#god is a gun the opening song in this list and the playlist because i feel like it's a good introduction to Why i wanted to write the story | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

classyklancey · 3 years

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White Magnolia

Pairing: Keith Kogane x Lance McClain Genre: fluff (pining idiots) Warnings: Keith is so in love it’s gross Summary: Lance convinces Keith to go on a road trip with him to California. Keith struggles to hide his pining Word Count: 3.5k words A/N: this was supposed to be posted for Lance’s birthday but oh well-

Keith doesn’t know why he decided to indulge Lance in such a crazy fantasy. One minute Lance is just rambling about what he misses about Cuba and the next, Lance is driving them both from Texas to California in his blue Tacoma. Keith really can’t find it in him to complain though with the way the sun is shining on Lance’s beautiful bronze skin and the wind is blowing through his brown, curly locks.

What Keith can complain about though is Lance’s terrible taste in music. For some reason, Lance’s road trip playlist—which is mysteriously called ‘Not a thing to do, but talk to you. WE'RE ALL ALRIGHT! WE'RE ALL ALRIGHT! HELLO WISCONSIN!’ and no matter how much Keith asks, Lance refuses to tell him why it’s called that—is mostly consisted of 90s songs. Being the pining idiot that he is though, Keith can’t find it in him to do any more than light teasing in Lance’s direction as he screeches all the lyrics at the top of his lungs.

One song does however catch Keith’s attention, especially since Lance immediately tries to skip it. “What was that?” Keith asks, smashing his pointer finger against the back button on the radio to bring it back to the song that Lance is currently blushing over.

“Nothing! Stop hitting the back button!” Lance screeches as he keeps trying to skip it only for Keith to hit the back button. They do this three or four times before Lance reaches his right hand over to smack and hit Keith. Keith grunts with every hit that Lance lands, not even noticing that the song he’s been trying to skip is finally playing.

When I first saw you, I saw love And the first time you touched me, I felt love And after all this time You're still the one I love, mmm, yeah-yeah

Keith starts to blush along with Lance, his hand smacking Lance’s away and finally bringing the brunette’s attention back to the song playing. Lance hurriedly skips it and looks at Keith out of the corner of his eye, but Keith pretends not to see as he looks out the window. Keith just assumes that Lance is embarrassed for having such a lovey-dovey song playing with Keith here, but Keith can’t help but feel that this is their song.

Keith is a stupid man who has been stupidly in love with someone who will never return his feelings for as long as they’ve known each other. Keith instantly took a liking to Lance despite having never even had a conversation together. Keith had always admired that Lance was so outspoken and friendly with everyone he met.

Well, except for Keith.

No, you see, Lance had somehow decided that Keith was his rival and that Lance would take him down. First, it was little things, like Lance trying to do better than him on quizzes and he’d brag each and every time he’d even get one single point more than Keith. That was annoying but it wasn’t too bad, Keith could handle that. It slowly began to escalate though over time until it turned to them yelling in each other’s faces and having to be pulled away from one another before it got physical. All that ended up doing was causing Keith to shut him out and pretend he didn’t even exist despite the fact that he could barely keep his eyes off of the blue-eyed Cuban. They ended up getting into the same friend group though since Hunk is friends with Lance, Keith is friends with Pidge, and Hunk and Pidge are friends with each other. It didn’t take them long to bring Keith and Lance together, even though it did take a long, long time. The duo eventually started to see each other as friends and became as thick as thieves.

Keith always craved for more though.

Keith is knocked out of his reminiscing when Lance curses because he missed a turn, his frown instantly becoming a smile when one of his favorite songs comes on. Lance goes back to screaming the words which causes Keith’s grey eyes to roll towards the back of his head. Despite his supposed annoyance, his heart is doing tricks in his chest whenever Lance grows focused on driving, which causes his screeching to become light, melodic singing.

Keith is starting to believe that this is what heaven would be like.

Keith’s eyes focus on Lance’s right hand that rests on the gear shift, his fingers tapping along to whatever annoying song he is playing. Keith suddenly has the urge to reach out and tangle their fingers together, to compare who’s hand is bigger and how their skin tones contrast beautifully.

This all repeats for a while, along with occasional chatter, for about eight hours before Lance grows too tired to drive on anymore. They have about twelve more hours to drive and Keith offers to drive while Lance sleeps, but Lance has an odd reaction. He claims he doesn’t trust Keith to drive ‘his baby’ but something Lance doesn’t know is that Keith has become a bit of a Lance expert. If they’re getting food and Lance says he doesn’t want any, what he really is saying is he doesn’t want to make Keith pay since he forgot his wallet. If Lance seems off and says he’s fine when Keith asks about it, what he really means is that he’s not okay but he wants to appear strong in front of everyone.

So, when Lance says he doesn’t trust Keith to drive his car, what he’s really saying is that he wants them to enjoy the ride there together. ‘It’s called a road trip for a reason, Keith.’ Keith doesn’t fight him on it and offers that they get some food before spending the night in a motel.

After getting some extremely greasy fast food and talking until really late, they finally head into their crappy and very worrisome motel. They both stop in the doorway when they find that there’s only one bed, making both of them stare at it in silence.

“I can sle—”

“I don’t mind tak—”

They both go quiet again when they both talk at the same time, both of their bodies turned slightly away from each other. Lance sighs and places his bag onto a small table by the door, starting to unzip it to pull out all his nightly routine items. “Look, why don’t we just share the bed? The floor is absolutely disgusting and I’m afraid one of us would catch something if we even tried sitting on it,” Lance says as he pulls everything out and begins heading for the bathroom. He makes a face when he walks inside of it before turning to smile at Keith and shooting him his signature wink.

Keith sighs and sets his bag on the chair by the table, deciding that he really didn’t want to sleep on the gross floor nor did he want to make Lance do it. Lance would probably complain about it through the entire night and all of his life if he ended up sleeping there anyway. Keith changes into his pajamas right there seeing as how Lance has seen Keith shirtless many times. Not that he ever seems to notice Keith’s shirtlessness…

The same doesn’t go for Keith though. Oh, no no. Keith has become the master at staring at Lance without getting caught. Well, sometimes he does and each time he’s caught, his face erupts in color. Lance always just assumes it’s from their recent workout or being out in the sun too long. Keith thanks God every day for Lance’s obliviousness despite the fact that he’s not religious. Keith catches himself staring at Lance more than the Cuban man does. He can’t help himself though. Lance has the looks of a god, what with his smooth, caramel skin, thick, curly hair, mesmerizing blue eyes, perfectly straight, white teeth, and the list goes on. Keith’s pretty sure he could write a whole book—no, a trilogy—on Lance’s perfect body. The thing Keith hates the most about his stupid crush though is that it’s not just his body that he likes. No, that would make Keith’s life easier and he’s pretty sure that the universe is out to spite him. No, Keith has to like all of Lance. His bad puns, his stupid finger guns, his cheesy pick-up lines, his corny sense of humor, his everything. Keith wants all of him more than he’s ever wanted anything in his life.

“Alright, bathroom’s yours!” Lance calls as he walks back over to his bag, smiling when he sees that Keith is wearing the pajama set that Lance had gotten him for Christmas one year. “No way!” Lance shouts in glee before rushing to his bag to pull out his matching pair. Keith sighs down at his red pajamas before looking at Lance’s blue pajamas.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he grumbles as he walks to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“I’m not doing anything!” Lance huffs as he starts pulling on his own pjs. Once they are all ready for bed, they stand at the foot of it in another silence.

“So, uh, what side of the bed do you want?” Lance mumbles. Keith shrugs, not really caring either way what side he gets. “Cool, can I get the left side then?” he continues, already moving onto that side of the bed before Keith can even reply. Keith huffs a laugh through his nose before crawling onto the right side. Both of them lay on top of the covers, too scared of what lies beneath the covers to let their skin touch it. Good thing Arizona is such a warm state cause Keith would think he’d freeze otherwise. Guess it also helps that their AC unit doesn’t work anyway.

Unlike Lance, Keith has always been an early riser, so he’s not surprised when he wakes up before the brunette. What he is surprised to find though is that Lance is laying on his chest softly snoring away. Keith’s arms are wrapped around Lance’s torso and he can’t help but to squeeze him a little tighter, hoping that this isn’t a dream. Keith then finds that the still snoozing dork is sweating buckets, if Lance’s semi-damp clothes are anything to go by. Keith’s nose wrinkles at how gross they are but, of course, Keith’s poor weak heart starts beating faster at the fact that they’re cuddling.

And maybe Keith’s wildly beating heart is what causes Lance to stir and to slowly blink his eyes open. He’s letting out a yawn and beginning to stretch before halting in the middle of it, his eyes growing as wide as plates. He suddenly jerks away from Keith, doing so in such a harsh way that it causes him to tumble to the floor with a scream. Keith laughs and sits up, crawling over to Lance’s side of the bed to look over the edge at him. He finds Lance frowning and glaring up at the amused look on Keith’s face.

“It’s not funny,” he grumbles up at Keith, his frown turning into a pout as he sits up. Keith helps Lance up before offering Lance the bathroom first. Lance’s face warms as he stares at where he was once laying, Keith’s brow-raising up at him as he just stands there gawking. He then clears his throat and forces out a bad joke before scurrying to the bathroom.

They both take turns showering and while Lance is taking his, Keith lets his mind wander while he lays on the stiff bed. Keith’s stupid heart makes his stupid brain wonder what it would be like to wake up beside Lance every day, seeing the dried drool on the corner of his mouth and witnessing his sleepy blue eyes come to life the moment they see Keith.

Keith snaps out of his daydream when the bathroom door swings open and reveals a glistening Lance emerging with rolls of steam curling around his body. Keith recognizes the hypnotizing smell of Lance’s vanilla shampoo all the way from the bed, making his heart flutter with the familiar scent.

After Keith takes a brisk shower, they are on the road again. They stop to get breakfast at a diner before leaving the town that they stopped in. It isn’t until they’re in California that they stop again, this time pulling over onto the side of the road. Keith is about to ask why Lance is pulling over when Lance leans against the car and just looks out in front of him. Keith finally takes his eyes off of Lance to look at what Lance has stopped to admire.

When he turns his head, he sees just what Lance is marveling at. Before them are dozens of white magnolia trees that Keith begins marveling at right along with Lance. Keith slowly gets out of the car and leans against it beside Lance, his eyes finding the side of Lance’s face every few seconds. Keith’s eyes widen when Lance suddenly grabs his hand and begins tugging him towards the trees. “Lance! What are you doing? What about the truck?” Keith hollers. Lance just laughs and continues dragging him along without a care in the world, smiling when they reach the sweet-smelling trees.

Lance starts to hum a song as they weave their way between all of the trees, Keith’s heart threatening to beat out of his chest with the way the wind is blowing some of the petals and flowers off of the tree and onto Lance’s hair. They spend quite some time there, their hands still clasped together as they wander around. Keith and Lance end up racing from one tree to another and arguing about who clearly won. Once they settle on that it’s a draw (even though it most definitely wasn’t, Lance), they sit down beneath one of the larger trees to escape the unforgiving sun. They lean against each other and talk about any and everything, Keith’s heart threatening to pop out of his chest when Lance keeps mindlessly playing with Keith’s hands. Lance stops telling a story of something that happened last summer mid-sentence when a whole magnolia flower lands in his lap.

“These are edible, you know,” he says as he picks it up, studying it like it’s one of the greatest wonders of the world.

“What?” Keith asks, not being sure if he should trust Lance or not. This could be revenge when Keith told him that a flower he found on their weekly hike was good and tasted like cinnamon. Lance had been suspicious but ended up going for it anyway and immediately regretting it. Lance just about strangled Keith but Keith had laughed so hard that tears were falling down his face. It made Lance’s job of strangling Keith easier though since his body was so weak from laughter.

“Yeah. They’re actually pretty good. They have a mild ginger taste,” he explains. Before Keith can tell him to prove it, he’s already taking a bite. Keith watches with wide eyes as he chews and swallows, a soft smile coming to his face. Either it’s actually good or Lance is an amazing actor. He offers the flower to Keith and Keith decides to go for it just as Lance went for it when their situation was reversed. Keith found that he was, in fact, not lying.

When Lance finally decides they can leave, Keith stops him with a soft smile. He reaches up, tugs one of the flowers from the tree, and then faces Lance, finding his perfectly waxed brows furrowed together. Keith’s smile grows more as he tucks the flower behind Lance’s ear, causing the Cuban’s face to erupt with color.

Keith has changed his mind. This is what heaven must be like.

Lance finally lets Keith choose some music to play once they continue driving, his hand always coming up to tuck the flower back down behind his ear whenever the wind threatens to blow it away. When Keith plays some of his music though, of course Lance complains about the songs. Keith can tell he doesn’t have any malice behind his words though.

“Do you listen to anything that isn’t loud and dizzying, Mullet?” Lance jabs, turning to look at him with a crooked smile when they come to a stop at a light. Keith scoffs and turns his gaze away from the many shops lining the street to face Lance.

“Do you listen to anything that isn’t repetitive and annoying?” he fires right back with his usual smirk. Lance scoffs just like Keith did before turning his eyes back onto the road, his fingers going back to tapping on the gear shift, which brings Keith’s gaze back to his hand.

When they finally reach their destination in California, the sun is slowly starting to sink towards the horizon. Lance rushes out of the truck stop that they had decided to stop at when he notices it. “Mullet! C’mon! Hurry up! We are going to miss it!” Keith can’t really take him seriously when he’s wearing dollar sign shades that he bought in the gift shop. He’s sure he looks just as ridiculous with his alien eyes shades.

“Miss what?” he asks as he follows Lance at a much slower pace to his truck. Lance doesn’t reply though. Instead, he rips them out of the parking lot before Keith even has his door shut, making Keith screech and holler at him to slow down despite his laughter. He realizes why Lance was in such a big hurry when Lance parks and then flies out of his truck. Keith follows Lance down to the beach, a soft ‘wow’ leaving him when he sees the pretty blue water reflecting the sun that has just touched the horizon. Lance doesn’t seem to think Keith is going fast enough though, seeing as how he snatches his hand up and once again starts dragging him towards the coastline.

When Lance’s bare feet touch the water—wait, when did he take off his shoes?—the biggest smile that Keith has ever seen spreads across Lance’s face. Hunk wasn’t kidding when he told Keith that Lance belongs in the water. Keith smiles and gives his hand a squeeze before turning to look at the setting sun, not even caring that his boots are getting wet right now.

When the sun is gone behind the ocean’s waves, Keith notices they are facing each other with their hands tightly grasped together. Keith isn’t sure how they got into this position but what he is sure of though is that he’s never wanted to kiss Lance more than in this very moment.

“Keith…” Lance suddenly interrupts the peacefulness with a whisper, his eyelids seeming to grow heavy the longer he stares at Keith. Keith is momentarily shocked into silence when Lance uses his name instead of ‘Mullet’ but quickly recovers when he notices Lance slowly getting closer to him.

“Yes?” he whispers back, his voice refusing to get any louder in fear of shattering the dream-like state that they’ve created within the last few minutes.

Instead of verbally replying, Lance leans forward until their noses bump together and their breaths begin to mingle. Keith can taste the spearmint gum that Lance got from the pitstop on his breath, the smell becoming Keith’s favorite scent, second to Lance’s vanilla shampoo. Keith’s heart halts in his chest before going into overdrive when their lips finally touch, Keith’s breath stuttering. As their lips move against each other’s, Keith vaguely listens to the sound of the waves crashing and the seagulls squawking.

Keith is once again corrected. This is what heaven would be like.

Keith is knocked out of their blissful kiss when a bigger wave suddenly washes over their feet, causing water to spill down into his boots. He pulls away with an aggravated grunt, looking down at the saltwater that is now brimming his shoes. “Lance,” Keith growls despite the fact that it wasn’t necessarily Lance’s fault. Their dumb banter comes more naturally for them than anything else.

“What?” Lance crows with a look of indignation on his face, his arms letting Keith’s cheeks go to cross his arms over his chest. They fall into the usual repartee despite the fact that now their arms are wrapped tight around the other and refuse to let go. Well, that is until Keith goes ‘too far’ and makes Lance splash him with water. Keith glares at Lance like a murderous wet cat, his claws and fangs starting to show. Lance lets out a squeak before taking off down the coastline, his laughter deafening the sound of the waves that still lap at their feet.

Keith catches up to Lance with ease, seeing as how the tanned man isn’t actually trying to outrun his new lover. Keith wraps his arms around Lance’s waist and snatches him back, making Lance’s laughter cut off with a squeal. Keith spins him around which just ends up bringing Lance’s melodic laughter back.

Keith sets him back down and Lance immediately spins around to face Keith, setting their foreheads together. “We should go on another trip soon, Samurai,” he whispers before connecting their lips for another kiss.

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

MASTERLIST

More with Klance

⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰

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withoneheadlight · 3 years

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ok i saw this cap of zoë kravitz in hf and she's got such a dreamy expression, she looks so deeply self-absorbed and infatuated by whatever she's imagining and those lines. and i couldn't stop picturing billy exactly like that for days so,

There’s a pretty unusual sound coming off the house when Max comes back home, that summer afternoon.

Full volume. Walls shaking. And she quietly walks to the source of the sound, holding back her breath right in front of Billy's room because, there's this second sound? Stranger and way more unsettling and Max's not sure-sure at first but then Steve Perry’s voice takes off and Billy’s follows it and then he's like, singing along and. Well. Max did know Billy liked Journey but not like, their 'stuff for pussies' but uhm, he does, apparently. Rasps his voice all the way through ‘Faithfully’. Kind of, sighs. Longingly? When it ends? But pfff, ok, big brothers are weird. Definitely weirder after being possessed and then kind of resurrected. Even if it's in a good-weird way but, whatever. So Max's just about to sneak to her room, dutifully rolling her eyes, steps muffled by the first chords of 'Edge of the blade' when―

Click. Click. Billy stops the tape. Click. Takes it out. Tap. Tap. Click. Puts on― Billy puts. On,

Heaven.

Bryan Adams’ Heaven.

And Max―

Being a younger sister is a meticulous kind of full-time, private detective job. You gotta learn how the person you’ve been watching so carefully for years and years works. Hafta develop some sort of―sense about your target. And Billy’s been—un-Billy-like? These past two months. Smiling more. Telling more jokes. Playing ‘You shook me all night long’ in a loop on their drive to school and back, not complaining at all but even joining when’s Max who can’t help but sing along so.

So. She retraces her steps. Knocks. Takes the distracted grunt she gets as a ‘Yeahyeah, c’mon in c’mon in’ and,

Creak. Creak. ‘―baby you’re all that I want’

“Billy?”

Billy’s sitting cross-legged on the floor. Radio close to his knees. Cassettes scattered everywhere. Piles and piles of breakwater surrounding Billy’s old, rusty beacon of sound. He’s reading through the song-list of one of the tapes, a smoke locked on the corner of his mouth, bouncing up and down with every little, absent suck he takes, and he looks. He looks―

Self-absorbed and even. Relaxed. Happy. Like whatever he’s thinking about right now is actually carrying his thoughts away to fucking heaven.

