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marksandrec · 11 months
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Marks and Rec: Misc #2555
Netflix hates love, that's all. (Dialogue is just made up.)
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enstars (music! and only music?!) got an english/worldwide release.... :)
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Fyi, it’s not reroll/guest friendly... and remember yall, gacha is expensive PAIN in this game :))
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i sense chaos...
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munsons-curls · 2 years
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Black Dahlias
Pairing: Ghostface!Eddie Munson x F! Reader (18+)
Contains: 18+!! Heavy, graphic smut. Rough, unprotected sex, dirty talk, oral sex (M/F receiving), praise kink, slight degradation, breeding kink if you squint, possessive!eddie, mean!eddie, slight innocence kink. Minor ghostface!steve. CANON DIVERGENT.
Trigger warnings: DUBCON, knife play, stalking, panty theft, drinking and drug consumption, emetophobia, allusions to sexual assault and child abuse, graphic depictions of murder, violence and gore. <-PLEASE HEED THESE TRIGGER WARNINGS!!!!
A/N: happy All Hallows’ Eve!! 🎃 thank you so so so much to T @hotchs-bitch for leaving me 112 comments on this Google doc despite having her own 17k word WIP. I love u.
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Somebody’s watching you. 
Your eyes dart around the open courtyard, scanning the area for anything, anybody that stands out, but the unease rolling in your stomach dissipates as quickly as it arrives. 
In the distance, you spot a tall figure lighting a cigarette under the awning of the drama block. His dark, curly hair sits at his leather and denim clad shoulders, ringed fingers bringing a cigarette to his mouth. He’s initially a cutting figure, intimidating and looming but you find yourself drawn to him in a magnetic way. 
You meet his eyes briefly, your attention ripped away when a girl with short, dirty blonde hair rushes past you, splashing you with her converse. She windmills to a stop and begins apologising profusely, running back to you. 
You meet his eyes briefly, your attention ripped away when a girl with short, dirty blonde hair rushes past you, splashing you with her converse. She windmills to a stop and begins apologising profusely, running back to you. 
“Holy shit. Holy fucking shit, I’m so sorry.” She rasps. “I totally didn’t even see that stupid puddle and now you’re soaking!” 
“No harm done.” You smile, downcast. “I was already wet.” 
She looks you up and down, her eyes widening at you soaking through your clothes. “I’m so sorry. Do you have, like. A ride or something? How long have you been waiting here?” 
“Since class let out. I’m just waiting for the rain to clear to walk home.” You smile.
“Okay. Forget it. C’mon. You’re coming with me.” You’re being dragged away by a well-meaning hand before you can protest, leading you to a dark red BMW. “C’mon!” She insists when you drag your heels, pulling you down the hilly path to the car. 
You curiously look back for the figure in the distance, but he’s gone by the time you manage to pull free of your new friend. 
“I’m Robin. And that head of hair you see is Steve.” She says, motioning to the driver in a green uniform vest.
You greet Steve quickly and he mock-salutes you with two fingers, offering you a tight smile as Robin ferries you into the back of the car, quickly taking her place in the passenger side. She shakes out her hair, water droplets splattering Steve. 
He squirms and wipes his face before starting the car. “I’ve been waiting here for ten minutes, Robin. I’ve told you—if you want rides from me, the least you can do is be on time.” 
Evidently, Robin bringing in strays isn’t new to Steve, he doesn’t seem at all irritated by an unknown girl dripping rainwater in the back of his BMW. He’s more irritated by the wait. 
“Vickie needed help with a special project! Besides, class actually let out fifteen minutes ago, so technically we’re both late.” 
You stifle a laugh in the backseat, and your driver’s eyes flit up to yours through the rear view mirror. “Who’s your friend?” 
“That. Is actually a great question.” She muses. “We just met and I couldn’t stand to leave her out in the rain. I didn’t get your name.” She turns around to face you. “Did I?” 
She seems harmless enough, a little frazzled and chaotic, but rumours about this town put you on edge. The cult-like unsolved murder of Chrissy Cunningham two months ago still sits like a layer of smog over the town, a simultaneous refusal of the townspeople to acknowledge it—or let it go. 
You know the guy accused was cleared. How or why—you’re not privy to yet. 
You will be soon enough. 
You smile and tell Robin your name. 
“Are you new to town? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.” Steve asks. 
“Yeah, my dad took a job at that new state lab, so I transferred in.”
“I see. And where am I taking you lovely ladies today?” 
Robin’s face crinkles and she rolls her eyes, a silent plea to ignore her friend and his overt-chivalry. “Do you have the video for Nance’s?” Steve nods. “Then we can go straight there.” 
Your brows furrow. “I’m sorry. Where are we going?”
“Our friend Nancy hosts a movie marathon every Friday with a few other friends of ours.” She adds proudly, “Courtesy of Steve and I — we work at Family Video, over at the strip mall on Franklin and Marsh.” 
“Ah.”
“Yeah. You’re gonna love it, it’s great!”
“Oh, no. No, I really appreciate the offer, but I wouldn’t want to intrude, I don’t think your friend would be too happy about somebody just, y’know. Waltzing in.” You chuckle. 
“Oh, trust me. You don’t know Nancy. She loves playing hostess, and she’ll love you. Don’t worry.” Robin reassures you, pulling down her visor mirror. 
Steve hums, agreeing with Robin. “She’s right. Half of Hawkins practically has a key to the Wheeler’s. Just, y’know. Don’t tell Ted.”
You smile awkwardly, settling in a little better in the backseat. You don’t interject in the conversation much, Robin thankfully takes care of that for you as she rambles to Steve about Vickie and her new boyfriend. 
You’re content to let the heaters warm your skin, and to watch the rows of houses go by, cautiously relieved at the possibility of some new friends after two months of loneliness. 
At the Wheeler’s, you introduce yourself politely to Mrs Wheeler, offering a smile to the distracted man in front of the TV. Steve looks at you, mouths, “Ted.” And you nod in understanding, suppressing a laugh. 
Mrs Wheeler hands you a warm towel and ushers the three of you down into the basement. 
“Nothing too scary.” She says pointedly, looking at Steve. “If I have to sleep in the same bed as my twelve year old son again, there will be hell to pay, Steven.” 
“Yes, ma’am. I promise. Nothing too scary.” 
You follow Robin and Steve down into the basement; cozily decorated with throw blankets, cushy rugs, a sofa and a loveseat bracketing a TV on the far edge. Sconces and low lamps light the space, illuminating the group huddled in front of the TV. 
“Who’s ready for Halloween II?” Steve exclaims, fishing out a VHS from under his windbreaker. 
“Ah, so he lives!” Says a theatric, but deep voice behind you. “You’re twenty minutes late, Harrington.” 
You let the voice wash over you before you turn around. Your breath hitches when you match the voice to the same figure who was lighting a cigarette under the gym awning just a little while ago. 
You study him now, up close. Shoulder length, curly hair, sharp bone structure. High cheekbones and an angular jawline, a strong neck, full, red lips and most disarmingly, big, brown eyes. He’s intense up close, but it’s not an intensity you necessarily have a desire to run from. 
His brow raises at your inquisitive gaze—you’ve been staring. “This one of your strays, Harrington? Or is this Buck’s doing?” 
Steve gestures vaguely before walking away, leaving Robin—Buck—to make your introduction before joining Steve too. You pull your towel closer to your body, goosebumps erupting on your skin under an intense gaze. 
He extends a large hand, chain link bracelet falling around his wrist. “Hey. Eddie.” 
You take his hand, warm and large, in yours, letting his fingers wrap around the back of your palm firmly. Your voice is hoarse when you tell him your name and he laughs. A throaty sound that emanates from his chest, a grin taking over his face.
He has dimples.  
“Yeah, I know.”
Your heart skids to a stop. “You do?”
“Yeah? Buck just told me.” He replies, looking at you quizzically. He wraps his hands around your upper arms, manoeuvring you so he can slide past, his chest pressing against your back. His leathery, piney scent drifts to your nose. “You comin’?” 
You nod meekly, watching him take a seat on the couch, legs spread apart as he adjusts his hips and sinks down in his seat. Fondness spreads through you at the awkward, oddly charismatic way he carries himself. He lays an arm over the back of the couch leisurely, opening himself up as Nancy winds the VHS. 
Magnetic as he may be, there’s a shroud of something around him, something dark that extends past his appearance. 
You make a resolution not to find out, to get through this year without mishap, but when Nancy takes the last viable seat, you’re left to take a seat next to the guy you promised to swear off. 
Eddie stiffens when you take the seat next to him, awkwardly tensing and stealing looks. Robin offers you a comforting smile as the movie starts, and while you stay firm on wanting as much distance between you and Eddie as you can manage, the heat between you slowly builds, and the distance becomes smaller. The pull towards each other becomes heady until you’re pressed up against one another, your shoulder tucked into Eddie’s arm, your head under his chin. 
You feel his heart rate spike at the jumpscares, matching yours, but where you wear fear and apprehension on your face—Eddie wears excitement. 
——————————————————————————
Somebody’s watching you. 
It’s a thought that crosses your mind multiple times a day, every day for around ten months now. It starts as a fleeting occurrence, something you can chalk up to anxiety, but as the days pass, the rolling unease in your stomach, and the pressure on the back of your neck becomes more insistent. 
Somebody’s watching you. 
It’s near constant; following you at home, through the school hallways, free periods, the mall. It’s worse at night. With fall on the horizon, the days are shorter, and in the dead of night, you feel as though there are eyes on you, crawling up your body like little fire ants. 
Curtains and blinds don’t help. The feeling is heavier when you can’t see what lurks outside. 
A heavy thump from downstairs tears you from a deep sleep, the sound grabbing you by the chest and slamming you into consciousness. You sit idly for a few seconds, allowing your brain to catch up and your heart to settle down before you brave breaching your covers. 
You glance at the clock. 
02:22. 
It’s not until you’re several shaky steps towards your bedroom door that you realise what the sound was. 
Somebody closed your front door. 
Adrenaline courses through your veins, making sure you’re wide awake. You reach for the door with trembling hands and step outside into the lit hallway—you can’t sleep in a dark home when you’re alone. 
“Dad?” You call out. 
You squeeze your eyes shut, wishing for his voice to call back so badly, you almost imagine it. He’s not due back for another five days, and when you lean over the bannister to look at the entryway, and don’t miraculously see his shoes—your blood runs ice cold. 
Somebody was in your house. 
There’s an idiom associated with horror movies. 
When you hear a strange noise, going to investigate is an almost sure fire way to get yourself killed and have your face plastered on the front page of tomorrow’s paper. But your feet carry you downstairs anyway, curiosity outweighing rational thought. You at least want to know if you need to get the hell out of your house, and with no escape upstairs, you’re safer downstairs. 
The floorboards under the stairs creak with your weight as you pad down to the front door, double checking the lock. You slowly check the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen when a chilling thought occurs to you. 
You freeze. 
The door closing could have been a person going out. 
Or a person coming in. 
Ice freezes down your spine, cracking your resolve as your heart jumps to your mouth. Suddenly, the kitchen phone rings and you yelp, body recoiling at the sound. 
“Hello?” 
“You want to play a game?” A voice leers. 
“What?” 
“I’m just messin’,” replies a more familiar voice. “What are you doin’ up this late?” 
“Eddie?”
“No, the fuckin’ Grim Reaper.” He deadpans. “Yeah, it’s Eddie. What are you doin’ up’?” 
“Nothing. Just needed some water.” You reply absent-mindedly, filling up your glass. 
You’re here, you might as well. 
The water replenishing your dehydrated body kicks your brain into gear, a thought occurring to you. “Wait. Why did you call me if you didn’t know I’d be awake?” 
“I saw your lights on.” 
Your brows furrow. “What do you mean, you ‘saw my lights on’?”
“Relax, 21 Questions. I’m doin’ a run for one of my regulars and I was in your neighbourhood. Thought I’d drive by and see if you were all good since you were so tetchy about a week alone. Saw your lights on—gave you a call. That okay?” 
You smile at his gruff gesture. 
You’ve learned that about Eddie in the past ten months. He’s well-meaning, but every sweet gesture is undercut by a layer of sarcasm and gruffness. You don’t blame him for his coldness. 
Despite moving to town two months after Chrissy’s death, you were quickly made privy to everything that happened, and the aftermath, you saw for yourself. Eddie, despite being cleared, still subjected to whispers and dirty looks, branded a devil worshipper and a cult worshipper and a murderer. 
Graffiti on his locker, snide comments in the halls, even his business took a hit. His only saving graces were Hopper, who’d cleared him, his Uncle Wayne and your group of your friends—and to a lesser degree—you. 
“Of course that’s okay.” You reply. 
He makes a non-committal noise. “You doing okay, though?”
A part of you wants to tell him you’re scared, maybe have him blow off his weed run and come keep you company. There’s a safeness with Eddie, but you decide against it. 
Your voice pinches when you speak. “Yeah. All good.” 
A moment of silence stretches between you, almost like he doesn’t believe you. He breaks the silence finally. 
“You sure?”
“Mhm.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” 
“See you tomorrow.” You finish and slide the phone back into the hook. 
You replenish your glass of water, content to explain the slamming sound away as yet another coincidence—maybe as a dream your brain confused with reality when you were coming to. 
As you set the glass on the kitchen island, your eyes catch a glimpse of something behind the roll of tissue. You slowly reach forward, moving the tissue out of the way to reveal a single flower with thin, dark maroon petals and a pink centre. 
A black dahlia. 
You pluck it from the countertop with a shaky breath, examining it under the light, and drop it when you feel a pull at the back of your neck, the feeling of somebody’s eyes on you returning again, making you feel uneasy.
You don’t spare the flower, nor the window behind you a second look, the glass of water left on the marble as you grab a knife and walk firmly to the couch in the living room. You draw the curtains and switch on the TV, flick through until a rerun of a movie plays on mute in the background, lulling you into as deep of a sleep as you can manage in the circumstances. 
But somebody’s watching you. 
——————————————————————————
You drag your body through the hallways the next morning, eyes weighed down like dumbbells and head fuzzy from the lack of sleep. You let your head rest against the cool metal of your locker to offer you some relief as your eyes close, succumbing to your exhaustion. 
“Hey!” Nancy’s voice chirps. She looks at you perplexed when you jump. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” 
You blink heavily and pull your locker open. “No, it’s fine. Just tired, that’s all.” 
“Did you stay up late studying for Mr Haskell’s?” She asks, propping her hardback textbooks against her hip. 
Shit. 
“God, I wish. I actually forgot.” You sigh, grabbing your binders. 
Your peripheral registers something falling out of your locker and drifting to the floor as you take out your things. Nancy’s quicker than you, balances her books on her hip and bends to pick up the item, your heart skidding to a halt when you see it in her hand.
Another black dahlia. 
You feel the blood drain from your face, your stomach dropping and fingers going numb. 
He was here. You’re being followed. 
You feel that ominous feeling return, the feeling that you’re being watched, the crowd in the hallways offering you no solace. It feels like walking through a group of people with an invisible stab wound, nobody any the wiser of your impending doom except for you. 
Nancy spins the flower from the stem, a smile taking over her face as she extends it to you. “A dahlia… nice. Who’s the guy?” She asks in a sing-song voice. 
Your voice feels far away when you answer her. “There’s no guy.”
“Sure. She says sardonically. “You have flowers in your locker but no secret admirer. I want details.” As she walks away, she nods as an acknowledgement to somebody behind you.
You squeeze the flower between your hand just as a strong pair of hands pat, or rather, jostle your shoulders. 
“What’s this I hear about a secret admirer?” 
“Christ, Eddie. You almost gave me a heart attack.” You mutter, stuffing the flower into your pocket. 
His eyes narrow as he scans your face. His gaze is intense, but it offers you an odd kind of relief— his exuberance oddly cancelling out the nauseating fear clouding you. 
Leaning against Nancy’s locker with his hands in his pockets, he asks, “Why so tetchy? You okay?” 
“I’m fine.”
He leans in, looks down at you with a gaze that makes your skin prickle, a feeling you’ve had often during your friendship. 
He taps your shin with his foot. “You know, you’re cute when you lie.”
Your breath hitches. He smells like leather and pine, and he’s tall and broad and warm, and if you leaned into him just a little, you know that some of your tension would at least melt away. 
“Really, Eddie. I’m okay.” You smile, squeezing his hand. 
You retract it quickly, Eddie stiffening when Carol saunters past you, accidentally tripping over Tina’s leg to bump into you with a sickeningly sweet, “sorry, honey.” 
Your first instinct is to push her right back. You’d love nothing more than to pull out a chunk of her hair after what she and her asshole friends did to you. You’re smarter than that, though—she’d paint herself as the victim and you’d end up in detention with a serious mark in your permanent record. 
You roll your eyes, muttering a defiant, ‘bitch’, under your breath. 
“What was that about?” Eddie asks, jerking his chin towards Carol and Tommy. 
“Nothing.” You clip. 
He narrows his eyes expectantly, giving you yet another opportunity to reveal to him what he already knows. 
Around a month ago, after a fight at a party, Steve had ended up crashing at Eddie’s for a few days after being arrested—courtesy of his ex best friend Tommy crying over a busted lip. Hopper had reassured Steve it was for appearances, that he’d be free to go as soon as his dad picked him up, secretly knowing that Tommy had most likely deserved the right hook. 
Mr. Harrington though, had kicked Steve out after making his bail. It was then Steve had told Eddie about the incident at the party, about how Robin had called him absolutely furious after Tommy had tried to force himself on you. 
He’d gotten a knee to the balls from you, Robin and Nancy piling on, and a right hook from Steve, but the damage had been done. By the next morning, Tina and Carol had worked their magic, branding you as the whore who tried to steal Carol’s boyfriend. 
Eddie watches Tommy and Carol keenly now, an expression on his face that you’ve come to see more often recently. It’s as though the warmth drains from his eyes, leaving behind an unfeeling presence before he snaps back. 
The warmth returns to his eyes as quickly as it disappears, working its way to you as if by an invisible line. “You can tell me.” He says softly. “You know you can tell me anything.” 
Your chest constricts. “Eh. Apparently, I’m a whore. It’s whatever.” 
His jaw ticks again. “Don’t talk about yourself like that. You’re about as pure as they come.” He marvels, gaze lingering on your lips. His hand absently brushes some hair behind your ear, and he freezes, letting it hang awkwardly. 
You huff, slapping his wrist away. “Okay. Yoda? You sound like an idiot. This isn’t the 1800’s—women have and enjoy sex, you know?” 
He snaps back into his detached ruse, leaning against the locker to play with his rings. He runs his tongue along the inside of his cheek, suggestive lilt to his voice. 
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you tell me more about that?” 
“Dude, you’re nasty.” 
“Maybe.” His eyes darken before he inhales deeply. “Listen, I got a free period, so I’m gonna run. I have a business meeting that is most urgent and requires my utmost attention.” 
“Eddie-“
He’s already walking away, his broad back heading for the doors at the end of the hall. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll be back by lunch, Sweetheart.” 
You smile to yourself and reach back into your pocket, having temporarily forgotten about your present. You wish you could hold onto that feeling of safety and happiness that Eddie gives you a little longer, bottle it up and use it for when your anxiety reaches its peaks. 
Being around Eddie always has that effect on you, try as you might to push it down. 
——————————————————————————
“Turn on the news.” Nancy hisses through the crackly phone. “Now!”
“Christ, Nance. Do you even know what time it is? It’s barely light outside.” You grumble, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Forget about the time, just turn on your TV!” 
“Okay! Okay, gimme a second.” You groan. 
You rush downstairs for the TV remote and flick through the channels until you get to the news. On the screen, police and ambulance sirens paint the scene red and blue, police tape cordoning off a house just a few blocks from yours. You turn the volume up and catch the last few words from the reporter.
“—Tragedy rocks Hawkins once again, as the bodies of two teenagers, Carol Perkins, and her boyfriend Thomas Hagan were found butchered in the early hours of this morning.”
The words go off like a bomb in your ear, the floor giving out from under your feet as you slump down on the sofa, shakily clutching the remote. 
“Holy shit. Holy shit, holy fucking shit.” You murmur. 
“Yeah, you’re telling me.” 
Your voice sounds tinny when you speak. “They were murdered?”
“Butchered.”
“God, I know I said I wanted to see her head on a spike but this is awful. I can’t believe somebody would do that.” 
A shiver runs down your spine at your proximity to the victims—despite your vitriolic hatred for the both of them, Carol and Tommy are—were—people you saw everyday. You can’t say anybody deserves to be butchered. 
“Can you meet Robin, Jonathan and me at my place in an hour? We’re gonna go get some answers.” Nancy asks. 
“Isn’t that a reporter’s job? Or the PD?” You ask, alarmed. 
“I wanna major in journalism, that basically makes me half a reporter already. Just meet at my place in an hour. Bring sensible shoes.” 
Any room for negotiation goes out of the window as the line goes dead. You set the now clammy phone down on the hook and stay rooted in spot, staring blankly at the TV as the news reel plays out in the background.
“—Police and Fire were called to the scene at around 3:00am when Perkins’ parents arrived home to a fire. Upon their arrival, they found their home in disarray and the two teenagers dead. Hawkins PD are still combing the scene for evidence and are expected to make an announcement later this evening. One thing is for sure though, it seems that death and tragedy are never too far where Hawkins is concerned.” 
You’d completely forgotten about the dark cloud that had been looming over Hawkins this past year. These new killings seem especially insidious with the anniversary of Chrissy Cunningham’s death approaching in just a few days. 
Becoming cognizant of Chrissy, you want to reach out to Eddie to ask him how he’s doing following this news. You’ve no doubt that this time of year is likely to dredge up some horrific memories for him—it’s only been a year since he was labelled as the town pariah—ostracised through no fault of his own.
This won’t help. 
He’ll be subjected to looks in the street again and whispers as he walks by, as though he’s a stain on the town. He’ll be scapegoated. Again. 
You want to reach out to Eddie for him, sure. But there’s also a selfish undercurrent to your thoughts; Eddie’s an increasingly comforting figure in your life and you need him to knock you back on track, especially if Nancy’s going to be critiquing your journalism skills this morning. 
A hit of something to get your head right. 
You hit three on your speed dial, put the coffee on while the line rings and make your way upstairs.
His voice crackles through the phone and has the strangest effect by offering you almost-immediate relief. “Who the hell is this?” He grumbles, voice thick with sleep. 
It makes your heart pick up pace. 
You stifle a laugh. “Eddie, it’s me.” 
He moans, and you picture him with mussed hair, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His voice is still thick when he talks; though, much less irritable this time. “Mornin’, sunshine. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m guessing you didn’t see the news?” 
“Nah. Not yet at least. Late night. What’s going on?” 
“It’s Carol and Tommy. They found their bodies this morning, they were killed.” You whisper the last part in a hushed tone, like verbalising it will somehow bring the curse to you. 
“Wait, what did you just say? They were murdered?” You hear rustling on the other end and assume Eddie’s making a mad dash to the living room in his boxers to turn on the TV. “Do they know who did it?” 
“No, I don’t think so. Not yet—“
“—Hey, man. Turn that up?” 
You pause in your doorway, brows furrowing. “Who are you talking to?”
“Harrington—he got into another pissing match with his dad a few nights ago, told him he could have the couch while Wayne was at work.” 
“Christ, dude. They’re saying they were butchered.” Steve says, muffled in the background. 
You straighten the edges of your bedsheets and start to pick out the sensible shoes Nancy requested, zoning in on another pair you’ll inevitably have to loan to Robin. 
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I thought you already knew. I just…wanted to check in.” 
