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steddielations · 1 year

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It’s the stupid Garfield mug that does it.

Eddie tries to hide it because he doesn’t want to seem ungrateful to Steve, but he gets lonely sometimes.

He’s still in hiding, mostly healed up from the bats, staying with Steve while they wait for Hopper to sweep it all under the rug. No one would ever expect Eddie Munson to be at Steve Harrington’s house, it’s the perfect cover.

Not only was Steve surprisingly nice enough to let Eddie stay there, he also took care of him through the worst of it. He didn’t seem to mind having to stay home every night and every weekend, definitely not what Eddie was expecting from the party boy he used to hate from afar.

Now Steve’s the nice guy who spoon-fed Eddie soup and gave him orange juice through a damn straw and even helped him to the bathroom when he could barely move.

He’s too nice and sweet and funny sometimes. He even has a beat up copy of Lord of the Rings from Dustin that he squints at until Eddie gets tired of watching him strain, then let’s Eddie read to him. Eddie knows Steve does it more for him than for himself. Hell, Steve even comes home right after work most days, just to keep Eddie company.

Eddie can’t have many visitors, they don’t want to raise suspicion with too much traffic at Steve’s house, so it’s mostly just him and Steve. Eddie doesn’t mind, he’s halfway in love with him and gets closer to falling head over heels every day. He loves being here with Steve but sometimes… Steve reminds him of Wayne.

Every morning, Steve watches the news. Eddie teased him about it, saying he has the soul of a middle aged Dad. It’s stupid, but watching Steve mosey around the living room before work, drinking coffee and getting absorbed in the TV when an interesting story comes on, it makes Eddie miss Wayne, who does the exact same thing.

It’s so stupid how it’s simple things that make Eddie feel 2 seconds away from breaking. Not having to be quiet during the day because Wayne’s not there sleeping after his night shift. Looking at the wall and not seeing Wayne’s endless collection of hats and mugs. Not hearing the squeak of the old couch when Wayne sits down to take his boots off.

It’s so stupid but it all makes Eddie’s chest feel so tight and empty he can hardly breathe.

But he’s grateful to Steve for letting him be here, so he doesn’t dare complain about what’s missing when Steve’s already given him so much.

One morning, Eddie’s sitting on the counter and Steve gives him his coffee. It’s just how Eddie likes it, sweet and creamy, but he can’t drink it.

Steve used a different mug than usual, and Eddie can’t stop staring at it, orange and round. Wayne has one like it. It reminds Eddie of the Garfield mug that hangs by the door in their trailer. That tight feeling gnaws at his chest, and he sits there staring at it so long his coffee goes cold.

“Everything okay, Eds? Did I not put enough sugar or something? Do you need a straw again today?”

Steve’s voice startles him out of his thoughts, he flinches and the mug slips out of his hand, falling to the kitchen tile, shattered.

Eddie curses while Steve rushes to clean it up, telling him to stay put when he tries to get down and help.

That, too, reminds Eddie of Wayne.

He can’t help it then, he just laughs. It feels tight in his throat, sounds almost painful, but he laughs so hard he feels tears prickling the corner of his eyes.

Steve just stares at him, leaving the broken mug in his concern for Eddie, asking carefully, “Hey, what’s so funny? You alright?”

Eddie shakes his head, laughs dying down. “You know those mugs on the wall at my trailer?”

Steve looks confused, nodding.

“They’re Wayne’s, he collects them. I used to tell him it was lame and he should invest in something cool like hanging guitars or records,” Eddie goes on, grinning, reminiscing, “He’d always just laugh and tell me that cliche line, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, boy. I never understood you buying all them amps either, paying money to make noise.”

Steve smiles but he’s still watching Eddie carefully.

“Those damn mugs,” Eddie laughs again, rubbing his eyes, “There’s a Garfield one that leaks from how many times I knocked it over running out the door trying not to be late to school, and Wayne had to superglue it back together. He’d never even get mad about it, just snap at me to be careful because he didn’t want me getting hurt.”

Eddie laughs even harder, his chest twisting and writhing but it feels good, like he’s finally letting himself breathe, gasping for air. He doesn’t know when his laughs turn into sobs, but he assumes it’s around the time when Steve steps forward and gently wraps him in a hug.

They’ve never hugged before. Eddie doesn’t know how he could miss something he’s never had but that’s what hugging Steve feels like. He’s missing his Uncle, he’s missing a piece of himself but he feels close to complete somehow right there in Steve’s arms. He holds on tight, smearing tears into Steve’s t-shirt.

“I miss him, Steve,” he sniffs, bottom lip wobbling, “I miss those damn mugs.”

“I know,” Steve rubs his back, soothing, “I promise you'll see him again, Eds. And those damn mugs.”

Eddie laughs wetly and squeezes him tighter.

Within the next week, Steve keeps his promise.

Eddie almost drops to his knees when he sees it, has to rub his eyes to make sure he’s not imagining it, but it’s there.

Right there on the wall in the Harrington living room, there’s three mugs hanging up. Not just any mugs, Eddie recognizes all three. A green one that used to hang next to Wayne’s coat, an Indiana State one that went above the couch, and the cracked up Garfield one that leaks next to the trailer door.

“Steve, what—”

“I tried to get more, but Wayne was already suspicious by my third visit this week,” Steve shrugs innocently, “It’s just like home, right?”

Eddie’s torn between bursting into tears or laughter at the thought of Steve sneaking out of his trailer with coffee mugs in his pocket one by one, “You stole my Uncles mugs, Harrington?”

“I figured he’ll forgive me when I bring his nephew back safe and sound soon,” Steve smiles, charming as ever, “And if he presses charges, well, it’ll be worth it just seeing the look on your face right now.”

Eddie's chest spreads with warmth, his heart so full it could almost burst.

“Get over here, you little thief.”

Steve's grinning as he strolls right over to Eddie and wraps his arms around him. They've hugged a lot since that first time, but they've never kissed before, not even in Eddie's wildest dreams has he kissed Steve Harrington, but it's happening.

Eddie can't describe it, feeling Steve's lips on his, safe in his arms, warm in his embrace, but it feels a little bit like home.

#here's some free eddie angst with a dash of comfort from steve yum #steddie #steddie ficlet #steddie fanfiction #steddie headcanon #steddie fluff #eddie munson #rueswriting #my fic #mp #steve harrington #steveddie #stranger things 4 #eddie x steve #steddie fic rec #wayne munson #my fics

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metalhoops · 1 year

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Read Part 1 Here

Eddie wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he had a boyfriend.

He thought he had a boyfriend, at least. None other than Steve goddamn Harrington. They’d been on dates, plural. He wasn’t sure Steve was ready for the word ‘boyfriend’, but no one Eddie had dated was, so it felt the same as it always did. He got it. This was new for Steve. Hell, this was new for Eddie.

He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for things to go bad. They were one month into whatever the hell they were doing and everything was still peaches and cream. From Eddie’s past relationships, he knew things always went south quick. People didn’t stick around. But he had a good feeling about Steve, against his better judgment.

Things did go bad, but not in the way Eddie expected.

The first and only ‘unofficial’ date the two had gone on was when Eddie stumbled across Steve, cruising at a beat of all places. The first time Eddie realised who the guy was he’d been shocked breathless and knocked back on his heels. Space and fucking time ceased to make sense because there was no way in hell The Steve Harrington, Mr Popular, ladies’ man was in a place like that. But he was.

More shocking still, Eddie had fallen for him before he knew who he was. He’d been all red-faced and tongue-tied, trying to help Steve ride out the wave of panic that’d overcome him. Eddie still wasn’t sure what had him so shaken up that night, but the time had passed to ask. If it was important, Steve would tell him.

Somehow, knowing the pretty guy he’d been making goo-goo eyes at all night was the same Steve he’d shared a history class with hadn’t changed things. Eddie had still wanted to take Steve home with him, even if nothing came of it. Eddie had his share of casual hookups. Enough to know it wasn’t what he wanted, but in a place like Hawkins, where the town borders were small and people’s minds were smaller still, you’d take the scraps that were given to you.

Steve was different to how Eddie expected. They’d orbited each other in high school. Well, Eddie had orbited Steve. He kept his distance, but trailed in the boy’s wake, much to Eddie’s own dismay. For a dude who had a stick up his ass regarding the high school hierarchy, and jocks in general, developing a crush on Steve during his first go at senior year had been a devastating blow to his sense of self. Hell, the guy had been a thorn in his side for years, spurring on a mad case of cognitive dissonance every time he crossed his path.

Eddie was constantly surprised at how easy it was to date Steve. Not that he’d expected dating Steve to be hard on his end, but dating guys always came with complications. In Eddie’s experience, it was never simple. There were always hoops to jump through, parents or friends who couldn’t find out. Not with Steve. It was equal parts, comforting and disconcerting.

Steve’s parents never factored into the equation besides a couple of off-handed comments the boy made, which always left a vile taste in the back of Eddie’s throat. Steve never said anything that’d raise alarm bells to an unassuming ear, but if you knew what to look for, they were there. Eddie heard his father’s voice echoing back through the years when Steve would talk about his father.

Steve wasn’t going to come out to his parents, at least not while he still lived under their roof, but they’d been out of town for months, so the Harrington house had become a refuge, as had the Munson’s trailer.

