#I need to know what his deal is so bad. I must study him under a microscope | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reverieblondie · 2 months

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Late Night Dip

Pairing: Rolan x Fem!Tav Reader

Warnings: 18+, NSFW, Smut with Plot, Fingering, Tail play, Teasing, Praise, Unprotected Penetrative Sex (Please wrap before you tap), G-whiz Position.

Summary: Cal and Lia are worried about their brother, he's just so stressed and needs a break! Good thing you have an idea that could help...

A/N: Rolan is hot, and I'm not going to apologize. I want to give him everything. More fics of my other favorite fictional men coming soon!

Word Count: 4,774

“Please, you have to get him out of that tower! You're the only one who he will listen to!”

You almost spit out your drink from Cal’s comment and look at him bewildered, “Uh, You must be confused you're talking about Rolan? Mr. Know it all? The arch workaholic? He's not going to listen to me.”

Lia leans against the bar dramatically, “Could you just give it a try, please? We have tried everything we could think of to get him to take some time off to destress but nothing has worked. We are hoping that because he has a soft spot for you he will listen to you.”

A scoff leaves you, “Rolan does not have a soft spot for me…”

Lia and Cal share a quick look before Cal speaks up again.

“Just one try, for his health. I swear every time I’m near him I can feel his tension radiate off him, take him out somewhere so he can unwind, and if he rejects you I will buy your drinks for two weeks.”

Closing your eyes you consider the chore. Seeing Rolan isn’t a bad thing you love getting any excuse to see that handsome face. Though pulling him from his work would not be an easy feat, but…you do enjoy teasing him, those looks he gives you when you get under his skin always sends a rush of heat to rise to your cheeks. Plus if he is overworking himself you can’t let that happen to your favorite wizard (sorry Gale). Maybe this would be a good push to your friendship to move to more…romantical areas….plus there was that spot you wanted to take him and tonight is as good of a time as any. If all else fails and Rolan heartbreakingly rejects you for a night outing at least you will get free drinks for the next two weeks to wash away the pain.

“Okay, I will handle it, but be ready to have to buy a lot of ale for the next two weeks Cal,” you say as you gather your stuff and step towards the doors. Cal and Lia watch as you walk out of the tavern into the night towards Ramazith Tower.

“Think there's a chance he will reject her and we will have to deal with a tense Rolan?” Cal asks Lia worriedly.

Lia scoffs and settles herself on a seat at the bar, “Please, Rolan can’t deny her, and even if he wants to pretend he can, do you think she’s going to take no for an answer?”

“Those two are really into each other huh?”

“Yeah, Let's hope one of them finally realizes it and does something about it tonight. I have a bet with Larkissa that Tav makes the first move, and I want my 50 gold.”

Wow, they were right…he looks so stressed.

Your eyes watch as Rolan's taut back stays hunched over the journal he is scribbling in as he studies an old-looking tome. The only part that moves on him is his hand and he writes in a frantic motion. His golden eyes peering at the tome then back to his journal as he continues, it's clear he has been at this for a while.

Leaning against the doorway you study his profile for a bit longer. Hair was done in its elaborate bun to hide his ears, brows underneath his well-kept horns furrowed in irritation, and the most perfect nose in all of Faerûn. Let's see if we can’t get him to scrunch it in irritation.

“And what happened to the master of Ramaziths Tower? Worked so hard he died from stress, he was so young…”

Rolan seems surprised for a moment before he turns his head to see your smug grin, this earns you an eye roll, “What happened to the Hero of Baldur's Gate? Oh, she pushed her luck too many times and was thunder waved out of Ramazith's Tower.”

Sontering in you wave him off dismissively, “See you're so tired you're unable to come up with your own insults. That means it’s time you take a break.”

Scoffing, he turns away from you going back to scribbling away, “You sound like Cal and Lia…”

“They did send me to get you.”

“Of course they did”

Getting closer you see the swarm of papers and books he’s been busying himself with, ignoring it all you sit on his desk and look down at him as he writes. He seems to look at your legs for a moment before shaking his head and going back to what he was writing. Usually, he would be nagging you about your poor manners and the fact that you are bothering him, must be too tired to fight. You watch him as he slowly starts up his work again trying to ignore your ass so close to his hands crushing his papers. His nose is starting to scrunch and you can only smile with a sweet taunting hum. Crossing your legs gets his attention one more time before he mumbles something to himself.

“Work, work, work, write, write, write, Rot, rot, rot” you chant in a sing-song voice as you shake your foot bumping him slightly.

“Must you annoy me?” he grumbles

“You're just annoyed because you're so pent up with stress, come on let's go out.”

Rolan looks up at you and furrows his brows, nose still scrunched, “I’m annoyed because of everyone constantly pestering me when I have a thousand things to do. I’m not going anywhere and I am not…pent up…”

You let out a loud sigh, “Oh come on Rolan you're so pent up with stress you could pop, just a small break, a nice stress-free night will do you some good, then we will leave you alone to be the great grump of Ramaziths. Plus I have something I want to show you that I found the other day.”

Rolan keeps his head down scribbling, “It will be really fun.” you coo

He continues to ignore you. You frown before leaning down to his ear. “Please…” you whisper softly

Rolan stops his writing and groans.

“Come on Rolan! Just a bit further!”

“Where the hells are you taking me!”

“It's a surprise! Now hurry up!”

You're both running in the forest outside of the gate, you're ahead of him leading the way but you can hear the snapping of twigs and slight infernal cusses as he tries to keep up. You can't help but laugh as he continues his grumpy pursuit. Finally, you reach your destination with a bright smile on your face as you wait for Rolan to emerge from the thicket. Biting your lip in expectation you bounce on the heels of your feet, this will be perfect…

You had found this place on one of your walks and knew that you would have to come back, and bringing Rolan only made it all the better. A secret hot spring is hidden away in the thick forest, perfect for two. The water looks as if it glows a cyan blue, it seems to glitter underneath the full moonlight. Your eyes watch as the steam from the water rises to the vast starlit sky. This will be perfect for relieving stress.

Finally, you hear him come into the clearing, his once pristine appearance is now a mess with twigs in his now messy hair and robes covered in dirt from where he must have fallen trying to keep up with you. The smile on your face never falters and he approaches you with an unamused look. He looks past you at the heated water and raises an eyebrow.

“A hot spring? You know if you wanted to bathe…”

Rolan's words halt as you start loosening the strings of your bodice. Looking up you meet his golden eyes and smirk at his surprised face as you drop your bodice to the ground. His eyes widen and his lips slightly part before he turns away quickly.

“Come on Rolan, a late night dip under the stars. You can’t beat that. Plus I bet once that water hits your skin all your stress will melt away.”

You start stripping off your undershirt quickly followed by your pants. Your eyes watch Rolan's back as it seems to tense at each sound of your clothes rustling and falling. His tail whips around seemingly uncontrollably, before wrapping around his leg, you're still trying to figure out if it is from excitement or irritation.

“You have been traveling with Halsin for too long…”

You laugh at the comment, “Well, he is rather wise, learned a lot from him while on our journey…”

Rolan's tail twitches before he turns around quickly to face you. His eyes widen as he sees your scantily clad undergarments, not like you went and changed before going to fetch him…

He turns back around quickly “Like what…” he mutters, is he? Jealous…

“Just…things…” you say almost tauntingly. You just can’t resist, from the moment you two started becoming friends you two have been taunting and teasing at every opportunity. Sometimes you don’t know if you want to punch him or kiss him. Though now…you can only think of one thing…

Taking off your undergarments and then by complete ‘accident’ you toss them towards his feet. He looks down at them for a second before you watch his tail rise slightly before falling back down and lifting his head to look up at the starry sky.

“I’ve learned things from my other companions as well…” you say softly, almost too sweetly

A nervous laugh seems to rise harshly from his chest. Slowly you approach Rolan, you're being extremely quiet and you're completely bare. “Like Astarion for example” Right behind him now you look up at his tightly set bun, and with a quick moment you pluck the tie keeping it up out, That should loosen him some, “taught me to sneak up on people to take things.”

Rolan starts to turn his head but seems to stop himself remembering you're now naked. Not that you would mind his golden eyes taking you all in. With his hair now down you finally see his sharply pointed ears, they are cute and with their marron coloring at the tips completely giving away how embarrassed he is at the moment. Part of you wants to take the opportunity to be naughty and nibble on his ear while playing with his loose hair. Best not to push your luck however.

Proud of successfully teasing him you decide to finally get into the water. Stepping carefully into the calm water the heat craseing your skin immediately relaxes you. The water is the perfect temperature and you quickly sink in and swim around enjoying yourself with pleasant sighs. Turning your head you see Rolan watching with what you think is a smile on his face.

“Come on in, the water is great!”

“Dry land is also great.”

“So you're just going to let me swim alone?” you watch as Rolan thinks for a moment “It's very relaxing…” you coo

He finally sighs, “Fine…just to make sure you don’t drown out here…”

“Lucky me ~”

Instead of ripping his clothes off quickly and jumping into the water ready to confess his desires to you as you hoped, Rolan instead brings his hands to undo his collar slowly and methodically. Somehow the slow stripping is not only frustrating you but also exciting you, the robe rolls off his shoulders and he takes the time to fold it up neatly. A tightening in your lower stomach is driving you mad, how hard is it to undress quickly?

Opening your mouth to give him a hard time your comment gets halted in your throat. Rolan lifts his red undershirt over his head exposing his chest lined with beautiful ridges. The ridges seem to lead your eyes along his surprisingly athletic build, the moonlight shining on his body showing off just how toned he is; tense muscles being stretched as he raises his arms to relieve some tension from being so confined. He’s been hiding all this under those robes? That's just criminal…

Then his hands go for his belt and you're completely caught in a trance mouth slightly parting as he undoes the first button, seeming to remember your presence in the shining spring his golden eyes lock with yours and all your previous nerve leaves as your heart lurches. Quickly you turn around breaking his gaze, you swear you hear a slight chuckle before the clearing of his throat. Closing your eyes you chastise yourself for being a pervert, but that still doesn’t stop the image of his bare body replaying over and over in your mind running through all the possibilities the night could hold.

Sounds of sloshing water along with a sigh breaks you from your thoughts. Turning you can’t help but smile at what looks like a very blushy Rolan, feeling nice you give him a round of applause as he settles in the warm water.

Rolan rolls his eyes, “Your an idiot”

“What, I thought you liked adoring applause?”

Rolan ignores your comment, shaking his head as he cups the shimmering water in his hands. You take the time to admire him trying to relax the best he can, his loose hair hovering softly over his shoulders, you see that not only do his freckles decorate his face, but they are also peppered against his tense shoulders. With a quick motion, Rolan brings the spring water towards his face, rubbing the water against his face then keeping his hands over his eyes for a long moment. You watch him confused by him keeping his eyes covered.

“What are you doing?”

A sigh leaves his nose before he responds, “Relaxing”

Getting closer you do a testing poke to his left shoulder, and an irritated groan leaves his chest.

“You don’t seem relaxed…”

“I’m working on it.”

“Maybe you should try swimming around then?”

Rolan pulls his hands from his eyes, golden irises glow as his ardent gaze lands on you. Suddenly you're hyper-aware of how close you two have drifted and how bare you are right underneath the cyan water. All your previous nerve starts to sink away being replaced by a growing flush to your skin.

Rolan lifts a brow leaning down slightly to take in your face, you put on your best poker face to seem unbothered through Rolan quickly sees past it and is ready to tease you, “Heat finally getting to you?”

“No”

“Then why are you so red?”

“Why are you so red?”

Rolan folds his arms over his chest and you roll your eyes, “redder than usual”

“What do you expect? It’s hot.”

“Aren't tieflings like…heat resistant?”

Rolan goes to argue back but he seems to be unable to think of anything so he turns his back towards you muttering under his breath.

Turned away, you trace the paths left by his infernal ancestors. He seemed to have relaxed when teasing you, but now…

“You can feel the tension radiating off….”

Rolan's ears seem to perk up and he glances at you.

You sigh, “I was hoping to help…”

“I…you…” Rolan sighs collecting his thoughts, a cuss slips his lips before he starts again, “You are helping…I just…” Rolan takes his hand to cover his eyes again, “I don’t know how to let myself relax…”

Carefully you reach your hands to rub his back, he practically feels like a board, so tense under your fingers. You lean your head to rest on him.

“Rolan, let me…try something….”

You continue to rub his back and shoulders gently working out the knots. Right as he seems to start to relax he tenses up again. A soft hum leaves you as you continue to work down his back. Dropping from his shoulders you use his ridges to guide you, softly you rub his shoulder blades feeling the sharp tips. When you touch them you feel Rolan tense and lean forward slightly.

“Am I hurting you?”

Rolan looks over his shoulder, his eyes moving from your flushed shoulders following the drips running back into the cloudy water keeping the rest of you hidden, only enough for his imagination to run wild. “No, I’m just…not used to being touched like this.”

“I could stop…”

You keep your hands on his spine, trying to savor this moment in case he says yes. You close your eyes and keep your hands as gentle as possible hoping he won't say yes, that he won’t move away. Just keeping this moment touching his warm skin for a bit longer…

“Don’t stop…it's helping me”

Biting down the smile on your lips you continue to rub his back blindly moving through the water. Over time you get lower slightly rubbing above the base of his tail. A steady sigh leaves Rolan's chest as you continue to work. You even feel all your nerves starting to settle in this perfect moment, then suddenly a wrapping around your calf startles you enough to let out a yipe. Rolan, snapping back to reality goes to retreat his tail and move away from you, but before he can run away you quickly grab his wrist. He pauses for a second, then he turns towards you, your eyes wide, lips trembling for the words to say.

It only takes a moment before Rolan pulls you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you suddenly and burying his face into the crook of your neck.

“I’m sorry…”

“D-don’t be…”

Rolan moves his face from your neck and you feel your body heating up as his shining eyes watch you, slowly roaming from your eyes to your glossy lips, then down to where your chest is pressing against his.

Rolan's eyes linger for a moment before he brings his head down to whisper, “You feel like you're burning up…”

All you can do as you feel his clawed hands moving slowly down your back is nod and lean into him further. Touching him now he seems much more relaxed, more open, confident. Right as you're settling yourself on his chest you whisper the words he’s been waiting to hear.

“Kiss me…”

Quickly you feel his hand lifting your chin and then meeting your lips for an almost too eager kiss, but you had been wanting this equally as bad. Rolan's lips are soft and assertive as he leads you through the kiss. The familiar feeling of his tail sliding up your leg no longer draws a gasp from you but a wanting moan, craving for his warmth to further engulf you. Rolan, always striving for more, lifts your arms to wrap around his neck as he slips his smooth tongue in your mouth to get a taste of you. It's deep, and teasing as it slides against yours making you meet his enthusiasm, and driving you to want more. Before long you find yourself with fist fulls of his loose hair while his sharp nails dig into the fat of your ass, Pressing you into his hardened shaft, it practically throbs on your thigh.

As you start breaking from the kiss to fully catch your breath Rolan bites on your lower lip, careful not to break the delicate skin, only enough pressure to have you whine before he’s releasing it from his sharp teeth. You're a panting mess feeling like your body is on fire, the spring, his hot touch, your blazing arousal dripping down your thighs; it's all starting to be too much for you. Rolan brushes his nose to yours to bring you back from your fuzzing mind.

“I think it's time you get out. You're as red as me now.” his rich voice taunts

A quick laugh leaves you before it’s ripped from you abruptly. Rolan almost as quickly as he kisses you, he lifts you guiding you to wrap your legs around his waist. With shocking little effort, Rolan carries you out of the hot spring back to the dry bank. The sudden chill of the air nipping at your skin should leave you shivering, but wrapped in Rolan's warm limps you find yourself perfectly comfortable.

Playfully you twist and pull the strains of his soft hair. “Not to sound like an insult but I’m surprised you're able to carry me. I didn’t think wizards were all that strong?”

You're both out of the water, dripping on the springs bank still wrapped tightly in his hold. Rolan rolls his eyes at your statement before responding with a smirk, “Well you should know that no wizard can match me, from my talent to my strength.”

It’s your turn to roll your eyes now and as you do he bounces you within his arms forcing you to grab him tighter making him laugh at you.

“Well, you are definitely relaxed now.”

“I am, I should thank you, Hero.”

You feel yourself getting wetter from his sultry words, “How do you plan on doing that, Archmage?

His eyes spark with something and he grins allowing you to see his sharp canines and molars, “I’m thinking I’m going to fuck you on the bank of this hot spring. Is that what you want?”

Leaning in you breathe into his pointed ears, “Yes…”

Then in the next moment, you feel his lips leaving messy kisses over your neck causing you to hold on tighter as Rolan slowly lowers you to the cool ground. The chill of the forest floor on your back makes a shiver rush your spine causing your nipples to perk and your body to shake. A whine leaves your chest and a smile stretches to his lips as he pulls away from you, his shining eyes roam over your body as he carefully moves his hands to your hips and adjusts to a kneel. Slightly digging in his nails, he pulls your body causing his length to brush your slick sex.

The heat of his cock pressed on your soft flesh makes you shut your eyes with a whimper, he’s not even in you, and your whining.

“Keep your eyes on me.” his voice commands as his hands lift your legs onto his textured shoulders.

Finally opening your eyes you see his eyes watching you as he presses a kiss to your inner knee before taking a quick nip to it causing your hips to buckle forward.

That only feeds his ego, “Don’t tell me you're sensitive…”

You narrow your eyes, “if you were underneath me I would have you whimpering, so don’t get cocky.”

Rolan lets out a laugh as he looks down at your spread sex, wet and quivering for him. You can hear his tail begging to swish behind in excitement.

“We will have to test that on a different night…You look too perfect spread open and waiting for me.” Rolan taunts as he brings his hand to slide his fingers over your glistening cunt, then rubbing slow circles to your swollen clit.

The sensation of his dexterous fingers stimulating your bud causes you to grind your hips on him for more. Falling deeper into the pleasure you feel your lower stomach twist as waves of heat flood your body. You can’t help but shut your eyes with a shivering breath as soft moans slip through your lips.

Rolan tsk as he suddenly pinches your clit making you gasp and shoot your eyes open. “Keep your eyes on me. Understand?”

You quickly nod, keeping your eyes on his gorgeous face. His fingers slide to your entrance, slipping his middle finger slowly to rub your soft fluttering walls. Watching you intensely he slips in a second finger curling the long digits in your velvety insides. Moans of his name and pleads flow out of your lips as he keeps a steady tempo.

“You're being so obedient…that's new for you…”

You open your mouth to say something, but before you can Rolan twists his fingers to the spot that's making you see stars. Rolan seeing your slack jaw expression speeds up his motions. The twisting in your lower stomach gets tighter and tighter as you look at Rolan with pleading eyes. Seeing your expression and feeling your walls clamping down on him, he knows you're closer and he brings his tail to flick on your clit as his other hand keeps your grinding hips in a firm hold.

You are panting as you dig your fingers into the ground you feel the coil in your stomach about to snap. Rolan's eyes are on you, staring intensely as he studies every one of your expressions, he looks divine.

“F-Feels so-so good!” You scream breathlessly

He smiles at your stammering, getting excited from your praise. “Yeah? Then cum for me.”

Nodding absently mindlessly you feel his tail flick faster and his fingers curl deeper so perfectly making your coil suddenly snap and your body explode in a wave of white-hot ecstasy as you feel yourself squirt on his fingers, running down his hands and thighs now.

“Prefect…” Rolan whispers as he watches you come down from your high while slowly rubbing your release over his swollen cock.

“You want more?” he asks as he lines himself up to your tight slit.

“Please~” You hum out blissfully, feeling his ridged length’s heat radiating onto you.

Rolan chuckles with a shake of his head, “So greedy…”

He braces his hand tightly on your hip as he pushes the heat of his dick into your cunt. It’s hot and intense as it slides and stretches you. Your walls clench as you moan his name as his ridges rub your insides deliciously. Your thighs tighten as he pushes into you fully, his nails digging into you as his cock throbs as you adjust to him.

“Gods you feel good” he sighs in pleasure. He moves his eyes from where he’s buried within you to your blissed-out face. Rolan brings a hand to cup your cheek and you melt into his touch, turning your face to kiss his palm before giving him a nod that you are ready.

Rolan presses kisses on the insides of your legs again as he brings his hands to your waist. Slowly he starts positioning into you, your eyes roll back as his strokes nudge his burning cock right into your spongy spot that's making you mew shamelessly at every thrust. Rolan picks up his thrusting as he feels your walls clenching on him.

“You're taking-ta-taking me so well darling.” he groans, throwing his head back as his balls slap against you.

Rolan moves your hips up and down to match his thrust as his breathing quickens. Squirming and curling your toes you feel yourself approaching your climax again, but this time you're desperate to have Rolan cum with you.

Rocking your hips against him faster you drive him deeper as his cock now rubs your cervix and your walls lick his ridges. “Rolan, you're amazing! Fantastic! I’m yours whenever you want me! Fuck! Right there!”

Rolan’s sweating skin further flushes at your praise and his moans turn into broken whines as he fucks you faster and bounces you at the perfect pace.

With a couple more thrusts that familiar rush floods you as you arch your back mindlessly screaming as you make a mess over Rolan's cock. With your orgasm quivering and sucking him in he stills and squeezes you tightly as his dick throbs and spurts his burning cum deep within you. Stars slowly fade from your vision as you focus on a panting Rolan still buried deep in you.

With hooded eyes you give a lazy smile, Rolan eyes are glazed over but still focused on you as he smiles back at you. Slowly he pulls out and you wince at the feeling of the sudden emptiness. Rolan settles beside you and carefully holds you to his chest as his tail wraps around your ankle gently.

“Rest with me for a while…then come back to the tower with me.”

You hum in agreement as you let your relaxed state move you to one of sleep. Perfectly warm and perfectly relaxed wrapped in each other's arms.

Larkissa is busy drying the goblets behind the bar to prepare for tonight's service. A tapping of nails on the counter gets her attention away from the task. She turns her head to see a smirking Lia.

“A bet is a bet and I want my 50 gold,” Lia says, holding out her hand.

Larkissa huffs and digs in her pockets, She will have to scold Rolan for not being assertive enough to make the first move.

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dccomicsimagines · 10 months

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Bruce’s Birthday - Batfamily Imagine

Requested by Anon - Can I get a birthday with Bruce and the batsibling!reader? Batkids mayhem please

***

Cass peered down at Bruce from her place in the rafters. Below was the Gotham Children’s Charity gala. People in fancy, flashy clothes, milling around. She heard the annoying murmurs of gossip and fake personas.

Bruce’s shoulders held an unfamiliar tension. She tilted her head. His lips pressed together as he made small talk with a few businessmen. She swore she saw a sadness that felt unknown to her.

“Cass, you promised you wouldn’t hide up here,” Tim said. He juggled a plate of food in one hand as he shuffled on the rafter to her side. Cass took the plate and helped herself to some baked brie.

“Watching.” She looked back at Bruce who was now moving through the crowd toward Selina, who had just entered in a sparkly red dress. Cass smiled, noting Bruce seemed happier, but the sadness was still there. Hidden, but barely.

“Yeah, it’s quite a bore this year.” Tim swung his legs as he settled down beside her. He took a grape from the plate. “I wondered if we should have set up Two Face to rob the place or something?”

Cass looked at Tim, narrowing her eyes. “Bad joke.” She turned back to Bruce to find him whispering in Selina’s ear. “Bruce is sad.”

Tim followed her gaze. He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“He’s sad. He hides it, but it’s stays.” Cass gave Tim the plate and wrapped her arms around herself. The simple black dress was comfortable, but she missed her pajamas. After discovering how comfortable they were, she would only change out of them after being bribed with the promise of more cozy pjs. She was on her twelfth set now.

“Well, his birthday is coming up. He always gets sad around this time. It’s probably because of (Y/N).” Tim took a bite of the baked brie, groaning at the taste.

"(Y/N)?" Cass blinked. She remembered Alfred and Dick mentioning you in stories about Dick’s early Robin days. You were Bruce's oldest child. Apparently, you haven't been home in almost seven years.

"Yeah, they used to make a big deal out of it." Tim chuckled. "Dick told me about it. I wanted to try to do what they did, but...I think it will just make him sad that they won't come home."

"Why?" Cass studied Tim, noting how he wouldn't look her in the eye.

Tim pursed his lips. "I don't know why actually. Dick won't talk about it, neither will Alfred. Must have been a big deal though."

