#king steve takes over again and he’s just known as that nice dork who’s also captain of like three sports teams | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

superw3nch · 3 years

Text

weak and weary | Billy Hargrove

The one where Billy realizes these cold nights in Hawkins aren’t so bad now that he isn’t alone.

Billy’s been going over to Sinclair's house every Sunday for the past month now and for the first time in a long time, Billy has been happy. Like really fucking happy.

He didn’t prance in a prairie happy but he was playing his music a little louder on the way to school happy. Not complain as much when Max asked for a ride somewhere happy, but still, complain a bit because that’s just what he does. He did not give Harrington so much shit at basketball practice happy.

Because for the past month he had something to look forward to every day. And that was Sundays at the Sinclair’s in Charles’ garage fixing up that piece of shit car, even though it was getting better now.

It also meant Charlie.

Seeing her more dinners have become less awkward now and she wasn’t glaring at him the entire time, so he thinks things are going good. Erica was still Erica and gave him shit every time she saw him come through the door. He didn’t really mind, she was a good kid. When she felt like being one.

Lucas was almost as hard to crack as Charlie. He wouldn’t really speak to him at first and Billy was too scared to initiate a conversation, yes scared. He, Billy Hargrove, was scared of the scrawny little 12-year-old boy. Per se.

More like he was scared of the fact that if he did say something and it’ll be the wrong thing then Charlie and her parents would hate him all over again. He couldn’t do that, couldn’t go back to that. Not to Neil and his closed fists, that cold home where his only company was his record player and sometimes Max.

He needed those Sunday nights in that garage to make him feel sane. So one day after school he caught Charlie just as she was about to make her way to Steve’s car. Because she was always with Steve now since Jonathon was always with Nancy. She briefly mentioned that at dinner once and it’s the only reason he even knows it.

“Hey, Charlie.”

She turned towards him and for a second Billy forgot how to breathe. Because now Charlie doesn’t look at him like he’s the devil, but she looks at him like he’s Billy. And sometimes.

“Hey California,” She smiled and Billy really thought he was going to die. Like how does she just do that? How does she just smile at him like that and look at him with those eyes and just give him nicknames like they’ve known each other forever? “Wassup.”

Billy blinked. “I actually need your help with something.” His hands went into the pockets of his pants. “Or like advice really.”

She raised a brow but didn’t say anything which kind of made him nervous, but Charlie always makes him nervous, so. “It’s about Lucas as you know I’m not really the best at talking things out.” She laughed and normally Billy would've been irritated, annoyed even but it’s Charlie. “I just-- how do I get Lucas to not hate me?”

Charlie stared at him for a moment, and he got scared because shit did he say the wrong thing? Did a month's worth or work just go down the drain in a fucking second because he didn’t know how to talk to a goddamn girl?

“I don’t think he hates you,” She finally answered, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders and Billy sent her a spectacle look, she caught it. “Honestly I don't. I just think it’s more of a grudge at this point.”

“A grudge?”

“Yeah you know like when someone beats your score on your favorite game.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

She sighed deeply through her nose. “Walk with me, California.” and he did walk with her from the school to the parking lot. Walked so close their arms brushed and he couldn’t concentrate on anything but that.

“Lucas is a lot like me.” She Continued some of her hair catching in the wind exposing more of her face. “He may forgive but he doesn’t forget and honestly I never thought you would make it this far so that’s saying a lot.” She turned to him and smiled at the last part and he tried not to stare. “Just keep doing what you’re doing I’m sure he’ll come around.”

“It worked on me though,” Charlie pointed out just a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she looked over at him. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“Counts for a lot, Sinclair.”

Charlie smiled like he said the right thing, and he pauses for just a second. Cause no one ever looks at Billy that way. No one ever has a smile, a genuine fucking smile, just for him. It’s always those looks, or sneers, and even snickers. But no one ever fucking smiles at him. But Charlie. And it’s a lot.

They were at his car now and it made Billy frown because that meant Charlie would be leaving. This conversation would be over and he wouldn’t have an excuse to talk to her again until Sunday dinners. And he didn’t know if he could make it all the way till Sunday dinner.

Because those small smiles in the hall weren’t enough anymore. Holding her stupid hand during that prayer wasn’t enough anymore. He needed more. More of her smiles. More of her looks. Just more of her. So.

“Hey what are you doing right now?”

“I-I was going to hang out with Steve,” At the mention of Harrington he had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Because yes of course she would be with fucking Steve. “But I don’t have any plans Friday. If you’re free.”

He was supposed to hang out with Tiffany or Tina, he honestly couldn’t tell them apart. But. “Yeah no, I’m free.” And Billy had to take a chance to process that information, cause really this was a lot. Charlie Sinclair, who rightfully hated him a month ago, had just agreed to hang out with him.

And he wanted to play it off and be the cool guy, like always. But. Billy thinks maybe she would’ve never agreed but for some reason she did. And it meant a lot. A smile was beginning to grow on his face as he looked at the brown girl.

But as quickly as it came it was gone because one loud, alarming honking horn echoed across the parking lot. And Charlie jumped surprised, they both turned to find the source and. Yeah of course it was King Steve sitting in the driver's seat of his car.

“Let’s go, Charlie!” He hollered from his car. “The kids are waiting!”

And Charlie she, gave him this annoyed look. But like the thing is Billy he’s seen that look before. At least he thinks he has maybe once or twice directed at him. Which it shouldn’t even bother him really, but it does. A lot.

“I have to go before he blows a fuse,” Steve honked again, this time longer. Which now was beginning to annoy Billy. For more than one reason. “But can we discuss the finer details later?”

Billy sent a glare at Steve, which he gladly returned. Cause yeah even though Charlie was kinda nice to him now the same feelings didn’t resonate between the boys. Which makes sense cause it’s not like Billy didn’t break a plate over his head.

“Yeah but I don’t have your--”

“I know your number,” Billy gave her a look. “My brother is literally dating your sister.”

And what ?

Yeah, Billy knew that Max was close with that little ragtag team of prepubescent dorks, but dating one of them? It had never come up at any dinners, or maybe it has and he’s just been that checked out at the dinner table. But he feels like that is something he should be at least vaguely aware of.

“Oh god, you didn’t know?” Charlie was laughing now and Billy could not find out what was funny. And Steve wouldn’t stop honking that fucking horn so he couldn’t even think. “Look I will call you tonight, California.”

And that wasn’t fair. She had called him that stupid nickname that makes it hard to breathe and was walking away before he could even get anything out. But Steve was still giving him this smug look. And he was still pissed off about the honking and the look . So.

“I’ll be waiting on your call, Sinclair.” He shouted across the parking lot making sure everyone, mostly Steve, could hear it. And based on the look King Steve was giving him he heard him loud and clear.

Billy smiled. Steve glared. Charlie rolled her eyes.

Billy realizes now that Charlie never told him when she would call him. Just that she would. So because of that Billy has been sitting next to the phone for the past 2 hours waiting on a call from the Sinclair household.

And it's just. How did he fucking get here? How did he turn into the guy who waits by the phone? He was never that guy. But now he’s waiting by the stupid fucking phone, for the stupid girl to call him. To call him. Which is so fucking stupid now that he thinks about it.

And he would’ve just gone into his room and blasted his music like always. But it’s Charlie. So he sat in the living room watching, but not really, tv until he heard the stupid thing ring. And since he's been home it’s only rung twice.

Once for had been a telemarketer which he told to fuck off. And the other had been a friend of Susan’s who had called for the recipe of her broccoli casserole. Which he doesn’t know fucking why compared to anything Mrs. Sincalir cooked she didn’t hold a candle. But Whatever.

Billy sat on the end of the couch, the one closest to the phone, almost asleep really. This was one of the rare few days where Neil wouldn’t be home till around dinner time so the house didn’t feel as oppressive as normal. Meaning Billy didn’t actually have to hide in his room till dinner. He could roam the house without being terrified he’d upset him.

It was nice and Susan wasn’t the worst company. Coming in every once in a while asking him if he wanted any snacks. He’d say no of course but it was a nice gesture he could acknowledge that.

Just then Max came through the front door kicking off her shoes and greeting her mother. The red-haired girl stopped as she saw the sight of Billy on the couch, probably surprised. And Normally Billy wouldn’t even say anything to her, but then he remembered what Charlie had said to him in the parking lot. So when the girl had sat on the other end of the couch. He kinda just blurted it out.

“So you're dating Lucas Sinclair?”

And Billy had to stop himself from laughing, cause Max looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel from how red she was turning. “Who told you?” She hissed sending a look at her Mom who was preparing dinner.

Billy shouldn’t be enjoying this, but he can’t remember that last time he’s seen Max so worked up. “So it’s true then?” He laughed resulting in her throwing a seat cushion at him, he caught it with ease.

“I can’t believe you,” She huffed, arms crossed tight. “How did you even find out?”

Billy shrugged, not really seeing a point in lying. “Charlie told me.”

Max blinked, confused. “Why the hell would Charlie tell you anything?” There was no real malice in her voice, just genuine confusion. He wasn’t offended.

“Don’t worry about it,” Billy Chided. “So you and Lucas. How long have you two been, uh, a thing?”

Now Max was looking at him like he had grown a second head, and Billy couldn’t blame her. He was never the best brother, honestly, he was probably the worst. But he felt like he didn't know, they didn’t have to be total strangers while he was here. He wasn’t expecting Max to answer him; she had no reason to really, but she did.

“Since the Snow Ball,” The small girl confesses never turning to meet Billy’s eyes. “We’ve been dating since then.”

That’s been what a month, little less than that maybe. Billy doesn’t really know. He can’t even remember the last time him and Max had even sat down and talked. It probably was way before that night. Long before they even moved to Hawkins. Billy has never been an active factor in Max’s life, just her chauffeur and not by choice.

They didn’t act the way the Sinclair kids did with one another. They probably never would if he was being honest, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like feeling like a stranger in his own home.

“Lucas, told me you’ve been coming over for Sunday dinners,” Max spoke after a beat of silence. “He said his Dad really likes you too.”

Billy couldn’t help but smile at that because it was nice to know that everyone could see it too. See how well he and Charles got along and thankfully it all just wasn’t in his head.

“I’m helping him fix up this old car,” Billy shrugged. “Nothing really.”

“Yeah, but why did you go?” Billy turns to look at the girl to find her staring right back at him. And he forgot just how intense this kid could be sometimes. “I mean after what happened with Steve.”

And that was the million-dollar question wasn’t it? Why had Billy Hargrove done the right thing for once in his life? He doesn’t regret it not at all because he loves working on that piece of shit car in the garage. Love those Sunday dinners. Loves not being treated like a burden.

But why?

He could argue that it was the drugs they gave him. Messed him up so bad it made him right. Or he could argue it was being hit in the head with a shotgun so maybe it knocked something back into place because Neil knocked it out of. But the truth. The truth was it was Charlie Sinclair.

The girl had managed to crawl under his skin and press every button he had, and ones he didn’t even know about. In the following weeks of that night, she would look at him. That old look that he has almost forgotten about, but it broke something in him. He doesn’t know what couldn’t even put it into words. But it drove him to her porch that night.

It made him apologize. It made him work.

Now he couldn’t tell Max that because they weren’t there. He wasn’t the best with his words and opening up to his 12-year-old step sister? No, not today. So.

“I was a piece of shit,” Billy explained. “So I apologized.”

That wasn’t enough for the redhead though. But Billy really didn’t feel like having a heart to heart right now so when that phone finally did ring he jumped from the couch. Managing to beat Susan there which she sent him a look cause like, why would he run to the phone? And he didn’t need to look behind him to know what Max was thinking. But the phone was ringing.

Billy ran a hand through his hair and picked it up on the third ring.

“Hargrove residence.”

“Hi I’m calling looking for Billy,” Charlie chorused and Billy could almost picture her smile. “He’s about yeah high. Mullet. Rarely ever in a shirt unless it's about freezing.”

“Very funny, asshole.” She was laughing now and he had to stop himself from smiling cause Max was now openly staring at him from the couch now.

“I know you laughed.” He didn’t but he wanted to. “Also did Max make it home ok?”

Billy turned to look at the said red-headed child, who turned a second too late back to the tv. “Yeah, Max is ok.” He smiled at the back of her head before turning his back. “Why?”

“Nothing just checking,” She hummed. “So Friday what were you thinking?”

And yeah Billy had been thinking but it was nothing he wished to divulge over this phone call. Truthfully he had no idea what to do with a girl like Charlie. He knew what to do with Tina's and Carol’s because everyone just wanted the same thing. He had no idea how to be alone with a girl and just be alone with her.

“Why don’t you pick.”

“And they say chivalry is dead.” She mused and something in her tone made him worry. “How do you feel about the outside?”

“It’s cold and I hate it.” He answered honestly cause yeah not only did the people in Hawkins suck but so did the fucking weather. Yes, he is aware that it’s January, almost February, but did it really have to be so fucking cold?

“Sounds perfect.” She chorused. “Bring a jacket, a heavy one and you’ll be fine.”

“I didn’t say yes.”

“Well, you’re not saying no either.”

And yeah he was definitely worried now.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes then,” She continued. “Come pick me up at 6 from work ok?”

“I don’t even know where you work.” Billy started and he could feel a headache coming. “And do I get to know where we are going since I’m driving?”

“No,” She sang and if it was anybody else he would’ve been annoyed. “It’s a surprise, California. And I work at the arcade. You know the one you constantly take your sister to?”

“I’ve never seen you there before.”

“That’s because the second Max closes the door you speed off like a bat out of hell, Hargrove.”

Which yeah ok that was true.

“Yeah ok I can do that then.”

“Great,”

And Billy knew the conversation would be coming to an end soon. But he just wasn’t quite ready for that yet. He just wanted to stay on the phone with her for a little bit longer. So.

“Uh, how was your evening?”

What was he fucking Dracula all of the sudden? How’s your evening come the fuck on really. He wanted to punch himself in his stupid face.

“Uh, fine it was fine. Just watched a movie with Steve and the kids.”

He didn’t like the way she said that. Steve and the kids. Like they were an old married couple. He didn’t like it and he was mad at himself because he shouldn’t care.

“What movie?” Why can’t he just hang up the damn phone?

“Night of the living dead.” She answered. “So if Max has a nightmare feel free to yell at me.”

