#anyway WELCOME I HOPE YOU FIND YOUR PEOPLE! :D | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sykostyles · 2 months

Text

let you love me 1.1

wc: 4.5k

summary: in which y/n is a 26 year old bakery owner and she can't quite get this whole "love" thing right; settling on finding solace in being alone. One day, Jackson Cole: an egotistical, but oh so charismatic professional quarterback comes along and swears he can change her mind.. and for a while he does. nearly two years of breaking down her walls.. but they seem to argue about one thing a lot. y/n's "negativity". she swears she's not trying ro be a pessimist.. it just works out better for her if she keeps her expectations low. But what happens when she meets a handsome stranger, who wants nothing more than to see her smile? Will she push everything away again or will she finally accept the love she deserves? or ; tldr sunshine! harry x grumpy! afab reader part one, three

a/n: welcome to part 2! I thought I would be done with this in two parts but the words just keep coming out of my brain. so there will be one more part to this! (and its already been started!)

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE ON PART ONE!! I can't believe this many people are interested in my brain child. I hope you all enjoy this part as well!

cw: this story contains suggestive and explicit language, minor descriptions of violence, and verbal abuse. please do not continue if these topics upset you!

Not much has changed in the apartment above the bakery, a good bit of your belongings remained here after you moved in with Jackson. You were thrilled when the gentleman who sold you the business told you it included the unit upstairs. “How perfect?” you thought. Slowly but surely you’d ended your lease on your previous place and made the arrangements to live above the bakery. You spent all of your time there anyways.

The last time you were here flashed through your brain and made you grimace. Images of wet lips, clashing teeth.. hands exploring curves.. All flashing in your mind. You’d been out with Jackson for your anniversary and neither of you could wait until you got back to your shared apartment, so a bit of a pit stop was made. But having those thoughts of Jackson at this moment only make you want to throw up the sweets you’d tested earlier.

Peeling your clothes from your body, you make your way into the shower and the spiraling thoughts ensue. Why am I like this? Why can’t I be loved the way I am? Is it actually me? Am I really the problem? Why? Why? WHY?? Sliding down the tile wall, your knees come to your chest and you just sob.

Twenty minutes turn into an hour, into an hour and a half and then nearly two hours. You’d been in there so long you didn't even realize the water had turned ice cold. You were numb to everything.

A knock on your door startles you out of your stupor. Quickly, you shut the shower off and grabbed a towel. “Nobody even knows I'm here,” you think to yourself, making your way to the door. Glancing through the peephole you see your best friend, Carly, looking rather distressed.

“Y/N I know you’re in there.” No, you don’t.. “Your car is outside.” No, it’s not.. “I can see the shadows of your feet at the bottom of the door.” No, you can’t.. “Y/N, open the door. Jackson said you took off when I came looking for you.” No, I don't want anyone to see me like this. “I know you can hear me, don’t make me call in a wellness check. You know I will.” Memories of officers knocking down your door at 3 am when you wouldn’t answer Carly's “are you alive?” messages flashed in your brain.

Your hands shoot up and unlock the deadbolt, swiftly opening the door for your friend to step inside, closing the door with a click behind her.

She turns to look at you, taking in all of your features, Severely swollen eyes, tear stained cheeks, and the frown weighing on your lips.

“I’ll kill him.” She says, turning towards the door. “No!” you object, reaching out to grab her arm. “Please, d-don’t leave.” You say, demeanor crumbling. Your legs begin to shake as you start to cave. Carly reaches out with both hands, stabilizing your arms. “Woah, okay. It’s okay. You’re okay.” she says as she guides you both to the floor, pulling you to rest on her front. “Everything will be okay.” she says. Will it? You think to yourself.

Carly was someone you met in your first year in college. Now she's a 27 year old journalist. Originally she was your freshman year dorm mate. It was instant friendship. I mean instant. You would have thought your first interaction was two friends meeting up again after not seeing each other for a while. Accompanying each other to frat parties, skipping classes together, what have you. Where one was, the other wasn’t too far behind. She helped you get over some of the darkest times of your life.

Losing both of your parents at the age of 20 isn’t something anyone should ever have to deal with, but having Carly by your side made it a little easier. She also didn’t judge, or object when you decided to drop out of college your junior year after their passing. And when the opportunity came up for you to buy the bakery, she knew owning it was your all time dream so.. she handed you a check for 5k.. saying it was her way of investing in your passions. Granted, the bakery wasn’t located on the Amalfi coast in Italy, but your shop where you’re at would have to do for now. You were grateful for her to say the least.

Jackson? Hated her. She tried to make you see your worth. Carly? Also not a big fan of Jackson. “Ugh a J name? Have I taught you nothing?” She’d joked with you when you told her about him. Even after you’d told her about his constant attention and nice gestures, she still wasn’t convinced. “They all just have that type.” she’d started, making you roll your eyes. “AND he’s a professional football player? Y/N!”

“I finally want to give a guy a chance again, and this is your reaction?”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for it, I'm saying to be careful. These guys all have a reputation.”

“Carls, I swear it feels like he’s different. You don’t see the way he looks at me.”

“Babe, just promise me you’ll be careful, okay? I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Famous last words.

After half an hour of Carly consoling you on the floor against your apartment door, she peers down at you, noticing your sniffles had quieted. You’re staring off into space while your thoughts just race.

“Hey, I love you and all but my legs are seriously starting to cramp.” She says, breaking the silence. You chuckle softly, being broken out of your haze. “Sorry,” you mumble, pulling yourself to your feet slowly.

“You go get dressed, I’m going to make you a cup of coffee.”

“You don-” “Ah ah ah, go.” She says, turning your shoulders in the direction of your bedroom. “No objections.” You make your way down the short hallway. Silently thanking yourself for not taking every single article of clothing with you when you moved in with Jackson.

Settling on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, you make your way back to Carly.

“Now, we don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to,” she says, holding a mug out to you across the island, “but you know I'm here to listen whenever you’re ready.”

You grab the mug from her grasp, and look down into it. “Am I too rough?” You asked timidly, not looking up.

“I'm sorry, what? Too rough? What makes you think that?” She questions, head tilted to the side, You give her a look that can only be summarized as “what do YOU think?”

“Did he seriously say that?”

“Mm, amongst other things.” You say, taking a sip of your coffee. “Apparently I need to be more obedient.”

“I swear I’ll kill him.” Her fist slammed down on the countertop, making you jump.

“He’s not worth it.” She reaches out, placing her hands over yours. “No, but you are.” You offer a smile at that. Though it doesn’t quite reach your eyes. “Well, do you want to talk about it?”

You nod. “Yeah. I just.. need to mull over it in my head first.”

“How about I order us some of your favorite take out, pick up a bottle of our favorite wine, and we can have a night on the couch like we used to? Watch some terrible rom coms?”

“That sounds.. Wonderful, Carls. Thank you.”

“Course. What are best friends for? Now, you go get us a sweet treat from downstairs and pick us our first awful movie. I’ll be back in 20.” She says, placing a friendly kiss atop your head and ruffling your hair on the way out.

After Carly’s return, you both promptly made home on the couch you’d spent most of your college nights together. She listened to your recount of what happened.. More threats to Jackson’s life were made.. Of course you quickly reeled her back in with the wine bottle. Promises to be there for whatever you needed were made, not that it needed to be said. She made a wonderful distraction for you for the rest of the night.

But night turns into day and unfortunately, life moves on. Whether we’re ready to or not.

Carly makes sure you have your morning coffee before she has to make her way to her “big girl job” as she puts it. But I guess anyone with the privilege of working for the biggest sports magazine would make anyone feel a little intimidated by their job.

You begrudgingly make your way downstairs a little before your opening time and started setting all of your tools you’d need for the day. Going about your daily morning routine, trying not to let the gnawing feelings in the back of your head bother you as you help your few regular morning customers. Your favorite was probably Henry; a little old widow who always buys a peanut butter cookie to share with his very friendly pitbull, Rocco. He says peanut butter cookies used to be his wife's favorite, so he eats one every day to feel close to her. That story nearly ruined your day when he told you, but he immediately scolded you for crying. “Now, none of that. Life happens, dear. Pain is only temporary if you let it be.” His words didn’t seem to help you much right now, but you know he’d be scolding you for letting this affect you this way.

“Good morning, Mr. Henry. Rocco. How are we today?” You ask, reaching down to scratch behind Rocco’s ears.

“Oh, just peachy dear. Rocco had his yearly visit this morning and is in need of his reward.”

“Well, it’s not much of a reward when he gets one every day, Mr. Henry now is it?” Raising your eyebrow at the gentleman as you wash your hands.

“Ah, there she is. Good morning to you too.” He chuckles. How are you doing today, dear?”

“I gotta be honest with you, Mr. Henry.. It’s a rough day. Probably going to be a few rough days. But I know I’ll manage just fine. Especially if seeing you and Rocco is something I have to look forward to.”

“But won’t you be closed tomorrow? For the championship game?” He questions, handing you the cash for his payment.

Your heart sinks at the thought.

Crap.

"People will wonder why I'm not there and it’s going to start spreading. Everyone is going to know what happened. Or at least Jackson’s version of what happened. Maybe I should make a post letting people know. No. They won’t care. Who am I kidding of course they will. They all act like high schoolers. Am I going to be posted all over social media? How is he going to spin this? Or will it go quietly? Knowing Jackson, he’ll demand a press relea-"

“Y/N? You alright?” Henry’s worried voice snaps you out of your steady spiral.

“Yeah, sorry.” You sniffle. The back of your hand coming up to wipe the tears that had escaped. “Um, no. I’ll be open tomorrow. I won’t be at the game. Or any games for that matter. Jackson and I aren’t together anymore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, honey.” He reaches out and tucks a strand of your hair behind your ear.

“It’s okay, Mr. Henry. You don’t have to lie, I know you hated him too.” You push out a strained laugh.

“Well, yeah. He inhibited my ability to buy cookies on some sundays. And he was no good for you. But I'll spare you that lecture for now. I can see you’re upset.”

“I probably need to hear it, to be honest.” You say.

“One day, maybe. But you do your best to get through the day.” Picking his cookie box up from the counter he continues, “Fix your face though. No more tears. You have cookies to sell.”

You chuckle. “You got it, Mr. Henry. See you tomorrow?”

“Of course, dear. Have a great rest of your day. See you tomorrow, let’s go Rocco.” He says before he’s out the door, pitbull in tow.

You take the opportunity to duck into the bathroom to splash some cold water on your face and bring yourself back down. Looking at yourself in the mirror, you force yourself to smile and wipe the excess water off. “Pain is only temporary if you let it be.” You say to yourself, making your way out of the bathroom.

Spinning the cake on the lazy susan once it was done being decorated was always your favorite part. Seeing all of your work just perfectly pieced together, every flower laid perfectly, every swirl placed intentionally. Cake decorating was your main passion, but you picked up everything else along the way. Baking and decorating ran in the family after all. Your grandmother bought you your first cake kit, your first big kitchen aid mixer, got you your first cake decorating job at 15, etc. She really helped you form the love that you have for the craft now. Before she passed away when you were 18, she would bring you to this very bakery nearly every weekend to see the different cakes in the case. You owed your love for the craft to her, and you try to show your appreciation to her every day in your work. Always learning new techniques and trying new ideas. Your current obsession was learning this new palette knife technique where you quite literally paint the flowers on the cake with a palette knife. It’s turning out to be quite tricky, but Nana didn't raise no quitter!

You’re boxing up your last order of the day, back facing the door. The little bell sounds, “Hello! Welcome. I’ll be with you in just one moment!” You say, closing the last bit of the box down.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Love.”

Wait. That voice. That nickname.

Placing the box in the order cooler, you finally turned to the counter, taking in the man before you. You being shocked is an understatement, The man you face planted into yesterday was standing in your bakery.. Waiting for you to speak.

Speak, Y/N, Speak.

“H-hello. Can I help you? You manage to get out.

“Well, what’s good?” He asks.

Weird.

He’s not going to bring up yesterday?

You scoff. “I’m the owner. So it’s all good. But I might be a little biased.” You say, wiping your hands on your apron. “But my cupcakes are my best sellers.”

“I see that, your case looks well picked over.” He says, walking over to the display on his right. “Do you have a favorite?”

“Mm, probably the red velvet. They’re my number one. Chocolate peanut butter is my close second.”

“Everything is homemade?” He inquires with a raised brow, and a smirk of course.

“What do you think?” You challenge. Seriously, what is your problem, y/n?

“I’ll take one of each then.” He says with a smile, walking back to the counter.

“Coming right up.” Boxing them up carefully, you set them on the counter. You tap a few buttons on your register and give him his total. He hands you his sleek black credit card, making you internally scoff and roll your eyes.

“Thank you for stopping in. Have a great rest of your day,” You say, turning away from the counter.

“You don’t remember me?” You hear from behind you. You can almost hear the smirk on his face.

“Oh I do, but if I'm being honest, I just don’t really care that much. Have a great day, Harry.” You say, rounding the corner into the back room.

You hear the little bell sound again, signaling he left.

“Why are you like this?” you say to yourself.

The following few weeks were a blur. Nothing major came of you not making an appearance at the championship game. A few comments made on social media, but nothing you couldn’t handle. Just block and delete.

Henry and Rocco made sure they made their daily stop to see you of a morning. Henry even brought you a coffee from that shop down the street a few times.

Carly stopped by every day during her lunch break to check on you.

“You know you don’t have to babysit me, right?

“I know, but how else will I get my daily cupcake?” She laughs, peeling the paper off the bottom of said cupcake.

Someone else was also making a daily stop, much to your dismay.

You and Carly were sitting at the little table with two chairs you have by the big shop window, just chatting about each other's day when the doorbell chimes, pulling your attention from the conversation.

Looking towards the door, you immediately roll your eyes. “Just, give me a minute.” You grumble to Carly before taking your spot behind the counter.

“Hi, how can I help you?” Emerald eyes bore into yours as you spoke.

“Good afternoon, Love.” He smiles warmly at you, “I’ll take the same as yesterday. Seems those were a hit for my friend Ryan out there.” Glancing over his shoulder you see Ryan standing outside the door.

“He can come in too, ya know.” you say, boxing up his order. “And I thought I told you to stop calling me that.” you huff, smirking as you set the box in front of him.

“Mm, well, until you tell me your actual name, i’ve got nothing else to call you.” He says, handing you that same sleek black card. “Plus, if he comes in I can't have all your attention on me.”

“I’m wearing a name-tag, Harry.” You roll your eyes. “Bring Ryan in next time. I could use a break from you.” You smirk, handing him his card back.

“Reading your name-tag is different than you telling me your name, love.” He chuckles at you rolling your eyes again. “Ryan stays outside until I hear it come from you.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Harry.” “Must be why I’m so successful. I always get what I want.” He states matter of factly.

“Mm, and is that all you want?” You muse, raising a brow at him.

“On the contrary. There’s a plethora of things I want, but we can start with your name.” He smiles warmly at you.

Your breath hitches at his words. “It's Y/N.” You breathe out, his grin grows ten times in size.

“It’s lovely to officially meet you. See you tomorrow, Y/N.” He states, picking up his box and making his way out to Ryan.

“What. The hell. Was that?” Carly muses from her spot at the table. You almost forgot she was here.

“That was Harry. He stops in every day. A right pain in my ass.” You say, plopping down in your chair.

“That didn’t seem like he’s a pain in your ass.” She starts, “Could cut that sexual tension with a knife!” she squeals. “Who is he?!”

