#cozy-ish romance

[javarium]

the door with the floral wreath | r. sukuna

when sukuna gets a new neighbor on the third floor of his apartment complex, he’s pleasantly surprised to see who it is behind the door with the floral wreath. her two cats on the other hand, are a massive fucking problem.

w — honestly nothing? save for fluff and some cussing, slowburn-ish, implied boxer & sorta rich! Sukuna, implied polyglot(ish)! reader, cat! Satoru and cat! Suguru and both cats being in love, cozy themed again (I can’t help it), the formatting of this “fic” was how it was in my brain so I’m sorry if it’s a lil strange haha, this apparently became longer than I originally anticipated lmao, reader is mentioned to be partially Japanese but no physical appearances are ultimately described, mild angst at the end

a/n: not apart of the ‘make me (yours)’ universe but it’s definitely inspired by it

🌸 When Sukuna wakes up on a Saturday morning and opens his front door to leave for his morning run, the last thing he expects to see is a floral wreath on the door opposite of his. That can only mean one thing: someone has moved in. But if someone has, then why hasn’t he seen or heard the furniture being moved in? These aren’t exactly the cheapest apartments, so did they just not have anything?

It was weird, to say the least.

🌸 However, three months pass before he gets to see who the person who’s behind the door across from his.

🌸 Sukuna gets back from his jog a little early, the light sprinkles of rain turning into a downpour. That’s when he sees you leaving your apartment, locking the door to leave. Unfortunately, you’re not paying too much attention to your surroundings, and you two nearly collide into one another at the top of the stairs.

You narrowly turn in time to place yourself flat against the wall to avoid the behemoth of a man that was your neighbor from running over you and sending you both down the stairs.

“I’m sorry,” came your instant apology.

“It’s fine,” follows his gruff reply.

But he knows he certainly wouldn’t mind running into you again. Just not where you two can fall down the stairs and potentially break your necks.

On a random day not too long after your initial run-in (and near subsequent dangerous tumble down some stairs), you two run into one another to get the mail at the front office.

You pop up behind him right after he opens his mailbox, staring up at him and his very impressive height and build and apparently scare him, because when you speak next, his shoulders jump. “Gosh, you’re tall. You must’ve played basketball or something in high school, yeah?”

He would’ve either been silent or retort something in an asshole tone like he was used to. He just didn’t like people.

He would’ve, if it wasn’t his cute neighbor.

“Volleyball,” he replies quietly. “Quit after graduation.”

You frown. “That sucks. You must’ve been good at it.”

“It was a pastime.”

“Sounds fun though,” you chirp, putting your own key into your mailbox. “I tried to get into sports, but uh, lack of things made it hard to do so. Did track for awhile, until my ribs couldn’t keep up.”

Sukuna lets out a snort but says nothing further. He goes to leave, but not before hearing, “G’bye, neighbor!”

Ah, shit. He hadn’t told you his name, had he?

Hopefully, there would be a next time.

🌸 Sukuna doesn’t see you again for another month or two after that, fate still having you two separated like an awful slowburn romance.

🌸 What he doesn’t like in particular is the fact you don’t know his name and he doesn’t know yours. He doesn’t like that; doesn’t like that he’s missed his chance to know you a little better. By his logic, he should know your name, have your phone number, and have at least had you on a date and in his bed at least once already.

🌸 Come early December, he hears your door begin to open and close a lot. It becomes annoying, very very annoying, very very quickly.

That goes on almost until Christmas time.

Until one day he manages to catch the little reasons why your door has been slamming shut so much.

Twerp Number One wriggles in his hold as he holds them both up to eye level. She grunts and huffs at him. “Put me down!”

To which he scoffs at. “And why should I do that?”

Just as Twerp Number Two decides to speak, your door opens. This time it’s you.

“You can let them down,” you say, clearly amused. “They’ve come for cookies.”

Sukuna grunts. “So that’s why they’re always slamming the door.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve tried to get them to stop. They are six, though.” As genuine as your apology is, Sukuna can see the little twinkle of mischievousness appear at the end of your sentence in defense of the two twerps.

“Mr. Sukuna is a big grump anyway!” the oddly-orange-haired girl says. “At least that’s what my mama says.”

“Nobara, you shouldn’t be calling people names,” you scold the girl. “Put them down so they can get some cookies and head back, please. I’m sure Nobara’s mom is wondering about them. Nobara, the white box is for you to take home.”

Sukuna begrudgingly obliges. Nobara and her friend barge inside your home. The door stays open thanks to a cold breeze, allowing for the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls to drift outside and into his nose. And damn does it smell nice.

“So, I finally know your name,” you muse.

“Ryomen Sukuna,” he says, half-correcting you, “but everyone just calls me by my first name.”

“I can see why,” you reply in a joking tone and smile. “But yeah… It fits you. I’m [Name], and pretty much the same: everyone calls me by my first name. Since my last name isn’t exactly normal, you know… Since I’m not inherently from Japan.”

Sukuna’s brows raise. “You’ve lived here before?” he asks.

“My mom is [part/full] Japanese,” you admit. And then to his surprise, you ramble on further, “I’ve popped around, uh, a few countries over the last several years of my life, Japan included. I’ve just… never stayed in one place to technically be from somewhere. I was born in the States, but… I don’t, uh, really feel like I actually am from there… Does that make any sense?”

“It does.” But he doesn’t go into his backstory in return. And thankfully, you don’t seem to mind, just about as much as you minded sharing such a part of your life to someone who’s technically nothing more than a stranger to you, not in the slightest.

Nobara pops back out with her friend, who’s just a touch older than her.

“Thank you for the cookies and cimmanom rolls, Miss [Name]!” Nobara says.

You don’t bother to correct her cute mistake. “You’re very welcome, Nobara. Now head home. Goodnight, girls.”

“Goodnight!”

You watch the girls descend, and when they’re out of sight, you listen carefully for the telltale of their first floor door closing. And when it thuds shut loud enough to wake everyone in the apartments in the block, you turn your attention back to the gigantic man that was your next door neighbor… Who’s attention was on your door, more than likely concentrating on the smell in your kitchen.

Your lips curl up and you prevent a giggle. “You want some?”

Your voice snaps him from his stupor. “What? Want what?”

“Some cookies and cimmanom rolls?” you question, cutely reiterating Nobara’s mistake.

“Uh…”

He takes too long to answer, so you decide for him. “I’ll get you some anyway.”

You go back inside, leaving him out in the cold. But you don’t take very long and come back out not even two minutes later with another white box and place it into his hands.

“Well,” you say, teeth chattering from the cold. “It’s nice finally knowing your name, neighbor. Maybe we’ll run into each other again soon… Goodnight.”

He barely gets out a “goodnight” before you close the door. Sukuna tosses his head back and settles for a heavy exhale rather than the audible sigh he knows you would’ve heard through your door.

Another fuck up. But at least he got some food out of it this time.

🌸 You both end up meeting each other a lot more often by “coincidence” after that, like fate has finally determined you’re allowed to see one another or something. (To him that just sounds stupid, until it comes out of your mouth.)

For Christmas, you end up gifting him a tin of popcorn and another box of sweets by leaving them at a front door with a cute handwritten note.

🌸 Gradually, the two of you begin to interact more, and naturally gravitate toward each other’s energy and finally getting to know one another; he’s over at your apartment most of the time, it’s cleaner and smells at lot more nice than his (in his opinion). It’s not that he’s dirty, he’s quite clean actually. It’s just that he prefers your apartment to his.

🌸 You find out that Sukuna is about ten years older than you, and was almost a volleyball player that almost went pro, had it not been for his father’s death. He lost all motivation for the sport, and eventually settled for doing numbers for his father’s company, taking up boxing as a side hobby. To which he was more than good at.

A year ago, he moved into these apartments, getting away from the corporate world had had dived into, opting to do things from home rather than in-person. His prior neighbors never stayed around for too long, not with the amount of noise coming from his apartment in the middle of the night. You’re honestly surprised the person below him hasn’t moved out yet either.

🌸 For Sukuna, he finds out that you almost didn’t get to graduate high school because of how much you’d been moving around. You’d gotten depression from leaving so many friends behind so often that you just made graduation by the skin of your teeth.

Now, you’re online for college, majoring in linguistics, all while working as a translator for a special needs school of Japanese children that are deaf. Through that, he finds out you speak several different languages as well.

God, your personality is just as sweet as the goodies you bake, huh?

🌸 There is one problem, however, when he comes over: your goddamn cats.

🌸 The white Maine Coon is for sure out to get him and make his life miserable, with his attempts at wooing you almost a failed attempt every single time. His name is Satoru, and he’s by far the most obnoxious cat he’s ever fucking met.

Why on Earth you’d give a cat a human name is beyond him. But the again, the fucking cat acts so human it’s disturbing — it almost kind of makes sense.

🌸 Satoru’s claws almost end up in his ass every time he walks through the front door. He can’t even stand openly, but has to stay against a wall or sit on the couch so the cat doesn’t get his claws into his backside. And he can tell that that damn cat has a smug-ass smirk on his face every time. How a cat can smirk, he’s unsure; but he just knows that the look on his face is the one of a smug little shithead that knows he’s gotten away with being a menace. Thankfully, you’re aware of his tendencies and can tell when he’s being more of an asshole than other times and get onto him.

🌸 The black Maine Coon, Suguru, isn’t as terrible, but he opts to creepily stare down at Sukuna from his cat tower rather than be proactive in his distaste. He studies him every second every time he comes over, paying attention to every single detail and movement Sukuna makes with you.

He’ll do things more subtly than his white counterpart, like “accidentally” wave his long, black fluffy tail into his cup of water you gave him. He’s just as much of a menace, although you don’t get onto him as often like the white one, because while you know Satoru is more of an extroverted menace, you just seemingly can’t see that Suguru is just as awful. (Mostly because you don’t actually see it.)

🌸 This goes on for months and months, Satoru scratching the behind of his pants as hard as he can to make it rip and getting white fur all over his clothes, and Suguru glaring down at him from his tower and putting his paws in Sukuna’s food. Although it becomes a little less as often because they’re seemingly growing used to him, as if they’re seeing that he actually makes you happy and finally get the sense that he isn’t just going to break your heart and throw you away.

🌸 And the growing approval of your cats seems to mean a lot to you.

“I picked them up off the streets,” you tell him after he asks about where you got the inseparable pair. “I found them as kittens in a cardboard box three years ago on the streets, drenched and matted in dirt and nasty water.”

You remember the day very clearly. It had just stopped raining, and just as you were about to head home, stopping at the vending machines before heading to your car, you heard animal-like cries of something small and weak. And sure enough, on the other side of the food machine, stuffed away in a tacky, ruined cardboard box, were two, rain-drenched kittens huddled together to keep warm.

That was the day you got two new cats, two new responsibilities. And although times got hard a few times, you’ve never regretted adopting them.

Sukuna gazes up at the two cats on the tower, sitting next to each other in the bed at the top. Their tails are intertwined, heads rubbing at each other’s necks lovingly. He would have never guessed that’s where you found them. From the looks of it, they he would’ve guessed they’d came from a pet store.

“So you’ve raised them since they were kittens,” Sukuna says. “They trust you with their lives. And looks like they love you unconditionally, too.”

“I’d like to think so,” you muse, sipping on your coffee. “Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it with how ornery they are.”

Sukuna keeps his eyes trained on the two cats in love. He’s slightly jealous, and no he’ll never admit it. He just hopes he can have that one day with you.

He just has to stop Satoru from ripping him a new one every time he comes through the door.

🌸 Your cats eventually grow fond of having him over, fond enough that they’re not being the usual mischievous selves when Sukuna puts his arm around your shoulders and tugs you closer to him when you invite him over for movie nights, not trying to bite his fingers off (Satoru) or sit between you both (Suguru).

🌸 After a year passes and you and Sukuna know each other, he finally gets to take you on a proper date after manning up. Although it’s not a restaurant date, since he knows you hate being looked at while eating. It’s a picnic by the ocean, with the weather nothing short of perfect.

🌸 Your attempts to leave your cats at home for said date, however, are fruitless, the pair determined to come with you and your now-boyfriend who declares himself as such after dessert just to piss off the pair of felines. Sukuna plants a big fat smooch on your lips, turning you into a giggly mess.

🌸 They in return, somehow find a stray kitten and plop it in his lap in return. The kitten isn’t as bad off as when you found Satoru and Suguru, but he’s just as scared. He immediately imprints on your oversized boyfriend, who secretly takes an instant liking to the orange-red (honestly a little pink, too) baby cat and becomes a cat dad.

Date not necessarily ruined. But definitely not what he had planned.

🌸 After a week of having, he fondly named the cat a human name — Yuuji, and the fur baby took just as much liking to it as his owner did him. You do have to teach him the ropes and warn your boyfriend that he’d better be ready to have some of his stuff deep-cleaned if Yuuji doesn’t get to the litter box in time.

Satoru and Suguru take to the kitten like two doting parents. And as much as they still kinda dislike your boyfriend taking you from them, they still help train him to use the litter box. (Long story short, they felt bad after seeing you cry after they’d tore up [and peed] all over your third couch and quit being as ornery as they used to be.)

A few months had passed since Sukuna got Yuuji plopped into his lap, since you two had become a couple. It was always amusing seeing your big boyfriend playing with such a small cat. Honestly, the cat looked like he was part tiger.

You feel overwhelmed with contentment. You have a good job, a wonderful boyfriend (who’s apparently secretly rich) who loves to give you kisses, and two cats who love you. You have enough now, so why was the universe trying to take that from you?

You don’t know how your ex got your number, but what you do know is that you have to tell Sukuna. No later than tomorrow.

You exhale. You can’t think about it. You’ll tell him. You’ll tell him tomorrow that your dyed blonde-haired ex wants to see you again. You’re hopefully of one thing though: that the moment your boyfriend meets your ex, you hope Sukuna has enough restraint to not beat the shit out of him.

“Baby, you okay?”

Sukuna’s brows are raised. One would miss the concern on his face if they didn’t know him as well as you do.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m good.” Woman up, girl, you tell yourself. “I do have something to tell you later. Just… remind me before dinner.”

The concern becomes more evident on his face, which prompts you to walk to him and kiss him.

“It’s nothing serious… I don’t think. Don’t worry,” you reassure him, partially reassuring yourself. “What we should worry about is what’s for dinner,” you joke. “Don’t think I can eat those leftovers.”

“Goddamn, I’m sorry I put too much salt in it.”

You laugh, wanting this happiness to ever be trampled on. You’ll do what you can to protect and keep it.

taglist:

@vagabond-umlaut | @poe-daydreams | @heresan @thedovahqueen | @lotus-n-l0ve | @chiyoso | @miraclecherryblossomsblog | @unbreakableblueheaven | @marscatbutler | @vanillabloo | @wo-ming-bai | @visionsofmagic | @tohsri

#sukuna x reader #sukuna x y/n #ryomen sukuna x reader #sukuna ryomen #sukuna fluff #sukuna fic #jjk sukuna #modern! sukuna #modern au

[sprite-writes-fanfic]

First date!

🐢💙❤️2003 TMNT x Reader💜🧡🐢

Word Count: 862

CW: Gender-neutral reader, referred to only as ‘you’, turtles my beloved, I am feeding you turtle fluff today. <3

🐢💙Leonardo💙🐢

💙 A first date with Leo would be pretty cozy, I’d think. He wishes he could take you out to a fancy restaurant like other men could, or even take you to a movie theater, ANYTHING so romantic, he wishes he could do. It really does make him feel so bad that he can’t provide you with romantic experiences like this, not unless he was disguised, but he can’t risk it either.

💙 But, you’re able to snap him out of it! You suggest a little stay-in date, and honestly, he wasn’t really aware what a stay-in date was, so you end up explaining all the things you two could do.

💙 That actually lifts his spirits a bit, and you reassuring him you didn’t need anything fancy and were happy just spending time with him made him feel so warm and fuzzy.

💙 The two of you would make dinner together when the brothers were out and Splinter was sitting in his room. The two of you had a romantic time, making spaghetti together and enjoying the meal… Soft touches, subtle flirting and sweet exchanges with one another, and the food was delicious too!

💙 After that, Leo would turn on Mikey’s stereo, playing some romantic music, then offering a hand. Once you take it, he’d pull you into a slow dance, your bodies pressed together in a warm embrace as you two would sway, his eyes staring into yours warmly. It was truly a cozy night.

🐢❤️Raphael❤️🐢

❤️ A first date with Raph would be pretty fun! He already knows what he wants to do, he’s had it planned out for months if you two ever did get together— Yeah, he’s daydreamed a lot the moment you’d possibly say yes.

❤️ He gets Donnie to make another helmet, just for you specifically. Once that���s done, the plan is set into motion. Raph approaches you and asks if you want to go somewhere special, and once you give him the yes he was waiting for, he takes you up to their garage.

❤️ He would take you for a ride on the Shell Cycle through the city and soon make it outside of the city to a nearby patch of grass with a blanket and even a picnic basket, (bro had this all set up).

❤️ The two of you would end up enjoying the sandwiches he made while admiring the stars, it was just the two of you, and it all felt so so right.

❤️ You guys ended up cuddling that night and sharing a few kisses before he had to bring you home. He was very grumpy about that fact. 💔

🐢💜Donatello💜🐢

💜 With Donnie, he wasn’t sure what to do for a first date. He’s not experienced in the romance department, (not like any of his brothers are either but), mostly because he’s always thought more about science than what it would be like to love another.

💜 Well, how about a small adventure? Not the most romantic, but it would still be fun! The two of you set off in the Battle Shell, picking up some fast food and stopping in an empty-ish parking lot to eat.

💜 After talking and eating, you two would set off again and find yourself at an old scrapyard that seemed pretty much abandoned! After Donnie would give you that look, you couldn’t deny those little puppy eyes.

💜 Honestly an interesting experience. Donnie found some pretty neat things he could use for his inventions, and you found some pretty cool old things, like you found an old antique lamp, which was pretty cool!

