#this came to me as a vision when i was driving to school like 2 days ago

[pygmypouter]

this was what it was to be adam.

#ON HIS TERMS OR NOT AT ALL!!!! #this came to me as a vision when i was driving to school like 2 days ago #anyway long time no he. hi #trc #the raven cycle #the raven boys #adam parrish #maggie steifvater #pynch #<- not rlly but u know. gotta get those rbs #cdth #inspired by schiele illustrations of the neurvous system an image of a neuron from my psych textbook #root systems and also. i think a frankenstein thing i started last year but never finished #feel like i could have gotten some plants in there but its fine. and also i fucking hate drawing plants

[winniemaywebber]

The Apple Tree • part 2 🌳

2/6

Rosie Rosenthal x Reader

It's rainy in Thorpe Abbotts. Six planes go up, only five come back. Y/N worries about Rosie.

A familiar rumble distracts the class from their work, the scratching sound of pencils on paper ceasing almost immediately. Today, they had been sheltered from the graying drizzle of the village, much to their discernment. One look at their sad little faces pulled at your heartstrings, and the words “go on, then” had barely left your smiling mouth when they had all rushed to their cubbies to pull on their raincoats to protect themselves from the horrific weather. 

Six had gone up, according to the second teacher down the hall who had happened to be on a tea break when she saw the planes ascend. You hadn't told your class the number, not wanting to potentially make their miserable day worse. You wondered if the weather had affected anything - whether the thick, black clouds full of raucous thunder  had blocked their vision, the harsh wind causing them to break out of formation and bringing danger to themselves. And, in the back of your mind, you wondered about Rosie, hoping that he was safe.

It had been a couple of days since your last meeting, wherein you'd seen him taking a walk alone around Thorpe Abbotts, you spotting him as you rode home on your bike. You had waved nervously, precariously taking a hand off one of your handlebars to do so. Even from the opposite side of the road, you saw his face make a huge, beautiful smile, his baby blue eyes twinkling at the sight of you.

“Hi, Y/N. Wonderful to see you again.”

“Rosie,” you'd replied, your mouth also instantly bearing a grin at seeing him. “You, too. How was your weekend?”

“Ah, nothing special. I flew a practice mission, came back and wrote my mom. I try to keep her updated, she worries about me so, especially with me being so far away.”

“Oh, I understand. That's very sweet,” your heart melting at a man caring so much for his family. There is a pause as you keep smiling sweetly at one another, stuck for words due to being so excited at seeing each other again.

“So,” he breaks the silence. “Are you headed home?”

“Yes,” you sigh. “It's been a long day. It wasn't sunny enough to let the children play outside, and being cooped up drives them mad!” You laugh, hoping to diffuse the butterflies rising up in your stomach as he begins to offer to wheel your bike home so you can walk alongside him. 

“I can imagine!” He responds, once again smiling in your direction as his eyes dart around, trying to get his bearings. A crack of thunder from above distracts him, his shoulders sagging with a sigh. 

“We'd better hurry you home, ma'am.” 

Running through the rain, you arrive at the cottage quick as a flash. “Come in and warm up by the fire,” you shout over the loud pattering of raindrops on your slate doorstep, both of you sheltering under the front door canopy. 

“I'd love to, but I gotta get back to base. We have a briefing in the morning and I should get some rest.”

“Oh, of course. Well, thank you for walking me home again. You're great company.”

“You too, ma'am,” he smiles, exhaling through his nose with a slight giggle. “Are you doing anything Thursday afternoon?”

“No, I'm not,” you reply, the fastest answer that's ever left your lips. “I leave the school at around 2pm. You could meet me there? I could show you around a little. Bring your bike!”

“Oh, er–” he stutters, face turning red with embarrassment. “I haven't quite got to grips with that thing yet.” You try your best to stifle a giggle, shaking your head.

“I've heard you're the best pilot in the Army Air Force and you can't ride a bike?” You wink at him jokingly, his face now a cute shade of pink. 

“Leave me alone, Y/N,” he pokes at you, his face however, still holding that beautiful smile. 

“I'll teach you…if you'd like,” you say with a shrug. He nods, the color of his cheeks returning to normal. He reaches over and softly kisses your cheek, your hand coming up to touch it as soon as his lips break contact. 

“Miss, I saw five come back,” Penelope says in a small voice. “How many were there?” Feeling your heart jump to your throat and your breathing become ragged, you try your best to maintain composure. 

“I believe it was five, little one,” you respond, gritting your teeth into a reassuring smile. “Mrs Meldrum said five, but she was nose deep in the biscuit tin at the time. I'll ask her later, okay?” The wide eyed little girl nods and rushes back to her seat, pushing her round glasses up her nose as she sits down, once again ready to learn. 

Getting through the rest of the day without making your unease obvious is an arduous task. Every time you think of Rosie, you feel your heart almost stop, feeling like a phantom hand has its grip around it, crushing it bit by bit. You find yourself taking a moment while the children are distracted to place a hand on your chest, willing your breathing to return to its usual pace, arguing with yourself for feeling so anxious over somebody you've met only twice. 

To your surprise, you see your friend Sally outside as you corral the children out the door for home time, zipping coats and tying shoe laces as they rush out of the door into the cold drizzle. She's stood in a yellow rain coat, a black umbrella swaying slightly in the breeze.

“Sally?” You call. “Come in, doll.” A look of concern etched on your face, she runs in, dismantling her umbrella, a sob catching in her throat as she runs past you into the schoolroom. 

“Oh, Y/N,” she wails, her pretty face crumpled. Her eyes are squeezed shut, black inky trails from her mascara shooting down her face. “Only five–” she stutters, before taking a deep breath to try and compose herself. “Only five came back…and–and I don't know if James…”

“Hey, Sal,” you murmur, pulling her into a tight hug, her wet raincoat against your skin causing you to shiver suddenly. “It's all going to be okay, just–” you pause, a hand on her cheek now. “Just be patient. He'll be knocking on your door tomorrow.” She nods, a small sob escaping her lips as she wipes her eyes. You hand her a small white handkerchief, embroidered with your initials. This seems to make her cry all the more. 

“I still have the one your Granny made me,” she says as she dabs away the mascara lines. “Maybe I should start carrying it again.” You titter, exhaling as you do so. 

“She gave them to us when we were, what, six?” You look at Sally inquisitively, and she nods. “And she made us promise to always stay friends. I'm not sure why she thought matching handkerchiefs would cement that, but…”

“I'm glad we did, though,” she laughs, sniffing. 

“Me, too. Now, come on. You're about to freeze if we don't get you some place warm. I'll light the fire at home and you'll stay for dinner to take your mind off this.” You grip her softly by the shoulders. “He will be here tomorrow, okay?” But you're not quite sure who you're trying to reassure more: yourself or your best friend. 

A restless night awaits you, tossing and turning in your bed as the moonlight peeks through your thin curtains. All you can think about is if Rosie and James are safe, the weight of your thoughts crushing your chest with every attempted deep breath. You fall asleep just as the sun is rising, and you wake feeling horrific. You pad to the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth, hoping going through your daily routine will bring some color back to your pale face and somehow, take your mind off things. 

It's only when you pull your bike from against the wall of the cottage that you realize it's finally stopped raining for the first time in three days. You breathe in the fresh air, hearing the soft breeze blow through the leaves on the tree outside your gate as your eyes close softly. “Y/N!” you hear a voice call from down the lane. There, in his uniform, looking a little battered, is James. As he approaches you, you see he has a small scratch above his eyebrow and another gash upon his cheek. 

“James!” You reply, extremely happy to see him. “You're here! Oh, Sally came to see me in such an awful state yesterday. We only saw five planes come back, and–”

“I'm headed there now,” he responds, interrupting your train of thought. He smiles brightly at you, and gives you a friendly wink. “Thank you for looking after her,” he says, softly. “I sure do hate worrying her but…it's just the way of the job.” 

“I understand, James. I know. She just has such a big heart.” You begin to wheel your bike down the lane towards the school, waving a goodbye to James and trying your best to avoid asking the one question that kept you up all night. The temptation, however, is too much and you stop in your tracks. 

“James?” You call after him. He turns but keeps walking, looking precariously behind him every few steps to avoid potholes and small ditches. “Is Rosie okay?”

“Finally!” He yells into the distance between you. “I was waiting for you to ask. He's fine, Y/N. Teach him how to ride that darn bike before he puts himself in the infirmary again!” 

The day passes in a blink, which you think is mostly in part of you wishing the day away. The children leave in a gaggle of excitement, looking forward to feeling the warm sun on their sweet faces as they begin their short walk home, playing together all the while. As they disperse, you look out of the bay window and spot someone under the apple tree, reading, their brow furrowed in concentration. “Rosie!” you squeal, swing open the door and run towards him as fast as you can. He spots you immediately and stands up, just in time for you to fling your arms around him without second guessing yourself.

“Well, hi,” He murmurs, his face buried in your neck. You breathe a huge sigh of relief into him, your eyes squeezed shut. 

“I didn't know if you were--oh, I was so worried about you,” you hold him a little tighter, wanting to make the embrace last a few moments more. “Oh, I'm so happy to see you, Rosie.”

“Likewise, Y/N,” he replies, reciprocating the tighter hug. You finally break apart, your hand finding its way to cup his cheek. 

“Now,” you sigh, finally content. “Tell me why you can't ride this bike.”

He demonstrates, looking a little embarrassed when you see him begin to try pedal backwards. 

“Hey, stop!” You call after him. “What are you doing?” 

“I'm trying to stop the thing,” he laughs, but obviously frustrated.

“Darling,” you reply, the word just spilling out of you. “These–” you gesture to the long buttons just off the handlebars, “--are for stopping.” He rolls his eyes jokingly, comically slapping a hand to his head. 

“Wow,” he says, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I guess I can ride a bike. You really are a great teacher, Y/N. Those kids are lucky.” You shove at him playfully, laughing at his tone, until he grabs your hand. “Seriously…” he pauses, his thumb stroking the back of your hand. “You're wonderful.” 

Both balancing your bikes against the schoolhouse, you find yourselves under the apple tree, the sun just beginning to set. You had grabbed a spare blanket from the classroom, just in case the weather began to turn at a moment's notice which you knew was a terrible habit England possessed. Rosie places it around both of you and pulls you in close, your head resting on his shoulder. You close your eyes and exhale, contentedly, the rollercoaster of emotions from the past day finally leaving you in that breath, grateful and happy to have him here with you and safe for the time being. You reluctantly check your watch as he runs his fingers through your loose hair.

“You probably should get going,” you sigh, eyes a little sad. “It's late. I don't want you in trouble.” 

“I can handle it,” he says quietly, his whole body relaxing underneath you. “Just a few more minutes, please. I just want to be a guy, watching the sunset with a pretty girl on my arm.” 

#masters of the air #mota #mota fic #masters of the air fic #rosie rosenthal #rosie rosenthal x reader #winnie writes

[rose-tinted-glasses671]

Let The Light In pt. 2

Simon "Ghost Riley" x fem reader

word count: 3757

read pt. 1

a/n: yayyyyy! pt. 2 is finally out. After a lot of editing, i'm pretty happy with the final result, and I hope you guys are too. happy reading :)

The smoke from the cigarette billowed out of in front of him, Simon’s nerves relaxing as the nicotine coursed through his veins. This was his one vice that you didn’t like, and especially with the baby on the way, he tried to limit himself as much as he could.

But it was hard sometimes. Most of the time.

The sun peeked up from the horizon and the smell of morning dew wafted over Simon as he took another drag of the cigarette before grinding it out on the ash tray he brought outside.

You looked through the kitchen window, seeing Simon’s broad back to you. He had abruptly woken up while you were getting ready for work and was out of the room before you could ask what was wrong.

You suspected he’d had another nightmare, so you were giving him his space to process it before you went to him. You understood when he needed time to himself, and you didn’t want to smother him. He’d let it be known when he needed you.

Simon stared out at the beautiful array of colors in the sky, contemplating his dream. He had frequent nightmares thanks to his PTSD, but this one was particularly rough. He’d seen visions of Harper, visions he would never wish upon his worst enemy.

Blood, so much blood. Red, red, red. On the walls, on the floor, on his hands. Tears streaking down his face. His little girl’s pleas for help. But he couldn’t do anything. He was utterly helpless.

Simon’s breath grew shaky as he tried to keep his emotions at bay.

He had woken up in a panic at 4:30 am, the visceral nightmare making his breathing choppy. He’d immediately went and checked on Harper, seeing her peacefully asleep in her bed, her chest rising and falling with her soft breaths. His heart calmed at the sight of her safe, but the visions continued to haunt him. Hence the cigarette.

As you gathered your stuff to head to the hospital, Simon walked in through the back door. He looked at you with sleepy yet alert eyes, his hair disheveled from sleep. He walked toward you and you met him halfway, wrapping your arms around his torso in a hug the best you could with your eight months pregnant belly in the way.

“Nightmare?” you questioned, feeling him nod his head as his arms came around you too.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not yet,” Simon replied, his voice gruff. He wasn’t ready to rehash the details.

You reluctantly let go of him, running a soothing hand down his arm.

“I can call in and stay with you,” you offered, wanting to be there in case he needed you. “I have a good excuse since my due date’s coming up.”

But Simon shook his head no, giving you a small, reassuring smile.

“Okay, but you’ll call if you need me?”

“Of course,” he said, appreciating that you didn’t press him on the matter.

You and Simon made your way to the door, kissing goodbye before you left on your forty-five-minute drive to work. You lived on a relatively secluded farmhouse in the British countryside, and the nearest town was a good drive away. You didn’t mind, though, as the sights made it worth it.

After your departure, Simon went about his day, preparing for Harper’s teacher to come at 9. She was still getting accustomed to life, so you and Simon had decided to have Harper homeschooled for the time being. You would eventually transition her to a nearby school when she was ready.

It was discovered that Harper was an orphan, her birth parents having died when she was just a baby. When Simon found this out, you and he had a lengthy conversation about the options. Obviously, she would go up for adoption, but Harper was already doing so well with you guys, and you didn’t want to disrupt her life even more by having her put in foster care. So, you decided to adopt her.

The process was still ongoing, even after four months, but you were excited at the prospect of her officially being your daughter—not that you didn’t already think she was. She was, by all means, your child.

Simon turned on the TV, attempting to ease his nerves by catching up on last night’s Manchester United that he had missed. A steaming cup of his favorite tea sat on the coffee table as he tried to shift his focus to the game highlights, but his mind continued to wander to the nightmare.

At fifteen past seven, he heard little footsteps coming down the stairs. Harper walked over to where Simon was seated on the couch, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her hair was a mess and her PJ’s were askew, signaling that she’d had a good night’s rest.

It was something she struggled with when she first started living with you and Simon, but months of therapy was putting her on the right track, and she was having less and less episodes with each passing week.

“Good morning, my sweet girl,” Simon said as Harper approached him, holding his arms open. She crawled into his lap and found a comfortable position before relaxing into him, her cheek resting against his chest in a way that still gave her a view of the TV. She rather enjoyed watching football with her dad, laughing every time Simon groaned at a bad play and cheering with him for every goal.

“Sleep good?” Simon questioned, to which she nodded her head. Harper still had trouble speaking, her therapist telling you she suffered from selective mutism. Your heart ached at the thought of all the trauma she had been through to get to this point, but you were relieved that she was making good progress.

After twenty minutes of mindless TV, Harper looked up at Simon, patting her belly.

“All right then,” Simon said, letting Harper get down before he got to his feet. “Let’s get some food in ya.”

At the hospital, you clocked in for your shift and got about to business, tidying up your desk, which was often scattered with papers and pens due to the craziness of the ER. You chatted with nurses, looked over patient files, treated those in need, and took frequent breaks due to sore feet and a weak bladder.

The day was going by normally, the ER a little quiet today, thankfully. Well, it was going normally until about 1:23 pm. You were heading back to the nurses’ station after checking in on a patient when all of a sudden you were assaulted by a searing pain in your abdomen and lower back. You breathed through it, huffing out short breaths in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

“You okay, Dr. Riley?” Amanda, the head ER nurse, asked at the look of pain on your face.

“Oh yeah, nothing of concern,” you reassured, but just as quickly as the pain had subsided, it resurfaced. This time you were left hunched over and feeling nauseous, and not even a minute later, you felt wetness seep through your scrub pants, fluid gathering in a pool underneath you.

You looked at the pool of fluid, dazed and confused. But only for a second, because you quickly realized what was happening.

“Um, actually, Amanda, if you wouldn’t mind bringing me that wheelchair?” you pointed to the corner where the contraption sat. “I think my water just broke.”

Simon was sitting at the kitchen counter, catching up on reports while Harper and her teacher went about their lesson at the dining table, when his phone rang. Your name flashed across the screen.

“It’s time,” your pained voice reverberated across the phone. “The baby’s coming.”

In an instant, Simon was out of his chair. “Right now?”

“Yes, Simon. Right now,” you wailed, before the line went dead.

“Shit,” he muttered, making his way to the dining room.

“We have to go,” he grunted out to the teacher before getting down on a knee in front of Harper. “Mommy’s having the baby now, so we have to go to the hospital.”

You and Simon had sat Harper down a couple weeks ago to let her know how things would go when her sibling was arriving. It helped reduce her anxiety about the situation, and really, it was just good to be prepared.

As Harper’s teacher made her way out of the house, Simon frantically ran around gathering up the go-bags, his excitement and fear skyrocketing through the roof.

