#fingers crossed that will learns robin is gay and gets to see robin and her gf happy for a second before vecna blows up hawkins or whatever

[lanne13]

I am once again asking people to learn what queerbaiting means

#ranting in the tags about stranger things so if you’re not caught up on today’s episodes scroll past #also why the fuck is 4.09 longer than most movies? #the only fucked up thing in that scene is that mike didn’t notice his best friend sobbing #it’s been obvious since season two that will has a thing for mike and mike doesn’t share those feelings that’s not queerbaiting #i just. he’s a high school freshman from a small town in indiana in the 80s #and he knows mike’s in love with el and not him. he’s not going to come out in a bus on a rescue mission? #there were bad things in these two episodes (which were four hours long total and for what?) #but will and mike not being a canon couple isn’t one of them #anyway #fingers crossed that will learns robin is gay and gets to see robin and her gf happy for a second before vecna blows up hawkins or whatever

[littlexdeaths]

fever pitch - r.b.

softball player robin buckley x cheerleader fem reader

18+ ONLY MDNI

warnings: all characters are 18+, oral (f receiving), fingering, public sex, thigh riding, secret relationship, allusions to sex, bullying, mean!dom robin, little bit of mean reader, jealous reader

this is a collab with the absolutely brilliant @undead-supernova !! i literally had so much fucking fun writing this with you august, and it might be my favorite robin fic i’ve ever written. i feel like our brains collided and made a gay ass baby and i’m so proud of us. we hope you enjoy xx.

word count: 3.7K

“Shhh, don’t want us getting caught like this do you?”

Robin’s voice is hushed but stern, now lifting her head from between your trembling thighs. The blonde has you spread out on a bench in the dugout, skirt shoved up around your hips as her tongue laps up everything you have to offer.

That is until a broken moan leaves your lips, unable to stop it as her fingers curl up inside you. The sound breaks through the silence, the only thing heard above the soft hum of cicadas.

“What would your little friends think, hmm?” she taunts, brow raised as she looks up at you, dirt still smeared across her cheeks from the game. “Knowing a loser is the one making you feel so good?”

In that moment you can’t find it within yourself to care anymore, gripping her hair in your fist to guide her back between your legs. “Let them.”

Robin hums, her lips drifting lower to nip at the tender skin of your thighs. The action causes another loud whimper to leave you. “You sure about that, honey?”

“I don’t care,” you admit out loud for the first time, thoughts completely overwhelmed with all things Robin.

“Fuck, I don’t care anymore,” you sigh.

Never in your wildest dreams would you think tonight would turn out like this.

You’d been watching her from the sidelines as she attempted to slide into homebase, coming up a little short. You’d never gotten to see her play before, your extracurriculars usually running at the same time. But today had been just your luck, with Chrissy spraining her ankle, immediately being rushed off to get it iced. Coach ended practice shortly after—no use continuing without the star of the squad there, right?

It gave you the perfect opportunity to watch her without raising any suspicion—two of your teammates by your side, laughing as Robin struck out. You took your lower lip between your teeth, trying not to gawk as she rose to her feet. Dusting the dirt off her thighs when she caught your eye, biting back a smirk as she made her way towards the dugout.

But not before stopping by where you were leaning against the bleachers. Right there, in front of everyone for the first time.

See, this has been going on for months. The sneaking around, the feigned rivalry.

If only they knew what was really happening behind closed doors.

You first noticed her late one afternoon, walking to your car after cheer practice. Robin hadn’t even crossed your radar, barely a glance in the hallway. Too wrapped up in your own world to notice. But there was just something about the warm glow of the sunset laying against her flushed cheek. The way she found your eyes, like she knew your secret, before she spit out the shell of a sunflower seed. Chuckling as she grabbed her bat and walked off.

All you knew after that was you desperately wanted to know more. And boy, did you.

You quickly learned through word of mouth that she had been caught hooking up with some girl in the band room after school. That confirmation prompted you to start dropping her little hints. Longing glances when no one was paying attention, nods in the hallway. Sneaking out of practice early just so she’d notice you walk by. And, sure, she noticed.

But Robin wasn’t going to come easy, was she?

No, she wanted to make you work for it. To prove to her you were serious, not just another girl looking to make out with her for the thrill of it. Or some sick joke conjured up by the cheer squad to humiliate her more.

You quickly realized that your subtle hints were not going to get you what you wanted. Her.

One day you’d finally had enough, boldly slipping a note in her locker between classes. Coaxing her to meet you in the secluded alley between the gym and the cafeteria. A place you’d only used to meet a certain super senior when you wanted to buy some weed.

A spot unknown or used by the majority of the students of Hawkins High, knowing you wouldn’t be seen or heard by any curious passersby.

Part of you was worried she wouldn't show, becoming increasingly more nervous as time passed. Any lingering qualms were squashed when you saw her striding down the narrow path towards you. She looked good, her dark jeans hugging her hips just right. A button-up shirt tucked loosely into them, the top few buttons left open.

You wanted nothing more than to lean forward, closing the short distance between your bodies. Leave a trail of blues and purples along her exposed skin. And that terrified you, to know that one girl could mess you up in such a monumental way.

“So,” you mumbled, kicking a pebble with the tip of your sneaker.

“So,” she answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Without hesitation, you introduced yourself but Robin gave you a confused look.

“Yeah, I already know who you are.”

“You do?”

“Well, we’ve gone to school together our whole lives…” she paused, running a hand through her hair, “and when a girl is practically eye-fucking you in the halls, it’s hard not to notice.”

“Oh, right,” you replied, looking down. Embarrassment washed over you. “Sorry, I guess I misinterpreted this whole thing.”

You carefully pushed off the wall, ready to walk away and pretend like this whole thing never happened. Save yourself the humiliation.

But her soft voice stopped you in your tracks.

“I wouldn't say that.”

“Then what would you say?” you asked, more confident now.

“You’re the one who asked me here,” Robin pointed out, turning the focus back to you.

And just as quickly as your confidence had risen, it fell. So you looked down again, now fiddling with the hem of your skirt.

“I don’t, um,” you struggled. “I don’t really know how to say it. I just…I…”

“Oh, just spit it out already.”

You looked up at her exasperated expression, narrowing your eyes. “Fine! Fine. Whatever. I like you, okay?”

“Like me? We’ve never spoken.”

“Don’t give me that when I’ve seen the way you look at me too.”

Robin’s hardened expression fell. “Touché.”

Silence fell between you, Robin lifting her head to look at the sky. You couldn’t help but squirm again, feeling a desperate urge to breathe in her scent.

You sighed. “So, what do we do now?”

“Hell if I know,” she replied, looking back at you. “I thought you were stuck up like the rest of your prissy friends.”

“Not when I’m around you,” you admitted, barely above a whisper. “You make me feel…different, somehow.”

“I could make it much worse for you, you know,” Robin replied, a smug grin reaching her lips as she stepped closer to you. “All you have to do is ask.”

“Please—”

“Actually, no,” Robin interrupted, fingers inching towards your hip. “You should beg.”

“Please,” you said without hesitation. “Please, Robin. I need you.”

Robin knew she shouldn’t. And so did you. But there was just something there, pressing against your chests as Robin pressed you against the brick. And when she kissed you the first time, you nearly whined in contentment, mewling softly against her mouth.

That kiss left you feeling desperate, eager for her to show you more. However, Robin wasn’t going to chase you, forcing you to take matters into your own hands. You sought her out one night after practice, pulling her into the equipment room outside the gym. Backing her body against the door, lips meeting once you heard the lock click into place.

“Just couldn’t stay away now, could you, baby?” she mumbled against your mouth, pulling a soft whine from you as she nipped at your lower lip. The noise caused her to laugh softly.

“I want you, Robs.”

She hummed in response, letting her lips trail across your jaw. “Want me how?” she prodded as the tip of her nose skimmed along your collarbone, rendering you utterly speechless.

“Show me,” she breathed, further stealing the breath from your lungs as she kissed you deeply. Taking control as she flipped your positions, enclosing you against the door.

You’re pliable under her soft touch, guiding her fingers up and underneath your pleated skirt. The blue of her irises nearly swallowed whole by her pupils as she gazed at you hungrily. That look ignited something within you, feeling emboldened as you reached forward to undo her pants. Exploring each other in a way that was unfamiliar to you, her skilled fingers helping to guide you with ease.

After that, it was just your little secret, with no one being the wiser. Why would they? You were on the opposite ends of the food chain, fractured by the Hawkins High hierarchy. Leaving little glances across the cafeteria, brushes of your fingertips in the hallway as a secret reminder of what you two had. It didn’t hurt that you could sit in class, practice, or even the shower and think about how they’d brush against your breasts later.

Of course, you couldn’t help but wind her up whenever you could be overheard. As she would gladly put you in your place in private.

But you knew as she approached you on the field with that familiar glint in her eye— you were really in for it this time.

“What’s so funny?” Robin asked, removing her gloves. You let your eyes linger on her fingers for a moment as she gripped the leather. Quickly shifting your gaze elsewhere as you pressed your thighs together.

Something the blonde didn’t miss. Holding back a smug smile as she looked between the three of you.

“You’re just such a loser,” Carol snickered, snapping her gum between her teeth.

Heather joined in with a giggle. “Yeah, maybe you should look into joining the t-ball team. Seems like a much better fit for you.”

Heather knew she struck a nerve, pleased with herself as Robin’s jaw clenched in anger.

“Oh, yeah?” Robin said, ready to egg her on. “And what do you know, Holloway? I’d like to see you do something other than shake your ass at Billy Hargrove during games. Don’t you find it pathetic how desperate you are for his attention?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Heather snapped back. “As if you are getting any. No one even knows your name.”

“You’d be surprised,” Robin replied, her eyes shifting towards you as if on instinct. “You know, I don’t recall ever seeing this one with a guy.”

“You better get back to that pitch before you strike out, Buckley,” you bit back, shooting her a warning look. “Again.”

With a shake of her head, Robin glanced behind you at your “friends” before scoffing and turning. But not before she took her cleat and scuffed up dirt onto your shiny white sneakers.

“Oops.” She laughed, giving you one last look before walking away.

Not missing a beat, Heather turned to you with a bewildered expression. “You know her name?”

You raised an eyebrow. “It’s on her uniform.”

“Oh— right,” she murmured, the conversation quickly forgotten as they discussed their plans for the night: yet another kegger at the Harrington residence. It was something you definitely weren’t interested in attending.

Though they begged you to join them, you merely shrugged and told them to go without you. They didn’t even blink before heading off, their laughter fading as quickly as it started. But you soon found yourself lost in the chatter of the crowd and the roar of the umpire.

You decided to move up, leaning against the chain-link fence, pom-poms thrown to the dirt as you watched your girl stepping up to bat again. The score had been tied, this being Hawkins High’s last chance to win the game.

As always, Robin found you again. She gave you a wink before you heard the sharp crack of the bat. You gasped along with the crowd at the sight of the ball shooting through the sky and into the parking lot.

You couldn’t help the loud cheer erupting from your lips, clapping along with the crowd as she sprinted through each base with ease. And as she slid into home and was declared safe, her eyes met yours. They followed you as she picked herself up, sweat dripping as she removed her helmet. Shaking her dampened hair out with a wide grin.

There was no longer anything inside you that beckoned you to be malicious. You could feel a swell of pride inside you, wanting nothing more than to show her just how incredible she was. How much you cared about her…and you planned on it.

Her teammates were quick to surround her, lifting her up onto their shoulders as the crowd continued to cheer. Robin was clearly embarrassed by the sudden swarm of attention, her cheeks beautifully flushed as they carried her across the field. Soaking in the glory for a few more moments before they were called to line up, shaking hands with the opposing team.

But as everyone began to clear out, you noticed Beth Wildfire hanging back, laughing near the dugout with Robin. As you moved closer, you could make out the way Beth was checking out Robin’s ass as she bent over to grab her glove.

Robin lifted her head slightly, noticing you making your way over.

“Nice win, Buckley,” Beth said, popping in a piece of gum. “We should go out and celebrate.”

“Oh, yeah?” Robin asked, a devious smile on her lips as she rose. You couldn’t stop the jealousy beginning to surface. “You think we should invite the team?”

She was making you work for it, wasn’t she?

“Actually, I thought maybe you and I could—”

“Hey, Robin,” you said, directly in Beth’s line of sight now.

Beth gave you a look, clearly annoyed by your interruption.

Good.

“Hey,” Robin greeted. “What’s up?”

“You still need that ride?” you asked, clutching your pom poms tighter in your fists.

“I’d almost forgotten,” Robin replied smugly.

“Well, uh,” Beth said, taking a step closer to Robin. “I could always take her home after heading to Benny’s.”

“No, that’s alright,” you said curtly, faking a smile as you also took a step forward. “I think I’ve got it from here.”

You and Beth exchanged glances before her eyes widened, flickering between you and Robin who was only looking at you. Beth said nothing, opting instead to give you both a quick nod. But the clear disappointment on her face brought you more joy than you cared to admit.

“I’ll see you later, then,” she said. “Again, nice win, Buckley.”

Even as she walked away, Robin never broke eye contact. “Thanks, Beth,” she called out, a grin widening on her lips.

“Ready to go, mon chéri? I’m starving.”

Hook, line, and sinker.

And that’s how you ended up here, your legs draped over Robin’s shoulders as her tongue circles over your clit. One hand buried in her hair and the other clutching onto the chain link fence behind you. Her blue hues never leave your face, taking in each and every reaction she pulls from you.

“You know, you’re pretty cute when you’re jealous.” She grins, flicking the tip of her tongue over your swollen clit. Enjoying the way your body twitches with every motion.

“I wasn’t jealous.”

You breathlessly try to deny it, but you both know you’re lying. Once again letting your pride get in the way, prompting Robin to remove her tongue from your center.

“No— Robbie, please,” you whine as she pulls away fully, resting her cheek against your inner thigh as she continues to slowly thrust her fingers inside you.

She revels in the way your walls grip tightly around the digits, almost as if you’re trying to keep them trapped inside. And as much as she loves feeling you, she loves making you beg even more.

So she slips her fingers out of your dripping cunt completely. Standing up to hover over you as she brings them to your lips.

“Please what, princess?” she taunts, her fingers now slipping into your mouth. Your tongue eagerly swirling around the digits until they’re devoid of any trace of you.

Robin removes them just as fast, trailing the saliva-coated digits down your jaw until they wrap around the base of your throat. “Answer me,” her harsh tone only further dampening the area between your thighs.

“Please don’t stop,” you plead without hesitation, rocking your hips up against her thigh. A look of desperation flitting across your features as you clutch onto her shoulders.

“Aww, you wanna cum, pretty thing?” Her tone is laced with condescension, finding yourself nodding almost frantically as you gaze up at her.

“I don’t know, baby… you were pretty mean earlier.” She paused, a small pout forming on your lips as she traced over them with her thumb. “You think you deserve it?”

You nod as if on instinct, whining as she pulls away from you completely. Rising to her feet once again, grabbing your hands and pulling you up off the bench. Your breasts press together as she whispers softly in your ear, “Prove it to me, then.”

You eagerly reach for the buttons on her uniform, tugging the zipper down. Impatiently yanking her pants down over the curve of her ass as you take back control.

“Sit,” you demand, resting your hands on her shoulders. Coaxing her to take your previous position on the worn bench.

“So bossy,” she teases, gripping your hips as you swing your leg over her thigh.

Taking a seat as you slip your fingers past the elastic of her underwear, moaning at the wetness you find there.

“This all for me?” you muse, your thumb brushing over her bundle of nerves with ease now. Having become quite familiar with every inch of her body over the last three months.

“I mean… Beth was looking good tonight—”

You cut her off with your mouth before she has a chance to finish her sentence. That surge of jealousy coursing through your veins as you kiss her deeply.

“She can’t have you,” you mumble against her mouth, before taking her lower lip between your teeth and tugging. “You're all mine.”

Robin curses softly as you begin to grind your hips against her thigh, slipping two fingers into her awaiting heat. Pumping them in tandem with each rock of your hips, as she mewls against your mouth.

“Please.” Now she's the one doing the begging, despite your hips continuing to grind down against her thigh. The mixture of her saliva and your juices making a mess on her bare skin.

You giggle softly as you increase the pressure on her clit with your thumb, burying your fingers deeper inside her. “Say it again.” She moans as you attach your lips to the base of her throat.

The blonde tilts her head back to expose more of her neck as you greedily suck on her flushed skin. A feeling of pride washes over you as you leave blotches of red and purple in your wake.

“You’re mine, Robin.” Your tone is overly possessive, enjoying how her body trembles beneath you. Your words being the thing to finally send her over the edge as she pulls your face back up to crash her lips against yours.

Her fingers dig harshly into the skin of your hips, encouraging you to keep grinding on her thigh. Lifting her leg to increase the pressure on your core. “That’s it… such a good girl.”

She pulls back slightly to watch you with hooded eyes, lips lifting in a genuine smile.

“My good girl.”

Her words elicit a bigger response than either of you expected, your thighs tightening around her own as you loudly cry out her name. Her hands continue to guide you along her thigh, working you through each wave of euphoria that crashes over you.

