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thewulf · 6 months

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You're A Joy || Remus Lupin

Summary: Request - Okay here is another one that is hella personal. Yesterday I was told that i convince people to not love me(kinda shocking and I’m still alittle confused). But what about Remus and reader being friends but clearly liking each other. But like the reader is constantly jokingly putting her self down and such... Read Rest Here

A/N: Made this a 3 x 1. The three times you don’t give yourself credit and the one-time Remus does something about it. Thank you for the request @loving-and-dreaming !!

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Y/N

Word Count: 3.6k+

The Great Hall

You were sitting down at the end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall peacefully before the four boys, whom you really did grow to love over the years, swarmed all around you. Truly, the small smile that formed on your face was one of utter joy. The four of them had made the measly journey as a first year through the six years together an absolute joy. You’d have been lost without your girls, yes. But without the guys? Who knows what pure bliss felt like. What laughing until you had no air left in your lungs felt like. What a shoulder to cry on without an ounce of judgment felt like. You loved them all. But man, were they annoying sometimes.

“Where’s Lily?” James asked before his ass hit the seat bringing a soft smile to you face. A soft shake of your head let him know you didn’t have a clue where she was. You had to hand it to him though, the boy was persistent. Lily would surely give in one of these days. She was teetering on the edge of saying yes to your bemusement. You’d never thought she’d give in to James. But credit to him he finally listened to you after years of advice and slowly Lily was seeing the James you always saw.

“Not a clue Jamsie.” You looked up to him with a wry smile, “Why do you ask?” Playing coy with James was on of your favorite pastimes, truly.

He shrugged looking away, “Just curious I suppose.”

“Right. Just curious.” Nodding your head, you didn’t dare look over to the boy who always watched you with curiosity in his gaze. He was far too fucking handsome. With that light brown hair and those big brown eyes? How everybody wasn’t fawning over Remus was beyond you. Instead, they flocked to his much cooler friend Sirius. You just wish you had the courage to even hold a non-awkward conversation with the boy. Ever since you started crushing on him it’s like you forgot how to hold a normal conversation with the boy. You were able to fake it with the group but got squirrelly when it was just the two of you.

Sirius interrupted your endless stream of thoughts when he spoke up after a comfortable silence between the group, “Thanks for the homework help, Y/N.” Sirius spoke breaking you from the Remus spell that was taking over your bloody mind.

It was your turn to shrug it off, “Don’t mention it. Anybody would’ve helped.” You hummed continuing to look ahead and not any of them. You were never good at receiving compliments. It just didn’t come too terribly natural too you.

“I beg to differ. These idiots all but refused. You saved my ass. A true lifesaver.” He pressed singing your praises instead of dropping. Adding salt onto the wound he shot you a knowing wink.

He had a knowing smirk gracing his all too pretty face. Almost like he knew he caught you doing something, “Ah, yeah. Sure.” You once again tried brushing him off, but he wasn’t having it. Sirius never did what you wanted him to do. It’s like he was put on the earth to make you uncomfortable, to push your boundaries. A needed friend. A friend that helped you blossom.

He leaned forward deciding he wanted to press your buttons today. Afterall, Sirius knew that Remus was already in love with you. Hell, the entirety of Gryffindor and damn near the whole school knew the two of you were an item. The two of you were just clueless to it, for now. Sirius let it simmer for the better part of a year, but he couldn’t really take much more of the longing glances and the hopeless flirting that goes on between the two of you. He had to find a way to get one of you two stubborn heads to admit anything. He was on a one-man mission that everybody supported. Quite literally everybody. McGonagall checked in the other day. Even she too was getting tired of the puppy dog eyes between the pair.

“No, no jokes. What would we do without you Y/N?” He grabbed at your hand, “Everybody thinks its Remmy over there that keeps us together. But I think it’s you.”

You rolled your eyes snatching your hand away from the player boy, “Shut up Sirius.”

“He’s right, you know.” Remus spoke up earning a curious gaze from the other three boys. He was always the man of the fewest words. It was always like pulling teeth to get him to say more than ten words. But with you? You always seemed to be the exception. Words spilled out of his mouth when you were around. His own form of Kryptonite you seemed to be.

“You don’t have to be nice Rem.” You tried reasoning with him feeling your cheeks grow in shades of red.

James snickered, “It’s not being nice if it’s true.”

“Is it so hard to accept that you might just be great, love?” Remus added in a softer tone seeing that you were stuck in your own head.

You let out a sigh a tad overwhelmed by the four sets of eyes peering right at you, “Thanks. I guess. Now, let’s get to Potions. Don’t want to be late, Slughorn will have our heads.” You stood motioning them forward.

Charms

“How in the hell are you so good at this?” James grumbled from the desk beside you. You heard Remus and Sirius laugh from the row behind the two of you.

Setting down your wand you turned to your Charms partner, “You know my mum went to Ilvermorny. They’re legendary at Charms Jamsie. Guess she passed some of that onto me.” You punched your best friend in the shoulder.

He grumbled reading the book once more trying to figure out the silly little charm that only you seemed to be able to pick up on the first try. Even Remus behind you was taking longer than normal to get the charm to actually work as intended.

Naturally, you had to show off a little to James and only irritate the boy further when you moved your journal with ease across the table. It wasn’t that it was a terribly hard charm, it’s that you were doing it without your wand. Your mum had taught you over the last few summers how to hone in the skill. That and working with Flitwick for a few years and you’d become a sort of charms pro. Going to class was simply a novelty at this point.

You knew you were going to do something with the skill. You hadn’t a clue what. You found you weren’t the best teacher so that was quickly out the window. If you couldn’t teach James then you weren’t going to cut it, even you knew that.

Flitwick walked over watching you closely. He knew you were a rare talent in the skill. Few witches or wizards could perform magic without a wand yet here you were doing it as if it was easy.

“Impressive as always Miss Y/L/N.” Flitwick interrupted your thoughts bringing the journal to a screeching halt.

You grinned at him, “Oh, it’s nothing.”

His eyes watched you curiously, “Surely, Mr. Potter here can’t say the same?”

James rolled his eyes grumbling something else, “No, course not. This stuff is impossible and you’re doing it without a wand?” James wanted to throw the book at you. So casually brilliant and without a damn clue. He wasn’t stupid. This stuff was supposed to come easy. It’s why he was in the class, an easy A. Yet here you were breezing past him without a second thought. He knew if he wasn’t helplessly in love with Lily you were close behind.

You shook your head, “Shush Jamsie.”

Flitwick laughed at the nickname, at the dichotomy between the two of you, “Have you thought more about what we spoke about earlier?” Flitwick turned his attention back to you.

Shaking your head quickly you answered him lowly, hoping your friends wouldn’t hear, “No, not really. I need to talk to my mum about it.”

He nodded curtly, “After the holiday’s we’ll discuss it further then?”

“Sure.” You answered quickly hoping and praying they hadn’t heard too much. But they had. All eyes were on you giving you all sorts of looks.

The second you were out of class the questions started from the guys, “What was he on about Y/N?” Sirius asked first not afraid to be a little bold.

“Who?” You decided to play dumb. Maybe they’d drop it.

Remus laughed knowing it would only piss him off more, “Shove off Moony.” Sirius pushed him lightly before turning his attention back to you, “Flitwick you idiot.”

“Idiot? That’s harsh Siri.” Giggling you tried your best to hide the contentment from your face.

Remus smiled, “You’re deflecting love.” Love, he always called you that. None of the other guys seemed to. Shit, you’d started to notice he didn’t call anybody else that. It was that something special between the two of you. That extra something that made you all kinds of nervous.

“Am I now Remmy?” You giggled with a lightness about you trying your best to get their minds off of Flitwick.

“Yes love, now spill.” He pressed knowing you’d fold under his gaze eventually.

You stuck your tongue out at him then the other two, “You’re all a bunch of grumps.”

“Yeah sure, go on then.” James agreed wanting to know. You knew as well as the rest there were hardly any secrets amongst the group.

You sighed knowing they’d never drop it. You’d have to spill, “There’s a position open for a bank as a curse breaker. Flitwick wants me to apply. Says I’ve got the job if I want it. Says he’s way up on the board or something like that.”

James’ jaw dropped while Sirius whistled, “Damn Y/N.”

“You’re going to take it right?” James asked with bug eyes, “Those jobs are as hard to come by as auror’s are.”

You shrugged, “Like I said, need to talk to mum about it.”

“You’re brilliant!” Sirius clapped your back as he always did when he got overexcited.

You chuckled shaking your head, “Hardly.”

James shook his head dramatically, “You freaking make magic with your mind. You’re a freaky freak. Brilliant hardly describes you Y/N.”

“Oh, bugger off.”

“You do that all the time, you know.” Remus hummed after a lull in conversation amongst friends.

“What?” You replied not expecting his answer.

“You never take a compliment. Never. Can’t you just accept that you’re a joy love?” The two boys kept their mouths shut as Remus leaned in, pressing on your tightly constructed walls.

You gave him a look before nodding, “Sure. Now lets go eat. I need to talk to Marlene about that Herbology assignment also.”

He knew you were deflecting. You always did. But sure, was more than nothing. He had to give you that. There was some sort of progress with you.

Hogsmeade

You, Remus, Lily, and Marlene were enjoying a few beverages celebrating your first weekend out in Hogsmeade. James and Sirius were wrapping up quidditch practice leaving the four of you responsible for finding a table that the group could camp out in all day. It truly was your favorite way to spend a Saturday away from Hogwarts.

Marlene grabbed Lily pulling her down in the seat next to her, “You two sit across from us.” She gave you a knowing grin all but forcing the two of you to sit beside the other. Marlene was just as tired as Sirius was with the whole situation between the two of you. Neither of you had the courage to go for it and she was slowly losing it.

“Sure.” You smiled up at him trying your best to play it cool before shooting daggers at your supposed friend. You’d never grow tired of looking at the handsome boy who stood much, much taller than you.

He pulled the chair out for you motioning for you to sit first. Without much thought you sat down thanking him and turning to the other two who were both giving you that look.

“What?” You asked all but clueless to what the hell they were staring at.

Lily giggled before turning to Marlene who was shaking her head, “Nothing. Nothing at all. I’m going to go get us some drinks. Care to help Lily?”

“Absolutely my dear friend.” Lily followed Marlene quickly leaving the two of you to wait out Sirius and James.

“Didn’t give us much of choice then?” You sighed leaning back into the seat. Play it cool. That’s all you had to do. You could do it. It was just Rem. Your Remy guy.

He eased himself back to before turning his head towards you. A soft smile layered on his face as he took you in, “No, she didn’t. Don’t really mind though. Look at that line. They’ll be standing for a while.”

Your eyes followed his in curiosity, he was right. Rosmerta’s was popular. Especially on the day the students were allowed out, “Sucks to be them.” Nodding your head in agreement your eyes found his once more. A game of chicken commenced as you decided not to be the first one to look away. Little did you know Remus was thinking the same.

Fortunately for your awkward ass you were interrupted by the two other marauders, the troublemakers of the group. Remus sighed in annoyance hearing them before seeing them.

Your eyes widened in concern as your saw their torn-up state, “What happened to you two?” You cringed seeing Sirius bleeding from his shoulder and cheek. There was a bruise forming on James’ eye and somebodies blood coating his hand and arm.

“We’re fine. Just quidditch.” Sirius hummed taking a seat next to you while James sat next to Remus knowing where Lily was sitting based on the purse occupying the seat.

“Yeah Y/N. Completely fine.” James nodded in agreement.

Rolling your eyes you grabbed your wand, “I’d argue that any day. You’re never completely fine Jamsie.”

“Me too.” Remus added while snickering at your quick remark towards your longtime friend.

“Me three.” Sirius agreed throwing a wicked grin at James.

He groaned in annoyance, “You’re all bastards.”

“But you love us.” You added.

“Sometimes.” He nodded in agreement.

You turned towards Sirius looking over his injuries, “Here,” You grabbed at his face, “Look at me Siri.”

“I’m not dying Y/N.” He rolled his eyes trying his best to come off annoyed. But even he couldn’t deny he loved the care you so often showed towards him. He wasn’t used to somebody so nurturing. Often his cuts, bumps and bruises went unnoticed by his mother or father. But you picked up on everything. On each one of them. It’s how you found out Remus was a werewolf faster than any of them could expect. It was driving you mad in your third year, why was he always so cut up around the moon? Why was he always gone? Why were the rest of them secretly missing during those days too?

Your persistence paid off as James spilled the secret of them being animagi to help Remus during his transformations. Remus wasn’t mad, no. He rarely got mad. He was embarrassed. But as always your love showed him how much you didn’t care about his condition. That was the moment he knew he liked you, quite a bit. You were clueless for a while longer. Until Slughorn’s Amortentia positions class in sixth year. You all but blurted out that your cauldron smelled exactly as his cologne instead you made some bullshit up.

“No, but you’re bleeding. Don’t want that pretty face to scar now do we Siri?” Clicking your tongue, you dropped his face to grab the wand sitting at the table.

“You’re right, we wouldn’t want that darling.” He nodded closing his eyes letting you do your work.

You whispered a soft, “Secare Amendo.” Waving your wand at his cuts and bruises. It never ceased to amaze you how cut up the boys got after a practice. It was no wonder they went straight to Pomfrey after an actual match.

“There, as good as new pretty boy.” You patted his head before leaning back in your seat once more.

He grinned, “That’s why you’re my favorite.”

“I’m ignoring that.” James glared at Sirius before eyeing you, “What about me Y/N?”

“What about you Jamsie?” You asked knowing how to drive him up a wall.

Scrunching his nose he answered, “Will you please heal me too?”

You nodded leaning over Remus before doing the same, “All you had to do was ask Jamsie.” Which earned a laugh from the entire group.

“Beauty, brains and your funny. A triple threat.” Sirius spoke first.

Shaking your head quickly you forgot about Remus’s reminder to you earlier, “You flatter me Sirius Black.”

He shrugged your comment off, “Would you just take the compliment, for once?” Sirius challenged you. As he always did. Your biggest advocate. Your biggest headache.

“Thank you Sirius.” You replied to him knowing it was just easier.

“Now, was that so hard?” Remus added. All three of you gave him a shocked expression for being so… brazen about it.

You wanted to look away but something in his eyes told you not to, “I suppose not.”

He nodded not super satisfied with the way the conversation was unfolding, “I wish you’d see we see in you. What I see in you.” He added with a whisper.

Sirius nodded at James, “We’re going to help the girls with the drinks.”

“Oh, you don’t need to.” You attempted to stand before Remus grabbed at your hand.

“Let them, I want to talk to you.”

Your heart rate involuntarily kicked it up a notch, “You do?”

“I do, be honest with me, alright?” He didn’t drop your hand but gave it a squeeze instead. He waited for some sort of acknowledgement. After giving him a head nod you waited for him to continue, “Why? Why don’t you…” He trailed off not finding the right words.

“Why don’t I what?” You had a thought of where he was going but needed him to confirm it.

Remus sighed knowing the words might hurt you, “Why don’t you love yourself? Like we do. I said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a joy. An absolute joy love.” He rambled knowing what he said probably hurt. But he needed to dig. To break down your iron walls you’d had up for so long.

It did hurt. But was he wrong? Did you even like yourself? Nothing went wrong in your childhood. You had loving parents and the normal thing plus being magical might’ve put a little strain on your muggle father, but it was never anything he couldn’t handle. He knew what he was getting into when he married your crazy American mum. You were truly a rare bread. A dirty half breed from an American commoner or so Sirius’s lovely mother had called you to your face in fourth year. If she had the gall to say that you could only imagine what she said behind closed doors. No wonder Sirius needed to get away. Thank God for James and his parents. It was a marvel Sirius turned out as kind as he was after being raised by the Black’s.

You looked away from him, “I don’t know Rem.”

He mimicked your actions from earlier grabbing at your face and gently pointing it towards him, “Look at me.” Which, of course, sent your heart into a tailspin, “Would you try, for me?”

“Try?”

“Being kinder to yourself. It hurts me when your like that to yourself. It hurts when the person you love and adore can’t see what I see.” He was speaking fast, nervous as could be.

“Love and adore?”

“Yes.” He spoke quickly, it was out there now.

“Me?”

“Yes.” He dropped your face in favor of your hands. Giving them a squeeze, “Sirius was right. Incredibly beautiful. Smartest witch in our class. Funniest person I know. A triple threat. It’s amazing somebody hasn’t grabbed your attention. You’re incredible. A wonderful human. An utter joy. My love.” He added.

Your heart was hammering in your chest. Damn. It’s not what you expected but you couldn’t say you were upset. No, this felt like a dream.

“Are you sure?” You added once more.

He groaned, “Y/N. We just talked about this. Yes. You love. You’re exceptional. Try to see what I see. Please?”

You nodded finally processing his words, “I like you too, quite a bit.”

He laughed softly giving your hands a gentle squeeze, “Well that’s good. Considering what I just told you.” He smiled, “But, I need you to answer my question. Will you try? Please Y/N.”

“Of course, I’ll try. Just, be patient with me?”

He nodded back at you pulling you closer on the bench seat, “Yes love. Always.”

“Can’t believe you actually like me.” You echoed back at him still not believing it fully. Had he made it obvious? Put it out there and you were clueless?

“Thought I made it obvious love. Can I ask you one more thing?” He searched your eyes.

“Yeah, anything.”

He smiled adoring the trust you seemingly had in him, “Would you go on a date with me? A proper date to Hogsmeade. Without the guys. And the girls. Just you and me?”

“I’d love to.” You’d answered all too excitedly.

He let of a sigh of utter relief, “That’s a relief. How’s next Saturday sound?”

“Sounds like a date.” You grinned feeling the usual nerves suddenly vanish. It felt like old times between the two of you. Two kids getting to know each other. Willing to explore more. Understand each other further and deeper. God, you couldn’t wait.

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obessedwithfictionalmen · 3 months

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Training

Joe Rantz X Ulbrickson!Reader

Summary: When Joe Rantz meets his coach's daughter. He develops a crush...

Warning: 18+/ blowjob/ Swearing/ Mean Joyce (she's a sweetheart, but in this, she's annoying)/ historical sexism/ use of Y/n/

Word count: 1.6k

A/n: Guys! I just watched The boys in the Boat and I'm in love with Joe Rantz. Thanks for the request! Hope you enjoy❤️

The first training for the new rowing team. Al Ulbrickson, his daughter and other people made their way to the dock. ‘’Honey, can you go upstairs? The boys need their maximum focus, it’s their first training and I don’t want them to be distracted by you.’’ Her father asked. Normally, she would’ve complained, saying it wasn’t fair. But her father was already stressed, so she nodded and went upstairs, to watch the training while she did her homework. She was studying to be a teacher, even though it wasn’t her first choice, she wanted to help design the boats, but engineering wasn’t an option for woman. ‘’Distracting, yeah, my outfit is distracting, its like a million degrees outside, try wearing a blouse!’’ she whispered, complaining about her father. She also wore pants, just like her mother. She liked skirts, but pants were better. She pulled her things out of her bag and started to work.

