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wandanatfluff · 3 years

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The Life That's Left To Live - Part I - Take Me Home

Series (This part:) Fluff

Prologue | Part I

Summary series: You’re a little girl when the avengers find you. Natasha becomes kind of a mother to you. Then about 7 years later when you’re 21 you go live with the avengers again for a while, because they need your help with something. The avengers are like a family to you. Wanda is still new to the avengers and doesn’t know what happened in your past. You sleep in Wanda’s room in an extra bed and the two of you become friends. You are a quite happy, social and spontaneous girl, but there’s a sad/depressed side to you that sometimes comes to the surface.

Summary of this part: Natasha calls you with information about your brother and you go to the Avengers compound, where you meet Wanda.

Pairing: Natasha (mother figure/mentor) x Female Reader Wanda (platonic (for now at least)) x Female Reader

Warnings for this part: -

Word count: 2.2 K

A/n: To be honest I think it turned out okay, I spent quite a while on this. Title: Take Me Home, by Chord Overstreet. The fic isn’t directly based or related to the song. The title just fits ;-). The series title is a line from Love Is War, by RUNAGROUND. I hope you enjoy it!

Source: Pinterest

Absentmindedly you listen to the person in front of you. Some annoying colleague that is going on and on about a something that you would have done wrong. They had been going on for almost ten minutes and by now, you had stopped listening. Your mind drifted off to happy memories. It was something you did quite often. By reliving old memories once in a while, they would become recent in your mind again, which made it easier to go back to them, when you were feeling low. You thought about your younger self on the back of your brother’s bike, your small arms wrapped around his waist, your head pressed against his back. It had been his birthday and he had gotten a new bike. You didn’t like bikes, but when he asked for you to ride along the neighborhood with him, you gave in. Your childhood was filled with a lot of fear, but your brother always seemed to take that away. He was in almost all of your joyful memories. He was your safe place.

Your phone chimed, snapping you back into reality. You excused yourself from the ‘conversation’ and left the room. Once you close the door, you answer your phone.

“I owe you Nat! You saved me!”

“Hey Y/n… What did I save you from?”

“Some colleague, who was being incredibly tedious.”

“Need me to kill anyone?”

“Uhm… No. But what are you calling about?”

“We got new information about your brother and we need your help with it.” You fell silent for a moment at the mention of your brother.

“Oh... What is it?”

“I’m sorry Y/n, I can’t tell you over the phone. You’ll have to come to the compound.”

“Okay… I can do that. I’ll leave tomorrow morning and be there around dinner time?”

“Perfect. See you then.”

After cooking yourself some dinner you went to your room to pack. You dug deep in your closet to find your weekend bag. It had been a while since your last trip. You don’t travel that much. To be honest, you don’t travel at all. Your daily routine leaves just enough time for your daily work-out, some me-time and occasionally a movie. Staying busy avoids overthinking stuff, or well… overthinking more specific things. It took you a while to build up a routine. Have breakfast, work out, drive to the office, do your work, pretend to listen to the gossip from your fellow colleagues during the lunch break. Not that anything about your life is very challenging, but it’s just enough to keep you satisfied and to survive. Every now and then when you have a day off, you go shopping with a friend.

You are quite the cheerful girl. You are spontaneous and kind, people get along with you. You have a few friends, but none really close. The only close friends or family you have, are Nat, Steve, Tony, Clint, Thor and Bruce and you haven’t seen them in the while.

You had to empty your entire closet, but you finally found your white weekend bag with the subtle, pastel flowers pattern. You smile at it. It had been a gift from Nat. You used to have a boring and old grey bag, so she had bought you a new one. After you throw the bag on your bed, you start to fill it with clothes. You had no idea how long you’d be gone, so you packed for five days. Once your bag was fully stuffed you zipped it closed and threw it over your shoulder, making you way back to the living room.

You throw your bag next to the counter and are just about to get yourself some coffee, when the bel rings. You grab your phone and see Natasha standing in front of your door through the camera. Natasha had bought you a doorbell with a camera, to be sure you were as safe as possible when she wasn’t there. Aware of the camera she smiled at you through it. You chuckle at the sight and walk to the door to open it for her. Moments like this remind you of how amazing Natasha is. She had the key to you appartement, but chose not to use it, so she wouldn’t unnecessarily scare you.

“Surpriseee, figured I’d pick you up myself!”

“Hey Nat, come in!”

You take her jacket and hang it on the coat rack.

“How are you doing?”

“Good, actually. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Just coffee, please.”

“Got it.”

You go back to the counter and get yourself and Nat some coffee. You open the fridge and get two pieces of the pie that is left from your graduation ceremony. With two slices of cake and the coffee you go to the living room. You hand Natasha, who has sat down on the couch, her coffee and put the cake on the side table.

“Oehh, is there something to celebrate?”

“Yup… I got a job!”

“Y/n! I am so proud of you. I knew you could do it!” Tears begin to well in Natasha’s eyes and she puts down her coffee to give you a hug. You bury you head in her neck and let out a small sniff. She knew what it meant for you to get your first real job. The small party one of your friends threw had been basic. Everyone had congratulated you, but Natasha was the only one who truly took her time to express her happiness. She was the only one who knew what it meant to you. It had been a long way, a long, long way, but you made it! You did it!

She had been there with Steve when you graduated. She had driven six hours, just because she knew what it would mean to you, having her there. It had been a surprise, she hadn’t told you she was coming, so when you saw her from the stage you had broken down in tears.

You catch up a bit, after which you both go to bed. You turn the sofa into a bed for Natasha so she can sleep on it, but before you rest your eyes, Natasha helps you fill another suitcase with clothing. She laughed at the sight of your single bag and suggested you’d pack another suitcase.

*** After six hours of sleep Natasha wakes you up. You take the time to get out of your bed, you take a shower and put on some make-up. In a pair of light skinny jeans and a lively orange tank top, that complemented you tan, you sit down at the kitchen island. Natasha had made you breakfast and after you finished it, you got in the car. The ride would take about six hours, so before hitting the road, you stopped at the supermarket to get some snacks and drinks for on the way. After three hours you had a pit-stop at the MacDonald’s to get some lunch. You ordered the food via the McDrive and ate it in the car on the parking lot. When the food was finished you hit the road again. You had switched places, meaning Natasha would finish the drive to the compound. Natasha was still sipping from her milkshake in one hand, her other hand on the wheel. You leaned against the door with you head on your arm. You closed your eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin as you dozed off.

A bump in the road woke you up.

You shot up straight. When you realized there was no danger, you leaned back into you chair, resting you head against the headrest.

“Slept well, princess?” Nat teasingly said.

“Nat!” You stumped her shoulder with your elbow. She grinned, but kept her eyes on the road. A comfortable silence fell and you closed your eyes again, not intending to sleep again though.

“No, but for real. How have you been sleeping?” You knew what she meant. She wanted to know if you still had nightmares. They would still terrorize your nights sometimes. You would wake up sweating and shaking. Wide awake you would sit in the middle of your bed at midnight, tears running down your cheeks.

“Uhm, okay, I guess. Some nights better than others.” She turned her head to look at you, giving you a sweet smile. She laid her hand on your leg, her palm up. You put your hand in hers, giving it a slight squeeze.

“Now we’re talking about sleeping, a few rooms are under renovations, so the rooms are full. You can sleep in Wanda’s room. She has an extra bed on her room.”

“Is she okay with that?”

“I think so.”

“You didn’t ask her!?”

“No, but I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“Nat…”

“Just kidding, I told her she would have to share her room with you.”

“And…?”

“She was fine with it.”

*** With your suitcase in your hand, your bag over your shoulder and music in your ears, you enter Wanda’s room. On the right side of the room there’s a king-sized bed with two chairs and a coffee table on the left side of the bed, next to the window that covers the entire back side of the room, providing a view of the trees and water next to the compound. On the left side of the room there is a large wardrobe, a door to the bathroom and in the corner there’s a single bed, parallel to the window. Above the bed there’s a shelf with a plant, some books and a light string. The room wasn’t very decorated, there weren’t many personal items. One wall was painted in a grey tone with a hint of purple and there was a purple bedspread, covering the lower side of Wanda’s bed. On the nightstand was a photo of Wanda, standing next to a boy with white hair. You figured it must be her brother, Natasha had told you about the twins and the tragedy. Apart from the photo and some plants, there was nothing personal in the room.

You walked to the bed you’d be sleeping in and dropped your bags on the floor. You sat down on the bed and with your feet still on the ground you let your back rest on the bed, closing your eyes as you take the time to take in the feeling of home. To be honest you feel more home at the Avengers compound then at your own appartement. After a few minutes you got up from the bed and put on some upbeat music as you start to make the bed.

Singing along to the music cheerfully, you put the duvet in its cover. With both corners of the blanket in your hands you shake the cover over the duvet. With the music in both your ears you didn’t hear someone come in, so when you feel a hand on your shoulder, you are slightly startled. You quickly stop the music and take out your AirPods. You turn around to lay your eyes on a beautiful woman with coper locks flowing over her shoulders.

“You must be Y/n.”

Wanda knew who you were, your name would regularly come up in a conversation. She didn’t know much about you other than your name. You were kind of a mystery to her. She was new to the team and hadn’t personally met you yet. One thing is clear to her, though. No one bothered to mention how gorgeous you were. With a lump in her throat, she looked into your eyes, once you had turned around to face her. The woman that was standing in front of her seemed like a nice, cheerful person. She had a beautiful smile on her face, but there was something in her eyes that showed her happiness hadn’t always been a given. She took her in, her hair up in a high pony tail with curtain bangs accentuating her face, she was wearing an orange tank top, which showed off her tanned skin, on top of light flared jeans and elegant black ankle boots. Jeez, she was beautiful.

“Guilty as charge.” You responded. “It’s my pleasure meeting you…”

Witty too. You reminded her of her brother.

“Wanda.”

“Ah Wanda! Natasha told me so much about you. Nice to finally meet you. Oh, and Natasha said I could sleep here for the time being. Is that okay with you?”

Natasha talked about her? That was a good thing… right? To be honest Wanda was rather intimidated by Natasha. Even though she had been welcomed with open arms into the group, once, you know, she had switched sides, it had been quite hard for her to adjust to the group.

“Yeah, she told me. It’s fine”

“Cool”

“Do you need help with the bed?”

“Oh no, I’m done.”

She noticed the bed was nicely made and saw your weekend bag, half under your bed.

“You can use that dresser if you want, and if you want to hang any of your clothes, you can put them in my closet.”

“Oh thanks!”

“No problem.”

“I was about to start dinner, the rest should be back in an hour.”

“I’ll make sure I’ll be there on time, I wouldn’t want to miss whatever culinary art you intend to make.” You said teasingly.

“Great, I’ll see you in an hour then

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tenaciouspeacesandwich · 3 years

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PSA: Online Safety

Ok so normally I don’t post personal stuff on here, but I saw something today that made me remember this and I knew I had to post it somewhere.

When I was 14, I was really into digital art and online forums where people could post and discuss their paintings/drawings. As someone w/adhd and social anxiety, the internet was somewhere I felt I could be myself and be in control of my social interactions. It wasn’t as intimidating as making friends or talking to people in real life, and I built genuine social skills on there. However, I wasn’t aware of how dangerous these digital communities could be.

I had (still do) a really great relationship with my parents growing up, and they made sure to have the discussion with me about stranger danger and how you should never give away personal info online, all the classics. I never really hid anything I did on the computer from them, and they trusted me completely. They monitored our internet that was considered acceptable by most parenting standards (i.e. server blockers for adult content, etc.). But none of that mattered when I met someone on a discussion board who convinced me to meet up with them irl.

Obviously, looking back on it now years later, it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. Even at the time, I remember being a little scared when this person asked me to meet them at a public park. They were one of my online ‘art buddies’, ppl who critiqued and gave advice for your submissions, and we’d ‘known’ each other for a while. They complimented my sketches, gave me great tips on how to draw better, and I was really inspired by all the works they posted. Then the conversations meandered naturally from our posts to our lives, casual talk like how we hated homework but liked our teachers, our siblings were annoying, etc.

WARNING: DESCRIPTION OF GROOMING AHEAD

Then, one day they messaged me complementing my self-portrait that I had posted. It was by no means realism, more of a cartoon version of myself, but their flattering words were enough to make my introverted,14-year-old self swoon. I was so shy in school, no one even knew i was there half the time, let alone told me i was beautiful. It made me feel special, valued, less alone. Looking back now, I see it for what it was. But at the time, those words only made me trust this person more. So when they mentioned that they lived in my city and asked if I wanted to meet up at a public park, it wasn’t a huge red flag to me. It was a public place, right? It’s not like they were asking for my social or my address or anything. And they wouldn’t be picking me up in their car, the park was close enough to my school that I could bike the 4 miles there myself. We were just gonna hang out at the picnic tables for a couple of hours, no big deal.

Even though I’d seen this park before, I’d never actually been to it. My parents never took us there, and I always just assumed it was because there were other, closer parks to our house that were just as nice. It didn’t seem sketchy to me as I rode up closer, other than the fact that some of the playground equipment was rusty and the swing set had overgrown weeds on it.

I remember this day so clearly even though it’s been 10 years now: I was pedaling up this mini-hill that went thru a neighborhood, and the park was at the bottom of the hill on the other side. I remember stopping at the top of the hill to catch my breath for a second on the sidewalk, and I looked down at the park. From where I was standing, I could see the picnic tables and the parking lot. My friend had been messaging me on my phone, and had been updating me ever since I left school on my bike. They said they were already there and had been waiting for me for the past 10 minutes, and that when I arrived I’d be able to find them really easily because they had a red convertible in the parking lot, and they had managed to get us a table that we didn’t have to share. I texted them when I left, asking if there were a lot of people at the park that day. Their reply was really distinct, because instead of ‘yeah, kinda’ or ‘not really’, they texted back; ‘Super crowded, some kind of birthday party at the gazebo- All kinds of moms lol’ . Reading that gave me assurance that I didn’t know I needed, and that’s why I remember the dread and fear I felt when I looked down at the park.

There was no one there.

No party, no kids, nothing- the gazebo was empty, the playground deserted, everything was just quiet.

Except for this one man sitting at a picnic table, who had to be at least my father’s age. There was a gray sedan parked in the lot (i’m assuming his, but I don’t know), and the man was looking down at his phone as he sat at the table.

I texted my ‘friend’ again, still hidden by the garage wall of someone’s house where my bike was parked at the top of the hill. My ‘friend’ was supposed to be a guy my age who was wearing a pink floyd t shirt and black jeans. I asked him, ‘is there food at the party?’

I got an instant reply; ‘Yeah, a grillout- smells amazing but i don’t think they’ll let us have anything lol’.

I turned around and got on my bike, looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes, terrified that this guy might have seen and followed me. Thankfully, there was never anyone behind me, and I didn’t stop until I got home. I went to my room and deleted my entire account from that website, blocking my ‘friend’ first and deleting all of our conversation history in a panic before making sure every trace of me was gone forever. I sat there in my room for a while just staring at the wall.

I don’t know for sure if the man that I saw had anything to do with the person I was messaging- I don’t know him or why he was at the park. All of these things are connections I drew from what I knew via the website and our conversation, and what I could see with my own eyes. But more powerful than any of that was the immense, strong gut feeling I had wash over me when I was about to meet that person. Something just felt very, very wrong. I was still happy and excited to meet them, but that happiness was soured by that innate reaction of dread and foreboding that just screamed at me to go away.

I never told my parents about this, and still haven’t to this day. I know they would blame themselves for me being lured by this person (if that was in fact what happened), and that is the last thing I want- they did everything right.

That’s my entire point in posting this: my parents did everything by the book, took the experts advice, had an open and trusting relationship with me, and monitored our internet access. But I still made this happen, I still got my way, and I’m convinced that it’s by sheer luck that I’m still here today. I got up the courage to ask them one day, about 3 years after all this, when we were driving by that park why they never took us there as kids. My parents told me that park was notorious for drug use and crime, and that there were no working security cameras anywhere nearby.

There have been so many people in my situation who unfortunately never came home. Please please please be careful who you talk to on the internet, and be even more careful about the excuses you tell yourself to justify why it’s ok for you to be communicating with strangers. I convinced myself that this was just a fun meet up with a friend, that it was safe because it was on a public property, and that it was ok for me to go by myself. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.

#public safety #online safety #grooming #child exploitation #luring #online predators #be safe #safety #parenting #online smarts

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mirismuffins-ovo · 3 years

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Plant Palace Pt1.

Original Character story. [Warning ⚠️ Mpreg]

Purple-Eddie

Black-John

John had woken up feeling sick again,it’d been like this for a while. He’d been waking up sick each morning but it's not been as bad as before. He packed his bag for the day after getting dressed in his sweater vest and button up and grabbed his phone heading out his small townhome on his bike. His stomach had been feeling tight the past few days but he figured he was overwatered or bloated from being sick. John made his way through the town and pulled up to the garden parking his bike in the back;he’d come in a bit late so some of the employees were there already. He hoped Eddie was here early,it's been a few days. Grabbing his apron on the hook and gingerly tying it around his waist not noticing the small bump of his tummy barely showing through his clothes. He’d gone to storage to pick up a box of flower bulbs and take it to the front of the store.

Eddie thought he was going to be late. He had slept in a little too long, but it was worth it coming up with new music. The singer was on an inspiration kick and it was all thanks to his part time job. For money on the side he worked at the town’s local garden shop, Plant Palace, working with flowers and people alike. It had taken a while to get used to working in the shop, learning about all kinds of things and it was all thanks to his mentor/boss, John.

At first, Eddie never thought of himself as a flower guy, but once he stopped by the shop to get his mother something for mother’s day, he kept going back. The air was always sweet and he was fascinated by the botanist’s work. His hands were so quick and gentle at the same time. Eddie had chosen that he wanted to work here. Sure enough the shop was hiring so he took it, submitting a resume.

It had been 4 months since then and things had gotten a little crazy for Eddie. Not only had the workplace been a dream, but the botanist, John, had been amazing. The two quickly hit it off and it was like he was floating on cloud 9. Every shift he looked forward to working with the red-haired man and his adoration of flowers.

Double checking to make sure he was looking good and attractive before seeing his boss turning lover, he opened the door, ringing the little bell. Sure enough he saw the younger male already starting on today’s orders. Eddie headed to the back to grab his apron and clocked in, getting the day ready by setting up the displays.

“Good morning John!.” He happily greeted.

John had jumped slightly as he’d been engrossed in ordering the small flowers bulbs in the boxes to send out for delivery for some local parks,he’d quickly turned around. “Oh! hey” He gave a warm smile and took a few steps closer to Eddie. “mind giving me a hand with taking these to the front?” he took a deep breath and huffed as he lifted another box up that was slightly heavier. “Greenland Park made a big order this time.” he gave a light chuckle as he carried the box passed Eddie.