It’s time, your voice echoed through his head. His heart beat at a concerning pace, but he busied himself with tasks to keep the panic at bay. He dialed your sister’s number to let her know in case you hadn’t gotten the chance to call her.

“I’m on my way to the hospital right now,” your sister said in lieu of a greeting, understanding how overwhelmed he probably felt right now. She lived in town so she’d get there sooner than he would and would be able to help while Simon drove there.

He blew out a quick breath of relief.

“Thank you.” And then he was out of the house with Harper.

Like a bat out of hell, Simon sped—reasonably—down the winding roads and onto the main highway that would take him to his destination.

He sporadically checked on Harper, only to see her peaceful gaze on the views outside the window. At least she wasn’t panicking. He’d take any win he could get at this point.

Once at the hospital, Simon zoomed into a parking spot and jumped out the vehicle, almost forgetting to turn it off. He grabbed Harper and the bags, and they both ran inside, stopping to a halt at the front desk.

“Maternity ward,” Simon said, more as a demand than a question. The lady at the desk jumped at the sudden intrusion, but let Simon know the floor.

At the ward, Simon inquired about your room with the head nurse, letting her know he was your husband, then went to find your sister.

“Lily!” he practically yelled at the sight of her dark hair in the waiting room, catching her attention.

“Hey,” she replied, frantically approaching the bedraggled duo, holding her daughter’s hand. “I’ll take Harper, you go. It’s room-”

“I know. Thank you.” Simon then turned his attention to his daughter, getting down to her eye level. “Hey, baby girl. Dad’s gonna go look after mum now, okay. You think you can stay with your aunt and cousin for now?” he asked, making sure Harper felt comfortable with her new surroundings. But she barely listened to him as she absentmindedly nodded her head, engrossed in what her cousin Nina was showing her on her iPad.

Simon gave a Harper a quick kiss before turning around and sprinting in the opposite direction.

2408…2410…2412…2414. This is the one.

Although the hallway was in no way quiet, Simon particularly homed in on your pained howls echoing through the closed door. He noticed his hand shaking as he went to open the door, reminding himself to take a deep breath to steady his nerves.

As soon as he entered the hospital room, he was met with the sight of you lying in bed, your face red and in agony. His eyes instantly met yours, as they often did. You could be in a room with a million other people, and somehow, he’d always notice you first.

At the sight of your husband, you broke down. You were so instantly calmed by his presence that it overwhelmed you.

“Are you the dad?” the OB asked sweetly, to which Simon nodded his head. “Perfect! Mom over here was very distressed at your absence.”

He scurried by your side, and as soon as he was in reaching distance, you leaned up a little and wrapped your arms around him. No words were able to leave you, not just because of the pain but also at the relief of him finally being here.

“I got you, my love,” Simon whispered into your ear, slowly easing you back into the bed.

“Okay, so it looks like your about 5 cm dilated right now,” the OB said. “I’ll be back to check on you, but at this rate, you should be able to deliver soon.”

The next hour was a whirlwind, nurses traipsing in and out, Simon’s surroundings a blur of wires and beeps and huffing breaths. When it came time for you to finally deliver, you felt your anxiety coming to a head.

“I’m scared,” you cried, gripping onto Simon’s hand like a lifeline.

“I know, my love. I know,” he cooed, keeping his tone a lot more relaxed than he actually felt. “This is scary for me too. But, hey, it’s gonna be over soon, and then we’ll have a little bugger to take home with us.”

You tried to laugh, tried to let the picture of your little baby in your arms calm you down, but the panic overtaking you didn’t allow that. Deep breaths weren’t going to cut it this time.

Simon noticed this, seeing the fear still glowing in your eyes. He pressed a reassuring kiss to your forehead, that sweet smell of vanilla that always seemed to follow you overtaking his senses. He had to make sure you were okay.

“I am with you every step of the way,” Simon said. “You wanna scream? Scream. You wanna squeeze my hand ‘till it breaks…well, you can try,” he joked with a teasing smirk. “Whatever you need, I will give it you. I’ll take care of you.”

You nodded your head, knowing that every word Simon just said was true. He had never once let you down, and he was a man of his words. Your anxiety wouldn’t fade right away, but you’d let your husband’s comfort overtake you until it did. It’s the most you could hope for.

And after an amount of time neither you nor Simon could gauge, you’d finally given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. You had cried with the unending happiness and love when you finally got to hold your daughter, Simon right alongside you as he gazed at his daughter’s beautiful face, and then at yours.

When the nurse had taken her away and told you her weight, you and Simon had laughed. At 4.2 kilograms, she was a little bigger than normal, and the irony wasn’t lost on you. She was, after all, Simon Riley’s daughter.

Back in the recovery room, Simon brought Harper in to meet her sister and was pleasantly surprised at how easily she took to her. You let Harper sit on your bed as you cradled your baby, letting her play with her and take in the new addition to the family.

Harper was beyond excited, if not a little nervous, about her baby sister. But she was gentle and immediately took on a big sister role, much to your delight.

This moment was one for the books. For the longest time, you were Simon’s only family, the only one he could trust and confide in. But now, he had more than he ever imagined he could have.

“Baby cousin!” Nina’s shriek echoed through the room, none of you noticing that her and Lily had come in.

“Okay, now. Be gentle. She’s sleeping,” Lily said to her daughter, following after her. At the sight of your newborn baby, Lily let out an adoring sigh, looking at you with tear filled eyes. “She’s so perfect, bee,” she said, using your childhood nickname.

“I know,” you replied, getting just as emotional as her. “I can’t stop looking at her.”

The baby had blonde hair just like Simon’s, and her small button nose and chubby cheeks were the most adorable thing you’d ever seen in your life.

“Takes after Simon, doesn’t she?” Lily remarked.

“Cheeky,” he said, but secretly loving the fact.

“Sure does,” you stated, secretly loving the fact too. She was a perfect little piece of you and Simon, a testament to your love and commitment to each other.

Much of the day passed with family and friends trickling in and out, sharing in this happy moment with you. And although Simon tried not to let any negativity seep into this joyous moment, he couldn’t help but feel the stinging pain of loss at the absence of his own family.

It was often a hard pill to swallow, the fact that his mother, brother, even his nephew, were gone. That they’d never be able to share happy moments with him again.

But when his baby girl had opened her eyes for the first time, they were hazel. A striking, mesmerizing hazel that were so familiar to him, it almost brought him to his knees. Neither you nor Simon had hazel eyes, but obviously it had skipped a generation.

It was like his mother had sent a piece of her down to him, something for him to take solace in and to know that she would always be with him. That was also the moment you had known what you were going to name your daughter.

That night, when darkness kissed the sky and crickets chirped outside the open window, you broached the subject with Simon.

“What if we named her Margaret?” you asked him as he held the baby to his chest, taking in that newborn scent.

Simon paused in his pacing to look at you, seeing the sincerity on your face. His heart burst like a dam, the emotions he had been holding back flooding to the surface.

And you knew the answer just by the sheen in his eyes.

***

Later that night, when you and the baby were fast asleep, Simon didn’t dare to close his eyes. He gazed at your serene face, a little jealous of how your dreams never tormented you, but at the same time relieved that you didn’t have to go through what he did. Visions of his nightmare mixed with the memory of his daughter’s birth and the liveliness of the room as people came to see her.

His tired eyes drooped, and he was happy. He was so goddamn happy, but he was also restless. And scared.

Would he be able to protect all of you? Would he ever feel normal? Would his trauma continue to burden him, and inadvertently put that burden on you?

What Simon didn’t realize was that you were restless too, your anxiety from before morphing into something else. Anxiety about the future, about raising your daughters, about…everything, it felt like.

You opened your eyes, ready to accept that fact that you wouldn’t sleep tonight, when you noticed Simon sitting up on the couch to your right.

“Si?” You sat up in bed, reaching your hand out to call him over. He complied, coming over to you. He sat at the edge of your bed, a hesitant look on his face. “You okay?”

Simon considered lying. Considered telling you he wasn’t plagued with so many negative emotions so close to the miracle that happened today, because they weren’t supposed to. Right?

“No.” He settled on the truth instead. “I mean, yes. But also no, in many ways.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” you said, reaching up to cup his cheek. You ran your thumb across it, the feeling of his slight stubble something you’d never stop loving.

He smiled, leaning down to place a soft kiss on your lips.

“I don’t know,” he sighed, straightening himself. “I feel like I should be happier. I am happy, don’t get me wrong. I’m so happy. But I can’t stop thinking about the nightmare.” He described what he saw to you, how he felt helpless. “I’ll never be enough. Nothing I do will ever be a 100% guarantee that you and Harper and Margaret are safe.”

You stared into Simon’s eyes, feeling the anguish radiating off of him.

“Simon, you are enough. You’re more than enough. You are so much more than your ability to keep us safe. A loving husband, a doting father, and most of all, a human being. You have to give yourself a break.” You slid over on the bed, indicating for him to sit beside you. He did so, maneuvering himself to give you ample space.

You rested your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes and breathing in the subtle scent of his cologne. “It’s okay to feel doubt. God knows I do. It feels like I go through everyday not knowing what the fuck I’m doing. Every moment I spend with Harper is a moment that’s tainted with the fear that I’m doing her more harm than good.”

“You’re amazing with her,” Simon interjected. “You’re exactly the kind of patient and adoring presence she needs.”

“And so are you, Si. Don’t think for a second that you’re not just as patient with her.” You looked up at him to see him already looking at you. “Who’s been the one to guide Harper through her panic attacks, or plan her lessons with her teacher, or take care of her when I’m not home? It’s all been you. You care about her so much, and she sees that. She loves you.”

Simon contemplated, thinking back to a couple weeks ago when Harper had woken up in the middle of night screaming. Both your hearts had stopped, thinking something horrible was happening. As it was, Harper had had a bad dream, not unlike the ones Simon himself experienced. She was shaking like a leaf and refused to let either of you touch her, and Simon had been the one to help her through the panic attack and calm her down.

“A lot of things are out of our control. But what is in our control is what we do and what we say. It’s a lot of faith to put in ourselves, but that’s what we gotta do,” you shrugged. “Everything else is arbitrary.”

Simon relaxed into you, taking in your words. You were right, you rarely ever weren’t.

When Margaret started crying, he brought her to you, and gazed in wonder as you fed and comforted her. You whispered sweet words to her and held her close, and when she finally went back to sleep, Simon decided he would take this newfound joy he felt because of his family and pocket it. Relive that feeling when nothing else made sense. And he would never stop trying his hardest.

#simon riley #cod modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare 2 #call of duty #ghost #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x fem reader #simon ghost riley x fem reader #modern warfare 2 #call of duty modern warfare #cod #mw2 #pregnancy drabble #x female reader #x fem reader

[padfootdaredmetoo]

Hello! So I have this request. Imagine Tommy has a daughter who's very cocky and isn't afraid to argue with anyone. It doesn't matter if you're 2 or 50, and she's her to be a teenager. ( preferably 13 ) If you can, and want to, of course. ( this is my first time asking for a request, and I'm so nervous, Idek why )

Hey Love,

This request is awesome! Thanks for trusting me with it! Hope you enjoy!!

Warnings: Kidnapping / peaky themes

Tommy felt his vision start to swim and the words on the phone became inaudible. The man hung up the phone and he knew he needed to move. These feelings uncovered old wounds. That time he had to rescue Charlie when he was just a small boy. He got one kid back and he could do it again. 

He pulled himself together and immediately without thought sought out Arthur who was sitting at his desk reading the paper. 

“He’s taken her hostage.” The words barely made it out of Tommy's mouth. 

“Told you that would happen,” Arthur grumbled but Tommy could see the pain and fear in his eyes. “JOHNNY!” Arthur called out over his shoulder into the back room.

“Again!” John said running his hand through his hair. “Fuck.” 

__________________________________________________

You were not very comfortable in the trunk of the car. Something you felt your capture needed to understand. They had not taken your criticism and had begun to ignore you. 

You weren't entirely sure they could hear you up front with the engine turned on and everything. If there was a small chance they could hear you, you were going to take it. 

You started singing God Save the King at an ungodly volume. Why that song? You didn't know. But you were sure it would annoy the piss out of anyone in earshot. 

You mentally counted every turn the car took. Trying to make a map of how to get back to school, back to safety. You sang so loud your lungs and throat burned. 

Eventually, the car came to an abrupt stop. Clearly done so your body would roll around in the trunk. You let out a little scream then lay still. 

Somewhere in your mind, you realized they could have driven to the river. Maybe they would open the trunk and shoot you immediately then dump your body. 

Jesus and the last song you would have been singing was God Save the King. Fuck, that’s not how you wanted things to end. 

The trunk opened and thankfully no one had any weapons drawn. The men looked weathered though you were happy to see they were enjoying your company. 

“Who the fuck taught you to drive.” You looked at the man with the keys in his hand. “Jesus Christ you suck.” 

“Look here you little twerp. Shut your mouth.” He grabbed your arm shaking your whole frame. “And keep it shut. Tight.” 

You felt that lovely sense of rage cloud all of your senses and leaned into the man's face. Your eyes were wide and you knew that he knew just where those icy blue orbs came from. 

“Make me.” You said softly. You could feel the discomfort run through the man. He didn’t want to be here, he was holding you for ransom no doubt. The reluctance to follow through with any violence was clear in his features. He gave the man next to him a look. 

“Get her in the fucking building.” The other man ordered avoiding your gaze. They moved you into the abandoned warehouse and sat you on a chair.

“Look at the two of you!” You said as they bound your body with rope. “Real classy people. I’m sure your mothers are very proud.” 

The man rolled his eyes. 

“Stuck with a couple of real winners.” You could see the man's jaw tick and you decided to simmer down a little. You needed to think up a plan. 

“So do you believe in God then?” You asked and he sat down in the chair across from you. A bright light turned on overhead and you realized with a spark in your eye that they were going to interrogate you. 

“I’ll be asking the questions here.” The man said in a sturdy voice. 

“That hardly seems like fun. I’ll trade you a question for a question. How bout that?” The man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Told you we should have taken the boy instead.” The man standing in the shadows said. 

“Charlie. Great man. Great brother. You want to know why he is such an excellent -” 

“No. What I want to know is why your dad stole from Mr. Crowe.” 

“Mr. Crowe, he sounds ominous. If I were writing a book I’d definitely make him the villain.” You tried to look around at all the exits. “What did my dad steal?” 

“Money and a shipment of drugs headed for New York.” 

“Doesn't sound like my dad. He’s a politician, a man of the government.” You explained. “Have you ever been to New York?” 

The man slapped his hand down on the table next to him. You wanted to avoid listening to more boring threats so you plowed on. 

“I have thought about going to New York, but America seems so dull. Their art is sooo boring. Do you like art?” You asked him honestly. 

“No.” 

“Really? You strike me as a man of higher education.” You smiled like a cat. “Surely there must be an artist or era you like. Everyone likes art.” 

“Shut up.” He growled. “Just shut up.” 

“Well, I don't know if you know this, but I just turned 13. You know what that means?” You looked at both men. “Means dating, and while I’m here I might as well practice small talk.” 

Both men let out a groan and one of them came over and landed a blow across your cheek. You could feel the fear radiating off of him as if God himself had told him what the cost of hitting one of Thomas Shelby’s kids was.

“My aunt hits harder.” You sneered. “Now you're not art people, that’s fine. How do you feel about sports then? You gamble?” You prattled on. Even if they did kill you, you wanted the satisfaction of annoying them.

________________________________________________________

Tommy negotiated with the man, sending him to an empty shipping yard. He didn't steal any drugs or money. Stuff like that was so far behind him that it was almost laughable. His daughter being held captive was not laughable. 

Alfie came up from London to storm the building with him. Alfie’s extra men went with Arthur and John to ambush the men going to the shipping yard. The whole thing was unbelievably stupid on Mr. Crowe’s part but he would meet the consequences nonetheless. 

As they parked outside the warehouse Tommy painfully waited until the rest of the men had the building surrounded. He knew better than to run head-first into traps these days. 

“No, see that’s where you're wrong. The issue is far more complicated than workers' rights. The aspect of the government being heavily involved in the lives of the people -” 

He followed the sound of your voice and found you tied to a chair with a large white light shining down on you. Two men looked possibly exhausted and frustrated. She prattled on about her views on Communism and shot down their defenses easily. 

“Not to late to leave her here mate.” Alfie joked and Tommy gave him an icy glare. He watched your eyes dart towards where they stood in the shadows. He saw the bruise forming on your cheek. 

Alfie wasn't in a joking mood anymore. 

“Boys I hate to change the subject as we were getting close to some interesting ideas. But we should move this back to religion. If you have one, I think you should make your peace.” They gave her a confused look. 

Tommy watched as Alfie went to untie you letting him start to have his way with the two men. 

______________________________________

“Put me down.” You growled. Alfie placed you down on the wet concrete in front of the building. 

“Not exactly a warm welcome.” He said looking at your cheek with anger in his eyes. 

“You suggested leaving me there!” 

“I just put 100 men on this mission to get you back, love. Leaving you there wasnt an option.” He answered easily 

“Then why did you say it.” Your eyes narrowed at him. He was your favorite person to argue with other than your dad. 

“I just thought it was funny that even when kidnapped you don't shut up.” 

“Do you want me to shut up?” A slight bit of hurt washed into your tone. 

“You wouldn't be my favorite niece if you did.” He ruffled the hair on your head and you were grateful he helped your dad.

________________

“So I started a re-read of the old testament.”

