#its not the worst design ever i suppose... i just think he could be designed better thats all

[tianhai03]

not a great start when the tiddy strap is a more cohesive design decision ngl

yeah lmao. i think the biggest problem with netflix dante's design is the fact that they tried to mix EVERY dante design into one... that's why I keep saying his design is a mess

#like its. sure he looks okay but the more i look at him the more my head hurts his design is so confusing #i think they can make it work but what they have right now isnt working that well lmaooo #its not the worst design ever i suppose... i just think he could be designed better thats all #im more upset about how his face looks more than his outfit if im being honest #ask #allyanswers #anonymous

[hey-must-be-a-devilbetween-us]

Just been thinking about how when Aziraphale said that 'Nothing Lasts Forever' and Crowley immediately took that in a totally different way than Aziraphale intended.

The look of surprise and confusion that quickly becomes desperation that takes over Aziraphale face as Crowley walks away, he calls out to him, begs him to come back to him, and quickly covers it up with 'to heaven.'

he didn't mean them, he would never mean them.

(a lot more under the cut)

the places would change, the circumstances would change, the people and the play and the drama would change, they have always had different seasons of their relationship.

but them, together, as always been as constant as the tides and the phases of the moon, even if they get separated for a month or a decade or a century, they always come back together.

Also been thinking about how Crowley doesn't have faith in a lot of things (for obvious reasons), but the most heart breaking is how he has no faith that underneath it all, no matter what, Aziraphale loves him and wants to be with him, even though he has a mountain of evidence of it.

Its been pointed out that Aziraphale this whole season has seemed to be trying to get closer emotionally to Crowley, 'shooting his shot.'

'Its our car, its our bookshop, its our plan to save Gabriel, take my hand lets dance while you tell me what's wrong my dear boy.'

More than just an arrangement, more than fraternizing, more then just friendly banter over drinks and food, it always was more, but now they can act like it, Aziraphale is going for it in his own way.

and Aziraphale is so obviously frustrated during the fight that Crowley doesn't see that.

but come on, you can't blame Crowley at this point, Aziraphale is effectively asking Crowley to change literally everything about themselves and forget a millennia of trauma and anger and guilt and self-loathing.

It sure makes it seem like Aziraphales love is now suddenly conditional on them changing.

I don't think Aziraphale sees it that way though right?

He doesn't see it as 'I will love Crowley more if they are an angel.' he sees it as 'Crowley will be happier as an angel surely? They will also be safer with that designation.' and 'any sacrifice will be worth it if it means we'll finally be able to be safe and together.'

See, I don't think Aziraphale even wants Crowley to be an angel again.

I think he's trying to convince himself that he wants that, which is what makes the Metatron offering that in the first place so damn insidious.

I think in his heart of hearts, appointing Crowley to be an angel again is just as much of a sacrifice to him as leaving his beloved bookshop, leaving earth with all its wonderful music and color and life and stories and people, but what does that say about him as an angel?

Everyone can sneer and look down on him for having affections for a demon but there is some plausible deniability that its just bad circumstances, Crowley just happens to be a demon but he's really very lovely once you get to know him, in spite of it all.

But like...giving Aziraphale the opportunity to make Crowley an angel again and he doesn't want to take it because...he loves Crowley exactly the way he is? That he may have had a crush on the angel he was, but it was truly The Demon Crowley that he fell in love with.

I think Aziraphale is gonna need some time to get brave enough to say that with his whole chest (but dear lord will it be wonderful when he does.)

And the Metatron knows this, and he knows Crowley is exactly who he is supposed to be, and so The Metatron knows that Crowley could never ever say yes to going back, it goes against his very nature, he knew that Crowley would take it exactly the way he did.

(Ergo more evidence that splitting them up is the whole goal because they're just too powerful together.)

So, Aziraphale is stuck in the worst way I can imagine.

He's given the opportunity to have everything he should want, so he's trying to make the best of it even though it decidedly isn't what he wants, because its evident that the meddling from Heaven and Hell isn't going away, the Metatron is giving him the path of least resistance, isn't that going along with Heaven as far as he can?

Every word he says to Crowley about how wonderful it will be and how this is an amazing opportunity and we'll be together and we'll make better choices, we'll make a difference.

Its trying to convince himself just as much.

I think Aziraphale is terrified of going back to heaven by himself, but what other choice does he have? He's terrified about what will happen if he doesn't, and not because of any explicit threat by the Metatron, but what it would imply about him, if they knew exactly how he felt about Crowley, what might they do to them both?

and that's why the Kiss™ is so horrible and beautiful at the same time, its harsh and it looks like it hurts when their teeth bump together and it is so desperate, but Aziraphale still clings to Crowley, trembling and whimpering (jesus christ sheen...)

More than an expression of romantic love (because by God herself have they expressed it in so many ways for thousands of years,) its a plea to stay, choose this, choose us.

And Aziraphale wants to, but he can't, and its agony, but how could he explain that to Crowley when he barely understands it himself, he doesn't recognize what the Metatron has done.

That's why Aziraphale seems just as angry at the kiss as he is fucking devastated, its not a 'how dare you kiss me,' its an 'how dare you kiss me right now, in this moment, when if it had came earlier everything might have been different."

"How dare you kiss me now to just let me know everything I'm giving up, and not just because you wanted to."

"How dare you make this our first kiss."

Aziraphale doesn't see the Kiss™ as the Hail Mary that it is, he sees it as a spiteful bitter thing, something that he has been yearning for forever being twisted into something to hurt him, but I think he can see the sadness and fear in it too, so he forgives Crowley for it.

And of course, Crowley takes that to mean, "I forgive you for kissing me when you know that's not how I feel, for trying to manipulate me." or something to that effect, either way its enough for him to leave the conversation, nothing more to say.

I think Aziraphales next arc is going to be all about being open and honest and brave, which is in exact juxtaposition to the traits that made him grow closer to Crowley in the first place and that's what really fucking gets me.

From giving away the flaming sword, the entire damn arrangement, trying to thwart the apocalypse, to the very fact that he loves Crowley.

"I'm a fallen angel! I lied! To thwart the will of God!"

"Yeah, ya did, but I'm not gonna tell anybody, are you?"

"Then nothing has to change."

Except it did, and it does, if they are to get their happy ending in their cottage in the south downs.

anyway, yeah that's all i wanted to say i think, how was your guys week so far?

gif credit:

@starklystar @raggedy-spaceman @spooks-ez

(if i missed anyone or miscredited pls lmk!)

cont in reply (i like what i wrote here so i'm trying to keep track lol)

#good omens 2 #good omens season 2 spoilers #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale #neil gaiman #good omens meta #good omens 2 analysis #haha #i've been coming back and adding to this for days now #don't flop please haha #its alright my 7 mutuals will like it and thats enough for me :) #i'm really normal #so normal right now

[floppydiskettess]

VALORANT AGENTS REACTING TO THEIR S/O GETTING INJURED ON A MISSION

featuring - sage, killjoy, cypher, yoru, sova, gekko, viper

a/n : cyphers part contains a lot of angst and alcohol talk. i couldnt let it ALL be fluff 😋

✮~ Sage ~✮

literally the sweetest ever, but this doesn't need to be said

if its a minor injury, she will definitely be giving you a talk about being safer and how to prevent that from happening

"but what if it was something more serious? something even I couldn't heal? you must be more careful angel."

if her s/o was harmed badly, she would do two things.

one, she would immedietely drop everything and rush towards healing you, this woman will stay up all night trying to heal you and make sure that there is not so much as a scratch left on your body. she would definitely overwork herself but making sure you are alright is all that matters.

two, the second you are stable and resting, she is going to find out whichever enemy agent hurt you and fuck. them. up.

im talking full battle sage, she will have no mercy if the injury they caused was threatening enough.

she may excude sweet and kind energy but she is one scary lady when the people she loves are harmed

she knows exactly how damaged a body must be for it to be unfixable.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be there my dear, but they won't be hurting you again."

she will be watching you carefully, even asking brimstone to take you off of missions for a short time or asking him to keep an eye on you.

she doesn't know what she would do if she lost you..

☻︎~ Killjoy ~︎︎☹︎

she blames herself, how could she not? she designed most of the stuff...it must be a error in her inventions.

she will work night and day trying to figure out what happened. was it a weapon error? did the gun she designed for you malfunction? oh no was she to blame for anyone elses injuries?!

it would take a lot of reassurance for her to calm down. after all, this wouldn't have happened if she had been more careful...right?

"Mein gott...you scared me. I thought I lost you schatzi..."

she is going to be by your side after sage discharges you from her infirmary. expect lots of physical affection (if your comfortable with it.) and care.

she will treat you as if you were glass about to break. you will not be doing any chores while you recover.

oh you need to work on a mission report? its already finished and submitted. you are hungry? she would cook a lovely meal her parents would make her when she was sick. (with the help of some other agents...shes probaly not a great cook lets be honest..)

"KJ...Sage gave me the all clear! I can do it!"

" Nein nein! You are going to rest mein Häschen! I don't want you straining yourself!"

♖~ Cypher ~♖

if you get injured, be it minor or major. this man will WORRY.

he already lost everything, he cannot lose you either. if he did...he would have nothing.

when sage showed up at his door covered in blood and bruises. he knew something went wrong.

you told him you were going on a small mission. just an in and out radianite extraction at an abandoned lab. he had no reason to worry...right?

when he heard what had happened, he was devastated. what was supposed to be a quick mission turned out to be a setup. what makes it worse? you were alone at your site.

he will be thinking the worst. what if you...? if he had only done a more detailed check on the lab...maybe he could have protected you. but he didn't. he feels like he failed.

you spend weeks in the recovery bay, lying unconcious.

he spends those weeks without you in his lab drinking the memories away and trying to figure out what happened.

he just cannot function with the thought of losing you at the back of his mind at all times.

he knows he was caught when viper appears at his doorway with a concerned glare and a solemn looking sage in tow. he can't remember most of it, but viper was worried? about him?

soon he was also transported to sages infirmary. getting put on nutrients and oxygen. it was obvious he was not taking care of himself without your presence

when you wake up, he would be right there cradling your cheek with his hand. his mask nowhere in sight. all that matters was that you were safe now

"يا حياتي..i was so scared i lost you"

he will never forget his past, but he looks forward to his future with you.

can you tell i like cypher guys :)

☁︎~ Yoru ~☁︎

do not even get me started on this man

he would be extremely angry.

but is it at you, the others, or maybe himself?"

upon hearing the news, he would immediately check on you. seeing your unconcious body just makes something in him snap. the thought that someone had done this to you...he plants a soft kiss to your temple, before storming out of the infirmary.

for the next few days, he would lash out at everyone around him. sage came around to bring him some food as he had not left his room and he just...lost it.

he wasn't even sure who he was yelling at, who he was blaming for what happened. poor sage looked petrified and the others seemed to gather the idea yoru didn't want to be talked too right now.

with no word from anybody about your condition, he lay down on his bed and cried numbly. every night he would teleport into where sage had kept you to heal. he would sit in silence staring at your asleep face before always kissing your forehead goodbye. in hopes that somehow, you would wake up.

he went to your room and grabbed some sweaters of yours, every night he slept with them for comfort, clinging onto them as if they were going to leave him too.

when you wake up, he won't care about keeping his mysterious "badass" persona up. he will be at your side holding your hand and crying.

"please be more careful 私の日光...i don't know what i would do if i lost you."

when sage discharges you, he will be glued to you. he will simple little things for you (such as opening doors for you.)

his love language is definitely acts of service

if you teased him about this though, he will never admit to it.

he will be doing simple things such as cooking meals, cleaning up, and helping you finish any work you have

he is so domestic

he may not be super outwardly affectionate, but with each small favour he does for you he is putting all of his love into it.

𖦹~ Sova ~𖦹

sova is literally the most caring boyfriend...like ever..

if its a minor injury, he will treat it (if sage and skye are off on a mission).

he will definitely lightly scold you, not to be mean! just because he hates seeing you hurt and in pain.

"ангел. please be more careful next time..you know i hate seeing you upset."

if it was a major injury though, he is relatively the same.

he isn't scared to cry infront of the others, when he gets the news that your mission went south he was crying into sages shoulder.

he would stay with you the entire recovery. sage had to keep kicking him out at nighttime but eventually she realized she couldn't stop him. she simply would bring meals for him whenever he would forget to eat.

he would sit and tell you about his day, how the missions were going, even the silly schenanigans that the younger agents were pulling

"yoru tried to get revenge on phoenix for his prank but it went so bad ангел. he entered his rift and jumped out to scare him, but reyna happened to have just been passing by! she was absolutely livid родная. i have never seen our dear riftwalker so terrified!" he chuckled

when you woke up, he was still there lightly snoring against the chair sage had brought him.

when he woke up, he was thrilled, his eyes immediately lighting up like a childs

"have you been sitting here the whole time?"

"of course my dear. as if i would leave you."

߷~ Gekko ~߷

as the newest agent, he hasn't known you for very long. your relationship was coming up to a few months old but he hadn't told you how much he loved you yet.

so naturally, when he heard you were injured he was terrified

he knew this job was dangerous! he just never thought it would be you getting injured...he also never really thought of anyone getting badly injured

he was training with harbour when he overheard a mission going wrong...a mission you were on.

he would rush to the infirmary overloading sage with questions about you

"Sage!! Finally...que pasó?? Neon told me something happened on the mission?!"

Appariently, you had gotten caught in a fight with the enemy Breach and he hit you with his aftershock.

He didn't know much about Breach, but he knew that man had quite a bit of strength in his abilities (being like...bionic you know?"

After some skillful and strategic convincing (pathetic and annoying begging) Sage agreed to take him to see you.

When he caught sight of you lying in the bed staring up at the ceiling, he let out a big sigh he didn't even know he was holding.

"Mi sol! Oh mierda I was so worried! What happened?"

He would be sitting patiently listening to you explain what happened. All while staring at you softly.

"Shooottt...sounds like you had a busy mission! I am just happy you made it back cariño."

☠︎︎~ Viper ~ ☠︎︎

if you were minorly injured, it was probably from tinkering with her poison vials and one leaked onto your fingers

after hearing your grunt in pain, she turns around and her eyes widen, rushing towards you.

"Idiot, I said not to touch anything!"

she swears under her breath before wiping it away and rubbing some sort of cream onto your hand

"Honestly..who would touch something containing poison WITHOUT protection?"

her biggest fear? her poison causing you harm.

so what if a mission were to go wrong and you happened to step into a bubble of her poison?

it was a genuine wrong place wrong time situation. she had a poison bubble deployed and sitting on the ground, as she activated it she looked up to see your frame walking overtop of it.

she shouts to get you to move, but you don't hear her in time. next thing she knows, you are on the ground out cold with green and purple lines all over your face.

she quickly would call for backup, holding you tight but trying to avoid the chemical burns.

when she is back to safety, she rushes to sage's infirmary with your barely warm body in her arms

unfortunately, the poison had seeped into some open wounds you had. causing it to spread throught your body. viper leaves sage alone to do her job, pacing back and forth outside.

she knew how strong her poison could be, but she also knew how strong your body was. you would survive. you had too.

after a few hours, a tired sage walks out and nods, signaling it went well.

viper rushed into the room and immediately looked at your sleeping face, wincing at the fading bloodshot lines on your face.

"i'm so sorry love..please wake up soon"

she would wait by your side holding your hand and occasionally planting soft kisses to the back of your hand.

she knew you would be ok, but she couldn't help but feel bad that her miscommunication and carelessness caused this to happen to you.

when you wake up, she would be whispering soft apologies into your ear

"i promise...you will never feel this pain again my dear."

a/n : holy shit guys!!!! this took a while!! i spent a good 4 hours writing all this JDJSBSJSKSKSN its probably cringe im sorry

but yeah! i tried my best to write this with a gender neutral reader in mind but in some of these its definitely a bit more fem reader leaning! also i do not speak any of the languages spoken in this so if i made a mistake or used something wrong PLEASE let me know so I can fix it!!!

#valorant headcanons #valorant x reader #yoru x reader #viper x reader #sage x reader #sova x reader #cypher x reader #gekko x reader #killjoy x reader #valorant #valorant x y/n #valorant x you #y/n not used #but its implied #headcanons #ooc post #valorant fanfiction

[farfromharry]

Ozzy Munson | Eddie Munson fic

Eddie Munson x Cheerleader!Reader

Summary: When paired together for a project you think it’ll be the end of the world, and at one point it feels like it is, but then it turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you

Word count - 19,507

Warnings - angst, language?, mean reader at times

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

Everyone knew when the dreaded baby fortnight of health class was coming. It was like a legend amongst the seniors this time of year, reiterating all the past stories they’d heard from those older about how terrible it was. 

It was all your friends could seem to talk about as you waited for the first bell of the morning to ring. You were all just lingering in the hall, nearby your class. You hated that they kept reminding you of what was to come when that bell did ring. In your class there was only you and Chrissy, your fellow cheerleaders weren’t supposed to start their assignments until later in the day. You supposed at least you could get it out of the way. 

The conversation came to a sudden end when a certain individual started to make his way down the hall. Eddie Munson was a fiend when it came to the cheerleaders at Hawkins. “Ladies,” he greeted, flashing you all his infamous smirk. 

You rolled your eyes, scoffing under your breath. He was ridiculous, you seriously couldn’t stand him. And he’d noticed. “Y/N, glad I could make you smile,” he teased. “I’ve really missed seeing any emotion other than bitchy on your face.”

He managed to get on your every last nerve and you had no idea how he did it. It was like a talent he had. Or maybe it was just because you’d known one another for so long. But it seriously irritated you no matter what it was, and you swore that one day you would figure out how to put a stop to it, even if it consisted of humiliating him so bad that he just could never face you again. 

“Go to hell, Munson.”

“Only if I see you there. But for now, I guess I’ll have to get by with seeing you in class.”