He was exhausted and his body hurt. The other guys on the team went away, but when he saw a light upstairs, he decided to let his curiosity win. She heard footsteps coming up, but when a man that was not her dad opened the door, she was surprised. But she recognized him, he was in class with her. ‘’Oh, sorry I thought the room was empty. ‘’ He said. ‘’Hey you’re Joe Rantz, right?’’ she asked. He looked at her, he thought that she was beautiful, and really cool for wearing pants. ‘’Yeah, but I’m sorry I don’t remember your name.’’ he said, shyly. ‘’Don’t worry, I’m Y/n’’ she extended her hand. They shook hands. His were rough, it showed that his body was tired. ‘’Rough day?’’ she asked. ‘’Yeah, what are you doing up here alone?’’ he asked. ‘’Uh, my dad is, uh, the coach’’ she mumbled. ‘’And he didn’t want me to be by the dock, he was scared that I would distract the boys.’’ She was nervous, but for no reason at all. He was really handsome, and it intimidated her, usually, she didn’t have trouble speaking with boys. But that blonde boy was making it hard to look at him in the eyes. ‘’Well, he’s right, you’re really pretty, and I would’ve been distracted.’’ He flirted. She blushed and bit her bottom lip. Just when she was going to say something, her dad comes in the office. ‘’Y/n let’s – Joe, what are you doing here?’’ he asks. ‘’Nothing coach, I, uh, I thought someone let one of the lights open, so I came to check’’ he stutters. ‘’It’s okay, dad, he and I have a class together, I know him’’ Y/n came to his rescue. ‘’Alright, go home, get some rest. Come on Y/n, I’ll bring you back to your dorm.’’ He spoke. She decided to stay on campus, she wanted her parents to have the house for themselves and she wanted the hole experience.

Weeks passed since they first met, they kept talking and they sat next to each other in class. But now, he couldn’t be fins, today was the first race and coach wanted them to be there early. Joe was at the library, when he was about to leave, a girl he went to school with stopped him. ‘’You’re Joe Rantz, I remember you, you had a huge crush on me in 4th grade’’ Joyce rambled. Joe wanted nothing more than leave, to avoid being late, but Joyce was holding him. Y/n was running in the halls to try and find the missing blonde, when she ran past the library, she finally found him, with Joyce. She entered the room, sweating from the running she just did. ‘’Finally, Joe!’’ she said, walking up to him. Joyce stared at her, judging her. ‘’Joe, we have to go, you’re almost late.’’ She panted. ‘’Hi, I’m Joyce! And this is Joe, but he’s nervous right now, so he’s not very chatty’’ she said. Y/n wanted to roll her eyes, but she managed to put a fake smile on her lips. ‘’Nice to meet you, and I know who he is. Come on’’ he was packing his stuff as Joyce walked away. ‘’By the way, did you ever lose that crush?’’ she teased as she left the room. Joe wanted to explain that she was just a friend, and an annoying fan. ‘’Y/n – ‘’ she cut him off. ‘’I don’t care, explain later, you have to go!’’ she rushed him.

He'd just won the race! He felt so happy! He’d work so hard to get there, and now he just won his first race. She felt so happy! Her dad’s team just won! They were gonna have a party to celebrate. She decided to leave to go and get ready, she had the perfect dress for the occasion. It was a baby blue long dress with small puffy short sleeves. It was simple, but really pretty, she let her long hair down and putted white heels on. 2 hours later, she stepped inside the reception room, with the loud music. She didn’t see Joe, but he saw her. The second she stepped in the room, he spotted her. Joyce was becoming a problem, not wanting to leave him. ‘’Joyce, you’re really great, but please I need space.’’ He said, trying not to sound mean. The second she left him, Joe almost ran to Y/n. She saw him walking towards her, Joyce was not with him, so she smiled. ‘’Hi!’’ he said. She had to lean in to reach his ear do they could hear the other. ‘’Hi, congratulations on the win!’’ she said. He had trouble hearing her. After they tried to yell in the other’s ear, the decided to go somewhere quiet. They went to her dorm room, she was on the first floor, the only room there. Being the Coach’s daughter had its privileges. When she shut the door, they were both standing up. ‘’Look, Y/n about earlier. – ‘’ he begun. ‘’Joe, it’s okay, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. You’re an adult, you do what you want, with who you want, as long as it doesn’t affect the team, your okay’’ she said, hiding the pain in her voice. She didn’t want him to be with Joyce. She developed a crush on him over the past weeks. He did too, he thought she was amazing, and so smart. ‘’Y/n, I don’t care about Joyce. And I don’t have a crush on her, I have a crush on you!’’ he confessed, his confession wasn’t supposed to be heard. She blushed and smile. ‘’I, uh, I’m sorry I – ‘’ she cut him off by quickly kissing him. She kissed him before her brain starts to panic. When they broke the kiss, he was red, so was she. ‘’I have a crush on you too, Joe’’ she admitted. She saw that he was not believing what just happened, so she pulled him by the tie and kissed him again. ‘’You deserve a reward for your win today’’ she whispered.

He wasn’t a virgin, but he wasn’t the most experienced person on earth. When she said those words, he thought he was going to faint. ‘’I know your stiff, and we don’t want to make it worse, sit down’’ she said, pointing her bed. He didn’t know what she was going to do, but when she straddled his lap to kiss him, he knew that she was in charge. ‘’You’re okay with this?’’ she asked him. He nodded and kissed her again. ‘’You trust me?’’ he nodded again. She felt him get hard underneath her, so when she dropped to her knees, she took his pants with her. He never got sucked before, the guys on the team said it was amazing, he was about to find out. She spat on his dick, before taking him in her mouth. He was big, but she’d done it before, so she didn’t gag. She started to bob her head at a medium pace, not wanting to torture him, but not making him cum too fast. ‘’Holy shit’’ he moaned as his hand found her hair. He felt really good, he was so excited. He just won a race, and the girl he has a crush on, feels the same thing, and is currently sucking him off. He was in heaven. She felt him jerk his hips a little, after all, he didn’t do it for a long time. And he had roommates, it was hard to jerk off. She took him further down her throat, making him moan again. ‘’Y/n, oh my, this is a-a-amazing. Shit’’ his brain was starting to malfunction. She felt him twitch in her mouth, she moaned on his dick. The vibration from the sound she just made drove him crazy. ‘’ I’m gonna cum, shit Y/n, I’m gonna – ‘’ his sentence was cut short by his orgasm. His sperm went down her throat as she swallowed. He was feeling euphoric. She got up, wiping her mouth. She smiled at him, seeing how beautiful he was.

‘’Thank you, it was amazing.’’ He praised her. She blushed and looked at him while he laid down in her bed. She went to lay next to him. ‘’I’m really proud of you, Joe Rantz’’ she whispered. ‘’And I really like you, Y/n Ulbrickson’’ he said, kissing the top of her head. ‘’When you win in Berlin, would you let me wear the gold medal?’’ she asked him. ‘’Of course I will, so does that mean you’re my girlfriend now?’’ he asked. ‘’Do you want me to be your girlfriend?’’ she asked, joy in her voice. ‘’I would love for you to be my girlfriend’’ he replied. ‘’Then yes, I’m your girlfriend, Joe.’’

#joe rantz x reader #joe rantz #callum turner x reader #callum turner imagine #callum turner #boys in the boat

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loveronlineee · 2 years

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Not All Bad Part 2 (Spider x Reader)

Masterlist

Spencer “Spider” White x Reader (She/Her)

Warnings: naming sexual terms (y’know the map stuff)

Synopsis: The students of Hartley High discover a sex map in the old stairwell which causes public outrage and puts all kinds of relationships on the line. Y/N is surprised to find herself on the map connected to a certain blondie

Not proofread sorry hehe

Wanna request something? Look here!

Y/N walked into school the following Monday, not particularly excited to hang with her so called friends. Sasha and Missy hadn’t called or texted her over the weekend about ditching her at the party. Missy texted her about her class schedule for the new school year and Sasha hadn’t said anything at all.

Not surprising, just disappointing.

She decided to walk to school, not really wanting to be in a car with them right now. Dusty, Ant and Spider were in their usual morning spot near the bikes. Ant spotted her and sped over, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.

“Y/N!” The girl stopped and blinked.

“Yeah Ant?”

“Can I see your timetable for this year?” Y/N rolled her eyes. Ant and her had always had at least one class together every year since year 7. And Ant had been copying Y/N’s homework in those classes since then.

She held out her hand.

“Show me yours.” Ant excitedly pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of his timetable. Y/N scanned then handed it back.

“Maths, English and Biology.”

“Yes!” Ant punched the air. Y/N smirked.

“Not so fast Anthony. I’m gonna start charging you this year.” Ant’s arms went limp.

“Whaaat? Y/N come on-“

“Nope. You gotta pay up or you gotta do it yourself.” He sighed.

“Okay fine.” Dusty and Spider walked over.

“You still letting Ant copy your homework?” Dusty asked, amused.

“Yes but with a little twist this year.” Y/N sung. Ant looked defeated.

“I’m gonna have to get a job now.” Spider laughed.

“Aww Y/N you chargin’ him now?” Y/N grinned. She was wondering when he was going to say something.

“Well I’ve got my eye on a new pair of shoes, so one of us better start working.” He laughed harder.

Spider seemed to be back to his usual self but with something a little different. Something only Y/N would notice.

It felt like he was noticing her more. Y/N wasn’t sure if that would make sense to anyone else but it made sense to her. The way he looked at her was different. Like he was hanging off of every word she said, awaiting the next.

It didn’t feel like he had changed because she had shown him a little affection. It felt more like he might’ve liked her before, and that little kiss on the cheek gave him the confidence that she might like him back.

Dusty put a hand on Y/N’s shoulder before quickly dropping it. Spider’s smile faltered at the action.

“We gotta go but we’ll see ya later.” Dusty started walking away, the other two following after him.

“Thanks Y/N! See ya!” Ant added.

“You better have my money Ant!” Y/N called back making Spider chuckle one last time. He looked back to see Y/N still smiling at him, wiping away the doubt Dusty’s action gave him.

“Hey girl!” Missy sung as her Sasha and Amerie skipped over. Y/N’s face dropped when she saw them.

“Hey.” She replied in an unenthusiastic tone. The girls frowned.

“What’s up?” Missy asked in confusion. Y/N frowned.

“You two ditched me at the party.” Missy blinked in surprise.

“You guys ditched Y/N?” Amerie questioned.

“What?” Missy turned to Sasha. “I thought you said she didn’t wanna come with us?” The pink haired girl stuttered, her lie caught in her throat.

“O-Oh well I didn’t actually ask her, I just assumed she wouldn’t wanna go.” Y/N sighed.

“It would’ve been nice to know that you guys left at least.” Missy stepped a little closer to her.

“I’m really sorry about that Y/N, I had no idea. It won’t happen again.” Y/N nodded and smiled but the apology was from the wrong person.

“Oi! There's a fully-gacked sеx map in the old stairwell. It's called the Incest Map!” A girl in the quad shouted. The trio looked at each other and ran with the rest of the students.

It was true.

There it was. A map of students, some with decorated names when they had a lot of connections, others small connecting to one person. A helpful guide was on the right for the meaning of each line spanning from blowie to butt fucked.

“You scissored Greta Bathgate?” Missy loudly questioned Sasha. “Before or after we broke up?”

“I don't remember.”

“You don't remember?”

“I'm pretty sure we were on a break, but...” Missy began walking away. Sasha called out to her. “Wait, Missy.”

“Nah, I need space, man.” Y/N rolled her eyes.

“Good one Sasha.” She looked back at the map, going through names.

Darren gave Ant a wristy, Jessica wanks in public, Sasha’s been with nearly every girl in her year…

Spider.

Y/N would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little curious of Spider’s history. She read the names connecting to his.

Fucked Suzie and Quinni, gave Eleanor a dirty thumb, Saskia gave him a suckback. And according to the little note on the side, he made sure she couldn’t walk for three days. An extra little note added that that was probably fake.

Y/N remembered Spider going around last year bragging about it. Yeah definitely fake.

One last name connected to his.

Y/N.

“Oh shit.” Y/N breathed out. She hadn’t even noticed her own name yet. Sasha pulled a disgusted face.

“Oh gross Y/N you let Spider fuck you?”

“No that’s not true!” Y/N objected. She read the other connections to her name.

Hooked up with Ca$h. Not a complete lie. They made out at a party for like 10 seconds.

Fucked Dusty. Complete lie.

Y/N could tell almost all of these were rumours. But she also knew that everyone loved rumours. She looked over to Spider and Dusty. They were still reading the map.

She watched Spider’s face drop. He blinked slowly, processing. Then he looked around for Y/N and spotted her.

She gave him a look that said Are you gonna say anything? He just looked back at her blankly, like a deer in the headlights.

“Quinni, lazy kebab.” Quinni frowned.

“That's not true. What's a lazy kebab? Spider, what's a lazy kebab?”

Spider’s head turned back to the map. Y/N continued to stare at him in frustration getting nothing in return.

An announcement came over the intercom.

“All students to the gym for assembly. All students to the gym for assembly.” Everyone groaned and headed over, taking some last minute pictures of the map.

Y/N could see Spider ahead of her in the crowd.

Is he really not gonna say anything?

She looked to her right at Amerie who looked very concerned. Y/N couldn’t remember what it said about Amerie on the map but judging by her face it was really bad.

“Hey Ams you okay?” Y/N asked.

“You seen Harper today?” Amerie asked, panicked. Y/N thought then shook her head.

“No. She text you?” Amerie shook hers.

“Huh. Weird.”

#heartbreak high spider #heartbreak high spider x reader #heartbreak high x reader #heartbreak high #heartbreak high netflix #heartbreak high 2022 #heartbreak high reboot #reader x spider #spider x reader heartbreak high #spider white #spencer white #spencer white x reader #reader x spencer white

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yawntutsyip · 1 year

Text

shenanigans with the avatar kids:

warnings: cussing(?)

characters include: mostly Ao’nung and Lo’ak (mentions of Neteyam, Tsireya and Kiri)

this is my first time posting on here, ahaha 🧍‍♀️I hope you guys enjoy it. I just randomly came up with this in my head so it’s kinda random ig.

context: y’all are in high school, probably junior year.

Part two • masterlist

Getting in trouble with Ao’nung and Lo’ak:

Hey! Guys can you help me with the homework from Tuesday?” Lo’ak asked trying to get yours and Ao’nung who was sitting in front of you attention.

You both ignore him. You were busy texting Tsireya, Tsireya was ranting you about this girl in her class that she had to get partnered up with but she hates.

Ao’nung on the other hand was actually doing the work the teacher assigned because them basketball players gotta have good grades to play. (💪😨) plus his mom is scary asf.

“I know you two dumbasses can hear me, please helppppp. I’ll pay for lunch!” Lo’ak whines, again tries to get both y’all’s attention.

it’s the money he stole from Neteyam’s wallet this morning.

At this point you actually weren’t ignoring him but you were so invested in this gossip convo with Tsireya you had blocked out any surrounding sounds. (ppl with loud families would understand this lmao)

Lo’ak being fed up and tired he literally grabs his water bottle from his desk and chucks it at your head not giving a care if he hurt you or not.

With the gods on your side you lean over in time having to grab something out of your backpack and so the bottle ends up hitting Ao’nung in the back of his head.

Eyes widen you look at Lo’ak with a ‘WTF DID YOU JUST DO?!’ he’s like ‘BITCH WHAT DID I DO!?’

when you both look back at Ao’nung who looked mad asf. You immediately put your hands in surrender and point to Lo’ak

You ain’t about to feel that boy’s rath he’s evil, he got him mothers temper.

“Thanks a lot snitch- anyways this wouldn’t have happened it you guys would’ve payed attention when I was calling you. I need your guys help on Tuesday homework!”

“Lo’ak it’s literally Monday- that’s from last week…..”

“Oh…we’ll at least I’m still turning it in 😒”

“That’s your problem” Ao’nung says and grabs the water bottle and throws it back at Lo’ak which hit him in the face- like straight up smack in the forehead.

You cover your mouth as you were wheezing trying to hold back your laugh.

Lo’ak gets up and walks to Ao’nung grabbing his backpack, opening it going through every pocket and folder looking for the homework

“I know you have it in here”

Ao’nung is like “bro wtf give me my backpack do your own work”

Then now you have them playing tug-of-war with Ao’nung’s backpack.

They ended up pulling too hard and the bag rips open with everything flying out, papers, pencils, he’s probably got like 6 water bottles in his backpack. Idfk why, ask him not me-

The teacher gets mad- yells at them to clean everything up and go to the principals room.

At this point everyone’s eyes were on you three. How awkward 🧍‍♀️

You being the good friend you help clean up everything that fell putting it back in Ao’nungs backpack.

You smirk and wave bye 👋 😘 but then they both glare and then look at each other.

uh oh.

“Teacher, (Y/N) was on her phone this time. She wasn’t even doing the assignment.- Yeah she actually was the one who threw the water bottle” they both tattled on you.

You stand there mouth wide open, astonished. flabbergasted. shocked.

them bitches got you in trouble. The audacity.

Teacher is like “this so the 5th time that this has happened. go with them.”

So here you guys are now. In the principals office while the principal is not even surprised at this point, just deeply disappointed and tired.

Last week Lo’ak actually pulled the fire alarm so he could get out of a test. (Jake beat that boy’s ass ong)

Then there was the time (like just the other day tbh.) You were already having a bad day and that one bitch knew how to press your buttons and she finally set you off once she said something about Tsireya and Kiri.

You ain’t gonna let anyone talk bad about your girls. Ao’nung and Lo’ak + Neteyam all had to pull you off the girl.

Kiri and Tsireya were low key hyping you up to beat her ass

Neteyam is like “DON’T ENCOURAGE THIS BEHAVIOR?!?”

You did a pretty decent job on her, let’s just say she stopped bothering you, Tsireya and Kiri after that.

As for Ao’nung- well surprisingly he just gets in trouble because of you and Lo’ak making him mad or smth. Quote from him : I don’t start anything

For some reason if one of you get in trouble- it’s all your faults. “Well even if it wasn’t you who did it you should’ve been there to stop him” type stuff.

Principal is like “hey y’all who did it this time”

You and Ao’nung just sit and point at Lo’ak “it was him.”

This happened countless of times so Lo’ak already knows the drill

Lo’ak is pointing at himself as well

“Yeah yeah yeah It was me.”

#atwow #aonung x reader #atwow x reader #avatar the way of water #ao’nung x reader #atwow imagine #avatar x reader #lo’ak imagine #lo’ak x reader #☆ — ao’nung ˖˚⊹#☆ — lo’ak ˖˚⊹#☆ — modern au ˖˚⊹

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earthtoharlow · 5 months

Text

Teach Me: Party of Five

Series Masterlist

Ariel and Jack were sitting on the couch cuddling, the latter tenderly rubbing her bump.

“Jack, stop that tickles!” Ariel said giggling as she watched her husband walk his fingers along her bump

Jack just smiled, pressing a kiss to her belly. “I just can’t believe there’s two babies in there.” He whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Ariel whispered back, confused as they were the only ones in the living room.

“I don’t want Jayla to hear me.”

“Jack, as talented as our daughter is, I don’t think she can hear us from her room on the second floor.” Ariel whispered back just to humor him.

He pressed another kiss to her belly, “Yeah, well you can never be too sure.”

Ariel just shook her head at him and ran her fingers through his curls that he had recently cut into a mullet.

As they were flipping through the channels to find a movie to watch they heard Jayla come skipping down the stairs.

“Wow, you guys are watching a movie without me?” Jayla says before flopping down in between the two breaking up the cuddling.

“Careful.” Jack told Jayla to make sure she didn’t hurt Ariel.

Ariel looked over at him, giving him a look letting him know she was fine but still placed a pillow in front of her just in case and continued flipping through the movie selection.

“OH let’s watch Finding Nemo!” Ariel said excitedly stopping on the movie as he popped up on Netflix.