You’re both panting as you begin to come down from your highs, nuzzling your face in the crook of her neck. “Wow,” you breathe out, lightly tracing over the darkening love bites on her neck.

“Jeez, I think the whole town heard you,” Robin teases, running her fingers along your back.

“Well,” you start, pulling back to look at her. “I’m just trying to congratulate my girl on her big win.”

“Your girl?” she teases.

You bite your lip, trying to hide your smile. “Mhm.”

“Admit it,” Robin says, lifting her eyebrows, eyes tracing the lines of your face. “You were jealous.”

“Maybe I was,” you finally admit, earning an amused smile from her. “But I don’t think I have to worry about anyone else.”

“No?”

“Mm-mm.”

You press a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth before standing, helping her to her feet. Leaning back against the fence as she wiggles her pants back up over her hips.

Robin is still fastening the buttons as you walk out onto the field. Her eyes follow your figure as you reach the pitcher's mound. A fond look falls over her features as your eyes flutter shut, letting the last glow of the setting sun soak into your pores.

Feeling the weight of her stare, you turn back around. Flashing her a beaming smile as she finally reaches you on the field.

“So… Benny’s?” you ask, twisting your skirt back into place. “I’m actually starving now.”

Robin looks at you in utter disbelief as she places her hat back on her head, the brim facing the opposite direction. “Wait, you’re serious? What if someone sees us together?”

You can’t stop the giggle that leaves you, now closing the few feet separating you from her. Cupping her face in between your palms as you press another kiss to her lips.

Right in the middle of the open field.

“I told you,” you say, louder this time. “Let them see us. I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

You slip your hand into hers, lacing your fingers as you begin leading her towards your car. A sight to see, her bat and glove in her unoccupied hand. Your pom-poms in yours.

“You were still an asshole earlier, you know that?” Robin says.

As you share a laugh, you swing your intertwined hands back-and-forth. You’re practically skipping as you pull her along, light-hearted and winded.

“And you ruined my sneakers,” you counter. “Are you gonna clean them for me?”

“Only if you’re good, mon chéri.”

“I think I can manage that,” you reply as you venture further into the twilight. “At least for a little bit.”

tagging some moots 💕

@xxbimbobunnyxx @babygorewhore @impmunson @voyeurmunson @eddiesxangel @taintedcigs @strangerstilinski

#the freak writes 🫧 #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x you #robin buckley x female reader #robin buckley x y/n #robin buckley smut #robin buckley fanfic #robin buckley fic #softball player!robin buckley #robin buckley x cheerleader!reader

[epicsteddieficrecs]

Epic Steddie Fic Rec | April 17th-April 23rd 2023

It's a long one this week! I discovered @loveinhawkins and their ficlets as you can see 😆

If you know anyone I haven't tagged, please tag them in the comments!

Complete

🖤 All Night, American Desire by IrisLanding/ @onirislanding (Post-S4, PWP | 4K | Explicit): “Oh my God. Are you telling me I. . . I appropriated a gay cruising spot? Oh my God,” Steve laughs a little frantically. “Robin will–” “Have her best day ever, absolutely,” Eddie replies with a big, obnoxious grin. He holds out the joint to Steve, who shakes his head, then he stubs it out on the sole of his shoe. He puts it back in the baggie, which he shakes a few times and then rolls closed. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s more impressive, that you used the word appropriated or know what cruising is.” (Part 1 of All I'm Saying, Pretty Baby)

🖤 When You're Shaking Your Good Frame by IrisLanding/ @onirislanding (Post-S4, PWP | 5K | Explicit): If, a week ago, someone had told him he was about to have the best sex of his life mainly from Steve Harrington talking, with no penetration, on a Tuesday, he’d have told them to fuck all the way off, take a bus back, and then fuck off again. But he did. They did. And then Steve had to go and say he was going to drive all the way home with a massive boner and spend the rest of the night jerking off thinking about Eddie, because he’s a ridiculous, kinky horndog. (Part 2 of All I'm Saying, Pretty Baby)

🖤 My Fave, Undressing in the Sun by IrisLanding/ @onirislanding (Post-S4, PWP | 9K | Explicit): He tries to soften his features into something less possessed and says: “Eddie and I had sex. Twice.” There is a long, blissful moment of silence that Steve knows is too good to last. “WHAT–” (Part 3 of All I'm Saying, Pretty Baby)

🖤 Cross My Heart, They'll Never Catch Us by IrisLanding/ @onirislanding (Post-S4, PWP | 3K | Explicit): Eddie was pretty sure his head had been emptied and filled with marshmallows or something because Steve Harrington was sitting on his bed, towel sliding off his hips, holding a bright blue butt plug he'd just magicked out of his bedside drawer. He then produced a fresh bottle of lube packaged as nicely as his shower gel, and started saying something about clothespins. Or, Eddie is falling for Steve but he's hesitant about commitment. Steve thumps him on the head with kink and roleplay.

Cat Scratch Fever by Catt360 (Post-S4, PWP | 7K | Explicit): Post killing Vecna, Steve may have developed a small, minute, teensy-weensy and incredibly inconvenient crush on Eddie “the freak” Munson. He figures that he can just ignore it for long enough and it will go away. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. Alternatively titled: Eddie gets a cat and Steve can’t handle his big gay feelings anymore.

First Discovery by percylicious39 (PWP, BDSM | 2K | Explicit): Steve didn't even know guys could squirt. "The more you learn", as they say. He just wishes he learned about it in any way other than by doing it all over himself.

calm me down by corrodednothing (PWP | 3K | Explicit): Eddie Munson loves having things in his mouth. Especially fingers. Oh, and dicks, of course. or; Eddie and Steve hang out and end up doing the nasty

Come and Turn the Tide by gayhandshake (Modern AU, PWP | 3K | Explicit): Eddie is laboring under a misapprehension about the nature of his relationship with Steve Harrington.

takes me to the clouds above by merkintosh/ @lurkinmerkin (Post-S2, A/B/O AU | 3K | Explicit): All Eddie had to do was overcharge Steve Harrington for weed, scoot him out of his glade and then continue on with his day. That's not what happened here.

Dial V for Virgin by LexiRoseWrites (No Upside Down, University AU, A/B/O | 8K | Explicit): Rushing a fraternity so his dad will keep paying for college isn’t exactly Steve’s idea of fun. Being required to lose his virginity in order to get a bid from ABΩ somehow makes it even worse. Which is why finding graffiti in a party bathroom that says, “for a good time text Eddie 555-318-7249,” feels like a sign from the universe.

how far he’ll go by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 Vol. 2 | <1K | Teen): Distantly, Eddie can hear Nancy and Robin tearing up cloth for bandages, but his eyes remain fixed on Steve—and maybe if it was any other kind of situation, his brain would be fixed on Steve Harrington is shirtless in front of me, but right now Steve is lifting up his hand from his side with an awful wet sound, and— “Oh, Christ,” Eddie hisses, feels himself pale. Steve somehow manages an exhausted smirk. “Hey, if you’re gonna throw up, don’t do it all over the hole in my stomach, dude.”

of chocolate frosting and upside down ducks (things worth being scared for) by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 Vol. 2 | 1K | Teen): “If it makes you feel any better,” Steve says, “I think we all just got so used to it, that—” “Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better,” Eddie interrupts with a huff of a laugh. “If I think about it for too long, I might actually cry for you all, Steve.” “Nah, don’t do that,” Steve says lightly—though he thinks that a part of Eddie really means it. “It’s more like… like I’m a duck, y’know? Calm on the surface, but…” He drums on the table in demonstration. “Freaking out underneath.”

it’s a light and tumble journey by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 Vol. 2 | 1K | Teen): It’s Dustin who saves Eddie. He doesn’t try and carry him back to the trailer, nothing like that—if he could manage that on determination alone, then he would, but his throbbing leg has other ideas. So he stays by Eddie’s side. Throws off his hoodie and starts to rip any piece of his clothing that he can, because he’s come a long way from when he once stuck bandaids on Steve’s beaten up face. “What… what are you doing?” Eddie says in between gasping breaths. Dustin would laugh if he wasn’t so scared. “Buying more time,” he echoes.

The Shire’s Storyteller by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 | <1K | General): Out of the corner of his eye, Steve sees Eddie’s lips twitch into the faint semblance of a smile. It’s very quick, blink and you miss it, before he turns sombre again, looking down at the forest floor. Steve can’t blame the guy; he can’t imagine that he has all that much to smile about. “I just meant,” Dustin says, “that we could use some entertainment.” He jerks his head meaningfully at Eddie—who thankfully still has his head down so he can’t witness this tremendous lack of subtlety—and mouths, You know, a distraction. “And I’m the entertainment guy,” Steve says flatly.

respite (wanna give you forever) by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 Vol. 2 | <1K | General): Steve gestures out to the distance, where the kids are still playing, where Nancy and Robin are re-counting the supplies he’d noted down earlier. “Reckon you’ve got an hour or so, if you wanna get your head down.” Eddie snorts. “Ah, sleep,” he says, with a wry smile. “What’s that?”

like something from the silver screen by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (Pre-S3, Canon Divergent | 2K | General): He jumps up onto the window sill to better enjoy the breeze, stretching his legs and idly looking outside. He just catches Eddie scoffing, the little aside he makes: “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Steve turns his head to him. “What?” Eddie rolls his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitches like he’s fighting a smile. “Just… you,” he says. And it’s said with a kind of reluctant fondness, almost like they’re friends—which is bizarre, Steve thinks, since this is definitely the longest conversation they’ve ever had. But maybe the approaching summer break has Eddie all sentimental.

🖤  bled out without a trace by loveinhawkins (Canon Divergent, S4 Vol.2 | 4K | Teen): “You’ll be fine,” Steve says. He discreetly pats at his pockets. Feels the handle of the switchblade. Touches Dustin one last time, a palm across his brow. “Look after him.” “Hey, I—I don’t like your tone, man,” Eddie says. “We’re looking after him, together. Together, all right? Fucking promise me, Harrington.”

can’t bear it alone by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (Dustin POV | 8K | Teen): He thinks about the relief in Eddie’s voice when he said he had a hunch about Steve’s whereabouts, like Dustin is the chosen one for understanding what makes Steve tick. Eddie’s joked about it before; he’d called it “sibling telepathy” when Dustin had silently communicated his popcorn order at the movies, and he’d nudged Steve in the ribs when Steve’s nose wrinkled meaning Gross, dude. Then Steve had huffed a laugh, nudging Dustin back. Okay, okay. I’ll pay for it, you little shit. But Eddie gets Steve, too, Dustin thinks; that’s why he called him. And yeah, it’s different than the way Dustin understands Steve, but it’s significant enough for Eddie to make the cut of Steve Harrington Interpreters in Dustin’s mind.

be kind, rewind (and check what’s inside!) by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (Pre-S4 | <1K | General): Of course, Steve finds the tape later, because the universe likes to laugh at Eddie, apparently.

and it’s a song you know by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (POV Dustin (1,5K | General): The lyrics are clever, because they hide under metaphor, apocalyptic imagery and all that stuff, but it clicks when Dustin gets to a verse about a tune echoing through a mall, ‘and it’s a song you know, you’ve known it all your life,’ and he’s suddenly thrown back to when he explained how Steve worked out the location of the Russian code, and Eddie was taking it all in, eyes as round as pennies. Dustin sets down the notebook and says, “It’s about us.” It’s not a question.

take me by the hand by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (S4 Vol.2 | 1K | Teen): When he’d found the radio in the RV, he had planned on it being a backup to the Walkman, a last resort measure—but the volume is feeble, too temperamental to rely on. Every so often, he can pick up a fraction of a song before static takes over again. A natural lull falls, not uncomfortable, and it’s during that silence when the radio picks up another song: catchy bubblegum pop that Steve vaguely recognises. “Can you turn that up?” Eddie says suddenly. He’s sitting up straighter and there’s an odd look on his face that Steve can’t decipher.

The Vigil by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (Post S4 | <1K | General): There’s a movement in the corner of his eye; Eddie stops writing and looks over to see Steve’s head nodding sleepily. He smiles to himself. But then he realises that Steve isn’t falling asleep, not completely: whenever he catches himself drifting off, he jerks, straightens up, before the cycle repeats again. And, every time, his hand moves to his jeans pocket, as if checking for something. It’s not a panicked gesture, not exactly. It’s something more… habitual. Ingrained.  

you’re too young to be lost by loveinhawkins/ @loveinhawkins (Dustin POV, Post-S4 | 5K | Teen): Dustin knows that as soon as you cut one monster’s head off, another is bound to grow in its place. So when the late Jason Carver’s family and friends move out of Hawkins, he’s secretly glad about it, sure, but he’s not exactly relieved. Rumours are a hard thing to kill.

🖤 why are they watching me? (they're watching you.) by rabbitinrain/ @stargazersteddie (Truman Show AU | 25K | Teen): Eddie Munson lives a normal, comfortable, mildly mundane life in Hawkins. But two new faces in town turn everything he thinks he knows upside-down, and he quickly learns that nothing about Hawkins (or himself, for that matter) is as it seems.

Eddie Munson: 19-year-old Virgin by pterawaters/ @pterawaters (Post-S2, PWP | 4K | Explicit): Eddie turns in his seat, facing Steve as he admits, “I’m a nineteen-year-old virgin. How the hell am I supposed to front a metal band without having done it? I’m holding the whole band back, I know it. They’re not saying anything, but we all know they’re thinking it.” “Right,” Steve says, thinking the virgin thing does seem at odds with the rest of his persona. “So, you’re here to ask which girl you should go after? I mean, Wendy’s usually up for anything. Lydia might be more your style, though.” “Steve,” he says, putting his hand on Steve’s wrist. “I don’t want to ask out a girl. I want you to fuck me.”

Every Single Time by AidaRonan/ @aidaronan (Post-S4 | 2K | Teen): Eddie and Steve haven't talked about it yet. What they are. What they want to be. On Hawkins' Senior Bonfire Night, maybe they will.

Dear Harrington by IndigoFudge (Major Character Death | 3K | General): Steve weeps. That’s the only word to describe it. His chest aches and aches, burning with words that he never got to say. He presses the vest to his lips. It smells like smoke, like sweat, like blood - though Steve supposes a little of that is his. Love, he thinks again, and the word feels like home. • Steve finds a letter that Eddie wrote to him.

for everything I long to do (it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin) by stellarpoint (pettifogger)/ @letterfromvienna (Will POV, Post S4 | 3K | Teen): Will wakes up early after a sleepover at the Harrington house. He sees something in the kitchen he wasn't meant to see, which prompts the realization that he might not be as alone as he thought.

WIP

🖤 better by you, better than me by palmviolet/ @palmviolet (Canon Divergent, Season 1-2 | 28/? | 147K | Mature | Warning: Violence): November 1983. Between unpaid bills, the supposedly straight jock he’s seeing, and letters from his convict dad, seventeen year old Eddie Munson’s got enough to worry about. But when Will Byers goes missing, it sparks a chain of events that will show there are more depths to Hawkins — and to certain people in it, like infamous Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington — than he realizes. / or, the excessively long slow-burn in which Eddie is involved in the Upside Down from the very beginning.

🖤 nothing but the dead and dying by loveinhawkins (Canon Divergent, S4 Vol. 2 | 22/? | 61K | Teen): Steve sighs, like he’s trying to laugh but he can’t quite manage it. “I’m sorry, man,” he says too lightly, “gonna need you to drive for a bit. I know it’s not part of the plan, but hey.” He gets out a laugh now, but all it does is set Eddie’s teeth on edge. “Henderson said you’re good at—what’s it called, in your game? Improv?” And Eddie hates it, hates how soft Steve’s voice is, hates how the conversation is so clearly a distraction, a last ditch attempt at protection from… he doesn’t know. He doesn’t want to know. - In the RV, Vecna’s curse changes course.

🖤 Swing and a Miss by deadonarrival (Baseball Player Steve, Fake Relationship | 4/5 | 29K | Explicit): “Apparently they usually reserve the box for the wives and girlfriends … so either you’re gonna have to be my boyfriend or you’re going to have to sit in the stands with the fans. It’s not that bad, you just need to like, pretend to be my boyfriend so you can sit with the other WAGs and like, then you can be in the box and have all you can drink alcohol and snacks.” “Did you agree to this!?” Eddie asks. “If I say yes, how mad are you going to be?” Steve asks.

🖤 Reboot by plutosrose/ @plutosrose (Modern AU, Actor Steve & Eddie | 6/10 | 23K | Explicit): In 2012, Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson film a scene in the teen drama Normal Stuff that launches a popular ship on ao3. By early 2013, they aren’t speaking anymore. In 2024, Robin calls Steve with an offer to reprise his role as Andy Hartley in a reboot of their old show, with one important update–his character gets together with Eddie’s.

Online, Offline (Out of My Mind) by LexiRoseWrites (Modern AU, A/B/O, Actor Steve | 4/10 | 15K | Explicit): Online dating and scent-matching are used by desperate people who want to find their soulmate, but will settle for a compatible partner. Steve is more worried about what he’s going to say in his acceptance speech for the Oscars. He doesn’t need romance, he needs to prove his parents wrong. And besides, masquerading as an alpha for his entire acting career has worked great thus far. Why risk losing everything he’s accomplished over something he’s getting by just fine without?