Wayne was always working nights, not that he’d care if Eddie had a guy around. His uncle knew about him, and he’d rather guys come around to their place instead of Eddie sneaking out to make out with them in his van or in the back of some club. Wayne was understanding, the rest of the world wasn’t always.

He hadn’t told Wayne about Steve. He hadn’t told anyone about Steve, not that he didn’t want to. He did. He just didn’t think Steve was ready. The guy was good at acting calm, but Eddie knew there was something bubbling beneath the surface. He’d act smooth and unbothered when they’d make out on the couch. Hell, he’d been willing to go to third base quickly for a guy who’d thought he was straight up until a few weeks before. Steve had been calm. He’d taken it in his stride.

It was the little things that did it. They’d been watching a movie together at Eddie’s place. He’d taken Steve’s palm into his lap and traced absentmindedly, hating to sit still for too long. Eddie paused as he felt Steve’s hand tremble beneath his fingertips. He looked at Steve and for once the boy looked rattled, seeming floored that someone had touched him so gently. Again, Eddie felt the old familiar ache. King Steve wouldn’t crumble just because someone was soft with him, right? No way. Not back then. Something must have happened, but that was the thing about them. Their pasts were their pasts. They had each other and that would have to do for now.

It wasn’t until Eddie showed up late to Steve’s place that he realised they needed to talk about it. Sometimes, when Eddie was absorbed in something, the rest of the world fell away. He’d told Steve he’d come around to his place for dinner at seven. He’d been making notes for the latest Hellfire campaign. He’d decided the party’s latest ‘big bad’ was going to be none other than the dark wizard, Vecna himself. He’d been poring over lore to set up things just right for the long road ahead of them and he’d lost track of the time.

It’d been a hell of a day for it too. A dark cloud had descended on the sleepy town of Hawkins, breaking the winter freeze early. The sky was dark and if Eddie thought about it, the lights had been flickering with the storm. When he emerged from writing, it was dark outside and the alarm clock radio by his bed read 12:05. Which definitely wasn’t the time.

Shit. Eddie threw on a jacket, hit the gas and was pulling up to the Harrington manner in no time. The clock in his car let him know it was eight-fifteen.

Eddie expected Steve to be pissed. He felt worse when Steve wasn’t.

He let himself in without knocking. To his surprise, Steve hadn’t locked the door. He always locked the door. He’d shot up from where he’d been sitting stock-still at the dining room table as Eddie’s footfalls seemed to bring him back from where his mind had been. He looked at Eddie for a long moment. Eddie could wilt under the scrutiny of Steve’s gaze, his jaw set, his eyes scraping over every last inch of him. He’d sighed, looking all at once like a lost child, uncertain and vaguely ashamed.

“I thought something happened,” Steve muttered.

It set off all the alarm bells and red flags Eddie had been ignoring. When their new partner didn’t show up to a date, some people might think the worst, that they were being stood up or that their date had found somebody else but not Steve. He’d been worried something happened to Eddie. He’d looked the way he had when the two first ran into each other at the fairgrounds. Wide-eyed and on the verge of a breakdown.

Eddie kept telling himself that whatever had happened with Steve wasn’t a big deal, because Steve kept telling him it and damn Eddie wanted to believe him. Being with Steve had been easy, but Eddie knew facing whatever the hell this was would make it harder. The signs had all been there from the start.

The guy rarely slept, and when he did, it was fitful and filled with incoherent mumbling. He’d ball Eddie’s sheets between his clenched palms and whimper like a dog in a car during the midday heat. Eddie didn’t bring it up because he’d been right during their first night together. Steve was haunted by something goddamn awful and Eddie wanted so badly to do something that’d make it go away, but he also knew things were never that simple.

“I’m fine. I just got caught up. It was stupid. I’m sorry I made you worry,” Eddie spoke when he found his voice.

Steve was shaking. Shit.

Eddie reached out and touched his hand, balled so tightly into a fist, his knuckles turned white. As Eddie slowly pried his hand open, he realised his palms were bleeding, his nails having made five deep, half-moon crescent wounds.

“Was it that dragon game? The little shitheads don’t appreciate how much effort you put into that stuff,” Steve spoke, almost sounding normal, seeming unaware of the blood, or the way his knees knocked together, the way his body swayed like a strong breeze would send him tumbling.

Steve wanted to know about his stupid goddamn fantasy game and god Eddie wanted to take the out, he didn’t want to have to dredge up whatever unspoken thing that’d twisted Steve up, knowing it might just ruin what the two had together but in the end, it didn’t matter. Eddie would rather know Steve was okay. They could work out what they were after.

“Stevie, what did you think happened to me tonight?” Eddie asked, holding the boy’s hand, and leading him to the kitchen sink.

He wet a dishtowel and gently rubbed it over Steve’s palm.

“The power went out,” Steve mumbled, as though that explained it all. Eddie tried to follow.

“Yeah Stevie, there was a storm. Storms kinda do that. Did you think I’d run off the road or something?” He watched Steve’s jaw tense.

“The thought crossed my mind,” He confessed, and Eddie nodded, placing Steve’s palm to his cheek, nudging against it.

“But I didn’t and I’m fine. We’re going to talk about this, okay? Maybe not tonight, but I want you to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours. I’m your boyfriend, Steve. That’s what boyfriends do. They tell each other shit.”

Steve’s eyes were suddenly on him again. Oh shit. Eddie had used the word, hadn’t he? That word was meant to stay in his head for another few months, at least.

This is how you scare people away, Munson. You go too hard, too fast and you scare people away, but Steve had stopped shaking.

He pulled Eddie in for a bone-crushing hug, holding him so tightly the man could hardly breathe. He felt Steve bury his head into the nape of his neck and holy shit, Eddie was so gone for this stupid jock.

“Alright. Okay. Yeah. I’ll tell you about it, just not tonight,” Steve muttered, mostly to himself.

Eddie wasn’t convinced, but he wanted to believe Steve.

“Alright, not tonight.”

The two stood together for a moment as another bout of rolling thunder cut the lights. Steve’s hands grasped at Eddie’s jacket. The silence felt loaded. Eddie needed to break it.

“You’re not weirded out I called you my boyfriend?” He asked, testing the waters, wondering how much back peddling he was going to have to do.

“No, why?” Steve breathed, pulling back slightly, trying to work out Eddie’s features in the sudden darkness. It was just like the night at the fairground.

Eddie knew Steve better in the darkness than he did in the light. Steve, in the dark, seemed right. He was a figured silhouette, beautiful but inscrutable to Eddie.

“It’s not too soon?” He watched Steve blink at him through the darkness.

“I might have told Robin you were my boyfriend weeks ago,” Steve spoke hesitantly, his hand still ensnared in Eddie’s jacket.

Eddie let out an exasperated laugh and pressed their foreheads together.

“Oh, okay, cool. I was worried I was taking things too quick,” Eddie mumbled, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, thankful for the darkness. Goddamn, he really had a boyfriend.

“Life’s short,” Steve reasoned. It didn’t sit right.

“Maybe for other people. I’m gonna live forever, baby. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it,” he teased, slipping his hand into the back pocket of Steve’s jeans.

He didn’t know what happened with Steve but this seemed important. Steve needed to know he wasn’t going anywhere.

Though the world had a funny way of turning around to bite you in the ass. The next time Eddie missed a date night, Steve really goddamn needed to be worried.

#steddie #steddie drabble #back by popular demand #a part 2 #steve harrington #eddie munson #Pre season 4 #eddie x steve #stranger things #stranger things 4 #st #more angst with a dash of fluff #I left it up in the air #for a possible part 3 #if people are interested #steddie fic

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miracle-fandom · 1 year

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Look, maybe I am not looking in the right places, but can we talk about how shady the Fenton's "parenting style" must look to everyone else in Amity? Maybe not cannonically, but the fandom really needs to start thinking about it.

We should talk about how easily it is to confuse vigilantism with abuse.

I want Danny with unexplained bruises every other day and the A listers assuming the worst.

I want Mr Lancer seeing Danny start struggling with school for, apparently, no reason and see him sleep on class and realize those are signs of abuse.

I want people to see how protective Sam and Tucker are and realize there's something they are protecting him from.

I need Valerie to see Danny run off at any sign of ghosts and suddenly "oh Fenton doesn't look scared of ghosts" and it clicks in her mind that maybe he's running from his parents.

I want people to see Danny do uncanny things, or have too much pain tolerance, or brush off whatever Dash came up with today and think "huh, that doesn't sound right"

I want the metaphor for child abuse in the show to become a little bit more real in the narrative. Is that too much to ask? I want them hearing the horror stories of the Fenton's cooking and start putting together that "oh, maybe they don't actually... mind experimenting on themselves" and who's to say the same fate didn't happen to Danny or Jazz?

Who's to say where evil scientists stops and child endangerment starts? And if suddenly, Amity Park has started to make Danny's life a little bit easier by making the Fenton's life harder, well, correlation and causation are one hell of a drug.

[ Check reblogs ]

#dp #danny fenton #danny phantom #fenton family #jasmine fenton #mr lancer #valerie gray #A listers danny phantom #dash baxter #implied child abuse #implied child neglect #im just #angst #danny phantom angst #DpMisunderstoodAU

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koilarist · 1 year

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As the world caves in...

