#im nervous to actually tag them since tumblr's been Bad about that lately
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Hide and Seek | Eddie Munson x Reader
♥ Summary: When your first meeting with boyfriend's family goes off the rails to a murderous degree, you call your cute co-worker for help. as it turns out, he has a couple demonic tricks up his sleeves [Demon!Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader]
♥ Warnings: 18+, minors and ageless blogs dni. graphic violence, extreme gore, a rape metaphor, threats of sa, vomiting, stabbing, murder and attempted murder, gun related violence, violence against women, derogatory terms used for the reader by someone other than eddie (whore, slut, skank), multiple side characters infer that the only purpose of individuals with wombs is to have children/make sacrifices for others, unprotected sex, p in v sex, mild breeding kink, monster fucking, angst, mediocre smut imo, fluff. if you've ever seen ready or not, take that, and combine it with labour paris paloma. if i missed anything, please let me know so i can tag it
♥ A/N: other content tags include: modern au. demon au. there's vague lore to this, i might write a follow up. for more author's note, please check the bottom of this post.
♥ Word count: 23041
♥♥♥
“Grace couldn't be happier after she marries the man of her dreams at his family's luxurious estate. There's just one catch- she must now hide from midnight until dawn while her new in-laws hunt her down with guns, crossbows and other weapons.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you hissed, snatching the movie away from your coworker, “Do not read that shit to me right now, I’m anxious enough as it is.”
A laugh slipped out from Eddie’s soft lips as he scrunched his face up in sympathy, “That bad, huh?”
“Don’t laugh at me,” you groaned, burying your face in your hands, “I never should’ve agreed to this. I’m so stupid.”
Eddie shrugged, pouting slightly, “No, you’re stupid for other reasons. This isn’t stupid. This is far from stupid. You’re just meeting your boyfriend’s family, I mean, that was gonna happen one way or another, right?”
You didn’t give a verbal response right away. You just let out a pained scream, muffling the sound of it with your palms.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Eddie gave your arm a sympathetic pat.
“It’s just,” you pulled your hands away from your face, “It feels so soon- and I didn’t think my first meeting with them would be a weekend long getaway at their giant fucking mansion. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that? A giant fucking mansion? Who the fuck has a giant mansion in this economy?”
“Your boyfriend’s parents.”
You let out another distressed sound, “I mean, I knew Roman had money, I just… I didn’t know it was McMansion money.”
Eddie nodded, hopping up on the counter of the always quiet video store, “I see. So what exactly are you afraid of here? Slipping on marble floors? Breaking their solid gold antiques? Using the wrong fork in such an egregious fashion that you get yelled at?”
“Honestly, I’m mostly afraid of blaspheming or something. His parents are like, hyper-Catholic.”
A smile crossed your face, but it faded far too fast for Eddie’s taste, “God, his parents are gonna hate me.”
Eddie tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy, or an adorable baby cow. You weren’t entirely sure how he managed to pull off that expression. Everything about his appearance seemed to scream tough, scary metalhead- except for his eyes. His eyes betrayed the fact that under layers of leather, chains, and eyeliner, Eddie Munson was deeply kind.
“And now you’ve lost me,” he leaned back, tipping himself over the counter to a dangerous level, “How could anyone hate you, angel?”
“Eddie, I work a minimum wage job in a nearly-defunct movie store that sells DVDs. I go to a community college for a degree that won’t take me anywhere. I’m pathetic, and I have no energy ninety percent of the time, and even though I’m going to try and look nice this weekend, I know I’ll look like a mess. I’m nothing. I’m nothing, and I’m going nowhere, and in a hundred years I won’t be anything more than a footnote on a footnote on their son’s wikipedia page. They’re gonna see that I’m not good enough for him. I’m never gonna be enough for him and they’re gonna hate me for it.”
“Sweetheart-” his eyes were wide. He looked completely shocked, taken aback that you saw yourself as nothing.
“You know, whenever we get an angry customer, everyone here hides behind you?”
You raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of where this was going. Eddie continued, “It’s because you’re strong as hell and you’re terrifying- and you can make anyone see reason. You’re smart as fuck and you take no shit from anyone. You’re the furthest thing in the world from pathetic..”
“You’re just saying that-”
“I’m not!” he leaned forward, “I promise! And I mean, besides all that, you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met- and you’re definitely the hottest.”
“Are you sure about that?” you asked, finally cracking a smile, “You know Steve.”
“‘The Hair?’ Well, I mean, I have eyes, I know he’s gorgeous, but you? You’re a total knockout,” he threw a few punches into the air. You couldn’t hold back your laugh.
He smiled at you, just admiring the way you wheezed at his eccentricities.
“You aren’t nothing,” he said as your laughter subsided.
“I know,” you didn’t really believe your own words. You were pretty sure he picked up on that.
“I’m serious! You could have the entire world if you wanted it. Forget a hundred years, I give it six months before the Earth is yours.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Six months! Then the world is yours and the rest of us are just living in it.”
You scoffed, hopping up on the counter beside him, “Make it four.”
“Or less!”
A soft, content silence passed over the two of you. You watched as Eddie’s long, slender fingers tapped a beat into his thigh. You reached out, taking his hand into your own, running your thumb over the blue veins that lay beneath his skin. God, you didn’t know a person could have such beautiful hands.
“Still,” with his hand still in yours, you leaned into his shoulder, using it as an oddly soft pillow while you spoke, “Even if I am taking over the world, I haven’t done it yet- so this weekend is going to fucking suck.”
“Hey, if there’s anyone who can deal with hellish in-laws, it would be you. Pretend they’re just customers. If anyone can deal with a couple of rich in-laws for a weekend, it’s you.”
“Is it?” you sighed, “Or are they gonna kill me because I used the wrong salad fork?”
Eddie rolled his eyes, a smirk crossing his lips. He gave your hand a squeeze and let go before he jumped off the cash desk, “They’re not gonna kill you, sweetheart. You think Roman would let them?”
“Who knows? Think of Grace. Think of Chris Washington. This could totally be a Get Out, or a Ready or Not!”
You were playing around now, dabbling in worst case scenarios to ease some pressure off of your worried mind. Eddie played along with you, as he so often did.
“You’re right. You’re totally gonna get murdered this weekend. I’ll have to find someone to pick up your Monday shift.”
“I know,” you feigned a wince, “Sorry in advance. I’ll be too busy getting sacrificed to the devil.”
Eddie paused for a split second. His smile wavered so briefly that you didn’t quite catch it as you continued on your dramatic rant.
“And yes, I should have informed the company over text, at least! But!” you shrugged, “I was too busy getting murdered by my in-laws.”
“That’s no excuse!” Eddie gasped, taking on some weird, posh sounding accent- presumably the sound of the bourgeoisie, “You should know that the interests of Family Video come before personal crap like getting murdered.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Boss Man. I’d ask you not to fire me, but, y’know. I’m dead.”
Eddie’s smile returned in full force as he twisted away from you, focusing on the new task of placing films back on their shelves. As you gazed at his back, gears began to turn in your brain. Maybe keeping someone in the know about your whereabouts wouldn’t be such a terrible idea.
“Hey, Eddie? Would it- would it be okay if I did inform you? Over text? If something happens, I mean.”
He paused, and when he spoke again his voice was much softer, “Nothing’s gonna happen to you, sweetheart.”
“I know that. Logically, I know that- I’m talking about a scenario where everything goes terribly wrong and I end up offending the hell out of his parents. If they hate me, can I call you?”
Eddie nodded, his sweet eyes widening as his strong hands wrapped around the plastic case of another film.
“Of course, sweetheart. Of course.”
You bit your lip as you watched him turn. The way Eddie spoke to you filled something inside of you. It met a deep dark need that ached somewhere in your chest. You wondered if, in a different universe- one where you had met Eddie before you met Roman- you would still have that need.
You kept your eyes on Eddie for a few minutes before you finally turned away.
-
Hours later, the clicking sound of your heels echoed across the front lawn of a rather imposing mansion. The smell of freshly cut grass overtook your senses, nearly covering the underlying stench of metal. Already, the grass was covered in fallen Autumn leaves.
A mildly uncomfortable dress clung to your body, exposing your shoulders to the chill of the early evening air. An expensive bottle of red wine sat heavy in your hands. Behind you, you could hear the muttering of butlers (butlers!) as your luggage was removed from the car you’d arrived in.
Roman stood at your side, his piercing blue eyes dead focused on the door a few paces ahead of you. His suit was perfectly tailored to every sharp edge of his toned form. The harsh scent of his expensive cologne stung your nose. He was the very picture of confidence- next to him, you felt like a lost, sad stray puppy.
“You’re sure about this?” you asked, not bothering to turn to face him. You knew he wouldn’t look you in the eye for a question this trivial, “You really think I’m ready to meet-”
“You are,” there was no hesitation in your paramour’s voice. There was no compassion, either.
“And you think they’re ready to meet me?”
When you were met with silence, you steeled yourself. You took a deep breath, clenching your fists as your lungs filled with the scent of cut grass and cologne.
“Now, the second that door opens, you are quiet and polite, got that? Don’t speak out of turn, laugh softly, and for once in your life, do as I ask.”
You didn’t have time to respond.
The door swung open as you and Roman approached, revealing the smiling faces of a middle aged couple. You had been informed about them on the car ride up- and you didn’t fail to notice the way they looked you up and down, judging you in a practiced silent way.
The woman, Roman’s mother, had short dark hair, styled neatly so her bangs framed her unwrinkled face. From what you’d been told, she was a fan of diamonds, anti-aging creams, and vintage reds- hence the bottle in your hands. The man next to her, Roman’s father, Benedict, shared your boyfriend’s piercing blue eyes. The watch on his wrist was expensive, though you already knew it would be. When it came to the finer things in life, Benedict (never Ben) was something of a collector.
The couple was perfectly warm as they welcomed you into their home. Cecilia placed a gentle hand on your shoulder, and Benedict clapped his son on the back, expressing a sort of fatherly pride. Still, as you stepped through the heavy oak doors, you were overwhelmed with a sense of wrongness. It took all your strength to smile through it. You had to ignore every instinct you had- all of which were currently screaming for you to run.
A chill ran up your spine as the doors swung shut behind you, trapping you inside with a heavy thud. Someone took the wine from your hands. You had no choice now. You were in.
You tried to shake off your unease as you moved through the hallways. Each space you entered dripped with the trappings of wealth. Everything was crafted with fine materials by the very best craftsmen. The decorations were decadent and modern and entirely overwhelming. You could just tell that everything in this house was more expensive than your car.
You did your best to listen as Cecilia and Benedict took turns delivering the history of the marble floors and fancy trims, but you couldn’t help but focus on their taste in wall decor. Oil portraits hung on the walls; painted visages of men and women stared down from golden frames. Their bodies were bathed in painted finery, and their eyes seemed to watch you as you passed through their hallway.
“Ah, I see you have an eye for art!” Benedict exclaimed, stepping away from your side for a moment to gesture to the portrait of one woman in specific. She had the saddest honey-brown eyes you had ever seen. You wanted to reach out and hold her hand- which was odd, considering the fact that she was a painting.
Benedict continued, ignoring you as you became lost in your own mind, “These paintings are all originals, all commissioned by the family.”
Your eyes followed the line of portraits as far as you could see. In each gilded frame, a different face peered out at you with sad, desperate eyes.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Cecilia took your elbow in her hand, pulling you closer to the painting of the brown-eyed girl, “She was Benedict's darling first wife. She passed so tragically young.”
Her words told a tragic tale, but her tone was nothing short of upbeat. You stood straighter, becoming more aware of Cecilia’s proximity to you and the smile on her face as she continued to speak of Benedict’s late partner.You couldn’t help but notice that the woman in the frame was missing a ring.
“She died in childbirth, as did her baby- her only child. When she left us, we had this portrait made.”
“Tragically, that’s the case with most of these old things,” Roman said, placing a hand on the small of your back, “When a LeBuer passes, we commemorate their life with art. It’s a nice way to keep them close- to keep them from leaving. Someday soon, you’ll join them.”
You nodded, entirely unsure of how to respond to that statement. All of your jokes with Eddie had been just that- jokes. Now, however, with the eyes of the portraits boring into you, you were actually starting to get freaked out.
“Come now,” Benedict’s voice boomed through the hallway as he guided the group away from the portrait and down the corridor, “It would be rude to leave the rest of the family waiting.”
“Oh, yes. They’ve all been so excited to meet you! Roman has told us such wonderful things.”
You peered at Roman from the corner of your eye, wondering what, exactly, he had told his family. He kept his gaze on the portrait, glaring at the woman within as if she had done him a personal injustice. He remained there, stock still with that look on his face until his parents pulled you away, leaving Roman behind.
A short ways away, the hall opened up into a second foyer that was somehow even grander than the first. A chaise lounge sat in the middle of the room. On a small table next to it, dried flowers sat perfectly arranged in a vase that definitely cost more than you could hope to make in a lifetime. An elegant staircase twisted up one wall. Beneath it stood an oak door, covered from top to bottom with fine gold detailing. When you looked closer, you could see that the gold made up tiny illustrations of what you had to assume were biblical stories.
The other walls were decorated with more portraits. More finely dressed men and women, more piercing eyes staring down from gilded frames. You suppressed a shiver of discomfort.
Roman’s parents stopped you just as you reached the door beneath the stairs. Benedict stood behind you, keeping a firm grip on your shoulders as Cecilia gathered your hands in her own.
“Now, some members of the family were unable to make it- tonight you’ll be meeting our daughter Medea-”
“And her no good husband,” Benedict continued, the tone of his voice and Cecilia’s eye roll betraying the truth behind his joke.
“You’ll also meet our eldest son, Adam, and Roman’s aunt and uncle, their son, and-”
“Cathrine,” Roman announced his return to the group, “You’ll get to meet Cathrine.”
Honestly, you had no clue who the fuck that was. Cathrine could’ve been the family pet for all you knew- but something about the way Roman’s lips curved around her name, the way his voice took on a tender tone that he never even used with you- that said otherwise.
“Are you ready, dear?” Cecilia took your hands in hers again as she asked. Her words were kind, but you couldn’t help but think her smile looked fake. You drew in a harsh breath. Your heart began to race in your chest. You drew your lower lip between your teeth, nibbling at it as your nerves twisted in an anxious dance. Cecilia’s hand drifted up towards her neck, where she laid a few dainty fingers over a necklace- a gold chain and a crucifix. For a split second, and only a split second, you could see disgust cross her face.
“I-” you stuttered, “I think I need a moment.”
Cecilia said nothing. She no longer looked like she wanted to throw up at the very sight of you, but there was still a cold look in her eyes. Benedict was unaffected by his wife’s sudden frost.
“Just as well! We’ll let the family know you’ve arrived.”
He took his wife by the elbow and gestured for his son to follow, guiding them both through the massive doors into what looked like a void of darkness. Before you could question it, the patriarch’s voice called out to you.
“Come in soon, dear. They’re waiting for you.”
You smiled, attempting to cover the tremor that ran through you at the echoing sound of Benedict’s voice. The second the doors shut behind the happy family, you let your facade drop. You collapsed onto the chaise lounge. At a different time, you might’ve felt glamorous doing that, in the moment, you just felt anxious.
Moving quickly, you pulled your phone from your dress pocket. Your lockscreen was a photo of you and Roman at a beach. His arm was wrapped around you, his eyes and smile confident and self assured. Beside him, you simply looked inadequate- tired and anxious. Unlocking the phone, you were met with your homescreen- a photo of you and Eddie where the flash made his eyes go red- and a text from the man himself.
EDDIE: hope you got to the haunted mansion safe and sound (ooooooo ooooooo *spooky sounds*)
Your thumbs flew as you typed a response.
Y/N: i’m here, and i haven’t been murdered yet. this place is fucking *weird* though
EDDIE: what brand of weird are we talkin?? good weird? bad weird? me weird? that time gareth got drunk and tried to organize the gravel behind my place weird?
You paused, smiling before you resumed typing.
Y/N: ok, tbh, i don’t think anything is gonna top gareth weird
Y/N: but things are like… weird weird.
Y/N: i don’t mean to be a bitch. his family is perfectly nice, it’s just… they have paintings?? oil paintings of all these dead people. apparently they’re all relatives, but there are so many of them
EDDIE: huh
EDDIE: maybe it isn’t ready or not, maybe you’re in crimson peak, and one of his relatives is murdering all of their wives
EDDIE: hey if you see tom hiddleston wandering around looking sad, lmk, i wanna get in on that
Y/N: ha ha, very funny
Y/N: but seriously, i hate these damn paintings- it feels like the eyes are following me
Y/N: I’m On Edge, eds. seriously, Roman told me I was gonna join the paintings on the wall one day, and maybe it was a marriage proposal, but it felt more like a threat
There was a pause, a moment where all you had were three little dots telling you he was typing. For a split second, the storm of anxiety brewing in your chest threatened to overtake you. Your breath came in harsh pants as your hands began to shake. Eddie would think you were overreacting. It was just a comment from your boyfriend- you thought for sure Eddie would call you crazy. Roman would have called you crazy.
EDDIE: do you want me to come get you? I can be there in half an hour if i drive fast enough
Just like that, the storm faded. The thundering beat of your heart returned to normal. You couldn’t help the grin that crossed your face as you stared at your phone, nor could you withhold the relieved sigh that left your lungs.
Y/N: don’t break any traffic laws for me just yet… but leave your phone on, just in case
EDDIE: as you wish. stay safe, sweetheart
You stared at your phone until the screen went black, trying to fight the warmth that crept up your face. After years of knowing Eddie, those damn pet names never lost their effect on you. You tried to shake it off, steeling yourself to prepare for your next challenge.
In-laws.
With a calming deep breath- and then a second and third calming deep breath when the first one didn’t do its job- you pushed open the doors and made your way into the next impossibly fancy room.
Immediately, you were overcome with the sense that the very act of entering this room was a massive mistake. It was almost as if the space itself knew you did not belong inside of it.
A wide, oval shaped table took center stage in the middle of the room. Like everything else in the house, it was finely crafted- and probably custom made. The surface was carved with strange, intricate shapes. Chairs had been scattered around it haphazardly, as if a family sat down only to get right back up again. The walls were covered in paintings alongside various taxidermied trophies from various hunts. Unlike the paintings, the glass eyes of the deer, foxes, rabbits and bears didn’t seem to follow you. Two cabinets sat at the far end of the room, both well stocked with guns and other weapons that you could just see through beautiful glass panes.
The entire LeBuer family fell silent and turned to face you, as if you had rudely interrupted each and every one of their conversations.
You stood there for a moment, facing Roman’s family with wide eyes. His parents were standing with a pregnant woman, her hands clutching the arm of the man that stood beside her. That would probably be Medea and her husband if Benedict ’s clenched fists were anything to go by. Across the room from them, another couple stood talking to two young men, presumably Roman’s aunt and uncle, his brother and his cousin. At the very back of the room, in front of a massive portrait of a dark-eyed man with a devilish smirk, stood Roman. With him was a woman you did not recognize. Cathrine.
Each and every one of them wore an expression like you had just kicked their dog. Lovely.
The room seemed to drop a few degrees in the following moments. Silence filled the air as you stared at the family, and they stared back. You had half a mind to turn right back around and call Eddie, and you were about to follow through with it when Benedict moved towards you.
“Ladies and gentlemen! And other creatures of the night,” he pointed at Roman’s uncle with a grin, “It is my honour and privilege to introduce you to the newest member of the family.”
You felt like that was a bit extreme, but really, you were just glad someone was talking.
“Miss (L/N),” Benedict ’s hand was on your back, guiding you through the room, “I’d like to introduce you to my brother, his lovely wife, their son, Alexander, and our boy Adam.”
You tried to hide the tremor in your fingers as you made your introductions and shook their hands. Roman’s aunt and uncle gave you polite but cold smiles. Alexander looked completely uninterested in you. Adam almost looked too interested. He wouldn’t let go of your hand until you pulled away with moderate force. The smell of his cologne was overwhelming.
The storm of anxiety Eddie had eased moments before had returned in full. You could feel it clawing at your ribs- it was a force of nature that became less like a weather event and more like a feral creature the longer you stood in that room. Every moment you spent speaking to Roman’s family was a moment your instincts screamed at you for not running away.
But you were being silly. These were just nerves. You wanted to make a good impression. You wanted to get along with Roman’s family. You wanted them to approve of you- to make him happy. He wasn’t even looking at you. Even as you crossed the room, as you were introduced to his sister and his brother-in-law, his eyes stayed on that other woman. Cathrine.
“We’re so excited that Roman has finally found someone,” Medea let go of her husband’s arm, placing her hands over her bump, “Maybe our little guy will have a friend to run around with someday soon.”
You didn’t even try to make your laugh sound genuine. You just smiled, and nodded, and pretended you were totally down with that idea.
You were not totally down with that idea.
“Roman!” Benedict called out, “Come here, son. Introduce your sweet girl to dear (Y/N).”
It took you a moment to process Benedict ’s words- his phrasing was odd, and perhaps it would be a touch hurtful if you were a jealous woman.
Across the room, Roman took Cathrine’s hand, cradling it gently in his. He looked at her like she was precious to him, as if she was something he’d searched all of time and space for and finally found. He looked at her as if she was a divine and expensive creature.
If you were a jealous woman, this would have been more than a touch hurtful- it would have been a punch hurtful, perhaps. Roman never looked at you that way.
“(Y/N), dear, this is Cathrine,” those weren’t Roman’s words. He didn’t even bother to introduce you to her. His mother did, “She was a childhood friend of Roman’s.”
“They’ve always been close,” Benedict said, putting a hand on your shoulder. It was probably meant to be reassuring, but it felt like a dead weight on your back, pushing you forward into the event horizon of a black hole.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for so long,” Cathrine smiled at you, her voice was sweet as honey- with a special sort of poison lurking just beneath, “Roman’s told me so many good things.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” you tapped your fingers against your wrist in a rapid, anxious rhythm, “I’d be a little sad if he only told you bad things.”
Cathrine laughed, but the sound was fake; a cheap plastic vase in the place of a porcelain one. You knew your joke was bad, but still, the sound put you on edge. When her tiny nose wrinkled with laughter, you were almost sure she was scowling at you. As her chest rose and fell, you caught sight of her choice of jewelry- a gold chain with a dainty crucifix.
“Oh,” she hummed, “You’re so funny! That’s such a good trait. You’re so pretty, too. I’m so glad Roman picked you.”
She looked at you the way a hawk would look at its prey moments before they tore it into little tiny pieces. You thanked her quickly and cast your gaze to the floor, unable to stare down her bloodthirsty expression.
You didn’t have to avoid her gaze for long. The massive doors creaked open. The sound echoed through the room. Neatly dressed men in white shirts and black dress pants filed through, each of them carrying a tray with a single flute of champagne on it. It seemed incredibly inefficient, but you were just happy that something had distracted Cathrine from her murderous thoughts.
Benedict took his place at the head of the table, standing behind the chair that you assumed was his. The rest of the family followed suit. There was a place saved for you beside Roman. Feeling petty, you took a spot away from him- an empty seat closer to the head of the table. No one seemed to mind, and the place that would have been yours was filled by Alexander.
“My beloved family,” Benedict raised his glass, “A toast! To good company, good fortune, and a bright future.”
You watched Roman’s family toast and drink. You did the same. You had never tasted such salty champagne.
Benedict continued, “To my brother-” he turned to Roman’s uncle, but you could not make out the man’s face. You shook your head, trying to clear your head. Benedict’s voice became briefly inaudible as your vision blurred.
No one paid you any mind. Roman’s father continued, his glass still held aloft, “To my darling wife-”
You gripped onto your glass, breath coming fast as Benedict’s voice faded in and out. Black dots swam in front of you. Something was very wrong.
“My dear children. You have ensured that our family will prosper for yet another generation. First, my sweet Medea, and now Roman. You’ve brought home the perfect girl- and the perfect sacrifice.”
You couldn’t have heard that right. The world seemed to sway, spinning around as you tried to stay steady on your feet. Your stomach flipped and your throat burned as you fought the urge to vomit all over the table.
“You’ve done an excellent job, Roman,” Cecilia’s voice was immeasurably fond. Her eyes were on you.
“Did you really have to pick such a cute sacrifice, though?” Medea whined, “Now your kid is going to be cuter than mine.”
“Does the demon have a preference?”
You stumbled backwards, champagne glass slipping from your hand as you tripped away from the family. The sound of shattering glass was entirely lost on you.
“What-” your voice was weak. You could barely hear yourself over the static in your ears, “What the fuck-?”
“Relax now, dear,” Benedict put a hand on your shoulder, “You will come to understand in time.”
You jerked away from him, nearly collapsing to the floor in your haste to get away. You could see Roman approaching you, hands outstretched as if you were some feral creature he wanted to soothe.
“Darling,” he whispered. You couldn’t hear him, you could only see his lips moving.
“The drugs are in her system, Roman. You’ll have to speak up.”
Roman sighed, throwing his hands in the air as if annoyed that he’d have to expend anymore energy on calming you. You were kind of used to that gesture, actually.
“(Y/N), darling- my family has a tradition. We can’t further the family line until-”
“Until we spill the blood of an innocent and summon the ancient gods,” Cathrine spoke, stepping towards Roman and wrapping her arms around his waist. She grinned as confusion spilled across your features, and she spoke to you as if you were a small child, “Don’t you understand? You’re here because I wanted to have a child with my husband.”
Ice spilled through your veins as realization sunk in. The agony of betrayal bit at your heels like the feral dog this family imagined you to be. Anguish spread through you, burning in your throat and behind your eyes. You were hurt, you were sick, and over everything else, you were annoyed.
Because you had been right, and Eddie would never hear about it from you.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Roman took a step closer, “I wasn’t the only one in our relationship who loved someone else. I had Cathrine. You had that boy from your work. You should have stayed with him.”
Roman’s words stung like tiny razors dancing across your skin. Of course this was mostly because he was excusing his own deceit, but it was also because he was kind of right. You didn’t want to admit it. You didn’t want your killer to be right about anything- but here, in what could be your last moments, you were thinking of Eddie.
You made an attempt at retreat, but your back hit something. A cabinet.
Roman’s eyes were on you. His family’s eyes were on you. His wife’s eyes were on you. Your intuition had been right all along- you were the prey, and they were the hunters. You were never welcome here. You were never going to be welcome here. Your mind raced, eyes flitting around as you tried to find a way out. They were going to kill you. Roman’s family was going to kill you in a stupid, cliche way.
But the LeBuer family, in their infinite wisdom, had made a mistake.
They backed their prey into a cabinet filled with guns.
You let out a shuddering breath, folding in on yourself as you tried to project the image of a woman defeated. You let out a sob, a genuine sound, even though it was a distraction.
“You’re right,” your voice betrayed your terror, “For both our sakes. I should have stayed with Eddie.”
Roman didn’t have time to ask what you meant. None of them did, and you couldn’t imagine them being super curious about what you had to say, anyway. You were livestock to them. Something to stab so that they could further their family lineage, or whatever the fuck they had said. You couldn’t remember it clearly, and as you stood, the thought completely vanished from your mind.
Adrenaline flooded through your system as you threw your elbow into the glass panes of the display cabinet. You didn’t feel the glass pierce your skin, or your blood dripping over the wood. You just felt the solid reassuring presence of a weapon in your hands.
You weren’t sure if it was loaded. Even if it was, you were not confident in your ability to shoot straight given your drugged state. Therefore, when the first of Roman’s family members approached you, you decided to use the shotgun in your hands as a club.
Alex went down like a fucking chump.