Jayla began to shake her head, “Mom, I’m almost a teenager! I don’t wanna watch this kid’s movie.”

Jack almost died inside hearing Jayla talk about almost being a teenager, he was about to have a teenager and then twin babies in the house. While nervous he was excited to grow his family and go on this journey with Ariel. When Alyssa passed he thought it was just going to be him and Jayla forever, he was glad that Ariel came into their life.

“I agree with your mother, I kinda wanna watch Finding Nemo, it’s a classic.”

“Fine, but I’m not gonna be happy about it.”

Jack and Ariel looked at their daughter and then looked at each other smiling, knowing that she was going to be into the movie halfway through like always.

It was quiet as they began watching when Jack heard sniffles next to him, at first he thought it was Jayla but she was looking at Ariel.

“Mom…are you crying?” Jayla asked

Ariel wiped the tears that were falling from her eyes. “What? No, of course not!”

If Jack didn’t know Ariel was carrying his children he would’ve been worried. But he had noticed over the last few days that the smallest things were making her emotional. When he got his hair cut into a mullet earlier this week, Ariel spent ten minutes crying over his lost curls. He had to spend another ten minutes calming her down, explaining that it would grow back.

“It’s ok if you are,” Jayla said comforting Ariel as she scooted closer and wrapped her arm around her. “Thanks baby, you’re so sweet.” Ariel said, placing a kiss on her forehead and pulling her even closer. At first they were worried how Jayla would react to becoming a big sister, but moments like this calmed their nerves. Jayla was going to be an amazing big sister.

***

“Dad, maybe mom should help me. I mean she is a teacher.” Jayla told her father as he continued to help with her math homework.

“No, your mother still isn’t feeling well and I got this. They just teach math so differently these days.” Jack told her as he continued doing the math problem on some scrap paper. Jayla just rolled her eyes as she watched him do the problem over for the 4th time.

Jayla sat up from her seat at the kitchen table when her mother came rushing in and started going through the cabinets.

“Mom! Can you help me with my homework, dad doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Jayla asked, giving her dad a side eye.

“HEY!” Jayla shrugged her shoulders at him.

“Sure honey, give me just a moment.” Ariel told her before sighing and walking across the kitchen to the refrigerator. Jayla gave her father a confused look wondering what her mother could possibly be looking for. Jack just simply shrugged his shoulders, confused as well.

“Mom, what are you looking for?” Jayla finally asked. Head still deep in the fridge Ariel replied “Just looking for some chocolate syrup.”

That made Jayla even more confused, it wasn’t Sunday where they would either go out to have ice cream as a family or have a mini ice cream bar at home.

“For what?” The ever curious preteen questioned

“I just need it for these pickles.” Ariel told her as she finally spun around to face them. Jack had to hide his gag at the thought of pickles dipped in chocolate syrup.

While that combination was disgusting, her mother wanting to eat chocolate was even more concerning. “Mom, you don’t even like chocolate!”

That’s when Ariel took a pause, eyes widening slightly. Trying to discreetly tell Jack to help her.

Jack coughed trying to stall as he came up with an excuse, “Jayla, don’t question your mother.”

Ariel rolled her eyes at the failed attempt. “You’re right sweetie, I had just seen a tik tok of someone trying it and it piqued my interest, I’ll have to show you later. Anyway, let me help you with this math homework. While your father runs to the store and gets some chocolate syrup.” She said with a smile before cutting an eye at her husband. Jack immediately got up from the table to head to the store, knowing better than to argue.

Jayla, still taken aback by the unusual food request, just simply nodded her head before showing her mom her work. While Jayla began finishing her work after Ariel explained it once more, she pulled her phone out underneath the table and texted Jack one more request. “Can you buy ice cream too, please. I think I want to dip my pickles in them.”

Giggling when Jack sent the throwing up emoji back then almost immediately editing the text to send the thumbs up emoji.

***

Jayla noticed for weeks how her mom was constantly sneaking away to the restroom after every meal, eating weird foods and her dad being more protective than ever.

Jayla dropped her fork on the glass plate, it fell loudly which got both of her parents attention.

Ariel and Jack looked at her confused and concerned.

“Okay, tell me the truth, are you pregnant?

Ariel and Jack looked at each other wide eyed, the latter picking up his fork to shove food in his mouth to avoid answering.

Ariel pushes the food around on her plate before answering, “What makes you think that?”

“I don't know, not to be mean but you’ve been super emotional lately. You cried watching Finding Nemo the other day.” Jack started chuckling under his breath and Ariel pinched his thigh roughly, making him jump in his seat.

“His mother dies, I’m only human!” Ariel tried to explain but Jayla wasn’t too convinced.

The preteen rolled their eyes before replying. “Seriously mom, you can tell me! I’m 12 now which means I’m almost a teenager!”

At the mention of almost being a teenager, Jack immediately started rubbing his temples, before looking over at Ariel who was already looking at him.

Jayla watched her parents in excitement, as it seemed like the two were debating on whether to tell her or not. Ariel and Jack gave each other a slight nod before looking over at Jayla once more.

“Ok, yes. I’m pregnant!”

Jack covered his ears as loud squeals came from his daughter, Jayla jumped from her seat and rushed over to hug her mom.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so excited!” Jayla said excitedly before placing a hand on her stomach. “I can’t believe there’s a baby in there.”

“Babies, actually.” Ariel said low, Jayla hardly heard her.

“What?” Jayla said, looking up at her.

“Well…”Ariel started “Your mother is having twins.” Jack said finishing her sentence.

“No way!” Jayla yelled, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re being serious, right?” Ariel nodded her head.

Jack nodded, smiling like a fool as tears rolled down Ariel’s face. “You’re going to be a big sister to twins, Jayla.”

They didn’t think the smile on Jayla’s face could get any wider. “This is the best day of my life.” Jayla practically sang, looking at her parents before leaning down to her moms belly. “Hey guys, It’s your funny and cool big sister. I can’t wait to meet you.” Jayla whispered, kissing Ariel’s stomach.

Ariel's eyes sparkled with more tears as Jayla continued talking to the babies. When she looked over at Jack beside from her, his eyes matched her own.

“I love you.” He silently mouthed, Ariel repeated it back. The rest of the night was filled with Jayla asking a million questions and they wouldn’t change it for the works. Happy that Jayla took the news well.

***

Sorry if there’s any typos I finished this at 3am, but yay Jayla knows now! Next blurb will be Ariel giving birth! Thank you reading, let me know your thoughts! :)

tag list

(message me if you'd like to be added or removed)

@heavyhitterheaux @hoodharlow @neon-lights-and-glitter @babiefries @toocriticalharlow @mace23477 @snows-blog-of-fiction @dstark-0706 @harlowsbby @itsyagirljaz @leftapricotprofessorlover @comehomeimissyou @minkookie95 @harlowcomehome @jackharloww @jaydaaasworld @kkrenae @hufflewhore128 @w1ldthoughts @vinniehackersbaee @realwifeofjackharlow @halfmoondaze @katiaw2

#jack harlow #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow x y/n #jack harlow reader #jack harlow x oc #jack harlow x black reader #dad jack #dad Jack Harlow #jack harlow blurb #jack harlow concepts #teach me

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specialagentlokitty · 6 months

Text

Carol Danvers x teen!reader - family

Carol Danvers x teen reader prompt 44 the hot chocolate one! Maybe she's like a big sister to reader. - @witchreporter 💜

44: “I make a great hot chocolate.” “I’ll be the judge of that.”

Rubbing your hands together, you tried to warm them up as you walked into your apartment, shrugging your bag off by the table.

You saw a familiar jacket on the back of the couch and you smiled to yourself.

“I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’ve been away, you’ve not been buying shopping.”

You turned to the doorway to see the face of a very familiar superhero look around.

Anybody else would’ve freaked out, panicked or immediately began fangirling about a superhero being in the apartment.

For you it was normal.

“Takeout man, easy food.”

Carol sighed, pointing a spoon at you.

“I didn’t teach you to cook for nothing.” She scolded.

You grinned a little, shrugging your jacket off, pulling on her jacket and wondered into the kitchen.

Kneeling on a chair, you looked at Carol.

“This is breaking and entering ya know.”

“I have a key.”

“You have a key?”

“Yes?”

You both looked at each other confused for a moment.

“Oh yeah…” you mumbled.

Carol laughed slightly, shaking her head a little bit at you.

“Well since you’re here will you help me with my homework?”

“Yeah sure go get it.”

You jumped up, rushing to get your homework and you set it on the table, heading to the fridge to grab a can of soda.

“Thought you were good a math?”

“Not this kinda math, I suck at it.”

Carol hummed a little bit, picking up the paper, furrowing her brows a little and you snickered.

“You don’t know either.”

“I do! I’m just.. trying to figure out how to explain it…”

Laughing a little, you took it from her, sitting at the table, gesturing to the food that she was making.

“Thought I’d make something simple then we’ll go buy you actual food.”

“Alright.” You shrugged.

You began your homework, getting done what you could until the food was ready.

Carol took your homework, setting the plate down in front of you.

“Yes! My favourite!” You cheered.

Carol smiled a bit.

“Yup, I know you love it, so I thought it would be nice. I’ll be back for a while, so I’m going to make sure that you’ll eat real food not takeout.”

“You gonna stay here?”

“If you want, do you still have that spare room available?”

“Oh yeah I kept it done up just in case.”

She smiled at you, sitting down with her own dinner.

When you guys were finished, you grabbed your jacket, giving Carol hers back, making your way into the snowy streets.

Running into the store, you ran straight to the snack aisle.

“(Y/N) no!”

Carol rushed after you, grabbing the back of your jacket.

“No, food then snacks.”

“No! Carol come on!” You whined.

“Nope.”

You huffed, throwing random things into the basket and she kept taking them out and putting them away.

Finding something interesting, you crouched down, holding the chocolate in your hands.

“Carol, Carol look!”

“What’s up?”

She walked over, taking it from your hands to look at.

“Authentic chocolate to make into hot chocolate.”

Carol looked at you, putting it in the basket, going to look for a few others things and you trailed after her.

“Can we make hot chocolate?” You asked.

She walked over to the checkout and you followed her.

“I make a great hot chocolate.”

You carried on putting everything on the checkout.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

Carol rolled her eyes, paying for everything and putting it all into a couple of bags.

You took one of them and you both made your way back.

“Why are you back anyways? Shouldn’t you be out saving the universe or something?” You asked.

“Well, apparently I have a teenager who needs looking after because they refuse to cook and do normal everybody things.”

“You’re not my mother.”

Carol rolled her eyes.

“I may as well be I look after you enough.”

You ran upstairs stairs, barrelling through the door to your apartment.

Carol came in after you, gesturing for you to put the shopping away which you did while grumbling.

“I’m going to start calling you every week you know, making sure you actually go shopping.”

“I’ll just lie.”

“I’ll send people to check.”

You grinned a little bit at her, and you turned around.

“You really do care huh?”

“Course I do, why else would I be here?”

“To make me hot chocolate…”

“You’re helping I’m not doing it all.”

“Deal!”

You rushed over to her to happily help a huge smile on your face and she smiled as well.

For the longest time she had blamed herself for a lot of things, and then she just happened to stumble across you one day stealing some food.

And you’ve taught her a lot, not she was the unofficial older sister to you and she was happy to look after you.

In a universe where everybody relied on her to save the day and rescue them, you just relied on her to help you with homework and just generally spend time with you playing games or cooking for you

#marvel #marvel x reader #marvel x you #marvel x y/n #marvel imagine #captain marvel #captain marvel x reader #captain marvel x you #captain marvel imagine #Carol Danvers #carol Danvers x reader #Carol Danvers x you #carol Danvers imagine

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agaypanic · 8 months

Note

would you mind doing headcanons for benny weir with like a introverted (reader) gf who slowly comes out of her shell with him? :D

Benny Weir With An Introverted GF Headcanons

Masterlist

Request Something!

A/N: extrovert x introvert yippee !!!

***

Benny probably met you through one of his more reserved friends

It was likely Ethan

Benny would notice you and want to talk to you so bad, but wouldn’t wanna scare you off

So he asks for some help

“Please, E!” Benny begged for the tenth time in this conversation. “You’re the only person I know that talks to her; you gotta help me.”

“Why can’t you just talk to her, Benny?” Ethan asked, growing frustrated. Benny had been bugging him about this for days, and he quickly grew tired of the repetitive request. “You know where to find Y/n, just go talk to her.”

“She doesn’t like talking to new people, Ethan. You’re my guy on the inside!”

The boy sighed. He should’ve known it would’ve been faster to just do what Benny asked than try to get him to do it himself.

“Fine, but you’re doing my homework for a week.” Benny laughed.

“E, I barely do my own homework.”

“Not my problem.”

***

During lunch, you allowed Ethan to drag you to the table that he and his friends regularly sat at. You usually sat somewhere secluded or with your own small group of friends. But for some reason, Ethan was very adamant about you having lunch with him today.

You two were the first to sit at the table, but two blondes were just a few steps behind.

“Hey, Ethan. Who’s the hottie?” The boy asked as he slid into the seat across from Ethan, staring at you with a goofy grin. You raised your brows in surprise before mustering a shy smile and wave.

“This is my friend, Y/n. Y/n, this is Rory and Erica.”

“Hey.” Erica greeted you before going back to her lunch.

“Hi.” You responded just in time for another girl to sit beside Erica.

“Hey there. I’m Sarah.” You knew this already. Ethan loved talking about her, which was something you teased him about often.

“Y/n.” You gave her a polite smile before turning to Ethan. “Is this why you dragged me away? To say ‘hi’ to your friends that I don’t know?”

“One friend in particular.” Your friend said with a nervous laugh. He looked past you and perked up. “And there he is. Y/n, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Ethan gestured next to you, and you had to keep yourself from jumping in surprise to see someone sitting next to you. “This is Benny.”

“Hey.” He spoke with an excited grin, but you had no idea what he had to be excited about. “Y/n, right?”

“Yeah, hi.” You wondered how he knew your name, but chalked it up to Ethan. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” He tilted his head and rested it in his hand, smile dying down a bit but still present. You had to admit, it was pretty cute.

After that, you start hanging out with Ethan and his friends a bit more

Benny seems to gravitate towards you, which you don’t mind

A few weeks later, you get invited to a party

You say yes after a lot of convincing from your new friends

“I wanna go home.” You say as soon as you walk through the door. You could hear the music blasting from the sidewalk, and the house seemed to be filled to the brim with teenagers.

“We just got here, Y/n,” Erica said. “Live a little.” She then seemingly disappeared into the crowd, Sarah and Rory close behind her.

“Come on, Y/n, it’ll be fun.” Ethan tried to tell you, but he didn’t seem too convinced by his own words.

You, Ethan, and Benny stuck together for about an hour before Ethan left to go find Sarah. You were surprised that Benny stayed practically glued to your side. You thought he’d at least leave to try to talk to a girl or grab a drink. But instead, he was leaning against the wall next to you, occasionally talking your ear off.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna go!” You had to almost shout at Benny for him to hear you. He bent down to your level, probably so you wouldn’t have to shout.

“Want me to go with you?” Immediately, you shook your head.

“No, I’ll be fine. You can stay.” You didn’t want Benny to go out of his way for you. He had already spent all his time at this party next to you. It felt unfair to him. “Have fun.”

“Nah, I’ll come with you. It’s getting late.” Before you could protest, Benny pushed off the wall and grabbed your hand to lead you out of the house. When you went through a particularly crowded area, you squeezed his hand tight to make sure you wouldn’t separate. Your heart fluttered a bit when he squeezed it back.

Neither of you let go, even after you were out of the house and down the street. You would’ve released his hand, but by the time you considered doing it, it felt too late to be considered not awkward. Plus, Benny was still holding your hand, so he must’ve been okay with it.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You said. “I feel bad making you leave; you were looking forward to this party.”

“Y/n, don’t apologize. You didn’t make me do anything. I wanted to come with you.” Benny gave you that signature smile of his, bright and warm. Then it dies down, becoming a little shy. “Besides, if I’m being honest, I was only really looking forward to the party because I knew our friends would make you come.”

“What?” You stopped your stride, and the only reason Benny noticed was because your hand pulled him back, making him stumble slightly. His eyes darted around, as if suddenly nervous to look at you. “What do you mean?”

He stepped closer to you and grabbed your other hand in his free one. His weight shifted from foot to foot for a few seconds until he finally looked you in the eye.

“I’ve had a bit of a thing for you for a while, but I had no idea how to talk to you. So I asked Ethan to kinda introduce us, I guess.” You just stared at him. You didn’t really know what else to do. But the slight upturn of your lip gave Benny the courage to continue. “Do you maybe wanna go out sometime? Like on a date.” Your small smile grew, and you squeezed Benny’s hands.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Your dates mainly consist of hanging out at each other’s houses

If you had a long day or were in a social situation, Benny happily accompanies you to unwind

You know how little kids do parallel play?

You guys do that when you need to recharge

Today felt longer and more stressful than other days. You had to do a presentation in one of your classes, and the stress and overthinking that you got from preparing for it had taken a lot out of you. So you didn’t pass up the opportunity to go to Benny’s house straight after school.

Benny sat at his computer, playing some new video game that he had gotten. Meanwhile, you sat on his lap, reading a book. Whenever a cut scene came on, Benny would gently kiss your head, and you would try snuggling even closer to him.

You were used to winding down completely alone. But something about Benny being present made the time go by faster and made you feel even better.

Dating Benny means going out more than you used to

Obviously, if you really don’t wanna do something, he won’t make you

But he gives you an encouraging push

Rory had been going on nonstop about some kind of fair going on in a neighboring town. Your friends seemed excited to go or, at the very least, were open to the idea. You, on the other hand, didn’t care so much for it.

“I dunno.” You told Benny after he asked you if you wanted to go. “I’ve been feeling pretty burned out; I think I’ll just be a drag.”

“You’re not gonna be a drag, Y/n.”

“If you wanna go, you can go, Benny.” You said reassuringly. “I want you to have fun.”

“But I wanna have fun with you.” You and Benny stopped by your locker, and he leaned against the wall while you grabbed some textbooks. “I’m not gonna force you to go; I’m just saying I think it’ll be fun. Plus, being out with friends might make you feel less burnt out and stressed and stuff.”

You clicked your tongue as you thought it over. The fair would only be open for a few more days, and you’d probably end up being at least a little disappointed with yourself if you didn’t go.

“Can we get funnel cake?” Benny grinned at your question, taking your face in his hands to pepper you with excited kisses.

“All the funnel cake you want, babe.”

#agaypanic #benny weir x reader #benny weir #benny weir headcanons #my babysitter's a vampire #my babysitter's a vampire x reader

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atlabeth · 2 years

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turn back the clock - rafe cameron

summary: your boyfriend breaks up with you days before your best friend's wedding. you're dreading having to face it alone, but when some behind-the-scenes tampering by the bride brings you back into contact with your high school crush, more comes to light than you could've ever imagined.

a/n: thank you to ri for helping me decide which current wip to finish and this post i saw on ig for inspiring it in the first place. i love second chance romance so much and the obx3 trailer made me wanna start writing for rafe again so here we are lmao.

this has been in google drive hell since august and i finished the rest of it all in one go at midnight when i was supposed to be doing homework. so i hope you enjoy

wc: 4.2k

warning(s): small bit of angst at the beginning but basically all fluff, like toothrotting. also reader was a college track athlete but nothing else about her is described

(no i will not stop using this gif of him in the blue suit<333)

You didn’t really wanna have to make this call. Instead, you just wanted to stew in your own misery, watch some sappy rom-coms that make you feel even worse about what happened, and maybe go out and buy a couple pints of ice cream.