#fallout #fallout oc #fallout fanart #ghoul #ghoul oc #OC: Whiskey #slamming ghoul angst down on the table and dashing away at full speed #I was originally gonna write A Thing (tm) to go with this but I've decided I didn't want to wait to finish that. so.#In which Whiskey becomes the very threat that her vault sought sanctuary from #art with extra fries

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veemlp · 1 month

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She's protecting something that isn't even there anymore

(This is my art and i have multiple hidden watermarks! do not trace, copy, or post any of my art without permission. thank you!)

#mlp #pony #my little pony #mlp art #art #artists on tumblr #pony town #rainbow dash #applejack #twilight #twilight sparkle #mane 6 #angst #appledash #mlp infection au #mlp infected au #tw infection #tw

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lime202 · 3 months

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Sleepy Affection

#a rare sight #art #illustration #huskerdust #hazbin hotel #husker hazbin hotel #angel dust hazbin hotel #Husk is a cuddler #whipping up some wholesome content in preparation for the hard angst we will be receiving in 3 years #also appreciating the increase in Husk cuddling into Angel's chest fluff on my dash

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khayalli · 3 months

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happy lunar new years!!! brought to you by our favourite turtle tots

#nearly called them tator tots #turtle tots #rottmnt fanart #tmnt art #throws some cute and good vibes into the midst of the angst that is my dash #lunar new year

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raaorqtpbpdy · 29 days

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God Only Knows

Everyone knows AU, but Wes doesn't know that everyone knows, and neither does Danny, because even though everyone knows, everyone also knows better than to acknowledge it.

For the prompts:

Everyone knows the connection between Danny Fenton and Phantom. To keep their town's hero safe, everyone pretends to be oblivious. Only this one kid doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. [From @vigilant-insomniac], and It's like Santa, the students of Casper High think. You know he's fake, just your parents playing pretend, and if Danny wants to play human, well. Who are they to ruin the fantasy? [From @uniasus]

This is a take on Wes I've never written before, despite having written quite a few Wes fics, and it was a lot of fun, I hope you like it : )

Read also on AO3

[Warnings for mentioned injuries, threats, and implied bullying]

Danny Fenton was dead. Everyone knew that.

After an accident in his parents' lab, he'd been rushed to the hospital and declared dead on arrival. He had an obituary in the paper, a grave. His death had even been announced over Casper High's PA system, and there had been a moment of silence, and all the science classes had done lessons on lab safety so that what had happened to him might not happen to anyone else.

Then, a couple weeks later, Danny Fenton was back at school like nothing had happened. Hanging out with his loser friends, going to classes, eating at Nasty Burger. Like he was still a regular kid. Except that beakers slipped through his fingers, and he kept walking through vending machines, and falling through the floor. Sometimes all or part of him would turn invisible, or he'd start floating a few inches off the floor and his friends had to pull him back down to earth.

Every time, he would look around in a panic, like he was hoping no one saw, and every time, those who had seen pretended they hadn't. It was Santa Claus, the Casper students reasoned. You knew he was fake, just your parents playing pretend, but it made them happy when you pretended with them. If Danny wanted to play human, well... who were they to ruin the fantasy.

Besides, no one wanted to be the one to remind him that he'd died.

Then the school was attacked by a ghost, and another ghost appeared to stop her. It was the ghost of a 14-year-old boy, wearing a Fenton Works jumpsuit. There was no mistaking that Danny Fenton, the dead kid attending their school, was also the dead kid protecting it.

But after a couple of days, it was clear that Danny himself still thought it was a secret, so everyone else silently agreed to let him keep thinking that. He'd been through a lot, and they didn't need to make it harder on him. Even Dash never brought it up—and he kept bullying Danny, for being week and unpopular, just to keep up the illusion that nothing had changed.

When out-of-towners started poking around, asking questions, everyone kept the secret. The strangers were clearly ill-intentioned, wanting to capture Danny for some reward. Even if he was deluding himself about still being alive, Danny was a good kid who protected the town. The least the locals could do as thanks was act oblivious to keep him safe. They were used to pretending, anyway.

Except this one kid didn't seem to have gotten the memo.

"Uh, yeah, I have some information on the ghost!" Wes called out to the Guys in White nosing around their school.

Kwan grabbed him, covering his mouth and dragging him around the corner before the Guys in White could see who'd called out to them. He felt something slimy on the palm of his hand and let go of Wes with a noise of disgust.

"What the hell!" Wes demanded.

"Did you just lick me?" Kwan asked, wiping his hand off on his jeans. "Gross!"

"Dude, you dragged me down the hallway! What gives."

"You were gonna spill to the Guys in White. You can't do that!"

"Just 'cause no one around here believes me, I'm just supposed to give up?" Wes frowned, crossing his skinny, freckled arms over his chest. "Somebody has to know that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom, I mean come on, it's obvious!"

"But if you tell the Guys in White, even if they don't believe you, they'll investigate him, and who knows what they'll do," Kwan pointed out. "Hasn't Danny been through enough? I mean," Kwan glanced around and lowered his voice before adding, "he died. Do you really want to make things harder on him after that? Don't you think he deserves a break?"

"Exactly," Wes hissed. "He died. He's a ghost. Ghosts are bad—and why are we whispering?" he added at a normal volume.

"You know that's not true," Kwan argued, keeping his voice low, despite Wes' complaint. "Phantom protects us."

"From ghosts that come through a portal he opened!"

Kwan flinched. Saying Danny had opened the portal was kind of misrepresenting the reality of the situation. Sam and Tucker had reluctantly told the story of Danny's death in the weeks he was gone, and it had been spread around pretty thoroughly before he came back. Everyone at school knew that he'd stepped into that portal and been completely fried. The portal turning on wasn't the part most people focused on when it was always immediately followed by 'while Danny was inside it'.

"I don't think you can blame him for that," Kwan said. "It was an accident."

"One that has yet to be corrected," Wes replied, his anger not fading. "Him fighting the ghosts doesn't stop them from attacking. If he really wanted to protect the town, he'd destroy the portal and stay in the Ghost Zone."

"What about the Fentons?"

"Who cares if the Fentons lose their precious portal when it's endangering thousands of lives!?"

"And you don't care if they lose their son, either?" Kwan demanded.

"So you do believe me!"

"You're a dick, Weston." He'd never called anyone a dick before in his life, but it seemed to apply here. "I don't care what you think, but if you try to hawk your theories on any of the ghost hunters around town, I'll make you regret it, and I'll bring friends, too. I've got a lot of them."

To drive home his point, Kwan shoved Wes against the lockers and glared before walking away. Gosh, that was so aggressive. Kwan hoped it had been okay. He didn't like doing it—he didn't even know if his face could hold that expression long enough to intimidate anyone—but if it kept Danny safe, that was what mattered.

At least Dash would probably be proud of him for it. Dash was always saying he needed to be more assertive to people couldn't push him around. Metaphorically, of course. Literally, Kwan was six feet tall and 190 pounds, even as a freshman, so there weren't many people who could physically push him around as it was. He didn't join the football team for no reason.

Thankfully, it did seem to work. Kwan had his friends—and he did indeed have a lot of friends, since he was a very friendly and likable guy—keep an eye on Wes until the outside ghost hunters declared the hunt a bust and skipped town. He didn't know whether Wes had noticed or not, but either way, he hadn't tried to expose Danny to them again.

Too bad that didn't last. A few weeks later, Wes went directly to the Fentons.

"No one else will believe me, but your son is a ghost!" Wes told them. "He's Danny Phantom!"

Jack and Maddie both froze. They knew.

They knew, and they had both agreed to pretend they didn't. They shot at Phantom, always aiming a mile wide, and shouted threats, and loudly declared their hatred for ghosts. They knew how it made Danny feel, but they also knew he still loved them. They were willing to do whatever it took to keep their son around, and they feared that if he were ever to tell them he was a ghost, it would be because he was moving on and they'd never see him again.

"Why... that's ridiculous, my boy!" Jack declared, a slight waver in his booming voice. "Our son can't be a ghost!"

"But it's true!" Wes insisted.

"Don't be silly!" Maddie cut him off before he could start listing evidence. She knew all the evidence. "I think we'd know if there was a ghost living under our own roof."

"But—"

"You should keep your utterly ridiculous theories to yourself, because you sound absurd," Maddie said. "Now, if you don't mind, my husband and I have very important ghost hunting to get to. Don't you have homework to do or something?"

Wes growled and clenched his fists in frustration but left them alone nonetheless. Clearly, he wasn't getting anywhere with him. And he wasn't getting anywhere at school, to the point where Danny had stopped getting anxious and had started openly antagonizing him about it. Didn't anyone else in Amity Park have eyes, he wondered.

But in truth, he was the one not seeing, because he didn't see that everyone else was on the same page about Danny being a ghost, and he was the one being left behind.

"Hey, Wes-toenail!"

Wes rolled his eyes as Dash stormed up to him with a disappointed-looking Kwan in tow.

"Jazz Fenton told Sam Manson, who told Kwan, who told me, that you tried to tell Fenton's parents about your stupid conspiracy theory!" Dash sneered at him.

