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lunarosewood23 · 1 year

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28 Days of Love #4: Self

Yotsuyu wonders how Charibert can walk around so proudly with his scars on display.

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Yotsuyu couldn’t help but watch her dearest and stare at how brazen and bold he was with his scars on display. Even when he played the role of a lady, the scar on his face was never hidden, nor was there any makeup that covered the raised holy text if the dress or gloves he wore didn’t cover them.

It was such an alien concept to her. To showcase such ugly, marred flesh for all to see.

“What’s on your mind, my nightbloom?” Charibert asked her one night as they were coming home from a gala.

Yotsuyu shrugged. “An idle musing that further shows how differently we were raised, nothing more. I doubt it will be something I will ever understand.”

“You know I’d be happy to listen to you if you wish to speak it.” He replied as he undid the laces on the corset that gave the dress more shape and changed into something more comfortable.

That made her smile a little. She knew that he was always happy to listen to her, even if it didn’t make sense to her.

Having him in her life was a relief.

“I simply...struggle to understand how you can be so proud of your scars. How you can showcase the marks of your suffering with such ease.” She explained slowly. “In Doma, and more specifically as a courtesan, women who were scarred were considered ugly. Women who had strength in anything more than the simple daintiness a woman should were not as beautiful. It’s why I hated the strength my parents forced upon me as a child when I worked their fields or did a majority of the labor, why I do my damndest to cover what marres my flesh and renders it nothing less than perfect.”

Charibert stood in silence as he listened, taking her hands to hold as she spoke her mind.

“Yet here I am around people who showcase the marks of their suffering, the scars of their pasts and they seem so proud and unashamed of it. And I wish...sometimes...”

“Would you like to know my reasons?” He asked her softly as he gently tilted her chin up to look at him.

She blinked, she wasn’t expecting that. “You don’t have to tell me. It’s likely I’ll never understand it.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not, however a look from the other perspective may offer context, it’s something you can even ask your sisters, or mine or our other friends.” He replied as he sat down and pulled off his sweater, revealing the scars on his chest and the holy text that was burned into his skin. “Please, sit with me?”

Yotsuyu blinked as she sat down with him and was immediately tucked into his side. It always caught her off guard by how warm he was, his aether being so naturally attuned to fire, but it felt so nice as well, as though she was huddled in a warm blanket fort. She started lightly tracing the holy text on his wrist as he pressed a kiss to her hair.

“My scars are tied to both my suffering, but also to the glories I held in battle. Each one has a story, and each mark upon my skin is a sign of my strength and my survival. What tried to kill me and failed. It’s part of life growing up in a city ravaged in war for a milenia.” He explained as he let her continue tracing his scars. “Strength is celebrated and considered a beautiful thing, regardless of who it is.”

His hand gently squeezed her bicep. “Your strength is amazing. And while yes the scars are ugly in appearance, they are still signs that we live, that we survive despite whatever it was tried to kill us.” He soothed as his thumb rubbed the lace of her choker at the back of her neck where he knew she had a scar that only he was allowed to touch.

Yotsuyu sighed. “I knew that my actions, horrible as they were, spoke to my survival, but I never thought that it was the case for my scars as well.”

He chucked and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You speak as though I have not done things equally as horrible, if not worse.”

“You called yours a divine calling, I did not have such faith considering what Garlemald forced upon Doma.”

“All the same. We both rose to a point where we could not be tormented again out of our own need for survival.”

The thought made her smile. “Mm, I guess so. Your perspective makes sense in a way. I doubt I’ll ever be as bold as you or any of the others are, but it does shed some light.”

“And that’s alright. You don’t have to be. At your pace, remember?” He assured her.

“I remember, huǒ hè, I remember.”

#second chances #charibert de leusignac #yotsuyu goe brutus #28 days of love #my writing #Why do these two make me so soft...

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sidekick-hero · 2 months

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(steddie | teen | 2.7k | tags: animal shelter workers Eddie and Chrissy, platonic stobin, background buckingham, Idiots to lovers | @steddielovemonth prompt Love is when you look at his lips for half the conversation because you can’t stop thinking about kissing him by @starryeyedjanai | AO3)

This was all Robin's fault, Steve decided as he sneezed violently, his eyes burning and his throat itching. He was just trying to be a good friend to her, supporting her in whatever crazy ideas she had after her breakup with Vicky. Because that's what friends do, right? Support you in your pain and later help you clean up the inevitable mess when you come to your senses.

