#do i have a record player? no. did i get it anyways? yes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-fiction-witch · 6 months

Text

Feelings

Media The Queens Gambit

Character Benny Watts

Couple Benny X Reader

Rating Sweet + SMut

Requested:

Hey fiction witch, if u can see this I have a request, in the show Beth leaves New York and goes back to her house and when Beth and Benny r on the phone Benny gets upset and tells Beth to not call him, after that happens can u plz make y/n find out that Beth hurt Benny and y/n being her sweet and empathetic self, goes to comfort Benny in his house and yk wtv happens next 🤭 if u can make that story asap that would be amazing thank u 🙏

I shifted my hips from side to side humming along with the tune coming from my record player speaker, My hands in the hot water washing up the dishes and pots from dinner. I jumped as I heard my phone begin its blaring. So I left the last pot to soak trying off my hands on my apron as I scampered my shoes across the floor of my little townhouse I quickly turned down the volume on my record player as I passed the shelf, I lost my footing a little on the rug's stupid curled corner and went tumbling onto my sofa on my back, luckily just beside my phone table so I picked up the red rotary phone from the table bringing it to my ear.

"Y/l/n Residence." I smiled

"Hi y/n" Beth smiled

"Ohh, My my to what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Harmon?"

"Oh you know, nothing unusual. How's queens?"

"Boring. But finally unpacked my last few boxes so shaping up nicely. How's kentuky?"

"Much the same" she smiled "So, I had a question."

"ahh there is the point of your call, of course, ask away"

"You've been to Moscow correct?"

"Yes, I have. I assume there is a follow-up question."

"Yeah, I'm doing a bit of packing. I know everyone says Moscow is cold but... exactly how cold?"

"When they say cold they mean cold beth. It's freezing in Moscow. The snow came up to my knees. I was so cold I ripped stuffing out of the hotel pillow to shove in my bra because I was convinced my nipples would freeze off. and that's coming from a New York girl" I laughed "Pack for ice. Pack for snow. Pack for seeing your breath inside buildings."

"Really?"

"If you're too hot you can always take layers off," I explained

"Fair enough,"

"That all?"

"I had something else to ask too"

"Sure, fire away."

"Did you... Like to fuck Benny?"

"That's a bold question for six pm"

"But did you, when you two were... together?"

I laughed "My darling Elizabeth. Me and Benny never have been... together. Not officially anyway."

"But when you did. Did you like to?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"You can say every time you've had sex you liked it? sometimes stuff's just shit"

"But other than those times"

"I did. Course I did. Benny... is a complicated man"

"How so?"

"Because he's Benny" I laugh "He's weird, he thinks fifteen steps ahead at any one moment, he's passionate and dedicated with an ego big enough to fly himself to Moscow and back, but he's also... you know a man. so he's blunt and simple, and can't see a hint five inches in front of his face." I explained, "Why?"

"I think. it might be over."

"Over? Did it ever begin?"

"I mean... kinda. sort of. It's complicated."

"Beth. What happened?"

"So you know how Benny's been bugging me to come to New York"

"Yes. Because he misses you. That's his way of saying that."

"Yeah he even told me"

"He told you he missed you?"

"Yes"

"And you did what?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing!"

"Yeah I mean we called a little more but not much else. and I kinda... pissed him off"

"What did you do?"

"I gave the church the money back. I tried to ask him for money. if he wants to come he can help me pay for it right? he flipped out and told me not to call him again. That was... two days ago and he won't answer the phone. Guess I'm just kinda..."

"You're serious?" I sighed

"Yeah."

"Okay... I have not got time to deal with you" I sighed sitting up normally "All I'm gonna say is you've fucked up Beth. And I am going to clean this up, not because I want to help you. But because I care too much about Benny. I will call you later and we will have a chat" I told her before hanging up the phone

"Fuck..." I sighed "Harmon, you do make my life difficult" I grabbed the phone again and dialled the number for the Brooklyn basement listening to it ring but no answer, I tried again but still no answer, I gave it one more try but still no answer.

I gave up setting the phone back on the receiver and I got to my feet untieing my apron throwing it on the kitchen table grabbing my handbag making sure to grab my spare key. changing my shoes and slipping on my gloves before rushing out locking up my front door as I scampered down the steps of the stoop I unlocked the door on my little red mini threw my bag on the passenger seat quickly started the car up and scampered through the New York streets using all the little cut thoughts I knew to travel the six miles from my townhouse in queens to the basement in Brooklyn. I pulled my mini up behind the little blue Beatle parked and grabbed my bag climbing out of the car and heading down the little foul-smelling stairwells until I finally reached the metal door giving it a firm few taps. No answer came. but I could hear noises from within. I knocked much louder but still no answer came.

I rolled my eyes grabbed the spare key from my handbag forced it into the lock and opened the door shutting it behind me immediately I could tell things weren't good.

This apartment was dark, gloomy and damp as usual, bottles littered his table enough you could use them as pieces in a chess game, and things haphazardly moved around the apartment. And Benny amongst it all. Barefoot. Black jeans tight to his body, his belt gone, his black turtleneck on with his sleeves rolled up, frustration across his face, a beer in hand that he finished and there across his apartment smashing it on the wall.

“Benny?”

He ran a hand through his hair and glanced up at me “Hey y/n.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I'm fine” he snapped grabbing a cigarette from his table setting it in his mouth and lighting it up with his old Zippo

“Benny.” I glared

“I'm fine.” He snapped

“Beth called me.”

“Did she now? You come down to tell me I'm an asshole”

“I don't make judgements till I hear both sides” I answered “So, tell me what happened.”

“So it fucking -”

“Calmly.”

“It's over. I'm done with her. I have put up with so much shit from her. She treats me like a doormat, and only calls me when she needs something. Well she can go fuck herself” he says pacing around his apartment

“Okay, what exactly happened?”

“She gave the money back. Asked me to pay for us. She ignored everything I told her. All because she didn't want to sign some worthless bit of paper. Now I can't go to Moscow with her. Fine, she clearly didn't want me with her anyway.”

“Alright, and you told her?”

“I told her not to call me again. She wants to do this on her own fine. She can. She won't hear a word from me, but she can fuck off if she wants anything.”

“You've been ignoring calls?”

“I didn't exactly feel like talking right now”

“Alright, go get changed and I'll make you some tea”

“I don't -”

“Benny. Don't make me bonk you with a spoon”

“Fine I will get changed” he sighed going to his room “and make coffee.”

“No tea. Coffee will keep you up and you do not need more energy right now” I explained going and making some nice tea one for me and one for Benny taking and sitting them both on the small table in the centre of the living space, as well as a glass of water I took a small dustpan and brush from the cabinet and cleaned up the broken glass from the bottle as well as any other little mess that littered the apartment. I went to the small record player beside the chair and for a moment flipped through his small collection grabbing a nice album of some gentle swing music adding it to the player letting it spin and turning it down to almost nothing, and I took a seat on the pile of pillows he used as a sofa. Soon enough he returned with a fresh set of clothes, some new jeans, a black T-shirt and his green button-down

“There you feel a little better now?”

“It is nice to have some fresh clothes on” he grunted back

“Come on” I offered patting the pillow beside me

“I'm not in the mood y/n”

“Benny. Come here.”

He rolled his eyes but came and sat beside me still as angry and frustrated as before leaning his head against the exposed bricks

“Good, now when did you last drink something?”

“I'm not thirsty”

“Did I ask that?”

“No”

“When did you last drink something? You're only going to give yourself a headache” I told him, offering him the water but he turned away “Hydrate. Or I will hit you with a spoon”

He took the glass and had a sizable sip

“Thank you, now come here and talk it out”

“Y/n I know you mean well but I’m-”

“I will get the spoon in a minute.” I warn “Come” I demanded patting my thigh

He rolled his eyes but leant over so I wrapped my arms around him letting him lay his head in my lap “I don't see how this is going to help”

“You need to acknowledge and work through your feelings”

“I don't have feelings. I'm a man.”

“Ohh no you don't have feelings. That's why you've been spending your days in a dark basement drinking like a fish and frustrated smoking. No feelings at all” I smiled gently petting his soft fluffy hair

“I don't need to work through my feelings.”

“Yes, you do. Otherwise, you're just going to be angry forever. And god knows I can't deal with that” I laughed

“Fine” he sighed

“Take a moment just to clear the brain” I smiled playing with his hair in all the usual spots he liked me too

“My brain doesn’t clear.”

“Then hyperfocus. On the ticking of the clock, the nice gentle music, clear the mind of all other things and just exist for a moment”

We sat for a few moments just enjoying the quiet of his basement, the gentle hum of the music and the rhythm of our breaths

“Okay” He nods sounding far calmer than before

“That help?”

“A little”

“Okay do a Big breath in.”

“Why do I-”

“Benny” I warned so he did as I asked “Big breath in. And back out. Another one in… and another out. Okay? Feel a little better?” I smiled walking him through it a few times

“A bit”

“Are you calmer?”

“Somewhat”

“So, tell me what happened”

“You going to tell me when I’m wrong?”

“No. I'm not going to say anything you just explain and I will listen.”

“I try asking her for months to come up to New York, actually spend some time together, no she's busy she needs to do this, she needs to do that, she ghosts me for six months, okay I try asking to go to Paris with her support her with the tournament, no she's going on her own, she can't afford to take me too, so fine she goes on her own only when she's fucked herself up so bad she looses her tournament and has headlines everywhere she was drunk as a sailor then! I got a call. I try to be supportive and offer to pick her up from the airport. No, she wants to be alone. I try to talk her through everything and offer her a safe space, so we can be together and work stuff out, no she wants to be alone. She wants to drink. Fine, I try! I try and say she can drink so long as she came here no she wants to go and get drunk. She goes home to Kentucky and ghosts me again. She calls me finally because she wants my advice and again I try to get her to come here, I try and be nice hell I told her I fucking missed her nope she wants to stay on her own meaning she wants to fucking drink. And again I'm ghosted. She completely ignores what I tell her to do. She gives the church their money and calls me up like I'm the problem! Like I haven't spent the last year waiting for your phone calls like some abandoned puppy! Says she's paying her own way to Moscow and can't afford to take me with her, if I wanna come I need to pay, when she knows full well I don't have two thousand dollars laying around to jet off to Moscow. Accused me of gambling it all away. So fuck it. Fuck her. She wants to go and her drunk and fuck her life up that's her decision she's not taking me down with her. I'm not staying as her fucking doormat fuck to treat her how she wants. If she'd rather get drunk than be with me fine I hope she and her bottle are happy”

“How did that make you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“Benny, feelings are not shit. use your words. Not just your swears.”

“Like… why should I bother you know? Like I'm trying so so much and you're giving absolutely nothing back. And that makes me feel like I'm the asshole for wanting anything”

“You're not an asshole for wanting acknowledgement Benny. You've done a lot for Beth and it's not easy for you to be emotionally numerable”

“Exactly! It's like you bare your fucking soul to someone and their response is okay cool. What else? Like I don't know what more you want from me. Am I being a dick? Asking for too much or something?”

“I don't think so, I do think you also need to respect Beth is also not an emotional person. The two of you aren't going to have a great emotional conversation because neither of you are good emotional communicators and that's fine some people aren't, but it would seem you are putting a lot of effort in, now Beth may not see it as a lot of effort in her mind and may not be seeing how much effort that Is for you and not appreciate it as much or it could be that she just expects more. and if you can't give her that then you can't there's nothing wrong with that Benny”

“Do you think I'm an emotionally distant person?”

“You can be. You're… very practical Benny. You're emotional to the extent of practically, when emotions aren't useful you don't bother to express them. But I do think you not in the wrong here you've made a lot of moves to be more outwardly expressive and it was clear you were upset long before this” I explained “I think, and of course, you don't need to take my advice. But I think you and Beth need time apart I think you both need to not see one another, not speak to one another, for a couple of weeks I think you both need to separately decide the kind of relationship you want together. If you want to have the kind of relationship where you call every other day and talk or if you want a relationship where you talk every six months how much emotional investment you each have needs to be equal and it clearly isn't so I think spend time apart to think and when she gets back from Moscow you two need to talk and see where you go from here.”

“... Your right.” He sighed sitting up “Where did you learn all this stuff anyway?” He asks having some tea

“Therapy. You know that thing I keep telling you to go to”

“I don't need therapy”

“Everyone needs therapy, Benny.”

“I don’t”

“Yes, you do.” I told him “You have a lot of untapped emotional issues rattling around in that big head of yours” I told him having some tea “And I’m boarder line convinced you have… some type of-”

“No I don’t” he snapped

“Benny you hyperfocus on chess, don’t understand your own emotions, freak out when someone tries to touch your skin, and use your rings like fidget toys… and you don’t think there might be a possibility you could have some form of -”

“No.”

“Fine, fine. I’m not going to argue with you” I giggled “You should go to therapy though Benny.”

“Ohh what because I have ‘emotional trauma’?”

“Yes. you do.” I told him “Even if it's just having someone to talk to, to rant about your problems”

“That's why I have you”

“I'm not your therapist Benny”

“Sorry”

“It's fine” I smiled pressing a kiss to the top of his head “You really liked her didn't you?”

“I did. I kinda thought we were the same. Maybe we're too much alike”

“Do you think maybe… you're seeing the bad things in Beth that you see in yourself?”

“Kinda. I think it's … made me realize how bad it is to be on that side of it. To be the one waiting by the phone on the promise of a call that never comes. I think I'm .. trying though. I can see how bad it is and in trying to fix it but just feels like bailing a bucket out a lake”

“Well, baby steps. Just the fact you see it and are making steps is still better. You're never going to bail the lake if you don't start with a bucket”

“I guess so. It makes me wonder… how she sees me. I know officially we didn't label anything but, I kinda think she just saw me as a chessboard that could make her cum”

“What did you want her to be?”

“....I don't know. Guess I wanted someone to call. Someone to spend time with. Someone who wants to talk to me. Listens to me. Makes me feel like what I say makes a difference. Like I Matter to them. Someone who gets excited about spending time with me, who wants to be with me not because we might play chess or we might have sex but just because we like being together”

“You ever tell her that?”

“No.”

“Then … you can't expect her to give you that Benny. She's not a mind reader. She doesn't know that's what you want same as you don't know what she wants. You two are both people not great at emotions be the best course is to straight forward sit her down and say that's what you want and if that's not what she wants you can either try to find a middle ground or that can be it”

“Your right. But I don't want to see her. Or talk to her. I don't completely want to think about her but there's no getting out of that” he explained lighting another cigarette “But I'm done. Unless she's willing to try I don't want anything more than to be her friend”

“If that's what you want. That's what you want” I smiled taking the cigarette from him putting it out in the table’s ashtray “You’re not smoking because you want it you smoking because your frustrated.” I laughed

“Your therapist tell you that too?”

“No. I just know you, Benny. Besides you’ve been doing really good. Don’t destroy all your progress just because you’re mad” I told him

“You rather I drink?”

“I’d rather you have healthy coping mechanisms but you know… baby steps.” I smiled “You feel a bit better? Got all that off your chest?”

“Yeah. Thanks y/n.”

“Your welcome” I smirked having some tea “It's kinda funny”

“What is?”

“That's exactly what I wanted. Back when we …”

“Really?” He asks

“Yeah. I'd have killed for you to want to spend time with me without it seeming like I was dragging you away from something you wanted to do more”

“.... Fuck. I was a dick.”

“You kinda were.” I laughed “But we wanted different things that's okay”

“I feel like shit. Maybe things would be different if I figured out this is what I wanted”

“Maybe” I shrug “But you didn’t want that then that’s fine you can change your mind as life changes, that wasn’t the sort of thing you wanted then”

“You’re a very emotional person. I think I struggled with that”

“I can be… overly emotional. In working on it. Trying not to overthink everything so much.” I said “How do you think it felt for me sitting here miles deep in overthinking as to why you weren’t talking to me, that you were mad, that I did something wrong, all the while you just sat there playing chess completely unaware I was even upset being quiet because… you like to sit quietly.”

“I saw you were upset… when it was too late. By the time I picked up on it you crying so far down an emotional rabbit hole even if I did know How to deal with it, it was kinda too late”

“And yes that is on you for not noticing my emotions but also on me for not being clearer with them, literally could have fixed all my overthinking with, Benny are you mad at me? But no I wanted to sit there pouting getting more and more anxious waiting for you to figure out that I was worried.”

“I always felt like a dick for asking you what was wrong,”

“Because I wanted you to pick up on it. I didn’t want to tell you I just wanted you to pick up and fix it. And that's on me. That was my issue and I’m getting better. Can’t expect people to know everything. But you're getting better too, learning when people are upset being more outwardly emotional if you need a little coaxing.”

“Or threatening”

“Everyone is different Benny. The sooner you realize that the easier life is. Everyone you speak to, and everyone you see is completely different we all think differently, behave differently, and have different responses to things, and no one can read minds. We all need to give each other a little more slack because we don't know what's going on in their head and they'll never know what's happening in ours. Some people can read emotions across your face like a book, some people need to be told or they'll never learn. I was an emotionally overthinking young woman craving emotional intimacy without having to ask for it. While being in a non-official relationship with a man who can't read emotions, has a hard time expressing his feelings and craves reassurance. On top of the very basic one, what's to fuck one wants to love problem. You surprised it went south?”

“I crave reassurance?”

“Benny. You're a chess player who dresses like a goth pirate.”

“Point taken”

“It's fine people grow and change neither of us are the people we were then”

“That's true” he nods “Can I get the number for your therapist?”

“Why?”

“He sounds good. The fact you rattled all that off is pretty impressive”

“Find your own therapist. Don't want conflicts of interest”

For a moment he was puzzled “You talk about me in therapy?”

“Yeah”

“God was I that much of a cunt?”

“No. You’re my friend. Our lives are very intertwined is all” I laughed leaning on his shoulder

“that’s fair” he laughed “... Do you think I ask for too much? With Beth?”

“I think… you ask for more than she's comfortable with. Let's face it Benny your fighting against an addiction. You might have an ego and you might love chess but you're not physically addicted to it”

“I just feel like in trying so hard, pushing myself so far beyond what I'd normally be comfortable with the least she can do is try”

“if that's how you feel. Then I think she should respond to that”

“I'm not a dick?”

“I don't think so” I smiled

“Thanks y/n. I'm really thankful you came over”

“Well I can't just leave you someone has to try and get you through these gross… feelings you're not used to”

“Can you stay?”

“What?”

“Can you stay? I don't think I wanna be on my own tonight”

“Of course Benny”

We stayed up a little long chatting about things but soon it came time for bed he put up the air bed for himself and I took his bed even if I argued but he let me have it.

I changed borrowing one of his shirts for the night getting cosy in the warm bed.

The lights out the only sound the occasional sound of the New York cars above the basement.

I was about to drift off when I perked up hearing the creek of the door and soon enough the covers moved and Benny crawled in with me

“Hi”

“Did you want your own bed back?”

“No, I just… I don't wanna be alone right now” he says slowly wrapping his arms around me and pulling me tight to his body my hips to his my back to his chest squeezing me almost like I was his teddy bear

“Okay Benny, you don't need to worry I'll be right here,” I reassured letting him squeeze me tightly to his body, he held me tight pressing his lips to my shoulder

“Can I get my anger out?” He asked

“Alright” I nodded

He moved and pushed me down on my back “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I nodded

He nodded and leant down to nibble and kiss my neck, before he pulled down his boxers and tugged off my panties, he started off gently slipping himself inside me he held my hips firmly digging his nails into my skin as he aggressively thrusted, often bitting his lips and gritting his teeth letting out his frustration and anger though the movement of his hips. He began to slow so I smiled and held his hips gently turning us so he laid on his back and I sat on top of him gently moving my hips slowly “Reveling in your anger is not going to make you feel better” I smiled stroking his stomach as I moved

“I know. I just wanted to get the anger out” he sighed moving his hips with me

“Wouldn’t this be nicer?”