“I have no idea. I quite literally ran into him a few weeks ago, and he’s been coming in here every day ever since. He’s a massive flirt as well. But I’m not interested.”

“It didn’t quite seem like you weren’t interested. You were hanging on every word he was saying.” “I was wishing he would leave.”

“Whatever you say, Y/N. He’s into you. I can tell.” “Maybe so, but I'm seriously not interested. I’m good with being by myself for now. It’s barely been three months, Carls.” “I know. You’ll make that jump when you’re ready.” I’ll never be ready. “Where did you say you met him? He looks so familiar.”

“Uh, I actually met him for the first time at the stadium. After all that happened with Jackson.”

“Does he work there?”

“No idea, babe. I ran into him right near the parking lot. I don’t even know if he was coming or going.”

“And then he just showed up here the next day? Kinda weird.”

“I agree. It could just be a coincidence. My business does have a pretty good reputation.. If I do say so myself. but it makes my brain hurt trying to think about it.”

“Agreed. But be careful. I still don’t like that you’re here alone all day.”

“Ah, but Jesse is returning from school in a few days so I will have my help back.”

“Oh good! I liked him.” She stated, standing from her seat. “Well babe, I have got to get back to the office. I have a few articles to finish and send off before the end of the day. Same time tomorrow?”

“Of course. See you tomorrow. Love you long time!”

“Love you more!” She says, making her way to the exit.

About another week had passed, and it’d been the same old same old. Jesse, your seasonal help, returned from school for summer break a few days ago so you haven’t been as lonely throughout the day. He was thrilled when he found out that you and Jackson were no longer a couple.

“Good, there are so many other better players out there that you could shack up with.”

“Jesse! Stop it right now.” You exclaimed, unable to contain your laughter. “Don’t make me mess up this cake.”

“I’m serious, Y/N! There are so many quarterbacks out there that don’t get sacked 12 times in a game. Or we could branch out to other positions on the team. What about a tight end? Or a linebacker if you like them bigger.”

“Oh my god, Jesse!” You cackle. “I don’t need you to play football match maker for me. I’m done with all of that.” You chuckle, setting your bag of icing down on the counter.

The doorbell chimes, breaking both of you out of your fits of giggles, and Jesse made his way up front.

“Good morning, how can I help you?” You hear Jesse ask.

“Oh, good morning. Is Y/N here?” That voice only belongs to one person. He’s early.

“Yeah, she’s actually finishing up an order. I’ll let her know you’re here. What’s your name?”

“Harry.’

“Got it man, be right back.” He says before disappearing around the corner where you stood. “Hey, there’s a guy named Harry out here for you?”

“Oh. Yeah, give me just a minute. Or you know what, can you finish this? Just needs a leaf here and here, and then it goes in its box in the cooler.”

“You trust me to finish a cake?” His eyes widened.

“It’s a few leaves, Jesse, not a rose. Just don’t fuck it up, and you won’t die. Simple as that, really.”

“Oh yeah, simple.”

“I have faith in you.” You say, rounding the corner. “And how can I help you today, Harry? You’re quite early.”

“Good morning to you too, Love.” “Harry, I’ve told you to stop calling me that. You know my name now,”

“I know, but I enjoy watching the lightning spark in your eyes when I call you Love.” He smirks at you.

Your cheeks flash a light pink. “What can I do for you today, Harry?” You mutter out.

“I’ll take one dozen of the red velvet.”

“Ooh, big spender. You’re gonna clear me out of my red velvet for the day. Do you and Ryan have a big sweet tooth today?” You joke, placing the cupcakes into their respective box.

“Not quite, I have a meeting and I promised a treat from this bakery I discovered a few weeks ago. Haven’t shut up about it. I never shut up about the owner either. She’s awfully pretty.”

“You’ve gotten quite bold, Harry.” You muse, sliding his order across the counter.

The doorbell dings again, pulling your attention from the man in front of you.

“Good morning, Mr. Henry, Rocco. I’ll be with you in just a minute.” As the words were leaving your mouth, Jesse emerged from the back room.

“I can take you over here, Mr. Henry.” Jesse claims, leading him to the other side of the case. Before following him, Mr. Henry sets a coffee cup down on your counter,

“Here you are, dear. Thought you could use that today.” Mr. Henry smiles at you.

“Thank you, Mr. Henry. You don’t have to keep doing that.” You scold.

“I can do whatever I want, thank you.” He smiles, taking his stand down with Jesse

Turning your attention back to Harry, you give him his total.

“That doesn't sound right. Shouldn’t it be more?” He questions.

“Mm, nope. I give a discount when you buy twelve at a time.” You say, handing him his card back. “Is there anything else I can do for you today, Harry?”

“I can think of a few things, but we have an audience. Naughty girl.” His words make you go red in the face, nevermind the pink tinge from before.

“You are insufferable. Have a great meeting.” You say, stepping away from the counter.

“See you tomorrow, Love.” He says before promptly heading outside.

You don't even realize you're smiling.

“Well now I have got just about a million questions.” Jesse’s voice startles you on your left.

“I second that,” Mr. Henry says. “Now what is it you kids say these days? Oh right. Spill.”

“Yeah, what he said. Spill, Y/N.” Jesse said, backing up the elderly man.

“Both of you are terrible. There’s nothing to spill.” You say, turning to wipe off the counter.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Jesse says.

“I know you might not be able to tell, but I was not born yesterday, dear. I know something when I see it. Now just who was he?” Mr. Henry quips out.

You chuckle. “I promise, he’s nobody. He’s been coming in here every day. He’s got a little crush on me, I will admit that, but I’m not looking for anything right now. Jackson still has me all messed up in the head.”

“Okay, but they say the fastest way to get over a guy is to get under a new one!” Jesse exclaims, “You never know what you’re miss- OKAY OW.” He says when you snap him with a towel.

“Now, I wouldn't listen to Mr. Horn dog over here, but maybe someone new is what you need, dear.”

“I hear you, Mr. Henry, I’m just not ready for that just yet. I appreciate both of your concerns though. Have a great day, Mr. Henry. Rocco.” You say with a smile that doesn't quite reach your eyes. “Jesse, I’m going to step out for a minute. I’ll be right back.” You disappear up the staircase to your apartment.

“Maybe we overstepped.” Jesse says to Mr. Henry.

“Perhaps, but maybe she needs someone to push her to that step.”

“I think I’ll take a step back from that. I don’t want to lose my job. She’ll get back out there when she’s ready.”

“I suppose you’re right. Have a good day, Jesse. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good one, Mr. Henry.”

Mr. Henry and Rocco make their way outside, settling on a bench right down the street from your shop.

“Mr. Henry, was it?”

“Who’s asking?” He responds, looking up at the person in question.

“Names Harry. Harry Styles. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.” Harry asks, extending his hand.

“Mm, is this about the owner of that bakery down there?” Mr. Henry inquires.

“Would it be a problem if it was?”

Mr. Henry laughs, and takes Harry’s hand in his, giving him a firm shake. “What can I do for you, son?

thank you for reading! please like &/or reblog if you enjoyed <3

taglist: @stylesfever @olipoli21 @hermionelove @st-ev-ie

#harry styles #harry x reader #harry styles fanfiction #harry imagine #harry styles fluff #harry styles x reader #harry edward styles #mdni banner & dividers both by @/cafekitsune

261 notes · View notes

ranhaitanisgf · 4 months

Note

Congrats on 5k! For the event may I request fluff hcs for "Cafe love" & "sneaking out to go on a date" with Mikey please? Maybe with Mikey crushing on a classmate that works at her family's cafe that he frequents? Thank you!

—manjiro [mikey] sano // cafe love // sneaking out to go on a date

☆ ˎˊ˗ me when i didnt read the req fully and wrote a scenario instead of hcs. erm . my bad yall ..... i hope you will enjoy anyways ! i thought this idea was super cuteeee :D have a nice day everyone xoxo

☆ ˎˊ˗ gn!reader

☆ ˎˊ˗ wc ; 1.3k+

masterlist || 2k masterlist

your shifts have been quite amusing as of late.

every evening after school, you go to work at your family’s cafe. it wasn’t because it was doing badly; quite the opposite, actually. business had been booming as of late, and you couldn’t be more happy! it was pretty nice that you didn’t have to commute at all, and you were instantly hired, so it was easy money.

in the last couple of months however, you’d noticed that you had quite the frequent regular.

a boy from your class; manjiro sano. everybody calls him mikey, (you’re not exactly sure why) and you haven't spoken a single word to him in your life outside of taking his order every time he comes in. he would usually come in with friends, though the frequent one was a very tall boy with a dragon tattoo, (you couldn’t tell if he was your age or thirty years old). there were other times he would come in by himself, and neither of you every spoke outside of the typical ordering conversation.

despite this fact, you always looked forward to seeing him come in. of course, you already knew all the rumors about him, but they never really crossed your mind. in your own mind, you just saw him as the cute boy who frequents your family’s cafe, which was enough for you to slowly develop a bit of a crush on him.

it wasn’t like you were in love with him or anything; you were just interested in learning more about him. you could never quite find the chance to talk to him though, which left you to just look forward to taking his order, which was more or less the same kind of interaction every single day. you would’ve gone to talk to him in school, but it was a rare occasion for him to actually show up, which made it even harder.

well, you guess he’s pretty cute, too.

but that’s aside from the point!

the bell for the front door rung, the sound pulling you from your thoughts. you quickly finished cleaning up the counter and went to the register, smiling a bit too wide when you saw a familiar face.

“hi, welcome! how can i help you?” you asked. your smile changed to a more polite, customer service type of smile when you realized that mikey was with a big group of his friends, the boys all snickering behind him as he tried, (and failed) to hush them.

“hi! uh, can i get the kids meal combo, and…” mikey looked down to you from the menu posted on the wall above you, a bit of a questioning look on his face. “...what’s your favorite kind of cake here?” he asked, caching you a bit off guard.

“my favorite? uhh…probably the strawberry chiffon cake!”

“okay, and one of that!” you asked, a smile on his face, (you weren’t sure why he suddenly asked that, but his smile almost distracted you from doing your job).

“alright! anything else?” mikey shook his head, but stepped aside so that the rest of his friends could order their food. you weren’t sure that you’d ever seen him with such a big group of people, and you weren’t sure if you were just imagining things, but…

…were they all staring at you in a strange way?

of course, you didn’t say anything, but you could’ve sworn that they all were watching you strangely closely, the same knowing smile on all of their faces.

it was probably just your imagination.

when they were finished, they all left to sit down, which then left you to get to work preparing all of their food. you were hoping that they would be a bit patient, given the fact that your coworker for this shift had gone on a lunch break, leaving you to fulfill the order by yourself.

you finished their food orders rather quickly, leaving you a bit shocked and proud of your accomplishment. when you called out the name for their order, the boys all came up to the counter and grabbed their respective meals, politely thanking you and going back to sit down, (why were they still looking at you like that?).

the last person to grab his order was mikey, who seemed a bit nervous as he came to pick up his food. his fingers were fiddling with a piece of his hair and he seemed to be mumbling something to himself, and you noticed in the back that all of his friends were staring his way, (very obviously).

“here is your order! please enjoy!” you said, holding his tray out to him. he grabbed it, freezing for a moment as he seemed to be thinking very intensely about something. suddenly, he took the slice of cake off of his tray, sliding it to you.

“this…is for you. ‘cause you said it’s your favorite.” he mumbled, his cheeks a pink color as he avoided your gaze. “and! uh…would you want to…go out with me? after you finish working?” he asked, his eyes finally meeting yours.

you stared at him in surprise for a moment, your eyes moving to look at the cake for a moment before looking back at him.

“yes! i’ve actually…ahh, so embarrassing!! i’ve been wanting to talk to you, but i never found the right moment…” you admitted, playing with your fingers out of nervousness.

mikey was about to say something, but he was cut off by the door opening behind you, your coworker coming back in from their lunch break. before either of them could say anything, you spoke, gesturing your coworker to come near you for a moment.

“hey, do you think you could handle the rest? i don’t think there will be much people after this.” you started to lose hope when you saw their questioning expression. “please! just do me this favor once and i’ll do all the closings for the next month!” when your coworker agreed, you felt relief and excitement, turning back to mikey.

“let’s go right now!! i know you didn’t eat your food, but my parents will probably tell me to get back to work if they notice i’m not working-oh!” you turned back to your coworker. “by the way, don’t tell my parents, okay? i’ll owe you one!!”

you turned back to mikey, who was staring at you with wide eyes and his jaw hanging open. your heart pounded in anticipation, wondering if you were maybe going too fast.

“i mean, uh, it doesn’t have to be-”

“let’s go!!” he interrupted, a sparkle in his eyes. “right now, before anyone notices!” he laughed, looking back to his friends with a thumbs-up. at the hand sign, his friends whooped with joy, all of them congratulating mikey from their table.

“o-okay! let’s go!” you said, coming out from behind the counter. without a moment to spare, mikey grabbed your arm, looping it around his own as he rushed you to the exit of the store, escaping his friends' sudden questions as they tried to follow.

“hey, are you good with motorbikes?” he suddenly asked.

“uh, i don’t know, i’ve never ridden on one?” mikey looked at you with a mischievous smile on his face, taking a helmet from one of the (many) motorbikes parked outside. he placed it on your head, sitting himself in the front seat of one of the motorbikes, patting the seat behind him.

“you wanna try?”

“uhh…” looking to the side, you noticed your parents behind the counter of the cafe, watching you in shock through the window. you panicked, immediately getting on the back of his motorbike, tightly gripping the edges of the seat. “okay! let’s get out of here!”

the engine roared to life and mikey put his hands on the handles, revving the bike a bit before taking off, leaving the cafe in the dust.

you were gonna be so dead when you got home.

222 notes · View notes

cheesus-doodles · 4 months

Note

Hi hi I wanted to request some kakucho. Poor kaku he’s so sweet but also secretly deranged. Imagine like petting his hair and then turning around and suddenly this man is dagger glaring at everyone like mine! People telling you he’s scary and you’re like kaku? No I think you’re mistaken..like you could do anything to him like put bows in his hair and he’s like :D but the moment you leave he’s like :l

awww yes I support this! Kaku needs love on this blog as well imo, hashed out an entire BFF Kakucho here by accident so hope you enjoy anon!

also mini update, going home will be out next week! cross my heart

Masterlist

‎‎‎

I would say to me Kakucho comes off as someone who needs to be given a reason in order to function in life. In canon, this purpose would be given to him by Izana, which would be to serve him as a king, but when Izana leaves the orphanage to go with Shinichiro and then to run the Black Dragons, Kakucho is once more left without a purpose.

It wouldn't seem like a big deal at first, but slowly as the months drag on, this boy would find himself simply drifting through life, pretty much detached from the ongoings around him - there's nothing for him to really focus on besides physical training now that Izana was busy without him, and Kakucho himself doesn't have any particular goals that he is chasing except to server Izana. Of course, this all changes when he meets you.

You are no doubt a very headstrong person, someone who has no qualms doing whatever you like whenever you like, and would not back down on things that you believe in. And you also treated this boy to a lunch after he helped you beat up a bunch of bullies even though you didn't need the help, because you appreciated it anyway. Kakucho isn't a very trusting person to begin with because of his difficult childhood, but you definitely managed to sway his first opinion of you with that simple act of nothing asking for more.