“Ehh”

“Uh-hu?”

‘When you’re lying here in my arms!’

“Billy are you. What―” ‘I'm findin' it hard to believe. We're in heaven’ “What are you doing?”

But there’s this orbit around the sun and then there’s whatever one Billy's been spinning along with the last couple of months so he completely ignores her question. Shakes the tape on his left hand. Picks another one from the pile on his right. Asks her.

“Is Billy Ocean too much? ‘Cause I think it’s too much. But it kind of fits into what I'm trying to say so” he says, shrugs, looking up at Max and waiting for the answer of what she realizes was not really a question. Not at all. So she does her little sister job and just, nods “Right. That’s good. I think it’ll slide just nicely into Bruce Springsteen and―”

“Billy” Max insists, waiting for the charm of the third time to work. It doesn’t. Not really. But keeps Billy's eyes on her long enough to squeeze an “A mixtape?” And, uh. That’s what gets it on. The charm “Are you making a mixtape?”

“Uh?”

And it’s like Max just shook Billy out of a daydream. Ash plopping down from his cigarette as his lips try but can’t purse and Max― she’s good. She’s stellar at this detective thing. Recognizes an opening the moment she sees it, right there in front of her, frozen in the middle of shaking Billy Ocean and Bruce Springsteen in the air right before cocktailing them together. Shaken, not stirred, please. Max’s upgraded to James Bond-level just right now.

“You’re making a mixtape for someone”

“Oh-nonoMaxi―”

“But you didn’t have those tapes before. Not even in your secret stash”

“How do yo―?”

“Holy. ShIT. You’ve been listening to somebody else’s music” This is. Oh, God. This. Is. GOLD. Max gotta take a moment. Blink. Breathe. Process. Her hands move by themselves, palms spread toward Billy in a wait-a-minute kind of gesture except. Max’s gonna need way more than a minute for this “You’ve accepted a music recommendation”

“Maaaaax”

“Gosh, you’ve even listened to the tapes enough to. Make―”

“Max!”

“I just can’t believe it”

And Max was glad. Well. As glad as one can be. Bunch weeks ago. Her mom and Neil out for the day. Coming back home a little earlier than she usually does to hear those ugh. Those other noises. Happy screams. Again. After months and months of Billy being basically alone except for her and the party and Steve. And Max’s so glad, of course she is. But she’s also a little sister. And all this investigation work has a high, rightful purpose.

Make her big brother’s life a living. Hell.

“Oh my god, you must be so gone!” Max brings her hands to her mouth. Takes a deep, deep breath that’s more a poorly restrained giggle. Shoots her index at him “Is it Bon Jovi? What I’m seeing right there? Goddam, Billy are you in lo―”

Bam.

Bam. Bam!

The front door.

What a way to spoil the fun. Max doesn’t have time for this. She’s working.

“BILLY?” comes a voice from the other side “Billy are you in there?”

Steve.

Oh.

What a way to make the fun a hundred times better.

Bam.Bam.Bam!

She’s starting to move to get to the door, sinsonging “Well, I guess Steve’s gonna find out you’re so stupid in love you’re willingly listening to―” when she realizes Billy’s eyes have widened and he’s jerkingly trying to unfreeze, he’s mumbling something in around his already extinguished cigarette in the ways of “Can’t” and “Find out” and “Surprise” and “Fucking help me!” While literally trying to shove the huge mass of tapes under his bed, his tone like hurryhurryhurry!, like he would start gagging and throwing his lungs out at any given minute, so nervous he looks.

So Max doesn’t go for the door. Yet. She basks in the enjoyment.

“Oh, is it a secret romance or something?” She sighs happily, leaning against the doorframe instead. “‘Cause you look pretty worried”

Steve’s banging the door now, voice wavering a little as he asks-shouts “Billy? Billy answer me! Hey, bab―Are you ok?”

“Max, please” Billy begs. Begs. Crawling over to where a Madonna’s Like a virgin is laying with the tape looping slightly out “He really can’t find out”

“What? That you’re in lo-o-oh-oh-OH―”

Billy stops at the tone, right there on his knees. Spits his forgotten cig to the side. And in the instant it seems to take him to make up his mind they both can hear Steve shout “Ok. I know you’re in there!. I’m coming in now!!”

“Fuck! Yeah. I am. Ok?” he looks like he just realized he’s tripped. Blushes. “Making it, I mean”

BAM!

And Ohhhhhhh.

Zero-fucking-zero-fucking-seven.

“Steve,” Max gasps. Because. Hear it makes it like. Easier. To process “You. And Steve”

B A M!

“Yeah, Max, Yeah. And this is a fucking surprise and he’s gonna―”

‘I've been waitin' for so long. For somethin' to arrive. For love to come along’

Ok. Oh. Okok.

“Door!” Max hastens him.

“What?”

“You. Door. Run!” She commands, and Billy― sometimes Max can’t honestly understand how he's got the grades he's got, because Billy blinks, looks clueless “C’mon slow ass. Hurry! I’ll hide all this shit”

And Billy finally gets it. Nods. Slow. Then fast. Stumbles up. Literally runs, to get to the door.

Max still gets to hear his labored “Fuck, pretty boy. “That was really hardcore of you. That's how bad you wanted to see me?” And Steve's own breathless “Really?” Before pushing Billy's room door close with her back, and kneeling on the floor to check for stray, incriminating cassettes.

Pretty boy. Maybe Max isn't as clever as she thought she is. Or hasn’t been doing her job right, clearly.

It's when she’s making ‘It’s a kind of magic’ disappear into the rest of the pile that she lays eyes on it. The case. The J-card written almost all the way down to the B-side already. A mixture of songs Billy's heard so many times there are parts where his tapes screech, and others she'd bet her life he wouldn’t have deigned to listen to. Not ever. Definitely not because―no, for, somebody. Bowie and Cher and Cindy Lauper and Bob Seger right next to Metallica and Guns n' Roses and Meatloaf and― there. There. Almost hidden in the back of the spine. A note. A tiny, thin-lettered thing Max really, really shouldn't be reading but―

‘Thanks for driving me back.

Love. Billy’

But. That's what little sisters do too, she guesses. Intrude. Annoy. Snoop. Feel this sudden rush of relief. Of happiness. When Billy laughs softly, on the other side of the door. When Steve laughs back. Maybe a tear. Or two. But just maybe. She’s really good at this little sister thing, after all.

Hopes for stellar.

or: that post s3 where steve lets a camaro-less billy drive him around in his own car "really? again, hargrove?" almost every single day, for months, after he comes back, because "you’re gonna perpetually stick yourself to my ass at least let me do the one thing that frikin’ calms me down" which results in steve resigning himself to deejaying in the shotgun even if "jesus, what's that shit, harrington?" "my car, my rules, sweetheart" which results in billy developing a ‘songs steve harrington is in love with’ mental playlist, realizing he’s probably a little bit in love with the way he loves them and, possibly, a little much love with steve and then stealing steve's tapes one day and,

making a mixtape about it.

(the first of a whole lot, of love letters)

#harringrove #d+mb sh+t i write #but #i had fun!#writing max bc she's my fav <3<3<#and also #dumbstrucklovestruck billy? MY FAV TKVM #also #mixtaping IS an art #xharringrove

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supercorpkid · 3 years

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The date.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader, Lillian Luthor x Granddaughter!Reader

Word count: 2202.

“MOOOOOOOM!” You open your bedroom door and stick your head out just to yell. You leave it open and go back inside looking at your entire wardrobe on top of your bed.

“What’s going on?” Lena walks in two minutes later and looks at the situation of your bedroom. “Oh my God, what happened here? A hurricane?”

“Far worst.” You complain sitting on your bed, about to cry. “I have a date with Maya.”

Lena looks at you confused. You’ve been having dates for weeks now.

“A real date. In a restaurant.” You add, pointing at yourself. “I can’t go looking like I’m a fugitive who just robbed a bank.”

You get a chuckle in response, which makes you huff, upset.

“Stop laughing. Help me!” You beg, picking up your clothes. “She’s just so gorgeous.”

“You’re gorgeous too, babygirl.” Lena reaches for your face, but you step away.

“Mom, seriously. I get it, you think I’m cute and pretty and nice, whatever.” You cross your arms. “I want to LOOK pretty. Can you do that, please?”

“Ok. Let’s see what we have here.” Lena starts trying to untangle the clothes from your bed, analyzing each item of clothes you have. She keeps making combinations, and talking at the same time. “Remember to eat slow. The way you and your momma eat it’s not cute.”

“You married her.”

“Well, I’m-well-It doesn’t matter what I did.” She looks back at you, handing you an outfit. “Let’s see this one.”

You change using your superspeed and Lena looks at you, raising an eyebrow.

“No.” She goes back to the pile of clothes. “I know you are an alien, but Maya doesn’t, so she won’t think it’s cute.”

“Yeah, ok. Got it.” She gives you another combination and you change again.

“Too formal.” Lena shakes her head in denial, making you roll your eyes. “Also, please pay for dinner.”

“I will.” You agree, showing her a sweatshirt, she denies with her head.

“Oh, I remember one that I think will look great.” Lena goes to your closet, and you hear her voice coming from there. “So, do you need me to drive you there?”

“Mom, I can literally fly.” You answer a little bit louder, and she comes back with a suit jacket. You deny with your head. “No, mom! I’m not gonna wear a suit for my date.”

“It’s not a suit.” She goes to you, putting on your shoulder. “It’s a part of a suit. You can put it with jeans.”

“Please don’t make me regret asking for your help.” You pout and she breathes deep.

“Hey, what are you two up to?” Kara asks leaning over the door frame from your bedroom and you look at her.

“I have a date, mom’s helping me pick something to wear.”

“What?” Kara looks outraged. “Why haven’t you asked me?” You just give her an eyebrow raise, and when you look behind you Lena is doing the exact same thing. “I have great style.” She mumbles to herself.

Kara makes space in your bed for her to sit, and keeps playing with your clothes. You can see Lena is two seconds away from kicking her out of the room.

“You know, I think you’re due a haircut.” Kara says and you run to the bathroom’s mirror.

“What’s wrong with my hair?” You yell, desperately.

“Nothing’s wrong with it!” You hear Lena’s voice. “Honestly Kara, if you’re not going to help…”

“I am helping!” She huffs annoyed. “I don’t know why you two are making such a big deal about this. You have been seeing Maya for weeks!”

“Uh.” You groan, going back to your bedroom. “You wouldn’t understand. You were friends with mom for years before you made a move on her. She knew everything about you, and still wanted you.” You look at Lena. “Why, exactly?”

“HEY!” Kara defends herself, then pouts looking extremely offended by your comment.

“I’m not saying she shouldn’t!” You rush to reassure her. “You’re cool, funny, and so handsome!” Kara smirks to that. “But you ARE an alien. So, what made you fall for an alien?”

You look at Lena, still shuffling through your clothes, and Kara also looks at her, very expectantly, like she doesn’t know the answer herself. Which is absolute bullshit, because you’ve never seen two people more in love in your life, and they are constantly talking about it and showing affection.

“Really? Just look at her.” Lena points at Kara, whose smirk just grows bigger. “Look at those guns!”

Kara flexes her arms, and Lena’s eyes zeros in it in hunger.

“You know what? Forget I asked.” You go back to your pile of clothes. “Stop looking, JESUS!” You clap your hands in front of Lena’s face. “Can’t you guys just wait until I leave for my date?”

“When is that exactly?” Kara asks, and you roll your eyes, feeling kicked out. But you still look on your phone.

“In ten minutes.” You look at some clothes. Your eyes slowly widen when you realize what you just said. “TEN MINUTES! MOM! I have TEN MINUTES!”

“Ok, calm down. You have super speed.” Lena shoots a look at Kara. “Come on, help.”

Kara mumbles something about the fact you two don’t think she has great style (which is true), but helps you to pick up a long-forgotten jeans jacket you loved so much. Lena picks up the rest of the outfit around it, and you’re ready with three minutes to spare.

“Hey, don’t forget to compliment her.” Kara says walking behind you, while you make your way to the backyard.

“Be a gentleman. Pull the chair.” It’s Lena’s turn to advise you.

“Oh, and if she asks how you got there, please don’t say you flew there on a bus.”

You snap your head back at Kara, squinting your eyes.

“Why on Earth would I say that?”

“Trust me, it could happen.” It’s Lena who answers and you look on your phone just to make sure you don’t have time to ask any further questions about it. “And don’t forget to pay-”

“Oh, dear Rao, I’ve got it!” You fly away after that.

You don’t got it. You absolutely do not. You’re revisiting the entire list they gave you from ‘compliment her’ to ‘pay for dinner’, when Maya walks in the restaurant and you almost choke on your own saliva.

“Hey, babe.” You hear her voice and you scramble your brain for words and the list. Oh, the list!

“Wow, you look… Wow.” You say and she chuckles, coming closer to kiss your cheek lightly.

“You look ‘wow’ yourself.” It’s her answer. Oh, the chair! Pull the chair.

“Here.” You pull the chair and she sits, with a smile on her face.

“What a gentlewoman.” Maya says and you celebrate inside your head. You sit across from her. “Did you moms drive you here?”

“Um…” Don’t say you flew here on a bus. Wait. Of course, you won’t. Rao, Kara is such a dork. “Yeah, Kara gave me a ride.”

“Oh, I thought Kara didn’t drive.” Maya is looking at her menu and you’re in front of her in absolute panic. It’s good she’s not focusing on you at the moment.

“No, she does. Just not well.” You say, making her laugh. And you breathe relieved and happy at the same time. Her laughter is something else. Maya, herself, is something else.

You try not to order too much food, so you don’t look like an actual alien. Usually, you know the exact moment when to stop ordering food by the way the waiter looks at you like you can’t just simply eat all that. This night you stopped way before the look, which probably means you’ll need to buy an entire pizza on your way home. But it’s cool, it’s fine. If not eating like a monster it’s the price to pay for having a girlfriend, you’re more than willing to comply.

“So, I’ve noticed you always have headphones with you. I figured you must really like music.” Maya says and you shake your head agreeing.

Yes, you really like music. And what you like about it so much is the fact that you can drown the noises down with it. Having something to focus on always works for you, when your powers are hard to control.

“I made you a playlist.” She gives you a keychain with a code. You smile from ear to ear. “In case you want to think about me, those are my favorite songs.”

“Oh, I think about you all the time, trust me.” You smile at her, holding her hand on top of the table. “Thank you, I really love it.”

You’re too enamored to notice your surroundings, but you hear an awfully familiar voice that shoots a spike of adrenaline through your spine. You look around to see her there. Oh, no. Not Lillian. Not at the same restaurant you are.

“Can you excuse me for a minute?” You stand up and Maya shakes her head agreeing, but she looks confused. She lets you go, and you pretend you’re going to the bathroom. When she looks down to her phone, you run to Lillian’s table.

“Grandmother.”

“Granddaughter.” She tilts her head, doing her signature move. “Are you here on a date?”

“Maybe.” You shrug. “Are you here to attempt a world take-over?”

“Maybe.” It’s her answer, but she isn’t. She is just eating like a normal person. Why does every day Lillian look more human to you? “You’re looking great.”

“Oh. Thanks.” And now you’re embarrassed.

“You shouldn’t keep your beautiful date waiting to talk to your old evil grandmother.” Lillian points at Maya with a head tilt, and you look back at your table and see Maya sitting there looking amazing. You can’t help a smile that comes up on your face. “Go! I won’t do anything evil today. We’ll talk more soon, dear.”

“Yeah. Ok.” You are almost going back to your table, when you turn around and salute her off. She nods with a tiny smile.

“You cool?” Maya asks and you agree with your head. “I ordered dessert.”

“That’s awesome.” You sit in front of her. “You’re awesome.” You fidget your necklace around your neck trying to calm yourself. “Um, so. I don’t know if you would like this, but um-” Maya holds your hand on the table, and gives it a gentle squeeze, like she’s telling you don’t have to be nervous. You smile. “Well, I applied for this robotics thing, and I have to work on something for it.”

“You know I’m not smart like you, right?” Maya jokes and you laugh.

“No, it’s… I have to work on it next week, and I thought maybe you would like to go to my lab at L Corp with me after school, and like, hang out?” You don’t even give her time to answer and you’re already adding. “But if it doesn’t sound fun, then you don’t have to, at all. Honestly, it’s-”

“Really? That would be great, yeah!” She smiles and you feel your heart easing out a little. “I would love to see this great brain of yours working.”

“Yeah?” You ask and she squeezes your hand again.

“Can’t wait to spend time with you.” She adds and you feel your heart beating so fast, you’re scared she might be able to hear it even without super hearing.

Honestly, you’re a big pile of mess after that. Actually, you’ve been a big pile of mess for this entire dinner, but Maya doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seems to like it.

When it’s time to leave, you pretend to call Lena for her to pick you up. It feels horrible lying to Maya, but you’re well aware that sharing your secret identity is something far too big than few dates. You hope one day you can tell her, but for now, you wait until she’s gone, find an alley somewhere, then you fly back home.

Before going inside the house though, you actually call Lena, just to make sure they’re decent and you don’t see more than what you would like to (again).

“Did you meet Lillian at the restaurant?” Lena asks, going in the living room at the same time you’re walking in.

“Yeah, she was having dinner there.”

“She sent me Maya’s entire family background check.” Lena says looking up from her phone.

“WHAT?”

“Oh, and apparently-” Lena looks at you smirking. “She approves.”

“Is it weird that I feel like I should break up now?” You joke, making your mom laugh. She comes closer and kisses your forehead.

“Don’t worry, I also did the background check once you told me about her.” She smiles when she sees your shocked expression. “And Alex looked them up in all systems worldwide. She’s cool.”

“You guys are so weird.” You half complain, half smile, and make your way to your bedroom.

They are weird, and also unnecessarily overly protective, because you have superpowers and can handle anything. But the fact that your entire family (even Lillian!) were worried about you, it’s extremely adorable. You just freaking love them so much.

Notes:

@hermen0404 and I got so carried away with Maya existence, so yeah.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #supercorp #kara x lena #kara x reader #supercorp daughter #supercorp fanfic #supercorpfamily #lena x reader #reader insert

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shivcodedkendall · 2 years

Text

"🎶Fell Deep in a Romance🎶"

(this is rushed and more of a stream of my thoughts than a proper fic. pls enjoy sam falling for bucky :))

On their way to complete yet another mission, Sam is already pulling out his phone for the briefing as he begins to walk up the steps of the government building with Bucky and Joaquin right behind him. Sam must’ve gotten too engrossed with his screen though, because before he knows it, his misses a step and he begins to fall backwards. Luckily, a pair of strong, familiar hands grab his waist before it's too late. Sam tilts his head up to meet Bucky’s handsome face looking mildly disgruntled, but Sam can see a bit of his smile poking through.

“Watch your step, Birdie.” Bucky says nonchalantly, like always, like it's never a big deal when he’s so delicate with Sam, in a way Sam can’t ever remember experiencing before like this. Sam’s heart stutters when Bucky gives Sam’s waist one last squeeze before he lets go. Sam regains his footing fairly quickly. He tries his best to ignore the heat rising in his face, and instead opts to play it totally cool-He mutters “Thanks”, tucks his phone into his pocket and stares straight ahead.