You hit him in the face and he collapsed to the floor with a sharp screech. Adam was next. You ducked under his open arms and nailed him on the inside of his thigh with the butt of the gun. Just as he fell to the ground, Roman’s uncle moved in. You jumped up, hitting his chin from below and sending him stumbling into his wife.
The other members of the family began to back away. You turned the gun in your arms, aiming it at them as if you knew what you were doing. They raised their hands in surrender. You kept the weapon trained on them as you began to stumble through the room, your back to the wall as you headed for the door.
“Now, (Y/N), sweetheart,” Cecilia began, “You have to understand- this is for the greater good! Your sacrifice would give Roman and Cathrine the ultimate gift- a child! Don’t you want that for them? Don’t they deserve it? The joys of mother and fatherhood?”
“Isn’t this your place as a woman?” Adam decided to join in, “To give life? Don’t you want to fulfill your duty as a woman?”
“Don’t you love our son, (Y/N)?” Benedict asked, “Please, help him with this. No marriage is truly blessed without children.”
You almost lowered the weapon, shocked at their audacity, “It was never gonna work out. Turns out he’s married.”
You were almost there, almost out. Just another few steps, and then you could run. You didn’t know how far you would get, how long the adrenaline would last, but it had to get you somewhere, right?
You would call Eddie. You had to call Eddie.
Just as you formed a concrete plan in your mind, someone’s arms wrapped around your throat. They pulled you back, nearly throwing you to the floor before you had a chance to fight back. You scratched at their hands with your free one, managing to draw blood. The angle was awkward, but you did your best, using the gun to try and beat them away from you. They tried their best to pry the thing from your hands. You fought back. Their arm was tight against your windpipe. With their other hand, they reached down. Their finger wrapped around the trigger.
The sound of a shot made your ears ring. The arms around your throat dropped in a millisecond. You stumbled away, hand wrapping around the gun as you dared to glance behind you.
Roman’s uncle was on the ground. The space where his face had been was nothing more than a mass of blood, bits of skull, and scattered brains.
You aimed the gun at your hunters. You could faintly hear Roman’s aunt screaming, but you tuned her out. It was easy enough- your ears were still ringing.
“Are you still going to kill me?”
There was a moment of silence. Blood pooled on the marble floor near your feet. The light from the chandelier caught on the broken champagne glass you’d left on the floor. You were seeing double again.
Roman nodded. So did the second, drug fueled vision of him that only you could see.
“Fine,” you hissed, shutting your eyes against the harsh reality you were facing. When you opened them again, Roman was much closer, staring you down with a look of pure disappointment. The fucking audacity of these people. You turned the gun in your hands again, hitting him in the dead center of his face.
“Good luck with that.”
With that, you were gone, tearing out the doors and down the hallways. The mansion that Roman’s family called home was a fucking maze. Even without the drugs coursing through your system, you would’ve been lost in seconds. The only thing you could do was find a place to hide.
You let out a small laugh at the thought. Your night had, despite all improbabilities, actually turned into Ready or Not- a cursed game of hide and seek that would end with somebody dying. You would never let Eddie forget this.
That is, if you saw him again. To do that, you needed to survive long enough to call him, and get help. You could do that- you had to believe that you could do that.
You could hear voices and footsteps far down the hallway. Someone was coming. With your goal in mind, you ran. It was a struggle to avoid falling or tripping over the stupidly lavish hallway runner. There were no significant landmarks to tell you where you were going. There were no windows, no doors, and every damned wall was covered in those paintings. The portraits with sad eyes watched as you tried to make your escape. You weren’t afraid of them anymore.
After coming upon two dead ends, you finally found some way to make progress. A twisting stairway led up to another floor. You didn’t have time to weigh your options. The voices of your pursuers were only growing louder. With the shotgun in hand, you threw yourself up the stairs and bolted onto the second floor.
Immediately, you were blessed by the last rays of light that the sun had to offer as it sunk below the horizon. You didn’t have time to enjoy it. You just ran down the hallway, past windows and portraits until you finally, finally found a series of doors.
The first few you tried were locked. Sweat pooled in the palms of your hands as you heard someone running up the stairs. The ground seemed to shift beneath your feet when one of the doors finally swung open beneath your palm. Counting yourself lucky, you tucked yourself inside and gently shut the door behind you. Moments later, you heard footsteps thudding passed your hiding place.
You took in your surroundings. You were in a bedroom. Though it was beautiful, the space smelled of dust and neglect. The fine silk sheets on the bed clearly hadn’t been used in some time. A bronze crucifix hung over the bed, though it had been tilted to the side ever so slightly. The rug was expensive, but its red hue had been darkened from dust. The other furnishings had suffered a similar fate.
You took a step forward, trying to explore the room further and get away from the door. Your leg gave out beneath you. Nausea overtook your body as you struggled to stand. The world wouldn’t stop spinning. Again, your vision doubled, though this time it faded to black at the edges.
You were about to pass out.
In a desperate attempt at self preservation, you checked the door behind you. There was no way to lock it- no keyhole, no mechanism, nothing. You glanced at your surroundings again- there was a bed, an oak chest that was far too small for you to fit inside of it, a nightstand, and a door. You had no choice but to crawl to it, dragging yourself across the floor, burning your skin on the rug.
You had fully assumed that this door would lead you to a closet, but to your luck, you found a small ensuite. It was just as neglected as the bedroom- particles of dust floated through the air, coating the counter and catching in the fluffy towels that hung on the wall- but the door had the ability to lock. That was all that really mattered to you.
You slid the shotgun in first, tucking it beside the toilet before you slid yourself in, knees and thighs clinging to the cold tile. The moment you were in, you pulled the door shut behind you and locked it. A moment passed. The silence was broken only by your deep, haggard breathing. Your hands clutched at nothing as you tried to calm the erratic beat of your heart.
Though you desperately needed a second to catch your breath, time was not on your side. Your body shook almost violently on the cold bathroom floor. Your vision continued to darken, and you knew that whatever drugs were in your system would slowly drag you under if you let them. You didn’t know if you would wake up from that.
Pulling yourself over to the toilet, you made yourself vomit to the best of your ability. You did everything you could do. Still, the world swam in front of you. As you faded from consciousness, you managed to pull your phone out from your pocket. Roman’s smiling face mocked you from the screen as you unlocked the damn thing. In the final moments before the world went dark, you managed to send out one text. You hoped that Eddie left his phone on.
Y/N: sos. sos. please.
Your eyes rolled into the back of your head as your phone clattered to the floor. Night fell as you lay there, alone and asleep on the bathroom floor. All the while, Roman’s family searched for you, becoming more agitated as they did.
The sound of your phone vibrating against the tile floor pulled you from your sleep. The bathroom was dark and cold, and you shivered as you sat up. Your skull ached. Your throat stung. Your limbs hung heavy at your sides. In other words, you felt like total fucking garbage, and in that sweet moment before you remembered what hell you were living in, you swore you were going to shatter your phone for robbing you from your peaceful sleep.
And then you remembered that you were in deep, deep shit.
You immediately began to search for your phone, pawing mindlessly through the darkness with only the occasional vibration to guide you. When your fingers wrapped around the sweet little device, you almost cried tears of joy. You unlocked it quickly, wincing at the agonizingly bright light that spilled from your screen.
Your phone was flooded with missed calls and texts, not only from Eddie, but from Steve, Robin, and Nancy. Your dear friend had raised the alarms- and you were so thankful that he did.
EDDIE: what’s up?? are you ok???
EDDIE: what’s going on???
EDDIE: (Y/N)???
EDDIE: do you need me to come get you??
EDDIE: is this a joke?? if this is a joke, it fucking sucks :(
EDDIE: you’re freaking me out, man
He called you. Of course, you hadn’t been awake to answer.
EDDIE: come onnnnn, (Y/N), pick up the phone
EDDIE: ok, im making steve call you
EDDIE: if this is a joke, he’s gonna be so mad
EDDIE: he’s gonna go full dad on you, just wait
EDDIE: and if it isn’t
EDDIE: please tell me this is a joke
There was a missed call from Steve, then a missed call from Robin. The latter had spammed your phone with texts and direct messages, sending you your name a thousand times on three different apps. Steve had sent a few frantic texts of his own. Both Steve and Robin were clearly worried by the end of it, but neither of them could top Eddie. From his texts alone, you could tell he was terrified, and that was without all the missed calls (of which there were at least 20 and at most 200. You didn’t bother to read the number correctly.)
A twinge of guilt ran through you as you kept reading.
EDDIE: ok, you aren’t answering steve or robin
EDDIE: i don’t like this
EDDIE: please tell me what’s wrong
EDDIE: please
EDDIE: if you don’t respond, i’m calling hopper
EDDIE: i swear to christ
EDDIE: (Y/N) my heart can’t take this, please pick up your phone
EDDIE: ok, that’s it, im calling hopper
That was the most recent message. You responded.
Y/N: do it and hurry
EDDIE: HOLY FUCK YOU’RE ALIVE
EDDIE: thank god
Y/N: i need you to come get me, now
Y/N: please
EDDIE: i'm on my way
EDDIE: are you okay? can you tell me what’s going on?
There was no way you could tell him- not through text, anyway. There was no way he would believe you based on words alone. You tapped his name in your contacts list and hit the little phone icon. He picked up on the first ring.
“(Y/N)? Sweetheart, what’s going on?”
His voice was distorted by static, but you could still hear every ounce of his concern. Your body warmed as tears pooled in your eyes.
“I- I don’t even know, Eds,” you cringed as your voice cracked, but Eddie didn’t miss a beat.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Just take deep breaths for me, angel. You don’t have to say anything, Just stay where you are, I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay. Okay, just be careful. They-” you paused, taking a shuddering breath as you remembered the feeling of drugs coursing through your veins, of an arm around your throat and hands grasping at your body. You knew it had happened. The shotgun lying beside you and the blood spattered across your body told you that. Still, you barely believed that any of it was real.
“What did they do? If they hurt you, I swear to god-”
“I think they drugged me,” you sounded so painfully small, broken in the middle of this strange bathroom, “They drugged me, and Roman’s uncle tried to choke me, and I- they said something about sacrifice?”
“What the fuck?” Eddie sounded just as terrified as you felt, “I’m calling Hop, he’ll meet us there.”
“Call an ambulance too, please. I don’t know what they gave me, and I feel sick.”
“I will. Just hang on, sweet girl, just hang on for me.”
“Okay,” you whispered as tears finally spilled down your cheeks.
The line fell silent for a moment as your mind raced over the events of the day. With another shaky gasp, you spoke again.
“Roman is married.”
“Shit- what?”
“He’s married. He has a wife. They want to kill me.”
“Jesus H. Christ-”
He’s about to say more when you cut him off, “And Roman’s uncle shot himself in the face. He- he was trying to kill me.”
“Holy fuck- and he shot himself in front of you? God, angel, I’m- I’m so sorry.”
A small, breathy laugh escaped you, “Don’t worry. It was kind of metal.”
It was such a weird joke, but you were coping in whatever way you could. Eddie laughed cautiously over the phone, clearly concerned but allowing you to cope. The line fell silent for a few moments. You could hear him scrambling around, grabbing his keys and trying not to trip over himself. Despite the situation, you were filled with overwhelming affection for the man on the other end of the line.
“I love you, you know,” you weren’t sure he heard you. You didn’t try to speak up, “If I don’t make it out of here, I want you to know that.”
“You’re gonna make it out of there. I promise, I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. I love you, too, sweet girl.”
You let out another small, terrible laugh. Tears kept spilling down your cheeks. You couldn’t hold them back anymore.
“Y’know what’s funny? I was right. I’m hiding from my boyfriend’s family members while they try to kill me- this is just like Ready or Not.”
“You’re right. You were right, and this is just like that fucking movie, and you’re gonna get to rub this in my face for the rest of our lives, just stay put, baby. I’ll be there soon, ok?”
Before you could answer, a floorboard creaked somewhere nearby. You pulled the phone away from your ear. Footsteps thudded down the hallway. A chill ran up your spine. You threw yourself away from the door as quietly as you could, seizing the shotgun with your free hand.
The bedroom door opened.
“Eddie,” you whispered, “Someone’s here. I have to go.”
“Okay,” he sounded frantic, “Okay, okay. You go, stay safe, I’ll be there soon, sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love you,” the words were barely there. You hoped to whatever force was out there that he heard you. The light of your phone dimmed down to nothing, and you were left alone in the dark and the quiet.
You slipped your phone into your pocket with the utmost caution, trying not to make even the smallest of sounds. Moving slowly, you wrapped your other hand around the shotgun, holding it in front of you like the world’s worst shield. Someone was breathing on the other side of the door. You could hear them moving around, getting closer and closer to your hiding space.
Suddenly, the bedroom fell silent.
The smell of cologne became overwhelming.
Adam knocked on the door.
“(Y/N)?” he drew out the sound of your name, his voice violating every syllable, “I know you’re in there, sweetheart.”
You remained silent, praying that he would decide that you weren’t actually in the bathroom and leave. Those prayers went unanswered. The doorknob twisted, but it didn’t give. You had locked it. Now Adam knew you were in there.
“Who were you talking to, Miss (L/N)? Was it someone special? No, it couldn’t be, you already have a boyfriend… well, had.”
Something was tapping against the door- something metal.
“But now you know the truth- or at least part of it. Roman is happily tied to the lovely Cathrine, and you’re nothing but a lamb for slaughter.”
Your knuckles were white around the shotgun. Adam went silent for a terrifying moment.
“You’re real a cute lamb, though. It’s a damn shame, if you ask me. A real waste of a body like yours.”
You tried not to gag.
“Y’know,” something dragged across the door, fabric, then metal again, “We could always figure something out. If you came with me, Roman and Cath would just have to find another sacrifice- and we could get a sacrifice of our own.”
You tried to take deep breaths.
“You look like the kinda girl that would like that- summoning a few demons, having a few kids. You’d make a cute little housewife. That’s what girls like you are made for. And I’d treat you better than my shit head brother ever did.”
You remained silent, biting your lip until it bled. The taste of iron spilled into your mouth, but even that wasn’t as vile as the man on the other side of the door.
“On second thought, I might not keep you, Miss (L/N). You’ve been too quiet. I like girls who can scream.”
You could hear the sound of a gun, cocking, loading, fucking whatever, you didn’t know how guns worked. You just knew that you had to do something, and you had to do it now.
Just before the sound of a shot could fracture the uneasy silence, you unlocked the door and threw it open, smacking Adam in the face. He collapsed to the ground in an undignified heap, the gun in his hand skittering across the floor. Without a second thought, you ran for it and kicked the thing into the hallway. When you turned back to Adam, he was still sprawled across the rug, clutching at his face. Blood gushed from his nose, dripping into his mouth and spilling across his lips and chin. You hoped the taste of it was fucking vile.
“YOU FILTHY BITCH!” Adam screamed, “You broke my fucking nose!”
“You deserved it,” you held the shotgun like a bat. You didn’t know how to shoot, but you did know how to hit something with a blunt object.
Before Adam could struggle to his feet, you hit him again, right in his bloodied nose. He shrieked in pain, scrambling back as you went to hit him again. He took his face out of range- an intelligent move, in theory. Unfortunately for Adam, this put his knees right in your line of fire.
You weren’t sure what damage you did, but by the time you’d finished, Adam was curled into himself, and you no longer felt human. You staggered away, covered in the blood of not one, but two of Roman’s family members. Your hand found purchase on the window sill. You leaned against it, desperately trying to catch your breath.
Outside, someone screamed.
You looked down, only to see some of the LeBuers gathered in the driveway. Medea was half-way inside of a car, looking up at you with horror and rage painted across her features. Immediately, half of the people with her raced back into the house. Cecilia remained outside, ushering her daughter and son-in-law into the vehicle before she, too, went back inside.
They all knew where you were now.
You were deeply, deeply fucked.
You could hear Adam laughing at you as you raced into the hallway, scooping the discarded gun into one hand and keeping the shotgun in the other. You sped down the corridor, stopping every now and then to throw open whatever doors you could find. You hoped that Roman’s family would think that you’d disappeared into another hiding place- anything to give yourself more time.
You ducked into one of the open doors just as Roman’s family spilled into the hall. They weren’t quiet in their searching- you could hear Benedict barking orders, and Cecilia’s distressed cry upon finding her beaten and bloodied son. As the hunting party panicked, you slipped into the darkness, moving backwards into an endless and ill-lit corridor that you hadn’t even noticed.
When the voices of your pursuers faded, you finally let yourself turn around. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever into infinite darkness. You could just barely see the frames of portraits that still lined the walls. The floor runner beneath you muffled the sounds of your footsteps, and you followed it diligently, staying silent until you found yet another fucking door.
You held both guns in one hand as you pulled it open. The next room contained another goddamned staircase, this one descending to the floor below. Before you could truly question the design choices of the rich and powerful, someone shoved you forward. You collapsed to the ground, losing your grip on both guns. Exhaustion filled your bones as you watched both weapons tumble down the stairs.
A well polished shoe slammed into your ribs before you could move. You didn’t have the chance to respond before your assailant kicked you again, bruising your ribs if they hadn’t already. You let out a sharp cry as you tried to sit up. Your attacker spat at you as you struggled, and when you looked up, you saw Alex’s disgusted face.
“Get up.”
You didn’t move. You just laid there with a shocked expression on your face. Alex leaned in, grabbing the front of your dress and dragging you to your knees.
“I said get up, you stupid whore.”
This time, you did as he asked, moving slowly as your shocked body tried to catch up with your equally shocked mind.
Alex didn’t appear to be armed. If anything, he looked like he hadn’t expected to find you. It was pure coincidence that he’d happened to wander down the same hallway you had. Alex was doing his best to look angry- furrowing his brow and glaring down at you- but the disgust on his face betrayed him. Locating you was nothing more than an inconvenience.
You hoped you could use that to your advantage.
“Alex, listen,” your voice was more sure than you expected it to be, “You can let me go. You can let me run off. You won’t have to get your hands dirty. You can just- you can pretend you never saw me.”
“Mm, yeah, I could,” Alex drew out every syllable he could, whining as a way of mocking you, “But this whole thing will end faster if I drag you back by that skanky little dress of yours. So-”
He pulled you to your feet, hands still tangled in the fabric of your dress. Adrenaline surged through you as he pulled you to the door. You fought him, scratching at his arm, drawing red angry lines into his pale flesh. He shrugged you off for the most part until you leaned in, seizing his neck with one hand and pulling it towards your mouth until you had the opportunity to bite.
Alex screamed as your teeth broke his skin. Blood filled your mouth, hot and metallic. You wanted to pull away, to stop biting and spit out the vile liquid, but you didn’t stop. You couldn’t. Not yet.
With your teeth still embedded in the flesh of Alex’s throat, you used your hold on his neck to drag him backwards, towards the stairs. He didn’t struggle or fight- he only screamed louder.
When he finally let you go, Alex lost his balance. You watched as he stumbled, staggering away from you as he tried to stop the bleeding. With his blood dripping from your mouth, you walked up to Alex and shoved him down the stairs.
You watched him fall, tumbling and bending in ways that human beings were not meant to tumble and bend. His screams stopped about halfway down the staircase. You shut your eyes. You just listened to the sounds of bones breaking in silence until that, too, came to a stop.
Then, the only sound was your breathing.
You felt around in the darkness for the banister of the stairs, and you clung to it as you collapsed to the floor. You sat there in the quiet, staring into nothing. For a moment, you were lost to the world as a numbing sort of panic filled your lungs.
“Holy shit.”
You knew that voice. With a gasp, you looked up. Of course, given your luck, the first thing you saw was Alex’s mangled body. His knee was twisted the wrong way, as was his left arm, and you winced at the sight of it, but your attention was quickly pulled away to the thing right next to Alex.
A pair of beat up white sneakers. Black jeans, a Metallica t-shirt, a leather jacket and violently wild hair.
“Eddie?”
The familiar boy at the bottom of the stairs didn’t say anything for a second. He just examined the body below him. At this angle, you couldn’t see his face. For a moment, you were terrified. You might’ve taken a man’s life- and that in itself was horrifying- but to add more fire to the hell you were in, you’d taken that man’s life in front of your best friend. What would he think of you now?
“Eddie?” you asked again, your voice trembling unpleasantly.
“Holy shit, sweetheart,” he finally looked up at you. His expression wasn’t disgusted or afraid- in fact, if you didn’t know better you would almost say he was impressed, “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
Tears filled your eyes as relief washed over you. You were safe now. Eddie was here, and he would take you away from this place, and these people, and you wouldn’t be brutally murdered because Eddie would never let that happen to you. And on top of that, he didn’t seem to mind that you had just maimed a man.
A smile crossed your face as you called down to him, “Will do.”
He returned the grin, but it immediately slipped from his face. His eyes were no longer focused on you. In the silence that followed, you could hear Roman’s family coming down the hall.
“Run, run!”
Eddie really didn’t have to tell you twice. You sped down the staircase just as Roman’s aunt stepped into the room, a silver hunting knife clutched in her hand. Adam limped in behind her, bruised and bloodied but still well enough to hunt you down. Clearly, you hadn’t kicked his ass enough.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, you leapt over Alex’s body and into Eddie’s arms. He caught you and pushed you behind him, getting you as far from the new threat as he could. As you moved towards the exit, your foot hit something metal. You knelt quickly, seizing the guns at your feet and handing one of them to Eddie.
The moment you did, Roman’s aunt noticed her child’s crumpled form on the floor. For the second time that night, you heard a mother scream at what you’d done to her son. You couldn’t find it in you to feel any sort of guilt.
“YOU WRETCHED JUDAS!” she screamed as she stormed down the stairs, “You’ll pay! You’ll fucking pay!!”
She ran at you, knife raised, but before she got the chance to enact her vengeance, a deafening shot rang out. The shotgun was still in your hands, unused and useless. Blood soaked the woman’s shirt as she collapsed to the floor. You and Eddie watched in silence, the gun still smoking in his hands as she pulled down the steps into a bloody heap at the bottom.
“No- no!” Adam’s face was painted with his rage. His eyebrows were furrowed, cheeks red, and the look in his eyes could only be described as murderous, “You fucking wretch! I’ll make sure the last thing you hear is her screaming as I tear her apart! Do you understand that you stupid bitch? I’ll break you open and I’ll make him watch!”
You resisted the urge to vomit as you and Eddie ran out of the room, his hand slipping into yours as you fled. The beating you’d given Adam bought you more time, but you didn’t let yourself indulge in the illusion of safety. Even as Adam’s threats faded into silence, the need for escape haunted you. Your fear followed you like the eyes of the paintings on the walls.
“Do you remember the way you came in?” you asked, panting and out of breath from your run.
“I did, but I think we lost it two hallways ago- who the fuck lives like this, man?”
“Rich people.”
Eddie barked out a laugh. With his hand still in yours, he pulled you to an abrupt stop. Before you could ask what was wrong, you were in his arms again.
“Please never date a crazy rich dude with a homicidal family again. I don’t think my heart can take it.”
You laughed into his chest, wrapping yourself around him and grabbing fistfulls of his shirt in your hands.
“I don’t think mine can either. I’m barely functioning as it is, I can’t even begin to think of doing this again,” you moved your hands up to gently cup his jaw, making his eyes meet yours, “Let’s make a deal- we are never doing this again. Ever. For any reason.”
“Agreed,” his smile was damn near blinding, betraying his mock-exasperated tone, “Because all of this is just fucking crazy.”
“I know! It’s crazy and it’s cliche, and if I ever fall for another psychopathic rich man, I want you to kill me.”
He laughed, but there was a look in his eye. You couldn’t really tell if it was guilt or some other kind of remorse. Your smile fell from your lips as you remembered, unsure of how you had ever forgotten- Eddie had just killed a woman. He had done it for your sake, to save your life, but you didn’t know how that action would weigh upon his shoulders.
“Thank you,” you whispered, “For coming to get me. And I’m so sorry for- for everything else.”
Eddie shrugged, as if shooting someone hadn’t bothered him in the slightest, “Anything for my best girl. Now come on, we need to find a way out of this fuckin place. Hopper’s on his way, he’ll be here soon- not soon enough, but soon.”
You nodded, but you stood still as he began to pull away. Before he could get far, you launched yourself at him again, wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders.
“I mean it,” your voice was muffled by his body, firm and solid beneath your lips, “Thank you. And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get us into this mess, I should’ve followed my gut, and-”
“Hey, hey,” two of his fingers slipped under your chin, tilting your head up, “Look at me, angel. Look at me.”
His eyes were soft, gentle, and indescribably comforting. You raised your hand, slipping it into his much larger one. You couldn’t help but watch as his muscles flexed, his fingers wrapping around your own.
When he spoke again, his voice was soft and quiet. For a fleeting moment, you found yourself captivated by his lips, “You don’t need to apologize. For any of this. Look, I’m a coward. I know I am. But if you’re in trouble, I need you to know that I will always come to get you. It doesn’t matter if it’s this homicidal family, another homicidal family, or some other shit.”
He paused. His hand was so cold in yours. You never wanted to let go of him.
“When it’s you, I can put the fear aside. When it’s you, I can be brave.”
The air stilled for a moment as you let his words wash over you. They warmed your skin like soft flame, and without another thought, you brought his still freezing hand to your lips. You pressed a gentle kiss across the back of his fingers, silently returning the affection he's given you. When you met his eyes again, his cheeks burned an impossible red, but he could not hide the smile that spilled across his face like wine across a fine linen.
“Now,” he cleared his throat, “We’re gonna get out of here, and Hopper’s gonna fix this shit, and I’m gonna take you home, and we’re gonna stop for soft tacos on the way, and we are never watching Ready or Not again. Sound good?”
“That sounds amazing,” you returned his grin, but before you could say anything else, you heard voices echoing through one of the endless hallways. It was time for more running, “Let’s go.”
“Good plan!” Eddie kept your hand in his as he bolted, “You’re so smart, did you know that? I always love your plans.
“I think I love your plans more!” you panted, knowing that you, at the very least, were not talking about plans.
You weren’t sure how Eddie felt about you, but as the two of you threw open doors in the hopes of an exit manifesting itself, you became sure of your own feelings. Truly and completely, you were in love with Eddie Munson.
Maybe you should’ve been worried about that. Maybe you should’ve felt some heavy sense of dread that he wouldn’t return the feeling. Maybe, under normal circumstances, you would’ve felt that way. However, given the fact that this self-professed coward had broken into this place for you, shot a woman for you, and saved your life, you were pretty confident that he felt something for you.
“This way! They went this way!”
But you would never know for sure if Roman’s family managed to find you before you could ask.
You threw open every door you found as you ran, again looking for an escape while creating a million distractions. Eddie followed your lead, catching on quickly as if he was built for this exact insane situation.
Behind each door was the same kind of shit- bedrooms, closets, storage spaces holding extravagant nothings (you were pretty sure you saw the shape of a grand piano.) You could feel your hunters closing in. The hallways and corridors of the mansion seemed to close in around you and Eddie. Then, there came the final door.
It was painted red, though the colour had faded and chipped away through the years. Without a second thought, you seized the brass door knob and turned it. The door opened to reveal an empty black space. You couldn’t see the end of the room.
A frigid draft blew in through the new space raising goosebumps on your skin. The smell of rotting flesh overtook you. You shivered, trying not to retch as you looked around, desperate for another escape. Other than the red door, you had found yourself at a dead end.
“(Y/N), come on, let’s hide and find another way out.”
“There’s no time,” there really wasn’t. You could hear Adam’s enraged screaming getting louder and louder with every passing second. You wouldn’t let yourself be caught.
