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unholyhelbig · 5 months

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Part two of mafia nat???

Title: The Oversight [Part 2/7]

Ship: Female!Reader x Natasha Romanoff

Wordcount: 3079

Warnings: Hostage situation, brusing, mentions of child abuse, horrible grammar, and Quiznos

[a/n: Thank you all for the great response to the first chapter! I'm making this a thing, for sure!] Let me know if you're interested in being added to the taglist for this story!

Main Masterlist | Read my stuff on AO3 | Leave Requests

“The usual, sweet girl.” You set the plate of pancakes down in front of Veronica. A happy face was painted against the golden surface with whipped cream, with cherries and two slices of bacon divided perfectly for hair. Your daughter never seemed to grow tired of the meal and would swallow down a glass of milk with just a bit of strawberry syrup.

Despite having completed the maze on the back of the kid’s menu at least a dozen times, she remained infatuated, kicking her feet back and forth as the orange crayon made its way through the boldened lines.

You tentatively moved a lock of brunette hair from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. “Eat your food, kiddo. Big day tomorrow.”

Veronica nodded and started to fork down the smiling face. She didn’t speak much, a few words here and there, and that worried you enough to take the day off from work. You had found a speech therapist right outside of the city that accepted your HMO plan with enough fervor that you made the soonest appointment you could.

While you worked hard to shield Veronica from the life that you were determined to break away from, you were distressed. Kids were smart, they didn’t’ get enough credit. You were sure that she noticed the only meals she ate was at this diner and at school. The way that you were here all the time, dressed in the same uniform stained with ketchup and coffee. The way you fell asleep on the second-hand sofa for a few hours at a time.

“She your kid?”

While your back was turned, mind rushing with intrepid thoughts, someone had sidled up against the counter with an empty white mug, its mouth flipped to the ceiling. The blonde looked innocent enough, if not in despite need of the coffee she was asking for. Her accent was thick. Russian or Ukrainian, nothing you could fully place.

“She is a very good artist.” She tapped her finger against the orange drawing of a sunset in the corner of the placemat. “A lot of talent in this one.”

You couldn’t help but smile at the compliment, picking up the coffee pot. The blonde nodded and smiled back as you poured her a cup. “She gets it from her father.”

While you weren’t entirely sure that was true, you did know that the talent wasn’t from you. You never had the artistic eye. Veronica, on the other hand, was a quiet force to be recon with when it came to art. Even at a young age, you knew whole-heartedly that she had a future in it if she stuck with it.

“That so?” The woman took a long sip of her coffee, not flinching at the heat. “She should keep going. It’s important to have something to hold onto.”

The memory flickered in our mind as you drifted in and out of consciousness. It could have been a day, or a week, and your heart ached just as fiercely for your daughter as it always had. She would be in safe hands for now, you were sure. Your sitter knew about your devoted love, your resilience to make sure that Ronnie was okay. You were all she had, and being tied to a chair until your muscles felt like jelly was not a good sign.

You weren’t sure what had pulled you out of a fitful sleep for a few moments, but there was a light squeeze on your shoulder. Your head shot back and collided with something. There was a soft grunt, and your inhale burned your lungs. When you blinked awake, there wasn’t complete darkness. A less harsh light had been turned on.

The blonde from the diner was standing in front of you, robbing a tender spot on the center of her nose. “Ouch, that really hurt!”

“Sorry, I-“ you frowned, snapping your mouth shut. You weren’t going to apologize. You were the one that had been kidnapped, not the other way around. “What’s happening?”

Natasha had left you without another word, and you hated the way you missed her presence. You’d drifted off in the quiet and considered it a better punishment than Clints vicious blows to the face. The girl in front of you held a bottle of water up as a peace offering.

She cracked open the top, and even if you weren’t quite sure if something was in it, you didn’t care at the moment. She guided it to your lips, and a few drops dripped over your chin. It cooled the burning in your throat.

“Thank you,” this time you meant it. Natasha had made it clear that there was no good cop, but this was starting to look like your reprieve. You tested your luck. “If they’re going to kill me, why hold me?”

“They are not going to kill you. Natasha is a cautious woman. She did not get to where she was without crossing a few lines. You claim that you’re not on drugs and my sister wants to make sure that is truthful. Can you blame her?”

From a technical standpoint- no, you couldn’t. You searched for some type of resemblance in the woman and came up with nothing but a slight similarity in the slope of her nose. She smiled, crossing her legs, and sitting back against the chair.

“Let’s play twenty questions.”

You lifted an eyebrow, and it sent a shooting pain to your temple. “If I get one wrong, do you shoot me?”

She laughed, “No wrong answers. Can you believe that I want to get to know you? I’ll go first. My name is Yelena, and my favorite color is green. Forest green if you would like to get specific, which I would.”

“Dark red.” You said “I’m y/n.”

“Oh, I know. How long have you lived in the city?”

You rolled your shoulders back again. They were stiff. You’ve never been this uncomfortable in your life, and not just socially. There was a cool calmness about Yelena that put you at ease. Though, she was one of your kidnappers, and most-likely a member of the secret underground organization that had inexplicitly frequented the diner.

“My whole life. Not this part of town, though. East lower with my mom and my dad until my mom died and my dad got himself killed when I was seventeen.”

“Foster care?”

“For a year until I was old enough to be out on my own. I’m not going to let my daughter end up the same way. That was the hardest year of my life and if she loses me then… Her father isn’t around, but I’m afraid that going into the system would be best case scenario.”

“She’s six?” Yelena asked.

“And a half, but yes.”

“Non-verbal?”

You nodded again. This felt like a shitty game of twenty questions. Yelena already knew all the answers and you could still taste blood and the aching in your jaw. She tapped her fingers against her knee, uncrossing them and leaning forward.

The ceiling still stretched above you. There were rafters that you could barely make out in the darkness. You blinked so you wouldn’t cry. Still, when you spoke next, your words came out pinched and you couldn’t help but feel weak.

“The world is a horrible place, and the odds are already stacked against her, you know?” You sniffed to keep snot that you couldn’t wipe away from dripping onto your shirt already soiled with blood. “She’s a good kid. She’s funny, and smart, and I want her to have a life where she thinks everything is okay, even if there’s a possibility that it never is. Ronnie doesn’t need to know that. She doesn’t need to know.”

Yelena swallowed hard and nodded. She stood and closed the distance between you. Her hand was warm against you skin as she tentatively wiped away the moisture on your cheek. She gave you the rest of the water. “Okay. Drink.”

You were foolish to trust her. There was something in the water that was tasteless but rendered you unconscious all the same. You blinked awake, not sure how much time had passed. Your mind was swimming relentlessly, being forced in and out of lucidity had done nothing for your resolve.

Sunlight, something you thought you would never see again, flitted through an open window. A cooling summer breeze accompanied the sight. You’d been freed somewhere along the way, and your gratitude wasn’t lost on you.

Dark purple bruises encircled both of your wrists. Your whole body ached, and you let out a low moan at the sudden blinking movement. “Oh… fuck.”

“That’s a beautiful sound.”

Your back was pushed up against a dark oak bedframe, heels shoving you back. There was a lightheadedness swirling around you. A nice bedspread was underneath you, and the room itself was dripping in riches.

It was large with floor to ceiling windows, the walls slathered in deep maroon paint. There was a wall of bookshelves filled with expertly bound books. Two chairs and a small cocktail table was set up in a beam of sunlight.

Natasha held a crystal glass of unidentified alcohol in her hand. The ice floated within the deep brown liquid as if it were afraid to make a sound. She wore a suit, one that hugged her sides. Her lips were painted red to match the walls and she tapped her nail against the glass, observing you.

Her words sent a pang directly to your core, and that embarrassed you more than your exhaustion. Blood flooded into your cheeks and the very corner of Natasha’s lip twitched in response. She set her glass down on the table.

You recoiled as she rose and transplanted herself on the corner of the bed. She was gentle with her movements as if you were an animal that she was afraid to startle. Natasha had a tight hold on her operations. She was nothing more than a myth. Simply the boss.

Somehow, she scared you more now than she did before. When you were tied to the chair, you were certain that you were going to die. But now, in this royal-style room, you were filled with questions about why she let you live.

“I don’t make mistakes, but unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the people who work for me.” She was glaring at the design etched into the duvet, gold embroidery. Her perfectly manicured fingers thumbed the flower. “You were profiled, and you were profiled wrong. I don’t go after single mothers, especially ones that don’t keep certain… habits.”

There was a sinking feeling that you weren’t meant to speak. This was the delicate moment during a hostage situation where the robber has a gun pointed at your head, the finger on the trigger and a burlap sack of money in the opposite hand. Your words would do nothing but loosen the safety.

“This is being dealt with, believe me.” Natasha looked up at you, her eyes fierce, a beautiful fern color that bounded off the darkness of the walls. “But you must understand, y/n, I am not known for my kindness, and I am certainly not known for my mercy. You still took the money, and you still owe me.”

You drew in a breath, opening your mouth to protest, but Natasha held up her hand and you snapped your jaw shut. There was a bit of amusement in her stare that you didn’t have the mental capacity to dissect.

“Yelena said that you know how to fight. Or, at the very least, take a hit. So, I’m not asking. I’m telling you that work for me until your debt is paid off.”

Natasha had gotten impossibly close to you. That same deep scent of mint filled your lungs. It wasn’t comforting, but it didn’t’ unsettle you anymore, and neither did her warmth. You winched when she reached up and grabbed your face, squeezing softer than Clint had, her nails still dug into soft bruising.

She whispered her words, breath hot on your lips. “You belong to me now, and I don’t always play nice.”

Natasha ‘not playing nice’ looked a lot like having a driver drop you off in front of your apartment without your shoes. The sidewalk was cold despite the hot day, and as you stared up at your unit, you swore that the curtains flickered. You blinked and squeezed the bridge of your nose immediately regretting it the second you felt the shooting pain reach your eardrums.

They had taken your keys, presumably to make copies, and the sweatpants that you were given were much too big around your waist. You had sinched them with a shoestring, just counting yourself lucky that they’d provided a change of clothes in the first place. Even the shirt was stained and had a logo on it for a defunct Quiznos in queens.

Your body threatened to give out as you took the stairs two at a time up to your apartment. You still didn’t’ have a grasp on how much time had passed, but it was evening when you left work, and the sun felt like a mid-day assault on your senses.

Frantically, you knocked on your neighbor’s door, wiping your sweaty palms against your pants. Natasha’s pants. More than likely- Clints pants. It took a few moments for the door to swing open, but when it did, you were flooded with relief.

Darcy had an eyebrow lifted at you. “Holy shit,”

You didn’t let her get another word in edgewise before you engulfed her in a hug. She let out a breath at the impact and after a few seconds, pulled you in closer. Darcy was a friend, someone you trusted enough to watch your daughter. There was a soft spot in your heart for her. You didn’t let go when she backed the two of you into the living room and let the door fall shut behind you.

“I was three seconds from calling the police, y/n.” she pulled back, squeezing your shoulders. “What happened to you?”

You were instructed on what to say, word for word. You’d repeated it twice to Natasha and once to the driver. Lying to Darcy, someone who was the equivalent of a lie detector. Her eyes were hard, her voice hushed.

“I got jumped by a couple of guys on the way out of the restaurant. I was stranded on the other side of town, no phone. I tried to get here as soon as possible but I got a little banged up. I’m okay, a little shaken, but okay.” You frowned, “What day is it?”

Your eyes searched the room for a clock, for anything that would give you indication, but Darcy, while one of the sweetest people you had ever met, was a bit scatter-brained. You trusted her with your daughter, and with your own life, but there were spare computer parts strung out across her coffee table, on the couch, and the television stand.

“Y/n, you’ve been gone for two days.” She lifted your chin with a curled finger, making a hissing noise as she sucked in a breath “Oh they got you good. You’re sure you don’t want to press charges?”

“More trouble than it’s worth.” You shrugged your shoulders. “I would love an icepack, though. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“I’ve got frozen peas and corn, dealers’ choice. Ronnie finally fell asleep; I kept telling her that nothing was wrong but she’s too preceptive for her own good sometimes.”

It was a bad move, but you gave Darcy a thankful squeeze on the shoulder and moved down the hall to the guest room. It was the cleanest place in the house, reserved for visitors. Darcy still had zoomed in photos of computer chips. They were like little mazes without an escape, her personality shining through.

Veronica was laying on top of the duvet, curled up in a blanket that was typically strewn across the base of the bed. She wasn’t asleep, her tempered gray eyes flicking to the door and then lighting up when she realized that it was you. You leaned against the doorframe, warmth flooding you.

You wrapped her in a bone-crunching hug, squeezing her into you as if you never wanted to let her go. She smelled like Darcy’s shampoo, a light floral concoction that comforted you. Ronnie’s hand squeezing the fabric of your borrowed shirt.

“Hi, baby” you pulled back slightly, enough room for you to give her a kiss on the forehead, pushing back ringlets of curly hair. “I missed you.”

Her nose scrunched up and her little fingers ghosted so softly over the pulsing bruises on your face. You never wanted her to see you like this, for anyone to see you like this, but at the moment you didn’t care. Having her in your arms was enough to erase all of that doubt.

“It’s alright. I’m alright,” You assured, and she crunched her nose again. “Oh, you think I stink?”

You probably did. You’d been strapped to a chair for 48 hours, nearly vomiting up what little food you’d consumed the night of your abduction. You’d sweat through your clothes, and the borrowed ones weren’t much better in the scent department.

“Too bad, little one,” you poked at her sides, eliciting an infectious giggle. “You’re stuck with me, stink and all.”

You let yourself go slack against her, trapping her under one of your arms. Veronica playfully tried to shove you off and you let out a grunt at each attempt. Eventually her arms wrapped around yours and she settled into you.

Maybe some sleep wouldn’t do you bad. Your body was about to give out, and the only instructions you’d gotten from Natasha other than the white lie of your injuries, was to hang tight and heal until she contacted you, and she would contact you.

“I didn’t know which one you wanted, so I brought both.” Darcy said from the doorway. You mumbled into the pillow in response, nothing legible. “Oh, we’re cuddling, or is this a hostage situation?”

You winced internally at the words, but sighed contentedly when you felt the weight of the frozen vegetables against your shoulder blades. You melted into the pillows, the bed dipping down as Darcy laid on the other side of Ronnie, as you drifted off to sleep.

[Taglist🕷♡: @dumbasslesbi, @lostremind, @toocreativeforausername @autorasexy @eringranola @mikookaaaaaao @marvelwoman-simp @pacmanmiles @mostlymarvelsstuff]

#Natasha Romanoff #Natasha Romanoff x y/n #Natasha Romanoff x reader #Natasha Romanoff x you #Black widow #Black widow x reader #Mafia au #Mafia boss au #Mafia Natasha Romanoff #Marvel #Marvel Fanfic #Yelena Belova #darcy lewis

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art · 2 years

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Creator Spotlight: @shencomix

Shen is a digital comic artist who mainly does short-form humor but also delves heavily into horror, action, and whatever he thinks is cool at the time.

Below is our interview with him!

How would you best describe your art style?

I try to draw cute and expressive. As a short-form comic artist, I don’t have a whole lot of space to work with, so I have to make use of what space I have by pushing poses and expressions and using eye-catching color compositions.

Do you prefer working with digital or traditional mediums? Why?

I work strictly digital. There’s something really cool about how easy it is to edit. I can change the entire color balance of a drawing in seconds, whereas with a physical medium, that would take hours—and even then, you might not be satisfied with it! The ability to separate things into layers also lets me move and resize everything however I want.

From idea to final piece, how long does it take for you to create something?

For a 4 panel comic, depending on complexity, it’s 1-4 hours. It’s really tough going under an hour with this stuff because you can’t really think at that point. You just have to go go go. For comics with more panels and more detail (like, say, a 12-panel horror comic), it can even take several full workdays. It can be stressful to bet all that time on just a single post!

Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

My inspiration to start my webcomic was Ronnie Filyaw’s Whomp!, which had a sort of raw humor that I had never seen in webcomics before. I binged it in just a couple of days and thought, “dang, I didn’t know webcomics could be this funny.” I also really love horror artists on Plastiboo and Trevor Henderson and of course, my comic friends like Sarah from Sarah’s Scribbles, Zach from Extrafabulous, and Justin from Mr. Lovenstein.

What is your favorite thing to draw at the moment?

Really into scary doors lately.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

Alan Moore, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Alan Moore.

Alan Moore would get into a fight with Alan Moore, and I could catch Leonardo up on all that stuff that’s happened since 1519 in the background.

What are your file name conventions?

series name > YY > MM.DD - Comic Name > page.png

I’m straight-up methodical. They call me “Database Shen,” and by “they,” I mean nobody, but maybe somebody will call me that someday.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@plastiboo, who I've already mentioned, has a pretty active tumblr and always makes amazing stuff.

Thanks for stopping by, Shen! For more of his amazing comics and fun illustrations, be sure to check out @shencomix!

#creator spotlight #artists on tumblr #webcomics #digital art #shen comix

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bogleech · 9 months

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Posted a little about this days ago but I can't believe I only found out about it from one random poster and would have otherwise missed out?! This weekend July 29 and 30 at the Portland oregon convention center is a Halloween convention!!!!

"VAMPIRES, DRAG, AND LIVE SNAKES"

Haunts!

an escape room where "ronnie" will get you apparently! There's also going to be a bunch of scary vendors selling scary stuff, and other things. If I'd known about this sooner I'd have tried to get a vendor table or something :( But I'll probably be there both days! If you go to this let me know and we can hang out or at least say hi!

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thebisexualdogdad · 7 months

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Earth 2-Barry Allen x Male!reader headcanons

*I'm currently doing a rewatch of the arrowverse and got to the earth 2 episodes and earth 2 Barry was so adorable I just had to write something for him. Anyways here's a quick recap for earth 2 for anyone who's forgotten because I surely did; Barry is still a forensic scientist, Iris is a detective, Joe is a lounge singer, Caitlin, Ronnie and Cisco are all evil metas and I brought Eddie back just for fun since Barry is with reader

● you're a new detective who fell for the adorable nerdy forensic scientist Barry Allen of earth 2

● when you originally asked him out on a date he thought you were just messing with him cause everyone at the station knew he liked you

● but why would the handsome detective (who was also his best friend Iris' partner) want to go out with him?

● Iris assured him that you really did like him and that date eventually led to you guys getting married 3 years later

● every morning before work you make breakfast while he makes the coffee

● it's a nice peaceful moment to start your day and spend quality time with Barry

● you also help him pick out a bowtie that matches whatever sweater and vest he's wearing that day

● double dates out with Iris and Eddie to see Joe sing at Jitterbugs

● as well as having dinner once a week with his parents

● you hear the "so when are we getting grandkids" question all the time

● "soon mom, soon"

● he's so pure and never swears

● he only says "what the heck" or "dang it" or "fudge"

● it makes you laugh at how sweet it is

● watching sci fi shows with Barry and not knowing anything that's going on

● he tries to explain to you all the sciency stuff behind it which still doesn't make any sense but he gets so excited and is so cute doing so you happily listen to him

● being impressed by your husband every time he creates new tech to help in your hunt for Killer Frost, Deathstorm, Reverb and other metas

● Barry keeps tracks of every meta you have put away and all of your other achievements to brag about how great of a detective you are

● one time you and Iris faced off against Killer Frost and Deathstorm and she nearly froze you to death

● Barry never left your bedside in the months you were recovering

● "Barry stop worrying I'm okay"

● "you're the love of my life Y/N I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you"

● "well it's a good thing you don't have to find out"

● when you get approved to go back to work Barry and Iris throw you a big welcome back party

● Barry is super romantic

● he plans something big for every anniversary from the anniversary of the day you met to your first date/first kiss and even the day you proposed

● you don't know how but he manages to get reservations at the most exclusive restaurants in Central city

● Iris "so what did you and Barry get up to over the weekend?"

● "Barry surprised me with dinner at that fancy French place downtown"

● "how?? Eddie and I have been trying to get a reservation there for months but they are booked until next year"

● even though you've been together for years Barry is still so nervous in the bedroom like it's the first time

● he's clumsy and always knocking things over, you've had to replace so many lamps in your home

● he gets embarrassed by how his body reacts to you and still apologizes for moaning too loudly or bucking his hips uncontrollably

● which you always have to reassure him that it's okay for him to enjoy what's happening and that you love how turned on he gets

● especially when you are role-playing and pretending to arrest him

● or when he sees you in your gym clothes after a work out

● he really can't help staring at your biceps it's his weakness

● when earth 1 Barry shows up to fight zoom he is shocked to find out you two are married (as you are Joe's partner on his earth that he's been crushing on) after you take him to an empty hallway at the station to make out when he was pretending to be your Barry

● your Barry finds out and is not happy about it, "he got frisky with my husband?? I have to find this guy and give him a piece of my mind"

● "you're so cute when you're jealous"

● Cisco "I've been trying to get my Barry to ask you out Y/N for so long now I have proof that you guys would be adorable together"

● Barry "maybe we are just meant to be on every earth"

#the flash imagine #barry allen imagine #barry allen x reader #earth 2 barry allen imagine #x male reader #headcanons

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justfandomwritings · 2 years

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The Only Thing (Hangman - Part Two)

Pairing: Jake Seresin x Female!Reader; some Rooster x Seresin!OC

Word Count: 11.2k

Summary: Jake Seresin is madly in love with (Y/n). This is not an opinion or a feeling; it is a fact. A law of the universe that will never change. As long as the world is in motion, as long as the sun is in the sky, and possibly even after, Jake Seresin will be in love with her. So why, for the love of all that is good in this world, are they not together? Rooster intends to find out.

Warnings: Angst, Objectively excessive amounts of pining, also Jake Seresin can be an asshole sometimes but so can his sisters, cursing. An emotional amount of found family. Also Christmas is featured, but in a very non-religious celebratory way. Also no Beta-reader, sorry.

Notes: Thank you to everyone who partook in Part One. I hope you all find Part Two, and I hope you all love it. There will be a spinoff oneshot of little tidbits from Jake and Addie's life growing up together and falling in love, etc. etc. If you have any thoughts on particular moments you'd like to see either in that or just in general as blurbs lemme know.

The Only Thing Masterlist

“Not that star! It’s falling apart. Use the new one we bought last year!”

“Seriously Ma, you couldn’t have said that before?” Hangman huffed and readjusted Ronnie higher up on his shoulders. “Bradshaw, get Ronnie whatever fuckin’ star Ma’s talking about.”

Rooster snorted but began rummaging through the ornaments and assorted other tree decorations without much protest. There was a newer looking star topper still in the box at the bottom of the storage bin labeled ‘Tree Stuff’, and Rooster pulled it out.

Holding it up in Debbie’s general direction at the far end of the hall, he asked, “This one?”

“Yes, honey, that’s the one.” Debbie gave him a thumbs up then, satisfied, darted back into the kitchen to continue cooking.

Rooster handed the star up to Ronnie on top of Jake’s shoulders and took the older, beat-up star off her hands.

The Seresins were a very last-minute family when it came to decorating. Mostly, it was that the sisters, Ronnie in particular, considered decorating for Christmas to be a family affair, and they collectively refused to decorate anything at all until their brother was home.

Hangman had, of course, written this off to Rooster as the three of them wanting him to do all the heavy lifting, and while Ronnie and Andy adamantly refused the accusation, Kate nodded along when Hangman’s back was turned. It’d made Rooster chuckle which earned Kate a glare from her brother.

Debbie was milling around the kitchen with Andy, baking and mixing an assortment of things that could be made in advanced of Christmas Day, while Kate draped bannisters in garlands. and Ronnie, Hangman, and Rooster decorated the tree.

They were finally finishing up the tree with the star on top when the front door burst open without any knock or warning.

“I brought candy!”

Rooster would recognize (Y/n)’s voice anywhere by now. As much as he’d heard it over the last couple days with Hangman, he was sure he could pick it out of any crowd.

“I’ll help her.” Rooster quickly volunteered as Hangman was still acting as a step stool for Ronnie to reach the top.

“Thanks,” Hangman bristled as he was forced to walk into the needles of the tree so Ronnie could reach.

With a chuckle, Rooster wandered into the foyer to find (Y/n), arms laden with far too many paper bags.

