#and will is just a cinnamon roll who likes all his friends and mike

[pinchcinnamon]

will: well, mike and i started dating.

max, to mike: just try to hurt will and i'll throw you and your bike into the lake.

mike: if i hurt will, i'll trow myself an my bike into the lake.

#madwizard is the besties #max care about will #and doesn't like mike so much huh #mike also don't like himself but he's loves will #and will is just a cinnamon roll who likes all his friends and mike #byler #byeler #stranger things #will stranger things #max stranger things #mike stranger things #will byers #max mayfield #mike wheeler #will x mike #stranger things incorrect quotes #stranger things 5 #byler is endgame

[eddiemunsons80sbaby]

Everybody Hurts

Chapter 4

Pairing: EddieMunsonxReader

Summary: You needed to escape, escape from your life, your messy divorce, and all the pitying looks. Looks you couldn't ignore when everyone in town had known you and Cam, had known your shame and failure. So, you took the first job you could get, teaching third grade in a town called Hawkins. Little did you know, you were walking right into another messy situation, a messy situation with big brown eyes and long dark waves. But he's resistant, at times unbearable and you start getting curious about the town's past, his past, especially when things don't start adding up.

18+ Only for eventual smut

Next chapter: 09/20

Word Count: 5.8K

Masterlist

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You pushed open the door to the small cafe, breathing in deep, letting the smell of cinnamon and coffee soothe you after a restless night. Millie glanced up from behind the counter, a wide smile crinkling the corners of her eyes at the sight of you standing in the doorway. She lifted a hand, waving you over, already pulling a warm cinnamon roll from the bakery display. 

“I told you that you’d be back,” she teased, placing it in a bag and on the counter. 

“You did and you were right. Best cinnamon roll I have ever tasted, hands down,” you laughed, pulling your wallet from your purse. “It was the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning.”

Well, that wasn’t entirely true but you’d rather not admit that you’d been thinking about something else that was almost the same shade as cinnamon alright, but it wasn’t a baked good. It was those eyes, intense and burning, challenging your own across the flames. You didn’t even want to admit to yourself how much he’d managed to get under your skin, crawling and burrowing deep.

“You want a latte to go with it?” asked Millie.

“Yes, please,” you responded, impressed that she remembered your drink of choice after one time considering how many orders she must handle in a day.

“So, did you get to explore much of our town yesterday?” the sweet lady questioned as she foamed the milk for your coffee. 

“I did, actually. I went to the library and grabbed a couple books and then I went down to the lake for a bit. I stopped into the Hawkins diner to grab a late lunch and wound up making some new friends.”

“Well, that’s wonderful,” beamed Millie, slipping a sleeve onto the paper cup and handing it over to you, her fingers darting across the keys of the cash register to ring up the sale. “And who are these new friends?”

“I don’t know if you’d know them…”

She laughed, waving her hand dismissively in your direction, “Darling, I have lived in this town my whole damn life. There isn’t anybody I don’t know within the town limits. Where do you think they all get their coffee from?”

“Oh…well, I met Max Mayfield at the diner and she invited me out to a bonfire with her friends at the lake last night. There were a whole bunch of people there. Umm…there was Robin, Steve, Mike, El, Lucas, Argyle, Jonathan, Nancy, Will, and this guy named Eddie.” 

Your cheeks blazed hot as you spoke his name and you found yourself once again questioning why. It was like you had no control of your body’s reaction to even the mere mention of him. 

Millie’s lips flattened against one another and she nodded, “You met yourself a nice group of people then. I get pizza from Argyle’s every single Friday night. Boy could use a hair cut but he makes a mean pie. Who ever heard of pineapple on pizza? But I’ll tell you, he knows what he’s doing. And I take my little Bella to Robin’s grooming place every month for a shampoo and a cut. And Officer Harrington is just the nicest guy. He’s always in here picking up donuts for the station. So, what did you think of everyone?”

You had the distinct impression that Millie was fishing for something specific but what she hoped to catch, you couldn’t be sure. 

“Oh, I loved them. They were a great group of people. I thought they were all really nice. Well, most of them were anyway. Eddie didn’t seem to like me all that much.”

“And why would that be? You seem perfectly likable to me.”

“I don’t know,” you admitted with a shrug. “I didn’t do or say anything. I mean, at least I don’t think I did. Well, I may have after he was rude to me but he said stuff first. He was kind of a jerk from the moment he saw me, acting like I was some intruder on his little group and wasn’t welcome.”

“Well, now, you be a little patient with that boy, okay? He’s been through a lot and it’s…well, it’s made it hard for him to trust new people but he’ll come around. He’s a sweetheart, really. He jumped my car for me just a few weeks ago when it wouldn’t start and he came over and helped me clean my gutters last year. My husband, Roy, keeps trying to act like he’s still twenty years younger than he is. He’s stubborn as a mule. He refuses to accept that there are things he just shouldn’t be doing anymore and that man’s gonna kill himself one day. I happened to be complaining about it when Eddie was in here grabbing some coffee and he just offered. Came over that weekend and went up that ladder and took care of it. I tried to pay him but he wouldn’t have it. He did let me give him some cookies though. The people in this town have been unfair to him, downright cruel if you ask me, and it’s not right. That boy’s been through enough. Don’t you go doing it too.”

Your eyes widened, shocked at Millie’s tone, as if you were the one who should be sorry, as if you were the one who’d been so damn irrational. You tried to mesh the image of the rude man you met last night who could barely carry on a civil conversation with the picture that Millie was painting but it was difficult. Based on what the coffee shop owner had told you, Eddie sounded like the nicest guy in the world so what was it about you that made him so damn unpleasant?

“I won’t. I like to come to my own conclusions about people,” you assured her. That was something you’d learned as a teacher. Previous teachers always wanted to laundry list all the bad qualities about a kid but you never wanted to know. You wanted to meet the kids yourself, build a relationship, and make your own judgment calls. 

“But he makes it a little difficult when he’s rude for no reason,” you tried. 

Millie raised her eyebrows at you and you groaned. 

“Fine. I will try to give him a chance but only because it’s you asking.”

Millie smiled, clearly mollified, “That’s my girl. Just for that, I am going to add in a chocolate chip cookie for you to enjoy later.”

“If you keep giving me free treats, you’re never going to get rid of me.”

“Maybe that’s my plan,” the jovial woman laughed. “Maybe I’m just ensuring you stick around for a while. I think this town could be better with you in it and I think you could be better in this town.”

 Your head tilted, a bit taken aback by her statement. “Oh, I think you’re going to be stuck with me for a while, especially now that I’ve found some friends. Speaking of, can I ask you something? You don’t have to tell me if it’s none of my business. I didn’t want to ask Max because it seemed rude with us not really knowing each other that well yet, but do you know why she wears sunglasses all the time?”

“Oh, that…” Millie paused, resting her arms on top of the bakery display. “Listen hon, that’s some ugly business that you don’t need to worry yourself about. That girl got lucky, very lucky that that’s all she was left with. That’s all I’m going to say about that, okay?”

“But…”

The woman held up her hand, “Darling, I don’t like talking about that time. This whole town would just rather forget it. It was a dark time for Hawkins. We’ve all moved on and there’s no point in dredging up bad things from the past that we can’t change. You’re new here and you’re so young and starting fresh after a divorce. Don’t be worrying your head about ugly stuff that had nothing to do with you.”

“Wait. How did you know I was divorced?” you asked, almost certain you hadn’t mentioned it yesterday. 

“Young girl starting over in a new town? Hiding here for four months before you finally unveiled your pretty little face to us all? Getting all hung up on the mysterious new guy you met last night? Please. That has all the markings of a relationship gone wrong and a girl trying to find her place in the world again, to get a second chance.”

“I…what…mysterious guy…Millie, all I said about Eddie was that he was rude and didn’t seem to like me. I am not hung up on him.”

“Maybe so but he’s also the only one that made your face go bright red when I asked you what you thought.” She reached across the counter, patting the top of your hand with a wink. “Listen, I think it’s wonderful. That boy needs a good girl. He needs someone to love and someone that will love him, treat him with kindness. He’s been alone for far too long.”

You snatched your hand back, “Whoa there. It’s nothing like that. I just met him and trust me, he didn’t seem like he was looking for anything romantic or anyone new period. I believe he even stated that he has no need for new friends.”

Millie snorted, rolling her eyes, “Of course he did. I’m calling it right now. You two will be in here getting your morning coffee together within the month. I can tell attraction when I see it and it’s written as plain as day all over your face.”

“You’re wrong, Millie. There is not any kind of attraction going on,” you argued, shaking your head and grabbing your breakfast, suddenly eager to get out of the cafe and away from the woman who seemed adamant to hook you up with the one person who didn’t seem keen to even breathe the same air as you. 

“We’ll see about that,” she sang, wiggling her fingers at you as you hurried out the door.

____________________________________________________________

You had never been so relieved to see your house, something you thought you’d never think after spending months cooped up inside it. You strode up the walkway, trying to push all of Millie’s words out of your head. It was all you’d been able to focus on during the walk home, almost walking into a car you didn’t see, the driver honking angrily at you. 

That woman didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t even know you. She couldn’t see your attraction to Eddie written on you. It didn’t work like that and it didn’t matter anyway. You had no intention of pursuing anything with a guy whose mood was as pleasant as being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway when you really had to pee.

You stepped up onto the front porch of your house, the warm cup of coffee between your hands. You pulled your cardigan tightly around yourself. The May morning still held onto the chill of the previous night, the day not quite warming up yet. The sun was shining bright, the sky a bright blue that promised a pleasant spring afternoon. The puffy white clouds, gathered in heaps, reminded you of marshmallows, quickly bringing your thoughts back to last night. 

There was definitely something strange going on in this town, something strange with that group. Lucas’s response, that they’d all been through a lot, felt like a collective answer about something specific. Dustin and Robin had gotten very weird when you asked what they’d all been through. And yeah, everyone went through shit and you couldn’t begin to imagine the hardships Robin had gone through, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that it was more than that. It felt like they all got together every year on that beach because of something they’d all dealt with together, something dark and ugly as Millie had described it. Hadn’t Max begun to say something at the diner about it being more than just a celebration of spring arriving and then cut herself off? 

That wasn’t to say that, strange or not, you didn’t enjoy all of them. You did, very much so. They had been so kind, welcoming you into whatever kind of private celebration they were clearly having. Everyone had been so sweet and friendly and seemed more than happy to have you join their little party on the beach. Almost everyone at least. 

Your eyes fell on your coffee, a pair of eyes the same shade flickering through your mind, haunting you, just the way they had last night as you had lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep that just wouldn't come. You’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, your brain replaying every little interaction you’d had with the grumpy mechanic, getting more and more irritated with yourself for even caring. 

And why did you care? You’d just met him. This Eddie guy was nothing to you. So, why were you letting him consume your thoughts, steal your chance at a good night’s rest? It had been a fun night if you took him out of the equation. Why were you allowing him to ruin it for you, to become the one thing you could focus on out of the entire evening? 

It was those eyes, damn it. They’d looked at you with such hardness and disdain but then a moment later had melted into this warmth that had seeped into your skin, flowing through to the tips of your fingers and toes. And something else…behind the bravado, the arrogance, there was something haunted about him, something hurting. 

You would swear there was a pain just beyond the obvious annoyance. There was more to that man than met the eye, things he was trying to keep buried deep, covering them with his attitude. It felt like he was trying to hide in plain sight, to protect himself but you didn’t know what from and honestly, why were you making it your problem to fix? It wasn’t. He wasn’t your problem.

You rested her forehead against the post of your front porch with a groan. Jesus, what were you doing? You didn’t know anything about this guy. You were allowing Millie’s words to infect you, to contaminate you. You were probably making shit up in your head to excuse why he’d been such a dick to you when the answer was probably so much simpler than that. He just didn’t like you. He didn’t like some newcomer crashing their little party and why should he? You’d had no right to be there, not really, especially if it had always been their thing. 

Alright, enough of that. You had just stopped obsessing over one guy, trying to break down every gesture and comment to figure out the internal workings of his mind and how he could do the things he’d done. You sure as hell weren’t going to start obsessing over another one. That was not part of the new you, new life plan. 

Eddie didn’t like you, plain and simple. And yeah, he was sexy as hell, heartbreakingly beautiful actually, in a very annoying and infuriating kind of way, but he was still just a guy and not a very likable one anyway. 

Even if he’d sat outside your house to make sure you got in safe, that didn’t mean anything. He probably just didn’t want to have to explain to his friends if you’d gone missing or been murdered in your garage and he’d been the one to take you home. Wouldn’t want to be the last one seen with you, the number one suspect when the cops started asking around. 

“Ugh!” you growled loudly, rolling your head, a satisfying pop loosening your stiff neck from your restless night. No. You were not going to do this. You didn’t give a shit why he didn’t like you. It didn’t matter.

It was Sunday and by the looks of it, it was going to be a beautiful day. You stepped down off the porch, turning to face the house. You took inventory of your space, trying to paint a mental image of what you wanted for the spring and summer. Lots of vivid bright colors to brighten up your days, a full garden to keep you busy and give you something to fill your time over summer break that was now only a handful of weeks away. You would go to the greenhouse and get some plants. Nothing like some physical labor and getting dirt under your fingernails to get out of your own head and back to reality. 

The only problem was that you didn’t have a car yet and there was no way you were going to be able to haul all of those plants back on your bike. Did you really want to make multiple trips, buying only a couple things at a time? You pulled your cell phone from your pocket, flipping it open, scrolling through the numbers that your new friends had punched into your phone last night. 

You considered calling Steve for a moment but quickly dismissed it, not wanting to give him the wrong idea if he’d been leaning in that direction even slightly. The way he’d wiped the marshmallow from your mouth, his thumb lingering over your lips, made you think he just might. You definitely didn’t need that kind of complication in your life right now. You scrolled back up to Nancy and pressed the call button.

“Hello?” she answered after three rings.

“Hey, Nancy. It’s me.”

“Oh! Hi!” Nancy sang happily as if your call was the best thing that had happened to her today. It bolstered your confidence a bit, having felt just a tad presumptuous for calling her, for assuming she might want to hang out after meeting you once. “What’s up?”

“Well, I’ve been meaning to get some plants for my garden at my new house and it’s supposed to be a beautiful day. I was thinking about running to the greenhouse, but then I remembered that I don’t have a car. Kind of hard to haul a bunch of plants on a bike. I was wondering if maybe you’d want to tag along and possibly be my transportation? I know it’s kind of last minute and it’s kind of a big ask for you to donate time on your weekend. If you’re busy, I totally understand.”

“No. I’m not busy at all,” Nancy laughed. “Jonathan and I are just laying here in our pajamas being bums this morning. We’ve got nothing going on today. That sounds like fun, actually. A lot more fun than hanging here with him and his friends later. You want me to call Robin? We could grab some lunch or something and make it a girls day!”

“Oh…yeah, I would love that. That sounds great,” you grinned, pleasantly surprised at how excited you were. After months of wanting nothing more than to curl into a ball and be alone, you were genuinely looking forward to spending time with people.  

“Okay. Give me just a bit to get ready. I’ll shower and call Robin and then we’ll come pick you up. What’s your address?”

“Oh, it’s 444 Euclid.”

“Seriously? You’re right around the corner from us!” Nancy shrieked happily. “We’re practically neighbors. Alright, I should be there around eleven. Does that work?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect.”

You hung up, that feeling from yesterday creeping in again. That feeling that was eagerness for the day ahead that you hadn’t felt in so long. No more going through the motions of eat, work, sleep for you. You had friends now. You had plans. You had a to-do list that was growing longer by the day, things you wanted to do to make this place your own. This was definitely the beginning of a new chapter and you found you were excited for what life had in store for you for the first time in a year. 

___________________________________________________________

“Thank you so much,” you told your new friends as you sat on the front porch, enjoying lemonade, a well deserved break after some hard work in the afternoon sun. “This would have taken me forever by myself. I can’t wait to see what this looks like when everything finally starts to bloom.”

It had taken you a few hours of sweaty, dirty work but you finally had everything planted in the garden. You had not expected Nancy and Robin to help you with the planting. You’d figured you would go to lunch, head to the greenhouse, and then they would drop you off and you would spend the rest of the day working in your garden. But they’d insisted and you hadn’t been ready to be rid of their company so you’d agreed. It had been far more fun that it would have been alone.

The three of you’d had a very nice lunch at the diner, chatting with Max in between her taking orders and serving other customers. You were somehow now going roller skating with everyone on Thursday. You were taken aback by this group’s instant acceptance of you, how easily they included you, but you were also incredibly grateful for it, knowing you needed to actually start living your life if you were going to start having one. 