💜 You guys would get back to the lair and end up cuddling on the couch. Not long after, both of you were passed out with a soft blanket draped over the both of you. His brothers found you guys and Mikey took pictures to tease the both of you later, (little stinker).

🐢���Michelangelo🧡🐢

🧡 As I mentioned in the last fic, (the ‘03 turtles are in love!), you guys had a rooftop date… And to say it was a fun experience would be absolutely correct.

🧡 Mikey, being the goofball that he is, had this little dining table set up and he had a fake mustache on along with this apron, acting like a waiter once you first climbed onto the rooftop, greeting you with a big smile.

🧡 He’d push in your chair and hand you the menu, pouring you a glass of Fanta, while asking you what you’d like to eat. This menu only had pizza on it by the way, so what did you order? Pizza of course!

🧡 He’d take your menu and soon grab a box of pizza, tossing aside his apron and mustache, making you laugh at his silly antics. He’d serve the pizza with a wink, and you guys would have a small dinner date while watching the sunset together!

🧡 After dinner, you and him would have fun dancing on the rooftop. Similar to Leo, he’d play music, but instead of an embracing dance with romantic music, you would be listening to more cheerful music and having a good time! Dancing to your heart's content and laughing. If you ever did end up getting tired, he’d carry you home without issue.

RAAAH, okay, felt a good amount of inspo today so I was quick to dispel it 😭 also GOD DAMN, thank you guys so much for the support on the last fic! I didn’t expect it to get so much traction like at all, so glad to see you guys like my writing! :) Next one I’m planning is first kisses with these lovely turtles <3 so I hope to see you guys there too!

#sprite writes #fanfic #tmnt #tmnt 2003 x reader #leo x reader #raph x reader #donnie x reader #mikey x reader #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #2003 leo #2003 raph #2003 donnie #2003 mikey #tmnt 2003

[freesia-writes]

Master List of Echo Goodies!

Key: 😭 = Hurt/Comfort 🌶️ = NSFW 🥹 = Fluff 💙 = Romance

Long Fics:

😭🥹 Parts of a Whole by snow_and_ice on Ao3

🥹💙 Echo and Comms by @deejadabbles

😭🌶️ Loverboy (Sith Finds Echo) by @kaminocasey

😭💙🥹🌶️ Don't You Know by @221bshrlocked

One-Shots:

🥹 Tough Love from Echo by @arctrooper69

😭 Don't Die Here by @eclec-tech

🌶️ Spicy Reunion by @clone-anon-after-dark

🥹 Birdwatching and Walk in the City by @clone-anon

😭 Tambor's Monster (Frankenstein AU) by @eclec-tech

😭 I Miss You by KyberCrystals94

💙😭 I'm Different by @dangraccoon

💙🌶️ish - Just Borrowing by @dangraccoon

🥹 Echo Meets Your Family by @reader6898

🥹 Body Insecurities by @tinywitchgoblin

🥹💙 The Beauty in All (Matchmaking AU) by @deejadabbles

😭💙 Like Real People Do by @sinfulsalutations

🌶️ Different, But Still Good by @somedaylazysomeday

Fan Art:

Echo in action by @keeradaks

Shirtless Echo by @queenjiru

Zygerrian Prisoner by @url0calweirdo

Hilarious Comic by @jvanrynart

Echo and Fives by @baaaaaaaam

Tired Mediator by @phantasm-echo

Thirst Trap Animation by @boggsart

Echo and Fives at the Bar by @nika6q

Echo and Riyo, No Pickles by @amalthiaph

Snarky Valentine by @nika6q

Male Model Echo by @eyecandyeoz

Echo and Ghost Fives by @spicyclones79s

TCW Echo by @moonvixenart

Cozy Fireside Echo by @pinkiemme

SWC Portrait by @kenosisofabrami

Four Portraits by @beetlecrest

Radiant Crown by @lightspringrain

Puppet Echo by @echojedis

Echo and Fives by @coldbrewarts

Glorious Thicc Boi by @muguathepapaya

Halloween Moth Echo by @pinkiemme

Echo and Riyo Sunbathing by @nika6q

Disney Prince Echo by @marymunchkiin

Tank Top Echo by @frostbitebakery

Snoozin with Tech by @amorfista

Gardening on Pabu by @thattoothpick

Rex Finding Echo by @hootydoot

Beach Day with Hunter by @amorfista

TCW Echo and Fives by @cobaltbeam

Shirtless Echo by @matookahitaki

BAMF Armored Echo by @superscoundrel23

Echo Moon by @lightspringrain

Damn Scomp by @snotbuggle

Puppy Dog Eyes by @isthereanechoinhere96

Shirtless Echo by @raevulsix

#the bad batch #tbb #star wars fanart #tbb fanart #bad batch #the bad batch fanart #star wars the bad batch #star wars fanfiction #bad batch fanart #fanart #tbb echo #echo fanart #echo fanfic #echo fic #tcw echo #tbb echo fanart #tcw echo fanart

[moonys-wrld]

Bedtime Stories

Fandom: Marauders

Pairing: James Potter x gn!Gryffindor!Reader

genre/trope: friends-ish to lovers, mostly mutual pining

Warnings/Tags: no major warnings. pure fluff, all comfort. mentions of reader having soft hands.

Summary: you and James have been crushing on each other for some time. after reading together at the end of a long week, you fall asleep cuddling in bed.

After a week of tests and studying you are just about ready to collapse into bed and sleep forever. Thankfully it's Friday and you can sleep in tomorrow if you so choose.

You lie in bed, waiting for sleep to overtake you, but it never comes. You're too anxious about the test results, which don't come until Monday evening, so you decide to go down to the common room to read by the fire until you're able to sleep.

You walk downstairs into the warm and cozy environment that is the Gryffindor common room and James Potter instantly catches your eye. He's sitting on the couch closest to the fireplace, staring into the flames. You notice a faraway look in his eyes and decide to carefully approach him.

Silently, as to not disturb the comfortable peace of the room, you sit next to him. The feeling of the couch shifting under you jolts him back to reality and he quickly looks over to you.

You smile at him as a greeting before asking, "Why are you awake so late, James? are you okay?" It comes out in a soft whisper.

He glances over at you; his expression softens at the sight of you. "Just couldn't sleep," he replies, rubbing his eyes. He looks exhausted, dark rings are under his eyes, and his hair is disheveled. He's not his cheerful, bouncy self. "Wasn't expecting to see you here though, you having trouble sleeping too?"

"Yeah, came out to find a book to read to fill the time. got any recommendations?" you ask looking at him with soft eyes and a sleepy smile. You can't help but think about how pretty he looks, messy curls and all.

He smiles at you, a hint of warmth in his eyes. There's something about James when he's tired that makes him... cuter? you've always thought he was the cutest boy in Gryffindor, but now, here in the common room, next to the fire, it just feels so much more intimate.

"Uh..." he pauses, his forehead creasing in thought. "I maybe know a book you could read. An adventure novel with a bit of romance, action, and mystery. I've been meaning to read it as well, Remus recommended it."

"Will you read it to me then?" you asks him softly, you can feel your face heating up just being this close to him. If anyone asks, you'd blame it on the fire.

His face heats up as well, tinging his handsome features with a pinky-red hue. How could he say no to you? He's already falling for you, and he's so obvious about his feelings that all of his friends know, as do yours, and probably all of Gryffindor as well. The only one who doesn't know, is you.

With a sheepish smile and soft eyes, he nods in agreement. "Sure, I can do that. The book is in my dorm." He stands up from the couch, extending a hand to help you up.

You take his offered hand and continue holding onto it while walking to his dorm. Looking down to hide the smile you just can't seem to get rid of, you lean slightly closer to whisper, "Are you sure we won't wake the boys up? I don't wish to get on their bad side."

His soft eyes are amused by the concern you show for his friends, as well as the shy smile on your face. He can't help but find you cute.

"No, they won't wake up, they're deep asleep. I promise." He smiles, your hand in his feels so precious. Your hands are soft, and delicate inside his rough, calloused, Quidditch playing ones. His smile grows, and you have to stop yourself from swooning even more.

You reach his dorm room. "Ready to read?"

"You mean listen to you read? of course!" you say softly with a laugh and a hint of excitement. Finally looking up at him after staring at the floor the whole walk, you notice he's looking directly at you causing your face to heat you more, you're practically on fire as he opens the door to his shared dorm with the other 3/4th of the marauders.

"Heh, you're right," he chuckles. "I'm an amazing reader, so you'll definitely enjoy it," he says with a cocky tone. With that, he pulls the curtain around his bed out of the way for you. He's not quite sure why he's so nervous, I mean you're just reading, right? This doesn't for sure mean you like him back, right?

He finds a copy of the book he was referring to on Remus' bedside table and smiles at you. "Ready to start, then?"

You smile up at him before practically throwing yourself onto his bed and pulling him down with you. "Okay, now read to me pretty boy," you whisper, trying not to wake the other boys.

Your unexpected compliment catches him off guard, but he's not about to complain. The position you've put yourselves in is perfect for him as well. His arns wrap around you, one arm around your back and the other holding the book, as you lay on top of him, pressing yourself against his chest, all with the curtains closed to not wake anyone. The feeling of being so physically close to each other is almost too good to be true.

"Alright," he replies softly, and opens the book to chapter one. "Are you comfortable?"

Laying on his chest, you can hear his rapid heartbeat but choose to ignore it and how it causes your own speed up as well. "Yeah, I'm super comfortable Jamie."

The nickname makes his heart soar. He's tempted to just toss the book and wrap his arms around you and pull you closer. You are everything he's ever dreamed of in a partner, and now, well... here you are.

"Then I can begin?" he asks softly, and glances at you as if he's expecting your permission.

"of course. please start," you reply softly, pulling a blanket around the both of you for some more warmth.

He smiles, looking down at you before staring. "Alright," he says softly and starts reading the book from the beginning. His voice is gentle and soothing, a hint of intimacy in the way he speaks. And while he's reading, he can't help but feel and think about how natural your body feels pressed against him. He wants you to be comfortable, but he also wants you to be closer.

You start feeling sleepy listening to his voice, the soothing and gentleness of his voice has you falling asleep after only 5 minutes of him reading. Subconsciously, you pull yourself further into his embrace in your sleep, wrapping yourself around him more.

James notices your movements and the way you're burying yourself into him. It's something he enjoys deeply. You're pressed against him, the warmth of your body seeping into his skin. And as your sleep grows deeper, your breathing becomes slower and more even. A smile spreads across his face as he realizes you've fallen asleep. It's so... domestic.

He wraps his arm around you, pulling you closer, and continues reading, keeping his voice soft. It was cute how you would nuzzle closer to him while sleeping.

After 30 minutes when he knows you're good and asleep, James stops reading and decides to go to sleep as well, but not before double-checking that you're comfortable. The two of you sleep peacefully like this for a few hours before morning eventually arrives.

By the time you wake up the next morning, the sun is shining through the windows and seeping into the curtains around the bed. Not wanting to wake James, you don't move around too much other than to reposition yourself slightly so that you can look up at his face, smiling at the peaceful look upon it.

You're content in his arms, and with the warmth of your bodies pressed together, the early morning rays of sunlight, and the look of innocence on his face, it all gives you such a peaceful feeling.

You're not entirely sure you want to wake him. You could stay like this for a while, his arms surrounding you, his face so close to yours. You've never felt so safe and at peace before.

Smiling up at him, you feel him shift under you, stirring awake. once his eyes open, your smile widens before saying "Good morning, Jamsie."

He finds himself looking at you, a beautiful person laying in his arms and smiling at him. His heart skips a beat.

"Morning," he replies softly. You know, you're the first one to ever call him "Jamsie", and he kind of likes it. He smiles at you, stroking a gentle strand of hair off of your face.

"Can we stay like this forever?" you ask laying your head back down on him, "you're quite warm and comfy," you add with a small giggle.

A soft chuckle escapes him at your words, a hint of amusement and adoration tinging his voice. He was aware of how warm and comfortable you thought he was, he felt the same way.

"Yeah," he replies softly, "I'm fine with that." He soothingly strokes his fingers softly down your shoulders and back while looking down at your face. He was in heaven right now, and he'd never wanted anything more in life than to remain here with you forever.

~ The end! I might do a pt. 2 where the rest of the marauders wake up and find them cuddling but im not sure yet.

ALSO this is my first ever fic posted and english isn't my first language so feedback is welcomed and appreciated!!

#james potter #james potter x reader #james potter x gn!reader #james potter fic #james potter one shot #james potter fluff #comfort no hurt #tooth rotting fluff #no warnings #safe fluff #marauders fluff #marauders era #the marauders #the marauders era #elio writes

[fumiku]

Hear ye hear ye!

I come bringing two Dungeon Meshi marchil fanfics to share

Enough

He got crumbs of it in moments, here and there, and it would be more than enough to last the winter. Chil knew how to live on little, with only what he could afford. But love? Love he had had enough of for a lifetime.

I'll start with the shorter one that I wrote first, a quick Chilchuck POV 1.3k words oneshot that's bittersweet if not just plainly sad. It’s about repressing a crush essentially, but the marchil is mostly a front for a character study about Chilchuck’s complex feelings on his marital situation and love in general. I’ve been told many times in comments that even without shipping marchil it was enjoyable, so give it a shot if that sounds interesting!

He soaked her in, like hard bread softening in broth.

Grind Me Down Sweetly

Even years after their journey into the dungeon, Marcille wasn’t quite over her existential dread over short lifespans… And it showed. Every other day, she came by to Chilchuck’s locksmith shop with a shocking lack of locks to smith.

Coffeeshop au except it’s not an au and there’s no coffeeshop. This one is a long oneshot of 17k words, and contains flashbacks that are meant to loosely span over a year. This fic can pretty much be entirely read as platonic. They’re just close friends but they give married energy is all. Slice of life and cozy with a side of banter & tsundere behavior, and existential dread hurt/comfort as the cherry on the sundae. It contains some classic Dungeon Meshi things like storytelling through cooking and sharing meals~ If you like the Marcille and Chilchuck dynamic in canon, this is pretty much just a bunch of that, shenanigans abound!

She clung to her friends like time was always running out.

Blonde hair is the epitome of beauty to him meanwhile his greying hair brings her existential despair. I am composed and collected about this

"I am going to chase you out with a broom"

Some related-ish memes I made!

Extra author notes and marchil rambling under cut

With how chil is so irritable and private about romance and his feelings it makes sense that their romance would have passive-agressive energy. Are they just friends or pining? Oh wouldn’t you like to know. Are they just lightheartedly bantering or is he legitimately pissed or are they blinking in morse code their true feelings at each other? Yes

My post-canon timeline is Chilchuck lives a nice life living alone in his house-shop except his friends all visit him and care, and even though he likes living alone it’s also bittersweet and every corner of his life is haunted by the ones he loves and loved and the moments he had with them. That’s it that’s all I want… (mostly the nice life part lol)

My marchil manifesto is that she grows on him stubbornly like fungal yeast and it brings out his flavor like beer <3 Because she stubbornly puts her nose everywhere and refuses to give up on getting closer to her friends and it makes him open up and repress his feelings less and aaaa <33 Obligatory shout out to the dunmeshi discord serv for engaging with my rambles

For someone who dislikes alcohol I’m having so much fun working beer metaphors and stuff into the writing, Chilchuck has all the fun motifs to play with fr... Traps, lockpicking, married life, work, destitution, starvation, rejection, repression, opening urself up to the world. Give me the most domestic fluff and give it a subtle foundation of angst and hurt comfort 👌

And I do think that Marcille takes a particular interest in Chilchuck especially because he’s so set on being a closed book as well. Yeah she def is like 👀 at him. Aaah the way she wants to meet his family so bad 😭💕 I think she romanticizes him & his family life/idealizes him as a virtuous husband a lot too. Like how she tends to think of things in a more flowery story-like way.

I do compare him to bread and her to soup in that he soaks up in her warm vibes and softens up. Which has become a personal favorite. He was bread, she was soup, can I make it any more obvious /lyr Soggy bread Chilchuck is so funny to me. Like, you know that rock solid bread but then you soak it in soup and then it just becomes the softest crumbliest thing. I think Chilchuck is a really hard bread that will break your teeth if you don’t put him in some soup beforehand. Or wine. I wracked my brain a lot about what food Chil would like (because his Adventurer’s Bible profile just says he love alcohol and hates sweet dishes rip) and I end up giving him a bread motif a lot, since it pairs well with alcohol and whatnot.

With marchil I either do unrequited angst because Chilchuck will NOT allow himself to feel, or the most domestic fluffy shit ever but in a mostly platonic dimension because once again -gestures at Chilchuck- But in a true Marcille "If I was Chilchuck’s wife" Donato fashion she manages to get her nose into the most stubborn’s people stuff like a barnacle and it’s. So married people coded anyways. They’re a lil messed up but it’s ok they’ll iron out those bumps. Ironing because they are gonna do the most domestic chores together 🔥🔥 MARRIEDCORE I TELL YOU I should get around to making more fics and more different vibes though, I already have a bunch of prompts written down~

Even more rambling and headcanons!!

I hc that when he gets his shop all his living quarters are half-foot sized so whenever the party comes to visit they suffer sitting down at the dinner table and whatnot

There’s a very specific horror in not being able to grow old with your loved one… It’s gotta be rough being in a relationship where you don’t mature at the same speed/rate. It must be so heartbreaking to turn around and your lover suddenly looks 70 while you’re still like 26 Chilchuck living until he lives with either Meijack or Flertom or at the castle and spends his days grumbling about people being even more incompetent than they used to be real. He can live longer than 50 🙏 come on peepaw you can make it to 70. He’s got so many friends ready to nurse him, prob while he complains about it. This is why I find elderly half-foots a funny mental picture. For a while I wondered if half-foots aged visually much at all in the traditional sense, and then I remembered these.