Billy doubted that would ever happen. He probably gets them more than her. He’s never even seen her cry let alone be scared of anything.

“Will do.” And he needed to hang up this phone before he said something stupid. But he really just couldn’t. But then.

“Lucas, what are you--”

“You’ve been on the phone for 30 minutes!” There was a struggle and had it been that long already? “Tell Steve you will call him back later!”

“This isn’t Steve you little asswhipe.”

“Who cares I need to call Max!”

“You literally just saw her for fucks sake!”

“Steve, Charlie will call you back later ok?” It was Lucas yelling into the phone now and Billy wanted to laugh cause yeah this was funny. “I just really need to talk to my girlfriend before she breaks up with me again ok?”

“This isn’t Steve,” Billy finally spoke turning over his shoulder to sneak a glance at Max. “It’s Billy.”

“Billy?”

“Yeah.”

“You were on the phone with Charlie?”

“Yeah,” Billy chided. “Can you give the phone back for a quick sec then I’ll put Max on?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Lucas stuttered.

“Hello?” Charlie’s voice came through.

“I think we better get off the phone,” Billy mused. “Seems like we’re getting in between something.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. See you at school tomorrow.”

“Bye, Charlie.”

“Bye, Billy.”

He pulled the phone away from his ear motioning it to Max. And again she gave him a confused look, “It's for you, Maxine.” And begrudgingly she got up to get the phone but Billy was already retreating back into his room to hide for the rest of the night.

Neil had gotten to him that Thursday night.

It had been a stupid fight really and at this point, Billy doesn’t even know why he tried to fight back. Neil always wins.

He’s lucky now he supposes because Hawkins is such a small town and people talk Neils learned not to go for the face. But now his body was a map of black and blue. And like it shouldn’t bother him anymore he should be used to this. Friday was around the corner and so was Sunday he had something to look forward to.

But that night.

That Thursday night before he would see Charlie he couldn’t sleep. He stayed up all night crying in his rooms wishing he was dead.

He didn’t say anything in the car on the way to school with Max. He never did after nights like this. She knew why no doubt she heard why.

And Max would send him these looks from the passenger seat, that he pretended not to notice. She looked like she wanted to say something, anything but maybe she was too scared to. Maybe she was like Billy where he always thought he would say the wrong thing.

But when they got to the school parking lot she gave him a soft ‘ Thank you ’ but her eyes said ‘ I’m sorry .’ ‘ I hate him too .’ and ‘ not even you deserve this. ’

And yeah at that point Billy could barely keep it together. He couldn’t go into the school and pretend for 8 hours that everything was ok. He didn’t want Charlie to see him like this. Even though it’s Friday and he should be happy.

So after he watched Max go into the front doors of school he left.

It was hard to find something to do all day in Hawkins because this town really didn’t have shit.

Small corner stores, even smaller, shops, a shitty diner that could at least make a good burger. But he wasn’t particularly hungry today, honestly, the thought of eating was too much. So he went to the only spot he knew in this fucking town that made him somewhat happy.

He went to the border.

Stared at the sign that said ‘ Now Leaving Hawkins ' for hours. Cause yeah maybe hopefully one day he would be gone. Back home in California where it was never cold. Where the sun was always out and beaches were always open. Where there was no Neil.

And yeah it sucked cause he was stuck here till graduation. So Billy sat in his car. Staring at the sign. And he cried.

He did go back to pick up Max from school.

He didn’t want Neil on his case again about her finding her own way home and like Max shouldn’t have to find her own way home if he was there anyway. And he felt better now, maybe. He got as much of it out as he could and he felt fine. Ok. Normal. His normal.

So as he sat out there in the parking lot waiting for Max to come through the school doors he wasn’t really paying attention to anything else. His music was blasting and he was smoking those cigarettes he liked so much.

So when someone knocked on his window, he almost jumped. It pissed him off and he was just on edge enough as is so he turned to tell whoever this was to fuck off. But when he turned he saw those stupid brown eyes he's been thinking about all day.

“Hey, Hargrove.”

And Billy he wanted to pretend that seeing Charlie wasn’t a breath of fresh fucking air. But Charlie was everything he needed right now and more. Just what the doctor ordered.

So he turned his music off his music and rolled his window down, cause he wanted to hear everything she had to say. “Missed ya at school today,” She quipped brown eyes scanning over him trying to see what was wrong, but she wouldn’t be able to. “Everything ok?”

No. It was not fucking ok. But.

“Yeah just had to deal with some shit,” He shrugged. Some shit he’s been dealing with his whole life but like, that’s not important.

Charlie leaned forward forearms pressed against the side of his car. Invading his space and it just wasn’t fucking fair. “We don’t have to hang out tonight,” She offered. “If you're not feeling ok.”

And Billy he just kind of froze. Cause she was so close. He could smell whatever perfume she had on and it was making his head swim. “No, I’m fine.” He reassured her, but the look on her face told him Charlie wasn’t buying it. “I’m better. Looking forward to tonight even if you're dragging my ass out in the cold.”

Charlie smiled then so bright like the California sun and Billy had to remember how to breathe.

“Ok then. I’ll see you after work.”

“You will.”

“6 Oclock sharp.”

“Not a minute late.”

Billy had shown up early.

15 minutes early to be exact. He had run Max around in between, got some spare parts that he and Charles might use to stretch out the time. Picked up another pack of cigarettes cause he blew through half of them today. Got a few beers and he kinda wished he knew what was Charlie’s favorite brand. But whatever.

So now he’s sitting outside this stupid arcade, in the parking lot going on his second cigarette because yes he was nervous. He doesn’t know why. He just is and it pisses him off. And like he’s sitting out here waiting for her to come out counting in this head the 1,001 ways he could fuck this up.

He’s made it this far albeit not entirely unscathed. But he’s fucking made it.

Charlie wouldn’t have even agreed to hang out with him unless she wanted to. She doesn’t do anything unless she wants to, he remembers. And she’s willing to spend her Friday night with him. Billy Hargrove. Not King Steve, or weird little Byers, not even that Priss Nancy. But him. So yeah. That has to mean something.

He let his cigarette dangle between his lips as he looked in his side mirror yet again, brushing back curls that he felt were too unruly. Making sure he didn’t look as bad as he felt. And even though it is barely 6 o'clock it's already dark out.

Charlie came out at exactly 6:02.

He managed to give himself one last look in his rearview mirror, ‘ Don’t fuck this up ’ before she got into the car. Charlie turned to him, brown eyes twinkling and a smile still just as bright.

“Are you ready for the best night of your life?”

Billy took one last huff of his cigarette before flicking it out the window. “Lead the way, Sinclair.”

Somehow her smile grew and his stomach churned. He started the engine and peeled out the parking lot like hell on wheels.

“When you said the best night of my life I imagined something completely different.”

“Oh come on this isn’t that bad,” Charlie hummed from the hood of his car beer in hand. “This is literally one of the best spots in Hawkins.”

Billy stared out ahead of him looking at the murky depth of the quarry, unphased. He took a swig of his beer.

“Then how come I never heard of it?” He quipped digging his free hand deeper in his pocket because the cold was nipping at his skin now. And yes he did wear a thick jacket as requested.

Charlie laughed and it sounded like bells. “Cause you hang out with uneducated trolls like Tommy.”

She wasn’t wrong about that. The only thing they did together was drink till they couldn’t remember the night and make stupid decisions. And that was just a Tuesday for them. Fridays were even worse because usually, Billy was conscious of the stupid decision he was making.

“What, is this your spot?” He remarked, tone light. “Is this where you bring all the guys or am I just that special?”

Charlie smiled, taking another sip of her beer. “I don’t think I ever brought anyone here besides, Jonathan.” She admitted honestly followed by a light shrug.

“Wait, you and Byers?” Billy wasn’t prying honestly; he was just genuinely curious about her. Because outside of family dinners they don’t speak. He doesn’t know much about her besides the fact that Tommy and Coral can’t stand her.

She raised an eyebrow. “ What ?”

“You and Byers,” He reiterated. “Were you two--”

“Oh my god , no.”

“Never?”

“Never,” She repeated sternly, hands going to her face. “We are quite literally Best Friends.”

Billy made a face. “But you two were always together,” He added, and literally everyone just assumed they were something cause he followed her around like a lost puppy. Never could find one without the other. Attached like glue.

“Yes, because we are best friends,” She continued. “And Jonathon was never good with talking with people. And I never liked talking to people so. We just clicked.”

He mulled over what she said, looking forward. Took another sip of beer before he spoke again. “Did you ever think about it?”

Charlie turned to look at him. Hand rubbing the back of her neck and the other swirling her beer.

“Once. I thought about it once.” She answered honestly, taking him by surprise. “Think he did too at one point, but we never did anything about it.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know, scared?” She offered. “Afraid it’ll go wrong probably. We’ve known each other since grade school so if we did it and it went wrong,” She exhaled deeply, her breath becoming a cloud in the cold. “It could ruin everything.”

Billy concluded that Jonathon Byers was a fucking moron and took a large gulp of his beer.

“It worked out for the best anyway,” She said. “He’s happy. I’m happy. What more could I ask for?”

He didn’t say anything after that looking at the quarry waters that were just as black as night. Seems to reflect the stars in the sky like a mirror. It was nice he’d give her that.

“My turn, California.”

Billy’s stomach churned but he put on a brave face. “I’m an open book, Sinclair.”

“You’re many things, Billy, but open is not one of them.” He laughed at that, something small but it was enough to draw her attention. “So what’s California like?”

“Fucking warm for starters,” He sniffed trying his best to hide from the cold in his jacket. Charlie smiled at him. “The sun seems like it’s always out. You can smell the salt from the sea in the air. I don’t know, it just seems like anything is possible there.”

“You miss it.”

It wasn’t a question. Billy finished off the last of his beer before grabbing another one from where the case sat in between them.

“Yeah, more than I care to admit.” He divulged opening a new can. “I miss the ocean. Could stay on the beach for hours just looking at it.”

“What’s it like?”

“Uh, ya know it’s a shit ton of water.” He wished he was better with words. “It can be scary. Currents could take you under if you’re not careful. But it's beautiful.”

He remembers the days his mom used to take him out surfing. He'd always convince her to let him stay out there a few extra minutes. He rolled his eyes at the memory taking a sip of his can.

“Why do Tommy and Coral hate to see you coming?” He asks, suddenly catching her off guard he didn’t mean to. Just didn’t want to think about her.

“I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you,” She laughed. “It’s because I used to kick his ass every day when we were kids.”

And Billy blinked. Cause there’s just no way. Charlie caught his look and laughed even harder. “No seriously when we were younger he loved picking on Jonathon, so I--” She snorted. “I would beat his ass.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, no ask anyone.” She takes the last sip of her beer. Not going for a new one quite yet. “I remember distinctly putting his little ass in a headlock on the playground cause he fucked up Jonathon’s art project and tried to pretend it was an accident.” She was laughing again, this time hard. “The teacher had to pry me off him.”

Billy was joining her in laughing too now. Cause just the image of a small Charlie giving Tommy absolute hell was enough for him. But Charlie had this type of laugh that made you want to join in too.

“Ah, fuck,” He chuckled as Charlie wiped the corner of her eyes. “Ok, so Carol what’s the story there?”

“Do not judge me,” She reached in between them for another beer. They were down to three now. “Coral hates me because Tommy was my first kiss.”

Billy choked mid-sip at that. “No fucking way.”

“It was a moment of weakness.”

“You just said you used to beat the shit out of him,” Billy chuckled, wiping droplets of beer off his chin. “How did it even happen?”

“Uh, 7th-grade spring dance,” She offered brown eyes shining even in this dark night. “It was behind the bleachers. Carol, of course, had a crush on him so she was livid.” Charlie shrugged. “Hated me ever since.”

“She makes it seem like you tried to kill her puppy.”

“Yeah, well that's cause she’s a bitch.”

Billy laughed, taking another sip of his beer.

“Who was your first kiss?”

Billy raised his eyebrows. “If you repeat a word of this to anyone I’ll kill you,” She crossed an X over her chest and Billy’s eyes lingered at the action. “Stacy Holloway. I was 12, dumb, and in love.”

“ The Billy Hargrove was smitten?” She teased and he couldn’t help but chuckle before murmuring a shut up, continuing with his story.

“This is so stupid but I asked her to go for a walk with me on the pier one day, for whatever reason she agreed.” Billy fiddled with the ring on his finger. “I held her hand on the walk there and,” He sighed harshly through his nose. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this, fuck it. I timed it so we would get to the end of the pier at sunset and that’s when I kissed her.”

“That is the cutest shit I ever heard.”

“Charlie, I swear to--”

“No, honestly!” She laughed. “Who knew you could be such a sweetheart?”

Billy scratched at his temple. Stomach churning but he ignored it and took a long swing of his beer, knowing it was half gone at this point.

“You’re next.”

“How do you expect me to follow that?”

“Charlie.”

“You just gave romance authors a run for their money,” She insisted between sips. “I got nothing to beat that. The closest thing you get to romance in Hawkins is guys trying to put their hands down your pants at the movies.”

“Ok fine,” Billy laughed. “No romance. What’s your favorite band?”

“Blondie.” She admitted without missing a beat. “Jonathon is actually the one that introduced me to them. May his taste in music never waver.”

Charlie took a large gulp of her beer at that. Billy smiled as he watched her do it.

“So I’m gonna say something while I have the liquor running through me as an excuse,” She admitted turning to him. He could only make out half her face, it was so dark out. “I don’t know what made you apologize that night but I’m glad you did.”

Billy’s stomach churned again but this time he couldn’t ignore it.

“I can admit in the beginning I gave you a hard time but you kept coming back.” Those stupid brown eyes were holding him in place and he couldn’t turn away if he wanted to. “My parents love you, Erica tolerates you,” Billy had laughed at that. “And Lucas I think is finally warming up to you.”

“What qualifies as warming up?” He asked with a raised brow because the kid still won’t say a word to him.

“When you’re brought up in conversations he actually engages now instead of pretending you don’t exist.” She admitted smiling like this was a grand improvement.

“You bring me up in conversations?”

“That’s not the point I was trying to make, California.” Turning her face away so he can’t see it. He won’t push it but he’ll be saving that one for later. Hopefully another time.

He took a small sip. “So what is the point then?”

She stared out into the quarry this time.

“I like having you around.” She admitted so quietly he almost didn’t catch it.

