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thot-of-khonshu · 2 years

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French Lessons

Pairing: Steven Grant X f! reader

Summary: You had been in desperate want to learn French, but the absolute droll of learning through a boring app was no fun. Coincidentally, you meet a brilliant gift shop clerk at the museum who can teach you French while you can teach him a thing or two about love.

Rating: Explicit 18+ (By proceeding to read beyond this warning, you agree that you are 18 years or older)

Word Count: 5K

Content: Explicit Smut, pining, masturbation references, dry humping, fingering, handjob, fluff, romance, French, Steven Grant, slight reference to Marc Spector

Notes: My Steven fic has finally arrived!! I'm hoping to turn this into a series because I have quite a few other ideas and I don't want to leave you hanging with just a taste of the two of them. But I hope you like it and share/reblog! Love y'all!

Updated Note: Wow!! Thank you so much for all of your kind words and notes. Part 2 is currently in the works and coming soon.

Part 2

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Vivienne Rousseau et bienvenue à votre premier cours de français’!

Hello! My name is Vivienne Rousseau and welcome to your first French lesson! Did you understand my first sentence? If not, not to worry! I will teach you how to learn and with the right dedication you’ll be speaking fluently in the next 6 months! Today’s lesson is all about beginnings…

You whine as you raise your volume on your phone to stay focused. However, the tall statues and figurines in front of you were not helping like you thought it would. You had come to the National Museum to gain some peace and clarity while starting this new venture. French was always a language you had dreamed of learning, so why not start now? Sure, the grating voice of Vivienne Rousseau would drag you along through it, but this was a new adventure. The start of something interesting…

As long as you could pay attention. It wasn’t your fault Vivienne’s voice sounded like a high-pitched foghorn. But the reviews for her app were rave and they wouldn’t take your credit card information for another week, so if it became a bigger drag than it already was, you could cancel your free trial.

You walked throughout the museum trying to focus on your lesson, but rewound the same phrases over and over.

Je m’apelle Vivienne. Je suis ravi de vous rencontrer.

You were thinking it wasn’t the pyramids and statues that weren’t helping you focus, but you figured it was time for you to leave the museum, regardless. Before the trip home, you stopped at the gift shop for a bottle of water. You walked over to the gift shop counter t o grab the attention of a man entirely more focused on his Egyptian mythology book than having to sell stuffed scarabs. He looked slightly disheveled, with black curly tendrils falling all over his head. When you made eye contact with him, he had dark crescents under his eyes and a timid smile. He looked so nervous to a complete stranger, you couldn’t imagine how he was towards his coworkers.

Reaching for your water, the cord of your earbuds snapped and broke free from your phone. If you hadn’t noticed by the snapping of the cord, you would’ve noticed from Vivienne’s grating voice booming throughout your speaker:

Bonjour! Comment ça vas?

“Bien, merci. Et vous-même?” You look up and the tired, timid man has spoken, meeting your eyes with a softer smile.

You smile back and laugh. “Sorry about that. This is what happens when I don’t get earbuds from the last five years.”

“Well, it’s not about the earbuds, innit? It’s what’s in them that matters. Learning French?” He asks.

“If you could even call it that. I thought coming to the museum would help me focus up, but this woman I’m listening to sounds well braindead.”

“Je suis désolé. D'après ce que j'ai entendu, elle ressemblait à un bouton absolu.” The crinkles in the corner of his eyes became more prominent and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m sorry. From what I heard, she sounded like an absolute knob.” He translated. He introduced himself. Steven. With a V. You asked Steven with a V if he’d like to make some extra money on the side and before you knew it, you were meeting at the bistro every Wednesday for an hour of French lessons with Steven with a V.

Steven was not as drab and droning as Vivienne Rousseau, quite the opposite. Before and after your hour was up, you found yourselves talking more and more about your days; him describing the gift shop and his aspirations to be a tour guide despite his awful boss Donna. You couldn’t understand how he wasn’t. It seemed like everything he talked about could circle back to his love for Egyptology and the wonder of the gods and goddesses. How does someone like that know so much about it but he’s stuck behind a desk selling crisps and plushies?

After your 3rd meeting, you’d plucked up the courage to ask him. The first thing he did was look at you after those compliments with such earnest gratitude you felt your insides melt. The second thing he told you was that he had a sleeping disorder that kept him further back in life than he’d wanted. He aspired to have adventure, and life and zest as much as he could, but for right now… the gift shop was just enough.

That was the first night you had gone to bed thinking of how kind his smile was, chasing the warmth throughout your body it had given you as if you’d just taken a shot. You’d found yourself eager for the next lesson, to hear about his new studies, to watch his hands as he notated on your writing.

You’d gotten to the bistro thirty minutes early, in your same corner table at the patio, waiting for Steven.

You waited.

And you waited.

Two hours later, he never showed.

You felt your insides deflate as you traveled home. You’d checked your text messages every ten minutes hoping to see a sign that he was okay or if he was busy or if he just didn’t want to come. Maybe he’d seen the way you looked at him in your last lesson and found it inappropriate?

You wished Steven standing you up would’ve completely turned you off to him, but unfortunately, it just had him occupying your mind more and more until the sounds of his voice describing tales of the green jewel lulled you to sleep.

You woke up the next morning to your phone going off, although it wasn’t your alarm. Steven was in the middle of writing you a flurry of text messages with apologies about how he wasn’t able to make it last night and how his sleeping had completely mucked his week up. He asked if you were free that night for your lesson and a free meal to make it up. While you agreed to see him, your worry and apprehension weren’t immediately gone. You weren’t sure if this was just his common excuse he had given women, but, it was worth it to hear him out.

You had gotten to the restaurant and there at your familiar corner table was Steven Grant, looking like the saddest dog you had ever seen. As soon as you were in eye view, he walked up to you, moving to place his hand on your shoulder but hesitating. He moved it back to clasp his other palm, whispering your name.

“I am so deeply, deeply sorry. I go to bed on Saturday and then I woke up, and it’s Thursday and I feel like I got hit by a double-decker bus and— “

“Je te pardonne. Mangeons.” You had said. I forgive you. Let’s Eat. And he flashed you that damn smile again, and you felt your insides crack like an egg to the stove.

There wasn’t as much lesson as there was dinner this night as you and Steven had discussed every topic you could. Work, music, books, television. No topic was left off the table as you waited for your food. The server brought out the very vegan Steven’s steaming lentil soup and what was supposed to be your salmon was replaced with a large burger.

“I’m so sorry miss, it’s a bit of a mess in the kitchen back there tonight. I’ll get this sorted out straight away.” The server said to you. You saw the steam coming out of Steven’s soup and instead of digging in, his hands were placed politely on his lap.

When the server came back out, he had brought trout, which you were unfortunately allergic to or else you would’ve scarfed it down by then. More than a half hour had gone by and you were still waiting for your dinner. And there was Steven, hands no longer in his lap but marking your French in his thick glasses. You took a mental note of how good he looked in them while cursing yourself for doing so.

“Steven, if you want to eat, I completely understand. Your food must already be freezing.” You said, eying the way his hands held his pen.

“Not to worry.” He said cheerfully. “The great thing about lentils is that you can eat them hot or cold and I want to make sure you’re taken care of. Laisse moi prendre soin de toi.” You immediately felt your face redden and were so glad that your food had come back correctly this time so you could bury your head in your salmon and vegetables.

When you went home that night, you thought of his thick fingers, his kind eyes and the repeat of him saying “Laisse moi prendre soin de toi” in your head as you slowly slipped your fingers under the covers, dreaming of how your French tutor would say that to the heat between your legs.

Laisse moi prendre soin de toi. Let me take care of you.

He wasn’t late for the next lesson. He was there when you had arrived, 15 minutes before, to counter the overeager 30 minutes versus strolling in right on time. You wanted him to know you care about these lessons, but maybe not too much.

When you had walked over to the table, Steven had another downtrodden look on his face. His lips were turned down, and he was looking down at the ground. When he heard your footsteps, his face immediately brightened and damn, this was not helping your crush.

“Bad day at the museum?” You greet him as he sullenly nodded.

“Donna started taking the piss at me as soon as I got into work. A child — a child!! — came up to me and asked me where the bloody bathroom was and all I hear after I show her where it is—‘Stevie, you’re not a tour guide. It’ll never happen, so stop trying.’” He mocked Donna with a nasally grating voice.

“I’m sorry. It’s like she doesn’t even give you a chance to prove yourself.”

“Exactly!!” Steven excitedly exclaims as a few people from other tables looked around. He muttered apologies. “I’m just so tired of her thinking I’m some bumbling git. It’s not like she knows where the Hathor temple is and she could answer someone if they asked her. She wouldn’t even know Hathor if she bit her in the arse.”

You giggled as he went on. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling. Let’s get on with our lesson soon, but do you mind if I eat here again tonight? She wouldn’t even let me take a lunch today!”

“Well, since you had an absolutely shit day, I think it’s my turn to get dinner. And I’ll do one extra.” The server came around to your table as Steven looked at you, puzzled.

“Excuse me, sir, but can you recommend your finest French wine?”

A couple of hours later and two bottles of wine down, dinner was finished but there yet again wasn’t much of a French lesson. Giddy and bubbly from wine, you and Steven continued your endless back and forth and it felt like you could talk to him about just about anything. You saw him look at his phone screen to look at the time and you felt your heart sink a bit.

“Oh bugger, it’s already 9 PM.” Steven frowned. “I don’t want to keep you too long. I’m sure you have plenty to do.”

“No! Wednesdays are always our nights.” You saw his smile widen when you said that, the crinkles in his eyes deepening. “Besides, I wouldn’t just consider tonight a French lesson but me trying to cheer up a friend who seems to have had a bad day.”

“Not so bad now, innit?” He grinned. You looked into his eyes with no reluctance, the alcohol warming your body giving you courage to keep contact. He had beautiful, dark eyes and his nose was so strong and defined. You knew better than to even look at his lips, though, because once you did, you would stare too long and then goodbye to your friend and French tutor.

You heard a slight rumble and felt droplets hit your shoulders. First quietly and then pounding as the rain came through like a. Luckily you had already paid for yours and Steven’s food so you ran under the patio’s awning, Steven’s arm was halfway out of his jacket when he ran over to you and then flipped the jacket over your head.

“What do we do now? I know we’re having a great time, but you’re also not exactly paying me to gossip during a rainstorm.” Steven shouted over the loud rain.

Liquid courage be damned. You thought of an offer that you didn’t want to come off the wrong way, but it was raining and you did pay him for a lesson you hadn’t exactly completed. You bit your lip in contemplation and you could’ve sworn in the corner of your eye you saw Steven eyeing your swollen bottom lip.

“My flat isn’t too far, if you don’t mind it.” Steven looked at you for what felt like a long moment and you held your breath. He nodded and kept his jacket above your head the entire way.

As soon as you had gotten to your flat, you thought the alcohol would wear off, but the last bottle you two had shared was just kicking in. The two of you ran and giggled back to your apartment like a couple of schoolchildren, and you felt so refreshed. You loved that you could be silly with him.

“This is it! Sorry I haven’t fixed it up much.” You said, tossing your shoes on the floor and your keys on your counter.

“It’s much better than my place.” Steven looked around. “You wouldn’t be surprised though, loads of books, loads of paperwork, a goldfish named Gus.”

You snorted. “Come on, my books and my desk are in the bedroom.”

He followed you into your bedroom as you turned on the desk light, lit enough to illuminate the space needed but not too bright to cause a headache. You fell onto your bed, back first, with your arms stretched out to the back of your head. It felt so good to close your eyes. It felt so good being tipsy. It felt so good being with Steven. Where is Steven? When you opened your eyes, there he was at your desk, eyeing your stack of French books.

“I have to say this is quite the collection, miss.” He took his glasses out of his shirt pocket and slipped them on and you had to shut your eyes quickly before the heat between your legs grew to an uncomfortable amount. “Baudelaire, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore and you have my favorite, Victor Hugo.”

“No way, Victor Hugo is my favorite as well!” You shot up excitedly. He had Hugo’s book in his hand as he skimmed through.

“Le Roi S’amuse, I love absolutely love this play.”

“Can I tell you something?” You swung your feet off of your bed to distract your bubbling nerves. “I’ve really wanted to pick up French just so I can read more French literature I can fall in love with. See more plays, get more cultured.”

“That’s what I like about you.” Steven said, bringing the book with him as moved next to you on the bed. “We haven’t exactly gone over this term yet, but when I think about you, I think of your joie de vivre. Your lust for life. You see things and opportunities and you take them.”

You feel yourself redden. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I just mean, if it was the other way around, I could’ve never walked up to an attractive stranger and asked them to teach me French.” He looks down nervously for a brief moment and then steadies himself, giving you deep eye contact. You’re almost rendered speechless.

“Are you telling me you find yourself attractive, Steven Grant?” You whisper. Your eyes are locked on each other. You’ve never seen someone with such dark, kind eyes.

“Can I tell you which verse is my favorite?” You break the silence. “It would probably do me good to have you hear some of my French tonight.” You giggle. Steven doesn’t giggle. He slowly nods as your liquid courage takes over. Your hands are shaking, but you feel the electricity.

You slip your hands onto his and help guide him to your favorite passage. His eyes don’t leave your face. It’s as if he’s studying you like a new art installation.

“La vie est une fleur, l’amour en est le miel.” You recite.

“Life is a flower, love is its honey.” Steven translates. His hands are so, so warm on yours.

“C’est la colombe unie à l’aigle dans le ciel,” you continue, briefly daring to look up at his eyes, which are now on your hands. He looks absolutely dazed, as if he can’t believe this is real.

“It’s the dove united with the eagle in the sky,” You notice Steven's hands are shaking too.

“C’est la grâce tremblante à la force appuyée,” Do you dare to move your hands?

“It’s the trembling grace to the leaning force,” He’s looking directly at you again. No wine, no French, no lentil soup could save you now.

“C’est ta main dans ma main doucement oubliée…” You rub your hands on top of his and his fingers feel exactly how you thought they would, and more.

“It’s your hand in my gently forgotten hand…” He moves one hand to your shoulder. Your heart feels as if it’s in your throat.

“Aimons-nous! aimons-nous!” There are exclamation points in the text, but all that comes out of your mouth is a faint whisper.

“Let’s love each other. Let’s love each other.” Somehow, your faint whisper is louder than Steven’s.

And then silence. You feel yourself gravitate towards him, the heat of your lips meeting as they finally collide and give you the sweetest satisfaction.

Steven Grant’s lips are softer than you could have ever fantasized. He’s gentle, slow and leaves you lingering for more. One hand is still on your Victor Hugo book, rubbing the palm of your hand as your fingers are laced together.

You break apart briefly and lean your foreheads on each other, grinning as he rubbed your shoulder.

“I feel like I’ve been wanting to do that since I first met you.” Steven confesses. You take your other hand and run it through his tussled black curls as you continue to kiss him. He follows your lead, matching the pace of your kisses and, albeit awkwardly initially, slipped his tongue into your mouth, letting you taste him.

As the kiss deepened, you heard the book slam onto the ground with a large thud as you lifted yourself onto his lap. You heard Steven gasp, and you broke the kiss.

“Is everything alright?” You scan his eyes for any discomfort.

“I’m alright, love.” His hands continue gripping your shoulders tightly. You place your hands on them, moving them slowly from your shoulders to the curve of your hips.

“You don’t have to worry.” You whisper into his lips. “You can touch me however you want.” He exhaled and gripped your hip with more confidence. His other hand moved to the back of your neck as your lips crashed together, moving at a faster pace. You moan as he slips his tongue into your mouth, which causes him to moan. You pushed against him, slowly rocking on him, your skirt slipping up by the friction.