“It is much nicer.” he smiled “Nice and calming” He cooed sitting up a little and wrapping his arms around me to pull me into his chest for an intense kiss I smiled into the kiss as I moved my hips faster trying to match his own speed getting more and more intense the longer it went on I knew I was close starting to nibble on his neck as I began to slow getting close to my edge he noticed and smirked making sure to work as hard as he could letting out the last of his frustration until I reached my peak biting his neck as I did which in turn got him to his own edge burying himself deep inside me and riding it out before he collapsed against the bed and I basically fell off onto the other side

“Feel better now Benny?”

“Yeah” he nods between gasps “That is way better than therapy”

“They're not mutually exclusive Benny.”

“I still think this is better”

“You can’t just ignore your feelings and deal with your frustrations through sex” I told him

He smirked and turned over to spoon me “Did it work?”

“...yes but?”

“Did it work?”

“Yes.”

“Then I'm gonna do it” he shrugs

“Alright Benny, if that’s how you wanna deal with your feelings” I laughed “Come on, let's get some sleep”

“Alright, Night”

“Night” I smiled giving him a little kiss before we cuddled up and drifted off to sleep.

I yawned as I woke up I gently pushed Benny’s arms off me climbed out the bed and headed across the apartment, I went to the kitchen and began to make coffee humming to myself a little.

“Morning,” Benny spoke up from the bedroom door

“Morning, How are you feeling today?”

“Better. Much better” he smiled coming and wrapping his arms around me giving my neck some kisses “You always make me feel better”

“I do?”

“You do. I’m sorry”

“For what?”

“For being a dick, when we…” he began “I realize it and I’m sorry”

“That's very sweet. Apology accepted. I’m sorry for how I was too”

“Apology accepted” he smiled

“I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with the shit from Beth”

“It’s fine. I know how to deal with it”

“Oh?”

“She can find another doormat. She wants to drink and wants to go on her own she can. I don’t want that. We can be friends if she wants but nothing more than that. I don’t feel like I want anything more”

“Okay. I’m proud of you, for expressing your feelings” I smiled

“Did you wanna stay for a while? Spend some time together?”

“Is that also part of you dealing with this?” I giggled turning to face him

“Kinda. But Now I know what you wanted. And I want that too. Maybe now we're a little older we’ll be better, more communicative, better with our feelings. So? Did you wanna try again?”

“On one condition.”

“Oh?”

“Go to therapy, Benny.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.”

“How much therapy?”

“How about one session, one date.”

“Three dates one session”

“Two.” “Deal” he smiled pulling me into a sweet kiss “Will you help me find one?”

“Yes, I will.” I giggled “Come on we’ll have coffee and a cuddle”

“Sounds perfect”

#tbs smut #thomasbrodiesangster #tbs imagine #tbs imagines #thomas sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster smut #thomas sangster #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster #tbs #benny smut #benny fanfic #benny #benny watts #benny watts smut #tqg benny watts #benny watts imagine #bennywattssmut

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myeagleexpert · 2 months

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【ＨＥ　ＳＡＩＤ　ＴＨＡＴ　ＡＮＤ　Ｉ　ＷＯＮ＇Ｔ　ＦＯＲＧＥＴ　ＩＴ】

You know those important parts where you use the highlighter to highlight something important? So, my dear player, that's what we have here. Some interactions between the characters x yuu and the interactions between them that make me think a lot about the character they are!

Pt1: Heartslabul - Savanaclaw - Octavielle ( You're here!)

Pt2: Scarabia - Igynia - Pomefiore - Diasonia ( Loading...)

Wₕₐₜ ₐᵣₑ yₒᵤ dₒᵢₙg ₕₑᵣₑ? ₜₕₑ Qᵤₑₑₙ wᵢₗₗ cᵤₜ ₒff yₒᵤᵣ ₕₑₐd!

"Trey enthusiastically said he’s going to bake a strawberry tart for my birthday party. Make sure you come to eat some too. …Well, it not like it’s a Rule of the Queen of Hearts or anything"- Birtday Union

"Thank you for coming to celebrate my birthday. …Eh? You’ve hidden my present somewhere in the Heartslabyul dormitory? I see now. The answer to the riddle on this card must reveal the location of the present. Heh, you’ve sure come up with something rather interesting. Well, since you’ve gone through the trouble of planning this for me, I suppose I’ll just have to play along."- Birtday Union

"You are as energetic as ever today, I see. No, this isn’t any sort of rebuke. I truly do hope to see you enjoying my birthday party to the fullest."- Birthday Union

((he deserves to have more light and fun moments, and eat lots of strawberry pies))

"Don't worry, if you get lost, I'll come searching for you. I'm pretty used to looking after my siblings, so I'm sure I'll find you quickly."- Playfull Dress

"Thanks for celebrating my birthday. But I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to have my gift delivered to my dorm like that. You should have just handed it to me directly, since we were meeting up, anyway. Was I shocked? Well, yes... Ah, so it was supposed to be a surprise present! Haha, oh man. You're always finding ways to startle me."- Platinum Jacket

"Riddle’s got a pretty tight handle on everything, there’s not much for me to do as his Vice Dorm Leader. I’m basically just here as decoration." - Cerimonial Robes

"You want to take a picture of me? You’re the record keeper, so just do as you like. …It’s more nerve-wracking if you know you’re being watched, you know?"- Outdoor wear

"Oh, good timing. Help me carry these dishes. Of course, there’s some for you and grim too."- Outdoor Wear

"Hm, you want a scarf? Well... Oh, maybe if I ask Sam, he can lend you a spare one. Just wait a sec."- New Year Attire

"Do you have any plans for the winter this year? If not, what if you got a temp job at a cake shop...? Haha, I'm just kidding."- New Year Attire

((he's so big brother material, I love these little moments of him being so attentive))

"Amusement parks are so rad～! Why don't we take a selfie together right here at the gate? Think of it as the first of many to remember today!"- Playfull Dress

"Oh hey, think you'd want any popcorn? If so, tell me your favorite flavor. Your boy Cay-kun'll get it for you."- Playfull Dress

"Thanks for coming to celebrate my birthday! I’m super stoked! You’re gonna give me whatever I want for my birthday? Well, if you say that… it might make me want to ask for something huge. I’m kidding, don’t worry! How about we go skateboarding together? We can do some sweet tricks and post some pictures online!"- Birthday Union

" “#Birthday #NRCUnionJacket #SpecialMadeForCay-kun” …You know I totally gotta brag about today’s special outfit!"- Birthday Union

" Why are you looking at me like that while petting the tsum? You’re making Cay-kun feel so conflicted～"- Tsum Event

"Pfft, your hair is all over the place from all the wind. Sooo laaame… Eh, mine, too!?"- Playfull Dress

"The whole point of birthdays is definitely the presents. So what did you get your dearest friend Ace-kun, then?"- Birthday Bloom

"I’m good with not dating anyone yet. 'Sides, I’m already busy looking after you lot."-Suitor Suit

"A word of warning. Until I say it’s safe to, deeefinately don’t look up at the ceiling… Juuuust kidding! Haha, did that scare you?"- Halloween

"The basketball club's most promising rookie has arrived! You better not take your eyes off my fresh plays, 'kay?"- Club Wear ((He's a little shit, but I'd root for him in the front row))

"Practicing passes with Floyd is basically a matter of life and death. But that's 'cause he's always throwing them at breakneck speeds!"-Club Wear

"Hey, we should all play basketball together sometime soon. If we invite Deuce or whoever, we can probably get a 3-on-3 game goin'.-" Club Wear

"Are you going to come cheer for me at my next track meet? Then, I definitely can't do anything uncool. Just you wait and see how I do!"- Club wear

"You want me to show you the awards I've gotten from my track meets? You bet! I was hoping I'd get to show you."- Club Wear

"I bet if you, me, and Grim just go ham talking about all that happened today when we get back to school… Ace’ll get crazy jealous."- Rabbit wear

"I think I was able to help my mom feel a bit of relief. And that’s because you all came with me, so, thanks."- Rabbit wear

"I can’t believe you’re here to wish me a happy birthday… Today’s such an amazing day. …Oh, shoot. I definitely have some kind of weird look on my face right now, don’t I? Sorry, I just got so happy I couldn’t help this wide grin. Anyway, thanks so much, Prefect! I’ll make sure to keep doing my best to be someone deserving of your celebrations!"-Birthday Union

((he is my good little boy, I love him, Deuce you live in my heart))

🇹🇴🇳🇮🇬🇭🇹, 🇮🇳 🇹🇭🇪 🇬🇷🇪🇦🇹 🇯🇺🇳🇬🇱🇪, 🇹🇭🇪 🇱🇮🇴🇳 🇸🇱🇪🇪🇵🇸

"They got bone-in meat to eat right there, and you still order the salad. And that's why you're a herbivore."- Playfull Dress

"You don't have to call my name over and over again, I hear you. I'm just staying silent so I don't ruin all your amusement park excitement."- Playfull Dress ((Are we going to delude ourselves and dream that he was admiring us the whole time? Yes))

"A horror attraction? Sure, I'll tag along with you for that, 'cause I bet I'll get to hear some good screams from you herbivores."- Playfull Dress

"You have my utmost gratitude for such a splendid celebration. …There, I thanked you. I’m not saying it again."- Birtday Boy

"You want to make me happy? Hahah! What fine intentions coming from a herbivore. I’m looking forward to it."- Birthday Boy

"Sneaking up behind me like that, were you attempting to surprise me? Aah, my bad. I’ll pretend I didn’t notice, so go on, continue."- Birthday Boy

"You’re just going to carry drinks around and not even toast with me? Hey, bring a glass for yourself too."- Birtday Boy

"Did this sword catch your eye? The motif of the hilt seems to be a jellyfish. I can let you borrow it, but don’t swing it around."- Halloween ((Would you also have a jar of dirt too? Asking a friend))

"You can’t trust someone who smiles all the time, like Jade. Usually guys like me end up being the more trustworthy ones, you know?"- Halloween

"Doesn’t matter who the opponent is. The only one deserving a win is me"- Beastly Garb

"Magic is strictly forbidden in Catch the Tail. Maybe I’ll train you up for the next one… I kid, this ain’t ever happening again."- Beastly Garb

"Back home, there were a ton of people who took issue with my sense of fashion. You wouldn’t do that to me, hmm?"- Gala Couture

"The rich folks from the Scalding Sands are much richer than royal families in other countries. If you want to butter someone up, you’d have better luck with Kalim"- Gala Couture

"Well, aren’t you super meticulous on something as simple as a cake cutting. I don’t really care how you do it, but just get it done before tomorrow comes."- Blooming Birthday

" I had Cater delete all the pictures he took. Obviously, I asked him nicely. Yeah, that’s right, I’m such a shy boy."- Blooming Birthday

"If you’re going to act all high and mighty, I’m going to expect something grand from you, y'know? So hurry up and bring out my present, already."- Blooming Birthday

"Wouldn’t ya believe it, Vil gave me a sewing kit. Something this special deserves to be shoved in the far back of a drawer for posterity."- Blooming Birthday

"If it’s survival, leave it to me! My experience is different from all the other guys."- Outdoor Wear

" You wanna know the trick to fishing? Hmmー …How ‘bout I trade you for those nuts you’ve got in your hand?"- Outdoor Wear ((What nuts? THESENUT--))

"Grim-kun stole your food? Guess it can’t be helped, here, I’ll share my grilled fish with you. Now you owe me one! Shishishi〜"- Outdoor Wear

"Shishishi, you totally remembered my birthday, right?"- Union Birthday ((It's marked on my calendar, my hyena))

"Thanks for celebratin’ my birthday with me! Since it’s my big day, we should go grab some grub and… Ah! Oh noooooo, this is sooooo terrible, I forgot my wallet… I guess I can’t buy… Eh, you’ll treat me? Really? Maan, it’s really great having such a generous junior like you! C'mon, let’s go, let’s go. Shishishi～" - Union Birthday

"Can’t believe a talkin’ portrait wished me a happy birthday… ’S not something I woulda ever been able to imagine happenin’ to me while I lived in the slums."- Union Birthday

"The guys in the magical shift club gave me some powdered sports drinks. I love gettin’ practical gifts like that!"- Union Birthday

" If you’re gonna come check out our practice, make sure you bring us refreshments! Like sports drinks, nutritional jelly drinks, or even doughnuts!"- Club Wear

"My nickname “Disc Thief” is pretty well-known, so maybe I might get scouted by some pro team with their eye on me… Nah, that’d be too good to be true."- - Club Wear

"We can hear Leona’s voice pretty good even when we got noisy spectators durin’ a game. Guess lions just got a healthier roar to ‘em." - Club Wear

"Even if you can’t use magic, you can still join our club. We got a ton of stuff for a manager to get done!" - Club Wear

(Leona simps… do you think his snores are loud too? And during… NO I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT)

"Hey, are you here to celebrate my birthday? Thanks for coming all this... Wait, you just wanted me to show you my homework? Do you own homework! Geez, don't mislead me like that... ...What is this box? Is it a present? O-Oh. Then, I'll gladly take it... Hey, you didn't do all this just to get a kick out of how I'd react, right?" -Platinum Jacket

"Ah, you wasted no time in coming. …You’re not scheming to horseplay around on my birthday, are you?" - Union Bithday

"You want me to take a picture of in this outfit and send it to my family? …Well, I guess that’s fine. Th-Then… please take one for me." - Union Bithday

"Thanks for the birthday wishes. …Something I hope for in the coming year? I want to grow some more. Eh? I’m already big enough? …I’m not talking about my height! I mean I want to mature more. Whenever you’re around I end up feeling so dazed. It must mean I’m relaxed around you. Thanks." - Union Bithday

((i mean… he's already our big boy… I hope the wolf form grows bigger and bigger too, my cute puppy))

((I feel like Yuu feels lighter and more playful around Jack, to the point of making pranks and having fun together <3))

ɐɐǝs ǝɥʇ ɹǝpu∩ ɐɐǝs ǝɥʇ ɹǝpu∩

"Oh my, I see how your eye shines so... If you've taken a liking to that painting, I shall order a reproduction for you. At a discounted price, of course." - Platinum Jacket

"Young love is wonderful. There is no end to the troubles that come from it, so it's quite a favorable emotion for those of us who impart counsel." - Platinum Jacket

"Laying out on the beach to watch the sunset is actually rather lovely, isn't it?"- Beach Wear

" The water around this island is unbelievably delightful. The water is warm and there are no predators. It is a far cry from my hometow."-Beach Wear

"If I were to describe the Coral Sea in one word, it would be "vast." If you ever decide to visit for a vacation, you may come to regret it. "- Beach Wear

"What could you possibly... ...Oh, it's you. I thought it may have been Stitch-san coming to pester me once again."- Beach Wear

"You may leave it to me to lead us in this dance. Allow me to show you just how much effort I've put forth."-Masquerade Dress

"You wish me to take your picture? Of course, I don't mind whatsoever. Now, what should I ask for in return?"- Masquerade Dress

"Oh, my, are you sharing your pastries with me? I would be elated to take some off your hands. It is rather nice that I can try so many in smaller portions."-Masquerade Dress

" What is it? Eh, oh, I look good in this outfit? ...Fufufu, whatever are you scheming? Please, do tell."-Masquerade Dress

"Jade poured this tea as his gift to me. Only... He had this strangely good-natured smile on his face as he did so. ...Would you care to drink it?"- Bloom Birthday ( you littl-)

"I don't understand why candles are inserted into the cake... Sure, it's lovely to see the flames dance in the dark, but it ruins the cake's presentation when it comes time to eat it." -Bloom Birthday

"Something I would like? ...Then, please sing a birthday song for me. Come, you'll sing for me, won't you?"-Bloom Birthday

"Azul can grant any wish," they say. ...Would you like to see if the rumors are true?- Ceremonial Wear

and this duo dialogue? BOYYY

Azul: I am so honored to be paired with you, Jamil-san.

Jamil: Get moving instead of just flapping your lips, Azul.

(suck this up octoponk)

"Down in the ocean depths, the Sea Witch's favorite lipstick is very popular. The container is even shaped like a seashell... I recall gifting it to my mother once, as well."- New Year ((I have a wish for my birthday present, and I think you do too))

"Do go on, Tsum-san, do whatever you please. It's alright, I shall be watching over you."- Tsumsitter ((Go ahead little creature, spread chaos, I'll be admiring your work))

"Allow me to show you how wonderous the mountains truly are. I do so hope that you will want to join the Mountain Lovers Club afterwards."- Outdoor Wear

"I brought along a very large backpack, but it is mostly empty. That is so that I will be able to bring home some of the nature's bounty as souvenirs."- Outdoor Wear

"It is more crucial to use your intellect when it comes to potionology, rather than magic. Since you have no magical abilities, don't you think this would be the perfect subject for you?"- Lab Wear

"Could you tell me your favorite dish? It may be a good addition for the Mostro Lounge menu."- Lab Wear

"Have you ever heard the phrase "haste makes waste"? ...Never mind, how foolish of me to ask."- Lab Wear

"In the Mountain Lovers Club I founded, we study the flora that we've collected. ...Oh, does this pique your interest?""- Lab Wear

"May I help you? ...I'm afraid it is somewhat difficult to continue exercising when you're staring at me so intensely."- Pe Education

"You are quite... No, nevermind. You do realize that courage and recklessness are two different things entirely, yes?"- Pe Education

"You wish to climb Moln Mountain? I understand how you must feel, but... Snowy mountains are quite dangerous. It may be better for you to build up your climbing experience little by little first."- Apple Boa

((I don't know about you, but Jade's sentences wander from a nice person to someone suspicious)) ((Do you want to know something? Everything that comes out of his mouth is a trap, suspicious as hell))

"Here, Shrimpy-chan, you can have my fries. Nah, you don't gotta thank me. I just couldn't finish 'em 'cause I just slathered something spicy all over it." - Playfull Dress

" Y'know, I really like big and hefty shoes like these～ I love the way they make big, strong stompy sounds when I walk～" - Playfull Dress

"My shoes and jacket sparkles just like scales! Humans have it so good～ They can just swap up their scales whenever they want just by changing clothes." - Platinum Jacket

Beach Wear Vignette - Dialogue

Floyd: 'Cause, I mean, if someone tells you not to do something, doesn't it just make you want to do it more?

Stitch: Yahahahaha!

Floyd: My pops and mama always told us that it was dangerous for us kids to go by ourselves, so we shouldn't go near it.

Stitch: Grrr, rargh!

Floyd: Hmm? Oh, it's nothing like that. That whole thing where the humans and merfolk were afraid of each other is stuff from a long, long time ago.

Floyd: Folks've been comin' and goin' between the land and sea for a while now, ever since the mermaid princess married that human prince.

"Aha. I'm all ready to go, but is the party ready for me?"- Bloom Birthday ((Chaotic child detected))

"Ah, hey, it's Koebi-chan. So you're gonna give me whatever I want as a present? Then, tell me a fun story you know from up here on the surface. ...What, you weren't expecting me to ask for somethin' intangible? I mean, this is waaay better than getting somethin' I don't need. But I ain't gonna let it slide if you tell me a boring story. Mmkay, you can go ahead and start now～"-Bloom Birthday

"Maaan, passing practice is so boring 'cause it's too easy. Koebi-chan, wanna play 1 on 1 with me? I'll go a little bit easy on you"- Club Wear

"Hm, I don't see your mouth watering. You saying my food tastes bad?"- Apprentice Chef

"I make a ton of grilled sandwiches. I ain't got a recipe or anything. Just toss in some leftovers and grill 'em and you're done."- Apprentice Chef

"Jade'll put shiitake mushrooms in pretty much anything, so I got to the point that just lookin' at 'em pisses me off."- Apprentice Chef

" You make real great-lookin' faces when you're eating, Shrimpy. Didja like my cooking? 'Kay, then next time, I'll make you something even better."- Apprentice Chef (( PLEASE DO ))

" Next time, you should go up on stage, Koebi-chan. I'll be expectin' a fun show."- Port Wear

" Ehhh, my ribbon's crooked? I don't have a mirror, so I can't see it... Shrimpy-chan, why don'tcha fix it nicely for me?"- Platinum Jacket

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Every like, repost and comment is very welcome and appreciated. ♥

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mrs-kodzuken · 3 months

Text

The way we met ♡

Pairing: Keiji Akaashi x fem!reader

WC: 1.2k

Genre: fluff

CW: fem!reader, fluff, talk about how keiji and reader met, snow bc it snowed when i wrote this a while ago, boyfriend!akaashi, memory is italicized

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

Flurries danced around outside, entangled with the harsh wind that almost seemed like it shook the house to its very core when it blew.