You grabbed Eddie’s hand and pulled him into the dark. As you ran further into the room, the light from the hallway shrunk down until it was nothing but a pinprick. The smell of mold and decay got stronger as you ventured further inside. Flies buzzed around just out of swatting distance. Your body trembled, struggling to get warm as the room got colder and colder. Eddie’s hand was an anchor in a sea of nothingness. You held him tighter, desperate to know that he was there.
Towards the back of the room, another light came into view, blood red like a warning. You raced towards it, Eddie’s hand in yours. The dim crimson light illuminated a set of poorly painted metal stairs. You didn’t even stop to wonder what the hell they were doing in a mansion like this. You didn’t stop to wonder where they led. The breeze on your face- though it smelled putrid as anything- felt like freedom. You moved down the stairs faster than was safe. Eddie followed behind you hesitantly, though he didn’t slow you down.
You seemed to descend for an eternity, moving down until the light faded and you were in the dark again. When you finally met solid ground again, you surged forward, running in an animalistic panic through what you had to assume was a basement. You kept telling yourself that you would be safe, that you were almost out the door.
Then, the floor fell out from beneath you. The shotgun slipped from your hands, landing somewhere deep below with a dull thud. A scream tore itself from your lips, echoing back up the stairwell and giving away your location instantly.
Eddie pulled you back to solid ground and turned you, keeping your face tucked into this chest. His arms wrapped around you, keeping you secure in his embrace. He was muttering something, but you couldn’t hear him over the rush of blood in your ears. Your fingers gripped his shirt so tightly that it made your knuckles sore. Your ribs ached as your breath came to you in harsh pants.
You turned to look at where you had fallen.
All too late, Eddie’s voice finally became clear, “Don’t look at it, (Y/N). Don’t look, you don’t need to look.”
You had nearly fallen into a pit. It was deep. Wide. And the bottom was absolutely lined with corpses.
You could see bones sticking up through tattered old finery. Flesh still clung to fingers, decorated with once gleaming rings. Eyeless sockets stared up at you through matted, fetid, rotting clumps of hair and scalp.
You were looking down at centuries of sacrifices, first and second and third wives of the LeBuer family, victims of a ritual that you could not hope to understand.
If it weren’t for Eddie’s hold on you, you would have collapsed.
“I see you’ve found your future tomb.”
You whirled around. As your eyes adjusted to the low light, you could see Adam standing on the stairs. Alex limped down behind him, his mouth drawn up in a pained grimace. Eddie pushed you behind him, trying to protect you from this new, hellish encounter.
“You won’t touch her,” he growled, “Not while I’m here.”
“Oh, shut up, guttersnipe. This isn’t about you. This could never be about you. All we want is the girl,” Alex hissed, though you couldn’t tell which was stronger in his voice- hatred or agony.
“Look, trailer trash, we’ll even make you a deal for her,” as Adam spoke, you wrapped your hands around Eddie’s wrists, trying to provide some form of comfort. You weren’t sure if it worked, or if it just made you look like a damsel in distress, but at least you tried.
“We’ll set you up for a few years, and in exchange,” Adam continued, “You give us the girl. And you keep quiet about this, of course. The LeBuer name has a reputation. If any of this were to get out-”
“Any of what? The demon sacrifice? The murder of innocents for your own selfish needs?”
“And how would you know about any of that you fucking heathen?”
Eddie shrugged, “Just trust me on this one, man. I know.”
“Look at him, Adam,” Alex wheezed, “He would know demons. He fucking looks like one.”
Adam scoffed, shaking his head at Alex’s attempt at a joke… or was it an insult? You were too tired and terrified to give a shit.
“Okay boys, fun’s over, I’m afraid I’m not up for exchange this fine evening. Now if you’ll excuse us, I think it’s time to leave. Thank your parents for hosting, Adam, it’s been wonderful-”
The deafening sound of a gunshot cut you off.
You screamed, reaching up at your ears to protect them from the noise. Eddie had the same idea, and Alex and Adam ducked right to the ground, lying on their bellies as you all looked up to see who had shot.
Roman stood on the stairs, his back just bathed in the faintest crimson light. In his hands he held another fucking gun. Honestly, by that point you were so fucking tired you almost hoped he’d just shoot you with it.
Clearly, God, Roman, and also Eddie, had other plans.
Eddie tucked you behind him, making it absolutely fucking clear to everyone in the room that if they wanted to hurt you, they would have to go through him first- and oh, how your heart sunk as you realized you were something Eddie wanted to protect. In that moment, you knew you were precious to him. Maybe you were something he’d searched all of time and space for and finally found. You wanted to fucking scream again, but your throat was really starting to hurt.
Roman just sighed. As he made his way down the stairs, his pace was leisurely and completely self assured. He didn’t even aim the gun at you or Eddie- he barely even spared you a glance.
“My good gentleman, I assure you, this isn’t how we wanted this night to go.”
“Don’t even start with that bullshit, man. Don’t fucking gentleman me. Maybe you didn’t want to spend the night in your corpse dungeon, but I’m perfectly happy to be here,” Eddie’s voice had a harsh edge to it, one that made you want to cling onto him and never let go. If you were too tired to fight this battle- which at this point in the night, you had every right to be- you knew he would handle this thing for you. For the both of you.
“Are you? You’re happy to defend an empty vessel? Happy to stand on the edge of a pit filled with the lowest form of decay? Well, I guess it’s an upgrade from whatever hovel you crawled out of.”
Nevermind. Fuck lying dormant while Eddie protected you. You were going to protect him, too.
“Oh, would you fuck off, Roman,” you barked, woken up from your angst-filled exhaustion, “How long have you been bottling up the classist insults? Just through our relationship? Or did you hide even before that? Come on, then. If you’re hurling insults at people who don’t spend stupid amounts on whatever pathetic bullshit you call “luxury,” you should probably spare one for me. We were partners, after all.”
Eddie’s eyes were filled with pride and fear in equal measure- he looked like he wanted to kiss you and shove you back behind him for your own safety. Roman, on the other hand, had the audacity to look hurt.
“Were?”
It was your turn to scoff, “You were planning to sacrifice me to the devil for your own sake- and for the sake of your secret wife. You expect me to serve you, to die so you can have a kid. You used me, Roman, and I’m sick of your shit. We’re fucking done.”
He stood still on for a moment, his eyes darting between you and Eddie from his place on the stairs.
“I was right,” he finally mumbled, “It’s you and him.”
In the silence that followed, Eddie’s hand found its way back into yours. Your thumb traced over his knuckles, over every ridge and vein his hand had to offer. He squeezed his fingers around yours in return, pulling you close to him with no intention of letting go.
“Very well, then,” Roman pointed the gun at Eddie’s chest, “You’ll both die screaming.”
You knocked Eddie to the ground as Roman fired a shot. The overwhelming sound of gunfire echoed off the walls, making everyone in the room wince and cover their ears. It gave you an opening.
With Eddie’s hand in yours, you bolted towards the stairs. Alex recovered from the sound first. He jumped towards you. Eddie let go of you for a moment, just so he could fight off your assailant. As his punches landed, Alex staggered back. He made weak attempts to return Eddie’s blows, but he was no match for the metalhead. For the second time that night, Alex went down like a bitch. He rolled across the floor, coughing and swearing until he fell off the edge of the floor.
The third time Alex went down that night, he went all the way down to the corpse pit.
You froze, listening to Alex’s scream as he plunged out of sight. A dull thud echoed through the room as he landed. Bones crunched beneath him, rotten flesh squelching as Alex slipped through old blood and viscera. You could barely hear him screaming over the buzz of disrupted flies. The smell of rancid meat rose into the air. Bile rose in your throat as the screaming turned to desperate retching. Eddie stood still, gazing into the pit with an expression you couldn’t name.
Before you could reach out to him, an arm wrapped around your throat. You let out a yelp as someone pulled you into the firm plane of their chest. Your heart fell through your chest as you clawed and scratched at your attacker. You couldn’t afford to show them mercy. You bit and tore at them, drawing blood and shrieking like a feral animal as their other arm curled around your waist. Through your adrenaline fueled haze, you were absolutely sure that it was Roman’s voice calling you a bitch.
Eddie raced to help you, moving faster than you thought a person could go. Adam interfered, advancing on Eddie viciously. Unlike Alex, Adam was adept at fighting and capable of heinous violence. The two men exchanged blows with equal force and brutality, landing hits until Eddie’s nose was bloodied and the side of Adam’s face was painted purple.
In the interim, you didn’t stop fighting. As Eddie and Alex beat the shit out of each other, Roman tried to pull you towards the stairs. In retaliation, you took a sizable chunk out of his arm with your teeth. You gagged as you spat out his flesh- the sensation of hot, metallic blood spilling past your lips was almost too much to bear. Roman growled, and you could feel his hand tangle itself in the roots of your hair, pulling you away from his new wound.
“I’ll credit you with this, my darling,” Roman grunted, pulling you backwards as you spat out his blood, “You’ve put up a good fight. But you have to know, this can only end one way.”
Beside the body pit, Adam had finally managed to pin Eddie to the ground. You watched as the bastard gripped Eddie’s jaw and turned his head to face you. Eddie looked absolutely devastated. Panic swirled in his warm brown eyes as he kept trying to free himself. No matter how hard he tried, he was still forced to look at you as Roman wrapped a hand around your throat and started to squeeze.
As your vision began to swim, Adam leaned down, pressing his lips to Eddie’s ear. You clawed at Roman’s arm like an animal. Your nails tore at his already open wound, but he held you fast, placing another hand just below your navel to keep you still.
“I get what you see in her, pretty boy,” you could hear Adam’s words, muffled slightly by the sound of your blood rushing in your ears, “She’s hot when she struggles.”
Beneath his assailant, Eddie growled, digging his nails into any flesh he could reach. Adam barely winced.
“It’s a shame you won’t leave this room- I mean, the things we’re gonna do to her once we get upstairs. It would be a wet dream for a freak like you.”
Tears spilled from your eyes as the threat set in. Fear burrowed itself inside of you, eating away at your flesh as flies fed on the bodies below. Across the room, Eddie grit his teeth, his eyes flashing with rage. You didn’t see him land his next hit. You didn’t see him claw at Adam’s face. You didn’t see anything- it was all too fast. All you knew was that one moment, Adam was smirking down at Eddie, and the next his face was covered in blood. Adam shrieked, his hands hovering over his face as crimson gushed from four deep, perfect wounds embedded in his flesh.
In his panic, Adam made a terrible mistake. He let Eddie go. Without a second of hesitation, Eddie tackled his assailant. He wrapped his pale, slender hand around Adam’s throat and squeezed. You watched Eddie’s knuckles turn white, his veins standing out against his skin. Beneath him, Adam gasped for air, thrashing desperately in an attempt to escape. You could hear him choking on his own blood as it poured down his face.
You heard something snap. A smile snuck its way onto your face.
Adam was still gasping, though the sound was almost nothing now. Static filled your ears. Roman screamed, a sound of deep rage, right in your ears. Eddie looked up at you, his eyes wide. A thick strand of scarlet something dripped from between Eddie’s lips.
And then he was gone.
You watched as Eddie fell back into the pit, dragging Adam with him. Someone was screaming- you. You were screaming. You couldn’t feel the strain in your throat. You could barely hear the sound. You hadn’t heard the gun go off, even though Roman had shot it inches away from your skull. You couldn’t feel Roman pulling you back. You couldn’t feel the stairs hitting the backs of your legs as he dragged you back up into the house.
All you could see was the dark void that Eddie had fallen into. All you knew was that dark void. There was nothing else. Tears ran down your cheeks. Eddie was gone. Broken sobs left your body as you collapsed into Roman’s arms- into the arms of the man that had destroyed your world in seconds. You were nothing but a wounded animal, now. Hunted, maimed, and brought forth for slaughter. You took some bitter joy in that thought. You knew you would see Eddie soon enough.
The hallways of the LeBuer mansion blurred into nothing. The portraits on the walls had the decency to look bereaved, but every little Jesus on every little cross you passed seemed to laugh at you. All the fight had been drained from you like blood from a cadaver. You said nothing as Roman pulled you back into the dining room. You didn’t flinch at his family’s carnivorous smiles. You didn’t make a sound when Roman let you drop to the floor.
Bruises began to form on your arms and shoulders but you didn’t feel the pain. Someone took your phone, not that it mattered. You let the family place you on their table. You let Roman tie you down. You let Cathrine tear open your dress. Even the chill of the room on your exposed flesh didn’t bother you. You just laid there, still as death, while Benedict approached with a large, intricate blade. He handed it off to his son.
“Roman, dearest, did you drug her?” Cecilia asked, “She hasn’t moved an inch. Usually they squirm so much…”
“Don’t worry, mother. As far as it concerns us, she’s already dead.”
“That’ll make the next few steps a lot easier. Perhaps she’ll bleed less,” Cathrine put a hand to your cheek, gently brushing the smooth pads of her fingers over your flesh. Her face was the only thing you could see, the only thing you had to focus on as the knife finally dug deep into your skin.
You refused to scream. You wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Your tears, however, spilled from your eyes without your consent. Cathrine’s smile grew wider as her family tortured you, as you were penetrated again and again with the blade. You couldn’t see what they were doing. You didn’t know when they would finally end your suffering. Your world was made up of her cruel eyes and nothing else.
Your blood burned as it dripped over your sides, pooling beneath you until you could feel it between the table and the flesh of your back. You could hear drops of it falling to the marble floor. The sound was enough to drive you crazy- that is, if the pain didn’t do it first.
The blade ripped through your skin, diving deep into you with such brutality that your body shook from the force. You could feel yourself choking on blood. The world was turning gray, tunneling into a mess of static. The grunts of effort from Roman’s family were muted by the panicked sound of your own breathing. You were going to die here. You were going to die here, and Cathrine would be the last thing you would see. You didn’t try to fight it.
In a weird way, it was almost like sex- the blade thrusting in and out of your body, making you bleed, making you hurt. It was a violent intrusion. A man imposing his will on you to serve his own desires.
You didn’t have it in you to fight, but you did want to throw up really badly.
When she finally pulled back, you had just enough strength to look up and see what they’d done to you. You’d been stabbed. Just stabbed, a thousand times without a hint of grace or tact. You could see yourself bleeding out, blood pulsing to the surface with every weak beat of your heart. The sight made you sick. There was something viscerally wrong about your mutilated body lying before you.
You let out a soft cry as Roman put his hand low on your abdomen. It was a pitiful sound, the only thing you could make as your heart struggled to keep you alive.
“Thank you. For your sacrifice,” he pressed down, a final act of cruelty.
Cathrine wrapped her arms around him, pressing a kiss to his cheek, “It’s what any woman would do.”
“My family,” Benedict began. Though his voice sounded miles away, you could still hear the jovial tone in his words, “Let us begin the prayer.”
You watched as Roman took Cathrine’s hand in his- specifically, his hand that wasn’t stained in your blood. She grabbed the golden crucifix around her throat and held it with a look of pride and hope.
“Our father,” you couldn’t tell who was speaking anymore. You just knew that they sounded happy.
“Forgive us this trespass and send us a servant of the one below.”
The lights flickered. You almost wanted to laugh. This was some cheesy fuckin shit. The air took on a sudden chill, not that you could feel it. Your blood provided you with a scorching heat as it spilled from your veins.
“A servant of your fallen son, to bless this fallen daughter.”
The lights flickered again. You could hear something loud above the voices. Something crashing, loud like thunder but not as natural.
“To bestow upon our family the ultimate gift- a child-” their voices cut out, “And your name.”
You were pretty sure one of the ten commandments was not to murder anyone- but you knew you weren’t a person to them. Thou shalt not kill didn’t apply to slaughtered lambs. Why would it apply to you?
“Accept this most humble offering, this lamb to slaughter, this child of Abraham.”
You heard a door open.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Or whatever. Amen.”
That voice- that voice was new. Roman’s family stopped their prayer. You could hear someone gasp. They sounded terrified. You wondered, briefly, what they would have to fear.
“You- you can’t be here. You’re dead.”
“Huh. Thanks for filling me in, I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.”
“I shot you-”
“I’m aware.”
“Roman, who is this boy?” Was that Cecilia or Cathrine? For the life of you- something that was quickly coming to an end- you could not fucking tell.
“You asked for a demon,” you heard a pause. Footsteps. Something fell to the floor with a crash, “You got one.”
“No- you’re not, you can’t be-”
“Roman, darling-” was it concerning that you still couldn’t tell if that was your ex’s wife or his mom? It didn’t matter. The next thing you heard was Roman, enraged. You were sure of that. You heard it enough times.
“ENOUGH- I’m going to end this! I’m going to end-”
A shot rang out. There was another pause. Something small and metal clattered to the floor. Silence followed.
The lights went out.
Bathed in darkness, the voice of the new guest suddenly became clear, and when he spoke a fresh round of tears fell from your eyes. You were dead now. You were sure of it. The afterlife was fucking weird, but you were certain.
“Hey there, angel. You’re gonna be okay. I’ve got you. Just tell me what to do.”
You drew in a shaky breath, your chest rattling, aching with the effort. The cold air hurt your lungs. You felt like you were burning from the inside out.
“Help me, Eddie.”
In an instant, his presence was gone. The room was still dark. When Eddie spoke again, his voice came from the doorway again.
“You’re going to get away from her now,” his voice was low, his words a warning, “This is your only warning.”
Footsteps echoed through the room. Someone was running. There was a grunt, a sound like someone exerting effort, throwing a punch.
There followed an awful, fleshy, tearing sound. Roman’s screams of agony met your ears, just as the snap of breaking bones jolted you back to some level of reality. There was another shout, a scream of paternal rage. More footsteps- and again, the sound of flesh being torn from bone. You couldn’t find it within yourself to feel bad about that. In fact, you almost laughed.
The next cry that rang out was definitely Cecilia’s. The noise she made was cut short, overtaken by cracking sounds of a shattering rib cage. Someone choked on their own blood, gagging and sputtering their way to a brutal death. You couldn’t really feel bad about that, either.
Roman was still screaming. You could hear Cathrine’s voice, demanding Roman’s freedom. It didn’t help much. The next thing you heard was Roman’s pained gasps for air.
Eddie’s voice rang out again, a source of comfort amid all the auditory gore.
“Let me get this straight. You two shit stains wanted a child so badly that you were willing to torture an innocent woman to get one? You were willing to brutalize her for your own sake?”
“It’s tradition! Roman’s family is cursed- they must have a sacrifice in the name of God! A holy baptism of blood! A new mass! The killing of one womb so that they may conceive in another-”
“God doesn’t give a shit about your family’s tradition of torture porn,” Eddie’s voice was strange, caught between a growl, a laugh, and a sob, “I’m half convinced he doesn't give a shit about anything. He doesn’t see you, Cathrine. He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t bless you, he doesn’t bless this fucked up family, and he doesn’t bless your husband.”
You heard a weak wheeze before Roman spoke, “She- she gave her consent. I had her, she whored herself out to me. That means-”
“THAT DOESN’T MEAN SHIT,” Eddie had been enraged the entire time he’d been speaking, but this was something new. From your place on the dining table/alter, you could see a red light flickering off the ceiling.
“Consent to sex is not consent to ritual sacrifice, you stupid fuck.”
You were pretty sure the black mass that flew across your vision was Roman. You weren’t sure how Eddie managed that one, but you sure as shit weren’t complaining. A deafening crash came from one of the cabinets. Glass shattered on impact. You laughed- the sound was wet and broken, and the laugh itself was painful, but the sound still escaped. You hoped that whatever had happened to Roman had fucking hurt.
“Roman!” Cathrine’s scream all but confirmed your theory. You heard her footsteps as she tried to get to her husband, but something stopped her.
“And you. Well, you’re just a fucking disappointment. Tell me, kid, what makes you think you’re any different? What makes you think you’ll be spared from him? From his wrath? From his family? There’s a pit in the basement full of bodies, full of people this family has sacrificed for their own gain. What makes you think you won’t join them?”
“He- he loves me. Roman loves me.”
“He told (Y/N) the same thing. Look what he did to her. Look what you did to her.”
“She- she would have done the same thing! She would have killed me!”
“No. Not like this. I, on the other hand-”
Eddie didn’t finish that sentence. You just heard the squelch of skin splitting, the sound of something wet falling to the floor, and a half scream from the woman who watched as the light in your eyes faded to nothing. Like that, she was gone. You couldn’t help the smile that slipped across your face. You shut your eyes.
“(Y/N)- (Y/N), come on, keep your eyes open.”
You did. Eddie was above you, haloed in red light- and something was different. His eyes were dark, pupils blown. It almost looked like the dark overtook the whites of his eyes. His skin was pale, ashen, far more so than it normally was. You reached towards him and when he moved to take your hands you noticed them. Massive leathery wings stretched out behind your boy. You had to be dead already. Or at least close to it.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his hand squeezing yours, “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I never meant for any of this to happen. I never wanted you to get hurt, I never wanted you to see me like this-”
“You…” your voice was weak. Your blood stained your lips and teeth, “You’re pretty.”
He let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh. It broke your heart, a little bit. You wanted to pull him close to you and never let him go, but it hurt to move. You just wanted to close your eyes and drift off to sleep.
“No, no, no, come on. Stay with me, angel, stay awake.”
You could only hum in response.
“I- I’m going to have to touch you. Is that okay?”
You wanted to tell him that he could touch you however he wanted to. He could do whatever he wanted, he could finish what the LeBuers had started and cut you to bits and you would let him. Whatever was left of you was his. You loved him, and you wanted him to know that. All you could do was lie there and nod.
Apologies spilled from his lips as he let go of your hand and placed his own over your wounds. His touch was feather light. It should have hurt. By all logic, it should have hurt, but you didn’t feel any pain. You could feel something sharp against your flesh, but whatever it was, it didn’t cut into you. It just scratched sweetly across your skin as his fingers traced over your stomach and your ribs.
Eddie brushed over you slowly, gently, in a way that filled you with want. You could feel his hands start to tremble as they moved lower and lower. Warmth seeped into your body wherever he touched you. Slowly, the agony you felt- the sharp sting of your torn flesh, the bruised ribs, all of it- it just faded away.
You opened your eyes and slipped your hand into Eddie’s. Your fingers tangled with his over your stomach. Where you expected to feel blood, you only felt your own skin- and something sharp, attached to Eddie’s hands. Claws. Neat.
Your strength was coming back slowly, inch by inch, but you could feel it- you could feel life return to every vein and nerve you had.
“Whatever you’re doing,” you whispered, “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
A smile broke out across his face, “I won’t. I promise, I promise I won’t.”
He leaned down, pressing a kiss to your forehead and giving you a good view of those things behind him- wings. Actual fucking wings. They were beautiful, terrifying, and they were half wrapped around you, keeping you close to Eddie. You loved them, instantly, but good lord were you confused.
“Am I dead?” your voice was still quiet, still fragile despite your growing strength.
“No, sweetheart. I couldn’t let that happen to you. I couldn’t let them take you from me.”
“So this…” your eyes searched his face, “All of this is real. I’m not dead or dreaming?”
“You’re not. You’re awake, and alive, and in a few minutes we’re getting the fuck out of here.”
“Oh,” you nodded, “That’s nice. Are you going to fly me out of here?”
He paused, seeming surprised, as if he had forgotten about the massive wings behind him. A deep blush overtook his face, painting him red from his jaw to his ears.
“Yeah, about that,” he winced, “I know this is a terrible time to tell you, and I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I’m not really a person. Or at least, I’m not anymore. I’m so sorry that-” You cut him off before he could say anything else.
“They’re perfect. You’re perfect. It’s all very metal.”
He laughed at your words, ignoring the tears that spilled over his cheeks. Without a word, you reached for him, trying to maneuver yourself into a sitting position as you wrapped your arms around his neck. He leaned down, meeting you halfway, and burying his face in the bare skin of your shoulder. His messy curls stuck to your skin. His strong arms curved around your back, his fingers digging into you as if he was afraid you’d disappear if he let go.
“Just hold me for a second, please,” you whispered, running your fingers up and into his hair, “Don’t let me go.”
“Never,” he gasped, his voice trembling terribly, “I almost lost you. You’re not leaving my sight ever again.”
“Good,” your voice broke, your eyes burning as tears of your own began to fall, “Don’t let me go. Don’t ever let me go.”
“I won’t. I promise. I’ve got you.”
Eddie pulled away first. You made a small sound of protest, but he wasn’t gone long. He didn’t even take his hands off of you. He just took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around your shoulders.
When you looked down at your body, at his clothes covering you, you couldn’t help but notice that you had been healed of every single stab wound and every single bruise. There wasn’t even a scar left behind.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, sweetheart.”
“I mean it, Eds. I would have died if you hadn’t come to get me, I-” you paused, watching as Eddie anxiously bit his lip. Heat pooled in your stomach like the births and deaths of a thousand stars. You couldn’t tear your eyes away. You really wanted to kiss him.
“I really want to kiss you,” you moved closer, your lips barely an inch away from his.
His eyes went wide. His grip on you tightened. You could feel his breath catch, feel the way he tensed up in anticipation. Everything about him betrayed how badly he wanted you.
“Shit, I-” he took a shuddering breath, his fingers kneading a pattern into your skin, “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that.”
“Good,” you leaned in, but he stopped you, placing a hand on your shoulder to put some space between you. You paused, tilting your head as his fingers ran down to your hip.
“Wait,” his voice was so quiet, “Just wait. I don’t want to- I don’t want to take advantage, y’know? You just went through something terrifying, and I-”
“You don’t want to hurt me,” you reached up to cradle Eddie’s jaw in your hands, letting your thumbs stroke across his skin, “You’re still protecting me. You’ve been doing that all night, y’know. You should let yourself take a break.”
Eddie tried not to grin and failed. His grip tightened on you as you pulled him closer, your chest pressing against his as you sat up properly.
“Hey, I have a demon question for ya,” you pulled one hand away from his face, tracing lines up and down his arm. You followed the thick ridges of his veins, a deep blue against his pale skin. You hid your grin as he inhaled sharply. His fingers would definitely leave bruises on your hip, but you couldn’t bring yourself to mind.
“Demons usually offer their aid in exchange for something, right?”
“Where are you going with this?”
“Just answer the question, Munson,” you looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, and you watched him melt in front of you.
“Yes, we usually take souls and shit, but I couldn’t ask you for that. I couldn’t, I-”
“Could you take something else?”
He let out a half gasp, “Wh- what?”
“Could you. Take. Something else?” you met his gaze dead on, “A firstborn, maybe?”
“Oh, sweet girl, you are trying to kill me.”
You giggled- actually fucking giggled- and leaned into his chest. Maybe you were trying to kill him, just a little bit. Maybe you wanted something else.
Just as you opened your mouth to speak, something across the room broke. Beneath the collapsed gun cabinet, something was moving.
“Shit,” Eddie whispered, “Get behind me.”
Without another word, he let you go and moved to stand in front of you. His wings spread wide, blocking you from sight as someone began to rise from the rubble.
“I’ll kill you,” Roman’s voice was weak, “I’LL KILL BOTH OF YOU!”
“Don’t you people ever die?” Eddie asked, exasperated as his body tensed, preparing for a fight.
You stepped to the side ever so slightly, getting a glimpse of Roman that you very much could have lived without. There he was, your ex boyfriend, his face painted red with his own blood. His shirt was torn revealing bruised and broken skin beneath.
He looked like a monster. And he looked like he wanted to kill Eddie.
For whatever reason, your gaze turned to the side. You winced as your eyes fell upon Cecilia’s body, lying across the room in a pool of crimson. Eddie had destroyed her. He’d destroyed all of them. It was a gorey sight, but you had a hard time finding sympathy for a woman who watched as you were held down and tortured. If Roman wasn’t being a little shit, you might have grinned.