He groans before breaking the kiss. “I should let you know something. I’m not like other men.”

“That’s precisely what I like about you, Steven.” You move your lips to the warmth of his neck, sucking on him as he groans again, shaking his head as if he needs to get out of his trance.

“No, I’m serious. I’ve told you about my sleeping disorder… how it causes me to miss certain days and how I feel so knackered afterwards. It’s… caused me to miss quite a bit out of life.”

“And I can help you make it up.” You nibble on his ear.

“I’m a virgin.” He blurts out so fast you almost miss it.

You take a moment to settle into his lap, hands still firmly smoothing out his soft curls. He looks down with a tinge of shame and embarrassment that you’re puzzled by, so you reassure him by lifting his chin up and giving him a soft kiss.

“Hey, come on now. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It just hasn’t happened yet.”

“Yeah, at least not with the right person.” He takes his slightly shaky hand to hold the side of your face as you kiss his palm.

“Well, we can go at whatever pace you like tonight.”

"I just want to make you feel good.” Steven whispers. “Show me how to do that and I’ll be satisfied enough tonight.”

“But I want you to be satisfied too, Steven. And I think I know of a way to do that.”

You press your lips against his, but this time hungrier, needier. You wanted to show him how much you had been pining for him all of these weeks. Steven could steadily match with your pace, boldly biting your lower lip and smiling as he heard a moan exit your mouth.

You move his hand from your face, slowly sliding it down your neck, to the curve of your breast. Steven let out a whimper as you guided his hand to knead your breast. He stared at your hands together, mouth agape, eyes hooded, in a trance.

You moved his hand from your breast to your stomach, to your thighs as you guided his hand up your dress. You planted soft kisses on him while you guided him, but when you stop at the heat between your legs, he’s absolutely speechless. You remove your hand from his, letting him decide his next step.

He rubs the outline of the wetness of your underwear as you sigh in pleasure.

“Steven…” You whisper.

“I could never get tired of hearing my name said like that.” He sighed, still looking at you in absolute unabashed awe. You removed the straps from your sundress, exposing your naked breasts, and instead of the trembling nerves Steven had shown you, he was massaging and rubbing at one nipple while still rubbing the outline of your underwear.

“That feel good?” Steven murmured.

“So good Steven.” Your nipples had started to harden under his touch. Steven removed his hand from your crotch so he could steady himself and focus on putting his breasts in your mouth. He took ample time with both of them, switching back and forth and sucking on them with such passion that his eyes were shut and he was moaning, silently praising your chest.

After a few moments of bliss, you stopped him, lifting his head up as he could watch you get off of his lap and onto your knees. Just the simple action of you kneeling between his raging erection caused him to start quietly panting, not wanting any sudden movements to ruin this moment.

You unfastened his belt, eyes still met with his as you saw the bulge from his boxers. There was a slight wet spot of pre-cum on the fabric and you felt your mouth water with anticipation. You pulled his boxers down so his cock could spring free and you weren’t only surprised but very pleased.

Steven’s cock was so thick you could barely touch your thumb when wrapping your hand around him. He was already so firm and hard for you, veins slightly protruding out and more liquid glistening at the top of his tip.

“Oh my God.” Steven chanted as you rubbed him up and down. “Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I can’t believe you’re so big.” You say, a bit hypnotized yourself. You had fantasized about this moment but couldn’t believe it was actually happening and better than you had ever expected.

“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Steven strained out. “As much as I would love for you to put your mouth… all… over me… I think our fun would end rather quickly, and that leaves us with a bit of a problem.”

You slightly turn your mouth, upset you can’t have your mouth take the challenge of swallowing his cock just yet, but then you come up with an even better idea, giving Steven a devilish grin.

You slip his boxers back on, his bulge even more prominent than before, and Steven looks up at you with a puzzled look. You wrapped your legs around his hips and sunk your clothed crotch into his.

“Oh, fuck.” Steven moaned, calling out your name. “Fuck, that feels amazing.” He fastened his hands on your hips as you slowly rocked into him. You put your forehead onto his, breathing in each other’s air as Steven quickened the pace, the pressure of his thickness tightening your bundle of nerves. You started to grind onto him, hard and fast, as he held himself steady with the softness of your ass.

The warm pressure of his cock was about to make you come undone. His head was buried in between your breasts, not sucking at them but just breathing you in, just to make sure you were real. That this was real.

Steven pushed his crotch up against you at a pace that you knew would unravel you. Your moans together became more rhythmic.

“Steven, I’m so close, please don’t stop.” You whined. You brought your hand not tangled in his curls to your clit as you began to rub it, this just quickened Steven’s pace as you bounced on his crotch, his hands gripped on your ass so tightly you knew you’d have bruises later.

As your moans got louder, you felt yourself release, your orgasm throbbing throughout your entire body. Steven came quickly after, abruptly stopping as he released his warmth into his boxers. The two of you panted together, heads still connected through your foreheads. Closer than ever.

“Wow.” Steven meekly whispered. “That was better than I ever imagined it would be. Tu es exquis."

”Tu es incroyable.” You whispered back, looking at him as he smiled warmly at you. “See, I’ve been paying attention.”

The two of you laid there for a few moments until Steven went into your bathroom to clean up. You had slowly stripped away your dress and your bra, nestling under your duvet, leaving some space behind you for the wonderful man you were waiting for.

A few moments passed, and you felt his warm body surrounding you, arms around your waist as he lay there naked, reciting Victor Hugo’s romantic poetry into your ear.

“I reckon if I can’t give you a full French lesson, this was the best substitute.” Steven’s hands were circling lazily around your arms and you briefly reminisced about the time when he didn’t even know if a hug was appropriate. And now here he is in your bed, wearing no clothes and reciting poetry into your ear.

Sometimes real life really eclipses fantasy.

“I’d say this absolutely makes up for it, and then some. But… I think we’re going to have to go into double time next lesson to make up for it.” You grinned.

“You’re right, maybe an oral exam will have to do.” Steven awkwardly quipped and you both laughed at his awkwardly adorable attempt at double entendre.

You turned around and opened your arms up towards him. He moved his head towards your chest, arms gripping your waist tightly with the same fervor as earlier, as if you would float away and this was all a dream.

You buried your fingers in his curls, gripping your free hand to the back of his head until you drifted asleep.

Steven Grant, the shy gift shop clerk that had offered you French lessons.

Steven Grant, the brilliant, burgeoning Egyptologist that brightened your life with his stories and his warmth.

Steven Grant. The start of something new.

#steven grant #steven grant smut #steven grant x you #steven grant fluff #steven grant x reader #steven grant fanfiction #moon knight #moon knight x reader #moon knight x you #moon knight smut #oscar isaac x you #oscar isaac x reader #oscar isaac smut #oscar isaac x y/n #steven grant x y/n #marvel #mcu #mcu smut #marvel smut

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asta-writes-stuff-moved · 3 months

Text

Y/N and Campbell Bain go out for the night

a/n: this is my first fic!! constructive criticism is fine but pls be nice :]

wc: 856

c/w: alcohol (only mentioned), think that's it, lmk if not tho

“Hey, Campbell,” You whisper through the dark.

“What is it?” He replies, his voice full of sleep.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Aw shit, I’m sorry Y/N, I forgot. I’ll be ready in a minute.”

“Ok,”

You fiddle with your fingers as you hear him rustling about in his room. Your attention shifts as he pops his head around the doorframe.

“You got anything you’ll need?”

“Yeah, in my bag,” You lift it up to show him.

“Perfect,” He flashes that wide grin of his and steps out of his room, checking around for anyone watching before grabbing your hand and pulling you to the door that leads out of the ward. He fishes in his jacket pocket for a moment before he pulls out Fergus’ card and unlocks the door.

“After you m’lady!”

“Why thank you, kind sir!” He laughs at your attempt at a posh accent and you step out of the ward.

“So where exactly are we going?” You ask as the two of you walk across the quiet hospital grounds.

“A spot I know,” He grins at you, “you’ll find out soon enough won’t ye? Quit asking!”

The two of you walk until you reach the back of a wide building. As you inspect the building you notice flashing lights through the cracks of an exit door.

“Fergus told me I could just tell them we know him and they’d let us in. Think we’ve gotta go around front though.”

You grab his hand as he leads you around to the front of the building. It seems fairly inconspicuous aside from the strobe lights still flashing through the cracks of the doors.

Campbell raps his knuckles on the door and the sound echoes sharply through the quiet. It takes a minute, but eventually a man opens the door. He’s tall and big and looks scary and you shuffle behind Campbell. Campbell doesn’t seem deterred by him in the slightest.

“Hey there, I was told to tell you I know Fergus MacKinnon.” He smiles widely at the man.

The man looks at the two of you for a second before nodding his head and stepping aside, letting you in the door. As you walk by him Campbell gives him a big grin and you give him a polite nod.

After you’ve gone in and had a chance to take in your surroundings you notice a few things. Firstly, everyone here seems older than you. There definitely isn’t anyone else as young as you and Campbell, probably because they serve alcohol, you think as you notice a bar on one end of the room. The second thing you notice is the blaring music. It’s not the old music you’re used to hearing on the station at St. Jude’s, it’s loud and fast, distracting you from Campbell trying to get your attention.

“Hey! Y/N! You in there?” He yells over the music, tapping your forehead.

“Yeah, sorry,” You shout back at him.

“What d’ya think? Cool place, huh?”

“Yeah, I like the music.”

“I thought you would!” He seems delighted that you like it.

“Are we allowed to be here? I think they’re serving alcohol, you know.”

“Oh, don’t worry so much Y/N, that’s not why we’re here.” He grabs your hand, surveying the place. You follow him to a small table far to one end of the room. As you sit down he grabs his chair and pulls it over right next to yours.

You lean into him so you don’t have to shout as much, “This is cool and all but why are we here Campbell?”

He leans down so his mouth is right next to your ear, “Fergus told me about it and I thought you’d like it. I know how much you love the music we’ve got at St. Jude’s so I thought you’d have a good time coming and listening to some new music.”

You can feel your face heat up as you turn to look at him. He’s smiling softly down at you and you smile back.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for ya, Y/N.”

“That was really fun, thank you Campbell.” You tell him as you walk across the grounds back to St. Jude’s.

“O’course Y/N. Just let me know if you ever wanna go again.”

He takes your hand in his and pulls you with him as he breaks into a run. The two of you race through the grounds, taking the longest route back you know of.

“Well, I guess this is where I drop ya off.” He whispers, you can hear a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic about it, your room is five steps away.” You roll your eyes at him.

“Yeah, well I had fun tonight. I like spending time with you.”

You stand on your tiptoes and throw your arm around his shoulders to pull him down and you plant a kiss on his cheek. He flashes that big, bright smile of his at you one last time and you return it before heading into your room and closing the door for the night.

#takin over the asylum #campbell bain x reader #campbell bain x you #campbell bain fanfiction #takin over the asylum fanfiction

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simp999 · 1 year

Text

A new view on life

𝙑𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨! 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘! 𝙏𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙭 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

Word count: 2.5k

Warning: Baji swears because he's Baji

Characters: Mikey, Draken, Baji, Chifuyu, Mitsuya, Hakkai, Pah-chin, Peh-yan, Nahoya and Souya Kawata

A/N: I wrote this a while back and had it in my drafts, so I decided to share it!

Holy wow you guys! So glad you're enjoying my fics!!

If this gets to 100 likes I'll drop a Chifuyu x reader :D

Masterlist

Enjoy! Let's start with a flashback, shall we? <3

"Ken-chiiin!"

"What is it, Mikey?"

"I want some dorayaki."

Draken lets out a sigh, having already told Mikey that he didn't have any money on him. Mikey let out a pout.

You on the other hand found it cute and decided to help them out. With a grin on your face, you butt in beside them and asked Mikey what flavor he wanted. "See Ken-chin? Somebody cares!" Draken lets out another sigh, this time a small smirk adorning his face. "Yeah yeah, whatever Mikey."

Not too long after, you left the shop with your own snack. You followed the two boys since you had nothing better to do. Maybe it's because you struck his sweet spot, but Mikey was intrigued by you. He decided then and there that you three would be friends. (Draken didn't have much of a choice, but he didn't mind all too much.) Eventually, you guys started hanging out more often. It wasn't rare that you would take Mikey on what you called 'mini-dates.' These mostly consisted of taking him out to get some dorayaki.

+*:ꔫ:*﹤~Present time!~ ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

"Hey, hey!! I'm baaaack~" You called out to the gang after making your grand entrance, the room's atmosphere immediately brightening. It was hard to miss the way most of the boys smiled at your presence, you definitely had an impact on them. You heard a few hello's and hi's, then sat down with them.

"Hey angel, you came to join us for food?" You had already told Baji to quit calling you that countless times, but he wouldn't let up. Especially after the events of Halloween, where you quite literally became his angel.

You hummed in response, trying to strike up a conversation to lighten the mood. You asked Mitsuya how the girls were doing. They were doing good. "They won't stop asking when you'll visit again though," He lets out a light chuckle, "I think they like you or something." The conversations went on and on, you were finally glad to be with the people you cared about most. These were the moments you lived for. Draken then grabbed a newspaper that was resting on the table, trying to see if anything important was happening.

"Oh damn. So they strike again, huh?" He more so muttered to himself, but now the boys were interested. He continued:

"Looks like the Wakai Kyoi gang isn't stopping anytime soon. They just beat down another gang that's been around for a few generations."

"They're the ones that usually only take on the older generations, right?" Chifuyu inquired, trying to make sure he was on the same page as everyone else. Mikey then chimed in, his mouth full of dorayaki:

"A new age of delinquents. I like the way they think. But if we're gonna be the top gang in Tokyo, then we'll have to beat them one day."

"It really is a shame that that gang never teams up, they're pretty nit-picky about who joins. I also heard that the boss is pretty two-sided. Reminds me of the twins." Baji joins in on the fun, flaunting his canines at the information he just dropped.

"The boss is known as the Devious Viper, yeah? We should watch out for them. They sound pretty strong. As if they'll just come and attack outta nowhere, y'know?" Nahoya shows off his signature smile, despite genuinely being uneasy at the thought of running into this boss person.

You listened intently on their conversation, curious about their thoughts on this gang that's been lurking. Only now taking a look at the time, you realize that you should have probably left a few minutes ago. Bidding your goodbyes, you explain that family calls. Making sure that the joyride they had planned is still ongoing that night at sunset, you part ways.

+*:ꔫ:*﹤~Timeskip!~ ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

"OTSUKARESAMA DESU!"

The familiar sound echoes in your ears. You've taught them well. You head over to your vice-prez. It was suddenly quiet again. The air was cold, and everyone was only focused on one person.

"So. What happened to our younger brother here?"

"Our vice-captain of the eighth division was attacked. It was said that another gang ambushed him. He is now in the hospital with a broken leg, swelled eye, and multiple bruises." Your vice replied reluctantly, nearly afraid of what you may counter with.

It was quiet for a moment, the air becoming colder and more distant by the second. A small frown becoming noticable across your features .You finally made a decision.

"Eighth Division captain, please step up."

"Yes, boss!" Short, curly hair bounces as he replies.

"Will the Eighth Division be able to take care of this shit-stain of a gang?" You ask through grit teeth, an air of frustration surrounding you.

"Yes, Boss!" The boy replied, and you could see his smirk slowly growing. The eighth division captain was known for being relentless, and for getting his revenge when someone close to him was attacked. Especially his vice-captain.

"Then that is all. Remember! We protect this family of ours with all we've got, no matter what it takes. We are one big family, and that will never change." The once cold air suddenly felt warm, the members remembering why they joined. To have people to rely on, and to have people rely on them. They are family. A few cheers could be heard throughout the crowd, your words made a great impact once again.