Cass looked back at Bruce. He was staring at the far wall, not really seeing anything. She tapped her chin as an idea slowly began to form in her head.

***

Dick was just settling down on his couch with a bowl of popcorn in hand and Barbara next to him when Cass suddenly climbed out from under the coffee table. He almost spilled the popcorn, but Barbara caught it.

"I knew she was there," Barbara laughed, reaching up to close Dick's jaw. She offered popcorn to Cass.

Cass' eyes brightened as she helped herself and sat cross-legged on the coffee table. "Thank you."

Dick's heart calmed. He chuckled to himself. "What brings you here, Cassie? You don't normally come to Bludhaven unannounced?"

Cass tilted her head, studying Dick with a carefulness that made his hair stand on end. "Bruce’s birthday."

"Yes, it’s next Sunday." Barbara sighed, muting the TV when a loud commercial started to play. "Do you need help finding something for Bruce?"

Cass nodded. She suddenly stood up and walked over to the wall. Dick leaned over, frowning slightly when she picked up the picture of you, him, and Bruce. It had been taken a year after Dick arrived in the manor. The three of you were in Alfred's garden, helping him tend it as punishment for breaking yet another vase.

"That's an old picture," Dick said after Cass held it out to him. "I think Bruce probably has that one."

Cass shook her head and pointed to you. You were so young, so bright eyed. Dick missed you so much that his heart shattered into pieces.

"That's (Y/N). You know about them, Cass," Barbara said after Dick couldn't get himself to speak.

"Bruce is sad. Misses (Y/N)." Cass pointed at you again. "We find (Y/N)."

"No, we can't do that. (Y/N) doesn't want to talk to Bruce." Dick swallowed past the lump in his throat.

Barbara eyed Dick curiously. "So you know where they are?"

Dick's eyes widened. He suddenly realized he might as well be in a viper's den. Cass leaned closer, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine, I do. (Y/N) didn't cut me out of their life. Jay probably knows too. I made sure to reintroduce him once he...got better." The blood ran out of Dick’s face as he found his phone was suddenly in Cass's hands.

"Cass, no." Barbara held her hand out for the phone. "I love you want to help Bruce, but what happened between (Y/N) and Bruce is between them."

Cass shook her head. "How long will they hurt each other?" She looked at Dick's phone before carefully handing it to Barbara.

Dick frowned. He wondered if maybe he should intervene? Seven years had been long enough. Eventually it would be too late for you and Bruce.

He tucked his phone back in his pocket. Now wasn’t the time to revisit the past. He wrapped his arm around Barbara’s shoulders.

“Cass, you aren’t staying?” Barbara asked. Dick blinked, finding Cass by the window.

“No, enjoy your night.” She opened it swiftly and leaped out into the night. Dick hummed, turning to share a look with Barbara.

“I should be worried, shouldn’t I?” Dick bit his lip when Barbara shrugged.

“Everything will be fine. Now Hunk-Wonder, start the movie.” She leaned forward, kissing him. All thoughts of you and Cass left his mind.

***

You paced your office at the D.E.O. “I don’t care what you have to do. Kill the project. We don’t mess with Gotham,” you snapped into your phone. The agent on the other end stammered. “No, cut it off now or I’ll be down there and you don’t want me down there.”

The agent sighed. “Yes, chief.” You hung up the phone, slamming it on your desk. Taking a deep breath, you tried to calm down.

“Fuck me.” You collapsed in your office chair and spun around to look out your window. It was the Gotham skyline. You snorted. It was missing the smog. Mister Bones thought it was funny to give you a Gotham projection on your fake window. You might have to slip him another exploding cigar again.

Your heart panged, but you pushed it away and turned back to your desk. There were files to look through, memos to send, mission to approve. You rubbed your eyes, wishing you could go home to your apartment. Maybe call the number that person in the bar gave you last weekend?

However, you shook your head and opened the first file. In the corner of your eye, you noticed the date. A lump formed in your throat, but you swallowed past it and focused on the task at hand.

***

The manor library was quiet. Cass’ eyes were on the door as it swung open and Tim walked in. He was consumed by his tablet.

“Tim,” Cass said as she dropped down from the top shelf of the bookshelf and landed silently behind him.

Tim flinched, almost dropping his tablet. “Geez, Cass.” He let out a shaky breath, pressing a hand against his chest.

“Bruce’s birthday is in three days.” She held up three fingers. “We need to get (Y/N) here.”

“You’re still on that, huh?” Tim ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. It’s not a matter we should meddle with. Have you talked to Dick?”

Cass nodded. “He will not help, but I got their number.” She tapped her temple. “We find (Y/N) and bring them here. For Bruce.”

Tim pursed his lips. “Like kidnap them? (Y/N) was pretty much a badass. Even if we get them here, then what?” He reached out and put a hand on Cass’ shoulder. “We can’t make them get along. Do you even know why they fought?”

“No, but it doesn’t matter.” Cass brushed Tim away. “Time is short, life is short. We make this happen because we are family.”

A big sigh escaped Tim. Cass smiled, knowing she won. “Okay, okay. I’ll help, but this was your idea. If this blows up, it’s all your fault,” Tim said, handing Cass his tablet. “Type in their number, let’s see what we can find.”

Cass wanted to dance. She knew this would a birthday Bruce would never forget.

***

You knew something was wrong from the moment you stepped into your apartment. Carefully setting down your keys and bag of takeout on the side table, you pulled out your collapsed baton and flipped it to it’s full length.

A breeze blew through the window. You raised an eyebrow. “Dick? Jason?” You called, turning the corner to your kitchen quickly only to find no one there. Goosebumps rose on your skin as you heard a creak down in your bedroom.

You moved silently down the hall. A sharp breath gasped behind you. You spun, aiming the baton to hit the person in the face. “Ouch, my nose,” a boy in a Robin suit said, stumbling back and holding his face.

“Why the fuck are you in my house?” You kicked his feet out from under him and held him down with a foot on his throat. He was young, dark hair. Standard Robin. Racking your brain, you tried to remember what his name was. Dick mentioned him once or twice. “Tim, right?”

“Yeah, nice to meet you.” He gripped your ankle. “Can you get off?”

“You didn’t answer my question.” A soft almost silent thump came from behind you. You raised your hand and caught a fist that shot out of the darkness next to you. “Batgirl?”

“Yes.” She stepped out into the light. You took in her in. She was little, but strong. Her face hidden by her mask completely. “We’re here because of Bruce.”

Your heart skipped a beat. You removed your foot from Tim’s neck and stepped back to eye the new Batgirl. What was her name? Jason mentioned she was the daughter of David Cain. Trained to be the ultimate living weapon, but she chose her own path. Cass? That was what he called her?

She helped Tim up. You threw him a box of tissues for his nose. “What does D...Bruce want?” Your gut twisted at the slip. You made yourself stop calling him Dad years ago. It made it less painful.

“Bruce is sick,” Cass said, tilting her head. The look that Tim gave her left you doubting it.

“And that has to do with me because?” You turned your back on them and went to grab your food by the door. The two followed you to the kitchen as you got out a plate. After a moment, you grabbed two more.

“He misses you,” Tim said. His nose made him sound stuffed up. You took out an ice pack from your freezer and handed it to him. He gave you a bloody smile, pressing it to his face.

“Right.” You opened containers, splitting food among the three plates. Luckily, you always bought more than you could eat. Leftovers were must with the D.E.O demanding schedule.

“He does.” Cass took a seat, pulling off her mask. You paused, noting she looked very much like Lady Shiva. Now it all made sense. “You need to come to him.”

You set plates in front of them. “How did you even find out where I live? Or anything about me for that matter?”

Tim and Cass shared a look.

“I’m going to kill Dick,” you muttered under your breath. “What do you want to drink?” You dug into your fridge.

“Thanks,” Tim said as he happily took a can of soda. Cass stayed with water. You joined them with your own drink.

“Thank you for feeding us.” Cass’ voice was so soft. You smiled at her.

“Well, you are family, I guess.” You watched as Tim happily dug into his plate. “Bruce is always picking up new kids.”

Cass frowned, ignoring the food. “You’re angry.”

You took a bite of your food. “At Bruce, I was. Now I’m just...over it.” You shrugged. “He’s going to be him. Nothing I can do about it.”

“He is stubborn. Runs in the family.” Tim took a sip of his soda, smirking when you glared at him. “Alfred said it, not me.”

Alfred’s name made your heart ache. You needed to call him more often. “Yeah, I see you’ve taken to the role of annoying kid siblings very nicely. Dick must be feeling the karma now.” You laughed. “He’s the worst. Always messing with me.”

“Dick didn’t tell us where you were, we found you on our own.” Cass poked at the food on the plate, wrinkling her nose slightly. “Bruce’s birthday is tomorrow.”

You sighed, pushing your plate away as your stomach soured. “I know.”

“Come.” Cass reached out to touch your hand.

“It’s not that simple.” You flinched away from her. Tim glanced between the two of you, eyes wide. “Some things you can’t come back from.”

“Why?” Cass tilted her head.

You stood up suddenly, taking your plate to the counter. “He wished I’d never been born. Said I was a mistake. I told him he should have died in the alley with his parents.” You winced at the sharp intakes of breath behind you. “But it’s fine.”

“You’re tired.” Her chair scraped and suddenly she was beside you. “You hurt. Bruce hurts too. It’s time to forgive.”

Your temper flared, but you let out a slow breath to cool it. “Why does it matter so much to you?”

Cass swallowed hard. “Bruce needs you. He isn’t...whole.” She pressed a hand against her chest. “I know people who have regrets because they let things fester. I don’t want that for our family. Jason has made amends, now you should.”

“Well, Jay always needed Bruce. Even when he was younger.” You pursed your lips. Jason craved Bruce’s attention more than anything. Still did. You remembered being jealous, but it gave you time to pursue your own interests without Bruce noticing. “I don’t care.”

“(Y/N), I know it’s not my place and I just met you today, but you’re basically like my sibling with how much Alfred and Dick talk about you,” Tim said. You turned to look at him. He played with his fork, not meeting your eye. “I lost my mom and dad. I wish every day that I could tell them I love them one last time. Bruce isn’t getting younger and things are getting more dangerous...well, I think you don’t want to regret not reaching out or at least trying, right?”

You sighed. Cass nudged your arm. You glanced between the two of them. “Fine.”

Cass smiled, eyes lightening up. “Really?” Tim dropped his fork in surprise.

“I’ll go, but don’t get your hopes up. Bruce is still a stubborn pig.” You rolled your eyes as Cass suddenly hugged you. You blinked at the touch before gently patting her back. Tim hesitated, but you opened your other arm and let him join too. “For what it’s worth, it was nice to meet you two at last either way.”

“Ditto.” Tim grinned. Cass just buried her face deeper into your shoulder.

***

Bruce rolled his eyes at the sound of clattering in the kitchen. “Alfred wouldn’t be happy to find you in here,” he said as he opened the door to find Dick, Tim, Barbara, and Stephanie in the middle of attempting to make breakfast.

Dick and Tim were covered in flour. Barbara was by the stove, frying what looked to be turkey bacon. Steph happily chopped fruit.

Bruce noticed the swelling around Tim’s nose. He made a note to ask him about it later.

“Alfred asked us to help,” Dick said, pushing Tim away from him. Tim laughed, grabbing a towel to try to clean up.

“He did?” Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“Alfred is having tea with a guest out in the garden. He wanted you to join him once you woke up,” Barbara said, rolling her eyes at Dick and Tim.

“Don’t worry. It’s not Selina.” Steph smirked as she ate a piece of banana. Bruce narrowed his eyes at her, but she just laughed.

Bruce hummed. “Alright. Barbara, don’t let the boys near the stove.” He walked out with the sound of Dick and Tim’s protests behind him. A rare smile tugged at his lips.

For the one hundredth time today, he missed you. He imagined you would have been in the kitchen, keeping Dick and Tim out of trouble while baking your special birthday breakfast that only you could make. His heart ached. Why did he push you away when he should have been pulling you close?

Cass was waiting by the doors to the garden. She skipped up to him and kissed his cheek. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” He smiled, frowning at the glee hidden in her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Alfred’s waiting.” She gave him a quick hug and ran off.

Bruce stepped out into the garden. He walked the path toward the place Alfred always had tea. Laughter reached his ears as he approached. He stopped just before the final corner, listening.

“That cannot be true. You must be pulling my leg,” Alfred said, chuckling in a way Bruce hadn’t heard in a long time. “They can’t have created a Superman musical.”

“Yep, it’s all the hype in NYC right now. Apparently, it got nominated for a few Tonys.” Bruce’s heart stopped. That voice. Could it be? Bruce peeked around the corner. “I think one of the songs goes like ‘Superman, he flies as much as he sings. Superman, he does all the things.’ Honestly, it’s stuck in my head,” you laughed hard. You were older, more mature. A lump formed in his throat. His little baby grew up.

Alfred shook his head. “Unbelievable what the theater has become.”

“I’ll get you tickets next time you’re in town,” you said, picking up your tea cup.

Alfred clicked his tongue, standing up. “I’m happy you are finally home, Mx. (Y/N).” He poured another cup of tea in the third cup on the table. “Now I believe it’s time for me to go in and check on the others.”

“I’ll come with...” You stood up, stopping when you turned to meet Bruce’s eye. Bruce almost ducked back around the corner, but stopped himself.

Alfred patted your shoulder. “You both have much to discuss.” He walked toward Bruce, leaning over to whisper. “Don’t you dare blow this, Master Bruce. I doubt you’ll get another chance.”

Bruce pursed his lips, watching as Alfred left. He hummed, turning back to you when you took a breath.

“So...” You shoved your hands in your pockets, rocking on your feet like you used to do when you were a child. Bruce felt a smile tug at his lips. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” He approached you slowly. To your credit, you didn’t move away. “(Y/N)...you’ve grown.”

You snorted. “Yeah, that happens after seven years.”

“I heard you are pretending to work for Broadway,” Bruce said, raising an eyebrow. The Batman in him wanted to interrogate you. The father in him cursed the Batman in this moment. “But you are actually working for the D.E.O.”

You chuckled, rolling your eyes as you looked over his head at the manor. “Sure, I am. I should have known that would be the first thing you would say.” Bruce could feel you distancing yourself.

“I...” Bruce sighed. He pressed a hand over his mouth. “I always mess up with you, don’t I?”

Your eyes widened in slight surprise. “Yeah, you do. I suppose you do it to all of us except maybe the new kids. Tim and Cass seem very nice. Maybe a little too intrusive?”

Bruce blinked. He remembered Cass and Tim went off comms last night. Tim’s bruised nose made more sense. You always aimed for noses. A habit he tried to break you of. “They brought you here, didn’t they?”

“Mostly Cass, but Tim was there too.” You shrugged. “They convinced me to come. Cass wanted me here for your birthday because she said you missed me.”

He blinked. Of course Cass would have noticed that. “That’s true.” Bruce took a step toward you. “So much. I miss your laugh, your smile, the way you make fun of me at every turn.” His chest was heavy with rare emotion. “You’re my child. I loved you since you were first put in my arms.” A lump formed in his throat. “I was angry and I didn’t mean what I said to you all those years ago. I’ve regretted every day since.”

A cloud covered the sun. Your face disappeared in the shadow. A low hum came from you. Bruce wondered if this was how everyone else felt when he responded with only an indecipherable hum.

The cloud passed. Bruce saw tears in your eyes as the light revealed your face. “I’m sorry too. What I said in return...unforgiveable.”

Bruce opened his arms. “(Y/N), I’m happy you are home.”

You stared at him for a moment and suddenly you were flying into his arms. Breath left Bruce’s lungs. You were bigger and stronger now. “I love you, Dad.” You whispered softly, hiding your face into his shoulder.

“I love you too, my little cookie monster.” Bruce smirked when you scoffed, pulling away to look him in the eye.

“Don’t ever call me that again, old man.” You narrowed your eyes as Bruce laughed, clapping a hand on your shoulder.

“Sure.” Bruce led you over to the tea table. “Now I want to hear everything.” You tensed, but Bruce held up his hands. “Nothing you don’t want to tell me and I actually prefer if you don’t tell me about the D.E.O.”

You snorted. “Wow, you have gotten softer. I thought Dick and Jay were lying.” You took a seat and added sugar to Bruce’s tea. Bruce smiled, realizing you remembered how he took his tea.

“We’ll spar later and then you can see how soft I’ve become.” Bruce studied you. When you were younger, Alfred always claimed you looked a lot like Bruce. Bruce never could see it. He always saw your mother, but now, you were definitely his child and he couldn’t be prouder.

***

Cass tittered, watching you and Bruce from a window on the second floor. The two of you were laughing. Her lips pulled up in a big grin.

“How are they doing?” Tim asked suddenly. Cass jumped a little, narrowing her eyes as he laughed. He stepped up beside her to look out the window too. “I’m getting better at sneaking.”

“Better, but not great.” Cass snorted as Tim gasped. She ignored his protests. Bruce’s shoulders relaxed. His jaw loose, smile lines appeared on his face. She sighed.

“What?” Tim asked once he realized Cass wasn’t listening to him.

Cass looked at Tim, reaching up to touch his bruised nose. Tim winced. “Bruce is happy now.”

Tim looked out the window. He smirked. “Yeah, I think he is.” Cass wrapped her arm around him and rested her head on his shoulder. Both of them kept their eyes on Bruce and you. The family was finally reunited.

#Batfamily #Batfamily x reader #Batfamily imagine #batman #batman imagine #bruce wayne #bruce wayne x reader #cassandra cain #cass cain #cassandra cain imagine #cass cain imagine #batsibling #batsis #batbro #dc comics imagines #dc reader insert

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gatorbites-imagines · 7 months

Note

also if you would wanna write more jason x older vigilante reader i would be very happy -LB

Jason Todd x older vigilante male reader

Headcanons

I’ve been studying almost nonstop since Monday and I’m so tired, but fuck it we ball, Jason deserves to be loved and cared for by a bigger older man 🗣️🗣️

This is pretty much a part two other Jason x older reader thing I wrote, that you can read here.

This takes place after you two have been dating for a while, meaning Jasons family and the outlaws know. You don’t have any family yourself, as your type of work doesn’t allow family, so there’s no one for you to introduce him too.

After a while you two wouldn’t hang on each other like newlyweds, in public at least. Jason always finds himself in your lap when you are home, especially when you cleaning your guns or polishing your knives. He will whine and pout for you, his daddy, to pay attention to him.

Most days its enough for you to just caress his hair and roll your eyes softly at him, maybe even leaning down and giving him a few kisses as he lays in your lap.

But other days he needs more, biting and bratting until you pull order him to get undressed so he can sit in your lap and warm you as you work. Its always more than enough to calm him down as he sits with his head against your shoulder, almost floating away somewhere else as you give him neck soft kisses and mutter soft praise as you work on your weapons.

You still pamper him, and you find yourself almost puffing out your chest like a proud bird when he so willingly accepts your gifts. In the beginning Jason would be very against being given things, but after a while he starts to enjoy it and always makes sure to show you how much he loves it.

You don’t cover him in useless junk though, all clothes you buy him is specially made for him and is made of bulletproof fabrics and materials, and any jewelry you give him can also be used as weapons or has vials of neurotoxin or other poisons in case he needs it.

You being so protective and always looking out for his safety allows Jason to feel less stressed about his everyday life, as he doesn’t just have to rely on himself anymore, but can also lean on you when he needs it.

Most of his family doesn’t really know how to deal with the fact that Jason is dating a guy the same age as Bruce, or close to the same age at least. Especially if you’ve had run ins with Bruce as Black Demise and put him in the ground.

But since you’ve settled down with Jason, you have focused more on staying in Gotham to be with your lover and assist him in running his empire as the red hood. You don’t even really need to do any mercenary work anymore, since you have more than enough money. You can allow yourself to be picky with contracts, so you only pick the ones targeting the scum of the earth.

When you have to leave on mercenary work, you and Jason always make sure to call when you are able, and you’ll bring him a gift when you get back home again. Most of the time its different weapons from the specific country you’ve gone too, but sometimes its something as normal as a t-shirt, or piece of lingerie you felt would fit him.

Jason doesn’t really act any different to the outside world than he did before. Hes only soft and whiney with you, to everyone else hes as cold and rough as usual. Bad dealers and goons will even claim the Red Hood as gotten even worse since Black Demise showed up.

That’s why everyone in the Gotham underground believes the red hood is the student of Black Demise, as no one assumes you two are dating. It causes the people who know who you are to stay away from crime alley, as they fear what kind of thing you must be teaching Red Hood, since you are known to be crueler than Deathstroke.

You guys keep killing to the minimum though, or at least keep it under wraps. Jason is so impressed when you can get away with murder right under Bruces nose, since you are so good at hiding bodies and evidence. You teach him everything you know.

One of the batfam members that enjoys your presence, is surprisingly Alfred. Hes known about you as Black Demise for years, ever since you started, and he knows you don’t do needless killings. Sure, he isn’t the biggest fan of your work, but he was a secret agent so who is he to judge. Plus, he hasn’t seen Jason this happy in years.

Your presence also makes Jason feel more sure to go to family get togethers at the manor, as long as you can come. He acts all tough, but you know part of Jason is scared of being alone with his family, and the insecurity it creates inside him.

That’s another reason Alfred is happy to have you, since you get Jason to actually attend family dinners and holidays. Since you don’t have any family, you are able to convince Jason to go “for your sake”, since you wanna experience holidays or family time.

The batfam are uncomfortable in the beginning, but Cass sees that you mean no harm and that you absolutely love Jason, so she warms up pretty fast. Dick already knows you from his time with Deathstroke. Tim would know about you from all his deep research he does, and would be cautious, but like the others he sees Jason is happy, so he won’t judge.

Damian would want to battle you, or would not trust you further than he could throw you for a while. Hes heard about how powerful and cruel you can be from the league of assassins, but at some point, you two end up bonding over shared interests, and he begrudgingly accepts you.

The rest of the batfam would grow warmer to you over time as they see how healthy Jason actually looks with you, and how you clearly love him back just as much. It doesn’t stop some of them from making sugar daddy jokes at Jason, or joking about the age gap, but you just let it roll of your back and find it cute when Jason gets annoyed.

At this point Bruce will have to begrudgingly accept your relationship, even though he’s not the biggest fan, mainly because of your insanely high kill count. But he gets reminded about his own exes and dating history by the rest of the fam, so there isn’t much he can say.

You two come to an understanding that you make Jason happy, so as long as you don’t start killing innocents for money, you two will have a truce. You two probably end up bonding over whatever men your age are into at some point, but you both will deny it.

Somehow dating you helped Jason become closer to his family, who’d have thought getting a sugar daddy boyfriend would bring that, but you did. Congrats.

326 notes · View notes

helionpegasus · 10 months

Text

ceilings part 5

Azriel x Reader

masterlist

summary: Reader always had vivid dreams due her Seer heritage. But things take a twist in her life when she wake up in a world that is not hers and the loving male that were always in her dreams shows to be very different from what she known him to be.

warning: none. but let me know if you find anything :)

words count: 1979

author's note: we're baaaack! now things will start happening more quickly and i'll try not making it too slowburn haha. i'll also include my personal theories in the story. anyway, hope you like it ❤️‍🩹

A whole month had passed.

The dream with little Azriel never happened again, and you didn’t know if this was good or bad. Because it wasn’t the only one to disappear, all the other dreams you used to have did.

All that surrounded your mind was what could that possibly mean. You came to Velaris because of those dreams, so it’s logical that you must need them to go back. So the possibility of not dreaming ever was starting to get the best of you.

The Shadowsinger being so wary of your being was not helpful at all. Once you talked about it with Nesta and she only said that “He’s like this. It’s nothing personal.”, but it feels extremely personal to you.

How he would stop talking about something once you enter the room, or send a bunch of his shadow to follow you through the House of Wind, and even look at you in a weird way during dinner.

Today you woke up to the rain pouring outside, the thunder humming low. When you enter the dining room to have breakfast, you find Nesta there, with a cup of tea in hand and a book in the other.

“No training today?” You ask sitting across from her and already putting a piece of strawberry pie that you found to be your favorite thing in this world.

“Headache. I’ll take the day off, since dealing with Cas and Az the whole day would only make it worse.” She said, taking a little laugh from you. You can’t even imagine what it was like to work with both of them.

“Well, today seems like a good day to relax. I don’t think the rain is gonna pass too soon.” You took the last bite from the pie.