He let out a groan. 

Lizzie cried and threw her arms around you when you walked into the front door. You fought back your own tears as the reality of the situation hit you. Her embrace melted away all the anger that held you together. 

It was just you and her as your dad had to make phone calls to sort out the rest of the conflict. The tears started and she helped you upstairs to your room. 

“I just argued the whole time. I don't know why I’m crying now.” You tried to wipe your tears on the back of your hand. 

“Because you're still a girl at the end of the day.” Lizzie shrugged and helped you get into the bath. 

“Well, it’s stupid and I am not stupid.” You said trying again to stop the tears. 

“Darling, there is nothing stupid about your ability to feel. It’s what makes you exceptional.” She placed your robe and pajamas on the counter before leaving to give you some space. 

You got yourself sorted and were happy that the house was mostly empty. You stuffed yourself between your parents on the couch in the study. 

Your dad’s arm wrapped around you and you felt him hold on to you tightly.

#peaky blinders #tommy shelby #peaky blinders imagine #tommy shelby imagine #thomas shelby #thomas shelby daughter #tommy shleby daughter #alfie solomons

[ccuniculusmolestus]

Bunny Corcoran ;The Death Of Innocence

(I wouldve added images beside the first one from the book with highlights to provide evidence for a statement but like damn, tumblr wont let me for some reason. i'll try from a different device later)

I think Bunny was also supposed to be the picture of innocence.

I know what you're thinking: how can a loudmouth bigoted ass character 😒 be innocent? I'm with you. Surprisingly, Donna wrote extremely 3 dimensional characters. Sometimes, to really understand a certain character, you have to look at all their aspects, zoom out of the negatives (which Richard would have preferred to remain zoomed in on to justify his compliance in the murder of someone who considered him a friend) and look at them as a WHOLE.

Let's define the word innocence in this context with the help of my sturdy old friend, Google.

1. The obvious, Bunny committed no crime. He was innocent in the legal sense.

2. Without experience

We can say he was less experienced in the basics of life (was 24, didn't have a bank account, couldn't even drive i think? We never see Bunny drive. Didn't even have finances or know how to manage them-clearly. He might not even have understood the gravity of his over-spending nature)

3. Lacking

Clearly, when compared to his peers, he was lacking;

Financial help from his family (except when it came to comparing him to Richard). You could argue the twins were as poor as him- its mentioned in the book. But the case here is different. Bunny's parents were rich, yet he was not. The twins came from a middle class family, and they had their grandmother sending them money. Someone was taking care of them. Bunny had been thrown into boarding schools his whole life and learned to "fend" for himself by becoming a thief and a mooch. Two very different lifestyles.

He could also be considered to lack in academics. He struggled with dyslexia (and I think also ADHD), which is implied to have affected his studies/studious motivation

Bunny was also lacking in pretentiousness; and I'd wager that, though he probably was insecure, he wasn't insecure in a way that made him chase an aesthetic to such a fatal degree. Yes he was a man of illusions, yes he kept these illusions up to maintain a certain image of himself (in that regard, he was very similar to Richard, whose narration of Bunny is usually judgmental). But Bunny was not pretentious like Henry, Julian etc were. He wasn't walling himself in to be an elitist in a scholarly way, I think this fact is reflected in the fact that he had friends and connections outside of the class.

4. Not responsible for a crime but suffering it's consequences

Bunny isn't involved in the bacchanal, yet he suffers its consequence. He finds out about it, has multiple breakdowns to the point of getting drunk and writing an absolutely insane letter to a teacher with his feelings and suspicions bared, and he also opens up to Richard in his drunken carelessness. A mistake which cost him his life. He wasn't just killed because he was annoying, or that he knew too much-- Bunny had to die because he couldn't deal with the weight of knowing what had been done. Or perhaps, he couldn't deal with what the reality of his closest friend was.

5. Not corrupted

Easily, Bunny isn't corrupted with what I call " visions of grandeur" like everyone else in the class is. They all thought they were something. Henry and Julian especially. They were obsessed with ideals that, in a practical sense, ran the risk of polarizing their own selves. We could also speak on the fact he technically wasn't free from moral wrong. He was homophobic, rude, kind of hateful. But in a more fundamental way, he wasn't corrupted in the sense that he did anything that was major AND physically wrong.

I know verbal offences are valid too, and I'm not excusing his hatred/hate speech, I'm just saying.

Even him stealing that goddamn cake from the fridge or something, which Richard tried to conveniently paint as "he doesnt care for people (forget that he can't read)". YES, stealing other people's food is bad, but is it (done for survival?) as bad as:

incest (also pre-unhinged Charles, I dont know if what the twins did was consensual or if Charles used to force himself on Camilla or use an abusive dynamic to make her submit. I think that only came on after Bunny died, but idk)

poisoning someone's dogs

killing a baby chick or whatever weird shit richard did as a kid. and then as an adult the many questionable things he did

francis lowkey seemed like a sexual predator and i understand this might make people upset but i feel like he preyed on Charles' weakened mental / alcoholic state to sleep with him when charles (despite being bi) was not comfortable with the fact that he was attracted to men and wouldnt sleep with francis when he was sober.

Julian is just all wrong

6. Simple ; naive

So, without repeating anything- I genuinely feel like Bunny was so simple sometimes he was genuinely a dumbass. His death itself....how did he see the man he KNEW wanted to kill him (and I know this because in the letter to Julian, Bunny explicitly mentions "He" (Henry, not "THEY" the class) is going to kill him)

He sees them all there and still lets his guard down. He was so naive, that despite his very real paranoia of being stalked/killed, he still engaged with them like they were just a bunch of friends.

Another thing, child-like attributes are often related to naivety. (Him bouncing on everyone's beds that one morning, he was hyper, couldn't regulate his emotions, even his anger and aggression was very childish/immature in nature)

7. Not intended to cause harm

This is the only one I disagree with, because this was the only sense in which Bunny was NOT innocent. He very much had antagonistic qualities and intended to cause emotional harm to those he didn't like.

CONCLUSION

But yeah, overall, he practically fits the innocent role, which is why i think, after his death, things take such dark turns-- the reader loses their innocence too, in a sense, with the things that are revealed about the twins, about Charles, about Francis/Charles, about that one awful moment where Richard thinks the vilest shit about Camilla. The group starts falling apart and becomes disillusioned with each other- Richard starts seeing everyone for who they are, as well. His irritation towards Henry and the rest becomes palpable, and he also realizes his true friends could have been Judy etc (the normal students).

To lose one's innocence, we first have to encounter a scenario or go through something that gives us a greater awareness of the pain or the evil we are surrounded by. Here, losing Bunny was the catalyst in making Richard (and by extension, us) realize the characters and situations for what they really were.

#the secret history #tsh #bunny corcoran #henry winter #francis abernathy #charles macaulay #richard papen #camilla macaulay

[lunararcade]

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ PERCY JACKSON DR INTRO

important info to start: this is the second most recent dr i have shifted to. i do not have everything scripted out in this dr and am learning and adjusting to many things as i go. i had every intention to shift here eventually, but when i shifted here the first time it was unintentional. now i have some safety things in my script and some basic changes i wanted, but for the most part everything in this dr is coming naturally!

how long have i been in this dr? not long at all actually. i have only shifted twice for a total of just under four weeks (the first was a little under a week and the second was just under three).

have i been claimed by a god? yes! i was claimed by hades at the end of my second week there! there is no cabin for hades at camp yet so i took up residence for a bit in cabin 3 with percy after i was claimed.

what was my dr life like before i shifted there? pretty normal! i had dyslexia, but i was able to remain in schools pretty long. i even graduated high school. in my dr i was raised an only child by my mom, alexandra, who is a nurse, and my dad leonardo (who i never knew wasn't my biological father). he is a police detective. i had really close non-demi god friends named carter and nellie. i didn't see as many strange things as most demi-gods, but i did see a few ghosts of dead relatives but i never connected that to hades until i was claimed, i just thought i was weird LMAO. there were multiple occasions where i thought i was seeing things that i now know were creatures, but they would be gone before i could figure it out so i thought it was my imagination. i never knew i was a demi-god and somehow chiron never knew about me, nor did i have a satyr guide.

do i have any powers? tbh, i don't know much about what i can do yet. i know that i can see dead people and chiron thinks it was an unintentional form of necromancy. he also thinks i am having visions (which have gotten much more intense since i found out i was a demi-god). he doesn't know why though because that isn't typically associated with hades. i am a really good sword-fighter and pretty good with a bow, but other than that there hasn't been time to explore my powers.

how did i get to camp? i quite literally WOKE UP ON MY WAY TO CAMP. i had no idea where i was going or where i was at first because i has just shifted and i was disoriented. when i woke up my (step)father immediately explained that i was going to a camp to keep me safe. he never got to explain to me where i was going because the MINOTAUR CAME AT OUR CAR BEHIND US. he swerved off the road and told me to run toward camp and he would drive away to try and distract it. i wasn't fast enough and the minotaur didn't take the car bait so i was attacked and knocked out. i woke up in camp and chiron (slowly) explained everything to me which went as good as you can expect.

do i have any demi-god friends? yes, thankfully. i befriended luke almost immediately because we are pretty close in age and he helps to train me and percy, who arrived like 2 weeks before me. he is not working with kronos in my dr. percy likes to pester me, especially after he found out we are both going through the "the gods hate us" thing, but he's become a really close friend. grover tags along with percy a lot too which means we've become friends too. luke introduced me to annabeth, and she's smart and as stubborn as me which i admire so i like to talk to her a lot. she also likes to know about the normal world, and i don't mind reminiscing. the only other close friend i've made is a daughter of aphrodite named marie liu. she's so sweet but she's fierce and good at sparring. i also talk to a lot of the younger campers because me and luke are basically glorified babysitters when at camp (but it's fun and i'm really starting to love it there so it's ok).

what am i doing currently in my dr? well, chiron thought seeing the oracle would help me understand my visions but now i'm on a quest. the god's are likely going to go to war (because aren't they always) since zeus found out poseidon and hades had children who didn't face the same fate as thalia. they refused to let zeus kill them so zeus said there would be war and gods are picking sides now. there's more of us than usual on the quest because i brought the people who were in my visions (though they are brief and intense and hard to decipher). it's me, percy, annabeth, grover, and luke. the oracle said (and this is as close as i could remember when i shifted back and wrote it down, but is probably not entirely accurate. it is similar to the lightening thief prophecy in some ways but also very, very different):

"You shall go east, and face the god who has turned,

You shall find broken peace and see it returned,

You shall go west and discover more allies and friends,

Should one, at a parents hand, not meet their end."

we haven't deciphered much but we did leave like 2 days before i shifted back most recently and were in upstate manhattan. we are playing things by ear and trying to survive currently.

there isn't much else to tell about this dr right now, but updates, memes, and shitposts are to come!

feel free to send any questions or ask about anybody or anything in my asks! i love talking about my drs (:

#desired reality #reality shifting #shiftblr #shifting blog #shifting community #shifting realities #shifting motivation #shifting stories #percy jackson dr

[bteezxyewriter12]

Lie to Me/ 2

Pairing- Mingi x Named Reader

Word count- 3.8k

Includes- angst, wall sex, riding, missionary, oral, pussy eating, cum eating, multiple orgasms, a quote from Buffy the vampire slayer because I'm a total dork (lemme know if you catch it)

Tag List- @mingtina @jaxxmine @yeosayang @delightfulmoonbanana @tannie13 @y00nzin0 @marsstarxhwa

@yeosxxx @seokwoosmole @jjongsbebe @wisejudgedragonhairdo @meowmeowminnie @woo-stars @borntowalkaway @usagionthered @san-realblkwife @seonghwasstar @jejeyeppeo @soulseobi05 @kpop-bambi

Masterlists- check out for more fics

📝Masterlists 📝ATEEZ Masterlist 📝Mingi Masterlist

One month later

Mingi POV

Ripping the page out of my notebook, I crumple it then throw it across my room

"Arg!", I yell, tossing my pen on the useless notebook

All the lyrics I'm writing are garbage

I can't think of anything, can't get the words to go together

All I can think of is her

Which is fucking ironic as I'm the one who broke it off with her

It's just ever since we slept together again, she's all that's on my mind

And I don't know what I'm feeling or why I keep thinking about her

Her and I weren't working anymore

I wasn't feeling it or her

Instead of feeling excited to see her I was dreading it

I stopped seeing her often, claiming I was busy with ATEEZ

Any time she said I love you to me I didn't want to say it but forced myself too

All that told me that I don't love her and I needed to end our relationship

The few weeks we were apart I didn't think of her

I was fine

Then she came here, we did what we did and now I'm not sure of anything

Wondering if I made a huge mistake

Wondering and hoping this will pass

I don't think it will

I think I should talk to her, see if seeing her again does anything

That is if she'll talk to me

I know I broke her heart

I didn't want to, I didn't want to hurt her

She was a really amazing girlfriend when things were good, always supporting me, understanding of the idol life, encouraging me with everything

She was there by my side when I went on the hiatus, helping me with everything from driving me to appointments to just holding me for hours

And right now that's what I want

I want to feel her arms around me, her fingers in my hair, her voice softly telling me she loves me

I shake my head, trying to get the vision of just that out of my head

I need to stop

I did this, this is what I wanted

I just have to push these thoughts out of my mind

I'll get over it

Picking up my pen, I'm determined to write at least one verse of a song

---------------------------

Two days later

Walking around her school, I look in all the fields and grassy areas, looking for her

I finally caved and decided to try to talk to her, if she'll agree

Thinking about her is getting ridiculous and now I'm even dreaming about her

Hopefully talking to her will stop it

I already tried her apartment before I realized it's Wednesday and she has classes all day

I just don't know what building or when she actually has the classes

As I walk, I spot her walking towards a building across a field

I start walking towards her until I realize she's walking with someone

A guy

Who has his arm around her, her head leaning on his shoulder

I stop walking, jealousy I have no right to feel washing over me

And questions bombard my mind

Who is that?

Is he her boyfriend?

Or just a friend?

Why is she letting him put his arm around her?

Who is he?

And above all why am I feeling like this?

Why am I jealous?

I watch her enter the building with the guy and I snap out of my trance

I turn back around, all these mixed feelings swirling inside me

All I know is that I definitely have to talk to her

Asap

---------------------------

Three days later

Knocking on her door, I hope she's here

She should be

It's Saturday and I waited until evening to go to her apartment to make sure she's off of work

I just hope that guy isn't in there with her

The sound of the lock on her door is turned and the door opens

My eyes land on hers and my heart immediately beats faster

"Mingi?", she breathes, her eyes wide, shock on her beautiful face, "What are you doing here?"

Talk, I tell myself

"Can we talk?", I ask

"Oh uh really?"

I nod, "Unless you're not alone right now-"

She raises her eyebrow, "Of course I'm alone. Why wouldn't I be?"

I shrug, thinking of that guy, "I don't know. Maybe a friend is here. Or a boyfriend"

"Uh no, no one is here. I'm studying for a midterm, so I'm not hanging with anyone for the next few days"

I nod, remembering how seriously she takes studying when tests are coming

She made time to see me but would study when I was working lyrics or when we were in the studio or I was doing a vlive and I respected that

"So uh...you want to come in?"

"Yeah", I answer

"Alright"

She opens the door more, stepping aside, letting me in

Closing the door, she locks it then turns to me

Her eyes meet mine and I fall into them

"So uh what do you-", she starts, walking towards her living room

Grabbing her hand, I stop her, turn her to me and press my lips against hers, shivers running up my spine

My god, her kiss feels so fucking good

Like it used to feel

Like I'm home, where I belong

I don't know what's going on but I want her

"Mingi", she says breaking the kiss

"Please", I whisper, softly touching her cheek, "One more time"

She stays silent, her eyes on mine for a few seconds

I know what I'm asking her

To be intimate with the person who broke her heart

I know it's a lot to ask

She nods once and that's all I need, crashing my lips to hers, pushing her against the wall, kissing her deeply, absolutely loving the way her tongue feels against mine

Her arms move around my neck and it feels right

Our hands move all over each other, clothes discarded quickly

Picking her up, her legs wrap around my waist as I lean her against the wall

She reaches between us, aligning my cock to her entrance

I move forward, slowly sinking into her, pleasure assaulting my body as I feel her tight pussy open around me

She's dripping wet, hugging my length tightly, sucking me in as I move

She feels perfect

I moan against her lips when I bottom out, feeling the soft pulses around my dick

"Baby, you feel so good", I murmur, pressing kisses to her neck

Holding onto her ass, I move out of her tight gripping hole feeling her suck on me so fucking pleasurably

"Mingi", she whines and I shove my cock right back in, reveling in the way she spreads open around me

I continue to move faster, her hole dripping, clenching, her soft moans in my ear as I keep my face against her neck

Her skin feels perfect against mine, soft and smooth, warm, her arms around my neck, feeling like that's where they belong

Because they do

Her fingers slide in my hair, tugging softly, her legs wrapped so tightly around me as I move into her again and again

Moving my hand from her ass, I reach between us, brushing against her clit

Her legs tighten as she moans my name louder, her cunt clenching hard around my dick

Fuck it feels amazing

I don't know how I thought I could give this up, give her up

I don't know what I was thinking

I wasn't, that much is clear

"Hold on to me tightly aegi", I tell her

I'm holding her with one hand, I don't want to drop her

Her arms tighten around my neck as I hike her higher on my waist

Rolling my hips, I plunge deeply into her waiting pussy, smashing her spot, my fingers rubbing her clit at the same time

"Oh god Mingi! Mingi!", she cries, her body shaking in my arms

"Yes baby, fuck", I moan, "Cum for me aegi. Fuck I want to feel it so bad. Please baby, cum for my cock"

"Mingi!", she yells, exploding on me, soaking my pelvis and my legs in squirt

"Yes, there we go baby", I moan as unbelievable pleasure hits my body, "Oh fuck yes baby girl. Keep coming for me"

I furiously rub her clit, keeping my cock buried inside her, wanting her orgasm to keep going

Her orgasm lasts for a little long than usual, giving me immense pleasure

Once she finishes, I pull her off the wall, carrying her to her room

Placing her on her bed, I press a kiss to her lips, wanting to feel her kiss me more than anything in this world

When she does, I'm so fucking happy

Her tongue moves against mine, deepening the kiss, her fingers threading through my hair

And I'm in fucking heaven

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I hold her against me as close as I can get

God I miss her

I didn't know I could miss someone this much

When the kiss ends, I move my lips to her neck, trailing kisses across her skin

Moving lower, I pepper kisses around her hard nipple then softly take it in my mouth, sucking

"Oh god", she moans, her hand gripping her sheets hard while I moan loudly, the feel of sucking on her so good

Switching to her other nipple, I suck hard, playing between both of her boobs for awhile

She whimpers, softly playing with my hair

Finally, I move from her boobs, kissing all over her pretty stomach

I want to bury my face in between her legs, crave to taste her cum but I force myself not to

Instead, I ask her, "Can I taste you again baby?"

