#literally she was the only reason i kept watching phase 4 and now i'm like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

2manyfandoms2count · 3 years

Text

Alix's rom-com night

The June event of the @mlwritersguild was to create bonus content for one of our fics - I decided to seize the opportunity to finally sit down and write one of the bonus scenes of You can count on me (I will be there for you), and to do draw a bit of fanart to go with it (4 panels, including a Marichat piece)! Let me tell you that the Burrow is a pain to draw, but I'm actually quite proud of the result :)

About YCCOM: It's an aged-up, one-sided reveal with "fake" wedding fic, based on Sallteas' art. The fic is 9 chapters and 20k words long. It was written before season 4, so it's no longer canon compliant in terms of who knows who's identities at the beginning.

Synopsis: Ladybug's identity is compromised, and somebody is after her. After a lot of pondering, she and Chat Noir come to the conclusion that her best bet is for her to marry Adrien Agreste. It breaks her heart that she is not marrying Chat Noir, but she knows that she's buying them time to figure out who is behind the anonymous letters she's been receiving, and hopefully to find Hawkmoth. Whatever the situation might be, her wedding day should provide a moment of respite. And maybe it would have, had Chat Noir refrained from coming to visit her just before the ceremony...

About Alix's rom-com night: it's a one shot that's chronologically set before the main fic, but I recommend reading it after reading the latter since it contains spoilers for it. It follows Alix (obviously), and includes Ladybug revealing her identity to Chat Noir and the set up of their "fake wedding" plan.

Hope you enjoy!

---

Alix opened her door and dropped her keys in the bowl as she kicked off her shoes with a satisfied sigh. Home, sweet home.

Her studio apartment wasn’t very big, but then again, she didn’t need a huge surface when she had a whole extension waiting for her just a transformation phrase away. She’d mentally thanked Marinette more than once for choosing her to wield the Rabbit Miraculous, rather than somebody else, just for the savings she made in rent.

She whistled happily as she made her way to her kitchen area, grabbing a bag of popcorn out of a cupboard and shoving it in her microwave.

She deserved the treat. She’d been running around all week, trying to slide letters to her targets without being spotted, spending hours on end to find the perfect stationary, and then staying up at night to get the wording exactly right, a delicate mix of subtlety and threat to elicit some sort of response from them. It had taken a lot of trial and error, especially for Ladybug. Her friend had always been surprisingly oblivious on many fronts, and it seemed that her honeymoon phase with Chat Noir reinforced her optimistic ability to brush ominous details aside. It had taken three letters for her to start freaking out and to promise Tikki she would talk to her partner about them, whereas Hawkmoth had started the analysis phase upon the first one he’d received.

Alix had only been mildly surprised by the identity of their nemesis when she’d decided it was high time she knew who they were facing; it was all too fitting that the man who leached off Paris’ most intense negative emotions should be the most embittered person she knew, and the one who, in retrospect, had been the cause of many an Akuma (she still shuddered at the what-could-have-been of Chat Noir’s akumatisation).

The microwave dinged, bringing her thoughts back to her timeline. She took the bowl out and called for her Kwami.

“Fluff, clockwise! Burrow!”

A white portal appeared in the middle of her living space and she walked through it, emerging in the ovoid room covered in screens. She made her way to the furthest point, hung her umbrella up on the coathanger she kept in there, and grabbed a folding chair. It was a director’s seat which supposedly had belonged to a rising name in the cinema world before their career had been shot down for obscure reasons, but she didn’t really care about its story; she’d bought it for a very low price at a yard sale, and that was all that mattered to her.

“Right, where are you…” She muttered, scrutinising her surroundings, until she found the screen she was looking for.

She unfolded the chair, zoomed in on the empty (for now) rooftop, propped down in her seat and threw a fistful of popcorn into her mouth, waiting for the show to start.

Unsurprisingly, Ladybug was the first to arrive on the scene. She paced around, mumbling to herself as she wrung her hands together. Alix felt a pang of guilt as she watched her rehearse how she would break the news to her partner, but reassured herself that the ordeal would soon be over.

Finally, Chat Noir landed beside Ladybug, and she flung herself at him, holding him so tight he had to untangle himself from her arms to breathe.

“Well, well, well, my Lady, I know I couldn’t make it to patrol last night, but I didn’t think you’d miss me this much,” he chuckled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Alix rolled her eyes at just how lovestruck he looked as he did so. How could her friends be so sappy, and yet still be at square one in terms of knowing who the other was?

Some might have said that it was romantic, that they loved each other regardless of who they were; but those people did not have to deal with the constant end of the world threat.

“What was so important that you couldn’t just text me?”

Ladybug took a deep breath. Her fingers slid along his arms as she relaxed her embrace, taking his hands in hers at the end of the line. “Somebody knows my identity,” she said quietly, looking down. “And I don’t know who they are.”

“What?!” Chat’s voice detonated in the previously peaceful quiet of the evening, making a couple of pigeons take off in a loud flutter of wings.

“I’m so sorry, I must have been careless when I got home one night, they must have seen me, I bet it was last week when I was tired and I-”

“My Lady, no offence, but I don’t care about the when and why, just... are you okay?” He tilted her chin up, gently turning her head to each side, checking for any signs of injury.

She placed her hand on his, making him stop, and gave him a soft, sad smile. “Yes, Chaton. Just a little rattled; you know you were the first person I wanted to reveal my identity to. Not including Bunnyx, although technically I never told her who I am.”

“And technically, I’m still the only person who knows who you are,” Bunnyx smugly commented between two handfuls of popcorn. “Now come on, I want to see how you react when you reveal your identities to each other.”

“How do you know somebody knows, though? And do you have any idea what their intentions are?”

Ladybug’s expression darkened. “I received some letters. They’re not signed, but they’ve got enough butterflies on them to make me think that even if they’re not from the biggest pest in Paris, then they’re probably from somebody who’s up to no good.”