#steddie #steddie fanfic #steddie fanfiction #steddie fic #epic steddie fic rec #steddie fic rec

[rose-animenz]

ZoroSan 5/11/21 (fluff /smut)

Zoro Wanted to play with Sanji’s hair. It looked soft and was the perfect length to create little braids with. He kept this small wish to himself though, if people knew they’d probably think he’s gay or a perv. It was getting dark out as the crew headed into the dining room on the Merry. It was small but it allowed them to eat together. No one but Luffy fully trusted Nico Robin, but it was the unspoken rule that they always eat together. She entered with no verbal complaints from the crew, but many doubtful looks were shot her way. Luffy, not understanding the tension spoke up.

“Come! Sit by me. Don't worry, I don't bite… unless you're made of beef, then maybe.” She laughed and strolled over to sit by the captain. They dined in silence at first but then again, Luffy couldn't read a room to save him.

“DONE! Sanji! I want more.” Sanji shot him an irritated look.

“Well, we don't have any extra. I couldn’t just leave this poor mademoiselle to starve tonight. Since I made hotpot I couldn't just ‘make more’ so the extra serving that I usually leave for you went to her.” Luffy’s stomach growled as if he hadn’t just eaten a larger serving than the rest of the crew.

Zoro, tired of the nonsense, spoke up, “Here, Luffy. You can have my serving. I'm not that hungry anyway, I've got my Sake to fill up on.” Luffy grabbed the plate from across the table without asking any more questions. Zoro left the dining area and walked around to the back of the Merry, past the tangerines. He sat down, a jug of alcohol in hand, and waited for everyone to finish eating. After what seemed like 15 minutes, he heard the door open and the footsteps of his crewmates. In the distance, he heard a conversation.

“Mmmm-- I'm sleepy guys, should we hit the sack?” that had to be Luffy.

“Might as well, we have nothing else to do.” he assumed that was Nami.

“I’ll start watch rotation tonight, it's been almost a week since I have.” Oh, great. Sanji is on watch. Zoro knew that as soon as everyone went to the sleeping quarters he was going to harass him about filling up on Sake and giving away a good meal. No one objected and he heard the footsteps become distant. Surprisingly, Sanji didn't come to Zoro.

“Maybe the cook finally learned he can't control my habits,” he whispered to himself. He sat a while longer, drinking in silence. He started thinking about braiding Sanji's hair again. Imagining doing little braids with his bangs. He imagined running his fingers through it and seeing Sanji smiling as he did so. His fantasy was interrupted by the click of a door and footsteps coming his way.

“Ah, so he is gonna scold me,” Zoro mumbled. Sanji turned the corner and walked to where Zoro was sitting cross-legged. Zoro looked at the ground already annoyed despite Sanji not saying anything yet. Sanji sat next to him and rather than starting to reprimand him, he set a plate in front of him with a sandwich. Zoro looked up towards Sanji. He was staring out at the ocean, looking calmer than usual. Zoro picked up the sandwich and began to eat silently. They sat there together for a bit until finally Zoro was finished eating. He set the plate down in front of him. They continued to sit together in silence, just staring out at the ocean.

“You really shouldn’t be drinking so much, it's bad for your health,” Sanji said, finally breaking the silence.

“So you did come to scold me! And you can’t talk. Every time I see you, you're smoking! How many packs even is that a day?”

Laughing, Sanji replied, “Okay, fine I'll shut up, and it's three.”

“Three what?”

“Three packs a day.”

Zoro looked at him with eyes filled with concern and fear. He took another large swig from his jug. They continued sitting in silence. He wanted to touch Sanji’s hair again. Maybe he could play it off as trying to get something out of it. Maybe if he gets a chance to touch it he won’t want to anymore and he won't focus on it as much. Maybe he could just ask to touch it… no that couldn't happen; either Sanji would be weirded out and leave or he would use it to make fun of him with the others. Plan A it is then.

He looked over at Sanji and reached his hand out. He grabbed a small lock of his hair and pretended that he was grabbing something small. It was soft, softer than he imagined actually. Sanji turned and looked at Zoro.

“You had something in your hair. It was bugging me.”

“Oh okay, thanks,” Sanji said, looking away, covering most of his face with his arm. It may have just looked that way since it was dark, but Zoro thought his ears were really red. He ignored it and took another large swig.

“Hey, Sanji. I want you to make me a deal.”

“Uh, what are the conditions?” Sanji replied hesitantly.

“Well, I want to do something, but you can't tell the others and you can't get weirded out.”

“And what do I get?”

“I won’t drink alcohol for three days.”

Sanji was interested in seeing how he would cope with that and accepted. Zoro turned his body and raised his hand to Sanji's head. Sanji closed his eyes and expected a slap, but was surprised when Zoro pat his head softly. He started running his fingers through it and separating it into sections.

“What are you even doing?”

“Braiding your hair,” he said in a monotone voice. He continued to section off his hair before starting to twist it into a loose braid. He continued his work until all of the hair on the front half of Sanji’s head was in braids. When he finished he moved back to his original position and took another swig.

“What was that even about…?”

“Just felt like styling it up a bit,” Zoro responded. Sanji didn't ask any further questions as he ran his fingers through to undo the braids. Once again, they sat in silence staring at the sea.

“Zoro, I want to make a deal.”

“Original today aren’t we?”

“Shut up, I’m being serious. same conditions as yours.”

“And?”

“I won’t smoke for three days,” Sanji said hesitantly.

“You literally chose the same template as mine.”

They stared at each other for a second.

“Fine, deal,” he said after a moment. Sanji moved toward Zoro looking into his eyes. Zoro couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Sanji raised his hand and covered Zoro’s eyes. Zoro felt to tired t even question why he did that but then his question was answered with something he didn't expect. He felt a soft peck against his lips. When Sanji removed his hand from over his eyes he looked at the pink tint dotting Sanji’s cheeks. Strangely enough, Zoro wasn’t mad. Why wasn’t he mad? Was there something wrong with him? Why did it kind of feel nice? With these questions circling in his head, he continued to stare at Sanji, who was getting redder by the second. He had to figure out why he wasn't mad, so he leaned in and kissed Sanji. This kiss was longer and had more intensity. Zoro pulled away, seeing the same red color on his ears as before. So it wasn't the dark.

Sanji’s tie fluttered down as he closed the wooden door behind them. Sanji had grabbed Zoro’s arm and led him to the dining room. Sanji wrapped his arms around Zoro’s neck and began to bite his lip.

“Are you sure that you want to? I'm not great at sex.”

“I'm not here for the sex, I’m here because it's with you.”

With that being said Zoro pushed Sanji down onto the floor next to a table leg. He began kissing him, starting from his mouth leaving a trail up to his ear and then down his neck. He began unbuttoning Sanji’s dark navy blazer and his shirt underneath. With his torso revealed, Zoro began biting and sucking on his shoulders. With each nibble, Sanji let out a small gasp. He moved down and began toying with his nipples. He grabbed each one between his index finger and thumb and began to roll them. Surprisingly he heard nothing from Sanji. Maybe guys don't like this kind of thing? He looked up and saw Sanji covering his mouth and face with his arm.

“What are you doing?” Sanji moved his arm revealing the red saturating his cheeks. His breathing was ragged and his eyes were wide. He liked it. A lot. Zoro moved back down to continue his work, taking his time teasing them, Sanji was still pretty quiet but Zoro knew how to make him louder. He took his tongue and slid it against Sanji’s erect nipples. Once again, Sanji was silent, so Zoro looked up and found him hiding in his arms again.

“If you want me to continue you’re gonna have to stop that,” he said with a low voice.

“I don't mean to… I just get embarrassed and that my instant reaction…”

“Well, I have a solution then.” Zoro retrieved the discarded button-up and used the sleeves to tie Sanji’s wrists to the table leg that was nearby. The table should be strong enough since they had to nail it down for traveling. Ignoring Sanji’s protests Zoro moved down and began unbuttoning Sanji’s pants. He pulled them down to his knees along with his boxers, freeing Sanji’s erection, which was still growing. He grabbed Sanji’s dick causing his hips to buck a little, searching for friction. Zoro’s body began to heat up. He gave it a light squeeze before stroking it, then he quickly worked himself up to a fast pace. He could hear the whimpers and moans coming from Sanji now that he had bound his hands. A loud moan escaped Sanji’s lips, and Zoro was certain he had never wanted to hear any sound again so badly in his entire life. He looked up at Sanji and gave him a smirk. He used his thumb to rub the tip and that's what pushed him over the edge. Sanji’s cum spilled into Zoro’s hand as his toes curled and his body twitched. Zoro gave him a moment to come down and enjoyed the euphoric expression while it lasted. As soon as Sanji’s body stopped twitching he lifted up his legs.

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“Don't worry, I’m just using your thighs. I still haven’t cum.”

He placed his cock between Sanji’s thighs. He began to thrust quickly letting the soft skin bring him pleasure. He moved at a pace that brought him close but not there yet. Sanji seemed to be enjoying the look on Zoro’s face as he enjoyed himself. Finally, he reached his limit and climaxed, letting his cum spill on Sanji’s stomach. He untied the button-down shirt and lied next to him.

“That was great…” Sanji said breathlessly

“Next time, I’m bringing lube.” as Zoro said this Sanji shot up and hit him in the chest.

“Were my thighs not good enough for you stupid swordsman?”

Zoro laid there quietly for a moment before replying, “actually, it was fantastic, I just want to see your reaction to different stimulation.” Sanji laughed mumbling about him being the world’s biggest perv.

1,918 words/ 10,379 characters

notes

first ever time writing smut so uh yeah

xoxo

also thx to that one anon for rec

#ronoroa zoro #one piece zoro #pirate hunter zoro #op zoro #op sanji #sanji #sanjionepiece #zorosan #zoro x sanji #gay #oneshot #one piece #fanfic #fanfic reccomendation #anime #anime fic #anime fanfic #smut writing #fic rec

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Robin//two queens in a king sized bed

hey! happy holidays gays!! and to everyone who doesn’t celebrate christmas, i hope you’re having an amazing day!! this is based off ‘two queens in a king sized bed’ by girl in red. because i heard it and instantly fell in love. enjoy!!

The snow falls lazily outside the comforts of Robin’s bedroom. Snowflakes float on the soft breeze, adding to the white blanket that’s enveloped the entire town. It sparkles in the moonlight, making the entire street look magical. 

But neither you or Robin care. You pull the garish blue and green comforter further over your head and Robin cuddles closer to you. Her toes wiggle against your legs making you squeak in surprise at the coldness, and when you force an eye open to look at her, she just sends you an innocent look back. 

You shift until you’re on your back and Robin takes the opportunity to rest her head on your chest and wrap a loving arm around your waist. The soft fabric of her your shirt reminds her of being back at college. Where the two of you can cuddle in bed without having to also be on high alert that someone could walk in. You can lock the doors to your shared dorm, but you can’t lock a bedroom door.

Even if she could, her mom would just sacrifice a pin from her hair and pick the lock. Robin sometimes likes to theorize that in a past life her mom was a spy. It makes sense, she can pick locks far too quickly for a normal stay at home mom, and she has an incredible habit of finding things that Robin has carefully hidden. 

She wishes you were back at college. She was going to stay after learning you weren’t going back to your own parents for the holidays. She was so looking forward to spending an entire two weeks with you. Nobody else around just the two of you having the whole campus to explore together. She could kiss you underneath street lamps in the snow, or while hiding in the corner of dark clubs that smell of sweat and weed, and she wouldn’t have to check if anyone was around and watching as many times as she usually does. 

But then she told her mom, and before she’d even finished her sentence she was adamant that her only daughter was going to be staying on some college campus by herself for two weeks. She thought telling her about you, about how the new friend she’d made was going to be alone over Christmas so she was just being a good person and offering to stay. 

Yeah, Robin’s made some mistakes in her time. Following Harrington into that elevator was one of them, but this was definitely the biggest. Her mom had pestered her for a week after about how she could bring you home and then it’s a win-win, and after some persuasion and promise to buy you anything you wanted, you finally agreed. Even if it was funny to watch Robin try to avoid her mothers phone calls, and the two visits to your dorm. 

She sighs deeply and runs a light finger over the exposed part of your stomach. You move slightly, but don’t tell her stop and when she looks up, she sees a gentle smile ghosting your lips. 

Her head leans against your chest again and she listens to your steady heartbeat while you listen to her parents clatter about downstairs. 

Mrs Buckley decided on preparing some of tomorrow’s dinner tonight. She has a lot of guests coming over tomorrow so she wanted everything to be perfect. However when you hear a loud crash and not so muffled curse, you figure she’s starting to regret that decision. 

You let out a short laugh that shakes Robin and she sits up surprised. 

“Are you laughing at my parents miss-fortune?” She asks, raising an eyebrow and staring down at you. 

“Yes.” You reply bluntly making her snort a laugh. 

“Good.” She replies. “She deserves it for dragging us back. I’ve been trying for so long to get away from this stupid town. But every time I seem to make it far enough away, it always manages to drag me back.” She huffs and you see pain flash through her eyes. 

Her fingers pick at the sheet underneath you and you watch as she struggles with something. A small war has just started in her own head and you can see her battling on both sides. 

“Hey, hey.” Your voice is as gentle as it can be as you sit up. You rest a hand against her cheek and she slowly raises her head to look at her. She’s biting her lip, a coping mechanism to stop her from crying. “It’s okay.” You soothe and wipe underneath her eyes. The wetness from her cheeks dulls the perfectly disorganized splay of freckles that litter her face and that alone makes a sadness settle in your chest.

A stray eyelash catches your finger and you hold it up to her lips. She looks between you and your finger and a teary smile pulls at her lips

“Make a wish.” You whisper and she closes her eyes, letting another tear roll down her face and land on her crossed legs. But she leans forward anyway and you watch as she scrunches her face up in concentration before blowing lightly. 

“You’re okay Robin.” You reassure her once her eyes are open again. It takes a minute for her to calm down, but soon she slowly lies down again. You follow suit and wrap your arms around her, pulling her tight to her chest.

“What did you wish for?” You ask curiously and she sends you a look. 

“None of your business.” She mumbles. 

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” You beg and she rolls her eyes. 

“Fine, I wished for a less annoying girlfriend.” She glares at you but you just grin back at her. 

“Ha! Jokes on you because now you’ve told me it won’t come true.”

“Damn.” 

Of course that isn’t what she wished for. She’s going to keep her real wish locked away safely in order for it to come true. She wished for another Christmas like this with you, and then she wished for all of them afterwards. She settles back into your chest and smiles contently. 

“If I knew I’d get this view, I’d have gotten upset a whole lot more.” She teases, her voice raspy from the tears, but you can tell she’s smiling and it makes you roll your eyes. 

“Shut up.” You giggle. “And go to sleep. Otherwise Santa won’t come.” 

“Excuse me. I’ve been very good all year. He most definitely will...otherwise he’ll have the wrath of my mother to deal with.” 

“Yikes.” You say. 

“Exactly.” She mumbles against your chest. Your eyes flutter shut and thoughts of what the the next few days hold rattle around in your head. Robin’s told you about her mom’s brother and his second wife. They only properly got together 6 months ago, but she’s 8 months pregnant so you can do the math. 

You wonder if Robin’s grandparents are going to be as nice as she’s told you. A lot of Robin’s happiest memories come from hanging out with her grandparents, specifically her grandfather and you’re excited to meet them. But with that excitement, there’s also a sense of nervousness bubbling underneath it. 

You may be meeting them just as Robin’s friend and roommate, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want them to like you any less. You want to see Robin happy, and to be happy, her family has to like you, even if she’s told you countless of times she doesn’t care what they think of you. 

An alarm rings beside your head and your eyes snap open, a small part of you worries it’s already time to get up and if thats the case you’re not at all prepared. But then Robin rolls over and slaps the top of her alarm clock with far too much force for any normal person. You close your eyes again and wait for her to lie back down, but she doesn’t, and you can feel her staring at you. 

“Can I help you?” You ask, refusing to open your eyes as an act of protest. 

“Merry Christmas.” She replies and you can sense the grin she has. The tiredness from Robin’s tour of Hawkins has finally hit you. The highlights were ‘and this is the mall that i burnt down, but if anybody asks, it wasn’t me’ and ‘oh, thats where me and dingus used to work.’ 

The smile on her face while you were stood outside of Family Video was bittersweet. Steve moved out of Hawkins almost as soon as Robin did. And even though she was of course happy that he was finally getting away from all the shit this town had given him, a part of her was sad that he would no longer be here when she came back.

You may be tired. But it doesn’t mean you ever want to miss an opportunity see Robin Buckley smile. It’s a sight that you think everyone should see at least once. It fills your entire body with warmth and light and no matter how you’re feeling it’s guaranteed to cheer you up just a little. The only problem is, is that no matter how hard you try to capture it in a photograph, it just never seems to do it justice. There’s nothing quite like seeing the real thing. 