"It's not a conspiracy theory," Wes said. "There would have to be more than just one person involved for it to be a conspiracy theory. A conspiracy theory would be like if I claimed everyone in town was working together to hide the fact that Fenton is Phantom," he was too busy rolling his eyes again to notice the look Kwan and Dash gave each other, "but you're not, you're all just a bunch of sheep."

"And you're a... a..." Dash struggled, grasping around his thick head for a comeback.

"A blackberry bramble!" Kwan finished for him.

"A blackberry bramble!" Dash repeated firmly, then turned to Kwan with a confused look. "A blackberry bramble?" he repeated again, this time questioningly.

"Prickly, invasive, and impossible to get rid of," Kwan explained. "Sam and I also talked about her garden."

"Oh, that's nice," Dash then turned back to Wes, hardened his expression and said. "You're like a blackberry bramble, and no one wants you around."

Wes raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Why do you even care? I thought you hated Fenton."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I want him dead again," Dash pointed out. "His parents are ghost hunters, and they're always shooting at Phantom. What do you think they might do to Danny if they actually believed your bullshit theory?"

"Get rid of him! Because he's a ghost! You know, the creatures constantly attacking our town and putting us all in danger?"

"The fact that you actually seem to believe that is why nobody at school likes you," Dash told him plainly. "That, and your general annoyingness."

"Why do you all care so much about protecting a loser like Danny Fenton?!" Wes shouted, loudly enough that it attracted the attention of everyone else in the hallway not already listening, and he threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "So he died, so what? It's the fact that he's still around that's the problem. Everyone seems to agree that they want ghosts gone until I bring up Phantom. A ghost is a ghost is a ghost, and all ghosts are dangerous, even the quote-unquote 'good ones.'"

He was breathing heavily when he finished his outburst, and suddenly aware of at least a dozen sets of eyes on him.

"That's enough, Wes," Kwan said after a beat. "Danny hasn't done anything to you, or anyone, and it's not fair for you to keep doing this, trying to expose him or... or whatever it is you're trying to do. You'd better cut it out. If this is a joke, no one's laughing, and if you're serious, then you're trying to take a real person away from his friends and family because of your own biases, and that's messed up, dude."

"Yeah!" someone down the hallway piped up. Micah, Wes thought her name was. She'd spit on his shoes when he tried to convince her of his theory.

"Enough is enough!" her friend agreed.

"You lay off Danny, he's already been through it this year already!"

Soon enough, every student in the hallway was chiming in their agreement, and Wes scanned the crowd, mouth agape, offended and outraged. When he turned back to Dash and Kwan, they both wore hard expressions. It looked weird on Kwan's usually jovial face, but it was clear they meant business.

"Whatever," Wes grumbled. He grabbed his math book out of his locker and slammed the door shut with a metallic bang. "You've made your point. I'll stop."

"Will you actually?" Dash insisted, raising a skeptical brow. "Or are you just saying that to get us off your back?"

"I will," Wes confirmed. "I don't need the entire football team and then some making my life a living hell. As long as Fenton keeps his distance from me, I'll do the same for him."

The warning was passed from Kwan, to Sam, to Danny, and in short order, Danny and Wes started avoiding each other. They barely so much as crossed paths anymore. Wes, begrudgingly, stopped trying to expose Danny, and Danny stopped teasing him for his failures, and it finally seemed like Amity Park's ghostly hero could go on protecting the town in peace.

But things weren't always what they seemed, and one day, there was a fight. At first, it seemed like a standard ghost fight, Danny Phantom versus some vampire-looking asshole.

Based on the banter, it sounded like this wasn't their first encounter with each other, so the civilians of Amity Park tried their best to stay out of the way and let Danny do his thing. Parents calling their kids inside, the group of teens passing by ducked into the alley, the one riding the opposite way on his skateboard crossed the street to hide with them, safety in numbers and all that.

Then the tide of battle turned, and all of the sudden, Danny was losing, badly. The enemy ghost had started coming at him with powerful blasts that broke through his defenses and left him reeling. Danny howled as he hit the street, hard, and in a flash of white light, his appearance changed from hero to dweeb, and regular old Danny Fenton laid unconscious in the road.

"You can never truly best me, Daniel," the enemy ghost said, but he didn't have time to monologue.

The teens in the alleyway had a plan, and they were coming to the rescue.

Sam Manson somersaulted into the street, Fenton Wrist Ray™ already armed and at the ready, and she laid down cover fire at the enemy ghost while Dash and Kwan ran out to grab Danny and drag him to the alleyway where they'd been taking cover.

"Guess you can't tell me I'm crazy now," Wes said, smirking triumphantly as the two jocks put Danny down gently on the ground, propping his head up on Paulina's folded up jacket. "We all saw him turn into Fenton, that's proof."

"Will you shut up, Wes?" Paulina snapped while Star checked Danny over, trying to assess his injuries. "We knew that already."

"What do you mean you knew?"

"Everyone knew, the whole time," Paulina reiterated with a derogatory scowl. "It's like, super obvious."

"Then why did you all treat me like I was crazy?" Wes demanded.

"Because you are," Star said. "Not 'cause you think he's a ghost—because, like, duh—but 'cause you kept trying to tell everyone. Some things should stay secret you moron."

"Why you even wanted to constantly remind the dead kid that he's dead, I'll never know," Paulina added.

"Plus, you constantly trying to expose him was putting him in danger," Kwan said. "Phantom is a hero, and you were trying to get him killed."

"He's already dead!"

"Yeah, we know," Sam jeered at him as she returned to their cover. "Everyone knows. But you're the only person in the whole town who's being a dick about it!"

"Hey, that's the same thing I told him a couple months ago!" Kwan told her, delighted. "I never called someone a dick before, but I did, 'cause he was being one."

"Good job calling him out, Kwan," Sam said, sounding genuinely satisfied. "It's good to hear that you're being more assertive and standing up for yourself and others."

"That's what I said, too!" Dash noted. "God, it's so weird that I actually agree with you on stuff now."

"Can we get back to the fact that you guys all knew the whole time that Fenton was a ghost and nobody thought to clue me in?" Wes said, looking around at the rest of them incredulously.

"Clue you in the Danny was a ghost?" Sam asked sardonically. "I thought you knew."

"No, that it was apparently common knowledge and you all just felt like making a fool out of me!"

"You wouldn't have looked like a fool if you'd just kept your fool mouth shut," Paulina pointed out.

"You—"

Wes was cut off when Danny groaned into wakefulness and everyone's attention instantly snapped to the ghost boy.

"Mn... ugh," Danny took a shaky breath and blinked his eyes open, quickly widening in shock when he realized how many people were leaning over him. "Uh... hello, citizens," he said, putting on a voice in the hopes they wouldn't recognize them. "Please, step back and stay away from the—"

"Danny," Sam said, "You changed."

"Huh?" He looked down at his hand and gasped. "I mean, I have an explanation for this. I was uh... being overshadowed?"

"It's okay, dude," Kwan told him. "We're not going to tell anyone. This'll be our little secret. Right, Wes?"

They all looked pointedly at the redhead, who opened his mouth to protest, and closed it again, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Yeah, okay," he relented, though his left eyebrow was nevertheless twitching in irritation. "Our secret."

"We just wanted to get you out of the line of fire before Plasmius took things too far," Sam told him. "You know I've always got your back."

"Thanks," Danny said. "All of you."

They gave him their smiles and their 'you're welcome's while Wes griped and grumbled and left the alleyway with his bike to finish riding home. Plasmius had flown off shortly after Sam started shooting at him. He was content in his victory over Phantom, and didn't feel the need to fight a powerless child like her, so the coast was clear for the rest of them to leave as well.

Sam said goodbye to Kwan so she could walk Danny home while the rest of them resumed their walk to the mall. Sam had been planning to split off before they got their anyway, she was just taking the opportunity to chat with them—mostly Kwan, whom she'd accidentally befriended during Danny's brief stint of popularity earlier in the year (his 'goth' poetry was awful, but they'd bonded over gardening and a love of animals)—since her house was on the way.

"You gonna be okay, Danny?" she asked, as they walked arm in arm so she could catch him if he stumbled. "You don't have a concussion, do you?"

"Maybe?" Danny said, squinting uncertainly. He shrugged. "I'll be fine. I always am. I'm still just amazed how lucky it was that the A-listers and Wes, of all people, were willing to keep my secret. It's gonna be all over the school, tomorrow, isn't it?"

"Oh, I don't know," Sam said vaguely. "Kwan's a decent guy, at least. I'm pretty sure they'll keep their word."

Danny scoffed in disbelief, but didn't voice an argument. The rest of the way to Fenton Works, the chattered about whatever topics came to mind, just to keep Danny from falling asleep in case he did have a concussion, and when Sam dropped him off at home, she held off her mournful expression until she had turned away so Danny didn't have to see it.

#dp #danny phantom #danny fenton #wes weston #dp kwan #dp star #paulina sanchez #dash baxter #sam manson #fic #things i wrote #phic phight #phic phight 24 #everyone knows au #jack fenton #maddie fenton #light angst #full ghost au #sort of; it's implied anyway you can read it as full ghost au or not

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q-gorgeous · 5 days

Text

Grave Green

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 4074

There's a shallow grave in the woods. The only marker is a stone with the name "Danny" scratched into it. Judging by the fresh-turned soil, it hasn't been empty for long. @kinglazrus

hehehehe

Dash wasn’t lost.