Eddie pauses before he speaks hesitantly. “Check in?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know it’s coming up to a year since all of that stuff happened, and I can’t imagine this is gonna be easy for you, y’know? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 
A surge of warmth spreads inside him. Rarely does he feel truly content or peaceful, especially as of late; he has enough emotional baggage to last a lifetime. But he does feel blessed to have sporadic moments of lightness—short—but always with you. 
“You sayin’ you care about me or something?” He murmurs, no doubt careful to avoid Steve’s ears but you can hear the smile in his voice. 
You snicker, your eyes falling to your slightly open underwear drawer. You go to close it with an absent-minded push of your hips when your eyes catch something. 
Your heart plummets like a lead weight, a shot of dread piercing your chest. 
“Hello? You there?” Eddie calls out, but your hands are trembling. 
Stuffed in your underwear drawer, deliberately wrapped inside a pair of white cotton panties, is another black dahlia. 
“Eddie, I’m gonna have to call you back.” You squeak.
His voice shifts. “You okay? Something wrong?” 
“Fine. I’ll talk to you later.” You clip, the phone landing with a thud against your mattress. 
You reach for the flower, gingerly unwrapping it from the white cotton only to reveal a small note tucked under the stem. Nausea claws at your stomach and invades your throat, leaving your head tingly and eyes spotty. 
Black sharpie against red paper reads;
“The things we do for love. Be seeing you soon, my flower. I have some business to take care of first.” 
It's as direct a threat to you as you’ve had so far, but there’s an insinuation there too. An icy thought sends chills through your veins. You may be responsible for Carol and Tommy’s deaths which is in itself a steel weight, but this note doesn’t indicate any sign of the violence stopping. 
If anything, it connotes the opposite. 
You can’t explain the paranoia and the flowers away, can’t live in the content grey safety of denial anymore. He was here. 
In your room. Rifling through your underwear drawer. Watching you sleep. 
Could he have touched you? 
Are you the business he has to take care of? 
Your stomach rolls, and you run to the bathroom to empty your guts into the toilet, gagging until the remnants of last night’s barely-there-dinner are gone and you’re shivering and cold on the tiled floor. 
You’re hit with the feeling of somebody watching you again, pressure tugging at the back of your neck like tiny threads under your skin. Your eyes dart out of the window but you don’t see anything. 
Or anybody. 
You never do. 
——————————————————————————
Your investigation with Robin and Nancy turns up nothing except more disturbing information, which you grimly conclude could well predict your own demise. You’re running on fumes, paranoid and scared for your life, the walk up the stairs to get into school seeming like a chore. 
“Tommy went first.” Robin tells Eddie the following morning. 
“What?” He asks, dodging Robin’s attempt to snatch the cigarette out of his mouth. She tries again, but he dodges again, manoeuvring you to walk between them. 
“Yeah. We overheard Hopper and Callahan over the radio. He was shot in both knees first, tied to a chair, gagged, then stabbed. His insides…on the outside.” 
Eddie’s face contorts, not so much in horror, but in mild disgust as he exhales a cloud of smoke. It seems Tommy had enemies in just about every circle except for his own; and despite your best intentions not to think it, you conclude that somebody finally decided to take matters into their own hands. 
“And Carol? Stabbed in the back, chest, and neck. Gutted and tied to a tree. Can you believe that shit? This guy is serious.” Robin continues. 
She’s managed to dig up a rubber band from inside her pocket and snaps it against her wrist, each slap against her skin housing a migraine deeper in your temple. 
You wince. 
“Careful, Buck. Almost sounds like you admire him. Besides, how do you know it’s a guy?” Eddie asks, taking a drag of his cigarette. 
“Statistics.” Nancy interjects, clicking her locker shut. “Violent kills are almost always executed by men. That, and the fact that it would take a pretty huge guy to hog-tie Tommy, and then string Carol’s dead body up on a tree.” 
“Alright.” You feel nausea rising in your stomach again. Slamming your locker shut, you squeeze your eyes closed. “Can we not? I feel sick.” 
“You look it.” Robin deadpans, raising her hands in defence when you, Nancy and Eddie cut her a look. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it in a you-look-awful way, I’m just saying you look like you haven’t been sleeping.” 
Eddie’s hand cups your cheek, gently turning your face to his. “Yeah. Have you been sleeping?” He asks, cigarette tucked between his lips. His thumb runs over the delicate skin under your eyes. “You look so tired.” 
You tense up at the sudden contact from Eddie, who, despite being notoriously tactile, isn't somebody you’d ever describe as affectionate except maybe with Dustin and the kids. 
You allow yourself a moment of weakness to melt into his touch, his warm skin and icy rings, but your eyes dart to Robin and Nancy who share a wry look. You become aware of the droves of people staring and whispering as they go by too, and suddenly your throat feels tight. 
“I’m fine.” You clip, prying yourself away from his tender touch and he reacts by awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets, hurt by the sudden change. 
He knows it’s because people are staring, he just hadn’t expected you to care. You can’t handle the eyes on you—not when there’s somebody breathing down your neck. 
The rational part of you knows that it’s because you’re in such close proximity to Eddie, who’s been re-subjected to dirty looks and hostile whispers since Tommy and Carol died yesterday. It seems that despite his name being cleared in good faith last year, the people of Hawkins merely needed a reason to scapegoat Eddie again, all too quick to spit the words devil worshipper and cult leader his way.   
Eddie brushes the looks off, his jaw tensing and releasing, tensing and releasing, shoulders tight like a coil as he takes a deep drag of his cigarette. 
“Fuckin’ morons.” He mutters under his breath. “A serial killer walks the streets of Hawkins but sure…” He mock lunges at a group of lowerclassmen who flinch and disperse down the hallway, earning more looks from passersby. “Let's all gather around to stare at the freak.” 
“Mr. Munson,” Higgins’ voice booms, his eyes falling to the cigarette in Eddie’s mouth. “You can either put that out, or I can put it out for you—and while I do relish in giving you detention—I no longer wish to see you roam these halls for yet another year. I’m frankly sick of seeing your face.” 
“Oh believe me. The feeling’s mutual, asshole.” Eddie grumbles, a begrudging appeasement on his face. He theatrically plucks the cigarette from his mouth and puts it out against the metal rim of the bin behind you. “Guy’s a pain in my sack.” 
Robin’s cackle is cut short when a sudden buzz crawls over the student body. It takes over like a swarm of bees, students yelling and clamouring in the direction of the football field. In the distance, you see Argyle and a pale Jonathan cut through the crowd, right as Mr Higgins receives a radio transmission and pushes through the horde himself. 
You narrow your eyes, your group pulling Jonathan and Argyle to the side of the stampede. “What’s going on?” 
“Dudes, they found another body.” Argyle tells the group. 
The news hits you with the subtlety of a crashing train, leaving the words ricocheting in your ear. You fight to keep your composure, doing the maths in your head to figure out where on your shadow’s roster you fall. 
“What? Who? Where? How? How do you guys know?” Nancy asks in rapid succession, grabbing Jonathan and Argyle with a hand each. 
“I was walking down to take pictures out on the football field for the yearbook, and saw what I thought was a doll or a scarecrow or something. Just hanging from the goalpost.” Jonathan pants weakly. 
“Yeah. Got closer and realised it was a real person. A lady.” Argyle adds, shaking his head. 
Eddie huffs, leaning against his locker. “A lady?” 
“Tina.” Jonathan corrects. “Somebody already tipped off the cops—Hopper pulled up right as we saw her body. She was in her pyjamas, you guys. All covered in blood.” He runs a stressed hand through his hair, bending to put his hands on his knees. “I think I’m gonna throw up.” He wheezes. 
Argyle rubs his back sympathetically, while Nancy kicks herself into high gear. Rifling through her locker, she grabs her school newspaper notebook and best ballpoint pen—the kind she reserves for sleuthing and writing speeches—and turns heel. 
“I swear, if you want something done right…” she mutters and she’s a flash of a perm as she scurries away, joining the now well-informed student body of the attraction outside. 
The gaggle eventually dies down and gets filtered into the gym, squashed together like sardines in a can; some taking up the bleachers, some using the benches, the lowerclassmen claiming the floor as their sitting space. 
Eddie tucks you into his arm on the sidelines where the rest of your friends sit in an effort to conserve space. He balances his copy of Lord of The Rings on his knee, the spine snapped, edges frayed and tattered, various motor oil stains soaked into the paper with rows and rows of annotations littering the page. 
At best, it's well-loved—at worst, it’s unreadable—but it’s one of Eddie’s prized possessions and it shows. 
Higgins’ voice through the speaker silences the hustle of whispering students, rumours and gossip dying down almost immediately. 
“All classes are henceforth suspended until further notice. When prompted, please collect all important belongings from your lockers and proceed to leave in an orderly fashion. Police Chief Hopper also has an announcement to make—please remain where you are for now.” 
Cheers for class suspension are cut short when Hopper swiftly implements a strict citywide 9:00pm curfew. 
“Any citizens reported to be out after this time will be brought in by an officer and questioned before release. It is vital you heed this curfew as it has been put in place for your own safety. Please report any concerns directly to the Police Department or call 9-1-1. Thank you.” 
A resigned groan makes its way through the crowd as students filter out, Tommy’s old friend group uncharacteristically quiet; haunted by the news. It tracks—the only discernible pattern so far is that the killer has a vendetta against their group of friends. 
It’s your own entanglement that doesn't track. 
“So. What’s the rundown?” Robin asks Nancy as you make your way down to the parking lot. 
Nancy looks pale. “Tina was cut from chin to stomach through her nightgown.” She says, shakily. “But there’s more.”
Your blood runs cold. “More?”
“Yeah. It’s not confirmed yet, but I overheard Hopper telling Higgins they found another body this morning on the other side of town. They said the description matched Fred Benson.”
“The guy who did the student paper with you?” Eddie asks. 
Nancy bristles. Her relationship with Fred had soured last year after he insisted on covering Chrissy’s murder, putting Eddie at the forefront. Nancy had refused—then fired him. 
“Yeah.” She goes on. “Parents didn’t even know he was missing.” 
Nancy’s words only stand to remind you that you too could be murdered and strung up like a carcass for the town to see—and nobody would be any the wiser until it was too late. 
You should tell somebody. Anybody. But your mind stops you, a terrifying thought crossing your mind. Telling your friends could put them in danger too. Taking out entire friendship groups seems like a day’s work for this killer, and if anything happened to your friends, you’d never forgive yourself. 
“I’m gonna wait for Will and the rest of those guys, make sure they’re okay, but we’ll reconvene at Nance’s?” Jonathan asks. 
“Wait—you heard Hopper. There’s a curfew.” You say.
Nancy shrugs. “Safety in numbers. C’mon.”
Eddie pats your shoulder as he lights another cigarette. “I’ll catch up with you guys later—I left my briefcase inside. I’ll bring the beer to Nance’s.” 
“Somebody’s gotta tell Steve, does he even know what’s going on?” You ask.
“I’ll take care of it.” Eddie says, voice thick with smoke. “I gotta swing by Family Video anyhow, it appears Keith is in the market for my recreational sleeping aids.” 
Argyle gestures to Eddie who gives him the affirmative—and you shake your head. A serial killer walks the streets and your friends are making sure there’s enough weed at an unmandated ‘gathering’. 
“Be safe?” You call out to Eddie.
He kicks his leg, gives you a mock salute. “Always am. You too.” 
——————————————————————————
“Well. I’m just saying, y’know. There are certain rules when it comes to slashers.” Jonathan mumbles through a mouthful of chips. 
“Is that what this is? A slasher?” Steve asks, adjusting in his seat. 
The basement air smells like weed and cheap beer, the sourness of the salsa that Robin opened twenty minutes ago cutting through the stench. Your stomach is already in pieces with worry, talk of a slasher movie and the dank air does little to quell your nerves. 
“Yeah. I mean. Think about it.” He munches. “You got a guy in a mask goin’ around, killing a bunch of teenagers, hanging them up on goalposts?”
Argyle’s content to listen, offering a grunt of agreement here and there, but he pipes up. “Yeah. Plus, y’know the whole haunted past in a small town thing. No offence, my dude.” He says to Eddie. 
Eddie raises his brows, shakes his head. No harm done. 
“So, these rules then. Let’s have ‘em.” Steve says. “What do you got?”
“Well. The first is that everybody’s a suspect. Everybody. That’s a given.” 
“Yeah. No shit.” Steve nods, huffing a laugh.
Jonathan stands up, his eyes wide. “Now the rules to surviving a slasher movie—well. That’s a whole different ball game.” 
“Go on.”
“Rule number one: never have sex.” 
You catch Eddie’s eye from across the room. It’s something you’d noticed pretty much the day you met; oftentimes you’d be engrossed in something, or just happen to look up at Eddie to find him already watching you. His gaze makes your skin prickle with intensity, blood warming under your skin. 
Despite being in a room full of people, your looks always seem like they’re reserved just for the two of you, an invisible string tying you to him and pulling you closer despite the physical distance remaining the same. 
“—Big no.” Jonathan continues. “Sex equals death. Slasher and horror symbolism in general relies heavily on the innocent virgin as a survivor trope. Promiscuity guarantees death.” 
Eddie’s gaze lingers on yours, his elbows perched on his knees, chin tucked into his chest. He looks good in this light, full lips casting a shadow, his eyes transfixed on you. You lose your nerve and look away, but can’t fight the desire to glance at him again. 
He’s still watching you with almost drunken eyes that you attribute to the beer, though you know he can handle his alcohol.
“Number two: no drinking or doing drugs. It’s an extension of number one—the sin factor. It’s a sin!” 
“Oh great. Guess we’re all fucked.” Steve mutters, taking a swig of his beer. “It’s bullshit, man. This isn’t a slasher and no serial killer is going to know if you’re a boring, sober, virgin.” 
Eddie finally averts his gaze, picking at the frayed denim on his jeans. “Byers, you know I make my living supplying recreational substances to those in need.” 
“—And Steve has deflowered every legal girl who likes men, all the way up to like, Fort Wayne.” Robin snorts, raising her drink. 
“Well—not exactly.” Steve squints. “But they both make a good point. By your so-called rules, Byers; Eddie and I would’ve been the first ones to go.” 
You shake your head, feeling a massive tangent coming and decide to cut out while you can. The thought of going home to an empty house fills you with dread, especially with the recent uptick in dead bodies. You can’t sleep, not when your ears pick up the smallest noises and twist them into sinister scenarios. 
The wind howling through the gaps in your windows sounds eerily like somebody screaming, the floorboards settling make you see an intruder out of the corner of your eye. 
You’re exhausted. 
Nancy follows you upstairs, turning you by your arm. “Hey, you doing okay?”
“Yeah. It’s a little much down there.” You inhale deeply now that the air is thinner and fresher. 
“You know what they get like when they drink.” Nancy laughs. “Do you wanna stay over tonight? Robin was thinking about crashing and I don’t love the idea of you at home by yourself with everything going on. Just stay with me until your dad gets back.” 
You feel a wave of relief wash over you. “Actually, would you mind? I don’t really wanna be by myself.”
“Yeah!” She laughs. “Of course. I can take you to grab your stuff in the morning.”
“Thanks, Nance. I gotta double check the alarm and locks anyway, so I’ll go grab my things now.” You smile, turning to grab your keys from the bowl on the credenza. 
“You sure? It’s late.” 
‘Rule number 3,’ Jonathan continues downstairs out of earshot, ’never, ever, under any circumstances, say you’ll be right back.’ 
“It’s a few blocks away.” You reassure her. “I’ll be right back.” 
——————————————————————————
Somebody’s watching you. 
You feel a tug on the back of your neck when you get to the top of the Wheeler’s cul-de-sac. It becomes more insistent as you turn left on to a densely tree-lined street, which, dimly lit as usual, is eerily silent. With the exception of you and your friends, it seems the residents of Hawkins are abiding by Hopper’s mandate. 
You brush the feeling off and slide your keys between your fingers, picking up pace. By the time you get to your driveway, your heart is in your mouth and you’re almost at a full sprint, nearly slipping on the corner of a flowerbed. 
You’d devised a plan on the way home. 
Check the alarms, downstairs windows, upstairs windows, grab your bag from the closet in the hallway and pack as you go. Simple enough.
But somebody’s watching you. 
Your trembling hands make you fumble and miss the lock a few times, the key bluntly jamming against the metal. You’re finally in, about to twist the lock when a hand aggressively swipes at your arm and drags you backwards. 
You yelp, stomach swooping in pure terror, blood pounding in your ears. 
He’s here. 
You come face to face with a bloodshot Jason, whiskey heavy on his breath. He looks desperate and frenzied in just a pair of chinos and a white polo—it’s freezing out. His presence offers you an odd sense of relief, you can tell from his appearance he’s not about to hurt you and he doesn’t pose any immediate danger. 
He seems scared. 
He pulls you in close, his vice grip making your skin pinch. 
“Let go, Jason. What the hell is wrong with you, why are you outside my house?”
“I came to warn you.”
“Warn me? About what?!” You snap.
“About the company you keep.” He slurs darkly. “You’re not new anymore, but you weren’t here when it went down. When Chrissy died.” 
You squirm, attempting to free your arm, but Jason’s grip is vicious in his trance-like state. “What the hell does that have to do with me?” 
He’s here physically, but his mind is elsewhere. “It’ll be a year tomorrow. And it’s like she was never here. Like she never existed.” 
Your heart sinks for him, a loss so large, so young is sure to rock anybody. But you know the other side of him—the side that radicalised half the town into hunting down Eddie. That almost killed Lucas and Erica when they tried to help. 
“Look. Jason. I’m sorry about what happened, but that doesn’t explain why you’re grabbing my arm.” You grunt, trying to break free. “What does this have to do with me?”
He jostles you, shaking you hard enough that the pain radiates up your arm like a vine. “Everything! This has everything to do with you! Your friend? Eddie? I know they cleared him, said that he had nothing to do with it, but I know the truth. I know what he is.” He says, words dripping with disdain. 
In a surge of defensiveness, you drag the serrated edge of your keys across his skin, drawing a little blood. 
“You bitch!” He sneers, snatching his hand away. “You’ll regret that. You’ll regret not listening to me. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; don’t say I didn’t tell you what he was!” He angrily stalks off, disappearing into the tree line.
When you’d first moved to Hawkins, rumours of golden girl Chrissy dying at the hands of a satanic cult had intrigued you. Dustin had filled you in on the rest and after meeting Eddie and the rest of his innocent D&D group, you knew those rumours were a work of fiction.  
“Hey!” Eddie shouts from a few feet away. He gestures in the direction of the tree line. “Was that Jason?” 
“Yeah.” You mutter, gingerly touching your arm. 
Eddie closes the last few feet between you, jogging to you as you open your door. “What did he want?”  
“Said he saw me walking home, wanted to make sure I was okay.”
Eddie looks at you incredulously as he steps inside. “Looked intense, you okay?” 
“Yeah. All good.” 
Eddie’s eyes fall to the raised welts on your forearm, your hands paler from the lack of blood flow. He gently holds your wrist and brings it up to the hallway light to examine the marks. 
“Did Jason do that?” He asks. “Did he hurt you?” 
“No.” You sigh resignedly. “He was drinking, and he said some stuff about Chrissy’s death anniversary, I think he was just… a little out of it. Got a little overzealous.” 
“Overzealous?” Eddie asks, getting closer to you. “He left a paw print. Y’know I swear, guys like him think they can get away with anything—“
“—Yeah. But I’m fine, Eddie. It looks worse than it is.” You place your hand around his and squeeze reassuringly. “Really. I’m okay.” 
“You sure?“
“I swear, Eddie. I’m all good.” 
Your peripheral suddenly plays a cruel trick on you, making you jump at the impression of somebody in the kitchen. 
Eddie finally lets go of your hand, laughing at your reaction. “You okay? You’re really jumpy.” He asks, rubbing your shoulders as you walk into the kitchen. 
“There’s a serial killer in town, Eddie. Why aren’t you jumpy?” You deadpan. “Is that why you’re here?” 
He chuckles self-effacingly, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah. Nancy told me you took off to grab your things and I didn’t want you to have to walk by yourself with all that stuff.” He stops you from reaching for the window with a hand on your hips, walking around you instead. “Here, I got it.” 
He extends his lean body to twist the window handle, his t-shirt riding up to reveal his toned abs. Red welts—scratches—mark his stomach and a twinge of jealousy creeps up your chest when you think about how he may have gotten those marks. 
“Hey!” Eddie says, snapping his fingers. “Where do you keep goin’, you good?” 
Embarrassment warms your cheeks, snapping you back into reality. “Of course. I have my knight in shining armour, don’t I?” You say sardonically, rounding the island to go upstairs. 
You’re halfway through the hallway before you realise you’re not being followed by Eddie; he’s since taken to standing in the doorway with a look that you can’t read. 
“What is it?” You ask.
He slowly steps towards you. “I know you’re kidding, but for what it’s worth—you never have to worry about that stuff when you’re with me.” He says softly, his voice thick. “You’re always safe with me. I hope you know that.” 
You share a look in the dimly lit hallway, and you don’t know what this thing is between you—the thing where you know each other best, and look out for one another, and make one another feel safe, but where touches and looks linger for longer than they should. 
You don’t have a shadow of a doubt colouring your answer when you reply, knowing wholeheartedly that you believe it. 
“I know.” 
When you get back to Nancy’s though, the night has taken a turn for the worse. The kids sit in the living room with the rest of your friends, everybody huddled up together around the TV as the breaking news reel plays.
“What’s going on?” You ask, setting your bag by the door. 
“They found another body.” Steve tells you in a hushed voice, mindful of the kids but it’s useless—they’re watching the same thing you all are. 
“Higgins.” Nancy explains, approaching you and Eddie. Out of earshot of the kids, she says, “they found him tied to the same goal post they unhooked Tina off of today. His eyes were gouged out and he was stabbed in the neck. He bled to death.” 
Three victims. Three victims in one day. 
Nancy mirrors that thought, but all you can think about now is how much longer you can outrun the shadow breathing down your neck, seemingly getting closer every day. 
——————————————————————————
Breakfast is a bleak affair. 
Mrs. Wheeler does everything to make sure you eat, encouragingly puts out a spread that most people dream of, while Mr Wheeler grumbles under his breath. You watch the boys, El and Max stuff their faces with pancakes, syrup dripping down their chins, but after the morning news, you can barely stomach anything. 
Youre realising after watching the morning news, that it’s becoming a twisted kind of routine to wake up and expect the news of another murder. 
Today’s victim: Andy Clayton. 
Jason’s best friend and yes-man; found hacked to pieces, fibres of his letterman jacket found in his stab wounds from the brutal kill. You stick close to Nancy and Robin for the rest of the day, but when you come back from investigating, you find a chilling surprise on the Wheeler’s doorstep. 
Nancy giggles and ducks inside with Robin, leaving you with your gift. Four black dahlias tied together with a length of twine, a note folded in half between the stems. 
“I promise it won’t be much longer until we’re together, my flower. See you soon.” 
Your head instinctually whips around, your eyes scanning the street, but it’s dead silent save for the occasional passing car. You turn back to the house, ice flowing into your veins as you realise you’re a sitting duck, and staying here would put everybody else in danger too. 
The Wheelers, the kids, Robin. 
You tuck the note into your pocket along with the four flowers and grab your bags, lying to Nancy that you’ll be back. Your first stop is going to see Eddie to ask for some company at the police station. You make the walk to your house, drop your bags in the trunk of your car and make the seven mile journey to Eddie’s trailer. 
The sun sets on your way there, casting the sky in blooms of oranges and pinks, the landscape so much more vibrant in Hawkins than anywhere else you’ve lived. Eddie’s beat up van isn’t anywhere to be seen, but the lights inside his trailer are on, you knock once out of politeness and come in anyway after finding the door unlocked. 
Not that Eddie ever remembers to lock his doors. 