You head over to the hospital with your vice-president, planning on visiting one of your youngest members. You had finally arrived at his room. Oh, how you felt so bad seeing your members injured. He was still asleep when you two arrived. You walk over to him gently and lightly lean on his bed. You softy bring your fingers to trace over his face, moving some of the short hairs away from his eyes, and careful to avoid his injuries.

"We will get revenge for you. I promise to take care of you as best as I can. I'm so very sorry for not being there for you." You whisper to him, lightly kissing him on his hairline, reassuring him that you will always do your best to protect your formed family. Your vice president was always happy to see this side of you. It was uncanny how quickly your personality could go from deadly to caring.

Once visiting hours are over, you realize that it's about time you meet up with the Toman boys.

"Could you supervise the fight?" You directed your attention to your vice. "Not that our eighth is weak, but we can't have more members getting too badly injured. Especially with how far he goes sometimes, he may need someone to hold him back." You finish with a light chuckle.

"Of course, boss." Your vice knows the real reason you can't have your members getting badly injured. It's not because your gang will lose power, that's not at all what worries you. Seeing any of your family get injured breaks your heart bit by bit every time you witness it.

"I already told you, call me by my first name," you grin at him. "I thought we were close!" You pester him. The sun is already starting to set once you look out the window, you'd really better get going now.

+*:ꔫ:*﹤~Timeskip!~ ﹥*:ꔫ:*+ﾟ

"Hi, hii! Sorry 'm late, family business got out of hand, haha!" You looked around, feeling bad for taking so long.

"It happens, don't worry about it. You ready?" Mitsuya assures you, knowing firsthand how difficult some things could get. He does have two sisters, after all.

You hop on your motorcycle, the one Draken had perfected to your taste.

"You know it, 'Kashi!"

You glance around one last time before yelling at the top of your lungs,

"LET'S GO, TOMAN!"

Every last one of you took off, the only sound being the beautiful revs of your engines.

It was so warm and comfortable, you think. 'This is what I live for,' you think, 'This is the stuff I didn't want to miss out on. This is the youth I was hoping to live.' You finally built the life you were hoping for. Your family by blood may be gone now, but you built yourself a new one. You now have friends to back you up and to hang out with. You really wish that this could last forever. You speed up a little, old memories resurfacing, making you emotional. You wouldn't want to let your closest friends see the tears brimming your eyes now, would you?

You remember that one time you brought Mitsuya and his sisters ice skating. Mana fell and hurt her knee, so you ended up buying snowcones for the four of you. 'She was over that so quickly, I bet she just wanted a treat.' You giggle to yourself at the thought.

The day you met Chifuyu was when you visited your favorite manga store. It turns out you both were trying to keep up with the same series that was currently coming out. From then on you made it a goal to hang out with him and watch anime together.

You had already met Draken because of Mikey, but the two of you didn't chat or hang out too much until you initiated it. One day you found him on the ground, fixing his bike. You took an interest in what he was doing and offered to help with whatever you could.

Then there was this one time Pah-chin came to you for dating advice. That was a bit of a mess, but you two managed to find some flowers and chocolates that his girlfriend may like. 'It's good to know he's dedicated. Toman really is full of good people.'

Baji eventually convinced you to hang out with him after finding out that you were a little artistic, he offered to go to a suburban area and spraypaint a full wall. The two of you stayed there for hours, emptying a few of the cans. You definitely left your mark there, and it was sure to be there for a while.

You also remember saving Peh-yan from getting bullied because of his fashion sense on multiple occasions. Yeah, he may be dumb, but you'll be there to help out.

And of course Hakkai! He's so fun to tease. The idea of him being a model comes up again and again, even if it's totally out of context. You'll find any means to slip it into conversation just to see his flushed face.

Lastly, the Kawata Twins. They sure were unique. You really did like hanging out with them, even though Smiley could be a bit much. It wasn't rare that you would take them out for ramen, very much enjoying seeing their swapped facial expressions. It's so weird to see Angry smiling and Smiley with his eyes open, but it's cute nonetheless.

Time had flown by, and the sun was just barely in sight. It really sucks that these moments don't actually last forever. At least you could make the best of it while you were there. You smile back at the boys, now slightly ahead of them. (Baji was not content with that whatsoever.) You yelled back behind you, getting a rise out of the Toman members.

"Oi! Race you to the shrine! Last one there's buying lunch tomorrow!"

You did indeed love these guys, they do mean the world to you. But does that mean that you'd let them win?

Absolutely not.

Once everyone had arrived, you finally let out what you had on your mind.

"Man, I'll never get tired of that," You look up at them to see them grinning back at you, clearly thinking the same thing. "How about a picture to remember this by?"

Chifuyu sets up the camera and makes sure everyone is in position. A few seconds after he joins you guys, a clicking sound is heard. You immediately rush to his phone to check out how it turned out.

"Hell yeah! This is so going on my wall~" A few of them chuckle at your sudden outburst, even though they share the feeling with you. What a good day to be alive. It is getting late though, so everyone ends up parting ways, agreeing to meet up for lunch.

Baji was paying, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You all meet up once again at one of the restaurants you're so familiar with. Everyone is here now. You invited Takemichi as well since he is technically in the gang too. Mikey is nearly passed out, (Draken had to drag him out of bed). Chifuyu is trying to help Baji budget the dishes. Peh and Pah are fighting over which type of soup was better. Mitsuya is helping Hakkai with his outfit, complaining about something being crooked. 'He'll definitely be a good fashion designer.' You think. The twins are deciding on which food to get. They wanted to get the same thing, but Smiley wanted it to be way too spicy. Takemichi ended up bringing his friends because they wouldn't take no as an answer. Oh well, the more the merrier, right?

You shed your jacket before remembering something. You wanted to make this another fond memory, so you get up, excusing yourself. Turning your back to the rowdy teens, Yamagishi notices something. A serpent? Black wings? He wracks his brain, knowing he's seen that tattoo before. It was rare that you wore a tank top, so this was the first time he could get a glimpse. Then it clicked.

"...Holy shit." He's still staring at your back, and it shushes everyone at the table. Most of them are now confused, trying to understand what was up with his sudden statement.

"You guys ever hear of the Devious Viper, from the Wakai Kyoi gang?" A few of them nod at his question, others humming. He continues,

"The boss has a tattoo of a viper on their back, along with black wings." The others finally understand. They're in shock. Not even Pah-chin is making a ruckus.

"Holy fuck..." Baji starts, his face blank. His face then contorts into his fanged grin, "We've got a fuckin' badass on the team!" The table erupts in cheers, nearly getting them kicked out. The Toman members are absolutely shocked at this, but they think it's one of the coolest things ever.

You were just around the corner, wanting to know what they thought about you. You were afraid that they'd ditch you right away, never wanting to cross paths with you again. A sigh of relief can barely be heard. 'So this is what real friends are like, huh?' You then continue your journey, arriving at your destination and ordering what you wanted. A few minutes later, you had finally returned to the table. The members quiet down when you arrive, trying to hold their excitement.

"So..."

You take a breath in, composing yourself.

"Who's up for boba?!"

Wide grins spread across their faces as cheers erupt once again around the table.

You dish out cups of boba for everyone, so very glad that they trust you.

You mutter underneath your breath with a small smile,

"This is why I love you guys."

April 14, 22

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kumidark · 1 year

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more on these ships below the cut:

sorbetcrepe: they met when sorbet shark accidentally destroyed some of strawberry crepe's wafflebots;;; as an apology, they let strawberry crepe run jam/dough tests on them since they were curious how sorbet shark worked (being a cookie/shark and all). the two get up to hijinks together, and sorbet shark brings strawberry crepe little trinkets from the travels across the sea. as a thank you gift, strawberry crepe built a miniature saltwater pond for sorbet shark to stay in/rehydrate in when they visit the vanilla kingdom!!

kumidark: they're traveling together after dark choco left the cookies of darkness. kumiho is super casually affectionate with him, something that throws dark choco off. he only lets her get away with it because sometimes it's nice to feel loved (also he's touch-starved but shhhh he doesn't know that). if you wanna know about how they met n stuff, feel free to read my kumidark fic on ao3 and/or look through my older kumidark posts^^

carapastry: somehow, pastry manages to get away from the st pastry order and caramel arrow and her become friends!! caramel arrow helps her move past her trauma related to the order and pastry helps caramel arrow realize she wants to kiss a woman on the lips 😳;;; also they both wield bows!!!!

figblossom: someone in my server created this ship and i'm in LOVE.....okay so basically they're both super friendly and kind and caring and they both love picnics/storytelling!!! they would have the sweetest on dates in flower fields and cherry blossom would bake delicious treats for fig to try and!!!! basically they're super cute!!!!!

twizzlytiger: okay HEAR ME OUT: twizzly gummy comes across tiger lily at some point and realizes she's s u p e r fun to mess with and now everytime she stops by that area she seeks her out to mess with her. meanwhile tiger lily is completely done with twizzly gummy and exasperated with her shenanigans, but also she has the most fun when she's around her, and twizzly treats her butter tiger nice so....maybe she can stick around.....cue accidental pining and twizzly realizing she doesn't just hang around tiger lily for the laughs, but because she actually Likes Her. twizzly gummy wouldn't know how to deal with it so she'd end up blowing up a castle or something idk.....yeah.......

wereyam: another ship from my server!! i fell in love with it because purple yam would NOT take werewolf's self-deprecating comments. werewolf would say something bad about himself and purple yam would yell WRONG and werewolf wouldnt be able to say anything else. also werewolf's always scared of hurting people because of his big wolf form but purple yam not only wouldn't be scared of it, he'd be able to handle it and fight back if werewolf ever lost control (which he wouldn't)^^

avomala: BUTCH GIRLFRIENDS!!! as stated above, mala's one of the only cookies who'll openly laugh at avocado's jokes and genuinely finds them funny, but also!! avocado is one of the only cookies who can almost handle mala's spice preferences (not completely though; she still has her limits);;; also!! avocado makes weapons for mala sauce sometimes as gifts, which mala l o v e s :3

cacaocaviar: dark cacao is notorious for being stern and refusing help from anybody, but imagine if the republic heard of his troubles (maybe after the whole thing with the soul jam) and sent caviar to help out!! caviar could help keep the licorice sea at bay, and cacao would finally have someone experienced whom he could put his trust in! peepaw x peepaw <3

univamp: yet another ship from my server!! vampire n cream unicorn are both essentially immortal, and they both are very mellow and somft;;;; cream unicorn is one of the only cookies who wouldn't mind vampire's sleepiness/laziness and would sit with him for hours while he nodded off^^ also, most importantly: THEIR HAIR FORMS A HEART!!!!! 💕💕💕💕

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sunsetsixx · 2 years

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lace & silk

a/n: this is a beyond random post for me here at sunsetsixx hq but as a journalism major & previous owner of a multifandom writing blog i guess i was bound to return to my roots at some point ! this isnt me becoming a writing blog, instead just a one-off fic of an idea thats been floating around in my brain for the last 2 weeks that came to fruition in a google doc at 2am. i dont know if theres even an audience for this besides me & maybe like 3 other people in my notifs so enjoy if you wanna & pls dont judge my out of practice writing too much <3

pairing: current!vince neil x fem!reader

word count: 2315

warnings: smutty dialogue, light (?) smut, mentions of tommy & brittany getting it on lmfao, a highly unrealistic take on the behind the scenes of the stadium tour that was necessary for the plot

“Can you fuckin’ believe we’re already halfway through this tour?” Brittany asked, shaking her head as the two of us walked back to where the buses were parked. “I swear to God we just hopped on that plane to Atlanta like yesterday.”

“Seriously.” I nodded in agreement. “Time has flown.”

“It’s been a crazy ride. Like so fun.”

“If I’m being honest though, it’s really not as chaotic as I thought it would be.”

“Really? What do you mean?” She asked.

“I don’t know…I guess it’s just different actually living the modern day reality. We’ve heard and read all these insane stories of them in the 80s but obviously life just isn’t like that anymore.” I let out a short laugh. “No real backstage shenanigans…it’s funny to see how much they’ve mellowed out over the years.”

“Girl you’re lucky you don’t have to deal with shenanigans. My husband thinks it’s funny to light shit on fire with hairspray every five seconds. There’s literally never a dull moment in that dressing room.”

“I don’t know if I’m jealous or not.” I said laughing. “We keep it pretty chill in ours. Mainly just me helping with his outfit and hair. Lots of Fiji water and listening to Sammy Hagar’s solo stuff as ‘pump up’ music.” I explained as Brittany laughed this time.

By this point in the conversation, we had made it to tonight’s stadium’s back parking lot where our temporary homes were located. All of the buses were set up in a line with the lights on, as if ready to drive off at any minute. But from the looks of Brittany’s face, and the absence of our men, we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“Hold up.” She said, a look of disbelief gracing her features.

“What?” I asked, laughing in confusion.

“You’re telling me that you and Vince Neil haven’t fucked in your dressing room this entire time?”

My mind began to rewind as many shows back as it could remember, but nothing of the sort stood out. I shook my head at her. “No. Just in the hotels and a couple times on the bus…” I trailed off as my gaze wandered over to the vehicle in question, all kinds of memories from the first week flooding back when Vince so romantically suggested “breaking in the new place” with multiple rounds on multiple surfaces.

“(y/n)! What are you even doing? You’re a tour wife man, you gotta act like it!” She joked, lightly hitting my arm with her bag.

“I don’t know! I guess it just always gets too busy back there, especially with all the meet and greets and photoshoots and filming…I never wanted to tire him out before the show or whatever. I haven’t even thought about it too much.”

“The rushing around is what makes it so good though. Tommy & I were like rabbits back in St. Louis. I don’t know what was in that water but shit got crazy.”

I nodded, thinking about everything my best friend was saying. “You might be right, Britt. Truly what am I doing if not the lead singer in the sleaziest band to walk this earth backstage? It’s a disgrace to their reputation, honestly.” I said, shaking my head.

“There you go!” She laughed. “Just because they’re getting older doesn’t mean we are too. We gotta keep them on their toes babe.”

“You always do make a good point Ms. Furlan-Lee.” I replied, and the two of us broke out into laughter. We stood outside scrolling through our phones and judging each other’s Instagram feeds for a few more minutes before we were finally joined by the men of the hour.

“Goodnight guys! See you on the next!” Nikki’s slightly raspy post-show voice called out. He was walking up with Courtney and a sleeping Ruby in tow on the way to their bus as well.

“See you dude!” An unmistakable voice yelled back, followed by the appearance of the lankiest guy of the bunch, still somehow with a single drumstick in hand.

Finally I caught a glimpse of my specific man of the hour, who had traded in the bright red glitter and leathers of his stage costume for a pair of camo shorts and a black tank top. His signature chain hung around his neck and for some reason he was also still adorning sunglasses at 1:30 in the morning.

“There you are.” I said smiling as he walked up.

“Hey lovey.” He said, wrapping me in a hug and pressing a short kiss to the top of my head.

“You tired?” I asked, still in his arms.

“Yeah I could sleep. Fuckin’ awesome show though. I still can’t believe how many people are actually showing up.”

I scoffed at his words. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. This is literally the tour of the century. People are gonna be showing up for you guys forever.”

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Hopefully.”

He gave my back a quick rub before motioning for us to get on our bus so we could start off to the next city. As we got ready for bed, my conversation with Brittany played over and over in my head, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized she was right.

I just said it too– this is the tour of the fucking century. I need to start treating it like that for myself and my man. Tomorrow is a new day full of new experiences and new ideas and new desires. A million possible ways I could go about what I wanted to do swirled around in my brain, but as I settled under the covers of our shared bed in the back room, a lightbulb moment was had.