He’d begun to feel slightly off as he headed to the front of the shop. His mouth felt dry and a sudden case of dizziness hitting him. John shook it off as he set the box on the counter,kneeling down to grab a water bottle out of the mini fridge hiding beneath it.He cracked it open and easily downed half of it as he opened the shop by officially turning the sign.

“I don’t mind.” Eddie smiled, taking a box and helping him set up. “I’m glad to be back though. Missed being in this place. It always makes my head clear. Like the air is just so fresh! The plants are a wonderful thing for us to have. They support us and in return we care for them.” Eddie chuckled. “They’re kinda like babies if you think about it. They make us smile and bring out joy in life and we care for them like a parent.”

He looked over, noticing John guzzling down water like he was almost desperate for it.

“Woah there, if you drink too much you could drown.” He warned. “I saw it on a tv show once.”

Eddie walked over to his boss to make sure he was alright.

John felt anxious at his words for a moment and realized what he was talking about,he gave a nervous laugh and nodded.

“I suppose you're right about plants,I suppose they rlly are like babies.” He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled as he kneeled down to fix a bouquet that was in a bucket by the windows.John didn’t notice the small leafy buds that had began to sprout in his hair

He took a deep breath as he stood up and stretched his tender feeling tummy and gave it a pat as he turned around and gave an adoring look at Eddie. “sooo...I was thinking maybe we could go out later tonight or whenever you're free?” He blushed embarrassed and moved his focus to the floor.

Eddie was glad John was alright and continued to help set up. John started to get to work on the potted plants while Eddie trimmed the hanging ones. He was asked for the opportunity to hang out.

“Sounds great! I’ll just have to let the band know it's a relaxing night. Helps get a break from the writing room too.” Eddie smiled.

He looked over at John, watching him work, admiring the man who knew his job well. He smiled a little, feeling a blush on his cheeks. He paused though. Silly John, the man worked hard that he forgets that the higher up flowers shed petals. They were falling into his hair.

“John, watch out for the upper pots, they’re starting to wilt petals. You got some in your hair.” He laughed, pointing to his own dark blue locks.

John felt confused at the observation and he gently touched his hair running his fingers through. He felt the small breaks of the buds getting mangled and combed out with his fingers. He felt like his heart was in his stomach,he was budding pretty early,he laughed it off and just dropped the petals onto the ground.

“Looks like I gotta be more careful” He glanced at the floor as he drank the rest of the bottle of water and he picked up a vase.

John shivered as a tingle ran through him,still oblivious to the seemingly swelling tummy pressed against his apron. He held the empty bottle while he rubbed his head. A stroke of dizziness hit him once more.

Eddie noticed something was off with his boss as he picked up the vase. The man began to sway, shaking his head as if to shake off something. Eddie watched as John tried to regain his balance, dropping the pot before getting ready to drop to his knees. The pot shattered and Eddie rushed forward to catch the botanist before his head hit the floor.

“Woah there, uh. I think you could be a bit dehydrated. Let’s ease you down.”

The singer helped the man sit on the floor not minding the dirt. He grabbed another water bottle and handed it over. “Take small sips. Too much at once could give you a stomach ache.”

He moved around his boss, grabbing a broom and a new pot, trying to save the flowers before cleaning up the rest. Thankfully it was still early morning and there were no customers yet so they could deal with this calmly. He observed John sip the bottle carefully, his eyes focused in thought.

John felt weak as he sat on the floor,he took small sips from the bottle. There was something wrong with him,maybe it was the illness he’d been experiencing for a while that was picking up again. He took deep breaths and was embarrassed by his sudden accident,sipping the water slowly. Maybe he needed glucose and his blood sugar was low. “I’m sorry about that..”

He groaned softly as he pushed himself up. “poor flowers” He frowned slightly,and steadied himself for balance on the counter. “My blood sugars are low..I’ll be back Eds..” He gave an anxious laugh as he made his way into the greenhouse,and made his way to one of the apple trees. He raised his hand to one of the blooms, an apple quickly growing and he pulled it off the branch.

John weakly sat down in a sun touched spot of the greenhouse,biting down into the sweet apple unable to keep the small buds in his hair from blooming. He tried his best to gently tug them out of his hair,leaving them in bunches on the ground. Feeling a tingling sensation as he absorbed the light,the soft pudge of his stomach squished down by his tied apron. He closed his eyes tiredly munching on his apple.

It had been a good thirty minutes and John still hadn’t returned from going to the greenhouse. A few early customers came in to pick up their orders that were prepared the night before but other than that, the store was pretty calm. Eddie took the chance to check up on his boss before another rush came through.

Heading to the greenhouse, he carefully opened the door, to not startle the shyer man. He looked through the rows until spotting a patch of sunlight near the back with the young fruit trees and saplings. John was resting, actually he was sleeping a little. The sun made the man glow and his hair was decorated in beautiful flowers that were almost taking the shape of a flower crown. Eddie was captured by the sheer beauty that the younger man was radiating. The Singer looked around to make sure that no one else was around. He wanted this sight all to himself.

The way John’s skin absorbed the light and created the most wonderful natural shading. He took out his phone, lining it up just right. It looked like the man was glowing like a god and was at peace. Pressing the button, Eddie heard the shutter on the camera, the noise loud enough to wake the sleeping botanist. Eddie’s face lit up red, feeling horrible now to be caught. But the shot was worth it.

John opened his eyes from his peaceful state of photosynthesis at the sound of the shutter. Quickly snapping his attention to the sound and he felt his heart drop. Eddie was standing there phone in hand looking over at John,he stared back going through a swirl of emotions as he realized the sound was a camera shutter.

He opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. John had quickly stood up the buds in his hair shutting,he felt sick pausing before he brushed his way past Eddie. On the brink of tears he shut himself in the storage room where all the young sprouts were. He felt like he couldn’t breathe as he hyperventilated, tearing the buds and blooms out of his hair and off his skin. He whimpered suddenly when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach;cradling his stomach and kneeling down sitting himself up against one of the shelves. Just his touch starting to make the small sprouts grow.He could hear Eddie on the other side of the door.

“Ah!” Eddie exclaimed as he watched John go into the storage room.

He walked up to the door to follow only to have the door slammed in his face.

“John, I’m sorry!” He called. “I know I should’ve asked for permission, I can delete it right now…” He sighed. “I don’t know how to explain it, but what I saw… it wasn’t anything I’ve seen before. You were… you were glowing and the sunlight… I’m serious. I can delete it. Just open the door and I’ll show you.”

But John never replied. Eddie knew he crossed a line, but the photo was so freaking beautiful. He almost wanted it for an album cover. He sighed, deleting the photo anyway and heard the bell to the entrance ring. He cursed under his breath and went to go handle the customer. He figured he’d talk with John later.

John calmed down and took a few deep breaths,he thought about what Eddie had said. He shouldn’t have reacted the way he did,he stood up and sighed as he wiped his face and opened the door. John looked back at the storage room,the entire room was glowing green foliage. He went up to the front,he went about business as usual,some of his other employees were in the garden tending to the plants. John felt his face hot when he saw Eddie walking up front,taking a big gulp from his third water bottle today.

“Hey...I’m sorry about..you know?” He spoke softly in a fragile tone,not loud enough for others to hear but so Eddie could. The pudge of John's stomach was now more visible than before. John had somewhat become aware but he thought he was probably overwatered from how much water he’d been taking in.

Eddie finished with his customer before replying to John. He let out a sigh.

“I deleted it. I said I would. I-I’m sorry for doing something without permission. The photographer in me took over. It was a rare shot. My bad. Are you feeling okay though? You’ve been drinking a lot. I really don’t want you to over do it. You should let it rest in between.”

“I’m sorry still..I just wasn’t expecting to have a photo taken of me” He sighed and turned to look up at Eddie. “I have been dehydrated,but I suppose you're right about laying off the water” He patted his tummy and noticed itd felt much softer than before. “getting overwatered isn’t good like you said” He smiled at Eddie and he went on about the day finishing his work.

Sending out the orders all day and when it hit five o’clock he began to close shop. The other workers had clocked out already and John and Eddie were the only ones left. John took off his apron and gave a sigh of relief as he hung it up. Eddie was standing next to him clocking off and taking up his apron too. He’d hoped he hadn’t ruined things with Eddie with his reaction earlier that day.He couldn’t help but be unable to shake off this sick feeling that’d been growing since this morning.

Eddie looked over at John who seemed to be lost in his head as he pushed his bike. A little worry settled over the older man, wondering what had been up with the botanist today. It was probably rude to ask, but even knowing him for a few short months, something didn’t feel right.

“Hey, are you alright? You’re not still upset about the picture are you?”

He nodded and gave a forced smile. “I’m fine,you're not bothered knowing...that I’m a-“ He sighed and glanced at Eddie,while he guided his bike closely by. John felt the sickness hitting him again and he took a shaky breath,his stomach was beginning to cramp and it started to hurt to walk a bit. He stopped walking for a moment. “Maybe we can go out later..I’m actually not feeling too great” Taking a deep breath to steady himself he continued walking. He thought to himself, “I’m not gonna be able to ride my bike like this” He felt the cramping again as he continued to shakily walk only a bit behind Eddie.

Eddie could see the change in how John was acting. He was glad things were good between them, but he still didn’t feel right. He could see John looking worse as they walked. He slowed to match the pace, staying with him until they walked.

“If you’re not up for hanging out tonight, we can chill at my place. It’s a bit of a mess though. I’ve got music sheets thrown about.” Eddie suggested, hoping John would agree. The man was looking pale with a hint of green. Although he said he shouldn’t drink more, he could offer tea to help settle whatever might be ailing the younger man.

“Yeah,that sounds good,your house is much closer than mine” John followed alongside Eddie. “I don’t really mind if your place is messy” He gave a small laugh.

After walking a little ways to Eddie's house he gave a relieved sigh when they walked up to his house.They put their bikes in the small garage that belonged to Eddie,John impressed by the nice looking truck in the garage “nice car Eds” he said in a surprised tone.They walked into Eddie's house definitely smelt like a bachelor lived here and a singer at that.

“Thanks, it’s my Old man’s. It’s always a piece to work on, never fixed. One day I’ll drive it. I’m just glad he kept it in good condition.” Eddie shrugged.

Eddie unlocked the door and led the two inside, turning on a few lights. The place was mostly picked up, but scattered papers were on the tables, a few dirty dishes in the sink, a guitar left on the couch.

“Go ahead, make yourself at home. I’ll pick up here a bit. Anything you’d like me to get? Snacks? Something to drink?”

He started to pick up his papers, moving his guitar off the couch and back on the stand. Putting a few succulents back in their places. He was nervous that John was in his house. He didn’t invite people often, sometimes one of his band buddies would crash on the couch and be gone by sunrise. But to have someone visit, it was a rare interaction.

John nervously did so,he was curious about the house and he stood there a bit dumbfounded. He felt the nausea hit him again. “Some water or Juice would be great, do you have a bathroom?”He said in a shaky tone. When Eddie told him where it was he sped walked down the hall into the bathroom,shutting the door not meaning to slam it but he couldn’t help it when he threw the toilet open and fell to his knees. His head stuck in the toilet as he emptied the contents of his stomach. He huffed tiredly as he rested against the tub and his stomach felt like it was throbbing. Pressure seemingly built up and pressed against the buttons of his collared shirt. Uncomfortably swollen and seemed like he was overwatered he figured that Eddie was right about him and the amount of water he’d been drinking.

When he heard the door slam, he paused in his cleaning. The sounds of vomiting followed. His stomach dropped. He stopped cleaning up and went to his cabinet to grab some crackers, and a glass of water. Eddie carefully opened the door to see his friend resting against the toilet, breathing heavy. He set the crackers aside and got down on his knees to get closer to the man.

He could see him shaking, flushed, and a little green. Carefully he placed a hand on John’s forehead to see if there was a temperature and didn’t feel any fluctuation in heat. It stumped him on why the man would be so sick.

“It’ll be okay.” Eddie whispered in a comforting voice. He reached over to grab a few crackers. “Take small bites. It’ll help absorb the water and let your stomach settle. I’ll go make some ginger tea.”

Eddie started to get up, but something was telling him to stay. He hesitated before staying put, feeling that he was needed instead of leaving.

John couldn’t help but feel embarrassed,sitting helpless on the floor. “Thanks..Eddie” He paused before speaking again looking up at Eddie,taking a small sip and finishing a cracker in his hand.

“I shouldn’t have come to work today…” Sighing before weakly standing up. “I’ve been sick constantly like this since our new shipment of plants..” John's flowers started to peak out again,and he gave off a strong flowery aroma. Taking a step closer and gently wrapping his arms around Eddie in a comforting hug. Letting out a small gasp as he felt the throbbing again in his small bloating tummy. “I’m sorry to put this on you”

Eddie didn’t say a word as John stood up. He stood up too. But definitely something was off. John looked as if he gained a little weight. He chalked it up to water weight and let it slide, but when he was hugged, something he never thought would happen in a while, and John let out a small gasp, the worry returned.

He wrapped his arms back to accept the hug. “John, are you really alright. If you were sick I could’ve opened up shop. Also, could I get you a heat pack for your stomach? You seem to be bothered by it. You should relax, the work was probably too much for you today.”

“I know..I just wasn’t feeling as bad this morning” He mumbled as he steadily took a step back. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me Eds...but for now let’s just go relax together” The thought of the warm pack on his hurting belly sounded delightful. “a heat pack sounds really nice” John was tiredly guided out by Eddie to the couch while Eddie warmed up a heated pack. John looked over at Eddie to make sure he wasn’t looking in his direction. Seeing that Eddie was making tea John untucked his buttoned shirt and slipped a hand up his shirt feeling his tender stomach,something was definitely different from normal. Adjusting his shirt to normal he brushed down his shirt,wincing when he felt his suddenly sore chest.He took a deep breath and combed his fingers through his hair, some leaves falling out. John couldn’t help but feel more anxious than ever.

Eddie returned with a heated towel. It was kind of pathetic, but it’s all he could think of. He wasn’t good at medical or healing, only knew neosporin and a band-aid. He handed it over to John who spread it over his bloated stomach. Eddie could see the man sigh in relief.

“I don’t have much to watch. Just a few streaming things. Cheaper than cable. Anything you prefer to watch? I was even thinking about ordering some food since it’s dinner time anyways. Are you up for something or are you good with crackers?”

He felt a bit more content now,gently rubbing his tummy pressing on the warm towel. “I think I should eat,or atleast try” Rubbing the back of his neck he remembered his wallet in his pocket. “ oh I’ll repay you for the food!” He stammered embarrassed at how rude he’d been. John could feel his stomach growling as he placed another cracker in his mouth. He normally wasn’t one to eat that much,but he figured throwing up prolly emptied his stomach.

“I’m sorry about you having to take me in..if I’m quite honest I don’t think I’d make it to my own place” John watched as Eddie searched on his phone for a place to get take out,his attention flicking between Eddie and the channel the tv had started to play.

“Oh it’s no trouble at all, I invited you over. You can rest up here. Doesn’t bother me.” Eddie shrugged, looking for some food. “What do you think about asian food? I could go for some yakisoba.”

“I never really tried it,but I’m open to new things.” He shrugged,as he got comfortable inching closer to Eddie. They’d eaten dinner later on after spending time on the couch. John and Eddie had spent the night together and John had stayed over for a few days. He'd been sick almost every morning but eventually he was able to make it back to his house,going about his but still missing a few days of work. He'd been spending more time with Eddie and it was at least two weeks later and John’s stomach only continued to swell. He worried about it but did his best to hide it not wanting a cause for concern. His main embarrassment was that his clothes had started to struggle to fit,not only his growing waistline but it seemed like his normally flat bust was gaining of bit mass too. His need for water and sunlight became more necessary. It was the weekend and he had planned to go out with Eddie today to go clothes shopping.

Eddie was excited to go out shopping. He had been looking to get some clothes for his gigs and to toss out some old ratty ones. John was happy to join too, the both of them able to spend some actual time together. The singer stayed by his friend’s side while he battled his small flu. John seemed to be looking better despite the slight exhaustion.

John was looking a little bit concerned for his own clothes since he was borrowing some of his as well as not fitting too well into his own so when Eddie had offered for a shopping trip, John agreed. Eddie was actually hoping to spoil him a little bit, offer lunch and possibly a movie.

His heart started to race anytime he was near the younger man. He was always glowing and always so, so beautiful. His red hair was like the sunset sky or an orange poppy. His cheeks were filled and when he smiled the older man felt like he was being hit with a ray of literal sunshine. He wanted the man all to himself forever.

The shop was closed for the day so the two started to head out. Eddie got close to John, letting his hand slip into his, a light dust of pink covering his cheeks. John was a little surprised too, holding the hand back, his cheeks were pink too.

They eventually neared the shopping center, seeing it lively with people but not the big crowds. It was early in the day, but not super late in the morning. Eddie gripped John’s hand a little more firmly, dragging him along for the fun they were about to have.

John felt a rush of excitement as they entered the shopping center. It’d been a long time since he’d gone to a Mall. Eddie seemed excited too gently pulling John along with him. They entered into a store with all kinds of alternative aesthetics and clothes that appeared in shows. John was fascinated by the amount of clothes that were all different styles.

“Wow I don’t think I’ve ever been in here” He looked up at Eddie and saw him staring at some distressed clothes and pretty punk accessories. John let go of Eddie's hand and he watched as Eddie went over to the clothes he was eyeing. He smiled amused at Eddie's excitement while he walked around a lil bit finding some comfortable looking sweaters,pulling a maroon one off the rack,it had a small flower sewn into it. Walking up to Eddie,who was ruffling through a clothes rack full of flannel and band names,he held out the sweater “what d’ya think about this?” John was also holding onto some pants,he was hoping he’d find some sweater vest and a larger button up shirt. The need for stretchy clothing,more necessary though.

Eddie picked out a few punk type shirts and a pair of pants, turning around to see John also browsing for his taste. It was adorable to see the other shopping around for comfy clothes. John held up a few things and Eddie knew the items would make John look good. He put a thumbs up.

“Looks great! Darker and warmer colors suit you.” He complimented, seeing John’s face turn red.

The two looked around some more before going up to the counter to purchase. They had agreed to pay for their own things then move on. Eddie wanted to still do a bit of shopping before going to lunch. He was having a fun time seeing his boyfriend light up at all the different stores.

John normally feared going out in public places alone at least. But he found this wasn’t so bad he happily walked with Eddie,them entering stores and shopping around. John had found some bigger sweater vests and larger more stretchy button ups,he couldn’t help

but be in love with some of the clothes he’d found. He placed his hand on his swollen stomach and sighed. John still didnt know why his stomach had continued to grow,he’d been cautious with water and had been hiding the fact that the swelling had increased as much as it did, he hid it from Eddie the best he could.

He snapped out of his train of thought when his boyfriend came up to him “I’m starting to get hungry,maybe we should go take a break and get lunch together?” He gave a warm smile and fidgeted with his bags. Opening his now free hand up for Eddie to grab.

