather beautiful picture for you to stare at as you waited for her father to finally finish whatever work he was doing; eager to get on to the activities your family had planned. with little to no warning last night, your mother had poked her head into your room to let you know that you were being dragged along with your father and mother to the races tomorrow, the formula three out in london to be precise. being given little to no choice as to whether or not you'd be accompanying them, you thought it only fair you ignite your own small personal resistance by making sure to wear an outfit you know your father and mother would detest to no end. a lovely minidress, with earthy tones and patterns, accompanied with a dark brown of leather knee high boots, all topped with one of her most favorite fur coats. with an outfit like this, you knew your parents would be embarrassed to no end. they'd long given up on trying to control your behavior, quickly realizing that their daughter's continuous spouts of acting out were something they'd rather ignore than put effort into; a mindset that seemed to encourage you, while your parents only ignored you more. you'd be lying if you said that races didn't bring you a sense of wicked anticipation; it wasn't the sport that excited you in of itself, but the people you would encounter. you knew you had little interest in watching cars speed around in a circle over 70 times, you did however, have a very keen interest in racers and the people they encountered. it had not taken much longer of annoying your father before he caved and picked up his coat, eliciting an excited grin from his daughters face as you jumped up from the couch and practically skipped out to the car where your mother was already waiting for you both, applying powder to her face. perhaps in another world, a world where your parents weren't socialites who cared for nothing but the way they appeared to others, you wouldn't have been swept under the rug as the disappointment. maybe you would have gotten the attention you so craved as a child. swept out of your own thoughts as the car's engine sprung to life, it was not long before you were driving out of the painfully long driveway of the estate and in the direction of the location of the formula three race track. - the moment you opened the car door and exited, you could hear the sound of conversations and laughter within the crowds, accompanied by the sound of drills and tools in the background, no doubt racers making any last minute adjustments to their cars before it was time to go out onto the track. it hadn't taken long for your mother and father to begin mingling with friends of theirs, all while you stood on the sidelines, occasionally smiling politely and shaking hands of people who insisted they'd met you before at one of your parents many dinner parties, yet there were too many for you yourself to keep up with, especially when you normally spent them hulled up in your room desperately trying to escape any and all interactions. it was drawing on and on, slowly driving you crazy, you hadn't even been able to go to your seat yet, purely because your father was constantly getting distracted by people he knew, that or business partners. surprisingly enough, it was easier than you thought to slip away from your parents radar, simply taking a skillful hard left turn as they continued walking further into the crowd of people for them to converse with. a fate you were more than happy to avoid. looking around, you adjusted the brown tinted sunglasses hanging on your nose bridge, pushing them slightly further down so that you could scope out the area you'd managed to find yourself in. to be fair, you hadn't exactly known where you were going when you took that sudden left turn, only that you wanted to disappear from your parents view, a goal you had succeeded in, only to be set with another. find out where exactly you'd ended up. continuing further, you very quickly realized you'd turned directly into the racers area, hearing the sound of drills and tools in the distance, as well as the occasional chatter as men walked past you, offering no investigation as to who you were and why you were in this area. this didn't exactly surprise you, seeing as it was nowhere near abnormal for racers to gain a plethora of groupies. walking around all of the trailers, you couldn't help but peer your head around to stare at the cars within, your curiosity getting the better of you. it didn't take much longer before your snooping led you to a particularly interesting sight, a beautiful red formula vee, an expensive one at that. whoever it was who owned this machine most certainly did not spare any expense when it came to upgrades. reaching your hand forward, you hesitated, taking a moment to look left and right, ensuring that there was nobody around before you threw all caution to the wind, biting back a borderline shit eating grin before leaning forward to run your fingertips on the cars smooth surface. though expensive, you had to admire it, it was indeed a beautiful car, very well looked after. every gear was polished to perfection, it was clean as a whistle and every part of it was up to date; whoever owned this car wasn't just well off, they knew about what made a good working car. you were prepared to have the question of the cars owner remain one that was unanswered, you should have gone back sooner, even if your parents most certainly weren't missing you, the race was bound to start soon. "would you mind telling me what you're doing?" you never truly understood the phrase 'scared half to death' until now, feeling your heart jump to life, beating rapidly as you spun around to see the culprit to your near heart attack. quickly trying to gain your composure, you reached a hand to pull some of the hair that fell forward out of your face, steadying yourself and raising your eyebrows in some poor attempt to appear cool and collected despite the fact that the smirk this stranger wore most certainly met that he knew he had scared you and found it amusing. already drawn in by the appeal of the challenge her was proposing, you tilted your head and only mirrored his smirk; letting your head turn back down to the car, only just now noticing the name written on the middle in white writing. "niki lauda i'm guessing?" his response was only to raise his eyebrows, tilting his head and raising his arms out to gesture to himself in a way before crossing them promptly, only returning to the vaguely unimpressed look he was first wearing. you couldn't stand that look, it reminded you far too much of your father. "i can't imagine how you could have guessed." sarcasm dripped from his voice, along with an accent you couldn't quite pinpoint, you knew it was german, but you were unable to guess exactly where in germany. you wanted to pretend you were surprised that the person with one of the most well looked after cars was in fact german, yet you just couldn't. the fact that you'd been near his car without his permission or knowledge was definitely the main reason he seemed annoyed by your presence, however, it probably didn't help that you only let out a small chuckle and shrugged your shoulders, only seeming to antagonize him more. letting out a sigh, you took a moment to push your sunglasses back in front of your eyes, looking out back in the direction you came from before back at lauda, smirking and turning around without another word, making sure you made a show of flipping your hair back around. "where do you think you're going?" his tone didn't so much give off the vibes of authority, it was more of an actual question, as if he were in disbelief that after being caught red handed touching his car, you would just walk off. not bothering to turn around, your grin remained unseen by lauda as you held your hand up in a wave. "i'm going to watch the race." you said it as if it were a fact he was too ignorant to be aware of, stating it as if it were the obvious all in an attempt to annoy him more. "good luck out there!" you called, disappearing back around the corner before he could even have time to make up some smart comment. your quest to annoy lauda had very much succeeded, probably more so than expected as he shook his head watching you leave. and yet, the one other thing you'd done without even meaning to, was peak lauda's curiousity. - it wasn't difficult to find your parents again, they had finally made their way to their seats, and despite the amount of time you'd spent away, they didn't even seem to acknowledge you as you sat down beside them, eager to watch the race, which was only now beginning to get underway. you hadn't meant to, yet you found yourself looking out for that same red formula vee that you knew was lauda's. some weird interest you'd found in the man, especially the way he'd reacted to the way in you more than purposefully had been annoying him previously. it hadn't been much longer before the race had officially started; with a wave of the checkered flag, the cars were immediately off, speeding around with sharp sounds invading your ears each time they passed you and your family. by the time the fifth lap had gone by, you were well and truly bored. reaching into your pocket, you pulled out your saving grace, your packet of marlborough cigarettes; opening said packet and pulling one out to place it between your lips, reaching into your pocket to search for the lighter you were almost certain you'd placed in your pocket earlier. to your surprise, it was strangely absent from your pocket, only producing an annoyed sigh as you rolled your eyes. without a word, you reached for your fathers pocket, who either didn't notice you pulling out his lighter, or simply refused to acknowledge you; either way, you didn't complain as you finally lit up your cigarette, sucking in the ashy taste and holding it within your mouth as you pulled the cylinder away from your lips, blowing the smoke out in a small cloud in front of you which soon drifted off. - despite a major incident involving spinning cars and a few very close calls, you'd managed to sit through the rest of the race without any other distractions. you hoped that your wish of good luck to lauda was not the cause for him spinning out of control and ultimately losing to james hunt, yet you could never be too sure; though you hated to admit that the thought brought a chuckle out of you. even though you'd had fun teasing lauda, you were more than grateful that the race was finally over and that people were beginning to leave, meaning that hopefully soon, you would be as well. once again you found yourself standing behind your parents, taking little care to be subtle with your boredom, openly sighing and tapping your boot against the gravel in the hopes that this would speed them up; though this proved to be futile and frankly, you should have known better seeing as they had become impressively adept at ignoring your presence. the noise of their conversation seemed to slowly fade into nothing but muffled sounds in the background as you crossed your arms and looked around, taking the moment to begin people watching, even noticing as james hunt celebrated his win, briefly passing by just as him and his group popped open a bottle of champagne. as much as you saw the lifestyle racers seem to lead as a novelty, the accident that occurred today only reminded how dangerous of a sport it really was, men choosing to put their lives on the line for the sake of peoples entertainment? it was hard not to admire them, there was no arguing that they were good at what they did. you definitely didn't regret not seeing said accident produce any gruesome results; you'd only ever heard what had happened to racers in the past, men that were considered lucky to make it out with crippling injuries, because surely that was better than losing your own life right? that was a point that could be argued profusely; was the loss of quality of life really better the loss of a life all together? while you would have been happy to continue this solo conversation of ethics and virtues of life in your own head, you were ripped out of your own thoughts by the sound of your father once again noticing somebody he knew, yet this time, you could very proudly say it was somebody you yourself also knew, albeit you'd only known him for around three hours. "niki lauda! look at you! still going strong after a spin!"

your first instinct was to immediately turn your head sideways, hoping that he wouldn’t notice it was you, a feeble attempt to be honest, now you were suddenly finding reason to regret wearing such an eye catching outfit.

you could only just see out of the corner of your eye as lauda greeted your father fondly with a handshake, so far not looking over to you much to your relief.

continuing to watch as he also greeted your mother, any and all hopes of getting away from this without greeting lauda was squashed the moment your father gripped your upper arm, yanking you forward to come face to face with lauda.

“have you met my daughter, lauda?”

finally looking back ahead slowly, your eyes, covered by sunglasses thankfully, made facing lauda only slightly less intimidating.

in a moment of silence, the look on lauda’s face gave away the fact that he re’d recognized you instantly, the slight smirk on his face only you were able to catch as he looked at you as if to say “caught you.”

and yet, you had no idea why he suddenly looked back to your father, shaking his head and smiling.

“i can’t say i have.”

looking back at you, he leaned forward to grip your hand firmly, shaking it and stepping back as if you were poisonous to the touch. to be fair, you didn’t exactly blame him.

it seemed you weren’t the only one itching to end the interaction between the two of you, you father quickly grabbing lauda’s attention once more with a satisified hum, beginning to walk alongside lauda.

“you should come to my estate tonight for a drink, celebrate your close call eh?”

even you had to cringe at your fathers poor excuse to invite lauda over, you doubted he was feelign particularly good after that loss, yet any excuse for your father to mingle with those that could held him climb the social ladder.

once again trying your best to tune out the conversation as you walked behind them, your hearing still managed to pick up the result of your father pestering lauda despite his first three kind refusals.

with a sigh, seeming to actually put an effort into hiding his distaste with your fathers attitude, lauda offered a thin lipped smile.

“i suppose there’s no refusing this, is there.”

with an outright lack of awareness to lauda’s tone and even the way he was already treating this invitation like a chore, your father grinned and patted lauda on the back firmly with a laugh.

“no there is not my boy.”

as desperate as lauda seemed to get away from the conversation, he still took a moment to turn around, offering you and your mother an awkward smile, only to turn his attention briefly towards you and only you.

the look on his face couldn’t be described as anything but smug as he offered you a polite nod before walking off in the other direction without another word, leaving you standing there in an almost stunned state.

only to be taken out of said state as your father ordered you to get back in the car so that you could head back and be certain that the estate and ensure that i was prepared for lauda’s arrival.

as much as you’d protested against your father and begged your mother to let you just stay in your room for the rest of the night, you ultimately failed.

not even trying to hide the sour look on your face as you stood beside your mother at the entrance of your large home, you watched as the gate was opened for lauda’s car, which came running into the driveway slightly faster than you thought was reasonable.

you would have been content for the incident with the car to be and you and niki lauda’s interactions, if you had known you would be forced to sit in his company with your parents, you most definitely would not have been so snarky about touching his car. especially not walking off without a word.

no doubt firm on keeping their image at least slightly reasonable, your previous outfit had quickly been abandoned, instead being forced to change into a simple mini dress with black stockings and shoes. a painfully simple outfit. and an uncomfortable one at that.

this was made clear by the way that you were constantly shifting in the dress, attempting to roll your shoulders and cringing when the fabric allowed little to no movement. this was only responded to by your mother scolding you under her breath as lauda exited his car.

no longer in his baby blue racing suit you’d seen him in up to this point, he had abandoned it for a smart looking button up shirt and blazer, paired with jeans and dress shoes.

it was admittedly an odd sight, not just for lauda, but in general it was an odd sight seeing racers in normal clothes compared to the suits they so often wore.

watching as your father greeted lauda enthusiastically, then your mother, you could hardly hide the fake nature of your smile as you once again extended your hand to lauda without a word.

in some odd way, lauda seemed to be amused with your nature towards him. after all, he knew full well that he’d well and truly caught you out. now it was the two of you playing a waiting game to see who was going to break first.

the drink that your father mentioned passed by smoothly enough, all four of you in your fathers study as lauda and your father sipped at scotch and spoke about a multitude of boring topics that you couldn’t bother to engage yourself apart from the occasional hum of acknowledgment when your father briefly included your opinion into the conversation.

choosing instead to actively depart yourself from their presence, you pretended to be enthralled in a book as you sat across from lauda, a large coffee table separating the couches you sat on.

every now and then, your curiosity would gain the upper hand as you found your eyes flashing upwards to try and catch a not so sneaky glance at lauda.

every single time without failure, lauda’s eyes were on you, staring you down as if you were a deer in headlights.

his stare was similar to the feeling you got when sitting in front of a fire for a little bit too long, uncomfortable and making you feel far too warm. it was as piercing as the rest of his personality was.

you had thought yourself to be a tough person, you’d gotten in scuffles with other kids as a child in school, and you’d been the type to graze your knees and get up as if it were nothing; but niki’s stare glaring upon you constantly eventually proved to be too much for even you to handle.

finally unable to take it any longer, you stood up without a word, seemingly alerting niki as you could see his eyes widen slightly before maintaining his poker face.

your parents were also visibly surprised as your mother jumped softly, placing a hand daintily over her heart as your father turned away from niki to look at you, a brief warning expression lacing his features, as if to say

“don’t you dare ruin this for us.”

you seemed to almost relieve him with your next question, not being able to bring yourself to look over at niki as you held your arms firmly to your sides.