The next night began like every other after we arrived at the latest stadium and got everything settled. Crüe was closing the show tonight, which meant we all had more time to hang backstage. We were currently in an in-between period between Poison and Def Leppard, meaning there was about two hours until Crüe’s set. Vince was mostly ready to go, and was over in someone else’s room with the rest of the guys in the band hanging out and doing whatever other pre-show rituals they all partake in these days.

I was in his dressing room, putting last night’s ideas into action. I was nervous for a million different reasons; nervous he’d shun me off if there wasn’t enough time, nervous he’d think I was trying to act like some groupie on the Girls Girls Girls tour, nervous the idea my brain had conjured up was overstepping or I’d get in trouble with their stylist somehow. Lots of nerves. I just hoped Brittany’s advice was right to take for Vince and me.

After connecting my phone to the speaker and turning some music up decently loud, I began the action steps of my plan. I grabbed my tote bag and wandered into the bathroom. I took off the ripped blue jeans and tank top I had been sporting all day and opted for something more…(well technically, less) appropriate. I had dug out one of my red teddies from my luggage on the bus, a lacey number I knew was one of Vince’s favorites, and slipped it on in place of my clothes. I touched up my makeup that had begun to flake off over the course of the day, and ran a brush through my hair.

Once satisfied, I walked back out into the now much more noticeably cold air of the dressing room for the main operation.

There on a silver rack hung Vinnie’s most prized possession this tour– a floor length, silk piece of art hand painted with Japanese symbols in reds, golds, and royal blue covering the back. I ran my hands down the oversized sleeves as it hung there, looking like something that should’ve been in the MOMA rather than trekking around dingy baseball stadium hallways being diligently followed by a short woman with a portable steamer.

It had been almost a month of The Stadium Tour and I hadn’t dared to touch it, especially not after seeing how pissed off Vince got when someone (still a mystery who) stole his original show pants from backstage. Tonight was different though. I needed it to help me with the fantasy I had dreamed up after a middle-of-the-night conversation in a parking lot in Cleveland with my best friend.

I took a deep breath before carefully taking it off the hanger and placing it on me. My smaller frame was of course drowning in it, since the length and size was custom made for Vince. I tiptoed over to the full length mirror hanging on the wall, careful not to drag too much of it on the floor.

My eyes went wide as I took in the sight of myself. Bright red lace hugging my hips and chest perfectly, (the bodysuit had been a gift from Vince last Christmas, something that actually was custom made for my body’s measurements), with the iconic Wild Side performance look draped over my shoulders. I felt expensive– high class even, and now understood why Vince was always on such a high between the opening song and Shout at the Devil. This piece was enough to make anyone’s ego go through the roof.

I tied the kimono up in the front to conceal what lay underneath and took a deep breath before walking back over to sit on one of the couches. My back was facing the door, so the surprise wouldn’t be ruined when he came back in, which after seeing the clock turn to 6:39pm, realized should be almost any minute now.

I smoothed my hair over a few more times with my hand and picked at some stray nail polish that had chipped off onto my cuticles. My mind wandered to the endless amount of reactions he could have at the sight of me until they weren’t just fantasies anymore, but the real thing.

It took everything in me not to jump off the couch like some sort of rabid animal in anticipation when I heard the doorknob turn and the heavy door creak open.

“Hey baby, have you see my kim–”

The sentence died in his throat as I rose from the couch in the very article of clothing he was asking about not a second before. I smiled innocently up at him as his wide eyes looked me up and down.

I walked toward him, making a show of my bare legs peeking through the soft fabric with every stride forward. He bit his bottom lip when I placed my hands in his.

“This what you were looking for?” I offered, officially setting the backstage plan into motion.

“Oh yeah…” He trailed off, letting go of one of my hands so he could twirl me around. “Look at you baby doll.”

“I got you a present.” I said softly, after a moment. His eyebrows raised when I didn’t continue. Finally I walked backward a couple steps and held my arms out so the kimono’s tie was on display. “You have to unwrap it.”

He practically pounced on me the second the words exited my mouth. He pulled the silk fabric gently and the loose knot fell, allowing a glimpse of what was underneath to show through.

“You fuckin’ tease.” He said in a low voice, still smiling like a kid in a candy store. The plan was working.

His hand graced my shoulder as he pushed one arm of the robe off so it draped down my back. “You want something tonight, huh sugar?” He asked, pressing a short kiss to the underside of my jaw. My eyes fluttered closed at the touches, almost completely abandoning the act then and there. I did my best to stay strong.

“Don’t you have a show in an hour?” I teased, taking a small step back.

His face dropped. “Don’t you start. Those fuckers can wait.”

Before I knew it, I was being lifted up and carried towards the couch. He laid me down so my head was on the armrest as he hovered over me. I ran my hands up his tattooed arms as his lips pressed down onto mine.

He ran his hands over the red lace that clung to my skin and massaged my soft flesh underneath. The couch was beyond uncomfortable, but I found I didn’t care at all when Vince was touching me like this.

As we made out, his right hand snaked around my back to undo the thin fabric and pull it down my body. I started to slide the kimono off my shoulders to give him more access as well.

“No.” He said and put his hand on my arm. “Leave it on. My girl wants to play dirty tonight, right?”

I bit my lip and took a deep breath through my nose as I nodded in response.

“That’s what I thought. You want me to fuck you in this then wear it onstage in front of 40,000 people…is that it?” He whispered.

Any and all facade of confidence and calmness I previously had completely melted away at his words. Just the thought of him putting it back on later after these less than wholesome activities to go sing in front of a stadium full of unsuspecting fans had me shuddering in anticipation. He started kissing down my jaw and neck again until he reached my heaving chest.

“God I love these tits.” He spoke softly. “Especially when they’re filling out this outfit.” He trailed his hand over the kimono once again, down my curves until he reached the part of me dripping with need.

“You’re lucky I got an extra one of these baby…because you’re gonna be the fucking death of me.”

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dimepdf · 2 years

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HEAD OVER HEELS. + ARYGLE

masterlist. / taglist. / any request? [ ❥ ] synopsis. requested! "I was wondering if u could do an Argyle (st) smut? Idk if you want me to be more specific because I don't really have any specific stuff for it" author's note. more Ari fics RAAAAAH

[ ❥ ] pairing. arygle x reader

[ ❥ ] word count. 2.2k

[ ❥ ] genre and warnings. +18, afab reader, Byers!reader, enemies to lovers, sibling trope, pining, pwp but barely plot, overstimulation, whimpering, hickeys, sub!Ari, slight corruption kink, oral (m), crying, creampie, just tooth rotting fluff

You always hated your younger brother's friend Argyle. He just added to the uncomfortably new environment by moving from Hawkins to a more populated place with new people.

It was a struggle for you to leave all your friends behind, along with the high emotions of the trauma that was being packed away. Your mother, Joyce, just wanted a fresh start for your family. You weren't one to nag or whine, knowing everyone was just doing whatever they could to protect one another.

But that didn't mean that you wouldn't live up to your annoying older sister's traits. You had graduated high school before leaving Hawkins, leaving you with a lot of time on your hands in California, most of it being an overbearing annoyance to your three other younger siblings.

You were a pretty prominent character in your family while everyone was too busy being sprung up to fit in. You spent your time helping with the many sarcastic and humorous comments that you would muster. You didn't hate California, but boy did you hate Argyle.

You thrived off of being a smart-mouthed annoyance, and Argyle was the type to smile at an insult. You would watch with a grimace every time he would stutter and stumble over his words with that lost puppy dog look on his face. You were convinced that he would harass you more with his daily compliments than anything else.

"Hey Y/n, Is Jonathan here?" Your head slouched to hang off of the shoulder of the couch arm. You glance at the voice from upside down, the TV show that you were watching in the living room buzzing the room to life.

Your lips quirked into a frown. You saw the familiar long-haired male that stood alongside the doorframe, your eyes instantly squinting from the bright colors of his clothing.

A groan passed your lips as you repositioned to lie on your stomach, your face pressing against the seat cushions as Argyle tried to make it as obvious as possible that he had been staring at your ass so shamelessly.

"He's been put on driver's duty for Will," you sighed. "Something about some new game sale, blah blah." You recall the sad rock, paper, scissor game; the house being surprisingly quiet as Jane was off for the weekend at a friend's sleepover and your mother was out of town on her honeymoon with Hopper.

Alas, you were the only one to occupy the home, at least until Argyle arrived. You didn't even bother to ask him how he even managed to find his way inside without a key.

Knowing how kind your mother was, she probably told him where the spare was for the nights that he needed some place to crash.

Your eyes roll, feeling the dip in the couch at your feet, Argyle just at the other end with a content smile on his face. "So, what are we watching?" There was a pause of silence that followed the question. "Do you like, hate me or something? Why are you so buggy?" was the question that was enough to make you budge and reposition, so you sat with your knees tucked into your chest glaring at him.

"I bug you because you bug me."

Argyle spoke softly. "I don't bug you, I literally just talk to you and you're always like, 'omg Argyle, you're so annoying ah' and all I ask is how your day is going," Argyle spoke softly. "I mean, dude, you're like my best friend's sister. Of course, I want to talk to you. I don't want you to hate me." You consider the thought of being friends with him instead of the many days of teasing just for the fun of it.

"I don't mean it in a seriously bad way. I just like, I don't know, teasing everyone, but if I knew that it would make you feel that way, I wouldn't have done it in the first place, I guess." Your glare softens as your eyes flicker to the curve of your knee to Argyle, your fingers drumming nervously against the plush of your thigh.

"Well, your apology is accepted honestly. Now I feel less like a loser virgin." Argyle chuckles, his fingers twisting around a strand of his hair, his eyes refusing to hold eye contact with you like his life depended on it.

"Well, maybe I could help with that." Your suggestive tone made his head snap in your direction, almost laughing at the sight of his surprised face.

"Wait, are you—you're being serious?" He stuttered.

"I don't know. I mean, we’re all alone and Jonathan and Will probably won't be back for a while." Arylge swallowed the lump, watching you crawl from the other side of the couch towards him with a glint in your eye, a small whimper leaving his lips the moment you had slid into his lap.

"Oh okay, wow," Argyle whispers, his breath hitched as you position yourself to hug against his chest, the feeling of your breast pushing against him being enough to make him feel light-headed.

As if it couldn't be more of a dream for him, his eyes widened as you leaned in to kiss him. The feeling of your soft lips pressed against his was enough to make his lashes flutter close, a moan from his throat vibrating against your mouth.

His hips buckling against yours, your tongue poking through your lips, coaxing entry into his mouth. could already feel the print of his erection through his tight jeans. Argyle never thought that he would ever be in the position of having his best friend's sister grinding against him, let alone any woman kissing him.

The feeling of your fingers searching for the zipper of his jeans made him flinch. "Wiat, wait, are you sure?" Arylge stuttered out another whimper, leaving his lips from the sensitive and new feeling of drying humped anything that wasn't his pillow.

You welcomed a whole different perspective for him, new sensations starting to cloud his mind as all he could do was lean back with his lips parted, moaning like a modern day whore as you kissed down his jawline, sucking hickeys into the sensitive part of his neck that made him shiver, added to the overbearing feeling of his cock twitching from the attention.

His cock peeked up from his boxers the moment you had exposed it from the elastice of his underwear, you found it cute how easily turned on Ari had gotten from just some simple touches and how loudly he moaned from just the teh warm feeling of your tongue wrapping around the base of his length before stuffing him in your mouth as deep as you could down your throat.

“Oh, S-shit, shit. Oh god, you're so good at t–that.” Argyle stutters.

When Arglye spoke, his voice was raspy and you wanted to fuck him until he was nearly in tears just from the sounds that came out of his mouth. While Arygle bucked his hips to try and fuck your mouth, you continued your masterful teasing by bobbing your head and swirling your tongue around his tip. As you lowered your head to accept all of Argyle's cock, your hands moved to his hips for better stability.

You bobbed your head in a way that allowed the tip of your nose to touch Argyle's belly button just a little bit as you hollowed out your cheeks, allowing more of his length to slide against your tongue. You could feel the man's trembling body and Argyle's frantic forward motions as she pushed herself desperately toward what she wanted.

The blowjob didn't last long since as cum poured out of Argyle's cock, his veins began to rapidly pulse. You swallowed him as soon as his fluid made contact with your tongue. wiping your mouth, then getting to your feet to see Argyle slouching. You breathe deeply as you recline backwards on the couch.

You take a seat next to him casually, as if you hadn’t just sucked his soul from his body. Argyle glanced at you, melting at your confident smirk. His mind is too flooded with the effects of your attractiveness to even worry about the sinful act that you both just did openly in your family's home.

It's not like his worries matter much anyway. The moment you leaned in to give him another kiss, Argyle seemed more prepared for it than the first one, this one being more passionate than the first, his mouth moving desperately against yours.

Argyle was the first to pull away from your lips, panting like he had been so caught up in the way you made him feel to remember to breathe. It still wasn't enough time for him to process you, hovering on your thighs, sliding off your pants, hooking your underwear to the side and grabbing his dick.

“W-wait,” Argyle stumbled, his hands grasping at your shoulders to settle your still on his lap. “I just—I want to make sure you're okay with this and…stuff.” Argyle whispered nervously.

You smiled sweetly at Argyle, your heart warming at the sight of how unscattered he looked under you, his tan skin glowing, lips puckered, and eyes dark and glistening with passion as he peered up at you. You grinned sweetly at him.

Although your bodies were close to one another, this closeness was insufficient to kindle the simmering heat of need that was bubbling inside of you.

Your last real hookup had been months ago, Steve Harrington. Who was merely a companion who warmed your pillows and climbed through your bedroom window whenever you got bored, not a true romantic partner. In other words, you were just so freaking horny.

You almost felt sorry for him, his reaction to you taking all of him inside of you almost comical. He squirmed and whimpered from the heat of your cunt engulfing around his shaft, you gave a bit of mercy only slowly lifting yourself up and down his length at a more tamed pace than what you truly needed; it was still enough contact to make him shiver.

“Oh, do you wanna keep going?” you chuckled as Argyle huffed from under you looking flushed more over embarrassed at the fact that he had finished inside of you so quickly.

“Please?” he whimpered shyly, his face ducking into chest , his cheek meeting the plush of your soft chest hiding. You could still feel him clench inside of you, the feeling making your thighs tremble as his fist curled around the fabric of your shirt.

His breath picking on the moment you continued to grind against him, his eyes clenching shut repeating a silent encouragement in his head: “please dont cum, please dont cum.” over and over, despite his cock betraying him and feeling more and more sensitive.

Just being inside of you made him feel like he was stuck on a cloud, the simple bliss of actually being touched with a woman made him almost feel like he was flying. “Oh s-shit.” the male cursed, as more hot white lines spurted inside of you.

You know you should have been worried, not wearing a condom at all was enough to make you worried but at the moment your head was so crowded, so full of thoughts about Argyle bending you over and having his pathetic little way with you.

As if the experience couldn't have gotten more crazy for him, just the sight of you stripping off your shirt and tossing it to the side turned him into a complete mess as if taking his virginity wasn't enough.

“I think i love you,” Argyle whispered, you had to admit hearing someone confess their love for you was very endearing feeling your cheeks flush from the compliment.

“I…i love you too Argyle.” Argyle let out a breath of relief. Both of you giggling as you both repostitioned yourselves so that your back was resting against the mattresses Argyle standing over you before your hands could guide him back inside of you.

Bucking his hips, to meet your thrusts matching your pace, his fingers dipping into your thighs hard enough to leave dark bruises that would form later that day on your hips.