Eddie took his hand and walked them to a nearby sandwich shop. The older man was hungry for a sub. But then he paused. What did John actually like to eat? He looked at his boyfriend, looking a little nervous.

“I never bothered to ask, but are you vegetarian?”

“I am.” John smiled.

“Cool. Uh, I think this place has salad. I’ve seen them serve it before. Order any type you want I’m paying.”

After their food was ordered and they took a seat in one of the booths, munching away. Once again the sunlight from the late summer sun was shining in the window, illuminating the red-head. Eddie felt a blush creeping along.

“Y’know… I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but you look super pretty in the sunlight.”

John couldn’t help but blush while chewing a mouthful of salad.

“Thanks..I probably shouldn’t sit in the sun for too long” He gave a nervous laugh and pursed his lips while he looked over at Eddie. “You're not so bad looking yourself.” He sat back in his chair after quickly finishing his plate,and rested his hands on his stomach.

“So you're not against Abnormals?” His tone became more hushed,so others wouldn’t hear him clearly. John's focus changed again when he felt an odd sensation come from his tummy. He looked slightly paler after feeling the squirming,shaking it off and turned his attention back to Eddie.

Abnormals, an odd change in subject Eddie thought.

“Well, it all depends…” He started off, looking at his empty dish. “I think it depends on the person themselves. The government is just scared of this new hybrid of humans, they just want to eradicate them for power. What they need to look out for are the sick ones. I’m sure Abbies got themselves under control, it's how they were made, born. But those who are mentally sick, then there should be places for them to get help. Same thing with disabled Abbies. They could be good people but need that help to control themselves.” He let out a sigh. “Those who use their Abnormal gain for power or danger should be taken care of. Much like any other human being. People kill people and harm others and are sent to jail. So if an Abbie goes out to kill someone, then yeah, I’m against it.”

He took a sip of his soda.

“But if the Abnormal is good and just wants to live a normal life like a human then they should.” He shook his head. “Basically what I’m saying is, why treat them differently than we treat humans, our own kind?”

He looked over at John to see an unreadable expression.

John silently nodded “you do have a point” He took a small sip of his water and looked around. Anxious if anyone was looking at him,he cleared his throat and shifted around awkwardly “so if you met one would you call the hotline?”

John was always afraid to come out as an Abnormal,he just wasn’t sure about who to trust with that information. He stood up and picked up his bags “you wanna keep shopping around or would you like to go home?” He stretched and gently tugged his shirt back down when it rolled up a bit. His back had begun to hurt from walking around and he wanted to relax a bit. John's stomach began to feel off again and he still tried ignoring the discomfort in his body.Eddie stood up and took Johns’s hand again and they’d begun to walk a bit aimlessly.

Eddie stood up with John and noticed the struggle he was having. He wished he could do something, but it might’ve been a private matter. He dumped their trays and held his hand as they walked out, taking the extra shopping bags.

“Like I said before. It depends. If one was coming to attack me or I see them attacking someone, then I’d call for the safety of the people around. But if they aren’t doing anything and just living, then there’s no reason to. They are a new species of human. So I'll treat them as such.”

He wondered why John had brought up the subject of Abnormals. It was another touchy subject like politics, religion and a*ortion. People had their opinions and it would always end up in some argument or that rare agreement. Maybe John was trying to research them? Testing out if he was one.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not an Abbie. I’m human so I won’t go attacking you. If I was an Abbie, I’d be a little nervous to speak about it, but I’d still inform you. That way you have the option to leave or if you don’t agree with them call the hotline.”

John became silent as the two walked the rest of the mall. At the end they both were surprisingly exhausted. Eddie took hold of the bags.

“Want me to drop you off or do you want to return to my place?”

John thought for a moment and briefly sighed “we could hang out in my place if you’d like” He shrugged and knew he had never really taken Eddie to his house. But the company could be nice and John always felt more comfortable in his own place. “I could cook dinner and stuff” John hoped that Eddie would accept so when Eddie gave a nod he couldn’t help but smile. “I warn you,I have a lot of plants” He had a dorky grin as they walked out of the mall together to Eddie's truck. John got in the passenger seat while Eddie was packing the bags in the back. Eddie started the car and began to drive up the road and John made small talk. “you're not allergic to cats are you?” John forgot to mention that he had a small well behaved cat that kept him company in his townhouse. They’d just pulled into Johns house complex when he spoke.

Eddie shook his head. “Not not allergic.”

John nodded as he directed Eddie to his place. The older man parked in the driveway and helped John get out to unlock the door while he got the bags out of the truck. He followed up the stairs and could already see the potted plants sitting outside the door. John opened the door and Eddie was surprised at how many plants the man had. There were plants everywhere and the air was so fresh! He couldn’t help but inhale the air and aroma from the sweet flowers. It was almost like a mini greenhouse.

He stepped in further, setting the bags by the door and taking his shoes off. The place was beautiful. He could see so many images that he could take. Any one of them could be used for an album or EP cover. He was getting excited! Eddie pushed it down, knowing how upset the last time he took a photo that John was not pleased.

John was pretty pleased at Eddie seeming to love the inside of his house. He helped Eddie unpack the car and bring the bags in. “Feel free to get relaxed,Bitty is pretty shy but she might come up to you” Going into the kitchen and grabbing a bag of cat food. Pouring out a bowl of food for her and shaking it to let her know.

John had noticed Bittys sudden magnetism lying on his stomach since he’d been sick.

“Hey what do you wanna do for dinner,it’s gonna be vegetarian you know” Laughing softly as he went and sat down on the couch,pretty exhausted from the day. The small cat had scampered down from Johns loft bedroom and only made a sound when chomping down on the kibble. John had tiredly rested on Eddie's side letting Eddie wrap his arm around him. He couldn’t help but give off a flowery aroma as a form of adoration for his boyfriend.

Eddie smiled a little when he saw the cat go eat. His heart rate picked up again when John moved closer to him so he wrapped an arm around him. He didn’t mind anything to eat since he could eat anything. He shrugged.

“Anything sounds good to me. I’ll eat anything.”

The air started to become clearer and sweeter as the two cuddled on the couch, the only sound was the cat munching on her food.

John felt better lying on Eddie. “I can’t guarantee I’m the best cook but I’ll try” He gave a soft laugh and looked over at the cat and made small sounds to call her over to meet Eddie. A small chirp came from the cat as she shyly went over to them,jumping on the couch and cautiously stepping onto John's lap to sniff at Eddie. John looked down at her lovingly as she brushed against Eddie welcomingly.

“Looks like she likes you Eds” Smiling up at him as she settled in Johns laps purring softly resting herself against Johns slightly bulging tummy. “She’s been oddly cuddly towards me lately” He looked down at her confused and placed a gentle hand on her. “ever since I got sick” He whispered before sighing thinking about it in frustration and concern.

Eddie pet the kitty back, thanking her for the cuddles. She then twirled around and cuddled into John’s lap, purring and falling asleep.

He noticed the mood drop around the both of them. John was in deep concentration, a hand on his cat and a hand on his belly. Worry clouded Eddie’s mind as well.

“John, is everything okay? If you’re that worried about your weight, it really doesn’t bother me.”

“Y-yeah I’m alright” He huffed and looked at Eddie “my..my stomach had been swollen..” John felt embarrassed and looked away. “It’s not super serious..but it’s just gotten bigger since a few weeks ago” He hoped Eddie wouldn’t assume it was a medical issue and a cause for a doctor's visit. He rubbed the small cat who vibrated his baby bump,only glancing over at Eddie who he knew was looking at him. “I guess I might’ve just gained some weight” He laughed fakely and gave a half smile but his worry didn’t go away.

Eddie frowned a bit, still concerned over his boyfriend’s own worries. He moved closer, wrapping his arms around him again and kissing his cheek affectionately.

“If it gets to be more of a problem, then let me know. If it were me, I’d go see a doctor, catch whatever it is before it gets too serious. But it’s your body. If you feel something isn’t right, tell me. I’ll be with you through this.” He snaked his hands around to carefully place on the bump. “You do look cute with it too. A little chub doesn’t hurt anything if that’s what it is.”

He removed his hands and stood up, helping John to his feet. “So, dinner, what do you have in mind? I’d like to help.” He gave off a cheesy grin.

#chub art #chub kink #mpreg belly #mpreg art #mpreg story

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krsnbgirl · 4 years

Text

Timing || Dancer!Kuroo x Dancer!Fem!Reader || One Shot

Summary: Timing with Kuroo was never right. You met him through a studio collaboration and immediately the chemistry between the two of you was undeniable. The catch? He was finding his way in life and you were in a relationship. Now that time’s past and you’re each at different stages in life, will time be on your side?

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x Fem!Reader

Word Count: ~6k

Warnings: Light swearing, Final stages of moving on, Emotional cheating (?), visual aids for choreography purposes.

Author’s Note: I’ve really been on a writing spree lately and have been dying to write a Dancer!Kuroo fanfic. I came across an old one-shot I abandoned in my drafts and decided to revamp it and have Kuroo as the main character ^^~ I hope you guys like it! Also currently working on a Kageyama x Reader Series if you’re interested! Let me know what you guys thought of this one shot though, love you guys! xoxo, Ren

You sighed as you stared blankly at the laptop screen in front of you. You were seated against the headboard of your bed with your legs crossed, just like how you’d sit in grade school. Running a hand through your hair, your eyes were glued on the picture that was enlarged on your Instagram feed. ‘I didn’t think he’d move on that quickly…’

In the picture was your ex-boyfriend standing in front of the entrance of the local amusement park with the new girl he was talking to. A slight heavy feeling came into your chest as you exited the browser and pushed the laptop to the side. You pushed yourself off of the bed and rearranged the sweatshirt you were wearing. Making your way towards your desk, your eyes landed on the cork board that was filled with different Polaroids. A nostalgic smile came upon your face as you sat down in front of your desk and took the photo pinned at the top-right corner into your hands. Your ex had his arm tightly around your waist as you both cheekily smiled at the camera. His head was comfortably resting on yours while you were pinching his cheek. You leaned against your chair as you played with the photo, memories flooding your mind. It was when you reached your one year anniversary with your ex. It happened during your freshman year of university and he decided to take you to the amusement park to relive your childhood memories. Now with your third year of university coming to an end, things were different. You bit your lip as your hand hovered over the trash can that was tucked underneath your desk. The Polaroid hung at the edge of your fingertips as you debated to finally put a closing to your most serious relationship to date. You and your ex had broken up around a year ago on mutual agreements. Going to different colleges and having such hectic schedules took a toll on the both of you. It eventually came down to the point where you had naturally drifted away from each other because of how different your circles and interests were. With a sigh, you turned over the photo to look at the message that was written on a small stationery note taped to its back.

To the most special girl in the world:

Life always seems more exciting when you’re around.

We managed to get through a year, so let’s aim for forever, yeah?

You’re the only person that understands me and gets how I think.

I love you, princess. - Terushima Yuji

Terushima was your first serious relationship having been best friends since high school and transitioned into being a couple as you matured into young adults. You were each other’s serious firsts and now that time’s passed, you realized that it was a part of life. One person could be your everything at one point and at some point, one outgrows the other if effort doesn’t come from both sides. In the end, you guys decided to still stay as friends. When the breakup was still fresh, you couldn’t believe it right after it happened. It didn’t actually hit you, but as time passed, the pain started to settle in and eventually you became numb to it. You were so used to having him by your side for so long and it hurt to see him move forward with life as you were just barely getting over him. You thought you’ve been doing fine after so long, but after seeing him post about a new girl, reality finally hit that things were never going to be the same again. An unexplained feeling came over you as you let that kind of realization settle over you. You were thankful that you could still be friends with Terushima, but now there were certain boundaries that you had to respect because he was no longer yours. He had a new girl in his life that he clearly loved and you were still single and finally ready to take the world on again. It was a good run while it lasted and you didn’t regret any moment of it. You felt as if you had come full circle with everything involving your ex. Rather than throwing the Polaroid away, you tucked the photo into the small memory box you kept in your desk. It would serve as a reminder just how much you’ve grown since that moment, plus first loves always had a special place in a person’s heart even after growing out of it.

“(Y/N)? There’s someone here to see you.” your roommate, Megumi, said as she poked her head into your room just as you closed the drawer of your desk shut.

You cocked your head to the side in curiosity as you got up and followed your best friend into the living room of your shared apartment.

“But I wasn’t expecting any visitors…” you murmured.

Megumi shrugged and replied, “I didn’t expect this person to come all the way either.”

As Megumi stepped out of your way and plopped herself onto the couch, you gasped and quickly walked over to hug the person who was standing by the TV, looking at your photos along the wall.

“Tetsurou!” you happily exclaimed and laughed as he spun you around.

“Hey, chibi-chan.” he greeted as he set you down and ruffled your hair.

“I thought you were going to teach a workshop in a studio in Seoul? What are you doing here in Tokyo? The last thing you told me was that you were in Paris.”

Kuroo smirked and said, “Well I had to cancel Seoul when Oikawa called me to headline one of the workshops for his studio. I couldn’t say no to an old friend, now could I? So....”

You arched an eyebrow and crossed your arms as he leaned down to meet your gaze. “I need someone to help me teach the piece I was planning on doing today. So, why not the person who co-choreographed it?

You couldn’t stop yourself from excitedly jumping and grabbing his arm. “You still remember that piece when our studios trained together?”

The latter nodded and straightened up, a warm smile spreading across his face. “Of course, chibi-chan. It’s one of my favorite pieces that I’ve ever choreographed to.”

With an amused smile, you nudged him in the stomach. “You’re such a dork.”

Kuroo chuckled and turned you around by your shoulders, pushing you towards your room. “Well what are you waiting for, slow poke? Go and get ready! We have about two hours to get it down before Oikawa starts to sass us!”

A warm feeling spread throughout your chest as you rushed into your room to put on something more suitable to dance in. You rummaged through your closet and slipped on an over-sized graphic T-shirt with a pair of black biker shorts.. Quickly, you threw your necessities into your duffel bag and exited your room. Kuroo and Megumi were catching up as you made a pit stop in the kitchen to grab water for you two.

“Alrighty, I’m set!” you smiled and tossed Kuroo his water as you made your way towards the shoe rack by the door.

As you guys slipped on your shoes, Kuroo pointed towards the shoes you were wearing and laughed.

“You were always the sneakerhead, huh?”

You playfully winked as you straightened up from retying the laces of your latest pair that you copped as a special little treat for yourself. “I got them recently after getting paid from my last dance gig. I got a hefty sum from it, so I decided that it was finally time to drop a little more than usual.”

Kuroo smiled to himself despite rolling his eyes at your statement. He opened the door for you and the two of you exited your apartment. Once you reached the lobby, you greeted the doorman as you made your way towards the spot where Kuroo parked. You smiled widely when Kuroo stopped by a slick, black sports motorcycle. Letting out a low whistle, you admired the vehicle as you slowly circled around it.

“And you finally got a motorcycle license. This is a total beauty, Kuroo. I’ve been waiting to get on this type of baby for a while.”

Kuroo laughed and tossed you the extra helmet he had in his storage compartment. “Just like you said, we gotta spoil ourselves once in a while right? Now c’mon get on.”

You waited for Kuroo to get settled first before getting on the back seat of his bike. An excited squeal escaped your lips as he revved up the engine. He slid down his visor before turning around to slip yours down as well. You bit your lip as he smirked at you before turning his attention towards the oncoming traffic.

“Better hold on tight.”

Shaking your head at him, you comfortable wrapped your arms around his waist as he began to take you guys to the studio. You smiled widely as you watched the city speed past you, a lively feeling spreading throughout your body. Ever since the breakup happened, you managed to keep yourself busy in order to take your mind off things. Though you were constantly picking up dance gigs and doing other side jobs or even simply cleaning up the apartment, there was always this empty feeling inside of you. But now that Kuroo was back and with you, it felt as if he helped you break the chains you locked yourself up with. Looking up at the bright sky, you breathed in the fresh air and enjoyed how the wind surrounded you. You felt alive. You felt free and genuinely happy for once. The world now looked brighter and you were happy that Kuroo was able to bring that out of you. Tightening your grip around his waist, you mentally thanked the heavens for bringing him back to you.

----

As you monitored the class while Kuroo taught the combination of the piece, you smiled to yourself as you listened to his dorky references. He managed to squeeze in a couple of science puns and you bemusedly shook your head as the whole class laughed, but also understood what he was trying to get at. You held in your breath as you went towards the front of the class to take over his spot so he could also monitor everyone’s progress with the choreography. He gave you a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder because of the unexpected variable that was added into your guys’ equation.

Once people started filing in for your class. Terushima and his new girl were part of the last few that trickled into the full class. He managed to catch you as you walked back in after taking a look at the roster and you were shocked to see them there. While Kuroo was trying to pick music for everyone to stretch to, Terushima walked up to you and introduced you to her. Apparently, she was also a dancer and wanted to take Kuroo’s class. When you met eyes with him, you couldn’t help but smile back at him once he gave you a small smile. The pain that you used to feel wasn’t there anymore and you realized that you really did move on just like he did. Turning your attention back towards the mirror, you met Kuroo’s gaze through your reflection and he gave you a nod of encouragement. You let out a deep breath before gathering everyone’s attention to continue where he left off to finish the piece.

Going over the last eight count, Kuroo ended up joining her in the front to teach together and they finished the workshop. You grooved to the music and let it take control of you as Kuroo danced beside you. When you heard the students having a fun time, you couldn’t help but laugh and smile. Everyone was grooving along with each other because it gave off that happy-go-lucky vibe that anyone could freestyle to. You didn’t even notice Terushima and his new girl as you surround yourself with other dancers. Kuroo would also try to divert your attention away from Terushima if he noticed your eyes wandering. It was hard to kill off old habits and you were glad that Kuroo was there to help you.

It was finally time for you and Kuroo to watch the students do it in groups without your guidance after splitting it in half. You leaned against the mirror as Kuroo did the routine full out while they were marking** it. The way that he moved was something that you admired a lot about him. He was always able to sit in the pocket and fully complete his moves despite his tall stature. You smiled to yourself as you watched the students’ expressions as he walked away and stood next to you. Shouting some encouraging words to them, you smiled at the students before restarting the music for them. As the entire class watched the first group, you leaned against the speaker and Kuroo nudged your arm. You gave him a questioning look and he nodded towards the back corner of the room. **(Marking a piece means going over the choreography with half the energy to really go over whatever a dancer is struggling with. It also helps figure out the right timing for certain moves.)

“You hanging in there?” he asked as you both watched Terushima hand the girl a towel to wipe off the sweat.

You shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. “I mean I didn’t really feel sad when I saw them in the beginning. But it’s just weird to see him in person, y’know?”

Kuroo chuckled and ruffled your hair as he noticed your eyebrows scrunch up and a small pout on your lips, continuing to listen to your small rant. “I tried not to really pay attention, but it’s hard when they’re showing excessive public displays of affection. God, were we that bad when we were together? And he just so happens to be dating another dancer, make it make sense.”