“You’re right.” Nesta sighs. “I’m gonna give myself the privilege I didn’t have for so long: Spend the whole day in bed.”

“You deserve it!”

“Thank you! See you at dinner.” She took the last sip from her tea and exited the room going directly to the main hallway.

Unlike Nesta, you weren’t feeling so useful lately. So you think the best decision was to take your cup of tea to the library and continue your search, which you started last week but ended up in nowhere.

The floor you use to study wasn't much visited, you assumed the first time you went there. Even after having your presence for a whole week handling books and discovering shelves, all of them still have a layer of dust. And maybe the people who live here simply didn’t hold a curiosity in learning Prythian history, you thought that it would be a better option than the fact that this floor was so close to the darkness under it.

After hours of hard searching, because you are dealing with history and most of the books were written in the oldest language, your mind gets tired of it. Your tea was no longer hot and your eyes hurt from reading.

When your mind starts questioning if it was lunch time already you felt the presence. His presence. You could ignore how much it makes you uncomfortable, like you have been doing for all this time. But, today you were tired of it.

“You know I can feel when you are spying on me, right?” You say closing a book. Your back is still fronting him. “I’m just saying that, in case you didn't know, I think it would be good the information that I knew you were there all those times.” Then you finally turn to face him.

Azriel tried to not show the shock in his eyes, since this was the first time something like this was ever happening. He decides to stay silent, trying to form a sentence that wouldn’t make him sound like a stubborn child.

“Look, I don’t know what you have against me. But I already said a bunch of times that I’m willing to answer any question you have and I also said that Rhysand or Feyre can look in my mind if they want to.” You said looking into his eyes, hoping that he could see the truth in them.

You never stop being surprised with how his eyes could be so different looking at the same person. You.

“I don’t trust you.” He simply said.

Those words cut deep that you wanted to. With his low voice echoing in your head.

“Well…” You start, still gathering the right words to say and not betray how hurt you felt. “If I could help to change that, you certainly know where to find me.” You gave him a small smile that did not reach your eyes, and left the library not in the mood to continue your research anymore.

Azriel went straight to the River House after the quick conversation. Calling Rhys through his mind to an emergency meeting.

“You should look through her mind.” Azriel said when they entered the High Lord’s office.

“We already had this conversation a million times, Az.” Rhys says massaging his nose bridge. “She never was suspicious and never made any harm to any of us or the court.”

“Yet.”

“For Mother’s sake, Azriel.” Rhys rolls his eyes.

“I’m just saying that I think we should treat her like any stranger that enters the court out of nowhere.” Azriel said firmly with his opinion. “We gave her a roof the first day she came here. We don’t know anything about her, and I think this decision can put us in danger.”

“I wouldn’t make a decision to put any life in this court in danger, Azriel.” Rhysand's look was not friendly anymore. “And I don’t know what is happening with you lately. This is not the first time I say that you are having weird behavior.”

The Shadowsinger still remembers every word they shared in this same office in the first week you spent here.

“I’m just worried.” Az's voice was calmer this time. “I have noticed some things about her that I found strange.”

“And what would it be?”

“She can sense me around while I’m still hiding in the shadows.”

“She always had a weird connection with your shadows, we’re all working with that and she included.”

“Right. But I noticed that during her first nights, she disappeared.”

“What do you mean?”

“When she went to sleep, she just disappeared for a few hours and then came back still sleeping. She did this for two or three nights and never did it again.”

Rhys was processing the information Azriel just said, his mind working on how she was capable of doing that on the House of Wind, a place that you could not winnow in or out.

“I can ask if she gives me the permission to look into her mind.” The High Lord says. “But if she doesn't, I will not force her to do so.”

Azriel let out a sigh of relief, only nodding at his friend before leaving the office.

You weren’t expecting a reunion today. So when Nesta knocked on your door saying that everyone would meet in the living room, you needed to take time to fix yourself.

Everyone was already there when you arrived, and Feyre invited you to sit by her side.

“You must be wondering why we decided to do this unplanned meeting.” Rhysand says and you only nodded in confirmation. “We all want to help you to find answers and we need answers as well…”

“You want to look into my mind.” You finish his sentence.

You couldn’t keep your eyes from looking at Azriel for half a second. Remembering the convo early this morning.

“I’m only doing this with your permission and firstly, if you are comfortable with it.”

“You can look at it.” You look into his eyes, transmitting all the confidence you could gather.

Rhys took the spot in the chair in front of you. The first thing he did once he entered your mind was make himself present. He could be sneaky if he wanted to, you knew that from other experiences with Ruhn even if he only entered to communicate.

“I’ll show you everything and some things may need an answer. But I would prefer to answer all questions you may have privately.”

“You have my word.”

And you showed him everything.

The first of your dreams, the work you have been doing with your friends in Crescent City, your life with them and the University. Till what happened the day you came to their world, the fight with the strange creature and your last dream.

“The creature that attacked you was a kelpie.” Rhys said once he left your mind with all the information he needed.

The atmosphere of the room that was thick with expectation suddenly turns into shock and worry.

“A kelpie? In my world they look very different.” You say mostly to yourself.

“What do they look like?” Nesta asks to you.

“They are species that belong to the House of Many Waters. They are shapeshifters that appear mostly as a black horse and sometimes in a human form.”

“If those things were supposed to look like humans they are in the wrong shape.” Nesta says remembering her own fight with the creatures. That got a fit of laughter from everyone in the room.

“Thank you for showing me, (Y/N). Now that we have more details, maybe we can help you more.” Rhys said, offering you a soft smile.

“Since everyone is here, we should all take dinner together.” Cassian says and we all agreed.

“I will take Nyx and be back.” Feyre says going to the balcony with wings already appearing in her back.

“We can talk now if you want to.” The High Lord offers and you give him a nod.

He leads you to the private library of the house. Much smaller than the one the priestesses work, but as beautiful.

You both sit on a couch near a window. You loved every view of this place, because Velaris was beautiful in every angle and every weather.

“I put a sound barrier and a shadow barrier, so we can talk freely.”

“What do you want to know?” You ask the male in front of you.

“You only dream with Azriel specifically, do you have any idea why?”

“No. I’ve been waiting for this answer and a bunch of other ones for a long time too, but the only one answer was learning his name when I arrived.”

“I’ve dreamed with Feyre before we met each other too…” He says with an expecting look that makes your cheeks warm.

“You think we are mates?” Rhys only smiles. “Well I bet that your dreams with Feyre were not like those, and I am certain that she wasn’t from another world.”

“Well, you’re right. But that can still be a possibility.” He took an invisible dust from his pants. “Warn me if those dreams return, we see what we can do to help.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Also, Azriel commented to me that you disappear while sleeping. Do you have any explanation for that? Because people weren’t supposed to be able to winnow from here.”

You gave him a questioning look. A million questions going through your mind.

“Disappear? I don’t have the power to winnow.”

“He said that it happened on your initial nights.” Rhys was also confused. “You don’t remember exiting in the middle of the night?”

“No. Those nights I only dreamed.”

Then Rhysand started to connect all the points. He also didn’t see you in any other place besides your dreams, so you disappearing did not make sense. And he would know if you manipulated any of the memories.

The fact was that there were only dreams. Vivid dreams.

“I think that your dreams are where you disappeared to.”

taglist (overlined users i couldn't tag): @humanpersonlasttimeichecked @valeridarkness @his-sweet-nightmare @leeknows-wife @mich0731 @kristalhi @marina568 @brekkershadowsinger @cafe-inaaa @lovierhys @kenmaisacinnamonroll @alt-ghost @marigold-morelli @thelightnddarkness @amysangel @thecraziestcrayon @fall-myriad @a-court-of-milkandhoney @hungryforbatboys @elizarikaallen @allison-rosewood-maximoff @gamarancianne @weirdo-fun @tsumsamu @myheartfollower @acourtofmarvels @sunshine-and-midnight-rain @act1839 @reareaikea

if you asked for being tagged but it didn't happened, please gentle remind me :)

#acotar #azriel acotar #azriel imagine #azriel x reader #azriel x you #acotar x reader #azriel shadowsinger #acotar imagine #acotar fics #azriel

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whimsical-roasting · 6 months

Text

Jamie comforts you after a long day (pt 1)

okay so this was meant to be entirely nsfw but tumblr has a character limit (tf??)... haven't written Jamie in SO long..

if it sucks - close ur eyes?? if it's good - tell me cause i have a praise kink <3

You come home after a long day following an already long week…hell, it’s been a long fucking year, hasn’t it?

Technically, this isn’t your home cause you’re on Jamie’s boujie couch, eyes closed and head resting against the back. Gotta admit shit’s comfy. You got in with your spare key and dumped your bags and stuff by the side of the couch

You just need a moment…just one fucking minute where your body and mind aren’t moving. You don’t even know where Jamie is, but he’s definitely somewhere in the house. You tell yourself that you’ll get up and look for him, just maybe after 2 minutes

You honestly don’t need to wait long because you hear the sound of footsteps padding down the stairs. You call out a tired “Hey!” and keep your eyes closed... You don’t get a response, and honestly, for a few moments, you’re too tired to care, but just as you’re opening your eyes, Jamie’s in front of you

“Hey, love”, he murmurs with a small smile as he sits next to you, one leg under himself and body tilted to face you

His hand is stretched out to you, holding a glass: ice cold water. You get an involuntary smile, accepting the glass and instantly bringing it to your lips. That first crisp taste of liquid goodness genuinely makes you swear this shit must be medicinal.

Jamie’s index finger traces the wet stain made on your pants from the droplets of condensation that fell from the glass. He doesn’t say anything for a second, just observing your state. He’s come to know the different things you have on your plate - your work, academic shit, the schedule that never seems to be on your side, not giving you a bloody break.

But with his training, matches, and social obligations, as well as your own workload and energy levels, there’s been little opportunity to deep dive into how you’re holding up

“How’s stuff?” he ventures out, studying your face. Honestly, the way you inhale deeply, like your body is trying to gear up energy just to respond, makes him frown

You set the glass down on the coffee table and turn to face him. “Stress isn’t exactly what I’m feeling..” you start, trying to make sense of it yourself. Jamie’s fingers are tracing circles on the inside of your palm as he waits for you to continue

“It’s like- like- ugh fuck me… it’s like I’m so busy and tired! Million fucking things to do and apparently I’m the only one who can do em… And god, I spend my entire time taking care of others and handling shit! I like it, and I’m good at it - don’t get me wrong, Jaim - but fucks sake.” You start ranting, heavier on the cuss words because what else is gonna convey the weight of everything?

Jamie opens his mouth to speak but closes it when you continue

“And my roommate’s a grumpy little sh- ugh, no, it’s not that bad. I mean, if you’ve dealt with Roy, then I can’t complain about em… I’m just not used to angry people all the time. It’s like fucking-” your eyes jump around the room, trying to put into words what it’s like “-eggshells! Walking on eggshells! But forget it, that’s not even a big deal… it’s just another thing,” you mumble with a huff.

Jamie doesn’t like how you’re so dismissive. He’d jump in and tell you that it does matter, and if your roommate is even an ounce like Roy, then that must feel like shit. It took Jamie a while to adjust to the way Roy’s anger was when he first joined Richmond, and that’s just the locker room. Fuck, imagine that type of energy in your living space. Jamie debated how he could beat that roommate up in a way that wouldn’t cause you problems, but his thoughts ceased fire when you admitted the final part of your frustrations

“AND, we haven’t had... Yknow…” Your initial awkwardness around the topic catches his attention, but a smirk makes its way onto his face once he realises what you’re referring to.

“I’ve just been exhausted, and you’ve been busy…but god, I need some…some... Fuckin hell, I need sex. I miss our sex. You’re so fucking good at it too,” you grumble the last part quietly and Jamie just snickers

You glance at him, and that stupid smug smirk on his face makes you wanna kiss him stupid. Is this asshole really amused by your suffering? And why the fuck does he look so hot whilst being so??

“Babe.. just-” he debates saying ‘calm down’ but come on, even he’s not stupid enough to say that to a woman. Instead, he smiles softly and grabs your hands. Ducking his head, he kisses your knuckles, then your palm, and then your inner wrist before glancing up at you.

“You’re overworking yourself, and you know that, love,” he sighs and continues, “Just cause we both know you’re more than capable of it, dun mean it’s a good idea… maybe you’ve got too much on your plate, and the only thing you feel is exhausted.”

“Also, babe, we’re gonna fuckin address the roommate shit, so don’t think you’re brushing that off,” he gives you a knowing look as you shrink a bit into the couch.

Not liking the (loving) scrutiny of his eyes, you defensively push back, “So you’re just gonna ignore what I said about the sex thing?”

This causes Jamie’s eyes to light up, and that stupid smug smirk returns to his lips. “Nah, never said that. Just wanted to be a proper gentleman and address me girlfriend’s problems in order.”

You roll your eyes at him, but it’s clearly loving… when it comes to Jamie, all your looks are loving…mostly.

He grins at you, “Now, onto the real issue,” and you shoot him a deadpan, unamused look that causes him to bark out a laugh.

“I’m joking!” he holds his hands up defensively.

He reaches over and brushes your hair behind your ear, looking you in the eyes. “You need to switch off that beautiful brain of yours. And you need somebody to take care of ya for once.”

All you can do is blush and nod cause he makes a good point; you do need that, and more importantly, you crave it.

(go to part 2)

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt #ted lasso x reader

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rocksinmuffin · 6 months

Note

Now I’ve gotta ask for Ace and Deuce being cockblocked by Grim (not to mention each other) and no one ever being able to make a move on MC.

I belive this ask is in response to this post I made and I could not resist.

~*~

Deuce stares at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, eyes narrowed and lips set in a thin line. Today’s the day, he tells himself. “Today’s the day I’m going to confess my feelings.”

“Are you really psyching yourself up to tell the prefect you like them?” Ace gives Deuce an unimpressed look. “Cringe.”

“It’s not cringe!!!” he shouts back, cheeks bright red. “And who said I was confessing to the prefect?”

Ace rolls his eyes. “Everyone knows you have a crush on them. It’s not subtle. Not that it matters. You don’t have a chance with them.”

“Whatever, jerk. How would you even know?”

Ace cocks his head to the side, lips curling into a wicked smirk. “Because they’re going to be too busy falling head over heels for me.”

Ace looks so confident it makes Deuce’s heart clench in fear. Is it possible you already like Ace? After all, Ace is charming. Grades aside, he does well in most things without even trying. What if he sweeps you off your feet just as effortlessly?

But then Deuce feels a sense of warm resolve splash over him like a wave. He’s not going to give up. Not on this. Not on you. Because just the chance of being with you is something worth fighting for, tooth and nail. If you don’t choose him, he’ll understand and he won’t hold it against you, but he’s not going to throw in the towel before the fight has even begun.

Deuce looks at Ace with fire burning in his eyes, fist clenched and held up in front of his chest. I won’t lose to you, he thinks, but he must say it out loud because Ace laughs, a smile stretched from ear to ear that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I’ll take that bet. First one to score a date with the prefect, wins. Loser has to back off and admit defeat. Deal?”

Ace holds out his hand and Deuce takes it without any hesitation, grip firm as they shake on it.

~*~

Ace will be the first to say that he’s the last person anyone should make a bet with because he does not play fair.

Winning is the only thing that matters in the end. What good is sticking to your morals and playing by the rules if you end up losing? If you really want to win then that should mean you’d be willing to do anything to end up on top, even if it means getting your hands a little dirty. If you’re not willing to do that then maybe winning—and what comes with it—doesn’t mean as much to you as you think it did.

But you? Well, you mean the world to Ace.

Deuce has nothing to say to him when they leave the dorm and head for their first class. Just keeps that stupid determined look on his face as he marches forward. That’s fine with Ace. Because while Deuce is so focused on his own thing, Ace can think of ways to sabotage it.

It’s obvious he’s trying to hide it but Deuce isn’t exactly subtle about the little plastic food container he’s carrying under his arm. And Ace knows that Deuce has been going to Trey after classes for help studying. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

So Deuce is planning to confess to you with the help of some home-baked goodies he made. Gag. But, embarrassing as that is, having something physical to gift you means Deuce is less likely to back out than if it was just a verbal confession. And offering you a gift could make Ace look bad for going to you empty-handed.

Deuce might think he has the upper hand, but he probably wasn’t counting on Ace figuring out his plan. Now all Ace needs to do is figure out how to use this to his advantage.

~*~

The opportunity comes at lunch time.

“I’m so hungry I’m going to collapse,” Grim whines, face planting against the cafeteria table, muffling his words . “Minion, get me that tuna melt I like.”

“Uh-huh,” you grunt, unamused. “What are the magic words?”

“Bippity bobbity boo?”

You open your mouth to say something, stop, then shrug. “Anyone else buying lunch?”

Deuce shakes his head, lips set in a thin line and eyes sharp as he stares down at his plastic bin filled with goodies. He doesn’t say anything. It’s obvious he’s still trying to mentally psych himself up.

You raise an eyebrow but otherwise pay his oddness little mind before turning to Ace. “How about you?”

“Nah,” Ace waves you off, “Not hungry.”

You raise another incredulous eyebrow but don’t push the issue. “Fine, I’ll wait in line by myself then.”

“Try not to get your lunch money stolen on the way, nerd,” Ace teases.

You lift your middle finger in the air as you walk off.

“I don’t think I’m going to last” Grim whines words slightly muffled where his mouth is pressed flat to the table’s surface. “If I don’t get any food in me in the next ten seconds I’m gonna die.”

“Why don’t you just ask Deuce for some of the food he’s been hoarding to himself all this time,” Ace helpfully suggests, eyes wicked and smirk much too pleased with himself.

At the mention of food, Grim perks up in his seat. He turns to Deuce, fuzzy brows furrowed and eyes burning as he scowls. “Is that true? Have you been holding out on us?!”

“What?” Deuce blinks, drawn out of his thoughts for the first time all afternoon.

“What do you mean what?” Ace feigns an annoyed expression. “You just gonna pretend you don’t have enough cookies on you to feed our whole dorm?”

Deuce’s eyes widen. “How did you know I made cookies?”

“Cookies? Why didn’t you say so?!” Grim leaps on the table and swipes the plastic box, peeling off the lid before Deuce can even blink. “They look kinda wonky but they smell okay at least.”

“They don’t look wonky!” Deuce shouts, cheeks pink with either anger or embarrassment. His angry expression shifts to worry as he looks back at the container. “…do they?”

Grim pulls a short bread cookie out of the box that is likely supposed to be shaped like a heart, however, it’s lumpy and asymmetrical and the sprinkles look like they were applied by a kindergartener. It’s one of the most pathetic homemade creations that Ace has ever seen in his life and exactly the kind of pathetic display that would probably make you incredibly grateful and emotional because you are so endearingly stupid and sentimental.

Ace and Deuce watch silently as Grim throws the cookie up in the air then lean his head back to catch it in the gaping black hole that is his mouth. He chews thoughtfully, mouth mostly closed as he works the contents from one side of his mouth to the other before swallowing with an audible gulp.

“Huh,” Grim says, “Not bad. A solid five out of ten.”

And then he proceeds to upend the box over his head and let the contents pour into his mouth.

“Hey! I worked hard on those!”

Deuce lunges forward but Grim swiftly avoids the attack with a sidestep, not a single crumb missing his mouth as he continues his realistic impression of a living garbage disposal. Another lunge, another miss, and Grim chokes a little in the middle of a victorious laugh as some cookie crumbs go down the wrong pipe.

Frustrated, Deuce turns to Ace. “Are you gonna help me or what?”

“And risk losing a finger?” Ace asks with a raised brow. “No thanks.”

Not that Ace would have been able to help even if he had been inclined to (which he wasn’t). With a satisfied burp, Grim drops the now-empty plastic container and lets it fall to the table with an audible clunk. Crumbs and sprinkles cling to the wet fur around his mouth.

The devastated look Deuce gives to the empty container almost makes Ace feel bad for actively sabotaging his love confession. Not bad enough that he would have done anything differently, mind you, but enough that he’ll try not to rub it later.

“I can’t believe you ate them all.” Deuce huffs and Ace can’t tell if Deuce looks like he’s about to cry or punch a hole in the wall. “They were meant to be for… for…”

“For who?” You interrupt, lunch tray in hand wafting with the pungent scent of tuna melt.

“For everyone,” Ace jumps in. “Deuce brought cookies for all of us but Grim gobbled them all up before I could even try one. Isn’t that right, Deuce?”

“Uh, yeah,” he agrees, taking the out Ace has given him. The only thing worse than having a confession sabotaged would be admitting to it.

“You didn’t even save one for me? Grim, you poop-butt!” You stick your tongue out at Grim as you set the tray in front of him and he blows a raspberry back at you before immediately picking up the sandwich and chowing down.

“Well, if you’re in the mood for something sweet, I heard the Mostro Lounge has a new dessert on the menu.” Ace flashes a flirty grin that he’s been practicing in the mirror since he hit puberty. “I could take you. My treat.”

“Uh-huh,” you reply, looking incredulous, “And how do you plan on paying for it.”

“I’ve been saving up,” he answers, color rising to his cheeks when the words catch up with his brain. He hopes he didn’t sound too eager but it’s too late to take it back now.

You raise another incredulous eyebrow, lip set in a thin line as you think over his offer. Technically, it’s not even a date, but Ace still feels sweat dripping down the back of his neck and his in his palms as if he just asked if he could be your boyfriend.

Before you can give an answer, Grim groans, cheeks looking a little green beneath his fur.

“Minion,” he whines miserably, tugging at your sleeve. “I don’t feel so good.”

“That’s what you get for scarfing down your sandwich after gorging yourself on all that sugar, you brat.” You sigh as you take him into your arms, tucking your shoulder under his chin and holding him carefully against your chest. You turn back to Ace. “Sorry, but I better get Grim to the nurse’s office. You‘ll have to go without me.”

Ace curses under his breath. He didn’t think his plan to sabotage Deuce would come back to bite him. Grim eats rocks off the ground; what are the chances that he would get sick from overeating now of all times?

That’s when Ace and Deuce both catch Grim’s eye as you turn your back to go to the nurse and Grim’s sick expression morphs to a fanged smirk as he snuggles up against you.

Their jaws drop, speechless, and you and Grim are gone.

Ace and Deuce turn to one another, understanding a temporary truce established as they realize they are not the only rivals for your attention.

#ask #anon #sinning #twisted wonderland #grim #tw grim #deuce spade #ace trapola #reader insert #otome hell #long post

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reverieaa · 1 year

Note

I need your guidance, i am a college student. I have been in loa tumblr since 2021, and i have been dealing with this problem since then.

you see, i am manifesting a completely new life for myself where i am not in uni anymore. But to make a state dead is to turn your attention away from it, how can i do that when i have to deal with uni everyday? how can i do that when i think of exams, homework, attending classes blah blah blah..

i used to be really good at studying and get extremely good grades when i did not know about the law. why? because i desired to live a different life for myself away from this home and the only logical to do so was to push myself in school. due to that, i am now in a major i absolutely hate because it was the best thing available to start a career with a steady income.

why am i mentioning this? because since i found out about the law my grades started getting bad. I do NOT want to push myself anymore. why would i? i absolutely CANNOT stand studying anymore, why would i push myself and put hours upon hours onto something that won’t matter anymore when i manifest my dream life…?

that was the “logical explanation” i told myself every time i got a bad grade. but the thing is.. my dream life hasn’t “manifested” yet.

consequently, i was extremely DESPERATE back in 2022. i tried everything under the sun to manifest my dream life whether that was in summer break before uni, i tried time crunches, working on my self concept, the vo*id.. i even deleted subjects because everything was so overwhelming so i deleted them to focus on “my manifesting journey”…

i feel like this ask is all over the place. but everything i mentioned was to better explain my situation. you may ask “if you’re manifesting your dream life and that doesn’t include being in uni why are you worried about your grades…?” because i am afraid. what if my grades become so bad that it do irreversible damage to my GPA while i still haven’t manifested my dream life????? I CANNOT turn my attention away from uni but at the same time absolutely hate it. I cant do it. so it makes sense why i would become so desperate and focus on time so, so much. I cant let go of time.

please, i am asking you help and guide me.

If it's one important advice I'd have to give, is do not ever ignore the 3D. I know it must be hard for you right now, but what you do in the 3D does not matter if u satisfy yourself within.