At the greenhouse, you had strolled along every aisle, Nancy and Robin extremely patient as you looked for plants of various colors that would give you the vision you wanted so badly. You’d bought a couple of large hostas that would be a pale blue, some Black Dragon coleus that would be a deep burgundy color, pink Hollyhock, blazing orange Day Lilies, bright yellow Black Eyed Susans, and some Butterfly Weed. You’d also bought two large pots for your porch and some purple Coneflowers for those. A couple bushes to frame your porch and you were feeling almost giddy at the picture that painted itself in your mind, what your house would look like in another month when everything started really growing. 

This place was finally starting to feel like your own, a place you could see yourself settling in for the future. A sense of peace and tranquility fell over you as you sat on the porch with your friends. This was your safe space in the middle of the chaos that was life. This was a space that could be filled with love and happiness in the future, a space that could be filled with friends, a space that could be the site of memories you would remember far into the future. 

“No problem,” Robin replied from where she sat on the floor, her back resting against the brick of the porch, raising her glass slightly. “Here’s to us kicking ass and getting all this work done in one afternoon.”

“I will definitely cheer for that,” you agreed, leaning forward in the swing to clink your glasses carefully. “Seriously, I would probably be working on this until dark if it weren’t for you two. Possibly still working on it through next weekend.” 

“Well, we are pretty amazing,” Robin grinned.

You smiled, “You will get no argument from me.”

Nancy tilted her head, “I can’t wait to see what it looks like when everything starts to bloom. This house is really cute.”

You leaned back, taking a sip of your lemonade, smiling softly. “I really do love this house. This swing is actually what clinched the decision for me. Maybe a stupid reason to buy a house. I know it needs some work. It’s a bit of a fixer upper for sure but it has so much character and honestly, I’m looking forward to the manual labor. My brain could use the distraction for a while, especially with weeks of nothing but endless days ahead of my soon once school lets out.”

“I’m sure,” Nancy commented, her tone gentle, not pitying but empathetic. You were thankful for that. You’d run to Hawkins to get away from all the pity. You couldn’t bear it if your new friends started looking at you like that too. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you. To find out your husband is cheating is bad enough but with your best friend? What kind of friend does that?”

“Not a very good one,” you replied, tugging on the edge of your sweater. “I thought she was. I mean, Cassie and I had been friends since tenth grade, since I first moved to Galena. She was the first person who was friendly to me, you know? I walked into my first class, Geometry, nervous as hell because it sucks being the new face, wondering if anyone is going to talk to you. The moment I sat down she was asking me all kinds of questions about myself and rambling about her life and it didn’t stop all morning because we wound up having every single class together. Cassie always said it was kismet. We were platonic soulmates or something, destined to meet and be in each other’s lives forever.”

“Sounds like you and Steve,” Nancy laughed, looking knowingly over at Robin. 

“Yeah, besides the fact that he’s not a woman so completely not romantic territory for me, Steve is pretty much everything else to me,” Robin agreed with a chortle. “I couldn’t stand him in high school. Oh, he was awful. He was such a prick. So many dumb girls were always hanging all over him, desperate for any small ounce of attention the King would bestow on them.”

“Hey!” Nancy shouted, looking offended. 

“Sorry, present company excluded, obviously,” Robin snorted dramatically with a roll of her eyes. 

“Wait…you and Steve?” you asked, shocked though you didn’t know why. You didn’t know these people that well but honestly, you could see it. Nancy looked like the kind of girl that would have dated a guy like Steve Harrington back in high school. Hell, you had been the kind of girl who dated a guy like Steve Harrington in high school. 

Nancy’s cheeks flushed, her lips pressing together as she shook her head, “Yeah, my sophomore year into my junior year. I was over the moon that Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington wanted to give me the time of day. I felt like the chosen one, like I’d won the boyfriend lottery. All the girls were so jealous of me because I had managed to snag the King. But uh, it didn’t end up working out, obviously.”

“Why not? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t mind. A lot of shit went down,” explained Nancy, her eyes squinting as if she were having to think far harder about the answer than she should have. It seemed like a fairly simple question. Relationships failed all the time. “My best friend, Barb, she went missing and I kind of spiraled out of control. I mean, I completely lost my shit. Jonathan’s brother, Will, also went missing. It was a really ugly time and Jonathan and I grew closer, kind of clung to each other, during it all. Two people who were going through the same thing, shared trauma…at least that’s what we were told. It wasn’t too long before I realized that I’d fallen hopelessly in love with him. I still feel awful about doing that to Steve. It wasn’t the right way to go about it but I realized that as much as I liked Steve, I wasn’t in love with him. You probably think I’m an awful person now, don’t you? Especially after everything you’ve been through.”

“No, I don’t,” you assured her, surprised to find that you meant it. “I mean, you can’t help how you feel. The heart wants what it wants. Love makes you act like a crazy person and do shit you never thought you were capable of.” Honestly, the relationship stuff was the last thing you were  focusing on from everything Nancy had just divulged. “But…your best friend and Will went missing at the same time? Obviously, they found Will. But what about your friend, Barb? Did you find her? What happened? Where were they?”

A flash of agony flickered over Nancy’s face, almost as if someone had pinched her suddenly. She curled her fingers in front of her, examining her nails carefully. You got the impression that your questions were bringing up some very painful stuff for her and you were sorry for that but you couldn’t help the curiosity you felt about what exactly was going on here. Every little snippet of information they gave you only left you with even more questions.

“No…uh, we never found Barb,” she answered, her voice cracking painfully. “There was a lab here at one time. Hawkins lab. Nobody in the town really paid too much attention to it. It was just some big building and no one knew or cared what they did in there. It turned out they were doing some illegal testing and Barb was accidentally exposed to toxic chemicals. They tried to hide the body, to conceal what had happened. The government wanted to cover it all up, brush it under the rug, but it all got brought to light in the end. We had a funeral with an empty casket but at least we had some closure. At least her parents got some closure. They were…it was so hard for them, not knowing, you know? They sold their house to pay for a private investigator. He was actually the one who blew the story wide open.” She cleared her throat. “Umm…and Will…it turned out that he got lost in the woods for a week. He was just a kid and he was exploring and he couldn’t find his way back. But luckily, they found him. He was in bad shape, had to spend some time in the hospital, but obviously he’s okay now.”

“Yeah, they actually had a funeral for him and everything but then miraculously there he was,” Robin added and you didn’t miss the look Nancy shot at her from the side, as if she’d said more than she should have.

“You had a funeral for him when he’d only been missing for a week?” you asked in disbelief. “That seems kind of fast. I mean, people go missing for months, years even, and they don’t do that. Did you all really think there was no hope that quickly?”

“Oh,” Robin squeaked, suddenly looking nervous, as if she realized the mistake she’d just made. “Umm…well, they had the funeral because they thought he was dead. There was a body of a boy who drowned found at the quarry.”

“A body? Whose body?” you demanded, extremely invested in this story. 

Hawkins was such a small town. It seemed so quiet here, so quaint and normal. Missing people, government lab cover-ups, and bodies being found was the last thing you’d ever expected to come across when moving here. When Millie had told you this town had a dark past she hadn’t been exaggerating.

“We don’t know,” Nancy interjected quickly. “It was another kid, around Will’s age. But the body was really decomposed from being in the water for so long so it was almost impossible to identify. They just assumed it was Will because he was the only kid missing in town. But then he turned out to be alive and they never could identify who the kid was that they found in the water. Whoever it was wasn’t from around here.”

Your brow furrowed as you listened to the explanation, thinking it sounded insane. Did the people of this town really just believe that a random body was the boy that was missing without any identification done? And what about this random kid that drowned? They just let it go? Where did he come from? He had to belong to somebody. Someone was out there missing their child, never knowing what had happened to him. How had no one come forward to claim him?

This was all beginning to sound like some weird dystopian novel to you: government conspiracies, illegal lab testing, misidentified bodies, cover-ups, Max’s need for sunglasses, Eddie’s story about rabid raccoons attacking him. How did a small town like this have such a sordid past? And why would a government lab set up operations in such a small town unless they were trying to stay hidden? What were they really doing there? Something bigger was going on here, something none of them seemed to want to talk about.

“Hey, what are you doing for dinner?” Nancy asked loudly, breaking you from your dive down the rabbit hole. You looked up to find your new friend looking at you eagerly.

“Dinner?” you asked, trying to follow the sudden change of topic. “Oh, I was probably just going to make grilled cheese or something easy and maybe work on my lesson plans. I didn’t get a chance to finish them at school, story of my life.”

“No, you’re definitely not doing that,” Nancy told you. “Come back to my place with us. Jonathan was ordering pizza for him and the guys and he always orders way more than we need anyway or Argyle just shows up with extra.”

“Thanks, but I really don’t want to intrude again,” you said, shaking your head. “I already butted into your annual friends thing last night and I feel kind of bad about it. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Oh nonsense,” Robin huffed, rising to her feet. “You are our friend now. You’re not intruding on anything. We’re inviting you. We wouldn’t invite you if we didn’t want you there. The guys aren’t going to care and if they do, screw them.”

“Yeah, screw them,” Nancy agreed with a smile. “We can grab a bottle of wine and go hang out in the backyard if they’re being idiots. Who needs those dumb guys anyway?”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” you relented with a small shrug, not wanting to show how pleased you actually were. 

“Of course we’re sure,” Nancy asserted with a smile.

You really didn’t want to overstay your welcome, so to speak. You didn’t want them to get tired of you or think you were clingy. They’d just met you and you didn’t want to come across as needy, even though you really kind of were. Needy for human connection, for conversation, for fun, for something to do, something to fill your time with. 

“Let me just clean up a bit and change clothes?” “Sure, take your time,” Nancy told you, sipping her lemonade. “Robin and I will be right here waiting when you’re ready.”

Those words were like a balm to your heart but you’d never tell them that. Hearing that you had people, people who would be there waiting for you when you were ready, was like a band-aid over the wound that had been bleeding out for months. You were ready, more than ready to let it heal over. 

Chapter 5

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#eddie munson #eddie the banished #stranger things eddie #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x femreader #eddie munson smut #eddie the freak munson #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson series #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson lives #max mayfield #hawkins #ongoing #fluff #angst #smut and fluff #fluff and angst #enemies to friends to lovers #post divorce #falling in love #second chances

[lovrily]

speed of sound (part 2)

steve harrington x reader | part 2 of 3 | 9k words

◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ

as will byers older sister, you vaguely know steve harrington. upon becoming steve harrington's (randomly and abruptly selected) lab partner, you realize you know him even less than you thought.

「 link to part one 」

warnings: fem!reader, byers!reader, shy!reader, bickering, lab partners, classmates, starts in season 2 ends in season 4, frenemies to lovers, slow burn, pining, "unrequited" love emphasis on the air quotes, steve is popular and reader is not, doting mother joyce, running with the headcanon that jonathan dropped out of high school, hurt/comfort, language, blood/injury warnings level to what's on the show

PART TWO → 1985

The last job you ever would have picked for yourself was one where you scooped ice cream out of freezer burnt bins and sold it to an ever-lengthening line of every teenager, adult and toddler in Hawkins. Concurrent with your usual luck, this is exactly where you ended up. 

Summer wasn’t all bad. Right before the school year ended, you struck up an unlikely friendship with your little brother’s friends. Most of April and May you spent in Mike Wheeler’s basement. Those final two months of school, Will had employed you (with no employee benefits) to be his chauffeur; to the arcade, to Mike's for Dungeons and Dragons, and to Dustin's, whose house now held a computer, and this was the most important thing to happen to anyone ever. 

It may sound drab, but you actually didn't mind it. One night in April, Lucas wasn't able to make it to DND, and Dustin suggested you take his place for the evening. Mike wasn't happy about it, but Will agreed, and who was Mike to kick Will's sister out when she was standing right there?

"So what exactly do I do?" you had asked. "Who can I be?"

"Whoever you want," Dustin replied. "We'll give you the same stats as Lucas's character, but you can be whatever."

"Is there a list to choose from, or something?"

"No," Mike huffed. "Just pick something."

Your fingertips buzzed, nerves building inside you. It was ridiculous to be so anxious about a little game, but it seemed important to them.

"Can I be, um...like a hunter? Or huntress, I guess?"

"Yes!" Dustin cheered. "Hell yeah. What kind?"

"A human one?"

"Boring," Will mumbled. When you shot him a wry glare, he laughed.

"What about a gnome?" you asked. "Can I be a gnome huntress?"

Mike wrinkled his nose. "Do you hunt for gnomes or are you a gnome who hunts?"

"A gnome who hunts...for gnomes."

Dustin made an evil, satisfied noise. Mike uncurled his lip.

"Alright. Good enough."

Lucas came back the next week to take his place, and still, Dustin called the house phone at about six P.M. that night begging you to stay and join the party for good. Thereafter, you were a true member of the campaign. Some nights it was tiresome. They all had so much energy; like they were still four years old. But they were fun, and they enjoyed having you there- even Mike. Unless he was lying. There was no actual way to be sure.

When Dustin suggested you apply for the summer opening at Scoops Ahoy inside Starcourt Mall, you actually did it. It was a leap for you- trusting yourself to secure something, to win something. Joyce ordered pizza with not one, but two orders of cinnamon sticks the night management called to say the position was yours. Jonathan even came out of his room for dinner.

Once June rolled around and Steve Harrington (thankfully) graduated, things slowed down. Dustin went off to summer camp, and the boys became embroiled in their own relationships; Mike with El, and Lucas with Max. Your friends were busy without you, and more importantly; without Will. You could tell it hurt him, but you weren’t sure what to do about it other than try to make up for the lack of them in his life. 

Joyce let you borrow the Volkswagen every once in a while. You rode around with the windows down; warm air caressing your cheeks, Sun high in the bleached sky. Dustin would return eventually, and so would your tentative group of friends. You chose not to worry for once. Hawkins was at its best in the summer, and so were you.

Then you had your first day of work at Scoops Ahoy.

"Hey, Harrington," the blonde girl who brought you in called. “She’s here.”

There was an ice cream scooper dangling in his hand, metal fogged by cold. “Who’s here?”

He turned around at the same time you turned to Robin in horror. Your gaze twitched back to Steve where he stood. His eyes widened the same- a flicker of terror- and the hand he held the scooper in went limp, clunky spoon nearly clattering to the floor. It banged against the counter behind him and he flinched. 

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Y/N,” Steve nearly mouthed. The muscles of his face were drawn stiff, humiliated or otherwise jarred. You cast him a small wave. 

“Hi.”

His eyes flicked to your hand where it greeted him, and as it fell back to your side, the ghost of a doting grin rippled over his face. Old and foreign to both of you. It was hardly enough to notice, and the absolute mortification in his eyes was far more recognizable. 

“I didn’t know you were working here,” Steve said. Then he shifted, leaning against the counter with his hands propped up on the glass, lounging like he owned the place. Regular Steve, back in a flash. Of course. Thick strands of hair fell over his forehead, even longer than the last time you’d seen him. You had seen the Scoops Ahoy uniform before, but the sight of him in it was quite baffling- stiff blue t-shirt, the trademark sailor lapels and long bow. There was a little red pin over his heart that read ‘Steve’, right next to a white ship anchor. 

Inexplicably, he still looked good. 

You swallowed what might have been childish expectations for your ‘reunion’ and smiled politely. “Yeah. Dustin had me apply.”

Steve poked his head out. “Henderson?”

“Yep.”

He watched you for a moment, brows drawn and mouth loose in that puzzled expression he always wore. “Huh.”

You didn’t have it in you to ask what that meant, nor did you have it in you to work side by side with Steve Harrington for twenty hours a week. That being said, money was also something you did not have- in you or anywhere else- so this would have to do. 

“Well,” Robin chirped, blissfully unaware of the ordeal before her. “I’ll show you the back freezer. We haven’t cleaned it in, like, a month. But it’s fine.”

You nodded, readjusting your small backpack around your shoulders and casting a last glance at Steve. He stood there still, elbows propped up, watching. His gaze twitched away when you looked over. 

“Sounds good,” you smiled at Robin. “Thank you.”

Her freckled cheeks swelled up, and she grinned. Then she said- “You’re welcome!” like you had said something revolutionary. “It’s nice here. I mean, nice as a minimum wage gig can be. I don’t know, it’s fine. The uniforms suck. You’ll be cute in it, though. I think yours is coming in tomorrow, and…”

She rambled monotonously as you made for the freezer. There was no way to know if Steve was looking at you as she led you away from the counter, but you prayed he wasn’t, and that he had forgotten you showed up at all. 