Very selective with how much information he shares about himself, and you were the same, though you did manage to dig out that Kakucho didn't really have anyone else to spend time with, and so you invited him to hang out with you if he was up for it, saying that he was welcome to join your friend group for study sessions. On the other side of being so stubborn, what Kakucho saw was that you were also just an average student with an average number of friends, and leading a very normal life. You were kind yet stubborn, loved your friends and loved hanging out, and when Kakucho did hesitantly take up your offer for the first time, he fell head over heel for the chance at leading a very normal life, a chance to forget the harsh past he came from.

It helps that the more time he spent with you, the more he felt that he had a new purpose, a new person to serve, especially given how stubborn you were, and there he started his slip into yandere tendencies - you were, after all, the one that gave him another chance at life, a chance to be normal. And Kakucho would cling to that with the same vigour with which he would later cling to Izana. Extremely, extremely loyal, you can always count on this boy being there for whatever you need no matter the time of day. Starts slowly with offering to run and grab coffee for you "on his way" to a study session, and then would turn up outside your house to walk you to school, which would quickly turn into Kakucho offering to do any of your house chores.

All the while he slowly increases the pressure on your friend group to leave you alone, increasingly isolating you from everyone else so that he could keep you to himself. You only needed him after all, you didn't need anyone else - and you needed to focus on him so that he could serve you wholeheartedly. Would absolutely allow you to do anything to him without complaint, and yes, that includes putting bows even though he barely keeps any hair. You wanna hold his hand, sure! You want to dance with him in public, say no more. Want him to run to the other side of town to buy you a slice of cake at the break of dawn because it always runs out? Do you even need to ask?

Once he starts actively trying to keep you and your friends apart is when he starts to dagger glare everyone else around you, but that is as much as he would do when you are present. Because a servant deals with his royalty's issues silently and out of sight. Still a sweet boy at heart, he wouldn't throw hands except when he deems it absolutely necessary - in his mind, he doesn't want to keep you from your friends, no way. He craves the normality that you lent him with your presence and your way of life, but these people aren't your friends. All they do is sabotage you, drag you down, keep you from shining.

He would find you better friends.

Pleases Kakucho greatly that when Izana finally returned to him, and he found that you were indeed compatible and could exist side by side with his king with little conflict. He could serve two royals at the same time of course, but it would be so much easier if the two of you didn't overlap and cross each other - he didn't want to have to pick sides. Would introduce you to the rest of Tenjiku the moment he thinks its safe enough because these people are much better friends than those so-called scum from your school.

No lie, the day you first introduce him as your BFF, I think Kakucho would just melt away from happiness. Izana would be extremely amused.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #yandere tokyo revengers #yandere tokyo revengers x reader #tokyorev x reader #tokyorev #tokyorev x you #kurokawa izana #kurokawa izana x reader #izana x reader #tokyo rev x reader #kakucho #kakucho x reader #kakucho hitto #kakucho x you #yandere kakucho #yandere kakucho x reader

326 notes · View notes

millenialfanfictionaddiction · 1 year

Note

I love your writing so much and you seem to always brighten my day! So, I just wanted to ask if I can, could you do a chubby manager where she gets bullied because of it and the teams stand up for her and help her. I have been having bad mental health days and this will really help me. But of course if you don't want to it's totally okay. Just asking for consideration! (If you do pick this can you do Karasuno, and Shoji and if you do one that's totally okay 👍) ☺️♥️

Hi there! So my full headcanon requests are currently closed BUT this request definitely hits home for me. I’ve always been tall and chubby and use to get bullied constantly for both. I’m really sorry you are struggling mentally and I hope this can bring you a little smile 😊

I’m going to put it below the cut because it might be triggering to some

TW: Bullying, fat shaming

Being Karasuno’s Manager:

Miss Manager gets bullied

for her Weight

Karasuno (guest appearance by Seijoh, Shiratorizawa and Date Tech) x fem! Reader (she/her)

Warnings: swearing, fat shaming, bullying, reader cries, threatening words, Tanaka thinking he’s a bad ass, Tsukishima taking care of it 💅

First off, Karasuno is B L E S S E D

Come on, 3 managers???

Ugh say less!

Hinata now thinks they are a super powerhouse

Suga says that’s not a real thing

Kageyama kicks Hinata for saying something so stupid 🙄

Anyways, you are a first year like Yachi

Actually Yachi dragged you into this because she was nervous

She had told you about this hot girl who had approached her and asked her to be the boys volleyball manager

You were a bit nervous to say the least

It wasn’t necessarily because your were athletic or didn’t know anything about volleyball

But, in the past, you’d been bullied about your size

And of course, these guys were athletes and they would be fit

To your surprise, however, they said nothing about your weight

Heck they didn’t even seem to notice you were plus sized

Literally all you had to do was breathe YN and these boys would faint 😂

Karasuno treats all their managers like queens and is super protective

They adored you, Yachi and Kiyoko so much and appreciated everything you did for them

You threw them a towel? Eternally grateful 🙌🏻

Filled their water bottle? Excessive thank you’s

Took detailed notes? Framed them and read them everyday

Literally it would be hard to find a more thankful team!

However, not everyone was as nice as Karasuno

You’d faced bullies in middle school and high school

Thankfully most of the people at your high school were pretty decent and nice

But when tournaments came around 👀

Well let’s just say not everyone extended a warm welcome

It was inter high and you were tasked with filling up the water bottles

Honestly, it was your favorite task because you didn’t have to deal with Hinata and Kageyama fighting or Noya and Tanaka peacocking in front of the other team 🙄

As you filled the bottles, you noticed a group of guys gathering behind you

You thought nothing of it, thinking that maybe they were waiting for the water fountain

After you finished, you moved out of the way, turning to smile at them

“You can have the water fountain now! Sorry I was filling up my teams bottles!”

The guys all stared at you with disgust on their faces before one spoke up

“There was no way we could get to the fountain anyways with you taking up that much space.”

The guys all burst in laughter as you watched them

At first, you didn’t think it was due to your size and maybe you were just in the middle of both fountains

“Oh I’m sorry. I would have moved over for you.”

The guys all just laughed as another one spoke

“Not like we’d have any space with your fat ass taking up both fountains!”

Hearing this worlds, your heart instantly sank

But those idiots weren’t done 😑

Because if there’s anything we know about bullies, it’s that they do so to make themselves feel better

And these dummies must have really been feeling like shit…

“Honestly I didn’t even know there were two fountains behind her she’s so big!”

“Damn she’s like a walking billboard for Karasuno!”

The guys laughed as tears began to fill your eyes and your lip began to quiver

These guys were jerks who were hitting every one of your insecurities

And worst of all, you were frozen as the tears began to fall

“Awe did we make the baby hippo cry?” One of the laughed

You tried your hardest to move but you were frozen, unable to run from the bullies

However 👀👀 as luck would have it, you weren’t alone

Because Yachi had been sent to help you

And she saw the entire exchange 😌

She quickly turned, running back to the gym to grab the guys

Kiyoko saw Yachi frantically running and asked her what happened. Panting, Yachi recalled the events

Instantly the atmosphere in the gym changed

Without saying a word, Daichi, Noya and Tanaka took off

The rest of the team following quickly behind

Even Tsukishima was moving quickly 😱

When they say you, still standing there and crying

Oh boy : D

I would not want to be those bullies right about now

Kiyoko and Yachi ran to you and hugged you

“Are you ok Yn?” Kiyoko asked as you shook your head and cried harder

Oof- someone prepare the burial grounds because it’s about to go D O W N

Daichi walked right up to them and got in their face, Suga, Tanaka and Noya right on his heels

“What the hell did you just say to our manager?” Daichi boomed as your head shot up to see the team right in front of you

“What us? Nothing we were just waiting for the water fountain,” one of the jerks said as Suga glared at them

“That’s not what we heard you were doing,” Suga spoke as Tanaka and Noya began to crack their knuckles

By this time, a crowd was starting to gather

Seijoh, Shiratorizawa, Date tech…

The whole gangs here!

And let me just say, they do not look happy

“We heard you said something to our BEAUTIFUL Manager. Mind repeating that…” Tanaka said, cracking his neck from side to side

The guys faces began to pale as Karasuno’s eyes burned with anger

You didn’t want anyone to fight because you knew that they could get kicked out of the tournament

“Guys hey it’s ok, let’s just go,” you said, wiping your eye as Kiyoko and Yachi grabbed your arm

“I think we need to teach these jerks a lesson!” Noya snarled

Nobody was going to stop this

Literally Kunimi was filming because he knew Karasuno was not to be messed with

Heck even Oikawa and Iwaizumi were ready to back Karasuno up!

And because jerks don’t know how to keep their mouths shut, they continued to fan the flames

“Come on guys, she’s huge! How can we not comment on that? I mean I felt the floors move when she walked here!” One of them chuckled

Wrong thing to say bestie

“Let’s take this outside!” Tanaka said, grabbing the jerk by the collar and pulling him towards the exit

The other bullies tried to intervene but were stopped by the wall of Date Tech

“Yeah you ain’t going nowhere,” Futakuchi smirked as Aone glared at the boys

The bullies rn 👉🏻👁️👄👁️

“Hey man let me go! Listen I’m sorry ok!” The one being dragged by Tanaka cried

You didn’t want anyone to get hurt or expelled from the tournament because of you

You stood tall, wiping your eyes as you left Kiyoko and Yachi’s side

“YN wait!” Yachi yelled as you approached Tanaka and the bully

“Tanaka please don’t! I don’t want you to get hurt or kicked out! Karasuno has worked too hard for this,” you spoke as Tanaka looked from you to the bully

He shoved the bully to the ground as he glared down at him

“You’re lucky city boy!”

You breathed a sigh of relief as Tanaka walked away, grabbing your hand

Unfortunately the bully and his now broken ego weren’t don’t 🙄

“I knew Karasuno was a bunch of wimps!”

Daichi, Noya and Tanaka turned around and were ready

“Let’s go city boy! Two hits, I hit you, you hit the ground!” Tanaka shouted

Before you could stop them, they tore down fr towards the boy

Your eyes widened in shock as you prepared for a fight

But thankfully, an Angel shined down from the heavens

An Angel in the form of one tall, rather salty first year

The king of comebacks, Tsukishima 💅

“A bunch of wimps? You’re the one picking on a girl who was filling up water bottles for her team,” Tsukishima spat as Daichi, Noya and Tanaka halted

Everyone turned to look at Tsukishima who had now walked over to the boy and was looking over him

“Where is your manager? Oh wait, you don’t even have one do you? Jealous much? Or maybe it’s because your pathetic asses can’t find any girls who are even remotely interested in being your managers.”

The bully glared up at Tsukishima was was now smirking

“Werent you that team who couldn’t even make it past the first round last time? Yeah that’s right you got your asses handed to you in straight sets.”

“Yeah well at least our team doesn’t isn’t known as being fallen champions!” The bully spat back as Tsukishima laughed, bending over and making eye contact with the jerk

“At least people know who we are, nobody even knows your name.”

“Yeah well-”

“And now that everyone does know who you are, I think they all want to crush you,” Suga added as the boy gulped, looking around at everyone who was glaring at him

“Gee I wonder who your first opponent is?” Oikawa interjected

“That would be us,” Ushiwaka said, arms crossed and glaring at the man

“Oh I’d hate to be your right now!” Tendo laughed, coming from behind Ushiwaka

The boy got to his feet as Tsukishima continued to smirk, everyone still staring at him

“Come on man let’s get out of here,” one of his teammates said

The bully just scoffed before turning around and walking away

Everyone watched as they left for their gym before turning to you

“Are you ok Yn?” Asahi asked as you nodded

“I’ll be ok thank you but you guys didn’t have to do that,” you softly spoke

“No way we were going to sit back and let someone say those things YN!” Hinata shouted

“Yeah that’s why we turned Tsuki lose on his ass!” Yamaguchi smiled

“Shut up Tadashi,” Tsuki said as he began walking back the gym

“Sorry you had to deal with that Yn. If you ever need help, don’t be afraid to ask,” Iwaizumi stepped up

“We are perfectly capable of protecting our manager but thanks,” Daichi growled

“Ok enough of that, let’s go,” Suga said, pushing Daichi back to the gym

Kiyoko took your hand and began to walk away when Ushiwaka stepped in your way

“I will crush them for you Yn,” he said, voice monotone and face passive

You just smiled wide before hugging him

Ushijima 👉🏻😐🫂

Everyone else 👉🏻😳😱

“What the hell Yn where is my hug? I was ready to mess up my spiking hand for you!” Tanaka cries as Ennoshita smacked him

You rolled your eyes before hugging the winged spiker

Tanaka, acting like he’s never been hugged by a girl before 👉🏻👁️💧👄💧👁️

“I WANT A HUG TOO YN!”

“ME TOO!”

“YN look what you started!” Daichi yelled as a line had now formed in front of you, all the guys wanting a hug

Don’t worry YN, he could never be mad at you for long 🥰

554 notes · View notes

walliedarling · 1 year

Note

Heya there!! I was wondering how you think the crew would react to the reader being able to speak a different language or pronounce certain things differently (accent and stuff)! I'd imagine they'd notice it at first and not seem bothered by it, but after some time they do ask and they learn! (I'd imagine along with them trying to figure out what's "inside" the reader, since they're a human, they'll also try and figure out *why* is it something that you can do in the first place, and might need some time to wrap their head around it once the reader tried to explain it to them the best they could. One thing I imagine is that eventually they'll ask the reader what a tree is called, or what an apple is called, or how you greet someone, etc etc. Just something that came to mind and wanted to tell, hoping that it would be fun to try. Sorry for the long message tho and apologies if it was already written about ^^')

-Sincerely,

Someone Who Has English As Their Second Language.

As someone who Also has English as their second language, I'm happy to write for this :D!

I like to think that the cast of Welcome Home might already know multiple languages! Though it would depend on the popularity of the show, as it's related to which languages the series has been dubbed in. They typically all speak English to each other, as this is their 'original' language, but if you spoke one of the languages they unconsciously know, they'll switch to it without noticing! They don't really register themselves speaking any differently, until you might point it out.

They wouldn't point out your accent. In the neighbours' eyes, everyone is special and unique, you already a little more so than the rest of them, and that way of speaking is just Yours! They accept it completely. It's a bit difficult for them to grasp the idea of people being unable to understand what each other are saying, because they've never encountered such a thing before. Though speaking your native tongue then will be a quick demonstration.

They all pick up little bits and pieces here and there, but some are more interested than others.

Eddie is the one who most quickly grasps the idea of different languages. He's delivered to all sorts of places, and they've spoken in different ways there as well! ...Maybe? He can't quite remember. Anyway, he's really delighted to learn! The idea of different words for the same things is just interesting to him. If you happen to know a language that uses a different script than the one he's used to, he's especially fascinated. He had never even considered such a thing before! What if he someday gets a letter to deliver in a language he doesn't understand...? He has to remedy it! Eddie struggles a little with language learning because of his less than stellar memory, but he's trying his best.

Frank likes categorizing things in general, and so he's the one who's most likely to walk around the village with you, pointing at different things to find out their names. He'll carry around a little notebook, jotting all of it down as you speak. It's no surprise that he asks for the names of different bugs and plants before anything else! He likes to sprinkle words he's recently learnt into everyday language to make himself seem smart.

#welcome home x reader #welcome home arg x reader #human reader au #eddie dear #frank frankly

404 notes · View notes

unbidden-yidden · 7 months

Text

I cropped this to make my own post because I didn't want to start discourse for OP who is just minding their business and whose posts I've seen around and from that is someone I respect.