Inside, he’s still nowhere to be seen, the only thing interrupting the silence is the hum of the energy saver light bulb in the background and the sound of a dog barking outside. 
“Eddie?” You call out, clicking the door shut behind you. “You home?”
You’re met with more silence. 
You glance at the small clock above the hat-lined wall. 
5:30pm.
Tentatively, you take a seat on the pull out couch that Steve and Wayne have taken to sharing by now, using the time you have to contemplate how best to broach the subject of your stalker with Eddie; where to start, how much to say. 
Your legs start to tingle from nerves and pent up anxiety, forcing you to your feet. 
You pace the length of the living room and to the kitchen and back again. Your stomach knots and unknots, a surge of nervous energy lodging in your throat and dissipating throughout your chest. 
Absently, you walk into Eddie’s room—a bomb site on a good day. As you close the door behind you, something large and black swooshes against the hook, a large coat or a cloak of some kind, probably for his Hellfire Club meetings. 
You should talk to Eddie about rebranding that soon. 
You smile fondly as your eyes travel over his poster lined walls, the acoustic guitar perched in the corner, the magazines on top of his nightstand. The second drawer of his nightstand catches your eye, ajar slightly because of something caught between the drawer and the frame. 
You look closer, eyes narrowing when you pull a length of twine out from the drawer. You examine it curiously, holding it up to the light when a thought occurs to you. 
With a hesitant hand, you reach into your back pocket to pull out the dahlias you’d received earlier that day, comparing the twine to the one in your hand. Your brows furrow as you bring both pieces of twine together, joining the two diagonal edges to fit perfectly. 
It’s a dead match. 
You pull out his drawer in a daze, head growing fuzzy as you rummage through his things. It’s a coincidence—it has to be. There has to be an explanation. 
Ice flows into your veins when you find five black dahlias tucked neatly into a roll of newspaper, red square note paper next to it. Your head rushes with blood, the room spinning as you try to somehow refute what’s in front of you. 
This can’t be what you think it is. It can’t be.
You gag and run to the kitchen to empty your stomach in the sink. It’s fruitless, your stomach turning up nothing, leaving you to dry heave and clutch the counter. 
No. No, no, no. 
Your hands tremble, blood rushing in your ears and pumping through your body to drive you into high gear, to get the hell out. 
You dart for the door, grabbing your bag and keys, and slam face first into a black wall, your hands taking the brunt of the impact, the shock forcing you back a few steps. Your bags and keys fall on the floor, the blood draining from your body when you look up at a cloaked figure with a white mask. 
You tense up, making peace with the fact that this may be your end but still hold out a small amount of hope that it isn’t who you think it is behind the mask. 
Then the figure speaks, says your name in that familiar way that sends shivers up your spine. 
Eddie. 
Your knees buckle and you trip backwards, the pressure inside your head increasing until you can hear a high-pitched whine. Shakily holding out your hands in front of you, you see them stained crimson, an unknown person’s blood licking your skin. 
It’s the last thing you see before you succumb to darkness. 
——————————————————————————
A horrible weight surrounds your head and there’s a ringing in your ears when you come to. It takes a few seconds for your mind to catch up, but when it does, you jolt in your seat, your movement restricted by something binding your hands and mouth. 
You start to hyperventilate. 
“Hey. Hey. Calm down.” Eddie says, crouching in front of your chair, sporting a busted lip, a bruised eye and bloody knuckles. “Fuck—Calm down, I need you to breathe, okay?” He rips the tape off your mouth and you struggle against the ties, but he pulls the chair in by its arms.“Hey! Breathe. C’mon—just match my pace, alright, you’re gonna pass out again. Fucking breathe.”
He exaggerates his own breathing rhythm now that you can see his chest in just his t-shirt to let your breathing fall into tandem with his. You let yourself breathe, focusing on the air expanding in your lungs, but terror still grips you.  
Eddie watches you carefully, like you’re a cornered animal, his mask pulled up, hair matted to his forehead. “I’m going to cut you loose so we can talk, okay? M’gonna explain everything, but you can’t run. Can you do that?”
Images of Carol and Tommy, Tina, and the rest of his victims flash before your eyes. Eviscerated. Bludgeoned. Gutted. 
You nod, not daring to look down knowing that the rope, the chair and your skin are stained with fresh blood. 
“Good.” He breathes. 
He brings a bloody hunting knife to your wrists, lodges the flat edge between you and the rope, and cuts upwards, slicing you free. You plant your shaky feet to test the waters, and launch yourself forward into Eddie’s chest, knocking him out of the way to start running. 
“Goddamnit!” He grunts. 
You make it a grand total of two paces before Eddie easily whips you around, pinning you against the wall. His nostrils flared, he reaches into his back pocket, brandishing the knife again. A scream dies in your throat as he places the glinting silver’s blunt edge against your neck. 
“I didn’t want to use this. But I told you not to run, didn’t I? Didn’t I?!” His voice thunders inside the trailer, and you flinch backwards, hyper-aware of the knife at your throat. 
The change in his demeanour makes you feel insignificant, like you never mattered to him. That realisation makes a lump catch in your throat. “You’re… you’re—“
He nods slowly, wide grin splitting his face. “Yeah. I am.” He replies mockingly, flipping the mask back on. “What did Jonathan say? Ghostface?” 
A part of you thought—hoped—that he would try to deny it. You’d believe any explanation he’d give you if you tried hard enough, because accepting anything else would be easier than this. 
Than accepting that your best friend is a serial killer. 
“Jason… man, the bastard knows how to fight,” Eddie laments, licking his busted lip behind the mask. He clenches and unclenches his bruised hands, silver rings stained with blood. “Pulled my fucking cloak off and everything—but what are you gonna do? I had a knife. He didn’t. Bled out on my clothes but he knew it was me.” 
You don’t want to hear this. You can’t hear this.
You look desperately for an escape, eyes darting until you spot something that makes your stomach swoop violently, grief ripping through you at the prospect. 
Steve’s white Nikes, covered in blood. 
You turn to Eddie shakily, eyes wide. “Did you kill Steve?” 
He softens, trailing the knife over your cheek. You’re as still as you can be despite your body feeling like it’s vibrating, knowing too well that the smallest of movements could kill you. 
“So sweet. So naive. My flower.” He whispers. “You think I strung Tina and Higgins’ big ass up on those goalposts myself?” 
“No…. He—Steve?” You blubber, another wave of grief washing over you. You’ve just lost two of your best friends in the space of five minutes and you don’t have the time to think about the implications. You just need to make it out alive. “Why? Why did you do this? Why did you kill those people, Eddie?” 
“Because there’s only so much a person can take. I mean, a year passed since Jason sicced his merry brigade of uptight Catholics on me. They all got to move on, get college scholarships, access to trust funds and opportunities to get out of this shithole. Me? I was gonna stay here and rot.” He seethes. “I tried my best to keep it under control. To push my urges down. But then I saw Carol bump you in that hallway, and I remembered what Tommy did to you at that party. That’s when I decided to end it.”
“How do you know about that?” You shudder. 
“Harrington told me everything. Y’know for someone who secretly loves killing, he protested far too much in the beginning. Though, in his defence, I think he was a little cooked after the whole Russian torture thing. It was a perfect plan, really. I killed the people on his list—he killed the people on mine. Solid alibis. No connection.” 
“I never asked for this. For any of it. You don’t get to pin your sick little indulgences on me, Eddie.”  
He flinches, recoils at your words. “But I did it for you. To keep you safe. Why don’t you get that?!” 
Salt falls from your eyes, trails down your face until your cheeks and neck are wet, a lump in your throat. “Are you going to kill me?”
He stares in awe at the pulse visible under your neck, lightly traces his knife over it. He may not even dignify your question with a response; all he would have to do is press in and you’d bleed out right on Mr. Munson’s orange carpet. 
“I told you that you’re always safe with me, do you remember that?” When you ignore his question, he uses the knife to tip your chin up and takes the mask off. “Answer me.”
His eyes soften when he waits for you to answer, as though hanging onto your words for desperate validation. You get a glimpse of the Eddie you know—knew. 
Your Eddie. 
“Yes.” You reply truthfully. 
“So how can you ask that? How could you possibly think I’d kill you?” 
“Then why stalk me? Why send me the flowers—the letters—if I wasn’t next on your list?” You sob. “You must’ve known what I’d think, that I was scared. Why did you do that?”
“Because I love you.” He whispers reverently, closing in on you. His eyes soften, and when he says those four words, it’s Eddie. Eddie, despite the blood spatter on his neck and arms. It’s why it takes your breath away, because you can’t disregard it as the ramblings of a madman. 
There’s some truth to it—even if it is sick. 
And you hate yourself more for wanting him. 
He sheaths the knife in his back pocket, closing the distance between you. “Do you have any idea…how long I’ve wanted you? How I’ve had to keep tabs on you from afar because I was afraid of what you’d think about me? I’ve wanted you since the day you moved here, way before we ever even met.” 
You hate him. You hate yourself. You hate this. 
Your palm makes a cracking sound against his cheek, leaving a blooming red mark on his face. “I hate you.”
His lips brush against yours. “No, you don’t.”
“Yes. I fucking hate you, Eddie. You broke my trust.” 
“I know.”
Your fists beat down on his chest and arms, throwing punches against a solid chest. He grunts and takes the brunt of your beat down silently, your palms picking up the blood from his soaked t-shirt. It’s only once you’re reduced to tears that he stops you, encircling both of your blood-stained wrists and pulls you close to his chest. 
“I hate you.” You repeat in a small voice. 
“Yeah?” He asks, looking down at you. 
He looks more like himself now, the version that makes you laugh, and loves to read, and has a rich imagination. The Eddie who makes your breath catch in your throat. His gaze is heated, loaded with the challenge of your hatred for him, as though he’s waiting for you to prove it. 
His lips are plump and red, the divot on his chin pronounced. 
“You really hate me?” He whispers. “Because I’ll let you go. You can go to the police, have me arrested, I don’t care. I just want you.” 
You launch yourself at him, crushing your lips against his for a burning, all-consuming kiss. Your knees buckle at the long-awaited contact, his lips full and soft, yet demanding when they slide over yours, capturing your mouth with a bruising intensity. He wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you to him so forcefully that it makes you mewl, the soft contours of your body moulding against his harder ones, blood soaking into your pale pink dress. 
You pull away, panting for breath. “I hate you.” You chant. “I hate you. I hate you.” 
He kisses you harder. 
Your hands tangle in his hair as his lips devour you, hungry tongue meshing with yours. He moans in pain when you suckle his bruised bottom lip, the sound going straight to your core. He frantically reaches to touch as much of you as he can, presses his body against yours to make your chest heave with pleasure.
You pull away, looking at him hesitantly. 
“Don’t look at me like that.” He pleads, voice cracking. “Don’t look at me like you’re scared of me.”
“I am scared, Eddie.” You whisper, a tear escaping your eye. 
“I’m sorry, baby. I meant it when I said I’d never hurt you. I just wanna take care of you. Make you feel good the way you deserve. Will you let me do that? Can I show you? Please?” 
Despite your fear, you’re warming to the idea that he’s still the Eddie that checks on you in the middle of the night, the Eddie that once drove an hour at 3:00am to pick you up from a party. 
You swallow. “Yes.”
His warm eyes sparkle, capture your lips in another heated kiss. He moans desperately into your mouth as your lips slide over one another, panting as he firmly runs his hands up your hips, trailing up your ribcage and to your arms. He pins your hands above your head, stretching your body out and shoves his knee between your legs.
You break away from his mouth in pleasure, the coarse denim of his jeans rubbing against your panties. Your mouth falls open, head lolling back against the wall. 
“Oh, you needed this, huh?” He says darkly, rocking his knee between your legs. “You like me. And you hate yourself for it.” 
You chase his mouth but he dodges, a wicked look on his face. You fist your hands in his shirt collar and pull him down to capture his full lips between yours again, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. 
Eddie groans, his mind immediately jumping to how you’re capable of drawing blood for him too, even if it is his own. His cock twiches. “That’s my fucking girl.” He murmurs, dragging his thumb against his lip to wipe the blood. “You’re not as innocent as you look, huh?” 
You wrap your hand around his large wrist, bring his hand to your own mouth to smear his blood on your lips. His eyes gleam, cock painfully hard. Your gaze falls to his lips, bruised and bleeding, blood in his mouth and on his chin. 
“Go ahead.” He smiles knowingly.
You let the tip of your tongue trace the blood on his chin and lick upward until you trace the seam of his lips. He swallows your next breath with a bruising kiss, your lips coming together in a frenzied, sick heat, the taste of copper and warm blood coating your tongue. 
He squeezes your hip with a large hand, brings you down to grind against his knee, the act debasing but you don’t care. Eddie makes you crazy, his broad build, his possessiveness; his dark side. 
“C’mon. Let me see that pretty face when you cum. Go ahead. Cum on my thigh like the sick little thing you are.” He murmurs, looking down at the mess you’re leaving on his jeans. He roughly forces you to look down, his hands framing your face. “Look at that. Look at the mess you’re leaving. Soaking fucking wet and I haven’t even touched you yet, do I make that cunt leak, baby? That all for me?” 
“Yeah, Eddie. For you. For you.” You chant.
“Atta girl. Cum for me now. Cum on my thigh.” He coos, rocking his leg up into you. “Let go, c’mon.” 
The coil in your stomach wraps tighter around itself, Eddie’s rough words making you throw your head back in a silent moan as you finally come undone. He holds you close to him, an arm around your waist to help you ride out your orgasm, your arms around his shoulders, held in a tight embrace as he continues to grind his knee into your pussy.
“Oh that’s it, that’s my pretty fucking girl. So good for me, doing exactly as I ask you. So fucking good, baby. Just breathe—you got it. Good girl.” 
His words somehow prolong your orgasm, your pussy convulsing around nothing, until all you can do is dig your nails into Eddie’s shoulders and cry. 
When you come down, you’re languid, but renewed, wanting more. Both of your eyes are blown, heady with lust, and Eddie brings your mouth back to his, unable to stay away. 
Cradling the back of your head, he licks into your mouth and you angle your head to kiss him deeper, hungry for more as you mewl into his mouth, scrambling against the wall. You tug at his t-shirt, pull him closer by his belt loops, and he moans at your show of control. 
Sinking to your knees, you keep your eyes up and on Eddie as you watch him register your movement, his brows furrowing with exertion. He plucks his blood-soaked t-shirt off his body, drops of crimson staining his abdomen and his hands now. 
You look up at him with wide eyes. He’s intimidating from this angle, tall and broad, but still lithe; ink and blood covering his pale chest and arms. You trace the scratches on his lower abdomen, shivers erupting on your skin at the realisation of how he really got them.
You kiss the still-red marks, tonguing over his v-line and lower abdomen, bluntly scratching at the smattering of hair that leads below his jeans. 
He cups your chin tenderly, leaving behind blood. “Tommy begged for his life. Begged me not to kill him, but I did anyway. Made him bleed out right by the pool while Carol watched. For what he did to you.” 
You should hate this. You should get off your knees and leave. But you can’t. Not when you’re one orgasm deep and you’re wet between the legs. Not when you’re about to worship this man. 
You kiss his hand, then his stomach, leaving a trail of wet kisses over his abs, tracing the tip of your tongue over the red scratches. You move over, scratching your nails down his stomach to mirror the other side, leaving angry red marks. 
Why should Carol be the only one to get to mark him? 
He hisses through his teeth, hands hovering over your head hesitantly as you lick over the fresh marks with more kisses. “What? You jealous?” He laughs.
You answer him with another swipe at his v-line, red claw marks imprinting on his skin. The tent in his pants begs to be touched, and when you rub over his hard cock through his jeans, his thighs tremble. 
“Can I suck your cock, Eddie?” You ask innocently. “Please?” 
“Jesus fuckin—“ He grits out, bracing against the wall in front of him. “Go ahead, baby. Take my cock out, lemme feel your mouth.” 
You bite back a smile at his eagerness as you undo his belt, shakily pulling down his jeans and boxers together to free his cock. You swallow, your skin heating at the sight of his cock; average length but the girth takes you off guard, his tip red and leaking pre cum. 
He looks at you knowingly, like he knows he’s going to destroy you when the time comes, but until then, he’s going to bide his time with your mouth. He groans breathily when you stroke the length of him, using both hands to twist and pull, goosebumps erupting on his skin. 
“Shit, shit, shit. That’s it. Squeeze a little tighter there—ah—fuck. Oh, that’s it, baby.” 
You sweetly suck on his tip, licking up his pre cum. Eddie’s abs twitch when your tongue swipes over the vein on the underside of his cock, and you make a mental note to tease him with that. His hips jerk forward on instinct, pushing his cock deeper into your mouth, his hands hovering over your head.
“Like that, Eddie? Am I doing a good job?” You ask, kissing his tip. 
“Yeah, baby. Such a good job like I knew you would. Need a little more.” 
You work way down the shaft, laying wet, open mouthed kisses on his heavy cock, languidly slapping his tip against your tongue. Eddie’s chest flushes with exertion. He looks down at you with hooded eyes, his expression darkening when you take his hands and direct them to your head, silently asking him to take control. 
“Show me what you want, Ed. Do it exactly how you wanna.” You murmur letting his cock slap your tongue. 
You stay like that; mouth wide and tongue out for him to take the lead. A splitting grin takes over his face as he nods, gently gathering your hair on top of your head. 
“My best girl.” He whispers.
He thrusts into your mouth slowly at first, tentatively testing the waters, but as your warm, wet mouth invites him in for more, his thrusts get deeper and more aggressive. Tears prick your eyes as his thick cock reaches the back of your throat with each rough thrust, his hands pulling your head forward. 
“Fucking Christ, your mouth. So pretty with your lips stretched out around my cock, on your knees for me.” 
You nod as he punctuates his sentence with a harsh thrust that makes you gag around him, and you feel him twitch in your mouth, spit and precum messily trailing down your chin, covering his balls and thighs in a slick sheen. 
He wheezes, squeezing his eyes shut. “Yeah… you’re my filthy little girl, aren’t you? Love taking my cock any way I’ll give it to you, huh?” He lightly slaps your cheek, feels the vibration against his cock and throws his head back in pleasure, his hair a halo around his head. 
“So pretty, so fucking pretty—my angel. My pretty little angel. A little wider—shit—just like that.” Eddie whines incoherently when you reach up and massage his balls, slick with your saliva while he holds you in place and fucks your mouth. “Thank you, baby—fuck. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” 
Tears stream down your face, but you’re drunk on the taste of him, your pussy throbbing with his words and needy voice. You’re galvanised knowing that on your knees, you’re capable of reducing a man as powerful and terrifying as Eddie to this. 
A whining, whimpering, mess. 
He withdraws from your mouth with a drawn out groan, his cock twitching in front of your face. You glance up at him, a flush spreading from the centre of his chest to his neck, his ears and cheeks bright red, lips swollen from biting them. 
“C’mere.” He murmurs, dragging you up by your throat—not even with enough force to reduce your airflow—but as a possessive gesture, a means of control. 
He disregards the mess on your face and kisses you in a desperate clash of teeth and tongues and heavy breaths, his cock pressing against your tummy. He swallows your moans and whimpers with a light grip on your throat as he takes the breath from your lungs. 
  “Let's get you off your feet, what do you say?” He rasps. 
You nod, hooking your arms around his neck as he sweeps you off your feet, dark gaze burning yours. He throws you on his creaky mattress, leaving you to crawl upward as he stalks towards you like you’re his prey. 
Shoving your knees apart, he strokes your calves, laying gentle kisses on your now sore knees. “You trust me?” 
You take a beat, making sure to run the scenarios through in your head. “Yes.”
He reaches for a knife from his bedside table, and your skin turns red hot, equal parts desire and terror mixing like a cocktail under your skin. 
“Eyes on me, okay? Just relax.” He coos, kissing your forehead. “Not gonna hurt you.” 
He settles between your legs, and despite you being the one fully clothed out of the two of you, you feel vulnerable but safely kept. He scrapes the blunt edge of the knife gently down your neck, circling your pulse point. It scratches against your collarbone as he continues its descent down in your skin. 
You close your eyes as he hooks it around the neckline of your dress, and you feel him stall, remember his words.
Eyes on me. 
“Good girl.” He breathes when you force yourself to look at him. 
With a sharp tug of the knife, he cuts a jagged line down the centre of your dress, starting at your neckline and ending just above your belly button. You startle at the sudden movement and jump slightly but a hand on your hip holds you down. Slowly, he takes the two halves of the dress and rips with his bare hands all the way down until it falls open at your sides. 
“Jesus Christ, you’re perfect.” Eddie rasps, trailing the knife back upwards. 
“Don’t tease, Eddie.” You whine, shivering at the cold. 
“Patience, my flower. I like to draw things out.”  
You stiffen, the reminder of his extra curricular activities reminding you of who he is. He dips down and places a sweet kiss on your lips to absolve you of your worries, then with a tattooed hand, drags the knife between your breasts, then to the left. The sheets in your hands are the only traction you have as he circles your nipple with the knife, flicking the bud with the metal. 
“One wrong move…” he reminds you. “One wrong move, and this could end terribly for you, couldn’t it?” 
You whimper, nodding. 
“Good thing you trust me. Better thing that I love you.”
He trails it down your stomach, watching the goosebumps appear on your skin as he travels south, the muscles under your skin jumping at the touch. The cold metal reaches your panties, scraping over your covered mound, and despite the imminent danger, you feel yourself dripping for him. 
“You’re doing really good, baby. Proud of you.” 
He goes further still, careful to always use the blunt edge of the knife, but with the weapon out of sight, you’re forced to hyper focus on the sensation, figure out which part is where. You cry out when the cold metal bumps against your puffy clit through your panties, your hips bucking. 
Eddie laughs throatily, a wide grin on his face. “Oh, was that good? You liked that, didn’t you? My depraved little angel.” 
“Yes, Eddie. Please, I need more.” 
“That’s right, you do. Well done.” 
You feel tension against the waistband of your panties before it snaps, your panties cut off at the legs. Eddie pulls you up roughly, dragging your panties off you and leaving you fully exposed and open to him. Gathering them in his hand, he brings them to his face, inhales deeply as his eyes roll back into his head. 
”Fucked my hand over n’ over again with the panties I took from you. Wrapped around my cock pretending it was you, whispered your name when I came. You know that?” 
His words make you squirm and he laughs knowingly. Gripping your chin gently, he tells you to open up so he can slip your panties into your mouth. The salty sweet taste of you floods your mouth, your slick coating your tongue and the cotton. 
“You keep nice and quiet for me, I swear I’ll make it worth your while, baby. Can you be good for me?” 
He’s in control and he knows it and it makes you writhe in pleasure. You nod eagerly, pussy fluttering at the prospect of what he has planned for you. 
He slaps your cheek lightly again. “Good girl. Nice and quiet, yeah?” 
He yanks you to the edge of the bed by your ankles and brings your legs to wrap around his waist, turning you as he lays on his back, moving up the bed. 
“C’mon, baby. Come sit on my face, gimme that pretty pussy.” 
You hesitate, feeling exposed and vulnerable, but he takes your hands in his, pulls you forward until you're straddling his waist. “C’mon. Let me taste you, baby. Please?” He coos.
Hooking two arms around you, he moves you up until you’re hovering above his face, the change in dynamic making your insides clench. 
“Please, baby. Just wanna taste you. Please? Let me kiss that pretty pussy?” He whines, tugging on his cock. 
You tentatively lower yourself onto his face, the only thing visible to you now, his upper face. He latches onto your pussy immediately, sucks your clit between his plump lips and your hips buck, trying to put some distance between you and the source of your pleasure. He moans loudly into your pussy, thick tongue and full mouth messily kissing your cunt, strong jaw anchoring you.  