In my post-canon headcanons I’ve adopted the idea that Marcille doesn’t do her hair, it’s always someone else making her hairdos like an attendant or Kabru and like maybe Falin learns. In the "it takes a village to raise someone" community mutual aid energy… And the rare times where the task befalls Chilchuck he learns how to put it in a single braid (even if it’s so much hair for him to hold in his small hands all at once rip) because the one time he braided it in two in canon it reminded him of Meijack and gave him psychic damage. WHICH. Ohhh my god you have no idea how much I care about Chilchuck’s daughters now. After writing the first half of Grind Me Down Sweetly I am forever changed I know them all by name and know everything there is to know about them, I am making so many headcanons every day… Meijack wears thigh-high boots because she hates when sand, dirt or snow gets in her shoes- I have fanart coming up of them over at @fuumiku and I’d love making fics centered around them as well eventually yippee The angst of old senile Chilchuck still tying marcille's hair... Old senile chilchuck confusing marcille for one of his daughters… "Have you gotten taller? Oh how much you’ve grown" -breaking his neck looking up at her- I want Chilchuck to get the top notch elder treatment.

Ok this is the alcoholism tangent. I really want to believe Chilchuck can be super old, but… Realistically he’s gonna drink himself to an early grave, he’s a work hard play hard kinda guy.

Marcille would be horrified if she knew the extent of it fr fr, but I do think it’d drive a wedge between them if she tried getting him to lay off of it… If he’s open to it though that’d be so nice and sweet. Hey hey btw did you know, Chilchuck is canonically underweight due to extremely strict dieting and alcohol can act as a good hunger suppressant! Lots of issues to dig into here It’d be cute if his daughters visit him often and collectively keep tabs on him in a caring way. It’s less cute actually beinh the daughter and having to deal with it but- CHILCHUCK IS WORTH IT okay!!! Where’s that meme of "You can fix him? So is 5 other people y’all look like a construction crew" bc this increasingly looks like ‘Marcille Senshi Laios Izutsumi and his family make sure he doesn’t poison himself like a dog with chocolate’ mission.

Truly for some people reason just flies out the window when it comes to alcohol, coherence gives way to excuses. He reminds of someone I know who got a grave disease that’s worsened by alcohol and just. Continues to take it regularly. You know that thing that’s said where "an alcoholic parent will have 2 kids, one will grow to be alcoholic too while the other will never touch a drop of alcohol" and Chilchuck is def the first I think. He gives the vibe that he’d say "An alcoholic parent puts a strain on familial relationships?? Pshh, my father was and look at me! I turned out great!". I don’t think Chil could really get shaken out of it at this point tbh, seems very ingrained in him, would prob fight it back. I relate with my own familial situation ughh. Maybe if he realized how it hurt the people around him and not only himself though…. I’d def like to see him ease up on it. Drinking is often a social activity though. That gives me hope, especially with the whole dunmeshi lesson of sharing meals, that he might be able to/have recontextualized how or when he likes to take alcohol, that alcohol is better when you have others with you and you’re still able to talk and whatnot. Chilchuck says that he’s pretty picky with alcohol tho, like he has specific tastes or a high bar. Laios can ban good beer in the kingdom and then Chilchuck just stops because it all tastes awful and he’s not rich enough to import. The brewery he likes mysteriously burns down in a fireball incident one night. Marcille risks prison for her loved ones part 2, now with diplomatic immunity! ✨

I have hcs about Chil’s family dynamic, about his daughters and how alcoholism or workaholism may have affected everyone (not me inferring that Puckpatti being the most idealistic and optimistic from Chil’s daughters is probably a result from her being the youngest and perhaps Chil being the most often at work during that time and so she was mostly raised by her mother without much involvement from him). That’s a topic for another day though, for now I leave you all with thoughts of Flertom painting flowers on a shitty ceramic mug when she was 3 and Chil begrudgingly asking Marcille advice on picking a birthday gift for Puckpatti :) Oh yeah, because if we look at the timeline in The Adventurer’s Bible and combine it with when Chilchuck said that "Due to certain circumstances he hasn’t seen his wife or daughters in years" in the Senshi backstory chapter, besides letters with Flertom he has seemingly not seen them in 4 years. 4 YEARS. Thank god dungeons disappeared, it took that much for him to retire

#dungeon meshi #fanfiction #chilchuck tims #marcille donato #marchil #CHILCHUCK IS UNDER ATTACK!! #Breaking news #old man who refuses to open his heart and accept love fighting for his life against nosy friend #Everyone thinks Laios is the rabid dog of the party but when it comes to Chilchuck it totally becomes Marcille and I love that for them #My favorite marchil dynamic is that they’re close friends but they give married energy #not casual reminder at all that Chilchuck is canonically underweight #Y’all that follow my meme dumps are getting a sneak peek #So many headcanons and so much rambling oops #A lot of it’s copy pasted from the dunmeshi discord hi friendos #fumiku fanfic #fumiku fics

[dino-boyo-agere]

Not On Valentine's Day

╰→ Steddie AgeRe fanfic

[Word count: 1748] holy crap, that's a big boi!

.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.✧.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.

Character info:

Steve - Age Regressor (lil age 3-ish)

Eddie  - caregiver ("Poppa")

Plot:

Steve deals with immense pressure, caused by him planning a elaborate Valentine's Date for Eddie, while desperately trying not to slip into little space.

Tw! Angst, Hurt & comfort, mention of: impure regression, mental health, self loathing, anxiety & intimacy.

╰→ It's all kept SFW!!

! Age Regression is not a k*nk !

.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.✧.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.

Steve felt like he was going to burst under all this pressure, it was to much. He planned and prepared a romantic valentine's date...

Well, he wasn't quite done yet, even though it was already Feburary 14th.

It was still in the early hours of the morning, but nonetheless, his anxiety was through the roof. He barely got any sleep and he still had so much to do. Steve whished he could just curl up infront of the TV, in his PJs, eating fruit loops and- 

Oh, no..

He could feel himself beginning to slip.

No, he can't have that, not today, darnit..

"Get it together, Harrington.." he mumbled to himself, slightly slapping his own cheek, as a means to stay aware, stay alert, stay big.

He wanted this day to be perfect.

He wanted tonight to be a romantic and.. hecc.. intimate experience with Eddie. Not whatever his stupid, effed up brain wanted to make out of it.

He won't- no.. He can't let himself ruin this for Eddie, not again..

Why did he always have to make everything about himself? Eddie deserved better. He deserved a nice, romantic date, in which he would be the center of attention. And Steve was going to make that happen, today.

He pushed aside the self-destructive thoughts and his urge to regress, focusing soely on making this work. On making this day perfect, for Eddie.

So, he continued with the preparations to make this happen.

He went all out, exhausting himself more and more in the process.

The whole ordeal also took him way longer than anticipated, since he continually had to fight slipping.

While cleaning the house, he constantly got distracted by finding toys or other 'little stuff'.

Whilst cooking a fancy three course meal, he found it frustratingly hard to read and understand the recipe, resulting in him having to start over two times.

He had to calm himself down and remind himself that monsters aren't real, before being able to enter the cellar, so he could pick out one of the most expensive whines from his parents collection.

Upon selecting some romantic movies, he had to resist just throwing in- and watching a cartoon.

He had to give up on the idea of building a blanket fort, while making the bed.

When he took a shower, he denied himself using his 'spiderman shampoo', though he really wanted to.

And as he picked his clothes, Steve had to go with something elegant, instead of his cozy footed PJ's he so desperately wanted to snuggle up in.

Hopelessly klinging on to his big headspace, Steve had to remind himself to stay focused on the mission, constantly.

In the evening, he was finally done, right before Eddie arrived.

He embraced his boyfriend with a hug and excitedly explained his plans for the day.

Steve could still feel his brain being fuzzy, though he eagerly tried to hide it.

Eddie could tell that something was bothering Steve, he avoided eye contact and seemed to be restless. Always jumping up 'to get-' or 'because he forgot something'. 

So, he asked his boyfriend if everything was alright.

Steve just shrugged him off, stating: "Oh, yeah. It's- I'm just a little tired, that's all. And so excited for today, really."

Eddie knew he was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth, but he didn't want to push it, so he just accepted Steve's explanation and moved on from the topic.

The date was going great.

Their food was delicious and they've snuggled up infront of the TV, watching some cheesey romance movies. They liked judging- and making fun of the stupid decisions characters tend to make.

Under the blanked, Eddie started gently caressing Steve's thigh. As he was just about to lean in for a passionate kiss, he stopped right in his tracks, when he saw Steve's face. A look of unease, or even fear, in his glazed eyes.

Eddie knew that look. He knew it too well.. This was the look of a- no, of his deeply afflicted darling boy.

Immediately, he lifted his hand from the boys leg, ever so gently placing it on his cheek instead.

He rubbed his thumb against the soft skin lovingly & with such vigilance, as to not scare Steve further.

"Oh, oh baby, I'm so sorry." Eddie said, his voice shaking from guilt and hurt, for almost harming his little one.

He felt like punching himself in the face. How didn't he catch that sooner?!

He almost kissed his little one passionately, hasn't he looked up in time. What kind of awful Caregiver would he be if..

Eddie could feel his stomach turn at the thought of that.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated.

Steve was perplexed, at first.

He didn't notice how far he had already slipped, cuddled up on the couch like that.

He wasn't fully regressed yet, still capable of thinking  somewhat adult-ish. But it was definitely noticable that he wasn't fully there.

Nonetheless, he wanted to play it off, he's come so far, he won't let himself ruin this for Eddie.

"N- no, it's okay.. look." Steve tried to sound as convincing as possible, leaning in for a kiss, desperately pushing away the feeling of unease and disgust. Attempting to assure, not just Eddie, but himself aswell.

'Eddie is my boyfriend, darn it.. Why do I have to be so weird about this.. He's not disgusting..I should just kis-'

Eddie stopped his thoughts and advances, backing away, while gently holding Steve at arms length by his shoulders.

"Whoa there, Kiddo.. What are you- That's not appropriate!" He exclaimed.

Eddie was mortified.

Something was clearly affecting his little one in a very negative way and he had to know what it was. He had to know how he could help him.

Steve, meanwhile, grew frustrated.

"What do you mean 'not appropriate'? You're my boyfriend and boyfriends kiss." He snapped at the bewildered man in front of him.

Eddie remained calm.

"Yes, I am your boyfriend, when you are big-Steve. When you are little-Steve, I am your Poppa. And right now you are not big, Buddy." He explained, his voice assertive but tender.

Tears formed in Steve's eyes, prompting Eddie to pull him into a warm hug, kissing the top of his head. "It's okay, Darling. I've got you. You can talk to me." He reassured his little one.

Steve began sobbing, slipping further into his regression.

He started apologizing. "I'm s- so sor-ry. I ruined valentine days. I aways ruin tings an I'm aways se- selfish.. sorry.. sorry."

He was unbelievably upset with his actions and ashamed for again making everything about himself..

At least that's how he viewed the situation.

Eddie tightened the hug.

"Don't say that. You didn't ruin anything, nor are you selfish in any way.-"

His attempt to comfort Steve was interposed by the latter, who was vehemently fighting his regression once again.

"Yes, I did an- and yes, I am.. I always do this.. I- it's always just.. me. Me. ME.. This was sup- supposed to be y- you day. So.. so I tried to.. just.. s- suck it up.. and.. and.."

Steve was visibility shaking, when Eddie interrupted his rambling.

".. and just kiss me? Disregarding your own emotions? Ignoring how you felt unsafe and uncomfortable?"

Tears where forming in his eyes now aswell, at the thought of his Darling having to deal with such harmful thoughts, all on his own. Eddie's body also began to tramle too.

Steve looked up at him, having fully slipped now. Besides, he was to exhausted to fight it any longer anyways.

*¹ "Is sowwy. I kno it bad foa meh. I jus' wan u to be happeh. sowwy, Poppa."

He sniffled into his caregivers chest.

Eddie pulled him even closer.

"Steve, Darling.. I love you." He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks.

"Wether you're big or small. I'm more than excited to spend valentine's day with you." The boy in his arms looked up at him, wiping away a tear from his caregivers face, before letting him continue.

"I don't care if we eat fancy cuisine or dino nuggets. I don't care if we watch a romantic movie or cartoons. I don't care if we get intimate or just cuddle." He paused again, to kiss Steve's forehead.

"I am happy, as long as I am with you. So.." Eddie tightened his hug, pulling his Darling closer once more.

"..just let me be with you, whichever you it may be. Please stop trying to hide yourself, to try and accomodate me."

He loosened the hug, to gently grab Steve's face with both hands, lovingly looking into his eyes. "I love you, Steve. I love each and every part of you and that'll never change, ever."

Eddie was full on crying now.

Both of them embraced in a tight hug again, weeping into each others sweaters.

They stayed like that for a little while.

As the sniffling and sobs slowly subsided, Eddie could hear a soft whisper. So quiet, he couldn't make out what was said.

"Sorry, Stevie. I didn't quite catch that. What did you say? Could you repeat it for me, Darling?" Eddie asked softly, rubbing his little one's back.

"Pwomise?" Steve repeated, intently staring at his carer's hoodie strings, with which he was fiddling.

Eddie immediately understood what he was referring to.

"Promise. I'll always love you as you are, Sweetheart." He promptly answered and placed a kiss on Steve's forehead.

*² "Wuv yuh too, foreva.. pomise." The boy replied, now sleepily chewing on the strings of Eddie's hoodie, his eyes half closed.

He was exhausted..

Exhausted from all the planning and preparing.

Exhausted from trying to fight slipping all day.

Exhausted from crying so much.

Exhausted from having to deal with all those big feelings for so long.

After sitting there, cuddling for a while, Eddie got up. He turned on some soft music on his speakers, before carrying his Darling Boy to bed.

Kissing his forehead again, he whispered: "Happy Valentines day, Stevie." into the little one's hair, before closing his eyes aswell.

Steve knew he was safe now. In Eddie's arms, he was home.

His strength was barely enough to give a dazed "mhmm" in response.

Eddie was content with that answer. With Steve in his arms, he was home.

They layed like that, tangled up in each other's arms, snuggling, until they fell into a deep and much needed slumber.

.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.✧.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.

I hope you liked my little Valentine's Day story.

& thank you so much for reading!

.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.✧.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ☆ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.

Footnotes:

╰→ (Stevie's Baby-Talk Translation)

*¹ "I'm sorry. I know it's bad for me. I just want you to be happy. sorry, Eddie."

*² "I love you too, forever. I promise."

.ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･».ﾟ°･⁠✧ ↓ DNI ↓ ✧･° ﾟ.«･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.ﾟ.

Banner by @froggy-clubhouse !!!

･.*･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.ﾟ»･⁠°✧ ↓ taglist ↓ ✧°･« ﾟ.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.･

Basically everyone who interacted with → this ← post. Just let me know, if u want to be removed!

Asked to be tagged: @livsters

Just interacted with the post: @loserhotline @lalamac125 @livsters @sakura-bunnie @dependablesarcasm

･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･.ﾟ»･⁠°✧ ↓ hashtag ↓ ✧°･« ﾟ.･｡ﾟ×ﾟ｡･*.･

#nates stories

#agere stranger things #little!steve harrington #cg!eddie munson #agere steddie #little!steve #cg!eddie #stranger things agere #sfw interaction only #sfw agere #agere fandom #agere fanfic #agere community #agere #age regression #sfw #nates stories #nates fanfictions

[wangxianficfinder]

Holiday Compilation

~*~

💙A forgotten pair of gloves by myhouseofstoneyourivygrows (M, 43k, wangxian, LWJ & LSZ & WWX, LXC & NMJ, modern, anxiety attacks, implied/referenced rape/non-con, implied/referenced past child abuse, hurt/comfort, light angst, yunmeng sibling dynamics, not Jiang clan friendly, chronic illness, adoption, fluff, happy ending, hopeful end for jiang sibs, Christmas) — this fic has unfortunately been deleted

with peaceful wings unfurled by sunflowersfield (T, 9k, WangXian, Modern AU, Christmas, College/University, Fluff, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Minor Character Death, (Lan Qiren passes away before the story begins), Grief/Mourning, First Dates, First Kiss)

Close to the Truth by Winglesss (M, 14k, WangXian, Modern AU, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Ugly Holiday Sweaters, Romantic Comedy, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, Tooth-Rotting Fluff)

he gets under your skin by Skadiseven (M, 87k, WangXian, Inspired By While You Were Sleeping (1995), Modern AU, Accidental Engagement, Chicago (City), wangxian's tendency to self-sacrifice, Christmas, Mutual Pining, There's A LOT of Musical References, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Do You Feel What I Feel? by istartedtheapocalypse (M, 33k, WangXian, Modern AU, Kid Fic, kid fic ish, wangxian in a hallmark christmas movie but hornier, and with slightly more plot and angst, the background XiYao has lighter than canon levels of toxicity but it is still a lil toxic, Holidays, Christmas)

The Maine Thing (Is That You Send A Card) by Comfect (T, 16k, WangXian, Modern AU, Romance, Excessive Use of Rom-Com Tropes, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, Meet-Cute, Snowed In, Slow Burn, But Not That Slow A Burn, finding yourself, Cozy, Libraries)

A Very Hallmark Untamed Christmas by User_Shay_Wade (M, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Small Town, Attempt at Humor, Reference to anal sex, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies)

hurry down my chimney tonight by gusuvibes (G, 20k, WangXian, Modern AU, dad!lwj, WWX and JC are Santa's Elves, Holiday Setting, A-Yuan is too smart for his own good, Fluff and Humor, NHS is a pimp, but not literally, Happy Ending, Surprise Santas, Christmas)

The Mistletoe Virgin by Vamillepudding (G, 12k, WangXian, Modern AU, Romantic Comedy, Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Deaf LWH, Christmas)

💖 sweet chaos by eachandeverydimension (G, 86k, WangXian, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Romance, Light Angst, Falling In Love, Different First Meeting, Qīnghéng-jūn's A+ Parenting, Night Hunts, Chinese Language, Good Sibling LXC, Good Sibling JYL, POV LWJ, Getting Together, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Chinese Culture, Slow Burn, No Homophobia AU, Chinese festivals)