Beside her, in a puddle of viscera that you could only assume was once Benedict , was the elaborately decorated knife that almost brought about your end.
“You haven’t even seen the worst that I could do to her,” Roman growled, “You love her, don’t you, demon? Then it’ll hurt you even more when I flay her alive.”
“You won’t live long enough to get the chance.”
“Won’t I? I’ve lived this long! You killed everyone else, but I’m still here! I-I have been chosen! By you- by God!”
You slipped under the table, dashing across the room to grab the knife.
“Man, I genuinely thought you were dead until right now. Your survival was a mistake.”
“There are no mistakes, demon. I was meant to be here. I was meant to survive! To carry on the LeBuer line! And I think I’ll use that pet of yours to do it.”
Eddie made a deep, inhuman sound at the back of his throat. From your space across the room, you watched as he lunged at Roman, teeth and claws bared. He was ready to attack, and so enraged that he didn’t see the grin that spread across the LeBuer boy’s face.
When Eddie flew across the room, Roman dove out of the way, bending down and seizing a wayward piece of glass. He leapt at Eddie, shoving him into the wall and bringing his forged weapon to his chest. Roman’s hand bled where it clenched around the sharp object, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“I’d kill you now, demon, but it would be much more fun to make you watch,” he pressed the glass into Eddie’s shirt. Honestly, it didn’t do much. Eddie pulled back, his neck tensed. He looked absolutely murderous. Realizing his mistake, Roman dropped the blade and wrapped his undamaged hand around Eddie’s throat. It took everything you had to keep from screaming- and you couldn’t scream- for the sake of stealth.
The two men were so focused on each other that they didn’t notice you coming. They didn’t notice you leveling the knife at Roman’s back.
“Roman,” you called his attention to you. Roman turned, and from the look in his eyes alone, you knew that given half the chance, he would make good on every threat he’d made.
You took a deep breath and drove the knife straight through Roman’s chest. You didn’t stop until you had run him through. Roman let out an agonized screech as he stared down at the blade protruding through his body. You winced as he collapsed, his weight pulling the blade from your hands. As he spit blood at your feet, you whispered, “We’re. Fucking. Done.”
A moment passed, silent and still. Your hands shook slightly. Taking another deep breath, you looked up at Eddie. His big dark eyes were already on you. Without another thought, you leapt over Roman’s body, running into Eddie’s arms. You fell into him, and he caught you like he was made to do just that.
He held you close, his grip strong and reassuring. You buried your face in his chest for a moment, your hands gripping onto him hard enough to bruise. You could feel his wings wrap around you again, locking you in a soft and safe dimension of your own. Eddie whispered something to you, several somethings, but you couldn’t quite hear him. You could feel the vibration of his voice in his chest, but you couldn’t register anything. It was all just static.
You looked up at him, eyes wide. His soft lips were moving, speaking, and the motion was hypnotic.
“Can I kiss you now?”
He paused, lips parted slightly and eyes wide. You spread your fingers across his chest, brushing your thumb across his collar bone.
“I saved you. You saved me,” you leaned closer, “We’re even now, right? So we can kiss each other without feeling bad about it?”
He stared at your lips. His eyebrows furrowed together slightly, creating the picture of a conflicted man. You could feel his heart racing in his chest, just beneath your fingertips.
“Eddie?”
“Fuck it.”
Eddie’s lips were on yours before you could make another sound. His hands were on your face in an instant, cradling your jaw with such a sweet intensity that you almost melted into him, then and there. Your hands came up to grip his arms, and you followed them up the shape of his body until your fingers wrapped around his shoulders. Without another thought, you pulled him closer.
He let out the sweetest sounds as you parted his lips with your tongue. You wrapped one of your legs around his, desperate to feel his touch everywhere you could. He lowered a hand to your waist, nearly clawing your side in his desperation to hold you. Need turned the both of you into animals just a few shades from feral.
“We’re even,” he spoke against your lips, breathless and panting, “We are so, so even, angel. Fuck-”
“Haha, I get it now. You’re a demon, and I’m-” you cut yourself off, whining into Eddie’s mouth as he bit down on your lip just hard enough to make your flesh sting.
“Yeah, sweetheart,” Eddie whispered as pressed kisses to your jaw, “You’re my angel. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Eds, I’m- I’m perfect… When's Hopper gonna get here?”
He paused, tilting his head, “Not for a while… why?”
“Because I have plans for us, pretty boy.”
A wicked grin crossed Eddie’s lips as he dove back into you.
Eddie may have seen you as angelic, but the thoughts running through your head were anything but holy. Your blood seemed to burn wherever he touched you. Sparks flew with every touch he left on your skin. You were seconds away from catching fire, from burning brighter than any star the sky had to offer. You let out a soft moan as Eddie’s lips trailed down your throat.
“I need you,” you panted, “I need you, Eddie, please.”
“Whatever you want, sweet girl, whatever you-”
You cut him off by leaning forward and wrapping your lips and teeth around his shoulder. You bit down, marking him up without drawing blood. The moan that slipped from him was far too pretty for you to handle. Your hips moved against his thigh, grinding against him desperately. You were very much aware that you were acting like a pathetic slut, but you didn’t really care. You needed him- and judging by the hard length pressed against you, he needed you just as much.
You wrapped your hands around the back of his neck, pulling him blindly towards the altar/table in the center of the room. He followed eagerly. You both stumbled, nearly falling to the ground since you both refused to break the kiss.
Your back hit the altar with a harsh thud. You let out a soft whine, jumping up to sit on the flat surface just as Eddie pulled away.
“Are you okay? That sounded like it hurt-”
“I’m fine,” you reached behind you and unhooked your bra, exposing your breasts to the cold air of the sacrifice room, “Can you do me a favor and tear off what’s left of my dress?”
Eddie didn’t move. He didn’t say anything, either. He kind of just froze for a second. When you looked up to meet his gaze, his eyes were completely glued to your chest. A sweet blush graced his cheeks, and you couldn’t help but grin.
The fact that he wanted you, that he couldn’t look away from you set off another set of sparks deep inside your body. Absolute want pooled at your core as galaxies formed in his eyes. You were his universe. You could see it.
“You okay there, Munson?”
“You’re so fucking pretty.”
You let out a laugh before reaching out and pulling him close. Once you had him between your thighs, you wrapped your legs around his hips.
“Thank you, Eds. Now are you gonna help me with my dress, or am I going to have to take it off myself?”
You tilted your head to the side, unable to wipe the smile from your face as Eddie continued to devour you with his eyes. His hands came up to your sides, trembling slightly as he took you into his hands. Something dark and dominant flashed in his eyes. His grip tightened.
“You’re gonna have to wait a second,” his voice was low, almost inhuman, and fucking delicious to your ears. You laughed again as he buried his face in your chest, kissing and biting your skin, leaving purple marks behind. Your laughter quickly gave way to breathy moans and desperate pleas as Eddie’s lips moved across your exposed flesh. Your hands found their way into his hair, tangling at the roots and giving them a slight tug. He growled against you, biting down hard and marking you with the shape of his teeth.
“God, I want you to do terrible things to me.”
“You’re-” he cut himself off with a kiss, “Adorable.”
“I’m serious! I almost died today- we both did. I’ve come face to face with my own mortality, and I realized that life is too short. If I don’t ask you to rail me now, who knows if I’ll get another chance? In other words, please fuck my brains out before we get hit by a meteor or something.”
He laughed. You could feel the vibrations in every place his skin met yours. You kind of wanted to scream.
“We’re not gonna get hit by a meteor.”
“You don’t know that!” you sat up, pulling his face from your chest and holding his jaw in one hand, “We could get meteored any second, so I need you to know that I love you.”
His soft brown eyes bore into your soul for a moment, and honestly, you wouldn’t have cared that much if a meteor did smite you at that particular moment. You had Eddie. You had everything you needed.
“I love you, too,” he pushed you back and finally, finally set his claws on your dress. He tore it off slowly, making you ache with anticipation. You could feel the sharp, pleasant scratch of his nails against your skin again, slipping beneath the waist of your underwear. You really wouldn’t complain if he just ripped you open, but you knew he wouldn’t. Not unless you asked nicely.
“By the way,” he leaned up to kiss you, “I wouldn’t let you get hit by a meteor.”
“Is that something you could prevent?” you tried to come off as confident, but your voice snapped into a million pieces as he pulled your panties down your thighs.
“I’d do my best,” he shrugged, tossing your underwear to the side for the moment.
“That’s comforting.”
“You’re the one that came up with the meteor thing,” he gripped your thighs, claws just biting at your flesh as his fingers flexed, “You know I’ll always protect you.”
He would. He had. He’d proved that much to you. He leaned in slowly, kissing your lips again before moving down to your throat, tracing the pattern of purple bruises and bite marks that he’d already left. You squirmed in his hold, hips thrashing slightly. You could feel yourself dripping. Arousal gathered between your thighs as he eased his way down your body.
Eddie’s arms hooked themselves around your thighs, hands spreading on your hips- he was holding you in place. After pressing another kiss to your skin just below your navel, Eddie paused. When he looked up at you, you could feel the space of the universe fill your lungs. When his eyes met yours, the heat of the sun made its home within your ribcage.
“Please,” you begged. It was all you had to say.
He bit his way down your thigh, leaving another trail of marks on your skin. His lips were so soft against your skin. When he reached your aching pussy, he grinned.
“You’re soaked for me, sweetheart. How long have you needed this?”
“Too long,” you whimpered, though the sound turned into a moan as he pressed a kiss to your throbbing clit.
“My poor girl,” his tone was soft with the slightest hint of mockery. You opened your mouth to respond, but you cut yourself off with a whine as Eddie’s tongue met your entrance. He lapped at you, collecting your arousal like something feral. His nose nudged against your clit, making you cry out his name.
“That’s it baby,” he moaned, “Just like that, fuck.”
You called out his name again, and he buried himself deeper inside you- a reward for your good behaviour. You could feel Eddie smile against you, grinning like a madman and lapping up your arousal as it dripped down his face. You could feel your body clench around nothing, feel yourself draw closer to the edge.
His hands reached up, moving over your hips to your breasts. His calloused fingers brushed over your nipples, squeezing and circling until you threw your head back against the altar. You tugged at his hair again, pulling him closer to your core with a desperate whine- not that he was any better at keeping his composure.
The noises he made were nothing short of delicious- hungry praises and moans that let you know just how much he wanted you. After the blood-soaked night you had, you needed to hear that. You needed to hear him moan your name. You needed to hear how badly he ached for you. It sent you right over the edge.
You let out a weak cry as he devoured you, as he sucked and bit softly, and as his fingers dipped down to find your dripping entrance. You clenched around nothing, your hips thrusting into his face of their own accord. The world faded around you, disappearing into a void of stars that burned half as brightly as you did.
“You taste so good,” he whispered, sounding almost mindless, rambling as if eating you out had decimated his ability to think, “So, so fucking good.”
You simply panted in response. Your grip relaxed on Eddie’s hair for just a second before you pulled him up to face you. He went willingly, obediently, following the unspoken order. When you brought his lips to yours, you could taste yourself on him.
One of his hands left your chest, moving to your back to pull you closer, deeper into the kiss. His fingers spread out across your back, rough fingertips dug into you carefully, almost gently. You pinned his other hand to your chest, threading your fingers through his and pressing your joined hands into your skin. You and Eddie wrapped your bodies around each other, refusing to let go as you kissed the breath from his lips.
His body was soft but firm beneath your hands. He was your anchor, keeping you tethered in the real world, ensuring that you didn’t float off into another world while you were with him. You needed that.
Slowly, keeping his hands on you, you sat up. You wrapped your free arm around his neck. He literally couldn’t get any closer to you, but that wouldn’t stop you from trying. The hand that you had tangled with his slipped away, tracing a line down his chest until it reached the button of his jeans.
You let your fingers play with the fabric, slipping beneath it to feel the rough, scarred skin of his hip. You paused for a minute, surprised at what you felt. Eddie pulled back for a second, a mildly embarrassed look on his face. You didn’t let him stay away for long. You pressed your lips to his again, hard and fast as you full on attacked his jeans.
“You must want me pretty bad, huh, angel?”
“How do you figure?” you asked, pulling him closer with the arm around his neck and bringing your lips to his neck. You kissed the column of his throat for a few moments before you bit down harshly, lips and teeth completely unforgiving. When you pulled back, a large swath of his skin was stained purple.
“Yeah, pretty boy,” you pressed a kiss to the sore spot, “I want you.”
“Good,” he growled, pushing you back onto the table and pulling you to the edge of the surface. He brushed his hand across the side of your face before lowering it, tracing down your side until he reached your cunt, “Because I want to do unspeakable things to you, pretty girl.”
You moaned, your face burning hotter than the heat death of a small universe. Eddie slipped his fingers into you. He took things slow at first, torturing you by easing you into things, pumping into you gently with just the tips of two fingers. You mewled, craving more of his touch. You’d given up on wondering how his claws weren’t cutting you. You just wanted his calloused fingers to go deeper.
Eddie silenced your pleading whines with a kiss. Slipping deeper into you, he whispered, “You have to be patient, angel. You can be patient for me, right?”
“I-” you moaned as he sunk his fingers deeper. His dark eyes watched your face intently, taking in every change in your expression.
“Come on, sweet thing. You can be patient, right?”
You whimpered, opening your mouth to respond. You didn’t get the chance. Eddie moved his fingers again, moving his fingers in and out of your dripping slit. You moaned softly, and as your lips parted, Eddie added a third finger. The sound you made snapped, becoming louder and more desperate as your demon brought you to the edge again.
“Eddie,” you whimpered, “Please. Don’t be mean to me.”
He laughed a little, pressing a kiss to your lips as he brought his thumb to your clit. You came quickly, thrashing slightly in his arms as you clenched around his fingers.
“God,” he groaned, “You’re so fuckin tight. Such a good girl for me.”
You let out a little whine, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down on top of you. The two of you stayed there for a moment, holding each other again as you calmed down.
“Think you can give me one more, pretty girl?”
“Is that even a question?”
He kissed your throat again, keeping you distracted as he freed his cock from his pants. He pulled away for a moment, allowing you to see the absolute monster he kept between his thighs. You knew, now, why he had prepared you so thoroughly. It was necessary.
His cock was almost unnatural- long and thick, red near the tip and covered in veins. It looked… demonic. And you wanted to take him inside you as soon as you possibly could.
“See something you like, sweetheart?”
“I do,” you grinned, reaching out for him. He leaned in, placing his face against your palm. He smiled down at you, his eyes incredibly fond. You were the thing he had searched all time and space for- and you had searched for him. Now, you were both found, both real- as batshit insane as it was that this was the place that made you so.
“Let me know if it hurts,” he whispered, “If I need to stop.”
“I will. I promise.”
He pressed into you, slowly and gently, letting you feel every single ridge and vein. You shut your eyes, moaning softly. Eddie braced himself with one arm, using the other to knead at the soft flesh of your chest. His lips were on your throat again, adding more marks to the sea of purple that he’d already made.
Once he was inside, he paused, just taking a moment to feel your body around him. You clenched down on him, running a hand into his hair to tug at it again.
“You’re so fucking warm,” he growled in your ear, “So fucking tight.”
“Thanks, I worked hard on that.”
Eddie lost his composure, thrusting into you gently as he laughed, “You are so deeply strange. I adore you, did you know that?”
You thrust your hips up towards his, “I kind of figured, I’m not gonna lie.”
He pressed his forehead to yours, his thrusts increased in speed as you bathed in the light of his smile. You could feel his cock deep inside of you, pressing against every sensitive spot you had. You moaned softly as his thumb stroked over your nipple. The stimulation of his calloused touch on your breast had you arching your back, pressing further into him.
“You’re so deep inside,” your voice wasn’t much more than a whimper, though you willed it to be stronger, “Fuck, keep going.”
“Whatever you want, baby,” he thrust into you harder, leaning down to bite your chest, clearly not satisfied with the job he’d done on your neck.
His hand slipped down to your clit, pressing into your swollen nub. He circled it in time with his thrusts, alternating between heavy pressure and feather light touches until you were seeing stars and screaming his name.
“Are you gonna cum for me sweet thing?”
You didn’t even get to answer his question. You came around his cock quickly, and he fucked you through your orgasm without a moment of hesitation. Your body spasmed, your walls clenching down on him until he moaned your name into your skin.
Your chest heaved as you caught your breath. Eddie’s lips didn’t leave you. He laved his tongue over the bite marks he’d made, and you could feel his smile against your skin.
“You’re so perfect, sweetheart. Such a good girl for me.”
You clenched down around him again, moaning this time at the praise. You searched your mind for a witty comment, something cute to say to make him laugh, but your brain was full of stars and nothing else. Every time his cock stabbed into you, another damn galaxy found life behind your eyes.
You used the hand you had tangled in Eddie’s hair to pull him closer. You pressed your lips to every part of him that you could reach.
“I love you,” you whispered, “I love you. I love you so fucking much.”
“I know, sweet thing. I love you, too.”
You tugged his hair, biting down on the side of his throat, and he moaned softly. You clenched your now sensitive walls around him, whimpering slightly at the sensation. He let out a sharp exhale, and his hand left your clit to wrap around your hip. You could feel how wet your cunt was just from the feeling of his damp fingers on your skin.
His thrusts grew harsher, his pace speeding up to something unforgiving. His grip on you was bruising, but you wouldn’t mind the marks.
“Are you gonna cum for me, sweetheart?” you asked, “Are you gonna cum inside me?”
His hips stuttered, and you could practically feel his heart skip a beat, “Can I?”
“Please. I want to feel you- I want this.”
“You- you promise you want this? The whole- the whole deal about your only purpose being to create life, that isn’t in your head, right?”
You shook your head, “No. Not with you.”
One of his hands found one of yours. Your fingers tangled together like they were made to do just that. You leaned up, pressing a kiss to his lips, “Besides, I’m on the pill, anyway.”
He laughed again, briefly against your lips before he went right back to kissing you. He squeezed down on your hand, his teeth grazing your lip. You could feel him twitching against your walls, could feel his cock throbbing inside you.
He thrust all the way inside you as he came. Ropes of hot cum flooded your walls, filling your cunt and warming you from the inside out. Another orgasm took you by surprise, rolling over you suddenly and making you clench down hard. Cum spilled down your thighs, pooling on the altar beneath you.
When Eddie pulled out, you were both completely breathless. His hand was still in yours, his body still draped over top of you. You wrapped your free arm around him, your fingers landing on the spot where his back met his wings. They unfurled behind him, showing you their impressive size in whole.
“You’re amazing,” your voice was quiet, trying not to ruin the post-orgasm haze, “I don’t know how I managed to land you.”
“Are you kidding?” he murmured, his voice just as quiet, “I don’t know how I managed to land you. You’re terrifying,” he pressed a kiss to your collarbone, “And sweet,” another kiss, “And you’re fucking stunning,” a third kiss.
He pulled back, warm eyes dead focused on you, “I’m in love with you, sweetheart. I have been for a while.”
“Good. Because I love you, too, and I think all of this would be a touch awkward if you didn’t love me.”
He grinned, pressing his face into your shoulder and pulling you up. More cum spilled out of you and onto the altar. You reached down, collecting some of it on your fingers and putting it in your mouth.
“Fuck-” Eddie hissed, “Don’t do that. You’re gonna make me cum again.”
You threw your head back, cackling as Eddie put his forehead against your shoulder.
“Would that really be such a bad thing?”
“Normally? No. But I just noticed that that painting looks kind of like my dad, and it’s freaking me out,” he pointed at the wall, to the massive portrait of the smirking gentleman with black hair.
You tilted your head, casually running a hand through Eddie’s hair. If you squinted, you could almost see the resemblance between Eddie and the man in the painting. You didn’t want to think about it. You’d had enough creepy shit for one evening.
“We should get going,” you murmured, wrapping Eddie’s leather jacket around you again, “Hopper will be here soon, and I don’t really want him to see us like this.”
“Fair enough,” Eddie looped his hand beneath your knees, “You brought your stuff for the weekend, right?”
“I-I did. Eddie, wait-!”
Before you could stop him, he lifted you up, carrying you over the bodies and out of the room. You wrapped your arms around his neck, clinging to him tightly.
“Am I not-? Do I weigh anything to you?”
“Demon strength. It’s like lifting a bunch of grapes.”
You scoffed, letting your head rest against Eddie’s shoulder, “I don’t know where the butlers put my stuff. My bag could be in the body pit for all I know.”
“It’s not, I was down there.”
You scoffed again, ”Well, we’ll have to hunt for my shit I guess.”
You did. It didn’t actually take long. Most of your things had just been left by the door. As was the-
“Oh shit! The wine!” you exclaimed, patting Eddie’s chest until he put you down. You ran over to the bottle, which had been left just beside your bags- bags that you ignored entirely in exchange for the sweet bottle of vintage.
“Angel, don’t you-? Want your clothes first-?”
“Eddie, you don’t understand, this wine was fucking expensive and I didn’t think I was gonna get a chance to drink it.”
You struggled helplessly with the cork for a few seconds before you gave up and handed it to Eddie.
“Demon strength?”
He laughed at you a little, but he did open the bottle for you. While he did, you pulled some clothes out of your bag- a shirt you’d meant to sleep in, and some pajama pants. You kept Eddie’s jacket wrapped around your shoulders.
Once you were dressed, the wine was ready to go. You gave Eddie a cheer, and a small round of applause. He joined you, and for a moment you both applauded like idiots in the foyer of Roman’s big ass house. The portraits seemed to smile down at you, grinning your approval as you drank the blood coloured wine.
You and Eddie passed the bottle back and forth wordlessly as you made your way to the door. Your hand slipped into his again. Every time you held his hand, you felt more and more like that’s what your hands were supposed to do- what you wanted them to do. When you weren’t busy taking over the world, you wanted to hold Eddie close to you.
The two of you sat together on the front stoop of the McMansion. The porch light cast a warm glow over the front yard. The freshly mowed lawn had drowned beneath a sea of leaves since you last saw it. You let your head rest on Eddie’s shoulder.
“What the fuck are we gonna tell Hopper?”
Eddie took a drink of the wine, “The truth. Your in-laws tried to kill you. We didn’t let them.”
“I’m pretty sure we both committed several counts of murder tonight.”
He shrugged, “Eh, it wouldn’t be the first time. For me, anyway.”
You looked up at him, concerned, though you didn’t move away from his shoulder, “Should I be concerned?”
“I mean, I haven’t technically killed any people? It’s a long story.”
“Oh,” you nodded, taking the bottle from him and taking down a deep sip of wine, “So. What about the melted puddles of people? How do we explain that? Do we just tell the cops that you’re a demon?”
Again, Eddie shrugged, though a wince crossed his face, “Well, Hopper knows.”
“WHAT?”
“Yep. And Steve. And Robin. They know.”
“What? Okay, okay, who else knows?”
“Nancy doesn’t know officially, but I think she’s aware. Also, you know those kids who come into Family Video like, constantly?”
“Mhmm, the freshmen.”
“Yeah, they know. One of them was there for it.”
“It?”
“The incident. I’ll tell you about it another night, we’ve… we’ve been through a lot today.”
“That’s one way of putting it. I think tonight was my incident.”
“You could definitely call it that.”
You smiled, lacing your fingers with Eddie’s, “If this was my incident, I’m glad you were here for it.”
“Yeah?” he asked, placing his head on top of yours.
“Yeah.”
You let your eyes flutter closed then, knowing that you were safe from harm. When you woke, there would be no sirens, and no flashing lights. Just the guy with the sweet daughter, who bought literally all of the Barbie movies and Die Hard. The former for his daughter and her friend, the latter for his daughter’s other friends.
When you woke, Eddie would be there with you. His eyes would be brown again, and his wings would be tucked away so well that you would wonder if this whole nightmare had been a terrible dream. You would feel his hand around yours, and you would know it hadn’t been. You would know, finally, that you were no longer anyone’s prey.
You were the hunter.
♥ A/N: I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS SINCE SEPTEMBER WHAT THE FUCK. IT'S SO LONG MY EDITING SOFTWARE WOULDN'T ACCEPT IT, SO YOU'RE GETTING THIS THING RAW. happy halloween babes, i hope you enjoyed this.
thank you to @mxcheese for reading this a million times, and to my partner for listening to me ramble about various plot points with no context.
#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson x y/n#eddie munson x you#x reader#eddie munson imagine#eddie munson smut#eddie munson angst#read the tws on this one man#im nervous to actually tag them since tumblr's been Bad about that lately#lmk if i should#eddie munson x female reader#eddie munson x fem!reader
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I Finally Finished My TAU’s 6th Year Tauathon Fic, Yay! I’m So Tired Now. I’m Gonna Take A Break now, after...
I finish proofreading and editing that fic I have been working on for the Transcendence Zine here on tumblr. I hope they are still taking it, I have been working on it periodically while also writing at the Tauathon fic that I have been working on at the same time.
And funnily enough, I actually got that tauathon fic done first. To be fair, my tauathon fic was shorter. It is over 8, 000 words which isn't short, but it still shorter than that other fic I have been working on for the zine. Which I hope isn't too long for a zine. I haven't really participated in a zine before this. I haven't done or/& bought much zine stuff before this.
In my free time, I am for sure gonna be participating in more zines like this, not for just Gravity Falls and TAU, but other fandoms I’m in like HxH/Hunter x Hunter and Undertale to name some (some other favorite things of mine). I'm also gonna be starting to buy some more zines, probably physical, because I prefer I that. Will try being the key word, because of money, but I really want to do that.
But yeah, I haven’t really entered a zine before, so I hope my fic isn't too long for it, and that they are still taking entries. I told them I was entering, but I don't know. I have been busy writing posts, comments, replies, and most importantly fics lately that I haven't really been using tumblr and etc. a lot lately. Including going on the TAU zine’s tumblr.
Mainly in order to not get distracted and get those things done. Including the 2 TAU fics I have been working on. One for the Tauathon and one for the TAU zine. I really wanted to get those 2 fics done before going on tumblr more. And with one of the done (tauathon one), and the other in major editing/proofreading stage (the TAU zine), I have a bit more time to post and do stuff on tumblr and other places. Not much since I have a lot of posts, comments, replies, and etc. to get done, some I have delated too long, eiter out of shyness or being busy that I need to get done as well. And the TAU zine fic that needs finishing and polishing.
The funny thing is that I started that fic before the tauathon zine by quite a bit. But with actually knowing the (kinda) due date of the tauathon fic unlike the zine one (at least last time I checked. Which has been a bit. Crossing my fingers' that my fic isnt too long, and too late to enter into it. I have worked just as hard if not harder on that zine fic as the tauathon one. Which is a lot), and haven't had finished and posted it yet a few days or so that date (Oct. 5th), pushed me to get it done quicker and first. Even though I started it second.
Though, It is also taking me longer to do the zine fic, because it is longer (not by a lot, but it still is), somehow even more complicated (I will admit, both these fics are a bit convoluted. I like my complex stuff. Even though I'm also super insecure if my writing is good enough to handle want to do and write. Its fricken great.), and needs a lot of proof reading and editing to do.
Something that usually takes me just as long as writing the actual fic, if not longer. Since I’m the type of person who just plans and writes in rushes, then edits an grammar, better flow, person and pov, and etc. stuff later on. And the zine fic has a lot more weird, different formatting, povs and 1st/2nd/and/or 3rd person stuff than the tauathon, and all of those things some of the things Im most worried about getting right, consistent, or at least making sense (and being as as readable and well-written as possible).
