#yeah the series would have been better if they hadn't tried to make it pretty little liars and also had some tact

[treysimp]

"I’m not sure how better to say this... do you want to make out on my couch?"

Part 6:

GN!Reader x Heartslabyul (Ace, Trey, Riddle, Cater, Deuce)

Tags: Smooching, implied mutual pining and suggestive themes, but nothing explicit. Reader is not physically described.

Other works in this series:

Savannahclaw | Scarabia | Octinavielle | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Heartslabyul | Diasomnia

Want more TWST? Here's my Masterlist!

Before you could fully turn to see a reaction, you feel a hand roughly grab your shoulder and spin you forward, pushing you into the front door of Ramshackle with a horribly-loud creak.

Your body was enveloped in a sudden warmth while a pair of lips found yours, kissing you harshly and breathlessly, barely giving you time to gasp between desperately pressed caresses. 

They wound down, got softer and kinder, and finally  Ace  removed himself from you. His face had a pretty flush and he was gasping from the aggressive kisses he had just subjected the both of you to.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve spent hours trying to figure out how to come on to you and it's been this fucking easy the whole time?” He dove back in for more, hands grabbing at your hair, smothering you in unsaid feelings, missed opportunities, and the pure strength of his want for you.

“I can’t-” gasp, “believe-” a breath, “I didn’t-” a moan, “do this sooner.” 

Ace had pinned you to the door, his hands holding your biceps against the wooden planks. He was panting and shaking, you could see each breath puff in a cloud of condensation as it hung in the air. 

You were in shock. You liked him, obviously. You wouldn't have asked him to make out with you if you hadn't, but you had no idea that Ace felt so strongly. It thrilled you.

You hoped and prayed that you had a shot, trying to contain the jump of your heart every time he would swing his arm around your shoulders or pull your sleeve to run faster from some sort of impending trouble (that was almost certainly caused by him).

“Ace.” Your voice was much shakier than you would have liked. His red eyes snapped to you, softening by just a hair.

“Yeah?” He leaned his forehead against yours, loosening his grip on your arms and letting his palms fall to your waist. He seemed to recognize that he needed to relax for a second for you to process his sudden admission.

You took a shaky breath before you continued. 

“A-aren’t you going to come in?”

Cocking a brow and face pulling into his signature smirk, Ace took a step back from you and allowed you to finally push the door open. Putting his hands behind his head, he started innocently whistling while he walked inside the lounge.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he swears that this was the best this shitty place had ever looked. He supposed that wasn’t really what mattered right now. 

But… the idea of you taking extra care to clean when you hoped to invite him inside stirred something deep inside of him, but he decided to push that thought down for now. He planned to spend as much time with you as you would allow, after all.

Taking a seat on the couch and beckoning you over with his hand, Ace patted his knee.

“Have a seat, Prefect. I’d love to know more about what you have planned for tonight.” He grinned.

You obliged, climbing onto his lap. Ace felt his throat dry out. 

For all the bluster and confidence he tried to exude, he felt so out of his depth looking at you. He constantly stumbled over his words when you were listening, not to mention how many school supplies he had dropped while daydreaming about you in class. 

Or the sheer number of close calls he almost had with his schoolmates seeing him doodle variations of your names mixed together. He wanted you to take Trappola, but he was willing to compromise. He wouldn’t mind taking yours either, but you would have to bring it up yourself, as he would be too embarrassed to broach the subject.

Ace was head over heels for you, and he has no idea when it started. As soon as he noticed his quickening heartbeat when you were around, he quickly admitted that he was infatuated. 

Admitting to himself that he liked you was the easy part. He had instead spent all of this time agonizing over how to tell you. 

He found ways to touch you whenever he could justify it, but even he admitted it just came off as friendly contact between friends. He tried to monopolize your time whenever he had the chance, but between classes and your demon-cat babysitting duties, there were few opportunities.  

And yet after all that, you asked him. You wanted him. He could barely contain himself. You were seated above him, moonlight caressing the planes of your face as your eyes gazed into his and he wondered for a brief second if this is what heaven felt like. 

He was going to take everything you would give him, that was a promise.

“...Prefect.”

You turned around slowly. Time to face the music. You braced yourself for rejection, tried to scramble with the best explanation for how you were ‘totally joking’ or ‘just wanted to see what you’d say’ but the excuses died out in your mouth as you saw the two hands that were pinning either side of your body to the door.

“You shouldn’t tease older guys like that, you know? You might get into trouble.” Said  Trey,  looking like he could eat you alive at this very moment. 

His eyebrow was cocked in derision, his lip curled into a smile that spelled trouble, but you couldn’t help the quiver of your lower lip at his sudden closeness. He had to know what he was doing to you, right?

Trey grew ever closer, it felt like his golden eyes were calculating every movement you made and each rise and fall of your chest. You wondered if he could hear your heart beating, as it certainly was ringing in your ears. 

Taking one hand to your chin to tilt your face towards his, he smiled. 

“I’m not going to be here on campus for you next year, you know? I don’t know when I’d be able to see you.”

It was a warning, clearly. Kind as ever, he was trying to protect your feelings and maybe also his own. He hasn’t said no to you yet though. 

“I also… I also don’t know how long I’ll be here.” You began, willing yourself to make eye contact with him. You took a deep breath and willed yourself to continue.

“That’s why… that’s why I want you now. Because I don’t… I don’t know what day will be my last one here.” You finished, voice shaking. It felt so vulnerable, that you wondered if stripping right here in front of him wordlessly might have been easier than this conversation.

This was a very difficult admission from you, but it was the conclusion you had come to. You had spent so much time watching him, seeing his care and kindness for everyone around him, and decided that if you didn’t tell him that you wanted him, you would regret it forever. 

Today being the day that you admitted your bottled-up feelings to Trey was an impulsive fluke on your part, but your mind was already made up. If he wanted you, you were all his.

Trey’s eyes widened momentarily and then softened into a sweet smile. 

“Well, if you’ve already made up your mind, who am I to stop you?” He mused, closing his eyes in a satisfied smile as he tilted his head to get a better look at your flustered face.

Slowly, gently, Trey guided your chin to him as he leaned forward to place a soft kiss on your lips. 

It felt like fireworks went off behind your eyelids. You pressed yourself forward, grabbing Trey by the lapels to pull him closer to you. You could feel the smile on his lips as he returned your clumsily aggressive kisses, carding his hands through your hair as he hummed in pleasant satisfaction. 

Trey reached behind you and pushed open the door you had been unintentionally guarding, not breaking the procession of kisses for a single moment as he led you to your couch. 

Walking clumsily backward, you landed gracelessly on the couch when the back of your knees hit the lip of the cushions and buckled in surprise. 

Glasses slightly fogged, Trey stared at you in awe, mouth slightly agape at the beautiful mess you were. 

You noticed a slight dimple in his cheek that you had never seen before, and a tiny smattering of freckles that sat on the bridge of his nose. How long had you longingly stared at him and never noticed these things? It made you want to know everything else about him.

Trey licked his lips lightly in thought. He wasn’t one to make decisions without thinking them through, but it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to afford the time in this case. 

He had written off you as a possibility. He knew that his attraction to you would pass, no matter how intense it was. 

Trey noticed how others looked at you, some of them even being his underclassmen. Watching the eyes that wandered your body, memorizing the way you walked, the way your shoulders shook when you laughed, how your brows knit when you were thinking, the smile you would give him any time you ate something he made. 

He knew that even if you didn’t know it, you had stolen the hearts of many people around you, including himself. And yet, you both were here, you wanted him. How could he say no?

Standing up straight, he removed his glasses and tucked them inside the breast pocket of his jacket. 

He decided that was going to ruin you tonight, and any other nights that he was able.

“Really!”  Riddle  sputters, his brows knit in irritation “you should…. you really…” he trails off, his eyes frantically darting around your face as if a puzzle piece would magically fall into place if he just had the final hint.

“…You really should ask in a more romantic way than that.” He finally finished, fingers drifting to your tie to straighten the lopsided knot.

Your eyebrows involuntarily raised to the sky.

“Is that a no, house warden?” You ask. You wanted to start hysterically laughing, oh my god how could he possibly be so cute? 

Waiting for his response, you placed your hands on top of his to still the fingers that had been fussing over your tie. 

You were going to get him to answer your question in a forthright manner if it killed you.

“It’s not-not a no!” Riddle sputtered, pretending to wipe his mouth with his sleeve to hide away his increasingly flustered face. You noted that he had kept his other hand in your grasp though, feeling him shake gently beneath you.

“Next time I expect flowers! Or chocolate!” He finally shouted, pulling both of his hands away to cross them over his chest haughtily. You couldn’t hide the grin splitting your face.

“Oh? You’re already planning on next time?” You said, smoothing your hand over his ruby hair. 

Riddle seemed to finally register his slip of the tongue as his face lit as scarlet as the rest of him. 

“No!” Riddle practically screamed. You were glad Grim wasn’t here tonight, as he definitely would have woken up upon hearing this exchange.

You raised an eyebrow, “No?” 

Riddle’s gaze was fixed on the floor, face knit in irritation. 

“Only if you play your cards right.” He finished, turning his head away with a huff. 

You couldn’t stop the giggling that bubbled from your chest, God he was the cutest. How did he do it? 

Not being able to help yourself, you wound your arms around his body, pulling him close to you as you buried your head in his neck. 

Unsurprisingly he smelled great, like sweets and roses and some other sort of soft musk that was no doubt from some sort of expensive atelier. It was so charming the things he did to take care of himself for the sake of appearances. 

You idly wondered if there was a rule about smelling good in Heartslabyul. There probably was, but you decided that asking would only mortify Riddle further, and you wanted to get him to do more than talk to you tonight. 

Riddle was stiff as a board, arms hovering around you awkwardly for a moment until he finally relaxed, pulling you snugly into his arms. 

“Do you really want to kiss me?” You could barely hear Riddle mumble, his voice muffled by your hair as he nuzzled it into your neck to mirror the way you had been holding him. 

You pulled away slowly and held him by the shoulders, eyes boring into his shy grey gaze. You took a moment to take in the loveliness of his face for just a moment, relishing in the closeness you had never been afforded before now. The red eyeliner around his lashes, the rosy sheen of his heart-shaped mouth, and a tiny mole you had never noticed on top of his eyelid. So lovely.

“Yes. I do.” You said softly. 

If you could believe it, Riddle got even redder. He cleared his throat and seemed to make an internal decision, twining his hands behind your neck as he pushed himself forward to meet your lips. 

His lips were stiff but very, very soft. You pressed gently against him, massaging your mouth against his in hopes of loosening him up. It seemed to work, as you heard the smallest of moans as Riddle tried to mirror your movements, lightly sucking on your lower lip. It was shy, but also heartbreakingly genuine and careful. 

You both separated slowly, you wished you could take a picture of the expression on his face. 

Gorgeous eyes half open, glossy lips slightly swollen from the contact, he pulled the bottom of said lips into his mouth to chew on it lightly as he snapped his gaze to the side. How was he even real? His beauty shines like a fairy tale prince, and yet this gorgeous boy thought himself a villain. How ironic. 

“Again.” He whispered, pushing his face back towards you with more aggressive energy, seemingly having gained confidence now that the spell of your first kiss was broken. 

His kisses sped up and gained in ferocity, each time you separated for breath being punctuated with another ‘again’. His affection grew more demanding, his chest grew tighter and each breath became more labored. 

“Let me inside.” Riddle finally demanded, his hands curled into the lapels of your jacket. “I want to come inside.” 

You swallowed audibly and nodded, pushing the door open while Riddle pulled you inside of Ramshackle.   

(NSFW Conclusion)

AMAB!Reader // AFAB!Reader

“You’re such a tease, Prefect!”  Cater  giggled, his gaze on his phone as he typed away at a message. Tucking a stray strand of ginger hair behind his ear, his green eyes sparkled while a little fang peeked out from behind his lip. 

“I think your fans would kill me if I made a move on you.” he punctuated with a wink, tucking his phone into his pocket as he placed a hand on his hip. 

You let out a long belly laugh at the statement. “My fans? I’m not the one who’s  Insta -famous.” 

Cater wrinkled his pixie-like nose, “What’s ' Insta' ?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s a thing in my world.” You said with a smile, covering your mouth with your hand to stifle your unending giggles.

Cater’s eyes softened as he looked lovingly at the way your face screwed up while laughing so hard at his statement. It was sweet that you thought he was kidding.  

“I know I’m handsome and all, but you really can’t throw away your charm and innocence on a playboy like me.” Cater said with a smirk, his expression reminding you very much of the cock-eyed grin he had given the incoming students at orientation. 

Not that you had that much time to pay attention on that chaotic day, but even in the chaos you couldn’t help but stare at the gorgeous guy whose black diamond under his eye punctuated his perfect cheekbones. 

You had never asked why his mark was colored red now and black at that time, but you assumed it was some other Night Raven tradition that you had no clue about. 

It was pretty funny that he was trying so hard to play off your request. It hurt a little bit too, but it was still funny. 

“Playboy? Yeah, right! You and who?” you teased, poking him in the ribs. Cater looked visibly offended.

“Um, that’s because none of them go to this school.” He said with a huff. His excuse was lame and he knew it, but he had an image to maintain, you know? 

You covered your mouth with your hand to cover the smile spreading across your face, oh, so he was going to play the ‘my lover lives in Canada’ card, huh? Well, you weren’t going to let him off so easily.

“That’s a shame, I wanted to know your type.” You said, biting your lip and willing yourself to look disappointed. 

Cater felt a lump form in his throat that he couldn’t manage to swallow as he fixated on the teeth that were worrying over your lip. Fuck, that was so unfair.

“W-well…” he stuttered, “My type is, uh…” Oh sevens, why did he even start this sentence?

“Someone who laughs at my jokes... Um, someone who I can talk about anything with… Someone who doesn’t judge me for being… for being myself.” His face was burning. For once, Cater couldn’t look you in the eye.

He didn’t think you would pick up on it, but every single one of those requirements was just part of the ever-expanding list of why he was head-over-heels for you. It was too much to hope that you would reciprocate though. Why would you like him back? It made no sense.

“Oh… that’s very interesting…” You said, tapping your finger to your chin in thought.

“My type is you though.” You moved your eyes to the ground sadly, knitting your fingers with each other as you intentionally studied your cuticles.

Cater felt like his eyes might pop out of his sockets as he froze in shock. He had tried to play off your offer to him earlier, genuinely believing that you were just teasing him. 

What was he supposed to make of this? His face burned a bright scarlet as he covered his face with his hands. Were you really…?

“You’re kidding.” He mumbled. His chest was heaving in a way that looked very much like the precursor to hyperventilation. 

His thoughts were racing, what was he supposed to do? Did he believe you? Did he keep trying to play it off? What was the right choice? 

You stepped closer to him, gently taking his hands from his face and holding them in your own. 

“I’m serious.” You whispered, feeling your face burn at the admission. 

You stared at the shaking hands that you held in yours, thinking about the time that you attended his club’s concert and saw how those same fingers moved so deftly along the neck of his guitar. 

His hair was stringy from sweat, stomping precisely on his pedal board to switch the sound of his instrument as his eyes scanned the crowd and met yours. You felt like your heart would fall right out of your chest at that moment. It made you want to climb on the stage and jump him right there, as silly of an impulse as that was.

Cater stared at your face with an unreadable expression, you dared to spare him a glance, biting your lip even more fervently than you had been just a moment ago. You weren’t sure what you would do if he rejected you now.

Thankfully, you didn’t have to worry about that for much longer, as Cater had swallowed his nervousness to swing forward and trap you in a passionate kiss.  

You gasped in surprise, which gave Cater the opportunity to push himself even harder against you. Nibbling at your lips and pushing his tongue into every crevice that he could conceivably reach, he was overwhelmed by the feel of you. 

He tasted the hard candy that he had given you earlier, having spent much of the evening visibly distracted by the movements of your mouth as you rolled the sweet around with your tongue. 

It had made him think just a bit too deeply about what else your tongue might be able to do. 

You both separated, glassy eyes connected in a haze of mutual attraction and longing. 

“I gave you a chance to back out.” Cater said breathlessly, “It’s too late now though.”

Silence. You turned around to see if he heard you, but the boy in front of you was still as a statue.

Deuce’s blue-green eyes were almost completely round as he stared at you, unblinking. 

“...Deuce?” You called gently. Did you break him? 

Seemingly shaking off the brain fog that had overcome him, Deuce’s face began reddening like a cauldron coming to a broil. 

“...I’m in love with you.” Deuce said it so fast that you almost couldn’t understand him, but you did catch the word ‘love’ and now it was your turn to freeze in shock. 

“L-love?” You sputtered, you couldn’t have heard him right. Right?  

Deuce nodded at you seriously. Eyed steeled, jaw clenched in anxiety. 

Your heart felt like it was going to leap out of your chest. You were shaking, you wanted to scream in both joy and anxiety.

Deuce cleared his throat and continued his thought.

“I’ve been in love with you ever since I first saw you,” His breathing was shaky, it was embarrassing. He had imagined looking much cooler when he ran the scenario through his mind all of those times before.

It seemed like he might lose all of the courage he had built up at any moment, but he had to tell you. 

His words started to tumble out of his mouth at light speed, words blurring together as the thoughts and feelings that he had been bottling up for so long began bubbling over and spilling out.