I want her to say yes badly

I didn't get to go down on her maybe time and fuck, I've been dying to

"Yes", she whimpers

Moving lower, I open her legs wider, pressing my lips against her inner thigh

I spend a few minutes kissing each thigh, remembering how much I loved being down here

I used to live for eating her out

I swear I could do it for hours, making her cum against my tongue over and over

After the kisses, I finally look at her pretty pussy

"Fuck", I whimper, watching her tiny hole leak

I need to take her right now

Laying my tongue on her, I move it up, her sweet juice all over my mouth and tongue

I groan loudly tasting her again

Oh my fucking god so fucking good

I run my tongue quickly up and down, shoving my face into her pussy as much as I can

God, she feels so soft on my tongue, so wet it's soaking my mouth, my chin, running down my neck

Her loud cries of pleasure are music to my ears as I put her legs over my shoulders, gripping her thighs hard

Licking furiously, I slide my tongue between her pretty lips then back down to her pulsing hole

Circling her hole a few times, she whines my name loudly and I give her what she wants, shoving my tongue in as deep as I can

"Mingi! Yes! Fuck!"

Pulling my tongue out, I wiggle it back in, her pussy clenching around my tongue hard

One of her hands buried in my hair, the other grips my wrist hard

When I fuck my tongue in her again, her hips move into my face

"Again", I ask, fucking my tongue into her over and over

She keeps moving her hips against my mouth, helping me tongue fuck her

"Mingi! Mingi! Oh shit", she cries, coming around my tongue

Her delicious cum hits my taste buds and I groan loudly, finally getting the taste I crave

I let her cum all over my tongue, only pulling out when she finishes and cleaning her up

I drag my tongue up her cunt, flicking her clit

"Yes! Mingi, please baby!", she yells

Lapping at her clit, I move my tongue fast, feeling her bump throb on my tongue

My god that feels good

Wrapping my lips around her clit, I suck desperately on it, absolutely loving the way it feels in my mouth

She screams loudly, her body shuddering, my name the only thing coming from her mouth

Slurping around her bump, I close my eyes as I pleasure her, wanting nothing more than for her to cum

I want to please her, do whatever she wants, give her as much pleasure as she can take

"Mingi! I'm...I'm...Mingi", she cries, her body shuddering under me as she orgasms

I suck her through it, giving her pleasure until she finishes, then lick her cunt clean again, getting all the cream she gives me

Fucking amazing

Laying next to her, I kiss her cheek as she breathes deeply, her chest rising and falling rapidly

Gently running my fingers up and down her body, I feel her skin trembles as she catches her breath

She turns her head to me and I fall into her beautiful brown eyes

Moving closer, I capture her lips in a soft kiss

Her body turns to me as she kisses me back

I pull her on top of me, asking between kisses, "Ride me aegi. Please"

"Yeah Mingi", she says softly, pulling away and leaning on my chest

Holding my dick up for her, she sits on me, sinking down my length slowly

"Fuck fuck fuck", I moan, watching her swallow my cock, watching the pleasure in her face, her eyes closed, biting her lip

Fucking gorgeous

Her hips move, allowing her to wiggle down until she bottoms me out

She lets out a small cry of pleasure, rocking back and forth, her pussy holding my cock in a tight grip

I hold onto her hips, reminding myself to not hold her too tightly

It feels so fucking good but I don't want to hurt her

After a few minutes she changes movements, bouncing on me softly

She leans forward, both hands on my chest now, her breathing getting faster as she increases her speed

She's so fucking wet, all of it pooling in my lap

Her pretty pussy opens so well, sucking me back inside, her hole splitting open the more my cock gets inside her

"Fuck", she whines, moving so fast, bottoming me out with every movement

And she's going hard, plunging me inside her so deeply, right into her spot

"Feels good baby?", I ask

She nods, "Always Mingi. Feels good for you?"

"Always", I tell her truthfully

Moving my eyes down, I suck in a breath seeing her cream pour out of her, the thick sticky mess clinging onto my cock, her pussy coating me more and more with every bounce

It's so pretty

She's fucking pretty

I can't believe I gave this up, gave her up

I'm an idiot

She sits up, holding onto my wrists as she moves

I don't know where to look

Her jiggling boobs, her pussy leaving my cock a mess before she takes me back in, her stunning face or the sweat rolling down her body

"Fuck aegi, you're so fucking beautiful", I gape

Her eyes look down at me, her cheeks pink in a blush

"You're beautiful too Mingi", she says softly

I know she really thinks that

She used to say it all the time

"Not as much as you baby", I murmur, "You're perfect"

She blushes and as I watch her ride me I realize that I fucking love her so much

It hits me so hard that it takes my breath away

I never fell out of love with her like I thought

In fact I'm more in love with her than I was before

And now I'm eating every word I said to her

I'm a massive idiot

I hurt her so much for nothing

I didn't try to fix anything with her, I just left and I shouldn't have

I'm regretting it so much right now

I don't know what to do

If I should tell her, apologize, beg for her to take me back

Or should I wait a day or two before talking to her again?

Would she even take me back?

I don't know and that scares me

"Mingi, are you ok?", she asks, looking down at me

She stopped moving, concern on her face

"Do you want me to stop?"

No, never

I never want her to stop

"No aegi"

Sitting up, I crash my lips to hers, turning us and moving on top of her

I hold her to me tightly as I move my hips, thrusting in and out of her

Her hand grip my back hard, moving along my muscles as I move, her fingers sending sparks of fire along every nerve she touches

She doesn't stop kissing me, her tongue against mine, pressing her body right against mine

I'm in so much pleasure, my brain is turning off

There's nothing in my head but her

Her cunt clenches hard around me as she breaks the kiss, moaning my name softly as she climaxes

I watch her head push back into the pillow, pleasure all over her face as ecstasy explodes through me

I sheath my length inside her, shooting my cum deep inside her spasming pussy

"Oh fuck Joanne, baby fuck", I cry burying my face in her neck, "Fuck aegi, it feels so good. You feel so good. Fuck"

I let the pleasure wash over me as I finish, then slowly pull out

Looking down at her, I just can't believe how gorgeous she is

She opens her eyes, focusing on me and I just blurt it out

"I love you"

She looks taken aback but then sadness falls on her face

"No you don't", she says, a sad smile forming, "But thanks for saying it"

"No Jo-"

"Mingi", she says, softly touching my cheek, "You don't have to lie anymore. I know ok?"

I shake my head because she doesn't know

She doesn't know I made an enormous mistake by letting her go

"I'm not lying baby", I tell her, "I love you so fucking much"

Confusion falls on her face as she says, "I don't understand Mingi. That's not what you said before"

"I know Jo but what I said before...when I ended things...I was so wrong aegi"

"You were wrong?"

I nod, "I'm sorry I hurt you baby. I'm sorry I said those things to you. I'm sorry it took me so long to see...I love you and I need you. I miss you so fucking much. Please baby, take me back"

She moves to sit up and I move back, sitting up as well

She pulls the blanket over her, covering herself as if I wasn't just all over her

"Take you back? Are you....is this a joke?"

"N-"

"Because it's really not funny if it is"

"It's not a joke", I swear, "It's not. I love you. I...I haveng been able to stop thinking about you. Not since last time we were together"

"That doesn't mean you love me Mingi. That just means what you feel is sexual towards me"

"No baby", I shake my head, "It's more than that. When I say I think about you it's not just about sex. I think of your smile all the time. Your eyes. Your laugh. Your voice. How it feels to hold you. How much I miss you. And all I want is you next to me"

She looks so unsure and it's my fault, "I don't...I don't know.."

"When I kissed you when I first got here, I got the overwhelming feeling I'm back where I belong", I confess, "This while time I felt like that. Like I'm supposed to be with you. Because I am aegi"

"You say that now Mingi. But what's to stop you from leaving again. Nothing. And I can't handle another break up. I...I don't think it will work"

My heart is beating in my chest as it cracks, tears welling in my eyes

I know it serves me right to feel this way, to have her say this to me but I don't want to let her go

I did before and it was the worst decision of my life

I hope she gives me another chance..unless that guy I saw her with is her boyfriend

"Jo, the other day...I saw you at your school with a guy. Is that your boy-"

"He's my best friend. I told you about him. Jae. I was crying and he was trying to make me feel better"

I sigh in relief

Thank god

"Why were you at my school?", she asks

I blush realizing that I may sound creepy telling her

"I uh...I went there to talk to you. I was waiting to see if the feelings for you would go away but they didn't. I couldn't take it anymore and I wanted to find you and beg you to take me back"

"Oh", she says, surprise on her face as she falls silent

"Jo, please. I swear I'll make everything up to you. I'm so sorry for putting you through this but I swear I'll spend the rest of my life showing you you're the one I want. I'll do anything you want. I'll get on my knees and beg you baby. Please, please take me back"

She hesitates, staying quiet for a few agonizing minutes

"Are you sure of your feelings?"

"One hundred percent", I nod

I know I was a massive idiot but I know how I feel

I love her

I want her

"I want you to be sure Mingi. Because of I say yes and you leave me again don't even think of coming back. If there's a next time I won't take you back no matter how much I love you"

I nod, "I understand aegi. I'm not leaving you again. I love you so much, I want only you. I swear"

She looks at me for a few seconds, then nods, "Alright"

Hope flutters in my chest, "Yes? You're mine again? I'm yours?"

She nods, "Yeah"

I can't hold back the huge smile that breaks on my face as I pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly as I kiss her hard

"I love you", I tell her between kisses, "I love you"

She giggles, pressing kisses to my lips over ans over, "I love you Mingi"

I let those words wash over me, joy filling my entire being

I never thought I'd hear her say that again

"I love you Jo. I'm so happy baby. Fuck you have no idea"

"I do baby. Believe me I know", she smiles

Yeah she does

She never stopped loving me and she's just as happy as I am that we're back together

I kiss her nose, asking, "Can I hold you aegi?"

She laughs, "You better baby"

Immediately, I lay down, pulling her with me

She lays her head on my chest, my arms encircling her tightly as we cuddle into each other

"Oh yeah", I gush, "This is exactly what I wanted"

"Yeah?", she laughs again

"Yeah baby. This is what I was missing and fuck it feels so good to have you back in my arms"

"It feels good being back Mingi. I missed you so much"

"I missed you too aegi but you don't have to miss me anymore. I'm yours and I'm staying yours", I promise

"I'm yours Mingi. I always was"

"I know baby. I love you"

"I love you too"

I'm never letting her go again

I realized what I have and I'll never be that stupid again

#ateez mingi smut #song mingi smut #mingi smut #song mingi fanfic #mingi fanfic #ateez fanfic #ateez smut

[violetsixx1981]

Kevin, we need to talk!! Part 2

Word count 809

WARNING ⚠️ READER FINDS KEVINS PLANS TO SHOOT UP THEIR SCHOOL!!!

“SHIT, babe, wake up,” Kevin yelled, jumping out of the bed. You yawned and opened your eyes. “What’s going on,” you asked? “My mom is home, I just heard her car door,” Kevin said as he threw his clothes back on.”Oh fuck,” you said jumping up and scrambling to find your clothes. “You get dressed, I’m going to go distract my mom. I’ll text you when it’s okay to come downstairs,” Kevin said as he shut the door behind him.

You got dressed and sat down at Kevin’s desk. Leaning all the way back you knocked the back of the chair into the dresser that was next to it. You heard something hit the floor. Swiveling the chair around you noticed that a notebook had been knocked free from between the desk and his dresser. Shimmying your hand into the gap, you grabbed it. You were just going to put it back, but the cover said KEEP OUT, and let’s be honest you’d never been good at following instructions.

You opened the notebook and found a list of your classmates, noting that they were all the super popular, and super smart kids. You flipped to the next page and found a sketched diagram of the school with all the exits marked. You were starting to get a sinking feeling in your stomach. The next page was a drawing of metal bike locks and a bow and arrow. You knew that Kevin loved archery, and he was very good at it. It was actually the reason you’d noticed him.

He’d been on the archery field at school, his face had been in such a state of concentration. The way his shirt rode up his stomach when he pulled the bowstring. He was gorgeous.

You flipped to the next page and your entire world came crashing down. There in black and white was a full laid out plan to shoot up the school with his bow and arrows. There was even a part about using the metal bike locks to lock the students in. You sat there staring at the notebook in your lap, you couldn’t breathe.

“Babe? I texted you. My mom is bringing in groceries. So if we head down now we can just pretend we were in the living room the whole time,” Kevin said as he walked into the room. You jumped up and the notebook went flying across the room. Kevin walked over and picked it up. “Where did you get this,” Kevin asked, as if he didn’t know exactly where you’d gotten it from. “I knocked the chair into your desk and it fell,” you said. Kevin looked pissed, more pissed than you’d ever seen him. Even more pissed than when Nathan Mercer had grabbed your ass in the hallway. He slowly walked over to the desk and put it back where it came from. All the while you stayed against the far wall, unsure of what to do. "Kevin? P-please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” you said, stuttering. Kevin sighed. “I think you should go,” he said sitting down on his bed. “What? No! Kevin, please talk to me,” you said. “No please go,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere,” you said crossing your arms. “Y/N, GET OUT,” he yelled causing you to jump. “Why,” you asked biting back tears. “BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T GO I’M GOING TO HURT YOU, AND FOR SOME FUCKING REASON I DON’T WANT TO DO THAT ANYMORE!! SO DO US BOTH A FAVOR AND GET THE FUCK OUT,” Kevin roared. You quickly grabbed all your stuff and ran out of his room and down the stairs. Tears were clouding your vision and you nearly collided with his mom bringing in groceries. You muttered an apology and ran out the door. “Y/N? Are you okay, sweetheart,” she yelled after you. But you didn’t turn around, you just kept running until you got to your car. You jumped in throwing your things into the passenger seat. Starting the car you pealed out of his drive way, not even bothering to put on your seat belt.

“What did he mean by he doesn’t want to hurt me, anymore,” you said aloud. Then it suddenly made sense. When you had first started trying to talk to Kevin he was very cold towards you. Almost like he hated you. Every time you tried to talk to him he always seemed angry even if he’d been smiling or laughing just before. You’d almost given up trying to ask him out entirely when out of nowhere he had asked you out. “Was he planning on hurting me,” you asked yourself out loud? It was then you realized that the rumors were true, Kevin Khatchadourian was in fact a sociopath. You were in love with a sociopath. You had just lost your virginity to a sociopath.

#we need to talk about kevin #Kevin khatchadourian x reader #Eva Khatchadourian #mentions of school shootings #established relationship #reader insert

[rav-rabies]

Hi Fi Rush Headcanons/ideas: pt 1 Heroes

got a few ideas bouncing around mostly just backstory stuff I wanted to write down to clean up my head and thought I'd share.

Pt 2

Possible trigger warnings: discussions of family fights, age gap relationships

Chai

Sun sign: Cancer, Moon: Sagittarius, Ascending: Sagittarius

Is smarter than he lets on

Grew up in a small town and got himself into trouble because there wasn't much else to do.

Never knew his father. He left home to pursue his dream of being a Rockstar and disappeared.

Chai created an idealized version of his father. Wants

Majored in Business as his mother wished but negotiated to study Music Theory as a minor. Got mostly A's and a few B's.

Quit school after being discouraged by an asshole professor and because he wanted to live his own life on his terms.

Couldn't find work after dropping out because ableism and struggled on disability payments.

Peppermint

Sun: Sagittarius, Moon: Capricorn,  Ascending: Virgo

Was an invitro baby and was conceived around the same time as Kale.

Roxanne and her husband had been separated for three years when there was an accident at the treatment center Peppermint's zygote was stored in. Roxanne was relived one of her zygotes survived and she and her estranged husband agreed to bring the child to term.

Her father died when she was barely a year old so she never got to know him.

Has a small tattoo of two intertwined violets on her back to represent Sapphic love.

More interested in environmental science and politics then robotics but was supported by Roxanne as both fields a line with her worldview.