So you open your eyes and sure enough you feel yourself relax at the sight of your girlfriend smiling above you. Her short hair falls down around here face and you reach a hand up to tuck a few strands behind her ear. 

“Are you blushing?” You tease making her roll her eyes at you.

“No.” She crosses her arms while pouting at you. “Again...Merry Christmas.” 

“Merry Christmas.” You reply, a gentle smile settling on your lips and you watch her face light up. 

She throws herself back down against the mattress making the old springs creak a little, and when she’s comfy enough, turned on her side so she can face you and propping her head up with her hand, she waggles her eyebrows playfully. 

“Not gonna happen.” You say. “I don’t want to be on Santa’s naughty list.” 

“Prude.” She mumbles and you let an offended huff. 

Her fingers skate gently down the side of your face, they trace the curve and bumps until finally she cups your cheek and tugs lightly until your facing her. 

“Can I kiss you?” She whispers and a playful smile tugs at your lips and now it’s your turn to blush. 

She hovers above you, her lips are parted while she waits for an answer and you’re sure its a mix of the slightly dim light and the thoughts clouding your mind, but they’re looking very kissable. It feels like she’s peering into your soul and you start to feel a little exposed, especially when the hand that was on your cheek moves further down. It traces your collarbones and leaves a trail of fire wherever it goes. 

“Do you have any mistletoe?” You ask after definitely far too long of just looking at her. Taking all of her in is impossible to do. There’s so much to Robin that you’d need a lifetime to notice every single thing, but you hope more than anything that that’s what you’re going to get.  

She pulls her eyes away from you, glancing up at the wooden bed frame before looking back at you and shaking her head. 

“Sorry.” She shrugs, her voice raspy and it makes your head dizzy. “But can I kiss you anyway?” She asks and you slowly nod your head. 

Her hand travels back to your face, her fingers curl around your cheek making them feel hotter than they already were. Her eyes flutter closed and you follow suit. You crane your head up to meet her halfway, bumping your nose against hers and the two of you giggle quietly in the moonlight. 

But you can’t wait anymore, you need to feel her, to have her. You just need her. So you cut her laughter off with a chaste kiss and she instantly relaxes against you. She’s kissing you back instantly, not giving you a chance to pull back and her lips a soft against yours, so soft that they make your head spin and your heart hammer in your chest. And even though you’ve kissed her countless of  times before, there’s something special about this one. 

She moves to sit on your lap and you sit up to make it easier for her. You hands fall to her hips and she cups both your cheeks, pulling you impossibly further into her. 

She’s the first to pull away, but you chase her for a few seconds making her smile at you so lovingly you feel like your chest is going to implode. She looks at you like you can give her the moon, the stars and the rest of the universe. 

She looks at you like she’s known you you’re entire life, despite it only being four months, but most importantly she looks at you like you’re the most special human being on the planet. 

And to her, you are. You always will be, she can feel it. She felt it the day she met you. 

Her parents had left her stood on the curb outside the main building, her dad wanted to beat the traffic back and her mom was too busy sobbing to do anything about it. 

Robin very rarely feels anxious, the last time she felt this sort of nervousness was when she was throwing fireworks in a burning mall. The feeling crawls up her throat until it settles in a lump she can’t seem to swallow. 

But then you appeared, with your bright smile and kind eyes. And you introduced yourself and she’s never heard a prettier name. Your fingers brushed against hers when you shook her head and she felt her brain short-circuit.

You offered to help her carry her things to her room, and she hoped you’d be roommates, you had a warmth about you that made her feel safe. And she remembers the smile that graced your lips when you realized you were in fact roommates. She doesn’t think she’ll ever forget it...not that she really wants to. 

It’s weird to think how much one person can mean to you. How you can go from strangers to them being the most important person in your life in a matter of months. It’s weird to think that all of sudden they’re the only thing on your mind, the highlight of your day, the person you’d give everything to even if you did only have a little.

When you look at Robin, all those little thoughts swarm your entire being. The thought that you’ve found someone to share your life with fills you with so much excitement. All your time is going to spent on her. Talking to her, thinking about her...loving her. 

She kisses you again, this time it’s much slower, but it doesn’t mean it leaves you any less breathless and when she pulls away to lie back down, you feel a certain kind of cold settle in your bones.

Her legs tangle with yours and you wrap an arm around her. Her head rests against your chest, and even though her chin is slightly uncomfortable, you don’t mind. 

The closer she is the better, so no matter how uncomfortable you are, you’ll stay right here forever, until forever disappears and you’re both left with nothing but each other. 

#robin buckley #robin buckley imagine #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley x you #robin buckley x y/n #stranger things #stranger things imagine

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 5x12 Souls of the Departed

Currently reading (well, listening) to The School for Good and Evil Series. It’s so good! It’s basically Wicked the Musical and has a fairy tale element like OUAT. Can’t recommend enough!

I had the weirdest dream last night that Ouat’s Gothel was hiding behind my bed at my old house trying to scare me. She stayed up all night with some blankets, waiting to pounce. Also, she was naked. Jesus Christ, wtf is wrong with my dreams?! I do not see Gothel in that way at all!! I was so freaking disturbed! @fairytalepsuedonym​ this is all your fault for putting that dirty hippie witch bitch on my mind lol xD! /jk

Also guys, we’re getting Disney+ today. I’m so excited! Let me know if anyone has any recommendations.

And you know what I just thought of? It looked like they were implying that Merida and Lord Macintosh were gonna be a thing (possibly? I think it’s up for interpretation) but he outright shot an arrow at one of her brothers and wanted the others dead too. Merida would never! Her brothers mean too much to her to forgive such a thing. Also, she gives me gay vibes. I don’t make the rules. Alistair makes all the rules. 

Back to the rewatch.

Oh yeah! This is the 100th episode! The compilation for 100 episodes was so freaking epic!

Neal! Is that really him though?

She’s staring at his lips lol!

Omg! Emma would have come back for Neal if she could. That means she believes they were true love, and she could have split her heart with him, right?

So, he appeared to her? 

Omg! The way Emma is stroking his face and is staring at him, you’d never know she was working on saving her boyfriend lol.

You know what would have been so much better? If the underworld was perpetually dark and foggy (within reason) like the sims 4 Forgotten Hollow. That would have looked so much cooler!

Here comes the red filter. As a gifmaker and even as a viewer I wanna scream every time I see it but at least it’s not the Dark Swan arc.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: they should have let Regina’s and maybe even Rumple’s victims confront them! That would have been interesting to watch play out. I know we got Regina’s dad and Peter Pan but give me a family of Regina’s slaughtered villagers. What would their reaction be to seeing her?

Eww. I hate the way she dips her finger in that pie.

Guys. It doesn’t matter that you have Regina surrounded, she has pyrokinesis and telekinesis! Y’all are screwed! She blew the flames out? She had the advantage! I’m glad she didn’t hurt them of course, but as someone writing a book that consists of characters with magic abilities, you’ve gotta know when a powerful character has the advantage and when to use it. Where was Snow dodging a fireball as one of her arrows flies at Regina and it pauses in mid air only to sore back at Snowing and their friends, but they manage to outsmart her somehow? 

Woah. This is the boldest Henry Sr. has ever been. He’s really trying to help Regina out here. 

Cora!! My love!! I missed you!!

I love the Blind Witch. Does she have a name? I enjoyed her in ‘Regina Rising.’ I remember she’s quite a bit older than Regina

The Blind Witch: “What can I get you? Do you like gingerbread or children?” Omg Snow’s like “what the actual f**k??”

James, why are you like this?? Get off her, dude.

Those key rings are cool.

Why the hell didn’t Emma just tell Henry she saw his dad? I can think of absolutely no reason why she would keep that from him.

Lately all Robin has done is make random comments pointing out the obvious. “It’s uncanny. It’s so similar yet so off.” Yes, Robin we established that 9 minutes ago. His next line will be, “Goodness, is that a tree over there?” or “Regina, you were the Evil Queen”, mark my words. Where has his personality gone? I was never a big fan but at least he was kinda arrogant and cheeky before, at least in season 2 and 3. Now he’s just a dude that points on the ground and tells you there’s a stone. And they have the chemistry of a banana and a cheese cracker.

“Her puny army of sweaty little child beasts.”

Are those black roses? 

I may be wrong but wasn’t Cora trying to get Regina to stop hunting Snow White and find true love instead in 4x20 or am I making things up? And I wonder if this is before or after she appeared in 4x20. 

I just love Cora so much.

Is that how she got to the EF in 4x20? Through a looking glass?

The fact that she could so easily cross realms suggests that she willingly gave Regina her space. Which is something! But it feels like she’d have ulterior motives for that. Also Jefferson and Rumple would be screaming if they knew it was that easy to cross realms.

Regina: “are you threatening me?” Cora: “No. Of course not, never.” But you literally are though.

Peter Pan! He was under-utilised this season. Come on! They could have done so much with him! I’m glad at least Cora and Cruella got decent screen time.

Imagine watching OUAT for the first time with this episode and you see this full-grown man refer to a teenage boy as is father. I would be so confused lol.

I wonder if Rumple / Rumple’s father hail from Dunbroch originally. You know, with the Scottish accent. I’m kinda thinking about headcanoning that now. At least, I think Malcolm had a Scottish accent?

That got me! I forgot Cora had glamoured into Henry Sr.! I thought Cora had shapeshifted into Snow to trick Henry.

Oh, so Henry Sr. contacting her was the reason Cora could walk through the looking glass. If only someone had contacted Jefferson. And I’ve just remembered that in 4x20, she said a white rabbit brought her to the EF.

Killian looks creepy as hell here!

Lol Cora, you let Henry wrap the heart? What did you expect to happen!

Why did Regina need Snow’s heart to kill her? She could have easily killed her without even touching her. 

What the hell does Snow think is in there? She looks terrified.

Archie, wtf were you doing between Snow’s titties?! And what were you doing with a match? Gonna set some titties on fire xD? I bet she could never look at him the same again. 

He doesn’t want Regina to kill Snow because he thinks it will make her dark forever? What about all the other people she’s killed?! That makes no sense!

Okay, given that Grace didn’t seem to physically age much between the flashbacks in 1x17 and the present day in 1x17, this probably happened after the flashback’s events in 4x20. 

According to wiki, Regina’s birthday is February 1st. I’m only learning this now.

I’ve never seen Henry Sr. so bold and Adam end to help Regina.

Okay, so Regina shrunk Henry with her magic but she needed a mushroom to return him to his normal size?

Don’t lock him in that box omg!!

Cora: “when are you gonna get it in that thick head...” she’s so casually abusive.

Random thought but why is Henry’s surname Mills? It just seems like it’d be Cora’s surname. Maybe he took hers on but that seems strange for a Prince to do.

Cora, don’t!

Henry’s alright!

Aww. Henry got to meet his 3rd Grandpa! He’s so happy she named him after him. 

I’m tearing up.

“Remember who you are, Regina.”

Henry, honey, you need to go home.

Is that Persephone?

Oh my God! I’m so excited for the Cora and Zelena stuff!! By far my favourite thing of the season! To hear Cora say Zelena’s name- the fact she knows her name- I’d waited for so long for this! It left open so many questions!

And Hades infuriated with Cora on the love of his life Zelena’s behalf!! He loved her so much and would do anything for her. I don’t ship it as much as I initially did because of how it ended but that man freaking loved and cherished Zelena. He wanted everything for her. She desperately needed that and it was an emotional experience to see her get it.

That’s like her worst nightmare, being a peasant again. 

I can’t with the flame hair.

I forgot this episode was pretty good. I didn’t remember liking it but Cora saved it for me. I forgot she was in it because I have probably watch season 5 the least as I try to avoid it lol. 

#ouat #once upon a time #regina mills #the evil queen #cora mills #ouat rewatch #ouat rewatch 2019

[missmeikakuna]

So, Apparently, I Find Fairies Hot Chapter 1

Rated: T

Fandom: Original Fiction

Relationship type: Male/Male

Description: You know those movies and TV shows in which an effeminate gay character has a crush on the popular jock? Strike that, reverse it.

Daniel is technically popular at school but fades into the crowd. After an injury at footy (Australian football) practice, he is forced to focus on improving his grades, starting with English. Luckily, the new kid in school knows a lot about Shakespeare and is willing to tutor him. Now if only this new guy wasn't so attractive.

CONTENT WARNING: Homophobic slurs are used. Also, there are some sexual references but nothing too graphic.

Chapter 1: Is it gay to stare at a dude?

Daniel rushed outside, finally free from his plaster prison. He tilted his head up to the sun and closed his eyes, basking in the glory of… something. He just needed to bask in something. Anything was better than white walls, constant beeps and the smell of shit food with a top note of piss.

‘Don’t run too much. You’ve got to keep your leg safe for the next two weeks just in case.’

Daniel turned around and glared at his mother, who dropped his backpack, crossed her arms and glared back. ‘And that means you’re not playing footy for another two weeks.’

‘But mum-’

‘Where did you learn the word ‘but’? Certainly not from me. You can focus on your schoolwork.’

She leaned down and picked up the backpack, taking out a book and shoving it into his chest. He fumbled the book until he was able to catch it.

‘Read it on our way home. You’re falling behind in English.’

Daniel turned the book over and groaned. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Why did he have to keep reading these stupid plays from a billion years ago? It wasn’t like he was going to join the theatre. He didn’t see any point in an aspiring footballer reciting Shakespeare. It was like forcing an aspiring actor to learn trig.

He followed his mother in the car and did as he was told, but frowned the whole way home. He only got past the first page before he reached home. Couldn’t someone translate this damn thing?

He asked his mother this. Her sharp features became as hard as stone like her eyes could petrify her own face. ‘Get your teacher or a classmate to help you. You could invite someone to study with you after school since you can’t go to practice.’

Daniel’s knuckles turned white as he nodded, still sitting in the car. His mother swung the door open, her hand on her hip.

She chuckled. ‘Has your leg stopped working?’

Daniel growled with his mouth closed.

By the time he reached homeroom the next day, his hands were sore from high fives. He slumped into a seat and circled a dent in the desk with his finger.

‘So, how’s your leg?’ Mrs Meek asked with a grin and a slap on his back ill-fitting of her name. Daniel gave her a thumbs-up and a small smile. 

 A tall boy with messy hair slid into the seat next to Daniel. ‘You okay?’ he asked.

Mrs Meek’s smile grew bigger. ‘You actually decided to show up, James B!’

James nodded and leaned back in his chair. Mrs Meek walked up to him and shoved the chair forward.

‘Nice try.’

Daniel rolled his eyes and looked around the room. Something was different. His eyes moved from student to student until he discovered the outlier, who sat at the front of the room.

A pale boy with long black hair in a high ponytail twirled by a curling wand was looking at himself in a compact mirror and puckering his lips, which were the colour of pink lady apples. Daniel wasn’t completely sure, but the boy seemed to be wearing mascara. His lashes were certainly long. Not that Daniel cared. His boredom as Mrs Meek called the roll was simply forcing him to stare at the boy. 

‘How about you introduce yourself?’ Mrs Meek asked.

The boy tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and stood up, turning towards the students. He spoke with a voice like a kitten’s meow. If that kitten had something up its nose.

‘Hi, everyone! I’m Eddie Ironpoe and I’m a Sagittarius!’

Silence. 

Then a few hesitant claps, with some added snickering.

‘Is that your real name, Mr Ironpoe?’ Mrs Meek asked with a smirk. 

Eddie laughed and sat down.

Daniel kept staring at this boy as he gussied up in front of his compact mirror. The bell informing the school that first period was about to start jolted him out of… something. Not a trance, no way, but something akin to it. 

First period was English. James patted his shoulder and cocked his head to the side, his way of saying ‘Let’s skip.’ Daniel followed him for a while until he saw Eddie walk towards the English classroom.

‘Actually, I want to see if that guy says something ridiculous again.’

James nudged him. ‘Ooh, got a man crush?’

Daniel pushed his arm away. ‘As if!’

When he entered the classroom, he saw that Eddie was sitting at the front of the classroom again, except this time he didn’t have his compact mirror in his hand. Daniel was going to sit in the back of the room like he usually did in English class, but he had one question nagging at him. That and he needed to do better in English.

No way was he going to sit right next to Eddie, but he did sit two seats away. ‘Hey, uh, have you heard of a smartphone? You can put it in selfie mode and use it as a mirror.’ Daniel waved his hands around. ‘Not that I do that! I just see girls do it all the time.’

Eddie smiled at him with toothpaste-ad-white teeth. ‘Well, I don’t think we’re allowed to have our phones in the classroom. And besides, mirrors are way better at capturing how I look. Phone cameras are kinda shit.’

A tall figure lumbered towards the front of the room. Daniel’s shoulders rose and his hands rushed to the safety of his pockets.

The figure scratched his bald head before facing the students. ‘Good morning, everyone.’ His already narrow eyes narrowed further as he spoke louder. ‘Good morning, everyone!’

‘Good morning, Dr Daylings!’ The students cried.

‘Better. Open Act 2 Scene 1. Who wants to play… on second thought, I’ll have Daniel play Robin. Who wants to play the fairy?’