“You’re gorgeous, you’re kind, you always support me, you take care of everyone around you and run straight into danger if it means helping someone! You suffer through me being a dumbass, you sit and study with me even though your grades are way better than mine and…” 

He paused for a deep breath. He wasn’t even sure if he could articulate how he was feeling, but he was going to try anyway. 

“Every time you look at me I feel like I could die happy. I feel like you could stab me through the heart right now and I would thank you for it. I feel the same thrill I felt when I won a fight with none of the pain! I just…” 

He felt like he could cry, he had spent so much time trying to change, trying to make himself into someone new, someone his mother could be proud of… someone lovable. 

Someone that maybe you… maybe you could love him. 

You couldn’t restrain yourself any longer as you pulled Deuce into your arms, holding him tightly, aggressively. You peppered his hair with kisses, petting his back soothingly, trying to still the erratic beating of your heart. 

Deuce slowed his breathing in your embrace. He counted his breath, in and out, in and out. It was calming, your arms felt like everything he wanted them to be.

Feeling better, Deuce lifted his head to take in your expression. He felt bad that he had just spent the past few minutes having an emotional dam break and then had just sat in silence. 

You looked perfect. Your expression was a stunning mixture between embarrassment and joy, your hair was slightly mussed from pulling Deuce to yourself so suddenly. 

He decided then and there that this was the end of holding back. 

Raising a gloved hand to your temple, Deuce trailed his hand down the side of your face, taking in a shaky breath as you leaned your face into his touch, closing your eyes to focus on the sensation. 

“Please let me kiss you,” he whispered, mouth a mere inch away from yours, eyes locked on your lips to read your response. You nodded wordlessly, staring as if hypnotized by his gaze.

He was so careful with you. It felt like you might disappear at any moment if he was too rough. Soft, curious, experimental, he moved with his entire focus on how your mouth moved and how you tasted. Both of you separated for a moment to catch your breath, his eyes seemed to almost glow.

“...Perfect.” He exhaled, pausing between his thoughts to begin kissing along your neck. Soft nibbles and moans escaped his mouth as you tilted your head to give him better access. Your hands grasped his back tightly, pulling him as close as you could dare. 

Your head was spinning at all of the new sensations, the emotion of it all, and the way that you felt any self-restraint leave you with each hesitant kiss along your neck, your collarbone, and the shell of your ear. 

“Deuce…” You gasped, “Deuce please…” Pulling away from your tight hold, Deuce’s eyes returned to looking at yours. His chest was heaving, and his clothes felt oppressive and tight. 

“Please, please let me have more of you.” 

He swallowed, Adam’s Apple bobbing at the action. Eyes scanning your face for any hint of reluctance on your part. He found none. After a moment of silence, he nodded. 

“I’ll give you anything you want.” 

My boys~! My beautiful boys! This was a little more tender than some of the other dorms, haha. Sorry, I was just in a mood for sap I guess.

Sexy will still come, I promise. I just wanted cute lead-ups.

As always, let me know if you have prompts and requests.

Love you, reader!

--

Requested tags: @naniky

#disney twst #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twst reader insert #gender neutral reader #twst mc #twst x you #twst x yuu #riddle rosehearts #trey clover #cater diamond #ace trappola #deuce spade #riddle rosehearts x reader #trey clover x reader #cater diamond x reader #deuce spade x reader #ace x reader #riddle x reader #trey x reader #cater x reader #deuce x reader #ace twisted wonderland #riddle twisted wonderland #trey twisted wonderland #cater twisted wonderland #deuce twisted wonderland #ace twst #riddle twst

[cevansbrat0007]

The Lonely Hearts Club: Part Two

Summary: Full Story! Breaking up with Andrew Barber is hard to do. You of all people should know, considering you just tried. Now what? Read Part One.

Warnings: Mature Themes, Angst, Discussions of Break-ups, Fun with Exes, Jealousy, Andy Being a Menace, Confident Reader, Eventual Smut, Cursing, Expect Additional Future Warnings, Minors DNI

A/N: Dedicated to @atkissoflife, @that-one-anxious-mango, and @piscesmermaidprincess. This multi-part fic features a combination of requests from the likes of @writer84, @lexivass, @moejdaw, and several others. It is also, part of my ongoing Growing Pains Series. All mistakes are my own. Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated.

___

February 15th - 12:25am - Los Angeles, CA

Wow. Just...wow.

You stare down at your phone as you wait for the bartender to bring you your check. While you had initially been prepared for Andy to be upset over your note, as well as your pretty abrupt departure, you certainly hadn't expected this.

If anything, he seemed almost...unbothered. By all of it. Granted, it was sometimes hard to gauge a person's tone via text. But you'd also been in a relationship with the man for the better part of six freaking months! At this point, one could argue that you were practically fluent in Andrew Barber and all of his fucking moods.

The guy was up to something, without a doubt. Which meant that you were now officially on high alert. Because your man - your ex - had never been the type to play fair.

Especially where you were concerned. You should've known that it was gonna take a hell of a lot more than a handwritten letter and a box of artisanal muffins to knock some sense into his stubborn ass.

"Argh! You are such a fucking ogre, Andrew!" You groan, burying your face in your hands. "Why can't you ever make things easy?"

The next time you look up it's to see the bartender returning with your credit card. She goes to hand it over, only for you to interrupt her mid-sentence.

What was her name again? You could've sworn it started with a "D".

"Sorry, I know I said I was ready to close out. But since men are stupid, I think I'm gonna need another margarita. Quite possibly two."

Delta gives you a sympathetic nod before pocketing your card once more. "You got it, sweetie. Still want sugar instead of salt?"

"Yes, please." You mumble, reminding yourself that it was okay to feel annoyed. Because you were. This was supposed to be your time, damn it. You deserved to take some space for yourself!

Even if it meant sitting alone at a hotel bar, missing the one person you loved more than anything, the day after motherfucking Valentine's Day. Cheers, bitches.

___

Two Weeks Later – Somewhere in Downtown Boston

Andrew Barber stares blankly at his computer screen, mindlessly tapping his index finger against his temple as a fresh wave of anger courses through his veins. 

He’d been so good the last two weeks. So patient and understanding. He’d given you your space, just like you’d asked. Never intruding with the exception of the text he shot off that night.

Even when he’d come across your latest Instagram post from a few days ago showing off your apparent date with another man. Some pretentious looking fucker who went by Russell Cromwell. You two had looked real cozy while sharing a plate full of Birria tacos. And then you’d posed outside of the restaurant with your arms wrapped around his waist. 

But the real kicker had been the last photo in the carousel. The one where you’d kissed him on the cheek – when you’d done the “knee thing” that actresses used to do in those old black and white movies you loved to watch so much.

Oh yeah. The two of you would be having a discussion about that one real soon. His wayward Baby Girl could count on that shit. 

Honestly, you had no idea how hard falling back had been for him. It had been a real struggle. Because at his core, Andrew Barber was a man of action. He was well-known for his cunning and mental prowess. This was a man who had graduated at the top of his class, who had then gone on to become the youngest District Attorney in the city of Boston’s history. 

And in times of crisis, he was someone you could count on to remain calm and collected while you worked towards a solution. Nothing could shake him, save for the trial and media circus that had briefly surrounded his late son. 

After that particular tragedy, Andy had resigned himself to being alone. Forever. He often tried to convince himself that he preferred it that way. Andrew Barber didn’t do love. Not after what happened with his ex-wife, Laurie. He was better off living a life of no commitment. 

Even if it meant a lot of lonely nights filled with a seemingly endless revolving door of meaningless one-night stands. 

And then he’d met you. 

Yes, you.

The woman who had somehow, against all odds, brought magic back into his life. Your laugh, your smile, your very presence – it colored his whole goddamn world. He told you that all of the time, and yet it was almost as if you didn’t believe him.

At first, he was convinced that you were too good to be true. Although he’d been quickly dispelled of that notion when you’d had the balls to walk out on him during your very first date. It’s quite possible that he’d fallen for you right then – because you were the type of woman who knew her worth.

By then, Andy had become convinced that you were a gift from the universe. The way he saw it, after everything he’d been through, he was owed you. You were the woman of his dreams – his very salvation – all wrapped up in a curvy little package. And when you ran that night, it called to the primal part of him that felt compelled to give chase. 

Just like now.

But what you had yet to understand was that, once a man like Andrew Barber had deemed you his forever, there was no going back. There was no letting you go. No means of escape.

At most, he’d been granted you a temporary reprieve. You both needed time to assess the situation, survey the damage, and then calculate your next move. 

And sweetness, you’d already played your hand when you’d left that little note skipped town under the pretense of taking a fucking business trip.

Fine. Now it was on him. And while you still held most of the cards, that certainly didn’t mean that Andrew Barber was walking around without an ace or two in his back pocket. And you had better believe that he was more than ready to play his own. 

But first…he needed some fucking coffee. And lucky for him, he knew just where he could find the perfect cup – shot of chocolate, dash of cinnamon, hold the whip. 

___

Forty Minutes Later – Monarch Media Group (20 Minutes Outside Downtown Boston)

You lean back in your chair and rub your tired eyes. For the life of you, you simply couldn’t seem to focus today. Or any other day for the matter.

Even though it had been almost a week since you’d returned from your trip to L.A., you still felt just as conflicted about things with Andrew Barber as you did before you’d left. And not only that, but you also found yourself feeling on edge about the entire situation.

Because after your brief text exchange the morning of February 15th, he’d left you alone. The most impatient man you’d ever encountered this side of Boston had actually found it within himself to respect your wishes. 

No calls. No texts. No emails. Not even so much as a fucking smoke signal.

And while part of you was pleased with that particular development, there was no denying the fact that you missed your Big Man. 

You could be woman enough to admit it. You missed the hell out the handsome, grumpy-faced district attorney who, up until recently, had been a major mainstay in your life. But after some serious soul searching and a generous amount of tequila, you’d come to the conclusion that it was important for you to get your mind right before moving forward with anything.

You owed it to yourself to figure out who you were outside of your relationship with Andy – needed it even. Because that man was a force to be reckoned with. He could be so dominant sometimes, his personality so completely all-consuming that it was easy to lose yourself in him. 

To allow yourself to become so entirely eclipsed by his brilliant shadow. Which is something that could absolutely happen the moment you stopped paying attention to your own wants, and needs, and desires.

And if that ever were to happen, part of you wondered whether or not you would be able to find your way back. Honestly, you had no idea.

Because after all of this, if you chose to be with him…it would mean that you were all-in. There was no other option with him.

That beautifully stubborn man didn’t have a lower setting.   

However, the last thing you’d ever expected was for Mr. Andrew “My Way or the Highway” Barber to go quietly into that good night. Well, suppose you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Because if anything he could very well be planning–

Your inner musings are interrupted by Anya, your favorite receptionist at Monarch Media Group. Granted, she was also the only receptionist at the company you’d worked for over the last several years, but that was neither here nor there.

Anya gives you a knowing look before taking a seat on the edge of your desk. “Hi, friend.” She lightly pokes your shoulder. “How ya doin?”

“I’m okay.” You blow out a breath and then decide to exit out of your Outlook. “What’s up?”

“Oh…nothing much.” You watch as your friend and coworker helps herself to a piece of chocolate sitting in a nearby dish. 

“Okay.”

“I just stopped by to tell you that your coffee has arrived.” She dutifully unwraps it before popping it in her mouth.

“What?”

You hadn’t ordered any coffee. You didn’t usually even drink the stuff this late in the day. Unless…

“Yep. And just so happens, it was hand-delivered by the handsomest door-dasher I ever did see.” Anya pokes your shoulder again. “I would’ve accepted it on your behalf, but the guy insists on giving it to you himself. Probably angling for a tip if you ask me.” She throws you a conspiratorial wink for good measure.

Speak of the devil. Hello, Mr. Andrew “Check Out My Shit Timing” Barber.

“Ugh.” You bury your head in your hands to muffle your cry of frustration. “Can you please just tell him I’m not here?”

“I’m afraid I already let that cat out of the bag. But by the look on your face and the way you’re rocking back and forth like a human pinball, I take it I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No!” 

“Did you and Andy like…break up…or something?” Anya pauses as she reaches for another piece of candy, her hand hovering in mid-air.

No, Anya. I always feel like jumping out the nearest window. I’m fucking squirrley like that.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” You wail. “It’s just…it’s just really fucking complicated, okay?” 

“Gotcha. So…about the coffee…” 

“I’m going. I’m going.” You stand up in a huff, wishing you knew where you put the ponytail holder that had been on your wrist just this morning. “But if he pisses me off, I’m dumping that shit on his shoes. Hot or not. I do not care.”

“Okay, but if it comes to that can you please try to do it off company property? I’m all for you handling your business, but I’m also thinking about all the paperwork I���m gonna have to do if you accidentally injure one of the city’s hottest attorneys.”

“Fuck you.” You grumble as you stalk towards the front of the office to confront the annoying asshole who also happened to be the love of your life. 

“What can I say? I’m a selfish bitch.” She chirps, blowing you a kiss.

“Your words not mine. And stay the hell out of my chocolate, you mooch!” You call out as you turn the corner, fully intending to give the Boston D.A. a piece of your mind before you politely, and very firmly, shoved him out the door. 

Because if that man thought that he could just waltz right into your place of business and act like he owned everything and everyone, then he was sorely mistaken. You were going to prove to him, and whoever the hell’s job it was to oversee this whole godforsaken cosmos, that you knew how to stand your ground.  

The sight of him standing right there in the lobby is easily enough to temporarily rob you of all reasonable thought. His back is to you, giving you the brief opportunity to give him a thorough once-over. His tailored white dress shirt is rolled up at the sleeves, exposing his brawny forearms. But what really draws your attention are his slate gray slacks, which only serves to highlight his perfectly sculpted backside. 

He looked good. Nobody deserved to look that damned good, least of all your ex-boyfriend. 

Wait. Is that – is that what he was now? Is…is that how all of this worked? Fuck! 

You note the lack of tension in his broad shoulders. All things considered, he seemed pretty relaxed. But the real question was…how long could it be expected to last?

Andy picks that moment to turn around, his bright blue eyes locking with your own as an eager grin slowly spreads its way across his handsome features. You take a steadying breath and choose to ignore it. 

“Andrew.” You exhale, trying your best to appear unaffected by his presence. It was a lie, of course. But if you managed to keep this unexpected interaction short and sweet, you just might be able to pull it off. “Wh–what are you doing here?”

“Hi.” He cocks his head to the side as he drinks you in, almost as if he’s amused by your disgruntled demeanor.

“Hello.” You cross your arms over your chest, wishing that you had chosen to wear a different sweater today. Andy loved you in this color, especially because of how it paired with your particular skin tone. 

“Happy Wednesday, baby.” 

God, he really needed to lose that stupid smile. Otherwise, how on earth were you supposed to maintain your composure? 

“Sure.”

“Brought you something.” Andy holds out one of the cups of coffee he’s carrying. “Figured you might be able to use a little pick-me-up.” 

“Thanks, but I’m good.” You tell him with a shake of your head. 

“What? Since when?” He rears back before offering up a playful pout. “We always get coffee together on Wednesdays. It’s our thing…our little afternoon delight.” This time you’re treated to a wink.

“Shh!” You hiss, bridging the distance between your bodies to slap a hand across his mouth. “Don’t say that!” 

The last thing you needed was someone to overhear that and think you two used to sneak away sometimes in the afternoon to…to well…you know. Some of the people you worked with possessed very vivid imaginations.

And besides, that whole afternoon delight business had only happened once or twice. Okay, quite possibly four and a half times – and then one more after that. 

Amusement sparkles in his gaze as he stares you down. And then you feel the faint flick of his tongue brush across your palm. When you don’t react he does it again, this time following it up with an exaggerated groan. 

You immediately jerk your hand away as if you’ve just been burned. Knowing that things were only bound to get worse, you snatch one of the coffees before grabbing his arm and dragging him outside and into the unseasonably warm weather. 

Thank goodness for small favors.

The smell of spring was definitely in the air these days, but all you can focus on is the sound of Andy’s laughter trailing behind you. Frankly, it’s enough to set your teeth on edge. Even still, he allows you to lead him down the street. At some point there’s a slight shift that results in your relinquishing his arm so that he can lace his fingers through yours.   

But you'll allow it if it means that he’ll behave for as long as it takes to make it to your destination. Which just so happens to be an empty bench located at the edge of a nearby park.

To his credit, the attractive buttface at your side doesn’t say anything during your impromptu power walk, but he also doesn’t need to. Because after two long weeks without you, the man was probably venturing into serious touch-starved territory. 

You knew it. And so did he. So part of you didn’t see the harm in giving him this one, small thing.  

Relief fills you when you finally reach the bench. Of course Andy sits first before pulling you down with him – but thankfully not onto his lap. Although you’re positive that the thought was there.

Eventually he lets go of your hand. Unsure of what else to do, you finally take a sip of your coffee. The rich, slightly bitter flavor of chocolate and mocha bursts onto your tongue, followed immediately by a quick hint of cinnamon.

Mm. A perfect cup.

“I’ve missed you, baby girl.” Andy’s large, lightly calloused hand cups your face – the roughened pad of his thumb caressing the curve of your cheek. “It hasn’t been a very fun couple of weeks.”

“I know.” You whisper as you lean into his touch and your eyes flutter closed. Perhaps you were just as starved for affection as he was. “I’m sorry.”

“Did you miss me?” His tone is gruff, but there’s no mistaking the emotion behind his words. Or the pain in his eyes for that matter. 