“Jesus! Did you buy out the whole store?” Rooster rushed forward to take some of the bags out of her hands before a catastrophe occurred.

(Y/n) laughed and pawned off most of the bags on the pilot. “I work at the bakery part-time during the Christmas rush, and Mr. Donaldson always gives me all the imperfect batches that he can’t sell.”

Rooster followed (Y/n) to the kitchen to see what Debbie wanted done with all of it.

“Aren’t you going to keep some of this for yourself?” Rooster lifted the bags of candy in his arms as indication.

(Y/n) shrugged, “No, I'm always here for Christmas anyway. My family don’t really celebrate Christmas.”

“Not Religious?”

“Eh, we all just hate each other. Dad hates my brother. My brother hates me. I hate Mom. Mom hates my brother and me… You get the picture.” (Y/n) waved off Rooster’s question as they entered the kitchen, and Rooster wasn’t sure whether she thought it was unimportant or if she wanted to stop talking about it.

“Besides, why would I want to be anywhere else but here?” (Y/n) loudly announced as she entered the kitchen.

Debbie smiled warmly at (Y/n) as she entered. Her fingers were covered with cookie dough, but she leaned in to kiss (Y/n) on the cheek in lieu of her usual hug. “We wouldn’t want you anywhere else. It wouldn’t be Christmas without you.”

“No cause who else would bring the peanut butter fudge.” (Y/n) turned and eyed the bags in Roosters arms before carefully selecting one in particular and holding it out in her fist as far from her body as possible.

Andy didn’t seem to care about the dough all over her fingers. She greedily snatched the bag from (Y/n) and gave her a one-armed hug in reward, only just avoiding her fingers getting in any hair. “You’re my favorite sister.”

“I won’t tell Kate and Ronnie.” (Y/n) teased.

“Bradley, dear, if you could just set the rest of those on the side table over there.” Debbie pointed to a table that was littered with assorted baking and desert making supplies.

“Of course Debbie,” He’d finally gotten past calling her ma’am, and the smile his familiarity brought to Debbie’s face cemented him using her name.

(Y/n) wandered over to start sorting the bags into different piles. One for fruit candies, one for mint, one for chocolate, etc. She glanced over her shoulder with a faux-sneaky look and passed one of the bags to Rooster. “Try this one. It’s the best candy in the store, and Jake’ll steal it if he finds out I brought some.”

Rooster thanked her, popping one in his mouth. It was some kind of mix of raspberry and chocolate and something else. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was utterly delicious. The grin on (Y/n)’s face, like school kids who were stealing sweets before dinner, was enough to make him break out in a massive smile in return.

“I’m right, right?” She whispered, stuffing her hand down in the bag and palming several for herself.

“Absolutely,” Rooster quietly agreed, putting an arm around her shoulder and squeezing in what was meant to be a show of affection.

“Hey!”

They both turned, sheepish and wide eyed like they’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Hangman was standing in the doorway with his eyes narrowed in on them.

For a brief, shining moment Rooster was genuinely worried. There was an angry look to Hangman’s brow. Rooster couldn’t tell what it was directed towards, but he had just had an arm wrapped around Hangman’s girl, leaned in inches from her face, as they whispered and smiled at each other. The thought of how it might’ve looked to the other pilot was enough to make him pale.

“Are those the raspberry ones you two are hiding?” Hangman pointed an accusatory finger at the bag half hidden behind Rooster.

“Nope,” (Y/n) stole the bag from Rooster’s hand and took off, shouting unconvincingly as she went, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Hangman rolled his eyes and waved a hand after her. “Little does she know I bought a box on her lunch break that’s hidden in my room, and I’m not sharing.” Kissing his mom on the top of her head as he passed, Hangman wandered over beside Rooster to observe the assortment (Y/n) had delivered to them.

Hangman’s brow was still a bit furrowed.

“Hey, man,” Rooster didn’t whisper, but he did speak under his breath so the other Seresins wouldn’t hear, “I’m sorry if I crossed a line with (Y/n).”

Hangman turned his head and raised an eyebrow, his expression thoroughly disinterested. “You cop a feel or somethin’ I didn’t see?”

“No, never, I-”

“No harm in makin’ friends, Rooster. I know that’s all it was to her. You tellin’ me it’s somethin’ more to you?”

“God, no.”

Hangman turned back to the candy nonchalantly, “Then what are you apologizin’ for? I’m an asshole, but I’m not that kind of asshole.”

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Hangman’s sisters were very invested in his love life. Mostly, they were very invested in finally getting him and (Y/n) together. It was pretty much the first thing Rooster learned about each of them upon spending time alone with them. Kate had pushed him to knock some sense into Hangman. Ronnie had interrogated him to make sure her brother wasn’t seeing anyone else. Andy had taken to calling (Y/n) her favorite sister or sister-in-law when Hangman wasn’t around.

Clearly born out of a deep love for their brother and a want to finally see him happy, they had all seemingly made it their life’s mission to make him see reason, and with Rooster in town, he had inevitably been drafted in to help.

“I think you may have actually got through to him.” Kate dragged Rooster through the house to the dining table where Ronnie and Andy were already sitting. “But Jake needs a lot of hand holding with things like this. He can’t possibly admit he might have been wrong and making himself miserable for years for no reason.”

Debbie was out running errands, and (Y/n) was helping set up the town’s Christmas Eve parade, which of course meant Hangman was helping set up the town’s Christmas Eve parade. So it seemed prime-time for the Seresin sisters to congregate.

“This is the year. I can feel it in my bones, Kate.” Ronnie was practically bouncing in her seat with excitement at the prospect. “This is the year we finally get him.”

“Get him how?” Rooster took the seat across from Kate and next to Ronnie.

Andy leaned across the table with the closest thing to a serious expression Rooster had seen from her since he arrived. “Every year without fail we plot some storybook, romance novel worthy moment for Jake to finally see reason and declare his love for (Y/n), and every year it fails.”

“It’s a Seresin family tradition at this point,” Kate informed him with a matter-of-fact nod.

“We’ve staged them on a blind date with each other.” Ronnie counted off one on her fingers.

“Jake figured it out when he got there, and they just ended up hanging out.” Andy explained.

“We’ve trapped them in elevators. Twice” Two and three.

“The first time she fell asleep with her head in his lap because she was so tired, and the second time he pried the doors open like fucking He-Man or something.”

“We tried to make Jake jealous and set (Y/n) up with the hottest, richest guy we knew.” Four.

“He got so sad that year and said he hoped the other guy could give her everything she deserved.”

“Yeah, that one was depressing. We’re never trying that again.” Andy and Ronnie nodded along in agreement to Kate’s interjection to their list.

“We trapped them at the top of the ferris wheel the year the town rented one around Christmas.” Five.

“It freaked (Y/n) out too much to be romantic.” Andy added, unhelpfully, “She would not be a good fighter pilot.”

“So what are you three doing this year?” Rooster cut them off when it became clear the list was going to continue.

In a simultaneous motion that would’ve been absolutely horrifying in any horror movie, all three sisters looked up and smiled at his question. “See,” Kate addressed him, “we don’t know. We’re hoping that’s where you come in.”

When exactly Rooster became part of some romcom movie, he wasn’t sure. He was unabashed about the number of romcoms he’d watched over the year, with and without girlfriends present. So he felt pretty educated saying that sitting around a table coming up with a plan to set up two people who were already in love with each other was pretty romcom-esque. It’s just usually in the romcom they didn’t realize they were in love yet.

Rooster didn’t see how any ‘plan’ would work. None of them would resolve the real problem.

Hangman and (Y/n) were both very much in love and very much aware of the fact that they were in love. Neither of them needed to be told or reminded that they had feelings for the other. They were even both aware of the fact that the other was in love with them. There was no moment of realization to be had here. They both knew, and it didn’t seem to change anything..

Hangman – shockingly – wasn’t selfish enough to ask her to make the sacrifices it would require to follow him, and at the end of the day, Hangman was still going to be a TopGun pilot, and he was still going to be constantly moving, constantly in danger, and constantly away. No romcom movie moment was going to change that.

And (Y/n)… Well Rooster wasn’t sure about (Y/n). He liked her, a lot actually. He could certainly see why Hangman was in love with her, but he just didn’t know her well enough to know what made her tick, to know why a woman so clearly in love with a man who was so clearly in love with her wouldn’t just say ‘screw it’ and show up at his door in San Diego, why she wouldn’t have confronted Hangman at any point in all their years of being ‘not-together’. He couldn’t see what was stopping her, but something clearly was.

Hangman’s sisters were absolutely convinced that they just needed to get through to Hangman, but Rooster wasn’t so sure. There was something nagging at him about (Y/n), telling him that, if they really wanted to make this happen, he needed to talk to her. Easier said than done since she never left Hangman’s side.

He asked the sisters if they could make that happen, if they could separate the two of them for longer than a couple minutes so he could talk to her, and the trio had exchanged long glances before they all burst out laughing like he’d just told the greatest joke they’d ever heard. Kate, promptly, informed him that while their mother made them go to church every Sunday as kids, none of them believed in miracles.

It was oddly endearing watching the sisters plot and scheme, not for their brother’s demise or embarrassment, but for his happiness. Their words did not match their angry, sinister tones. They said things like ‘Why won’t he just tell her he loves her?’ and ‘She already knows he loves her!’ and ‘Well, why won’t he just let her love him back, that asshole!’ and ‘I just want them to be happy and make babies!’ were snarled like insults. They all spat on Jake’s name like it was a vulgar word, while simultaneously trying to come up with ways to make him smile.

Rooster’s heart ceased up in his chest, and he knew he needed to get out of there. “I’ll be back.”

Andy and Ronnie waved him off, barely noticing as he left. They were still batting around ideas about what to do for Hangman. Kate was a different animal. Rooster could feel her eyes on him as his shoulders hunched in time with his constricting chest.

He made a swift exit onto the patio, inhaling fresh air deep into his lungs in an attempt to open up his chest. He was out there alone for less than a minute before a hand touched his shoulder. He should’ve known it was coming, but it still made him jump and turn around defensively.

“Sorry,” Rooster’s voice cracked slightly on the word, and he quickly diverted his eyes away from Kate.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked, leaving her hand where it fell on his arm. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s just that…” Rooster wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he couldn’t stop the words coming out. It was something in the water, or in the town, or just in the house. Something that made him want to open up. “I don’t know. Seeing the way you guys are with Jake, it makes me think about what my siblings would’ve been like if my dad hadn’t…”

Kate placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, pulling Rooster’s eyes up to hers “Well, you don’t have to wonder if you don’t want to. I know, we all know, we aren’t replacements, and we won’t try to be. No one can replace what you’ve lost. But just because what you’ve lost is irreplaceable doesn’t mean there aren’t… alternatives.”

It was a sensitive subject, and Rooster could see the way Kate’s eyes darted around, searching for the right words. “We don’t need you to think of us as your real family or as replacements for them. If it helps you open up or cope, we won’t be offended by you thinking of us as a backup, Bradley. I know you’ve only been here for a little while, but we care about you. We will be what you need us to be. So don’t think you have to betray your family to stay here, and don’t think you’re hurting us by thinking of your family first.”

She gave his shoulder one last squeeze then stepped away. “We’re all here for you, even Jake. He wouldn’t have brought you here if he didn’t want you to be part of this, and we wouldn’t be spending so much time with you if we didn’t want it too.”

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It was the Eve of Christmas Eve, and Rooster woke up to (Y/n) already at the Seresins’ frying up some eggs for breakfast. Even on leave, Rooster woke with the sun, yet somehow (Y/n) was already there.

She loudly announced that she was kidnapping Jake so they could go into the city to shop for Christmas presents. Rooster was welcome to join or stay at his own risk.

“Do you want to come? Everyone else will be out, so there won’t be much to do here. But if you really wanna stay, you can use my car. It can’t make the trek to the city, but it gets around town in a pinch.”

When she asked, an image of Kate the night before, ‘He wouldn’t have brought you here if he didn’t want you to be part of this, and we wouldn’t be spending so much time with you if we didn’t want it too,’ flashed through Rooster’s mind.

Jake brought Rooster here, not just to his family home, but to (Y/n), and as he stood – finally alone with her – in the kitchen, Rooster saw it for what it was: the most open and honest way Jake could place his trust in Rooster. It was as good as if Jake had ripped his heart from his chest and put it in Rooster’s palm.

“Of course I’ll come along. Can’t leave you alone with Jake that long. That would be torture.”

(Y/n) beamed. She had a witty retort, but Rooster didn’t hear it. He was too distracted by the way she turned back to the stove, still smiling away, as comfortable in his presence as she was in any of the Seresins.

She looked as ready and willing to accept him into the family as Kate the night before, and Rooster wondered if the two women, or more likely (Y/n) and Jake, had talked about it. If Jake got her permission to bring him here, or if Jake let her deliver her final verdict when he drove her home after the barbecue. Either way, Rooster knew he wouldn’t still be here if she didn’t want him around. But (Y/n) seemed to go so far beyond tolerance, so far beyond acceptance.

When Rooster thought of his family, of his parents and of the siblings he was sure he would’ve had. He found himself picturing (Y/n). Her open smile and accepting nature. He imagined a hellraiser of a baby sister with a nickname like Adrenaline that he was constantly trying to keep out of trouble. He could picture the little girl’s unbridled chaos mellowing into a mischievous glint in the grown woman’s eye. He could see himself bringing home his Navy buddies and giving them all an earful for checking her out.

Void of a biological family that had any real meaning to her, Rooster could pick (Y/n) up and put her seamlessly in his memories with his mom around the dinner table.

Rooster opened his mouth to speak. If he wanted his moment alone to talk with her, this was as good as it would get.

But before he could say anything, Jake came traipsing into the room. “Something smells good.”

“This is your payment for driving me to the city.” (Y/n) informed him.

“Oh?” Jake clearly didn’t know he was going to be doing that today, but he took the surprise easily in hand. “Sounds fun. When are we going?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Absolutely not!”

“Why not? She would look so nice in this one.”

They’d been in the city shopping for the better part of three hours, and all that was left was to help Jake find one last present for Andy.

Jake and (Y/n) had already gotten presents for each other, or at least Rooster assumed they had because, even after several hours wandering around the mall from store to store, neither of them had picked anything out for each other.

Jake wasn’t really known for being a thoughtful person, and Rooster never would’ve thought he was a romantic or generous person at heart. Before this trip, if he’d have had to imagine Jake buying presents for any occasion, it probably would have been a last-minute whirlwind of boxed chocolates and flowers to get laid on Valentine’s Day. And yet, since coming to Texas, Rooster would bet every dollar to his name that whatever Jake gave (Y/n) was so thoughtful it would make her cry.

(Y/n) was obviously the kind of person who put a lot of thought into Christmas presents. She’d already gotten gifts for each of the Seresin sisters and Debbie before they went out shopping that morning, but her basket was still laden with little knick-knacks that reminded her of each of them. ‘Stocking stuffers’, she waved off the raised eyebrow Rooster shot her as she picked up a set of shot glasses that looked like beakers for Ronnie. He couldn’t imagine her forgetting to get Jake something. She seemed too good at this.

Jake had defaulted to (Y/n)’s opinion on gift giving up to the last moment, but now he’d fallen at the final hurdle.

“There is no way I am putting Andy in that. Addie, they’re all already picturing her naked. We don’t need to encourage them.”

The issue, a debate that was about as close to a fight as (Y/n) and Jake were capable of, centered around a beautiful, though very skimpy sundress hanging off of (Y/n)’s finger. “They will not be picturing her naked. I have this same one in a different color.”

“Yes, and I’ve been to the beach with you in it. All the guys are picturing you naked too.” Jake said with a roll of his eyes, as if it were the most logical conclusion, and he couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it.

(Y/n)’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she suddenly sounded less sure of herself on that fact. “No they aren’t.”

Jake tilted his head to the side and gave her purse-lipped expression that said she ought to know better, “I have to beat the other guys back like flies, Addie. You just don’t notice any of them.”

There was a rule between the two of them, one that Rooster had quickly caught onto, that in each other’s presence neither addressed the elephant in the room. In keeping with that rule, neither Jake or (Y/n) confronted why it was that (Y/n) wouldn’t notice all of the guys staring at her while Jake was around.

“Look, I won’t tell Andy what to wear any more than I’ll tell you what to wear, but I’m not gonna gift every guy on that trip a wet dream.”

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, “It’s really not that bad. You’re exaggerating.”

“No, they will definitely be picturing her naked in that.”

“See!” Jake shouted triumphantly, pointing at Rooster, “Rooster agrees with me! He never does that!”

(Y/n) bit back a laugh at Jake’s excitement. Defiantly, though certainly amused, she shoved the sundress in her own basket. “I’ll have you know I met the one that invited her along as his plus one, and he’s a perfectly nice guy. Practically a gentleman.”

“What branch did you say he was?” Rooster piped in.

“Army… I think he’s Special Forces.”

Rooster chuckled, and Jake fumed. “No. Absolutely not.” He stole the dress out (Y/n)’s basket it and hung it back on the rack. “Next you’re going to tell me Kate needs these art supplies so she can paint some Marine in the nude.”

“Well,” (Y/n) hedged, “he’s not a Marine…” Her tone was teasing, and there was just the right amount of mischief in her eyes.

“Ugh!” Jake walked back passed her towards the luggage section, ringing his hands in the air.

(Y/n) burst into a round of giggles as Jake wandered off, and Rooster couldn’t help joining her with a chuckle of his own. “Really though,” (Y/n) said, still trying to sober up, “What’s wrong with Army guys?”

“Well, for one, if he’s Special Forces, he has definitely already seen her naked.” Rooster spoke under his breath, not wanting to tempt fate with Jake’s foul mood, even if he would never actually unleash it around (Y/n), “And for two, Jake can’t scare an SF guy into line.”

“Well I, for one, think he’s great. And I think that will be totally unnecessary.” (Y/n) led their way through the racks, following Jake towards the matching set of bags he was no doubt going to buy Andy instead.

Rooster shrugged, not that (Y/n) could see from in front of him. “He might be a great guy, but still. Jake wants to protect her. He’s just trying to help.”

“Oh of course.” (Y/n) made a point to turn back so Rooster could see her playfully roll her eyes, “Because we women need a big macho man to help us with everything.” The pair broke out into the wider aisle and began walking side-by-side.

“Aren’t you the same girl I just watched pout her way into getting Jake to carry all of her bags out of the last store?” Rooster grinned down at her.

At the reminder, (Y/n) couldn’t hold back the devilish, gleeful smile, “Yeah, because I needed a big macho man to help me with it.”

Rooster chuckled, “You know when I got here I didn’t get it, but now I do. You and Jake make total sense.”

“I choose to take that as a compliment.”

“It was meant as a compliment.”

“For who?”

“Both of you.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every shop in the quaint downtown area of the small Texas town was strung with twinkling white Christmas lights along its roof. They shown down on the street like stars blinking invitingly to all the parade-goers, drawing them further into the crowd, further into the festivities. The lamps lining the street were all turned off, and the world had taken on a glow of red and green at the street level from countless, lit window displays of reindeer and Christmas trees and Santa Claus.

It was one of those magical scenes from the romantic comedies Rooster always unapologetically watched. Something in the air just screamed excitement and joy. It permeated his skin and filled him with an overwhelming sense of amusement and happiness. He was edging towards belonging, but he drew himself back, fearfully, from the feeling.

Christmas was never a holiday Rooster was particularly attached to. His family had never been particularly religious, and while his mother always made a point to make sure he had the best Christmas she could afford to give him – presents, dinner, family, lights, music – there was always something noticeably absent from Christmas with the Bradshaws. It always rang a little hollow. There was always one too many chairs around the table, one too many servings of pudding, one too many of everything.

But here, in podunk, middle of nowhere Texas, where half the people on the street remembered his name from the cookout and waved and said ‘Hi Rooster’. Where his friend – he felt far less hesitant calling Jake a friend now – walked a few feet ahead of him with the love of his life, and where Debbie clutched his arm and excitedly pointed out every family-owned store in town and raved about the town’s parade and its history.

Where Kate playfully berated her mother for boring him to sleep. And Andy whispered to Ronnie behind him about how she really did like the guy who’d asked her to go on the trip with him and his friends. And Ronnie told her to tell Jake, or Bradley, about the guy just to be safe.

Where he blinked a few times more than was strictly necessary as Andy mumbled that she’d probably talk to Bradley about it later.

“It’s beautiful Debbie,” Rooster barely knew which storefront Debbie was talking to him about this time, but her tone told him she was excited about it.

“Isn’t it just,” She beamed up at him, “The Newman’s always do such a great job. They didn’t make the cookout this time, but when you come back ‘round I’ll be sure to introduce you to ‘em. Their son and Jake were best friends when they were kids.”

Jake seemed to hear what Debbie was saying, and he craned his neck around in their direction, clearly unwilling to remove his arm from (Y/n) long enough to actually talk to them, “His dad used to own the plane, Rooster.”

“Why did you two stop being friends again?” Kate’s question sounded innocent enough, but there was an undercurrent to it that Rooster had come to recognize as common to all Seresin’s.

Debbie leaned around Rooster to give her eldest daughter a playful whack on the back of her hand, “Enough of that.”

The group all laughed.

They soon had to move to a single file line as they hit the town’s main square where the parade actually began, and the street was filling up with people camping out on the sidewalk for the best seats, leaving only a narrow walkway to get around. Kate side stepped in front of Rooster, between him and Debbie.

Rooster took the chance and leaned over Kate’s shoulder, “So why aren’t they friends?”

“Why else,” Kate turned her chin up to say it but didn’t face him, keeping her eyes forward as they duck and weaved their way through the people to keep up with the group, “Newman threw a basketball too hard at (Y/n) in P.E. She fell over, hit her head. Stitches. It was all an accident, but Jake wasn’t so forgiving back then. He’s always been a stubborn ass. They didn’t make up till college.”

“Funny, I thought around here Hangman didn’t have any flaws,” Rooster dared using the callsign. It seemed fitting in the moment.

Kate approved, grinning up at him, “You tellin’ me my brother isn’t an ass?”

“Oh no, he definitely is.”

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“I’m gonna go get drinks. Wait here?” Jake asked (Y/n).

“Course, we’ll hold down the fort.” (Y/n) reached across the bench and patted Rooster on the knee, the last remaining members of the group.

The Seresins’ had secured a bench and the lip of sidewalk in front of it near the back of the circular route the parade would be taking through the big open square. There were people crowded in around them in lawn chairs or sitting on picnic blankets. Groups of children ran around and played in the empty path that was cleared out for the parade, one of them accompanied by Kate.

While they were waiting on the parade to start, Kate had run off to play with her godchildren, a pair of little girls belonging to her high school best friend. Mrs. Seresin had promptly taken that as her cue to abduct Ronnie and make her talk to someone named Taylor that she swore was just perfect for her. Andy had followed along behind snickering the whole way.

Objectively, it wasn’t that many people. A parade back in San Diego would’ve gotten ten or twenty times as many people as this one, but the shouts back and forth between different little families and the way everyone made room for the next group that came along later spoke volumes about the fact that this wasn’t just a collection of people. It was a community.

Rooster was pretty sure that, even if they stood up and completely abandoned their stuff, no one would steal their spots or any of their belongings. ‘Holding down the fort’ was almost entirely unnecessary, and yet it provided him the opportunity he had been looking for.

He watched Jake’s back retreat towards a small makeshift shack that appeared to be some kind of concession stand. If he wanted to talk to (Y/n) alone, this was the only chance he’d get.

“Well (Y/n),” He broached in a gentle tone. He had to be careful about this. (Y/n) didn’t strike him as the tattling or whining sort. If he said the wrong thing, she would probably grin and bear it. But of course, Jake could read her so well. It didn’t matter if she told him or not; Jake would know. So he had to be careful. “Jake’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow.”

(Y/n) gave him a sad smile. “So will you,” She added, “we’ll all miss you.” (Y/n) didn’t mean to redirect him. Rooster knew she wasn’t as sneaky as that. His first night in town she’d done quite a bit of redirecting, but all of it was incredibly obvious and usually accompanied by a look to Jake. This was just (Y/n) being (Y/n), welcoming him into the family.

“Of course,” He’d almost – almost – grown used to the Seresin brand of open affection, “but I’m not Jake.”