Chat Noir swore under his breath, then regained his countenance. “So, what do we do now? Do you think we can hunt down the bugger?”

“We definitely will, but…” Ladybug bit her lip, and Alix leaned forward in her seat. This had to be it. “Chaton, I think the time has come for me to tell you who I am.”

“YES! Finally!” Alix cheered, almost spilling her popcorn bowl.

“Are you sure, my Lady?” Alix didn’t have to be on site to tell that Chat Noir’s heart was beating faster than usual; the corners of his mouth twitched as he repressed a smile, as though his excitement could make her change her mind.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I really want you to know.” In case something happens to me, Alix was pretty sure her friend had left unsaid.

“Okay, okay.” Chat Noir took a deep breath, buzzing with anticipation, so much so that he apparently missed the whole subtext of her previous words. “Do you want to do this now? And how do you want to do it? Do you want me to close my eyes? Are you going to write it on a piece of paper for me to read? Are you going to detransform? Should-”

“I was thinking the latter, and yes, now,” Ladybug said timidly. “Up to you if you want to look or not.”

“For some reason, I feel like I shouldn’t.” He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles without breaking their eye contact, then took another deep breath and closed his eyes, a blissful smile on his lips. “Ready when you are, my Lady.”

“Ok, here goes.” She let out a shaky breath and called off her transformation. The soft pink glow engulfed her and receded, her suit melting away to reveal her true appearance.

“Wow, Marinette, you actually broke out your favourite dress for this? Glad to see all of this isn’t affecting your ability to think straight.” Alix smirked. If her friend had gone home after a long, stressful work day, and found it in her to change and doll herself up to make a good impression on Chat Noir, things couldn’t be that bad. She had to agree that her dress, simple, white, with little red hearts embroidered on it, was perfect for the occasion, though.

“You can open your eyes now, Chaton.” Marinette gave his hands a squeeze.

Chat Noir obliged, blinking slowly as he took in her appearance, her identity, her. Marinette squirmed under his gaze, his expression not giving away any of his thoughts.

“H-Hi,” she stammered when she couldn’t take it anymore. “I, erm, I guess I should introduce myself? We’ve run into each other before, when we were younger, and even if you actually had lunch with my family that one time, I guess it’s been a while… My name is-”

“Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chat’s smile finally broke free, spread from ear to ear, almost literally illuminating his face. Alix wondered if anything could ever wipe it off. Love and admiration twinkled in his eyes as he picked her up and started spinning her. Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling giddily, before Chat Noir closed the gap between their lips.

Bunnyx modestly looked away, allowing them to have their moment. Her eyes landed on a rerun of Plagg putting an end to the dinosaurs’ reign.

“I should have known that it was you, Princess.” Chat panted slightly as he carefully set Marinette back on the roof. “Everything makes so much more sense now, I-”

“Before you finish that thought, I can’t know your identity.” She placed her index finger on his lips. “Yet, of course.”

“What?” Chat froze, and so did Bunnyx, her hand pausing midway between the popcorn bowl and her mouth. “But why?”

“I don’t know what might happen to me, but I don’t want to put you in any danger.” Marinette cupped his cheek. “And I don’t want to lose my memories of you. Of us.”

“Oh for Kwami’s sake.” Alix rolled her eyes. “Boo!” She threw a fistful of popcorn at the screen as her friend continued to list all the reasons Chat couldn’t reveal his identity.

“My Lady, Marinette, if you’re worried about your safety, maybe we should do something about it. I could move in with you, or in a flat nearby, maybe, stay transformed or wear a mask at all times so you don’t know who I am, we can figure it out… Of course I know you can protect yourself, but I could stand guard while you sleep, or...” Chat raked his hand through his hair as he thought.

“You know I love you, Chaton, and that’s why I can’t let you do that! You can’t live like that, I can’t ask that of you. Not to mention how difficult it would be for me, do you really think I could resist having you so close, and not trying to get a glimpse of who you are?” She joked, trying to diffuse the sudden tension.

“Then we need to get you a bodyguard,” he insisted.

“I thought about it, but… Well, I can’t really afford it, and how could I justify suddenly needing personal security? I’m just a designer, and nothing I’ve ever done has been avant-garde enough that I should be worried about my safety.” She shook her head.

“Damn, I knew I should have targeted Chat Noir,” Alix swore under her breath. “He would’ve had to reveal his identity, and she definitely wouldn’t have been a pushover on her kitty’s protection matter. Come on Adrien, do something.”

She could tell that he was up to something just by looking at him. He’d been silent for a little too long for it to be natural. Cogs turned in his head, making him squint. He let go of her completely and paced around the roof, almost pulling his hair out as he did so. Alix sensed that whatever was on his mind was going to be big. She leaned forwards in anticipation.

Finally, Chat Noir came to a halt in front of Marinette, the fever in his eyes and his dishevelled hair making him look slightly unhinged.

“Buguinette, I think I’ve got a solution,” he whispered.

“You do?” Marinette’s voice was full of hope, although she looked slightly concerned about him.

“You’re probably not going to like it,” he warned her, lifting a finger.

“Beggars can’t be choosers.” She shrugged, taking a step forward.

“Right.” He gave her one last look, an opportunity to stop him before the words tumbled out. She nodded encouragingly. “Okay, here’s the thing. I have it on very good authority that Adrien Agreste is being pressured into getting married by his father.”

“I see Gabriel’s just as delightful as always,” Marinette shook her head.

“Unlike good cheese, he definitely doesn’t get better with time.” Chat smiled bitterly, eyes losing focus a little.

“What’s it got to do with us, though?” Marinette prompted, placing a hand on his arm.

“Oh, Agreste, you absolute genius, I think I know where this is going.” Alix took another handful of popcorn.