“may i be please be excused, i’m tired.”

the warning previously on your father shifted into an odd look of surprise as his brows furrowed; you had no doubt this was due to the fact that not only did you ask something politely, but that your tone had no inch of sarcasm whatsoever.

the shock seemed to take his voice away as he only nodded, watching as you turned and began to walk out of the study.

“don’t be rude, aren’t you going to say goodnight to our guest?”

you wouldn’t be surprised if the way you tensed up at the sound of your fathers words was visible to all in the room; this was confirmed even more so when you turned slowly and saw niki’s expression as he still sat on the couch smirking once more.

only nodding your head, you took a few steps and held out your hand awkwardly for him to shake.

“goodnight, mr lauda.”

the stiffness of your voice only made the interaction more awkward as you stood there waiting for him to shake your hand.

you were unable to see your parents in the corner of your eye, but you held little doubt that they were cringing as if at any moment your real personality was going to jump out and ruin any chances they had of getting into lauda’s good books and they would have lost an influential friend.

rather, they, your mother especially were shocked, yourself included when rather than simply shake your hand, niki gripped it softly, bringing it towards his lips to kiss the back of your hand softly, his eyes never leaving your own.

you were unsure if this was his odd version of rubbing it in, or he simply wanted to embarrass you in front of your parents as he pulled his lips away, running his thumb along your knuckles slowly as he smirked up at you.

though anybody not aware of your current little game (if you could even call it that) would perceive it as a friendly smile of niki’s part.

“please, call me niki.”

you could strangle him right in that moment, god you wanted to, wipe that stupid little smirk off of his face if your parents were not watching your every move.

as soon as you felt his grip loosen, you were unable to stop yourself from ripping your hand from his own. god his hands were warm.

“goodnight.. niki..”

you hadn’t meant for your voice to shake, but it still did, and it annoyed you to end as his smirk only widened at this. you'd be lying if you said that the moment you turned you hadn't looked like you were practically running away. even as if walked down the hall and up the stairs towards your bedroom, you could hear your father apologizing profusely for your rudeness, only to hear niki brushing it off politely. - that had happened a week ago, and as much as you wished you could say that was the last you'd seen of niki lauda for a long while; that was hardly the case. in fact, it was the polar opposite. you couldn't tell whether or not he was doing it to annoy you or because he actually enjoyed the company of your father, but if you weren't aware enough of your fathers skill when it came to hosting guests, you would have actually been dumb enough to say that it was indeed the latter. it was in fact painfully obvious to you that lauda's continued appearances within your household as a guest of your father were done with nothing other than the intention to spite you. though what was finally the cherry on top, what was starting to make you wonder if he actually did find genuine enjoyment in spending time with your parents or if he just really, really enjoyed making you suffer. he had invited your parents to a party to celebrate one his most recent wins which they had also dragged you along to come and watch. and of course, he made sure to extend the invitation to you. "should she wish to come along." he'd said, as if he didn't know that your parents were going to drag you along anyway. it was for that reason now you were sitting in front of your vanity, trying not to cringe as your mother pulled and teased your hair, styling it into a small beehive, seemingly at the request of your father, no doubt wanting all of you to look your very best, considering this was yet another chance to mingle and make new, rich friends. sat in a mini dress with long bell sleeves, its paisley patterns reminding you of so many other items in your wardrobe; all finely paired with a pair of brown platfrom knee high boots and a fur coat. it was fucking uncomfortable. your feet were already hurting, and the length made you second guess how much of your ass could be seen every second and this hairstyle was going to be a bitch to take out later. as much as you would have been more than happy to outwardly complain, you were simply too sick of it to even try. sick sick of your parents, sick of it all. maybe tonight you could even do the mature thing and finally apologize to lauda; yet, you couldn't tell whether or not it was actually going to bring an end to lauda's games with you, he seemed to be enjoying it too much. - after a vaguely long car ride, you finally arrived at what you quickly realized was lauda's house, you could already see people on the balcony chatting away and you could hear music playing from inside. exiting the car and shutting the door behind you, you quickly trotted to catch up with your parents who were already walking over the door by the time you'd gotten out; in the back of your mind, you gave a silent prayer that you'd be able to sneak away at some point and find your own space, hopefully even get a chance to have a smoke if you found a quiet enough corner. opening the door and heading inside, your parents were instantly enthralled with the music and sheer amount of people in lauda's house, all nursing champagne and chatting away; already you could tell they couldn't wait to join. keeping your eyes peeled for lauda, it didn't take long for your parents to lose you in the crowd; you would have laughed if it didn't happen so often, and you couldn't exactly say you minded anyway. it only took another minute or so of moving through people to find the balcony you had seen upon exiting the car. making a beeline for it, you stepped out and enjoyed the slightly fresher air, breathing a sigh of relief as you were no longer squished in between groups of people to such an intense degree. reaching for your packet of cigarettes and taking one out to place in between your lips, you had only just begun to reach for your new lighter when you had to cut your relief short. "that's quite a sour face to wear at a party, no?" you didn't even hide the disappointment on your face as you turned to face lauda, rolling your eyes. you were well past hiding your distaste for him. now you'd had more than enough time to realize it was very much your own fault, you'd given him a reason to annoy you when you'd not only leaned on his car and then given him an attitude, but had you known that wasn't the only time you'd see him, you would have at least been nicer about it. noticing your expression, he placed a hand over his heart mockingly and let out a hurt sound. "if looks could kill." his smirk was ever present, digging into your nerves like nails against a chalkboard as you placed your hands in your pockets, not saying anything as you kept your cigarette placed between your lips, hoping that just maybe, you'd have a break from him, obviously a stupid hope. only raising his hand, you quickly noticed the lighter in his hand, ignited and placed at the end of your cigarette. out of reflex, you inhaled, reaching up to place the paper cylinder between your fingers and pulling it away from your lips, blowing the smoke out of the side of your mouth. it wasn't until you took a slightly closer look at the lighter that you realised. your lighter. he had your lighter, the one you'd lost the first time you met. you wanted to mentally slap a hand on your forehead then and there, of course you'd left it, only for him to find. holding out your hand expectantly, he pulled it away before you could grasp your lighter, going so far as to mock you as if you were a child with a small "ah ah ah" painfully reminded of your time in school as a small child, you huffed and rolled your eyes, reaching for it once more only for it to be pulled from your gasp once more. "come now, you know the magic word, yes? you learn this in school, little girl?" his mocking toned was worsened as he leaned down slightly to talk to your at your level, only resulting in you placing a hand on your hip an glaring up at him. this look only worsened his stupid grin as he raised his eyes brows, waiting for you to say said magic word. putting on your best sarcastic smile, you made your voice as annoying as you could possibly muster, shaking your head as you spoke. "please?" you extended it slightly, as if you were a child asking for their toy back. and as laced with sarcasm as it was, he still responded with a loud "wunderbar!" raising his arms up slightly as if he were celebrating. finally handing you your lighter, you snatched at it, placing it back in your pocket and reaching up to take another inhale of your cigarette as you glared up at him. shaking his head, lauda's gaze paired with that signature smirk stared down at you as he looked at you almost in an odd sort of admiration. "you're a real brat, you know this?" you most definitely couldn't lie, that was not the first time you'd been given that title; countless times actually, school teachers, your parents, relatives, even ex partners. it was now your turn to wear a smirk as you raised your eyebrows, raising your hands up in defense. "i can't lie." you spoke, tilting your head and shrugging your shoulders. your response, for the first time, seemed to catch lauda off guard, possibly expecting you to have defended yourself rather than embrace the title. "maybe i like being a brat, lauda." you narrowed your eyes, proud of yourself for finally seeming to put a chip in this mans ego. his eyes only narrowed in return, his face taking on a new expression that couldn't quite be place as you took another drag of your cigarette, really nailing in your point hard as you blew the smoke right in his face with no hesitation and a smirk as you placed your thumb between your teeth, grinning. "how many times have i told you to call me niki?" his tone was darker this time, more authority slipping against his words. you wanted to blame being caught up in the moment or finally being able to break this mans cocky exterior, but something about the tone of his voice and the way he spoke to you, it produced butterflies within your stomach that you tried with all of your might to ignore. tilting your head, you took a step forward to ensure he would hear you over the music as you lowered your voice, leaning in slightly. "or what?" even if somebody were unable to hear your expression, they'd be able to hear the smile in your voice. shifting your weight from foot to foot, you kept eye contact with niki as you leaned back, his eyes not leaving yours for one moment, narrowed at you, making you think for a solid moment of two that he was genuinely angry at you. without any sort of warning or sign, lauda's hand lurched forward, gripping your wrist, not so tightly that it hurt, but most certainly enough to get your attention as he pulled you towards him, so close that your chests were touching as he looked down at you. "watch that tone with me." his growling voice was most certainly affecting you as he seemed to recognize that the both of you were getting very invested in whatever the fuck dynamic you had created. as invested as he was, in an odd way, you could still see in his eyes he was watching for any signs of making you uncomfortable, almost as if he was telling you he'd stop the moment you were uncomfortable. "and if i dont? are you going to bend me over your knee?" you leaned in slightly as you teased him, so much so that you bet he could smell the smoke on your breath as neither of you broke eye contact. whether it was the image of you bent over his knee or the fact that you had only continued to tease him you didn't know; what you did know however, was that that was the last straw for him as he kept his grip on your wrist. wasting no time leading you back inside, barely giving you time to flick your cigarette off of his balcony before you were weaving through crowds of people, almost tripping over your own platform boots as you were led wherever he was planning on taking you. obviously knowing his own house like the back of his hand, it didn't take long for the two of you to arrive where you were heading. his bedroom. quickly opening the door and shoving you in lightly, he shut it behind him, not even hiding the slam as he turned to face you, his eyes still dark as you stood there, still smirking and biting your lip. "wasn't sure whether or not i'd be able to get a rise out of you, glad i know no-" your words were cut up by him quickly walking towards you and gripping your chin with his large hand, squeezing your cheeks together slightly as he other hand gripped your wrist once more. "you've been nothing but a little brat since the moment i met you, it seems to me you must like pissing me off. is that it? you like knowing how much you make my cock hard when you prance around in those little skirts and give me backchat?" his tone alone was already enough to only widen your grin, but the things he was saying were adding to the butterflies in your stomach. determined not to give up your attitude just yet, you let go of any and all control you'd been holding onto, reaching forward to clamp your hand onto his thigh, dangerously close to where you could already see an outline forming. his only response to your touch was a sharp intake as his eyes closed momentarily, only to snap back open as he shoved you backwards, briefly scaring you before you fell back onto his bed. looking up at him as he stood above you, his legs touching your knees, you could see how his chest rose and fell with every deep breath he took. his eyes raked over your body, observing every part of where your dress rode up, and then back up to meet your gaze, only to begin undoing the statement buckle on his belt, once again watching you for any signs of being uncomfortable as he continued. only widening your smirk, he seemed to get the message as he completely discarded the belt on his rug floor. as he began to fiddle with the button and zipper on his jeans, he leaned forward to land on his knees on the bed, above you and staring you down. "as much i'd love to play with you until your crying and screaming my name, i need to bury myself in that pretty little pussy of yours." his voice was breathy as he leaned forward, using his knee to push your legs apart, your mini skirt already riding up enough for him to get a full view of your underwear. you couldn't find it in yourself to say anything else, already convincing yourself that this was all some sick dream of yours and now you were going to wake up no longer able to look niki in the eye. his lower half disappeared from your view as he finally put weight on top of you, through you could still hear the fabric of his jeans shifting as he settled in between your legs. even through the fabric separating the two of you, you both shivered when you felt your hips make contact, letting out shaky breaths as you looked up at him and he looked down at you. as much as you expected him to take things at least slightly slow, he did the opposite, wasting no time as he moved your own fabric to the side, only sliding his tip along your entrance softly in order to brace yourself and give you another chance to stop him if you had changed your mind. only placing a hand on his cheek and nodding quickly, did he respond with a similar nod before entering you quickly and with little no mercy. you were unable to stop yourself from leaning for head back and crying out loudly, only for niki's hand to clasp over your mouth as he looked down at you. "i know the music is loud, but i need you to, oh sheibe-" he cut himself off by inhaling sharply, groaning softly and shutting his eyes as he began to move inside you, his hips rotating ever so slightly as they moved back and fourth, only resulting in you moaning into his hand. "i know the music is loud, but i need you to be quiet for me, can you do that?" his voice was so low it was almost coming out as a growl as he continued to thrust into you as he spoke, trying not to keep groaning in between his words as he shut his eyes tightly and cursed in german once more. you couldn't like, he was a stretch for you, there was pain at first but it had quickly begun shifting into pleasure as he continued and you became more used to the way he felt inside you. you knew there was an element of time involved lest he be missed at his own party, god forbid one of the guests go looking for him especially seeing as you were almost certain that door hadn't been locked. continued to thrust, his hands found there way on your back as he rose to his knees, taking you with him and sitting you on his lap, forcing you to wrap your arms around his neck for support as he effectively began to bounce you on his cock. the only thing you were able to do to stop your whimpers and moans from being heard was to bury your head in his neck, his head turning slightly to the side to bury itself in your hair. beginning to help him out slightly by bouncing yourself on his lap, you felt your hips beginning to cramp and ache but brought yourself to ignore the pain as it was currently outweighed by the sheer amount of pleasure you felt as he fucked you. growling into your hair, you felt his head move back so that he could begin leaving love bites on the parts of your neck that weren't covered by your dress; you couldn't even pay attention to the fact that you would have to walk back out into that party with love bites for all to see, your parents especially. part of you just hoped there would be no way to link them back to niki. picking up speed, you began to bounce faster on niki's lap as he too began to go faster, feeling the muscles within your stomach starting to tighten as rationality left your body and adrenaline took over. in that moment, nothing felt more important than chasing your high, knowing it was only on the horizon. it seemed niki was feeling the same way as he growled deeply, pulling his head away to look into your eyes as he gripped your hips and slammed them against his own with little to no mercy, caring little for the bruising that would no doubt be left over the next day. it hadn't taken much more of this for you be a whimpering mess, feeling yourself tighten quickly around niki's cock, only to begin hearing the sloppy sounds of your wetness slapping while niki still continued to essentially jackhammer into you, still chasing his own high. as you began to come down from your orgasm, the sensitivity of niki still fucking you relentlessly had you whimpering and panting as you once again buried your head in his shoulder, trying to remain as quiet as you could, though this was proving to be a difficult task. it wasn't long before you felt niki twitching from inside you, only to followed by the hot feeling of him cumming deeply inside you, his own deep and guttural moans releasing from his throat, cutting themselves off occasionally as he twitched and leaned his head back, his mouth hanging open as he shut his eyes. collapsing backwards, niki fell on top of you, panting with his brown curly locks sticking to his forehead as he laid his head on your chest. post orgasm high, you both seemed to let reality hit you as you looked at each other, realizing you'd both been missing from the party for longer than you thought, exchanging no words apart from a few worried sounds of alertness as you scrambled off of one another, quickly righting yourselves. it had only taken another two minutes or so to appear semi inconspicuous as you finally made your way back to his door, bracing yourselves before opening it and stepping out, only to see your parents walking towards you, quickly spotting you and calling your name. "where have you been? we've been looking for you everywhere, have you seen niki? he went missing an-" before you could even try to find a valid explanation, through they hadn't seemed very concerned for you and more so for niki's whereabouts, you felt niki walk up behind you, leaning against the door frame and greeting your parents. "she got lost." he began, placing a hand on your shoulder, cool as ever, as if minutes ago he hadn't just been fucking your brains out. "i was showing her photos from past races. lets get a drink, yes?" quickly deflecting from any questions they may have as to why you both just exited his bedroom, niki began to lead them to where they could get a drink, leaving you, shaking your head at the fact that they actually fucking bought that. - it was hours later that the party was actually beginning to wrap up, drunken people being led back to taxi's and niki saying goodbye to guests as the music had now stopped and there had been one to many neighbourly complaints. you were unsure whether or not you should try to go and say goodbye to niki, post sex clarity was no proposing a very awkward question as to where the fuck that had left the two of you now; you weren't even afraid to admit that the idea of having any other interaction with niki from this point forward scared the fuck out of you. one could argue that it was all spur of the moment, and you hadn't really had time to communicate whatsoever afterwards, distracted by the fact that you were scrambling to get your clothes back on. you weren't even sure yourself what you wanted it to be, it felt more like a situation of you didn't want to find out. and yet, once again, your wishes were ignored by whatever higher power was controlling things, because as you were walking back to the car with your parents, still trying to make any sort of sense of what had transpired, you heard the voice behind you calling after your parents. turning, you placed your hands in your pockets as you watched niki wish your parents a goodnight, letting your mother kiss him on the cheek as well as let your father give him a firm handshake as thanks occurred. he looked over at you only briefly, his eyes and expression next to unreadable as he quickly looked back at your parents, offering to walk them to their car. turning around quickly, you began to walk quickly to the car, unfortunately slowed down by your boots as your parents soon overtook you, leaving you and niki almost side by side behind them. though neither of you said anything, your eyes widened when you felt his hand fall on your lower back, then soon to your backside, giving it a squeeze that made you jump slightly, turning your head to look at him with an annoyed and wide eyed look, only to once again be met with that same fucking smirk. as you finally caught up with your parents, they only turned as niki pulled his hand away, thankfully missing the fact that he'd done that as they thanked him for a good night. opening the car door, you were immediately met with a sharp look from your father. "maybe you should say goodnight to niki, seeing as he was so generous as to extend the invitation to you." your father said slightly under his breath in a warning tone, only to turn back to niki. "sorry, she can be such a little brat sometimes." by the look on niki's face, you could see him holding in a smirk as he shook his head dismissively and waving his hand. "ah, its fine. i don't mind at all." he finished his sentence by wishing you a goodnight, only now extending the smirk to you as you stared back at him for a moment, slightly still in shock that your parents could be just that clueless. "goodnight, niki." you finally said, wasting no time getting in your seat and shutting the door.