The faint piano music from the old record player really set the soothing ambience of our home.

Small noises of glass clinking together from the kitchen could really only mean one thing: Keiji had decided to make something for us.

I peer into the window through our soft beige living room curtains, the snow flurries fluttering down from the sky in a hurry to cover the rest of the ground.

It had started to snow in the middle of January, which meant that people like Keiji and I wouldn't be able to travel to work safely.

However, working from home always had its pros and cons too. I could sit in my office peacefully, send the demographics needed to my boss, reply to a very small number of emails, and be done.

Or, Akaashi would come sit in my office, knowing that it would distract me, his body laid out on my leather couch whilst he read.

It happens more than I'd like; I don't fancy being late to turn my work in or scrambling to do it either. I took a look at the TV and decided to grab the remote to get comfortable on the couch and wait for my boyfriend. Keiji and I have been dating for three years.

We met while we were in college that one fateful day.

I had been running late to class after pulling an all-nighter trying to study, and I just had to get a cup of coffee from the closest cafe to keep me awake.

As I was leaving, I bumped into a stranger, effectively spilling my burning coffee on him. A small wince came from the man from the burn.

Shock was written all over my face. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

I can't believe how stupid I was at that moment. I rushed to grab napkins and throw my cup of coffee away; it was over half gone anyway.

"It's quite alright." The man's soothing voice spoke out to me as I tried rubbing him down with the napkins.

He cracked a small smile, and that is when I got a real good look at him. His short, messy black hair and slightly thick eyebrows stood out to me, and his extremely dark blue eyes with pretty eyelashes peered curiously into mine.

His voice was smooth like honey, and his body was lean but toned at the same time.

His clothes were fancy—a long coat over a smooth white button-up shirt with dark slacks and dress shoes to tie it together. I snapped back into consciousness after realizing that my coffee had ruined his white button-up shirt.

"How is it alright? I can't believe I was such an idiot to spill my coffee on you!" I was so frustrated at being non-attentive to where I was heading that I ruined my drink on a man, a gorgeous one at that.

He smiled at me and then offered to buy me an extra for the inconvenience. I refused; of course, I should be buying him a coffee—not the other way around.

But alas, he convinced me, and we sat down at a booth in the back of the cafe. We introduced ourselves and made small talk about our mornings, the college we both attended, and our majors.

That is, until I realized that I had been dilly-dallying this entire time and my class was already over.

I threw my head into my hands and huffed loudly, "Did you miss your class?" His questionable voice brushed across my skin.

"Yes." I grumbled out, which sounded painfully muffled by my sweater hands holding my face.

"How about we go to the library and study then?" Akaashi asked me, and I peered out at him, one hand uncovering an eye.

Was this a date or a mere 'I feel bad for you' thing?

Reluctantly, I nodded and picked up my leather brown bag, slinging it over my shoulder. We waltzed our way towards and into the library, unbeknownst to me, that this little date would be repeated till we finally got together and graduated.

I chuckled softly at the memory of Keiji and me. We were both so young, and it turns out that our majors were lined up together. It's funny how the universe works in mysterious ways.

The soft pattering of Keiji's house shoes broke me from my thoughts of the beginning of our past. He wore a large, comforting fawn-colored sweater with thin sweatpants.

He brought two glass mugs filled with the delicious smell of coffee—how ironic!

"Here love," He handed me my mug and sat down beside me on our couch.

"Thank you, Keiji."

The scent of him mixed with my coffee was intoxicating. I never thought I would ever have such an interesting but funny love story to tell people.

Ever since those dates in the library studying, Akaashi and I decided to move in together when we graduated. We've been together for three years, and still I can't get over how non-attentive I was back then and still am.

Needlessly, Keiji still loves me.

The snow scattered around outside still; our porch light was on, and I could definitely see how the flurries were coming down. I love my life with Keiji; it is one of the best blessings I could have ever gotten from my idioticness.

"Have you decided on what movie we are going to watch? I was thinking maybe some form of Christmas movie." He inquired of me, his dark blue eyes still having the same effect on me as they did three years ago when we met.

A look of confusion struck my face. "Christmas ended twenty-four days ago, and you want to watch a Christmas movie?" I questioned him with a brow raised.

"Yes," he said, certain of himself. "It's snowing outside, is it not?" A delicate smirk graced his naturally pink-tinted lips.

"Fine, fine. Only because it's snowing. You pick, since I don't really mind. However, there are no royalty Christmas movies. I can only watch so many before they start to be mundane." I stated my agreement with the terms.

He sighed, "I guess."

Knowing him, that's definitely what he was going to pick before I said something. I leaned my head on his shoulder as I watched the movies on the TV scroll from one to another.

"Earlier, I was thinking about when we first met and how different we were then versus now." I randomly told him, wanting him to know my thoughts.

"Really? Were you disappointed with the way we met?"He asked me softly, his eyes gazing down at mine.

"No, honey, just how funny it was." I half-smiled at him and resumed drinking my coffee before it got cold. He finally settled on a movie we both enjoy.

As it began to play, I shifted over towards him, wanting his body heat and to share the fluffy blanket.

"Keiji, you know that I love you, correct?" I asked him, still paying attention to the movie in front of us.

"I do. You know that I love you as well." He answered with reassurance while shifting to where his arm was over my shoulders.

Keiji pressed a warm kiss on my temple as we continued to watch TV. I could still see the snowflakes falling; however, they were softer this time around.

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

a/n: this is from my book “Haikyuu x Reader One Shots” on Wattpad! I hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any requests!

the header is made by me, please like/reblog if used <3

#haikyuu akaashi #akaashi keiji #akaashi x reader #akaashi fluff #hq akaashi #akaashi x you #akaashi scenarios #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x y/n #hq x reader #hq fluff

93 notes · View notes

leafostuff · 1 year

Text

"Tool" Assisted (Ft. Fromis_9 Nagyung)

Author's Note: it took me a while but i finally managed to get this smut off, i really enjoy speedrunning and watching them, especially celeste speedruns, so i figured combining writing and speedrunning would be perfect for me, anyways have fun reading this filthy smut and merry Christmas/Hanuka

Tags: smut Quickie, Dirty talk, Mutual orgasm, the day after sex. daddy kink, blow job

================================================

Your Heart is currently at 120, looking at the screen moving so fast as your fingers do as well, what you are doing needs presently fast execution as if done right, it could crown you as one of the best celeste players, not in Korea, not even in Asia but in the entire world.

Stage 7 was always the do-or-die level for you, even after memorizing it for over 20 hours and practicing it almost daily during your runs. Even as an individual level, you would often find yourself choking right in that part, mainly because you were so stressed you would mess up an execution test which will lose time and probably will get you off a world record pace.

but now you were there, on the last few checkpoints of the level, the pace you were in could probably be counted as a World record, you were currently quiet so you could be in your most focused state, and your stream started to get excited in each moment.

This was it.

This was the moment you always waited for, as you finally arrived at the final goal your hand quickly went to stop the time, however as you look to see what the time was your smile fell down in disappointment.

26:02.501

2 seconds late from the world record, and yes while this time could score you a 2nd place in the leaderboard, you didn't want it, you were playing the game since its dawn and speedrunning it for a year, plus you were exceptionally skilled so in your mind, a world record will seem like the best reward you could get. Even if the record will only hold for a month or so, the fact that you achieved it will be enough to make you happy.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, 2 FUCKING SECONDS off the world record” you shouted in anger as your fist banged on the empty place of your table that as a stream goal you jokingly named “The fist place”. “I swear i thought I would be in pace, did i mess up at that stupid ass Hyper dash again?” you said to yourself as the chat was spamemd with emotes showing their sadness of your unachived goal.

As you look at the time it was 11 PM. “Well stream is over for today, don't want to stream for too much or my girlfriend will kill me, and besides, a 7-hour stream doesn't sound so bad for your chat, right?” you asked as you changed the streaming scene from your usual one to an ending stream one while your chat was starting to fill up with goodbyes.

“Thank you for staying and i will see you next week,” you say with a weak smile as you mute your mic and put your headphones on your stand, you find yourself sitting on your gaming chair, looking toward your ceiling “2 damned seconds,” you think to yourself, defeated as suddenly your sad face was met with a familiar smiling face.

“Another missed world record?” Nagyung, your girlfriend asked as you could feel her hand on your right cheek, in response you simply respond by letting yourself lean into her chest as your hands went behind her back, pulling her into an embrace, Nagyung simply giggled and let the hug go as her hands went behind your back as well as you find you two stand up while hugging as eventually, you release yourself from her chest with your defeated eyes looking directly into her eyes.

“Want to discuss it in bed?” she asked as you simply nodded, giving you a small kiss on your cheek and taking your hand, leading you to your shared apartment's bed.

"So" she said, jumping onto the bed, inviting you in "It was Summit 6th Flag that ruined you?" Nagyung wasn't no noob when it came to Celeste, as after all since it's a big part of your life it would make sense that your girlfriend will try to understand it.

"Yeah, messed up one of the dashes so it probably wasted time" You answer, letting yourself fall onto the bed and into your girlfriend's arms. Her hands cover your entire body, letting yourself into an embrace that could only relax you after a long day of streaming.

"I just don't get it, almost a year of practice, countless hours of streaming and i still cant anything but 2nd places in the leaderboard,” you said, punching the bed lightly before your girlfriend took your hand, kissing it to try calming you down.

"Aww babe, don't worry, you will have another chance" she stopped talking as she planted a Kiss on your forehead "I know you can do it, after all i am your number 1 fan of your streams" she said with a cute smirk however your face was still in a bad mood.

"I don't know, maybe I should give up on Celeste, i will never hold a world record" You said, you were on your way to your PC, probably to Uninstall celeste as suddenly Nagyung took your hand and blocked the door of the bedroom.

"I have an Idea babe," she said, smiling with a rather cheeky grin "how about you try another speedrun? As a break of sorts from Celeste?" She said, even though at first you were completely against the idea, after a couple of seconds you had another thought idea

"I mean…I guess another game won't be too hard to learn the speedrun, and honestly, a break will only do good, let me relax from the World record grind, you have any game in mind Baby?" You asked her, trying to remember your steam library however you were surprised by Nagyung's next move

You could feel Nagyung's hand on your chest, as she was lightly pushing you toward the bed, next she sexually went toward you, finding her seat on your lap as she looks at you with a sexy smile while your look was very confused

"I actually thought about another thing you could try and speedrun" she said, you are still confused by your girlfriend's actions, as she just rolled her eyes and leaned toward your ear, whispering probably the hottest sentence you heard from your girlfriend.

"The speedrun of how fast you could make me cum"

You finally understand your girlfriend's motives as you couldn't take it no more, from how slutty she was dressed with the white tank top and the short jeans to how dirty she was talking to you as you slammed your lips onto Nagyung's lips, starting one of the hottest makeout sessions you ever had.

Small breaks you had for air during your makeout session as you could feel your hands traveling toward Nagyung's round ass while her hands went back to your chest as slowly unbuttoned your shirt, and after she finished she threw your shirt somewhere, with no time to see where it went as you two were back for another steamy makeout session.

"You *mmph* started the timer babe?" She asked in between kissed as you suddenly remembered, taking your smart watch out and while you were trying to set up the timer to start, your girlfriend was in a craze, kissing you from the neck all the way to your chest and eventually she ended her kisses near your thighs, very close to your already hard member.

While your girlfriend was busy taking your pants off along with your boxers, your hands were also busy, playing with her tank top in attempt to take it off as only after a couple of minutes you finally managed to take it off.

you notice quickly that she never wore a bra today, since as soon as you took the tank top you has full access to her breasts, they weren't too big but you loved them, for you they were perfect as you couldn't help but get hypnotized

"Hello? You there? You still didn't finish the foreplay split" her voice made you fully focused again, finishing undressing your girlfriend as all that was left was taking her short jeans and her underwear, which already had a wet spot that only God knows since when it was there.

Both of your naked bodies got out of the bed, as now you finished the Foreplay split and were ready for the second split being funnily named "the main event", now you pinned Nagyung toward the wall with your hard member being so close to her already wet pussy.

"Come on daddy, I know you want to fill me with your massive dick, show the world how you can hold a world record of fucking me real good" the dirty talk doesn't stop from you very horny girlfriend as you finally had enough, as the first thrust of your dick begins

"Fuck!!! You are too good" she screamed, maybe your pace of the speedrun was a bit weird, however the pace of your thrust into Nagyung was almost like a metronome, shoving inside and getting out in just the right timing

"Cum for me baby" You whisper to your girlfriend, "show your daddy how much of a good girl you are" Even though you usually never enjoyed being called daddy howevrr sometimes when you want to get a world record, you have to do stuff that is hard for you.

"I am s-so close d-d-daddy" another scream comes from your girlfriend which then followed by a Sexy moan as your dick was inside her pussy again

"I AM SO CLOSE AS WELL BABY GIRL, LETS JUST RELEASE IN THE SAME TIME!!" You scream as well as after a couple of minutes you both reach your climax, releasing your juices in the exact time, you both are already relived from the orgasm as the two of you go back to the bed, falling close to each other but not before stopping the time on your watch, showing a time of 23 minutes and 13 seconds.

"So? Did I get a world record?" You asked, exhausted from how Intimiate both of you were currently, meanwhile your eyes were trying to spot the clothes you were wearing

"Mmm, not sure baby, the leaderboard need to check if the run is valid" she said, giving you a small peck on your lips "but I am sure as hell you were very good this run" she added as after 10 minutes of cleaning up from the orgasm and each of you putting your pajamas you both go back to the bed, cuddling each other.

"Good night baby" another peck on your lips comes which is followed by a sweet little smile, causing you to mirror her expression

"Good night Nagyung" you returned with a whisper

Whispered as you closed your eye, drifting off to sleep

~-~-~-~

Saturday morning, really is a perfect time to just lay around in bed and do nothing, the hour was currently 11 AM, still weird you slept for 12 hours but i guess when fucking your girlfriend in one of the hottest sessions you ever had, a good rest is the only good thing you two ever need

However you forgot it was a stream day for you, so i guess you couldnt really sleep

While your eyes were still closed you were trying to remember the schedule for today’s stream, since after all you are gonna take a break from Celeste you were not sure what to do today for the stream, “maybe i should play some Jackbox with subs? Just talking stream doesnt sound too bad, heck maybe i could open League of legends again, been a while since i played it” you spoke in your mind about your stream plan however suddenly all you could was a warm thing.

As you open your eyes you couldnt believe what you were seeing

As you look down you see two things that shock you: 1. both of your shorts and underwear were down, feeling a bit and naked, and 2. Nagyung’s mouth on your dick, you could hear slurps coming off from your girlfriend as you figuring out she was blowing you

“Nagyung? what are you doing?” you ask

“Oh? you woke up daddy” she got her head away from your cock, her lips full of your precum. ” i just had soooo much fun last night, and then i noticed how hard you are, so i thought i could give you a reward, dont mind me” she added as she went back to your cock, continuing her work

“Are you still horny?”

“Mmhm” a sound could be heard from your girlfriend’s mouth, a simple answer for a simple question as her face raised up from your cock again, looking at you dead in the eyes.

“Round two? you still have 1 hour for your stream,” she asked as you were still a bit unsure

“Baby…” you tried to say to get her away from the idea

“Your run didn't get world record. it got second place and by how i know you, you wont let a 2nd place stay for a long time right?” she teased as you couldn't help yourself but pin her against the wall.

“Im gonna fuck you so good, even a TAS Wont be able to beat my world record” you whisper in her ear as you start making out again, having another foreplay for round two.

Well, guess the stream will have to be delayed for 30 minutes, or maybe an hour or so.

================================================

Posted: 24/12/22

#nagyung fromis 9 #fromis 9 smut #fromis 9 #fromis smut #nagyung smut #kpop #kpop smut

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eddiemunsonswhxre · 2 years

Note

Heyy! So I adore Eddie Munson, right? As we all do, and I came up with this idea where the reader and him are just lay in the readers bedroom with the window open at like, 2:00am and all of a sudden Eddie just starts coming out with this bulls**t about “Why do you love me” and “I’m a monster”. Then maybe the reader is all like “well if your a monster, I suppose I’m the village sacrifice, given to the monster in the hopes of it sparing their town” or something along those lines and it gets really flirty and fluffy at the same time, maybe leading onto a little bit of smut?

Anyways, sorry if your not taking requests right now! I just thought this was kinda cool, anyhow I must depart for it’s nearly 4am and I have stuff to do as I’m sure you do to!

From, Elsie xx

oh did i take this idea and run with it...

beauty and the beast / eddie munson

one shot

rated: m (18+, minors DNI)

cw: self-hate, sad eddie, comfort, mentions of drug and alcohol use, soft sex, fingering, light nipple play, light breeding (?cumming inside?)

you were his beauty, and he always feared he wasn't the right beast.

the time on the clock read 1:57am as you were deeply into the book you were reading. you laid against your headboard, bathed in the soft light of your lamp as soft music played in the background. the window above your bed was open, allowing your room to accommodate a comfortable chill and allow the last remnants of your boyfriends blunt to fall into the night. your boyfriend, slightly stoned, laid on your bed next to you with his arm strewn across your thighs. his calloused fingers drew gentle designs into the skin of your thigh as he hummed along to the music coming from your record player.

eddie laid shirtless, only in his pair of boxers underneath your warm, fuzzy blanket. and you wore only in a pair of short sleep shorts and one of eddie’s shirts you had stolen at one point. times like this were your favorites. laying around just doing nothing with the man you loved more than life was a more than perfect way to spend your saturday nights. all you felt with him was pure love, he was your everything.

but, you and eddie were two very different people. you lived in a big house with your two parents, siblings, and a dog. eddie lived with his uncle in a trailer he was ashamed to take you to for the entire first month you were together. eddie had a problem of not believing he was good enough for you, even though he was the perfect boyfriend. he had many insecurities, and all though they broke your heart, the fact that he shared them with you made you love him that much more.

while you were reading, eddie had a lot of time to think. and, as per usual, his mind drifted back to those dark places. places that convinced him he didn’t deserve to be right here with you. places that told him he was worthless. places that told him he was a monster. his thoughts became too much to keep to himself, so he let out a sigh. “baby?” he asked you quietly.

immediately you were able to identify the sadness, no, the brokenness in his voice. you closed your book, setting it on your bedside table and turning to give him your full undivided attention. “yes, darling?” you ask, smoothing his wild hair down with the palm of your hand.

eddie almost wants to cry at your touch, feeling as though you’re too perfect for him to even be near. “why… baby, how can you love someone like me?” he mumbles insecurely, burying his face into the side of your thigh.

you frown, stroking his face gently. “what do you mean someone like you, hun?” you whisper.

eddie shakes his head, nuzzling his nose into your skin as he hugs your legs tighter. “someone so… so… worthless,” he says in a defeated manner. you go to correct him, but he keeps going. “i don’t do anything worthwhile. i mean, i’ve done my senior year three times. i drink all the time in front of you and i shouldn’t, i got you smoking, i fucking deal drugs for money, and i can’t do anything right. people are scared of me, and- and i really don’t blame them. i’m a freak… a fucking monster. you deserve so much better than me,” he says, more and more sorrow filling his body as he speaks.

eddie looks up at you panicked when you move his arm from around your legs. he thinks maybe you’ve finally realized he’s no good. but you scoot down on your bed, closer to him and cuddle under your blanket. you tangle your legs into his and rest your hand on the side of his face. “you’re wrong, eddie,” you say quietly, watching as he closes his eyes. “you’ve had trouble with school, yeah, but if you hadn’t we wouldn’t be here. i wouldn’t have someone so amazing in my life, let alone as my perfect boyfriend. i don’t care that you drink, you don’t over do it. i smoke with you because i want to, and i still deny it if i’m not feeling it. you do what you can to get your money, baby, that doesn’t make you a bad person. look at me,” you comfort him, stroking the apple of his cheek until he opens his eyes.

they’re glossy, and looking into them makes your heart clench in pain. “what do you always tell me when people start talking shit? huh? people don’t matter, eddie. they don’t matter because they’re not us. let them think whatever they want because i know you’re not a monster,” you explain. eddie shakes his head, biting his lip and looking away from you. “hey, no, i’m not done,” you grab his attention once more. “i love you, eddie. you are the best boyfriend in the world. you always know what to do, you always make me feel loved, and you always do what’s best for us. above everything, you love me and i love you. i don’t want anything else, baby. you’re not holding me back, if anything you make me want to do more. you’re perfect, darling. and i hate that your brain doesn’t let you see that all the time,” you say, tears welling in your own eyes as they begin to fall from his.

you thumb away his tears waiting for him to say something. “you’re too perfect,” he mumbles, reaching up and grabbing your hand before bringing it to his lips and pressing kisses along your knuckles.

with a shake of your head you lean forward, pressing a kiss to his nose. “no, because you’re also perfect. we’re perfect for each other. what’s the name of that song you wrote about us?” you ask him with a squeeze of his hand even though you know damn well what the name of the song is.