The smile stayed on her face even while the light in her eyes seemed to dim. “Well, no, you’re not, and I might miss him a teeny bit more if I’m being totally honest with you.” Her chipper, teasing tone didn’t match the sadness that was coming into her gaze, rolling in like dark clouds signaling a coming storm.

“Can I ask you a personal question, (Y/n)?”

“Of course,” (Y/n) shuffled on the bench. She turned to face him and brought her feet up onto the bench, pulling her knees into her chest.

He wondered absently if it was so she could look him in the eyes or if having her legs in front of her was more of a safeguard, a defense mechanism. Rooster had had several open, honest conversations with (Y/n) during his time in Texas, and some of them had actually been quite personal. But the few times he’d gotten her alone had only ever been long enough for a joke here or there, an offhand teasing comment.

He wondered if she could sense the change in atmosphere, in tone, as much as he could. If she could, she didn’t let on any more than the arm wrapped around her knees.

“Why aren’t you in San Diego? You don’t… really seem like you care about Texas that much, and I kinda get the feeling you’d rather be there.”

(Y/n) sighed like a weight had compressed the air out of her chest, a gust that looked and felt more like it was forced from her lungs than actually given freely. She knew this was coming. Rooster could tell from the way her eyes tilted down as she sucked air back in. “It’s complicated. It’s not as easy as just moving.”

“Well no,” Rooster conceded. “You would need… Well, you’d have to be with Jake, I suppose.”

“Right.”

“Why aren’t you?”

Her teeth caught her bottom lip, and (Y/n)’s eyes darted away as fast as the words left his mouth. They flitted along the crowd. She wasn’t really searching for anything. There was no urgency to her gaze, but she still seemed to be looking into every face that she passed. If for no other reason than to not look back at him.

“Is…” It was a wild thought, an impossible thought. But it was truly the only explanation Rooster could think of, “Is there someone else?”

(Y/n) came to a stop. Her shoulders, going up and down with the weight of her breaths froze in a sort of half shrug. Her eyes came to a stop on some unknown face in the crowd and glazed over as she stared through whoever it was into something that wasn’t there. Her fingers, twitching against the denim of her jeans, stilled and flattened against the fabric. It was like someone had a remote to a tv and hit pause.

“(Y/n)?”

Then, all at once, they were in fast forward.

(Y/n) threw her head back and let out an absolutely raucous laugh. If not for the packed bodies filling in the space around them with a buzz of noise, it would’ve echoed into the night. If not for the Christmas music playing in the background of the entire scene from speakers situated at the base of the sporadic trees decorating the square, her laughter would’ve been so disruptive it would’ve drawn the eyes of everyone in town to them. Not that any of them would’ve said anything beyond a cool, disapproving stare.

As it was, her laughter seemed to only add to the merriment of the moment, a merriment that Rooster’s chosen topic of conversation had pulled the pair of them out of.

Rooster let her have several rounds at his expense, going through another bout of quieter laughter then a few rounds of giggles before she finally managed to settle down enough to address him again. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to laugh at you. Just the idea.”

“There isn’t someone else then I take it.”

“No.” She said emphatically, one last chuckle leaving her lips. “And there never will be.”

Rooster shifted himself to face her this time. A knee pulling up on the bench between them, his elbow resting on the back of the bench, propping up his head to stare her down. “Why not?”

The jovial, amused expression coloring her face softened. They were talking about Jake. Rooster made a note of it; her expression softened when she got to talk about Jake. “I believe it was Betty White who said, ‘When you have the best, who needs the rest?’”

Rooster raised an eyebrow. This was shaky ground. “You don’t have Jake though.”

“Bradley,” (Y/n) sighed and brought her knees down, crossing her legs between them. She leaned in, the amusement and merriment of moments ago, the soft loving expression she got when talking about Jake, gone. “You’ve been here for a little over a week now. Do you think there is anyone in this square, anyone in this town, who could ever love me as much as Jake?”

“No,” It was the easiest question Rooster had ever answered.

“Do you think anyone else in this square, anyone in this town… Fuck it, do you think anyone in all of San Diego could ever love Jake as much as I do?”

“No,” The second easiest question.

“I have Jake.” (Y/n) said, matter-of-factly. Her eyes implored Rooster to see her truth. “He’s mine. In every way that matters, he will always be mine.”

“But he’s not… here.” Rooster hesitated to point out, not because he thought (Y/n) would balk at the reminder. She seemed more sure of herself now, talking about how much she loved Jake and vice versa, than ever. Rooster just didn’t want to cause her pain in his path to answers. “He’s gone, and …. Much as I hate to admit it, he’s probably the best pilot at TopGun besides Maverick. The Navy isn’t gonna let him go any time soon.”

“And I wouldn’t want them to.” (Y/n) agreed.

Rooster raised an eyebrow, “Where does that leave you?”

“Waiting.” Rooster had his answer. He thought about stopping there, turning around and laughing at Kate dancing through the parade route with a little kid holding each hand, wandering over to join Andy teasing Ronnie about Debbie’s latest setup attempt… but he couldn’t.

Rooster saw him approaching behind (Y/n) from his peripheral vision. He tried not to focus on him, to not draw (Y/n)’s attention away. His eyes stayed on her even as the blonde head of hair drew close and closer through the crowd.

This was, he thought, his chance. If he was ever going to get one. His chance to finally do what Kate asked and knock some sense into Jake, and his chance to do what he knew needed to happen and knock some sense into (Y/n).

“(Y/n), you’ll have to forgive me.” Rooster’s next words were for Jake, for Hangman. “I like Jake. And I like you, and I like you both together. But he left, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) was shaking her head before he even finished speaking. “He left because I told him to go. He loves flying planes; he loves the Navy. I can wait a little longer.”

Jake was passed the last group now, coming up behind her. Even in his peripheral, Rooster could make out his face now.

“Does he love you more?”

“Of course,” (Y/n) didn’t hesitate.

“Then why aren’t you there with him?”

“I don’t know!”

She shouted then buried her head in her hands. Rooster had never heard her raise her voice before. His entire body drew back. Being shouted at in general wasn’t a pleasant experience, but there was something so much more disquieting about it being (Y/n), about it being someone who was otherwise so unshakably good natured and caring towards everyone. It was his intention to pull the anger and frustration, the sadness, out of her, but he hadn’t realized just how close she was to boiling over.

A few groups near them turned to stare, not just from the volume. Rooster glanced over and saw their faces colored in shock. He saw their eyes flit to Jake, just over her shoulder, and then to him in concern.

They were all right to be concerned.

Rooster made eye contact with Jake and instantly realized it was a mistake. He wasn’t looking at Jake. There was nothing of the mildly mischievous, but secretly kind-hearted family man in the eyes boring into his.

Rooster was staring down Hangman. Hangman with vicious, vengeful eyes. Hangman that could, and had, killed. Hangman that would readily take up a cause as honorable as avenging (Y/n)’s tears with Rooster's blood.

It sent a chill down Rooster’s spine, and for a moment he thought about running, jumping up and sprinting into the crowd for the safety of Debbie or Ronnie or Andy, someone Hangman would never commit a murder in front of. He might be able to duck Hangman’s first blow and make it to Kate and the kids somewhere behind him, but he was also pretty sure Hangman would be willing to commit a murder in front of that particular sibling.

But none of those were really options, and Rooster wasn’t one to run from a fight. There was only one solution here.

“Why haven’t you gone to San Diego, (Y/n)?” Rooster asked, his eyes staring down Hangman’s even as he spoke to her.

Hangman’s hands clenched into fists at his sides; his lips pulling back in a sneer.

“I don’t know,” (Y/n)’s voice, quiet and muffled by her hands over her face, cut Hangman off, “Maybe because… because there has to be a good reason.”

(Y/n) looked up, and Rooster quickly diverted his gaze down to hers.

There were tears welling up in her eyes. She was practically swimming in them, but none had spilled yet. It would probably be Rooster’s only saving grace if (Y/n) didn’t stop Hangman. “Jake has to have a good reason. Right?”

Rooster opened his mouth to respond, to assure her that, whatever else Hangman is, he is in love with her. To tell her she’s right, that Hangman wouldn’t do this without a good reason; it was just a question of whether she accepted his reason. But he didn’t get to say any of that.

(Y/n)’s voice picked up, strength and speed. She was spiraling. “I’m in pain every day, and I hate it. I hate going to friend’s weddings knowing that will never be me. I hate coming home every night to an empty house and an empty bed. I hate that every morning I wake up from blissfully happy dreams about a life with him, and that every morning I have to remember that’s a life I’m not living.”

Rooster chanced a glance over her shoulder.

Hangman was gone.

Rooster didn’t let his gaze linger any longer on Jake than was necessary to ascertain that he was listening. Rooster had tried to get Jake to see sense before, and it had only had marginal if any success. But this was the wakeup call he needed, and Jake was finally hearing it.

“I hate knowing that this is my life until Jake retires from the Navy in like thirty years, but it is. Because there isn’t anyone else, Bradley. There will never be anyone else. I don’t care if that means I have to wait till he retires or if I have to wait for the fucking ocean to dry up. There is nothing and no one that will ever replace Jake for me.”

(Y/n)’s eyes implored Rooster to believe her in a way that was wholly unnecessary. Rooster believed every word she was saying, not just because he thought her incapable of lying about this but because he knew the truth of every word even as she spoke it.

He’d seen it for himself in the way she looked at Jake, the way she smiled at him, touched him, the way her entire body relaxed just at the sight of him. Rooster didn’t need her to tell him how long she would wait for Jake. Rooster had already watched his mother wait.

“I want nothing more than to drop everything tomorrow and buy a ticket to San Diego. Whether there’s a house with a white picket fence or a tiny room with a bunk in an aircraft carrier, I want to be wherever he is. Being without him hurts me every day, but the only thing I know to be absolutely true in this world is that Jake Seresin loves me as much as I love him… and he would never hurt me like this without a good reason.”

“Yes he would.” The words came out broken, as broken as the man who said them.

(Y/n) lurched to her feet and whipped around. “Jake…”

(Y/n) didn’t seem to know what to say.

Rooster felt a pang in his chest at the desperation in her tone. He’d caused that. It wasn’t entirely his fault, but he had staged the moment unfolding before him. He put (Y/n) in position, in the position to stand in front of Jake and falter. Distress didn’t suit her; it wasn’t an emotion Rooster had ever heard (Y/n) express, ever. Certainly, she had never expressed distress towards anything regarding Jake; Rooster doubted she’d ever had cause to even know what distress felt like in the presence of Jake Seresin.

From the corner of his eye Rooster saw Kate take a stumbling step back in their direction. Jake had his back to her, and her eyes were trained on (Y/n)’s face. Kate looked shocked, concerned, possibly even terrified though he couldn’t tell from that distance.

“Jake, I-I can explain. I didn’t… I don’t….” She couldn’t explain.

Jake’s face was in a state of pain Rooster had rarely seen before. Early in his flying career, Rooster had briefly been given a backseater who ejected at too low an altitude and ended up breaking nine ribs. The look on Jake’s face was something akin to that, to his chest caving in.

“It’s not… I mean… Jake,” She sobbed his name.

Whatever else Jake was feeling, he couldn’t stand to hear that. Jake took a slow, deliberate step forward. “There is no reason, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) was struck dumb, and Rooster felt it in the way her knees began to shake that at any moment she was going to crumble. If Jake didn’t explain himself immediately, Rooster was sure she would disintegrate.

Jake clearly felt it too. His hand reached out for hers, but for once, she didn’t offer it freely. He had to take it for himself. Tears streamed freely down his cheeks. Even as people watched, he was completely unashamed to be crying in this moment. He made no move to stop them, no move to wipe them away.

Jake took another step forward, standing chest to chest with (Y/n) and spoke so low that only she and Rooster could hear over the noise of the throng. His voice had a reverence to it that was reserved for religious ceremony – or in Jake’s case, saying (Y/n)’s name. “There is no reason good enough to hurt you, (Y/n). You are the only thing in this world that matters to me.”

(Y/n) flung her arms around Jake’s neck. She buried her face in his chest, and her entire body shook against his from the force of the sobs that overcame her. If not for the arm Jake put around her waist, she would have collapsed against him.

“Please,” (Y/n) mumbled into his chest. One broken, unspecified plea.

Jake’s eyes turned skyward, tears still pouring down his cheeks. “Anything, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) pulled her head back from his chest, and Rooster watched their eyes meet through a web of each other’s tears. They stared at each other for barely a moment. Decades they had waited, but in that moment, they couldn’t wait a second more.

Jake’s hands came up from her waist to cradle her face between his palms as (Y/n)’s hands threaded through his hair and pulled him in.

Their lips met in the middle in a passionate, unhurried kiss, and Rooster smiled. He felt as if he’d put something wrong in the universe right again.

Somewhere in the distance, someone cheered. Rooster thought he recognized it as Ronnie, but before he could turn and find the source, the first voice was joined by a chorus of others and then a resounding, deafening applause.

Jake and (Y/n) hardly seemed to notice at all, their entire beings – as they always were – consumed with each other.

Kate showed up at Rooster’s elbow a tear rolling down her cheek. “Thank you,” She wrenched Rooster into a bone-crushing hug.

The parade started, but in a town where everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everyone else’s business and everyone knew how in love Jake and (Y/n) were, the parade seemed so anti-climactic, not just to the Seresin’s who were practically screaming with joy but to all the onlookers who had also been wondering not if but when.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Rooster, I’m sorry.” (Y/n) held out a Christmas bag to him, “I didn’t have time to wrap it.”

“You…” Rooster stared at the bag in her outstretched hand. “You really didn’t have to, (Y/n).”

(Y/n) rolled her eyes, but her smile remained unshakeable on her face. Rooster was pretty sure (Y/n) would never be able to stop smiling for the rest of her days.

The thought did momentarily cross Rooster’s mind that she might stop smiling one day because Jake might not be at her side anymore, but that thought was quickly quashed as impossible. Rooster couldn’t see the future, but he was pretty positive that Jake would live exactly one day longer than (Y/n) so he never put her through the pain of living without him, then he would promptly keel over and die from the pain of being without her.

“Of course we did. You put up with this one,” she elbowed Jake in the side, “all the time, so we don’t have to. It’s the least we could do.”

“We?” Rooster tentatively took the bag from her hand and glanced between her and Jake.

Jake, with the arm draped around (Y/n)’s shoulders, pointed at the tree in the corner and a small pile of presents underneath it. “Seresin family tradition to sneak downstairs and steal your presents before morning without getting caught by Ma. Those’ll be yours. You’re the only one left.”

“I mean, won’t those be…” He nodded his head towards (Y/n).

“No,” (Y/n) shook her head, “I usually break in, but I stayed in Jake’s room last night so I didn’t have to.”

Unsurprisingly, little had changed around the Seresin now that Jake and (Y/n) were finally together. They were so inseparable, so effectively a couple before, that there was virtually no adjustment needed. The arm around her shoulder, the adoring look in their eyes, the way they couldn’t be separated from each other, it was all almost exactly the same. The only difference was this time no one had to pretend it was normal and that nothing was going on. There was something going on, and now it was perfectly normal.

“You usually what?” Rooster doubled back.

(Y/n) shrugged like it was nothing to say she’d broken into someone’s home. “You have to open them before Ma finds you. It’s tradition, and I’ve never been caught.” She grinned at the second half of her comment.

Rooster turned around to look at the tree. There were about half a dozen small packages wrapped in garish red and green paper sitting under it, and now that he was looking at them, he could see the tag on the top one with ‘ROOSTER’ written in massive letters across it.

His words caught on a lump rapidly forming in his throat. “I-I,” He didn’t know what to say. There really wasn’t anything to say.

He’d never gone a year without a Christmas present. Even when he didn’t feel like celebrating all that much, even when they weren’t on speaking terms and he hated his guts, Mav had always sent Rooster something. A few of those years, Rooster wasn’t even sure how Mav had found him and was positive he’d made Iceman pull strings to find out.

“The top one’s from Mav and Penny.” Jake confirmed what Rooster already knew.

It was the others that he wasn’t expecting. A red and green package that was so clearly a book, folded in the neatest wrap job he’d ever seen with a delicate matching bow on top. One misaligned mess that, judging by the poor attempt at wrapping he’d witnessed from her a couple days ago, was almost certainly from Kate. A weird oval shaped thing that had paper twisted and tied at the ends so it looked more like a piece of candy. Two matching square boxes behind those. And a bag, still dangling off of (Y/n)’s outstretched finger.

Rooster blinked rapidly. It felt like there was something in his eye.

Jake cut the tension. He dragged (Y/n) back into his side and whispered conspiratorily into her ear, “He’s just trying to figure out which one’s mine cause he knows about the stink bomb I put in it.”

(Y/n) giggled and laid her head against Jake’s shoulder.

Rooster turned back with a smile, one that he hoped conveyed everything he was feeling towards the couple in that moment, the depth of love he’d developed for them, for all of them really, in just a week.

(Y/n) was still holding out the bag to Rooster.

Rooster cautiously took it from her hand and gently removed the obstructing paper from the top.

“It’s not much, but it seemed your style.”

Rooster let out a full belly laugh as he pulled out one of the most atrocious tropical shirts he’d ever scene. It was dark blue with waves patterned across it, interspersed with tiny spits of islands covered in palm trees and tiny propeller planes of various makes and models.

“Thank you.” His smile was both grateful and relieved. He didn’t have anything to give her in return. If it had been any more than a gag gift…

“There’s actually more in the bottom.”

Rooster pulled the shirt the rest of the way out of the bag and set it to the side. Down in the bottom was what looked like a picture frame.

“We always give Jake a new one every year because the sun bleaches out the photos.” (Y/n) explained as Rooster pulled it out of the bag. “You don’t have to keep it if it’s weird, but he always seems to like them. So I thought you might too.”

Rooster glanced up at her with a furrowed brow before he looked back down and flipped it over.

“It’ll stick to the dash of the cockpit,” Jake explained.

Most of the small frame was taken up by a large picture of his parents, a familiar picture to him of his mom and dad at the piano bench that Mav had taken not long before his dad died. Smushed into the bottom corners were two tiny group photos, one of the TopGun squad posing on the deck of the aircraft carrier after the successful uranium mission and a candid of the Seresin family, plus (Y/n) sans Jake, having a blast on their patio.

“We won’t be mad if there’s someone else you wanna put in there instead. We just…”

“No,” Rooster cut her off, looking up with a teary smile. “I love it.”

He didn’t have anything to give her in return, and the war going on in his head must’ve been written on his face because Jake gave him a small almost imperceptible shake of the head.

A resounding ‘no’. Rooster didn’t need to give them anything else.

“Open mine next!” Andy came screeching down the stairs into the living room, shouting as she went. “You’re gonna love it!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fanboy spotted her first. He and Payback had a rule for as long as they’d been flying together, a rule that the rest of the squadron all subconsciously adopted for themselves. Whoever saw her first got to take a crack at her. It wasn’t like dibs, because if the woman said no and was particularly into someone else they were allowed to go for it, but only the first pilot to spot her got to approach. Everyone else had to hope she approached them.

Gorgeous women in a skimpy, flowery sundress walking into a bar like this tended to stand out from the crowd, so it wasn’t surprising that Fanboy clocked her the moment she entered the bar, still standing in the doorway looking around like a lost puppy trying to find its owner in the crowd.

Fanboy whistled, low and long, under his breath and elbowed the nearby Phoenix, nodding in the woman’s direction.

Phoenix appraised the woman appreciatively. Whoever she was, she definitely came here dressed like that for a reason. That dress was the dress of sexual awakenings and wet dreams, and gods Phoenix hoped Fanboy wasn’t her type.

“Good luck, man,” Phoenix leaned over the table, eyeing the woman, “She looks like she’s already got somethin’ on her mind.”

“I bet I can take her mind off it,” Fanboy grinned and turned to walk away.

He brushed passed Rooster on his stool, and Rooster glanced around to see who Fanboy’s latest target would be. For Fanboy’s sake, thank God he had.

“Absolutely not.” Rooster’s hand lurched out and caught the back of Fanboy’s shirt, yanking Fanboy back to the table he and Phoenix were currently occupying.

Fanboy stumbled back to the open barstool next to Rooster. “What the fuck man?” Fanboy shrugged Rooster off with an expression that was more confused than angry. “What’d you think you’re doin’?”

Rooster had already turned away, offering Fanboy a half-heartedly, “Saving your fuckin’ life.” He let out a loud whistle, not of the wolfish-catcalling variety, but a loud clear note meant to get attention as it echoed across the bar.

(Y/n)’s eyes darted towards the pool tables, and Rooster tipped his sunglasses up onto his forehead, not that she really needed the help recognizing him. Even as he was reaching for them, (Y/n)’s nervous, overwhelmed expression was giving way to a wide, relieved smile.

(Y/n) darted down the steps and began weaving her way through the thick crowd. Most of the men turned to appreciate her as she passed them by, but none of them made a move to impede her progress – not in this bar, not with the group she was making a b-line towards.

“Wait, is that… that can’t be your girl?” Fanboy pointed between Rooster and the woman rapidly approaching.

“It’s not,” Rooster agreed, hopping to his feet and moving to stand beside the pole at the corner of the pool area. As he went, he thumped Hangman hard on the back where he was bent over the pool table.

“What the fuck, man,” Hangman exclaimed as he missed his shot, standing up and glaring at Rooster’s retreating back.

“8 o’clock,” was all the information Rooster offered up as he walked past.

Hangman’s eyes followed where Rooster was headed, and he suddenly couldn’t give a damn about the shot he’d just missed.

“I saw her first, Bradshaw,” Fanboy declared. His steps followed Rooster’s retreating back up even with Hangman.

Instinctively more than anything else, Hangman’s hand, still holding the pool stick, whipped out, smacking the long rod hard across Fanboy’s stomach, making him double over around the piece of wood.

“No you didn’t.”

As Hangman completely abandoned the table, (Y/n) finally spotted him, and the second she saw a gap in the crowd, she ran the last dozen or so steps to him.

Rooster wasn’t offended or at all surprised when (Y/n) breezed passed him and flung herself into Hangman’s arms.

Hangman caught her with ease, one arm tightly gripping her around the small of her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. Her face burrowed into his neck, and he buried his free hand into her hair, holding her there as his fingers wove into her hair.

Fanboy wandered, stunned, to stand at Rooster’s side. “Hangman has a girl?”

“Told you I was saving your life.”

Fanboy numbly nodded his head in agreement.

Rooster knew from experience that the two of them could stay like this for at least an hour without moving, and he highly doubted Penny would appreciate such a prolonged display of PDA. Or Hangman for that matter, because the pilot clearly didn’t realize the way his hand was fisted in the back of her dress was pulling it slowly further and further up, mere inches from flashing (Y/n)’s ass to the whole bar.

“Oi, lover boy,” Rooster leaned forward and flicked Hangman in the ear, “do that on your own time.”

“Fuck off Rooster,” Hangman grumbled, but he gently lowered (Y/n) down anyway.

(Y/n) stayed pressed against Hangman for another second or two before she took a deep breath, seemingly composing herself, and turned.

“Bradley,” she smiled, genuinely ecstatic to see him despite moments before ignoring his presence. “It’s so good to see you,” (Y/n) pulled him down into a hug.

“Good to see you too. Glad you’re here. Jake was getting intolerable without you.” Rooster said the last part under his breath in her ear as he bent down returning the hug.

(Y/n) laughed and pulled away. “Oh I can imagine,” she agreed. Her hand blindly reached behind her, and Hangman stuck his own out, lacing his fingers through hers and dragging her back into his side.

“What are you doing here?” Hangman punctuated with a kiss to her temple.

“Thought it’d be a nice surprise. After all my friend, Bradley here, promised to get me on base since you were less than forthcoming.” (Y/n) teased him.

Hangman smiled, one of his rare, real smiles that Rooster had never seen outside of Texas. “My apologies, ma’am, but I’m a bit of an asshole sometimes if you haven’t already noticed.”

“Oh we’ve all noticed,” Phoenix butted in.

The four other members of the squad at the Hard Deck that night were all crowded in the space between the couple and the pool table. Completely abandoning any semblance of a game in favor of this utterly stunning development surrounding the squad’s resident asshole and the hot, but entirely random, girl. She had marched into the Hard Deck and, without so much as a flirty wave, laid claim to the Jake Seresin, and the Jake Seresin had accepted it without question. The squad looked varying degrees of stunned, confused, and suspicious.