Eddie shot his arm up. Dr Daylings nodded. ‘You must be Ed Smith.’ Eddie pouted. Daniel noticed how shiny his lips were. Dr Daylings crossed his arms. ‘You will have to wipe that makeup off.’

Eddie smiled again, his eyes glimmering. ‘Actually, I read the uniform guide and there’s nothing in there about boys wearing makeup.’

‘The lipstick is too bright.’

‘I haven’t got any lipstick on. Only clear lip gloss. My lips are naturally this colour. And I go by ‘Eddie Ironpoe’, by the way.’

Dr Daylings glowered at Eddie, who kept his smile and a straight, studious back. The teacher held his head in defeat. ‘Very well.’ The class laughed. Dr Daylings took a book from his desk and slammed it down, silencing the class.

Daniel tripped over his words as he read his part aloud. He had no clue what he was talking about. He had to reread words and ignore the sympathising stares.

Eddie spoke with the confidence of a Shakespearean-trained actor. He put emotion into every line, the words flowing out of his mouth like he was having a casual conversation. Despite having no clue as to what he was talking about, Daniel couldn’t help but watch. He became so engrossed in his performance that he forgot when it was his turn to speak again, earning chuckles from the class and a scowl from Dr Daylings.

At lunch, Daniel, James and a few other people Daniel sort of knew sat on the big couch in the student hub room, eating different snacks.

When Eddie entered the hub, a few people from English class flocked to him, asking him questions ranging from which school he went to before to what curling wand he used.

Daniel looked away, but his ears perked up when he heard a question he had rolling around his mind.

‘Um, no offence, but are you…. gay?’

Eddie bit his lip. ‘Uh, none taken? Yeah, I’m gay.’

A girl jumped at the chance to play matchmaker. ‘So which guy here would you date?’

Daniel’s shoulders rose. He coughed after choking on a piece of apple. James patted his back and asked if he was okay. Daniel could only nod.

Eddie looked around the room. ‘Well, judging by appearances, no one.’

Silence.

‘Wow, rude,’ one of the boys said with a smirk on his face.

‘Well, I don’t know anyone’s personality. I could get to know someone. Who here’s gay?’

A girl answered, ‘No one.’

Eddie wagged his finger. ‘There’s bound to be someone, statistically speaking. They just need a key to open their closet. Though, to be honest with you, I’m not interested in being someone’s closet key.’

Daniel looked away and bit his tongue, ripping pieces of his muffin off.

The school bell rang at the end of the day and Daniel stretched his fingers, relaxing into his chair for a moment before standing up. He waved goodbye to James and headed to his locker, noticing that Eddie was standing by the locker on the other side of the hall. He tried to say something to him but it was quickly drowned out by the hordes of students rushing to the locker from further away classrooms.

After ten minutes passed and the students had dissipated, Daniel walked up to Eddie, who was sticking postcard-sized posters on the inside of his locker door. Daniel didn’t pay attention to what the posters contained because Eddie was pouting when deciding where to place each poster, the redness of his lips all the more visible.

‘Uh, hey,’ Daniel said, looking at the ground. Eddie whirled around and held two posters up. Both posters were of…. Daniel guessed they were drag queens judging by the exaggerated makeup, both in gothic outfits.

‘Which one’s better? I only have room for one more inspo photo.’

‘The one with the Scissorhands thing going on is cool, I guess? Um, so, where did you learn to read Shakespeare like that?’

Eddie stuck the photo in the last space. ‘Oh, were you in my English class?’ Cold sweat ran down Daniel’s spine. He felt like an aspiring footy player who was just told he didn’t make the team. Eddie didn’t notice this. ‘Well, I just love reading Shakespeare so much. I don’t want to be an actor, but I love watching it too. Musicals are alright but I feel they can’t compare to Shakespeare’s words and rhythm. It’s pretty easy to read his work as his rhythm mirrors the human heart and the number of syllables makes each line sound like a real conversation.’

Daniel put his hands in his pockets. ‘It’s not easy for me. Old English is tough.’

Eddie wagged his finger. ‘It’s not Old English, it’s Modern English. Old English is before the Middle Ages, and Shakespeare’s works came out after the Middle Ages.’ Daniel scratched the back of his head. ‘Oh, sorry for the lecture. Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?’

‘Could you teach me? You know, about Shakespeare stuff. I’m not doing so well in English.’

Eddie released an awkward chuckle. ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be any better than an actual teacher, but I guess I could help you out.’

‘Are you busy this afternoon? I can’t go to footy practice, so I’ve got nothing to do except homework.’

Eddie put his backpack on one shoulder and shut the locker. ‘Sorry. I’ve got something on tonight. But every other night I’m available. Do you want my number so we can make plans?’

After exchanging names and numbers, the two waved goodbye. Daniel’s mother picked him up from school. Neither mother nor son said anything as they travelled home.

Once he was in his room, Daniel lied down on his bed and stared at Eddie’s number on his phone. Should he call him to plan the group study? He just saw him. Maybe he should text him. But would that be too cold?

Daniel rolled onto his side as he pondered this decision. He eventually gave up and dropped the phone next to him, pulling his doona over himself before falling asleep.

‘Shit!’ Daniel spat a few hours later.

The bed was wet, and not from urine.

Daniel couldn’t remember what the dream was about, though he vaguely remembered the images of both Eddie and a friend who moved schools the previous year. He wasn’t sure what they were doing in the dream, only that he needed a cold shower stat.

The room was dark. He looked at the clock. It was already 7.

When showering and trying to ignore the pain coldness brought, he remembered his old friend. Logan was a short, stout boy who obsessed over both footy statistics and hot women. When they talked about statistics, he and Daniel got along just fine. When Logan got a girlfriend in his final year at the school before moving, Daniel started hanging out with him less. Something about Logan’s girlfriend, though he wasn’t sure what, pissed him off, and Logan always brought her along when they hung out.

Daniel rushed back to his room with a towel around his waist. He hated being naked and had to clean his pants before his mother saw. He picked up his phone and, his hands shaking, messaged Eddie.

Wanna meet tomorrow?

He gave him his address.

He waited. And waited. He washed his pants and sheets and dried them, then waited.

Was Eddie still doing whatever he said he was going to do that night? What if he was never going to reply? What if he was only trying to be nice when he agreed to tutor him and had no interest in actually doing it? Would he have to pay him? How much?

He thought about what Eddie said to that girl about closet keys. He shook his head. It wasn’t like he was gay anyway, so it didn’t matter what Eddie thought about him… right? 

He took his books out of his bags and got lost in triangles and revolutions. He was broken out of his focus by a ringtone, which was of ‘Now You’re a Man’ by DVDA. He picked up his phone and smiled, some unknown yet familiar force lifting his body up. He hadn’t felt this sensation since he started going out with a girl in his class earlier that year. 

Sure :) How does 4:30 sound?

Should he reply back straight away or keep it cool? He remembered something his now-ex girlfriend said to him.

‘Talking to you’s like talking to a ghost. Are you even here?’

He went through a long, agonising word-choosing process.

Sounds good.

Daniel flopped onto his bed, letting his phone rest on his chest as he tried to slow down his breathing.

#bisexual #romance #gay #writing #LGBT romance #yaoi #drama #original fiction #fiction #Breaking Stereotypes #LGBT #So Apparently I Find Fairies Hot

[shirogane-atlas]

Boyfriend for a Week (Part 1)

My @voltronvalentinesexchange gift for @crystalklances You had some really awesome prompts, and my idea got a little ahead of me, so this is the opening to what will be an ongoing story. I hope you like what’s going on so far ;) Happy Valentine’s Day Robin!

Summary: Lance’s crazy ex is back in town, and what better way to get her to leave him alone than to have her think he’s dating someone else? Enter Keith, who’s taken on the brave role of Lance’s fake boyfriend for a week. Words: ~3k Rating: G

Love’s reach extends far and wide. Lance learned that the hard way, which was why he was sitting in the bleachers waiting for basketball practice to end. He’d been done with his classes for hours now and could’ve been chilling at home if it wasn’t for love. Love’s reach is so long, in fact, that it follows you across state lines even after the breakup.

The coach’s whistle sounded, and Lance looked up just in time to see the team hi-fiving and back-thumping.

“Hey Keith!” he called to the point guard who'd just started jogging off the court. Lance ignored the other players’ interested looks as Keith scrutinized him for a moment before jogging over.

“What's up, Lance?”

Keith's words were casual, but Lance thought he sounded suspicious. Or maybe Lance was just overly conscious of what he was about to say. “Will you be my boyfriend?” Wait, that came out wrong. “Just for a week!”

Keith gave no reaction other than to stare at him with a gaze that promised death. Rolo, one of the other players, was keenly watching them over Keith's shoulder, and Lance shifted to block his face with Keith's head. But that meant he now had to focus on Keith again. He was now looking bemused.

“This is why you waited for me for two hours? To make fun of me?”

“You think I'm making fun of you?”

“It's what you've done since the day we met.”

Lance thought about this for a moment. “You're right, and I'm proud of that. But that's not what this is.”

“Oh?” Keith's tone turned sarcastic, and he crossed his arms. But he was still listening. And that was all Lance needed.

“It’s Nyma. She’s gonna be in town for a week, to visit Rolo.”

“What's that got to do with me?”

“I'm getting there. I came to you because you know the whole drama and won’t judge me for this. Or, well, you probably will, but I’ll have less explaining to do than if I asked anyone else. So it’s just a matter of convenience, nothing else. And it’s just until Nyma’s staying.”

Lance caught his breath after his rambling and looked up to find Keith regarding him blankly again. “Fine,” Keith said shortly.

“Wait what? Just like that?”

Keith merely shrugged. “Text me whatever details you need to.” And before Lance could wrap his head around what had just happened, Keith was gone.

Nyma had been a transfer student to Lance’s high school in the final year, a sensation at their boring old school. And Lance had been in love. He’d gone up to her after their first class together to flirt, fully expecting a rejection, but knowing he had to try. And she’d giggled and blushed and called him cute. So he’d asked her out on the spot.

Lance went overboard at every stage of their relationship, and none of it scared her off. In hindsight, that should’ve been a red flag right there, but at the time, it had only convinced him that they were soulmates.

It had taken two whole years for Lance to accept that she was manipulative and that he wasn’t happy with her. The couple of times he’d tried getting out of the relationship, Nyma had managed to convince him to get back together. He’d waited until the second year of college to break it off for good. Even now, he knew that the only reason he hadn’t gone back to her was that they were separated by state lines.

But now she was coming back. And Lance was screwed. He knew he’d go back to her unless he could give her a reason to back off. Like if he was dating someone else. Someone tough enough that Nyma wouldn’t want to mess with.

Lance had first met Keith when he was still with Nyma, and she had come to his campus to visit him during winter break. Her cousin Rolo went to the same college as Lance and was on the basketball team. He’d invited Nyma to one of his games, and she’d brought Lance along. Keith was the team’s point guard, and Rolo introduced them. Keith and Lance had taken an almost instant dislike to each other, though Lance couldn’t really put his finger on why. He figured it was the mullet that first turned him off. And then the stuck-up attitude didn’t do the guy any favors. But why Keith disliked him so much was still a mystery to Lance.

When Lance had long-distance dumped Nyma, Rolo had very nearly picked a fight with him over it, so naturally the whole team knew about it. Lance could live with the notoriety, but he couldn’t live with the emotional drain of being Nyma’s boyfriend again. So when she texted to let him know she’d be in town again, he’d done the most rational thing he could think of. How hard could it be to pull this off? It was just pretend…. Pretend that Keith McBroody Mulletface was his boyfriend. For a week. Lance wondered if he hadn’t just dug the hole deeper trying to climb out of it.

Lance was a guy who always did things at the last possible second. He gave everything his all; it was just that he worked best under a little pressure. So it wasn’t until the morning of the day Nyma was due to arrive that he shot off a text to his new (fake) boyfriend.

>She's coming this afternoon >You need to come with me to meet her for lunch

Keith's reply was instantaneous.

>What?

>What?

>We can't just show up unprepared

>Uh >I think you're taking this too seriously ;D

>You're not taking it seriously enough. You really think she's gonna buy that we're dating if we know nothing about each other?

Lance stared at the question. Well shit.

>Well shit

>Just meet me at campus cafe in 15

>Wait what if I'm not free until later?

>Be there.

“Okay so what do we need to know about each other?” Lance asked through a mouthful of penne.

“You're asking me?” Keith marveled as he sat down across from Lance. “You've been in a relationship before. What kinds of things do you want to know about your partners?”

“The shape of their ass?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

Lance swallowed and grinned back. “I'm kidding! Okay so what's your favorite color?”

“Red.”

Lance looked at the red scarf Keith had around his neck which accented the black leather jacket. That made a lot of sense. “Cool! See now we’re getting to know each other! Now you ask me.”

“How long have you liked me?”

“What?” Had Lance been unknowingly giving off signals here? He thought he'd made it pretty clear that this was just pretend. “I'm not—”

“You do realize it's the first thing they're gonna ask us, right? Because Rolo knows we weren't together even last week when you came to see me at practice.”

Oh. Right. That was solid logic, now that Lance thought about it. “They'll wanna know how we got together, won't they?”

“And if you don't want them to see right through this, we should have stories that check out.”

“Right. Okay. So how did we get together?”

Keith fixed him with a stern glare. “You gonna make me do all the work here? I'm the one helping you.”

“Okay so when I came to see you after practice, I confessed my crush that I've been harboring ever since…” Lance looked around the cafe as if he'd find the answer among these students getting a late lunch. His eyes fixed on a girl wearing an oversized bomber jacket. “Ever since you ran into me walking back to my dorm without a jacket and gave me yours.”

Keith raised a contemplative eyebrow, gaze unfocusing for a moment, before the corners of his mouth turned up very slightly. “That's good,” he mused. “And I've liked you ever since I realized how caring and good you are under that annoying exterior.”

“Uh, thanks?” Backhanded though the compliment was, something stirred deep in Lance’s belly, and he thought it best to avoid Keith's eyes.

“This was while you were still with Nyma,” Keith continued,” so obviously I didn't do anything about it. But when you confessed to me, well, let's just say I'm a lucky guy.”

Lance nodded, committing the story of their love to memory. “I still think you should know my favorite color too.”

“Is it blue?”

“What? How did you…?” 

Keith shrugged. “There's blue in your bag, your shirt, even your nail polish.”

Lance grinned. “Good eye.” His phone vibrated loudly on the table, and he looked down. “Oh shoot. Time to go!”

“We should, like, hold hands or something.” Lance wished he could stop feeling so awkward about this; he was just setting a convincing scene. He looked over at Keith to find him wearing a look of disbelief. “What?” Lance asked defensively.

“You'd be okay with everyone seeing that?”

When Lance didn't give off the impression of having understood, Keith continued,

“You aren't actually gay, right? I mean, don't get me wrong, but most straight guys don't want people thinking…you know, I mean I know you asked me for convenience but…”

Lance thought only for a second before saying, “I'm bi actually. And yeah it's fine if, people see. We're trying to convince everyone, aren't we?”

Keith went completely silent. Lance got the impression he'd blown the guy’s mind. Just as Lance was about to ask if everything was okay, warm fingers slipped into his hand, fitting perfectly. Lance had to resist the urge to squeeze; it was silly but waves of comfort washed through him from the point of contact, like everything was going to turn out fine.

They got to the pizza place on time but Nyma and Rolo weren't there yet, so they picked a table and sat down next to each other. Every moment they waited, Lance fretted a bit more. He bounced his leg, he drummed his fingers against the table, he drank the ice cold water and shivered.

“Will you relax?” an irritated voice hissed in his ear.

“You relax!” he shot back, more wound up than ever. “And do something about that hair.”

“Excuse me?”

“It's a mullet.”

“Okay, and?”

“It's 2018.”

Keith leaned closer and deadpanned, “Okay Lance, would you like me to pull out my knife and chop it off here at this table, or would you prefer I step into the bathroom for that?”

The sarcasm dripping from Keith's voice was not lost on Lance, but he had just found something more interesting to focus on. He leaned in too. “Do you seriously have a knife on you right now?” he asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

Keith rolled his eyes. Neglecting to answer the question, he reached into his jeans pocket and took out a hair tie. Then, in front of Lance's very eyes, he tied his hair back into a low ponytail.

Lance stared before insisting urgently, “No, put it back!”

“Lance, what?”

“I can't deal with this right now!”

“I don't—”

“Hey lovebirds!” a cheery voice cut in from behind them. Nyma was here.

“Cool it with the PDA!” Rolo added with a laugh, as the two approached the table.

Lance and Keith drew apart and got up to greet them. There were hugs and greetings all around before they all sat down. At least there was no need for introductions.

Rolo offered to go get their orders, and once he left, Nyma turned eager eyes on Keith. “So, dish! Tell me all about how you two became a thing!”

“Wait for me,” Rolo called out. “I wanna hear this.”

Keith and Lance exchanged a look, and launched into their spotty story once Rolo returned.

“That’s so sweet, oh my God,” Nyma gushed. “You waited for him, Keith!”

“I didn’t have much choice,” he pointed out, reaching over to hold Lance’s hand on the table.