“soulmate,” he says shyly, stroking your knuckles and focusing on them instead of your face.

you smile solemnly at him and use your intertwined hands to pull him closer. his eyes drag up to yours, lingering on your smile for a moment. “exactly, because that’s what we are. we’re meant to be together forever, i will never find anybody better for me than you,” you say seriously.

“what if i can’t give you the future that you want?” eddie asks insecurely.

you lean forward, placing a soft kiss on his lips. “the only future i want is with you,” you whisper with raised eyebrows, as if daring him to challenge you. eddie gives you a sad smile, another group of tears falling from his eyes.

you wipe them away before pulling him into a longer, more passionate kiss. “i love you,” he mumbles into your lips.

with a smile, you mumble back, “i love you, too.” you thread your fingers into his long hair, letting out a small sigh into his mouth. eddie uses his hand on the side of your neck to keep your lips on his, drinking you in as if he was dying from dehydration. you two kiss until you have to pull apart in order to catch your breath, chests heaving.

you place your hand on his chest, looking at him in pure admiration. “if you’re a monster, then i think we’re definitely in a beauty and the beast type of love,” you say with a fond smile. eddie chuckles at that, comforted by your attempt to lighten the mood.

“you definitely are my beauty,” he says in a love-drunk type way, stroking your jaw with his thumb.

a smirk falls on your face, as an idea comes into your mind. “do you think the beast is good at sex?” you ask teasingly.

eddie raises his eyebrows at you, a knowing smile falling onto his face. “oh, i know he is,” he smiles, nudging your shoulder to make you lay flat on your back. “want to find out?” he questions, climbing on top of you and nestling himself between your legs you so kindly spread open for him.

you giggle, wrapping your hands around his neck and playing with his curls. “i definitely do,” you say, and eddie wastes no time diving down to attach your lips once more. this time, they clash with more need but with just as much if not more love seeping into it. eddie wastes no time letting his hand wander inside your shirt, caressing your body as if it were a delicate statue.

his palm covers your breast, his fingers squeezing you in the most delightful way. you let out a moan into his mouth, arching your chest into his hand. eddie bites on your lower lip, asking for entrance which you don’t hesitate in granting. moments later his fingers begin pinching and twisting your nipple, sending a wave of arousal towards your core. “mm, eddie,” you hum into his mouth, tugging back on his hair making him groan.

eddie separates your lips, pulling back and grabbing the sides of your (his) shirt and giving you a look as if to tell you to sit up. you do so, letting him take off the piece of clothing and let it drop onto the floor. even though he’s seen them millions of times, his hands go straight to your boobs as he plays with them. he pushes them around before pinching at both your nipples, causing you to let out a moan as your head falls back. “my pretty girl,” he says to you, massaging your tits before leaning down to reattach your lips. you hum, grabbing the sides of his face as he uses one hand to hold himself up and the other to play with your tits.

you buck your hips up against his, desperate for some friction. eddie grunts into your mouth, biting down on your lip as he ruts into your heat. his tongue then continues mingling with yours as he begins a steady rhythm of grinding into you. you let out small gasps into his mouth when he hits your clit just right with his clothed member. his hand then falls from your breasts down to your small shorts. he teases the waistband for just a moment before detaching your lips to hook his fingers into them and your panties and pulling them off in one swift motion. you replace your legs on either side of him as he removes his own boxers and settles between you once more.

eddie this time attaches his lips to your jaw, placing kisses along it as his fingers fall down to your mound. two gather some arousal at your entrance and drag up to your clit, dancing in small circles. “oh, yes,” you moan, cradling eddie’s head as he begins sucking and biting at the tender skin where your neck and jaw meet. eddie smiles into your skin, always loving when he was able to make you feel good.

he stops rubbing sweet circles at your clit and pushes his fingers down to your entrance. “ready?” he asks into your skin, moving to start leaving another love bite on you. you nod, tugging on his hair as you’re rolling your hips against his fingers. “desperate girl,” he laughs into you and then pushes his fingers in slowly. you whine lowly at the feeling as he sinks in to his knuckles.

“so good, eddie, so good,” you say in content, letting your head fall back as he begins thrusting his fingers into you. he smiles, moving back up to your lips as he finger fucks you. you let out small moans into his mouth as he changes between thrusting, curling his fingers, and scissoring them as he got you prepped and ready for him. the warm walls of your pussy welcomed eddie’s fingers as if they were home which they practically were. eddie loved the way your velvet walls felt against his fingers as he slowly worked more and more drips of arousal out of your gorgeous pussy. but, he loved the way you felt around his cock even more.

he swallowed your moans, curling his fingers inside of you until he felt you were ready for him. but, you were getting needy and wanted him to finally get something good too. “baby?” you moan in question.

“mhm?” he hums, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth before pulling away.

you shiver as his fingers brush your sweet spot, but you didn’t want to cum this way. “i’m ready, need you inside me now,” you say, brushing his hair back so you can once again hold his beautiful face.

eddie smiles, removing his fingers and using the slick on them to stroke his cock a few times. “you sure, baby?” he asks, waiting for an extra confirmation. you nod, reaching down to grab his hand that was holding his hard dick. “anything for my princess,” he says, leaning down to kiss your forehead before guiding his head through your folds. you assist him in pressing his tip into your waiting hole and the both of you let out short moans. eddie slowly sinks into you, letting you adjust to him before leaning over you and pushing all the way in.

“fuck,” you murmur, reaching around and holding his back. you tap his shoulder, giving him the go ahead to start thrusting and he begins withdrawing his hips from yours. he starts with small, shallow thrusts as he takes in the feeling that he’d never get tired of. your pussy clenching around him, sucking him back in and keeping him warm as he made you both feel so good.

you hooked your ankles around his ass, pulling him closer to you as he dipped his head down into your neck. “feel so good, pretty baby,” he groans into your neck, peppering kisses.

“mm, harder,” you moan, eyes closing in pleasure. eddie complies, pulling his hips further, leaving it so only his tip was left inside you before snapping them back forward and slamming into you. he lets out a shudder at the feeling as your nails dig into his back. he repeats this, reveling in the feeling of you spasming around him.

your heels dig into his ass slightly, signaling him to pick up his pace. “getting close, already, babygirl?” he asks through breaths, beginning to fuck you at a steady pace.

you whimper, grasping his back as his cock hits deeply inside of you. “want to,” you moan in his ear. he grumbles, snapping his hips in particularly harshly before returning to his pace. he felt the pull begin in his naval, causing him to groan.

“feel so perfect, so good for me, made for me,” he mutters in your ear, picking up the pace of his hips. you twitch in reaction to his words, heat further flooding your core as the knot in your stomach began to tighten.

you cling to him as your life depends on it, living for this calmer than normal sex you were having. this wasn’t sex, no, this was making love. and you couldn’t help but crave it. “my boy, my perfect boy, fuck you fuck so good,” you whine, moving one hand to tangle in his curls. eddie groans at your praise, moving his weight to one arm so he can move a hand to your clit. you gasp at the contact and thrust down onto eddie’s cock.

eddie moves his fingers at the same speed of his thrusts, feeling his high approaching quickly. “you getting close baby? want you to cum- fuckkk, want us to cum together,” eddie moans, feeling you clench around him.

your head is thrown back into your pillow, whole body rocking with his thrusts as his fingers assault your clit. “m’close, baby, want you to cum in me,” you say to him.

eddie moans at your words. “you sure, darling? i can cum in you?” he asks for reassurance, his hips picking up speed as he drives his cock as deep as it will go.

“shit, yes, i’m close,” you cry out, your nails digging into his shoulder blade, hand wound tightly in his curls, and legs holding him impossibly close to you.

eddie grunts, chasing his own high, the pull in his naval becoming more and more prominent. “almost there baby, almost there,” he says, closing his eyes and letting the feelings take him over. you mewl as your legs begin shaking, signaling you were close. eddie moans, his breath hot against your skin as his cock twitches. “you gonna cum? c’mon baby, i’m right there,” he grunts desperately, knowing he was about to tip over the edge. he presses down on your clit more as you cry out.

your pussy pulses as you feel the brink of your orgasm hit you. “yes! i’m cumming, shit,” you cry, eyes rolling back into your head. your back arches off the bed, pressing your chest to eddie’s as your legs tremble, pussy clenching and unclenching around his cock as waves of white hot heat flood your body.

simultaneously, eddie’s hips falter, his cock spurting out his first string of cum deep inside you. he ruts into your clenching pussy helplessly as you milk him, more and more of his cum filling you up as the arm holding him up begins shaking. his mouth is fallen open, a string of low moans leaving his mouth as they mingle in the air with your high pitched whines. “fuck, i love you, y/n,” he grunts, as he rides through the end of his high.

“i- oh, i love you, eddie,” you whimper, whole body shaking as the last waves of your orgasm roll through you. the two of you fall limp, panting and touching each other everywhere possible as you try to regain yourself.

eddie winces as he finally pulls out of you, you feeling his cum seep out causing you to shut your eyes in pleasure. eddie brings his mouth to yours, catching your lips in a kiss much softer than those previous. “mm, just as i thought, amazing at sex,” you say as he pulls away, running your hand through his now frizzy hair. eddie smiles at you confidently, pressing one more kiss to your lips.

“come on, my princess, time to go clean up,” he says, patting the side of your thigh before getting up. he helps you stand, your legs feeling like jello from the sex you just had, and holds you up as you both walk to your en suite. you used the bathroom and both you and eddie freshen up with the help of some rags and then make your way back into your bed.

eddie tucks you into his chest after you flick off your lamp and you sigh contently. “i love you, so, so much, eddie,” you say, looking up at him.

“and i love you so much more,” he whispers, brushing your hair from your eyes. you cuddle into him, closing your eyes and letting sleep take over you. eddie does the same, after taking a few extra minutes to appreciate just how much he cares about you.

#stranger things eddie #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson smut #eddie munson stranger things #stranger things 4 #munson #stranger things smut

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toppersjeep · 6 months

Text

Chapter 11 - All For Love Charles Leclerc

Masterlist

Elena’s POV

“Oh there you are Elena” Toto said. “What’s up” I said. “I just wanted to congratulate you and Charles” Toto said. “Well thank you” I said. “This is from the team” he said handing me flowers. “Awee this is so sweet” I said. “Enjoy” Toto said walking away.

“Now I feel left out Ferrari just said congrats” Charles said. “Well maybe you should be a Mercedes driver” I said. “Don’t know about that one love” Charles said pulling me closer to him. “I think one day I’ll convince you” I said. “Are you coming to the interview or are you just gonna stare at me” he said I smiled.

“I just love your eyes..” I said he kissed my cheek. “Maybe our kids will get them” he said I smiled. “I hope they do” I said. “Alright come on love we can’t be late” Charles said.

We then went to the interview. I sat beside Charles. Lewis was next to Lando. George was on the end. And Addie in between Lando and George.

“First question is for Addie what are your thoughts on your seat being offered to Elena” the guy asked. “Well it isn’t my seat anymore and honestly she deserves it” Addie said. “Addie looks better in a McLaren anyways” Lando said.

“So your excited for her to be your new teammate” the guy asked. “Yeah I am she’s super talented on the track she’s an amazing fit” Lando said. “Now for my next question to the it couple of the paddock” he said. “Is that for Addie and Lando” George said.

“Ah George they’ll never be Elena and Charles they are up there but” he said I laughed. “Well you know maybe one day” George said. “So my question is you guys got engaged super fast..” he said. “Is that a question or a statement” I said.

“I’m getting there a lot of people were just wondering are you two.. expecting something” he said. “Something like uhh what mate” Lewis said. “I’m asking if you two are expecting a baby” he said I looked at Charles.

“Not that I know of mate” I said. “No .. I guess these days you just ask the woman you love to marry you” Charles said. “Well it was just sudden and your relationship track record isn’t long” he said. “Can I see your relationship track record” I said Charles laughed. “Pardon” he said.

“Since you seem to have think Charles is a player I wanna see your track record in relationships” I said. He didn’t say anything more. “She did ask a question” Lewis said. “It’s nobody’s business really” he said. “And our private life isn’t yours either.. yes we are engaged” Charles said.

“Who cares how soon it was we both know what we want” Charles said. “That’s all that matters” Charles said I smiled.

After the interview..

“I always hate those types of interviewers” I said fixing my hair. “Well the others weren’t as bad love” Charles said. “Yeah I know” I said. “Is something on your mind” Charles said. “I guess so” I said. “What is it” Charles said looking at me.

“I guess I’m just at a point in my life were I don’t know what I want” I said. “What do you mean Elena” Charles said. “I mean I’m 26 and I just keep thinking about.. our future family” I said. “You know that I’ll support whatever you decide” Charles said.

“I know you will Charles but I just.. if we go through with this” I said. “You worry about me driving” Charles said. “Yes I do Charles I’d worry so much about you I always do” I said. “Love if it came down to us having a kid I’d happily retire” Charles said. “I can’t ask you to do such a thing”I said.

“Hey… you come first and so do put future kids” Charles said. “This is a dangerous sport and I’d want our kids to have both of us” he said cupping my cheek. “Yeah” I said. “So are you saying you wanna have kids now” he asked I smiled. “I mean I’ve been thinking about it a lot” I said.

“I’d be happy with whatever you want to do” Charles said. “Really” I said. “Mmmh” Charles said. “Can I show you something” I said. “Alright” Charles said sitting down. “It’s kinda cheesy by the way” I said handing him a little gift. “I doubt it” Charles said. “Wait hold on” I said grabbing my phone to film him.

“May I open it now” Charles asked. “Yes go ahead” I said propping the camera up. “Well this is certainly adorable” Charles said pulling out a little Ferrari jacket. “There’s more” I said. “I’m looking” he said pulling out the card. “Can’t.. wait to meet you dad.. wait what” Charles said.

“Char” I said. “Baby Leclerc” he said finishing reading it. “There’s also a little mini racing suit” I said he just looked at me. “Are you serious love” he said. “Yeah I just found out yesterday” I said he hugged me. “Oh my goodness this is the best news ever” Charles said.

“I was gonna get a Mercedes jacket but” I said. “This is perfect El” he said kissing me. “Not many people know and I’d like to keep it that way” I said. “Of course of course Elena.. I’m so excited” Charles said. “I’m excited too and nervous” I said.

“I can’t believe that we made something so special” he said. “You are gonna make me cry” I said. “Elena I love you both so much” he said kissing my cheek. “So tomorrow there’s an appointment to see the baby” I said.

“I’ll be there every step of the way” he said holding my hand. “I can’t wait to see him or her” I said. “I’m excited” he said putting a hand on my stomach. “Me too Cha” I said.

…..

Weeks later..

I couldn’t race but I was there every week. As long as I was feeling up to it. People did question things but nobody really knew anything.

“Elena you are glowing today” April said. “Really” I said. “You’ve had it before with Charles but now” April said. “You really do look great.. it’s crazy to think your pregnant” Addie said. “I can’t believe Charles is gonna be a Dad” Lando said.

“Well better him than you” April said. “What I’d be a great Dad” Lando said. “Oh Lando I love you but your a child” Addie said I laughed. “He really is” I said. “So are you watching our race” George said. “I’m gonna be in the Ferrari garage for a bit” I said. “Ah” George said.

“But I’ll stop by” I said he hugged me. “Good the team misses you” George said. “I miss everyone too but I gotta take care of little baby leclerc” I said. “Awee that’s so adorable” April said. “Don’t get any ideas” George said.

#fanfic #love #lewis hamilton #lando norris #daniel ricciardo #x reader #f1 imagine #charles lecrelc #charles lechair #red bull f1 #f1 x reader #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc smut #mercedes amg f1 #lando norris smut #lando norris x reader #f1 lb #f1 fanfic #max verstappen

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quixoticall · 4 months

Text

This Could Get Ugly Track 2: The Beginning

Summary: It's 1983 and The Downsides need another lead singer and you just happen to need a band--it's a perfect match. The only issue? You have to pretend to be in a relationship with your bandmate, Steve Harrington, but you can't help but be drawn to the band's broody guitar player.

pairing: s.h. x fem!reader, e.m. x fem!reader, j.b. x n.w., r.b x n.w.

warnings: Heavy drug use, era-normalized!misogyny, everyone is a dick, Mention of French people, angst, fake relationships, partial interview style, no use of y/n

WC: 12K

MASTERLIST🎸

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NANCY: Eddie was... not what we expected.

ROBIN: Eddie Munson looked like he’d been through some shit.

I’m not talking about the fact that he was covered in tattoos and never got a haircut. It was more that he just always looked sad and tired and kinda strung out.

NANCY: He looked a bit out of place with the rest of us.

ROBIN: He did not fit in one bit. I mean to be fair, we were a bit of a hodgepodge anyway but Eddie took the cake.

He was pure metal, the kind of guy who should’ve been in like Iron Maiden, not a synth band! So, we were kinda confused as to why Starcourt thought it would be a good idea to bring him on board.

And then we heard him play.

NANCY: Eddie was the best guitar player we ever had and the best songwriter up until that point, too. Don’t tell Jonathan or Steve I said that, though.

ROBIN: Yeah, he was better than Steve and I would say that to Steve’s face. In fact, I did say that to Steve’s face when we first heard Eddie play.

He was not happy about that. Actually, he wasn’t happy at all when Eddie first joined.

NANCY: It didn’t take very long for us to figure out that he was only there to fulfill a contract. I mean, it wasn’t like he was the most enthusiastic to be there but he wasn’t rude or hard to work with, he just treated it like any other job. He would be polite, but not overly friendly, do his thing in the booth, and then go sit and read until we needed him again.

Steve’s ego was still a bit tender after what had happened between him and me. I think seeing Starcourt bringing in this amazingly talented guitar player did him in a little. He was always used to being the best at what he did and suddenly that was no longer true. On top of that, Eddie just didn’t care and that made it worse in Steve’s eyes. They would butt heads all the time while we were recording our self-titled album. Things were a bit tense at the beginning, but we sounded better with Eddie there, much to Steve’s chagrin.