No way no how. There was no way he was lost. He was just going on his nightly run and he made a wrong turn and now it was the middle of the night and he couldn't see anything. But he wasn’t lost. He’d be able to find his way back still.

But the trees blocked the moonlight and he had to move slowly. But moving slowly didn’t help him when he tried to step on empty air and he fell, landing in a patch of turned dirt.

That was weird. Turned dirt? All the way out here in the middle of the woods?

He sat up and looked around him. Dash’s heart stopped and his eyes widened.

There at the other end of the turned dirt was a headstone with the name Danny on it. He could barely make the name out but he was sure it said Danny.

This couldn’t be Fenton’s grave, could it? Sure, Fenton went missing a month ago but everyone thought he just ran away. He couldn’t have been murdered and buried here, right?

But why was the grave dug out? How long has it been empty?

He heard the sound of a twig breaking behind him and he whipped his head around.

“Danny?” Dash whispered, horrified.

There he was, covered in dirt and looking at his hands like they weren’t his own. He raised his head to look up at Dash and tears were swimming in his eyes.

“Dash?” He asked shakily. “What are you doing out here?”

Dash just stared at Danny, at the absurd question. “What am I doing out here? What are you doing out here? You’re covered in dirt and I just fell into your grave!”

Danny slowly looked back down at his hands.

“There was an accident. I remember coming out here with my mom.” Danny whispered. “She said we were just going for a walk. That it would help me walk off the shock I got when their portal activated.”

Dash stared at him in horror.

“I don’t know how she did it, but when we got here there was already an empty grave. She pushed me in and started burying me alive.” His gaze traveled over to stare at dirt he crawled out of. “The headstone is new though.”

“Your mom… Buried you alive?” Dash asked, shaking his hands back and forth.

Danny nodded, still staring at the grave.

“It’s been a month since you went missing, though. How are you still alive?”

Danny’s gaze made its way back to Dash. “I don’t know. The accident must’ve changed me. Something seemed to scare my mom after I walked out of the portal but she wouldn’t tell me what it was. We came here afterwards.”

“Your parents are into ghosts right?” Dash asked. “Did their portal kill you? Are you dead?”

Danny went back to studying his hands. “I don’t feel dead. I’m kinda hungry.”

Dash slowly walked up to him. He hovered a foot away for a moment before he raised a hand up.

“If you’ve got a pulse, you’d still be alive right? Can I see…?”

Danny nodded and Dash put two fingers on Danny’s neck under his jaw. He held his breath and waited for the tell tale thump of a heart beat. He let it out and closed his eyes when he felt it.

“You still have a pulse. Somehow.” Dash pulled away.

Danny nodded. He seemed tired and he couldn’t stop staring at his hands. Dash sighed.

“Come on. Let’s get you back to my place. We can get you cleaned up and find something to eat.”

Danny nodded again and Dash grabbed one of his hands and pulled it out of his line of sight. Tugging on it, Dash pulled Danny behind him as they started walking.

“Did your dad know about any of this?” Dash asked softly. He tripped on a rock in the ground and turned to guide Danny around it.

Danny shook his head. “No. It was just me and my mom in the lab when the accident happened. She told me to put my jumpsuit on because we were going to try and fix the portal as a surprise for my dad.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how she thought I was supposed to help if my genius father couldn’t help her figure it out. She sent me inside the portal to take a look but I tripped.”

Goosebumps rose along Dash’s arms. She sent him into the portal?

“When I braced myself against the wall, I must’ve pressed a button. The portal came to life around me and then I was screaming. When the pain was finally gone, I stumbled out of the portal and my mom had a horrified look on her face. I didn’t know what she saw but a bright light flashed in the lab and then she walked over to me.”

Dash guided them past another tree and finally saw what looked like a path. He started following it.

“She told me to take my jumpsuit off and that we were going to go for a walk. She said it would help me walk off the shock. But the longer we kept walking, the worse the feeling in my gut got. Before I realized I should run, we were already standing over the grave. And then she pushed me in.”

“Shit.” Dash whispered.

“Yeah.” Danny’s hand tightened around his. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Let’s just start with getting cleaned up and eating. Then we can talk to my dad.”

Danny’s head shot up and he looked at him. “Your dad? What if he just brings me back to my mom?”

Dash shook his head. “If we tell my dad what happened he’ll probably arrest her for premeditated homicide.”

“Premeditated homicide?” Danny exclaimed. “Why do you think any of that would’ve been premeditated?”

“Hello? She already had a grave dug out for you? She sent you into the portal?” Dash finally saw the park entrance that he had come in through. He turned back to look at Danny who was staring at his free hand again. Dash could see all the dirt and mud stuck to Danny much clearer now.

“But…” Danny trailed off.

Dash sighed and pulled him closer so he wasn’t trailing so far behind him. “Sorry. Let’s get you back to my place.”

The rest of the walk was short and quiet. Dash could feel Danny’s dazed and disassociating look as he walked beside him. He couldn’t imagine being in Danny’s position. No matter how shitty his own mother was, at least she just left them instead of trying to kill him.

They finally turned onto the street his house was on. Dash started pulling his keys out of his pocket. He inwardly cringed when he saw the lights in his living room still on. No doubt his dad was still up waiting for him.

They walked up the stairs to his front door and put his key into the lock and opened the door.

“Where have you been, young-”

His dad stopped when Dash pulled Danny into the house. He stood there for a few moments studying Danny and the dirt all over him.

“Where did you find him?” His dad whispered.

“I got lost on my run.” Dash said, guiding Danny in behind him while he closed the door. “I tripped on the grave he crawled out of while I was trying to find my way back.”

His dad blanched at him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I can explain everything to you but can we get him figured out first?” Dash gestured at Danny. “And I don’t think he needs to hear the story he told me again.”

His dad nodded. “Yeah, right. Take him upstairs and find him a change of clothes and get him cleaned up. I’ll make us up some soup.”

Dash nodded back at him and pulled Danny up the stairs behind him.

“I’m gonna find some clothes for you to wear first and then we’re gonna head to the bathroom.” Dash said over his shoulder. Danny didn’t respond.

Dash headed to his room and opened his door. He let go of Danny’s hand.

“I’ll be right back.”

Dash headed to his closet and looked through his t-shirts. They would all be pretty big on Danny but that would be fine. He grabbed the one Nasa shirt he had and headed to his dresser. He struggled to find some sweat pants that would fit Danny but finally found an old pair of his buried at the bottom of one of his drawers.

He walked back to where Danny stood in the hallway. He was staring at where Pookie sat on the floor, staring back up at him.

“That’s Pookie.” Dash said.

Danny nodded. “I remember. I’ve always wanted a puppy.”

Dash smiled. “I’m sure he’ll be able to fill all your puppy needs while you’re here tonight.”

Danny smiled sadly at Pookie but turned to follow Dash to the bathroom.

“You can sit down on the toilet.” Dash set the new change of clothes on the counter while he rummaged through the cabinet for the first aid kit and a washcloth. He set the first aid kit on the counter and turned the water on. He waited for it to get warm before he soaked the washcloth in water. Sudding it up with soap, he turned to face Danny.

“Are you okay with me cleaning your face and arms off?” Dash asked him.

Danny looked up at Dash, his expression blank for a moment before he nodded.

Dash sat down on the edge of the bathtub and started with wiping down Danny’s arms. There was so much dirt and grime. As he washed it off he also found some cuts and scrapes. Danny’s hands were the worst but Dash supposed that’s what happened when you dug your way out of your own grave.

“I’m just gonna have you wash your hands in the sink when we’re done. That might just be easier than me trying to do it with a washcloth.” He stood up and grabbed a clean washcloth for Danny’s face.

He sat back down and brushed Danny’s hair out of his face. Danny’s blank eyes focused on him.

Dash held Danny’s head in place by placing a hand on his left cheek. He started by cleaning around Danny’s eyes. Dash moved to his forehead but his eyes stayed closed as Dash cleaned the rest of his face and made his way down his neck.

“Don’t forget behind the ears.” Danny whispered.

Dash snorted but obliged him.

He threw the second washcloth into the sink and studied Danny’s hair as he opened his eyes back up.

“Wash your hands and take your shirt off. I think we should rinse the dirt out of your hair, even if we don’t actually wash it.”

Danny headed over to the sink and washed his hands while Dash turned the water for the shower on. He tested the water and adjusted it until it felt like a comfortable temperature. Danny finished washing his hands and then took his shirt off and changed into the sweatpants, tossing the soiled clothes on the floor.

“Lean over the edge of the tub and I’ll rinse your hair out.” Dash said.

Danny did as he was asked, propping himself up by resting his arms on the tub. Dash rinsed and pulled as much dirt out of his hair as he could before he shut the water off. He grabbed a towel out of one of the cabinets and handed it to Danny.

“Here.”

Danny slowly dried his hair as Dash opened up the first aid kit. He pulled out the hydrogen peroxide and neosporin. He grabbed yet another washcloth and doused it in hydrogen peroxide.

Dash turned back to Danny just in time to see him pull the towel off of his head.

“This will sting a bit.” Dash warned as he started working on cleaning the scrapes on Danny’s hands and arms. He moved up to Danny’s face and cleaned the one scratch that ran across his cheek.