“There, there. Do you think he’s just trying to fill up that empty void since the both of you guys broke up?”

You grunted as you pushed yourself off of the speaker and said, “I don’t know... Honestly as long as he’s happy, then I guess I’ll be fine.”

“That’s my girl.” he praised and slung his arm over your shoulders.

You huffed and flicked his temple. He groaned and said, “Damn, I forgot how strong you could be sometimes.”

You two laughed as everyone clapped for the first group. As the second group filled the floor, you made your way to the front to do it while they marked it. You mentally groaned seeing that said ex and new girl were in your group. Your expression deadpanned and you looked in the mirror to see Kuroo hunched over his phone, trying to contain his laughter. Sighing, you shook away any last negative thought and looked at Kuroo once more. Although still laughing at your luck, his attention was on you and gave you a reassuring smile. ‘You got this, chibi-chan. Ignore them and dance for yourself,’ he mouthed as the music started. Listening to his advice, you ignored everyone around you once more and just danced to your heart’s extent.

There was a reason why the both of you decided to make choreography to this song when you guys were originally assigned as partners. When you sat down together to come up with an idea, you guys were equally going through a rough time. Kuroo was kicked out of his house for choosing dance over his family’s business while you and Terushima were constantly fighting. On your first night of practice, you ended up having a heart to heart with Kuroo. The both of you unintentionally opened up to each other because dance is being vulnerable with yourself physically and emotionally. After spilling out all of your emotions, you guys decided that you simply wanted to be happy. Dance was an escape for you and Kuroo. Kuroo shared the same passion and love you had for dance because you both related over how dancing helps release the day to day stress that piled up. It was just better to live in that moment of dancing all of your emotions out. When it was time to do it for the showcase, the both of you not only had the fastest combination, but your piece’s intentions really showed through the moves and expressions that were displayed on that stage. It was in that moment where you and Kuroo wanted to show the world what dance meant to each other. The song, the moves, and the meaning behind it shared their untold stories. You smiled widely as you watched yourself in the mirror and did the footwork with ease. Adding your own style and facials into it, you felt yourself letting go of everything that was hanging over your head for so long. After being reminded of the origins of the piece you taught with Kuroo, you didn’t care if you were going all in on it while the other dancers were marking it. Dancing with Kuroo by your side was the most you’ve felt alive in the longest time and you weren’t going to let this small moment of yours go to waste.

You smiled breathlessly as you ran back to Kuroo once the piece was over and it was time to watch the dancers once more. He handed you your towel and bottled water before patting you on the shoulder.

“You were amazing, cutie. I haven’t seen you dance like that in forever. You spark’s come back.”

Gulping down the water, you shrugged before giving him a bright smile. You tossed your bottle on the top of your bag and tiredly leaned against him. “I guess I just needed something to help let myself go.”

He adjusted his position so you could comfortably lean your head against his shoulder and you guys continued to watch the class.

“Let yourself go or to finally get some closure?” Kuroo asked.

“Both I guess…” You murmured as you found yourself smiling at Terushima and his girl dance to your and Kuroo’s choreography.

“I’m assuming tonight was something that really helped you then, huh?”

You nodded as everyone clapped for each other. Kuroo warmly gazed down at you and squeezed your cheek. “Then I’m happy that you’re happy.”

He walked off to let everyone get some water and you sighed, feeling grateful to have Kuroo in your life. Ever since he walked into your life, Kuroo always knew what to say when you came to him for advice. He was always willing to listen and be upfront with you if you were being stupid. Without knowing, Kuroo slowly became your best friend because of your shared love of dance and constant meetings for this piece. When he walked back to your shared corner, you couldn’t stop yourself before pulling him into a hug.

“I know I say this a lot, but...just...thanks for everything.” you murmured.

He set his head on top of yours and tightly hugged you back. “I’m always here for you, beautiful.”

You laughed and slightly pulled back to lightly smack his chest. “Oh stop it with these pet names, you dork.”

He let go of you as you told everyone to move to the front of the room. His focus changed towards his phone as he set up the music, a small smirk on his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, chibi-chan. You’re cute and beautiful. I’m simply stating the truth.”

Kuroo only ever jokingly teased you, but seeing how he was being sincere with that compliment, you felt the heat creep up into your cheeks. Coughing to hide your blush, you rolled your eyes at him. “Ha, you’re so funny. Now c’mon, they’re expecting us to do it for them.”

He chuckled and let the music play as he grabbed your hand. You shook your head at him as you bit your lip, letting him lead you to the middle of the studio. As the both of you danced, the world around you two disappeared. It was just you and Kuroo, looking at the mirror and dancing the routine. You could feel Kuroo’s energy right next to you as you danced and interacted with each other. It brought back memories of your late night to early morning practices. Getting to dance with him once more brought back all of the jokes and heart to hearts that were exchanged during your shared bubble tea and food runs before or after rehearsals. All in all, you were starting to get the old butterflies you chose to ignore when you first met Kuroo.

When your attention came back to the present, you and Kuroo had finally finished the routine. Falling to the floor, everyone threw their shoes** at the both of you and you guys couldn’t help but laugh. All you felt was bliss as you laid on your back and Kuroo sat up, setting his elbows on top of his knees while you caught your breath. You looked up and smiled at Kuroo. It kind of surprised you how quick these old feelings quickly resurfaced and decided to just go with the flow. Throughout the night, Kuroo had been calling you different types of pet names and showed excessive skinship. You weren’t mad at it, but you were still unsure if he was implying something or being his regular affectionate self. **(Shoes being thrown at the choreographer or dancer doing the choreography is a sign of respect and admiration for killing the piece)

Everyone in the room began to chant for the both of you to do an encore since it was the end of the class. You groaned and Kuroo stood up, offering his hand for you to take. He easily hoisted you up and said, “You know we can’t keep the crowd waiting, right?”

You rubbed your forehead, trying to think up another piece you could do together, but over the past two years you collaborated with Kuroo multiple times. There was so much choreography that you guys shared and you puffed out your cheeks since the class wouldn’t let up with their chanting.

“What else is there?”

Kuroo gave you a mischievous smile before heading towards the stereo. He turned towards you, walking backwards and said, “Put your sweater on or else you’ll get cold.”

It didn’t register in your mind right away to what he implied as everyone quieted down. Everyone watched in anticipation as Kuroo scrolled through his phone for the specific song. Nevertheless, you followed his instructions and put on the sweater that you brought to wear after class ended. As the soft melody filled the air, you gasped and snapped your head towards Kuroo who was putting his sweater on as well. He smiled at you and walked up to you as you guys got into place. He nodded at the student he asked to press play for you guys to mark it and the both of you began to effortlessly move together.

This piece was made when the strong emotions you felt for each other was at its peak and your studio directors requested that you and Kuroo collaborated once more to represent your studios at a prefecture competition. The theme of it was ironically love and in the short time period given to you and Kuroo, the choreographed piece was what you two used to speak about your unspoken feelings for each other. You smiled to yourself as you continued to mark the piece since it was a bit on the lengthier side. It was honestly one of your favorite pieces of choreography ever and your mind flashed back to how it came to be.

“(Y/N), what do you think we should do this time?” Kuroo asked as you guys sat on the floor of one of the many rooms your studio provided.

You shrugged and sighed as you laid on your back with your legs stretched out. “I don’t know, Tetsu...it’s up to you.”

Kuroo looked at you as you curled onto your side and focused on your phone. Pursing his lips, he turned his attention towards you and set his phone to the side.

“What’s wrong, (Y/N)?”

You felt him tap your shoulder and looked behind you to meet his gaze. He gave you a look and you caved in to tell him what was bothering you. Sitting up, you curled your legs into your chest and set your chin on top of your knees.

“I didn’t want to bother you...but I feel like Yuji and I will never bounce back after this break that he wanted… As much as I try to still check up on him, he’s grown so distant that I don’t recognize his new behavior sometimes...Do you think there’s another girl? I just don’t know what to do anymore, Tetsu… I just- I just don’t want to be in the dark anymore. Aren’t we supposed to get through everything together? I don’t get it, is it me? Who am I kidding? There is another girl, I saw him flirting with her after his class in their classroom.”

“Don’t you say that ever again, (Y/N).”

You blinked as he quickly cupped your face to stare into your empty eyes. He could see the unshed tears in your eyes and it pained him to see you so broken. Kuroo hated seeing you constantly being hurt by Terushima. He didn’t expect to fall in love with you in a span of three months of dancing together, but he did. The way you were able to welcome him so warmly and easily understood what he struggled with, Kuroo found himself falling hard. Whenever he danced with you and interacted with you, there was this unspoken connection that he’s never felt with anyone before. After the first showcase ended, you guys stayed in touch and had a weekly tradition of hanging out at each other’s apartments. When he was overseas, he missed the hell out of you and when you would cry over the petty little arguments with Terushima, Kuroo wished he had a plane ticket to go back to you.

“You are more than enough, chibi-chan.” he reassured you and pushed some stray hairs out of your face. “Terushima lost sight of the beauty he has by his side and it’s his loss if it ever came down to it. Hell, I’ll immediately take you from him if you’d let me. That girl doesn’t compare to you, at all.”

You smiled weakly knowing the weight that was carried in his words. Leaning into his touch, you sighed and he caressed your cheek. “You know I would do anything to take the pain away from you, (Y/N).”

You tightened the grip that you had around his wrist and he leaned his forehead against yours. The feelings that grew for Kuroo was something you stopped denying a while ago, but still a part of you couldn’t let go of Terushima because of how long you guys knew each other and that you were still in a relationship with him. It confused you because when you were with Terushima, you knew you wanted to be with him. But at the same time, it felt the same whenever you were with Kuroo. A part of you wished that you had met Kuroo first because he gave you the solace and warmth you’ve been seeking for. Your rationality spoke to you as you slowly pulled away, a sad smile on your lips.

“I know you would, Tetsu...But due to the circumstances right now...you know I can’t. We can’t.”

Kuroo felt you slipping away from him and decided it was time to be selfish for a bit. He didn’t want to let you go and wrapped his arms around, burying his face into your neck.

“Please...let’s just be selfish this one time. If he gets to flirt with all the girls he wants on this so called ‘break’ between you two, can’t I have chance? Just until this showcase is over. I just want to show you how much you mean to me and how you are worth the entire world.”

He looked up at you and without thinking, you cupped his cheek and Kuroo sighed into your warm touch.

“Use me if you’d like, I don’t care. You know how I feel about you and I just hate seeing you hurt so much.”

“Tetsu…” you murmured and he noticed the hesitation.

He gave you a small smile before pecking the inside of your wrist. You watched as he stood up and walked over to the speaker then plugged in his phone. The faint sound of the piano filled the air as he made his way back to you and gently helped you to your feet. Kuroo smiled down at you and started to freestyle around you. It was the best way you guys could be vulnerable with each other when the words couldn’t come out. You hugged your arms to your chest as you watched him. His touch ghosted over your body and you bit your lip as he stood behind you.

“For now, just forget about everything and dance with me.”

In that small room, you gave in to the feelings that you tried so hard to suppress. Closing your eyes, you let your body naturally move against his as you danced along to the music. The song spoke out to you because the singers were doing the talking for you both. As you danced with Kuroo, your eyes never left each other the entire time. Interchanging moves and interacting through your eyes and body movements made you feel complete. Kuroo had managed to easily break down your walls and you smiled at him as he grabbed your hand, guiding you across the floor as you did a series of chaine turns*. As the song ended, you landed into his embrace and he lovingly smiled at you. You smiled back at him and he set his head on top of yours.

“I think we just found the song that we’re going to use for the showcase, right chibi-chan?” he said as he tried to catch his breath.

You nodded and in that moment, the both of you came into the silent agreement that you’d be selfish for the next two weeks. While preparing for the showcase, you met up with Kuroo every day to practice and improve your choreography to be the best that it could be. That was when Kuroo’s affectionate side really came into play. He shamelessly flirted with you and the skinship he’d do with you was nonstop. Kuroo took advantage of the small chance you gave him and never wasted a moment. He respected the boundaries you put up and when allowed, Kuroo would only kiss you on the cheek or forehead.

When the showcase ended, the two of you stood on the roof of your apartment. You admired the view and he wrapped his arms around your waist. The air around you guys was heavy as you silently leaned against his embrace.

“So this is it, huh?” he asked softly as he inhaled the comforting scent of your shampoo, tightening his grip around you.

You nodded silently and turned around, resting your hands on his chest. A solemn expression could be seen on your face, not wanting to make a move just yet. Kuroo kissed your forehead and you relished in the comforting feeling he gave you.

“I wish I met you first.” you mumbled as you buried your face into the nape of his neck.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I know.”

“You know that I li-”

“I know.”

Kuroo cupped your face and gave you a small smile. It didn’t quite reach his face and you bit your lip as you felt your eyes water.

“I just can’t let go....” your voice trembled.

“I know.”

“You deserve better.”

“I’m willing to wait.” he simply said and leaned his forehead against yours.

“Why?” you whispered as you both closed your eyes, soaking as much of each other as you could.

“You’re worth every moment.”

It was quiet for a couple of moments and once you felt like you were ready, you stepped out of his embrace. He ran his hand through his hair and stepped back as well, admiring the beautiful features of your face.

“I’ll see you whenever, chibi-chan.” he muttered as he felt his heart clench at the fact you wouldn’t be the first thing he saw in the morning.

“See you...Tetsu…”

You were brought back to reality as you ended the mark with his hands in your sweater and the class screamed for you guys to do it full out. He met your gaze and asked, “Are you ready, beautiful?”

As you got back into position to do the choreography, you nodded and the air around the two of you changed. There was no hesitation between you two as you spoke your unspoken feelings towards each other. Overall you felt the lightest you’ve ever been as your gazes never left each other. It was just like you guys danced it the first time, but this time nothing was holding you two back. You danced with your heart and Kuroo could feel the familiar warmth and radiance he missed from you. As you stood in front of each other, dancing out the lyrics of the song with the movements of your hands, you talked to each other through your gazes and the music.

One love, two mouths One love, one house No shirt, no blouse Just us, you find out Nothing that wouldn’t wanna tell you about, no

When the music picked up, Kuroo led the dance and you can feel how much you missed his presence. His touch burned against you as you finished up the routine. The world disappeared around you two as you felt him grip your hands in the pockets of your sweater. He leaned his forehead against yours and you were both breathlessly smiling at each other.

“Woah…” he said as he slowly stood up straight.

You squeezed his hands before they left your pockets and bit your lip. “Woah, indeed.”

You laughed as he dorkily bowed at the class and motioned their attention towards you. As they cheered for you, you shook your head with the brightest smile never leaving your face. He took your hand into his once he walked up to you and you guys bowed to the class, saying your thanks. It was time for the students to do the choreography you taught one last time and the two of you walked off to watch them. Once in your corner once more, you didn’t hesitate to lean yourself against him and he slung his arm over your shoulders. His head rested on your shoulder as you watched the class through the mirror.

“So...what was that?” you murmured.

“I don’t know, chibi-chan. You tell me.” he responded.

You turned your head to look at him, your cheeks blushing. “Oh you most definitely know, Tetsu.”

“Hm? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he said as he nuzzled your cheek with his nose.

“I’m ready.” you softly said.

“I know.”

“That was fun.”

“I know.”

“I missed you.”

“I know.”

“You’ve been such a tease this whole day.”

“I know.”

“You already knew, huh?”

“Maybe~” he replied in a sing-song tone.

You hummed in thought and turned your attention towards the class once more.

“Hey, (Y/N)?”

Your eyes widened as you felt him lighty kiss your lips before quickly pulling away. It was short and sweet, but had such a big impact on you. Butterflies fluttered in your stomach and your heart raced as he kissed your cheek before walking away to join the freestyle circle that happened at the end of the routine. You laughed in disbelief as you felt your cheeks burn. He walked backwards as he reached the edge of the group and winked at you, holding out his hand for you to join his side.

You took a deep breath and smiled to yourself. It was time for you to move on from your past and dancing with Kuroo helped you realize that. You were finally happy with where you were at and slipped your hand into his as the class made way for you two to be the center of attention once more.

The timing was finally right for you and Kuroo to fully love each other.

#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #kuroo x reader #kuroo x y/n #kuroo tetsurou #terushima #terushima yuji #kuroo oneshot #haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu fanfiction #kuroo x female reader

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idumpyourgrass · 4 years

Text

Always Waiting- Chapter two

Always waiting- Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Always Waiting Masterlist

Summary: The party introduces Y/N to Eleven, Y/N realizes how much of an asshole Steve Harrington has become, the party, Y/N and El see something they wish they wouldn’t have seen, and Jonathan, Nancy, and Y/N discover something.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

A/N: Hi everyone! I’m so glad that you all liked the first chapter! I have changed the POV from 3rd person to 2nd person, it just seemed more natural. I have finals next week but after that I’ll be on winter break so I’ll be spitting out these chapters like no body’s business. Also sorry if this seems so rushed. All the fun stuff happens later… Also sorry this chapter’s so short, the next couple of chapters are longer and much better I promise! As always criticism is welcomed and if you want to be added to the taglist let me know!

Warnings: Swearing, asshole Steve, dead body? typos probs

Word Count: 1.4K

~November 8th, 1983~

You and Dustin pull up at Mike’s house just as Lucas was getting off his bike. All three of you are greeted by Mrs. Wheeler. She tells you that Mike is in the basement. As you all start walking down the stairs you notice a bald girl sitting on the couch. You lean over and whisper into Dustin’s ear, “who’s the bald girl?”

“Oh Eleven this is Y/N, Y/N this is Eleven.” Dustin introduces you two. The girl named Eleven looks terrified.

“Um hey, what’s up?” You greet her. Eleven just looks at you. You smile at her then got to say hi to Mike. All five of you gather around a table. The boys each dump out their backpacks. Lucas has “weapons,” if you count a wrist rocket as a weapon. Dustin empties his backpack and all kinds of snacks fell out. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ha! Nice dude,” he looks up at you and smiles, you give him a fist bump.

Lucas and Mike look at him like he’s crazy.

“We’re going to need food for our travels, why do we even need weapons anyways, we have her!” Dustin points at Eleven. Now you were just flat out confused.

“She shut ONE door.” Lucas argues.

“With her mind.” Dustin said.

“I’m sorry what?” You could not believe what you were hearing; Weapons? Closing doors with minds? “travels?” The boys then go into detail telling you everything. They found eleven while out searching for Will, found out she had powers, and how she knew where Will was. Although you were still fairly confused, you went along with their plans.

“Ok so we all need to meet back here at 3:15 to begin Operation Mirkwood.” Mike explains.

“Yikes, sorry boys I’m going to have to take a raincheck, I have rehearsal after school.” You tell them.

“So what? Just skip it. This is important,” Dustin says looking up at you with pleading eyes.

“I can’t ‘just skip it,’ it’s the very first rehearsal.” You couldn’t miss the first rehearsal.

“Pull the ‘Will’s like a brother to me’ card. That’ll get you out of it.” Lucas suggests.