ROBIN: If you ask me, they hated how similar they were and that’s why they didn’t get along or maybe Steve was jealous of how little Eddie had to try to be good. Either way, those few first months after Eddie joined were almost as intense as the weeks following Jancygate. Don’t get me wrong, we always sounded great but there was no cohesion. We were trying to record our first full-length album but nothing ever came out sounding right, it was driving everyone crazy.

NANCY: When you’re first starting out in the industry, you don’t really have much of a say. You do what you’re told, you go to the meetings you're scheduled, and you add whatever member they throw at you. So, when Starcourt set up a lunch meeting with one of their producers about adding someone else to the band, we had no choice but to go.

May 26, 1983: The Bull and Bush

“Tell me again who this meeting is with?” You ask Murray from across the suspiciously long table.

When he had called you earlier in the week to set up lunch, he had been uncharacteristically cryptic about who the lunch was with and only told you it was with, “A few folks over at Starcourt,” he parroted again between bites of a bread roll. You stare him down silently over the rim of your martini glass and he gives, a little.

“I think I found you a way out of all these duets and possibly a chance to write music.”

Your eyebrows shoot up. Yes, that all seemed great but with Starcourt things were rarely what they seemed.

“By the looks of this table for 10, I’m starting to think that maybe you’re trying to recruit me to the company softball team, Murray.”

“Not today, sweetheart, but don’t worry, the Comets will get you eventually.”

Your second drink is interrupted by a tall, imposing man approaching the table. He has thick eyebrows that naturally knit together and a thicker mustache that rests straight along his mouth. You vaguely recognized him as an exec from the record label but his casual flowered button-down and white linen trousers make you doubt your memory.

“This is Hopper. Jim Hopper,” Murray says to you in a sweeping introduction, “he manages some bands at Starcourt.”

You can feel your face twist in confusion before you quickly temper your features and rise to introduce yourself.

Hopper takes your small hand in his comically large one and shakes it hard before sitting down next to Murray.

You watch as your new lunch companion flags down a server to order a double scotch, your mind buzzing to put the pieces together. What the hell was going on?

Hopper and Murray turn to you in tandem, reminding you of parents on sitcom TV.

Murray starts keeping his voice low, “The label thinks that you make the most money when you’re singing with others and causing some buzz. Since you made it very clear that duets are no longer an option for you, we came up with another solution.”

“I manage a band,” Hopper says then, “they’re talented but they’re newer and still trying to figure out their image and sound. We think you would be a good addition.”

This last part comes slowly, as your lunch companions try to gauge your reaction. “You want me to join a band?” You repeat, stunned. “Why?”

“As I said, they need help establishing a brand, a reputation, and that’s something that you have plenty of—“ Murray snorts “— plus, they need a solid songwriter and Murray tells me that’s you.”

Your eyes volley between the two men in front of you, trying to figure out what the catch is. There’s always a catch.

It’s like they can sense what you’re thinking because they lock eyes, and Murray sighs, “And it just so happens that they have a very handsome male lead singer and maybe part of the deal would include a bit of a front-facing, romantic narrative that would entice the public to buy your albums and go to your shows.”

“You want me to pretend to be in a relationship with some guy in a band so people buy our music? That’s your great plan?

“I’ve proved myself, Murray. I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me. I sang your stupid duets and recorded that vapid EP. Are you just going to string me along forever, asking me to do stupider and stupider stunts?”

You stand and swing your arm back to grab the purse hanging from your chair. The two men mirror your movement and suddenly it feels like you’re in a stand-off.

“It’s not stupid,” Hopper says, matter-of-factly, “and we do believe in your talent, but it’s not just about talent anymore, it’s about image and it’s about what sells. Scandal sells. Look, you’re a talented kid, everyone knows that. But, talent isn’t what sells anymore. People want something to gossip about and you’ve already given them that.

“This is not some hair-brain scheme Murray and I cooked up in the fucking restroom between lines. This is years of marketing research and scouting to get the perfect combination of talent. You should consider yourself lucky that Starcourt— that Brenner, personally— picked you out of thousands to execute his little pet experiment.

“They’re going to talk about you anyway, why not have a little control over what they say? It beats them calling you a slut, doesn’t it?”

You glare at Hopper as he’s towering over you.

“Listen kiddo,” purrs Murray, sliding into a different approach, “we’re not asking you to marry the guy. Just, have lunch with them and maybe we get you featured on their first LP, do them a favor like The Letterman’s did for you when you were just getting started, huh?

“Plus, the guy’s handsome, like total frontman full-package, so, who knows, maybe he’s your type and you won’t have to pretend!”

Murray guffaws at this like it’s the funniest joke in the world.

“Fine,” you say, your mouth pitching down in a scowl, before haughtily dropping back into your chair. They follow suit.

“One lunch, but you—“ your finger waves at Murray “—are gonna get me on the list for a cottage at the Mormont and you—“ you pivot to point at Hopper “—are getting me a French 75.”

“Please,” you add after a beat.

The two men exchange a look and Hopper rolls his eyes and stands.

“Was gonna get me another scotch anyway,” he grumbles before ambling over to the bar.

While Hopper is at the bar, Murray fills you in with as many details as possible: the band’s name (“The Downsides”), the lead singer’s name (“Steve Something”), and the rest of the band members’ names (“Johnny, Natalie, Robin, Ed... maybe?...and Argyle, no wait, that’s not a name”).

As if on cue, just as Hopper approaches the table from one side, a motley bunch of individuals, that you know have to be The Downsides, file into the restaurant. Hopper waves at them and they walk over, in a single line, all following their big-haired leader.

“These misfit toys are the band?” you snark to no one in particular and Murray shoots you a warning glare before waving at them with feigned enthusiasm.

Hopper reaches the table before they do and hands you your drink while announcing your name to the band.

You smile in a practiced, charming way.

“Hi, you must be Steve,” you say rising to greet the tall, slender man with a mane of wild hair. Admittedly, he is much more hard-edged than you had imagined, decked out in leather and hardware with thick, silver rings adorning his fingers. Maybe this is what Hopper meant when he said the band needed help with their image--this guy was far too metal to ever break it into the mainstream.

He burst into laughs and then bumps his fist into the shoulder of the guy standing next to him, another long-haired man whose eyes were rimmed red.

“Did you hear that, she thought I was Harrington! Buckley, come here, she thought I was Harrington!”

Your face flushes in embarrassment and you wince. So, that was not Steve.

“Hi, I’m Nancy Wheeler,” a voice says softly at your side. You turn and find yourself facing a pretty, doe-eyed girl probably around your age. The gentleness in her voice lets you know that she had witnessed your embarrassment at the hands of Not!Steve and she was trying to smooth things over, and make a good impression.

After Nancy, you shake hands with the bouncy, sometimes-bass-sometimes-brass-sometimes-synth player Robin Buckley and the shy-bordering-on-morose guitarist Jonathan Byers. The spaced-out drummer with the long locks is Argyle and Not!Steve’s name is actually Eddie Munson, which you learn only from Robin and Nancy as he doesn't bother to introduce himself. He looks vaguely familiar, but then again, everyone at Starcourt does.

He catches you staring at him and shoots you a mocking wink. You want to scowl back, maybe even flip him off but you are too aware of how that moment, snapped by a paparazzi and sold to a gossip rag, could impact your already- precarious public image. So, instead, you raise a glass in response.

“Where the hell is Harrington?” Hopper barks at the group once they had settled. “He needed to park the car,” explains Jonathan.

“Park? Why would he need to do that?” You ask, “this place has a valet.”

An awkward silence blanketed the group as they all looked at you and then exchanged amongst themselves. You were under the impression you had just said something wrong and you weren’t sure what.

Before you have the chance to smooth things over, the group is interrupted.

“Sorry, I’m late everyone, parking here is terrible.”

Oh, so that’s what Murray meant by ‘full frontman package’.

Steve Harrington was tall and leanly muscular with a face as sharp and bright as a jewel and hair graceful and tousled.

His eyes land on yours and your shoulders straighten with a jolt.

“Hi,” he breathes, “I’m Steve. Uh, Harrington.”

“Hi,” you all but sigh back, an unfamiliar warmth moving up your cheeks.

***

ROBIN: Steve “Loverboy” Harrington. He used to fall in love like three times a week back in the day. Everyone at the table could tell he was immediately smitten with her though. I mean who could blame him? She was like distractingly gorgeous. I’m pretty sure I spilled soup in my lap from staring at her. More than once. Steve spent most of the lunch making eyes at her and the crazy part was, I think she was into him! Honestly, I thought he was getting ready to propose. Until Hopper told us all why he’d really brought us there.

***

“What? No way, Hops, we’re not adding another person to the band. Plus, we already have a lead singer—me.” Steve’s whole demeanor changed once Hopper started talking shop—he had gone from smiling flirtatiously at you from across the table to huffing like a petulant child.

“It’s just a feature on one song, kid. If it goes well then we’ll revisit and if it doesn’t well, we better hope the rest of the album is pure gold because Brenner really wants this to go well,” Hopper tries to assuage.

“This is never gonna work,” Steve spits out, “she doesn’t match our sound at all. Or our vibe—we have, like, substance.”

The table goes standstill quiet upon hearing this. The only noise you hear is what you think is Robin kicking Steve under the table.

Steve turns to you after a beat and says, “No offense,” with a dismissive shrug.

***

NANCY: Steve has always had a habit of putting his foot in his mouth at the worst times. He didn’t mean to come off as an ass, I don’t think, it was probably his way of lashing out against all the change that was happening without our input. First Eddie, now this, he probably felt so out of control he—I think we all did. He still shouldn’t have said it though.

ROBIN: Stupid, stupid, stupid.

***

All eyes land on you, awaiting the imminent explosion.

It never comes.

Instead, you school your features into a neutrally pleasant expression—you never know where there’ll be a camera after all—and respond sweetly, “None taken. You’re right to not want me on your track. After all, I've only had like, 6 Top 10 Singles in the last year which is nothing compared to your…wait how many have you had, again?”

Steve’s face falls as Murray chortles from the other end of the table.

***

NANCY: It wasn’t the nicest way to put it but it wasn’t like she had been unprovoked. Steve needed a reality check.

ROBIN: I mean, she had a point. She was doing us a favor by recording the track with us. Dingus just needed to get over himself.

The rest of the lunch was super awkward, in case you were wondering. She was still nice to the rest of us, but she barely acknowledged Steve, or Eddie for the matter.

If you would’ve told me then what would eventually become of those three—ha!—I would’ve said you were insane.

STEVE: Yeah, I know I had fucked up. Like, as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. I don’t know why I did it, I think I felt threatened or something. Listen, I think about what happened all the time and there isn’t one singular moment that we can pinpoint where everything went south, really, we all made mistakes, a lot of them. But sometimes, I can’t help thinking to myself that if I had just handled that day at the restaurant better, our whole lives would’ve been different. Or… who knows? Maybe not, maybe we were always meant to end as bad as we did.

***

June 7th, 1983–Los Angeles, California

A few days after your lunch with the Downsides, you see your own face peaking at you from the cover of a Subrosa magazine on a grocery store newsstand.

You glance around before surreptitiously crouching down for a closer look.

It was a grainy picture of you and Steve, sitting across from one another at lunch, clearly in conversation. The picture had been taken from outside the restaurant and framed in such a way that it looked like it was only the two of you dining together. You can tell by the looks on your faces that it was before everything had blown up—the two of you looked like you were enjoying yourselves.

Sultry Songstress Sees Upside with the Downsides’ Flirty Frontman reads across the top of the page, and you gag. They sure do love their alliteration over at the Sub.

You briefly wonder to yourself what Steve and the others will think of this once they see it. Shrugging that thought off, you toss the magazine into your cart.

***

You actually find out pretty quickly what Steve and the others think about the cover later that evening when you receive a call from an unknown number.

“Hi, it’s Robin,” you hear from the other line as soon as you pick up.

“Hi Ro—”

“Robin Buckley, from the Downsides? I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at lunch the other day when my friend made a huge ass of himself and— ow, Steve that hurt, God.”

Sounds of some sort of physical struggle echo through the telephone line until you decide to interrupt.

“Hi Robin, of course I remember you and your ass of a friend, what can I do for the two of you? Also, how did you get my number?”

You’re more curious than bothered when you ask the latter question.

“Four.”

“Pardon?”

“Four. There are four of us. See, you asked what you could do for the two of us but it’s not just me and Steve. Nancy and Argyle are here too—” At this point, you hear a faint ‘hello’ and ‘what’s up’ from the background—"For the sake of full disclosure I felt that I should mention that. Jonathan is visiting his family in Lenora Hills, otherwise, I’m sure he’d be here too. Oh, and to answer your question I got your number from Murray.”

“Uh-huh.”

You glance at your wristwatch; there’s a party in the Hills that you were planning on going to and you were going to have to leave soon if you didn’t want to be stuck in traffic all night.

As if she had read your mind, you hear some shuffling on the line before Nancy decidedly takes over the conversation with a much more serious tone.

“Hi, sorry to bother you this late but we wanted to ask if perhaps you had seen the latest issue of Subrosa? It seems like you and Steve are on the cover.”

Exhaling a laugh, you answer, “Yes, actually, saw it at the grocery store today, sorry you guys didn’t make the front page, I’m sure you’ll get them next time.”

“What? No, I mean, have you read the article? They’re printing lies about you both,” Nancy stutters out, indignantly.

“They’re saying that you and Steve had a private lunch and that he’s been seen sneaking out of the Hotel Mormont for weeks and that you might be pregnant? They’re even alluding to a fight breaking out between him and Jason Carver of all people.”

This causes you to fully chortle.

“I wish, that guy deserves a few punches to the face. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though, everything they say about me is a lie.”

“What do you mean? Aren’t they supposed to have some journalistic integrity? Don’t they get in trouble for printing lies like this? Have you tried to contact their editors about this?”

The confusion you feel about this conversation is outweighed by how weirdly touched you feel that these girls who had only met you once seem so offended on your behalf.

“No, I mean, it’s a gossip rag, not like The New York Times or anything,” you placate, “and after all the terrible things they’ve said about in the past, I’m kinda just glad they got a half-decent picture of me. I appreciate you all calling about it though.”

And then, after a beat, you address the band’s lead singer, who has been oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange.

“I hope being pictured with me didn’t sully your reputation, Flirty Frontman.”

Really, you didn’t care if Steve was bothered by the whole thing, you just hoped that he wasn’t making his bandmates call you on his behalf. You didn’t know what to make of the guy quite yet. On one hand, he was completely sweet to you most of the lunch, he spent the meal asking you questions about yourself and refilling your drink without you having to ask. But the tantrum he had thrown reminded you a little too much of the dangerously self-absorbed musicians that had grown sick of these last few years.

“Me? No, I’m fine. Did you see how great my hair looked?”

You laugh silently at his answer. His hair did look great in the photo, but you were not about to give him the satisfaction of letting him hear that from you.

He continues, “Plus, they never really said anything terrible about me. They’re like, totally after you which is why Nance and Rob have been so worried, I guess. Are you good?”

His question comes out more hushed than everything else he’s said, and you are once again reminded of the earnest smiles you exchanged across the table a few days ago.

“I’m fine, Harrington, this is a regular Tuesday for me.”

With that, you bid goodbye to the band, citing your lateness, but not before expressing a very sincere thanks for their naïve concern.

The unexpected phone call makes you hit traffic, as you had predicted. You spend nearly an hour and a half in the back of a cab, the whole time, you can’t stop replaying the conversation you just had in your head.

Maybe there was more to the Downsides than met the eye?

***

This theory is proven, in part, after Hopper sends you a demo recording of some of their songs the following week.

The Downsides, you quickly find out, are good, like very good. Their music is like nothing you’d ever heard before: experimental and fun but polished and very technically sound. Steve’s vocals are annoyingly impressive—his growly timbre grounding the lighter sound and keeping it from sounding too saccharine. You can see them dominating the charts and blowing The Letterman’s and every other one-trick band out of the water.

The track they wanted you to jump on was part of the demos Hopper had sent out. It was called “Feel It”, a romantic song, tinged with melancholy but paired with an upbeat synth sound.

You had been sent a copy of the lyrics that included a cue for you to come in.

You practiced your part for days, agonizing over how you wanted to deliver the lyrics, and eventually, you came up with exactly what you wanted to do after making some minor adjustments.

You were actually excited to record the song until you remembered that you would have to come face-to-face with the band’s two asshole guitarists again.

On the day of the recording, you tried your best to be early, but you had been up tossing all night which caused you to oversleep then you lost your keys, and you were moving at the time, so your things were all over the place. You also had to turn around and come back when you realized you had forgotten the gift basket of cookies you were planning on bringing for the band—something left over from a package Charles Riva's team sent you as an apology for him blowing you off. All in all, you were about thirty minutes late.

You pulled into the Starcourt parking lot a harried mess and as you rounded the corner into the studio, you could hear the booming voice of Eddie Munson.

“She’s probably stuck circling the parking lot trying to find some working-class sucker to park her car. Harrington, why don’t you go check out there? Maybe you’ll get papped again and get another 5 minutes of fame.”

You hear Steve respond and while you can’t make out the words, you can tell he’s annoyed, embarrassed, or possibly both.

You can see the faces of every other band member fall like dominos as they each caught sight of you rounding the corner to stand directly behind Eddie.

Eddie though doesn’t seem to pick up on what’s clearly written on all their faces and persists through his tirade, “She’s only coming for the photo opp anyway—she doesn’t care about any of this.”

It’s Argyle who finds his voice first, “Eddie, man, isn’t that her?”

Eddie whips around and with comically wide eyes, looks down at you, grimacing.

You consider telling the guy off but decide against it.

If there is one thing you have learned these years it’s that while the male artists can throw fits, yell, scream, and even damage equipment without anyone as much as blinking an eye, one emotional misstep from you and you would be branded a diva. They would say you were difficult, rude, and find any excuse to toss you aside like they had so many women before you and you refused to let them have that satisfaction.

So, instead, you smile at the band, eyes lingering on Eddie for just a moment longer than on anybody else, to let him know that you had heard him, and then say brightly, “Sorry I’m late everybody. I brought some cookies.”

***

EDDIE: Yeah, it was a dick thing to say, and I regretted it immediately and not just because she brought us cookies.

I wasn’t—that wasn’t me.

I was just so angry about everything that I had lost, and I didn’t know where to put it all and then she shows up: this rich, spoiled girl who just seemed to float through life without a single fucking care or struggle, and suddenly I had an easy target.

I felt bad about it until she changed my fucking lyrics.

***

Unlike their guitarists, most of the band seemed pleased to see you and you spent a few minutes greeting everyone and handing around cookies while Eddie and Steve kept their respective distances—Eddie, sulking in a corner and Steve doing a poor job at pretending to tune his guitar.

“Okay kids let’s give the voices some space to do their thing,” Hopper says waving them through the door sounding more like a disgruntled parent than a manager.

In the end, it’s just you, Steve, Murray, and the sound booth tech. The latter two are busy prepping the sound and mic, leaving you and Steve standing in the back.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize about what I said the other day at lunch,” he leans in close to your ear, his eyes transfixed on his shoes.

“I didn’t mean it—not really. I guess I was just lashing out because, well, they keep changing things about the band without even talking to us. First, they made us go pop, then they made me give up lead guitar to Eddie because his previous band didn’t want him anymore, and then it seemed like they wanted to replace me with you and like, it’s not that I wouldn’t want you it’s just that—well they never even asked what we wanted, you know? I was frustrated about that, and I took it out on you and I’m sorry about that.”

You watch him as he digs the toe of his sneaker into the carpet, eyes downcast, clearly waiting for you to respond. You’re too busy contemplating his words, however, because an apology was the last thing you were expecting from him, much less such a sincere one.

Out of all the difficult men you had dealt with in your life—producers, musicians, lawyers, managers, former flings, hell, even your own father—you had never received an apology from any of them regardless of how poorly they’d treated you.

Steve’s eyes finally trail up to meet yours, searching your face for signs that he didn’t say the wrong thing yet again.