Argyle's mouth stayed open, mumbling nonsense about you feeling so good, and how you are just so pretty as his hips slammed against yours.

Ayrgle was close, you could tell him how sloppy his thrusts were becoming from how he slouched over you holding onto the top of the couch cushions staying to stay together as another orgasm was begging to release from him, but he just could stop until you had finished he didn't want to stop.

A reassuring hand rested against his cheek, “it's okay Ari.” you spoke softly, it was enough to finish him off once more. His body felt like it was vibrating as barely any cum was released from his cock shooting blanks inside of you.

Tears ran down Argyle's cheeks from how oversensitive he was, his cock twitching and twitching from how many times he had came.

You pushed on his chest making him rest next to you on the couch though you didn't manage to chase your own orgasm the experience was enough for you to actually finally enjoy having sex for once.

[ ❥ ] taglist. @loveshineslikethesky @willowwonka @sh3lov3dyou @spenglerslime @misaamaneswifey @anastasiavv @wheremygorliesat @r0se1111 @trinkettray @tougly2care @the1andblue @begay-do-crimes @moonstarteaxx @vxid42 @eddiemunsonswife21

@eddiemunsonbby @lluvin @dwaynesluvr @slutforfics @missmaximoffsblog @clowncrawler @bored0-0 @mr-magic @teehopper @mi-yo-0 @meidix9 @mantiswife @stickysnail @spookybabey @1efleur @kewlbeans-22 @dasespicyagh @lollolgetrecked @femmefaetale-blog @pinkladyy @sultrylies @sagethephantom @kyyellaxi @ghoullful @passivehippie @alexloveskili @ragingginger @joletown @xiichao @snailchess @cybergnf

tap here to be added to taglist.

#[ ⇢ ˗ˏˋ ★ — t.wrks. ]#argyle stranger things #argyle x reader #argyle #stranger things x reader #stranger things season 4 #stranger things 4 #stranger things #eduardo franco x reader #eduardo franco

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doll-in-the-walls · 2 years

Text

♡Doll Recommends♡

⛥ 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔪𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱⛥

These are all fics by others or just blogs that I highly recommend you check out for anything Stranger Things related. You can also just search the tag “doll recommends” on my blog.

Key for warnings: ☢️ - Angst | 🔞 - Minors DNI | ⚠️ - Spoilers For S4

(did my best to label everything, if something is wrong or I missed something pls let me know ^-^ - I’m going to go through all these at some point to add more positive emojis like fluff, and stuff)

✪Master Lists✪

(These are all the Master Lists for the blogs mentioned in this post. Not all blogs have one. * means they write for more than just Stranger Things but if they have a ST master list that’s the one linked)

Master List for@loveronlineee(🎸)

Master List for@mrvlbimbo(🎸)

Master List for@luveline(🎸🍧)

Master List for@ali-r3n(🎸🍧📢)

Master List for@steviebears(🎸🍧)

Master List for@luvfae(🎸🍧🎺)

Master List for@stranger-nightmare - 🔞(🎸🍧🎺📰📷📢)

Master List for@aureatopia(🎸)

Master List for@moonlightsolo(🎸🍧)

Master List for@constillatedchaos(🍧)

Master List for@radicalbilly(🎸🍧🎺📰📷📢)

Master List for@forever-rogue (🎸)

Master List for@luminnara🔞(🎸📢 )

Master List for@spiderrrling(🎸)

*Master List for@yesloverboy (🎸📢)

*Master List for@once-upon-an-imagine(🎸🍧🎺)

Master List for@hellfirewhxre 🔞(🎸)

*Master List for @florestmoon 🔞(🎸)

✪Character Specific/Personal Faves✪

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♥Eddie Munson♥

@loveronlineee

Personal Favs include but are not limited to: The Little Things, Off Limits(HendersonSister!Reader), Doodles and Dates, I’m Okay ⚠️ and The Freak and the Freakette

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@mrvlbimbo

(Personal Favs include: Secret admirer series, bimbo!Reader series, and pretty much all the oneshots/drabbles 🔞 )

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WHO THE HELL?! - Imagine (F!reader) Words: 956 | by @k4g3hika

Summary: when eddie munson doesn't find the need to tell the dungeons and dragons club members about his new girlfriend. so imagine dustin's surprise when he visits eddie's trailer and sees it looking impeccably clean.

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@luveline

Comforting you after a nightmare (GN!Reader) Words: 1k | ☢️ |

Summary/Ask: you wake up sad and sweaty from a nightmare and he isnt there (he’s legit just outside smokin but the reader is scared as shit and whatnot)

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@ali-r3n

The Operation: Henderson Henderson’s Sister!Reader Series

Summary: Eddie asks forces Dustin to set him up with Dustin’s older sister.

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Another HendersonSister!Reader by @ali-r3n | 🔞

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@steviebears

Hot Sister (Henderson’s Sister!Reader)

Ask: Can you make a Henderson fem! Reader x Eddie Munson where ready is in hellfire club to pick up Dustin and as she waiting in the background for their campaign to be over and in the middle of the campaign reader starts to hum one of Corroded Coffin and he is caught off guard

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@luvfae

My Favorite Henderson (Henderson’s Sister!Reader Series | (Some parts are 🔞)

Summary: your little brother, dustin henderson’s older friend, eddie munson has taken an interest in you. he spends his days lounging around your house, flirting with you and annoying the shit out of dustin in the process.

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@stranger-nightmare - (Blog is 🔞)

Younger (GN!Reader)

Summary: stressing about the future is no fun, so Eddie takes you on an impulse trip to remind you to live in the moment, to remind you of just how alive the two of you are

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@aureatopia

I’m in love with their Call It Fate, Call It Karma Miniseries. And this oneshot: Can't We Stay Like This Forever? just makes my heart melt.

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@princesssmimi

Eddie x Reader with stuffed animal(s) This is just so adorable.

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@moonlightsolo

Eddie x Ballerina!Reader

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@cunninghamschrissy

Eddie Headcanons about Max (since they’re neighbors. Platonic.) ⚠️

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@hawkins-losers

Blind Date With The Freak - (F!Reader) (Word count: 1.3k)

Summary: You get set up on a blind date with Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson as a joke from your friends. The joke’s on them because you end up having a really great time

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@the-case-book-of-fanfiction

Your Favorite’s Here (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) Eddie x fem!Henderson!reader (This one is just so adorable because it’s flustered Eddie and he’s precious.) (Word count: P1 - 3k, P2 - 1.8k)

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@yesloverboy

Hot For Teacher (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) - (word count: part 1 - 5.5k part 2 - 6k part 3- 7k) (it’s a classmate/tutor not a teacher teacher) Eddie Munson x Henderson!sister!reader

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@luminnara (Blog is 🔞)

comforting GN!reader who is upset b/c they lost their security blanket (This one is also listed under Billy because it’s for both of them)

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@spiderrrling

Something’s Gotta Give - Eddie Munson x Reader (this one is so cute)

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@hellfirewhxre

Insecurities Eddie (Fem!Plus size!Reader) (word count 1.5k)

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@florestmoon

Such a Strange Girl - (Fem!Plus Size!Reader)

Summary: Two of Hawkin’s branded Freaks form a friendship. Who can say they were surprised ? Eddie finds himself drawn to your personality and falls deeper as you make a place in his life.

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♥Steve Harrington♥

@constillatedchaos

dad!Harrington x pregnant!reader This is too precious

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@once-upon-an-imagine

Steve Harrington x Munson!Sister!Reader - Steve doesn’t know Eddie is her brother. (This is honestly the first Munson!Sister things I’ve even seen and I loved it.)

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♥Billy Hargrove♥

@radicalbilly

Friends Support Friends Billy x F!Reader 🔞 + Boyfriend Material (I still need to read through the rest of the master list but I love what I’ve read so far)

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@luminnara (Blog is 🔞)

comforting GN!reader who is upset b/c they lost their security blanket (This one is also listed under Eddie because it’s for both of them)

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(Not all had word counts so not all.. have word counts listed)

#doll recommends #Stranger Things #Eddie Munson #Eddie Munson x Reader #Stranger Things x Reader #Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader #master lists #steve harrington #Steve harrington x reader #x reader

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merlinsbudgiesmugglers · 1 year

Text

Fic Masterlist

Figured I should finally write a masterlist of my fics

General A Round of Shots - Rated T - Written for The Three Broomsticks Servers 10 Days of Drabbles challenge.

Sharing Firewhiskey - Rated G - After James' birth, Arthur shares advice and Firewhiskey with his son-in-law

The Truth - Rated G - The Tonks family with a side of Tedromeda and Remadora. Tonks ends up at her parents' the morning after the Department of Mysteries and there's some things she needs to fill them in about.

Winter Sun - Rated G - Drabbles for the Harry POCter Winter Sun Drabble Fest

Ted x Andromeda I have been thinking about these two for literally years, and I'm so happy that the obsession finally kicked in and I've been able to write their story.

I've always loved the idea that their relationship started when they were older. It gives them a bit more maturity and makes them a little less Romeo & Juliet

A Hard Day's Night - Rated T - Their first meeting.

Temptation - Rated M - Ted is falling hard, and it doesn't help that Andromeda has shown up at work drinks looking like that

Breaking the Rules - Rated T - A small moment between Andromeda and Ted at work drinks one night

Missing This - Rated T - Andromeda gets drunk and comes close to admitting what her future holds to Ted.

Giving In - Rated M - A look into their first time, when Andromeda gets exactly what she wants, and Ted can hardly believe his luck.

Not Tonight - Rated M - It's the St Mungo's Christmas Do, and Andromeda can't stop thinking of a night that happened the week before.

Leaving - Rated G - The time has come for Andromeda to leave her family behind.

A Bit of Fun - Rated M - This is probably my favourite fic I've written so far. A moment between Ted and Andromeda, early on in their relationship when they're both denying their feelings and making stupid decisions.

Desperation - Rated E - When Andromeda finally gets the news that she's been dreading for nearly two years, there's only one person she wants to see (My first attempt at smut)

The Hard Choice - Rated T - Fifteen days after Andromeda's engagement, Ted has something he needs to say.

Grief - Rated T - An exploration into Andromeda's grief after the war.

Lily x James Decisions - Rated T - After a close call, Lily and James have a discussion that will change their lives.

Katie x Oliver These two were my first HP OTP. I do have plans for more stories with them that hopefully I'll write in 2023.

Rubs and Disappointments - Rated T - After Harry's fall during the Hufflepuff match, Katie goes to check that Oliver wasn't actually drowning himself in the showers.

Auld Lang Syne - Rated M - Katie wakes up, hungover, not entirely sure of what happened the day before, and gets a shock when she works out whose flat she's in.

Harry x Ginny Something Bad - Rated M - Harry is a good dad, and he has a hot wife.

How Lily Luna Got Her Name - Rated T - Did you know that in the Coven of Haileybury, if a witch saved your life you were honour bound to name your first born daughter after her?

Ron x Hermione I love these two so much, I hope to write more for them in the future.

Snow on the Beach - Rated T - Written for the TTB 2022 Yule Bash fest. Ron spends Christmas in Australia with Hermione and her family.

Not So Bad - Rated G - Ron wakes up one morning in the Hospital Wing after being poisoned in HBP to find Hermione curled up in a chair beside him.

Remus x Tonks Remadora Ficlets - Rated M - Occasionally a scene featuring Remus and Tonks gets stuck in my head and bugs me until I write it down.

Advice - Rated G - Ted has some words of advice for Remus before he is forced to go on the run.

Next Gen I swear there is so much more Next Gen planned! I will write it one day.

Mischief Managed - Rated G - (Lily Luna & James Sirius) - Lily is a typical little sister and decides that it's time for the map to find a new owner.

When Pain is Over - Rated G - (Lily Luna & Ginny Weasley) - Lily learns a bit more about what her mum went through during the war.

The Potter-Granger-Weasley Pool Party Extravaganza - Rated T - (Lily Luna, Roxanne Weasley, Hugo Granger Weasley, Lucy Weasley) - When four cousins are left alone for the weekend, they decide to throw the party of the summer. It would have all gone to plan, if boys weren't dumb and if their parents didn't have such bad luck at camping.

She Was Not Wise Yet - Rated G - (Lily Luna/Male OC) - Ten years after leaving school, Lily runs into someone that she never thought she would see again.

#masterlist #my writing #HP fanfic #Harry Potter Fanfic #jily #lily x james #tedromeda #ted x andromeda #katie x oliver #hinny #harry x ginny #romione #ron x hermione #remadora #remus x tonks #next gen #lily luna

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lam-ila · 2 years

Note

accidentally blurting out “i love you” during a conversation with Matthew Tkachuk (I can't remember the emoji, sorry!)

ik this was supposed to be a blurb but i had too much fun with this and i’m not sorry for this turning out to be a full fic

Word Count: 885

Maleeha’s Masterlist

Warnings: none (please let me know if you find any that i should add)

a/n: this is gender neutral. hope you enjoy this! feedback is appreciated

part two

LIKES ARE GREAT, REBLOGS ARE BETTER ♡

You met Brady Tkachuk in middle school when you moved to St. Louis. You two instantly became best friends and were often invited to each other’s family events. You and Brady were inseparable, and were constantly spending every free moment with each other.

Spending time with Brady meant spending time with his siblings and you became acquainted with Taryn and Matthew, creating a sibling-like relationship with Taryn and an interesting relationship with Matthew. Was semi-flirting with your best friend’s older brother considered normal? If it was, then your relationship with Matthew was completely normal.

Years passed by, and you continued to be best friends with Brady and siblings with Taryn. Your semi-flirting with Matthew turned into fully flirting which caused you to pine over him without being able to tell your best friend. As much as you would love to, you just couldn’t bring yourself to tell Brady. Matthew was Brady’s older brother- he wasn’t who you were supposed to be in love with.

When the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs arrived, you tagged along with the Tkachuk family; travelling country to country to be in the arena of every single game the Flames played. You enjoyed yourself, spending most of your time with Taryn while Brady went ape shit crazy being a good supportive younger brother.

On May Fifteenth, Matthew and the Flames won their first series, with Matthew scoring the game tying goal and assisting the series winning goal. You were ecstatic and so was the Tkachuk family. You and the Tkachuk’s were waiting outside the locker room for Matthew, when you suddenly felt two strong arms wrap around yourself. Upon realizing that it was Matthew, you accepted the embrace and leaned into him.

After pulling out of the hug, you were able to say what you were planning on saying before Matthew crushed you. “You played so well! I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks,” he responded, quickly being stopped from saying more as Brady tackled him with a hug.

Before you knew it, you were in a car on your way to a restaurant to celebrate the series win. You took two separate cars, Brady and Taryn going with Matthew in one, and Chantal and Keith going in the other. Despite the pleas from the Tkachuk siblings, you went in the car with Chantal and Keith, still processing the moments after Matthew walked out of the locker room. He hugged you first before any of his family. He didn’t even acknowledge they were there until Brady tackled him.

“I know you love him.” Chantal said, knocking you out of your thoughts.

“I don’t love Matthew.” You quickly rebutted.

“I never said Matthew’s name.” Chantal replied, insinuating that you unintentionally admitted that you did love him.

You thought about what Chantal said the entire dinner and refused to look over at Matthew, fearful that one look at him would make you fall deeper in love with him. You excused yourself from the table after eating, using the typical excuse that you needed some air. Chantal lightly nudged Matthew after you left, signalling for him to follow you outside. Once outside, you took a long, deep, shaky breath.

“Hi,” Matthew said, jolting you out of your thoughts. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” You replied, trying to avoid his glance, which didn’t go unnoticed by Matthew.

“Are you okay?” Face full of concern, he reached out to hold your hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You pulled your hand away from his grasp. “Enjoy your night. Don’t worry about me.”