(OP if you see this and want to participate in this discussion you are more than welcome to; I just didn't want to derail your post that had a clear intended audience that wasn't me or most of my followers.)

However this:

Is so interesting to me theologically, because I'm not sure I could relate less, lol.

I never want punishment for punishment's sake for anyone, even my worst enemies. I just don't. I don't think it helps at all or fixes anything. If anything, it makes me feel worse, because then I have to consider the ethics of causing suffering to someone or having suffering caused on my behalf. If you hurt me, I don't want a moral, ethical obligation to consider your feelings and empathize with you. You just hurt me! If I hurt you back in ways that aren't simply self-defense, but are calculated and premeditated for the sole purpose of revenge, it doesn't fix whatever you broke, and it just creates a crack that allows you to claim a moral grey area that didn't exist before. And no, I don't want an eternal Hell to exist for me, my enemies or anyone else. The worst person I can think of could not possibly, in the duration of a human lifetime, ever deserve an eternity of punishment. Period. It's not proportional, it still doesn't fix whatever you broke, and it ethically forces my hand to forgive you to hopefully avoid a fate that no one should face.

No, the one thing that I want is teshuva. Let's take the most extreme personal example I can think of: the person who abused me. He cannot fix what he did to me, because it's done. The trauma is there, and no apology could possibly heal it. I healed it, after a lot of hard work. I don't want any kind of relationship with him and have been no contact for years now. So literally the only thing he can actually realistically do is to work on himself so he never abuses anyone else. I don't wish for bad things to happen to him. I gave him everything I had when we were together because I loved him. I don't wish for him to experience abuse, because that's actually almost certainly what started this cycle of violence to begin with. I hope he finds peace, I hope he works on his mental health, and I hope he works on himself so that he never abuses anyone else. If he wanted to make teshuva, then, he would need to (1) recognize the true extent of what he did to me and regret it thoroughly, (2) apologize sincerely, (3) otherwise continue to stay away from me, and (4) actually deal with his problems so that he never hurts anyone else. And so long as he remained in a state of not abusing others, he would have my full forgiveness. He hasn't done any of that, but if he did, I would forgive him fully. How would punishing him help me? I don't care what he does these days as long as he stays no contact and doesn't abuse anyone else.

And yeah - I'm certain Hashem loves him and every other part of creation as much as She loves me; I sure hope so, actually! That doesn't give him or me or anyone else a free pass, but the love of G-d is unconditional, like an idealized parent-child relationship. A loving parent still holds a child accountable, even if they forgive the child for wrongdoing, because the accountability process is actually part of that love. A parent who refuses to hold their child accountable is actually being neglectful.

Anyway it's just an interesting cultural difference, because the very concept of an eternal Hell breaks my faith in a way that unconditional love of G-d towards everyone, including the worst people I know, doesn't.

#while I think this is in some ways a Jewish/Xtian cultural difference #I don't think it's a perfect 1:1 mapping #I've had Xtians lay out beliefs on forgiveness that more closely match my Jewish ones than mainstream Xtian ones

163 notes · View notes

bigtreefest · 27 days

Note

I dare you to write a piece using a character that you want to, but have never had a chance to write for before. With the sentence "Well that was a surprise."

Saint or Sinner?

College! Lloyd Hansen x Reader

Word Count: 1,331

A/N: Amber!!! Thank you for tickling my brain with this dare! I honestly wanted to do Andy so badly, but this quote was screaming Lloyd to me and I couldn’t resist. To be completely honest, I had no intention of writing him, but my fingers tip-tapped away and I lost all control. I might’ve been possessed.

I also always plan on writing a Drabble, and then it ends up being as long as one of my fic chapters, but anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, Smut (oral, m receiving), use of pet names, sociopathic tendencies, mean Lloyd, a twist?

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Ever since you were old enough date, you’ve been happily independent. You grew up in a small town, surrounded by blue collar families, including most of the members of your own.

You’d always had a keen ability to fit in anywhere, which you attribute to your upbringing. Your mom worked a corporate job, while your dad spent all day in a mechanic shop.

You were well off, but not raised like it, and you’d never judge those who had less than you, even though that’s what a lot of people expected.

Once you graduated high school, you got into Harvard where you met Lloyd. Lloyd was someone who was good at keeping his distance. You noticed it at first when you invited him to join a study group you had started with some other members of your cohort.

You received a terse “No thanks, Pumpkin,” punctuated with a curt nod and a wink, before he went to hang out with his other friends and his team.

You had made multiple attempts to include him in group activities, or engage in conversation when you could nab a seat next to him in class, but after some time, you stopped seeing him altogether. You could tell he was avoiding you and the study group you had become closer with. You’d probably actually call them your friends, becoming just as close as you were to some people back home. They picked up on the same things too, seeing that you were humble, and carried yourself in such a proper manner, earning you the nickname “the Saint.”

When word of that got around to Lloyd, he rolled his eyes. You were the complete opposite of him. Kind, welcoming, calculated, while he was cold, unpredictable, sociopathic. He couldn’t stand how successful you were, too. Professors and students alike constantly praised you, more than willing to help you in any way through your academic journey and career beyond. Where he schmoozed, you gracefully existed and got just as far.

You were perfect in everyone’s eyes, including his own, which is what infuriated him. There had to be a weak spot, somewhere where your surface would crack, and he had initially tried to find it by turning you down all those times, but it was unsuccessful.

None of the manipulation tactics he had worked so hard on perfecting for so long made you budge, either. He’d pluck out a random friend from your group to join his. Nothing. He’d sabotage your flash drive for your presentation, you’d have a backup in your email, ready to go. After you’d gone, you wished him luck and no technical difficulties like you had, with a giggle! He was enraged.

After being at the top of your class, the two of you were selected to go to a conference in DC. It was hardly supervised by your professor who had booked two rooms for you next to each other, getting himself a suite a few floors above.

You knocked on Lloyd’s door in the late afternoon, the day before your presentation. He opened it just enough to peek his head through.

“What do you want?”

You sighed with your signature smile on your face. “Did you want to go over everything one more time before dinner?”

He looked you up and down, face as stern as it ever was when he was dealing with you. “Not really, Sunshine.” He slammed the door in your face.

What Lloyd didn’t know was that all his little tactics were really chipping away at you. All you wanted was to spend time with him, to get close. You couldn’t help it. You’d be lying if you said it was in your usual friendship way, too.

No, you wanted more. There was something about how aloof he was that drew you in. You were obsessed and not willing to give up until you got what you wanted, what you deserved.

His little tendencies weren’t upsetting because he was rude, they were upsetting because they were keeping you away from what your body and the deep, dark recesses of your mind were screaming for.

The door slamming in your face was the last straw. Lloyd wouldn’t get away with this any longer. You could see what he was trying to do, and if you had any say, you’d make sure it failed. You were going to be the winner of the little mind game he was playing.

To be honest, by this point, Lloyd had given up, thinking you’d never break. You were just too sweet, a true Saint. Treating you like this had just become habit, which is why he was almost confused when he heard muttering on the other side of his door.

You had taken the magnetic clip out of your hair and maneuvered it against the hotel key card reader until it unlocked. The door flew open and your eyes landed on Lloyd, stomping towards him and pinning him with his back against the nearest wall.

He looked down at you, face unreadable beside his eyes being slightly wider than usual.

“Why are you being like this!? What did I do!?” You gritted out, your tone threatening.

Lloyd didn’t say anything, only the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

“Tell. Me.” You slammed your hands against the wall, arms framing his head as you looked up into his eyes, your stomach pressed against his cock that was growing rock hard.

“Am I going to have to pull it out of you? Suck it out of you, myself?” Lloyd found himself at a loss for words for once. All he could do was part his lips slightly and give a small nod like he always did.

You began to unbuckle the belt of his ridiculously expensive pants, shoving them down just enough that you could see the hard-on pressing against his boxer briefs.

“Huh? Is that what you want? That what you need, Pumpkin?” You spat back at him, mocking his previous words.

His brain was finally beginning to catch up with the situation as he nodded down to you and you got on your knees.

“Yeah, do it. I know you want to. Suck me off.”

You didn’t need much more prompting, fueled by rage and control. You pulled down his underwear, his dick springing free.

You gave him no time to prepare, immediately licking from the base of his length to the tip before fully taking him into your mouth. Your mouth was stretching to accommodate his girth, but it was nothing for you in the lust of the moment. You set a vigorous pace, Lloyd’s head thrown back against the wall as he moaned loudly.

He pulled his head forward as his abs tensed, already close with the debauchery of the situation. He tangled his ringed fingers in your hair, helping to guide you along his length.

“That’s it. Keep going. Not such a Saint, are you?”

You hummed against his length in response, saliva dripping down your chin and his balls that you were lightly tugging in you hand. The other hand had its nails dug into his thigh, causing a slight sting that heightened the pleasure for Lloyd.

Before he knew it, he was coming down your throat. You pulled away as you swallowed his salty release, looking up at him and wiping off your face before standing up.

You caught his gaze again and Lloyd looked at you with bewilderment mixed with his post-orgasmic haze.

“Well that was a surprise.” He said between heavy breaths, pulling up his underwear and pants, buckling his belt again. Oh, he had no idea the tactics you had in store for him.

Your hands pressed against his abs in his knitted shirt. One stayed there as the other traced up his firm pec, past his collar and found purchase around his neck, lightly squeezing.

“So are you finally going to tell me what’s going on in the head behind that ridiculous mustache?”

Bonus A/N: Um… I don’t really know what happened. I think I blacked out.

#ST’s 100 follower truth or dare game #100 follower truth or dare game #truth or dare #dare #lloyd Hansen #lloyd Hansen x reader #lloyd Hansen x you #lloyd hansen smut #the gray man #Chris Evans #st answers

61 notes · View notes

neonscandal · 4 months

Note

Hello, I'm new here and I really liked your tumblr. I would like it if you could answer my question. Don't you think Saturo is a little needy, you know he always wants to get people's attention, he always wants to force a friendship, that scares me a little, he can even be unnecessary sometimes.

Hiii! I literally have no idea how you came across my blog but I'm happy if it made you feel welcome ❤️ Thanks for reaching out.

Don't be scared by the tall man with the impossible eyes and bulk volume suffering. He's here to help! ✨

I mean, you pretty accurately described Gojo, tbqh. He is needy, I wouldn't say he wants to get people's attention... but he has it, anyway, he is desperately reaching out for human connection, he frequently ponders and is consumed by the unnecessary (just as much as the necessary) and people tend to conflate his strength with his identity.

How do we put one at ease with this larger than life personality? We speedrun it, of course. The best way to empathize with someone is to understand how they got from point A to point D and this is as it applies in real life, too. Consider this my humble offering toward this threat I made a few years ago. Going to avoid spoilers beyond what's been animated but this is still going to be a long one so strap in! JK there's a minor spoiler that's marked (⚠️) but it's not a major plot point.

IN DEFENSE OF GOJO

A mostly unsolicited essay ✨

Before we get into how Gojo became Gojo, let's look at the basic information we know about jujutsu society in universe.

Curses are formed by negative emotional runoff, typically from people who can't control cursed energy.

There are humans who are born with cursed techniques but the brains of humans so their powers were dormant until Kenjaku!Geto activated them in the last episode of season 2.

Those with power that are beyond the comprehension of the elders happen to find themselves carrying death sentences (as it applies to Yuta Okkotsu and Yuji Itadori, specifically).

There are 3 Big Families: the Gojo, Kamo, and Zenin Clans, likened to nobility, which have been active since the Golden Age of Jujutsu hundreds of years ago.

Generally, the Gojo clan inherits the Limitless technique. Six Eyes is a lot less frequent and both techniques haven't manifested in one user in over 100 years until Gojo was born. (Purple or Hollow Purple is another hidden move which each family has some extra razzle dazzle offshoots from their main cursed technique.)

Kamo clan passes along Blood Manipulation (re: Choso, Noritoshi Kamo, the Kyoto student, and Noritoshi Kamo, the blemish on the Kamo clan who created the cursed womb paintings)

Zenin clan has the Ten Shadows Technique (re: Megumi. Bear in mind, previously a Zenin Ten Shadows user fought a Gojo Six Eyes + Limitless user and the fight ended in a stalemate that resulted in both of their deaths).

Anomalies, like that of Maki and Toji, exist even in these age old clans where an heir is born without the ability to manipulate cursed energy and/or see curses.

Of the above and those of the main cast specifically, the inheritors of these generations' old techniques have pretty shit origin stories. They are privileged but cursed in a way. Heavy is the head, and all.

BIG THREE FAMILY CULTURE

We haven't gotten a lot of insight into the Gojo clan except that it's basically a clan of one: Satoru Gojo.

Noritoshi, the Kyoto student, bears the name of the blot of the Kamo clan and is a bastard son who happened to inherit the familial technique. Because of this, he is shepherded into the fold of the Kamo the family, foisted into a position of responsibility, and separated from his "disgrace" of mother. She leaves him, knowing her presence would hold him back, and hopes that her sacrifice in doing so will enable him to better help others. ⚠️ However, when Kenjaku!Geto used remote Idle Transfiguration to awaken dormant vessels and dormant cursed technique users, the proper firstborn heir of the Kamo clan's inherited technique was awakened which swiftly saw Noritoshi's expulsion from his status and the clan.

The most damning evidence we have of the culture of these families is from the Zenin clan:

They terrorized Toji Zenin, despite his inhuman strength, simply because he was born without the ability to manipulate cursed energy. To the extent that an incident from his childhood left his face scarred and likely radicalized him into the sorcerer killer he is today.

Mai and Maki were gravely mistreated because, in addition to being girls, they were born twins which is considered highly unfavorable.

The twin superstition is "justified" by Mai's weak cursed technique and Maki's inability to see curses or manipulate cursed energy.

The misogynistic treatment of the girls is likely not uncommon within the Big Three families given 1) what we've seen happen to Kamo's mom, 2) the treatment of the twins' mother, and 3) the way that Gojo vehemently advises that Tsumiki would never be happy with the Zenin clan (as both a jujutsu outside and because she's a girl as determined by events that haven't been animated yet).

Empirically, from the above, we can extrapolate that familial ties don't mean shit in the Big Three Families, blood relations are tenuous at best. Tradition, power and hereditary techniques reign supreme to maintain status. Those outside of the blessed few are at the mercy of more powerful members of the family which will be more evident in season 3.

💡 As an aside, kinda interesting to think about Geto's ideology applied to these traditional families. In fact, I wonder if Geto cultivated his beliefs based on what Gojo told him about his family.

UNDERSTANDING THE CHARACTERIZATION OF GOJO

Now that we understand society as Gojo would have known it, let's get into how he experiences the world from birth.

Canonically, his birth shifted the power balance between sorcerers and curses. A lot of readers assume he has a god complex which, in addition to being categorically false, is more a reflection of his canonical in universe power. He is neither a god nor does he necessarily perceive himself to be one. But that's not to say he doesn't have a bit of an attitude problem.

He is born with both the Limitless and Six Eyes techniques which, again, hasn't happened in over 100 years. Subsequently, stronger curses are on the rise to compensate for this dramatic shift in power.

💡 Lowkey, I kinda headcanon that the influx of more powerful curses comes from the bitter resentment that periphery individuals must have harbored against Gojo because, let's be real. He's clearly Mappa's favorite and it brings out the anti in everybody IRL lol I can only imagine in universe if you were born to a jujutsu family and lost out on the genetic lottery when it came to cursed energy.