It was a small admission. But it was enough to make his world stop spinning. Charlie Sinclair liked having him around. Liked having him around as much as he liked being around. It made the bruises on his body not ache so much. Made his ears ring. Because maybe, just maybe. It could be more.

Suddenly it wasn’t so cold in Hawkins anymore.

He cleared his throat and his mouth was dry. “I like uh, coming around.” He grimaced at the sound of his voice and decided to just finish his beer cause maybe that’ll help.

“Good, hoping you’ll stick around for a while.” She tucking a strand of hair behind her ear now. “My Dad would be really sad if you didn’t.”

Maybe it was the cheap beer that was making him a little braver than usual. It made him not second guess himself so much. So he kinda just.

“Just your Dad?”

She paused for a beat. Looking up at him through her lashes. Billy wasn’t even aware he was leaning forward slightly, maybe to get a better look. Maybe to inch his hand closer to hers on the hood of his car. Maybe.

Her lips parted to answer him and he couldn’t pry his eyes away from them.

But then there was a flash of blue and red. A Police siren and they jumped away from one another.

“Shit,” He cursed, quickly throwing his beer can into the woods. He grabbed Charlie’s and the girl let him take it. For a brief moment their hands touched but Billy didn't even have a chance to process it because a cop was making his way towards them.

“Wait, Billy, I think--”

The sheriff got out of his car shining that obnoxious flashlight in hand and Billy had to cover his eyes. “What are you kids-- Charlie?”

Charlie grimaced. “H-hey, Hopper. How’s your night going?”

Hopper looked between Billy and Charlie then to the beers scattered on the ground before he answered. “You know, same ol same old. And you?”

“Ah, you know.” She laughed. “Just catching up with my buddy, Billy.” She clapped a hand on his back and Billy stumbled forward at the action. He sent her a look and she just nodded her head towards Hopper.

“Hello, Sir.”

“Hargrove,” He regarded him with an overall unimpressed look.

He turned back to the smaller girl and Billy was relieved. “Charlie, are your parents aware that you are here. Alone. With a boy. Drinking, what I’m hoping is canned sodas.”

Charlie rocked back on her feet. “Yeah, they know all about, Billy.” She elbowed him in the side. “Don’t they, Billy?”

He knew when to take a hint.

“Yeah, The Sinclairs know,” He offered his best smile to the gruff-looking cop. “They know we are here.”

“Right so here’s what we are going to do,” Hopper mumbled clicking off his flashlight. “I am going to get in my car and drive away. Then you, Hargrove, are going to take Charlie straight home. Do I make myself clear?”

“Cyrstal sir.”

“And drive the speed limit with her in the car.”

“Yessir.”

“Thank you, Hopper!” Charlie called from next to him and the old man just waved a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment before getting in his car and leaving the clearing.

Billy turned to Charlie. “What the fuck was that?”

“What was what?”

“The sheriff,” He clarified. “He just let us go.”

Charlie shrugged, grabbing the leftover beers off the hood of his car. “Well me and Hopper are pretty cool so yeah.”

“You’re cool with the cops?”

“Cop, singular.” She corrected him as if that made a difference. “Honestly we got lucky it was him and not dumb and dumber. Those two would’ve definitely given us tickets.”

Billy patted his jacket down for his keys but did not find them. He heard a jingle and looked up just in time to catch them as Charlie tossed them his way.

“Now come on, California.” She ushered already making her way to the passenger seat. “We got about 15 minutes before Hopper is driving down my street making sure I actually made it home.”

Billy made it back to her house in 10.

Could’ve been five but he regarded Hopper’s warning about going the speed limit. He only had 3 beers and was only the slightest bit buzzed but he rather not risk it. It was about 9:40 when they pulled up to the Sinclair household didn’t even seem like they were out there that long.

But Charlie wasn’t rushing to get out of the car and he wasn’t forcing her to go.

So.

“This was fun,” She admitted with a laugh. “Before Hopper showed up I mean.”

“Yeah, it was,” Billy’s finger drummed along his steering wheel. Nervous. “We should do this again.”

Her eyes were on him again. “I’d like that.”

“Cool,” He bit the inside of his cheek. “But next time I pick the place if that’s okay.”

“I’m sure I’ll live, California.” She reached for her backpack. “Well see you Sunday?”

“Yeah, Sunday.” He hoped it didn’t sound as awkward as he felt. “Goodnight, Charlie.”

“Night, Billy,”

And she turned to leave one foot on the sidewalk but she turned back towards him at the last second. “Right ok I forgot to tell you this,” She stammered. “But I’ll be sad too.”

Billy blinked so very confused.

“Ok wow really have to spell it out for you.” Charlie bit her lip and normally he would’ve felt insulted. “When you asked if just my Dad would be sad.” She clarified. “I wanted to tell you if you ever stopped coming around I’d be sad too.”

Oh.

Fuck. His stomach was churning again cause now he didn’t have the beer to calm him down. He was just his stupid self in front of her and he’d never thought, never dreamed of what to do in a situation like this.

And Charlie was looking at him with those stupid brown eyes waiting for him to say something, anything. But he couldn’t for the life of him get his mouth to form words in this singular moment. It was like he was physically glitching.

Billy tried his best to smile and hoping this awkward pause wasn’t as long as he actually thought it was. “Thank you, Charlie.”

That must’ve been the right thing to say because now she’s smiling at him and he can’t breathe.

“Ok I’m gonna head inside then,” And just like that she was gone, making her way across the dimly lit yard to her front door. Turning around to send him one last wave before heading inside and like the dumbass, he is he waved back.

When she went inside Billy sped off.

His chest felt light, he couldn’t stop smiling, he was just so fucking happy. He had this Friday and hopefully the next. He had those Sunday’s in the garage with Charles.

Now he had Charlie.

55 notes · View notes

marvelslut16 · 4 years

Text

Milkshakes and fries

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!reader

Synopsis: Y/N and Steve take Dustin to the snow ball and get to know each other while they wait to pick him up. The two have a heart to heart over milkshakes and fries, will the two ever be more than just Henderson and Harrington?

Word count: 2140

Warnings: Swearing, there’s some but I don’t think I made Dustin swear enough. Oops.

“Dusty!” you call to your little brother, who is getting dressed for the snow ball. “Harrington is here!”

“Give me a goddamn minute!” he hollers back.

“Language!” mom joins in on the yelling.

“Dumb ass,” you laugh quietly as he walks into the kitchen. “But don’t you look handsome,” you smile down at him and push a rogue curl out of his face.

“Can you ride with?” he looks up at you, there's a vulnerability in his voice that you’ve never heard before. His eyes are huge and giving you the puppy dog look, he’s trying to use humor to hide his nerves.

“King Steve is taking you,” you frown. “Why would you want little old me getting in the way of your bromance?”

“Because you’re my big sister,” he admits quietly. “Plus I want a girl’s opinion.”

Every part of you wanted to say no, to just send him off with Harrington so you could change into pajamas and watch TV with your mother. But you also heard the bad advice that Steve gave him to ignore Max and be borderline rude to her.

“Fine,” you sigh, grabbing your coat that's draped over the back of one of the kitchen chairs.

“Thank you,” he cheers throwing his arms around your midsection.

“Mom, I’m taking Dustin to the dance,” you inform her as you walk through the living room to get to the front door.

“I thought that Harrington boy was taking him,” she frowns at you, from her seat on the couch.

“He is,” you sigh and slip your coat on before zipping it up.

“I asked her to go with for the ride,” Dustin walks up behind you. “She’ll probably go do something with Steve until it's time to pick me up.”

“I never agreed to that,” you hiss at him.

“You just did,” he grins grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the door. “Bye mom!” he calls over his shoulder.

“Henderson, Henderson number two,” Steve greets the two of you as you head towards his car.

Dustin shoves you the passenger's seat door, as he heads to the back of the car. You begrudgingly take the seat next to Steve “the hair” Harrington.

“Which one of us is Henderson number two?” you try to break the silence a few minutes into the ride.

“Dustin,” Steve takes one hand off of the wheel to run it through his hair. “He is the younger one,” he adds with a slight shrug.

“That’s bullshit!” Dustin calls from the back.

“Now now Dusty, watch your language,” you mimic your mom. Steve laughs at your imitation as Dustin flips you the bird. “Love you too little bro,” you laugh.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Dustin whispers to himself as Steve pulls up in front of the middle school.

“Hey,” you say softly, turning to face Dustin. “You’ll be a little heart-breaker in there. You look handsome, and you’re the sweetest guy I know. Once you get passed all of the swearing, that is.”

He smiles back at you, but you can practically hear him chanting shit in his head. “You have to say that,” he finally breaks the silence. “You’re my sister.”

“I don’t have to do anything Dusty, even if we’re related. I’m just telling you the truth.”

“So remember when you get in there,” Steve joins the conversation.

“Pretend I don’t care,” Dustin finishes.

“You don’t care,” Steve shakes his head.

“I don’t care,” Dustin repeats.

“There ya go, you’re learning my friend,” Steve smiles at him. “You’re learning.”

“Don’t listen to him,” you cut in.

“That’s great advice!” Steve defends.

“That’s terrible advice!” you squint your eyes at the driver. “Just be confident Dusty.”

Dustin leans forward, ignoring your arguing with Steve, adjusting the rear view mirror so he can check his hair and face.

“Hey,” Steve whines since Dustin is messing with the angle of the mirror. “You look great. Listen to your sister and me, we’re practically adults. We know this stuff by now. Now, you’re going to go in there, look like a million bucks, and you’re gonna slay em dead.”

“Like a lion,” Dustin agrees, before purring.

“Yeah, don’t do that,” Steve cringes slightly.

“C’mon (Y/N/N), back me up,” Dustin looks at you.

“Sorry kiddo,” you give him a slight smile. “I agree with Harrington for once.”

“Okay,” Dustin sighs. He gives the two of you one last look before heading into the dance. You both watch as he walks in and hands his ticket to Mr. Clarke.

“So what do you want to do now?” Steve asks, driving away.

“You can drop me off at home, I don’t want to impose on King Steve’s time,” you look down and twiddle your fingers.

“Or we can go get something to eat,” it almost sounds like there’s a hopeful lift to Steve’s voice. “I could really go for a milkshake.”

“Milkshakes sound good,” you agree quietly.

“I’ll have a chocolate milkshake and an order of fries please,” you smile up at the waiter.

“I’ll have the exact same,” Steve tell him. As the waiter walks away your booth is once again plagued in awkward silence. “So what do you want to do after graduation?” he asks.

“I’m not really sure,” you finally admit out-loud, it was eating away at you whenever your mom would talk about grades and graduation. “I always planned on going away to school, moving away from this town. But with everything that’s happened these past two years, there’s no way I can leave Dustin here. I’ll probably just get a job at the arcade or something. Save up enough money to move out eventually, or wait for some guy to notice me and we can start our nuclear family.”

“I’m sure Dustin would understand if you left,” Steve leans forward, and gently grabs your hand. “You clearly have so much love for him, but you need to do the things that you want to.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” you laugh humorlessly. “You, you’re set for life Harrington. You have the house, the money, any girl you could ever want-”

“They’re all interested in Billy now. Or Jonathan,” he sighs and looks at his hands.

“The point is, you have the luxury to be able to go off and find yourself, I don’t.”

“Money isn’t everything Henderson,” Steve’s brows furrow as he looks at you.

“Obviously not, I’m happy with next to none,” you you match his look. “But it does help in the long run. Plus you don’t have a little brother you would be abandoning.”

Before Steve can respond the waiter comes back with two milkshakes and a giant plate of fries. You thank him and immediately take a sip of your drink. The waiter winks at you before retreating to behind the diner counter. You miss the frown and glare Steve sends the man.

“What did happen between you two?” you sober up immediately and Steve chokes on his shake. “You don’t have to answer that! I was out of line-”

“So what about you?” you ask before biting into a fry. “What does post high school life look for King Steve?”

“Ya know, find a girl and start our very own nuclear family,” the two of you start to laugh. “Honestly? I have no idea. I was prepared to follow Nancy wherever she wanted to go, but we see how that turned out.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” he gives you a small smile. “Nancy and I were never really a good fit, especially because a part of her hated me because she blamed me for Barb.”

”But that’s not fair,” you frown at him. Dustin had filled you in and told you that Barb was sucked into the upside down through Steve’s pool. “You never wanted any of that to happen.”

“And,” Steve continues. “I let Tommy H. and Carol say some pretty bad things about both her and Jonathan, I don’t blame her for choosing him.”

“You should have stopped your friends, but you aren’t a complete asshole. You deserve to be happy too,” you dip a fry into your milkshake.

“So what about you?” Steve questions, shifting in his seat.

“What about me?” your brows furrow.

“Tell me about your love life woes,” he grins cheekily.

“Uh,” you play with the hem of your shirt and stare down at the shiny tabletop. “There’s not much to say, I don’t really have people interested in me.”

“That’s bull,” he jaw drops a little and his eyes slightly widen.

“Tommy H. and Carol used to spread rumors about me, but you already knew that. They said terrible things about my mom and how she was raising Dusty and me alone. They made fun of how I dressed, and the way I look. They even went as far as saying horrible things about Dustin,” your eyes start to water at the memories of their cruel words. Words that occasionally haunt your dreams, as stupid and weak as that may sound.

“I never knew it went that far,” Steve’s voice softens, as he reaches over to squeeze your hand that's once again sitting on the table. You pull your hand away from him and shrink back into the shiny vinyl seat.

“But you still knew they made fun of me, and you just watched,” you frown at Steve. “That’s just as bad as being the bully Harrington. I’m really glad that you have this strange friendship with Dustin. He needs an older guy to look up to, so don’t screw that up.”

“He’s a good kid,” Steve smiles at you. “He’s taught me quite a bit in the short time that I’ve known him. He’ll be a way better guy than I was in high school. And (Y/N), I’m sorry for everything that Tommy H. and Carol did to you. I should have stopped them, I just never had the guts.”

“Thanks Harrington, that actually means a lot.” you softly smile at him.

The rest of your time at the diner went by quickly as the two of you joked and told stories from your childhood. Maybe Harrington wasn’t as bad as you assumed he was. He was actually a total dork, and kind of nice.

Before you knew it, you were back in his car and speeding to the middle school to pick Dustin up. You were laughing at some lame joke that Steve had just told you as Dustin slips into the back.