Dash went to grab the neosporin and started applying that when Danny looked up at him.

“Thank you for doing this. You didn’t have to.”

Dash shrugged. “Even if I didn’t want to, my dad would’ve made me. But I wouldn’t want to leave you all covered in dirt. You don’t deserve that.”

Danny hummed and Dash finally finished cleaning him up and putting bandages on.

“You can take the spare bedroom. I can bring your food upstairs for you.”

“Okay.” Danny nodded, pulling his shirt on. He looked down at the floor as Pookie started following them.

Dash opened the door for the spare bedroom and turned on the light.

“Here you go. Home sweet home for the night. You can get settled in while I go see where the soup is at.”

Danny nodded again and sat down at the edge of the bed. Pookie jumped up by him and curled up at his side.

Dash headed back downstairs and found his dad still stirring the soup in the kitchen. He looked up when Dash sat down in a chair at the counter.

“How’s he feeling?” His dad asked.

“He’s pretty out of it. Has been since I suggested that his mom did this to him on purpose.”

Dash’s dad turned to look at him. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to stop explaining things like this. Can you start from the beginning?”

“He said his mom asked him to help her fix some portal they built that didn’t work. That she wanted it to be a surprise for his dad. But she asked him to suit up and sent him inside the thing. He tripped and hit a button and it turned on from the inside.” Dash looked away from his dad. “He got hurt and when he walked out of the portal he thought something scared his mom. She took him on a walk and at the end of it she pushed him into a grave she had ready and waiting and buried him alive.”

His dad’s eyes widened. “She buried him alive? Wasn’t that a month ago that he went missing? How is he here?”

Dash shrugged. “They’re ghost hunters. It’s probably some weird ghost thing. But she even marked the grave with a rock that had Danny’s name on it. He literally dug himself out of his own grave.”

“Goddamn.” His dad whispered. “I can’t decide if this kid has the best or worst luck in the world.”

“Maybe a little bit of both.” Dash joked. His smile fell and he looked at his dad. “Is this enough to arrest her? Or will Danny just have to go home to her?”

His dad shook his head. “I think it would be enough. We just need to find the evidence to prove it. But we can arrest and detain her for questioning. If we believe her to be dangerous we can keep her without bail as well.”

“Okay. When will that happen?” Dash asked.

His dad looked up towards the stairs. “Let’s talk to Danny and get the evidence we need. I think your and Danny’s statements will be enough to arrest her while we search for other evidence down in that lab of theirs.”

Dash nodded. “Okay. We’ll keep him safe though?”

Dash’s dad looked back at him. “Yeah. We’ll keep him safe.”

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

When the portal failed, Maddie knew what was missing.

It was a portal to the land of the dead. When every calculation they’ve checked, double checked, and triple checked was correct, there was only one thing left that she thought could be the answer.

Opening a portal to the land of the dead required a human sacrifice.

So one day when Jack and Jazz went to the fudge museum, she asked Danny to help her tackle the problem with the portal. She told him she wanted it to be a surprise for Jack. That she wanted to fix it before he came home so that he’d be greeted with a happy sight.

She made sure to hide her notes and hypothesis somewhere Danny wouldn’t stumble upon them. She asked him to get suited up under the guise of lab safety and she sent him into the portal.

It happened more naturally than she could’ve ever hoped. As he was walking inside, he tripped over one of the wires that ran across the floor of the portal and fell against the portal wall. He pushed the on button that was on that wall and the portal hummed to life.

She took in the last image of her son, trying to commit him to memory.

His screams seared her mind and she tried to block them out. This was for science. This was necessary to further their studies.

But when the screaming subsided, something she wasn’t expecting happened.

A ghost stepped out of the portal. He looked just like her son except for the fact that all of his colors had inverted.

And his eyes.

His eyes opened. They were acid green and full of fear and pain. He made eye contact with her. A bright light appeared around his waist and when it traveled over his body and disappeared, her human son was left standing there.

“Mom?” He said. He held his hand close to his chest.

“Danny, come here.” She gestured him towards her. “Let’s get your suit off. Let’s take a look.”

She unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled his arms out of the top and helped him step out of it. A lichtenberg scar ran from his hand that hit the button up his arm.

He didn’t seem to realize what happened. He didn’t realize he had died. That he was some kind of abomination.

“Let’s go on a walk, Danny. Let’s walk that shock off.”

“A walk?” He asked groggily, confused. “Shouldn’t we-”

She shook her head. “No. Let’s go on a walk. You seem okay. Let’s just stretch your muscles out.”

This wasn’t how she planned for this part to go. She expected him to just be a body on the floor that she’d have to take care of. She didn’t expect him to survive that. If you can consider it that.

As they walked further away from the house and into the park, she could feel Danny getting uneasy behind her. She could tell he didn’t understand why they were just going on a walk. It got worse when they walked into the woods and she walked off the path.

“Mom? Where are we going?” He asked nervously.

There it was. Right behind him. The grave. He hasn’t noticed it yet.

She pushed him and a cry pulled itself out of his mouth. He fell into the grave and his back collided with the ground.

“Mom!” He cried. “What are you doing?”

She tried not to listen to his cries and pleas. He was a monster. He wasn’t really her son anymore. Not the abomination he turned into.

She pulled a pop out Fenton shovel out of her tool belt and started shoveling dirt into the grave. He tried to sit up so she started aiming for his face and dumping more dirt in faster so he couldn’t sit up anymore.

Soon he was completely covered and he had stopped struggling against the force of the dirt on him. She found a large stone and placed it at the head of the grave so she could recognize it when she came back.

She cleaned her shovel and folded it back up, storing it in her belt. She brushed the dirt off of her jumpsuit and composed herself before she started making her way back out of the forest.

Nobody could know what Maddie did. She was protecting them. All of them. She did what had to be done. She couldn’t let a monster like that walk around.

Jack and Jazz just thought Danny was missing. They thought he ran away or maybe that somebody picked him off the side of the road one day. They didn’t know that he died in their basement when the portal turned on. That she had orchestrated the whole accident. They would never know.

But when she caught sight of the monster wearing her son’s face, her heart stopped.

There he was, sat in the middle of their living room, Jazz and Jack doting on him. But standing between her and them was Officer Baxter and his son.

“Mrs. Fenton.” Officer Baxter said as he stepped forward.

“Oh.. You’ve- you’ve found my son.” She said with a weak smile. “Where has he been all this time?”

Dash stepped closer in front of Danny. Jazz placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Mrs. Fenton, I need you to turn around.” He pulled a pair of handcuffs off his belt.

She stared at them before her eyes darted back up to his face. “What- what are those for?”

“You are being arrested for attempted premeditated homicide.”

“I- I don’t- Why would you think I would do that?” She tried to feign shock, but he kept walking towards her.

“We already have a warrant out for your arrest and another to search your lab for evidence.”

She looked at the monster on her couch and pulled a blaster out of her utility belt. “I don’t know how you survived, ghost scum, but I won’t let you walk around pretending to be my son!”

She went to take a shot but Jack jumped up and knocked the gun out of her hand.

“This is our son, Maddie!” He shouted at her.

“He’s not my son anymore!” She screamed as Officer Baxter knocked her to the ground and forced her into handcuffs. “He’s ghost scum parading around with his face! My son is dead!”

“You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney-”

“Let go of me!” Maddie screamed as she struggled against the handcuffs. He pulled her off the ground roughly and started walking her to the door. “My son died! He’s dead! That is not my son!”

That monster looked at her with wide eyes she swore she saw turn green. A single tear streamed down his face.

“That is not my son!”

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

Dash watched as his dad carted Maddie to his car. She was still thrashing against him, screaming in the street.

“What happened, Danno?” He heard Jack whisper behind him.

“She did something to me.” Danny whispered.

Dash turned and saw Jazz and Jack exchange a look between the two of them. Danny was still staring at the front door where his mom had been taken away.

“What did she do to you?” Jazz asked.

Danny shook his head. “If- if I told you… Would you still love me?”

A sad look crossed onto both Jack and Jazz’s faces. “Of course we would.”

“Mom didn’t.”

“What did she do, Danny?” Jack asked him again.

Danny’s gaze finally lifted and landed on Dash. Dash started a little bit at the expression Danny was giving him.

“You want me to tell them?” Dash asked quietly. Danny nodded.

Dash took a deep breath. “He told me that Maddie asked him to help with the ghost portal. That he went in and pressed a button and when he came back out she looked horrified. Then she led him out to the woods where she had a grave already dug out.”

Jazz covered her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes. Jack looked horrified. Danny’s eyes were vacant again.

“I got lost in the woods yesterday and tripped over his empty grave.” Dash looked away from them and at the floor. “He somehow lasted a whole month buried out there. He had just crawled out of the grave not too long before I got there.”

Danny had started shaking and Jack shushed him. Jazz wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

“It’s okay.” Jack said. “You’re safe now. You’re back home.” Jack turned to look back up at Dash.

“Thank you. Thank you for bringing him home to us.”

Dash nodded. He was about to turn away when something caught his eye.

Dash saw Danny’s eyes flash an unsettling green.

What if his mom had been right?