Honestly, I would probably post more fics, if wasn't for me thinking that I really need to work on those things (as well as sometimes getting too wordy, a bit convoluted, and expositiony/explanationy with stuff. I need to be/do better with that. Need to also work on being even more natural, and also not hurting my readers brains too much or confusing them), and being more nervous about posting stuff partially because of that.
Really, I would have gotten a beta for both my fics, because I would really love the help. But the tauathon fic I just really wanted to get posted for the tauathon, and the fic for the zine, I didn't know if was allowed to let other people look it, even for beta’ing, so yeah. Plus, I didn't really know how to get a beta, at least not as quick as would like for these fics.
Anyways, maybe I should finally check out the TAU discord(s) in general, but also for getting some help and betas, because I would love such things. Also, been meaning to check out TAU discord, but I haven't been able to really use discord for awhile. But yeah, Im for sure gonna be checking it/them/TAU discord(s) out soon, because it will be great. And just want to stuff on discord in general, its been awhile.
Saying all this, Im happy I got the Tauathon fic done. I have a post down below linking it to where I posted it on AO3 if anyone wants to read it. I don’t if I shared that post and my story the right way. I see a lot of people, both posting the fic and liking other places like AO3 or/& Wattpad. But I didn't know if I should do that, or if my fic was too long to do that. So I just shared my AO3 fic here. If you think I should also post the whole fic here, and just link other places instead of (or maybe even as well) doing what I did, please tell me, I would love to know? And it wouldn't even be just for that fic though, it will be for future ones as well.
If you think I should do post the whole fic here and then link it, I will probably make another post then. Probably wont delete the original post though, because that will probably be the easier way for people to just read on AO3, plus I like that post and tags I did for it. Wish me luck on finishing that other TAU fic (for the zine) I have been working on, it is even longer and harder to do than my 1st one. The idea, format, and concept itself is just for the most part my complex, then when you the other stuff, it is even trickier.
I'm also gonna finally be checking out that TAU zine tumblr again to see if I'm not pass the due date. I admit another reason I'm putting that off, is because I feel really nervous if am actually, since I have worked on the fic for it, and think its quite good. This always happens when replying and checking out stuff for me, I sometimes get very nervous, then I feel bad because I sometimes take awhile to do such things, I have kept people waiting for awhile, which I'm definitely not doing on purpose, but I still do. Though, stuff also takes me awhile, usually because it is long and want to be really good, but still.
So yeah, I should take a break after finishing that fic, and posting something on AO3 for the 1st time, but Im not since I still have that other TAU fic to finish, which I am gonna finish, it has already been long enough. Once I'm done with it though, I'm finally taking a break, because I am really tired. This has taken a lot of energy out of me, esp. with my need to do always do stuff long and try to do it as good as possible at the time.
Alright done posting for awhile, at least until I finish my other fic, and take a break. Though, I might do some reblogs, likes, and etc. in the meantime while finishing up that fic. Though, when I say no breaks and other stuff till I get that fic done, I will probably still read some fics, watch some videos, and make some other comments/replies, because I need more variety, and I need some breaks intermittently, even if not full-on ones, because I need some kind of small breaks.
I will probably keep on writing that fic while doing most of those things, because I like to do things in long bursts, because if I don't it can be hard to finish stuff even if I want to, so yeah. Anyways, see you everyone, this was a nice and like most of all my stuff long, talk!
#gravity falls#transcendence au#fics#my own post#ao3#mention other stuff and fandoms besides the ones in the tags#but I don't think I mentioned them enough to actually get a tag#though I might decide to add them later#we'll see#zine#zines#tauathon#tau#tau zine#i'm very tired and have worked hard and long on stuff#and I still got even more stuff to do#both online and in real life#transcendence-au#The Meeting of a God and a Demon#secret upcoming fic#killua noir's rambles
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See You At Home (1/?)
Read on AO3
Read on Tumblr: Chapter 1
Summary:Keith is just one of those normal teenagers living a double life, trying to balance being a superhero named Red and a boring college kid. Keith also has two major annoyances in his life: his roommate Lance, and his teammate blue. He swears to god, it's almost like they're the same person!
Or
Keith and Lance are roommates who don't know that the other is also part of earth's very own evil fighting squad; Voltron. Shiro and Allura shake their heads a lot, Hunk offers supportive smiles, Pidge laughs their ass off and Coran doesn't get what the big deal is.
SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IM GOING WITH THIS BUT YOLO AMIRITE? No but seriously, Nessa, Happy birthday and I seriously hope this is what you were looking for.
To all the readers that are reading this:
I'm fairly new to this fandom and I haven't been apart for that long. That being said I tried to keep this as in character as I could but... idk. I attempt to be funny too, so warning for bad humor. This was originally just supposed to be a private one shot for my friend Nessa's birthday but it turned into something a little more when I started to think about it more. And so I wanted to share it will the community! I'm not sure when updates will come, but I'm looking forward to working on this. Im scared to call this a miraculous lady bug AU cause it really has nothing to do with that show but it has superhero concepts from the show so like... its not completely but the concepts are owned by them. So I hope you all enjoy!
Nessa requested that this fic contain: HeLL ToNS OF FlUfF, Keith interacting with kids, enough angst to make you need tissues for a year, cute oblivious boys, smartass Pidge, and like five other things. So lets see if I can make it work. Lets play the 'lets guess how many chapters long this fic will be' game.
If you wanna hmu for anything here on tumblr you can! Im currently taking prompts to distract me in between writing this when i need a break.
SO AFTER THAT WHOLE SPIEL ENJOY MY SHITTY WRITING!
Keith will kick his ass one of these days. Seriously, say he won't cause he'd absolutely attack his teammate right in the middle of this fight. He could've gotten the both of them killed!
“Red,” a hand landed itself on his heaving shoulder, “You okay?”
Keith turned to snap at the voice, ready to release his anger all over the black paladin that dared ask him if he was okay. But he didn't. He stopped halfway, because yelling at Black wouldn't do anything but get him in trouble, whether it be in general or having to face Pinks scolding later on about being nice to your fellow paladins.
All these code names were confusing as hell to Keith, but he supposed that they had to keep their identities hidden for their “loved ones” safety. Or so said Pink, aka his brothers girlfriend, ahem sorry fiancé as of last Friday, Allura. She was deemed the leader of Voltron when Coran had come to earth, crashing through the ceiling of Shiro and Alluras nice apartment, and told her that she was the long lost princess of Altea.
In the middle of taco night too.
It started off like any normal night. Keith had to attend mandatory family dinner nights at least once a month or he'd get yelled at by both Allura and Shiro. Keith didn't quite get it, since it was only the three of them that attended these dinners and he often wondered why Shiro never insisted that Lance, Hunk, and Pidge tag along as well.
Shiro probably just wanted a break from all the kids at once. And! He'd get to harass his little adopted brother as much as he pleased in this setting without having to worry about embarrassing him too much. Shiro was thoughtful like that. Call him a saint if you will.
“So,” Shiro had been sprinkling more cheese onto the meat of his Taco Bell taco, “What was Lance up to tonight?”
Normally Keith would just shrug, he would never be able to predict exactly what his roommate would spontaneously plan when he was out, but this time he had received a definite answer to his “so Lance, I'm heading over to Shiro’s tonight, what are you going to do?”
he usually just received a joking “I dunno, just go already. Your presence is making me sick.”
But Yes, Keith actually had an answer for Shiro's inevitable question this time around, “Movie night with Pidge and Hunk.”
Keith would rather be watching a movie with them than be interrogated and made fun of all night by Allura and Shiro, but it was the last day of the month and they hadn't gotten their dinner in. Allura hummed, “So how is school? Getting good grades I presume?”
“Y’know, for someone who claims to not be good with kids,” Keith shot Allura a glare, “You've been upping the mom talk lately. Is there a time constraint on this wedding that I should know about?”
“Haha Keith,” Allura rolled her eyes, “No there isn't. Can I not be concerned for the person I've known for practically all of his life?”
Keith scowled, “I met you when I was five. And you hated me back then.”
“That's because all the foster ladies thought that you were the cutest thing since puppies and gave you extra cookies,” Allura waved her fork. She always used a fork, claiming it was just unnatural to eat tacos with your hands, “Surely you can't blame me for that. I even braided your hair!”
“You are like the big sister I never asked for,” Keith mumbled into his food. His eyes only narrowed further when Allura got that weird gleam in her eyes.
“I'm going to be your actual sister soon,” Allura grasped at Shiro’s hand, “Isn't that right sweetie?”
“That's right pumpkin!” Shiro just cooed back with a sickly sweet look.
They only did this when they wanted to torture Keith. And boy did it work, “You two are the reason I don't believe in love.”
“Shouldn't that be the other way around?” Allura just smiled, head resting on her palm now.
Keith scoffed, “No couple could ever be ask cutesy as you guys. I'm calling BS on all this. It's all fake.”
He didn't like the weight of Shiro's hand on his shoulder, it was the tell tale sign of a serious dad talk, “Keith. You will find someone some day that will make you act like this.”
“Oh god I hope not,” Keith crinkled his nose, “If I ever look this dumb just… shoot me.”
“Who knows Keith,” Allura had a sing song quality to her voice that he didn't like, “Maybe you've already met that special someone. Maybe you already act this stupid with someone.”
“What are you imply-”
And that's when Coran promptly crashed through the ceiling, luckily not causing any major injuries.
Coran had been ecstatic that Allura had managed to find at least two of the paladins. Meaning him and Shiro. It had something to do with the earring and dog tag they had gotten over the years. Keith still played with the single stud in his earlobe when he was nervous. It had become a habit. But after everything that's happened recently, he almost felt like tossing it into a river and never looking back.
“Princess Allura! It is I, Coran, your faithful caretaker all the way from Altea,” Coran bowed in front of Allura, “I have dreadful news of our home planet. But that is not important right now.”
“Who… How on earth do you know my name!” Allura backed away a bit, “I demand you tell me now!”
“I've known you since you were a baby, Princess,” Coran wiped a tear, “I was just as sad as the rest of the royal family when we had to send you here.”
“Send me here?” Shiro looked at Alluras dumbfounded countenance and contemplated getting a pan to hit the guy with.
“For your protection, of course. Ah, Allura my girl! I'm so proud of you!” Coran put his hands on his hips. Keith just couldn't look away from his voluptuous mustache, “You managed to find two Paladins already!”
“Paladins?” Allura squeaked out, looking as shocked as Keith felt.
Coran just tilted his head and grinned, “Yes! And just in time too, Zarkon and a fleet of soldiers should be coming any minute to retrieve Voltron.”
“Voltron…?” Keith felt as if he had heard that name from somewhere before. Had Pidge mentioned it?
All three of them were shocked, Coran just blinked curiously and explained for the unpteenth time that evil forces were on their way and they needed to find the other paladins. Of course none of them moved.
Except for Alluras hand, sliding over to call for 911.
To be fair, it's not everyday that someone comes crashing into an apartment ceiling, claiming that your flimsy little accessories could turn you into a badass crime fighter. Or that you were the long lost princess of a dead civilization. It was crazy and insane, but as Coran showed them how to summon their weapons and costumes from their respective jewelry pieces, it started to become a whole lot more real.
Either that or someone slipped something into their tacos. Which was possible. Keith had seen the cashier hopped up on something more than once around campus. He was more disappointed about his crushed dinner than concerned about the whole forming Voltron thing.
He had priorities bitch.
When Keith yelled out an embarrassingly cliche phrase to release his outfit, “Red Paladin! Defender of Voltron!” There was a flashing light and he was blinded for a moment. He looked sheepishly down at his armor, admiring the solid almost lightly matted red coloring. the sword was an unusual weight in his palm, he was used to a lighter fencing sword, but the cool metal that seeped through his covered fingers felt powerful.
The helmets on their heads covered their hair and the tinted visors made it hard to make out any sort of eyes. The outfit made it out so that the only feature of theirs that could be really recognizable on their faces were their mouths.
After that initial transformation, Allura with her pink suit on, felt her necklace chime out. The sweet bells that were released when she first summoned her outfit was replaced by harsh screeching. Coran made an inhumanly high girlish squeal and led them all aboard the ship that he had used to destroy their tacos. Dinner was completely forgotten. Keith had a bad feeling about going onto a strange ship. Shiro always said not to go into strange vehicles. But then again, Shiro was also heading into this strange vehicle so...
Aboard the ship, the three of them were led to a command center of some sort, five chairs surrounding one pedestal. Shiro and Keith sat in what could have been their designated chairs, the ones glowing black and red.
“Princess,” Coran twirled the ends on his mustache, “please place your necklace in the hole!”
There was a heart shaped divot in the plain looking circuit board in front of her. She diligently removed her necklace that she had possessed since she first showed up on the foster cares doorstep and placed it in the hole, probably thinking this was still some strange dream.
The castle ship thing took off and landed somewhere in the middle of their city. Keith could feel himself pale at the sight of it, a beast robot of some sort preparing to take down building after building.
“Shiro…” he looked towards his adoptive brother, “Shiro what's happening.”
The older male just shrugged, awe struck at the sight.
“Chop chop! Let's go you two, your so called earth isn't going to defend itself!”
Coran shouted out, almost gleefully.
Shiro stood, “What? You can't be serious. We don't even know how to fight properly.”
Keith knew that Shiro did. Even just a little bit. He’s in the army, or he was at least. Deployed for only a year and a half and one missing arm to prove his time. He was a fighter, and if it wasn't for Allura, himself, and that therapists disapproval, Keith was sure that Shiro would go and sign himself up again.
“Oh don't be ridiculous! You'll be fine!” Coran started to push on their backs, “Though the ticks are ticking away!”
“Coran!” Allura lurched forward in her chair, closer to a hologram screen that popped up, “What is that?”
On the screen appeared three other figures, looking about as panicked as they all felt. But they had on outfits so similar to Keith and Shiro's that they stood out from the normal civilians, who were panicking and running away.
Coran let out a giddy noise, “Those are the other Paladins! How delightful, they're all in the same area. Good work Princess! We won't have to do any relocating!”
Keith and Shiro looked at eachother, then back at the screen. The yellow one looked like he pulled out a gun of some sort. Shocked himself by doing it too.
“Go on! Don't let all your fellow teammates do the hard work.” Coran ebbed them out of the ship.
By some movie magic bullshit they won without truly knowing what to do. Going into the details of their first uncoordinated and messy battle wouldn't be worth the effort. Just know it was bad and quite stereotypical for a first battle with a new team. The monster that these evil Galra things that Coran mentioned was one of those level one types. So it wasn't like they were smart and sent a boss to strike while the iron was hot, as Shiro put it. Which was good for them. Bad for the Galra. They all followed Shiro and Alluras careful commands to shoot here or stab there or watch out for that falling car Blue or holy shit seriously just watch out.
It was grueling. And by the end of it, Coran released some other magic bull shit, like fucking fairy dust sparkles, and the half destroyed city looked as if it had never been touched. As if a giant space alien thing hadn't just almost blown it to smithereens. As if Keith, Shiro, Allura, and these three other mystery people hadn't almost been killed.
What a day. Definitely one for the journal. And yes, it was a journal not a diary, no matter what Keith's annoying ass roommate said. Journals help keep track of events and important things while diarys were just something girls wrote in hoping they'd get taken so they could live their dreams of being in a cheesy Disney movie.
There was a difference.
“Good work team!” Shiro tried to smile as they all boarded the ship. The new guys marveled.
“Woah!” The green one’s eyes sparkled at the high tech looking castle interior, “What is this place?”
“This is the castle of lions!” Coran smiled waving his arms out, “it's our new base. Welcome paladins!”
The yellow guy tilted his head, looking impossibly innocent for someone of his stature, “b-base? You mean like, we're going to have to fight those guys again? Like. All the time?”
“Essentially yes. Until Zarkon and the Galra empire are taken down.” Coran played with his mustache.
“Sweet!” Keith flinched as the blue guy screamed in his ear, an arm nearly hitting him, “This is gonna be so cool! Imagine all the ladies that are going to be lining up to see a superhero.”
“Ah,” Allura spoke up, “That's probably something we should discuss.”
The newly found princess was startled when the blue paladin bowed and calmly spoke, “We can talk about it as long as you need your highness. Maybe somewhere private? Dinner perhaps?”
Keith figured by the way the Yellow and Green paladins shook their heads and tsked that the Blue one did that a lot. Of course there would be someone with that type of personality on the team. The type of personality that clashed with Keith's own. The type that Keith already had to deal with in his day to day life. He wasn't sure how he would cope with another guy like Lance. That sorry excuse for both a roommate and a reluctant friend.
Okay… he wasn't that bad. But Keith couldn't stand it sometimes.
“Blue’s not really my color,” Allura shook her head and laughed a bit.
“Back off blue,” Shiro’s voice held no malice, he actually smiled at the antic, “This one’s mine.”
The blue guy blushed. Or at least Keith thinks he did, it was hard to tell under the helmet and visor, “Ah sorry ‘bout that man.”
“Don't be. It's fine,” Shiro was never one to pick a fight for no valid reason.
“Idiot,” Keith whispered to himself before he could stop. He hoped that the guy hadn't heard, he didn't want to fight on the first day of making their team.
No luck. The blue ones head shot up, teeth baring slightly. Keith was sure that the guy was going to pounce on him, or yell at him or… something. But he froze for a millisecond before putting on a smile that made Keith's inside move in a funny way. Good funny or bad funny he couldn't tell.
“Well hello,” Blue grabbed his hand, placing a small kiss on it, “Do you have a name, or can I call you mine?”
Keith swiped his hand back wearing a look of shock, the blush prickling at his skin. It only deepened when Green let out a howl of laughter and was bent at the waist trying to catch their breath.
Shiro cleared his throat, clearly amused at how flustered his brother was. He could almost picture Keith glaring daggers behind his tinted visor. Laughing slightly, he tried to veer the conversation back, “We should discuss our identities.”
The blue one nodded, placing his chin in the crook between his thumb and pointer, “We have to be like Clark Kent right? And protect who we really are for the sake of our loved ones?”
Allura chuckled, probably to be polite, “Yes. Like um, Batman…?”
“Superman! How do you not know superman?” The green one exclaimed, the yellow one put a hand over its mouth to shut them up.
Shiro cleared his throat, “Okay. How about we just make this simple and go by colors. I'll be Black, the princess can be Pink, and there on.”
“What a splendid idea!” Coran seemed to brighten, “I can just go by Coran though. If you prefer.”
“Yes. Okay, then that's settled,” Allura breathed out, “We must not reveal our identities to anyone, including all of us here. The less people that know who we truly are the better. That means transforming out of sight and away from people.”
“Okay question though,” Blue interrupted, “How do we transform? Cause I kinda just tapped my ring when it started glowing and ended up like this.”
Coran smiled, “it's simple, just hold it for three seconds and say “ whatever color you are paladin! Defender of Voltron” you should be fine. Just as long as you don't let those things out of your sight.”
Coran gestured to the jewelry before twirling his moustache. Shiro coughed, “Well, then we'll just have to make sure that they're secure at all times.”
“Yes, the Lion spirits have all chosen you,” Coran leaned back on the dashboard and Keith felt like he was about to get a long lecture.
Green, who had been slumped back in their chair, hunched over to look slightly intrigued by the tale, “Lion spirits?”
“Yes! The lion spirits! Each of you has a possession that a lion has chosen specially. They were all sent to this planet with Allura when she was born and they seem to have chosen all of you,” Coran pointed his finger up towards the ceiling and smiled, “All of you must have very good souls if the lions chose you. Their original Paladins were nothing but Noble.”
“Yes but how did we not… not realize that we had their, um… spirits? Is that what you called them?” Shiro waited for Corans confirmation nod before continuing, “How did we not realize that we had them?”
Blue held out a hand too, “Yeah and how did they know that we’d buy these things?”
“Ah that is a fascinating story,” Coran pulled up a diagram in the space between them, the lights sparkling with an unreadable story, “The lions found their homes in your jewellery, as you call it, after you obtained them. They often track their potential paladins for a while before choosing and they have the ability to talk with their paladins and empathize with them. Perhaps they didn’t think that you were ready for knowledge of their existence yet.”
Keith felt a shiver run down his spine and a warming comfort pool in his stomach. Was it coming from his earring? Was that supposed to be Red? Or! Or! A better explanation for this was that Keith was currently stoned out of his mind or drugged and slumped over at Shiro’s from the obviously tainted tacos and this was all an extremely elaborate acid trip.
“Zarkon will do anything to get his hands on these spirits. Send spies or bounty hunters, or as you have seen, giant robots. The transformations should only last about four of your earth hours max before you need to reset them,” Coran nodded, before pulling what looked like a watch up to his eyes, “Which should be coming up soon. Hurry along, we wouldn't want your identities to be revealed. I’ll go over Altea’s history and the destruction next time, I’m sure you want to hear about that Princess. Your parents would've been proud of how you turned out.”
Allura just nodded, but Keith knew that she really wanted to know more than she was letting on. It was something that the both of them had wanted to know about for a long time. Back when he and Allura were both staying at the same foster home before she aged out of that particular home when Keith was nine and she was fifteen they used to sit around and talk about stuff like this. Their origins.
Keith, poor little Keith who was six years her junior was always hanging around Allura. Which was unusual for him, considering that he liked to be left alone most of the time. At first she found him annoying, Keith was almost positive of this, but she eventually warmed up to the lost child. They’d sit outside on the roof after the foster ladies would go to bed and just look at the stars and laugh about how their parents were probably somewhere in space fighting evil and just dying to come back to see them soon. It was Allura who taught Keith how much fun things like gymnastics could be, showing him how to do cartwheels and front hand springs. It was a nice way to pass those summer days at the foster home.
When she left that was the beginning of one of Keith’s dark periods. He hated describing it like that. It wasn't really all that terrible, but he supposed that there wasn't really a better name for it. He completely closed off, fearing that anyone he would get close to would have to be taken away from him again. He just… learned to adapt. It made him tougher in a way, more skeptical. His curious doe eyes didn't gleam with the same childlike wonderment. But he was still keith, and he learned how to live life. It wasn’t until the Shirogane’s adopted him that he started to feel better, he had even made a few friends at school. Lance had shouted at him and resented his “totally awesome and perfect” being at first, but once Hunk and Pidge had taken a liking towards him Lance started to warm up as well. And by the time Allura had come back into his life as his brothers fancy new girlfriend he was relatively… stable, again. Keith couldn't help but smile a bit at that thought, all the coincidences. He also couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Allura, finally getting to see where she was from. Cause yes, Keith was at some sort of peace, and yes, he had a loving family and close friends… but that wasn't the same as knowing where you came from. Why you weren’t wanted in the first place…
“Thank you Coran,” Shiro gave a firm nod and Keith almost parroted him like a child would their parent. The man being thanked just smiled widely like he knew something they didn’t and he popped open the gate. With that they left, Coran promising to alert them via tacky jewelry when they should meet up again to train.
That was also about two weeks ago. Now Keith was about ready to kill Blue for nearly shooting him while trying to aim for a Galra. Granted it probably saved Keith a nasty blow to the head and grueling trip to those weird healing pod thingys, but Blue still could've hit him.
Slicing through a robot, Keith growled and pretended it was the other Paladin. Yellow whistled, “woah. Nice one there buddy. I think that was the last of them.”
“Alright Coran!” Blue yelled into their intercom, “Were good down here! Release the fairy dust!”
After the town magically regenerated, the paladins all marched back into the castle, Keith instantly turning to Blue, “You could've shot my head off!”
“But see, here's the thing Red,” Blue stuck up his nose, “I didn't. And I managed to save your ass. This isn't exactly the outstanding thank you that I should be getting.”
“Whatever Blue,” Keith's cheeks were hot, from anger of course, not from that confident and amused smile, “just be careful next time.”
The red paladin stomped past and into the castle before the rest of them, heading towards the main room to probably get briefed before going back to his apartment to crash. It had been a long few hours, and this stupid town was just lucky that he didn't have any homework due the next day.
“What's his deal?” He could hear Blue ask Yellow as they followed him in.
Allura was in a rush, her words jumbled as she spoke, “Alright good work today paladins! We are really bonding as a team. Some need more work than others-” she pointedly looked at Keith and Blue “-and I would love to stay and chat but this fight has taken up more time that I think any of us have anticipated. It is drawing on the fourth hour and if we do not hurry, we will transform back soon.”
With that they were all dismissed and scattered. When Keith finally made it to the apartment he didn't even have enough energy to question where Lance was or why he wasn't back. His roommate would show up eventually. Eventually.
~~~
Keith woke up to the all too chipper sound of his phone. He would have to go and get Lance out of bed soon, the guy didn't seem to wake up to his own alarms. Keiths newest task was to get him to classes on time, as strenuous and torturing it can be sometimes. And despite all those things he said, he and Lance were friends.
Ish.
They had their moments, and they lived together! That had to count for something. They also shared the same friends, and a lot of the same classes. A few were differed here and there due to time. In the slots where Keith took fencing and gymnastics classes, Lance took archery and swimming or track (depending on the season). Both majoring in astrophysics.
Keith put two toaster waffles into their little second hand toaster and wandered down the hall to their bathroom to brush his teeth. He frowned at his reflection in the small mirror above the sink, his hair was sticking up in an unattractive way. Running a comb through it and watching it pop back up, Keith huffed. It was going to be one of those days. He quickly tied as much of it up as he could, though it still looked like a mess, and left the lights on as he exited.
He decided to get dressed after eating (not wanting a repeat of the previous morning where he spilt juice all over himself and had to frantically change), so he skipped his bedroom instead going to get Lance, yawning as he opened the door without knocking, “Lance!”
“Five more minutes,” Lance pulled the blankets over her head, tightening his grip, “The you can drag me to hell all you want.”
“I'm going to go get the water,” there was only a hint of a playful tone in his voice. Because yes, he had once thrown a bucket of water at Lance. Though, being the boy who was always oblivious to common sayings and such, he had actually thrown the bucket as well. How was he supposed to know that you were just supposed to dump the water out? No books ever specified. But regardless of Keiths slight lapse in judgement, it had made a nice bruise form on Lance’s face that stayed for a week or two.
Lance shot up not wanting a repeat, “Don't!”
“Good morning,” Keith rolled his eyes, totally not ready to deal with the image of Lance’s stupid bed head. Ya know, cause he’d just complain about it, no other reason, Keith just trying to save his ears from the barrage of complaints that his roommate would make, not cause it was endearing or any other synonym of the word, “Get up or we’ll have no time to eat.”
Once Keith was out of the room, Lance unwrapped himself from his cocoon of warmth, exposing his skin to the cold autumn air. It was way too freaking early. It was always way to freaking early.
He quickly ran into the bathroom to brushed his teeth, nearly squirting the mint toothpaste everywhere and cursing under his breath. A clean smile is a nice smile. And a nice smile woos the ladies. Pulling on a shirt and some pants that were hanging out of his closet, Lance hopped on one foot trying to get his other sock on while simultaneously exiting his room. He nearly fell over, which wasn't new. That in itself was a daily occurrence. As was Keith's side step to avoid his wobbling on his way into the kitchen. They had learned to work around each other, with each other at times as well.The toaster looked as if it had been done for a few moments before either of them had a chance to enter the kitchen, Keith ran to get plates, “Here. It's still hot be careful.”
Lance slid into the stool at the counter before he gladly stuffed some of the waffle in his mouth, but not without his usual quip, “Truly a nutritional breakfast here Keith.”
Keith rolled his eyes and turned to pour syrup over his and Lances waffles, “Bite me. If you want something better then wake up yourself.”