Seeing no trace of dishonesty on Steve’s face, you decide to trust the apology for what it is and nod in acceptance.

“I get it,” you say, and truly, you did, “I’ve had most of my career decisions made for me, and a lot of times, they weren’t really what I wanted. It makes the whole thing feel kind of…empty, doesn’t it?”

His face floods with relief as he nods along in understanding.

“Yeah, like does success matter if we can’t do things our way? Me and Rob, we’ve been best friends since we were little and this has always been our dream and now that it may be coming true, it doesn’t feel like we imagined. I guess that’s kinda stupid though, expecting things to be like you imagined them as a kid,” he laughs at himself nervously.

“No, it’s not,” you counter, “that’s not stupid at all.”

You understand Steve’s disillusionment completely because it mirrors your own.

“Listen, I get how you feel, trust me, but you got to keep going. You guys are good, and I think you could all be big one day and then it’ll be you who’s calling the shots and then you can kick me and Eddie to the curb,” you clearly say the last part in jest but that doesn’t stop the shame that rolls across Steve’s face.

“Hey, don’t say that. You’re really talented and we’re lucky that you’re doing us this favor. We’d be even luckier if we could get you to stick around. Munson I could give or take, though.”

His joke makes you laugh so loud that Murray turns around and glares.

***

Steve was sent into the booth first to record his final vocals for the song, leaving you to observe.

As they set Steve up, your eyes kept bouncing over to the newly appeared Eddie, trying to figure out what exactly he was doing there.

“I wrote the song,” Eddie explains, after catching your eye.

“Oh,” you say, not bothering enough to hide your surprise, “well, congratulations, it’s a good song.”

You catch him eyeing the plate of cookies at your side. You open your mouth to offer him a cookie, but the echo of his words rings fresh in your mind, so instead, you reach for one and make a big show of savoring it.

Steve records his part of the vocals in five takes. He appears a bit nervous at first but eases into his groove rather quickly.

As the audio engineer is setting up the booth for you, you feel your own nerves rise. You wanted this to go well. You wanted to impress Steve and Hopper and even Eddie.

They signal you into the booth and the first two times, you record the song exactly how it’s written. Then, on the third one, you switch up the final chorus.

The original lyrics were: Fear in your heart, can’t conceal it/ But baby, my loves your cure, can’t you feel it? / Lay your hope bare next to mine/ and even if the world caves in, we’ll be fine

You changed the lyrics to: Fear in your heart, can’t conceal it/ But baby, my loves your cure, can’t you feel it? / Lay your flaws bare next to mine/ because when the world caves in, I’ll leave you cryin’

The change was slight, you thought, but meaningful.

The original version—Eddie’s version—was too hopeful. It was a boring portrayal of lovers staying with each other through thick and thin.

Your change added some conflict and dimension to the narrative. You made it better.

“What the hell was that?” Eddie pushed past Murray to yell into the mic that fed into the booth.

You roll your eyes at him dramatically interrupting your take, “I was just trying something out.”

Hopper pulled Eddie back by the shoulder while Murray wrestled the mic from him.

“Woah, sweetheart, pump the breaks. That was good. Better than the original. Can we run that one more time but with your lyrics instead? Harrington, we’ll re-record some of your parts too.”

Hopper has to all but carry Eddie out the door after he hears that.

***

EDDIE: The thing that pissed me off the most was that her version of the song was better. I just didn’t want to admit it because I wrote that song about Chrissy, about how even though I was so scared I was going to fuck up our relationship, she understood that and was willing to work through that with me. Her version was much closer to what actually happened and that hit a little too close to home.

***

“Woah, what did you two do to Eddie?” Robin demands as soon as you and Steve are dismissed into the hallway. “Hopper pretty much had to drag him out in tears!”

You worry at your bottom lip, caught in the wondering eyes of the group. At the time, you felt like you were doing the right thing, but now you wonder if you had forgone the common courtesy of at least letting him know you had changed the song. You didn’t want to come across as unprofessional as he accused you of being.

“I should probably go talk to him,” you say in response.

“Geez, Robin. Was the third degree really necessary there? This is just like last week’s DMV visit all over again,” Steve chastises as they all watch you walk away.

***

You find Eddie in the smoking area, cigarette in hand. “Hey, listen can we talk—"

Eddie turns dangerously to face you, cutting you off.

“You know what your fucking problem is? No one’s ever said no to you so you think you can do whatever the hell you want and that everyone else just rolls over and gives it to you because you’re so pretty and charming and rich.

“Well, you may have the rest of those assholes fooled but I see right through you, okay?”

Your eyes narrowed in response before you snap back.

"First of all, you don't know anything about me, so stop pretending that you do. I have worked hard to be here, just like the rest of you, and as far as this song goes, my name is going to be attached to it too, so I have just as much of a right to give input as you or Steve. It was wrong that I didn't say anything to you beforehand, sure, and I apologize for that, but let's not pretend that you've been the epitome of professionalism here either because you've been an ass to me since we've met, and I don't know why but I won't stand for it again. Fuck you, Eddie Munson,” you spit out before turning on your heel and stomping away.

***

EDDIE: That was hot, not gonna lie.

***

“Are you really going to let some mangy metalhead from Bumfuck, Nowhere keep you from finally doing what you want?” Murray asks exasperatedly when you call him to complain about the exchange later that night.

“Listen, I’ve recorded a lot of songs in that studio, some of them great, most of them mediocre, but today blew all of them out of the water. The band’s never sounded better and neither have you, frankly. If you gave up the chance to finally write your own songs and sound this good while doing it, that would be flat-out idiotic. You know that, right?”

The line goes still.

“Yes,” you finally say.

“Great, now that that’s settled, why don’t you get some rest, huh? Ruining Muson’s day must have tired you right out.”

You exhale a laugh before saying goodbye.

Although you would never say it to his face, you were grateful for Murray. It was nice having someone looking out for you.

***

MURRAY: Brenner loved the track. After that, we had a very short time to make a lot of big things happen. The Downside’s debut album was already 70% recorded, but now that we had a whole other person on vocals, we had to scrap a good portion of the work they had already done and rerecord with our new vocalist. We couldn’t even celebrate our victory because we were just getting started.

Those poor kids had no clue what was coming.

***

When your phone rings a few mornings later, you suspect it’s Murray again with an update on the song, and while you’re right about the message, you’re wrong about the messenger.

“Hi, it’s Steve, uh, Harrington. Obviously,” you hear a familiar voice crackle over the line.

“Oh? And to what do I owe the honor Mr. Obviously?” you respond.

“Oh, very funny. Listen, I wanted to call and let you know that we just heard from Hopper that Brenner and his guys liked our song, and they want us to continue, you know… recording together and stuff. So, yeah, would that be something you’re interested in… being a part of, you know, the band?” his voice wavers a bit as he asks.

“Is that even a choice?” you fire back, “I was under the impression that once Brenner gave the go-ahead, it was pretty much a done deal.”

He clears his throat in response, “I think you deserve to have a choice. I talked to the rest of the band, and they agree and if you don’t want in, we’ll back you… even if that means breaking our Starcourt contract.”

The line goes silent as you contemplate the gravity of what Steve has just said. The Downsides would be willing to put their own career at risk just to assure you the luxury of choice.

The answer was easy after that.

“I’m in,” you say after a few moments of terse silence. “I want to be a part of the band.”

You can all but see Steve pumping his fist on the other side of the line.

“That’s great! That’s great news. I’m glad my asshole tendencies didn’t put you off,” he laughs, relieved.

“I mean, it was a tough sell,” you tease back, “but I think we can be good together. The band, I mean.”

You wonder if you’ve said the wrong thing when his joyous peals of laughter stop suddenly at your words.

“Actually, um, about that,” he begins, once again nervously, “I’m really grateful that you’re giving us—the band—a chance and that you were nice enough to record the single with us in the first place. And, I mean, I know I’m already pushing my luck with the universe and you but maybe—uh, maybe today it’s my turn to be the luckiest guy in the world? Who knows?”

You have absolutely no clue what he’s getting at, and you let him know as much.

“Right, hm, I was wondering if I could take you out, on a date, to celebrate us becoming a band but also like, you know, a date. I know I made a total ass of myself, but I really like you, and I think you're gorgeous and talented and smart. I know I may not deserve another shot, but I would love it if you gave me one.”

You’re at a loss for words. First, you’re not even sure if you want to trust Steve fully, not quite yet. Sure, he apologized, but a part of you wonders if he only did it to get on your good side once he had seen how your pre-established infamy could serve him after that Subrosa article ran. Murray mentioned how radio runtime for the few EP songs The Downsides had in the rotation tripled since the publication. It definitely wouldn’t have been the first time you were being used like this.

Even if you could find it in yourself to look past that (and who knows, maybe you could?) there was still the matter of what Murray and Hopper had so delicately mentioned that day at lunch.

“I’m sorry, Steve, I don’t think that would be very professional. Especially on account of our… front-facing, romantic narrative.”

“Our what?”

***

MURRAY: I thought that Hopper had gotten his team on the same page about the more personal aspects of the band’s arrangement, but apparently, I was wrong. None of them had any clue what was going on and the thing about running a ruse is that people that are in on it kind of have to know that they’re in on it.

A few days before we began re-recording, the girl called me all in a tizzy because she accidentally spilled the beans, not knowing that Harrington had no clue at all about the plan.

I then call Hopper; it turns into this whole thing. We had to arrange an emergency meeting with the two of them and the entire legal team.

A bit slow on the uptake, that Harrington kid, but he got there. Eventually.

He was harder to convince than the girl, though. At least she didn’t have a problem with lying to the public. But Harrington was all about that Midwestern “integrity” and “letting the music speak for itself”. Hop eventually had to spell it out real simple for him: either they do this, or the entire band was cooked.

STEVE: I guess after like 15 years the ruse is finally up, huh? Yeah, the relationship was fake. Or, at least, it started out that way. Listen, it was complicated and we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

But, if you’re asking about what I was thinking when they finally told me their plan, well, I wasn’t happy or on board at all. It felt like we had already given up so much of ourselves for this—like, where do you draw the line, you know?

But then Hopper reminded me that it wasn’t all about me: Nancy had dropped out of college to be in the band, Jonathan…he had his sick little brother to take care of, and even Munson was going to be in trouble if he didn’t fulfill his contract with Starcourt.

It was selfish to say no, in my opinion. And really, what was I losing? I got to make music for a living and parade around, pretending to date a total hottie while doing it. I mean, the only way it could’ve gotten better was if the relationship had been real.

***

After what feels like days—but is most likely hours—with the Starcourt legal team, you and Steve are finally released with a very long grocery list of instructions that include a minimum number of required public appearances; a very specific list of acceptable PDA; and interestingly, enough, a sample NDA in case either of you wanted to “be involved” with anyone on the side.

“Nothing says romance like NDA, right?” you weakly joke in an attempt to break the ice.

“How are you so okay with this?” Steve shoots back, seemingly stunned.

“Well, it’s not like this is my first rodeo, or my fourth, or my sixth.”

And before he can question further, you tell him everything, starting with Jason fucking Carver.

***

STEVE: I couldn’t believe it. They had been forcing her to pretend to be involved with all these guys for years. It was super fucked up, but she stuck with it. That’s how much she wanted it. How could I possibly let her down after that? Especially with my own selfish, dumb feelings? She was right, we needed to keep it professional, no matter how hard that was going to be for me.

***

JONATHAN: Jonathan Byers, bassist and guitarist for the Downsides. never wanted to be famous, I just wanted to play music and make enough money to support my family. I could do all of that and more with The Downsides.

I felt like the luckiest guy in the world then. We were finally starting to see some stability as a band and even though things weren’t exactly as we expected, things were good. I mean we were making music we loved with people we liked—back when we all still liked each other.

***

October 1983—Los Angeles, California

As the studio had predicted, the band’s single was a total hit, as were you and Steve in the press. The gamble Starcourt was starting to pay off.

Everyone was more relieved than happy about that news.

What followed was a few grueling weeks of rerecording the band’s nearly completed album while also strategically traipsing arm-in-arm with Steve around every romantic spot in Hollywood trying to bait the paparazzi.

Things had finally slowed down a bit since the album was in post-production, but Starcourt still had you on a tight schedule. You had transitioned into rehearsing for the band’s upcoming tour. That’s how certain Startcourt was that the Downsides were going to be a success—you were rehearsing for a tour that hadn’t even been announced yet for an album that hadn’t even been released.

You try not to think about what it would mean if the band didn’t meet the label’s expectations. Instead, you focus on figuring out how to adapt to the band you’re now a part of.

The obvious lack of familiarity between all of you was not as pronounced when you were re-recording in the studio, now that you’re all rehearsing together, it is impossible to ignore. The original members of the band share a bond that keeps them incredibly in sync, oftentimes leaving you and Eddie struggling both on and off the stage. You’ve been working to adapt though, and you’ve made progress, sometimes you’re even close to feeling like the band has accepted you as one of their own. But then something will happen that will leave you feeling like an outsider once more.

***

The last thing a hungover you needs to see at seven in the morning is a Subrosa article questioning your moral character and calling you a man-eater. The universe—in the form of one Nancy Wheeler—has a different idea.

“Have you seen this?” the keyboardist asks, indignation coloring her tone, as she slings the offending publication across your lap.

You hadn’t seen it, in fact, but one look at the grainy picture of you and Steve and you can assume what the article says.

You sigh tiredly in response, “Honestly Nancy, you shouldn’t pay attention to this shit. I don’t know why you let it bother you so much.”

“It’s just so unfair that they’re singing Steve’s praises and are still dragging you through the mud, even though you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Exactly, there’s no winning with them, not for me. So why don’t we just say fuck them and do whatever we want?” You find it in yourself to waggle your eyebrows playfully at her earning a giggle from the otherwise serious girl.

You catch Eddie watching your exchange from across the large warehouse that is serving as the band’s rehearsal space with a curious amount of interest.

The two of you have barely spoken since your row outside of Starcourt. It’s not like you’re missing out on much though, since Eddie barely interacts with the band beyond rehearsal which makes his apparent engagement with your conversation unusual. Eddie, realizing he’s been caught staring, opens his mouth to say something but is quickly interrupted by a very late Steve and Robin.

“Hey, have you seen the latest issue of Subrosa?” Steve asks, harried and out of breath.

You try not to think about the fact that this is the third time this week that the two of them have shown up together and late.

“Yes, we were just talking about it, which you would’ve known if the two of you were on time for once,” Nancy jabs back with no real heat, just the annoyance of an older sister chastising her siblings.

“Hey, don’t blame me, Robin wanted to—” he stops short as soon as his eyes land on you and coughs awkwardly.

“I wanted to stop by the post office,” Robin rushes to say. “It’s Bastille Day and I needed to send a card to my French pen pal, Celine in honor of the occasion.”

“Isn’t Bastille Day in July?” You ask Robin.

She flushes scarlet. “Right, exactly, that’s why this is so important, my card was already like three months late. You know how French people are about punctuality.”

She then exchanges a meaningful glance with Steve and Nancy who seem to be having their own sort of conversation consisting solely of glances and eyebrow movement.

“Fine, whatever,” Nancy exhales after a few terse moments of silent communication, “let’s just start please.”

She stands and the others follow suit. You, however, remain sat, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

Steve, sensing you hadn’t moved, turns to throw you an apologetic look over his shoulder before beaconing gently with a nod of his head. You sigh but join him, nonetheless.

This happens a lot.

***

JONATHAN: When the whole staged relationship thing first started, I don’t think any of us had any idea what that meant. I mean, sure, it started out as the gimmick that got us through the door but it soon became something bigger than that. Their relationship was synonymous with the band and it's success and I'm sure that resulted in a lot of pressure.

I think for the two of them, though, the most difficult part was trying to keep things professional, especially when other people began to get involved.

***

None of the personal dynamics mattered when you were all playing together.

What you loved most about your bandmates was that they cared about the music just as much as you did. That had become clear from the very first rehearsal and even now, nearly a month in, you’re still in awe watching them all perform alongside you.

Prim, soft-spoken Nancy turned into a wild thing on the keyboard, her whole body moving with the music, fingers flying over the keys like it was nothing. Ever the perfectionist, she would never miss a note, and on the off chance that she did, curse words you had never heard before streamed out of her mouth, causing your eyes to go wide every time.

Jonathan, too, became something else: full of bravado and fire, hair swinging wildly and even jumping around on stage. His playing had a smoothness to it, he knew when to show restraint and let someone else shine and when to bring it himself.

Argyle and Robin were the biggest transformations, though. Gone was goofy and easy-going Argyle the person and all that was left behind was the laser-focused drummer, who seemed to move on instinct to create a strong musical foundation for the rest of you. Robin, who normally was a bit erratic and all over the place, became the self-assured, quick-thinking driving force behind the band. It was like she knew exactly how the song needed to sound and what each person needed to bring to get there. She was the first to let anyone know there was something amiss and no one took it the wrong way because she was rarely wrong.

Steve and Eddie were exactly what you had expected, however, what you did not expect was how alike they would be. They both moved gracefully and with careless precision. Showmen in equal measures.

Once you had familiarized yourself with your bandmates, figuring out how you fit into the band’s onstage dynamic was easy.

Off-stage was a whole different story.

***

JONATHAN: I mean, yeah, I think it was natural that there was a bit of a divide in those early days between the ‘original’ band and our two new members. It’s not for lack of trying though, it’s just, well the five of us lived in a house together and had known each other for years, it was probably kinda intimidating trying to jump into that dynamic. I also got the feeling that the other two weren’t really used to having friends. They both seemed to have their guards up in their own way.

With her you could tell she was holding back, almost like she was afraid of doing the wrong thing and well, with Eddie… you know how he is.

I think it was that feeling of sort of being on the outside that first drew them together, honestly.

***

Your eyes scan over the small craft services area that makes up part of your rehearsal space. Most of the band starts at one table, chatting amiably over lunch. Before you can even take a step in their direction, though, your eyes zero in on Steve and Robin, whose heads are bent, close together, whispering to one another intimately and you falter.

As much as you enjoyed Robin and Steve individually, watching them interact with one another often stoked an aching loneliness in you that you struggled to put out and the more time you spent with them only made it worse. After six weeks, you were worn thin.

Deciding that you’d rather not foster any unearned feelings, you turn to the only other table where Eddie is sitting alone bent over a thick paperback.

Trying to play it as cool as you can, you reach inside your bag to pull out your own book, and casually sit down across from the long-haired boy.

He stares you down. You raise an eyebrow in response.

“Didn’t know you could read,” he says casually.

“Funny, I was just about to say the same thing about you,” you shoot back with no real bite.

He chuckles to himself, seemingly impressed before gesturing to your book.

“Didn’t peg you for a Baldwin type either,” Eddie says, eyes scanning the cover of your book.

You shrug, noncommittally, “I found a copy Beal Street sitting with a bunch of junk on my neighbor’s curb and I’ve been a fan since.”

He barks out a laugh so loud it catches everyone’s attention.

Conversation halts and you feel your bandmates’ curious gazes fall on you all at once.

“Forgive me, princess, but I have a hard time imagining you digging through other people's trash for books from what I know of you.”

“And what do you know about me, Eddie? I mean, other than the stuff Subrosa prints.”

His face falls in response.

The two of you spend the rest of your lunch in silence, pretending not to notice the way everyone else is staring.

***

JONATHAN: They ate lunch together every day after that, barely talking, reading their books. I don’t think they were friends or anything, but I did see them exchange books a few times.

It did stress Nancy out, I think, the divide. It made her think we weren’t doing enough to be “welcoming” to them. Argyle and I didn’t really care, and Robin was dealing with her on shit at the time.

***

ROBIN : Yeah, I was seeing this girl, and I was trying to keep it under wraps from well… everyone actually. Steve was a really great friend though; he would always give me rides to and from her place when I needed them.

***

JONATHAN: ...a nd Steve liked to pretend that he didn’t care but he definitely did.

ROBIN: Of course, Steve cared, are you kidding?