“Oh, yes, right.” He cleared his throat. “See, Adrien’s not dating anyone at the moment…” Right, Alix snorted. “And he’s not really planning on starting a relationship with his father breathing down his neck, but, well, he happens to owe me a favour, and I’m sure that he’d be more than happy to put his security detail to good use…”

“So you’re suggesting that I marry Adrien.” Marinette deadpanned.

“Well, er, I actually thought you could just date, but thinking about it… It would be less strange for you to request a bodyguard if your relationship was more serious…” He trailed off.

Alix was impressed by how well he concealed his emotions. His poker face was truly exceptional.

“And you think Adrien would be ready to marry me because of a favour he owes you?” Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips and squinting at him as she tried to pick at his lie.

Alix winced for Chat. Maybe he should have waited a bit before blurting out the (as it turned out) probably only sane option in that situation so he could work out all of the details for himself. Marinette was very good at trying to shake plans to see how solid their foundations were.

“Please. Adrien had a crush on you when you were younger, if anything I could probably smuggle it as another favour, given how perfect the fake scenario would be. Although I guess that since you also liked him… It might just cancel out.” He tapped his lip pensively.

“Adrien had a crush on me?” Marinette frowned. “Oh, you must mean Ladybug. I think Nino mentioned it once.”

“Well, yes, but he also had one on you, Marinette.” Chat stepped forward, mischief twinkling in his eyes as he poked her on the nose.

“Really, now,” she muttered to herself.

“The main reason he didn’t act on it was that he thought you loved somebody else.” Chat smiled ironically.

“Wow, what a pair of idiots.” Marinette chuckled.

“You don’t know the half of it.” He kissed her forehead.

“But you know what?” Marinette didn’t pick up on her partner’s comment. “I’m actually glad we didn’t get together. It probably would have delayed us getting together.” She pressed a peck to his lips. “If we’d gotten together at all in that timeline.” She smirked.

Alix snorted. Out of all the timelines she’d watched unfold in an attempt to keep things in check, there wasn’t a single one where Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, didn’t end up together, and not just because of her interventions to help them, and the rest of the planet, stay alive.

Marinette’s face fell at Chat Noir’s lack of response. Alix knew her friend didn’t particularly believe in soulmates, but she understood that she would have liked a sappy Chat Noir special comment on how he’d told her he’d grow onto her anyway, and that she would have soon discovered that the Agreste boy had nothing on him. She assumed that he was too busy restraining himself from saying the wrong thing.

“Actually… What about us, then?” Marinette cleared her throat and looked up at him, eyes glistening slightly in the half light.

“My Lady… If you really think that you being a divorcée will spur me away…” Chat Noir looked down at their entwined hands, locks of blond hair falling in front of his eyes, concealing his giddy smile from her. You sneaky cat, Alix thought.

Marinette followed his gaze, letting out a long sigh as she watched their hands sway lightly. Alix knew her brain was probably trying to find all the flaws in the plan. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would be enough for her friend to accept. It was perfect, whether they got their act together and figured everything out before the event, or not.

“Fine,” Marinette finally said with resolve, making Alix mentally thank whoever was out there. “I’ll do it on two conditions.”

“Anything, my love.” Chat let out a sigh of relief.

“Firstly, we’re honest with Adrien from the get go. No lying about anything.” Chat nodded along. “Secondly, we get cracking on finding Hawkmoth, and after we do and the divorce is settled, if we even get that far with Adrien because obviously if everything is settled before the wedding we won’t be going through the whole plan…” Chat smiled fondly as she took a deep breath. “After all that, we are getting married.” She gestured between the both of them.

“My Lady, are you proposing to me right meow?” Chat Noir all but purred.

“I guess so.” Marinette shrugged, a smile and a blush spreading on her cheeks.

“Wow, then, I’m definitely putting Adrien in charge of the proposal planning,” he replied with a smirk.

“Chaton!” She stomped her foot, her mildly amused smile cancelling out her frown.

“What?” He teased her.

“Will you? Marry me?” She held his gaze.

“Do you even have to ask?” He chuckled. “You know, my Lady, I’m pretty sure that, in my head, we’ve been married since that speech you gave on the Eiffel Tower during our very first fight. Well, I’ve been married to you; you do whatever you please.”

“You’re such a dork,” Marinette laughed, brushing her nose against his and throwing her arms around his neck.

“And yet you still love me.” He pulled her closer.

“Unfortunately, I do,” she sighed dramatically before pressing a kiss to his lips.

Alix dismissed the screen. She’d seen what she wanted, and it seemed like a good place to stop; a happy, sappy ending. Also, she’d finished all of her popcorn.

Everything was on track, her friends would start their Hawkmoth hunt, and soon everybody in Paris would be able to live without fear of their own negative emotions.

(Of course, that was the theory; she’d soon find out that she’d underestimated Adrien’s will to organise the perfect wedding for Marinette, and that, my friends, was no small oversight.)

#miraculous ladybug #the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir #ml #mlb #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #miraculous fanart #alix kubdel #bunnyx #ladynoir #ladybug #chat noir #half-reveal #one-sided reveal #aged-up characters #elle writes #elle sketches #yccom

28 notes · View notes

spicycreativity · 3 years

Text

Fanfic Appreciation Week Day 7: A Place Where I Can Breathe

Yes, folks, I'm appreciating my own darn fanfic for the final day of Fanfic Appreciation Week because I worked really hard on it and it was a labor of love for/with one of my QPPs, my roommate, the man who got me into Sanders Sides: @\cadeorade-powercade (That's him in the aesthetic board)

Allow me to present the director's commentary for A Place Where I Can Breathe:

Content Warnings: All content warnings mentioned in the fic apply.

Chapter 1: I actually wrote this fairly late in the game. It's meant to serve as a prologue and orient the viewer in the universe, s opposed to staring on Chapter 2, which just throws the viewer in without context. I think it was a good choice, as it also allowed me to introduce the concept of the Sides having power focuses early on.