When Neville was in the army, he said he didn't want to be there. He wanted to manifest getting out and going home to his wife and daughter. He applied to be deployed but was denied, his superior told him if there's one person he'd like to go to war with it's him. What do you think Neville did?

He did nothing. He didn't break or accept that he was never going to make it home. He continued training and slept in a room full of other military men, In a small bed.

But in his mind he was not there, in his mind he said he was at home, with his wife and daughter. He accepted with no reasoning that he was already released and at home. He said in his mind he was in ecstasy, happy and relieved even if he knew physically he was in tbe military bc he was trained there everyday.

Soon after his superior called him to his office, and asked him if he really wanted to leave. Nevielle answered yes, and his deployment was approved. He packed his things and went home.

Do not ignore the way you feel, but do not accept ur 3D circumstances as the end. Go within you mind and stay there, to yourself u are the person u desire to be, afe u not? Who's going to say what u are and aren't in ur imagination.

The only way to satisfy yourself is within, nothing is going against u and the faster u realize that, the more power to you. To me it doesn't matter what the 3D shows, if I'm feeling good within bc that is what u desire. Your oiter reality is only a reflection of your mind and it's contents. Do not sabotage yourself and ignore the 3D and what's given to you in it, that only worsens things for u.

It's not your responsibility or business for things to show up in your reality or when. U need to learn how to be observant of your 3D rather than a reactor of it, it is possible.

I wish you the best, not only with loa but school in general. Please don't just completely ignore ur 3D and view as sth going against you or as bad, it is a gift for u to enjoy your manifestations. I hope this helps and that u don't stress yourself so much. There's time for everything.

#law of assumption #affirm and persist #loa #manifesation #manifesting #neville goddard #3d #affirmations #loa methods #void state

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munsonsreputation · 11 months

Text

Soon You'll Get Better

Chapter Two: Best of a Bad Deal

↢ chapter one | series masterlist | chapter three ↣

summary: max begins her sophomore year of high school heading into it with optimism and the hope for things to turn back to normal. as she navigates through this new stage she can't help but feel undeserving of this happiness that seems so foreign after the guilt of billy's death. after she has a heated run in with a bully, steve sweeps in to take care of the situation, but it's clear that max has plenty of unsolved and pent up emotions about billy's death that must be put to rest.

word count: [20.5k] kinda proof-read

: ̗̀➛ pairings: big-brother!steve x max & big-sister!reader x max

: ̗̀➛ romantic pairing: steve harrington x fem-college-student!reader

: ̗̀➛ warnings: talks about mental and emotional health, billy's death, self deprecation, difficulty grieving over death, swearing, bullies, max collapsing (she's ok!), tons of tears (get ur tissues ready), steve being supportive, max and steve are a bunch of fluff balls.

With fall setting in and summer dwindling away in the rearview, everyone had seemed to enter a new stage in life. Starting a new school year, getting a little older, job promotions, finding themselves—everything.

For Max, she had started a few new moments in her own life. Recently turned sixteen a few weeks ago in early July and was about to be a sophomore in high school. She was also making an effort to try to get better, to take care of herself a little more and embrace the help that people were willing to give to her—especially Steve and his girlfriend.

“Say cheese!” You bubbled too enthusiastically at seven in the morning.

Max yawned, rubbing her eyes as you stifled your amusement behind the enormous camera and standing by until she flashed you a smile before taking the picture.

“Okay, c’mon, let’s get you to school before you’re late.” Steve snickered, pressing himself off his car as he ushered the young girl towards him.

She yawned once more, wandering into his arm that he slung over her shoulder, “What time did you go to bed last night?” He rose his brows, scanning her drained features as she shrugged.

“Around twelve, I couldn’t stop tossing and turning—just a little anxious.” She told him, getting into the backseat as he held the door open for her.

You looked behind at her, already settled in the passenger with the developing polaroid in your lap, “S’ok sweetheart, everyone gets a little nervous when they start something new.” You consoled her with your soothing voice as she smiled gingerly and buckled in.

“Do you have any classes with El?” Steve inquired, fingers shifting the car into drive as the ride continued under the early morning sky.

“Ummm, I think so,”

She reached over, unzipping her backpack and finding the folded piece of paper that was at the bottom of the bag. Beginning to read off her schedule before she came across the one class she and her best friend shared.

“English with Mrs. O’Donnell.” Max spoke, folding back up her schedule and placing it into her bag.

“Wasn’t that Eddie’s English teacher?” You rose your brow, glancing towards Steve who chuckled and nodded.

His eyes met Max’s in the rearview where she laughed, knowing the story already, “Yeah, three years in a row.”

“Give him a break! I’m just glad he finally passed and graduated.” You said, undoubtedly proud of your friend for not failing for the fourth time.

“Well, I hope her class isn’t too hard.” Max said from the backseat, watching the window as they slowed by cars also heading in the same direction towards school.

Steve tutted, peeking back towards her, “It shouldn’t be and if you need any help, you can ask El or us too.”

Steve wasn’t necessarily the best student per se, but ever since the kids started going to him for help with projects and studying, he made the effort to use whatever he remembered from all his years of school to help them succeed.

She grinned sincerely and nodded, “Thanks,”

Max wasn’t bad at school. If anything, she was a straight-A student. Passed all her classes with flying colors. But it wasn’t the contents of the class that was difficult it was the people in the class.

Last school year was an absolute nightmare. She was known as the girl with a dead brother who sacrificed his life to save her and her friends. Everyone couldn’t stop talking about it—everyone whispered in the hallways and behind her in class and even if they thought she couldn’t hear them she knew already.

You would think that people would be more sympathetic to her situation. She wasn’t asking for pity from the student body, but just the respect to not talk about such a sensitive topic that they didn’t know the full story about. But instead, all she got were those murmurs of rumors and sick jokes about her dead brother.

Max was just hoping that this school year would be different. That finally she could move on from last year and have a fresh start that she deserved. She knew that getting better was going to take time, but it also wasn’t just up to her. But up to being treated right by others—to not allow herself to be walked all over and dragged around. She knew that Billy wouldn’t want her to take that lightly.

She took a deep breath as Steve turned into the school parking lot, getting in the line of all the other cars who were dropping off students before it finally came her turn. Unbuckling her belt, she leaned in towards the middle console, giving you and Steve a head tap.

“See you guys after school?” She sought, sliding her arms through her backpack loops.

You and Steve beamed back and her, nodding your heads, “I’ll be in class but I’ll meet you guys back at the apartment okay?”

“Sounds good and don’t forget to pick me up at 2:30, Steve!” She called out, opening the car door and stepping out.

He whistled, flashing her another smile with a thumbs up, “Have a good day bug,” He shouted out.

You and Steve waved goodbye, watching Max do the same before she pulled her headphones over her ears as she walked through the crowded parking lot.

Music seemed to be her calmness these days. It helped her focus on other things rather than just the thoughts running through her head.

She was able to focus on the beat, lyrics, trying to picture the scene in her head—like a movie, but just for her ears and imagination. She was just hoping that the soundtrack of Kate Bush would keep her at bay until the end of the day.

Thankfully, for the most part, the angelic voice of Kate Bush was great. It kept her busy just like she hoped, and even El asked to give it a listen during lunch. The only thing that Kate Bush couldn’t black out was the voice of her named being called in the middle of the class after Mrs. O’Donnell had picked up the phone and covered the speakers as motioned Max up to her desk.

“Miss. Lawrence wants to see you in her office and she’s in A13 down in the administration office.” She spoke.

Max nodded, waiting for further instruction while the rest of the students watched on. Mrs. O’Donnell hung up the phone, reaching over her desk and ripping off the bright orange slip where she scribbled down a quick hall pass in case Max would be mistaken for ditching class.

After signing her name, she passed it to her, a small smile on her face, “She says you might be in her office until the rest of the class, so it’s best you take your things with you in case the bell rings. I’ll see you tomorrow, Maxine.”

Max returned the smile, half surprised that Mrs. O’Donnell wasn’t such an old hag that Eddie said she was, “Thank you…see you tomorrow.”

She walked back over to her desk, stuffing her books and binder into her backpack before turning to El who sat behind her and quietly murmuring, “I’ll meet you in the parking lot when the bell rings.”

Her best friend smiled, nodding her head as she reached for her hand, giving it a warm squeeze. “Okay! Good luck!”

Max was aware of Miss. Lawrence who was the sophomore counselor. Last school year, her counselor, Mrs. Bear, told her about Miss. Lawrence, saying that if she wasn’t in for the day that she could visit the sophomore counselor for whatever she needed.

Max only visited once, just to get out of class after a particularly hard day.

“Max! Nice to see you! How was your summer?”

She gradually closed the door behind her, walking over to the chairs and taking a seat.

“Summer was fine. What about you?” She asked, resting her backpack on the free chair, looking over at the woman who had a cheery smile on her face.

“Great! I took my daughters to Indianapolis for a few weeks. Very fun, but not much to do once you’ve explored it all.”

She and Max shared a short laugh before she told her a little more about the trip and the interesting landmarks they were able to see. Then she reached for a file of papers, pulling a few of them out and sliding it towards the young girl. The papers being the emergency contact forms that were filled out last year.

Her mother’s name and contact information being the only one written down, and under it a scribbled out box where Billy’s name and homeroom number was once written.

“I called you in here to see if you wanted to add anyone to your emergency contact list. If you only want to keep your mother’s information on file, that’d be fine, but I just wanted to reach out and see if you’d like to add anyone.”

If Billy were still alive, he’d already be graduated and she would have added the home phone number, but that wasn’t the case anymore.

She thought about maybe adding Joyce, considering the fact that she was like a mother figure to her, but Max knew who she really wanted the school to contact if something were to ever happen.

Somebody who would drop everything to be there for her.

“Umm, would it be ok if I add Steve and his partner?” She leaned forward, plucking out a pen from the jar while she waited for Miss. Lawrence’s response.

A smile and curt, “mhm” prompted her to begin filling out your and Steve’s names along the dotted line along with your phone numbers. She practically had your numbers memorized, being able to press the buttons on the home phone without even looking because she called you two very often.

Sometimes to just check in see how things were going at home with college and Ollie. But also wondering if you two were free so that she could come over. She loved that you guys always picked up her phone calls, and on the rare occasions that you didn’t, she would leave voice messages, saying to call her back ASAP because she needed to get out of the trailer.

Her sudden fast moving pen abruptly came to halt when the ballpoint hovered over “relationship.”

You and Steve weren’t related to her by blood obviously, but at times she really did feel like you two were a part of her family. She really had no other family besides her mom, so she’d take you two willingly into her chosen one.

“Brother” she wrote into the relationship slot next to Steve’s name and “Sister-In-Law” she wrote next to yours.

Sliding the paper back to her counselor and capping her pen, she sat and waited, watching as Miss. Lawrence examined the paper before placing it back into the folder.

She looked up at her, crossing her hands over her desk and smiling, “Steve Harrington? He used to go here didn’t he?”

Max nodded with a tight smile on her face, “Yeah, we’re sorta close…or not sorta, really close. He’s like a brother figure to me and his partner is there for me lots, too.”

The young girl shrugged, hoping there would be no issue of putting you and him on her contact list. If she couldn’t then basically it’d just be her mother’s work number and home number, and since she was barely home, she’d just have to hope her mom wasn’t too busy at work to pickup the phone if it was an emergency.

“Well, that’s really nice of them and I also want you to know that I, myself are here for you no matter what alright?” She patted the tops of Max’s hands, reaching under her desk with the other to grab a card, sliding over the desk to her.

Max grabbed it, examining the contents. On the first line a phone number to her school office, and the other a personal telephone number in case of emergencies.

“In case you ever need to talk, just feel free to call, and if at any time during class you feel like you need to talk to someone you’re always welcome to my office, alright?”

“Thank you,” Max replied serenely, moving back over to her backpack and placing the card in the front pocket for easy access if she ever needed it.

Miss Lawrence looked at her watch, just a few minutes before the bell would ring and the first day of school would come to an end, “You’re welcome to leave now, but just don’t walk out of the front gates before security goes all bezerk.”

She laughed, giving the girl a warm smile, observing her sling the backpack over her shoulder before waving a goodbye and exiting her office.

There was a sense of relief walking out of there without bringing up Billy’s name because she really had thought this was going to be those miserable counselor meetings where she had to sit there watching the poor woman pour her heart out and not know what to say in response.

Talking about Billy and even bringing up his name was a bit triggering now. The only person who was allowed to bring it up was her and if someone else did, she thinks she would immediately see red because all she wanted to do now was to move on.

If that was even possible.

It still hurt to know that he wasn’t here, yet she accepted the fact that she couldn’t bring him back. But really, was this grief worth dying over? For a few months, she thought it was, but at the end of the day she knew Billy was better off dead than surviving that attack.

For crying out loud, he was impaled by a fucking Mindflayer.

There was no plausible or possible way for him to survive.

But even though a piece of her died when he left, she also knew that she could survive this grief.

It would just take time and a lot of realizing that she had to make the best of a bad deal.

As soon as the last bell of the day rung vehemently, she pushed through the big glass double doors and strode against the rough gravel, stopping beside the bike racks that were right next to the parking lot.

She pulled her headphones over her ears, not wanting to hear the commotion of everyone filing out of their classes, and instead watched the doors, waiting until she was able to see her best friend. It was only a couple minutes, and almost halfway through a song that she spotted El on the other side of the glass, but she wasn’t walking alone.

There was Will, her brother.

El waved eagerly towards her, as if they didn’t see each other just a little while ago, but that’s something that Max always admired. That no matter how much time went by, El was always so thrilled to see her.

She waved back, placing her headphones around neck and pausing the tape as they got closer.

“Hey Max!” Will approached, opening his arms in a hug.

She smiled casually, opening hers, and hugging him, “Hey Will.”

Things weren’t necessarily uncomfortable between Will and Max, but they definitely grew a little distant after what had happened at Star Court. In hindsight, it also was a little funny because before the Upside Down crap came back haunting Hawkins—Max, El, and Will were like the little trio that summer.

They had begged you and Steve to drive them around town or supervise them at the pool, per their parents’ request. The three of them connected to the hip and having fun doing their own thing while the others did whatever they constituted as fun.

That was until after Star Court and the breakup that happened between Max and Lucas.

She always understood that Will was inevitably closer to Lucas than he was to her. They had grown up together their whole lives, and Max only entered the picture recently. And even if Will didn’t pick sides, because he didn’t—she knew that everything would be ok and if she had El that was all that mattered.

But still, it was nice to hug her friend again after this entire summer of being missing in action. When they pulled away, they moved a little closer into the parking lot, waiting on the curb as they watched the carpool line move.

“So what happened?” El nudged her delicately, gripping her binder to her chest while on the lookout of the cars entering the pickup section.

“Miss. Lawrence asked me about my emergency contact form and let me add two people.” She told them and they nodded.

“Do you think I could sit with you guys at lunch tomorrow?” Will asked kindly, looking between his little sister and Max.

Today, he had sat with Mike and Dustin at the usual DnD table and while he loved the comfort of his two best friends, he also missed Max and wanted to hang more.

Plus, the DnD table just wasn’t the same without Eddie and the rest of the seniors who had graduated. Hellfire didn’t have a good reputation either, so not many freshmen or newcomers signed up.

Will knew that it was only a matter of time before Hellfire would no longer be a club at Hawkins and instead just better off being played in the confines of the Wheeler basement or Eddie’s trailer.

“Sure,” Max nodded her head, glancing over at him, “Did the guys do something?” she rose her brows and he shook his head wrapping fingers over his backpack straps and holding.

“No, well…kinda? They’re just being friendly to some of the freshman, but I’m not really good with new people, so it’s a little awkward, and plus, Lucas sits with the jocks now, so yeah.”

Will sounded a little disappointed, not at the fact that his childhood best friends were evolving, but more so at the fact that he felt like he was being left behind.

Maybe that’s why the three always gravitated towards each other in a way.

El was, of course overlooked.

Max was misunderstood.

And Will was underappreciated.

“You can sit with us every day if you want!” El offered graciously, giving Will a wide smile and reaching over to squeeze his wrist assuringly.

Max did the same, expect in her own loving way. Poking him the in the side and grinning like a maniac because even if Will hated getting poked in his prime tickle spot, this was like a form of love in some weird way.

“Max! Wait up!”

The three of them whipped their heads back and found a jogging Lucas waving his hands up in the air as he made his way towards them.

“Should I tell him to go away?” Will requested under his breath, just a few seconds away from Lucas coming closer.

She bit her lip and shook her head. Telling him to go away was the last thing she wanted and quite frankly all she did this past summer was push him away. It was time that she faced the music and owe him an explanation.

Lucas was always so good and kind to her. Constantly asking if she was ok, even when he knew she wasn’t. Trying his best to get her to open up about her feelings. Leaving a pile of picked flowers on her doorstep even when she wouldn’t answer the door.

All of the things he did because he loved her and she pushed him away like nothing.

It was horrible what she did, but she knew it was for her own sake.

“H-hey!” Lucas coughed out stiffly, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared on at her, watching a little smile appear on her freckled face.

“Hi jock.” She pestered light heartedly, scrunching her nose at the patch on his letterman jacket that now was going to become a new staple in his closet.

She and Lucas always used to make fun of the jocks that they’d seen all over town back when they were in middle school. Acting like Hawkins’ Royalty just because they got to go to states only to come home without a trophy. It felt a little funny that even after those years of those conversations; he was in front of her wearing one of those jackets.

“But I’m a nice jock.” He clicked his tongue and pointed his finger at her, making her laugh.

Will discreetly reached for El’s wrist, gently tugging the two of them a few feet back to give Max and Lucas some much needed privacy.

For the first time that they conversed after the breakup, they didn’t seem so tense or weirded out by each other. And to them, seeing their friends look somewhat happy in each other’s presence felt like a good step.

Max rolled her eyes sarcastically, moving her feet across the gravel. “I don’t know if being a nice jock is even possible.”

Lucas simply amused her, making a ‘X’ over his heart and mouthing the words, “I promise.” She knew he would always be a nice person. But a jock? She never thought that would happen.

“So…umm, how have you been?” He stammered the question out, anxiously rubbing his hands together, hoping to hear some good news.

Max swallowed, and smiled, a real genuine smile, “Better,” she began, “A lot better, kinda…Steve and his girlfriend have been really there for me, so it’s nice.”

Lucas beamed at the response, finally glad and thoroughly convinced that Max was indeed doing better, maybe not 100% the same Max from before, but she was getting there little by little.

“How about you?”

Max gestured over at him, obviously wanting to hear about when he decided to change up the look and go for total jocky balls and laundry basket mode, as Eddie would call it.

She watched him dig into his jean pockets, pulling out a key and smiling wide.

“I got my license a few ago! And my dad let me get a new stereo system for crushing basketball tryouts—it’s cool! It comes with a tape player and everything, so maybe one day we can drive around and blast that Kate Bush tape.”

He pointed at her Walkman clipped to her jeans. The Kate Bush tape that he knew she loved, confined within the two pieces of plastic and could be seen through the little clear window in the front.

Her fingers trailed over the Walkman, resting there, as she looked up at Lucas with sorry eyes and a frown.

“I-I’m sorry for pushing you away for so long. I swear it’s not what I wanted to do…but it was what was best for me.” She admitted, pursing her lips and watching Lucas shake his head.

“No, I should be the sorry one because I kept pushing you to talk even though I knew you were still hurting deep down. A-and why you said that it wasn’t because of me, and you blamed yourself for me being stupid and pushy—”

Max swallowed, shaking her head, “uh, uh” cutting Lucas off, leading him to raise his brows and stop.

“I meant it when I said it was nothing to do with you, Lucas.” She said quietly enough to hear despite the chatter from the rest of the students passing by.

Max’s eyes looked from side to side, making sure no one was able to hear what she was about to say. And when she knew the coast was clear, she stepped forward, somewhat closing the space between them and hugging herself to find some comfort.

“What happened last summer fucked me up. Really bad,” she buzzed, feeling Lucas so close to her, “I’m still trying to heal from it and the last thing I want to do is rope you in with everything. So I mean it when I say it’s not you, it’s me.”

Her eyes darted up to his, seeing them filled with acceptance and a slight bit of hopelessness. She could read Lucas like the back of her hand, and she knew that it was still painful for him.

After all, they were quite literally each other’s first love.

“I believe you.” He whispered back, his hand reaching for hers and clutching it tenderly.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile, stepping back and opening up the space between them. The space that she knew would one day once be filled again, but right now she had to put herself first, even if it was selfish.

Even if a boy, straight out of her dreams, who did nothing but make her laugh and never tried to change her was waiting on the other side.

Your words and Steve’s echoing in her mind and reminding her that she was the priority. That this space between her and Lucas would never fully close unless she put herself first and got better.

Not because Lucas deserved it.

But because she did.

“Bug!”

The crunch of the tires on gravel, followed by Steve’s voice, made her look back. His face looking at her from the passenger window where he waved. Max and El were already starting to make their way into the backseat of his car, and she had to go.

She turned back around to Lucas, seeing him give Steve a wave and smile before redirecting his attention back to his favorite red-head.

“I’ll try to call sometime…and I look forward to that ride one day.” She told him, reaching out to pat his shoulder as she gave him a soft smile and turned on her heel.

But before she could go, he grabbed onto her palm, placing a piece of paper folder up between them before he squeeze and finally let her go.

She looked puzzled at first, wondering what it could have been, but just seeing the words Lucas mouthed reassured her, “Read it and let me know.”

She swallowed, nodding her head understandingly and clutching her fist around the paper. Walking towards Steve’s car, she could already imagine the questions that he was about to ask by the slight crinkle of his forehead and curled lip.

“Save it,” Max groaned jokingly, holding her hand up to his face as she slumped into her seat and buckled her belt.

Steve shook his head, looking back at the other two kids in the backseat, pretending to look as clueless as possible. His eyes shifted back to Max, clicking his tongue, “Start talking missus.”

She turned her head away, peering out towards the passenger window, where her fingers carefully opened up the note. In messy blue ink, he wrote, “first game on Friday…hope to see you there!” signed off with his initials and two stick figures: him and her.

With a smile on her face, she tucked the paper into her pocket, turning towards Steve who was already staring right back at her with a grin, “I’m going to a game on Friday.”

When they got back to the apartment, Steve couldn’t help but eavesdrop while he got some food going in the microwave overhearing the conversation the other three were having in the living room only a few feet away.

“You guys are like totally obsessed with my non-existent dating life!” Max accused jokingly, spread out on the floor with Ollie laying on her rib cage.

Will and El had already gotten started with their homework fanned out across the coffee table, multitasking as they chatted with Max.

“We’re not obsessed, just mildly concerned.” Will told her, eyes never leaving his calculus worksheet that he was flying through.

The red head sat up, cuddling the dog to her, as she looked over at Will, “What do you mean concerned?”

He finally looked away from his homework, shooting her a knowing glance. “Lucas is going to think this means that you two are getting back together.”

“He’s right,” El murmured, setting her pencil down and laying her head over her arms, still concentrating her eyes on her best friend, “It doesn’t help that won’t shut up about you.” El added, watching Max inhale and shrug.

Unlike Max, El still hung out with the guys mostly because of Mike and as of recently her best friend was the topic of discussion. Lucas asking the boys for some girl advice, which was ludicrous because usually it was them asking him for advice.

Will and El would share uncomfortable and silent glances, knowing that Max wasn’t going to budge on her stance with the relationship. Nothing was going to make her magically change her mind and decide to get back together with him. This wasn’t like their previous petty breakdowns where Max would keep Lucas on his toes, but eventually take him back with a snap of her fingers.

This was something more, and they both knew that.

“Well…we’re not going to—I’m just not ready for it, don’t know when I will be, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop caring about him.” She told her friends, looking away subconsciously.

But Max knew that El and Will were a smart pair of siblings. They both probably already knew everything she was going through, but didn’t want to ask or bring it up because they knew it would make her uneasy.

“Which is why no one is forcing you to go to that game for Lucas’ sake,” Will responded, pressing a comforting hand on her knee, “You should go because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.”

“Who’s forcing who to do what?”

Steve came into the living room balancing a plate of hot pockets on one hand and three bottles of water in the other.

Max looked up at him, putting Ollie down on the floor as Steve placed the food on the coffee table and sat back on the couch.

“Nothing! No one is forcing me to do anything. They’re just concerned about the game on Friday.” Max said, shaking her head and picking up a hot pocket and taking a bite.