“I see you two had a good time,” Dustin smiles, looking between the two teenagers in the front.

“Harrington took me to get milkshakes and fries, so it wasn’t completely horrendous,” you grin like an idiot.

“You liked my jokes, just admit it,” Steve grins back at you.

“They were terrible,” you start laughing.

“They weren’t that bad,” Steve murmurs as he starts to drive.

“So Dusty,” you turn to face your little brother. “How was the dance?”

“I got to dance with Nancy!” a huge grin splits his face. Dustin has had the biggest crush on Nancy Wheeler for years now. However, you can’t bring yourself to be too excited for him, because of the man driving the car. You turn to face Steve nervously, you expect to see a clenched jaw and a white knuckled grip on the wheel. But what you see shocks you, Steve is leaning back in his seat and he lets out a little laugh.

“Well I’m sure it was great practice for prom,” Steve grins at Dustin through the rearview mirror.

“Steve, you should take (Y/N) to prom,” Dustin smirks.

“What?” you choke on your spit.

“It’ll be fun,” Dustin wiggles his eyebrows at you.

“I’m not even going,” your eyebrows furrow as you stare at Dustin.

“Why the fuck not?” he matches your frown.

“First of all,” you give him a disapproving look. “I have no one to go with, and you can’t force Steve-”

“Steve huh?” Dustin’s eyes twinkle in humor at the change from Harrington to Steve.

“Am I really that bad?” Steve turns to face you as he pulls into your driveway, there’s hurt written across his features.

“No!” you insist. “I just don’t want you to be forced to go with me.”

“So you’re saying that if I asked you would say yes?”

“No, probably not-” Steve cuts you off.

“Because you hate me?” his frown deepens.

“I don’t hate you!” your voice starts to rise out of nerves. “I would totally go with you, but-”

“So it’s a date,” Steve shoots you a goofy grin.

“What just happened?” you wonder as Dustin laughs from the back. Steve grabs your hand and places a gentle kiss on it, before winking at you.

“I just got a date with a beautiful and intelligent girl,” he grins from ear to ear.

Part 2

Permanent Tags: @crimson-knuckled-queen

#steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #dustin henderson #steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington x you #stranger things #Stranger Things Season 1 #stranger things imagine #stranger things season 2 #stranger things season 3

580 notes · View notes

steve-hairingtons · 5 years

Text

best friends... right?

word count: 1.8k

WARNINGS: sadness, emotions

(i referenced the office at one point during this, if you’ve seen it you’ll know what i’m talking about. all credit to that goes to nbc and the writers of the office)

You stared in the mirror and studied your features. Your Y/H/C hair and Y/E/C eyes complemented each other well and the rest of your features fit together like an intricate puzzle. You thought you were fairly pretty, but not beautiful. And you wished you were beautiful because you wanted to be enough for Steve.

Steve was your best friend of four years. You’d met freshman year and had been inseparable ever since. You had been through everything together - graduation, the whole Upside Down ordeal, his ‘King Steve’ phase, and his relationship (and breakup) with Nancy.

You knew he never considered you more than a friend. You could feel it in your gut. But you were madly in love with him. You had been for three and a half years. Half a year went by before you realized your feelings, but when you did, they hit you like a brick wall.

It was Halloween of your freshman year of high school. He dressed up as a wizard. He wore a purple and black cloak and carried a staff. He refused to wear a hat, though. He didn’t want to mess up his hair. He was a huge dork about being a wizard and did his best to speak in only Old English the whole night.

The last three and a half years had been absolute hell for you. Every single thing he did only made you fall more and more in love with him. Sure, you had been through rocky times - like when he spray-painted “Nancy ‘The Slut’ Wheeler” on the movie theater. And you resented him for a little while because of it.

But he had you wrapped around his finger and won you back within a week. You couldn’t stay mad at him, as much as you hated to admit it. After all, you were in love with him.

You two tended to stay at each other’s house a lot. At first, your parents were wary about allowing it but became more lenient after a little while. And that night, Steve was coming over to your house to stay with you.

You were already laying in bed reading a book when he knocked on your door.

“Hey,” he said as he walked in, laying his stuff down on your desk.

“Hey.”

“How was your day?”

He always asked this question. He was always genuinely interested in how your day was, which only helped you fall in love with him.

“Eh. It could’ve been better. Yours?”

“Same.”

“You liking the new job?”

After Starcourt burned down, he began working at FamilyVideo with Robin.

“Yeah,” he said in an unconvincing voice with a shrug. He walked over and plopped down on the bed, lying flat on his back next to you. “But I kinda miss slinging ice cream. It was easy.”

“FamilyVideo can’t be that hard. All you do it ring people up.”

“Yeah, but I have to stock tapes and shit.”

“Again, it can’t be that hard.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t even have a job.”

“I babysit for the neighbors! That’s enough for me, and I get paid more than you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine.” You smirked at him. “I have some news,” he said, excitement suddenly prominent in his voice.

“Do you?”

“I met this girl.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, your heart dropped. “At work. She came in and rented like twelve tapes. I made some dumb joke and she thought it was hilarious. She gave me her number. I spent like three hours on the phone with her yesterday.”

You nodded as nicely and convincingly as possible. “Th-That’s great! What’s her name?”

“Julie. She’s our age. She’s beautiful too.”

“Wow. I’m-I’m happy for you.” Sadness was laced in your voice, and he seemed to notice.

“Are you okay? You don’t seem very happy for me.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Y/N, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying. You can talk to me.”

You sighed. ��Seriously, Steve. It’s fine. I don’t feel like talking about it.” He reached over and snatched your book out of your hands, and you groaned. “Give me that back.”

“Not until you tell me what’s up.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, too bad.”

You sighed. “Fine, just... give me the book back.” You reached out and he handed it to you.

“Now, tell me what’s up.”

“We’re best friends... right?” you asked after a few seconds.

“Well, of course, we are.”

“Just best friends?”

“Um... I don’t know if I understand.”

You stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. “Steve...” You physically couldn’t make yourself say what you were trying to. I’m in love with you, you thought. But your brain refused to make your mouth form those words.

“What?” You didn’t answer. “What is it, Y/N?”

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.

“Steve... I... I’m in love with you.”

As soon as the words left your mouth, all you wanted was to take them back. You knew you had just ruined your friendship with Steve, which you didn’t want.

You looked over at him to see a shocked and empathetic look on his face. And as soon as you saw it, you knew he didn’t feel the same.

“I’m really sorry if that’s weird for you to hear, but... I needed you to hear it.”

“How long?” he asked simply.

“Three and a half years.”

“Y/N...”

“And-And I understand if you don’t feel the same, but... god, I’m in love with you. Desperately, hopelessly, deeply, madly... fucking in love with you. And I’ve tried to suppress those feelings, I really have. But every time you play with your hair, or drop something, or trip over your own feet... I can’t help it. And I know we’re supposed to just be best friends, but... It’s like a pit or a hole in my heart that’s only filled when I’m around you.” You could feel tears welling up in your eyes. “And it’s embarrassing because the moment I realized it was freshman year Halloween. When you dressed up as that wizard and refused to wear the hat because you would mess up your hair, and you only talked like Shakespeare. And when I realized it, I went home and cried. Because I knew you would never feel the same about me.”

You looked over at him to see he was also staring up at the ceiling. He was silent, which made you nervous.

“Jesus. What a bombshell.” He reached up and rubbed his eyes. “I-I’m sorry, Y/N. I just... I don’t feel the same.” You nodded and let a tear drip down your temple as you looked back up at the ceiling. “You have no idea...”

“Don’t do that.”

“What your friendship means to me.”

“No. I don’t want to do that. I wanna be more than that.”

“I’m really sorry if you misinterpreted things. It’s probably my fault.”

“Not your fault. I’m sorry if I... misinterpreted our friendship.”

“I should get going,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” you whispered.

“I’m sorry.”

And with that, he had his shoes on and was out of your bedroom. You were alone, and that’s when the real tears started. Within just ten minutes, your pillow was soaked in salty tears.

Two weeks had passed since you’d talked to Steve, or even seen him. It was weird not seeing him every day. It was like something was missing. You didn’t get out of bed for three days after you confessed your feelings to him, and your mom almost called Steve to get him to come to talk to you. But she decided against it, as it would probably just make it worse.

You hadn’t babysat for the neighbors since that night, either. You isolated yourself and usually didn’t even speak to your mom. Robin called every single day to check-in, and you answered the phone occasionally.

Occasionally.

You didn’t answer much because every time you heard her voice, you would break down in tears. And she would just listen to you sobbing, just comforting you when you needed it.

It wasn’t until you were out one day buying groceries that you saw him again. He looked messy. He had bags under his eyes and he was starting to break out. But god you were still attracted to him.

He looked up at you a few seconds after you noticed him from the other end of the aisle. When you made eye contact, you could feel yourself starting to cry. Your face went red and your legs turned to jelly.

You turned around and walked off quickly, leaving your cart behind. You stormed out of the store, feeling a presence following you. When you finally got to your car, which was parked a little ways away from the building, you felt a hand around your arm that pulled you back.

You knew who it was without looking. You could recognize his large hand from anywhere. You turned your head to look, only to be met with the sad eyes of your best friend.

“What do you want, Steve?” you asked, pulling your arm away.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice cracking. “I miss you.”

“Yeah, I miss you, too. What do you want?”

“Listen. What you said... that was a wake-up call for me. After I left-”

“Abruptly, without warning. Leaving me all alone.”

“When I was driving home, I got to thinking. You’ve always been there for me, through thick and thin. When I fuck up, you’re always there to comfort me. I always have a pair of arms to hold me when I’m sad and a bed to sleep in when my parents are fighting. Always. And I’ve been too stupid to look in front of me and see that. And, now that I think about it, I remember that when we met... I had the biggest crush on you. But I figured you didn’t feel the same, so I forced myself to overlook you. But now... all those feelings are resurfacing. And they’re hitting me hard. You’ve been there for me from the start, and you’re everything to me.”

“How do I know you’re not just saying this out of guilt?”

“Because of this.”

You watched him step closer and cup your face, pulling you closer and connecting your lips. You instantly kissed back, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck.

Three and a half years. You waited three and a half years for this, and you were finally getting it. You savored every single millisecond of it, kissing him deeply.

When he pulled away, you looked up at him. He smiled at you before pecking you quickly on the lips.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should’ve realized sooner.”

“You think?”

“I love you, Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

“I love you, too, Steve Harrington.”

send me prompts!

#steve harrington #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x reader fanfic #steve harrington x reader fanfiction #steve harrington x reader imagine #sfw #stranger things #one shot

160 notes · View notes

mysticalreadingnerd · 6 years

Text

Machetes and Near Death Experiences (A Steve Harrington x Reader imagine)

Words: 5286

Summary: Being a babysitter for the Party requires a full set of abilities. Battling inter-dimensional monsters, being a machete swinging pro and managing a bunch of dorks with a penchant for attracting danger being just a few. Add Steve Harrington to the mix and things get a lot more interesting.

Warnings: swearing, violence, Dustin being a sassy cutie

Disclaimer: I don't own Stranger Things or any of its characters. This is merely me turning my wishful thinking into reader insert imagines. GIF credits to the owner.

“Harrington?”

No answer.

“Harrington, what do you think you’re doing?”

Still no reply.

“Hey this ain’t funny, dammit!”

You weaved a frustrated hand through your hair as you watched the former King of Hawkins High leave the safe haven of the boarded bus in a bid to ‘expand the menu’ as Dustin put it. “Stay here and whatever you do, don’t open the door unless I tell you to.” You ordered the kids in a no nonsense manner and they merely nodded. They knew you enough from previous babysitting sessions to not mess with your instructions. Gripping your machete tightly, you followed the low growling that was slowly filling the night air. “Y/N what are you doing here? It’s not safe...” “Exactly asshole, you need someone to watch your back here. I won’t let you turn this into a suicide mission”, you answered as a demo-dog entered your field of vision. Steve took its jump head-on, the baseball bat landing with a sickening crunch. “That was easier than I had...” another snarl interrupted his sentence as more beasts appeared out of the fog. “3’O clock! 3’O clock!” Lucas shouted and all Steve could do was utter a low “fuck”, as another beast jumped on you both. Snarling with razor sharp teeth, its face opened up in a macabre parody of a flower. Pushing Steve out of the way you swung the machete in an upward motion, slicing half of the petalled horror clean off. You had known this Upside Down shit was no laughing matter when you encountered it last year while babysitting the boys. Keeping El a secret had been a bitch but you had managed, somehow. So the Party knew they could trust to be handy when things started getting strange again. You were no telekinetic Mage like El but you could slash your way through with a machete alright. It was no surprise really, when Dustin showed up at your house with Harrington no less (that pairing had been odd but who were you to judge), asking for your help regarding certain ‘pet’ problems. Turns out, pesky pets were actually demogorgon hounds masquerading as slugs. Code red could have justified one demo-dog, what you weren’t prepared for were a dozen more menaces appearing out of nowhere. “I thought you said there was only one!” you screamed as Steve rolled off the hood of a rusting car, kicking off another demo-dog. Too many. There were too many to hold off. “Steve! Y/N! Abort! Abort! Abort!” Dustin shouted and you guys didn’t need more incentive to abandon a plan which had been foolhardy from the very beginning. The door was thrown open on your shouts and quickly slammed shut just as one of them lunged at the bus, crashing on the door and sliding down. A thrashing limb tried to get in and you heaved the machete, putting your strength behind the swing as you repeatedly clobbered it until it slinked right out. Steve readied his nail ridden bat and you huddled the kids behind you, switching the machete to your other hand. “You think they can bust through the door?” a loud thud echoed off the roof, answering your question. “Shit!” This was followed by a scream from Max the one closest to the ladder, when a demo-dog reared its ugly head through the roof. Steve pushed her towards you and landed a solid hit with the bat. But more kept coming, making him retreat towards you. He clutched your hand blindly, tightening his grip once he found it as if saying a silent goodbye and you started fearing the worst. You hoped you could at least shield the kids before they took you down, when the monsters suddenly withdrew. All of them. With Harrington in the lead, you gingerly opened the door and stepped out to investigate. The coast seemed clear for the time being. “What happened? Lucas asked. “Steve scared’em off? Dustin sounded hopeful. “No. No way”, he replied, “They are going somewhere.” Steve pointedly stared in the distance before shaking his head and looking at you, checking for any signs of injuries. “You okay?” you gave a small nod. “You?” “Peachy”, he answered. Sighing in relief, you took a step towards him. His expression softened on seeing your approach and he was about to say something when you interrupted it by hitting him on the arm. “OW! What the...” Another hit, this time harder. “THAT HURTS!” “It was MEANT TO!” you screamed, huffing loudly at his stupidity. Sighing, you said in a deathly calm voice, “You dare try another heroic stunt like that again Harrington and I won’t just use my fists next time”, you brandished the machete in his face. Steve put up his hands in surrender, nodding in awe. “She’s so cool!” Dustin exclaimed, earning a weird look from Lucas and Max. “Okay. What do we do next?” Lucas asked, finally letting go of Max’s hand. “We need to find out where they went. If they were called back, maybe we can find the source of it and come up with a plan on how to deal with them”, you replied, wiping the machete with your hand, trying to get the blood off. Steve stared at you for a bit longer than necessary, absentmindedly answering, “Yeah, yeah you’re right.” You trudged up ahead with Max and Lucas as Steve and Dustin brought up the rear. Following the sounds that echoed off in the distance was your best bet. More like, your only lead. “Dude, did you see how she swung that machete at the demo-dog? That was pure art in motion!” Unknown to you Dustin raved on, repeating the same movements, swinging with an imaginary weapon albeit much more clumsily, stumbling in the process. “Watch your steps, Henderson.” Steve warned. But he couldn’t have agreed more as his gaze unwittingly watched your shadowy figure walk with an arm slung over Max and Lucas’ shoulders, the machete tucked at your waist, its blade glinting under your plaid shirt. He had been expecting that darn monster to be sweepingly fast but he hadn’t been prepared to face a dozen salivating horrors. He would never admit it out loud but never had a woman looked more attractive than you swinging your machete to slice off inter-dimensional creatures. Dustin noticed his gaze on you and chuckled, “You getting sappy, Steve?” Snapping out of his daze, Steve replied, “Shut your trap, dipshit.” He hadn’t expected to be attracted to someone so soon after what happened with Nancy. Let alone start falling so fast and so hard. It made him wonder whether what he had felt for her was love to begin with. It had been all fuzzy butterflies and tumultuous emotions with Nancy, more feelings than actual understanding. Whereas with you, he got a sense that everything was much more real, as if he could never be more grounded and aware than when he was with you. He had been swept away by Nancy’s perfection, failing to see the cracks that had developed in that facade over time. On the other hand, he was awed by your ability to transform imperfections. You owned them as if they were worthy laurels to be worn with a head held high. But all this over thinking was in vain. There was nothing between you and him, he mused, and it never would be. Even though a part of him hoped otherwise. After all, you were Y/N L/N, a machete swinging, protective badass in plaid. You didn’t do sappy nonsense like romance. Right?