But the day wasn’t supposed to be about you. And you owed it to Elizabeth to at least explain why you might be in a vaguely shitty mood at her wedding.

Honestly, though—you should have expected this.

“He what?”

“Liz—” you started, but you knew once she got going there was no bringing her down until she was done.

“He broke up with you?”

“Yes,” you said, and you clenched your free hand in a fist to keep from choking up. He didn’t deserve any of your time, you knew that, but that didn’t mean you weren’t hurting. It didn’t mean tears didn’t well up every time you thought about him. “He just sprung it on me out of nowhere last night. I thought we were doing pretty well, but,” you let out a watery laugh, “I guess not.”

“I can’t believe him,” she seethed. “I told you not to trust guys with J names, and Jason is like, the biggest offender! I told you the moment we met him at that frat party he was bad news—”

“You don’t need to go on a rant!” you interrupted with a laugh. “I already know how much of a jerk he is— well, I might’ve just had my eyes opened to it, but I know. I just wanted to tell you that I’m… going through some stuff, I guess, in case I seem off during all the planning. But that’s all—you have to promise me that none of the focus is gonna be on me, because this is your day.”

“...Okay,” she said after some hesitation, “but you can still rant to me whenever you want. Just because you’re one of my bridesmaids doesn’t mean all you have to talk about is the wedding.”

“How can I not talk about the wedding all the time?” you exclaimed. “Lizzie, I’ve been involved in so much of the process with you that it’s basically all I can think about. This is the most excited I’ve been for anything ever.”

“Didn’t your brother get married last year?” she said.

“You know what I mean,” you chuckled. “I just can’t believe you’re getting married, and to Nate, too. It feels like it was just yesterday that you were telling me about the cute boy in your trig class, and six years later and you’re marrying him in a week.”

You could hear the smile in your words. “It really does feel like yesterday, huh? I remember going on and on about how much I liked him after that group project we got stuck together for—y’know, your encouragement was the only reason I ended up asking him out.”

“Then I’m glad I kept bothering you,” you said with a smile of your own. “You guys are so great together.”

“I just wish you would’ve taken my—” Liz suddenly stopped talking on the other end, and you frowned a bit.

“What?”

“...Nothing,” she said very suspiciously after a pause. “I, uh— I just remembered there’s something I need to do. Wedding related. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah—” you said, but she had already hung up. You chuckled and shook your head as you set your phone down.

You didn’t really know what that was about, but you were looking forward to the wedding—it didn’t matter that you were suddenly single.

You and Liz had been best friends since you were put next to each other in the seating chart in sixth grade science—and even though she went to NC A&T and you were all the way at San Diego State, you talked basically every day for all four years of college. Sometimes you even made the flights to see each other, and it was worth every single dollar.

It made you feel a lot better, knowing she had your back (and knowing that she had likely already blacklisted Jason from the guestlist made you feel pretty good too).

What you didn’t know, though, was that what she was doing at that moment would make the wedding night a whole lot more interesting for you.

And it all had to do with one Rafe Cameron from high school.

The air was thick with a thousand different perfumes and the stiffness of hairspray along with a whole lot of anxiety as a result of the eight bridesmaids who inhabited the room trying to make sure they looked their best before the procession started in T-10 minutes.

You were, of course, stressed as well. It was like everything that was fine for the months leading up to the wedding had suddenly decided to go wrong just to spite you. You’d forgotten to take a tag off of your dress and it was digging into a very particular spot of your back, your hair was not cooperating—Ariel and India and Natasha might have said that you looked beautiful, but it was just not working with you—and you were about to run out of your favorite mascara. All small things, but they were beginning to add up.

And to add to your stress, your phone started to go off. When you opened it, you saw it was a text from Lizzie.

girl I am so sorry to ask you this I know we’re so close to the start

but Ayana just told me that she left my bouquet on the table in the sideroom of room 139, she forgot to take them out of the vase!

sisters aren’t even on top of things when they’re your maid of honor apparently 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

you’re the closest to the room and the only other person I can trust rn because Im going slightly wedding crazy, can you please get it??? I will love you more than my future husband and you will have my eternal gratitude

using my track past against me i see

you are pushing it babe

I know

help me obi-wan kenobi you’re my only hope

lol

dw I got this 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

You are my savior and all your drinks are on me next time we go out

You sighed and shook your head, slipping your heels off in favor of the flats you came here in. The last thing you needed was to break an ankle before the procession.

“I’ll be back!” you announced to the rest of the bridesmaids—though you weren’t sure any of them heard you in the havoc—before you ran out of the room. You were thankful this dress had a slit.

It took a minute for you to get there, makeup and hair still intact, but when you did you didn’t see a vase. You huffed a sigh and got to work going through everything. The actual last thing you needed was for Liz to not have her bouquet as she walked down the aisle.

“Oh— I’m so sorry, I didn’t even know there was another person in here.”

You turned around from your crouched spot on the floor at the voice, and you nearly toppled over when you saw who it was.

“Rafe?” you marveled. Though it was posed as a question, there was no doubt about it. You’d only thought about him basically every day for all of high school.

He said your name with the same surprise, his eyes widening slightly at the same time as he stared at you for a moment too long. You swore his eyes went up and down, a slight pink tinge on his cheeks, when he blinked and shook his head. A wide smile spread across his lips in its place, and it did the same sort of thing to you that it did in high school. You weren’t immune to a Rafe Cameron grin as a freshman, and apparently you weren’t as a college graduate either. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to find Lizzie’s bouquet ten minutes before the wedding,” you said with a slight laugh. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, Topper left his pocket square in here, apparently,” he said. “We drove here together, and he’s the best man so he’s scrambling all over the place, and—” Rafe paused and he breathed a laugh, his eyes crinkling at the corners in the same way they did in high school. “You get the idea.”

“Oh, yeah,” you nodded, and a smile pulled at the corners of your lips. “I had no idea you were gonna be at the wedding. I—” you chuckled and shook your head. “I guess I forgot that you and Nate went to UNC together.”

“Yeah.” Rafe laughed again, though it was a bit nervous as he ran a hand through his hair, stuffing his other hand in his pocket. “It’s uh— it’s been forever since I’ve seen you, though. What, the last time we actually had a conversation was—”

“That one party at UNC,” you supplied, and you stood up, leaning against the countertop. “The one that Liz dragged me to when I came to visit her for spring break sophomore year. We saw each other there.”

“...Yeah,” Rafe repeated, and his smile softened. “Yeah, it was then. I didn’t know you remembered that.”

“‘Course I did,” you said. “I mean, the last time before that was the huge party you, Kelce, and Topper all threw in the last week of summer. Before we all went our separate ways.”

“Oh, that was…” he laughed as he bowed his head a bit. “That was something. Uh, it should be a rule pre-college boys should not be allowed to be around that much alcohol without supervision. I’m surprised no one died that night.”

You grinned as the memory of it all came back. It was hard to believe that it was one of the last times you saw Rafe. That it was the last time you saw Rafe for two whole years, and the next time you got even the slightest glimpse of him was a minute long conversation with your very drunk self before you were dragged out by your one sober friend.

Seeing Rafe was the only thing you remembered from that night.

“I can’t believe it’s been so long,” you said, your voice a bit softer. “College really did something to us, huh?”

“Yeah,” he said, and his smile faded the slightest bit. “Being on separate coasts’ll do that to you.”

Your expression softened, and you were about to say something when your phone buzzed in your hand. Panic jolted through you for just a moment before you read what the texts said.

just kidding lol. It turns out that Alicia got the flowers when she was picking up the drinks from there for the reception

crisis averted!!

I’ll still cover your drinks though since I prob gave you a mini heart attack and Im very sorry about that

“Huh,” you said, and you glanced back up at Rafe. “Looks like I was sent on a mission for flowers that weren’t even here.”

“Elizabeth’s probably all over the place,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been kinda stressed out and I’m not even part of the wedding party. Bridal nerves have gotta be a lot worse.” But then Rafe paused and took his phone out of his pocket, and his brow creased.

“What’s got you lookin’ like that?” you asked.

“Huh,” he said. “Topper actually just had his pocket square in his… other pocket. So I guess I was here for nothing then, too.”

A laugh bubbled out at that. “We’ve got some very organized friends today, huh?”

“Seems so,” he agreed with a smile. “But I’m glad he misplaced it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Rafe nodded, and he shrugged. “I got to see you.”

You felt the heat rush to your cheeks at an astronomical rate, and you had never been more thankful for your phone to buzz.

But seriously you gotta finish getting ready we have like five minutes left before the organ starts playing

liz if this was not your day i would be so mad at you

please. you can never be mad at me

“I gotta go before I single handedly ruin this whole procession,” you joked, and you went past the entrance and Rafe. But just as you got a few steps away, you turned around and smiled. “I’m also glad that Liz sent me here.”

Rafe chuckled, smiling inwardly as you hurried away. You didn’t know it, but his eyes didn’t leave you for a second.

The wedding ceremony went fabulously.

You got back in time and finished getting ready—for some reason, you felt a lot more confident in your appearance—and walked down the aisle arm in arm with a very lovely groomsman before taking your place at the front of the bridesmaid line.

You cried. A lot.

When you saw Liz walking down the aisle, when you looked up at Nate and saw the way he gazed at her with all the stars in his eyes, when her father gave her away, when they said their vows, when they kissed, when they walked off—you were a mess basically the entire time. Thank god for waterproof mascara.

And then when you sat with the bridesmaids for the Liz and Nate's first dance and the parent dances, you cried again. And when Ayana gave her Maid of Honor speech and Topper gave his Best Man speech—you were like a waterfall. A complete mess, but a very happy one at that.

But you managed to stop by the bathroom and fix yourself up in record time before you all went off to your normal seating charts, and god, you had never been more glad to have done so when you walked in and saw who was at your table.

Liz either knew everything or nothing, because this... this was really something.

“So we meet again,” Rafe said, another easy smile appearing as he turned to look at you. “Looks like this wedding is trying to make up for all the years we missed.”

You chuckled and took your seat next to him. “Guess so. It’s not an easy feat, though.”

“Six years was a long time,” he said.

“Didn’t really help that my parents sold our house in the OBX after I graduated,” you said dryly. “I missed all those Rafe Cameron summers during college.”

“‘Rafe Cameron summer’?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Didn’t realize there was a word for it.”

“What can I say?” you shrugged. “I graduated with an English minor. It allows me to make up phrases whenever I want.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding sagely. “I guess my… finance concentration means I control the stock market?”

You laughed and shook your head. “You’re ridiculous. It obviously means you’re the head of the treasury. Keep up, Rafe.”

“My bad.” He held up his hands with mock austerity. “Our time apart is the reason for such a ridiculous mistake.”

You smiled, but it sobered a bit and you bit your lip. “On a serious note,” you said, “I’m… I’m really sorry.”

Rafe frowned. “For what?”

“For that time apart,” you said. “I came back to North Carolina more than a few times to visit Liz and some other friends, but I never came to see you. We were— we were good friends, Rafe, and I shouldn’t have just disappeared on you like that all because I was at a different college.”

Somehow, his brow furrowed even deeper. “What? You can’t possibly be blaming yourself for this—people grow apart in distance. That… that just happened to us. I mean, you were in California and I was in Chapel Hill. That’s crazy distance.”

“I still came back, though,” you said. “Just… never for you.”

“...I didn’t expect you to,” Rafe said, looking right in your eyes. “No matter how much…”

“What?” you asked after he trailed off.

Rafe sighed, then shook his head, trying to clear his mind before he looked back at you. “Do you wanna dance?”

“What?” you repeated, mostly because you couldn’t believe it.

“Dance with me.” He stood up and offered a hand, passing a glance at the dance floor. All of the official dances had been done already so it was open to anybody, including you and your high school crush.

“Okay,” you said with an almost breathless laugh, and you really felt like your freshman self again the way butterflies fluttered in your chest as you took his hand and walked over to an open spot.

You and Rafe fell into an easy rhythm, like you’d been doing this all your lives, and it didn’t take too long for your conversation to follow.

“So what did you get up to in all those years at SD State?” he asked. “All I really know about your college career is what I’ve gotten from Instagram and your parents’ Facebooks.”

You laughed a bit. “Regular college stuff, I guess. I did track all four years and I won some awards, which was pretty cool. Went to a lot of parties, got drunk a lot, swore off drinking a lot, studied until I thought my eyes were going to fall out, then graduated with a chemistry degree. I’ve been working as a technician in a lab for the company I interned with for the past two years.”

Rafe whistled. “‘Regular college stuff’, she says, as she describes an insane balancing act between student athlete life, partying, and schoolwork, and still being able to graduate with a STEM degree.”

“You’re such a flatterer,” you admonished, but there was no real bite in your words. “That’s one thing that’s never changed.”

“It’s easy to flatter a woman like you,” he said. “I mean, you’re out there changing the world. I feel like I’m not even worthy to stand in your presence.”

You chuckled as Rafe spun you, and as your hands joined once again you offered a coy smile.

“You know,” you said, feeling a surge of confidence with his words, “I had the biggest crush on you in high school.”

Rafe’s eyes widened slightly, but he covered it up with a well placed smile of his own. “Really?” he marveled, and he said your first and last name, “you had a crush on me?”

“Yep,” you nodded. “And she had it bad. If freshman year me could see this, she would be losing her mind.”

Rafe laughed, and it spurned butterflies in your chest yet again—they were the same kind you’d felt whenever you talked to him back then, trying to catch whatever moments you could between your busy schedule and his own responsibilities. You were too scared to admit your feelings, but you enjoyed spending time with him nonetheless.

If there was one thing this was proving, though, it was that your feelings definitely weren’t as settled as you thought.

“Well, you know,” he said thoughtfully, echoing your previous words as he brought you back to the present, “I had a pretty big crush on you in high school too.”

That completely threw you off your rhythm. So much so that you stumbled, totally missing your next steps—if it weren’t for Rafe catching you, you would’ve face planted.

“Are you good?” Rafe asked, concerned.

“You had a crush on me?” you asked instead.

He laughed again and ran a hand through his hair before you fell back into your rhythm together—he had let it grow out some, you realized, and it looked infinitely better all ruffled and mussed up than styled.

“Yeah,” he said. His smile wasn’t as confident as it always was, a boyish charm mingling with unusual shyness. “It, uh— it kinda snuck up on me. I didn’t really know how big of a crush it was until I was at your signing ceremony. Like, right after you signed the contract was when I realized I had it bad.”

“My signing ceremony?” you marveled, and you shook your head in disbelief. “You really have great timing, Rafe. Couldn’t have realized a couple years earlier when we were still in the same place?”

Rafe laughed softly. “Yeah. I really do. But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to make it harder for you. I mean, I was staying in the OBX for Chapel Hill, and you were taking the opportunity of a lifetime to run track in San Diego. I wasn’t gonna take your mind off of that because some hometown guy had a crush on you.”

“Some hometown guy,” you repeated, and it was your turn to laugh. “You thought that little of yourself?”

“It’s true,” he shrugged. “I was just a friend that fell for you. I mean,” he gave you a crooked smile, “not that it was hard to fall for you. Pretty sure I was one of ten guys who wanted to ask you to prom senior year.”

“Okay, that is not true at all,” you said, but you were stumbling over yourself just as quickly. He wanted to ask you to prom senior year? When the one thing that you thought about whenever you looked at him that spring was dancing with him at prom? “Grant Millwood was the only one that asked me.”

Rafe nodded with a laugh. “That was because he threatened everyone that he knew had a crush on you to make sure he would get to go with you.”

“And then he ditched me halfway through the night because he got too drunk to function off the alcohol he smuggled in himself,” you said dryly. “Yeah, he was a great date.”

“High school was the best,” Rafe said with mock austerity, “wasn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah,” you nodded. “I miss the kook academy every single day.”

“I still can’t believe you wanted to ask me to prom senior year,” you said, shaking your head. “Rafe, how did I not even know? Why didn’t you do it?”

“And let you miss your chance with Grant Millwood?” Rafe over exaggerated his scoff. “Please.”

A laugh spilled out as a smile shone through. “You would’ve saved high school me a lot of angst if you told her you had a crush on her, y’know. Then I wouldn’t have had to spend four years pining in high school.” And four more in college, and two more postgrad.

(God, you wish he had told you sooner. You would’ve blown all of your money on tickets to North Carolina if you had even the slightest inkling your eternal feelings weren’t eternally hopeless.)

“Goes both ways,” he said, tacking on your last name. “Why didn’t you tell me how bad you had it?”

“Because I thought that there was no chance in Hell that Rafe Cameron would ever share my feelings?” you said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Come on, Rafe—you know who you are, who you were. You say a couple guys wanted to ask me to prom—every girl wanted to date you. I didn’t stand a chance.”

“And yet you did,” Rafe said with a slight chuckle. He shook his head. “Y’know, if I could turn back the clock, I would’ve done so many things differently.” Rafe smiled boyishly. “I would’ve mustered the nerve to ask you to prom before Grant even got the chance. And I definitely would’ve asked you out instead of liking you in private.”

You smiled and shrugged. He liked you then when you thought there was no chance—why not now, when you also thought there was no chance?

“Who says you have to turn back the clock?”

Rafe’s own grin grew immediately, and he pulled you off to the side of the dance floor. He held your hands in his own, the cool metal of his signet ring at odds with the rough calluses on his palms brushing against your skin.

He said your name with such earnesty you felt like you could melt, and when you gazed into his eyes, you nearly did. “I think you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met in every single way. I can’t believe that it took me meeting you by chance at a wedding for me to do this, but I’d like to fix a mistake I made five years ago by never doing this. Can I take you on a date?”

“Rafe Cameron,” you said, and it was a physical effort to contain the joy nearly bursting out of you, “I would love that more than anything.”

He grinned. “Great.”

And then he cupped your face in his hands and pulled you in for the best kiss of your life, one that you immediately fell into with all the vigor of six years spent longing.

When he pulled away, leaving you completely breathless with widened eyes and bruised lips, his sultry whisper nearly took you out.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”

You only had eyes for Rafe as you pulled him back into a heated kiss, pulling him by the cuffs of his baby blue suit. The only thing that got you away from him was the need for air.

"Me too," you murmured.

(And in the background, you were far too dazed to hear Liz’s victorious cheer.)

perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77 @simonsbluee @kwyloz @masteroperator @louderfortheback

obx tags: @milkiane @lilgoddesshines @sexytholland

rafe tags: @lurkymurker

#rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron #rafe cameron fic #obx x reader #obx #obx fic #outer banks #outer banks x reader #outer banks fic #rafe cameron obx #obx rafe cameron #outer banks rafe cameron #rafe cameron outer banks #sadie writes

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romanarose · 8 months

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If You Wanna Be Wild: Bonus Sick Fic

Santiago Garcia x Javier Pena

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Summary: Part of If You Wanna Be Wild, Santi is sick and Javi comes over to take care of him, both realizing something is brewing.

Warnings and content: PTSD (flashbacks), internalized homophobia but like. Its mild. Flashbacks to that one scene in Glee with Blaine and Tina and the vapo rub lololol

A/N: I know it's been a min since the last chapter and I promise it's coming but I thought I'd giving a lil bonus chapter. Takes place before chapter 3.