“Maybe I will,” Lance took another bite, wrinkling his nose a bit at the fingers that he got sticky, “Do we grab Pidge and Hunk today?”
Keith used a fork, like a civilized person would, “Nope. They texted earlier that they have to be there early, something about a project.”
“Perfect,” He watched as Keith shook his head at the way he licked the syrup off his fingers and waved his now cleanish hand over at the fridge, “Please?”
Keith stood again to get glasses out of the cupboard above the sink. Why couldn’t Lance just get something for himself? Why was Keith saying this in his head? “Why can’t you get your own drink ever?”
“Because I know you’ll get it for me,” Lance’s smile faltered a bit at Keith’s glare, “Keith… Buddy? Love you.”
The boy in question just rolled his eyes at the dragged out ‘you’ and poured himself a glass of orange juice and got a cup of ice for his friend, “Here.”
“What’s this?” Lance raised an eyebrow at the ice then at the sitting boy, “Ice?”
“Yep,” Keith just turned to dig around in his backpack. He made a small victory noise when he pulled out his phone.
Lance sat there for a moment, waiting to see if Keith would say anything else. But when the other boy seemed to just be mindlessly checking things on the screen, Lance poked him, “Keith I can’t drink this.”
“Wait, it’ll melt,” Keith didn’t look up still, but Lance could see the small smirk making its way to his face.
Lance sighed and forced himself to get up, “I hate you sometimes.”
“Really? I thought you hated me all the time, ” Keith started tapping at the screen, “my how far we have come.”
“Sarcasms really not appreciated,” Lance just poured the ice into a canteen and then filled his glass with Milk, “Nice hair by the way, really goes with the whole I don’t give a shit look ya got going on today.”
He could hear Keith put his phone down and when he turned Keith just had an elbow on the counter and his head in his palm. A small frown adorned his features and he sighed, “I didn’t change yet. I probably should.”
Lance watched as his roommate walked in the direction of his bedroom, leaving a quarter of his waffle untouched. Keith had been wearing a pair of grey sweats that could have honestly been Lance’s at one point, since the pant legs were too long and now had holes at the bottom from stepping on the extra fabric. It wasn’t uncommon for them to wind up with some of the others clothes since they just combined their laundry to save water, though they’d usually notice right away and return them. Usually. Keith had a problem figuring out what was his and what wasn’t since he never really paid attention to which clothes were his. Shiro was always adding hand-me-downs to his collection anyways so it was hard to keep track. Plus the clothes that Lance outgrew he would give to Keith too, if he wanted them. If not then they went to his younger siblings and Pidge to root through. But the shirt that Keith was wearing that morning had definitely been one of Lance’s, the one he had been looking for but gave up on a month ago. It was an old NASA shirt that had paint stains on it from that one time they tried to redo the living room.
Lance chuckled fondly at that memory as he reached over to eat the rest of Keith’s waffle. He had been complaining for about three months after they reluctantly moved in together about the horrible shade of red on the wall.
They had moved in together when Lance had been kicked out of student dorming back in sophomore year of highschool because some shit that his roommate did (and the both of them were blamed for) and Keith had had enough of living with Allura and Shiro. Back then they had barely known each other, having Pidge as their only mutual friend but never had they all hung out. Lance had been whining about having no place to live when he was chilling with Hunk, “Dude! I’m broke and I have nowhere to go. All my stuff is going to be put on the curb in two weeks!”
“That sucks bro,” Hunk said in a totally not sympathetic way since he was too invested in his homework and had been listening to Lance repeat the same thing for the past hour, “Good luck with that.”
Pidge was out with someone they both hadn’t caught the name of and were left in the apartment to fend for themselves. It was a Saturday, and Hunk still chose to do the extra homework that wasn’t due for another two weeks, claiming that he’d forget it by then. Honestly it was a smart idea and he probably should have followed his friend's example, but Lance just groaned again, “Hunk! How did you and Pidgey manage to get this place? It’s so cheap for like, all this room. You gotta hook a brother up.”
“Actually,” Hunk looked up from his writing, “There is this apartment upstairs that’s open for rent. The woman up there is moving to Rhode Island and had to leave almost immediately. She was so nice too, had a tiny little baby and-”
“Okay Hunk! Set it up, I wanna see it!” Lance jumped to his feet, “Imagine if we lived in the same building! All the late night movies nights that we can actually have because we won’t have to worry about student curfew!”
Hunk had just sighed, knowing Lance wouldn’t let up until he called the apartment building super and request a tour. Lance was just lucky that Hunk had fixed the guys radiator once and now they were friends.
The apartment wasn’t terribly big, but Lance was awe struck by it when Hunk unlocked the door. The foyer opened up into a decent sized living area that had two nice floor to ceiling windows. Lance was already planning everything out in his head, his TV that he got as a going away present would go right in between those windows… and the plants he had could go next to it. There was a counter connecting the kitchen area to the living room area, the place was had an open concept. Lance knew his mom would love being able to talk to him from the kitchen while he played video games with his siblings whenever they came to visit. Or if Lance ever got that special someone he had been looking for, they could talk while one of them made dinner or something.
The closet off the side of the living room had a washer and dryer in it, as well as a few shelves for soaps and things. On the other side was a hallway. The bedrooms were adjacent from each other and the bathroom was at the end of the hall, which Lance gaped at, “Its great!”
The mirror was small but there was a lot of counter space and the tub was big and the shower head was an appropriate height. Lance practically raced into one of the bedrooms. The walls were a baby blue and the closet was a nice size. But what got Lance falling in love with it was the skylight that lined the ceiling in one nice strip in the back, “I want this room. This… is perfect.”
Hunk just rolled his eyes, “Why don't you look at the other room first.”
“Nope. This one. This one’s mine, end of story,” Lance said looking up at the sky, “I’m going to just sit here and look at the stars for hours.”
Then there was the noise. A bam! sound of some sort, like someone had bumped into something. Hunk jumped out of his skin practically, “What was that!”
“I dunno, but I take it back. I don't wanna live somewhere that's haunted,” Lance clung onto his friend, “L-let's go check it out.”
“It came from the other bed room,” Hunk pushed Lance out the door, “You go first.”
Lance rolled his eyes but there was undeniable shaking in his step as he toed the door open. He screamed.
“What! Ghosts? Lance what is it,” Hunk had clamped his eyes shut and hid behind his best friend despite being almost twice his size.
“No,” Hunk perked up curiously at Pidge’s voice, “Just us. What are you guys doing here?”
Lance just ignored the question, “Hunk it’s worse than ghosts, it’s Keith!”
“Keith?” Hunk stood up straight and tried to look past Lance’s flailing arms, “Are you sure?”
“Who are you?” Keith had eyed him, “And what are you doing in my new apartment?”
Lance stopped freaking out for a moment to glare at Keith, pointing a finger at him, “Your new apartment? I don’t think so buddy, I’m buying this place.”
“Keith, this is Lance. He was recently thrown out of student housing,” Pidge sighed, “Lance, this is Keith, his brother’s girlfriend recently moved in with him and his brother and he doesn't want to live with them.”
“I know who this is Pidge,” Lance sneered, “We’re rivals at school.”
Keith just raised an eyebrow, “Rivals? Who even are you?”
“Lance! Ya know… Lance!” He poked his finger into the other's chest harder, “You seriously can’t remember who I am?”
“Oh, you’re that kid that accidentally tripped and dropped acid all over the floor the first week of school, right?” Keith looked genuinely curious for a moment before he narrowed his eyes and swatted Lance’s hand away, “Don’t touch me.”
“Listen, you both need a place to stay,” Hunk intervened, being the voice of reason, “Why don’t you both share the apartment? I know how much you both want it. Need it even. And it’ll lower the cost even more!”
“Fine with me, I’m going to go get the forms and stuff. See you later Pidge,” Keith just waved and headed towards the door. Lance thought he was seeing red, steam coming out of his ears. How dare his rival not remember who he was? Keith had to be the most infuriating, terrible, beautifully ignorant person that he had ever met. Stopping at the door, Keith turned back to the three that were now in the hallway watching him and smirked, “Oh, and Lance was it? Rule one if we’re going to do this, don’t talk to me.”
They broke that rule within weeks of them actually moving in. Keith quickly realized that he and Lance were going to have to communicate somehow, so he went with sticky notes for the first two weeks. They were simple notes like ‘My laundry is in the washer’ or ‘were out of OJ, I’ll pick some up later’. Lance thought he was going to have to build a working friendship with a packet of post-its for the rest of his time in the apartment.To say that their first official meeting, that both of them remember that is, did not go smoothly is an understatement. It wasn’t until Allura and Shiro made a surprise house warming appearance that Keith had to say something.
“Allura, Shiro. This is my roommate Lance,” Keith shook his head at the way Lance seemed to gawk at them. It was hard not to, they were probably the most aesthetically pleasing, photographic people Keith had ever known, “Lance this is my brother, and his girlfriend.”
“You…” For a split second Keith was worried that Lance was going to hit on one of them. Pidge mentioned that he had a hard time controlling himself in front of pretty people. But instead Lance just turned to him and grinned triumphantly, “You talked to me!”
At that Shiro and Allura both gave him disappointed and confused looks, knowing that he could isolate himself it he wanted to. Thus began what Lance and Keith both hated for quite a while, their forced friendship. Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura decided that it was best for all of them to start hanging out in a group, meaning that Keith and Lance would actually have to interact. Lance, personally, had no real issue with it. He definitely didn’t want to live with a stranger, his mother would not approve, and he was open to the idea of friendship. Not necessarily a strong one, but one that was stable enough to say, “Hey Keith, is this your sock?” without the fear of getting punched. Keith didn’t seem that invested in it though.
It took a while for him to open up, the whole group thing was slowly working. Slowly being a key word. They quickly learned that they all liked hanging out together which was great because Lance didn’t have a real group of tight friends since seventh grade. And Keith didn’t have one like, ever.
Lance and Keith had gotten along better, but it wasn’t until Keith came back to the apartment to find Lance trying to pry open a paint can three months after moving in together with a chopstick that things really started to change between them. Keith dropped the groceries on the counter and stared at him, furniture moved and trash bags lining the hardwood floor, “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like Keith,” Lance grunted as he tried to wedge the stick in again, “I’m obviously trying to open this.”
It was silent for a few minutes, so Lance figured that Keith lost interest and went into his room to brood or something like that. But then a screwdriver was stuck in his face and Keith’s hand was attached to it, “Here, try this.”
“Thanks,” Lance blinked for a moment, shocked that Keith was helping him. He smiled at the other boy, “Wanna help me paint over this awful red?”
Keith looked around their living room, the paint was a deep red that he honestly kind of liked, “Why?”
“It’s terrible Keith,” Lance waved his arms around, “I went out and bought this like, weeks ago but forgot about it.”
When Lance popped open the can and mixed it, Keith was slightly mesmerized by the deep blue color. Lance just continued to pour it onto the roller pan and gestured to the roller near Keith. Keith held it up cautiously, “In there?”
“Duh Keith,” Lance responded, reaching for the remote, “Mind if we watch some TV while we work?”
Lance put on one of the Friends DVDs that he had, starting at season one. Keith smiled, “I love this show.”
“You do?” Lance snorted. Keith didn’t really seem like the type to sit around and watch sit coms. Maybe documentaries, but funny little shows like Friends? Nope, never would have guess. Though Lance learned over time that one of Keith's guilty pleasures was to curl up under a blanket and go to town on Lance’s sitcom DVD collection. He caught his roommate once at three am laughing at the TV, which made Keith stutter out an excuse with an adorable blush on that didn’t go away until Lance insisted it was fine and joined him.
Keith got changed into clothes he didn’t really care about and rejoined Lance in his painting adventure. There was only an occasional laugh from one of them for quite awhile. They both decided to start on random parts of the walls, which they later regretted since Lance hadn’t bought enough paint to cover the whole room.
“What idiot doesn’t buy enough paint to paint a room?” Keith raised an eyebrow, his expression filled with amusement instead of annoyance.
Lance just shrugged, “I dunno, what kind of Idiot has paint all over his face?”
Keiths hands flew to his face to check for wet paint, but found nothing, “What? I don't ha-”
Lance smeared what was left in the bucket on to Keith’s cheek, “You were saying?”
That seemed to be the wrong thing to do and Lance was regretting it when Keith stuck his palm in the paint then hit Keith right in the middle of his face. Keith laughed at the shell shocked expression and didn’t stop until Lance sandwiched his face in between two paint colored palms of his own.
“Lance!” Keith cried out through a fit of laughter, which was honestly one of the nicest sounds that Lance had ever heard. It sounded genuinely happy, and unbound to anything. Unrestrained, light.
Lance just smiled as he stood and held a hand out, “Yes honey dearest?”
“Are you getting hungry?” Keith got up as well and tried to wipe his hands off on his shirt. His expression was still bright and if Lance squinted enough, a bit flustered from his last comment. Lance couldn’t help but think that Keith should look like that all the time, undoubtedly and purely happy. He started to walk closer to Keith, which alarmed the other into backing up win matching steps, “Lance? Are you oka-”
Keith’s eyes widened for a moment, realizing that he hd just backed up into a wall with wet paint all over it. Lance smirked, “I’m okay. You good?”
Slamming his hand into the wet wall first, Keith pushed Lance backwards and left a handprint on his NASA shirt, “Perfect.”
“Oh, you are so getting it Kogane!” Lance swiped at the wall, “Get back here!”
Lance tried to grab at Keith, who side stepped and made Lance fall face first into an area of the wall that was still red. Keith laughed, “Too slow.”
“How’s this,” Lance turned to get as much paint all over him as he could before launching himself at his roommate, “For too slow?”
Keith’s entire body shook with laughter as he tried to roll Lance off of him, “You’re heavy. Get off!”
“I don't know,” Lance let himself melt into dead weight, “I'm pretty comfy right now.”
Keith gave one hard shove and it had lance sprawling out on the trash bag covered floor with a hard sounding thud, “mm you comfy now.”
“Jesus okay, you can push pretty hard. So chinese?” Lance sat up and Keith nodded.
When the food arrived Lance paid the guy, claiming that it was the least he could do for making Keith help him paint the walls. Sort of. As they both settled in the middle of the living room, food containers placed in places without paint, they observed their handy work. Or lack thereof.
“We really fucked up these walls didn’t we?” Lance let out a low whistle, “I think I can see an imprint of my face on that one.”
Keith shrugged, “They're one of a kind now.”
It was true. No one else in the world had walls that were painted inconsistently in both blue and red with terrible hand prints and smears everywhere. Probably.
“That’s true,” Lance nodded, “First home renovation and we can’t say that we didn’t make it special.”
Keith just hummed, “Yeah…”
Lance still didn’t know a lot about Keith at that point, and Keith probably didn’t know a lot about him either. Which was fine, they were still growing.
“So, why did you need to move out of Shiro and Allura’s?” Lance asked since he never really knew why, “I had to move because my roommate decided to pull a prank on the dean and I got blamed too. So what was it? Were they being to lovey dovey?”
Lance was worried that he over stepped somehow when Keith went quiet. Putting down the container, Keith leaned back on his palms to stare out the big windows at the stars. His reply was so quiet that Lance almost didn’t catch it, “It’s exactly because of what you just said.”
“What? They were being too coupley?” Lance copied the other's movements. The stars were so bright that night.
Keith shook his head, “No. You called it Shiro and Allura’s. It was never really my home.”
“What?” Lance raised an eyebrow, “I’m sure people called it Keith and Shiro’s before Allura moved in.”
“Not what I meant,” Keith sighed and went silent for another moment, “I never really felt at home there. Like it was mine. It was always Shiro’s place to me. And Allura fits in there now, so it was time for me to start over.”
Lance turned to face him, “So this place can be your home now.”
Lance didn’t really get it. But maybe that’s because he’s always had a place to call his home. Surrounded by people he loved and memories that were irreplaceable. A place where he knew that he could just be himself, a place where he didn’t have to worry about doing things like turning a perfectly painted room into shit and getting kicked out. And Keith… well. Lance had heard enough of his story to know that Keith probably never had any of that.
“Maybe…” Keith’s reply came after a while, his purple eyes still focused on the stars but his expression wistful.
That was about three years ago. Now they were close friends that were going to the same college that was joint with their old high school. Still living together. Still hung out with the same friends. Still had that same crappily painted living room.
Lance couldn’t help but wonder if Keith considered their apartment his home now.
“We promised Allura to stop by to help pick out flowers for the wedding,” Keith walked back in fully dress, “Are you okay? You look dazed.”
“Yeah it’s all good. Just… thinking,” Lance replied, still a bit out of it.
Keith waved a hand in front of his eyes then snapped until Lance blinked, “Don’t hurt yourself there.”
“Shut up Keith,” Lance swatted his hand away, “I’m smart.”
Keith just shrugged, “Whatever you say. Anyways, were you listening? Allura and Shiro need us after school so don’t forget.”
“As if I would forget to help them plan the most upcoming wedding of the century,” Lance tugged on his backpack, “You better not forget.”
“I won't.” Keith laughed, slipping on his shoes to run out of the door. Initiating an unspoken challenge.
Lances legs picked up speed as he chased his friend out of the two story complex and down the street, “Good!”
“Good!” Keith called out from over his shoulder.
Lance let out an aggravated howl. And by the time they entered the school grounds they were panting at Pidge and Hunks feet.
“Why the hell are you guys so sweaty? It's not even seven thirty yet!”
~~~
This paladin stuff required a lot of running since there was no other convenient mode of transportation. None of them owned a car, or rather the ones who did were not confident about not crashing in the haste. Obviously the bus was out, and Lance could pull out his bike but what would he do with it once he got to the fight? Just leave it there? Oh hell no, not after he has kept it safe all those years with his trusty bike lock.
So yes. Lance was extremely happy that his mother had forced her baby flash into running track since fourth grade. No matter how Lance looked at it, he was grateful for his mother chiding him and pushing him to run. Imagine if he didn't! Yeah he had Archery as a sport but that didn't do much for your cardiovascular health.
He remembered the first time he was called into battle. Or, rather the first time that he, Hunk, and Pidge were. They were all over for a movie night at his place, obviously since they do that every week. But this time Keith was over at Allura and Shiro’s for dinner so they were down a person for popcorn.
How awkward would that have been if Keith were there too? They'd all see their glowing jewelry shit and have to leave him there while they were pulled towards the center of town. Or maybe he'd pass out like Hunk almost did when they transformed into their armour. Whatever it was, Lance was sure that it was fate that Keith remained oblivious to the fact that he and Blue were the same person. What would he do if he found out that his friends were also members of Voltron? Probably tell Allura and Shiro… then they’d get the ‘that's dangerous be careful’ speech from their parents away from home.
And that wasn't a conversation that Lance really wanted to have. Again.
The first time he had met Black, Pink and Red, Lance was shocked for a lack of a better word. He supposed that a three man team wouldn't have been that effective against the shit they were facing, but he wasn't sure what to expect. Pink was beautiful, that much was obvious. And of course Lance could see how Black was perfect for someone like her. Only Shiro and Allura’s future children would be able to compete with Pink and Black’s in the looks department. And every other department. Lance thought it was unfair that god or some being out there made two sets of perfect beings.
After hitting on Pink and thoroughly embarrassing himself, not that he really noticed, Lance saw Red. Well, heard him. And yes, Lance had just finished being starstruck over the only female there but there was something about the tiny pout on Red’s lips that made him smile and want to tease him Using one of his classic lines, he was delighted to see a hint of pink on the little bit of skin that the helmets revealed. Lance had to grudgingly admit that Red was something of a looker, adorable even.
Not that he’d ever say anything like that aloud. Not anymore anyways. Not after he and Red developed some sort of rivalry or something.
This whole paladin stuff is fun, trust him. Lance loved being a paladin. Coran had graciously explained to them the next day how everything was supposed to go down. It sounded, for a lack of better words, dangerous. But unique and fun. Might kill them, but fun.
“You will all be responsible for saving not only this world, but many other planets as well!” Coran had smiled widely, clasping his hands together, “You will form the Voltron team! Led by Black and the Princess of course. You’ll all be heros! Defenders of the Universe!”
Lance liked the sound of that. Heros! It sounded daring and cool, like he was. He could finally show everyone that he was good for something, even if that something was putting his life on the line for everyone else.
“Do you ever think it's strange that they wait until after school?” Lance asked, running towards the center of town yet again, “I mean. Do you think maybe the evil mastermind has school too and that's why he never attacks during the day.”
“As important as an education is Blue,” Pidge was slightly behind him, “I doubt that Zarkon waits until after school hours. You probably just jinxed us.”
“Ah Black you're so lucky,” Lance waved his hand, the black paladin turning to him, “You don't have to deal with the woes of school life.”
“Wait until you join the work force,” Black smiled, if they weren't running Lance was sure that he would've crossed his arms, “You're going to beg to go back to school. Try to save up for a wedding on top of college debt too.”
“You're getting married?”
Black looked a little confused by the question. He tried to study what he could from Lance's face. Had he mentioned this before and Lance just forgot or wasn't paying attention? Black slowed down, chuckling awkwardly, “Didn't I tell you?”
“Not that I remember,” Lance blinked. Pidge looked up at him with a laugh.
“But Blue has always been a bit slow.”
“Not funny Green,” Lance squawked, “I remember plenty of things-”
“Sure you do”
“-and, as a matter of fact, I just remembered that I'm missing some wedding planning right now too.”
“You're getting married?” Pidge bit down on their bottom lip at Blacks question, hitting him in the side.
Lance swore he heard Pidge whisper, something to Black along the lines of ‘if he doesn't’
“Nah,” Lance waved his hand and shrugged, “My two friends are. This college kids still single.”
“I wonder why,” Pidges voice was dripping with sarcasm while they tried to conceal a laugh. That was always a weird saying to Lance, dripping with sarcasm. It was accurate enough cause it was as if Pidge had plunged their words into liquified sarcasm and the extra was falling off of it. But still, it was a weird image.
“Guys!” Hunk called from his spot just a few feet behind them, his voice worried, “Guys! Look at that!”
Lance's full attention was drawn to the newest robot contraption thingy. It was huge, “oh fuck.”
“Alright team!” Pink’s voice was kind of static in their helmets, “This robeast is armed!”
Hunk and Red had come up behind them, Hunk panicking, “Armed? Like, he has a gun or like, several arms? Or both, oh god don't let it be both! Princess tell me it's not both!”
“Calm down yellow,” Black commanded as firmly as he could, “We have to just take this step by step.”
The battle wasn't as long as they had anticipated from the size of the monster. It took maybe an hour at most, Red and Pidge worked to cut off its arms (“Its both Yellow. It's arms are infused with rifles of some sort”) and then Lance shot through the plate on its back and it was down.
The easiness of it all made them a little weary. But that didn't stop them from going back to the conveniently hidden spaceship to celebrate.
~~~
“She's just magnificent, isn't she?” Lance was gawking at the new student sitting across the courtyard, “Her name is Nyma, how foreign and perfect.”
Keith scoffed as he stabbed his salad with a little more force than necessary, annoyed at Lance's latest antics. Hunk whined, “Dude come on! Finish eating, we gotta get to the cafe.”
“Why?” Lance raised an eyebrow, “You wanna go see your girlfriend before her shift ends?”
“She's not my girlfriend, she just happens to be a really nice barista that I admire very much and who also happens to be in the same fine culinary arts class as me,” Hunk pointed a finger in a matter of factually way. It was true! Shay was nothing more than a friend (sadly) and he did like hanging out with her in culinary class. The girl knew how to cook, and like people always said: the way to a man’s heart is throughout his stomach. And man did Hunk love those little tartlets that Shay seemed to magically make with ease.
Pidge snickered, they knew that Hunk had somewhat connected with the part time Barista that Allura had hired at her and Shiro's cafe, “Yeah, the blush really helps your case there.”
“Shut up Pidge,” Hunk mumbled, hands hiding his face, “Just hurry up so we can go!”
“Should I go talk to her?” Lance all but ignored Hunks exasperation, “I mean, I am the smoothest, most handsome person here. I should show her around.”
“What you should do is finish eating,” this time it was Keith that glared at him. Lance looked him dead in the eyes and brought his fork full of leftover pasta to his mouth as slowly as humanly possible. Keith growled in response, “Lance!”
“Yeah cupcake?” Lance feigned innocence, batting his eyes to really sell it, “Whatever am I doing wrong?”
Pidge didn't know whether or not the pinkish color on Keith cheeks was from frustration or something else, but they knew that they had to stop Lance before everyone started screaming again, “C’mon Lance. Allura and Shiro need us to go help them deliver the invitations.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lance waved them off, finally covering the Tupperware and putting it back in his bag, “I hear you. You guys go first, I'm just going to talk to her.”
Hunk didn't need to be told twice, “Alright buddy. But don't forget to show your face since we have no more classes today, Shiro and Allura will be pretty upset if they find out you ditched for a girl.”
“Mmhm. Got it Hunk, don't piss off Shallura,” Lance waved his hand, “hurry up before you miss Shay.”
Hunk mumbled something along the lines of “for the last time we're not dating!” before Pidge presumable cut his rant off with a pull on his shirt and an annoyed sounding “shut up Romeo and let's just go!”
There was shuffling that Lance barely registered in his day dreams of sweeping Nyma off her feet. The chattering growing quieter and quieter until the faint buzzing was non existent. Lance sighed, finally alone and allowed to shamelessly look from afar for as long as he pleased. Or… so he thought. He jumped slightly when Keith's voice was directly shot into his ear, “What's a Shallura?”
“Jesus fucking Christ Keith! Give a guy some warning,” Lance turned to glare at Keith, the two jumping far apart when their noses accidentally touched. Coughing after choking on what seemed like air, Lance put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, “ how old are you exactly?”
“Nineteen,” Keith deadpanned, rubbing at his nose, “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Shallura is Shiro and Allura's couple name, duh Keith,” Lance blinked. Keith did nothing but stare at him blankly. Groaning and shaking his head, Lance walked back over to sling an arm around his friend, “Y’know like… Brangelina or B-Zee.”
Keith managed to cross his arms, “Okay?”
“You're obviously not getting this,” Lance placed his chin between his fingers, “It's like… well… ours would be Leith. Or Klance. It's our names just smushed together.”
“That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard,” Keith glared, crinkling his nose in a way that was definitely not adorable, “What idiots come up with this stuff.”
It wasn't a question. But Lance treated it as if Keith was genuinely asking, “Me. I come up with this stuff. Personally I like Klance for us, it has more of my name which is obviously better. Keith is such a douchebag name.”
“It is not,” Keith huffed, “But that's fine with me. My name comes first like how I manage to beat you at everything.”
Lance sputtered a bit, “Well there's more of my name in it so… uh… there! I win.”
“That makes zero sense,” Keith just shook his head with a slightly exasperated sigh, “It's just a dumb name.”
“It is not! It's cute and creative,” Lance ran a hand through his hair, “Like me.”
“So it's extra stupid,” Lance hated the way Keith always rolled his eyes. Especially when he did it without any real annoyance, just slight amusement. Like now, why did he have to make that face. It was so… friendly? Endearing? Like he was enjoying fighting. Lance won't deny that sometimes it was fun, and more often than not now a days their arguments had more fond undertones compared to the absolute detestation they held when they first met. But that was also what annoyed him! What gave Keith the right to look like that?
“Rude Keith. I'll prove to you it's not stupid,” Lance mimicked Keith and crossed his arms.
The other didn't look too impressed, “How?”
“Um…” Lance looked around. How was he going to prove it? Ask someone? He could sense that someone was walking past them behind Lance, so he spun around quickly to get the stranger's attention, “Hey! Could you settle something for- Nyma?”