“I did, Andy.” So much.

“But you still left. Tried to break up with me before hopping on a plane and running off all the way to L.A. to share some chips and queso with good ol’ Rusty.” Your eyes fly open as Andy’s hand drops away. “Or did I read that wrong?” 

How the fuck had he known where you where? You hadn’t included anything about your intended destination in your letter…

“I saw it on your Instagram, in case you were wondering. Was actually able to use that stupid account you set up for me after all.” His teeth sink into his bottom lip as he narrows his gaze, trying to read your expression. “Couldn’t really get much else, although I enjoyed those pics of you at the beach.”

“It was a work trip.” You remind him, suddenly feeling defensive. “And Russell is an old friend, nothing more.”

“Hm.” Andy quirks an annoyed brow. “Are we talking about the kind of friend who also  accompanies you to the beach so you can show off your brand new bikini? Not that I’m complaining any about that gorgeous, sunkissed glow you’ve got going on, princess.” 

His big body is certainly tense, but there’s no ignoring the feral gleam in his eyes. Almost as if he’s dying to undress you and spend the next several hours checking you for tan lines. 

And he would, too. It’s not like it would be the first time. 

“I went alone. Russell stayed behind for that one.” You roll your eyes at the sight of his nostrils flaring. “Jesus Christ, dude! I know you may not believe that I’m a big girl, but I am. And if I wanna go hang out at the beach by myself, then that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”

Which was exactly what the fuck you’d done. And it had been positively marvelous. 

“Fine.” He grunts, raising his palm towards the heavens. “God forgive me for having the sense to worry about my girl, especially since the last time I checked, she still couldn’t swim for shit.”

“Whatever, Andrew. This girl does whatever the hell she wants now, so you had better get used to it.” Your mouth is set in a thin, firm line while you silently dare him to disagree.

“I’m not quite sure how that’s different from any other day with you, but alright.” Andy tries to calm himself by playing with a stray curl that’s fallen free from your bun. “You’re still mine, sweetness. Even when you insist on being a brat. Or did you somehow forget that part?”

You swat at his hand instead of responding, hating that steady feeling of warmth that was currently pooling in your belly. 

“Did you?”

You make a show of ignoring him in favor of enjoying what was left of your coffee.

“You know, they say that sometimes silence speaks louder than words, baby girl.” You find yourself resisting the urge to clench your thighs together at the sound of the dark chuckle that rumbles through his chest. “It’s alright, though. Guess I’ll just have to remind you again once we get past this little wall you’re trying to put up between us.”

He gifts you with a flash of his pearly white teeth. Andrew Barber was the type of man who would only let you get away with so much before he put his foot down. And you would do well to remember that. 

“Pretty sure you meant to say “actions”, jackass.” Apparently he finds your acerbic wit funny as well.

“Eh, I’ve heard it both ways.” Andy shrugs before going back to toying with your curls. “But I think you should know that I’m not very happy with you, baby. And I’m trying to be patient here, but it’s kinda difficult when I can’t even get you to talk to me.”

“I was going to call you…” That wasn’t a lie. You had just been trying to drum up the mental fortitude you knew it would take to pick up the phone and actually dial his number. Sometimes, dealing with Andrew Barber could require some serious patience. 

“Were you now?” He doesn’t believe you. You can hear it in his voice.

“I was.”

“Okay, then have dinner with me tonight.” He releases your curl, watching the way it bounces as it springs free.

“Andy.” You let out an exhausted sigh.

“Meet me at my place. I’ll swing by Imperial Wok and pick up a few of your favorites so we can eat. And then we can talk in a quiet, private setting without any interruptions. How does that sound, princess?”

“Wonderful.” The word slips out before you can catch it. “But I–I can’t.”

Andrew Barber’s excited smile dies on his lips the moment that phrase reaches his ears and registers in his brain. As much as you hated to admit it, being alone with this man wasn’t a very good idea right now – especially behind closed doors.

Because while you’d never seen the man in court, you’d definitely heard plenty of stories about his ruthlessness. And you knew firsthand just how persistent he could be when he was determined to get his way. 

When Andy wanted something, he didn’t stop until he got it. Not only was he relentless, but he also wasn’t above using every tool at his disposal – including sex – if it meant having you back in his life. It wouldn’t matter all that much to him how it came about.

The same way he wouldn’t care if whether or not your desired reconciliation only happened because he’d lured you into his bed before fucking you back into submission. 

“The fu–why the hell not?” He growls, his hand grips the arm of the wooden bench so hard his knuckles go white.

“Because I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” The pronounced tick in his jaw makes it clear that he’s beyond frustrated by your refusal. 

Unfortunately, that was too damned bad! By the time this was all said and done, your handsome ogre was going to have mastered the art of having some goddamned patience. At least you hoped that would be the case…

“Both.” You offer your Big Man a small apologetic smile as you rise from your seat. “Let’s plan for sometime next week. Maybe we can shoot for Monday. I’ll, uh, send you a text or something and we can find a place to meet. But I really need to get back to work now.”

Andy stares at you for what feels like a full minute as his impressive brain works overtime to figure out his next move. And then he stands up before taking your empty cup and discarding them both in a nearby trash bin.

“Alright.” He mutters with a nod in your direction. “I guess I’ll just have to wait for your message then. Now, let’s get you back to your office.” A lump forms in your throat when he wraps a muscled arm around your shoulders as you two begin walking back the way you came. 

Fuck, you really hated this shit. But if this relationship was ever going to have a chance of working, you had to continue standing your ground. Even though it hurt like hell.

“I, um...I know you said that we probably won’t be able to sit down and talk until next week. And I suppose I can understand where you’re coming from with that, but while I have you now…” He lightly coughs into his elbow.

You glance up at your hotshot attorney, trying to figure out where he was going with this so that you could potentially cut him off at the pass.

“I at least wanted to say “thank you” in person for still agreeing to help Lydia with the charity gala this Saturday. I’m sure that it wasn’t an easy decision for you, especially given how things have been between us lately. But I really do appreciate it. And, frankly, I’m sure the kids at St. Augustine’s do too.” 

You feel the blood drain from your face as the reminder of this weekend’s event all-but smacks in the face. “Shit!” You hiss, pulling away from Andy as you reach your building. “It’s this Saturday? Are you sure?”

 “I am.” He confirms, his eyes filled with surprise. “I just spoke with Lydia yesterday when I–”

“Fuck!” You exclaim as your hands fly to your hips, uncaring that you just interrupted whatever it was he was about to say. 

In all of the chaos, you’d completely forgotten that you had agreed to help the wife of one of Andy’s colleagues with her annual charity ball. Starting by arriving at the hotel early Saturday morning to aid in the event setup, before heading up to your room to get ready for the evening's festivities.

A room that had been booked during a time when you and Andy were on much better terms.     

“She did mention that she sent all of the volunteers an email a couple days ago with a list of instructions. Maybe it got buried in your inbox, baby.” He rests his hands on your biceps, giving you a reassuring squeeze. “But she is definitely expecting you and I’m afraid it’s probably too late for you to back out at this point.”

Deep down you knew he was right. And quite honestly, you wouldn’t even dream of doing something like this close to the actual date of the gala. But there was still the issue of having to share a hotel room with your ex.

Closing your eyes, you force yourself to take a deep breath. “I–I wouldn’t do that. I’m not that big of an asshole. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to share a room…” You trail off, hoping that he would at least be somewhat understanding of your current plight.

“Ahh.” You can see the moment when realization finally dawns. “Right. Almost forgot about that.”

No, he actually hadn’t. But since Andy didn’t feel as though there was any real need for you to know that, he was going to keep that particular tidbit to himself. Even he was capable of showing some restraint every now and again.   

“Like I said…” You find yourself anxiously bouncing on your toes. “I don’t think –”

“I get it, sweetheart.” 

Wait. He did? Just like that?

“You do?”

“I do.” His words are accompanied by a lopsided grin. 

He didn’t. But then again, you didn’t need to know that either.

Andy’s hands leave your arms so that he can tenderly cup the sides of your face instead. “You just leave it all to me, baby girl. I’ll call the hotel and change the reservations.”

“You will?” You place your smaller hands overtop of his own. “You…you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.” Andy leans down to press a sweet kiss to your forehead. “And I promise to be on my best behavior Saturday night.” He gives you another kiss, which you allow. “If you want, I’ll even send over the updated confirmation info.” 

“Thank you.” You murmur, wishing that you could give-in just a little more and offer up your lips for a kiss. A real one this time. 

But you couldn’t afford to do that. Not even when Mr. Andrew “Give Me A Gold Star For Being Helpful” Barber was acting sweet. That would only throw everything off balance all over again. 

Andy’s heated gaze drops to your mouth before he slowly pulls away. “Don’t work too hard, okay?” His husky voice sends one last tiny flutter through your belly. 

“Same goes for you.” You tell him as you begin to head into the building.

“Goodbye, baby girl.” 

“Goodbye, Andrew. See you Saturday.” 

He waits until you’re safely inside and out of sight before turning on his heel and proceeding in the direction of his car. Oh, you’d be seeing him on Saturday alright. And he would be on his best behavior – depending on just how much patience he could muster. 

You two would be sorting this shit out then, whether you liked it or not. When it was over, you’d both spend the rest of the weekend making up for lost time. And Andrew was going to do everything in his power to ensure you enjoyed every fucking second of it. Just like he planned to enjoy getting reacquainted with that delicate sweetness between those luscious thighs. But first…

He needed to go make a call.

END

*Part Three Coming Soon...*

___

Unofficial tag list -

@blueraspberryreader

@openup-yourmind

#cevansbrat0007 fics #chris evans imagines #andy barber imagines #chris evans smut #andy barber smut #chris evans fanfiction #andy barber fanfiction #chris evans x you #andy barber x you #chris evans x reader #andy barber x reader #chris evans x black!reader #andy barber x black!reader #chris evans x woc!reader #andy barber x woc!reader #chris evans x poc!reader #andy barber x poc!reader #chris evans x girlfriend!reader #andy barber x girlfriend!reader #chris evans x female!reader #andy barber x female!reader #cevansbrat0007growing pains series #chris evans x yn #andy barber x yn #chris evans x y/n #andy barber x y/n #chris evans x fem!reader #andy barber x fem!reader #chris evans angst #andy barber angst

[alloftheimaginesblog]

a little bit lost without you {e.m}

plot: you see eddie for the first time after your break up.

character: eddie munson x plus size reader

part of my eddie munson ‘pretty eyes’ series

Of course you knew the day would come where you'd run into Eddie and you'd have to speak to him again and honestly, you were a little surprise that it hadn't already happened yet. In the months since your break-up you'd practiced over and over speeches that you'd say to him, vent out every last frustration so that you could move on with your life but when you did eventually run into him... all of that went out the window and all you could do was stand and gape at him like a fish out of water.

He looked the same with the same curled hair, the same big brown eyes, the same rings on his fingers, the same denim vest with the same patches sewn onto it... Still had your pink hair tie on his wrist, even after all this time.

"Hey, pretty eyes," he said after a few moments of pregnant pause.

Shit.

Maybe you weren't as over him as you thought you were. You'd convinced yourself you were over him but now seeing him in front of you... your heart ached. It was him calling you 'pretty eyes'. You missed that nickname, it was the sweetest nickname anyone had ever given you.

"Hey, Eds..." You said, voice a little hoarse.

You hadn't really expected to run into him in the mall, Eddie had always spoken about his hatred of the mall for all the stupid teenagers who would hang around here but maybe you didn't know him that well anymore.

You shifted uncomfortably. You didn't really know what to say. All that time you'd spent rehearsing your speech and you could remember none of it, "Uh, how are-"

"How's thing-"

"Sorry." The two of you both said at the same time after speaking over the other.

Eddie rubbed his neck as he gave a small chuckle, "How's things?"

Do you want the truth? Do you want to hear how awful I've felt without you? Do you want to know about all the sleepless nights, the crying, the regret? Do you really want to know?

"Yeah, I've been alright," you said, overly happy as you plastered a grin on your face, "What about you?" Eddie's smile faltered upon hearing how good you've been doing. He didn't know whether you were telling him the truth or not but he took what you were saying for face value.

He shrugged, "Yeah, yeah... not bad." It was a bit ass lie. Eddie had spent his months wallowing. He had fucked your relationship and he hated himself for it. It had ended because he was in a rut, refusing help and refusing to help himself. You had tried to help but he pushed you away and you gave him an ultimatum, be better or be single. Eddie hated himself for making the wrong choice, "You look great. I mean you always do but... yeah." You looked down at your outfit, jeans and a jumper nothing that great but Eddie had always loved the way you looked. He had always loved your body, despite its size, despite its curves, despite the fat rolls and stretch marks. Eddie was one of the reasons you had grown to love yourself; you saw how much he loved you and you started doing the same. He always treated you with such love and care, never making you feel ugly or unwanted... He was good.

It was like you were watching yourself from above, an our of body experience, is that what they call it? You heard yourself saying, "Well, it was nice seeing you." Saw yourself giving Eddie one last pathetic smile before starting to walk away. Why were you just leaving? There were so many things you wanted to say, so many things you needed to say.

Eddie wasn't letting you go so easily though.

"I got a job!" He called, a little louder than necessary as a few people turned to look at him to see who was shouting about a job.

You stopped.

"Eddie, you can't keep living like this! You need to get out, do more than just sit and get high! You need to get a job, make your own money, save up for a place of your own!"

"I'm fine the way I am, thanks though."

That was one of the fights that ended your relationship. He refused to help himself, refused to get a job and fund his habits... You had supported him through money you'd gotten from your own job and you couldn't do it anymore. You just couldn't.

You stayed frozen, facing the other way, so Eddie continued talking, "That's why I'm here, you know I hate the mall. It's in the music shop, the one beside The Gap... It's a couple of days after school and the weekends. I've been using the money to help my Uncle, started saving up and even bought myself a proper bed frame like you suggested... I've been trying." It was true. He had been trying, he'd actively been trying to better himself.

For a week after the break up, he had been expecting you to come back. He had convinced himself that it was all just a stupid fight and you didn't mean what you said, that your ultimatum was just you being dramatic... Until he woke up one day and realised you really weren't planning on coming back. He replayed that fight over and over in his head, regretting every response and scoff that he did. Your requests weren't so stupid as he thought. He looked around his room at the mess he'd let himself get into; no money, no job, no friends, no girlfriend. That's when he decided to change.

You turned to him, face softened but eyes sad, "I'm happy for you, Eds," you said quietly, "it'll be good for you."

"It is," he nodded. He could sense that you were pulling away again so he took a breath, "I'm not doing good at all actually, (y/n). I'm having a hard time-"

"Eddie..."

"I'm lost without you. I'm trying to be better, I've been trying so hard I promise. I-I fucked up, (y/n) and..." He took a deep breath and exhaled, letting his shoulders sag, "I miss you."

Your heart panged. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, remembering the good times. For most of your relationship, things were great. He could always make you laugh, made you feel so loved. He was the one that protected you from Carver and his cronies after they mocked you for your weight. Eddie loved all of you, curves and fat rolls and all. He always made you feel equal, never less than.

"I... I don't know what to say, Eds," you whispered, eyes flooding with tears, "I've been trying to move on, move past you and this- you... it's confusing."

Eddie nodded, wringing his hands together before stuffing them in his pockets, "Can I take you for lunch?" He asked, "My treat."

You pursed your lips, debating it over in your head, "Is that a good idea?" You asked, "I mean... I dunno. I don't know." Your head was reeling with the thoughts and worries you had.

He stepped a little closer, not too close but just a little closer, "Hey, it's okay," he gave you a small smile, "we don't have to. I just... I miss you and I thought it might be nice but it's okay. Seeing you, knowing that you're doing okay-"

"I'm not okay though." You hadn't meant to spill the beans but everything was overwhelming and he'd been so honest and you just snapped, "I've not been okay at all." Eddie really fought hard to not smile at that but you corners of his mouth did tilt upwards, "Okay..." you exhaled, "let's go for lunch."

He grinned, "Wanna go to your favourite?"

You nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good."

He gestured towards the south entrance and told you his van was parked out there, he'd drive and the two of you walked towards the exit. Your hands fidgeted with your sleeves and if you were being honest you might as well tell him, "I'm a little bit lost without you too, Eds."

Maybe there was hope after all.

#pretty eyes #pretty eyes series #plus size reader #plus size series #reader insert #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x plus size reader #eddie munson #imagine #one shot #os #prompt #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things one shot #eddie fic #fanfic

[xoxoamyas]

`` Unspoken Words ,,

rating : more hurt than comfort, but the comfort is still slightly there. a few death implications and ritual mentions

dark wolf!wilbur x gn!reader [ use of you/yours, no use of y/n ]

☆ . dark wolf just wants to help and chat with you after the day you've had. at least now you know he's there for you, even if you can't go to him with everything. <3

note : considering turning this into a bit of a mini series of sorts. might put more lore to it and maybe give it a better plot to go with. i really love this concept, though

masterlist [ ☆ ]

⋆˙⟡

It had been a long day, and you were just trying to settle down.

You were just laying down on the bed in the room the club had provided, staring up at the ceiling. Remembering the prior events of the earlier hours in the day, nausea coursing through you as you tried to figure out your next moves.

You were just an undercover detective trying to figure out the missing persons reports paired with the sightings of blood. You had gotten the lead that it had all sourced down to a “book club” of sorts, likely to be a cult.