Steve observed, seeing Will and El passing him troubled glances, not wanting to be caught by Max who would totally tell them they were freaking out for no reason at all, when in fact they had all the reasons in the world to.

“Do you actually wanna go to the game?” Steve urged, sitting up slightly and watching her chew before answering with a dismissive bobble of her head.

“Yeah, I guess…it’s not like I have anything to do, anyways.” She told him, prompting Steve to let out a sigh, running his hands up and down his legs, wondering what was the right response to give her.

“Max, if you want to go, you should go. It’ll be a nice change of scenery for you, but you don’t just have to go because you feel like you owe Lucas something, alright? You make your own choices for yourself. Don’t let him or any of us pressure you into doing or going to something you don’t want to do.”

She knew where they were all coming from, considering the amount of protectiveness they all had for her, especially Steve. He knew the struggles she was facing that El and Will didn’t, so his words were hinting at that something more without explicitly saying it or being too obvious.

Max wasn’t only on the road to getting better mentally and emotionally, but also facing the grief of Billy. The thoughts of going back to the basketball court where she would obviously have memories of her late brother was something she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to face alone.

It wasn’t like she was scared or terrified, but more so just apprehensive to see what the outcome would be. Would she only be able to see the ghost of Billy out on the court, or would she freeze and run away when she saw Lucas there?

She wasn’t quite sure if it was Lucas or Billy’s ghost she was fending off, but she knew she wanted to do this—just not alone.

“Do you think you and her could come to the game?” Max proposed, looking at Steve who grinned tightly and nodded.

“Of course,” Steve replied, reaching forward to ruffle her hair as she playfully rolled her eyes and smacked his hand away.

She looked at her two other friends, watching with smiles as they ate their afternoon snack, clearly pleased with Max’s more confident answer this time around. She knew they knew that things were difficult for her—more difficult than it was a year ago. It was that sort of silent pact and understanding that they had between the three of them.

They knew, but they just wouldn’t speak of it for her sake. But what they would do was advocate for her best interest and remind her that she was in control of everything that was left up to her.

“Guys wanna come too?” Max suggested, wiggling her brows at the two who grinned.

“But you have to swear we won’t have to do those stupid cheers that the crowd does to get pumped up!” Will pointed with a laugh as Max crossed her fingers over her heart.

“Promise!” she added with a giggle.

“If Lucas has trouble shooting, do you think I could use my powers to help?” El looked at Max with an innocent look of curiosity before the redhead turned to Steve.

“Can she?” Max smirked, and Steve looked at her with a grin.

“Y’know, it’d probably be really helpful, buutttt we should let the game play out without super powers, alright?”

He turned to El with a chortle, following as she moped somewhat, but went straight back to eating her hot pocket and doing her homework.

The front door knob wiggled, the lock turning while Ollie hopped excitedly, sprinting around in circles before you finally came through the doorway.

“I’m home!” You sparkled, toeing off your shoes and placing your stack of books on the little table at the entrance of your apartment.

Steve was up from his place on the couch in an instant, coming to greet you at the front door with a peck to the lips.

“Missed you,” Steve murmured, placing a kiss on your arm while he guided the strap of your backpack down and off your shoulders.

You smiled warmly, stepping up on your tiptoes to give him another kiss, “I missed you too.”

“Yeah, you know we’re here too!”

Steve sneered playfully, taking your bag to the bedroom while you stooped down to pick up Ollie in your arms before walking over to the teens at the table.

“Helloooo, Ellie…Willie….and Maxie.” You singsonged, pecking the tops of their heads as they grumbled at your corny nicknames before you rounded the coffee table and plopped down on the sofa.

“How was college?” El sought, scooting closer to your legs as she reached an arm up and petted Ollie behind the ears.

“Plenty of lecture notes to go through, but that’s boring! Tell me all about your first day! Any cute girls or guys? Mean teachers? New cliques?” Your eyes darting to the three who smiled and shrugged lightly.

“My classes are alright. Mostly full of kids from last school year, but my teachers are really nice! Mr. Krasinski said that if we all turn in our syllabus on time we get one pass to skip any pop quiz throughout the semester, we would just have to vote on it as a class.” Will explains

“When I was in high school all my teachers were lame, you guys are lucky!” You pestered.

You tilted your head towards the girls, squinting your eyes, “Soooo, is Mrs. O’Donnell really an old miserable hag?”

Max and El shook their heads, cackling loudly at your comment that you definitely got from Eddie Munson himself.

“She’s actually kinda nice! Maybe Eddie really just gave her a hard time.” Max spoke, dusting off her fingers and reaching for her water bottle to take a sip.

Just then Steve had exited your bedroom, heading towards the kitchen to grab yourself a snack which was usually string cheese and a bag of lays.

“Did you tell her about Lucas?” Steve called out while ripping open the new pack of string cheese he had bought for you a few days ago.

He snickered when he heard your dramatic gasp, startling Ollie who hopped out of your arms and ran over to him.

“Oh, here it goes now…” Max groaned, shaking her head with no malice as you dropped onto the floor beside her with a bemused grin on your face holding her by the shoulders.

“Tell. Me. Everything!” You shook her gingerly, catching Steve in the distance who was coming closer with your favorite snacks.

Perfect timing.

You let go of her shoulders, hands instantly grabbing the food Steve was offering to you, before you settled your back against his legs where he sat down on the couch and ran his fingers through your locks smoothly.

“Well, he came up to me after school and asked me how I was doing.” Max started getting relaxed next to you as you nodded and listened, peeling strings of the cheese as you ate.

“Then I apologized for pushing away this whole summer and he took it surprisingly well actually, then he invited me to his basketball game on Friday.”

You turned your head strongly, looking at her with widened eyes.

“He’s a jock now? Since when?”

Max snorted somewhat in an agreeing manner, “I guess he took up basketball over the summer and tried out. He’s on junior varsity and plays point guard.”

You took in that information, chewing slowly, trying to decipher which questions you wanted to ask because really you had so many, but you settled on the most important one for the moment.

“Do you want to go?”

A smile began to tug at Max’s lips, making you raise your brows as you watched her throw her arms out wide, “Yep! And you and Steve are coming with!”

You pretended to whimper, sending your head back on Steve’s knees where you stared at him upside down, “Why!? You know I can’t stand watching laundry baskets and balls!”

He tsked, bopping your nose, “I’m going to ban you and Eddie from hanging out. I was on the basketball team you know!”

You sighed, throwing your head right side up and looked at Max, trying to hold back a smile.

“You’re lucky, I love you.” with that you wrapped your arms around her, embracing her in a hug that silently told her that you were in fact looking forward to it and would go anywhere she asked if it made her feel comfortable.

To be honest, you were probably the most nervous for Max’s first day of school even if it didn’t look like it because you didn’t want her to see through your worry. Kids her age knew of the Billy incident, and you also knew that they were ruthless.

Your heart couldn’t handle knowing that today could’ve been a horrible one for her, where she felt ostracized by her classmates and you and Steve weren’t there to scoop her up and tell all those other bullies to fuck off.

And the funny part is, you and Steve shouldn’t even be this concerned in the first place, but you knew deep down that the both of you would always be this worried for her and her wellbeing.

Max had been through a lot, and you were grateful that she found a safe space with you and Steve because you knew she needed it more than anything. The both of you would do anything for her in a heartbeat because you both cared for her that much.

Honestly, you could’ve cried seeing how happy she looked sitting in your living room with her two friends while they did homework together. And for the first time in a long time, you could see that this wasn’t just one of those half exteriors that she would put on to convince her friends that she was ok.

This was Max finally starting to let her guard down and begin to heal.

The old Max would never really make a return—that Max was the one who died when she watched her brother go. But this also wasn’t the old Max who wanted to retreat from social interactions with people she actually enjoyed being around.

This was Max coming into her own again and you were glad that you got to see it happening in the flesh.

The happiness wasn’t something that was just passing for Maxine, for once it felt steady even in a time where she wasn’t quite sure how sure she was of its presence.

Having Will and El sitting with her at lunch gave her a sense of security, knowing that there were two people she could go to at any given time. It was an even bigger plus having El with her during the last period of the day because they could walk to class together and even talk during free time.

She gushed over the phone when she’d call to tell you about her day at school when she wasn’t spending time at your apartment. Even telling Steve about her obnoxious classmates during the car ride home or begging him to drive slower, so she’d just be a tad bit late before the first bell.

It seemed as though that sophomore year wasn’t as scary as she had thought it out to be. It was less lonely, even if it was only two of her friends keeping her company. There were fewer eyes staring at her and murmuring in the hallways from last school year, and it felt like everyone had moved on—which was great, because she wanted to as well.

Today was one of those days where Max didn’t get dropped off by Steve nor was going to be picked up by him. El and Will suggested that they head to a diner after school to grab an actual appetizing late lunch while they did homework. Joyce was in charge of the early morning drop off and Hopper would do the picking up and dropping Max back to the trailer.

Max liked the new routine: dropping in at your place on certain days of the week and also spending her time with her friends just being regular high schoolers trying to get through the next two years.

There was a sense of normalcy about it that she found freeing. A part of her knowing that she didn’t have to stay locked up in her trailer, wasting the days away, and instead it felt good to go out and have a distraction to help her get through whatever she was feeling.

But she also loved the fact that if at any moment things got too heavy for her or if she just needed a break, you and Steve’s door was always going to be open.

It was a rarity for your college classes to get cancelled, but when they were, it was almost like a cheat day. Spending your time at home, getting to lounge around and watch movies or better yet catch up on your naps that you’d been missing out on thanks to studying and work.

This time, though, you’d gotten to do just that before Steve had called out of work early to spend the rest of his afternoon with you, bringing home a new tape and some candy bars for an extra touch of love.

“I could totally do that.” Steve grumbled, tossing more popcorn into his mouth while the screen displayed Patrick Swayze lifting Jennifer Grey up into the air.

“Hmm sure,” you dragged out, rolling your eyes lovingly as you bit into your second chocolate bar of the afternoon.

A knock sounded on the front door, prompting Ollie to hop down, sniffing and running around in circles at the guest.

“Did you forget to pick Max up?” You paused the movie, looking over at Steve.

He glanced down at his watch, shaking his head, “She said she was getting a ride from Hop to head to the diner with El and Will. It can’t be her.”

“Thats weird,” you thought out loud, shaking it off and heading to the door, leaning down to pet Ollie as you unlocked it.

“Hello?” You started as you opened it, coming face to face with Lucas,

“Lucas! What are you doing here? Did you need a ride or something?”

He shook his head, a smile on his face as Ollie ran to his feet and began jumping excitedly, “Hey Ollie,”

“I got my license a few weeks ago, Dustin didn’t tell you?” He laughed, petting your puppy’s head as Steve came to your side.

“Did they make you parallel park?” Steve asked, smiling at the scene.

I nailed it pretty quickly…do you think I could come in for a bit?”

You nodded, opening the door wider as he stepped in with Ollie in his arms and took a seat on the couch.

“How can we be of service?” You plopped yourself on the opposite couch while Steve sat beside him.

He took a deep breath, looking between the both of you as his hands continued petting Ollie who now laid comfortable across his lap.

“It’s umm, about Max…”

You sat up and so did Steve, who straightened his posture and nodded his head like the protective older brother he was to her.

“What about her?”

“I invited her to my game tomorrow.” Lucas started, the two of you nodding, already knowing this information because she told you guys over dinner a few days ago, “She said she’d come and she actually seems a bit happier now, which has me thinking…”

Steve rose his brows arms crossed over his chest, “About what?”

“To win her back! I just need help trying to come up with a plan. I talked to Dustin and Mike about it, but all their ideas suck. And I even went to El and Will, but they said they can’t help me. So I was thinking you guys could help?”

His voice was hopeful, but the looks that you were giving him weren’t necessarily mirrored with the same smile he had. If anything, you and Steve were quiet, not quite sure on what to say or where to look, so instead you looked at each other, eyes fighting silently over who was going to tell him you two couldn’t help.

Truth be told, after the kids had left your apartment on Monday afternoon, Steve had spilled his guts about the conversation that the three had about Lucas and his invite to the game. He knew it wasn’t his place to throw himself into some teenage issues, but Max was like a little sister to him, and just as El and Will had said, there was a point to be mildly concerned.

Max stood her ground about not getting back together with Lucas. Yes, she wanted to go to the basketball game to show her support towards him, but that did not mean they were getting back together—none at all.

Those were boundaries that Max was setting, and you both knew that you couldn’t sit here and look at this kid and give him the false hope that somehow he could pull off a miracle to win her back.

Eventually the staring contest came to an end, and Steve won.

You sighed, getting up from your seat and sitting beside Lucas, “I’m sorry bud, but I don’t think we’ll be able to help with that,” you said wistfully, a soothing hand resting on his shoulders where they slumped.

“W-why?” He asked disappointedly as you grimaced, squeezing his shoulder trying to get him to relax.

“Because Max isn’t a girl who can be won back, Lucas,” You started, turning your body towards him as you explained, “Look, I know you care about her a lot and there no doubt in my mind that she cares about you the same way, but she just needs this time alone.”

You said it slowly, watching as the young boy’s face settled even sadder, if that was possible. His hands stopped petting Ollie and instead rested smoothly on his thighs. His mouth moving yet the words stuck in his throat as he tried to understand.

“I—I just don’t understand, we’ve been broken up for months. The longest we’ve ever been broken up—”

Steve cut in, patting him on the back. “Trust us, we know.”

Lucas shook his head turning his attnetion back to you, “Isn’t that enough time alone? I just don’t get it.”

You smiled tightly, lifting your shoulders and letting them fall as you grabbed his hands and squeezed, “Because maybe it’s not for you to understand, but it’s something you need to accept Lucas. She needs her space to take care of herself. Don’t you think she’s been through a lot in the last two years?”

Lucas swallowed thickly, nodding his head before hanging it low, “So you’ve gotta let her do this. She comes first no matter what. With that being said, you’ve gotta focus on yourself and the stuff that makes you happy.” You told him sternly, patting his hands before going to grab a glass of water that it looked like he needed.

The young boy was quiet, sulking with disappointment and sadness, knowing that this was completely out of his hands and like you had told him, he had to accept it. It was just painful to know the only girl he ever wanted just couldn’t be with him right now.

Steve knew how Lucas felt. He too was a sophomore chasing after a girl who couldn’t be with him, but under different circumstances because sophomore year Steve was an asshole, but Lucas—not a bad bone in that kid.

“Dude, c’mon, don’t let this get you down.” Steve shook him by the shoulders, attempting to get a smile, but all he got was a frown that didn’t look like it could be flipped upside down easily.

“I just miss her…a lot.” He blurted out, making Steve click his tongue and nod sympathetically.

He knew that Max and Lucas spent less and less time together. And while Max wasn’t fond of talking about boys and romance in front of him, he knew that she missed Lucas as well. How she’d bring him up in random conversations when something reminded her of him. Little things here and there let him know that Max missed Lucas. But many things also outweighed the fact that a relationship would not be good for her right now.

You and Steve were two of the only people to really know what was going on with her and what she was going through with everything inside and at home. So while Steve hated to play favorites and lie—he knew it wasn’t his place nor yours to tell Lucas what was really going on with Max.

That one day, they could have a conversation around it with themselves and work it out like adults.

“I know you do, but you were her friend before you were her boyfriend,” Steve explained, nudging him with his elbow, garnering the young boy’s attention, “Be there for her as a friend. Listen to her. Talk to her. But for the love of god, do not dare push her, because I’ll find out and you know that if I hear that you made her upset—”

Your eyes widened, quickly strolling back into the living room with an ice cold glass of water that you passed to Lucas who stared at Steve nervously before you came back in.

“He’ll have a civil conversation with you!” You finished for him, turning your head towards Steve’s, widening your eyes to tell him to cut it out.

Steve shrugged his shoulders, Lucas paying no mind to you two as he downed the drink, “Yeah, that’s where I was getting at…thanks babe.”

“No biggy, Stevie.” You smirked to yourself, picking up Ollie and cuddling him into your chest as Lucas and Steve watched on.

“Thanks guys, I really needed to hear that. I’m actually pretty glad I came to you two before I followed through with what Mike and Dustin said.” Lucas laughed to himself, shaking his head, making you and Steve curious.

“What was their plan?” Steve rose his brows, sitting back on the couch as you nodded your head wanting to know too.

“Serenade her with some Kate Bush…Dustin said Suzy took him back when he sang Never-Ending Story.” He shook his head laughing, covering his face as he remembered the looks that he and Mike shot the curly headed teen who seemed so serious about it.

You snorted, knowing that while Dustin was an intelligent kid, that dude was just not the go to for relationship advice.

“Well, thank god you didn’t because you would have ruined Kate Bush for her!” You bantered, patting him on the shoulder as he pouted up at you.

“Hey c’mon! I have pipes!”

Steve chuckled, swinging his arm over his shoulder, “You’ve got pipes, but not Kate Bush pipes.”

“You’re right.” Lucas pointed, a smile on both of their faces, before he stood up, dusting off his jeans.

“I gotta run back to school and pick up Erica from band practice,” He told you, pulling out his car keys from his pocket, “But my first game of the season is this Friday—Do you guys think you can make it?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” You assured, giving him a tight hug that he welcomed before turning towards Steve and shaking his hand.

“We’ll see you then…and make sure you work on your three-pointers, remember, to turn your feet and size up the basket before you release…”

You sighed, shooting Lucas an apologetic look that he waved off as he continued listening to Steve’s advice, taking it, knowing that it would probably come in handy for this week’s game. As Steve finished off what looked to be a demonstration of a three pointer that had you and Lucas on the verge of cracking up, you planted a hand on the center of his back, leading him towards the door.

“Okay, Steve, I think he gets it, and I don’t think Erica would be happy waiting around for her dear brother to pick her up.” You sing-songed, opening the door for Lucas so he could get a way out from hearing more of Steve’s coaching.

“Go before he keeps rambaling!” You screeched, pushing him out the door where he shouted out a “bye steve!” before jogging down the apartment steps and hopping into his car.

You waved bye to him as he drove off, before Steve’s arms wrapped around your body, him slotting himself behind you and nuzzling his face into your neck as you giggled and shut the door.

“Work on being less confrontational when it comes to Max,” you chided softly, poking his cheek as he pouted dropping his arms around you, yet keeping his chin on your shoulder.

“I was not.” He moped, making you snort, unimpressed by his demeanor.

“Babe, you totally were! When I left to get him water, I came back to you nearly seething and Lucas looking scared out of his mind!”

He grinned lazily, eyebrows raised as he stared at you from the weird angle, “Really?! So it worked, huh?”

You tiled your head, “What worked?”

“Intimidation. You know I was never a big fan of it, but Lucas had to know that I won’t tolerate him trying to force Max to get back together.” He finished, removing his head from your shoulder and going towards the kitchen.

You trailed behind him, a smile on your face as he got water, gulping it down as you leaned back on the counter and stared, “I’m sure Max would appreciate it, but I’m also sure Lucas would never do such a thing.”

He placed the cup down, leaning back on the counters opposite of you, “Oh I know…I just had to remind him.”

You closed your eyes, huffing out another laugh, “You’re impossible.”

Steve knew that he was probably protective of all the kids, but he just felt more protective of Max. He knew things weren’t easy for her, even before the death of Billy, but things just got progressively worse after he passed.

Max would no longer call him and bug him to take her to the movies, and a little piece of him missed the redhead and her quip remarks. If he had known sooner what she was going through, he would’ve stepped in and at least tried to prevent it from getting this bad.

And even though he could never go back into the past, he just hoped that now Max knew that you and he would be there for her in a heartbeat. That you two would do anything you possibly could to see her happy because it’s what she deserved after everything she had been through.

“And it’s in!” Max cheered on with her friends, watching as Hawkins continued to lead the game.

Steve never thought that he’d be back inside the very gymnasium where Billy essentially threw him on his ass, but alas here he was sitting on the bleachers cheering on Lucas while his girl and the teens conversed through most of the game.

Max wasn’t as tense as she thought that she would be, and while this definitely wasn’t her usual scene, she felt composed. She wasn’t sure if it was having her friends here with her or maybe it was just some internal nervousness that she made up in her head that she forgot about, but it was nice.

For this being the first game of the season, the gym wasn’t as crowded, so it didn’t feel too suffocating. She could see Erica and the rest of Lucas’ family sitting closer towards the court, his mother and father often bolting out of their seat when their son made a basket.

It made her smile despite her distaste towards jocks and the whole idea of the sport as a whole. Remembering what Lucas said about being a “nice jock,” she knew deep down that he really was a good guy. Maybe with his addition on the team, there could be some sort of revolution to the Hawkins’ rule book where all jocks didn’t actually have to be complete assholes and instead compassionate meat heads who threw balls into a basket for fun.

Eddie’s insult was totally rubbing off on her, too.

Steve noticed Max’s spurt of silence, catching her staring off onto the court without following the ball with her eyes. He nudged her slightly with his elbow to capture her attention, but not obvious enough for you and the others to catch.

Her eyes flickered to his, jutting her chin up, “Yeah?”

“You okay?” Steve asked, studying her features to see if she was hinting that she wanted to leave early or was getting tired.

She nodded with a smile. “I’m good, was just thinking of stuff.”

“Wanna enlighten me?” He quipped, as she shrugged and turned her eyes back to the court, watching as the opposing team had begun to catch up.

“Do you ever miss being in high school?” She asked.

He tapped his foot against the stands, thinking before answering, “Not really. High school wasn’t the best time for me and I had a bad reputation I was living up to. I’d only ever go back so I could make things right and maybe meet her a little sooner.”

She watched Steve look over at you, smiling wide at your absentmindedness too busy paying actual attention to the game while biting down nervously on your thumb. She could tell that Steve was madly in love with you, and she even wished that Steve had met you earlier too, because you changed him in a way.

You made Steve “the king” Harrington less jocky and more focused on him and his future. Plus, you made him soft in the heart which was a plus because the kids totally used it to their advantage.

“By making things right…do you mean with Billy?”

Maxine wasn’t stupid. She had already known about Steve and her brother going at each other’s throats even before Lucas and Dustin had invited her out to search for Dart, which is when she met him.

Back at home, she could hear Billy talking to himself while he lifted weights in his room. Something about him wanting to beat the shit out of Steve Harrington and take his place at Hawkins High.

And maybe Billy was a bit insecure when it came to Steve because she knew that Steve was who he wanted to be. For all she knew at the time, Steve was wealthy, lived in a big house, and had all the ladies frothing at the mouth for him.

Obsessive…totally, but she knew he couldn’t help it, especially with the upbringing that he had.

She thought that she was going to hate Steve, because while Billy and Max barely agreed on certain things—they both hated pretentious people, which is exactly how Billy had described Steve.

But she couldn’t hate him.

Not when he stepped in front of a real life monster to save her life in a very cramped school bus in the middle of nowhere. Plus, throwing himself outside of said school bus to attract the monsters and kill them by himself to put the kids out of harm’s way.

Maybe Steve Harrington was soft all along.

“Uhh, yeah, partly... yeah," Steve stuttered, not really know the right way to go about this conversation.

The last time Max had brought up Billy’s name was when she had that mini panic attack back at home after the doctor’s appointment. That had been nearly a month ago, and since then she hadn’t spoken about him and you and Steve were more than fine with that—neither of you bringing him up, either.

Billy was a touchy subject for a multitude of reasons.

The first was that he was killed in the line of fire protecting Max and her best friend from death, all while uttering an apology as he took his last breath and she could only watch.

The second is that while Billy did apologize, there were things that he did that were unforgivable in her eyes that would never leave her memory.

His death didn’t excuse any of the abuse that she or other faced.

They all knew this.

Billy was verbally abusive and at the time resorted to physical violence. He would have beaten Steve to death if it weren’t for Max stepping up and injecting him with a tranquilizer. It wasn’t a secret that he’d get physical with Max too—gripping her wrists too tight or straight up, slapping her across the face when she disobeyed him.

But Billy wasn’t always like this and even Max who didn’t know the past version of him, saw that this monster was created—by his father, of course.

She was conflicted a lot of the times, not knowing if it was really right for her to still feel that twinge of anger towards him for the stuff he had put her and her friends through. Or if it was something that she was supposed to magically let go now that he was dead.

She didn’t know if she would ever know how to go about that.

Max tore her eyes away from the court, looking over at him with a grimace to her face, “…I’m sorry for the way he treated you and whatnot.”

