#drum circles for seniors

[andvys]

I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss | part 6

Warnings: angst, mentions of heartbreak, alcohol consumption

Pairings: Steve Harrington x fem!reader , Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler

Summary: Steve finally gets the answer to a question that has been haunting him for days.

Word count: 6k+

A/N: @belokhvostikova remember the ask you sent me about the idea with the denim jacket? I had to include it in this chapter, so thank you hehe <;3

series masterlist

-

Steve’s phone kept ringing all day, since the early morning hours. He doesn’t know if it was her or his mom, he didn’t bother to get up and check. At some point, the doorbell rang twice, he didn’t get up to open it either. He wanted to be left alone. He didn’t want to see anyone except for you. The thought of you just made him cry harder and made him feel more pathetic about himself – he kept reminding himself that it was him who fucked it all up. 

He never felt such self hatred for himself the way he does now. All day, he laid in bed thinking about you and all the things that happened that led him here, getting drunk at a bar he used to hate, wallowing in self pity while he knocks back one drink after the other after throwing his fake ID on the counter.

How will he keep going? 

Steve downs his fourth drink of the night and slides the empty glass over to the bartender, asking for another one. 

The man gives him a look of concern, eying Steve for a moment. 

“Just.. please,” Steve mumbles. 

The bartender sighs, shaking his head, he mumbles something under his breath but still, he picks up the bottle and pours the whiskey into the glass, “you’re getting water after this one, son.” 

“I have water at home,” Steve says. He reaches for the glass and slides it back towards himself. He leans his elbow on the counter and looks around the mostly empty room. Some rock song is playing in the background, one he doesn’t recognize. There’s a heavy cloud of smoke in the corner of the room where two men are sitting, laughing at some jokes that probably aren’t funny as they smoke their cigarettes and drink their beer. 

The door opens and in walks the guy that is probably one of the most irritating people at Hawkins High – to him, at least. Steve bites back a groan when their eyes lock. He turns back around, avoiding eye contact. From the corner of his eye, he sees him walking towards the bar. 

“Hey Tony.” 

Steve lifts his head a little to see the Bartender smiling. 

“Hey Ed, how’s it going?” 

Eddie drums his fingers against the wooden counter, he looks around the room, “good, uh, have you seen my notebook? I’ve been looking for it everywhere but I can’t find it – I even cleaned out my van, can you believe it?” 

Tony chuckles, “was about time you cleaned out that thing, boy.” 

Eddie rolls his eyes, snorting, “yeah, well I’m busy.” 

“With what?” 

Eddie pretends to think as he raises his brows and looks up at the ceiling, “well, working my ass off so I don’t have to repeat senior year again, I recently found a good tutor,” Eddie smirks, “got myself a muse to help me write the song texts,” Eddie wiggles his brows, making the older man laugh, “working on a new campaign. Oh and of course, how could I forget, comforting the broken hearted – you know, just the usual,” he shrugs as his eyes flicker over to Steve for a moment.

“What a busy man you are, Eddie,” Tony chuckles, shaking his head. He throws the towel on the counter, “I’ll take a look in the back.” 

“Thanks man,” Eddie smiles, watching him disappear in the hallways. He turns his head to look at Steve. 

“What is King Steve doing at the Hideout?” 

Steve turns to face him and Eddie raises his brows in surprise, “damn, you look like shit, man.” Eddie says. Taking in the puffy eyes and the dark circles beneath them, he almost feels bad for him. His hair looks messy, not as perfectly done the way it always is. 

“Get lost, freak.” 

“Always the douchebag,” Eddie mumbles, rolling his eyes.

Steve turns away, he raises the glass to his lips and takes a sip, swallowing the bitterness. 

“Are you pre drinking for the dance tomorrow or are you just drowning your sorrows in alcohol because you finally realized what a piece of shit you are?” Eddie asks. Not being able to hold back. 

Steve frowns, he turns to face him. There is something in Eddie’s eyes that Steve can’t read. 

“What the hell is your problem?” He asks. Not understanding the anger that is directed at him. They never liked each other but they never attacked each other either. Steve avoided him, he never had the jock’s back when they bullied him but he never really did anything about it either. 

Eddie looks at him for a moment. He opens his mouth to speak but decides against it. He sighs and looks away but Steve keeps staring at him. A weird feeling takes over him when he looks down at the jacket Eddie is wearing. His heart stops and his face pales. 

It’s that jacket. The one that has been in your room all week. It’s just a normal dark denim jacket, it could just be a similar one, he tells himself. But the Metallica pin on the sleeve is the exact same one that he had seen on the jacket in your room. 

Eddie smells like cigarettes and weed, the cologne that he can smell even from a distance is the same one that he had smelled on you. Realization floods through him in a cold wave. 

Eddie Munson is the stoner Billy had talked about? 

Eddie Munson is the guy you have been seeing? 

How did you even meet him? 

You never even talked to him when you were still with him. 

“You got lucky, Ed,” Tony says, holding up Eddie’s notebook, “you gotta take better care of your things.” 

Eddie chuckles, feeling relief. He takes the notebook and sighs, “I know, I know,” he mumbles and steps back, “I’ll see you on Tuesday, Tony.” 

“Tell your old man to come by too.”

“Yes sir,” Eddie salutes, grinning at the older man, he takes another look at Steve, who stares into blank space as he holds the half empty glass in his hand. Sighing, he turns around and leaves. 

Steve snaps out of his thoughts, he reaches for the wallet in his back pocket and picks out a fifty dollar bill. He throws it on the counter and puts his wallet back into place, he grabs his jacket and makes his way out of the bar, following Eddie. 

“Hey! This is too much, kid!” 

“Keep the change,” Steve mumbles before he stumbles out into the cold. He clumsily puts on his jacket. The cold air hits him harshly and he suddenly feels much tipsier than he did while he was in there. 

Eddie stands by his van, the notebook is tucked under his arm, his hand is cupped over the cigarette that is between his lips as he lights it up. 

“Hey!” Steve calls out to him. He stumbles through the snow. He blinks, trying to get rid of the blurriness in his eyes. 

Eddie turns around to face him, a curious look residing on his face. He blows the smoke into the other direction and leans against his van. 

“What do you want, Harrington?” 

Steve stops in front of him. The wind feels harsh on his skin, not even the thick jacket does anything to shield him from the cold. How Eddie is able to walk around with a denim jacket and not freeze to death makes him wonder.

“W-Where did you get that jacket?” He asks. Not knowing what else to ask now that he stands in front of him. 

Eddie stares at him with a serious look on his face, eyeing him up and down. “Why?” He asks. “You wanna buy it?” 

Steve furrows his brows, he shakes his head, “no?”

“Why do you wanna know?”

Steve’s mind is a little hazy, he feels more drunk than tipsy, right now. 

“You’re the stoner.”

Eddie raises his brows, his dark eyes flash with amusement and confusion, “the stoner?” He chuckles and takes another drag from his cigarette. “They usually call me a drug dealer but sure, I’m also a stoner – sometimes.” 

Steve shakes his head. “A-Are you with y/n?” 

Eddie tilts his head. “With y/n?” 

“Are you hooking up with her?” Steve asks, angrily. 

A knowing look takes over Eddie’s expression. He pulls back and sighs in annoyance. 

“Not that it’s any of your business but no, I don’t take advantage of vulnerable girls. And not everything is about sex,” he glares at him. He feels irritated by Steve and by the way he looks so confused about this revelation. 

“Then what is it about?” He slurs. Throwing his hands up. 

“Jesus, you’re a real douchebag. Is that all you think about? Sex?” He asks. “Can’t two people that like each other just be friends?” 

The look on his face tells him no. For some reason, Steve can’t comprehend that thought. How can Eddie be your friend and not want you? He always wanted you. Ever since you were little kids. He always loved you. He always wanted you to be his – until he didn’t. 

Eddie shakes his head and rolls his eyes, he throws the cigarette into the snow and walks away. The sound of Steve’s keys jingling makes him halt in his tracks though. He closes his eyes, annoyance rushes through him. He doesn’t like Steve, he never did and after what he did to you, he started liking him even less but you are his friend and you still care about him. He takes a deep breath and turns around. 

“Put those keys away, dude.”

“Huh?” Steve mumbles. Looking up in confusion. 

“You’re not driving home like that,” he says. Pointing to his drunken state, he watches Steve trip over a small pile of snow. Maybe if things were different, he would’ve laughed at him. “Get in the van, I’ll drive you home.”

Steve looks at his car, knowing he is in no state to drive himself but he refuses to get into a car with Eddie Munson. 

“I’ll walk.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, “don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you let the freak drive you home.”

It’s not about that, it’s about you. 

Steve looks at Eddie, who stares at him in annoyance. 

“Get in the car, dude. She’d kick my ass if she knew that I let you drive home like this.” 

Steve looks down for a moment. He takes a few deep breaths and nods. He puts the keys back in his pocket and opens the door, careful not to slip on the icy ground, he looks down and gets into the van. 

Eddie jumps into the driver's seat and closes the door. He throws the notebook on the windshield and puts the key into the ignition, startling Steve with the loud music when he starts the car. He scrunches his face up and turns down the volume, “shit, my bad.”

Steve’s heart is pumping in his chest, sighing, he opts to look out the window after putting the seatbelt on. 

“Your music sucks.”

“The audacity you have, Harrington,” Eddie scoffs. “Here I am being nice, inviting you into my van and you dare to insult the best music that there is!” He says dramatically.

Eddie hits the buttons, turning on the radio instead, Heroes by David Bowie starts playing, “here, just for you, King Steve.” He snorts. Not knowing that this will turn out to be a bad idea. Steve tenses up when he hears the song but Eddie doesn’t notice, he is too focused on the street as he backs out of the parking spot. 

The song takes him back to last year, back to you. 

“If you had to give us – our relationship a song, which one would it be?” You asked him as you sat on his lap. 

“A Song?" He asked, chuckling. 

You nodded with a smile on your face as you looked through your new polaroid pictures that you have taken with him in the snow. He leaned his chin on your shoulder and tightened his grip on your waist. 

“Uh– probably, Heroes.” 

“By David Bowie?” 

“Yeah.” 

You nodded, humming. For a moment, it was silent between the two of you, you placed the polaroids back on the table and turned to face him.

“Isn’t it sad though?” 

Steve shrugged, not thinking as deeply as you did. 

“He sings,” you cleared your throat and looked at him shyly. “And you, you can be mean,

and I, I'll drink all the time. 'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact. Yes we're lovers, and that is that. Though nothing will keep us together. We could steal time just for one day. We can be heroes for ever and ever. What d'you say?” 

Steve was smiling at you, his heart was fluttering in his chest and you, you were blushing by the time you were done singing. 

He poked your waist and leaned in to kiss your cheek, giving you one of his rare soft moments. “Exactly, he sings ‘we’re lovers’.”

“You are not listening to the rest of the song, Steve!” 

 “Then keep going.”

“No,” you giggled. 

“Please,” he whispered, pouting. “I love your voice.”

You rolled your eyes, playfully. You kissed his cheek and began to sing again, clearly loving the sweet moment between the two of you when he watched you with soft eyes. He cleared his throat and picked you up, laughing at the squeal that fell from your lips, he leaned in to steal a kiss before he placed your feet on the ground. He grabbed your hairbrush from your desk and held it up to his lips. 

“I, I will be king and you, you will be queen.” He sang. 

You giggled and walked backwards as he began to walk you towards your bed. 

“Though nothing will drive them away. We can be Heroes, just for one day.” He furrowed his brows as he tried to remember the rest of the lyrics. He wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you back against him, “and we kissed, as though nothing could fall.” 

“You forgot the rest of the lyrics–” he cut you off with his lips on yours, kissing you passionately. He pulled your body so close against his, he could feel your heartbeat. 

Now he feels his heart breaking in his chest. 

Maybe it’s the ache in his chest, maybe it’s the alcohol in his system or maybe it’s just a combination of both that makes him break down in Eddie Munson’s van. Startling the man who was bobbing his head to the music until he heard Steve’s quiet sob. Stopping at the red light, he furrows his brows and looks over at Steve. 

“Uh– you good?” He asks. He feels a little stupid to ask him that, clearly, Steve is feeling anything but good. He taps his fingers against the steering wheel and presses his lips together. How does he comfort a man that he doesn’t even like? 

Steve cries softly, the shame isn’t there yet, right now, he doesn’t care that he is crying in front of Eddie who could tell everyone that King Steve broke down in his car while listening to David Bowie. 

“Need a tissue?” Eddie asks even though he knows he doesn’t have any in his van. 

Steve just shakes his head, clearly wanting to be left alone.

Eddie nods to himself, taking a deep breath, he sighs. Eddie knows why he is crying, it doesn’t take him long to figure it out. The moment he saw him getting drunk at the Hideout, he just knew. 

He doesn’t say anything for the rest of the drive over to Steve’s house. The music and Steve’s soft cries sound through the van. A part of Eddie pities Steve, the other part doesn’t – after all, it’s all his own fault. 

He pulls up into Steve’s driveway, still remembering the way to his house from the last party he threw back in august when he had first talked to you. He stops the car and turns down the music a little. 

“We’re here.” 

Steve nods. He wipes the tears away and he reaches for the door handle but he doesn’t leave, not yet. His eyes fall on the note lying on the floor, it must’ve slipped out from his notebook. He instantly recognizes your handwriting and his heart drops a little when he realizes that you are writing them for someone else now. It’s not affectionate or romantic, the note only says ‘good luck on the test today. Can’t wait for the milkshakes you promised!’ Next to a smiley. 

“I miss her.”

Eddie didn’t expect to hear those words from him. He leans back in his seat. 

“I-I miss her so much,” he whispers. “I-I don’t know what to do without her. I want her back.”

“You have a girlfriend, man. You left y/n for her,” Eddie mumbles. “Do you even know what you want?” 

Steve feels the bile rising in his throat. He feels sick. 

“I do now, b-but it’s too late.”

Eddie glances at him. The look of sadness and the tears are genuine and so are his words but there isn’t anything that he could say that could make Steve feel better. He doesn’t deserve you, you are too good for him and you have suffered enough to give him another chance to break you again. 

“I don’t know what you wanna hear, dude. You broke her heart and you did it in such a fucked up way too, there’s no coming back from that.”

Steve isn’t sure about what he wanted to hear but it’s definitely not that. 

“Just leave her alone, you’re only making things worse,” Eddie sighs as he thinks about you. “Go home, Steve.” 

Steve sniffles, he opens the door and nods. 

“And don’t ruin the night for her tomorrow.” 

Steve’s eyes widen, he looks at him through the tears. “She's coming?” 

Eddie nods, “yeah, her friends convinced her to come.” He can see the look in Steve’s eyes, it’s the same one he sees in your eyes. He loves you, which makes everything so much more confusing. Why did he leave you for someone else when he loves you so much? 

Steve blinks. He looks down for a moment, staring at the note that makes his heart ache. “Oh okay,” he whispers. “T-Thanks for driving me home.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, this is the most kindness he had ever shown to him. 

“Don’t mention it,” he mumbles. He narrows his eyes at him. Steve doesn’t move yet. The look on his face tells him that he wants to say more. 

“Spit it out, dude.” 

Steve looks up. Tears continue to brim in his eyes, the words are strangled in his throat. He takes a few deep breaths as he tries to stay calm. 

“T-Take care of her?” 

Eddie wants to tell him that you are capable of taking care of yourself but he decides against it. He nods. Even though he can’t understand why Steve did what he did, he can imagine the self hatred and the sadness he is feeling. A flicker of sympathy flashes in Eddie’s eyes.

“I will.”

Steve almost breaks down when he thinks of your words again, of the way you cried when you begged for him to leave, when you called him bullshit. 

He walks away when he feels like breaking down again. 

He fumbles with the keys, almost dropping them when his hands begin to shake. He manages to open the door, he steps inside and closes it. Leaning against it, he drops the floor and buries his face in his hands, a broken sob leaves his lips. 

He knows he has to let you go, the way you let him go but how? 

How? 

-

You stare at your reflection in the full length mirror. You apply the red lipstick that Chrissy convinced you to get when you stopped by the drug store after you bought the dress that you had caught your eye the last time you went shopping with them. A black, glittery dress. It’s not too tight but it’s not a wide one either, though it fits your body perfectly. The straps are thin and it has a cut on the side. You love it. It’s not something you would usually wear, you always opted for the colorful dresses but, you feel like it’s time to switch things up. 

How you let them convince you to come to the dance after all? You have no idea but the thought of spending another night filled with tears made you feel miserable. 

Heather is standing behind you with the curling iron as she finishes off the rest of your hairstyle. 

Some Christmas song is playing on the radio, the room smells like a mix of hairspray and perfume.

“Can I ask you something?” You ask as you stop applying the lipstick. 

She hums, glancing at you through your mirror. 

Heather purses her lips, she pulls the curling iron away from your hair and twists the wave. 

“Is it just me or is Chrissy being weird towards me?” 

“What do you mean?” She asks. But you can see the knowing look in her eyes, you know she – they are both not telling you something.

She runs her fingers through your hair and smooths down your waves and applies more hairspray. 

“She’s just, I don’t know. I feel like she’s keeping something from me,” you mumble. “And she seemed so sad when I agreed to go with you.” 

Heather hesitates to speak up. You can tell that she is trying to come up with a lie. 

“She’s probably just sad because she has to go with Jason Carver.”

You look down at your painted nails and nod, “yeah, I guess.”

“Which I totally get, who would want to go with him?” Heather tries to change the topic, you know she is.

“Literally no one,” you snort. “But he will probably be the new King of Hawkins High once Steve and Billy graduate and the naive freshman girls will throw themselves at him,” you say with a disgusted look on your face. 

“God, that’s a disgusting thought,” Heather says. “Let’s talk about something else – look at you,” she smirks as she leans down, placing her finger under your chin, she raises your head, “queen of Haw–”

“Don’t say that,” you groan as you tilt your head up to look at her. 

She chuckles and ruffles your hair a little. “You look amazing, now get your ass into that dress and let’s go. Maybe Munson will show up for you and steal you for a dance,” she wiggles her brows.

You roll your eyes but you can’t fight the smile off your face. 

“Shut up,” you mumble. You reach for your half finished drink. Maybe it’s not a good idea to drink alcohol but you need it, right now. You don’t plan on getting drunk, just a little tipsy to make it through the night. 

You both finish getting ready, you put your dresses on and take a few polaroid pictures in front of the fairy lights in your room. You throw a mint into your mouth and spray more perfume on yourself, hoping that your mom won’t smell the wine on you. 

She doesn’t notice it or at least, it seems like she doesn’t. She takes more pictures of you and Heather in front of the Christmas tree before you leave.

The school hall is bustling with people, loud music is playing and everything is decorated in gold, red and green colors – fitting the Christmas season. Your arm is linked with Heather’s. She seems excited, you feel overwhelmed.

The lights are flashing, girls in colorful dresses rush past you with their dates. You look around, trying to spot Chrissy but you don’t see her anywhere. You sigh, the first few minutes of a big event are always the most awkward ones. 

Where do you stand? Where do you sit? Who do you talk to? Is it too early to dance? Is it too early to leave? 

“Hey, are you okay?” Heather asks. 

You nod, smiling at her. 

“You seem a little overwhelmed.” 

“I’m fine, I-I just need something to drink.” 

“A drink?” A deeper voice asks. One that instantly makes you roll your eyes. 

Billy steps in front of you with a smirk on his face, he eyes you up and down before he looks over at Heather, checking her out as well. He is wearing a tux, the button down underneath the jacket is almost fully unbuttoned. 

“You look slutty, Billy.” You joke, “you’re lucky Mrs. Myers isn’t around or you’d be sent home for violating the dress code.” 

He chuckles darkly, leaning closer to you, he holds up one finger, “the slutty look is exactly what I was going for.” 

“As always,” you snort.  

“Do you wanna dance?” Billy asks you. 

“No thanks but Heather wants to dance.”

She turns to you with wide eyes and red cheeks.

“I know you want to,” you whisper into her ear before you pull away and place her hand into Billy’s, who smirks at you. 

“I’ll drown you in the punch if you don’t treat her well.” 

He only laughs in amusement, clearly not taking the threat seriously. 

“Y/n?” Heather glares at you. 

“Have fun, babe.” 

You know all about her not so secret crush on Billy – she is good at hiding it but you saw right through it. 

You make your way over to the snack table. Waving at some of the girls from the cheer squad who are taking pictures with their dates. 

A huge bowl is in the middle of the table, filled with red liquid and fresh fruit. You wonder if someone spiked it with alcohol yet. You pour some of it into a cup and take a sip. Definitely spiked. You down the rest of the drink and pour yourself a second cup. 

“Hey.”

You freeze. You stare down at your drink. Yeah, you definitely need the alcohol tonight. You haven’t talked to him since that night, you sat next to him during English class today and you had submitted the essay together but you didn’t talk and you hoped that it would stay that way. You didn’t want to talk to him anymore. 

“Careful with the punch, Tommy spiked it.”

You turn around to face him, his eyes widen a little when he takes in the sight of you. He looks you up and down, not in the same way Billy did but in a way that leaves your skin crawling and your heart racing. 

He is wearing a black tuxedo with a red bow tie. His hair looks amazing as always but his eyes are filled with sadness. 

“Good,” you mumble as you drink the spiked punch. 

“Y-You look beautiful,” Steve says. His heart flutters, you steal his breath away. The dark eyeshadow makes your eye color more prominent. Your red lips look so kissable and the dress looks like it was made for you. You are perfect.

“Where’s your girlfriend, Steve?” You sigh. You refuse to look into his eyes, knowing that it will only make things worse. 

He blinks, furrowing his brows. He looks over your shoulder to where she’s standing with Jonathan, smiling at him. “She’s uh–” he stops talking when he sees you walking away. He sighs, clenching his hand into a fist, “shit..”

You already feel like going home – you knew you would run into him, you still weren’t prepared, you never are. You are sick of the feeling he leaves you with whenever you see him. You are so over it. 

You take a seat at your assigned table and look around, finally spotting Chrissy in the crowd. She’s dancing with Jason, you can see the forced smile even from a mile away. 

You can’t stand him. You always hated the way he treats others – the way he thinks that he is so much better than everyone else and the way he thinks he can have anyone he wants. The way he uses Mrs. Cunningham’s liking towards him to force himself into Chrissy’s life, knowing that she doesn’t actually like him. 

You relax a little when you see Heather heading towards Chrissy, pulling her away from Jason so that they can dance together. You lean back in the chair and sip on your drink. 

You wish you would have stayed at home. 

You wish you would have listened to Eddie when he said that this sucks. 

You feel like a loser, sitting by yourself at this empty table, sipping one drink after the other as your eyes continuously move back to him. You see him with her and it breaks your heart all over again. By now, you should be used to it and you were – you have gotten used to this. To him not being yours anymore, to him loving someone else, to him being with someone else but then he turned everything upside down.

His confession left you in shambles. He had broken everything, again. All the strength you have gathered since the day he left you, he took it all away from you with a few words and a kiss that almost happened. 

He loves you, that’s what he said. But he is here, holding her in his arms, kissing her as though he didn’t try to kiss you, two nights ago. He is dancing with her, whispering things into her and holding her tightly. 

None of it makes sense to you. 

If he loves you so much, then why is he dancing with her as though nothing ever happened? 

Why is he still with her? 

Is she a rebound now or were you just the backup plan all along? 