Is planning on returning to school soon after her mother gets everything back on track at Vandelay.

Macaron

Sun: Libra, Moon: Taurus, Ascending: Pisces

Spent his vacation reconnecting with his old friends outside of Vandelay.

He was that kid who took things apart. His parents were great though and supported his interest. Just they made sure to redirect his curiosity towards lest destructive

First learned about Roxanne when he was finishing collage and wanted to become a part of something bigger. He was drawn to her ideas and drive.

Korsica

Sun: Virgo, Moon: Scorpio, Ascending: Aries

Had not been working at Vandelay long before Chai came along.

Had a tentative "friendship" with Zanzo due to both being bottom of the social hierarchy.

Has zero interest in Chai and Peppermint as romantic partners. Though that can change for peppermint. Her age is the only hurtle really. (NOTE: I do love this ship and have no problems with age gaps in shipping or sometimes irl. But, as someone in their thirties, I feel comfortable saying that we're not as inclined to date younger unless we're kind of immature like Zanzo or said 20 something is really chill.)

CNMN

CNMN doesn't need headcanons from me he's perfect as is.

Roxanne Vandelay (Heads up she gets Rose Quartzed a little)

Sun: Capricorn, Moon: Sagittarius, Ascending: Aquarius

She values altruism above all. She believes the purpose of creation in both science and the arts is to better the world.

Also values hard work and sacrifice, not to insane levels but again to the point she lacks some sympathy for those

Has a hard time accepting others as driven as her. She isn't actively mean but she's not very understanding of those with different values.

She and her husband both wanted to create a better world and fell in love while working for it. After Kale was born Her husband became devoted to his son. She believed both still/would support her vision and spent as much time with her family as she could and hoped love would be enough.

It wasn't. Overtime her son grew to resent his distant but caring mother and her husband grew sad and frustrated.

Arguments started and the rift got too big for anyone to ignore. She left.

After her husbands death Roxanne found herself a CEO of a rapidly growing company and a single mother to an unruly teen who just made a strange new friend.

#hi fi rush #chai hi fi rush #roxanne vandelay #peppermint hi fi rush #korsica hi fi rush #macaron hi fi rush #headcanon

[watchmenanon]

How Will Byers became the heart and soul of Stranger Things.

By Adam White

30 October 2017 • 5:00pm

Warning: this story contains Stranger Things 2 spoilers!

Last year, when the young cast of Stranger Things began to tour the world, making personal appearances and becoming the faces of fashion houses, one cast member seemed to be permanently excluded.

Millie Bobby Brown was a grenade of preternatural charm, and Gaten Matarazzo won hearts with his endearingly candid Instagram account, but there was always the feeling that there was one young star missing.

Maybe not as funny or as quirky-looking as the others, 13-year-old Noah Schnapp was principally recognised as the Stranger Things Kid people seemed to forget about. Part of this was by nature of the show itself, Schnapp’s character Will abducted and taken to an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down during the very first episode. It was his disappearance that kicked off the show’s irresistible mix of sci-fi mystery and whimsical nostalgia.

But Stranger Things 2 has seen Will take on a far bigger role, becoming the drummer behind many of the show’s most emotional beats. And it’s been an impressively manageable task for Schnapp, who may have only just become a teenager but who has given one of the most heartbreaking portrayals of post-traumatic stress disorder in recent memory. He’s quickly cemented himself as the heart and soul of Stranger Things itself.

Oddly, despite Schnapp’s relative lack of screentime in the first season, he was arguably the most experienced of the show’s young cast going in – having already played Tom Hanks’s son in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies, and voiced Charlie Brown in 2015’s The Peanuts Movie. He somewhat adorably learned he was hired while attending summer camp, before being whisked away to meet his fellow cast members.

Unlike them, however, his haphazard appearances in the first season meant he didn’t have much time to strike up a bond – but they still made him feel at home.

“I was trapped in the Upside Down,” he told Dazed, “so I wasn’t in the same scenes as the others. I’d be going back to school and stuff, but every time I came back it was like a big reunion. I’d drive into the studio and they’d be there waiting for me, screaming. When we were all there together, though, we’d all have sleepovers and stuff.”

With most of his scenes in the first season consisting of looking terrified in pools of inter-dimensional gloop, it took until its second for Schnapp to properly come into his own. His most moving performance occurs in the season’s fourth episode, wherein he confides in harried mother Joyce (Winona Ryder), telling her the truth behind his recent out of body experiences.

Desperate to push the narrative that he’s no longer affected by his time in the Upside Down, he has kept secret the fact that he has been glimpsing monsters and nightmarish, apocalyptic visions. That is until it all comes crashing down over breakfast, where he hesitantly confesses.

Schnapp captures all of the shame and horror of keeping a secret from your loved ones, and the odd sensations of disgust and relief as it unspools in floods of tears. It’s an incredibly powerful moment between both actors, but Ryder’s magnetism is less of a surprise considering she’s been in movies for over three decades. For Schnapp, it’s a revelation.

As the season continues, and Will’s body is entirely taken over by the feelers of the Upside Down, Schnapp conjures a sinister adolescent intensity similar to that of Harvey Stephens, the young actor behind Damien in The Omen, or even Linda Blair from The Exorcist.

While at least a few members of the young Stranger Things cast seem to be stagnating in the show’s second season (looking at you, Mike and Eleven), Will’s development has been particularly nuanced and interesting this year.

It also helps that Will best personifies many of the show’s strongest takes on teenage trauma. While the majority of the Stranger Things kids are depicted as prototypical outcasts, they also sometimes feel annoyingly photogenic in their social marginalisation, as if they weren’t Hawkins High's biggest geeks, but rather the heroes of a particularly inspiring Coca-Cola commercial.

Rather, they are “Hollywood nerds”, the kinds of outsiders with cool, charity shop wardrobes who find themselves with tight, unbreakable friendships. Aside from a few moments in which conformist, retrograde bullies call them names, never has high school loserdom been so enviable. Those who have actually encountered teasing or isolation as a pre-teen, you’ll know it’s worlds away from the kind so often depicted in the series.

Will, on the other hand, with his bowl haircut and wan complexion, better embodies the sort of child typically left on the sidelines of a PE class or isolated from their peers. The sadness of it all carried by Schnapp’s incredibly expressive face.

Even in a group Will somewhat disappears. He is smaller than the other boys, yes, but he has also experienced trauma, both before and after his time in the Upside Down. Hints of his life before the events of the series indicate a child who has always struggled to interact with his peers, possibly because of a fractured relationship with his father, who halfheartedly attempted to forge a bond before giving up entirely.

His impressively ramshackle fort in the woods, which he dubbed Castle Byers, also signals a child of particular introversion, for whom withdrawal from the world is a luxury.

There’s also the ever-discussed subtext that Will is gay – a theory spun by Joyce’s early aside that his father abandoned him amid a litany of homophobic slurs.

An only-somewhat-fanciful essay in The Advocate last year proposed that both Will and beloved mom jeans pioneer Barb were so quickly pulled into the Upside Down because it acts like something of a metaphorical closet – a terrifying embodiment of the shame and persecution that would so often envelope queer teens growing up in small-town America during the mid-Eighties.

Schnapp has said that he hasn’t thought of any queer subtext when playing the character, but welcomes the different readings fans have had. While we aren’t yet privy to Will’s sexuality, the idea of his slowly coming to terms with it only increases the power of his obvious marginalisation – the feeling that he doesn’t quite belong in ways that are very different to the rest of his friends.

We don’t yet know where the rest of Will’s journey will take him, particularly as the show seems to have finally closed the book on his time in the Upside Down, but what’s guaranteed is that in Schnapp’s hands it’ll be convincing. And that the Duffer brothers, the geniuses behind the show, would be smart to capitalise on his talent.

#will byers #noah schnapp #get the praise my child and you're coming for more in season 5 #byler #< target audience #st articles

[ghoulodont]

I haven’t even done it yet. But… I know you have 10 facts! But also you can also just list 10 facts about anything you find interesting!

Ghost Mutuals Tag Game 🦇 Send this to the last ten Ghesties in your notifications, then reply here with ten facts about yourself! Let's get to know each other!

okaaaaaay ill try to come up with 10 facts...

1. i have a wonderful little elderly cat who i love dearly even though she bites me every day. shes my dewdrop muse. she has a water ghoul name too

2. i wont say exactly what i do at work because its kind of specific but the general idea is i make computer programs that are used to modify peoples teeth

3. i almost got a minor in something so specific i feel like it would reveal what school i went to, but its stuff about light and color and vision and perception. i took all the classes but was too lazy to actually do the paperwork. my major (and the subject of my masters) was computer science

4. during college i did an internship at a company everyone ive ever told the stories to says is basically a knockoff version of theranos (i.e. a huge fraud). it was miserable but so funny in retrospect

5. im not a vegetarian but i barely ever eat meat. i was a vegetarian for maybe 5 years as a teenager but i became too obsessed with checking for secret meat products in things and had to stop

6. i lived in australia for 6 months. i arrived there with more organs than i had when i left

7. i can move my clasped hands from in front of me to behind me over my head without letting go and without doing any specific trick with my elbows

8. i drive a purple car (but its really dark and looks black unless its in the sun). i found it by going on a car website and seeing the option to filter by color and immediately clicking purple like some sort of child but its actually a great car

9. i wear almost the same clothes every day like a cartoon character. black t shirt + black sweatpants or jeans depending on the situation + black denim jacket when going out unless its too hot

10. i died (or rather, became dead) when i was 24 years old. it wasnt very exciting i just suddenly realized i could feel my organs liquefied inside me. i dont think i ever came back to life. this has been very influential on my identity

#thank you this was fun actually #a little scary though #i keep telling myself theres nothing truly incriminating on this blog if someone happens to find me #implicit age reveal too maybe based on other things ive said #it literally does not matter i know this but im paranoid in weird ways

[baberoe-archive]

my good friend who literally always comes correct. tell me your thoughts how would baberoe handle a zombie apocalypse. pitch me the movie in your mind's eye

HI BEL!!!!!

first of all. might i be so bold as to suggest that of any pairing, baberoe are probably one of the most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse. they r both pretty handy, and they r resourceful in ways that complement each other so in any given situation one of them is probably fairly well equipped to resolve it. gene has first aid and health covered, is probably a decent shot, and can probably survive well enough off natural resources if society collapses. im going modern au w this, so there is no reason babe would know how to shoot, but he’d pick it up fast enough, and he can get pretty creative in using whatever’s lying around to help him, plus he’s so naturally friendly and charming he can probably worm his way into any settlement or group and is adept at maintaining connections with care networks. they would slay at a zombie apocalypse to be honest.

before i give my further 2 cents i should say im no connoisseur of zombie media so forgive me if i plagiarize or fail to obey established tropes or whatever. but anyway heres what i got for a movie:

so. i’d like to pitch a journey to bayou chene. when i was thinking about a zombie apocalypse situation, my first thought was if they start in the same place, they are going to want to go back to their families and make sure everything is okay. i dont see either of them being able to stay away from their family if they know they are in danger. so this springs out of that. in this pitch, gene came to philly for school, met babe and they started dating. they are living there together when the zombie apocalypse starts. there is a desperate need for health workers, so there is no way gene can get away. as the time wears on, communication systems fail, and eventually he stops hearing from his family in bayou chene completely. it is maybe a year or two before there is some semblance of normalcy and gene does not feel guilty for stepping away. when he says he is going back to louisiana, babe insists on coming with him. i think, during this journey, they realize how much they’ve drifted apart — gene has been so busy at the hospital and at shelters, and babe has been volunteering himself, as well as taken care of family, and between the trauma and grief, they have had no time for each other. this journey gives them the opportunity to meet each other again, to fall in love again. the ease in which babe inserts himself into communities, the way he insists on helping in the kitchen, how when he gets kicked out of the kitchen, he falls in with the kids, playing soccer and laughing at the weird jokes children tell. the love he has for everyone, for the world. his unrelenting optimism, how he holds onto hope like it’s a weapon. babe, for his part, sees anew gene’s single-minded focus, his determination. the gentleness of his hands, a gentleness that comes from his grandmother before him, her grandfather before her. he’s not optimistic, not really, but he will do what he can, he would stand before god and chew him out if he could, and babe loves him for it. by the time they get to louisiana there is something light within them, a renewed vision of the world. gene is feeling almost hopeful as he drives a stolen pick up down familiar state highways, then local roads, deeper and deeper into the bayou. they pass a sign that says they are entering st martin’s parish. a few miles later, they are stopped by a tree in the road. they get out of the truck and climb over, failing to notice the tree was cut down with a chainsaw. another tree blocks the road a few miles later. there’s another before they reach the church at the center of town. the windows are smashed, the pews overturned. every building is empty. they turn down the single lane road leading them deeper into town. gene is silent now, not bothering to call out to former neighbors, friends, family. when they reach the house, babe recognizes it from photos. the white washed siding is dirtier now, the garden overgrown, the door off its hinges. inside it is a wreck — sofa cushions turned over, drawers pulled out and emptied, picture frames without pictures. when gene makes his way upstairs to his former bedroom, he finds a rosary on his bed. it is his grandmother’s, the one she used when she was healing, her favorite. with shaking hands, he picks it up, then looks back to babe. there is something sad and resolute in babe’s expression when he nods. cut to black.

#i had another half baked idea about them meeting in the middle of the apocalypse where gene is like an emt and he finds babe #who has gotten bit but is somehow fighting off infection and the two of them are trying to figure out why the hell hes not succumbing #but i think thats too similar to the plot of the last of us. maybe idk i havent seen and or played that so truly i do not know.but n e way #ask #thank uuu for asking <3 <3

[anauro]

Bonjour again Roc! While writing my previous ask, another question popped in my mind lol. So what where the Marauders' initial career plans, if they had any? And more importantly, what are they going to do when (if) they finally get sober. I assume that rehabilitation programs exist but the boys don't have diplomas (they didn't graduate high school, did they?), driving licenses, etc. So what are they going to doooo? (I don't mind spoilers but I'd totally understand if you won't answer ;-))

Bonjour again! 🧋

So career plans.

1. James

As we now know, he wanted to be a doctor. No one knew about it except for his parents though. And now Regulus.

2. Sirius

He didn’t have much of a choice here, really. He was the heir to his family’s business and was very much prepped from early on to step into his father’s shoes. Because of that, Regulus was allowed a bit more liberty and chose the medical field too.

By the time Sirius got disinherited, too much work and effort has been put towards Regulus’ medical dream to snatch it away from him.

Before you ask, Bellatrix and her husband will inherit the business once Orion and Cygnus retire.

3. Remus

Remus was a scholarship student and he came to school with a clear vision in mind. He is a somewhat of a computer genius (he developed the software for The Map) and his goal was to get to Oxbridge, get into a master programme in the States and settle down in the Silicone valley.

Before the first day of school, he was forced to go on a induction tour of the school and met another new student called Sirius Black. We all know what happened next.

4. Peter

Okay, so I’m gonna risk you all calling me unnecessarily edgy or trying too hard to make Peter a character here. Which, you wouldn’t be wrong in doing, this is exactly what’s happening.

Peter is just as smart as the rest of the lot. This kid was going places, he could have been the next Wolf of Wall Street if only things panned out differently.

You may remember me saying he was the best at obtaining drugs (unless women) and yes, this man’s middle name is negotiation. He is good. He is a sweet talker, he watches his “opponents” like a hawk and he uses what he learns against them.

Business school was made for him.

Now all four of them finished sixth form and obtained their A levels, which is British equivalent of baccalaureate that you get in most European countries (idk what Americans gets). Disinherited or not, the Blacks would never allow Sirius to be a drop out.

They all finished cause they were smart but none of them went to uni.

As to what’s gonna happen when they get sober…. You’re gonna have to wait and see, my dear French anon hahah 😉

All of them have a driving license, except Peter who has the hand eye coordination of a penguin and never got one. None of them drive tho cause a) they’re constantly under the influence and b) they can’t afford a car

#drugs and surgical scrubs #jegulus #jegulus fanfiction #roc answers #dass #starchaser #marauders #marauders headcanons #James potter #Sirius black #Remus lupin #peter pettigrew #French anon tag

[neuro-gal-thoughts]

The Guy In the German Bakery

Not too long ago, a childhood friend invited me to visit a German bakery located in the Old Town Market of our childhood home.

My South East Asian immigrant parents never took us to the bakery, but we used to drive past it all the time. (Side note: funnily enough, said street is shut down for pedestrians to walk through now, can’t drive through the area like I did when I was a child anymore)

Inside the bakery, I was confused. The shop was set up so that you could see the ovens and bakers working in the back as soon as you walked in. Displays of desserts lined up on the left. Cakes of various sizes and flavors, cookies with even more options, fudge bites, baked pastries with nuts and fruit fillings. There was a menu to the left and to the right. Which side do I order?

When I turned to look from the left side to right, I wondered if the menu on the left was the same as the menu on the right. I wanted to buy a drink.

That was when I noticed a guy standing on the right side of me, his partner behind him. He’s facing toward me but I tell the little attention-seeking side of myself not to wonder if the guy is staring at me.

But right as my mind is focused on the menu, wondering if I should get the Chai latte or an Americano, the blurry corners of my vision notices the guy snap his head and body away from my direction.

It was like -SNAP- he jerked his head away.

The deeply buried attention-seeking side of myself would like to believe it’s because the guy caught himself staring at me and didn’t want me to catch him so he looked away.

And if I tell myself that narrative...NGL it feels nice. Validating that I exist and someone likes it.