Much later, when it's just Sam and Joaquin eating together, waiting on Bucky to do something for the mission, Joaquin tries to figure out the deal between them.

“You ever notice that Bucky speaks to you differently than anybody else?”

“You mean out of turn and rudely?” Sam jokes, hoping to change the subject but Joaquin pushes past Sam’s deflection.

“No, I mean when he thinks no one's listening, he’s…sweet.”

“Sweet?” The word leaves Sam’s mouth with a bitter taste, and a deep longing in his gut that he tries to stomp out as soon as it surfaces.

“Yeah, like today…on the steps…Birdie?” Joaquin says with a shit-eating grin.

“Joaquin, my partner stopping me from making a fool of myself does not mean that he-”

“I don’t think you’re hearing me! He calls you ‘Birdie’, Sam! What do you call that?”

Sam scoffs. Damn, this kid. Also no, Sam is never going to acknowledge the little nickname Bucky’s given him unless there’s a gun to his head, thank you very much.

“Ok, yeah maybe it's a little weird, but Bucky’s finally getting more comfortable around everybody, and now he can be the softie he’s been all along. That’s all it is, kid.”

Joaquin stares at Sam for a minute, before sighing. “Yeah, sure, Bucky’s a softy. And Sharon’s a bleeding heart. Sam, be real here. That man is in love with you. ” Sam sputters and shakes his head vehemently.

“Joaquin, please-”

“Trust me, I’m an expert in this stuff, man-hey, don’t laugh! Bucky is so obvious. He opens doors for you all the time, he laughs at all of your jokes during team meetings even when they aren’t funny. For god’s sake, Sam, he made you a playlist last week!”

Sam feels his cheeks heating at Joaquin’s list of Bucky’s strange, but adorable behavior. And maybe Sam knows in his heart that he's been in love with Bucky for months now but the realization knocked him on his ass with fear and he’s been in denial ever since…but that’s neither here nor there.

But come on, Bucky wasn’t…in love with Sam too. Sam knows that it's more reasonable that Bucky touches him so freely because they trust each other and have gotten super close after everything. And hey Bucky is an old-timey guy, so if Bucky proudly told the team that he made Sam a 4 hour playlist of all of the songs Sam had mentioned he loved offhandedly over the last year for the road trip down, then….he’s just being clueless and friendly right?

“The playlist was for all of us to listen to on the trip down here, Joaquin. Not just me.”

“Right, cus the whole team loves Marvin Gaye…Sam, do you hear yourself?”

Before Sam can put out this fire Bucky has lit the Cap phone rings and it's go time.

—

The mission goes smoothly, despite some moderate damage to some buildings, there were no civilians harmed, and just a few minor scrapes and bumps for Sam, so he feels exhausted but satisfied with how things went today.

With a smile on his face, Sam shakes hands with some agents, and turns to make his way to the car. Unfortunately, the universe and Bucky Barnes are against him, because Sam trips again on some debris straight into Bucky’s ever so quickly outstretched hands.

“Careful there,” Bucky says, setting Sam’s skin aflame. “Looks like I’m the one catching you today, Birdie.”

Bucky laughs and this time Sam can’t help but join. Sam is so screwed.

#sambucky #sambucky fanfiction #my writing

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shinsorokiri · 3 years

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UA Idol | Chapter Seventeen

Hitoshi Shinsou x Reader

Word Count: 2,225

Warnings: Language, mentions of hangover, banter, big nerves

A/N: Ah and we are BACK. Sorry for the long ass and excessive break, school got to be a little bit too much and mentally I was ~struggling~ quite a bit, but here I am now. Finals week is soon and I’ll be on break and my brain has been pumping out the creativity again which is great!! I have gotten so many ideas for what I want to happen, so stay tuned! Also, if anyone has any song suggestions or anything like that let me know! I might put them in for someone! Okay, that’s all! Thank you for dealing with my inconsistency, and I hope you enjoy loves! 🖤

───────────────────────────────────

Luckily, you both woke up without Denki and Mina coming back to the room. You also were feeling so much better than before. And maybe it was because after the two of you woke up, Shinsou just refused to let you leave his arms. For like a half an hour. “Okay, Shin, I really think we should get up. It’s literally one in the afternoon and Mina and Denki probably think we’re like, dead, or something,” you say, wiggling out of his grasp. He frowns and sighs overdramatically, causing you to giggle before going to your suitcase. Maybe you’d go out to a coffee shop or something and figure out what you were going to sing there? That could be very beneficial to you right now. Or maybe you should just stay in and mess around with your guitar? Browse through your playlists? Sweatpants, or shorts? “(Y/n).”

Shinsou’s voice pulls you out of your thoughts and causes you to look over at him. He’s sitting up now, his hair is still a mess, but he pulls it off and just looks… well, hot. Not to mention that little smirk he has on his face and the way his hand is running through his hair. “Hmm?”

“You were just staring at your clothes without doing anything else. Are you still hungover? Because if so, I think you should come back to bed and let me hold you for a few more minutes.” You roll your eyes at his cheeky ass. “No, Shin, I need to prepare for sound check in two days and so do you, so no more of that. Even if I really want to,” you mumble the last part, but Shinsou still hears it and boy oh BOY does it make his heart swell. “You make some fair points, do you have any ideas yet?” he asks, reluctantly getting out of bed. You shake your head no, reaching down to grab some things. “No, I was going to try to figure it all out all day today but we’re getting… a late start now… aren’t we?”

“Well, how about we go grab some coffee or something and talk about it together? I’ve noticed we do our best work with each other, and I don’t mean to sound like, the word that ends in friend and starts with b, but I would like to spend some not hungover time with you,” he walks over to you, wrapping his arms around you. You feel your cheeks burn and you would be lying if you said you didn’t smile because godDAMN he’s a cutie. “Fine, fine. You’re right, we do do our best work together… so I guess I can get behind it…”

“Mhm, that’s the only reason why,” he teases, and you roll your eyes wiggling your way out of his grip. You make your way to the bathroom to change and freshen up considering you just felt like you were dying for the past multiple hours. Somehow you managed to make yourself look presentable again, and honestly you felt so much better afterwards. You may have also been in a good mood because halfway through you getting ready, Shinsou began strumming away on your guitar and singing some songs he probably came up with on the spot. You’d be lying if you said his voice couldn’t instantly put you in a better mood. You walk out of the bathroom, and when Shinsou looks up to see you all smiley and happy his heart skips a beat. This is crazy to him. This little agreement y’all made was about to be a challenge. How could he not fall in love with someone like you? Well, he can’t mess this up, so he’s not going to. No matter how hard it might be. “Someone’s in a good mood.”

“Yeah, well actually cleaning yourself up after feeling and looking like death personified does things to you. You should try it.”

“Woah now, hold on. Are you saying I look like death right now?”

“Well, you don’t look alive. But that doesn’t mean you don’t look good. And that is unfair and makes me upset so because of that, you must change and freshen up,” you say and he scoffs. “Oh please. You could literally draw all over your face with sharpie and super glue and you would still be the most beautiful person in the room, miss me with that shit.” You roll your eyes, but the smile on your face betrays the façade you’re trying to put up. “Shut up and go get dressed, loser,” you say and he grins. “Well, considering you’re all ready to go, come on up to mine and Denki’s room. Then we can just head out.”

“Sounds like a plan.” You grab your bag and make sure you have your phone, room key, laptop, and some money before the two of you make your way out of your room. This is honestly crazy to you. Not only are you literally on television and you’re going to be watched on television as well, but you met Shinsou through this. Of course, you probably would have met him regardless because Denki and Mina were bound to catch up again at some point, but it’s still crazy to you that you met this man. He was actually amazing, and not only are you in his presence, but you’ve kissed him. A lot!!! At this point you don’t think it would be too crazy to say that you, in fact, are the main character. “Here we are. Hopefully Denki and Mina aren’t passed out in there.”

“Wouldn’t matter if Mina is, she could genuinely sleep through anything,” you inform him, and he opens the door. “Looks like we lucked out,” he says, holding open the heavy ass hotel door for you. You walk in and can immediately tell which bed is Denki’s and which one is Shinsou’s. Denki is chaotic, even in his living spaces. “This shouldn’t take long. Question, though.”

“Answer.”

“Should I deal with this heat and wear long sleeves or actually wear something appropriate?”

“Appropriate. It’s fucking hot here dude. Besides, save your good outfits for the stage,” you say, and he gives you finger guns. “You’re absolutely correct. I’ll change and then we can head out.” You nod, and he goes into the bathroom leaving you alone to look at Shinsou’s things he brought with him. And that’s not weird. You two are… kissing friends? Huh. Maybe you should work out whatever you guys are while still not putting a label on it- no you know what, you two are just friends. Friends. Friends who platonically sleep together and are extremely attracted to each other. That’s all. You shake your head, trying your best to stop thinking about this situation. You sit on his bed, picking up his guitar just like he did with yours in your room. You start absentmindedly stumming, probably playing some song you learned years ago. But you weren’t singing because you’re too busy thinking of a song to sing for an audience. It has to be written by someone already which sucks for you because you hate doing that, but it’s necessary. And it needs to be well known so everyone else can enjoy it as well. Oh God this is harder than it should be. “That’s pretty.”

You jump slightly at Shinsou’s voice, and you expect him to laugh but instead he just sits next to you and looks genuinely concerned. “Hey, are you okay? You’ve been spacing out a lot…” You can tell he’s very worried, and he reaches out and grabs your hand causing you to feel actually a lot better about this decision weighing on your mind. “I’m just stressed about this next performance. It’s in front of people and it has to be a song already written which means I need to put my own flair on it and like that should be easy, but it also won’t be because the audience needs to also recognize it and-”

“Slow down, (Y/n). You’re going to be fine, believe me. Remember, the judges are still the ones sending us through right now and they adore you.”

“Anything could happen though! And I just don’t know if I’ll even be able to do well in front of an actual crowd of people, like Mina has natural stage presence and so does Denki and Kirishima and somehow even Bakugou has a way with a crowd and don’t even get me started on you, I mean seriously Shinsou everyone lo-”

“Hitoshi.”

“Huh?”

“Call me Hitoshi. Or Toshi. Whichever you prefer, but you’re a little too close to me to not call me by my first name now.” You just stare at him for a moment, giving him the chance to continue on. “And relax, (Y/n). You’re literally amazing. And I know you’re humble but trust me, you have one hell of a presence onstage and you’re more talented than the majority of the people here. I’ll help you pick a song; all songs are up for grabs. And luckily UA Idol doesn’t care if you use explicit songs because explicit songs are some of the best ones and I know a few that I think you would fuck with. Calm down, kitten. It’s gonna be okay.”

Jesus. Christ. This man. This man will be the death of you. “Okay?” he asks, placing his hand not holding yours on your shoulder, forcing you to look in his eyes. You just gulp and nod. “Okay… Toshi,” you say, his name felt great coming out of your mouth. He finally grins. “Let’s go, coffee is on me.”

“Wait what? No, it is not.”

“Yes, it is.”

The two of you actually bicker over that the entire way to the coffee shop, and sadly for you, he makes sure he’s the one who pays. You throw some choice words at him before the two of you sit down at a table outside. “Alright, so let’s brainstorm some songs.”

“Alright, well, I think best bet would be popular songs, something a lot of people know and something catchy enough that people can vibe with even if they don’t know it.”

“Mmm, yeah. Good call. Tragic call, but good call,” he says, pulling out his laptop as you pull out his. The two of you pull up your playlists, starting to compare and contrast songs until you both have a list. “Right, so I could sing That’s What You Get by Paramore-”

“Not pop.”

“No, but it is well known. And I could play guitar with it if you really think about it…”

“Tempting. Others?”

“Undrunk by Fletcher, vulgar but a good option.”

“Both true statements.”

“And then there’s My Consequence or Clean by Hey Violet, it’s catchy, but not a lot of people… know… about Hey Violet.”

“That’s true. Their biggest song is technically Guys My Age, so those two are not as well known. These are all really good options though.”

“Thanks. What about you?”

“Well, there’s Riptide by Vance Joy, a classic and I’d get to shred on my ukulele skills.”

“Nice, nice, others?”

“Oh. No, I’m doing Riptide. Safest bet, really. Everyone knows it, I can put my own spin on it, catch me playing a uke. All good things, so let’s decide yours, kitten.”

You roll your eyes at him, shooting back the last of your coffee and looking at your list. Would you prefer to do something like Clean or My Consequence because they tend to be your songwriting vibe? Yes. You would. But not enough people know about it and if you want the crowd to interact with you, you need to pull out the big guns. “I think it’s down to That’s What You Get or Undrunk,” you say, rubbing your chin. Why was this so hard?”

“Okay, so instrument playing or dancing. Because I know you and I know if you do Undrunk you will have a dance routine that goes with your whole performance, so everyone knows you mean business.”

“You’re right. But… I honestly, I don’t know.”

He frowns. He knows this decision is literally eating you alive, and he wants to help. He knows you don’t necessarily want to sing either of the songs you’re choosing between, so he makes the decision for you right then and there. “You’re doing My Consequence.”

“What? I can’t, it’s not known enough.”

“So what? You want a real challenge? Sing a song not everyone knows. You can also definitely put your own spin on that song, play some instruments, come up with an original (Y/n) arrangement, use Mina and me and Denki and literally anyone you need to do the back-up vocals. You can do that. Easy,” he has full confidence in everything he’s saying, and you definitely already thought about doing all of that and had ideas for it in your brain before he even said it. You pause for a moment to consider what he said before glancing up at him. “You really think that’ll work?”

“I don’t think. I know it will.”

You smile at him. He’s right, why were you even trying to talk yourself out of this anyways? “Thanks, Toshi.”

“Any time, kitten. Now what do you say we head back to the hotel and get to work?”

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defensefilms · 3 years

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Defense Films Names His Top 5 Favorite Rappers

In All It’s Infinite Glory And Magnanimity, Defense Gives You His Top 5 Favorite Rappers.

5. 50 Cent

To this day, when you need a playlist for a MMA class and the group is hella diverse, you’re not really sure which way to go with it, pop in that 50. Can’t go wrong with Get Rich Or Die Trying (the original), or even that G-Unit Beg For Mercy.

That run from late 2002-2005/06 was unlike anything you’ll ever see again. That was a perfect situation where there was organic support from fans and there were people at a business level, mainly 50, that knew how to turn it into the wave that it became and industry has been trying to replicate this ever since.

While most people remember is the numerous scandals, beefs and controversies of that time but it was the music that moved the audience. For all the ways 50 Cent’s success mirrors ruthless American capitalism, his debut album is low key one of the most inspiring albums you’ll ever listen to.

It’s a foxhole mentality on wax. It’s me-versus-you type thinking. It’s someone has to lose and I’ll be damned. It’s who ever has to get hit, is gonna get hit.

See the first time I listened to it, it was about “In Da Club”, “Wanksta”, you know the more palatable records that got on radio and all that but the more I listened the more I realized, it was actually built on the backs of songs like “Patiently Waiting”, “Many Men”, “Back Down”, “Don’t Push Me” and “Gotta Make It To Heaven”. On one side it’s as motivational as you can think of but it’s not the wacky kind of naivé motivational talk because it’s willing to get it’s hands dirty and go in to much grittier ideas.

Like his predecessors, 50 pulls off the trick of balancing easy-to-listen-to records on a foundation of graphic and aggressive songs.

Recommended Songs: Maybe We Crazy, When It Rains It Pours

4. Jedi Mind Tricks

I’ll give you props if you know who these man are but they are legends. Point blank. Violent By Design will forever rank as one of the great group albums in hip-hop history. Vinny Paz, Jus Allah and producer/DJ Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind, gave hip-hop a shockwave they weren’t ready for, especially back in 1999.

Hip-hop as a business wasn’t ready to market a group, whose themes were rooted in topics like government control, military warfare, covert control tactics, religion and psychological warfare. To have all that in one bundle wasn’t something that big time A&R’s were ready for.

Had they started this group in 2010, they would have walked in to a business landscape that was far more suitable to who they were as an act and as MC’s.

Even with that JMT still enjoyed a lot of notoriety and they definitely succeeded in establishing their following, despite the odds.

While Violent By Design may serve as the magnum opus of their body of work, their run really starts in 1997 with the Psycho-Social, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation Of Human Kind.

Yes guy, that’s an album title. You gotta think now, I was in high school the first time I heard this and I was very into conspiracy theories and nonsense, so this album hit me right between the eyes. The idea that someone could use the medium of hip-hop in this way was crazy and the album would have been more than 10 years old when I first heard it.

No, the hip-hop historians among us will argue that Wu-Tang were a better and more influential group and I’d tend to agree, I can also bust back and say, “these dudes took Wu-Tang’s formula and gave it a whole different edge.”

I’ll break it to you like this, Wu-Tang gave the world swordsmanship and the first projectile weapons like bow and arrows, spears and the likes. Jedi Mind Tricks gave the world gun powder, advanced modern explosives and semi-automatics. You see what I mean?

Recommended Songs: Untitled, Retaliation Remix

3. Jay-Z

No top rappers list is complete without my man. The only reason he ain’t higher is because, I rate a rapper more highly if they’re in the prime of their musical abilities. If this were an all-time list he’d be way way higher.

Beginning with Reasonable Doubt is really the only place to start when it comes to Jay. The production, the skits, the way every sentence was so tightly wound together, the word selection and sentence construction. It’s remembered as an album of hits because of tracks like “Cant Knock The Hustle”, ”Feelin It” and “Brooklyn’s Finest” but Reasonable Doubt was really defined by “Dead Presidents”, “D’evils”, “Politics As Usual” and “Can I Live”.

The first batch of songs gave the album some relatability, as far as depicting club vibes and nightlife glamour because that second batch of songs were all built on darker themes like betrayal, jealousy, greed, blind ambition and deception. That combination of themes as well as the production to match each one is why that album will always rank high among a certain listenership.

With that being said, never make the mistake of thinking Jay or any man is perfect. There’s like a 3 album run where there’s moments of dope-ness but not a truly complete album.

Still with that, songs like “Imaginary Player” and “Where I’m From” will rank among his best songs.

It’s only when you get to The Blueprint can you start to see Jay perfecting the art of crafting, whole, complete albums that bump from start to finish. The Blueprint was near perfection in this regard. “U Don’t Know”, “Heart Of The City” and “Momma Loves Me” will rank as his best efforts and yeah, I skipped a few.

The Black Album replicated the Blueprint’s listenability, while also dealing in topics that created an album that sounded very personal to Jay.

All told, the best parts of his catalogue are so strong that there is no denying his place on my list.

Recommended Songs: Dead Presidents, I Love The Dough

2. Action Bronson

I cannot for the life of me fathom how this man doesn’t get the love but the real ones know.

The mixtape download era (2010-2017 give or take), had many unlikely success stories. An overweight white guy, who grew up cooking in his parents deli/eatery, turned pro-chef then turned rapper, is beyond unlikely. Only the internet could allow this man to succeed and thank the hip-hop gods it did.