Phoenix most of all. She stuck out her hand, “Hi, I’m…”

“Phoenix!” (Y/n) happily declared, taking Phoenix’s hand and shaking it enthusiastically. “I know. Jake’s told me all about you. Which means you must be her backseater Bob, and Payback, and Fanboy.”

“Guys,” Hangman seemed to realize at this point that introductions were unavoidable, “This is (Y/n).”

Rooster leaned back against the pole and stuck his head out around the pair with a shit-eating grin, “Otherwise known as Addie.”

There were several long moments as realization slowly dawned on all of their faces.

“Is there anything you care about beside yourself?”

“Addie maybe, but she’s probably it.”

“Addie’s off the table.”

“You’re Addie…” Phoenix said it like it was an epiphany she’d just had, not something Rooster had told her five seconds before.

“Yes, I am.” (Y/n)’s head jerked up to look at Hangman, “And why does everyone around here seem to think I’m a plane? At the airport, Omaha said he thought I was a Cessna, and Fritz said he didn’t know I was a person.”

Hangman’s mouth mimed words but none came out as he searched for an explanation.

Rooster, ever the helpful friend, leaned forward and told her point blank, “He talks about you all the time, but since he named the plane after you, and he’s such an asshole, we all assumed he was in love with a plane this whole time. It seemed more plausible than him being in love with a person.”

“Really?” (Y/n) met Rooster’s mischievous grin with one of her own, “But he’s so clearly in love with himself?”

“Ugh,” Hangman buried his face in her neck to hide the heat (Y/n) could feel rushing to his skin as it pressed into hers, “I really hate that you two are friends.”

“We’re not friends; we’re family. Right, Bradley?”

“Right.” Rooster chuckled.

(Y/n)’s fingers instinctually went about carding through his hair, completely unbothered with messing up whatever product he’d lathered in it that day. The prospect of his messy hair didn’t seem to bother Hangman much either when it was (Y/n) doing it. “Really Jake, I think it’s sweet.”

Hangman pulled his face out of her neck and pulled her against his chest, pressing kisses in quick succession to her lips.

“You knew about this?” Payback asked Rooster, gesturing vaguely to Hangman and (Y/n).

“Oh,” (Y/n) turned her head away from Hangman, but he just continued kissing down her cheek to her jaw then her neck, “We only met when he came to Christmas, but I’ve known Coyote for years.”

“For years?” Bob.

“For Christmas!” Phoenix.

“Yeah.” (Y/n) answered Bob, “Since Jake was in training at least. Coyote picked us up from the airport.”

Hangman’s ministrations froze. “Us?” He said into her neck. This time Hangman stepped back. His hands stayed in place on her hips, but his expression was wary.

“Well you know I hate being in planes unless you’re flying them. I wasn’t going to fly out here alone, and really, Andy and your mom were already both going to be out of town. It seemed rude to leave them behind.”

“Don’t look so scared Jake,” Kate’s voice cut through the moment as she appeared at Rooster’s right hand. “We won’t embarrass you too much.”

No one needed to ask who Kate was. The family resemblance struck each of them as hard as it did Rooster the first time he saw her.

“Kate,” Rooster smiled down at her.

“Bradley,” She returned, wrapping an arm around his waist to hug his side.

Rooster threw an arm around her shoulder returning the hug, though he left his arm in place.

“Where’s Ronnie?” Hangman demanded of Kate. His eyes searched anxiously around the room for his middle sister. Not anxious for her safety, not in Penny’s bar at least. Anxious for a very different, far more pressing reason.

“Oh leave her be,” (Y/n) playfully swatted his shoulder. “You know,” She turned to Phoenix, who still appeared to be processing an overwhelming amount of information, “this reminds of one time in sixth grade. Mr O’Connor’s class had a pop quiz in earth science-”

“Absolutely not!” Hangman threw a hand over her mouth and lifted (Y/n) up around the waist. He set her down behind him, putting his body between her and the rest of the TopGun graduates. “You are not making friends with her.”

(Y/n) said something that was muffled by his hand, and Hangman cautiously moved his hand.

“If you stop me from talking to her, who’s gonna stop Ronnie from flirting with Coyote at the bar?” She nodded in that direction.

Hangman’s eyes whipped around. In mere moments, the trio of women had taken him from cocky, asshole pilot to a frazzled hall monitor trying to keep track of too many children. “I hate you,” Hangman murmured down to (Y/n).

“You love me more than life itself.” (Y/n) dismissed offhand.

“I do,” Hangman agreed and kissed the top of her head before he let her go and disappeared to find Ronnie.

(Y/n) turned around with a smug grin on her face, staring down four dumbstruck TopGun aviators. “That was exactly as much fun as I thought it’d be.” She glanced up to look at Rooster, “Wait till he finds out Andy’s trip got canceled for a storm, and she’s outside talking to Yale.”

“I think that’s Special Forces guy’s problem now.” Rooster reminded her.

Kate shook her head. She leaned in closer to Rooster’s side seemingly to reassure him. “Nah, you were right to talk her out of it. He was a nice guy, but they weren’t a good fit.”

Phoenix cleared her throat awkwardly. It would be days, weeks, potentially months, beforte she processed the series of events that just happened. But one thing did stick out in her mind that she was capable of processing right then, “What’s this about a pop quiz?”

Kate and (Y/n) both burst into fits of laughter. (Y/n)’s hand shot out and took ahold of Kate’s.

“Oh I really,” a tear leaked from the corner of (Y/n)’s eye as she laughed, “I really can’t tell you that one, but I promise I’ll help you make Jake think I did.”

Phoenix smiled, “That’ll do.”

1K notes · View notes

apocalypseornaw · 6 months

Text

Wanna be Yours (Pt 5/5)

(A/N: I hate the scene this gif is from don't get me wrong but dayum is Sam gorgeous af in it)

Sam Winchester x Reader

Feelings are finally admitted and acted upon

@lacilou s idea that she graciously let me run with

NSFW things ahead

"Are we going to talk about whatever happened the other night when we were at the bar with Ronnie?" Dean cut his eyes up at Sam when he sat down across from him at the table and shrugged "Don't know what you mean?"

Sam leveled his brother with a look "I mean we were all getting along just fine, me and Ronnie were dancing then all of a sudden we needed to hit the road? And the twins never did show up" Dean shrugged again "Maybe they decided to stop off at a hotel, who knows with those two"

Sam shook his head, he wasn't ever going to get a straight answer out of Dean and since that night you would hardly be in the same room as him. He felt like he was being left out of a big secret and didn't like it. "I think there's more than that" Sam pushed and Dean let out a hard breath of air "You want the honest truth?" Sam nodded "Yeah, I do"

---------------

Dean glanced towards the hall then back at Sam "I see how you look at her Sammy. I've known you your entire life" Sam felt his eyes widen, so Dean knew. Shit, he hadn't ever wanted his older brother to know he had feelings for his girl.

"Dean, you got to know I never meant to develop feelings for her" he didn't miss the look of confusion that flashed across Dean's face "What do you mean never meant to.." but he cut him off "I know you and her are close and I wouldn't want to step on your toes with anything but she's just well she's her... she's beautiful and smart. She's as sarcastic as you are but the sweetest person you've ever wanted to meet at times. She's one of the most amazing hunters I've ever met, she'll stand toe to toe with a demon and not blink an eye but she'll tear up at some movie she's watched a thousand times or get into a book she's read a hundred times to the extent she'll throw it into the wall. She's a force of nature, she's got this pull to her.. I'm sorry man but yeah I've fallen for her. I hope you can forgive me"

Sam expected a lot in that moment. Yelling, Dean to walk out hell anything except for Dean to start laughing. "What?" He questioned and Dean shook his head, laughing harder "You've been thinking all these years that me and Y/N what exactly...keep quiet and mess around behind your back? You've seen me go home with women!"

Sam shrugged, feeling like he was missing out on a lot "I figured it may be an open relationship? I mean you two move on hunts like you share one mind. You have unspoken conversations, she likes a lot of the stuff you like and she's been a steady in your life since you were nineteen"

Dean shook his head again before wiping a hand down his face "Yeah, Sammy she's my best friend. She means a lot to me but we've never crossed any lines like that. Jesus I thought you two were smart"

Sam shrugged one shoulder "Yeah well...wait us two?" Dean's face was nearly comical when he caught his slip up "Shit she's gonna kill me. Don't tell her I said that ok?" A smile slipped onto Sam's face "Are you saying she feels the same?" Dean rolled his eyes at that "For fucks sake, you're a grown man she's a grown woman, go talk to her. I'm not getting in the middle of it"

Dean stood to walk out the kitchen leaving Sam to wonder what his next move should be.

You were standing in the laundry room, waiting for your load to get done when Dean popped his head into the door "Hey sweetheart, I'm headed to meet Donna and Garth. I'll be back in a few hours. You need anything?"

You shook your head "No i think im good. Might want to grab more detergent and dryer sheets. Is Sam going with you?" He held your gaze for a moment before saying "Nope. He'll be here" you rolled your eyes "Does Donna and Garth even need your help?" He simply grinned "I'll see you tonight" "Yeah. Be safe so I can kick your ass when you get back" he laughed "You got it"

You watched him walk out and shook your head. He was trying to force your hand, damn him. You felt a chill and regretted running around the bunker in just sleep shorts and a tshirt but most of your clothes had been dirty. You looked around and found a stack of folded shirts on a shelf, you grabbed a flannel out of the bunch and slipped it over your shoulders. You weren't surprised when it fell to your thighs considering how short you were compared to both Winchesters.

--------------

You waited until both of your loads were done and folded then grabbed your basket to head to your room and put them away.

You clicked your radio on to play music and started humming along to the song as you moved around the room, replacing what clothes went into drawers and repacking your go-bag.

The thought of Sam being somewhere in the bunker kept flicking through your mind. Dean was right, you needed to tell Sam. Neither of you were blushing virgins here. You shook your head and finished putting your laundry away.

Once you were done you turned the radio off then headed out of your room. The floor was cold under your bare feet but you were headed for Dean's tv room. The thought was to hide from Sam but you needed something to drink first.

You stepped into the kitchen and nearly ran back out when you spotted Sam pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge but froze when he looked up at you and smiled "Y/N"

---------------

Sam had gone on an early run then grabbed a shower after Dean left. He needed to clear his head and think about what to do.

He walked into the kitchen to grab some water and the moment he leaned into the fridge he heard a noise behind him and looked up to see you standing in the doorway. You were wearing black sleep shorts and one of Dean's old Led Zeppelin shirts but what struck out to him was the fact that you were wearing his flannel as well. The image of you only wearing his flannel flashed his mind and he cursed himself for it. He didn't even really know how you felt or what you wanted.

---------------

He felt a smile slip onto his face "Y/N" you smiled back at him "Hey Sam. Um pass me a bottle of water?" He held the one out that was in his hand "Here, I haven't opened it" you took it with a nod "Thanks"

You stood there for a moment then motioned towards the hall "Want to watch a movie?" He didn't hesitate to say yes. He grabbed another bottle of water and followed you down the hall.

--------------

You were acutely aware of Sam at your back as you walked down the hall trying to think of a good movie you could watch with him but all you could think about was how those black joggers fit him and how tight that shirt looked across his shoulders.

You walked into the TV room and flicked the string lights on instead of the overhead then grabbed the remote. You sat down on one side of the couch and Sam sat on the other. You finally decided on a slasher flic you and Dean had watched a thousand times.

---------------

You settled back into the cushions and tried to concentrate on the screen but you felt Sam's eyes on you. After a minute you paused the movie and turned to face him, tucking one leg under your body "Yes Samuel"

He grinned slightly "That's my flannel" you raised an eyebrow "Oh, I'm sorry. I can take it off" You moved to pull it off your shoulders but he grabbed your arms gently "Looks better on you" you were a bit too aware of how close the two of you were in that moment and he quickly dropped your arms muttering an apology.

You stared at each other for a moment before you both tried to speak. He smiled "Ladies first" you nodded moving a bit closer to him "Cards on the table here Winchester. I have feelings for you. It's developed over times and just gotten worse. It's awkward because you're my best friend's brother and younger than me but it happened"

--------------

He was silent for a moment and you were mentally kicking Dean's ass when Sam suddenly reached across pulling you into his lap. You gasped at the sudden movement, bracing your hands against his chest.

He smiled up at you and your breath caught "Thank God because if I had to go much longer without doing this I don't know what I'd do" you were about to question him when he pulled you down to him.

The moment your lips met his you melted against him. His lips moved against yours like he was a drowning man pulling in his last breath of air. Your hands found his hair, tangling in it and he groaned lightly as he tightened his grip on you, rolling his hips up to meet yours as his tongue flicked into your mouth.

-------------

When you were forced to pull away to catch your breath he rested his head in the bend of your neck, both of your chests were heaving slightly. You felt his lips teasing the skin of your neck and fought against the moan that wanted to escape you "Sam" He stilled his movements "I like you saying my name like that"

You smiled but pulled back further to force him to look at you "Are we both wanting the same thing?" He bought up one hand to push your hair back out of your face "I want you Y/N, not just for a couple hours or a couple days. I haven't felt like this about someone in a long time. It's been absolute torture thinking you were with Dean" you laughed at that "You thought me and Dean?" He groaned lightly "I did"

You shook your head "You beautiful, idiotic man. I've had eyes for you for so long it's kind of pathetic" he grinned "like having a crush on my brothers best friend isn't?" You shrugged then smiled at him "Where were we?"

---------------

He pulled you back into a kiss. He started at your lips then kissed down your jaw and when he made it to your neck you didn't try to stop the light moans that escaped you. You rolled your hips against his and he groaned again, grabbing your hips "Babygirl, tell me what you want here" you felt your stomach flip at his words and the way he said them "I want you to take me to your room and show me just how much you want me" "I can do that"

You stumbled into Sam's bedroom, lips never breaking fully from each other. Once the door was shut he pushed your back against it then leaned down to slip his hands under your thighs and lift you up. You gasped as you wrapped your legs around his waist, feeling how his body was reacting to you.

His hips rutted against yours as he swallowed every little sound he pulled from you. "Wanted you for so damn long....so fucking beautiful..." the praises falling from his lips for you had a fire growing in the pit of your stomach "Bed Sam. Please the bed" you mumbled against his lips and he nodded "I got you baby, I got you"

-------------

He carried you across the room to the bed and laid you down gently, holding himself up on his arms as he looked down at you. You couldn't help yourself, you reached up to let your fingertips trace the light stubble gracing his jawline "You are so fucking gorgeous Sam" the smile he gave you in return was warm enough to put the sun to shame "Y/N, you're everything"

His lips found yours again and you wrapped your legs around his waist pulling him down to you. His hips rolled down against yours and the feeling of his hard cock even through his joggers and your shorts was enough to make a moan of his name leave your lips "I want you Sam" He nodded "You got me"

You leaned up to shed the flannel and the shirt you were wearing and Sam pulled his shirt over his head as well tossing it behind him. The look in his eyes as he took in the sight of your bared chest had you clenching around nothing "So damn perfect" he whispered leaning down to catch one of your breasts between his lips.

"Fuck Sam" you moaned and felt one of his hands on your left leg, trailing up under the shorts you wore. His fingers got just shy of where you wanted them "Take em off Sam. Please" he chuckled against your skin before moving to the other breast giving it the same attention he had the other one.

He moved back up to your lips and time his mouth met yours you felt one of his fingers teasing at your entrance. You gasped into his mouth when it slipped past your folds. He added another after a moment, curling them upwards until he found that spot that had your back arching off the bed "You're so wet baby. Is this for me?" He teased working at your clit with his thumb while his fingers worked that spot deep inside of you.

You could feel that knot in your lower stomach building and when Sam moved his fingers just slightly to change the angle you felt it burst. You came with a scream of his name as he continued to finger you through your orgasm. When you pushed his hand away he slipped his fingers into his mouth, holding your gaze as he sucked them cleaned. "Taste so damn sweet"

You moaned "Fuck me Sam. Please" he grinned "Damn where is that smart mouthed woman that's always putting me and Dean in our place?" He reached for the hem of your shorts and pulled them down your legs before tossing them behind him "Sam Winchester I swear.." you started but was cut off by him laughing "Teasing babygirl. Just teasing"

He stood up to slip his joggers off and you felt your mouth drop open slightly. He was thick and long "Y/N, you good?" He asked, fisting his hard cock as a smirk slipped onto his face "I'm perfect baby, now C'mere" he climbed onto the bed, holding his weight up off of you.

When he got up to your face you pulled him down into a kiss and felt him push into you. A moan escaped you both at the feeling. He stilled once he was inside of you completely to give you time to adjust. His eyes fluttered shut just for a moment before he opened them "Fuck you feel fucking amazing" you laughed lightly considering the stretch of him had given way to pleasure "Good, move then"

He rolled his hips down into yours and you moaned "Just like that Sam" He buried his face in your neck, nipping and kissing the skin there as he worked his hips into yours, every thrust he was hitting that spot inside of you that had you seeing stars.

You were so damn close to coming again and he must have realized it because one hand slid between your bodies to play with your clit while his movements never slowed. You felt that knot burst again and your vision went fuzzy around the edges as he fucked you through your orgasm.

His thrusts started to get sloppy and more erratic and you knew he was close so you started to roll your hips up to meet his. "Come for me Sam. Let me feel how much you want me....you're so damn gorgeous and strong and fucking perfect for me..."

Your words pushed him over the edge and he buried himself inside of you with one final thrust and you felt when he came, filling you up.

-------------

You could feel your legs shaking gently around him as he smiled down at you breathlessly "You are absolutely amazing you know that right?" You smiled "So my boyfriend tells me"

He gave you one of those heart stopping smiles again "Smart man, that boyfriend of yours" you nodded "He really is" He pulled out of you gently, apologizing when you whimpered a bit from the loss of contact.

---------------

He reached down and found his discarded shirt to wipe you up a bit before laying down next to you and pulling you over on his chest. He traced the antipossesion tattoo on your shoulder as you traced the one on his chest "Wanna grab another shower, with me this time?" You asked and he laughed "Never feel the need to ask me just say cmon we're gonna go shower"

You looked up at him with a laugh "I think I love you Sam Winchester" He smiled brightly "Good because I think I love you too"

@foxyjwls007

@lacilou

@nelachu2423

@nix-rose

#sam winchester x reader #sam winchester x female reader #sam winchester fanfiction #spn fanfiction #supernatural fanfiction #wanna be yours mini series

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violetrainbow412-blog · 2 years

Text

I hate you [E. M]

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

word count: 13K (oopsie)

summary: You and Eddie Munson know exactly how you feel about each other. Until a moment changes everything and you embark on a journey of discovery about your relationship.

warnings: rivals to lovers (more lovers than rivals), hurt/comfort, mention of attempted abuse (but doesn't go too far) family problems, parental abandonment, the reader is ashamed of where she lives, drugs, drinking, swearing.

Love at first sight is an awesome thing. You make eye contact with the other person and suddenly their eyes become the most beautiful on the planet, instantly clicking and convincing you that you could give anything for them. Something similar happened to you with Edie Munson, but somehow the terms got confused, and instead of having love at first sight you experienced hate at first sight.

Middle school is the time when everyone is looking for their place in the world and you found refuge in black clothes, metal, and any position that was decisively against the system. To this day you had devoured entire books on anarchy and feminism, but you also did not deprive yourself of reading as energizing as the Lord of the Rings. But well, going back to the topic, coincidentally Eddie Munson also decided to take that course and although everyone's first thought was that you two would become friends, the truth is that the opposite happened. Because being honest, being different loses its meaning when there is another person identical to you, right?

In this way a kind of silent treatment was agreed upon between you; you hated him and he hated you.

It was like that for many years, doing endless things just to irritate each other. Sometimes he'd rush to grab the last of your favorite desserts in the cafeteria (even when he didn't like them) or you'd run to the movie and record store to rent just what you heard him mention over lunch. Other times you'd steal his stuff when he was distracted and Eddie would respond to this by taking some of yours, to the point where you guys had a little collection of each other in your rooms. Most of it was crap: a guitar pick, a chewed-up pen, a band pin. But it was as if they were trophies that you kept with special affection... or rather hate? Whatever the case, the point is that between you and Eddie there was a tension that by this point everyone had already been aware of.

Most of the time you had the same ideas and agreed (although you would never admit it) but when a disagreement arose, however minor, it was like watching Troy burn again.

"I know you're Ozzy Osbourne's bitch, but the truth is I think he's not that good" you had said once, seeing that he was wearing a shirt of the aforementioned. You were sitting next to him because you were late and there were no seats left, so you took advantage of the moment to make him angry "Now as a solo artist, I mean"

“At least he's still singing,” he muttered under his breath, looking at you out of the corner of his eye. “Not like this horrible group you like… what was its name? Oh yes, Coven. Only 3 albums, 5 years. It's embarrassing that you want to criticize him with that kind of taste.”

“Still, I don't care. That guy is so overrated. It's like…very basic, you know?” you insisted, trying not to be affected by what he had just said "And the Coven singer was the one who popularized the sign of the horns, did you know that?"

“Of course it wasn't her. It was Ronnie Dio”

"Huh, another overrated guy."

"Are all successful metalheads overrated to you miss feminism?" he asked rolling his eyes. You two kept arguing, paying no attention to the class, until things escalated so much that you two were sent to detention and even then, you kept fighting.

It was the daily bread and that was why one Monday morning when Eddie saw you walk through the door, he mentally prepared himself for what was to come. It was something common between you, you greeted him with one of the most derogatory nicknames you could think of and he answered with a similar insult. He straightened his back slightly as you walked past him, not wanting to seem too interested in your arrival, but he was shocked to see that there had been nothing but silence from you.

That had never happened.

Eddie didn't immediately turn his head towards you, but he did try to peek at you, hoping that maybe you could come back by remembering he was there. But you just sat in the last chair as usual and dropped your head against the table without paying any attention to the world around you. The guy looked you up and down: black boots, ripped pants, and a huge hoodie from your favorite band that you probably bought at a flea market. There was nothing unusual about you and yet he felt like you were a complete stranger.

With a frown and the gears of his mind working at full speed, Eddie took a sheet of paper and crumpled it into a ball that ended up landing on your head, so you could pay attention to him. But you didn't even get up, you just flipped the bird in such an impersonal way that it hurt him.

During class Eddie didn't have time to do or say anything to you because it was going to look completely weird that he was turning back every so often, but the feeling of awkwardness in his never left him for a second. Even when the teacher made one of those stupid comments that annoyed you so much, he didn't hear you reply at all.

Maybe she's just tired, he thought. He kept moving his leg restlessly up and down until the bell rang and he was finally able to get up to look at you. Indeed you looked tired, with a couple of dark circles that not even the cheap makeup you bought had been able to hide. Your lips looked somewhat dry and pale and your movements were similar to those of a zombie.

"I see that someone woke up with the left foot," he said with a mocking tone, while he approached you and leaned against a table, practically imprisoning you.

“Very funny, Munson. You better go fuck yourself and leave me alone” you exclaimed reluctantly, still not looking at him, as you collected your notebooks in your backpack and went through a gap that he had left uncovered. He thought that behavior was very strange, even for you, but he decided to let it go and tried to think of something else. Although after several days in which you had barely looked at him, thinking about you became something inevitable.

"Eddie!" Garreth half yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts of him. The entire club had noticed that their leader had been more distracted as he hadn't even mentioned anything about the campaign that night. "Are you listening to us?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry,” he stammered, leaning a little further forward on the table so he could look at his friends. They babbled about the monsters they still needed to defeat and Eddie only bit into the talk, teasing that they wouldn't stand a chance of winning.

He had started to feel livelier and more dynamic until his eyes unintentionally found you. You always sat alone and there was usually a mess of things on your table. Sometimes you'd read a book or nod your head from side to side to the music playing on your Walkman, but this time you were just mindlessly playing with your food and you hadn't even had dessert.

“Is it Y/N?” Dustin exclaimed suddenly. Eddie tensed at the mention of your name and turned to look at the boy.

"She is what?"

“Is she the one who has you so lost in thought?” he asked, smirking. The most intelligent of the group was perhaps that boy, so the one with the long hair knew that it was totally useless to pretend before him.