. . . 

In your mind, there were two eras of your adolescence. BSB, and ASB. Similar to BC and AD, or BCE and CE. A forgotten, bygone decade, and a new, glimmering future. Before Snow Ball and After Snow Ball. 

Anything BSB was to be discarded or compartmentalized accordingly. This included the demogorgon, demodogs, Mind Flayer, any other Upside Down business, as well as general Steve Harrington related trauma. Anything After Snow Ball promised brilliant, brand new beginnings. 

You considered this as you glanced at yourself in the cloudy mirror of the Scoops Ahoy employee bathroom. The dim lights and glass streaks made it hard to discern how you looked in the uniform, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable. The t-shirt was like Steve’s; white with blue stripes, held together by a sewn-in navy vest. The red knot on your chest was a little more bowlike than his, dainty and small. The skirt fell right above your knees and the white socks capped off right beneath them. 

You didn’t love it, but it was more than fine. The uniform was the least of your Scoops Ahoy related worries. You swore to yourself after the Snow Ball that you would never let Steve make you feel that stupid ever again, but more importantly that you would never let anyone make you feel that way. Especially not for doing things that were good for you. 

This job was good for you. You were determined to feel that way, even if you had to fake it. 

You strolled out of the bathroom and into the backroom, tucked behind the wall to shield yourself from the open parlor. 

“I’m ready,” you said. Before doing so, you forgot to check for Robin- assuming she would be there- but only Steve was at the counter. 

He turned around and went still, like he was hiding from something. Then he swallowed. “Oh.” His hand jutted out in greeting, clunky and unsure. He made a face like it was nothing. “That was fast. You…”

The next few moments really were just moments, a few breaths taken and a few lines ticked on the clock above you. But it felt much longer. His eyes flickered over the outfit, and your gaze dropped off, worried to see where he might look. His head fell sideways slightly like he might rest it in the crook of his neck, but he didn’t. He just sat there and looked at you. When you picked your eyes back up, you thought he might be looking at the socks, or something (which were a little weird) but his eyes were on your face. Flickering around every peak and slope of your cheeks and nose, like he had never seen you before but knew your every line. Actually, he might not even have looked at the skirt or socks at all. 

“Robin left,” he blurted. 

It was over just like that. ‘It’ was nothing, really, but as an avid observant, each moment that he looked at you felt like a page to be studied. 

“Oh,” you replied, straightening. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Her shift just ended,” he rambled off. Then he muttered something tense under his breath and glanced at the counter. “Okay. C’mere.”

You came up to the counter without even thinking about it. A twinge of annoyance zapped through you when you did, following his orders without even blinking. 

“It’s simple,” he said. “There’s always twelve flavors behind the counter, but sometimes people will ask for things that went out of season already. It might be in the back freezer, but you can always just say no. I usually do.” He paused after he said it, looking around sporadically. “Uh, scoopers are here,” he said, leaning over you to point at the plastic bin. You leaned back like his arm would burn you. “If they’re in there, they’re clean.”

“And just put the dirty ones in the sink?” you asked. It was a redundant question, but your nerves were making every simple instruction sound like astrophysics. 

“Yeah. Well, I mean, I can grab them for you. And put them there.”

You looked up. “You’re going to put every dirty scooper away for me?”

“Uh,” he cocked his head, like he knew what he said made no sense. “Yep. Apparently.”

“Every single time?” you prodded, mostly joking. 

He braced his fists on the counter and breathed out like he was in pain. “That’s what I said, huh, Byers?”

The words were muttered, rambled off like thoughts spilling out of his brain. You stiffened. He couldn’t call you that, not again. It felt too familiar. It felt friendly, and you were not friends. 

You never would have complained about it, but amidst his nervous shuffling at the counter, his dark eyes fell on you and his sheepish expression flattened. Solemn. At the same time, a mother and three kids wandered into the parlor, each one of them yanking at a different part of her blouse.

“Yeah,” he nodded to himself, scolding. “Okay. I’ll, uh… I’ll man this for a while. Do you want to clean the freezer out, maybe? Nobody’s done it for months.”

An excuse to get away from the register. He was offering it to you, like he knew you well enough to know serving your first customer was going to be a stroke inducing event. 

He did know you; you realized. Even in those last months of the school year after the Snow Ball, when you ignored each other with every ounce of effort in your bodies, he would present your chemistry projects to the class and let you hold up the samples; let you stay where you felt safe. With every glance, every comment and backhanded compliment, he was feeding into who you were. Quiet. Unsure. Eager. Maybe you needed to change those things about yourself, too. 

His voice faded out behind you as you went to the freezer, yanking the door open and sighing. 

. . . 

The Russians were coming. Apparently. 

Robin returned to work three days later once you finally had somewhat of a handle on the parlor mechanics. Take the order, scoop the ice cream, and collect the money. It was pretty simple. Most days, Steve banished you to the backroom anyway- to clean or otherwise meander around away from the customers. Whether he was doing it for you or for himself, you weren’t entirely sure. 

Dustin came in that same day Robin returned, and after a shockingly heartwarming reunion with Steve (which you fought back a grin at), he informed the three of you about the transmission he intercepted on his new Cerebro contraption- a glorified walkie-talkie. 

Robin translated. It said: “The week is long. A trip to China sounds nice. If you tread lightly. The silver cat feeds when blue and yellow meet in the West.”

At first, your investigation was hopeless. But upon further examination, Steve discovered that the carnival music in the audio's background was the same music that played on one of the creepy, animatronic pony rides inside Starcourt Mall. 

“How did you recognize that?” you asked, forgoing your new game- pretending he didn’t exist. 

His suntanned cheeks scrunched together in a faux-offended look. 

“Our time with Miggins should have proven my genius to you,” he replied lazily. It occurred to you that his response warranted a laugh, or a retort. Instead, you said nothing. He flattened his lips together and looked at you for a moment. 

“Alright,” he huffed at Dustin, a defeated note to the sound. “Play it again.”

Further examination of the audio tape proved fruitless. Rather than taking the transmission to a trusted adult, like regular people would, Dustin suggested something else. 

“A stakeout,” he whispered, over-enunciating the ‘s’ and final ‘t’. 

Robin’s brows flicked up. You locked eyes with her, and she shrugged, pursing her lips. 

“What, like, inside the mall?”

“Exactly.”

She sniffed. “I don’t really see the point, but, I mean… Why not?”

“Why not?” Steve huffed. He picked his legs up off the table from where they were lounging and leaned forward onto his elbows. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Why!” Dustin exclaimed. 

“Not with…” he trailed off. “It’s obviously a bad idea. I don’t have to prove to you that this is a bad idea. Seriously?”

“I think it makes sense,” you remarked sincerely. 

All three of their eyes bounced to you. 

Dustin grinned, crossing his arms and nodding. “Exactly. I knew you’d get it.”

“Thanks.”

You shared his grin, crossing your ankles under the table. Your leg looped over someone else's, warm and sturdy. Steve’s. You glanced down and inhaled. His head lolled back just slightly. As you flinched away, he sat up instantly and rubbed a hand down his face that stretched out his eyelids. 

“This job is going to kill me,” he muttered. 

Your ankles buzzed. 

“I’ll have to grab some binoculars from my house,” said Dustin, “but we should be good to go once I do.” 

“Are we really doing this?” Steve chattered. 

Dustin scowled. “I am, at the very least. Robin? You in?”

“I guess. Y/N?”

Though the idea of a stakeout made sense to you, it was nerve-wracking. You fought back the old urge to glance at Steve and took a deep breath. 

“Yeah. Sure. I’d love to help.”

When you said it, Steve stared at you, an exhausted look in his eyes. 

“Fine,” he huffed. “Fine.”

The stakeout did not live up to expectations. Dustin and Steve saw nothing, besides a “suspicious” Jazzercise instructor with a duffel bag headed to a class. Robin dragged you off to help decode the transmission some more before you even had the chance to grab a pair of binoculars. Steve had poked his head out from behind a potted plant and hissed- “Where are you guys going?”

Robin stared blankly. “Mind your business.”

When Steve glanced at you, all you could do was shrug. Part of you felt a little guilty for being short with him, but you were hardly being short to begin with. Not overcompensating with kindness was unfamiliar to you, even around Steve; who deserved your kindness least of all. All the same, the sad look you saw in his eyes everyday was weighing on you. He wasn’t as good of an actor anymore. What he felt, you could often see. 

“Hey,” Robin said as you settled into a table at the food court. “Not that it matters, but can I ask you something kind of weird?”

You smiled. “Of course.”

“Were you and Steve ever…?”

Nervous energy bolted into your chest, like lightning. Oh. Did it seem like it? Which one of you was perpetuating it? You?

“No,” you said instantly. “No, we, um…we used to be lab partners at school.”

Robin grinned. “Ohhh. That’s right. He took chemistry as a senior.” She unfolded the wrinkled slip of paper that had the transmission written on it and slid it to the center of the table. “That’s embarrassing.”

You couldn’t really argue with that, but you also didn’t care. It didn’t matter to you. A part of your opinion on Steve Harrington simply wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard you tried. You still wanted to believe he was a nice guy. Obviously, he wasn’t the worst person in the world. Not by any means. 

But he had hurt you. And he never apologized. 

“Are you…do you like him?” you asked softly. Trying to be encouraging. Robin snorted. 

“Oh my god, no. I don’t even…” She snickered to herself some more. “No. He’s all yours.”

You wrinkled your nose and laughed. “He’s not mine, either.”

She cast you stupendous but playful glare. “Yeah, okay. Now, can you look at this? I think it actually means something, like, real, but I don’t know what…”

. . . 

The house phone rang at three A.M..

After five rings, it was clear you were the only one woken by the sound. Sitting up felt like lifting a bag of bricks. You fumbled around in the dark until you found your bedroom door and shuffled into the den. A dinging noise rang through the room when you smacked your hand blindly against the phone. 

“Hello?” you answered. Your voice cracked with sleep. 

“He-...are you…can- don’t know if…lo?”

The voice was warbled, like the caller had dunked their phone underwater. You pulled the speaker away from your ear and grimaced. Once the nonsensical ringing ceased, you brought it back up and listened intently, heart speeding to a nervous thrum. 

“Hello? Who is th-”

“-thing…side my house. I don’t kn-...hear me?”

“Wait,” you whispered urgently. “I can’t hear you. Do you need help? Who-”

“Please…hear me, come here. Shit.”

The familiar voice hit you like a gong. “Dustin? Is that you?”

“YES. Just…not sure if it’s…please. Please.”

“I can’t hear anything you’re saying. Don’t hang up, please,” you pleaded. “Can you-?”

The line died. 

“Dustin,” you barked. “Dustin.”

As the dial tone buzzed in your ear, you pulled the phone away, a frightened knot building in your throat as you tore off. You slipped on a pair of flimsy slippers closest to the front door and ripped the car keys off the hook, sprinting into the yard in your pajamas. The Volkswagen wobbled as you ducked inside, digging the key into the ignition. When you cranked it, the car sputtered. 

“No way,” you mumbled as you fought with it. No way. No way. No way.

It was happening whether or not you liked it- the car wasn’t starting. You sat there and panted for a few breaths. Anything could be happening to Dustin. You and Robin had discovered the true meaning of the transmission earlier that day: At nine forty-five P.M., a delivery would arrive at the Panda Chinese restaurant inside Starcourt Mall. When you showed up to investigate- a handful of Russian soldiers were standing outside, holding guns bigger than your heads. 

What if the soldiers saw you? What if they were ripping Dustin to pieces, limb by limb?

Horrified, you jumped out of the car and settled for the next best thing- your bike. The ride was only six minutes, but it was mostly uphill, and by the time you made it to Dustin’s your hair was whipped in every direction and your cheeks were beet red. 

You stepped off of your bike. As you lowered it silently to the ground, the flash of a hand behind you caught your eye. Your mouth jut open in a scream and that same hand covered it. 

“Stop! Stop, stop!”

“MMM!” You screamed in response, fury coursing through you. His hand covered your mouth still, muffling your horrified cry. Idiot! You thought. 

“I know,” he hissed. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“MM.”

“Don’t- just- okay. Here, okay.”

Steve dropped his hand and stepped back, throwing both fists up in surrender. Tiny crescent moons gleamed in the dark mirror of his eyes. He wore a soft gray t-shirt that was stretched haphazardly over his neck, pulled down slightly over the left side of his sharp collarbones. 

You exhaled hard and glanced between his open palms. 

“Why would you do that?” you snapped, cheeks warm. 

“Someone could have heard you!” Steve retorted. “What are you doing here? Did Dustin call you?”

“Yes, he called me,” you huffed, dragging your bike off of the road. You laid it in the grass and turned back to Steve, panting. “He called you, too?”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Why did he call you?”

“I would assume for the same reason as you, Steve,” you ground out. 

His face flattened. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Steve stared at you and suddenly you realized he was panting, too- the lean lines of his chest rising and plummeting. His hair was curlier than usual. It fell around his eyes in a relaxed way, like you could tell he woke up and dragged his fingers through it while he was on the phone. 

“What?” he blurted. 

“What do you mean, what?”

“What are you looking at?”

“What? Nothing.”

He watched you for a few moments more and then dropped his head into his hands, rattling his skull. “Fuck me,” he muttered. Exhausted, and something else tense. Tense, all the time. You weren’t used to there being this much tension anywhere in your life. You probably weren’t supposed to hear that to begin with. 

Your heart leapt into your throat. “Did you see Dustin?”

“No. But nobody’s here. I-” Steve put his hands on his hips and breathed out in no particular direction. 

“What?” you asked. Softer than before. 

“You… Can you stay here, please?” he said. He took a tiny step toward Dustin’s porch, waving a hand in front of you like you were an animal to be tamed. 

That old, familiar part of you longed to just do as he pleased. And then you remembered that night in the woods, by the bus- how Steve had gone out by himself. How he could have died. 

“That’s not…” you started. “I’ll come with you.”

He immediately rubbed his eyes. “Byers-”

“Don’t-” you started before you could stop. Then- “Can we check on him now, please?”

One hand lingered near his ear, frozen. All he did was nod. A distant zap of heat lightning flashed behind him and thunder cracked, the bare bones of a summer storm. He caved. And in true Dustin fashion, when you knocked- three windows lit up with light, something rolled down the stairs, and the door flew open like a baseball bat swung backwards. 

Steve’s arm shot out in front of you. 

“Oh, thank God,” Dustin heaved. “You heard me?”

You glanced down at Steve’s arm where it hovered still as he spoke. “Yeah, man, are you alright? What the hell was that?”

“There was a car parked outside my house. Someone watching me. And the phone was barely working.”

“Your phone never works,” Steve huffed. You almost smiled at the thought of them calling each other. “Did you see who was in the car?”

Dustin’s face fell. “No. But it was creepy, I’m telling you.”

All this for nothing, you thought. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” you asked. “Nothing happened?”

“No, nothing happened, but something could have happened.”

“Don’t say that, Henderson,” Steve murmured. 

“It’s true!”

“Stop,” Steve snapped. “Alright?”

They argued for a few moments more. You watched from behind, Steve’s jaw golden in the dim porch light. He looked taller; you realized. And he was less cocky than you remembered, but more sharp. Stubborn. 

Once Dustin was finally convinced the car outside of his house was just a neighbor, he shut Steve out like a solicitor, and said to you- “You can come inside if you want, Y/N.”

Steve chuckled once, short and bitter. 

You bit back a triumphant grin. “That’s alright. My mom is probably worried.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Steve glanced at you. Dustin shut the door. As you made your way down the porch steps, Steve close behind you, your feet sped up to get away from the warmth that radiated off of him. He was so hard to ignore. 

“Be safe driving home,” you said to him. Like instinct. As you grabbed your bike, he said- 

“No. Absolutely not.”

“What are you talking about?”

He popped the trunk of his car, motioning dramatically to the space inside. “Put your bike in the car, I’ll take you home.”

Your heart thumped in your ears “You don’t have to do that.”

“You can’t bike home. You’re wearing slippers. It’s dark.”

“I made it here in slippers and the dark.”

“Yeah, and that was stupid, too.” 

Your mouth fell open. He locked eyes with you suddenly, and the look on your face seemed to sting him. “Byers-”

“Stop it!” you huffed, so quiet you were grateful he probably couldn’t hear it. In the dark, it was hard to tell what way he was looking at you. His stance was imposing, though- leaned onto the side of the car, his long shadow stretching down the road. 

Oh. 