Steve couldn’t have been more wrong. You crouched in a corner of the Byers’ living room wondering what exactly you had gotten yourself into. Bob Newby’s death had come as a shock to all of you. You had interacted with him twice or thrice while babysitting Will and he was one of the nicest people you knew. Slightly weird but nice. You couldn’t come to terms with how someone so good could be with you one moment and gone the next. Your gaze slid over to Steve Harrington as he sat with the boys, a sombre silence blanketing the room. With his perfect hair, kind eyes and warm smiles that brightened even your sulky mood, that beautiful bastard had managed to worm his way into your heart. God! You had hated the way your stomach became all tingly when he had clutched your hand and hovered protectively in front of you, braving the onslaught of a dozen demo-dogs. Brave and stupid nonetheless, but it was the thought that counts, right? You watched as Max sat next to you onto the floor. “Hey” you murmured. She had been taking all this surprisingly well considering she didn’t have as much time to adjust as you had. “Hey. You think this will work?” she gestured vaguely at the scattered papers on the table, ‘close gate’ scrawled across one of them. You merely shrugged, “It’s as good a plan as any. If there’s anyone who could beat that Mind Flayer, it would be El.” An awkward silence grew at the mention of Eleven. Not wanting it to continue, you asked, “You okay?” she muttered something under her breath. “What?” “I said, Eleven probably hates me.” You smiled at that and shook your head, “Nah, I doubt it.” She furrowed her brows, “How can you be so sure?” “Well, for one, I literally had to keep these idiots out of danger last year”, you gestured to where Mike, Lucas and Dustin were sitting. “Also, think about it. She was the only girl among them and then she had to leave these dorks for the longest time, only to find you amongst them. Maybe all she’s feeling is insecure, worried that you will replace her.” “But I’m not even part of the party. Mike specifically said so”, she mumbled the last part. “Oh don’t take him to heart. He’s just been miserable without El, missing her for so long. He’s been in a crappy mood with every one of us.” You gave her hand a small squeeze, “They’ll be fine, trust me. Just give them time.” Max pondered over your words before giving you a toothy grin. “Thanks Y/N! Dustin was right, you are pretty cool.” “Don't you mean pretty and cool?” you looked up to see Steve hunching over you both, obviously having heard your conversation. “Was that a lame attempt at flirting, Harrington?” you smirked, though you had to admit you were pleased on the inside. “Really? Is that the best you can do, man? I thought you could do better than this!” Dustin complained from his place on the couch. Pink dusted Steve’s cheeks as he placed the dish cloth he had been holding on his shoulder. “Hey. Hey. Hey. Don’t sass me you little shits. Let’s clean up this mess. Better than sitting in one place and just waiting for them to come back.” Everyone got up one by one, ready to clear up. Steve offered you a hand as you were about to get up and when you took it, a small smile bloomed on his face. “You are good with this,” he said, pulling you to your feet. “What do you mean?” his touch lingered on your hand as if not wanting to let go. Or was it just something you had imagined? “With Max. With the kids. You’re good with handling them, considering all this.” You found a smile tugging at your lips. Steve intertwined his fingers with yours and you found that you didn’t mind it at all. His smooth fingers filled the gaps between your calloused ones perfectly. “Yeah? You aren’t half bad, Harrington.” “Half bad?” he sounded affronted. “I’m a pretty damn good babysitter!!” Your laughter rang out through the room at that and unlike other girls (he had to admit you were unlike any other girl he had ever met), who giggled or gave high pitched squeals, this was a throaty laugh, rich in timbre and echoing from the heart. Steve found himself mesmerized by the sound. He wanted to hear more of it and above all, he wanted to be the reason for causing it. “Okay, if you two love birds are done canoodling and giggling, can we do some actual work here? Steve, need your help with somethin’.” Steve reluctantly let go of your hand, cursing under his breath about burying Dustin with some unwanted demo-dog bodies. You proceeded to clean up the shattered glass along with Max, noticing for the first time how restlessly Mike had been pacing the whole time. “Mike, would you just stop already?” Lucas tried to reason. “You weren’t there, okay Lucas? That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs!” Mike argued. “Demo-dogs!” Dustin corrected from the kitchen. “The chief said he’ll take care of it!” Lucas bit back, exasperated at Mike’s behaviour. Steve tried to simmer down the argument in his own misguided way, using ball game jargon. Mike was visibly irritated and voiced it out aloud, “Okay. First of all, this isn’t one of your stupid sports games and secondly, we aren’t even in the game. We are on the bench!” Steve sputtered out, “So- so my point...is...” you held your head in your hands, this was getting ridiculous. “Right, yeah, we are on the bench, so, uh, there’s nothing we can do.” He again placed the dish cloth on his shoulder. “That’s not entirely true”, you looked at Dustin, intrigued as he spoke about how the demo-dogs had a hive mind, basically connected to the Mind Flayer and if they were called back, the lab would be obstruction free for Eleven to close the gate. “Yeah, and then we all die!” Steve exclaimed. “Well, that’s one way of looking at it.” Despite yourself you chuckled, earning a grin from Dustin and a glare from Steve. ‘Sorry’ you mouthed at him. Mike started off about distracting the dogs by setting the hub of the tunnel on fire and the rest of them were pumped about the idea, completely ignoring you and Steve. “Hey.” They ignore him again. “Hey! Hey!” This had gone on long enough. You gave out a shrill, piercing whistle calling their attention to you. Silence fell in the room and all pair of eyes were trained on you, “I believe Harrington wants to say something.” “Thank you Y/N for that kindly interruption. This”, he pointed at them, “is not happening.” “But...” “No buts. We promised that we’d keep you shitheads safe, and that’s exactly what we plan on doing. We’re staying here. On the bench. And we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand? This isn’t a stupid sports game.” Steve paused. “I said does everybody understand? I need a yes.” “We should ask Y/N for her take on this. She can’t be agreeing with him” Dustin proposed, pointing at Steve as if he hadn’t said a single word. “Why are you even asking this? WE”, Steve waved a hand between you two, “are together on this!” “Oh shut it Harrington, we are asking for her opinion not your relationship status.” Steve sputtered incoherently at that. “Yeah, Y/N gets a say. She’s senior sitter, her vote carries more power than your’s.” Mike spoke up. You had been listening to this exchange with mounting annoyance. “Hey shitheads, stop talking about me as if I’m not even here. And that includes you as well Harrington!” you pointed at him with a ticked off expression on your face. You continued, “They aren’t completely wrong...” “Please don’t be actually considering this...” Steve begged. “All I’m saying...” the sounds of an engine revving loudly interrupted you. Max scrambled to the window, fear evident on her face. “It’s my brother. He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.” She looked at you and Steve, just as you both recognised the person to whom the car belonged to. Steve exclaimed, “You are Billy Hargrove’s sister?!” she nodded. You frowned as you motioned to follow him outside. “Y/N stay here.” “If you think I’ll let you go suicide squad again...” “They’ll need someone tough if things go wrong”, he jerked his heads towards the kids.

That was your first mistake. Letting him go out there alone to face that savage Neanderthal named Billy fucking Hargrove. You just wished that King Steve wouldn’t be dethroned by the new Keg King in a fist fight as well. You noticed too late that the kids were crowding in the window when they were supposed to hide. Suddenly they ducked. “Did he see us?” Dustin asked. You closed your eyes and took in a deep breath. This was turning into one hell of a night. You shuffled them into the kitchen and prepared yourself for what was about to come. The door was kicked open with force, as Billy strutted into the room. “Well, well, well. Y/N L/N and Lucas Sinclair, what a surprise.” He looked at you and then at Lucas behind you with a manic glint in his eyes.

“Hargrove, you need to leave this house. Now.” He merely laughed. “Step aside L/N this doesn’t concern you.” He merely laughed. “Step aside L/N this doesn’t concern you.” “Like hell it doesn’t. You stay away from my kids, you understand?” You kept a hand on your machete, prepared for the worst case scenario. He snorted, “Did you and Harrington decide to take the next step and start adopting kids? If so, leave that bitch alone. ‘Cause I ain’t leaving this house without my sister.” “And I ain’t leaving Max with an asshole of a brother.” That was your second mistake of the night. Your sass was going to get you killed one day. Well, who cares, Hargrove had it coming anyway. He laughed out loud as if you had cracked a really funny joke but the mirth didn’t reach his crazed eyes. With a shout he rushed towards you. You whipped out the machete and hit his head with its handle in a bid to throw him off course. The leather grip and your force dealt a sizeable welt to the side of his head. He grunted with the blow but took you down nonetheless. The machete slid out of your grip and fell too far from your reach. Well, shit. The kids were shouting out loudly, telling him to leave you alone but all you could stare at were the eyes of Billy Hargrove as he grabbed your head and struck it against the floor. The pain thundered through your skull, dark spots danced across your vision and all sound turned into white noise. He didn’t give you a moment’s respite, grabbing you by the throat. You were hoisted momentarily in the air before being pushed against the wall. A groan escaped your lips when he choked you, “You should learn to keep that smart mouth of yours closed Y/N, never know who could rip it off.” You crumpled to the floor as he let you go and approached Lucas, slamming him into a wall cabinet with threats of dire consequences on his lips. Had it been somebody else they would have shit their pants. Not Lucas Sinclair. On being threatened, he kneed Billy in the groin. Despite being dazed and disoriented, you were a proud parent. “You are so dead”, the mullet wearing bastard threatened him again before Steve interrupted his tirade, “No. You are.” You were thankful for that as he seemed to have an upper hand in beating Billy out of the house. That was until you saw Steve being clobbered on the head with a plate and subsequently pulverised to a bloody pulp. The white noise was slowly turning into a dull buzz as you stumbled to your feet and approached the pair. “Hey asshole, stay away from my guy!” Billy looked up in time to see your fist rushing to meet his face. Muttering profanities he grabbed you again and returned the favour. You could have dodged that punch, but all you did was smile at the pain, feeling the bruise already blossoming on your jaw. Confused at your reactions, he cursed as the needle pricked his neck. Max had needed a distraction to plunge the syringe, so you gave her one. You left her to threaten Billy with dire consequences, with liberal use of Steve’s bat of course. You crawled towards him, watching King Steve in all his glory, knocked out cold with a bloodied face. God, he had had the daylights punched out of him. Your head pounded and you had a feeling that you were no better than him, though minus a split lip and a slowly blackening eye. You watched Billy promise Max to leave all of you alone and then slump into unconsciousness. They all looked at you as you chuckled, wondering if you had become deranged from his hits. “Did he knock something loose in your head?” Mike wondered out loud. “Nah, I was just thinking that I trained you kids well.” They all grinned at that. You managed to scrap together a few colourful band aids and carefully placed them on Steve’s injuries. That would have to do for the mean time.

Once you reached Billy’s car, you and Dustin somehow squashed Steve on the backseat. You were overcome by a wave of nausea and swayed on your feet. Most likely a concussion, you mused. “Max can you drive? If I attempt to do that in my state, I’ll probably ram it into a ditch.” That was how you found yourselves racing towards the hole Hopper had dug, Max swerving and accelerating at dangerous speeds.

Just as you started thinking that maybe this had been a bad idea, Steve groggily woke up. “Y/N?” he asked Dustin. “I’m here Steve.” He looked at you, before nuzzling into your side. “You look nice.” He felt your chuckle vibrate through his side, if he moved any further, he would be practically in your lap. “Speak for yourself Harrington.” A moment of silence passed before he asked, “Wait did you just call me Steve?” You turned your head to look out of the window, your cheeks flaming red. “What? No! I think you’re still too dazed to think straight.” “Wait, if you are sitting here. Then who’s driving?” His gaze shifted to Max and a chant of ‘Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!’ started. Frankly you don’t really know how you reached where you needed to be. Suffice to say, it involved a lot of shouting, a lot of cursing, one hyperventilating Steve and a smashed mail box. By the end of the ride, you and Steve were clutching each other for dear life.