"She's been kind of weird lately. That's it"

"And since when are you interested in her?" Mike murmured, frowning. Biting the inside of his cheek, Eddie didn't know what to say, even though he didn't understand why he was making such a big deal out of you, and he looked your way again.

"I guess I just want someone to annoy" he answered, shrugging, trying to convince himself that it was. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds in which everyone looked at the curly-haired man, until he got up from his chair "I'll be back in a minute" he said, without giving time for a reply from his friends, and then began to walk in the direction of where were you.

As soon as you saw him you let out a disgusted moan and rolled your eyes.

"What do you want?"

"As kind and beautiful as ever," he said wryly, as he dropped into the chair across from you.

"Today I'm not in the mood"

"That's the problem, you haven't been in the mood since the week started," Eddie began. His hand went directly to his cheek for support and he felt the icy coldness of the rings brush his skin.

"What are you talking about?"

“I'm saying you look miserable, girl. And I mean, I love that you're miserable but I usually like to be the reason for it,” he explained, but you just rolled your eyes again “You haven't even yelled at me or told me how useless I am and I'm honestly starting to feel a little bored. Have you stopped hating me already?"

“You're a complete drama queen and you probably have some fetish or something with being called useless. And I'm not going to contribute to that, thank you."

“What fetishes I have or don't have are none of your business unless you're going to do something about them,” he said with a flirtatious grin. You looked at him with annoyance and then you looked back at the food that you probably weren't going to eat. But Eddie was persistent so he got up from where he was to go to your bench and trap you between the wall and his pale body. "Are you going to do something about it?"

"I'm serious, I'm not in the mood to put up with these things. Not today, Eddie."

Eddie, you said, and the aforementioned felt a tug on his chest. You never said his name, he was always Munson or idiot or asshole or whatever derogatory term existed in English (and even other languages), or very occasionally a cold Edward. But something as personal and loving as Eddie sounded strange coming from your lips. And added to this, your voice had such a desperate and tired tone that suddenly everything disappeared and he wanted to give you a hug.

Wait a second… was he feeling compassion for you?

He was surprised when he felt your body slide under the table to escape and he felt silly for having frozen. When you reached for your backpack, his hand went almost by itself to hold your wrist.

“You okay?” he said. His voice was a kind and genuine whisper that took you by surprise and the fingers that barely pressed around your wrist felt warm.

"I'm better than ever" you just answered, while you let go and took your things. Eddie watched you walk down the hall with the certainty that you had blatantly lied to him and a touch of concern for you that he never thought he would have.

By the time Eddie got home it was late at night and all he wanted was to sleep for days at a time. But, unluckily for him, he still had a pile of homework to do that he knew he wouldn't do over the weekend. It wasn't the first time it had happened and he refused to fail another year, so he scavenged the house for some caffeine and poured himself a couple of cups as he wrote in his notebook. He had turned on music at a low volume and had left only his boxer shorts and a worn shirt that seemed to be enough for them despite how cold it was inside the trailer. He stayed like that for God knows how long and just as he was drifting off to sleep the ringing of the phone woke him up with a start.

It was after one in the morning, who could call him at that hour?

He thought maybe it was some emergency Wayne had had and he stumbled up to the phone, picked it up, and answered with a soft Hello?

"Eddie!" he heard from the other side. Her voice was muffled by music and other voices "I am Robin"

"What are you doing calling so late?" he asked in confusion. He and Rob were good friends, but he couldn't see a particular reason for the situation.

"Oh, I'm at a party. Steve wanted to come but he didn't want to come alone and so he convinced me to come as his friend and if he didn't get someone then we could be together and stuff. You know, he's been unlucky and so am I, but Vickie isn't here otherwise it would be super embarrassing for her to see me half drunk or with Steve because then she'd think we're…”

“Rob,” he cut her off, “I love hearing your stories and I'm glad you guys are having fun, but that's just what you called? I would have appreciated if you did it on a more conventional schedule.”

“Right, I forgot. I'm calling because the girl you always argue with is here, the one who dresses like you…”

“Y/N?” he interrupted her again “And you want to pick her up or what? Are you calling me for advice?

"No, stupid! Let me finish. She came here a while ago but now she was really drunk and I don't know how it happened but she ended up getting into a fight with one of Jason's friends and her face was bleeding horrible and I can't find her anywhere."

Eddie's blood ran cold when he heard that. You weren't much of a party person and I was sure you didn't like most people out there but the fact that you'd bumped into a guy was even weirder. The pang of concern that had been latent now rumbled in his chest with force.

"Where is the party?"

“At Trina Smith's house. It is down the street…”

"I know where it is," he replied. Eddie had done a couple of sales for her and her friends "I'll be right over, if you find her, please keep her quiet and I'll find you ok?"

“Many say that she left the house, perhaps she is in the yard or on the street”

" I get it. Thanks Rob, take care of yourself”

"See you Eddie, good luck," she said goodbye and after that the boy rushed to his room to put on the first jeans he found and a jacket that was lying on the floor.

The road wasn't that long and was made even shorter by the dangerous speed at which he was driving. The idea that your face was bleeding terrified Eddie because he didn't know what those animals were capable of. A woman had been beaten, that was too much to say.

He parked in an available corner and started walking towards the house, listening to the laughter and music that came from there. He was already mentally reviewing the questions he could ask guests sober enough to find you, but it wasn't necessary as he found you standing with your body leaning against a post by the sidewalk.

“Y/N?” he asked, bending down so he could search your face. Robin wasn't lying, your cheek was full of dried red liquid and your lip looked split at one end. It wasn't as bad as he'd imagined, but it still made his blood boil.

“Munson?” you asked confused, looking up from narrowed eyes. It was obvious that you were drunk "Are you coming to break your nose too?"

"Did you break his nose?" he asked, unable to keep a bit of amusement from his voice. Even in your state you were a bully and it comforted him to know that the bastard hadn't walked away unscathed “Very metal, baby. But no, I'm here to take you home."

"I can go by myself, I don't need your help" you spat. You tried to walk, but after only a few steps you stumbled and Eddie laughed to himself as he grabbed your waist to help steady you.

“Obviously not. So either you leave voluntarily or I'll drag you to my car,” he murmured. With no choice but to lean on him to start walking and as you went the sounds of the party became smaller and smaller and were replaced with the calm of the night. Then Eddie helped you into the passenger seat with silence hanging between you "Where do you live?" he asked, but you didn't answer. You didn't want to go to your house, but you didn't want to have to tell him either, so noticing your lack of response he started the engine and started driving in a direction you didn't know.

It was obvious he wanted to ask questions and so did you, but instead you just kept staring out the window, your eyelids threatening to close many times. When you finally pulled over you were in a trailer park and still with all the alcohol in your system you were able to deduce that this was where Eddie lived.

"I'll stay here" you exclaimed, with your raspy voice "Tomorrow morning I'll be gone, I promise"

“You're not going to do that,” he said. There was no room in his tone for a contradiction "Come on inside, it's not as bad as you imagine" he continued and after going down he opened the door for you and practically carried you to the entrance. He was right, it was a very common trailer and you could see many books scattered on the table, which you assumed were the boy's homework. Your vision was too blurry to register any more details and you tensed a bit when you noticed that he was leading you to his room.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to take you to my bed," he explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But from the way your face paled, Eddie knew there was something you weren't telling him. "What's wrong?"

“Did they call you? Are you going to come here?"

"They? What are you talking about?" Eddie asked with a frown. He had never been the smartest but perhaps hanging out with Dustin had given him a few of his deductive abilities, since it took just a few seconds for him to understand what was happening "Y/N, what did those bastards do to you?” he asked, anger painted all over his face, "Did they touch you?"

“They wanted to do it. That's why I hit him” you clarified. He felt his heart shrink a little and one of his fists clenched tightly as if he was preparing to fight too "And I swear if you're with them, I..."

"Never. Not in a million years” he was quick to say “Don't even think about it, I would never do that to you. To nobody” he insisted and his voice sounded completely sincere “I promise I just want you to be able to rest because the couch is shit and I don't think you're comfortable. But if you want, we can go back there”

“I would like the bed” you dared to say. The truth was that your back was killing you and if you wanted to recover a little you would have to trust him. Eddie nodded and led you into the bedroom, where he helped you lie down. You couldn't appreciate too much, but what you did notice is that there wasn't a single space that was unoccupied; posters, furniture, photos, instruments, magazines, empty cans, full cans, and even a blanket with the name of his band. It was a most picturesque place, in your opinion.

“Robin was the one who called me. She's the short-haired one who plays in the band, she's my friend and she thought maybe she could use some help. She tried to look for you, but she didn't find you” Eddie explained, as if he wanted you to finish trusting him. Of course appearances could be deceiving, but thanks to all the years of knowing him you didn't imagine him capable of taking advantage of you while you were drunk so you relaxed considerably. "What were you doing there, anyway?" His words sounded almost like a scolding.

“Alcohol and drugs are always free at those parties” you replied while shrugging your shoulders “Things just got a little out of hand”

"Hm," he hummed, nodding his head gently. He looked at you and remembered the small detail of the stain on your face, so he got up and looked for a clean cloth that he moistened slightly, then extended it in your direction "You should clean yourself"

"Ajam" you murmured, getting up with difficulty and taking the piece of cloth with your hand. When you began rudely rubbing your cheek Eddie's eyes widened, lunging at you.

"No, don’t do that. You are going to get hurt. Do you want me to help you? No. I'll help you, even if you don't want to” he rambled. He took the rag from your hand after sitting down next to you he gingerly cupped your chin. You didn't say anything while he cleaned you up and for a second you felt like you were going to fall asleep under his soft touch, until a throat clearing brought you back to reality "You have to clean your lip too or it's going to get infected" he explained. He had a poor attempt at a first aid kit next to him; just a half-baked bottle of hydrogen peroxide that no longer had a label and some cotton balls. So you agreed and you decided to do this yourself because you didn't want Eddie Munson's hands near your mouth.

He watched the entire process and after that there was silence between you again, for a long time, but it wasn't as awkward as he expected it to be. Eddie was searching for something to say for conversation, but his thoughts were overwhelmed by the sound of a quiet sob.

You had started crying.

"Hey, hey, what's up?" he exclaimed, panicking completely. His hands were floating in the air not knowing where he should place them “Does it hurt?” he asked, but you awkwardly shook your head “Is it because of those guys? Did they hurt you? Do you want me to tell Steve to kick the crap out of them?" Eddie insisted, but you didn't say anything. It was obvious that you were trying to contain the tears with all your might.

“This is stupid, I'm coming home” you sobbed as you tried to get up without falling on your face. But it was clear you wouldn't even make it to the road, and he panicked and did the only thing he could think of.

He reached out with both arms and wrapped you in a hug.

He didn't even know why he had done it, maybe it was the automatic response he had to seeing someone cry, but the moment you fell on his chest he realized it was probably a bad idea. Knowing you, the safest thing was that you were going to push him or yell at him or insult him or all at the same time.

But even though you tried to walk away, the weight of your pain was greater and you ended up giving in completely. You relaxed into his hold, all the tears you had held back for months were spilling onto the young man's shirt. When was the last time someone hugged you? You could bet it had been years.

"Don't worry, we're fine" he whispered, with a sweet voice that you had never had the joy of hearing, while he ran one of his hands up and down your back. You were completely heartbroken, crying so loud that the neighbors could surely hear you if they wanted to, and Eddie never thought he could see you in such a state.

You were the tough girl in school, who could defend his ideas tooth and nail, who faced others without fear, and who always managed to find a new way to annoy him.

And now you were in his arms, curled up in a ball and expelling all the water from your body in tears.

Of course this was driving Eddie crazy. A few days ago you had wished him a happy weekend with two middle fingers, it had been years and years in which you two shamelessly despised each other that you were collapsing in a single night.

Not even in one night, they were breaking down with a fucking comforting hug.

"I can't take it anymore," you said, with your voice muffled by the fabric of your shirt "My life is a mess and I live in a shitty place and everything... everything is horrible" he was still, thinking about what he should answer before that. But luckily you kept talking "And he was gone for so many years and now he comes back as if nothing happened, hoping that the doors are open and we love him as if he hadn't been the most son of a bitch father" a short pause that was due to a sob “And he yells at us and calls us out and I just want it to be over. Because every day I feel worse than the previous one like I'm drowning in a huge well that no one is going to pull me out of because I don't have a single fucking friend. Because I drink to forget everything and I'm so pathetic and…” you couldn't continue, the overflowing tears didn't leave you, and after this he didn't say anything, but he pressed you closer against his body as if that could make any difference. As if with that he could remove, even a little, the weight of your problems.

Eddie hadn't the slightest idea that all of this was happening to you and now that he was, he felt bad that he never noticed. Most likely, that was why you had been in a bad mood all week and he had been so selfish as to recriminate you for not paying attention to him. But now you were there, opening all your feelings and fears with him, while he was frozen. It was obvious that he didn't know what to say to that, he didn't know you well enough to give an opinion, and yet he wanted to help.

“You can stay here to sleep if you don't want to go home” he offered “And if you need to go, I can take you too. Whatever you need, just ask me,” he murmured, hoping that meant something. For him the best way to help someone was to be of use to them, as he tried to do with you.

“I'm so lonely,” you sobbed, louder than the others, and Eddie frantically shook his head.

“You're not, Y/N. You don't…” Eddie tried to formulate words of encouragement, but he couldn't. So he just held you tight and waited for you to calm down. At some point Eddie couldn't hear you crying anymore and looking down he realized that you had fallen asleep.

He carefully separated you and placed you in a comfortable position between the yellowish pillows, while he covered you with a sheet that Wayne had just bought him.

Eddie still couldn't understand what causality of fate had decided that tonight the girl who could barely stand to be in a room with him would sleep in his bed, but he decided not to make a big deal out of it. For an instant, just a thousandth of a second, through his mind he crossed the idea of lying down next to you to sleep. But he was aware that he didn't sit still at all when he slept and he didn't know how you would react, so he better grabs a pillow and walks down the hall to the couch.

In a few minutes, he was asleep too.

When you opened your eyes, your head hurt horribly and your whole body was sore, but even with these discomforts you couldn't help but notice the ceiling of the room that definitely wasn't yours. You panicked at the first second and sat bolt upright, afraid that someone had dragged you to some seedy place and ruined your life. But instead you saw a messy room that made you suddenly remember everything that had happened the night before.

Oh, that made you panic even more.

Some things were still a little blurry, but you remembered the essentials: you had gotten into a fight, Eddie Munson had come to pick you up, and suddenly all the feelings you had been holding back came out like verbal vomit as you cried on your chest. That couldn't be true, no way.

A feeling of tremendous regret flooded your entire system and your mind wandered to what he could do to you now that he had that information. Was he going to tease? Was he going to use your feelings to blackmail you? Was he going to tell the whole world? You didn't even know why you had told him, but most likely it was all because of the alcohol you had drunk and the bad time you had at the party.

The last week had been too hard for you, you weren't lying to him when you said you lived in a shitty place. Your mother was a woman who made a bad choice when she was young; your father. For years you had endured his abuse and his alcoholism until the twins were born and he decided it was best to leave. To be honest, that relieved you a lot and you didn't feel guilty at all. You had begun to dress as you wanted, to discover what you liked, and to have your own personality. But the dream didn’t last long, at some point your mother couldn’t work a single shift and you had to take care of the twins during the afternoons and evenings, when they weren’t at school, with Fridays off for you. It was a pace of life that you had gotten used to and although it was heavy it was much better than having your father at home. That was why when a week ago he had arrived, drunk and screaming, you had felt so upset. He was worse than you remembered him and he had made your siblings cry, but even with his insistence you didn't let him in the house. He was persistent and it was as if he had been sucking the vitality out of you every time he went to claim you were a bad daughter. And the ghosts of the past were sometimes too heavy.

You were praying with all your might that Eddie had gotten out of the trailer or that he was busy or whatever so that he wouldn't notice that you had woken up. You staggered to get up and search for your shoes, not missing the chance to take a curious look around the place. Now that your vision was less blurry, you could notice the drawers with cassettes, the discarded clothes, and even a box of condoms near some inappropriate magazines. You rolled your eyes at the latter and thought about when was the last time Eddie Munson had touched a… person, making a mental note to tease him about it later.

When you finished putting on your shoes you noticed that you had lost the scrunchie that was holding your hair somewhere and you internally cursed that you had lost your favorite. You sneaked out of the place, not sure where the front door was or if anyone else lived in the house until you ran into the boy sprawled out on the couch while he was snoring a little. The position didn't look comfortable at all, but he seemed to be and you walked past to where you assumed the exit was. But you didn't count on tripping and knocking over a metal tray that was on the nightstand, causing a ruckus loud enough to make him jump awake.

"Trying to run away before twelve, Cinderella?" he asked, with a raspy voice and a sleepy smile.

“Let's not make a big drama out of this. I'll just go,” you answered, slightly uncomfortable. But when you tried to open the door, it was locked.

“First of all, we aren’t foolish enough to give thieves a free pass. And, secondly, you can't leave without having had some breakfast. Probably the only thing in your stomach is that cheap booze,” he said. Eddie stood up fully and stretched his arms up, allowing the shirt he was wearing to ride up just a little to reveal the edge of his boxers and his happy trail. Without you having wanted it, your eyes had already gone to those details and you were only grateful that he didn't notice “Feel free to take what you want. We have cereal, or eggs, or cereal, or a half-wilted banana, or cereal…”

"Cereal, I get it," you said, trying not to express too much. You didn't know why Eddie wasn't kicking you out of there or saying mean things to you yet, so you had to move carefully.

Eddie walked around yawning and rubbing his face with one hand while scratching his butt cheekily with the other. You stood in your spot and when he noticed he beckoned to you in annoyance.

“Are you deaf or what? Come sit down and have breakfast” he exclaimed, a little more like he normally sounded when he talked to you. You walked over and took the plate he gave you, as well as the box of Lucky Charms from which you poured yourself a portion.

Both of you began to eat in silence and although at first you took that as a sign that he was upset, the truth was that he really wasn't. He even looked nonchalant, eating huge spoonfuls as he read the label of a can lying around, completely oblivious to you. You decided to take advantage of the opportunity and finished your plate of food only to serve yourself another because he wasn't lying when he said that surely you only had alcohol in your body.

"Huh, thanks for breakfast" you answered when you finished, a little shy. You wondered if it would be a good idea to talk about what you had the night before and find out if that had changed his perception of you in any way. Or did you just want to know whether to expect an unfavorable reaction or forget it for peace “Do you mind if I use your phone? My mom is probably wondering where I am."

"Of course not, use it" he smiled. You walked over to it and called home, hoping someone would be available. It was heard that they picked up the phone and then a little voice.

"Yeah?"

"Hi, Amy" you laughed "I'm Y/N, is mommy around?"

“She's asleep” exclaimed the little girl “Where are you? Why didn't you come last night?"

"Something happened, I'm at the house of a..." for a moment you doubted that it was the right thing to say and out of the corner of your eye you could see that Eddie is looking at you "friend. If mom wakes up, can you tell her I'll be right back?"

"Okay"

“Thank you, flea. See you in a while"

"Goodbye," said the high-pitched voice and then the beeps sounded indicating that she had hung up.

You wiped your sweaty palms on your pants and turned to him, who didn't even pretend he hadn't been listening to your conversation.

“So we are friends”

“I couldn't tell her I was at the idiot from school's house,” you said, but he burst out laughing.

"I don't think that language is suitable for a girl of..."

"6 years"

"A girl of 6 years" he completed. You were silent for a moment, you looking everywhere except at him and with him seeing nothing but you.

"I guess I'll go, bye" although you rushed towards the exit, he was faster and managed to get in the way, forcing you to stop.

"Let me take you"

"I can walk"

"I realize that. But it's Saturday morning, it's cold, and you're hungover."

You had to admit that your whole body ached and the idea of going in the car seemed very appealing, but you weren't going to allow yourself to owe someone like Eddie Munson any more favors.

"Still, I prefer to walk" you answered, so he gave up. He moved out of the way and looked for the key, in the tray that you had thrown at the beginning, to open the door and let you out "See you later"

"Be careful," he murmured. You had only walked to the porch when he spoke again "Y/N"

"Yes?"

“If one day you want to talk to someone you… you can ask me. I don't judge” he replied. You looked him straight in the eye looking for any sign of lying or an iota of mockery, but the truth is that you could only find sincerity in his gaze.

“You are not going to understand”

"I can try," he insisted. You just wanted him to keep quiet and pretend that nothing had happened. You didn't want him to feel sorry for you.

"Goodbye, Munson" you murmured, going down the stairs and walking on the grass without letting him say anything else.

The next time Eddie saw you, the vitality had returned to you. Although you still had those soft dark spots under your eyes, your face looked less worried and the eyes had returned to glow as they normally did. He assumed that the problems (or at least parts of them) had been resolved over the weekend.

And luckily it was because while you hadn't completely gotten rid of your father, you had managed to get him away with some help from Chief Powell and a threat of a restraining order. That was a relief for you and especially for your mother, so at least you were able to breathe more freely when you entered the school.

"What's up, loser?" you said as you walked past Eddie, taking him by surprise. You didn't stop to look at him, but he grinned at the sound of your voice and stayed that way for the rest of the class. From time to time, you caught him looking at you, and each time you raised your eyebrows at him, as if asking for an explanation, but he just laughed and shook his head. There was something different in the way he was looking at you as if something about you was funny, but you were very grateful that it wasn't some kind of pity or sadness for you.

The two of you didn't speak for the rest of the day, but you did share a couple of teases and smiles that lightened the mood. You kept sitting by yourself and reading the second half of Carrie while he climbed on tables and yelled at jocks.

After a couple of days Eddie came to school with his hair tied up and you were indignant when you noticed the piece of blue cloth that adorned his hair, but when you claimed it, he just laughed.

"I wanted a souvenir, can you blame me?" he murmured softly "Besides I look better than you"

"Oh sure," you said sarcastically, "He was my favorite, you know that?"

"I was going to give it to you, but now that you say you care so much, I think I've lost the urge," he exclaimed, smirking at you. From that day on he used the hair tie daily, sometimes in his hair and other times just on his wrist, but always bringing with him that part of you that he had stolen from you. You weren't going to admit it, but it hadn't bothered you as might be expected.

So time passed and things continued their course. The world went round and round without stopping to think about anyone and you had to learn to live with it.

One night Eddie heard about the party that Chance was throwing for the basketball team and everyone from school that he wanted to go to, so he packed his lunch box full of joints, cocaine, and whatever substances he had on hand to attend. He didn't like these people, but in the end, money was money.

When the boy arrived he was already packed with people and that made it easy for him to mingle with everyone. He would find a quiet corner of the house to sell and when it was all gone, he would go back to his trailer to sleep like a baby.

After selling a couple of things he decided he could smoke a cigarette just to lighten up the night and he almost choked on the smoke when he felt someone drop next to him on the couch and take the cigarette out of his mouth with two fingers.

"You don't mind sharing, do you?" you laughed, inhaling deeply on the tobacco and slapping the boy's thigh briefly. Eddie's eyes lingered for a second on the way your lips suckled and he inadvertently blushed. He thanked God the place was dark or you would have noticed.

"What are you doing here?" he muttered. You took the cigarette out of your lips and put it back on his before answering.

"Alcohol and drugs are free, remember?"

"Well, get drunk as much as you can because I won't give you an ounce of weed" he mocked. You were wearing a black midriff-baring top and ripped black jean pants, while Eddie had opted for a flannel shirt that must have belonged to Wayne, with blue jeans. Both he and you couldn't help but glance in appreciation.

"Then I don't have anything to do around here anymore," you said sadly. You were about to get up when he spoke again.

"And how have you been?"

“Since when do we ask each other personal questions?”

“I was just trying to be nice and see if you deserved something free, but if not, suck my dick”

“Oh, I don't think I could find it”

"Do you want to try?" he scoffed. But the closeness between you, the cigarette resting sweetly between his lips, and the deep voice he used made you a little tense.

"I have been fine. Existing” you admitted, in an attempt to divert the topic “And you? How's your lazy life going?"

"I'm doing fine," he replied, just as calmly. A couple of girls came over to shop and Eddie treated them politely just because they were pretty. As you listened to him talk to them you realized that he wasn't as clumsy at flirting as you had thought "I guess you'll stay here, huh?"