You looked back at the car. In the dark it appeared almost black, but through the thin reflection of Dustin’s porch light on the hood, you could see what it was. Burgundy. And a BMW- just like the one that had parked next to you at the Snow Ball. 

“Still there?” Steve prodded. Gently. 

Off balance and a little perplexed, you hauled onto the bike. “I’ll be fine. Thank you for offering.”

“I wasn’t really off-”

Thunder cracked once more. And ridiculously on time, a drop of rain landed on your nose. 

As it picked up speed, Steve snorted. Actually snorted. 

“Shut up,” you huffed, climbing haphazardly off the bike. 

“Need help?”

“No, I do not.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know if that mumu is hard to work around, or anything.”

You glanced down at your wet t-shirt. It was borrowed from Jonathan, longer than your knees. But-

“It’s not a mumu,” you snapped, rolling the bike at him. He stopped it with his knee before you could hit him with it and rang the bell once. A small smile rippled over his face at the sound. 

“That's sweet,” he murmured. 

Your stomach churned the way it always did when Steve spoke. Without acknowledging the comment he picked up the bike and lifted it into the trunk, those corded veins on his forearms flexing. You watched him for longer than was normal before ducking into the passenger’s seat. 

He left the radio off while you drove. The storm picked up further the closer you got to the forest, wind swaying the car. Your hands shook in your lap. Steve’s hand drifted to the gearshift just as a bolt of thunder roared overhead. Flinching, you seized it. 

“Ow!” he yowled. “Jesus.”

“Sorry!” you blurted. “Sorry. That was stupid.”

You recoiled instantly, but he intertwined his fingers with yours in mid-air as you pulled it away.

“You don’t like storms?” he asked, eyes clear on the road. 

You swallowed hard and stared at your hands, clenched together above the middle console before letting them land there softly. 

“No, they’re fine,” you lied. Quiet. 

“I don’t mind them too much.” His eyes flicked to you in the rearview mirror, wide and soft. He almost seemed to frown at your expression. “Usually.”

You were both quiet again. His grey shirt was black with rain, sticking to the hard plane of his chest in odd places. The storm smacked against the car, and you felt like you were inside of a fishbowl, trapped but safe. Warm air from the vents grazed over your cheeks. Very, very slowly, Steve started drawing small circles into your palm with his thumb.

“I bet Erica will come in tomorrow,” he said. “To Scoops.”

When he talked this soft, it made you dizzy. The trapped feeling in your chest thawed, melting away into exhaustion. You kept your eyes on his thumb as it moved, drawing bigger circles now. 

“Of course she will,” you muttered. He laughed, and you smiled despite yourself. “She comes in every day.”

“But tomorrow, specifically,” Steve said. “Tomorrow-”

Thunder cracked. You flinched, but he gripped your hand before it could move. 

“Tomorrow,” he continued unphased, “is Saturday. She always comes at noon on Saturdays.”

Your heart was beating so fast you thought it might claw out of your chest, but your eyelids were drooping. 

“I’ve not worked on a Saturday yet,” you mumbled. 

“They’re not great,” he grimaced, his voice pointed. “But, uh…you’ll be good. Don’t worry about it.”

You blinked hard and said, “You’re trying to distract me.”

His lips flattened. “You just proved it’s not working, so thank you.”

“I’ve seen your tally chart.”

He frowned. “Say that again?”

“On the whiteboard,” you whispered. “For the girls.”

The inhale he was taking paused, his chest going still. His grip remained tight on your hand. 

Inside Scoops Ahoy, beside the counter, there was a chart keeping track of all the girls Steve had tried to pick up inside the parlor that summer. Apparently he wasn’t doing very well, but you still didn’t like to look at it. 

His lips quirked into the tiniest smile, like he was going to make a joke about it. Then the ruse fell and his head ticked to the left slightly, brows crossing. He leaned his head back against the seat with that familiar solemn gaze. 

“That was, uh…” he intoned softly. Pensive and nervous. Not like before. “Before you came in, Byers.”

For once, you didn’t complain. As you opened your mouth to say, it’s still there, Steve inhaled sharply. 

“Y/N,” he corrected himself. “Y/N. Sorry.”

A dull pain sat on your chest. Dejection. You had wanted so many times for him to stop calling you that, but now you missed it. 

Steve’s hand went limp in yours, like he would let go if you wanted. You moved your index finger over this thumb and pushed it into the center of your palm again. His gaze flicked back and forth from the road to your hands as he drove. 

After a moment, he started rubbing circles into your skin again. You exhaled as he sucked in a breath. 

. . . 

In a shocking turn of events, Erica came to Scoops Ahoy at noon the next day. 

While there, Dustin employed her to search the air vents of Starcourt. He found a keycard belonging to the ‘Russians’ (the only name you had for them), but without going through the ducts, there was no way to open the door you scoped out the night before at Imperial Panda. For the price of free ice cream for life, she agreed. 

The door led to a tiny room filled with boxes. The walls were metal, cold and sterile. They seemed to grow smaller the longer you searched, rifling through boxes and tripping over packing peanuts. 

A flash of green poked out from behind the cardboard as you ripped open another box. You leaned back instantly. Inside were a few large vials of emerald liquid, bubbling and molten. With a strained neck, you looked over your shoulder. 

“Dustin?” Your voice was nervous. 

Steve looked up instead. “What?”

Erica wrinkled up her nose from a few inches away as Dustin trampled over and leaned into the box. 

“Do you know what it is?” you asked. 

“No,” he shook his head. “Weird.”

Robin grimaced. “I don’t like it.”

Unprompted, your left foot flinched up, the right one following. The floor vibrated. Robin flattened herself against the wall in front of you, and Dustin dropped to his knees. 

The entire room jolted to the right. Behind you, the box of green vials tipped over, spilling all over the floor. You sucked in a wheezing breath, and Steve lurched forward, reaching to grab your elbow. He tripped instead, and you caught him, holding him up by the flat, hard front of his shoulders. You felt him go stiff. 

“Steve,” you hissed, staring at the floor beneath him. “Move your foot.”

Air whooshed over your heads as the room started moving. Down, and fast. 

“Open the door!” Dustin screeched. “Open it! Steve!”

“I can’t get to it, Henderson-”

“Steve,” you bit. And then Robin shouted- “Steve!” 

“Stop!” Steve shouted. “God! All of you, stop it!”

Ignored, you let go of his shoulders and he clattered to the floor, cursing. But the glass vial beneath his shoe rolled away unscathed- your original goal. He shot you a frazzled glare as the room turned elevator barreled down the shaft until it reached an ungraceful landing.

Where the hell are we?

For a few breaths, all of you stared at each other. Stunned. Then you clambered to your feet and began foraging for packing peanuts, tossing them back into boxes and repacking the green vial that Steve nearly shattered. 

“What are you doing?” he breathed. 

“We need to make these look like they weren’t opened.”

Everyone worked, Dustin unable to be quiet, Erica yelling at him for yelling. Eventually the boxes looked almost untouched, and the five of you climbed onto the ceiling of the elevator, lingering in the shafts. Hiding. 

When the elevator doors slid open a few minutes later, you sucked in a breath. Steve’s hand jolted up, and he lifted a finger to his lips. Shh. 

You stared at each other, wide eyed. Panic coursing through you. Thinking about how insane it was that just a year ago, you could hardly meet his gaze. It was still difficult, but now, you forced yourself to do it.

As the soldiers gathered the boxes, Steve crouched to his knees on the elevator ceiling. They left. As the doors shut behind them, he jumped down and grabbed a vial of the green goo and slid it into the opening. 

It held. The four of you clambered down, ducking into the basement corridor. Just as your foot crossed the threshold over the elevator, the vial broke, glass shattering. 

Steve looped his hands under your armpits and yanked you forward. You doubled over his arm at first, folded like a lawn chair. The doors twitched shut. In front of them, green liquid seeped out of the broken vial and burned a hole through the floor like acid. Robin and Dustin murmured to themselves across the hall; the goo looks like promethium, and Erica replied;  like the jelly?

No, Dustin snapped. Not petroleum. Promethium. 

“You saved my foot earlier,” Steve remarked, lifting you until you stood. Then he dropped his hands down on your shoulders and examined you, unblinking. “Good?”

Your heart beat all over your skin. 

“Good,” you managed. “Thank you.”

He made no proper gesture, but let go and said- “You pay attention, I help.”

Your head snapped towards him before you could stop it. He remembered that? And surprisingly enough, as you snuck down the hallway of a state enemy’s secret base, you were grinning. Switching frontmen as you walked, the five of you eventually made it to a small room with a glass door, something molten looming behind it. Hidden behind bulletproof glass. 

There was a crack in the wall, tall as a house, red as lava. Sparking and sputtering. A gate to the Upside Down. 

“Shit,” Dustin murmured. 

You wasted no time. Dustin and Erica climbed back into the vents and fled, leaving the three of you- too tall to crawl inside- behind. 

“Hey!” a soldier screamed. The three of you whirled, caught. Trapped. There was nothing you could do other than submit. Steve tried to fight the next soldier that came along- the Commander- and failed miserably. Though he did try. 

The soldier threw a punch and broke open the soft skin beneath Steve’s left eye. He cursed, and you lunged forward, quickly warded off by the waving of a gun in your face. Steve lunged for it, and one of the soldiers brought their boot down on his back. He gasped against the floor. Fire snaked up your spine.

It happened so fast you hardly experienced it. When they demanded to know who you were, you refused to tell. Steve glared hard enough you thought it might bore a hole in the man’s forehead, but even that failed. The Commander threatened to rip out Steve’s fingernails next, and you could tell from the look in Robin’s eyes that she would break. You could hardly blame her. 

The Commander grabbed the back of your head to snap at you. A sharp sting shot down your spine. Steve’s voice cut through the air like a knife- “No!” 

Something sharp dug into the soft skin beneath your jaw, and you winced. Like a needle- it was a needle. A syringe flashed before your eyes. The back of Steve’s hand flinched against yours, like he was reaching for you, but instead, you both collapsed. Robin was close behind. You felt Steve's fingers twitch, curling in on air where he thought there would be your skin. Then, darkness. 

. . . 

You dreamt about a presentation Steve gave in chemistry. 

There was only one project the two of you worked on alone, and it was the first project of the year. You barely knew each other at that point, and you were relieved to be working by yourself rather than with Steve Harrington. At some point, you knew you would have to suck it up and talk to him. But you weren’t ready yet. He was intimidating. 

It was supposed to be an easy-A, something Miggins didn’t assign very often. The premise was simple: present factual information on any sub-topic of chemistry which interests you. You chose electrochemistry; the study of how electrons move. 

You were sitting beside Steve at your lab table, still a healthy distance away. All of your note cards were in your hands- ten of them- and you flicked the tops of the cards nervously, knee bouncing. The project was easy, but the presentation was your own personal nightmare. 

“How many notecards do you have?” 

You glanced up and then over, unsure if he was speaking to you. This was the first time he had even looked at you, you thought. Steve waited expectantly, leaned back in the seat, arms crossed over his chest. 

You shifted. “Just…a few.”

“That’s an entire stack.”

You laughed soundlessly, surprised. “I need them.”

“Wooow,” he drawled. “You didn’t memorize your presentation?”

Nerves struck you like lightning. “Were we supposed to?” Steve shrugged, and you leaned forward onto the desk. “Did you?”

“Of course,” he scoffed, like you should have known. You made a face at him, and he frowned. “Don’t look at me like that.”

You laughed again. The corners of his lips tilted up just slightly, a crescent but not quite a smile. There and gone. 

“Harrington,” Miggins called. “You’re up.”

Steve made a very serious face. “Watch and learn,” he whispered. 

Then he strode to the front of the room, cast the class a gummy smile, and delivered the absolute stupidest speech you had ever heard in your entire life. 

“Oh, and also, something else interesting is that sound moves faster underwater than in the air. Like, at least four times faster. Doesn’t really make sense to me because I thought it would have moved slower, but I guess not. It’s wild.” Then he glanced at Miggins and said- “Am I at time?”

“You are well over time,” Miggins murmured. And then- “Mr. Harrington…you are aware that the speed of sound is a physics topic, not a chemistry topic. Correct?”

Steve’s smile remained, but he wrinkled up the bottom of his face just enough that you knew it hurt.

“Great. Awesome,” he said sincerely. Quiet laughter rang through the classroom, his friends red-faced in the front row. 

Miggins scowled. “Sit down, Steve.”

And he did. You said nothing as he slid in beside you, his chair a few inches closer than before. Your knee continued to bounce until he leaned over and whispered-

“See? Nothing to be nervous about.”

You glanced over as Miggins eyes scanned over the class roster, knowing your name would come next. Steve flattened his lips.

“You can’t do any worse than mine."

You laughed softly but audibly and clapped a hand over your mouth, embarrassed. Lighter. The arrogant crescent grin on Steve’s face grew into a smile; a real one, with teeth. The most beautiful smile you had ever seen, and you were in love with him. Just like that. 

Doomed. Always, you were. From the start. 

. . .

You woke up in a car. 

The seats were familiar to you, fuzzy and worn. You ran your fingers over them slowly until the feeling returned to your palms, tingly and dull, but not numb. Your eyes fluttered open and seared with sunlight. Flashes of green blinked by you, ember rectangles and a few blocks of black and yellow. 

Oh. The road. You were driving through the forest. 

“Honey!”

Someone beside you gasped. Joyce. You looked over and relief washed over you like a wave, the knot in your throat unfurling as she jerked the car over to the side of the road. She wrapped her arms around your head and squeezed, your nose flat to her shoulder. 

“Oh, baby, how do you feel?” she mewled. 

“Fine,” your voice cracked. Sharp. “Where…where are we?”

“The interstate, baby. We’re almost home.”

“Where were we?”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, good. You don’t remember.”

“Remember what?” And then- “No, I remember. The basement. The gate, and the Russians.” You scowled at the name. It sounded so stupid every time you said it. Yes, we are being hunted by Russians. 

Not anymore. Joyce caressed your cheek softly, cupping your skin. Your hand shot up and you grabbed hers. 

“Where’s everybody else? Where’s Will?”

“Everybody is okay, sweetie. Everybody.” 

Her lips flattened, like she had told a lie and couldn’t stand it. Fear strummed at your every nerve like a guitar. The car seemed to spin. A whole day- just lost to you. What happened while you were out? 

“What about Steve? Where’s Steve?” you demanded. 

“Fine, honey. He’s fine. He called for you.” She made a face. “More than once.”

“Where is he?” 

“At home, I think.”

At home? 

“How long has it been?” you whispered. 

“Just a day,” Joyce replied softly. “Whatever they gave you, you just had a bad reaction to it. We’ve been at the hospital, but you’re fine.” Your eyes widened. “Oh, don’t panic, sweetheart. I promise, you’re fine now.”

“No, it’s just- Steve had a…a black eye. Do you know where Robin is?”

“The girl with the blonde hair? Yeah, she’s…she’s fine, honey. Everybody…they’re fine.”

Joyce’s eyes welled up with tears. Everybody. She was lying. 

“Mom,” you whispered. “What is it?”

Her face crumpled, like she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “It’s, um…Hopper, baby. Hopper is gone.”

“Oh, mom…”

Your stomach sunk like a stone, heavy and hurtful. You tilted your head at her and cried, wrapping your arms around her neck and pulling her head towards you. Joyce was Joyce- she only let herself weep for a few moments before leaning back, drying her tears. 

“I’m just glad my babies are okay,” she whispered tearfully. 

. . . 

You were carrying a box outside when his car pulled up. 

He stopped early, like he saw you and slammed on the brakes. You couldn’t quite see his eyes through the glint against the windshield, but you both had to be staring. Frozen. A tiny frame came up beside you and threw up a hand to the sun. 

“Steve?” El asked. 

“Uh…yeah,” you nodded, perplexed yourself. “Yes.”

She glanced up at you, squinted, and said- “Hm.”

“I called him but he didn’t…” you started, then trailed off. El was dealing with far worse things than you and complaining about the endless Steve-saga seemed inconsiderate. She glanced back at his car and sniffed, blaring sunlight beating down on both of your backs. 

“Jonathan will not like it,” she said. 

You turned to look at her but she was gone already, strolling nonchalantly back into the house. A smile crept onto your face. It would be nice, you realized. To have a sister. 

“Hey.”

Again you turned, this time with a lurching panic in your throat. Steve blinked at you in the sun as he walked up the driveway, his eye swollen like an apple that had been dropped one too many times. 