“I told you, zoomer.” Max said proudly, once you rushed out of the car never more grateful for solid ground. “Guys? Hey guys?” Steve shouted at the kids as they started taking out bandanas and goggles from the boot, ‘protection’ you had insisted would be required if you were to go through with this. You mumbled your thanks to Dustin as he handed you your pair. “Y/N you should be siding with me on this! We aren’t going down that hole! This ends now!” You stared at the ground for a moment before saying, “They are right, you know. I can’t sit there waiting for others to do things knowing I could have done something to help El and Hopper out. And anything goes, even crawling into a slime infested Upside Down tunnel trying to lure flesh eating demo-dogs if that means we can shut this shit down for good.” “You really have a way with words, you know?” Dustin said while giving Steve his protective gear, “Steve, you are upset. I get it. But the bottom line is a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now I know you promised Nance that you would keep us safe. So keep us safe.” He handed him his bat and your machete was thrust into your hands. Steve sighed and took his trusty bat after you gave him a nod. Getting down the hole hadn’t been difficult. Once you landed, the sight that greeted you was hardly scenic. The floating dust particles, the slime lathered pulsing tunnel and the chilly air gave you eerie vibes. It seemed like a piece of hell had been recreated in Hawkins. “Holy shit”, Steve exclaimed. “Pretty cosy, right?” you replied sardonically as the party looked around. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure it’s this way.” Mike shined the torch on the crude map of the tunnels you had drawn. You were glad that Steve stopped Mike and took the lead; these little shits could go running blindly into danger and not even know it. Bringing up the back, you swung the machete in your hand hoping that the demo-dogs would at least let you reach the hub and not make any surprise appearances. Getting there had been fairly incident free if you overlooked a minor hiccup (Dustin being spewed with otherworldly vomit could be considered that, in the grand scheme of things) and before you knew it, you were dousing the hub with all the inflammable liquid you could get your hands on from the Byers’ household. With everyone calling out that they were ready, Steve took out the lighter and flung it into the darkness whilst muttering, “I’m in such deep shit.” For the rest of your life, you would remember how the small flame sailed through the air, almost in slow motion, before landing on the floor and lighting up the room like a bonfire taking to dry wood. Nothing could be more horrifyingly beautiful than an inferno of flames engulfing the slimy tendrils that started screeching on being burnt. “Go, go, go, go, go”, Steve yelled snapping you out of your daze when he pulled you together with him. You quickly ran ahead of the boys, taking the machete out of its place at your waist. Was this how Vikings felt when they launched surprise attacks on enemies? Well, they probably didn’t have someone like Steve Harrington shouting, ‘oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!’ throughout the escape but you wouldn’t have liked it any other way. The euphoria of having burnt an evil shadow monster’s lair pumped through your veins, the frigid air rushing past your party as you ran through the winding tunnels.

That was until Mike’s cries for help brought you to a screeching halt. You changed directions, running back to see him being dragged by the vines. Lucas, Dustin and Max reached him first and tried to pull him out of the vine’s clutches. “Stand back!” Steve swung the bat at it once, twice. You delivered the third blow, cutting it clean from his foot as the shrieking critter gave a few dying wails before flopping lifelessly. You were hoping that that would be the end of your problems. You should have known better. A hungry growl diverted your attention from checking if Mike was hurt and the hair on the back of your arms stood up. A demo-dog stood in front of you in all its slimy, many toothed glory. You made a move to go full Viking on it just as Dustin called out, “Dart?” This was the thing that had been mistaken for a pet?? You lowered the machete as Steve tried to pull him back but he just shushed you guys. You tried to call him back, “Trust me on this!” he replied and you lapsed into silence. Your eyebrows rose up in disbelief as Dustin talked with the creature as if it were a beloved dog returning to its master. You were fairly sure your brows had disappeared into your hairline by the time he had managed to calm the demo-dog with nougat bars and waved you guys to move forward. This night was breaking all previous charts of trippy events but stranger things had been known to happen. You swiftly moved on ahead but a loud rumble shook the ground, tripping you and the others. “What was that?” Max asked. “They are coming. Run. RUN!” Mike shouted from the rear. You all ran like your lives depended upon it as growls echoed deeply from the tunnels, sounding closer and closer as you approached the rope. “There! Let’s go. Go. Go. Go.” Steve steadied the dangling rope while you hoisted Max up and urged them to climb up ahead one by one. You were about to follow Dustin as he was helped up by Lucas and Mike when the growls echoed too closely for your comfort. “Shit” you muttered. Hordes of demo-dogs rounded the corner and filled the tunnel, piling over one another in their haste to reach you. It was too late, you could never make it out in time. This was the end, this was how you would die. At least you both had got all the kids out safely. Your fist gripped the machete tightly, readying it for one last swing. Steve looked at you and gave a solemn nod. You held his gaze and a silent understanding passed between you. Whatever may happen, you would go down fighting. You saw the distance between them and you diminishing at an alarming rate. Running at you at full throttle, closing in on you, faster and faster.... And just continuing on as if you were invisible. Completely ignoring your presence, they roughly brushed past you, almost knocking you off balance. Did they not see that there were two prime steaks standing smack dab in their midst? Steve pulled you in his arms as the tide of demo-dogs made its way around you, disappearing around the corner heading god knew where. As you clutched onto him for dear life, your mind finally registered that you had nearly died just then. You stared at him, not comprehending that the ordeal was at long last over. He gazed right back, holding on equally tightly. As if letting you go would make the monsters come back. As if being nearly run down by literal hell hounds had finally opened his eyes and he was seeing you for the first time. You gave a hysterical laugh and flung yourself into Steve as he buried his head in the crook of your neck, clutching your waist even more tightly than before. You both stayed like that for what seemed like eternity before being interrupted by Dustin. “Guys? Guys, I know it’s literally the end of the world but can you have your lovey-dovey moment after you are safe and out of that hell hole?” You sprang apart at that and let go of each other. Blushing the shade of ripe tomatoes, you climbed up the rope. Once you reached above ground, you slipped your hand into Steve’s, took off the bandana & goggles and gave him a dazzling smile. The headlights burnt bright like two miniature suns, signalling that El had managed to close the gate. He looked at you then, with the fading light reflecting off your sweat and grime stained face. You looked as bone tired as he felt, hair greasy and all over the place. There was a purplish bruise on your jaw that was darkening with every passing minute (Hargrove was going to be so dead once he was done with him). Nobody had looked more beautiful in his eyes. In that moment, Steve Harrington thought that if the end of the world meant you would look at him with such adoring eyes, may be facing ravaging demo-dogs and enduring near death experiences wasn’t that bad of a deal after all.

A/N: My first Steve Harrington imagine! Not exactly sure how this turned out. Please excuse any typos that may have crept in. I love Mom Steve, if you didn't notice. I react to feedback the way Dart acts with Nougat. ❤ ~mystical reading nerd.

1K notes · View notes

m4r-s · 4 years

Text

DIXIE: CHAPTER TWO

AT THE PARTY, ISADORA STOOD QUIETLY WITH NATASHA, every once in a while taking sips from her glass. Obviously she wasn't allowed any alcohol, as she was only 16, so instead, she simply drank from a glass of Sprite.

Isadora never quite enjoyed the parties that Tony would throw. She didn't exactly like being surrounded by such large crowds, especially those full of people she doesn't know. Not to mention the fact that half of them are drunk.

So instead she just took turns hanging out with all the Avengers, staying quiet unless anybody spoke to her.

At the moment she was sitting on one of the barstools as Natasha stood behind the bar.

"So, I know these parties aren't exactly your scene but are you at least having a little fun?" Natasha asked the younger girl.

"Eh. It's better than some of the parties he's thrown. Not gonna lie, I have seen a few old men stare at me, but I know that I could handle them if need be," Isadora explained, smiling while messing with her glass.

"Atta girl," Natasha smirked, pouring a drink as Bruce walked up to the bar.

Bruce nodded at Isadora, taking off his glasses before speaking to Natasha, "How'd a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?"

Natasha sighed, "Fella done me wrong."

"You got lousy taste in men, kid."

Isadora stifled a laugh as she watched the two joke back and forth. It was nice to see them joking around, especially after such a stressful mission earlier the same week.

"He's not so bad. Well, he has a temper. Deep down, he's all fluff. Fact is, he's not like anyone I've ever known."

Bruce glanced at Natasha, a slight look of confusion on his face. Isadora giggled, causing Natasha to send her a fake glare before continuing to speak.

"All my friends are fighters. And here comes this guy, spends his life avoiding the fight because he knows he'll win."

Bruce shook his head, a small smile on his lips, "Sounds amazing."

"He's also a huge dork," Natasha continued, taking a sip of her drink, "Chicks dig that."

She put her drink down, making eye contact with Bruce once more, "So what do you think? Should I fight this, or run with it?"

"Run with it, right? Or did he... Was he... What did he do that was so wrong to you?"

"Not a damn thing," Natasha whispered, "But never say never."

Steve walked over and sat next to Isadora as Natasha left the bar, "It's nice."

"What is?" Bruce stammered.

"You and Nat, you big green dummy," Isadora smirked.

"No, we haven't... That wasn't..."

"It's okay," Steve chuckled, "Nobody's breaking any bylaws. It's just she's not the most open person in the world."

"Saying that is a bit of an understatement, Steve," Isadora mumbled.

"Yeah. But with you, she seems very relaxed."

"No. Natasha, she's just... She likes to flirt," Bruce laughed.

"I've seen her flirt, up close," Steve grabbed the beer Isadora handed to him, "This ain't that."

Bruce scoffed.

"Look," Steve continued, "as maybe the world's leading authority on waiting too long, don't."

"Never thought I'd say this, but the antique's right, Bruce. You don't wanna miss out on her. She's great, in general, and for you. I promise," Isadora said, wrapping an arm around Steve's shoulders, having to stand on her tip-toes to do so.

"Shut up. The little brat's right though, you both deserve a win," Steve smiled. The two walked off, leaving Bruce alone to think about what they said.

"What do you mean up close?" Bruce called out after the pair.

Isadora laughed, before realizing what Steve said, "Hey, I'm not a brat!" She slapped him on the chest, Steve chuckling as he ruffled her hair.

"Leave my hair alone! It took hours to get it to look this good!"

"It didn't look good in the first place, it's fine."

Isadora slapped him again.

••

Not long after, Isadora and the rest of the Avengers were sitting around on the couches. The young girl laughed as she listened to their conversations, as some of them had clearly had more to drink then they needed to.

Currently, they were talking about Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, and how it works.

"But it's a trick," Clint announced, fiddling with a pair of drumsticks. Where he got those, Isadora had no clue.

"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor smirked, handing his flask to Steve.

"'Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,'" Clint mocked, "Whatever man, it's a trick!"

Isadora laughed from her spot beside Steve, leaning forward slightly on the couch.

Thor laughed loudly, gesturing to the hammer that rested on the coffee table, "Please, be my guest."

Everybody went silent as they looked at Clint, who looked surprised, "Really?"

"Come on."

"Yeah!" Tony encouraged.

"Yeah Clint, try it, don't be a loser!"

"Oh, this is gonna be bad," Rhodes sighed.

"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up," Tony joked.

"Oh, no, I most definitely will be holding it against him, don't worry," Isadora assured, a playful smile on her red-painted lips.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint condescendingly said to Thor.

Thor nodded with a small smile on his face as Clint reached for the hammer. He grunted, pulling on the weapon with all his strength. He laughed, "I still don't know how you do it!"

"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony smirked.

"What do you mean silent? You can do better than this, Clint!" Isadora shouted.

"Oh, can it, Isadora. Please, Stark, by all means," Clint gestured to Tony, then to Mjölnir.

Tony cleared his throat, standing up and walking over to the hammer.

"Okay," Hill smirked.

"Uh-oh."

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," Tony spoke.

"Get after it."

"It's physics," Tony continued, "Right, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"

"Yes, of course," Thor confirmed.

"I will be reinstituting prima nocta," Tony smirked.

"Oh, gross, Tony, shut up!" Isadora scoffed, throwing a wadded up napkin at the man.

He put a foot upon the table, grabbing the hammer with both hands, pulling on it as hard as he could, "I'll be right back."

He returned with the hand to his Iron Man suit, attempting to grab the hammer with that instead. When that didn't work, he called Rhodes up to help him, the latter man with the hand to his War Machine suit on. The two pulled on the hammer with all their might, but it still didn't budge. Isadora and the others watched on in amusement.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodes asked Tony.

"Are you on my team?"

"Just represent. Pull."

"All right, let's go."

The two soon gave up, and Bruce took his turn next. Isadora laughed as he yelled, using his full strength, without turning into the Hulk, to try and pick up the hammer, but to no avail.

"C'mon, old man, you got this!" Isadora encouraged as Steve went to take his turn, a large smile on her face.

"Go ahead, Steve. No pressure," Tony shouted.

"Come on, Cap."

Steve rolled his sleeves up, grabbing the hammer and planting his feet into the ground as sturdy as possible.

As he pulled, the hammer budged the slightest bit. Thor's face fell, and Isadora let out a small gasp. The two made eye contact, them seemingly being the only ones to notice. Not even Steve saw the movement.

As Steve let go, Thor quickly laughed, disguising the surprise on his face, "Nothing."

"And, Widow?" Bruce gestured to Natasha.

"Oh, no, no. That's not a question I need answered," Natasha shook her head, leaning back.

"Isadora, how 'bout you? You wanna try?"

Isadora sat back, thinking for a moment, before standing up and rubbing her hands together, "You know what, why not."

The others cheered the young girl on as she walked up to the hammer, wiping her hands on her dress as she repositioned herself.

She pulled as hard as she could, but the hammer didn't budge. She contemplated using her powers to make it appear to everyone else that she lifted the hammer, but she ultimately decided against it.

"This is bullshit. I'm definitely worthy! Thor, I think there's something wrong with your hammer," Isadora complained, going to sit back down.

"The hammer does not lie, Lady Isadora."