The little minions of his, that were in his club, joined him, telling him it wasn’t worth it to get into it with you. They practically had to pull him away from the confrontation. If there was one thing he could manage, it was to take things too far with you all. If the basketball team found out and got involved, he would truly be screwed. So they always came to save the day.

You were incredibly grateful when he left, apparently less so than your friends who couldn’t stop discussing the encounter and his disgusting presence for the next fifteen minutes until the bell rang. 

Once in the class, it was easy to zone out when the man was droning on. You got the basic idea he was presenting, take care of the fake baby and its fake needs, work together with your partner, get graded at the end based on how well you did. A very simple concept. It didn’t need such a long winded explanation. 

You only came back to it when partners were mentioned. You hoped he would give you the choice to pick your own, but of course if he wanted his students to pass then that was a terrible idea. He also didn’t feel like making it unfairly easy for some. Within this class, you had a pretty terrible grade, unlike some, and the man knew you would surely only pair yourself with one of your friends who could do the work for you and bring that grade up. He wasn’t going to let that happen. 

You felt like you were holding your breath as you waited for your teacher to call your name alongside your designated partners. It was awful when he wouldn’t let you pick your own, this class wasn’t exactly swarming with your friends. There were more people than not that you didn’t want to be friends with. 

“Y/L/N and Munson…”

You could have sworn your heart dropped in that moment. Of all the people in the room, he and his little band of freaks were probably the ones you wanted to stay away from the most. He was the worst of it though. It wasn’t your fault that he had such a distaste for jocks, or jocks had a distaste for him, that had begun long before you became a cheerleader. But it was easy to fall into the roles of disliking one another because of where you were in the schools ‘social hierarchy’. 

He turned around in his seat at the front of the class with a wide grin on his face. He didn’t love the idea of working with you, you’ve made his life hell before– well, more-so your friends than you– but he was going to look forward to making this tough on you. 

He flashed you a wink, to which you rolled your eyes and scowled at him. You really didn’t want him to know that he was getting to you. 

As soon as everyone was partnered up, he made you all move into seats beside your ‘fellow parent’ so he could hand out the fake babies. Ever the gentleman (clear sarcasm) he made you move seats right to the front, refusing to do any of the work himself. “This is gonna be a fun couple of weeks, don’t you think sweetheart?” he teased. 

“Fuck off, Munson.”

You could hear him laughing to himself at the knowledge he’d riled you up already. It really was painfully easy to do so. Your arms were crossed over your chest, slouching in your seat as you called him a million and one different insults in your head. There was laughing from a couple desks over, and when you looked over your shoulder you noticed Chrissy, giggling to herself at the interaction. With a swift middle finger, you took to ignoring her, repeating over and over in your head how much you hated Eddie Munson. 

“Eddie,” Mr Guillermo announced, capturing the boy’s attention as the baby was passed to him. His eyes flickered between the two of you, and you were sure you could see something menacing behind his gaze, he knew what he was doing when he paired you up. “I’m expecting good things from you. Not like you haven’t done this before, and I’m sure you’ll do it again.”

Eddie saluted the man. “I keep coming back only for this assignment, Mr G. How’d you know?” Part of you wanted to laugh, and you hated yourself for it. 

He ignored those words, entirely. “I even made sure to give you the same one. Seeing as you’re pretty well acquainted already.” 

“Ozzy! Oh how I missed him.”

Mr Guillermo decided he was bored entertaining the kid, moving on to hand out the next child to the couple behind you both. All you had to do for him to hand it over was hold out your hand. He thought it was a little prissy that you just expected to get what you wanted by holding out your hand, but there he was doing it anyway. It allowed you to get a good look at the robotic baby, up close now rather than from afar in Eddie’s arms. It was a lot more creepy looking now than before.

“You named it Ozzy?” you asked. “Like Osbourne?”

He scoffed, though he was actually really impressed you knew who that was. “Yes. And he’s not an ‘it’, he’s a baby. How are you expecting to pass this class if you’re calling your child an it, mom.” He was already taking the assignment much too seriously, and you had no idea how you were supposed to make it through till the end— even if it was only two weeks— without tearing your hair out.

“This is gonna be unbearable,” you muttered under your breath, turning in your seat so you could glare at him. “First of all, don’t call me mom. Second of all, Mr G made it pretty clear this is a partnered project. If I want a good grade, I need to do some of the work.”

“Don’t worry princess, this is my third time doing this, I’m basically a pro. You’ll get the best grade in this damn class if you just let me do it.” The last two times he’d done this, he basically passed with flying colors. This time he was more or less assured to only get better, and if he would be forced to do it for a fourth time, he may as well actually be a dad. If he was ever going to accidentally knock a girl up, at least he knew he was prepared for fatherly responsibilities. 

You didn’t think he had any right to be proud about repeating his senior year three times, yet here he was, wearing it like a badge of honor. “I can’t stand you,” you complained, dropping your head down onto your arms that were resting on the desk. 

You heard him mutter something about divorced parents and trouble in paradise to the dumb baby, which led you to further hide your face. You had no idea if you could actually get through the next two weeks doing this with him, or if you’d ask for another partner within days, or give up altogether. Lord knows you wanted to. 

Becoming a parent alongside Eddie Munson might possibly be the death of you.

»»——⍟——««

It was you, alone, that made the decision that Eddie would take the first shift with ‘Ozzy.’ It was mainly because you just didn’t want to. You hadn’t exactly given him the choice though, you just got up from your seat when the bell rang and left him sitting there with the baby. 

The lack of communication meant that you hadn’t created a schedule or anything, so Eddie had no idea when he was supposed to hand the baby over to you. But after having it for the entire morning, he decided he really didn’t want to deal with it any longer. He’d gotten more than a few glares from peers and teachers. Most of his teachers already didn’t like him, and this definitely wasn’t helping his case. So the first chance he got to drop the kid on you (lunch), he took. 

He couldn’t find you at first, so he had to sit there at his lunch table with a pout on his lips and a fake baby on his knee. His friends thought it was amusing, but he was quick to shut down any jokes coming his way. 

“Dustin, I swear, if you open your mouth one more–” he trailed off when he saw the small herd of cheerleaders enter the cafeteria. Now was his chance. 

He abandoned his stuff and his lunch, getting to his feet and marching right over to the table. He almost ran into various innocent students, throwing out apologies left and right. They weren’t really his concern right now though, you were. All your friends seemed to notice him at once, and he could tell they made some kind of comment about him that alerted you. 

“Oh, god,” Marriane muttered. 

Your head cocked, then you looked over your shoulder in wonder. “What?”

“Freak alert.”

You knew exactly who she meant when she said that. It was sort of Eddie’s nickname around this place. It was actually used more than his own name was. In a way it was sad, but if he cared he never made it known. Although, maybe it was because you didn’t know him well enough for him to confide in you about it. 

“What do you want, Munson?” Chelsea questioned.

He offered a sickly sweet smile to the girl. “Chelsea, always nice to see you. But I’m here to bother Y/N for today, you’re safe.” You rolled your eyes at the sound of that.

You plastered on a fake smile, turning in your seat to be able to look at him. You noticed he had that baby in his arms, holding it like it was a real one. He wasn’t joking when he said he was basically a professional. “Munson. How can I help?”

“You’ll be taking Ozzy tonight. Better get some practice now for when you’re completely alone taking care of a screaming baby.” The grin on his face made you seethe with anger. For someone who claimed they would do all the work, he sure as hell was dropping a lot on you right now. You didn’t know how to do anything with this baby, and he wanted you to take the first night? He was insane. 

You forced a laugh. “And when did we decide this?”

“When you dropped him on me and ran out of class,” he reminded you. You watched as he took a shred of paper from the pocket of his dark colored jeans, followed by a pen that he handed you. “Write down your number, or address, whichever one you’re willing to actually give me so we can talk about this assignment away from judgy eyes.” He shot a few glares to your friends, all of whom were still eyeing him with disgust. 

As much as you didn’t want to, you scribbled down the number of your home phone, slipping it back into his hand along with the pen. It wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be to get you to do that. 

“Awesome, now that that’s settled, you can come drop him at my place around noon tomorrow.” He more or less forced the baby into your chest, leaving you no choice but to take it like you didn’t want to. He seemed all too happy about pissing you off like this. 

You shook your head, beginning to protest before he began walking away, refusing to give you the time of day you wanted to tell him you wouldn’t do this. Once you lost him in your sights, you let out a groan, slamming the fake child down onto the table. You were frustrated, angry with him in general, but your irritation got worse when the baby began to cry, loudly. 

You could basically hear Eddie’s laughter from the other side of the room, and it only furthered the way your blood boiled. 

A sudden spurt of laughter from opposite you at the table made your brow furrow. When you turned to see Chrissy laughing to herself, you shot her a glare. She tried to stop, for your sake, but just like earlier today in your class, she found it inherently funny that you were paired with him of all people. “Oh, this is gold.”

“Shut up, Chrissy,” you grumbled.

»»——⍟——««

Even though you didn’t want to, like Eddie said, you took Ozzy home with you. Your parents were more than confused when you entered the home with a fake baby in your arms. Your brother going as far to make some joke about how he knew you’d end up a teen mom.

“Don’t those things usually take nine months? I feel like I should know, I’ve had two,” your mother teased. You sighed, setting the thing down on the counter with a glare to it.  It made your mom laugh to see you look at it with such hatred, she had no idea where it stemmed from, but she wouldn’t get it even if you told her 

“This is Ozzy. He’s the fake baby I have to take care of for health.”

She nodded, and that seemed to pique your dad’s interest. “Oh, I remember that assignment. They’re still doing that? Who’s your partner?” he asked. You hated that he’d asked, you would have rather kept it to yourself, all for the sake of starting a discussion about the boy you didn’t like. 

“Eddie Munson,” you muttered, under your breath. 

Your mother gasped. “Oh, sweet Eddie! I haven’t seen him for so long, gosh I forgot about him.” You forgot about the woman's love for him, how she’d always thought he was one of the better people around you in childhood– despite the poor boy’s home life– but then one day he’d disappeared from your life without a trace. She’d questioned it before, but you always brushed it off so you didn’t have to talk about it, though she’d always had her suspicions it was due to the fault of your cheerleading friends. And she would be right.

You tried to laugh it off, hoping you didn’t have to talk about him anymore. Other than the fact he was supposed to be really well practiced at this assignment, there wasn’t really anything good you could say about him. “Yeah.”

“You know, that’s actually how me and your mom got together,” your dad said. 

That fact hadn’t ever actually been made known to you. You knew your parents had met back in highschool, highschool sweethearts actually, but they had never told you specifically about what happened. It was nice to hear, incredibly sweet to know, but you felt like that piece of information was going to lead to something else you weren’t necessarily going to like. And you would be right. 

“Who knows, maybe you and Eddie will end up like me and your mom after this whole thing.”

You scoffed. Safe to say you didn’t find that amusing, you just grabbed a snack and headed upstairs where you could forget all about the assignment. 

You set it down somewhere far away from your bed, where it could be kept out of sight and hopefully not heard. But in a weird way it still felt like it was watching you, and you wished you would have fought harder for Eddie to take it home with him.

The first thing you did was get some homework out of the way, it meant you were free to focus on other stuff over your weekend. That took longer than expected, but once that was out of the way, you wanted to take a shower, feeling like you needed it after being around Eddie for so long earlier in the day. 

The baby was left in your room, deciding it could be left alone for as long as it would take for you to clean yourself. However, you didn’t realize how wrong that would be. 

You had barely stepped under the water when you heard it cry for the first time. You huffed, dropping your head onto the shower wall in irritation. The water was switched off and you wrapped a towel around yourself, basically marching back into your room intending to shut it up as fast as possible. Turns out it just needed holding or something, which pissed you off even more. Why did the fake baby need to be held? You were busy. 

As soon as it calmed, you were off again, hoping this time you would be undisturbed. Of course you weren’t. 

This became a routine. You would be under the water for barely two minutes, and the baby would start screaming in your room again. It happened a few times, with you going between rooms, before you called it quits, marching down the stairs with a towel on and dripping wet hair, fake baby clutched in your arms possibly a little tighter than a baby should be. 

“Can you please, take this thing for a little? I’m trying to shower and it won’t stop crying.”

Your parents looked amused at your annoyance, but they took it nonetheless. A cranky Y/N was never a fun Y/N to be around. They would know, considering they’d raised you. “Of course. We’d love to spend time with our grandbaby.”

You still despised that they were leaning into it so much. They truly were as bad as Eddie with it all. You handed the baby over to your father, who immediately coddled it with a concerning amount of care. All you could do was roll your eyes and trudge back up the stairs, hearing them coo over the fake baby much too loudly, just to get on your nerves. 

Thankfully, this time around it went smoothly. You managed to take your shower in peace, then do your whole routine afterwards without being disturbed. But after that, you had no choice but to face the music again and take charge of that dumb baby. 

For the rest of the night, it didn’t bother you much (which you would be eternally grateful for). It actually allowed you to get a good night's sleep for a while, a few hours at least, and in the end it wasn’t even the thing that woke you up. 

The sound of the phone ringing was far from a pleasant way to be woken up, especially when it was all so sudden. You had been completely knocked out, wanting to get a full rest so you could go ahead with your plans the following day. It was a Saturday, so you were supposed to be getting up bright and early to hang out with your friends. You’d thought maybe if anything was to keep you up, it would be that damn plastic baby, but no, it was someone deciding to call you at four am. 

The time was actually the only reason you picked it up, just in case it was an emergency or something along those lines. Funnily enough, it wasn’t. Much to your dismay, it was Eddie deciding to be an asshole. “Hello?”

“Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty,” he teased. You groaned, already tempted to hang up so you didn’t have to listen to his idiocy. It was like he could already tell what you were thinking though, and he demanded you didn’t put the phone down, and instead heard him out. “I just wanted to see how Oz is doing.”

There was a long silence following those words that convinced him you either hadn’t heard him, or you’d hung up, but he could still hear your breathing. “Are you kidding me! You woke me up at four am to ask how the fake baby’s, fake doing?”

You heard him huff. “Stop calling him fake, he’ll hear you,” he insisted. 

“Oh my god, Eddie, I’m hanging up.”

“No!” he said. “Hey, if we’re gonna co-parent then we have to communicate!” 

You hated to admit that he was technically right. There was no way you could pass this assignment if you didn’t talk on the regular, at least for these next two weeks. After that you never had to talk again if you didn’t want to, and you probably wouldn’t if you had it your way.

“Not in the middle of the night, Eddie!” 

The yelling made him shy away a little bit. He suddenly went quiet, and you felt a little bad for scolding him like that. But then he opened his mouth again and you felt like you could rush over there and strangle him. The exhaustion was spurring you on. “But is he okay? Can I talk to him?” he questioned.

If he could see the look on your face, he would be surprised an individual could show so much annoyance towards a single human being. “I’m hanging up now,” you told him. 

He tried to protest, but evidently the line went dead very quickly after you uttered those words. His pleas were useless, essentially. 

You’d hoped that was the end of it. As soon as you’d put the phone down, you huffed, then turned over in your bed, pulled your covers up as high as your chin, and closed your eyes again. You planned on going straight back to sleep, so you could be well rested by the time you got up to head out to your plans tomorrow– with enough time to drop the baby off at Eddie’s trailer. But it seemed he had other ideas. 

The phone rang again, much to your dismay. You cursed under your breath, letting out a long breath that was supposed to let out your anger so you didn’t completely explode on him. It didn’t work though.

You raised the phone to your ear, not being nearly as polite this time around. “What do you want!”

He laughed, nervously. “I fear this is a bad time,” he tried to joke. 

You weren’t planning on sitting there at four am and listening to his stupid behaviour. “You’re gonna be the one to wake the baby if you don’t stop. So, Munson, go to sleep and leave me the hell alone, for the love of god.”

»»——⍟——««

The next morning, despite all the mishaps in the night involving your sleep, you were up bright and early. It was practically the crack of dawn, but you still started to get ready for your day. It actually brought on a wonderful plan that you thought would be very enjoyable. If Eddie wanted to dump the baby on you at a time he knew would be inconvenient, you could easily do the same to him. 

After getting ready and leaving your house, you headed for the trailer park, baby under your arm probably looking like a crazy person. Though you wouldn’t have looked out of place in this area of Hawkins all that much. 

You still remembered which trailer he lived in all the way back to when you were a kid, he hadn’t moved since the last time you’d been there. Despite how long ago that was. When you made it up the small porch to the door, you made sure to knock extra harshly. You felt a little bad for whoever else was inside, but they weren’t your concern right now. 

It wasn’t opened straight away. In fact it took another round of loud knocking for someone to slowly open the door and reveal you. Thankfully, the person opening the door was Eddie, just the guy you needed to see. 

“Morning, Munson,” you chirped, looking at the very clearly disheveled man. His hair was a complete mess, unbrushed and all over the place, falling out of the loose bun he’d thrown it in last night. His eyes were barely open, and the sun was clearly blinding him, which he tried to block out with his hand. He was still in pajamas, and your knocking on his door seemed to be the thing that had woken him. “Don’t you look refreshed,” you poked. 

“What are you doing here? It’s so early,” he whined.

You beamed, this was exactly what you’d hoped for. “Here’s your baby. Take care of him today, I know how much you missed him last night.”

He was still out of it as he took the baby that you pushed into his chest. You weren’t planning on saying anything else, just bidding him a goodbye and turning on your heel to leave. That would have been the plan, had you not been caught by his Uncle, the man having wondered who was at the door and talking to the kid so early in the morning. At the sight of the familiar face, though the one he hadn’t seen in years, he greeted you fondly. “Y/N? Hey, how are you? It’s been a while.”

The smile on your face wasn’t a fake one, you didn’t need it to be when it came to Wayne, he was truly a sweetheart, unlike his nephew. He had always been kind to you. “Hi, I’m good. How are you?” 

“Great, actually. ‘M just making breakfast, would you like to join us?”