"If it doesn't bother you" you replied, taking his cigarette away again to take a drag "And if it bothers you too, I don't care."

You didn't talk about too much with Eddie, but that didn't mean you weren't having a good time with him. The scent of the only cigarette he had ever smoked was in your nostrils and mixed with a cheap but good-smelling cologne he wore.

When the lunch box was almost completely empty, Eddie slammed it shut and turned to you.

“Do you want to go outside for a smoke?” he asked him, raising his voice over the music someone had put on. You nodded and both of you walked towards the exit until at some point Eddie took your hand to avoid losing you. He was in the front, so you just let him drag you to a more secluded section outside. You ended up in a pool that was surrounded by a fence in a clear sign that you couldn't go there, but it meant nothing to him.

"Do you want a Marlboro or do you want marijuana?"

“Are you going to charge me?” you asked before and he smiled while he shook his head "Then give me a joint"

So he did, and when you placed it in your mouth, Eddie reached over to put it in the fire of a worn black lighter. You caught him looking at your lips, but you didn't say anything. Then he took off his tennis shoes and pulled his jeans up to his knees to put his feet in the pool, which you imitated after a while.

The two of you smoked until there was only a small butt left that you tossed aside and it didn't take long for the effects of the drug to kick in. You could see it in Eddie's narrowed eyes and the goofy smile he had, even though you were sure you looked the same.

"I like your toenails," he exclaimed, his words slow and soft as you gazed down at your own toes with electric blue nail polish.

"You're so high, Munson" you laughed, and then he joined you. Your head felt heavy, but you'd just be careful not to fall forward, or else you'd end up soaking wet. "I never thanked you for that night," you said suddenly. He turned to you to try to get a better look at you and unintentionally he leaned closer "So thanks I guess"

“I hope things have improved”

"Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?" you asked. Although that's supposed to make you happy, the phrase sounded more like a claim.

"What are you talking about?"

“I haven't heard you scoff once about that. You haven't even blamed me for what happened or told anyone, why?"

“Is that what you expect of me? What is an idiot who takes advantage of girls and makes fun of sensitive family situations? I thought you had a better idea of me” he answered, sounding upset and hurt.

"You hate me"

"Oh come on, do you think that shit is serious?" Eddie asked, crossing his arms and frowning at you. “Maybe at first it was real hate, but we're not in middle school anymore. It's a kid thing."

"Then why do you always bother me?"

"Because it's fun. But I'm not cruel enough to mess with something I know hurts you. That's the job of guys like Jason” he argued, nodding towards the interior of the house “And you? Do you really hate me?"

"Maybe," you muttered, though the word sounded more like a question. "I mean, you're annoying."

"My love, there is a huge difference between someone being annoying and hating someone," he murmured. Eddie was too close to you, speaking only in whispers that smelled like what you just smoked “And if you really hated me, you wouldn't be here with me. You need passion to hate and you don't have it. I can see it in your eyes,” he said, exhaling this last sentence with something akin to pain. You didn't know what was happening to Eddie, but what you did know was that he was too close and it was making you nervous.

It's amazing how easily you decided you'd hate this man, you were second-guessing if it was truly worth doing. Being blinded by your supposed dislike for him had never let you notice that over the years he had become more attractive or that he was a sweet person. You didn't even know what you were feeling at the time, to be honest. You only knew that you were very high and that Eddie was sighing almost on your lips.

"So you're saying you never hated me?"

“You're still too maddening. Weeks ago, I could have vomited hearing you speak."

"And what made you change your mind so suddenly?" you asked in annoyance, while you rolled your eyes and took some distance.

"The night I picked you up," he answered. You turned around curiously, hoping he would have a more elaborate response than that. There was silence for a moment and then he spoke "That day I found out that you have feelings, to everyone's surprise" when he said this last, you tapped him lightly on the shoulder and he laughed "And I don't know... seeing you like that made me feel strange”

"I don’t want your pity"

"It's not a matter of pity, it's a matter of empathy," he said. You felt as if you were mesmerized by his huge brown eyes “We are social outcasts, you and I, and you know it perfectly. And it is very stupid that we are striving to maintain. We like the same things, we have the same ideas, we could be good friends if we put our minds to it, would that be so bad for you? Do you really despise me enough to deny yourself a chance to stop feeling lonely?”

You were silent for a moment, the thoughts in your head clumsily trying to sort themselves out. The water from your feet felt cold, your hands were sweaty and you wished with all your might that you hadn't smoked so that this conversation would be more coherent. But part of you also knew that if you weren't in that state, this would never have happened.

“And what are you suggesting? That we just pretend nothing happened and move on?"

“I could get over it, the worst thing you ever did to me was that time you put frogs in my backpack” he laughed, remembering and inevitably making you do too “But I don't think you're bad, just like I'm not. I just think we've carried on a pointless rivalry for so long that it's starting to feel unnecessary now,” he mused. You were still silent, now looking at the blue floor of the pool below you "Either that or you're completely obsessed with me and you can't face your feelings so that's why you bother me daily"

“Woah, stop there, the weed got too high in your brain,” you said between laughs, hearing him laugh too. This short moment you were sharing with him made you realize that it wasn't that unpleasant to be with him. In fact, it wasn't at all.

"Then? Shall we call a truce and join forces to save each other from ending up at the bottom of the social hierarchy?”

“I am at the bottom. You have friends"

“And they could be yours, too,” he said, gently, as he reached out his hand toward you, “Just throw away all these years of unwarranted hatred and start over. You know, like civilized people."

Was it that simple? So short was the step you had to take to end that distance that you yourselves had imposed?

"I doubt very much that you are a civilized person or that you ever have been" you smiled, at the same time that you reached out to take his hand "But it could work"

"It's nice when you're not being a grumpy bitch, don't you think?" he scoffed. In revenge you pushed him into the pool, but he wasted no time pulling you by the leg and giving you the same fate.

You splashed to annoy him and suddenly you were already in a water fight, laughing that your stomach hurt. Above you two the stars seemed to be shining brighter than any other night and the moon witnessed how the water washed away any grudge you had for each other. So, for a brief moment, the whole world was just him and you.

Even though Eddie didn't become your best friend overnight, you were making progress. The first few days you tried (really yes) to stop being rude to each other, but it was something so decisive for your relationship that you couldn't put it aside. Of course, over time the insults were accompanied by smiles or winks from the boy as a silent signal that you were just kidding.

After a few weeks Eddie had already introduced you to his friends and to your surprise they liked you. Most of them were younger than him and you even met the one responsible for him rescuing you from the drunken mess you had been. His name was Robin, he was so nice and it amused you to hear her tangle with her own words.

You remembered Steve Harrington from early High school and although at first you were reluctant to talk to him, when you finally did you realized that he had changed a lot since that time. He was less cocky and even a little dumber. But in a cute way, of course.

But the one you were getting to know the most, obviously, was Eddie. During classes sometimes you would have an exchange of words or he would make you smile. You had found out that he was also a big Lord of the Rings fan and once you spent almost an hour talking about just that. Contrary to what you expected he was quite intelligent and that helped for another couple of deeper talks.

A couple of months was enough for you to be invited to sit permanently with the Hellfire club. You had fit in well with the group and they were a lot of fun, always managing to make you feel good even on the worst days. A part of you was very grateful for this change, because whenever a gray cloud wanted to settle, one of the people around you would blow it away from you. Sometimes unintentionally, other times intentionally.

You were even invited to one of Corroded Coffin's glamorous concerts and a part of you thought that Eddie looked hot playing guitar, but you wanted to take that thought straight to the grave if possible. But the problem was that those kinds of thoughts came more frequently than you would have liked. He was an extremely physical person and most of the time he was touching you in some way, whether it was putting his arm around your shoulders in a friendly way or moving you to the side by his palm on your waist, or whatever else occurred to him. the. Sometimes he would even come up behind him when you were sitting and he would massage your shoulders to entertain himself while you melted at his touch.

And of course you weren't the only one feeling this way, Eddie also suffered his own ordeal every time you took the pack of cigarettes from the back pocket of his jeans or when you were upset and confronted him, your face so close to his that it was difficult for him to find a valid argument to defend himself.

But, as always, both of you thought that it was best to do what you had agreed to from the beginning. Forget and move on.

"Your final work will be in pairs, please be quiet so you can hear your name" spoke the art teacher, trying to be heard above all the noise. You liked the class (even though you weren't the most skilled) so you hoped you'd get a good classmate. You looked around for someone you had a preference for; Stephanie was very good at painting, but Linda was better at drawing. There was another boy, Marcus, who was also quite skilled and who you wouldn't mind working with. You waited patiently until the professor murmured your last name and listened for the next "With Munson."

Your neck turned to see the aforementioned and you frowned in an expression of annoyance mixed with disappointment, while he smiled broadly.

"Soooo" you heard behind you, once the class ended, while an arm was around your shoulders "Your place or mine?"

“Can't we each make a part and then put them together? I don't need to spend more hours than necessary around you” you complained, just to annoy him.

"My house then," he continued, ignoring you.

"It's stupid, of so many people there, why did he have to play us together?"

"Fate, baby," Eddie muttered, shrugging. You had science in the next hour and you knew he was going to go to another room. "At 5?" he asked and you nodded. It was lucky it was Friday, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to accept "Don't be late!" he told you, pointing a finger at you as he headed down the hall.

You only had time to eat and nap at home before walking to Eddie's house, the sound of Kate Bush filling your ears. You had met her thanks to a red-haired girl named Max, whom you had once helped. Well, helped is a saying, because she was being picked on by some guys and you thought you could defend her, but when you got closer, she already had one pinned, so you just took care of the other one. Then you found out that she was friends with Dustin too and that she lived in the same park as Eddie, so you talked to her from time to time and that's how you ended up meeting her favorite singer. In fact, when you arrived, she was feeding a stray dog and you were able to wave to her.

You knocked on the trailer door three times but no one answered so you started banging on it repeatedly and loudly, waiting for him to deign to open it for you. But you were surprised when the door was opened by a tired-looking older man.

“Huh, hi,” you said, suddenly feeling embarrassed at the way you'd been knocking on the door. “Sorry to bother you. I came with Eddie, for a school project "

“Ah, there you are” you suddenly heard. It was him, who saw you from behind him "Just in time" he laughed, looking at the watch on his wrist "Wayne she is my partner, her name is Y/N. Y/N, he's my Uncle Wayne."

“It is a pleasure to meet you. Sorry for knocking so loud."

"Since when do you apologize for being annoying?"

“Eddie, don't be rude” his uncle scolded him, before you could say anything “Welcome, make yourself at home. I'll go to town for a few things, but you guys have fun”

Goodbye Wayne. Be careful” exclaimed the boy, coming forward to hug the man. You didn’t know that he was so affectionate and you smiled in a way that wasn't burlesque, but like tenderness.

"I'll be back in a while," he said and then walked out the door. Family ties weren't something you and Eddie had talked about openly but the fact that he lived with his uncle made you imagine that he too had his own difficult history. But you weren't going to pressure him into telling you anything if he didn't want to.

“Did you bring your material?”

“What you asked me for and a couple of dry paints that my siblings had”

"That will do," he laughed, as he shrugged. He looked quite comfortable and the clothes he was wearing were already worn, but for some reason they seemed soft. “We can go to my room if you want. It will be more comfortable that way” he suggested, so you took a couple of steps and followed him down the hall. You had only been there once, but now it looked cleaner and you couldn't help but make fun of it. Eddie didn't say anything, he just laughed and flopped onto the newly made mattress “I was thinking maybe we could use that finger painting technique and objects and all that. The one we saw last week."

"It could work," you said cheerfully. You took a curious look around the place and Eddie smiled when he noticed.

"What are you thinking about the view?"

"That looks like a virgin's room," you said without a filter and when you realized it Eddie was already laughing out loud.

"I love that you are so transparent with what you think" he replied amused, but without denying or affirming what you just said "You should spend less time criticizing me and more time focused on what needs to be done"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry” you murmured raising your hands. Eddie pulled out a box of art supplies that he had and you were surprised to see some figures that you assumed were for his Dungeons and Dragons club. You assumed that the drawings on the wall were his too and you were impressed, they really were good.

It was about an hour with you guys discussing what you wanted to do and Eddie making some sketches until the last one convinced you and you finally got to work. You were honestly having fun, because the technique was pretty messy and he had lent you a shirt to wear over yours so you wouldn't get dirty. Plus, he'd let you pick out a cassette to put on the stereo, and he'd given you a free beer he had in the fridge.

"You're ruining everything!" he screeched, trying to push you away from the painting. The truth was that you weren't screwing anything up, but he just wanted an excuse so he could get close to you and hear you laugh. Eddie didn't understand why, but lately he was enjoying both.

"Munson!" you yelled back. A small fight developed between you, but it was just powerless slapping.

You stayed like that for a while, none of you wanting to give in, just messing around like a couple of kids who want to have the last word. Once you calmed down, Eddie looked at you breathlessly and noticed a peculiar detail.

"You have something here," he said, pointing to his own right cheek.

"Here?" you asked innocently, carving your fingers over the skin. But you had only succeeded in staining yourself more.

“Yeah, but you—” Eddie began, cutting himself off with a laugh at the green paint on your face “You're the worst at cleaning yourself, just give me that, you silly" he muttered amused, reaching a little to take a handkerchief that he had lying around and putting one hand on your jaw while the other was in charge of rubbing the stain "This is the second once,” he complained, with a tiny smile.

His grip on him was careful and his movements against your cheek gentle. He was so close to you that you could feel your knee hitting his and you looked anywhere but at him in a desperate attempt not to freak out. Even so, out of the corner of your eye you managed to notice the tip of his tongue placed on his lower lip as a sign of concentration and a hint of a smile escaped you.

He was probably cleaning you up longer than necessary, but when he finally finished you turned to look at him, and although you wanted to say something mocking the words got stuck in your throat. Eddie was still holding your chin and after a few seconds he began to gently slide his thumb over your skin while he watched you closely. You could feel his breath hitting your nose and you honestly didn't know what it was that had him so enthralled. But unintentionally, you too got a little lost in his rounded features and bright eyes that you never took the time to appreciate. Although that wasn't the worst, the worst was when you caught your friend blatantly staring at your lips. You knew you had to tell him something, anything, but you didn't feel capable of doing it because you were sincerely enjoying the way he looked at you; as if you were something forbidden... or something desirable, which was even better. Unconsciously your eyes also dropped to his plump lips and you wondered if they felt as soft as they looked. He didn't have a trace of a beard, a sign that he had shaved in the morning with the cream you were smelling thanks to your proximity. Eddie's hand gently tugged at your chin and you obediently lifted your face to where he meant to take you. It was clear you were going straight for his lips, but with an inch to go Eddie suddenly released you and stepped away from him. Then a scandalous sneeze.

Nerves combined with surprise made you giggle, which then turned into laughter.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized, actually looking sorry.

"Are you trying to tell me I smell bad?" you dared to say to cut the tension, making him imitate your laughter.

Both of you knew perfectly well what was going to happen had it not been for the interruption of that sneeze and that was why your cheeks had turned a deep red and you avoided looking at each other. The distance was no longer so short, which allowed you to think more clearly.

“We should continue with the work, we are almost done”

“Huh, yes. You're right,” Eddie exclaimed, trying his hardest not to stutter.

You were quiet from then on, just listening to the songs filling the room and concentrating on painting your own section of the canvas in front of you. From time to time, you looked up to see him and were grateful that your eyes never met, even when Eddie was doing the same.

You were too worried to figure out what the hell that meant. You could have guessed the boy's intentions from the beginning, with the simple fact of your fingers holding his face, but still you let him do it, and not only that but you also helped. A very deep part of you had felt eager and aroused to close the distance and see what he had to offer you. But why? That was the real question.

“I think it turned out really well for us,” you said, after admiring the final product of your work “Considering we did it in a couple of hours and using mostly our fingers” you added, hearing him laugh.

"I'll put it on the shelf to dry and bring it back Monday," he informed you, to which you nodded. It was already dark and you had nothing else to do there, so you thought of your only logical option: leave.

“I have to go home, but see you later”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Eddie exclaimed, almost immediately, "I can't give you a ride because there's something wrong with the van and I'm going to check it out this weekend, but I could still walk you if you want."

This was the second time he was offering to share a little more time after being at his house and you knew you'd regret it if you said no again, so you agreed. He seemed quite happy and only had to put on his tennis shoes and a big black sweatshirt to be ready. When you left the trailer Max was also leaving his and just as you did when you arrived, you also said goodbye. She didn't say anything, but she would make sure to tell her friends that she had seen you out with Eddie that night.

Your house was so far from the trailer park, so you and he would be together for about a half hour, by your calculations.

"Did you hear Iron Maiden announced a new album?" he said to break the ice. That was enough for you two to start talking (as almost every time) about music. Eddie had both hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt and was walking more shyly than usual, maintaining a goofy grin most of the time.

Months ago you wouldn’t have imagined that you would be walking so happily by his side, so it was still a bit overwhelming at times. But you liked him a lot, Eddie was a good person despite everything and he could tell that he cared about you, otherwise he wouldn't be wasting his time bringing you home.

Suddenly Eddie started talking about a very funny anecdote with Robin, but the way he talked about her was so animated and loving that you felt a tug in your chest that you didn't understand why. You stopped listening for a second because of the idea that had crossed your mind and you had the urge to express.

"You like her?" you asked suddenly. Eddie snapped shut and looked at you with a frown.

“Robin?” he said and you nodded. After this he let out a laugh "It wouldn't work, believe me"

"But do you like her?" you insisted, not wanting to stick with a half answer.

"Why so much interest?" he scoffed, nudging you friendly with his shoulder, while you rolled your eyes.

“If you don't want to answer me that's fine, I don't care. I was just curious,” you snorted. Eddie seemed very amused by the whole thing and was looking down at you with a wide grin.

“She likes someone else and even though she's a great friend, she’s not my type at all. So no, I don't like her” he replied. You nodded softly, not knowing what else to say, when suddenly his arm was entwined with yours and he pulled you closer to him. "Are you jealous?" he asked playfully against your ear.

"What? Why should I be?" you exhaled indignantly, trying to get away from him, but instead of letting go, he put his arm around your shoulders. His hair reached your cheeks and his body was so warm that you were about to ask him to stop so you could hug him properly.

But that was unthinkable, how could you feel or think that kind of thing for him? It wasn't right, was it?

"I can walk alone from here if you want," you said, after a few minutes of being silent. His arm hadn’t left your body until that moment.

"Are you sure? It looks kind of dark,” he exclaimed, glancing at the streets beyond.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for having me…” you started to say, but you were interrupted when you saw a car passing by. Without thinking twice, you grabbed Eddie's sleeve and pulled him to a tall, leafy tree that was out there, letting his body cover you.

"What's going on?"

"It's my dad" you whispered. Eddie sensed your fear and leaned closer to you, crushing you between his hard trunk and his soft body, while you placed both palms of your hands on his chest. "I don't want him to see me”

"Okay, no problem," he said to reassure you, while he tried to hide you as best as possible from the sight of anyone who passed by. He suddenly thought there was a better way to do it and he used both arms to pull you into a hug, which you didn't refuse. You felt safe with the contact and the softness of the fabric of his sweatshirt was most comforting. After a while you raised your head over his shoulder and realized that, although it was the same car, it wasn't your father.

"It's a neighbor," you informed Eddie, breathing a sigh of relief and resting your cheek against his shoulder as you laughed.

Now that that worry was gone you realized the position you were in and tensed up a bit. The man's palms were planted firmly on your back and there was zero distance between you, so when you raised your head, you almost brushed his lips. Almost.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," you hummed, looking into his eyes. The feeling of heat running through your entire body returned to you and your breathing quickened considerably "I was just scared, but everything is fine" you exclaimed laughing "I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize, it's fine," he insisted, with such gentleness in his voice that it made you shiver. One of his hands went up your side and brushed your hair away from the side of your face, then rested on your cheek. "Maybe this isn't the best time to say it, but I think it's pretty."

"What?"

“Your smile,” he said. The truth had taken you by surprise that answer and the only thing you could do was frown in confusion.

"What?" you repeated, this time with a higher, more nervous voice. You were so, so close to him that it wasn’t necessary to speak more than whispers.

“Your smile is pretty. You're pretty” he continued, completely oblivious to the blush you already had on your cheeks while you panicked. You had completely forgotten about the scare you had been through, now all your attention was on the way Eddie was approaching you.

Your palms were still on his body and if you wanted you could push him away, but you didn't have the willpower to do so. On the contrary, you were slowly stretching upwards. You couldn't think, you couldn't speak or react coherently at that moment, all your mind could process was the urgent need you had for Eddie Munson's lips. So when he moved the last bit of distance you held back a gasp and when he finally kissed you both of you exhaled shakily.

The contact began sweet and careful, so slow that it allowed you to explore all the sensations. His lips tasted like the beer you'd been drinking, the skin where your hands were felt warmer than usual, and ungraspable strands of his hair tickled you. You had your eyes closed and still with some shyness he slid his hand down your neck until he reached the nape of your neck, in an attempt to deepen (but not too much) the contact. So you did and by inertia your hands ended up at the base of his neck, trying to hold him in the kindest way you could.

Eddie pressed your body against the tree and took the opportunity to slide his tongue along the contour of your lips, like a silent request that you agreed to without hesitation. You discovered that he was a skilled kisser and you regretted ever judging him so harshly because right now he was achieving the ideal balance of being tender and driving you crazy at the same time.

You didn't want to cut off contact for fear of taking back what you were doing, so when you got short of breath you parted slightly and then you kissed again. His taste was making you dizzy and you were thanking God you were leaning against a surface, otherwise you would have fallen straight to the floor because of your shaky legs.

“Eddie” you managed to say, after what seemed like an eternity. But this, more than stopping him, encouraged the boy to continue leaving short and fleeting kisses on your mouth.

"Say it again"

"Say what?" You managed to ask between kisses.

"My name. I like how it sounds on you” he confessed, getting you to put on a smirk.

"Edward?"

"No," he said, in a quiet voice, almost like a tantrum "I feel like you're scolding me when you say that"

"So Eddie?" you asked joining your lips almost afterward. You managed to get up a little and take him by the neck of his sweatshirt to reverse positions without stopping kissing him at any time "Eddie..." you started to say, stealing a deep kiss "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie" you continued, between more kisses, as if you wanted to recover at that moment all the times you had called it something else. He thought his man sounded like a song coming from your lips, especially when you were whispering it over his.

You were completely beside yourself, just succumbing to the carnal desires that were buried deep within you for a long time, until you had the strength to stop and look at him. He had red cheeks, pupils shining widely in both eyes, and lips swollen completely. Luckily for you, you didn't feel regret at first glance.

"Wow," he exhaled. You couldn't think of another expression to describe what had just happened and when he started laughing out of sheer nerves you imitated him. Eddie removed his hand from the nape of your neck to lower it to your back, at waist level, while you rested your grip on the fabric of his clothing.

"That was strange"

"You don’t like me?"

"Yeah, it just felt… strange" you laughed and as you did you leaned in a little closer to him "I mean, I didn't think we… I never thought we'd ever get to kiss"

"I like spontaneity," he joked, chuckling. To be honest he felt as if he had just run a marathon, full of adrenaline and excitement, but also very nervous about what just happened could mean for you.

"So…" you started to say, one of your hands fiddling with the chain of the necklace Eddie always wore, "That time you said it bothered you because I couldn't face my feelings you were actually talking about yourself, huh?” you scoffed, seeing him get even more flushed than he already was. "Who would have thought?"

"It’s not like this"

"Since when do you know?"

"Know what?"

"That you are completely obsessed with me" you continued, moving a little closer to provoke him.

"You wish I was!" he laughed as he took you by the wrists and pulled you away a bit. But in the middle of this maneuver, he managed to steal a kiss from you that made you smile.

"Your words and your actions aren’t very congruent, Munson" you joked again. You hadn't stopped touching each other at any time "I really have to go home or my mom is going to worry"

"Let me accompany you"

"No," you said, in a soft but determined voice "I don't..." you started to say, feeling the young man's attentive gaze "Maybe you can come later, yes?"