“You were hardcore pining,” Rolo chuckled. “I still don’t believe it. You two just seem so at odds. The only times I’ve ever seen you guys interact, it’s been nothing but bickering.”

Keith turned to Lance and smirked. Something mischievous twinkled in his amethyst eyes as he leaned closer and tilted his head. “We have our moments,” he whispered, answering Rolo but gaze fixed on Lance’s lips. His breath ghosted over Lance’s skin, but he came no closer.

Lance recognized it for what it was: an open offer. Warning signals were firing every which way in his brain; this would be taking it way further than it needed to go. But something else shot all those signals down in one fell swoop. He leaned across the couple of centimeters of distance remaining between them and pressed his lips to Keith’s in a chaste kiss.

“Hey, woah, cool it,” Rolo warned, but it was good-natured.

Keith looked away wearing an extremely smug look. And Lance really did not want to think about why his whole face was tingling, why his cheeks were on fire but his lips were ice.

“Oh, before I forget,” said Nyma, clasping her hands together, “I need to do all the touristy things while I'm here, so I booked seats on the ferry! Obviously I'm not going alone, and Lance you're the only person I know here besides Rolo, so you have to come. And of course you're welcome too Keith! But I didn't know about you beforehand so I didn't get you a ticket.” She looked sheepish as she reached the end of her eager announcement.

Keith started to reply, “It's oka—”

“I'll buy you a ticket babe,” Lance cut in. There was no way he was getting dragged onto a ferry with Nyma without a buffer.

“Thanks, babe,” Keith grinned; the smug look was back. Or maybe, it had never left.

The ferry, it turned out, was actually kind of boring. There was only so many times you could look out at a seemingly endless expanse of water in the dark before you needed something else to do. Nyma joined some impromptu dancing that had broken out, and Rolo ran into some friends.

Meanwhile, Lance and Keith ended up out on the deck, leaning against the railing and just talking. It started with Keith stepping out for some air and Lance going after him to tell him off for not putting more of an effort into his performance.

“I'm on a date with you,” he shot back, “I deserve an Oscar.”

“Um, rude! Anyway joke’s on you; they don't give Oscars for Most Unconvincing Portrayal of a Boyfriend.”

Keith snorted. “Are you serious?” He was smiling now, and Lance briefly wondered why that made him feel accomplished. “So what else should we do?” Keith asked. “Hold hands? Kiss? Make out?”

“No need to be extra.” Lance rolled his eyes, grateful that the night was dark enough to hide his rising blush. “Holding hands is fine. Kissing is good, too.”

Keith nodded sagely. “Got it.” He looked in through the windows. “Doesn't look like she's watching us right now though. It might help if we actually go inside… Anyway, I'll go get us something to drink.”

Lance was leaning against the railing waiting for Keith when Nyma stepped out and came up to him. She'd been socializing, and Lance recognized the high of human interaction in her eyes. He got that same boost of good feelings when he met new people or hung out with friends; though oddly enough, he’d felt no inclination to talk to anyone except his date all night.

“Having fun?” Nyma asked.

Lance grinned. “I really am. I can't believe it never occurred to me to do anything touristy here.”

She leaned her elbows on the railing next to him. “Hey, remember that time we went to that lighthouse together back home?”

“Yeah.” He remembered very well. “You made me climb all the way to the top and then left me there.”

Her smile turned reminiscent. “We had some good times, didn't we?”

“You left me there and took my car to go home.” Was this what she considered a fond memory of their time together?

“Look, I just want to say that I don't really like how we ended things. And I know you're not single right now, but I just need you to know that I miss you, and if you ever wanted—”

“Hey babe.” Keith had found his way back to Lance. Not having turned around fast enough, Lance was entirely unprepared for Keith to slip an arm around his waist and pull him into a deep kiss.

Lance's eyes fluttered shut, and he didn't care to open them again even though the kiss was going on way too long and Nyma was still watching. Keith was…a really good kisser.

“Uhhh, guys?” Nyma called.

Keith broke away to answer her. “Just saying hi.” He didn't let go of Lance's waist.

“I guess I'll leave you to it,” she suggested, sounding amused.

Lance only half registered her receding footsteps.

When Keith finally turned his attention back to Lance, Lance did his best not to look as dazed as he felt. “What was that?” he asked, holding back a cringe when it came out breathless.

“She was talking very animatedly,” Keith replied matter-of-factly, letting go and taking a step back, “and you looked like you were about to freak out.”

“Yeah I was probably two seconds away from caving.” He smiled when that pulled a chuckle from Keith. “Thanks, man.” Lance had completely known the entire time that the kiss was for show. It wasn't even his first kiss with Keith at this point. Now if only his heart would stop acting like he'd just ran a marathon.

#klance #sleapywrites #klance fic #klance fanfic #voltron valentines exchange

[themultiimagines]

Mind if I?

A/N: I just want to write fluff I’m so sorry

You knew about Diana Prince. You knew she was a superhero, she was a powerful woman and you had the biggest crush on this Amazonian. You met her through Batman, one of your colleagues. He trusted you the most and it went both ways. He saved your life multiple times and you owe your life to him, so you help him fight crime.

You're a badass yourself (not to toot your own horn). You learned martial arts from Bruce and he helped you with your fitness, making you feel better emotionally and physically. You weren’t a side kick, that was Robin’s job, what you were was independent.

You didn’t like to join the justice league or fight along side Batman (most of the time), you loved to pick your own battles until Wonder woman came along.

“brothers and sisters of the justice league, meet (Y/N) or known as (Y/SH/N). She is not part of the justice league but will help out from time to time.” Immediately Barry gets up and runs to you and picking you up.

“hi (Y/N)! I’ve heard all about you and I’m so excited to work with you!” He talked fast, how ironic. He swung you around a couple times and you couldn’t help but laugh, you already knew you were gonna like him as a friend. You never noticed though, the tall brunette standing in the corner with a laced dress colored with white and blue, watching the conference from the side.

You took a glance at her and gave her a shy smile. She returned the smile with a large grin and you felt your heart flutter. You turn to Bruce who was looking at you and you frowned.

“Who is that in the corner?” You ask in a hushed tone. He turned his head to the large woman and chuckled.

“that’s Diana Prince, a.k.a Wonder woman.” You gasp, feeling a shiver go down your spine. You didn’t even realize your favorite hero was in the same room as you.

Diana walked out of the corner when she heard her name and swiftly moved to greet you.

“Hello, I am Diana of Themyscira, or formally known as Diana Prince and it’s wonderful to meet you.” She put out her hand and you eagerly took it, but something felt off about shaking her hand. It was so right to hold it, her hands were soft and her fingers long and grip was strong. Unlike your calloused hands that we’re usually red from so much training.

Her large brown eyes kept boring into you like she was reading your soul. Your face went red like you were embarrassed she would find out something bad about you.

“No need to be shy, we are both here for the same reason.” You bit your lip, eager to say something but it would be too risky. You noticed Diana’s eyes flickered to your lips constantly as she looked at your face. You noted that.

—-

For the next several weeks you trained with her. She made you work your ass off, you knew Diana wasn’t messing around when you came back home to Bruce, feeling like you broke every bone in your body.

“Jesus (Y/N), what happened to you?”

“I trained with Diana,” you reply lazily. He laughs, walking to grab something and coming back.

“what’s so funny?” You ask, slowly sitting on the couch, a loud groan escaping you as you sit.

“it’s just I’ve never seen her warm up this fast with someone. She joined the league almost a year ago and she’s barely warmed up to me or Aquaman. But you, I think she likes you.”

You go the color maroon, your stomach clenching and feeling high when he tells you that.

“R-really?” You couldn’t help but grin.

“well yeah, she’s already training you, next thing is you two getting married.” It was meant as a joke, but some part of you took it very literally.

“Is she gay?” You blurt out, not being able to hold back. Bruce quirks an eyebrow at you, knowing the sign.

“Well no, she’s actually bisexual because she has dated both men and women, but the real question is why do you want to know?”

Batman knew you through and through, like the back of his hand, so it was no big surprise he knew you liked Wonder woman a lot.

“I was just wondering…”

“bullshit (Y/N)!” He laughed, crossing his arms and shaking his head. You clench your jaw, trying not to blush even more, but you knew your ears and neck were also red by now so there was no hiding it.

“I bet she likes you too,” he said, winking. You roll your eyes, you wanted to believe it but you couldn’t get your hopes up. As you got back up to walk away you realized he was on the phone. You frowned, narrowing your eyes at him.

“Hello, Diana! I’d like to ask if you are free this weekend?” You almost fell over hearing what he said and you wanted to scream at him, not needing his help.

You heard say yes from the other line and he grins at you devilishly.

“(Y/N) was wondering if you’d like to go with her to a nice dinner.” Yup, you were going to faint.

You hear her giggle happily like she was waiting for you to want that and you are pretty sure your heart stopped.

“id love to! Tell her to meet me at 8 Friday.” He thanked her then hung up.

“What the hell Bruce!” You growled, but another part of you loved he did it. He laughed as he put his phone down and looked down at you.

“I just got you a date, get ready for Friday.”

—-

Oh god oh god oh god. It was 7:30 and you felt like you were going to throw up. You were so nervous and so excited at the same time that you couldn’t even put on your dress without shaking. So you decided to put on something simple, casual, not too fancy so you weren’t a sore thumb in the crowd and put on light makeup before heading to the office.

You opened a door and saw Diana in a white silk dress with black heels on. Her hair was up in a bun and she turned, not even having makeup on and still looking flawless.

Your heart jumped into your throat and you could barely breathe at this point.

“Diana…you look wonderful.”

“I could say the same to you, (Y/N).” You blushed at her compliment, looking at your feet in a hurry to hide your face. She walked up to you and grabbed your chin, tilting your head up slightly.

“don’t be shy with me, it is okay,” she reassured and you felt some confidence grow back into you.

“to be honest with you, (Y/N), I don’t want to go to dinner.” You felt your heart stop, anxiety now coursing through your veins, thinking she will reject you.

“I already have something waiting on the roof.” You let out a sigh as she grabs your hand and guides you upstairs. She shows you a long fur blanket laid on the wood deck of the roof with champagne and glasses next to the blanket. You smile, loving how beautiful the scenery was.

“Diana, I don’t know what to say, this is wonderful!” You can’t help but run to the blanket and sit down, feeling the soft fur against your skin and giggle.

She looks at you, smiling at your reaction. “I thought we could stargaze.”

So of course after a long night of stargazing, you realized it was already midnight. You sighed again, not wanting to leave as you both were just talking and talking, not being able to stop.

“I think I have to go,” you say sadly and she looks at you with wanting eyes, her brown eyes having stars twinkle in them.

Suddenly, she kisses you, grabbing you face gently and pressing her plump lips to yours. It tasted like heaven and champagne and you felt like you were from withdrawal and her lips were the addiction. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow, (Y/N). Have a wonderful night.”

#wonder woman x reader #wonder woman #diana prince #gal gadot #ww #diana prince x reader #gal gadot x reader #dceu #batman #bruce wayne #aquaman #the flash #barry allen #dc imagines #wonder woman imagine #diana prince imagine #writing #ff #fanfiction #gay

[effie-trinket]

Swan Queen Week Day 7: Creator’s Choice (Teacher AU)

Title: Of Microwaves and Dodgeballs Pairing: Swan Queen Rating: T Summary:

Emma’s goals for her new teaching position: -make friends: check -teach kids about physical education: check -make a difference in at least one kid’s life: check -run into an angry woman’s car and have her hate you but then fall for her anyway: check?

FF/AO3

Emma hummed along to the song on the radio as she drove down the pothole-filled road. It was her first day of teaching at Storybrooke High. While she was excited to finally be out of the elementary school from hell in Massachusetts, she was also nervous about adjusting to the small town life in Maine.

She saw the sign for the school up ahead and flicked on her turn signal. Just because she lived in Massachusetts for a year did not mean she adopted their horrendous driving skills (or lack thereof).

The road cleared and she turned into the driveway of the school, quickly locating the teacher parking lot. She found an open spot and pulled in, but noticed she was a little close to the white line on her side. She switched gears and slowly backed out, not seeing the black car trying to pass by until it was too late.

There was a slight crunch and a horn blasted, jolting Emma and causing her to slam on the brakes. She heard a car door slam and tentatively opened her own door.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Emma was startled by the abrasiveness of the voice, but put on a defensive face anyway. She grew up learning that if you didn’t fight back you’d get taken advantage of. “Trying to correct my parking job,” she said as she turned and faced her accuser.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair stood by the tail end of Emma’s car, a furious expression on her face. A vein in her forehead was twitching but all Emma could focus on was the scar on her lip.

“Did they not teach you how to look before you back up in Massachusetts?” she asked, gesturing to the license plate that Emma still had yet to change. “Flatlander,” she muttered.

Emma took two strides towards her, getting within a foot of the woman. She looked down and noticed that her bug had a minuscule dent on the bumper, and her car— her Mercedes— didn’t even have a scratch.

“Look, your car isn’t even damaged, lady,” Emma pointed out.

“Rightfully so,” the woman replied, offset as she realized Emma was right. “Watch where you’re going next time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Emma muttered sarcastically. The woman quickly got back into her car and drove off.

Emma took a moment to herself before hopping back in the bug and resuming her task of correcting her parking, making sure to check her back bumper again before walking into the school.

——

“If you continue down that hallway you’ll find the math classrooms, and then over that way are all of the science classrooms…”

Emma’s eyes followed where Principal Kathryn Nolan was pointing, taking in the size of the school. It was a lot smaller than the three she had attended.

Kathryn led them down a small staircase before opening a set of double doors. “And here’s your classroom!” She led them through the gymnasium and toward’s a side room that had a glass window between it and the gym. “That room there is Mr. Hood’s office, and yours…” She pointed down the wall towards the other set of double doors. “…is over there. Any questions?”

Emma shook her head. “I think I got it. Anything I need specifically related to P.E. can be answered by Mr. Hood, right?”

“Definitely,” Kathryn answered. “I am, unfortunately, a little rusty on my P.E. knowledge.” She smiled comfortingly. “I’ll leave you to him, then! Enjoy your first day here, Miss Swan.”

“Thanks,” Emma said, watching the blonde walk away for a moment before heading over to the athletic director’s office.

The door was already open so she wrapped her knuckles on the door frame to alert the man at the desk to her presence.

“Hello! You must be Emma Swan,” he said with a smile, standing up and offering his hand.

Emma shook it and smiled back. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Robin looked down at his desk, searching it with his eyes for a moment before locating a folder. “This is all the information you’ll need for the first few weeks here. You should be settled in by then. It’s not too difficult of a place.”

“Thanks,” Emma said as she took the folder, heading back to her office to prepare for the first class of the day.

——

“Everything going smoothly?” Robin asked as her fifth period class exited.

Emma smiled. “Yeah, so far so good.” And she meant it. He’d been right when he said it wasn’t a very difficult place.

At that moment a man walked into the room wearing a police uniform with a taser and walkie talkie strapped to his belt. He bellowed out from across the gym.

“Robin! Lu—Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?” the man said, walking up to them.

“You’re fine, Graham,” Robin said. He gestured to Emma. “Graham, this is Emma Swan, the new P.E. instructor. Miss Swan, this is Graham Humbert, our behavioral resource officer.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Graham said. He turned to Robin. “Lunch?”

Robin shook his head. “Not today. I have to supervise a detention for an athlete.”

Graham frowned. “Damn.” He turned to Emma. “Lunch?”

Emma opened her mouth with surprise. “Uh— yeah, sure.” She turned to Robin. “I’ll be back for sixth period, then.”

“Don’t listen to everything he says,” Robin warned with a teasing grin sent towards Graham.

“I’ll try not to.”

——

“First thing’s first, rookie--” Graham said as they sat down.

Emma glared. “Don’t call me that.”

Graham gave a short laugh. He then pointed at her sandwich. “PB&J, I’m guessing?” Emma nodded. “You’re going to get real sick of those real fast. After a month of PB&Js, you’re never going to want to look at a jar of peanut butter ever again, so quit while you’re ahead.”

“But this is all I know how to make…” Emma muttered, looking at her lunch disdainfully.

“Take cooking classes, then. Or switch up sandwich types every day. You could have ham and cheese, salami and cheese, fluffernutter, bacon and eggs… the possibilities are endless— well, nearly endless.” He took out his own meal of leftover pasta and started digging in. “Second thing— if you’re going to work here, you’re going to need to know the ins and outs for both students and staff. The ‘do’s and the ‘don’t’s. ”

“Well I already crossed the ‘don’t’ line with one lady today,” Emma grumbled.

Graham gave her a look. “Already?” He laughed. “As long as it wasn’t Regina Mills’ bad side you got on, you’ll be fine. Everyone else is pretty good with the concept of forgive and forget. Regina, though… she holds grudges.” He cleared his throat and pointed at a short, bearded man sitting by himself at the corner table, glaring around the room. “See that man over there?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s Leroy. He’s the janitor. Bit of a grumpy man, but he’ll also stick up for you in times of trouble, especially if you stay on his good side.”