The girl he’d come back to once things with her go downhill? 

Are they already going downhill? 

Is that why he told you he still loves you? 

So that he has someone to come back to? 

You feel so miserable. The longer you stare at him. You begin to feel worse and worse. 

Not even a dance with your friends helps you lift your mood. Not even the compliments and the nice things that people have said to you tonight, make you feel better. Nothing makes you feel better but you force a smile on your face, a happy one. The way you always do and you dance with Heather and Chrissy, holding their hands and pretending to have the time of your life when all you wanna do is go home and cry yourself to sleep. 

It’s when you find yourself sitting on the bleachers with a sad expression on your face, ready to say ‘fuck it’ and go home, that your night takes a turn for the better. 

You don’t hear the footsteps coming your way, you are too busy looking at all the happy couples. Someone clears their throat. 

“May the Master of Dungeons have a dance with the ethereal Queen of Hawkins High?” 

Your eyes widen and a smile tugs at your lips, you straighten up and turn to look at Eddie who playfully bows in front of you with a smile on his face, getting a few weird looks from the other, which neither of you care about.

A giggle falls from your lips, “Eddie!”

“Come on, give me your hand, Queen.”

You laugh and place your hand in his. He pulls you up and smiles at you when your eyes lock. “Look at you,” he beams. He raises your hand over your head, “give me a twirl,” he winks. 

You roll your eyes, playfully. Giving him the twirl that he asked for, you can’t help but giggle when he begins to whistle. 

“You look beautiful, sweetheart!” 

He grabs your waist when you stumble a little. He instantly smells the alcohol on you. 

“Thank you, Eddie.” 

He eyes you with a smile on his face, “love the smokey eyes and the dress – honestly, you look like a witchy fairy.” 

“A witchy fairy?” You laugh, tilting your head. 

He puts his hand over his heart, “I mean that as a compliment – a badass witchy, fairy, shit, I’m gonna have to create a character based on you now.” 

You shake your head, laughing at the concentrated look on his face. He is wearing a white button down, a few buttons are left undone, one of his tattoos is peeking out from beneath the shirt, and a silver chain is around his neck. His curly hair looks as good as always. 

“You look amazing, Eddie.”

He raises his brows in surprise, his dark eyes light up. 

“Thank you, badass fairy witch,” he winks. “Look, I stole these pants from Wayne, I have none without holes in them,” he laughs, pointing to the black pants he is wearing.

You can’t even help but giggle. 

“I thought this isn’t your thing,” you say. Gesturing to the dance. 

He shrugs, “yeah well, I thought you could use a dance partner.”

Your gaze softens. A feeling of warmth and comfort rushes through you. “You came for me?” 

He holds your hand tighter, “who else would I come here for?” He asks as he looks into your big eyes. 

“My knight in shining armor,” you tease. 

He snorts at your words, “come on.” He says as he pushes you in front of him and leads you into the middle of the dance floor, pushing some jock out of the way. You can feel the eyes on you, you can see the weird looks from the cheerleaders when they see you with Eddie. It only makes you scoff at them. 

A squeal leaves your lips when Eddie suddenly twirls you again, laughing when you hold onto his hand tightly. He wraps his arms around you from behind and leans in, “let me guess, you had some of that spiked punch?” He whispers into your ear. 

"Absolutely,” you giggle and turn around to face him. You place your hands on his shoulders. 

“Bad girl,” he smirks, tapping your nose.

“I learned from the best.” You tap his nose back, making him laugh. 

Steve watches you and Eddie with an irritated look on his face. You seem so carefree and happy with him. So familiar. Like you have known each other for a long time already. You melt into his touch so easily and laugh at whatever he is whispering into your ear. 

The feeling in his chest is sickening. He knows it’s jealousy. He can’t do anything about it though. The girl in his arms is his, you aren’t – not anymore.

Every breath you take by The Police starts playing. Some leave the dance floor, some stay to slow dance with their partner. Steve pulls Nancy closer and looks over her shoulder to see what you will do. 

Eddie pulls you closer and you wrap your arms around him, you lay your head on his chest, melting into him so easily. It breaks Steve’s heart a little. He feels tense, it’s hard to see you with someone else, even when Eddie said that there is nothing but friendship between the two of you, it certainly looks more than just that to Steve.

You don’t even notice the weird looks you are getting from the people around you. You are only focused on him. The thought of you and Eddie somehow hurts more than the thought of you and Billy. Because Billy would be nothing more than a hookup but Eddie? Eddie is a good guy, one who will treat you well and love you the way he couldn’t.

“Is everything okay?” Nancy asks as she lifts her head to look at him. 

“Yeah,” he mumbles with a frown on his face. “Why?”

Her blue eyes are filled with confusion, she shrugs, “you seem tense.”

“I’m fine, Nance,” he says, softly. 

“Okay,” she smiles. 

When she lays her head on his chest, he squeezes her and looks back up. His breath hitches in his throat when his eyes lock with yours as you rest your chin on Eddie’s shoulder, who’s back is turned towards him. For a moment, you look at each other. Steve’s heart begins to beat faster in his chest, the longer you look at each other. He longs for you. This, all of this, feels so wrong. He shouldn’t be here with her and you shouldn’t be there with him. 

But while his eyes soften, your eyes harden. 

His are filled with longing and sadness. 

Yours are filled with indifference. 

You look at each other for a few long seconds and then you take one final look at him before you tear your eyes away from him. Somehow, that felt like a stab to his heart because that moment felt like the end. The realization that it is truly over makes his blood run cold. He feels paralyzed by the pain that he had caused himself. 

Eddie tightens his hold on you when he feels how tense you are, he looks down at you with a look of concern in his eyes.

“Do you want to get out of here?” 

"Yes, please." 

next part

only tagging friends & mutuals

@mysticmunson @wroteclassicaly @corrodedseraphine @corrodedcorpses @screammunson @hellfire--cult @imjuststeddietrashatthispoint @sherrylyn628 @somethingvicked @nemesis729 @taintedcigs @take-everything-you-can

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington fic #stranger things fic #stranger things angst

[theonewiththefanfics]

Bet On Me (one-shot)

Synopsis: There's a few bets going around: Y/N bets everything on the fact that Eddie is innocent, Eddie still thinks that he's a coward, and the kids want to know when Eddie will finally ask Y/N out. And Steve... Steve is just over it.

This is sort of an AU! because I refuse the ending we got. ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!Cheerleader!Reader

Genre: a lot of fluuuuufff, some angst

Warnings: SPOLIERS FOR SEASON 4!, a lot of pining, cursing, mentions of blood and injuries and death, Eddie feeling very low and guilty of himself (someone give my poor boy a hug). I can't think of anything else, but please let me know if there is something I should add here.

Word count: 3773

DO NOT REPOST OR TRANSLATE MY WORKS ON OTHER PLATFORMS WITHOUT SPECIFIC WRITTEN PERMISSION!!!

The second the doorbell of Family Video rang at 12:34 PM during the Friday shift, Steve let out the most resigned sigh he could muster, because he knew who it was and what was gonna happen. The sound of the chains, of the stomping steps and the incessant tapping of palms against thighs in some indiscernible rhythm didn’t give Steve any other illusions history was going to repeat itself. All over again.

“Heyo, Stevo,” Eddie dragged out the name, plopping his elbows down on the till counter with a flourish. “So. Any new movies?”

But Steve was absolutely done this time.

“Stop.” He waved his hand in front of Eddie, not even deigning to answer the question. “Stop. Just stop this whole thing. You’re not here for the movies, you’re here because in just a couple more minutes, Y/N Y/L/N will walk through those doors to give back her previous week’s rentals, and it will give you your opportunity to just gawk at her, even though you actually want to ask her out. So just stop with this lame excuse, man up and ask that girl out on a damned fucking date already. You've been doing this for weeks, man, weeks. I know trauma brings people together and shit, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I do consider us friends, but even that has, limits because if I have to hear one more time any sort of groaning and moaning from you about Y/N, and still you’ve done nothing to change the situation, I will personally find a way to open the Upside Down back again and throw you through it, because God damn it, Munson, you will deserve it.”

Eddie, for once in his life, was truly and utterly speechless, watching as Steve’s chest heaved after the rant.

“Shit, Harrington, tell me how you really feel,” he mumbled looking at the countertop, drumming his fingers against it.

“Look.” Steve took in a deep breath and let it out, calming down a bit. “I get that you’re scared, okay? I do. Before I asked Nancy out, I thought I was gonna shit bricks, but the worst thing that could have happened is she could have said no.”

“No,” Eddie countered, pointing at him. “The worst that could happen is Y/N could start laughing in my face, tell the basketball team the freak of town asked her out, and sic those psychos on me again because there’s a difference between you and Nancy and Y/N and me – first we run in different social circles. You and Nancy were the King and Queen of Hawkins before even getting together; you were equals. Y/N... she’s a cheerleader, for Christ’s sake… while I’m the banished nerd, and second… you were never accused of murdering Nancy’s best friend, and still have those rumours fly around even after being vindicated.” That last bit was whispered, and to that, Steve had nothing to reply.

Y/N and Chrissy had been thick as thieves before everything went wrong with the Upside Down, but even Y/N hadn’t known she was struggling despite Chrissy looking up at her as her big sister just about to graduate her senior year. They seemingly had told each other everything, and yet she hadn’t known Chrissy was in such a bad place, she was willing to try drugs to ease the pain.

Even so, even after her body was found in the Munson trailer, not for a second Y/N had believed Eddie had had anything to do with her best friend’s death. For fuck’s sake, Chrissy’s eyes had imploded! How would someone who spent their evenings writing out a character sheet for a fantasy game be able to do that?But despite knowing that, Steve couldn’t deny how people still avoided Eddie like he was the actual plague.

“She tried to stop Jason from coming after you, you know,” Steve piped up, which made Eddie look at him. “Tried to talk some sense into the rest of the team to not come after you, countered whatever he said at the town meeting the night people decided to hunt you down. Y/N never believed you hurt Chrissy, would never, as you said, sic anyone on you. I’m pretty sure she’d fight tooth and nail against that. That has to count for something.”

Eddie’s heart clenched at Harrington’s words. Knowing she’d stood up for him was one thing. Knowing she’d done it in front of the whole town while they were ready to lynch him was another. But still… doubt was like one of the demobats, lurking around the corner before striking with fangs and claws.

When he’d been pulled from the Upside Down, bleeding from every possible crevice of his body, Eddie didn’t think he’d make it, and in some masochistic way, thought he shouldn’t make it. He still blamed himself for what’d happened to the sweet cheerleader he’d left mangled in his trailer. Maybe if Chrissy hadn’t gone to him, maybe if he’d told her he wouldn't sell drugs to her, maybe if he’d gone to literally anyone else and informed them about what she wanted, Chrissy could have been saved. So maybe he didn’t deserve saving either, but the rest of the gang had other plans. 

Steve and Nancy had made a sling from the sheet he'd cut, tying Eddie’s barely conscious body to the other man’s back, and Robin and Nancy boosting them through the gate, before helping a limping Dustin as well. Then it was a race against time to get Eddie the help he needed.

Their group was a hurricane as they borrowed, or more like stole, Max’s mom’s car and rushed to the hospital, Dustin screaming at Eddie to stay awake while Robin kept yelling for Steve to push on the gas with Nancy attempting to staunch the bleeding by putting tourniquets where she could or simply pressing down on the wounds where she couldn’t.

It wasn’t much better when they finally reached the place, all of them screaming for someone to help Eddie, only to start giving directions to the ER team once they arrived as if they were medical staff themselves.

“I’m 0 negative,” Nancy breathed, pulling at her sleeve and rolling it up as far as she could as nurses called for a doctor and the rest helped place, Eddie, on a gurney, Steve also instructing for someone to check on Dustin’s bad ankle, who just diverted them back to Eddie. “A universal donor. He’ll need blood. He – he – he’s lost a lot of blood, he’ll need it.”

“Miss, you need to be checked as well.” A nurse tried to guide her to a different bed, but she ripped out from her grip. “Why don’t we do that before –,”

“I said I’m 0 negative.” Nancy’s tone had turned into a sneer as she stared the nurse down. “Either you take the blood, or I can do it myself.” The nurse had taken a step back from her, the determination in the young woman’s eyes didn’t leave room for arguing, so she just nodded and escorted her to a quieter place.

It took Eddie about two days and four blood transfusions to regain consciousness, despite his wounds being shallow, he'd lost a lot of blood, but his newly found friends were all there for him. 

Steve took care of the food, Nancy made sure someone always remained by Eddie’s side as she set up rotations, while Robin had informed Eddie’s uncle about the situation, but it wasn’t just them. 

Dustin with his bad leg, Lucas with his beaten-up face and even Mike who’d arrived back in Hawkins with El, Will Jonathan and Argyle in tow – all of them were there for Eddie, even going after the police as they’d handcuffed their Dungeon Master to the bed seeing as he was still the prime suspect of the murder of the Queen of Hawkins High. Max had even almost taken one of her crutches and smashed in an officer’s face, but Joyce and Hopper had busted in before that could happen, and despite everything, Eddie had smiled harder than ever. He’d never felt so loved in his life than in that moment.

However, once the presumed-dead ex-chief of police took the reins with a government agent who'd brought them to Hawkins, they were somewhat able to spin Chrissy’s death as Jason’s fault, especially because the other teen had died during the earthquake that’d hit as the aftermath of the gang having beaten Vecna, the Upside Down slowly crumbling in on itself, while the Creel house fell apart, Jason’s body never to be recovered.

The story they settled on was this – the basketball player had seen his girlfriend meet up with Eddie in the woods, and then he’d followed her later on in the evening to where they converged in Eddie’s trailer. Jason confronted the two, his jealousy being a known issue, and that’s when Eddie had left, leaving the couple to resolve their issues on their own, only to return a while later to find Chrissy dead, which prompted him to run in fear of his own life. Max Mayfield was set to be the prime witness to vouch for him, which she did no questions asked.

With the agent's help, they made sure it was a story the whole town, hell the state of Indiana was aware of as well. Of course, some was sceptical, some outright refused to believe anything of the sort, yet the police could do nothing but release Eddie from any charges and drop the case. But that didn’t minimize Eddie���s nightmares, nor did it erase the new scars littering his body courtesy of the Upside Down, and neither did it ease the guilt for leaving Chrissy, so hearing Y/N defend him, believing the lie they’d spun about how her best friend met her end, made his stomach churn. 

She deserved to know. If anyone deserved to be aware of the truth, it was Y/N, which should probably be at the top of his confession list, but his spiral was interrupted when Steve cleared his throat, eyes trained on something over Eddie’s shoulder.

“Umm, you two okay?” A voice from behind him startled the boy, making Eddie whizz around only to be greeted by a smiling Y/N. “I’m here to bring the movies back?” The girl waved the VHSs in her hands looking at Steve. “That is if you still want them.”

Steve sighed nodding in her direction and she took it as her confirmation to step next to Eddie by the counter. “Yes, please. Don’t need three more deducted from my pay-check this month.”

Tentatively Y/N looked at Eddie and gave him a soft ‘hi’, before turning back to Steve, leaving Eddie to his gawking. “What got snatched?”

“Jaws 3-D,” Steve grumbled.

“Shit.” Y/N chuckled. “And not even the good one.” 

He scoffed, hitting the till and giving Y/N the receipt. “Tell me about it.”

“You – uh,” Eddie cleared his throat, eyes shifting from his clasped and wrung hands to Y/N’s eyes. “You’ve seen Jaws?”

“Uh, yeah.” She nodded, smiling softly. “I really like horror and thriller, actually. Well, maybe not anymore.” Her smile turned into a painful grimace. “Don’t think I can stomach anything like that after everything that’s happened. At least not for a while.”

“That’s fair.” Eddie nodded along to her words. “Yeah, no, completely understandable.”

“Mhm,” she hummed, nodding along as well as an awkward silence settled. 

Eddie looked up hoping for Harrington to interrupt them, but Steve was nowhere to be seen, having left the two to talk on their own. The once super senior cursed him for it, giving him no other choice but to continue on with the conversation, but then again – maybe Steve was right. And Eddie wouldn’t say that lightly.

He thought of himself as a coward. He’d run the second danger appeared and only stopped when Dustin, someone he really truly cared about, was in grave danger, but Y/N hadn’t. Not for a second, despite the fact she had everything to lose, despite the fact that Hawkins could turn on her, making her become the new town pariah, she’d stood by Eddie’s side without ever really knowing him. She’d bet on his innocence and won, even though she really didn’t know it was true. So maybe, he could be as brave as she was.

“Hey,” Eddie started and had to avert his gaze when Y/N’s Y/E/C eyes bore into his. “Would you – and I mean you can definitely say no, like no pressure whatsoever – but like, would you want to go out… with… me?”

Y/N raised her brow, a gentle smile playing on her face. “Like on a date?”

“It doesn’t have to be!” he immediately said and cursed himself for backtracking. “We can just be two people who just so happened to go to the same place to do the same thing at the same time… with one another.”

Y/N sucked in the air through her teeth, and that motion alone made Eddie’s heart drop. “I mean that does sound like a date, which I totally would go for, but I gotta say no right now.” 

Of course, she’d say no. 

“But.” 

What? 

“If you ask me in like…” Her gaze drifted to a calendar hanging over by the wall, mouth moving as she counted. “Six days, I’ll say yes.”

Eddie was prepared for rejection, but not that sort of a rejection, leaving him dumbfounded. “Umm… okay? Can I – can I ask why?”

Y/N chuckled. “Robin told me your little Hellfire minions and Max have a bet going on when you’ll muster up the courage to ask me out.” The smile on her face turned mischievous. “I sort of want Max to win. She was the only one who said you’d do it before the end of the month. And I want the boys to suffer with how close they got. So, I’d say two birds, or I guess three birds with one stone – we get to go out on a date, Max puts the guys in their place, and they learn not to mess with you.”

“You – you knew I wanted to ask you out?”

Y/N shrugged, fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. It was her turn to become bashful and nervous. “I mean, I hoped it wasn’t them just making things up.” Uncertainty flashed in her eyes as she shuffled on the spot. “And now I’m sort of hoping you’re not in on this bet, and this isn’t gonna blow up in my face.”

“Yeah – I mean no!” Eddie grabbed onto her shoulders as he fumbled with his words. “This – I had no idea those shitheads had bet on whether or not I’d ask you on a date, but – but they’re right… I uh… the only reason I’m actually ever here is to uh, see you, and well, maybe get the courage to ask you out.” Eddie’s laugh was both out of astonishment and excitement. “Can’t believe those little gremlins bet against me after everything though.”

Y/N mimicked his laugh and bit her lip. “Okay then… I’ll uh, I’ll see you in a few days then? Hopefully it won't take you as long to ask me this time.”

Eddie’s ‘yeah’ was a breathless response, but nevertheless, a confirmation, as he stared at Y/N like she was a Sindarin elf straight from Lord of the Rings while she pointed at Steve who’d now magically appeared back at his station with a satisfied smirk on his mouth, startling Eddie so much he jumped back. “You tell this to Dustin, you’re dead meat much like your paycheck. I still have Sixteen Candles and Nightmare on Elm Street as hostages.”

“Come on, Y/N” he groaned, throwing his head back. “They’re my children! They’ll know I’ll be lying!”

“Then they’ll be the ones carrying your casket, so choose wisely.” 

With that Y/N gave Eddie one final glimmering smile and skipped to her car. If Eddie still had one after everything, he’d be skipping to it too.

But when six days later, he was disturbed by a knock at the door, as Y/N had called him the day before to set it up in a way the kids could witness their talk, he wanted to bury himself six feet below and in that casket, Y/N mentioned to Steve. 

Filled with nerves and jitters, he went over and pushed the doors open only to be greeted by a beaming Y/N as she glanced over her shoulder where he spotted Max ducking back inside her trailer while he noted a bunch of tiny heads watching from below the kitchen window curtain.

God, he was gonna throw up, he couldn’t believe what he was about to say to his dream girl.

“So...” She turned back to look at him. “Ready to ask me something?”

In all honesty, he was sort of glad, that she said he could ask her out only six days later, it gave him more time to mull over those thoughts in his head, and come to the conclusion that yes, he could do it and help out Max by winning the bet, but he’d never subject Y/N to the kind of scrutiny this town would put her through if they so much as had a whiff she’d been in the ten-mile radius around him, no matter her previous stance during the hunt.

“Look...” Eddie sighed, stepping down to be level with her. “You really don’t have to do this. We can go over, say I did it, and then Max can win, but we don’t have to go out on that date. I – I can’t make you go through that.”

As he said those words, he noted how Y/N’s smile slowly dropped, and if there was something Eddie hated more than the Upside Down, it was that.

“Eddie, I’m not here just because of the stupid bet the kids have going on. Honestly...” She crossed her arms and let out a deep breath as if steadying herself. “When Robin told me you wanted to ask me out, I didn’t believe her. Thought it had to be some stupid prank on your part with the rest of Hellfire, and when she said about the bet, that even confirmed it more. I mean what would a guy like you want to do with a girl like me, right? You hate cheerleaders, hate anyone that has to do with conformity and shit, so you had to have something Carrie-Esque planned for me.”

Eddie was just about to interject, especially at the notion he could ever humiliate her in that way, but Y/N kept on talking. “But then she said how you’ve been going to Family Video, how you’ve been bugging Steve and how Steve wouldn’t stop complaining about you to her, and so I took the chance that maybe, just maybe, it’s not a prank, but that you actually like me… so when I heard that rant you went on the other day, I knew it was real for you.”

He had to take an actual step back at her words. “You heard?”

“Yeah, I did. And I want you to know I never believed that you could ever even think about hurting Chrissy. Not once. You’re too good for that, too kind to ever hurt someone like that.”

Eddie’s eyes softened at her words. “You think I’m kind?”

“You put on this tough, metal-head act,” Y/N smiled at him and shrugged. “But… you literally took those kids under your wing, because you knew what it was like to be bullied, and didn’t want that happening to them too, taking on the brunt of whatever Jason and his goons threw your way. You’re not just kind – you’re brave too. You’ve stood up against a town that was ready to hang you. That’s bravery on a level I could never have.”

“You’re brave too.” Eddie instantly interjected, ready to reach for Y/N’s hands, but stopped himself, rubbing the back of his neck instead, fearing he might overstep a boundary. “You – I mean, you literally heard Steve tell me how you told the town to piss off my back about Chrissy when literally you had no evidence, I hadn’t hurt her. I was the prime suspect, yet you – you went against Jason and everyone else for someone who didn’t deserve it.”

“Yes, you did. I might not have been there, nor do I have any physical evidence, but I know, I know in my heart you didn’t lay a single finger on her.” Y/N stepped closer to him, putting her palms on Eddie’s face and rubbing her thumbs underneath his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed he’d started crying. 

Eddie's words were nothing but a whimper. “But I left her there.”

“No one knew Jason was gonna do such a thing.” Y/N shook her head, brushing her fingers along his cheekbones. “And I don’t blame you. It was Jason’s fault… and as horrible as it might sound, I’d rather you be alive than have had the same thing that happened to Chrissy happen to you. That asshole got what he deserved. So, Eddie, let me say this again, and however many times you need me to – you. Are. Good. You are not a coward. And you deserve all the love in the world.”

A teary chuckle escaped him, as he leaned into Y/N’s touch. “Well, then would you give me the biggest honour in the world and please go out on a date with me?”