"Okay," he exclaimed sympathetically, as he let go of your hands and took a step back. Although you had said that you had to leave, you weren’t making the slightest effort to get away, because you wanted to talk to him first. You had discovered in recent months that this served to clarify things and avoid sorrow.

"I don't know why you kissed me, but I liked it," you said absently, hoping to cause some impact or an answer with that, but when you didn't hear him say anything you spoke again "See you Monday"

“I like you” he murmured, as if he had been thinking deeply during those seconds “I didn't know before, but now I do and I wanted you to know too. If that means anything” he timidly confessed to you. You took a step and, as if you hadn't had enough, planted a small kiss on him that made him smile.

"I think you're fucking cute, but sometimes I can't stand you"

“I can shut up if my mouth is busy. Effective and fast”

"You're crazy if you think I'll keep kissing you just like that"

"What if I ask you to be my girlfriend?" he asked, so quickly that he didn't realize it until the words had left his mouth. You crossed your arms and looked him up and down, analyzing the candidate.

"Ask me and then we'll see" you replied playfully. You really couldn't waste any more time “Bye, Eddie. Be careful, please."

"Good night," he murmured. The two of you headed off in opposite directions and when you had gone a few meters you felt the need to look back, only to discover that he had done the same "Love you" he blurted out suddenly, a little louder than normal so you could hear him.

You bit your lip to contain the excited smile that threatened to appear.

"Love you" you replied too, waving goodbye.

You weren’t lying when you said that you never imagined that something like this would happen between you. Eddie wasn’t a person you planned to be in your future and yet there you were, wishing with all your heart that he would keep his promise so you could be more than just friends. Friends, he and you were fucking friends, and to top it off you just kissed him. That sounded so unreal.

You entered the house with the biggest smile of all and butterflies fluttering strongly around your stomach, now knowing that what you felt for Eddie Munson was nothing more than love.

TAG LIST: @sweetdayme4427 @smol-book-nerd @ilikewomendealwithit @harringt8ns @katsukis1wife @ilovereadingfanfics

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #stranger things 4 #joseph quinn #enemies to lovers #eddie munson enemies to lovers #rivals to lovers #its pure cliche

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stevethehairington · 6 months

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okay so. overall review:

actually not as bad as i expected it to be! and not as bad as i thought it was going to turn out while i was in the trenches there lol. i still wished it focused a little more on eddie's home life/relationship with his dad and uncle AND his friends, and had way less of the romance stuff (read: none), BUT i will admit that there ended up being a lot less of the romance stuff than i initially expected and a lot less than it seemed like there would be while still in the middle of the book.

the paige stuff still made me uncomfy bc i didn't like the power dynamics there (paige had something eddie wanted desperately, and i don't like the idea that that could have had something to do with his "feelings" for her/why he engaged with them ((esp bc let's be real — he didn't seem super torn up over not getting to be with her in the end)) or that she used that to her advantage bc there was ALSO something in it for her) BUT i will say they did make it slightly less skeezy than i expected bc she was only a couple years older than him instead of like. significantly older like i expected.

i do wish there was more about eddie's friends and their fallout and reconciliation. his friends were super important to him and he just. dropped them. like that. and there was BARELY any blowback. like yeah there was a fight with ronnie, but we never actually got to see the reactions of any of the other hellfire/corroded coffin guys, and i would've liked to see that. same with the reconciliation, it felt very minimal — i would've liked to see more of how that played out too.

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN SECOND OF WAYNE MUNSON CONTENT, THAT MAN IS A GIFT HE IS AN ANGEL I ADORE HIM WITH EVERYTHING IN ME. IF THERE IS ONE THING THIS BOOK HAS DONE IT HAS SOLIDIFIED MY STANCE THAT WAYNE MUNSON IS THE BEST GOD DAMN CHARACTER AND I WOULD DIE FOR HIM.

as for eddie — i think the author did an alright job finding his voice. there were times where i thought she really nailed it, but there were also A LOT of times where i thought "he would never say that!!" "he would never do that!!". it wasn't very consistent, but overall it wasn't awful and there were some good parts!

the other characters we know and love that made cameos — VERY fun to see them (gareth, chrissy, jason, hopper, will, jonathan!!!) gareth was ESPECIALLY fun to see because they really embraced that feral chihuahua boy energy we love to assign to him. BUT. i am SO incredibly upset with how badly they massacred my boy tommy h (whOSE LAST NAME THEY COULDNT EVEN GET RIGHT I MEAN W H A T!?) they fucking. got his characterization SO BAD. it was awful. i am. personally offended by it (joking, mostly rhsjsi). (as a tommy lover i am. devastated tho. HE WOULD NOT DO THAT!!!)

OH ALSO — reefer rick. WHAT a fun dude. hes out here in his robe and bunny slippers drinking darjeeling tea, living it up. what a guy.

id like to give a huge FUCK YOU to principal higgins too! they made that dude a straight up MONSTER. he was unnecessarily CRUEL and some of the things he said straight up to eddies face,,,,,,, sir what the FUCK. i know the 80s was a different time but jesus fucking cHRIST was casual cruelty and bullying from grown ass ADULTS commonplace? i sure hope not.

ALSO FUCK AL MUNSON LIVES ALL MY HOMIES HATE AL MUNSON LIVES. that man was AWFUL, TRULY HONESTLY GENUINELY THE WORST. neglectful and cruel and downright AWFUL. NOT ONLY DID HE CONSISTENTLY ABANDON EDDIE THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE BUT THEN HE DREW EDDIE INTO HIS SCHEMES, CONNED HIM, FUCKED UP REAL BIG, AND THEN LEFT EDDIE IN THE ASHES OF THEIR — OF HIS — HOME AS THE ONLY PERSON LEFT WITH THE COP WHO GOT SHOT AND IS LIKE SLOWLY BLEEDING OUT. TALK ABOUT FUCKING TRAUMA WHAT THE FUCK. i hope he got flayed ALIVE by charlie greene lmao it would serve him right that absolute twat waffle.

also, im gonna be real. the end of that book was actually INSANELY depressing. like, it tried to be positive because you gotta end on a positive note right? but it just fell. COMPLETELY flat. bc we all know what happens to eddie in canon. he's sitting there reenrolling in school, peacoking around about how he's GOING to finish high school and he's GOING to graduate and he's GOING to show principal higgins that he CAN do it and that he ISNT the fuckup deliquent he's convinced he is. BUT WE ALL KNOW HE DOESNT FUCKING GET THAT IN CANON. he's taking waynes advice and fully embracing who he is and he's learning to be comfortable in his own skin and to rise above all the noise of people who don't like him and think he's a freak. ONLY WE KNOW HE NEVER TRULY GETS TO DO THAT EITHER BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW HOW IT ENDS IN CANON. so yeah it just ends up being a REALLY fucking BLEAK ending because all of that "positivity" is absolutely tainted. it's fucking soured. and i am once again INSANELY INFURIATED about eddies death. so fuck the duffers, again.

also, eddie munson literally never caught a fucking break. not one fucking break. his ENTIRE life was just one series of tragedies after the other and it truly just continued on that way until he fucking died. honestly, its a goddamn MIRACLE that he has ANY ounce of positivity and optimism and hope left in his life when we get to him in s4. thatd how utter dogshit a hand he has been dealt in life. and it only.got worse from there. and i will NEVER forgive ANYONE involved in his creation for that.

so yeah! that concludes my journey reading flight of icarus. it was a wild ride lol.

#flight of icarus #flight of icarus spoilers #eddie munson #stranger things #mack reacts

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ronmanmob · 3 months

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what kind of love are you?

Love as a Threshold

Your love does not ask for much. Your love does not take. Your love is free, and unquestioned, and here for wherever needs it. When you fall in love, it is as gentle as a breath in the night. It is quiet, and it is effortless. It is tender. If your love was a house, it would readily welcome all who come through. If your love was a hearth, it would warm the hands of whoever stopped by, whether for a day, a month, a year, or forever. When you fall for someone, it is without strings, without conditions, without need. You love for the sake of loving, for the sake of caring for those who need it. You love with a giver’s heart and a giver’s hands and are made so much stronger for it. Being loved by you is to always feel at home. Your love may not always be well-received by those unprepared to linger, but it is unforgettable all the same.

tagged by STOLEN FROM: @brooklynislandgirl tagging: anyone who wants to play but especially @vxctorx

#//stuff and things about Ronnie #brooklynislandgirl

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powderblueblood · 5 months

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The level of detail and thought you've put into hai is incredible!

I have a question. I love how you've described Eddie as a rizzless loverboy (my favorrite kind) so I need to know how he managed to get with an ice queen like Nicole. Not to mention some stuff with Chrissy later and even Cass but I'm most curious about Nicole, especially since she's a former friend of lacy's and he describes her as the one person who's meaner than lacy. I need details. How did it all go down? i like to imagine that she approached him. What makes me sad is that I think she probably did it just to say she lost her virginity but I also like to think that they all find him hot but they just wont say it because he's the town freak

NONNY COME THROUGH I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!!!! hard agree on nicole approaching him because she's nasty as fuck in all the wrong era-typical ways and he's scared as hell of her (like, she really could bite and not in a cute way). but i also agree about these girls secretly being endeared to him. i mean, we saw it with chrissy-- he has a knack for making people feel safe in vulnerable little moments. but unfortunately, people (teenagers) are also diiiiiiicks

so fuck it, let's blurb it out! or

EDDIE MUNSON STAMPS NICOLE SUMMERS' V-CARD (NOT A BOARD WAXER, NOT IN MAUI)

content warning: swearing, wildly unsexy implication of sex, nicole summers sucks dude, teenagers scare the living shit out of me, me attempting to incorporate dnd terminology, GRANNY ECKER KLAXON, there's also an easter egg in this for the rest of the story if you know where to look word count: 2.6k (lol what)

part of the hellfire & ice universe (duh!)

FOREST HILLS TRAILER PARK, 1982-ISH

She's gotta be doing community service.

It's Easter, right, so this has gotta be like... a Jesus thing. But she doesn't seem like a Jesus person.

It's the only precedent that would explain what Nicole Summers, jaw jutting out in an exaggerated scowl, is doing serving Meals on Wheels to the less fortunate dwellers of Hawkins' favorite trailer park. Her red hair blazes in the sunlight, searing into his retinas--

But that could also be the weed talking.

"Ma'am, like, I don't know what to tell you, you're signed up to receive these."

"And I don't know what to tell you, little girl," Veronica Ecker Sr., affectionately and fearsomely known as Granny to him, grits from the doorway, "but I'm perfectly capable of cooking my own darn food."

Eddie's been lingering around the Ecker trailer, see, waiting for Ronnie to be freed from yet another M*A*S*H appointment with her grandmother ("Ever since she stopped going to church, it's like, all Alan Alda all the time," quoth Ronnie) and run through his latest Hellfire campaign.

"I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just saying that--"

"You're making me miss my program."

"I'll eat it." Eddie doesn't know who said that or why it sounds like his voice, until he figures out that he said it, which is why it sounds like his voice. Jesus, that shit he lifted from his dad was strong.

Granny Ecker and Nicole Summers elicit almost identical reactions of annoyance once they clock that he's there, lingering in the outfield.

"Junior, if you don't--"

"Oh my God. Ew."

Eddie plants his hands on his hips, half in the hopes that this might look authoritative, half mirroring Granny. "Well, y'know. Waste not want not."

Granny considers him, then apparently considers that this might not be such a terrible idea. Her laser focus directs back to Nicole.

"I don't give a shit. I'm not eating that tripe."

"I'm not just-- authorized to pass off meals like that. There's a system."

"Wait, you need clearance for stuff like that? In Meals on Wheels?" That'd be Ronnie's voice, head popping over her grandmother's shoulder. "Oh, hey, Eddie."

"Hey, Ron. You ready to--"

"Veronica, get back inside. I need you to hit that thing back to record when M*A*S*H comes back on. I don't want any commercials on my darn tapes."

"Oh my God, forget it!" Nicole breaks, stalking towards him with a foil-wrapped tray. She stays a safe distance away and thrusts it towards them-- something something freak cooties, some new line of bullshit that her and her dumb little clique had come up with in middle school. "Here. I don't need the whole freak council weighing in on this."

Eddie takes the tray and considers the shiny foil wrapping. His reflection is all distorted in there, a funhouse mirror but way, way worse. This makes him compelled to be unwisely honest to Nicole, who's already making tracks away from him. He jogs to catch up, foil crinkling as he moves. "Well, now I feel bad."

"Don't."

"It's like robbing from old people. Maybe you should give this to another old person. Like a super skinny one. Who might need two."

"Fuck 'em."

"Gee, Nicole, you're really buildin' that stairway to heaven, huh?"

"Ugh. What?"

"The meals-- the Meals on Wheels. It's a nice thing to... do. Fuckin'... forget it." Eddie stops dead; he might be loaded right now, but he knows which side his bread is buttered on. And he hasn't got any bread. He thinks it might be mashed potatoes, green beans and some rubbery chicken. Anyway, he turns heel-- this conversation isn't going anywhere.

"Hey, freak." The derisive nickname comes calling from Nicole's end. Ring-ring. "Are you stoned right now?"

"De-pendsssss," Eddie murmurs, the 's' sound going on for like five minutes, "Are you... a cop right now?"

Nicole busts out a giggle. It's kind of a pretty noise, if a little grating. She's kind of pretty. Eddie remembers when she had braces in middle school and whenever she'd pick on him, she'd kind of spit on him too. Gross. But still kind of pretty.

"I know how you can make it up to me."

Jump-freaking-cut and Nicole Summers is sitting with Eddie in that creepy wooded area near Forest Hills, making a miserable job of rolling a joint out of a dusting of his dad's weed and a torn-open Pall Mall. His buzz has kind of come and gone, and in its wake the knotted, deadened trees are looking extra gnarly.

"God, I suck at this."

You don't suck. You just need practice, is what Eddie would say if it were anybody else sitting with him, but all he manages is, "Eugh."

Because she does suck. And he's too nervous to further verbalize himself. He holds his hand out and she drops the comically conical attempt at a joint into it.

Deftly, Eddie re-rolls it just like that. "Practice, baby. Only way to Carnegie Hall."

"Wait, what?" Nicole murmurs, brow furrowed.

Eddie wishes he didn't phrase it like that either. "Um. Nothing. How come you're doing Meals on Wheels?"

A guttural sigh comes right from the center of her chest, which Eddie can almost see, thanks to her super low-cut tank top. Her cleavage is all freckled and hiked up, thanks to the Wonderbra that he's been painstakingly avoiding tracing the outline of with his eyes. "My fucking aunt. She's like some do-gooder Christian nutso, she runs the whole thing."

"Oh--" but Nicole's not done. She kicks a toeful of dirt up just as Eddie ignites the end of the joint and takes a harsh pull.

"I'm stuck with her this whole break because my grades were shit. I'm supposed to be in Maui, y'know."

Eddie wordlessly passes the joint on. Knew it was a Jesus thing. And like, boo-hoo, he guesses? He doesn't have any real pity for Nicole Summers right now, because overall she fucking blows. She's mean as hell, for no good reason.

Ronnie came up with a good analogy for it one time; like, put up against that chick Lacy that she hangs out with, Nicole is mean like a bad dog. She just keeps barking and barking and barking and barking and it is relentless and it's busting open your eardrums and she's snarling and you're too scared to get in her way so you just tolerate it. Even if it fucks up your whole day.

That Lacy girl, though, she's mean like a guillotine. One sharp drop and you're done. Dead. Headless horseman.

"I know which one is worse-- Nicole, obviously, because it chips away at you and it's so freakin' loud. But I know which one I'd prefer," Ronnie had said, "I feel like if Lacy comes for you, you've really earned it. Like, you possibly deserve to perish."

But ultimately, curiosity will be the death of Eddie Munson. And so will girls. And so will boring Spring break Sundays.

Nicole half-chokes on a lungful of smoke and Eddie's got to pat her on the back so he doesn't get nailed for her murder or whatever.

"God. Gross," Nicole gripes on recovery. "Ugh. My whole family is in Maui, but I'm stuck here and like-- I even told people I was going to Maui and it's like-- so fucked."

"Totally." Eddie makes pincer fingers towards the joint. "Don't bogart that."

But Nicole is holding it aloft, totally off on her own journey, and Eddie wonders if the weed has hit her that fast or if she's just completely self-involved.

"I even sent postcards to people, pretending I was in Maui. If you wanna know something really pathetic."

It takes a second for Eddie to decipher it, but it seems like she's saying that she's been sneaking around Hawkins incognito all break because she told all of her sucker friends she was in the Central Pacific.

"You completely said that sentence backwards."

He notes that down to tell Ronnie about later.

"Shuddup, freak."

"Man, it is so completely uncool of you to keep calling me a freak when you're literally smoking my weed."

"You took my Meal on Wheel."

"Meal on Wheel for a well-rolled joint does not an even trade make, Summers!"

"So why did you say okay?!" Nicole barks, and Eddie finally gets a grasp of that joint. He's up, he's off the log they were occupying. There is a buzz to be had here, a good time rolled tight up in these flammable papers and he is not about to waste it by letting Nicole Summers verbally wail on him.

"Because I am obviously a veritable moron of the highest knight's order and I had time to kill before M*A*S*H was over!"

That rhymed.

Nicole looks up at him with her green eyes narrowed, this horrible, puggy grimace wrinkling her face. And then she says something so beyond the realm of Eddie's comprehension that he's sure the weed is turning on him.

"Do you wanna, like, hook up?" Nicole says-- scratch that, Nicole snarls.

"What?!" So this level of fuckery doesn't make sense to Eddie because nobody's around. Like, if Nicole takes a shot at the freak and Hagan and Carol and Tina and Lacy and Cass aren't around to hear it, did it even happen?

"I'm serious," Nicole deadpans. "I kind of... look, so I kind of wrote to some people that I hooked up with someone on vacation and, like... I could make that not a whole lie."

"Nicole," Eddie says, in a tone about as measured as he can manage, which is not very because his balls seem to have vacuumed themselves back into his body, "Are you asking me to aid and abet your elaborate scam in which you're currently pretending you're in Maui getting, what... railed by like, a surfer?"

"Wow. That's actually kinda close to what I've been telling people."

He would later find out that she said her premiere paramour was a board waxer.

Eddie inhales a lungful of smoke so deep and so urgent that it makes him feel like Hunter S Thompson-- that is, to say, certifiably insane. Because Eddie's never been... Like, he's made out, or whatever, and grazed a boob like once, but...

In an ideal world, he would not be in the woods. In an ideal world, there might be some perfect declaration beforehand, and he might be indoors, and he might be wearing cleaner underwear. In an ideal world, it would not be Nicole Summers.

Roll Perception. Is this really how it happens? Maybe she secretly... likes me?

The D20 in his brain lands a nat one.

Yeah, maybe. But you've been wrong about that before.

Nicole gets up, and he can just about see the cogs turning in her head, trying to intimate an expression of sultriness. It's such a thin mask that he can basically see her rolling her eyes behind it.

"C'mon. You can't tell me you haven't... thought about it," she tries, dropping her voice in volume and pouting her lips.

And Christ, Eddie hates to be such a guy about it, but... you hate to look a gift horse in the formerly-braces-clad mouth.

I haven't thought about it. I think you suck. But I also think this might be my one shot at something for a long, long, long, long, long--

"God, quit thinking about it and kiss me, freak."

It's almost hot, it's like lukewarm at the very best, which is good enough for Eddie so he goes for it. Lips on lips, but Nicole apparently doesn't follow rhythm very well. There's a lot of dry macking, not a lot of... sensual action. He's almost starting to feel sorry for her.

But then-- well, let's just cut to the chase since that's the flavor du jour, then her hand is on his dick. Through the jeans, obviously, she's not a belt ninja but it's very much there. Flesh and tendons, palming at him.

In this situation, Eddie's not a hard sell. Badum-tsssss.

He uses one hand to hook around the back of her neck, tilting her head toward him-- using this opportunity to kiss her right, or what he assumes is right, while she's distracted. Nicole cannot focus on two things-bad kissing and dick handling-at once, unlike Eddie, who uses his free hand to feel her boobs.

"Siddown on the log," she breathes. Just what you want to hear in the heat of passion.

"Uh-- okay," and he does what he is told. Because she's still a pitbull, at the end of the day.

"Do you, like, have anything?"

"Like... the clap?" Eddie sorta-squeaks as Nicole positions herself over him, one knee either side of his thighs. She's got good balance. Is she in cheerleading? Or is that the other mean one?

"No, you fuckin'-- like a condom."

"Oh." His heart sinks. There's a box of Trojans that Ronnie jokingly bought him after he tried to lay a smacker on her-majorly misguided move, by the way!-but he doesn't--

Wait, shut up. They were literally having this argument the other day, he and Ronnie, about that tiny pocket on pairs of jeans. You know the one. Ronnie was trying to explain that it was for cowboys to keep their watches in, whereas Eddie was arguing that there's no way that cowboys need a watch, dude. They go by the sun in the sky. Like men, so the pocket obviously had to be for emergency prophylactics.

He'd even demonstrated, slipping a good ol' Troj into the tiny fold!

Eddie, in his over-excited state, almost knocks Nicole off the log trying to dig the rubber out. "Voilà."

"Whut," Nicole mumbles.

"Do you take Spanish?"

"No, French."

"... okay."

Here it is. This is it. He's about to get his dick out in the scary wooded part by the trailer park where he once tried to dig a hole to China. Fuck.

But all of a sudden, Nicole is fumbling. Her movements are suddenly weird and unsure and reserved and tight. Badum-- fuck off.

"Hey, y--y'alright?" Eddie murmurs, almost brushing her hair off her face. But that feels too intimate. Even considering the circumstances.

"Have you... done this before?" she says, lips pursed and small as she fiddles with his belt.

"Um." To truth, or not to truth? That is to lose any and all hope of losing one's virginity. "I--"

"I haven't."

A little moment of silence hangs between them. That's not a bark. That's a real girl in there.

Eddie swallows, despite the precipice of opportunity. He finds his throat is very dry, sandpaper going down. That feeling-- it's a distinct sensory recall. A favor someone once did him at a birthday party.

Because Nicole's a dick, but she's still a person.

Not that she'd give him the same grace.

Oh well. Building his stairway to heaven, and all that shit.

"We don't... have to." He nods, resolutely. Partially for himself. He even puts a hand over Nicole's, where it lingers on his undone fly. "Seriously."

Nicole's eyelashes flicker and she stares at him for a drawn out beat. As if she's considering him. Really considering him. Outside of the bullshit dichotomy in which they live. A crease eventually settles in her brow, looking at him like, are you serious, loser?

"No, I obviously want to."

Want to with me? he nearly chances.

"Just don't be, like... weird about this after," she instructs. "It never happened."

"I'm not gonna. It didn't." That sounds too soft, so he snorts a little at the end.

Eddie barely has time to ask her if she's okay before it's lights out for him.

The most unforgettable thirty seconds of Eddie Munson's pubescent life up to that point begins with a scoff (his) and ends in a scoff (hers).

But that dog ceases barking for at least three weeks following. No biting in the hallway, no harassment in the parking lot. Even when Hagan sniffs around him, Nicole doesn't jeer on. She averts her eyes.

It's no declaration of love, but at least he got a free dinner out of it.

#powder room talk #Anonymous #hai brainrot #blurbs #e. munson by powder #eddie munson fic #i GENUINELY dont know what to tag this as it was so unexpected #but thank you for the ask nonny ily!!!!!!#another theory? nicole denial is a river in egypt. you and robin dykely as you so call her Are Gay #r. ecker by powder

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q-starhalo · 2 months

Text

Reset!Bad, as expected, is pretty different from our regular Bad so here's everything that we didn't really know before! :D

Ghosties/Grim Reaper:

★ We'll first start off with the ghosties and grim reaper stuff. Bad can obviously see us, a fact we've been knew, but he's confused on WHY we're following him and why we won't leave him alone. Meaning that we haven't followed him for that long as it seems. Apparently, we told him that we're stuck and about a barrier? Which can support the fact that the feds can control death or that it wasn't until recent years that we've started following him or other theories about it. He also thought that Pomme and Dapper might've been grim reapers or perhaps mediums since the ghosties were also surrounding them.