The Premise: Cade is a Virgil stan and he was getting frustrated looking for Virgil fic. He was finding a lot of stuff written without nuance by young authors, a sort of "by teenagers for teenagers" type deal. We are not teenagers, so we both have a hard time relating to that kind of teen angst fic, as we're not the target audience. So he asked me to write him a Virgil fic and we worked together to identify what plot he wanted, what the Mindscape looked like, and what quirks the Sides have. So a lot of this fic is quite gratuitous and self-indulgent

The Title: Lizzie McAlpine has a song called "Apple Pie" which includes the lyric "I've been running around trying to find a place where I can breathe." Apple Pie SCREAMS Moceit to me, and I had taken notice of the lyric and wanted to use it as the title for a Moceit fic. I didn't really have an idea beyond that, and when Cade asked me to write this fic, I realized it was actually perfect and summed up Virgil's inner struggle quite nicely. So cheers to "A Place Where I Can Breathe," the Moceit Fic That Wasn't

-Cade asked me specifically to include Virgil having a spider and I wrote nearly the whole fic without doing so, then had to go back and sprinkle some references in. I think I managed 2 total.

Chapter 2:

"Uh, how about I hold off on that until I actually see my room?" Virgil stared expectantly at Roman, who bounced on his toes. "Lead on, Macduff."

"That's not the line and you know it," Roman complained, but he turned to lead Virgil to his room. "It's ' lay on, Macduff,' and--"

-This fic was originally supposed to reach a climax with a confrontation between Remus and Roman, and "lay on, Macduff" would come back as a brick joke. Unfortunately, the original ending was a result of me getting tired and lazy, so I had to go back and fix it, and we lost the Roman-Remus confrontation.

It was hard for Virgil to not shudder at the sudden heat and weight on him. With his senses already open and taking in more information than his brain seemed to want to process, touch was an added stressor, more unwanted sensory input.

-Virgil being touch-averse is a direct shoutout to Cade, who is also touch-averse.

Roman had already transformed the living room: metallic streamers of purple and black stretched across the corners of the ceiling, and shiny balloons spelling out A-N-X-E-I-T-Y hovered above the TV.

-Upon first writing, Virgil had already given the upstairs crew his name, so the banner spelled out "VIRIGL" which is way funnier than "ANXEITY." But then his name reveal became a plot point so I had to go back and change it.

-Let! Virgil! Be! Mean!

-Virgil's line about hearing refrigerator noise when Roman talks is another shout-out to Cade, who has leveled that accusation at me

A small, cruel part of him protested at the idea that he would need special treatment and desperately wanted to throw it back in Patton's face. He wasn't a sweetheart, he wasn't a baby. He didn't need to crawl into a blanket fort with Dad just because he was a little stressed.

-Remus calls Janus "Janus Geminus" because I was tired and couldn't come up with a pun. "Geminus" is one of the Roman god Janus' epithets; another is "Pater" meaning "Father." That led to a conversation about Remus deliberately confusing Patton by calling Janus "Daddy," but I couldn't think of a clean way to fit the explanation into the narrative, so I stuck with "Geminus."

Chapter 3:

"There's nothing normal about that! " Roman stared in horror at the coffee massacre Virgil had orchestrated. What had once been a respectable (if not very tasty) cup of black coffee was now part of a 1:1 coffee to milk suspension, the liquid a tasteful shade of tan suitable for business casual trousers or a show-ready chihuahua.

-Cade is a certified Nightmare Man and came up with Virgil's horrifying coffee order after I asked him about it. Keep an eye out for Janus' equally horrifying coffee order later in the fic.

1) Shouts out the fact that Janus is canonically a Dostoevsky fan

Chapter 4:

Janus smiled at him. "Where reason fails, the Devil helps." He fussed with his gloves and straightened his capelet. "It's showtime."

-I fucking love Crime and Punishment. Look at me. Look at me. I fucking love Crime and Punishment. Janus' quoting Raskolnikov serves multiple purposes:

2) Lampshades the fact that Roman just conveniently happened to be alone in the living room, because I didn't want to waste time getting him there. That makes me, the author, the Devil

3) Foreshadows the impending disaster. When Raskolnikov says this line it is because he had planned to commit axe murder. The axe he was planning to steal had been moved, but he finds another, different axe to use. Raskolnikov messes up the murder and ends up killing an innocent witness in addition to his intended target. Janus messes up his manipulation attempt and ends up murdering Roman's self esteem

-I was going to include a reference to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Remus' line "debauchery and vomit" was originally going to be "blood, love, and rhetoric") but I didn't because... Uh... Hm. Why didn't I do that. Maybe I just forgot about it???

-Roman is too stubborn to manipulate for long and that is a fact.

"I was pretty much done anyway," Remus said. "There's only so much debauchery and vomit you can fit into one story."

-Cade specifically ask me that nobody cry in this fic, but after I had Janus eviscerate Roman I knew he couldn't not cry a little. I kept it to a minimum because there's already a billion fucking fics about [literally any Side] crying on the shoulder of [literally any other Side] and it's really just not interesting to either of us.

-It didn't come up because it doesn't matter, but Thomas dreamed he was participating in the exact Dionysian orgy that took place in The Secret History because it's my fic and I said so.

Chapter 5:

He just sat back and watched and tugged at his hair while Janus spooned mound after mound of crisp white sugar into his mug and Virgil poured his customary eight fluid ounces of milk into his own mug.

-Cade strikes again. Virgil's coffee order is equal amounts milk to coffee; Janus' is equal parts sugar to coffee. He had asked me to include a scene where Roman catches Janus massacring his coffee and is appropriately horrified, but I uhh... Didn't write it. I still might include it as an omake someday.

-I imagine that Roman feels really strongly about dragons vs wyverns, and Remus just pretends to give a shit because he thinks it's funny to wind Roman up. Fortunately for me but unfortunately for my sense of realism in writing, I can't relate because I adore my sister and we get along perfectly almost 100% of the time.