“Such a sweet fucking pussy, you’ve gotta be kiddin’ me… could get drunk on the taste of you, so fucking wet, dripping down my face—my God.” He whines, hooking his arms around your legs to keep you flush to him.
Your legs tremble around his face—his face—blissed out and so full of concentration. You lean down and push the hair off his forehead, and he moans in pleasure, sucking your clit harder as you pull slightly on his scalp. 
“That’s it, baby. Grind on my face, use my tongue. Make yourself cum for me, baby. Grind on me.” 
Your heart beats erratically as you slowly work your hips in circles on Eddie’s face, moans and whimpers muffled by the panties in your mouth. His hands reach up to squeeze your tits, pinching your nipples almost painfully and pleasure sparks at the base of your spine. 
“C’mon, pretty girl. Make me proud. Cum for me.” He encourages, flicking your clit with his tongue. The sound of Eddie’s mouth and your wet pussy fill the room as you chase your release, melting into him while pleasure washes over you in waves. 
You cum with a silent scream, head thrown back and focus on the feeling of Eddie’s hands on your tits and mouth lapping at you. You come crashing down, electricity crackling at the base of your spine as you pull on Eddie’s hair. 
You fall onto your hands with blood thrumming in every single nerve ending, your hair sticking to your neck with exertion. Eddie lays a messy kiss on your clit before lifting you off him and gathers you in his arms. 
He checks your face for signs of concern, but you’re utterly blissed out. Unpicking the panties from your mouth, he wipes the saliva from your chin to kiss you. You’re boneless in his arms, trusting him to hold you up, sweaty body flush against his as his mouth moves over yours. He consumes your being, wanting you from the inside out, your entire body vibrating with need, more so when you feel his cock jump between your legs. 
“You’re so hard, Eddie. So thick.” 
He swears under his breath as you tug at his cock, heavy and warm in your hand. He grips your throat, a smile making its way onto your lips as he regards you with a knowing look. 
A look that he knows you’re his. That you’re just as twisted as he is. 
He spins you around, your back flush to his tattooed chest and grips your chin to make you look at yourself in the mirror in front of you. You stroke him languidly, feeling his sticky precum coat the tips of your fingers while his fingers spread your pussy lips. 
“Look at yourself.” He urges, kissing your cheek. “Look at how wrecked you are, spread out and naked for me. Look at how good we look together, my flower. Look.” 
The sight in front of you makes your knees buckle. Next to Eddie’s guitar, is your reflection, blissed out with your hair matted to your face, legs spread wide while Eddie’s ringed fingers rub your clit. Behind you, Eddie watches the reflection, his tattooed chest and abdomen littered with scratches and bruises. 
Both of you are stained with blood, handprints marking your throat, your hips, your tits, actual remnants of a crime on your bodies, mixing with sex. 
“Keep your eyes on that mirror, baby. Whatever you do, do not take your eyes off that mirror. You got that?” 
“Yeah, Eddie. Anything you want.” 
He lays a kiss under your ear to soothe the sting of two thick fingers plunging into your pussy, your head lolling back. The slick coating your thighs and pussy makes it easy for him to slide in, the sting soothed by the pleasure of him hooking his fingers inside you. 
“Ohh, I know you like that, don’t you, my girl? That feels good inside my pretty baby’s pussy, huh? You wanna close your eyes but you can’t, can you?” He coos mockingly, lightly slapping your cheek. “No, you can’t. Because you said you’d do anything I want. So you’re gonna stay right here…and I’m gonna finger this pretty little cunt to get you ready for my cock.” 
“Eddie…” you whine, palming his cock. “That feels so good, your fingers… so thick.” 
“I know, baby. I know.” 
He withdraws his fingers and plunges them deep inside you with each word, drawing out your pleasure like a length of elastic; tension building and building precariously close to a snap. The heel of his palm rubs against your clit as his pace increases, a furious work of his wrist leaving you hanging onto his arm for dear life. 
“Cum, baby. Come on, gimme another one, I know you can do it. Do it for me, baby, let me feel you squeeze my fingers.” 
“Gonna cum, Eddie…so close.” You whimper. 
You watch his biceps flex and his shiny, slick covered fingers as you come undone. You’re decidedly full, but not full enough, fluttering around his fingers wildly as he talks you through your release. Your eyes go hazy with ecstasy as you fight to keep them open, to watch his onslaught like you promised you would. 
“Good girl, good fucking girl. Pretty eyes on me, yeah? Just breathe baby, you’re doing so good. So fucking good squeezing me like that. So pretty.” 
When your heartbeat comes down, he kisses your cheek, holding his ring and middle fingers up to the light, your slick stretching between his fingers. 
He brings them to your mouth. “Suck.” He says simply, gasping when your tongue presses against his fingers to lick the taste of yourself off him. 
“Sweet?” He asks. 
You nod around his fingers. 
“Well done, baby. We’re not finished yet, though.” 
With a large hand on your upper back, he pushes you down into his pillows, the smell of him surrounding you like a haze. His sheets are rumpled, but a welcome reprieve, they smell like him and in a way, it’s like laying on him. 
Eddie’s large hands angle your hips upwards just slightly, the rest of you still face down on the mattress. You feel the blunt head of his cock slide up and down your slit, your sloppy cunt making him slip. 
A sharp crack lands on your ass, making you jump, the pain soothed by a cool relief as Eddie massages the skin, pulling at it posessively. He squeezes you hard enough to leave bruises but it only spurs you on, the sick thought of Eddie possessing you, marking you—owning you—makes you drip onto his sheets. 
“Eyes on me, remember?” He rasps from the exertion of controlling himself. “Keep those pretty eyes on me.” 
He braces himself over you with toned arms, his legs bracketing yours as he pushes the fat head of his cock inside you, agonisingly slow. His broad chest flushes a deep crimson. 
You feel him slide right back out of you, and try again, his lips between his teeth. “God fuckin’ damn it, you’re so tight, pushing me right back out.” He pushes in again, and you watch him mesmerised. “Let me in, angel, c’mon. Let me inside you, gimme that sweet cunt. C’mon.” He grunts. 
Every inch stretches you out, punching the air from between your lungs. You’re completely immobilised and at Eddie's mercy, trembling as he sheathes himself inside you. 
You gasp when he buries himself to the hilt, impossibly full and dizzy with pleasure. “Oh my God, Eddie, that’s deep. You’re so fucking deep inside me—so fucking big.” You sob, fluttering around his cock. 
He drops his entire body weight on you, pushing you further into the mattress, deliciously constricting your airflow. He pulls your arms out in front of you and interlocks his fingers with yours. 
You feel his chest vibrate when he speaks, a deep, quiet rumble that kisses the shell of your ear. “Yeah? That deep enough for my baby’s pussy, hm? Stretch you nice and good?”
You watch the carnal expression on his face as he slowly starts to grind into you, the angle bumping that spot deep inside you that makes your clit jump. You’re sensitive and pliant under him but it doesn’t stop him from leaning in close and snapping his hips, muttering filthy words into your ear. 
He pushes a thumb into your mouth. “Such a warm, wet, perfect cunt. The things I did for this pussy, to make you mine—God.” He grits. “You make me fucking crazy you know that? This pussy makes me crazy.” 
Every inch of his body presses against yours, your skin moulding to his, sweat slicked and sticky, both of your thighs covered in your slick. 
“Love your cock, Eddie. Love how you fuck me. Please, Eddie. Want more, please.” You whine, pulling his hair above you. 
He builds his pace steadily, his hips snapping into your while he sets a brutal rhythm, pressing you further into the mattress. The hot friction of your nipples rubbing against his sheets and his cock set your skin on fire. 
You barely register Eddie angle your hips up all the way before wrapping an arm around you and pulling you up—flush against him. 
“That’s better. Look at you—fucking ruined on my cock, aren’t you? Who else can fuck you like this? Who else makes you this fucking pathetic and desperate?” 
“Nobody, Eddie. Nobody. Just you, only you fuck me like this.” You choke out, legs trembling. 
With an arm around your waist to keep you steady, he hooks the other around your neck, effectively putting you in a light headlock. You’re so close to your release, so dizzy with pleasure that you’re on the verge of passing out. Your head lolls against Eddie’s shoulder and your eyes roll back, your face a sight with fat tears rolling down your cheeks. 
The lack of airflow increases the pressure inside of your body, fire pooling low in your stomach, making you drip . 
“That’s it, that’s it, there you go, there you fucking go. You like it when I choke you don’t you, my filthy little girl. Gonna make you cream all over my cock, want it soaking my thighs and balls, baby. Give it to me.” 
You can barely form words, settling for a litany of, “Yes, yes, yes. Right there, Eddie, don’t stop, please, don’t stop.” 
“Not gonna stop. Not until you’re crying. Now c’mon, gimme another one, let me feel this pretty pussy squeeze my cock, c’mon. Make me proud, pretty girl, cum for me.” 
You hang on for dear life as he fucks you right into another orgasm, your legs trembling and pussy convulsing around him, but he doesn’t let up. Pounds you right through your orgasm, skin slapping against skin, finally letting go of your throat so you can breathe again. 
“Good girl, good girl, good fucking girl, that’s it. There you go, just breathe—you got it. Just feel it, you got it, c’mon, keep going, keep going.”
White spots your vision as you ride out your orgasm and Eddie finally allows you to fall forward, draping his body over yours immediately. You pull at his hair to bring him closer, slowly grinding yourself against his cock as you come down, a panting, sweaty mess, drowning in bliss. 
You angle your head to kiss him lazily, his lips leaving your mouth tingling, tongue licking into your mouth. 
“Anyone ever tell you you’re really fucking intense, Ed?” You tease against his lips. 
“Why? You hear somethin’?” He chuckles, kissing you deeply. 
He pulls out of you, tugging at his slick cock as he turns you over onto your back. You’re both dishevelled, and desperate, chasing a higher and higher release. 
You spread your legs and invite him to use your puffy, sensitive pussy, your thighs and hips covered in juices. He slides in easier this time, grinding all the way into the hilt so his pelvis bumps your clit, while his pick chain dangles in your face. 
You whine, gripping the sheets for an anchor as he starts to drive into you with a rough snap of his hips. 
“Eddie…” you whine. “Feel so good, so deep.” You whimper. 
“Yeah?” He grins, dimple splitting his cheek. He presses his hand into your stomach, withdrawing his cock almost all the way out and slamming back inside again. “Right here? You feel me there? Nice and deep inside this pretty angel cunt, made for me to fuck, isn’t it?” 
“Just for you, Eddie. Just for you.” You chant. 
Your slick smears everywhere, coating Eddie’s lower stomach and happy trail, his pelvis and balls, everything a filthy, sticky mess and you’re in heaven. 
You fist your hands into the pillow next to you, spot a flash of black and white. Pulling on the material, you reveal another mask, and your heart swoops nervously, your body stiffening. 
“You’re okay, baby. Nothin’ to be scared of—here.” He reassures you, slipping the hood on. It takes your breath away, having to reconcile Eddie’s body with the mask, but when he grinds his cock deep inside you, you snap back. “Just me. Just Eddie.” 
You reach for his shoulders and spread your legs to invite him closer, wanting to feel more of him. Eddie smiles behind the mask, knows the reaction you have to it—to him—to the implications. He hisses at the feel of your fingernails digging into his back, cock twitching at your possessiveness.
“You like that don’t you, baby? I know you like seeing me with the mask on, I can feel you fucking creaming on my cock. Makes you horny doesn’t it, knowing I killed for you? You’re twisted. Filthy.” 
You whine for him incoherently, feeling the muscles in his back flex and contract as he fucks you deep and fast, his creaky bed matching his rhythm. The mask cuts off Eddie’s breathing, makes it hard to inhale properly but finally having you under him, writhing and moaning his name the way he’s dreamed of makes him whimper. 
“Wanna see you, Eddie. Please. Wanna see your face.” You cry, reaching for his mask. 
He dodges your hands, pins them above your head with his stronger ones. “Tell me you’re mine first.” He grunts. “Tell me you’re fucking mine.”
“I’m yours, Eddie. I’m fucking yours, I’m all yours.” You offer freely, squeezing his hands. 
He slides the hood off, forehead shiny with sweat, bangs matted to his face as he drops his entire body weight on you, pinning your hands again. 
“That’s right. Mine to touch. Mine to taste. Mine to fuck. All mine.”
You’re dizzy with pleasure, taking whatever he gives you, your pussy squelching with each brutal pass of Eddie’s thick cock. “All yours, Eddie.”
“Tell me I’m yours.” He pants needily, using his body to drive you forward. 
“You’re mine, Eddie.” You sob, raking your nails violently down his back to prove it. “You’re mine. You’re mine, Eddie.” 
His cock jumps inside you, both of you closer to your release. “That’s right. You could try to forget any of this happened. But we both know, baby. You love this too much.” 
“God—Eddie. Please. Please, please…”
“Please what? You losin’ your words, now? So drunk on my cock filling you up, you can’t think straight?” He slaps your pussy lightly, clit puffy and sensitive. 
He grips your throat, making your head fall back and tongue loll out of your mouth uselessly. In a moment of pure possession, he lets a trail of his saliva drip into your mouth, kisses you deeply and thoroughly until you’re seeing stars and on the precipice. 
“Good thing I can think for the both of us, huh? Dunno what you’d do without me, my dumb little angel. Need me to protect you, don’t you? I know, baby, I know. I can give you what you need, don’t worry.” 
You’re reduced to blissful silence as Eddie bridges the gap between you and your release, his own, right on the edge as well. 
“Gonna come, Eddie. So close, please, please, make me cum. I love it, I love you. I love you. I love you—Eddie, fuck.” You sob, hanging onto his back, crescent shaped welts marking his skin. 
“Gonna make you mine, baby. Gonna make all this worth it. All of it, just a little more, yeah?” He pants, rhythm turning sloppy. 
“Yeah. Make me yours, Eddie. Please. Wanna be yours.” 
He drops his entire body weight against you, your stomachs pressing together as he buries his face into the crook of your neck. 
“Gonna cum inside this pretty pussy, baby. Make you mine forever, yeah?” 
You nod, biting down on Eddie’s shoulder as you cum, locking your legs around his waist to pull him in deeper. You convulse around his cock, pulling him impossibly close. Eddie moans into your neck as he reaches his release, teeth sinking into the skin below your ear as he cums deep inside you, his balls nestled against your ass.  
He thrusts shallowly inside you, shuddering as you both come down, sweating and entirely ruined. Brushing the sweaty hair off your face, he kisses you deeply, pulling away with dopey eyes. 
“Proud of you, baby. You did really good. Thank you.” 
Your eyes grow heavy, and you’re content to lean on him on the way to the cramped bathroom, have him wash the blood off both of your bodies. You register it against the white porcelain of the bathtub as it circles the drain. 
It takes a few weeks and slowly but surely, Hawkins returns back to normal. A week-long procession of back-to-back funerals are grim, your guilty conscience making you sick, but the sicker part of you wonders what else you could have Eddie do. 
Two weeks after Andy Clayton’s funeral, you sit in the backseat of Steve’s BMW and watch the houses go by. You narrow your eyes, tapping Eddie on the shoulder once the white house comes into view.
“That’s the house, Eddie.” 
“You sure, Sweetheart?” He asks, squeezing your hand. 
“Positive. Jenny told me she saw it happen, Father Elijah with that little boy.” 
“Alright. You heard her, Harrington. Let’s go.” He inhales sharply, getting out of the car. 
You join them outside, tugging on Eddie’s hands, stopping him as he goes to put his mask on. “You’ll be careful, won’t you, baby?” 
“Always am.” He smiles, bending down to kiss you.
——————————————————————————
tags: @fezcoismypimp @urlocaltwink @cottoncandywings @stardancerluv @hoe-for-fictional-men @momsaysimpunkrock @southside-serpent-bae @umm-megan @cozyyellowcardigan @binanas @imasimptoowth @adamdrivershairfluffer @a-laura @rosecolorgardens
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libraryofloveletters · 3 months
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With Sweet Comes Sour
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Charles Leclerc x Fem!Reader 
Warnings: charles just wanted a peaceful valentines, so much drama and so many emotions, lots of tears, assumption of cheating (no actual cheating), weird ass exes, all the kids are in here, a few insulting terms, alcohol and the consumption of, being drunk, slight explicit content, bar brawls, blood and bruises, google translated french.
Word Count: 3.6k
Author’s Note: okay here's another piece to the series, sorry it took me forever to get this out but I didn't have any ideas until now lol. happy early valentines!
Daddy & Me + Three Masterlist 
--
The rollers stacked on her vanity as you undo the curls in her hair. Eloise was doing the final touches on her makeup as it was her first Valentines with her boyfriend, Anthony. They're going for the full cliché; movie and dinner and a stroll by the pier when they are done.
This is the first Valentine in 17 years that you and your husband have the house to yourselves. You were going to make the most of it, spending some quality alone time without your children pestering you.
You leave her to finish getting ready before going down to check on your husband. You hear the doorbell ring, and you figure it was Anthony here to pick her up so you let the boy in. Eloise comes downstairs in the meantime and you could hear her speaking to her father.
"How do I look?" She asks him; her baby pink dress sat above her knees.
The man smiles, twirling a curl that sat on her shoulder. "Très belle, ma chérie." (very beautiful, my darling.) You smiled as you watched the interaction, Anthony steps past you towards his girlfriend. He had brought her chocolates and flowers.
She kisses his cheek; young love.
He had another bouquet of flowers, Eloise sets her gifts down in the kitchen as Anthony walks to you. "For you," he hands you the roses, you smile at him.
"Thank you, sweetheart. That's very thoughtful of you," you toss a glance at your husband who definitely forgot to get you flowers.
Eloise returns a moment later, linking arms with her boyfriend. "You two be safe," Charles tells them. Anthony nods, "I'll have her back before midnight."
"Just come home safe, you're both old enough to be responsible." You say, walking them to the front door and sending them off with a wave. Your husband comes up behind you the moment the door shuts, hugging you from behind before he carries you to the couch.
"So pretty lady, what are we going to do with our empty house?" He asks, you could practically hear the mischief in his voice.
"I'm gonna order takeout and drink a whole bottle of wine," you nudged him off of you, making him groan.
Charles was hoping he'd 'get some' so to speak, seeing that the house was in fact empty and would be for hours. Eloise and Anthony wouldn't be back until after midnight, Sofia and Christopher had gone up to Marseille for the night to spend time together and Gabriel and Oliver were at some club with Georgina and Adrian for the night, so you weren't expecting anyone back anytime soon.
"This is our first valentines together, alone, in a long time," Charles tells you, watching as you sit next to him with two glasses of wine.
"I know," you tapped your glass to his gently before taking a sip.
"It's odd," he whispers into your shoulder, kissing your skin softly. You nod, "but nice. Now hurry up and pick a place, I'm starving."
"Always so charming, my love." He rolls his eyes, earning a playful nudge as he reaches for his phone. You two settled on the Italian place that Charles liked.
He put on some random movie that the two of you had started watching a few days ago and never finished. You find yourself cuddled in your husband's side, his arm wrapped around you as you two tried to figure out what was happening where you left off. Eventually, Charles gives up on the movie and focuses his attention elsewhere.
Your husband pulls you onto his lap, his hands on your hips. "What do you want?" You asked him, your own hands on his shoulders, one sliding up to the nape of his neck; his hair had been growing out, all fuzzy and tickling his skin.
"I can't give my wife some love?" He whispers into your skin, lips peppering kissing along your neck as he pulls you into him. He reached your lips, you mumbled a no before kissing him.
His hands slip under your shirt, yours tangled in his hair; you make a mental note to call your mother in law to book him a haircut.
It's like you're teenagers again, all over each other with no room to breathe.
Hands make quick work of Charles's shirt, tossing it behind you somewhere as he goes to flip the two of you over, pinning you under him just as the doorbell rings.
You can't help the giggle when your husband groans, getting up to get the door as he assumed it was the delivery man with the food.
Except he's met with an annoyed Christopher, who just rolled his eyes when he saw his father shirtless and his mother on the couch. He pushes past Charles and goes to the kitchen.
"Chris?" You called after him, seeing Sofia walk in moments later on the verge of tears and you get up, tossing Charles's shirt to him.
The brunette follows her boyfriend, not saying anything until she reaches the kitchen. There's a screaming match, the two of them switching from English to Italian and then a mix of both. Something about a restaurant and a guy or something along those lines. Sofia's holding onto Christopher's arm and he gently pulled away, walking out the front door and slamming the door shut. Charles follows behind him, probably talking him down from doing something stupid.
These damn Leclerc's and their drama.
Getting up, you walk over to Sofia and sit with her in the kitchen. "Is everything okay? We weren't expecting you two back tonight, actually, we weren't expecting you back for the entire weekend."
The girl sniffles, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I hate him."
"Me too," you nodded, rubbing her back. "What did he do this time?"
"It wasn't even him, well I mean, it was but it was me. Actually, well.. it's complicated." She says and you raise an eyebrow, unsure as to what she meant. She speaks, explaining herself. "I bumped into an old friend, and when I say old friend, I mean an old friend. I haven't seen him in like, maybe, six years because he moved from Madrid to London. He just happened to be in Marseille with his girlfriend for Valentine's Day as well."
"Okay... I'm still waiting for what was so bad about that."
"I was waiting for Christopher to get out of the bathroom when my friend noticed me and tapped me on the shoulder. We exchanged hello and exchanged pleasantries, then he kissed my cheek on the way out. Christopher being Christopher, automatically assumes the worst."
You made a face, "so Chris got mad because.. he kissed you on the cheek? Is he dumb?"
"Exactly," she grumbled and you handed her a tissue to clean up her face. "Honestly, that's how Spanish men are, though. They're always affectionate, your father is the same way. I'm certain your friend didn't mean it in the way Christopher took it."
"Even if he did, I didn't take it that way. He has a girlfriend, and regardless, I love Christopher and I would never do that to him."
"I know you wouldn't." You gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Why don't you get something to drink? I'll go see what's going on with them outside hm?" You leave her be for the moment, letting her settle her emotions.
Charles is listening to Christopher ramble, the younger Leclerc spiralling and getting himself caught up in some nonsense lie that his brain made up.
"Christopher," you call for him, stopping him from speaking. He looks at you. "What?"
"You need to apologize to her."
He makes a face, confused as to why you're telling him to apologize when he clearly did nothing wrong, or so he thinks.
"Sofia is a sweet girl, who has no control over the actions of others, and who loves you very much despite your nonsense and your dramatic flare. So you get your ass inside and apologize to your girlfriend for ruining Valentine's day. Either you drive back to Marseille or you figure out something here, because you aren't gonna ruin today for her."
"He kissed her!" He says, flinging his arms in the air. Charles's eyes widened, "what?"
It seems Christopher had left out that detail.
"On the cheek," you clarify, "and so what if he did? You kiss Georgina on the cheek all the time and Sofia doesn't get upset. This guy was just some friend of hers, you need to get over your shit and put your ego to the side because if you don't, you'll lose her."
Christopher huffed, taking in his mother's words before turning and heading inside. You and Charles followed a moment later, hearing bits and pieces of their conversation in the kitchen but eventually, they came into the living room, holding hands.
"Dad," Christopher calls for his father, the man looks over at his son. "Can you get us a hotel room? I tried to get one but everyone says they're booked."
"I can try but why would it be different for me?" He asks, clearly confused and as clueless as the day you met him. "Because you're the prince of Monaco, Charles. Now start calling." You tell your husband, getting up to answer the door - the takeout had finally arrived.
Charles tried his best to get a hotel room for the kids, and even pulled his prince of Monaco card but despite it all, it was Valentine's Day and everywhere was booked.