You didn’t like to lie to your director but the boys seemed to really want you there. You cautiously agree and look down at your watch.

“Shoot! We’re going to be late, we gotta go!” You tell the boys. They rapidly gather up all their things.

You all say bye to Eleven and hurry out the door.

* * *

Barb wasn’t in any of her classes today. Nancy was asking around school if anyone had seen her, but no one has. You were getting a bad feeling about this.

At lunch, since Barb wasn’t there, you were stuck sitting with Nancy, Steve, Tommy, and Carol.

“Hey Tommy, did you see Barb when you left last night?” Nancy asks. He said he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“She was probably tired of listening to all the moaning last night.” To which then Carol and Tommy proceed to make sex noises loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. Nancy’s face turn red and she was avoiding eye contact with you.

“You know maybe if you guys wouldn’t have left her so you guys could go fuck, she would be here.” You knew if was a wise choice of words but you were so tired and fed up with all of them. And with that, you get up and leave the cafeteria to go talk to your theatre director.

Lucas was right, pulling the ‘Will was like a brother to me’ card gave you the whole rest of the week off from rehearsal. On the way out of the classroom you run into a theatre friend, Robin Buckley. Robin tells you she’s sorry about Will insists you guys hang out soon so you could get your mind off of everything. You agree and went on your way.

* * *

After school, while heading to your car, you notice Steve, Nancy, Tommy and Carol, swarming around Jonathan, yelling at him for something. You get there just in time to see Steve drop Jonathan’s camera.

“Steve, what the hell!” You give him a hard shove to the chest

“Stay out of this Henderson.” Steve says coldly as he, Tommy, and Carol start to walk away. Nancy bends over and picks up ripped pieces of a photograph and runs to catch up with the rest of the group. You bend down to help Jonathan pick up the rest of the photographs.

“Jesus, they are such assholes.” You mutter as you give Jonathan the rest of his photos back.

He gives you a quiet thank you, and runs off.

You look down at your watch and realize it was already 3:10. You were supposed to meet the boys at 3:15, you run to your car and shoot out of the parking lot.

* * *

The five of you trail behind Eleven as she leads you to where Will is. You all stop at Will’s house.

“Here.” Eleven states.

“Oh, no sweetheart this is Will’s house…where he lives?” You try to explain it to her.

“Hiding.” Eleven states again. You look up at the three boys who seem to be just as confused as you are.

“I told you she was lying!” Lucas says to Mike, who only argued back.

You could hear the sounds of sirens approaching.

“Guys…guys!” Dustin yells. All attention was now on the sirens approaching. Police cars and ambulances race by.

Simultaneously , the five of you glance at each other.

“Will.”

You all race towards the sirens and arrive at the quarry. You all peek your heads around an ambulance as you watch paramedics pull something out of the water and onto the stretcher. When you see what it it, your heart sinks. On the stretcher laid the body of Will Byers.

“No, no, no.” You can feel your eyes fill with tears.

“It’s him, it’s really Will.” Lucas says.

You wrap your arms around Dustin and Lucas. Mike starts yelling at Eleven.

“You said he was alive! Why’d you lie?!”

“Mike.” You try to calm him down.

“Huh? Why’d you lie?” Mike keeps pressing the question. Eleven starts stuttering trying to find the words to form a sentence. Mike scoffs and walks away.

You can’t believe what’s happening, and you had no idea what was yet ahead.

* * *

~November 9th, 1983~

The next day at school you can’t focus on anything. You just keep thinking about Will. It’s not until 3rd period when you notice Barb is still not at school.

After 3rd period you find Nancy and pull her aside.

“It’s not like Barb to just run away and not tell anyone. Something bad happened to her, I know it.” You tell Nancy.

“Y/N, I need to tell you something and it’s going to sound crazy”

“Yeah ok, I’m all ears.”

“Yesterday, I went to Steve’s house, to see if I could figure out where Barb went, and I saw something.” Nancy trails off.

“Like what? A deer?”

“No, like, like, I don’t know! It looked like some kind of monster.”

“A monster?” Ok now you were starting to think she was crazy.

“It walked on two legs and it didn’t have a face.” Nancy finishes.

“Didn’t have a face? Nancy this is started to sound like something from one of Dustin and Mike’s games.” You could not believe what she was telling you.

“Y/N I’m serious. I- I just know whatever it was, it wasn’t human.” Nancy looks at you with big pleading eyes, almost begging you to believe her. You are about to respond when the bell rings. You give Nancy a small glance and you go to your next class.

* * *

As you start heading out of school, Nancy and Jonathan pull you into the photo developing room.

“Woah hello! What’s…uh what’s going on?” You question, surprised to see the two of them together.

“We might have discovered something.” Nancy says confidentially.

You all stand over the tub while the picture develops. In the picture you an barely make out what looks to be -and you can’t believe you’re thinking this- a monster.

“What the fuck is that thing.” You ask.

“That’s it, that’s what I saw!” Nancy announces.

“My mom, I thought she was crazy, she said it wasn’t Will’s body, that he’s still alive.” Jonathan adds.

“And if Will’s alive then-”

“Barb.”

Taglist:

@loulouloueh @nighttwingg @hauntedduckdefendor @l0ve-0f-my-life @labrujaprincess

#steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things x reader #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #will byers #eleven #jim hopper

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thedailyimagines · 5 years

Text

Imagine working at Freddy’s Pizzeria, and telling your dad something is wrong. (Part One)

Description: The reader just got a new job at Freddy Fazbear’s. He thinks something is up and is proven right on the first night. Maybe his dad can help? This is the family business...

So I’ve never played FNAF, but from one reddit thread I gathered that it takes place in Utah. Please let me know if this is wrong!

~~~~~~~~

Another day, another motel in Nowhere, Utah. Y/n was starting to wonder if his dad and uncle actually knew what they were doing or if they were just taking a break from their case. They had already been here three days.

“So...when are we leaving?” Dean didn’t look up from the newspaper he was reading.

“Sam said the guy we’re talking with could need us for about another week. Maybe two.” Groaning, y/n flopped back onto the motel bed. He was so bored!

“Can I help?”

“No. Too dangerous and I can’t be worried about you getting hurt while working.” Y/n started to pick at one of the threads on the comforter.

“Sam will be there, he can keep an eye on me too.” Dean finally looked up from his newspaper.

“Y/n. I understand you want to help but I need to know your safe. That means sitting out on this one, okay?”

“Fine. But I’m helping next time.” Dean smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Alright.”

<—>

Help Wanted: Nightguard; Details inside.

That was the sign that greeted y/n when he went on a food run. The pizzeria looked run down, but hopefully looks were deceiving; otherwise it was burgers again.

“Whatever. Anything is better than burgers again.” Y/n opened the door of the pizzeria and was greeted to possibly the saddest place he’d ever seen. The restaurant looked empty and outdated, and the animal robots—animatronics, y/n told himself—on the stage were...actually kinda creepy.

“Hi! Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, how can I help you?” A cheerful voice broke through the silent restaurant, and y/n found himself faced with a waitress probably just older than himself.

“Yeah. You guys are open, right? I didn’t walk in when you were about to close?”

“We’re still open!” Y/n nodded and almost took a step back from the waitress. She was almost scary perky.

“Okay, cool. I didn’t want to walk in at the last minute. Do you have a menu I could look at?”

“Yep, here you go!” Glancing at the menu, the majority of it seemed to be character themed pizzas. Y/n decided to make conversation as he looked for something the three Winchesters would all like.

“I saw your ad about the night guard position on the door—” Y/n was cut off before he could finish.

“Oh, are you going to apply? Here, let me get my manager!” Before y/n was able to ask for more details, the overly perky waitress had gone into a back room. She returned with a balding man who was smiling widely.

“Good afternoon! So, you’re interested in the night guard job?” Y/n shook his head.

“I was actually just curious. And looking for someplace to grab lunch.” The manager’s face fell.

“Oh, my bad. I thought you were hoping to apply for the position.”

“I mean, what exactly are the details? I might know someone who could apply.” He really didn’t, but y/n felt sorta bad for getting the older man excited for nothing.

“Well, it’s a temporary position. Five nights, and all you have to do is stay in the security office.” Temporary? Maybe y/n could do this job and get some spare cash. He could use some new tires for his bike...

“That’s it?” The manager nodded.

“Yep! It does have a low pay, but we are going out of business soon and don’t have the funds to pay much more than $200.”

“I see. Could I apply?” Placing his chin in his hand, the manager looked y/n up and down.

“It depends. How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen years old.” A lie, but y/n highly doubted the man would hire a sixteen year old. He looked old enough to be eighteen (at least, Sam said he did).

“Alright. And do you have any serious health problems or conditions?” That wasn’t something y/n was expecting. Wasn’t there paperwork for this kind of thing?

“Uh...no?” The manager grinned widely. It was a bit unsettling.

“Great! Can you start tomorrow?” Y/n’s eyes widened. Was this even legal?

“Wait, seriously? That’s it?”

“Yep! And don’t worry about buying a uniform, we’ll provide you with a shirt.”

“Alright then. What time do I come in?” The manger went back to his office, returning with a shirt and a sheet of paper.

“Just be here before twelve AM. Your shift ends at six. This paper has all the details and my number in case of emergency.” Y/n took the shirt and paper from the manager.

“Got it. And one more thing?” The manager raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“Can I order a large cheese pizza?”

<—>

“That was possibly the grossest pizza I’ve ever eaten.” Dean pushes his plate away, one slice still left on it. Y/n took another bite of his and grimaced, wondering how exactly you screwed up a pizza this bad.

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it.” Sam set his plate down, all the cheese gone on his slice after it slid off.

“Where did you get it? So we know to avoid that place.”

“Place called Freddy Fazbear’s. Also I kinda-sorta-maybe got a temporary job there.” Dean choked on his soda and Sam had a surprised look on his face.

“Wait, what?” Y/n put his hands up defensively.

“So this place needed a night guard for like five nights and I figured since we’re going to be here for a while, it wouldn’t hurt!” Dean shook his head and turned to his son.

“Y/n—” Y/n interrupted before his father could finish speaking.

“Dad, it’s only five nights in a building that was empty in the middle of the day. It’s probably just as empty at night.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea...” Y/n rolled his eyes and took a drink of his soda.

“Seriously. It’s six hours of watching a restaurant in the middle of the night. What could possibly happen?”

<—>

Y/n parked his bike outside the pizzeria and chained it to the bike rack. Even at night the place was creepy, possibly creepier. Making sure he had the keys he received earlier, y/n headed inside.

It was eerily quiet without the music playing from the speakers. The animatronics were on the stage, and y/n couldn’t help but shudder as he walked by them.

“Creepy as hell, but entertaining to kids.” Y/n snorted, walking quickly away from the stage. He soon found the security office. From a quick look around, it appeared that all y/n would have were the cameras.

“Right. Let’s see...I guess I’ll just sit and play on my phone?” At that exact moment, the office phone rang. Y/n picked it up to hear the tone for a prerecorded message.

"Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in on your first night. Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact. So, I know it can be a bit overwhelming, but I'm here to tell you there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay? Thinking it was just a welcoming message, y/n began poking around the small office while the message played on. There really wasn’t much in there, and the doors had weird buttons near them.

“...So, you could imagine how having your head forcefully pressed inside one of those could cause a bit of discomfort...and death. Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask, heh.”

“Wait, what?” Before y/n could entirely process what the phone guy said, he accidentally knocked the phone down and unplugged it from the wall. Y/n scrambled to plug it back in but the message was already gone. “Shit!”

Slumping down in the chair, y/n ran a hand through his hair. Why would he possibly be at risk of dying? It was only a night guard job! That was when he spotted the note on the desk.

“Seriously, what the hell is up with this place?” Y/n decided to take a look at the cameras. Yep, there were all the animatronics—where was the rabbit? Flipping through each camera, y/n kept an eye open for the rabbit until—

“There! Wait, that’s down the hall. Is it coming here?” Y/n quickly jumped out of his chair and ran to the door, hitting the button to shut it. Not a second later the rabbit was outside, trying to get in.

It didn’t stop after the rabbit left. The whole night, each animatronic kept trying to get inside the office. At one point, three animatronics

At 5:57, y/n lost power.

“It’s fine. There’s only three minutes left.”

5:58. Two minutes. The fox animatronic entered the office, and lunged towards y/n. He ducked out of the way and bit back a scream at the hook cutting deep into his shoulder.

The fox turned around for a second go, and—

—it straightened, turned, and left the office, leaving behind a very confused y/n. As soon as the manager arrived, y/n booked it back to the motel he, his father and his uncle were staying at.

<—>

“Hey, did you see where I left my keys?” Y/n didn’t pay attention, too focused on his research to notice Dean talking to him.

“Y/n?” Y/n glanced up at his father, one eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“Did you hear what I said?” Y/n shook his head.

“Sorry, I was busy. What’s up?”

“My keys, do you know where they are?” Y/n pretended to be deep in thought for a moment.

“Uhh...your pocket?” Dean rolled his eyes.

“Very funny. What’s got you so occupied?” Y/n turned his laptop around to face Dean, a search for ‘Freddy’s pizzeria’ displayed on the screen.

“The animatronics at the place I’m working tried to kill me last night. Also I should probably look into getting a tetanus shot.” Sam peeked out from the bathroom door with a confused expression.

“What?” Y/n pulled the collar of his shirt to the side, revealing a bloody bandage to his father and uncle. Dean’s eyes widened in shock.

“What the hell happened to you?!?!”

“I told you, a robot pirate fox with a hook tried to kill me!”

~~~~~~~~

I don’t own the above gif, all credit goes to the owner.

#thedailyimagines #imagine #male reader #winchester!reader #winchester!son #supernatural #supernatural imagine #fnaf #fnaf imagine #five nights at freddy's #five night’s at freddy’s imagine #father!dean winchester x son!reader #father!dean winchester x son!reader imagine #uncle!sam winchester #dean winchester #dean winchester imagine

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pjbehindthesun · 6 years

Text

chapter 16: road dogs and glass eyeballs

Friday, October 26th, 1990

“I still can’t believe you came to see me off, Luce! You sure Jeff didn’t mind? Doesn’t his flight leave soon?”

“Nah, we said goodbye this morning.”

“You really should have stayed in bed with your man and snuggled like the adorable otters you are.”

My friend giggles, although I’m not quite sure where she’s managing to come up with the oxygen, since my brother basically has her in a stranglehold as we all stand on the curb a little ways off from the Greyhound bus in the very early hours of the morning, getting ready to say goodbye. I’m trying hard not to think about the goodbye part.

She eases herself free and kisses his cheek. “Yeah, but I know he’s getting back in a few days. You? Who knows when you’re gonna grace us with your presence again.”

“Yeah, well, Portland’s a lot closer than Asheville.”

I interject, “we’ll come down and see you once you get settled in, promise. We’re due for a road trip.” Lucy bounces on her heels in affirmation, but Alex lets out a huff of disapproval.

“Don’t listen to ‘em, man, these two will suffocate you if you let them. Especially this one,” Alex ruffles my hair, “just go live your life, enjoy it. We’ll see you around.”

His words feel like a boot print on my chest. I swallow hard, as if that’s going to wash away the tread marks.

“But, call when you get in anyway, okay?” I curse the little quaver in my voice, which I know is what’s making Alex roll his eyes.

“I will, I will,” Patch sighs, but with a loving smile quirking his mouth.

The hiss of the bus’s air brakes makes me wince, and we all turn to watch the rest of the small group of passengers start climbing on board, or hugging their loved ones, or fussing over luggage in the storage bay. Luggage… oh right, I’d almost forgotten…

“Hey, kiddo, I forgot, I have one more thing for you in the car…”

“For fuck’s sake, Cora,” Alex ribs, but I walk past him unblinkingly, leading my brother back out to the parking lot where I can talk to him in peace.

Patch’s forehead wrinkles questioningly as I open the hatch of the Rabbit and thrust a bike wheel into his chest.

“Here, hold this, I had to pop it off to fit the whole thing in the back…”

I wrestle my bike out of the tight space and frown back over at the bus. “Huh, I thought there was a bike rack on those things, but I guess not… well, a cable lock will keep the wheel and the bike together in storage until you get there. It’s a quick release attachment, you know how those work?”

“Cora, slow down, what…” Patch’s shoulders shake with a soundless laugh as he watches me fidget with the bike.

“What do you mean, what?”

“You’re not giving me this thing, are you?”

“That’s the plan.”

He shakes his shaggy head. “No can do, C, it’s a sweet idea but it’s yours.”

“Yeah, well, it was also my idea for you to leave your truck all the way back in western Carolina in the first place, and I don’t like the idea of you all on your own in a new town with no way to get around.”

“They’ve got buses and shit, Cora.”

“Humor me, you brat,” I finish working the bike lock key off my key chain and thrust it into his hand. Something in his face contracts, and he pulls me into an embrace.

“Love you, C.”

“Love you more.”

“Try to be happy, okay?”

“Mmhmm,” I affirm, squeezing him tighter.

We rejoin Lucy and Alex on the curb, help Patch stow his one small duffel bag and new-old bike underneath the bus, and start to hug our goodbyes. None of the words being said seem to want to stick in my numb, fuzzy brain. The only things immediate enough to feel real are the last little squeeze he gives my shoulder before climbing onto the bus and the look of excitement on his face as we wave him off.

Lucy wraps her arms around my neck from behind in a fond hug, leaning her head against mine. “He’ll be alright.”

I swallow hard again and nod, not willing to unclench my teeth just in case that’s the only thing keeping me from crying.

“You two are unbelievable. He’s a grown man, he’ll be fine,” Alex grumbles.

Without even turning my head, I know exactly what kind of glare Lucy’s giving him. But instead of arguing with him, she lets go of me and turns me around. “So, I gotta head back and get to work, but it’s movie night tonight…”

“Oh, right.” I’d lost track.

“...but I feel like heavier artillery’s in order. Night out?”

I glance at my boyfriend to gauge his reaction. “Oh, I don’t know, I mean, Alex is leaving Sunday morning, I probably ought to --”

“No, hey, it’s cool,” he cuts in, “I can go game over at Brian’s, you girls have fun.”

Lucy smiles and starts to chatter about what we might do for a girls’ night while we walk back to the Rabbit, but I’m stuck on Alex and his eagerness for a night apart so soon before a whole week of nights apart. We really are done here, aren’t we? What are we even doing?

***

“So, have you decided what you want to be?”

Cora’s rummaging through the thrift store’s bargain bin of hats as she asks me about Halloween. There’s a thing next week at the Tavern with a drink special if you show up in costume, and I’d talked the guys into it the other night. Cora took a little more convincing, but I think the prospect of sitting home in an empty house finally got to her, and she agreed to play along. Normally, I don’t think Alex leaving town for a week would have her feeling quite this down -- after all, they’re pretty good at managing time apart for her research trips -- but it’s obvious how intensely she’s already feeling the void left by her brother. She’s keeping it together admirably, but everything about her is more subdued since this morning.