“Yeah,” Y/N said, beaming at him, a stray tear slipping down her own cheek, which Eddie carefully wiped away. “I’d really love to. And I know who’ll be paying for it.”

Eddie chuckled, pressing his forehead against hers, and her grin widened as he slowly reached for her hands and intertwined their fingers. “You really gonna bully Max for the bet money?”

Y/N scoffed squeezing his palms, thumbs rubbing over his rings. “I’m not heartless. I’m gonna bully the rest of the kids for not having enough faith in you. Seems fair enough.”

“Can I – can I kiss you?” Eddie’s voice trembled, but it shouldn’t, as Y/N leaned up herself and pressed their lips together in a sweet and slow kiss.

The collective ‘NO’ from the boys and a female cackling from Max’s trailer just added to the joy of the situation. Some bets were lost, some bets were won, but ultimately Eddie felt like the true winner. The girl of his dreams had taken a chance on him despite everything. 

And now he was gonna be brave.

He was gonna love her until the very end.          

Tags (crossed out wouldn't take):

Everything tags: @palaiasaurus64​ @supernaturalbaesduh​@thatawkwardlittlefangirl​ @sea040561​ @staryeyedgirl​ @deathbyarabbit​ @m-a-t-91​ @maladaptive-ninja-returns​ @averyrogers83​ @in-the-end-im-still-trash​ @gallifreyansass​ @dewy-biitch​ @avxgers​ @unlikelygalaxygiver​ @magicwithaknife​ @ollyoxenfrees​ @bnhvrdy​ @tvwhoresblog​ @thatkindofgurl​ @sj-thefan​ @lestersglitterglue​ @im-squished​ @strangersstranger​

A/N: I know I haven't written in AGES, but so many things just got in the way, I didn't have the time to but I have already like 4 other Eddie fics in the works.

EDDIE DESERVED BETTER!!! AND JOE QUINN IS AN ICON!!!!

#joseph quinn #eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #netflix stranger things #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fluff #joseph quinn imagine #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn x you #joseph quinn x y/n #Stranger Things Spoilers

[thefreakandthehair]

@eddiemonth prompt, oct 4th: Rejection | Arsonist’s Lullaby - Hozier | Lost a/n: pre-steddie post-s4, angst with soft, happy ending because I'm a marshmallow. un-betaed because I'm challenging myself to write these in under an hour. read on ao3 | link to series on ao3

All Eddie Munson has ever wanted to do is play music. 

That’s it. There are other hobbies, of course, other things that bring him joy– D&D, fantasy novels, art– but ever since he was a kid, whenever a teacher would ask what he wants to be when he grows up, it’s always the same answer. 

I wanna play music. 

As a kid, it seems less daunting. He just has to practice, he just has to play, he just has to have the passion to make it big. To be the next Kirk Hammett, or Eddie Van Halen, or Ozzy Osbourne if he can teach himself to carry a tune. 

Making friends is hard, but he manages to find a few in middle school who can play the instruments he can’t– drums, bass. Eddie takes the role of frontman, not exactly a singer still but he’s charismatic enough to get away with it at their school talent show.

High school comes, and Corroded Coffin is revamped. New vibe, new members. He’s older now, a little more jaded with each rejection. 

No one wants their EP, recorded by hand in Gareth’s garage onto cheap cassette tapes. 

No venue will let them play, and Eddie knows that it’s probably because they’re in high school but hadn’t The Cure started in high school? 

No one believes in them, trying to push them– especially Eddie– to consider more successful careers, safer paths. 

But eventually, they book a regular gig at The Hideout and Eddie’s certain this is it. This is their big break. Until they play week after week, staring at the same five plastered faces every Tuesday. If they can prove themselves though, the owner will have to let them play on a Friday or Saturday.

He never does. 

The final nail in the proverbial coffin comes after Eddie’s final senior year. Being accused of murder should have beefed up his credibility if nothing else– he’s already been traumatized, terrorized, and hunted like a goddamn dog, nevermind almost killed via hoard of angry mutant bats. Surely, he’ll catch at least one break. 

And then the owner at The Hideout tells him he can’t play there anymore. 

The hoards of people who still blame him for Chrissy Cunningham’s death are too much for him to manage himself and, in his words, Eddie’s driving away good business. His heart shatters, his breath catches, and Eddie leaves without a word because if he were to try to speak, all that would come out is either an enraged scream or a choked sob and Eddie doesn’t want to risk either. 

He drives around aimlessly for an unknown amount of time, just circles around the outskirts of Hawkins. Maybe I’ll just leave, he thinks. Indianapolis might be far enough. Maybe Chicago. Fuck it, maybe Argyle and Jonathan can put me up for awhile in California. Eddie wants to go somewhere that makes him forget just how lost he is, how unwanted and forgotten he’s become. Being the social pariah is only fun when he’s making speeches on cafeteria tables, not when it boots him out of his one and only career path. 

Somehow, he ends up in Loch Nora. He can’t face Wayne right now, he doesn’t want to bother Robin or Nancy, he’s already let Jeff, Gareth, and Freak down in the worst way imaginable, and if he goes to his mom’s or Chrissy’s tombstones with one more sob story, he’s afraid they’ll start haunting him. Steve’s become a friend over the last year or so it makes sense. Process of elimination and all of that. 

He doesn’t have the mental bandwidth to realize that he’d started driving that way before he ruled everyone else out. 

Steve welcomes him like he always does and offers him a beer, sitting with him in companionable silence on the couch as they watch Monty Python and The Holy Grail and laugh at the same parts. Eddie knows Steve can see that he’s upset but instead of asking questions Eddie isn’t ready to answer, he just sits a little closer with their thighs touching and one arm strewn over the back of the couch, just barely grazing Eddie’s shoulder. 

The movie ends and Steve moves to switch the tape when Eddie finally speaks up. 

“The Hideout kicked us out. Can’t play there anymore.” 

Eddie sees Steve freeze from behind before turning, his eyebrows knitted together above his nose. “Are you fucking serious?” 

He nods and sighs, lifting one hand to chew on this thumbnail as he looks at the wall beyond Steve. 

“That’s bullshit, dude. Why? Because of the protestors or whatever?” 

He nods again. 

“Want me to go down there? I’ve still got my bat around here somewhere. It might be nice to swing at something that’s not trying to like, eat me.” 

Eddie huffs a small laugh through his nose and meets Steve’s eyes, their righteous anger blending with his own as he sees Steve cross his arms over his chest. It’s hard not to stare. 

 “Well, then at least I wouldn’t be the only guy in this town wanted for murder.” 

Steve shakes his head and just chooses another movie, Howard the Duck this time, before returning to his spot on the couch. It’s one of Eddie’s favorite movies but he can’t focus to save his life because Steve is even closer now, his arm draped fully across Eddie’s shoulders and creating a space for Eddie to easily just… rest. So he does. 

The title sequence starts and Eddie’s head drops to the side, resting on Steve’s shoulder. It’s one of his favorites but he can’t follow the plot to save his life. All he can focus on is the way Steve’s fingers trace symptoms and shapes against the cotton of his tee shirt, and the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the feeling of Steve’s head leaning against the top of his. 

“I had a new song and everything,” Eddie whispers, surprising both himself and Steve. 

Steve hums and tightens his arm around Eddie’s shoulders, a ghost of a hug. “Play it for me sometime?”

All Eddie Munson has ever wanted to do is play music. And maybe he still can.

#steddie #steddie fic #steddie fanfic #steddie fanfiction #eddie munson #eddie munson x steve harrington #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #eddie month #stranger things fanfiction #st fic #myblurbs #eddie month prompts #and then eddie and corroded coffin start playing other small venues outside of hawkins #steve helping however he can and then recruiting everyone else who's available to come cheer #eventually they play the right gig at the right time and bing bang boom eddie's dreams come true <3333 #he's just a little guy and he deserves happiness #duffer bros i'm in your walls

[cloverdaisies]

# UR SUCH AN EMO! ｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

— choi chanhee x gn!reader

₊⊹⁀➴ description: the popular kid meets his unconventional match in one of the school’s most hated emo’s. from lab partners to cleaning buddies: the events that caused social royalty to fall in love with someone from the very bottom of the high school food chain. ｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

₊⊹⁀➴ genre: angst, fluff, enemies to lovers.

₊⊹⁀➴ word count: 4.1k+

₊⊹⁀➴ a/n: happy belated birthday @sanaxo-o , ily a lot, hope you enjoy this little piece i put together 4 u 🫶 it’s been in the works for a while but i really wanted to complete it for you. ｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

₊⊹⁀➴ warnings: mentions of bullying, frequent arguing.

The sound of crashing drums and noisy guitar riffs leaked from your headphones, lazily dragging your shoes across the pavement as you were unwillingly met with the gates of the hell that was school. As usual, the halls were like the inside of a incredibly overpopulated zoo, with heads being met with the sides of lockers and the boisterous roars of students celebrating the beginning of the last semester of senior year.

You couldn’t be more excited to finish school, considering school simply wasn’t the safest place for anyone with alternative taste in anything. You clumsily made your way to your locker, abruptly pausing the music in your headphones before placing them on the shelf and shutting it with a slam.

“Someone’s not happy.” You sighed at the voice beside you, a familiar voice that has haunted your nightmares since you were at least 14 years old. “If you wear anymore eyeliner, you’re gonna start looking like your cosplaying a panda.”

“Good one.” One of other boys perked up, cheering on the other with a pitiful snicker sucking up to him like a little minion in goggles and dungarees ready to steal the moon.

Sunwoo definitely wasn’t the nicest guy to be around in high school, it certainly didn’t help that your locker was conveniently placed next to his so you got the divine pleasure of seeing him everyday. It also didn’t help that his group of minions congregated around that space 24/7 during every break like they had nowhere else to be.

However, he wasn’t the worst of the bunch. If anything it was a boy called Chanhee, he always had something to say, in fact too many things. “Your headphones are making my ears bleed.” , “Try not to wear black challenge!” , or just simple things sometimes like “I HATE your shoes.” You couldn’t deny you brought that upon yourself after one time you’d made fun of the fact he’d worn a beret to school, yeah the entire, “dAd yOu CaNt dO tHiS i WaNna gO tO fAsHioN sChoOl” comment you’d made didn’t sit well with him.

He stood towards the back of the small circle, him, Sunwoo and Changmin were the only ones that had arrived on time surprisingly, as some of that group seemed to only turn up half way through the day when they felt like it. The others weren’t as bad either, Hyunjae was a nice guy and so was Haknyeon, the rest you hadn’t had too much interaction with, thankfully.

Breezing past them with a sigh, you threw your bag over your shoulder and decided it’s best to ignore them rather than make any attempt to clap back. Besides how could you waste anytime when you had the extremely fun class that was chemistry to rush to?

“Okay class, welcome. Take your seats.” Your chemistry teacher welcomed you in with a jovial smile, his combover gelled so stiffly it would survive a hurricane intact. "We're jumping straight into some lab work today, I've assigned you partners based on ability."

The entire class let out a unanimous groan at the thought of set partners, the excited glances made by bestfriends across the room being replaced with long frowns. However, for you, this was simply the best case scenario since you didn’t have any friends in this class. At least that’s what you thought until the teacher spoke some unfathomable words that sent you spiralling as soon as they fell from his tongue.

“Y/n, you’re with Chanhee on this bay.” He called from the second row, you glanced over at Chanhee who rolled his eyes with a groan grabbing his bag and grumpily shoving it down next to his stool.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy either.” You laughed sarcastically, sitting beside him as he rested his head on the desk in frustration.

The teacher went on to explain the test you’d be carrying out, different chemicals reactivity in water, recording the results and comparing the differences. It was pretty simple, since it’s was just a warm up to ease the class into the semester. Hopefully the time would pass fairly quickly so you wouldn’t have to sit next to mr. miserable for much longer.

“Are you just going to sit there or help?” You sighed, watching the boy sit up with sleepy eyes peaking through the strands of his dyed blonde hair. You passed him a pair of protective goggles, dropping them in front of him as he jolted awake.

“Sorry, I fell asleep you’re that boring.” He replied satirically placing his glasses on. He sported a false smile gleaming off his white teeth, his eyes creasing and smile lines faintly showing at each peak of his lips.

“Charming.” You raised your eyebrows momentarily, filling the plastic basin with water and placing it on the table in front of you. You took turns dropping chemicals into the water watching the the chemicals fizz or even catch light at times. Recording the sound and visual on paper as well as the time taken for it to stop.

“So why do you hate me so much?” You asked the boy curiously, crossing your arms as you watched him scribble down some more notes in his workbook.

“I don’t?” He laughed slightly, shaking his head, his golden earrings dazzling under the light. “I’m more annoyed I have to work with you, because to him, hopefully I can get your grades up.”

“So you’re crying because you think you’re doing charity work? Get over yourself.” You snickered, not breaking eye contact as he stared you down with an intense glare, his pupils darkened in silent rage.

“Maybe you should get over yourself, huh? You ever thought about that, don’t talk to me on your high horse when you had no reason to make fun of me for what I wear in the first place.” Chanhee spat, thankfully the ringing of the school bell paused the argument, diffusing the tension in the air.

The class was dismissed, and in your next few classes you couldn’t stop thinking about what you would have said back to him in that conversation. Perhaps something along the lines of “Isn’t that what you and your group have done to me everyday for the past 5 years?” If the bell hadn’t rang there would have probably been some sort of cat fight break out.

Soon it was lunch, and as you were sitting with your friends on your own table you felt an intense stare across the room. You looked up inquisitively at the feeling of eyes on you, spotting the same group of boys Sunwoo, Chanhee and the others you like to call the minions ( come on they literally have one called Kevin ) staring at you like hawks. You rolled your eyes and continued talking with your friends, eyes occasionally wandering to the other side of the room. You needed another drink, squashing your empty carton of apple juice and throwing it into the trash can nearby —landing a pretty cool trick shot.

“He’s not very happy with you.” A polite voice chimed from in front of you in the line of the canteen, “Said you got in a bit of an argument.”

You turned to see Haknyeon, nibbling on cherry tomatoes from a plastic packet like a small mouse, whilst heartily filling up his lunch tray and sliding it across the surface.

“I can tell that, the minions seem to have a bit of a staring problem.” You chuckled looking over the group where they were trying to land food into each others mouths from large distances, yelling boyishly when Juyeon caught a grape from across the cafeteria.

“He’ll get over it.” Haknyeon shrugged, as he got to the front of the line ready to pay for his food. He held out the plastic packet of tomatoes he was snacking on and offered. “Tomato?”

“No thanks, I hate them.” You laughed slightly, listening to the beep as his card was accepted on the lunch reader.

“More for me then.” He shrugged, stuffing his face with another before flashing the brightest and cutest smile you’d ever seen. You paid for your drink, sitting back at the table with a sigh, glancing back over at Chanhee as he smiled and laughed along with the other boys in glee.

Next period after Lunch was English, the sound of the teacher reciting quotes from The Great Gatsby singing you to sleep like a lullaby. It also didn’t help in front of you, Chanhee and Hyunjae were sat working away taking notes. After the argument you’d had this morning with him, the presence of Chanhee couldn’t put you anymore on edge.

“Hey y/n… y/n? Wake up.” Hyunjae flung a pencil towards your head, abruptly causing you to sit up straight at your desk eyes sensitive to the bright lights around you.

“What?” You rubbed the top if your head where he’d hit and groaned in annoyance. “I was getting a good amount of sleep there.”

“I’m having a party on Friday, you wanna come?” He asked, with bright eyes and a grin of genuine interest spreading across his face.

“You know, I always say no.” You replied with a sarcastic jingle, situating your head back on your desk and yawning tiredly.

“That is not happening. Even if you say yes there is no way I’m letting you come.” Chanhee chimed in with a shocked gasp, laughing to shake off the thought of you being at one of Hyunjae’s events.

“Can’t you just be nice? Y/n’s my friend and actually is pretty damn cool if you get to know-” Hyunjae laughed, thinking the other boy couldn’t be serious but was sharply cut off before he could finish his sentence.

“Are you even my friend?” Chanhee scoffed, immediately going back to his work and not making eye contact with him. Hyunjae shrugged at you, offering a sympathetic smile and going back to his own work.

You didn’t pay anymore attention to the pair of them, your head reintroducing itself back to the table planning to nap the rest of the lesson away.

“Jesus wake up.” You felt a push at your arm, “You can’t interrupt my sleep and then start snoozing behind me.”

You looked up at Chanhee in annoyance, raising an eyebrow whilst observing the disgusted look on his face. You smiled, taking a breath, choosing your words carefully before speaking to the brown eyed boy.

“Will you do us both a favor? And stop speaking to me?” You spoke calmly with a false sweetness loading each word like a bitter bullet, watching as his eyes rolled to the top of their sockets and back.

“That’s enough! Y/n and Chanhee! Both of you out of the classroom.” The teacher demanded, fed up of the disruption from the corner of the classroom. You both got up, more than annoyed leaving the classroom door with a slam.

“You’re so dead for this.” Chanhee glared at you in annoyance his palm resting against his forehead as he tried to destress.

“Deserved. If you kept your mouth shut we wouldn’t be here, would we?” You smiled as he sighed, it was quite funny watching him being kicked out of class for the first time — a place you’d been so many times before, but for him it was more than ego crushing.

“What brings you both out in to the corridors?” The sound of heels clicking down the corridor, has both your heads turning towards the principal with a sigh. “Kicked out of class.”

“Not intentionally.” You groaned, hating having to encounter the woman considering she had her eyes on you 24/7 for sleeping through classes and not doing any homework contributing to your grade.

“Y/n, you can’t be pulling down the reputation of some of our best students like Mr. Choi here. Seeing as the both of you aren’t in lesson, the music store room actually needs cleaning and it would be amazing if you could help.” She smiled, passive aggressively clasping her hands together like a fly.

You’ve got to be kidding me, was the only coherent thought to pass your brain, it was only the first day back and you’d already gotten yourself into so much in just a few hours. She brought you to the storage room, where there was clutter everywhere, cardboard boxes, trash, old instruments just scattered over the unseeable floor.

“It might take a few days, so I’ll make sure you both commit to this for at least an hour each day until it’s clean. No free periods after lunch, got it?” She cocked an eyebrow at the two of you, pulling the dusty chain for the dim light bulb that barely lit the room.

“Yes Ms.” You both replied unenthusiastically, beginning to move boxes to make some walking room amongst all the chaos in the room.

“I could really use a coffee right now.” You groaned as the door slammed shut behind her with a deafening screech, the both of you covering your mouths with your forearms due to all the dust.

“You’ve just slept like a sloth for an hour and you need coffee? Pfft.” Chanhee scoffed, adding on a cough at the end blowing the dust out of his face with a look of disgust painted all over his face. “I can’t believe you got me into this.”

“You got yourself into this because you can’t keep yourself quiet, you’re just always dying to say something negative to me.” You put down the box you were carrying into a pile in the corner, the fragile cardboard wearing thin.

“Only because you for, some reason, think it’s okay to be mean to me too!” He snapped back once again referencing the time you’d made fun of his outfit one day, pulling his red sweater over his palms as he lifted another box.

“I was actually gonna say earlier, don’t you think I hear the same thing everyday from your gang of guys? Do you think that one time I made fun of you outweighs the last 5 years of you making them at me?” You turned around, tears welling in your eyes as you spat your words of frustration out in to the air. A moment of silence lingering, the tension in the air so cuttable and cold it felt like shards of ice hitting your skin, the nerves and adrenaline painting a pink color your in your cheeks.

“Just because they made fun of you, or even just Sunwoo, does not mean for even one minute I thought that about you too.” He softened his voice having seen you get so vulnerable on the topic. “Plus you give Hyunjae a pass, why did you go for me? Why did you make fun of me? I still get slander for the way I dress and act to from them-”

“I could ask you why they get a pass? If they’re so mean to you and you don’t think they should be mean to me, then why are you even friends with them?” You laughed in frustration at the boy justifying years of torment to not only you but himself, it simply made no sense.

“Because I don’t know anything else? Is that what you wanted to hear?” He threw up his arms in frustration watching as your lips sealed in silence. “Or the real answer, because I’m too scared to say I got hurt by it? I don’t want to seem fragile or like I can’t take a joke. I’ve known them since when we were kids, they’re still my friends, my day 1’s. That’s the truth.”

Seemingly emotional, he turned around to the wall slightly frustrated he’d let his guard down, however also perhaps in a state of processing the reality of his own actions and feelings. As if he’d had some sort of emotional awakening, as if the cogs finally started turning on why he was so hurt by what you’d said to him. He was hurt by you, because he’d already had his confidence worn down by the same people affecting you.

The both of you began unboxing the items in the storage room in complete silence, not uttering a single word other than a few coughs or mumbles about how much dust was in the room. You began opening a rather dusty box, a large rectangular one attached to a smaller chunkier box. You opened it and let out a quiet “cool” as you found a brand new electric guitar attached to an unopened amp.

“Do we have a power outlet in here?” You turned to Chanhee with an excited smile, he didn’t look up at you but just pointed to a old looking socket on the wall. You plugged in the amp, attaching the connecting wire to the guitar and played a slightly off key chord due to the guitar being untuned.

“Oh my goodness, that’s so loud stop.” Chanhee laughed slightly, a giggle from pure joy, not a sarcastic or mean one, a genuine chuckle. “We don’t have time for this.”

All of a sudden he returned to seriousness, the laughter pausing as quietly you put down the guitar neatly in the corner of the room and unplugged the amp. Clearly it was impossible to clear the air or bitterness with this guy, you may as well give up trying to reconcile at this point.

“I see how it is.” You sighed, lazily continuing the move the plethora of boxes around the room to try at least uncover the floor of the storage room by the end of hour.

Around 10 or so minutes later the bell rang, signalling the end of the day and soon the hallway outside was filled with muffled laughter trapping you both in the musty room until the storm passed. He didn’t say anything to you, asides from slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving, it felt as if the conversation earlier seemingly had no effect on his feelings of hatred towards you.

Since it was the end of the day, you went to retrieve your headphones from your locker opening it up to a note that read:

“Ur Such An Emo!”

“Real original, ur so funny!” You uttered, crumpling the paper in your fist and letting out a deep sigh before putting your headphones around your neck.

“Didn’t like my note?” Sunwoo asked leaning against his locker with a cocked brow and his arms folded across his black wash denim jacket.

“Not really. I almost forgot how unfunny you were for a second though.” You sighed closing your locker door, only to have your arm gently grabbed back.

“I’m only joking, you do know that, don’t you?” He asked, his condescending smirk saying much otherwise. Despite it being ‘not that deep’ to him of course it was frustrating being the butt of the joke everyday for you.

“Sunwoo shutup for one minute, will you?” Chanhee approached him, pulling his gentle hand from your arm and turning back away from you coldly.

Almost shocked for words, you stood there for a moment before quickly rushing away from the scene down the hallway. Chanhee? Chanhee Choi? Defending you? Perhaps the conversation did have some impact on the way he thought of Sunwoo and his minion clan.

“So about that party, Friday night.” The cheery voice of Hyunjae beside you forced you to take off your headphones on your way out of the gates. “Are you coming?”

“Maybe.” You sighed, clutching your bag on your shoulder with a delayed and airy chuckle.

“That always means no, doesn’t it?” He laughed in response, trying to make eye contact as you only kept your eyes on the pavement ahead.