After a week of getting to know them, convincing them you were worthy of joining. You couldn't believe yourself. You got in, but at the price of another's life, a final testimony of sorts is what the leader had called it.

Guilt gnawed away at your chest, a feeling of unease and queasiness hitting you hard. You had taken a life that didn't deserve it, and it hurt more than it initially did.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know you had participated in a ritual, something that bound you to the cult. The leader had promptly given you a name, said to have been chosen by the “Dark Lord” himself.

A timid knock at your door stalls your thoughts. Breaking your staring contest with the ceiling in favour of looking at the door. Silently contemplating, since you were meant to be asleep.

Screw it, is essentially your next thought process. Standing up and moving towards the door, clicking it unlocked and cracking it open. Met by a familiar brunette with pretty hazel eyes. A flash of surprise crossed his face before he gave a grin, happy that you were up and assuming he hadn't disrupted you. You decide to open the door up a little more, leaning against the threshold and offering a smile. An awful attempt at willing the bad feelings away.

“You did really well tonight,” Dark Wolf, who you had come to learn as Will, smiles widely. His palms pressed together before his fingers moved to tangle and fidget within one another.

“You told me earlier, Wolf, I know.” Your tone is as light as you can make it, trying not to seem so tight and upset. Based on the slight furrow of his brow, you didn't do a good job at hiding that.

“Can I come in?” He asks, but doesn't give any time to answer. Pressing a hand to the door and walking into your room anyway. He's quick to start looking around as you huff out a laugh, closing the door but leaving it unlocked.

“Yeah, sure you can, Wolf.” You cross your arms over your chest, a frown tugging on your lips as you watch him. At some point, he moves to sit on the edge of your bed, looking at you again.

“You can call me Will.” Dark Wolf- Will nervously speaks as his gaze softens a bit before becoming almost unreadable. It always unsettled you when a member would show an emotion that you could put a name to something so unfamiliar right after.

You nod a bit in understanding. “I know, it'll just take a while to get used to it.” Stepping closer to Will, you sit beside him with a bit of space between you two.

This was the first time one of the members had shown up after curfew hours to talk with you. It was odd, especially since Will was so obedient and quick to follow the guidelines. It just goes to show you have to get to know the members of the club a bit more.

“Thank you,” He suddenly says, pressing his hands together as a nervous habit in the process. Unable to look at you anymore as his gaze becomes trained on the closed door.

“For what? I didn't- I don't think I did anything?” You’re more confused than anything, unsure of whatever he was thanking you for.

“For finishing the initiation and ritual.” He speaks just a bit clearer, finally turning to look at you. Something between vulnerability and admiration in his expression. “I like that you're a part of the club now.” He gives a small, soft smile, almost shy looking in the process.

For a moment, you don't know what to say. On one hand, you're ready to cry and have the biggest mental breakdown in the world. On the other hand, he actually looks kind of sweet at the moment.

“I just- I know how hard it was after I did my own.. trials.” He swallows a bit, moving a hand up to tug at the collar of his shirt. “I'm just here to let you know I want to help if you need anything.” He gives a slightly bigger smile now, visibly nervous. He came in knowing there was a chance you'd turn his offer down.

“I appreciate it, Will.” You hum out, unsure of what else you can say. Taking a breath before nodding. “I'd love your help. Getting sorted within the club, y'know?” You give a semi-false smile, one leaning towards awkward over the situation.

Guilt started to gnaw at you once more, this time for a different reason than before.

Will visibly grows excited upon being given an answer, one that he liked no less. He nods almost ecstatically. “Well, I'll show you everything tomorrow, if you want! We'll get your own copy of the book, too.” He stands up, already coming together with a plan.

“I think we're going to be really good friends!” He chimes out, momentarily turning on his heel to face you again. This time, moving towards you with quick ease, taking a hold of one of your hands. “You're going to love this place even more than you did before, I'll make sure of it!”

And it's like your lungs are suddenly being restricted. You're doing this for your job. You mentally remind yourself. An unease edging its way into each of your systems as you watched every move Will made and half-heartedly listened to most of his words spoken.

“Will,” You start, bringing your free hand up to lightly grasp his wrist. Ignoring your heart that felt like it was going to palpitate right out of your chest. “I'm sorry to cut this short,” you start and almost instantly regret it as his brows furrow and his lips tugged into a worried frown. “But can we do this tomorrow? I'm tired after the ritual.” You wanted to spiral by yourself, be left to your own thoughts on what to do from here because now you were in too deep.

“Oh- uhm.. yeah, yeah! Of course!” Will gives a more nervous laugh, retracting his hands from yours and wiping them off on his shirt. He's got a more shaky smile now as he presses his hands into his pants pockets. “You want me to go?” The undertone of the question he asks essentially alluding to if you wanted to be alone.

You nod.

“Yeah, if you don't mind? I just need to gather my thoughts.” You hum a bit, watching as he takes his turn to nod and move around slightly.

Will glances around your bedroom one last time before at you, something on his mind. He decides to save it for when he thinks it will be right for you. The man turns around and heads for the door, hand finding the knob and lightly opening it.

“Have a goodnight,” He says, turning back once more to look at you again. Slight worry crossing his features for just a moment. “I'm just down the hall if you need anything.” The indirect offer of him letting you go to him was nice, but just made a chilly feeling settle in your bones.

“I'll keep that in mind, thank you, Will.” You offer a small smile, watching as he gives a curt nod before finally leaving your bedroom. Closing the door behind him and taking a moment to stand there before slowly trailing away to his own bedroom.

You sigh, left alone once more.

#amyas writes #x reader #dark wolf!wilbur #dark wolf #wilbur x reader #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur x you #wilbur soot x you #wilbur x y/n

[angelsanarchy]

Glass Houses: Jack Thurlow x Y/N Series CH 17 -> CH 18

Tagging: @roryculkinluvr @thatsthewrongwallcraig @icarus-star @cc-luvr @madamemaximoff06 @shady-the-simp @quicksilversg1rl @s-0lar @kristennero-wallacewellsver @ophelialaufey @mayathepsychic1999 @x-prettyboy-x @rorylover71 @auggiethecreator

Jack had never done something like this before. His palms were actually sweating holding the flowers in one hand and a bag of breakfast foods in the other. He had tried hyping himself up the entire walk across the street. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door and waited. He heard someone yell out that the door was open and he wasn't sure if he should enter but he did.

"Sorry Kelly, I was just flipping the laundry-" Y/n froze coming around the corner seeing Jack.

"Not Kelly but I did bring breakfast." Jack held the bag up and Y/n smiled.

"And flowers?" She questioned.

"Who brought flowers?" Jack heard another voice and Y/n looked over her shoulder. She walked over to Jack and looped her arm into his to pull him towards the voice.

"Mom, do you remember Jack Thurlow? He's our neighbor." Y/n introduced him but she smiled brightly.

"Of course I remember him. How are you doing sweetheart? Y/n told me you were renovating your parents house. I'm sure glad you decided to stay. Your father always wanted you to come back and take over the house, start a family of your own." Linda looked different from when Jack saw her last but he knew they were both a bit worse for wear.

"It's nice to see you again Mrs. Fletcher." Jack extended the flowers towards and she took them happily.

"I've never had someone bring me flowers before! I'm usually the one that provides the flowers to the neighbors." She smelled them and he smiled at her.

"Well then I'm glad I could contribute. I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked as the resident florist so I just tried to think about what my mom liked." Jack admitted. Y/n watched him carefully as he sat and spoke with her mother.

"Sunflowers are always a happy flower to display around the home. Y/n loves sunflowers too." Y/n shook her head at him.

"Actually I like yellow flowers. Mom just hates growing roses." Y/n put her hands on her shoulders giving her a squeeze.

"They're more trouble than they're worth." Mrs. Fletcher groaned.

"How are you feeling? Y/n taking good care of you I hope." Jack sat down opposite her and Y/n stood back watching him from the kitchen as she put the flowers in a vase.

"Oh she takes the best care of me. She honestly worries too much. I keep telling her she needs to go out and live more. You should take her out!" Mrs. Fletcher clutched Jack's hands and he smiled.

"Mom...please stop trying to set me up." Y/n groaned from the kitchen.

"Hush! She's wonderful, truly. I think you two would have a great time together." Jack looked over at Y/n who was blushing.

"She is kind of a saint. I do like to hang out with her. Maybe you can put in a good word for me." Jack teased leaning into Mrs. Fletcher.

"Of course! Are you doing better? Y/n mentioned you hadn't been feeling well the other night. Sharon was complaining about a chest cold but I hadn't heard anything about a cold going around." Jack nodded at Mrs. Fletcher.

"Yeah I don't think I heard about any colds going around either but Sharon makes a pretty good case for a chest cold." Y/n snorted from the kitchen at Jack's joke that clearly went over her mother's head. She finally sat down next to her mother, the opposite side to Jack and let the flowers sit on the table.

"Did you tell him about how much his father talked about him?" Y/n's face tensed.

"Mom-" Y/n was ready to cut her off but Jack shook his head.

"No it's okay. I didn't know you actually knew my parents." Jack tilted his head.

"Oh your father visited me often. We always talked about you two and whenever Y/n was home, he would talk you up like you were his pride and joy. He truly loved you and wanted the best for you." Jack felt his heartbeat tick up a beat.

"He would brag about how smart you are and how talented. I kept telling him he needed to get you home for the holidays so we could set you two up!"

"Mom! Ease back, will ya?" Y/n complained making Jack laugh.

"What? He's handsome! Look at him." Mrs. Fletcher touched Jack's face and he laughed.

"Thank you ma'am. I'm a bit haggard right now but I appreciate it." Jack ran his hand through his hair knowing he was a bit more put together than he normally would be but that's because he knew he needed to look semi-presentable.

"Oh shut up, you're hot and you know it." Y/n clicked her tongue against her teeth and narrowed her eyes at Jack who smiled at her.

"Your mother said you liked to keep your hair long. I wasn't sure if she liked that or not based on how she talked about it but she sure did love your piano playing. I miss hearing her play the violin with the windows open during the summer. Your father would sometimes join her on the piano but she would play such beautiful music." Jack hadn't even thought about his mother's playing until he came across her violin when cleaning out her closet. He wasn't sure what to do with it so he just put it back in there hoping not to see it again.

"I'll try and remember that if I ever get the chance to sit down and play anytime soon." Jack cleared his throat and Y/n could tell he was slightly emotional about the mention of his mother.

"You're such a sweet boy." Mrs. Fletcher pinched Jack's cheek pulling him out of his daze. She covered her mouth as she yawned and Y/n stood up.

"I think it's time to lay down for a bit. Let the meds kick in so we'll be up to eat this evening." Y/n helped her mom to her feet and Jack stood up.

"It was good to see you again Mrs. Fletcher." Jack waved and she gave him another smile.

"You come back anytime. You took great care of my little Ace. Y/n says he loves your company so you're always welcome here." Mrs. Fletcher waved one last time as she let Y/n guide her into her room. Jack wasn't sure if he should wait for Y/n or not but he decided to just leave the note he had written on the coffee table next to the vase. He didn't want to be a bother while she was taking care of her mom. Jack made sure to give Ace a few head scratches before heading out the door and walking back towards the house. He tried not to think about all the conversations his parents probably had about him. What they really thought, how they really felt. Thinking about them still was too raw for him to dive too deeply into.

#Jack Thurlow #Jack Goes Home #Jack Thurlow x Y/n #One Shot Series #Glass houses #Glass Houses Series #Rory Culkin #Culkin Cult #17/38

[thebroccolination]

Hi I watched Enchanté because of this thread of yours https://x.com/hadakanomind/status/1571447042165149696?s=61&t=3Iphv9v3mu5kk7BVikT_Ow do you have plans on updating this thread seeing as Be My Favorite isn’t in it?

Hi there! Aww, I'm so happy you watched something based on my recommendations! Thank you for telling me. :')

So I have a new list that I'm keeping on my pinned post.

As of now, my top fifteen looks like this (beware my long, rambling commentary on all of them):

Be My Favorite (2023) 🔮 High quality across the board from the script (which bears almost no resemblance to Jittirain's novella, and the director Waa took his time with it and even asked GMMTV for an extension so he could make sure it was as good as it could be) to the directing to the acting, music (leitmotifs!!! MULTIPLE LEITMOTIFS!!!), cinematography (the LIGHTING in some of these scenes), just. It's all so, so good. KawiPi mean so much to me, I flew to Thailand for the first time to see the series finale. This one's gonna be really tough to beat. It skyrocketed to the top of my list by the eighth episode, and my top three had been pretty solid for the past three years. Director Waa called it the production he's proudest of, and he directed The Gift. Krist also said it's his second-favorite series he's done after SOTUS (which, lbr, is going to be his favorite series forever, no one loves SOTUS more than Krist, and speaking of which––)

The SOTUS Trifecta (2016-2018) ⚙️ It's funny. I thought UWMA was my top series from 2020 until 2023, but as I got further into BMF and it threatened SOTUS as my #2, I couldn't knock SOTUS down to #3. So UWMA went from #1 to #3 in a day just because BMF and SOTUS are that powerful. I fully expect Ex-Morning to give me another crisis, and it may even take BMF out. Exes-to-lovers is a platinum level trope, and it's sanctioned RPF based on their lives so. But yeah, SOTUS is my baby. I rewatched it three or four times last year. It just gets warmer and cozier in my heart as time goes on. <3

Until We Meet Again (2019) 🧶 I'm really and truly grateful this was my first Thai BL series. I started watching when the penultimate episode had just aired, so I got to experience that last little stretch live! It's where I found BounPrem and WinTeam and the pandemic was much, much easier than it would have been if I hadn't had that online fandom experience to soften all the solitude and fear. It's also just a really great series. <3

Triage (2022) 🚑 DBK was my #3 since I saw it in 2020, then Triage pulled a BMF and stormed up my whole list as I watched it live in summer of 2022. It couldn't quite take out UWMA or SOTUS, but juuust based on its plot being stronger than DBK, it took the #3 spot. Time stuff, man, I fuckin' love it. <3 And it gave me SingGap! One of my favorite couples to this day. Top five, easy.

Dark Blue Kiss (2019) 🐻‍❄️ PETEKAOOOO. SUNMOOOORK. I have such immense fondness for this series, I'll defend it with my life. Does it have flaws? NOPE. Not a single one. Not that one. Nope, not even that one. Everything is perfect, don't touch my baby, thank you. <3 (Non deserved a redemption arc, but that's not a flaw either.)

Between Us (2022) 🥦 The series that made New my eternal nemesis! I tried so very hard to be optimistic about this series as it was airing. We'd waited two years for it, we expected the best, and it just…under-delivered in almost every way. New shot himself in the foot claiming the novel didn't have enough material for a full series and then not using huge, massive chunks of the novel. And…changed Team's backstory? The big traumatic thing that's at the core of the whole story? It's at #6 because of BounPrem and WinTeam. Their storyline was fantastic, and BounPrem did their absolute best with it, but by god it should have been better. I don't know why. I've kind of made my peace with it by now, but I don't watch most of New's series anymore, and after Revamp, I'm not interested. Whatever passion he had when he directed UWMA was probably taken out of him by trying to be CEO and sole director at Studio Wabi Sabi, and Between Us suffered immensely for it. He should have given it to someone else, because BounPrem deserved better.

Something in My Room (2022) 🎭 I'm so happy Supanut has I'm the Most Beautiful Count. He's really deserved such a prominent spotlight. I genuinely think Supanut's one of the industry's strongest actors, and his performance in SIMR really cemented that for me. Spoilers in the following link, but this scene is still my favorite acting moment in any BL series. SIMR is suuuper underrated.

Cherry Magic (2023) 🍒 TAYNEW REUNITED. No flaws. Love me some TayNew being sappy and adorable. God I love them. They're not allowed to separate ever again. I'm sorry to them. I make the rules.

Not Me (2021) 🏍️ Not Me could've been at the top of my list easily if they'd had the script editors they needed. I fully, very seriously believe Not Me could have been, like, world famous. I was recommending it to Non-BL Fan Friends in the first six episodes. And then it fell apart narratively. It's still incredibly ambitious, and I think Nuchy did all she could have possibly done with what resources she had, and Thailand is a difficult country to make Anti-Government stories in, so that's why I'll always have profound respect for it. It fell short because it was failed, not because they failed.

Manner of Death (2020) 🔫 Also flawless. Idiot dead people doctor is horny and reckless, and his hot man is cock-stupid and hot. Perfect series, no notes. Cutest side couple in history.

Bake Me Please (2023) 🍰 LISTEN. It's simple and sweet and Guide is adorable and I want Ohm back in BL full time, thank you for attending my TED Talk.

I Feel You Linger in the Air (2023) ⏳ I love them. :') I enjoyed myself immensely. TIME STUFF.

The Eclipse (2022) 🌗 FirstKhao did great. Ayan and Akk are lovely. The story itself is kind of a mess, and I didn't feel much of anything for any of the other characters good or bad, but I had a great time and I'd rewatch it someday.

Cutie Pie (2022) 💍 ZeeNuNew are great. This used to be waaay higher on my list, so maybe I just need to rewatch it to remember how much I love it. Cutie Pie is one of the only series I watched weekly as it aired. And didn't touch my phone the entire episode. This was pure joy for me. Established relationship shenanigans? THAT IS MY WHOLE THING. ………Yeah, I don't know why I have this so low. I need to reevaluate this whole list. My confidence in my system is shaken.