A/N 2: for those who aren’t boomers like me, MASH is a show from the 70’s about med soldiers in Korea. It was a comedy but also dealt with super heavy themes and makes me cry

1.8 words

******************

When Javier Peña waltzed into work at 8:23 AM, he was surprised to find Garcia was not at his desk. Santiago was always on time, and usually early, often staying late to make sure his paperwork was just right. Javi had once returned after realizing he forgot his wallet before the weekend only to drag Santi out of the DEA’s office practically pouting at nearly midnight.

So needless to say, Santiago being gone on a Monday morning was certainly enough to make Javier concerned enough to walk back up to the secretary. Maybe he had finally gone out and enjoyed his life a little on the weekend. The kid needed it, he needed to let off some steam, and a guy that looks like him certainly wouldn’t have any trouble finding a nice girl. Well. Javi hoped she was nice. Santiago would get eaten alive.

“Hola Colleen, ¿Has visto Garcia?” He asked, leaning over her desk.

She did not look up at him. “There’s at least 6 Garcia’s in this building.”

Javi cocked his head to the side. “Which Garcia do you think I’m talking about?” A rhetorical question. “He’s late.”

“What’s it to you? You're late every day, your little lap dog probably got stuck rescuing a kitten from a tree or something.”

He would waste time on something like that.

“Colleen”

She rolled her eyes. “He called in sick, Javi, now mind your business.”

“Sick?” How did he possibly get sick, the kid had the best immune system he knew. Didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, ate all his veggie’s off his plate like his mommy was still watching. “How sick.”

“I didn’t press for details. He never uses sick days so if he wants to play hooky for once it’s none of my business.”

“Thank you Colleen.” Javi smacked the desk, not hard at all. “This was very helpful.”

Javi waited until noon to call.

“Hola?”

“Garcia, where the hell are you?” He didn’t want to make it seem like he’d been asking about him, after all.

“Oh, hey Javi.” He sounded awful. “Lo siento, I thought they would have told you I was out sick.”

“Well, no one tells me shit around here, you know that.”

“Except for prostitutes.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’m going on break, want me to swing by and get you anything? Some food, medicine, blankies.”

“Oh, actually, there’s some paper work in my top drawer-”

“I’m not bringing you work, Pope! Jesus, were you the kid who had friends bring him his homework when he was home sick from school?”

Santiago coughed and his poor throat sounded so horse. “Well, if I had friends and if I took days off, I suppose I would’ve.”

“Jesus, Garcia.”

“I’m JOKING! But yeah it was my sister. Mamí would have my head if I fell behind.”

That kid was never going to be free of his mother. “Other than work, do you need anything?”

“No, I’m alright, thank you.”

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow? 8 O’clock?”

“I’ll see you when you walk in at 8:45”

“Shut the hell up.”

Javi was getting ready to leave work when he thought he might call Santi again to see if he needed anything on his way home. They didn’t live far, after all.

He called once, but the boy didn’t answer. He called again, no answer. When there wasn’t an answer a third time, Javier got concerned; he must be too sick to answer. Only stopping briefly at a corner store for some medicine, Javi rushed over to Santiago’s, banging on the door. “Garcia? Garcia!”

After a few minutes, Santi stumbled to open the door, looking groggy and messy and so unlike the boy he knew. Santiago shaved every morning, came to work crisp and put together. Right now, in a rumpled t shirt and shorts and a face that looked like he hadn’t shaved since Friday morning, Santi looked like an adorable disaster.

“What happened? Are you okay?” He asked, worry in his eyes.

What a guy. “Am I okay? Garcia I called you three times and you didn’t answer, you look like hell.”

“Oh.” Able to relax a bit, Santi’s shoulders slumped and he rubbed his eye as he coughed and looked at the bad in Javi’s hand. “What’s that?”

Javi glanced at the bag before returning his gaze back to the sick man. “I brought you some medicine. Thought you might need something.”

The smile Santi gave him made his heart leap. “Javi, I appreciate you worrying.”

“I wasn’t-”

“But I’ve had three of my tia’s stop by and baby me already.”

“Oh-”

Santi saw Javi’s slightly dejected look, and it made his heart swell just a bit to see that yeah, Javi was an asshole, but he was his asshole and Javi cared about him. Javi wanted to take care of him. “You know how to make soup?”

“I can try.”

“Good, because I’m starving.” Opening the door to let him in, Santi went back to his couch to watch M.A.S.H.

Javi set to work. “Jesus, Garcia, M.A.S.H? Didn’t you get enough of war?”

“They can’t show anything on TV worse than what I’ve actually seen.” He mumbled, cuddling up in a blanket again.

Javier often forgot that Santiago had a whole life before him, a whole life of seeing things Javi couldn’t protect him from. Occasionally, Santi would mention his friends from the Army, his special ops team he was a part of, but not much, and especially nothing with what happened or why he left. There was his best friend who was a pilot and a pair of brothers. The older brother had been honorably discharged recently with “post-vietnam syndrome” although they hadn’t really spent that much time in Vietnam, comparatively. Vietnam was just the thing that got people talking, finally. This only came up in concern for the young brother who without an older brother’s guidance was hard to reel in.

By the time the soup was done, Santi seemed asleep so Javi walked over to the couch quietly only to find Santi was awake, watching M.A.S.H with tears in his eyes. Javi looked to the TV and although he couldn’t pinpoint what was going on, the scene was somber. “Garcia?” He didn’t answer him. “Garcia, hey, Santi-” Javi touched his shoulder causing Santi to gasp out of his trance.

“Will?!” Santi jumped up, eyes wide with panic and hand going for his hip only to find no gun. No holder. No uniform…

“Hey, amigo, relaje, relaje… It’s okay.” He held up his hands to try and placate him. “It’s just me, you're safe, I’m not going to hurt you, Santi.”

When Santi realized it had happened again he quickly averted his eyes, subconsciously shifting away from his friend. “Fuck, sorry, I was… dreaming.”

Javi knew he wasn’t dreaming. He had been awake, clearly, but Javi didn’t question him. “Dreaming about how you got that scar on your neck?”

He knew him a little too well. That’s why Santi called out for Will, the voice he had heard before slipping into unconsciousness. Santi felt like he had been going crazy. It wasn’t as bad as it had been for Will; Santi could handle gunshots and cross fire and action. He could handle it well, he knew he was capable. It was other things, however, things like dead bodies or funerals that sent him into a haze. One funeral he went to when he looked in the casket he saw himself. He never told anyone and never went again. When he went to mass he prayed he would never have to go Frankie, Will, Benny, or Elena’s. He prayed he’d go first.

“No.” He took a few bites of soup, complimenting it.

Javi just nodded. “Alright.” Turning the TV to the Mary Tyler Moore show, Javi tried to change the subject to distract Santi. “Always thought she was hot.”

“Me too. Had a crush on her when she was on the Dick Van Dyke show.”

Javi chuckled. “Of course you did. Here.” He went and got the cough syrup and put it on a spoon. “Here.”

Like a child, Santi whined. “Asqueroso”

“Shut the hell up, I’m not Mary Poppins and I’m not giving you sugar to wash it down.”

“Fiiiiine.” Santi lifted is head enough that Javi could guid the spoon between his plush and waiting lips, eyes dropping in exhaustion and face flush with fever in a way that made Santi just look… fucked out.

No, fuck, shit, he’s not suppossed to be thinking those things about his partner, or men in general. Not that Javi had a problem with it, but he wasn’t gay. It was just his mind wandering, that’s all.

“Javi?” Santi mumbled half asleep.

“Hm?”

“There’s some vicks vapor rub on the counter, can you grab it for me?”

“Yeah, no problem.” When Javi returned with the rub, Santi was out cold. “Garcia?” He felt his forehead, he was burning up. Poor kid was probably exhausted. Sighing, he opened the vapor rub. With care and precision, Javi rubbed a bit on his neck and a little on his chest, only dipping slightly under the collar so as to not put his hand anywhere untoward. It wasn’t sexual, Santi just needed help. Digging through his medicine cabinet, Javi also found some peppermint and lavender oils and remembered what his own mother used to do when he was sick. A tiny bit of lavender under the nose and some peppermint on Santi’s temples, Javi hopped at the very least he could have a good sleep.

He deserved it, honestly. The young man worked hard, he cared about what he did and the people of Colombia. He was smart, capable, and kind, traits that Javi remembered liking so much in Steve. He was easy to like.

Settling into a chair nearby with some soup, Javier decided to stay for a little bit just in case Santi needed something or in case he got worse.

When Santi woke up a few hours later it had already gotten dark out and he had intended on moving to his bed. When he began to sit up, however, Santi saw Javier asleep on the chair. He must have stayed to keep an eye on him. Santi’s heart was full, overcome with emotion and affection for his partner in ways he can’t remember feeling since… well shit, Santi can’t remember feeling like this. He had friends he loved dearly, he loved his sister and his mother and all his extended family… but this felt… different. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

Standing up, Santi quietly used the bathroom and got another blanket from his room. Before laying down again, Santiago carefully laid the blanket over Javier, tucking him in.

“Buenas noches, amigo. Y gracias."

************

Hope this was enough to tide y'all over!

I was writing the vapo rub scene and it was gonna be a lil more intimate but then I got trauma flashbacks to Glee and ina singing and... I said hmmmmmmmm nope lol

@runa-falls @lunar-ghoulie @campingwiththecharmings @whatthefishh @itspdameronthings @persephone-girl @criticalarchitecture @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @beelzebeth87 @pimosworld @millerscoffee @heareball @thatwonderouswoman @poolbool @meveispunk @lovable-liar @millllenniawrites @read-and-wip @missdictatorme @the-fox-den @milkymoon2483 @k-ra @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @rosellacwrites @legendary-pink-dot @dreamingofbucky @axshadows @englandsgray @starsthatwatch @laiisleitte @fairlyang @alwaysmicado @theywhowriteandknowthings @casa-boiardi @lostfleur @ninebluehearts @puglover12 @sub-aro @laiisleitte @itspdameronthings @heareball @comfortlessjoy @csarab615 @calaveramangonda @bit-dodgy-innit @stevngrant @nanfafnan @kirsteng42

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thirstydiglett · 7 months

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Sneak peek! Sunny Day Auto Repair

Franky, Usopp, and Robin work at Sunny Day Auto Repair, a do-it-all car mechanic in the middle of the massive, ancient and thriving Line City. Franky swore he’d never race again, but when his father’s beloved business is on the line, he might just change his tune. Especially when some new friends come along ready to help…

This is a sneak peak of the first chapter of Sunny Day Auto Repair, my street racing AU! Give me a shout if you like. Constructive criticism wanted!

Chapter 1–Black Cats and Carburetors

“A new carburetor and a paint job for the bumper. That’ll be $575.”

The voice of the black haired receptionist came out at the exact same level as the background din, forcing the older man at the counter to lean in.

“Sorry, dear, could you repeat that?”

The woman sighed. “FIVE. HUNDRED. SEVENTY. FIVE. DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE?”

“Oh! Uh… I do, but they won’t be covering this. Don’t want them to know I’ve been racing, eh? And if it weren’t for my damn carburetor I would’ve won!” He winked, trying in vain to elicit a smile from the young woman. She was pretty—tall, tanned, ruddy skin and double lidded eyes, dramatic curves smoothing her otherwise sharp angles. This wasn’t the first customer to try and hit on her for some money off.

“…so it’s $575…”

“Robin!” A boisterous, slightly raspy voice echoed from behind the double doors that led from the lobby into the mechanic’s shop before they were flung open, revealing the strangest looking man the customer had ever seen. Massive—easily 6’7”—and he appeared to be half assembled from the same car parts he apparently worked with. “$575 is way too much to charge for a carburetor and a paint job. We can do better than that!”

“Oh, Franky!” For the first time that day, the young woman smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “What do you mean, too much? I’m already discounting the labor here.”

“Yeah, but that carburetor is my own design!” He turned to the older man, who was still trying to take in the fact that a literal cyborg was standing in front of him. He’d heard there were some in Line City, but he’d lived here his whole life and never seen one… wild.

“You see, that carburetor is the result of many hours of work between myself and my apprentice, Usopp. The air flow is second to none, you won’t find anything like it anywhere in Line City. For testing it out for me, let me at least waive the cost of the paint job!”

The receptionist’s smile fell, and she rested her forehead in her hand as she clicked some buttons on the cash register. “You’re the boss, Franky.”

She turned back to the customer, who couldn’t contain a smile at the unexpected discount. “That’ll be $475.”

“Well thank you, Mr. Franky!” The customer said as he got out his wallet. “I’ll be back out racing again in no time!”

“Yeah, let me know how you like it!” Franky responded, shaking the man’s hand. “Racing, man. Those were the days…”

As the bell on the door rang behind the man, Robin turned her eyes to her boss, looking unimpressed. “A hundred dollar discount, Franky? We’re already barely keeping the doors open as it is.”

“Hey, it was the least I could do for the guy. You heard him, he’s a racer. Besides, if we can’t pay rent again this month we can always ask Kaya to help with the difference.”

“Kaya?” A young boy—about nine or ten, but small for his age—appeared from around the corner on the other side of the lobby. His black hair and ruddy skin made it clear who his mother was, but the deer horn headband he wore on his head gave the child a spark of individuality. “Is aunt Kaya here? Did she bring candy???”

Robin sighed, but couldn’t help to spare a smile. “Kaya’s not here, Chopper. Go work on your homework.”

“I’m finished!! Can I practice first aid on one of the crash test dummies?”

Robin laughed. “If that’s what makes you happy, sweetheart.”

Chopper skipped back to his spot on the other side of the lobby as Franky and Robin watched.

“You got a weird kid, Robin.”

“Oh, shut up. You love him just as much as I do.”

Turning back to her boss, Robin’s face was serious. “You can’t expect Kaya to bail you out forever, Franky. She does too much for us as it is.”

“Kaya loves this place! She says she’ll do whatever it takes to keep it open. And she has the money, so why not let her?”

As they spoke, the bell on the door rang, turning the pair’s heads. A young man had darted into the lobby of the auto shop, slamming the door behind him. His long nose was his most prominent feature, second only to his mop of thick, curly black hair.

But what registered first for Robin and Franky was the sheer and complete panic written on the young man’s face.

His eyes the size of dinner plates, he slowly turned his head to look at them.

“I need $11,000 before Wednesday or the Black Cat gang is going to straight up murder me.”

———————————————————————

Thanks for reading you guys I love youuuuu

#one piece #one piece fanfic #one piece au #street racing #Nico Robin #cyborg franky #tony tony chopper #usopp #god usopp #mugiwara crew #straw hat pirates #sneak peak #rough draft

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kiss-me-muchoo · 2 years

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𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 || 𝐄𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

✿ This is connected to Parallelism // continuation of Pumpkin Slayer.

✿ Respective order here: MASTERLIST

Synopsis: Reader (pumpkin) and Eddie have a sleepover, Steve is not okay with the idea:)

Warnings: Reader’s official nickname is pumpkin/ One hint-mention to sex, micro talks of giving birth/ its implied reader is short and speaks Spanish/ “Graphic” talks of body dysmorphia, eating disorders, self harm, anxiety, self love (DO NOT READ THIS if you are uncomfortable with these themes) pre fluff?/ my way of writing can be CRINGE

A/N: They’re really falling in love🥺

_______________________

Why I can’t get 0 on this shit? ugh.

you think in your head, frying your brain trying to finish your math homework in Health class, so you wouldn’t have to do anything for the rest of the week. Beside you is Eddie, pretending to watch the pregnancy documentary that was on the school projector.

“Holy shit, pumpkin, look at that!” you stop working to see in his direction, then to the projector. You’re disgusted when a graphic childbirth scene was being shown, some classmates let groans and ew sounds. There’s nothing weird about seeing a poor baby trying to get out of her mother's genitals, but all the blood and fluids are… compromising.

“More than disgusted, I’m terrified” you express to your friend. It was weird, December was starting and Eddie Munson was your new best friend. Not that you changed Steve or anything, but you knew he had good company with Robin, you liked to joke with her about her stealing your boy. Eddie turned into your other half since Nancy was so busy with the school newspaper, you didn’t have any class with your freshman buddies, and Max was like a ghost.

“Of all the blood and gore?” he asked smiling at you. You shake your head, denying.

“No, Eddie. Of a watermelon head fetus ripping a vagina” some guys looked at you weirdly. But Eddie was laughing so hard.

“I’ll be terrified too. But I don’t have to worry about that” crossing his arms, he turned to see your homework.

“Not in this life…” you stated. Your friend looked at you, processing your words, then he smiled again.

“You’re mean, pumpkin” you liked that he called you like that. Some students thought you were dating Eddie.

Fact that none of you knew yet.

“I’m open to possibilities. You know?” he was looking at you, he was scanning every detail of your face. Eddie was right, he was in love with you.

“That’s the homework? You’re gonna help me right?” this time you laughed a little harder.

“That depends, you gonna drive me home tomorrow?” Fridays were longer days for you two, Eddie had Hellfire Club meetings and you had dance classes. Around 5:00 pm you would be at home.

“Sure, sweetheart” Eddie tried to avoid giving you pet names, it was already slightly suspicious that he constantly called you just pumpkin, when everyone called you by your name or in fact, pumpkin slayer.

“What’s that with your hair?… ew, Do you have lice? stay away from me” you point out when he scratched his head for the third time, laughing harder, your teacher gave you a look, a look that indicated you had to shut up.

“What? No!, I-, I have… dandruff” Eddie whispered, you nodded letting an aww sound.

“You have to wash your hair, Eddie,” you say to him, making fun of the situation.

“I do wash my hair…” you look at him with raised eyebrows, and he sighs.

“Okay, maybe not every day. I don’t have a girl night ritual routine like I suppose you do” he had a point, you found the answer to your homework, pleased to know you were free, you turned to see your friend.

“But you would’ve prettier, a princess with shiny curls” you laughed harder. Eddie got blushed, but he pretended to be laughing too.

“You’re an idiot” Eddie said gently pushing you.

“Oh my god!, I have a great idea. Let’s have a sleepover!” Eddie opened his eyes, he wasn’t sure if he heard correctly.

“What?” you nodded happily, closing your notebook and book.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. We can watch movies, I can enhance your hair, you won’t eat junk food. Oh!, and I’ll see that horror movie you want me to watch” apparently you were excited, and Eddie thought you were kidding. But once he realized you wanted to have a sleepover with him, he felt he was in the clouds, you were very different from every other girl in the 80s.

“Alright, we’ll have a sleepover” he liked to pretend he wasn’t so excited as you. The bell rang and you let a happy squeal.

“Okay, Friday at my place,” you said, grabbing your coat and bag. Eddie thought you looked perfect, this time with some jeans, a tight sweater, and some brown boots that matched the coat. He was going to get a shower, just for you.

“Since when do you like to watch horror movies?” Steve asked curiously.

You paid a visit to him and Robin at their work, plus you were about to rent some movies for your sleepover with Eddie.

“I don’t. I mean, I don’t hate them but it’s not my preference” you state before sipping at your cherry slurpee. Robin looks at you suspiciously, then she does a funny arch with her brow, so you laugh. “What?”

“Didn’t you say that you were going to have a slumber sleepover with Munson?” the fake innocence in Robin’s voice makes you irritated.

“Oh, fuck you. I thought we were friends” you say funnily, she winks at you, but Steve jumps in awe.

“No fucking way, NO!. Now Eddie Munson is your best friend?“ and that was the reason you didn’t want Steve to know, so you sigh.

“Are you being my protective brother or my jealous best friend right now?” a brain freeze hits you, making you caress your forehead.