#daniel brühl #Daniel Bruhl #daniel bruhl x reader #niki lauda #niki lauda rush #niki lauda x reader #niki lauda smut #baron zemo #baron zemo x reader #baron zemo smut #daniel bruhl smut #goodbye lenin #the alienist #ladies in lavender #rush 2013 #rush

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yikesharringrove · 3 years

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Agitation (or disturbance of the mind)

Here is my piece for the Harringrove Big Bang!! I’m so so proud of how this piece turned out and I’m so excited to share it! @harringrovebigbang

Read on Ao3 (highly recommended. It’s over 16k).

Special thanks to my beta readers @thinger-strang @crispysteve without whom this story would’ve been scrapped in many fits of emotions.

Art for this story to be linked soon by @thedogsled

Check out this amazing moodboard by @memes-saved-me !!

Enjoy!

Steve Harrington is a liar.

He always has been.

Nearly everything about him is a perfectly crafted facade.

From the story of his family’s move to Hawkins when he was eight, to the smile that slides easily onto his face when he tells Robin I’m fine.

Steve is a liar.

But it's all out of necessity. All for the greater of some good he isn’t all that clear on anymore.

It was always about protection.

Protecting his friends and everyone in Hawkins from the truth about Hawkins National Laboratory.

Then it was about protecting himself from his powers.

From the way his words had a knack of worming their way into someone’s brain. Of setting up shop inside and clanging around until they could do nothing but bow to his suggestion.

Just because he could get his way with the right inflection and the telltale shiver down his spine, didn’t mean that that was okay.

It was drilled into him the first night he arrived in Hawkins.

After his file was stamped with a large red mark that read defective, he was given to one of the scientists and her husband.

The Harringtons.

A normal new family from Eastern Oklahoma.

That’s what they told everyone.

That’s what they made sure Steve parroted to everyone in his brand new school.

His new father took a cigar to the tattoo on his wrist, welting the flesh with an ugly burn. He ignored Steve’s screams and tears.

You have to fit in here, Steven, he had said, the cigar smoldering between his fingers, Steve clutching his wrist, eyes shining with tears. You have to fit in and be normal.

So Steve lied.

He smiled and told everyone he came from a normal family from normal Oklahoma. He said that he lived in a normal house, and read normal books, and played normal sports.

And he tried, and failed, to convince himself the lab was a dream.

“We should do something after this.”

Steve was careful to keep his voice casual. He didn’t want to let Robin in on how much he was dreading returning to his empty house tonight.

Robin didn’t acknowledge him. She was sorting the returned movies, placing them in piles of genre so they could easily be returned to their proper section.

Steve quietly lifted his leg, and lightly kicked her hip.

She glared at him.

“Quit ignorin’ me. Just say yes, or no.” It’s not like if she said no it would crush him or anything. No. It’s fine.

“I just have a bunch of homework that’s all, like, due tomorrow,” she said it slowly, as though telling him a beloved relative had died.

Was it that obvious how lonely he is?

“Don’t worry about it, Buck.” Robin took school real serious. She had perfect grades every year and had already applied to sixteen colleges and universities, including four Ivy League options.

So Steve didn’t blame her for not skulking around with him.

With college-less, nowhere bound Steve.

“I’m really sorry,” she began, getting that sad look in her eye like that night in the mall bathroom when Steve spilled his drugged-out guts. Literally, and metaphorically.

“Nah, I was just lookin’ for something to do. It’s okay, Robin. Really.”

And it was.

Almost.

It’s just that, Steve’s not got a lot going for him right now.

He’s got a big empty house, and a brain that likes to give him excessive nightmares, and one age-appropriate friend in the whole place.

But he doesn’t wanna talk about all that shit.

And Robin looked like there was something on the tip of her tongue. Something her teeth were barely holding back.

So Steve just scooped up the stack of neatly ordered Action films, and made his way over to the far shelf, taking himself out of the situation before it would get to a place that would only make him lie more and more.

Robin means well. He knows she does.

It just feels like a lot of her well-meaning chats end up with Steve lying through his fucking teeth and Robin nearly in tears of frustration at his lack of openness with her.

She feels like being tortured and drugged together gives them a close kind of kinship very few share.

Steve feels like he’s got just too much fucked-up baggage to dump on her.

Not when they’re trying to put the Upside Down behind them.

Not that Steve could ever put it behind him.

He felt something build in his gut. Something hot and heavy. Something that always meant his powers were scraping at the walls of the neat little cave he had shut them in. Something that meant his skin would burn until he unleashed some of his pent-up energy.

He took a deep breath, blowing out the air slowly through his nose.

He had rules to his power. Rules he had given himself, mostly. Things he’d never use his powers for.

He tried to avoid his powers at all costs, but he had seen what could happen if he tried to tamp them down. It was less dangerous to open the lid of the box just a tiny bit.

Especially if he did it right.

He made his way back over to Robin, finding that spot in his brain that made a shudder zip down his spine. The spot that was made of cold and electric heat.

It was always too simple when he let the power take over.

Locate her feeling. Let him consume him.

And then just, twist it as much as he wants.

“Robin,” he spoke slowly, honing his suggestion. “You don’t have to feel bad about not spending time with me tonight.”

He felt her sadness and guilt about the evening recede about as fast as the tide.

She really shouldn’t feel bad about ditching him, especially not when her education is the main priority.

He matched her lazy grin, wiping his nose discreetly, only a small drop of blood smeared against his hand.

The rest of the shift passed without incident, and the roaring feeling in Steve’s gut had been sated enough for the time being.

So he pushed it back out of his mind, and returned to his empty house.

He was saving up to get his own place. He really was. But it was easier this way. He didn’t pay any bills, had lots of space to himself, and a pool in the backyard (that he never used).

And it’s hard for him to explain, but there’s something tugging him back into this house all the time.

He doesn’t know if it’s because it’s the only home he ever knew after the pain and fear that was his childhood in the lab, or if it’s something else that makes him feel tethered to the too-big house.

Sometimes he thought there was a sense of safety in the old place.

With parents that spent excessive amounts of time doing research for things he didn’t understand but was sure were important, it was largely an emotion-free place.

Which was good for Steve.

High emotion situations made his power boil up and spill over the edge like a pot of water on the stove.

A place like his empty house, he could keep everything in check. Not get his feelings tangled with those around him. Not catch thoughts that were just beginning to be molded into something brand new.

He clambered into bed, punching his pillows around in a way that was decidedly not petulant.

There was a steady silence in the old house. A silence that was as depressing as it was easy on his brain.

And there wasn’t silence.

Creaks.

Creaks issuing from downstairs. From the floorboards in the hallway.

Footsteps.

Steve was out of bed in a second, bat held aloft in as close to ready position as he could maintain while bolting down the stairs in his socks and faded green gym shorts.

He knew how to navigate the house without a sound. Practice of tip-toeing around a volatile not-father kinda ended up giving him something useful.

The creaks were still progressing, moving up the hallway from the back of the house, where his parents’ empty bedroom sat still.

The person was getting closer, lumbering slowly as if they were trying to be quiet themselves.

Steve adjusted his grip on the bat, taking proper batting stance, ready for the intruder to round the corner into his section of the hall.

First sign of a person, and Steve would swing.

No questions asked.

The floorboard before the bend in the hall gave a loud sound, and he could’ve sworn he heard someone curse under their breath.

He closed his eyes, and swung.

His bat sailed through the air, and connected with, not an intruder.

And then he was filled with an overwhelming sense of fear. A completely feral state of fight or flight made him nearly bare his teeth in an animalistic growl. He felt fear, and dread, and pure stubborn, stupid resolve.

It nearly blinded him, the emotions were so thick and clear.

And then there whooshed out of him, as though being sucked up by a feelings vacuum, leaving him empty and confused.

His top lip was covered in blood.

He had a lot of fucking questions as he stared at the bat, hanging by it’s long nails in the hallway wall, the ominous creaking moving past him towards the stairs.

The footsteps that were caused by no one.

It’s official.

Steve’s lost it.

He’s fucking crazy.

He’s hearing footsteps and voices swearing quietly, and he’s going mad and completely batshit and should be tucked away in a padded room for the rest of his life.

He didn’t even bother to wrench the bat out of the wall as he stumbled after the imagined footsteps.

He clearly needed to get a good night’s sleep, and to forget that anything happened at all tonight.

Billy hates Harrington’s house.

He doesn’t, really. It’s given him excellent shelter while he pulled himself together, and it’s out of town enough to serve as a good base for the little gang of Lost Boys he had accumulated.

It’s just that, the old house likes to make a lot of noise.

It keeps him on edge.

Every squealing door hinge, and every creaky floorboard sets his teeth on edge and makes him whip around in a frenzy, expecting to see a demogorgon snarling at him from the sitting room.

He nearly had a heart attack when he heard the thuds coming from upstairs.

He generally liked to avoid the top floor of the house.

Harrington’s bedroom was up there, and it wigged him out something fierce. He’d only been in the dilapidated version of it one time, his first night in the house he had claimed for safety.

He didn’t intend to stay the night in there, he had just stumbled upon it, and curled up in the bed.

He remembers not sleeping the entire night. He was so scared after coming to in the library, something slimy and disgusting slipping its way out of his throat.

The whole place had been screaming, as though the Upside Down itself was alive. Alive and being horrifically murdered.