"Congratulations, Get Rich" by Attila (T, 9k, WangXian, Modern AU, Chinese New Year, sibling shenanigans, Dumbasses, Humor)

An Accurate (Anachronic) Jianghu Christmas Carol by Mikkeneko (T, 7k, Minor WangXian, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Crack, Christmas Crack, Breaking the Fourth Wall) - Dickens fusion; a lot of the fun comes from the MDZS characters remaining stubbornly themselves while shoehorned into the Christmas Carol roles, and lampshading the incompatibility of the crossover—and the author reminds us of the inherent hilarity of Dickens’ original prose

Cornday by Lan_zhans, WangXianPatriarch (T, 2k, WangXian, Pining WWX, Fluff, Tickling, Teasing, Flirting, Halloween, POV Alternating, Canon Compliant, Post-Canon) - WWX’s birthday plans are disrupted by a night hunt that involves chasing a haunted scarecrow through a maize field

Tips on Rabbit Husbandry by Full_Metal_Ox (G, 329, WangXian, Fluff, Rabbits, Extended Metaphors, Animal Metaphors, Easter (?)) - posted on Easter Sunday 2019; pet rabbit care as an extended metaphor for Wangxian’s relationship

Praying for Cleverness by x_los (G, 3k, WangXian, Female WWX, Qixi, Gender Changes, Always a Different Sex, Accidental Marriage, Marriage, Festivals, Holidays, Awkwardness, Fist Fights, Pining, Crushes, Sisters, Episode 7)

definitions of home by sasamelons (G, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern: No Powers, Childhood Friends, Growing Up, Diaspora, Parent-Child Relationship, Sibling Bonding, Chinese New Year, Chinese Food, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Family Fluff, Family Feels)

what part of party don't you understand by wildwestwind (T, 1k, WangXianNing, Modern AU, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Cultural Differences, Trans Female WWX, Kid Fic)

Wish on a Dandelion by Cupids_arrow (G, 5k, XiCheng, WangXian, Modern AU, Qixi, Established Relationship, Self-Esteem Issues, First Dates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Sad and Sweet, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff)

if nothing else (let's dance under the stars) by EllaYuki (G, 865, WangXian, Qixi, Fluff, Post-Canon, LWJ POV)

Preparing the Soil by Rynne (T, 26k, wangxian, post-canon, established relationship, family issues, Chinese holidays, Chinese New Year, not JC friendly)

A Flower in Bloom (or Wei Wuxian Crashes a Party) by UmbrellaMartialGod (E, 30k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Crossdressing, Humor, Fluff and Smut, Established Relationship, Festivals, Dancer WWX, Insecurity, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Porn with Feelings, mild possessive behavior, New Year)

Let Food Be Your Medicine by bigolegay (M, 9k, WangXian, mid-autumn festival, Baking, Food as a Metaphor for Love, WWX centric, Minor Original Character(s), mooncakes, Caiyi Town, Cloud Recesses Shenanigans, Kissing, Food as a Vessel for Grief, JYL in flashbacks/thoughts) - Mid-Autumn Festival; WWX, wishing to present LWJ with lotus seed cakes, learns mooncake-making from Gusu villagers; a lengthy exercise in Food Porn, with detailed descriptions of the cooking process

藕断丝连 by RoseThorne (G, 458, WangXian, LSZ & LWJ, Grief/Mourning, Memory Loss, Memories, POV Third Person, POV LSZ, Rituals, lotuses, Qingming Festival)

Christmas Star by LadyVamp (E, 45k, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Modern AU, Romance, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, Christmas Fluff, Romantic Comedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Smut, Misunderstandings, Happy JC, Eventual Smut)

To heal and nurture by Aki_no_hikari (G, 11k, wangxian, post-canon, memories, married couple, fluff, festivals, healing, light angst, TGCF Crossover, fictional village harvest festival in honor of Yushi Huang, probably amounting to Mid-Autumn Festival)

WangXian Christmas Stories by @mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess

see you yesterday by glyphic (M, 138k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Ghost Hunters, Time Loop, Case Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Halloween)

5 TOTALLY TRUE STORIES OF THE YILING PATRIARCH TO TURN YOUR HAIR WHITE!!!!! (and one story that actually happened) by dragonofeternal (T, 2k, LSZ & WWX, Parody, Crack, Listicle, slander, 5+1 Things, Fluff, Ghosts, Hungry Ghost Festival in the +1)

merry christmas ya filthy animal by belovedmuerto (T, 7k, XuanLi, WangXian, Modern AU, Family, Southern California, Christmas)

The Joy of Storytelling / 桃花運 by Irrelevancy (G, 4k, Songxiao; modern AU, Kid Fic, Daycare, Qixi, Mutual Pining, single dad!SL, canonically horrible storytelling XXC)

Qingming by hanbunnotsuki (G, 2k, WangXian, Traditions, Qingming festival)

clear and bright | 清明 by queerebrum (G, 1k, JingZhen, Qingming Festival, Post-Canon, Orphans, Public Display of Affection, Grief/Mourning, these tags are scary, i promise it's soft)

覆水难收 (spilled water cannot be reclaimed) by fieryrondo (T, 3k, JC & WWX, grief/mourning, canonical character death, 2nd person pov, musical instruments, character study, JC centric, Qingming, Hungry Ghost Festival)

if you sing deck the halls one more time i'll deck your face by lao_you_tiao (T, 1k, 3zun, JC, JL, and WWX, modern, fluff & humor, Christmas)

Trash_Candy_XU’s whole MDZS tag is a series of holiday shortfics following Wangxian through the 2020 calendar: character birthdays as well as both Chinese and Western holidays.

The Gift Exchange by tellthemstories (T, 10k, WangXian, Modern AU, modern cultivator au, they’re all teachers, gift exchanges, Denial of Feelings, everyone knows, Christmas)

Harvest Festival Times Two by theleakypen (G, 2k, Wens & WWX, MXY & WWX, MM & WWX, Modern AU, New York City, technically also a college au but that barely matters, Sukkot | Tabernacles, mid-autumn festival, Extended Families, Synagogue-Assigned Party Guests, Chinese Jewish Characters, Best Friends, Background Relationships) - diasporic Chinese Jewish Wen Remnants host a joint Sukkot/Mid-Autumn Festival

a good night | full heart full belly by frostferox (G, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, Hanukkah, Wangxian adopts MXY)

Reclamation (where you can see the glow) by theLoyalRoyalGuard (G, 3k, LXC & LWJ, Post-Canon, Hanukkah, fluff and feelings, Family Feels) - the Twin Jades, going through their mother’s effects, learn that she was Jewish

The Fellow-Travelers by Val Mora (valmora) (G, 944, Slice of Life, written for Hanukkah) - SL and XXC are invited to share a campfire by some traveling OC Jewish mystics (who use the terms “Dao” and “cultivators” in a code-switching sense

Summer's End by flowercity (FaoriE) (M, 3k, WangXian, Fae & Fairies, Mutual Pining, Wet Dream, very vaguely described, Samhain, birthday fic)

sweet as the winter sun by Joythea (G, 1k, WangXian, Fluff, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Secret Santa, Winter Solstice, Domestic Fluff, Post-Canon Fluff, Making Tangyuan together, Eating Together, Tooth-Rotting Fluff)

Fun With The Easter Bunny by WangXian4Ever77 (E, 4k, WangXian, XuanLi, Modern AU, LWJ as the Easter Bunny, Easter Egg Hunt, tail pulling, Butt Squeezing, Annoyed Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny Kink, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Rabbit Puns, sneaky WWX, Playful Lying, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Kissing, Rope Bondage, Rough Sex)

Sisters of the Moon by honeylotus (E, 9k, WangXian, Semi-Public Sex, Fix-It of Sorts, Fisting, f/f Wangxian, Winter Solstice (Wiccan/Pagan))

yeh ladka hai allah by teorusu (G, 18k, WangXian, Modern AU, Islam, Islamic References, muslims in omegaverse, A/B/O Dynamics, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Misunderstandings, Omega LWJ, Alpha WWX, contrary to popular belief : this is sfw, Banter, Scenting, Fluff, Eid, Ramadan)

We Wish You A Logical Christmas by little_ogre (M, 9k, WangXian, Star Trek AU, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending, Going to Vulcan for Christmas, WWX is Vulcan, LWJ is human, what could go wrong, Pon Farr)

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Lan JingYi by DragonsPhoenix (G, <1k, LJY, linus van Pelt, Peanuts crossover, developing friendship, halloween, Great Pumpkin)

A Koi Tower Christmas by East_Of_Akkala, glitterlessgold490 (T, 14k, WIP, MM/QS, XuanLi, Modern AU, POV MY, POV MXY, POV QS, POV JZX, MXY has ADHD, Sugar gliders, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Humor, Crack and Angst, Child JL, holiday parties, Himbo JZX, Most of the Trigger Warnings in This Story are JGS, Past Infidelity, Ableism, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Christmas)

Tofurkey Day by East_Of_Akkala & glitterlessgold490 (T, 10k, LXC/JGY, LXC/NMJ, pre-3zun, wangxian, modern, diasporic AU, humor, crack, polyamory, secret relationship, brotherly love, sibling dynamics of all sorts, WWX has ADHD, autistic LWJ, smart NHS, Thanksgiving (U.S.) ) Extended family Thanksgiving dinner at the Lans’, with personality, dietary, and political clashes, little kids, pets running amuck, and the characters being themselves Up To Eleven.

Ornaments Under the Stars by trippednfell (M, 6k, wangxian, modern, inspired by hallmark christmas movies, kid fic, disabled character, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, WIP)

I Want to Spend this Christmas with You! by cheese_fish (G, 4k, wangxian, modern, christmas, fluff)

another ghost walks down the hall by isshun (G, 2k, wangxian, modern, hurt/comfort, Hungry Ghost Festival, Chinese rites & rituals)

forever can never be long enough for me by isshun (T, 12k, LWJ & JYL, wangxian, modern, established relationship, food as a metaphor for love, Winter Solstice (Dongzhi), hurt/comfort, bonding, loving WWX hours)

Five Shades of Home by DrPanda99 (G, 13k, WangXian, Chinese New Year, Grief/Mourning, Introspection, Hurt/Comfort, Homecoming, WWX's Canonical Self-Esteem Issues, Domesticity, Yunmeng Brothers Reconciliation, (or at least the start of it), Good Uncle LQR, Post-Canon)

The Nines of Winter by ArcadianMaggie (E, 13k, WangXian, Modern AU, Dongzhi, Snowed In, Sharing a Bed, Hot Cocoa, Getting Back Together, home for the holidays, Puppy rescue, Panic Attacks, LWJ's Pet Rabbits, maybe just a tiny bit of angst, Fluff and Smut, and family feels, Hand Jobs, Kissing, First Time)

Make My Wish Come True by justpeace (T, 9k, wangxian, modern cultivation, gender changes, fem wangxian, Christmas, fake/pretend relationship, sharing a bed, case fic, getting together, angst, butch LWJ)

Fall in Love with me this Christmas by Bldreaming (Not Rated, 24k, WangXian, Modern AU, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas wedding, JYL Lives, Good Sibling JYL, JYL and JZX Live, Married XuanLi, man of honor wwx, Best woman Minamian, Reunions, Fluff and Smut, Secret Santa, Sexting, Phone Sex Blow Jobs, Semi-Public Sex, not a slow burn, Winter Wonderland, Yanli loves christmas, Christmas Music, Christmas Presents, Christmas, Smut Getting Together, First Love) - implied/referenced switching during phone sex

~*~

#Wangxian Fic Rec #The Untamed #wangxian #MDZS #wangxianficfinder compilation post #long post #holiday compilation

[sugaredrhubarb]

Reading with Ru: 2023 oct/nov/dec fic and book recs

Hello hello! Back again with some final recs from what I was reading towards the end of the year. Gonna start with cod because that's where most of my moots are, and then some from other fandoms and published romance I've been enjoying as well.

Just in case this goes outside my little circle, please check the tags of anything I rec; I'll try to mention if I think something is particularly dark, but don't read anything you won't like!

COD

landscape with honey by @ceilidho - (bear shifter!price x reader) starting with ceil because, at this rate, I can't write a list without including her. my friendship with ceil partially started from bugging her asks about bear price, so this one is always gonna be special, but I genuinely love it, ceil writes blatant dubcon really well (as we all know), but I think it's in fics like this—when the hero is just a little off, and the reader is caught between what seems too good to be true and a gut instinct that something isn't quite right—that her writing really thrives. Anyway, I'm okay with a big, burly man hibernating with me in a cozy cabin in the woods for a winter. (side note: we need to be talking about ghost x feral witch reader more)

Mind the Drop by @sprout-fics - (BDSM au, price x reader) more aftercare in fics!!! This wonderful one-shot is based in a universe where people are biologically designated as dominant or submissive. Reader is a sub who is feeling the effects of some missed aftercare, which Price takes notice of and offers his... assistance. Honestly, this is just some really well-written comfort and aftercare from a fun concept.

My daddy didn't love me, so I guess I've moved on to you by @makoodles - (price x reader) clearly, I was back in my Price era, and this fic hits on the central theme of my attraction to him in the first place: daddy issues :) So, if you may want to read 17k of Reader and Price succumbing to their attraction and mutual daddy kinks, this one is for you.

Light On by @peachesofteal - (ghost x singlemom!reader) I feel like everyone was reading it, but if you haven't checked out this lovely story yet, please do! It's nice to take a break from the darker fic, and this one is so lovely while still acknowledging Simon's trauma and obsession. Peaches is an excellent writer, and this sent me down a rabbit hole of single-parent fics and books! I could read so much of this.

Pornstar!ghost by @ghosts-cyphera - ( x reader) lo is on a little break right now, but this is another wonderful entry on the soft side of cod fic. I really enjoy Ghost's charisma and confidence on display here, and every update had me giggling and kicking my feet. (I found lo through her price wife x 141 post, which is also a must read)

okay, so @ohbo-ohno (hopefully) knows I love her, and she wrote a ton and is constantly throwing out mind-bogglingly yummy drabbles, so here are some of my favs from her kinktober and 1k celebration: price x reader breeding (surprise, surprise), soap x reader somno (drugged noncon), 141 x reader orgy, ghoap ft price deepthroating, 141 x free use reader (the dream), kingpin price x reader, ex husband price x reader, gaz x reader a/b/o, and my personal fav I think about all the time ghoap x brand new vampire reader. Maybe got a little carried away, but I adore Bo's work, and she has a unique ability to make everything hot.

And finally, @charliemwrites. When making this list, I was tempted to just rec everything Charlie has posted in the last few months, so if you aren't reading her stuff already, I'm jealous that you get to experience it for the first time. Obviously, it would be a mistake to not start with her current fics: charmed slasher simon (he's a serial killer, so violence warning) and woof woof johnny, which are both so fun and compelling, I get so excited whenever I see a new update. I almost daily think about this dark(ish) Price decides you're his wife post. Charlie also writes just wonderful fluff and lighter but emotional relationships too, and both childhood friend simon and bodyguard!gaz have a special place in my heart

other fandoms

casualties by little fools writing/tianawritesfic - (darklina) yet another person I could rec every single work by. This is a boyfriend's roommate cheating fic with the perfect amount of mean man.

You kept me like a secret (i kept you like an oath) by burninghoneyatdusk - (darklina) I genuinely think everyone should read this; it's modern setting, so no canon knowledge needed. Alina wakes up after an accident and discovers she's pregnant, but she doesn't remember the last year of her life, doesn't know who the father is, and most importantly, doesn't remember the affair that ended her relationship. I could talk about it for ages, but I'm just gonna share my comment on the last chapter: "every action, line of dialogue, description, and internal thought felt deliberate— not a single word felt wasted. you stripped both aleks and alina bare and it felt impossible to not take them in completely. i don't even know how to talk about the therapy sessions and alina's healing. the exploration of her guilt, her past, her anger, her confusion it all felt so earnest and raw. what a gift to read."

Bury Us Both by morriganmercy - (Lavinia Lucia/Nick Bruin) this is sibling incest! For the love of god, don't read it if it's not your thing. I know nothing about The Royals of Forsyth series (books?), but this was recd by someone, and I saw the tags codependency, slowburn, heavy angst, pining, and religious guilt, and now here we are.

bonus! published romance I enjoyed

links are to goodreads

Return to Monte Carlo by Cate C. Wells - set in 1982, fmc runs away from her stifling life with her rich italian husband and his snobby family before discovering that she's pregnant. fun, smutty, warning for miscommunication galore. i saw some comments about the fmc being immature but she's swept into this crazy life at like ~19 so idk enjoy your smut and stop thinking so much.

Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath - a widowed duchess must learn to get along with a notorious self made rogue when he is given guardianship of her beloved son. I'm a sucker for historical romances and for single parent stories but the combo is so hard to get right and this one did it for me! while sometimes a little ridiculous, i felt the characters actions had clear motivations. watching the mmc's relationship with the son grow was really nice and it actually made sense given his backstory rather than the sudden "guy who hates kids suddenly cares" trope other books do. (warning for discussions of childhood abuse and sa)

Luna and the Lie by Mariana Zapata - say what you will about MZ slow burns but no one else can get me to read 600 pages for one sex scene at 95% in. are most of her character's really similar? yeah. but they're never annoying and i love that they're always good people trying their best. i love all the small details and i love me an older man who is secretly down horrendously bad only to gets worse and worse at not showing it.

Icebreaker by Hanna Grace - people have things to say about this book. do the characters get together early on? yeah. do they hook up in the back of an uber filled with their friends? also yeah (i thought it was hot so). is their very little plot in a 400 page book? sure. i'm here for a good time not to be intellectually challenged. i actually enjoyed seeing their time together and really enjoyed that they just fucking communicated even if there were mistakes along the way. plus big nice hockey player who cares about consent? swoon my little canadian heart.

check the reading with ru tag for more!

#reading with ru #oh boy it's so hard to pick favs #if you read any of these lmk!! #ao3 #fic rec #fanfic recs #fanfiction #cod #darklina #book recs #romance books #romance recs #i had an aneurism trying to make sure everything was linked right

[unlistedly]

YAN! KNY X MODERN?READER.