He’s Coming to Me (2018) 👻 Singto the Cute Ghost is legendary. Long live the Cute Ghost Singto. This series is truly underrated. Like, not as much as SIMR, but it deserves more love. Singto's such a gem.

#kiranokira answers

[chaoticgremlinwholikescheese]

Radar and the No Good, Very Bad Day

A short drabble that's been rattling around in my brain :)

READ ON AO3

Today has been a bad day for Radar. Not just because he's in a war zone (although that tends to make any day a little dreary), but because it's been a series of one bad thing after another. First, they'd run out of coffee in the mess hall. That was fine. Sometimes you have to start your day without coffee. But then, someone accidentally tripped him and sent his breakfast spilling all over the floor. He just got another tray. He was determined not to let this ruin his day.

However, more bad things just kept happening. He got a very angry phone call about some misfiled paperwork. It wasn't his fault, but since he's the clerk, they pinned the blame on him. Being yelled at over the phone for an hour would make anyone cranky. But that combined with the lack of coffee put Radar in an especially bad mood.

Of course, Frank decided that this would be the best time to come and bother Radar about something completely pointless. He then proceeded to insult Radar when he was unable to change the actions of others. Though Radar may practically run the camp, he's not the boss of anyone. He couldn't stop Hawkeye from filling Frank's pillow with cement even if he tried. Hawkeye doesn't listen to anyone's rules. 

Radar decided to make himself feel a bit better by grabbing a soda from the Officer's club. A grape Nehi is the perfect pick-me-up. But when Radar popped the cap off it exploded everywhere, ruining several important documents. Radar was able to salvage a little, but most of the drink ended up on the desk. Radar couldn't even be sure what the ruined documents were because the ink was all smudged. He'd have to redo everything. 

While he got to work on that, he decided he'd drink what little was left of his soda. He lifted the cup up, and saw a large spider floating in the liquid. Of course there just had to be a dead spider in his drink. Today was the worst day he'd had in a while, and that's saying something, considering he's in the army. 

An hour later a bunch of casualties came in. Everyone flocked to the OR to help, and Radar was left running around doing tasks. He was regaling some information to Major Houlihan when a patient refused to go under anesthesia without a fight. The guy started throwing punches every which way, and one of them managed to hit Radar in the chest. It wasn't hard enough to do any serious damage, but it definitely hurt. 

Radar hoped that would be the last of it. However, he was sorely mistaken. His shirt got stained with ketchup. Someone accidentally spilled water all over his newest comic book. The shower ran out of hot water. He stepped in a puddle and soaked his pant leg. The lid of the salt shaker came loose and ruined his dinner.

All in all, the day had been absolutely terrible.

And now, this was the last straw. His bear has a rip. It'd probably been there for a while and he hadn't noticed. It was pretty big now. Stuffing was sticking out from the torn fabric, the bear sagging softly. Radar had no idea how to fix it. Stupid as it is, he feels like he's about to cry. 

"Hey, Radar, I need a favor!"

Radar puts the bear down on the bed as he turns to Hawkeye.

"Yeah, sure, what do you need?"

"I need three eggs and- hey, kid, you alright?"

Hawkeye's mischievous expression fades to one of worry.

"I'm fine. You need three eggs and what else?"

"Forget that. You look like someone just kicked your puppy. What's going on?"

"It's nothing. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid if it's making you sad. Now tell Aunt Hawkeye what's wrong."

"My bear has a rip," Radar says quietly. He holds up the bear for Hawkeye to see. "And it's not a big deal, but today has just been one bad thing after another, so it was the cherry on top of everything else, and I don't know how to fix it, so the rip will just keep getting bigger until he falls apart completely."

Hawkeye gently takes the bear from him. He studies the rip for a second.

"Lucky for you, I happen to be a surgeon. I can stitch him up easy-peasy. He'll barely even have a scar. C'mon, I've got some thread back at the Swamp."

Hawkeye marches out before Radar can say anything else. He hurries after Hawkeye, following him into the tent. Radar settles on a chair as Hawkeye rummages around for some supplies. He pulls out a needle and some brown thread, smiling triumphantly.

"Usually my patients are a lot bigger and less stuffed, but I think he'll pull through just fine."

True to his word, Hawkeye makes quick work of the sewing. By the time he pulls the final knot, it looks like the rip was never even there. He hands the bear back to Radar.

"See? Good as new."

"Thank you. Really." Radar shoots him a genuine smile, holding the bear tight against his chest.

"No worries, kid. Now go get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a better day."

"G'night, Sir."

"Night."

As Radar heads back to his tent, he has a feeling that Hawkeye is right. Tomorrow is going to be a better day.

#MASH #radar o'reilly #hawkeye pierce #a tiny drabble

[julieverne]

"I think I'm going to start dating women for a while," Maura said casually, not looking up from her journal. Jane's head snapped up from the baseball cards she was resorting.

"Why? Has it got to do with Dennis, because I can promise you not all the men you date are going to try to kill you."

"Not really," Maura said, turning the page. "I'd always meant to get around to it, and maybe I'll be a better judge when it comes to women."

"Ok," Jane said, watching Maura suspiciously. "And you're telling me because?"

"Would Angela have an issue with it?" Maura asked seriously. "I don't want to make her uncomfortable."

"No, she got pretty excited when Giovanni told her we were dating. She thought I'd landed myself a doctor."

Maura nodded. "Pizza?" she asked, as though the topic wasn't worth further discussion. Jane nodded and dialled. When she hung up she watched Maura for a long moment.

"Why are you telling me?" Jane asked. "You coulda asked Ma yourself."

"It seemed fair to give you first refusal," Maura said, still not looking up from the journal. Jane could see the cover; there was a special analysis of mucus in this one.

"First refusal?"

"If you'd ever wanted to date me," Maura said shrugging. "You could ask now. If not, Alexandra has someone she's been dying to set me up with." Maura sounded so... blaise about it, as though she was asking what they were having for dinner rather than asking if Jane wanted to date her. Jane shrugged when Maura looked up, got the pizza.

"What makes you think I want to date you?" Jane asked, halfway through a slice of pizza.

"I thought it might be insulting if I didn't offer. I'm not well-versed in best friend etiquette."

Jane nodded as though that made sense.

---

Hannah this, Hannah that. It was all Jane heard at work, that and the buzz of Maura's phone, the pink blush across Maura's cheeks as she read texts, obviously from Hannah.

"Would you like to meet her?" Maura asked. "I'm bringing her home to meet Angela tonight."

Tonight was so soon, but Jane nodded, looking away. If Jane was Maura's best friend, if Maura dated a woman, would she become Maura's best friend? What would Jane do? Where would she find a new best friend? Jane sighed. She'd been spending a lot of nights alone, more so than usual when Maura was having a fling. They hadn't had dinner together since that pizza a month ago. Jane was lonely. She was just lonely. She should look for a new best friend.

---

Hanna wasn't what Jane had been expecting. She'd expected Maura to date a woman like Maura, from society, rich and well-dressed and professionally ranked. But Hannah had been none of those. She worked for a foster care organisation that Hope helped out with somehow, and she'd shown up to dinner in clean jeans and a graphic tee with a flannel on top, half of her red hair shaved, the other half down past her shoulder.

"Maura tells me you're a homicide detective," Hannah said, and Jane nodded. She'd seen Maura flush and giggle earlier when Hannah had whispered something to her before dinner. Angela had clearly approved, but Jane was undecided.

"And that you're a Red Sox fan."

"It's Boston, who isn't?" Jane asked, sounding gruffer than she'd meant to. "You following the series?"

"Yeah, Plantz is really coming through on goal," Hannah enthused, and Jane felt the tension leave her body as they started enthusing over the last game.

---

"I'd better go," Jane said a little later, earlier than she'd usually leave. "It was nice to meet you."

"I'll walk you out," Maura said, getting up as well. Hannah remained seating, Jane noticed, and tried not to flex her jaw.

"Well?"

"She seems nice," Jane shrugged.

"Is she a serial killer?" Maura asked, looking nervous. Jane laughed.

"I don't think so," Jane said. "I didn't like Dennis, I didn't know why but maybe I'd been picking up on something. She's nice. She's sweet." Jane remembered how Hannah had put her arm around Maura earlier, felt her jaw flex again. "Goodnight," she said quickly, making an escape.

---

Jane felt like a third wheel more often than not. She found herself making excuses not to hang out with Maura because Hannah was usually there, and although she'd only seen them kiss once, it was more than enough for Jane. She'd always thought she wasn't homophobic, but this bothered her, so maybe she was. Frost's mom's didn't bother her like this, though. Maybe it was that she felt like she'd lost her best friend. Maybe she felt like Maura didn't want her around anymore. Maybe it had been the completely blissful look on Maura's face when Hannah kissed her. Whatever it was, it was too hard. Especially with everything with Casey recently. Jane felt like she was never anyone's first choice; Casey going to Afghanistan, Angela picking Maura's side in arguments, and Maura choosing Hannah over Jane. With none of the men Maura or Jane had dated had their relationship changed this much. It was only now, with Hannah, that they'd drawn apart. Maura seemed happy, and that made Jane happy, but she thought back to that night, where Maura had offered her first refusal and she hadn't answered. If she had, would things have stayed the same? The dinners, the sleepovers, the constant contact between them. Would Maura have looked at her like that if Jane had kissed her?

Jane sighed, then looked up at a knock on the door. She opened it, surprised to see Maura. Maura had a key. Maura never knocked. Maura looked like she'd been crying. She stepped inside and Jane shut the door behind her, ushering her to the couch where Jane put a supportive arm around her.

"She said I talk about you too much," Maura said, starting to cry again. "Everyone I date always says that, but she said it like a... like an accusation. I said we work together, we spend all our time together, and she said it was weird that I live with your Mom." Maura started crying for real, and Jane pulled Maura in against her, let her cry against her, arms rubbing her softly until she could talk again. "This is why I put off dating women so long. They can be so judgemental. She said it was like being in a threesome without the extra..." Maura trailed off, and Jane could almost hear her blushing.

"You need me to go talk to her?" Jane asked. Maura shook her head.

"No, it's not her fault. I could have talked about you less. I mean, I couldn't, but I should have been able to once I knew it was bothering her."

"Well, did she try to murder you?" Jane asked, and Maura chuckled.

"She did not," Maura confirmed.

"Well, that's a good start."

"I really liked her, but she wanted me to choose. I really liked her, but I love you. I don't know how to make space for anyone else in my life," Maura said sadly.

"Ask again," Jane said.

"Ask what?"

"The refusal, ask again."

"Oh. But that was first refusal."

"Then this'll be the second. Technically I never answered."

"Jane, I think I'm going to start dating women for a while. I feel it's fair to let you know in case that's something you might be interested in." Maura took a deep breath, finished what she should have said the first time. "Because I would be interested. In. Dating women that are you," Maura faltered. Jane smoothed Maura's hair.

"I needed a little while to think about it. I missed all our dinners and brunches and weekends and time together. If I'd known, I'd have never let you get set up with Hannah."

"Is that a yes?" Maura asked, her voice very small.

"It's a 'your girlfriend just broke up with you', ok? Give it a few weeks, make sure it's not just the rebound talking and..." Jane shrugged. "Are you staying?" Jane asked softly, "as a friend," she added quickly. Maura nodded, and Jane smiled against Maura temple.

#rizzles #rizzoli & isles #rizzoli and isles #jane rizzoli #maura isles #rizzles fanfic

[callsign-joyride]

Yankee Rose | J.H.S | 0.7

Summary: Getting called back to Top Gun couldn't have come at a better time for Erica "Miami" Kazansky. This was her fourth time being called back to Top Gun, and the failing marriage made her as excited as ever to go back. As one chapter ends, another one begins, but the connotation of that statement is up to interpretation.

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x OC Erica "Miami" Kazansky

Content warnings: Angst, drinking, everyone is on the highway to the danger zone

(I hate myself for typing that lol)

vii. We're Not Gonna Take It

SERIES MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART | TAGLIST

To say that Erica was angry was an understatement. She was one of the first people to find out that Mav was no longer going to be their instructor for the mission, and it was just something that she didn't understand. What made her more mad was the fact that Cyclone had decided to change the parameters of the mission, which ironically increased the stakes for everyone involved. Everyone was looking around and almost panicking as Cyclone gave everyone the briefing.

"Time to target is now four minutes. You'll be entering the valley level at reduced speed. Not to exceed 420 knots."

"Sir, won't we be giving their planes time to intercept?" Bob asked.

"Well, Lieutenant, you have a fighting chance against enemy aircraft. What are the chances of surviving a head on collision with a mountain?"

Erica looked at Hangman and Coyote, and then to Rooster, before speaking up.

"Admiral, respectfully, if something happens up there and I die, what are you gonna tell my mom? Or my siblings? That things didn't go as planned because of your faulty calculations?"

"Lieutenant Kazan-,"

"I'm not done. You're giving us too much time and not enough speed. Sure, we might make it to the target without getting caught, but getting out of there is gonna be a nightmare. If those SAMs don't wipe us out, enemy aircraft certainly will."

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room looked at her. The silence felt eerie, until Cyclone cleared his throat and continued on with the briefing. Everyone leaned forward when they saw Mav's plane appear on the screen. Erica tried not to laugh as everyone stood up while Mav flew the simulation on his own terms, successfully.

Erica laid in her bed at the end of the day. Training had ended, and she hadn't been reprimanded by either of the admirals yet, so it was pretty safe to assume that nothing was going to happen. Until she got a text from Mav, telling her to meet him in a conference room on base. Something about needing to talk to her.

She was more than surprised when she walked in to see Warlock and Cyclone there, too.

"Lieutenant. I could reprimand you for the act of insubordination earlier, but I'm not going to. I told Maverick that I can either risk the success of the mission and the pilots, or I can risk my career. He wants you to be team leader. He insisted on it, in fact."

"What? Are you sure? I'm not a Captain, I'm not a Commander. Sir, I'm not qualified for this."

"You've been qualified for it before. You're the only one that successfully flew the first simulation last week. Rooster made it to the target, but he was late. You made it to the target on time and you made it out on time. This isn't the first mission that you've led, we all know that. But of course, if you don't want to be team leader, I can hand the position over to Maverick."

Erica glanced over at Maverick and saw the look that he was giving her. He wanted her to take the position.

"It would be an honor, sir."

They talked her through the process of selecting her teammates before she was allowed to leave. The feeling of anxiety was almost overwhelming. She only had a few days to make the decision, but she also couldn't tell anyone that she was going to be team leader. She went back to her dorm and grabbed her bag when Phoenix looked up.

"You good? You look deep in thought," she said.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm going out, though. I'll be back in a few hours," Erica said. Phoenix nodded her head and watched her leave. Hangman and Erica passed each other in the parking lot, but she was driving out as he was coming back from somewere, so they didn't have time to chat.

It didn't take long for Hangman to find Phoenix, she was in the kitchen with Bob and Fanboy.

"Hey, is Miami okay? We passed each other in the parking lot and she looked like she was about to throw up."

"I don't know, she's probably just stressed about the mission. We all are. She said that she was heading out but I'm not worried."

"Okay, thanks."

Erica wanted to be at the beach, but she felt like she needed to avoid The Hard Deck. So she decided to drive thirty minutes the other way, because she probably wasn't going to run into anyone that she knew. When she got to the beach, she kicked her shoes off and stood at the shore.

"I don't know what to do, dad. I'm mission leader and I have to pick who I'm flying with, but I know that there are some people who won't be happy about whatever decsion I make. Hangman's gonna be mad if I make Rooster my wingman, Rooster's gonna be mad if I make Hangman my wingman. Neither of them should be my spare but six of us have to go. I shouldn't have said yes to Mav, but I did, and now I'm scared. Mostly, I'm just worried about what mom is gonna do if I die."

She took a deep breath and picked up a few sea shells as she gathered her thoughts. She finally decided to go to The Hard Deck when messages in the group chat kept on appearing on her phone. When she walked in, Rooster ordered her a beer. The night felt weird, because she wasn't allowed to tell anyone that she was going to be mission leader. (Liability issue, the admirals had said.)

Mav came over and sat next to her after a little bit. Rooster had been at the piano as usual, and everyone seemed to be focused on him.

"You okay? You haven't touched your beer."

"I can't say. What if I pick the wrong people?"

"You won't. You've seen every single person in this program fly. There are a few days before you have to make your announcement, so that's more time to train and think. I think you know who to pick."

He was right. She knew who she was going to pick, Foxtrot teams and all, but keeping it a secret was going to be the hardest part.

Everyone stood in front of the admirals and Mav as they made the selection announcement. Erica was doing a pretty good job at keeping things a secret until Mav wrapped up his speech and called her to the stage. When he introduced her as team leader, she could've sworn that she caught Hangman's face drop.

"Choose your two Foxtrot teams," Cyclone said.

"Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob."

"And your wingman."

After some hesitation, Erica glanced around before she said, "Rooster,". Once she announced that Hangman was going to be the dagger spare, everyone was dismissed. Everyone was congratulating her and wishing her good luck, but there was something about the way that Hangman was acting that told her something was off. They walked out of the locker room together, but he seemed miles away.

"Hey! What's your problem?" She asked. He looked around before pulling her around a corner.

"You sidelined me. We both know that I have the qualifications to do this but you were playing favorites and-,"

"Woah. I wasn't playing favorites because if I was... Actually, nevermind. Listen, I don't think you really know how scary this will be. Yeah, we ran the simulations. But those SAMs are going to launch as soon as we get out of Coffin Corner. We didn't run simulations for that. I'm gonna say some scary shit and I need you to listen. Don't stand there like an asshole and act like you're listening, actually listen. Okay?"