“I think he’s being both,” Robin says casually, moving some boxes around.

“I’m being your overprotective brother right now… I don’t like you hanging around with that guy, I’ve only heard bad things about him” he says more calmly. You understand, everyone thought Eddie was a bad person, some of them knew he is a drug dealer, others that he was the king and master of the Hellfire Club, and other knew both. But he’s your boy, he’s a D&D nerd, he’s obsessed with metal music and his daily routine might not be the best, but everyone around him had to admit he was being nicer and decent, all because of you.

“I know, I know how everyone perceives him. But I know him, it’s like… you’re my best friend, like a brother. But with him, he’s my best friend like a soulmate, I don’t know…” you quickly say giving another sip to your drink.

“Girl, Do you like him more than a friend? You sounded like that…” Robin questioned, stopping her job.

“NO!. God no, no, no. Eddie’s not my type. Nop…” Deep down you knew maybe you were starting to like your friend more than you should, but you didn’t even realize it yet.

“All right, then there are no sexual motives to worry about, you can have your sleepover with Munson, pumpkin” Steve looks outraged at Robin.

“ROBIN! So now you’re on her side?” the girl laughed, shaking her head. You get a little nervous at your friend's supposition, and it made you thought if people in school or town believed you were fucking Eddie. That would be very fucked up, cause you were a virgin, and Eddie’s too.

“See? Thanks, now I will stop saying you are a Steve’s stealer” Robin accepts the cash you give for the movies and she smiles mischievously, while Steve grunts in disbelief.

“Well, I don’t trust him, but I trust you. And I know you’re gonna call me if anything happens, Right?” he asks, watching you curiously, eagerly waiting for you to answer.

“Of course, that’s why you’re my big brother. Love you, bye Robin!” you say goodbye as you walk away and head out of the store.

You light up some candles as you sing along to El Ataque de las chicas cocodrilo from Hombres G, you were loving their new album, so it was cool to have a radio station that played songs in Spanish at a long distance and worked in Hawkins.

“Dude, I look ridiculous” you turned to see Eddie opening the door of the bathroom, with a towel on his hair and a face mask. You weren’t surprised to see that his pajamas were some old band shirt and the most wrinkled plaid pants. He took a shower while you finished your skincare and finished cooking some banana bread to dine.

“You look so cute” laughing, you got closer to see his face covered in the white cream.

“How long do I have to leave this shit?” Eddie entered your room, going straight to the mirror on your vanity to look at his face.

“Fifteen minutes” giggling you got beside him, looking at him through the mirror. He noticed you were very short compared to him. And without any makeup, you looked like you were fifteen, for sure he considered you the cutest person in the world.

“Jesus… Can we start playing the movie?” he asked seeing you now, you nodded. Going to your living room, you turned on the tv and then went to the kitchen, with Eddie following you behind.

“We’re eating potatoes with cream and vegetables. And look!, I made banana bread” the excitement in your voice makes him happy, and he helps you take the dessert to cool off.

“Dustin and Mike said you were the best chef in town, guess they were right…” you don’t know if you’re visibly blushing, but you feel hot in your face.

“Those boys always forced me to cook the biggest meals in history” Eddie can imagine the boys asking for the hardest dishes to prepare, he smiles and grabs some forks to eat.

—

The movie finished a couple of hours ago, your aunt wasn’t coming back until Monday, and Poltergeist scared you a little, so having Eddie with you was a bigger help. Eddie was on your bed, watching you dancing around, your player was still on, and this time Cascades from Siouxie and the Banshees was playing a little loud.

“I love this band so much!” you say, landing in your bed. With your arms open, your hand brushing Eddie’s leg.

“Probably it’s the only band I can tolerate from you” the weed in your system made you laugh and playfully punch Eddie’s leg.

“That’s new, you hate all the music I like. Thanks, Eddie. I appreciate it…” the boy knows you’re a little high, he’s not that high, but he feels relaxed.

“What? It’s not my fault you’re not very metal” Eddie says, scanning your room. There are a lot of white Christmas lights, you have tons of books and girly perfumes, the colors hot pink and orange invade the walls and some of the furniture, and the glitter and sparkles around make everything look so interesting. He decides to say you have a psychedelic room, and he loves it. “I like your room, it’s so; interesting”

“I‘ve never been the interesting girl,” you say covering your face.

“For me, you’re very interesting,” he says, giving you a big smile. You look at him when you open two of the fingers covering your face.

“You know why I left Hawkins last year?” when Eddie doesn’t answer, you continue. It was a good time to tell him, you were okay enough to share that part of you now. “There was this guy named Tim, he was this cute shy boy, and I was the chubby girl, we were some nerds. He said very beautiful things about me, I thought he was the one…”

“He wasn’t.” there’s a coldness in your voice, but you sound very normal about it. “He came to homecoming with this blonde perfect girl who used to do adult movies, and he said to his friends I was not that hot. It was a bit humiliating” Eddie wasn’t expecting that, he never thought you would have a story like that with the drama and being bullied. “Maybe it wasn’t the big deal, but it awakened something in me. I was a sophomore, we used to be pretty stupid at that age”

“It might sound ridiculous, but I was going mad. To the point I… I cut my stomach with some seamstress scissors” Eddie doesn’t make a sound but his eyes go wide, that surprised him. When he looked at you, nothing in his head could associate you with eating disorders and weight trauma. You looked fine, you were perfect for him, a natural perfect human. “It became something… mental, a mental issue that made me feel anxious to fit in everything; school, friends, clothing. No body knew what was going on with me”

“My parents decided to take me back to California after the emergency surgery, later on, with some therapy and doctor appointments I did the right thing. And here I am, happily living. But I don’t think I’m the interesting girl, I’m just the normal girl., a very cool normal girl” finally, you let him know your biggest insecurity, the attention, and compliments people gave you and how much it scared you being in that position again. “You might think I’m crazy or stupid for this, but, it’s not the same anymore, I’m okay. I like myself now, I just wanted to tell you, Eddie”

Not that it affects you the same amount as it used to do, but it is still uncomfortable to feel like people like you when all they could do is belittle you behind your back. You sit and look straight at him.

“That’s bullshit!” he nearly screams, looking vaguely at your ceiling “People are stupid, not you. Even me, but believe me, you’re not stupid, or crazy.”

“Whoever has made you feel like that are assholes. Because you are the coolest girl I’ve ever met, you’re so cool that you decided to know a freak like me. Everything about you is fine, pumpkin, believe it or not.” the ways Eddie says it, makes you go to throw yourself at him and hug him. You hide your face on his chest while your arms wrap around his neck.

“Never let me go, Eddie. You’re so special to me, you’re so fine” he doesn’t know very well how to react, he wasn’t used to sharing affection, but with you, it was different. He realized that he loved you, it was real love. He never cared so much for anyone, his parents weren’t the most present in his life, and his uncle was good to him, but he knew he had disappointed him so much. Now, he had you, a gorgeous smart, and good girl who cared for and trusted him. Even you were the reason why he was starting to care for his freshman friends.

“You condemned yourself when you sat with me on the first day of classes,” he said, accepting your hug, and gently wrapping your waist. He felt so good, cozy, and warm with you, in the lights of your room, with the soft music playing.

“I’m the best friend of the coolest freak in Hawkins” after turning off every light. You go back to bed with him, and both of you cuddle together. At that moment, you completely fell in love with Eddie Munson, and he pressed you against his chest, you knew this had to be your boy. Not right there, but maybe after graduation, you could go somewhere together.

“Who thought my best friend would be a psychedelic girl” you laugh, feeling sober again, and you know it’s real, everything you are feeling for him it’s real, and you hope he reciprocates your feelings in the future.

“I’m not!, but I like the word. P-S-Y-C-H-E-D-E-L-I-C” Eddie sighs without letting you go. It’s fun, being in the darkness saying stupid things.

“Hey, Christmas is coming, you should go with me to California. My parents would love you, they were just like you in their teen days” this time, he laughs, but he goes pink just about thinking it. Meeting your parents, traveling with you, he was starting to question if you liked him just the way he liked you.

“I’ll think about it, remember I lost my ID” that was true, you even left a little note on his trailer to get an appointment to get a new one, of course, he forgot.

“Even if you don’t go with me, you still need to get a new ID, Mr.Munson” you feel nod behind you.

“Yes, mom” some minutes of silence, and it’s nice, to have his company. Eddie comforted you after telling him your biggest secret, you were happy, and you couldn’t wait to tell Nancy about it, she would kill you for falling in love with Eddie Munson, but he was everything to you.

He was everything to you.

_______________________

Can someone give me a brief summary of the chronology of volume 1?, I don’t remember!

(Yes, I think Tim that hurt reader is also THAT Tim who’s also known as fence/ fencing guy jijiji)

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #stranger things #estado: tlaxcala #joseph quinn

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prettierthanurbf · 2 years

Text

Eddie Munson’s Girl

“Come on, Eddie, just a little further.” You urged, pulling him along the forest trail leading deeper into it.

He groaned. “I thought deer just prance around the forest.”

“No, Eddie. They’re over here. Haven’t you ever seen Snow White?” You hissed, looking around with your camera ready.

He sighed. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“You’re helping me.” You said, still pulling him along.

He stopped abruptly, making you look where you were going, gasping lightly at the sight of a pretty deer and her baby. “Don’t make any sudden movements, E.” You warned, taking out your camera and snapping a picture. “Shit.” You mumbled, snapping the second picture quickly.

Eddie leaned against a fallen tree. “You got your pictures… can we go now?”

“Oh come on.” You whined. “Let’s walk a little more in. I’m sure there’s more deer.”

“You got two good pictures, y/n. Let’s go.” He urged with a sweet smile.

You took the hand he held out and let him lead you back out of the forest. “You’re lame.” You muttered.

“You love me anyways.” He muttered back.

When you guys got back to his trailer, he rushed to his guitar, calling it all the stupid, cheesy pet names he calls you.

You sat down at his table and pulled out your black nail polish from off the window sill. “Hey, E! Come here!”

He kissed his guitar one last time. “Sorry, my princess called me.” Then he hurried to where you were and sat across from you. “What’s up, love?”

“Can I paint your nails.” You looked at him with puppy dog eyes, holding the nail polish up. “We’ll be matching.”

He smiled, holding out his hand. “Of course. Hey, can you draw that eye you drew on the back of your hand a while ago? I thought it was cool.”

“Yes.” You said excitedly, pulling his hand closer to paint them. “So, tell me what’s new with all the D&D stuff.”

“So, Dustin brings in Erica Sinclair, right? And I’m standing there like “does this guy think this is a joke? is this babysitters club or something?”, but I was proven wrong, baby. She was cool. I didn’t think I’d ever agree with a literal baby, but there I was, listening and nodding to everything she said. Every move she made, I would’ve done, too.”

“I think you found your soulmate, babe.” You teased.

He laughed. “No, no. I’ve already found her.” He gave you a sweet look that made you blush.

“Oh, please.” You laughed, searching your brain for a new topic. “Uh… oh! How’s Dustin doing with his school stuff?”

“I think he’s having his girlfriend fix his grades to make them presentable.” He laughed.

You nodded, trying not to get nail polish on his pinky. “That sounds like something that moron would do.”

“He talks about you.” Eddie said suddenly, making you look up in surprise, which made him smile nervously. “He thinks you’re an amazing older sister, even though you’re annoying and his friends think you’re hot.”

You laughed. “Yeah. I had Mike and Lucas pining after me for years.”

“Will?” He asked, wondering if you’d just forgotten about Will.

You snorted. “Nope. I’m pretty sure Will’s gay.”

“Like Robin?” He asked.

You shrugged. “I mean, he probably likes guys, but yeah.”

“Robin could help him come out.” Eddie said suggestively.

You smiled at the thought. “That would be something, wouldn’t it?”

“It’d be cute.”

“Imagine a little Will walking up to him mom with an awkward expression… what if he pulled out a cheap ass rainbow flag with a wooden rod and waved it in his moms face?” You joked.

Eddie laughed. “That sounds like Will.”

“Awkward little bastard.” You said with a smile.

“So you watched them grow up?”

“Oh, yeah. Babysitting with Nancy was always interesting. The boys would be so loud in the basement while we were working on homework or gossiping about the people in our school.” You said, pondering the thought.

“You ever talk about boys?” Eddie asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

You shrugged. “Sometimes. We’d mostly talk about the girls we didn’t like.”

He laughed. “That sounds like you.”

You pulled away. “All done, Mr Munson.”

“Oooh. I like when you call me that.” He said, handing you a marker.

You rolled your eyes. “Dork.”

He smiled, holding out his left hand. “That eye, please.”

“Of course, baby.”

“So, how’s you meet Robin?”

“It’s like this, I met Will through Dustin, Nancy through Will, Steve through Nancy, and Robin through Steve. Me and Steve stayed friends after him and Nancy broke up, obviously, and I even worked at Scoops Ahoy for a bit but I got fired for yelling at an old man for calling me the n word.” You said, laughing a little.

His eyebrows raised. “He called you a what?”

“The n word. Erica was eating ice cream right by me, too. Honestly I did it more for her sake than mine. If he called me that when she wasn’t around I’d just spit in her food, but the look she gave him… she’s just a kid, you know.” You said softly.

Eddie looked at you with his pretty, wonderous eyes. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“I hear it everyday from my wonderful boyfriend.” You said with a smile.

He looked down at his hand. “What’s that?” He pointed to the letters a little above the eye.

“My initials plus… your initials.” You smiled up at him. “You’re so getting this tattooed.”

He laughed. “Whatever you want, baby.” Then he grabbed your hand and kissed it.

disclaimer :

i do not condone saying the n word if you aren’t black, it’s just what people thought was okay back then. it wasn’t okay then and it isn’t now.

also, i will be going back to writing about steve religiously because he is the only guy i’ll ever get on my knees for.

p.s. someone give me shifting tips bc i wanna show this man how much i love him lololol jkjk but like, shifting tips ?? anyone ????

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #y/n #stranger things #stranger things fan fic #stranger things fic #xoch magoch #fanfic #fic #edward munson #st #shifting tips #shifting #stranger things shifting #shifting to stranger things

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ferretbitexo-fic-den · 2 years

Text

All Too Familiar

Raine sees a bit too much of they're partner in her adopted kid, it was almost too uncanny. Maybe Eda sees so much of her own partner in her kid, too.

(old gays, what could be better?)

ao3

Eda’s kid really was Eda’s kid. With the way she dove head-first in to action, took every matter in to her own hand, garnered attention without trying, it was like Raine travelled back in time and saw the same fearless, selfless and stubborn little girl. They were almost convinced that the two were biologically related.

Their theory was further solidified when they once asked Luz about what track she chose to study at Hexside. Raine could’ve sworn something inside them croaked when Luz told them she was taking them all at once.

They had caught her doing catch up homework in the kitchen of the Owl House one morning. She looked so absolutely determined to catch up on what she missed the two weeks she was gone before The Day of Unity. They caught a glimpse of Abominations schoolwork, a Potions assignment and the Constructions work Luz was currently focused on.

“Morning Raine.” Luz greeted, not as usually energetic, but still more lively than the bard themself.

“Morning, Luz. Early worker, aren’t you?” Raine greeted as they got themselves a cup of tea. “You drink tea?” They asked.

“I’m good. Got a lot of schoolwork I got a lot catch up on!” Luz stretched her back before going back to work. “Post Dictatorship isn’t gonna stop the school curriculum. Besides, can’t slack off when you’re taking every track.”

Incredible, Eda.

They found the pre-whipped pancake batter in Eda’s magic-powered fridge and decided Luz needed her stimulants. They fried away as Luz got to talking.

“Bump lets you guys do that now?” Raine asked. Luz did what Eda usually did on the rare chance you’d catch her bashful—raises her shoulders and grabs her non-dominant arm. Raine felt a strong adoration towards the girl, if nothing else.

“Yeah, uh, Hexside had an incident with The Greater Basilisk last year. Me and a bunch of kids kinda, y’know, saved the school by using the different tracks we wanted to take. That kinda got Bump to change his mind.” Luz recalled. “Honestly, that should’ve been the most unforgettable adventure of a lifetime for me, but I kinda forgot that happened.”

The Greater Basilisk attacked Hexside, huh?

Raine paced a plate of warm pancakes in front of the girl, right beside her schoolwork.

“But yeah, that day change Hexside’s entire curriculum. Which was great, because if it didn’t, I would’ve been stuck with potions for the rest of my time at Hexside.” Luz continued.

Ah yes, the stereotypical Clawthorne track of choice. That was what pushed Raine over the edge that they couldn’t help themself anymore. “Luz, why is it that everything I hear about you remind me more and more of your mom when we were kids?” They let out a laugh in between their words

That was the biggest compliment Luz had ever heard anyone gave her. To know there was some part of Eda that she managed to project. “Aww, Thanks Raine!” For both the compliment and the pancakes.

The bard smiled at her. They sat down on the table where Luz was eating up her pancakes. “So, tell me, how does that work? Doesn’t it take up too much of your time?”

“Heck No!” Luz exclaimed. “I mean, I’m not taking every class every day." She explained her very own, very filled up schedule and it baffled Raine even more. But they're not gonna go deeper into this child's choices.

“So which ones do you like the most?” Raine asked. Sitting next to this kid was a delight.

“Well,” Luz dragged her L's as a shade if red crept up her face, “I share abominations with my girlfriend so, y'know, I try my best in that class specifically.”

“I used to do that with potions, until I started to focus all my time in bard magic.” Raine commented. “The things we do when we're smitten.”

“Exactly!” Luz replied. “They're like, the world's greatest motivation and inspiration!” To this Raine let out a laugh.

“But!” Luz interjected. “That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy every class I have. Plants with Willow is great. Illusions, I'm a natural at, not to brag. Oracles, Constructions, Healing, Potions —Eda takes this one very seriously— Beasts, Bard Magic!” Luz recalls with stars in her eyes. Raine wonders how she has so much energy this early in the morning.

“When you enjoy everything, it seems less like schoolwork and more of an adventure.” Okay, this was the core difference between Luz and Eda. Their partner despised school, while this kid just takes every piece of education she could get.

“Actually! I agree! Especially at Hexside. Never a dull moment in class.” They said, sipping their tea. Luz hummed in cheerful agreement before turning back to her homework.

Raine watched Luz lay out several glyph papers and set them down to summon constructions. This was all still incredible to the bard.

“Thank King that worked!” Luz exclaimed, proud of her infinity-shape construction.

A true prodigy.

“So does the glyphs work for every form of magic?” Raine asked.

“Oh definitely!” Luz sounded so proud of herself, almost as much as Raine was. “You just gotta learn which combos to use. Took me a good half a year to figure out a lot of them. And I haven’t scratched the surface.” Luz had every right to brag about that, whether she meant to or not.

A self-taught magic prodigy. Eda, you sure she isn’t yours?

Suddenly, a thought hit the bard’s interest. “You can do Bard magic? With your glyphs?” They asked.

They watched as the girl’s face lit up in excitement. “Wait here! I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere!” Luz exclaimed as she dashed off.

There was this tinge of pride that Raine felt, seeing their partner’s kid-not-kid be so enthusiastic about bard magic. They weren’t sure how Luz would make it work, but the kid’s already crossed worlds and beyond. There were no limits to what she could have done.

However, she still was Eda’s kid, so hearing a thud, followed by a small ‘ow’ probably shouldn’t have given Raine that much of a mini-heart attack.

“Nope! I did not fall down the stairs!” Luz said as she got back up and continued running back to the table with an undamaged and well taken-care of mandolin.