Keith let out a snort at the unnaturally high octave that Lance's voice reached. The girl that Lance had shot his arm out at blinked in surprise, “Hi? Do I know you?”
“Not yet,” Lance regained his posture and winked at her, surprised when she didn't turn away in with that unsure look that most people had, “but we could get to know each other.”
Lance was finally going to get somewhere with someone. This time he'd do everything right. He was going to pull out all of the stops, pull on every Disney movie he's ever watched. Nyma and her beautiful blonde head was going to be his. And they were going to slowly fall in love everyday and use those stupid cliche wedding vows and name their kids something along the lines of Marco and Lucille and die old together in a house on a nice hill looking over the sunset. Yes. He was certain of it.
~~~
Keith was a big enough person to admit that Lance was somewhat good looking. Okay, very good looking. With his stupid eyes and lean tall body and his broad shoulders from all that swimming and… okay off track here. Point is, he was attractive, which made it kind of confusing for Keith who didn't understand why Lance hadn't had a significant other in a while. It wasn't like Lance didn't put himself out there. And it wasn't like there were no rumors of Sally or Jane or whatever people were named now a days having a crush on Lance.
And don't get Keith wrong. He was secretly grateful there were zero chances of him walking in on something he would want to forget. But he still had to wonder.
There was something more to Lance than just his looks though. Which, Keith figured, deterred some people. His personality was bright and excited and overall big and loud. It wasn't something everyone could handle. He was a self proclaimed flirt extraordinaire and often stated how he was the meme god's gift to the world. Whatever that meant. Some people didn't understand him or ridiculed him for his seemingly too optimistic outlook. They called him naive, claimed he would miss the really important things and do everything for show. People thought he wouldn't be able to handle a real relationship. That he was too out there for most people's taste.
But Keith just thought he was a goofball. A dork with a big mouth. There was nothing wrong with that.
Though many people didn't have to live with Lance either. Keith could sometimes see how Lance could be irresponsible, forgetful or spacey. He thought something along those lines when they first met. But he always did what he had to do and then some when it counted.
It was little things that he did. He still called his mom to say goodnight everyday at exactly nine thirty like clockwork. He looked out for that weird computer part that Pidge desperately needed to complete their super computer whenever they went out shopping. He could instantly tell when any of them needed cheering up, and would just crack a joke and smile. If it came down to it he would always shut up and be a good pair of ears to vent to.
Keith liked the small things he did around the apartment too. Like buying Keith his chunky peanut butter and eating that with Keith in order to save money even though he personally preferred the creamy kind. Or that He often draped a blanket over Keith if he found the boy snoozing on the couch, and if he was feeling adventurous and sure that Keith was in a deep enough sleep he would carry him into his room. Or that Lance had memorized his schedule down to a T and reminds him when he has to do things with a simple “oh Keith aren't you going late for that flipping or whatever practice with Allura?” Or “you have that weird English thing due tomorrow right?” They were subtle reminders that he could have bragged about remembering. Or at least he could have held it over Keith's head that he himself didn't remember some of the times. But he didn't gloat about how good of a person he was for doing these sort of things.
The little things reminded Keith that Lance wasn't actually a terrible person, and that if you got to know him he was actually nice to hang around. They reminded Keith why he shouldn't just kill Lance in his sleep with the knife under his pillow on particularly trying days when his patience was wearing thing.
Nyma was giggling into her palm, “What is it that you needed settled?”
“Oh nothing it was stupid,” Lance waved his hand, trying to play his outburst off.
Keith raised an eyebrow, “So you admit that it's stupid?”
“No,” Lance turned to shoot Keith a look, “it's not stupid, I just don't want to bother poor Nyma over here with our stupid fight that you clearly have lost.”
“Oh I wouldn't want to get in the middle of a fight between…” Nyma shifted her gaze from one boy to the other, obviously trying to find the right word to describe whatever she thought they were.
“Rivals,” Lance supplied at the same time Keith just stated, “Roommates.”
Nyma looked slightly confused, “Rival roommates?”
“Yep… roommates… who are also rivals.” Lance trailed off, “But that's not important. The names Lance, how would you feel about going to get some coffee sometime?”
Nyma eyed Keith one more time, making him squirm a little, before turning to Lance, “That would be lovely actually.”
“Really?” Lance sounded genuinely shocked.
Nyma just nodded and Lance let out a whoop. Keith tapped his foot in slight irritation as he waited for them to exchange contact information. They had to get to Allura and Shiro's okay? So of course he was a little antsy. And this girl… she didn't sit quite right with him. He was a person that followed his instincts and right now, they told him to stay away from this girl. Red flashing lights and everything going off in his mind.
“Oh what a nice ring,” Nyma commented as she handed Lance his phone back.
Lance put on what Keith thought was supposed to be a flirty smile, “Thanks. One of a kind, it's really something special.”
“I can tell,” Nyma waved, smile dazzling, “See you around Lance.”
Lance was just a stuttering mess, “Yea. You see soon. I mean! See you soon!”
Lance claimed he was in love. Keith said he was being ridiculous.
~~~
“I don't get what Keith's problem is,” Lance said as soon as he squeezed into the booth Pidge and Hunk were occupying. They had probably been at Alluras cafe for at least thirty minutes, meaning his was thirty minutes late. Pidge already had their computer out and was typing away at something again while Hunk was looking over at the counter where Shay was wiping down the espresso machine.
“What did he do this time?” Pidge didn't even look up, “you guys were pretty late.”
“Well, since you asked, he snapped at me again,” Lance glared at nothing, “He said I was being stupid when I said I was in love.”
“What?” Pidge turned to him, “You told him what?”
“I told him I was in love with Nyma,” Lance casually stated, “And then he totally flipped for no reason.”
Okay, maybe Lance was exaggerating a bit. Keith didn't scream or anything, just did that stupid pouty mumbling to himself not at all adorable thing that Lance hated. He liked it when Keith smiled at him, and couldn't Keith be happy for his friend? Maybe reward Lances efforts with at least a tiny smile. Pat him on the shoulder and say, good going dude you totally got her in the bag good luck. Except maybe say it in a more Keith way.
“Who is this girl again?” Pidge couldn't help but ask. The people that Lance claimed to love and die for were always somewhat interesting. Or more accurately it was interesting to hear about the different ways someone could be turned down. Pidge had faith in their friend though, Lance would open his eyes and see someone perfect for him one day. And if he was too stupid to use common sense, Pidge would just have to beat it into him.
“Nyma, just moved here the other day. She's breathtaking. Has the prettiest eyes too. Only the most beautiful people on this earth must have that weird purpley color. It's definitely special,” Lance looked starstruck and Pidge looked to the side of him, as if they were on the office, “she has a nice shy smile, oh god. She seems so calm and collected but she's got this fiery bold passion in her, I can tell. She and I are going to go on tons of daring adventures together.”
“Seems like you have a type,” Pidge mumbled to themselves while Lance continued to ramble on obliviously.
“And guess who has her phone number, that's right. Me! I actually got it,” lance looked like he was swooning.
“Wait what?” Pidge snorted, obviously not expecting that, “I mean. Good for you but wow.”
“Don't act so surprised pidgey, I got game,” Lance pointed two thumbs to himself, “She and I are going to live happily ever after.”
“I dunno Lance,” Hunk tore his eyes away from the counter, eyebrows scrunched together, “I kinda have a bad gut feeling about her.”
“Ugh, not you too! I've already had it up to here,” Lance raised his arm as far as it would reach, “with Keith and Red. I don't need this from you too buddy. Please!”
“What did Red do?” Lance looked at Pidge like their question had personally attacked his mother or something.
“What do you mean what did he do?” Lance waved his arms around erratically, “He's so annoying and a know it all! He practically hates me for no reason!”
“I don't see how this relates to Nyma,” Pidge just gave him a blank look, “but you did goaded him into running into a wall the first day of training and you started another stupid rivalry with him like the non-existent one you have with Keith.”
“He's still stupid,” Lance groaned and threw his head back, “Aren't you guys supposed to be on my side, you are my friends?”
“Yeah but we're also Keith's friends if you haven't noticed,” Pidge closed their laptop and scooched out of the booth, “I've just reached my Lance limit. I'll be in the back of you need me.”
~~~
Shiro wanted to shoot himself. Which, in itself, wasn't a rare passing thought (alarmingly enough). But this time it wasn't his well hidden and deeply buried emo side making a surprise appearance. No, it was Keith that was currently making Shiro wish that his brains were splattered about the table instead of inside his head.
In Shiro’s defense, Allura also looked like she was moments from strangling herself. Keith just continued to pace in front of the table, unusually talkative. But that was probably because he was ranting, “Blue is so, Agh! I already have to deal with Lance on top of it! They're like the same person Shiro, except not! How is it that I somehow am stuck with the two of the most infuriating idiots on this planet day in and day out!”
Allura and Shiro exchanged looks. Not quite sure if they should interject. Keith looked at them expectedly and Allura shrugged, “It's fate Keith, what do you want us to do about it?”
“I dunno! Something?” Keith groaned, face in his palms, “Separate us in battle? Let me come live with you guys again for a bit?”
“Keith,” Shiro sighed, he didn't like the nearly hysterical tone his brother was using, the break room in the back of their cafe wasn't the most ideal place for a freak out, “You don't hate Lance. You guys are friends, I'm sure you'll learn to get along with Blue like you have Lance. Working towards things like that will make you a better person.”
“Shiro I'm not sure how much more dumbassery I can take in a day,” Keith waved his arms, “Lance was one thing. I could… ya know, actually see his face. At least I can tell the difference between his I'm joking face and his I'm dead serious face.”
How could they not see that Keith was having a serious crisis? Lance was his friend, he wasn't a stranger. He'd like to think that he knows a lot of Lance trivia since the stupid little facts about him have reluctantly stuck with Keith over the years. The funny way he plays with his thumb and ring finger when he's nervous or how whenever he walked around he avoided cracks at all cost just to be safe. Lance was familiar and… safe.
Blue was a complete mystery. A very Lance like mystery. But still, a complete shadow in the dark. Keith was having a hard time trusting the Paladins his didn't know under the masks. How can you trust someone when you don't even know their name?
“But what do they do that makes it so unbelievably unbearable?” Allura rolled her eyes, continuing filling up sugar containers without much thought, “Sweetie pass me that one?”
Keith watched as Shiro handed over the empty and washed container before continuing his rambling, “They're both just so aggravating! I can't describe it. I thought that I'd only be able to feel this way about Lance but now Blue too. I think my tolerance for stupidity has dropped.”
“Or you are just being sensitive to his- their, taunts,” Shiro sighed, “Why don't we change the subject, why were you guys late today?”
Allura looked up at that one, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips slightly, “Yes. We've been waiting for almost half an hour, you're lucky Shay came in late today and insisted on staying extra to fill up the time.”
“It wasn't my fault,” Keith pouted, crossing his arms and glaring at the tiles, “Lance was flirting with some girl.”
“Oh?” Allura laughed, head tilted slightly, “And pray tell, why were you there? I'm sure Lance could strike out all on his own without a wingman.”
“I was trying to get his sorry ass over here before you drop kicked him into next week.”
Allura looked like she was contemplating something for a moment, “fair enough. Continue, how did he fail miserably this time.”
“He didn't. He got her number. Nyma, like that's a real name,” Keith was slightly amused by how shocked they both seemed, “But something's off about her.”
“Well, normally i'd agree since I can't picture anyone that actually falls for Lance’s lines being exactly right in the head,” Allura sniggered, “But are you sure? She could just be that one in a million person.”
“Allura, I'm serious,” Keith shook his head, “Something's off! My instincts are telling me to avoid her and that Lance probably should too.”
Allura topped off the sugar and screwed the lid on tight. She shot Shiro the ‘this is your problem now sucker’ look before getting up, “I'm going to go relieve Shay of her duty now.”
Keith looked helplessly at Shiro, “You believe me, right?”
“Well…” Shiro scratched at the back of his head. He was luckily saved by Pidge bursting back in through the door Allura just exited.
“If I have to hear one more word outta Lance's mouth I'm going to stab him with- woah what's with the face? You look like you're also about twenty seconds from murder.”
“Nyma,” Shiro just shrugged and picked up the list of supplies that needed to be bought, “Some girl that-”
“Lance actually got the number of! Yes I've heard!” Pidge groaned and took a seat, “I'm blocking all of this out, I've heard enough about this chick to last me two years.”
Shiro started to check things off the list and there was a brief, wonderful moment of uninterrupted silence. Keith looked between his two friends incredulously, internally freaking out. He had to warn them, or at least get his point across.
“I'm telling you Shiro,” Keith shook his head as his brother did his stock orders, “Something's not right about her.”
“You know,” Pidge called out from the corner where they were huddled up. The break room was small but was the spot that had the best wifi in the cafe, “Normally I would just say that you were jealous or something but-”
“I'm not, what would I even be jealous of?” Keith looked like a strange mix between completely baffled and annoyance, “And I thought you weren't listening anymore.”
“I said but, jeez cool it there,” Pidge waved their hand, “to answer your question first, of her. Duh Keith, and secondly, as I was saying. I would normally just say you were jealous but Hunk had a weird feeling about her too…”
“Hunk?” Shiro finally looked interested, pausing his stock orders, “Why? What did he say?”
Pidge merely shrugged, “Some stuff about his gut not agreeing with her. But then again she was the reason we were late to see Shay so he could've just been upset.”
“No something is wrong,” Keith insisted, turning to Shiro, “Why do you only seem invested when Hunk says something's up?”
“Keith you… you and Lance… you're not…” Shiro seemed to struggle for a minute before he tried to switch gears, “What did she do?”
At that Keith pulled out a chair and crossed his arms, “She was just all giggly.”
“Did she say anything weird though? Or was it just the fact that she actually found Lances flirting amusing that's got you on edge?” Pidge raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“She was all like,” Keith coughed and raised his voice to mock her. Normally he wouldn't stoop to that level of childishness, but he was only human. And he was annoyed so, “that would be lovely. What a nice ring you got there. Ohhh Lance you're amazingly cool!”
Shiro and Pidge exchanged what could've actually been a worried look before the door opened again.
“I am amazingly cool,” Lance threw his jacket onto the table, the room was growing increasingly smaller, “You finally admit it?”
“No,” Keith glared, “In what world would make you think that I-”
Pidge snickered, “He was imitating your girlfriend.”
“Nyma?” Lance looked at Keith kind of shocked, he narrowed his eyes “Good imitating or bad imitating?”
Keith must have had the oddest look on his face, but he ignored the question, “I’m heading back to the apartment. I have a lot of work to do, call me if you need anything.”
Shiro sighed, “Okay, but you have to be here for stuff tomorrow, you know how crazy all this planning is making Allura.”
“Got it.” Keith nodded on his way out, “I won’t be late tomorrow.”
Shiro nodded and Pidge waved as Keith made his way to the back exit. Lance startled them by grabbing his jacket too, “I’m just gonna head back home too. See you guys later. Hey Keith wait up!”
When the door was closed all the way Pidge mumbled, “Shiro, they are two of the dumbest people I have ever met.”
~~~
They convened in the backroom when the shop was closed. Pidge was the first to speak in an ominous voice, “Thank you all for meeting me here. We are here to-”
“Pidge cut it out, it’s creepy when you do that voice,” Hunk pulled out a chair and sat down in it, “What is this all about anyways? Where are Lance and Keith?”
“Well, if i weren’t so rudely interrupted,” Pidge shot him a glare, “You would know that we're here to talk about them.”
Shiro and Allura’s cafe was mostly dark now, the lights having been turned off to tell customers that they were no longer open. The place still smelled like freshly brewed coffee and tea though, which was calming. Allura placed a hand over Shiro’s on top of the table, “Go on Pidge.”
“Okay, firstly, we all know that we’re also those new paladins that have to save the world right?,” Pidge looked at the three others, “Right?”
Shiro blinked, “Oh… So we’re acknowledging it?”
“Yeah I thought we were just going for a ‘let’s just not get into it’ sorta thing,” Hunk added, “It took me a day to realize it. But when I did I was like ‘woahhh this is awesome. And crazy. But mostly awesome cause it’s you guys!’”
“Yeah it took us a week to figure it out,” Allura gestured to herself and Shiro.
Pidge still couldn't believe that it was true. Pidge had seen it from the moment they had all met up at the first battle. Their friend group had turned into a group of superhero fighters.
And people said that they couldn't possibly get closer.
At this point in their life, Pidge wasn't even surprised that it was them that got chosen to make up a weird ass team fighting for a weird ass cause. What Pidge was shocked about was the fact that not everyone immediately figured it out. Sure, Shiro, Hunk, and Allura didn't take that long to piece things together, but it still took a bit of time! To Pidge, the whole thing couldn't have been more obvious from the very start! Hell, Lance and Keith still had no fucking clue what was going on.
“It's literally a helmet. It's not super hard when you're not oblivious and stupid,” Shiro rolled his eyes, “these things don't even change our voices. And we're all friends, we've all basically memorized everyone's mannerisms.”
“Yep you would think that right,” Pidge deadpanned, “Now to the problem with all of this. Instead of complaining about just Keith, Lance complains about his alter ego as if they're two different people.”
“That's cause he thinks they are two different people!” Hunk cried out, “How?!”
Allura perked up, “Well if it helps, Keith still has no idea either.”
“They're just… a little… I don't know.” Shiro sighed, “Should we tell them?”
“No!” Pidge shouted, before coughing to compose themself, “This could Be fun. Don't ruin your kids fun Shiro.”
“I don't know Pidge,” the older male shook his head.
“But think about it. They should discover something like this themselves,” Pidge a smirk grew a little more, “Imagine their faces when they find out.”
“Mm,” Hunk put on a thoughtful look, “Terrified. I bet they'd be down right terrified.”
Shiro sighed, “Okay. But just because I think it'd be hilarious when they find out.”
“Oh I will be so disappointed if I miss it!” Pidge smiled, when something struck them, “That means that Lance hit on Keith technically when they first met as Red and Blue, which means that there was something that caught his eye at first glance.”
Shiro sighed and spoke quietly enough that Allura was the only one that heard, “I thought this was a meeting to talk about how oblivious they were to the whole paladins then. I didn’t know this was to address their refusal to acknowledge other things too.”
“Are you kidding me? Lance was like that when he first met Keith as Keith too,” Hunk shook his head.
Pidge and Shiro both shot him a look this time, puzzled. Pidge started to frantically wave their arms, a giant up to no good grin covering their entire face, “What! When!”
“Yeah, Keith told me that the first time Lance ever talked to him it was something about a rivalry and consisted of just screaming,” Shiro’s face was priceless, “he didn't stop complaining about it for hours!”
“Keith didn't remember it obviously since he didn't even remember Lance when they were looking at the apartment but Lance hit on him, like, the first day of school.”
“Wait seriously?”
Hunk put a finger to his chin, “Well I think it was more like Lance tried to when Keith turned around and it turned into ‘Did it hurt when- u-uh ah, y-you- pretty eyes… I mean. Hi! Hello, names Lance.’ He’ll deny it to hell and back though.”
“What did Keith say?” Pidge was up in his face now, face filled with amusement.
“He was just like,” Hunk put on the most annoyed looking face he could muster, “‘Keith.’ And then he turned back around.”
Allura smiled, “Oh i’m never letting him live this down.”
“Okay, but one more thing,” Shiro coughed, “What do we do about this… Nyma person?”
“Oh yeah, bad news,” Hunk shook his head, “Bad vibes everywhere.”
Pidge sighed, “But Lance thinks that she's his soulmate.”
“Well… I guess we're just going to have to see where it goes then,” Allura said firmly, “Give her a chance.”
~~~
Lance absentmindedly flipping through channels while Keith was on his phone. Homework was done and the clock read somewhere close to three am. He looked up when Lance snorted, “Tch. This show is so unrealistic.”
“Hm?” Keith looked at the screen, “Pokemon?”
“Yeah,” Lance pointed at the characters, “How do they not realize that’s team rocket? They see them like, every day. You’d think that they’d be able to tell.”
“Well, it is a kids show Lance,” Keith shrugged, yawning and clicking his phone off “Kids aren’t that smart, maybe they can’t tell.”
“You’d have to be a special brand of stupid to be that oblivious though,” Lance changed the channel.
“Yeah.” Came another yawn.
A few beats later Lance turned to see his friend’s sleepy looking eyes, trying to fight it. Lance smiled at the content look on Keith’s face once his eyes gave in and closed, “welcome home Keith.”
They fell asleep a little after that, curled up in blankets with the TV still on and empty takeout containers littering their botched up living room.
ech. Should I continue this or scrap it and redo it? I'm still super worried that I'm writing this completely wrong so lmk if I am lol.
Also this is only the first chapter and its like 36 pages (15,162 words) long. So I'm kinda worried about length. Future chapters will probably not be this long... eh. Probably, I have a tendency to over write things. BUT CONGRATS TO YOU, YOU MADE IT THROUGH 36 PAGES OF MY CRAP!
AGAIN if you wanna hmu for anything here on tumbr you can! Im currently taking prompts to distract me in between writing this when I need a break.
#klance#vld#SYAH#see you at home (fanfiction)#i hate tagging characters when its related to shipping things#penguin writes
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1, 2, 15, 16, and 18 XD
HEY MAN XD How ya doing? :3 *HUGGLES* Sorry for getting to this late. xD Around this time of night things calm down enough and I finished going through my feed usually so I tend to have more of a breather for things like this. XD
Let me see here. >.>~~~
1: What is the most useless fact you know?
Oh shit let me think? XD You’d have to define “useless” there man because I don’t really categorize things into things like this. e.O O.e I mean I have “disgusting” or “weird” or “shocking” or “little-known” or “freaky” or “could be useful but isn’t yet” along with “useful” and “cool” and “awesome” and “funny” categories. Not “useless.” O.o
….-^- I shall do one from the “random” category and shake them around and see what I pick from a hat! *nod nod* -^-
*fails when most of the things he draws out are actually cool or helpful or important*. … -///- Nrrr. I not do this good eh?
… SCREW THIS. >^^
Did you know that blue feathers are a structural color? :D Come from the structure of the feather itself and not any pigments? (Unless you’re a parrot because they can make rare color pigments naturally like blue, red, yellow, and green!) Purple is another structural color, same with iridescence. :3 You don’t see it so well unless there’s sunlight. :D
Red, yellow, orange, shades of brown, shades of grey and black, are all pigment-based colors. :D Red, yellow, orange are all from one’s diet (unless you’re a parrot!), with green being a combination of the yellow pigment the blue structural color. :3
White is a structural color and complete absence of pigment at all. :D So it wears down more easily than black which has a lot of pigment reinforcing the feather structure from wear and tear. Which is why most bird species that fly a lot usually have a darker color band along the edges of their flight feathers, to stop that wear and tear, if their wings aren’t already a darker color. :3
2: What was your most awkward “hahaha…oh wait you’re serious” moment?
Geeze have to have one come to my mind. Hrm. I KNOW I’ve some. Or rather… I know I’ve done a FUCK-TON of “You’re totally serious …wait you’re actually joking? oops.” which is the exact opposite I’d say. *grins*
…Fuck it’s not actually coming to me. I just keep getting plenty of “you’re serious… oh wait you were joking the whole time? Ahahah… *belated laugh*” instead. O.e
I don’t have the memory for things like this. T^T (And you overthink things a lot!) Shush! (NEVAH -^-) -.-;;; …Fuck this I’m gonna do what comes to my mind instead. -^-;;;My dad was leading into a pun with me totally unknowing. He was telling a pretty serious-sounding story, and I was focusing more on his lips to lip-read him, and not noticing the little glint of mischief in his eyes. Then he ended with a very VERY bad pun about a pig somehow. (Don’t fully remember it, thankfully!) I got confused for several long beats… then deadpanned when I finally got it. I told him it was P.U. two-thirds of a pun and so bad.
He laughed a lot and then proceeded to keep getting my mind to fill in his puns for him, even ending up at the end drawing out something and my mind filled in the joke FOR him without him having to say a word. He cracked up so hard, I was laughing yet complaining about him doing that.
Then I said (My mom was also in the room btw): “MOM! Make my dad stop using my mind against meeeeee!”
Then we all took in how that SOUNDED, especially out of context, and just erupted into total laughter for many long minutes. xD One of the hardest we’ve laughed as a group that I can think of. XD I was proud of that bit. XD Even if I didn’t like the PUNishment my dad subjected me to beforehand. -x-;;
15: How would you describe Tumblr to a friend who has never heard of it?
A site full of social justice stuff, discourse, random memes, cool stuff, and really weird things you never heard before, all stuffed into one thing. The IM function kinda sucks. The tag system is tricky to figure out. But I really love reblogging things to have on my blog as some sort of whacked up collector fetish.
…What? Why are you giving me that look?
Wait. WAIT
COME BAHCK
16: What is the single most liberating thought that you’ve ever had?
Well there’s one that recently comes to mind. To realize that there isn’t much of a separation between me in this lifetime and me in my spirit. That, while I had almost idolized my spirit self because I KNEW what to expect then and was laid back and calm and not the frazzled nervous wreck I feel myself to be in this lifetime… there really isn’t that much difference at all. In this lifetime, I’m acting exactly as how my spirit self would act… because I AM my spirit self.
I just don’t have the information I am used to having back at home, which frazzles me quite a bit. But all the good things I saw in my spirit self, I have in abundance here as well. And all the things I don’t like about this physical life self, I’ve done and encountered plenty of times back at home. I just didn’t really pay attention to those as much. No matter where I am, no matter how much or little I remember, I AM the same exact person here in this life as I am back at home. I’m just responding to a different situation, with some limitations on hand that makes it more tricky for me than I’m usually used to handling.
That really helped me a fuck ton that revelation. :) I was finally ready to believe it and integrate that into my perception of the world around me. :) Finally. X>X~
18: What’s the worst case of “spoiled rotten” that you’ve seen?Let’s see…
I’m not going off in person because I can’t overhear that well IRL due to being hard-of-hearing even WITH my cochlear implants. I’m going off what I saw online since I can more consistently actually know what the fuck people are saying in that format.
There was someone who was taking a photo of them in their car, a teenager, with a literal wad of cash in their purse, simultaneously complaining about not getting something better, as well as bragging about what they already had. Then I heard some agency went in and busted their parents up over the incriminating wad of cash in the purse, since that was pretty good evidence their parents had been doing some illicit activities. And this person saw fit to complain and throw a fit over it, and jump on the government agency as being the “bad guys” and themself and their parents being “poor victims of a crime” no matter how many people tried to explain to them on social media why they, that person themselves, had actually fucked up.
#long post#Des friend#LOL#funny#ask game#answering a submission#answering#answers#I had fun XD#Thanks for this man!#You're awesome XD
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Auto insurance out of state?
"Auto insurance out of state?
I'm in South Carolina for another 2 months (here for school) and I'm from florida. Can I use my current address in my auto insurance as an attempt to get a lowere rate or would I have to get a sc license and all that in order to do that?
BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://financeandcreditsolutions.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr
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Do you think my car insurance would be high? 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII?
Hii, If i bought a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII do you think my insurance would be ridiculously high considering I'm 17. Would there be a huge difference in $ if: I was under my parents plan I was listed as a part time driver I have good grades ( I heard insurances give discounts for that) And If I took driving school. I know nobody here can give me an exact answer and your going to say ask you insurance agent but I would like to here some guesses!""
Did Alanzo have car insurance in Training Day ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=InPoPRfqNWM If he didn't have car insurance why do we have to?
How much will car insurance run for a 17 year old male?
for a 85 monte carlo old school big body
Which is the best child insurance plan?