NANCY: We could tell it bothered him.

STEVE : Did I care that she was eating lunch with Munson and kept avoiding me outside of rehearsal? No! Of course not.

***

November 1983, Los Angeles, California

The Downsides’ debut album was released on November 6, 1983, to commercial and critical success.

People immediately took to the upbeat synth sound paired with the introspective and clever lyrics. On top of that, you and Steve were, quite literally the talk of the town.

There were entire articles in gossip magazines dedicated to parsing out details of your relationship from the song lyrics on the album and coming up with theories about what the lyrics were about.

And all of that just from a few pictures of you two holding hands. Starcourt was ecstatic, they had bottled magic.

As much as everyone wanted to celebrate, you weren’t out of the woods yet, there were still the press junkets.

A growing list of TV and radio appearances that the band was required to be at plagued Hopper who was tasked with making sure you were all present and willing at these appearances. And of course, that you didn’t make fools of yourselves or Starcourt.

The label had taken it upon itself to send everyone PR briefings—essentially a long list of things no one should say under any circumstances during interviews.

Normally, you would think a list like this was overkill but knowing some of your bandmates, it was definitely needed.

All the eyes (and the pressure) would be on you and Steve, though, everyone knew that. You two were the ‘It Couple’ everyone wanted to hear from, and you weren’t quite sure what you were going to say.

The pap photos were easy: it was just walking around or sometimes getting lunch, holding hands, and looking like you were enjoying each other’s company. Something that wasn’t difficult since conversation flowed easily between the two of you. At first, you would talk music—Steve was incredibly dedicated and knowledgeable, you quickly found out—but eventually, the two of you had branched into other topics. You learned about Steve’s life growing up in Indiana, about all his likes and dislikes, and everything about the band. He managed to pull the same information from you and you let him.

Even the physical stuff was easy, with time. In the beginning, it was an experiment of firsts. While you were pretty well-versed in the practice of feigned affection, you were used to the guy always making the first (fake) move. Most of the guys you had been "set up" with were the "act first, ask permission later" type. Steve was polite and considerate to a fault, and it took you two full dates to convince him that he didn't have to ask before holding your hand and an entire week more to work up to the kiss on the cheek. After those conversations though, touching Steve, in one way or another, had become second nature.

So much so, in fact, that it had begun to bleed into your everyday lives. It was not unusual during the time of your re-recording, to be at the studio and have Steve come up from behind you to rest his hand in the gentle dip of your waist only for you to lean back as you inhaled that scent that was uniquely him: smokey sandalwood and hair pomade.

Right around the time rehearsal started you realized that perhaps the two of you were becoming too comfortable with that type of affection, especially given how much time he spent with Robin, and you had begun to keep a subtle distance between the two of you whenever you weren’t on stage.

Steve while intelligent in his own right, had never struck you as the kind of person to pick up on subtleties, so when he brings up this distance you realize that either you severely underestimated his abilities, or you were not as subtle as you thought you’d been.

It’s a few days before the first stop of the Press Tour—An early morning slot with Wake Up, USA! —that has the two of you sitting on your couch when he brings it up. You had invited Steve over to practice answering any possible questions you may have to field together and make sure you’re on the same page.

As it turns out though, outside of music, Steve is not much for rehearsing.

“Can’t we just wing it?” Steve asks as he lies sprawled on your couch.

You huff in response, “No, we can’t just wing it. This is a big deal! This is our first time out as a couple, and we have to be believable.”

Steve scoffs at this and you raise an annoyed eyebrow in response.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he shrugs in response, “it’s just hard to act like a couple when you’ve been avoiding me for, like, the past month.”

He doesn’t sound accusatory or angry when he says this, just matter-of-fact.

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” you sputter out, weakly.

It’s his turn to raise an incredulous eyebrow at you.

“Really? Could’ve fooled me. Last time I checked you and Eddie weren’t the best of friends, but you’d rather eat lunch with him than the rest of us. You know, if you didn’t like us, you didn’t have to agree to be in the band, we would’ve understood,” he deflates as he says this last sentence and it crumples your heart just a bit.

“I like you guys,” you say quietly, nudging his leg with your knee as you do.

“Then, is it me?” He asks, voice small and eyes low.

“No, no, it’s not you, Steve,” you rush to say.

“It’s just, I’ve never really been any good at this,” you mumble, shy under his gaze.

“Good at what?” He urges gently.

“At being friends with people.”

You continue, words clunky and difficult to get out, “At being friends with someone I’m also pretending to date.

“I mean, with the rest of the guys Starcourt set me up with, I only had to tolerate them for a few weeks, at most. With us, well who knows right? Plus, I actually like you,” you wince at this uncharacteristic display of vulnerability from yourself, “I like all of you and I don’t want to ruffle any feathers or cross any boundaries and hurt anyone’s feelings.”

He chuckles at this, “Trust me, you won’t hurt my feelings by spending time with me.”

You shake your head, “It’s not you I’m worried about, Steve. There are other people.”

Steve’s brow furrows in confusion, “I’m not following.”

You are not sure what to say, now. You don’t want to call Steve and Robin out, it’s clear that they’ve been trying to keep what they have going on a secret, and you don’t want to call attention to that. You’re also afraid that if you mention him and Robin, you’ll eventually have to explain how when you see them together, your chest gets painfully tight. Pivot, you demand of yourself.

“What I mean to say is, it’s easier for me to keep everything professional when I have a little more space because I’m not really used to this friend thing. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I didn’t like you or the band. I like you all a lot, actually and I guess I’m just worried about messing that up.”

You can feel yourself retract into yourself the more you speak and by the end, your knees are tucked under your chin. You can’t bring yourself to meet Steve’s gaze.

He doesn’t respond right away, but you feel the warmth of his palm spread over the expanse of your back.

“Listen, I think… if this is gonna work, we have to be on each other’s team and part of that is talking to one another, right? And letting each other know when we're having a hard time. I want to be on your team, will you let me?” His voice swells as he asks, and you are so aware of his warmth next to you.

“Yeah,” you nod, finally meeting his eyes, “ I want to be on your team too if you’ll let me?”

He nods enthusiastically, smiling so brightly you question if the sun has ever been as bright.

“Great, now can we please practice some of these questions?” You demand, playfully.

“Or, or, and hear me out, we could go get burgers," he offers back.

You end up doing both.

***

November 13, 1983, Sunset Studios, Los Angeles, California

Call time for Wake Up, USA! was insanely early and you don’t think you’ve ever seen an angrier Hopper than one that has to be dealing with Eddie Munson at 5 AM. Eddie is decidedly, not a morning person.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine today?” You deadpan to the disgruntled guitarist from your makeup chair next to his. You were not fairing much better: not only were you running on little sleep, but you were also wound tightly with nerves about your first live interview as a band and as a couple.

“Can it, Your Majesty, or we might have a case of regicide on our hands,” he warns with no real heat behind his words.

“Isn’t it a bit too early to be throwing big words like that around, Munson?” Steve asks, from his spot on your other side.

“Don’t even know what that means,” he mutters, mostly to you.

“It means the murder of a king or queen,” you respond automatically.

“Doesn’t have to be just one, either. You could always kill more than one monarch at a time,” Eddie raises his eyebrows at Steve as he says this, making his implications very obvious.

“Wow, look at us,” Steve exclaims, grinning, “already making veiled threats at each other. We’ve finally made it, honey.”

He says this last part exclusively to you punctuating it by reaching for your hand and giving it a squeeze and you laugh.

The lightness of the exchange distracts you from your nerves for a moment. And from the way Eddie’s eyes linger on your hand interlaced with Steve’s.

Your brief reprieve is interrupted by the soft thud of a heavy object landing in your lap.

“What’s this?” You hold up a beat-up paperback to the culprit.

Eddie shrugs, “The Two Towers, Dustin finally got it back to me, took his sweet time too, that little asshole.”

You nod. He had lent you the first Lord of the Rings book weeks ago, while you were still in rehearsal after you had shown up bookless one day and you had devoured the book. You had been needling him for the second one since, but he had lent it to the audio engineer’s son, a kid named Dustin who idolized him and Steve in equal measure.

“Thanks,” you say, surprise coloring your voice, thumbing through the pages, eyes hungrily scanning the pages.

***

EDDIE: I dunno, she seemed nervous. I thought if she had something to distract her, it might’ve helped.

***

You get through the first chapter of your new book before they pull you into wardrobe.

They outfit you in a light blue dress, with exaggerated sleeves and a belt around your middle to compliment Steve’s dark blue blazer and stripped t-shirt combo.

You feel your nerves mounting as you are helped into your heels and given your mic pack. Suddenly, everything that is riding on this is suffocating you from all ends—a visceral crushing pain that you can’t shake.

Steve appears at your side and the band had been escorted onto the soundstage your hand has been tightly wrapped around his like a vice the entire time.

“Can you, uh, loosen your grip a bit, please,” Steve asks, finally.

“Right, sorry,” you say, letting go of his hand completely and instead focusing your nervous energy on straightening his lapels.

After the third time you’ve readjusted his collar, Steve grabs both of your hands in his, and pulls you close, giving you no choice but to focus on his face.

“Hey,” he says in a hushed tone, just for you, “you don’t need to worry, okay? We’ve got this. I’m on your team, remember?”

You swallow thickly, and nod, before adding, “And I’m on yours, Harrington.”

“That’s my girl,” he says sealing the exchange with a kiss on the cheek.

***

JONATHAN: That first interview, on Wake Up, USA! was what really sold them. I mean, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other the entire time.

And then, when one of the hosts asked them how they met, Steve told this story about seeing her for the first time from across the restaurant during our first lunch together and how he was sure he had made a total fool of himself because he was so nervous to be around someone so beautiful, of course, Steve Harrington would say something like that. The audience swooned. Hell, I swooned a little bit.

And then they asked her about all the guys from her past, which was totally fucked up by the way, but she handled it great. She said she was grateful for all the mistakes she had made in the past because they had led her to The Downsides and to Steve.

Between that interview and our live performance, the audience was hooked.

***

“Good job, you two,” Hopper says gruffly, patting you and Steve on the shoulder as you're ushered off stage after your performance.

“Thanks,” you squeak out, all the tension slowly deflating from your body after hearing Hopper’s approval.

It was done, your first live appearance complete, and it hadn’t been a total train wreck.

Actually, thinking back, it had been pretty good. There was a good variety of questions; everyone had gotten to speak; and when it came to you and Steve, well, it seemed believable at least. And the band managed to preform the new single without a hitch, all of the kinks that had plagued you during the last few weeks of rehearsals ironed out.

Maybe you could pull this off after all.

***

By the time the band had wrapped up the week-long press junket, you were exhausted.

What had taken more of a toll than the hours of sitting in makeup chairs, too-tight shoes and repetitive questions was having to pretend with Steve.

You realize now that your problem was never the risk of not being convincing enough, but instead of being too convincing.

You had spent the entire week so physically attached to Steve, that it was beginning to feel like you were one single being. Like he was an appendage you couldn’t move without.

And every kiss on the cheek, every look, every squeeze of your hand, felt like a jumpstart to your heart.

Then there were actual interview parts. Steve was good with the press. He would draw audiences and hosts alike, in as easy as if he was winding up a thread. There was never a question that would catch him off guard and he always came off boyish and genuine in his responses. Like the time he was asked what his favorite thing about you was and he told the story of you showing up at the recording studio with cookies and having the guts to change Eddie’s lyrics in the same afternoon.

You knew better than to ask if he meant it.

The next day, Hopper called to let you know that your album was breaking all sorts of records, and the label was incredibly pleased. So much so that they were thinking of increasing the tour dates and they were even starting to plan for future projects—projects that they wanted you to write.

The news didn’t make you feel light with joy like you had once hoped it would, instead, it made you feel heavy like a sinking stone.

A few weeks later, when the band went their separate ways for the Christmas break, you all knew something big was coming, you just had no way of knowing what.

***

JONATHAN: Right after New Year, Hopper pulls the band into a meeting in his office. First thing he told us was that they were announcing a tour with twice as many dates as they had originally planned for, demand was that high. Then he said, “From this point on, everything is going to move really quickly, there’s no getting off the ride now.”

Subrosa Article

PLAY NEXT TRACK 🥁

#eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #Steve Harrington x you #Eddie Munson x you #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #eddie munson #steve harrington #rockstar!eddie Munson #nancy wheeler x jonathan byers

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patdkoala · 1 year

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New Neighbor

Pairing: Sam Claflin x Female Reader

Warnings: None This is Pure Fluff

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT A PART TWO I kinda want a part two

I just moved into my new apartment complex. It's nice. Clean. Quiet. And it's mostly filled with actors and actresses so the people that live here are rarely home anyway.

I'm a writer. So, I'm always home.

I sit in my apartment, turn on my ambiance lamp, have my record player on a constant rotation of my favorite tunes, and then have my cup of tea.

I will sit there and write for hours on end. If all goes well, I will have written a page and a half during those hours.

I never said I was a good writer. I'm speaking from experience.

One day I was getting home late. (I was sitting at Mcdonald's for two hours just reordering a large fry with a large Dr. Pepper.) I had just stepped out of the elevator and I heard the apartment door next to mine open and then close.

My neighbor was finally home.

For as long as I'd lived here, they had never been home. I've lived here for two years.

I set my giant Dr. Pepper cup on the counter along with my keys and wallet. I turned on my lamp and record player.

I turned it up on full volume like I have been doing for the past two years. I sat down at my desk and started to write about the people I was staring at in McDonald's. Then I heard three knocks at my door.

Quite loudly too if I must say.

"Jeez, I'll be right there!" I yelled as I ran over to the door to answer it.

I opened the door and I shit you not the guy standing there looked like that Billy Dunne fella from that Amazon show I was watching late last night.

"Excuse me, but do you mind turning that down? I'm trying to run lines and we have thin walls," He said as I just stood there and stared at him.

"Are you-" "Yes, I am the man from the tv. Now, do you mind turning that down?" He said in a grumpy old man tone that made me roll my eyes and go to turn it off.

I left the front door open and when I went back over to it, he was gone. So I shut the door and did what any sane person would do, I googled him.

'Main guy from Daisy Jones show'

Sam Claflin. Okay, so I googled something else.

'Sam Claflin movies'

So I watched some.

Okay, I watched all of them. Plus, I finished all of Daisy Jones and started Peaky Blinders.

A few days later, I realized I hadn't written anything for days. I'd been sitting on the couch ordering food to my door and only getting up to use the restroom or answer the door.

I decided to cool it on the Sam Claflin marathon. I got up and took a shower. I then deep-cleaned my whole apartment.

I finally decided to write something. So, I set up my lamp and my record player. I may or may not have forgotten about my neighbor, Sam Claflin.

I started writing and then I heard three distinct knocks at the door. It's funny how I can tell it's his knocks already.

I opened the front door and smiled up at the tall gentleman in front of me. "Hello, Sam Claflin. Would you like for me to turn down the music again?"

"Yes, I- Did you google me?" He asked as I nodded proudly. "I did as a matter of fact. I also watched your whole discography."

"What? No, you didn't. That would have taken you a matter of days."

"I did actually. I'm a big loner with no friends and all I do is spend all day writing in my sad lonely apartment. If I don't go outside for weeks nobody is gonna notice," I said as he just stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Did you watch the Hunger Games?"

"Yes."

"Enola Holmes?"

"Yes, of course, my dear Mycroft," I said with a wink.

"Peaky Blinders?"

"Yes, love the stache by the way."

"Thanks. Did you-"

"Yes. I watched everything. Even the bad romance ones and the-"

"You don't like romance movies? What woman doesn't like romance movies?"

"Ones with brains. They are all the same. They all start the same and all end the same."

"Oh, you've had your heart shattered," He said as he crossed his arms.

"What? No. I've never even been in that sick puppy love before. I've only been in serious relationships with serious men. Not dumb pretty boy actors. Also, what's with you dying in all of your films? And do you only star in book renditions?"

"Did you just call me a pretty boy actor?"

"Is the only thing you heard me say?"

He just stood there and smiled at me. His cheesy British pretty boy actor smile. And I mistakenly smiled back.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?" He asked as I then crossed my arms to match his energy.

"Okay. But, I don't want to go out."

"Okay. We can eat at my place. I'll pick you up at-"

"I can walk next door by myself. You just have dinner ready by 8."

He nodded and then he walked away from the door. I shut it and went back to writing.

I wrote a couple of pages. Nothing much.

I then started to get ready around 7:30. I wasn't going to put much time or effort into this because I don't see it as a date. I see it as a get-together with my cute neighbor who just so happens to be Sam Claflin.

I walked over to his apartment around 8:15.

I knocked three times.

"You're late," He said as I rolled my eyes and walked into his apartment without any introduction.

"Well, I figured you already don't like me so what's the harm in being a few minutes late."

"How can I not like you when I don't even know your name?"

"(Y/N). There now you have every right not to like me."

"Okay, well, (Y/N). I hope you like chicken."

"What if I was a vegetarian? Would you have something else for me to eat?"

"Are you a vegetarian?"

"No."

"Then we won't have to worry about that now do we?"

I smiled at him and then sat down at the two-seater table in the middle of his dining room. His apartment was a little bigger than mine. I guess that comes with being a big-time Hollywood actor.

He had nice things. A big Tv. A big couch. Probably even had a big bed.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't still have my twin bed from my college apartment.

His plants are fake, though. This means that he likes the ambiance that plants create but he doesn't want the commitment of keeping them alive.

"What are you doing?"

"Scoping out your apartment. Seeing if I'm going to steal it from you or not," I said as he laughed and then sat down in front of me.

He poured us both glasses of wine.

"Is this a date?" I asked as he set the bottle down.

"Do you want it to be?"

"Well, I'm just curious because you asked me out before you even knew my name. So, you are either insane or incredibly horny and will most likely fuck anything that moves," I said matter-of-factly.

"Are you a musician?" He asked obviously trying to change the subject.

"No, why do you ask that?"

"The loud music."

"Those are just some of my favorite bands. They help me write when I can't think of anything."

"Ah, you're a writer. That makes sense," He said as I glared at him from across the table.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you talk a lot and you seem to always be stuck in your own head. I've seen a lot of writers and they all have those tells."

"Okay, so you figured me out. My turn."

I studied him. I've watched all his movies. I know his Star Chart. I know what college he went to. I know when he first started acting. I know what his first movie was. I know who his first girlfriend was and I know to who he lost his virginity. He's another dumb male celebrity that has nothing secret or hidden from the media.

"I've got nothing," I said as I looked into his eyes.

Because that was the truth. I looked into this man's eyes and all I saw were these gorgeous green eyes that were just staring right back at me.

"Well, since you know everything about me do you mind if I ask you something?" He asked as he ate a piece of meat off his fork.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you watch all my movies?"

"Because I wanted to figure you out and I found it interesting that I live next to Sam Claflin the actor."

"Pretty boy actor" He added as if he were correcting me.

"Right. Pretty boy actor." I said as he turned a slight shade of pink.

"Are you usually home alone? Or do you live with someone?"

"Why? Do you want to kill me, Sam Claflin?"

"No. And why do you keep using my full name?"

"Because it's throwing you off."

"Yeah, it is."

We went on to talk about what I like to write. Which is mostly mystery and murder mystery. I stray far away from romance. It's sticky and all the same.

He learned my Star Chart. What college I went to. When I first started writing. The first novel I wrote. Who my first boyfriend was and to whom I lost my virginity.

"I hope to see you again, (Y/N) (L/N)," He said as he leaned against my door frame. (He insisted on walking me to my door)

"Well, if I ever want to see you again I know to just turn my music up too loud," I said as he smiled and then I turned around and shut the door.

I leaned against it and I swear this man stood in front of my closed door for a solid minute before walking away. I wonder if he was hoping I'd open it and let him in.

If we were going to have sex, though, I'd hope it'd be in his bed because mine can barely support my own weight.