Both you and Eddie jumped at trying to turn down the offer, the boy insisting you were busy and you saying pretty much the same thing. In reality, you had time to kill before you were due to hang with your friends— the one part of your plan to annoy Eddie that hadn’t been entirely thought through— but you really couldn’t think of anything worse than being forced to sit and eat with the boy you couldn’t stand. “Really, it’s okay.” 

“No, come on in.” The sweet look on his face made you feel like you couldn’t say no, even if you desperately wanted to. “Anything for Eddie’s lady friend.” 

You could hear the boy protesting that nickname to his uncle as you took a step inside, being pointed to the kitchen where breakfast was cooking. Wayne made some quick excuse about how he’d ‘be right back’ and then you and the boy your age were left standing there awkwardly in the room together. 

There were a tense few moments where neither of you really knew what to say. You didn’t want to be rude to the boy in his own home, you’d done a lot of things but that just felt unacceptable to you. And Eddie didn’t really know what he could say that wasn’t overly mean.

You decided to try and break the tension. Just by being polite. “So, uh, you guys do this every single day?” you asked. It seemed a little excessive, the full spread. You couldn’t imagine they managed to eat it all, everyday without fail. Sometimes you barely had enough time to grab toast before you left for school.

His head shook, messy curls moving with him. “No, uh, every Saturday. It’s his only day off, so we usually spend it together.” The confession made your heart sink a little. You were well aware Eddie hadn’t had the greatest home life in the world, and it was just him and his uncle now, So the fact you were dumping this baby on him, on the one day a week they got to spend together, when all you were really doing was going to meet your friends; you felt bad.

“That’s sweet.” 

The awkward silence was back, and it seemed like it was there to stay.

When the older Munson came back you were overjoyed. It felt as though a little bit of that tension slipped away. “Take a seat. You kids dig in. Maybe little Ozzy can even have some too.” 

Your brows raised. “You know its name?” you asked, a little shocked.

The man chuckled, beginning to plate up his food as he motioned for the two of you to do the same. You were a little more hesitant than the boy beside you, all because you weren’t in your own home, but you eventually followed along. “Are you kidding? I’ve seen that baby every day for these same two weeks, for the last three years. I’m very familiar with my fake grandson by now.”

Almost like he knew he was being addressed, the baby began to cry in Eddie’s hold. “Very familiar with that sound too.” 

“So am I after someone dumped him on me yesterday.” Your words were obviously aimed at the curly headed boy, who just glared back at you, mumbling something under his breath like the baby knew he was talking to him. 

Wayne found your bickering entertaining. He thought you were like actual parents, a married couple who loved one another but couldn’t help but argue at every little thing. 

You whined, not liking that none of them were taking you seriously when you said you hadn’t enjoyed taking care of it. “Seriously, it wasn't cool Eddie, I didn’t want that thing last night.”

“Stop calling him a thing! He can hear you,” he insisted. You rolled your eyes, flipping him off when you thought Wayne wasn’t looking. He was though, but he wasn’t going to scold you, he was actually enjoying watching this go down. He had no idea how the two of you had gone from borderline friends as kids, to enemies now, but he was absolutely going to let you know he found it hilarious. You were so much more alike than you realized. 

You were relieved when the baby finally stopped screaming, though you had to admit it was a little entertaining to watch Eddie pretend it was a real baby. He shushed it as he swayed with it in his arms, and he practically cheered silently when it stopped with the ‘tears’. He was taking this whole thing more seriously than you ever would, so you supposed you could thank him for that when you ended up with a good grade. 

“You're good with it,” you commented. The ‘it’ had him glaring at you, but it only made you grin wider. You lived for pissing Eddie off. “Okay, fine. I guess he’s pretty cool.”

“He gets that from his daddy,” he boasted. 

You hated that you laughed. There was no way for you to even cover it up, he’d seen it, and he was going to bathe in the fact you found him funny. If it was anyone else you probably still would have been giggling at the dumb joke, but you were determined to keep up a facade that it was a shitty joke and nothing more– it had just caught you off guard that’s all– or at least that was what you were telling yourself. 

That one moment had seemed to break all the tension that had been lingering since you got there. From that point onwards, the three of you were laughing openly, making jokes left and right that brought the room’s atmosphere up to joyful, rather than distasteful. 

You left the Munson trailer that day with a smile on your face. In a way it felt like you had a different view of Eddie, one that you used to have before highschool hit. You didn’t think of him as quite the same freak as you did when you first saw him this morning. Only, you were going to have to keep that information to yourself if you didn’t want to be ridiculed alongside him. 

Turns out, sharing a breakfast with Eddie Munson really gives you a new outlook on the guy.

»»——⍟——««

Despite being held up at breakfast with the Munsons, you still had an ample amount of time before your plans with your friends. You got to the cafe early, just taking a seat and ordering water for the time being until they arrived. As you thought back to how you spent your morning, you didn’t notice the small smile inching its way onto your face. If you had, you would never have believed you were grinning at the thought of Eddie Munson. 

“What’re you smiling at?” you heard, snapping out of your daze to find Chrissy and Marianne taking a seat each opposite you. It quickly dropped, and a heat found its way to your cheeks. 

Thankfully, you were saved the task of coming up with a lie to tell them, when the bell above the door rang, signaling the rest of your friends bundling through the door, talking loudly as they slotted themselves into any spare seats at the table you’d picked. You were truly saved by the bell. 

After everyone was settled and had ordered their drinks, and the occasional muffin– not that you could eat anymore after the large breakfast you’d consumed– conversation seemed to take a turn and point directly to you. You didn’t love being the topic of said conversation, especially not when they were using it to bitch about people, but there wasn’t much you could do when it was seven to one. “So, Y/N, how’s it going with Mr Freak?”

At first you were unsure what she meant, still coming down from the high of the morning, but then it clicked. “Eddie?” you asked. She nodded, though pulled a face at the sound of his name. “It’s uh, it’s alright, I guess.”

They laughed. “Alright? You’re not actually starting to like that freak are you?” It’d probably be the funniest thing in the world to them if you admitted that you started liking Eddie Munson. He was less than worthy of being friends with one of Hawkins cheerleaders, and they made that fact known every time they saw him. “You’re not gonna be the next social pariah, are you?”

You forced a laugh. “No, god no. That freak? I just meant… he’s not tried to make me an unbearable, weird nerd yet. He’s kept that to himself.” He had actually kept all the nerdy stuff from you, but that was because you hadn’t asked anything about it. You just didn’t have much of the heart to say anything else about him that was meaner. 

There was a chorus of giggles, followed by your ‘friends’ delving into a round of mocking Eddie relentlessly. They didn’t hold back, and usually neither would you, but it didn’t feel right now. There was something in your gut that was telling you it wasn’t right to make fun of him, not when he wasn’t even that bad. 

It was now when you realized that your friends were the entire reason you stopped liking Eddie in the first place. There wasn’t exactly a better reason than that. They’d just been a huge influence, when they maybe shouldn’t have been. But now was too late to take back everything you’d ever said and done. 

Maybe now you could change though. Sure you couldn’t take it back, but you could try and make up for it all. Prove you were better.  

»»——⍟——««

The first health class after you were handed the babies, was more to check on your progress than teach you anything. Until your names were called for you to go up and talk to your teacher, you and Eddie just sat there, talking while you waited. 

The more the two of you talked to one another, the better you began to get along with him. He wasn’t as bad as you’d tried to make him out these past few years, and the same could be said on his behalf for you. But just because you didn’t think he was so bad after all, didn’t mean that your friends didn’t still hold their grudges against him. Conversation was about your interests, though you didn’t have that much in common, but you at least tried to seem interested. 

“So, cheerleading… that seems fun.”

It was the only thing he could think of, and it made you chuckle. It was clear he had absolutely no interest in your hobby. “It is fun, I enjoy it. It’s exercise I guess, though maybe the people could be better,” you commented. 

He scoffed. “You think?” He was obviously being sarcastic. You both knew you could do with better friends, but there weren’t many great options in Hawkins. It just so happened that you might have picked some of the worst ones. 

“I know they’re, well, horrible, but they can be okay sometimes.” It was the truth. When you were alone with some of them, they could be the greatest friends you ever had. It was when they were in a group that they seemed to change– they obviously felt like they needed to impress everywhere by being cool and mean. “Some of them value popularity too much, I think. Other than that, they can be sweet.”

He didn’t entirely believe that, he thought some of them were just the mean girls at heart that they acted like. But he wasn’t going to argue with you on it. You changed the topic for him anyway. 

“Uh, so, you’re in a band right? Corroded coffin. What’s that like?”

He couldn’t believe you even knew the name, he didn’t actually know how you knew it, but he wasn’t going to question it. He liked the fact that you’d remembered that small detail about him– and that you weren’t mocking him for it like your friends would do. It was a positive change. 

“Amazing actually, I love it. You should come see us play at the hideout sometime.”

You thought about it briefly. “Maybe I will. I’m sure you guys are great.”

It was actually easier than you expected to find a common interest. You didn’t think you would at first, but then the address of his band reminded him of something you said a few days ago. “You knew Ozzy. Is the princess cheerleader secretly a metal fan?”

It was a well kept secret, though you never thought it needed to be a secret in the first place. You thought it was beyond weird to have to keep your music taste unknown, but your friends were odd in that way. If they knew the sort of bands you liked, they would probably isolate you quicker than they had Eddie when they first started high school. 

“You could say that, but I can’t say I’m that big of an Ozzy fan.”

His jaw dropped, like you’d just said the most despicable thing he’d ever heard. “What? He’s part of, like, the greatest band ever. Even better than Metallica.”

Now was your turn to be hit with the repulsion. “No way. Metallica are so much better than Black Sabbath!” you argued. His face twisted into one of disgust. Right then and there, he could’ve claimed you were just as bad as all the others. Though he would only be joking this time. 

“I love them both, but you’re crazy.”

There was a tap on your shoulder that pulled you out of your heated debate with Eddie. You turned to see one of the basketball players you didn’t really know, holding out a folded slip of paper towards you. He edged it closer to you, and you took it with a tight lipped smile. Those players could be so awkward at times, he could have told you who wrote it, at the minimum. 

You found the note was from Chrissy, who was extremely curious as to why you seemed to be getting along so well with Freak Munson. Your eyes searched the room for her as your heart slowly sank into your stomach. No longer did you feel the easy feeling you had when you and Eddie were talking, she’d spoiled that atmosphere. When you locked eyes with her across the room, she furrowed her brows, nodding her head slightly in the direction of the boy next to you. You just shrugged, growing sheepish. 

Eddie, although curious as to who was sending you notes, didn’t ask, nor did he notice the sudden change in behavior when you turned your attention back to him. 

There wasn’t exactly much time for him to figure it out considering Ozzy began to cry. It was like perfect timing. The boy aimed to make some sort of joke about whose parent's responsibility it should be to stop the crying, but you weren’t laughing by the time it left his lips. “The better parents got this,” he teased. All eyes were on the two of you and you just wanted it to stop. 

“Uh, you do it. I’m gonna run to the bathroom.”

To say the two of you had just been bonding five minutes ago, he didn’t know where the sudden coldness in attitude had come from. He had expected you to jokingly contradict his teasing. He didn’t have time to ask, you were gone before he could even pick up the baby. “Okay… Looks like I’m doing it then.”

»»——⍟——««

The Munson boy didn’t see you again until later that day, like after the final bell had rang, signaling for everyone to go home. He managed to catch you before you got into your car, offering you a shy smile. He was unaware if he’d been the cause of the energy change earlier, so he was a little timid when approaching you. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to take care of him together for a little while. We’ve probably got more hope of passing if we do it together.”

You didn’t know if that was true, considering you’d done most of the project already in individual shifts, never actually together aside from the time you shared breakfast with him. It did make sense though, so surely there could be no harm in agreeing to it. “Yeah, um, come over in an hour?” you suggested, earning a nod. “You remember where I live right?”

There was another nod and a promise to be there near enough on time. He took off afterwards, with Ozzy held under his arm securely as he jogged back to his van. There was a faint smile on your face as you watched him go, but it quickly faded when you noticed the cluster of judgemental stares just a short distance away. You hadn’t even known your friends were there, but you didn’t plan on hanging around to find out what they had to say about the interaction you just had. 

Once inside your car, you let out a deep sigh, hating that it felt like you were living some sort of double life. You wanted to be kind to Eddie, even if it was just for as long as this project lasted, but he was actually funny, and sweet, and you didn’t have to try to like him. Your friends on the other hand… well that was a different story. You thought they needed to give him a chance, though they probably never would. 

“Way to go, Y/N. Picking the most accommodating friends possible,” you grumbled. 

The drive to your home was silent, filled with the thoughts of how you were supposed to win in this scenario. How did you stay friends with Eddie, and your cheerleading buddies all at once. And even as you pulled into your driveway, you still didn’t have an answer.

You headed into your home, stumbling across your mom in the kitchen, knowing you needed to tell her about your plans. “A friend’s gonna come over to study in a little bit. Is that okay?” you asked. She looked unsure, but that was primarily because she wasn’t a huge fan of your friends. You knew once she found out it was Eddie, she’d be all over the idea. “It’s Eddie,” you sighed. 

Her entire face lit up. “Oh, that’s great! I can’t wait.”

“Try to keep the excitement to a minimum. We don’t want to scare him away,” you teased.

There was a knock on your door not that much later. You’d been putting chips into a bowl for a snack, but you paused to go and answer the door, letting the boy follow you inside after a quick greeting. 

“Want anything? Chips?” you offered, holding the bowl out to him. Ozzy was in one hand, but with the other he took a greedy handful, winking at you when you scoffed and pulled the bowl away. You hadn’t intended for him to have so many, but now like half of your snack was gone. He was just proving that he had, very literally, not changed since he was a small child. 

You were planning to take off upstairs when your mother caught you. 

“Eddie, oh hello!” your mother greeted, pulling the boy into a tight hug he couldn’t escape from. It would have been funny– the look on his face– had it not meant that your mother had decided she loved the boy like her own son. She wasn’t supposed to be so accepting of him already, you were still trying to wrap your head around the fact you didn’t hate him. 

The woman was practically suffocating the poor boy, so of course you had to step in and save him. “Okay, mom, let him breathe.”

You guided him away from her, allowing him a moment of peace. He liked the affection though, he didn’t tend to get all that much. If your mother wanted to dote on him, he was happy to let her, even if it made you a little disgruntled. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m just so happy that Y/N finally has a friend over.”

Your brows furrowed, eyes narrowing as they looked in her direction. “I have friends over all the time,” you pointed out. And you did, your house was like the main hangout spot, and your mother was almost always there when they did come over. You had no idea what she was talking about. 

“None that I like,” she muttered, hoping it wouldn’t offend you too much. If you were being honest, it wasn’t a big surprise at all. In fact, it was always a bigger surprise when someone did like them. You could hear Eddie chuckling quietly, and you gave him a swift elbow to the rib, which earned a groan of pain. Neither of you were planning to address that your mom had referred to Eddie as a friend. 

“Well, before you decide you hate anymore of my peers, we’re gonna go to my room and take little Oz with us.” You took the plastic baby from the boy, pressing a dramatic kiss to its head as you began to lead the way out of the kitchen and to the upstairs. 

The Munson boy offered your mother a polite smile, though he was amused that you were finally accepting Ozzy in the way that he did. After that tiny interaction, he turned and followed you blindly, like a little lost puppy. It would’ve been charming if he didn’t keep tripping over his feet– courtesy of him not looking where he was going, which he probably should have known was really dumb. 

You laughed at him more than once, and if you caught him on a good day he might admit that your laugh made him feel some kind of way. But as for now, he’d keep that information to himself. 

The few hours together in your room were spent with Eddie putting off study, taking care of Ozzy and the occasional burst of conversation when the boy couldn’t keep a random thought to himself. It continued throughout the entire time he was there, but by the end of it, you were much more happy to entertain him.  

“You know what,” he began, head dangling over the edge of your bed, eyes focused on where you were sitting on the floor of your room. Your eyes were drawn from your textbook to his face, and the sight of him so comfortable in your room brought a smile to your face. “I’m really glad we got partnered for this project. I’ve missed talking to you.”

It wasn’t what you were expecting him to say, it’s probably the most vulnerable he’s been with you. “I think I have too.” 

You watched as he climbed off of your bed, moving to sit beside you on the floor, he did it under the guise that he’d help you with your studying, but considering he was a three time repeat senior, you didn’t know how much help he could really offer. He’d probably end up just sitting there and bothering you the whole time. It was very Eddie of him.

That was exactly what he did. Every time you tried to turn a page, or scribble something down, he was there to try and mess something up. Whether it was poking your cheek or tugging on a strand of your hair. He was always there. 

“I swear to god, Munson. I’ll kick you out if you don’t get your hands off of me.”

He chuckled, placing his hands in his lap to show you he wouldn’t bother you anymore. That didn’t last long though, not when he then kicked his foot against your leg. You groaned, dropping your pencil and shooting him a heavy glare. “You’re so annoying,” you whined. 

You didn’t realize how close the two of you had gotten amidst all the teasing, but now it was all you could focus on. If he inched forward only slightly, you were positive your lips would touch. And you hadn’t yet decided if you’d mind. You didn’t get to though, because before you could edge close enough to actually share a kiss, there was an interruption.

“Eddie! Your uncles on the phone,” your mom called. 

The yell snapped you both out of the situation you had found yourselves in. Your cheeks grew hot, and you could see the way his tinted a light shade of pink. The two of you had almost kissed, and you had no idea how you had let that happen. “I should, uh, go see what that’s about. He probably wants me home.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck nervously, eyes looking anywhere but at you so you didn’t have to face what you’d just almost done. It was something that was going to be put to the back of your mind so you didn’t have to deal with it anytime soon. 

“Yeah, yeah, go.”

You smiled at him as he got up to his feet, grabbing his stuff and rushing to the ajar door of your room. “Do you want to keep Ozzy tonight?” he asked. 

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

And with that he left, offering you a small smile that seemed a little forced, before taking off. You let out a breath when he was finally out of sight, letting your body relax. You hadn’t even realized how tense you’d been before. Eddie Munson was doing weird things to you, and you didn’t know he had the power. But, you seriously needed to figure out how to put a stop to it before it got bad. 