He didn’t know where this was coming from, obviously a place of guilt, but why now? And why would she ever think she would have to apologize for something she had no part in?

“Hey, it’s not your fault…you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore.”

It was long gone for Steve, in all honesty. He had gone through way more traumatic stuff than getting his ass handed to him on the court by Hargrove and nearly dying by a few punches. But he could tell that for Max, it still bothered her. This was like a wound that was still opened, not yet fully healed, even when it wasn’t on her to begin with.

“I know, but still—”

“But nothing, alright? What he did isn’t a reflection of you…you gotta remember that.” His tone was soft yet firm, watching as she nodded and gulped thickly.

His hand came down to her shoulder, resting it there as he looked at her, “Give yourself more credit, Max, you’re nothing like him. What he did isn’t your fault and what happened to him isn’t either. Some things….you just gotta let it take its course.”

All along, that’s what Max was trying to find a semblance of control.

By spending summer locked away in her own thoughts and feelings, she was able to be in complete and utter control. Her brain was wired like a television that replayed and imagined anything she wanted on command.

She could go back to the past and ponder it. Switch channels and jump to the future where she thought up something happier for herself. Go back to the original channel she was on and realize that there was no such thing as a happier future right now.

Stay there, sitting in silence, hearing the static between her screams and breathing. Close her eyes and turn it off, knowing it’d be there for her to turn back on whenever she wanted.

It didn’t occur to her at all that maybe she wasn’t the only one affected by Billy’s death.

Eleven had literally been kidnapped and almost met with her death because of him.

Lucas had to face his horrible words of hatred and assault just because he wanted to be friends with her.

Steve had spent weeks getting verbally and physically tormented by him, and on top of that suffered a fractured nose after the nasty brawl.

Was it selfish for her to assume that she was the only one hurting and grieving even after what everybody else went through?

All along, was it supposed to be her coming out of all of this as the lucky one because she finally escaped her toxic brother?

Was his death supposed to be a silver lining?

But was it her responsibility to make it up to everyone he hurt?

Was everything that went down this summer all just self-absorbed of her?

Why couldn’t she just let it play out like Steve said?

Why now, when she was feeling just a bit better about herself and the future, did she have to feel like she didn’t deserve this?

Why?

“Oh my god! C’mon Lucas!”

Neither her nor Steve had been paying attention to the game.

Max too caught up in her head, thoughts billowing like a whirlpool, going round-and-round with the same emotions, not know if she’d get sucked into the darkness again, or keep swimming until she survived.

Steve was caught up in watching her, reading her features that screamed confusion in a million different ways. Almost like watching her haze out and suddenly lose her own presence sitting in front of him.

It wasn’t until the crowd roared and you shouted out that she had come through. Snapping her eyes open and shut, shaking her shoulders before nodding aimlessly at him and darting her eyes to the court.

Lucas had scurried towards the basket, jumping high as he tossed the ball up before the buzzer sounded.

Hawkins took it home.

“Woooo!”

There was a strain in her cheer that only she or Steve could catch, because only they knew the conversation they had seconds ago. With still so much left unsaid, he hoped what he said stuck with her. That maybe it was just her taking in his words and realizing that the past was past, not something he was still stuck on even after Billy’s death.

“That was awesome! He did really well….so well that I didn’t have to use my powers!” El cupped her hands around Max’s ear, concealing the last bit of her sentence that made Max break out in a smile.

There was an ease to her now. Steve could let it go, just until he knew that she was really fine and didn’t need any more reassurance—but even if she needed it, he’d always be there to fall back on.

“C’mon, let’s go congratulate him,” Steve told everyone, gesturing his hand out to lead them out of the narrow stands and down the stairs first before he followed closely behind.

His hand, holding yours as you walked in front of him and smiled, seeing Lucas’ family embrace him in a hug, even Erica who looked just as pleased at her brother’s buzzer beater.

Max stood timidly, waiting before his parents let go of their hug before Lucas had noticed her standing there.

“You came!” Lucas smiled broadly, opening his arms wondering if it was okay to hug her.

She smiled, nodding as she opens hers and wrapped her arms around his frame, “Didn’t want to miss it. First nice jock in Hawkins history to beat the buzzer is totally one of the history books.”

His chest bubbled against her cheek as he laughed before pulling away, “Thanks for coming, it means a lot.”

“You did great dude, Mike and Dustin are going to be so mad they missed out on this.”

El and Will immediately clung to either of his sides, giving him a hug as he thanked them for coming, knowing that sports wasn’t really their thing.

“Great hustle on that last shot, man. You did great!” Steve cheered, giving him a firm handshake before embracing him in a hug.

“We’re so proud of you, Lucas! I’m gonna need to get you a pin that says, “Hawkins MVP,” then you can add it to your lettermen!”

You were the cheeriest out of the bunch, which was surprising considering that you didn’t like sports very much, yet there you were totally immersed by the game and now most certainly going home to make that custom pin for Lucas despite his protests.

Steve was sure that if he had really gotten serious about his own basketball career and got signed into the big league, you’d be one of those hard core basketball wives.

You were totally into tossing balls into laundry baskets now.

“Invite me to the next game, alright?” Max said cooly, watching Lucas’ face light up as he nodded.

“Of course! And thanks for coming again guys, it’s nice to have my friends here!”

They shared a smile, giving him a wave as they exited the gym and let him have a moment to reel it all in with his family and teammates. And like Steve said, it was a nice change of scenery, not only for Max but for everybody who was so used to not going to school functions like this.

Now they actually had a reason to show up, Steve just wished that next time everyone would be in attendance because Lucas deserved to see everyone who cared about him in the stands—win or lose.

“You guys hungry? Wanna stop by McDonald’s before you head home?” You asked from the passenger seat as the kids hummed “no” in the backseat of Steve’s car.

Steve glanced up to the rearview mirror, getting a glimpse at their tired features. “You sure? There’s one coming up and I could go to the drive-thru?”

Will caught his eyes in the mirror, giving him a reassuring shake of his head before looking at his sister.

“Mom said she was cooking risotto and roasted potatoes tonight so we’re going to have the leftovers.” He told you both.

Steve flickered his eyes from the road, back up to the mirror to see Max staring mindlessly out the window.

“Bug? No McDonalds?”

She shook her head, answering without catching his glance, “No, I’m ok. My mom left a note on the fridge this morning and said she’d be home for dinner. She probably cooked something for the two of us.”

A warm smile tugged at your lips as you twiddled your fingers in your lap, Turing your head over your shoulder “That’s nice! She probably misses having dinner with you!”

Max didn’t tell you or Steve much about her mom. Often times it consisted of, “she’s busy,” “she’s working,” “she’s tired,” “she’s fine,” or “she said it was ok.”

And Max didn’t really like conversations about her mom to begin with. There was really nothing to discuss other than the fact that she was always working and almost never home. She had grown accustomed to it, accepting that work came first, yet you were still here to suggest she stay over at yours so that she wouldn’t eat dinner alone.

In a lot of ways, you filled the shoes of her mother, but more so in an older sister aspect. She could tell you things about her life without seriously getting in trouble because she never did bad things to begin with. It was just that she didn’t have that close knit relationship with her mom to even discuss little things in life.

It was just that simple.

“It’s fine…she told me she took off this weekend so we’re gonna spend some time together, hopefully decluttering because she’s been avoiding getting rid of a lot of stuff.”

You could all tell that Max wasn’t looking forward to it, but you hoped that her mind would change after spending the weekend to bond with her. Her mother wasn’t the best of all time, nor was she perfect—there were definitely aspects that you and Steve didn’t agree on when it came to the parenting she showed Max, but then again it was a tricky subject to go about because neither of you were Max’s legal guardians.

And on top of that, neither you nor Steve were in her mother’s shoes—facing the loss of a son and having her partner up and leave her. She was the one forced to pick up the pieces and try to do her very best to provide for Max and put a roof over her head.

And maybe she got too caught up in the work and money to realize that what Max needed the most was the support around her. Just to have someone to talk to and confide in so that she could understand that what she was feeling was okay, but needed to get the help to get better.

But it wasn’t too late for her mom to make it up to her, and there was a silent hoping that maybe finally, she and her mom could go back to their old mother-daughter relationship. The one where she could tell her anything and seek her advice when she really needed it.

Steve tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, turning on his blinkers as he made a turn into the trailer park, “Well, I’m sure the two of you guys have a lot of catching up to do…we’ll get back to our regular schedule on Monday alright?”

Max undid her belt, humming out contently. “Yeah, plus, it’ll give me time to really miss you guys, especially Steve’s snoring.”

She let out a laugh as you giggled, shifting in your seat to watch her hug her friends before leaning up to wrap her arms around your shoulders, “Call anytime you want, alright? I’ll make sure to give Ollie plenty of cuddles and kisses while you’re gone.”

She grumbled against you, totally forgetting the cute furball that she was always attached to the hip to when she was at your place, “And give him all the treats in the world! I’m going to smother him with cuddles on Monday!”

“Will do, sweetheart…have fun okay?” You pulled away, tucking a peice of her stray hair behind her ear as you smiled warmly, “I love you!”

“I love you too. See you Monday.”

You closed your eyes lovingly, feel her kiss your cheek before she got out of the car and Steve followed, walking her up to the front door where they would always talk for a bit before they said goodbye.

It was routine and part of you knew that they both needed it.

“Is Max okay?” El asked, watching Max nod her head as Steve spoke to her sincerely.

You shrugged your shoulders lightly, knowing it’d be best to not tell them even if you did know or not, “I think she’s okay,” You reached back, clutching the girls hand warmly, “Steve and Max…they have a special bond together, they’re very similar in a lot of ways.”

“Really?” Will asked, to which you nodded with a tight smile.

“Yeah, I think Steve sees a lot of himself in Max and he wants to protect her from going through things that he went through as well.”

It didn’t take a genius to know that while Steve didn’t play favorites with the kids—Max had always been number one for multiple reasons that the kids didn’t really seem to mind with, anyway.

Looking at Max was like looking at a younger female version of himself. The one who used to be happy without a care in the world, then suddenly pushed into the knowingness that life wasn’t at all what it was when the rose-colored lenses were off.

When Steve was her age, he didn’t have present parents to lean on when it came to his troubles and instead it led him to going down a horrible path. One that was filled with chasing after romantic relationships, hoping it would solve his issues instead of confronting the problems in front of him.

The course of his teenage years revolved around destructive relationships and low self-esteem, despite the rumors of the might king Steve would wasn’t shaken by anything.

He knew Max was smart though, but the slightest probable chance she had of actually following down his pathway wasn’t something he was going to risk and let her do. So yeah, maybe Steve Harrington did play favorites, but with good intentions.

He’d throw himself in front of Max no matter what was ahead if it meant shielding her from all the bad because he wished he had parents or even an older sibling who would do the same for him.

If Billy were still alive, Steve wouldn’t hesitate taking another near death experience at the hands of fists if it meant keeping Max untouched.

Max was always going to have someone to depend on as long as Steve was around.

“Try to enjoy the weekend, alright? And go into with a positive mindset, I know it isn’t easy with what you have going on with your mom…but just try, ok?”

She sighed defeatedly, hoping that Steve would tell her that she could pop in whenever she wanted if the weekend wasn’t going well. But Steve also had a point—going into it with built up resentment and anger wouldn’t do her or her mom any good. If there was any chance at their relationships being repaired, she had to try to go into this a little more optimistic than she was feeling.

Max shook her head to herself, giving Steve a tight hug before she murmured into his chest, “I know, I will…just don’t eat all the bagel bites while I’m gone. You know those are my favorites.”

He chuckled, resting his chin on the top of her head when he hugged her close and nodded, “I won’t. I’ll actually save them all for you so you can spill the beans on Monday over some very delicious bagel bites.”

“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually looking forward to a Monday.” She laughed, pulling away from him.

“You’ll survive two days. Drop off on Monday morning?” He asked.

She shook her head, looking at her mom’s car, parked in the grass, “Mom is gonna drop me off, but can you pick me up?”

“I’ll be there.” He grinned, patting her arm, “Night bug, love you.”

“G’night Steve, love you too.”

They shared another quick smile; her waving to the car where you three were watching, and shot her a big smile and wave.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself as she turned open the front door, “I’m home, mom!”

Monday came by soon enough, and to Max’s surprise the weekend wasn’t half bad. She and her mom had spent the two days going over boxes and storage bins of things that they hadn’t been able to go through since they moved out of the house on Cherry Lane.

Most of the items were Billy’s. A collection of baseball cards, magazines, knick-knacks from childhood, and clothes. They both knew they had been throwing it all off to go through those things, mostly because their move to the trailer park was sudden.

After Billy’s dad learned of his son’s death, he didn’t hesitate calling off the engagement with her mom and packing only his things and leaving. The only thing they knew was that he was going to sell the house, and they needed somewhere to go quickly.

Forest Hills Trailer Park it was.

They made do with what they had and tried to make the best out of the situation. Trying to make the trailer a home as much as they could, even if it really would never be that way. All of Billy’s belongings had been shoved into one of the storage closets, and there was a silent agreement that neither of them would go through it until they were both ready.

So while a few tears and laughs were shared between mother and daughter, Sunday was the day where they finally said goodbye to most of his things. Max picked a few t-shirts, a binder of baseball cards, and even Billy's signature leather jacket to keep, and the rest of it would be going to the nearest Goodwill where it would find a new home.

Honestly, it was a little overwhelming, all of the boxes reeking of cigarettes and Billy’s smell even after these two years. She was happy that Monday rolled around because it meant getting out of the trailer and not suffocating in the lingering scent of her brother, feeling like he was there, but he wasn’t.

Meanwhile, Mondays were always slow ones at Family Video, especially with the kids back in school. The only customers they’d get were parents returning their kids’ late tapes and middle-aged people coming in to rent the same movies they’d always get.

“You promise you’re going to let me have next week Thursday off?!” Robin nagged from the counter, watching Steve stock the shelves with recently returned tapes.

He folded his hand over his chest, his face dropping annoyingly, “For the millionth time Robs, yes…you’re going to have next week Thursday off.”

This week, however, was a more exciting one for Steve Harrington because he was moving up at Family Video. From store associate to now manager, seeing as though Keith was finally leaving, and he was going to take his spot.

Initially Robin was supposed to get the position, but declined knowing that it was going to be too much work for her to be in charge of creating schedules and dealing with annoying customers who complained about not knowing how to work a VHS in this day and age.

She would much rather stock shelves and appoint all those customers to Steve while she got to giggle and listen in from the back of the store.

“Just making sure! You know how important Vicky is to me, and I don’t want to screw up our anniversary.”

Despite Robin’s insistent nagging over the past few weeks about her very important off day, Steve understood because he remembered his first anniversary with you. More so, the fact that Robin was completely head over heels for this girl and it made him happy seeing his best friend finally get a chance at romantic love after all these years of pining.

He knew it was only a matter of time before things got really serious with her and Vicky, which would probably lead to the point where Steve was in life. Getting ready to move in with you in your apartment and finally get to call it home.

You were the one who had actually asked him to move in, months ago, but he had declined, seeing as though he didn’t quite make enough to help you out with all of the bills and rent that came with living in the apartment. And even though you assured him that you could cover it yourself, he was stern in the fact that he wanted to make enough first so that both of you could give it your all not have to worry so much about money.

So it was safe to say that Steve was ecstatic to get the position of manager and up his salary just enough to cover half of the rent and the utility bills that now the both of you would half on.

“You’re gonna get Thursday off, but I’m gonna need you to close on Friday because Max needs a ride to the skate shop to change the barrings on her board.” He told her, folding up the cardboard box and throwing it off to the side.

She snorted, resting her hands on her knees as she watched Steve walk up to her. “How is she, by the way?”

Robin never explicitly asked Steve about Max’s wellbeing, because it was none of her business. She understood her place as simply someone who was concerned on the sidelines and only hoped that the young girl was doing okay. By the looks of it, Max trusted Steve out of all of the others, and she could understand why.

Because, like you, Robin knew that Steve and Max were very similar.

They’d bottle up their emotions, let it boil over until it was too late.

Resort to self deprecation and act out on emotion.

They were basically long lost twins.

“She’s doing a lot better. Now that school started its keeping her busy, plus she wants to take up skateboarding again, which will be a good hobby for her to have.” He grinned as she smiled back.

“That’s good. Just don’t try to hop on that board because the last time you did, you almost ruined that pretty face of yours.” She smirked, bopping his nose with her fingertip as she spun around and hopped off the counter and towards the computers to check on late returns.

“That was one time!” Steve argued, holding up his finger as she snickered and continued scrolling through the names of people she would have to call later on in the day.

He couldn’t help but shake his head, knowing he definitely wasn’t a great skateboarder, and his job was actually better off cheering Max on and encouraging her as she practiced dips and tricks on her board.

The phone to the store suddenly rang, catching the two’s attention. Robin who was closer to it, didn’t hesitate to pick it up before the second chime had a change to ring.

“Family Video.” She answer plainly, pushing her shoulder up to stabilize the phone against her cheek while she continued to scroll.

Steve rested his elbow on the counter, watching to see if it was another prank call or irritant customer on the other line.

“Can I speak to Steven Harrington? It’s about his sister, Maxine Mayfield…she’s in the principal’s office.”

Her eyes went wide, snapping her head towards Steve and covering the receiver as she whispered sharply, “It’s about Max.”

Second period came along in the school day, just lunch and two more periods to go before she’d finally get to kick back with her favorite pup Ollie and snack on some bagel bites—something she had been craving all weekend.

Mr. Watson’s chemistry class was actually for upperclassmen, but since last school year Max had showed excelling grades and understanding in biology, she was able to move up to a more rigorous science class this year.

The upperclassmen weren’t that intimidating. If anything, they were just taller and older—but other than that, they and Max were all equal. Mr. Watson was one of those take it easy teachers who basically lectured for the first fifteen minutes of class, then allowed the rest of the time for students to independently work on the assignments before class ended.

It was the most enjoyable class in terms of workload since the worksheets were fairly easy, and it was just was a lot of listening and making sure to read the textbook for the answer. That wasn’t hard at all for her because with Kate Bush blaring through her headphones, focusing was pretty simple.

Today, however, there was a shift. She could hear the whispers coming from the table behind her, a group of boys who were juniors and even one sporting a letterman jacket: a jock. But she didn’t pay it any mind, assuming they were just helping each other on today’s assignment.

“Psst…Maxine,”

Nevermind.

She ignored them, scribbling her pencil a little firmer, enough for the lead to chalk up against the paper as she wrote vigorously.

“Maxineeeee, I know you can hear us! That shit you’re listening to can’t sound as good as us.”

God they were disgusting.

“Just ignore them and keep working, they’ll stop once you show them you’re not giving in” is what Max was saying to herself in her mind.

“Maxine—”

“What the hell do you guys want?”

She couldn’t take it anymore. Yanking her headphones off and slamming the pencil on to the desk, catching the attention of everyone in the classroom. She stood out of her seat, facing the group of childish boys sitting behind her.

The groups boys, cackling to themselves like maniacs while Max glared sharply, moving her head side to side as a way to get them to tell her what they so badly needed to say.

The one with the lettermen leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, “Feisty. You must get that from Billy, right? Or did he give it to you when he burned alive in that fire?”

Her whole world stopped.

She could hear her own heartbeat and blood rushing to her ears despite the boy’s undying laughter. It was sick and twisted. Those words that were spat out as a joke, which clearly wasn’t taken as one by her. At any moment, she felt like she could throw herself at him, punching away at his face and showing him how really tough she was.

But that wasn’t Max.

“Miss. Mayfield….Miss. Mayfield….Miss….”

Her breathing started to quicken as she could hear Mr. Watson calling out her name from the front of the class. Eyes clouding over with salt, the shouting of her name and the laughter got louder. Looking around the room, it seemed the faces of her classmates resembled ones that mocked her, laughing in her face and pointing at her like a mockery.

That was all she remembered.

Steve was glad that the high school was so close to Family Video, but even then it seemed like time wasn’t on his side. Red lights stalled him. Slow walkers were abnormally slower than usual. Cars wouldn’t yield to him.

Each passing second feeling like an eternity to get to her.

All he could remember when Robin had passed him the phone was being told, Max collapsed. She hit her head. And she’s in the principal’s office.Those three statements echoing in his head as he jerked his car into the nearest parking spot and sprinted towards the front office.

The office ladies probably thinking he was a madman, disregarding their pleas for him to sign in on the clip board, but all he could focus on was reaching the principals office.

Max’s back faced him. Her hair pulled up into a makeshift ponytail with one hand clutching an ice back to the back of her head and the other clenched with a tissue in it.

Steve hurried over, dropping to his knees beside her chair, his face covered with concern and worry while the questions urgently left his mouth.

“Max…are you okay? What hurts? Do we need to go to the hospital?” He was peering at her head, trying to see if there was any trace of blood or a cut.

Thankfully, there were no visible injuries.

When she turned to face to him, tear streaks stained her cheeks, and her eyes were swollen from the crying she had doing for god knows how long now. Her quivering jaw struggled to form cohered sentences admits her sobs.

The only thing he could make out was, “I—I can’t.”

She couldn’t bring herself to tell him what happened, at least not right now in the presence of the boy who caused this pain. Not to mention how humiliating it was for her to listen to his parents and himself down play the situation so much so that she started to feel bad about herself even when she shouldn’t.

Steve noticed through her cries, her eyes briefly shifting away from him, directing a glance towards the parents of the boys who was seated on the opposite side of the room. He sat smugly in a char while his parents stood protectively by his side, their faces wearing entitlement as they didn’t carry any remorse for the crying girl.

That’s when he knew something was up.

Shuffling back to his feet, yet maintaining a close proximity to max, he looked towards the principal. “What the hell is going on?”

Steve was all business. Hands on hips, stern look on face, firm voice calling out to the principal who stood from behind his desk and gestured his hands in the air towards Max then the other boy.

“It seems as though Max and Chad got into a scuffle during chemistry.” He explained, but that wasn’t enough for Steve.

“A scuffle?” Steve repeated, his voice strained with disbelief, prompting the principal to nod in confirmation.

Steve glared unconvincingly pointing a finger at Max while holding his gaze, “You’re telling me that a sixteen-year-old girl got into a scuffle with a boy, yet she’s the only one with injuries?”

The boy, Chad, had cut in, “Oh, I didn’t do that to her…she did that to herself.”

Just hearing that whiny, teenage boy voice ticked him off, not even trying to hide the irritated sigh that left his mouth as he turned towards him.

“Really? So she just decided to collapse for no reason and then blame you?”

The man in a suit, presumably the boy’s father, stepped forward in a demanding demeanor, “Watch how you speak to my son…who even are you?”

“Her brother.”

“My brother.”

Steve and Max both answered simultaneously, surprising even themselves by not even hesitating the relationship they had to one another. Though both of them didn’t act surprised, at least not on the outside, as Steve maintained his hard gaze and Max diverted her eyes to her lap.

“Brother? Didn’t he die—”

The front door to the office squeaked open, but still Steve caught the boy’s remark, prompting a whimper from Max whose shoulders heaved slightly as another set of strained sobs left her. It was evident to Steve that now he knew what this was all about.

“Max, I’ve got you a fresh ice pack and a bottle of water.”

Miss. Lawrence had stumbled in unwittingly at the wrong moment, right before Steve was about to go all in, but he knew this was the only opportunity to get Max out of the situation before she heard anything he was going to say.

“You are?” He asked calmly, turning his attention to the woman who approached Max.

She looked up through her glasses, cracking open a water bottle and passing it to Max. Extending her hand for a shake, she introduced herself with a weary smile, “Miss. Lawrence, Max’s counsellor.”

Steve nodded, jaw clenching as he shook her hand and jutted his chin to the door she just had come through,

“Could you do me a favor and get my sister out of here? I just need some time alone with the principal and Chad’s family.”

She stared at him for a moment, contemplating if it was the right decision considering that Steve was seething, on the verge of letting out all his anger towards the situation. Knowing that he was an upset and concerned guardian who was not going to back down, she nodded placing a gentle hand on Max’s shoulder, helping her up from the seat.

As Max got up, she reached for Steve’s wrist, wrapping her trembling fingers around it, and looking up at him through her tear-soaked lashes.

“T—They’re not going to do anything, Steve….it’s no use—“

Max had already looked defeated, like she accepted the fact that nothing was going to change the mind of the principal on where he stood regarding this situation. But Steve wasn’t going to let that happen—he was going to fight for her the way someone should have fought for him.