"You shut us down every chance you get!" Remus said, baring his teeth. "How would you like it if your pens never wrote, hm? What would you do with all those thoughts in your head?"

-I do wish I had developed the concept of power focuses a bit more, established rules and such. Basically, Patton is always on the prowl for wrongthink and actively represses it, which in turn breaks or sabotages the Dark Sides' power focus.

Chapter 6: This chapter really should have been Janus and Roman but I was really tired and didn't want to bother with it. Plus, you know, Moceit. This chapter was meant to demonstrate how the characters would get along without Virgil nannying them. There's friction, but everyone is making a conscious, deliberate effort to get along because they love Virgil, and love is a series of choices you make.

I chose "Leo" as the answer for the answer to the crossword clue instead of "Virgo," because my other QPP is a Leo. She'll never read this fic, but I did it anyway because I love her. (Trivia: My sign is Virgo, so it was really a choice between shouting her out and shouting me out, and the last chapter is self-indulgent enough, thank you).

Chapter 7: I was gonna write a fic where all the Sides watched Cats the Musical because I was going through a phase. Then Cade requested this so I combined the two ideas. By this point I was fucking exhausted, and that's the only thing that saved you and the rest of the world from me writing the Sides riffing on the movie scene-by-scene. I could come up with snarky commentary for almost every, if not every single song from the movie.

Most notably, I cut a Patton-Remus interaction where Remus declares his love for Grizabella and Patton gets all staryy-eyed about Remus connecting with the idea of rising above rejection and being loved and accepted only for Remus to shoot him down and explain that he just likes that she got to die in a tire fire.

Other cut scenes include Janus quietly pretending not to go feral over Mister Mistoffelees, Patton full-on fucking sobbing over Grizabella and the kittens, and Logan experiencing a deep, soulful kinship with Munkustrap during Of The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollices (and henceforth introducing the phrase "like herding cats" into his regular vocabulary

#spicypost #fanfic appreciation week

3 notes · View notes

cocastyle · 5 years

Text

The In-Between Chapter 1

Stranger Things x It Crossover

with some Bill Denbrough x reader

Word Count - 4,891

Warning - cursing? (if people don’t like that kind of stuff), some Stranger Things spoilers (don’t know if they would still be spoilers or not)

A/N- chapter one is finally here! I’m so overwhelmed with the amount of support this series has gotten already with only the prologue being out so I’m so excited to officially start this series off with chapter one! reminder that this chapter takes place two years after the prologue so the year is now 1987 and all the kids are 17 years old. anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

if you would like to be added to the tag list, let me know!

T H E I N - B E T W E E N

Intro The Losers’ Club The Party Prologue 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Epilogue

September 1987

Darling you got to let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

A small chuckle escaped from Bill's lips as he watched the girl dance goofily in front of him as she mouthed the words of her favorite song to him. Y/N's e/c eyes sparkled as they stared at him and a hint of a smile appeared on her face as she mouthed the next set of words.

If you say that you are mine

I'll be here 'til the end of time.

Using the straw in her drink as a microphone, Y/N got up from her seat and slid across the floor and over to where Bill was, making the boy laugh as he watched her in both adoration and amusement.

So you got to let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

"I think you should go home," Richie called out as he spared a glance in Y/N's direction before looking back at the arcade game him, Eddie, Mike, and Stan were currently trying to beat. "You two make me sick and I'm not going to be able to fucking beat this game if you two keep up the gross couple shit."

"We're not a-" Y/N quickly began to say at the same time Bill stuttered out, "M-m-me and h-h-her?"

Richie rolled his eyes and locked eyes with Eddie, the two shaking their heads at their friends who were so oblivious it hurt. It was no surprise that Bill liked the girl as much as he did, in fact, the Losers' Club was pretty sure he might even be in love with her at this point. The only one they weren't sure about was Y/N, but from the way she acted around him, they were pretty sure she felt the same.

"Richie, leave them alone. I think they're cute," Beverly said as she winked at Y/N, the girl blushing in response.

"Of course you do. Why am I not surprised?" Richie asked. "I think it has something to do with the fact that you and Ben are dating now. You're still in the 'I love Ben and everything that has to do with love' phase of the relationship."

Beverly sent a glare in his direction which only made Richie smirk before he asked, "Where is lover boy? He was supposed to be here tonight."

Deciding she had better things to do than argue with Richie, Beverly went to grab another quarter from her cup of change and didn't look at the boy as she said, "He had some big research project he wanted to do. I think he's still trying to research Hawkins cause of how weird it is."

"Hawkins? Ain't nothing weird about that town and you all know it. There's no way the shit Y/N says is true. No way!" Richie exclaimed. He then seemed to realize what he said and looked to Y/N. "No offense, Y/N. You know I love you like a sister, but come on. There's no way Hawkins is that weird."

"It is, Tozier, and I know that you know I'm right. Besides, a killer clown that can change into your worst fears? That sounds like a load of bullshit to me," Y/N said.

"Can we go a night without the two of you arguing, please?" Stan asked with a small sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's a Sunday night and we have school in the morning. All I want to do is have some fun without the two of you arguing about whose story is more believable."

"Stan's right. This argument has been going on for two whole years now. You are both seventeen and about to be adults in a couple of months. Just let the topic go," Mike told them.

Richie frowned and went to open his mouth, but Eddie, without even glancing at the boy, muttered, "Beep beep, Richie."

"But I haven't even-"

"Beep beep!"

Richie let out a huff and slumped against the game console as he turned his attention back to Eddie who was only two hundred points away from beating the high score of the PAC-MAN game in the arcade.

Bill tore his gaze away from his friends and looked over at Y/N who was staring off into space with her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. He knew it had to do with the fact that they had mentioned Hawkins, seeing as this always happened when the topic came up. Not a day went by where she didn't miss her friends and the fact that she hadn't seen them in two years was hard for her which Bill knew.