(1)

• FIRST POST! >_<

"You" in this story, will be portrayed as a minor, meaning there will be NO ROMANCE. strictly platonic! >< sorry!

they/them you!

also take note this won't be exactly same as canon! they might be ooc >< i dont watch the anime.. sorry! I just like writing. Also please excuse my bad english. Thanmk you..!

You were walking through a forest, yet the way out seems to lead somewhere.. way too different!

You were walking through a forest with your earphones in, listening to whatever.

You liked walking by yourself after school, being in crowds at school really took away your energy.

There's nothing better than walking through the forest, listening to music, hearing the birds chirp. Well, aside from binge watching shows and anime.

You knew your way around the forest, it was near your house.

Walking through, you saw the usual .. trees.

Yet, you didn't expect THIS. A whole villiage!

It looked like they were from some other dimension, seriously looked oudated though.

Hey this layout looked super similar to that one villiage in KNY.

Ehhh... anyway!

You were kinda spooked at first, considering this whole villiage just popped up, but you just swished it off as just a place they haven't explored.

You were wearing your school uniform as you walked through. You were getting alot of stares, they should be looking at themselves! What a fashion taste THEY have.

Well, walking through, you started to feel out of place. Maybe it's time to walk back home..

You checked their time, 5:32, perfect! 30 minutes for the walk back and you'd be home and cozy.

Walking back, the sky was getting darker.. and darker. It was really dark.

The forest felt creepier than usual... was that tree always there? No it wasn't. Where are you?

Nothing felt familiar, but you could've swore this was where you came from. It's getting dark.

Getting worried, You try to phone your parents, didn't work. What'd you expect in a forest?

"Hello.. is anyone there..?" You called out, okay, this was super scary.

You continued to walk through the forest, the original path you were following is behind you now.

Oh, now you know.

You're lost. In a dark forest. Great.

You sigh angrily before feeling a landscape change, a mountain? Oh, why is it snowing all of a sudden? Whatever, you go up the mountain very.. very slowly.

From time to time you rest on the trees, gasping for air.

The pandemic really screwed you..

You continued your "hike" as you finally reached the top, it was already night by then.

You checked your phone, "What..? 7:31? Jeez. "

You sigh and finally reach the top of the "mountain."

Oh! A hut! A hut that seems super familiar with the Kamado House!

"Eugh.... What is this place?" You were starting to get creeped out. But nonetheless, useless thoughts.

You walked to the house and knocked on the door, tired and lowkey hungry.

The door opened with a slide as a sleepy-looking black haired girl, with a pink..-ish kimono opened.

She's cute.

" Oh my, it's awfully late.. why are you outside? "

The person spoke to you in a gentle manner, as if you were a puppy. But you.. didn't understand them.

"Uhh.. english?" You said with an awkward smile.

The girl tilted her head and tried to repeat your words.

"Inglis-zh?" She tilted her head around, with a dumb look on her face. • _ •

You stared at her and tried to use hands to signify something, you were lost and needed directions! A Uber would be nice.

Yea you looked dumb.

"Uh..yea. Do you know how to get to Maylbhur street from here? " You asked, tilting your head, pointing at the direction of your house and making a house-hand-shape. " Home! Me! Maylbhur ! "

The girl stared at you before smiling.

" You're very pretty missis, it seems you are lost, please come inside. " She said and signed you to go in.

You stared at her for awhile before slowly walking in, " yea uh.. thanks(?)", you should learn stranger danger.. seriously.

Well, it's better murdered then frozen.

Anyway, you entered.

Unaware of her observing stare, and his hungry gaze.

♡

Hi!! i hope i did well. >< Pleass tell me any mistakes I made! Thank you! *´ㅅ`)ﾞ♥ tyvm!!

#yandere kny x modern reader #first post #scared #hehe #yandere kny #modern reader #yandere #kny #yanderekny #modernreader #reader #theythem #nonbreader #cool #lazy #tiref #fanfic #demonslayer

[taekookielove0130]

Jungkook's Melody

A short story of about 200-300 ish words. I haven't been able to post much recently. An apology for that...

In the quiet corners of Seoul, where cherry blossoms whispered secrets, Jungkook and Y/N found each other. He was the brooding artist, lost in the hues of his canvas, while she was the girl with stardust in her eyes.

Their paths crossed at a dimly lit café, where the aroma of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the promise of something more. Jungkook’s fingers brushed against hers as he handed her a sketchbook, and in that fleeting touch, their story began.

He painted her laughter—vibrant strokes of crimson and gold—while she wove melodies into his heart. Y/N’s voice danced through the air, a symphony of longing and hope. Jungkook listened, entranced, as if her every note held the universe’s secrets.

Under moonlit skies, they traced constellations with their fingertips. Jungkook whispered poetry against her skin, and Y/N’s laughter echoed through the night. They became each other’s muse, their love a masterpiece painted across time.

But life, like a tempest, threatened their fragile canvas. Jungkook’s dreams pulled him toward distant horizons, while Y/N’s roots anchored her to Seoul. Tears blurred their sketches, yet love remained—the indelible ink that refused to fade.

On a rainy afternoon, Jungkook played his guitar, the chords echoing through their shared memories. Y/N stood by the window, raindrops tracing her cheeks. “Promise me,” she said, “that our love will be our eternal melody.”

He kissed her, tasting rain and forever. “Always,” he vowed, intertwining their souls like the ivy that clung to ancient walls.

And so, in the quiet corners of Seoul, where cherry blossoms whispered secrets, Jungkook and Y/N wrote their love story—a symphony of passion, painted with love’s brush, and set against the canvas of their hearts.

Their love story unfolded like a timeless ballad. Jungkook and Y/N faced trials and triumphs, their hearts etched with shared memories.

1. The Farewell: Jungkook’s art took him to Paris, where cobblestone streets whispered of forgotten romances. Y/N stood at the airport, her fingers tracing the edges of his sketchbook. “Come back,” she pleaded, her eyes mirroring the Seine’s melancholy waves. He promised to return, but promises are fragile things.

2. The Letters: Distance couldn’t sever their bond. Jungkook’s letters arrived like love notes from the cosmos. Y/N read them under the same moon that witnessed their first kiss. His words painted sunsets and star clusters, and she replied with verses that tasted of longing.

3. The Reunion: Years passed—a canvas of missed birthdays and silent anniversaries. Then, one autumn day, Jungkook stood outside her door. His hair held traces of silver, but his eyes still held constellations. Y/N’s laughter echoed through the hallway as she flung herself into his arms. “You’re my favorite melody,” she whispered.

4. The Eternity: They settled in a cozy Seoul apartment, surrounded by Jungkook’s paintings and Y/N’s melodies. Their love story became folklore—the boy who painted galaxies and the girl who sang them into existence. Jungkook’s hands found hers, weathered yet tender. “Our love,” he said, “is our eternal symphony.���

And so, in the quiet corners of Seoul, where cherry blossoms whispered secrets, Jungkook and Y/N danced through life—a masterpiece of love, painted stroke by stroke, note by note. 🌸🎨🎶

#bangtan #bts #jeon jungkook #bangtan sonyeondan #jungkook x reader #bts x reader #bts fanfiction #caring #lovers #love quotes #i love him #poetic #writer #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #apology #fandom #fandom culture #fandom history #fandom community #fandom things

[necroangelz]

🪽🎀💊

『 🎀 』

a name/prn/title/label i hoard

^ literally me...

『 💊 』

5 min edit of a random character

i chose to edit k-angel! this looks so good actually i should make it into a proper edit...

『 🪽 』

infodump about an oc

ykw let's be a bit silly, I'm gonna ramble about 2 new ocs that I just came up with :3

so uu see these ocs are VERY recent so i dont have too much info about them yet (thank the stars, i dont wanna stay up all night rambling LOL)

their designs + names are based on 2 vtubers from hololive regloss! it just felt right in my head ehe...

the first character is based on ririka ichijou, and i kinda find it funny bc the vibes of the vtuber and the vibes of my oc are quite different...? anyway, ririka lives a quiet and boring life although she is quite happy with it. she hopes nothing ever changes except for one thing. she wants to fall in love and date someone so she will feel less alone.

ririka herself is also rather quiet and peaceful but she can easily become louder when she's angry. on the outside she looks small (well she is small) but she has lots of hidden strength. she enjoys martial arts and she has a love fur fitness. sometimes when she's climbing up the stairs to her cozy little apartment and her body hurts while she walks, she wonders if her struggles would be easier if she was dating someone. she secretly fawns over romantic media.

ririka would have a different outfit compared to the vtuber ririka, with a warmer color palette focused on autumn-ish colors. somehow i keep imagining this story with autumn themes....

and here's the second oc based on ao hiodoshi (btw they use any pronouns). ao is a celebrity influencer person. they're very good at dressing up and playing different characters. their main profession is being an online entertainer or blogger and they make all kinds of videos and they also stream. i plan for ririka to be a casual fan of ao before they meet. oh yeah and ao would live in the same city as ririka for a short time so they could spend time together irl... ehe

ao likes to play it cool and he's used to hiding his true self from others. his true self is soft and sensitive. his favorite sport is swimming. his interest in swimming stems from trauma in his early childhood, when his mother died from drowning

ao is genderfluid and by default she presents as androgynous

the mitski lyrics, "i want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony," and, "give me one good movie kiss and i'll be alright," make me think of ao. i guess thats how ao views love. she wants something sweet and idealized like from the movies bcz secretly she wants to return to the innocence she used to have

i want ririka and ao to be opposites in some was. like how in fight vs flight ririka is "fight" and ao is "flight." in some way that subverts their appearances bcz ririka appears as the soft and weak girl and ao appears as the cool masculine protector partner.

im not sure yet what their story will be. i want it to be focused on wholesome romance (which is VERY FAR from the stories ive done before, lol) but i got the idea fur their overall story when i was listening to taylor swift. ^_^

#🎮﹕ press start 𝜗𝜚 ︵

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1) by Heather Fawcett

Without a doubt one of my favorite reads of the year. And I mean that enthusiastically as well as unapologetically.

I saw somebody else refer to Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries as a cozy fantasy, and do you know what? I agree with gusto. It's an apt descriptor because this book is quaint, it's charming, and it's warmly whimsical in ways that had me wanting to curl up in an oversized chair to lose myself in its enchanting magic whenever I had a free moment.

The light academia vibe this emanated was another big hook for me. Emily's on a research expedition in the far north, studying faerie habits and folklore so that she can comprise it all in an encyclopedia, and she's serious about her work. Singularly focused. Which of course manifests in introversion, social reclusion, oblivion, and blunt logic. Wendell, her work colleague who also happens to be not-quite-so-mortal, shows up unprompted to "aid" in her research and is her opposite in almost every way. He's affable and full of himself, he's gregarious, he's lackadaisical about academic pursuits and participation, and he's deadpan. So. So. Deadpan. And his banter with Emily is an absolute riot! I cannot tell you how many times the two of them had me giggling.

Things do get dark-ish in moments, as Emily's curiosity and field study inclinations get the better of her while she's observing faeries, but there's always light waiting on the other side of them. (And sometimes absurd and fanciful rescues to boot!) There's not a ton of romance, but where it does dust across the plot, it is sweet and adorable enough to leave you craving more...

...Which is where I'm at now, itching to get my hands on the sequel!

4/5 stars

**Follow me on Goodreads

#ashlee bree's book reviews #emily wilde's encyclopaedia of faeries #heather fawcett #fantasy #historical fantasy #historical fiction #romance #recs: ashlee approved! #read july 2023 #bookblr #booklr #book reviews #book recs

[alectoperdita]

OKAY OKAY! I KNOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A COZY-ISH FANTASY/ROMANCE BUT WHERE ARE ALL THE GIFS FROM THE OPENER WHERE THEY TRY THEIR FUCKING HARDEST TO SKEWER EACH OTHER???

#Alecto watches 7th Time Loop #anyway what about an AU where she doesn't die by Arnold's hand but is grievously injured #and taken as his hostage/plaything after he discovers she's disguised? 🥴 #yes I'm unwell thanks for asking #6th Time Loop AU

[ashen-crest]

a stats report on the rk ashwick books (as of April 2023)

some folks responded positively to the idea of seeing data on how my books have done (for indie author research and benchmark purposes), so here you go!

I'll put everything under the cut:

📚 What do I write?

Cozy fantasy romance under the pen name R.K. Ashwick.

📚 Why do I write?

Because I love it. I have a full-time job that isn't related to writing, so I write in my spare time. I should also note that I do not have dependents, am not a caregiver, and I do have anxiety and ADHD. I am not certain that I want to be a full-time writer, given the financial instability and the joy it could take away from writing. However, I want my books to be and perform the best they can, so I try to be professional about my product and methods.

(To me, this is all important context to be up-front about. Finances, family size, and health all have a huge impact on an author's goals and strategies.)

📚 How many books do I have out?

The Stray Spirit: released August 2022. First in a planned trilogy.

A Rival Most Vial: released March 2023. First in a planned trilogy.

📚 Online Visibility

Here's what I have going on:

Paid:

Website (requires $ for hosting)

BookFunnel for newsletter promos, sales promos, and ARC distribution (site requires $ to join)

Unpaid:

Newsletter (currently managing on free version of Mailerlite, since I'm under 1000 followers)

Facebook page (not consistently maintained, mostly for SEO)

Instagram, posting 5x/wk

TikTok, posting 5k/wk

Tumblr- hi!

using things like LibraryThing, GoodReads forums, Reddit, and FB pages to find more ARC readers

I was doing Amazon ads, but recently nixed them, as I didn't feel they were really getting me anything. I'll likely return to them once I have more books out.

A Note on Follower Count: I have, like 10 FB followers, 400-ish Insta followers, 1500 TikTok folders, and almost 1600 Tumblr followers. I've been on Tumblr the longest and TikTok second longest. TikTok had the fastest growth, Insta the slowest. However, general advice is that engagement rate is more important than follower count. I'll be real, I'm not doing that hot on that front. I'll consistently get around 20 likes on Insta posts and TikTok often caps my video views at around 200 or 300. The videos that do the best on TT often aren't the ones related to my books. Fun times.

A Note on Newsletter Stats: I have a pretty consistent open rate of 25-30%, which I think is okay. I'd like for it to be closer to 40%. (It's also hard to actually track open rates, so that number isn't entirely reliable.)

A Note on ARC Reader Stats: I got 100 readers for TSS and almost 200 for ARMV. This resulted in a ballpark count of 20 reviews for TSS and 30 reviews for ARMV around release time.

📚 Other Marketing Strategies

What you see above under Visibility is my ongoing work. I also do more limited-run strategies, like:

occasional free book giveaways on social media

pre-order gifts for my book

I sent out around 20 pre-order gift envelopes for TSS and 45 for ARMV. I operate the pre-order gifts at a loss, but I really enjoy doing it, so I'm okay with it. I also have lots of leftover stickers and bookmarks that I can bundle with giveaways.

📚 Distribution

I distribute wide through:

Amazon: both ebook and paperback

IngramSpark: paperback only

Draft2Digital: ebook only

📚 Orders & Royalties

So, what did all this work and shennanery get me?

From July 2022-April 2023 (10 months):

Books Sold: 575

Total Royalties, paid and unpaid: $1543.49 ($2.68 per book)

📚 Is that good or bad?

I have no idea!! And I think in the end, it all depends on your goals.

If my goal was to make a living: welp, it's def not enough.

If my goal was to break even: between website set up, DBA set up, cover cost, editing cost, illustrator cost: nah. I'd have to make about $4,000 more to safely say I've broken even.

If my goal was to get strangers, and not just family and friends, to read my books: oh hey, I did that!!

I hope this information helps you set a goal, so you're not mentally wandering around like I am.

📚 Other Notes

A big factor in having a financially successful indie book is fitting genre conventions in your chosen subgenre, or 'writing to market.' I will say that A Rival Most Vial is more written to market than The Stray Spirit is. The Stray Spirit sort of straddles cozy, historical, and academic fantasy without actually leaning in to any of those things, so it's a little harder to market.

I also spent a lot on cover, editing, and illustration. That makes it harder to be a financially viable business, but it's what I wanted to do to have a strong finished product. I am lucky in that my full-time job can cover these expenses.

I'm not very good at social media. I've never had anything go viral on any of the sites.

The most rewarding part of all this is seeing how people react to the book: reviews, videos where they're almost crying over the book, podcast invitations, and [something a bit bigger than I'll announce in the summer.] At the end of the day, if I have a small group of buyers who are vocal in engaging with my books, that's far more rewarding than a large group of buyers who don't engage.

📚 Parting Thoughts

I'm happy to talk about any and all aspects of my self-publishing experience. If you have more questions or want more details, feel free to reply, send an ask, or DM me!

#writeblr #writblr #indie authors #self publishing

[tamiveldura]

How long have you been writing?

Since I can remember! The first thing I remember "writing," I was maybe 5, was a single sheet of paper where I copied the descriptive paragraph inside all of my Lisa Frank folders and gave it to my mother claiming I'd written a story.

My mother, in her infinite wisdom, handed it back to me and said, "It's great! What happens next?"

I moved into forum based RP groups immediately after that. Shifted into fanfiction during my high school years, then majored in college in creative writing, with a novella as my senior project.

I've been writing original fiction ever since!

I use several pennames to keep genres separated:

London Kemaker: PNR and SFR, M/M, dark and kinky

S.T. Lynn: YA cozy fantasy, female mains, if romance it's F/F or Nonbinary.

Anna Morgan: to-market M/F PNR, at the moment all books are in the same world. Dark-ish.

Tami Veldura: science fiction, fantasy, adventure, short story experiments, my first and catch-all penname, so it holds a large variety in the older catalog. Going forward, the focus is non-romantic genre adventure with limited exceptions to complete existing series.