Hangman nodded his head before Erica sighed and took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"When I made it to TOPGUN, my dad made me create a will. If something happens, I need you to make sure that Rooster's okay. Mav will never forgive himself if he dies. I also need you to make sure that there's someone to take care of my family, understood?"

"Yeah, but it sounds like you think you're gonna die up there."

"Maybe I am. That's why I need a fail-safe. There's nothing in my will about who I want to take care of my family when I die because I didn't like you ten years ago. No offense. You can't tell anyone that this conversation happened until something happens to me. If something happens, that is."

The last thing that Erica expected was for Hangman to give her a hug. She returned the hug after a minute, and it was a nice moment that they had shared. It didn't seem like he wanted to let go, either. Erica patted his shoulder after a few moments as a cue to get him to let go. She almost struggled to hide the smile on her face as she pulled back and turned around.

"We have to be on the carrier by 0700, so I'll see you then," she said, before walking away completely. Hangman made it to his room barely before giggling and getting out his phone.

"Now I can see why she made you the spare," Coyote said.

"Shut up."

Tag list:

@littlebadariell @jakexfmc @luckyladycreator2 @idontcare-11 @blue-aconite @maverick-wingman @shawty-fenty

#jake hangman seresin #hangman x oc #top gun maverick #top gun #erica miami kazansky #yankee rose #jake seresin x oc #top gun maverick x oc

[theoriginalnikegirl]

In light of a recent conversation and the fact im rewatching once upon a time, im revisiting my opinion re: hating Elfangor thinking especially of the last two interactions Tobias has interacting with the idea of Elfangor in the series.

To lay it out, Tobias has a total of three interactions with Elfangor in the series: meeting him in book 1, having his will read in 23, and a hallucination in 43. I've tended to take to the hallucination as real-ish, real-like, since Tobias has so few interactions with his father and I've long hated the implications of that interaction. Duringst the recent conversation however, I argued myself into thinking it was wholly Tobias' subconscious. Basically what happens in that interaction (why I hate it) is it boils down to a hallucination of Elfangor telling Tobias to suck it up. Tobias has just been tortured for a hundred pages, and here is an image of his absent father saying: "yeah too bad, now suck it up. Get over it. You shouldn't feel as hurt as you do and you shouldn't go and make it anyone else's problem". It's dressed up in prettier language but that's the sentiment. Now I, as the reader, don't really know Elfangor that well. I don't know if he would say that to Tobias. I do know Tobias though and I know that Tobias would absolutely say that to himself

I'm also revisiting the reading of the will in 23 which I have always appreciated. I appreciated that in that will Elfangor said: I wanted to love you. Not that he did, but that he wanted to. I have long had a bit of stick up my ass thinking it's too little to say he wished he hadn't abandoned Tobias' because the fact of the matter is Tobias was abandoned whether Elfangor wanted to or not, but I am also rewatching once upon a time.

For those not in the know, once upon a time is a tv show about fairy tale characters processing generational trauma, and how that trauma follows the generations even as each new generation tries so hard to avoid the mistakes of their parents, to the point where several generations literally abandon their children hoping that will break the cycle of generational trauma (it works exactly once) Anyway long story short Neal, a character who at this point has pretty much processed the trauma his father had inflicted on him (good job btw) just died while his own son (Henry) had completely forgotten him due to a magic thing and thought he'd merely abandoned him and his mother in jail. In his dying breath, Neal told Emma (Henry's mom) that she didn't need to restore Henry's memory if he was happy without it, if it would cause him more pain to remember his father only knowing he'd died. But he asked her to tell Henry that he'd wanted to be a good father and dammit if that didn't mean something!

The crucial difference here between Elfangor and Neal is that Neal explicitly doesn't put responsibility onto Henry in exchange for his wanting to be a good father (if it would hurt him more to remember, he shouldn't) while Elfangor does saddle Tobias with a) fighting the war that he couldn't anymore and b) there's the fact that Elfangor's will was only read to Tobias to motivate him to continue to fight that war. Which is on the Ellimist but what else did Elfangor think it was gonna do when he wrote it??

Point is I am on better terms with Elfangor now but out of the two of them Neal is the better dad.

#animorphs discourse #once upon a time discourse #no i did not expect this but i should have as a i watch everything through an Animorphs lens #truly though Elfangor's and Neal's situations are super similar #they were both manipulated into unknowingly abandoning children which is wild #pinocchio=the Ellimist #i love neal and WHY doesn't he vet brought back or resurrected somehow there are so. freaking. many. ways that could be done in this show

[shipcestuous]

Lately I've been thinking back to Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff of Nottingham's right hand man, and Isabella, from the 2006 BBC series Robin Hood. They were played respectively by Richard Armitage and Laura Pulver, both of them equally gorgeous and a pretty good choice to play siblings imo, and they had a really messed-up familial history AND a pretty messed-up history on the show, too.

See, Isabella was an original character introduced in the third and last season, alongside Kate, a feisty peasant girl who joined the Merry Men (or just "the outlaws"/"the gang" as the series called them) to make up for the lack of female characters after the end of the second season, when the main heroes and villains travelled to the Holy Land to either save or kill King Richard and the show let go of both Marian and Djaq, the traditional Saracen member of the Merry Men who in this story also happened to be a woman. Djaq got to choose to stay back with her people and live a peaceful life with her lover Will Scarlett instead of going back to England to fight, but Marian was caught in a twisted love triangle with Robin Hood and Guy, where her true love was Robin but she also felt some affection for Guy because she thought he was capable of becoming a better man and knew how much mistreatment and abuse he got from the Sheriff any time he failed to carry out his plans succesfully or catch Robin, while Guy himself was desperately in love with Marian and was torn between his own power-hungry, violent ways and wanting to do things to please so she would love him back... she tricked him into doing things to her and the Merry Men's advantage but then started to encourage him to defy the Sheriff, he threatened her father and burnt her house down so she'd be stuck under his "protection" in the castle of Nottingham but then started actually looking out for her and her safety. Until the season two finale, when things escalated to the point she essentially screamed in his face that she would only ever love Robin and he never really had a chance with her, and he flew into a rage at that and killed her.

So yeah, Guy started out in a VERY dark place in season three, torn and guilty over what he'd done to Marian and with any hope of redemption seemingly shattered. And then Isabella came in. She was introduced claiming to be a servant who'd taken on the identity of her mistress as a decoy to help her flee from some bad men and needing to get to Nottingham to be reunited with her, and obviously Robin offered to help her... but then the truth came out during an unexpected encounter with Guy, and painted him in an even bleaker light: she was his sister and the men she was running from were sent by her abusive husband, a nobleman Guy had sold her to when she was just thirteen. You'd think Isabella had travelled to Nottingham to meet her brother and ask him to rescue her, but no, she was just looking for a place close enough to flee to with only the small bag of coins she'd managed to save for herself. She didn't even know about Guy's role in Nottingham or the part he played in oppressing the people there, initially addressing him as her "sweet brother" upon meeting him again, but of course she was in for a rude awakening. Later, she tried asking him why he hadn't kept her with him, and his only explanation was that her husband, Sir Thornton, had paid him well to have her.

At first, it seemed their dynamic would lead to cementing Guy's tole as an out-and-out villain and and insert Isabella as a new ally of the Merry Men who knew him well and could offer some insight on him, sort of like a new Marian: the writers even played with making her a new love interest for Robin, though there was also a love triangle going on with Kate. But there was also a persistent distrust for her among the Merry Men, and even somewhat in Robin's mind, though he was allegedly more hang-up about her lying on their first meeting (when she didn't know him and wasn't sure he'd be kinder or more reliable than the other men in her life!), and all of it because of their perception of her as Gisborne's Sister. Like she would eventually turn out to be the same as him because they were family.

The tensions between Isabella and Guy and Isabella and Robin and his men worsened, no thanks to Guy alternating between "stay away from her, Hood, she knows where her loyalties are!" and "nah, I don't really care about her, I even got her a noble husband and she was so ungrateful about it" and Robin leading her on only to then hit her with "oh, sorry, I'm actually not over Marian yet, and besides it wouldn't really work between us, would it?", until, finally, she allied herself with Prince John (who had at one point already allied himself with Guy) against both. This culminated in her being appointed as the new Sheriff (the previous one having seemingly died by Guy's own hand) and arresting and preparing to execute her brother, but being narrowly stopped by the arrival of her husband. Thornton stripped her of her new role to take it for himself and resumed verbally and physically abusing her, his mistreatment of her escalating up to a scene with very uncomfortable implications in Isabella's bedroom, where she finally killed him... only for Robin to burst in right after, motivated partly by his still lingering attraction to her but also by the fact that he'd previously faced off against Thornton himself and told him to steer clear of Nottingham. Robin interpreted Isabella's very obvious act of self-defense as cold-blooded murder and proof that she really was as bad as he and especially his friends had feared, and completely wrote her off as a love interest, friend, and ally.

During the same episode as Guy's arrest and Thornton's death, a parallel storyline was also going on with a one-shot character, a young noblewoman named Meg. Her father had brought her to Isabella due to her refusal to be sold off in an arranged marriage, clearly expecting Isabella to act like any other Sheriff would have and force into obeying. But Isabella, of course, saw herself in her and decided to help her instead... only for Meg to be arrested anyway when Thornton seized power and she tried to help Isabella in return. In jail, she met Guy, and while she was initially hostile to him, she eventually saw the good side that had remained in him all that time and fell for him. To the point of trying to help him escape after Isabella, having killed Thornton, freed her again. Isabella, of course, didn't take kindly to the one person she still felt was on her side going behind her back out of sympathy for the brother that was the origin of all her troubles and had pretty much told her he didn't regret anything he'd done to her, and the episode ended with Guy narrowly escaping a double execution with a dying Meg in his arms, in an explicit parallel to Marian's death that finally moved Guy's conscience enough to kickstart his true redemption arc.

After that, the siblings's roles as hero with a dark past and not-entirely-honest ways and villain were suddenly reversed: Guy joined Robin's fight for justice, even if initially at least in part just to get revenge on his sister, and Isabella became the increasingly paranoid and ruthless villain. Guy's alliance with the good guys was also aided by another long-lost relative suddenly showing up: Robin's father, thought to have died many years before, who revealed to Guy and Robin to truth about an incident that happened during their childhood (and that was probably thought up/retconned into the story by the writers only in the third season...) that caused the death of Guy's parents, his having to flee his destroyed childhood home with only Isabella by his side, and his hatred for Robin. Oh, and also the fact that Robin's father had actually had a child with Guy's mother and brought him to another town when he was just a baby, thus giving them both a half-brother in common whom they had to find and inform that he wasn't actually an orphan and making them family, which apparently meant they had a solid reason to work together.

At the end of the series, in the build-up to the last battle between the heroes and the villains, Guy captured Isabella as a hostage and he gave her poison so she could kill herself with it. But Isabella escaped and, in a last fight also including Robin and the return of the original Sheriff, she wounded him with a blade soaked in the very same poison... shortly before dying herself in the destruction of the castle of Nottingham.

Now, I know this might not look all that shippable unless you're into particularly twisted shipping dynamics. But Guy actually did have some moments here and there, despite his words, when he did seem to feel remorse over selling Isabella to Thornton and shock over what his decision had led to. And there was also one early moment where Prince John asked him to kill her (for hanging out with Robin and protecting him, I think) and he couldn't go through with it so he told her to kill Robin (which she wouldn't either, at least not at that point) and if she did then he'd make up some lie to relay to the Prince to make it look like she'd been on their side all along. And before she came to the conclusion that their relationship was too far gone for her to forgive him, Isabella, too, genuinely seemed to still feel affection for her brother and just wanted Guy to apologize and show her that he understood what he'd done to her. Even his giving her poison in the series finale could be interpreted as a form of mercy, and after she finally managed to actually kill him, she looked like she felt regret, or at least sadness, over it. Which is why I think that, despite all the hatred and rage that were undoubtedly there on both sides, those two did still love each other on some level they just didn't want to admit to.

I've also very briefly touched on the flashback episode about their childhood and Robin's, mostly because it was Robin- and Guy-centric episode and idt young Isabella even had one line in it. But the important thing about that (... at least for this post. I could talk about how people who shipped Robin/Guy and poly!Robin/Marian/Guy had a pseudo-incestuous "oh, those two actually have a half-brother in common!" randomly dropped on them, lol) is, on the one hand, that it somewhat ironically established family as a good reason to leave differences and grudges asides, even between people with a very difficult history together, in the show's values (why couldn't we have the same with the Gisborne siblings, then??), and on the other hand, that it gave some perspective to what had really happened in Guy and Isabella's past. They each were the only living family the other had, having lost their parents as children in the fire that also cost them their house, and when they lost the place they lived in, they'd had no choice but to wander the streets together until they found something better.

I don't want to justify any of Guy's actions, especially not when the show itself essentially decided to undermine all of Isabella's trauma and suffering as soon as it put her in the "villain" box and finally followed through with her brother's redemption, but I can absolutely him imagine him as a lost, scared (and guilty... this ask is already long enough as it is without explaining that whole subplot, but at the time, it appeared to him that their parent's death was at least partly his own fault) kid, with no land or money to his name, thinking that selling the little sister who'd suddenly fallen into his care and that he might have thought himself unable (or even undeserving) to take care of to a rich nobleman would fix both their problems... perhaps not realizing who he was really dealing with, or having suspicions yet dismissing them because if things went well both he and Isabella would be safer than on their own and not have to worry about food and other needs. I can also see him repressing any doubts he might have had after or forcing himself to ignore any news he might have heard, especially after he became the sort of man who'd be content working for the Sheriff of Nottingham: he was never all bad, but he was always good at denial and trying to shield himself from the consequences of his actions to cope with whatever he'd done, which would be expected for a man who was too bad for the heroes, too good for the villains, and eternally undecided on which path he should take.

Looking back, I wish Guy had managed to face his failures, evil deeds, and trumatic past sooner then he did, enough to tell Isabella "yes, I did hurt you, and even though I thought it was for the best at the time, that doesn't make it okay... but I still love you, whether you forgive me or not." I wish Marian, if she really did have to die when her actress left the series and couldn't just (idk) also stay back in the Holy Land to help Saracen families devasted by the Crusades, didn't die in a way that would of course make Guy a worse person and make him double on down on his worst traits, so he'd be more open to self-reflection and find his redemption sooner. And I wish Isabella herself had not felt so cornered, so out of allies and options and alone and angry, that she could only choose to be the one person on her own side and take her revenge on everyone else, but especially Guy, and that she hadn't stopped demanding a real answer from him or repressed the more positive feelings she still had towards him.

It's like that kind of tragedy that's simultaneously avoidable, because the characters would just need to TALK HONESTLY to each other, but also unavoidable because there's so much complex, twisted pain between them that you'd probably need to somehow dump a modern day therapist on their doorstep to get them to do even ONE right step in that direction.

... And of course, adding incest to all those layers that are already there would only make things more interesting to me. Again, just let Marian live in the Holy Land and bring her back in the finale to show her reunited with Robin, they were obviously the endgame couple from the first episode of season one and even in canon they find each other again in the afterlife after Robin dies heroically in his last stand! Then have the Gisborne siblings get over the two them and ride off in the sunset together to start again from scratch in a place where no one knows them! It's clearly the best option, lol.

I haven't watched this series, but I've thought about watching it seriously several times. I know I would ship Guy and Isabella A LOT, but I also know I would only be in for pain, so that's certainly holding me back.

Despite how twisted and toxic their relationship is, they've come up before. It seems like anyone incest-minded who see these two find them worth mentioning.

I really enjoyed reading your description of their storyline. I don't even need to watch the show now, lol. I got to follow their whole story. I deeply crave the alternate version you described.

Incest on top of Guy and Isabella's already complicated dynamic would be fire.

#asks #anonymous #commentary #noiv #nr #r: brosis #nc #robin hood 2006 #guy and isabella

[girlbossminerva]

ErLu had a chance.

• Lucy literally said ond time she had a girl crush on Erza, and tried to score points with her, while it may seem like comedic standards, this just makes me smile.

• Erza and Lucy's moments just touch me in the first season, their so close, by far closer than Erza's connections with other guild members, Erza seems to understand Lucy more, Yeah, I know Lucy and Natsu are meant for each other but Erza was like, "BITCH YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MY GIRLFRIEND." To Jose, Erza blushing when called pretty by Lucy.

• I can't recall enough ErLu moments in season 2 aka the Oracion Seis arc, which was used to bring back Jellal aka Erza's bland love interest, sue me, and other characters.

• The Edolas Arc was nice, ErLu, didn't see much of but Erza saving her girlfriend from her own counter part is sweet, I imagine her trying to gut Knightwalker for almost killing Lucy, the literal reason why she was going at it with Knightwalker.

• While some would be like, "Oh! They see each other as sisters of course they'd have certain emotions about each other!" Sisterly isn't in it for me.

• Lucy literally seeing Erza with the brightest smile towards her is reminding of the scenes where Natsu in the Dragon Cry saw Lucy in a pure white dress giving him the most radiant smile, oh and in Gray's grieving over Juvia's "death" same thing,

They'd be amazing girlfriends.