The boy didn't hesitate before getting up from his seat at the table the two had just been eating pizza at before gently taking her hand in his. Y/N let her eyes flicker up to lock with his and he gave her a tiny smile before tugging her hand softly and pulling her over to the closest game, Dig Dug.

"I don't have any-" Y/N began, but Bill cut her off by pulling some quarters out of his pocket and holding it out to her.

He gave her that cute smile of his before saying, "I b-b-brought some for y-y-you just in c-c-case."

Y/N gave him a soft smile in return before he dropped the coins into her hands. "Thank you," she whispered before turning to the game and putting some of the change in. Bill silently observed her as she began to play the game and a grin appeared on her face as he watched her relax and get lost in the game.

And the moment she won and turned to him before throwing her arms around his neck and letting out a loud laugh was the moment Bill was once again reminded of just how much he liked her.

Y/N pulled away from the hug ever so slightly, but kept her arms around his neck as she looked up at him. Bill's arms were around her waist and his breath hitched in his throat for a moment, but their moment was quickly ruined by the sound of Richie fake gagging.

"Ew! Guys, they're doing that gross couple shit again!"

"Richie, I swear to god!" Y/N yelled before suddenly breaking away from Bill and running after her friend. Richie let out a high pitched scream before bolting out of the arcade with Y/N on his heels.

Beverly snorted before saying, "We should probably stop her."

"W-w-where's the fun in t-t-that?"

- - -

"How can you say some weird alien shit is more believable than a killer clown?" Richie asked, his eyes wide as he looked to his friend in disbelief.

Y/N kicked the small rock next to her feet and watched it skip across the path ahead as she walked home with the rest of the Losers' Club, minus Ben, behind her. She glanced at the boy that looked so much like her friend from home and shrugged, "Cause my story is more believable."

"You are literally talking about the idea of a whole other world existing! One where everything we know is covered in decay and has monsters running around killing people!" Richie exclaimed.

"And you keep telling me that some clown can take the form of your greatest fear and has a mouth that opens up like a fucking shark and eats people! Not to mention that apparently its victims can float in the air? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" Y/N asked.

"Obviously not as ridiculous as this conversation," Eddie muttered under his breath, but everyone could hear it. Bill, Beverly, Mike, and Stan let out small chuckles while Y/N and Richie glared at their friend.

"Eds, sometimes you really make me question why we're friends," Richie said with a shake of his head.

"Oh shut up," Eddie told him as he grabbed the boy's shoulder and began to push him in the direction of their houses. "Come on. Our houses are this way. And don't call me Eds."

"Sorry, Eddie Spaghetti."

Eddie rolled his eyes and turned back to his friends before waving slightly. "Night, guys. See you tomorrow," he said.

"Bye, Eddie. Bye, Richie," Y/N called out, the others following suit as they watched the two boys walk off, purposely bumping into each other as they did.

They didn't walk much longer before Beverly, Mike, and Stan had to split off as well. That left only Y/N and Bill. The two were silent as they walked back, but it was a comfortable silence filled with their small laughter as they nudged each other and snuck small glances at the other when they weren't paying attention.

Y/N's smile only faltered when she saw the road that Bill's house was on. Their houses were a few streets away from each other, so Y/N always ended up having to walk alone for a while before she even got home. In hindsight, she could've borrowed her mother's car and drove herself to the arcade and back. However, if she was being honest, the only reason she didn't do just that was because she liked getting to walk with Bill, even if it was only for a few minutes.

The two paused at the end of Bill's street and Y/N turned to look at the boy as she gave him a soft smile. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she looked down at her feet.

Bill stared at her in silence for a moment, his heart fluttering when she looked up at him through her eyelashes with that smile of hers on her face. With a sudden burst of courage, Bill said, "A-a-actually, I was w-w-wondering if. . .if I could w-w-walk you h-h-home?"

Y/N blinked in surprise and for a moment Bill felt his blood run cold, the fear of rejection washing over him almost instantly. But then she was smiling an even brighter smile than before and Bill swore her cheeks had even grown a tinge redder.

"I'd like that," Y/N told him, making the boy return her grin.

The two began to walk forward and Y/N effortlessly slipped her hand into Bill's before intertwining their fingers together. Bill's face reddened and he couldn't stop the smile that was growing on his face as he ever so slightly pulled her closer to his body, his hand tightening around hers.

A beat of silence fell over them before Bill looked at the girl curiously and asked, "So y-y-you really don't b-b-believe our story about I-I-It?"

Y/N looked up at the boy and gave him a look of disbelief before saying, "Of course I do. A psycho clown is nothing compared to the horrors I've witnessed. I just like to poke fun at Richie is all."

Bill let out a small breath of relief that he hadn't known he was holding. Something about knowing that Y/N believed him and didn't think he was crazy made it feel like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders.

"What about you?" Y/N questioned causing the boy to look over at her. "Do you believe my story?"

He could see the way she was trying to act like the answer wouldn't bother her, but he could also see the way she was nervously biting her lips and the way her hold on his hand tightened ever so slightly.

"I-I-It is kind of c-c-crazy," Bill muttered causing the girl's smile to drop. But then he was lightly squeezing her hand and saying, "I b-b-believe you."

Y/N's head whipped up so fast that Bill almost didn't see the movement. "You do?" She asked surprised.

"Of c-c-course. You said it, s-s-so of course I d-d-do," Bill said, his cheeks dusted a light pink as he said that.

Y/N smiled and leaned into Bill's arm, making sure to keep her hand latched with his while her other arm looped around his. She then laid her head against his shoulder and shivered slightly from the cold.

Bill didn't even hesitate before letting go of the girl and taking his jacket off. Y/N went to protest, but Bill cut her off with that smile of his as he wrapped the jacket around her shoulders. Then, before he could stop himself, he wrapped his arm around the girl and began to rub his hand up and down her arm as he held her close to his body.