He shook his head, brushing some of her hair out of her face before speaking gently, “Go, Max. I’ve got this.”

She sniffled, closing her eyes tightly as she nodded, and followed her counselor out of the office and into the nearby waiting room, away from what was going to be an undoubtedly heated confrontation.

Once the door clicked closed, Steve didn’t hesitate on advancing towards the desk, speaking sharply with each step he took, “What are you going to do?”

The principal raise an eyebrow, pretending to be perplexed as if Steve was not addressing him in full. But unfazed, Steve repeated himself, emphasizing his seriousness with his palms slapping down onto the wood.

“What are you going to do to make sure my sister doesn’t have to deal with him again?”

Annoyingly, the boy’s mother crept closer, mockingly slamming her palm beside his, glaring at Steve as she spoke, “Sir, just cut to the chase and tell this man what you told us, that his sister started it. Plain and simple.”

Steve was silently thanking all the gods that you weren’t here beside him right now because if you were, this lady would have received an instant face-to-desk introduction. Unlike Steve, you were the one with a quick tongue ready to lash out on any and everybody when it came to protecting someone you loved—he knew if you were here, it would be no different.

Where Steve’s eyes had drifted, towards the desk where he imagined you’d slam that mother’s face, he couldn’t miss the bright yellow papers that were familiar to him back from his high school days. The form was mandatory for students to fill out when any student came to the principal office for incidents like these.

“Let me see the reports.” Steve demand, pointing at it in plain sight before the principal would try to hide them away or make excuse for not having them.

Picking them up, he passed them to Steve who read them intently. Chad’s report consisted of two whole sentences regarding the situation, shifting all the blame onto Max, blaming, “She got angry at a joke then fell and hit her head.”

Meanwhile, every line of Max’s form were filled, even in the margins, meticulously detailed the entire incident from start to finish, with remnants of her tear drops staining the paper. It included her attempts to ignore Chad and the group of boys who had been relentlessly antagonizing her.

The only thing that Max did was finally snap, asking what they wanted before having a cruel insult about Billy thrown at her, and that’s all she could remember before she woke up on the ground with her teacher and the students surrounding her.

It made him physically sick and it took every ounce of his composure not to grab the boy by his collar and start beating the shit out of him for what he and the rest of the boys did.

He swallowed thickly, lips pressed tight, sliding the papers over the desk, “You told them that Max started this?”

Silence filled the tiny office and it was enough to speak volumes to him that this person in authority was protecting a boy who was capable of something so harrowing.

Steve pointed to the forms again, his voice sharp as he spoke, “What I’m understanding is, you didn’t read Max’s report…or if you did, you didn’t believe her, and you didn’t even call in any witnesses to confirm that my sister is lying.”

He squinted pointedly, looking Chad then back to the principal, “Yet you read his sad excuse of two sentences and you believed that?”

Silence again, and all Steve wanted to do was to shout…to scream at someone to fucking explain how this could happen and how no one was batting an eye to how insanely unfair and unethical this entire situation was.

Finally after a few uncomfortable seconds, the boy’s father cleared his throat, attempting to break off the tension with a laugh, even going as far to pat Steve’s shoulder which he slapped away.

“My son was obvious joking, not the best joke, but let’s not make a big deal outta this—”

Steve snapped, thrusting an aggressive finger in the mans face, “Damn right I’m making this a big deal! My sister isn’t going to tolerate this crap from anyone, you hear me?”

“Mr. Harrington, your language, please.” The principal interjected.

Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes as he turned back to the now talkative excuse of a principal, “You didn’t give a shit when that boy made that comment to Max. Why should I care about mine? Actually…”

Steve couldn’t hold back any longer, locking eyes with both of the parents and glaring, “why don’t you worry about your sons language? It’s clear he doesn’t have any empathy, but I guess you both taught him that, right?”

No one dared to speak, no matter how insulted the parents were because it was the truth. If they did speak it would only put them deeper within the crossfire of Steve’s relentless insults that straddled the line between honesty and harsh realities.

“And you,” He pointed at the boy, stalking up close to him, seeing as though he was wearing a varsity jacket, “You’re on the basketball team right?”

Chad gulped, nodding hesitantly, “Y-yeah.”

Steve made dismissive noise, clicking his tongue, “So you know that being on the team means you can’t rack more than three referrals because then you’ll get kick, right?”

Steve still remembers the rules from his high school experience, and though it had been some time, these were the type of rules that never changed.

“Y-yeah.”

Kissing his teeth in frustration, he walked back over to the desk, jabbing his fingers on the wood.

“I know for a goddamn fact that my sister’s file is clean! Not one single referral in her life,” turning to the boys parents he creased his forehead, “you can check if you want.”

His mother looked away dismissively because deep down she probably knew that her son was a monster who would hurt girls like Max. The father scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest in defensive because he probably knew too, that Max wouldn’t lie about their sorry excuse of a son.

“I want you to open up his file and tell me how many referrals he has. And you and I both know that this number isn’t a shock so think twice about lying to me because I know the police chief wouldn’t mind investigating this and really making it a big deal.”

Steve was not fucking around one bit, not even bothering to look at the principal to make sure he wasn’t lying about the number. He kept his eyes on the parents, whose eyes peeks at the principal opening up the file drawer and instantly finding their son’s files. Chad who still sat in the chair, wasn’t looking so smug now, shifting around uncomfortably because he knew what was coming.

“Six,” the principal admitted, closing the folder and taking a deep breath knowing that Steve wasn’t going to let this off.

Steve nodded, tightly smiling as the parent’s face fell, probably trying to act surprised when it really should be a look of embarrassment and shame.

“So what this means is that Chad over here, is going to get kicked off the team, he and the rest of the boys going to get removed from all the classes that they have with my sister, and I want them suspended.”

This wasn’t a negotiable for him and was not going to leave this office until things would start to happen, “You better get writing because I’ll get the superintendent—the whole fucking department of education down here if I find out you let him and the rest of the boys off. You got that?”

The principal gulped, reaching already for a pen to start writing the suspension notes before Steve could double down on his promising threats.

Steve mostly nodded his head to himself, content with knowing that the boys would pay for what they did to Max and they definitely weren’t going to do it again if they wanted a repeat of today.

“Don’t mess with me.” Steve muttered, forcefully bumping into Chad’s father’s shoulder as he brushed past him towards the exit.

“…and don’t you dare talk, let alone look at her ever again. Clear?” His voice carrying threats, glancing at Chad who swallowed thickly.

“Crystal.”

Walking out of there, Steve couldn’t feel any sense of victory even if he had gotten the situation handled in a way that he saw fit. He just couldn’t feel good about himself when Max was crying in the arms of her counsler, furthering shattering any sense of triumph he would have felt.

“Hey, it’s okay…I’m right here, Max.” He whispered as he approached her.

Hearing his voting she untangled herself from the embrace, seeking solace in Steve by aligning to him and burying her tear stained face into his shoulder.

“Shhh, it’s okay. They’re dealt with. It’s handled ok?” He took on the softest tone he had yet, being as gentle and soothing as possible letting the anger he had felt dissipate knowing that he had to be here for Max.

He placed a comforting hand on the back of her head as she cried, his fingers lightly searching for a bump on her head from when she collapsed, but thankfully like in the office, he didn’t see nor feel any injury.

Miss. Lawrence rose from her seat, giving Max’s shoulder a warm touch and offering Steve a sympathetic look a she explained herself, “I was the one you spoke to over the phone. I couldn’t reach her mom or your wife, but I’m glad that you were able to come down.”

His wife?

You and him weren’t married and it seemed so weird that she had brought it up like that, but right now wasn’t the time to question how the school even got his number or yours to begin with. What he needed to do was get Max out of here for the rest of the day because keeping her here would only make things worse.

“Y-yeah, no problem…I’m gonna pull Max out for the rest of the day.” Steve replied, still holding Max tightly while he sobs slowly subsided to uneven sniffles.

The woman nodded, gesturing towards the front desk, “I can get that sorted out for you guys. It’ll be an excused absence, so she doesn’t need to worry about the missing assignments.”

Steve smiled tight lipped, squeezing Max by the shoulders and pulling her away from him slightly, “C’mon bug, let’s go.”

Max took a minute, covering her face with her hands as she tried to wipe away the tears as much as she could and get herself together. He guided her up to stand, picking up her backpack and slinging a gentle arm over her shoulder, keeping her close to him.

“Bye Max, feel better and don’t forget you can come see me whenever you come back.” Miss. Lawrence called out softly as Max nodded, trying to flash her the sincerest smile despite her sad features.

With class still in session, the halls were empty giving her a twinge of relief knowing that no one would see her walking out of school this distraught. She could spot Steve’s car a mile away, messily and crookedly parked in the stall that strictly was reserved for staff, but he obviously didn’t care for the signpost.

Steve unlocked the car, walking the two of them to the passenger side where he let her get in, even opening the glove compartment to give her some napkins to soak her tears.

He sat in the drivers seat, watching her intently as she dabbed the tissues beneath her eyes, capturing the still forming tears in her orbs. She was really still so shaken up from the situation and he couldn’t blame her because if he was in her shoes, he’d feel the exact same.

“You’re not gonna have to deal with them anymore okay? I promise.” Steve assured her, his voice genuine and sincere.

“I know.” She croaked, voice strained but still filled with trust knowing that Steve had meant every word he said.

Max couldn’t fathom how he managed to handle the situaiton without getting physical, but right now she didn’t want to ask. All she cared about was that the did it for her and that she wouldn’t need to worry much longer.

She looked over at him, seeing his face still tense and washed over with worry. She didn’t even notice the green vest that Steve was still wearing, realizing that he had come from work to be here for her.

“Y-you can drop me off home, if you have to go back to work.” She told him, buckling in and still trying to regain her composure after all the crying.

Steve shook his head, following her lead, “Robin said she could cover for me the rest of the day. I could drop you off if you want, or we can go get lunch, or maybe go to the skate shop now. Wherever you want.”

Her throat tightened, her eyes meeting his, “Can we go to Billy’s grave?”

“Sure.” Steve replied without a moments hesitation, evidently understanding that she wanted to go there for a reason.

The last time that Steve had been to the cemetery was for Billy’s funeral. It was an intimate occasion, only a select few people had been invited, meaning basically Max’s entire friend group and her mom. Billy’s dad couldn’t bring himself to come that day.

He was unsure if Max had come to visit Billy on her own time, but seeing as though it was quite a ways from the trailer park, and she hadn’t ever ask for a ride here before, he assumed that this was both of their first times being back here since last summer.

Of all the places, he just wondered why here and why now? But he knew he had to understand where she was coming from because despite all the options he had laid out on the table, she had dismissed them and made it her choice to be here.

Steve trailed behind, watching as Max approached the grave stone, her fingers tracing the etched letters of his name. She sat down before it, her gazed fixed upon the headstone unclear if she wanted to say everything outlaid or keep it buried.

“Are you okay?” Steve took a seat beside her, his brows furrowing trying to comprehend how she was feeling in the moment.

She shrugged with a mix of frustration and sadness, “It just would make sense that this w-would happen…every time I start to feel happy, everything just comes crashing down—a-and it all leads back to Billy.”

Sure Steve wasn’t the brightest when it came to emotions but he wanted to see the bigger picture and understand, “You mean what happened today?”

“Yeah!” She exclaimed weakly, looking up at the sky, “It’s like, ever since school started, I’ve actually been feeling a lot happier you know?” She looked at him, tears welling again.

“I finally started hanging out with my friends again. I made up with Lucas. My mom actually called out of work for the first time in forever. All of these good things start happening, b—but I can’t help feeling like I don’t deserve it.”

The world was a cruel place, and Hawkins was an exceptionally cruel town, one that was literally cursed in the most horrific way possible. Max lived in the constant state of what felt like haunting where every corner she turned to there was a fear of the past coming back, seeking to take her under.

In today’s case, it was the guilt of feeling like she wasn’t destined for any type of happiness after what she had been through and what Billy had put the others around her through. Maybe Billy dying was the curse haunting her because she felt responsible for every bad thing he had ever done and there was no way for her to shake that feeling off.

What if Chad had been bullied by Billy long ago and maybe this was him getting back after the torment?

She should’ve just sucked it up and not be so affected by his words.

Now she was gong to need to take all the shots that were supposed to be fired at Billy for the rest of her life. She was going to be the punching bag for all of the hurt that he caused. Maybe this was her destiny—to just take all the pain that Billy caused and fix it.

Her thoughts were screaming at her and it was like she could hear Billy in the distance shouting loudly. Fury and anguish sparked within her, her fists clenching tightly as they barreled into the grass beneath her with forceful strikes.

“I should hate you! I should hate you because you made me like this…you made me feel this way. L—like I owe everybody, but I don’t know how…”

Her fists impaled the stiff earth while the desperation and longing to hurt the remnants of her brother six feet under heightened. She wanted to hurt him like he had hurt her—to make him feel her pain for once.

“Hey, stop that…c’mon Max, don’t do that.” Steve pleaded, urgently reaching out to grab her hands, coaxing her to cease the self destructive assault that would only cause her further harm.

She sobbed bitterly, body trembling as she wrangled around, trying to get her fists out of her hold so she could keep going.

“Why—how can you guys even look at me knowing that I’m related to this monster? Shouldn’t you guys just let me be miserable? I deserve it after everything he put you guys through.”

There was a firmness to his hold on her, shaking her hands gently.

“You’re not thinking straight.” He said sternly, getting her to finally look up at him. “You don’t deserve any of this because of what Billy did. You’re not Billy.”

She shook her head with a trembling whisper, “N—no, I was a horrible sister to him. I could’ve changed him. I-I could’ve made him better, but instead…I just let him—”

“You were a child, Max, and you still are,” His voice was loud, but not in an angry tone, just one full of unwavering conviction letting her know this was true, “You aren’t responsible for who he turned out to be and what he did. You can’t beat yourself up over that. He’s gone. He won’t be able to hurt you anymore…or any of us.

Max struggled to accept it, still consumed by tears and sorrow.

“Listen to me, Max,” Steve urged, letting his hands loosen from her wrist, yet not letting go, “you were the best sister you could be for him. You did the best you could. When he was dying, what did you do?” He asked, watching her cry.

He knew she wouldn’t be able to say, but he knew the answer.

His finger tips finally let up on her, going to touch the gravestone, showing her that this was not her fault.

“You asked him to stay alive. You told him that you loved him. You did everything that you could. His death wasn’t your fault and it never will be.”

She needed to hear it to truly believe it.

Steve grasped her shoulders, making her look at him through the cloudiness behind her eyes.

“You might not feel like you were the best sister to him, and I can’t change your mind about that, but I can tell you right here, right now, that you’re the best little sister I’ll ever have. In my eyes, you're the best sister there is. I’m not Billy. B—but it means something, yeah?”

Max cried harder, tugging on Steve’s heartstrings, finally breaking his strong exterior as tears escaped his own eyes. He couldn’t help but hold her face, fingers trembling while he brushed the tears away and felt her sobs against his skin.

“Whatever Billy did in the past is his burden to bare, not yours. He made his bed and now he’s lying in it…but you, you don’t have to lie in his, you don’t have to protect him. You need to take care of yourself and realize that people really do care about you. I care. I will do whatever it takes until you realize that, Max, because I love you.”

That was it. Now she believed it.

She flung her arms around his neck, clinging to him tightly, sobbing into his neck, muffled yet still able to hear, “You’re the best brother I’ll ever have.”

Holding each other and crying in front of Billy’s grave wasn’t how either of them had expected to spend their Monday afternoon, but alas, making the best out of a bad deal was better than just sulking all day.

Steve would have held her there all day if it meant that she would finally grasp the truth—that she wasn’t obligated to carrying the weight of someone else’s mistakes on her shoulder. Max was too young and good for they should to should that kind of pain and responsibly. He wished he could shield her from this feeling and those alike, giving her the childhood that she deserved, but he knew that wasn’t reality.

In the real world, bad things happen to even the purest of people, and Max had been apart of that unfortunate bunch. Reality meant sitting here and talking her though it. Helping her realize that thee burdensome emotions were valid considering her situation but she wasn’t going to go through it alone.

It was time that Max had laid it all out to rest. To leave it here with Billy where it belonged.

Opening the front door to your apartment, you didn’t expect the scene before you at all.

Max laid sprawled out on the couch, her body slipped and drained. Ollie, her ever loyal companion, nestled beside her, with the both of them tucked under her favorite blanket that you owned. Steve was sitting in the arm chair with a cup of coffee in his mug when he flickered his gaze from the muted television to you in the doorway.

His voice was hushed as he approached you,“Hey,” through the dimmed living room, you could only see the concern etched across his face when he settled right in front of you.

You raised a brow, flickering a concerned gaze towards Max and keeping a quiet voice, “What happened?”

Steve sighed heavily, taking your hand and walking the two of you into the kitchen for more privacy not wanting to wake Max who really needed to sleep after a long day. Your mind was racing with questions and the worry in Steve’s eyes when he settled against the counters let you knew that something had gone wrong.

“She had a tough day at school. An incident with some bullies. The school called me and I went over there and got it all worked out.” Steve explained, his voice heavy and broken.

Shock coursed through your veins, instinctively reaching for his hands to clasp together tightly, “Bullies? What the hell did they do to her?”

Steve grip remained soft, rubbing his thumbs against your skin, “They said some not so kind things, but she wants to tell your herself and it’s important it comes from here because it’s a lot.”

You wanted to cry right then and there. From the look on Steve’s face alone you could tell he had been crying and it was only going to make your heart shatter even more when Max woke up and you saw her. Your heart ached at the thought of Max having to go through this after how far she had come already.

Steve could tell you were on the verge of tears, leaning his face forward to brush his lips against yours in a tender kiss, silently reassuring you that things were going to be okay.

“It’s gonna be okay, she’ll tell you.”

Time seemed to stretch as you waited for Max to wake up, every passing minute feeling like an eternity. You attempted to distract yourself with studying, but your mind was consumed by worry, entangled in a web of worst-case scenarios. You knew that patience was the only way forward, that Max's voice deserved to be heard, no matter how agonizing the wait.

But it wasn’t long after three in the afternoon that Max finally fluttered her eyes open, stretching her arms out wide as she began to wake up. Her eyes felt swollen but that was a given, yet she could see you sitting on the floor beside her, mustering a gentle smile.

“Hey, bug…” You greeted, brushing a strain of hair from her face, “feeling better?”

Max nodded, leaning closer into you touch knowing that it was only seconds before she would be crying in your arms. The heartache was palpable and the weight of the unspoken conversation lingered in the air, but you spoke out, giving her the reassurance.

“You can tell me whenever you’re ready to talk, okay?”

She took a deep breath finally sitting up and catching the encouraging nod that Steve gave to her. In this moment she knew she had to come clean because you weren’t going to judge her. Like Steve, you were going to be there and comfort her when she needed you the most.

She had to lay it to rest.

“I’m ready to talk.”

a/n: did i make you cry???? IM SORRY IF I DID! whew! well im back with chapter two of this series and im so sorry it has taken me this long, but i hope you enjoyed this part! i wanted to depict the guilt that max must face when it come to billy death, but also for his past actions and the steps shes taking to move on. let me know what you think!! also, aren't steve and max literally the softest chosen family siblings out there?? ugh, steve would be the best big brother to her--i hope she survives in s5!!

let me know what you think: reblogs, tags, comments, and likes are greatly appreciated!!!

leave a comment and let me know if want to be added to my taglist!!

taglist: @translatemunson @kennedy-brooke @manda-panda-monium @tvserie-s-world @givemeth @steveharringtonswife @astolenkiss @loving-and-dreaming @awkotaco24 @engenelxver

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spenglerssweetheart · 9 months

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For a request, who not the reader saving Egon from a ghostly danger of some kind? Bonus if the reader isn’t part of the field work crew.

Rah rah rahhh First day back and I’m so excited.

——————————

His savior.

Pairing: Egon Spengler x GN!Reader.

Desc: as above in request.

Warnings: nothing other than some pretty tame language thrown around.

“Venkman, we might just have to let this one go!” A voice shouted before glass was heard breaking and then a mutter of profanities following after. “Oh no we don’t, we deal with this the way we always do!” The voice shouted back Before more glass was heard breaking.

Y/n was nearby in their office when they heard the commotion over the sound of the soft music playing. Turning it down, they stood up confused before stepping out. Y/n knew they were having some people coming over for disturbances that would happen in the small book/Music Store but they didn’t think it would be the Ghostbusters.

Y/n didn’t have any up-close experience with the ‘disturbance’ but they knew it was bad. Seeing the ghost floating around leaving the books all slimy they grimaced and looked at those who struggled to catch it. Knowing there would be a huge mess left they sighed and placed their face in their hands before carefully stepping out of the office, being mindful of the broken stuff on the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye though, Egon spotted the person step out of the office, unsure if they’d been there the whole time or not. Taking in what they had been wearing was really similar to what he enjoyed as well. The Brown knitted turtleneck paired with what looked to be some dress pants. Being so distracted He didn’t see the ghost or the unfamiliar person coming his way.

“Watch out!!” They shouted, pulling Egon back by the hand right as the ghost flew through where Egon had been standing. The other three guys were nowhere to be seen and A random person just saved him from being most likely knocked over and injured. Meanwhile Y/n was focused on making sure he was okay.

Once Y/n made sure he was sat and situated, they looked at his facial features, seeing a large gash at his cheek that was already beginning to slightly bruise. “I am so very sorry to do this, and I must ask you first, but you have this gash, and I can only guess you got a book or a record thrown at you, and I need to know if I can clean it up for you?” They rambled softly, Egon only watching as their hands moved around much as they rambled.

Nodding softly, Egon didn’t give much of a response but only watched as they reached under their desk for a first aid kit. Looking at the desk, they saw a name plate “Andi?! Is that your name?” Egon asked, Now looking at Y/n, who glanced back at him before shaking their head with a light laugh. “Oh no no, My name is Y/n, Andi is my boss, sorta” They explained, taking out alcohol wipes and some gauze.

“Oh, Well I’m Uh Egon, Egon Spengler” He said as he introduced himself, watching as Y/n nodded, before beginning to clean the wound. Egon didn’t take Y/n for much of a talker, but he was thankful for that teeny observation. Letting his eyes wonder, He noticed an open book on what looked to be about space, and some scattered notes on it.

“What are you studying?” He asked, now glancing up at Y/n, who sort of jumped out of their skin, pressing lightly onto the gash, causing him to wince slightly. “Sorry so sorry!” They exclaimed moving their hand away quickly. “No no, you’re alright don’t worry” He reassured, almost missing that gentle touch on his face quickly. “I’m sorry did you ask me something?” Y/n asked again, realizing they might have spaced out a bit.

“What are you studying?” Egon said, repeating the question, and Y/n looked back at the open book on their desk. “Oh uh, things about space, and why they happen?” They responded, sort of questioning themselves as they finished cleaning Egon’s face up. “Would you want to become an astrophysicist someday?” Egon asked after it was clear he could stand up once more, this time moving over to the open book, getting a closer look at the notes.

He took in Y/n’s handwriting, it wasn’t too neat, but it wasn’t unreadable. He was able to make out every word, and how they went into extreme detail about what was read and little additional things. Y/n couldn’t really do much but watch as Egon scanned over their notes and nodded along to what was written or described.

“I’m sorry, Egon? Was it? I don’t mean to interrupt or anything but I think, your friends may need a little more help?” Y/n interrupted, obviously unintentionally but they weren’t quite sure as the ruckus outside had gotten louder over the past few minutes. Egon quickly realized and apologized right before he made his way back out into the slightly messy library. Y/n could only watch for the remainder until they caught the ghost that was causing such a disturbance.

“Right so… how much, will it all be, for… everything?” Y/n asked once all four ghostbusters were piled up in the small office. Egon glanced at Peter, sort of telling him to give them a reasonable price. “Well, my good friend here, Egon, seems to have it for you, but should only be a measly 400 dollars? If that’s alright with you of course?” Peter asked, basically questioning himself. If anything they’d have money to split amongst themselves. Egon nodded and rested against one of the walls in the office, taking it in a bit more. “Wait, Spengs where were you through most of it?” Ray had asked as he turned over to Egon.