Sofia decided that she wanted ice cream and Christopher, doing anything to make it up to her, agreed - ignoring the fact that he hated ice cream just for tonight. You sent them off with a wave before returning to your husband on the couch. Charles was refilling your wine glass as you took the food out of the bag.
You two had barely gotten 5 minutes into eating when the door opened and in comes Eloise with her mascara running down her face. She ran straight to her father's arms, collapsing into him.
Anthony follows behind her, the front door slamming shut as he rambles out something in French. "Ce n'est pas à quoi ça ressemblait! Ellie, tu paniques pour rien!" (This is not what it looked like! Ellie, you're freaking out for nothing!)
Eloise had returned home on Valentine's, in tears and was now holding onto her father as if he was going to disappear. The look you saw in Charles' eyes was one you thought was only held for Ferrari and all their torment but it was now directed to his best friend's son, - his baby girl's - his daughter's boyfriend.
"What's going on?" You handed Eloise a tissue, moving to sit on the arm rest of the couch, making yourself the middleman between Charles and Anthony.
The anger on your husband's face made you giggle internally, you could never take him seriously when he was upset - but you understood it. He didn't like to see his kids hurt, especially not his baby girl.
Anthony sighed, passing a hand through his dirty blonde hair; fluffy and flat, much like his father's. "My stupid ex girlfriend saw us while we were at the pier. She came to say hello and she was way too friendly with me - all over me, kissing my cheek, her hand on my chest, all in my face." He groaned, clearly disgusted by this girl.
"Why would you let her do that when you know you have a girlfriend?" Charles asks him, you could hear the roughness in his tone. Your hand gently moves to his shoulder, rubbing it softly.
You spoke next; "did she know you had a girlfriend?"
He nods, "Eloise was taking a picture of something so she was a few feet away and I guess she took it the wrong way when she saw her all over me. I was trying to get her to leave me alone but god, she's like a fucking pest - sorry," he makes a face when he realizes he swore. You wave him off before he continues. "Ellie took it the wrong way, which I understand but she won't hear me out, she thinks I'm cheating on her."
"Are you cheating on her?" Charles asks him.
"No!" You and Anthony answer at the same time; the boy trying to defend himself and you couldn't believe your husband would even ask that.
Eloise finally sits up, her father wiping her cheeks clean. Her blue eyes rimmed with red and slightly puffy from the tears and she turns to Anthony. "Va-t'en, je ne veux pas de toi ici." (go away, I don't want you here.) She tells him, voice trembling.
"Je ne pars pas, Éloïse." (I'm not leaving, Eloise.)
"Ok, je le ferai alors." (okay, i will then.) The girl gets up, walking the other way around the living room and heads up the stairs to what you could only assume was her room. Charles was just as wrapped around her finger as he was when she was born, and followed her to make sure she was alright.
These damn Leclerc's and their drama.
You rolled your eyes at your daughter's dramatics.
Yes, she was upset but Anthony had explained the whole situation in front of you, her and her father. While Anthony might look exactly like his man whore of a father, he was everything like his mother; a sweet, kind and fiercely loyal woman.
It broke your heart to see her upset but it also hurt you to see Anthony in the same state. You get up, hugging the boy as he sniffles, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand.
"She just needs some time to cool off, she's dramatic like her father." You tell him, trying to lighten the mood. You walk him to the kitchen, getting him some water.
He sat in the breakfast nook. "I swear I didn't even see her until she walked over, otherwise I would have walked the other way."
"I know babe, is this the same girl that stalked you after you broke up?"
"Yeah!" He groans, sipping his water. "She's so - ugh." He says, making you laugh. You kiss the top of his head, leaving him there for the time being as you put away what was supposed to be dinner. The food sat on the coffee table, cold and unattended.
The door opens again and you groan, praying it's not another issue but it wasn't; Sofia and Chris come stumbling in, clearly having consumed something other than ice cream.
"Mama!!" Chris grins, untangling his fingers from Sofia's as he walks over to you, kissing your cheek multiple times like he did when he was little - slobbering on your cheek as he did then too.
You laughed, smelling the booze on him. Steadying him, you held his waist. "Hi baby, you okay?"
"Soooo good," he tells you, wobbling over to Sofia, who was also drunk but more steady than your son. You watch as they go upstairs, the sound of the door opening and closing before you walk back to the kitchen.
Anthony still sat in the breakfast nook. "You want something to eat? Something else to drink?" You asked him, wiping your wet cheek off with a tissue.
It takes him a moment to respond. "You know when we were little and you'd cut the apples and make the little peanut butter sandwiches with the slices?" He asks and you nod.
"Want some?" You were already grabbing the apple, peanut butter and honey. Anthony smiles, nodding like he was a kid again.
You washed and cut the apples, spreading the peanut butter and honey on them, sandwiching them together and handing the plate to him. "Thank you," he says, sinking into his seat as he takes a bite of the familiar taste from his childhood.
"Mhm hm," you smiled, hearing the footsteps from behind you. Charles was coming down, kissing your temple as he picked up an extra piece of apple you had on the cutting board.
"Ellie just needs some time." He says, staring daggers at Anthony; if looks could kill.
You huffed, smacking the back of your husband's head. "Stop it, he feels bad enough as it is."
Another set of footsteps come from the hallway and you assume it's Christopher looking for something but then the sound of the front door slamming shut caught your attention. This house was like a free for all, everyone coming and going as they pleased - you made sure to make a mental note to see who had keys to this place.
In came Gabriel who was being held by his boyfriend, Oliver. The two of them were covered in blood and Gabriel had cuts and bruises all over his face.
"What the fuck? What happened?" You say, Charles rushing over to help Oliver sit Gabriel down on a chair.
"He's so fricking hot headed," Oliver says, holding his boyfriend up straight.
It was clear that Gabriel was beyond pissing drunk, the boy swaying unless someone was holding him. Anthony takes over for Oliver, holding Gabriel up as Oliver goes to the bathroom to get the first aid kit.
"What happened?" Charles asks, passing you the cloth as you wiped the blood off your son's face. "I have no clue," you tell him, being extra careful not to hurt him; not like Gabriel would feel it anyways.
Oliver comes back a moment later, setting the kit on the counter and taking back his spot next to Gabriel.
"Ellie's asking for you, man." He tells Anthony, who glances at Charles before quietly making his way out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Before you could even ask, Oliver starts explaining the events of the night. "We met up with Georgina and Adrian at the club. We were all a little tipsy, and Georgina was trying to get a drink at the bar. Some guy came up behind her and he was getting all handsy, trying to touch her and Adrian was in the bathroom so he didn't see it happen, but Gabriel did and he stepped in." Oliver sighs, brushing his boyfriend's hair from his face.
"Basically, Gabriel told the guy to fuck off and said if he touched Georgina again that he would break his face. The guy took that as a sign to leave and once Adrian came back, the two of them decided that they were going to go get something to eat and just spend the rest of the night at home. But Gabriel being Gabriel, our night couldn't just end there of course."
You carefully patched up Gabriel, wiping his cuts clean and putting antibacterial ointment on what needed it , making sure he didn't need stitches or anything.
"The guy came back again a few minutes later. He was super drunk, as was Gabriel and you know how Gabe can be. They started fighting and next thing you know, they're beating the shit out of each other in the middle of the fucking club."
Oliver tells you the story, causing you to roll your eyes at your son's behaviour. You're proud of him for standing up for his friend but must he always get into a fight for stupid reasons?
"I tried to stop him but I forget how strong Gabriel is sometimes." He huffed and you looked at him, seeing the blood on him. "Are you okay?" You asked, moving over to check him.
"I'm fine," Oliver smiles. "It's Gabe's." He says, gesturing to the blood on his shirt.
Charles was making up the guest room downstairs while you patched Gabriel up. In his drunken state, you all knew he wouldn't be making it up the stairs. Your husband comes back to help Oliver get Gabriel into bed and you threw out the bloody mess that had developed on the counter.
You put the plates in the sink, tossing the garbage out and headed up to check on your oldest and youngest.
There were noises coming from Christoper's room and you figured it best not to investigate further. Eloise's door was open, you knock softly and peek in when you don't get an answer. Her head resting on Anthony's chest, the two of them cuddled up and fast asleep. Switching off the light, you pulled the door shut quietly and made your way back downstairs.
As you reach the bottom step, Charles appears from around the corner. He hugs you, squeezing you tightly.
"What?" you asked him, cupping his jaw.
"Our kids are insane," he tells you, sighing. You can't help the laugh, leaning down to kiss your husband. "Those are your genes."
Charles rolls his eyes and takes your hand, pulling you behind him.
"Where are we going?" You asked, following him. He leads you to the car, opening the door for you to get in before getting in himself. It was a short drive and you two ended up on the pier, Charles parks the car and looks over at you.
"What?" You asked him again.
"Just wanted some alone time with my wife," he whispers, leaning over to kiss you. "I can't have that?"
"No," you shook your head, leaning in your seat to reach him. Charles smiles against your lips, as you melted into each other, lost in the moment.
With a soft smile and a lingering touch, you reluctantly pulled away with your cheeks as red as the first night he kissed you. "What was that for?"
"Nothing," he says, smiling. "Happy Valentine's Day babe."
"Happy Valentine's Day, my love."
--
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dilatorywriting · 1 year
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Monster Mayhem: Don't Fear the Reaper
Gender Neutral Reader x Rook Hunt Word Count: 3.4k
Summary: Running a little pâtisserie is quaint, and homey, and should not in any way get you involved with anything shady. Let alone the strange bounty hunter who prowls through your little town like the Grim Reaper himself. And yet here you are, teaching this literal murderer how to use a napkin.
A/N: Based on this wonderful brain rot from a very lovely anon! Also apologies in advance to anyone who actually knows French, because I do not lol. So Rook's babbling is all Google baby
[PART 1] [PART 2]
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There was a murderer at your window, and you weren’t really sure what to do about it.
Well, maybe not actually a murderer. Bounty Hunters tended not to wind up in prison after dragging back the desecrated remains of their latest quarry. But still. You recognized the black plume tucked slickly into his wide-brimmed, purple, hat, and the pale, bright, bob of his hair was nearly luminescent in the dark. He was certainly the least covert assassin you’d ever seen, and you had seen him. It was hard not to. Traipsing through town to deposit every wayward criminal, every long-lost villain, at the doorstep of who’d ever called for him.
‘Rook Hunt’ you thought his name was, or at least, that’s what the old woman in the market would call him before crossing herself and spitting in the dirt. It was all a bit on the nose in your humble opinion, especially with that strange, twisting, ebony, bow of his strung across his back. ‘Hunter’ indeed. But it’s not like you’ve ever done anything to warrant winding up in one of those dripping burlap sacks of his, so you’d let the dude have his drama. It was probably good advertisement. And it’s not like the guy had ever bothered you before.
You thought that reassurance on repeat as you watched said not-quite-a-murderer stare through the front window of your little bakery, as if your rising dough had been kneaded with the secrets of the known universe. But he didn’t do anything—just kept watching with rapt attention as you brushed egg wash over your pie crusts and swapped trays in and out of the ancient, brick, oven.  
In all honesty, he was far from the strangest thing that’d been plastered to your window in the early AM, and it wasn’t like he was licking the glass or anything. So you let it slide.
One of the custard tarts you pulled from the oven had cracked across the top. Nothing out of the ordinary—there was always at least one dud in a batch. Normally you saved the rejects for Ace or Deuce to gobble up (depending on whoever managed to pop by first), but this one you set aside onto a little tea plate. You topped it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a spoonful of the blackberries you’d left sitting in sugar overnight. Then you plucked up a spare napkin and made your way out from behind the counter.
When you opened the door to your little bakery, the tingling overhead bell warmed your unwanted guest’s expression in a way that it most certainly should not have—lighting the whole of him with this sort of wide-eyed, innocent, joy that belonged nowhere on the face of someone you’d watched cart literal corpses into town.
“Mon pâtissier!” he chirped. “What a fine morning it is, no?”
The sun hadn’t even started to rise yet. You could still hear the drone of crickets and toads in the distance, basking in the humid darkness of the night.
“Sure,” you shrugged. “We’re not open for,” you glanced at the moon, still full in the sky, “at least four more hours. If that’s what you’re waiting for.”
“Oh—non, non, non,” Rook waved you off. “I just wanted to watch!”
“…Watch?” you repeated.
“It’s quite the fascinating process!” he absolutely beamed. “Taking such basic, individual, components and turning them into something so spectacularly sweet and heartwarming! Quelle inventivité! I’ve heard nothing but excellent things about your marvelous menu!”
‘From who?’ you wanted to ask, because you’d never heard of anyone being able to hold a conversation with this man for more than a stuttered sentence at a time, let alone for long enough to go about giving dessert recommendations. But there was a streak of red blood across his cheek that still looked fresh enough to not even have gone tacky yet, and now that you looked closer, his dark gloves were perhaps a shade too dark to not have been, well…
You sighed and reminded yourself once again that is was absolutely not your business, before handing him the napkin.
He stared at it with that same sort of rapt fascination that had you wondering if this man had ever actually interacted with proper civilization in his entire life.
“Wipe your hands,” you demanded with a huff, and he dutifully scrubbed at his stained fingers. Once he was clean enough that he was at least no longer dripping unmentionables all along your windowsill, you held out the little saucer for him to take.
“Pour moi?” he muttered, looking a bit starstruck.
“If you’re going to say all those nice things about my food, you may as well get to try what you’re complimenting,” you shrugged, and that same eager enthusiasm lit his face all over again. “And it will be a nice treat to take home with you,” you emphasized, with all the intonation of a cheery ‘please get the fuck out before you scare away all my customers for the day.’
But instead of turning and meandering off back to whatever hole he’d crawled out of, he just kept staring at the little treat like he had no idea what to do with it.
“It’s a tart,” you said blandly, fighting the furrow in your brow.
Rook repeated ‘a tart’ under his breath like it was some kind of ancient, forbidden, enchantment, and not like it was literally scrawled into the little menu sign at your door at least a dozen times over.
The Bounty Hunter peered at the little custard treat like you’d handed him a treasure beyond measure. After a moment of carefully poking at the browned crust like it wasn’t literally meant to break apart beneath one’s fingers, he looked back over at you with eyes that were far, far, too green. He lifted the tart up like he meant to give it back to you.
“I ought to offer you la première bouchée,” he smiled.
You blinked, taken aback, and pushed the plate back into his hands. “That’s not how free samples work.”
Rook tossed his head back with a bout of boisterous laughter that should have been loud enough to wake everyone on the block. You glanced around nervously, hoping no one was about to come running out to make noise complaints.
“Ahh~ But how else will I know the best manner in which to savor such a treat?”
“You eat it,” you gaped. And then, slowly, because you weren’t even sure you were dealing with a functional human being anymore. “With your teeth.”
The Bounty Hunter, with his blood smeared cheeks and even bloodier clothes, put all those shiny, pearly whites of his on display in a merry grin. He swept forward in a grand bow that had the feather in his hat bobbing about in a way that reminded you far too much of a wagging tail.
“Of course!” he chirped. “In my home you said, yes?”
Please, you wanted to groan. Go there. Leave.
“Ideally,” you said instead, and Rook ducked his head until that purple hat of his had cast the whole of his face into shadow. He reached up to tap two fingers against the wide brim and tip it forward.
“Merci, merci!” he trilled. “Then I will endeavor to consume this marvelous spécialité humaine in the proper fashion. A very good morning to you then, cher pâtissier!”
He straightened with a merry little hum and began making his way back down the cobblestone road. In the soft light of the setting moon, his footsteps left odd prints in their wake—inky, black, dripping things that had faded entirely by the time you were able to focus enough to get a proper look at them, leaving you wondering if they’d really just been nothing but a trick of the night.
Well, that was fucking weird,you frowned, shaking the fuzz from your head. You slipped back inside and the door jingled pleasantly as it slammed behind you. But then again, when wasn’t customer service a trip? These people were all ridiculous.
.
.
Bright and early the next morning, you were waiting for Deuce to arrive with his delivery of a fresh crate of eggs. It was ungodly early, as it always was. But at least there was no hunter at your window this time around—
There was a bang and a screech, and then an unfortunate sort of cracking-squishing-yucky noise that sounded an awful lot like a couple dozen eggs meeting their doom. You frowned and tucked your rag into the ribbons of your apron and ducked out from the backroom with a sigh. Deuce was at the door. Or, well, Deuce was on the ground in front of your door. With the shattered, yolk, remnants of your shipment scattered all around him.
“I’m not paying for that,” you huffed irritably, and your friend looked up with a squawk.
He looked like he was trying to say something, but his face just kept flashing back and forth between deathly pale and a miserable sort of mottled red.
“I—! You—! And he—!”
“Use your words, Spade,” you sighed.
“I do believe he’s trying his best, cher pâtissier!”
You froze, and turned in near-slow-motion to see a beaming Bounty Hunter crouched at one of the little painted benches lined up neatly along your storefront. Not on one, like a normal person. But beside one. On the ground. There was no blood on him today. None that was very obviously dripping down his face at the very least. He didn’t seem like he’d come bearing any ill will, but your Chicken Dealer was still splayed out on the ground—nearly convulsing—so that wasn’t a great sign either.
“What’s going on out here?” you demanded, hands at your hips.
“I do believe Monsieur Spade had himself a bit of a fright,” Rook beamed, and then turned towards your very gaunt looking friend with a soft tut-tut noise that for all its amiability didn’t sound particularly sympathetic. “You really ought to work on your balance, hmm? Alas, all these petits oeufs have gone to waste.”
“What?!” Deuce immediately bristled, on the defensive. “If you hadn’t scared me, then none of these chicks would have had to die so tragically in the first place!”
“For the last time,” you sighed, grinding the heels of your palms into your eyes. “Unfertilized farm eggs are not baby chicks.”
“But Ace said—”
“Enough! With what Ace said!” you snapped, exhaustion and a sore lack of tea, or coffee, or anything wearing away at your already fragile sanity. “Ace would sell you snake oil and cry to your face about you underpaying for it!”
“Oh?” Rook chirped, unfolding himself from his crouch to stand at his full height. He wasn’t particularly gangly or long limbed—not even especially tall, all things considered. But there was something about him that made him loom. From the sharp cut of his purple robes to the harsh, starched, white of his tight collar. He was neat, composed. And yet… very much not civilized. “Is this not a person who wishes you well, cher pâtissier?”
You frowned, something odd tugging at a sixth sense of yours. Just… a little something on the periphery of your nerves, singing that the words you chose now would mean a lot more than they ought to.
You hummed, low in your throat, and considered.
“Ace is himself,” you said finally, “but he’s a friend nonetheless.”
“Magnifique!” Rook beamed and clapped his hands together with a near lovelorn sigh, all at once perfectly pleasant and soft. “It is such a very good thing to have friends!”
“…Is that what you are?” Deuce asked, enough of that enraged spunk fading away to leave him properly cautious once more. His blue eyes flickered pointedly from the bounty hunter, to you, and back. “A friend?”
You sighed and turned to retreat back into your little shop without a word. Deuce scrambled to his feet to follow you in hesitantly, still dripping with the remnants of too many eggs. You shot him a look, and he immediately darted over to the mop and bucket you kept propped up in the corner. Rook stood in the doorway, nearly just a blur of bruised shadow against the backdrop of the pre-dawn darkness, and you watched him out of the corner of your eye. After a long moment of terse silence, he stepped beyond the threshold with a little hum. He wiped his feet pointedly on your little welcome mat, and then turned to stand at the counter. He fished around in the pockets of his cloak for a moment before withdrawing a strange little flower. He placed it on the countertop with a bright smile that crinkled the corners of his green eyes.
You stepped forward to observe it curiously, and your brows shot up in surprise.
It wasn’t a flower at all. What had looked like the folded arch of soft petals was actually a dainty pair of ­wings. It was a tiny butterfly—caught in a perpetual sort of stillness. It was bright, and colorful, and so carefully preserved that even when you trailed a flour-coated finger along the thin membranes of its wings, it stayed clean and crisp.
“What’s this for?” you asked.
“Payment, of course!” Rook smiled. “For the lovely treat you gifted me the other day.”
You sighed, not at all in the mood to discuss the lack of viable conversion rates between copper coins and bugs.
So instead you settled on huffing, “Free samples are free. It’s in the name.”
Rook just kept on smiling, unbothered. Deuce knocked into some set of drawers or other—or maybe the coatrack. Who knew—and you shot him an irritable little scowl. The guy was like a bull in a china shop on the best of days, let alone when he was trying to multitask, and be sneaky about it all the while. The bounty hunter’s grin twitched a bit at the corners, like the idea of your blue-haired friend trying to stealthily keep a watch on him was just the funniest thing.
You glanced back down at the little, frozen, butterfly. It really was very pretty, even if it was a little odd.
When you ducked back behind the counter, you unearthed a blueberry muffin from one of many stacks of trays there. It was little lopsided, and maybe there were a few too many bits of fruit in it. Surely no one would have wanted it anyways.
You plopped it on the countertop, and both Rook’s eyebrows shot all the way up his forehead. When he made no move to take it, you pushed the confection closer. The wrapper slid along the counter in a heavy, sticky, way. You’d have to remember to wipe it down again after. The Hunter reached out carefully to pluck the treat up between his fingers. He squished it delicately, in a similarly cautious way as to how you’d stroked the little butterfly.
“Is this also for eating at home?” he asked, observing the offering with a wide, wonderous, expression.
“Yes,” you said, just in time for Deuce to nearly annihilate your trash bin. “Please enjoy it.” Please get out. You’re distracting my maid.
Rook Hunt dipped into another of those ridiculous, bobbing, bows and pinched the brim of his hat between his fingers.
“Your generosity continues to warm my heart, mon cher,” he crooned, eyes practically sparkling from behind the sharp cut of his heavily lined lashes. “I will endeavor to return your kindness tenfold! A hundred!”
You waved off his sentimentality with a flick of your wrist and a not so delicate ‘shoo shoo.’
The hunter left your little bakery with a spring in his step and an outpouring of flowery promises that had your head spinning. He melted seamlessly into the shadows of the early morning, and between one blink and the next, he’d vanished entirely.
You would have thoroughly enjoyed the well-earned silence that followed, if not for the veritable storm cloud brewing over your friend’s head.
“Do I get one…?” Deuce asked finally, staring outright at the remaining muffins and sounding small and hopeful. And like that clearly wasn’t what he’d meant to say at all.
“Maybe if I had the eggs to make more,” you lamented, brushing your hands against your apron.
Deuce made a wounded noise which you had exactly zero sympathy for. You got to work wiping down the counters and sorting through the bits and bobs you’d need to start your day.
“…You know he’s not right, don’t you? That bounty hunter?” Deuce finally said, setting the mop aside. “You must have heard at least some of the rumors floating around town. I don’t think anyone even knows if the guy’s human.”
You shrugged.
“Anyone who has to wake up when I wake up each morning has long given up on humanity anyways,” you droned, only sort of half kidding.
Deuce frowned, clearly unhappy with your non-answer.
“You’ll be careful, won’t you?” he asked, stern in his fretting. There was still a big ol’ chunk of eggshell tangled up in his bangs.
“When I am ever not?” you smiled, and carefully pocketed the little, blue, butterfly.
.
.
When you popped by the market stalls after closing shop for the day, the street was abuzz with all the usual gossipy nonsense that you’d long since learned to let settle at the back of your brain like white noise. You were busy debating if you had enough arms to manage balancing yet another bag of strawberries (they were at their height of freshness these past weeks it seemed, and you were like a little fruit goblin hoarding them while you could), when a particularly shrill bit of chatter worked its way past the pleasant curtain you’d let fall across your thoughts.
“There was another one,” the butcher’s wife whispered in a way that was most certainly not a whisper.