Both teens blushed and looked away from each other as they walked, but Y/N still snuck a glance in Bill's direction, a goofy grin on her face as she looked at him.

The rest of the walk ended up being a lot shorter than either of them would've liked. Before they knew it, they were standing on the front porch of Y/N's house as both of them just stood there staring at each other.

Y/N broke their gaze by looking down at her feet as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Thanks for walking me home."

"N-n-no problem. I-I-I guess I'll see y-y-you at school," Bill said, his eyes flickering over her face and hesitating for just a moment on her lips.

Y/N looked up at the boy and he was quick to divert his attention back to her eyes. "Yeah, I'll see you then," she confirmed with a smile. She then let out a small gasp before beginning to take off the jacket, "Your-"

Bill's hands resting on hers had her instantly freeze as she looked up at him. He gave her an effortless smile and shrugged before saying, "You c-c-can give it back to m-m-me some other t-t-time. It looks better o-o-on you anyways."

Y/N blushed at that and let the jacket fall back onto her person as she stared at the boy in front of her. The two were silent before Bill finally whispered out, "G-G-Goodnight, Y/N."

A smile broke out on her face before Y/N pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed a small kiss to Bill's cheek. "Goodnight, Bill," she whispered back, a small chuckle escaping her lips at the sight of how red his cheeks were.

She pulled away and sent one more smile in Bill's direction before turning and walking to her front door. Bill didn't move from his spot until the girl was inside and it was only then that he let himself stumble back in a daze as a goofy grin appeared on his face.

The small flickering of the street light had him furrowing his eyebrows, but the light quickly went back to normal and Bill thought nothing more of it. He then began to walk home with a small skip in his step, his thoughts consumed with the beauty that was Y/N L/N.

- - -

A sigh of relief left Mike Hanlon's lips as he caught sight of his bike resting against the alley wall. The others had all met him in that alley before walking to the arcade together, so Mike had left his bike there for later. Thankfully, he had hidden it well enough behind some garbage cans and wooden crates that no one had stolen it. Finally, he could bike home instead of walking.

The bike ride home wasn't too bad, but it was only when he turned onto Neibolt Street that things turned for the worst. Mike always did hate riding past the Well House, the memories just too much for him, but something always had him riding past. It was like a force that made him want to make sure everything was still the way it was supposed to be, that nothing was out of place. . .that It wasn't back.

Mike could see the Well House coming up on his right and he had to take a second just to calm his breathing. "Nothing's going to happen. You're going to be fine," Mike assured himself, those words enough to make him put on his confident look and pedal down the street.

He only took his eyes off the road when he was biking past the Well House, but that was his first mistake. His second mistake was not noticing the flickering of the street lights which seemed to all be flickering in the same sort of pattern.

When he was past the house, Mike let out a small chuckle at himself for even being afraid and turned back to look at the street. His eyes widened when he saw a figure in front of him and he quickly stopped his bike.

An eerie silence fell on the street at that moment and Mike squinted his eyes as he tried to see what was standing only a little ways away from him. The streetlights flickered a few more times before suddenly all turning on, the brightness of the lights so intense that Mike stumbled back a little in surprise.

He had to adjust his vision a little and blinked a few times before looking up, his eyes locking on the figure in front of him. He didn't know what to think when he registered the figure as something he had heard Y/N talk about many times before.

Mike couldn't help but notice that everything she had said, every little detail, was correct. Even the sound she described was exactly the same and Mike found himself shivering as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

The creature, the demogorgon, let out an eerie sound before its face began to open up in a way that looked a lot like Pennywise. Shaking his head, Mike quickly turned his bike around and was about to bike away when he noticed another demogorgon had come up behind him.

Both demogorgons were only ten feet away in each direction, but they were blocking his only means of escape. "Shit," Mike muttered. It was in that moment that Mike made his third and final mistake of the night.

Mike ditched his bike on the edge of the street and ran towards the Well House with the demogorgons hot on his trail. He didn't necessarily have a destination in mind, so Mike just did whatever the first thought to pop in his head was and began to run up the stairs.

He could hear the demogorgons growling and making that weird sound of theirs as they stumbled up the stairs after him, the two running and bumping into each other as they tried to reach out for the boy.

Mike's own breathing was all he could hear as he ran down a few hallways, trying to find some place to go. However, he made one wrong turn and was suddenly trapped in a hallway that had a single door at the end. The demogorgons were right behind him and he knew that if he ran in that direction, he would be dead for sure.

So Mike did the only thing he could think of and ran down the hallway and into the room. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked the door before turning around to see that he was in some sort of coat closet.

He heard the cries of the demogorgons and jumped slightly before beginning to back up, the coats covering him the further back he went. There was only one lightbulb in the room so Mike had enough light to be able to see where he was going, but he had barely even made it halfway into the closet before the lights flickered off and the demogorgons suddenly went quiet.

This caused the boy to stop cold and all he could hear was the pounding in his ears and his ragged breaths as sweat trickled down his face. Something suddenly clamped over his mouth and Mike's eyes widened once he recognized it as someone's hand.

An eerily familiar laugh filled the air before a voice whispered into his ear, "Hello, Mike."

He didn't want to look back, but his eyes betrayed him. As soon as Mike's eyes locked on the person holding onto him, he let out a scream that was muffled by the hand over his mouth.

Laughter filled the air as Mike desperately tried to escape, his hands clawing at the person holding onto him. The light in the closet turned back on before beginning to flicker on and off while the laughter and screaming grew louder.

But then there was nothing. The light flickered back on before staying on, illuminating the now quiet and completely empty room.

The only sign of Mike having ever been at the Well House being his bike that was lying on the ground outside with one wheel slowly turning in the wind.

- - -

Y/N let out a small sigh as she pulled Bill's jacket closer to her body. The wind roared all around her as she walked and she looked up at the sky in annoyance as she realized a storm was about to come their way.