He didn’t know what it was called then, all he knew was that Harrington’s house was the first one he came across, and that Harrington’s room was depressingly empty and impersonal.

But, there was a thudding coming from that general area, and if some kinda shitty creature was making its way into the house, he needed to hedge it off before it did any damage.

He took hold of his ax, never far from his side these days, and slipped out of his cot.

The floorboards in the hallway were creaky, and he tried to walk slowly, muffling his footsteps as much as he could in his heavy boots, not wanting to warn the monster he was coming for it.

He cataloged the crew in his head: Hopper had his troop of three in the basement where they were resting up for the supply run tomorrow. Timothy was on nightwatch with his team of five. Billy was in a pack with four others; Heather Holloway, her mother, Janet, and the two boys they found skulking around the library the same night everyone seemed to wake up. One of the boys was called Andrew. The other hadn’t spoken a single word the entire time they’d been trapped.

Billy liked to call him by different names each time he referred to the kid. Trying to get him to laugh. He couldn’t’ve been more than seven years old, and he was trapped in this fucking hellscape with the rest of them.

Andrew was thirteen. Billy didn’t like to look at him much. Andrew reminded him of Max. Which made Billy feel empty and achy in a way he didn’t think was very productive for survival.

But Andrew took a shine to Janet Holloway. Probably missing his mother and needing more comfort than his thirteen-year-old self was willing to admit.

The Holloway women were a hell of a lot feistier than Bill originally gave them credit for, saving his ass in a scrap just as often as he had been there for theirs. Heather and Janet were equal parts caring and soft, with the right amounts of clever and bossy to take point on their team.

Billy let himself be the muscle.

He let himself be the watchdog and attack dog. He took nightwatches and never let his weapons out of his grasp.

Everyone had a role.

And that was perfectly okay.

They had to keep together in this world. They wouldn’t survive it otherwise.

They’d all lost enough people to understand that.

One of the boards gave a hefty creak under his left foot, and he breathed a quiet fuck through his bandana, listening for more of the thudding.

It had stopped about forty seconds before, Billy had counted, and he couldn’t hear any other sounds of something forcing its way inside. Plus, the nightwatch hadn’t sounded any alarms.

He took another step, ax held ready and aloft in case he came face to ugly face with one of the horrible creatures that prowled the night.

He rounded the corner, and there was a loud bang on the wall next to his head.

He jumped as paint chipped off the wall and flew all over him.

He was hit with a feeling of intense fear, and adrenaline rush that caused all the blood in his ears to rush. He looked wildly around, seeing, nothing.

Billy bared his teeth, ready to go down fucking swinging.

As long as he took the fucker down with him, that’s all that matters.

Save the rest.

And he stood, ready to fight, ready to die.

And there was nothing.

Nothing in the hallway. He was all alone.

None of this shit made any sense. He hadn’t dreamed the wall cracked beside his head, and looking back, there were holes in the wall, and a big dent that had splinted the white paint and drywall beneath it.

There was some fucked up shit going on, and Billy didn’t like it one bit.

He continued down the hall, creeping to the stairs to check the original source of the noises that had woken him up.

Harrington’s room was pretty much just as he remembered it from that first night in the house.

It was sparse and sad-looking. The covers on the bed were all jostled and thrown around, the horrible spindle-like vines covering nearly every surface in the room.

They had cleared the tendrils in other rooms, cutting them and burning them back, ensuring the vines didn’t start creeping over them when they weren’t looking.

Billy didn’t fancy being covered and tethered by the slimy black vines. He was pretty much over all this Upside Down shit.

He took a cursory look around Harrington’s room, not noticing any signs of forced entry from a creature, really nothing was out of place.

The meager school trophies on the bookshelf next to the closet looked rotted and tarnished, just like everything else in this absolute hell called a parallel universe. There were few pictures in this room, much like the whole house. It had taken Billy a long time to notice the lack of inhabitancy the house had. The way it seemed to feel so cold and empty, it would be that way in the real world too.

His eyes swept over the dilapidated dresser, cataloging the room quickly for anything that should worry him.

Billy deemed the whole scene safe, and made sure to close the door tightly as he retreated back downstairs.

Steve’s going fucking crazy.

He was still in bed, his alarm clock ringing angrily at him as it had for the past six minutes.

He hadn’t slept at all last night.

Something just felt. Off.

The feelings in his chest were scrambled, and they felt foreign to him. Like he had taken in somebody else’s emotions.

But proximity was the key to his power, and he was alone. Alone alone.

Like, the closest person was Mrs. Gardfeld in the next house, all the way across their combined, much too big, yards.

It felt like. It felt like someone was in the house with him. Someone was in the house with him, and they were scared, and stubborn, and tired, and a flurry of things that made Steve feel ill.

And he couldn’t push them out.

He couldn’t find the chasm between this slew of someone else’s shit, and his own messy cocktail of feelings.

The other feelings were like those awful vines in the tunnel. Snaking around under his feet, wiggling up his ankles and keeping him stuck in the mud. Wrapping around his own emotions and squeezing until they just merged into one.

He’s lost the metaphor.

Doesn’t matter.

His feelings are fucked and his brain is fucked and his day is fucked.

And he has to work a double at Family Fuckin’ Video.

He found his way out of bed. Not going very far, just standing next to his warm nest of blankets, debating getting back in and hiding for the rest of his life.

He was going to be late for work.

He didn’t really give a fuck.

Keith would be all smug and probably make some remarks about Steve not even being worth the less-than-minimum wage he was making.

He took a shower, not so much cleaning himself as letting the lukewarm water cascade down on him and hope it got rid of the stench of sweat and anxiety and bad sleep that was clinging angrily to his skin.

His brain was empty.

Empty save for the pounding otherness that were these horrible fucking feelings.

Robin didn’t even have the heart to call him out for being nearly half an hour late.

“You look like shit.”

No, she just called him out for looking like shit.

“Y’know, it’s really wonderful to have such a caring and thoughtful friend in these trying times.”

She rolled her eyes. He always told her one day she was gonna get stuck like that. With her eyes permanently fixed towards the ceiling in exasperation.

“Drop the attitude, Steve Harrington. Just because you didn’t sleep doesn’t mean I have to suffer.”

Sometimes it was hard to tell if she was joking. Steve just clenched his jaw and stared at her blankly. Either she would get mad at him, or sigh and roll her eyes.

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

Bingo.

She wasn’t actually mad at him.

“You okay?”

“Jus’, some weirdness. Bad vibes.”

He couldn’t give her more than that. Couldn’t say I can feel someone else in my house and I don’t know if someone is hiding in my house or if I’m going crazy, oh and by the way, I was one of those freaky lab kids and I can manipulate and feel people’s thoughts and emotions, by the way.

That’s too much for a slow shift on a Saturday morning.

That’s too much for really any time of any day.

No, Steve fully plans to take all that shit to the grave. Like a real man, his dad would say.

“Well, if you could take your bad vibes back to rewind duty, that would leave all the good vibes up here to me.” She shooed him off with her hand, landing a quick slap square on his left asscheck when he groaned and dragged his feet dramatically on his way to the back room.

Not that Steve would ever actually complain about rewind duty. Steve preferred doing it to anything else in the place. Especially re-shelving. That was just asking for someone to come ask him for a movie recommendation. Steve only watched the same five campy old westerns and when he recommends any of those, people seem to wanna get out of his face right quick.

No, rewinding was dull and monotonous and solitary, all the shit that Steve really needed on a day like today.

There was a strict routine and he didn’t have to think or do anything.

Just sit. New tape. Rewind. Put in case. Put in re-shelve bucket. New tape. Rewind. Put in case. And again and again and again until all the tapes were ready to go.

Hawkins tended to take out a lot of movies on the weekend. Not much else to do when you aren’t sixteen and ready to hit up any party you could possibly weasel your way into.

So, Steve had about fifty some odd tapes to rewind from the past few days and he was feeling benignly excited about sitting in the small room for most of his shift.

It was easy to pass the shift like that.

Sitting with the quiet whirring of the tapes being tracked back to the beginning. Not having to deal with anyone’s thoughts except his own tedious ones about when he should take his lunch break and reminding himself to check the TV Guide for anything good tonight.

It was an odd emptiness that took hold of him throughout the day. And he almost felt, well.

Lonely.

He almost felt lonely.

Which is fucking bonkers because that horrible feeling of someone else had well and truly fucked him over last night, and well into this morning, but he kind. Missed. The other presence.

He’s officially crazy.

Someone find this boy a padded fucking cell because Steve Harrington has officially gone all kinds of batshit bananas wacky.

He’s feeling lonely because the horrible not his feelings of fear and anger and betrayal and desperation aren’t clogging up his little brain sink. Even when they were, the brain sink was threatening to burst and leak all over his brain kitchen.

Or something to that effect.

He let his eyes unfocus, watching Jaws at double speed and backward for the fourth time that day.

There was something about the foreign feelings he just couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

Something twinging in the back of his brain, screaming at him to open his eyes and pay attention.

But that’s never been Steve’s strong suit.

“Stupid. Fucking. Vines .”

Hopper muttered to himself a lot.

It was usually too muffled underneath his own bandana face covering and the hefty beard he had been sporting to discern whatever he was thinking, but it’s not like hating the awful black tendrils of gross plant/monster/everything-that-made-up-the-Upside-Down hybrid of vine-ish tentacles was something that just Hopper experienced.

It was a sentiment they all shared as they hacked away at the new growth in the dilapidated Bradley’s Big Buys.

They had already ransacked the general store five times over, and took as much as they could salvage from the wreckage of the other-dimensional mall.

Supplies were needed, and they had to be smart about it.

Things had been quiet lately.

Not many beasties out and about since the night they all seemed to come to.

Hopper had said something about the gate closing and the brain being cut off from the body.

Billy hadn’t listened.

He’d been scared off his ass and all that had really registered was clear for now.

So, they made supply runs. And poked around town for any survivors left to take back to Basecamp Harrington. Only Billy called it that.

They had the runs down to a system.

Pry away any vines they could, burning them back as they went, making enough room to slip into the bargain store, gather as much canned food and grimy medical supplies as they could manage, and book it back to the relative safety of the big house on the edge of the forest.

Nobody talked about what they’d do when they ran out of supplies. When they’d exhausted their resources and were stuck with nothing but the vines on the ground and the spores in the air.

Billy got it.

It’s not like he wants to hear he’ll probably die of starvation and/or a gangrenous infection before he’s eighteen.

They just. Make do.

Ration food and keep each other safe.

Always thinking about the minute they’re in and the minute coming up. Not looking too far forward.

There’s nothing to see too far in the future.

Billy crashed the blunt end of his ax through the sliding door at the front of the store, clearing away as much as he could.

Janet and Andrew would slip inside first go, taking as much as they could carry with them. Next round, Heather would take the little one and gather anything left.

Billy would keep watch.

He always kept watch.

Things had been too good for too long.

After the first wave of those who didn’t make it, the whole broken side of the Earth was too kind to them. Not sending horrible fleshy monsters to nearly suck out their very souls.

Billy didn’t think this could last for much longer.

Heather took the little one by the hand, rushing past her mother and Andrew as they returned with their supplies. Billy did a quick scan of them, noting no new injuries. Nothing out of the norm.

Supply runs were choreographed down to the minute.

Should the group not return in forty-five minutes, a search team was sent out.

The small group trudged back to the Harrington safehouse, keeping in the shadows, not a single one of them daring to speak. Billy walked slightly behind the others, never letting himself relax for a single second.

Things were too quiet.

The feeling hit Steve over the head like a sack of bricks being whacked against his skull.

Walking into his home was like walking into a stinking den of fear and anxiety. The air was clogged with so many emotions Steve felt like he was choking on them, slowly being crushed under their weight.

Whoever was emitting all these, Steve felt sorry for them. He can’t imagine living with this much bad energy taking up space in someone’s brain. He could barely cope with his own terrible bullshit. He doesn’t know how someone could cope with this.

He tried to move through his evening to the best of his ability.

He nearly set the house on fire when he left the tin foil covering on his frozen meal, causing the microwave to spark angrily at him, the potatoes underneath the corner of foil that had nearly caught fire to smolder and blacken.

Even in the shower, the water as hot and steamy as he could stand, he felt that prickle he couldn’t get rid of.

Like if he could just close his eyes and reach out far enough, his fingers would brush someone else. Someone nearby.

He’s felt it before. That there was a person just out of reach. A person he could feel clear as a bell, but couldn’t alter. Couldn’t manipulate. Just had to experience everything that was going on inside and try to hold on for the ride.

He wore headphones to bed, blasting a mixtape Robin had made for him last month. Something with a lot of heavy guitars and girls wailing about society.

He doesn’t think it was all that good, but it helped. Helped him feel like maybe the person wasn’t seeping into his own soul.

And the whining synth of Patti Smith finally let him get some goddamn sleep.

“Hello?”

It was his house.

But it wasn’t his house.

It was a blank void. It was nothing. It was nowhere.

But for some reason, his brain kept telling him it was his house.

“Harrington?”

It was Billy. Hargrove.

But it wasn’t Billy.

He was dirty, covered in soot and horrible black sludge that made Steve’s stomach churn.

“Why are you in my house?”

Billy looked around the blank void all around them. Water sloshed on the floor, lapping at Billy’s black boots. Steve observed his own toes.

He was barefoot, but he couldn’t feel the water.

“This is your house?”

Steve didn’t want to explain.

“You’re dead.”

“Could be soon.”

Nothing Billy said made any sense. But then, Billy never made much sense when he was alive, either.

He was an enigma to Steve. A big question mark all wrapped up with a gorgeous face and perfect body.

“Where is this to you?”

Why was Steve’s brain so adamant on declaring this place his house?

“Somewhere safe.”

So.

That’s something.

Dreaming about Harrington.

Not necessarily something that Billy wanted to have happen to him while he was experiencing the worst possible time in his life.

Or maybe he did.

He’d said it in the dream.