Raine’s breath hitched when they saw the lightning cloud engraved on it. “Oh, my Titan…” Raine stared at the mandolin in awe.

“It’s not broken, I swear! Actually, nothing’s broken, nope!” Luz swore. “But yeah, Eda gave this to me. I wanna learn the guitar eventually, but this is pretty cool, too.” Luz said smiling.

“Eda gave this to you?” Raine asked. The last time they saw the mandolin was the last time they though they would ever see their Edalyn. They wondered if Eda had any qualms about letting go of the few remaining pieces of memoirs of what they used to be.

“Well, not gave, per se. She taught me my first Bard spells with this. She said I could use it for school.” Luz said, oblivious to Raine’s inner turmoil slowly dissolving.

Of course, Eda wouldn’t let it go.

“So, which spells did she teach you?” Raine asked, wanting to hear only one answer. But they would be lying if they said they weren’t curious to know how deep Eda’s bard magic knowledge went.

“Levitation spells, plant growing spells,” Luz said as she stuck a glyph unto the back of the mandolin, “but I’m not too good yet, so…”

The girl turned to Raine. “you’re not allowed to make fun of me, okay Head Bard?” She said with a smirk.

That was Eda. No doubt about it.

“I promise. Your mom would kill me in cold blood if I ever said anything negative towards you.” Raine swore.

Luz took a deep breath before her she placed her fingers on the board. “This one’s Eda’s comfort healing spell.” She said, nervous about being watched, but she persisted.

The song rang through the kitchen like a melody that travelled through time. Luz was playing their song, Raine’s love letter to Eda, and the kid just got lost in the tune. She played slower than the song intended, like she was afraid of making a mistake. Aside from that, Luz played like she didn’t need to be taught, like she knew this song.

Eda’s prodigy, no, Eda’s child.

As the song had ended, Luz turned to the bard with wonder in her eyes. “Why? What’s wrong?” She asked.

Raine hadn’t realized they were tearing up. The let out a small sniffle as they wiped their cheeks. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just remembered something.”

Luz let out a small sigh. “Sorry if it was a bit off, I haven’t been playing for long.”

“Hey, hey, hey. No. None of that,” they said placing their hand on her left shoulder, “you played good, kiddo.” They said with the sincerest smile they’ve ever given off in a while.

Luz sighed with relief. “Oh, good. Eda’d have my head if she found out I butchered it.”

“Luz, did you know where she learned that song?” Raine asked, wanting her to say no. They wanted to share this with the kid, and had really hoped Eda wouldn’t mind if they told a few of their stories to the girl. She shook her head. “Wanna hear about it? Or do you wanna finish you’re Abominations work?”

“Oh, titans!” Luz exclaimed. “Eda and Raine Backstory Time!” She said, dropping her pen and stacking her papers together.

“Alright, alright! Just, finish your pancakes.” Luz went directly to eat up. She watched Raine in anticipation.

“Okay, so, do you know the song title?” Raine asked. Luz shook her head as a no.

“It’s actually Raine’s Rhapsody.” Luz’s eyes widened, unable to say anything with her mouth full. “I-well- wrote that, for your mom.” Raine’s face was swallowed with a hue of red. “It was supposed to calm her down during Beast episodes, but, I guess, y’know, it calmed me down a lot too. It was supposed to be a violin solo, but Eda managed to play it on that mandolin, so, y’know, it’s been a duet ever since.”

Luz looked so starry eyed. After swallowing down her food, she awed. “That is the sweetest thing I have heard all day!” Raine wanted to comment that it was 8 in the morning, but they’d take it.

“Thanks kiddo.” Raine said with a smile.

“I wanna do that, too. I’ll compose something for Amity,” her voice got softer, face flushing a bit, “just, something that reminds her of me, y’know?”

“You’ll do great, Luz. Amity would love anything from you.” They meant it.

Luz hugged Raine and skidded off, papers forgotten.

“Well, that’s not something I expected to witness this morning, but I definitely needed that,” Raine heard from their favorite voice in the world. It still gives them pixies in the stomach.

“Edalyn! How long have been watching?” they asked, heart still sped up.

“Heard my kid fall down the stairs and just wanted to see if she broke any bones. Turns out she was on her way to break my partner.” Eda said. She emerged from the stairs with her arms crossed and her smile intact.

“Yep, that’s, yeah, that’s right.” Rained stuttered a bit. “That’s one incredible kid you got there, Eda.”

“Nah, that one’s on Cam. Kid’s an overachiever for no one else but herself. Getting full experiences and all.” Eda remarked, sitting next to her partner. “All this talk about being a real witch, and she doesn’t realize she’s realer than anything in my life.”

“I’m not talking about that.” Raine answered. “She’s a lot like your mini-me. Rash, impulsive, having the flair for dramatics, makes questionable choices, “

Eda stole their cup of tea and chugged down the contents as she looked them dead in the eyes. “You’re dating me again, so what does that say about your choices?” She cut them off.

“But! She’s extremely passionate, headstrong and very rambunctious,” they continue, “that’s Edalyn Clawthorne in my eyes.”

Eda looked at them in awe, then quickly softened her expression as she let out a small laugh. “Honestly, she reminds me of you a bit too much. Maybe that’s why I was so quickly taken by her.”

“What? How?” They ask.

“Come on, Rainestorm. Our first meeting in almost two decades and you were rebelling against the very thing you served. Albeit the kid could’ve done better, but you know what I mean.”

“Hey! I was inexperienced, okay?” Raine butted in.

“Also, she’s a magic prodigy and I only taught her basic stuff, like flying and potions. Everything else, she figured out on her own.” Eda stated. “Also, who the heck takes 9 different tracks and catches up on schoolwork on a Saturday morning? After a tyrannical apocalypse she helped stop?!”

“And said schoolwork was forgotten in the name of love.” She added. Raine watched as Eda gathered the papers and placed them away from any possible stains.

That shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was.

“So, you taught her Raine’s Rhapsody?” Raine asked.

“Oh, yeah, hope you don’t mind. I played it for her before when I still had my magic. She had the worst headache and I wasn’t sure if potions were safe for humans. The song helped her a lot. She begged me to teach her.” Eda recalled.

“I don’t mind at all. Kid’s pretty self-conscious about playing.” Raine said.

“Much like a certain bard I know.” Eda teased.

“Hey! That’s different! I’m one person! I constantly have to play in front of people!” The defended, bright red and flustered.

Eda let out a laugh. “Still, Luz’s all the best people in one. I don’t know how she manages with all she’s been through.” “She’s been through more at 15 than anyone else I’ve ever known. That’s gonna create issues with her psyche.” Raine commented. “She’s lucky she has you.”

“Oh, please. I dragged her into this, and now she’s my-not-mine kid and Cam’s counting on me to take care of her. If anything, I’m the lucky Momma Bird.” Eda said, smiling with a sigh.

Raine placed their hands unto Eda’s and looked at her with a softness that Eda’s only ever seen with them. “Eda, anyone’s lucky to have you. I know I am.”

They found each other staring, quickly looking away from each other, red and flustered.

“Ay! No! Too early for gushies!” A small voice came up out of nowhere.

“Watch yourself, Whispers! That’s my mom!” King declared pointing at the bard.

Eda burst out laughing as Raine melted in puddle of shame.

#eda clawthorne #raine whispers #the owl house #luz noceda #raeda

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ravagedarkness · 1 year

Text

Spider-Man: Home Rebuilt, Chapter 48: Ravencroft

Friday rolled around. It was a totally different vibe from yesterday. At work, Jonah was extra grouchy. He was still heated that Cyclops crashed his show. It probably didn’t help that the X-Men were still trending on Twitter and the opinions of the team was still extremely divided. No matter how much Jonah and other likeminded news reporters and personalities tried, they couldn’t shine enough bad light on us to make the majority of the public see us as the bad guys in the situation. I did wonder, however, if that was because they sympathized with us, or if they hated Hammer that much.

While the optimistic side of me hoped it was the former, I wouldn’t have been upset if it was the latter.

After that, I went home, got ready for class, and went to school. The lesson was rather light. It was as if Scott knew I was rather anxious about this upcoming weekend. He didn’t even assign homework. Well, he did, but it was optional and for extra credit. After class, Scott kept me behind as the other students left. Once it was just the two of us, Scott walked up to the door before he closed it and locked it. He then let loose a breath before he turned and looked at me.

“How’d it go with MJ last night?” he asked as he walked back to his desk and sat on top of it. I was sitting at one of the classroom’s desk, the one closest to his. I smiled slightly.

“It was awesome,” I answered. “We… we spent time on the rooftop of Midtown High School, eating Big E Style Chopped Cheeses, talking and other stuff…” I averted my gaze as my face heated.

“Did you two…?”

I quickly brought my head forward and shook it emphatically. “No, sir. I just meant that MJ and I made out… rather intensely.”

Scott was quiet for a few moments. “Am I… am I off base for assuming that you already got ‘The Talk’?”

“No, sir.” I chuckled awkwardly. “Aunt May… she gave me that talk during my last year in middle school.” I cleared my throat. “I may or may not have been caught watching something I should not have been watching.” Scott nodded. There was no expression of judgment on his face. “But… yeah. Making out was all MJ and I did last night and it’s all we’ve ever done to this point.”

“Okay.” Scott paused for a moment. “Look, I know I’m not your father, uncle, brother, or even cousin… at least, not as far as I know.” He tilted his head briefly. “My family tree is a mess, to say the least. But… the point is… even though I’m not any of those things to you, I do still feel responsible for you. So, just know I’m just looking out for you.”

“I understand, and I appreciate it,” I assured him. I paused for a moment. “Um… since we’re on the subject of romance and the like… do you like Joanna?”

Scott was given pause. I was surprised, however, that he didn’t glare at me.

“I don’t know yet,” Scott admitted. “…My ex-wife… Jean… She’s a telepath. And she was one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth until she left the planet. So, with her… I didn’t have to try hard to explain or be open with my feelings. She could easily read me, for better or for worse. And there was a comfort with that. Even with that aside, Jean was the only woman who I had romantic feelings for. She’s the end all, be all of my romantic experience. So, now there’s Joanna. To be honest, she intrigues me. She’s forward, she’s flirty, about as crass as you’d expect from the average Marine, and yet there’s this kindness and softness underneath it all. So… I guess I’m just treading carefully.” Scott paused again. “…Thank you.”

I tilted my head. “For what?”

“For not giving me any advice.”

At that, I scoffed. “Scott, I’m the last person to give anyone relationship advice,” I pointed out. At that, Scott chuckled.

“Well, I didn’t keep you behind to talk romance.” He paused for a moment. “How are you feeling about Sunday?”

I shifted in my seat a bit. “I would’ve marked it in my calendar if I wasn’t paranoid about that possibly exposing us.” I shook my head. “I…” I took in a breath. “…In my whole entire life, I’ve only really hated a few people – the one who killed my Uncle Ben, Mysterio, and Green Goblin. Other than that, I’m not one to hold hatred in my heart for people. I didn’t even hate Toomes. While what he did was wrong and could have led to a lot of people hurt or worse, I can understand going the extra mile for the people you love… Sympathize, even. But…” I balled my right fist up. My heart rate rose. I took a moment to take a deep breath. “I just want this to be over, even if it’s just temporarily.”

“I get that,” Scott replied with a nod. “But remember, it’s just that – temporary. As we continue our lives as heroes – and as X-Men – we’re going to have adversaries that are going to continue to be a thorn in our side, even from beyond the grave.” He paused for a moment. “That’s something you should already know, of course. So, expect Justin Hammer and Scorpion to be a long term problem. But, this weekend, we’ll make sure they’re sent on their way for the short term. Got it?” I nodded. “Good. Now go about the rest of your day. I believe you, Craig, and Kitty have a busy night ahead of you.”

After class, I stopped at home and changed into my quick change outfit before I made my way over to Peter Pan. Craig and Kitty were going to meet me there. I met MJ there, as usual. As semi-usual, Ned was there as well. What was unusual, however, was MJ taking her break after she got me a cup of coffee and a peanut butter cup donut. She sat with me and Ned, with her to my left and Ned to my right at the counter.

“How are you holding up?” MJ asked.

“Just a bit antsy for this Sunday,” I told her reassuringly. “Other than that, I’m good.”

“I’m looking forward to this Sunday, too,” Ned spoke up. “Take care of business on that day, and then we can focus on other things – like the Valentine’s Day dance.”

I couldn’t help but scoff as I shook my head. “You know, pre-You-Know-What, the fact that I didn’t get a suit yet would have had me freaking out. But now, I’m just… annoyed. A little more than mildly annoyed, but just annoyed nonetheless.” I picked up my donut and took a bite out of it.

“If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t found a dress yet,” MJ sympathized. “Between making sure that I’m still on track for college and worrying about you and your coworkers, the dance has been far from my biggest concern.” She shrugged. “To be honest, you and rest of the American Idiots are the only reason I’m excited for going.”

“Honestly?” Ned replied. “Ditto.” He sighed. “The only downside is that we might have to deal with Flash.”

“Always the highlight of any day,” I deadpanned. During this, Kitty and Craig walked in. They were dressed in their quick change outfits, with the former’s mask probably tucked away in her jacket and the latter having his hood down.

“What’s good, people?” Craig greeted as he took a seat next to Ned. Kitty sat to the left of MJ.

“Just talking about the Valentine’s Day dance,” Ned explained. “How was your day?”

Craig shrugged. “It was meh. I had a meeting with an IRS agent.”

I tilted my head as I looked at him. “How come?”

“I had to do my taxes. That, unfortunately, took a lot of time since a certain job doesn’t come with a W-2.”

“Wait, you have to pay taxes on that money?” Ned asked.

“As a matter of fact, you do,” Kitty confirmed. “That’s how Al Capone was taken down.”

“But aren’t you afraid that could...?” MJ began before she trailed off. It took me a moment to realize what she trying to ask.

“The agent I work with?” Craig started to explain in a whisper. “We have an arrangement. I do some favors for her – favors that aligns extremely well with my expertise – and she makes sure I don’t end up getting flagged for anything.” He raised his eyebrows briefly. “Being a vigilante can be quite the perk when you have some anti-Accords folks in the right places.” He chuckled. “Anyway, we’ll chill here until you’re finished, Pete. And then we’ll dip.”

After I did finish my food, Craig, Kitty, and I said our byes to Ned and MJ, with me doing my special handshake with the former and kissing the latter. We left in Craig’s Scion xB before we started to drive around. With Craig driving, I took shotgun while Kitty sat in the backseat. She had a tablet in her hands.

“So, we got quite a few locations from Joanna,” Kitty stated. “Some of them I already looked at and decided they weren’t worth checking out.”

“How come?” I asked.

“Well, for one, some of those locations are a little too close to civilian population for our comfort,” Craig said. “Secondly, some of them are seaside.”

“Is that really an issue?”

“Look, man. I ain’t putting a dang thing past Hammer when it comes what he’ll throw at us. The last thing we want is to give that man a chance to do something crazy like roll up on us with a warship or attack submarine or something.”

Had we been talking about anyone else, I might’ve called Craig overly paranoid. But since this was Hammer we’re talking about, one could make a case that he wasn’t being paranoid enough. So, I nodded in concession.

“So what are the other places?”

“Well, there are a couple of places,” Kitty informed. “Each one has their own pros and cons. First up, we have the former Hand Compound. On one hand, most of the buildings are still intact and its’ pretty far from general population. On the other hand, it’s also one of the locations that Scott has scouted for future use as a new headquarters for The X-Men once we expand. Second, there’s Kingsbridge Armory. It’s pretty intact as well, but it’s rather wide open on the inside. Then there’s the third option.”

I heard the sound of bones cracking. I turned my head to see Craig’s hand tightly holding the steering wheel. Something told me I wasn’t going to like it.

“What’s the third option?”

Craig sighed. “There’s an abandoned sanatorium in Westchester County,” he said reluctantly.

“How abandoned?”

“It literally hasn’t been touched in decades,” Kitty responded. “The thing is… the place is said to be cursed. People avoid it like the plague. Not even squatters and urban explorers want anything to do with it.”

“Do you believe it’s cursed?”

Kitty scoffed. “Sweetie, after all the stuff we’ve seen and went up against in our lives, we’d have to be rather dense to not, at the very least, acknowledge the possibility.” I hummed in acknowledgment as I nodded – she had a huge point. “But, creepy as the hospital is, it’s out the way of civilian population and we could possibly find an area in the building where’s only one way in or out. We could also lay some traps down along the way. So, which one do you guys want to check out?”

Craig and I looked at each other. We then sighed in resignation.

“The sanatorium,” we both replied in reluctance.

“Okay, well, if we’re going to head to Westchester, then we need to grab food along the way,” Kitty declared. “I’ll even pay. Are you guys up for Five Guys?”

After we went to Five Guys and grabbed food, we made our way over to Westchester County. The drive wasn’t too long. It was only about an hour. It wasn’t exactly a short trip, but I’ve been on longer drives. Once we arrived in Westchester, we used the GPS in Craig’s phone to track down the sanatorium. It took us about twenty minutes. And that was mostly because Craig was driving a little slower than usual. I didn’t know if it was because he was being extra cautious due to not really knowing the area that well, of if he was really reluctant to go to this sanatorium.

After some time, we found the road that led to our destination. To say the road was in bad shape was a huge understatement. Chunks of the pavement were missing, either the results of pieces being broken off or it being worn down by the elements. There were of grasses growing with the cracks. There was even a point where was an abandoned vehicle on the road that was blocking the path. Craig and I handled it – between his power to control friction and my super strength, moving the vehicle out of the way was easy. Still, the approach was rather slow – while a Scion xB is sort of shaped like an SUV, they were far from that and they never meant for rough terrain. Making things a little worse was the fact that the sky, in an occurrence that couldn’t be more clichéd, became rather overcast.

“Man, even the weather is telling us to turn back around,” Craig grumbled.

“You and Peter agreed to check this place out first,” Kitty pointed out.

“Yeah, and I’m starting to think I’m stupid for doing so.”

Eventually, we did reach the sanatorium. After we pulled up to the gates, Craig put the car in park. We stepped out of the vehicle. I stared at the gates, taking note of the words that adorned them – Ravencroft Institute. I looked past the gates and at the buildings that took up the grounds. From what I could see, there was a small church, buildings that looked like dormitories. And I was pretty sure there was a graveyard out in the distance. However, what really got my attention was the main building. It looked Victorian, and was seemingly built with red brick and mortar. It was about four stories tall and had multiple towers that looked like it housed bells.

“This is the place,” Kitty stated. “Codenames from here on out. Let’s scope it out.”

I nodded as I masked up before I stepped up to the gate. There was a steel chain with a lock holding the gates closed. I was about to just rip it off before Frictor stepped forward and pulled out a lock pick. He grabbed the lock and used the pick to unlock it.

“I could have ripped it off,” I pointed out.

“I can’t let you do all the work,” Frictor replied. “Besides, we need the chain intact.” With moments, the lock was picked open. He pulled unraveled the chain before he left it hanging on the gate. He pushed the gate open wide. “I’m going to pull the car in.” Kitty and I stepped onto the property as Frictor hopped inside of the Scion before he drove it past the gates. He then hopped out, walked up to the gates, pushed them closed, relocked it. After that, he stepped back into the car and beckoned us to hop back in. Once Shadowcat and I were inside, Frictor drove the rest of the way up the driveway before he pulled up to the front door and put the car in park.