From 2012 to about 2018, Action was one of the only constants in my playlist. I still remember where I was the first time I heard “Brunch”. His catalogue starting with the Tommy Mas produced, Dr Lecter and boasting full collaborations albums along side Statik Selektah and the Alchemist, and of course the classic Blue Chips series. This man’s prime will be underrated.

If you’re going to take one chapter of Bronson’s art and study it, it’s going to be Blue Chips 1 and 2. Both are thematically perfect without ever trying to be. Which is what allowed Party Supplies to make production choices that grabbed you from the jump. From the first time you hit play on the opening of Blue Chips 1, you’re hit with the sound of falling shards of glass and a violin sound that makes the opening song un-skippable. The songs themes are also a perfect introduction to the man himself. Debauchery, expensive taste, hedonism, revelry, unabashed pleasure-seeking, drug use and just enough self-depreciation that you felt you were along for the ride rather than just a fly on the wall, turning your nose in disgust. It was a perfect mixtape, at a time when mixtapes were at a crazy dumb high standard.

It’s not so much that a rapper made punchlines about food, that would be an over-simplification and really missing the trick. It’s that he made everything he said sound like the dopest thing ever and the most underrated trick about his music is that he made grown man rap without needing to be thuggin’. A rare feat.

Bronson has since gone on to establish himself as a content creator/producer/food review guy but man, what he accomplished as a complete body of work is nothing short of astonishing.

Recommended Songs: Midget Cough, Bonzai

1. Headie One

So it’s late last year. I’m hanging with my boy Phil and Brown, we had just finished some content and Phil says “yo listen to this”. He proceeds to play Golden Boot and it hasn’t stopped bumping since.

A UK rapper with a lyrical nous and wit that rivals even legends like Jay-Z, but rapping over trap and drill beats. What Headie One is doing is not the norm and I’m talking in terms of his lyrics, sentence construction, word selection, metaphors, he does it all and like all the greats, he makes it look easy.

His collaboration with RV definitely helped mold him, with both the “Sticks and Stones” and “Drillers and Trappers” mixtapes giving you an idea of what Headie offers as a lyricist. He compliments RV’s brash, aggressive boasts with slightly less obvious but incredibly witty boasts of his own.

His discography though really starts to peak with 2018′s “The One”. That’s where Headie begins find a sweet spot between his lyrics, production and the themes of his songs. A mixtape like this can only exist via independent release because outside of the aforementioned “Golden Boot”, ain’t none of those songs getting any radio play especially in a country as “conservative” as England. Even in a genre saturated with gangsta/trap, “The One” stands out for what he accomplishes lyrically.

Headie would follow that by releasing “The One Two” in June of 2018 and he ascends even more in what he’s able to accomplish with the words.

The track “Banter On Me” should be in an all-time list somewhere for being the wittiest track of all time. The song is literally just Headie finding new and innovative ways to boast, call out and bait his foes. Hip-hop/Rap has plenty of beef songs that weren’t really direct call outs to any known public figure but were still definitely taking shots at someone. 50 cent’s “Wanksta” and “Officer Down” are some examples of such songs I can think of. Those did not really have the kind of wit Headie displays here. The constant streams of alliterations, double meanings, puns, metaphors, inferences and innuendos is just astonishing. There’s a real mastery of language at play here. The song is a lesson in language, no textbooks.

Headie has since released his debut album along with additional tracks for the delux version of the album. His debut studio release “Edna” does what studio releases are supposed to do. “Parle-Vouz Anglais” and “Aint It Different” will standout and are difinitely the most palatable songs as far as radio play. Those are the 2 songs I’d play for first time listeners.

Recommended Songs: Hard To Believe, Dues, Zodiac

#music #hip-hop #rap #50 cent #jedi mind tricks #jay z #action bronson #headie #headie one

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waywardbeanie · 4 years

Text

A Man of Letters - Chapter One

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female Reader

Summary: It started as a simple hunt for Sam and Dean Winchester. Dean didn’t realize that this single case would change his life forever. Now they are on the biggest mission of their lives, and without the use of cellphones, the only way he can communicate with the love of his life is through old fashioned letter writing. He has done everything in his power to keep her safe, but will it be enough?

Word Count: 2428

Series Warnings: Language, slow burn, angst, smut, alcohol consumption, fluff, SPN typical violence (individual chapters will contain relevant warnings)

A/N: This series has been rattling around in my head for a while. It would never have made it to the light of day if it was not for my beautiful group of friends with whom none of this would be possible! You know who you are and I love you all!

If you’d like to be tagged, my list is open. Just send me an ask HERE:

Spotify Playlist : A Man of Letters

This series is ongoing!

Y/N,

It’s been two days since I left your sweet ass laying in that bed alone. I decided I’m just going to share my thoughts with you. Have you ever noticed it is so much easier to write them down than it is to say them out loud? You have no idea how long I stood leaning against the door frame of your bedroom watching you sleep. Don’t laugh, it’s one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen, I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone and I wanted that memory seared into my brain.

I’m sitting here in a hotel room; I’m supposed to be cleaning our guns while Sam has gone to get dinner. I’ll get to it, but I wanted to write to you first. As Sam and I were driving this first leg, he was filling me in on the case but between you and I, I really wasn’t listening. Sammy knew it too, but he kept spewing out facts anyway. Driving down the highway, Zeppelin in the deck.

All I could think about was the night we met. You busted me staring at you so many times and each time you would just smile that dazzling smile at me. Remember when I asked you to dance? You looked up at me through your lashes, tucked your hair behind your ear and smiled that sweet shy smile of yours. “I can’t, I’m working,” you said. I just laughed because you had no idea I was too. If it wasn’t for that nest of Vamps, I would have never met you. Thank God for Vampires! I need to cut this short; I have guns to clean and Sammy will be back any minute. Please write me back, you can just send it to Bobby’s old PO Box in Sioux Falls, people in the group (usually Jodi) checks it all the time and will make sure I get it. I miss your voice and your laugh. Stay safe until we are together again.

I Love you,

3 years ago

Y/N had just moved to Lincoln, Nebraska 6 months before. It was where the dart landed when she closed her eyes and threw it at the map. This was her new lease on life, she promised herself that wherever the dart landed is where she would go to open her photography studio.

“Ugh, corn,” she groaned to herself. That’s all she knew about Nebraska is that they have corn…and pigs. She was going to be so mad if all she took pictures of was prize winning pigs at the 4-H Fair.

She picked up her camera and took a picture of the map. She would blow it up and hang it in her new studio to remind her of her new lease on life. She pulled the map from the dingy motel room wall, folded it and put it in her backpack.

Zipping it up she thought about one of those inspirational posters she saw once that said “The greatest adventure is what lies ahead”. Walking out, the heavy motel room door slams behind her, almost as a sign that she was never going to look back, only forward.

She threw her backpack in the passenger seat of her 2008 black Jeep Wrangler hardtop that was already packed with her camera equipment and the few belongings that she had. She pushed the Spotify app on her phone, “More Than A Feeling” by Boston began to play and she pointed the nose of her Jeep west, towards a new life.

Six months, Y/N had been in Lincoln and business was finally picking up. The owner of a honky tonk and blues bar called The Zoo wanted her to come take pictures for their new advertisements. Y/N walked through the door shabby club at 6:00pm on a Thursday night. It was country night, the first night of a 3-day shoot. She had her black skinny jeans tucked into a pair of black cowboy boots with black stitching and a knee length black jacket over a white form fitting T Shirt. She fit in, but not too much, after all she was a little more Rock-N-Roll than country.

Walking up to the bar she saw Travis, the owner, immediately. She set her backpack on the bar and leaned over to shake his hand. “Nice to see you again Y/N, glad we could put this together.”

“Me too,” she smiled back. “Can I just stow my bag behind the bar so I can be hands free to get the shots we talked about?” “Of course.” Travis nodded. Y/N unzipped the backpack to retrieve her camera, closed it back up and handed the bag to Travis with a nod of thanks. Turning her back to the bar she scanned the crowd. She could not believe it was already half full so early on a Thursday.

The band just walked on stage, welcomed the crowd and dived right into “Country Girl” by Luke Bryan. As the dancefloor began to fill up, Y/N once again scanned the crowd. Her gaze stopped at two tall men over at a table in the corner, one has longish hair almost to his shoulders and the other is just an inch shorter than his company. She locked eyes with the man who is of smaller stature as he brought a bottle of beer to his lips. She could feel the heat creeping up her face and she smiled at him.

As he pulled the beverage from his mouth, the side of his mouth quirked up and he winked at her. She looked down at her camera quickly, fumbling with the lens cap. She could feel her cheeks flush as a tiny bit of sweat popped up on the back of her neck.

“Holy shit,” she breathed. That man was beautiful. Starting with his black work boots, up his Levi clad legs, to his fitted white T-shirt under a red and white open flannel. His hair was brown but what shook her were his piercing eyes. She was too far away to see their color, but they were laser focused. It was like he looked right into her soul.

“Shake it off,” she chastised herself, “you’re here for a job.” She slid the lens cap in her back pocket next to her phone and brought the camera up to her face. Pointing at the crowd she began to take pictures; she took a few shots of the whole crowd but then began to focus on individual couples and the band on the stage.

Throughout the night as she moved around the bar to get different shots, she would try to sneak a glimpse of the stranger in the corner. Each time she would catch sight of him, he was watching her. She would quickly smile and look away. They played this game most of the night.

As the band came back to the stage from their last break of the night, she had just returned from the back of the office area where she was showing Travis the pictures she had taken to confirm she was capturing the ambience he wanted for the promotional push. She glanced up to what she now referred to in her mind as “The Hot Guy Corner”. Her stomach dropped immediately; he was gone.

Y/N didn’t know what she expected but she expected...something. “For God’s sake, he was staring at me all night,” she thought. Shrugging to herself, she plastered a smile on her face to chase the sadness away and scanned the crowd looking for the next set of shots.

“Hey, sweetheart,” a deep voice rumbled, the breath warm against the shell of her ear. Y/N gasped and stumbled backwards into a hard wall of chest. Two large hands grasped her shoulders to steady her. “Sorry,” he chuckled next to her ear. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Straightening her spine, she turned around. Looking up, she peered into the most stunning moss green eyes that she had ever seen. “H-H-Hey,” she stuttered, “you just surprised me that’s all.” She stepped back out of his grasp.

“Yeah, again sorry about that.” He smiled. Looking down at you he continued, “so I was wondering, would you like to dance?” She tucked her hair behind her ear like she always did when she was nervous and looked up at him smiling. “I can’t, I’m working.” She gestured with her camera.

“Well I figured it was close to the end of the night, so you might have time for a dance, ya know, just one.” He indicated to the dance floor. “Um, yeah I’d like that. Can you catch me at the last song of the night? That way I can finish up the shoot and put my camera away.”

“Sure.” He grinned, “I’ll find you for the last song.” He reached over and lightly squeezed her free hand, turned on his heel and walked back towards the corner table.

Before she knew it, the band leader was thanking the crowd for joining them on a Thursday night and that they would now close the night with “Colder Weather” by the Zac Brown Band. Y/N felt her heart begin to beat faster as she quickly put her camera back into her backpack behind the bar. She zipped up the bag and as she stood her eyes drifted to the dance floor.

There he stood in all his handsome magnificence as he locked eyes with her, smiling as he began lifting his hand towards her. She smiled back as the butterflies were riotous in her stomach and her body began to tremble. Walking over she took his outstretched palm as he led her to the middle of the dance floor.

As they turned to each other, she put her left hand on his shoulder and her right hand in his as she felt his palm rest on the small of her back. Looking up at him through her lashes, she smiled. “Hey again,” he grinned. She huffed out a laugh, “Hey yourself.”

She concentrated on moving her feet to the music and prayed her hands didn’t get sweaty as his enveloped hers. She feels his touch lightly on her back as he leads her through the dance, and she swears it is burning a hole through her clothes. They didn’t speak after that, moving around the dancefloor as if they had done this together a million times.

The song was over too soon, and she was mentally kicking herself that she hadn’t taken this man up on the offer to dance an hour ago. As the final cords of the song came to an end, Y/N reluctantly stepped back. As she did, this denim and flannel clad man held gently but firmly onto her hand.

“I wish I would have asked you to dance sooner,” the corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile.

“Well, unfortunately I was still working.” She wasn’t sure why he was still holding her hand, but she couldn’t look at them for fear she could actually see the sparks zinging off their linked fingers. Hesitantly she let go, finding comfort in the front pocket of her jeans.

“Thank you for the dance.” She stood there awkwardly for a moment. When she looked up at him again, he was just staring at her closely. She smiled uncertainly at him and then turned on her heel to walk to the bar and grab her bag.

“Wait!” She stopped in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder. “Can I walk you to your car?”

“No, it’s ok.” She shook her head with a slight smile, “I parked under a light.”

She grabbed her bag quickly off the bar where Travis set it and with a quick wave she headed toward the door. As she made it out of the bar into the parking lot, she began taking deep gulping breaths of fresh air.

“Why did he make me so nervous?” she asked herself. It’s just ridiculous. As she rummaged through her bag for her keys, she looked up to notice her dance partner’s tall friend leaning against a dark colored muscle car, parked a few spaces away from her Jeep. He wasn’t watching her exactly, but she could feel eyes on her. With keys in hand she unlocked the door and glanced toward the bar.

Standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe watching her was “Smoking Hot Flannel Guy”. He lifted his hand in a wave, she smiled and waved back. She jumped in her Jeep, cranked the engine and with Bob Seger’s “Her Strut” blaring from the speakers, she peeled out of the gravel parking lot with the silliest grin plastered on her face.

The roads were deserted this time of night as she drove like a bat out of hell, which is normal, no concern there, towards her little two-bedroom bungalow. Suddenly a light bulb went off in her head and she slammed on her brakes in the middle of the two-lane road. Quickly she looked in the rear-view mirror to make sure someone wasn’t about to plow right into the ass end of her Jeep.

She began banging on her steering wheel “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” Y/N couldn’t believe it. She never even asked him what his name was. She was a people person, she always asked people their name. His mere presence made her so unsettled she forgot to ask a simple question. He didn’t ask what her name was either. “Well,” her mental dialogue began “maybe he would have if you let him walk you to your Jeep.”

“Ugh,” she thumped her head against the head rest. “This is what happens when you rarely find someone attractive.” She shook her head slightly. “You totally forget how to construct a sentence like a basic human being.”

She clutched the steering wheel and jammed her foot on the gas toward home. Her euphoric mood quickly dissipating. Y/N was never going to see the tall, handsome stranger again and she didn’t even know his damn name.

Chapter 2

Tags: @winchest09 @katehuntington @whatareyousearchingfordean @emoryhemsworth @flamencodiva @superfanficnatural @deanwanddamons @janicho88 @talesmaniac89 @anathewierdo @compresshischest09 @supernatural-bellawinchester @jensengirl83 @this-is-what-im-reduced-to @ellewritesfix05 @moron225 @foxyjwls007 @hobby27 @unicornqu33n17 @swinchester27 @4fareader @deans-baby-momma @squirrelnotsam

#dean winchester x read #dean winchester x you #dean x you #dean x reader #dean winchester #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester fan fiction #dean winchester x y/n #reader insert #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester smut #slow burn #dean winchester series #a man of letters #wayward beanie

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

Text

True Faith (Part 2.) (Favored Ones, Part 26.)

Series description: Many things were surely fucked up in the year 2038, but no-one ever told anyone how all of it went down. What happened before a group of people left for Seattle to handle personal matters? Why did one girl refuse to leave all of it be? And why there were so many dead in the end?

Quote for the chapter: " Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. ." - Charles Spurgeon

Part summary: To your disappointment, you didn't find Abby inside the aquarium. But you found someone else who reminded you of the things that happened back in Jackson.

A/N: This song (True Faith, Lotte Kestner’s cover) simply slaps and says all you need to know about this part in general. Hoooo, I am so excited to finally have Owen on my hands so I can do this disgusting rat dirty. (I LOVE miss Mel tho, she’s a precious small bean which needs to be protected)

Warnings: Depiction of torture, bone breaking, depiciton of blood and manslaughter, anxiety, rage, anger, a bit of fluff at the end.

Word count: 5.5 K

Tagging: @nemodoren @xxgoldenhour @missdictatorme @peakymarvels @davnwillcome @pickleriiick @jodiereedus22 @gladiosamicitias @tamkashi @eternallyvenus @avengerssstuff @fangirl-inthe-us @avery-miller @mikah-writes @mad-hatter-98 @sadiaafrin99 @flavorishy

Series master list: H E R E

Joel Miller’s playlist for the bonfire occasions: H E R E

Youtube playlists: JACKSON DAYS | SEATTLE DAYS

Seattle, day three - afternoon:

With a small gulp, you opened up the door, walking into the main hall of the aquarium - to the place from when the arguing voices were coming from. And two people were standing in front of you. Owen and Melanie. You didn't even care that much about Mel, to be honest, but you stared Owen down with one of the most haunting gazes he'd ever seen on anyone. The man took in the sight of you as well. Both the people in the room stiffened, watching the unexpected visitor bump into the aquarium door.

After a moment, Owen recognized you. Of course, he did. And to be honest, panic overtook him, because he didn't know what should he do as you still kept on coming closer to both of them. He had a pregnant woman next to him whom he had to protect. And just from your look alone, Owen knew, that one of you will end up dead that day. One of you won't ever walk out of the door again and honestly, he hoped it will be you. He had too much to lose at this point.

But Melanie stepped forward, closer to you, making the eye contact going on between you and the man end abruptly as you turned your head to her.

"You're the girl from Jackson, aren't you?" - The woman sent a glance to Owen as she took in your appearance, trying to assure him about her actions. She was always nice to you, right? She didn't mean you any harm. Mel even escaped your friends before crying out their location out loud. If she did yell at the others, Jesse, Dina, and Diego would be most likely to be dead. But she didn't. From her perspective, you hadn't got the slightest reason to harm her.

Yet Owen could tell that something happened to you ever since you entered Seattle. Everyone felt the shift once they entered the city gates. Something changed inside of you, something subtle and unnoticeable at first, bringing the worst out of you. If he'd have to describe the person he was looking at, he'd tell about that youre tired, barely standing on your feet and empty inside. Like a machine. Your clothes were just drenched in blood, but it certainly wasn't yours since you've been looking more than fucking healthy.

Most people thought that descending to madness is a slow process. No. It was far away from a slow one. The only thing you needed was a push and shove to your back, sending you on your fall. If you weren't able to stop, you were soon about to hit the bottom. He knew that he can play psychological games with you later, but it would just make you angry at that moment.

Melanie was thinking about a lot of things - no matter how immature her behavior seemed to be as she slowly approached you. Were you there, in the aquarium, alone, or were your friends somewhere out there as well? Why didn't Alice bark at you? And what, for the love of God, were you doing in Seattle?

After the Abby fiasco, where almost everyone from their group got killed, they ran away - back to WLF and Seattle. Mel got more and more pregnant, so she wanted to be safe and she wanted Owen around. There were still the Seraphites and Abby things popping up around their small family, but it finally seemed that Owen set his priorities straight on Mel and their child to come. Which, on its own, would be great - if you wouldn't just appear there out of the thin air, covered in blood and mud from your head to your toes, drenched with rainwater.