“Oh my god, Steve.” It gushed out of you before you could stop it. “That’s bad.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s not what I meant!” you said, taking a step closer. “Does it hurt?” 

He shrugged. “Meh.”

His hair was styled in its regular immaculate fashion, so he must have been feeling somewhat alright. Your chest ached. He wore that jacket, the blue one you loved. 

You couldn’t help the frown on your face. “I’m so sorry.”

His brows furrowed. “What? Why?”

“That I couldn’t help,” you started, unsure of how to say what you meant. “After…at Starcourt. Didn’t they inject you, too?”

He was quiet for a moment. The wind blew a strand of hair into his eyes, but he let it stay there, blinking at you. 

“Uh, yeah,” he perked up suddenly. “Yeah, they did.”

“It didn’t knock you out?” 

“No. No, it just…made me dizzy. But you were fine for a few…”

He paused, putting his hands on his hips and then holding one out to you in question. 

“You don’t remember? Any of it?”

Your brows flicked together. “No, not at all. I guess that’s good, isn’t it?”

He looked at you like it hurt. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, that’s really good. I’m glad.”

“Was it scary?”

He scoffed. “Very.”

A tentative grin crept onto your face. “Well, what did I miss?”

He was answering all of your questions slowly, the wheels in his brain turning visibly behind his eyes. Thoughtful. Careful. 

“Not much,” he shrugged. Then, sobered- “You were awake for a while after, actually. We were all pretty out of it. Robin, too.”

Your stomach dropped. “Oh, god.”

“What?” he laughed softly, shoulders lifting. 

“Did I say anything?” Then, realizing how obvious you were being- “Just, anything weird. At all.”

He took a long breath. Leaned forward, and drove his heel into the dirt a little. 

“Nope,” he breathed out. Eyes on the ground. “You were, uh…the closest to normal.”

“No way,” you joked. 

He smiled weakly. “Yep.”

You assumed his hesitance resulted from a general disdain for speaking to you. After all, you had called him the day you got out of the hospital, and left a message, and he hadn’t gotten back to you. Just like Snow Ball, all over again. This time it hurt less, but more in a thousand other ways. 

You stared at each other. He was a healthy distance away, and yet, his presence in front of you was like a wall; encompassing you, keeping you safe. He had always made you feel safe. You needed to let go of that. 

His eyes dropped to the box in your hands.

“What’s that for?”

Tears pricked at your eyes suddenly. He struck a chord. Stop it. 

“We’re, um…we’re moving.” And you would know that if you picked up the phone. 

He poked his head out. “What?” 

“Yeah,” you nodded, laughing a bit to try and smooth out the air between you. “To Lenora Hills.”

“Lenora- where…where is that?”

“California.”

His hand flew up to his hair, tugging. He laughed once like a cry. 

“You’re joking.”

You shook your head, wrinkling your nose up. “Nope.”

“Oh, Byers,” he groaned, long and comedically bitter. “Fuck.”

The nickname sent a shock wave down your spine. He leaned over a bit and put his hands on his knees, grimacing. You took a tiny step closer, setting the box down. 

“Steve?”

He shook his head. “Just…um.”

And you stood there. Waiting. When he looked up, you were looking down, with the most genuine concern anyone had probably ever looked at him with. 

He shot up like a rocket. Before you even had time to think about what he was doing or be afraid of it, he had his arms around your waist, squeezing hard. You sucked in a breath that sounded more like a wheeze. There was no space left between the two of you, no room for embarrassment or hesitance. 

His fingers threaded gently into your hair until he was holding your head. Then he tipped it forward, trying to fit you into the crook of his neck. You dropped your forehead there without even thinking about it. Two puzzle pieces, finally locked in. His chest was hard against you, heart beating against your jaw. He had stopped breathing. He was warm; like coffee in the morning, like the first wave of somniferous heat that comes out of a car vent in the winter. 

I knew it; you thought. 

He let go and cold air enveloped you, the Sun a dull star. 

“Robin will miss you,” he strained.  

You gawked at him. Tears welled in your eyes. What was this, what was he doing? What happened while you were drugged? What happened after?

“That’s sweet,” you managed. 

“And Dustin.” 

A tear rolled down your cheek. You jolted forward, awful déjà vu rushing over you. Last time you cried in front of him, he bolted. 

Steve sighed like something had punctured his lung and tilted his head. 

“You should, uh, get back to packing,” he said. Like he was setting you free. From what?

“We’re not leaving until tonight,” you said hopefully. He made a small noise; a pained exhale. Like this was even worse than he imagined. 

“Drive safe. And, uh…I’ll miss you too.” He looked down. “You know.”

You wanted to scream at him. Open your mouth and beg, call his name a thousand times over. You had learned by now that- no matter how unsure of his feelings you were- he at least came when you called. Always. 

You opened your mouth. He looked up, expectant. Desperate. 

A ribbon of anger wrapped around your ribs. Humiliation. But not familiar. What happened at the Snow Ball made sense to you. But this, this made no sense at all. 

“Okay,” you choked out. “I’ll miss you too, Steve.”

He turned around unnaturally. Instantly, like he had to, and walked back to the BMW. You watched him get in the car and put the key in the ignition, solemn and fast. When he backed out, you stepped forward, taking a few tiny steps down the driveway as he reversed and pulled out onto the road. 

When his car disappeared into the forest, you broke down on the porch, sobbing. You couldn’t go inside- it was too busy. All you could do was stare at his footprints in the dirt. Just like the first time Steve Harrington left you behind, you knew two things for sure. 

It didn’t matter if he deserved the benefit of the doubt that you once gave him, because you would continue to give it; time and time again, until it bled you dry. 

You had missed something terribly important. 

◃ ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ thank u for reading!! i forgot how wild s3 was until i sat down to write this lolol. likes/comments/reblogs/literally anything are soso appreciated and thank you for all the love on the last one i'm so glad people enjoy this story cuz i love it and i will post part 3 this coming week :)))

tags: @preciousbabypeter @meganlikesfandoms @ikkehehe @the-winter-spider @khaylin27 @floweronmoon @ilovehotdads69 @naughty-koala07 @kisskissshutmydoor @americaswritings @mayonesavegana @alexaisaflop @selfdeprecatingnerd @alainabooks143 @appocalipse

#steve harrington x reader fluff #steve harrington drabble #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader #stranger things #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader angst

[kassiekole22]

Supermassive Questions Game!!!

Hi, guys! So I decided to make this game because I always really love hearing other people's thoughts and opinions on these games. If you want, be sure to tag your friends to keep this going! 😃

I'll go first, but I'll place a blank one under mine for the people who play after me. Have fun! 🖤 (Also, explanations to answers are optional.)

》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《

Games You've Played (In Order): House Of Ashes, The Quarry, The Devil In Me, Until Dawn.

Favorite Game: Until Dawn (Great writing, amazing twists, loveable characters is what did it for me.)

Least Favorite Game: The Quarry (The fact that relationship decisions don't actually amount to anything, any little bearing we got was pointless and we got fuck all of an ending just makes me feel like the whole thing is pointless.)

Favorite Character From Each Game: Josh, Jason, Abi, Erin.

Least Favorite Character From Each Game: Emily, Rachel, Emma, Charlie.

Favorite Character Overall: Josh (Possibly just me being biased. 😂 But I do love his character and story a lot though — especially his humor. And I'm a sucker for a tragic story as well. 😂)

Least Favorite Character Overall: Charlie (Just an overall dick, in my opinion. And he annoyed the absolute hell out of me.)

Favorite Ships:

Chris and Ashley (Just fucking adorable! 💖)

Mike and Sam (They had great chemistry and I really enjoyed seeing them together in the last chapter.)

Matt and Jess (There is something about these two together that just... Works for me, y'know?)

Rachel and Clarice (Clarice just seemed to bring out the good in Rachel. That scene with just the two was the only time I actually liked Rachel in the game.)

Erin and Jamie (There was something about those two that was just so cute. And the part where they kiss for the first time melted my damn heart! The whole soft cinnamon roll/tough bitch dynamic gets me a lot too. 😂)

Least Favorite Ships:

Chris and Josh (Chris was head over heels for Ashley and Josh was CLEARLY very into girls so I don't really get it that much.)

Josh and Sam (Yeaaaaaaaah... They are just like water and oil, ok? I don't think they would actually mix well as a couple. 😂 And Sam belongs with Mike anyway. 💖)

Emily and Jess (Just not a fan. I don't know why.)

Jason and Salim (Another one I don't get that much. I used to ship them a long time ago because it was so popular, but then I realized that it just didn't make much sense to me so I stopped. I mean, one of the chapters about them is literally called "Brothers" so that just makes me think that that's the relationship the devs were aiming for with those two.)

Rachel and Eric/Rachel and Nick (If you played the game, you know my reasons. 😂)

Any characters with Du'met (Just not a really big fan of it at all. Doesn't make much sense to me neither.)

(I've only played Until Dawn, House Of Ashes, The Quarry and The Devil In Me. So that's why the list is without other ships from other games. But I'm not adding any of The Quarry ships to this list because it seemed like nothing came out of the relationship decisions and I didn't enjoy the characters as much so I tend to ignore ships from that game.Also, no hate towards the people who ship the ones I listed as least favorite. To each their own.)

Dr. Hill Or The Curator Or Eliza: Hmmmmmm... Probably Dr. Hill. (He was more creatively written than the others, in my opinion.)

Wolfie Or Connie: Fuck, I should have thought this through before writing it down. 🤣 Although I LOVE Connie with all my heart, Wolfie did get more screentime which led me to have a bit more of an attachment to him. So I'll have to go with Wolfie.

And most importantly—

Favorite Version Of O'Death: The Dark Pictures Anthology theme for sure!

Least Favorite Version Of O'Death: Though I didn't play the games, I heard the ones for Man Of Medan and Little Hope and I just wasn't a fan.

So those are my answers! I hope you guys have as much fun as I did doing this. And also, no hate towards the people who like the games/characters/ships that I don't. To each their own. 💖

So anyway, the blank one is down below. ⬇️

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Games You've Played:

Favorite Game:

Least Favorite Game:

Favorite Character From Each Game:

Least Favorite Character From Each Game:

Favorite Character Overall:

Least Favorite Character Overall:

Favorite Ships:

Least Favorite Ships:

Dr. Hill Or The Curator Or Eliza:

Wolfie Or Connie:

And most importantly—

Favorite Version Of O'Death:

Least Favorite Version Of O'Death:

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#supermassive games #dark pictures anthology #until dawn #the quarry #man of medan #little hope #house of ashes #the devil in me #tag game

[bluedalliances]

Or read it on ao3, that's cool too <3

When it becomes evident that the end of the world won’t be a one night event, but a slow burn catastrophe, domesticity starts sneaking back into everyone’s lives. At first is subtle, someone sleeps in one morning, the older teenagers open a few beers under the sun, and Max’s laugh, loud as always, can be heard from the street. They need the small things, silly little pleasures that keep them from going absolutely insane while they wait for hell’s next move.

In those moments, Will realizes, the headquarters (Steve’s place) feel like an actual home for everyone.

His mom and Mrs. Henderson start knitting together on the couch. They say it’s because they’re going to need extra blankets if the situation extends into winter, but they spend most of the time talking and trying to teach anyone vaguely interested how to use the needles.

Soon after, Max decides it’s the perfect time to show more stuff to El, and Dustin jumps into it immediately. He picks a corner in the living room and makes a small but extremely organized archive with all their comics, books, movies, and tapes.

Even if everyone is leaving their favorite things there, Will is afraid there will be no place for his interests. After moving to California, he had gotten more and more into world building and fantasy, writing and illustrating all the campaigns he once would have shared with his friends. However, last time he saw any of them, they had been less than interested in games, monsters, or stories. And sure, they had been playing at Hellfire all year, but he still can't shake the memory of Mike’s bored rolls and Lucas’s amused look, like he was trying to indulge a child with his silly games even if he wanted to make fun of him, or the way they would cut every session short, never getting to finish their last campaign.

In the end, it’s Gareth who gives him the push he needed. One afternoon, the boy knocks at his bedroom door, looking nervous and rambling about how he thought maybe Will would like to put his D&D books next to his and Eddie’s ones, but of course he doesn't have to, it was just an idea because everyone said Will was a great DM and filled his books with notes and that sounds really cool, you know? They end up talking for hours while they go through whatever the others left and add Will's stuff to it.

It's an odd collection, and now there’s always someone showing something to El or fighting to be the one who does, but also going through the homemade library themselves, listening or talking about their own interests, as they realize they can share everything they love with the others. They even bring the older ones as “guests” to talk about different things. Jonathan and Eddie introduce them to punk, metal, and poetry, Nancy brings her scrapbook of “inspiring women of history”, Steve shows them his favorite romcoms and explains which things actually happen in real life and which ones they should never put up with, Argyle and Gareth go on a long discussion about the merits of Latin American music and their favorite protest songwriters, and Robin explains the use of idioms and sarcasm. At first, they extend the invitation to everyone, but have to put a quick stop to it when Joyce tries to give them the most awkward attempt of a bees and birds talk. Later that night, Will tells her that Steve made sure they knew everything they needed to a while ago, and immediately makes her swear to never do something like that again.

As the sight of small groups gathering in the living room becomes an everyday thing, Steve picks up baking again. That one involves a short talk between Hopper and Owens, where Jim ever so subtly informs him that while his kids might have lost everything, they will not be losing the joy of their hobbies, specially if they involve chocolate. After that, there’s always a “Steve” package in their government-provided supply boxes, and the house starts smelling like cinnamon and lemons all the time. Everyone loves it, especially Eddie. It doesn't matter how early you wake up, you can find him in the same spot on the counter every morning, holding a cup of coffee and smiling in silence as Steve makes breakfast for everyone.

The last thing to come is Eddie’s campaign.

What he planned to be a simple one shot to entertain everyone on a rainy day, quickly turned into a six-week adventure that now is close to its end. They finally found the BBEG, an undead wizard that’s behind decades of hardships in the reign, and are close to defeating them, but also close to death. Lucas is down, Dustin and Mike are paralyzed, and even if Will hasn't rolled below 17 all night and Erica’s Barbarian is a force to behold, they are in trouble. Gareth has been getting shitty rolls all night, and he’s the only one left before it’s the Lich’s turn. If he fails, Eddie will attack Will, it’s the logical thing to do, and facing such a dangerous monster without a cleric would inevitably end up in TPK.

“Let's face it, I can't do it, we’re all gonna die,” says Gareth as he buries his face under his hands.

Will pats him on the shoulder and tries to ignore the tingling that spreads from his fingertips when they graze on skin over the neckline of Gareth’s shirt. “We’re not gonna die, you got this,” he goes for a smile, but is pretty sure it comes out all wrong and stiff.

Gareth meets his eyes, barely leaving his hiding place, but before he can do anything else Mike interrupts.

“No, he’s right, we’re gonna die.”

Everyone turns to glare at him. There have been long talks lately about the way things are said within The Party and how they can be hurtful.

“What?” Mike looks around the table, suddenly defensive. “The highest he rolled today is an eleven! It’s okay, it happens to everyone from time to time, I’m not trying to be an asshole here.”

Gareth sighs, and Will is pretty sure he’s ripping out his own hair with the way he’s pulling at it.

 “He’s right, guys. I guess I really upset the Fates this time.” Even if it starts in an overdramatic tone, playful and filled with the group's usual drama, he suddenly sits straight and turns to Eddie. “Do you think it’s because I didn’t let that Demodog eat Biscuit? Maybe his life was supposed to end that day and now they'll punish me for ruining their plans.”

He’s so serious about it that Will can't stop the laugh that escapes him, and a second later everyone follows. Even Steve, watching next to Max from the couch, lets out an amused snort. Leave it to Gareth to make a world out of a few unlucky rolls.

“Don't laugh, this is serious!” By now, Gareth actually heard himself and is fighting to keep a straight face. In his last attempt to keep himself from laughing, he goes back to his theatrics, whining and pouting. “Will, you’ve been doing great today, tell the Fates I’m a nice guy, share your luck with me.”

“You want guidance? Can I guide him for this?”

He’s looking at Eddie now, but two answers come at once, one from the DM, the other one by his side.

“This is not an ability check.”

“Sure, give me a good luck kiss.”

Even if he says it lightly, Will turns to him so fast, a twinge of pain runs up his neck. Silence falls around the table and he can feel everyone’s eyes on them. Gareth looks shocked by his own words as his face fills with red, and Will would find it cute if he wasn’t so sure he looked the same.