He explicitly draws the ire of curses and cursed users alike with a bounty that immediately incites an onslaught of first come, first serve mercenaries. As a child. Even Toji, the great sorcerer killer, tries to get the drop on a young Satoru Gojo but none are successful at coming close. Not even the invisible man.

From what we know of the Big Three above, the miracle of Gojo's inheritance would likely push him into a place of great power and influence within his clan, even from an early age. Further, we've seen what the burden of responsibility an inherited technique looks like as it applies to Noritoshi Kamo. Gojo would have been burdened with this status and, simultaneously, constantly placated by others so as to appease the miraculous heir.

Additionally, as we saw with Noritoshi, other clans may also have a vested interest in currying favor with the young heir because even proximity to Gojo creates a sense of power and status.

By blood, Yuta is a distant, distant cousin of Gojo's from a branch family and we see how OP he is.... Later in the story, Gege makes it a point to use the Great Satoru Gojo as a measure of power and, subsequently, more explicitly how close other characters' power, prowess or technique come close to that of Gojo's.

Subsequently, as the Kamo clan heir, Noritoshi tries to ingratiate himself to Megumi despite the fact that he's no longer even connected to the Zenin clan. He curses that Mai didn't inherit Ten Shadows to make relations a bit smoother. Gojo would likely have several people vying for his attention and grace whether he wants it or not.

I think you can see how, a smart kid like Gojo who literally has nothing but time to process and compute the ways of the world around him, would come to understand the motivations of others as it specifically relates to him and his power. It would be understandable if he were innately wary and distrustful of others, especially when you consider his initial experience as the target of an onslaught of, albeit unsuccessful, assassination attempts.

Here, I think, is what really gives life to the isolation that Gojo feels from a very young age which is only known by those with immense power like Sukuna and other characters who've yet to be revealed. Gojo is less an individual and more a means to an end. He is a monolith for power, protection and status. His power is so incomprehensible for other sorcerers of the era that his potential for vulnerability is taken for granted.

With a culture that prioritizes strength over, perhaps, morality, it makes sense why, when we see Gojo years later as a high school student, he is relatively disrespectful toward his elders and thinks it is silly that the strong should have to diminish themselves for the comfort of the weak. Bear in mind, this disrespect is likely because no one was really checking him on manners from a young age. Further, from his experience, strength has always been commodified, why would you diminish that? He was and remains head of the Gojo clan with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with that.

Enter Suguru Geto, the smoking gun as to why we know Gojo doesn't have a god complex. Suguru, like Geto, is the only other special grade sorcerer aside from Yuki Tsukumo (and she makes it a point to not take missions). Qualified as equals, the two are constantly doled out missions that higher ups are not even equipped to handle. Try not catching an ego about that.

Even though their power may not necessarily be on par with one another, it is enough that Gojo deems Geto an equal. Their friendship tempers Gojo's character in ways his family could not.

THE HUMANITY OF A GOD

Gojo is not a god but, to those around him, he's certainly lauded as such. Part of that entails inherently overlooking that which makes him vulnerable, makes him human. As someone who can, at will, literally turn off the ability to be touched at all, the premise is ironic. But the fact remains, from all the above and his behavior therein, it seems as though Gojo had to wait until high school to act like a kid at all and that is all thanks to Geto.

As an outsider, Geto's opposing ideology suggests that the strong are meant to protect the weak and keep others who are strong in check. Gojo is frequently shown taking Geto's criticism and point of view under critical advisement. In fact, realizing how out of touch he is with the reality of others, he defers to Geto as a moral compass, trusting implicitly in his judgement.

Not only that but, from what we saw during the Kyoto Goodwill Event, it is not uncommon for sorcerers to be wary of disclosing what their cursed technique is to other sorcerers. You can never be too careful nor can you know who's a cursed user in the making, even amongst your own classmates. With inherited techniques, word gets around but... Geto, an outsider, was intimately aware of the drawback Gojo experienced when overusing his technique and that speaks volumes about how comfortable Gojo was being vulnerable with him.

Geto encourages Gojo to speak more politely to his elders, again, a pushback he clearly wasn't getting anywhere else or, perhaps, direction he simply wasn't taking from anyone else.

Because Gojo recognizes Geto as an equal, he is more relaxed and able to behave accordingly which Geto graciously allows and creates a safe space for. Imagine all the steam this little weirdo has been holding in out of obligation? Moreover, as someone who has always undeniably been the strongest person in any room, imagine the relief in finally knowing that there is someone else you can rely on? Feel safe with? Someone you can be needy and greedy with. Gojo found his One and Only best friend.

Geto allows him to authentically be himself AND HE STARES AT HIM LIKE THIS WHILE DOING SO!

Additionally, we talk about Gojo being unnecessary at time, which he is. I poke a lot of fun at how Gojo will take in what someone like Yaga explains to him and then the output is some Digimon reference a lot. He literally speaks in gibberish half the time but Geto just... understands him. Or makes it a point to try. Bear in mind, Gojo's silly goofiness belies his penchant for serious contemplation, as well, as he's knowledgeable about historical poetry, prominent figures and events. The dichotomy of this is whiplash inducing to Ijichi. If you think about the adage, those who don't know history are destined to repeat it, it shines an interesting light on why Gojo seems to have such a wealth and emphasis on the history of not only jujutsu sorcerers but also other politics at play dating back centuries. Even more so if you consider ItaFushi to be SatoSugu 2.0 as... the story kind of feels that way, doesn't it? BACK TO THE POINT, Gojo behaves like a fool but he isn't stupid.

I think this arrogance and silly facade is a product of being plugged into the reality of what it truly means for the few to protect the greater good. He's probably hyper aware of the prospective survival rate of his peers based on empirical information he has at his disposal. It's why he pointblank tells Ijichi not to become a sorcerer. I think it's also why he's frivolous with having and creating fun. Not just for his kohais but later for his students. With Geto, he experiences a closeness he hadn't had with anyone else and it improves his ability to connect with others by extension.

I know this is not from the canon material but I think this is the perfect inclusion as to Gojo's proclivity for frivolity. LOOK AT HIM.

MISSION FAILURE AND FALL OUT

Based on the information we have currently, Gojo didn't exactly have the same splintered origins that Megumi and Noritoshi had. But from the above and his socialization with people outside of the Gojo clan, we see how coming from a place of privilege can still create deficiencies. But it isn't enough to simply learn and benefit from the good times. Maybe people take for granted that which isn't tested or taken away. We can't fully understand adult Gojo without understanding the failures of teenage Gojo.

Tasked with a mission that literally impacts the fate of the world and is relayed as such, the two special grade sorcerers take on the Star Plasma Vessel mission. As we saw in season 2, it didn't exactly end well. From this we can glean the following:

From the beginning and despite that which hung in the balance if they were unsuccessful, Gojo and Geto were willing to blow it all, come what may, if the vessel opted out of the merger. They were willing to fight Tengen themselves to spare one life even if it destabilized everything else. The idea of which seems Icarian in nature and we saw how that worked out for Icarus.

Toji's plan of attrition (wearing Gojo down specifically) was successful partly because of the false sense of security engineered by Shiu Kong that allowed them to recapture Kuroi.

However, based on Gojo's hubris, Gojo and Geto were already living in a false sense of security. Any attempts Geto made to temper Gojo's ego were appeased by the fact that, he wasn't alone. Finally. He had Geto and Gojo was insulated in the comfort and security he found in Geto's company. He could take on Tengen, he could risk another night in Okinawa burning through his stamina. It did not matter if he had Geto to rely on. They were the strongest.

Turns out it did matter and they were both foiled, thoroughly. The fall out of these events results in the following:

Gojo's evolution wherein he learns how to control reversed curse energy which shoots him past his previous limits.

Gojo avenges his loss to Toji and Riko, by extension (that order feels important to mention). He achieves a level of enlightenment and transcendence which saw the successful use of the Red Technique that he'd been unable to use in a fight against a lackey during the same mission which also made it possible to execute the finisher attack Hollow Purple, resulting in the fight's end.

Upon reclaiming Riko's body from the Time Vessel Association, Gojo, in the haze of his victory, asks Geto if they should slaughter the people celebrating Riko's death. Showing that, regardless of his power up, he still needs Geto's guidance and values the opinion of his equal. I say this even though we know Gojo lies about Shoko treating his injuries. Even he's aware that this latest evolution creates a greater disparity between their relative strength but he defers to him anyway.

Geto begins questioning whether the lives of non-sorcerers who are capable of such evil are really worth fighting and/or dying for.

The acknowledgement that, even though there is nothing beyond special grade classification, Gojo became the strongest.

Foundationally, Gojo came to terms with the vulnerability that Toji was able to exploit and subsequently trained to remediate that. Simultaneously, Geto fell deeper and deeper into a despair over a persisting moral crisis that Gojo, with Six Eyes at his disposal, was incapable of seeing or understanding. The occurrence of which is maddening to me, personally but such is the way of a fatal flaw.

Geto's subsequent and "sudden" defection pulled the rug from beneath Gojo's feet.

We have seen him dust off countless attempts on his life as a child, shoulder the burden of the Gojo clan as a child, execute his obligations as a sorcerer regardless of his beliefs as a child, and bear the brunt of jujutsu society because of the magnitude of his strength as a child and he never batted an eye. Not to say he didn't have something flippant to say about it but he endured it.

But with Geto's abandonment, whatever security he'd finally found was abruptly destabilized and it's important to note that only when it comes to Geto do we see Gojo's nonchalant facade falter. When he learns of the attack on the village with Yaga, when he confronts Geto in the streets of Shinjuku, when he encounters Kenjaku wearing Geto's corpse, he's not so silly goofy anymore is he?

Finding Geto was like finally feeling the warmth of the summer sun on your face after living in the shadows of a cave all your life. For Gojo, his departure was like never knowing that warmth again.

Not to mention, his immense power and status of being the only other special grade sorcerer meant he also had to carry the weight of being his best friend's executioner. Please.

He spends his adult life cultivating strength in others, rescuing kids from a society that seeks to destroy what they refuse to understand, uniting other so they aren't burdened by the same loneliness that plagues him and, whenever possible, trying to bring light and fun to the lives of kids who may never make it out of high school because that's the reality of sorcerers. That's the burden of responsibility they carry so, in between missions, he tries to be silly, he tricks them, he leads them on wild goose chases so they actually get out and experience their youth properly.

You're not meant to fear Gojo. Fear the society that allowed for these things to happen because he's trying to fix it. If anything, pity the man who is not allowed to be weak or vulnerable because he has always known the weight of the world. He could have been a god but he chose instead to love and it was his undoing.

If you'd like to pity Gojo further, dive into an expansive list of all the SatoSugu brainrot I could think of.

Lowkey, this feels like a call out, because why am I also terrible like this?? Am I being cyber bullied? I feel like this took me several days to write.

77 notes · View notes

forays-into-fiction · 1 year

Text

Eddie Likes to Hurt Girls

You��re new to Hawkins High and you’ve struck up a relationship with Eddie Munson. His ex-hookup has plans of her own though, she weasels her way in befriending you. She’s bidding her time, planting little seeds of doubt, before really getting in your head. Warning you… Eddie likes to hurt girls.

Request fill for Anon... again this one got away from me, it is unnecessarily long. Anyway, hope you enjoy 😊 ...and that it’s at least kind of what you were after lol

Minors DNI

Contains: Mostly Fluff and a bit of Angst... kind of, No Actual Smut in this one but delves into BDSM type stuff, Discussions of Dom!Eddie and Sub!Eddie, Mentions previous relationships of Eddie’s, Also Insecure!Eddie

Eddie was loitering in the halls, prolonging the inevitable, when he saw you. Frantically searching through a stack of papers, looking around you hastily, he decides to step in. “Hey, there sweetheart you alright? You look a little lost.”

“Oh, I’m trying to find Ms.…” you glance down at the paper in your hands, “…O’Donnell’s class. Sorry, I’m new and I’m still not quite used to this place.”

“Don’t even worry about it I’m heading there right now, come on. Follow me.”

“I’m y/n by the way.”

“Eddie Munson. You can call me Eddie.”

“Nice to meet you, Eddie. So, what’s O’Donnell like?”

“A hag. An absolute hag, but don’t worry I’ll protect you.” He says with such seriousness it makes you giggle.

“You’re funny, Eddie.”

“I try.” He smirks.

“Hey, do you think we could hang out at lunch today? I haven’t really settled in yet, found my group, you know.”

“Of course, you are very welcome to join us. My club…” he points to his shirt, “…we all usually sit together.”

“Oh, that’s cool. What’s… Hellfire Club?” You ask reading off his shirt.

“We’re a D&D group… do you… know D&D?”

“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never played it, I mean it sounds interesting though.”

“Oh, it is… if you’re interested, you could come past one of our sessions.”

“I might just take you up on that offer.”

He gives you a grin, “Cool, anyway… here we are.”

He stops in front of a door and opens it standing aside for you to pass through.

As you both enter the room the teacher stops abruptly to address you both, “Mr. Munson, late as usual. And who’s this?”

“Sorry miss, it’s my fault. I got a bit lost and Eddie had to help me out. I’m new here, my name is y/n y/l/n.”

“Ah, yes Miss y/l/n. It would behove you to not spend too much time with our Mr. Munson here. Wouldn’t want any of his influence rubbing off on you.”

“Oh, um ok. Can we just, uh take our seats?”

“Yes, please do, you’ve delayed this class long enough.”

You slink over to the only seats available in the room, right at the back, Eddie following along behind you.

When you get settled, pulling out a notebook and some pens, Eddie leans in to whisper, “Sorry about that, told you she’s a real piece of work.”

“Yeah, uh should she be talking about you like that? That’s really not professional for a teacher to say and you’ve been nothing but nice to me, why should I avoid you?” You respond in a hushed tone.

“Oh, well you see this is actually my third attempt at senior year so…” he trails off.

“If anything, that’s more reason she should be supporting you, helping you to graduate. Like isn’t that her job?”

He shrugs, “Well, it is what it is, and this… this is my year I can feel it. I am going to graduate this year.”

“I… I could help. If you want, that is. Not to like brag or anything but in my last school I was at least top five in all my subjects. I also did peer tutoring there too, admittedly it was teaching the freshman who were a little more… disadvantaged, was the word they used, how to read.”

“You’d do that?”

“Help you? Yeah, why not?”

“I dunno, ‘s just… I’m not used to people offering me help. Especially not someone so… pretty.”

“You think I’m pretty?”

“Yeah, of course I-”

He gets cut off by the teacher, “Mr. Munson do you not think you’ve disrupted this class enough. Quiet and if I have to warn you again it’ll be detention. You too Miss. y/l/n, I do not care if you’re new or not.”

You feel your cheeks heat with embarrassment, “Sorry miss, won’t happen again.”

“See to it that it doesn’t. Now, where were we?”

Eddie grabs one of your pens and scribbles on the corner of your notebook.

‘Sorry :( I keep getting you in trouble’

You write back. ‘It’s ok really we can talk more at lunch next period ?’

He glances over scribbling again, ‘Definitely ;)’

You grin to yourself and turn your attention to the lesson.

“Oh, geez thank God that’s over. That was so embarrassing.” You sigh as you exit the classroom side by side with Eddie, then put on a voice jokingly, “Would you escort me to the cafeteria Mr. Munson?”

He gives a dramatic bow offering you his arm, matching your tone, “Oh, but of course Miss. y/l/n, it would be my honour.”

You giggle and take his arm, “I was serious you know, about helping, if you want it?”