I was wearing a jean jacket I’d just purchased and am in love with. Also, my hair looked/felt very nice and shiny that day.

Growing up, I never believed that any guy liked me, especially not in a romantic lense.

I craved for male validation but all I really got out of interacting with my brothers is that if a guy is nice enough to keep talking to you, it’ll mostly be water cooler topics. I don’t think any guy really flirted with me in high school. No guy ever told me he was interested in me or showed interest in me outside of general teens existing together.

I spent my 20s lowkey (silently) grappling with a fear of men after a traumatic thing from my childhood came flooding back into my mind one day. I didn’t know what it was until I was well into my 30s.

For the past 2-3 years, I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s the world, but I’m being chatted up by random people - but noticeably more men - and stared at.

I honestly don’t know if I’ve “glowed up” enough that people are noticing me now, or if I’ve always been noticed but I am finally connecting more with the world so I’m actually noticing a normal amount of random people perceiving me that’s been there all along?

Bottom line, external validation by anyone is generally nice (so long as it’s not invasive or makes you uncomfortable), but it’s not healthy to seek for it. To live in anticipation for it.

Like, honestly, it does feel good when I think back to the way I felt when I noticed the guy snapping his head away. But at the same time, it’s really not that big of a deal that I find it a story worth telling anyone I know (unless they want to hear me unpack a lot of deep stuff that is actually kind of not the point about a guy checking me out).

It’s a big deal but not because a guy noticed me. It’s a big deal because I’m understanding why I desire male validation, where I want to prioritize it in my life, and it honestly feels good to feel like a normal human being. It’s hard to explain, I really don’t know if I’m explaining this well. LOL

#neurodivergent #confusing #ramble

[ikpopwriting]

What did you mean in your ghost post when you said “wouldn’t be the first time a dream wasn’t a dream”?

Girl you be having visions or something??

(can you do one for me because bitch, I need help 😂)

Also I am so sorry for your loss, especially with the anniversary coming up. That must have made the holidays hard the last few years 😔

I’m at peace with it today, oddly. The loss. It’s been 2 years now, and I’ve been dreading today ever since the calendar changed to December, but today came and…nothing. Peace, calmness, relaxation. It’s been much needed.

Now, on to the dreams.

I wouldn’t say I have like, visions or premonitions. Just weird things happen sometimes that correlate to waking life.

The best example I can give you is several, oddly enough, Christmases ago. I don’t remember what I dreamt before it, but I woke to a sharp pain and what sounded like a gunshot. It was just after 2am, and my heart was pounding and the sound echoed in my head. I rubbed my chest where I had the pain and was just so confused.

When we were gathered around waiting to start opening presents, I mentioned it to my parents. My dad had worked a 24hr shift and got off at 7 that morning, and he gave my mom a strange look when I mentioned the sound and pain. It turns out that at 2am in his coverage area, 2 brothers were shot. In the chests. DOA.

To say I was spooked is an understatement. My parents, especially my mom, didn’t call me crazy or anything like that, because she’s had similar experiences. For example: if someone is heavily on her mind, she reaches out to them and sure enough, they’re in a bad way, in the hospital, or have died suddenly. She also used to see a blue flash of light at the corner of her eye while on the road, and sure enough a cop would be ahead. Usually this only happened when speeding was envolved. Once, after my parents married, it was a red flash. Sure enough, a couple miles ahead a wreck had happened with an engulfed vehicle, and fire and EMS was on the scene. It doesn’t happen as often anymore, just occasionally. I think it’s sorta been passed down to me, but in a different way. I’ll get a strange feeling and ask whoever’s driving how fast they’re going. Usually they’re speeding, and I mention slowing down. Whether they heed my advice or not, a cop isn’t too far ahead. Came in handy riding with my best friend to and from school in high school; he always sped.

Anyway, that’s my family weirdness!

#jess talks #jess answers #VicinityReynolds #psychic #?

[ethephoenix]

The Sword of Kas: A Stranger Things Story

A season 5, Eddie Munson + reader POV fanfic

By Evin Phoenix (share with attribution/ give credit)

If you’re wondering if the title is a double entendre/ innuendo. Do you really need to ask?

🖤🤘

Content warning: this story is NSFW and contains mature themes.

Ages 18+

Smutty scenes in part 2

Best viewed on wattpad

https://www.wattpad.com/1246974836-stranger-things-season-5-the-sword-of-kas-eddie

Chapter 1: New Scars

Eddie Munson woke up in an ice cold sweat, sticking to his leather jacket. Disoriented in the bright room, he pawed at his abdomen — blood. Dustin, he thought. Where's Dustin?

His vision began to clear into focus, and he panicked. He tore at his shredded Hellfire Club t-shirt, bracing himself for the vicious wounds to his guts where demobats feasted. A piece of his flesh fell into his fingers from his jacket, and he screamed a lonely scream of a boyin terror. Determined to take stock of his injuries, he bit into his bleeding tongue, his tearful doe-eyes wincing.

Nothing.

There was no wound. His tattooed stomach was perfectly healed, though his ink was now adorned with a few nasty scars.

"What?" he said incredulously. His shaking hands were frantic. He had to be sure. His hands and his stomach were covered in dried blood underneath his shredded clothes. There was no wound. Only scars.

A car horn startled him out of himself. He realized he was in his own bedroom. There was Elektra, his beloved B.C. Rich Warlock guitar. Fuck, he thought. I'm dead. I've died. Is this—

The car horn startled him again. He jumped out of his bed to look through the broken bathroom blinds in a paranoid frenzy. It was his uncle. "Eddie, we're gonna be late!" he yelled.

Eddie looked in the mirror. He still had strange ash in his hair from the upside-down, and crystallized purple demo bat blood. His eyes were different. He looked like a ghost.

"Eddie, let's go!" His uncle yelled again.

His muscle memory carried him through a quick shower and he pulled on jeans and a t-shirt from a rumpled ball on the floor. Confused, he hopped into the passenger seat of his van.

"I'm happy to keep driving you until you're fully recovered. You're not doing special K again, are you? You need your health, Eddie." His uncle put the shift in gear and popped the clutch.

"No, not that I'm aware," said Eddie.

"Well, you don't look so good. Here—" his uncle pulled out two crumpled dollars from his back pocket. "When you get to school, get a second breakfast and eat as much as you can. That'll fix you right up."

"Thanks," Eddie replied.

"And Eddie —" his uncle paused, steering them out of their weedy cul- de-sac in the early light. "I'm glad you're okay. I really thought you were gone."

"Yeah—" Eddie replied, "me too."

~

Eddie was in a daze all morning, unable to eat from either of his plastic breakfast trays.

The Hellfire boys laughed and horsed around at the table, plotting new campaigns and fighting over who would be the next dungeon master when Eddie graduated. The basketball team wrestled each other on the other side of the cafeteria, but he didn't spot Lucas, Patrick, or Jason. Eddie's mind wandered wildly, as if he was disconnected from his limp body. He stared off a thousand yards away, searching a distant darkness for understanding. There was so much he didn't remember. But worse still, no one else remembered. No one remembered anything. It was like nothing ever happened.

"Good morning—" Eddie jumped, intensely startled. "Eddie—" it was a teacher he hadn't met before. "I came to check in. We were supposed to meet at 8:45. Why don't we walk over to my office together? I'm Linda, the new guidance counselor. Come on."

He nodded passively to his friends, wondering where Dustin was. The whole school seemed freakishly... normal. No one seemed to notice how many people were missing. No one seemed to notice that he was supposed to be dead. Or that everyone was supposed to believe he murdered those kids.

~

"Ms. Johnson said you've missed several days this week," Ms. Linda began. "I know it's been hard since the earthquake, but what's going to really help is getting yourself back into a normal routine. You can't dwell on what happened. You're safe now."

"What about.. the murders?" Eddie asked.

"Murders?" Asked Linda. "Was this another of your dreams?"

A knock on the door startled him again. "Here's Eddie's file." The door closed.

"That reminds me. You're going to have a new peer facilitator. We have so many kids coming in after the quake that we had to bring in some volunteers who are getting their counseling degree. She graduated from Hawkins High last year, getting her psychology degree now. Since she's only a year older than you, we thought we could pair you to talk a little bit more since my schedule is so tight. Why don't you two grab lunch and get acquainted later?"

Eddie shrugs, and his rings clink against the steel armrests.

"What was that you were saying about murders?" Linda asked.

"Yeah," Eddie sighed. "Just more bad dreams." He scratched at his stomach at his new scars.

~

You tuck a file into Linda's inbox, close the door behind you, and go back to your temporary desk. You'd missed this school, but always felt creeped out in Hawkins. Too many urban legends spooked you away hundreds of miles to the University of Chicago.

That poor kid looked disturbed. You groaned. You didn't know what you were doing or how you were possibly going to be able to help him.

What made you think you had a clue about how to do this? Coming back after the quake was a mistake. You just wanted to help, but you were in way over your head.

The school bell rang, and your first appointment of the day walked in. Here we go, you thought. Just five hours today, and then I can be one day closer to going back home.

Home. Such a funny thing. Hawkins used to be your home. But not anymore. Everyone was so traumatized here. And you were so afraid you didn't know how to help them. One by one for hours, they all talked about how afraid they were after the quake, seeing Hawkins in crisis and disaster.

But a strange phenomenon began to appear: many of the kids had issues with memory. They couldn't remember the quake itself, or very much in the days leading up to it. Linda said it was a symptom of PTSD. But it was peculiar. You listened to her carefully, taking notes in your journals during the appointments, until the lunch bell rang.

~

You took a quick look at the kid's file. He was way too old to be in school still. Held back twice. For the same reason you were — fucking math. You chuckled to yourself.

Apparently he was involved in some kind of group of troubled boys. You remembered something about them from last year — they listened to some of the same music as you, so you assumed they were just struggling to fit in. You knew a thing or two about being an outcast.

Wait a second — Munson. Eddie Munson. This was the guy who played guitar in Corroded Coffin, the dungeon master from Hellfire Club? He was unrecognizable. You had only caught a quick glimpse of him in Linda's office, but he was a mess. The Eddie you remembered was so alive, passionate, and always smiling. What happened to him?

You took a seat back in your office, and waited to see if he would show. To your surprise, there was a knock at the door. "Right on time," you said.

~

"Hi. Ms. Linda told me I could find you here," Eddie said. He was hunched over in pain.

"Yeah, please have a seat. Do you want a water or a soda?" You asked him. He perked up a little.

"Shit, yeah I didn't even realize it but I can't remember the last time I ate or drank anything," he said. His big eyes met yours, and caught the light. You realized you'd never spoken before, even though you knew of him last year.

"Here, then you better drink this," you said, handing him a coke.

"So how does this work? I feel like it's kinda weird, to be talking to someone my age like this. Is this supposed to be like a shrink?" Eddie asked.

"It's whatever you want it to be," you said. "I mean," you blushed. "It's not exactly counseling, it's just a space that's supposed to be safe and comfortable. Hopefully you feel like you can trust me and feel like you can open up here. I'm not a counselor, no, but I care."

"Why?" He asked.

This caught you off guard. No one else had asked that. Why wouldn't someone care? "Because what happened here was scary. People died. Homes are gone. Earthquakes aren't a part of life here. But it's a creepy place. Some say it's cursed here." You looked back up at him. His face is shadowed by a dark wavy mane. "What do you think?"

"Do I think it's cursed?" Eddie asked. You nodded. "Oh yes," he said.

"Can you tell me more about that?" You asked him. He opened his mouth, but the fire alarm went off. "Oh no, let me go see if it's a drill. I'll be right back."

Eddie watched you go into the hall, his leg bouncing anxiously. Suddenly, the fire alarm stopped. The hall fell quiet. He didn't hear anything. Not even any footsteps in the hall. Eddie stopped bouncing his leg.

"I don't like this," he muttered, and stood up. He came into the hall. It was empty. "Ms. Linda?" He called out. "Dustin?" Dustin, are you there? Yourname? Lucas? Hello?"

The hall was silent. A clock on the wall ticked discordantly. The second hand was stuck. Every tick, it tried to move forward. But it was pulled back into place on the same second mark. 1:37.

"Hello?" Eddie called. "Anybody?"

The corridor light down the hall shut off. One by one, the lights shut down, the shadow moving closer to Eddie. "Oh fuck this," Eddie said, and ran outside. But he stopped in his tracks.

The sun was gone behind a blanket of thick grey clouds. The shadows on the grass shuddered, an unnatural silvery green. And then he saw them — everyone had gone outside.

"Hey, what's going on?" No one moved. Everyone was standing still, facing away from him. He came around the nearest person. Her eyes were rolled in the back of her head, her arms at her sides. "Hey!" Eddie said. "Hey!"

Eddie ran from person to person, trying to wake them up from the spell. All of them stood up straight, their arms at their sides, eyes white and unresponsive. Suddenly Eddie remembered — just a feeling at first. And then her name. "Just like Chrissy," he said out loud. "No—"

He heard a scream from inside the school.

"Shit. Hold on!" Eddie yelled. He ran in the direction of the scream. "I'm coming. Just hold on!" The lights flickered, and a grandfather clock chimed deeply. "I'm coming!" The screaming continued, and as Eddie turned a corner, he tripped on his shoelaces. The lights cut back on, and people came around the corner, laughing and chewing gum. "It's not due until Friday. Let's sneak out anyway," someone said.

"What's happening? Are you okay?" Eddie stammered. The girls looked at him oddly, popping their gum, and ignored him. People surrounded him on their way to their next class. He leaned against the lockers in frustration, and suspiciously eyed a flickering corridor light.

~

"Eddie?" You called out. "Are you still here? Shit. He was just here." You looked at your watch. 1:37. "He was literally just here." He couldn't have gone far, you thought. You go out to look for him, and come back to your desk empty-handed.

"Guess I'll finish his coke," you said. It smelled like his cologne. Woodsy, and a hint of rose.

~

Eddie hopped out of his van, and grabbed his guitar from his uncle's trailer. He threw some cassettes into a duffel bag, some clothes, and another of his leather jackets. He paused in the bathroom, looking at his bloody, shredded clothes on the floor by the shower. He stuffed them in the bag too. There was no way in hell he was gonna stay in that trailer of death.

Eddie turned down his Dio cassette as he slammed on the brakes in front of Dustin Henderson's house. He desperately needed to talk to him. Maybe Dustin had some idea about what was happening to Hawkins — and to him. He knew he had died. It felt so real. So how did he end up back in his bed? And what the fuck happened with the earthquake?

Eddie got out of his van and saw the for sale sign in the yard. "What the hell? Oh please, fuck no—" he ran up to the door and fruitlessly banged on it. No one answered.

"Lookin for somebody?" A voice called out behind him. A neighbor stood in a nearby yard with a rake.

"Yeah, uh, Dustin Henderson. He lives here."

"I'm sorry, they moved out a few days ago. His mom took him out of town right after the quake."

"Do you know where they went?" Eddie asked.

"Out west. Think maybe Salt Lake."

Eddie thanked him and went back to his car. With his uncle out of town for awhile, there were only a couple places left to go. And the light was already fading.

Eddie shuddered, thinking about being out on the roads as night fell in Hawkins. He turned up his mixtape as Guns N Roses' Welcome to the Jungle clicked on. Eddie sighed with some small relief as he heard a familiar favorite tune. He was about to turn it back up when he noticed Dustin's neighbor pause in the street. He dropped his rake, and his arms dropped to his sides.

Eddie leaned forward in his seat.

The neighbor stood still for a moment, while some of the other folks across the street stood up on their patios, facing the same direction. A black cloud passed over the sun.

Eyes wild, Eddie whipped around and saw the street behind his van full of dozens of neighbors, standing still, eyes rolled back in their heads.

"Fuck this," Eddie said, and slammed his foot on the gas.

While Guns N'Roses blared, he weaved his way at top speed through the streets, avoiding some of the people who stood under a spell and overcast skies.

People were in the street all the way back to school, and as he pulled into the parking lot, he heard the clock tome. The skies were dark as twilight, and he had to have his headlights on.

"Yourname! Yourname! Lucas! Harrington! Wheeler!" No one answered. The corridor lights flickered again, as Eddie was chased by a voice that was right behind him.

Edward...

"Leave me alone! What the hell do you want with us? They're just kids! Get the hell away from here!"

Eddie grabbed a mop and broke off the handle into a spear. He drew a serrated fixed blade from his boot. "Show yourself!"

The lights clicked back on, and he hid his knife as students walked past him down the hall, completely unfazed by him or what had apparently just happened.

Chapter 2: A Dark Fog

Eddie found his way back to the theater backstage area where the Hellfire club met for their campaigns. He slumped into an old chair and put his head in his hands.

"Eddie?" He jumped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," you said.

"God, you really crept up on me there, yourname. It's okay. Are you alright?" He asked you.

"Yeah," you said, confused. "Are you?"

Eddie laughed. "I do not think so, no. Do you know what's going on around here? Did you feel anything weird just now?"

You paused. "Well," you began. "Now that you mention it, yeah."

His dark curls fell into his eyes as he leaned in closer to you. "Please go on." His hair smelled like the woods after the rain.

"I guess just now, in the bathroom, I remember I was washing my hands, and then I blinked... and then all of a sudden, the water was all over the floor. It was flooding the bathroom. That's why my clothes are all wet."

"Oh man, I didn't even notice," he laughed. You realized you really liked it when he smiled. You wanted to make him laugh.

"What else do you remember?" He asked.