Somewhere safe.

It’s what he felt in that blackness.

Safety. Warmth. Hope.

All the shit he hasn’t felt since he opened his eyes in the rank-ass library.

That darkness was like a harness, keeping him grounded to something real. Tucking him in gently at night and kissing him on the head.

It made waking up that much shittier.

Knowing he’d be on nightwatch with Heather and Janet tonight, he used resting up as an excuse to lay on his cot, hardly moving in the clouded air.

He needed to process.

There was something so fucking weird about that dream.

It felt real in the moment, and he didn’t question anything that had happened.

Why there was water on the ground at his feet? Why Harrington was there wearing pajamas Billy could only describe as skanky? All of this made perfect fucking sense to dream Billy.

Awake Billy, had some fuckin’ questions.

Mostly, those previously listed. As well as: what the fuck?

He blames seeing Steve specifically on being in his house. That makes sense. You tend to think about a guy quite a lot when you’re living in the broken shell of his family home. He blames seeing Steve in those itsy-bitsy shorts and a homemade cropped t-shirt on the well repressed sexual interest he refused to admit he felt towards the guy.

All that made sense.

But everything else.

Steve said he was dead.

Was he dead?

Was this Hell?

Purgatory?

He’s read The Divine Comedy, and this doesn’t quite match up with any of the shit Dante waxed on about.

And dream Billy didn’t think that was a weird thing to say to someone. To accuse them of being dead. He just said could be soon and then acted like that was a normal fucking response.

His head was spinning out of control.

The only thing that made sense was when Billy said they were somewhere safe.

Because, they were.

Even in the void place, he knew they were safe.

There was a small tapping sound on the wall next to the open door frame.

The door had long since rotted right through.

“Miss Janet sent me to see if you’re alright.”

Andrew was always calling Janet Holloway Miss Janet.

It makes Billy wonder if manners like that were beaten into him by a father like Neil.

He hopes not.

He likes Andrew too much for that.

Andrew hovered around while Billy swung himself out of his cot.

He changed out the bandana over his mouth and nose.

Most of them slept fully dressed, even with their shoes and socks still firmly on their feet.

You had to be ready to go at the slightest sound of Bad in this place.

Plus, everything was so goddamn dirty, what’s a little mud in the sheets in the grand scheme of things? And the rancid rotting smell of the Upside Down did wonders to cover the smell of body odor.

Billy followed Andrew down the L-shaped hallway, to the sitting room where he found Janet and Heather huddled together on one couch, the little one between them.

“Apparently something happened on the run last night.”

Billy’s blood ran cold. He couldn’t make out Janet’s expression under her face covering. The little one got up from his spot on the couch, standing in Billy’s shadow. He liked to do that. Billy figured he felt safe behind someone so much bigger and stronger than him. Someone with a big fuckin’ weapon that was never too far away.

“Who’d we lose?”

“No one. Everyone’s okay. Hopper just called all of us for a discussion, then went to the basement.”

The basement was Hopper’s domain with his little chunk of the crew.

He had found some busted up H.A.M. radio from somewhere he refused to explain, and spent all the time he wasn’t watching over his shoulder for threats or gathering supplies from smashed grocery stores, trying to fix it up, tuning it to different crackling stations, and yelling into it.

El. El, I need you to copy if you can hear me. El!

The pillow was a mess of blood the next morning.

It was congealed and cracked and tacky against his face and made the pillowcase stick to his cheek and his bloody upper lip in a way that kinda made Steve wanna puke a little bit.

His nose had bled in the night.

He never got nosebleeds.

Unless he used his power.

And that dream.

That blank void space and that mucky scraggly Billy lookin’ like the hunky star of some apocalypse movie.

Wait.

Blood forgotten, smeared on his face and neck, Steve tossed himself towards the phone on his nightstand, smacking his shoulder against the wooden corner and tumbling to the floor, his legs still tangled in his sheets on the bed.

He couldn’t deal with anything, snatching the phone up and punching in the only number that was grinding through his head.

“ Pick up pick up pick up pick up pick up, ” he muttered into the receiver.

His upper body was still flopped over to the plush carpet, legs twitching and shaking on the bed with his anxiety.

He’s had some massive fucking realizations and he needs backup.

“This is the Byers.”

“Put El on the phone.”

“Oh. Steve’s covered in blood again. The Upside Down must really be back,” Dustin said in complete monotone as Steve opened the door.

Steve couldn’t give less of a fuck right now.

He felt like he was on the verge of a major breakthrough, all coming in the neat package of a major breakdown.

He felt manic and shaky and so what if he forgot he was covered in the aftermath of a superpower-nosebleed-explosion?

“Shut up. Just get in.”

El had rallied the old troops from St. Paul, calling everyone at the ass-crack o’fuck in the morning and saying something about catching some weird Hawkins vibes all the way from Minnesota.

It was a fucking weak excuse, but explaining the whole Steve situation was just not really in the cards today.

He’s got an agenda and they need to stick to it.

Robin said she’d gather Max on the way to Steve’s place, and Nancy was probably hauling Mike and Lucas over faster than a speeding gun or whatever that expression is, so all Steve had to do was get his story straight.

“And maybe you should think about putting on a clean shirt? At the very least. I’d say, maybe just start over. Take a shower. Powerwash your face, even.”

“When the fuck did you become sarcastic ?”

“Right after you became friends with the coolest chick on the planet and then decided you’re too good for her.”

“ Chick. Don’t call Robin a chick. And I’ve told you, we’re just friends. I’m not too good for her.”

Really, Steve thought she was too good for him.

Well, that, and there’s the whole part where she’s super totally not into guys at all.

“So, what’s this all about, anyway? Mike said on the phone that El called him and left a really cryptic message.”

“Look. She called me to explain and ask if everyone could meet here,” Steve lied. “I’ll give you guys a recap once the rest of the gang shows.”

“But she thinks there’s something going on with the Upside Down? Again ?”

“I think she knows there’s something going on with the Upside Down.”

The more Steve sat with the memory of how Billy looked in that dream, the more he was certain of where he was.

Billy had been ratty. His normally perfect hair was long and limp, greasy on top and matted around his face. He was sporting a patchy beard, nothing like the fuckin’ pornstache the guy had been rocking all last summer.

And he was filthy. Covered in grime and dirt, and Steve’s sure if he’d looked harder, he would’ve seen traces of that viscous black goo that only meant bad news.

There was a squeal of tires, an alarm signaling the arrival of Nancy in her mother’s station wagon, toting her brother and Lucas.

“I’m in this now, Lucas Sinclair!” came Erica’s voice from the entryway.

Steve was tapping his foot impatiently.

“Erica, you accidentally found out about all this!”

“So did you!”

The Sinclair siblings’ bickering was only cut by the sound of the Wheeler siblings snapping at one another in turn.

“Am I the only one that thinks it doesn’t make sense to meet up this early? El and Will are like, seven hours away!”

“Mike! It doesn’t matter. We all have to talk and figure out what’s going on.”

The sounds of arguments all quieted abruptly as the four people rounded the corner and caught sight of Steve.

“Oh, Jesus. Who kicked your ass this time?” Mike snipped at Steve.

Oh, yeah. He keeps forgetting he’s covered in his own nose blood.

“What? It’s nothing. I kicked my own ass. Just take a seat.”

“I told you to-”

Steve didn’t wanna hear it.

He loves all these people, but his head kinda felt like it was full of mushy jelly and runny pudding and all the loud talking wasn’t doing much to help.

He stepped out onto the porch, snagging the pack of cigarettes he kept stowed in the flower box next to the door.

It took two to finally tame his nerves any.

Sitting there with all the people in his house waiting for an explanation, he kinda felt like his haphazard plan was shit and going to fall through immediately.

Just tell them El called. Tell them she saw Billy in the nowhere place and she thinks he’s alive. Easy as pie.

The tell-tale sound of a skateboard making its way closer and closer announced Max before he saw her.

Robin was pedaling next to her, helmet lopsided on her head and not buckled underneath her chin.

They were talking animatedly to one another, their laughter dying as soon as they saw Steve waiting for them.

“Fuck. So this is real.”

“Why does everyone think I got the shit beat outta me?”

“Your ass gets creamed every time some spooky shit goes down in this place, Harrington,” Max informed him.

She was a little Billy replica, all the way down to the way the corner of her mouth twitched up when she said his name.

It would’ve been sad. The way she tried to become her brother after losing him so violently last summer.

But something like relief settled into his bones, strong and real and wait ‘til I tell her Billy’s not dead and he was laughing. Curling in on himself cackling so hard his stomach had already begun to get sore

“Fuck. He’s lost it,” Robin sighed, ditching her bike next to Dustin’s and heaving Steve up, both hands underneath his armpits.

Nobody dared speak.

“And you’re sure? You’re positive you heard one of those things?”

Janet had her arms twisted over her chest, her jaw tight as she watched Hopper’s every move.

“It’s not really a sound you forget.”

Billy’s hand was shaking, he was gripping the ax so hard.

“So, we’re fucked,” Angela said harshly. Her cold voice sent ice down Billy’s spine. “If those things are back, we don’t stand a fucking chance.”

Hopper scrubbed his hand over his brow, sighing through the cloth over his mouth and nose.

“It just means I have to try harder. I can get to El, I know I can.”

Hopper said that a lot. But he never explained what getting to El meant.

Heather had explained she met El once, but she said it was weird and she only saw her like some kind of shadow, a figment in this dark empty place. Somewhere as cold and broken as the Upside Down felt.

The little one was leaned up against Billy, his left hand balled in the edge of Billy’s leather jacket. He stood like that a lot. It was grounding for Billy. Kinda like holding Max’s hand when she was young and still thought he was the coolest person she’d ever met.

“But, you only heard something, right? So it very well could be nothing.” Timothy was good at keeping mediator. He always kept a level head and talked slowly and calmly. They needed someone like him in this nightmare.

“They make this noise. This kind of wet chirping. Like this gurgle that just sounds like they’re watching you, ready to pounce out at any time, shrieking and attacking. It’s not a sound you forget.” Hopper had this horrible haunted look on his face, and Billy fucking believed him.

“Then we up nightwatch. Stick together,” Billy offered. He never usually piped up with strategy, but that’s the best he’s got, and frankly, he thinks it’s the only way they’d all be able to make it through.

“Exactly. We move in a pack now. Keep track of everyone together, and stay aware of what’s around us. I think we should do a major run and then lock up for a few days to see what goes down.”

Hopper leaned back in the ratty armchair he was taking up, looking around to see if anyone challenged his ideas.

Billy had given up his alpha male attitude the second Hopper yanked his upper arm and nearly screamed at him, asking Billy if he was ‘one of the flayed’ all while aggressively checking him over for injuries.

First time any of Neil’s lessons actually sunk in.

Respect and responsibility.

If that fucker could see Billy now, doing nothing but respecting authority and taking responsibility for all these peoples’ lives.

“We should rest up. Take a run tonight. Get a lay of the land,” Timothy said with an air of finality. Nobody argued.

Hopper nodded.

Everyone broke out from the Harringtons’ living room, milling around to get prepared for tonight’s run. Taking stock of what they needed to keep going for the next few days.

Billy was itching to slide back into his cot and try to seek out that space if he can. The empty space where Harrington and that warm feeling of safe existed.

The little one stayed clinging to his jacket, and Billy took a loose hold of his wrist, trying to provide some kind of basic comfort to the tiny kid.

“You wanna go raid the cabinet?” The kid stared up at Billy with big eyes. Billy could never tell what color they were in the gloom. He thinks maybe green.

The cabinet was a large door, built into the wall of the sitting room, and clearly where the Harringtons kept their games.

They had these excruciating couple thousand-piece puzzles, the pictures peeling and faded on the pieces. They had Trivial Pursuit and backgammon, and all kindsa shit.

The little one went and pulled out the checkers board. That was the only game Billy knew how to play anyhow.

He and Max used to sit for hours, playing with this dinosaur-themed checker game Max’s dad got for her one birthday.

It helped, playing a game. Helped pass the time. Help bait the anxiety.

Helped them all feel a little bit closer to human.

“I don’t. Get it.”

Apparently, Nancy was not the only one, if the blank stares Steve was receiving from around his living room were anything to go by.

“Yeah, why did she call you ?” Mike’s snitty tone was really grating on Steve’s fragile nerves.

“She said, she called to make sure everyone could come over here before she told you all to just show up this early on a Sunday morning and then she kinda explained what happened.”

Max was white as a sheet, tracking Steve like he was playing a horrible joke on her.

“And she saw Billy. Billy Hargrove .”

Steve nodded at Dustin.

“Why does she think he’s in the Upside Down?” Robin asked, perched on the coffee table, sitting closest to where he was standing nervously.

“She just knows .”

It was frustrating, trying to impart the seriousness of the situation without just spilling his guts.

He rubbed absentmindedly at the cigar burn on his wrist.

“I just don’t believe this. I talked to her three days ago, and she’s still having trouble with her powers. She can barely move a book, and hasn’t been able to get to the void since July, and you’re saying she accidentally saw Billy Hargrove, who we all saw murder a bunch of people and then get killed -”

“Shut up! He wasn’t himself!” Max shrieked out over Mike, the only time she’d even opened her mouth since Steve had mentioned her stepbrother’s name.

“Even if he is alive, El couldn’t have seen him! It doesn’t make sense!” Mike’s voice rose over Max’s, and Steve has a fucking headache and he’s over it.

“It was me! I had a dream. I went to the void. I saw Billy in the Upside Down. I called El to say she saw him.”

Everyone went dead silent, staring at him.

“Steve,” Robin began, searching his face.

It was like all the wind that had been filling up his sails, powering his energy ship, had suddenly quit blowing.

Steve was tired.

He sank to the floor, crossing his legs where he sat.

“I need you all to shut the fuck up for a moment and let me explain, because I only wanna say all this shit once.” He covered his bloody face with his hands. “I’m like El.”