Your eyes didn't move away from Mel as you watched every move she made, having the rusty pipe ready at any moment. You were quite sure you'll get to know where Abby is residing since you already had the benefit of surprise and Joel was standing just behind the corner. Something was telling you that these two knew exactly where their friend is. No matter what, you were determined to get the information out of them.

Yet as you stood in front of Owen, something oddly personal got a hold on you. It was the odd personal feeling Ellie told you about after what happened with Nora. You knew why you were there - to find Abby and sort the things out with her. To protect Joel, to protect Jackson. But... As you watched the man standing in front of you, and when you remembered how he helped Abby with torturing you, there was still a small hint of pain next to your heart.

All you could do was to take a deep breath to shush the feelings aways. Owen, no matter how much of a fucker he could be, hadn't got any personal beef with Joel and as far as you cared, he wasn't shooting at you. So far, you hadn't got the reason to kill him like a little bitch. But for the first time on your journey, you felt, that all it will take for Owen to set the bomb inside you off was just one bad move or a word you wouldn't like. At that moment, Melanie started speaking again, diverting your attention from the man.

"How-how did you find us? Are you okay?" - The woman asked, almost putting a hand on your shoulder just for you to dodge the touch, growling at it. With that, Owen noticed that you're visibly limbing. The Jackson took hold on everyone who's been there - both WLFs and you. It seemed to be fucking ridiculous. What did happen to them there? What logic reason allowed Mel to think that they had the right to feel bad about Baldwin? You almost started to accept Mel's embracing tone of voice until you realized that she's just trying to divert your attention away from Owen. No. You weren't that dumb.

"Where is Abby?" - You asked once again and looked around, searching the woman as if you were expecting that she'd appear out of nowhere like a magician. You'd be most likely having her forearm around your throat if she'd be at the aquarium, about which you concluded that Abby sure as hell wasn't there. It was just getting more and more tangled up. But Owen was a good find as well. Neither of them answered, but the woman was sneaking closer and closer to you. - "I asked you a question. Where is she?" - You pointed your pipe at her, having Owen panic in the next second.

You didn't know she was pregnant. How could? No matter how much he tried to ignore it, he knew the state you were in. The trance, numbness, and fearlessness of sorts, which enabled you to feel invincible. But for a terrible cost. It was a piece of your soul it took down with it.

Naturally, Owen tried to take his gun out, having you to swing your pipe at his wrist at a full force as you pushed Melanie on her back to have a good view of them laying on their back vulnerably. There was this disgusting sound of cracking of the small bones inside of his forearm, which you caused, as you swung the metal onto his arm again when as Owen checked up on Melanie's well-being.

"Wanna try another unplanned stuff or is this enough, huh?" - You asked, leaning your head towards your shoulder as you looked down on Owen. Immediately, he looked back, his breath was shallow and fast, making you aware of the fact that he must've been in pain. As when Joel stood up above Melanie, aiming his revolver onto her forehead as he shook his head at her, you stepped on Owen's wrist with your boot, making the man scream in pain.

"You know, one wise woman once told me this, and listen, you're going to love it." - A chuckle left your lips as you slowly crouched to hold the man's cheeks, turning his head as you. With that, you also put way more pressure into your feet. - "We don't wanna kill you... But we will."

With that, Joel hugged the man's wrist with a firm squeeze, making sure the fucker won't wiggle away when he dragged him to one of the walls where he was about to make sure Owen won't be a threat to you. And you just stood up above the woman, who was starting to sob as she realized they're probably in some knee-deep shit.

"We just wanna talk, ya know? And if you tell us what we want to know, we'll let you live. What do you say?" - The smile you gave her sent a shiver down her spine. When she met you in Jackson, you looked like a normal woman who has everything set straight in her head. Did they do this to you? Or, more specifically, did Abby fo this to you? - "Sounds familiar?" - You left her to be as Joel picked her up, but you went ahead and lit up one of Owen's cigarettes to calm yourself down.

"This can go down two ways, okay?" - You crouched between the couple - Owen was seemingly in pain because Joel did a hell of a good job with pressuring the small spot on his wrist and Melanie was crying. She wasn't too far from begging you to let them both go. Or to at least let them alive. - "You'll tell us and we'll let you be, we'll leave the aquarium. We won't come back after you. We will just find Abby and have a little talk with her. That's a simple way. But if you won't wanna tell us, well, that's another story." - You leaned closer to Owen, exhaling the smoke right into his face. - "The palm will stop hurting soon. No, it won't, but you'll get numb to the pain. I promise." - Owen grinned painfully when you gently patted his shoulder.

A sob made you realized that Mel started crying. Her expression was full of fear, the tip of her nose got read quickly as various red spots appeared on her face. That was when you felt Joel lowering his lips to your head. - "She's pregnant, 'kay? We can scare her to death, but leave her outta it. The fucker's all yours, baby girl, but don't forget that you're still only a human. This gal's terrified enough to tell you what you want off the bat." - Joel whispered to you. Quickly, your glance studied the back vest Mel had on. the pregnancy was hard to see since she was so small and tiny. You felt the man still standing so close your chests were practically touching, so you nodded.

Mel was out of your reach practically ever since that moment. A promise was a promise - and you just promised Joel that you won't hurt her. But you still could use the method Ellie had described you without hurting her - at least not physically. And you could still have so much fun time with Owen. Quickly, you tiptoed and stole a kiss from Joel, getting ready to get the information out of Owen on your own. If you'd like to, Joel would get the information out of the former WLF. Yet earlier last night, you were very clear about this being your moment. You were so close to reaching Abby, which was the only reason you came to Seattle. This guy seemed to knew where she went, or what she was doing, who she was with, or what were her intentions.

"You two have a funny idea of romantic, I tell you that." - Owen snickered when you lowered back on your feet, slowly letting go of Joel. The wrist couldn't be so bad after all. - "Need to catch two people to be turned on, or what you're about? He can't please you, or..?" - Owen continued with teasing you. Jesus, you knew what that was about. Owen was trying to be a big boy, to show you he's not worried about you or Joel in the slightest.

"You know who this is?" - You asked, pointing to Joel. - "Take a guess, come on. Who's this guy?" - This question made Owen furrow as you approached him, running your tongue inside your mouth, popping your cheeks out. The man just shook his head.

"He's the one Abby came for. Joel Miller, the one who was supposed to be killed in the cabin instead of me and Tommy. And this is why I'm here, Owen. It's the consequences of your actions that led me here." - Without letting him take another breath, you pulled his hair and pushed your knee into his nose, hearing an audible crash when his and your body collided. The blood ran down on his face in the next second, which had Mel crying out in fear.

"Let him be! Let him go, please!" - Mel moved her wrists around, trying to free herself, yet the presence of Joel was making her afraid. - "I'll tell you where she is, just don't hurt Owen, I beg you. I'll tell you everything you want." - "Mel, no." - Owen spoke out with trouble, having to speak and breathe with his mouth at once. But your attention was shifted back to Mel.

"Why do you fucking care? She's probably already dead anyway, we can't help her now!" - Mel exhaled, trying to clear her nose at least a bit. - "This is happening because of her. Every time something fucks up, Abby is behind it." - Wow, this took a different turn than you thought it would. Owen and Mel were arguing while you watched it happening and unraveling in front of your very eyes.

"She's your friend, she's someone I knew for years now, Mel. We aren't leaving anyone behind." - "My friend? Are you even listening to what you're saying, Owen? She isn't my friend, she's someone who you left to be with me and once I got pregnant, you went back to her. You think I don't know about what happened on the boat yesterday, huh?" - Mel rose her eyebrows, shutting Owen off completely. Neither you nor Joel dared to interrupt the situation, it was just too raw and to interesting to hear all of it. What happened yesterday? What was it?

"Abby is," - Mel suddenly turned her head to you, but Owen was quick to shout his pregnant girlfriend's name over the whole aquarium. Oh, so that was what happened on the boat. Holy fuck, both of them were just pieces of shits, weren't they? You chuckled at it, walking up to Owen quickly. - "Let her speak, will you?" - You mumbled, putting your boot on his knee as a warning. Now it was the time when Owen felt that he can maybe play the mind games with you.

"This isn't you, is it?" - At that question, you stopped everything you were doing. What the fuck was this question about? - "Think about that. Since you came to Seattle, something's wrong with your head, isn't it, huh?" - Owen gulped, speaking frantically. But weirdly, his words were making sense. - "But you felt it when you entered the first street and took a look around, right? I know the feeling. It's a mix of emotions. A mix of fear, despair, and rage. This is what the city does to the people in it." - Owen continued with his one-sided chit chat, but when your eyes traveled down to the foot leaned into his knee, he understood he's losing you.

"Before this, I was a Firefly. And she was one too. You've heard about Fireflies, right?" - The man asked quickly, making you engaged in the conversation again. - "Which base you were operating on?" - You mumbled back, responding to any of Owen's words for the first time. At this, he was quiet for a moment, your question catching him off-guard. - "Salt Lake City, ever since Jerry Anderson took it under his wings." - Owen explained quietly, seeing your face getting more colorless than before as you looked in front of you, reminiscing of something. That was when the idea first sneaked into his head.

"You've been a Firefly too, weren't you? Huh?" - Owen whispered, watching your response to what he was saying. Though he wasn't sure of it, he was pretty confident that he successfully crawled under your skin. At least a tiny bit. - "Spring. I was a part of the Spring group." - You mumbled as an answer. Oh. The Spring group was sort of a legend in the Salt Lake, just like the other three groups named after the seasons of the year. But Spring was the original, first experimental group of kids and teenagers about who Marlene knew she doesn't have enough time to train.

Thinking about Salt Lake was strange. Owen, Abby, Mel, Manny, and the rest of their friends spent there the best years of their adolescent lives. They learned a lot with the group in there, mastered new skills, but also had a lot of fun. Yet the truth was that because of the position Abby's dad had in the hierarchy meant that their group was... Highly benefited against the others.

When the whole era of Fireflies was coming to an end, Marlene had more kids and adolescents than adults. Sure, she could spend years in hiding while training soldiers out of the young people, but she had this feeling in her gut. She needed a plan, she needed to kick the remnants of government in their guts one more time before going to hell. It was her, who came up with the plan of sending adolescents to die. It was her idea to send them to blow up bombs inside the military zones of the big cities. And it was her, who was responsible for killing more than a hundred barely trained kids within one year before Joel Miller killed her in a cold blood.

Some of the people went into the suicidal missions without knowing what's awaiting them. If they didn't blow up during the attack itself, they were shot by the military. But as soon as people realized what was going on, they started to run out of the base. Some of the kids were later found dead, or infected. But there were maybe three of them that were never found. You certainly being one of them.

"I told you that we're the same, you and I. Both of us felt the shift inside when we entered Seattle, we were Fireflies, and you're a good person, just like me." - Owen tried to get you on his side, but your face was expressionless. You didn't care at this point. - "You're a good person, huh?" - Suddenly, you stomped your foot into his knee, feeling the bones slightly shift under your weight. So you repeated the procedure again and again. Melanie was the key after this moment, which you realized, but... Owen brushed over topics he shouldn't have talked about. The Fireflies, the things you felt inside your head... The fucker didn't have any right to talk about it.

As you walked for the pipe again, the high-pitched sound was in your ears again. Everything around you seemed to blur as the seconds passed, the beating of your heart got loud and raw. So much it was hard to hear your thoughts. It was the same feeling of chaos that ran through you when you and Ellie watched the Scars hanging the man on the tree. Your breath deepened and got louder again, your eyes were filled with hatred as you walked back to Owen. The sounds of your surroundings were blurry, almost unbearable for you - Melanie was screaming something on the top of her lungs, but English didn't make any sense to you at that point. Your eyes were solely fixed on Owen's bloody face.

"Come on, you don't wanna do this. You're not going to kill me." - The man snickered ironically, trying to pretend that he hasn't got a fucked up knee. Slowly, your eyes fixed on his face as you started to psychically disappear from the place you've been at. The Baldwin cottage started to appear, the interior surrounded every small piece of your fantasy, acting almost as parasite you couldn't get rid of. When you looked around, there was everyone - Nora, Mel, Owen, the dudes you barely remembered, the headphones girl, the Hispanic man... And her. Standing in front of you.

Slowly, Abby circled behind you and tugged your head back, making your neck stretch. She was looking down on you, then at Tommy, having this smug grin all over her disgusting face. This was before she touched you. These moments, in your perspective, were the most terrifying ones, because you didn't have an idea about what Abby will do to you. Owen was leaning into boxes, smoking while watching the scenery. - "Let her go, please, she ain't havin' any business in this." - Tommy begged while Nora taped his head to the wooden sink, making sure he can't turn his head around. - "I'm the one ya want, ya goddamn bastards."

"Are you sure about that?" - Abby asked mockingly, looking at the man. But at that moment, you started to mutter something to your friend out there. - "If you tell her anything, Tommy, I swear to God." - Which made Abby smile. The Hispanic man got up from Tommy, looking down at you. - "She's funny, I have to say. Who do you think she is? That old pervert's pet? He? Eres el pequeño juguete del Viejo, he?" - He lowered his head enough to study you up close, furrowing. As soon as he noticed that you're whispering something, he leaned even closer, trying to decipher the words. And against Abby's tight hold on your hair, you turned around to spit into his face, grinning as the Hispanic man almost slapped you like a little bitch you were. But all you got out of it was another strong pull on your hair as Abby pulled your head back into place, having a curse word escaping under your breath.

"Owen?" - The woman above you asked, playfully wiggling her eyebrows. Owen grinned back at her walking up to take her position - tugging on your scalp, holding both you and the chair in place. Just moments after that, Abby punched you in your face for the first time while Owen watched it, not trying to stop her or anything. He just made sure you cant wiggle out and that you're sat in the chair. That was when Owen fucked up for the first time. You'd never let anyone do such things to someone else while you'd be looking at it happening right in front of you. No.

You and the man were nothing alike. And this was the last mistake he'd ever made. Slowly, Baldwin's interior faded back into the wet aquarium one, but the world seemed to black away again as you prepared to swing the pipe again.

"Stop trying to tell who I am or what I want to do." - You answered, hitting his right side with the pipe. You heard his scream, yet it was the last thing you've heard before the world faded off to darkness once again. If Joel would as you what was happening, you wouldn't be able to answer. You simply didn't know. Muffled sounds filled your brain, but those were just unrecognizable sounds that connected to one audio track which you couldn't decipher.

When you've come back together, you felt a warm drop of blood running down your face whole your palm let the pipe fall on the ground, leaving only the metallic sound to fill the room. Mel was screaming hysterically, she was trying to free herself and you felt Joel's arms circling your shoulders as you both slowly sat on the ground. The man expected you to have a panic spot upon seeing what you've done to Owen, or at least to what had remained of the man. But your state was purely catatonic.

You just sat there why Joel was comforting you, your eyes couldn't leave the picture Owen's massacred body. His brain was splashed on the wall behind him, half of his skull was missing. You've broken every rib the man had, his bones in the legs were weirdly bent inward, his knees were smashed flat.

"What have you done? I've told you what you wanted to hear and you didn't let him go, as you promised!" - Melanie yelled at you, finally shifting your attention to her. What could you tell her to cleanse yourself? At least in your eyes? Was there anything to say at all?

"He didn't let me go either." - A mumble explained Mel what just happened as you picked yourself off the ground, untying her palms gently. If she wouldn't be as terrified as she was, she would try to strangle you, but instead of that, she sat there and massaged her wrists. - "You're free to go. Neither I nor my friends will try to hurt you unless you'll try to attack us again, okay?"

Joel was unsettled with your overall reaction. It seemed that you didn't even notice what you've done to Owen as if it was an everyday inconvenience and nothing more.

Mel nodded frantically, picking herself from you, covering her belly as she backed off out of the room. You've set on your way from the aquarium in the next minutes, not noticing that Mel snitched the map from the pocket of your backpack - Joel had the information you've come there for, but he knew that you won't like it.

Why did you feel so empty? You never imagined that this is how revenge would feel like. The man for what he deserved if you'd be his judge, but it didn't bring you any excitement whatsoever. Weren't you supposed to feel good by now? Shouldn't you feel easier when all was said done?

Why did you feel like a dead body just walking through Seattle? If any Scar would try to slice your throat at that moment, you wouldn't even flinch. No amount of murders of the bad people or torture could save your soul from the hell you've taken it into. No-one other than you could redeem your soul. But what if it was already damned? From the first moment, you've seen Abby and her friends as the bad guys who wanted to hurt everyone you loved and cared for. What if you were wrong? What if they were the good guys while you were the villains? Could you ever possibly walk on the path of the right or were you condemned to walk on the path of the wrong until the end of your days?

You knew Joel noticed how off you were. He noticed it before, especially when you practically made him fuck you like an animal, but he dismissed it as nothing serious at first. Yet now you showed him how wrong he was. Just two days ago, you couldn't understand how could he ever use two men against each other, and now, you've bashed another one's skull in cold blood. The descending to the abyss of madness was always easy, but on a place like this, all it took was one small pebble for your foot to slip on and after that, you were beyond saving.

"Are you alright?" - Joel asked as you walked through a big, empty, and quiet street near the theatre. At first, it almost appeared as if you misheard him because you grinned at the question. But after that, you looked at him through the rain, assuring you heard him perfectly. You took a moment to decide what to tell him before you stopped in the rain.

"Joel, I... At first, I thought that I'm doing this for you. You taught me how to love life, how to understand others. Then I thought I'm killing for you, Joel, I've brought so much death in here. I was guarding you from the dark of the night, watched as you slept, kept you on my radar all the time. And then you've disappeared, but I couldn't stop myself from doing all the terrible things." - The man watched your face and the expressions it was projecting, the whole fight inside of you could be basically heard. - "This isn't about you. It's all about me. I had started it, I wanted to revenge me, all I wanted to know was that Abby is dead so she wouldn't try to come for you again.

But then the first WLF came. Then it were the Scars, more WLF, Nora, Owen, the girl with the headphones... I took life from all of those people. And not because they were a threat to you, no, I had a feeling here." - You took his palm and pressed it next to your heart. - "I was so angry. I wanted to feel what revenge feels like, I needed all of it, do you understand me?" - And at that moment, you started crying, shaking your head.

"How was I supposed to know that it is all going to end like this? It's not just me who got fucked over - Ellie is fucked up as well, you hadn't spoken properly in the last couple of days, Dina is just quietly watching us going on one suicidal mission after another, not knowing if we're ever coming back. I... I maybe leave Jackson for good when we get back, Joel. I have this feeling that I don't belong there and maybe I'll be better off as a wayfaring stranger now I know I'm nothing more than a sadistic monster," - You went on, but at that moment, the man just caught your waist and kissed you out of blue, having you shut up immediately. It wasn't a proper response, but you were falling into hysteria and he didn't have the heart to slap you out of it.

When he moved from you again, you didn't know what to say. You just watched him without any clue of what to do now.