#writeblr #introduction #writing #amwriting #about Tami

[astragreenwoode]

The Spitfire Curse - Chapter Three

Previous: Chapter Two • Next: Chapter Four • Masterlist • AO3 Version

Rating: Explicit(18+ ONLY)

Pairings: Billy Hargrove x Fem!OC, Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-Con, Non-specified Mental Illness, Self-Harm, Drug Use, Hypersexuality, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Hearing Voices

Genre: Adventure, Thriller, Horror, Slow-Burn Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort. Smut, Fluff, Slight Canon-Divergence, Fix-it fic

As always, thank you @take-everything-you-can for your beta reading and all your feedback!

Chapter Three: People Are Strange

Word Count: 11,042

Chapter Warnings: Disembodied Voices, Hypersexual Thoughts, Anxiety, Sexual Themes and Implied Smut, Explicit Language, Humiliation

Chapter Summary: Maeven recalls the last time she was so nervous to be at a new school, and how her father helped her through it. During the school tour, she meets two of her new classmates and catches glimpses of other friends she may make along the way. But whether or not she adjusts well to Hawkins High all depends on her. . .and Billy, of course.

September 1974

The last time I was so nervous about being at a new school, I was about to turn eight years old. Before San Diego, we lived in a small-ish rural community in southern Oregon. After getting married, Mom and Dad decided they needed a break from California, and moved to a place where their children could enjoy life without the world spoiling them.

Our home was five miles outside of town on a dirt and gravel road, in a field surrounded by a ring of trees. The trees made a dome around the edge of our property, covering the front yard and the front of our house in a veil of shade that faced east. The sun shined on the other half of our property, warming up the grass like a heated blanket. The stone path from our back porch led into the wildwood, turning into a small bridge that stood over the creek.

I spent my early days exploring the seemingly infinite woods and warming myself on the grass as I stared up at the tall trees and blue skies; Max was so little then, and Thunder was still alive. He was our family’s big malamute mix they adopted before we were born.

We lived on the edge of one of the Pacific Northwest’s many lush and green forests. Since no one officially owned it and our closest neighbor was two miles away, I liked to imagine it was mine. It was where I discovered my lifelong passion for everything wild when I found friendship with a soft-natured raccoon. I’d later come to make friends with possums, a fox family, and a quiet doe with her fawn. It was comfortable there; cozy in the colder months, and cooler during the warmer months. While it wasn’t perfect, we were happy there. But as Max and I grew, it seemed to become smaller and more crowded.

Eventually, Mom and Dad grew homesick for California and decided to move us back to San Diego permanently. Until then, we had only ever taken long road trips there and back again every Spring and Summer break. Moving transferred our parents’ homesickness onto Max and me. She was as upset by the move as I was, but was more excited; she thought of it as a new adventure.

The day Dad waited with us at the bus stop for our first day at a new school, I was petrified. Max was jumping over the cracks in the sidewalk as I gripped the straps of my backpack and stared down at my feet. That morning, I clung to my mom as I begged her to let me stay home, but she forced me to dry my tears or else she’d be late for her first day back at her old hospital.

Dad surprised us that morning. As I was about to get on the bus with Max’s hand in mine and the bus driver trying to hurry us along, Dad tugged us toward him.

“You know what? I’ll drive you girls today. It’s a special day.”

I was hoping he would just take us straight back home; well, to our new house. I didn’t consider it home, yet. What he ended up doing that day was much better than I expected, teaching me an important lesson I still rely on today.

He drove us to our new school in his jet-black Impala; he bought it the year I was born. Max was in her car seat in the back kicking her feet to the sound of She Loves You by the Beatles on the stereo. It was her favorite. Mine was Blackbird. I loved riding in that car

As we drove up to the building of the elementary school, I curled myself into a ball and sunk deeper into my seat.

“C’mon, Mae-Mae, we gotta go. You don’t wanna be late for your first day,” my Dad sighed, putting his hand on my knee and giving it a gentle shake. I tightened my arms around my knees.

“I’m not going,” I mumbled through my curled limbs.

“It’s not a choice, Spitfire.”

“I’M NOT GOING!” I exploded, uncurling myself and staring daggers at my Dad with tears in my eyes. He was taken aback a little by my sudden outburst but still kept his cool. But when I heard Max start to sniffle at the sudden loudness, I climbed up on the seat and held her little hand. I knew if she started to cry, I wouldn’t be able to get my tears to stop falling.

“No, no, Maxy, don’t cry! I’m sorry!” I whimpered, trying to keep myself composed as I closed my eyes to hold in my tears. After I took a few deep breaths, I heard Max’s cries cease as she started back up with giggles. I opened my eyes to see Dad waving Max’s stuffed rabbit, Flopsy in her face. She had just dropped it. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t my fault.

After returning Flopsy to her, Dad turned back to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“I know this is hard for you, Maeven. I really do. I didn’t want to, either, but we had to,” he tried to explain, but I wasn’t having any of it.

“No, we didn’t,” I whined, tilting my head up to the roof of the Impala.

“We did. It might not feel like it, but we did,” he responded. I turned my back and brought my knees up to my chest as my feet rested on the leather seats. It was something I knew he would prefer I not do. But he didn’t say anything.

We sat in silence for what seemed like hours when in reality, it was probably only five minutes or so. The world moved on outside the car, the parking lot alive with parents and kids of all kinds walking in and out of the building. It helped that Dad just let us sit there and let me soak up the environment instead of just pushing me straight in.

“Do you remember when I first read you Watership Down?” he asked suddenly, breaking the uncomfortable silence. I didn’t understand why he asked that at first, but it was nice to have a distraction from the growing anxiety in my stomach brought on by my fear of change.

“Yeah? What about it?”

Watership Down was one of my favorite books. Mom and Dad took turns reading it to me when I was smaller; a chapter a night. Before that book, I never saw rabbits as exciting creatures. I loved them as much as all the animals I had come to love and study in books, zoos, and in the forest behind our old house. They were never as interesting as the others until Richard Adams turned them into something different.

“Do you remember what you first felt when the rabbits left their warren?” he followed up. I read and re-read that book so many times that I knew it by heart now. I had to think for a minute.

“I was excited. I knew they’d go on to have some fun adventures,” I said. Dad nodded his head at my enthusiasm.

“Yeah. And they did, didn’t they? But why did they leave?”

I had to think about it for a moment again.

“Because they were in danger?”

“Exactly. They left because they had to,” he explained, and I finally started to understand what he was trying to say.

“Are we in danger?” I asked, my shoulders tensing as I frantically looked around the parking lot.

“No, no, Spitfire,” he reassuringly laughed, stroking the back of my head. “It wasn’t dangerous back at our old house. You’re safe. I promise.”

“Then why? Did I do something wrong?”

“Of course, you didn’t, Maeven. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just that. . .things just happen, sometimes. Unexpected things you didn’t prepare for, and the best and only way you can make things better is to change.”

I stayed quiet a little bit longer, my shoulders now relaxing. Dad gave me as much time as I needed to reply.

“But that’s sad,” I whined.

“It can be sad. And that’s okay. Do you remember when you were so upset that you couldn’t wear your favorite coat anymore when you played in the snow?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but what did we do that day? I took you to get a new one, and you ended up liking that even better.”

I nodded my head. I did love that coat. It was a deep vibrant shade of purple with snowflakes along the trim. And of course, I missed my old one. I had a good reason to; it was rainbow striped. But Mom gave me striped rainbow leggings for Christmas I could wear instead. Everything worked out in the end, even if I didn’t feel like it would.

“The point is, Maeven,” Dad continued. “nothing can always stay the same. And when the rabbits had to fight the general, weren’t you scared?”

I was scared for them. I was afraid of what would happen to their warren; their new home they fought so hard to find and make their own. I wanted everything to be alright.

“Mmm-hmm. . .”

“Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, and Holly were scared, too. But what happened?”

Even though they were scared of what Efrafa would do to them if they lost, they did it, anyway. They were brave.

“They did it anyway?”

After so many hardships, the rabbits of Watership Down were fine. “Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed,” the book's words echoed in my head.

“Exactly. And when they did, they ended up happier, safer, and stronger than they were in Sandelford, weren’t they?”

“Mmm-hmm! They adaptated!” I mispronounced.

“It’s adapted, Maeven,” Dad laughed, fluffing up my hair.

“Oh, okay. Adapted,” I corrected myself.

Going to a new school didn’t seem so frightening, anymore. If rabbits were smart and stubborn enough to dig themselves out of every bad situation, I would be fine.

“You are an animal, Maeven. You’re smart and strong, and wherever you go, I know you’ll adapt. You’re gonna do great in there. I just know it.”

. . .

Billy turned the radio on at full blast for the remainder of the ride, filling the awkward silence with the thrashing of Motley Crue. Maeven kept bouncing her leg and tried not to let the volume bother her. Snapping the rubber band against her wrist helped keep her calm, even if it hurt a little.

Maeven caught a quick glimpse of the campus the other day when Billy picked up her and Max from the arcade. The school was a lot less intimidating when looking at it up close. It was underwhelming compared to what Maeven and Billy were used to, but she saw that as a good thing. It meant there weren’t as many people, so maybe she wouldn’t be as nervous when caught in the crowds. Unfortunately, it also meant she would be noticed in a small school where everyone knew everyone, and word probably spread faster in the rumor mill than back in California.

“They’re gonna find out, somehow,” the voice taunted. “And when they do, you’ll be dead. You never even had a chance, Not here, not anywhere. Just run away.”

“No! Shut up! Just shut the hell up!” Maeven yelled, not hesitating to slap herself in the face. But as soon as Billy caught her wrist to stop her from harming herself again, she remembered that she wasn’t alone, and suddenly realized they were parked in the parking lot now.

“Sorry! I’m sorry, it’s just. . .”

“The voices?”

“Yeah. . .”

“It’s okay. Just ignore them and they’ll go away.”

“Easier said than done,” Maeven said to herself.

The look in Billy’s eyes broke her heart. It had been a while since she snapped like that.

The campus was most definitely smaller than Newport’s. It was more similar to the size of the Junior High she and Max attended back in California. The Junior and Senior Highs were in separate buildings, spread out amongst the campus with a few disconnected buildings where they probably had extracurriculars and clubs. Maybe the auditorium was there, too. It would be easier to navigate once they were done with the tour. And Maeven liked that she could keep an eye on Max.

Max and Susan got out of Neil’s station wagon before he drove off, as he had to finish last-minute transfer paperwork before he started his new gig at the bank. As Maeven and Billy stepped out of his Camaro, he stood close to her with his hand on the small of her back. It was something that usually kept her calm, but he did so in a way so that no one in their family would notice.

“You’re gonna be fine, okay? Just keep your head down, and don’t give anyone a reason to stare at you.”

Again; easier said than done.

Maeven just nodded, lingering on the comforting feeling even after he pulled his hand away from her back. She tightened the straps of her backpack onto her shoulders, thinking how she probably looked like a total geek right now bringing her backpack to school when she hadn’t even started classes, yet.

Walking to the front office of the high school was oddly refreshing to her. She had always liked being in school. She loved learning and the feeling the environment gave her. Maeven just wasn’t always a fan of the people who inhabited them; especially when they were teenagers.

As they walked up to the front desk, Susan took the initiative and leaned on the front counter as she waited for the secretary to notice her.

“Hi, there! Can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m Susan Hargrove. My kids are starting here tomorrow and-”

“Not your kid, Susan,” Billy interrupted, making sure to sound as stern as possible. It caught Susan off-guard as she flinched and turned to him, giving a timid smile. It was a little scary to Maeven and Max how much he sounded like his father at that moment.

“Of course. My daughters and stepson are starting here tomorrow and we were told we’d be given a tour of campus,” she elaborated to the secretary.

“Oh, yes! Give me just a minute,” she said, turning to her phone.

Maeven clasped her hands in front of her as she swung her hips slightly to make her long skirt twirl. Max crossed her arms and tapped her fingers.

“Sir. Mrs. Hargrove and her kids are here to see you.”

Maeven could tell by the look on Billy’s face that he wanted to correct his relation to the Mayfields again. She knew why; he was still bitter about his mother, and she didn’t blame him. As much as he hated her for leaving him the way she did, she was still his mom. He would always miss and love her. He was determined not to let Susan take her place.

The sisters tapped their feet in annoyance. How well did these phones work? How talkative was this principal that he made his secretary stay on the line for so long?

“Mmmhmm. Alright. You can head on in, Down the hall, last door on the right,” she finally replied, hanging up the phone. Max let out a sigh that said ‘finally!’ Maeven wasn’t as vocal, but she felt the same.

“Thank you.”

Susan took the lead as they followed the secretary’s directions, knocking on the door before entering. Maeven took a look at the plaque by the door; Principal John Higgins. She knew a kid with that last name once. He looked like a principal, as if he was born to be one. She was curious to see what kind he was; an uncaring hardass with a god complex or a decent person who actually saw his students as people.

“You must be Susan. Principal Higgins. We spoke on the phone last week?” He reached out to shake her hand.

“Billy.”

“Yes, hi. Nice to meet you.” she smiled widely as she accepted it.

“And this must be Margaret, William, and Maxine?” he guessed.

“Maeven.”

“Max.”

They all corrected in unison. 

“Of course. My apologies. Please, have a seat.” He was a bit overwhelmed but pretended not to be as he gestured to the chairs and couch by his desk. Susan and Billy sat in the office chairs while the sisters sat on the black and yellow checkered couch. Maeven pawed at the backpack in her lap, bouncing her leg and scratching her hands.

“I’m sure you won’t find this school any different than your last one,” Higgins said, pulling out three separate manilla folders. “But, it might not be what you’re quite used to all the way down in sunny California.”

“It’s definitely a lot smaller,” Susan laughed, putting on her smile as Billy rolled his eyes. He leaned back in the chair, his legs spread wide as if he owned the place. His sudden attempt at displaying his brawn made Higgins clear his throat.

“So, Billy. From your transcript, I can see you’re the average student and have some trouble with authority. But it seems that in California, you were quite the star athlete.”

“Yes, sir,” he smiled.”Quarterback, Designated Hitter, and Power Forward.”

Maeven had experienced attraction to all kinds of people, no matter their clique. She had gone on dates with jocks before, even if she found most of them to be jerks. But Billy stood out. It bugged her that she could never the exact reason why.

“Perfect, son. Sports are an important part of the culture here, so I’m sure you’ll fit right in,” Higgins said, closing the file before opening another, turning his head to the younger of the Mayfield sisters.

“And, Max. I can see you’re also an average student. But you do seem to be exceptional when it comes to math. We have clubs and tutoring programs where I’m sure you’ll be welcome. Been in trouble a few times, but nothing too extreme. I know starting a new school at your age can be scary and frustrating. Am I going to have any trouble with you?”

Max blew her hair out of her face, her arms still crossed. She had never been one for clubs, but who knows? Maybe that would change at Hawkins

“As long as no one else here dumps their crap on me, I’ll be good.”

“Max!” her mother scolded her. Billy and Maeven chuckled as she gave her little sister a playful slap on the arm.

“No worries, Mrs. Hargrove. I’ve heard worse. I’ll take that as a ‘no.’” Higgins laughed.

Maeven’s file came last, which made her heartbeat quicken a little. She knew he wouldn’t be as lighthearted and upbeat as he was with Billy and Max.

“I understand there are some matters you and Margaret wish to inform me about privately,” he said. All eyes in the room were now turned to Maeven as she squeezed her backpack. She hated when that happened; it fueled the fire of paranoia in her.

“Yes, sir,” Susan answered for her daughter once she recognized she wouldn’t speak for herself.

“Billy, Max, why don’t you two go wait outside?” Higgins turned to them. “This shouldn’t take long. Doris should have your class schedules ready for you.”

Max gave her big sister a calming squeeze on her hand. Billy shot her an encouraging nod of his head and a wink of his baby blue eyes that made her stomach flutter and thighs squeeze together instinctively. As they left the room, Maeven switched herself over to the chair Billy previously occupied.

“Now, Mar-Sorry, Maeven. I understand that you’re a repeating junior. From what your mother tells me, you had sort of a tough time last year.”

Susan turned to her daughter when she didn’t answer Principal Higgins. Maeven kept bouncing her leg as she scratched the back of her hand with her nails until the skin was red. She hated when she did that; mainly because it came off as rude to those unaware of her. . .condition. It also broke her heart to see her little girl hurt herself, especially when it would bleed and scab. Susan reached her hands out to her daughter, one steadying her leg while the other rested atop her hands to stop her scratching.

“Sorry. She’s a little shy,” she apologized, bringing Maeven out of her self-induced trance.

“Yes, sir. I am. I mean. . .I did,” Maeven softly said.

“That’s certainly not a problem,” he stated, looking over her file. “I called Newport High last week and spoke with a few of your teachers. They all said you were a pleasure to have in class and your test scores are. . .intimidating. But they said that around the second semester, you sort of. . .lost your way?”

It was nice to hear that the staff back at her old school still thought about her that way. Although, Maeven wouldn’t blame them if they happened to feel anything negative toward her. Her decline in the social and academic hierarchy and eventual expulsion weren’t exactly a pretty sight to witness.

“Yeah. . .that sounds fair,” she replied.

“I can understand that,” Higgins said, seemingly empathizing with her. It was oddly refreshing. “We have a few other kids here who’ve had to repeat grades due to their struggles in life. I see you have a history of fighting and skipping classes, and that you’ve dealt with emotional problems in the past.”

Before Maeven could say anything, her mother interjected.

“She has, yes, but she is doing much better, sir. We’re hoping a change of scenery will help with that.”

Susan and Higgins didn’t need to pry further, as Maeven knew what they were talking about. She hated when her mother did that, refusing to talk about her daughter’s past of pain as if it was more devastating for her.

“Slap her, Maeven. You know you want to,” the voice instructed, but Maeven just shook it off, literally; her head and body twitched almost as if she was seizing before stilling itself. She gave her mom a reassuring nod before turning her attention back to Higgins.

“I’m not looking to cause any trouble here, sir. I plan to stay focused on my grades this time around. I promise,” she smiled, trying her best to imitate the one her mother used.