“You know what? I'm feeling generous.” Eddie’s stunned expression turns into a gleeful grin. Mischief takes over his eyes, and Will realizes this is the mean DM everyone talks about. The sight quickly finds its way to his top five most scary experiences and, considering their history, that's not a small achievement. “I’ll allow it as a blessing, if you actually kiss Gareth”.

As soon as he says it, hell breaks loose around them. Everyone wants to have a say in this.

Will should’ve expected that. During their first session, he discovered that, with Eddie, role-playing beats every rule in the book. Truthful to his theater kid nature, he’ll allow anything if it makes the game exciting. And exciting it is, if the fluttering of Will’s heart is something to go by.

As everyone laughs and yells and argues around them, he looks at Gareth and finds him already staring.

“You don’t have to”, the older boy says. “Eddie doesn't realize he makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but he won't press if you say no.”

Will thinks about it for a second. He could say no, and no one would give him shit for it, but he needs to know. Even if it’s not the time and everyone’s looking, even if he’s scared to death, he needs to know if he needs to rip these fluttering feelings apart before they grow too big and dangerous.

Is this a rosebush or a baobab?, he wants to ask.

But thoughts need translation sometimes, so he says, “Would it make you uncomfortable?”

“Kissing you?”

As Will nods, he sees Gareth’s eyes falling to his lips and back to his eyes. A small smile is taking over his face, hesitatingly, and Will’s not nervous anymore. He knows that smile, it’s the same one he sees before Gareth hands him a cup of tea and the last of Steve’s cookies, as he asks him about his campaign ideas or listens to his honestly annoying rant about the pros and cons of choosing the Moon Circle as a Druid.

It’s a familiar smile, kind and welcoming.

He’s already getting closer when Gareth finally says, “never”.

At some point, everyone went silent again and now they’re waiting for a show.

“Whenever I look at you, I see the fire of your bloodline, Gareth the Great.” Will cups Gareth's cheek and leans in until their noses are touching. He doesn't make his character’s voice this time. He wants Gareth to know this is all him. “When you speak, I feel the warmth that runs through your veins, and when you stand by my side, I feel invincible. I believe in your power,” his last words are said against Gareth's lips, barely above a whisper for him to breathe in, “give him hell.”

And just like that, he does it. It’s a soft kiss, gentle and sweet, filled with untold feelings, but there’s no doubt to it, Gareth is kissing back.

“I feel very lucky right now, Will the Wise.”

As they pull apart, the world regains its shape and Will can almost hear his friends’ surprise. El is slapping Max’s arm in excitement as they giggle, and Eddie gives a smug smile to Steve. Will would see it if he had half a mind to stop looking at Gareth.

Gareth, who’s smiling and reaching for his dice without taking his eyes away from Will either.

“I cast fifth level fireball.”

Only then, he turns back to the table and rolls both dice, his own and the one given by a kiss.

The rattling against the table seems to go forever, but Will can't tear his eyes from Gareth’s face to see what’s going on. He knows it’s good when the other boy turns to him with the brightest smile he’s ever seen.

“Natural twenty, for a total of twenty-seven with Will's dice”, he announces. Everyone roars again, and the air feels alive with their excitement.

“That’d be a crit hit,” says Eddie with a proud smile, the mean DM facade falling in pieces. “Add six D6 for me.”

That’s so many dices that Gareth has to borrow a few from Will and Dustin to do it in one go.

“Ohgodohgodohgod,” says Gareth as he counts, “that’s— 68 fire damage.”

Shocked voices take over the room and Holly mother of a Demogorgon gets mixed with fuck, fuck, Gareth that’s insane and that must’ve been a really good kiss.

 “Children, children. Be silent for a minute.” Eddie stands up from his place at the head of the table and looks straight at Gareth, putting an immediate stop to the noise.

“I regret to inform you, Gareth the Great,” he says before a long pause that has everyone holding their breaths and at the edge of their seats, “that you’ll have to use that one brain cell of yours and tell me how you want to end this motherfucker.”

A grin spreads across Eddies face as the gleeful screaming comes back.

Gareth stands up and starts acting his character’s moves, one hand extended in front of this body. “You all see sparks surge from my face. They start right under Will’s fingers and travel down to my arm and hand, where a small spark of fire forms. It gets bigger as it travels through the air and you can see it's purple, just as Will's clothes. It fills the far side of the room, engulfing the Lith and turning him into ashes.”

“As the Lith turns into ashes”, Eddie takes over, “you, Gareth, hear his voice in your head. He promises to come back, to end you and your party, to make you regret ever crossing his way. But right now the fight is over, you can heal your companions and take a good night's rest. Is there anything you want to do before we wrap up for today?”

“I'm going to hug Gareth and whisper, ‘you made it’,” says Will.

“Only because of you.”

They're staring at eachother again, and Will realizes that, just for a moment, he feels no fear.

“Okay, love birds,” interrupts Erica in her character’s voice. “Let's heal mister can’t-do-anything-without-fainting and get out of here, I need a drink.”

Everyone laughs at that as Lucas complains. They still have to find the Lich’s phylactery and find out what waits for them in this adventure, but that’s a story for another day.

#greatwise #gareth the great #will the wise #they play dnd and are dorks #but they won't look at each other later #nerd smoothness only lasts as long as the game does

[abronzeagegod]

Untitled YA Novel Project Part One

Part One: The Silence Comes

The zlilfian people have many things in common with the average North American honey bee, from the gold and black hair patterns to the compound eyes and wings. One of the biggest things they have in common is not just the physical similarities, like how homo sapiens have commonalities with the great apes, but that of their social hierarchy. They have three tiers in their society, most similar to gender roles, that are that of the qiin, the political head of the Great Houses that run much of the zlilfian society, the jdargandins, the minders who watch over the internal operations of the Great Houses, and the shrar, the soldiers and laborers who do the work for the Great Houses.

Chapter 1: Adventure Missed It’s Wake Up Call

7:06 AM local time

Chicago, Algonquin State, United States of America

Justin hated waking up early for school, so it was no surprise when he rolled over in bed and saw that he had missed his alarm, sleeping through it. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, he had gotten somewhat used to the early mornings and only woke up fifteen minutes late. Mornings were the worst. Why hadn’t the administration realized that teenage students wanted nothing more than to sleep until ten, or even ten thirty.

He rolled over and just slapped at the alarm clock out of half asleep muscle memory. After stomping to the bathroom, Justin brushed his teeth with mechanical disinterest. He saw how bad his hair looked, the shaggy brown hair was all over the place from the night of restless sleep. The second he got downstairs he knew that his dad was going to tell him to comb it. Might as well get that done now. He rinsed out his mouth of the strange mint flavored toothpaste and watched the water drain slowly out of the sink before cupping his hands under the faucet and wetting down his hair.

There was something about the dreary, cold November weather, and the second year of high school that really didn’t work for Justin. He didn’t want to go to school today, and even if he was late, he couldn’t bring himself to rush. This strange liminal space between being new at high school, all eager and excited, and the stressful ‘have you decided what you are going to do with the rest of your life’ junior year, was extremely dull and not all that exciting.

He didn’t try that hard with his hair since it was a losing battle anyways, and what was really the point of caring what he looked like. He was an average high school boy. Brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin tone that he got from his mom. Screw it, it didn’t matter, it was just high school.

After throwing on his clothes that were mostly clean, Justin went downstairs where he found his dad mechanically making some coffee and toast. They didn’t greet each other aside from a small nod. Alex, Justin’s father, wasn’t any more of a morning person than his son. He was off to work soon.

Luckily, Justin didn’t hear any comments from his dad about being late, or the state of his hair, or any of the usual complaints. Which was a small mercy.

The rushed breakfast was silent and still. Justin took some of the fresh made toast, liberally covered it in butter and then some cinnamon sugar, before taking it with him. He grabbed his backpack and left the house. He was going to be late for the bus, and if there was one thing he hated it was walking to school.

He must have told his dad goodbye, because that was what he always did, but he couldn’t hear himself say it.

Justin took a few bites of the toast, and chewed. He didn’t really have many thoughts in his head as he walked down the front walkway towards the bus stop. The only thing that was really there was the observation that the house was always so quiet and empty now that his mom had left.

“Justin! Hurry up! I will leave you behind!” yelled his only friend, Mike, from the bus window as the heavy truck lumbered to a squeaking halt a few houses down from Justin’s house.

This made him stop short.

The wall of sound, the shout of Mike, the rumble of the bus, the sounds of the traffic down the street. All of a sudden it was all there. The sound. It was utterly absent from within the house. Justin realized that his house was totally silent, but not in a way that was normal in any way.

“Justin! You’re going to miss the bus,” his dad called form the driveway as he left for work. The car chirping gently as he unlocked it with the remote.

“Yeah, the bus,” Justin muttered, his dad didn’t seem concerned, or he didn’t seem to notice. It’s just that he didn’t know which was worse.

Next || More

my kofi where i post everything

#my fiction #ya bee novel #i am actively soliciting opinions on this #the first couple of chapters are designed to be deeply confusing #i'm going to start writing draft 3 sometime next week #please tell me all of your feelings as you read #i'm desperate for feedback my dudes #untitled ya novel

[julessworldd]

I was thinking for an Eddie one where maybe the reader isn't popular but she knows everyone if that makes sense and everyone's a bit confused why she wants to hang out with "the freak" but really she's just as nuts as him just quieter aha

Warnings: drugs mentioned, drug deal, cussing, Jason 😷, Steve being a complete asshole. AfaB/Buckley!reader

The reader gives me Steven Hyde vibes, just imagine a fem!Hyde

Eddie Munson was known as the freak of Hawkins also local drug dealer(depending who is talking about him). Hellfire, he was the dungeon master, Dustin, another older brother to look up to. We all know deep down, Eddie is a just cinnamon roll that’s too cute for his own good. Just no denying!

Y/n Buckley, he was her best friend, soulmate, love of her life(he don’t know it yet)! But Eddie was just in love with her as she was with him. Both are total chickens. Robin was her younger sister, she was into art, theater. Really good in every subject, just don’t really brag about it. Also was a stoner, quiet but a good listener and therapist. She had beauty like Rita Haywood, a real looker. She got asked out by everyone: Jocks, band geeks, the stoners, Steve Harrington even tried it. But no one was Eddie or even compared to him.

Y/n’s pov

Robin busted in my room as I was throwing a Runways tee on, “Roby!”, I sighed as she just the door behind her. “I was gonna see if you could take me to school? Steve has to open the store early” “That’s fine, give me a minute to finish” “Does Dustin need a ride?”, I asked zipping my jeans. “He didn’t say but probably will after”, Robin said, sitting a cassette tape down. “Drop it”, I smirked. “Robin! You forgot your uniform!”, I yelled as she tried to book into school. Nancy giggled. “Girl’s feet run faster than her brain”, I rolled my eyes. Robin blushed coming to get her stuff. “Have a good day, Robykins. I love you, go learn something”, I ruffled her hair. “Y/n stoppp!”, she whined. “Hey Y/n”, Jeff smiled as he passed. “Heyy Jeff”, I replied.

It was lunch, I was sitting next to Eddie and Gareth as they were discussing the next DnD campaign. Eddie rubbed my back as Mike was saying something about Lucas. “Over my dead body!” I heard as the group got upset. The bickering went on for a second before Eddie raised his voice. “Shut up!”, Eddie released his hand from my hair. The look in his eyes screamed anger. “Please don’t be ticked off” I thought to myself. I watched as Eddie ranted about Mike’s idea to postpone the game tonight. “Y/n graduates this year, so does Jeff, Gareth has a year and a half. Me! I’m army crawling my way to a D in Mrs. OdOnald’s class, if I don’t blow her final.” Eddie said standing up. I furrowed my brows on why me graduating had anything to do with the game. Sure I’ve played but not much this year. Eds and I play one on one sometimes, but that’s it!

“Princess?”, Eddie asked as we left the lunchroom.

“Yes, Munson?” “Would you be able to sub for Lucas?” Eddie asked. “I’m sorry but I have to take Robin to work and run errands for mom. It would be mid game before I could possibly think about stopping by”, I sighed. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Just know you can play and the boys like you. It wouldn’t mess up the routine of the game”, Eddie smiled. “Seriously, I might sneak in tonight”, I giggled. “Wonder who they’re gonna find” “Hopefully someone decent” I said.

Chrissy was dozing in History, “Chrissy”, I whispered. She jumped a little. “Sorry, you were dozing. You know how Ownens is about sleepers”, I said. “It’s okay. Thanks” she smiled. Chrissy was my childhood best friend, we went to pre k together. But high school came and the cheerleaders took her time. Now Jason Craver as well. Hope she is okay, she never sleeps in class. “Class dismissed!” I was walking towards my car, counting down to Robin running to the car. “Y/n! Wait up!”, I turned around to Chrissy running after me. “What’s up, Chrissy?” “I was wondering if you wanted to hangout soon? I miss us”, She smiled. “Sure Chrissy, just call me sometime. We’ll figure something out. You been okay?”, I asked. She nodded. “Well, have fun jumping around at practice. See ya around Chris!”, I smiled. “Y/nn!”, Dustin yelled across the parking lot.

“Eddie has done asked, Henderson!”, I yelled back. “Yes? No?” I shook my head. “Son of bitch! He’s gonna kill us”, Dustin sighed. “No he won’t!” I giggled as I seen Eddie shut his door to his van. He was going on a drug deal looked like. Dustin had waddled off. “Y/n/n”, Eddie walked over with his metal “lunchbox” “Yes Edward?”, I giggled. “You’ll never guess who I’m meeting in the woods” “The Boogyman”, I rolled my eyes. “No, Dr Loomis. Chrissy Cunningham”, Eddie said. “You are not giving her drugs, Edward! She is a good girl, she don’t need your shit”, I hit his chest. “Why not? It’s a client, one with daddy’s money”, Eddie asked. “Cause Chrissy isn’t the drug taking type, she is a little innocent. She didn’t lose her virginity until 3 months ago to Jason”, I said, giving a serious look. “Calm down, mommy. It’s just weed, you said it yourself it’s a plant, God left it for us to smoke”, Eddie smirked. “It better be just pot, if I find out it’s even laced I’m kicking your ass”, I said, grabbing his his jacket labels. Eddie rolled his eyes as Robin walked up. “I meant it, Edward!”, I yelled as he walked across the parking lot to the woods.

“What’s he doing now?”, Robin asked. “Nothing, Rob. Get in the car”, I sighed. I pulled up to Family video, Robin ran inside, zipping her vest. “Oh shit”, I noticed the tapes I needed to return. “Hey Dingus!”, I rang the bell. “I’m at the counter, Y/n”, Steve sighed. “Yeah I know, Dingus”, I giggled. “What is it?” “ I need to return these”, I laid ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘Carrie’ down “Y/n, these were due two weeks ago” Steve said. “Y/nn! I work here now, don’t your shit late now”, Robin groaned. “Fuck sorry! I’ve been busy”, I rolled my eyes. “Busy with the freak”, Steve smirked. “Didn’t know I need permission from you, Harrington. Gotta a problem?”, I lent up the counter. “No, just saying hanging out with the freak Munson isn’t an excuse. Robin works here you could have gave them to her”, Steve said. “What is your deal with him? What he isn’t a basketball jock like you, so you think he’s like gum on your shoe”, I got shakey.

“I just don’t get why you find him so fantastic? I mean he’s a repeater, drug dealer, just a freak bottom line”, Steve replied. “Maybe he’s not a prick like you. Sorry that Daddy stopped your funds until you go to college, don’t take it out on the rest of us. Here’s the money Robin, see ya later”, I rolled my eyes and slammed the door behind me. “You should have left it alone, Steve. She thinks of the world of Eddie”, Robin said.

#stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson

[frostandflamesfanfic]

Kitchen Thoughts with Steve Harrington (headcanon)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (no pronouns)

Word Count: 0.5k (yes it’s short, but it’s new content!!)