"Remember that one nite in Jackson when I asked you on a dance?" - Joel sighed, closing his eyes. - "You've told me that you'll go to hell for that. And all I said was that I'll meet you there. And I meant that, girl. Ya know, for some old man who was survivin' helluva long time out there, this was an everyday situation for twenty years. Killed or be killed? It doesn't matter. In the end, there'll be someone dead." - The man snickered at his own remark, speaking from experience.

"You're everythin' but a monster. You've just never been outside Jackson since you've grown up, that's all. You forgot what's like to be threatened every moment you're outside, what is the reality like now. Trust me, it's comfortin', knowin' you have your bed and your mug, knowin' you can brew yourself some coffee when you get outta bed - but that's not the life here. Trust me, it ain't easy, tryin' to be normal again. And I know somethin' 'bout that myself." - Joel nodded, clearly thinking about the things he's been through in the past couple of years.

Jackson was possibly the calmest and beautiful chapter of his life ever since Sarah was killed. And ever since the night you've told him what you felt for him and the other night Ellie told him that she's ready to try it all again, it all started to make sense. He couldn't lose you. Not when you were the only good thing he knew.

"I'll make you feel good, 'kay? I'll do everythin' I will be able to do to see you happy." - The man smoothed your hair off your forehead, kissing it. - "And if you won't feel that you can live in Jackson, we'll be leavin' together, you hear me?" - Joel assured as you hugged his waist, now crying into the crook of his neck.

At the moment, he was glad that Mel didn't know where Abby was. She just told you she's on the Seraphites' island just off the coast, but the girl was most probably dead at the moment. Searching for Abby would be like searching for a needle in a pile of hay. Which meant that you could go home. Finally.

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bi-makes-pie · 4 years

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"I'm her best enemy" Playlist [ PART ONE - Songs 1 to 30]

Click READ MORE to see the whole list

1. Nemeses (feat. John Roderick) – Jonathan Coulton I mostly see this as being in the Master’s POV.

“Could it be that you need me To keep you out, to run you faster Promise me you'll let me be The one, the worst of all your enemies”

2. Crazy – Burn the Ballroom 12 to Missy. This one is quite cute. He does calls her mad, but we all know the Doctor isn’t exactly the perfect picture of sanity either.

“She had problems with my love connections So she bought me bullets and she made corrections (…) I'd say crazy, doll, but you've got something different I'd say complicated but that's your kind of rhythm I'd say lost and you'd say love

But you're crazy not to see That you're crazy just like me...”

3. Silence – Citizen Shade This kinda makes me picture the Doctor trying to give in and settle down with the Master (any version) while dealing with the inner conflict that they’re far too cruel for their taste.

“I found peace in your violence Can't tell me there's no point in trying I'm at one, and I've been silent for too long”

4. Dangerous Man - Little Dume This alternates between the Doctor’s POV and the Master’s. But you can also interpret it as being 100% about any version of the Doctor, since they do have a dark side.

“Every bone in my body's bad Fire's burning, the skies are turning black They say I'm a dangerous man” “Can you hear the storm's a coming I'm a silver in the lining There's a spark in me They say I'm a dangerous man Better run fast as you can Don't you look back”

5. Under Covers – LeRiche A bittersweet song about two people who had this precious friendship and love for each other, and about how distance can keep it all bottled up but once they give it a chance, they immediately go right back to the start. Just fits them very well, if you picture a happy ending to their relationship.

“I don't know why you're looking for a friend I'm right by your side But out here from a distance You won't look me in the eyes Without your love, I think I could die Then you let me in, we go back to beginnings When we were just friends hanging out on the ceiling We'll laugh about love and how we felt for one another And I love the way we make up under covers”

6. The Scientist – Coldplay A song about longing to make things right again and with little analogies involving science? I mean…

“Nobody said it was easy It's such a shame for us to part Nobody said it was easy No one ever said it would be this hard Oh, take me back to the start”

7. Renegades – X Ambassadors The “They actually stole a TARDIS and ran away together from Gallirey” AU we need so much

“Run away with me Lost souls and reverie Running wild and running free Two kids, you and me And I say Hey, hey hey hey Living like we're renegades”

8. Love is War – American Young I like how cute this song is and yet there is a bit of a dark twist. Fits them.

“Sometimes love is all that can save us Sometimes love can kill a man Yeah sometimes love is a soft touch Or a pistol in your hand Sometimes love is a white flag (...) Sometimes a cannon ball But it's worth fighting for Baby, sometimes love is war”

9. Bury a friend – Billie Eilish (Cover by Pomplamoose) Master’s POV. Can apply to any of their regenerations but I think of Simm!Master the most, since Ten tends to run towards him rather than walk away from him.

“What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me? What are you wondering? What do you know? Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me? When we all fall asleep, where do we go?”

10. Come as you are – Nirvana (Cover by Imaginary Future) Best Enemies, everyone. Master’s POV again.

“Come as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend As an old enemy (…) And I swear that I don't have a gun No, I don't have a gun”

11. Turn – The Wombats Academy!Era, Doctor’s POV. Theta (Doctor) clearly has a crush on Koschei (Master) and they’re both love being chaotic together.

“I like the way your brain works, I like the way you try To run with the wolf pack when your legs are tired I like the way you turn me inside and out I like the way you turn I like the way your brain works Baby, it's the crazy I like I think I saw the world turn in your eyes”

12. Run – Snow Patrol Master’s POV if he was ever able to be honest about his feelings. Some parts can easily be read as the Doctor’s POV too.

“You've been the only thing that's right In all I've done And I can barely look at you But every single time I do I know we'll make it anywhere Away from here”

13. Maps - The Front Bottoms The Doctor’s POV as their relationship deteriorates after the Academy and he plans to steal the TARDIS and leave Gallifrey and his friend behind. I had to help myself from quoting the whole song because IT REALLY FITS SO WELL.

“There is a map in my room, on the wall of my room And I've got big, big plans (…) You say 'I hate you', you mean it And 'I love you' sounds fake It's taken me so long to figure that out I used to love the taste, I would do anything for it Now I would do anything to get the taste out of my mouth (…) "And what about your friends, Don't you love them enough to stay?" And I say, "If I don't leave now, Then I will never get away." Let me be a blue raft on the blue sea, I'll blend right in”

14. Old College – The Mountain Goats This fits the tiresome, sad, manipulative and draining part of their relationship.

“The warning signs have all been bright and garish Far too great in number to ignore (…) Our love has never had a leg to stand on From the aspirins to the cross-tops to the Elavils

But I will walk down to the end with you If you will come all the way down with me”

15. Like a Staring Contest – The Future Kings of Nowhere Covers the end of their friendship and start of the new enemies dynamic.

“I'm so tired of open warfare When the point of this was to be best of friends (…) When you fall in love as hard And recklessly as you and I do It seems that the final act should have The same intensity as the first scene”

16. Poison and Wine – The Civil Wars Reminds me of 12 and Missy but before Series 10.

“You only know what I want you to I know everything you don't want me to Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine You think your dreams are the same as mine Oh I don't love you but I always will”

17. Genesis 30:3 – The Mountain Goats The mentions of a past relationship and the following lines followed by drums really make me picture this as Simm!Master and Ten getting a happy but bittersweet ending.

“For several hours we lay there, last ones of our kind Harder days coming, maybe I don't mind Sounds kind of dumb when I say it, but it's true I would do anything for you”

18. Blood Under The Bridge – Frightened Rabbit Could literally be any version, but I picture Dhawan!Master and 13 making amends here, mostly because he might be crazy and frenetic but behind that façade he’s clearly way more tired than she ever will be.

“And it's alright, it's alright It's just blood under the bridge And I'm too tired to fight And you're sick of feeling sick And so am I It's alright It's just blood under the bridge”

19. Even Though Our Love is Doomed – Garbage Missy’s POV. You can interpret this like her train of thoughts and reflections starting from early Vault days to the last time we see her on-screen. Reluctance, guilt and then the resolution.

“Come a little bit closer I need to understand Why we kill the things we love the most (…) Can you love me for what I've become Love me for what I Said that I would not become 'Cause they don't burn like I do (…) And even though our love is doomed And even though we're all messed up You're the only thing worth fighting for” You're the only thing worth dying for”

20. Starlight – Muse 12 and Missy during the episodes World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls.

“Now I'll never let you go If you promised not to fade away Never fade away Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations”

21. Control – Halsey This screams Missy to me, especially since she literally incorporates the character of the evil nanny in her book (The Missy Chronicles) and in Big Finish’s audio dramas.

“I'm bigger than my body I'm colder than this home I'm meaner than my demons I'm bigger than these bones

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me" I can't help this awful energy God damn right, you should be scared of me Who is in control?”

22. Enemy – Woodlock End of Academy!Era. Yet another song which reminds me about their early fighting days and the end of their friendship.

This is where it begins At the start of an end I could no longer pretend No more, you walked out the door You’re my enemy

23. Why Can't We Be Friends? – The Academic The title says it all. The lyrics also mention how the relationship is always turning into something new, so I had to associate with the longest friends to lovers to enemies we’ve ever seen on television.

“This world is pointless If you're not here This world is pointless If we're not self-destructing love And it falls and it breaks and it turns into something new And it falls and it breaks and it turns into something”

24. Wish That You Were Here – Florence + The Machine Doctor’s POV, in the days when he regrets leaving Gallifrey for a couple of seconds before turning to occupy his with something else. Because he knows that even if he went back, things aren’t the same and everyone has changed – including him.

“And I never minded being on my own Then something broke in me and I wanted to go home To be where you are But even closer to you, you seem so very far

And it's beautiful but there's that tug in the sight I must stop time traveling, you're always on my mind”

25. No Light, No Light – Florence + The Machine This one makes me picture the first moment the Doctor realized his friend had changed too much and had to choose between his own feelings and standing for what’s right. This happens A LOT in the show, but I imagine realizing that for the first time was the hardest.

“But would you leave me If I told you what I've done And would you leave me If I told you what I've become No light, no light in your bright blue eyes I never knew daylight could be so violent A revelation in the light of day”

26. Dancing with the Devil – Wolf Gang This alternates between the Master’s POV and the Doctor’s POV.

“If you're the chosen one How does it feel to be loved by no one? If you're the number one Where do you run to? Can you hide behind the sun? You say that there's no oxygen again You're forcing down the lies but you always get your way Something tells me that this was all arranged You tricked me once again”

27. Skeleton Park – Kasador Master’s POV. “You know, back in the day, I'd burn an entire city to the ground just to see the pretty shapes the smoke made” (Missy, in The Lie of the Land, Series 10, Episode 8)

“When the house is on fire Air fills my lungs I satisfy desire From watching all you run Yeah the house is on fire Hear the sirens scream My hands hold the lighter It fits so naturally”

28. Elastic Heart – Longfellow What I love the most about the Doctor (all versions) is how they keep fighting for what is right despite their own feelings being hurt or despite how much it may cause them pain. I love what this character represents, and those lyrics reminds me so much of them.

“Oh why can I not conquer love? And I might have thought that we were one Wanted to fight this war without weapons And I wanted it, I wanted it bad But there were so many red flags (…) Yeah, let's be clear, I'll trust no one You did not break in here I'm still fighting for peace”

29. Bite Back – The All-American Rejects “You think you've broken me? You'll have to try harder than that” (The Doctor, in The Timeless Children Series 12, Episode 10). Same unbreakable side of the Doctor, but this time she definitively resents it a little more than usual.

“You couldn't break me in the end And such a freedom I enjoy When you're deaf to the sounds you trust If that was all you've got, my friend Then set yourself to disappoint”

30. No Children – The Mountain Goats Listen to me here: this covers the whole “They were married way before they started to hate each other back on Gallifrey” fan theory.

“I am drowning There is no sign of land You are coming down with me Hand in unlovable hand”

[ PART TWO TO BE ADDED SOON ]

#doctor who #thoschei #doctormaster #best enemies #my playlists #playlist

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the-drunken-fist · 4 years

Text

October 19th.

Yeah, it’s here.

I was thinking a lot what I could do for my lovely boy’s bday (and I am not talking about Jon Favreau, u sinners) bc actually I can’t do anything but silly notes about manga. However, one night a great idea came to my mind and said:

“What about Shisui’s appearance?”

“Appearance?”

“Appearance.”

“Shisui’s appearance?”

“Yes, Shisui’s appearance. You know, curly hair, body flicker, non-stop sharingan using, mad oldsters, coups, Uchiha fucking guys… Shisui!”

“Has it been a parody to Snatch?”

And so, I thought it would be pretty… interesting (?) try to realize some Modern AU headcanons about Shisui and his appearance. Let’s do it:

Shisui had some problems with his appearance in the childhood. When he went to the 1 grade, children immediately gave him a name “Potato-Shisui”. And do u know why??? Because of his nose. Shisui had never paid attention to such a feature of him and didn’t even think that his classmates’ name-calling was bad. But soon our boy understood that children went far and everything was changing into bullying. Shisui decided to turn the situation the other way. He was the highest child in the group, so during one of those unpleasent moments it was enough for him just to stand up silently, showing who was the boss in the area.

Yes, Shisui was tall. And slender. Very slender. He was a small copy of Thomas Sangster. But! This body that seemed extremely weak for… life… was actually strong and full of energy. Uchiha had always been the winner in all sport competitions at school. Especially in running ones. And it wasn’t just one-minute activity. It was his life. He run every day, in different weather because it gave him the feeling of freedom, fly, wind. It gave feelings. Great, but Shisui got another name-calling… “Russian wolfhound”.

Hair. Lovely curls that would make girls moan in the attack of cuteness in the future. But at that time he couldn’t find any advantages in them. Only big problems in hair care. Once a boy from his group even asked him if he was a Jewish. Shisui was surprised and seriously started to think about it. He knew much about his ancestors but that idea had never been in any of his family’s books and documents. But for him it sounded cool. And interesting.

Shisui didn’t consider himself handsome at all. And, yeah, such questions were opened when the period of his adolescence became. It wasn’t an idea-fix, u know, it was automatically because there were a lot of talks about it, hormones and all such unexpected things. But our 13-year-old baby didn’t even realize that he expressed such charismatic, self-confident, strong aura that made him much more incredible than even the prettiest face could make.

With time the body of our Shisui started to fill itself with visible physical strength. The shoulders became wider and more massive, the muscles like layers were growing on arms, legs, torso aki on titan in Shingeki. After the vacation like a new person came back to the classes. He looked much older than all his coevals. And his voice… when a teacher first time called him to answer the homework after such metamorphosis and the boy opened his mouth, all pupils in the classroom twitched. Gentle, light voice had changed into deep, strong, with features of whiskey and honey.

Continue the previous paragraph. It’s extremely necessary to mention the type of his speech. Oh, boys and girls… he was a talented orator. Shisui spoke absolutely clearly, accurately, confidently. But this talent became the reason why teachers always asked the boy to participate in something like “Competition of readers”. Shisui was a polite boy, so his answer was always “Ok, with pleasure”. Despite the fact of his incredible skills in a such activity Uchiha didn’t pretty like it. To stand in the center of people’s attention was a nightmare.

Later the traits of his beauty transformed into more masculine. All the parts of his face, that had always seemed too big for it, started to add very strong and self-willed features to boy’s appearance. He wasn’t a kind of guys with “traditional beauty” like Sasuke. He had something strange in his look (in a good way), contradictory. Big soft eyes with long eyelashes went with a strong jaw and high cheekbones in an extremely fantastic manner.

Clothes style. I say only two words – dark/casual. Boy, I can understand u absolutely. And Itachi inherited this style from his friend. Sometimes, when people see Itachi and Shisui together, they think that the boys wear the same clothes. Honestly, it has sense bc Itachi got some Shisui’s hand-me-downs. And the reason isn’t in difficult financial situation. Itachi doesn’t follow fashion but near there is always Shisui who can say “U have always liked this hoodie. Take it, i’ve become too big for it”. Would you refuse?

At 17 Shisui understood that it was time to stop pretending. He had terribly bad eyesight and it was becoming worse and worse. The problems continued from the time when he was 7, but our boy tried not to pay attention to it (oh, yes, lovely, I know…). He spent 2 hours in the optical store surrounded by long shelves with enormous amount of glasses of different styles, forms, colors. He was confused. Highly confused. Thanks to a nice woman there who helped him recommending many pairs which should suit him.

Accessories. Shisui has always been a big fun of little details in the look (and he wasn't even supposed). Bandanas, caps, wrist braces, belts – are his favourities. He even presented а nice necklace to Itachi for his birthday. And after “the-optical-store-incident” he found out that glasses would become honorary members of his small collection.

Bonus! Some songs from Shisui’s playlist. Naruto calls it “Grandfather’s album”:

Gone With The Sin – HIM (!!!!!!!!!! – forever love 1);

July - Noah Cyrus;

Thoughts & prayers – Grandson;

Six Billion - Nothing But Thieves;

Lonely - Palaye Royale;

O'clock - Emilie Zoé;

We Are Young feat. Janelle Monae - Fun. feat. Janelle Monáe;

About Her - Malcolm McLaren;

How We Roll - Hollywood Undead (at all HU was Shisui’s adolescent love);

Enough's Enough - Paris Shadows (Sasuke’s recommendation);

Where Did You Sleep Last Night – Nirvana;

Let It Go - Def Leppard;

When the Smoke Is Going Down – Scorpions (!!!!!!! – forever love 2);

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? - Arctic Monkeys;

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Urge Overkill;

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Soundtrack Wonder Band (Itachi always prays to all possible Gods to stop Shisui rampaging (dancing) during this song);

Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers;

Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones (rampaging song №2);

Chinese Democracy - Guns N' Roses (“No, Shisui,” Itachi said wearily. “Yes, Shisui. My car, my rules.”);

HUMBLE - Kendrick Lamar (unexpected but Naruto insisted. His “cool track” should “colorize” grandad’s list);

Lounge Act – Nirvana;

That's all for today. Thank u for your attention. And now go drink to the health of such a perfect man 🎁🎈🎂🌸💫

#uchiha shisui #shisui #shisuiweek2020 #free day #shisui's bday #naruto #naruto shippuden

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pappydaddy · 4 years

Text

Part Two: Mr. Brightside

A/N: Here’s Part Two! I don’t know when Part Three will be out, but I’m sure it’ll be out soon, I’m almost done the part and the songs for it! Check out the playlist!! If anyone wants to make an Apple Music version, just DM me!

PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO LOOK AT MY PINNED POST, SIGN THE PETITION AND REBLOG IT IF YOU CAN!!

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Henderson!OC

Fandom: Stranger Things

Warnings: Guns, violence, life-threatening situation, aggressive talk about Russians (evil Russians, not all Russians), belittlement, feelings of inferiority, feelings of weakness, deprecation images of oneself, SPOILERS!!!

I Wanna Be Yours Playlist (Spotify)

Part One | Part Two | Part Three - Coming Soon

masterlist | taglist | wips | navigation

- not my gif -

Steve hid behind the plastic plant in the middle of the food court, the binoculars pressed around his eyes, surely leaving a noticeable red ring around his eyes. He was supposed to be looking for the evil Russians that the boy crouched beside him keeps rattling off about, but he couldn’t stop watching them. He really did try to pull his focus away from the two teens standing way too close, but his eyes just pulled towards them like a magnet. “See anything?” Dustin asked, poking his head up over the plant. The two stood out like sore thumbs, proving that they were shit at stake-outs.