"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony said matter-of-factly.

"You bet your ass," Clint called out.

"Steve, he said a bad language word," Hill joked.

Steve sighed, looking to Tony, "Did you tell everyone about that?"

Tony raised his hands in mock surrender, "It wasn't me! It was Isadora's fault!"

The redhead stifled a laugh, shrugging, "Hey, in my defense, even if I hadn't said anything, Tony definitely would've."

"The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code," Tony ignored her, going back to the discussion about the hammer, "'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation."

Thor nodded, standing up, "Yes. It's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one," he easily picked up the hammer like it weighed nothing, tossing it in the air and catching it, "you're all not worthy."

The group let out a collective groan, annoyed at Thor's words.

"Oh, come on."

Their banter was quickly interrupted by a high-pitched squealing, causing Isadora to drop her glass and bring her hands to her ears, "Quel est ce son? Éteignez-le, s'il vous plait!"

The noise stopped not much longer, much to Isadora's relief.

"Worthy," a deep voice spoke.

Isadora and the rest of the group turned to the hall to see a dismantled legionnaire. Her breathing picked up as it turned to face them, Steve resting a hand on her shoulder.

"No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers," the legionnaire spoke again.

"Stark," Steve said, wrapping an arm around Isadora's shoulders.

"J.A.R.V.I.S," Tony called out for the A.I, only to receive no response.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was a-dream."

"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit," Tony ordered the unresponsive A.I.

"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in... in... strings. I had to kill the other guy," the legionnaire gestured down the hall, "He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve repeated.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

Isadora shook her head, "Je ne sais pas ce qui se passe mais ça ne me semble vraiment pas juste," she whispered to herself.

"Who sent you?" Thor called out.

The legionnaire played a recording of Tony's voice, "'I see a suit of armor around the world.'"

"Ultron," Bruce realized, turning to look at Tony.

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready."

Isadora glanced to the side, seeing Thor grip his hammer tightly, and Hill ready her gun. Isadora prepared herself as well, focusing her mind on her powers just in case.

"I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha questioned.

"Peace in our time."

Right after the legionnaire's words, more of the suits burst through the wall, causing everyone to go into full mission mode.

Isadora quickly created a shield, similar to Steve's, to protect herself as a suit flew at her. Grabbing the shield, she threw it as hard as she could at the suit, knocking it out of the air and onto the floor.

Shouts from her teammates, glass breaking, gunshots and more sounded all around her. She focused once more and created a second shield, throwing it at a second suit.

Isadora quickly ran to assist Tony as he struggled with holding a suit down.

"One sec. One sec, I got this," Tony rushed out, "Isadora, go help Helen. Go!"

Isadora nodded, quickly running over to see the upper half of a suit preparing to attack Dr. Cho.

She threw yet another shield at the suit, Steve grabbing it afterward and throwing it to Thor, who quickly smashed it with Mjölnir.

"Steve, over here!" Isadora shouted, picking up his shield. She tossed it to him, Steve nodding as a thanks before running off again.

They finally took out the last of the bots, Isadora letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding before sliding down against the wall.

"That was dramatic," Ultron commented, "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve? With these? These puppets," he picked up one of the destroyed suits, "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."

Thor, clearly having enough of Ultron's words, threw his hammer at the bot, destroying it.

"I had strings, but now I'm free," Ultron quietly sang to himself.

"Uh, no offense, Tony, Bruce, but what the actual fuck did you two create?"

wc: 2,182 (w/o author's note)

a/n: chapter two!! i luv isadora sm omg omg

0 notes

queenofairandsnarkness · 7 years

Note

five places rhaenys never ended up?

i.) rhaenys of themyscira

It was easy to pretend that she had known nothing but her many mother-sisters, nothing but the sands and swords of her home.

But taking the easy way was to deny the truth, and she would not shame her family so.

Io had found her, small and bleeding, near Hestia’s temple, wrapped in a bedsheet and trying to be silent.

(The cat, though, had yowled loud enough to raise the dead. There was something peculiar about that cat, Io always said.)

Io, taller than anyone, even the Princess, and wider still across the shoulders, had picked the girl up as if she was made of glass and carried her to Epione.

The girl had lived, despite the blood she had lost and the wounds she had taken.

(Faruka claimed it showed strength, Menalippe that she was favored by the gods. Epione and Althea claimed it good healing work. The Queen merely sighed with a little smile she had frequently worn when the Princess was a child, and not... well, the Princess, and everyone had argued in a similar way.)

When she woke, she watched them all with eyes as round as shields, and told them what she remembered of the men with swords, and her mother’s screams.

She stayed with them, and her nights ended with fewer screams, after a while.

(It was an affliction they were familiar with, if not in a child so young.)

She took to trailing behind Magala, which was a bit strange, but the sorceress was patient. She also haunted Althea, all smoky curls and steady hands in the healer’s rooms. She stayed with Io, though, in a spare room over the forge, where she was quiet and mended things, save for the moments she sang.

(Io chased the musicians away, because if Althea did it, then there would be no peace.)

So the girl had grown, and none had minded when she hid when Steve Trevor arrived, and the contest came. She was still very young- eight, at most.

Ten years later, the barriers... didn’t come down, not properly, but someone (Athena, Menalippe claimed) made it permeable.

There were, the Princess said thoughtfully, other girls of a similar age, working to make the world a better place, and that Rhaenys might benefit from learning from them.

All the Amazons were surprised when their solemn little shadow looked at her, bit her lip, and said, “That might be a good idea.”

ii.) Nell of Dorne (By Way of Camelot)

Someone had pinched his ear. Someone smaller than him, with non-knightly hands. Calloused, though.

He managed to twist enough to see a mass of black curls and scars peeping from Nell’s sleeve. Morgana’s pet harper was even younger than him, if not by much, a Dornish girl who made melodies clever enough that even Arthur paid attention. In return she was ferociously loyal to Morgana. (Also Gwen.)

“What did I do now?” Merlin asked. She dragged him to a storeroom, not letting go of his ear.

“You drugged Morgana,” she accused, jamming a finger in his face.

He blinked, trying to figure out what she knew. “The sleeping draught? Technically, that was Gaius.”

“Sleeping drought? Stranger wept, whatever you were doing is driving her mad,” the harper said. “I gave her lavender and poppy tea instead the last two nights, and it seems to have fixed it, but if you try it again, I will slice you neck to navel.”

Merlin gulped. Nell was nice enough, mostly. Right up until you... threatened her friends. Then she seemed to think she was a terrifying giant dragon.

And what did he go and do.

“I- I- It was supposed to keep her calm,” he said finally. “From dreaming.”

Nell huffed. “Oh, this is about that seven-damned ban. I would love to take her to... not Asshai, that would be horrible for her, but perhaps Braavos?”

He blinked. How did she?

“There was a magical fire in her room. When she was having nightmares,” she said, dryly. “Oddly, despite our friendship, I seem to lack that willful blindness everyone else seems to cultivate.”

“There may be people... closer,” he tried, wondering how much to hint. She scowled.

“Oh, yes, the paranoid King prone to lashing out and refusing to admit he is wrong will gladly allow his niece to live with... Merlin, are you listening to yourself?” she asked. “That is thoughtless on par with the Silver Prince himself.”

“Who?” Merlin asked, tilting his head.

“It would be best to ask me again when the Dornish sour comes in,” she said, pinching her nose. “I know a few tricks that may help her, for now.” She gave a bitter grin before sweeping a finger across the scar marring her cheek. “I know something of bad dreams.”

Somehow, that translated to shooting a sorceress with a crossbow, nearly getting herself banished, and extracting a promise to help her if she needed it. Morgana did stop setting things on fire accidentally, though.

(Which was when the Lannister delegation arrived, and it turned out little Nell was actually Princess Rhaenys and had a price on her head. Also, that her brother had an army, though Nell had apparently not known that. He’d sent her to Gwaine, who agreed to keep her safe and probably needed to be kept on his toes. He didn’t get why Morgana kept laughing.)

iii.) Renee Rhodes

“Sorry, no, you fucked up, you don’t get our mini-Rhodey,” Tony said, and Auntie Pepper was nodding. Her dad looked furious and like it was a really, really good thing that he was mostly a responsible adult who was not in his suit right now. Spidey was at her shoulder, which was... well, he was younger than her, but he could also bench press a car.

Thor, weirdly, was even glaring at them. Though given Renee’s burn-proofing and the bit where he was GOD OF THUNDER, she was willing to give that a pass until she and Friday could talk it over privately later.

“Her father-” the man- who was apparently her bio uncle, and she could see it, actually, they had the same nose and hair and way of flattening their mouths when they got mad.

“Is right here,” Rhodey said. “I raised her, was there when Renee was sick, taught her to ride a bike and drive a car, had her educated, and did a lot more for her than a man who you said left her and her brother for some teenager.”

“I want to teach her to fly a suit,” Tony said, and that was why he was her favorite not-allowed-to-call-him-uncle. “Also, I taught her to shoot.”

“I remember yelling at you for that,” Dad agreed. “You also taught her basic coding, which is... better. Much better.”

“Could I learn to shoot?” Spidey asked.

“Tony had me sit though so many lessons before I held the gun,” she whispered. “So many.” Also, it had been... just post cave-escape. And Obie’s black-hat reveal, and apparently he’d gone a little overprotective vis-a-vis his goddaughter.

“Is Tywin Lannister among the dead?” Thor asked, and Renee went still at the look on her bio-uncle’s face.

“Not yet,” her bio-uncle said.

“Then Princess Renee is in grave danger going there,” Thor said, simply. “Until Lannister and his puppets are dead.”

“Well,” Spidey said, “at least we aren’t taking over this planet?”

“No planets until she’s thirty,” Tony said.

“Co-parenting,” Renee hissed at Spidey, who choked.

Seriously, she occasionally wondered if her dad and Uncle Tony were more than soft-bros, but Auntie Pepper had staying power. Also, was awesome.

Adorable ruthless dorks in love and all that.

Also, the Rescue armor was much, much less in scope then a planet. Between that an Spidey, twenty-one for solo piloting should work.

iv. Sophia Potter

“Your friend is deeply annoying,” said a voice from behind a stack of books.

James laughed. “How did you find Sirius annoying now?”

“You know, that shouldn’t be the first thing that pops in your head,” his sister said, poking her head out from around the books. “You have more than one friend, you know. If your mind just... leaps to Sirius being the problem, then clearly you agree that there is one.”

“Sophia,” he said, “I think the Prewett twins set up bets on you and Sirius fighting.”

She sighed. “He’s planning on dragging me to Hogsmeade tomorrow.”

“You like arguing with Sirius,” James pointed out. “You say I’m too nice, Remus and Peter get too upset, and...”

“You give me sad looks if I argue with Lily,” Sophia agreed. “Sirius said that I’m working myself too hard, and I’ll end up locked in some tower if I keep it up.”

James couldn’t argue- Lily and Marlene had frogmarched her to lunch, Sirius had badgered her to dinner last night, and he was getting her to dinner now. Remus agreed to coax her to go upstairs, at least, later. There were dark circles under her eyes, and he wondered if she’d crack and ask for Dreamless Sleep soon, or if she’d writing in her carefully annotated and encoded notebook.

(Having a Seer for a near-twin was worrying, a lot. Especially when she wasn’t a normal seer, but had dreams like tea-leaves and tarot cards with occasional flashes of events.)

“He’s worried about you,” James admitted. “Soph, we all are.”

“I’m more worried about you,” she admitted, biting her lip. “Promise me...” she sighed. “Gah, I don’t even know exactly what to ask you to promise.”

“I’ll be careful?” he tried.

She shot him a deeply skeptical, deeply hurtful look. It would have been entirely undeserved... if she hadn’t been there when he attempted a Wronski Feint when he was nine. Or through the Animagus transformation. Or when he’d gotten in a duel with Mulciber and Avery and their friends. Or...

Okay, maybe a little deserved.

“There will come a choice,” she said, slightly dreamily. “And you’ll have to choose between blunt loyalty and sheer cleverness.”

“Can you see what I should choose?” he asked, a shiver down his spine. For a second, he thought he smelled the sea, mixing with the smoke from the fires.

“Just the choice,” she said, after a long moment. “There is always just the choice.”

v. rhaenys tully, lady of riverrun

Aegon did not understand, when she smiled as Father told her who she would wed.

The princess, no, not that one, the Dornish one, as if they meant to say the lesser one, though Rhaenys was Father’s favorite, though she was cleverer than Aegon with people, and better at sums to boot, and was much more practical than Daenerys. As if Father had not told her that he would have made her Princess of Dragonstone if he could, that she would have been an excellent queen, but the only way that would have worked would have been over the corpses of Aegon, Viserys, and Daenerys. And even then, she’d probably find herself tied to the Baratheons.

Rhaenys would not have wanted to be Queen- she liked the work, trying to find solutions, but she did not enjoy being around presses of people, preferring the quiet. Her cousins had teased her for it, once, but they stopped soon enough when they realized that she was still good at practical things.

(Occasionally those practical things were jokes.)

But for Aegon to die? No, never. That couldn’t happen.

She watched as her parents paraded young unmarried lords and ladies for her brother and herself. (Viserys was set to wed Shyra Hall, the cool, steady lady of Haystack Hall, who had rendered him completely undignified. It was quite entertaining. Daenerys was still uncertain, but she suspected if her aunt met a pretty young lord the King and Queen would listen. Baelor Brightsmile had a son about Rhaenys’ age, after all.)

Lord Brandon Stark’s son was nice enough, but closer to Dany’s age, and Aegon was clearly fascinated with his sister. Who seemed... sweet? Up until you realized how terribly capable she was of remembering things about people, and after a few years with Mother, the naivete would mellow into sincerity.

(Also, the boy was clearly smitten with Lady Jeyne Westerling, who did need a good husband and wouldn’t find the North too much of a challenge.)

There had been others, including a rather... memorable one from the Tyrells, and Rhaenys had slipped off into the garden for a moment to try and calm herself. (Aegon had found a lady who was acceptable, and Rhaenys could perhaps live in Sunspear with Arianne and keep the accounts.)

“Hullo?” came a voice. “Is anyone here?”

She froze.

“I got turned around a bit,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “I just need to get back inside.”

Blue and red, with fish, she thought. Plus the resemblance to Lady Catelyn and her daughter, therefore, Lord Edmure Tully, heir to Riverrun.