Summary: Just some late night thoughts about how King Steve can be in the kitchen. (I’m sorry, I wish this summary was better 😣)

A/N: This is actually a collab with another Tumblr writer, who I’m now fortunate enough to call a friend, @bakerstreethound. Please, for the love of everything good, check out Ace’s work. They are amazing and I’m so glad I’m able to share my obsession with you, Ace!

he wouldn’t hesitate to wrap around you from behind and give neck kisses then slow dance in the kitchen

whispering a really low “good morning” in that groggy/sleepy voice that no one could refuse

he’d also probably hold your sides and kinda rub circles against your clothes/skin while he hummed

he'd be the one to burn eggs or something, obviously

“I don’t know how it happened, babe! One minute it was fine, the next dust!!”

imagine a bunch of take-out and delivery in your future with this man

but he would somehow be able to make sweet treats that turn out okay????

like muffins. So many muffins

he probably doesn’t know when to stop baking either.

one day you just come to see him and he’s made like…..five dozen of the things 

and he just goes, “I made too much. Want some?”

then all the kids drop by to eat them or he picks them up after school and has the trunk loaded with them

he probably sneaks some muffins into your bag too, with little notes like, “I love you,” “there’s muffin I love more than you,” and other cheesy one-liners

remember how Steve eats bananas? Well, it turns into a joke that whatever he eats, he'll definitely make it into a muffin

that leads to some hella weird concoctions

like cinnamon and mango

or kiwi lime

or zucchini banana (which wasn’t too bad)

and Dustin sighs because, "Steve you have to stop."

cause he still hasn't recovered from the peanut butter and banana sandwich Steve made him for lunch

“This is an intervention, Steve!!!!!”

and you know Dustin wouldn’t sugarcoat it when Steve makes something gross

“Gross what is this shit?”

“It’s a muffin!”

“It tastes like death. Never make this again.”

does it hurt his pride when Dustin does that? Yes.

does he stop making them? Absolutely not. 

but then the kids get so tired of the muffins, he starts sneaking them in their lunch boxes just to get rid of them all

sometimes they come to you for help

which leads to your garbage always smelling like a dead bakery

at least the neighbor’s dog loves you

and when the kids are tired of finding them in their bag, they just use them as hockey pucks or something

Lucas using them in his slingshot

Max would definitely roll her eyes about it, but she secretly finds it endearing Lucas does it cause she's sick of the muffins too

eventually Dustin has to bring all the leftover food to D&D nights and Eddie likes having the food

one day Eddie just finds out that Steve made the muffins and shows up at his house asking for more muffins or something

but he'd be kinda shy about it

“So those muffins…..” 

“yeah?” 

“You uh, you have any more?”

Eddie would def twiddle his thumbs

his head would be down, too. The curls would fall into his face and he’d look up with puppy-dog-esque eyes

have we just stereotyped Steve into the muffin man? Yes.

the kids humming “do you know the muffin man” every time they see him

he's the ice cream man, which he'd be insistent about

“Robin’s the ice cream man” 

“WOMAN” 

“right. Woman” 

“for God’s sakes, Henderson…. I WAS the ice cream man!”

Mike shaking his head at how Steve can’t hold onto a single title

“Couldn’t even hold onto my sister, dude.”

“Low blow, Wheeler. Low blow.”

—————————————

Author’s Note: First headcanon done and Dustin’d! See what I…did there? Heh. Please don’t hate me. Steve Harrington has been my latest obsession and I’ve fallen for him hard. Huge thanks to Ace for helping me continue to embrace this obsession and for all of YOU little sparks for not jumping down my throat for the numerous Steve fic reblogs. I hope to work on a full-length Steve fic in the near future, so please stay tuned.

If you like what you read and want to see more short blurbs like this on my blog, make sure to leave a comment, reblog, and a like. Don’t forget to check out Ace’s blog, too! Until next time, little sparks 💙

#steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #stranger things headers #frostandflamesfanfic #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #bakerstreethound

[deanismysavior]

Why do people think will is an innocent smol gay bean who can do no wrong and never lies? I understand he doesn’t like lying to Mike and seems to uphold the “friends don’t lie” principle more than his friends, but didn’t he lie to Suzie in season 4? And I feel like he’s actually pretty sarcastic and can be petulant and somewhat of a dick at times (i.e. she dumped your ass, that doesn’t sound like a break). Especially season 4- I noticed him rolling his eyes, mumbling under his breath, and snapping at people. It kinda feels like people baby him and mistake his quiet nature for some kind of pure, wholesome innocence. Don’t get me wrong; I think he’s a good person overall- I just don’t see the gentle-spirited saint a lot of you guys seem to see

Yeah, the infantilization of queer people is a real thing, but we won't unpack all of that here. I think people see him as "innocent" or whatever because he's deeply selfless, and there's a weird conflation of the two. Like we see him being really deeply in love to the point that he'd probably do anything for Mike, but he's not the innocent baby people make him out to be. Will is petty and funny and smart and he DEFINITELY has some fucking audacity. Will is just as complex as Mike is, but I think for some reason people just water him down to only being a cinnamon roll because his love is so strong and "pure" if that makes sense, because he's been selfless. But I find this so interesting because I don't think he was ever planning to be selfless about his feelings. He showed up to the airport with that painting planning to give it to Mike and he wouldn't have been able to use El to explain it away because she was right there. He was fully ready to bare his heart to Mike Wheeler the second he touched down in Cali if Mike hadn't been acting so weird. Idk, to me that shows a really different, bolder side of Will that I think people often overlook.

#will byers #byler #ask #stranger things #st

[frankenhxmie]

jonathan ‘johnny’ loughran is based on jonathan from hotel transylvania. he is a 27 year old human, dj at neverland and uses he/him pronouns. he has no powers.

penned by HARPER.

reflection

face claim: hunter doohan sexuality: heterosexual height: 6' eye color: hazel hair color: light brown piercings: n/a tattoos: n/a

attitude

positive traits: ambitious, accepting, easygoing, funny, wholesome, playful negative traits: fantastical, gullible, scaredy-cat, nosy, nervous, impulsive likes: backpacking, the outdoors, his longboard, weird animal species, taking pictures, his mixing board, vintage teeshirts, the smell of pickles, sandwiches, house music, karaoke, spray paint, dancing like no one's watching, bats dislikes: being scared, the dark, country music, being lied to, uptight people, talking about his family, airplanes, cinnamon, sad commercials about puppies in shelters phobias:  n/a hobbies:  working on his house mixes, singing karaoke, long boarding around town, reading graphic novels, thrift shopping, listening to music and working on his air guitar solo, defending monsters of all kinds, trying to be friends with everyone, recounting his travels around the world aesthetic: the sound of a longboard rolling on the asphalt, the feeling of a club pulsing with bass-infused music, the snapping of fingers in a room where everyone is supposed to be quiet, the cracking open of an energy drink, sneakers with the laces never tied

relations

mother: linda loughran father: mike loughran sibling(s):  there's seven of them, he's a middle child, all that matters. pet(s): n/a... yet.

headcanons

🎧 johnny is a super laid back, go with the flow, vibe until you can’t no-more kind of person. it’s really hard to throw him off his rhythm, though evermore has thrown tons of wrenches into his tires to try to get him to spiral off the road. johnny just keeps letting it roll.  🎧 as much as he likes to consider himself an unbiased dj, the way he’s feeling tends to reflect itself in the music he plays. he’s gotten some… criticism for the questionable selections he makes sometimes, but he just thinks that everyone needs to relax and just trust him. or drink more so he sounds better. whichever was easier. 🎧 johnny’s got a thing for brunettes… well, more like girls with dark hair. dark hair and pale skin and big beautiful eyes he can stare at forever before his eyes start to sting because he forgot to blink. it also helps if they’re a vampire, toootttally helps if they’re a vampire. also if their name starts with an m. all letters are good letters but…. m is special. 🎧 johnny is a bit of an airhead sometimes, but in his heart he means well. he may not be the most textbook intelligent kind of guy but he cares too much for his own good sometimes. he’s willing to trust just about anyone and always assumes the best of people. even monsters — especially monsters. 🎧 he got used to wearing clothes that were too big on him, and it became a style that just kind of stuck. johnny holds a personal vendetta against the person who said parachute pants “aren’t in style” and always makes sure to buy his shirts two sizes too big. he prefers thrifting because it’s cheap, but also because you find some of the wildest shit on those tee-shirt racks…. and who doesn’t want a tee-shirt that has a big picture of a moth that says “uh, ya’ll got any lamps??” they’re crazy!! 🎧 johnny isn’t much of a drinker, but boy does he indulge in weed. johnny loooovveeess weed. He’ll smoke it anyway, at anytime, for any reason, with anyone.  🎧 johnny’s got a weird thing for nice smelling shampoo. the rest of his hygiene routine is pretty basic but he loves getting the overly-complex scented shampoos at the store. you can likely find him in the shower aisle of a store sniffing every bottle with a name that has more than two words in it. his favorite right now “passion flower rice milk”... since when did rice make milk?? that was sick.  🎧 as goofy and unserious as he finds himself to be sometimes, johnny has a big heart. he loves deeply, cares immensely, and even when he can’t find the words to say what he means — his eyes will speak it for him. then again, johnny is scared of his big feelings sometimes and will be the first to tuck them away for the sake of someone else. he’ll happily put himself and his feelings off to the side if it will make things easier on someone else. love’s all about sacrifice or something like that, right ?? 🎧 neverland is where he spends most of his time when he isn’t at the tavern or out looking for mavis. if he’s working, he’s obviously there. If he’s not, he’s likely still there. johnny loves karaoke and making a huge fool of himself on stage, feeling like the coolest guy in the world when he’s up and making people dance and sing and laugh. he wants to have a good time, so in turn, he wants others to have a good time too.

#& intro

[shrapnelstars]

The FNaF movie was pretty good. I really liked it. It felt like a pre-2000's movie, and I mean that as a compliment. Mostly practical effects, and there aren't 6000 subplots trying to get crammed in to launch a cinematic universe. (I know there are 2 sequels lined up.)

There are enough kills, there are enough scenes in the arcade, there are enough scenes with the animatronics, and the family drama scenes are perfectly fine and feel natural. They don't take over the spotlight like I've seen some people say. They are balanced out between arcade scenes.

The ghosts are written infinitely better than the fan and game interpretations of them. These are mean little fuckers that you need to be careful around, not uwu cinnamon rolls that need help doing the most basic actions. Their anger and adroitness is peak, and I'm so glad they have agency and personality instead of the fucking Puppet god-moding all over the place and doing everything for them and leaving them as background noise like in the games. And I'm glad Henry wasn't here to god-mode for the humans, either. This movie made me like Golden Freddy again, too. That's something I thought was impossible. That kid was vicious, and lives up to the title of The One You Should Not Have Killed.

The problem with the movie is that William Afton's arc is rushed, and this has a negative knock-on effect on Vanessa's arc and purpose in the movie. (sound familiar?)

(I go into a bit more depth below, but in general, I'd say to give it a watch. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Just has a few weak points that could have been strengthened a bit more.)

William recognizes Mike and starts scheming within the first 10 minutes of the movie, after which he basically disappears, then only re-appears at the dead end to speedrun the Springtrap stuff. In a 2 hour film. He's too important for the few seconds he's in this (though the few seconds he's in it are still good). I know they wanted to avoid this being like 3 hours, or stretched out over 17 movies, but they really needed a few more scenes of Afton doing things or establishing his personality, because it would have strengthened his impact when he showed up at the end. There's a bit of hollowness to both his and Vanessa's later scenes because they didn't spend enough time developing them. The movie has them blurt out a few sentences telling you who they are and why you should feel X emotion toward them right before they do their respective things, and while the respective things are fine, they needed to be backed by deeper investment with the audience to really punch up the characters.

In some ways, it would have helped to save Springtrap for the next movie, but I do understand why they couldn't exactly do that. They probably could have spent this movie freeing the souls from the mind control, and then at the end, they learn who is behind the mind control, and then that sets up Springtrap for the next movie, but eh. I'm definitely going to have a lot of mercy on this, because the movie had A LOT of information to deliver for basically a rewrite of The Silver Eyes, which introduced a lot of concepts. Keep that in mind, too. This wasn't a movie based on the games. This was ultimately based on the first book with the teen friend group replaced with Mike, Vanessa, and Abby.

#FNaF #FNaF movie #just thinking

[marshmellowtea]

okok willy clarke all prompts? (numbers, questions? idk)

[email protected] love you both so much (/platonic) ;_; 💞

1: sexuality headcanon

okay i actually do have a solid headcanon for this character for once--he's asexual and you CANNOT change my mind!!--it's, uh. his romantic orientation i keep flipflopping on KLFJDKF. specifically i keep going between aro will and bi/pan will......also ace lesbian william lives in my head rent free because my toxic trait is looking at male characters and going "that could be a lesbian!" ahglkjdsf but yeah he's ace for SURE you can't tell me otherwise lmao

2: otp

not even gonna lie to y'all i really do think it's will/tanya HGLKDSJF something about them has carved out a space in my brain permanently. also will/tanya/mike is REALLY good and i care them so much :') .....i also wanna give a shoutout here to will/regina which was a rarepair that got out of hand and is now genuinely a ship i'm lowkey passionate about ghkljKDF. i wouldn't call them an otp necessarily but.....cradles themin my hands. i care them

3: brotp

can i say basically everyone in this damn game.....? give this boy some FRIENDS oh my go d if i had to choose though i want him and lila to be friends i want her to genuinely care about him and i will Force Her To no matter the cost HGLDJSF. also me being my aro self who enjoys platonic versions of my otps, i'll say i also adore him in brotps with tanya and mike, especially in fix it aus ;v; also, him regina and jimmy as a goofy friends trio who spend more time together than expected has been in my head rent FREE lately lmao

4: notp

there aren't a lot of super popular ships in this fandom, so keeping in my rules about notps being relatively well known ships and not just a crack ship i pulled out of my ass for the sake of hating it....tbh, i'm not a huge fan of him and martha together as a ship? idk why, it seems cute, and it's definitely not a dealbreaker for me when it comes to fics, but it just doesn't click for me for some reason. i kinda wish it did, i know it's a fan favorite :') tbh now that i think about it it's kinda one of those ships i really only feel things for in the context of polyamorous ships with other characters involved HGKFDJSFLK

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

not to be on my bullshit again but age regressor will is so real in my head he's. he's little guy ;_; that feels like cheating because i headcanon every character i love as a regressor but LISTEN ahgkdsj.....he needs to be taken care of he really does he deserves it--

6: favorite line from this character

i have a couple nominees: him saying in his diary that he still loves lila despite her scaring him because holy shit it breaks my heart that little speech he gives to tanya about how she's not the center of the world and how he and her friends do want to be there for her (we stan a king who can read her to filth LMAO) him confessing to lila's murder in the strength ending because it breaks my HEART he deserves the WORLD him asking martha if she needs anything while she's drunk out of her mind.....him just generally trying to help her in that scene tbh. he's such a sweet boy bwahhh

7: one way in which I relate to this character

me 🤝 william being neurodivergents with bad moms :') i'm sure there's more i could think of tbh based solely on the neurodivergent thing but those are the biggest ones HFLKDSJF

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

this is less about him specifically but i watched manlybadasshero's playthrough of this game and some of the expressions he gave him are hard for me to look at idk why adkfjKLDJF 😭 for a more real answer though, it's also a little hard to watch him at the party at points but, like.....tbh i found that whole scene more charming than anything. he's a sweet boy and he's TRYING okay :')

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

i already answered this one but for the sake of completionism he's my littlest cinnamon roll. my little guy. he's certified baby <3

#btw anon i'm CRYING at willy clarke abgladsknfjlkj #man i wrote a lot for a lot of these questions......believe it or not i had to struggle not to write more HLKGDJSF #also uh. idc if it may or may not have been implied will and tanya had sex. it's ambiguous and also ace people can have sex. he's ACE #this changes NOTHING for me ghlkdsjf #anyway thank you both for letting me talk about my baby ily :') #who's lila #william clarke #marshy gets asks #anonymous #yanderesoulmate

[pbandjesse]

I had a good day. Until my allergies tried to take enough but I am doing a bit better now. Medication finally kicked in.

I could have slept better last night. But that was okay. I woke up not thrilled but it was fine. I had a pain on my belly that took almost an hour to stop hurting. It was like a Charlie horse. Can you get those places that aren't your legs?

James made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. And drove me to work so they could have the car. They would go for a bike ride a bit far away. I'm glad they were able to do that and turned back when their body told them too.

I had an excellent time at work. Me and Gaby had 21 pre k students and they were so lovely. We got everything set up pretty quickly. The school was running a little late. So me, her, and Jessica talked at the front desk about Tumblr, a03, and the fandoms we read fanfiction for. I loved when Jessica said something about the ships she reads. It is so funny to me to share that in the real world.

When the kids got there we got them inside and they were so cute. I love pre k kids. And we were able to pretty quickly split up and get into our programs.

And hour long program is tough with the littles. But having the first 15 cut off made it a lot easier. I had hats first. We talked about what a museum is, how hats can tell you what a job is, and what roles some hats fill. We read a story. And then they colored their hats and it was super cute. I think they all did great. Even if it was mostly scribbling. It was cute scribbling.