#gorgi writes #danny phantom #dash baxter #danny fenton #maddie fenton #phic phight 2024 #angst #buried alive #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #phic

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thefrogdalorian · 21 days

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Live shot of me rereading my own work and realising how often I write characters experiencing horrifically vivid nightmares

#it's the untreated ptsd sorry #anyway another din x reader oneshot coming tonight!!!!!#thanks din djarin for letting me take all of my trauma out on u ily honey #there is no smut this time just angst and a dash of fluff #writing

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home-of-renn · 1 year

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I love the hc that Danny can't help but trigger this innate, subconscious fight or flight response in everyone he meets. I love it even more when it's the reason why he still gets bullied by Dash.

Truth be told, Dash grew up years ago. His mean streak had been a short-lived phase that left a bad taste in his mouth. The sudden influx of hormones brought on by the onset of puberty had apparently muddled his brain and left him emotionally stunted for the duration of his freshman year. He'd shoved nerds into lockers and stolen their lunch money. He sorely wishes he hadn't been so excruciatingly cliche.

But he'd somehow managed to unstick his head from his ass pretty quick and he hasn't laid a finger on anyone since - well, except for Fenton.

Fenton had always been the exception. Small and slouched, with a messy fringe that fell into his eyes. Danny Fenton always made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end whenever he walked past.

His arm would brush too close or his shoulder would bump into his in a crowded hallway and Dash's arm would lash out before he could even comprehend the accidental touch. Fenton would be pinned against a locker with Dash's forearm against his neck in the blink of an eye.

The funny thing is though, no one stops him. The other kids don't call him out and the teachers are always coincidentally absent.

Dash isn't a bully - at least not anymore. He helped Lester get his locker door open after a ghost attack left the damn thing jammed shut. He stays late after practice so the girls on the cheer team don't have to walk home when the sun starts dipping low. He holds doors open for the people walking behind him and even offers a polite smile. The other day he stopped to help some little kid struggling to tie their shoelaces.

He's trying to be better. His mom cried about how proud she was on his birthday last month and principal Ishiyama made a passing comment on how nice it was not seeing him in her office every week. He enjoys being nice to people. It's gratifying, and some kids have started coming up to him when they need help.

Once upon a time, Dash had been a chubby self-conscious kid who'd hit the gym as soon as his dad had gotten sick of his begging. Puberty had hit him like a truck and he'd started shaving a year before anyone else. Since then he'd bulked up and was far larger than the average high schooler. He'd been honing his reflexes for years and never drops the ball. He's the shield that everyone hides behind during ghost fights. He's big and strong and has damn good aim - which is better than nothing when going up against a ghost.

But there's something wrong with Fenton.

Danny makes sweat gather beneath his collar and Dash has to grind his teeth any time he walks past.

At least he's not the only one.

Kwan's hands are always clenched into fists when they walk past Fenton's locker, even if he's not there. It feels wrong to have your back to Fenton in the changing rooms and Lancer's the only teacher still handing Danny a detention slip - Dash suspects it's cause none of the other staff can stand to be alone with him for that long.

No one steps in when someone lashes out at the Fenton kid. No one says a word or runs towards the teacher's lounge when Dale has Danny by the arm, eyes wide and gripped so tight his knuckles turn white.

The hallway goes silent and the world steps back as Dash's team flank his sides while the front of Danny's shirt is bunched in his fist. His heart thuds against his ribs and pounds in his ears as Danny opens his mouth to make a sarcastic quip. Danny's always been a sarcastic, mouthy little shit, but Dash can't find it in himself to laugh, not while his body forms a physical barrier between Fenton and everyone else - not when Dash has him by the throat but he's the one feeling cornered and exposed. He has to dig his toes into the soles of his sneakers to resist running.

It's not normal.

Dash plays along, keeping his cool as he goes through the familiar routine. He spits out a pathetic insult that misses its mark and thumps Danny against his locker before dropping him to the ground.

It feels rehearsed, like he's stuck in a cycle he can't seem to break. It's one big act that Dash walks away from with adrenaline churning the contents of his stomach and sweat gathering in the palms of his hands. The hallway parts as Dash walks away. He spares a glance at Kwan, whose dark eyes are trained on the floor in front of him, his fists clenching at his sides, shaking under the fluorescent lights. Dash hides his own hands in his pockets. The one he had bunched in Danny's shirt trembles, his nerves vibrating with the sensation of pins and needles. It feels like static under his skin. He tries wiping it off on the inside of his jacket.

The entire student body of Casper high follows behind him.

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violetpixiedust · 8 months

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part 02 of this angsty piece. thank u sm for the support on the last part, i love u all. there will be one more part after this. steve harrington x sinclair!reader. no descriptions of hair, skin tone, or body type. up to interpretation. tw: slut shaming, public bullying, mean!steve.

part 01

౨ৎ

one day earlier

your nimble fingertips brush against the soft, polyester material of your little black dress, hugging each curve and ridge of your body up until the bottom of your bum. translucent nylons lick up the length of your legs, disappearing into a pair of onyx leather boots that cut off just beneath your knees. a wave of heat washes over your delicate face as you admire your reflection in the floor length mirror of your bedroom, the top row of your pearly teeth indenting against the plush flesh of your bottom lip.

you looked.. sultry.

huh, robin had been right.

the two of you had been finishing up the last bits of your partnered english essay on ‘the catcher in the rye’ the night before, when robin, in her nature, became distracted and started languidly recounting an outfit debbie harry had worn on tour in the ‘70s. the cerulean eyed girl had pulled the cosmopolitan magazine out of her backpack, laying stomach down beside you on the bed as you both stared at the hydrogen peroxide blonde rockstar in front of you. you shyly admitted that you had always wanted to dress like that just once.

it was no secret to the students at hawkins high that you were a sweetheart, a goody two-shoes. you would usually dress in gingham, floral, and lacy babydoll dresses in the summer, or bulky turtlenecks with short skirts and stockings in the wintertime. it’s what drew steve to you originally. your shy smile and innocent doe eyes, waving to him past his car windshield as your silky skin soaked up the summer sunlight, on your way to the flower shop across from the hawkins theatre, sat on top of your two speed yellow bicycle. it threw him for a loop. how much you had bloomed the summer before your junior year. however, your beauty was surprisingly paired with a quick wit and an unmatched sense of creativity. lucas and erica had clearly picked it up from somewhere.

so, after doing some recon on an old, black turtleneck dress that you had worn to a distant family member’s funeral years ago, robin and yourself had successfully designed a little black dress that perfectly melded debbie harry and pat cleveland into one.

you had to be discreet though. your mother, despite being the feminist powerhouse that she was, did not want to have to leave work to give you a change of clothes on the off chance that you were dress coded, which granted- had only happened once. however, despite kindly giving you the snide choice of a sheer cover up to wear when she arrived to that singular meeting, your mother had grilled the geriatric worm that was principal higgens into the scuffed tile of his office floor. at his audacity for making her leave her government job in the middle of the day- all because her fifteen year old daughter, she emphasized for the misogynistic, and terrified, man in front of her, was rightfully showing her shoulders in may.

so safe to say, the spineless principal did not want a repeat of that situation, so while your fashion choices hadn’t changed much, a lot less was said about it.

your mother was dressed in a red plaid pantsuit early that next morning before her shift at city hall, hair big and proud, in the middle of making a cup of coffee before she caught sight of you entering the kitchen. “wow, look at that paint and hair, pretty girl. how gorgeous.” a wave of appreciative embarrassment crept between the hems of your woollen overcoat as the elder woman kissed the crown of your head, smiling shyly as you gratefully accepted a cup of black tea from her manicured hands.

“so, is steve picking you up-?” your mother was cut off when the back door parallel to you two practically flew open, robin’s cheeks flushed with cherry red from the winter air as she dug into her backpack, not noticing your mother or her metal thermos of presumably coffee clanging onto the kitchen tile when it free fell from her bag. finally, your friend victoriously pulled out a half squished piece of banana bread wrapped in cellophane.

“aha! there you are. what’s up this morning-?” robin froze as she caught sight of your mother smirking from her place in front of the coffee machine, watching as the pale girl practically scrambled to pick her thermos up off the floor to avoid causing a bigger mess.

“good morning, robin.” your mother smirked from behind her cup of coffee, plum shaded lips spreading into an amused smile as you giggled at robin’s scarlet complexion.

“m-morning. sorry for the noise mrs. s.” the freckled girl winced in embarrassment at her absent-mindedness, only softening her tense expression when your mother held out of plate of toast, quietly offering her a piece.

“oh, robin. if i was concerned about noise, i would have sent lucas and erica to live with their grandmother a long time ago.” the three of you burst into giggles as one of the devils mentioned strutted into the kitchen, pink denim jeans swishing with every step she took.

“what choice words about your only daughter-“ erica shook her head in disappointment as she reached up onto her tippy toes for a piece of toast, nearly taking a bite before begrudgingly making her way to grab a plate due to the gentle warning glare she received from your mother.

“hey! i was here before you, you little brat-“

“sue me for thinking you were going to college in a year and a half. maybe i’ll stick with ‘your better daughter’-”

“mom! erica hid my walkie!” lucas entered the kitchen with a trail of fire lined after him, interrupting your snide remark back to erica. you and robin groaned with relief as the horn from barb’s mom’s old mini van sounded in front of the house, interrupting the argument for a second before it resumed in full force.