“I have absolutely no idea,” I tell her as I pluck a fuzzer off of a pair of red velvet platform heels. “I was thinking I could just recycle the flower child from last year, I still have the fringed vest.”

“Oh come on, we can do better than that. What’s Jeff going as?”

“Larry Bird.”

“Typical,” she snorts. “I’ll only acknowledge it as a success if he wears the super short 70’s shorts.”

“Oh, bet on it,” and we crack up loudly enough that the only other patron in here on a Friday night looks up from his careful inspection of a broken camera to figure out what we’re laughing at.

We poke around the racks, trying various things on for size, debating costume ideas for the creatively and budgetarily challenged, and ultimately settle on plans for us both. Pleased that I managed to incorporate the velvet shoes into my own idea, we pay for our finds and walk the few blocks to the bar where we’d planned to have a drink. On our way, we catch up on each other’s lives. Her frustration with her advisor Jim, who keeps forgetting to send in a recommendation letter for her fellowship application. My annoyance with Greta for piling more responsibilities on my plate after someone else in our department quit. Her excitement over finally getting a chance to listen to the new Neil Young album. The stray cat that I’ve been seeing in our building parking lot, who looks ready to have her kittens and who I’ve been leaving food out for. Where we’d actually go on a road trip, not just to Portland to visit Patch but throughout the whole West. It’s a steady, comforting rhythm that’s rudely interrupted by a sleazy guy about our age who’s already three sheets to the wind when he catches up to us on the sidewalk as he walks the same direction.

“Damn, where are you fine ladies heading tonight?”

I have to try not to laugh as I watch the loathing seep out of Cora’s every pore. Half the fun of going out anywhere with her is watching her destroy buffoons like this one, who only seem to materialize when we don’t have our usual herd of guys in tow. But she’s in a quieter mood tonight, so I decide it’s my turn.

“Just out for a walk,” I respond in a neutral tone.

“And may I app..ccompany you?” he hiccups, I guess trying to seem gentlemanly but failing miserably.

“No thanks, it’s a girls’ night tonight, just want to spend time with my best friend,” I throw an arm around her shoulder because I could have sworn I just heard her growl.

He clucks his tongue. “Ahhh, I get it, I get it, that’s *hicc* that’s beautiful. I just,” he slurs, and at the sound of Cora grinding her teeth I have to look over and stifle a laugh so the asshole won’t notice, “I’m out here looking for the same thing as everybody, y’know? Just trying to find love, my girl, my one and only, my road dog…”

“Your road dog.” Cora repeats in monotone, no longer able to resist the temptation.

“Yeah!” the guy enthuses. “My road dog, you dig?”

“I do not.”

“Like, my best friend, my road dog, the one I wanna travel this wild and crazy life with *hicc*, you know how it is. Well, I don’t wanna bother you no more, you girls be good,” he gives us a sleepy grin and disappears around the corner while we continue straight.

“Calling a girl a dog is a special kind of pickup line fail,” Cora cackles.

“Points for originality though, I kinda love the whole road dog thing.”

“You do?” she shoots me a withering glare.

“Yeah!” I stop on the sidewalk and drop to one knee, holding her hand while she looks at me like I’ve totally lost it.

“Cora, my darling, my dream, would you… be my road dog?”

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” We hold hands and skip the rest of the block.

***

Sunday October 28th, 1990

“Hey, Red, guess I missed you, uh… hi, it's Stone, obviously, what other rude motherfucker would call you at this hour? Anyway, uhm, I just… wanted to say hi, and fill you in on our New York happenings… oh, Kelly had a thrilling brush with the law today, it's a long and pointless story and I really wanna bore you with it if you're around. Call me, okay? The number here's… shit, hang on, what is it again?...”

Why does the sound of his stupid, rambling voice make me grin like such an idiot? It probably helps that no one’s watching, I guess. I wouldn't be caught dead smiling at Stone like this in person because I know I’d never hear the end of it. Someone has to keep him in line.

I grab a notepad while I listen to him look up the number in his room and read it to my machine. I didn't miss his call by much, it's not even 7:30 here yet, so I figure I have time to shower before I call him back. He’ll probably be up late anyway because of the time difference that he obviously forgot about. There's no reason to rush, and I’ve got the whole apartment to myself now.

But I’m rushing anyway.

After I shower and throw on whatever sweatpants and shirt are closest, I fold my legs up and sit on the couch with the phone, wiping away the occasional stray drip of water from my sopping wet hair, and dial the number he left. He answers on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Okay, bore me.”

I'm greeted by the laugh he makes when he's feeling particularly pleased with himself. “Hey Red, you got my message?”

“Obviously, idiot.”

“Hi to you too,” he sasses. “Jesus, where are your phone manners? I’d make a crack about you being raised in a barn, but in your case it's probably true and I wouldn't want to make you relive the trauma, so…”

“Ooh, etiquette lessons from the most obnoxious, sarcastic piece of shit I’ve ever met? Gee golly mister, sign me up.”

“I think my rates are a little steep for you, Red.”

“Oh really? What do you charge?”

“If you have to ask, you can't afford me.”

“I’ll cry myself to sleep tonight.”

“Is this you using your manners? Try again.”

“Hi, Stone.”

“Hi, Cora. Sorry to bug you so late, is this a good time?”

“I called you, man.”

“Fair.”

“And it's way later there than it is here, anyway.”

“Ah, fuck it, I’m still on Seattle time, this trip’s not long enough to adjust. Whatcha been up to?”

“Mostly studying for that exam I’ve got on Tuesday, but I needed a break, so I just got back from a run and got your message.”

“You know, I thought I could detect a rank, sweaty odor as soon as my phone rang…”

“Well either you should call your doctor about those olfactory hallucinations, or you should tell Jeff to throw those damn hats in the washer already. Anyway, it’s not me, I just showered.”

“Ah.”

He’s quiet for a beat, so I decide to prod him. “And what are you up to?”

“Nothin’. Being lazy in bed.”

“Aww, that’s kinda cute. Tell Jeff I said hi.”

“Jeff’s out with Kelly tonight, so it’s just me.”

I shift my position a little on the couch to distract myself from the odd little thrill that just shot down my spine.

“Just you, huh?”

“Yup, you got me all to yourself,” he jokes, pouring the seduction on thickly.

“You’re a pig, Stone, it’s not like I asked 'what are you wearing’ or some seedy shit.”

“T-shirt and boxers,” he says bluntly.

“I didn't ask! ...where the fuck are your pants, dude?”

“It’s almost midnight and I’m in bed, why the fuck would I be wearing pants? This is what I always sleep in.”

“Again, for the record, I did not ask.”

“Why, what do you wear to bed, a Victorian nightgown?”

“New subject, please.”

“Oh my God do you wear a nightgown??”

“NO!” I laugh, my cheeks reddening.

“Then what? You're not getting out of this without telling me, Red, I told you mine.”

“I DIDN'T ASK.”

“I'm gonna have to get a look at this nightgown when I get back, I feel like it's got to be fuckin’ awful if you're trying this hard to avoid telling me about it. Like, high neckline, ruffled hem, puffy sleeves…”

He sounds way too gleeful for me to believe he’s ever going to drop this, so I brace myself to rip off the band-aid. “Icantsleepinclothes,” I mutter.

“Excuse me? Didn't catch that.”

“I can't sleep in clothes. I go to bed naked.”

“Oh… oh.”

“Yeah.”

“No nightgown then.”

“Uh uh.”

“Well okay then.” He’s quiet for an excruciating pause, and then, “point of clarification, are you in bed now?”

“I am not, you pig. I am studying on my couch, fully clothed.”

“You're no fun,” he baits me.

“NEW TOPIC,” I shout, mostly just to drown out my own laughter to avoid encouraging him.

He fills me in on their trip so far, which has included a case of mistaken identity that landed poor Kelly in jail for a few hours while he and Jeff were occupied in meetings. Overall, though, the trip seems to be leading to a productive resolution with the old record label people. I forgot how much I love talking to him like this, aimlessly. Even when we lose the thread of the conversation and sit together in silence, it doesn’t feel weird, it just feels peaceful.

“I had a dream about you last night, you know.”

“Yeah? Good dream, I hope?” His words are innocuous enough, but I can hear his smile permeating his voice, that stupid challenging smirk.

“Ugh, not like that kind of dream, gross,” but I'm smiling too as I tangle my fingers in the phone cord. We're both talking in quieter voices all of a sudden, too, even though there's no one to overhear us and nothing of consequence being said.

“Oh yeah, disgusting. Absolutely revolting,” he cackles in that breathy, almost silent way he has when he thinks he's being utterly hilarious.

“You wanna hear about it or not?”

“Definitely.”

“Be nice, then. I should warn you, I have extremely weird dreams…”

“Ooh, a disclaimer,” he says in a scandalized tone, “now we're gettin’ to the fun stuff, lay it on me.”

“You're a pig.”

“Mmm, so you said.”

“I just mean like surreal, kind of psychedelic, but very vivid. Nothing’s straightforward in my dreams, ever.”

“I'm dying to know how you dreamed of psychedelic me, then.”

“Well, I guess it wasn't technically a dream about you…”

“Tease!”

I'm so stupid for blushing, ugh.

“Pain in the ass. You weren't really in it, you were just the first person I wanted to tell about it when I woke up.”

“...aww, really?”

“Really.”

“...Cora… that's so sweet…”

“Maybe you should reserve judgement until you hear it.”

“Well, I’m all ears.”

“Okay…” I take a deep breath and slump deeper into the couch, trying to figure out the best way to explain my weird little world to him. “So, the first thing to understand is that in the dream, the Earth isn't really a planet in outer space, okay, it's… it's a glass eyeball in a jar…”

“This is what made you think of me??”

“Damn it, man, have a little patience,” I laugh.

“Patience is my middle name,” he deadpans.

“Well, they can’t all be winners. Wait, what actually is your middle name?”

“Carpenter. You didn't know that?”

“No, asshole… wait, really? Stone Carpenter Gossard?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Your parents really went all in on a theme, huh? Respect.”

“Yeah, well, the hippie streak runs deep.”

“Clearly. I like it, though. Anyway, if you're such a know-it-all, what's my middle name?”

“It's, uh… fuck, I don't think you’ve ever told me.”

“Which means you have to guess!”

His groan of irritation gives way to a low little laugh. “Hmm… let me think…”

After a long pause, I’m pretty sure he's striking out. “Admit defeat, Stoner, you got nothing.”

“Give me a chance… okay, Cora… Cora…” Move along, nothing to see here, just Stone sighing my name, that doesn't affect me in the slightest, nope… “Cora Something Shaw…”

“Compelling, but incorrect.”

“You're impossible.” His grin broadcasts itself through the phone again. “Well, in order to suit you, it has to be something short and matter-of-fact… nothing flowery…”

“You're getting warmer.”

“...and you’re a good little Catholic girl,” ...nope, that doesn’t affect me in the slightest either, Jesus if you save me right now I promise I’ll believe in you again... “so it's probably some saint bullshit… Maria? Theresa? Anne? Joan?”

“Ha, colder. Except for the monosyllabic part.”

“Okay, I give, what is it?”

“You got closer than I’d like to admit, to your credit, but you forgot the hippie dad.”

“In my defense, I didn't know you had a hippie dad. This isn't the paterfamilias asshole, is it?”

“Nope. That's the stepdad. My actual dad is a whole other story.”

He’s quiet for a beat before speaking up in that same tender, vulnerable tone I heard for the first time at the cafe, when he’d asked if he could call. The tone I've been wanting to hear again ever since, against all my better judgement.

“I’d like to hear it sometime.”

“Hmm. Maybe when you get back. So, any last guesses?”

“I give. You got me.”

“Really? You're folding? That's damn disappointing, Stone.”

He chuckles. “If this is the worst way that I manage to disappoint you, we’re in good shape. What's your fucking name, huh?”

“Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes…”

“Hang on… monosyllabic… Lane? Cora Lane Shaw?”

“Ding ding! That's me!”

“Huh. It suits you. Very strange.”

“Hey, thanks,” I sass him.

“No, no, I mean it… like, I’m sure they couldn't have known when they named you, but it's the perfect song. The surface seems wholesome enough, but the closer you look, the more… ‘off' it seems, the more interesting and cryptic it gets…”

“I can deal with being interesting and cryptic.” I bite my lip in, which is stupid because there's no reason to hide how hard I’m smiling when I’m by myself.

“Well, good, because that's you. Speaking of which, back to eyeballs…”

“What? Oh, right… okay, so we're all living on this glass eyeball suspended in a jar, right, just sitting forgotten on a dusty shelf somewhere in a warehouse or something… and the jar is filled with some kind of gas, I guess that's our atmosphere, and stabilized by electromagnetic fields so the eyeball can float.”

“Right, okay…”

“Well, it was supposed to be a sterile environment, but something went wrong, or someone screwed up, I don't know, but something started growing on the eyeball. So all the life on Earth we’ve ever known… dinosaurs, trees, amoebas, dogs, cats, humans… that’s all we are, we’re all just eyeball fungus.”

He's silent for a long time, and I imagine his face looking the stupid smug way it always looks before he launches into a typical sarcastic takedown, but when he finally speaks again, his voice sounds so sincere, almost childlike.

“How do day and night work inside the jar?”

My smile splits so wide it's hurting my cheeks. “I... I don't remember. I’d have to go back in the dream and look it up.”

“You can do that??”

“Sure, I do it all the time… can't you?”

He lets out a soft laugh. “Baby, I think our dreams are such entirely different animals, I couldn't begin to relate.”

I don't give a fuck whether he can relate, or about much of anything else, except wanting him to call me that again... “Well, uhm, you’ll have to tell me some of your dreams so I can be sure. I showed you mine…” holy shit, did I just say that?

“Hah. I don't have anything to offer on this scale of creativity. I don't even remember most of them, and the ones I do are just your typical, mundane, playing-a-show-in-your-underwear-type stress dreams, shit like that.”

And now I'm picturing him in his underwear for the second time tonight. Fantastic. Doesn't he know my subconscious don't need any outside help objectifying him lately? Focus! What were we talking about? Oh yeah...

“Anyway, one thing I do remember is that the stars are not real.”

“Oh, inside the jar? That makes sense. What are they, do we know?”

“It’s a scientist’s dream, of course we do. A long time ago, people got sick of having nothing to look at at night. So someone climbed up there and pasted a bunch of random stuff on the inside of the jar for the people-fungus to look at and dream about. But over time, the sticky stuff wears off, right? and the pictures fall down, and someone has to climb back up there and paste the ‘stars’ back into place. So, somewhere, there's a real Stairway to Heaven, just for that purpose: for the one person whose job it is to climb up and put the stars back up when they fall.”

The silence stretches on long enough that I fear we’ve been disconnected. “...Stone? You there?”

After what feels like an age, his voice drifts over the line, barely above a whisper.

“And this is what you woke up wanting to tell me?”

“Yeah… it's stupid, I know…”

“It's not stupid at all, it's… that's beautiful.”

“No, it's definitely stupid, all my dreams are. I just woke up and... you were the first person I thought of who might possibly understand.”

“...I love it, Cora.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. Really.”

After another long pause, I ask, “You okay over there?”

“Yeah, never better. Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“How your brain must work, if that's the normal dream output you're used to. It's gotta be pretty wild in there.”

“I mean, I think it's just nonsense most of the time, odds and ends that get mixed up from my waking life and jumbled into stories.”

“Yeah, but like, that's a pretty intricate story. And you remembered it! I'm jealous, I wish I remembered more of mine.”

“I guess the thing about being an artist is that all your creativity comes out when you're conscious, huh?”

“Mmm, maybe. So, uhm… tell me another one? Please?”

Damn him, when did he get so endearing? “I don't know, this exchange is feeling a little one-sided… I think maybe I need to limit you to one dream a day, especially if you don’t have any good ones for me.”

“Aww, come on.”

“Nope. Go to bed, call me tomorrow, maybe I’ll have a new one for you.”

“I’ll settle for an old one, they're all new to me.”

“You’re getting greedy.”

“Oh, unabashedly,” he laughs. “Come on, just a short one? Maybe your dreams’ll rub off on me and I’ll have a better one to tell you tomorrow.”

“Uhm… well, there is this great one I’ve had several times --”

“Oh, god damn it,” he grumbles.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I just forgot, I might not be able to call tomorrow night, we have a dinner thing. Fuck.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, well, hopefully anyway. If everything goes well tomorrow we were gonna go celebrate a bit. And if not, I guess drown our sorrows.”

“Aww, poor thing, getting wined and dined by record execs, what a terrible burden it is to be cool.”

“Yeah,” he sighs, “but this is pretty cool too.”

“What?”

“This. Just... having all kinds of time to sit and talk to you about nothing. Kinda like when you were in Alaska, remember?”

“Yeah,” I bite back another grin, stretching my legs out and savoring the softness of his voice. “It's almost like I like you best when you're three thousand miles away.”

“My band needs to make it big and start touring aggressively, then. Just think how likeable I’ll be from Australia.”

“Better yet, I oughta launch you to the moon, you’ll be irresistible.”

“There’s a thought,” he murmurs. “Want me to hang the stars back up while I'm up there? It's no trouble, it's on my way.”

“Yes, please.”

“You got it, baby.”

Silence is definitely the safest policy because I have no idea what might come out of my mouth in response to his sleepy, affectionate whisper. I decide instead to focus on restoring my breathing, which has gotten a little too fast, a little too uneven, like we’ve been running from something. Or towards something. I don't even know which way we're running. How did a phone call become so reckless?

Thankfully, Stone doesn't seem to have much to say either. His breathing comes more evenly over the phone than mine feels, so I try to follow along with it. Soon he starts to breathe deeper, and slower, and I wonder if maybe he's falling asleep. I open my mouth to ask if he's still there, but the image of him asleep in bed with the phone to his ear is so sweet that I can't bear to disturb him, although don't want to hang up on him either, because the thought of him waking up later to nothing but a dial tone is even worse. The textbook I was studying from earlier is still on the floor, so I decide to read a few pages, but it feels more like mindless word recognition when my mind's so far away.

Consider the case of an initial excess hydrostatic pore water that is constant with depth…

How is it that a person can feel such a potent mix of relief and anxiety at the same time? Relief, because even if we haven't come out and said it all yet, there's the feeling that we no longer have to. We both know where we stand. All of a sudden, there's this sense of security, out of nowhere on a quiet, sleepy phone call, which somehow feels so much more intimate than swapping dirty penguin jokes. Flirting can be pretty impersonal, almost war-like, where you're both trying to gain the upper hand. But it's not everyone you want to fall asleep with, wake up with, and tell all your dreams to.