That statement hung in the air for a moment.

And then there was a roar of noise.

“How could you keep this a secret?” Dustin shouted.

“Not in a million years !” Lucas decided. Erica yelled something back at him, vaguely defending Steve, which was nice.

“You mean you came from the lab?” Mike had a look on his face like he’d swallowed a particularly bitter lemon.

“Everybody, shut the fuck up!” Max roared, glowering at each person until they were silent again.

In all this Robin hadn’t said a word. She was pale, staring at Steve.

“Look, I don’t wanna go into it because it fucking sucks to think about,” Steve still hadn’t uncovered his face. “But yeah. I was in the lab. I got out because they decided I was a failed experiment. My mom worked at the lab and she took me and we pretended like the three of us moved here from Oklahoma and my dad told me never to tell anyone. And I haven’t. Didn’t even tell El. She recognized me from then. Don’t even know how, I left when she was like, three. Doesn’t matter. I’m a freaky lab kid and last night I fell asleep and saw Billy in that-what’d you call it? The void? Yeah, I saw him, and he’s covered in dirt and gross black Upside Down shit, and he’s fucking stuck there, and now we’re here.”

There was another silence.

Steve didn’t dare to look at any of them.

He didn’t want them to laugh in his face. Tell him he was making all this shit up and leave him alone to deal with Billy trapped somewhere else.

He wanted them to take his word for it. To quietly believe this crazy fucking shit of a story because the scared other feeling was back and clawing at his spine and making him want to burrow into the ground and find somewhere safe and secure and-

“Okay.”

Of course it was Robin.

It was always Robin.

Steve let himself look at her.

She was pale, but she was smiling at him.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Steve nodded once.

“Okay. Uh, great.”

“Wait, if you’re defective, no offense, then how did you see Billy?”

Steve stared at Max weighing his answer carefully.

“Because, well, the defective thing, that was all, I didn’t mean to, that was before I really understood what I could do. Don’t get me wrong, it really worked out, but it was an accident.”

“Spit it out, Sailor Man.”

“ Erica .”

Erica just rolled her eyes at Lucas.

“Okay. Uh, before I explain, just, just keep in mind that I have rules, and I don’t use my powers if I can avoid them, and I’d never use them to be a creep, but-”

“Steve!”

“Fine!” The words were right there, ready to tumble out of his mouth and ruin his life forever.

There was no going back after this.

The second they knew, everything would be different.

“I can feel other peoples’ emotions and, like, change them.”

Another silence.

“I don’t understand.”

Nancy was the last person he’d ever want to have this conversation with.

He knows what she’s thinking. He knows that the great anger brewing inside her is because she assumes he made her like him. Made her attracted to him.

Made her want him.

“I don’t use it like that. I would never, put something there that shouldn’t be there. It’s just, When someone feels something near me, I can tap into it. Let it become my own feelings. And then I just, change it. Just a little.” He cast around for a harmless example because so far, everyone was staring at him like a goddamn creep. “Robin!”

She startled slightly when he yelled at her.

“Okay, so Robin. I’d never, ever make you feel something not true to you. Like, I’d never make it so you were into me when you’re totally not, right?” He cast a glance at Nancy. “But, like, the other day, when you felt really shitty when I invited you over and you were studying, I just, I made it so you wouldn’t feel bad. I felt all this guilt you had for leaving me alone when you thought I was having a shitty day, and I made it so you didn’t feel guilty because you shouldn’t. That’s the kinda level I allow myself to work on.”

The look Robin was giving him was breaking his fucking heart.

Worse still, was the feeling of betrayal that began eating away at her.

“So, right now. You can tell what we’re all feeling?” Even Lucas, ever the level-headed one, couldn’t look him in the eye.

“I don’t want to. I don’t try to, but I can’t really avoid it. I just try to ignore it. But sometimes, sometimes if I bottle it all up for a while, it comes crashing out of me, and that’s when bad shit happens. If I don’t use it occasionally, it only wakes things worse, and I-”

“I can’t hear this.”

Robin’s anger crashed through Steve like a wave, nearly knocking him over. She stood, towering over him.

“When we were in that bathroom, all drugged out of our minds. I-” she sniffed, rage tears pooling in her eyes. Steve likes her eyes. So crystal blue. “Are we even really friends?”

Her last question was nothing more than a whisper.

And it made Steve wish he was never born.

He gaped at her like a dead fish.

“Rob, of course we are! I would never-”

“Because I hated you. And then one summer. Two whole months where we’re close enough that you can get all up in my brain, and suddenly I’m telling you shit I’ve never told anyone before.”

“It wasn’t, Robin I swear, that whole time, I never once used-”

She held up her hand, cutting him off.

A sob caught in his throat as she turned on her heel.

She slammed the door closed behind her.

Another fucking silence.

Steve couldn’t look anyone in the eye.

Their feelings were enough for him now, betrayal and anger and disappointment rushing into his lungs, drowning him. Choking him.

“You’ve used them on all of us.”

It wasn’t a question.

It was just a statement. The coldest he’s ever heard Dustin sound.

“I just want everyone to be happy.”

“Jesus, Steve. You realize that’s actually totally fucked up, right? You can’t just make us feel whatever you want,” Dustin bellowed at him, standing up like Robin had done, looking down at Steve where he sat pathetically on the floor.

And, when it’s put like that.

Sure.

It’s kinda fucked up.

But he’s only ever meddled in a way that’s good. He only ever tries to make his friends feel the positives. Hell, on the night of that stupid Snow Ball, he’d given Dustin enough self-confidence to make Madonna seem insecure.

All he does is try to help.

“All I do is try to help.”

More fucking silence.

Steve was so goddamn sick of silence. All he had was silence. He had the nothing, empty quiet. And he didn’t want it from the people who were supposed to make his life loud.

“El won’t be here until later tonight. I think we should just meet up then.”

Steve buried his head in his hands, biting back sobs as the small group filtered out of his house.

This is why he had wanted to take this secret with him to death.

He told everyone who he really is, and now they all hate him, and he’s completely alone, and wherever Billy is he’s fucking scared and-

“Steve?”

Max’s voice was small, mirroring the way she was curled in on herself in the plush armchair near the wall.

“Do you really think Billy’s alive?”

Steve nodded at her, desperately begging her to stay. To help him.

“I know he is.”

“I have an idea.”

He doesn’t remember falling asleep.

Doesn’t remember much of anything in this place.

He studied the water lapping at his muddy boots, dragging his toes through it to make the water wave and ripple.

It didn’t make a sound.

“I want to help.”

Billy knew Steve was there even before he spoke.

Something about the warmth he brought to the void place.

The safety.

“Don’t know if you can.”

Steve’s lips twitched into a ghost of a smile at that. His face was covered in blood, dried and flaking away from his skin, painted all the way down his face and neck, some staining the collar of his shirt.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“That happens when the only interactions you have with a guy are to beat his ass.”

Steve cracked a real smile at that. Something big and bright that made Billy’s gut twist in a way he didn’t quite like.

“You’re forgetting all those other times we spent together. You’re not very subtle, you know.”

Yeah, Billy knows.

Mostly because he wasn’t trying to be subtle.

He had talked to Steve about his bitchy ex while they both had their dicks out in the shower. He was trying to be very much un-subtle.

“Wasn’t trying to be.”

“I know.”

Oh.

Steve knows.

And all he had done was stare blankly at Billy.

Nice.

“I need to know where you are.”

“Why?”

“Because I can help.”

Billy just blinked at Steve.

“Do you know El?”

Something funny happened to Steve’s face. He kind of gave a little smile that flickered into a frown and landed on something a little pinched and awkward.

“Yeah. How do you know her?”

“Hopper keeps saying he needs to get to her. None of us know what he’s talking about.”

And with that, Steve’s eyes went huge, and his jaw dropped. The water at Billy’s ankles sloshed quietly.

“Hopper’s there? Chief Hopper? Jim Hopper is there?”

“Jesus, yeah. Been here since we all woke up.”

Steve acted like Billy had told him that Farrah Fawcett herself was on her way to shave his head.

Meaning, he looked struck fucking dumb.

“I’m gonna need you to explain.”

“I don’t know. Don’t remember much. Crashed my car on one of your shitty backwoods roads, and then everything is just, kinda, gone. I woke up in this shithole version of the library and Hopper found me here and we’ve kinda set up camp.”

Billy shrugged lamely. Something was dripping, he could hear the sound of it far behind him.

“There’s more of you? How many?”

“Not as many as there should be.”

Steve’s mouth pinched, and his big droopy eyes went all sweet and sad.

“Where are you? Where’s the camp?”

Billy was suddenly embarrassed. There was a sound like a stream flowing over rocks.

What’s he supposed to say? The hellscape skeleton of your house oh and by the way all your stuff is here and I slept in your bed once because I was scared and sad.

“Someone’s house. Don’t know whose.”

Steve huffed some air out of his nostrils, his mouth pinching again.

Billy hadn’t realized someone could make so many different expressions just by pursing their lips in different ways.

“Find out. We’re coming to get you.”

A crash of a wave, and Billy was back in hell.

Steve sucked in lungfuls of air, tossing the towel that had been covering his eyes to the ground.

“You saw him.”

Max was sitting in front of him, the t.v. playing static behind her.

“Yeah. He’s okay. I mean, he’s really gross. Like, he’s-sorry. He’s okay.”

Max was still staring at him like she didn’t quite know how to proceed.

“But he’s in the Upside Down?”

“Yeah. And there’s others. He said Hopper’s there, that he’s been trying to contact El.”

“Wait, Hopper? He’s alive?”

“Billy said all of the flayed woke up after the Fourth of July in the Upside Down. He doesn’t know anything that happened in this world, and Hopper was there and they’ve set up, like, some kind of camp, or whatever. He said they’re in someone’s house. He doesn’t know who.”

“ Fuck .”

Yeah, Steve agrees with that sentiment.

This whole thing was like, kind of a lot.

And deep inside him, those other feelings had yet to leave him alone all day.

There was some kind of disappointment knocking about in his brain.

He knows it’s Billy.

All of those other feelings, it’s whatever Billy is feeling right that minute wherever he is.

And it only happens when Steve is-

“Max, he’s here.”

She whipped around behind her, staring at the front door like Billy could waltz through it at any moment.

“No, no not here, here .” She clearly didn’t understand. He used the towel to wipe the fresh blood from his upper lip, still having yet to clean himself up any. “The camp, the safeplace, it’s here. They’ve set up in my house!”

It felt like a revelation on par with the greatest inventions. Steve felt like the scientist that landed the man on the moon or the very first person to melt cheese onto fries.

A genius.

“So, he’s, I mean, he could be, just, here .” She looked over the room wistfully, and Steve knew how she felt. Like she wanted to pierce her hands into thin air, tearing a hole in between the two worlds and ripping Billy straight outta hell.

(Really, she just filled him with a wave of fierce determination, but Steve likes to take poetic license on other people’s feelings sometimes.)

“And you can feel him.”

“Yeah.”

“Is he, okay?”

And he knows this question.

Not the okay he assured her of when he first saw Billy. Soothing that he wasn’t missing any internal organs or possessed by any monsters.

She wants to know if he’s held it together.

“He’s scared. He’s always scared. But he’s really fucking stubborn, and he- I don’t know why he feels these things, but sometimes he gets kinda sad. Almost like he’s lost something, and sometimes, it feels like he’s caught fire, and his insides are just going up in flame and he gets overwhelmed by them. And sometimes he feels-” He hadn’t meant to continue.

“Tell me.”

He’s pretty sure Max knew what he was going to say next.

She just wanted it confirmed.

“Hopeless. Sometimes he feels hopeless.”

She sniffed, her eyes shining as she looked anywhere that wasn’t Steve.

“But, we know now. He doesn’t have to be hopeless anymore. We’ll find a way in, and we’ll get him out.”

He didn’t want to manipulate her.

He didn’t want to cross the boundaries everyone clearly thought he already had.

But he was positive he would find a way to Billy. He was positive he would get him out and get him home.

He sent a wave of that determination and hope and conviction to her.

“Yeah. We’ll get him.”

“Hopper, man, some funky shit is going down.”

Hopper whirled around quickly, halfway to his feet and asking who's been hurt before Billy raised both hands, acting like he was calming an anxious horse.

“Nah, sorry, shoulda worded that better. I just mean, something’s happened to me. With me, maybe. I don’t know. Just hear me out. This shit’s gonna sound, insane.”

Hopper didn’t say anything as Billy explained, beginning with that night when the wall shattered next to his head, and ending with his most recent trip to the void place.

Billy shrugged lamely when he finished explaining.

“So, Harrington, huh? Never woulda guessed he was like her. You sure you didn’t see a little girl anywhere in the blank place?”

“No. It was just us. Both times.”

Hopper leaned back in his chair, scratching a hand through his thick beard.

“The first time one of the demogorgons showed up on our side was behind Steve’s house. Took Will Byers from his shed. They live some few miles away. Second time was in Harrington’s backyard. Took Barbara Holland.” Hopper sighed, looking in the direction of the busted radio. Billy could more or less see the cogs turning in his head. “If you see him again, tell him where we are. Tell him I think the walls are thinnest here. That maybe he and El could tear through. Better yet, tell him to find me if he can.”

He clapped Billy on the shoulder, looking right at him in that way he did sometimes. It always made Billy feel like a little kid.

“Thank you, kid. You might’ve just saved us.”

Billy felt awkward and didn’t really know what to do with his face. Thankfully, Hopper turned away from him, cutting the moment short and moving back to fiddling with the old radio.

Billy ducked his way up and back to the furthest bedroom on the ground floor, taking a seat on his low cot and digging his palms into his eyes.

He didn’t know how the void happened. If he could only get there in his sleep, or if it was Steve’s doing somehow.

“C’mon, Steve. Where are you? Come find me, Pretty Boy. We gotta talk.”

When he moved his hands away, he was in that blank place.

Billy was taken aback a bit, thinking somehow he had created the place around him.