»»——⍟——««

Halfway into the second week of the project, when the big test you’d been studying for was approaching, you felt like you were on the very edge of sanity. You were so close to tripping over to insane. 

You’d thought the almost kiss would have made things weird with Eddie, but it actually just made you closer. You had graciously offered to take Ozzy for the night, considering Eddie had told you he had a gig at the hideout. You were just trying to make things easier for him to handle, but now you were beginning to seriously regret being so kind. The screaming while you were trying to study was sending you crazy. You were desperate for the baby to be quiet, but it seemed like all it wanted to do was ruin your night. 

At first you tried sucking it up, but then everything started to pile up and you were positive you were going to scream if you didn’t solve the problem. So although you tried to put it off for as long as physically possible, eventually you just couldn’t, you had to give in and call him. 

You had no idea how far into the set he must be, or if he’d even be able to answer the call, but you were seriously begging that there would be a miracle or something and he would. You stood there by the phone like an idiot, twirling the cord around your finger to try and soothe your nerves as it rang. You were so terrified he wouldn’t be able to come to the phone, and really you didn’t know what would happen if he didn’t.  

It took a few rings, so many that you thought it wasn’t going to be picked up, but at the possible last minute, a rough voice came down the receiver. “Hideout,” the unknown man said simply. 

“Hi, um–” It was like all legible thoughts left your brain. You had no idea how to describe Eddie to the man that might not even know him. “I’m looking for Eddie. H-He’s in the band that’s playing.” You could hear the music over the phone, and it was loud, your only sign that the band was in fact still performing. It made you feel even worse. 

“Munson?” he asked. He obviously knew him very well. 

“Yeah, yeah. Munson.”

He told you to hold on, then must have taken off, because all you heard was more or less silence and the faint sound of the band. It did suddenly stop, and it brought the tears from earlier back to your eyes as the guilt set into your stomach. You had a fear that he was going to be so mad at you, and you didn’t think you could take that. 

“Hello?” He sounded confused. You supposed being told to stop your set and answer the phone to some random girl didn’t really give someone a lot of context. He probably even considered not bothering at all, but now here he was. 

“Eddie? It’s me,” you said. You really hoped he would recognize your voice just from that. He did, your voice practically played on repeat in his head all day everyday. 

You could physically hear the confusion twist into concern when he next spoke. Getting a call at the bar he hung out was arguably the biggest red flag ever that something was wrong. “Y/N? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked. All the questions came at once, questions to you, ones he needed himself answering. There were a lot. 

“I’m– I don’t want to ruin your night, but I really need your help.”

Those words didn’t instill him with the confidence that you were okay. If anything it made him more bothered that he wasn’t already by your side. If he could solve your problem, then he definitely would, but he was still yet to learn what it was. “Okay, um, where are you?”

“At home. I-I’m not in danger or anything, just need some help.” Even if you weren’t in immediate danger, he could tell you were on the verge of tears, or already in tears, just from how your voice shook with your words when you spoke. “I- It’s probably stupid, and I’m dragging you away from your fun. I’m sorry, Eddie.”

“Hey, no worries,” he assured. His voice sounded so kind that you wanted to cry all over again. It was becoming a very familiar feeling this evening. “I’ll be right over. Give me, like, twenty minutes and I’m yours.”

Your thank you was barely loud enough to be heard, but he caught it just before he hung up. He hadn’t thought his night would end so early, it usually didn’t when he was performing with Corroded Coffin, even if it was a school day, but he was happy to cut it short if you needed his help, and you seriously sounded like you needed his help. 

He was even quicker than he said, which told you he’d been speeding. Usually you’d chastise him for being so unsafe, but you didn’t have the energy this time around. 

By the time he knocked on the door, you were so exhausted from your own emotions that the words just fell out. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” you began to furiously mutter as he stepped through your door. He had barely even gotten a foot through before the words started spewing out of your mouth. He hadn’t yet been able to tell you that it was okay. “I know you were busy and I really didn’t want to call, but I–”

He shushed you, shaking his head. He could hear Ozzy’s screams from somewhere in the house, but they sounded muffled, like you’d tried to hide it or something. Usually it would’ve made him laugh, but he didn’t think now was the time. “It’s okay. We were about finished anyway,” he promised. It was a lie, there was actually a while left in their show, but they could play without him. Plus it wasn’t like many people would miss him, there were only around four people in the audience. You didn’t need to know any of that though. “Tell me what’s going on.”

You’d never seen him so caring and concerned, but it was a nice change. “I– I have to study, and I don’t get half the stuff i’m supposed to a-and I can’t get the dumb baby to stop crying,” you whined, the tears spilling over your cheeks as all your problems came back to the surface of your mind. “I just… I’m overwhelmed,” you concluded. 

He frowned, though in true Eddie fashion, he couldn’t resist cracking a joke that he hoped would make you feel better. “You know, you really shouldn’t talk about our child like that.”

You rolled your eyes, but nevertheless still chuckled a little bit at the comment. It wasn’t enough to completely cure your sadness, but it helped. “Shut up and please make it stop,” you begged, eyes pleading with him desperately. 

He didn’t need to be asked a second time. As those words left your mouth, he took off, heading in some random direction in the hopes that he might find where you’d hidden the baby. It didn’t occur to him until after a while that he could have just asked you where it was. So he headed back to where you were standing, still in the same position looking as sad as you were before. “Where exactly is our child?”

The fact he referred to Oz that way made you smile a little. “Uh, he’s in my closet, under a few blankets and pillows and stuff,” you said shyly. It made him cackle that you’d gone to such an extent, and it was probably the exact opposite of what your assignment said you were supposed to do. This was more like what Eddie thought being your partner would be like. 

“You’re so amazing, sweetheart.”

The pet name made you flush. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he could feel it from all the way over where he was standing. It slipped out so casually, and you weren’t even sure he had noticed it, but it made your stomach flutter. Little did you know, he had noticed. He hadn’t meant for it to come out, it’d be something he’d been calling you in his head, never with the intention for it to be spoken allowed, but now he was freaking out. He just hoped you hadn’t found it too weird. 

Thankfully, he wasn’t to notice any embarrassment on your face, he had already turned away in his own humiliation before he could see yours. 

He scurried away to your room, already knowing the path from his visit the other day. You left him to it for a little while, needing a moment to breathe and clear your head before you joined him. You also needed to know that the crying had stopped before you headed up the stairs, just so you didn’t explode. 

You thought ten minutes was a good amount of time. And you’d been right. When you ascended the stairs, moving down the hall to your bedroom, he was standing inside, Ozzy in his arms as he swayed a little from side to side. It was a cute sight, and it further solidified your idea that with all this practice Eddie would surely end up being an incredible dad. 

“How do you do it?” you asked, sounding more than amazed at his abilities. He scoffed, downplaying his talents. There was no way you were going to allow that though. “Seriously, Ed. He was screaming for like three hours before you showed up.”

You watched him wince, which didn’t look like a good sign of something. You had no idea what that something was though. “What?” you quizzed. 

“That’s gonna really mess up our grade,” he teased. 

You scoffed, slapping your hand against his chest. He laughed loudly, setting the now calmed baby on your bed somewhere. Your attention wasn’t on that though, you were much more focused on the boy himself. 

It felt like he was a miracle worker. You hadn’t ever looked at the Munson boy like you did now, like he was some sort of guardian angel sent down to you. Maybe your thoughts were clouded, maybe you weren’t thinking straight, but he had never seemed more attractive than right now. 

He must have noticed a sudden shift in the atmosphere too, because there was a glaze that came over his eyes when he looked at you. You couldn’t begin to explain, but you weren’t going to try to. 

There was a weird sort of magnetism that suddenly appeared between the two of you. You felt yourself edging closer to him, and you from two weeks ago would probably have recoiled in disgust, but you were the one leaning into it most right now. So much could change in such a short time and it shocked you to think about it really. You wouldn’t change it for the world though, even if you were given the choice to. 

Eddie must have been feeling the same way. His hands lifted from his sides, settling on your face so he was practically cradling it. It was the most loved you’d felt in a while, and you really hoped he felt the same way about it. 

His touch on your cheeks made your heart pound in your chest. Your breathing was noticeably heavier, though you really hoped he didn’t notice your nerves. You’d be mortified if he knew how tense you were right now. “Y/N…” he whispered. His thumb was stroking over your cheek, which could definitely feel the heat on your face. 

“Just kiss me,” you hissed. 

As soon as he heard those words, sort of his confirmation that this was okay, he was lunging forward. You had zero idea how it had happened. To say you hated the guy such a short time ago, you were pretty much solidifying your changed feelings for him now. He was gentle with it, though you could tell he was holding back, whether that was for your sake or his. You would have been perfectly happy for him to kiss you with vigor though.

Your hands got tangled in his hair, and although he would usually hiss at the terrible pain that shot through his scalp, he found he didn’t mind it so much when it was you. He never thought the day would come when he was in this position, but here he was, a prime example that wishes do in fact come true. 

You were first to pull away, but not because you particularly wanted to, just because you needed to breathe. You couldn’t imagine passing out from lack of air while kissing Eddie was going to do well for any potential relationship. 

“Wow,” he whispered. You chuckled nervously, though you really hoped he didn’t mistake those nerves for disgust or disappointment or anything. He didn’t. He just no longer knew what exactly to say to you. You were the same way, feeling like a shy school girl all of a sudden. Never had you kissed someone and wound up with that reaction afterwards. Eddie was just… different. 

“Yeah,” you sighed, dreamily. 

There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before he spoke up. “I’ll take this rascal for the night. Let you have a nice break.” You were happy to have him take the plastic toy, wanting it as far away from you as possible for the night. A peaceful sleep was all you could ask for. With each word he edged a little closer to your front door, though really he didn’t want to leave. If he could stay with you, especially after that kiss, he would jump at the opportunity. “Goodnight Y/N. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” You watched as he descended down your yard to his van, which you noted was parked hastily half on and off the curb. It made you chuckle, but you also found it sweet that he’d been in such a rush to get to you. At that realization, that he’d cared so much that he probably broke multiple driving laws, you couldn’t let him leave so easily.

“Eddie?” you called. He stopped walking, turning on his heel to look at you. He hadn’t expected you to jog up to him, but within seconds you were standing in front of him, grinning widely. It was the happiest he assumed you’d been all night, and he was glad he could be the cause. You didn’t say anything else, just pressed a sweet, quick kiss to his lips. A goodnight kiss you would have called it. “Thank you.”

He was blushing like crazy when you pulled away, and although this was now officially the second time he’d kissed you, it had caused him to be a stuttering mess. “It’s no p-problem.”

»»——⍟——««

The whole night you were thinking about that kiss with Eddie. Your dreams were filled with the way his hands caressed your face, how soft his lips felt against yours. You were still actually rather surprised how soft his lips had been. You woke up the next morning with that same dumb smile on your face that you’d fallen asleep with. 

You almost couldn’t wait to see him when you woke up. Getting ready consisted of you practically bouncing all over the place with your excitement. It just couldn’t be contained. However, you didn’t have the pleasure of catching him before class. He was nowhere to be seen. Eddie wasn’t exactly Mr Punctual, so you suspected he would arrive much later than he should. You would just have to deal with seeing him when he finally showed up. 

You thought you’d seen his van in the parking lot, but considering there was no sign of him inside, you assumed it was just a similar model or something that you mistook for his. You hated to admit that it made you a little disappointed. 

But, you trudged inside anyway, and found some way to busy yourself while you waited for your class to start. It just so happened though, that it looked like you were going to have to entertain your friends. Although you tried to avoid them, keeping your head down while at your locker, hoping they could just walk past and miss you, they spotted you right away. Maybe it was the bright cheerleader uniform that gave you away. “Y/N!” one of them called in a high pitched, grating voice. 

You looked over your shoulder with a faked smile. “Hey,” you greeted. 

“Feels like we haven’t seen you in forever. You haven’t abandoned us for Munson have you?” Chelsea chuckled. To her that was probably the funniest mental image in the world, but you just had to hold back from rolling your eyes. 

“Can’t have our girl with that freak. Sort of ruins our reputation.”

You frowned. “Stop,” you whined, before you could really tell yourself to shut up. It felt wrong to be letting them speak about him like this. If he was here now he would probably be devastated too. He might not always show that the stuff people say about him gets him, but you’ve started to notice he takes stuff to heart just like anyone else. You’d noticed in conversations with him recently that he was pretty self-deprecating at times, but the stuff he said was stuff you’d known your friends to yell at him. It made your stomach sink each time. 

Little did you know, out of the corner of her eye Chelsea had seen the mane of curly hair coming out of a nearby classroom. It was the same one he held his club in, and in tow was one of his younger friends who frequented Hellfire. “Oh, come on. Are you really going soft for that loser? What happened to the girl who used to despise him more than we do?”

It was in that moment where you felt painfully pressured to join in. You wished you had the strength to walk away, tell them no or stick up for him. Any of those things would have been a billion times better than giving into what they wanted and being horrible. “I’m obviously only using that freak for the grade. He just started getting clingy, can’t take a hint apparently,” you laughed. 

They had somehow timed it just right, so Eddie walked by just as the laugh tumbled out of your mouth. It felt like someone had just staked him in the heart, and he had no idea how he was supposed to react. Although the pain was only emotional, it really did feel physical for a while. He could’ve sworn his heart was cracking in his chest. Dustin saw the previous joyful expression on his face drop.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” the kid suggested. He didn’t think his friend needed to be subjected to anymore of this cruelty. 

He wouldn’t budge though, he was still standing there. He needed you to see the pain you were causing him, how you’d made him feel in the hopes it would drown you in guilt– if you could even experience such an emotion. “I didn’t know you were so shallow,” he called. It was clear to him that this was the first time you were realizing he was there. There was a fear slipping into your eyes, and you resembled something like a deer caught in headlights. “Glad to know what you really think of me.”

“Eddie–”

“No. No, I wouldn’t want to take up anymore of the princess’ time. I’m clearly not worthy.” He turned on his heel and began walking the other way. There wasn’t even anything down there that he needed, but he just knew he couldn’t face walking past you like that. Dustin followed, shooting you a harsh glare over his shoulder for hurting his friend. For the last couple days, due to all of Eddie’s girly ramblings about you, he assumed you’d changed, but now here you were proving that idea wrong. He couldn’t even imagine how truly crushed his friend was, or how pissed he was, considering Dustin himself was pretty damn pissed. 

The look of betrayal on his face hurt more than words could explain. The guilt was multiplied by at least a million. You knew you shouldn’t have said anything, you didn’t even know why you opened your big mouth to say something in the first place. It was dumb, painfully so, and it was going to take a lot to try and make up for this. And it was going to have to start with you rethinking who your friends were. You couldn’t claim to have a crush on a guy if you surround yourself with all these people who openly mock him, and you didn’t even come to his defense. 

“Excuse me,” you muttered quietly, pushing your way through the group of girls who didn’t even hear you, just so you could follow after him in the direction he took off. They didn’t know where you were going, but even if they were curious, you wouldn’t care to explain to them. You didn’t need to justify having to swallow your pride in order to talk to a guy they thought was a social reject. 

You had to chase after him like a scolded puppy, calling his name more than once. All eyes were on the two of you as you walked the maze that was the halls of the school. If he finally did give you the time of day to talk to him, you knew there was no way you could do it in front of all these people. They didn’t need to hear it. 

“Eddie, please, just give me two minutes,” you begged. The way you pleaded with him seemed to get through to him for a minute. He paused, despite Dustin’s insistence that he shouldn’t give you the time. 

He was whispering something to the kid that you couldn’t hear, but it must have been something along the lines of him giving the two of you some time. Henderson made it known how angry he was when he walked past you, glaring so harshly that you thought his look would kill you if it could. You couldn’t do anything but look away from him in discomfort, he was proud of himself at the fact he’d made you squirm. 

As soon as Dustin was gone, you took that as your sign to get started. “I’m-I’m sorry,” you began. You heard him scoff, but you also couldn’t blame him for that, that was in fact an incredibly lame ass apology. You just didn’t know what else you were supposed to say to him. 

“You’re sorry? Is that all you have to say for yourself?” People seemed to think it was exciting to watch you get yelled at by the resident freak of Hawkins. Eddie notably didn’t like jocks, and they’d seen him start arguments with Jason on more occasions that they could count, but never once had he gone for a cheerleader like this. It was like a once in a lifetime thing. 

Your eyes were growing teary. You knew it was pathetic to try and cry in the hopes it would make him kinder. It was completely unfair actually, but you weren’t sure what else to do. “I-I don’t know what to do. What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything.”

He huffed. “You want to do something for me?” It was more of a rhetorical question but you nodded after it nonetheless. “Leave me alone. Go back to your great life, and your perfect little friends, and stay away from me,” he hissed. 

He hated the look that crossed your face, but he hated even more that he was so upset by it. Why did you still have control over his heart when you’d been the one to rip it out of his chest in the first place? It wasn’t like he had done anything to deserve it. “Is that really what you want?” Your voice was so quiet that he almost didn’t hear it, and he wished he hadn’t because that sentence was truly the final thing that solidified the crack that ran down the middle of his heart. His answer to this was going to finish the both of you. 

He didn’t want to say yes. No matter how much his brain screamed at him to tell you no, he couldn’t listen to it. “Yes.”

You inhaled shakily, visibly holding back tears that his words had brought to your eyes for the second time. You wished you had just never opened your mouth, then you really wouldn’t have been in this situation. “Right. Okay.” If you could have just left it at that, the two of you might have ended on the slightest of better terms, but you just had to open your mouth again. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? I-I don’t think you realize how serious I am when I say I’ll do anything.”

It looked as though he might have considered it for a second or two, but ultimately he decided against it. “I have to get to class,” he muttered, attempting to walk past you. 