“Pretty much.” You shrugged, briefly nodding a goodbye to the boy before parting your ways to walk home. The trees hung over the sunny sky in September, leaves drooping, getting ready to decay orange and make the departure from their branches. Birds flying over the neighborhood in crowds, humming the scene a soundtrack as you stepped through your front door home. Crashing into your bed, you huffed wondering why Chanhee had defended you yet still acted as if he hated your guts.

｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩ —

Friday soon stumbled upon you, the rest of the week hadn’t been particularly interesting, however Chanhee hadn’t spoken to you since Monday. Everyday the hour at the end of the day that you’d both designated to cleaning the music store room, he remained silent not speaking a word to you everyday, ignoring your questions, jokes and thoughts - only speaking when necessary with the odd “excuse me.” or sometimes even a brief “pass that over.”

Today wasn’t any exception, he strolled in on the last hour without any polite “hello”s or quite frankly any acknowledgment of your presence in the room at all. You’d had enough of trying to entertain yourself with your own thoughts and turned around to the boy with a quick snap. He’d chosen to wear a more toned down outfit than usual that day, straight fitted black jeans with a loose tucked in black t-shirt. In his ears he’d opted for small silver hoops which complimented the thin silver chain around his neck.

“I can’t take it anymore, why’ve you been ignoring me all week?” You huffed out, watching as the boy did nothing but shrug in the most annoying and frustrating fashion. “You don’t know, really? It’s killing me, did I do something to upset you? It can’t be nothing.”

“I’m not sure why I’m ignoring you, I’m actually not.” He sighed, carrying himself within a register that translated words of genuine truth. He finished packing one of the last boxes, placing his palms on the top and beginning to stare into nothing but space.

“Then can you stop?” You laughed walking through to the thin aisle of shelves where you’d been placing organised boxes for the past week. You gently put your last box down, turning and accidentally bumping into Chanhee as you hadn’t noticed he’d moved from his original spot to move his own box.

You caught eye contact with him, forgetting to apologise for bumping into him instead you were lost for words. As you looked into his hazel brown eyes, you couldn’t seem to catch a single coherent thought other than how unreal he looked in the warm lighting above him.

“Can you not? I just nearly dropped my shit.” He rolled his eyes and huffed a huge sigh of frustration forcefully breaking his eye contact with you.

“Jeez I’m sorry, didn’t see you there.” You groaned, returning the eye roll, annoyed he’d began picking arguments with his unpredictable attitude once again.

“If you’re going to apologise try not being rude about it.” He clapped back, you immediately whipped your head back around, slowly walking back up to him and shaking your head in disbelief.

“Shouldn’t you be the one apologising? Didn’t you start the argume-” You began, before you were unexpectedly cut off by him passionately smashing his lips against yours, his hands cupping either side of your face. You couldn’t help but immediately reciprocate the kiss, the shock fading away almost instantly. You pulled away looking at him with a bewildered expression painted across your face, not expecting him to even have that kind of action programmed into his perfect little system.

“Uh, Why? I thought I was ‘such an emo’.” You asked, not being able to contain your laughter as he mirrored your chuckles, a smile plastered on his face as he locked eyes with the ground.

“Well first of all, never tell anyone what I’m about to say or you’re actually dead.” He looked up at you with a pair of sparkly eyes, “I like you? Even though you’re such an emo. I guess.. I have for a while, I always thought your style was really cool and I’m sorry I made fun of you.. I don’t really know why I did it.”

“You’re so awkward quit being so nervous about it.” You laughed as he chewed on his lip trying to hide the nervous grin creeping up. “I guess there’s always second chances, apology accepted.” You teased him, placing a boop on his nose with your finger.

“Thanks.” He spoke softly, his cheeks turning bright pink as you placed a kiss on one side of his face to reassure him. “Uhm, So you coming to that party tonight?”

“Sure I will.” You smiled, grabbing your bag as the last bell of the day sounded. “I guess I like you too, by the way.” You added before quickly escaping through the music storage door, leaving him behind alone, his brain running marathons and his heart beating out of his chest. His phone screen lit up and sending an aggressive bell sound to be muffled thorough the denim of his jean pocket:

y/n: oh and u looked like such an emo today xo

Chanhee laughed, his fingers shaking nervously over his cracked phone screen as he thought of a reply. When he got home he’d continue to text you until the very sunset, when his eyes simply couldn’t stay open any longer. For him, he finally felt accepted for who he was and what he liked — similarly so did you.

#tbz #the boyz #the boyz x reader #chanhee x you #chanhee x reader #the boyz imagines #the boyz fanfic #the boyz x you #the boyz fluff #the boyz drabbles #tbz imagines #tbz chanhee #chanhee imagines #chanhee fic #chanhee #new x reader #tbz new #tbz au #kpop imagines #kpop x reader #kpop fluff #deoboyznet #the boyz scenarios #tbz x reader #the boyz au #kpop au #kpop scenarios #kpop fanfic #the boyz new #tbz chanhee imagines

[juiceinpanties]

10 Things You Hate About Eddie Munson

Pairing: Eddie Munson/afab!reader

Rating(s): Chapter: PG; Fic: E

Tags: eventual smut, penetrative sex, oral sex (both m and f receiving), fingering, subbie!Eddie, masturbation (m and f), fake dating, van sex, secret relationship, antagonistic relationship to friendship to lovers, casual sex, not-so-casual sex, phone sex

Summary: Your best friend, Nancy Wheeler, is absolutely dying to date Steve Harrington, but her parents have the weirdest rule: Nancy can't date until her friends (e.g., you) do. Nancy begs you to date someone, anyone, and eventually you agree. Meanwhile Steve offers to pay Eddie "the freak" Munson to ask you out. What could possibly go wrong??

Notes: This is, quite obviously, a 10 Things I Hate About You au, with a slight twist. Throw in some fake dating, a 90s setting, and here we are. Thanks to @tonybourdain​ for dragging me in and continuing to enable me.

Please note the tags. This chapter is rated PG, but future parts will be smutty!

Feedback is always welcome and appreciated and PLEASE reblog! Completely blank blogs that just like will be blocked because I'm gonna assume you're a bot. I've been here a long time.

In case you wanna read on Ao3 instead

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

Senior year. You’ve almost made it, you’re almost OUT! You and your best friend, Nancy Wheeler, have spent the last 4 years planning for college and your escape from Hawkins, and now it’s just 9 short months away. You’re practically counting the days.

“I’m just saying,” Nancy says as she bites into a carrot stick. “One or two dates. It wouldn’t hurt either of us. Don’t you want to date before you go to college?”

“I have dated,” you say with a frown. “It wasn’t for me.”

She rolls her eyes. “Hooking up with a few guys at a few different parties is hardly dating,” she says. She leans in closer, lowering her voice so none of the cafeteria busybodies will overhear. “You know I love you and all your convictions, but my parents won’t let me date until you do, and I really. Really. Want to go out with Steve. Just once! Please?”

You huff and drum your fingers against the table. You aren’t 100% sure about Steve, but Nancy tends to be a good judge of character, so if she likes him...

“Fine!!” you say. Nancy beams and claps her hands in delight. You hold up a hand to quell her enthusiasm. “But I’m not going out with one of Steve’s idiot jock buddies. Find me someone interesting.”

Nancy stares at you. “Sweetie, no offense, but...what the hell does that mean?”

“I mean, like, I don’t know. Someone not like Steve. Think of Steve, then go the opposite direction.”

Her face twists in thought. “I’ll talk to Steve.”

“Do that,” you say, grabbing your tray. “In the meantime I have chem.” You walk away, confident that they won’t find anyone. Steve’s friend circle is small, and it’s almost exclusively jocks—except, strangely, for Robin Buckley; that’s not a pair you ever would’ve pictured. You’re sure they won’t find anyone who meets your criteria. The peace and quiet of your senior year will remain undisturbed.

---

Eddie Munson has probably spoken 2 words to Steve Harrington in his entire life, yet now he’s nearly positive Steve is waving...at him. And heading...his way. Eddie glances over his shoulder, but the coast is clear. Just him. And Steve. Making a beeline right for him.

That can’t be good.

“Hey! Munson! You got a sec?!”

Steve Harrington knows his name? That really can’t be good. Eddie shifts his notebook from one arm to the other and shrugs a little. “Kinda on my way somewhere.”

“Right, yeah, your Hellfire thing. Dustin Henderson and Mike Wheeler are in that, right?”

Now Eddie is thoroughly nonplussed. Even more than he was before. “Yeah,” he says. “Is that a problem?”

“Nah, man, not at all!” Steve runs a hand through his ridiculous hair and grins. “They’re kinda friends of mine. I mean, Dustin is. Sorta. And Mike’s his buddy, so...” Steve swallows and glances around. “Okay, look, this is kinda weird, but...you know Mike’s older sister, Nancy?”

“Uh huhh,” Eddie says, drawing the syllable out in suspicion. He starts toward the media room, hoping Steve’ll get the hint, but he just falls in next to him.

“Nancy’s cool. Really, really cool. And smart. Probably too good for a schlub like me,” Steve says, which makes Eddie snort.

“False humility ain’t your look, man.”

Steve peers at him, but then blinks it away. “Anyway, I really wanna ask her out, but her parents have this weird rule...” He explains the Wheelers’ bizarre and frankly antiquated rule that their precious daughter can’t date until her friends do—one friend in particular. You.

“Do you think maybe you could ask her out? She agreed to go out with someone so Nancy and I could date, but she requested someone, uh.” Steve clears his throat. They’re at the media room by now, and he stops. Shoves his hands in his pockets. “Someone...weird? Uh. Not at all like me, were her words.”

Eddie snorts. Is this a joke? He’s seen Carrie like 50 times and he has no intention of being the sad girl covered in pigs’ blood; especially since he doesn’t have any psychic powers to get his awesome, fiery revenge.

“You’re fuckin’ with me, right?” he says. “I might be stoned, but I’m not stupid. No way a friend of Nancy Wheeler’s would go out with Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson.”

Steve shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He told Nancy this was a bad idea. “Look, man, I swear I’m being straight with you. She’s cool, okay? A little bit touchy and, like, grumpy? I guess? But cool. She’s into that Dungeons and Dragons stuff too. You can ask her to join Hellfire! She’d probably say yes.”

He gives Eddie big, hopeful puppy eyes, and as much as Eddie wants to tell him to fuck off, some part of him can’t. He’s noticed you around school; he has eyes. You’re cute and definitely smart and probably way out of his league...but fuck it. It’s not like his stock could plummet much further, and if you really are into D&D, it’d be cool to have a girl in the club.

“Yeah, fine, whatever. Not gonna promise anything, but I’ll talk to her. If she wants to join Hellfire, fine. If not, you’re on your own. Find another patsy. Got it?”

“Yes! Thank you! You’re a lifesaver!” He slaps Eddie’s shoulder. “I promise you won’t regret it! I can even pay for your date. Just lemme know where you’re gonna take her. I’ll throw in a little extra for your trouble.”

Pay him. To date a cute girl. There are worse ways to make money. “Cool. I’ll see if I can talk to her tomorrow.” He pauses and studies Steve through narrowed eyes. “If you’re fuckin’ with me--”

“Swear I’m not!”

“Fine. But if I get kicked in the nuts I’m comin’ after you.”

“Fair enough. Thanks, Munson. Really.” Steve grins again and practically skips away.

Eddie glowers after him. Possibly he just made a huge mistake, but, again, what the hell? Maybe he’ll get a chance to chat up a cute girl; maybe he’ll get kicked in the nuts. Either way it’ll be something to do.

---

The next day during lunch you’re minding your own business attempting to catch up on the reading for AP English. Nancy is off canoodling somewhere with Steve (or so you suspect), so you’re on your own. Just you and Hamlet.

Hamlet’s hitting existential crisis number 582 (give or take) when you sense someone hovering over your shoulder. You glance back and your eyes narrow when you see Eddie Munson.

He offers a wave and a little smile. “Hi,” he says. “Hey. Um. I’m Eddie.”

“I know who you are.”

“Great! That’s great.” He takes the seat next to you, uninvited, and peeks again at your book. “Hamlet, huh? That’s the guy who banged his mom, right?”

Your mouth quirks. “In some interpretations, sure. But I think you’re thinking of Oedipus Rex.”

“Oedipus! Right. The riddle guy who banged his mom. Yeah, Hamlet’s the one with the ghost dad.”

“Bingo.” You shut your book and set it neatly in front of you. “Can I help you with something?”

“Uh, yeah.” He drums his hands against the table, his rings catching the light, and offers you an awkward smile. “I hear you’re into D&D.”

“Wow. Word gets around about an interest I never talk about or have a chance to indulge in.”

He blinks, then his grin turns sheepish. “Yeah, well. I think Mike Wheeler mentioned it? You’re friends with his sister, right? He’s in my club.” He smooths his shirt. “Hellfire Club.”

“So I’ve heard,” you say, mildly. “Are you selling candy bars or something?”

“Huh? Oh. Ha. No. We’re looking for an extra member for our next campaign. Someone with some experience.”

You eye him a moment. “You know, I tried to join your club freshman year. The guy in charge at the time told me girls didn’t play D&D.”

“He said what?!” He scowls and tugs at a lock of his hair. “Shit. Fuck that. We’re under new management now, and everyone’s welcome. So you in, or...?”

You grab your backpack and slip your book into it. “Listen, Eddie...I don’t know what this is about, but I’m a little busy these days, so I don’t really have time to—”

“Steve Harrington said I should ask you out!” he blurts as you get up to leave.

You freeze a moment before dropping back down into your seat. “You?”

“Yep, me. Sorry, not exactly the Dating Game lottery, huh?”

“Oh, shut up,” you say, rolling your eyes. “You’re fine. Just--well. I did say someone different.” You sigh and shake your head. “Fine. When and where?”

He stares. “The club?”

“No.” You wave a hand. “The date. You are interested in the date, right?”

“Oh!” he says. “The date! Yeah, sure, good. Is it like a double thing with Steve and Nancy, or...?”

This poor boy seems completely out of his element, and he’s kinda cute in a puppy, Muppet sort of way. You take pity on him. “There’s a party this weekend at Sharon Mooney’s. Pick me up at 8.” You scribble your address and the date on a piece of paper and pass it to him. “Don’t be late.”

“A party?!” Steve didn’t say a word about parties. He did NOT sign up for parties! He looks up at you, your brows lifted in a question, and after a moment he gives a resigned nod. “Eight,” he says. “I’ll be there.”

“Great,” you say. You stand up again, so that he’s having to look up at you. “This is strictly for show. No kissing, no touching, no bullshit. We’ll go, have a few drinks, mingle, leave. Got it?”

He blows out a breath and flashes a double thumbs up. “Got it, boss. See you then.”

You give him a brief pat on the head as you go by. “Good boy,” you say, and you don’t see his confused, slightly intrigued expression as you walk away.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson smut #eddie x you #eddie munson/reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #meg wrote this #stfic #emfic #10things

[blackcat419]

Modern Helaegon AU

Aegon and Helaena first started dating in highschool. They ran in the same social circle with Aegon being an emo pot head and Helaena being the weird but smart but girl.

In junior year, Helaena got pregnant and decided to keep the babies. The two had twins, Jaehaerys and Jaeheara, in the summer between Junior and Senior year.

Helaena and Aegon tried to stay together as a couple but decided that they wanted different things in life. The twins stayed with Helaena and her parents (Alicent mom and Criston step-dad) and visited Aegon and his family (to keep them unrelated it’s Viserys dad and Aemma mom with sister Rhaenyra) on every other weekend.

Aegon dropped out of highschool and tried to start a band with his friends but started to languish without purpose in life.

Helaena went on to graduate highschool with honors, get accepted into a top tier university for entomology, completing her PhD.

As the twins grow up, Jaehaerys becomes very popular and outgoing competing in a lot of sports and after school activities. Jaehaera keeps to herself and starts to get into her dad’s old rock music. Aegon will take the twins for a car ride and play AC/DC while singing along and Jaehaera starts head banging to it while Jaehaerys just covers his ears.

Aegon decides that he need to step up for his kids and be a better co-parent for Helaena. He finishes his GED and starts an apprenticeship with a sound engineer. He gets pretty good at his job and begins writing music for bands and sometimes steps in to add different instruments of the band is missing someone to play it.

Aegon and Helaena reconnect and fall back into love as they’ve grown up and are able to connect more deeply. They get back together and have Maelor! The twins are around 10 when Maelor is born.

Helaena takes Maelor to her lab instead of a daycare cause she loves her baby and doesn’t want him leaving her side. Baby Maelor also tries to eat some bugs and needs a play pen prison to keep him safe. Aegon teaches Maelor to play the drums and the baby ends up breaking the drum sticks a few times.

Aegon wants his kids to learn to play different instruments and teaches Jaehaera how to play the guitar and sing while Jaehaerys likes playing classic piano.

#hotd #house of the dragon #helaena targaryen #aegon targaryen #helaegon #modern helaegon #drabble

[meetmyothersouls]

If your requests are open could I request a scenario where reader gets a bad grade on a final and is very sad because they worked really hard all term only to bomb the final exam 😢 ….asking for a friend lol 👀

Here ya go <3

Failure

Warnings: high school Timmy x first person reader, mentions of making out, failing a final, language, little bit of angst

I drove us back to my apartment, after school like I did every other day. Only this day, my jaw was tight and I white-knuckled the steering wheel. Being a grade ahead of Timothee, a year older and completely estranged from my parents, I got my own place my senior year at La Guardia. I could feel Timothee staring at me from the moment we got into my car, brewing a question, waiting for the right moment.

"Geez, y/n, I think if you grit your teeth any harder, they'll crack in half. What's going on?" Timothee finally asked.

"Nothing," I answered back too quickly.

A thick silence filled the car. Timothee drummed a beat with his fingertips on his knees and then sighed. "So, what'd you get on the chem exam?"

"I fucking failed it, okay!?" I yelled, just as I pulled into my designated parking space. "I failed it," I said quieter. I threw my seat belt off of me, the metal latch hitting the window as I trudged up to my apartment. I didn't wait for Timothee, knowing he'd follow me. I left the door open for him and laid face down on my futon I got on clearance at Target.

I heard my front door shut followed by the feeling of the futon dipping down under Timothee's weight. I groaned, as I let the tears I'd been holding back finally brim over my eyes and soak into the ugly brown fabric. Timothee slid his hand under my shirt and rubbed what I assumed were meant to be soothing circles on my lower back.

"So you failed it? Big deal, there's always the retake," he said softly.

I turned over, Timothee's hand staying put, sliding to my stomach as I now laid on my back. "Yeah, but I...ugh fuck, I don't fail! EVER! And we studied every night for like three weeks! What the fuck!"

"I mean...we weren't studying the entire time..." Timothee said, a smirk forming on his face.

"Shut up, Timmy!" I groaned, pulling a throw pillow over my face to cover my smile. I was supposed to me upset!

"If it makes you feel any better," Timothee said, "I failed too."

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"Like...failed failed or just kinda failed?"

"I wasn't aware there were levels," Timothee said, unzipping his backpack and pulling the crumpled-up paper out of the front pocket. How he managed to find anything in a backpack filled with various papers and materials from the entire course of the semester, I wasn't sure. "I got a 29. I'd say that's bottom of the totem pole."

"I got a 29 too," I said, feeling a little bit better that I had someone to commiserate with.

"The retakes next week, think we'll be able to bring it up to a D?" I asked.

"Yeah, if you can stop making out with me and actually study."

I threw my pillow at him, "Pretty sure you're the one that starts every make out, but okay."

"Am not!" Timothee said, already crawling over to me to start just that.

If passing meant not making out with Timothee...it probably wasn't going to happen.

Tags: @dayafied @soulofendlessbook @fashphotolife @scentedkittenperfection @weasleytwinscumslut @timotheel0ver @mxciscastleintheair @marvelmaniac2000 @lovelyrocker @divine-1 @love-poems-only @starberry-cake @inlovewithphantasy @alexagirlie @misswestfall @softhecreator @livresjaunes @timmymyluv @inannamoon @harrys-thick-thighs @s-we-e-t-t-ea @timolaurence @its-schmackin-dude @justagirlwhoneedshelp @kteezy997 @sufferingstarlight @xoxoloverb @tropicalrozmajzl @iloveneilperry @syirnge @patronsaintofthetwinks @roseboysareprettier @onlyenoughiamweird

#timothee chalamet #timothée chalamet #writing #timothee chalamet x reader #timothee chalamet x you #timothee blurb #timothee chalamet imagine #timmy chalamet #high school

[croimilis]

2+2

title: 2+2 

characters: natasha ‘phoenix’ trace  x gf!reader (callsign: dove)

rating: 13+

words: 3k

theme: established relationship, not so secret relationship, and they were roomates, just gals being pals

warnings: fluff, silliness, the dagger squad are idiots, mentions of homophobia, cursing, drinking

summary: 'secret relationship is that which is known to them but unknown to people'

how long does it take a team of aviators to put 2+2 together and figure out their friends are dating?

a/n: just something a little sweet and silly while i work on the other parts of the fly me to the moon series. 

When you and Natasha first got together, it was long before top gun and even before the two of you joined the navy, you were high school sweethearts falling for one another in freshman year but neither of you brave enough to make a move until senior year after you had both come out to your friend circle, At that point you decided to keep it among your friend group, the pair of you not sure how your conservative military family members would react. 

And then you both enlisted into the navy and saw first hand how being gay and out in the military was not necessarily safe after another member of your basic camp was basically run out due to homophobic bullying, and you both realised that it might be better if you keep your relationship between the two of you and the decision followed you through your time at Top Gun and throughout all of your deployments. 

Including the uranium mission and after when you both got permanent assignments at Top Gun, you as a full time instructor and Natasha splitting her time between instructing and dagger squad missions. It wasn’t deliberately a secret at this point, just a habit you had fallen into after many years of fear of what would happen if you were to be out in the navy and it wasn’t that you didn’t trust the rest of the squad, the two of you trusted them completely but you had just got so used to keeping it between the two of you that it was hard to break. But ever so slowly, the habit started to break and one by one the members of the squad began to figure it out. 

Bob was the first one to find out about a month after the uranium mission, and it was a complete accident how he found out. He and Phoenix had a rough training session and had to eject from their plane which resulted in a quick visit to the doctor on base to make sure they were okay, after he had been checked on and was given the all clear he headed over to Phoenix’s  room to see how she was. 

He was expecting a nurse or two to be lingering about, taking notes and fussing as they usually did, what he was not expecting was for you to be in the room with Phoenix and he certainly was expecting to see the two of you in a gentle embrace, one of Natasha’s hands on your waist while the other held your cheek gently and your arms wrapped around her shoulder to pull her as close to your body as possible as you shared a kiss. 

Thankfully, the two of you are so wrapped up in each other you don’t notice Bob enter, or leave as he quietly slinks out of the room with wide eyes and a flush on his face with his heartbeat drumming in his ears as embarrassment from walking in such a private moment fills his entire being. He decided to leave the medical wing and allow the two of you the time alone. 

It was the next day, as Bob and Natasha sat listening to the other pilots as they went through the training exercise for their next mission in a few weeks time, the pair grounded until the next day on the doctor’s orders, that Bob let’s Natasha know that he saw and he promises that he won’t tell anyone. It isn’t his secret to tell and he was not about to out the two of you when you weren’t ready.