Emma watched as another teacher nearly fled after getting stared down by the grumpy janitor. “How do you even get on his good side?”

“Alcohol,” Graham stated bluntly. “A group of us go out to drinks every other Friday. You should join us some time.”

“I’ll consider it,” Emma said. It would be good for her to make some friends here.

“See that girl over there by the window reading?” Graham asked, pointing to a woman a few feet from Leroy’s spot. “That’s Belle. She’s the librarian. Quiet lass, she is. She has a twin, Lacey, who works at the bar we go to on Fridays. Lacey is nothing like her sister, though. She’s all fiery temper and she has a great ass and is… sexy as hell.”

Emma snorted. “Typical male,” she muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Graham asked.

Emma shrugged. “I’m just saying— males are always focused on the sexual, physical aspects of females. It’s never about their interests and hobbies, or favorite color, or anything like that. It’s always about pretty faces and big tits and asses.”

Graham looked almost offended. “Hey, not all men—”

“Cut it there, Officer,” Emma warned. “It’s that kind of attitude that would make sure you never get into bed with a girl like Lacey.”

“That’s not the only thing keeping me from her bed,” Graham muttered, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward into an almost smirk. Emma gave him a look. “There’s actually a good story behind how we all found out about it. I’ll have to tell you sometime.”

Emma furrowed her eyebrows. “Graham—”

“She’s gay,” Graham interrupted.

It was Emma’s turn to smirk now. “Well one of us has a chance, then.”

Graham turned to her with a puzzled expression. “Are you…?”

Emma nodded. “Yep. Gay as a flaming unicorn on a rainbow.” She smirked again. “There’s a funny story behind how I realized that. I’ll have to tell you sometime,” she said, echoing his earlier words.

“Funny story behind what?” a new voice asked as two lunch bags were set down on the table across from Emma and Graham.

Emma looked up at the new visitors. The woman who had spoken had long, straight brown hair with a red streak in it. Emma was jealous of how well the woman pulled off the bright red lipstick she was wearing to match the hair. Next to her was a petite brunette with a pixie cut.

“Ruby,” the woman with the red streak said, flashing a bright smile and sticking her hand out. “Ruby Lucas,” she finished as Emma shook her hand. Ruby jutted a finger at the petite brunette next to her. “I’m her student teacher.”

“Mary Margaret Blanchard,” the other woman greeted. “I teach the home economics classes. You must be the new P.E. teacher!”

“Emma Swan,” Emma replied with a nod. “It’s good to meet you guys.”

“Same,” Ruby replied with a genuine smile. “So, what’s the funny story you were just talking about?” she asked as she took out her lunch.

Emma shrugged nonchalantly as she took another bite of her sandwich. “The story of me coming out.”

Ruby’s grin widened. “Ooh, do tell.”

Just as Emma opened up her mouth to talk, the door to the faculty lounge opened and silence descended on the room. Emma’s eyes widened as green eyes met brown: It was the woman whose car she hit. She gave Emma a stone cold glare before turning and walking towards the microwave.

Conversations started up once more. Ruby leaned forward. “I heard some sucker hit her car this morning in the parking lot,” she said in a fashion that reminded Emma a little too much of high school gossip. “I feel bad for whoever did it.”

Graham noticed Emma’s sheepish face. “Your incident this morning didn’t involve her, did it?”

Emma nodded somewhat shyly. “It may have been me…” Three pairs of eyes widened at the table. “But it was an accident! Besides, my car was the only one hurt!” She looked over at the brunette whose back was still turned away. “Who is she, anyway?”

Graham looked over and smiled. “That’s Regina Mills.”

“You mean… the woman you said holds grudges?”

Graham gave a short laugh. “Oh yeah. She teaches the business classes and AP Statistics. She’s feared by teachers and students alike,” he said with a laugh.

Emma raised an eyebrow. “Except you, I take it?”

“Yep,” Graham affirmed with a cocky grin.

“Graham’s never really been afraid of Regina,” Ruby said with a sly smile. “But then again, it’s hard to be afraid of someone after you sleep with them a few dozen times.”

Emma narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you two… together?”

Graham blushed slightly and shook his head. “No.” He took a bite of his food and swallowed. “Not anymore, at least. We had a little… fling… when I first started working here a couple of years ago. It ended midway through the last school year.”

“Why’d you end it?”

“She realized she—” He stopped abruptly. “I’m not actually sure I’m allowed to share that…”

“What?” Emma asked curiously.

“No, I can’t.”

“Who am I going to tell? I’m the new girl. You guys are the only ones I really know!” Emma insisted. Graham shook his head.

Now Ruby and Mary Margaret were curious, too. “You can’t just start saying something and then take it back!” Ruby exclaimed.

Graham gave her a look. “I shouldn’t have even started telling you guys. Just… let it go.”

“Does she have an STD?” Emma guessed.

Graham choked on his drink. “What? No!”

“Is she dying?” Mary Margaret asked quietly, her eyes big with worry.

“No! Guys—”

“Is she secretly married?”

“Ruby, I swear to—” Graham stopped and rubbed his face with his hand. “It’s not bad, I promise. But it’s not my place to tell. If she wants you to know, she’ll tell you. Okay?”

“Fine,” Ruby grumbled. She poked at her meatloaf, which looked less than edible. “I’m going to see if Granny will make me something good to eat,” she announced, standing up and packing up her stuff. “I’ll see you back in the room next period,” she told Mary Margaret. “It was nice to meet you, Emma!” she flashed a dazzling smile at the blonde. “Bye!”

“Bye,” the other three echoed as the tall brunette walked out the door.

“Who’s Granny?” Emma asked.

“The head cook,” Mary Margaret said, “and, coincidentally, Ruby’s grandmother. Everyone calls her Granny, though. She makes really good lasagna on Fridays. You should try it some time.” She looked at the clock started packing up her stuff. “I almost forgot— I have to go and meet with a student before lunch ends. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, sure,” Emma said, waving to her as she left. She turned to Graham. “They seem friendly enough.”

“They’re a couple of good people,” Graham agreed. “Ruby gets a little carried away with gossip sometimes and Mary Margaret thinks she’s a saint and can’t keep a secret to save a life, but overall they’re good.”

They ate the rest of their lunch in silence. It was when they were headed out the door that the silence was disrupted.

“Officer Humbert!” a student called out as she burst through the door. “There’s a fight in B hallway—”

Graham nodded. “On it,” he said, jogging towards the hallway. Emma noticed the rest of the teachers seemed to be following him, so she went along as well.

When she got there, Graham had already pried one boy away and was holding him away from whomever he was attacking. Emma noticed the boy was rather small for a high schooler.

Kathryn pushed through the crowd and sighed at the sight of the small boy. “I thought we went over this—”

“Henry?” a new voice interjected. Emma saw Regina step up beside Kathryn and move towards the small boy. She touched his face in a manner that seemed a little too familiar for a teacher.

The small boy, Henry, pushed her hands away. “Get off me!” He backed away from her with a glare that could rival Leroy’s, but not quite rival Regina’s. Emma noticed a hurt look flash across Regina’s face.

Meanwhile, Kathryn had helped the other boy stand. Emma noticed he had a bloodied lip and his eye was bruising.

Kathryn gestured with my hand. “To my office, boys.”

Graham went with Kathryn and the boys, keeping himself near Henry. The bell rang and the rest of the crowd dispersed, with some students grumbling about how the fight ended too quickly and others recounting the event with excitement. The hallway had cleared except for Emma and Regina, who still had a hurt look on her face.

Emma slowly walked up to her. “Hey, you okay? Do you… want to talk?” she offered, unsure of what to say to the woman who clearly was upset but also clearly disliked (or maybe even hated) Emma.

Regina looked up and, for a brief moment, Emma saw anguish in her eyes, but the look was soon replaced with Regina’s usual hard glare. “You should go supervise your class, Miss Swan,” she said, pushing past Emma and leaving her alone in the hallway.  

——

“You are free to go see Mr. Whale, Nicholas,” Kathryn said. The boy nodded and held a hand tentatively to his tender, still bleeding lip as he left her office. Kathryn turned her attention to the other boy seated across from her. “Henry… it’s the first day of school. Last year you promised--”

The boy let his guard down and heaved a big sigh. “I know I promised I wouldn’t fight. But… I couldn’t help it. Nicholas—”

“It doesn’t matter what Nicholas did, lad,” Graham interrupted. “You shouldn’t have resorted to fighting like you did. Your mother—”

“I don’t care about my mother,” Henry snarled.

“Don’t say that, Henry,” Kathryn chastised. She hated hearing him talk about her best friend like that. “She loves you—”

“No she doesn’t!” Henry interjected. “She doesn’t care about anything! Have you ever even seen her love something? It’s not possible!”

“Yes it is, Henry,” Kathryn said softly. “I’ve known your mother for a long time. She loved your father very much. And she has loved you since before you were even born, and she will continue to love you for as long as she lives.”

Henry shifted in his seat. “No she won’t. I’m only a disappointment to her. She said it herself,” he muttered.

“She didn’t say you were a disappointment. She said she was disappointed in your actions,” Graham said,  “and you know it was because you got into another fight right after the incident with August.”

Henry become somber at the mention of the other boy. “It was an accident…”

“It doesn’t matter, Henry. You can’t keep doing this,” Kathryn said softly. She went over to a file cabinet and pulled out a rather thick manila folder and placed it on her desk. She flipped through until she found the page she was looking for and gave a soft sigh. “This is your fifth fight in the past year, Henry. I don’t know how to convince you to stop. I’ve given you detentions, in school suspensions, out of school suspensions… the next step is expulsion, Henry. I technically should’ve already expelled you, but I didn’t because I know you’re a good student. I know you can do better.” She sighed again. “I’ll let you off with a two week suspension Henry. But I will warn you— if I see you in my office again for another fight, I will have no choice but to expel you.”

“Yes, Principal Midas,” Henry said softly.

“I also want you to stop by Hopper’s office twice a week and talk to him. Maybe he can help you sort through… everything.” She exchanged a look with Henry and he understood what she meant.

“Okay,” he replied in the same soft voice.

“Okay,” she replied with a small smile. “You can go to your afternoon classes, but I want you back in my office at 3:00 when the bell rings. I’ll need to talk with you and your mother.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill,” he huffed as he stood up and walked out.

As soon as the door shut, Graham released a deep breath. “Regina’s going to be furious.”

“She has a right to be,” Kathryn said, running a hand through her hair. “God this is all just so…”

“Fucked up?” Graham offered with a short laugh. “It definitely is. At least Nicholas is okay. Henry might be in worse shape than he is— emotionally, that is.”

“And Regina’s not going to be much better at this point,” Kathryn said sadly.

“Do you want me here after school for the lad and Regina?”

Kathryn nodded. “It might be for the best.” She swiveled in her chair, facing him directly. Her phone started to ring, and Graham took that as his sign to leave. “I’ll see you at three.”

——

The last school bell of the day rang and Emma put all of the equipment back into the storage locker. She had just tucked in the last basketball when she realized it was 3:28 and she had a follow up meeting with the principal at 3:30.

She rushed through the halls to the office. As she rounded the corner to the entrance to the front office section, she saw the boy from earlier— Henry— rushing out of the room and slamming the front doors open, stomping through as he left the building.

Emma continued into the front office, noting that the principal’s office door was open, and Regina was sitting in a chair in front of Kathryn’s desk, slumped over with her head in her hands. Graham was standing by and had a hand on her shoulder. He glanced over and noticed Emma, his eyes widening as he quickly murmured something to the other two women in the room. Regina sat up rigidly before standing and smoothing down her dress. Kathryn stood and placed a hand comfortingly on Regina’s arm as she said something. Regina nodded stiffly before running her hands down her dress and turning quickly on her heel.

“Hey,” Emma said weakly as Regina passed.

“Miss Swan,” she greeted stoically without looking at her as she passed by. Emma noted the puffy eyes and red cheeks, but said nothing, instead turning back towards Kathryn’s office.

Graham gave her a kind nod and an uncomfortable smile as she walked in. “Emma.” He looked back at Kathryn, who was still standing by the chair Regina had just vacated. “Tomorrow, then?”

Kathryn nodded, and Graham exited, closing the door behind him. “Please, have a seat,” Kathryn said, gesturing towards the  chair.

Emma did so, shifting uncomfortably as Kathryn stood there for a moment longer, releasing a deep breath before walking behind her desk and taking a seat.

“So,” Kathryn said as she settled back down. “How was your first day?”

——

It had been a month since her first day and Emma was loving her new job. The kids were great, her coworkers were fun— well, most of her coworkers were fun. Regina still wouldn’t spare her even a passing glance.

Emma didn’t mind, though. She was happy to have friends to sit with at lunch, to go out to the bar with on Friday nights, and to… listen to them complain about their love life.

“I’m telling you, I did everything right,” Graham said. “I held the door open for her, I bought her flowers, I paid for the meal, I walked her to her door— we kissed! Why won’t she text me back?” He plopped his head onto his hand, moping as he moved his food around with his fork with his other hand.

Emma scoffed at him. “Get a grip, Graham,” she said as she unwrapped her sandwich—a BLT— and picked up one half. “You sound like a teenage girl.”

“Did I wait too long to text her?” Graham asked, continuing as if she hadn’t said anything. “Three days is the right amount of time… right?”

“Dude, that rule is the dumbest thing ever,” Emma said with her mouth half full. “Text her when you want. Don’t wait because your dude bros told you to. It makes it seem like you care less if you wait that long.”

Graham looked up at her. “It does?” He slumped back in his seat. “Shoot. I guess it is my fault.”

Emma shook her head. “I swear, Graham… How in the hell did you manage to work out a relationship with Regina if you can’t even text a girl in a timely fashion?”

Graham laughed at that. “You know that’s a pretty good question.”

“No wonder she dumped you,” Emma joked.

“Okay, no, she didn’t dump me because of me,” Graham said. “She had her reasons, and while I was technically one of them, I also wasn’t.”

Emma’s forehead creased and she shook her head. “What does that even mean?!”

Before Graham could answer the door to the faculty lounge swung open and the woman in question appeared, marching over regally to the microwave. She stopped as she noticed the sign on it saying that it was broken. Regina huffed and looked down at her tupperware container.

“Shit,” Graham murmured. “She doesn’t like it when her schedule is disrupted.” At Emma’s look he added, “She always uses that microwave for her food. Her lasagna’s not as good when it’s cold.”

“I have a microwave in my office that works,” Emma said. She glanced back at the brunette. “Should I go offer it?”

Graham shrugged. “It might actually get you on her neutral side.”

Emma sat back in her chair. “Or maybe I’ll let her suffer like she’s let me suffer.”

Graham rolled his eyes. “Now who’s acting like a teenager?” He glanced behind Emma and gave a wave. “Regina!” He gestured towards them.

“Yes, Officer?” she asked, pointedly not looking at Emma.

“Couldn’t help but notice the microwave is having issues,” Graham said.

“Your point being?”

Graham looked at Emma, raising an eyebrow at her. She glared back at him. He gave her a look and she sighed, looking up at Regina.

“I have a microwave in my office,” Emma said stiffly. “You can use it if you’d like.”

Regina seemed surprised by the offer. “Thank you, Miss Swan.”

“Door’s unlocked,” Emma said.

“You keep your office door unlocked when you’re not there?”

Aaaand there it was. “Yeah? What are they going to steal? My instruction booklets on thigh stretches?”

Graham snickered at that, and Emma noticed that Regina’s face turned a little pink.

“Right,” Regina said quietly. She turned and walked out of the lounge without another word.

When Emma got back to her office after lunch, she noticed a little sticky note attached to the microwave.

Thank you again, Miss Swan. And don’t worry— I didn’t steal any ‘thigh stretch’ booklets from you. At least not today.

——

Another two weeks had passed since the microwave incident. The incident that had sparked Emma’s imagination into wondering what the hell Regina meant by her note.

She was so distracted in her thoughts she didn’t hear the shouts or see the dodgeball coming towards her until it was too late. The ball slammed into the side of her face, knocking her slightly off balance.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Swan!”

Emma rubbed her face and looked over to the apologizer. It was Henry Mills, looking absolutely terrified as he looked at what she could imagine was a very nasty looking welt on the side of her face.

“Great job, dumbass!” another boy in the class said with a smirk. Emma noticed how Henry cringed at the sound of his voice.

“Can it, Peter,” Emma responded. The bell rang at that moment. “Alright, guys, get going. I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse,” she said with a smile. The class started to disperse. “Henry, can I talk to you for a moment?”

Henry nodded, standing by quietly and ignoring the taunts from Peter as he grabbed his stuff and left. “I’m really sorry, Miss Swan,” he said quietly.

“Trust me, Henry, I’m not worried about this,” Emma said, gesturing to her face. “Come with me to my office.” She led him in there, where she grabbed an ice pack from the freezer before plopping down at her chair. “Take a seat, kid.”

He dutifully sat down, his leg jiggling nervously as he stared down at his hands in his lap.

“Are you… having problems, kid?” Emma asked tentatively.