“Uh, I guess I don’t totally know what I’m looking for.” Steve admitted, pulling his eyes away from the couple to scan over the other people occupying the mall. His mouth hung open, his eyes drifting back up to the second floor where Ophelia and Brett stood, leaning against the railing.

“Evil Russians.” Dustin told him as if it were simple.

“Yeah, exactly,” Steve exclaimed, not even trying to pull his eyes from Ophelia as she laughed. “I don’t know what an evil Russian looks like.” Steve muttered, his binoculars following Ophelia and Brett as they walked along the second floor.

“Tall? Blond? Not smiling,” Dustin listed off suggestively. Steve only hummed, squinting into the binoculars, watching as Ophelia bent down to grab a drink of water from the water fountain, paying attention to how Brett snuck a look at her butt, her dress riding up dangerously. His blood started to boil at the sight of him shamelessly eyeing her like a piece of meat. “Also, look for earpieces, camo, duffle bags, that sort of thing.” Dustin looked over at him as he hummed along, not paying attention.

“Right, okay, duffle bags,” Steve repeated, following the pair as they walked again. If looks could kill, Brett’s arm (which was wound around Ophelia’s waist) would have been killed brutally. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Steve muttered in disbelief when Brett leaned down to whisper something in Ophelia’s ear making her pull away, a blush darkening her cheeks as she giggled and hit his chest playfully. The smirk Brett wore made Steve want to knock his lights out. It was a smirk that told Steve his true intentions. He just wanted to get in her pants and he thinks he’s almost there.

“What?” Dustin asked, trying to follow the line of the binoculars to see what Steve saw, thinking he saw a Russian.

“Your sister,” Steve told him as if it was obvious. “I have no idea why she would even think about going out with a guy like Brett Morris. She can do so much better than that weasel, god-” He ranted, his top lip curling into a snarl at the sight of him pressing a kiss to her cheek, the blush coating her delicate cheeks deepening. “He’s a sleaze.” Steve grunted, looking at the tall hockey player in disgust. Dustin’s eyes snapped towards his sister, watching Brett interact with her.

“I don’t know, I don’t see anything wrong with it, they’re on a first date and he’s being nice?” Dustin shrugged, not seeing what Steve was all worked up about. Steve pulled his eyes from the binoculars, keeping them in place so he didn’t lose the couple.

“Nice? You see nothing wrong with it,” Steve asked, bewildered. “Dude! That’s your sister and he’s smirking like he’s about to bang her!” Steve nearly cried out. Dustin’s lips turned down in a disgusted frown as he fought back a gag before turning his attention back to his sister and her date who made their way down the escalators, still in each other’s arms.

Dustin watched Brett smile down at Ophelia as she gazed at all the sights, seeing what was going on. He shrugged, looking back at Steve who watched the same scene with a snarl. “Dude, he’s smiling like he likes her,” He shook his head at the older boy. “Why do you care anyway? Do you like her?” Steve pulled away from the binoculars again, furrowing his brow at the younger Henderson. Dustin twitched an eyebrow at Steve, waiting for an answer.

“I don’t like her,” He denied, his voice filtering almost like it knew something he didn’t. Of course he didn’t like Ophelia. Those were old feelings. She’s his best friend’s sister. The girl who fought demogorgons, demodogs and Billy Hargrove alongside him. The girl who always comes in and brightens his day with her smile and laugh. The girl with bright eyes that seemed to swirl with stars. She was the girl who he felt a strong need to protect, to shield away from the world that was hell-bent to destroy such a beautiful creature. The girl who kissed him in grade nine during a game of spin the bottle. Steve certainly did not like Ophelia Henderson and her certainly didn’t find himself thinking back to that quick little peck of the lips at Hannah Hanson’s party. He scoffed, looking back through the binoculars and letting panic settle into him. “Shit! Where’d they go-” He was cut off by someone snatching the binoculars away.

Both Dustin and Steve jumped, looking up at a fuming Ophelia; the binoculars grasped in her hand. Her body nearly shook with the anger coursing through her. “What are you two mouthbreathers doing? Spying on my date?” She asked, her fingers wrapped around the binoculars turning white from her grasp. Steve’s lips parted, his brown eyes looking up at her. It wasn’t like he set off to spy on her date, it just kinda happened. Dustin grabbed the binoculars back from his sister, making the angry girl shift her eyes to him.

“No-” Dustin snapped, holding the binoculars to his chest. “We were looking for evil Russians, Steve is just a horrible spy.” He told her, bringing the binoculars up to his eyes. Steve whined at the younger boy’s comment, but otherwise remained silent.

“Evil Russians? Why would you be looking for evil Russians in the food court?” Ophelia turned her nose up, looking at her brother as if he were crazy. Dustin sighed, pulling the binoculars from his eyes to give her a look. Steve furrowed his brow at her until he remembered that she had left them last night before they discovered the Russian transmission came from the mall. Heat bubbled in his chest, remembering why she had left them. His jaw clenched, his brown eyes hardening on the wall across from him, hoping that his stare could make it crumble.

“The Russians aren’t in Russia, music from the Indiana Flyer was heard in the background of the recording, blah blah blah, there you’re all caught up-” Dustin grumbled, peering through the binoculars again, leaning forward as he looked at each person mulling around suspiciously. Ophelia opened her mouth to retort, but Dustin cut her off. “Now go back to your date so that I can actually spy - unlike somebody.” Dustin shot the last part towards the older boy who sat there, stewing in his anger.

With a groan and a roll of her eyes, Ophelia turned on her heels and strutted back towards Brett who now held a pretzel and a drink in his hands. Steve watched as he greeted her with a smile, handing her the drink. His now free hand slipped along the small of her back as he guided her towards one of the empty seats. “Ugh, he doesn’t need to be so handsy.” Steve grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, his lips pouting.

“Oh my god, I don’t get why you can’t just see it, are you really that blind?” Dustin asked Steve, not taking his eyes from the binoculars. Steve looked over at the busy-haired pre-teen.

“See what?” Steve snapped, trying his hardest not to look over at Ophelia again, just knowing he would be greeted by the sickening sight of her giggling for another guy. Just the thought of another guy making her laugh like Steve does made his stomach churn. He felt like he was standing out in a field as the world around him turned cold, the blue skies swirling into a dark gray - just seconds before the cold rain poured down on top of him.

“See how you actually feel about Leah, you Dipshit,” Dustin exclaimed, growing tired of Steve’s blindness. “Everything you’re seeing with Brett being an ass is all in your thick head, fueled by your jealousy!” Dustin told him. Sure, Dustin hadn’t noticed the crush that his friend harboured for his sister, but the second that Ophelia told them about her date, Steve had changed. It had become obvious to Dustin. All the time Steve just suddenly dropped by the Henderson household with Ophelia’s favourite movies in his hands, the fact that Steve was always parked by their curb in the mornings to drive them to school.

“I feel like she’s a friend, you Dipshit,” Steve argued back, his top lip rolling up into a sneer at Dustin's suggestion. The fact that everything in his life had suddenly become a downcast blue since Brett had asked Ophelia on a date didn’t mean he liked her. Just because he felt like his heart had been struck with a hammer does not mean he liked her. “And I am not jealous, I am quite positive if I do say so myself.” Steve liked to view himself as Mr. Sunshine. Full of positive light and energy. Though, he couldn’t shake the images of them after their date. Brett’s fingers trailing along the curve of Ophelia’s side as their lips mashed together. The hockey player’s fingers slipping under her skirt, running along her thighs. The mental image hurt him so much he could have punched a wall.

“Come on Steve! You like her, why else would you be so obsessed over her going on a date with Brett?” Dustin pointed out. Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes. Why was he even fighting with Dustin on this? Dustin was a kid, he doesn’t understand the complicated world of love. He doesn’t know the arch of a heart, he doesn’t know the pining and the angst. He has no idea what he was talking about.

“Because Brett Morris is a dirty sleezeball and Ophelia shouldn’t be on a date with him!” Steve told him, his arms moving frantically even though he knew Dustin wasn’t going to pull his eyes away from the binoculars to watch him.

“Sure,” Dustin hummed, finally pulling away from the binoculars far enough to turn his head to look at Steve. “And the fact that you can only refer to Brett as Brett Morris has nothing to do with jealousy?” Dustin posed the question. Robin and Dustin all refer to him as just Brett in a nice, casual tone, but Steve always spat his first and last name as if it was venom he had just ingested, his face always screwing up as if he had just referenced his arch nemesis.

“I just don’t like him, I know his type.” Steve avoided, his head swirling from Dustin’s interrogation. Why did he not like Brett? Steve never really talked to him. Sure they were both popular, but Steve hung close to the basketball crowd while Brett spread out a little more within the high school groups. Brett and Ophelia ran in the same crowd, being involved with multiple organizations in school. Without an explanation, Steve had developed a hatred for the tall hockey player from the first time he saw him and Ophelia talking in the school hallway as they stood at her locker, why back when Nancy was in the picture.

“You like her and if you don’t figure that you soon, you’re going to have to figure out how to forget her because she’s not going to wait around for you.” Dustin shrugged, telling him how it is. Of course he knew how his sister felt, he figured out how to pick the lock on her journal two years ago. He knew everything about her, and some of it, he didn’t want to know.

“I don’t like your sister dude!” Steve gave up trying to make excuses, knowing that Dustin will just mess with his head someway, making him question if he actually did like Ophelia.

“Yes, you do.” Dustin stated pointblank.

“No.” Steve denied again. Dustin shook his head, peering through the binoculars once again.

“Yes-” Dustin sang back, pleased with knowing that he was right once again.

“No-”

“You do!” Dustin shot back. Steve glared at the younger boy.

“She’s not my type, okay? She’s too nice, too sweet, too pretty - too perfect.” Steve trailed off towards the end, not being able to find the correct reason why she wasn’t his type. When he was King Steve, he was positive that Carol and Tommy wouldn’t have any problem listing reasons why she wasn’t his type, but now he wasn’t sure. She was gorgeous, funny, insanely smart and caring. She was everyone’s type.

“What’s your type again? Girls who don’t like you?” Dustin perked an eyebrow at him when he pulled away from the binoculars once again. Steve shot him a sharp glare for the comment. Steve wasn’t sure what his type was in all honesty, but he was sure that Ophelia wasn’t it.

“Thank you,” Steve forced the corner of his lips up in a sarcastic smile before they dropped back down into a straight line. “For your information, Ophelia is still in school and that’ll be weird for me to date someone who is still in high school and she-she is nice to the weird-o’s like Robin. She’s on the prom committee and homecoming committee, and she likes hockey players apparently - hockey players are the bottom of the sports food chain.” Steve ranted, searching his mind for his next point.

Dustin looked at him once again, rolling his eyes at his reasons. “Now that you’re out of high school, which means that you’re technically an adult, don’t you think it’s time to move on from primitive constructs such as popularity - which Ophelia is popular.” Dustin suggested, trying to get Steve to see the world that’s outside of all the worrying about fitting in.

“Oh, primitive constructs? That some stupid shit you learned at Camp Know-” He paused, shaking his head, trying to come up with the name of the camp Dustin had went to this summer. “Nothing?” He settled for an insult, his defence mechanism starting up.

“Camp Know Where, actually. And no, it’s shit I learned from life,” Dustin told him. Nerds, with all that they have to put up with from the popular people, have learned things. They’ve learned that you shouldn’t focus on making other people see you as cool, instead you should focus on making yourself happy. Steve hummed, looking away from Dustin to scan over the people walking around. “Instead of dating somebody you think’s gonna make you cooler, why not date someone you actually enjoy being around,” Dustin suggested. Steve blinked, thinking about it. He did like being around Ophelia. She made his day brighter and just the thought of her made a smile stretch onto his face. “Like me and Suzie.”

“Oh, Suzie-” He mocked, bouncing his head. Dustin gave him a look, pulling the binoculars back to his eyes. “Yeah, you mean ‘hotter than Phoebe Cates”, yeah that Suzie, and, uh,” Steve paused. “Let’s actually think about it, how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend,” He posed the question, scratching the side of his face in faux question. “Oh yeah! With my advice,” He reminded him. “Because that’s how this works, Henderson. I give you advice and you follow through - not the other way around, all right, pea-brain?” Steve shot at him. Dustin gave him a look before resuming his search.

***

Ophelia walked towards Scoops, a dazed look on her face. The feeling of Brett’s lips on hers was still fresh. The odd feeling she felt in the bottom of her stomach returning at the memory. His lips felt odd on hers, they didn’t feel as pillowy as she imagined them to be, instead they were chapped against hers. His lips had touched her so gently, almost as if he was scared that she’d shattered under him any second. Normally, she would have found his gentleness romantic and endearing, but the kiss was almost just his lips hovering over hers, just barely brushing together like he didn’t even want to touch her. It was like that for the entire date, his fingertips just brushing against the small of her back or his arm barely touching her shoulders.

She found her mind wandering off to Steve and if he would have done the same thing. Would he have barely touched her, would his lips just skim over her’s in a short kiss? Would his fingertips ever so slightly touch her body? Maybe Brett just didn’t want to touch her? He hadn’t even mentioned a second date before he scampered off for his shift with blushing cheeks. She sighed, her heels scraping against the floor sluggishly. “Does he even like me?” She whispered to herself. She heard thudding feet running towards her, making her lift her head to see Steve and Dustin rushing out of Scoops in search of someone.

They ran towards her, Steve’s hand reaching out to grasp her small wrist in his, yanking her along with them. She let out a squeak of surprise as she was spun on her heel and pulled towards the center of the mall. She tried to ignore the tingling and the heat that crawled up her arm, spreading throughout her body at his grasp. Steve came to an abrupt stop when they arrived at Robin who stood on the bench wrapping around the center planter’s box that held an assortment of fake plants and a tree, a wide eyed look on her face as she looked down at the three of them. “Robin, what are you doing?” He asked, walking closer to the blonde, his hand still wrapped around Ophelia’s wrist.

“I cracked it.” She said, a hint of excitement in her usually monotone drawl. Ophelia furrowed her brows, glancing at Steve’s hand still on her wrist. His grip, it wasn’t just hovering over her like Brett’s was. His touch felt different from Brett’s. His touch was just something brushing against her body while Steve’s ignited warmth in her that spread throughout her body, like a fire burning under her skin.

“Cracked what?” Steve asked, prompting Robin to jump from the bench - Steve and Dustin’s eyes following her. The sound of her sneakers slapping the tiled floor made Ophelia look at her.

“I cracked the code,” She couldn’t help the smile that consumed her face. Ophelia smiled, proud of Robin for cracking the seemingly impossible code. Robin brushed past the group, glancing down at Steve’s hand encircling Ophelia’s wrist. “Oh, um, Steve?” She turned around, walking backwards with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah?” Steve asked, his eyebrows jumping up as he turned his body to look at Robin, waiting for her to ask him something. Her eyes jumped from between Ophelia and him with sparkles of amusement dancing in her vibrant blue eyes.

“I think you can let go of Ophelia’s hand now.” She beamed at the older boy. Instantly, Dustin and Steve’s eyes dropped down to see that Steve’s hand still held Ophelia’s wrist, making Dustin snort and slap his hand over his mouth to stop his chuckles while Steve nearly choked on his own spit - a blush covering his cheeks. His hand dropped Ophelia’s wrist, the warmth she felt from his fingers grasping her wrist still burning throughout her body.

“Thanks.” Ophelia smiled, walking towards Robin, leaving Steve and Dustin behind. Slipping his hand from his mouth, Dustin looked at Steve who stared at his hand, clenching it in a fist before stretching it out, feeling a weird tingling that felt like he just grabbed an electric fence. Steve’s brown eyes looked up at Ophelia who talked to Robin about how she managed to figure out the code. Her hair bounced behind her as she tried to keep up with the slightly taller girl, her heels clicking against the clean tile.

“Yeah, you definitely don’t like her.” Dustin mused, giving Steve a look as he shook his head. Steve looked over at him, still fisting and unfisting his hand.

“I don’t like her!” Steve denied making Dustin hum and walk away, joining Ophelia and Robin. Steve rolled his eyes, trudging after the group.

“So, Leah,” Dustin cut into the girl’s conversation, earning pointed glares from both of them. “How was the date, from what I saw, it went pretty good.” Dustin inquired, stealing a glance at Steve who glared at him as well. Ophelia glanced at her brother, before glancing at Steve who dropped the glare and gave her a smile instead.

“Yeah, Leah, how’d the big date with Brett go? You were so excited yesterday.” Robin easily changed the subject, knowing that she had the rest of the day to explain her thought process and the plan she was cooking up in her mind. Ophelia shrugged, glancing down at her feet.

“Uh, it was okay. We just kind of walked around after the movie, we shared a pretzel and sat by the fountain, that’s about it.” Ophelia waved them off, her tone less excited. The date was good, he made her laugh, paid for everything before Ophelia could even think about it, but she couldn’t help but let the kiss and lack of talk about a second date put her off. Steve sensed her downcast mood, his heart itching to cheer her up. He couldn’t stand to see her so down, but he also couldn’t help but to feel delighted at the thought that her date didn’t go well.

“Did he kiss you? Is there a second date?” Robin pressed, glancing at Steve from the corner of her eyes as he waited for her answer with baited breath. Ophelia shook her head, a heaving sigh leaving her lips.

“He did kiss me, but it was weird and I have no idea if there is a second date, he didn’t even talk about a second date,” Ophelia admitted, looking at Robin. Robin simply looked at her with wide, confused eyes. She was shocked, Brett seemed to actually like Ophelia. “I’m fine, really. Brett’s cute and nice, but I think we might just be better as friends.” She brushed off Robin’s sympathetic eyes.

“Still, that must suck, Leah. I know how important this date was for you.” Robin rested her hand on Ophelia’s shoulder softly, offering her support. In a private moment with Robin last night when Steve was scooping ice cream and Dustin had been in the bathroom, Robin had made Ophelia crack, admitting her feelings for Steve along with her hopes that this date would help her get over the goofy dingus. Hoping that Brett would be the antidote to the poison that was her crush flooding her veins.

“It’s no biggie, he has my number. Maybe he’ll call me, maybe he won’t - who knows,” She continued to deflect Robin’s support. They all walked into Scoops, seeing barely anyone in the store. Robin opened her mouth to talk to her, but she cut her off. “I’m just going to change into sneakers, I want out of these shoes.” The words were heavy with a lack of emotion, a huge contrast to her normally sweet voice and cheery disposition. Steve watched her as she walked sluggishly into the back room, his heart hurting. He didn’t want to see her so sad. He wanted to see her bright smile, to hear her laughter bouncing off the blue and white striped walls of the overly cheery parlor. He was snapped out of his trance by both Robin and Dustin whacking the back of his head.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Steve grumbled, looking at Robin and Dustin who glared back at him.