Senses (?):

★ In the first few minutes of seeing reset!Bad, he says that he can sense his dead body nearby. Meaning that Bad, through other cycles, is able to find his own body, see what he had on him, and also try to see what killed him by physical scars, wounds, potion effects, etc. unless his body has already regenerated (which in this case, it already has). Along with that, he can feel his presence if he's been somewhere (for a long time?) in a different cycle as seen when he went into the basement of his house. This also means that this helps him figure out if a place is safe/dangerous along with also feeling if there's been a powerful presence to see if there's something/someone he should be cautious of.

Memories:

★ We know Bad can remember up until 1880/1980 (?) and the last 50-ish years are missing/a blur. And we also know that he remembers Foolish and Skeppy, in which he kept asking for Skeppy and if they've seen him around. Though, he doesn't water, especially rivers ("at least it's not a river!" when they were going to spawn by sea) and doesn't like the fact that his house is near the ocean too. To us, this isn't surprising but it's also really weird since he's never had much of a problem with bodies of water. Either he remembers the Euphrates River really well now since his memory is more clearer or something else?

Another new thing is a fear of Wardens, as we can see by his reaction towards the Warden plush they have. We saw the day before that Bad was in the Deep Dark next to a portal, along with at the beginning of yesterday's stream, there's the sounds of the Deep Dark + portal sounds. So, we can assume that Bad might've had to fight the Warden. Or maybe, there's another event that happened in the past with Bad and the Warden/Deep Dark. Including to this, he got really quiet when he saw the pillagers at the mall and then acted as if that didn't happen, which is odd to say the least (perhaps since Dapper died to them and Bad died screaming for Dapper to run, he now feels scared of them?)

Personality:

★ reset!Bad seems more energized and obviously has a clearer mind. He also seems to have way more social anxiety than we last saw him (or at least shows it more) but he is still outgoing. He seems really stressed about the fact that he's stuck on the island, especially that Skeppy isn't there with him. He's still very much a goblin and tries to steal anything that looks shiny to him and he's still really silly and goofy and acts like a cartoon character.

Little things to point out:

★ Bad is hungrier then we've ever seen him, even eating his own body.

★ Bad asked if dapple duo has seen four people riding horses from Heaven in which they have not. He also seems to be questioning something about how if he's here and Foolish is here then.....?

★ He's been really caring towards the eggs, even if he doesn't know who/what they exactly are.

★ Bad said that Cucurucho looked familiar. Um.

★ Along with that, he seems to sort of like Cucurucho (though, it's solely because he seems friendly and they gave him candy after the interview). He doesn't like the red tie bunny servant (Donny Ronnie) though which is good.

★ Bad has died to magic and rabies before?.....

★ He hasn't questioned why he's "roomies" with a 10 and 9 month old dragon egg.

★ Ghosts are apparently tamed by using dirt and rocks?........ (chat ghosties, are you all fine?)

★ He's allergic to expired milk!

★ The tower reminds him of something (Heaven? Or maybe something else?).

★ He still can't read very well.

★ And he still has weak ankles.

Questions:

★ Why can't the ghosties move on? Because the feds control death? But then where did we come from?

★ What's up with the Warden. Please. What's up with that?

★ What's up with the fear of bodies of water? Is the memory of being stuck under the Euphrates River or destroying Atlantis that clear in his head?

#If there's anything that I missed please let me know!#anyways :D #qsmp #badboyhalo #qsmp badboyhalo

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unholyhelbig · 5 months

Note

part 4 mob boss mommy *i mean natty oops*

Title: The Oversight [Part 4/7]

Ship: Female!Reader x Natasha Romanoff

Wordcount: 4325

Warnings: Gun imagery, heights, unecessary tension, horrible grammar, and funnel cake

[A/n: Heads up, I wrote this while I had the flu & a pretty bad fever, so it's not my greatest work. Thank you all for the postive feedback!]

Main Masterlist | Read my stuff on AO3 | Leave Requests

“Hit me.” Natasha’s words were growled, a low rumble compared to the warm spring breeze that produced nothing but a balmy environment. Sweat glossed her collarbone, moved against expanses of skin that you had let yourself imagine, but had never seen. She was a distraction, despite being your instructor.

Her wrapped fist made contact with your jaw, a metallic taste coating your tongue. You let out a grunt of protest, fingers quickly working against the area to ease the throbbing pain. “That wasn’t fair,”

“You think they’re going to play fair? Focus up. Hit me.”

There was something about being this close to Natasha that formed a pit in your stomach. You were meant to have skin on skin contact, though most of your mornings for the past two weeks had been spent at the gun range, she had deemed you ready enough to learn how to fight. It was an art, you figured, not just something you could blindly go into.

For the first fifteen minutes of your day, you had watched Natasha and Kate spar. Yelena was standing next to you, a borderline predatory gaze on her face. You’d realized that it was one of the only emotions she harbored, and that Clint was rightful in his fear. Still, her attention was not focused on you, and that was good enough for the time being.

Instead, it was homed in on Kate. “I have been teaching her for nearly a year now.”

“She’s good.”

“You do not have to lie, y/n. She’s sloppy, reckless. Look how calculated Natalia is.”

Those emerald eyes were tracking every move the taller girl made. She’d initiated contact with Kate’s ribs, with her knees, and her shoulders. She’d fallen to the grass more times than you could count, but she still got up. That’s what seemed to count around here. Even as green a brown stained her workout gear, and as purple blotches of dead blood rose to the surface of her skin.

“It pays to learn fighting styles. That is something the Danver’s family does not understand. They hire whoever they can. Bodies over skill, it can work in some situations, but not all.”

“When did this… war start?”

“Mm, the power struggle has been raging for decades. Our parents, and their parents, and their parents before them. Both of us were trained to take over the family business. Men, they fight with their hearts and not their heads. When Carol and Natalia took up the mantel, things only got worse.”

You felt silly, growing up on these city blocks, and not realizing that a fight bigger than yourself was raging just within the shadows. You supposed that was a good thing. If you knew, you’d have taken Ronnie out of here in a second.

Kate hit the ground for a fourth time, the air knocked out of her lungs. She still had enough left to groan and prop herself up on her elbows. Natasha chuckled, the sound bubbling past her lips. This was much too fun for her.

“She is fragile.” Yelena nudged you with her arm. You frowned. Kate accepted the outstretched hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She looked dazed. “Do not tell her I said so, but she was looking for a project. You have to give it your all. For both of your sakes.”

You drew in a breath to respond, but Yelena clapped a hand on your back before taking a step toward the dueling duo. “Alright Nat! I think you’ve tortured Kate Bishop enough. Do not break her.”

Kate was bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, her fists raised in a defensive position. Her lip was split, rusty crimson against the corner of her mouth. “I can do this all day.”

“You do not have to.” Yelena’s nose scrunched up “You stink. Go take a shower.”

The blonde shoved Kate playfully towards the house, trailing behind her and murmuring things in Russian. She’d left you alone with Natasha, something you had become quite accustomed to. In your workout gear, you felt more than a little exposed, her stare raking up and down your form before her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink than they already were.

The two of you had sat on the lawn chairs as she wrapped your knuckles, had you punch the palm of her hand to see how much blowback it would cause. You were holding back, and you both knew it. Her last command had been non-negotiable.

When you swung your right hand towards her jaw, Natasha wrapped her fingers around your wrist. She had flipped you onto the ground with enough force to knock the air from your lungs. You’d flailed in panic instead of going limp like Kate had.

You’d dragged Natasha down on top of you. Her body weight was warm from the beating sun, her elbows on either side of your head. Natasha’s knee was between yours, pressing into your core. You let out a small gasp at the sensation, pulling in her musky scent of sweat and clove.

Stray strands of russet hair framed Natasha’s face as she peered down at you, her chest heaving, each breath pushing her closer to you. Her nose was brushed against yours. The two of you were impossibly close, soul-crushingly so. You were certain that she could feel your heartbeat through your shirt.

She made a quite noise “Pet, if you wanted to get me on top of you, all you had to do was ask.”

Your gaze had given you away, and Natasha suddenly had a shit-eating grin against her lips. You hooked your legs against hers an arm wrapping around her waist. In a smooth move, you had her flipped against the grass, eyes reflecting the blue of the cloudless sky. She nearly seemed impressed, and you preened at the stare.

That was before her knee came up and knocked the wind out of you for the second time. You grunted, rolling off her. The two of you stared up at the sky for a few moments before she hoisted herself up and offered you a hand. You batted it away out of habit, rising on your own.

“When you fall, you fall with grace.” Natasha said, her voice stoney, right back to her serious self. “That way you don’t end up like we just were.”

“And if they ask?” you lifted an eyebrow at her, a hint of malice in her voice. She took a step closer to you, and that ever-intoxicating scent filled your lungs once more. Your ribs still ached from her kick, fingers massaging the sore spot. However, all of your movement halted.

Her voice was murmured and rusty. “I don’t want anyone else on top of you.”

“Okay,” You whispered, throat suddenly tight. “Then show me how.”

Veronica had the excited reflection of light in her eyes. They scanned the traveling fair that had been set up in the park bordering the harbor and a square city block. Each year, tents with local vendors would go up, rides and carnival games in their stead.

The scent of kettle corn filled your lungs, a mix of sweet and salty that reminded you of your own childhood spent here. It was the one constant that every foster family took part in. Sometimes you’d be given a stack of tickets, others, you’d get enough for a large cup of the best lemonade you had ever tasted.

Her hand tightened around yours, squeezing in excitement. Despite your current situation, you couldn’t help but smile. The soft sound of music and the light breeze was enough to make your forget about your aching muscles, and the light sweater that you had thrown on to hide the bruising against your shoulders, your arms, and collarbone. Natasha had really done a number on you.

“Jimmy is a nice guy, he really is, but the whole magic thing is driving me nuts.” Darcy used her forefingers to pinch off a bit of blue cotton candy, shoving it into her mouth. She talked around the melting sugar. “Seriously, he spilled my coffee all over my lap attempting a card trick and then attempted to mop it up with a never-ending handkerchief.”

You snickered at that, earning a look cut from glass. “What? I’m sorry about your drycleaning, but it is kind of funny.”

“Yeah, whatever. I just have to grow a backbone. He doesn’t try to pull that shit with Monica. No one tries to pull that shit with her.” She knelt in front of Ronnie, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re not going to tolerate stupid magic tricks, are you?”

She was met with a silent, but amused stare, her eyebrow lifted. You’d been leveled with that look more than once yourself. It dissolved you into more laughter. “Alright, alright. No magic for the kid. Does the Ferris Wheel count as magic?”

“Well sure, but only at the worlds fair.”

You rolled your eyes but effectively tugged them both into the line. It had always been one of your favorites. It gave you a good look at the city you called home. Of course, your view of that city had been stunted lately. It never truly changed the beauty of the lights and the way they reflected off the water.

Your shoulder came in contact with chilled leather, your attention having been trained on fishing through your pockets for the small red tickets. Your eyes shot up, ready to rush out an apology until the words stopped in your throat.

Seeing Natasha outside of her manor was jarring. She looked nearly the same, a tight-fitting black T-shirt and a leather jacket draped over her shoulders. Her hair was loose, unlike it was at training earlier in the day, cascading down her shoulders. Her make-up was light, her unripe stare pouring into yours. That bewilderment melted into her cool exterior as if it were never there in the first place.

“Natasha,” the word poured from your lips before you could stop it, and the corner of her mouth quirked up in amusement. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I can take a hit” She stated matter-of-factly. You were well aware of the fact, and you had to stifle a shiver as it worked its way down your spine. Hours before she had been nestled so perfectly on top of you.

Your cheeks heated up and you glanced sparingly at your friend, her own eyes going back and forth between the both of you. It was then that you noticed Clint, towering over Natasha with his arms crossed over his chest. He gave you a finger wave, and you lifted your chin in return.

“I’m Darcy, you are?” She was beyond forward, and it made you internally cringe. She reached her hand out to the very woman that ran the city. It was like sticking your hand in the lions enclosure covered in steak sauce.

“Natasha,” her words dripped with a subtle hint of her accent “This is Clint.”

“Howdy,” he knelt then, Veronica was clinging tightly to your leg, peeking around tentatively. She hugged you closer as he spoke. “You must be Veronica.”

The woman in front of you softened as you had never seen before. Her eyes grew brighter, though you could pin that on the circulating lights of the Ferris Wheel. There was a genuine smile on her lips as she looked at the girl who hugged you ever close.

“She doesn’t talk much, I’m afraid.” Your hand moved comfortingly to her shoulder. Ronnie seemed comfortable, if not excited about the rides that were teeming around them.

Nat smiled at you “Oh, I’m sure she’ll speak when she has something to say.”

Ronnie’s death-grip on your leg seemed to loosen a bit as Clint straightened up. Darcy continued to scrutinize you and Natasha, something mischievous in her stare that you didn’t exactly care for. She rocked back and forth on her feet and directed her attention to Clint.

“How good are you at skeeball?”

“An absolute beast.” Clint replied.

“What do you say to a challenge? I bet I can kick your ass with the power of science. Winner springs for funnel cake.”

You picked up on the subtle look Clint gave Natasha and the even more subtle wave that she responded with. She blew an amused breath. Darcy stretched her hand towards Ronnie and wiggled her finger. “Kid, you staying or going?”

This time, Ronnie looked up at you for confirmation and you gave her a small, encouraging nod. She dislodged herself and wrapped her hand around Darcy’s. The promise of flaky and sweet funnel cake topped with powdered sugar was too tantalizing.

Admittedly, you were used to being left alone with Natasha at this point. Though it had mostly been in a business capacity. She seemed almost shy now, the line for the Ferris Wheel inching ever so closer.

“We can still go on, if you want.” She suggested.

“Yeah, yes. Of course.” You replied, “that would be lovely.”

“Your friend is very persistent.”

“She’s harmless, really.”

“And your daughter. She’s beautiful.” Natasha shoved her hands into her pockets, the two of you inching closer in line. “Just like her mother.”

Once again, you could feel the breath lodge in your throat, your cheeks flushing with fire. She was so bold at moments, and you remained silent in your conquest. There was no telling what was overstepping, though she blinked at you expectantly.

You fumbled dumbly with the tickets in your pockets, presenting them to the attendant. You both ended up in a cherry red car lined with nice leather cushions. Natasha’s thigh was warm against yours, her thick scent coating your lungs. Her arm was around the back of the cart, and a familiar sense of safety settled within you.

“You worry about her,” Natasha said to fill the silence as they loaded each cart. It lurched forward and back, making your stomach turn. “I didn’t start speaking until I was nine years old. My mother, she was so concerned that she rushed to be every specialist that money could buy. Whole days spent driving to different counties, just for them to say that same thing. Nothing is wrong, and I’ll talk when I’m ready.”

“What was that moment? The one where you were ready?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “The thing about being quiet, is that people tend not to notice when you’re in the room. My father protected Yelena and I from his world for as long as he could, but eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves, and others. I watched him give a man his last drink before shooting him between the eyes.”

“Fuck, Natasha.” You murmured.

“He doesn’t know I saw that. I ran as quietly as I could back to my room and hid under the duvet like a child. Something snapped in me that day and I no longer wanted to be silent. I suppose the fear of displeasing either of them ebbed the words from me.”

She was being vulnerable in front of you, a side that you had never seen. There were always her subtle touches, and her purred words that would hit the pit of your stomach. You’d watch as she gave unwavering commands to Clint, to Yelena and Kate. But this was different. This was her.

The city sparkled around you. Tricolored lights reflected off the blackness of the causeways that lapped listlessly at the harbor. If you squinted, you could almost make out the mansion where you spent most of your time.

The carnival buzzed below. Her scent was overwhelming, so warm and welcoming despite her danger. And dangerous she was. It was alluring, exciting. You looked at her, eyes pouring with emotion. Not so much pity, as she would snap your wrist at the fact. But a simple understanding.

Tentatively, you reached up and cupped her cheek. You both were too far above the ground to be realized and the simple gesture was one of good faith. Surprisingly, she leaned into your touch, making a quiet, relieved noise.

Your voice was whispered, “You didn’t deserve that. You were just a kid.”

She had closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth of your contact. Her features were so soft, so broken in this moment that you resisted the urge to kiss her frown away. Before you could contemplate it, the Ferris Wheel lurched and she gently took her fingers and wrapped them around your wrist, lowering both of your hands into her lap.

“She’ll talk,” Natasha gave your hand a squeeze “give her time.”

Natasha cleared her throat as the cart neared the end of its journey. She pulled away entirely, her arm still along the back of the seat. When she leaned closer, you could feel the weight of the gun in the inside pocket of her jacket. Seriousness had lidded over her eyes once more.

“We have a job tonight, and I want you to come along.” She said, breath hot on your collarbone.

You were suddenly snapped back to reality. Natasha was in fact the head of a crime ring that you had unwittingly stumbled into. Up until now, aside from the brutal beating, it had almost felt like child’s play. She’d relearned you how to shoot, and you knew the very basics of fighting. But, you were far from her Winter Soldier stand in. You weren’t even a toy soldier.

She sensed your hesitancy. “I have a meeting at a restaurant downtown. It’s not going to go south, but if it does, I need you there. You won’t be alone.”

“Clint?” You asked.

She shook her head “guys got a family of his own, he must spend some time with them outside of work hours. Kate.”

You fought back the noise that threatened to escape your throat. You didn’t doubt Kate, but you certainly doubted yourself. You didn’t have your own weapon, and the threat of leaving a restaurant with a bullet lodged between your ribs became very real, very quickly.

She chuckled at that, “I trust her. I trust you. Just stand there and follow her lead. Look hot and intimidating.”

“Is hot really a requirement?”

“Not really, but you pull it off.” There was a switch in her again, one that had been flipped effortlessly as she grabbed the collar of your sweater and pulled you impossibly close. You were nearly sitting in her lap. “Don’t fail me on this, y/n. It’s imperative that you do as you’re told.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

You swallowed thickly as her hands wandered your side expertly. It took you a moment to realize that she had pulled the gun from her own coat and silently transferred it to yours before she released her hold on you. You had admit that you missed the touch instantly.

She stood from the cart when the attendant unlocked the door, reaching her hand out to you. You took it was ease, letting her help you onto the metal dismount. There were no words exchanged as you readjusted the weapon as slyly as you could muster, hands shoved into your pockets a moment later.

“I don’t know what to tell you, dude.” You could hear Darcy’s voice from within the crowds. It was easy to spot them, and you swore you saw the ghost of a smile on Natasha’s face. “The kid kicked both of our asses. Split the difference and pay up.”

“Yeah, fine.” Clint fished out his wallet and placed a couple of bills in Darcy’s waiting palm. “The price of carnival food these days is outrageous.”

Kate had presented you with a leather holster that fit snuggly around your chest and abdomen. She’d tightened the straps, your arms halfway raised. It felt a bit like a dressing room at the mall, her breath hot on your cheek as she tugged the center strap to make sure it was secure.

“Natasha likes us to be presentable.” She handed you a dark jacket to throw over the contraption. “Inconspicuous and deadly. But still presentable.”

You followed Kate’s lead. Natasha was to drive to the restaurant, and the two of you were to follow in a separate car. It was important to stay quiet unless you were spoken to directly by Natasha. Kate seemed at ease on the ride over, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel to an incoherent pop song.

The holster pinched you uncomfortably, but you were so deep into your own fear, your own reluctance, to pay much attention. Kate shot you a look, hard in her nature, and then softer when she glanced at you a second time.

“You’re much too tense” she flicked off the radio, delving you into a comfortable silence. “Lower your shoulders and relax. It’ll be an uneventful night.”

“Right,” you let out a shaky breath “uneventful.”

“Look, I can’t imagine how jarring this is for you. I would have shut down by now, changed my name and gone into witness protection if I was thrown into this life the way you are. Without a choice. But, we can make the best of it and do what we can to protect Natasha.”

“It seems like she can handle herself,”

Kate chuckled “Oh, she can. But she doesn’t keep us around just for protection. It’s a big city, she wants people she trusts. She wants a family. And I know it might not seem like it, but her welcoming you into her inner circle… it’s a blessing. Just like we’d go to bat for her, she’d do the same for us.”

You swallowed the dryness in your throat as Natasha pulled her car to the curb in front of a russet brick building. Kate did the same expertly, shutting off the engine. She clapped you on the shoulder, giving you one more encouraging smile. “One night at a time, y/n. Follow my lead.”

Kate opened the door for Natasha, and you had to keep your jaw from dropping on the ground at the sight of her. Her long leg stretched onto the sidewalk, her hand squeezing Kate’s in return as she helped her from the vehicle.

She wore a maroon dress, one that had a slit down the leg that left little to the imagination. The color matched the shirt Kate had given you earlier, everything orchestrated to a tee. The woman looked at you approvingly before she took striding steps towards the front of the building. Out of habit, you held the door open for you, another look sparkling in her dark eyes.

It was a restaurant that you had never set foot in. There was a sour, yet pleasant, scent of vinegar and cabbage masked with that of freshly baked bread and beef. The walls were painted deep green, black and white photos of rolling hills placed above empty tables.

It was clear what table you were to be led to. There was one in the center of the restaurant that was set up with a bottle of wine, and water. A candle burned in the middle, shading the woman who occupied it with shadows that stretched her delicate features. She wasn’t alone.

The woman had cropped blonde hair at the shoulders. Her hazel eyes were calculating, clocking Kate and yourself immediately. Kate pulled Natasha’s chair back, allowing her to sit before she took a step back. You flanked her sides, arms behind your back and stare trained straight ahead like a sentinel.

“Two,” the woman smiled devilishly, hiding it behind a glass of deep red wine. “Are you compensating for something, or someone?”

The woman who stood much like you did behind her boss was not masking her contempt towards you. She was familiar in an irking way that you paid no mind to. It was in passing, you were sure, but it was one of those itches that would worsen until you could scratch it with your whole hand.

“Not at all,” Natasha replied cooly, “I believe there was something you wanted to discuss?”

“Mm, there was. You know the Maroni property on the west side.” She leaned forward, placing her glass down. Her lips were stained in a dark red that matched Natasha’s dress. “I want it.”

“That’s a horrible way to say please.”

“Natasha, we both know it doesn’t serve you in it’s current position.” She put emphasis on the name.

“I fail to see how that matters. Just giving you the property is out of the question. That’s not how this works, but I do admire your gumption.”

“Then how exactly does, this work?” She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. Both you and Kate tensed. The vaguely-familiar woman behind Carol shifted on her feet in the slightest movement. “You kill one of my men and offer nothing in return?”

Natasha lifted her eyebrows “Exactly. This isn’t a bartering system, and it never has been. If I give you this building, it will change everything and I’m not much in the mood for a power struggle. What do you need it for?”

She seemed to falter “I don’t have to answer that. I’m offering to buy the property from you.”

“It’s not for sale.”

There was finality in her voice that rocked the room into silence. She hadn’t touched her wine, nor her water, and you figured she wouldn’t. Carol glowered at her, clearly not used to having her endeavors squashed with such ferocity.

Natasha took a steadying breath. “Is that all? It’s late and I’m tired of your graveling.”

She let out a sigh and crossed her legs, drumming her ringed fingers on the cloth-laid table. The flames in the candle seemed to react to her impatience. Kate’s jaw clenched and unclenched as she leveled the woman behind Carol with a fierce stare.

“I suppose. I want you to remember this moment, Natasha. I offered you a deal.” She stood and dramatically sighed once more. “This could have been easy.”

Kate always kept her eyes on Carol, on the woman who followed behind her with her hands shoved into her pockets. The darkness of a previous scar littered her collarbone. She had the same stare that Bucky had, that same determined anger that came with years of meetings with higher stakes than this.

“Oh, and Nat.” She stopped just short of the door, turning to face the three of you.

Kate reached for her weapon, and out of a blind trust, so had you. It was warm from its housed place against your side. In that moment, you knew that anyone else in the room would be a quicker shot than you. Still, your heart was beating quickly in your throat.

“I don’t know where your Winter Soldier is, but this is a sorry excuse for a replacement.” She laughed, a mean sound. “A kid and a burn-out… you should’ve taken the deal.”

She left without another word, leaving you in a chilling silence. For a few long moments, Natasha stared at the table, at her reflection in the syrupy red wine. Her fingers brushed against the glass, frowning.

“I’m twenty-three.” Kate let out in a single breath, eyes drifting from you.

“Don’t look at me,” You whispered back, “I am a burn-out.”

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