 Natasha is shocked, alarm bells ringing her mind (something she is sure is a trauma response after her family didn’t respond well to finding out she was a lesbian) and fear settles in her stomach as she turns to Bob with wide eyes. A feeling that quickly settles as Bob promises to keep your secret. Over the next few weeks, she finds it nice to actually have someone to talk to about your relationship, about how happy you make her and her plans to marry you one day. 

The next person to find out is Rooster, almost a full month after Bob. It happens late one night when he’s a little drunk and you and Natasha are helping him into your home to put him to bed in your guest room. It wasn’t the first time he had been to your home, he had been over many times for drinks and pizza nights, the three of you enjoying a movie night at least once a month that included wine and a bitching sessions because, despite how much he denied it, Rooster was one of the biggest gossips in the dagger squad. But it was the first time he was actually spending the night. 

He had never considered your sleeping arrangements, seeing as you lived in a 2 bedroom he just assumed one was Natasha’s room and the other yours but when he hears you muttering the word ‘guest room’ to Natasha as you both discuss what to do with drunk giant who was stumbling around the living room of your shared home, it sends his mind reeling for a second. Guest room? That meant you and Natasha shared a room. Why would you and Natasha share a room?

And then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks and suddenly a lot of things started to make sense, how the two of you were attached at the hip, how you were a little touchy with each other, hands always finding some part of the other to rest on, how your eyes always found each other no matter where you were in the room, the fact that you were fucking living together. Everyone, including him, thought you were just friends, best friends and nothing more but now it made sense to him. 

As the pair of you guide him into the guest room, he throws his hands around your shoulders and he whips his head between the two of you, a goofy smile plastered across his face. 

“I’m happy for you guys and I promise not to tell” You roll your eyes at him but a smile makes its way onto your face, one that Natasha matches and the two of you know that even though he’s drunk, he’s telling the truth.

The next ones to figure it out are Payback and Fanboy, with Mickey figuring it out when he spotted the two of you out on a coffee date on one of your days off and there was just something about the way the two of you were sat so close together, practically in each others laps, with Natasha’s hand resting on your thigh that screamed more than friends.

Now, Fanboy wouldn’t consider himself a gossip, wouldn’t be one to go around starting or fuelling rumors, but Payback was his best friend and as Fanboy watched you and Natasha interact around the base and at the hard deck he was simply starting to burst at the seams needing to tell someone what he saw. So a week after he saw, when it’s just him and Payback in the locker room (something he double and triple checked) he asked the question that had been burning at the forefront of his mind, “Do you think Phoenix and Dove are a couple?” 

Payback turns to his back seater and best friend, a questioning look on his face and one eyebrow raised, as he halts the action of putting his t-shirt on, “What makes you ask that?” 

Now, Payback had his own suspicions, he was one of the most observant people in the group and had noticed the way Natasha’s hand would linger on your lower back when you were walking through a crowd or when you were standing at the bar at the hard deck, almost as if she was creating a barrier between you and the people around, he had noticed the way your eyes would linger on Natasha as she maneuvered through the hard deck on a busy night, watching to make sure she was okay and that no one tried to touch her, your body tense and ready to step in at any second if there was any indication that she was in trouble. 

He had noticed the way the two of you looked at each other, eyes full of nothing but loving and gentleness, even as you argued with one another, noticed the way each of you would smile as the other walked into the room as if the two of you shared a secret the rest of the world couldn’t know. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention that there was something more there, but Payback just assumed you were really close friends, practically family seeing as he knew the two of you didn’t have the best relationship with your parents but now that Fanboy has suggested it might be romantic the puzzles pieces seem to fit into place and he can suddenly see the pure love that radiates from the two of you. 

“Saw them on a date the other day, seemed real close.” 

Fanboy says it casually and Payback knows he has no issues with the two of you being together, no one in the squad would, but they’re both well aware of the implications it could have on your careers and how others on the base treated the two of you. Payback shrugs his shirt on and turns to his friend, “If they are, it’s not our place to out them” 

Fanboy nods his head as he leans against his locker with his arms crossed over his chest, “Not our place. But we should at least let them know we know.” 

Payback agrees with his friend and the next day, the two of them approach you as you’re doing some maintenance on your plane. Payback hs a shy smile on his face and Fanboy looks like the cat that ate the canary as they enquire about your relationship with Phoenix and you don’t have to say anything for them to get their answer, the way your face lights up and a soft smile forms on your lips tells them all they need to know and they promise to keep your secret until you’re ready. 

Next to find out is Coyote almost 4 months after the uranium mission during a small get together at Rooster’s place to celebrate his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, the entire squad was there (minus Hangman who had traveled home to see his parents for their anniversary). Everyone is scattered throughout the small living room, Payback and Fanboy are standing in the corner, Coyote is sitting on the couch with Natasha at the other side while Rooster and Bob set up the game of beer bong Bradley insisted they play while you get yourself another beer from the kitchen. You were planning on sitting in between Natasha and Coyote, but Fanboy had planted himself down before you could but you simply shrug your shoulders and decide to sit on your darling girlfriend's lap. 

Coyote chokes on his beer at the sight of you bending down to place a kiss to Natasha’s lips before slipping onto her lap with your back against her chest where she slips a hand round to rest on your thigh and places a kiss against the groove where your neck and shoulder meet. 

Your turn to look at Coyote, wondering if he was okay before your eyes widened ad you cringed letting a “Fuck” slip past your lips as you suddenly remember not everyone in the room knows about your relationship with Natasha and bury your hands in your hair, but Natasha simply smiles and places a small kiss to the corner of your hair, “It’s okay dove, he was bound to find out eventually.”

Coyote’s look of confusion turns into a smile as he regards the two of you, you looked happy together and he couldn’t fault you for wanting to keep it secret so he let the fact that you kept it quiet go and instead asks the one question going through his mind, “How long has this been going on?” 

You smile sheepishly as you lean further against Natasha’s back, her chin placed on your shoulder, “Senior year high school” You bring your beer to your lips as you feel Natasha turn and place a soft kiss to your cheek that has you flushing. You were used to Natasha’s affection, she loved to pepper your face with kisses, but it was new to have it done in front of other people, especially the team. But it was nice to finally be able to show affection in front of the people who mean the world to you.

“And the rest of you know?” Coyote points his beer accusingly at the other men in the room with a raised eyebrow, they all nod sheepishly and rub at their necks awkwardly as they all explain how they figured it out. 

“Wait, wait, is Hangman the only one who doesn’t know now?”  Rooster looks around the room, watching the faces of the other pilots as the realization comes over him that their missing friend had no idea about the two of you as a couple.

“Oh we can make this fun, how long do we think it’s going to take him to figure it out?” Coyote loves his best friend, truly he does, but he was not going to miss the opportunity to mess with him and so the bet started on how long it would take Hangman to figure it out and or/find out, 

It's a whole year after the uranium mission, and eight months after Coyote finds out that Hangman finally finds out that you and Phoenix are dating, he’s the last of the squad to know and since Coyote found out there has been a running bet on how long it will take. Payback had lost long ago, saying he would figure it out 2 months after Coyote did and Bob and Rooster are currently leading with their bets of a year and they say that Hangman won’t actually figure it out (or believe it) until you’re walking down the aisle. 

They were half right, while it is a year later that Hangman finally finds out, it isn’t you walking down the aisle that gives it away but rather the pair of you walking in with pretty silver bands decorated with jewels on your ring fingers, the two of having proposed at the same time the night before. 

He has to do a double take and almost chokes on his beer at the sight before him, head whipping around to take in the faces of the other pilots around him expecting their faces to mirror his own but they were all just looking at him with amusement in their eyes.

“Okay what the fuck is going on?” The two of your have joined the group at your usual spot, nestled into the corner with the pool table, and you meet Hangman's gaze with a questioning look as you cock your head to the side. He uses his beer to gesture between you and Natasha frantically. 

“You two! What is going on?” 

Natasha rolls her eyes at the dramatics, pulling you into her side and wrapping her arm around you shoulders as yours wrapped around her waist and she placed a kiss to your hairline, “We’re engaged Bagman.” You gently hit Natasha’s chest and glared at her slightly letting out a quiet ‘be nice’ that causes her to let out a small chuckle and look to Hangman once again, “We’ve been a couple since senior year of high school, we kept it quiet because our families didn’t react well and we saw things when we first joined the navy that we knew it would compromise our safety if we were to come out.” 

Hangman nods his head in understanding, dropping his arm so it now rested on his side but his eyes watch the other pilots, remembering their reaction when he first saw the two of you and how they weren’t reacting to the news.

“You guys knew!?” The disbelief is clear in Hangmans voice and his annoyance is obvious as he glares at the other pilots around him who are all nodding. Hangman felt a little betrayed if he was being honest, believing that you had told the other pilots about the relationship and had just decided to keep him in dark for whatever reason. You're quick to see the sadness in Jake's eyes and are even quicker to respond. 

“We didn’t tell them if that’s what you're thinking, for the most part they figured it out or saw something they shouldn’t have. We weren’t keeping it from you because we didn’t trust you, we do trust you. I wanted to tell you after Coyote found out but the rest of them,” Your eyes narrow as the rest of the guys shrink away from your gaze, “Wanted to see when you would figure it out.”

“Oh we all had a bet going on how long it would take you to figure it out” Coyote sips from his beer as he sees some of the annoyance and tension drop from Hangmans shoulders at your reassurance that you weren’t deliberately keeping him out of the loop, “Pretty sure Rooster and Bob win.” 

Hangman turns his glare strictly to Coyote, who barks out a laugh at the look, “Even you Javy?” Coyote places a hand to chest and pretends to be hurt before letting out a laugh at his best friend's reaction. 

“Oh come man, how many bets have you made against me before?” Hangman rolls his eyes but he has to agree with his friend, he had made many a bet against Coyote in the past so it was only fair he had made one against him in return. 

Hangman turns back to you and Phoenix and smiles at the two of you,you had the purest smiles on your face and looked just so in love and perfect for one another that he would drop the bet for now. Hangman raises his beer in a small toast that the rest of the aviators follow.

“To Phoenix and Dove, may forever treat you well”

#august.writes #top gun maverick x reader #top gun maverick x yn #top gun marverick x you #top gun maverick fluff #natasha trace x reader #natasha trace x yn #natasha trace x you #natasha trace fluff #natasha 'phoenix' trace x reader #natasha 'phoenix' trace x yn #natasha 'phoenix' trace x you #natasha 'phoenix' trace fluff #tw.fluff #tw.cursing #tw.alcohol #tw.homophobia

[planetpiastri]

[1] that damn timing

summary - as a kid, you were sure that you and bradley were twin flames. but then you spent years circling one another, never being single and interested at the same time. so you moved on, and so did he—literally. but mere weeks after your life falls apart and you have to move back home, he returns for the big wedding on the horizon. and maybe, just maybe, this time you'll get the timing right.

warnings - small town/hometown au, gn!reader, benjamin!reader, bartender!reader, no use of y/n, reader is nicknamed 'moonshine,' small town inaccuracies probably, carole and goose are alive because i say so, right person wrong time, language, underage drinking mention, reader works in a bar there will be booze, drug mention, takes place in a fake town in missouri so do with that what you will

word count - 2.6k

this blog is 18+, minors please don't interact

on the rocks masterlist

Senior Grad Night - 10 Years Ago

The barn was decorated with everything the Student Council could pull together. Strings of fairy lights swooped across the rafters, and swathes of tinsel hung down like strange plants. Ribbons and flags were stapled to the old wooden slats, and a huge poster reading Congrats Grads covered an entire wall.

Metal cafe tables had been gathered and placed across one side of the floor, and the other side had been cleared away to make an impromptu dance floor. Speakers were sitting high up on a stack of hay bales, playing some twangy pop song as the senior class graduates milled around the space, laughing and reminiscing.

You sat at a table with your best friend Natasha, examining the mason jar holding a small, flickering candle that sat in the middle of the table. Natasha drummed her fingers on the tin table top, her cheek propped on her hand, watching the dance floor. Glancing over your shoulder, you followed her eyes to see Jake, wrapped in the arms of the same person he’d been wrapped in the arms of for the last four years, and even before that.

“Vom,” you said without meaning to.

Natasha swatted your arm gently. “Don’t be mean. I think they’re sweet.”

“Vom,” you said again, grinning.

Natasha rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. At that moment, someone slammed into your table, their hands gripping the edges to keep it from toppling over as you and Natasha both cried out in alarm.

“Bradley!” you yelped. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry,” panted Bradley, his cheeks rosy as he fought to catch his breath. His hair was mussed, and he’d undone the first few buttons of his shirt, his tie hanging loose around his shoulders.

Natasha wrinkled her nose. “Why are you sweaty?”

“Had to run… here,” gasped Bradley, falling into the seat next to you and grasping his side. “Cops… caught us… everyone… scattered.”

“Cops?” you echoed, eyes wide. “Why would—”

“For you,” he interrupted, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small tin flask, which he held out to you.

You took it and shared a stunned glance with Natasha. “Is this what I think it is?”

Bradley shrugged. “It’s Grad Night.”

You unscrewed the cap and took a careful sniff, wrinkling your nose. “Where’d you get this?”

“Where do you think?”

You narrowed your eyes at Bradley. “It better not be my mom.”

Bradley shrugged again, his expression hard to read.

“Penny will kill you,” Natasha told him confidently.

“Then stop talking about it and just drink it,” Bradley snapped. “I almost got arrested getting it to you, make it count.”

He met your eyes when he said it, and against your will, your heart skipped a beat. Bradley always had a way of cutting right to the center of you, seeing you in a way no one else saw you. Ever since you were kids, you were sure no one got you the way Bradley got you. But for some reason, nothing had ever come of it.

Probably because he was never single, and even when he was, you weren’t.

Timing was a son of a bitch.

“Thanks, Bradley,” you said before taking a quick pull, but immediately regretted it. You screwed your face up and fought back a cough, holding it back out to him. “Oh, nasty. That is definitely not from my mom’s stuff—she has quality. That is ripe.”

“Okay, Moonshine,” Bradley mumbled, taking back the flask with an embarrassed flush to his cheeks. “Sorry it’s not up to par.”

Natasha laughed, reaching over and subtly taking the flask. “Moonshine. Oh, man, that’s great. Get it? ‘Cause you’re such a grump? And also ‘cause you put away shine better than anybody else?”

You wrinkled your nose. “It’s not a competition.”

“Yet somehow, you always win, Moonshine,” said Bradley with a small smile.

You pushed down the butterflies at the use of the new nickname. Before you could reply, Natasha announced decisively, “That’s it. I’m gonna go dance. Either of you gonna join me?”

“Vom,” you reiterated.

“I literally just caught my breath,” said Bradley.

Sighing dramatically, Natasha stood and walked away from the table, flipping both of you off as she went. You and Bradley laughed, quietly passing the flask back and forth till it was mostly gone.

“Have you two just been sitting here all night?” Bradley asked.

You nodded. “There’s no good music playing.”

Bradley grunted in agreement, taking another sip. “That’s why a bunch of us took off. It was good until we got busted.”

“Tale as old as time,” you hummed.

Bradley snickered. He was leaning back in his chair, his legs spread in a way that only he could make endearing. He ran his hand through his hair, looking attractively disheveled. You forced yourself to look away, turning back to the dance floor. Natasha was now dancing and having a great time with Javy Machado, him spinning her in dizzying circles as she laughed.

“Hey,” said Bradley suddenly, leaning forward and making you jump. “Do you want to get some air?”

“Okay,” you said, a little nervous, and you followed him away from the table and out the big double doors of the barn. It felt like everyone was staring at the two of you leaving, even though you knew no one probably gave a single shit.

It was cool outside the barn. Kids milled around here in inconsistent little groups, some obviously passing around flasks of their own, some passing around cigarettes or joints. The sky was clear and inky blue overhead, the stars little silver pinpricks of light.

“What are you doing?” Bradley asked you abruptly.

“Huh?” Your heart pounded painfully in your throat.

“After summer,” he clarified. “Are you sticking around, or…?”

“Oh,” you said, weirdly relieved. “No, I’m going away to Colorado for school. What about you?”

“Same,” he sighed. “My folks are being, like, super encouraging about it, too, which is almost weirder than if they were upset. Is Penny upset?”

You pulled a face. “No. You know how she is. She graduated and fucked off to Europe for a month with no warning when she was my age. She probably thinks I’m being kind of a square.”

Bradley laughed, toeing at a clump of grass. “I guess that’s a fair point.”

It was quiet for a moment, and you ran your hands up and down your arms. Bradley stepped closer, almost like he didn’t realize he was doing it. You were standing chest to chest, and when you glanced up, he was already looking at you. Your breath caught in your throat as his eyes locked onto yours.

“Bradley,” you started to say

His phone buzzed in his pocket and you both jumped back like you’d been caught. He fumbled for his phone, pulling it out and blinking hard. “It’s Amy,” he said.

Right. His girlfriend.

“You should get that,” you said.

“Yeah. Yeah,” he said again, shaking himself. “Yeah, I’m gonna—step back in.” He shot you a smile. “See you around, Moonshine.”

“See you,” you said softly, and watched as he walked away. He put the phone to his ear, and when he walked into the barn, he made sure to shut the door behind him.

The Benjamin Bar - Present Day 

Your fingers hovered over your phone screen as it glowed up at you, illuminating your face in the dimly lit bar. Those two words—LAID OFF—seemed to stare at you, swarming around your head till you felt nauseous. Sucking in a deep breath, you closed out of the email for the billionth time and slid your phone back into your pocket. You picked up a rag and began to wipe down the counter again, even though it was just as clean as it was five minutes ago.

Classic country music oozed from the old jukebox in the corner. The neon lights over the bar buzzed faintly. In the corner, the mechanical bull was silent and still. The dance floor was shining and empty. Only a couple old-timer drunks were sitting farther down the bar, nursing glasses of whiskey and trying not to fall asleep.

You didn’t hate your mom’s bar; in fact, you really liked it. But it was not where you’d hoped to be spending your summer working.

Things in Colorado had been great—almost perfect. After college, you’d been offered an internship at a real estate company, and pretty much from the moment you’d walked through those doors, the rest had been history. You’d risen up through the ranks until you had your own office and one of the best salaries in the building.

Then one of the partners of the company crashed and burned and took all of its shares down with it. You lost your job, your apartment, and your boyfriend when you found out he was screwing the girl downstairs. Within two weeks, you had gone from top of the world to rock bottom. You had gone from the penthouse suite to your childhood bedroom. You had gone from Associate VP to picking up spare shifts at the bar your mother owned. You had gone from picking out engagement rings to cuddling your pillow at night.

Needless to say, things were a little rough right now.

But your mom was getting married to the love of her life in just over a month, and she and Mav had been nothing but kind and welcoming to you, and all the people you had left all those years ago only had kind things to say to you. All in all, there were much worse hometowns to fall back on than Silver Springs, Missouri.

You checked the clock on the wall even though you knew it had barely moved. You didn’t mind working the early afternoon shifts for your mom while she was doing wedding prep, but they did crawl by. It was only two in the afternoon, and you were already dreaming of getting off work and walking across the street to Blackthorn’s, the local diner.

Then the door to the bar opened, allowing a blinding strip of daylight to momentarily stun you. You blinked, and when the light died down, you thought maybe you’d passed out and started hallucinating.

“Bradley?” you said before you could stop yourself.

Because it was Bradley. It had to be. But he was tall now, and broad, and… and… cool-looking. The Bradley you’d known in school had never been cool. But now he had a cool mustache and a cool white tank top and a cool floral shirt and cool blue jeans and he was in the middle of coolly taking off his sunglasses and coolly hooking them to the front of his shirt.

Your mouth hung open in stunned silence, and he seemed to be just as surprised as you were. He stepped towards the bar and said, “Moonshine?”

That damn nickname. You’d almost forgotten about it.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” you asked, a laugh bubbling out of you. “Oh my god—oh my god, hi! It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” he chuckled, leaning his hands against the bar. “I’m back for the wedding. I came back a little early ‘cause, well, my mom asked me to. And I’ve been saving up vacation days. This trip’s overdue.” He tilted his head. “But what are you doing here? Last I saw you was on a real estate sign outside a mansion in Connecticut. What the hell are you doing in Benjamin’s?”

Your cheeks warmed. “Oh. Uh. That sign is probably gone now. Our company went under.”

Bradley’s face fell. “You’re kidding.”

You shook your head.

“Damn,” he said bitterly, and it sounded like he really meant it. He slid into a stool across from you, rapping his knuckles on the bar. “I’m sorry to hear that. Seriously. How long have you been back, then?”

You shrugged. “Couple weeks now. It’s not so bad.”

“No,” said Bradley, and you were surprised to see he was smiling at you. “It really isn’t.” 

He was quiet for a moment, his eyes scanning over your face. You fought to keep your breathing under control. God, you’d forgotten how good he looked. I mean, you’d thought he was cute in school—but now?

Your eyes flickered down to where his bicep strained against the sleeve of his open shirt before darting back up to his eyes. The outline of a smirk on his lips told you he’d caught your look—but he was looking too, dammit.

“Want a drink?” you asked.

He nodded.

You were relieved for the chance to turn around and grab a glass. You took in a breath, hoping he didn’t notice the way it shook as you exhaled.

“What’ll it be?” you asked without looking over your shoulder.

“The Moonshine special,” he answered.

Fighting the urge to roll your eyes, you grabbed a bottle. Adding a couple ice cubes to the glass you’d set down, you poured the liquor over the ice before replacing the bottle and turning around to hand Bradley the glass.

His eyebrows quirked up when he saw it. “This is the Moonshine special? Bourbon neat on the rocks?”

“I’ve had a rough couple weeks,” you deadpanned.

Bradley barked out a laugh like he couldn’t hold it in any longer. You’d always liked that about him. “Fair enough,” he said. “Cheers.”

And he knocked back his bourbon.

When he slammed his glass back down, you said, “You know, we have shot glasses for that.”

He grinned at you, and you tried to ignore the swarm of butterflies that his smile woke up in your stomach. Ignoring your statement, he said, “So the company goes under, and then you end up back in Silver Springs. No boyfriend to stay with in Colorado?”

You felt your smile fall away, and the mischievous gleam immediately faded in Bradley’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—” he started.

“It’s okay,” you said quickly, shaking yourself and taking his glass, putting it on the rinser under the counter. You cleared your throat. “No, there’s no boyfriend. Not anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

You hated the way he was staring at you. That was the worst part of getting dumped, and especially of getting cheated on. You couldn’t stand that pitying look in everyone’s eyes when they looked at you.

“What about you?” you said bracingly. “No fiance moping around back home, waiting for you to hurry up and get back? Leaving for a month must have been a tall request.”

Bradley winced. “No,” he said, “definitely no jilted fiance. I haven’t been having the most luck in the old dating department lately.”

“Cheers to that,” you sighed, pouring another two bourbons and handing him one so you could do just that. You both drank, and as the alcohol burned its way down your throat, you realized something.

For the first time you could recall, you and Bradley were both single at the same time.

A chill went down your spine.

Bradley seemed to sense that same tension, because he was suddenly unable to keep looking you in the eyes. He fidgeted, and all of a sudden stopped being cool. He was that same boy that you’d known all those years ago, and that felt like a relief.

Lifting his wrist, he squinted at his watch and said, “Oh, shit. I promised Jake I’d say hey when I got in. I better run.”