“It’s hard to enjoy my night when you’re not with me.” And there it was, what you’ve been attempting to avoid all night: something that made you fall deeper in love with your best friend’s older brother.

“Oh come on, you just moved on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, your family is here, you scored the game tying goal, and you assisted the series winning goal. This is literally the most perfect night, so quit worrying about-”

“I love you.” Matthew harshly blurted out. Taking a regretful sigh, Matthew continued. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Well,” he took your hand, hoping that you would let him hold it for longer than a millisecond. “it’s true. I do love you.” You aggressively pulled your hand out of his grasp for the second time that night.

“We can’t-”

“Why not?”

“You’re my best friend’s older brother, it’s not allowed.”

“Says who? Brady?”

“No, he’s never said anything.”

“So who says that?”

“Everyone.” You scoffed. “It’s against the rules.”

“What rules?”

“The rules that are present when your best friend has an older brother.”

“Y/N, I hate to say it, but you sound so childish right now.” Matthew chuckled. “We’re grown adults, there are no ‘rules’.” Not knowing what to say in response, you leaned forward, gently pressing your lips to his and smiling into the kiss. After you pulled apart, he looked at you with a glint in his eyes and a soft smile spread across his lips. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” you finally admitted. “although we should probably head back inside to your family.”

“They can wait longer.” Matthew said, leaning in for another kiss.

——————————

Maleeha’s Graduation Party

——————————

NHL taglist: @readyfreddy @jostystyles @whimsical-daydreams @tysonjost-taylorsversion @2manytabsopen @11livpangburn

join my taglist here

#i am so freaking proud of this #maleeha’s graduation party #claudia <3 #maleeha writes #matthew tkachuk fic #matthew tkachuk imagine #matthew tkachuk x reader #matthew tkachuk

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candied-cae · 1 year

Text

And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Freaks and Fools

Chapter 15/? - - - Read it on AO3

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Word Count: 9,634

Summary: While they await the final verdict, passing the hours by until the Hawkins Police decide what will happen to Eddie Munson, a few of them have some fun in his hospital room. A few others hammer out the details with the government operatives. And, eventually, the shoe has to drop...

What's going to happen so they can move on from Spring Break?

More ST Fics

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While most of the party was making their way to the high school, agreed upon gathering around one of the tables outside, one faded yellow pizza van was arriving at the hospital. Argyle got them parked, and Robin was swinging the door open for their two smaller backseat passengers to climb out. El, of course, was someone they already expected to bring. To make sure she didn’t get cornered somewhere alone while the others got things figured out. But Erica was also trailing along. She had promised to check on Max first thing for her brother while he was off with Dustin, telling the rest of Hellfire a good cover story for what was going on.

“Come along, ladies,” Robin grinned at the two as they hopped out onto the parking lot.

The older kids escorted the younger of them to check in and obtain their visitor passes and waved to Officer Nichols. He was posted outside Eddie’s room on a chair in the hallway, flipping through the morning paper while he sipped on a cup of crappy hospital coffee. He returned the gesture with a tip of his cup while Argyle hovered behind Erica, following her into Max’s room while she made her visit. The other two went for the door across the hall as Robin poked her head through first.

She actually had a particular question she’d been asked to extend before El came in with her.

“Heeyyy, Eddie?” she asked as she cracked open the door to the guy’s room, wearing a big, bright smile to hopefully win him over effortlessly.

Eddie looked over from the tv set quietly playing a cartoon. There was a second of confusion when he saw her face - only having expected to see El’s - when he noticed the expression spread across it. She had a suspicious kind of smile that cued him that she had a favor in mind,“ What do you want?”

The thing was that when Robin was getting picked up, the girl had stepped out of the car to say something before she got buckled in. Robin leaned over and El whispered to her something about when she had the sleepover with Max over the summer. That she’d mentioned wishing she could paint her nails. Max might’ve been a rough and tough kind of girl, but she liked feeling pretty and special too. But as active a kid as Max was, it would just chip off in no time. So the girl never really went through the trouble, even though she liked the look of them. And well… Max wasn’t really going to be doing too much right now… so El wanted to paint her nails as a little surprise for when she woke up.

But El had never even painted her own before, so surely it wouldn’t go very well.

So Robin had an idea.

She stepped a little further into the room and put her hands together,“ So, El needs to practice.”

“Practice?” he quoted back to her, his confusion coming back quickly.

“Painting nails.” Robin clarified,” She wants to paint Max’s. I offered to do it for her, but she really wants to do it herself.”

“And, what does that have to do with me?”

Robin hummed her words and came in just a little closer,“ Well, you don’t really need your hands, you know? Can’t even move them very far at the moment, so…”

“No.” he stopped her quickly.

“Come on! You’re not busy right now!” she argued.

With a wave of his hands, as far as they could while he was under the charges and restrained, he threw back,“ Offer her yours!”

“Mine are already painted! Obviously!” she told him, flashing her maroon-tipped fingers at him with a stern face.

And then Eddie was silent.

Considering.

Could he really say no? Even if it was being said to Robin’s face, it was really being said to El. And the girl did save his life. And she was kind of his favorite. And he liked Little Red. And he felt pretty bad for both of them…

“Fine.” He gritted out through clenched teeth,” But I’ll only accept black polish. Nothing frilly, or you’ll mess up my vibe.”

“I assumed that would be your preference.” Robin smiled to herself, pulling a bottle of black nail polish out of her back pocket that she nabbed when she came up with the idea,“ El! Come on, he’s in!”

The girl timidly joined them, her own hands tucked into the sleeves of her sweatshirt as she came forward to Eddie’s bedside.

He splayed his hand out for her and dropped his voice to sing a line,” I want it painted blaaack~”

He was hoping for a smile. Or a laugh. Or just, something to let him know he was funny and making the situation entertaining. But she just looked at him with a blank expression. And then her eyes drifted up at Robin, who was pulling up another chair, like she was asking for help with the comment.

“Come on. The Rolling Stones,” he explained, because maybe she didn’t know their whole discography, but she had to at least know the name.

But nothing. She just looked back at him, not even a glint of recognition behind her eyes.

“Okay, seriously? The Rolling Stones? You don’t know The Rolling Stones? They aren’t my favorite or anything, but geez- have you been living under a rock, girlie? They’ve been makin’ music for like twenty years.”

Robin chastised him with a gentle smack to his shoulder for expecting the kid, who had never been outside of a lab until three years before, to know about any musical artists except for her favorites. The two girls were getting sat down side-by-side on Eddie’s right hand when Arygle and Erica came into the room. They made themselves at home in the other chairs on Eddie’s left side and watched what was playing, which turned out to be an episode of Scooby Doo, Where Are You!

It was slow work of the pair on his hand. Robin was showing El a comfortable way to hold it and get a good angle for the brush. Showing her how to wipe off the excess polish in the rim of the bottle, and how to start in the middle before working her way back and pulling it along the sides to make it clean and easy to keep on the nail.

“Doesn’t get very messy if you don’t stress and take your time. ’Course, if you do get outside the lines a bit, not a big deal.” She added and exemplified with his pointer finger, letting the brush barely slip over the side,” I just take my thumb and gently scrape the little bit off of the skin with my nail to fix up the edges, like this-”

“Ow!” Eddie complained and shot Robin a glare.

She ignored the dramatics to whisper to El,” It doesn’t really hurt-”

“Yes, it does,” he insisted,” You just dug your nail into my- my-” he struggled for the word.

“Your cuticle?” Robin finished for him.

“Yeah! And it’s pointy, Robin!”

She rolled her eyes at him,“ It doesn’t hurt, El. Boys are just wimps. Max’ll be way tougher than this patient. When you do hers, she won’t even feel it-”

Robin had said it quickly. Absentmindedly. For a second, forgetting that Max was in a coma and couldn’t feel anything at all. And El didn’t look like the words hit her too badly, but Robin started sputtering anyway.

“I mean, even if she was awake, she wouldn’t… Like, we all know Max is a tough cookie in her own right, and she’d be fine. And she will be fine! And girls really do handle things better! The whole ‘beauty is pain’ thing and- Boys really complain about this sorta stuff way more and…” she fizzled out of her defense and added one last note,” It really doesn’t hurt. Promise.”

El simply nodded back.

“Says you.” Eddie grumbled to himself,“ How many slumber parties you been to where they train you mini-torturers anyway?”

Robin shrugged and focused on holding his middle finger for El to try painting on,“ Oh, none. I just sometimes make Steve try colors out with me when I can’t pick one. But he’s antsy and always picks it off within the hour, so… I get lots of practice.”

“You’re lying,” he dismissed the idea quickly.

She just quirked an eyebrow at him with a quiet “Am I?” that left him wondering.

Before Eddie could consider her words much further, Argyle was leaning over to Erica and asking who she thought the bad guy was for this particular episode. Now, of course, he’d already seen it and remembered who was hiding under the mask. So did Robin and Eddie. But Erica thumbed at her chin and hummed while recounting some of the plot.

“Weighing the variables," she’d said.

And the conversation moved on. Robin passed Eddie’s hands into El’s so she could continue, and the room was alight with the discussion of a far simpler mystery than the one they had waiting for them in the real world. And El was shy about it for a bit. She hesitated to take his hand, and she was stiff and extra careful with it when she held it. Like his hands were delicate and fragile. But after a few minutes rolled by, she was sufficiently focused on her paint job, instead of the fact that the hand was connected to someone. She started to relax around them. Letting their conversation pass over her while she soaked it up. Listening, but not worried about answering herself.

It was comfortable and easy.

The rest of the crew was less so at comfort or at ease.

The folks who were sent off to the meeting had all gathered around a cement table with the slow traffic of townspeople around them. Some of them go inside. Some of them leave. Some of them were just milling about like they didn’t know what to do.

Nobody really knew what to do. This sort of tragedy wasn’t something Hawkins had ever been faced with. And even the people who knew what was really going on didn’t know exactly what to do.

They had the barebones of a game plan. The idea was to get some tapes set up so they had a shield or buffer between them and Vecna when they rode into battle. And the understanding that they needed to find a way to take to that fight as soon as possible, preferably before Vecna got himself fully pulled back together. But there wasn’t anything solid. Nothing to really stand on except shifting quicksand.

Which was a maddening reality.

Nancy was mad, in case no one noticed.

She kept finding herself mad, what felt like all the time.

It felt like she just had this hair trigger, and so many things set it off.

And now she was meeting with a woman who kept pissing her off. So surely she was going to get even madder within the next few minutes. But she was meeting up with her with Jonathan, Steve, Joyce, and Hopper by her side. And - if the way he kept his arms crossed and his expression sour after Nancy pointed out that they handed El back to Dr. Brenner was any hint - Hop would be right there with her on being pissed off. They also had Will and Mike. They tried to leave them behind, but they both insisted on coming with them.

They hadn’t been there waiting very long. Maybe ten or so minutes. Sitting silently together. Because they didn’t really have much to say to each other. Next to her, though, Mike sat with a bouncing knee.

Then, just as Nancy was thinking she would need to snap at her brother for being incapable of sitting still- three agents strolled up.

They were all dressed in uniformity: dark, neutral suits and trench coats, hats and sunglasses, glossy, black dress shoes, and the exact same silver watches on each of their wrists. They were headed by the same woman Nancy kept butting heads with. She walked in the middle while two men were just shortly behind. And she was the only one with a briefcase tight in her fixed grip. The other two didn’t have one, but when the wind whipped and their coats opened, she could catch sight of the holsters on their hips.

“This isn’t all of you,” the man on the left said in place of a greeting. He was a tall and lanky guy. Bushy eyebrows and slicked, jet-black hair that just barely poked out of his fedora.

“No. It’s not.” Hopper answered, though clearly not giving up the information the man wanted him to. Silently challenging the guy to push it. See how tough he really thought he was. Hop took a step forward and told him,” But it’s everyone you’re going to get. So, let’s talk.”

“Let’s.”

The woman cut between them, seeming to try and soften the tension, though Nancy felt like she did the opposite every time she’d seen her,“ Why don’t we start with what happened to you? It’s been months since you were presumed dead-”

“Eight months,” the guy on the right clarified. Shorter than the other. With a mop of dirty blonde on his head and a speckling of freckles across his cheeks.

Hop just shrugged and blew between his lips casually,“ Not much. Blew up the mall gate. Wasn’t enough to kill me. Russians came back. Found me. Smuggled me out. Threw me in a cell. Sat in prison til we snuck our way back over.”

“You say that like it’s simple-” the woman started.

“It’s the simplest part of this mess because it’s over and dealt with.” He declared,” So let’s skip to the next part: the bullshit happening right here, right now.”

And she didn’t really seem to like that answer. Probably something about paperwork and files that would be left blank or vague about his unaccounted-for time. But the blonde didn’t hold any argument.

“So, what do you know?” he asked, content with moving right along to the current shit show.

“We know there’s a problem in fair Verona. A disagreement.” Will spoke up. Having just covered the play in Lenora, the legendary dueling families were fresh on his mind. And the need to know if these people were friends or foes to his sister was one of the most urgent concerns he'd been thinking over time and time again.

And then, as if Mike was right there in his head, he continued the comparison,“ A disagreement about what to do with El. So, are you Montagues or Capulets?”

The woman rolled her eyes, and with an exasperated tone said,“ We’re in this with Dr. Owens. We know the girl didn’t cause all of this-”

“But we don’t know what did.” The blonde stepped forward to insist,” Care to enlighten us with what you’ve found out while you were running around?”

Nancy shifted in her seat,“ How much do you know about Dr. Brenner’s original experiment?”

“His data’s on a need-to-know basis,” he returned.

“So nothing? Or just about?” Nancy guessed. Enjoying just a little bit of how it felt to know more than them about the atrocities of their department’s precious scientist.

“The point?” the black-haired one pushed.

“Well - since it’s all ‘need-to-know’ at this point anyway - the first child he snatched for his superpowered kids game was Henry Creel. I assume you’ve at least looked into what happened at the Creel house a few decades ago considering the similarity in the recent murders?”

The woman gritted her teeth,“ Yes, we have-”

“Good.” Nancy steamrolled on through,” After those, the doctor got custody of him. Made him subject number one of his great experiment. Used him as the blueprint to try and replicate his… condition, in others. But, if the dead and tortured family was any indication, he wasn’t very stable. For some reason, or other, the doctor removed him from the experiment and kept him in the lab to keep an eye on him. Gave him an implant that suppressed his abilities. Henry didn’t like that. So when he got the implant out and had the opportunity to use them again, he killed over a dozen of the newer models and just about every member of staff at the lab.”

“El,” Mike jumped in,” was the one who stopped him from getting out by getting rid of him. She was stronger. Trapped him in the Upside Down all on her own. Practically by accident. On instinct. So he couldn’t hurt more people.”

“Sounds like a happy ending. Just one problem: what’s he been doing causing death and destruction over the course of these last two weeks then?” the taller man asked.

“It’s not been just these past two weeks. Every time we’ve had… an ‘event’ it’s been him trying to get back. Get back here.” Joyce informed.

Hop summarized the timeline,“ Three years ago, Dr. Brenner was pushing her, and she made contact in the Upside Down. Once Henry found out there that there must be a way to reopen that connection, he was. He’s been trying to claw a way back here and finish business. Which we’re all pretty keen on not letting him do.”

“Why- What does he want to do that we can’t let happen? If he’s just trying to come back, why doesn’t El just open the door and let him through so all the other things stop mixing in?” the woman asked, rubbing her temples.

“He wants to destroy everything,” Nancy answered. Cold. Remembering what he showed her. His promise for what he’d do.