“Yeah, absolutely yes. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“How about we meet up at the library tomorrow after school and we can get a start? I can see where you’re at and what you need to work on most and then we can go from there.”

“It’s a date… I mean… not a date, date but-” He blurts out, stumbling over his words.

You cut him off, smirking as you tease, “Oh, no definitely not a ‘date, date’…”

He’s crushed, but he half expected it, interrupting you sighing heavily, “I know, that was dumb-”

But then you continue, “We could go on an actual date if you wanted though.”

He perks up instantly, “Are you shitting me of course I do.”

You giggle, “That’s good, but first lunch.”

“Yeah, and you can meet all the Hellfire guys.” He adds excitedly.

When you get to the cafeteria, he introduces you to all of his friends and they greet you warmly. What none of you notice is Mandy, one of the cheerleaders, glaring daggers at you from across the room. And she had been since the second you’d walked in arm in arm with Eddie.

Lunch flies by in a heartbeat, as the bell rings you rummage through your bag, mumbling, “Hey, Eddie wait up a minute…”

He remains seated, he wasn’t in any rush to get to his next class anyway. Mandy also lingers in the cafeteria making a show of fixing her makeup, again unnoticed by you.

You pull out a pen and tear out a scrap of paper from a notebook. You scribble down your number and hand it to him, “You can call me whenever you want and I really am more than happy to help you out with studying.”

He stares down at the paper clutched in his hand, “Uh… yeah th-thanks, sweetheart.”

“What class have you got now?” You ask as you pack away your belongings and rise from your seat.

“I’ve got Math, you?” He stands moving beside you.

“English. Guess I’ll see you later then.” You sigh, continuing towards the doors and he follows along.

“I-I could walk you to your next class…” He suggests, a hand awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck.

“No, it’s ok. You shouldn’t be late to your next class. Especially not because of me again.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine… and I’m gonna make sure you graduate this year, so that means getting to class.”

“Yes, ma’am!” He mock salutes.

You giggle and he chuckles along with you, as you exit the cafeteria parting ways you give him a wave, “Seriously, call me, ok?”

“I will.” He calls back.

Mandy gives it a moment before approaching you, all bright and bubbly.

“Hi! You’re new, aren’t you? I’m Amanda, but everyone calls me Mandy. What’s your name?”

“Oh, hi… I’m y/n. Nice to meet you… ahh sorry to bother you but do you think you could help me find my next class?”

“No problem at all, lemme see your timetable.”

You reach into the front pocket of your bag and hand it over.

“Oh, that’s not too far from my class, I’ll walk with you.”

You grin back at her, “Thanks that’d be a huge help.”

She sets off and you follow along, as she responds, “No problem. Hey, I’m having a bit of a party after the basketball game, Friday. Do you wanna come… maybe meet some more people? Make some new friends?”

“Really?” She nods, you answer, “Yeah I’d love to.”

“Great, let me just get your number and I’ll let you know all the details.”

You have lunch with Eddie and the rest of Hellfire again the next day, the two of you arrange to meet by his van at the end of the day.

You keep running into Mandy today, she’s been helping you get to classes, sitting with you in those that you share, being very friendly overall. When the school day finally finishes, she asks if you need a lift home as you’re walking out the front doors.

“Oh, no that’s ok, thank you though. I’m going to the library with Eddie, we’re gonna study. Do you know Eddie?”

“Uhh… yeah, I guess. The library though… really?” She gives you an odd look.

“Yeah, why?”

“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, have fun I guess.” She waves leaving you standing there feeling unsure of yourself.

You snap out of it quickly, shaking your head before looking over to the parking lot. You see him leaning against a slightly beat-up looking van, cigarette in hand. You trot over and he drops the cigarette, stamping it out, “Was that Mandy Albright?”

“Uh, yeah. She’s been showing me around today, she’s really nice. We’re friends… I think?”

“Oh… uh, cool, cool… well, you wanna go?” He responds uneasily before pushing off the side of the van, opening the passenger side door and offering you a hand in.

You take his hand and mutter a quick thanks, grinning at him.

When he turns the key in the ignition the radio comes to life suddenly, blaring his music, he scrambles for the volume control turning it down, “Sorry, sorry forgot it was on so loud… we, uhh… we can listen to something else if you want.”

“No, it’s fine leave it… I wanna know what type of stuff you’re into.”

“You sure?” He looks at you uncertainly.

“Absolutely, what’s this song?”

“It’s called ‘Innocent Exile’ it’s by Iron Maiden… they’re uh, one of my favourites.”

A few minutes into the drive it gets to a guitar riff that you find yourself enjoying, “I like this bit… with the guitar.”

He perks up instantly, blurting out overzealously “Really? I play guitar you know… I’m in a band.”

“That is very cool, maybe you could show me some time.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” He grins.

“Did you bring everything you needed for studying?”

“Yeah, everything I could find at least… don’t like to hang on to old test papers… don’t really need the reminder of what a failure I am.”

You prod at his arm, “Hey, I will not tolerate that sort of negativity. You aren’t a failure, you’ve just struggled with a few tests, that’s fine. And if all your teachers are just giving up on you, I can see why.”

“You don’t have to try to make me feel better.” He sighs.

It prompts you to launch into a story you didn’t think you’d be sharing with him, “You know I struggled academically at first too, I was eleven before I properly learned my times tables and how to tell time on an analogue clock. I was so embarrassed about it, everyone else in my class already knew it all way before me.”

He listens intently as you continue, “But then my teacher made this game up for me where I had to go through each of set of times tables one by one starting from the two’s to twelve’s and say them all in under two minutes.

Like two times zero is zero, two times one is two, two times two is four… all the way to twelve. Then at the end he’d ask for questions at random from that set, if I got them all right, I could move on to the next set.”

“Sounds like a good teacher.” He muses.

“Yeah, he was and then that year I got a book award for ‘academic excellence’, it was really cool… shit, that was really nerdy of me to say, wasn’t it?”

“Nah, I think it’s cool what book did you get?”

“It was The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s actually really sweet ‘cause my teacher knew I liked to read so he was asking me all these questions. Like what sort of stuff, I was into and if I’d read Lord of the Rings. I didn’t even put it together until I got the award.” You giggle.

“Hold up, you’ve read Lord of the Rings?”

“Guilty.”

“Oh my god I love you.” He breaths out exaggeratedly.

“Stooop… come on, are we almost at the library?”

“Yep, just around this corner here.”

He pulls up in front of a large red brick building, cutting off the engine, as you take off your seatbelt he speaks up, “Just wait right there I’ll come around.”

He hops out of the van, trotting around the hood to your side and opens your door for you, extending a hand to help you out.

You accept with a small smile, “Thanks.”

He leads you into the library, greeting the librarian on the way in, ‘Marissa’ was the name you’d heard.

“Ok, let’s grab a table and get stuck into it then.” You suggest.

About forty minutes pass and you think you’ve got a good gauge of where he’s at and what he needs to work on. You have a suspicion that at the core of it, it’s not that he doesn’t understand or that he can’t remember, but more that he struggles to focus on the work at hand.

Right as this thought occurs to you, he’s blurting out a little too loudly for a library, his knee bouncing under the table more rapidly than it had been, “Hey, do you wanna come to Hellfire this week?”

You place a hand over his, he stares down at it, gently you remind him “Shhh it’s a library, don’t forget. And I’d love to come, when is it?”

He lowers his voice to a whisper, “Sorry, sometimes I forget how loud I am, get a bit carried away. It’s this Friday.”

You groan, “Oh shit, I can’t I’m sorry… I told Mandy I’d go to her party on Friday, she invited me to the game too. I’ll absolutely come to the next one I promise… if the offer still stands?”

His face drops, “Oh… um yeah… sure. I mean have fun at the party, I guess.”

“No, really, I’m sorry. I mean it, I want to come to one of your Hellfire Club meetings.”

“Yeah, next one. Offer is definitely still on the table.”

“Thank you.” In an attempt to brighten his mood hopefully you add, “Hey, we also haven’t talked about our date. When do you want to do that? We could do something Saturday if you’re free.”

A small grin peeks through on his face as he agrees, “Yeah Saturday is great for me. Do you wanna go to the cinema?”

You beam at him, “Sounds great! But for now, how about a five-minute break and then a little more studying?”

He pouts at you adorably, whining “More?”

“Ok fine no more, you wanna go pick out some books to read for fun? Then we can head home.”

“Uh sure why not?”

As you’re packing up, you look over at him, “You know I think I may have a few ideas for how to help you out with studying. I think the problem is just that you need something to keep you engaged with the material. How about if we made it a game like my teacher did for me?”

He shrugs, “Yeah… I mean it couldn’t hurt, right?”

“Cool, I’ll work on it a bit for next time. Maybe we could study at your place then?”

“I guess, if you want… still can’t believe you’re willing to go to all this trouble for me.”

“Awww, Eddie you’re a great guy, why wouldn’t I want to help you out and spend time with you?”

“I mean you’d be the first… publicly at least.”

“Oh, no that’s horrible… you deserve so much better than that Eddie.”

He shrugs, “It is what it is, I’m used to it. I mean who would want to be seen with the ‘Town Freak’?”

“Well, me for one… and don’t call yourself that. All of that changes from now on, ok.”

He mumbles unintelligibly and avoids your gaze, fiddling with his belongings.

“Ok?” You persist.

“Yeah ok.” He concedes, “You wanted to look for a book?”

“Yes, oh and how about this… you pick out a book too and your math homework from today, every… ten questions you do and get right, you can read another chapter in between to break it up?” You propose as the two of you make your way down the rows of books.

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

“Cool, let me know how it goes.”

The next day you only see Eddie in passing. Mandy invited you to sit at her table during lunch and you agreed giving Eddie a little wave as he passed by. She looks between the two of you, “So, how was… studying with Munson yesterday?”

You and her move to the queue to get your food, “Oh, it was good, I think we made some good progress.” You pause along the way, filling your tray.

“Uhh huh, so you and him what’s the deal there?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like are you friends or…”

“Yeah, we’re friends… he’s umm also taking me out to the cinema this Saturday…”

“Oh… that should be… interesting. I hope you have a good time.” She says it in a tone that has you questioning her meaning, you agree uncertainly, “Yeah, I hope so too.”

You get to the end of the line and pay for your food. When you reach her table she introduces you to her friends, they all seem nice enough, Chrissy is most welcoming of all. She’s sat beside you and the two of you strike up a conversation.

You look forward to seeing her at Mandy’s party at least now you’ll know more than one person there.

Eddie calls you later that night, when you hear his voice, you can’t help but smile, “Hey, you called!”

“Well, you told me to and I said I would, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did, sorry I didn’t sit with you guys today. Mandy wanted to introduce me to some of her other friends before her party. Oh, how’d your math go last night?”

“Better than usual… I actually did all of it for once. Got a few answers wrong, but I worked backwards from the answers in the back and figured out where I went wrong.”

“That is amazing honestly, I’m proud of you!”

“Uh… thanks. So, how’d it go with Mandy and her friends?”

“I’m not sure they’re exactly my ‘group’ but they were alright, Chrissy was pretty nice.”

“Well, they may not be your ‘group’ but you will always have a place at my table.”

“That’s sweet, thank you.”

“Anytime, sweetheart. Hey there’s actually someone else I could introduce you to, I think you’d get along with her. I know her from band, back in the day and sometimes we hang out and smoke. Her name’s Robin, she’s cool… works at the video store.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice. So, for Saturday what movie were you thinking?”

“Aliens looks good, you wanna watch that? Is that something you’d be into?”

“Yeah, I actually wanted to watch that, I loved the first one.”

“Great! That’s great… I’ll pick you up around six then?”

“Perfect, see you then. Goodnight Eddie, see you at school tomorrow?”

“Absolutely, goodnight sweetheart.”

You hang up grinning to yourself happily, picking up the book you’d borrowed from the library and resuming where you’d left off.

At lunch the next day as soon as he sees you, Eddie comes bounding over to ask if you’d have lunch with him outside today. You agree and he leads you out to a picnic table behind the school.

You sit opposite him tucking into your lunch. He’s practically vibrating in his seat, you look at him curiously and he blurts out, “I got something to show you!”

He pulls a crumpled bit of paper out of his jacket showing it off proudly, you smile when you see the red C+ circled on the right-hand corner of the page, “We had a pop quiz today in Chemistry, I know it’s not much but it’s a lot better than what I expected.”

“No, this is a big improvement and so soon already! I’m proud of you.”

He smiles bashfully his cheeks reddening, “Thanks. Umm… you know the stuff you got me to go over that day in the library really helped, I feel like a lot of that came up.”

“That’s good, so when do you want to do another study date? Maybe we could make it like a weekly thing?”

“Yeah? I think that’d actually help.”

“Perfect, that’s settled then.”

“So, uhh you still going to Mandy’s party tomorrow?”

“Yep, it’ll be good to meet some more people I guess.” You shrug half-heartedly.

“Yeah. What… Umm what has she said about me?” He ventures tentatively.

“She hasn’t really said much about you, why do you ask?”

“It’s nothing… just you must’ve heard the kind of stuff people say about me. Well, I thought maybe you’d take it to heart coming from her… someone you’re… friends with.”

“Eddie, there’s nothing anyone could say to change what I think about you. I really want you to know that. You are an amazing guy, even if you don’t see it sometimes.”

“Stop, you are too nice to me. I can’t take it.” He blushes hiding his face behind his curls.

You could just eat him up he was so adorable, giggling you respond, “Never… I’m never gonna stop.”

“Ugh… come on we better head back in… as much as I’d love to suggest we just cut next period and stay out here, I think that’d be a little counterintuitive.”

The Tigers end up winning their game the next day so everyone’s spirits are very high, especially at Mandy’s party. It’s a fun rowdy night, you meet a few new people, but ultimately end up practically glued to either Mandy or Chrissy the whole night. You wonder how Eddie’s night is going, if he’s having fun with his friends in Hellfire Club.

At the end of the night, you get a lift with Chrissy and her boyfriend Jason, it turns out she only lives a few houses down from you. Her boyfriend seemed a bit stand-offish, when you first met him, he had greeted you by saying, “Aren’t you that new girl… the one that hangs out with the freaks sometimes?”

Chrissy admonished him with a slap to the shoulder warning him to ‘be nice’.

You don’t really like him all that much you decide, wondering why someone as kind as her would be with someone like that, but to each their own.

It had been an exhausting night, being around so many exuberant, celebratory people. As soon as your head hit your pillow you were out like a light.

When you wake the next morning, you remember your date with Eddie set for that night, it sets the mood for the rest of your day. Your mum asks what’s got you in such a good mood, as you make your way into the kitchen where she’s prepping breakfast. You grin and tell her, “I’ve got a date with a cute boy… he’s really nice too. We hang out sometimes and he’s always such a gentleman.” You sigh.

She chuckles at you kind-heartedly, “Are your dad and I going to get to meet this boy?”

“Umm he’s picking me up tonight, but I don’t know if he’d be ready to meet you just yet… I wouldn’t want to spring it on him. That wouldn’t be fair.”

“Ok, but soon, yes?” She insists.

“Yeah, I guess. Want any help with breakfast?” You offer.

“That’s ok, honey it’s nearly done. Just go set the table and call your dad.”

Six o’clock can’t come quick enough, but sure enough it rolls around and there comes a knock at the door. Your parents try to intercept you as you answer the door, but you give them a pleading look and mumble, “Please leave it for next time, don’t need you two scaring him off.”