...shows plots of the friction angle θ vs. plasticity index PI of several clays as compiled by…

And anxiety, because this is all going too far, too fast… like being trapped in a speeding car, except we’re both flooring the gas pedal, and no one is keeping their eyes on the road. What are we going to hit? Or whom? Someone's bound to get hurt. There's an undeniable violence to falling this quickly. So who's it going to be? Me? Him? Alex? Shit, Alex… how did I let this get so far away from me? Not like Alex seems to care how I spend my time anymore. Alex, who didn’t even come home Friday night, who stumbled in yesterday morning, hungover as shit, saying he’d fallen asleep at Brian’s place. I don’t even know who he is anymore...

... Comprehensive failure conditions or yield criteria were first developed for metals, rocks, and concrete…

“Ow, shit!”

“Cora? Wh-what's wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say around my finger, which I’ve got in my mouth to stop the bleeding. “just a paper cut.”

“Aww.”

“Sorry to wake you.”

“Mmm? I wasn't asleep. Is it bad?”

“Nah, just a flesh wound. You were awake all that time?”

“Well, maybe I dozed off a little…” his voice gets gravelly as he stretches himself out, making the image of him in bed even harder to resist. I don't want to hang up, it's pretty much the last thing I want right now, but I know it's essential that I do.

“I should let you go, you need to sleep.”

“I do not.”

“Go to bed, Stone.”

“Waaaay ahead of you,” he chuckles. “I'm awake, though, I’m good.”

“Go get some sleep.”

“Nooo,” he whines, “you were gonna tell me another dream! Please?”

His indignation makes me giggle. “Okay, just a short one. Or even better, what if I tell you just the first few minutes, and then you can dream about it tonight and we'll compare when you get home to see whose version is better?”

“I already told you, I don't remember my dreams.”

“I know, idiot, that's why I'm gonna loan you one of mine.”

“Okay, yeah,” he chuckles, sounding drowsier by the second, “hit me.”

“Okay, just, leave it the way you found it, okay? It's one of my favorites.”

“Promise.”

“Something tells me you'll like it too, there's ice cream involved.”

“Now we're talking.”

“Okay. There's this ice cream parlor, but it's not down here on Earth, it's floating up in space.”

“Are we still in the jar?”

“No, that's a totally different dream. Anyway, there’s air, you can breathe normally, but you're out in the night sky, among the stars. And the parlor is an old converted train car, still has all the old booths and the sliding windows and everything. And on the very back stoop, where the train car would have been connected to another one once upon a time, there's a rickety old wooden chair. Just one. It’s hot up there, so close to the sun, but there's a good solar breeze. You're sitting in the chair, leaning back, your feet up on the railing, eating an ice cream cone --”

“What flavor?” his voice is thick with sleep.

“Dealer’s choice. You're listening to the music on the radio, and watching the vastness of space, and that's where your dream starts.”

“Mmhmm, got it,” he murmurs. “Are you gonna be there?”

“No, dumbass, I’m lending it to you, I’ll be in another one.”

“We’ll see about that. G'night.”

“Goodnight, Stone.”

With reluctance I hang up, set my work down in a haphazard pile on the floor and stretch out on the couch, staring at the ceiling with no intention of falling asleep. Why do I miss him so much already?

***

Her voice is still sounding my name in my ears as I drift down further and further, or is it up, higher and higher? until another sound replaces it, followed by another, and another, as I acquaint myself with my new surroundings. The creaking of the chair underneath me. The drip of ice cream in my lap, prompting me to hold the melting cone out to the side where it drips onto the floor instead, sizzling as it lands. Elton John’s Rocket Man playing through crackly speakers. The gentle rocking of the train car, like a boat on idle water. I take a taste of the ice cream. Blueberry. Weird. I like it. Why’s it so hot up here?

As if to answer, the roar of the sun’s fire rises in my ears. It’s right there in front of me, how’d I miss it? I shield my eyes reflexively but end up whacking the bridge of my nose with the sunglasses I didn’t know I was wearing. Huh, I can stare right at it, they must be protecting my eyes somehow. Can’t say the same for the soles of my feet, which are gonna have blisters tomorrow from being propped up on the railing facing the sun. Time for a change. I balance the ice cream cone precariously between my knees and grab the railing on either side of me with sweaty hands, trying to rock the train car and steer it away from the sun. Inch by inch, the damn thing eventually lurches away from the blazing star, and now I’ve got a beautiful nebula to look at. Much better.

Swirls of gases, some purple, some orange, some red, some colors I don’t even understand, are entwining gracefully before me, shielding the stars with their dance. I crane my neck to keep watching it as the train car continues to gradually float around its central axis, turning me toward the blackness of space. One of the red plumes curls sinuously towards me, seeming to follow me, and I regret turning away from it... how do I stop this damn train from turning, shit, come back...

Grumbling in disappointment after I’ve lost sight of it, I frown at the vastness of space in front of me. The longer I stare, the less it seems like a dark vacuum filled with stars and the more it seems like a thick blanket covering an immense light, which peeks out through holes in the fabric. As the train car finally turns fully opposite the sun, the blanket of space folds in on itself, clothing a figure, and suddenly the stars are freckles and the nebula swirls back into view as a cascade of red hair, and Cora’s smiling enigmatically at me as I watch her step onto the train. I don’t dare make a sound as she climbs into my lap, nuzzling my neck and tugging at my shirt… I’ve never been seduced by a space goddess before, I’m not sure of the etiquette, should I say hi? Before I can think of something witty to say, a solar flare blinds me.

“Oh hey man, sorry, didn’t know you were asleep,” Jeff says, switching off the hotel room light he’d just turned on.

#i hope you like it... kinda one of my favorites #i like the weird ones #chapter 16 #behind the sun #fanfiction #fanfic #stone gossard #jeff ament #pearl jam

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steve-harringtonnn · 6 years

Text

Mad World - Part Two

Part two of a Steve Harrington mini-series written with @actuallynancy and myself.

Read part one right here.

Summary: All you want is to fix your relationship with your brother, Dustin. Your parents’ divorce has kept you two apart for nearly five years. An impromptu trip to Hawkins guarantees more than you bargained for.

Paring: steve harrington X henderson!reader { female }

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: none

You and your mother talk for what seemed like years, just catching up and telling her all about the life you had back home. You watched as she got a little teary eyed when she realized that she missed quite a lot, but you shrugged off the simple thought. You told her that she was still apart of your life because she had plenty more years to see through. You’d stayed up until midnight, then your mother ordered you to go to bed. You laughed at her orders but took them in. She walked you to the spare bedroom, the room that would be yours for however long you chose to stay. The room was small and the walls were a pale yellow, it was simple and you liked it.

After changing into your pajamas, you sat on the edge of the bed and stared at your door. You just wanted to talk to Dustin but knew it wasn’t a good time. Not only was it past midnight but you also wanted to give him at least a day to process that you were actually here. Sighing, you crawled under your covers and closed your eyes, attempting to fall asleep.

You were asleep pretty quickly and you figured it was from the long drive. You were even able to sleep through the night without tossing and turning. Checking your phone for the time, you saw that it was a little after seven thirty. A moment later your mom knocked on the door before coming inside. “Hi sweetie. I’m heading off to work but I wanted to let you know I was leaving. I’ll be home a little early for the Trick or Treaters. You have to come see Dusty’s costume before he leaves for school!” She exclaimed.

Your mom was way too awake for it being this early but you smiled and told her you’d be right out. She closed the door and you took a moment to rub your eyes before swinging your legs over the bed and walking into the living room. You saw Dustin in a Ghostbusters outfit and you had to admit, you were pretty impressed with how it turned out. Your mom had a camera in her hand and she was snapping pictures of Dustin left and right.

“Hey Dustin, how about I give you a ride to school?” You asked your brother. He frowned for a moment. “I ride my bike to school with my friends.” You had hoped he would have cooled off some overnight but it was obvious that wasn’t the case. You felt a soft sigh leave your lips as you watched your brother completely turn away from you. You wanted to tell him, and tell him now, but you knew you needed to wait. You wanted to be able to sit him down and explain.

Your mom took a few more pictures before Dustin got his backpack and went outside to head to school. Everyone rushed around and the next thing you knew, you were alone in the house. You considered showering, getting dressed and doing something productive with your day, but you decided against it. What were you going to do while everyone was gone?

Then you spotted something on the counter and sighed. Dustin forgot his lunch and you were positive your mother hadn’t given him money. Forgoing the shower for the time being, you went into your room and quickly got dressed. With your luck, Dustin would probably be embarrassed that you showed up at his school to bring him his lunch but he’d get over it.

So you found your keys that you had strewn across the dresser in the spare room and walked out to your car. You hopped in the driver’s seat, putting Dustin’s lunch in the passenger seat and pulled out of the driveway. The drive to the middle school wasn’t a long one, but you had a little trouble remembering which direction. You let a huff pass through your lips before you headed off down the street. The street signs looked familiar to you, and the houses you drove past were triggering your memories of driving down this same road every morning.

When the middle school came into view you breathed out. You turned into the carpark and parked close to the front before hopping out the car, taking the brown paper bag in your hand. You didn’t take many steps before you heard a voice calling out to you. You were confused. You didn’t think anyone would be out here, not at this time. Turning your head slightly you see a smug looking guy leaning against a dark Camaro. He had a jean jacket across his chest and a dark maroon shirt poking through. He held a lit cigarette between his lips, his brow raised in your direction. He had a mullet of curls that cascaded down to his shoulder, they were a dirty blonde colour. You tried your hardest to think back, to see if you remembered who this guy was, but you came up empty handed. He was a stranger to you.

“That your car?” He asked, his voice was deep and coated in a thick accent that you couldn’t pinpoint. He raised a hand to point at your car. You nodded your head before gesturing to his own car, it was a dark blue Camaro, just like your own. “Nice car,” you said blankly. You didn’t have much interest in talking to this guy. You just wanted to bring Dustin his lunch and go back home. Maybe you’d go back to sleep.

You faced forward once more and began walking towards the school. You could hear the sound of heavy footsteps behind you, the sound of combat boots slapping against the concrete harshly. You didn’t have to turn around to know who was following you. Soon his heavy thuds became slower, his long legs working rather easily to fall in step with you. You assumed it was the guy who had asked about your car and a quick glance confirmed your suspicion. “You new? I definitely would have noticed you since I got here.” You could hear the arrogance in his voice.

“Uhm. No. I don’t go here,” you replied in a bored tone. Ignoring him would have been your first thought but you had a feeling that this one wouldn’t just give up. “Well I’m sure we could have quite a good time together.” When those words seemed to leave his lips you couldn’t help the scoff that escaped your own. You stopped walking entirely and turned your head to look at him. He had a smug looking smirk on his lips, thinking he had won you over. You raised a single brow at him before opening your mouth “Okay, Fabio. I have no interest in going out with you nor will I ever. You’re not my type.” You retorted, giving him the very same smug smirk. You started walking again but he was quick to catch up, grabbing your wrist. “I’m everybody’s type.” His confident demeanor was still there but you saw a hint of danger in his eyes.

You were quick to grab your wrist back and you sent a glare his way. “I’m not sure what you’re used to. Probably having all of the girls fawning over you and your car, but let me assure you that I have no interest. So leave me alone and go waste your time on some other girl.” You stormed off at a much quicker pace, determined not to let him catch up to you this time. You could practically feel steam pouring out of your ears as you stomped away. What kind of jerk talks to a woman like that?

You tried to smother your ever growing anger for the stranger as you pushed the front doors of the school wide open. Lips pulled into a thin line as you walked with hurried steps to find the front office. It didn’t take long for you to find it, the memories of the school quickly coming back to you. You still couldn’t believe it had been five years since you had last stepped foot inside of the school. You were quick to give front office Dustin’s lunch and return to your car. You were thankful that you didn’t run into that guy again, not knowing what you would have done if you were faced with him.

The rest of your day went by without incident. You didn’t do much beside clean up around the house a little bit. You wanted to help your mom while you were there and you figured it was the least you could do since you weren’t at school or working. Sure, you had schoolwork to catch up on but you had no desire to do that today. This whole trip was only possible because you were taking all online classes or independent studies.

The sound of the door opening caught your attention and you looked up from the book you were reading on the couch. You were surprised to see Dustin walk through the door. You thought he was going to his friends house after school until trick or treating started. “Hey Dustin. Did you forget something?” You asked, closing your book and putting your bookmark in.

“Yeah, I can’t talk right now. I have to grab something and then I’m leaving again.” He was quick to dismiss you, disappearing into his room.

You sighed and followed him down the hall and into his room. “Dustin, we really need to talk.” You folded your arms across your chest and leaned against his doorframe. “Yeah, great. I don’t have time for that now!” He exclaimed, throwing things around his room to find whatever he was looking for.

“No. I need you to make the time. I need to talk to you about why I left with dad. You need to know.”

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fic #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things fic #mad world collab

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literarygoon · 3 years

Photo

“This is how you talk to strangers”

by Will Johnson, originally published in Prairiefire

I’ve been reading the King James Bible lately. I like it so far. Sometimes I sit cross-legged on my roof, smoking cigarettes and flipping through Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy. I haven’t even made it to the New Testament. My favorite book so far is Ecclesiastes. Here’s this guy Solomon with nine hundred wives who can’t even sort his shit out. Everything is meaningless. It’s pretty bleak stuff. Actually, that’s what Hemingway named The Sun Also Rises after, a passage from Ecclesiastes. I read that book about three times a year. If those two were alive, I bet they would be fun to drink with. It would be one of those nights where you end up flipping over a table for no reason. The kind of night where you wake up the next morning and you feel totally humiliated in front of no one but yourself.

I grew up in Labrador City, the Iron Ore Capital of Canada. I was a pretty happy kid, actually. My mother loved us and my father made enough money, which is more or less all you need when you’re little. One day I was sitting on this pier with my two older brothers and this seagull started to pick on a smaller one. It pecked at it viciously and fluffed up its feathers and squawked. We all rooted for the smaller gull, even though it was destined to lose over and over again. My brothers kept throwing them French fries to fight over. Eventually the smaller bird just flew away. I don’t know why I remember that.

Isn’t the mind terrible?

I never knew how isolated I was until I left. The first time I drove into Toronto I felt like someone was sitting on my face. So many people everywhere. I’ve done a lot of traveling in the last few years—Chicago, New York, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Whitehorse, Vancouver, Tofino—but I never really get used to it. Walking on a sidewalk is a contact sport. In the bar everyone looks like a Viking except for me. I didn’t know how I was ever supposed to meet a girl. Shit, I don’t know how anyone ever meets anyone. It seems so illogical. I dare you to go three or four days without talking to anyone. Consider it a spiritual exercise that leads you nowhere worthwhile. Drive around to random cities, listen to On The Road on audiotape, smoke cigarettes and start thinking about everything that’s wrong with you. Seriously, try it. See what you think.

A few years ago I was walking around Charlottetown, just hating my life, and I was looking at this KFC sign. I thought wow, someone’s responsible for making that. I could never make anything nearly as beautiful. If everyone in the world had my drive, we would be living like hobos. I can’t even parallel park.

The greatest moment in life is when a woman lifts her hips, just slightly, to let you pull off her pants. Like this is really happening to me. The second greatest moment is when your car is all packed with everything you own, and you know you’ve got a lot of driving ahead of you, but at the other end is a job. Last year I was sleeping on my brother’s couch and I had been drunk for an entire month. It was time to move on—I was starting to get the distinct impression that his girlfriend didn’t like me very much. As I was pulling out of the driveway my brother ran after me, and when he came up to me in the street I thought he would say something like it’s been good or good luck with the job, man but instead he just wanted to bum a smoke. I gave him my whole pack because I had no idea when I would see him again. He punched me in the shoulder and it was the first time in a long time anyone had touched me.

I got a job as a sports reporter in the Yukon. Every day I go out to these sporting events. Baseball games and track meets and hockey tournaments. I take pictures and I interview people and I doubt they even really notice. I’m just some guy with a tape recorder and they don’t know anything about me. Their bodies are terrifying. They wear tight spandex or bathing suits and they look superhuman. Most of the time I just want to ask them why? Or maybe how? They drink protein shakes and they bike a hundred kilometers a day or they hike to beautiful places I’ll never see. They’re so fucking healthy it gives me the shakes. I covered a 3-day canoe and kayak race, and this guy told me he wears a catheter so he doesn’t have to stop to pee. I wrote a story about it and thought this is it, the end of journalism as we know it. But no one reads the newspaper anyway. And if they do, nobody cares about the fucking sports section.

My favorite song is “Take it Easy” by the Eagles. One time I listened to it fifty times in a row, while I was driving through the Rocky Mountains. I never get sick of it.

I’m terrified of death. Nobody likes it, sure, but sometimes I sit at my desk at work and all of the sudden my fingers don’t work and I can’t function. No matter how much I hate breathing, I don’t think I could ever convince myself to die. Because I don’t know what’s next. My older brother Trent is religious, and he worked for years as a youth pastor at this church out West. That seemed to make him feel better about things, but none of that ever rubbed off on me. Sometimes I think I’ll end up as one of those empty-eyed senior citizens relegated to their wheelchairs. I’ll have friendly foreign nurses that feed me yogurt and give me drugs. They’ll push me to the window so I can look outside. That sounds pretty good to me.

This guy at the newspaper told me to watch Cool Hand Luke. So I did. Firstly, I don’t think there has ever been a more sublimely beautiful human specimen than Paul Newman. His eyes look supernatural. Secondly—damn, is that movie depressing. Not because he dies. More because I’m never going to be that cool. Sometimes nothing is a pretty cool hand. I wish I had that attitude. When Luke’s getting the shit kicked out of him by Dragline, he never gives up. He just keeps swinging. One punch and I would be curled in the fetal position, probably peeing my pants and begging him to stop. I really am useless. Believe me. I’m incapable of honest labour. Most of the time I feel lucky I wasn’t born fifty years ago during any of the big wars. I would have been drafted right away and I wouldn’t have lasted a week. I watch these war movies like Saving Private Ryan and I thank an imaginary God that I’ve never had to pick up a gun. My greatest hardship in life has been living on cereal for a week. Or running out of clean laundry.

My second favorite song is “Flowers on the Wall” by the Statler Brothers.

I met this girl Megan in the steam room at the pool. She was doing yoga on the tiled floor with a pool mat and I was trying not to be a creep. But she was contorting her body into these ridiculous positions that made her muscles bulge and flatten in strange places. I watched the rivulets of sweat. They drew jagged lines down her stomach and dripped off the end of her nose. Sometimes I would wait, holding my breath, while one dangled. Her face was pink and the blond hair that escaped from her ponytail would stick to her forehead and cheeks. She had these elaborate flower tattoos that encircled her arms, purple and yellow and red. The vines were ropy and twisted in chaotic patterns behind the petals. We were the only two people in the steam room but I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know I was there. Her eyes were closed and she took the most relaxed, sensual breaths. It was beautiful. Finally I said something. I asked her if there were any good yoga places in town. Her eyes fluttered open. I said I’d always wanted to learn about yoga, which is probably the biggest lie I told that day. She looked at me, squirted some water into her mouth, and smiled. She said yeah, I teach twice a week at a studio in Whitehorse. You should come out.