The air of the conversation shifted. The three of them were finally starting to understand the stakes at play this time.

“It wasn’t just about hurting the people in the lab that made him a prisoner. He wants to get rid of all of it.” Jonathan explained a little further.

“What would he even gain from that?”

Nancy took back over,“ He thinks humanity is a failure. A calamity with faults so deeply ingrained in us that the only choice is to start creation, civilization, all over again. In his image of what’s right and natural, of course.”

“And- where do we stand with this? With keeping this from happening?”

“He needed to take four lives to open the gate and get back onto this side. We met him in the Upside Down while he was staking out Max and lit his ass up.” Steve answered with a slight nudge to Nancy’s shoulder for being the one to fire the buckshot right into his ugly mug.

“But it wasn’t enough.” She admitted,” Max died. And he disappeared when the gate opened, but El kept her from staying dead, so the gate snapped shut again. We don’t know what happened after that. He could be in some kind of limbo between dimensions, or hiding out somewhere here, or still on the other side. We just don’t know. Will can’t feel him.”

The blonde looked at the boy,“ You can’t?”

Will shook his head,“ Not like the last times he’s come back. He’s not totally there, sparking things up again. But he’s not gone. He’s still there, just… small, and- and it’s like he’s curled up in some corner. Putting himself back together.”

“And what happens when he’s got himself straightened out?” the other man asked, unkept eyebrows raised.

Nancy let out a remorseful huff,“ Best guess is he tries to brute force the gate back open with Max’s half-death. Or he’ll try to reach back over and finish the job. Maybe even go after someone new if he has to, but he doesn't like losing, so surely he wants to get at Max.”

“Which we won’t let happen.” Steve needed to say.

The agents looked… off-kilter. Like they’d been rocked off of their foundation for the first time. The first real surprise. They were used to dealing with weird things. Unusual, inexplicable things. Dangerous things. But this was a whole new ball game, and there were finally getting a lay of just how messed up the land was this time.

“And what of the NINA Project?” the woman steered the conversation, wanting to finish fleshing out where they all stood within the organization.

“We didn’t stick around long. But what we did see was a lot of bodies, a lot of fire, a helicopter fell out of the sky… and Dr. Brenner can’t hurt El anymore.” Jonathan filled in.

“Dr. Owens?”

“Didn’t see him.” Will said,” We’ve been telling El to take it easy after the fight and trying to find One again, so she hasn’t tried to find him yet, but she doesn’t know what happened. Didn’t see him after Brenner drugged her.”

“But the girl, the project itself, it was successful…?”

Mike confirmed,“ Her powers are back. Stronger than they were when they went away. But that doesn’t mean that this will just get taken care of with a snap of her fingers when we find him. She threw everything she had at him-”

Nancy threw in,“ While the rest of us were risking our lives doing the same-”

“-And all that didn’t finish him off. Somehow, he’s still kicking. And he’s going to keep trying to get back over here if we can’t take the fight to him and end it for real.”

The three agents were silent for a minute. Processing, if the locals had to guess. Trying to figure out what it all meant and what options they had. They all looked deflated by the time the woman spoke up.

“What’s the plan?”

“Wow, you don’t have one for us? Shocker.” Nancy cut out.

“We-”

“It’s so surprising that you are, yet again, useless.”

Joyce put her hand over Nancy’s to try and soothe her,” We’ll figure it out.”

The woman sounded humbled, quieter, when she next asked,“ What can we do?”

And maybe that was it.

Maybe that’s what Nancy has been waiting to see. To see them accept it, just accept that they messed up. Accept that they didn’t have all the answers. That they were wrong. They didn’t say it outright. That was probably lesson one when they joined the supernatural clean-up crew: Not admitting culpability.

But that silence. And the question that followed.

It did something. Took some pressure off the hair-trigger of Nancy’s rage. Because it meant she’d been justified before. She was right and now they knew it.

She took a breath and calmly asked,“ Can you bankroll a trip to the RadioShack and wherever else we go to for supplies?”

And the woman nodded,“ We can do that."

“And Eddie and Max’s hospital bills,” Mike added.

“And when two more come to town, we need to get their citizenship worked out.” Joyce considered the Antonov’s.

“And find a way to make sure the California Stowaways don’t have any problems trying to graduate after this mess.” Jonathan thought for himself and Argyle.

“And, if you hear anything from Dr. Sam, you let us know. You let us know if you hear anything about unexplainable earthquakes, demo-murders, or general Upside Down related business. The minute you know. So we all stay on the same page.” Nancy spoke.

“And whatever Max wants when she wakes up, she gets. Period.” Steve added.

Jim pointed out,“ And guns. We’d like more guns.”

Nancy quickly agreed,“ I second the vote for guns.”

Which brought a smile to Hop’s face. That girl was something all her own.

“We’ll start working on things.” The man on the right said after he was done jotting things down in a notepad.

The three agents nodded a silent agreement and were about to walk away when the sight sparked something for Nancy.

“This is it?”

“What?” the woman asked her.

“This. The three of you. This is all of you that’s left. Isn’t it?”

The teens and two parents looked at her and then between the agents when they didn’t have a thing to say for themselves.

Jonathan questioned it next,“ Is she right?”

“We-” the leftie was about to lie when the woman cut him off for the simple truth.

“There are two others still working on contacting any of the team that might’ve made it out of the NINA Project. But besides that, this is all. We’re it.”

“You used to be dozens with a fleet of vans…” Mike wondered in shock, remembering the insurmountable difficulty they’d been to dodge three years before.

“The Capulets have made times difficult for the Montagues. We got stretched thin, and most of us that were trustworthy enough to stay on the force on Owen’s side went to work at the bunker in Nevada. The rest of us came out here when things started looking hairy. Which… isn’t a comforting reality, I’m sure. But, if you focus on fine-tuning that wishlist so we can be done with Fair Verona as a whole, maybe we still have a chance at getting out of this play better than the lovers did.”

Nobody really knew what to say. But the woman stepped forward and spoke directly to Nancy for her last lines.

“We’ll keep you updated with what we know, and you do the same. We haven’t gotten along well, up until this point. But we all want this to be over. And we all want to suffer as little damage as possible. We don’t have to be adversaries in getting across the finish line.”

Nancy met her gaze. And for the first time, she wasn’t so furious at the green staring down at her.

“Agreed.”

And then they were gone. Packed into black cars and driving off to “deal with business.”

And Nancy found herself left with… a vacancy where her anger had sat. She still had plenty to be mad about, but the focus of it that she had temporarily shifted onto the government suits was now gone. And she was left dissatisfied. And the hollow feeling wasn’t enough. It didn’t sit in her, filling her up and taking up her attention, like the anger did. And then she had to wonder if she might’ve made the whole mess worse than it needed to be. At least a little bit.

They were wrong for being in Hawkins and not saying anything, yes.

They were wrong for letting El suffer Dr. Brenner’s experiments again, yes.

They were wrong for taking down to her before, yes.

But she turned them into a big, evil monster in her head that they simply weren’t. They weren’t the monster they had to defeat at the end of the day. But maybe she’d decided they were because they got in her way enough and were something she could fight against while Vecna remained a big question mark in her notebook.

So maybe she’d been unnecessarily mean, fostered animosity between them because it felt better to have a reason. It felt better to have something to be mad at and yell in the face of.

Maybe she should be worried that it felt better to be mad at people who didn’t completely deserve it than to not have anything to do with herself.

“Welp,” Hopper clapped his hands on his legs and stood up, interrupting her train of thought,” I have a Chief of Police to soften up.”

“Bribery?” Joyce asked him, just a hint of judgment in her tone. Not much, though.

“If it works.”

After a little while, El had moved on to Eddie’s other hand. She was far more comfortable with holding it and painting along his short nails as she was reaching the end of her work. There was some discussion happening around her. Not one that she’d been paying much attention to for the last few minutes. She had followed along earlier. But over the last little bit of time, she’s had a question buzzing around her mind she really wanted to ask that was distracting her.

“Eddie?” she spoke quietly, not wanting to stop the room’s talk even if she was stealing his attention for a minute.

He looked away from Argyle’s lackadaisical questions about life growing up in rural Indiana he’d been posing for everyone over the last twenty minutes. She hadn’t looked at him when she spoke, kept her eyes fixed on the pinky finger in her hold as she started its first coat.

“Yeah, angel?”

She hesitated, swallowing to steel herself before she just tried to push it out,“ Dustin said… he said they call you ‘freak’ too?”

And maybe the words themselves would’ve sounded like a statement. But from her, they were certainly a question. And they sounded like just the tip of an iceberg. Because she said “too.” And she said it softly and ashamed.

Someone made her feel that way.

“Does someone call you that?” he asked, voice gentle as he could make it. The other three in the room pretended like they couldn’t hear them, instead trying to paint a picture for the Californian of the divisive political nightmare that was the Starcourt mall when it was built the summer before.

El didn’t answer though. Just kept her gaze on sweeping the black polish down his nail. Lips tight together with a slight, barely perceptible tremor that said all too much.

With a sigh, Eddie pulled on the part of his character that he thought might help.

“Well, for the record,” he started, bringing himself all high and mighty against her sullen expression,” over here they call me ‘The Freak.’ So, like, the freakiest freak of them all, you know. I get it. I am a freak. I’m weird and off and certifiably freaky, and I like it. But, you little lady? You ain’t no freak. You’re super normal.”

She giggled at the idea. Couldn’t help herself. Eddie must’ve had her figured all wrong to say something like that.

“What?” He wondered, playfully dropping his head to the side to look at her,” People never tell the kiddo with magic powers she’s normal?”

She cast her eyes up at him as if to ask “What do you think?” before quickly putting them back on their task.

He shrugged it off,“ I mean, sure, the magic power part is, admittedly, a little off the baseline. I won’t lie. And the haircut. But I’d say that makes you way cooler than everyone else. I was rocking the tight buzz myself once upon a time, and not everyone can make it work like the two of us do. But besides those two very small factors, you seem like just any other little girl to me. Way more normal than miss Erica over there. First time I met her, she was already lecturing me about venomous knives-”

“It was one poisoned kukri,” she corrected, unable to keep the comment to herself.

He lowered his voice and leaned in,“ See what I mean? But you? Nah, you’re just fine.”

She finally looked up and held his eyes,“ Fine?”

And he smiled back at her, as bright and assured as he could manage,“ Yeah. Just fine. And even if you were a freak like me, you’d still be fine. I’d accept you into my beloved kingdom and show you that being a freak isn’t bad. It’s actually a whole lot of fun. I know we’re still new to each other, but will you trust me on that much? As a freak speaking from experience on it?”

And she looked kind of like a weight had been lifted off of her. One she’s carried for so long with no idea how to understand. No idea how to get rid of or come to terms with.

But somehow, being told she was normal, even when it still didn’t quite fit… it felt better than all the times Mike called her his superhero.

She was different. No amount of “but it’s special” ever got rid of the feeling that there was something wrong with her. And for so long, she would’ve given anything not to be the way she was. And yet, here this guy was. This near stranger that told her he didn’t find her all that weird. That he didn’t find it impossible to look past the things the lab did to her.

It felt nice. To try and believe him for a minute. To pretend like “normal” would be an option after they shut the door on the Upside Down for good.

And maybe one day she’ll be able to believe she doesn’t need it anyway. Decide that normal was fine and all, but she can also be a freak and still be just as fine because she chose to enjoy it. Eddie seemed happy enough in it. Even handcuffed to a hospital bed and having just escaped death, he was still loving being a freak.

“Yeah,” she decided. She’d trust his advice. Why not? It felt way better than the alternative.

“Good,” he remarked before splaying his hand to view for himself,” And thank you for my bitchin’ claws, kid. I’m sure Little Red’s set’ll look great too.”

“Thanks…” she smiled a little wider, capping the black polish and setting it down on the table by the bright orange they’d brought for Max’s.

“Of course. Surprise, surprise, she’s good at more than just saving lives. Though I doubt I’ll ever really get over the fact that you saved mine, you know. You would not believe the hell I’d have tried to raise if I died before I got to see Ozzy live.”

“Ozzy?” she asked, tilting her head with the inquisition.

And if he weren’t laid up and chained in place, Eddie would’ve tried to fling himself to the floor with a gasp.

“Another person who doesn’t know about the one and only Ozzy? God- you people are killing me here!” he groaned and writhed in his bed for effect, pulling another giggle out of the girl at his side while the rest of the room playfully rolled their eyes at his antics.

“Wasn’t sure you’d show.” Police Chief Powell said as Jim pushed in what used to be his door.

At least, it had been until he went and got himself abducted, of course. Now it was Calvin’s. And he sat behind the desk wearing a face that Hopper probably guessed he’s worn before. Long nights, early mornings, shit getting kicked up faster than a town as small as theirs had any right to. He remembers being in that spot and feeling just as exhausted as Calvin looked.

He strode in with the confidence that said that office was still his in some way,” Said I would.”

“Yeah, but you always hated mornings at the station. Came in late as often as you could.” Powell pointed out.

Jim smiled and shook his head,“ You got me there. But I’m here, with coffee, as promised.”

He passed over the cheap paper cup. Took his seat in the chair opposite him while the man popped off the lid and shook out a few packets of sugar, definitely stolen from the break room and squirreled away in his desk drawer.

“Still got a sweet tooth?” he teased and sipped on his own cup, black and bitter.

The man raised an eyebrow at him while he stirred it around,“ You weren’t gone that long, you know.”

Jim had to give it to him,” Guess not. Not long enough for you to grow out of it, at least.”

They drank from their cups in a familiar, comfortable silence while Jim looked around the room. It was mostly the same. He’d never decorated much, so there wasn’t much to be taken down or changed. Same knots in all the wood grain. Same dents and scratches in the walls. Same scraps under the chair legs. New name on the nameplate, though. New man in the chair. New computer set up in front of him, big and clunky and off-white. Jesus Christ, Jim’s happy he involuntarily gave up the job before they’d made him regularly use one of those things, at least.

But, thinking of chiefly duties…

“Well, Cal, how’s it looking for the kid?” Jim brought up.

He looked at him for a second and asked, waving his cup to him,“ How do you even know Eddie Munson all that well? You’ve been gone for eight months, Jim. And while you were still here, we never busted him for the drugs.”

Jim settled back in the chair further and recounted,“ I told him to quit it a time or two, but didn’t want to make a fuss on his record about it. Never caught him in the act, and only ever with a baggie of pot on him.”

He took another sip and continued,“ But, besides that, I just want to see something done right by him. By this whole mess, I’ve heard about. I can’t explain how I know that what all the kids are saying is the truth. That he’s innocent. But I just do. Would stake my life on it. He didn’t do anything to the girl or those boys.”

Powell almost nodded to the fact, given what they’d been working on uncovering over the last few days,“ Well, we’ve been investigating the case based on their testimonies…”

He let his words trail off, but Hop was impatient for some good news.

“And?”

Powell met his eyes, and with a tone of near-disbelief, he admitted,“ We haven’t found a single shred of evidence to suggest they’re lying about it. Nothing beyond the locations of the murders speaks to Eddie having had anything to do with it. And while the kids could’ve had time to coordinate their stories with each other, the others we’ve interviewed couldn't have. And with the background we’ve dug up on the victims… The claim that this was all a huge mess perpetrated by Jason Carver as he kept digging himself a deeper hole to cover his tracks… it’s the more plausible theory between the two. Way more than the idea that Eddie just went crazy all of a sudden and convinced so many people to cover for him this well.”

“So you’re saying…?”

“We can’t charge a dead man with the crimes. Can’t detain him and interrogate him while we look for more evidence.” Powell pointed out, regretfully,” But we can drop Eddie from the suspect list. Take the cuffs off him, make an announcement, and turn him loose.”