Your hand wrapped around his bicep though, a small smile crossing your face. “Since when have you ever been on time for class, Munson?” you tried to joke. He didn’t seem to think it was funny, trying to brush you off of him. It only served to make you more sad if anything. You frowned as you removed your hand from him like he wanted you to. “Sorry,” you muttered. 

It was painfully awkward. You tried to offer something that would make him feel better, a kind act that was meant to try and get you back on his good side. “I, uh, I can take Ozzy for the day, and night, if you want.”

He had forgotten that the baby was still in his grasp, probably much too tightly considering the anger in his body right now. But he didn’t care about that so much. Now that his attention was drawn back to it though, he realized how much he didn’t want to spend the rest of this project trying to act civil with you. “Forget it. I’ll finish the project on my own, that way you can go back to being Hawkin’s perfect, princess cheerleader sooner.” It stung a little, but you supposed you’d earned it. 

He was completely avoiding your gaze, and you wished you could have said you blamed him. “Eddie…” Your voice was so weak that it almost convinced him, but he was determined to be stronger than that. He wasn’t going to give in to you just because he felt bad, you had made him feel so much worse than you were feeling right now, you deserved to feel like this. He didn’t even look at you as he walked away. 

If you didn’t have a class that you needed to get to ASAP, you could have potentially broken down into tears right there. You felt horrible, in a way you’d never felt before, and the guilt was already eating you alive. 

»»——⍟——««

It had been days since Eddie last spoke to you, and you felt like you were having withdrawals. Your original plan was to essentially never speak to him again after your project was over, but now you actually found yourself missing him and his shitty jokes. It was incredible to you how close you could get to someone in less than two weeks when doing such an involved assignment together. In any other situation, Eddie probably would have made a joke about how Ozzy now had to suffer with divorced parents, but that was missing too. There was a lot less humor in your days.

It wasn’t like you hadn’t tried, you had attempted many times to talk to him, but he didn’t want to hear it each and every time. He wouldn’t say anything to tell you to go away, he just ignored you. He actually wouldn’t even look at you. It made the class you were partnered together for painfully awkward. 

“Hey, Eddie,” you greeted, wringing your hands together nervously. He didn’t look up from where he was scribbling in his notebook. He never actually did work in this class, you knew that much, so you knew he wasn’t planning on starting now. You didn’t let him tell you you couldn’t sit beside him, you just sat down. You did hear him grumble about it though. “How’s it been going with Oz?” 

Before all this happened, he would have been over the moon that you were referring to Ozzy with a nickname, rather than calling him an ‘it’ still. Now though, he hadn’t even allowed you to take him for any period of time– not the days you were scheduled for, or the nights– he’d been doing it all. You knew he must have been exhausted, and you wished he would just ask for your help. You never thought you would be willing to care for a fake baby that just screams all the time, but now here you are. 

He didn’t answer you, which had you sinking down into your seat more. You were embarrassed. “Miss Y/L/N, is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

You had been so caught up in Eddie that you didn't even realize the class had begun. Now all eyes were on you, Chrissy and the other jocks snickering in their seats at the expression on your face. You had gone from a kicked puppy to sheepish. 

Your voice was quiet when you spoke. “No, sir. Sorry.” The man had noticed you looked a little more down today, and he put the pieces together and assumed it was something to do with Munson. He didn’t know what teenage relationship bullshit was going on, and he absolutely didn’t want to get into it, but he would step in if he thought it would affect your grade. For the most part he knew it would be fine, considering Eddie was always good with this assignment, but he would intervene if he had to. 

He nodded. “Alright, then. So today’s task requires communication. I’m expecting you and your partner to consider the financial responsibilities of having a kid. Are they going to college? How are you going to save that kind of money? It’s vital that you talk about this.”

The gesture made you smile at Mr G, grateful that he’d picked up on the fact you were trying to right a wrong and given you this opportunity. He flashed you a smile, one that he knew you’d recognise as being for you. Even if he was annoyed previously that you’d been talking when he was trying to conduct his lesson, he still had some decency to try and help. You didn’t talk again until he set you off on your tasks, giving you all the okay. 

“So, dad, you emotionally ready to plan for Oz to go off to college? Won’t be too sad watching him go?” When he didn’t respond you tried to crack a joke, hoping you could earn a smile or something at the least. “They grow up so fast don’t they?”

You watched as the metalhead’s hand shot up in the air. It took barely a minute for your teacher to recognize it, nodding his direction. “Can I go to the bathroom?” You visibly deflated, but it wasn’t like the older man could tell him no if he wanted to. 

“Sure.”

From there you were left sitting by yourself, taking Ozzy from Eddie’s desk and playing with the dolls hands for something to do. Your teacher felt pity for you, even if he didn’t know the full story of what was going on– he did have some idea considering gossip spread like a wildfire in high school— but he usually stayed out of it. Right now there was nothing he could do, so it seemed, that would help.

After failing to have Eddie actually speak to you directly, even at the instruction of your teacher, you thought your only other option was to approach his friends. 

You took your chances when you couldn’t see him at the lunch table. Him and his friends sat at the same one every day, so you knew where to look, but you had to wait for an opportunity when he wasn’t there. That wasn’t often. It took a lot of waiting, and glances over your shoulder that probably made you look pretty obsessive. But eventually, you watched as he left the cafeteria for some reason, giving you the perfect chance to head over to the table to talk. 

“Uh, hi,” you greeted, coming to a stop at the end of the table. They all turned to look at you. Some looked confused, others looked annoyed, and one of them, Jeff you thought his name was, seemed like he was prepared to greet you. That was until Dustin nudged him and shook his head. Though he was one of the youngest sitting there, it very much appeared like he was sort of running the show. The distaste within them all at the sight of you made you even more uncomfortable than you already were upon approach. “Looks like he’s told you guys then. But I just, I want to apologize, please.”

Your eyes were pleading with anyone of them that would look at you, but it seemed like none of them wanted to hear it. “Dustin,” you called. “If anyone could convince him to give me another shot, it’s you. Please.” Everyone had turned to him now, to try and gauge what he was thinking of doing. 

There must’ve been something about you that changed your tune since the last time you held an interaction with the younger boy. Whether that was your eyes, what you were asking him, or maybe he just realized you were serious about this. He thought a lot of things about the cheerleaders within this high school, but he didn’t think a single one of them would go to these kinds of lengths to embarrass someone they saw as even less than beneath them. 

It was probably that which gave him the confidence you were genuine. He cared about Eddie, and if he thought there was even a slight risk being posed to his friend, he wouldn’t go through with what you were asking of him. “Well, he’d totally not love it if you dropped those friends of yours, and he’d probably not love it if you made some sort of grand gesture to show him you were serious,” he said, raising his eyebrows and flashing you an awful attempt at a subtle wink when he spoke. 

It took you a second or two to catch on, but when you managed it was like a light bulb went off in your head. Everyone at the table, despite the fact they were still confused, saw the way in which your eyes lit up, a gasp tumbling past your lips. You placed your hands on Dustin’s shoulders, kissing his cheek gratefully, ignoring the way he blushed brightly. “You’re a lifesaver.”

With that you scurried away, bidding the table a few half-hearted goodbyes. You had a plan to concoct, so there wasn’t really any time for you to waste. You needed to find a quiet place as soon as possible where you could sit and brainstorm what this big grand idea might be. That place happened to be the library, which was basically empty considering it was lunch time. It was perfect. 

The dropping your friends part would be easy, you could say one wrong thing and you would be dead to them in seconds. So, as long as you said something about Eddie’s good nature, it would be fine. As for a gesture that would change his mind about his feelings towards you, that would be a little more difficult. Eddie was already quite the extravagant guy, so you thought it would be difficult to do something that would impress him. But you were sure you’d be able to manage eventually. There had to be something you could do that was so out of character for you that it just screamed ‘I have a huge crush on you’.

You were very stuck in your own thoughts for a while, the end of your pencil in your mouth as you chewed mindlessly. You were so distracted that you didn’t notice someone else coming into the room at first, not until they spoke to you. “Excuse me, do you–” He stopped when he realized what his mistake had been. He hadn’t realized he was speaking to you until you raised your head, though in hindsight it probably should have been obvious. Maybe it was the jacket thrown over your cheer uniform that meant he just didn’t notice. 

“Hi,” you said, weakly. The clear look of disgust on his face made your chest ache. He just scoffed, shaking his head and trodding further into the library. It looked like he was looking for something, probably one of his nerdy ones. 

With a sigh, you realized you didn’t particularly want to still be there when he came back from being lost amongst the shelves, not if he was only going to look at you with those same hatred filled eyes all over again. You didn’t know how much more of this cold shoulder you could take from him. 

“I’ll win you back Munson,” you whispered, eyes in his general direction though you could only see quick sightings of him as he moved along the shelves. “I swear by it.” 

You began to pack up your things, hurriedly. Thankfully, you managed to head out before you saw him again, but he saw the back of your retreating figure just as you left the doors. He felt a little disgruntled. His half a question had been the most interaction he’d had with you in weeks. Though he was the one who was rejecting any form of communication with you, he had to admit he did miss talking to you.

»»——⍟——««

To say you were nervous for the day was an understatement. Your regular life was going to change for the sole reason of a boy. You had thought about it deeply, whether you wanted to make such a sacrifice for some guy that you decided you had feelings for within a week, but then you thought of all he’d done for you and made you feel in those seven days– which was so much– and then you knew this was the right decision. 

Upon entering the school, the first thing you needed to do was track down your fellow cheerleaders and give them a little piece of your mind. It wasn’t hard to find the preppy girls with the bright uniforms and high ponytails. They were in the courtyard, some sitting, others standing around and mocking anyone they set eyes on. 

Maybe if you hadn’t seen Eddie with a couple of his friends just around the corner, you might not have gone through with it, but you knew at that moment that it was really important for you to do this. Not only was it for him, but you as well. It’d make you feel like a better person to know you weren’t tearing people down everyday like they were. You might have been doing it for a while, but now was the time you put a stop to it. 

Even if you wanted to turn back last minute, they happened to spot you before you could consider doing so. 

“Y/N, there you are! We didn’t think you were ever gonna show,” Chrissy said. Usually you would have faked a smile as they all turned to welcome you, but not this time around. They were a little confused as to why you weren’t in uniform, you always were normally, it was sort of the rules. “Why aren’t you dressed for practice?” she asked. 

It was a little difficult for you to grasp how exactly to begin what it was that you wanted to say, so you thought you needed to just spit it out while you still had the guts. “I actually need to talk to you guys about something.”

Chelsea gasped, feigning sympathy. “You can tell us anything. We’re all friends here.” Her tone was painful to listen to. It was so clearly fake that you pulled a face. Usually you wouldn’t bother acknowledging it, but it was bothering you more than it ever had before right now. Now that you had mentally addressed the fact that they were pretty unbearable to be around to the average person, you found you couldn’t tolerate them any longer either.

You took a deep breath, partly to calm your nerves and partly so you wouldn’t scream at Chelsea for being so aggravating. 

“I’m quitting,” you said simply. “I don’t want to do cheer anymore.”

There were a couple gasps here and there, and though they pretty much all seemed shocked, some didn’t care as much as others did. Some were more confused than shocked. You deciding out of nowhere that you were quitting cheer, right after the events that transpired with Eddie, seemed too convenient for the two things not to be related. And of course, someone had to open their big mouth and question it, but not in the nicest way they could. “Is this because of Munson? You’re doing what that freak wants now?”

You were completely unaware that Eddie could hear your entire conversation, and he wasn’t exactly overjoyed about the way he was being spoken about. He assumed you were once again going to let those comments about him slide and he didn’t think he wanted to stick around to see how this panned out. So, with little words spoken to his friends, he took off. 

You rolled your eyes. “This isn’t because of him, it’s because you guys are assholes,” you told them. You saw the slight hurt on their faces, but surprisingly didn’t feel bad about it at all. “You’re, like, the worst friends anyone could ever have.”

Marianne scoffed. “Like he’s any better?”

“He is. He’s so much better than any of you will ever be.”

It seemed like none of them really knew what to say. They hadn’t expected this to be the way the conversation panned out– not in a million years actually. “You’re actually defending that freak, right now?” one of them asked. 

You huffed. “Stop calling him that. He has a name!” Even though you had originally felt slightly bad for how things were going down here, the more you spoke and the more they insulted the boy you liked, the more you were grateful that you’d gotten the weight of all of this off of your shoulders. The way your pisces had picked up meant attention was being drawn to you all now– once again you couldn’t have cared less.

“You know what, Y/N, if you’re gonna be his guard dog then you’re off the team.”

You laughed, right in their faces, it was like they had completely disregarded the statement that had started this whole discussion. Could they really kick you off of the team if you had quit moments beforehand. “I’m perfectly okay with that. You’re doing me a favor actually.”

Little did you know, although that conversation hadn’t exactly been heard by Eddie, it had been heard by one of his friends who would be sure to tell him exactly everything that happened after he left. Jeff was positive his friend would want to know. 

After the way you spoke to your ‘friends’ earlier today, you didn’t exactly have anyone to sit with when lunch rolled around. It meant your plan would be able to be carried out easier, considering your full attention could be put on to it, but it did mean you looked a little odd lingering in the doorway of the room. 

In the cafeteria, you had to wait for Dustin’s signal before you were going to make your little scene. He was supposed to tell you when the perfect time was, not only for Eddie, but when the room was at its busiest. The two of you agreed that although it would be terrifying, it was only really meaningful when the most people were there. If you were admitting your love to a crowd of only a couple people, then you weren’t really showing that you meant your words. Instead, you would wait until the peak of lunch, when Eddie had a dip in conversation that would give you the perfect opportunity. 

The signal was a simple wave that you were waiting for. You leaned against the doorframe of the cafeteria entrance, eyes locked on the table where the hellfire club sat, talking theatrically amongst themselves like they always did. Your eyes were on Dustin specifically, though occasionally they would stray to the head of the table where the boy you were desperate to impress sat– unsuspecting of what was about to go down. 

As soon as you saw that brief wave you headed over, ignoring the murmurs from your old friends when they saw you pass by. “Eddie?” you called, sweetly. 

However, he was far from so kind to you, turning to look at you with what could only be called a look of disgust. He sighed, dropping his food back into his lunchbox. “Why can’t you take the hint? Have you really not noticed that I don’t want to talk to you?” It was the first time he’d spoken to you in days, and the most words he’d said in a while now. 

You may have been easily pushed away before, but now you weren’t taking no for an answer. “No, this time you’re going to listen to me.”

He was about to protest, but then you turned to Dustin before he could. 

The curly haired kid offered you a hand, to which you thanked him, stepping up onto the chair and then the table in tow. Eddie was watching you in complete confusion, looking between you and Dustin in the hopes that one of you would give him some idea as to what was going on. He didn’t like being out of the loop like this, and he had no idea when you and the kid had gotten so friendly with one another, but he didn’t love it. 

You cleared your throat, shaking off your hands in an attempt to get rid of all the nerves. “Excuse me?” you yelled. Munson’s heart sank; this wasn’t what he was expecting– he couldn’t even try and take a guess of where this might be going. The chaos of the room calmed down, all eyes turning to look at you. “I have something to say,” you announced.

There were some people who yelled things at you, saying that they didn’t care or stuff along those lines. It earned some laughs, but you weren’t going to let that stop you. 

You took a deep breath, glancing at Eddie once before you looked out around at the groups of people watching you. It was slightly intimidating, especially when you could see your fellow cheerleaders giggling and pointing at you, making literally no effort to hide it. “I’m in love with Eddie Munson!” you yelled. 

There was a chorus of gasps from various places around the room. “You what?” you heard Eddie ask. He sounded entirely shocked. 

Rather than look out at the crowd, you turned to look at him again. This time around you spoke directly to him, rather than to all the other people who didn’t really need to understand the weight of your words. You hoped this way it would appear as though it was coming more from the heart. “I think I’m in love with you. And I’m sorry for being such an asshole, but I need you to forgive me.”

He looked like he didn’t know what to say, so you took the opportunity of the silence to keep talking. 

“I– I wasn’t fair to you, but it’s only been a couple days and I miss you already. And I miss taking care of that dumb baby with you,” you laughed, coaxing him into a chuckle as well. To anyone who wasn’t a senior partaking in the baby assignment, they probably thought you sounded crazy– or you’d actually had a child with Eddie– which was another shocking admission if you had. You liked how promising it was that he was laughing with you. Surely that meant you were back in his good graces. “I don’t know how you did it, but you enchanted me, and I don’t think I can come back from this.”

He was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a look of interest on his face. It was like he was thinking over what you were proposing, and he wanted to make you sweat. But you could tell he was trying to bite back a smile. “I mean, I guess Ozzy’s missed his mom.”

Your entire expression changed. Those words had filled you with a hope that you couldn’t begin to explain. “So, what d’you say? Give me a second chance?” 

He motioned for you to get down from your place on the table. Like the gentleman he was, he helped you down, and only then did you start to feel a little shy. You didn’t know what it was, considering you’d just been perfectly fine with hundreds of eyes on you. Something felt different now, whether that was just because it felt more real or intimate, you didn’t know. “Hi,” you whispered. 

“You just can’t take no for an answer can you?” he teased. You were glad you could pick up on the fact he was joking, otherwise that sentence would have killed you. He beamed at you as you shook your head, and it was something about your smile that told him he had to kiss you that second. He couldn’t wait another moment for this, not when the last time he’d kissed you had been forever ago. 

You weren’t sure who initiated the kiss first, but you didn’t even care, it just felt right. You both knew people were watching, which probably should have made you a little uncomfortable, but for some reason it didn’t, you actually hoped your ‘friends’ were watching so they could realize how wrong they’d been. Right now you were just completely blinded by everything Eddie. The way his lips felt, the tightness his hand used to grip your waist– like he was scared of you disappearing, and the way your senses just screamed him. 

He was the first one to pull away, though his hand found the back of your head and kept you close. 