“Ok, just be responsible and come home at a reasonable hour.” Your mum speaks for the pair of them shushing your dad as he goes to protest.

“Thank you, I will.” You accept gratefully before moving to open the door.

You slip outside to see Eddie standing there shifting awkwardly from side to side, he was dressed a little different than usual foregoing his usual battle vest and leather jacket, donning a black button up, but keeping his distressed, dark denim jeans, chains and all.

He’d also swapped his sneakers for a pair of boots, trademark rings still adorning his fingers, he’d made a bit of extra effort with his hair, you could tell… all up he painted quite the image. “Hi…” he mumbles shyly and rubs the back of his neck.

You grin at him giddy with excitement, “Hi.”

“You look very pretty… as always.” He compliments you.

“Awww thank you, you do too.”

He chuckles and teases, “Oh, I look pretty now do I?”

“The prettiest, I like what you did with your hair.”

His fingers come to twirl at his locks, hope tinges his voice as he asks, “Yeah?”

“Absolutely, like your whole outfit.”

“You should know, flattery works with me, so…”

“Oh well, then you��re never gonna hear the end of it pretty-boy.”

He blushes and repeats softly, so softly you barely hear it, “…pretty-boy.”

You snap him out of it with your words, “Alright let’s go then, don’t wanna be late for the movie.”

“Yeah, yeah… oh.” He starts towards his van, you following along beside him, he stops suddenly.

“What’s up?”

“I… I didn’t get you flowers. I was going to get you flowers but I forgot. I’m sorry, I should’ve-”

You cut him off with a hand on his arm, “Hey, don’t stress about it, besides flowers only end up dying like two days later… I’d much prefer a book over some flowers any day.”

“Then I’m going to buy you all the books in the world.”

“Eddie, you could give me some beat-up, second-hand, one dollar book from a bargain bin and I would be over the moon. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what you give me. I don’t need anything, just wanna spend time with you.”

“Shit, you keep going like that and I might actually fall in love with you.”

“Isn’t that the plan?” You tease.

“Sweetheart, stooop…” He whines, before glancing at his watch, “… ok we really should go now.”

Tickets in hand Eddie leads you further in to the cinema, he turns and asks, “You want anything from the candy bar?”

“Oh no, I got my own stash here, gonna smuggle it in.” You hold up your little backpack as you reply.

“Look at you, you little rule-breaker.” He chuckles.

“Shove off, don’t tease me… I won’t share if you do.” You pout at him.

“Ok, sweetheart… you want some popcorn though?”

“Yes, please.”

The two of you enter the theatre, he guides you over to one of the love-seats and you settle in watching as some trailers begin to run. He places the bucket of popcorn between the two of you and stuffs a handful in his mouth.

You watch him as you nibble on a couple bits of popcorn yourself, “So, how was Hellfire yesterday?” You whisper as you begin pulling an assortment of sweets out of your bag.

He mumbles through a mouthful of popcorn, “Good, they’re really enjoying this latest campaign, you still good to come next week?”

“Yeah, can’t wait.” You grin back at him.

“How was-” He gets cut off by someone shushing, falling silent.

“We’ll talk later.” You assure him with a hand on his arm.

The trailers are wrapping up, opening credits begin rolling and you lean into him. You feel him stiffen a bit before draping an arm around you, “This, ok?” He whispers in your ear, you nod and he turns his attention back to the screen with a small grin.

The end credits roll on the movie, lights coming up and you pull away from him reluctantly. He looks over at you, “So, did you enjoy the movie?”

“Yeah, it was great Eds. Thank you for taking me out.”

“Eds?” He gives you an odd look.

“Oh, sorry do you not like that? I can go back to ‘Eddie’.”

“Nah, Eds is ok… I like it.” He smiles back, blush colouring his cheeks.

“Cool, so… what now? Straight home or do you want to hang out for a bit?”

“What do you wanna do?”

“Umm, maybe we could just go for a bit of a walk… talk some more?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” He stands offering you his hand. He helps you up and you collect all your rubbish before leaving the theatre.

The two of you you walk down the main road hand in hand, Eddie speaks first, “So, what I was going to ask earlier is, how was the party last night? Did you have fun?”

“It was good, I met a few more people, but pretty much stuck to Mandy and Chrissy the whole night. I was so tired when I got home, I just crashed. I’m not really big on parties like that.”

“Oh, it’s good that you met some more people. When did you want me to introduce you to Robin? She’s asked about meeting you.”

“How about Monday at school? Maybe I could have lunch with her?” You suggest.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll be fine, I’ll let her know.”

“Great. So, tell me more about this… campaign, was it? The one for Hellfire, what should I know before the next meeting?”

His face lights up and he launches into an explanation of his most recent campaign.

“… and then, well I guess you’ll see what happens next. Don’t wanna spoil it for you.”

“Wow, that is amazing… and you came up with all of that?”

“Yep!” He grins nodding, proudly.

“Honestly, that is amazing, you’re so creative.”

He preens under your praise, blushing and twirling his hair in front of his face.

“It’s getting a bit late maybe we should head home?” You hate to say it, you’d stay out with him ‘til the sun came up, but it had to be said.

He deflates a little and mumbles in agreement, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You… wanna do this again some time?”

He looks at you hopefully, as if you’d ever say no, you bump your shoulder against him as you walk, heading back to his van. “I would love to, Eds. Anytime you want.”

He gives you a goofy grin and murmurs, “Cool…”

You arrive back at your place much too soon for your liking, as he cuts off the engine he turns to you, “Lemme walk you to your door?”

You nod and he hops out, making his way over to your side and helping you out as usual.

You linger on the front porch, looking up at him, “Tonight was great Eds, really.”

“I had fun too, sweetheart.”

He pauses for a beat, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously, his fingers tapping away at his leg unconsciously, “Umm… would it be alright if I kissed you?”

You grab his wrist and his fingers still their motions, you breathe out, “Absolutely, it would be more than alright.”

He ducks his head, leaning in eagerly, his nose bumps against yours and he kisses you chastely, both pairs of eyes fluttering shut. Your hand drops from his wrist, moving to tangle into his curls.

One of his hands comes up to cup your cheek, stroking over it with a thumb. He groans when you tug gently on his hair, breaking away shortly after. He rests his forehead against yours, eyes opening to gaze into your own, “I guess this is goodnight then sweetheart.”

“Yeah, goodnight Eds… thanks again for tonight.” You sigh dreamily.

“No, thank you. Really, thank you for everything y/n.” He takes a step back, admiring you fully.

“Oh, stop it…” you slap his arm playfully, “… see you Monday?”

“Sure, will sweetheart. Sweet dreams.”

“You too, pretty-boy.” You giggle and wave as you turn to your front door.

Just before you slip inside you look back at him again and wave. He waves back, grinning broadly and you close the door.

He turns to return to his van, shoving his hands deep in his pockets, still grinning to himself and humming.

Your parents are sitting together in the living room, your mum’s watching tv, your dad snoring away beside her. When she sees you, she calls out in a hushed voice, “How was it?”

You match her tone, “It was great mum, I had a really good time.”

“See and you were worried about moving here. What did I tell you?”

“Yeah, yeah… I’m gonna head up to bed, goodnight.”

“Goodnight, love you.”

“Love you too.”

“I love you more.”

You roll your eyes thinking, ‘every time’.

When Monday rolls around Mandy stops you outside of O’Donnell’s class, you wave Eddie on and he goes ahead to the cafeteria without you. She tries to corral you into lunch with her and her friends, you apologise and explain you planned on having lunch with Eddie and another friend.

She gives in and suggests a ‘girls night’ just you and her at her place after school today then. You accept and arrange to meet after your last period.

When you enter the cafeteria, you spot Eddie talking to a girl with a wavy bob, wearing a plaid button-down and tie beneath an oversized blazer. You give him a wave and he breaks conversation, waving you over.

“So, Robin… this is y/n, y/n this is Robin.” He gestures to each of you in turn.

You give her a nervous little wave, “Hi…”

She grins launching into an overzealous greeting, “Hi, oh my god finally… so you’re the girl Munson can’t ever shut up about, seriously he’s always like y/n this and y/n that-”

“Alright cool it Buckley.” Eddie cuts her off.

“Awww, you talk about me with your friends?” You pout over at him.

“He totally does, it is never-ending I swear, just yesterday we were…” she mimes smoking, “behind the Family Video… I work there, did he mention that… anyway, he was like ‘you won’t believe it, she called me-’”

She’s cut off by Eddie pressing a hand over her mouth, she licks it you assume judging by the way he reacts, retracting his arm, rubbing it off on his pants.

“That’s fucking disgusting.” He grimaces, “Stop embarrassing me.”

She pokes her tongue out at him, “If you don’t want to be embarrassed then just leave us alone dingus.”

“Ugh fine… just don’t say anything too bad.”

“Or what? You won’t do anything, I’m your best customer.”

“Yeah, whatever Buckley… see you around.” He turns to you, “Don’t listen to anything she says about me.”

You giggle at the exchange, “Don’t worry Eds I’m sure it’ll all be good things. If I don’t see you before then, you good for our study date tomorrow?”

“Yep, my place this time, you said?”

“Yeah, alright go back to your Hellfire buddies, let Robin and I get to know each other.”

“Ok see ya sweetheart.” He waves turning back to his usual table.

“You wanna grab a table?” She suggests.

“How about we eat outside instead?” You offer.

“Sure, lead the way.”

You find a spot beneath a large tree and settle in, pulling out your lunch, she sits beside you doing the same.

“So, what did you mean by ‘best customer’?”

“Oh, shit you don’t know?”

“Uh, know what?”

“Ahhh… Eddie sells me weed, we smoke together sometimes… I dunno, it helps ‘mellow me out’ you may have noticed I can be a bit… much. Just sometimes my mouth moves faster than my brain and it’s like I can’t get it to stop.”

“Hey, that is totally fine, it’s not a bad thing. Actually, I kinda like it, the way you just say whatever’s on your mind, it’d be great if more people were like that.”

“So, you really didn’t know about Eddie… dealing?”

“Well, I mean I’ve heard it around school, but he’s never talked to me about it. Didn’t know if it was true or not.” You shrug.

“But you’re cool with it right? I didn’t just like totally ruin everything for Munson?”

“No. No you didn’t… when it comes to that it’s not my thing but to each their own, I’m not about to judge anyone for it.”

She breathes out a sigh of relief, “Good. That’s good. So, you and Munson huh? Heard you two went on a date.” She teases.

“We did, went to the movies, watched Aliens, talked a little… it was fun.”

“That’s cute… but enough about him for now… tell me about you,” She begins firing off in quick succession, “…where’d you move here from, why, what’s your family like, are you liking Hawkins so far…?”

You giggle and she trails off, “Sorry, there I go again…”

“No, it’s ok… I think I got everything…”

You answer all her questions, she poses a few more as you talk prompted by your responses.

“… so, yeah that’s everything I guess.” You finish with a hum.

The distant sound of the school bell rings out across to the pair of you, you stand, “Well, that was fun. See you around, Robin.”

She rises to her feet clumsily, “Yeah, definitely we should hang out more. Maybe you can come past Family Video, I’ll put aside some of those movies you mentioned.”

“That’d be cool, thanks Robin. Anyway, better head to class.”

“Right, yeah me too.”

The two of you part ways once you re-enter the school with a wave. After lunch the day always seems to pass by so quickly, you wait for Mandy by the front doors. She appears by your side, “Ready to go?”

You nod and follow her along to her car, “Yep, did you have anything in particular in mind for tonight?”

“Dunno, figured we could chat, maybe listen to some music, do some face masks or something.” She shrugs.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

The two of you sit in her room chatting, everything had started of normal, you’d both painted your nails and applied face masks just settling in on her bed as music played from her radio. She brings up the topic of your date with Eddie, “So your date with Munson, how’d that go?”

“It was good, I really like him, you know…” She lets out an odd noise like a scoff.

“You should stay away from him.” She struggles to keep the bitterness out of her tone when she says it.

“Why does everyone keep saying that? I don’t get it!” You roll your eyes exasperatedly.

“Really you should end it with him. You know what they say about him, the things they call him. Freak. Cult leader. Dangerous. Devil worshipper. Drug dealer.”

“But he’s nice, always so sweet to me.”

“Yeah, for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Look, I didn’t want to tell you this but girls’ gotta look out for each other, right?” She looks to you for response and you nod for her to continue.

“Well Munson and I had a… thing, I saw his band playing at The Hideout and well one thing led to another… Geez that boy is scary, real rough, it’s brutal. No wonder he’s never been able to keep a girl, all those chains and restraints and leather. Boy can’t keep it in his pants for two minutes, I’m surprised he hasn’t already tried it with you.”

“A-are you sure we’re talking about the same Eddie. I thought all that stuff was for show… just part of his style or whatever.”

“No, he gets off on legitimately hurting girls, it’s fucking sick. He really is a fucking freak. It’s a good thing I got out of there when I did.”

“O-oh… but why tell me this now? Why didn’t you say something when we first started hanging out.”

“I dunno, I guess I thought you were hearing it enough from everyone else, why would you listen to me?”

“Hey, you’re my friend, of course I’d listen to what you have to say. I’ll just… talk things over with Eddie and then we’ll see where we stand. Um th-thank you for telling me, I know it must have been hard for you to talk about.”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for you. What are friends for?”

She pulls you in for a hug and you miss the devious smirk plastered across her face when she does so.

You sit with Mandy at lunch the next day, trying to act like there wasn’t a raging turmoil currently going through your mind. You couldn’t wrap your head around it... Eddie likes to hurt girls... but that couldn’t be right, could it? But why would she lie about that?... Eddie gets off on hurting girls... scary... rough... brutal...

And then you remember your plans for today, going to his place to study... what if he tries something... he wouldn’t, would he... he’d been so sweet and gentlemanly with you, but what if that was just a front.

You barely touch your food, pushing it around a bit before just dumping it all out and heading off to class early. You wonder whether you should try to cancel your study date... but how? No, no you should talk to him, get his side of the story first.

And at the end of the day, you find yourself waiting for him by his van, chewing on your thumbnail. Your hand drops as he approaches and you shy away from him.

“Hi, sweetheart, you ready to go?”

“Uhhh yeah...” You mumble uncertainly.

“Alright, hop in.” He opens your door holding out a hand to help you in, but you don’t take it. You miss the look of confusion that passes over his face, you avoid looking at him all together. The car ride is quiet and tense, he attempts conversation a few times only to be met with short, monosyllable answers.

When you arrive at his trailer, he makes another attempt to offer you his hand and again you avoid it. He ushers you inside awkwardly and motions to the couch, “I-I th-thought we could... maybe study out h-here... you know, spread everything out over the coffee table... if that’s ok?” He stutters out.

“Sure.” You wait for him to sit first before joining him, perched on the very edge of your seat.

“Hey, uhh... did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me?”

“What? No.”

“Then what’s wrong, you’ve been acting... off, since... well, lunch I guess?” His eyes get all squinty like they do when he’s getting serious.

“I... ummm...” You trail off.

“Talk to me tell me what I can do to help.” He implores.

“It’s just something Mandy said...”

“Shit... what... um what exactly did she say?” His voice wavers getting a little higher in pitch.

“She said you... you like to hurt girls... that you get off on hurting girls... physically... that you did it to her...”

He hangs his head pressing his palms into his face before suddenly throwing his head back arms raised, making you jump as he exclaims, “Fuck... why... Jesus why the fuck would she say it like that...?”