We went on a little tour of the musuem where I had them point out to me whenever they saw a hat or a picture of a hat. Which I thought was very funny and fun to do. And then we had lunch!

During lunch me and Gaby hung out in the office. I did some prep for my next two programs. It was mostly just chilling. We talked a lot about the new polls on Tumblr. And then James was there!! Apparently Bob, the blacksmith, had given James a large tool for trying the wheels of your bike. So they were coming to get that and then heading home. They would be back for me later.

My next two programs were good. Lids went pretty well and their cans looked nice. Though they struggled to draw pictures. And then we had some time to hang out in the car and put on costumes. And then it was time to go to the print shop.

I had one little friend who was weepy. So I started giving out roles. Manager. Assistant manager. Line leader. Machine tester. Story helper. Just anything to make them feel like they were invested. And it worked pretty well. I had them all print on the proof press. It did get stuck at first which was annoying but I fixed it best I could. And I drew out a grid on the printing paper and I think that helped a lot for making sure they didn't just stamp all over the paper like crazy.

At the end we read a story. And talked about being printmakers. And then it was time to go.

We had a little time getting their coats on and I was picking the kids up and shaking them to make them laugh. And then they wanted to try to pick me up so I sat on the ground but this obviously did not work and we were all laughing and it was very silly. Soon though I walked them to the bus and off they went.

Me and Gaby both expressed to Mike that three programs is a lot for littles. And even just making the programs 45 minutes instead would solve a lot of the issue. But I don't know if anything will actually change.

I would take a moment to sit down and chat with Jim and John. My dad had mohs surgery today and they have had it too so I was glad to know a little bit more about it. Though when mom said it was going to be on his cheeks I expected.more forwards but it seems more close to the temples. I had texted him this morning and joked about him getting deli sliced. I hope it made him chuckle.

I would go and make some cans for tomorrow. And then James was there to get me. And we said goodbye to everyone.

James had loaded up all the stuff we were donating. And we would go to Towson to try to exchange our soda stream canister.

Getting out there was kind of odd. People acting stupid on the highway. Way to many cop cars with their sirens on. Then helicopters?? I haven't figured out what happened yet but it seemed crazy.

So we got off the highway. And went to bed bath and beyond. But they did not have the canisters. So we went to Target. We had much better luck there. And apparently if you return the canister it's half price for the replacement?? Incredible. Love a deal.

We walked around a little but they didnt have the things we wanted so we walked to Marshalls to look for the Valentine's day dress. But no luck.

We went to Wawa next. Got sandwiches and chips to eat in the car. Which was excellent. Though I got to excited and almost ate an entire bag of gushers and upset my belly.

Next was savers. Where I almost dropped a box and the guy laughed because he thought it was glass but was just fabric. And I was like oh I would have yelled louder if it was glass and he thought that was hilarious.

We got our coupon and headed home.

Whatever was happening on the highway didn't effect our drive back. And we got back here in one piece.

When we got back here James took the trash out. And I started working on some embroidery. I finished one and started a second but I got really tired. So I have spent the rest of tonight mostly just resting. I did spend some time mending things. But mostly I just chilled.

I had some cereal. Which I choked on but I survived. I took a shower. I shared some cake with my James. My allergies tried to kill me. But I am okay now.

Brandon came over and him and James have been watching a show and playing video games for a bit now. I am glad they are having fun.

I am going to get ready for bed now. I have the same school tomorrow but kindergarten! I hope they are as sweet.

Sleep good everyone. Take care of yourselves. Stay warm and cozy!

[paigelts05]

FNAF - Renegade AU Fritz Smith

https://www.deviantart.com/paigelts05/art/FNAF-Renegade-AU-Fritz-Smith-810110887

Published: Aug 18, 2019

By this point, I had completely changed the clothes that Fritz Smith wears. This was decided because I felt that this outfit was nicer to draw, and as I have used this outfit in more recent story related pieces compared to the old outfits appearances that I would make the tracksuit top and black jeans the new main outfit. So, here is the second drawing, this one being Fritz Smith. The happy-go-lucky engineer. He knows his was around animatronics like the back of his hand, and can keep possessed robots calm by altering and repairing their code. "It's quite simple really, you just replace the old corrupted code for some fresh new code and suddenly they find it difficult to run around. It does take a while to clear the corrupted code though, and during that time they're like, super aggressive." -------------------------------------------------- This design is used in my AU during the timeframe of 1993 to 2017. Name: Fritz Allen Smith Nick-Name: 'Ferret' DoB: 19th September 1968 Height: 5'7" Blood Type: B Country of origin: Australia Medical issues: Extraordinarily fast metabolism. Personality: He is a bubbly person who is rather stingy with his food. He's impatient, but can be brave and optimistic in the face of danger. When around people he likes, he is clingy and jovial. When it comes to making a choice, he is rather hasty and defiant. He seems to act like a child with his happy-go-lucky attitude, but underneath lies someone who wants to be underestimated. Story: He moved to Australia in 1980, after his parents decided they couldn't put up with all the spiders and his father got offered a better job over in America. After moving, he met Jeremy Fitzgerald, Mike Schmidt, and Phone Guy whilst visiting Freddy's and they became firm friends. When he was older, in 1987, his parents could not afford to put him into higher education so he got the job as night guard for the new Freddy Fazbears pizza. After realising the animatronics were completely messed up at night, he went and 're-programed' their night-roam modes, but others saw him and he was fired as a result. However, six years later, the company decided that they would hire him as their engineer because he was one of very few left capable of programing the animatronics whilst managing to not get killed in the process. He's a total cinnamon roll and will often go to his best friend, Jeremy, for help if things turn sour too fast as there is only so much being brave can do for you. Fun fact: After Freddy's shuts, he opens a robotics company with his friend. --------------------------------------------------

#fnaf #2019 #Renegade AU Guards #Renegade AU #fnaf au #art #artwork #fritz smith #fnaf fritz smith #Renegade AU main guards ref #Renegade AU Ref #FNAF Renegade AU #fnaf fanart

[old-wild-child]

My friend @wool-hat7 never read any of Rick’s books, so I had her guess the personalities of almost all the PJO and HOO characters (I went with all the characters on Rick’s official website)

Percy: “K well percy is kinda hot. Kinda looks like a twink at the same time tho and he probably feeds animals that are stuck outside”

Annabeth: “She seems like she knows her street and mental smarts evenly, she doesn’t know one more than the other. Looks like a possessive girlfriend but also a girl that wouldn’t give a shit if you knocked her bf in the face for being a dumbass”

Grover: “Has the same energy as the guy from the lion the witch and the wardrobe”

Thalia: “If I were gay or bi she’d definitely be my gf just saying”

Nico: “Emo kid that constantly reminds everyone about how dangerous certain possibilities are. They’re also probably addicted to vape by the looks of it”

Tyson: “Very cuddly looking and is probably an introvert and sweet”

Leo: “The one rascal kid who doesn’t mean to cause trouble but they’re just curious. Probably catch them swinging from rope or doing daredevil stunts on accident. He reminds me a lot of a character from the book I’m reading called The German Girl also named Leo. Cause that description is basically Leo in the book I’m reading”

Frank: “They look fun. Definitely doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing. Also they’d hold your hand if you were scared or stressed”

Hazel: “The kid that sits in the back of class and doesn’t talk to anyone and gets their work done instead. Also looks like they’d bash you upside the head if you did something stupid”

Piper: “She looks kinda hot too. Definitely has a Zelda stereotype where she’s high in class but kicks ass too. Definitely seems like the mom friend too”

Jason: “He looks like a dick. The kid that would butt in and say “actually it’s-.” But he looks like he’d be protective of his friends as well”

Clarisse: “Another dickk who kinda reminds me of Mouth from The Goonies. Would definitely be a smartass and wouldn’t be afraid to kill you”

Luke: “Soft older brother who is uncertain about things but goes along with it anyway. Also prop has a crush on the main character’s girlfriend”

Chiron: “The uncle who tries his best to get to know you but is actually kinda creepy sometimes. Probably would offer you a beer and say ‘you’re doin fine. Drink up’. He’d also make you play beer pong with him since no one else will”

Mr. D: “Crack addict uncle who lives in the shitty unfinished basement of his sister’s house and makes his son feel really awkward at parties when he’s there because he tries to flirt with any woman his age he knows he’s not related to”

Zoë: “Disney Pocahontas vibes. Isn’t afraid to knock some sense into your skull”

Will: “Botanist. Also the therapist friend who people actually wonder why he genuinely listens”

Silena: “Popular girl who fixes her lipstick and hair every 10 mins. Would act nice for the first 10 secs but then be a bitch and snotty”

Beckendorf: “Guy that never speaks but responds with just a nod. Kinda good looking, maybe he gets some chicks idk”

Bianca: “Seems like she could live as an Eskimo. Would warn you to save wildlife much like in the way Mike Nesmith would say ‘save the Texas prairie chicken’”

Reyna: “The girl that’s stuck up and ignorant cause she thinks her tactics are correct but in reality it’s the opposite. She’s kinda a Hermione Granger”

Rachel: “Merida. That’s it. Nothing else”

Connor and Travis: “Two faced emo kid. Doesn’t talk about his emotions and plays his guitar on 101 volume” (Note: I’m not sure if my friend is aware that Connor and Travis are two separate people)

Juniper: “Fun elf character you’d find in Zelda games. Except she seems more like she’d be the over talkative friend”

Coach Hedge: “Reminds me of the dad from Luca”

Ethan: “Silent but deadly. Looks like a cinnamon roll, would actually kill you”

Octavian: “Sid from Toy story. That’s all I can think of”

Lityerses: “The kid that works out after and before school everyday thinking that he’s tough as shit. In reality he’s a scaredy cat and not that strong”

Poseidon: “Brother that would take you camping and fishin n stuff. Seems like he’d listen to your problems and try to sympathize with his own”

Hades: “Emo kid who loves his dogs and not people”

Zeus: “Can’t keep his dick in his briefs. Hot headed and bossy. Yknow, Zeus problems”

Hera: “Well it’s Hera so she’s probably a passive aggressive bitch. To Zeus at least.”

Demeter: “1. Rick made her kinda hot wtf. 2. She’s nice but if you cross her she can be a Royal bitch, seeing she turned the nymphs following the procession of Persephone into Sirens”

Athena: “Well it’s Athena, so assuming she’s badass, doesn’t take shit but is secretly caring and motherly over everyone”

Apollo: “I know this is Apollo cause someone did a presentation on Apollo in mythology for English and used this photo so”

Ares: “Right hand man to Zeus. Isn’t afraid to brawl over something idiotic”

Aphrodite: “Well it’s Aphrodite so flirtatious, scandalous, sort of a pick me girl but not really at the same time”

Calypso: “Calypso- I know about since I did a project in her. Sea nymph that lives on the mythical island of Ogygia and is cursed to fall in love with any demigod who lands on her island”

Arachne: “Looks like if they took the kids show I used to love when I was little called Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends and turned it into a horror movie”

Hephaestus: “Well he’s god of blacksmiths so he’s probably a tough guy. Probably has slight anger issues and can be hot headed”

Sally: “Cool mom friend who turned her husband to stone because I already know that about her. She has Pamela Courson vibes”

Paul Blofis: “Typical business dad who doesn’t have much time for his kids”

#percy jackon and the olympians #heroes of olympus #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #nico di angelo #thalia grace #jason grace #piper mclean #hazel levesque #frank zhang #leo valdez #will solace #sally jackson

[rose-wild]

CAMP JUPITER CAMPERS!!! HEADCANONS!!!

reyna:

- such a mom to HER campers

- totally has favorites

- definitely an awakening to lots of girls at camp

- the campers will literally come to her for advice about anything (a relationship, friendship, family trouble) and she helps them out in any way she can

- when she was a legionnaire, she was most definitely a prankster and would always get a way with it because?? who would suspect her?? & she knows all the secret passageways

- she knows every prankster in camp but lets it slide because she secretly finds it hilarious, though if there is clear evidence she will punish them

- all the older campers will tell stories about her when she was younger to the little campers and greeks, sometimes some of them are true and other times they are completely exaggerated, and reyna never denies them, so nobody knows what’s real and what isn’t

- had a crush on bryce lawrence when she first arrived at camp, will kill anyone who mentions it

- bisexual. lowkey has a crush on mike & annabeth but will NEVER admit it.

- she’s rich. how? um, she’s reyna. why? nobody knows. because she just is. she is sugar mommy

- the campers will defend her until their death like you cannot convince me otherwise

- the camp cannot last a day without reyna avila ramirez-arellano

frank:

- scares campers at first, but they adore him so much

- literally every girl in camp jupiter has a soft spot for him like he’s impossible to hate

- the campers respect him a lot, almost as much as reyna

- he knows reyna is probably most people’s favorite and doesn’t really care

- will help the campers out with anything, like he dead ass turned into a fish one time so he could get this girl’s earring she lost in the river because she was upset about it

hazel:

- EVERYBODY adores this girl

- like how can you hate her? she’s literally the definition of half-demon half-angel

- she always takes care of the anti-social little campers who are too scared to ask the praetors for anything

- she doesn’t care about cohorts and stuff, she will lay down her life for anyone of them and the campers would do the same

- when campers are having a bad week she will go out of her way to get them a chocolate muffin at the earliest hours of the morning (cause the muffins are gone quick) and save it for them to eat

mike kahale:

- literally all the campers have a crush on him

- like literally everyone

- was totally jason & dakota’s bi awakening you cannot convince me otherwise, and probably the only man reyna would simp for (excluding nico)

- he is super super attractive and mysterious, he totally follows that brooding and dark and mysterious boy trope but is DEFINITELY a softie 🥺

- he has puppy dog eyes that will literally get him anything he wants, he doesn’t need his charm-speak

- cuts his hair to his neck and often wears his hair in buns which is very much attractive

- lowkey used to have a crush on octavian prior to the titan war (when octavian started to go coocoo)

- definitely has a crush on reyna by the giant war

- will die for any of the romans and will do anything to help the romans

leila:

- cute little gay nerd

- reyna was her awakening, because… reyna was everyone’s awakening??

- a little more masculine, but loves pink

- is totally friends with hazel & frank!!

- likes to paint

gwen:

- GWEN IS THE MOM

- and reyna’s older sister figure as hylla is quite busy

- she practically raised reyna let’s be honest

- AND she continues to raise hazel, her adopted child, and frank

- SUCH a genius, like omg, shes as smart as annabeth and leo, literally has an iq of 193 and an eidetic memory

- granddaughter of vulcan & great great great granddaughter of athena

- honestly should be considered a licensed therapist with how much she helps reyna with her problems

- is studying at new rome university with a major in engineering and a minor in architecture

- hopelessly in love with dakota

dakota

- such a brother figure to everyone except gwen because he’s hopelessly in love with her

- will gladly help hazel with the chocolate muffin missions during the mornings

- he will get up early to get reyna and frank breakfast

- he will take gwen and reyna out into new rome or the mortal world when they’re overworking themselves

- used-to-be besties with jason, not anymore, and that’s shocking to everyone

- prankster & reyna lets him slide more than others

- good friends with mike kahale

julius:

- hot af

- he is good friends with claudia and has a crush on her

- is on very good terms with frank and they frequently walk around camp jupiter talking

- is a younger brother figure to frank

- julius thinks logically with reason and doesn’t jump to conclusions, although he is not very good at acting on his feet even though he is a son of mars & a demigod

blaise:

- gwen is his role model & icon & what he strives to be like

- has a crush on claudia too let’s be honest

- is a very good prankster and gets away with a lot of them at cj because he’s very good at covering his tracks

- has an obsession with star wars

lavinia asimov:

- reyna was her gay awakening and you CANNOT convince me otherwise

- would love to be a hunter of artemis but like…… she would be breaking the rules 24/7

- IS A PRANKSTER WITH THE HELP OF BLAISE AND OCCASIONALLY DAKOTA

- knows all of the secret passageways with reyna showing her a couple

- had a crush on leila for a long time, then she met her current girlfriend and was like AAAAAHHHHHH

larry:

- such a sweetheart like omg

- HE IS A SOFTIE, A CINNAMON ROLL

- he blushes easily and he has a face routine he has to do every night or else he cannot function

- has a crush on both hazel & frank because who wouldn’t

- wears knitted sweaters and likes chocolate

- is in love with the series harry potter & would die for harry & hermione & remus & lily

- just. bae.

#heroesofolympus #reynaavilaramirezarellano #campjupiter #camp jupiter #romans #reynaramirezarellano #praetor reyna #frankzhang #hazellevesque #hazel levesque