“I heard,” chittered the man who really should have been trying to sell you more strawberries if he’d any kind of business sense whatsoever. He turned on you with a look that meant you were clearly about to be dragged into a conversation you were entirely unprepared for. “It was one of yours, apparently!”
“One of my what?” you blinked back into focus.
“One of your regulars,” he said, like a secret.
“That strange Bounty Hunter came through again,” his coconspirator hissed, with a hand lifted as if she meant to cover her mouth. “He dropped off the body the other day—delivered the heart straight to the Felmier’s porch!”
“Who was it?” you asked, just like you knew they wanted you to.
“Sir Hamlen,” the butcher’s wife said. “You know, that awful toad who could eat you out of house and home.”
That sounded like all of your costumers, and more than half of your closest friends, but you gave yourself a moment to sort through your scattered thoughts and try and connect whatever dots they’d been throwing at you.
“Sir Hamlen…?” you said after a moment, slowly putting a face to the name. “With the terrible goatee?”
They both nodded enthusiastically.
“Rotten pig,” the butcher’s wife piped back in. “Served him right, if you ask me. Everyone was expecting the Crown would put him to death anyways.”
You shrugged again. You hardly knew the man, but he’d always paid you well enough that you didn’t really have any ill will towards him. You went back to fussing over balancing bags of berries, but then… Well, there was something a bit funny, actually. He’d been a loud sort of person, with no filter to speak of. One afternoon, he’d stumbled into your little shop absolutely pissed on cheap drink and all but burping bubbles.
‘You know,’ he’d lulled, dropping a full coin pouch on your countertop. Which you’d taken in its entirely with zero hesitation. ‘I’d die happy if my last meal was these fucking tarts of yours.’
‘Is that so,’ you’d drawled, in the bland way you answered literally every customer who spouted off whatever nonsense was kicking around in their heads.
‘Aye,’ he’d sighed, practically stooped over. ‘Gonna have to pry ‘em outta my cold, dead, hands.’
“Huh,” you muttered, thoughts wandering back to a pair of bloody gloves and the little treat you’d pressed into them. Huh.  
.
.
.
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1K notes · View notes
cieloclercs · 8 months
Note
Eternal life
Oscar piastri x russian figure skater
the ice queen — oscar piastri
pairing. oscar piastri x russian figure skater!reader
face claim. alina zagitova
warnings. swearing, google translate russian (im sorry), look guys i know the winter olympics were last year but for the sake of this they’re this year ok ?? 🙏 i used pictures from oscar’s sprint podium in spa for singaore (which obviously isn’t accurate plz overlook it hehe)
author’s note. hello anon! i hope you enjoy this, sorry it took so long ❤️
requests are still open for my 1k event! send something in if you’d like <3
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liked by oscarpiastri and 76,264 others
yourusername swipe for a fail 🥴
view all comments…
yourfriend1 pleased to announce i got said fail on video ☺️
yourusername if you ever show that to anyone i’ll smother you in your sleep.
yourfriend1 wow 😃
yourfriend2 i feel like one of those aesthetic skater pinterest girls in the second picture
yourusername we definitely pulled off the pinterest girlie vibes 👍👍
yourcoach очень продуктивная сессия! 👍 / very productive session !
yourusername я знаю точно 😃 / i know right
username yourcoach i’m sensing some sarcasm 🤔
username no shit sherlock 🙄
username MY FAV TRIO IS BACKKKK
username girllll are you competing at the winter olympics ?? i won’t take no for an answer btw you better be there. 🔪
yourusername in that case yes !!! 😀
username olympic champion 🔜
yourusername 😉
username hold up what’s oscar doing here? 🤨
username who tf is oscar
username oscar piastri, he’s a formula 1 driver for mclaren
username and he’s lurking in MY WIFE’S likes?? get tf out of here he drives cars in circles for a living 😭😭
username can you blame him tho y/n’s this total badass skating GODDESS and he’s just a silly little aussie like ofc he’s infatuated with her 😒😒😒
username guys all he did was like her post no need to create an entire backstory out of it 😭 they’re both highly successful sportspeople so they probably just mix in the same circles from time to time 🤷‍♀️
username boo you’re ruining my fun 🙄
username МОЯ ЛЕДЯНАЯ КОРОЛЕВА 🩵 / MY ICE QUEEN
username word on the street is oscar’s liking this girlie’s post 🤔🤔 now i just have to figure out who she is 😃
username girl u can’t be serious 😭
username how do u not know who y/n is are you living under a rock
username no?? should i know who she is?? 😭
username erm YES
username i simultaneously love and hate how this oscar dude has liked ONE y/n post and suddenly all the f1 fangirls have appeared 😭 go find a hobby plz i beg you x
username jokes on you, stalking potentially new f1 wags IS our hobby
username that’s quite possibly the saddest thing i’ve ever read
username as both an f1 and a skating fan, OSCAR GIRLIES I BEG YOU PLEASE DONT DRAG Y/N INTO THIS IK HOW CRAZY Y’ALL CAN GET
username babe what are they gonna do 😭 she’s y/n y/l/n she has like universal immunity from haters lol
username you’re clearly not an f1 fan and it SHOWS 😭😭
username sweetie i’ve watched the f1 girlies single handedly DESTROY relationships do not underestimate them
username ^^ does anyone know if they’re being dramatic or not??
username long-time f1 fan here !! trust me, they’re not.
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liked by yourusername and 23,815 others
oscarpiastri Ready to shine in Singapore 🇸🇬🤩
view all comments…
username LET’S GOOO OSCAR
username podium loading…
username i’ve got £50 riding on you getting a podium don’t let me down 💪💪
username so this is oscar piastri… 🤨
username uh oh the skater girls have arrived 😨
username *y/n girls
username no one gets into y/n’s inner circle without our approval first 🤭
username and you called US sad 😭
username how the fuck is this guy expecting to be able to pull a queen like y/n 😭😭
username seriously he looks so silly 🥴
username guys he only liked her post they probably don’t even know each other 🙄 stop making drama out of nothing jeez
username yikes someone sounds jealous…
username he looks goofy, next please 😒
yourfriend1 literally what i said smh
username PHAHAHA WHAT
username girl 😭
username i hate to break it to you oscar, the y/n girls are never going to accept you x
username yeah sorry babe, you’re just not worthy of our ice queen 😘
username the way y/n’s literally a thousand leagues above him 😔😔 the pain of being a badass bitch 🥲
username BACK OFF FROM MY WIFE Y/N YOU DONT DESERVE HER
username y’all are crazy what 😭
username imagine thinking THIS GUY stands a chance with the hottest woman alive and future olympic champion 😭😭 i’d be so embarrassed 😭
username he looks like a capybara tf
username STOP PHAHAHHA WHY DO I SEE IT
username lmao if y/n and oscar ever do end up dating he’s not going to live this down 😭
landonorris oscarpiastri since when did you become enemy number 1 to the ice skating community
oscarpiastri 🤷‍♀️
username LANDO OH MY GOD 😭
username PHAHAHHAA HE KNOWS THEY BOTH KNOW
username poor oscar getting dragged by the most intense fandom on earth 😭
yourusername 🧡
oscarpiastri 😊👑
username WOAH WOAH WOAH
username THEYRE INTERACTING OMG EVERYONE STAY CALM
username EXCUSE ME THE CROWN EMOJI?? HES ACKNOWLEDGING THE QUEEN AS HE SHOULD
username no.
username this can’t be happening
username oscarpiastri LEAVE MY WIFE ALONE BITCH 🤺🤺
username y/n you’ve just made everything so much worse 😭
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yourusername
replies:
oscarpiastri cute cap, where’d you get it?
↳ yourusername this weird australian guy gave it to me. idk i would have preferred a number 4 🤷‍♀️
↳ oscarpiastri you sure? i heard number 81’s the favourite for a podium this week 😏
↳ yourusername we’ll see 🙃
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liked by yourusername and 50,367 others
oscarpiastri First ever F1 podium 🧡 Let’s keep them coming 😉
view all comments…
username YES OSCARRRRR
username my driver 🧡🫶
username LEGEND 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
landonorris congrats mate! the extra motivation did you some good 😉
oscarpiastri it sure did :)
username excuse me? 🤨
username lando. what do u know.
username i bet this has something to do with y/n
username girl bffr 🙄
username LANDO I JUST WANNA TALK (tell me what u know rn.) 🔫🔫
mclaren Doing us proud 🥹🧡
*oscarpiastri liked this comment
username best rookie since hamilton button >>>
*liked by yourusername and 5,217 others
carlitosalcarazz Congratulations, amigo! 😁
oscarpiastri Thanks mate! 😊😊
username AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE
username the y/n girlies have been real quiet so far 🤨
username they’re finally realising oscar isn’t just some nobody 😭
username he might not be a nobody but one podium still doesn’t make him good enough 🥰
username y’all are psycho i swear 😭
yourfriend1 ok maybeee he’s not that bad 🙄🙄
*yourusername liked this comment
username omg the y/f/n seal of approval ??? ITS HAPPENING
username calm down nothing’s happened yet 😭 as far as we know they’re not even friends lmao let alone dating
username girl did you even see y/n’s story she was literally in the mclaren garage repping oscar’s merch 😭😭
yourusername incredible 🧡
oscarpiastri Thank you for your support today 🧡 Hope you liked the cap 😊
username wait hold on a second OSCAR GAVE HER THAT CAP???
username HES GIVING HER HIS MERCH NOW??
username oh they DEFINITELY into each other 😏
username oscar’s such a simp oh my god she turns up to one race and he’s giving her his merch 😭😭 what a dork
username i mean it’s y/n y/l/n can you blame him 🤷‍♀️
username i fear we’ve lost her y/n nation 😔
username as much as it pains me to say it i think you might be right 🥲
username i just can’t believe we’ve lost her to a guy who drives in circles for a living 🙄
username doesn’t y/n skate in circles? the shade works both ways honey 😚
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liked by oscarpiastri and 90,712 others
yourusername thank you for having me mclaren 🥰 and congratulations to oscarpiastri on your first f1 podium !! i had a blast 🧡🧡
view all comments…
mclaren Glad to have you on board, champ 🧡 See you again soon 😉
*yourusername liked this comment
landonorris you do know oscar’s not the only mclaren driver right 😃
yourusername the only mclaren driver with a podium this week though 🙃
oscarpiastri Thank you Y/N 😊🧡
yourusername 🫶
comments on this post have been limited.
months later…
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oscarpiastri
replies:
landonorris ice queen? 🤨
↳ oscarpiastri of course
↳ landonorris simp.
yourusername
replies:
oscarpiastri ouch ☹️
↳ yourusername just telling you what you need to hear, babe ☺️
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liked by oscarpiastri and 112,678 others
yourusername олимпийский чемпион! после стольких лет упорной работы я не могу поверить, что эта мечта наконец-то осуществилась 🥹 я хочу поблагодарить многих людей, которые помогли мне достичь этого: моего тренера, моих товарищей по команде, мою семью. я бы не справилась без каждого из вас! 🤍
olympic champion! after all the years of hard work, i can’t believe this dream has finally come true 🥹 there are so many people i want to thank for helping me get to this point: my coach, my teammates, my family. i couldn’t have done this without any of you! 🤍
i also want to thank my boyfriend and number one supporter oscarpiastri for putting up with me these last few months of prep 😭 i don’t know what i would have done without you 🥹 love you baby ❤️
oscarpiastri congratulations, my love 🩷 i’m so proud of you 😘
yourusername 💗💗
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marvel-ous-m · 1 year
Text
Eddie Munson’s Guide for How to Adopt a Jock in Four Easy Steps (3/5)
Part One
Part Two
Part Four
AO3 Link
A.N.- shorter chapter today, but the next two chapters make up more than half of the rest of my google doc! So I promise that it’s worth it, lol. Enjoy!
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“Eddie, I’m going to need you to repeat what you just told me, because I know for a fact that I didn’t hear you correctly. I couldn’t have.” Grant crossed his arms angrily, leveling Eddie with his best intimidating glare. 
“I know it sounds crazy, but I need you to trust me on this. Steve is… fuck man, he’s not in a good place, okay? So yeah, he’s sleeping in the Hellfire room right now. Before you come for my throat, I need you to think about this.” Eddie held out his hands, counting on his fingers as he went through his reasoning. “His parents haven’t been home in three months. Hagan abandoned him last year, Nancy broke up with him then hooked up with Jonathan Byers, Billy beat the shit out of him this weekend, he isn’t sleeping, he has no one. He’s an outcast, just like the rest of us.” 
“So this is the perfect opportunity to get back at him.” Gareth muttered under his breath, crossing his arms. 
Eddie turned to the youngest member of their party, raising an eyebrow. “I know that his type like to pick on you Freshmen, but that’s not how we do things here, Gar-bear.” Eddie sighed then, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s easy to get back at people in times like this, but that would make us no better than them.” Eddie turned back to the entire group then, shaking his head at the three of them. “You guys didn’t see him. It was bad… I mean, if I’m being honest, it was a little scary.”
“So what are you proposing?” Jeff finally spoke, looking up from where he was previously staring at the linoleum floor of the hallway outside the drama room.
“Just let him sit next to me and watch the game today. Be civil. Don’t tease him, don’t make snide comments- just don’t be assholes. If things go well after today we’ll talk about bringing him in permanently.”
“Permanently?!” 
“Eddie, I mean this when I say it, you are certifiably insane.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” 
“Shut up!” Eddie shrieked and held his hands up, effectively quieting the uproar from his group of misfits. “Just- look, if you fuck this up I’ll TPK this whole campaign- which, honestly, is probably more of a punishment for me because I’ve been working on this campaign for about a month, but I digress. Give. The guy. A chance.” 
Grant, Gareth, and Jeff looked at one another. They always seemed to be able to have a conversation without speaking (and that conversation usually was centered around some shit Eddie was pulling). Finally, Jeff nodded at Eddie. “Alright, we’ll give him a chance. BUT only on the condition that each of our characters starts with a rare magic item.”
Eddie huffed out a quiet laugh, nodding at the three boys. “Yeah, sure, whatever. I’ll add them to your character sheets before we start.”
Jeff blinked in surprise and looked at both Gareth and Grant, then back at Eddie. “Even though the magic items may not make sense with your campaign?” 
“You’re the ones asking for ‘em.” Eddie shrugged, then pulled the lanyard out of his pocket. “Okay, just gimme like, ten minutes, then you can come in.” As Eddie walked away, he could’ve sworn he heard the boys whispering about a giant crush and him being head over heels. Eddie scoffed to himself. He could never fall for Steve- what with Steve’s stupid big eyes and his floppy hair and his dorky polos. Eddie unlocked the door, rolling his eyes as he did. Him falling for Steve. As if. 
Steve sat up from his space in the corner when the door opened, instantly relaxing when he saw who it was. The jock rubbed at his eyes, humming sleepily. “Hey Eds. S’it time for Hellfire ‘lready?” 
Steve’s hair was a mess, his polo was sideways, his eyes were tired and a blanket was hunched around his shoulders. He was… actually kind of adorable. Eddie smiled at him and could’ve sworn he felt a flutter in his chest. 
Oh no.
Oh no no no.  
He had a crush on Steve Harrington. 
...Shit.
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A.N.: this tag list has grown so much! I’m sorry if I forgot to add you if you requested it or if you didn’t end up on here, there were some accounts that were giving me trouble. Thanks again for all the support!
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queenshelby · 1 year
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Yes! Mr Murphy (Rewritten)
PART TWO: AFTERMATH
Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader
Warning: Angst, Age Gap, Teacher x Student
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS STORY IS UNDERGOING A REWRITE. PART ONE IS HERE.
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Just as you saw him again, the stranger you met at a bar and then slept with that very same night, the memories of your sexual encounter came back to you. It was a few weeks ago when you had the best sex of your life with a man more than twice your age and you could not get him out of your head ever since.
Until now, you knew nothing about him other than his first name and his address. He told you that this was a one-off encounter so you never bothered him again, respecting his privacy.
That night, you did not do much more than engage in some talk and incredibly passionate sex. This was pretty much it and, unlike you would usually do, you even lied to him. You lied to him about your age and then allowed him to take you home and literally fuck you senseless.
He was kinky and experienced but having a one night stand like this was out of character for you and, if you would have known that you would see him again, you would have handled things differently that night. You would not have slept with him.
You were now back with James who, as usual, was late for class. James, too, was taking this course and he had no idea about your sexual encounter with Cillian. When you slept with Cillian, you and James were taking a break so you never really cheated on him, but still, you felt rather guilty about it. In so far as he was concerned, you were miserable for two weeks when you broke up but this was far from the truth. You were not miserable at all after having met Cillian and now it was this mid forty-year-old man who consumed your thoughts every night and whenever you were intimate with your much younger boyfriend who, due to a lack of experience, could not compete with this stranger in the slightest.
Unlike you, James majored in literature and drama whereas you studied drama and took a major in dance. You shared some lectures with him and this course was one of them, making it even more awkward for you now that you knew who was teaching you.
***
“Cillian Murphy, huh?” you stammered almost silently before pulling up your hoodie. You looked like you had just rolled out of bed and you certainly did not want to be seen like this. Not by him. Not by the man who had been on your mind for days and nights on end.
“Yes. God, look at him! He looks incredible. Can you believe that he is 46 already?’ your friend Lorraine said, causing you to look over at him again. She was not wrong and if she would have known what you did, she would probably be angry with you as, seemingly, she took this class for a reason. She had a crush on him, as had many other girls in your course.
“He does look good” you acknowledged almost silently and, just as you did, you felt a set of warm arms wrap around you from behind.
“Jesus, are all you girls taking this class because of Thomas Fucking Shelby? That is so fucking sad” your boyfriend said loudly before kissing your cheek and Lorraine immediately began to cringe.
“Shh! Shut up James” she said while some of the other female students began to giggle. They sure thought the same way as Lorraine did about your new lecturer and when you pulled out your phone and popped his name into Google, you were not really surprised by the fact that he had such a large following amongst those young girls in your course.
He was rather famous and you were shocked to find out that he had been in several movies and TV shows to date.
“How did I miss that?” you asked yourself but the fact that you never really watch TV did not help your case. You also could not recall the last time you have been to the movies. It must have been six years ago at least, which is when you were a teenager.
Then, of course, there was his theatre work which you should probably have known now that you were studying drama at university, but your passion was not really in classical theatre. You were interested in contemporary work associated to ballet and musicals and took this class simply to further your general acting skills which meant that, being enrolled into Cillian’s class, was not that important to you.
“Do you think it is too late to change my enrolment?” you thus asked your friends who obviously did not know why you were asking that.
“Yes sweety. It is too late to change enrolments. The semester has already started” Lorraine confirmed nonetheless and you sighed deeply in response.
“Fuck” you spat and, just as Lorraine was about to ask you why you wanted to change your enrolment, the school bell rang and it was time for you to enter the lecture hall.
Your friends and several other girls immediately stormed to the front of the room which sat about thirty students at the most. James and yourself however went to the back of the room and the reasons for this were twofold.
For James, it was the fact that he was unprepared. He had not done any of the prescribed readings. And, for you, it was the fact that you did not want to be noticed. You hoped that Cillian would not see or recognise you while, yet, you knew that this was dumb as all of the teachers had a list of enrolments and, usually, teachers of the drama school were collecting some sort of information from their students on the first day.
***
After taking your seat, you absentmindedly glanced up at the clock at the front of the room. Class should have started by now and you wondered whether, perhaps, all of this was a just a bad dream. Maybe a new lecturer had been assigned to you? Or perhaps this rather well-known actor had gotten cold feet and decided that teaching was not for him.
But then, suddenly, you snapped out of your little world as the arts and drama’s school’s principal came walking through the door with Cillian and began the introduction. Her name was Miss Lens and, according to Miss Lens, it was a big deal for the school to have an actor like Cillian Murphy involved in this class.
She introduced Cillian as a veteran in acting on stage which was what this class was all about. It was an on-stage acting class and, since Cillian had performed in several theatrical plays over the years, he was well suited to be a lecturer for it.
“Cillian is here to help you with your on stage acting skills and he will be working with Professor O’Connell to get you up to speed before this years’ auditions for three major plays in Ireland and the UK” Miss Lens then said before running through some housekeeping matters which, ironically, involved a short mention of the school’s class conduct guidelines.
“Now, I will leave you with Mr Murphy, so behave!” Miss Lens then finally said to wrap things up and even Cillian had to laugh when she made this somewhat random statement. Behave? Really?
“Alright, Welcome to PRAC300” Cillian said after Miss Lens had left and before carrying on with a brief introduction of the unit and, after not so long, the first few questions came up, most of which related to some administerial matters.
During those questions, several young students addressed Cillian as Mr Murphy which, somehow, made him sound old and you could not help but laugh when you saw his face each and every time a student called him that.
“Right, listen up! Mr Murphy is my dad so, for god’s sake, please call me Cillian, alright?” was what he said after the fifth question or so, which made everyone laugh and lightened up the mood.
But the mood was not so light for much longer when, suddenly, James rose his arm and asked a question as well and this was when he saw you and you locked your eyes with his.
His chin dropped, his face turned pale and, if you would not have taken a seat so far back in the room, you probably would have heard his heart beat out of his chest by now. He was clearly shocked to see you and immediately became lost for words.
“Uhm, would you please excuse me for a minute” he then said abruptly after ignoring James’s question entirely. He felt sick to the stomach and, although the class had only just started, Cillian had to take a break.
He had to freshen up, clear his head and take a deep breath and this was exactly what he did. He went to the bathroom facilities and splashed his face with some cold water while telling himself to think.
In the end, Cillian determined that he had to get through this class and then assess the situation. He had to talk to you before making a decision and, with that in mind, he returned to the lecture room five minutes later and apologised to the students before carrying on with his class.
During class, you each had to fill in a two-page sheet with things that interest you and a blurb about what you expect to get out of this class. This two-page sheet had to be handed in before you leave for the day and, just as you tried to sneak past Cillian’s desk at the front of the room, he stopped you in your tracks.
“Y/N, hang on” he said quietly as you placed your form on top of the pile on his desk. “Can we talk?” he then whispered and you gave a him a quick but reluctant nod.
“Sure” you whispered back before telling Lorraine and James to go ahead.
“My office, in ten?” Cillian then asked and you nodded again.
“Yes, see you in ten” you whispered before quickly catching up with your friends.
“What was that about? What did he want?” Lorraine immediately asked as you finally caught up with them and you quickly came up with a little white lie.
“He just had a question about my form. I think he inadvertently gave me one rather than two pages to fill out” you explained to Lorraine before telling her and James that you would sit down and fill out the rest of the form now and then drop it to his office. “I will catch up with you later, okay?” you asked and they both nodded.
“Okay babe” James said before kissing you just as Cillian walked past, on the way to his office.
***
“May I come in?” you asked after knocking on Cillian’s office door about ten minutes later and he was quick to wave you inside.
“Yes, and close the door, please” he said and, before he could say anything else, you spoke up quickly.
“For the record, I did not know that you were going to teach this class. If I would have known then I would not have slept with you or, at least, enrolled into a different subject. In fact, I did not even know who you were so I am sorry that this has become awkward for us now” you began to say after having closed the door, but Cillian was quick to cut you off.
“I realised that you did not know about me at the time which I, admittedly, enjoyed for a change. But you do realise that this is a big fucking problem now, right? I did not know that you were attending this class and I wouldn’t have pursued you that night if I had known. So, I too, am sorry” Cillian said worryingly, causing you to laugh.
“You pursued me, huh? I thought it was the other way around” you winked, to which Cillian furrowed his eyebrows.
“Y/N, please. This is serious” he said, but you continued to give him a cheeky grin which was something he seemingly adored and was bothered by all at the same time. “And don’t look at me like this” he thus added, causing you to bite your lip seductively before bursting out in laughter.