“Is it true? She said you use restraints... she mentioned chains and something about leather... and I thought that was just like your “style” or whatever... but she says you’re rough and brutal and... and... she said I should stay away from you, that she was lucky to get out when she did.”

“Oh, sweetheart no, no it’s not like that...” He goes to reach for you but stops halfway, thinking better of it.

“So, it’s not true... why would she say all of that, I don’t get it... where would she even get the idea that you use restraints, that you hurt girls to get off?”

“Well, I mean I do like that kind of stuff, but I’d never force anyone into it. I don’t need to do that kind of stuff to get off… it just makes it better… fuck, I just hate that this is how you had to find out. That she got in your head and scared you. I’m glad you came to me first though and let me explain myself. You must have questions, I’ll answer anything you want, just please hear me out before you judge.”

“O-ok, alright… so you like to hurt girls…?”

“No! Well, it’s more complex than that. I don’t really want to hurt you, like I’d never beat you or anything. It’s more like… God how do I explain it… there is pain, but the level is entirely controlled by you and how much you want-”

“But why would anyone want pain? And if you don’t want to hurt a girl, why do you do it?”

“It’s… well, for me personally it adds to the sensation, the right mix of pleasure and pain is just… something else… and then on the other hand the rush you get from someone handing over their control putting you in a place of power…

“Wait, for you personally… does that mean you like to be hurt too.”

“Yeah, that’s actually how I started all this… when I first got into it, I was a sub… that’s what it’s called, short for submissive. And I had a domme… dominant and she showed me the ropes and everything.” He pauses for a breath.

“Then one day I started showing an interest in switching up the dynamic and she helped me out with that too. I lean more dominant now and I’m still in touch with my old domme, we haven’t done anything like that together in years, but I can always go to her for advice and just check in with her.”

“That actually sounds cute… in a weird way. Ok I think I’m starting to get it… kind of… but what if that’s something I’m not into?”

“That is perfectly fine like I said I’d never force you to do anything you’re not one hundred percent comfortable with and it’s not something I need.”

“But you said it is better, if it’s better then why don’t you want it like all the time?”

“You can still have a fulfilling relationship and sex-life without this kinda stuff.”

“What if… what if we try some stuff but I don’t like it?”

“If we ever do anything you’re not into or we’re doing something you can’t handle you need to tell me immediately and I will stop, you understand that?”

“Yeah, I do and uh thank you I guess.”

“Oh, sweetheart you don’t need to thank me for basic human decency. There are systems we can use to communicate when either of us is not comfortable in a situation, the most important thing to me is that we are both safe and that we can both have fun in a fully consensual way.”

It hits you like a tonne of bricks you’d just done the one thing you said you’d never do. You let the shit that people say about him get to you, you let someone change the way you saw him. You can’t believe yourself, hot, angry tears burst forth from you.

“Oh, no don’t cry… no, no, no. Hey, it’s ok. We’re ok, right?” Forgetting any previous hesitation he’s scopping you up into his arms and you blubber against his chest.

“Yeah… I-I’m so-sorry… sorry I let her get to me. I know I said I wo-would nev-ver let people change the way I see you b-but I did… I’m so s-sorry…”

He strokes the back of your head, slowly easing it back so you’d look at him, “Hey, I don’t blame you, if you’re not introduced to this sort of thing in the right way it could scare anyone off. But look, you came to me in the end, you listened to me and let me explain without judging me. I am very grateful for that and we are… good, right?”

“Y-yes…”

“Ok, well we can talk about this some more another time, ok… for now what can I do to make you feel better? I hate to see you so distraught.”

A few days had passed since the incident and Eddie was sitting with Robin behind the Family Video venting to her as they passed a joint between each other. It was the end of her shift and he’d needed to let loose and talk it out with someone.

“This fucking bitch right, as if she wasn’t totally into it when we were hooking up. I don’t get why she’d say that shit to her, try to scare her off like that.” He holds out the joint to Robin and she takes a drag before answering.

“Dude are you that fucking dumb? You can’t see why the girl you used to hook-up with would want to scare away your girlfriend?”

“No, what?” He accepts the joint from her outstretched hand.

“She still wants you Munson, how’s she gonna get pinned down by you if you’re going steady with someone else.”

“Ha, who woulda thought I’d be in such high demand.”

“Oh, don’t let it get to your head… it’s big enough already, especially with all that hair. Don’t forget you started this off mad at her and worried about y/n.”

“Yeah, what… what can I do, I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t worry I’ll talk to y/n, we’ll sort this out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Now give that here.”

The Monday following their discussion Robin approaches you, grabbing your arm without hesitation dragging you off offering no explanation.

“Uhhh... Robin what’s going on?”

“You’ll see.” Is all she offers in response.

You’d managed to avoid Mandy after the blowout that had occurred but you realise that is exactly where she’s leading you, following her as she steps into the girls’ bathroom.

“You hurt my friend you little fucking bitch, now you apologise and stay far away from her and her boyfriend.” It’s a calm, quiet rage, unlike you’d ever seen her.

“Yeah, and why would I do that? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” She bites back.

“You… you did though…” you mumble nervously.

Robin stops you with a hand over yours, “You did fucking lie and because if you don’t, I’ll make sure the whole fucking school knows what a dirty fucking slut you are, just how much you love to take-” Mandy’s smirk drops.

“Whoa, Robin stop, don’t…” You gasp.

“No, I won’t stop, because if she does anything to hurt you or Eddie again, the whole school will know about her dirty little secret, how she likes to sleep around with the ‘Town Freak’ as she so likes to call him in public.”

“You wouldn’t… that’d hurt him too…” She attempts weakly.

“It wouldn’t actually, definitely nowhere near as what it’d do to you and your reputation.”

“Fine I won’t go near them, either of them. Happy?”

“Not just yet…” Robin drops your hand, storming over to her and laying the sharpest, loudest slap across her face you’d ever seen, it reverberates off the tiled walls.

“Now, I’m happy. Come on y/n, let’s go.” She walks back to you, grabbing your arm and leading you away.

You notice how she shakes her hand as you exit the bathroom, “You ok Robin, you didn’t hurt yourself did you?”

She glances down at her hand, “Nah, nah it was nothing.”

“That was amazing by the way, thank you.”

“Hey, what are friends for, right?”

“She uhh… that’s what she said right after she told me all that stuff about Eddie.”

“Oh, no, no she was never really your friend. You still have so many better friends than that and we are all here for you. You know that right?”

“Yeah, yeah thanks.”

#eddie munson fic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson x reader #eddie x reader #mentions of Dom!Eddie #mentions of Sub!Eddie #eddie x y/n #eddie munson x y/n #insecure!eddie

390 notes · View notes

un-pearable · 7 months

Text

okay post sonic symphony post recap :D

1st mezzanine sweep (could see both the orchestra + the singers excluding when they went in the audience at one point) + we were right next to the projector (cool!!!!) and some of the speakers (ouch)

orchestral:

setlist (as best i remember, i wasn’t writing it down, PLEASE correct me):

sonic 1

sonic cd

sonic 2

sky sanctuary

sonic mania

“welcome to 3D”

believe in myself/it doesn’t matter medley

chao garden

“three new ones”

rooftop run

aquarium park/planet wisp

frontiers medley w/ stuff from third DLC

i was so excitedly surprised to see the new visuals!!! they did a really great job combining the new origins cutscenes with gameplay and the timing was INCREDIBLE esp for a live show. infinite kudos and honestly i can appreciate them waiting two years to actually do this since the cutscenes really tied to first few medleys together

conductor absolutely CRUSHED IT dude was very understanding that the audience was going to be Losing It consistently and he made it work. so much love to that orchestra they did a stellar job and im so sad they’ll get overshadowed by the vocal parts (which. yeah obviously. but they did SUCH great work and the conductor did a great job directing the audiences applause to them)

felt bad they had to stop between every single medley for applause but such is life . also experiencing live audience reactions for stuff like the chemical plant zone drowning trap and amy being playable in the metal sonic race was amazing

enjoyed the sky sanctuary medley even though it took the place of the sonic 3k music overall, so much kudos to the video team that was SO cool (AND IT HAD THE FRONTIERS ANIMATED SPECIAL!!!!! YEAHHHH WIN FOR KNUCKLES FANS EVERYWHERE)

the believe in myself/it doesn’t matter one’s are always so sweet to me i love how they frame them using the cutscenes from each of their respective stories + the end card 🥺 now do that for everyone else’s themes!!!!!!!!!!

i’m definitely forgetting at least one bit in there but it was so delightful all around, the new arrangements were so fun, unleashed sweeps as always but one guy near me was SUPER passionate about aquarium park im glad he was happy. the frontiers medley ended w/ the new supersonic form and having not watched that trailer this was the BEST possible way to see that new content holy SHIT!!!!!!!!

intermission: that was the single most positive bathroom i’ve ever been in and i mean that in the least weird way possible. everyone was so so so excited and complimentary (ty to the person who liked my pins and whose fiancé liked the tails one. i like it a lot too :]) also kudos to the stunning wave cosplayer i saw she was killing it!!!!! molly whoever you were i hope you enjoyed the second half as much as i did

vocal tracks:

setlist (i actually did write this one down):

i am all of me

what i’m made of

open your heart

knight of the wind

escape from the city

(new!!) superstars intro theme

his world

reach for the stars

fist bump

endless possibility

(fake out ending)

break through it all

undefeatable

live and learn

the fake out of having only the orchestra on stage and then l having i am all of me just START even before johnny + jun got on stage. incredible. we were all so distracted i have to find a clip of the audible chaos when the music started going and everyone clocked it was SHADOW FIRST. anyway so so so funny they only showed cutscenes from shth . no gameplay. gee wonder why

interesting structure too, compared to the order of the OG one in 2021 (which focused more on ramping up to the classics + live n learn at the end) this order bookended some of the less popular songs (reach for the stars and the new superstars theme particularly) with the BIG names

you should have heard how much people lost it when johnny said “you are… what i’m made of” i’m so proud of you sonic symphony audience. we are all sonic heroes appreciators

oh also johnny + everyone’s clumsy attempts to name drop/imply song names in their inbetweens. hilarious. astounding. i’m glad we’re your knight johnny

^ re: prev i NEED a recording of that it was glorious. if anyone has one hmu

literally two minutes before the second half started i was telling my beloved friend i dragged along that all i needed to be happy was for them to have kept knight of the wind and it was the FOURTH SONG . WIN FOR JAY. 3 of my top fives within the first twenty mins of act 2. incredible

obviously escape from the city floored everyone. i think that got the most people singing but we were all already exhausted vocally it was very funny hearing what lines people mumbled. but it DID have the most call and response, with the biggest songs they would really just shut off the mics and let the audience sing a lot of lines it was so so fun

johnny took his leave from the stage (and complimented + thanked dave vives and also the fandom), said goodnight, and sometime around now tomoya ohtani was brought on (he deserved more applause and did eventually get it)

superstars theme was cool!!!! but right after city escape was funny bc . no one knows it. you go from most singable theme imaginable to everyone sitting as upright as possible and the half that wasn’t already recording to whip out their phones to capture it especially as they introduce it as “the first time this song has EVER played on this side of the ocean” lmao. hope you liked it london i’m glad you took us down a peg

his worrrrrrlddddd we all love it. we were all so tired. also we kept fumbling the lines bc we all like the zebra head version and rappings hard. i get it. video team did a fun job remixing the visuals for sonic + shadow + silver focus sections though it was really cool

reach for the stars really had people peetering out over the length partly bc we were all exhausted vocally and partly bc it’s sadly less iconic

i could not take fistbump seriously bc they had our beloved ian jr front and center for the whole video. it was glorious. they started w gadget for the opening bit and then bam ian jr everywhere. amazing . got a whole games worth of cutscenes with his beautiful face you did your creator (who was IN THE AUDIENCE) proud

good break before endless possibility though

possibilities are endless. ‘nuff said

jk the video was STUNNING and a lot of it was the opening cutscene which remains some of the best sonic animation ever to this day. and this song REALLY showcased how well the orchestra worked simultaneously with the band it was glorious . the use of the werehog transformation scene in time with:

mwa. stunning choice. and once again damn the band’s vocalist (dave vives) CRUSHED IT. johnny gave him a shout out for being a worthy successor at the shows he can’t attend and it was so so so deserved y’all are in for a treat

around here my ears + voice started genuinely feeling weird. the sacrifices we make for an absolutely wild experience (it’s all fine now though dw <3)

at this point they thanked everyone for coming + the band walked off stage and they turned all the lights off for a joke. me knowing they wouldn’t leave w/o live and learn was skeptical <- totally forgot they had a whole other guest star who hadn’t done his signature contribution yet

“one more” chanting ensued and my bro says he thinks they definitely had someone planted to say that but like. they did way more than one more. no way that was an intentional phrase

the band returned!!!! KELLIN QUINN KILLED IT

it’s dead. it’s dead and gone . my hearing and also the ability to play sonic music it’s been forever changed . hearing those incredible songs from frontiers + a full live orchestra backing up the astounding vocals (HOW) was incredible. this is when i could feel the literal balcony shaking . my vocal chords are going to kill me tomorrow

obligatory “just one more” was undefeatable and ngl im so glad they did it second, the hype up with break through it all made it even better despite them going the opposite in the game . should have used the cooler going supersonic clip from the trailers rather in game though . no one is immune to undefeatable + the extending music video was crazy good

ANOTHER “one last one” in which johnny was called back on stage, pretended to not know what people were asking for/what he was supposed to sing, got the ENTIRE crowd yelling the name of the song, and then and he + kellin absolutely crushed live and learn

it’s live and learn. it’s the perfect end note ft. quinn’s unparalleled vocals. what more do you need

they showed the really funny still shot of shadow overlaid on the moon for the last shot of the video and i know it’s the actual ending but it lingered for like 15 seconds and i couldn’t stop laughing . they showed all the dialogue captions leading up to him dying so i though they were going to show him falling to earth but nah. stock render brain store ass pose

still COOL AS HELL!!!!!!! they had us congratulate EVERYONE and all the individual band members and the orchestra and im so so so happy with how it went . one million thanks to these wonderful people they did a great job

a couple literally got engaged in the lobby. one group started belting sonic underground on like the third floor of the stairway. it was incredible. the oscar’s could never top this ty dolby theaterrr

absolutely incredible all around . special shout out to: the people lowkey cosplaying while still in formalwear (woman in a beautiful white dress wearing a rouge hairpiece i salute you. guy in blue suit and guy in orange suit you’re amazing. woman in the fanciest amy rose dress i’ve ever seen im in love). the people with awesome t-shirts i am among your ranks we love a fandom with cool shirt designs. people in full on cosplay i am so so happy for all the diversity in characters i saw. the line for merch that stretched all the way back into the theater at the end: what was the theater staff doing that was bonkers. the people handing out stickers that i missed i Will be stalking your online stores. all the people in normal formal wear carrying their plushies? amazing. the world is beautiful. goodnight everyone

#text✨#sonic symphony #sonic #i am. exhausted. didn’t get home for another three hours AND i had to eat. i can sleep now i’m glad i typed this up. 100% i’ll remember #smthn later but i like documenting it :]#hope so had someone posts a high quality slime tutorial soon i want to check some stuff #didn’t record much but i DID get the countdowns bc it was so fun hearing everyone’s attention get grabbed #i was in fact singing 99% of the time despite telling myself not to . the wonders of live music ina community full of love <3 #. and now for me to reckon with the fact that this is my first propert concert #long post #<- sorry

37 notes · View notes