Until he saw Steve, standing nervously and staring at Billy.

“I felt you. What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, you felt me? What in the fuck’s that supposed to mean.”

“Don’t worry about it. What happened? Are you guys okay?”

Steve wasn’t covered in blood anymore.

In fact, he looked freshly showered, his hair slightly damp and soft-looking without product.

It’s how he always looked right after having a post-practice shower. Clean and warm. Soft and inviting.

“I talked to Hopper. He told me to give you a message.”

Steve’s eyes lit up, and he took a step towards Billy, the water rippling where his foot disturbed the surface.

“He said, well. He told me where we are. Apparently, we’re at your place.” Billy tried to smirk a little, act like this was brand new information to him.

“Yeah. I gathered.”

“He thinks the walls are thinnest at your place. Said that maybe you and El could tear through easily. That mean anything to you?”

Steve nodded so hard his bangs flopped right into his eyes.

He pushed his hair out of his face, tucking some behind his ear. Billy tracked the movement.

“We’re going to try tonight. Maybe around six. Can you guys be ready by then?”

“We don’t have any way to track time around here. Don’t even know if it’s day or night, really.”

Steve bit his soft bottom lip, looking at Billy like he wanted to cry for him.

“Then I’ll come and get you before. Warn you when we’re about to start. Make sure everyone stays close. I don��t know how long we’ll be able to keep it sustained, and we want to get everyone out if we can.”

“Steve, man, what in the fuck is going on? I’ve been shut up in this place for, for I don’t even know how long, and all of a sudden, you just start showing up in my head and telling me that you’re gonna take point on this big fuckin’ rescue mission.”

Billy doesn’t want to admit it to anyone, least of all Steve Harrington, but he’s scared, and confused, and he genuinely wishes that he had died in that library instead of waking up.

“I’ll explain it when you get back.”

And Steve smiled at him and the corners of his eyes crinkled and Billy didn’t quite feel like he wanted to die anymore.

“Where are they?”

El didn’t even say hello when she pushed Steve’s front door open, just made straight for Max and Steve in the sitting room.

“They’re all being dicks,” was Max’s answer. “Steve told us about how you two know each other, and everyone kinda freaked.”

“I mean, it’s pretty freaky.”

“Yeah, sure, but they didn’t need to be such shitbirds about it.”

Somewhere between feeling harshly angry at Steve and his powers and hearing her brother’s voice crackle through the television speaker, Max had pretty much ensconced Steve as her sidekick.

Which he didn’t mind in the least.

It was kinda odd seeing the Byers in his house.

Jonathan looked. Exactly the same.

Like literally. His hair had grown out since his mother had taken a pair of scissors and a bowl to it last summer, and he looked just like the Hawkins Jonathan Steve was used to.

It was kinda nice.

At least one thing hasn’t changed.

Especially because Will is pretty much unrecognizable.

He had shot up, growing until he could nearly look Steve in the eye. And thank God, he must've followed Jonathan’s footsteps and stopped letting Joyce cut his hair.

It was longer, adn shaggier, but it made him look so grown up.

Nearly as grownup as El, her hair nearly down to her shoulder blades, the top of her head coming up on Steve’s chin, showing off the signs of her own growth spurt.

Even Joyce was sporting a new look. Longer hair with bangs that were swept off her face.

She gave Steve a comforting hug, and those were just the same.

Unease filled the room.

Nobody knew what they were walking into. El had to have given them the basics, and Steve figures she explained some on the long drive back to town, but there had been even more developments since the last they had spoken this morning.

Steve sifted through the borderline panic of Max and the Byers, clinging onto the fierce calm that El was radiating. Probably for his benefit more than her own actual experience.

“I know where Billy is. We talked. I have an idea.” He took a deep breath, bracing himself for the feelings. “Hopper’s alive.”

It took a second.

El’s carefully maintained calm wavered for a moment.

And then it crashed down.

Disbelief, relief, denial, anger, hope, joy.

Everything a person could possibly feel at once poured out of El and Joyce both, nearly knocking Steve off his feet with the sheer velocity of the emotions.

“Saw him?”

“No. But Billy mentioned him. He said he’s been trying to get to you.”

El’s eyes filled with tears, and Steve could feel the satisfaction, the pride, welling up in her that Hopper was still thinking of her. That he was trying to reach out.

“My powers,” she trailed off.

“Yeah. I know. But, he said, well, he told Billy to tell me, he thinks the walls are thinnest here. Maybe in the woods outback. He thinks we can do it.”

Sorry,” Joyce interrupted. She had gathered herself somewhat, but her feelings were still shaky.

She always felt like she was trembling emotionally. Joyce felt everything nearly as viscerally as Billy did.

“I think we’re not on the same page. Steve, you spoke to Billy? El said she sensed him.”

“Steve is like me. From Papa.”

“You mean, from the lab?” Jonathan clarified.

Everyone was staring at Steve again and he felt like burrowing a hole right through the floor and hiding underground forever.

“Yeah, I got out when I was a kid. My parents were pretty hell-bent on hiding it from everyone. But. You know. Cat’s outta the bag now. But yes, it was me who saw Billy. He’s in the Upside Down. A bunch of people are. Including Hopper. It sounds like they were all taken and the flayed people out here were like, fake. Like evil twin versions.”

Sure, it’s a shitty explanation.

It’s the best he can do, okay? Leave him alone.

“So, what’s his plan, then?”

That’s the good thing about the Byers, though. They get the whole, priority thing. Now’s not the time to focus on shit like Steve’s fake life. Not when the Upside Down is concerned.

“Billy didn’t say much. Just that he thinks maybe El and I could like, band together to open it. I don’t really know how, I mean, I haven’t thought about it much, I just spoke to him, but that's the idea. I told him I would meet him in the void or whatever before we go so he can gather everyone and get ready.”

“So, is it just us?” Will asked quietly, biting the inside of his cheek. He was disappointed. His friends not being where they were needed. Not being there to see him for the first time since his family moved away months ago.

Steve shrugged.

He was battling his own disappointment and hurt at everyone ditching him.

“No. Let’s start calling. We need to stick together for this one. Billy hasn’t said anything about how bad the Upside Down has been, and we need to be ready to fight off anything that tries to get through.”

“Max is right. They should be here.” Will was already making his way to the phone placed on the side table. “They need to be here.”

Jonathan caught Steve’s eye, jerking his head slightly to the hallway.

Steve followed him, already knowing the line of questioning that was about to hit him.

“I knew you called El. I picked up this morning. Now the story makes a lot more sense, I guess.”

“Yeah. I’ve been getting this weird feeling for a couple months, but I finally put it all together. Probably would’ve happened faster it is was El.”

“I don’t know. She’s been struggling a lot. She practices every day, but,” he sighed” I don’t know if she’s strong enough to make this work.”

He’s worried, adn scared, and has that exact same tremble-feeling that his mother does.

“I know. I just don’t think we can leave them any longer. Billy said they’ve already lost people. I don’t know what it’s been like for them, but they’ve been stuck for fucking months, and-”

This time, it hit him so hard he really did blackout.

His vision clouded around him, and his whole body burned with the raging fear inside of him.

He could hear something, could hear someone screaming, adn something, something that sounded horrible, and so very very like a-

“Demogorgon!”

It’s like it had come out of nowhere.

This towering figure, long and thin in all the wrong fucking ways.

And the sound. Billy realized what Hopper meant about how it’s not something you forget.

They were in some form of a ready position.

Billy among the front of the group, holding his ax he had never let go of in the first place.

His heart was pounding.

We’ll be out soon. We’ll be out soon.

He didn’t believe it.

How could he?

How the fuck is Steve Harrington going to get them out of the worst place ever? No offense to him or anything, but the guy could barely make a goddamn milkshake without spilling something on the sticky tile floor of Scoops Ahoy! and now, Billy’s life is in this guy’s hands while he stares into the jaws of a monster that looks like it stepped right out of H.P. Lovecraft’s wettest dreams.

It’s not like this is the first time he’s had this realization, but he is in way over his fucking head.

“Steve,” Billy grumbled to himself through gritted teeth. “If you can hear me, get us the fuck outta here.”

The thing ahead of them wasn’t moving. It stood in the line of the trees behind Steve’s house.

It was staring down the clump of people on the other side of the backyard.

The air was still.

Billy’s ears were ringing.

He stared the thing down.

Its long fingers twitched.

Someone screamed.

And the thing charged.

It roared like nothing Billy had ever heard before. A shriek that seemed to vibrate Billy’s bones and tremble the earth underneath his feet.

It charged.

Sprinting forward on long thin legs, it loped with a grace that turned Billy’s stomach and made his knees wobble and threaten to give out.

Plant your feet.

It rang through his head, Steve’s voice from, some time Billy couldn’t remember. Or maybe Steve was just the little voice that commanded his bravery now.

Either way, he dug the balls of his feet into the cracked ground, and waited.

Don’t stop fighting.

He swung.

The ax clocked right into the side of the thing, barely cutting into its thick leathery skin, but it slowed it down.

Well, actually.

It made it change course from attacking the group as a whole, to honing in on Billy.

Which was less than awesome.

Billy wrenched the ax out of its tough body, thick, sticky black goo connecting the ax with its entry point as he drew it away.

He swung again, nearly hitting the same place.

The thing cried out, roaring over the sound of screaming and gunshots.

Hopper had his rifle trained on the flowered head of the one Billy was furiously chopping into like a tree.

There were two more, two he hadn’t noticed in his preoccupation with the one in front of him.

He didn’t know who was who. Which gunshot belonged to which gun, which shriek belonged to which animal.

He didn’t know if the cries of pain were from the awful beasts or the people in his camp. He was hoping the former.

He swung again. There was a sickening sound of the metal blade connecting with something solid. Something like bone.

Hopper shot it, once, twice in the head.

It was whining, making a high-pitched noise as it staggered about.

One last blow to the side of the thing, and it was finished.

The monster flopped onto the ground, dark liquid oozing out of it, its body nearly split in half where Billy had hammered it with his ax. A great gaping wound that showed sticky dark entrails.

Billy turned.

His brain was working in slow motion as he charged into the battle still raging.

He didn’t know how many of the things had arrived.

All he knew was taking them out.

His arms were sore from the force he was putting into each blow with his ax. His muscles threatened to give out at any moment.

Drive them back. We’re coming.

The thought was shoved into his head. He didn’t know where it came from but he believed it.

“Help is on the way!” He shouted to no one and everyone.

He had taken down two more demogorgons with the help of the others. One was missing its body, a petal head lolling on the ground, getting trampled on in the fight.

Steve had felt the demogorgon before Billy saw it.

It was an odd feeling, almost like it was a black hole sucking up everything he thought and felt before he could cling onto it.

It made him feel cold, and empty, and just like the Upside Down felt.

“We don’t have time!”

El was insisting on contacting the others. She was livid with them for abandoning Steve, but things were taking a turn for the small group trapped in that hellscape.

“Steve’s right. If there’s a demogorgon there, that means the Mind Flayer has gotten some strength back, wherever he is.”

Steve nodded at Will gratefully.

“But, what’s the idea? You two open the gate. Then what? We wait for those things to come through to our side?” Jonathan asked, kinda harshly, if you ask Steve.

Steve rubbed his eyes, his fists pressing against them so hard he was seeing odd shapes.

“No. I go through. I get them. I bring them back.” His head was a fucking mess. Billy was all over the place. Fear, desperation, and a horrible calm that only came when things looked like the end. Plant your feet, he thought, trying to get his feelings to Billy through the thin dimensional wall. Don’t stop fighting. “For the past few days, all I’ve been able to feel is somebody else’s fucking fear and this stupid stupid stubbornness and I know it’s Billy, and I know he’s in trouble. Like right now. The demogorgons are coming for them, and he’s so scared. He’s so fucking scared and he thinks he’s gonna die, and he’s trapped .”

He looked at each person individually, glaring at them all in the eye.

“We don’t have time.”

So it was decided.

He brought El outside, and stared into the shimmering water of the pool.

The pool where a demon came out and dragged Barbara to her death.

It gave him the fucking creeps. Well, it more gave him the severe anxiety, but there was something about it that made it seem like it was the best place to try and rip the fold between himself and Billy.

Drive them back. We’re coming.

He wanted Billy to have some hope. Something like a lifeline that would keep him fighting the monsters.

He had wrenched his nail bat out of the wall it was still planted in from a few nights ago, and stood next to El, ready to try.

“To be honest, I don’t know how to help you.” It was the only thing that scared him about this plan. “I don’t have the same powers as you. The telekin-the moving stuff around. I don’t know how to open this.”

She looked at him thoughtfully.

“In Chicago. Kali. When I’m angry my powers are better,” she took his hand. “Make me angry.”

Steve closed his eyes.

He tried to push Billy to the side, clinging onto the first bit of El he could sense.

Her anger was like a melted core running through her. Driving her in a lot of ways.

He grabbed onto it.

Papa. Everything he did to your mama. Being locked in isolation. Fights with Hopper. Being trapped in the cabin. Feeling alone and not knowing how to fix it. New kids at school being mean. Techs in the lab that treated us like rats. The smell of skin burning. Parents that called you a freak.

He didn’t know when he had stopped using El’s ready-made rage, and began siphoning his own straight into the beating heart of her fury.

His gut began to feel white-hot, and he could feel the blood dripping down his lip.

Lying to everyone. Being abandoned for the truth. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.

Steve was livid.

He’s never felt an emotion consume him like this. Felt one feeling take over so completely it’s like there was nothing else in the world.

He opened his eyes.

There was blood flowing steadily from El’s nose, and he knew his was doing the same.

He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs, his body going into overdrive to divert all of his energy to his powers.

The rift glowed red through the clear pool water, splitting open like a seam on a well-worn shirt.

The burn on his arm ached, and he pushed into it.

He remembered being held down on his father’s desk. Remembers the cigar being forced against his skin, bubbling up and disfiguring the tattoo beyond recognition.