Once again, we stepped out of the vehicle. Frictor walked around the Scion and unlocked the hatch before lifting it up. He pulled out a black Jansport backpack before he closed the hatch. After he pressed a button on a small remote on his keychain, locking the vehicle, the three of us made our way to the front door. Once more, Frictor took the initiative to pick the lock. Once he had it open, he pulled open the door and held it open for me and Shadowcat to enter.

After Frictor stepped inside, we all looked forward. Frictor unzipped his backpack and pulled out three flashlights. He handed two of the flashlights to Shadowcat and I before taking the third one for himself. After we clicked our flashlights on, we looked forward at the scene in front of us. As expected from a defunct medical facility, there was a front desk and remnants of a computer. The walls were stained with mold and what I hoped was rust. The floor was rather grimy. And the smell reeked of something awful.

“Prime real estate,” Shadowcat deadpanned. She turned her flashlight and aimed it towards the back. She illuminated the steel doors of a pair of elevators. “There. The stairs should be nearby.” She walked forward, and Frictor and I followed suit. The three of us walked up to the elevators before we looked around for a stairwell. Finding a door with a sign indicating it led to the stairs, I beckoned towards the others to follow me. We walked up the door. I twisted the nob and pushed the door. It opened with a rather loud creak, and a rat suddenly ran out, causing the three of us suddenly step back in surprise.

“Man, screw this place,” Frictor grumbled. Still, we entered the stairwell. We ascended slowly. Fortunately, the stairs were rather sturdy, having been made from concrete.

“So far, so good,” Shadowcat whispered. We passed the second floor landing as we continued our ascent. But when we got to the third floor landing, we found our way blocked by a load of debris – there were pieces of concrete, metal, and wood. “…Great, I pulled a Ned.” I chuckled as I shook my head.

“…Looks like we’re checking the second floor for another stairwell,” Frictor said. We made our way back down to the second floor landing before we stepped through the door. As we lit up the hallway with our flashlights, we saw that it was a hallway full of glass windows. Frictor took in a breath before he walked forward. Shadowcat and I looked at each other before we followed him. As we passed by the window, I glanced inside, seeing that they were examination rooms. Some of them had medical equipment. Others had gurneys and chairs with harnesses. Frictor suddenly came to a stop and looked at one of the rooms. Shadowcat and I came to a stop next to him and looked through the window. Looking back at us was rows and rows of mannequins in various states of disrepair.

“…Are we in Westchester, or are we in Silent Hill?” I commented dryly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Frictor shake his head.

“I hate every bit of this,” Frictor muttered out.

“Let’s just keep going,” Shadowcat urged.

We did just that, making our way down to the other side of the hall. We found another stairwell. We entered it. We moved up the stairs before he made our way to the top floor. We stepped onto the floor. This floor seemed to be for administrators. As we walked down the hall, we passed by doors with nameplates too damaged to read. There was only one name that was somewhat legible. All I could make out was “el Ess”. We continued down the hall until we found the headmaster’s office. Shadowcat moved forward and grabbed the knob. She twisted it. The knob creaked, but twisted nonetheless. She opened the door. We stepped inside. It was a pretty large office – about as big as my apartment. Bookshelves were knocked over. A large desk was on its side. Broken glass was on the floor along with other pieces of garbage.

“…I think we got something here,” Shadowcat stated.

“Yeah, we got a potential for a Tetanus outbreak,” Frictor snarked, prompting Shadowcat to halfheartedly slap his chest with the back of her left hand.

“No, seriously, think about it. Obviously, the elevators are out. The electrical systems of this place are probably too worn to even be powered. With one of the stairwells blocked…”

“There’s only one way in and one way out,” I finished for her.

Shadowcat looked at me and smiled. “Exactly. We can set traps along the way to cull their forces – non-lethally, of course – and make things a lot easier for us.” Her smile became wider. “We can even use the mannequins we saw. We can dress them up in mock ups of our suits and place them in different areas as distractions or lures.”

“…You’re right,” Frictor conceded. “…Okay, let’s get the heck out of here and we’ll tell Scott about it when we get home.”

We did just that, making sure to lock the gates back up before we drove away.

We drove straight back to the bunker before we hopped in Craig’s SUV and drove to the X-Men’s apartment. Once we arrived and went inside, we found Carmilla and Scott sitting on the sofa, watching TV. They looked up at us as Kitty closed the door.

“Hey guys,” Craig greeted. All of us removed our shoes before we joined them. I took the couch with Kitty while Craig took a seat next to Carmilla. After Craig shared a brief kiss with Carmilla, he looked at the screen. “Oh, Smackdown is on?”

“Yeah, it’s the last fifteen minutes of it,” Scott replied.

“I don’t know who this Roman Reigns is, but I don’t like him,” Carmilla stated with a pout.

“Is it because he’s a heel?” I asked.

“No. His hair is prettier than mine.”

“I beg to differ,” Craig replied as he wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Handsome dude, he is, but I’d take you over him any day of the week.” Carmilla blushed a bit as she smiled.

“So, how did the scouting go?” Scott asked.

“Well, good news,” Kitty replied with a smile. “We found a place in Westchester County. It’s the Ravencroft Institute. It’s creepy as hell, but in the main building, there’s only one way to the Headmaster’s Office. The office is pretty big, too, so we can fortify it. Other than that, there are other buildings on site we can worth with.

“Good, good.” Scott nodded. “We can go over there tomorrow. We can go at night and – ”

“Can we do the morning or at least early afternoon?” Craig cut in. “Because, seriously, the place is creepy enough as is. I don’t want to go there at night.”

“AAAAAW, is my All-American scared?” Carmilla mocked, teasingly poking her finger into Craig’s cheek.

Craig turned his head towards her and gave her a solemn look. “Yes, actually! That whole place was on some Silent Hill type stuff. There was even a cell full of creepy mannequins!”

“It was pretty creepy,” I said in agreement. “The whole place just gave me a bad vibe.”

“It would be a bit safer to go during the daytime,” Scott mused. After some moments, he nodded. “Okay, we’ll go in the afternoon. We’ll stop at the bunker and gather any supplies we need.”

“Do I still have weapons there?” Carmilla asked.

Scott nodded. “You do.” He then looked at me. “I’ll also contact Pepper to see if there’s any way we can borrow a fabricator for us to use.” I nodded. After that, he addressed all of us. “We’re going to be working hard tomorrow. So, I suggest you take the morning to relax and eat up. I’ll make sure we have food with us while we work. We’ll do everything we can to be prepared for Sunday so we can take down Scorpion and whoever else Hammer is throwing at us.”

“We’ll send them packing, Scott,” Kitty assured. “And then after that, we can spend time worrying about more mundane stuff, like the Valentine’s Day dance… and college.”

I looked at her. “You’re thinking about going?”

“We all do, Peter. Craig, Carmilla, and I talked about it for a while.”

“I even got my GED and everything,” Carmilla added. “…I don’t really care about getting a degree in and of itself. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m going to college, I’m going it to graduate. But… I just want to have some semblance of normalcy.” She then smiled. “Also, I have a thing for theatre.”

“The only thing is… I’m not sure I want to leave New York,” Craig spoke up. “And at the same time… I’ve grown attached to everyone as well.”

“MJ did say that it’s a conversation that all of us American Idiots should have,” I stated. “We’ll talk about it afterwards.”

I spent an hour or so more at the X-Men’s apartment before I made my way home. Once I got home, I took a quick shower before I went to bed. I was about to close my eyes before an idea hit me. I pulled out my phone and called up MJ. I waited patiently before she picked up.

“Hello, Loser,” she greeted.

“Hey Em,” I greeted back. “Um… are you doing anything tomorrow morning?”

“Unfortunately, I am.” I could hear the exasperation in her voice. “I’m picking up a morning shift at Peter Pan. So I have to be there around nine in the morning.”

“I see.” I sighed. “I was… I was just going to ask if you’re up for going out for breakfast. I… I wanted to spend some more time with you before I head out to Westchester in the afternoon.”

There was a pause on MJ’s end. She then spoke up. “…We don’t have to eat out,” she said slowly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“We can eat at your place. I’ll come by super early and we can cook and eat together.”

I smiled widely. I thought it was a great idea. But of course I did. Spending time with MJ would always be a great idea to me, no matter what we spend that time doing. “I would love that. Just… do me a favor. Would you kindly bring some rooibos tea?”

She chuckled, and that brought a warm feeling in my chest. “Of course. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you, Tiger.”

“I love you, too, Em.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone. I then hooked it up to the charger before I lay down and went to sleep.

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stuckonvenus · 1 year

Photo

Look At Us Now

I DON’T REALLY KNOW RIDLEY ALBRIGHT. But we went to the same high school, shared teachers throughout the years, classes, clubs, etc., etc., and despite being a drug addict — he’s reportedly an excellent guitar player. I’m the lead guitar, of course, because that’s how it was in my old band before my bandmates decided to ditch town after graduation a year ago and didn’t look back. Not that I blame them, I only wish they would’ve brought me along. Anyway, all of this has led me to the doorstep of a guy I hardly know on an entirely different part of town than I’ve come from. All the houses are fenced-in and have security cameras installed, much more higher tech than the ones attached to the mobile homes in the trailer park I’ve been living in since junior year, and their grass is finely cut and treated better than anywhere else I’ve seen in town. How does a dope fiend live so lavishly? I ask myself, before I think, his mother probably doesn’t know. And I'm right about that much, because whenever I approach the door and knock, scraping the bottoms of the same Converse I’ve owned since I was fifteen, she seems surprised someone like me is on their side of the tracks. I ask her if Ridley’s home and she’s hesitant to answer, but eventually relents and says he’s upstairs. I walk through the threshold and breathe in the warm scent of cinnamon and clove emanating from the living room, which is minimally decorated but still looks lived in. So maybe they are real people, and not robots that are simulating human existence. I thank her for letting me in and trot upstairs, following the sound of a distant guitar until I reach a door with a STOP sign mounted on it. It reminds me of the room I share with Gabe, where we’ve decked it out with every warning poster we could find at the thrift store. It’s kind of funny, his older brother has the same design choice on his door, and he’s twenty-five. I guess guys never really do change if they can help it.

I knock on the door twice, but the guitar doesn’t come to a halt. The sound echoes and I can hear a faint voice singing along, albeit off-key, however it’s not excruciating to listen to. I press my ear up against the door and close my eyes. I nod along to the beat he’s playing to. I know the song, I just can’t quite put my finger on from where. Maybe one of Gabe’s dad’s old, abandoned vinyl records that we put on when we want to drown out the rest of the world when we’re doing our homework or talking nonsense at each other. Whenever I snap out of it, I knock louder, and I can hear the screech of the amp and a bit of shuffling before the door is swung open and a lanky kid, still a little more built than me, in a Joy Division shirt and sweatpants stares down at me with deep brown eyes.

“... Can I help you?” Ridley asks. He seems a little twitchy. I wonder if he keeps his dope kits in his room, or if he solely participates outside his perfect dreamhouse. Probably won’t do me any good to ask him that.

So instead, I say, “I’m Ellie Mercer. We used to go to school together. At Thomas Jefferson?” There are two kinds of kids in Richmond — kids that went to Thomas Jefferson like normal people, and kids that went to Open. Despite his reputation in debate club and soccer, I’m really glad I’m not speaking to one of the latter variety. “I was two years under you.”

“Oh,” Ridley says as his brows knit together while he scans my face for any familiarity. When nothing sparks behind his eyes, he still opens his door for me to come in. “Right, yeah. What’s up?”

I look around his bedroom. There’s a full-size bed underneath an open window, a desk pushed into a corner with drawings tacked above it; a lamp looming over a couple journals, pencils of differing utility in a cup, and a suspicious looking lunchbox. There’s also a couple of band posters taped to the muted blue walls, like The Smiths (Morrissey is a fucking asshole, but he makes good music, much like most musicians — not us, though), Slowdive, and Deftones. I think he’s got a decent taste in 80s male manipulator music, which should be a red flag, then I remember I kind of worship David Bowie and even though he’s technically a queer icon, he’s also on the roster of the countless men in the industry who were total pervs.

“I’m in a band,” I tell him and he immediately seems disconnected from everything I’m saying, or am about to say. “It’s not like that. We’re really cool, except, well — our rhythm guitarist dipped and, y’know, we need one of those.”

His eyes dart around his room for a moment before he begins retreating to where his guitar is. I give it a once over; looks like a Fender Strat, which is fine, even if I prefer my Gibson Les Paul. “I don’t really do bands.” he says in return, scratching the back of his neck. A bead of sweat glistens on his temple. Is he sweating out a high or something? I wouldn’t know much about the heavier kind of stuff, I’ve only ever screwed around with weed and coke, if I tried anything more than that Gabe would probably strangle me in my sleep. Not that I’d mind. If anyone was going to murder me, might as well be him.

“Yeah, I get that. But we’re different.” I insist much to his disgruntlement. I don’t care, I’ll stay as long as I need, hold a fucking protest here if I need to. He sounded good. But I can’t make it obvious that we need him more than he needs us, not at first anyway.

“What’s your damage, then?” Ridley wonders, crossing his arms in a condescending fashion that I don’t entirely appreciate.

I clear my throat. “We’re garage rock at the moment,” I answer after a beat passes. He doesn’t seem totally tuned out yet. “Kind of punk? Still figuring that out. It’s me and my best friend, he’s the drummer. Gabe Lahey?” The name seems to snag on something in his brain, because his eyebrows lift and he suddenly looks enlightened. “The quarterback, yeah. He’s really into tacklin’ dudes and smashing drums. Oh, and our bassist, Cisco, but he’s kind of an asshole.”

He hums, and I take that as an initiative to keep talking. “We’re called The Missing,” I continue. “I’m the singer and lead guitar. I brought some of our songs.” I reach into my backpack, fumbling around with its innards before I grasp onto a crumpled piece of paper that I wrote REDROOM on. It’s our oldest song, and currently the only one on any streaming platform. It’s gotten a decent amount of attention on Soundcloud, and a humbling amount on YouTube. I tell Ridley this as his eyes scan over the words and the accompanying chords.

“You wrote this?” Ridley glances up at me. I nod at him affirmatively. “Huh. I guess you’re really into grunge.”

“Kind of,” I reply. “... A lot, yeah. Is it obvious?”

“A lot, yeah,” he mimics me with a snort. I like to think I have enough creative liberty to not copy and paste everything Kurt Cobain ever wrote, but, well, the music bleeds how it bleeds. I’m afraid if I say that to him, though, he’ll mock me even more for it. “It isn’t bad, though.” I perk up whenever he says this. “I dunno if I have time for a band, still. I’m in college and shit.”

I accept the paper whenever he hands it back over to me, carefully shoving it back into my backpack and zipping it up. Gabe will probably ream my ass later for not being more careful, but I have a better memory than he does on my meds so I can just copy it from memory whenever I want. “We’ll be in college in a couple months too. Unless... This goes well.” I motion between us, and he must think I have massive balls or something to already be suggesting he’s a part of the band, as a crackhead and all.

“My girlfriend would be pissed,” he adds. Now it’s my turn to snort and act all cocksure.

“She use your dick and balls as a gear shift or something?” I ask him and he pales a little. It’s satisfying. “If she’s a real one, she’d appreciate that you’re getting out there. And once we blow up she’ll really be impressed.”

Ridley doesn’t seem convinced at first. He eyes me, then my backpack, then the lunchbox on his desk, and whenever I don’t seem to disappear like a figment of his imagination, he realizes he actually has to respond to me. “... I have a sister,” he says after a couple of seconds of silence. “She likes to sing. If she’s in, I’m in.”

I stare at him. Another singer? We don’t have the fucking room for that, I want to say, but then I quickly comprehend that this is a business deal. And he’s been negotiating with people for much longer than I have, at least in a semi-professional setting. Still, should that make me shit my pants or something? I can just say no and figure out an alternate deal to get him to join. Then I think... What’s the harm in sharing the mic? If my dad were still around, he’d probably tell me to loosen up and stop being such a dude about it, because it’s already my band and I’ve had so much of the limited spotlight we’ve been offered. Rather than respond, I move across the room and scribble mine and Gabe’s address on the front of one of his journals in red sharpie, just so he can’t forget, and before I leave I tell him to come by before the end of the week if he’s seriously interested.

•

Wouldn’t you know. He actually shows up. His sister in tow, of course, which doesn’t surprise me but Gabe seems defensive at first from where he’s sat behind the drums. I give him an assuring pat on the shoulder that makes him bristle, and I roll my eyes. He’s so weird about that. Him and Becca have been broken up for three months already and he still doesn’t think I’ve caught onto the fact that Cisco got to him before I did. We’d basically been circling him like vultures for years, and I can’t say I’m totally cool with the fact he won. Not that Gabe’s a prize or anything — but shit, losing to our bassist in any capacity is a blow that lands low. Like, directly on my groin. Metaphorically and physically.

“Can you read sheet music?” I ask her before anything else and she seems caught off guard by the question.

“This is Manon,” Ridley introduces rather than acknowledge my question at first. “She’s only a year above you two. And she likes other kind of music.”

I can’t help but frown at him. “... Well, why’d you bring her here, then? Our music is our music.”

“Just give her the mic, okay? Let me see that,” he reaches a tanned arm out to snatch the sheet music from my hands, analyzing it while I nod to Cisco and he adorns a grin while plugging in the microphone and bringing it front and center.

I turn my head to look at Manon. “What kind of music do you like, then?”

She shuffles in place, her hands fumbling together awkwardly as she avoids eye contact with me. “U-Um, I don’t r-really know how to... D-Describe it.” she stutters out. Oh, fucking great. She can’t even speak correctly and I’m meant to trust her with a mic? Maybe Gabe was right, and that whole family does have a drug empire that they funnel through their kids. “Can I-I just sing?”

A couple seconds later, Cisco passes by me and hands her the mic with a charming smile that I wish I could punch off his face without worrying about the consequences, which would likely detail in me ending up bloodied and bruised. I step aside to where Ridley is, notice he’s taken the liberty of looking through the rest of our music catalogue, and find myself a little relieved in that, at least. Whenever he sees that we’re actually giving her a shot he straightens up and gives her a reassuring smile before handing us the unnamed sheet music. It doesn’t take me long to note that it’s a duet, so I step up to the mic beside her after slinging my guitar over my shoulder.

The intro starts in a flare of drums and guitar, and I begrudgingly nod along to Cisco’s bass before she opens her mouth and begins to sing.

“Baby, you come knockin’ on my front door, same old line you used to use before, and I said, yeah, well what am I supposed to do?” Fleetwood motherfuckin’ Mac. And she doesn’t sound terrible at all, she doesn’t trip up over any of the words. “I didn’t know what I was gettin’ into, so you’ve had a little trouble in town, now you’re draggin’ my demons down.”

I chime in with stop draggin’ my, stop draggin’ my, stop draggin’ my heart around, and I can see Cisco’s shit-eating grin in my peripheral and become quickly distracted again by the music before I can feel anything about it. I can’t fault him. We sound good together, better than we ever have, actually. I used to think I’d have trouble sharing the spotlight — seemingly that isn’t the case at all.

When the song is over and we all glance up from where we were focused on our instruments, I look to Manon, who seems bashful and reserved again despite mere moments ago flourishing within the electric high that all music gives to true artists. “... That was good,” I tell her.

“T-Thank you,” she bows her head down and focuses on her fumbling hands again.

“So, gang,” Ridley finally speaks up as he walks over, his cadence much friendlier than before as he holds up the sheet music to REDROOM. “I think we’re gonna need to make a couple changes.”

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