Which is the best child insurance plan?
Why doesn't car insurance go down every year since I owe less money to the dealer?
Every year my car insurance goes up and I am just 10 months away from paying off my car, I have never had an accident or a claim and been driving for 10 years. I have been with many car insurance companies but they do the same scam after few months.The insurance representatives don't even know why it went up, they just say theirs went too. WHY ISN'T THE GOVERNMENT BEHIND THIS SWINDLERS? It's been going up for the four year, haven't had a relief despite I just owe 4k.""
""Are most companies going to switch to Obamacare, for their insurance coverage plans.?""
Are most companies going to switch to Obamacare, for their insurance coverage plans.?""
Illnois-no proof of insurance?
Does anyone know what the fine is for no proof of insurance in illinois is?? Is there a way to get this dropped??
What is auto insurance ?
can anybody explain what is auto insurance ?
Car insurance for a volkswagen beetle??
Ok so i want to get a volkswagen beetle, but it will be my first car. I know that if i get tone that's old enough i don't have to pay road tax. but how much would it cost for a 17yr old's insurance? thanks""
Auto insurance claim?
I was backing my car up and hit a light pole. If I file a insurance claim is this considered Collision or Comprehensive?
Car insurance for a day/week for a learner
Hey, basically i am going to take my practical test in a couple of weeks (14th) and im taking it in my car, i was just wondering if there is any companys that specialise in car insurance for just a day or a week for learner drivers. if so what companys and how much am i looking to have to pay, thanks""
What is the cheapest yet best car insurance co?
What is the cheapest yet best car insurance co?
I am a new contractor in California (concrete) where do I get liability insurance cheep?
I am a new contractor in California (concrete) where do I get liability insurance cheep?
""My husband has bad knee pain, but doesn't want to go to the dr. due to having no insurance.?""
my husband dislocated his knee 3 months ago and has been in excruciating pain lately. He can't bend, walk on, put weight on his knee without it giving out and making him fall. He wont go to the dr, since we don't have any insurance (in orange co, calif) and he feels that IF he does go then they will put him in a brace or something that will hinder him from working. And since we are living paycheck to paycheck we can't afford to have him miss a lot of work. Meanwhile, he is in a very, very grumpy mood (which I can understand) and he keeps getting himself drunk so the pain will go away or is more manageable yet we all know that it wont help. Is there any advice as to what to do to make him go to the Dr? or does anyone know of a place that we can go that will actually help him out with the xray/mri/ct that he will most likely need??""
Is car insurance for a new car the same or more than insurance for a used car?
ive been hearing different things saying that there is not real difference between insurance prices for used or new cars, but some people are saying insurance for used car is cheaper..which is true??""
How long does a stolen car have to be gone for the insurance to pay for you for it?
My neighbor told me the other day that their car was stolen on New Years. It was found yesterday at an apartment complex down the street. It left me wondering how long your car has to be gone before the insurance will pay you the value of the car? I assume they will pay for a rental car but you can't assume that your car will be found right away and if it is gone for a long time (3 weeks or more) will they pay for a rental that long?
Medical insurance?
I am looking to obtain a medical insurance policy. Any insurance brokers out there want to quote me? I am 21 years old. I have excellent health. 6 foot 160 llbs. 92630 zip code. California.
What is an average g2 driver's insurance worth?
I Have: -G2 Lisence -2012 camaro ss -primary (only) driver of vehicle -driver's ed training. looking for average monthly insurance. im in ontario, canada.""
Car Insurance?
i bought a new car and it needs new insurance, in michigan there's a no fault wut does this mean? how can this b used and how does it work? how does the insurance cover this?""
A Lady hit my car and we decided not to go through our insurance...?
I told her i would call her as soon as i had a estimate on how much it was going to be. This happened back in april but i have been so busy with work and school to be able to get this done, now that i have the time i want to call her and let her know, but i am afraid it might be too late.. Is it to late?? I have all her info except her insurance info (I know bad me but i was nervous) Also im going to need a car rental is that part of what she should pay me?""
How much would car insurance on a nissan GT R cost?
How much would car insurance on a nissan GT R cost?
Car Insurance Company wants me to send them pictures?
I don't know why, but I have never heard of this before and I am a little suspicious. So this idiot decided to back into my parked car and completely destroy my door. They are no doubt who is at fault for this. Their insurance company just called and wants me to send them pictures instead of them coming out to take pictures. Has anyone had this situation before, and how long after I send them pictures am I going to be able to fix my car, this happened on Monday and i am getting pissed! Thanks for your help!""
How much does it cost to get a $1 Million Insurance policy for a film?
Approximately how much would it cost to obtain a $1 Million Dollar Insurance Policy for a feature film shoot? No fancy stunts or explosions, a few car scenes with car mounts, shooting on the RED camera with a 5-ton grip truck. Any ideas? All the websites that give quotes make you fill out a lot of information to obtain a quote from a representative. I just need an estimate.""
Does insurance cost more on a dodge truck with a hemi?
Versus the base 4.7L. The truck is a 2006 if that makes a difference.
Are SUVs more expensive to insure?
I know you can't tell me for sure whether or not one will be more expensive. But, generally speaking is a small SUV such as a Ford Escape more expensive to insure than say a midsized car like a Honda Accord.""
Auto insurance out of state?
I'm in South Carolina for another 2 months (here for school) and I'm from florida. Can I use my current address in my auto insurance as an attempt to get a lowere rate or would I have to get a sc license and all that in order to do that?
What would insurance be for me with this car?
2004 nissan sentra se-r, silver, 4 door, manual transmission. I'm 17 years old and would drive the car to work and school about 5 days a week. I have never gotten a ticket or been in an accident.""
Cost of insurance for minor with acura rsx-s?
oh fyi I am not trying to get my own insurance plan I am adding on to my family's
How much will my speeding ticket be and is it possible for my insurance not to go up?
I got pulled over doing 96 in a 70mph speed limit. In california around King City and I want to know a couple things. How much will the ticket approximately be? Is it worth contesting? Will going to driving school make it so I don't get a point on my license? And how do I make it so my insurance does not increase?
How much would my insurance cost if i an a new driver age 16 in CT without a car ( i just use my parents car)?
My parents are good drivers and have no real accident record and i havre no criminal record and get decent grades. my dad saqys rates would go up 1500 dollars is he being accuratge?
Will my insurance go up if i get a speeding ticket?
i was going 95 im 18 ive been in two accidents its not my car and im on my parents insurance but i do not want my parents to find out i just wanna pay it and be done with it and do you know about around how much it would be?
Insurance on a car? How much??
How much would it be to insure a car in UK, do I have to see a site? Eg, Ferrari, BMW, how much?""
If i was to buy a 1.4litre car would my insurance be cheaper than what it is just now?
I am driving a 1.6litre at the moment
Who has the cheapest auto insurance in california?
I need full coverage. Low downpayment.whatever it takes to get my licence and tags. I don't care if its barneys insurance and feed store. I just need my tags and licence
No insurance ticket in jeffco ?
What are the penalties for a no proof of insurance ticket?
How long after passing does insurance become much cheaper?
I passed my test a few months ago first time and the insurance on my car is massive, probably because i'm a boy and it's a saxo. when it comes to renewing it in september, i can't see it dropping by much. So how many years do you have to be driving for before the costs fall below 1000 per year. Also is it worth taking pass plus, as it costs about 150 and apparently saves you 200, so unless the saving carries over to future years, i can't see the point. Thoughts???""
Canceled Car Insurance?
So, I found out today, that State Farm canceled my car insurance. My coverage was good through Feb. 1st. My billing date is also Feb. 1st, but they usually charge me a day or two late. They charged me today for my renter's insurance, which is how I found out that I have no car insurance. State Farm never informed me that they were canceling my policy. They said I have had too many incidents. I have had 2 accidents and 1 ticket in the past 2 years. One accident was my fault and the other was not. The ticket was because of the accident. My question is: What can I do to get insurance with another company when I have not had insurance for the past 4 days (even though I didn't know it) and is it going to be a lot more expensive because I do not have a current policy?""
Insurance Cost for Bike?
Hello I'm deciding on either a CBR 125 or a Boulevard S40. The only thing is I want to know around how much insurance each will cost(I live in Canada) And any other reason you think one bike is better than the other would be great. This is my first bike.
If i lease a car do I pay insurance?
I am thinking about leasing a car, do I have to pay insurance?""
How much would the cost of my father's car insurance increase if I became a young named driver?
I'm currently 19, approaching 20 and haven't started my lessons yet. It has been arranged that if and when I pass I will be put on as a additional named driver on his insurance. He must have a significant no claims bonus and the car is about 6 years old. The car would not be considered sporty/powerful. I know you can't give me an exact number but if anyone has gone through this how much did your premiums increase by? And/or on a percentage scale how much this would likely increase.""
How much is it going to cost me a year for car insurance?
i will be 16 in august my car is a chevy cavalier im not sure of the year does anyone know how much it would cost a year for car insurance ?
What is a good car insurance for teen drivers?
My car insurance just keeps going up and up, and my son will be driving in a month and I can't afford it. Just let me know of a cheap and good car insurance if you know of one, and if you have it please tell me how you like it, thanks!""
Home equity loan insurance?
We are remodeling our home for $150,000 and are wondering about home equity loan insurance. The bank offers insurance, but I'm wondering what our other options are. How much should we get and for what ( disability/unemployment/accidental death)? Thank you!""
Audi Q7? Insurance a month?
I was just wondering how much an audi q7's insurance is per month? and how much would one cost?
Will my gf's car be taken away if I don't have any car insurance but I have my driver's lisence?
I am a young adult and I recently obtained my Driver's License last year on the day before Thanksgiving. After that, I have been driving my gf's car and was wondering what ...show more""
Im an insurance agent and just got a dwi. How will that affect my insurance license?
Im an insurance agent and just got a dwi. How will that affect my insurance license?
""Thinking about starting a non medical senior care bussiness what would the start up cost be for insurance, ect?""
I reside in palm springs california wich is a huge retirement community and I have been thinking about starting a non medical senior care service helping with stuff like houshold tasks, errands ect..At first it would be just me employed and possibly my sister, do I need any kind of insurance? also any tips on advertising?""
""Speeding ticket in Ontario, How much will an increase be on my insurance per vehicle?
I have just gotten a speeding ticket in on my Ontario driver's license. Can anyone tell me a rough figure as for how much as an average I could be paying on extra insurance for my vehicle when it gets updated? And how long will these penalty premiums be in effect? Thank you.
AFFORDABLE auto insurance?
I'm 19 and I really need some car insurance. Everywhere I get a quote from requires that I pay an arm, a leg, and my first born son. Is there anywhere that won't do that? I'm currently unemployed, and I need a car to get a job, but I need a job to get insurance (this expensive insurance) for the car that I can't drive (legally) until I have the insurance. Somebody freakin' help me.""
Cheaper car Insurance for 18 year old?
I'm an 18 year old male and live in Florida. I have state farm insurance and I was paying 167 a month for minimum car insurance, I have a clean record and I drive a 97 Honda civic. I had a mechanical failure in my car that caused my wheel to fly off while I was driving, I filed a claim and all of a sudden they want 365 a month for minimum coverage, why am I paying so much, 167 already seemed steep to me, I work part time and that basically a week of pay for me. Where can I find insurance that doesnt cost so much? The insurance cost more than my damn car payments did.""
""Heres another crock of feces, about car insurance!?""
Apparently I didnt get the lowest rate because I didnt open an account or have a loan before age 25. What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Also not because of no history of car loans or leases. Once again, What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Also not because I have 2 accounts in good standing. I need more? or less? Once again, What the F? does that have to do with the ability to drive a car? Your company has never paid one dime to me or because of me. YET YOU BASE YOUR PREMIUMS ON NON RELATED ISSUES! F?ING BITE ME, WHAT A BUNCH OF SCAM ARTISTS! No wonder people commit insurance fraud. Because insurance companys F? you all the time. Another good one, recoupment fee. If you get money you have to pay it back. What was the purpose of the insurance in the first place? Now I know why we need billions of gallons of oil so much. Vaseline is a by product.""
Auto insurance out of state?
I'm in South Carolina for another 2 months (here for school) and I'm from florida. Can I use my current address in my auto insurance as an attempt to get a lowere rate or would I have to get a sc license and all that in order to do that?
""How much does fire insurance cost, building damage insurance cost, more on details?
1.) Fire Insurance 2.) Building Damage Insurance 3.) Property Damage Insurance 4.) Any other insurances out there? Please name some for me. The building is 1000 sq. feet with only one floor. How much would insurance cost? HOW MUCH MONEY PER MONTH? Thanks so much!
Do you have to get insurance before you can get a license plate?
I just bought a used car off of someone and drove it home. Luckily it was at night because the car doesnt have a license plate. This is my first car and none of my family seems willing to answer the phone today to help me. What am I supposed to do first? When I looked up the cost of plates, it said that when purchasing the plates insurance must be presented at the time of purchase. So that means I have to get insurance before I can get the license plates right?""
What is the cheapest auto insurance for michigan?
for the most basic insurance
Average insurance for a 500 cc motorbike?
hi, im 18 and soon will have passed my driving test, im hoping to get a restricted Honda cbf500. but it all depends on how much the insurance is. can anyone guess the average third party insurance for an 18 year old on a restricted cbf500. o and i have a 2 year no clams bonus on my 50cc scooter. don't no if that makes any difference""
Insurance question?
When you move in with your boyfriend could you be put on his insurance, or would that only work if you are married?""
What's your Scion TC's Insurance Rate?
Scion TC's are in the top 10 most expensive cars to insure. (Number 2) So I was wondering if you have a TC, how much do you pay monthly? What's your deductible? What insurance company are you with? And how old are you?""
Cheapest car to insure for a 18 year old?
Cheapest car to insure for a 18 year old?
First time Car Owner Getting Insurance?
So I live in Massachusetts, going to school in Utah this summer. I'm not under parents policy, and have to start my own policy. The thing is that I found a good deal but it's in Arizona. With a Mass driver's license, Can I buy a Utah insurance to cover the AZ registered car, before I got it registered in Utah? See I have 2 twists here, Mass resident wanna drive a AZ registered car in Utah. of course I will have to change the title/ registration under my name, but I'm asking how should I cover insurance before the car gets completely legit in Utah. Hope you can understand my problem. PS: I know I don't have to convert to a Utah License, but I can if it's absolutely necessary.""
Question about life insurance and insurance in general? help?
I'm trying to help a friend get a hold of an inheritance that an attorney is wanting to take a 33% chunk of to help her claim. one of those unclaimed money deals. i did a search on my friends name and found an insurance company that might have her listed but i don't know if its a lead. the insurance company is CONTINENTAL CASUALTY COMPANY i looked up this insurance company to see if they offer such an insurance policy for life. can anybody help if they are familiar with this company? any help would be sooo greatly appreciated. GREATLY appreciated. it wouldn't be very fair for a big lawyer to walk away with her money just because he knows something she didn't.. :( i cant afford to really pay the fees these unclaimed websites ask for and so here i search.. hoping that this insurance company might offer some bit of hope :D your help is greatly appreciated.
Would it be cheaper to insure a 88-93 mustang rather than a 99-04?
I have been wanting to buy a mustang someday when im older. But i'm only 16 and still I dont have my permit. But since i'm so young and decided to buy a mustang, would it be cheaper on the insurance to buy a older one rather than a new one? Or would it be the same?""
""Queation about auto insurance in Boston, MA?""
Hey, I am 17 years old (18 in a month), male and I am looking at a used audi s5 (4200 cc 350 bhp) to buy. it is a 2009 model with 30000 miles. How much do you think i will be asked to pay for insurance each year if i purchase this car? I never had an accident btw and i dont plan to do many miles.""
Insurance for a 2003 F-150?
Hi, i am 18 yrs old, im wanting to find out how much i would expect to pay for a 2003 f150 on insurance. Or what is the best insurance company that works with you and is not as expensive just because im 18. And how much do you pay for insurance on your ford f150? Thank you!""
Car insurance quote before buying ?
Was thinking about buying a car (first car) just to run around in for a while before I actually buy a better one when im older but want to ask a question. When buying a car, should I get an insurance quote first, then buy ? Or should I just buy a car I like then think about sorting out insurance for it ?""
Where do i get health insurance if i am a student in school?
i am a student 22 years old. i need affordable health insurance. i have no job. i think i am going deaf and blind. where can i get insurance in washington state?
We have dog insurance on the brain!?
So our precious Pit Bull has gone to the vet more times than I can imagine, since we brought him home. I don't even get to visit my doctor as much! Recently, we've decided to look into pet insurance for him. We do live on somewhat of a tight budget, so anything crazy in numbers wouldn't work. We need affordable insurance, if it's possible. And, is there any insurance that deals with pre-existing issues? Any personal experiences/advise would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!!!""
What Insurance Should I Get?
Im Getting my license in two months and im saving for a 1977 f-250 ranger, i also need insurance. whats the cheapest and most affordable insurance for a teenager?""
Does Allstate use insurance credit scores ?
My score is good, just curious. Another unrelated question: My insurance has gone up the last 2 times after going down every 6 months for a few years. I cant find any reason for it on my end. Is everyones rate going up at allstate ?""
I am looking to buy a house. I need cheap house insurance. Where would I find this?
I am looking to buy a house. I need cheap house insurance. Where would I find this?
""Accountant, Insurance, and Cars, please answer?
How do I get an accountant? what things will he need to work with and how do I go about getting one? Liability insurance? How do I get it? And how much will it be for gardening roughly? Van insurance? What details will I need to get this insurance? How do I go about paying tax within a self employed company?
17 year old car insurance help?!? Modification!?
Just got a Nissan micra 1.2 10 year old, insurance quotes cheapest is 2700 with a parent as a named driver, how can I get this Down and I wanted to add some mods""
Advise please im looking for a cheapest and reliable car insurance i?
For my honda civic 2012 LX, thank you!""
Anybody know health insurance provider which is inexpensive and trustable?
gimme the name and website address?
Primary insurance?????????????/?
So I took my Daughter to the doctor today she is on ARkids. everything went fine at the Doctors but when i went to get her RX they said i would have to pay 81 dollars because of my primary insurance. I dont have Primary insurance she has only had ARkids. well they told me it was through her (sperm donor) father. that had not had anything to do with her for 2 years. she is 5 and when he did it was off and on. well how is this right I have custody of her. I can not afford her meds with his insurance making me pay. when it was just her insurance i didnt have to pay since it is his doesn't he have to pay? I dont know how to get ahold of him like i said no contact nothing for 2 years. she never gets sick.. i havent had to get her any meds or take her to the doc for like 5 mo.or more.
Need affordable dog insurance?
Hi I am a college student and getting a puppy soon, i need an affordable , and good dog insurance, please if you have one...give me the details and which insurance you have, i would really appreciate it. Thanks!""
How much does the average American pay for Healthcare?
Spending on health care to reach $5,170 per Canadian in 2008 http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=media_13nov2008_e I'm looking for this in American.""
Auto insurance out of state?
I'm in South Carolina for another 2 months (here for school) and I'm from florida. Can I use my current address in my auto insurance as an attempt to get a lowere rate or would I have to get a sc license and all that in order to do that?
Got an insurance check for hail damage on my car do i have to repair my car?
I have had the check for the insurance company sitting for two months due to the fact I havent had the money to pay the deductible. Well I am 35 weeks pregnant and this week my phone, water, car insurance, will all be shut off or canceled this week and my car payment was due three weeks ago. So This is my last and final option but my car is not paid of I still owe on it and the check is for 2,000 due to hail damage and it is made out to me and the bank so it says pay to the order of (name) AND (bank) only! Can I put the check into my bank account wait for it to clear and then pay my bills? I know this sounds very wrong but sometimes you have to do what you can with you've got.""
I am a resident of California and a permit driver. Do i need to be insured or my parents' insurance will cover
me? will their insurance cover me in case of an accident or not? simply, while a permit bearer, do i still need to have an insurance?""
What is a good affordable maternity health insurance in Kansas?
My husband just switched jobs and the health ins. provider is too expensive for us to carry. I plan on getting my children on healthwave but I need something for myself. I'm not currently pregnant but am wanting to start trying. I figure I should check into ins. before I make that commitment.
I got in to an accident will my insurance go up??
i live in canada i m 17 years old i m insured under my dads policy my dad only pays like 50 bucks per month because he never got into a accident for like 20 years and my insurance was same because i was the 2nd driver on the car but today i was backing up the call in the shopping malls parking lot and as i was backing it up i didnt really see back and on the sides properly so i hit the car from my back and their side i have like no damage on my car tat car got like few dents i m done with all the paper work collision center, police ,other party info, contacted my insurance etc but will my insurance go up now if yes how much i think their car will have damage up to 2500 and thats lil too much so how much will my insurance go up if i m paying 50 per month rite noe""
Health insurance from company?
how come my coworker pays only 20 bucks per paycheck for the health insurance, and i need to pay 50 bucks?""
Which auto insurance do you recommend?
I had a Scion XA 2006 and I just got a MINI Cooper 2007. I was insured under my parents insurance at AAA but with the change of cars our insurance would increase twice as much. I'm going to leave their policy and open my own. I'm 22 and I'm a full time student (GPA 3.5), which insurance do you recommend? I have road side assistance with AAA.""
Do i need car insurance in my name?
My brother and me are sharing a car, I just got my license and my mom says i dont need to worry because the insurance covers the car not the driver, i live in texas, is this true?""
""Motorcycle Accident, i have no insurance, can i sue?""
I was driving home from work, on my motorcycle, i dont have a moto license or insurance (i do have a regular license) this dude runs a red light and i end up crashing into him, breaking my left femur and fracturing my left arm. i still have a case right?""
""Hit a mailbox, will cost $2,500 to fix, how much will my insurance go up?""
The other night i crashed into a mailbox. It was completely my fault and it will cost $2,500 to fix it. I was wondering how much my insurance premium will go up per year about? I am 20 years old and have gotten 1 ticket before.""
How much should i insure my house for?
My house and land (combined purchase) cost $185,000.I have stainless steel appliances, (combined D/W, microwave, fridge, electric stove, central air and water heater. Furniture (contents) not purchased as yet and will be added later. How much should i insure my house for? *Note -land is not to be insured* Any suggestions on what i need to do, types of coverage and flaws to look out for? THKS for your kindness""
Best Car Insurance For ME?
I am nineteen years old, have a child, am married, and am in college. Does anyone have any recommendations on CHEAP car insurance? I plan on getting a used vehicle that I can pay cash for on the spot.""
Changing car insurance beneficiaries during a divorce?
IS IT TRUE THAT MY SOON-TO-BE EX HUSBAND CAN'T CHANGE OUR CAR INSURANCE POLICY UNTIL OUR DIVORCE IS FINAL??? I NEED HELP WITH THIS... IT SAYS THAT HE CANT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO IT IN THE SUMMONS THAT WAS GIVEN TO HIM BUT I WANT TO KNOW HOW LNG UNTIL HE CAN CHANGE IT BECAUSE HE IS TRYING TO CHANGE IT NOW
Insurance??
How much is horse insurance and if you buy a horse that already has insurance do you still have to get insurance?(As in I want insurance because I know my family won't be able to pay for surgery if the horse got hurt bad...Well we might but I know insurance will save alot of money)
""Cheap Young Drivers Car Insurance in Leeds, U.K?""
I'm a 17 year old bloke who lives in Leeds and would like some help with car insurance. I haven't bought a car and Ive tried the usual 1.2 corsa, Ford Ka, Ford panda, Renault clio, vw polo, peugeot 106, daewoo matiz, Hyundai I10 etc I have also tried swinton, direct line, comparethemarket, go compare, AA, elephant, churchill, swift, young marmalade and many others but half of them wont insure me and I've got quotes about 7000+ I've tried the voluntary excess and even seen what its like with extra such as a garage, extra security features, pass plus etc. But when I changed the postcodes with my friend who lives round the corner - its dropped 2 grand!!! why??? can someone explain to me why this happened and can someone help me get any car since I haven'tt bought one yet to a reasonable price - I live in a fairly nice area too so I don;t understand why it is so much when some of my friends are getting their for 2000 ish :/""
What does comprehensive car insurance cover?
I caused damaged to my own car, scraping it against a wall while driving out of a car park. The damage was done near the rear tyres and on my door and quotes I've received were all above the 900 range. My standard excess fees are $725, I was wondering if having comprehensive insurance (with AAMI Insurance) does that cover damage done to your OWN car? (I pay $2,500 annually for insurance) and there was no third party involvement, it was just a driving error. Would my insurance fix up my car even if it was entirely my fault?""
I dont have car Insurance?
I am buying a new car, I dont have Car insurance this is my first car! Can I have someone else drive it home for me. that has Insurance""
Health Insurance for i130 documents?
Can I used Health Insurance that I have added to my wife to my policy as a support document. She is out of status on the Visa. She has also been on my insurance for 4 months now.
Auto insurance?
what is the average Auto insurance for a 16- year-old female in Kansas? a friend of mine wants to know.....
""Regarding auto insurance, is it allowed to add my friend while visiting her in AZ?""
I live in California. I am visiting a friend in Arizona for 3 months and staying at her home. She will be driving my vehicle frequently. Although my policy covers any driver, should I or am I allowed to add her to my auto policy? Even if she has an AZ license? I'm assuming they would have to check her AZ record? I'm wondering how all this works. My insurance provider is Clearside General and I cannot get a hold of them quickly enough... on hold forever! Thanks""
My car stolen and insurance company is delaying claim?
My car was stolen at my school, after calling the police and everything. I was asking people at school for a ride home one girl told me she was busy and asked her friend to drive me he agreed. When I notified my insurance, he asked for a recorded statement which I gave. Then he wanted the name and contact numbers of the two people I asked for a ride a home. Which took a while to get yet i still got them a gave them to the guy. After they contact the adjuster, I called to try to see whats going on with this claim because its been over 30 days and I am trying to replace my stolen car. He says there are some difference in the three statements he recieved and he has to file some notes and contact me later. I later called the other two people and asked what did they say and to me it seemed the same just in different person view and they also told me they did not remember alot...Can these people cost me my claim? I cooperated and did everything..How long can this take? What else does he need""
How to get insurance in california for a used car?
I bought a car in auction in california, I filled up forms for registration and paid the fee there, But the car is not insured, What should i do to get the car insured, Is it legal to drive in california without insurance ?""
Can an insurance company make money on the Ryan plan?
and how? Ryan's plan says that insurance companies have to charge all old people of the same age, the same rate, sick or not... and they can't drop anyone... who would line up to provide this service that would seem to have a neagive profit margin from the get-go? unless they charged everyone 100k a year? I mean this has to cover all the ederly with cancer and all their treatments? right?""
What would happen if we lowered the cost of health insurance?
I have to write a paper on health care insurance.
Can you get life insurance if your already sick?
I have life insurance, and my children have the gerber grow up plan, but my husband doesn't have any and now he's sick. He's 21 - in case his age matters - he was tested for lymphoblastic leukemia last night - but no results yet. Probably because it's Saturday. If he ends up having this, can he still be approved by life insurance?""
Can I buy term life insurance for my aunt who lives in CA?
I live in Florida and was just wondering if I can purchase a term life insurance policy for my aunt in California? Will the term life insurance policy be in my name or her name, because I will be paying for the policy?""
Auto insurance out of state?
I'm in South Carolina for another 2 months (here for school) and I'm from florida. Can I use my current address in my auto insurance as an attempt to get a lowere rate or would I have to get a sc license and all that in order to do that?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/landscaping-insurance-quotes-lawrence-curtis/"
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