You rested your forehead against his, uncaring of those who were still watching you. Most had turned away by now, deciding they didn’t care one bit about your private life, but there were still a few stray spectators. You really didn’t plan on paying them any attention though, not when you knew they were only interested in using this as gossip they could spread around. “I’m so glad this went well,” you breathed, painfully relieved. “Do you know how embarrassing it would have been if you just rejected me while I was up there?” 

That thought made him laugh. “That’s what I should have done. Got your heart racing a little bit,” he tormented. You rolled your eyes, bumping your fist against his arm. His laughter died down a little, the boy suddenly becoming serious. “Thank you. I seriously appreciate the effort you went through to make this apology. No one’s ever done something like that for me before.”

It felt like an honor to you to be able to provide him with love he’d never gotten before. “Well, I plan to be around for a while, so there’ll be plenty more where that comes from,” you promised. His whole face lit up. 

“I hope so.” Despite the fact there were still people around, specifically Eddie’s younger friends who were still very much intrigued in the fact the boy had finally managed to get a girlfriend, he kissed you again. 

If the kids wanted to stare like you were some sort of tourist attraction, that was on them. Though they were still planning on vocalizing their disgust. “Guys, come on, your child’s watching,” Mike attempted to force you apart. To be fair to him, it did work, the two of you pulled away from each other laughing, turning your heads to where Ozzy was planted on the table where Eddie had been sitting. 

“Your friends are weird,” you muttered, grinning up at him so he knew you weren’t being judgy, just ‘observing.’ 

He nodded, squeezing you into his side. There was a kind kiss placed on your temple. “Well, you better get used to it. You’re one of us now.”

+ Bonus scene:

Graduation day was a day Eddie never thought he’d see. Out of the three he should’ve seen, he was actually only on his first one. It was an achievement for everyone, but it was a different level of achievement for him. And it was even more incredible that he actually had a girlfriend to share this with. He thought that was another day that would never come. All around, today just felt surreal. 

Wayne had cried once already, though the younger of the two insisted he couldn’t do it again unless he wanted him to get emotional too. And for the most part he’d been able to stick to that promise. 

You and Eddie met up outside the school, something that was pre-planned so the two of you could hang out before the ceremonies started. Your parents were with you, along with your younger brother, the four of you in conversation while you waited. They were actually the ones who noticed him first, and they looked more excited to see him than you did. They loved the idea of you and Eddie– your mother had always thought it was only a matter of time before the two of you got together. 

You only realized he was there after your parents stared over your shoulder for too long. “What are you guys looking at?” you asked, looking behind you to find the two Munson’s approaching– with Wayne fussing over the tie he’d made Eddie wear– he kept claiming it needed to be straightened. 

A small squeal left your lips, rushing over to him before it became clear to him that you were running at him. He was taken a little off guard by your body colliding with his, but he accepted your hug nonetheless, wrapping his arms around you. He was in a better mood than you thought you’d ever seen him– maybe that was because he was finally making it out of school.

“I missed you,” he muttered, pulling back from you to place a kiss on your lips. You grinned, trying not to flush at the behavior, he very easily made you flustered. “You saw me last night,” you reminded him. 

He shrugged. “Still missed you,” he told you, before you pulled him back in for another kiss. To say he was the one claiming he missed you, you were the one who was desperate for him to keep kissing you. Since the day you’d made things official, only a few months back now, you had adored him. At first he thought you might go back on all you said to him the day you admitted your feelings, but you weren’t ashamed of being with him like he worried you’d be. 

The sound of a throat being cleared had Eddie’s eyes snapping open. At the sight of your father, he pulled away– though he didn’t exactly want to. “Uh, as much as I love this greeting, your dad’s sort of watching.” He was right, and it looked as though the man could kill. You groaned, brushing your nose over Eddie’s before you fully pulled away. 

“Well, in that case, we should get going. Let’s go, Munson,” you instructed, tugging on his hand to lead him inside the school building. 

It was all over so quickly. You didn’t know how but it barely felt like any time at all had passed before you’d walked the stage, grabbed your diploma and were now being engulfed in a hug by your loving boyfriend and his uncle. Your family had already suffocated you with love, so now it was their turn. Plus you thought Eddie deserved even more love than you’d received, and both you and Wayne were happy to give that to him for as long as he pleased.

“Munson! I wanted to talk to you.” The sound of a voice calling his last name made his head turn. It also unfortunately meant that your hug had to come to a swift end.

Eddie hadn’t expected for Mr G to need him for anything, but when his beloved teacher called his name, he felt like he had to see what it was that he wanted. It wasn’t like the man could give him detention or anything of the sorts– which he was glad for considering he’d given some of the teachers a few of his true thoughts about them. He’d used some colorful words. 

“What’s up?” he asked.

For a second the teacher's eyes flickered to you, offering you a kind smile when he noticed you were there. It actually made the moment better.

“I’m probably not supposed to. But I thought I’d give you this, for old time’s sake.” He offered out the fake baby that resulted in your relationship, a sweet gesture. It was probably less than practical— in what world does a graduating twenty-year old need a plastic baby from his health class— but it was more about the memories that made it important. You could have sworn you saw Eddie’s eyes water a bit. “The batteries are out, so it won’t start randomly crying or anything. I just thought you might like it. As a reminder of something good that came out of having it for so long.” 

The younger of the two nodded, and you and Wayne watched on fondly. “Thank you. Don’t know how I’d get by in that big cruel world without my Ozzy,” he joked, but the thank you was completely genuine.

Conversation was made for only a short time longer. He bid you and Eddie good luck, and the two of you thanked him for being the indirect reason your relationship had begun, and then all of you were on your way, back with the final member of your little, funny family.

++Bonus bonus scene:

When you and Eddie got together back in highschool, neither of you truly thought you’d last. Even if you wanted to be with him forever, the odds weren’t in your favor, it was rare that highschool relationships made it past college— even though Eddie wasn’t going to college.

But here you were, almost a decade later against all odds. You’d gotten the degree you’d worked your ass off for, with your boyfriend taking the time to visit you at your college of choice as often as he could, and you had landed yourself a pretty decent job that you were proud of. Meanwhile your boyfriend was beginning to make it big in the musical world like he’d wanted. He started off his proper music career the same way it had run in highschool. A couple days a week he’d perform at the hideout, while working part time elsewhere for the money. One day he just got lucky, and now here he was on his way to stardom with you by his side.

Things were good, even better now that there was the impending arrival of your first child. It had been unexpected, but you and Eddie were over the moon either way, and you were going to try to be the best parents you possibly could be— even despite your jobs that require so much time and work. You’d do anything to make it possible to give this baby the most love and best life they deserved.

Just because you had begun to plan for them, didn’t mean you’d considered arguably the most vital part about having a baby. The two of you hadn’t thought about baby names, at all.

The realization didn’t even hit you until you were lying there in the hospital bed, squeezing Eddie’s hand half to death as birth kicked your ass. He was trying to help as best he could, stroking your hair and letting you take your pain out on him. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to what you were feeling, he couldn’t really complain.

“We didn’t pick a name!” you hissed, a sob bubbling up in the back of your throat from the pain. He tried to reassure you that it didn’t matter. He’d heard people say in movies and such before that sometimes the name just comes to you after you see your baby for the first time. And he was desperately hoping for your stress levels that it was true. “We’ll get one baby. I promise.” 

You winced. “There isn’t really a lot of time.” 

He was a lot more concerned about you than a name right now. What was important to him was that you just got this baby here safely, without worrying about anything else. And he told you that, to which you hastily agreed when you were informed it was time for you to start pushing. Though you were terrified beyond words, you didn’t really have much of a choice. But at least you had Eddie there every step of the way to calm your worries in any way that he could. 

There was never a moment where your hand went unheld, or you felt even slightly alone. He was proving once again that he was the most perfect man you had ever met. This was furthered when he showered you in praise after your baby, a healthy baby boy, was set on your chest for the first time. Both of you were emotional, arguably him more than you, but he still made sure you felt eternally loved.

“Any names spring to mind?” he asked, trying to rapidly wipe at the tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. He heard you laugh, like a part sigh of relief, and another part so overjoyed.

Your eyes were difficult to pull away from the baby on your chest, but you managed long enough to look your lover in the eye while you provided him with an answer to his question. “Ozzy,” you breathed. “His name’s Ozzy.” 

The nurses might have thought it was weird, because they didn’t understand the backstory behind the name like you and Eddie did, but it meant more to the two of you than you could ever begin to explain. You watched as your boyfriend’s eyes welled up at the mention of the memory that had brought you two together in the very beginning. “That’s perfect. With that name he’s gonna be the coolest baby ever. If only Mr G could see the real Ozzy Munson.” 

You hummed, stroking your thumb over his tiny head. It felt like an impossible task to be able to cherish all the features of the newborn in the way that they deserved. “Maybe he can after things calm down a little. I’m sure he’d like to see the family he played a part in creating.” 

Eddie beamed, dropping a kiss to the top of your head and then Ozzy’s– though the one Ozzy got lingered for much longer. “I think that’d be awesome.”

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

eddie munson taglist - @pastel-abyss-x @lilylilyyyyyy @spideysbae @lexi-2004 @escape-in-time-x @liltimmyst @fandomxo00 @youcantseem3 @sharnnnnnn @dreashappyworld @audhd-dragonaut @liltimmyst @ruinedbythehobbit @eddiemsbandana

#eddie x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie x y/n #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson oneshot #stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things 4

[wannab-urs]

Build Me Up, Buttercup | Professor!Joel Miller x Student!Reader

Summary: Reader confronts Dr. Miller about her grade in his class.

Warnings: Not much yet. Reader is of legal age, no less than 22 but not specified, she's about to graduate college. She’s an English major. This is grumpy x grumpy. Lots of snark, eyerolling, etc. Not-Quite-Enemies to Lovers. And no she doesn’t blow him to get a better grade! (I would, but reader is classy). 

Word Count: 1.1k

Why Do You Build Me Up

(Buttercup)

Dr. Miller’s Foundations of Architecture class was supposed to be a fun elective for you. You could learn a little more about architecture, something that has always been a mild interest for you. You like pretty buildings and you think it’s a cool subject. It’s your last semester of college and you deserve to take something fun to fill in that last elective requirement. 

You certainly were not supposed to fail the fucking class.

“He’s so rude, Cooper,”  you tell your friend. Coop looks up at you over their laptop, red curls springing in every direction and glasses sitting on the tip of their nose. They’re feigning interest while they hammer away at some graphic design assignment.

“One time he made a guy who said he liked 432 Park Ave leave the class. Like just kicked him out for the rest of the day! I mean that building is awful, but still!” Coop heaves a sigh and shuts their laptop. 

“Is this that hot professor you told me about or is it the one who always wears really weird outfits?” 

“No! The weird outfits guy is my Chaucer professor,” you choose to ignore the first half of that question. “I have words for him too, actually. He keeps-”

“Focus! Why are you failing Arc?” 

“His essays are insane! Like, this is not English class, my guy, why are you grading me so hard? I’m literally an English major! You’d think my writing would be more than acceptable for a freshman level class.” 

He had given you a D on your paper about gothic architecture. You’d chosen to write about the Santa Maria del Fiore in Italy and he took off THREE letter grades because they finished the construction in the neo-gothic style… which you had made a whole section of your paper about. It’s perfectly valid. It’s not like he really gave you much to go on. 

“Did you follow the prompt? Sometimes your brain takes you places the question didn’t exactly call for…” they give you a knowing look. 

“This isn’t a fanfic writing challenge, Coop, I can follow a damn prompt. He doesn’t give us anything to go on at all for these essays! Or for anything else, really.” 

He is the least verbose professor you have ever had. It’s honestly kind of refreshing for a man to not love the sound of his own voice, but you’re also paying him to teach you something. 

“The essay prompt was literally ‘Gothic Architecture’ and the guidelines were ‘12 pages, double spaced, due March 19th.’" You drop your voice into its lowest register, mimicking Dr. Miller's deep baritone. "And that’s what I wrote!” Someone shushes you from behind a bookshelf. You’re getting a little over excited, borderline yelling in the library about this infuriating man.

“Have you tried going to his office hours?” God why are they always so reasonable?

“Have you tried going to his office hours… No. I have not. He’s rude, remember?” 

“Just try it! What’s the worst that could happen?” 

“He could drop my paper down to an F.”

“And you could report him for unfair grading practices. Go. Shoo,” Coop starts pushing your books toward your bag. 

“Fiiiiiine,” you relent.

Twenty minutes later you find yourself standing in the doorway of his office. Dr. Miller is sitting behind a large wooden desk. It’s very neat, the only things on it a computer, a picture frame turned away from you, and a stack of books. Dr. Miller has one of the books open and is writing something in a notebook, brow furrowed and tongue poking out between his lips. 

“Dr. Miller?” you ask hesitantly. 

He doesn’t look up from his work, just lifts a hand vaguely in your direction for a second and keeps writing. You roll your eyes and look around the office. There are bookshelves lining the walls with architecture textbooks in neat rows. A few covers of Architectural Digest are framed on the wall. Is he in those?

Your eyes land back on him. He’s wearing a dark grey Fleetwood Mac shirt that looks old as hell. The collar is stretched, revealing a bit of his chest. Your eyes trace a line up the column of this throat… He has a nice neck. 

You had called him your hot professor at the beginning of the semester, regardless of how you felt about him now. There’s just something about that fluffy bed head he always has, like he couldn’t be bothered to run a comb through it. And the scruffy beard laced with grey he doesn’t seem keen on trimming. And the way his mustache frames his pouty lips. And his prominent nose that looks straight out of a painting. And okay that’s enough. 

“Dr. Miller, I need to talk to you.” 

“M’busy,” he mumbles out, still not looking up from the textbook. 

“Okay, well it’s your office hours, so technically you have to talk to me.” 

“Technically, little miss, I don’t have to do anything.”

“Excuse me? Let’s not speak to grown women like they’re children, sir.” Is he fucking for real right now?

He closes his notebook and looks at you for the first time since you walked in. Probably the first time all semester. He kind of pauses when he sees you, hopefully realizing he isn’t talking to a freshman. It wouldn’t make the little nickname okay, but it would make more sense at least. 

He looks you up and down and his jaw ticks, “Sit.” His eyes flick to the chair in front of his desk. You drop your bag on the floor and slide into the seat. “So. What can I help you with?”

You take a deep breath. “You gave me a D on my last paper.” 

He just stares at you. 

“And considering our prompt was all of 8 words, I think- I know I met the requirements and that I did a good job. It was thoroughly researched, structured well, copy and content edited, and turned in 2 days before deadline. I would like an explanation-” 

“Enough,” he cuts you off. “I don’t have to justify my gradin’ decisions to you.” 

You let out a frustrated puff of air. This man drives you insane. “Dr. Miller, I’m a senior. I took this class to fulfill an elective requirement and because I like architecture. I would like to understand what is so egregious about my writing that you would have me fail a class in my last semester of college.” 

He considers you for a moment, meeting your eyes. He lowers his brow, screws up his mouth from side to side, like he’s thinking hard about something. “I’ll reread it.” 

Not I’ll reconsider your grade, but at least it’s something. “Thank you.” You grab your bag, moving to leave, and he stops you. 

“Wait!” You pause, arching an eyebrow. “What was your name again?” He doesn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. 

“Seriously? I’ve been in your class since January. Figure it out.” 

You storm out, slamming the door behind you.  

A/N: This will be my first series! I'm really excited to try some actual characterization and plot, which I've never really played around with before. Constructive criticism in my DMs is always appreciated <3

Tag List: @beskarandblasters, @cutesyscreenname, @atinylittlepain, @wednesdayday, @whoiscaroline, @goldenhxurs, @northernwindd, @djarinxore, @worhols, @amanitacowboy, @silkiers, @4ueijos, @livinxdeadxgrl, @serenaxpedro, @huffle-punk, @elvn011, @thepriceofpepper, @lexic-22, @sunshinebtrfly, @strang3lov3, @virgogaia

#joel miller #joel miller fics #joel miller fan fiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #Joel Miller AU #Professor!Joel #Professor!Joel Miller

[baby--charchar]

What does Charlies regression look like with lucifer? And how did he find out? Was he insanely supportive or confused?

Charlie has come to love spending time with Daddy when regressed (or 'dada,' age depending). But originally, she never intended for him to find out.

She and Vaggie were just starting to get the hang of it themselves and had no intention of telling others. One night after a LONG workday at the hotel, Vaggie was cooking up supper while Charlie was watching Disney in the main room. She was feeling about 2 or so, and was finally easing into her regression and learning to be content in it.

Cue untimely Lucifer and his ignorance on boundaries. Just has a great new idea on operating focus groups for residents, and barges into Charlie's and Vaggie's room. Well of course there's Charlie smack dab in the middle of the room, her thick hair out of its usual ponytail, pacifier in her mouth, surrounded by baby toys, and wearing a matching red pajama set clearly designed for toddlers. Charlie screamed her fucking head off and Vaggie stormed into the living room thinking she was going to have to kill someone. Alas, it was just poor Lucifer looking confused as hell and now covering his bleeding ears (that demon shriek of Charlie's is again, NO JOKE). Vaggie took control of the situation and shouted at him to leave. No pleasantries and definitely not how she "should" have been talking to the king of hell. But hey, he listened.

When he got back to his room he texted Charlie in a panic.

"Charlie is everything okay?"

"I'm not mad baby, I promise. I didn't mean to scare you. Talk to me."

"Answer me when you can, okay? I love you Charlie."

Back in the girls' room, Vaggie took dinner off the stove to rock poor Charlie in her arms. She was absolutely bawling. Vaggie just held her tight and shushed in her ear trying to get her to soothe. Charlie kept rambling on about how Lucifer was gonna hate her and think she's so gross and she just FINALLY got her dad back in her life just to scare him off. Vaggie just held her tight and tried to get Charlie to focus on her toys and movies. Once she finally settled, she asked her a question.

"Can you let me handle this?"

Charlie nodded after a moment. After Vaggie wrapped up her cooking, and got Charlie settled back in with her sippy cup and movie, Vaggie quietly stepped out.