Training, spending time with each other, they work well together, both have beautiful hearts, Erza having Lucy move into a bigger space so Lucy can have more space to herself and less of Natsu's constant breaking an entry, which is considered in the series to be... romantic.

Lucy had literally the hugest crush on Erza since the moment she met her is not even funny. I wouldn't really consider that Erza is the closest to Lucy since the very beginning cause I do like her connection with Natsu and Gray, but she definitely did form a strong connection too in a record time, it helped that Lucy wanted her to like her. I would've loved it if Erza had had the chance of breaking Jude's teeth for being a fucking dickhead. And that moment in edolas where nightwalker is planning to execute Lucy and all the way she's saying how she could never be similar to her Erza and starts saying how much better and kinder she is? Ultra gay.

Also I'm gonna get a little anti-jerza here but like...i don't see how the hell that could work, which is ironic cause i used to be a huge jerza shipper (turns out I just had a massive fictional crush on erza). Jellal and Erza to me only work as a tragedy of friends that could've been lovers if the circumstances hadn't been terrible, and then trying to continue pursuing that for fucking ever just makes it boring and tired. Why ship that when Erza can have fun ship dynamics with a ton of other characters? and headcanoning her as polyamorous helps

#straight outta the mailbox #also that last part about the questionable things that are presented as romantic....mood #tired of people pretending that Natsu's breaking in and often groping lucy is a clear sign he likes her #monet visits

[waheelawhisperer]

on ironwood I recall hearing in a commentary that ironwood did issue out a warrant for robyn but the other counselors invited her while offering protection from arrest ( I might be misremembering it ) oh and one of the criticisms I have for rwby is pacing it would do alot better with a full anime time we could have gotten a more extensive look at mantle among other things )

If that's the case, then it really should have made it into the show because it completely changes the context around Robyn's presence at that meeting, but in the absence of any actual source, I'm gonna go ahead and just work off of the evidence we got on the actual screen.

I definitely agree that RWBY would be better with longer runtime, yeah. I mean, this probably goes without saying, but more time to tell the story typically equals better story. RWBY is in this weird situation where it has a lot of Volumes, but each individual Volume isn't particularly long (the whole thing clocks in around 24-28 hours, last I checked. If you tried really hard, you could binge the series in a weekend), so the show can feel like it's both rushed and taking forever to get anywhere, somehow. I think RWBY's Volumes are much better when binge watched, but the pacing still feels a little odd. I will admit that watching certain Volumes weekly was a real slog.

I do think that RWBY's scope and its resources do not align particularly well. This show is very ambitious, and I love that about it. I have a huge soft spot for media that shoots for the stars, even if it doesn't make it all the way. To put it another way, I respect shows and books and games and so on that have the balls to try, and I respect writers that try to push themselves out of their comfort zones and tackle heavy topics. Do I think RWBY always does a good job of tackling those heavy topics? No, not really. I think the show kind of dropped the ball with the White Fang plotline, for example, and that seems to be a fairly common opinion. Regardless, I respect the willingness to try.

That said, RWBY just... does not have the resources (budget, runtime, etc.) to tell the big, grand story it wants to tell as well as I wish it could. There are a lot of characters and plot threads to follow, and many of them don't get fleshed out as thoroughly as I wish they would. We don't get to explore the Kingdoms as much as I'd like, either, and we get important elements of the setting being explained in the World of Remnant shorts instead of the show proper, at least partly to cover up issues in the production pipeline. I think RWBY would be a better product if whoever's in charge of production found a way to align the scope of the project and the resources available to it more effectively. Either devote more resources to the show or tighten the focus, and I'll most likely be happier with the result.

Any discussion of RWBY's production and resources needs to include the acknowledgement that the show's production history has been... troubled. Pretty much every Volume has had some kind of factor that kept the crew from creating it unhindered, sometimes because the company messed up and sometimes because of unforeseen outside circumstances. I'll go through the list:

Volume 1: The show was really just Monty's pet project that hadn't proven itself commercially viable yet. Rooster Teeth hadn't yet thrown its full support behind the IP and everyone involved was finding their stride. I view Volume 1 as more of extended pilot/proof of concept than anything else, because frankly it isn't very good, but it showed a lot of potential and had just enough cool moments to keep me interested.

Volume 2: The team is still adjusting to working with actual support/resources and getting used to telling a story that's very different from the type of content that Rooster Teeth was used to producing at that point. Still, we see significant improvement over Volume 1. There's still a lot of growing pains,

Volume 3: Monty died. The crew was devastated, we had drama with stuff like Shane Newville dropping his famous letter and Glynda's VA going on a drunken Twitter rant or something, and several episodes barely made it to production on time.

Volume 4: The team switched to new software and was still coping with the aftermath of Monty's death. Some growing pains here are understandable, and while I'm not a particular fan of Volume 4 for several reasons, I'm willing to cut it some slack.

Volume 5: IIRC the head of RT's animation department was stealing resources from other projects to push Gen:Lock and then "left the company" when he got caught, so it's kind of hard to blame the crew for this one. While that doesn't magically get rid of the flaws in Volume 5, I'm a lot more inclined to forgive them when the person who was in overall command of the project was actively screwing CRWBY over.

Volume 6: The legendary crunch. This one is entirely on the company and I'm not excusing it in the slightest, just pointing out that shit working conditions make the end product worse.

Volume 7: I'm not actually aware of any issues with Volume 7's production (maybe the crunch was still a thing? IDK), and I don't think it's a coincidence that this is one of the better Volumes.

Volume 8: Oh, boy. This one was a doozy. CRWBY got hit with the double whammy of the covid-19 pandemic and the failure of the Texas power grid. I was not personally a fan of sitting on my ass in a house with no light or heat or power and using the stove to melt snow so I could flush the fucking toilet, and I can't imagine trying to do anything productive under those conditions. I certainly didn't. I think the adverse conditions had a significant effect on the quality of Volume 8, and I blame most of my issues with the Volume on the disruption caused by the pandemic and the freeze.

I think this is the cause of the very controversial scenes where Ruby, Weiss, and Blake spend time at the Schnee mansion. Apparently, those three were supposed to go inside the whale at one point, but that got cut, and I think it got cut because CRWBY had to adapt to something nobody was really prepped for. I don't personally like the decision to have all the protagonists stay in the Schnee mansion while not fighting the fight they were insistent upon fighting at the end of Volume 7, I get why it was so controversial, but I'm willing to chalk it up to messed-up circumstances. I might elaborate on that at some point, but that should probably be a post on its own.

Anyway, I think CRWBY made the right decision by prioritizing the health and safety of their workers. I'd rather have a worse product than encourage them to force their workers into unsafe working conditions. That said, I can feel that way and still acknowledge the detriments that decision and the circumstances surrounding it had on the final product. I think the crew tried really hard to adapt the story to the sudden paradigm shift caused by covid and my dogshit state's dogshit leadership and infrastructure and didn't succeed particularly well.

On a related note, fuck you, Greg Abbott. Hope my dumbass state government collectively swan dives into a wood chipper.

So... yeah, RWBY's production history is weird and complicated, and I think the quality of the show has fluctuated wildly because of it. I'd love to see what RWBY could be with the type of budget (in terms of both money and other resources like runtime) dedicated to big blockbuster shows. I think that giving the show the resources to match its ambitions would truly take it from good to great. I know it's not as simple as "just giving them a bigger budget", but we're talking hypotheticals here. A guy can dream, can't he?

#rwby #analysis

[rjalker]

Yes, Martha Wells can be blamed for people who've only just started reading the first book not realizing that Murderbot's pronouns are actually it/its.

It's from first person POV, and most people aren't going to have thought about people using it/its pronouns for themselves or others in a way that's not insulting. There should be a scene, you know, like where they ask Murderbot what its name is, where someone also asks what pronouns they should use for it.

Because they're assuming it wants to use different pronouns.

And then it just tells them its pronouns are it/its and no, it doesn't want to change them just becausse humans might see it as insulting to call another person it/its.

(and you can try to say they're already used to that because they live on Preservation where bots have rights, but it's pretty clear upon re-reading that Martha Wells hadn't actually thought through all the world building in regards to these characters being from the Preservation we see in later books.

If she had, then the characters wouldn't have had to have (or felt the need to have!) that conversation with Gurathin about 'think of it as a person'.

Like. This is also a very noticeable problem in The Books of the Raksura where Martha Wells' world building in the later books doesn't match up with what happens in the first book because she didn't think/plan everything through ahead of time. If you read The Books of the Raksura, and then go back and read the first book again after you've read all of them, you'll see what I mean.

Like at one point she tried to retroactively defend Moon's weird-out with Stone by saying being hungry makes them paranoid, but it just falls really flat and it's very clearly just an excuse she desperately tried to come up with to explain that whole thing. It doesn't work at all. It would have been better if she'd just gone the whole obvious 'yeah he was just poisoned and it's fucking with his ability to reason'. Which makes a million times more sense and isn't stupid)

If you're going to have a character that uses it/its pronouns and it's the one narrating the story, meaning it won't ever get referred to with its pronouns unless it's in dialogue from other characters, then you do in fact need to actually have the protagonist say out loud, "my pronouns are it/its". Like, this is your job as the writer. It's your job to establish these facts.

And Martha Wells just doesn't do that, and as far as we've seen in 6 books and two short stories so far, she has yet to do that.

Like, yeah, I don't blame peopel who've only just started reading the first book for assuming Murderbot pronouns are something besides it/its, because Martha Wells doesn't actually adress its pronouns in the first book at all, even though all it would have taken was having Mensah ask "what pronouns do you want us to use for you?" when she asks its name. Like it would literally be so simple, like I proved here, when I went through each book and just added in all the lines necessary to have the characters actually ask for pronouns. And here's the archived version of the post.

I do not blame people who've only just started reading All Systems Red for not realizing that Murderbot's pronouns actually are it/its. Martha Wells has a job as the writer, and she does not do it properly in regards to establishing Murderbot's pronouns in the first book. And she still has not done it properly with the whole series, because despite having a Twitter account where she lists her pronouns in her bio, she still doesn't have any of the characters in this sci-fi series (where they've all got their own personal social media bio floating around with them wherever they go) ask for other people's pronouns, tell anyone else their pronouns, or even just do the bare minimum of listing their pronouns in their social media profile. You know, the way Martha Wells literally does on Twitter?? Like I'm just fucking baffled that she still hasn't fixed this in the books. Here's to hoping if there's ever a book 7 it does get fixed. Because this is basic shit.

TLDR: Murderbot's pronouns are it/its, and Martha Wells should have made this clearer when she wrote All Systems Red, which is our introduction to the character. It's her job as a writer to communicate these facts to the audience, and she failed at that with All Systems Red.

(and no, I'm not interested in any 'oh but Murderbot wouldn't care about--' arguments. No. We are not talking about what would make sense for Murerbot to talk about. We're talking about the writer's goal and job to communicate with the audience. It doesn't matter if you think Murderbot wouldn't care about telling people what it's pronouns are. It's Martha Wells' job to establish that Murderbot pronouns are in fact it/its, and the other characters are not insulting it by calling it that, and she absolutely did not do that at all.)

#Murderbot #Rjalker reads The Murderbot Diaries #The Murderbot Diaries #The Books of the Raksura #Rjalker reads The Books of the Raksura

[starryevermore]

Hey! ☺️ How would biker Ari reacted if he saw someone coming on to reader?

ari's hit list

let’s ride ✧ a biker!ari levinson series | ao3

pairing: biker!ari levinson x single mom!reader

word count: 1,052

warnings: sleazy guy at bar tries to take sweetpea home and fails, sleazy guy calls sweetpea "pretty girl" and a bitch, protective!ari, threats of fighting, pet name (sweetpea)

note: ooh okay, this kind of gets into a general vibe that chapter five of let's ride will have, but imma roll with it. this takes place after ari and sweetpea get together (which, as of writing this on 08/29/21, has yet to happen within let's ride)

Ari's jaw clenched as he watched another man slide up next to you in the chair he once filled. His grip on his beer bottle and your glass of water tightened, trying to steady his breathing. He trusted you, but it was other men that had him on edge. He'd been coming to Sam's bar long enough to know that there were always a few bad eggs that needed to be tossed out. And, so it seemed, this man hadn't gotten the memo that you were taken.

He came closer, ready to tell the man to back off, when you caught his eye, sending him a wink. He paused, a small smirk curling across his face. How foolish of him to think you needed help. You could handle yourself all on your own.

Still, he moved closer, wanting a front row seat to see you rip that man a new one. He saw Sarah and Bucky seated a few feet away, so he walked over, asking, "Hey, can I sit with you for a minute? Sweetpea is about to go on the attack, and I need a good seat for the show."

Sarah laughed, looking over at you then back to Ari. "I knew sitting beside the two of you would be a good idea."

He slid into the seat in front of them, setting the drinks down, before angling himself to be looking over at you. It was a perfect spot—close enough to see you and hear the conversation, and close enough that he could knock the bastard out if he tried to pull anything.

"So, whaddya say we get outta here?" the man was saying.

"Oh, I would love to," you said, your voice dripping in sarcasm. "I'd love nothing more than to go to whatever shitty apartment you got that probably hasn't been cleaned once all to not even get anywhere close to orgasming."

"Don't be like that, pretty girl—"

"Don't fucking call me that," you said, rolling your eyes. "I'm not pretty, I'm fucking hot, and I can do a helluva lot better than you."

The man's lip curled. "There's no need to be such a bitch—"

"Just like there's no need to be watching me all night and see that I'm here with someone else, all to just slide on over here like you could woo me with cheap one-liners and stare at my tits." You leaned in, like you were telling him a big secret. "If you were smart, you'd go on and get the fuck outta here. You've seen the man I'm here with. Ari, you know him? He don't take kindly to people bothering me, and we both know you're not stupid enough to want to pick a fight with him."

"Why I outta—"

Ari was already on his feet, moving in between you and the man, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and yanking him to his feet. "You outta listen to my sweetpea."

"Oh, Ari!" the guy said. "I didn't know this was your—"

"Yeah, ya fuckin' did. I ain't stupid," he sneered. "Now, you listen and you listen good, I'm gonna let you go and you're either gonna walk outta here with all your limbs intact, or you're gonna be stupid enough to pick a fight and I make sure you never forget to not mess me or my sweetpea. Which is it gonna be?"

"You wouldn't dare—"

"He would dare," you said, leaning back in your seat. "Wait til ya hear what he did to my ex. He was practically unrecognizable by the time Ari was done with him."

"What's it gonna be?" Ari repeated, releasing his old on the guy's shirt.

He didn't even have the balls to say anything. Instead, he scrambled backwards, knocking into Sarah and Bucky's table and falling down, before pushing himself back up and running out of the bar.

From the bar, Sam called out, "I've already added him to Ari's Hit List."

Every member of the biker club who had a significant other had a "hit list" of people who weren't allowed in the bar because they tried to mess with that member's significant other. Ari's list was, by far, the longest "hit list" out of the entire club. In a way, he couldn't blame people for wanting to hit on you—after all, you were a fucking catch. But you were also his catch, and the both of you had to remind too many people that you weren't interested in being with anyone who wasn't him.

"You're lucky Sam owns the bar or else you'd already have been thrown out a thousand times over," you teased as he slid into the seat next to you.

"Maybe he should throw me out. Then I'd get to spend every night with you and not have to worry about some punk trying to make a move on ya."

"Hmm, but I think I prefer seein' ya all riled up," you said, leaning in, brushing your lips against his. "Love seein' ya get all protective. Makes me feel nice and safe."

"Yeah? Then how 'bout we get outta here and I make sure you feel nice and safe all night, sweetpea?" he asked.

"Mm, I was hopin' you'd say that."

"God, you gotta remind me to thank Jefferson for lettin' Liam and Grace have a sleepover tonight," Ari said, taking your hand in his and pulling you to your feet. He looked over at Sarah and Bucky, winking at them. "Sorry, but this is where the free show ends."

"Oh, so we can pay to see more?" Bucky laughed.

"Bucky! I swear, it'll be your face that Ari's rearranging next." Sarah laughed. "You two be careful, yeah? Trust me, two kids is way more difficult than one."

"Shh, don't worry my plans," Ari said, smiling down at you.

"Nuh uh, you're gonna need to put a ring on it before you get to have a kid with me," you said.

"A ring," Ari repeated. "Well, shit, I better start lookin' for one of those soon. Hey, Buck, who's your jeweler—"

"You can start that conversation tomorrow," you interrupted. "Jefferson's only got Liam for the night, and I ain't goin' to bed til I get laid."

And, well, you didn't need to tell him twice.

#let's ride: a biker!ari series #biker!ari levinson #ari levinson x fem!reader #ari levinson x y/n #ari levinson x you #ari levinson x reader #ari levinson x female reader #ari levinson fan fic #ari levinson fanfic #ari levinson fan fiction #ari levinson fic #ari levinson fanfiction #starrywrites #starryevermore

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 1]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

The booming clap of thunder and the steady drumming of rain hitting the windows can be heard. The poor girl sat before us, shaking, her breath heavy and ragged. She was now wearing Mike's jacket; he had given it to her when we found her shivering in the rain. The four of us stood in front of her, gazing at her in awe and bewilderment. Lucas and Mike were to my right, Dustin on my left. Mike finally broke the silence.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?"

"Where's your hair? Do you have cancer?"

"Dustin," I warn. Although, I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind.

Before I can stop them, the boys continue to ask her all sorts of questions without even giving her a chance to answer.

"Did you run away?"