“barb’s picking us up.” you mentioned to your mother, answering her previous question as she half nodded to you in acknowledgment, attempting to break up the ever scaling argument between your younger siblings. “good luck.” you bid her an apologetic goodbye, your mother only huffing as she wished both you and robin a good day.

you were on cloud nine as you walked around the halls at school that morning. it was nearly fourth period, and you hadn’t seen steve in the halls yet unfortunately, but his absence only put a slight damper on your mood. you had gotten so many compliments from the girls in your class and above. nancy wheeler, barb, robin (even though she had practically designed the outfit with you, she had basically screeched in the middle of the arts hall when you finally put your jacket in your locker), chrissy cunningham, tammy thompson, and even anna jacobi!

in the fifteen minute break between third and fourth period, you were taking your time exchanging your calculus textbook out for your history text, knowing that your next class was only down the hall and to the left. however, you felt a large, calloused hand touch the exposed skin between your shoulder blades, jumping as you quickly turned around, nervously gaining the courage to tell off whoever was unrightfully touching you, before you made eye contact with steve.

instantly, you felt a soft beacon of light spread throughout your belly, heart fluttering as you took in the soft chestnut locks that curled beneath the nape of his neck, balancing against the laws of physics atop his head. almond toned eyes, his rigid nose, primrose shaded lips. a breathtaking smile spread across your glossy pout as you giggled excitedly, going in to hug your boyfriend before his unusually stoic face hardened when his eyes raked across your outfit. your outstretched arms slowly fell to your sides as your glittery smile faded, suddenly concerned at the way steve chuckled humorously, his bass tone careless and sinister.

unlike him. with you especially.

you nervously toed your boots into the ground as your manicured nails started fiddling with one another on their own accord, shrinking as he continued to stare you down.

“now i know why billy hargrove asked me if you were free use earlier this morning.” you swallowed harshly, not believing that those words had just come out of your boyfriend’s mouth until you heard the acidic cackles of tommy and carol behind you two. steve however, was not amused. “what in the hell were you thinking when you decided to wear this?” his voice only got louder, catching the attention of a few students passing in the hallways. you fought back the bitter response that was fighting it’s way out of your throat, instead whispering honestly.

“i thought you would have liked it-“

“you thought i would have liked you looking like the freaks groupie?” suddenly, a few band kids instruments stopped their cacophony of tuning and practicing at steve’s semi-booming remark, a few other members of the student body stopping to watch as they caught wind of his comment, both cautiously and minorly entertained.

you felt your doe eyes burn with oncoming tears at steve’s remarks, humiliation running deep throughout your veins as you suddenly felt like you were clad in a cheap halloween costume instead of one of your own designs. your body wrapped your own arms around itself, a self preservation tactic you weren’t aware you were doing until carol laughed.

“you were right steve. she is quite meek, hm?” your glossy eyes whipped up to the boy in front of you for confirmation at the redhead’s poisonous remark, his gaze pointedly wandering away from you as the firm line of his lip wobbled ever so slightly. a reaction so minuscule you would have missed it had you not been searching for any ounce of clarity regarding his behaviour. why suddenly his mean boy persona broke the barriers between you and it.

“you’re being mean, stevie.” you suddenly found your voice, but the soprano tone didn’t sound like it was coming from you, your own trembling voice miles away as you confronted steve. something you hated doing. “i like this outfit, and i don’t appreciate you saying those things-“

“oh, so you think it’s okay that the entire school thinks you’re a slut?” gasps and scoffed out laughs ripped throughout the quickly growing crowd, tommy and carol’s laughter seeming the loudest. your manicured nails dug into the skin of your palms unconsciously, crescent moons slowly pulling blood up to the surface as you tried not to cry.

don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

you coughed on salty held back tears as they dripped down the back of your tense throat, deciding you were going to walk away and go home before you could be humiliated any further. you felt hurt. you felt betrayed. you felt embarrassed. how could steve, the boy who goofily serenaded you with elvis lyrics into the handle of a baseball bat to make you laugh, who snuck into your bedroom window after curfew to cuddle and kiss you senseless because he missed you. who held doors open for you and left cute little smiley faces and your joint initials in a heart on the corners of your homework papers, just to see you smile. how could-?

“jeez steve, you’d think for a frigid little virgin she wouldn’t put out for the whole school.” your jaw dropped as the crowd around you burst into whispers, remarks, and exaggerated reactions, meeting steve’s eyes that were now half filled with regret, attempting to save face as his expression stoned once more, spitting.

“yeah, you’d think.” you missed the way steve’s eyes widened as tears began to slip down your face, leaving trails of gritty mascara in their wake. the elder boy felt his stomach flip upside down once he surveyed the crowd, once he realized how many people had heard that. something he had promised to never tell anyone.

“‘oh stevie, i’m scared it’ll hurt’ ‘i don’t think i’m ready’ ‘could we just kiss a little more?’ too bad for you, there are girls in this town that aren’t afraid of a little pain.” steve felt his breath shorten at carol’s suggestive comment, however it proved hilarious for the crowd around them. he couldn’t register what was going on, why everyone had suddenly crowded around you two, why he had kept going with his verbal assaults, why he had listened to tommy and carol and billy of all people in the first place, and why he had any nerve to confront you about an outfit that made him insecure and jealous when you were clearly happy-

“carol- shut up-“ steve finally found his voice, dominating and rough with an undertone of fear. he didn’t want this. you were his girlfriend for christ sake. what was wrong with him?

carol however shrugged carelessly, smirking as you quickly turned towards your locker to gather your belongings, mind on overdrive. “look at that, it’s even backless.“

“baby-“ steve whispered towards you frantically, catching sight of your bloody palms from where your nails had bit into them. he felt his heart break when you smacked his large hand away as it attempted to soothe you, sniffling as the crowd behind you oohed in amusement. you felt like you were under a microscope. you wanted to disappear.

“oh look. it’s the freak now. i’m sure you won’t have trouble gagging on his dick like you did with steve’s.” your leather bag slipped from your trembling hands at that comment, it’s contents spreading across the floor as the crowd cackled like hyenas. suddenly, the aroma of cigarettes, woodlands, and something akin to laundry soap filled your senses. hesitantly, you turned your watery gaze onto eddie, who was kneeled in front of you as he quickly packed your belongings back into your bag. you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him that he experienced this kind of torment on a daily basis from tommy, carol, and steve, but was still decent enough to help you through it. he was quick as he packed your things you noticed. steady, quiet, careful-

trained almost.

tommy scoffed at the sight in front of him as eddie wordlessly handed you your bag, his large bambi eyes intently asking are you okay? before you could lie and nod, tommy chuckled. “jeez, munson. i guess now you can finally fuck something other than your right hand. i wouldn’t push your luck though-“

in a second, steve pulled tommy against the row of lockers opposite to yours, a deafening crash echoing above the crowd as his calloused hands wrapped themselves within the crisp white collar of the shorter boy’s t-shirt. “don’t ever” steve emphasized with a push of tommy’s body to the metal doors behind him. you felt yourself clam up with nausea at the potent verbal and physical violence around you, “fucking talk to her like that again, hagan-“

the dark haired boy forcefully pushed steve back into the middle of the hallway, the crowd beginning to chant as you watched in horror when tommy threw the first punch. robin fought through the barriers of the crowd immediately once she heard you and carol screech, narrowly dodging the pair of boys rolling along the gritty school floors just past her worn out converse. the freckled girl attempted to figure out what happened as she made her way to your left side, soothingly wiping away your tears as her cerulean gaze went wild. she had left you alone for ten minutes. soon, two of the senior boys on the basketball team were pulling the pair apart from each other, most likely fearing their suspension with the championship game coming up after winter break.

tommy spat a wad of blood from his lip onto the floor as he shot a loathing glare towards steve. carol’s snide expression morphed into concern for her boyfriend as he panted, before her features pinched with a bitter scowl towards the man of the hour. “don’t look so sad, harrington. now you can actually get your dick wet with some other slut. after all, that’s all you really wanted from her, wasn’t it?”

the crowd erupted into quiet whispers as steve’s wide eyes turned to your frail silhouette, now gone slack with disbelief. his king steve persona had shattered at that moment, bloody lip trembling as he crossed the hallway towards you, however you weakly pushed him away from your bubble with your palms to his chest. “i hate you, steve harrington.” it was the first time in ten minutes that the crowd had gone completely silent, watching intently as you spat emotionlessly, basking in a hatred so unlike you it appeared as though you were possessed. with eddie beside you, those rumours would spread like wildfire, no doubt. steve’s expression fell into agony for every second that passed, watching in almost slow motion as you promised. “never speak to me ever again. we’re done.”

robin quickly led you away after that, shaking her head at steve with disgust as she pushed through the dispersing crowd for you. eddie quickly slammed your locker closed, but not without adding fuel to the fire as he huffed. “it didn’t look like it to me, but i hope that was worth it, harrington.”

and steve harrington, was now, above all else, alone.

just like he was destined to be.

#drops this in the middle of your dash and runs away #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x sinclair!reader #steve harrington x black!reader #steve harrington angst #steve harrington x reader angst #steve harrington x reader fluff #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x reader fluff #robin buckley x platonic!reader #asshole!steve harrington #bully!steve harrington #mean!steve harrington #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #stranger things angst #pixie’s works * ੈ✩‧₊˚

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