“For being an idiot.” Dustin retorted, walking around the counter, grabbing a sample spoon and skimming the top of one of the ice creams.

“I did it because I’m tired of this,” Robin threw her hands in the air, also walking behind the counter, closing the screen, but not before peeking in at Ophelia who sat at the table slowly putting her shoes on. “She is upset because she’s trying to move on.” She shook her head, speaking mostly to herself, but she wasn’t aware of Steve standing on the other side of the counter, hearing the words.

“Move on from what? She broke up with her last boyfriend back in September, she’s not still caught up on that asshole, is she?” Steve asked, making Robin whirl around in surprise, not wanting Steve to hear that. Dustin and Robin shared a look before glancing at Steve. A mix of emotions flurried around Steve’s mind like a blizzard, making him mad. Why would she still be hooked on the asshole who barely paid attention to her? Couldn’t she see that she deserved more.

“Why would that matter to you, Steve, you don’t like her.” Dustin sneered, reminding him. Steve jolted back at Dustin’s sudden aggression. Dustin felt protective over his sister. She was obviously crushed that her date didn’t go well and from what Robin just said, it wasn’t because she liked Brett.

“I care because she’s my friend. I don’t need to like her romantically to care for her,” Steve bit back making Robin groan, stomping her foot against the floor in frustration. Steve was just as thick as the layer of product in his precious hair. “What? I shouldn’t care about her?” Steve asked, his eyes wide as he tried to pinpoint their emotions based on their reactions.

“Let me ask you a question Steve,” Robin paused, placing her hands on the counter by the cash, her hard blue eyes looking up at him. “Were you upset about Ophelia going on a date with Brett?” Robin threw the question up in the air, already knowing the answer.

“I wouldn’t say upset-” Steve was cut off by Robin raising her hand at him.

“How did you feel about her going on a date with Brett?” Robin rephrased the question, her hand slapping back to the blue counter, waiting for Steve to answer. Steve blinked, thinking.

“I guess I was a little upset, I mean, Brett Morris is not good for her. She can do so much better than him.” Steve answered, growing upset at the thought of her not realizing how great she was and underestimating what she deserved.

“Okay, so what type of guy is good for her?” Robin bounced back instantly with another question, trying to get him to figure out that he liked her.

“I don’t know,” Steve muttered, thinking. With a sigh, he placed his hands on his hips. “I honestly can’t think of any guy who is good enough. They’re all shit,” Steve confessed. Robin raised her eyebrows, giving him a look. “Alright! I was upset that she was going on a date with Brett Morris, happy?” Steve exclaimed, admitting defeat.

“You hated it so much that you couldn’t stop spying on them, Steve. You were ready to kill the poor guy.” Dustin chimed in, trying to bring Robin’s point home.

“Yes, I spied on them and I might have made some comments about how much I don’t like the guy, what’s your point?” Steve asked them, kicking his leg out to the side, his tongue flicking over his bottom lip. Dustin groaned, his forehead hitting the top of the cooler.

“My point is you like her Steve and you have the power to make her feel better. I know it’s killing you to see her so upset so could you just take a second, try to let the realization penetrate that thick skull of yours and figure out that you are head over heels for her?” Robin pressed, gesturing towards the backroom where Ophelia still hid. Steve scoffed, shaking his head at their antics.

“I don’t like her, okay? I’m not even looking for a serious relationship - not after what happened with Nancy.” Steve denied. Robin and Dustin grew even more frustrated by his denial. Robin rested her elbows on the counter, leaning down as she clasped her hands together in front of her. She licked her lips, glancing down at the counter before back up at Steve.

“You’re just going to stand there and tell us that not even a tiny little part of you realizes that you like Ophelia?” Robin asked him point blank. Steve blinked at her. He thought about it. Did he really like Ophelia? The way Robin had phrased it and the way she said it made him question how he really felt. Had he been denying how he felt about Ophelia because he was scared of being hurt again? His heart did practically leap out of his chest at the sight of her. Seeing guys shamelessly flirt with her day in and day out made him feel like he was continuously running into a solid brick wall with his heart tapped to his face. Oftentimes, he would find himself imagining her smile to calm him down when he’s sad.

“I-I don’t really know,” Steve stuttered, unsure of himself. He shook his head, righting his posture. “Even if I did like her, she probably doesn’t like me. I am the furthest thing from what she deserves.” Steve argued back.

“You won’t know if she likes you if you don’t ask Steve, I know you know how you feel about her,” Robin’s tone was soft and comforting. “We know how she feels about you, but it’s not our place to tell you that. If you want to know how she feels before you realize your feelings, you’re going to miss her - she’s not going to wait around if she likes you.” She told him. Steve looked at her in confusion.

“What?” Steve blinked, not understanding what she was saying.

“I’m saying that if you don’t just figure out your feelings for her, you’re going to miss your chance with her,” Robin was handing him the answer of Ophelia’s feelings for him on a silver platter and it was up to him to figure it out. “And if you don’t figure them out fast, you’re going to mess up.” She warned.

***

Rain poured down on them as they laid on their stomachs, watching a storage room being loaded up. Ophelia rested her chin on her hands that laid on top of the concrete parapet in front of them. “Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes!” Robin instructed Dustin from beside Ophelia. She pulled her hood up over her hair, her bare legs that her dress didn’t cover becoming cold as they got soaked with rain. She could hear one of the delivery guys whistling over the pounding rain, but because of the distance, she couldn’t see anything through the pouring rain.

“They’re with that whistling guy, ten O’Clock!” Dustin exclaimed from the other-side of Steve, his binoculars once again pressed to his face. Lazily, Ophelia let her eyes move towards the direction Dustin told them, seeing a man with a yellow raincoat pushing a trolley with three boxes on it into the storage unit. She also couldn’t help but notice the two large guys dressed in black, both holding rather large guns.

“What do you think’s in there?” Steve asked, his eyes squinting as rain fell on his head. He was the only one without a proper raincoat, but that didn’t surprise Ophelia, he wouldn’t be one to own a rain jacket.

“Guns, bombs.” Dustin suggested.

“Chemical Weapons.” Robin also suggested. Steve’s eyebrows jumped as he licked his lips. He wasn’t pleased to have Ophelia with them, not wanting her mixed up with this. It was starting to get dangerous.

“Whatever it is, they’re armed to the teeth.” Dustin announced, his eyes dropping to one of the stern faced guards. Thunder clapped overhead as Steve rubbed his eyes that were irritated from the rain.

“Great,” He commented, nodding his head as he pulled his hand away. His eyes were screwed shut in hopes not to get any more water in them. “That’s great.” He grumbled, opening his eyes. Ophelia reached up to his shoulder, patting it twice before letting it rest on the concrete once again. Her eyes squinted when one of the guards started to move, trying to see what he was doing. She was so focused on what the man was doing, she jolted back in fright when the storage room doors suddenly opened.

“Hey, what’s in there?” Robin perked up, also noticing the doors opening.

“It’s just more boxes.” Dustin told them. Ophelia nodded, watching as the delivery man pushed the trolley into the now open room.

“Let me check it out.” Steve told Dustin, reaching his arm up to grab the binoculars blindly. Dustin pulled the binoculars from his eyes, his grip tightening around them.

“No! I’m still looking!” Dustin pulled back on the binoculars, trying to get Steve to let go of them. Steve simply slapped his other hand on them, trying to wrestle them away from the younger boy.

“Lemme see it.” Steve pressed, pulling harder. Ophelia scooted closer to Robin, not wanting to be hit by Steve’s flailing elbow. A flash of lightning temporarily blinded them as Dustin and Steve continued to tug on the binoculars.

“Hold on!” Dustin argued, giving a sharp tug to the binoculars just as Steve let his hands go - making Dustin hit one of the metal pipes, a loud bang sounding over the pounding rain. Ophelia and Robin jumped at the sound, their eyes jumping from Dustin before looking down at the guards.

“Shit!” Ophelia cursed when she saw the guards glancing towards their direction, their hands reaching for their large semi-automatic guns. All four gasped, fear making their blood run cold in their veins. Ophelia was almost positive that her heart had stopped beating for a second.

“Duck!” Dustin cried as they all dropped to lay down. Ophelia flopped on her back, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her head rested against the slope of the parapet uncomfortably, a dull ache already making itself present in her neck. She had barely noticed that Steve had grabbed her hand tightly in the middle of the mess until she felt the same heat crawling under her skin that she felt when he grabbed her wrist earlier. It was a welcomed contrast from the cold rain pelting her like bullets, but she couldn’t let the sensation distract her from the fact that they could very well die right then and there.

“We gotta go,” Steve whispered harshly. His mind raced, trying to figure out how they were going to get themselves out of this situation. “We can hide along that.” He pointed towards the larger structure attached to the roof entrance. He didn’t even wait for them to argue before he started to move, tugging Ophelia along with him. He hadn’t even noticed his hand in hers, he was too occupied with trying not to die. They all awkwardly ran, pressing themselves up against the tin siding of the structure.

“I hope this plan works because we don’t have a plan b.” Ophelia panted, letting her head fall back against the wall, her eyes closing. Her chest stung from the panic and running, her lungs burning as they continued to grow greedy for air. She could feel herself shaking, but she wasn’t sure if it was mostly from the cold or her pending death which was rapidly approaching.

Nobody said anything as they all tried to calm their wildly beating hearts in hopes to control their loud breathing. The faint but rapid clang of heavy boots hitting the stairs was muffled to their ears, but detectable none-the-less. The heavy door slammed against the tin making them jump. Ophelia pressed the palm of her free hand to her mouth, her heart rate picking right back up. She found herself trying to plead with every higher power there was to just let them make it out of this situation alive, even wishing on the stars she knew were hidden behind the thick black rain clouds. She hoped that the planets and stars were aligned just the right way so that they all could live another day.

Thunder clapped, overhead making Ophelia suddenly start praying to Zeus of all people, hoping her name was a good enough reason for the mythical god to help the four of them. Steve squeezed her hand tight, nearly cutting off the blood flow to her fingers, but she didn’t care, she just squeezed his hand back equally as hard. They listened carefully, trying to hear any sign of movement over the rain splattering against the concrete of the roof.

It felt like an eternity before they heard the door swing open and slam shut, followed by the sweet sound of heavy boots hitting the metal of the stairs. “We should wait here until we know for sure he’s gone.” Dustin whispered, anxiety filling him, making his mind race. For all he knew, the guard could be waiting to catch them at any second, successfully catching them in his masterplan.

“Good idea.” Steve nodded. Robin and Ophelia looked at them with hard eyes.

“Well then how do we know when to leave? It’s not like he’s standing out in the pouring rain, he can wait there for hours!” Ophelia pointed out a flaw in Dustin’s wait-it-out plan. Just as she said that, they heard the guards loudly talking to each other in Russian, their voices booming over the rain. Dustin smiled at his sister.

“That’s how we know.” He remarked, darting towards the door. She rolled her eyes as the rest of them moved after him, their hearts still racing a mile a minute. They filed into the stairwell, their panting breaths echoing off the wall along with the squishes and squeaks of their sneakers against the clean floors. They were all drenched from head to toe, their clothes a soaking mess that clung to their skin uncomfortably. Ophelia’s hair hung in clumps around her head, a few clumps sticking to the back of her neck and allowing water to trail down her dry back. For the most part, Ophelia, Dustin and Robin’s clothes were somewhat dry thanks to their raincoats protecting them; the protection of the rubber coats stopped the second the Russian guards discovered their presence, their hoods sliding off their heads, their unbuttoned jackets flopping open to expose them to the cold rain.

“Well, I think we found your Russians.” Robin declared the second they reached the back corridors that connected all the stores to the loading dock. She glanced between Steve and Dustin as they all rushed back to Scoops, wanting to be safe once again. Steve continued to hold Ophelia’s hand, tugging her along behind him as he sped walked to Scoops. Robin glanced at their intertwined hands, sharing a look with Dustin who also noticed.

***

Robin was long gone, having biked home so that she could sleep off the memory of nearly dying, something the other three had unfortunately faced twice before. Dustin retreated to Ophelia’s car, but forced her and Steve to get his Camp Know Where hat that he accidentally left behind in the backroom of Scoops. Ophelia and Steve walked in silence, Steve’s mind wrapped up in trying to figure out if he actually liked her. “So, that was kinda scary earlier, huh?” Steve asked, his voice coming out squeakier than he wanted, as he pulled the door to the outside open, the sound of raindrops hitting the wet pavement meeting their ears.

“Yeah, just a little,” Ophelia nodded. She had sensed his rigidity around her. It was like he was constantly on edge, overthinking everything he did. She felt fear settle into her chest at the thought that he had figured her feelings for her. He was probably trying to figure out how to let her down gently or how she could have possibly misread his signs of friendship for something more. “We’ve almost died a lot of times, but this is the first time we’ve almost died from guns.” She tried to carry on the conversation as if her heart wasn’t threatening to rip itself in half.

Stepping into the pouring rain, their barely dry clothes were instantly wet again, weighing down on them along with the crushing silence beating between them like a pulse. Even with the cold rain drops pelting them and thunder rolling over their heads, they still took their time walking to their respective cars. Despite the suffocating silence that bathed them, they still wanted to spend time together. “I don’t think this is a good idea - not after what happened on the roof.” Steve suddenly stopped, turning to face her. Ophelia dug her heels into the ground, whirling around to face him with furrowed brows. He didn’t know what prompted him to say that, the thought of not wanting her to get hurt pressing itself to the forefront of his brain - begging for attention.

They both ignored the raindrops rolling down their faces at high speeds and the rain beating at their faces, their eyes blinking rapidly. “What do you mean? You don’t want to figure out what they’re doing anymore?” She asked, confused. Steve was stubborn, he never gave up on anything. It wasn’t like him to back out of something.

Steve shook his head, water spraying from his hair at the action like a dog. “No, no,” He breathed out so softly Ophelia almost didn’t hear it over the rain. “No, I don’t want you to be involved in this anymore.” He told her, gesturing his hands in the small space between them. They stood so close, you could barely fit another person between them. Ophelia blinked at him, her mouth opening and closing as she processed what he had just said.

“Why not? If you haven’t noticed, I’ve dealt with things a lot scarier than Russians.” She shot back, her hands flying through the air. They had been through so much the past two years, they had been through hell and back and there was no way she was going to bow out at Russians. Last time she checked, they weren’t some unknown force from another dimension.

“Did you not see the giant semi-automatics they were holding Ophelia? That’s a lot harder to avoid than a monster,” Steve’s voice boomed, his blood pressure building. He didn’t want her to get hurt; he didn’t want her to end up with a bullet in her. He wanted her safe, far away from this. Monsters were one thing, but these monsters had guns and a ruthless urge to kill. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” He admitted, his voice quieter, but scratchy - realization hitting him. He felt like he had been hit by a tonne of bricks. The world was spinning around him like he was standing on a spinning top that was spinning out of control. His stomach churned, making him want to throw up, but the dizziness made him feel like he was going to pass out. He liked her. Here he stood, in a deserted parking lot with rain pounding down on him, starting a fight with her because he liked her.

Steve watched her face, a mixture of sadness, hurt and anger perfectly blended to match the storm swirling overhead. She chuckled dryly, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest. Licking her lips, she set her watery, but hard eyes on Steve who seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts. “You don’t want me to get hurt,” She echoed like she couldn’t believe the words he spoke. “Do you not remember who saved you from being killed from demodogs and Billy Hargrove last year? Oh, yeah! That’s right,” Her tone picked up to fake enthusiasm. “It was me.” Her tone dropped dangerously.

“Billy was different and you ended up right next to me on that floor, Ophelia,” He reminded her, his voice raising as well, his voice strained. “I can’t do that again, I can’t see you laying there barely hanging on to consciousness again!” His body shook as he screamed into the night. He was screaming out silently, hoping that she could hear what he was trying to tell her.

“And you think I want to see you being beaten to a pulp again? No, but I’m not going to try and stop you from potentially saving the world again and you shouldn’t try to stop me!” She screamed back. She was trying to get him to hear her, to hear her true meaning in the words that she spoke.

“I can take care of myself, you-” He cut himself off, his mind stopping his mouth from talking before he put his foot in his mouth. “You-” He tried to come up with something else quickly, knowing that what he wanted to say was a complete lie. She could take care of herself. She had proven that multiple times. “You-” He tried again, but she cut him off with a stressed cry.

“I- What, Steve,” She asked, her eyes dancing with fire despite the water that pooled in them, trying desperately to smother the fire. “I can’t defend myself? I can’t take care of myself, huh,” She asked, choking back a little sob as her heart pulled itself apart slowly. She had always been undermined, nobody letting her do anything because she wasn’t strong enough, because she was just a little fragile thing that would break if the wind blew too hard. She listened to his silence, his eyes darting to the wet pavement guiltily. “God Steve! I thought that you of all people wouldn’t look at me like that, but I guess you’re just like everyone else.” She spat, tears finally breaking through the wall, sliding down her cheeks along with the rain.

Steve noticed instantly, his heart feeling like it was being held together by a single thin string that was seconds away from snapping at the sight of the tears. “No, Ophelia, that wasn’t what I wanted to say-” She cut him off once again.

“Then tell me,” She stated, sniffling slightly. “Tell me what you don’t think of me like a porcelain doll that will crack at the softest touch,” She prompted him. Silence banged like the thunder over their heads. Steve’s mouth hung open, wanting to say something, but he couldn’t, his mind blank. He really didn’t see why she couldn’t continue this with them other than the fact that he likes her and will go insane if something happened to her, but he couldn’t say that. Not yet at least. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” She muttered bitterly, wiping at her face. “Think what you want, Harrington-” She spat his name as if it were a bad taste in her mouth, sending a dagger into his heart - severing the string holding it together. “I’m doing this whether you like it or not.” She told him, turning on her heel and speed walking towards her car where Dustin sat.

Steve stood there, hair hanging in his face as he watched her. The warning Robin gave him earlier echoing through his head. “If you don’t figure them out fast, you’re going to mess up.” Steve sighed, kicking the ground and walking to his dark car. His thoughts were consumed by Ophelia, wondering how he was going to fix this and his new found feelings for her. He had always felt it, he just finally realized it. Ophelia Henderson could take anything she wanted from him, even his beating heart from his chest, and leave and Steve would just be happy to see her smile.

She was always there for him. She gave him shelter when his dad and him were fighting about College and he didn’t feel safe to be home for weeks. She held him, gave him food, cared for him when his parents wouldn’t. When he felt like he was losing everything, like he was drowning, she was the one keeping him afloat, keeping his head above water. She was the reason his head was still above the rising water levels of his life. She was the reason he was still hanging onto hope that his life will get better. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t able to protect herself (which he knew full well that she could), he’d still rather give his life for her because she’s saved his life more than once and he knows that she’d do it all over again, even if it meant giving her life for him. She was the reason he was still there, being able to be there for Dustin. She pulled him out of his darkest time, of the period of his life where he honestly couldn’t picture himself in five years because he thought he’d be dead. He didn’t understand how he couldn’t have realized his feelings sooner, how he so clearly liked her that even Dustin noticed it before him. He could have avoided doing the one thing he never wanted to do: hurt Ophelia.

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