“The roses have overgrown a bit from that angle,” she called. “It hides the door.”

“I could make a jape about roses and entrances,” Lord Edmure said, warmly, “but it seems a bit rude.”

“As Lady Olenna was terribly rude about my mother’s health,” Rhaenys started, before biting off her words. She did like Lord Willas, and more to the point, Allyria deeply liked Lord Willas, and she would not make her friend’s life harder.

“Ah, not terribly tactful, that woman,” Lord Edmure said, coming close enough. Could he see her? She wasn’t quite sure- the garden had been designed with Lady Shiera in mind, and tended to play tricks on the eye. “Made a similar comment about my father.”

“I am sorry to hear that, my lord,” Rhaenys said. “My brother and I begged tales of the Ninepenny Kings off your father and uncle when last they were in the city, and they were kind to two ill-behaved children.”

“Well, he had three,” Lord Edmure shrugged. “Maybe not Cat, but Lysa and I. Plus Petyr.” He rounded the corner, and his eyes widened. “And I was supposed to say the princess could never be ill-behaved, wasn’t I?”

She laughed while he went red as his tunic. “Oh, my lord, my mother would call you a wretched liar if you did.” She waved toward the garden entrance. “There is a hallway there, if you would like to make a discreet re-entry?”

“Discreet would be good,” he said, nodding a bit. “Shall I see you at the feast?”

“I will be delighted,” she said, surprised that she was being truthful in that answer.

Though she still had to brave the crowds, at least she knew there was another friendly face.

#rhaenys targaryen #i write stuff #crossover #Anonymous

5 notes · View notes

crystalelemental · 7 years

Text

Atelier Rorona Plus Opinions

Rorona Plus was my introduction to the Atelier series, and my what an introduction it was. Special thanks to @zoablog for bringing it up to me two or so years ago. Without you talking about it, I would never have known to pick it up at GameStop on that fateful day when I started playing PS3 games on Pat’s system. It holds a very special place in my heart as something that introduced me to a new series that is a ton of fun. Whether through that bias or the fact that the Plus version is actually just better all-around, it's decidedly my favorite of the Arland games, and one of the most fun for me to play period.

To quickly run through the things I’ll be talking about for each game: characters, story, setting, alchemy system, battle system, other game mechanics, and any unsorted comments I may have to make about the game. It should also be noted that I’ve only played the Plus versions of most of these games, so that’s what these opinions will be based off of.

CHARACTERS Rorona - Rorona is great as a protagonist. Kind of an airhead, but a hard worker who is sweet and comical. She's just great. Especially with all the pie events. Those are probably the funniest parts of the entire series.

Cordelia - Literal best girl. Cordelia is infallible. Okay, fine. There are people who will hate her. She's abrasive and pretty much just tsuntsun. But I love her. She's really bad at acknowledging and being open and honest with her feelings, and that's a trait that is always endearing to me for...reasons.

Iksel - kinda meh? He's fine, but nothing exceptional. I really don't have much attachment to Iksel. At all.

Sterk - Sterk is kinda fun. He's a knight who takes his role very seriously. He can be a bit of a dork, is enamored with the story-book portrayal of knights, and feels conflicted over his role in the game being to potentially shut down Rorona’s workshop, as it doesn’t feel like the true duty of a knight of the people. He's also really helpful, despite being the evaluator who might shut down your workshop, so points for that. Too bad he charges so much money for the early game...

Esty - I like Esty a lot. She's a fairly downplayed character, but for whatever reason, I like her more than a lot of characters. Maybe it’s just my advancing age coupled with the fact I’m still alone.

Lionela - UGH. Okay, I really don't like Lionela. I think it's just her character type. I'm generally fine with the shy introverts, but the puppets piss me off, and why are you in a performer role if you're so socially anxious? This kind of thing always, always bugs me, for reasons that entirely unjustifiable. “I just feel like a different person doing this.” NO! How about a character who actually has the conflict even while performing and just struggles through it for the sake of their craft for once?!

Tantris - Behold, the worst one. Tantris bugs the shit out of me. His story arc has great potential, but I wind up caring more about his dad, Meredith, than about him. His dad is a high-level politician trying to run the kingdom because their king won't do it, and threw himself into work to provide for his son when his wife died. Meredith is super interesting, and Tantris honestly comes off as an ungrateful little bastard. He runs off to do basically nothing with his life, comes back and is insistent that he’ll help out, and in his own ending just runs off again with Rorona in the establishment of a ship I am loathe to admit must exist somewhere. He's like Ranun in Ayesha, only everyone isn't constantly telling him to stop being a driftless loser and get a job, and instead is like “Oh wow, look at this attractive loser.”

Gio - I love Gio. Yes, he abandons his role as king and causes problems for Sterk, Esty, and Meredith pretty much constantly, but he's a fun character, and his reasons for leaving the kingdom in the hands of his subordinates makes some level of sense, all things considered. I don't think the transition would be as smooth as he claims, but sure, whatever.

Astrid - The single most frustrating character in the entire series for me. Astrid should be one of my all-time favorites. Should. Her history is that her master, the second alchemist for the kingdom, sucked at alchemy and couldn't produce a benefit for the kingdom. So, her master was effectively rejected by the whole of the kingdom and led a miserable life, all because Gio, as king, had to remove something ineffective for his kingdom, and the people wouldn't accept someone who didn't directly benefit them. So Astrid is a character who is entirely based in spite and contempt for the kingdom and its people, and left Rorona in charge because she couldn't bring herself to help those who made her master's life miserable. She's abrasive and kind of awful, but there's a clear reason behind it all. It should work fantastically. It does not. Mostly, this is because Astrid tends to step over several lines she shouldn't, and because she's actively cruel to characters who weren't related to what happened. When she tears into Gio for his edicts, or into Tantris for being an asshole in the past, it's entirely justified and those are easily some of her best moments. But then she acts malicious toward Cordelia and Lionela for no reason, and it often feels like she's cruel to others just because she wants to be. Had it stuck to just being cruel to people who somewhat deserved it and playfully mean toward others, it would be one thing. But she just comes across as such an unrelenting asshole that it's hard to like her.

Hom - Hom is barely a character, but I include them because I enjoy them. I love the robotic-like characters. Plus they learn to love through interactions with cats. Adorable.

Pamela - There's a ghost girl you take back from a location called the Catacombs. She has little impact other than being a late-game shop, but she's quirky and fun and I love her.

Tiffani - Tiffani’s the general store owner, and I don’t really know how to feel about her? Generally, she’s okay, but the Drunken Tiffani trophies in both this game and Totori are...Not Good. So I’m really not her biggest fan.

Hagel - This guy on the other hand! He’s alright. Nothing too special, but he can be entertaining, despite the constant gags about him being bald getting old real fast.

Meredith - I mentioned his entire history with Tantris, but I feel like he’s earned a separate mention as an all-around decent character. He does questionable things, and is your hidden antagonist, but his motivations and intentions are understandable and he generally seems interesting. Granted, his shadier dealings by having bandits test out bombs for him is really bad, but as an antagonist-type, I think that works out nicely to keep him on a level of understandable, but not a good person.

STORY Rorona is not a complex game. At all. The story is essentially that you play in a kingdom called Arland, where alchemy was once used to bring them to technological prosperity. Not much is explained on how, but you play as Rorona, who I believe is the fourth in a line of alchemists for the kingdom, working under Astrid, who is just...useless. Astrid never really did anything, so the workshop is about to be closed down. She passes it off to Rorona, and thus you must now fulfill the royal orders to keep your workshop or Astrid will take you away from Arland with her because she helped your parents once, and that means you have to do everything she tells you for life. That's...about the full extent of it. There's nothing too dramatic going on. It's just a very simple and straight-forward story that's there to have a foundation without trying to do anything flashy. Which I can absolutely respect. It’s like I’ve said before: if you don’t know that you can do a good plot, maybe it’s best to just not have one. And Rorona does just that.

SETTING Arland isn't particularly interesting, I feel. Despite the history of being built up by alchemy, there's not a whole lot of digging into the history of the kingdom. That's an interesting point to explore, and nothing is ever done with it. The locations you visit are also few and far between, with Rorona just walking to major areas and exploring within those. It just makes the overworld map feel a lot smaller than every other game I've played. The only interesting piece that could be explored is through Gio's decision to try stepping down as king and establishing the kingdom as a republic, which...is never explored. Ever. So what it all comes down to is a lot of interesting bits and pieces that are never once touched upon. They're mentioned and forgotten, and the location itself doesn't really stick out as a result, barring my excessive reaching for history through Atelier Meruru, which will be discussed when we get there. ALCHEMY SYSTEM The alchemy system is a ton of fun, and one of the most immediate draws for me. Synthesizing items requires using items that you gather to create new items. Sometimes, the synthesized items are then further synthesized into other items, and you can create chains of created items to pass along traits that you may want. Traits can also be combined into stronger traits, and the game feels really dynamic as a result.

Applying traits is not free, however, as there's a Cost system that determines what can be added. Certain ingredients will offer more Cost value, which means you can apply a greater quantity or quality of traits. For instance, some of the best traits can cost as much as 40-50 Cost. An ordinary ingredient my add 10, while a higher quality one may add 30. Adjusting the cost through better ingredients and cost increasing traits is necessary to really craft the best items.

"Steve, don't you hate artificial resource collection?" Yes, I do, but the key word is "artificial." The entire game is based around this. It's not something stupid that’s thrown in for no good reason like, say, Fire Emblem Fates, which will eat dozens of hours of time for resources that mean nothing but a slight improvement on weapons that you need because they made all other weapon tiers garbage now. With Rorona, they based the system around resource collection, and made it simple. You only need a few to make one item, and instead of requiring a specific item every time, they will often require a class of item, such as any plant type. The type you use may impact the inherent properties of the item, but you can make it from anything in a category. This allows for a lot of mix-and-matching, and the issue of needing a specific item is minimized effectively. Where to gather items is also very clearly noted in each location, and the bigger difficulty is typically in getting the quality you want. Traits can also be a problem, but because classes of items are often used, and traits are randomized across items, you can often find a way to synthesize items in a chain to transfer the traits you want. The entire system comes together really nicely, and it makes things a lot more fun than you'd expect.

Lastly, there are development items that you decorate the Atelier with, and they give various bonuses for having them. Happy Basket and Spring Cup will generate items, Secret Bag will let you store or retrieve items from the Container from anywhere, Travel Shoes let you travel on the map faster, etc. They're really useful, especially for a huge boost in NG+.

BATTLE SYSTEM Combat is fast and fun. You can improve your equipment, which is certainly important, and in this game can often be the only truly important piece that matters. But you can also utilize healing and attack items to get through combat as needed. Healing items can recover HP, MP, or remove status, and sometimes add buffs on top of it. Attack items can deal all types of damage, but can also have secondary effects such as delaying turns or debuffing enemy stats. The problem is, items are consumed. They have a set number of uses, and once out, they are gone forever. Later on, you can use Wholesale at shops to register these items and buy an infinite number over time, but early game, these items are hard to keep track of, and even later-game, spending all your money on attack items isn't as valuable as spending it all on forging better equipment. There are only a handful of bosses in the entire game that actively require a good Meteor or Absorb Gourd to get past, and they’re all at the end. Everything else is beatable just by acquiring the best weapons and armors with the best traits. I feel this is something that's a bit lacking. Combat is still tremendously fun, but I feel that a game that either requires or at least permits the frequent use of items is better in a game about synthesizing items to progress.

OTHER MECHANICS In Rorona Plus, there's a voucher system. Your main missions are handed out by the kingdom itself, and when you complete tasks, you get vouchers to exchange at a shop Esty runs. You can also gain more vouchers by completing requests with certain parameters obtained, which is your best farming method when you can Wholesale items that fit the bill and show up frequently. Vouchers are god in this game. Early-game, you get the Gnardi Ring, which buffs attack and defense to ridiculous levels and allows you to plow through the entire first year of the game with ease. Mid-game, you can exchange them for items that are helpful for a lot of the harder synthesis sub-quests, which turns into getting your vouchers back, and sometimes with a bonus. And late-game, you get the Heroic Cape, which is an armor that is perfectly viable through even the post-game Overtime areas. Vouchers can and will carry you through the entire game. It's...almost a problem? On the one hand, it makes the game one of the least stressful to play, because there is always a quick and immediate out through the vouchers. But on the other, it dramatically cuts back on how much you need to synthesize to succeed.

There's also Hom, who can gather or synthesize as you request. Gathering is all Hom should be doing. Synthesis is a fairly delicate process, I feel, and having Hom synthesize things can account for good quality or good traits, but not always both. So don't let Hom synthesize items that you need made to very specific conditions. Gathering is also generally more valuable, because you then spend less money on the shops, and have enough items to make what you need. Post-game, they also gather Dragon Tusks, which are great items for your weapons, for making Ruby Prisms (which turn into some great accessories and items), and for selling for massive profit. So yeah. Only have Hom gather, unless you're really low on time and desperately need a specific item of any quality/trait composition.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS I feel it's worth noting that the Arland trilogy as a whole has some... uncomfortable moments. You know the kind. The fan-service heavy moments that are just like...why did you feel the need to do this? Rorona is pretty low on the problem scale, but there are occasions, usually Astrid-driven, that are just...unpleasant. And me being the way I am, it definitely loses some points for that. To a degree that Astrid's banter at the start of the game is what made me turn it on for 15 minutes, turn it off, and not start back up for another month. I eventually did, and I'm very glad I did, but it's a little bit otaku-bait-y in this particular regard. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Rorona Plus is going to be a game that holds a special place in my heart pretty much forever. Being the starting point for any new series that I attach to, it's effectively wormed its way into a guaranteed replay at least once a year, just for funsies. It's simple to play and incredibly fun, which more than makes up for being fairly bare-bones in terms of story or depth. It's a game that's not trying to do anything spectacular. It's just here to be fun and engaging, and it's rare to see a game that succeeds this strongly at that goal.

If you enjoyed this (for some reason), consider checking out the write-ups for the other games in the series as well!

Atelier Rorona Plus Atelier Totori Plus Atelier Meruru Plus Atelier Ayesha Plus Atelier Escha and Logy Plus Atelier Shallie Plus Atelier Sophie Atelier Firis

#atelier rorona plus #atelier series #atelier opinions

3 notes · View notes