He shook his head. “No. I’ve never really been that good at sports. My mom tried to get me to play baseball when I was a kid but I couldn’t throw straight so I quit—”

“Not with sports,” Emma interrupted, briefly imagining stoic Regina playing catch in the yard with a smaller version of Henry. “With Peter.”

Henry immediately tensed. “…No. He’s just like that to everyone.”

“Is he?”

The teen took a breath and shook his head. “He hates me because of my mom. She was failing him and he got kicked off the baseball team freshman year.”

“As an athlete, he should know to keep his grades up,” Emma pointed out. “And there’s no reason to blame you for what is ultimately his fault.”

Henry shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here,” Emma said sincerely.

“Thanks,” he said with a small smile. He glanced at the clock. “Would it be okay if I stayed here for lunch? That’s when he usually…”

Emma nodded. “Absolutely. And if he asks, just tell him I gave you detention or something.”

He gave her a look that looked too much like Regina. “Would you actually give a kid detention for hitting you with a dodgeball?”

“No,” Emma said honestly, “but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?”

Henry grinned. “Right.”

——

Emma was packing up her bag at the end of the day, getting ready to head back to her apartment, when the door to her office flew open with a bang. She jumped a bit and looked up to see Regina standing there with a new and much more fierce form of rage on her face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Going home?” Emma said as she started to feel her defensive stance come up. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Regina slammed her hands on the desk and put her face right up on Emma’s. “I have a problem with you giving my son a detention for no damn reason.”

“No damn reason?” Emma countered. She could tell the truth, but Regina’s anger has now added to Emma’s own. “He threw a dodgeball at my head.”

“Maybe if you had paid attention you wouldn’t have been hit,” the brunette snarled back. “Do your job and this wouldn’t happen.”

“Why don’t you do your job and pay attention to your son for once?”

Regina was taken aback by that comment. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Emma stood back and ran a hand over her face. “Look, he’s having a rough time with another student. I just gave him a place where he could get away from it.” She looked back over at Regina, her voice softening. “It wasn’t a real detention. He’s not a bad kid, Regina.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “He hasn’t said anything about… struggling.”

Emma looked across at her. “Regina… it’s not your fa—”

“I will see you tomorrow, Miss Swan,” she interrupted, turning and marching swiftly out the door before Emma could say anything.

——

“You told my mom about Peter,” Henry muttered in her office two days later.

Emma didn’t know how to react to the confrontation. “I… I said what I needed to after she came in and yelled at me for giving you detention. I know it wasn’t my place to tell her about your issues—”

“It wasn’t,” Henry interrupted. “But… I understand why.” He pulled out his lunch and started to settle in.

Emma pulled out her own. “Did she talk to you about it?”

“A little,” he said. “She doesn’t really know what to do. I told her I’ve been talking to Dr. Hopper about it.”

“That’s good,” Emma said. “That’s really good. It’s progress.”

Henry shrugged. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

Emma leaned forward and placed her hand on his arm. “She’s trying, Henry.”

Henry thought about it before giving a small smile. “Yeah, I guess she is.”

——

“You headed out soon?” Robin asked as he locked up his door.

Emma shook her head as she continued to stretch. “Nah, I figured I’d stick around and use the free weights while I can.”

Robin chuckled. “Understandable. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“See you,” Emma said with a brief wave as she bent forward to touch her toes. She looked at the clock and noticed it was already 5:00— most teachers would be gone by now. She shrugged off her shirt, leaving just a sports bra and her spandex pants. No one would be around, anyway, and if there were people there certainly weren’t any students.

She finished up her stretching and walked over to the weights, picking one up and beginning her workout. She was just finishing up and putting the equipment away when she heard the clack of heels echoing across the gym floor.

Locking up the weight room, Emma turned and wiped her towel across her face, trying to at least pretend to look presentable as the brunette walked over to her.

“Hey, Regina,” she greeted breathlessly.

Regina paused in her steps, drawing her gaze down across Emma’s body. Emma started to feel self conscious and wrapped the towel around her shoulders, holding it so her arms blocked off part of her body.

“Miss Swan,” Regina finally greeted, her eyes snapping back up to meet Emma’s. “What are you still doing here?”

“Working out,” Emma said, gesturing to her sweaty and athletic-wear-clad body.

Regina glanced down again, her lips opening minutely. Emma saw the slightest twitch of an eyebrow as Regina’s eyes locked onto her abs before looking back up at Emma. “I can see that.”

There was an awkward pause. “Did you… need something?” Emma asked uncertainly.

“I was simply wondering if Henry was here,” Regina said. “He wasn’t in the library, where he usually is after school, and I didn’t know if he decided to come and join you again.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I can see that he is not, so I will go check… elsewhere.”

“Sure,” Emma said, not sure what she was agreeing to. “Sorry I couldn’t have been more help.”

Regina plastered a fake smile on her face. “No worries, Miss Swan. I will see you tomorrow.” With that, she turned around sharply and walked out of the gym, leaving Emma to wonder what the hell just happened.

——

Emma was sitting at lunch again with Graham, and this time Ruby had joined them.

“Did you hear about Mary-Margaret and David?” Ruby asked with a sly grin.

Graham’s eyes widened. “No, what?”

“Wait— who’s David?” Emma asked.

Ruby looked around quickly before leaning in. “David’s Principal Midas’ ex-husband. Their divorce was fine— no harsh feelings on either side— but Leroy said that he overheard Belle telling Archie that she found them messing around in the art closet the other day after hours…”

“No!” Graham whispered in shock.

Ruby nodded. “Oh yeah. Belle’s been avoiding them ever since.”

The door to the lounge opened up at that moment and Regina strutted in with her usual grace. She looked over and caught eyes with Emma, giving her a small, polite smile before continuing over to the microwave.

“Did she just… did she just smile at you?” Ruby asked.

Emma shrugged. “Yeah, what’s the big deal?”

“She never smiles at anyone, unless it’s a ‘I’m going to destroy your happiness’ kind of smile,” Ruby said with a glance towards the brunette still standing by the microwave.

Emma snorted. “She’s not some… evil queen, you know.” She gave another shrug. “She’s just… human, like the rest of us.”

Ruby raised her eyebrows at that, before her eyes widened and a grin split her face. She let out a laugh before covering her mouth.

“What?” Emma asked, getting insulted on Regina’s behalf. “You don’t think she has feelings like the rest of us?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Ruby said, shaking her head. She leaned forward. “You totally like her!”

Graham shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearing his throat and looking everywhere but at the two of them.

“I do not!” Emma said. “She’s… well, I guess we’re… really good acquaintances? Maybe friends?”

“Girlfriends,” Ruby said with a little cackle. “You guys are totally—”

“Who are girlfriends?” a deep voice asked from behind Emma. She turned to see Regina standing there with her fresh-out-of-the-microwave lunch.

“Uh— nobody,” Emma said unconvincingly.

Regina raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that so?”

“Lacey!” Ruby intercepted. “Uh, yeah! Lacey, you know, from the bar? She and Emma are totally  like…” She interlocked her fingers. “Tight. Yep. Totally made for each other.”

Emma shook her head at the younger woman. “What…?”

“I wasn’t aware you were into the fairer sex, Miss Swan,” Regina said darkly, her eyes trained on Emma’s.

“Are you kidding?” Ruby snorted. “She’s as gay as they come.”

“Thanks, Rubes,” Emma muttered.

“Well,” Regina said coolly. “You could do much better than Lacey, my dear.” She turned and left the room without another word.

All three of the people sitting at the table stared at the door that she just exited out of.

“Did she just… come on to me?” Emma asked.

Ruby laughed. “Yep.” She sighed and went back to her lunch. “You know, if I didn’t know Mills better, I’d say she was crushing hard on you.”

Emma continued to stare at the door for a moment longer. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “Me, too.”

——

It was Friday night and the bar was slower than usual. Ruby and Graham were finishing up a game of pool at one end, while Emma sat by herself at the bar, nursing the third beer she’d had since they arrived.

“Need anything stronger?”

Emma looked up to see Lacey standing behind the bar, drying off a glass. Emma shook her head. “Nah, not tonight.”

“Love problems?” the bartender asked.

“How…?”

Lacey gave a comforting smile. “When you’ve been bartending as long as I have, you’ve seen it all.”

Emma tilted her head in acknowledgement. She took another sip of her beer. “I’m just… falling for straight girls. You know how it is.”

“Oh don’t I,” Lacey said with a roll of her eyes. “I hate it so much, because by the time you find out there’s no way you have a chance… you’re already too far gone.”

Emma nodded her head in agreement. “Yep.” She slumped down a little, resting her head on one of her hands. “I just… she’s really pretty? And her son is awesome and I think we could totally have a cute little family…”

Lacey gave a little chuckle. “Yep. You’ve got it bad.” She wiped down the counter next to Emma. “My advice? Distance yourself while you can, before you get too deep.”

Emma swirled her drink around, watching the beer rush in circles. “I might already be too deep.”

——

Emma heard a familiar voice shouting on the other end of the gym. She looked over to see Regina standing tensely in front of Robin. Emma tried to ignore them as she kept cleaning up the equipment left behind from the school day. It became difficult, however, when Regina’s voiced raised and started echoing around the gymnasium.

“I have told you on multiple occasions that I am not interested—”

“And you still have yet to give me a reasonable answer!” Robin retorted. “I know your type, Regina. I know of your past relationship with Officer Graham—”

“Which, may I remind you, is none of your business,” she snarled back at him.

Robin sighed loudly. “Regina, come on— one date. I’ll pay for everything. I promise it’ll be the best night—”

“I highly doubt that,” Regina interrupted. She took a deep breath and let it out, calming herself down internally. When she spoke again, Emma had to strain to hear her. “Look, if it was a different time in my life, I would probably accept the offer. But since I can guarantee nothing’s going to come of it—”

Robin interrupted her this time. “Seriously?” Now his voice was raised. “You basically just admitted we would work together!”

“In the past, yes. Perhaps. But not now!”

“Why the hell not?” he yelled.

“Because I’m gay!”

Silence descended in the gymnasium. Emma stopped in her tracks and dropped the basketball that was in her hand. The noise grabbed the attentions of the feuding duo at the other end of the gym. Emma watched as Regina’s features quickly morphed into something Emma couldn’t quite figure out before Regina turned on a heel and marched out of the room.

Robin stood still for a few minutes before retreating into his office, muttering to himself and shaking his head.

Emma stood stunned for a minute before going back to grab the basketball she dropped. She held onto it, staring at the ball but not focusing on it as her thoughts jumbled up in her brain.

Gay? As in… likes girls? As in… prefers to be in relationships with girls…

I’m a girl. I like girls. I like Regina, specifically. But do I even stand a chance with her?

Why had she kept it a secret all this time?

A voice interrupted Emma’s thoughts. “Hey, Emma! You ready yet?” Graham came up to Emma and noticed her expression. “You okay?”

Emma lifted her gaze to meet his. “She’s… she’s gay?”

Graham’s eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. “She told you?”

“Not… exactly…” Emma trailed off. “Wait, how do you know? When were you going to tell me?”

“I told you, it’s not my place to tell.”

Emma remembered their conversation from her first day. “That’s the reason you two broke up?”

Graham nodded. “Yeah. She was wondering why we weren’t connecting the way she thought we should have and she realized her sexuality wasn’t what she thought it was.”

“So she’s gay gay?”

Graham sighed. “Yes, Emma, she’s gay gay, whatever that means. She likes ladies as much as I like ladies.”

“And as much as I like ladies,” Emma said softly.

“You got it so bad,” Graham said, shaking his head with a smile.

She nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I do.” She smiled. “But at least now I know I have a chance.”

——

She was sitting in her office the next morning when she heard a soft knock on the door. She looked up and saw Regina standing there.

“Hi,” Emma said with a smile.

Regina let out a breath. “Hello, Miss Swan.” She stood there awkwardly in the doorway.

“C’mon in,” Emma said, standing up and walking to the other side of her desk before leaning back on it, her legs crossed at her ankles.

Regina took a step in, her hands still stuffed deep into the pockets of her jacket. She pointedly looked everywhere but at Emma.

“What can I do for you?” Emma prompted, feeling the tension in the other woman seep into her.

“I…” Regina paused. “I want to talk about what you… may have overheard yesterday afternoon.” She took her hands out of her pockets and started to intertwine them nervously in front of her stomach. “I’m not… usually so… blasé about my…” She coughed before finally looking up to meet Emma’s eyes. “I just would prefer that you kept that information to yourself.”

Emma nodded. “Of course. I’m not going to out you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Trust me, I know what it’s like to be forced into saying something you’re not ready to say yet.” She stood up straight. “But… if you don’t mind me saying—”

“I do mind, Miss Swan,” Regina interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest and putting up her usual defensive mask. “My sexuality is of no concern to anyone, nor do I need any so-called advice from you.”

Her words hit Emma hard, causing the blonde to look down and bite her lip in frustration. “Fine,” she said quietly, looking back up at Regina with a hard glare. “Forgive me for trying to be a friend.” She walked back around her desk and sat down roughly in her chair. “If you don’t mind, I have a lot of paperwork to fill out.”

Regina stood there for a moment longer, looking like she was about to say something more, before turning and leaving.

——

For the next two weeks, Emma avoided Regina as much as possible. She sat with her back to the microwave at lunch (when she actually chose to eat lunch in the faculty lounge), she left as soon as she could at the end of the day, and she changed the subject whenever Graham decided to bring her up.

She knew it couldn’t last forever, though, and her plans were foiled at exactly 3:03 that day. Three minutes after school ended, and 27 before Emma could officially go home.

The door to her office burst open and Regina strode in, closing the door behind her.

“Why yes, do come in, make yourself at home,” Emma said sarcastically.

“This needs to stop,” Regina said sharply.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Sorry I don’t wait on you hand and foot like all the other teachers—”

“No, not that,” Regina said, walking up to stand right in front of Emma’s desk. “This… thing between you and I.”

“What, our acquaintanceship?” Emma asked. “I’m not sure we could get much lower without becoming enemies— unless that’s what you want, that is.”

Regina sighed. “I am sorry for what I said to you, Miss Swan. I did not mean it the way it came out. I do… like our friendship, and I wish for us to be friends again. I am simply… defensive.”

“You think?”

It was Regina’s turn to roll her eyes. “Miss Swan, I am trying to apologize.”

Emma leaned back in her chair. “You never even call me by my first name, how are we supposed to be friends?”

Regina huffed. “Emma.” She raised her eyebrows. “Happy?”

Emma smiled. “Yes, quite frankly I am.”

“Good.” There was a moment of silence between the two. “So… apology accepted?”

“I…” Emma paused. “As long as you promise not to get all weird and defensive about being gay. I know what it’s like to be closeted. I just thought you could use someone who’s been through it to help you out.”

Regina nodded and gave an apologetic smile towards Emma. “I am sorry. I’ve known about my sexuality for nearly a year now, but I suppose I still worry about people’s reactions.”

“You don’t have to worry about mine,” Emma said with a comforting smile. “After all, it’d be pretty crazy for me to not accept you for who you are.” She gave a small laugh.

“I suppose it would,” Regina said, her smile widening. “So… you are��� gay gay.”

Emma laughed. “Yes, I’m gay gay.” She gestured around her. “I mean, c’mon, I fit the best stereotype out there.”

Regina smiled, but this time it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And are you… still in a relationship with Lacey?”

Emma’s forehead creased. “Lacey…?” She remembered their conversation months ago. “Oh! No, no no no.” She laughed. “No, that was all Ruby. She was trying to cover up the conversation we were having and that was her first thought.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “So you are not with her?”

Emma shook her head. “No.”

“Good.”

Emma tilted her head. “Good?”

Regina nodded. “Yes.” She reached onto Emma’s desk and pulled a pen out of her haphazard jar and grabbed a sticky note, scribbling something down before holding the note and the pen out to Emma.

Emma took the piece of paper and noticed it was as phone number. “What’s this?”

“My number,” Regina said as if it was the most obvious thing (which it technically was). She thrust the pen towards Emma again. “If you would be so kind as to write yours down for me.”

“Uh— yeah, sure,” Emma said, taking the pen and scrawling her own number on another sticky note before handing it to Regina. “Can I ask what for?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Regina asked. “I’m asking you on a date, Emma.”

“Oh!” Emma said, startled by the revelation. “No… it wasn’t obvious.”

Regina tilted her head in confusion. “Oh. My bad.” She straightened her posture before looking back at Emma. “Emma, would you be interested in accompanying me on a date this weekend?”

Emma smiled. “Yes, yes I would.”

Regina smiled. “Good.” She held up the sticky note in her hand. “I have your number, and you have mine. I will text you with the details.”

“I look forward to it,” Emma said with a grin.

“Good,” Regina replied, suddenly looking nervous again. “Well… I will see you tomorrow.” She turned and walked out of the room.

“You most certainly will,” Emma said, looking down at the note cradled in her hand.

“Oh, and Miss Swan?”

Emma looked up to see Regina poking her head in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“Do try and watch where you’re driving this time.”

#swanqueenweek #swan queen #swan queen fanfic #emma swan #regina mills #ouat #mine #my writing #this is probably my longest oneshot ever #even though in all technicality it should be even longer