“Sure,” you said, clearing both glasses away and wiping down the counter. “Nice talking to you, Bradley.”

He drummed his hands on the bar. “You too, Moonshine. I’ll be seeing you, then.”

“Be seeing you.”

This time when Bradley walked away from you, it didn’t feel like your heart was being painfully squeezed by an angry fist. You breathed easy as his palm splayed against the door and pushed it open, stepping back out into the brilliant afternoon sunshine.

When he left, the door didn’t slam closed; instead, it hung slightly ajar. And that warm strip of sunlight on the floor of the bar had never looked so inviting.

masterlist

@harringtonbf / @spideystevie / @almightyellie / @sunlitide / @holypowell

#bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw series #bradley rooster bradshaw fic #bradley rooster bradshaw fanfiction #bradley rooster bradshaw series #bradley bradshaw x you #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw x you #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster x you #rooster x reader #vinny fics #the road back home #on the rocks

[darlingvernon]

you’ve got mail! | 02.

Author: darlingvernon (prev nonrevblr)

Pairing: Chwe Hansol x Fem Reader

Genre: strangers to lovers, college au, penpal au

Rating: 18+

Warnings: swearing

Word Count: 3,603

Description: The concept of Equivalent Exchange is not foreign to you, and since you need Jeonghan to participate in a Social Experiment for your Psych Thesis, you inevitably have to participate in his too. It isn’t the walk in the park you thought it would be, especially when your penpal Vernon keeps knocking down the walls that you’ve built; scratching an itch you couldn’t reach.

Author’s Note: I hope you guys enjoy! Please send me an ask if you'd like to be added to the tag list :)

“Goddamnit,” you curse, pacing the room with your phone glued to your ear while waiting on hold for the hostess to get back to you.

Grabbing the empty glass from the desk, you head over to the kitchen sink and refill it. The cool water coursing through your veins does very little to soothe you and as you resist the urge to find out how much time has passed, the pit in your stomach deepens. Frustrated, you rub your hand over your face and resume your pacing.

The invitation that your office chair offers is far too tempting, so you deposit yourself in it, drumming your fingers against the oak to the tune of the dreadful hold music playing through your phone. Almost all companies use the same standard tune and it boggles your mind, because the melody doesn’t convince you to want to stay on the line. 

Rather, it has the opposite effect, making you want to bash your head against the wall before jumping out the window. 

Okay, that’s a little dramatic, you think to yourself as you grab your pen and proceed to draw circles on the notepad that it was on. Even though you only feel this way because of the stress of current events, you promise your future self to choose a different type of tune to play as your on hold music, when you finally become the career woman you have been working hard to be.

But, you barely have time to think about that when you’re still trying to solve the issue at hand, one that may prove to derail your entire social experiment. 

As you long to hear the voice of the hostess who hopefully has some good news to deliver, you sit back and wonder how this could have happened. A meticulous planner like yourself couldn’t have made such a simple error. You made sure to check the dates twice, thrice even, before making the bookings because Crema is on the fancier side, especially with their price point still on the affordable end. They were bound to be busy, so you made sure to plan every single detail to a tee. 

“Y/N, are you still there?” Lisa, the hostess, breaks through your thoughts.

“How did you go?” you ask, making sure to cross your fingers in the process. “Is everything all good?”

“First, I’d like to apologise about what’s happened.” Lisa offers and the anxiety grows in your stomach. “The person you spoke with when you made the bookings was only a trainee, and that happened to be his first day on the job. He should never have confirmed those dates without checking with a more senior hostess or the manager.”

The grip you have on your phone tightens as you wait for her to drop the bomb that will blow up your entire project.

“Luckily, he at least entered them correctly on our Reservations system,” Lisa reveals and you almost want to reach through the phone and hug her. “So, the five dates you’ve booked for are secured and we’ll be seeing Jaebeom and Patricia tonight.”

Shooting up from your chair, you pull the phone away from your ear and dance in celebration. “Thank you so, so much,” you reply cheerily and the hostess giggles, clearly having heard your little jig but you can’t even find it in yourself to care at the moment. “I truly appreciate your hard work and I’m glad they’ll be in good hands.“

Goodbyes are exchanged and your eyes close in relief as soon as the line goes dead. Allowing your feet to carry you towards the bed, you unceremoniously dump your whole weight on it, bouncing twice on the mattress beneath you. The tension slowly releases from your body, the further your body sags into the bedding.

Before you can relax further, a familiar ring tone filters through the air, interrupting your peace. Not bothering to look at your phone, you swipe to answer.

“Hannie, if you’ve got a problem, I’m hanging up,” you desperately warn him.

“What the hell is up your butt?” Jeonghan asks incredulously.

You sigh, “I’ll tell you next time, let’s deal with this first. Do you bring good news or bad news?”

“It’s neither,” he answers and you’re thankful that he doesn’t prod further. “I’m just about to head out to meet Stephanie at Wonderland, but I’m no psychic. How am I supposed to know where to meet her and what she looks like?”

“Ah yes, I’m sorry, I was meant to send you a text but then my whole thesis was on the brink of collapsing.” You remember now. “Yes, please meet her at the ticket booth. She’ll be wearing a white shirt filled with sunflowers. What about you? Are you gonna be sticking out like a sore thumb or what?”

“God, you’re s—”

“Dramatic? Yes, I know.”

“Actually, I was going to say ‘a pain in my ass’,” he corrects and you roll your eyes, even though you know he can’t see you. “I’ve got a Spider Man shirt on, if that helps?”

“Nice! Yeah, I’ll let her know. Try to have fun out there and don’t forget to let me know all about it.”

“Yeah, we will.” He laughs. “Wait, before you go, you need to hold up your part of the deal too.”

Sitting up at the mention of your pen pal, you’re apologetic to Jeonghan. “Shit, I can’t believe I forgot. I’ll get on to it tonight as well. I promise!”

“Sounds good. Good luck to both of us, I guess.”

“Yeah, we’ll need it. Bye!”

Once you hang up, you bury your face on your pillows and allow yourself a few minutes more to relax. Slowly sliding out of bed, you trudge over to your desk where your laptop is, stretching your neck along the way to release the last bits of stress from your last predicament. 

With newfound determination, you turn on your laptop and log in to the dummy email that Jeonghan had given you, preparing yourself to get in contact with your pen pal.

As you wait for the page to load, grumbling about how your college should really have much better Wi-Fi, it dawns on you that Jeonghan hasn’t given you the topic you’re supposed to discuss, nor has he provided your pen pal’s details. Just as you’re about to reach for your phone to call and ask him about it, your laptop notification sounds off and grabs your attention.

‘You’ve Got Mail!’ it reads.

Suddenly, you remember the conversation that you had with Jeonghan back in the library all those weeks ago. He mentioned that your pen pal would be the one to reach out first and sure enough, the email is there as soon as you close off the dialogue box. Quickly skimming through, you realise that this was sent to you a few days ago and it’s probably why Jeonghan asked you to start tonight. 

Sighing, you make a mental note to apologise to your pen pal about the tardiness of your reply.

[To: [email protected]] [From: [email protected]] [Subject: ice cream]

hi there,

uhh, this is bands boy (*cringe i’m so sorry, jeonghan made this username for me T-T) and i’m your new pen pal

i’m not really supposed to give out my real name or anything that may reveal who i really am, though jeonghan did say that you knew that i was one of his frat brothers? 

i’m also a music major and i love anything to do with cats

how do you know him and how did you get roped into this?

jeonghan also mentioned that he’s already told you how this is all going to work with the topics, so let’s get down to business i guess. the question of the week (sorry for the spoiler in the title lol) is:

“what is your favourite ice cream?”

yeah, i know. random as fuck. i’m guessing he wants us to start off easy then he’s probably going to make us suffer later am i right? haha 

anyway, i’m super boring and i generally like all flavours — i mean ice cream is ice cream, it’s always gonna be delicious — but if i had to choose, i’m going with chocolate. yeah… boring haha. 

well, i guess it’s your turn now. i look forward to hearing from you.

bands boy, signing out

He’s funny, you think to yourself, cheeks hurting from all the smiling you’ve been doing as you read his email. All the thoughts you had about how boring this pen pal business was gonna be, can now be thrown out the window and set on fire, never to be seen again. 

Preparing yourself to write back, you reach over for your pen and notepad, making sure you jot down the important things that you need to reply to as you read his email a second time. A third for good measure. The fourth read through almost makes you want to admit something else until you remember that he’s been waiting three whole days for you to reply.

Taking a deep breath, you stretch your limbs and touch your fingertips to the keyboard.

[To: [email protected]] [From: [email protected]] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 6:40PM]

well, hello there, bands boy.

i am so, so sorry that my reply has been delayed! i swear i didn’t mean to ghost you. it’s just that my psych thesis (spoiler alert: that’s how i know jeonghan) was kicking my ass this week so it completely slipped my mind to check my email. please forgive me T-T

also, if it’s any consolation, jeonghan also gave me a username that’s equally as cringe. you can call me girl magnetic *shudders* i’ll tell you all about it if you tell me what the go is with bands boy? no pressure though!

a music major, huh? that’s so neat! as i said before, i’m a psych major so jeonghan roped me into this because he’s helping me with my thesis too. 

also, i don’t view cats the same i’m sorry T-T i sure love dogs though!

so, he wants to know about our fave ice cream flavour? that is random haha. you’re probably right though and we have to suffer later… but it’s okay. i’ll just kick his ass :)

hmm… i’d have to say that i am just as boring as you because ice cream is ice cream — you’re so right — but coffee flavour is the one that gets me going. actually, coffee in general gets me going dfsdkdsfjdkj

anyway, that’s it from me. for now i guess? lol? i look forward to hearing from you… too?

kind regards, girl magnetic

Whoosh! There goes your email.

Feeling accomplished, you give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back and relax in your seat. At least, until something in your email catches your eye. “Kind Regards?” you read the offending words out loud. “Kind Regards?! Did I really just say that? God, can I be any more embarrassing?”

Sighing, you reach for your phone and quickly browse through every social media platform you use, to distract yourself from your blunder.

Several miles away, Vernon is intently staring at his laptop screen, trying to think of a way to word a particular sentence for the essay he’s working on. He’s been stuck at this point much longer than he’d like and before he can think of having a break, a dialogue box pops up, informing him of his pen pal’s response.

A welcome distraction, he smiles as his eyes glide through the words from your email. As he reads on, thoughts about who you could be and what you could look like run rampant in his mind. He decides that a second read through is required so that he can analyse your message further.

From the teasing way you started the email, to the sweet apology of your tardiness and especially the way you talk about Jeonghan, makes him more interested in getting to know you than he initially planned. He laughs as soon as your username Girl Magnetic sinks in, not because he thinks it’s funny, but because you do seem to have that aura about you, based on these few paragraphs alone.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity he’s been given, he throws all caution to the wind, typing away his response and hitting send before he can regret it.

Ping! You’ve Got Mail!

Confused, you lean back to check the time on the microwave that’s tucked away in the corner of your kitchen, squinting as you do so. Six Forty-Five. It’s only been five minutes since you sent your reply and you can’t believe he’s already responded. His swiftness takes you by surprise considering you’re still reeling from the awkward ending of your previous email. With a sigh, you bite the bullet and open his message.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 6:45PM]

hey there, girl magnetic

don’t even sweat it. jeonghan warned me that you’d be too busy to reply straight away. but, he did ask me today if you’ve already sent a reply. so if he was on your ass, sorry about that.

he mentioned that you would be contacting me tonight so that’s why i saw your message and now i’ve replied really quickly but i hope that it doesn’t make me seem eager… i’m babbling aren’t i? haha

so you want to know about bands boy? ah, it’s very embarrassing but since you’ve sweetened the deal, i’ll tell you about it. 

bands boy is the name of a song i wrote for a music project lol. if you’re keen, i’ll let you hear it once this penpal business is over and done with? over coffee? since you love it so much? haha

so, girl magnetic, what’s your story?

bands boy, signing out

ps. i’m gonna forgive you about the cats because i love dogs too!

You have to hand it to Jeonghan, he definitely chose the right person for you to exchange letters with. Not even the prospect of his smug smirk that will result from your admission, can wipe the smile off your face. Not wanting to leave him hanging, you quickly type out your reply.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:00PM]

oh, i am most definitely keen to hear bands boy. especially over coffee. i’m gonna hold you to it after this experiment so you better not forget!

the story behind girl magnetic is really not as interesting as yours. it just happens to be a song that a guy wrote to confess to me that’s all. the embarrassment T-T especially because i wouldn’t return his feelings and he was just… *shudder* lol

anyway, it’s a story for another time. i hope you weren’t doing something important when i sent my email?

x girl magnetic

ps. your babbling is cute

Biting your lip, you wonder if he’ll reply straight away like he previously did. Not wanting to miss it if he does, you carry your laptop with you to the kitchen, placing it on the benchtop as you scour your fridge for last night’s leftovers.

When Vernon reads your next message, his knee almost slams itself into the top of the table from its incessant bouncing. Ever since he replied to you, he’s been worried about how his curiosity came across and he’s glad that you didn’t misunderstand him. The premise of meeting you after the experiment has him reeling, especially with your added postscript, but he puts this aside and focuses on the information that you’ve given him.

“What are you smiling about?” Soonyoung, who also happens to be studying across from him in their frat living room, asks curiously. 

“Nothing, I’m just working on my essay,” Vernon replies, trying to act as cool as possible to avoid any further questions. The last thing he wants is to be the subject of the self-proclaimed fraternity gossip guru’s attention.

“Definitely not,” Mingyu counters with furrowed brows. “You were moaning and groaning about it just five minutes ago—”

“I was stuck,” Vernon attempts to shrug it off, especially when he notices Soonyoung’s eyes sparkle with keen interest. 

“And now?” Soonyoung prods, leaning forward to try and peek at his laptop.

Shutting it before his friend gets too close, Vernon neatly stacks his books on top and shoves his things under one arm as he gets up. “Now, I’m not stuck,” he pokes his tongue in cheek. “So, if you both excuse me, I’ll go ahead and work on this in my room, away from distractions.”

Soonyoung laughs, “We weren’t even the ones who distracted you.”

Vernon answers with a wave before bounding up the stairs and locking himself in his room.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:15PM]

what do you mean ‘not interesting’? i’m plenty interested in that story so i’m definitely holding you to it. don’t make me ask jeonghan about it >:)

hm i was doing an essay for my music theory class but i was stuck so now i’m talking to you :)

x bands boy

His message arrives just as you’re about to shove a dumpling or two in your mouth. Your eyebrows shoot up as you read it and put down your chopsticks in favour of sending your reply.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:18PM]

nooooooooo i didn’t mean to disturb my dear pen pal T-T

x girl magnetic

ps. if you ask jeonghan about it he’ll kill us both. unless you have a death wish? :)

Vernon doesn’t bother schooling the smile on his face as he reads, especially since he’s in the comfort of his own room now and behind closed doors.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:20PM]

no you’re good, i was gonna take a break anyway. so the distraction was welcome i promise :)

though it’s due tomorrow so i should probably get back to it…

but… i want to keep talking to you…

x bands boy

As tempting as it is to keep chatting with him, for a reason you can’t fathom at present, you refuse to be the reason why your pen pal fails a class.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:25PM]

i honestly want to keep talking to you too but i don’t want you to fail.

so i’ll make you a deal: we finish off our chat now so you can get your essay sorted and once you let me know that you’re done… i tell you the whole story behind girl magnetic.

how does that sound?

x girl magnetic

ps. i’m not taking no for an answer. good luck with the essay!

Not that Vernon needs it, but he feels plenty motivated now by the prospect of knowing more about you and an unspoken round two, one that isn’t driven by Jeonghan’s experiment.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:30PM]

well, that’s certainly an offer i can’t refuse. you’re on!

i’ll let you know when i’m done. don’t wait up though, i’ll be awhile (not that you would wait up lol)

x bands boy, signing out

Smiling, you close off his email and adjust your notification settings before shutting your laptop down, not wanting to miss his next message and keep him waiting again. At least that’s what you tell yourself because you’re unwilling to admit that you’re looking forward to hearing from him. It’s much too early for that.

The next few hours pass by uneventfully, with you watching a movie, cleaning up your dorm room and with you not waiting for a reply from your pen pal. Definitely not. Stifling a yawn, you grab your phone on your way to the bathroom and pull up your message thread with Jeonghan as you get ready for bed.

[10:00pm] thing 2: okay, i’ve responded to bands boy [10:01pm] thing 1: you’re welcome

This smug bastard. With eyes narrowed, you choose not to clue him in on any details about tonight’s endeavours.

[10:02pm] thing 2: i don’t know what you’re talking about :) [10:03pm] thing 1: yeah, sure jan [10:03pm] thing 2: hannie >:| [10:04pm] thing 2: anyway, are you back at the house yet? [10:04pm] thing 1: …i’m just dropping stephanie home now [10:05pm] thing 2: oh? [10:05pm] thing 1: don’t even say it

Smirking, you leave him hanging for a few minutes, fooling him into thinking he’s won.

[10:08pm] thing 2: you’re welcome :) [10:08pm] thing 1: god you’re such a pain in my ass [10:09pm] thing 2: sweet dreams hannieeee [10:09pm] thing 1: fuck off

Grinning in victory, you pat the rest of your moisturiser into your skin and tuck yourself into bed, glad to have the day end on a better note than when it started.

At exactly five minutes past midnight, Vernon submits his essay after proofreading it for the third and final time. He would’ve been done a whole lot earlier if Jeonghan didn’t come barging into his room, asking him question after question about you and he barely managed to appease him without divulging too much about his conversation with you.

Now, the only thing he needs to do before merging into one being with his bed, is to send you an email as promised. 

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Your Turn 12:10AM]

i finished my essay woo!

your move, girl magnetic

x sweet dreams

[ Series Master List ] - link to be added later

TAGLIST: @teapartydreams @aperson394

© darlingvernon

pls do not copy/repost my work

#seventeen #vernon #chwe hansol #vernon scenarios #vernon fluff #vernon fanfic #vernon x reader #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #seventeen fanfic #seventeen x reader #hansol scenarios #hansol fluff #hansol fanfic #hansol x reader #kpop fanfic #kat: writings

[avabananas13]

Rockstar! (Rockstar!Eddie Munson x Rockstar!Reader)

Summary: You’ve known Eddie Munson for years, not really becoming friends until high school. You don't have much in common except for your future: you both want to be on stage with thousands of people chanting your name. After graduation you move to LA in hopes of making it big. Eddie might just have the same idea.

TW: Angst, fluff, flashbacks (indicated in bold italics), fem!reader, most of this takes place during Eddies second senior year, cursing, brief descriptions of making out

Word Count: 5.7k

A/N: Hi everybody, here is the first chapter of my new series Rockstar! I’ve been working on this concept for a little while now and I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 1: Prologue

You and Eddie have known each other since middle school. You never really talked though seeing as you ran in separate circles for the longest time. You had lived in Hawkins your entire life, just as your parents had lived their entire lives in Hawkins. Everyone in town knew you and they knew your family. That's why you were surprised when the first day of 6th grade rolled around and some boy with a buzz cut ran into you and asked your name. 

“I’m Y/N. You didn't know that?” you questioned, having more of an attitude than what you meant to have.

“How am I supposed to know that when I just moved here?” he responded, with just as much attitude as you (if not more).

“Oh. Sorry. Your name?” 

“Eddie. Eddie Munson,” he answered, sticking his hand out to shake yours. You reached for it and he gripped your hand into a tight handshake. You both stood there for a few awkward moments but luckily saved by the bell just after. 

“I should probably get going to class. It was nice to meet you Eddie Munson,” you said, winking at him before turning away to leave. Eddie was completely awestruck just from your existence. He swears that he never saw a human more beautiful than you on that first day of middle school. Eddie hadn’t even registered you walking away as he was frozen by the way you said his name. And he was practically begging to be put out of his misery after you winked at him. You might’ve been 12 but you were a huge flirt. 

“Nice to meet you Y/N” Eddie said, long after you had left but his brain hadn’t registered it until then. 

You and Eddie didn’t have a real conversation after that until the end of 8th grade. And that wasn’t by choice.

“Today I’m going to put you in pairs for your final project. These pairs are non-negotiable,” your math teacher Mr. Robertson announced in his monotone voice, “who you get, is who you get. Let's get started, shall we?”. All you could do was pray you got paired with one of your friends, which shouldn’t be too hard as you were friends with practically everyone that would let you be their friend. 

You sat at your seat, bouncing your leg from the nerves, as your teacher called out each pair. You must’ve zoned out because you didn’t hear anything until your name was said.

“The next group will be Y/N and Eddie,” your teacher told the class. You looked behind you to see Eddie in the back of the class tapping his pencil on his desk. You must’ve been staring for some time because he eventually caught your gaze and made a face at you, making you turn back around. 

After your teacher announced each pair you all moved seats to sit with your respective partners. You were hoping Eddie would come to you but you had to go to him. 

“Hey. This seat taken?” you asked softly, gesturing to the desk next to his.

“Nope” giving you a short and cold response. You pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down, ready to work. Eddie was slouched at his desk, still rocking the buzz cut, and continued to tap his pencil on his desk. 

“Ok so I think that we should start with the research and note taking and then we can-” you were cut off by Eddie drumming his pencil even louder against his desk. “Could you please stop that? We need to work on this project,” you informed him, thinking he missed the memo. He ignores you and continues on with his drumming.

You can’t help but cringe at how horrible his drumming is. He can’t keep a steady beat and as soon as he has one rhythm down he changes it to another. 

“You clearly aren’t a drummer,” you say with a small giggle, trying to lighten the mood.

“What did you just say?” Eddie snaps his head towards you.

“You’re not much of a drummer. You’re really bad at it, actually,” you say in defense.

“Oh right and you think you could do better?” he questions. You weren’t a drummer, you were a singer and a pianist, but you knew when someone was just bad at an instrument. It doesn’t take a genius. 

“No. I do have ears though and you are currently doing them much harm,” you playfully say.  Eddie just sighs and rolls his eyes. “Now, can we please work on this project?” you ask, trying to get back on track. 

“I bet you don’t even know how to sing,” Eddie says, clearly pissed that you made fun of his drumming. 

“Actually, I’ve been taking voice lessons for five years, and piano for seven. You’re not the only musician at this school, Eddie Munson,” you inform him. 

Eddie has had the biggest crush on you since that day you met but when you inform him of your musical abilities he’s convinced that he’s in love with you. Sure, it seems like he isn’t interested in you but it’s the exact opposite. He brushes you off because he’s pretty sure that the second he got to know you he’d be done for. 

“That's actually pretty badass,” Eddie compliments you, “what kind of stuff do you sing?”

“Well, I really like Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks is my hero,” you say trying not to spill word vomit about a band you know Eddie isn’t interested in.

“Not bad, not my personal taste, but not bad,” Eddie tells you, trying not to hurt your feelings as he very much prefers metal over soft rock.

After that you and Eddie became inseparable. The whole summer leading up to high school you ditched your regular friend group and spent most of your time over at Eddie's trailer listening to music. He made you listen to bands like Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. You, in return, made him listen to Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, and The Beatles. 

You shared with each other your dreams for the future and how you hoped to make careers off music. Eddie would move to LA with his band, Corroded Coffin, and make it big. World tours. Sold out shows. Money. You wanted to move to California too but for a solo career. You didn’t care if nothing came from it either, you just wanted your voice to be heard.