You paused. "I think that's it. I was just weirded out. I never noticed it overflowing. It was fine and then I blinked, and it was just everywhere."

"Listen, something is going on here. It doesn't seem like anyone else knows what's going on. But I'm worried. You told me people were having trouble with their memory. And now so are you."

"Until you said that, I didn't realize it, but you're absolutely right. Has this been happening to you?" You asked him.

"No," Eddie starts. "Listen, there's some people we should call. I think they'll know what's going on. Can we use your office phone?"

You opened your mouth to say okay, but something fell down behind you. Eddie jumped up, thrusting out his knife in front of him. "Get behind me," he said to you.

"What's wrong?" You asked. "It's probably just some kids staying late and making out. No one is ever back here except your club this late. Why do you have a knife ... that big?"

Eddie creeps towards the sound. Nothing is there.

He turns around to face you. "I have to show you something."

~

Eddie threw a pile of bloody rags onto the table. "These were my clothes last night. I'm not supposed to be here, man. Look what happened... to me. I was wearing these. I was attacked."

"Attacked? By who? Last night?" You ask.

"Yes," Eddie continued. "Or at least, I think it was last night. My memory isn't so good right now. It feels like something is living in my brain. A dark fog."

"Yeah," you continued. "For me too. And I think for a lot of the kids who've come to talk to me." You lean in closer to the clothes. "You must have gotten really hurt—" your mouth hung open as Eddie threw off his jacket and ripped off his Black Sabbath shirt.

Stunned, you observed Eddie Munson standing there in front of you half-naked. The sweat on his tattoos caught the backstage color lights. And then you saw the scars. "Ouch! These are insane! But this was from... last night? I don't understand."

"I don't either, man." He replied. "How could I have healed like this? Look at this one on my neck. And I haven't been able to eat anything. And I keep seeing people do things. I really don't even have the words. It's like people are frozen for a minute. And the sky gets all dark,"

"Eddie, whatever you've been through, you've been traumatized. Deeply. It's normal for people to feel... disoriented. Like reality doesn't even make sense anymore."

"No, that's not what this is. Look—" He held up the leather jacket under the rag pile of his shredded clothes. He took your hand and pressed your fingertips to the lining.

"It's wet." You said. "What is that?" You pull your hand away to look, and your fingers are red with blood. "What the hell?"

"The blood isn't even dried," Eddie said. "This was from last night. Not even twenty-four hours ago.

"Eddie, whose blood is this? What did you do?" You said, feeling your heart race with fear.

"It's mine. Listen to what I'm trying to tell you, please. I need your help."

You turn and run. "Eddie, you definitely need help!"

"Please, just listen!" He yelled after you. "You're in danger! Hawkins isn't safe!"

~

"Sinclair! Man, am I glad to reach you. Do you know how to reach Dustin? I'm sorry, I've been having some weird, foggy memory issues. I can't find his new number." Eddie rubs his eyes, holding the phone with his cheek against his shoulder. His skull rings still have bits of dried blood on them in the grooves of their embossed teeth.

"Yeah Eddie, I'll give it to you. And hey, can you swing by the hospital? Can you bring me some of your DnD dice? I left all mine at the house and have been getting kinda bored reading," Lucas said.

"Are you hurt? Why are you at the hospital? What happened?" Eddie asked.

"Eddie, sorry I thought you knew. It's Max. She's really sick. She's been asleep a long time," Lucas replied.

Eddie's eyes brightened with realization. "How long has she been there?" He asked.

"A couple of weeks," Lucas said.

Eddie leaned against the wall in relieved understanding. He finally had a clue. "Lucas, what happened that night— I didn't come back with Dustin. Something happened to me in the fuckin, weird other side place."

"What other side place?" Asked Lucas. "What happened?"

Eddie lowered the phone. Lucas had no memory of the upside-down. Which meant he didn't know what really happened to Max. Or Eddie. Or Hawkins. Eddie struggled to remember himself. But he was getting closer. And he knew something was terribly wrong.

~

Randy's place was just as Eddie had left it. A ribbon of police tape fluttered in the wind, still tied to a tree in front. He snuck in to the house from out back, by the boathouse, which had become his home away from home. Whatever home meant anymore.

Hawkins hadn't felt like home in a very long time.

He called Dustin's new number. It made some weird sound he'd never heard. He tried again with the same result, and hung up. He grabbed the white pages and looked up Steve Harrington. Busy. Next he flipped back to the W section. There were several Wheelers. But all of their addresses were way out of town. The address for Ted Wheeler wasn't far. He called it.

"Hello?" It was Nancy.

"Oh my god, Nancy. I need to talk to you. It's Eddie. Can you help me get ahold of Steve or Dustin? Do you know what's going on in Hawkins? I'm having some trouble remembering things. I know we were, we were working on a... a project. Robin and Steve, Dustin, Max, Lucas. Do you remember?"

"Hey Eddie. I'm sorry, I'm struggling to remember some things too. I think it's just all the stress after the earthquake—"

"Nancy, no, just trust me, please." Eddie sat down on the floor, the telephone cord wrapping around him. "I have to talk to you. Can you come out to Randy's boathouse again? Something is happening and we gotta figure it out. Hawkins is in danger. I've been seeing people do things that don't make any sense. I remember being with Dustin after we were all together, and I remember getting really hurt, and I —" he trailed off.

"It's okay, Eddie. I think we were together when the quake happened. That night. I can come out there. Can I bring someone we can trust?"

"Yeah. I mean, yeah, of course, Wheeler, totally fine. We gotta figure this out. I'll — " The line cut off.

"Wheeler?" Eddie asked into the phone. "Wheeler?"

The TV clicked on and off, and started to flash the ant race static.

"Oh please fucking no—" he said. He tried to call Nancy back, but the line was dead. The lights in the house flickered for a moment, and then fully died with a bang.

He looked outside, and it was pitch black except for some distant flickering across the lake in another house. All the street lights and other homes were dark.

Eddie was breathing fast. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and something came back to him. A flashing image of the lake, dry as a bone, covered in wet tentacles, and at the center, a gaping red hole.

His eyes adjusted to the light of the full moon, and he saw some of the neighbors standing in their yards. They were all facing the center of the lake. Their arms hung at their sides, and the same grandfather clock tolled.

Terrified, he glanced at the kitchen clock, its second hand struggling against itself, frozen in a loop.

He looked back outside, and everyone was gone. The lights across the lake cut back on, one by one, until the TV and kitchen lights cut back on, and Johnny Carson's voice murmured from the living room.

The phone rang again. Eddie grabbed it. "Nancy?"

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry, we got cut off—"

"Wheeler, you gotta get over here right now. Something is going on in Hawkins. What do you remember happening just now?"

"Um, the phone cut out and then I called you right back."

"That's all you remember? No lights flickering? The power didn't cut off?"

"No, we didn't lose power over here. It's okay, though, Eddie. I can come over. I'll bring someone. See you soon. It's gonna be okay." Click.

Eddie hung up and slumped over, reaching into a box of honey comb cereal. He brought it up to his mouth, and tried to open it. He just couldn't do it, no matter how hard he tried. And he could barely make himself drink water. The only thing he wanted... in fact, he desperately craved a very rare, bloody piece of steak.

Chapter 3: An Impossible Choice

"Hey. It's you," Eddie said. He stood in the doorway with the lake behind, the aroma of spaghetti wafting. "I didn't know you knew Nance."

"Hi again," you said shyly.

"Yeah, we were friends before she graduated. She always used to drive me home from school if my Mom had to pick up Mike from Will's house."

"Cool," Eddie said. The kitchen was warm and inviting compared to the misty night.

Eddie smelled like pasta and his signature woodsy scent. Nancy hugged him hello. "I'm worried about you, Eddie." She said.

Eddie let go and turned to you. For a moment, you thought about hugging him too, but remembered the last thing you said to him, and the strange behavior from backstage at the theater.

Eddie stepped forward like he was going to hug you, but put out his hand instead. "Are we cool?" You hesitated.

"Yeah," you said, holding out your hand. "We're cool." His hand was soft to the touch, and incredibly hot. Eddie smiled again, putting his other hand on yours warmly. Your hand lingered in his.

"Oh, sorry," you said. Fucking blushing. Again. But Eddie saw, and you liked that he saw.

"It's okay." Eddie smirked. His tension softened. "Help yourself to some pasta, ladies."

"I'm starving. Come have some of this, hon." Nancy gave you a plate, and handed one to Eddie.

"No thanks," he said. "I had a few bites of the meat earlier."

"Anyway, I brought her because I think she might be able to help us. She's a great listener. And she told me you had a little... thing earlier. When you called me, she was already with me. So here we are. Now, can you just tell me everything? I'm going to just stuff my face and listen, and then I'll tell you everything I know, and maybe we can figure some of this out," Nancy said, sitting down to eat.

~

Eddie takes a deep breath. "I know we were working on something. Together. Us, and Dustin, Harrington, Lucas, Max, Robin, Erica. I just can't figure out what it is. I've been getting these headaches — and these cravings—"

You and Nancy glance at each other.

"And I showed her earlier, but look... apparently I got these wounds two weeks ago, but to me, it was just last night. Why don't we remember anything? Something is putting us under like a trance, or a spell. I know it sounds crazy, but man, you wouldn't believe what I've been seeing. The whole town. This bell rings, like a grandfather clock, and then everyone just freezes in the street. And—"

Eddie continues pacing around the room. "The lights flicker like crazy —"

A band starts playing on Johnny Carson in the other room, and Nancy stares at the table, someplace far away.

"Nance?" You ask. "Nancy?"

The singer continues the chorus, highway to the danger zone... take you right into the danger zone...

You put your hand on her shoulder, and she jumps, snapping out of it. "What was that? Were you like, in a trance or something?" You ask.

"Yes. No. I was—- I remember. I remember now. The song. I remembered listening to it over and over before spring break. Before the earthquake. And then it all came back. Everything —"

A tear fell from Nancy's eye. "Do you remember what happened, Eddie? Do you remember what happened to you?"

"Whatever that song did, it jarred your memory or broke you out of the fog or something. But —" Nancy cut Eddie off.

"The song. It brought me back out. You need a song! It's coming back to me now. It's what we did for Max. Quick— whats your favorite song?" Nancy ran over to the record player. "Do you have tapes?"

Eddie went over to the door. "Hey you should come with me. Maybe there's a tape for you in the van. It will help clear your head and free your memories. You probably don't like my taste in music tho."

You laughed. "What makes you say that?"

Eddie scrounged up a few handfuls of tapes. "Here, uh, one sex. Sec. one sec."

It was dark in the van, but he was blushing now. You stifled a laugh. He was so sweet behind that edgy exterior.

You wanted to see what was underneath.

"Here we go. We've got, uh, Metallica, of course, Dio, Sabbath, Iron Maiden..."

You spot your favorite album and grab it. Eddie clawed through his bins. "Nancy said it had to be my favorite song. God, that's hard. How do I choose only one? And the stakes are so high! Shit, man." Eddie became frantic. "I fucking had it. It was right here."

"Oh no. What is it?" You ask. "I can help you look. I'm sure it's here."

"It's, uh," Eddie became coy. "It's Guns N'Roses. Sweet Child O'Mine. I know, it's like, so cheesy, but it's just a really beautiful song. Don't judge me. You probably thought I was gonna say like Judas Priest or something, huh?"

I smiled, and threw my head back in laughter. "Seriously, man? You're laughing at me? Like, really hard, too. Wow. Just totally roasting me right now. Ouch."

"No," you collect yourself. "No, no no--" you try to explain.

"I get it. It's cool. Whatever. Laugh at me. Hey, I'll bet your favorite song is Madonna or something. No, Blondie." Eddie looked smug. He was hurt.

"No, Jesus, Eddie, I already grabbed my favorite." You open your hand and show him, and he pulls your palm up to his face so he can see in the dim light.

His eyes widen and he laughs with you. "Wow. Nice. We have the same favorite song."

"Yeah," you laugh. "We do."

He smiled. "You like Guns N'Roses? Aren't they a little... hard for you?"

"I like it hard," you flirt. "What makes you think I wouldn't like them?"

"I guess I just didn't see that coming. It's not like I have the luxury of having a file on you," Eddie said. His brown eyes, wide as saucers, sparkled in the low light. He carried such a fire in him. Every time you saw him, it burned hotter. Brighter.

The sparks between you crackled.

"Well, you're right about one thing. You don't know me, Eddie Munson."

"I'd like to," he said. He leaned in towards you.

"I'm not supposed to be hanging out with the folks I work with at school," you said.

"Well, I get the feeling that given you're sitting here with me, right now, you're something of a rebel," he said.

"Yeah. Something like that," you said.

"Well now I really wanna know more," Eddie said. "Why'd you get into becoming a shrink, anyway?"

"I went through some shit when I was a kid. I'd like to maybe one day help other kids that are going through stuff too." You said.

"What kind of shit?" He asked. "It's okay, you know, if you don't wanna talk about it. I was just wondering, because I've seen some shit too. And I think that's why, like, I never really fit in."

"Yeah," you reply. "It was the same for me. For me, it was my mom. She wasn't well. And she was high a lot. I was always trying to fix the problems that created. I got her job back for her once. I was nine, begging her boss. Used to clean up her throwup. Pulled her and carried her out of the car. Stuff like that. How about you?"

"Oof. Wow. Yeah, with my Dad, it was drinking. Always. Every single day. My mom, I don't even know what happened. I think she died when I was little. Might have been drugs. My uncle has kept an eye on me, best he can. But I haven't seen my dad in years."

"God, I'm sorry." You said.

"Me too," said Eddie. "I dunno why I'm telling you all this. I haven't told anybody that, like, ever." He bit his pillow lips, and his boyish grin took over his face.

"I'm glad you are," you said. "I have a feeling we have a lot more in common." Your feet were touching his leg, and he put his hand on your calf in a familiar way, like he'd done it many times.

It was so easy to be with him. You left Hawkins because you had always felt like such an outcast, and you still were at your new college in Chicago. But something in you just felt so free, and relaxed, even with everything going on.

"We should probably go back inside," he said. "We need to listen to our favorite song."

~

Nancy was staring at the table. Kenny Loggins was on repeat on the console. She hadn't touched her food.

"I remember now. I saw him," she said. "When we went through the gate. At your trailer. Where Chrissy died. I remember... what he showed me. Hawkins was on fire. Dead soldiers. A creature with a gaping mouth. And so many monsters. And my mom, and Holly, and Mike. They were all dead. And four gates to Hell, right here in our Hawkins. Our home."

"Jesus," you said.

"Doesn't seem like it," Eddie quipped. "Time for a new song." He popped the tape in the deck "Are you ready?"

You took a deep breath. "I don't know. I'm freaking out."

"It's alright, babe. Here—" Eddie took your hands in his, and the bright guitar riff began to play. "I've got you."

He looked into your eyes, and you felt safe for the first time in days. Maybe longer. Maybe ever.

"Whatever happens, I'm here," he said. "And we're gonna figure this out together. I promise." His rings were cold. Long curls fell about his face, framing a goofy smile. You were scared, but Eddie made you feel strong.

"Whatever happens, I'll be glad I met you here," you said, becoming bolder. "I'm glad you survived all this shit. And if things go sideways, I will fucking kick some ass. Because there is a lot you don't know about me yet, Eddie Munson." You smiled at him.

He couldn't have looked more thrilled. Every time you looked at him, he looked brighter, like something chased the shadows away.

And then it hit you.

Eddie's hands clamped down on yours, and you were sent into a frenzied blur of memory. You could feel him there, but you were lost in a storm of remembering. Hawkins. The news of the quake. The drive from Chicago. The military checkpoints. The destruction. The caravans of cars and cars leaving town.

Eddie was lost in his own torrents of darkness. A hold on his mind broke free, and he saw everything.

The last Dungeons and Dragons game. Feeling so proud of Dustin and Erica. The excitement to see Chrissy after the game. The anxiety that something would happen to this new connection. The longing for a girlfriend, and the butterflies in his stomach over Chrissy Cunningham, the queen of Hawkins High, entrusting herself to his guidance in taking a risk, breaking a law, doing something rebellious.

Then, the terror. The unspeakable horror. The snapping of so many bones. The frantic drive back to the boathouse. Hiding for days, alone in the uncertain, terrifying darkness. The planning with Dustin and the gang. The Watergate. The upside-down. The plan. The RV, going on the run. Resolving to protect Dustin and the gang at all costs. The most metal guitar solo in history. And then...

I died, he thought. I died, right there with Dustin. I remember it. I remember my fear. I was so cold. I wasn't ready. But I didn't want to scare Dustin. I had to make him think it was okay. I had to comfort Dustin, in my own death. Because he's just a kid. And it wasn't fair. And I loved that kid. Loved. Love. I died. Right?

The thrumming, discordant chime of a grandfather clock shattered through your separate visions.

Both you and Eddie were thrown from memory, back into each other's arms. "Where do we go, now?" Echoed the chorus from the song. Over and over... "Where do we go?"

A gulf appeared between you, a volcanic chasm that grew, pushing you both apart as the world around you collapsed into ruin and fire.

"Eddie! Eddie!" You screamed.

"Yourname! Just hold on! Hold on!" He yelled back to you. Nancy clung to the couch, now far away, shredded corners of the lake house falling apart.

Mountains of jagged rock grew between and under you both. You dug your fingers into the shards for balance as the distance to the ground grew, and the two of you rose on stone mountains high into the air.