#sam claflin #Fluff #Sam Claflin x reader #Friends to lovers #sam claflin imagine

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williaml0ver · 2 months

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☆ <3 The way to a Forward's heart - a William Ellis story ☆ <3

[🖇️] word count: 4204 JESUS. That's a record, and i thought my Kevin fic was long...

[🖇️] warnings: g/n reader, William is sad 😔, but it's very fluffy, not proofread, not historically accurate ijbol, several cameos at the end

[🖇️] a/n: soo i have been recently experiencing a small burnout because real life has been a lot stressful lately BUT i really wanted to pull something out since it's been already a whole month since my first post ‼️ I swear it took me over a week to surpass the 1k words border, but i randomly felt inspired (possesed?) and pulled out 3K MORE on a single day... never doubt a delusional William Ellis lover. thank you guys so much for the support!! It really encourages me!!!! today i am delivering a William fic!!!!!!! It's so long hello??

☆ ☆ ☆

You weren't exactly sure how you ended up in this mess. But were you complaining?

"Hey... is it me or did the air get really, REALLY stinky right now?"

"OH MY GOD WILLIAM"

It all began when your boyfriend came back from a challenging match. Happens to the best of us. Constant body blocking, healing and of course rescuing his teammates, not to mention the desperate kiting til his final breath - he ended up chaired and no one came to the rescue! No matter how embarrassed the rugby star felt, it wasn't rare for survivor teams to go down like that. You've even heard that Eli, the seer, ended up under Emily's worried eyes, she apparently had to patch him up! You knew he was a very advanced player, so those news made you realize how serious that was. And your William?

You found yourself crotcheting a cute little scarf from scratch after discovering that this form of activity effectively made you relax. It was very helpful during those trying times. The piece of fabric you were using was very soft and had a beautiful salmon colour. With some schlagers playing in the background from the gramophone player Miss Nightingale gave you you've found yourself in your own small world. It was your way of escaping from reality, the strange place you've found yourself in.

Suddenly, loud steps could be heard from outside of your dorm. It was no one else than William Ellis himself! You felt thrilled to see him again. Truth is, the last time you've seen him was just a little over an hour ago, but you just can't help it. Being this giant man's lover meant receiving a lot of affection, you can't deny that you became a lot more clingier than you usually were after getting together. Due to regular training he was very buff, but you're sure his heart is even buffier. The needle in your palms was sloppily placed on top of the wooden desk as you quickly came to the doors. You couldn't contain your happiness and just tightly hugged him, but what you didn't see at first is how absolutely wasted he looked like. You thought to yourself how suspiciously silent your man is right now. That's unusual. Most of the times he would try to make you smile, tell you some goofy joke, slightly overdramatize his heroic attempts at rescuing. You then looked at his face and felt mortified. He had a big bruise on his right cheek and had several dirty stains on his face. Not to mention the small trail of blood coming out of his mouth....

It wasn't long until you started leading him to your shared bed and told him to sit. Yes, he was very sweaty, stinky and dirty, but that didn't matter currently, you would have to clean it sooner or later anyways. You weren't sure what to do at first, so you allowed him to decide what's next. All he did was request you to let him place his head on your lap, to which you happily obliged and began carefully petting him by his long hair. William then kept silent, as you didn't want to force him into speaking. After some time, you've got up and looked inside your small drawer. There were some emergency leftover bandages, plasters and a gauze. You got them, and with your boyfriend's permission you started cleaning his wounds and taking care of them, of course, all of them received William's favourite, most effective cure - a kiss. When you started disinfecting that nasty scar on William's cheek he started smiling a little. While you could tell he was drop dead exhausted, it made you relieved to see him calmer now. You placed a few plasters with Hello Kitty and Minions on his arms and nose, you've then felt his muscly arm pulling your head for a kiss. That's the good old William.

After a while passed, he started opening up to you, talking how terrible the match went, how he blames him for everything that went wrong. It made your heart ache hearing how he thinks he failed his teammates, how he failed Eli. Most of the times after a lost match you'd find him cheering and hyping up the others. Though, sometimes he could also have worse days, when he was feeling blue, thinking how they could win if he did a few things with a different approach which of course was normal and understandable - but you were having none of it. During moments like this, you would always try your best to cheer William up. He deserves so, considering how thoughtful he is to towards everyone. How thoughtful he is towards you.

"William, look at me, I know... it's okay..." you've put your hand on his healthy cheek. Each time he'd have you whispering comforting sentences into his ear, he felt like someone above sent him an angel to support him. Most of the time, the forward would quickly cheer up, but today was diffrent. Feeling your hand on him, feeling your kisses, hearing your words, following your eyes... he felt like something broke inside him. He started to tear up. Even for him, sometimes the matches in the manor could be overwhelming - having people trust you is both a blessing and a curse. You felt bad for him and a little ashamed yourself because you weren't exactly sure what to tell him. You ended up saying nothing, with William, words aren't needed. All you had to do was to be there for him. You stayed together cuddling in silence for over twenty minutes, yet to both of you it felt like a few seconds. You realized that William's clothing is dirty, usually, he wouldn't care, but you're sure he must be feeling nasty right now.

After undressing and freeing his from the heaviness of his clothes, your boyfriend felt much more comfortable. You then told him to lay on the bed, and after a few small kisses you began tucking him in like a child. You both have a huge collection of funky, extraordinary blankets, pillows and plushies - they all made your room much more comfortable and cute! Your eyes softened seeing him covered by all the duvets and comfortable fabrics. Not long after, you grabbed your favourite dinosaur plushie, mr. Rex, who was of HUGE size, almost as tall and big as William, you always took good care of it. The plushie meant a lot to you - since William once won it for you during a summer festival. You placed him on the right side of your bed. Quickly after turning off the gramophone and closing the blinds on the windows you went straight to lay with William. With you on his left and mr. Rex on his right he finally felt at peace for the first time this day. There was a small smile showing on his face. He felt grateful. After exchanging a few i love you's and cuddles he fell asleep. Usually he would pull some stunts to stay up longer with you by provoking tickle or pillow fights. He must have felt terribly tired.

You spent some of your time simply watching him and considered falling asleep as well, his arms were real free estate. Yet you couldn't help but think of how to cheer your dear boyfriend up. He'd definitely appreciate if he woke up to something nice. After a small brain storm, you decided to bake William his very favourite threat - a cherry pie. Your speciality. To be honest, you didn't know if it was your speciality because you were good at doing it, or because your boyfriend always devoured it as if it was final meal in this life ever. Either way, it did get Naib's and Mary's stamps of approval, so you were quite sure of your skill. Those two could be VERY picky on bad days, and they happened often.

It was finally time to get up. You had to be sneaky enough to leave your bed and avoid waking your boyfriend up. Thank God William fell asleep before you, otherwise he'd have a death grip on you. You waited a few more minutes to make sure he's in deep slumber and got out very slowly and carefully. You replaced yourself with some other plushie and wrapped the scarf you were previously working on around him. He looked absolutely cute. You were ready to get to work. You've went to your wardrobe and put on your favourite scarf on your head - so your hair won't make it's way into the food and put on a matching apron with some funky embroidment of it. If William was up he would probably be praising you for like five minutes. Truth is, he'd be all over you even if you wore a potato sack. Now, you could finally head to the manor kitchen.

The kitchen itself had a very relaxing feeling to it. It reminded you of your past life, no wonder you'd often find yourself helping all the servants making mealss. It radiated comfort among several soulless corridors out there. The kitchen's the heart of the whole house they say. Now, the cherry pie... you had to admit it was a fairly old fashioned recipe, a time consuming one on top of that - but it was worthy because your boyfriend love it. Well, he does like anything baked by you... or at least he tries. He even ate up your whole cake, which was entirely burnt at the bottom with a straight face. He may be an athlete, but one thing he can't deny is that he loves your cuisine. Quickly, you've began searching for needed indegredients: flour, cherries, sugar, butter... seems like everything was prepared! You were just about to do the first step and pull out the pits from the cherries when you heard footsteps that were approaching. Turns out it was Emma coming your way, asking for help. You weren't surprised though, all those huge sacks with garden soil could be very heavy, therefore you ended up offering the girl a helping hand. It can't take that long. The cherry pie can wait, right?

...Right??

Bump... bump... bump...

William has woken up due to weird noises coming from his neighbour's room. Seems like Ganji felt like relaxing and throwing his cricket ball onto the wall, the ball would jump back to him, creating a painful butterfly effect. Ganji was a good friend of William, but ugh! He will have to talk to him about it later, what's important right now is his precious love. He felt like he didn't express his gratitude to you when you took care of him after that terrible match. Facing mr. Rex, he turned the other way with closed eyes and gave you a gentle kiss. But hold on...

"Uhhhhhhh... what the heck?!"

The forward groaned, opened his eyes and saw a medium sized, green neon-like colored bear. You either left him while he was sleeping, or some evil witch turned you into a plush bear as revenge and now he had to take care of you, hopefully, it's the first option. William noticed he has a warm, pinkish scarf wrapped around his neck, hmm, wasn't it the one you were working on when he entered your shared dorm already one leg in his coffin? He smiled to himself. It was time for him to return the favor, but first of all, he had to find you.

William stormed out of his bed, quickly tucking mr. Rex and the green bear in. He put on some random clothes and his bunny slippers. After leaving his room, he started checking every possible place you could be in. Annoying him with Ganji? Nope. Playing with dolls with Memory? No. Thirdweeling Ada and Emil? No! Learning italian with Luchino? Neither... You've lately befriended Annie, maybe you're at her place? No, she told him she hasn't seen you. On a walk? He looked through the biggest windows in the manor, he couldn't see you admiring the greenary anywhere. So where could you be? At some point, he was just aimlessly walking around the corridors. He was supposed to give up already, but just when he was walking back to your shared, William felt a little hungry. He decided to sneak into the kitchen and grab some snacks from the refrigerator, he's lately thought about eating some of Naib's favourite gingerbread cookies, the mercenary won't notice if a few them will go missing, right?

Walking into the kitchen, William saw a few indegredients on the table, but there was no one else here. The servants have a day off, so who's taking care of this? Despite the products looking awfully familiar, he couldn't put his fingers on who exactly is behind this. Well, he wouldn't know if he didn't see a piece of material hanged on a wooden chair. It was a scarf, it was bright blue with some cute white embroidery on it.... that's your scarf! Suddenly, everything clicked. You were baking his favourite treat for him, or at least William hoped so. A light blush appeared on his cheeks. He felt very fuzzy inside.

You must have taken a break, the forward said to himself. He then felt like surprising you. Maybe he could help a little...? He's seen you baking a cherry pie a few times, the products are already there, he more or less remembers the procedure. It can't be that difficult! William wore an apron with some corny saying on it, it belonged to Luchino - he liked cooking fun lunches together with Robbie, but he was sure the lizard man won't mind it if he cleans it later. He was actually a very polite man against all odds. Truth is, even with an apron on, he still wasn't properly dressed, he's going to end up very dirty. But does it matter if he's about to spend some quality time with his dearest beloved? He took a deep breath. Alright. What was the first step...? Oh yes! It was the crust. William did all in his power to try to be as accurate as possible. It would be kind of embarrassing if he messed up his lover's hard work... he finally began mixing all the products. The crust ended up looking nice. The kitchen was much messier than when you were making one, but at least it didn't explode! What was next? He was pretty sure you usually would take the pits out of all cherries. Alright...

Helping the gardener took you a hot minute, but you managed to live through it. The clothing of yours was now a little dirty, and the exposure to sun made you sweat, but you were glad to help. You were coming back towards the kitchen, but something felt slightly off... you could literally bet you heard some annoyed grunts. Oh my, did the servants take over the kitchen? Weren't they supposed to have a day off?! Whether yes or no, you knew you had to step in before they did anything. Expecting the worst, you took a deep breath and went to the kitchen. To your surprise, there were no servants. It seemed like there was just you and your thoughts. At least you thought so. Something certainly happened here. First of all, there were many flour stains on the table, no, everywhere, besides, you've noticed an opened package of butter. Hey... how on earth was the pie crust already prepared? Did someo- WAAAH!!

You've suddenly felt a hand grabbing you from under the table and let out a diabolical scream. At some point, you were just about to call someone for help, this felt like a horror scene where some evil demon chases it's victim and later sacrifices their body to some ancient deity. Despite strange, scary stuff happening in the manor, you were still terrified, untill you noticed the hand looked strangely familiar... is that..? The arm was very bulky. Hold on, William?!

Seems like your bonding time with Emma took way longer than expected. Suddenly, all in his glory with a huge grin, William crawled out and stood up. He was wearing some loose clothes and a ridiculous, stained red apron with "KISS THE COOK" sewed onto it. He looked very amused knowing his trick worked out, meanwhile you were convinced he's going to tease you about it until the very end. First things first, you reached out and gave the cook himself a kiss on the mouth. You found it sweet how he wanted to help. William always wants to lend a hand, even if you're the one helping him at times. Not only that, looks like he also memorized the recipe?! You don't own a cookbook or anything, he must have learnt some things while watching you baking many times before. The crust was already finished and the pits were almost all freed from the cherries Sure, the flour maybe was all over the kitchen, the pits were pulled out a little messily, but did it matter? You were happy you could spend time together with your boyfriend. Give him a few chances and he'll be your best "little" helper in the kitchen. The entire process of baking your pie went swiftly. With William, everything is much more enjoyable. He would spin you around during random moments, smear a little flour on your face. give you pecks on your cheeks and sing out loud. Little did you know, the silly "flour attacks" from his side were the beggining of the end.

Everything was done. The pie just had to grow and warm up in the oven.

"Allow me, gorgeous."

William put on baking gloves on his hands and picked up the pie. He then put it inside. You loved how confident he attempted to look, despite this being his first time. Cutie. You gave him yet another kiss on the lips. He loved those little moments.

Now, it was time for the longest process - waiting for the pie to grow. William couldn't contain his excitement. You exclaimed that he can help you clean up the kitchen. Time will surely pass faster, but William had a different idea. A VERY mischevious one on top of that...

"William, love, i've brought two brooms. Here's one for y-"

You couldn't finish your sentence, since suddenly you were attacked with grains of flour. William burst out with laughter and exclaimed you not only have an expression as if you saw a ghost, but also look like if you were on. That guy... you took a sack of flour and counter attacked. You knew he could get very competitive during such play fights, even you don't get a "significant other treatment". He has no mercy, especially on you.

The fight lasted LONG. Even your scarf couldn't secure your hair from being filled with flour. Good luck with cleaning it later in the bathtub. Your face was entirely white, you were sure you looked whiter than Andrew himself right now. Your clothes, your everything was covered in flour, and so was William. He sat on the floor and let you sit on his lap. You though the war was over, until even more flour landed on both of you. It was Robbie! The fight resumed for yet another few minutes, until the three of you grew tired. You on William's lap, Robbie in yours, he was the first one to fall asleep. Not only the three of you were full in flour, so was the kitchen, you will surely get scolded. Honestly, you have no idea how no one has yet noticed the fight and put an end to it.

"I love you." Said William, holding your hand, he then began feeling a strange smell...

"Hey... is it me or did the air get really, REALLY stinky right now?"

"OH MY GOD WILLIAM"

It was the apple pie! William quickly wore the gloves and took it from the oven. It was black like charcoal, not to mention the smoke. The two of you were coughing like crazy, meanwhile Robbie was sleeping, unbothered by the event. William did feel somewhat responsible for what happened. He put one of his hands behind his hair and started rubbing it out of embarrassment. You both sat dawn on the floor again.

"Y/N, listen baby, i'm sorry... we just had so much fun together, i forgot about the pie. It's my fault, i shouldn't have helped you..." he looked like a sad puppy which has done something bad.

You reassured William that he shouldn't blame himself. It was an accident. They happen to everyone. Sure, the pie may be ruined, but we had a lot of fun while baking it. That's more important than some stupid cake. And while you DID worry about cleaning the kitchen, you didn't want to make William even more sad. Besides, you've heard that, apparently, Annie and Tracy created a weird machine that helps you clean - it sucks out all the dirt! Or at least they said so... wasn't that called... a vacuum? William eventually cheered up a little thanks to you.

"Sleep, i'll help you cleaning up after we wake up from a nap." He murmured, trapping you in his arms.

You weren't exactly sure how you ended up in this mess. But were you complaining?

The first person to notice the absolute mess in the manor kitchen was Helena. She was supposed to make some tea for herself, but she quickly forgot about that after seeing the three of you asleep together, tons of flour EVERYWHERE and a burnt pie on the table. Yuck. It wasn't long until she called for a few residents to help her. She's heard William had a difficult match today and thought you wanted to cheer him up. She didn't have the heart to wake you up. A few minutes later Martha, Tracy, Annie, Kurt, Xie and Fan appeared. Their reaction to seeing the kitchen wasn't much diffrent from Helena's. They all agreed to help you and cheer the both of you up. But first, they had to get rid of that mess.

While Annie brought with herself that strange thing named vacuum, Tracy proudly explained to the two brothers and the explorer how it operates. Helena on the other hands put earplugs into your ears.

"Are you sure that creation of yours isn't going to explode? This place already looks like a battlefield." stated Martha. One way or another, her question wasn't answered, as the invention began working. The rest grabbed grooms and proceeded to help, while Kurt went to the hunter part of the manor to notify that someone should pick little Robbie up. He eventually came back with Michiko. Not much later, the kitchen looked, well, not shiny clean, but clear enough. Kurt then suggested to make a cherry pie from scratch again. It was not an easy thing to do, but everyone agreed and did everything in their power. In the meantime, the Wu Chang brothers decided to take you somewhere comfortable. Your butts will hurt if you'll sleep on the floor too long. They weren't sure where your shared dorm is located, so they brought you to the living room and placed all of you on the sofa. Helena then covered you with a warm blanket.

After some time, the pie was finally ready, and the kitchen squeaky clean. They all sneaked into the living room and placed a cloth onto the table, and put a huge, fresh pie on it. Michiko made tea, even Naib helped and shared some of his snacks: cookies, leftover cakes... everything looked delicious. They all sat on their chairs, waiting for you to wake up.

After the three of you regained consciousness, you weren't sure what's going on. You were in a completely diffrent place, surrounded by so many people. Mmmm.... what?!

It appears they saw you laying on the floor and wanted to cheer you all up by making a new pie. This one was even bigger than yours! On top of that, there were also other sweets. The table looked quite rich. Sure, you probably still looked like clowns, with so much flour on you, but that won't stop you from having fun. Later on, even Eli, Emma, Norton and Emily joined the meeting. You appreciated the gesture from everyone else. Everyone had a friendly conversation with delicious food on their plates.

Suddenly, William sat up and took a cup of tea.

"I... i would like to make a toast!" everyone, including you, quickly stood up.

"A toast for my loveliest, prettiest, smartest honeybun, Y/N!!!" he cheered loudly.

You were stunned and quickly began to blush when William grabbed you by your waist. It felt so embarrassing, yet you felt flattered. So loved. Everyone took their teacups in their hands and celebrated. The atmosphere was lovely!

The party lasted for a few hours. You even managed to forgot about the mess in the kitchen, Tracy however explained how they cleaned it up, thank God. You were thankful to your William and your friends.

"Hey, Annie, mind explaining to me how that... vaccuoom works?" you asked...

☆ ☆ ☆

I can't believe i've wrote something so long help. Fun fact: I bake on like a weekly basis but i've actually never seen a cherry pie with my own eyes, i was just listening to Cherry pie by Sade and was like yeah it fits... anyways i had to watch some tutorials on how to make one so i can know what's going on 😭😭 By the way pookie if you are reading this I'VE SEEN YOUR GANJI REQUEST I WILL GET TO IT LATER... (the one i received two weeks ago, not the one i got today, but i'll get into that one as well dhdhdjej) anyways, thank you again for all the support. wishing all of you a good day or night☺️

#idv #idv x reader #identity v #william ellis #william ellis x reader #identity v x you #identity v x reader #idv forward

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