“Seriously Cillian, you need to lighten up. None of this will be a problem. Just forget about the one-night stand and move on. As far as I am concerned, nothing ever happened between us” you told him, causing Cillian to shake his head in disbelieve.
“But something did happen between us Y/N and we cannot change that. We slept with each other and I cannot ignore the fact that we had sex when I am teaching you” he said, thinking that you must be out of your mind for thinking that the night you had shared did not matter now that he was your lecturer.
“Well, you will have to forget about it whether you like it or not, because I cannot change my enrolment now. I will lose my funding assistance if I do. Despite, my boyfriend is in the same class and, whilst we had broken up just before you and I slept with each other, I do not want him to know about our one-night stand” you explained, causing Cillian to roll his eyes.
“James McCabe. Yeah. I saw” Cillian chuckled before changing the topic.  “Will it not make things awkward for you though? I mean, if you think back and all…” Cillian asked and you interrupted him quickly.
“Well, the truth is that the sex with you was the best sex I ever had, so yeah, maybe it will be a little awkward at first but I can assure you that I will get over it. After all, it was just sex, right? You said so yourself” you argued and Cillian gave you a quick nod.
“Yes. It was just sex. Nothing more. So, we are good then you think?” Cillian asked and you confirmed that, indeed, he had nothing to worry about. You were mature enough to move on and so was he.
“Yes. We are good. Now, can I go? I have a date, with my boyfriend” you thus said, making it sound as though you no longer cared while watching Cillian cringe.
***
Later that same day, after Cillian had finished up reviewing the introductory papers of his new students, including yours, he met up with his best friend Dermont at a local pub.
As usual, it was buzzing and after they sat down together with a pint a beer, Dermont asked Cillian about his first day at the drama school which he knew was a position he took simply to get his mind of the divorce from Danielle. It was meant to be a break for him, something you to sink his teeth in to.
“My day was interesting” Cillian said and this comment itself rose several other questions.
“Interesting how?” Dermont wanted to know and, since he had known Cillian for over twenty years, he knew that something was not quite right. Something had happened and Cillian eventually opened up to him about his encounter with you.
“Remember Y/N, the woman we met at Temple Bar?” Cillian began to say and Dermont immediately cocked his eyebrows and interrupted him.
“The one you had a one-night stand with?” Dermont said before answering his very own question. “Of course, I fucking remember. You have been talking about this girl nonstop ever since and I keep telling you that you should have asked her for her number because, clearly, she fucked with your head” Dermont laughed but, instead of laughing himself, Cillian sighed with frustration.
“Well, it turns out that she is one of my students” he then blurted out causing Dermont to choke on his beer.
“Bullshit. No way” he said before breaking out in even more laughter than before.
“No, I am serious and I think that I should bring this up with the dean because it is highly inappropriate for me to be teaching this woman. We had sex so I should not be her lecturer. It is morally wrong” Cillian explained but Dermont did not entirely agree with his view.
“Did you talk to her about it?” he thus asked and Cillian confirmed that he did, indeed, speak with you about the situation.
“And what is her take on this?” Dermont then wanted to know.
“Well, she said that it won’t be an issue. She has a boyfriend who, in my opinion, is not suitable for her, but he is also one of my students and I need to be really careful about what I say about him” Cillian explained.
“He is not suitable because you would be more suitable?” Dermont teased in light of Cillian’s observation about James but Cillian sighed again and shook his head.
“No. Fuck. She is in her late twenties man. She is way too young for me. Despite, she is my fucking student now, so nothing will become of this” Cillian made sure to say, causing Dermont to rethink the issue on hand.
“I think that, if she is cool with you being her teacher and you are certain that you can act without bias and teach her without pursuing her, then you should just keep the one-night stand to yourself man. Don’t tell the dean about it because, in the end, this girl is the one who will suffer, not you” Dermont told his friend who gave it some more thought.
“Well, she wants to keep it a secret, so I suppose this could work” Cillian then said, causing Dermont to nod.
“Exactly and, keeping it a secret, is probably in her best interest, so you need to suck it up and deal with it man” Dermont then said just as Cillian spotted a familiar face in the crowd.
***
“Oh for fuck sake” you mumbled as you saw Cillian and Dermont who both had clearly spotted you as well but ignored you nonetheless.
“Look, our lecturer is here too. We should say hello” Lorraine said eagerly causing you to sigh.
“No we should not. We should leave him alone” you told her but both, Lorraine and your friend Nora insisted so, in the end, you excused yourself and told them both that you were heading home.
To be continued…
Please comment and engage. I love getting comments and predictions pretty please!
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discount-shades · 1 year
Text
Contract Spouse Chapter 2
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Chapter 2: The Letter
A/N: Not so much this chapter but this fic is going to get dark at times, it's not going to be as fluffy like Sleepy Baby.
Pairing: Jake Seresin/Reader (nicknamed Pip)
Warning:  Angst,  
Length: 2000ish
Summary: Jake tells the Dagger Squad about Pip.
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You roll your shoulders and send off the final few texts and emails of the day, checking the time you sign off at 5:00PM. Being a virtual assistant had its perks. You got to wear yoga pants all day and there was no commute, but the biggest perk was the fact you were able to work two jobs. 
One was a fairly involved executive assistant position at a growing company that took up most of your time. The other was as a glorified Google Calendar, keeping your extremely ADHD boss from missing deadlines, meetings, and anything else important. 
The downside was a large L-shaped desk with three monitors set up in your bedroom. You had a business degree but when the opportunity evolved out of your part time administrative assistant job, you had taken it. When you had found yourself with a couple hours of down time during your work day you had subtly asked around and had gotten a second job managing your other bosses emails and calendar.
You walked into the kitchen you would be sharing with Sami until the end of the month. After over five years of it being the two of you she had finally decided to move in with her boyfriend of two years. You were happy for her but unsure of your own future. Should you renew your lease? Find a smaller, cheaper, single bedroom place? Get a roommate? You didn’t know what you wanted to do and time was running out.
That was a lie, you know what you wanted to do but it was impossible. You wanted to move in with your husband, drop everything and move across the country to be with him. But it’s not that kind of marriage, you tell yourself for what feels like the millionth time. It has never been.
Jake had been your teenage crush. Your best friend's handsome big brother, nothing would ever come of it. But when you needed him, he had married you, he had even called you almost daily to keep up the pretense that your marriage was real. 
With every phone call you had fallen further and further in love with your husband. He was sweet, funny, caring, and supportive. You’ve never told anyone of your feelings but sometimes you think Sami suspects it. 
You knew Jake went on dates and hooked up with women. You have tried going on dates, and one night stands, but could never get over the guilt. The feeling that you were cheating on Jake. 
You again consider divorcing him. It would be easier. You could date and start a real relationship. You knew how this train of thought would end. You would have yourself convinced you were going to call it quits and then Jake would call and say ‘hello’ in a tone of voice that told you he was smiling and you would be sucked right back in.
He would sign the divorce papers the minute you asked but you kept torturing your heart. You knew you couldn’t keep waiting forever, knew that eventually you would have to move on but you couldn’t. Not yet, anyway.
– – –
You hear keys in the lock and the door open and glance at the time, it’s 12:30 AM, “You're past curfew.” You can hear Sami chuckle as she walks in and drops two envelopes on your head. 
“I get your mail for you and all I get is sass.” She flops down on the couch beside you. “Are you watching Downton Abbey again?” she groans as you just shrug. 
“I want your final month here to be exactly the same as the past five years of us living together.” You grin at her rolling eyes. “You going out and having fun, and me staying in, watching a period drama.” 
“Goodnight, Dork.” You can hear the fondness in her voice as she gets up and heads to bed. You look at the envelopes, one is a reminder to renew your car insurance, the other has the NCIS emblem. Frowning you open it and your jaw drops as you read the letter inside. It has come to our attention… marriage under contract… opening an investigation…. 
“Shit.”
You scramble and grab your phone, quickly calling Jake, when he doesn't answer you try him again. You are taken aback by a woman's voice answering and feel a twinge of jealousy and guilt. You had always told yourself that you would never negatively impact Jake's life while married to him and you hope you didn’t ruin something by calling him like this.
After rambling at the woman on the phone you hang up and stare at your reflection on the black screen. You are so lost in thought that you jump when Jake's face pops up with an incoming call.
“Pip? What's wrong? Are you hurt?” His sounds worried and, despite this, you immediately relax at the sound of his voice. 
“I’m ok, I’m sorry!” You are talking in a rush. “I didn't mean to ruin your date.” 
“I’m not on a date.” You sag in relief at his response. Happy you didn’t ruin his date or happy he is not on a date, you’re not sure.
“I got a letter,” You stare at the paper in your hand. “Jake, someone reported our marriage.”
“Shit.”
“That's what I said.” You reread bits of the letter to him, giving Jake a moment to process. “It says they are going to be interviewing people who know us,” you pause, ”Jake, I haven't told anyone about us.” Running your hand through your hair, you bite your lip in nerves. “I don’t have a lot of friends or share personal details.”
“I’ll tell the squad.” You can hear it in his voice when he shifts into protector mode. “Rooster owes me his life so he’ll lie for us.” His voice is tense when he says that, bitter in the way he always gets when he talks about the things he never speaks of. “And don't forget the fake marriage plans. No one can say we don’t have a relationship.”
“Yeah,” you agree. “I’ll scan the letter and email it to you.” 
“Thanks, I’m going to head home. I’ll call you when I get there.” You agree and go to hang up but Jake stops you. “It’s going to be alright, you planned for this.” You agree softly. “I love you, Pip. We got this.”
“I love you too,” your reply is quiet and automatic as you hang up the phone, rising to go scan the letter. Jake always said he loved you. It had started as a cover when the two of you were together at a military event, that as his wife, you couldn’t avoid. He had urged you to do the same jokingly.
“I love you, Pip.” His cheeky grin melted and hardened your heart.  “Now tell me you love me too, and make sure I believe it.” 
 After years of saying it you were sure he meant it, in his own way, Just not in the same way you meant it every time the words crossed your lips.
– – – 
Jake rubs his head as he stares at his teammates, he had been up late last night talking to Pip. He had asked them to meet him in the parking lot after training where they could not be overheard. “I need to tell you guys something that if anyone asks you’ve always known.”  
The faces around him show a variety of emotions. Coyote is resigned, but then again, he already knows. Rooster and Fanboy look giddy with excitement, like little kids about to be told a secret. Phoenix’s eyes are narrowed in suspicion. Only Payback and Bob have mastered a look of polite interest. 
“Pip, the woman on the phone, she’s my wife.” 
Jake registers the feeling of his head jerking to the side a millisecond before the pain of the slap hits him and causes his left cheek to bloom red. “Jesus Christ Phoenix!” Jake raises his hand to his cheek, shock on his face. “What the fuck was that?”
Phoenix is subtly flexing her hand to shake out the pain from the slap. “You go home with a different woman every night you can!” Rage is clouding her eyes. “You’re telling me you have been cheating on some poor woman all this time?” Rooster moves forward and places himself between Jake and Phoenix.
“Ow! No!” Jake’s cheek feels hot. “It’s a fucking marriage of convenience!” He runs his tongue on the inside of his cheek, searching for the telltale metallic taste of blood, but it's not there. “She was sick and needed health care so I married her when I was still in flight school.”
“Is she better?” Trust Bob to do the decent thing and be concerned with the health of a stranger.
“You know, Phoenix, you should listen to your Wizzo more.” Jake says, gingerly feeling the warmth of his cheek. “Ask questions first, instead of slapping.”
“You’ve had it coming on some level,” Phoenix says without remorse before repeating Bob's question. “Is she better Hangman?”
“She's fine, it's been over five years.” 
“Why’d you stay married?” Payback asks. He’s the only other married member of the squad.
Jake shrugs, “the money, and the spousal benefits helped her.” He knows that's not the truth. At least not the whole truth but he doesn’t want to get into the hollow little feeling in his chest every time he thinks about ending the charade. 
“How’d you meet?” Roster asks. 
“She’s my baby sister's best friend.” Jake waits for Rooster to do the math. Rooster and Sami had crossed paths before and Jake had warned Rooster to stay away from his younger sister.
“Jesus, Hangman, was she a child bride?” 
“No!” Jake rubs his face in defeat. “She was eighteen, and it's not that type of marriage, it's just a piece of paper.”
“So why are you telling us this now?” Phoenix crosses her arms and looks at Jake expectantly. 
“Pip got a letter.” Jake sighs. “Someone reported our marriage as fake and now we are being investigated.”
“Shit,” Fanboy muses, “do they have a case?” Jake looks at him in exasperation. Fanboy was brilliant at his job, but some days Jake suspected all other available mental real estate was taken up with nerd trivia leaving no space for common sense.
“Yes Fanboy, they do have a case.” Jake rolls his eyes before continuing. “We talk on the phone and have a joint bank account but we’ve never lived together, most of it can be explained away through health, deployments, and her university.”
“So what do you need us to do?” Payback asks.
“Just pretend you have always known I was married.” Jake looks around at everyone nodding. “Pip hasn’t told anyone so you will have to prove that it wasn’t a secret. Coyote was a witness so he has legal proof of knowing.”
“Don’t worry man.” Rooster claps him on the shoulder. “We've got your back.”
“Thank you.” Jake says sincerely. “I’m diving to Austin at the end of the month. Pip’s lease with my sister is up and she’s going to move in with me to make it look real.”
Coyote nods. “That makes sense, this is the first long term posting you’ve had since she finished University.”
“Sooo, yeah,” Jake spreads his arms out helplessly. “In conclusion, I’ve been married to Pip for six years and you have always known. Any questions?”
“Why do you call her Pip?” Fanboy asks, “What's her real name?”
Jake tells them your name. “She always looked so short next to my sister so I called her Pipsqueak. Pip for short.”
After a few more questions everyone walks to their cars and leaves. Phoenix hangs back until it is just her and Jake. “You did the right thing marrying her.” She motions to the red that has not faded from his cheek. “I feel a little bad that I hit you so hard.”
“You could have not hit me at all.”
“Don’t push your luck Hangman.” She walks to her car before turning around. “Rooster’s right though, we’ve got your back.”
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katamaricule · 6 months
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What is dmbj? I've googled it but idk if it's one of those 'I love it and recommend it' shows or a 'I love it - pls never watch it <3' kinda show yk lol
Is there an answer somewhere in the middle? Because that's where it should go.
DMBJ is a franchise based on a set of novels by an author we'll call NPSS. These are mostly first-person tales narrated by a spoiled little dipshit named Wu Xie, as he and his friends go on tomb-raiding adventures, encounter supernatural obstacles, and learn about all the ways snakes don't work. The series has several giant holes in it, as NPSS tends to get bored and wander off mid-story. Several dramas and movies have tried to adapt various pieces of this gap-ridden, wholly unresolved saga, to varying degrees of success.
So to answer your question: There are installments of DMBJ that are a hoot that you should watch, and then there are installments of DMBJ that are also a hoot but you shouldn't watch before you have an affection for the franchise as a whole, and then there are installments of DMBJ that you should not watch even if you are a fan of the franchise because they are just not worth your time.
The problem is, not everybody agrees on what goes in which category. But if you're interested and want to give it a go, these are my personal takes on what's what, in chronological order of events as they happen in the series:
The Mystic Nine
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Good starting place: Yeah, actually!
Requires prior knowledge: Nope
Actual ending: No resolution whatsoever
Wu Xie: He's not in this one
Best part: Charming characters you love or love to hate
Warning: Very cheaply produced, with cuts that render significant parts of the story incoherent
Worth watching: Yes, if you're willing to accept the jankiness
The Lost Tomb
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Good starting place: Weirdly, no, considering that it's the first series they made
Requires prior knowledge: Not really
Actual ending: Oh, heavens no
Wu Xie: Cardboard twerp, kinda cute
Best part: There's ... some antics, I guess?
Warning: Makes some bizarre additions, condenses several books, just ... isn't very good
Worth watching: Not especially
The Lost Tomb 2
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Good starting place: You could do worse
Requires prior knowledge: Some, but who knows if it helps?
Actual ending: Ha ha ha you're funny
Wu Xie: Breathtaking idiot twink street-parking a Maserati
Best part: Wu Xie and Pangzi are in love
Warning: Interminable bronze tree plotline, incomprehensible timeline especially at the ending
Worth watching: Sure, but bring a book for the long stretches
The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note
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Good starting place: It doesn't matter, because you're not going to watch this one
Requires prior knowledge: It can't save you
Actual ending: Nothing of the sort
Wu Xie: Shove that whiny nerd in a locker
Best part: There is no best part
Warning: Don't do this to yourself
Worth watching: What do you think
Ultimate Note
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Good starting place: It seems like no at first, but it actually is!
Requires prior knowledge: It helps, but you can get by without it
Actual ending: Complete cliffhanger
Wu Xie: Precious muffin
Best part: Everyone is so cute, also heihua
Warning: Tonally way goofier than the other series
Worth watching: Yes! This one's so fun
Tomb of the Sea/Sand Sea
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Good starting place: If you like things on Hard Mode
Requires prior knowledge: The main character doesn't have any, so why should you?
Actual ending: It thinks it does, but it's stupid and slapdash and leaves a million loose ends
Wu Xie: Mafia widow (also he's not the main character)
Best part: Seeing from the outside how fucked-up the whole Tomb Raiding Industrial Complex is
Warning: A hot mess, but occasionally a beautiful one
Worth watching: Yes, but maybe save it for later
Reunion: The Sound of the Providence
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Good starting place: Shockingly, yes
Requires prior knowledge: No, though it recontextualizes everything once you know more
Actual ending: Yes! Holy shit! We got an ending here!
Wu Xie: Consumptive angel with a gun
Best part: Some truly impressive performances from Actual Actors, Wu Xie and Pangzi are married
Warning: Honestly, just watch this one first so you don't know what you're missing, because once you do, you can't unsee it
Worth watching: Definitely
I hope that ... helps? Or at least doesn't make your confusion worse?
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brighter-by-the-daly · 5 months
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Millie Bright x Reader
Part Two: Lover’s Auction
Millie’s perspective:
Sam grabbed my arm holding it out straight to display the phone number that was still visible on my skin, I’d scrubbed at it in the shower this morning which made it fade a little but was still clearly readable. I knew training would be a show and tell this morning so tried to cover it with a long sleeve under top, but in a blind haze after a rigorous training session I mindlessly pulled up the sleeves. “What’s this then Mills, you cheating on me?” the Aussie joked as I tried to pull the top back down to cover the writing, of course my friend wouldn’t let me as she continued with her probing questions. “I knew you were hiding something, you never wear long sleeves!” her voice became loud and squeaky in excitement, the way that it does when she’s making fun of me. “It’s just a phone number!” the enquiry made the smirk on my face hard to hide as it’s been years since my last relationship, I was kinda hopeful that this might lead to something good. “Is this what that dorky smile on your face has been about all day?” Sam poked my ribs as the commotion drew Erin nearer to the drama that followed us around everywhere. “Is it a giiiirlll?” Sam continued to tease until I broke my cover. “Maybeee” I couldn’t contain my smile at admitting it as I felt my cheeks grow a warmer shade of red. “Well, you gotta tell us all about it, weren’t you at that function last night?” they linked their arms together as they skipped back into the changing room, dragging me along with them. I didn’t have a choice but tell them all about the girl I had met last night at some random charity event I didn’t even want to go to - not if I wanted to get out of here alive anyway! They couldn’t believe she hates Chelsea and didn’t have a clue who I was! I said that maybe that’s for the best, since the World Cup it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know who I am and it could be refreshing to not be on edge about ulterior motives. A lot of people I meet only want me for my money or to get into places for free, there tends to be people out there that think I earn a lot more money than I actually do, I’m able to live comfortably but still have to watch the pennies and save for the things I really want. Packing up my gear to leave my phone lit up with a message, “is that her?!” Erin pulled my arm in her direction as they peered over to look for a photo that wasn’t there, I explained they would have to wait and see what happens before I expose the identity behind the phone number. My friends made their annoyance known through loud groans as I left to go home, “bye sweeties!” I waved sarcastically leaving them in the lurch.
Your perspective:
The sun rise shining through your bedroom window made your eyelashes flutter open, shielding the sun from your eyes you squinted at the clock to see it was barely 8am. Mascara stained your hands as you rubbed your eyes, annoyed that you’d forgotten to do your skin care routine when your got home last night. Tapping your phone to light up the notifications you noticed a text from an unfamiliar number, “hello pretty girl, hope your head isn’t too sore!” You guessed it was from Millie but pulled the shirt she’d written her number on from under the bed to double check before replying which lead into texting all morning. Opening Google to search the footballer you noticed she was telling the truth - she is a defender for England and Chelsea! Looking at a few photos you had an epiphany and realised last night wasn’t the first time you had seen Millie. Wrapped in your duvet you shuffled to the sofa and re-downloaded episodes of Eastenders that you’d deleted from the Sky box, spotting the familiar blonde a few weeks ago on The One Show. Sending her a picture of the TV screen you laughed to yourself.
Y: knew that wasn’t the first time I’ve seen you! 🤭
M: you didn’t recognise me? 😂
Y: well no, my recording of Eastenders caught the last few minutes of it… I fast forwarded 🙈
M: Charming! 😳
Y: Next time you’re on TV, I’ll record it. Happy? 😇
M: Why don’t you come watch instead, I’ve got a game tomorrow?
Y: Oh.. idk, I haven’t watched football for two decades 😕
M: That’s okay, you record it then, you don’t have to watch 😘
Y: I’ll think about it 😉
Millie said she was off to training but would like to see you again, inviting you on a date tonight and saying she’ll pick you up on her way home. The next time you heard from her was when she called you walking out of the training ground. You’d barely said two words to each other before being interrupted by some of her teammates, “is that her!”, “let’s say hi!” you heard from down the phone. Millie groaned “bugger off guys! Stop embarrassing me!” she yelled making you pull the phone away from your ear as she argued with them, reluctantly telling you that they wanted to say hi and held the phone out towards them against her will. One grabbed her arm to pull the phone up to her mouth as the other tapped the speaker button. “Hi Millie’s girlfriend!” an Aussie accent called as you heard the phone be pulled away by another person. Millie could be heard in the background loudly contesting what was happening, “what’s your name, Millie won’t tell us!” a Scottish accent asked, you laughed and told them as they screeched with glee, there was a lot going on even if you couldn’t see them – the noises coming through the phone sounded like they were being attacked; the rummaging and fumbling of the phone between different hands, the laughs of the two girls and Millie getting more and more irate before hearing heavy footsteps run away. “Errgh, sorry they’re a nightmare!” she groaned then told you that was her best friends at the club Sam and Erin, usually Guro is around too but she’s injured and not at training today. “I haven’t told them you’re my girlfriend don’t panic, they just saw your number on my arm” she insisted as she threw her bags into the boot of the car and you heard the door slam shut. “Okay, I’m safe now. I’ll come pick you up.”
Waiting outside your house as she arrived you clambered into her car, “hey girlfriend” you joked as Millie’s cheeks turned bright red. “How’s the hangover?” she asked, shifting into first gear and pulling away. “Better for seeing you, where we going?” The blonde asked whether you had to be home by a certain time, you didn’t have work the next day so you were free to spend as long as you wanted with her and as long as she wanted you! It was mid afternoon and she was being very secretive about where she was taking you, knowing it wasn’t going to be a quick date when she joined the motorway heading towards Essex, you know the journey well but didn’t let on that you had an idea of where she was taking you. The longer you drove the more you were certain about where she was going, looking out of the window you saw how the scenery had changed since you were a little girl, the last time you drove this route was with dad in 2003. It’s like you remember every bump in the road, counting the bridges until you got to your destination, your mind fell back into that routine of counting the bridges until you reached the coast. Millie must have realised you had spaced out, placing a comforting hand on your thigh when you pulled into the seaside town and asked if you were okay. Smiling and nodding you pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind, you were right with the destination – Southend-on-Sea.