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Is that blood?" Lucas slowly extends his arm towards the girl's face; before I can stop him, Mike beats me to it and smacks his arm away.

"Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

"She's freaking me out!"

"I bet she's deaf." Dustin then turns to look at the girl and quickly claps his hands in her face and she flinches back, clearly even more frightened, if that is at all possible.

"Not deaf." He says weakly, shrugging his shoulders.

I draw the line there. "Dustin, seriously? Do you not hear yourself? How would you feel in her position, huh?"

"Y/n's right, okay? Enough, both of you." Mike defended me and looked to Dustin and Lucas as he spoke. "She's just scared and cold." He pointed in the girl's direction as he said this.

Hearing him say that made me realize she was still in nothing but a soaking wet t-shirt and Mike's jacket. I turn to Mike. "We should probably get her some fresh clothes. Do you have any down here?" I ask.

Mike nods and heads towards a laundry basket across the room. I look back at the girl and I see her close her eyes and flinch, shrinking into herself a little as another clap of thunder boomed from outside. I cautiously took a step around to the side of the coffee table and took a seat on the edge so I was near her eye level but not so close I was invading her space.

"Hey, it's okay," I try, my voice gentle. "It's just thunder. You're gonna be okay. You're safe now."

I send her a warm, reassuring smile. She says nothing, but I swear I see gratitude in her eyes.

Mike returns with some fresh clothes.

"Here, these are clean. Okay?" She cautiously takes the clothes from him and looks at them. After a moment she brings them to her face and softly rubs them on her cheek. My sympathy for her grows stronger, who knows how long it has been since she's had a proper set of clothes. She sets them aside and shrugs Mike's jacket off of her shoulders. She rises to her feet, reaching for the bottom of the t-shirt she was wearing, clearly about to undress in front of us.

"No, no, no!" We all yell.

I jump to my feet in surprise, ripping my gaze away in panic while also attempting to reach for her hands to keep them in place. Mike tries to do the same, but he's a bit more shaken up. Meanwhile, Dustin and Lucas began freaking out, their heads turned so as to not see anything. Dustin could not stop saying, "Oh, my God!"

"See over there?" Mike points to the bathroom just across the room. "That's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?" He asks. The girl looks ashamed and confused. She looks to the bathroom and then to me, her eyes pleading. I can tell she's afraid to be alone. I take a quick, deep breath and look at her. "You... want me in there with you?" I ask gently.

She nods and we are all surprised to hear her speak. "Yes."

"Really? Umm," I look to the guys in shock who all wear the same expression as the scene unfolds. Panicking, but also realizing by now she doesn't understand why I would be, I look back to her only to find fear in her eyes and I feel a wave of guilt. A sigh escapes and I nod. "Yeah, uh, okay. I can do that, but, you're still gonna need some privacy, okay?" I grab her clothes off the couch and I lead her to the bathroom and she looks around in curiosity.

I gesture around the bathroom awkwardly, not really knowing what to do.

"Here, I'm not gonna look, but we should close this so they don't accidentally see anything. Okay?" I gesture to the door.

Panic flooded her features, and for the first time since we found her she wore an expression of absolute certainty, speaking for the second time tonight. "No."

"Hey, its okay, it's just so that you can change in privacy. You know, so they don't accidentally see you changing? How about we close it most of the way? That way you have privacy, but you know you can still get out. Does that sound good?" She hesitates then nods her head slightly. I push the door in so it's cracked open.

I handed her Mike's spare set of clothes, doing my best to offer a small smile. "Alright, here you go,"

For a moment I think, just maybe it's okay to slip out and let her change. But then I see the look in here eyes, and it hits truly me why it's so important to her someone stays.

My smile feels a little more genuine now and it almost seems to put her at ease, just a little. "Don't worry, I'll stay."

I cross over to the other side of the bathroom, taking a seat on the closed lid of the toilet with my back turned to her. For extra measure, I even clamped my hand over my eyes, still trying to figure out my day took such a weird turn. I can her start to move around and figure she's started changing, and briefly I think of how scared she looked when the thunder rumbled.

It reminded me of how bad thunder used to scare me as kid; like really bad, and how Mom helped me through it. Even kept me company until I fell asleep, and it all made a little more sense why she asked me. It was the same reason I recognized the look in her eyes almost at once; Anxiety and genuine fear. Like I did when I was a kid, I needed that company around just to know I wasn't alone.

It only makes my mind race with a million different questions but, they're all silenced when I hear voices coming from the other room.

"This is mental." It was Dustin.

"At least she can talk." Mike defended.

"She said 'no' and 'yes.' Your three-year-old sister says more." Lucas counters. I bite my lip, trying not to yell at Lucas. If he heard her say 'no' to me from the bathroom, that obviously means that we can hear him. As much as I love those guys, they can be really insensitive.

"She tried to get naked." Dustin argued."She brought Y/n in there with her!"

I can feel my face heat up and I wish I could melt into a puddle where I sit. At least that way they could just flush me and be done with it.

"It's not like that! She's just scared," Mike defended.

"There's something seriously wrong with her. Like, wrong in the head." Said Lucas.

"She, just went like..." and then I could barely make out the muffled sound of something falling.

"I bet she escaped from Pennhurst."

"From where?" Mike sounded just as exasperated as I was feeling.

"The nuthouse in Kerley County."

"You got a lot of family there?"

"Bite me."

"Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"Why she went like..."

"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho."

"Like Michael Myers."

"Exactly! We should've never brought her here."

"So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?"

"Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem."

"I think we should tell your mom." Dustin offers.

"I second that."

"Who's crazy now?"

"How is that crazy?"

"'Cause, we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?"

"So?"

"So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom..."

"Oh, man."

"Our houses become Alcatraz."

"Exactly. We'll never find Will."

There's a brief silence, and I think about everything I just heard. Mike had a pretty good point. And I don't blame Lucas for being skeptical, I just wish he wouldn't be so harsh sometimes. If I can hear their conversation, that means she can. I can't imagine what she must be going through right now.

"All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight."

"You're letting a girl --"

"Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will."

I feel a light tap on my shoulder and I turn around to see the girl had changed. She had sad look on her face and I don't blame her at all.

"Feeling better?" I ask. She meets my eyes for a brief moment and nods, looking back down at her feet.

I sigh and lower my voice into a whisper, trying to undo all the damage the boys just unknowingly caused. "Hey, I'm sorry they said all those things. You'll be in good hands here with that boy Mike; the guy who gave you the clothes, he's really nice, and it sounds like you'll be staying with him."

I stood up, eyeing the door and my friends who I could barely see through the slat we left open and I turned back to her.

"By the way... You don't have to answer any of those questions if you're not ready. That was unfair of them to do that. If you ever need anything... or someone to talk to, even after we get everything sorted out, well, I'm here." I shrug, giving her a reassuring smile before opening the door, leading her out of the bathroom.

Lucas and Dustin were standing at the bottom of the stairs, ready to head out. I follow their gaze to find Mike had made a small fort for the girl.

Mike was helping the girl get settled inside. "Here you go. This is my sleeping bag."

"You really think she's psycho?" Dustin whispered.

"Wouldn't want her in my house." Before Lucas could head up the stairs I spoke up.

"We heard everything."

Lucas and Dustin stopped and looked at me, worried.

"What?"

"All those nasty things you were saying back there, we heard every word. She heard every word... Just go. Dustin, I'll catch up in a few minutes. Bye." I threw them a flat, angry look as I shook my head and walked away. As I made my way over to the fort I took note of the silence behind me, followed by reluctant footsteps up the stairs.

"Hey, um, I never asked your name." Mike said trying to make conversation. I kneeled down next to Mike.

The girl looks at us both, then without saying anything, she pulls up her left sleeve to reveal a tattoo on the inside of her wrist. It read '011'. My eyes widen in shock.

"Woah," I can't help but gasp.

"Is that real?" Mike asks excitedly as he reaches over to touch the tattoo. She quickly retracts her arm and looks at Mike. There's an awkward silence apart from the booming thunder outside.

"Sorry, I've just... never seen a kid with a tattoo before." He apologized sheepishly.

"Can I ask what it means?" I say.

She looks at me and then points a finger towards herself.

"So, that's your name? Eleven?" I confirm.

She nods her head and then looks down at her lap.

"Eleven. Okay." Mike says, perking up. "Um, well, my name's Mike. Short for Michael, and this is my friend Y/n. He's Dustin's brother." Eleven looks over at me and I smile politely, giving her a small wave.

"Maybe we can call you 'El.' Short for Eleven." Mike offers. She nods her head in agreement. There's a silence and I can tell Mike likes her already.

"Um, well, okay," I say, trying to break the silence. "El, it was nice meeting you. And, like I said, if you need anything at all, I'm here. And so is Mikey here, of course," I say, looking over at Mike, giving him a knowing look, a smirk on my face. "Unfortunately, I have to head home so, I'll see you guys later."

I smile and grab my jacket. As i head for the stairs, I turn to both of them and send them a little wave. "Bye!"

Mide nods at me, the girl, El watching curiously as I go. That's the last I see of them as I dissapear up the steps.

I could hear Mike stuttering a 'goodnight' to El as I make it to the top. Clearly, I caught him off guard. I smile to myself, thinking.

'Ohh, he has so got it bad.'

I parked my bike in its usual spot and made it through the front door quiet enough so my mom won't hear.

Most of the lights were turned off, my mom must have gone to bed already just as I suspected. I heard an obnoxious meowing near my feet and look down to see Mews. I kneel down and pet this attention starved cat knowing that's the only way she will ever quiet down. I don't know how she can be attention starved when Mom doted on her as much as she does.

Mews lets out a deep purr and leans into my hand as I give her head a few scratches. I take off my shoes and set them by the front door before sneaking back into my room.

I flip on the light switch and stare at my slightly messy room and sigh at the events of today. I close my door so I can change into my pj's and tidy up a bit. Once I'm done I open my door so it's ajar, knowing that Mews likes to come and go throughout the house as she pleases. I sit down on the side of my bed and sigh heavily.

My eyes are fixed on the floor, particularly the different shadows that were being cast from my lamp on my bedside table as my thoughts wandered back to the fruitless efforts of tonight.

The stress and constant worrying have taken its toll on me. It breaks my heart to know that my best friend is somewhere out there lost and probably hurt. I guess a big part of me was sure that we were going to find Will in those woods out by Mirkwood tonight. I should have known better.

I feel something on my leg and I look down to see tear stains on my pajama bottoms. I hadn't even realized I had started crying. I sniffle, wiping my nose and grab the stuffed duck that was sitting on my bed. Will had won it for me. I give it a tight hug, a small smile creeps its way onto my face at the memory.

- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

It was the first Saturday of summer vacation and the five of us had gone to the arcade for a much-deserved celebration. We all filed into the arcade, I followed Mike, Dustin, and Lucas as we made our way to Dustin's favorite game Dig Dug, Will and I side by side, buzzing with the excitement of the new summer ahead of us.

There was a brief moment of comfortable silence as we looked around the arcade. We passed by all the familiar games including the infamous claw game. I spare a glance at its contents and notice an adorable bright yellow duck perched in the front of the glass.

I smile and point at the stuffed duck. "Oh! That duck is so cute!" I admired it for a brief moment and catch up with Dustin, assuming Will is still next to me.

( hats off to the folk who understand this reference!! 😎 )

About twenty minutes later I had just beaten Mike's high score on Pac Man. All the boys watched over my shoulder and I couldn't help but cheer out. "Ha! Say, Mike, how does my dust taste?"

"Oh, whatever. You only beat me by," he leans over my shoulder to look at my score. "Holy crap! 1300 points?! Alright, well done." He sighs.

"Hey Will, you owe me 5 bucks!" I turn to my friend only to not see him there. I look around in confusion.

"Wait, guys, where is Will?"

They all shrug.

"I don't know, the last time I saw him he was with you. When we got here." Lucas shrugged.

I look around until I spot the familiar bowl cut by the claw machine. He must have won something since he was leaning down to grab some prize from the machine. I quickly grab my tickets and abandon the machine and meet him by the claw, he made eye contact with me and quickly put his hands behind his back.

"Hey, man. Where have you been? You just missed it. I just annihilated Mike in Pac Man. It was awesome!"

"I, um... Well, I, uh," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he stammered.

I breathed out a soft laugh. "Will, it's fine, you're not on trial or anything."

"Well I noticed you seemed to really like that duck and it seemed easy enough, and um, and so yeah, I played a couple rounds and, well here." His words sort of spilled out of his mouth and he quickly pulled out his hand from behind his back and handed me the cute little stuffed duck from earlier. A huge, beaming smile finds it's way onto my face as I take the duck from him.

"Oh, wow!" I gasped as I took the duck from him. "That's awesome, thank you! I love it! Aww, it's so cute!" I gave the duck a big squeeze and held it under my arm.

"Yeah, uh no problem. So you said you beat Mike's score? That's great! By how much?" He seems more relaxed now that he's changed the subject.

"You'll never believe it, 1300 points!" I said smugly.

"No way! Y/n, that's awesome!" He gave me a big smile.

"I know right? Anyways, come on, let's hit up Space Invaders. We've got more records to beat." I motioned towards the machine, but Will doesn't move. His smile only falters. "What's wrong Byers? Come on, we better hurry before someone else gets to it." I give him a smile, silently urging him to come along.

"Yeah, umm about that... I don't have any money left. I um, I kinda spent it all on the claw." He said sheepishly.

"What?" I stare in disbelief. I can't believe he would do that.

"I'm sorry, I just thought that—" he stammered.

"No, Will, hey! I'm not mad!" I soothe as I reach out and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

"And please, don't be sorry. If anything, I'm sorry. You spent all your money just to get this duck. I know you guys are tight on money right now, and well, I—" I stopped, completely appalled at his actions. "Thank you. That means so much to me. You're amazing." I smile and pull him in for a hug.

The hug lingers for a few moments longer than necessary but not enough to make it too awkward. He was hesitant to let go it seemed. I finally broke the hug and gave him another big grin.

"Come on, I am playing Space Invaders with my favorite person, whether he likes it or not. I've still got a buttload of coins."

"But, you don't have to do that."

"You didn't have to spend all your money getting the duck but you did anyway." I point out. He smiles at this.

"Besides," I continued. "You know me, I'd feel way too guilty if I didn't repay you in some way for the duck. This way, we'll be even. What do you say?" I playfully elbow him.

A big grin breaks out on his face. "Yeah okay, cool. Thanks."

- 𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

I smile fondly as I give the ever so slightly worn duck a squeeze. It quickly became one of my favorite things. A quiet sob escapes my lips as I hug the duck.

"Y/n?" My head shot up to my door to see Dustin poking his head in my room, concern etched on his face.

I sniffle and quickly wipe my nose with the back of my hand as I attempt to stop my sobs.

"Sorry," I mumble, figuring I'd annoyed him.

"Y/n, what's wrong?" Dustin asks worriedly, he takes a seat next to me, not before closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry, I just," I am unable to hold back another sob, I lean into my brother's shoulder. He wraps an arm around my shoulder as he tries to comfort me.

"Seriously, are you okay? What's the matter?"

"I miss him," I wail. I can feel Dustin's body stiffen for a brief moment at the mention of Will. He sighs and runs his hand up and down my shoulder, trying to comfort me.

"I know," his voice sounds hoarse, like he's trying not to cry. "I miss him too."

"What if, he doesn't come back?" I choke on my sobs.

"You shouldn't talk like that. We'll find him. You know him, he's good at hiding. If something did get him, you just know he's hiding. That's why the clever bastard never bites it in our campaigns, even when we do."

I breathe out a soft chuckle at this. Dustin has a point. It seems no matter what kind of trouble he gets into during our campaigns, he always seems to find a way out. It's become a running joke in our party.

My smile falters. "But what if..."

"Y/n, you can't keep doing this to yourself. No more 'what ifs' it's not healthy, and—"

"Well, I can't help it, Dustin!" I snap, cutting him off. "I just... I just can't. You don't understand. You think I like it when my brain won't stop plaguing me with these god awful scenarios that gnaw at me every second? I can't help it, it's so draining! Why do you think it takes so long to come down from my anxiety attacks?"

My eyes are welling up again and my vision has become blurry. All I can do is look down back at the ground.

Dustin only sighs. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."

I sniffle and sigh. "I'm sorry too. It just gets so frustrating not being able to communicate my feelings with people who don't deal with anxiety like I do."

"I just... I just hope he's okay." Hot tears slide down my face as I stare at the wall. I heard a sniffle come from Dustin. We stayed like that for quite some time, longing for our friend.

______________

A//N: I put this in because I think it's important that I share this with you all. I don't ever see any fics with a reader with an anxiety disorder and I thought it was important that I do because as someone who struggles with anxiety and someone who has anxiety attacks all the time, I often feel disconnected from the story, anyway I thought that I should shed some light on the subject as well as let readers with anxiety disorders feel included and represented as well as let you know YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND YOUR DISORDER DOES NOT DEFINE YOU. PLEASE DM ME (A LIVING BREATHING PERSON WITH AN ANXIETY DISORDER) IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO STRUGGLES WITH THIS AND/OR YOU WANT TO ASK QUESTIONS TO LEARN MORE.

#you'll float queue #stranger things #will byers x reader #reader insert #will byers #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #cosmic #cosmic 1 #m!cosmic #el hopper #eleven #y/n henderson #stranger things x reader #stranger things x male reader #will byers x male reader #x male reader #x m!reader #the weirdo on maple street