She charged into Lucifer's room shouting, scaring the fuck out of him.

"AND YOU SEE HOW THAT FEELS?! DID YOU LIKE HAVING ME TEAR YOUR DOOR DOWN?! RUIN YOUR PEACEFUL FUCKING EVENING?! GOOD. I WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THIS MOMENT IF YOU EVEN THINK OF TRYING THAT SHIT AGAIN. NOW SIT YOUR ASS DOWN CUZ WE NEED TO TALK."

She breaks the news to him that yes, her daughter does in fact experience age regression. Basically, her mind goes into a state where it emotionally and cognitively functions like someone much younger than her real age. It's not her fault and she can't always control it, it's just how her mind is processing the immense pressure that she feels. Baby Charlie needs safety, love, and space to be herself no matter how she's presenting. And he was going to give all that to his little girl or...or else, dammit!

Lucifer was so confused. But unlike Charlie's worst fears, he was not disgusted at all. He wanted to know more. He knew Char Char was stressed, but he had no idea how strained she had been feeling. How is this supposed to help her? Can she control it at all? Does she actually enjoy it? Is it making her miserable, or is it really helping her be happy?

Vaggie did her best to answer every question. Eventually though, she could tell that something just wasn't clicking for Lucifer despite trying his hardest to understand. She sighed and pulled put her phone.

"Don't you EVER let her know these exist. You understand? She'd kill both of us if she knew I took these."

A video appeared of Charlie sitting on the floor in her red pajamas, banging on a small xylophone to the beat of a Disney Princess song playing in the background. Her little voice sang along, just barely audible over her clanging. Her grin was so contagious, Lucifer thought. Then a pang of nostalgia engulfed him out of nowhere.

Vaggie swiped and a new video appeared. This time Charlie was toddling around their living room, a stuffed animal held in the crook of her arm and her thumb in her mouth. Vaggie could be heard off screen chuckling.

"Go sit, Char Char. Dinner's almost ready." Charlie grinned at her and started walking over, her uncoordinated steps glaringly obvious.

"No.....no.....! Vee vee's gotta cook! Go sit down on the bed....go sit.... good girl! Good girl." Charlie looked back towards Vaggie and cackled before trying to get up again.

Lucifer's heart was absolutely aching. His daughter looked so sweet. So happy and relaxed, something he hasn't truly seen in ages. She absolutely radiated the same joyous energy that she had as a toddler. And Vaggie just kept swiping. Photos and videos of Charlie finger painting, taking naps in weird spots, sitting in baths with bubbles all the way up to her neck. By the end of it Lucifer was tearing up.

He asked if 1, he could get some of those pictures, and 2, when he could see Charlie again. With Charlie's permission he was able to come back over that night for dinner. Even though Charlie painfully shy, she was clearly fascinated by her daddy being around and wanted him to pay attention to her. Lucifer was happy to brush her hair, pull out toys, and even carry her around all night long.

So yes...both! Insanely supportive after being insanely confused. And it's all thanks to Vaggie sorta taking the lead on caring for and speaking up for Charlie.

#hazbin hotel age regression #hazbin hotel agere #cg!lucifer #little!charlie #cg!vaggie #hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #charlie morningstar #vaggie #sfw age regression

[kyokikia]

Im curious, do people even write for uta? Do people like uta at all?? If you cant tell, she's my favorite female character! I dont see anyone talking about her 😭😭

i might write for her if someone requests it (when requests are back open) but she might be the only one piece female i would ever write for so, sorry for that

Has anyone else on here watched film red? I wanna talk about it with someone because its one of my favorite movies, currently listening to new genesis as i speak (ado's singing was HEAVENLY in the movie)

Ado's singing is so heavenly, and she honestly captured the supposed greatness of uta's voice PERFECTLY. I watched the movie in sub so i couldnt hear amalee dubbing uts, but honestly, i listened to amalee's covers of the songs, and i think the dub watchers were robbed from hearing amalee's covers. She covered all the songs PERFECTLY! She did the spell part of tot musica perfectly aswell and i adore Amalee's and Ado's works so much!

SPOILERS UNDER KEEP READING FOR ONE PIECE: FILM RED

I think she's a little crazy but i love her a lot, what she did in the movie is honestly justifiable. I love her design so much, i wanna cosplay her but i got my bills to pay 😭 i'll do it once i get extra money tho, anyway, i feel so bad for her because for years she thought that shanks had abandoned her but turns out she was manipulated into singing tot musica by the people of Elegia 😭 i feel so bad knowing on how much she probably blamed herself for what happened but it wasnt her fault at all

Shanks is so selfless i swear, the way he just chose to take the blame instead so uta wouldn't blame herself and so she could make other people happy with her voice aswell 😭♥️

Watching uta descend into madness, as her mental health and physical state reach its absolute lowest was so heartbreaking (but the movie was so cool to watch!)

As you probably know, the wakeshrooms cause the person who eats them to stay awake until they die, and makes them more aggravated and brings out their negative emotions more, so i can see why she became more deranged as the movie went on. i feel so bad for her she deserves better 😭 i see why she was driven into madness after meeting shanks after all those years

Being kept on that island for so many years mustve been so depressing, so she was in a bad mental state most of her life. Kept alone, isolated with the entire world other than Gordon, not knowing anything going on in the world is so sad

I can see why she hates pirates so much, seeing as she cares so much about her fans (that she would trap them in the sing sing world just so they wouldnt have to deal with pirates anymore and for a 'new era' which she had good intentions with, but honestly it wasnt that great of an idea) she had the idea that all pirates were bad, and seeing all her fans sending her video mail about it probably amplified her hatred.

I took notice on how by the time uta had to sing tot musica, she was in her absolute worst mental and physical state, some of the words were linked together some words were messed up, i think ado captured on how much of a terrible state uta was in by the time she was forced to sing the song perfectly, i adore ado's singing in film red so much

I might've misunderstood uta honestly, i might've done her wrong in this post, i also realize this entire post is a rant but oh well i honestly just wanted to talk about her, anyone wanna tell me their thoughts on film red?

#uta x reader #uta film red #one piece #one piece x reader #one piece rant #kyokikia #uta one piece #op x reader #uta #ado #one piece film red #one piece imagine #one piece x you #one piece fluff #amalee

[roughcas]

wrio x reader fluff & angst

inspired by an old message from a friend about me and it was one of the most poetic lines that destroyed me. enjoy !

music entered your ears and went out the other, you can't even recall what time it was when you last left your bed. the love of your life, or so you thought, and yourself ended things. nothing felt right anymore and simply the world felt duller. its been two days, and it was spent mourning a soul that wasn't even dead. just gone.

the fight was nothing like anything of you guys had experienced before. it definitely was not the first fight you guys have had, but dating for almost a year its bound to happen. they have all been over silly mundane things due to high tensions that get worked out by the end of the night. you did something illegal to protect what you believed was an innocent person. you were right at the end of the day, but you colored out of the lines with your boyfriend who should have thrown you in jail for it. perhaps it was just the stress of a high case getting to him, even though he'd never admit that.

your friend, navia, dragged you out of your bed and made you get ready to go on a walk. what would that do? probably nothing, but she knew you needed a distraction and at that moment nothing was more beautiful to you than a friend who wouldnt give up on you. half an hour, of course it was fates dark design that you'd run into him. he hadn't seen you before you ducked behind the wall you just came from. no way in hell you could pass him. how were you supposed to walk by pretending he was still a stranger?

there he sat, next to sigewinnie sipping tea at the outside part of a restaurant. his eyes looked more tired, but maybe you just made it up because you hoped it was hurting him as much it was you. "its been two days, i guess i could of phoned her." wrio starts. the heartbeat inside your chest increases as you easedrop, navia behind you listening in.

"i said some of the worst things i have ever said before, all to her. it was a heat of the moment thing, ya know? i dont think she understood i wasnt mad at her, not once.. i was mad at myself, actually. she had to break the law - the one i enforce - just because i didnt listen to her when she told me that guy was innocent. because of my foolishness she had to cross lines, and i had to lose her." a long pause followed. it seemed sigewinne was out of earshot

"i really did lose sight of what was important, and it was her."

"now, she may never forgive me. and i'm willing to accept that, i just want the best for her. if i could change anything it surely would be the fighting that night. it was only too late when i decided to listen to her point of view, and i hurt her because of it. i was stubborn as fuck, and i'll always listen to her if she needs a shoulder to cry on. i'll always be here for her, even if she wants nothing to do with me."

#genshin impact #genshin x you #wrio x reader #wriothesely x reader #wriothesley #genshin smut #wrio smut #genshin fanfic #genshin fluff #genshin imagines

[steampunkforever]

Y'know Art Spiegelman? The guy who wrote Maus? What if I told you he was indirectly responsible for one of the worst films I've ever seen hands down?

Often some of the best films come from unexpected places. Cult favorite Boondock Saints was never supposed to be made and yet some how a no budget Boston masterpiece captured the hearts and minds of college dorm rooms everywhere. Spaghetti Westerns were low budget castoffs of a genre no longer en vogue, and yet produced hands down some of the best cowboy films we've ever seen. My point is that often movies that come from unexpected sources have that spark that conventional productions don't. The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, on the other hand, may come from an unexpected source, but is an exception to this rule.

It started when Topps, a chewing gum/collector card company created their own twisted parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids out of spite after a licensing agreement went sour. Speigelman was one of the first designers on the project, and he and his team (including James Warhola, nephew of Andy Warhol) put out a series of wacky collector cards depicting what were basically softcore ratfink reimaginings of the Cabbage Patch line that proved to be so popular as to be banned in schools. The cards did so well that just a couple years later Topps produced the live action disaster that was the Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

This is a film completely irredeemable in almost every way. Part of my distaste for it comes from the fact that rather than pull a Gremlins and have these walking aberrations actually cause chaos, the film tries to somehow soften them into something that could deliver a moral to the story. Not that there's much story. The plot is paper thin, to the point that the motivator for the Garbage Pail Kids (lost Garbage Pail Comrades) is hastily wrapped up with an "I guess they're dead!" (???????) and we're whisked away to an equally uninspiring plot point where the Garbage Pail Kids do more stuff we don't care about.

Obviously I don't think we should be demanding prestige writing from the series known for figureheads like Messy Tessie and Greaser Greg, but dear lord not a single character in this film is even narrowly sympathetic. The bully/antagonist force in this sucks, and yet frankly you sort of root for them to end these creeps. The main character (played by Sean Astins brother apparently?) is written as a peeping tom who wholly deserves the sewer dunking he gets, and none of the other characters are much better. The Garbage Pail Kids aren't even fun in their mischief, just awful to look at and listen to. There's a segment where the main love interest (who is grooming Astin's character, by the way) has a block of dialog dedicated to how horrible the Garbage Pail Kids are, and though its certainly cast as an unfeeling villain speech, she's 100% correct in her assessment. Nobody in this movie has positive traits. I would kill Foul Phil with a ball peen hammer.

One of the most jarring parts of this film for me was--in a fairly innocuous scene--the presence of a MACVSOG patch the costumers stuck on Astin's jacket. What sort of secret messaging is there in the Garbage Pail Kids Movie that they're alluding to the CIA's special operations group that was tied to the Gulf of Tonkin incident and US operations in Laos?

Don't watch this film. If I ever see Foul Phil again it's on sight.

#filmposting #film #the garbage pail kids movie #garbage pail kids #art spiegelman

[ashleywool]

on the absurdity of grief: when these objectively benign or positive things make you intensely sad

-Being enthusiastically recognized at the Drama Book Shop and asked for an autograph/selfie. She was VERY sweet and we had a lovely chat. The sadness had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with me remembering how I frequented the 40th St. location as a tiny baby actressling, poring over all the acting/auditioning books I could find, plagued by a persistent feeling of needing to "catch up." And the saddest part is knowing that even if I could have seen the future back then, I would've been like "but why did it take so long?"

-The folks at my physical therapy clinic telling me "it's rare to see a patient who's as motivated and consistent as you are, even if they have the time and the resources." Why wouldn't I be? I've spent my whole adult life remaining motivated and consistent about pursuing a career that is renowned for the rarity of its success. Of course I'm gonna be motivated and consistent about following a program that has been steadily improving my quality of life within a matter of weeks, AND which my insurance covers in full. It's extremely easy to be motivated to do things that get you immediate, progressive positive results and require no sacrifice. The sadness is because I wish I could get HALF these results from everything else I was motivated and consistent about. And I wish other people could too.

-Going into the cafe I used to take my friends to when they came to HTDIO and seeing the same lovely woman behind the counter who always gave me a discount because of how much business I brought them, and seeing her still give me the discount every time even though I'm not bringing the business.

-Looking at clothes of mine that I specifically remember wearing for certain moments in HTDIO rehearsal, even if I've also worn them ten thousand other places.

-The fact that I'm still using the same cream blush stick that Sarafina (costume designer) gave me for the Syracuse run. Makeup I had in Syracuse should not have outlasted the Broadway run. Makeup I had on Broadway should not have outlasted the Broadway run.

-The intrusive thoughts that come with seeing something in the media about some major Broadway person and then remembering that that Broadway person knows who I am. And the craziest part is, the reason they know who I am is because I am also a Broadway person. Like, I'll be minding my own business, doing the dishes or whatever, and then maybe I'll discover that the milk in my fridge spoiled because I only ever use it for baking and I haven't baked in a while, and then my theatre kid brain will be like, "The milk has gone bad, hold up just a second, why is everything in this fridge warm and tepid?" and the impulse will be to continue the lyrics, but then I remember LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA FOLLOWS ME ON INSTAGRAM NOW and the next thing I know I'm standing catatonically over my sink with the carton of spoiled milk in my hand, my executive functioning having short-circuited so intensely that I forgot that I'm supposed to pour the milk down the drain and not just stare at the open spout on the upright carton hoping the smell dissipates, and then eventually I snap out of it and get rid of the milk and the carton, but then I need to lie down, and then I feel like I have to apologize to Lin-Manuel Miranda because even though he's not physically present, and we haven't directly interacted since he came to the show, and he probably devotes maybe 0.01% of his time to thinking about what that one chick from the autism musical who showed him that Strong Bad gif might be up to right now, I just know he felt that somehow and he does not deserve to be telepathically assaulted by my weirdness like that, and the worst part is that I'm sure the embarrassment I made myself feel as a result of this made-up situation that I made up wouldn't feel nearly as pathetic if the show was still running.

Grief is weird.

#grief #grief is weird

[elvenbeard]

2071

"Had to drive a thousand miles just to realize that this is where I belong... This is my home. I'm so fuckin' stupid."

"Some mistakes you gotta make, hermano. How else're you s'pposed to learn from them?"

Vince left Night City for a little less than a year in 2070. He'd burned too many bridges, in Charter Hill, in Kabuki... There seemed nothing left for him to gain, nowhere deeper to sink. Also, his mother had tracked him down two years into his hiding from her. Even though they parted ways somewhat amicably and Vince did not expect to see her again, a certain level of unrest had accompanied him ever since.

Together with someone he thought he was in love with at the time, he joined the backstage crew of a Korean lazrpop duo touring the NUSA. His actually quite extensive technical knowledge... did not land him the gig. It was mostly the good word put in by his acquaintance that was supposed to get him out of the city. But so, instead of working with the crew's techies, setting up the lights and sound for the impressive shows ahead, he ended up having to haul equipment cases most days.

Needless to say, the experience was underwhelming. Combined with his relationship turning sour halfway into the trip, Vince suffered from the worst homesickness ever - for Night City, of all places, the city and the people that had continued to wrong him so many times over, with their games and intrigues.

One thing though Night City had done very right: Jackie Welles. The first person who sincerely liked Vince for who he was, no ulterior motives. The first true friend whose intentions he no longer doubted, that would have his back no questions asked, and vice versa.

Bonding with him over their shared experiences with abusive parents, Jackie was to Vince the older brother he had never had. Naturally, Jackie was there to pick him up when Vince returned to Night City in 2071, disillusioned, alone, and uncertain about his future more than ever. But Jackie always seemed to know someone or something that could be done to get Vince back on his feet.

Night City had changed as much as Vince had during his short-lived, self-inflicted exile. The Unification War was over, Night City a free city. Most importantly though - unbeknownst to both Vince and Jackie still - the old, powerful corporation that had returned to the city's heart with its new, rebuilt headquarters, would forever change their lives just a few years down the line...

Vince through the years (3/9)

For today's behind the scenes ramblings: a few thoughts on something I've been noticing on my VP journey lately...

No matter where you go... I think in any scenic location near Night City, you can see the Arasaka logo somehwere in the background, and I think it's done very purposefully by the environment designers XD It's either the clover, or the whole word "arasaka" spelled out, glowing somewhere on the side of a building or an ad display. It is often there in important story scenes somewhere, too, subtle in the background, a constant, subconscious reminder to V (you know... apart from the constant, subconscious bickering at the hands of Johnny XD).

Arasaka Tower itself is also extremely prominent, unmistakeable with its shape, whenever I'm taking pics lately that are in slightly elevated locaions I look around to see if I can spot it XD And I chose this spot specifically because it's so nicely visible from there, too...

This was one of my very first shoots with AMM - don't think I ever shared these (and wanna recreate them badly now). Just Vince and Johnny pondering the next move, what they're gonna do and say during the meeting with Hanako, Arasaka Tower in clear view in the distance, almost as if it's taunting them.

This particular spot is very important to Vince... as mentioned, it's where Jackie picked him up after he returned to Night City in 2071, but it's more than that. Jackie showed him the place shortly after they became friends, to give Vince a "different perspective" on Night City he wasn't really aware of then, with his sheltered upbrining and the circles he moved in. It's by the dam, overlooking Rancho Coronado, and in few other places the extreme difference between poverty and wealth appears quite as jarring.

In the years to come after this first visit here, it develops into a favourite meeting spot of Vince and Jackie to discuss all manners of things in quiet and relative private... here is where, just a year later, Vince tells him that he's gonna take on a job at Arasaka 👀 And Vince is drawn back there over and over again, even when Jackie can no longer meet him there.