You walked hand in hand along the seafront, rode the train along the pier and shared chips on the beach while watching the sunset. You talked non-stop about yourselves that it felt like you’d know each other for years, not less than 24 hours! After eating your chips you took a wander down the beach towards the sea, kicking off your shoes Millie followed suite as you dipped your toes into the water. When the sky started to turn to pink hues she asked you the question you knew was going to come up sooner or later, “what were you thinking about in the car.. when you went quiet?” You took a deep breath before replying, “I used to play for Southend Girls” you said, plunging the conversation into a long silent pause. “I didn’t know that” Millie responded cautiously, anxiously looking down and playing with her thumb ring. Her response caused you to chuckle lightly, “how the hell could you have known that?” pushing her further into the sea so the cuffs of her rolled up jeans got a little wet. “Hey!” she shouted trying to drag you in with her but you were quick and slipped your arm from her grip, running back up the beach as she chased you. Seeing the lights of the arcades still glowing you kept running, stopping at a bench by the road before going any further to swipe the sand from your feet and replace your shoes as you waited for your date to join you. “You’re quick!” she puffed, breathless from the unexpected sprint. You asked her favourite game in the arcades as you took her hand and lead her to the cash machine, pulling your purse out to feed a £50 note into the machine so it spat out £1s in return. Splitting the money between two pots you handed hers over, “did you just put a fifty in there?!” seemingly astonished at the amount you were willing to waste on 2p machines! “It’d cost about that in petrol” you shrugged, seeing it as a fair swap, she drove and you pay for the plastic tat you’re about to win together! Millie darted straight to the basketball machine and you set yourself up at a 2p machine nearby so you could watch her top rise above her hips to show a little skin when she took her shots. It felt like she spent forever on that machine, glancing over to you every now and again between games as the tickets piled up at her feet. You floated between machines, collecting your prizes and tickets until you felt her arms wrap around you and her chin balance on the crown of your head. “Are you winning?” she asked, peering into your prize pot that was almost full, “there’s more in here!” you laughed, opening your bag to show off all your useless prizes. You had so much fun in the arcades but before you left you had to have a battle on the dance machine and swap your tickets for sweets to share on the journey home, you didn’t want the date to end!
Stumbling out of the arcade in fits of laughter and a handbag full of prizes the sky had turned dark, you wondered if Millie would suggest going home but she didn’t, instead spotting a pub close by that seemed lively and went to have a closer look, “there’s a band playing in there!” she chimed excitedly. It was The Chinneries, one of your old haunts as a teenager, you’d jump on the train and meet your friends to go and watch different bands nearly every month. As Millie spoke to the bouncer, you skimmed the posters on the wall and noticed that playing tonight is one of your old favourite bands. “Are there any tickets left?” you called over as Millie nodded in response, “can we go in?” she nodded again, reaching out her hand for you to run over and take. Shuffling into the small bar you stood near the back, you’d entered around the half way mark of their set and shuffled around the people to be able to order a drink. Millie was much taller than you and could easily see over people’s heads but made sure she found a space that you could enjoy the show from too. Right after you got comfortable they started to play one of your favourite songs, screaming in excitement you immediately started bouncing up and down singing the words at the top of your lungs. Millie had never heard of them before but she enjoyed watching you be happy, posting a short video of the back of you to her Instagram story with “she’s cute” written over the top. You couldn’t be identified by the video as it was just the back of you singing with your arm in the air but it made you happy when you spotted it on her insta later that night.
“I think this has been the best first date I’ve ever had Mills!” you gushed walking out of the pub, it was getting late and you really should be heading home soon. “Ohhhh, pet names already!” her voice squeaky and high pitch as she shoved herself into your side jokingly. Your hand slipped easily into hers when she draped her arm over your shoulder, crossing your arm over your chest to keep hold of her hand. “I agree.. (y/n/n)” teasingly using your nickname too. You asked who she was playing tomorrow and what time when you were driving home, you were astonished that you still found stuff to talk about! Her hand was on your thigh the entire drive and when you pulled up in front of your house the anticipation of whether you were going to kiss or not was overwhelming. You desperately wanted to but didn’t want to rush things, the date had been perfect and all the signs were there that Millie really liked you but you wouldn’t know for certain until.. “can I kiss you?” her soft words interrupted your overthinking.
The engine was purring as she unclipped your seatbelt, nodding your head gently as hers came closer, stroking your fringe behind your ear her hand lingered to cup your cheek as your lips touched in the softest entanglement. You could feel the goosebumps raise on your arms as your eyelashes fluttered against her skin, her nose grazing yours as the kiss sealed off a perfect day. “I’d love to see you again” she whispered, her forehead pressed softly against yours. Her blue eyes gazing deeply into your soul, willing you to answer her. “Me too, I’ll take you out next time” leaning forward to peck her lips one last time before leaving. Entering the home you share with your dad he was already at the front door waiting to hear all about your date. You’re still not convinced that he didn’t set this up on purpose but you’re thankful that the events at the auction had lead to a dark time in your life actually bringing you joy.
Part Three
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Is there a way for me to figure out speech & expressions in a specific past century? I've been trying to write a novel set in the 16th century but there are alot of expressions & idioms that I don't know if they existed back then or not. Do I just cut them out completely?
Researching Historical Lingo, Slang, and Grammar
Here are some things you can do to research the proper lingo, slang, and grammar for a historical setting:
1 - Google "slang (or phrases, lingo, grammar) of [era/decade] [location]" - I don't know where your story is set, but as an example, I Googled "slang of 16th century England" and got back 13 million hits, including things like "9 Elizabethan Words to Bring Back," "English Slang 1400 To 1680," "Elizabethan Swearing, Cursing and Vocabulary" and others. If you Google the era/decade and location of your story and take the time to sift through the results, you can get to know the lingo, phrases, slang, and grammar that would make sense in your story. (Just remember not to over rely on it... you want to avoid obviously modern phrases or words... no one in Elizabethan England would call something "freakin' sweet"... but you also don't want to write something so archaic sounding that it annoys the reader.)
2 - Go to YouTube and Search "slang (or phrases, lingo, grammar) of [era/decade] [location]" - YouTube can be a great source for learning how people spoke in a particular time and place. And in video format, this information is usually presented with additional information about the people and place that helps you understand why they spoke the way they did.
3 - Look for Books About Your Time Period and Setting - There are a lot of time/place settings that are popular enough to have books written about them. There's no shortage of books dedicated to life in Tudor and Elizabethan England, for example, and there are books dedicated to writing stories set in that time and place as well. Whether you go to your local library and ask, go to a local bookstore, or look on Amazon, books about your setting and time period can be a really helpful resource for learning about how people spoke.
4 - When In Doubt, Ask Google - If there's a particular expression, idiom, slang, or lingo you want to use but you're not sure if it existed in your story's time and place, try Googling the phrase plus "origin" or "etymology." That will almost always bring up something that will tell you the history of the expression, idiom, slang, or word that you're curious about. For example, let's say I wanted to know if they would have said "right as rain" in Tudor England. The very first hit on Google told me that while "right as rain" did originate in England, it doesn't seem to go further back than the 1800s. So, it wouldn't make sense for my Tudor character to say it. Some articles will suggest earlier variations, too, which can give you a fitting alternative. @definitely-not-julio suggested the OneLook online thesaurus which has an origin tab... and that actually leads to the Online Etymology Dictionary, which is a fantastic resource.
You can also use any number of idiom search engines or the dictionary to learn the origin of a particular phrase or word.
5 - Curl Up and Watch Stuff - One last helpful resource I want to mention is the great and powerful screen, whether that's the TV screen or device screen. There's a whole world of period dramas out there that take place in just about every possible time and place, so if all else fails, try watching a TV series or some movies set in the time and place of your story, and take notes! Just be aware that TV and movies aren't always super accurate, so it's a good idea to still double check anything you use, but they can be a great way to learn all kinds of potential words, phrases, lingo, etc. The Willow and Thatch web site has a list of period dramas by era (click on "best period dramas list") and it also has lists of period dramas by streaming service.
Have fun researching your story!
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inklore · 11 months
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—🍊. 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐀𝐔'𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓
this is not a writing challenge, this is just a list of summer au's that have been collecting dust in my google docs that i'm both sick of looking at, and also feel like for those who also really enjoy writing summery fics, could always use more inspiration or ideas for au's or scenario's (even if it's just smutty or fluffy blurbs).
please make note that anyone can use these for any fandom or character. it's literally for everyone, for whatever ship, gender, or verse. no one owns au's and everyone makes them their own and writes differently. so please do with the content below as you wish!!
you don't gotta tag me if you use one but would i love to read your beautiful work? hell yeah so feel free to if ya feel like it.
i separated each into categories + some might have added context or prompts because i have zero self control and like to be extra and add ideas onto things lmao.
hopefully someone finds these fun and helpful, happy writing my loves <3
LOCATION.
beach
ocean
ice cream parlor
lake town
ranch
summer camp
summer school
island
boat
fishing town
resort
the woods
national park
public pool
destination wedding
renaissance fair
lake house
bar
theme park
capecod
italy
winery / vinyards
country club
cruise ship
concert
RELATIONSHIP BASED.
brothers best friend ('unfortunately' spending the summer with your family)
neighbors au
exes back for the summer
bodyguard au (character a has to follow around reader whose some princess/rich girl on a vacation, bonus points if she's supposed to be on lockdown but refuses to stay at the hotel, even more bonus points if her parents sent her on this vacation as a rehabilitation for her bad habits)
best friends dad (you're spending the summer with your bestie and god her dads hot as hell)
mermaid x human
frat boy x good girl (last minute studying together before summer break, or maybe the frat is throwing a big grad party and reader decides to let loose for the first time in forever)
frat boy x sorority girl (it's giving rich hoes who can't stand each other who get caught doing something and have to do community service with each other alllll summerrrrr long, can you think of anything worse?!)
sitcom stars (they're both on some summer love show but fall for each other instead, or you're two celebs supposed to be fake dating on some mtv drama show in palm springs but you actually fall for each other)
park ranger x someone who thought going camping alone would be fun but oh shit i know nothing about the wilderness au
ex-best friends ex (a summer love but put revenge and 'we're only fucking because this friend screwed me over and it'll really show them' au anyone??)
lifeguard x parent au (or you saved my life let me repay you wink wink)
dads best friend
house sitter x house owner (or neighbor, or family member who came home early and wtf are you doing here and who are you?? or even the old i asked the neighbor to watch our house but also my wife wink wink)
babysitter who tags along on vacation with the family au
fake dating (for the summer)
friends to lovers was made for summer au's!!!
superhero x vigilante (nightly meet ups to keep the streets safe)
friends with benefits but only for the summer au
painter x muse
body found on beach x person who found them (+ the added bonus of the two of them working together to figure out wtf happened and how they got there)
sugar baby x sugar whathaveyou (free vacation? hell yeah)
roommates (renting a room for summer what could go wrong)
tour guide / local x tourist
camp counselor x parent of camper
friend group on a drama filled vacay au
the only single people at this resort for couples au
sad housewife x pool boy
DARK THEMED.
cult au
slasher au
hitchhiking gone wrong (or right)
monster au (summer is the perfect time to go exploring for the monster in the woods or the lake, ocean even, obviously)
haunted house au
ghost hunting au
hunter x prey (bonus points if they don't know they're being hunted until it's too late)
safe house au (gone wrong)
kidnapping au (it's giving 365 days but less shitty ok)
stranded au (on an island, in a creepy town, etc)
bestie's trip gone wrong au (the innocent looking guys at the pool who are gorgeous are actually super shitty and deadly omg, or the couple in the hotel room next to us are insane wow, or someone is killing us off...but it's someone within the friend group)
stuck in an abandoned amusement park au
INSPIRED BY.
grease au
dirty dancing au
x au (70s-80s pornstars au + added slasher element if ya wanna make it dark)
daisy jones & the six / rocker au (summer tour anyone?)
the white lotus (cheating au?? a couple hoping a vacation will fix their marriage, maybe even the whole shitty husband leaves you there and you fall for one of the resort workers)
50 first dates au (but make it 'i bet i can make you fall in love with me by the end of summer)
jurassic park au
i know what you did last summer au
friday the 13th au
the final girls au (aka you end up in your favorite movie and have to find your way out with a side of 'oh shit there's my fav character what if i stayed and made them fall in love with me instead', or go full final girls au and you're stuck in a cult horror movie and have to survive the night to get out of it)
outer banks / goonies au
schitt's creek au
romeo and juliet (1996) au
mama mia au (the prequeal tho aka boning a bunch of people and omg i'm pregnant who is the baby daddy tho??)
overboard au
OCCUPATIONS.
naturalist
farmers market vender
dog walker / dog sitter
dive bar singer
surfer
swim instructor
vet
journalist
camp counselor
author
cowboy
undercover pi
contractor
car wash attendant
lifeguard
gardener / landscaper
summer intern
tour guide
tutor
nanny
theme park owner
bartender
house sitter
summer farmhand
golf course caddy
sign-holder
movie theatre worker
uber driver
wedding photographer
hotel receptionist
RANDOM.
heatwave (how ever will we stay cool?)
shipwreck / stranded on an island au
rainstorm / hurricane au (stuck inside oh no what will we do??)
love triangle that shit
matchmaking au
love letters in a bottle au
drunken karaoke
kissing in the rain is top tier
workaholic letting loose au
(illegal) car racing au
road trip au
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consanguinitatum · 4 months
Text
David as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (the first time he did it, that is!)
David Tennant fans are aware of 2011's brilliant Much Ado About Nothing, in which DT starred as Benedick, alongside Catherine Tate as Beatrice. Filmed at the Wyndham's Theatre in London and directed by Josie Rourke, the production was recorded and offered on Digital Theatre.
But did you know David had played Benedick before?
Yep - he sure has!
It was in 2001, a full decade before his production with Catherine.
Beginning in 1999, BBC Radio 3 launched Shakespeare For The Millennium, an ambitious project to dramatize seventeen Shakespeare productions in four years.
The project was done in collaboration with BBC Worldwide, which emphasized it wanted to take a contemporary, innovative approach to the Bard. It launched on 12 September 1999 with a Shakespeare discussion panel, and a new production of Hamlet -- starring none other than Michael Sheen as the Dane!
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On 23 September 2001, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a new production of Much Ado About Nothing as the Sunday Play, with David in the lead role as Benedick and Samantha Spiro as Beatrice. Adapted by Sally Avens, it featured an introduction (as had all the previous productions in the Shakespeare For The Millennium series) by Richard Eyre, the former Director of the Royal National Theatre.
The production also starred a few other recognizable names. There was Chiwetel Ejiofor as Claudio, Emilia Fox as Hero, David Swift as Leonato, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Don John, and David Haig as Dogberry.
All original music was composed and performed by Simon Oakes and Adam Wolters.
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Radio listings and announcements, and promo photos of David and Samantha Spiro
Here's a review of the prodcuction!
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Much Ado About Nothing was commercially released by BBC Worldwide as part of the BBC Radio collection series in 2001.
The sleeve notes of cassettes and CDs of the production include a scene-by-scene synopsis, a full character analysis, and an essay on interpretation from the director Sally Avens.
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Almost four years later, in November 2005, BBC One broadcast a television series called ShakespeaRe-Told, a set of four adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. Each play was adapted by a different writer, and all were relocated to the present day.
The first to be broadcast - on 7 November 2005 - was a modern-day version of Much Ado About Nothing starring Sarah Parrish and Damien Lewis...and Billie Piper and Nina Sosanya and Olivia Colman!
You can watch it here:
youtube
Six days after this television broadcast - on 13 November 2005 at 7:15 pm - BBC Radio 3 re-broadcast the audio version starring David and Samantha in its 'Drama On 3' slot.
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Fast forward to August 2020.
The BBC released a set of four BBC Radio Shakespeare collections: Histories, Comedies, Tragedies, and Roman Plays. Much Ado About Nothing was included in the collection of Comedies, and became available as an Audible digital download.
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If you want to listen, you can find this collection a lot of places. It might be at your local library or on Overdrive, on Google Play, or as an Amazon Audible book.
Or, ya know, just go here:
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apoptoses · 11 months
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Have you ever been reading Devil’s Minion and thinking to yourself, “damn, I just can’t nail down a face for Daniel”? Have you watched Interview with the Vampire and felt like neither Christian Slater nor River Phoenix hit the mark for you?
Allow me to introduce you to James fucking Spader.
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Look at him! Is that not the face of Daniel, completely fed up with Armand feeding his cigarettes down the garbage disposal?
He’s got the naive and beautiful face but ALSO the defiant yet beseeching thing down! Also he was like 22 here, which is right around the age Daniel met Armand so he’s at peak Healthy, Pretty Molloy here. No wonder Louis decided to take him home!!
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“Do you know what a zip code is, or a tax bracket? I’m the one who buys all the goddamned airline tickets. Millions. How are we going to get millions! Steal another Maserati and be done with it, for God’s sakes!”
Spader is the original 80′s pretty boy you’d assume starred as the leading man in some schmoopy romances or schlocky teen dramas and he did that for a minute. Like check him out in Pretty in Pink-
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 Is this not peak Night Island Daniel, in his Miami Vice looking bespoke suit ready to head out with Armand for the night?
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Look at him snuggled into his blanket in Tuff Turf, like Daniel hungover and forcibly woken up to honky tonk piano tunes!
But the deliciousness doesn’t end at his looks. Because in true Molloy fashion that man said ‘you know what? I wanna make movies for freaks and weirdos only’
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In Sex, Lies and Videotape he plays the sweetest pervert who loves interviewing women about their sex lives, video taping it, and then watching them back naked but not actually getting off! He’s impotent, he’s a gentle and lovely weirdo, there’s vampire!Daniel fodder for days in this one.
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Crash is a horny flick that defies all explanation and really you need to go in blind if you’re gonna watch this one, but let me just say this: If Spader and his Wife in this film aren’t the most Daniel and Armand coded couple in cinema history I will eat my shoes. Also there’s tons of beautiful footage of him driving around at night with his blond hair ruffling in the breeze.
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Your prefer your Daniel with glasses? Oh, perfect, because in Bad Influence he plays a sweet guy who gets into a fucked up situation with a toxic friend and a sex tape!
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In Storyville he lets himself be thrown on the floor and lays there submissively before getting involved in yet another sex tape scandal!
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Don’t even get me started on Dream Lover, another smut filled romp (with some filthy deleted scenes if you google the uncut version) which has the most Devil’s Minion promo photos of all time-
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Like! Get the fuck out!
I could just go all day about his body of work but some of it you’ve just gotta see for yourself. In pretty much every film you’re guaranteed smut with him being deliciously submissive, extremely gentle with his hands, and down for all kinds of kink. And in most of his movies he gets bloody at least once, like-
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this is a shitty picture i took of my laptop but look at the blood at the corner of his mouth! Vampire activities!
In summary, let me hit you with a photo dump:
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Daniel laying in a cheap motel room during the chase years!
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Daniel with delightful 70s hair!
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More glasses!Daniel!
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Daniel with a half-buttoned 80′s shirt looking so beautiful it’s no wonder Armand couldn’t NOT turn him!
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It’s dark, he’s wet, he looks exhausted!
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He’s the ideal beautiful Molloy Weirdo and I will not be accepting any other arguments, goodbye!!
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copperbadge · 7 months
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Cleaning out my Google Drive archive, I happened to stumble across the original spec Hallmark Movie script that Fete For A King was based on -- not that I had lost it, I'd just kind of forgotten about it. And it occurred to me you guys might enjoy seeing a scene or two from it.
I wrote Fete basically from the script -- I made a copy of the script and rewrote it into prose as I went, then did a second pass to make it less Scripty, so most of it would be very familiar. The plot came through basically intact. The one thing I significantly altered was Jerry and Alanna's subplot -- in the script, as often happens with Hallmark films, the supporting characters also have a love storyline. I took that out of the book because it didn't need the padding, and it allowed me to give them a book of their own later, but the script scenes were pretty fun. :D
(In this version Jerry still attends the Agricultural Cabinet meeting for Gregory, but mentions this fact to Michaelis, which gets Gregory in trouble for blowing it off.)
ALANNA, spying on the lunch meeting through the door to the Prince's office, leans back behind a column or wall. DUKE GERALD (JERRY), looking apologetic, winces.
ALANNA: How could you, Jerry?
JERRY: I told you, I didn't mean to! I thought if I told the king I stepped in for Gregory, it would show I'm taking an interest. Turning over a new leaf.
ALANNA: Nobody asked you to take an interest.
JERRY: Least of all me. But I was interested, really, Alanna. We could be doing so much more with olives. I didn't know crop planning was such a precise science.
ALANNA: And that's great, but you could have just said you went WITH Greg to the meeting.
JERRY: Why would I go with Greg to an agricultural meeting? Anyway, I would have but I didn't think of it. Don't be mad at me.
ALANNA: It's not me you have to worry about.
JERRY: But Greg knows I wouldn't sabotage him. Besides, uncle Mike would have heard about it eventually anyway. Everyone in town was talking about the Prince coming to try that cheese shop with the social media chef guy.
ALANNA: He's under a lot of pressure.
JERRY: I know.
ALANNA: And now unless that cheese REALLY impresses the king, he's going to start following Greg around everywhere and trying to offer his opinion.
JERRY: He's been king for forty years. His opinion's probably useful.
ALANNA: Not if the prince wants to make his own way.
JERRY: Well, what do you want me to do? I can't make uncle Mike like cheese.
ALANNA: I want you to keep an eye on them and keep the king distracted. Can't you do something mildly embarrassing?
JERRY: More or less embarrassing than visiting a cheese shop in a "Truly Tasty" hat?
ALANNA: Fix it, Jerry!
JERRY: Fine, I'll do my best. But I want you to make Greg make me his vizier when he's king.
ALANNA: We haven't had a vizier in a hundred years. What does a vizier even do?
JERRY: Nothing, but with drama.
ALANNA: Fine. I have meetings. Stay here, keep spying, report back when they leave.
JERRY gives her a thumbs up and watches her leave, then turns to spying on the meeting.
***
And then Alanna has a realization....
ALANNA is still leading JERRY away from the picnic.
JERRY: I thought you wanted me to keep Uncle Mike off Greg's case.
ALANNA: Not tonight. Eddie's pitching his new high-concept for the coronation feast, so they've got to be there together.
JERRY: Well, I wish someone would make up their mind around here.
ALANNA: You could set a trend.
JERRY: What's that supposed to mean?
ALANNA: You're not interested in olives, Jerry.
JERRY: Of course I am.
ALANNA: You're interested in the fact that my dad heads the cabinet board that supervises the olive harvest.
JERRY: Olives are very interesting to me. (deflating) And I wanted to impress your dad.
ALANNA: He's known you since we were kids running around the palace together.
JERRY: Is that good?
ALANNA: My father has literally watched you fall out of multiple trees you were trying to climb.
JERRY: Failing to climb, mostly.
ALANNA: So why are you trying to impress him now?
JERRY: Well, isn't it obvious?
They stare at each other.
ALANNA: I cannot go on a date with you.
JERRY looks crestfallen. ALANNA pulls out her phone.
ALANNA: There's too much to do, Jerry. Between now and the coronation every hour I'm awake is booked. The best I can give you is three weeks from Tuesday.
JERRY: What?
ALANNA: Three weeks from Tuesday. Does that work for you? Never mind, your calendar's on my phone. I'm booking us in. Dinner okay?
JERRY: Uh. Yes.
ALANNA: Good. I'll send you a calendar invite, you pick the place.
She walks off, still typing in her phone.
JERRY: What just happened?
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