“Y/n here, was helping me. Sort of saved me back there from that thing.” He responded, pointing at his bandaged face before at the still smoking proton pack. Winston nodded, before becoming slightly sheepish to ask. “Y/n was it? Do you think you could bandage me up a bit as well?” He had asked before a two more small ‘me too’s’ were heard. Y/n could only nod, passing Egon the money and moving Winston to sit where Egon was sat before.

“Oh. Y/n, Thank you for saving me back there, I really really appreciate it” Egon added before Y/n could only smile in return, assuring him it was no problem. The other three guys on the other hand knew they had something to tease Egon about later.

Hi my loves, I honestly honestly had a bit of trouble with writing this, not the prompt or anything but with myself. I mentioned before I had fallen back into a bad habit and I barely was able to motivate myself recently. Though it’s over a month late (I apologize) It’s finally here!!!

And though I wasn’t sure what pronouns to use, or if anon was being gender specific or not, this is a GN!reader. I hope you all enjoyed, I hope to have made your day slightly better, but stay safe, I love you, have fun!!

Laters gators

#spenglerssweetheart #ghostbusters #egon spengler #writing #winston zeddemore #x reader #ray stantz #harold ramis #peter venkman #request #gn reader

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thefactsofthematter · 1 year

Note

this delancey brothers thing is so interesting to me because like,,, we get very little about their whole family life and backstory and the fandom has yet to come up with anything incredibly solid,,, anyways just thinking thoughts and i want to hear what you have to say

right?? i feel like for a while the fandom kinda shunned them bc of their role as villains… but a bad guy can be a compelling character too!!

i already gave a rundown of my backstory for them in the last ask i answered, so here’s my completely baseless thoughts regarding their personalities and relationship w each other!! @jack-kellys here’s the rest of my delancey nonsense 😙

- oscar is a deeply angry person. he doesn’t know how to feel anything else, when the world has been so cruel to him. he’s been trying to parent his little brother for years, in the shittiest of situations: from an abusive home, to jail, to their tiny bedroom at the newspaper office. wiesel is harsh with them, their job consists of long days of tedious work, and he often feels he has nothing to look forward to. he takes it out on everybody except morris, because he’s learned over the years that everyone is out to get him, so he may as well hurt them first. (hostile attribution bias anyone?? shoutout to all my fellow bitches who studied developmental psych 🤘)

- morris, on the other hand, strikes me as a little less angry and a little more scared. an odd hc of mine for him is that he’s on the fetal alcohol spectrum - he deals with numerous learning disabilities and developmental delays because of it, and it’s made all the trauma he’s experienced very hard to process. he finds his and oscar’s job frustratingly difficult: counting papes and keeping the numbers straight is hard for him, he hates how loud the newsies are (and how loud uncle wiesel is when he’s yelling), and he can’t focus for very long without getting the urge to jump and run and move around, which he knows he’s not allowed to do. he also knows he doesn’t speak very clearly— unless he’s very intentional with every syllable, which almost sounds worse because it’s so awkward, or using phrases he’s already practiced— so he’s given up on talking to anyone other than his big brother, for the most part. he lets oscar do most of the talking and is happy to back him up with his fists.

- oscar doesn’t really understand morris’s disability, but he tries not to think too hard about it. he doesn’t know why his brother needs help with certain things that seem easy— like knowing which shoe goes on which foot, or spelling the letters of his own name— but he’ll help him nonetheless, because that’s just what he needs to do. he thinks he might need to take care of morris forever, because it often seems like there’s some things the kid will just never get the hang of, but oscar doesn’t mind that, because at least it gives him some purpose. if he has to sit there every night and remind morris of the steps to getting cleaned up before bed (wash your face and hands, run a comb through your hair, fold up your clothes…) then at least he’s doing something helpful each day, and that makes him feel alright.

- a random anecdote that sorta sums them up (under the cut bc this is long already):

for morris’s 13th birthday, oscar steals a little stuffed dog from a shop, which morris names puppy and instantly clings to with all his might. at the time, oscar knows morris is too old for toys, but the way the kid lights up when the silly thing is handed to him makes everything worth it. he simply decides to accept that all the bullshit they’ve been through has made it hard for morris to grow up at the same rate as other people, so if babying him a little makes him this happy, that must be fine, right?

several years later, the first thing that ever compels oscar to lay a hand on wiesel is finding puppy in the trash on the front step on his way home from running errands, with its ears ripped off— he’s instantly sure that wiesel found it and took it from morris while he was gone. he charges inside and punches wiesel square across the jaw; he then spends the rest of the night barricaded in their bedroom, trying to messily sew puppy back together and simultaneously calm down his inconsolable little brother.

“you’re too big to cry, mo. you know that. you gotta cut it out before uncle hears you, alright?”

“but he took it. he took puppy away and wrecked it and said i can’t have it no more,” morris wails. “it ain’t fair, osc.”

“i know. i got it back and i’m trying to fix it, okay? i’ll get puppy good as new for you, i swear. you just gotta stop— you’re a big fella and you’re crying over a toy. you can’t be doing that.”

morris sniffles, obviously holding back a sob.

“you busted his head. why’d you do that?”

oscar shrugs. he finally manages to tie off a decent knot on one of the ears, which almost looks right again, despite his terrible stitches.

“i was mad. don’t no one mess with my brother without going through me, right?”

morris manages a smile, despite the way he’s still intently watching his beloved puppy be put back together, with tears in his eyes.

“right. and i’ll soak anyone who talks bad at you, i swear.”

wiesel beats oscar black and blue with his cane the next day, but oscar would take it a million times over for morris’s sake. when the newsies start wisecracking about oscar’s fresh cuts and bruises at distribution, morris starts beating on whichever of those loudmouths he can get his hands on until the whole lot of them have nothing more to laugh at.

the delancey brothers have each other’s backs at all fucking costs.

#so this is long but. i have been rotating these two in my mind and building them some characterization #so it’s just like. morris is very childlike on the inside and fighting is the only way he feels like he’s in charge.#oscar is just so goddamn mad at everyone and everything and needs to make it everyone’s problem or he’ll lose his mind.#they’re both awful bullies but god do they care about each other. maybe they grow up and calm down eventually.#oscar delancey #morris delancey #the delancey brothers

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r-eatyourfriends-n · 7 months

Text

Secret Services I — Leon x Ashley.

pairing: Ashley Graham/Leon S. Kennedy

tags: nsfw +18 only, smut, porn without plot (there's a little bit of plot), vouyerism (light), masturbation, leon being an idiot, slight p in v sex.

wordcount: 4k

READ NOW ON AO3

warning: this is not set in the RE universe. also this is purely self indulgent with no regard for the real world so if you think "it doesn't work like that" you're probably right tbh.

special thanks to my best friend rafa who I can't tag but he was the one who beta read and edited this fic and this basically wouldn't see the light of day if it wasn't for him ♡.

summary: Being done with a life of politics, Ashley Graham decided to get her own apartment to finish her university studies away from her father's work. Her wishes would be met under one condition: Ashley must have a bodyguard with her at all times.

Ashley had a bodyguard. Or was about to.

Ashley had been wanting her own apartment for a while. President Graham offered to let her live alone and pay for it while she finished her studies. It was a comfortable deal, until he laid out his one condition: surveillance, which meant bodyguards, and Ashley absolutely hated the idea, so she refused on the spot. However, days passed and they turned hectic and Ashley just couldn't take the amount of men in suits yelling at each other about easily solvable problems. She dreamed about screaming at them to shut up.

It got to the point where she woke up one day and knew she was going to leave. She was sensitive, it was her finals week, there was no way she would keep going through this. So she went up to her father and tried to pout and whine her way out of the bodyguard rule. Ashley was trying to run away from men in suits, only to be locked up with more?

She didn't want to be. She had tried to convince her father she didn't need it, that she could take care of herself. His only answer had been, “It's not like I'm gonna fill up your apartment”. Two people already felt like way too much, though. So Ashley begged and begged until she annoyed him into complying. It violated his policy, she knew. But, as his only daughter, her plan worked perfectly; she whimpered, teary-eyed, about how stressed these people were making her, then tried to hide her smile when he agreed.

President Graham made the arrangements and got an apartment for Ashley close by. It was a nice, two-bedroom apartment with a city view; nothing flashy. That day, she met Leon S. Kennedy; suddenly, the whole bodyguard thing didn't sound all that bad. Actually, it was a splendid idea.

What a gorgeous, gorgeous man he was. And she hadn't even seen him smile yet. He and Ashley shook hands in a formal manner, and her cheeks began to burn. He felt as strong and firm as he looked. His voice was husky, she could see his throat vibrate the few times he spoke. Tall, blond, blue eyes—he had everything the average woman could want and, god, did she want him too.

Leon was supposed to be with her at all times, granting her, of course, her due privacy. The president was really adamant on the “all times” part. Leon had basically turned into her roommate, and probably her chauffeur as well. Only difference was probably the gun in his belt and the knife inside his brown leather jacket. Ashley hoped and prayed he wouldn't take it off yet, she didn't know what would be of her if she saw his arms.

He was perfect, too. Sort of quiet and calm. The first few days, Ashley would forget he was there at all, so when she heard him moving, she would get startled. When she went out to check, she'd just find him sitting on the kitchen table. The amazing thing, at least to her, was that she never got him to jump out of his seat. It's not like she intentionally tried, but she was curious. Her attempts-that-weren't-attempts only lasted for about a week until she just gave up. Ashley thought it had been by far the most interesting thing happening to him, because she swore she at least saw him chuckle. A small grin with no sound and if she didn't know better she would've kissed him.

Ashley's two week vacation period was the most stressed she had ever been, because not going to college meant she was now stuck with Leon full-time. She looked at Leon from the bathroom door as she brushed her teeth, barely awake. Leon, on the other hand, was always up early. It hit her that, even though he was going to be with her for a good while, and that it had been almost a month since he had been with her, they've never talked. Just the usual good morning and goodnight. She had made him coffee once or twice, but not the other way around —to be fair, his coffee was so strong she didn't know how he even enjoyed it.

She did her hair and changed into some comfortable clothes before walking out to her living room where Leon sat murmuring something, probably to her father. He checked in almost daily.

“Are you bored?” She asked when Leon finished talking. She stood behind him to avoid his gaze. “Do you ever get bored?”

“This is far more entertaining than a corporate job,” Leon scoffed. She couldn't really figure out if he was messing with her or genuinely insulting her. She dismissed both options, hopeful.

“I can't see you working at a desk, although this might be the closest.”

Leon chuckled. “At least my ass won't get flat from all the sitting.”

Ashley blushed, her eyes quickly checking him out. It would definitely be a shame if butt like that disappeared.

This was good, she thought, she had made him laugh and gotten some words out of him.

“I wanna go shopping for… stuff,” she lied. It was such a miserable lie she mentally slapped herself twice. She did not want to go out on a Sunday, no one liked going out on Sundays! Ashley was almost one hundred percent certain she pretty much had everything she needed. “Feel like going out?”

What?

It certainly didn't matter what he felt like doing, he was getting paid to do it anyway. In fact, talking to her was, most likely, what he was getting paid for as well. Leon turned to see her, staring for a moment before grinning.

“I could definitely use some time outside.”

He stood up and went for his jacket. Ashley caught the way the muscles of his back moved under his fitted shirt as he slid the jacket on and reached for the keys. She tried not to think too much about it, but she really liked that jacket. Dark colors really suited Leon, although she couldn't really come up with something that wouldn't suit him. Hell, he might even look good in bright yellow, and no one looked good in bright yellow. Also, those pants could barely fit his butt.

They went to the car and got inside. She played some music instead of putting on her earphones like she usually did. Leon softly bopped his head to the rhythm. He didn't look like the type to enjoy pop music, and Ashley bet she herself wasn't the type to like whatever she thought Leon listened to. Ashley would bet money that it was either noisy rock or music that made you want to kill yourself.

The mall wasn't that far away and was quite empty as well. It was Sunday morning— Ashley wanted to smack herself—she had gone shopping on a Sunday morning and she had dragged Leon with her. This was her gotcha moment to her father, though. Had I not been given a bodyguard, she giggled to herself, no one would have to put up with this.

Ashley looked around, nervous, trying to find something. From a distance, she spotted what looked to be perfumes. The store looked new, with lots of flashing lights and big posters of beautiful models to stand out and try to lure people in. If Leon went to the bathroom, Ashley thought, he would quickly spot her unused fragrances, and know that the plan to go out had all been just a whim. But the pink lights were truly, truly a good bait, and she found herself heading towards it, getting a few steps ahead of Leon.

To be fair, Ashley didn't feel as uncomfortable walking in silence with Leon next to her now that she had made small talk, nor was she uncomfortable when they walked into the store together and he stood behind her as she searched through the shelves full of bottles of body wash and perfume. Now that she was there, she might as well actually buy something. Leon seemed to be eyeing the selection as well. Ashley watched when he picked one up, smelled it, and put it down with a scrunched nose. He did it a few times before he handed one to Ashley. The packaging was transparent, and the liquid inside of it was a very light orange, almost like flavored water.

“You look like you'd like this one,” was all he said, before heading to the men's section.

Ashley took it as a compliment when she smelled it. It was such a simple choice, too. Just a plain pumpkin smell with a hint of coffee. She imagined herself putting it on, along with her orange top and square patterned green shorts and it was the perfect fit so she almost ran to pay for it, more excited about the fact that Leon chose it than anything. Her other perfumes could wait. Leon walked up to the register and paid for his own after Ashley. His bottle was a transparent square, the liquid was transparent as well. Very simple like him.

She reached for Leon's bag and he handed it to her. Ashley took it out and the smell hit her before she could even open it, and it got her blood soaring through her veins. To her, it smelled just like he looked, there wasn't another way to explain it. Nothing too flashy or out of the ordinary, definitely not old man perfume like her father's collection. Something like lemon and citrus but also very sweet, honey, perhaps. Either way, it was so fitting they should've just named the fragrance Leon S. Kennedy.

“It definitely suits you,” Ashley commented, giving him back the bag.

She took out her own bottle to smell it again.

“Yours is good, too,” he said, then quickly added, “not because I picked it.”

“Why that one?” She asked, still with her nose against the bottle. It was about to be her favorite for sure.

“I just liked it. Reminded me of a girl I met in a club once, I couldn't stop wanting to be close enough to smell her.”

The image of Leon leaning into the crook of a blurry-faced woman's neck intruded into her brain. Ashley imagined in great detail the sensation of warm breath onto her skin, blond hair grazing her shoulder. She flushed a deep red.

“C-can't imagine you in a club,” she stuttered.

Leon chuckled. “Can't see me doing boring jobs but can't see me having fun either?”

“You just don't look like you'd have fun at a club!”

“You're right. That's because the fun comes after the clubbing.”

Ashley's cheeks, at this point, were burning. Something in her chest twisted and she had to laugh it off. There wasn't anything overly scandalous about his statement, just a joke with a little deeper meaning told between acquaintances. She was embarrassed to get so shy over something so silly and meaningless.

Was the post-clubbing fun girl also the pumpkin-smelling girl? Or were they two different girls? She didn't take Leon as a player—he could be, with that face and that voice and that body that had women staring at him, but Ashley just didn't think he had the time. And he was either way too professional to give into the attention, or he wasn't aware of how much people were drawn to him. If anything, Ashley seemed to be the one noticing it. How men and women eyed him equally, head to toe. But he walked alongside Ashley, arms to his sides, ready to pull out his gun, aware of his surroundings like an FBI agent would be and not at all like a normal person.

FBI, CIA, Secret Service, whatever. It wasn't that she didn't know how each of them worked, it was that she didn't care enough to remember in detail.

They went through a few more stores before they left. Ashley bought stuff she knew she did not need, but had a good time regardless, even Leon seemed to be smiling more—if a slight rise of the corner of his lips counted as one. Ashley went home with a few new markers and sticky notes and lotion with a packaging so pretty she wasn't sure she bought it for its “hydrating properties”. She also went home with various images of Leon in various situations that flashed behind her eyelids every time she blinked.

While in the car on the way back, Leon looked at Ashley a few times as she just stared into space. He never said anything, but him constantly turning his head towards her meant what are you thinking about? or are you okay. Yes, she was okay. No, he didn't want to know what she was thinking about.

She ran inside and locked herself in her room the moment the door opened, feigning excitement, pretending she was going to try on her new perfumes. In reality, she just needed something to separate her from Leon, at least for a moment. She stood with her back against the door for a moment, panting.

Ashley wasn't stupid. She knew she was far from that, her father knew she was far from that, her classmates knew she was far from that. She knew what sex was, how sex worked and how to do it; that people did it casually. Ashley was twenty-one, for God's sake. And, of course Leon S. Kennedy had sex, he had to. With that face and that voice and that body, and his stupidly charming personality, and how his looks made up for the fact that he absolutely sucked at flirting, like any pretty boy did these days.

The problem was, fundamentally, that when she tried not to think about something she ended up thinking about it anyway. So, logically, she thought about Leon having steamy, noisy, hot sex with some random woman in god knows what hotel. Vividly.

In her imagination, they— Leon and the nameless, faceless woman— did it in missionary. Ashley didn't think he was the type to do anything too elaborate, or maybe the girl wanted to see his face. Either way, he was on top, shirtless, sweaty. His body glistened under cheap lighting, and his panting echoed inside the room. She shook her head, it was getting too real. It was feeling too real.

That particular feeling of arousal was there, one that she couldn't just let pass. Only the pressure of her fingers would do something about it. She walked to her bed, unzipping her skirt and kicking off her shoes. Ashley almost ripped it all off, her panties sticking to her was beyond uncomfortable.

Ashley laid on her bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, Leon's face appeared before her once more. All too suddenly, the nameless, faceless woman she had just been imagining was Ashley herself. Leon smiled down at her, his arms at each side of her head. “Spread,” he commanded; it came out breathy, like after kissing. She did, slowly, like Leon was actually there, ordering her.

Her hand finally met her core. She rubbed circles onto her clit, slowly, as if Leon was carefully pushing inside of her. The thought itself felt good, of Leon's pelvis against hers. Her fake Leon shuddered. He straightened up, gripping the back of her thighs for support before dragging himself out of her. “Leon” rolled his hips softly. Had it been real, Ashley would've felt every inch.

“Leon,” she moaned. She increased her rhythm. Ashley swore she could feel the warmth of Leon's fingers against her skin while, in her head, he went harder. Strong, calculated thrusts that could've made her bang her head against the head of the bed. His name slipped past her lips once again. It slipped a few more times, and each time felt more embarrassing than the previous.

But his name sounded so good. It was such a nice name, and it would be a shame to have such vivid daydreams without the real deal.

Leon—the impostor— leaned down. Ashley wasn't sure she was able to imagine a kiss, but she could very much imagine Leon kissing her neck, biting down on it. The bites weren't supposed to be painful, but they were aggressive, because Leon was trying to muffle his groans of pleasure. Not that Ashley minded that he was making sounds, she just thought it was something Leon would do.

Ashley's hand quickened on her clit, fingers pressed softly against it. Her hips began to twitch and raise from the bed. Something light was starting to warm up near her pelvis, there wasn't much left before she came.

“Cute,” he said.

The voice took her out, it dragged her out of her thoughts. Leon, the real flesh and bone, Leon, was standing against the door frame, arms crossed on his chest. Then Ashley was too conscious about her messy hair and her ruffled-up shirt and how she was directly in front of the door with her legs wide open.

“Why are you… ”

“You called,” Leon explained.

Ashley didn't know what she should focus on first; the fact that he heard her or the fact that he must've known what type of call it was, but then she'd need time to think about the implications of that, and that was time she didn't have, because Leon was right in front of her. She closed her legs.

“I'm sorry,” Ashley murmured, using her knees to cover her face. “Jesus, I'm so sorry,” was all she could say. And apologizing was all she could do.

“I'm flattered, I think,” he chuckled. Ashley didn't believe that he could laugh in a situation like this. Although as an agent, it probably wasn't the worst thing he had ever seen. “But don't let me interrupt you.”

Her eyes widened “What?”

“Keep going,” Leon said.

“Now?” she asked. The stupidest question that came out of her mouth. She was almost shaking, she just didn't know whether it was embarrassment or anxiety.

“If not now, when?” he smirked. “Unless you want me to go, then I can just leave you to it.”

She thought about it. Ashley had the very man she was fantasizing about in her room asking her to get herself off for him. For him to watch. Leon stood there, waiting for her answer. She knew what she wanted to do the moment Leon made his suggestion, however, no words seemed to come out, not even when she could hear herself saying it in her head.

Ashley took a peek from between her legs; he was still looking at her, breathing heavily. His own arousal showing through his pants, and the sight would've been enough for her to finish if her body worked like that. She took a deep, long breath and decided to make it worth it.

With that in mind, she spread her legs in an excruciatingly slow motion, trying to get used to the feeling of being vulnerable and observed. Ashley let Leon take a good look at her, at the proof of her mischief, of her endless thoughts and attempts to brush their arms together or make their knees touch under the table when they had breakfast at the same time. She slid her hand down her abdomen, watching as Leon's dilated pupils followed her hand to her folds. Ashley spread them, wanting to show Leon what he had caused her, how wet she was, how much she desired him. She sighed, the warmth of her own hand a relief.

Leon bit his lip. She caught when he dug his nails into his biceps. His lip would bleed if he continued, Ashley thought, then she could stand up and lick it off.

Her body felt like the sensation of putting your arm too close to a candle. It came from inside her skin, radiating from her bones. She was only now starting to feel the sweat pooling under her fringe, her hands sticky. The slick on her fingers barely let her aim them properly onto her clit, but feeling herself, slippery and wet, made her even more aroused.

Throwing her head back, she moaned “Leon” and it quickly turned into a sigh. Maybe having an audience wasn't all that bad, after all. “Leon,” she moaned again, and it came out desperate, her hand quickening. It was messy. Ashley wasn't sure where to put her other hand; she clutched the sheets, ran her nails across her stomach, gripped the pillow. Nothing was enough.

The sound of velcro ripping pierced through the room, and Ashley watched Leon drag his glove off his hand with his teeth through half-lidded eyes. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down along with his boxers just a little below the hip, enough to get his cock out of his underwear. The erection must've been painful, because Leon hissed when he wrapped his hand around it, slowly stroking himself. Still looking at her, like he was saying 'you did this'.

He soon met her pace, quick and needy. The gloved hand held onto the door frame. His head was hanging down, his dark blond hair falling onto his face, but Ashley still met his gaze, and realized he was following her movements. She slowed down and so did he with a low whine. It stayed like that for a moment before the speed came back up, only to go down a few seconds later.

“Dammit, Ashley,” Leon grunted. It was the first time she heard him say her name, and the sound she made was so pathetic she wanted to cover her mouth.

Ashley thought that, under different circumstances, she would've teased him until the end of the world. She wanted to make him come on slow strokes so that his knees would buckle, but right now, she wouldn't handle it, so she opted for going faster. Leon sighed, going along with her. She, sometimes, got glimpses of how Leon's muscles flexed and tensed. The veins on his arms were so prominent they might as well just burst. His breathing echoed in the room, almost as loud as Ashley's whimpers and cries for him.

It was over way quicker than she wanted. Her orgasm came in waves, her hips rolling against her hand, burying her head into the pillows. All of her movements were involuntary, all while looking at Leon. He smirked as she came. Ashley didn't halt her movements until her hips started to twitch and then after that it was just painful.

She laid there in silence, trying to stabilize herself, eyes still on Leon and Leon's eyes still on her. They ran all over her, from her hair to her face, to the curves of her body, her legs that were still open.

“I want to see you,” she muttered. Ashley didn't have the courage to say the rest, reality was to hit her soon and she couldn't see herself being so bold anymore. What she meant was still pretty obvious.

Leon came silently, only gasping as he spilled onto his hand, and a barely audible Ashley slipped past his lips. Seeing him shudder and sigh had to be one of—if not the hottest thing—that Ashley had seen in her entire life.

He took out a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his hand with it, then put his cock back into his boxers, and fixed his clothes.

“Let me know if you need anything,” Leon said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Ashley didn't have time to say anything. She was left alone to her thoughts sooner than she had expected. That was it? He just left?

Calling him back into her bedroom clearly wasn't a good choice nor was it a good look. Ashley groaned, standing up reluctantly to take a shower. She made sure to be as quiet as possible, although Leon probably heard her drag her feet to the bathroom.

She was never going to leave her room again. Ever.

#resident evil #leon #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #ashley #ashley graham #ashley x leon #resident evil 4 remake #eagleone #eagle one

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