Crimson lightning crackled, illuminating a blood-red hurricane sky.

"Edward," reverberated a booming voice from all directions. "It's time to say goodbye to your friends. To Hawkins." The voice cackled. "It's time for this war to begin, and to end. It's time for you to become who you were meant to be."

"Vecna!" Eddie yelled. "Kiss my ass, you sticky piece of shit!"

The voice growled. Vecna approached from a towering fortress high above, a stone mountain suspended high in the air.

Nancy screamed from below. You couldn't hear her, but hoped she could somehow reach the rest of their friends. For dear life, you held on to the rock as you flew higher into the air.

"I have a deal for you, Edward," Vecna boomed. "You have something I need. Your friends were too late. You and your friends lost. But I can give you more than you ever dreamed of. Come with me and live forever in a paradise of unimaginable power."

Eddie struggled against the forces of the lightning storm. You could just barely hear him, but he made himself heard.

"I will never join you, asshole. You're a fucking joke. Burn in hell, skin bag." Eddie turned and flung an enormous stone in his direction, which Vecna deftly turned his hand to deflect with his telekinetic powers.

"Then you have a choice," Vecna continued. "Come with me into the shadow lands of night, where I will make you a King. Refuse, and I burn Hawkins into scorched Hell on Earth, with your friends left to burn alive. With their parents, and their little brothers and sisters, and everyone you've ever known."

Vecna flung our stone pillars together, and held us together but just out of reach. Slithering tentacles squeezed life from us.

"Eddie, don't do it," you yelled. "We can beat him. Nancy can get everyone here to help. You said there was someone with powers who can hurt him. Who hurt him before. Don't do this. There's another way. There is another way," you begged. "Listen to me!"

Eddie fought the black vines that held him. "You know I don't really have a choice, right, babe? I don't wanna do it. I have to. I can't let him do this to you and Hawkins. My uncle. Dustin and the kids. Who am I kidding? I won't be that missed, anyway."

"Eddie," tears stung your face in the heat of the storm. "You're wrong. That isn't true—"

"Yes it is. It's okay. I accepted it a long time ago. I'll be okay. Don't you worry about me." Eddie slumped against the stone pillar.

Lightning like dragon scale flashed and burned behind him across the crimson skies.

"You have one day to make your choice," Vecna said. "Or I will bring death to Hawkins, and soon, to the world. I will make war, and terror will reign, until I burn down the walls between realms, and this world is forever transformed into the dark power of my dreams."

Back in each other's arms, in the lake house living room, listening to "Sweet Child O'Mine," you're all thrown from the vision and back into yourselves.

"I'm calling Eleven," Nancy said. "And everyone else."

Chapter 4: Tick, Tock

"The songs are the key," Nancy said into the dirty yellow kitchen phone. "You have to listen to your favorite song to break the hold he has on us. It's some kind of spell, over the whole town! Just trust me. Listen to the songs. And then you all need to get over here ASAP. And Mike — be careful."

Nancy reached over Eddie to hang up the phone, and he collapsed onto the floor, coughing blood.

"Ow, shit!" You said. Something cut your thigh below your cutoffs.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Nancy, what the hell is happening? When will they be here? They have to help us. We can't let Vecna do this."

"I know, sweetie, I know, but listen, we're gonna be okay. We've been through some things and we're gonna be okay."

Eddie's body began to convulse. "Eddie, can you hear me? Eddie?"

"Killed... me," Eddie whispered through his bloody teeth. "Bats... killed me."

He went limp, asleep.

"What the hell was he talking about? Bats? Did this happen last time?" You asked Nancy. "You know, before?"

"No," she said. "It definitely did not. The bats he's talking about... Right before the quake, Dustin said Eddie was hurt really bad by the demobats. They bit him a lot, and, Eddie actually died there. Dustin came back and told his uncle about it. The whole town thought Eddie had done some horrible things. Killed some kids. But he didn't. And no one would ever know. And I don't remember what happened after that, it gets kinda foggy. But somehow, even though Dustin saw him die, he's come back here. I don't understand it."

"Wait, did you say some kind of bats attacked him?" You ask Nancy.

"Yeah," she said. "Why? Oh! Oh, my god. Do you think..."

"It has to be. What else? Do you remember what he said about meat? And not being able to eat? And what would Vecna want with him? You said Vecna had been basically killed, but his body disappeared. What if Vecna needs something Eddie has, like some kind of power after having been bit by the bats? Like... what if he's sort of a vampire now?"

Nancy turned back to Eddie. "It's definitely possible. Which means he may be turning into one little by little. Who knows how much time he may have. And we only have less than a day to stop Vecna. What happened to your thigh?"

"Oh," you waved your hand in the air. "I think Eddie's bracelet sliced open my thigh."

"Ouch! Yeah, you're bleeding pretty bad. Let me go see if I can find a first aid kit. You stay here with him. Steve and Dustin and the others should be here soon."

You sat down on the carpet in the living room, and put Eddie's head onto your lap, taking care to keep his long hair away from your blood dripping down your knee. He was so beautiful like that. So peaceful. It was nice to see him that way. But your heart jolted, thinking about such a horrible choice he was facing. How were a bunch of kids from Hawkins going to stop a demon-god?

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Eddie," you said to him as he slept.

You sighed, exhausted. It was so late it was early. You closed your eyes, and leaned against the couch. You didn't even remember falling asleep.

~

Something startles you awake. Another grandfather clock discordant chime. The lights flicker.

"Mmmm, yeah, I'll take fries with that..." Eddie said in his sleep.

"Eddie wake up. Eddie. Wake up, something's happening," you said.

His dark eyelashes reveal sleepy earth-colored eyes. "Oh no," he sighed, rubbing his face. "Not again."

"This happened before? Please tell me what the hell this is." You ask.

The lights cut off, and Eddie sits up instantly.

"Shit," he said, and peeked out the blinds towards the lake. "Just stay there. Don't move or anything."

You run over to the window beside him and look. "I don't see anything."

A tense moment passes in the darkness.

"I dunno. It's different this time. This has been happening a few times since I woke up this morning. Which was the last thing I remember before I... Before I thought I died. It's like this with the lights. Flashing, and then they go off. This morning at school, you went to check the fire alarm and it started happening. And the chiming of a clock. And then everyone was just standing, outside, and the sky was all dark."

"Nancy said something about that earlier, about how Vecna taunted his victims. How he did this when he put people into that death trance," you said.

The lights clanged back on, and Eddie closed the curtains. He turned to face you.

"You know, you don't need to be involved in all this. You should go back home in the morning, get the hell out of Hawkins, as far away as you can," he said.

You laugh. "You think I wouldn't love to do that?"

"So why don't you?" His voice was kind. Wavy lengths of his hair brushed your shoulder.

"Because I don't wanna be that person," you replied. "I was raised by that person. I believe in doing the right thing, especially when it's hard, because I know from experience that if something is hard, probably no one is coming to help you. That's how it was my whole life. And that's not how it should be for anybody."

"Yeah. I think I know what you mean. You don't wanna run away," he replied.

"I mean, I do, but I won't. At least, I hope not. I did once."

"Did what?" He asked. He took his jacket off and sank into the couch, motioning for you to sit beside him.

"I ran away," you sat down and looked at the floor. Eddie was quiet. You thought he must have been judging you now. Maybe he was disappointed.

"We've all done things we regret," he said. He took your hand, and you met his gaze. "Things that ...haunt us."

You both left it there for a moment, though you wanted to know more about him, you didn't really want him to know more about you.

Eddie grabbed something from the fridge, and went to the bathroom.

While he was gone, you spotted a guitar in the corner. A nice little Martin. You checked the strings. They were mostly in tune, but the high E was flat. Using the low E string, you turned the peg and brought the guitar into tune, and hit the harmonics on the twelfth fret.

"Sounds like bells," you said. You began to twiddle around, and sat on the floor. It had a capo on the headstock, so you started to play one of your favorite originals. A long instrumental interlude leading into a melody in six-eight time.

"What album is that?" Eddie asked from the hallway.

"Mine," you said, still fingerpicking. You felt him stop behind you. "Wow, I had no idea. You sound amazing. You wrote this?" He asked.

"Few years ago," you said. "Just a little folk song. Know this one?" You started to play another.

"Fuckin' get outta here!" Eddie smiled. "Course I know it. Eddie grabbed the twelve string beside him on the floor and started playing along. "Zeppelin's best. One of the first songs I learned how to play. I'll take the lead. I mean, unless you—"

"No, please go ahead. I only really play rhythm." You kept up with the rhythm part and Eddie started on the beautiful melody bassline. It sounded amazing. And for the first time in awhile, you were actually having fun.

You went into a plucky little medley of Ramble On, Going to California, and ended with Over the Hills and Far Away. Before you knew it, you'd spent hours plucking away, trading original music and even starting to write a song together. Laughing and forgetting everything that needed to be forgotten, even if just for this moment in the grey dark of morning.

You laid down next to your guitars. Your hands found each other's, and he pulled a blanket up onto your legs.

Dawn was breaking.

"Can I lay like that again?" He asked.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." You smiled, and got cozy in the blankets while he laid his head on your lap.

"You don't have to do this," you sighed. "Just buy us time to help you and win. Nancy said she has a friend named Elven who can help us, right? She should be here soon. Listen to me, Eddie. Sometimes things feel so hopeless and we don't see any way out. But there is always another way. We'll figure it out. Can you just try to buy us some time?"

Eddie was staring at the ceiling. His eyes were tender.

You let yourself touch his face, and he looked at you. "I'll try," he said. He lifted his head from your thighs and rolled over so his head was on your chest.

"You're pretty wild, guitar girl," he said in his warm, melodic voice. His necklace pendants tumbled onto you.

"Here I was thinking I was finally on the straight and narrow," you said, sighing.

"Well, I like every version of you I've seen so far," he said.

Eddie smelled the brass on you from the guitar strings, and kissed your fingertips.

"Nothing like a bit of metal dust on the fingertips from shredding to make a girl really, really, really attractive," he said.

"And something else... Tonight. Thank you for this. Just hangin' out. Jamming a bit with me. It let me almost forget everything for a minute. And since this might be my last night on earth, or at least anything I ever knew, I'm glad it was like this. Just sharing some music with a pretty girl. Sharing some stories. I didn't realize how much I just wanted to have that in life, you know, until now. I guess, like, what it might feel like to have a girlfriend. So, thank you. I mean—" he stammered. "Not that you're my girlfriend. I mean, you're my friend, who's a girl, but I guess what I meant was what it would feel like to have a girlfriend, but like, I know you're not my—"

"I love how you like me," you said. "It's okay. I understand what you mean. I guess I kinda thought this is what it would feel like to have a boyfriend too. You know, aside from the vampires and demon gods and stuff." Eddie flashed his megawatt smile, and your heart jumped. "It just feels so easy to hang out with you. Like I've known you a long time."

"Yeah, it does for me too." Eddie leaned over you, and you felt his hair like curtains around both your faces.

His pillow lips found yours. Something tasted primal, like the bite of a feral animal. Metallic, but sweet.

Eddie's body flooded with warm relief, and forgetting, and passion. Something like happiness, or maybe peace.

Eddie reached out to put his arms around you, but the front door flung open.

~

"Eddie?!" Steve Harrington stood in the doorway, incredulous.

"Harrington!" Eddie jumped up and embraced Steve in a generous hug.

"Wow, thanks! I just can't believe you're alive. Dustin told us you were dead.

"Yeah, I don't really know what happened. It gets kinda blurry after that. Apparently two weeks later, I woke up in my old bed. Yesterday morning. And then started seeing some crazy shit happening like before Vecna murdered his victims. Whole town, this time though," Eddie said.

"Nancy told us everything," Steve said. "We all did our songs in the car on the way over. Everyone's recovering their memories now. The whole town is in a trance. You're Nancy's friend? I'm Steve." Steve motions at you.

"Yeah, we had a few classes together before I graduated and moved. It's nice to meet you," you said.

"Okay, well, we've got uh, Erica, Robin, Jonathan, Will, Mike. Lucas wanted to stay with Max at the hospital once he realized what's going on. Hopper's there too, with Eleven. Joyce is getting some supplies. Everybody's listened to their songs. Sometimes it's a bit foggy, but we're coming back."

"Eleven said she wasn't affected by the trance. But she said she felt something new. Something... dark," said Mike. "She said this was different from Vecna."

"What the hell happened to you, Eddie?" Erica asked.

Everyone looked at him.

He put his jacket back on, and sat down next to you.

"Like Dustin said. The bats got me. I was gone. And the next thing I knew, I woke up yesterday morning in my bed, and two weeks had passed."

"Two weeks," Nancy said to herself, thinking and pacing.

"You have no idea what happened, literally that entire time? Not even bits or pieces?" Asked Robin.

"That's not the worst part," you said.

"What the hell's the worst part?" Jonathan asked.

"Vecna wants me this time. But not to kill me. At least, I don't think. He said... come with me me into the shadow lands of night, where I will make you a King. Refuse, and I burn Hawkins into..." he trailed off.

"Scorched Hell on Earth, with your friends left to burn alive," you complete the sentence. "With their parents, and their little brothers and sisters, and everyone you've ever known.

"Whoa. What the hell?" Erica asked. "Why does he want you to be his King?"

"Something about those two weeks in the upside-down must have given him some kind of power," Nancy said. "Something that Vecna wants. Something Vecna doesn't have."

"Like what?" Asked Mike.

"What's happening to your nose, Eddie?" You asked.

Eddie looked up. It was bleeding. "Shit, oh shit, oh shit, uh, one sec," he said, running for a tissue.

"Call Eleven," Steve said. "And Dustin," Mike said.

~

"Okay, I think I have this figured out. We have two lines, and three phones in this house. There's two phone jacks in this room. We can have one of each lines in here," Mike said, "And we'll just leave them turned like this," he flips one of the phones and nests it across from the other, "so they can hear each other and our conversation in the room."

"Jesus," Steve said.

"Jesus," Robin repeated.

"I hope this works," you said. Eddie was quiet. Mike dialed the numbers.

~

"Wait, you're telling me that you think this guy is a vampire?" Asks Hopper. "But he's like, the key to saving everybody, because we can use him to get at Vecna somehow. Hey, don't you think we need to call Eleven's people and get them involved in this? This needs the military or something."

"It won't work," Eleven said. "Vecna is weak, but we can't trust anyone. It has to be us. And Eddie is the ... thing I've been feeling. Whatever bit him, created something ... evil. I think Vecna wants to use him to turn everyone in Hawkins into a vampire, under his trance. He showed Nancy and I his plan before. He's raising an army."

"And he wants me to lead it," Eddie said. "You guys think if I buy you some time, you can kill this thing? Like, for real this time?" Eddie was slumped over. Demoralized.

"We have to," Dustin said. "We don't have a choice. We can't let you be taken by this asshole, and turned into a freak!"

"Oh, I'm already a freak," Eddie said, fishing in his pocket for a lighter.

"Eddie, that's not what I meant. You have some kind of supernatural strength right now. Vecna is weakened. He wants you to be his general because he is too weak to do it. You can buy us time and figure out if you have some kind of powers. Can you move things with your mind like Eleven?" Dustin asked.

"Uh, I don't... think so. Hold on, lemme try," Eddie said.

Everyone stood still, and the phones were quiet. He squinted his eyes and looked at the television. The volume was low.

"Is he..." Robin started.

"Shh," Nancy said.

"Sorry," Robin replied.

Eddie continued to focus intently. The channel blipped once. Then again. It blipped a few times.

"Ohmygod, I did that! I did that!" Eddie said. "Holy shit. Holy shit!"

"Holy shit!" Dustin said on the phone.

"Wait, you did what?" Hopper asked.

"He made it blip." Eleven said.

"He made it... blip," Steve said.

"Am I the only person who thinks making a tv blip is not enough of a superpower to defeat the evil dark world demon god?" Robin asked.

"Okay, okay, look, it's a start. I dunno what he wants with me. I'm gonna try to hold him off to avert anything, you know, apocalyptic. In the meantime, you guys take your superpowers friend Eleven and figure it out!" Eddie stormed out of the house, lighting a cigarette on the porch.

"I think that went well," said Hopper.

"Crap, did he leave?" Asked Dustin.

"Yes," everyone said.

~

Eddie takes a long drag from his cigarette when you come out onto the porch. The lake is a crystalline, sparkling aquamarine. He wipes his nose.

"I feel like I'm falling apart," he said, his voice cracking.

"Eddie, I'm so sorry," you hug him and he embraces you deeply, falling into your arms. He cries softly. "I'm gonna hold him off. I don't know how. But I'm not gonna let go. I'm gonna hold on. You're right. There's gotta be another way. I trust you guys."

You took a deep breath and turned your mouth to his ear. "I know I only just met you and your friends, but I think it's gonna be okay. It has to be. And you have such a fire in you. I saw it before. Before all this. Years ago, when we were freshmen. I don't think you remember. But I do. We were in art class together. You used to draw all these amazing dragons. I loved watching you draw. You made everyone laugh. I saw the fire in you then. You were just... so alive. And free. Don't let go of that. You have to hold onto it. Don't let go of who you are, Eddie Munson. Promise me."

"I promise," Eddie said, pulling away to look at you. "I promise to hold on. No one has ever said things like that to me before. I want to believe you're right about me. So I'm gonna try. I promise. I'll hold o—"

Eddie started into a coughing fit, interrupting his thoughts. He stumbled backwards, out of your reach, and collapsed.

Chapter 5 coming soon...

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