“That’s good to hear. You seem to have been an over-achiever back at Newport, so we have more than a couple of clubs that’ll keep you out of trouble. We have a science fair in the spring, and from what your teachers told me, you’ll win first prize. Of course, I still expect you to meet with the school Counselor, Miss Kelly, once a week.”

“Yeah. I’m good with that,” Maeven nodded.

“That’s what I like to hear. Lastly, you’ll be needing accommodations due to your. . .condition?”

Once again, Maeven could tell exactly what he was referring to. It wasn’t that much of a surprise that a middle-aged white principal didn’t want to speak so openly to one of his students about how painfully crippling her periods had become these last nine months. And, of course, her brain condition wasn’t exactly easy for those outside a doctor’s office to comprehend.

“Yes, I do. Is that okay?”

“I’m not able to provide them all, but I can help you with most of them,” he stated, handing Maeven a laminated Hawkins High hall pass with her name at the top and his signature at the bottom.

“Here’s a hall pass for your classes when you’re. I put down a note so that all your teachers will allow you to take tests under the supervision of the school librarian. Unfortunately, I cannot grant you an all-access hall pass; too much opportunity for it to be abused. I’m sure you’re a good kid, but I just can’t afford to take the risk.”

Again, she wasn’t surprised at this. Maeven figured she wouldn’t get an all-access pass for when her brain decided to shut down or go full panic mode out of the blue. Her father’s motto was always ‘ It never hurts to ask.’ Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard for people to understand someday, but not today. She had no choice but to power through.

“It’s alright. Completely understandable,” she lied.

Principal Higgins closed her file before getting up from his desk to put it in a random drawer. When he led Susan and Maeven out to the front office, Max and Billy were chatting with three other students.

“Oh, good! I see you’ve already met,” he announced himself. The kids all stood up from the benches and chairs, turning themselves towards him. Maeven shrugged her backpack over her shoulder as she stood between Max and Billy. She gave her little sister a pat on the back that she instinctually returned.

“I thought it’d be helpful for you guys to meet a couple of your classmates before tomorrow. They’ll be giving you a tour,” Higgins spoke.

Maeven bit her lip. When she pictured the day as she woke up that morning, she didn’t anticipate meeting other kids face to face immediately. She figured there might be students around campus, but didn’t plan on meeting any new kids her age until tomorrow. She didn’t prepare for this, and Maeven dreaded being unprepared.

The mismatched siblings stood in a row of three facing their future classmates in the same formation. 

“Billy, Maeven, this is Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler. And Max, this is Jennifer Hayes. Guys, this is Billy Hargrove and Maeven and Max Mayfield.”

Maeven took them in one by one, sizing them up.

Jennifer looked and seemed friendly enough. She seemed like the classic social butterfly; a good girl who surrounded herself with as many people as possible. However, those kinds of people, more often than not, were more shallow than they liked to admit. Maeven had experienced that first-hand in Middle School. Besides, she seemed too girly to be a friend of her baby sister.

“Hi,” she waved at Max.

“She seems boring. Basic. Max definitely won’t get along with her,” the voice whispered. Maeven looked down before rolling her eyes, not wanting to draw attention to herself before her eyes met Nancy’s.

Nancy had a similar vibe to Jennifer with a few key differences. Unlike the middle schooler, she seemed more like the type of girl who had a small inner circle of close friends. She dressed like a scholar, like the model student of an exclusive all-girls boarding school. Nancy was also classically pretty; big doe eyes with dark hair that framed her head like a crown. She reminded Maeven of her friend, Madeleine.

“. . .hi,” she squeaked out, eyes wide. She looked like she saw a ghost.

“She knows how crazy you are. Look at her, she’s terrified.”

“How could she know?” she vocalized in her head, trying her best not to let her paranoia get the better of her. There was no way this absolute stranger could know of her instability.

“People have their ways. You never know.”

Finally, Maeven’s eyes landed on Steve.

“Hey,” he muttered, pushing his soft, chestnut hair back innocently. Meanwhile, Maeven fought to keep her body cool.

“Oh, my fuck, he’s cute,” the voice expressed. For once, it said something she could agree with. 

Steve Harrington was almost so pretty that it hurt. He had the same cocky and suave charm that attracted her to Billy in the first place. He was also about the same height as Billy, and Maeven could tell just by the way he carried himself that he was a jock. Unlike the other jocks she met, his charisma seemed to stem from a place of kindness.

"He's checking you out,” the voice teased in her ear, sending a shiver down Maeven’s spine and filling her with that familiar sense of warm longing.“You should take him and Billy to the janitor's closet so they can fuck you.”

"What!? No! What is wrong with you!?"

"He'll like you more if you let him use you."

"Be fucking quiet!" she internally yelled, silencing it. Maeven hid her hands in the sleeves of her sweater as she held them together, one gripping the cuff while the other scratched the top of it. She held in her anxiety, giving the others a soft, shy smile.

“Why don’t you guys take your tours and we’ll meet back here in a half hour?” Higgins asked. Everyone nodded as the students walked out of the office and into the hall. One way led outside to the Middle School, while the other led down to the rest of the High School halls.

“See you in a bit, squirt,” Billy laughed at Max, reaching up to give her a condescending pat on the head. Max slapped his hand away as she pointed at her sister.

“Hey, only she gets to call me that,” she warned, as threateningly as a small middle schooler could be.

“Whatever,” he scoffed, turning his nose up before following Maeven and the others.

. . .

Everything was less intimidating once Maeven got a closer look as they walked around. The campus seemed well taken care of despite its age. Newport had a more mid-century modern style, all neat and smooth with underwhelming geometric themes. It felt more like a fancy museum than a school. Hawkins High was different. It was charming. Maeven could feel the history built into every cracked brick or tile and dented locker. The halls were lined with character.

The group of teens walked stiffly down the hallways of the high school, relaxing their posture when the principal and Mrs. Hargrove were no longer in their sight or within hearing range. This Steve Harrington guy was the one who finally broke the silence.

“So, Higgins said that you guys are from California?” he asked, turning to Maeven and Billy.

“Mmm-hmm,” Billy mumbled. It was clear to Maeven that he was still feeling out Steve’s vibe. He seemed nice enough, possibly another athlete like Billy; they shared body types, both having defined muscles and the classic upside-down Dorito figures. Steve was maybe just an inch shorter than Billy, though.

“Is it nice down there?” he followed up.

“Definitely better than here,” he scoffed, eyes off of Steve like he didn’t even exist to him. Billy wasn’t willing to be too friendly with him. It wasn’t often that he connected with someone right away, and Harrington was no different than the others. The only person he had that naturally and quickly ignited the chemistry between them was Maeven

“Super. . .” Steve uncomfortably droned out.

Maeven’s eyes focused on Nancy, who still looked at her as if she was face-to-face with someone she shouldn’t be. She wondered what it was about her that gave her such a fright. Was it the way she dressed? The way she carried herself? Maybe it was the way she fidgeted with her hands. How she twirled the loose threads of her sweater around her fingers?  Maybe she just generally gave off an unsettling vibe. She couldn’t tell, anymore.

“You’re scaring her, you know? You’re being so quiet and you keep looking at her. She probably thinks you’re a secret serial killer,”

“But I’m not a-”

“Not yet, you’re not. But you could still become one. You have all the qualifications; insane, suicidal, anger issues, unhealthy obsessions with blood, and sex. Not to mention you already have one vict-. . .”

Maeven tore her eyes away from Nancy, instead choosing to focus on the dents in the lockers and the green and orange stripes on the wall. Her sudden change in perspective cut off her inner monster. She couldn’t tell if she looked elsewhere out of respect for Nancy’s comfort, or if it was so she wouldn’t see the tears pooling up in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill. She would not break down in front of these new people, she decided.

Nancy clapped her hands together with enthusiasm as the group stopped at the entrance of the cafeteria.

“So!” she broke the awkward silence, gently taking hold of Steve’s wrist before dragging him along with her. “Uhmm, obviously this is the cafeteria,” she said, using her other hand to gesture around her like the lady on Wheel of Fortune.

The cafeteria was probably just a little smaller than the one at Newport. Obviously, there were a lot less students here. It also had a lot more windows and natural lighting with a door that swung lead out to more lunch tables. There was also a stage against the wall at the far end of it, which Maeven assumed was where the theatre department was. Newport had its auditorium for plays, recitals, and school debates, but Maeven liked how humble Hawkins High was turning out to be so far.

What appeared to be the school’s group of Band Kids gathered on the stage and the surrounding lunch tables. Some were tuning and practicing their instruments, while others were simply chatting and taking a break. The gold and white tassels on the green uniforms caught Maevens eye, especially when they were worn by the cute dark-blonde, almost red-haired girl with dusted freckles and dark blue eyes. She let out a laugh that seemed contagious. Maeven was suddenly reminded of a girl she played seven minutes in Heaven with at a party during her freshman year. She turned away once she realized she was staring back, pointing her head down as her face tinted pink.

“Those are our band kids over there, gearing up for homecoming,” Nancy continued, gesturing around her as Billy and Maeven followed her and Steve. “If you guys want a good seat, I would plan on getting here as early as possible. Also because the earlier you get here, the better chance you have of your food being edible.”

“Noted,” Billy nodded. 

School lunches and their edibility varied from school to school, district to district. Maeven was planning on bringing her lunch, anyways. Maybe she’d try it one day once she was more comfortable.

“That’s also the stage where they put on plays and musicals,” Steve pointed out as they walked back into the hallway. “It hasn’t been announced yet what the winter play will be, but we actually have normal theatre kids here if you can believe it. They were really annoying when we were in middle school, but. . .I guess they grew out of that?”

Steve Harrington didn’t seem like a theatre kid, but he had the energy of one.

Maeven eyed the way Nancy and Steve held hands and stayed close to each other as the group walked down the hallway. They did look pretty cute together, she couldn’t deny that. But they seemed too much like a cliche. Then again, who was Maeven to judge them? She was probably the farthest thing from a cliche one could ever be. Still, there seemed to be more than meets the eye in their relationship; Maeven couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but she knew it was there.

Steve opened the right of the double wooden doors that lead into the school gym. Again, it was smaller than the one Maeven was used to back in California. But it had its charm. There were a group of guys on the far side shooting hoops and practicing dribbling with each other. On the other side was a group of cheerleaders stretching their muscles and practicing their routine.

Maeven didn’t mind seeing the basketball team and their muscles sweating with activity, and she absolutely didn’t mind seeing the cheer squad in their short twirling skirts as they practiced. She was particularly intrigued by the cheerleader with strawberry blonde hair in a high ponytail and a smile that could light up a room of depressed people. She looked like a Barbie doll come to life. The way she seemed to put her whole spirit into the routine made it more like watching a ballet show; it was mesmerizing. Maeven found herself fantasizing that if she met her while in inpatient treatment, she probably would’ve recovered faster.

“This is the gym,” Steve said. “We hold all our gym classes, practices, pep rallies, and basketball games here. We have football and baseball, too, but they’re not as popular.”

“So basketball is your official religion around here. Got it,” Maeven spoke up with a soft giggle at the end. Steve and Nancy turned to smile at her. When she wondered why, she realized this was the first time she uttered a word since the tour began.

Steve seemed to be the most taken aback at the sound of Maeven’s voice, laughing at her joke. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Do, uhm. . .do either of you play?” he asked, gesturing to Maeven and Billy.

“Uh-uh,” Maeven shook her head.

“Yeah. I’ve played before,” Billy mentioned, shrugging his shoulders. Like a lot of boys his age, he channeled all his energy and unchecked rage and aggression into playing High School sports. Despite wearing the stereotypical jock persona, he was also a metalhead. He and Maeven spent their first few weeks together doing nothing but getting high in his Camaro and thrashing along to the radio in an attempt to vent their shared frustration.

Maeven eyed the logo with the school mascot on the wall; Go Hawkins Tigers! It was a bit faded, maybe needing a fresh coat of paint. She wondered if maybe they’d let her paint a mural for the school as she did at Newport. She would ask them later. . .maybe.

“It’s kind of a missed opportunity that they’re the Hawkins High Tigers and not the Hawkins High Hawks,” the voice in her head laughed. Maeven chuckled at the joke she told herself. It was rare that she and her inner voice agreed with each other. When they did work together, it was usually to both their benefit.

“It’s kinda-

“You any good at it?” Steve said, accidentally cutting Maeven off.

“Compared to those little pussies, yeah,” Billy scoffed as he pointed toward the basketball team. It was clear that a few of them were new at this, missing hoops, tripping on their own feet, and losing the rhythm of their dribbles.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off,” Steve apologized, turning back to Maeven.

“Say something, Maeven. They’re all looking at you.” the voice whispered, spiking Maeven’s heart rate and making her palms clam up.

“No, it’s fine,” she stated, shaking her head to brush off the nervousness. “I was. . .I don’t even remember what I was gonna say,” she laughed, trying to trick herself into thinking so.

“Yeah, she’s a little forgetful, aren’t ya Mae-Mae?” Billy laughed, tussling her hair before sneakily moving his hand down to cup the small of her back again where no one would notice.

“Yeah. . .sorry. . .”

Both Steve and Nancy looked at each other before turning back to Maeven, confused at her apology.

“What? It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Nancy laughed, reassuringly touching Maeven’s arm,

“You apologized when you didn’t need to again, you stupid bitch.”

. . .

Before Billy could even think about challenging the basketball kids in the gym, Steve and Nancy moved the tour forward. Maeven had her sketchpad and a gel pen in her hand, mapping out the school as the group continued walking. Gel pens were her preferred writing tool, as she loved the sensation in her hands when she conducted the ink. She made sure to include all the turns in the hallways and possible shortcuts, including all the exits in case she ever found herself in a situation when and where she needed to haul ass out of there. Maeven always needed a plan to protect herself in case things went wrong again, in case she got bad again.

Steve and Billy walked side by side as Maeven and Nancy were a few feet behind them. The boys walked in an awkward conversation as Billy kept pushing Steve’s buttons; it was one of his favorite pastimes. Although Maeven was too focused on the school and her developing map to hear exactly what they talked about, she could only guess that Billy took charge of the discussion like he always did.

“I um. . .I thought your name was Margaret?”

Nancy’s sudden question caused Maeven’s hand to jerk slightly and mess up a line on her map. She clenched her jaw in anoyance; she would fix that and give herself a proper punishment later. Instead, she soaked her tears of frustration into her eyes and turned to Nancy.

“It is. Maeven’s my middle name,” she clarified.

“It’s. . .nice. Unique. Scottish?” Nancy asked, much to Maeven’s surprise. She was half right.

“Irish, actually. On my dad’s side. My mom’s the Scottish one,” she replied.

The two girls turned their heads forward, watching as Billy pushed Steve just a little too hard as he let out a laugh. Steve stumbled on his feet a little before regaining balance and continued walking as if nothing just happened. To him, it was just another jock with an obnoxious personality; it was nothing new to him.

“Your brother seems. . .nice?” Nancy said, unsure how Maeven would take her honest opinion.

“When he wants to be. And he’s my stepbrother,” she said before they turned left at the next forked hallway, making another note on her map.

“Oh, okay. That makes more sense,” Nancy realized aloud as if a puzzle in her head was finally completed.

“Why?”

“No offense, but. . .” Nancy trailed off, eyeing Billy up and down before doing the same with Maeven. “you look nothing alike and you don’t act like brother and sister,” she pointed out, gesturing at their clear differences.

“None taken, Nancy. Actually, it’s a compliment,” Maeven laughed, bookmarking her place in her sketchbook with her thumb as she closed it.

Nancy had been eyeing Maeven for the entire duration of the tour for two reasons. One; she wasn’t what she was expecting when Principal Higgins asked her to show a new honor student around. Maeven didn’t carry herself with pride and confidence the way others would. She certainly took no effort in trying to dress up for the role. However, she definitely seemed to be quiet and introverted, but also nice personality that reminded her of Barb.

That brought her to reason number two; this new girl reminded her so much of her departed friend so much it almost hurt. And it wasn’t just the vibrant shade of ginger hair that made her sentimental and nostalgic. It was in the way she could focus her attention on whatever she seemed to be working on. Nancy still didn’t know much about Maeven, but she almost had her believing in reincarnation. She had to remind herself that Barb was gone, and that reincarnation didn’t work like that even if it was real. 

She made a vow to herself not to compare the two of them, anymore, even if the resemblance was uncanny.

“So. . .Higgins said you were on the honor roll back at your old school,” Nancy said, changing the subject.

“Yeah. For a lot of things, but. . .mostly science,” Maeven answered. Nancy noticed the stickers on her sketchbook that consisted of various flowers and animals, as well as a few skulls of various species. Barb wanted to be an Astronomer after she graduated. They would’ve gotten along.

“Maybe you’ll be able to get through to Steve better than me,” Nancy suggested.

“He has trouble with science?”

“A little bit of everything. He’s more of a ‘sports and parties’ guy.”

Taking in what Nancy told her and the way Steve acted with both her and Billy, Maeven nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I can see that. Especially with that hair.”

In California, the more popular of the students at Maeven’s school treated their hair like a crown of pure gold atop their heads. It’s part of what attracted her to Billy in the first place. She found it hot when people took care of themselves and took pride in their appearances. 

Maeven was a little jealous that Nancy got to run her hands through Steve’s cloud-soft hair and she couldn’t. But she had Billy. She had Billy. She needed to keep reminding herself of that; she had Billy and she didn’t need anyone else.

“Yep. King Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington,” Nancy chuckled with air–quotes. Maeven almost choked on her saliva.

“What the fuck?” she laughed

“That’s what everyone calls him,” Nany explained. It certainly wasn’t the cleverest nickname Maeven had heard throughout High School, but it was definitely fitting to Steve. And it was interesting to find out that he was apparently voted the ‘King of Hawkins High’. Did that make Nancy the Queen?

“Are you serious? That’s hilarious. It suits him,” Maeven observed.

“What’re you planning on doing after graduation?” Nancy wondered aloud. Maeven’s head perked up as she answered almost immediately.

“Environmental Science. I wanna work for the National Parks Service in Wildlife Conservation,” she explained.