The more time Eddie spent with you the deeper he was falling for you. It was starting to hurt him, knowing he was destined to be friendzoned for life by you. Little did he know, you felt the same way about him as he felt about you.

Just like Eddie, that day he bumped into you, you knew you were fucked. He was kinda awkward looking but in the way where you know he’ll grow up to be pretty. You didn’t realize just how much you liked him though until you started to hang out regularly. Before you thought it was just a stupid, middle school crush but by the first day of freshman year you were in love with him.

It took Eddie another year after that before asking you out. You were practically dating by the time your sophomore year rolled around. The two of you were always together, in school and out of school, he would sneak through your bedroom window multiple times throughout the week to “hang out” even more, and you guys were a lot more touchy than what platonic friends should be. Eddie found any and every excuse there was to touch you. He just needed to feel that contact with you. 

He eventually decided to just bite the bullet and ask you out. He had gotten more than enough signals that you wanted him to ask you out and he finally felt confident about it. 

It was a Friday night, and it was during the autumn of your sophomore year. You had gotten a couple of gigs in Hawkins and some other towns close by. You could feel it, sometime in the near future you would be making it big. You would be the first person in your family out of Hawkins, and you couldn’t be happier. 

You were laying in bed, working on a new song, when you heard a few taps on your window. You look over to see Eddie waving for you to let him in your room. You quickly rush over, leaning over the desk you have placed in front of it, and open the window for him. “Hey! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over? I would’ve left the window unlocked for you,” you tell him. Eddie climbs over your desk, careful not to mess up the schoolwork you have sitting there, and stands directly in front of you. He seems a lot more stressed than usual and it’s very noticeable. “Are you ok? You don’t seem like yourself?” you ask him, worriedly. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. No need to worry about me,” he says, starting to smile. He’s trying to work up the courage he needs to ask you out, afraid he’ll never do it at this point. “I do want to ask you something though,” here goes nothing.

“Yeah! Whatever you need!” you say assuringly. God, he can’t believe he’s about to ask out the most perfect and well-liked girl in Hawkins. And in her bedroom of all places. You move over to your bed and sit comfortably on the edge.

You can’t help but notice how pretty he is now. He grew up from that awkward kid with a buzz cut to looking like the toughest guy out there with his hair starting to grow out and wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt, topped with a leather jacket and his battle jacket. Even when he looks nervous he’s still so pretty. You notice how perfectly pink his lips are, and how deep his eyes are that you could easily get lost in them for the rest of your life and you would be more than ok with that. You swear that if he doesn’t ask you out soon that you’ll just have to get it over with and do it for him.

“Listen, I have a question to ask you,” he says after the few moments of silence you took to admire his beauty. 

“You said that already,” you giggle.

“Oh shit, yeah you’re right sorry,” he says, shaking his head, hoping that’ll get rid of his nerves. It doesn’t. This is when you start to think, maybe, just maybe this is it. Eddie Munson would be asking you out on a date. He takes a pause, a deep breath, and starts again.

“Ok, I’m just gonna say it and rip the fucking band-aid off. I like you, Y/N. And not as in a friends type of like, like a I want to be your boyfriend type of like . It’s totally cool if you don’t feel the same, and if I made things awkward between us but I just needed to tell you,” he rushes out. You sit there for a few seconds, staring at him, and he’s pretty sure he’ll piss himself due to your silence. 

“You never asked me a question,” is all you said, knowing the question but wanting to hear him say it.

“What?” you smile in a way that lets him know that you know what he’s asking. He takes another deep breath, looks at the ground for a moment, and then back at you where you just sit there, beautiful and patient. “Would you do me the greatest honor, and go out with me?”

You jump off of your bed and rush over towards Eddie, who just stands there awkwardly, and you fling yourself on top of him into the warmest embrace either of you have ever felt. Eddie is paralyzed by your touch and it takes him a second to register what's happening but as soon as he does, he’s grinning wider than he ever has before. 

“So, is that a yes?” he asks, pulling you away from him.

“Yeah, it’s a yes,” and as soon as he thinks you’re going back in for another hug you pull him down into a passionate kiss. You both feel the weight that has been lifted from your hearts as you kiss one another for the first of many times. The kiss intensifies the longer it goes on, both of you worried that as soon as it breaks it’ll never happen again. You eventually remember that you’re human and need to breathe, and you pull away first. 

“Holy shit,” Eddie breathes.

“Holy shit,” you agree.

Now, here you are two years later and graduating high school, sadly without your boyfriend by your side. Eddie had gotten the news that he would have to repeat his senior year. 85’ would be his year though, he was sure of it. You were worried that Eddie might be jealous that you would be graduating without him but he was so proud of you that he didn’t have time to be jealous. When he saw you walk that graduation stage, he cheered for you louder than anyone else. He was so fucking proud of you. 

After the ceremony, you rushed over to him and he gave you the world's nicest congratulations kiss. “Babe, I can’t believe you graduated! I’m so proud of you! How does it feel to be a high school graduate?” he asked.

“Weird. I can’t believe I’m no longer a Hawkins Tiger,” you giggled, school spirit had never really been your thing. You went to football games and basketball games but that was really only to cheer on your friends that contributed to the athletics department. “Oh yeah! I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight. I have something I want to tell you!” you said excitedly. 

“Count me in,” Eddie responded, pulling you in for another kiss. “Does 8 work?” he asked between kisses and you nodded in response.

-

Keeping to his word, Eddie arrived at 8 that night. He wasn’t usually this punctual but he was eager to see you, his little high school graduate. He climbed up the siding of your house and made his way up to your second floor bedroom window for the hundredth time. You left the window unlocked for him and he crawled through the window. He found you on the edge of your bed, the same spot you sat just two years ago when he asked you out, your knee was bouncing and Eddie couldn’t help but wonder what was causing your jitters.

“Hey high school grad! How's it going?” he asked, grabbing you by your hands to pull you up and into a soft, welcoming kiss. 

“Well, I have some news,” you said, hardly able to contain just how excited you were. 

“Ok, shoot,” Eddie gestured to you, waiting for you to start. He walked over to where you had just been sitting on the bed and you stood in front of him. 

“So, I don’t know if you remember this or not but a few months ago I had that gig in Indianapolis? Well, I guess there was some music producer there that night and a few weeks ago he sent me a letter,” you paused, realizing you were about to tell your boyfriend life changing news for not just you but him too. You took a few deep breaths, trying to collect your thoughts, and Eddie started to wave his hand for you to finish. “He sent me a letter, offering me a record deal. He wants me to move to Los Angeles for a few months to make an album. He thinks I could be the next Stevie Nicks,” you gave a gentle laugh at the last part.

Eddie didn’t know how to react. He wants to be proud of you. Oh god, all he wants to do is be proud of you, but he can’t help but be jealous. This is the exact opposite of what he was feeling at your graduation ceremony that morning. He’s been trying to get Corroded Coffin to become the next big thing since they formed back in the eighth grade, and here his girlfriend was beating him to it. And worse of all, he would be losing you.

“So you're moving?” Eddie didn’t mean for that to be the first words out of his mouth but he just had to know. He didn’t want to break up. He loves you more than anyone else in the whole world, hell the whole universe. He didn’t want to be the guy that stands in the way of your dreams either. You would be moving on, without him, meeting all sorts of famous people and going on world tours. You would forget all about him the second you got to LA. 

“Yeah, I’m moving. But, Eddie, we can make this work. We will work. It doesn’t matter where we’re at, we will always love each other. There's phones and we can write letters. We’ve got this,” you try comforting him. You know that this is probably breaking his heart. You know Eddie well enough to know when he has doubts, and you can tell he definitely has doubts over the survival of your relationship.

Your words help Eddie remember that you’ll still be able to keep in contact. And he can always go visit you during his breaks, and you can visit him whenever your schedule allows it. “When do you leave?” he asks, a little more excited for you now.

“Wednesday, we’re driving and need to be there by Saturday. I wish we had more time together but they need me to start on this album now,” you say sadly.

“Well, I guess we just have to make the best of our last days together,” Eddie says smiling. He starts standing up, walking towards you. He puts his hands on your waist and starts bringing you in closer and closer to him. “Babe, I am so fucking happy for you. You’re going to be something big, I can feel it,” he brings you into a tight embrace and you stay there together for a few minutes.

-

Come Wednesday and Eddie is in your driveway refusing to let you go. He is hugging you so hard you start to think he’s broken multiple of your ribs but you don’t mind because who knows the next time you’ll feel his touch. 

“I love you so fucking much sweetheart. You’re going to blow them out of the water,” he says, kissing you. You start to cry at his words. You’re not sad to be leaving Hawkins, it’s a shithole and you were actually happy to leave, but in leaving Hawkins you also had to leave behind the best thing about it, Eddie.

“Come on, sweetie,” your mom says, trying to pull you away to leave. Your parents would be driving out with you to help you settle into your apartment. You were lucky enough to be getting enough money from the record company that you could afford to rent your very own apartment. You finally felt like an adult for the first time in your life, even though you’ve been 18 for three months now. 

You stand on your tip toes and pull Eddie down for one last kiss, he’s the one crying now. He goes back to hugging you, giving a tight squeeze before letting go of you.

“I love you, don’t forget that,” he whispers in your ear.

“Never.”

-

LA is nothing like you thought it would be. It’s loud, dirty, and you’ve never witnessed so many muggings before in your life, not that you saw many back in Hawkins anyway. And most of all, you desperately missed Eddie. You’ve been there for almost a year now and you were longing for home and your boyfriend, who you still haven’t seen since you moved. He promised to visit during his spring break last month but he canceled. He told you he needed to study. You weren’t sure to believe it though since 1.) it was Eddie, who has never picked up a textbook willingly and 2.) Who studies during spring break?

You thought that the move would be easy, that long-distance would work between you and Eddie. Sadly, you were starting to realize that isn’t the case. You had blamed yourself for the distance between the two of you. You called each other every day the first week you were there and then things got busy, you didn’t have as much down time. You did write to him every week though, at least that was what you did for the first five months. 

Eddie wasn’t innocent though seeing as the reason you stopped writing to him was because he stopped responding to you. Now, you would call each other maybe once a week. He was nearing the end of his second senior year now and the last time you talked to him it sounded like he was failing Ms. O’Donnells class again. You just hoped he would graduate this time. He deserves it. 

The only thing keeping you there was your career. You had to keep reminding yourself that things would be all better soon though because Eddie was supposed to be flying over for your release party next week. Your name had started to circulate in the media over the last few weeks after your first single dropped to promote the album. People were going crazy over it and were so excited to see what else you could do.

Y/N L/N has become an overnight sensation after the release of her single New Guy hit the charts practically overnight 

Make way for America's newest sweetheart, Y/N L/N, as her first album titled Crush is set to release next Friday

From small town to big town, Y/N L/N is lighting up Hollywood ahead of her first albums release

You couldn’t believe just how much buzz there was over your name. Your single, which was about the first time you met Eddie, had made it high up the Billboard charts in a matter of days. The whole thing felt surreal and you felt fulfilled with achieving your dreams. You just wish you could’ve been closer home to do it. 

“Y/N, babe, Rolling Stone just called and they want to interview you,” your manager Glenn Thomson announced.

“Are you fucking with me? Rolling Stone? Shut up!” you said excitedly.

“You’re a star, kid, and they can clearly spot talent,” he compliments.

“I need to call my boyfriend! He’s going to shit himself when I tell him!” you jump up from off the sofa you were sitting on and rush towards the nearest phone to call Eddie. 

“That's not all though,” he continues with his exciting news. You turn away from the phone that you’ve already picked up and face your manager awaiting to hear the rest of the deal.

“They want you to cover their May issue,” you feel like you’re going to pass out right then and there. Rolling Stone wants you on their cover and you’ve only released one song so far. You felt tears starting to prick your eyes and you quickly moved to wipe them away with the back of your hand.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe this is happening,” you finally say, remembering how to breathe. You turn back to the phone and dial Eddies number faster than you ever have in your life. The phone rings multiple times to the point where you start to think he isn’t home. Just as you’re about to hang up you hear a voice on the other end of the line.

“Hello?” Eddie's voice fills your ears and you smile at the sound of it.

“Babe, it’s me. I have something to tell you,” you tell him excitedly.

“Should I be sitting down for this?” he jokes.

“No, it's fine. You can stand,” you take a breath as you are still trying to wrap your head around the news, “Rolling Stone is interviewing me!” you squeal. You tried to contain your excitement but this was too big to downplay.

“Holy shit babe! That's amazing! I wish I was there to hug you right now,” for a second you think that he’s more excited than you are. 

“I wish you were here too because, that’s not all,” you try your best to not freak out this time but you know it’s bound to happen, “I’m going to be on their May cover!” you squeal again.

-

Eddie drops the phone at this news. You were really becoming a big deal. You had an album coming out next week, Rolling Stone was taking notice of you, he’s constantly hearing your single on the radio. You were doing just fine in LA without him. He was missing you so much that he can hardly stand to be on a phone call with you because the more he hears your voice without seeing you, it breaks his heart. He just wants to hold you and kiss you. 

He didn’t go to LA last month for spring break like he promised but that's because he needed to study. He was at risk of failing his senior year for a second time so he had to focus his energy into Ms. O’Donnells class. He regrets not going but he needs to be in LA with you next year so if that means going a few months without you for now, but gets to spend a lifetime with you, then so be it. 

He starts thinking that maybe he wouldn’t get that lifetime with you. He always thought you were in this together. You would move to Los Angeles together, you would rent your first apartment together, you would make it big together. He is trying to convince himself he’ll catch-up. Him and Corroded Coffin can move out there after they’ve all graduated, which could be two years away he realizes. He’s the oldest in the band, the second being Jeff who’s a junior and then there's Gareth who’s a sophomore. 

At this point he thinks he’ll just never get to where you are. Destined to remain in Hawkins forever. You’ll forget about him, get married to some hotshot actor, and have perfect babies who’ll grow up to be just as famous as you. The thought leaves a sour taste in his mouth. Oh shit, you’re still waiting for a response from him.

“Babe, that’s fucking incredible. You are fucking incredible. Hey, I gotta go so I’ll call ya tomorrow ok?” he hangs up the phone before you could even respond.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

-

Eddie never called you back. To be fair, you didn’t call him either but that’s because you were expecting him to. Your album release party was tomorrow night and you weren’t even sure if your boyfriend would show up for that. You sat on your sofa cross-legged, staring at the phone. You weren’t sure if you were trying to work up the courage to call him or if you were trying to use some unknown power you have and force him to call you. You decide it’s the first one. You take a breath and reach for the phone. Just as you are about to dial, it rings. You pick it up faster than you’d like to admit but it was in your hand, of course you were going to answer it quickly.

“Hey sweetheart, you excited for tomorrow?” you have powers, you're convinced. This is the freakiest coincidence you’ve ever experienced but you're not mad about it. You shake it off and smile at his question.

“Uh duh, I’ve only been waiting for this my entire life!” you excitedly tell him. You listen in on his side of the phone and it sounds busy where he is. You can hear shouting and the sounds of traffic, definitely not Hawkins. “Hey, where are you? It doesn’t sound like Hawkins,” you hear him chuckle a little as if it wasn’t obvious where he is.

“Sweetheart, did you really think I was going to miss your party? I was calling because I realized that I forgot your address. Think you could help your dear ol’ boyfriend out and remind me?” he was coming. You’ve never felt more relieved since moving out here. You happily oblige and give him your address and he says he’s on his way now. 

-

It’s been about half an hour since your phone call with Eddie and you hear a funny knock on the door, it almost sounds like a song. You rush to open it and see your boyfriend there, in front of you for the first time in ten and a half months. You fling yourself at him and wrap your arms tightly around his neck. He kisses you more passionately than he ever has in your relationship, which is going on three years now. He walks you back inside your apartment, closes the door, and drops his duffle bag, all without breaking the kiss. The kiss only breaks after you both realize it’s been a minute since either of you has breathed.

“I missed you so fucking much, princess,” Eddie says, his lips grazing your own as he refuses to let you be anymore than an inch apart. 

“I missed you too,” you feel like you could cry just from the sight of him. He is quick to reattach himself to you after you’ve both caught your breath. You open your mouth enough that he can stick his tongue in and you moan at the contact. He moves away from your lips and starts to work his way down your neck and kisses your sweet spot. 

“Baby, I missed you so much,” he said in between kisses.

“Oh- oh god, Eddie it’s been so tough without you here. I miss you so much,” you can’t help it and tears start freely flowing down your cheeks. Eddie stops what he’s doing and stands up straight, cupping your face with his hands. He starts brushing your tears away and places a sweet kiss to both your temples.

“It’s ok, sweetheart, I’m here now,” he says, pulling you into him tightly. You wrap your arms around his torso and cry into his shirt which is now stained from your mascara, but he doesn’t care.

“I started to think you weren’t coming,” you admitted. 

“What?” he says, slightly pulling you off of him with a confused face, “why would you think that?”

“Because, you’ve been so distant. You haven’t called or written much,” you confide in him. You start to think that you should’ve just kept your mouth shut. He didn’t need to know you doubted him. He didn’t need to know why you were crying into his shoulder. You’re in deep shit now.

“I’ve been busy. Y/N do you hear yourself? You’re the one making a fucking album,” he says, barely holding on to you anymore.

“Yeah but you’re the one who isn’t returning my phone calls! I’m making an effort, unlike you,” you spit at him, fully pulling yourself away from him.

“I’m trying to graduate Y/N!” Eddie shouts. His face turns to a shade of red you had never seen on him before. You were in disbelief. How dare he claim you were the one pulling away. 

“So what, you’ve finally decided to focus on school and now you don’t have time for me?” you say, striking a low blow. You know how sensitive Eddie is about school. It was incredibly hard for him last year when he was told he’d be held back. 

“I want to be with you! I’m trying to graduate so I can be with you! God! I’m trying to be responsible. I really am, Y/N, but the fact that you think I just don’t have time for you anymore hurts. It fucking hurts. Everything I’ve done is for you,” he yells. Eddie doesn’t lose his temper that often. Sure, he’ll say shit and pick fights but he never really snapped at people, especially you. At this point, you start crying harder. The last thing you wanted to do was fight with him, but your mouth was thinking faster than your brain. 

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be with me anymore,” you shout back at him. You hate to insinuate the idea of breaking up but you were angry and needed to find a way out of this conversation, even if it ended up making you hurt worse. You knew that this relationship was just not working anymore. You knew making a long distance relationship work was going to be a long shot.

“What?” Eddie asked softly, staring at you with hurt in his eyes. “You don’t want to be together anymore?”

“Eds, it’s not that I don’t love you. I love you so fucking much it hurts but we need to look at the situation in front of us. I’m busy already as it is and soon enough I’ll be going on tour,” you said, hearing him scoff in response. “It’s not like you have all this free time either. Not only are you across the country but you need to graduate,” you told him.

“I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation right not\w Y/N,” he said in disbelief, “I flew all the way out here, working extra shifts at the garage so I could even afford to the goddamn ticket, and now you’re just what, breaking up with me?” You could tell he was on the verge of tears. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him so heartbroken.

“Eddie, I’m really sorry but I just don’t think this is working anymore,” you go to reach out for him but he takes a step back, trying to create as much distance as possible between the two of you. “I think you should go,” you whisper. 

Eddie rubs his hands over his face and groans, trying to hide his tears. “Ya know what, I will. Congrats on the fucking album Y/N,” and with that he turns to open the front door. You step out to the hall and watch as he enters the elevator, walking out of your life forever. Or that's what you think.

-

Thanks everyone for reading, I really appreciate it! Let me know if you want tagged in the next part

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson x fem!reader #rockstar!eddie #rockstar!reader #eddie munson x reader #friends to lovers #rockstar!eddie x reader #lovers to enemies #angst #fluff

[letshearitforthespacedads]

Twin Flame - Pt 6 Golden Slumbers

Being Steve Harrington’s twin had its perks. Okay, there were a lot of perks to being a Harrington. One downfall though was somehow getting involved with a group of Pre-Teens with a knack of finding trouble, a girl from the Hawkins Lab with superpowers, and whatever the hell just came out of Jonathan Byers’ wallpaper?! God, you were just trying to get through your Senior year. Who would have expected the biggest surprise of the year would be falling for Eddie Freaking Munson.

CW: Playing it fast and loose with the timeline baby, Twin!Harrington, gratuitous use of the devil’s lettuce, me pretending I know anything about drums, even though Steve dresses like a sailor reader has the mouth of one, not Beta read, SPICE there’s spice here, Minors please advert your eyes and hit the road–this one isn’t for you, tried to write reader as GN! as possible.

Gif not mine. Credit goes to the creator ;)

Tap, tap, double tap, oomph, crack, tap, tap. The sound from your drum kit echoed the walls of your bedroom. You paused, twirling your drum stick between two fingers. Your mouth was open as you breathed heavily, catching your breath in between the small break in the song you were playing along to. Your headphones fitting snug over your ear, the cord barely able to keep its connection to your record player from across the room.

Break over.

You slammed both sticks down onto your snare, hitting along to the beat. Head rocking along to the beat, you continued your assault on the secondhand kit. You banged along to the crescendo on the hi-hat. You hadn’t noticed Steve entering your room, hair tousled from sleep and pajama bottoms caught under his heels as he was wiping the remnants of sleep away from his eyes. You also didn’t notice the pillow he had carried from his bedroom, that was until he flung it full force into your face.

You fell back from your small stool, flat onto your back. A crash cymbal knocked over by your foot ironically narrating your fall.

“IT. IS. 8. AM. YOU. PHYSCHO.” Steve yelled.

You stood up slowly from behind the kit, unharmed but pissed. You locked eyes with your twin, “Run.” You warned before rushing over the kit and pursuing your already retreating brother down the hall. “I’m going to KILL you.” You yelled after him. Both of you hurrying as quick as your legs would take you down the stairs straight into the kitchen. Steve might have had longer legs, but you had unadulterated anger pumping through your veins.

The two of you met again at the kitchen counter, both of you poised on either side ready to duck left or right in either flee or chase.

“I was banging on the wall, for like an hour—you made me do this.” Steve said, his eyes never leaving yours as you both circled the counter.

“That doesn’t mean you have the right to assault me, Sime ball.” You growled, taking a lemon from one of the many fruit bowls on the counter and chucking it hard at his head.

He easily dodged it, “Assault? Get real. It was a love tap.”

“I’ll show you a love tap asshat,” You spat lunging to the left. He lunged right and the chase was on.

“TWINS,” A yell stopped you both just as you had managed to snag a piece of his sleep shirt, yanking him back towards you. Your hand was raised mid punch heading towards his stomach, his own arms raised to defend.

Your mother was standing in the living room dressed in a neon yellow leotard accented with hot pink sweat bands and sky-blue tennis shoes. She was staring daggers into both of you as you had interrupted her morning Pilates. “I am in the middle of something, if you’re going to play, take it outside. I need to concentrate.”

“Mom,” You began to loosen your grip on Steve who took the opportunity to lunge out of your reach and across the living room.

She cut you off immediately with a finger resuming stepping along to the instructor on the TV. “Outside.”

You rolled your eyes before looking back towards Steve. With eyes narrowed you dragged a finger across your neck and then pointed at him mouthing the words ‘You’re dead.’ You quickly turned your heel and stomped back upstairs to your bedroom. Slamming the door shut, sure to lock it behind you. You stood your cymbals back up and walked back to your record player. Picking up the needle and placing it back to the outermost part of the record you secured your headphones back over your ears and sat back down on your now right-side up stool.