It amazed her how only an hour before, when Bill had dropped her off at home, there had been no traces of clouds in the sky. But the force of the wind was enough to give her an answer as to how it had appeared so quickly.

With one hand holding onto Bill's jacket and the other carrying the trash bag her parents had asked to to take outside, Y/N began to make her way down the stairs and over to the trash can on the edge of the curb.

A flash of lightning from a little ways away lit up the sky and the sprinkling of rain began to fall down on the girl making her mutter out, "Shit."

She was quick to pull the lid to the trash can off before tossing the bag inside and returning the lid to its rightful place. Y/N then hugged Bill's jacket close to her body while the wind blew her hair in all directions.

The girl was just about to head back towards the house when a sound came from the bushes across the street. Y/N froze, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end as she slowly looked over to the bush that was moving around.

All she wanted was for the bush to be moving because of the wind, but when something began to step out from the bush, she knew just how wrong she was. Y/N could barely make out what the figure was, but the sound it made was too horrific for her to forget.

It was the same sound she only ever heard in her nightmares, but had used to be something she heard back in Hawkins. A sound that made her blood run cold, her face pale, and her heart race so fast that she felt like it was jumping out of her chest.

Then the lightning flashed and a scream escaped her lips at the sight of a demogorgon standing before her with its mouth opening up.

Y/N broke out into a sprint towards the front door and was quick to slam the door shut behind her. With shaking fingers, Y/N locked the door while the lights in her house flickered crazily all around her. Tears were in her eyes as she took a step back from the door, her breathing heavy while her whole body shook uncontrollably.

Images of the upside down, of Will looking half dead, of Bob being attacked by a demodog, of the Mind-Flayer killing Billy all flashed before her eyes and a whimper escaped her lips as she tried desperately not to break down into a sob.

The girl shook as she walked over to the window of her house and it took her a minute to muster enough courage to open up the blinds enough for her to look outside. The lights still flickered all around her and she could hear the wind roaring outside, but the sound of the demogorgon had disappeared and she didn't know whether to be relieved or worried.

Y/N took in a shaky breath before looking through the blinds. Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight before her, surprise and fear coursing through her veins.

Instead of the demogorgon, a person holding three balloons in front of its face stood in its spot. As if sensing her gaze, the balloons began to float up as the person moved them away from its face. It was in that moment that Y/N finally saw the clown that Richie had been telling her about.

Y/N's breathing was out of control and it felt like the lights were flickering at an even more intense speed than before. She watched as the clown who Beverly had told her was named Pennywise, let out a loud laugh, its eyes trained on the girl as he waved at her.

The lights outside flickered out longer than usual, but as soon as they came back on, Pennywise had moved closer, now standing in the middle of the street with the demogorgon from earlier right behind him.

Y/N barely had time to blink before the clown was suddenly on the other side of the window with the demogorgon by its side, both of them opening their mouths to reveal rows of teeth that looked to be covered in something red that shined in the light—blood. A ear piercing scream left her lips and Y/N stumbled back right as the lights flickered on and off again.

"Y/N?" her father's panicked voice exclaimed as he came running into the room, the lights instantly returning to normal as soon as he walked in.

His eyes frantically searched around the room and he caught sight of his seventeen year old daughter hugging her knees with tears streaming down her face. "Y/N?" He asked again, confusion lacing his voice as he hesitantly walked towards his daughter.

The girl glanced up at him, but it was like she looked right through him as she got up onto her feet and went over to the window. She looked outside and her breath hitched in her throat. Her father furrowed his eyebrows and quickly moved across the room to look outside only to see that there was an empty road.

"I-" Y/N whispered before falling short, not knowing what to say.

It and the demogorgon were gone, but there was no way she could've imagined that. No way.

"Y/N, honey, are you okay?" her father asked as he looked at her with concern filled eyes.

"I'm. . .I'm fine. J-J-Just thought I saw something is all," Y/N muttered, her voice shaky as she looked anywhere but at her father. "I'm. . .I'm going to go to bed."

She didn't give her father time to respond before she was rushing out of the room and up the stairs. Y/N reached her room within a matter of seconds and was quick to close her bedroom door before turning and letting a quiet sob escape her lips.

"What the fuck was that?" Y/N whispered to herself, her fingers gripping onto her hair as she tried to think of an explanation. The Party had closed the gate and the Losers' Club had stopped Pennywise. So how-?

Y/N shook her her head, not wanting to think too much about what had happened. "You're just tired," Y/N told herself as she forced herself to start getting ready for bed. "Your mind is playing tricks on you. You just need some sleep is all."

She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth in silence before she stared at herself in the mirror. The fright was still evident on her face and she took in a shaky breath before whispering, "The gate is closed. It is dead. The gate is closed. It is dead."

The words were enough to make her release her iron grip on her bathroom counter and she whispered again, "The gate is close. It is dead." Y/N made her way over to her bed and hesitated when she saw Bill's jacket lying on her desk chair.

She quickly grabbed it and put it on, wrapping the article around her body and inhaling Bill's scent. She felt safe wearing the jacket, so she kept it on and climbed into bed.

Y/N was about to turn off the light when she decided one night with it on couldn't hurt. She then laid down and hugged the jacket close to her body as she muttered to herself, "The gate is closed. It is dead."

She would end up saying those two sentences until she fell asleep, but each time she would find herself believing the statement less and less.

"The gate is closed."

"It is dead."

* * *

Tag-List

@witch-of-all-things-soft @nightbu-g

@vickeystar @daniellajocelyn

@alexthe80swhore @ren-ni

@floralpiper @starshininginthedark

@aimee-lucass @dwcljh

@sycard @connor---murphy

@tinycolorwhispers @sarai-ibn-la-ahad

@izzyisavengersupernaturaltrash

@theamandarenee @amberkay284

271 notes · View notes