Every now and then I realize I have a mother. My mother is a nice lady. And she loves me. If she really knew how I was living my life, I think she would have a heart attack. She’s proud of me for getting a job, but she doesn’t really know me anymore. I wish she did.

My attempts at yoga were pitiful. I spent the whole time wishing I could smoke a cigarette. I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life. But afterwards, after I had a shower and rolled up my brand new yoga mat, Megan asked me if I wanted to go for beer. I though to myself this is it, this is how you talk to strangers and I said sure, yeah. We walked through the snow to the bar. We sat for two hours and whenever I said something funny she would touch my leg under the table. We bought a six-pack from off sales and walked down to the Yukon River. It was starting to get cold. She told me a bunch of personal shit about her life, but really I wasn’t listening to her words. I was watching the way she laughed, the way she moved her hands, the way her breath hung in a cloud and slowly drifted away.

I was covering this downhill bike race later that week when I broke my collarbone. It was my own fault. I was perched on the side of the trail taking photos, and I was trying to get a follow-focus shot. But everything kept coming out blurry. It was muddy and I was hung over, and as I whipped my camera along with the motion of a passing biker I fell down this embankment. It fucking hurt. I mean, I tumbled and rolled and knocked my head against a tree root. I’m lucky I didn’t break my goddamn spine. My publisher was annoyed and the paper was short-staffed, but it meant I got to sit at home and drink for a few weeks. I felt like Bukowski.

I often fantasize about being productive. I see people jogging around Whitehorse or going grocery shopping and I wonder where they get the energy. One day I want to write a novel, but I can barely convince myself to walk to the gas station for cigarettes. The first time I read The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson I was so relieved. I’m not the only one. I mean, it’s not Tolstoy or Dostoevsky but here’s a person who thinks the world is as absurd and terrifying as I do, and he can actually write something half-decent. When I’m bored I Google stories about Thompson. I rented a documentary about Gonzo journalism from the library. One day I read his suicide note, just because I was curious what was going through his head when he pulled the trigger. Apparently they published it in Rolling Stone. The title keeps repeating in my head, like a mantra: Football season is over.

Megan came over a few times while I was convalescing. She made me a meatloaf and I ate it for every meal, three days in a row. I felt awkward around her. I tried to hide my empties and clean up my house before she showed up, but I didn’t have a phone so most of the time she just appeared unannounced. She was usually in a yoga outfit or her karate clothes. I sat on the couch with her one day and I asked her about the tattoos on her forearms. She looked really sad for a moment, and then she pulled the skin tight in places to show me her scars. They were methodical, horizontal stripes. I wanted to die for a long time, she said. But I didn’t want anybody to know.

By the time my collarbone healed, it was starting to get dark. It scared the shit out of me. Don’t listen to the people who live here. The Yukon is a scary place in the winter. The snow blankets everything and it’s freezing cold and all of a sudden leaving the house is like living in a Jack London short story. Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well. The reporters made fun of me when I showed up to work wearing a parka, but I needed that fur against my face while I smoked cigarettes in the parking lot. Megan was starting to sleep over, and I liked watching her muscular back rise and fall while she snored. I couldn’t believe I’d convinced someone to sleep in my bed.

She showed up at my house crying one night. I tried to talk to her but she just cried into my chest for ten minutes. Finally, when I asked her what was wrong, she said its nothing, you’ll think its stupid. I told her no, of course I won’t think it’s stupid and then she drew her head back and looked at me. There was a huge pink pimple between her eyebrows. I have a bindi, she said. I have a fucking bindi. I usually tuned her out when she started talking about all that eastern mysticism stuff. She tried to convince me to read the Bhagavad Gītā but it just stayed on my bedside table. Whenever she talked about her spiritual beliefs it sounded like she was regurgitating these antiquated phrases she had learned in yoga school, or wherever. I didn’t want to seem insensitive, though, so I listened. She told me she was scared the universe was telling her something. She said the universe gave me a bindi to send me a message.

My favorite poem for a long time was Invictus by William Earnest Henley. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. But then Clint Eastwood took the title and turned it into a goddamn rugby movie.

I was covering this karate competition one weekend when a guy came up and shook my hand. I didn’t recognize him. He said his name was Eiji Matsumoto, and told me he was Megan’s karate instructor. What a cool name. She’s a very gifted student, he said. I nodded like this was something I had given some thought. I realized that we had been dating for months and I had never seen her fight. I had abandoned yoga after a second try. It made me feel like a bad person, knowing there was this huge part of her life I didn’t know anything about. This guy Eiji was easily a foot taller than me. He looked like he could lift me up and break me in half over his knee. He had the most luscious brown skin and beautiful dark eyes. It made my balls shrivel up into little prunes. Suddenly I wanted to shave.

It was a Thursday morning when I crashed my car. My windshield wipers weren’t working and I was trying to light a cigarette and all of a sudden this truck was stopped in front of me and I swerved off the road. I remember hurtling along. The whole car was shaking and I was wrenching the wheel around like a goddamn child playing with a video game and then I was upside down. One of my windows shattered and glass was everywhere and then everything stopped. All I could see was white, stretching out as far as I could see. People were calling out to me hey, hey are you all right in there? Are you okay? I thought about that bible verse where Jesus says he’ll come like a thief in the night. Some blood was drooling up my nose and I realized I was suspended over the ground, held by my seatbelt. I don’t know where my cigarette ended up.

My older brother Trent was arrested a few years ago. They found child pornography on his computer, and there were rumors he even molested some kids at the church he worked at. I didn’t know how to respond to that information. I still don’t.

For a week after that Megan drove me to work and back. She seemed really impatient, so I tried to spend time with my friend from the newspaper. We sat in the bar and drank too many beers. He kept saying embarrassing things to the waitress, and then we started arguing about Hemingway. He was saying Hemingway would drink beer and I told him no, Hemingway liked drinking Mojitos and bagged wine. We did some whiskey shots and then went out in the snow for a bit. I wanted to go down to the Yukon River, but my friend said it was too cold. We finally wandered into this dingy pub on Fourth Street, and the first thing I saw was Megan. She was sitting with her back to me, having dinner with Eiji. Eiji Matsumoto. My friend said what’s wrong and I said nothing, let’s just get out of here.

Whenever I’m feeling sorry for myself, I think do you know how old the universe is?

My father called me around that time. My mother was in the hospital in Winnipeg and he wanted to buy me a plane ticket. We don’t know how serious it is, he said, but she would like you to be there. I told him I would need a couple of days to arrange things with work, and he said that would be okay. I thought about Hemingway and Thompson, each of them perched over their shotguns. It seems cruel that not everyone gets to choose when they’ll die. My father told me my brother was already driving out from Edmonton with his girlfriend. The others were coming out from Halifax. He told me my mother had been sick for a while, but he didn’t want to worry me. I wandered around the twilight streets and I tried not to think about how fucking scared I was of everything. Relax – this won’t hurt.

You don’t really know much about yourself until you try to share space with a woman. Megan complained about crumbs on the counter, my unmade bed and how I always left empty packs of cigarettes everywhere. She kept pestering me to quit, and even convinced me to try the nicotine patch. She played this weird, mystical music and she meditated in our living room when I wanted to watch TV. I felt like Neal Cassady, always hiding things from his wife. I hadn’t brought up seeing her with Eiji because I didn’t want to be that guy. I’m not the jealous type. I kind of liked to see her angry, though. She never seemed like she was in control of her actions, and her moods would jackknife back and forth. One night, while we were having sex, she slapped me. Then she slapped me again. It turned me on so much she just kept slapping me until she was clawing at my chest and pulling my hair. The only ones for me are the mad ones.

I often wonder what would have happened if I never saw Eiji kiss my girlfriend. It was midday and they were coming out of a sushi place on Main Street. I had just bought a magazine and I was standing across the street smoking a cigarette when they emerged, pulling on their jackets. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. It looked like a goddamn coffee commercial, like there should be music playing or something. I don’t remember crossing the street. I don’t even remember what I screamed at him. Maybe I took a swing, maybe I didn’t. All I remember was the way he looked as he reared back and kicked me square in the sternum. I flew backwards like you see in movies. My lungs felt like they were going to collapse. I was laying on my back on the sidewalk, struggling to breathe and panting when he leaned over me. Football season is over. I looked up at him and Megan while I lay there in the slush. I think I need to go to the hospital, I said. I think I’m really hurt. Help me.

I got drunk on the plane to Winnipeg. They just kept bringing me gin and tonics. I brought the King James Bible with me, but it was starting to lose my interest. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. The New Testament sounds too much like those corny televangelists. I’m not too keen on Jesus, either. But there’s a poetry there, like Shakespeare. By the time we touched down the words were starting to mix together on the page. When the stewardess came to check our seatbelts I held out my empty cup. One more?

My father picked me up from the airport. It was the first time I noticed the deep wrinkles around his eyes. His handshake almost crushed my fingers. We drove through the grey streets for nearly an hour before we got to the hospital. I asked him if Trent was going to be there, and he reminded me that Trent was in prison and probably would be for a long time. We barely spoke after that. I didn’t even really recognize him anymore, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. Neither did he, I guess. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. He led me up the stairs, someone gave me a coffee, and then I was standing in the room with her. Machines were beeping at me and she looked so small. I came to the side of my mother’s bed and her eyes fluttered open. It’s you, she said. It’s my son.

You can’t go long in the Yukon without hearing a Robert Service poem. They’ve got him painted on walls. They teach him in elementary schools. Sometimes you’ll walk into a bookstore and someone will be reciting his poems over the loudspeakers. There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men that moil for gold. The first time I visited Dawson City, I went to the bank where he used to work. It’s right on the main drag, just a stone’s throw from the river, this saggy, dilapidated eyesore. One night I saw kids break into it to get drunk. I peeked in the windows and inside it looks like a warzone. There are spider webs clinging to the heaps of garbage on the floor. I hear there’s talk of restoring it, maybe building a heritage site, but chances are they’ll just eventually tear it down.

My mother reached out to me with these wrinkled hands. A long tube trailed out from her wrist. She touched my face and then she held my neck. I thought she might cry, but she didn’t. I leaned down and kissed her. She smelled like cleaning products. I wanted to tell her all my stories. I wanted her to pull me into her lap and rock me while I fell asleep. I thought about this time, when I was a little kid. My brothers had gone on a trip with my father and left me home sick for the weekend. She took me to the new shopping mall in Labrador City to see a movie. Afterwards we walked through these towering empty halls like we were in a cathedral. She bought me a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and a cinnamon bun. She told me this is our little secret. Don’t tell your brothers or they’ll be jealous. On the way home I fell asleep in the passenger seat.

Do you know how old the universe is?

My mother was discharged a few days later. I went back to work. Megan had already moved her stuff out of my basement suite. The snow was starting to melt, finally. Most days I sat at my desk and listed to John Prine or Willie Nelson. I stood on the sidelines of soccer games. I took pictures of people playing hockey. It cost me an entire paycheck to get my car fixed, so for two weeks I ate nothing but microwave popcorn and scrambled eggs. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. On the weekends I walked down to the Yukon River and watched the ice slide into the water. One afternoon a giant chunk tumbled down the riverbank.

It flowed slowly downstream until I couldn’t see it anymore.

The Literary Goon

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renegadesepiida · 7 years

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From February 3 until February 11 another King of the Hammers race week made Johnson Valley an enormous cloud of dust. I’d heard about the craziness of this event since I arrived in the Southern California desert five months ago. That was the time of innocence, thinking there was no possible way our country would take the turn that it has, and out here I was definitely in the minority.

While I don’t want to get too wrapped up in politics, it does have an influence on the world we live in and of course how people see each other. It is a shame, which is why I prefer to keep traveling, to experience every culture, and to understand it with respect. I looked at this event as a perfect way to do just that, understand and respect why these people feel this way.

The first thing I should do is to explain what King of the Hammers is. How my boss explained it to me and just so everyone knows these are the words coming out of a government park institution leader whose family all grew up in this area (so don’t hate me if you’re offended by the next sentence). “It’s a shit-ton of drunk rednecks who come out here with all their heavy machinery to tear up the desert.” Honestly, after hearing that I was way more terrified of participating than I was at the actual event. I expected super rowdy drunk off their ass spectators and racers on motorcycles, quads, and every other tricked out ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) you could possibly think of. There were plenty of tricked out vehicles, which were soooooo awesome to watch. I originally thought the vast majority of people were extremely kind and were just there for fun. In fact, there weren’t people just from that area, but all over the country and even the world. It was truly an international event with people driving from Canada, flying from England, Australia, and even China (along with many others).

I couldn’t believe some of these rigs, they cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, crazy. I could never save up money for that, it’s the racers business, and if this event is anything to go by, business was good.

BOOTH DUTY

For my part, I was working with Art, the Mojave Desert Park Ranger (the only one), to educate the public on the native flora and fauna out in the desert and show them that they should protect it. A lot of the education was geared towards kids, but the teens and adults also got involved with questions and wanting to hold the animals Art brought. All the animals were rescues, or in the case of the baby desert tortoise, born and raised in captivity.

In the case of the desert tortoise, which is an endangered species, we told the people that, should they want a pet tortoise, to adopt one from a shelter. When they are taken out of the wild and interact with humans they develop a respiratory condition that can cause them to die around 15, the female breeding age, and will be passed to their offspring. Therefore, none of them can ever be returned to the wild. And this is especially sad because they can normally live for over a hundred years, and could be passed down through human generations. But they might be picked up, exposed and after a few years the people who took them get tired of looking after them and leave them back out in the desert where, soon enough, they die.

BTW: It’s actually illegal to take them, even really to interact with tortoises at all (except if they are on a road, then you can pick them up, keeping them low to the ground, and move them off in the direct they were originally going.) Also if you see any broken shells DO NOT COLLECT, scientists need to be able to see that that area is a tortoise habitat, otherwise people may try to build on it, displacing many more animals.

PSA… Anyways…

We also passed out maps of much of the land for free, don’t want anyone to get lost, and then it would also help them know where and where not to ride their ATVs. Everyone was extremely grateful for all of this information, and they were happy that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management – who I work for along with ACE – American Conservation Experience) was out getting involved with the public. A government branch that actually cares about the environment and the people – crazy!

Almost everyone who came by our booth really opened up to us: telling us where they are from, what they like to do for fun, and how they feel about the entire environment we were currently in. It’s interesting to see how people will act when you get them talking.

Along with the tortoise we also had a dead, stuffed raven, to explain how they eat the baby tortoises (first pecking through the soft underbelly of the shell, and then one they develop harder shells pick them up, bring them to telephone wires and then drop the tortoises on the rocks to break them – smart animals). Other than the tortoise, the living animals were as follows:

A false widow – looks like a black widow but not venomous and very common.

A desert hairy scorpion – also big (ladies are larger and almost white – glow in the dark with a black light, males are smaller and darker) and a little venomous, but not dangerous unless you’re allergic, like bees. And also very common here, shake out your shoes and jackets, really anything you left on the ground while camping.

A chuckwalla – lizard who thrives in 90+ temperature, with loose skin flaps on its sides so when it runs between rocks it can blow itself up like a balloon to keep predators from yanking it out and the detachable tail.

A California king snake – black and white (sometimes brown or red too, depending on the region) snake who eats all the other animals (including rattlesnakes) so the top predator that is nice to people and keeps us all safe and happy.

The desert may seem empty, but it’s sooooo not.

I spent most of the time with a baby northern alligator lizard, that Art saved to feed to his king snake, who loved my body heat and crawled up my sleeves and hung out under my shirt collar for hours on end. I named it Geoffery Carlile, and didn’t change it when I found out it was female; the name was too good. So now I have a pet/buddy.

OTHER SHIT

We did have a couple less than sober people come by, especially because the vast majority of adult (young to old) were carrying around cans of beer in cozies. But with thousands of people passing over the week there was only one man (probably in his late 50’s or 60’s) who passed celebrating Trump’s idea of shutting down the BLM, and all the ideas he had for tearing down all the governmental structures. What that man probably didn’t know is that, without the BLM Johnson Valley would be taken over by the military and, thus, they could never access it, which would mean no more off-roading. So, YOU’RE WELCOME.

Also btw, that is not me being ok with how much of the land and habitats the off-roaders are messing up with all this crazy behavior. Just trying to appeal to what they care about.

TIME TO ESCAPE

Because standing/sitting in a booth all day is boring as shit, there were times when I would take a walk to the bathroom and take a longer way back, passing the other stalls and the stages. Almost none of the vendors were selling their products because, as I later learned, the man who puts this on every year charges through the nose for placement, and makes the vendor give him a percentage of whatever they sell. By the end, he’s basically pocketing around a million dollars a year.

But, to the casual fan, this stuff doesn’t have too much of an effect. The booths instead have people sign up through email, which gives them an opportunity to win a $500 credit with their company, spin a wheel, and get free little prizes (like hats, cozies, stickers, etc.). While $500 might sound like a decent amount, most of the products cost over a thousand dollars, so good if you are in the market for stuff like what they sell, but worthless if not.

On Thursday, the day before the final 200-mile car race, one of the fire station volunteers (who also volunteers for the BLM) offered to help me escape the monotony of the booth for a while. I took him up on the offer, we climbed into his jeep and showed me two of the coolest parts of the racetrack: chocolate thunder and the waterfall.

Since I am more comfortable in heels, rather than flat shoes (completely serious) I wore my high heeled boots every day, this made it more impressive (?) to onlookers when I jumped out of the jeep at chocolate thunder and walked through the steep sand hill and over the rocks one handed. The lizard was hanging out in my sleeve still and I didn’t want her shaken up too much. When we arrived we could see that one of the customized jeeps had flipped and the crew was trying to set it right so they could finish the race. The canyon was very steep and rocky and we watched long enough for me to take several pictures and videos of the jeep being righted and passed a couple times.

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The second location was “the waterfall” which had a straight three feet rock that both cars and motorbikes had to navigate both up and down, depending on the race direction. I only got to see the cars going down, but that was pretty awesome. Took some pictures and more videos (btw they have cameras along the track and in helicopters overhead so they can film and live stream the entire race) and my favorite was when one car drove through it like it was nothing, almost on the tail of another car and then after getting through the rocky bit slammed on the gas speeding up on the sand. Vroom Vroom motherfucker

Watching the whole race filled me with adrenaline; I just wanted to jump on a bike or into a car and speed over all obstacles. Wouldn’t even think twice, as long as the owner wouldn’t care if I messed up the vehicle… no fear. Didn’t get to, though.

Overall, the experience was generally enjoyable and I’m glad I got to talk to groups of people that I would normally clash with. And, as it is Valentine’s Day I wish love and understanding to all people of the world, wouldn’t that be great?

Happy Valentine’s Day and be safe on all your adventures.

Long Live the Hammer King From February 3 until February 11 another King of the Hammers race week made Johnson Valley…

#adrenalinejucky #adventure #atv #desertlife #dirtbike #gooutandlivelife #kingofthehammers #KOH #ohv #socal #travel #travelblogtuesday #utv

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