“That’s good news, Cal. I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear it.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Better than sending him to the clink for something he didn’t do just to satisfy this town’s thirst for blood.”

“Aint that the truth.”

There was almost time for another silence to fall around them. But Calvin had a question to pose before it settled very long.

“So, what’ll you do now that you’re back?”

And it probably should’ve been a scary question. The prospect of the unknown. A whole slew of decisions to make now that his life’s been so completely thrown off-track. He probably should’ve already had some idea of a plan in place for what he’d return to without the walls of a Soviet prison making all the choices for him.

“I have no clue.” he honestly answered instead.

“What? Don’t want to get rehired back here at the station?”

“And do this grunt work?” They shared a hearty chuckle that spoke to all their years of complaining about both having not enough and way too much to do before he explained,” Nah. I don’t know what I’ll do, but I think I’m tired of trying to make this whole damn town my responsibility.”

“You think you already have enough of it with that kid of yours?”

Fondness crept its way into his face,“ Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“How did that even happen? I feel like I had no clue you were even looking to adopt, much less had a kid already when you died and she was moving away with Joyce.”

“That’s a crazy story, Cal. Crazier than the shit that’s gone on here in recent days, I swear. But, uh, she’s mine. And she means everything to me. And I don’t want to do anything except be a good dad for her now. A job just seems like a waste of precious time.”

Powell brought his hands together and wistfully sighed,“ I hear ya…”

“What? Chief ain't treating you right? Wasn’t all it cracked up to be?”

“Don’t you make it sound like I’m whining about it. Wasn’t too much more to deal with until all this shit hit the fan. But this shit has been…”

“Hell on earth?” Jim supplied.

“Exactly. Slept either here or in the cruiser more nights than I did at home. I think the Missus is just about ready to march in here and drag me back into the cold side of the bed I left her with.”

Jim’s eyes snapped to his with more attention,“ Missus? So you and Wendy?”

“Finally tied the knot,” he pulled back his hand to reveal the wedding band on his left ring finger that he’d been twisting.

“Wow, been waiting on you to do it, what, six years now? And you up and decide to commit while I’m gone.”

“I ‘up and decided to commit’ because you were gone. Seeing you here one day and then just - poof - not anymore… Thought about taking up your badge and if the same thing happened to me… I was done wasting time.” Powell detailed the whole affair for the man who missed it,” So I bought the ring and proposed that same month. She spent forever on the phone, planning the whole thing out with her sister. Got married in December. Honeymooned over Christmas and New Year's.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It was. And, in a way, I had you to thank.”

Jim shook his head at that,“ Nah, you woulda wisened up one of these days. With or without me.”

“Maybe. But why don’t you tell me when you’re going to wisen up.”

“What does that mean?”

“You think the whole you-and-Joyce thing is subtle?”

They shared another laugh before Jim conceded,” No, I guess it isn’t.”

“You gave her your kid, Jim! That’s nearly grounds for an engagement right there.”

“Don't start talking like that, or I’ll get ideas and scare her off, Cal. We haven’t even had a single date yet.”

He was a little taken aback,“ Didn’t you two…? Back in high school?”

“No. Never.” Hopper corrected him,” We just ran into each other a lot, hung out cutting class sometimes…”

Powell didn’t really look like he believed him, but he let it slide to check him,” But now you’ll get a move on?”

“I guess now I owe it to her to get a move on. Already made her wait eight months for a damn dinner.”

Cal whistled,” Oh yeah, sounds like you best get a move on.”

“How ‘bout you do the same?” He said while he got up,” I’m sure that the kid’d like to know he’s a free man as soon as possible. You promised me you wouldn’t drag your feet on this.”

Powell stood up with him,“ And I’m not. Just waiting for Flo to let me know the machine’s done spitting out the official report. Then I'll be headed out to get started on cleaning things up.”

Before Jim turned to leave, he asked,“ Could I ask you for another favor?”

“What do you want from me now?”

“Nancy Wheeler. She’d been writing up the story on what happened for the school newspaper. She’s the only one with the inside scoop, has both the Munsons talking to her, and the most in-depth coverage of both the during and after of the arrest.”

“That’s good for her.”

“It is.” He agreed,” And if her's got to be the first article announcing that the charges have been dropped, before even the tv crews do, it’d go a long way for her resume down the line."

“I’ll bet it would."

"Especially since she'll have to help spearhead women in investigative journalism in the first place.”

"I never did like the press... But you tell her she can stop by and get a quote. As long as none of the other kids get in the way of it, she can get her story printed before morning news runs with it tomorrow.”

“I will. Thank you. Really. I’m happy to know the seat I left empty got filled by someone fit to sit in it.”

“God, what’d they do to you while you were gone?” Powell rounded the desk to stand next to him,” You’ve gone all sappy and soft in your time off.”

Jim bumped against his shoulder,“ Let’s just call it gettin’ old and leave it at that.”

“And see, I would've bet good money you’d be one of them crotchety things. Screaming from your front porch at everyone who dares pass by.”

“I woulda bet on it too. Now look at me.”

“It’s a good look on you. Enjoy it.”

Then, Flo burst through the doors, thumbing through freshly printed papers and eyeing them through her glasses instead of looking up,“ Your paperwork is all done, Chie- Jim? How are- When did you slip in?”

“Flo,” he greeted simply with a smile to the woman who practically kept that department running by being the biggest pain in his ass the entire time.

She tucked herself against his side in a quick hug, turns out working with someone for about eight years mean they miss you a little bit. Who would have guessed?

She held the papers into her chest and reached out to shove at his shoulder,“ I’m almost scared to ask if this is someone’s stupid idea of an April Fool’s joke.”

“It’s April first?” Jim asked, looking at the calendar on the wall that was fully crossed off but hadn’t been flipped to the new month yet.

“Sure is,” she confirmed while Powell took the hint to change it.

“Thanks for reminding me…” Jim thought of something for a minute,” I’ll be heading off. Was good catching up.”

With Eddie’s hands all painted, Argyle found himself the only one in the room without. He’d held out his hand for Erica and asked if she thought he’d look cute with shimmery pink nails like hers. Which made all of them laugh. But she said it didn’t exactly fit his vibe, so he then turned to all of the girls and was letting them debate what kind of color they’d put him in if they could. There were a few ideas of a mossy green, or a peachy orange, or maybe a daffodil yellow when Hop’s voice cracked through the walkie they’d perched on the windowsill of the hospital room.

“Hey, any rotten kids around?”

Robin leaned over and snatched it off the ledge,” Rotten kids one through five checking in. What’s the word on the construction for gallows in the town square?”

“Just spoke to Cal on how the case is looking,” was all he answered.

Robin took a look around the room with a stilted expression,“ And? What’d he say?”

There was no response.

“Hello? Requesting status on the conflict between Ex-Chief, Jim Hopper, and Current Chief, Calvin Powell?” she joked.

Hop’s voice came back in a low rumble,“ I’m real sorry, kid…”

All at once, Eddie felt his stomach plummet through the tile floor.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

They’d been joking around and having fun all morning… he forgot for a minute that things don’t always just turn out. They usually didn’t before he found out the world was ending, but his luck hadn’t been so bad recently. He cheated death and made some new friends, but it seemed the legal system was going to be a fouler beast to defeat.

Shit.

Jim continued,“ They’ve been digging through everything, but it’s just not enough to convince them…”

Robin shook her head as his voice faded out. She looked back up at the accused man and remained defiant,“ Don’t worry, Eddie. We- we can keep trying to figure this out. We’re not going to quit on you and we aren’t going to let them chuck you behind bars for the rest of your life. Okay? Well… We’ll put together a petition! Or gather a protest! Or- We have Nance’s paper she’s gonna publish! We’ll get people on your side and figure something out. We won’t give up on-”

But the radio cut right through her,“ I just can’t get ‘em to put you in prison stripes.”

And everything stopped.

Eddie's heart stopped beating, his lungs stopped breathing, the whole fucking Earth stopped spinning under him.

“Wait-” Robin asked herself before remembering to pull the walkie up to her face and click the button,“ What?”

The next time Hopper’s voice came through, they could hear the grin he was trying to fight back,“ He’s on his way down now to tell you officially, but the Hawkins Police Department is dropping the charges. Congratulations. You buncha deviants did a good job showin’ ‘em all what’s what.”

“Are you kidding?!” Eddie’s voice rang through the room, Robin having clicked down the button in time for Jim to catch most of it.

“What? Nobody’s ever heard of an April Fool’s joke?” he asked.

“Most April Fool’s jokes aren’t supposed to make the victim die of a heart attack!” the man yelled, voice rising in pitch.

“He’s still breathing ain’t he?”

“Oh my god- as if that even makes it okay to tell a guy he’s going to be prosecuted for like a hundred murders-”

“It would’ve been three, maybe four, and an assault at most, Eddie,” Robin tried to remind him, setting down and forgetting the walkie on the table.

“They would’ve sentenced me to like a hundred years, Robin!” he argued back.

“I just told you we would’ve figured it out-”

“I’ll take that as a yes. So, he’ll be fine.” Jim assumably answered the silence he received.

El took the walkie herself to tell him,” Was still a mean joke.”

“You kids need to lighten up. Yeesh. Nobody around here knows how to have any fun anymore.”

Eddie’s room filled up after that. Nancy, Steve, Mike, and Will arrive shortly after, just barely beating Chief Powell. He went over all the news with Eddie and the officer there. They undo his cuffs and explain that he won’t even have a misdemeanor for the drug distribution he admitted to at the end of the day. And since Nancy was right there, she got his statement and would get to send out her papers before the news channels ran an official announcement. If he faced any harassment despite it, though, the Hawkins Police department would help him out.

Then the rest of Hellfire showed up. Dustin and Lucas, along with Jeff, Gareth, Bruce, and Josie. Those four were particularly relieved to see him okay after everything. Not having received any update between Jason’s “Where’s Eddie?” interrogation and “Eddie Munson; Prime Suspect” and “Eddie’s in the hospital” they got from the boys that same morning. They were just saying their hellos when a nurse came in and tried to show them out.

“Awe, but we were celebrating,” Dustin complained to her.

She just looked down at him and hummed,“ Well, I’m sure Mr. Munson would prefer that we checked over everything privately. Like getting that catheter removed. Am I correct?”

Eddie didn’t hesitate to erupt with a pointed finger towards the door,“ Everybody, get the fuck out! Now!”

They got him taken care of and returned his things, but kept him in the hospital gown and hooked up to the IV.

They weren’t letting him out just yet. Turned out that when you nearly die of blood loss, the medical community likes to hold on to you. Make sure the wounds start healing over well, and there wouldn't be any deficits before the guy could start strolling about town. Who knew.

They decided to keep him until the end of the week, just to be safe.

In any news, they let his friends back in to annoy him. And, if Max’s mother signed some moving paperwork, she’d get wheeled into his room to share the rest of his stay with her the next morning. Hellfire made plans to camp out with him sometime and hold a one-shot around his bedside. Even roped newly returned Will Byers in agreeing to play, even though he didn’t know the rest of the club and was a little nervous.

When four o’clock hit, his uncle arrived and pulled him out of the bed for a real hug after the room emptied out.

Everyone else scampered off home, save for Robin, Nancy, and Steve.

They went to the school and used Nancy’s key to the newsroom to format her release and get Steve’s story for it. He sat on the light table while Robin threw questions at him. And they argued about how exactly he should word his answers the whole time Nancy typed away at the computer. They were crammed together working on it for a few hours, easily. And then they gathered up by the printer and folded hundreds of copies of the account. Using the school’s dime and credentials to get the news out as quickly as possible with at least a little reliability.

They were filling up milk crates from the cafeteria with stacks of them and loading them up into the Surfer Boy Pizza van when Jonathan and Argyle stopped by. The pair ran them around town and packed them into the newspaper boxes, even though technically they weren’t supposed to. Steve and Robin ran a few of them around the homes of people they knew were in a lot of the local groups and communities and would spread the word the fastest, and to Eddie’s neighbors. Those of them that were still at the trailer park.

Nancy dropped off copies in the mailboxes of some of the businesses for them to see first thing in the morning: the Hawkins’ Post and local news station, particularly. And then she dropped off a bunch of enveloped ones at the post office like they had when they released the tape about Barb less than two years before. To correct the brigade they’d been running with over the last week.

By the time the sun came back up, it should be on a world that believed Eddie was innocent. Or at least could be convinced of it soon.

As they were finishing up their rounds and headed back towards Robin’s house for drop-off, Steve stopped by his mailbox. He’d forgotten to for the last few days, and when they were about to pass it by, he figured he should grab anything while he was thinking about it before he came back later and forgot again.

There was a little bit that built up. Nearly all of it was addressed to his parents. But there was one letter with Steve’s name on it. Sent from the Family Video Headquarters in Glenview, Illinois.

“What…?” he mumbled to himself when he saw it.

“Come on, Steve,” Robin called from the rolled-down window,” Let’s get me home, so my parents don’t try to find new reasons to disapprove of our treasured friendship.”

“Just a second.”

Steve tore open the envelope right there, standing outside by his mailbox with the others tucked under his arm. When he pulled out the papers inside, they certainly held a surprise of a completely different kind. Not the stuff he got surprised with earlier that week. Not supernatural, end of days stuff. Instead, the mail spoke of incredibly mundane, and yet totally shocking stuff.

“Holy shit…”

Robin perked up at his expression while he read the paper“ Steve? What is it?”

He didn’t even look up for the paper when he quietly sputtered,“ I’m the manager…”

“What?” Robin knocked her head to the side and opened the door. Stepping out onto the street and rounding the car to join him.

“I-” he tried to start, then switched gears and looked at her,” Keith skipped town. So did half the staff. It’s just you, me, and Alex left in Hawkins now. Family Video sent the letter to me because I’m older and have the most hours on the schedule. They can’t convince anyone else to move out here to take over the building since Hawkins is so cursed in the public eye. So I- I’m the manager now.”

Her eyes fell to the paper, and she parroted his first thought,“ Holy shit…”

“We’re supposed to re-open on Friday and try to get things back in business.”

After… everything… that was so out of left field.

“April Fools?” Robin tried.

“They sent over the rest of the keys and instructions…“ Steve separated the open letter from the stapled packet behind it and held up the three new keys he had. For the office door, locked filing cabinet, and emergency exit.

“So, not April Fools…” Robin looked at the official paperwork and reminded him,” Steve. You don’t know how to run a store.”

Which, yes, was true. Steve did not know how to run a store. But the thing was that Steve and Robin never did any work truly on their own. So he looked back up at her and emphasized how absolutely tied together they were in it.

“We don’t know how to run a store.” he corrected.

“We don’t know how to run a store.” she agreed.

“We’ll have to figure it out…”

#YAY! Eddie's innocence is confirmed! Once the town hears of it that'll probably be the last time we really mention it.#It's done and taken care of - let's move on hm?#And the El focus on this chapter is something to very dear to my heart #As an autistic I have always felt 'off' or like people thought I was off #And when people would declare 'let your freak flag fly' 'take pride in your uniqueness' 'be yourself unapologetically'...#It didn't really mean anything to me because it just felt cliche and like something people say but don't really mean #But actually finding space where I don't feel out of place - where people didn't make me see the 'otherness' - that actually helped #Which is what I think El is looking for #Not someone to tell her she's amazing for not being normal. Someone who doesn't let her feel so not normal.#And we're making Steve a manager!#I haven't really seen anyone explore this idea yet - we always keep Keith around as an unseen background element.#But there are so many things that make Steve a good worker and ideally a good manager #So we're promoting him!#Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 4 #Stranger Things 4 spoilers #Stranger Things 4 volume 2 spoilers

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