One, two, one, two, three.

You began tapping on your snare. Iron Maidens ‘Run to the Kills’ basting through your headphones as you played along. Eddie was right. This record was hot. Red hot. You couldn’t wait to tell him you could keep up with Clive Burr, hell you were positive that in a few months you could be better than him.

You honestly couldn’t wait to see Eddie again. Couldn’t wait to talk to him. Couldn’t wait to kiss him. Not like the two of you had done much other than kiss the last time you had seen him. Had it really only been a few hours since he had dropped you off way past curfew? Not like your parents had noticed.

He had taken you for burgers and games at the arcade. Followed by a show at some dive outside of town that didn’t ID and had ended with the two of you in the back of his van kissing and smoking and giggling for hours. Not even the horrors of what lied under Hawkins Lab could damper the power of teenage hormones.

You had reluctantly peeled yourself from underneath him in the early hours of the morning, knowing you couldn’t fight the sunrise for much longer. Your lips were swollen and felt chapped, and God were your panties soaked. You had secretly wanted him to take your fooling around to the next level, but Eddie ever the gentleman had kept everything over the jeans. You could feel the way he was straining against his own denim, but he never asked for more than your lips and neck. As you exited the back of his van he pulled you in for one last kiss, cupping your face in a way so tender your heart skipped a beat. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” He said, his hands squeezing your hips.

You smiled and leaned in for one more kiss. “I can’t wait.”

You had barely slept before the sun was up and your mind was racing with thoughts of Eddie Munson.  You thought drumming would help and it did until Steve’s interruption. You had finished the song, and the record started playing another, but you suddenly didn’t feel like drumming anymore. Your eyes drifted to your phone, and you wondered when he would be up and call. Throwing yourself back on your bed, you kicked your feet up in frustration. In that moment you decided, crushes are for the birds.

#billy harringrove #dustin henderson #eddie munson #eddie munson x harrington!reader #steve harrington #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things #eddie x reader #harrington reader #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #timeline? we dont need a timeline where were going #i cannot be stopped

[cesiali]

Help（EricC/Ace）

"Thank you, Ace, again."

A small smile appeared on Eric's face, still a little shy, a blush of excitement on his cheeks.

Every time he wore that expression, it caused Ace to resist the urge to tease him, I mean, who wouldn't want to? So the corners of the guitarist's mouth quirked up slightly, a hint of slyness swept across his amber eyes, "You're welcome, curly. Your lovely reaction is priceless ."

"No, no, Ace, don't do that to me..." Eric's chuckle had a touch of nervousness in it, and he blushed even more. He leaning back in the seat across from Ace as if he were trying to hide in his hopelessly hairy tufts. "Seriously, man. I'm glad you invited me to hang out with you. I, it makes me feel like I still have a part of my own life in, if you know..."

"I got you." Ace nodded, chin perched on the bar with interest, "So, how are they both doing these days, tell me a some spicy insider info, huh?"

Eric stirred his glass of mojito with a straw as he spoke softly, "I'm not sure I'm supposed to say that ......"

"Oh come on, just tell me if Gene and Paul ever fight like cats and dogs, I have to hear that... Actually, I'm dying here, Eric. Save the poor guy!" Ace laughs and dramatically pulls up the volume as he grabs the beer in front of him and takes a swig, the foam on the surface dissipating completely, the taste a little dry and flavorless.

The paper straw had been submerged in the liquid for too long, thus beginning to swell and soften, and Eric stared at it, unable to help but be reminded of KISS' current situation.

"Gene... He's been a little busy lately, and he's been showing up at the studio less and less often."

"Oh, I remerber-hear he's making movies in Hollywood." Ace raised his hand and ordered another glass of champagne. He was sickened by the smell of the beer he had just drank, even as instinct drove him to finish the whole thing. 

Eric nodded.

"Damn, didn't the Phantom Park fiasco serve as a warning to him?" He let out a laugh that caught in his throat , fingers with various silver rings were drawing circles along the rim of the empty glass,"We're a bunch of limited clowns out on Halloween who don't know the first thing about acting, he should know that." 

Eric nods slightly, "Paul's not doing well, I think he's under a lot of stress and the meetings are getting shorter and shorter with how often Gene shows up." He takes another sip of his drink, then swallows hard. "I wanted to do something about it, after all, I was in on it, wasn't I? I shouldn't just be sitting on a behind a drum set, I want to do something ......" He trailed off with a bit of a shudder, though Eric tried to sound less desperate.

After being washed down with alcohol the empty glass was forgotten to one side, empty inside. Nowhere to be found, nowhere to go.

Just like us.

"Just like us."

"What?" Eric looked up at Ace quizzically.

The waiter handed over a second drink at this time.

"Nothing."Ace shook his head and took a quick taste from his glass, "This is much better..." He mumbled as he almost looked at the goblet before he seamlessly picked up where he had left off in his earlier conversation with Eric. "Don't try that one, Eric. because you'll soon realize you can't get in on it - you're not invited in." Ace took another sip, the bubbles filling his mouth causing him to squint in enjoyment, but he continued to summarize, "That's how KISS works, he means Gene and Paul together, no one else."

Eric bit his lower lip, and deep down, he had to admit that Ace was right. He was caught in an awkward position; Bruce had only been at KISS for a couple of years, and in terms of time, he was far more senior than Bruce, but the truth was that they weren't as far apart as Bruce thought they were. At every heated argument they witnessed between Gene and Paul, the look for help eyes Bruce threw his way always left him painfully and soberly numb.

Still, Eric took a deep breath. Maybe it was the alcohol, he had to say something from his heart. Maybe with Ace, he could say it safely.

"You know what? I never try what I can't get, I don't overreach."

Eric didn't go back to the glass, just looked at it, "Fame, sales, money ...Are all bullshit. All I want is to keep playing, to keep playing on a stage with an adequate audience. Unlike what Paul and Gene were after, I didn't even bother to count the empty seats in the stands. Everything, everything is just about the music."

"You're going to tell me all you want just rock 'n roll ?" Ace's laugh was starting to become slightly annoying.

"Yeah. "

Eric said firmly, as if he were so sure of something for the first time in his life.

"You have a pure spirit , Eric, but KISS is not your problem."

"No, Ace, I want to help, okay? Anyone, I don't just say KISS, okay? Just ask me, like I did when I played with your band... Really, I wish I could help do something." Eric said with some urgency , his baby face peeking out of his curls.

The air went quiet.

Ace's heavy eyelids fluttered and his eyes slowly widened, "I see."

Eric frowned, not quite convinced that Ace had really understood what he'd just said. Especially when Ace's eyes are having trouble focusing. Eric pushed away from the mojito in front of him, contemplating whether Ace could have gotten too drunk.

"Bad flavor, huh ?" Ace's eyebrows rose as he noticed Eric's behavior.

"Not so good, but that's okay."

As soon as Eric's words left his mouth, he saw Ace push his glass of champagne over, "Try mine, it's much better." His tone shifted a little teasingly as he lowered his voice.

"That's okay, Ace. I can get myself another one-"

"Come on, try it."

The goblet was pushed closer, and Eric could smell the sweet aroma wafting from the golden liquid.

"Ace, listen-"

"Just a sip, okay? Do me a favor."

Eric's eyes fell to the wall of the glass above the faintest glint of lipstick, and following the trail he brought his eyes back to Ace's lip-he must have been wearing some sort of lipstick with mica in it.

"Tell me how it tasted ." Ace propped his elbows on the table, then propped his chin on his hands and looked at Eric. His eyes, unlike the drowsy ones of old, had something equally sparkling in them.

It was as if Eric had a lump in his throat.He picked up the glass, deliberately skirting around that lips-mark to taste the champagne, barely able to taste it.

"It tastes good." He said semi-mechanically, his mouth tasting of a strange cherry flavoring.

Of course, there were no cherries in the champagne.

Ace's brow stretched as a satisfied smile crept across his face, "Let me give-"

"I'll help myself." Eric preemptively gestured to the waiter for another glass, "Don't try it, Ace."

Ace got his glass of champagne back and finished it in one gulp as he set the glass back down on the table. His tongue stuck out and slid over his lower lip not letting go of any drop of fragrance, "Try what?" The voice wavered.

Eric began to regret his earlier compliance. He shook his head, his harmless personality of not wanting to offend others turning out to be the biggest deterrent at the moment.

The waiter handed him another glass of champagne, and Eric took a deep breath and poured half of it down his throat. The compound aroma of fruit and fur rushed through his mouth, and Eric felt someone scuff the side of his shoe with their foot. His head suddenly became heavy.

"ACE."

Eric issued a warning that could barely be considered stern. His body tensed. Feet retreated under the chair.

"What's the wrong, Curly? Did it taste bad again?" Ace said innocently, taking Eric's glass before he could respond, his body pressed against the edge of the table. " lemme helpya..." He chuckled softly, putting the glass to his lips and tilting his head back to take a sip, more like on purpose. There was a drop of liquid that slid over the corner of his lips, past his chin, down his neck, into the collar of his shirt, and disappeared.

Eric was completely lost for words, he shouldn't have let Ace do that, it wouldn't have done any good, for either of them.

"It's getting better now, I promise, I'm maked it good ..." Ace spoke briskly as she pushed back the glass of champagne, less than a third of which was left.

"No, Ace, I won't drink it." Eric pushed the glass away as if it had been scalded.

"Hey, it's okay." Ace's hand dropped to the tabletop moving a little closer in Eric's direction. "I've made it better, trust me."

"Take it all, Ace, just-" Eric eyes darting nervously back and forth between Ace's hand, which was not far from his own, and the cup. "Take it, it's all yours." He glanced hesitantly at the doorway.

"What if I want you to take it away?"

"NO."

The chair legs made a harsh sound on the floor. Eric braced himself on the tabletop and stood up. He should have been aware of this: the trademark Ace laugh was gone, the stupid jokes nowhere to be found ...... All the signs of this had been there for a long time. Eric couldn't deal with this.

"I'm so sorry, Eric..." said Ace as he stumbled to his feet after him, taking Eric's arm in one hand and holding onto the table with the other to try and keep from swaying so much, "I promise everything's going to be okay. We'll have fun ......"

"Ace-"

Eric's heart rushed restlessly in his chest, the sound quickly running out of his mouth.

"I like you a lot, Eric...don't go, okay? I want it, and you want it...y-you said you'd help, didn't you? We can get out of here...I......"

Eric still hasn't left Ace's side, and the guitarist looks like he's going to break down any second. He can't leave yet, and Eric reaches out to put his arm around the other man's waist, but it's stiff as a log. Ace's face was close to his own now, close enough that Eric could clearly see the old scar around the other man's mouth. His hands on the Ace's waist couldn't help but tighten, and Ace lazily stuck out his tongue and dragged it across his lips as his body began to lean in closer and closer.

Just like that time they were in Rome, when Ace's palms that held his face were slightly sweaty. The warmth of his body pressed against his own. The smell of champagne, the sounds of the crowd, all of it aroused his senses.

"lemme helpya..." That's what he said that time. Ace took his breath away before Eric could figure out the true intent in those words.

But this time it's so damn different. He saw clearly, and even felt that he was seeing too much. After all, the click of their belt buckles clashing sounded, and Eric clearly felt the guitarist's eyes gazing at him, but it was as if they'd passed through his own body to look at someone else, and he was completely lost in his own world, his expression hazy and distant.

"I can't, Ace. I can't help you with this." 

Eric looked away, and it was as if the taste of cherries and champagne had reappeared in his mouth, but it was no longer sweet, it was bitter in vain. 

"I said I'd help, and I meant musically, okay? I, you...I mean, if you need a drummer to save the day next time, I can keep coming over, I'd be happy to. Only up to here, just musically..."

Ace's grip on his arms relaxed, soon loosening completely to hang at the sides of his body, and he stumbled so much that for a moment Eric wasn't sure if he was about to fall over or trying to walk away.

"I see." said Ace vaguely, squeezing out a smile briefly, never bothering to add any more charm or meaning. It was the first time Eric had ever felt Ace as sad as a human; the Jendell joke didn't work here, and he actually wasn't even sure if Ace was still telling that joke now.

"At least I can make a phone call for you, if you need it, I can give-" Eric took stock of the change in his pockets. 

Ace broke away from his embrace to throw herself back into the seat.

"No, Eric, You can leave if you want..."

"Ace..."

"You're a great guy, Eric. Please go."

The powerlessness he'd suppressed for so long eventually channeled into anger. He clenched his fists and turned around, a mass of fur ball quickly rushing out the doorway.

Eric had an idea, at least that's what he could do.

He fumbled in his wallet for a few coins and dropped them into the telephone, a crumpled sticky note wallet its way out of the compartment and unfolded to flatten against the glass. Eric could make out a string of numbers scrawled on it in black neutral pen through the daylight. With that, he swallowed hard and dialed the number on the panel, his heart beating fast.

"Who is it?" The rustle of a man speaking appeared on the other end of the line.

Eric breathed a sigh of relief. It was all he could do.

#kiss band #ace frehley #eric carr #1980s

[tadhgoftheforest]

Facing down the last summer of his—hopefully—final and last senior year at Hawkins High, Eddie Munson gets a job at the newly opening Starcourt Mall's Waldenbooks—like the closet nerd that he is. On break one day, he finds out delightedly that there's a campy nautical ice cream shop called Scoops Ahoy, which to his even bigger delight has Steve Harrington dressed up in the most childish, goofiest, Halloween style sailor's uniform. The sight of that uniform gets Eddie into trouble staking out Scoops everyday. Misunderstanding endsues and Eddie has to figure out how to get out of the mess his crush and that dumb uniform have gotten him into without outing himself.

=

Walking through the mall in the early afternoon, he'd thought no one would be here cause it was early. People had shit to do. But evidently not seeing as how it seemed to be fairly busy. It left him stepping around people and nearly running into a bunch of kids as they tore through the place shouting and screaming. The shrill shouting and screaming also directed him away from the side of the food court that had the Orange Julius and to the other side.

Brain still on the come up, it took him a few minutes to register that he'd sat in front of Scoops Ahoy!—a nautical themed ice cream shop. Eddie's jaw dropped, lips curling into an open mouth smile, as he stared at the place with glee. Absolutely horrifying. The biggest worst idea ever. He desperately wanted to know who was working there and what their uniforms looked like. He imagined that working at that place was literally the bottom of the barrel.

He'd shoved out of his chair and made his way closer, trying to get a glimpse of whoever was at the counter. Absolutely slammed, he couldn't see through the throng of people. So he snagged a table just inside and idly watched, jaw cradled against his palm, elbow jammed uncomfortably against the slick top of the wood table.

Taking gulps of his coffee, he watched kids running all over the store, pointing and shouting as they ordered what they wanted. Parents arguing with kids. Temper tantrums from younger ones. Giggles from clusters of girls as they talked with their heads together, sometimes leaning out of the circle to look at someone behind the counter before starting to giggle again. Some lothario must be back there, then. Anticipation sat heavily on his chest. He just wanted to see the uniform. Wanted a good laugh before he left. Because other than sitting here, waiting on the edge of his seat, there was nothing else holding his interest. He'd decided he'd head home for a few hours and loiter there before driving back to loiter here, but now in the company of friends.

And then the line cleared enough that he could see who was working. He recognized Robin from band. He'd been in band in middle school, interested in trying to play the drums. He'd been on his way out of middle, she just coming in. It's also how he'd met the other guys in the band. Gareth—also just coming in—had the most talent out of everyone on the drumline and had been the most interested when Eddie had started talking about the band. It's how he'd ended up with the younger, curly haired guy being in Corroded Coffin, demolishing the drums while he'd switched to guitar. But apparently him and Robin had made friends in band, so he'd heard and seen about her often enough over the past four years.

Buckley just couldn't win. First, she had that ugly green marching uniform, complete with feathered cap. And now this. A sailor's uniform. But not anything worthy and as professional looking at the marching band outfit, no. This abomination was closer to what he might find for Halloween.

He felt like the Grinch, mouth curling and curling and curling at the edges, delight just tickling his insides. Especially once he caught sight of who she was slinging ice cream alongside. Steve Harrington.

He needed a camera. Desperately. He had to have photographic evidence of the most perfect guy in Hawkins degrading himself like this for money. He had to be seriously desperate for money.

What started as delight quickly started turning towards dread, smile slowly falling off Eddie's face. He sat there watching, head in his hand, as Steve was flirting with a couple of girls at the counter. He looked bashful, boyish. Cute. His little white cap, shouting 'Ahoy', pulling his lion's mane of hair back and off his face. The way the little knot tied in front, almost comically long, made it seem like a boy playing at dress up in his father's clothes. He was smiling, laughing, biting his lip. Looking up from under his lashes as he scooped ice cream, hands out of sight behind the counter.

Fuck. God damn him.

Eddie shoved away from the table, chair screeching in the rancorous din of the lively mall. He quickly stood and hurried away, not quite jogging but definitely not walking away. He tried to keep his eyes to himself, but they lingered on Harrington, drinking in how boyish and cute he looked.

As Eddie nearly ran back to Waldenbooks and through the store and out to his car, all he could think about was how he was going to have to quit. He didn't think he could be in the same place as Harrington as long as he knew the man was wandering around looking like that while he worked. It was one thing to have an idle crush on the douchebag, undressing him with his eyes while at school. It was another thing entirely to suddenly not be free of his unfortunate crush even during the summer. And he looked cute! It was fucking unfair. He was so mad at himself. Not just for liking a straight guy, but an unfairly attractive straight guy that was an absolute utter dickbag. He had no right to look cute and attractive. Absolutely no right. You can't be hot and an asshole.

Read the whole thing at ao3

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddieweek2023 #eddie munson lives #scoops ahoy #robin buckley

[toastybagel-fanfiction]

the hotbox

{so this one was part of my purplephone and friends drabble collection on ao3 but the collection got no kudos so i'm going to put all of those here instead, like i probably should have done in the first place lmao. anyway enjoy!}

[note: this is a non canon deleted scene from my fic tell me what i want to hear but reading that fic isnt necessary for this oneshot.]

“Michael?”

“Michael, are you alright?”

Suddenly, Scott was sitting beside him, one hand on his thigh and the other on his shoulder. Michael hadn’t even realized he had zoned out until then, thinking that, perhaps, he was only imagining Scott’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, looking into Scott’s eyes, watching as they flickered with concern. “I guess I just didn’t expect to see you here today.”

“Yeah, well-” Scott shrugged, glancing off to the side. “Your dad needed to get something from the office, and being in the shop alone freaks me out…” His gaze returned to Michael, who was still looking back at him. Scott couldn’t help but smile. “And I wanted to see you, too.”

Michael grinned, knowing that he was probably blushing despite how much he tried to hide it. 

“You know,” he replied, leaning toward Scott. “Vincent’s on the cameras right now, and I’m sure he wants to see you.”

“I’ll try to catch him on my way out.” Scott reached out, hesitantly touching the darkened circles underneath Michael’s eyes as if they had just appeared at that moment. “You look tired. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, really. I’ve just been so busy with work and missing children’s cases, and on top of that, I’ve been having some weird dreams.” Michael grimaced before realizing what conversation he had just opened up. 

Scott was in those dreams.

Not only was Scott in the dreams, but he had a starring role, and he was oddly out of character compared to his real life self.

The next words out of Scott’s mouth were expected, but Michael still dreaded them.

“What were the dreams about?”

Michael sighed.

He could talk about it, though he never mentioned Scott’s presence in his dreams. That was the part that he would take to his grave.

“I was in a cabaret, but it was empty, all except for one chair. I sat down and the stage lit up…”

The show began.

Scott stepped out from the nothingness beside the stage and stepped onto it. 

Sometimes he wore his normal clothes. Sometimes he wore something more revealing.

Sometimes he wore the same outfit that he wore to the senior prom.

Sometimes he wore nothing at all.

Even though he hated performing for people, it was all that he ever did for Michael.

The band began to play, a soft drum beat shaking the floors.

“Michael,” Scott would say, crouching at the edge of the stage to brush his hand over the side of Michael’s face. “This song’s for you.”

Then, he would sing or dance and Michael would watch, physically unable to look away, as if Scott had cast a kind of spell on him. 

When the song drew to a close, he would applaud, his two hands joining in a vast sea of emptiness. If not for his applause, the room would be silent.

“Did you like the show?” He would ask sometimes, stepping down from the stage to sit in front of Michael.

Sometimes, he would stand for a while, silent, while the music continued.

Other times, he would run from the stage as quickly as he could in order to press his lips against Michael’s, holding him close.

When they pulled away, they both always had lipstick smeared across their lips, whether Scott had been wearing makeup during the show or not.

“Why did you do that?” Scott asked, a hint of fear growing in his eyes.

“What did I do?” Michael glanced around the room, confused.

Scott’s hands tightened around Michael’s forearms.

“Why did you kiss back?” he asked. “You know I love Vincent.” Sometimes, he added, “You know how I feel about your dad.”

In reality, Michael didn’t know how Scott felt about William. It was an odd detail that he never truly found the reason behind.

“Can we pretend?” Michael asked. “Pretend they don’t exist. It’s only us in this void; no one will stop us.”

Scott would take Michael’s shoulders after that, guiding him back into the singular chair before straddling his thighs. He nearly brushed his lips against Michael’s, but managed to make him wait.

“Yeah, we can pretend.” Scott muttered, moving even closer so that his hips were against Michael’s, making the man underneath him shudder. “I’ll play another song for you.”

The band started again.

#fnaf #microphone #phone guy x michael afton #phone guy x mike schmidt #phone guy #michael afton #mike schmidt #michael afton x phone guy #mike schmidt x phone guy #fanfiction

[tokkishouse]

2 - 𝓛𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹 𝓒𝓪𝓶𝓹

"Gather around everyone," Director Jose calls, pulling you out of your daydream. You join the rest of the leadership team, flashing a smile at the familiar faces.

"I'm glad you're all here and on time. I understand that being here at an early time is less than ideal, especially during your summer beak, but I promise that this time spent here will be beneficial for setting up the band for success!"

There are a few scattered claps and sounds of approval-- most of the people here are still half-awake.

"Now, the first thing we want to do is-" Before he can start explaining the schedule for the day, he's cut off by the cries of a familiar voice.

"I'm here! I'm here!"

Everyone turns their heads to see Venti running up to them, his flute case jingling with every step he takes. When he approaches the circle, he hunches over, gasping for air. Jose looks over, unimpressed.

"Venti, what was call time?"

"Ehe...6 am?"

"And what time is it now?"

"...6:13 am?"

"Go run a lap," the director orders. Everyone flinches and Venti feels his heart sink. However, he says nothing, setting down his case. He knows better than to fight it, instead opting to just start jogging. Everyone watches him run off before slowly turning their attention back to the director.

"Now, where was I?"

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Jose is just a name I came up with LMAO. Couldn't keep calling him just "director"

Synopsis: It’s your senior year of college-- 4 years of slaving away during the summer heat in Mondstadt and practicing with the marching band, winning awards after awards, but never making it to championships. But this year was different! You were going to make Lead Majorette and bring your school to victory with...Diluc?! The Ragvindr recluse who’s been giving you the stink eye since freshman year? As fellow drum major? Just your luck!

𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕠𝕦𝕤 | 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥 | 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥

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