It's simply where he still feels closest to Jackie, due to so many important conversations they had here...

... and he takes Kerry here, later, too, to get away from the city for a little while, talk about the past and the future.

Sometimes he comes over on his own when he needs some quiet time to think, too. What would Jackie do now? What would he suggest? Does it all even matter in the grand scheme of things? What is really important right now, and what can wait for later?

It's the perfect spot to clear your mind, and gorgeous at every time of day <3

Also, I wrote above that Vince was homesick for Night City... but it was less Night City that he missed, but Jackie's presence.

#cyberpunk 2077 #male v cyberpunk #cyberpunk v #corpo v #jackie welles #cp2077 #cyberpunk vp #cp2077 vp #vincent ezaki #my vp #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #vince through the years #I'm so soft for their friendship hhhhhh ;____; #still working out some details for them for my personal canon re: vince's time at arasaka #I wanna include all the known canon stuff as best as I can #also... in case you couldn't tell XD Vince definitely had a big old crush on Jackie #well... maybe not big old but if Jackie had ever said anything Vince wouldn't have turned him down #by 2077 it had faded to background noise - and also there was Misty now and Vince was really happy about how happy she made Jackie #so it's all good xD #but around the time these pics are set... he's not homesick for Night City #he's homesick for Jackie #even more so after his relationship then - his first serious relationship with another guy mind you - went to shit

[figurativepieceoftrash]

And if you find it interesting: 9, afo. Thank you!

Prompt 9: Say you love me

"Say you love me."

Not a question, but a command. Comfortingly familiar and gratingly predictable all at once. Pathetic, too, Sorahiko has come to realize. For all his bluster and projected confidence, Hisashi is damningly insecure.

Not that he knows it, of course. He could never be so self-aware. Sorahiko isn't exactly certain he wants him to be, though.

"Give me a reason to and maybe I will," he replies with begrudging interest, because it's ten in the morning, and the shirt he's wearing isn't his, and maybe, just maybe, he's a little bit pathetic too.

"So demanding." There's a touch of mockery in that. Sorahiko feels an arm close around his waist, pulling him ever so slightly into Hisashi's orbit, before a quick peck dusts his cheek. "There, is that enough for you? I'm not especially inclined to take you back to bed now, so it'll have to do regardless."

Inadvertently, the bridge of Sorahiko's nose wrinkles. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you smell like eggs." Sorahiko feels the head on his shoulder incline, pointedly towards the stove at his waist. "That's the worst omelet I've ever seen, by the way. You know you're supposed to remove the shells, don't you?"

A growl. "I did."

"Then what's that lumpy bit there?" 

Sorahiko's eyes follow the path of Hisashi's finger. He honestly can't parse where its target lies. As loathe as he is to admit it, the entire omelet is a mess.

"Just be grateful I'm cooking you anything, you–"

"Let's not get heated Sorahiko, you know I'm only teasing." That elicits an eye roll. Sorahiko knows quite the opposite. He isn't. Not entirely, anyways. "In truth, I find this domestic side of yours rather endearing. To force yourself through something you're so humiliatingly inept at, and all for my sake… I had no idea I held such an impressive sway over you."

"Fuck off."

"Ah, but not so impressive, it seems. I supplied the reason, did I not? A kiss and a compliment in one, I'm certain that's enough to fulfill my end of the bargain. So now you say…?" he trails off, pointedly pulling away from the two's considerably prolonged embrace.

Sorahiko hates that he misses the warmth. He hates it even more once he catches on to the familiar note in Hisashi's phrasing. Bargain.

Over the course of their intermittent and considerably rocky relationship, Sorahiko has come to learn, with increasing intensity and emphasis, that Hisashi sees the world entirely and exclusively in terms of transaction.

An expensive, candlelit dinner in exchange for sex. An apartment key for one-sided, yet ineffably binding romantic exclusivity. A name for a name. Breakfast for a button down. Physical affection for verbal affirmation.

Sorahiko doesn't mind it, per se. He likes knowing the terms of his relationship. The boundaries, the expectations, the do's and don'ts. It's no secret that he struggles with displays of affection, and Hisashi evokes them in ways that are obviously permissible, if not entirely free.

But it does feel… obsessive, on occasion. Demanding. Almost religious in its ritualism.

And even so, he's powerless in the face of it.

"I love you." 

Why does he mean it, when he says it?

Sorahiko would like to think it's because he pities him. The two have never exchanged personal information with each other beyond that of addresses, ages, and names, but what he's gleaned of Hisashi's life from shrewd bits of insight he's been allowed hasn't painted a pretty picture.

Hisashi is wealthy, certainly. Excessively so. Doubtlessly successful from the perspective of the average salaryman, and more still. 

But there's a desperation to it, Sorahiko has often noted, a compulsion to throw himself into to his work, whatever it may be, to parade his wealth around in the form of designer suits, and limousines, and French Champagnes, and penthouse suites, that suggests less of a desire to pursue a life worth living and more of a ravenous, clawing need to escape the reality of one that isn't.

The only pictures in his apartment are stock photos, he never speaks of his family, and the way he manipulates tenderness out of Sorahiko – hungrily, always hungrily, but with such a marked desire for distance – implies an upbringing completely devoid of genuine emotional connection. 

Every tender word is postured with Hisashi, practiced, and calculated, and rehearsed. Out of a compulsive desire for perfection, certainly, for power over one's partner, but there's also a very real sense of fear to the practice. Vulnerability is not a word in Hisashi's vocabulary. 

It isn't found in Sorahiko's either. Maybe that's why the pity comes so easily.

But no, that isn't his desire's origin, as much as he may wish it were.

There's a magnetism to Hisashi completely independent of his more vulnerable aspects, a surety and gravity as powerful as it is prevalent. Sorahiko loves to butt heads, the thrill of a chase, the stubborn push and pull of a yearning to which neither party will vocally lay claim.

Belonging to someone else, someone just as jaded, and worn, and pessimistic as him. Someone who comprehends the importance of detachment in the face of intimacy.

That was why he'd broken things off with Nana Shimura, though he'd never say it aloud. He'd known her too well, and she'd cared too much. Not enough distance.

"And I love hearing you say it." Apparently, Hisashi is feeling generous this morning. The second peck is placed on his lips. "I'm leaving the country tomorrow for work. I don't know when I'll be back."

Not generous then, placating. A salve in anticipation of a burn. Oh well. Last night had been too passionate anyways. Really, it's a blessing. Thank God for distance.

Breakfast is eaten in cold, impassive silence. Hisashi doesn't even comment on the obvious bits of eggshell that crack between his molars. Doesn't even lament the burnt crust that coats the dishes underside. A rare occurrence by all accounts. He lives for drama.

Sorahiko should be grateful. And he is.

Thank God for distance.

#I'm sorry if you were expecting something dark I honestly wanted to go that route but I've been trying to learn to write romance lately so? #Oops #Thank you sm for the prompts btw!!! I'm always overjoyed to see you in my notes! #This is probably literally so terrible I'm sorry #I have no idea how to write this sort of thing #If it's ooc blame how vague Hori is with afo's character you can do literally anything with him in his personal life and it technically #can't be disproven okay #afohiko #bnha #my writing

[starflungwaddledee]

so i know your au focuses on bandee, but i was thinking of doing this for morpho magolor so i want your input

do you think it would be possible for morpho magolor to obtain a traitor form one way or another? i sketched a concept but i don;t know where it would fit

I'm just asking because you're the chrysalis au creator

responding to these (i got your other messages too), and while i don't mind you asking my input, i will say you absolutely don't have to ask me or anything! especially because it can take me some time to reply!

chrysalis au is very specifically about the scenario wherein morpho possesses bandee in its attempts to get to kirby. that's about the beginning and end of the plot of it on my end! morpho 'possession' designs or plotlines as a whole are not something i have universal decree over, and there are plenty of other really cool ones out there!

also, for what it's worth i did eventually find that really banger morpho magolor design i'd mentioned seeing before, and it was by @deafeninggardenerpanda here and also here. i could not possibly design anything that slaps harder than this one does. the shape language. the colours. the fkn... the tails on the cloak. the style of the hood. the single antenna. delicious.

anyway. the fact that chrysalis au focuses on bandee because he is My favourite little guy (or at least tied for it, with magolor) is kind of the point! you can make your own aus about your own morpho magolor headcanons that have nothing to do with mine and aren't beholden to my ideas in any way!

if you're simply curious about what i would creatively do with magolor in this sort of situation wrt traitor magolor in particular, i don't see any reason why morpho couldn't obtain the traitor form. i'd probably go with either...

1: it simply arrives later and possesses traitor magolor. traitor magolor, and perhaps especially soul magolor, is arguably only passably alive in the first place, so i think the butterfly wouldn't have any difficulties with reaping him. he'd presumably also already be fighting kirby, so if morpho's goal is to battle kirby, easy segue. 2: it puppets the already possessed morpho magolor towards the crown and makes him put it on his head without permission. imo there's a high chance that morpho knows exactly what would happen, far more than magolor ever did, so it would likely engineer the circumstance to obtain the increase in power from the crown.

while i don't think the crown poses a risk to morpho itself, i'm not sure if it would particularly enjoy battling the master crown for control of the body it's possessing. the power hike would have to be well worth the effort. i suppose worst case scenario (for morpho at least) is that it would just ditch whatever was left of traitor/soul magolor, and go on to the next body.

#best of luck with your AU!!! you should simply have fun with it and write whatever brings you personally the most joy! #that's what i do!! #also if you are ever wondering why it takes me a while to answer some asks it's because i have over 75 in my inbox rn!! #actually once i answer these two it will be precisely 75. and i earnestly want to get to all of them. but... yknow. takes time! takes time. #i'm planning to do some big batch answers over the next month tho so hopefully that'll help! #asks #morpho

[kaneni09]

These are some concepts I made for ladybugs transformations, based on the existing transformations in the show, aqua bug, ice bug, and Cosmo bug.

In my miraculous rewrite the Kwami's don’t need food power ups to get extra abilities. I don’t have an issue with this writing choice, I just feel like it’s a bit unnecessary and also make Tikki and Plagg look restricted when they’re supposed to be beings with God like powers.

Instead Tikki and Plagg can conjure these extra powers whenever specific circumstances arise, and instead it’s the miraculous holders who transform their suits to better fit the scenario.

Let me know what you think of these designs and feel free to give any suggestions on how I could improve them.

Below is just some extra exposition for these redesigns

(Fyi under each outfit is the same grey spandex suit with red spots for body protection)

🏊‍♀️🐟🌊 Aqua bug’s cannon suit is the least offensive in my opinion, the added details of the pink fins and scaly suit was a nice touch. Despite this though her outfit it still very samey to her regular suit, so I wanted to change it up a bit. My Aqua bug wears a red one-piece swimsuit with pink sparkly trim, she still has her transparent pink flippers, and her hair is now tied in a bun with a sparkly pink scrunchie. I think the simplest way to explain the vibe I wanted is that: cannon aqua bug looks like a fish; my aqua bug looks like a cute scuba diver.

 🏂⛸❄ Ice bug’s cannon suit infuriates me, I know that with the 3D animation its more costly to make new models but c’mon, they just stuck white fur to her skintight suit, overlaid her suit with snowflakes and gave her a tiara like :/ how is that supposed to keep her warm. ALSO, why the ice skates, yes in that one episode with the ice-skating Akuma they came in handy, but other than that when would she ever need this power up. Fun fact ladybugs are very vulnerable in the cold; it triggers their hibernation instincts, so I wanted to play into that a bit. Ladybug becomes sluggish in the cold so to cope she has a fluff lined coat and boots, mittens and a fluffy beret. And if she needed ice skates, she could just create some. To summarize: cannon ice bug looks like a Disney on ice reject, my ice bug looks like someone dressed for winter.

 👩‍🚀🛸🌠 Finally, Cosmo bug…I hate it. She is still wearing the exact same ladybug suit just with a different coloration, a jet pack just glued to her back and the worst offender, a helmet…that doesn’t even cover her whole friggin head, chat noir oh yeah, he gets a proper functional helmet, but ladybug NOOOO she needs to have her hair and ears showing otherwise she won’t look pretty enough. I was very inspired by the space age fashion craze from the 60s, as well as another French co-produced cartoon Atomic Betty. Ladybug dons this sturdy combat dress, with her belt buckle serving as a holder for her magic compact, paired with funky space boots. Her helmet covers her entire head and is a transparent pink glass with pinkish white spots covering the whole surface; her wings are made of the same material and magically sprout from the spot on her back. Overall cannon space bug looks like a knockoff power ranger, my space bug looks like a fashion forward astronaut.

#miraculous ladybug #MLB #ladybug #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #ml art #ML fanart #ladybug redesign #marinette redesign #ml rewrite #miraculous ladybug redesign #aqua bug #ice bug #cosmo bug #Kaneni art #kaneni posts

[lambjock]

Did you see Lavendertowne’s Hasbin redesigns? What did you think of them?

hi there! so i'll be honest, i originally saw the thumbnail for her hazbin redesign video and sorta avoided it, seeing as i'm not a huge fan of redesigns for the show given how commonly that ties into 'lol my art is so much better!' which isn't something i like to see as an artist. but i was curious because of this ask and i sought it out, and while lavendertowne has taken the video down due to many reasons, i'll still repost the designs i found here and give some brief commentary.

so! uh, i don't like these redesigns much. as others have already said, they're too human looking for my liking ( which is, ironically, one of my biggest complaints about the women's designs in the show! ) and they've lost most of their unique features or quirks. alastor for example has lost all his deer attributes completely, which isn't the worst thing ever i suppose, yet he wasn't given a new animal motif -- and the radio demon aspect also wasn't leaned into? at all? besides the ear piece but that's more modern & goes completely against the character's whole thing. i actually don't mind the new color pallet here other than the fact he looks more whitewashed than usual ... hmmm. and these issues are prominent in angel dust and vaggie as well, losing their animal motifs ( a spider and a moth respectively ) plus being stripped of unique traits. to be more specific, angel dust hardly looks like he works as a porn star or that he used to be in the mafia, and vaggie's exorcist eye is completely absent. i wouldn't bring this up if these aspects of them were shown in different ways, but as it stands they've just had these parts taken away and now there's this sort of empty hole, one that's been filled with a blandness. just not a fan!

for charlie and niffty, i don't think they look too bad ?? honestly, charlie's redesign is pretty good! i like the circus motif in her outfit and more lion-looking appearance ... she's sharper, a contrast to her softy personality which could make for some good development or characterization. though the crown (?) isn't something i'd keep, seeing as she isn't someone who likes reminding the people of hell about her power over them, unless it's in a compassionate manner ( aka, you're my people! ) ,,, still, i don't loathe it or anything, since i do love crowns and this one is a little more demonic looking than its actual design <3 niffty on the other hand is fine. just fine, i think. i don't like the monochrome look for her much since i believe the yellow-pink color scheme adds a lot to her overly enthusiastic personality, offset by her extreme love of violence ... but it's not bad! i suppose i have no real complaints. wish she looked more like a 1950s girlie, like with the famous poodle design on her skirt, though i could see the merit in removing it for this new take on her appearance.

all in all, these redesigns are not for me! i'll end this with a disclaimer that in spite of my distaste, i don't hate lavendertowne or anything like that. normally i love her work, or at least watching it. this is just my opinion <3

#my posts. #asks. #i didn't see the video but i guess my question from these designs are : did she watch the show? #not just clips but the actual thing. like did she know these characters in any deep ( or just a really good surface level ) sort of way? #this feels like she knew the barest minimum and had seen the critcisms about the art and then tried to fix it #without much care to the characters themselves #like. did she hear 'too much red' and wing it? 'too many pinstripe suits or suits or bows'? #obviously this isn't bad and she can do redesigns just to do them but it's an interesting observation to make! #anyway thanks for the ask! it was a pleasant surprise but a welcomed one lol

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I'm surprised no billionaires have ever tried to build Captain Nemo's Nautilus to live a self-sufficient life at sea. It could never work, but that's the exact kind of mad project that someone like Elon Musk would cook up to waste money if space travel weren't in vogue right now. Nuclear reactors can run for years before needing to refuel, and modern subs can make their own oxygen from seawater, so they can stay submerged for as long as their supplies last (the record is 111 days set by the HMS Warspite in 1982-3). I don't think a sub could stay underwater forever by fishing for all its food, but then again I'm a rational adult with common sense and the ability to recognize the impossible, while a billionaire just wants his neat toy to work no matter what. It's like that Australian guy who wanted to build a replica of the Titanic and a "real" Jurassic Park with lifesize animatronics, and gave up after he realized they would take a lot more time and money than he imagined at first impulse.

Thing is, as funny as it would be to watch someone like Musk try snd fail to build the Nautilus, there's no incentive for him to do it. All his half-baked ideas are designed to fail from the start because the failure is the point; there's always a benefit to his failures. The hyperloop was never really supposed to exist, he only hyped it up so California would cut funding for high speed rail. SpaceX rockets explode more often than they succeed so they're not really gonna take anyone to the moon or Mars anytime soon, this program is just a blank check from the government so the US could hypothetically launch military supplies anywhere on Earth within a couple hours. A real life Nautilus would have to be some scam, a cover for something heinous like a prison camp for the homeless straight out of some 80s sci-fi dystopia movie, or a cartoonish distraction from horrors of war like an underwater drone program or American terrorists privateers attacking fiber optic cables and gas pipelines owned by eastern companies.

The eccentric billionaire is a myth designed to make the worst human being you could possibly imagine look like benevolent innovators who want nothing more than to Propel Humanity Into the 22nd Century Today™!

Tony Stark isn't real. Nobody alive is like him, nobody ever was, nobody ever will be.

#nautilus #nautilus submarine #captain nemo #nemo #jules verne #20000 leagues under the sea #the Nautilus #eccentric billionaire #elon musk #tony stark #hyperloop #spacex