This was the first time Nancy noticed the way Maeven’s eyes lit up with wonder. She seemed almost like a completely different person when talking about something she loved. The fact that she was so self-assured in her future choice of career was something Nancy envied. She had good grades, sure. But starting her Junior Year of High School still having no clue what she wanted out of her life was incredibly weighing on her shoulders. 

“Woah, that's. . .” Nancy trailed off, struggling to find her words.

“Weird?” Maeven finished for her, silently preparing to go back into her shell. But Nancy stopped her before she could; she liked this new girl.

“I was gonna say ‘different.’ A lot of the other girls here say ‘supermodel’ or ‘actress,’” she explained.

Those were common dream jobs she heard back at Newport. She had also heard ‘makeup artist,’ ‘director,’ and ‘musician.’ Her girlfriends back in California had different dreams. Emily wanted to be a teacher, Madison wanted to run her family’s marijuana farm. Cassandra wanted to create special effects for horror movies. 

Maeven was surprised that Nancy didn’t add ‘Princess’ to that list.

“Are a lot of the other girls here boring basic bitches?” Maeven joked.

“No. . .well. . .maybe they are, but not all of them,” Nancy replied. “My friend Barb, she wants. . .wanted to be an astronomer.”

Maeven’s head perked up at the mere idea of another science geek at this school. Her dad had an old telescope and used to take her and Max on trips where they could see the night sky clearer.

“Really? That’s pretty badass, actually. You’ll have to introduce her to me tomorrow,” she suggested, to which Nancy seemed to almost freeze on sight.

“Oh, actually, she’s. . .not around anymore,” she told Maeven, biting back the familiar burning sensation of oncoming tears.

“That’s a shame. It would’ve been nice to know another brainiac,” Maeven said.

“Well, you still have me, here,”  Nancy laughed, grateful that she didn’t cry. Maeven’s heart rate spiked almost immediately at her reply, anxiety filling up her lungs almost like she was drowning.

“Great job, you little bitch. You just insulted her. She’s not gonna want to be your friend now,” the voice taunted.

“Oh, no, no, no. That’s absolutely not what I meant at all, Nancy. I’m sorry,” she stuttered out, her face heating up and her breath growing heavy. 

Nancy’s brow furrowed in uncertainty. Why was Maeven getting so upset? She didn’t do anything wrong. She placed her hand on the new girl’s back, confused and worried when she flinched at her touch.

“Woah, woah. It’s fine, Maeven. You’re good,” she reassured, feeling her heartbeat slowing from her back beneath her palm.

“Sorry,” Maeven panted out, catching her breath as her gripped her sketchbook like a vice.

“Okay, I’ll forgive you if you stop apologizing,” Nancy laughed out.

“Alright, so-. . .thank you,” Maeven corrected herself, finally finding her bearings. Nothing was ruined. Everything was fine. She did nothing wrong. Nancy said so herself.

“Anyway, what’re you doing after you graduate?” she asked, changing the subject.

“I. . .honestly, I’m not sure,” Nancy admitted. It was the first time she said it aloud.

“That’s alright. You’ve got time.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. It didn’t feel like Nancy had time, even if she was two years away from graduation. All she was certain of was that she didn’t want to walk the same path as her parents.

. . .

Steve held the door open to the library, letting the others walk through. Libraries were easily Maeven’s favorite place in any school. She could spend hours exploring the collection of knowledge each one held.

“And this is the library. It’s usually the busiest when we have Study Hall. Other than that, it’s pretty quiet,” Nancy said.

“It’s nice,” Maeven pointed out, tapping her fingernails against the hardwood table. She found that most libraries were neutral territory; always a little colder than the rest of the rooms in schools and smelled pretty nice despite the fact that some of the books held there were old and dusty. She could picture herself spending a lot of time here, even in the afternoons after school let out. That is if Billy wasn’t too impatient to get driving her and Max home out of the way.

“Yeah, I bet I’m probably gonna find you in here a lot,” Billy joked, playfully nudging Maeven’s arm. He turned to Steve and Nancy. “She’s a bit of a nerd,” he said, pointing at her like it was a big secret.

“I like school. What can I say?”

“No one likes school, Maeven,” Billy laughed at her as they left the library. Nancy noticed the way Maeven seemed to shrink into herself whenever he talked about her, and found herself wondering why.

Nearing the end of the tour as they continued down the halls, Maeven turned back to the map in her sketchbook, marking down the library. The group suddenly stopped at the sound of a shrill, clearly annoyed voice coming from the nearby classroom. Maeven flinched, almost dropping her sketchbook.

“I expect to see you back here next Sunday, Munson! I got you for the next four weeks and I’d rather not see you after that!”

The door to the classroom practically slammed open, making Maeven jump again. Out walked the other end of that seemingly dreadful conversation; a tall boy with a leather jacket and a denim vest with many hand-sewn patches.

“Oh, come on! I know you’d miss me sooner or later, McGrady!” he laughed, tripping over his own feet before regaining his balance and leaning against the set of lockers across from the classroom.

He was a metalhead; that much was obvious, donning a Black Sabbath shirt with ripped jeans and silver rings decorating his fingers. Maeven could see him and Billy getting along. They clearly had the same taste in music, but this Munson guy didn’t seem like the type to hang around jocks due to the way he eyed Steve up and down with purse distaste.

 Even if she only observed him for ten seconds, Maeven could tell that he was a troublemaker. He acted awfully confident and cocky for someone who still had a month of weekend detentions to get through. 

She also couldn’t deny that this guy was an absolute specimen of a human being; his wide brown eyes and the dimples in his smooth cheeks complimented his strong jawline. The bottom locks of his dark brown hair were a little uneven and choppy, stopping just above his soldiers similar to the way hers was. Again, Maeven liked pretty boys; the boys who almost had feminine features and weren’t afraid to show them off.

And of course, he had to have tattoos. She only caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a cluster of bats on his right arm, but it was enough to send a warm chill throughout her body as she squeezed her thighs together. Maeven found her mind lustfully wandering through the possibility of ghosting her fingers over the ink on his skin that no one else saw.

“Munson,” Steve acknowledged him, passively.

“Harrington,” he replied with a wide, teasing smile before turning his eyes to Billy, nodding, “Guy I’ve never seen before.” he nodded.

As he collected his backpack from the ground and turned to pass the group, he turned to Nancy and Maeven; the first giving him a half-smile laced with annoyed tolerance, while the second just stared. It wasn’t in a rude way, though. Maeven observed Munson with widely curious eyes, reminding him of an owl. As he walked past them, he playfully held out his arm and gave a short bow, the same way a gentleman would allow a woman to pass sixty years or so ago. 

“Ladies,” he excused himself before walking the other way. His frivolous demeanor and spirited attitude made Maeven blush, prompting her to bring up her sketchbook up just below her eyes. She huffed out a small laugh as she watched him walk out the double doors, a strange spring in his step.

“Who the fuck was that guy?” Billy asked, looking at Nancy and Steve.

“Nobody important,” Steve rolled his eyes.

. . .

By the time Steve and Nancy finished giving Billy and Maeven the tour, they were n the completely opposite side of the building from where the main office was. 

“Aaaand I guess that’s pretty much it,” Steve concluded, clapping his hands together. “But I suggest you stay away from the woods by the bleachers over there. It’s where our resident freak over there likes to deal.” 

They stopped at the end of a long hallway next to a set of bathrooms and double doors leading out to the football field. Steve warily gestured to the dark woods nestling behind the rusty, silver bleachers.

Maeven wanted to ask for more clarification, but Billy beat her to it.

“You mean drugs?” he laughed

“Yeah. It’s that crazy guy we saw who just got out of detention. I’d steer clear of him. He got held back,” Nancy answered.

Maeven decided to file that piece of information under ‘private’ for a later date. Even if she didn’t plan on being open about it, it was a little more reassuring that she wouldn’t be the only repeat in school this year. And now she knew who to flag down with a private note in a locker when she needed to replenish her stash.

“Noted. I’mma go take a leak,” Billy announced. Nancy handed her purse to Steve, who willingly accepted it.

“I have to go, too. I’ll be right back,” she smiled, leaning up to give him a small peck on the cheek.

“‘Kay.” Steve muttered, giving her a small rub on her back before waving her off. That left him and the new girl in silence by the doors.

She was leaning on her shoulder on the glass window of the door, focussing her attention down in her sketchbook as she raised one leg behind her to give it a break from walking for so long. The glass of the window chilled her cheek as she rested against it, making her arm stim as she shook the feeling off. Her abrupt and random movement caused Steve’s eyebrows to knit. To him, it seemed like her arm was possessed for a split second. Then again, he had definitely seen stranger things happen.

“Aren’t you gonna go rub one out in the bathroom?” the voice suddenly asked Maeven, who gripped her pen in frustration.

“Not with Nancy in there,” she silently replied. “What if she tries to talk to me? I’ll do it when I get home.”

“You’ve touched yourself before with other girls in the stalls next to you. You should’ve done it in the shower this morning. If you don’t go now, you’re gonna regret it later,” it taunted.

“I said ‘no.’”

“Suit yourself.”

“So, your brother seems. . .”

“Step-brother,” Maeven corrected Steve, not breaking her gaze on her sketchbook. She finished her map and drew a little marijuana leaf near the woods as a reference for herself. She would color it when she got home, as well as the rest of the school with her many art materials.

“Your stepbrother seems like. . .kind of an ass?” Steve phrased it like a question, testing the waters before he could dive straight in. Maeven found herself laughing. Steve definitely wasn’t sugar-coating it.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tattle on you. He is kind of a prick, sometimes,” she laughed, closing her sketchbook before tucking it into her backpack. She turned to lean her back against the doors as she teetered on her heels, crossing one foot in front of the other as she held her hands together

Steve looked down at her feet, taking notice of the number of scuff marks and the painted white stars on the toes of Maeven’s doc martens. She wore colorfully mismatched socks with random stripes and designs. He caught a small glimpse of the fishnet tights underneath them, pondering at her unique combination.

“Soooo, uh. . .why do they call you Maeven?” He casually asked, not really knowing what else he could say. 

“I’m named after my aunt Maggie, but it gets confusing. Maeven’s my middle name,” she replied, twirling the loose threads of her sweater around her fingers.

“Oh, okay. Got it,” Steve nodded, followed by another awkward silence. 

Maeven wasn’t exactly the type of person Steve would chose to hang out with in his spare time. He couldn’t even really pinpoint what she was all about. This girl was obviously an intelligent over-achiever, but seemed so withdrawn and quiet up close and personal. Most smart kids he met were major attention seekers. For someone who dressed in such a hardcore manner, she wasn’t loud and angry and actually seemed very nice. She was also apparently an artsy nerd indicated by the stickers on her sketchbook and Billy’s earlier comment. Steve wondered if she would get along with Mike and his friends. But he didn’t understand why Billy seemed so fond of her. She seemed more of the type to hang out with freaks like Munson.

“So, you and Nancy? You guys seem happy,” Maeven observed, bringing Steve’s train of thought off-track. It took him a moment to process and answer her.

“Yeah,” he perked up, suddenly grateful that the silence was over. “We’ve been going out for a little over a year now,” Steve reminisced.

“Nice,” Maeven gave him a closed-mouth smile with an added nod. It was reassuring that she noticed him and Nancy without knowing anything prior; it meant the sparks were still there. . .weren’t they?

“What’s it like in California?” he wondered aloud. Maeven’s eyes left his for a moment and she gathered her thoughts.

“A lot bigger. . .and sunnier. Also not as chilly in the fall as it is here.” she told Steve. She found it odd that she never really realized how overwhelmingly warm it was in California until she was moved across the country. It felt nice, though; like a breath of fresh air.

“Yeah. I bet you have a lot more to do there than here,” Steve guessed. He could only really imagine. He had barely tread outside Indiana his whole life, let alone Hawkins. Sure, he was interested in the world outside his home town, but was perfectly content staying right where he was.

“Well, we may have malls and skyscrapers, yeah. But it's packed with people,” Maeven explained, unwrapping the thread from her finger to let the blood flow back in.

“It’s a big state. Hawkins must be a big downgrade,” Steve humbled himself and his home town. He was well aware Hawkins wasn’t really anyone’s first choice.

“Not necessarily,” Maeven counter-argued.

“You like it here?”

“It’s growing on me; a change in temperature, lots of woods surrounding us, not as crowded. What more could I ask for?”

Maeven found the town of Hawkins, Indiana weirdly endearing; a nice change from the overwhelming suffocation of city life, even if she did happen to sense a strange vibe from it. Still, Steve pressed on. He found it hard to believe that she found Hawkins more exciting than California, of all places.

“What part of the state are you from?”

“San Diego. Well, also a little bit from San Francisco,” Maeven told him.

“Really? How does that work?”

“When you’re parents are divorced,” she casually said. Her reply hit a nerve in Steve. 

His parent’s weren’t divorced, so he couldn’t exactly relate. But as far as he was concerned, they should be split up. His mom obviously didn’t trust his father to go anywhere without being under her supervision, lest he ends up seducing other women. That wasn’t what a marriage was supposed to be. Steve promised himself that his and Nancy’s would be different; better.

“So. . .I’m guessing your mom married Billy’s dad?” he guessed. When he saw her mother and sister earlier, he could definitely see the resemblance.

“Yeah. They’ve been together for about ten months now,” Maeven said, to which Steve was taken aback.

“Woah, okay.”

“What?”

“Just seems a little fast. That’s all,” he pointed out. He was raised to believe that you had to court someone for at least a year before even considering marriage.

“It is, yeah. Trust me. I didn’t even find out they were engaged until after they got married,” Maeven rolled her eyes.

“Seriously?” Steve tried to suppress his laugh, which Maeven joined in on.

He was surprised she didn’t seem more pissed about it. He certainly would be if he was forced into that situation.

“No offense, but, uhm. . .how did you miss that?”

“Don’t mention that you were in the looney bin for three months. He’s not gonna want to be your friend anymore if he thinks you’re crazy. He already saw you twitch your arm,” the voice warned her.

“I was. . .busy. I kinda buried myself in school and parties,” she told him. It wasn’t exactly a lie; just leaving out three months of the timeline. But Steve didn’t need to know that.

Keeping herself occupied with all her homework, afterschool clubs, drug-fueled parties, and many interests kept her mind off of her parents. There were times when she managed to convince herself her parents weren’t even a part of her life. Of course, she knew that they were still there, but their presence and roles to Maeven were tuned out. She didn’t recognize the people they had become and had to learn to somehow live without seeing them together anymore.

It was a change that she never prepared for, and still found it hard to grasp at times.

“I gotta say, you are. . .totally not what I expected you to be,” Steve realized.

“Really? What were you expecting?” Maeven asked him.

“Most of the smart kids or honor students here are pretty loud and proud. You’re just. . .” he droned, struggling to find the right word.

“Humble?” she suggested.

“Yeah, sure. I was gonna say ‘shy,’ but that works, too,” he clarified. “And now I find out you like parties, and my whole vision of you has changed again.”

Steve wasn’t as noticeably perceptive as Nancy was, that was for sure. But he seemed to make up for it in natural charisma. He also appeared more emotionally intelligent than his girlfriend, even if it seemed like he was still adjusting to his new learning curve.

“You ever heard that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, Steven?” she joked with him.

“I have, indeed,” he playfully answered.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t really understand it until about a year ago,” he confessed, internally cringing at his behavior last year. He still couldn’t believe it had been that long already.

“That’s surprising,” Maeven told him.

“What is?”

“Not to be a hypocrite, but I didn’t peg you as a mean guy,” she added, much to Steve’s relief. He often found himself worrying he was still the same ‘douche-bag,’ as Mike had once called him, that he was a not-too-long ago. Steve didn’t like the person he became when he was around Tommy and Carol.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” he admitted. 

“Yeah, you don’t have the whole. . .asshole jock energy the same way Billy does. Sounds like you used to, though?”

Was this girl psychic? It was really starting to freak him out, But he kept talking, anyway.

“Not exactly proud of it, but yeah.”

“I think you should be. . .about changing for the better, that is,” Maeven explained. Steve had never thought about it that way, before. He ended up more engaged in this conversation with the new girl than he thought he would be.

“What classes do you have, by the way?” It just dawned on him, and it triggered Mae to move quickly when taking off her backpack as if she was in a hurry.

“Let me check, hold on,” she said, swiftly dropping to crouch on the ground and dig around inside for the schedule the lady at the front office handed to her.

“Where did that sudden burst of energy come from?” Steve thought to himself. He considered asking why she carried so much stuff in her bag but decided against it.

“Uhmm. . .History and Literature 4 for First period. Then Biology 4, Art, Health. After lunch, it’s Algebra 4, Gym, and then Study Hall. But, I guess that last one is what everyone has,” she read aloud, leaning over to Steve’s side so he could have a look at the paper, too.

“Oh, good, we have Lit and gym together,” he pointed out. “And I think you have Health and Math with Nancy.”

“Nice to know I won't be totally flying blind,” she sighed with relief.

“You’re taking a lot of advanced classes. Higgins wasn’t kidding when he said you were smart,” he complimented. Maeven was about to thank him, but the voice in her head stopped her, ruining it like he hadn’t said anything nice about her at all.“Don’t tell him you should be a senior. Don’t tell him you had to repeat a year. Don’t be stupid, Maeven.”

. . .

A/N: Thanks so much for tuning in and all the love I've gotten back on this! It may not be a lot in terms of other fanfics, but I'm happy even if just one person enjoys my writing. This took longer to write than I thought, as I had to split up what I had originally planned for this one and put it into the next one. As always, I love hearing what you guys think about this and maybe what you might want to see or think will happen.

The Spitfire Curse Taglist:

@yaidothat

Let me know if you'd like to be added to the taglist!

#stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #my writing #the spitfire curse #stranger things fanfic #stranger things oc #maeven mayfield #max mayfield #billy hargrove #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #eddie munson #robin buckley #chrissy cunningham #st fandom #stranger things fandom #the party #scoops troop #hellfire club #billy hargrove x reader #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #stranger things smut #2023