He remembers his father, this is for your own good, Steven. You’ll tell everyone you had an accident. People won’t question a burn like they will a tattoo.

Like no one would take one look at the quarter-sized mark and know what would make it.

He remembers getting the tattoo.

It was nearly the same process.

He was strapped down in a chair, his screams going ignored as the needle drove into his skin over and over, leaving a neat black number behind.

001

Number One.

The first in a series of children bred for something more, and beaten into acceptance.

His head felt like it could explode. He didn’t know what was going on around him, was barely aware of El’s sweaty hand in his, and the bright red light coming from the cracked bottom of the pool.

It was open.

Number One took a deep breath, and dived into the pool.

It was the little one that noticed it.

Billy had been trying to yell at him to get back inside, to keep himself out of harm’s way.

They had killed six demogorgons, and more were certainly coming.

The trees in the forest were rustling in a way they never did on their own.

The little one was pointing frantically, his eyes wide and scared.

Billy turned, and his blood ran cold.

Something was moving in the pool.

It was making the thick non-water slosh around dangerously, the dark liquid lapping over the sides and staining the concrete.

There were vines crisscrossing over the surface of the liquid, and Billy approached it carefully, hoping whatever was coming out would be trapped underneath them.

“This is the last fucking thing we need,” Hopper gritted out, cocking his rifle and aiming at the sludge.

And then Billy’s head felt like it had been cracked open.

He was blinded with pain and rage and

Help me, Hargrove!

He started swinging his ax wildly at the vines. Trying to break them apart enough for a body to fit through.

His heart thundered in his chest, and he dropped to his knees, ripping at the slimy black tendrils.

He shoved his left arm in.

It was like dousing his arm in ice. Like the liquid was made from the purest essence of cold.

He searched frantically with his hand, finding something solid and yanking with all his strength.

He had to put both arms in, grabbing hold of whatever he could, using his body weight as leverage to extract Steve from the cold.

He was limp when Billy finally got him out, but breathing heavily.

He opened his eyes, wiping his face free of the goop and blood covering him, and grinned at Billy.

“Told’ya we would get you out.”

They shepherd him inside, most of the gang speechless and struck dumb from the events of the past while.

Steve was given a change of almost clean clothes, and allowed to use some of their bottled water ration to clean the freezing black fluid from himself.

He wasted little time, and was down in the Upside Down version of his living room with everyone else.

“We can’t be long. El had to use a lot of strength to open it, but she’ll need her strength to close it, too.”

Nobody knew what in the fuck Steve was going on about.

Nobody but Hopper, that is.

He still had disgusting pool sludge all over his front from when he pulled Steve into a tight hug when he had gotten his bearings back from his journey through the rift.

“We can’t send people through that shit. It took all of Billy’s muscle to get you outta there.”

“So we drain it,” Steve insisted. “My parents drain it sometimes, I know how to do it.”

“I’ll keep watch. Make sure nothing tries to make itself known.”

Billy had barely wiped himself off.

He didn’t care anymore about how freezing that shit was, he just wanted to surge forward, and get back the fuck home.

Hopper studied them both.

“Bring weapons. Yell if you need help.”

Billy nodded once, and turned on his heel, following Steve out the back door.

Steve led him to a wooden shed on the side of the house. Billy had to clear the vines away from it before Steve could pry open the doors.

It was full of pool equipment, and it didn’t take long for Steve to locate a large grubby pump. He knocked it against the wall of the shed until the filter attachment clattered off, leaving bigger openings for the sludge to, hopefully, run through.

“Shit. This thing is electric. You got electricity?”

It was the first time Steve had really gotten a good look at Steve since being in the Upside Down.

He looked exactly as he had in the void place. His hair had a lot more disgusting black fluid in it, and he overall looked kinda shitty with the flecks of grime and blood on his face, but he looked bright. Alive. Strong.

“How did you do it? Take me to that place. Figure out we were here.”

Steve flushed. Billy had become overly aware that his face was completely covered under his bandana. Steve should cover his face.

He drew another one of his back pocket, and, he didn’t know why, but he tied it around Steve’s face.

Seriously, he could’ve just handed it to the guy and called it good there. But no. He had to set his ax on the ground, propped against his leg, wrap his arms around Steve’s shoulders, and tie the bandana like this was some intricate ritual.

All while Steve just stared at him with those fuckin’ eyes of his.

“It’s a long story.” Billy could barely hear Steve speak through the dirty cloth now covering his mouth and nose. “I’ll tell you when we’re back. When we’re safe.”

“I’m holding you to that, Harrington. Can’t have a guy poking around my dreams and shouting in my head without knowing his intentions.”

It was as close to flirting as Billy dared right now.

Right before they tried to journey between worlds.

“Good to know you heard me. I was trying to give you something of a pep talk.”

“Well, it worked. I would’ve just put my arms out and let those things rip me to shreds if I hadn’t have known.”

Billy didn’t know what Steve’s face was doing behind the cloth, but his eyes dropped, and Billy imagined that little cinch of his mouth that he had noticed Steve doing so much in that void place.

Billy meant it as a joke.

He really did.

And the Billy that was torn to bits in the mall wasn’t this Billy. Wasn’t the real Billy that was made out of real Billy materials and real Billy personality.

But it still made Steve feel queasy, thinking about his arms spread wide, black goop pouring out of his mouth and nose as the Mind Flayer decimated him.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about, Billy. Just, not now.”

And Steve turned off, hauling the pump back to the pool and taking calming breaths.

The pump sank without much effort, like there was some kind of gravitational pull at the bottom of the pool.

Steve had connected the thickest hose he could find, adn sent Billy off with the extension cord to find an outlet that didn’t spark and threaten fire.

Before no time, the pump was humming, and pushing black slime through the hose and onto the dead grass.

They didn’t need to get it all out, just as much as they could shove everyone through.

Steve closed his eyes, trying to reach El like he had Billy.

We had a hold up. Shouldn’t be long.

He could feel her on the other side.

She promised she would stay close enough to the rift that Steve could get in touch with her.

He could feel something slither down his spine, a wordless confirmation from her.

The liquid in the pool was slowly edging down, leaving a stain on the once-white walls of the pool.

“Gather everyone up. Tell ‘em to meet out here. Tell ‘em to leave it all behind.”

Billy was still staring at the edge of the forest when he commanded Steve.

It was odd, being in his house that’s not his house.

Everything was so. Wrong.

From the way the house seemed to be crumbling down, reduced to its studs in some areas, to the way it was still clearly his house. Paintings his father had bought. Elegant furniture his mother selected.

It was all there. Just under a thick layer of dirt and nightmares.

He thought idly about his bedroom, wondering if it would look like it did on his end. A little messy, the sheets typically rumpled and unmade.

He resisted the urge to wander upstairs, reminding himself he was on a mission.

“It’s time. Don’t bring anything. It’ll probably be ruined along the way.”

Everyone looked grave. Steve tried to smile at them, tried to push through some calmness to them all. He had forgotten Billy’s bandana was tied around his face. He sent one last wave of quiet confidence around the room, and led the group through the kitchen.

They had barely rounded the corner of the kitchen island when they heard a strangled yell from outside.

Steve put his head down, and sprinted through the shattered glass doors, skidding to a halt in the threshold.

Billy was staggering backward, his ax forgotten on the ground and his left hand was clinging wildly to his right shoulder.

His jacket was in tatters, thick blood dripping bright crimson down his arm, standing out like neon against the dark, dirty ground.

Steve didn’t feel himself moving forward. He didn’t feel his hands raising in front of him.

He just felt anger. The same anger from before that had ripped through him like a raging forest fire and straight into El.

The thing shrieked.

It backed away from Billy, twisting and writhing as its horrible screams filled the air, making the hair on the back of Steve’s neck stand on end.

Fierce fury was exploding out of him, and he grit his teeth against the pounding in his head.

“You don’t get to hurt him,” Steve barely barked out.

All went still, and the demogorgon snapped into pieces.

Steve felt like he could pass out where he stood.

He had never felt so wrung dry.

His vision was waning at the edges, and he felt an arm around his waist, coaxing him toward the red light now barely shining through a thin layer of slime in the pool.

“Hold your breath, Pretty Boy.”

Steve was limp against him, and Billy was doing his best to ignore the searing pain in his right shoulder as he held Steve close to his side. He had fumbled off both of their face coverings, moving clumsily through the pain of his injury.

He took one last breath, and jumped into the rip between worlds.

He plunged into the water, the crystal blue of a chlorinated pool.

It was the best feeling in the world.

Being covered and surrounded by clean. The heated water doing more to soothe Billy’s frayed nerves than anything in his life.

He kicked hard, swimming one-armed to the surface, Harrington a dead weight in his injured arm.

His head broke the water, and he took in deep lungfuls of clean, crisp air.

Someone was tugging at Steve, and Billy, for the first time in his fucking life, was glad to see those kids Max was constantly hanging around.

A woman Billy didn’t know was fawning over Steve, feeling for a pulse, and looking relieved when she felt his hot breath against her palm.

“There’s more coming,” Billy coughed.

He barely managed to get the words out, dripping muck and grime on the cement by the pool, when it felt as though he was hit from the side by a speeding train.

He buried his nose in bright orange hair, hugging Max back as tightly as he could manage.

He was exhausted, and feeling her there, alive and okay, was all that was keeping him standing.

“I thought, I mean, we all thought you were dead. We saw it. That thing killed you .” Billy realized, with a whole lotta horror, that she was crying. Sobbing outright into his dirty chest.

“Yeah, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” How could they have seen when that monster just came at him?

“Oh, you’re bleeding.”

And if she only just realized he was hurt?

Max frog-marched Billy inside, to a very pale-looking Nancy Wheeler, sitting ready with a first aid kit.

Billy had to peel his clothes off his body, the fabric stuck to him like a second skin.

Nobody was speaking, and more of the people locked in the other place came traipsing into the room, fluffy towels wrapped around their shoulders.

Hopper was the last to come in, holding the woman tight to his side underneath the striped pool towel.

“Steve and El are closing it back up.”

There was a quiet murmur around the room.

Nancy patched up Billy’s shoulder, Max still stuck to his side like glue, the little boy from camp pasted to his other side.

He had no idea how much time had past when Steve finally came traipsing into the room with Max’s little friend, both of them sporting matching bloody noses.

Steve looked like shit.

His face was covered in blood, old and new, and he still had some of the gross not-liquid in his hair from the Upside Down.

But Billy doesn’t think he’s ever been happier to see someone in his life.

“I’m sure everyone has questions,” said the woman tucked against Hop’s side. El, Billy assumes, had taken her place on Hop’s other side, wrapping the towel around her shoulders as well.

The woman launched into a story that made Billy feel like his brain was oozing out of his ears.

A monster. One they had all met before. Playing body snatcher in their sleepy little town.

Apparently, one had been wearing a Billy meat-suit and wreaking havoc around town, which made Billy wanna throw up until he died.

Which, not-Billy, had died. Fuckin’ brutally. And in front of everyone. Which sure as shit explained why Max wouldn’t let go of his sweaty hand.

The story made Billy queasy, and he took to studying everyone in the room instead.

All the kids were there, even the one that had been following Steve around like a little shadow, but they were all glaring in the very much opposite direction of Steve.

Steve himself was pressed almost against the wall, looking like he’d collapse if the wall weren’t supporting him.

“What’s up with the cold shoulder?” Billy muttered to Max.

“They’re mad at Steve right now. He’s been lying to us all.”

It was all he got out of her before everyone started moving around.

The woman, Joyce Byers, he’s learned, had finished her story, and the group from the Upside Down had begun clamoring for rides home, or maybe something to eat.

Billy just saw Steve manage to slip away before he followed him.

It took some doing, shaking off the little one, who still wasn’t speaking, and looked ready to burst into tears when Billy told him to stay behind in the living room.

But Janet Holloway took the kid’s other hand and gently led him back into the living room.

Billy nodded at her, and sped up the stairs.

It was weird, being in Harrington’s actual room.

It was messy, and looked like Steve spent most of his time here tossing clothes on the ground or twisting up in his bed covers like a tornado.

But it was oddly comforting.

Being in Steve’s real room, and not some perverse dirty copy.

Steve was standing, facing the bed, peeling his borrowed jacket from his shoulders and leaving it there on the floor.

“I never said thank you.”

Steve startled at Billy’s voice.

“Yeah. No problem.” Steve’s tone was light and airy, but Billy heard him sniff.

“Max said the little shitbirds are mad at you. Something about you lying.”

Steve turned around, giving Bily a watery smile.

“It’s a long story.”

“I got time.”

So Steve told him.

About the lab.

About the experiments.

About the torture.

He explained that he had rules. Never making anyone feel something they already didn’t. Never altering someone’s opinion of, or feelings towards him.

Billy grit his teeth as he imagined Wheeler giving Steve a hard time about that.

Steve was silent for a moment, not looking at Billy.

“It’s okay if you hate me. I mean, everyone does now.”

“You'd be able to feel if I hated you. You and those powers of yours just saved my life, Pretty Boy. I’m pretty sure I’m feeling the farthest thing from hatred just about now.”

It was as close to a confession as Billy would let himself get.

But if Steve knows what he’s feeling at any given moment, then that means that he knows, and he didn’t-

“Quit it. Insecurity isn’t a good look on you.”

Steve sounded tired, and he flopped back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling with his arms out.

At first, it didn’t sit quite right with Billy.

He had barely even begun to identify what he was feeling when Steve swooped in and just point blank told him what the emotion was.

Billy spent nearly all of his time being a big fuckin’ facade.

He tried his very best to hide any emotional tell from anyone around him.

He prided himself on being a chameleon. That nobody would ever truly know how he felt in any given situation.

And here’s pretty boy Steve Harrington. Who is feeling just as, if not more, strongly as Billy is.

But, it takes out all the parts of emotions that Billy hates dealing with.

Showing them. Talking about them.