So when Robin asked him to drive her to the nearest animal shelter, he didn't hesitate.

Okay, maybe for a minute or so, but he quickly caved when she explained that she was clearly doomed to die alone, so she needed to go all in. Become the crazy lesbian cat lady she was so clearly meant to be.

Hence, the animal shelter to acquire said cat.

Steve expected to drive her there, look at some cats, and drive home because some helpful shelter attendant would explain to Robin that getting a cat was a bigger deal than she thought. He expected Robin to be sad and maudlin for a while, but ultimately glad because Steve loves her, but they both know that not even her potted plants survive more than a month.

What Steve didn't expect was to meet the man of his dreams.

They arrived early in the evening because they both had to work, and the shelter was surprisingly less busy than they had expected for that time of day. The waiting area of the Visitor Center was blissfully empty, which was a relief to Steve, who had been dealing with noisy customers all day and could feel a headache coming on.

Meandering up to the registration desk, they were greeted by a perky and really pretty blonde girl. Her name tag read Chrissy and she greeted them with a dazzling smile that Steve couldn't help but notice was directed more at Robin than at him. Either she immediately recognized which one of them was here to get a new pet, or she was smart enough to notice how amazing Steve's best friend was.

Steve hoped for the latter, which meant that instead of a hairy, clawed monster, Robin might be taking home the number of a pretty girl to help her get over her breakup.

"Hi, my name is Chrissy, how can I help you?" the woman chirped, and Steve had to nudge Robin's shoulder because she kept staring at Chrissy instead of answering.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Robin, this is Steve. We were looking for a cat." Then, realizing how that sounded, she hastily backtracked. "Or not we as in together, because we're not. That would be gross, he's like my brother. He's just helping me find a cat because he's my best friend, totally platonic with a capital 'P'."

Wow, Steve thought, he hadn't seen Robin ramble like that since before she started dating Vicky two years ago.

Fortunately, Chrissy seemed to find Robin's rambling endearing rather than off-putting, as her smile only brightened at Robin's explanation.

"Oh, you two are so cute. I totally get it. My best friend also works here and people always think we're a couple. Which we definitely are not." Chrissy told them before picking up the phone from her desk. "Speaking of which, I'm going to call him and tell him we have some potential pet owners who want to take a look at our cats."

She dialed a number from memory and it only rang twice before someone apparently picked up. Chrissy explained the situation and asked if they could take a tour before ending the call.

"Eddie will be with you in a few minutes. One of our dogs has taken a special liking to him and is demanding some extra belly scratches. Eddie won't admit it, but this dog has him wrapped around her paw." She laughs fondly at the thought. "Anyway, you can sit over there while you wait."

As they waited, Steve couldn't help but notice that Robin kept looking over to where Chrissy was typing on her computer. He leaned over to whisper, "Maybe you won't die alone with a bunch of cats after all."

Before Robin could answer, someone cleared their throat next to them, startling them both. They whipped around in unison to find a young man standing in front of them, and Steve could feel himself staring, but was unable to stop.

Because Jesus Christ, right in front of him was the prettiest guy Steve had ever seen.

Eddie, Steve guessed, had dark, unruly curls that he wore in a messy bun at the back of his neck, with strands framing his face. He was tall, at least as tall as Steve, maybe an inch or two taller, but more on the slender side, with legs that went on for miles and a tiny waist that Steve was dying to get his hands on. Big, dark, doe eyes looked at them with a friendly expression, and full lips curled into an inviting smile.

Steve was a goner from the start.

"Hi there, you must be why Chrissy called me here. I'm Eddie, nice to meet you," he greeted them, extending his hand to shake theirs. His hand was warm and Steve could feel the calluses on his ringed fingers. It conjured up images in his mind of those fingers wrapped around things other than his hand, dangerous thoughts.

"Hi," Steve squeaked, immediately wanting to put his hand over his mouth. It seemed that smooth had gone out to buy cigarettes and Steve had a suspicion that it wouldn't be back anytime soon.

When Eddie looked at him expectantly, it took him an embarrassingly long time to realize why.

"I'm, um, I'm Steve, and this is Robin, my friend. Best friend. Platonic friend."

Yes, smooth was gone, and it had taken his dignity with it. Great.

Next to him, he could see Robin suppressing a laugh at his flailing, the traitor. This was what he got for trying to be a good friend: Mockery.

Eddie looked like he was suppressing laughter too, but on him it just looked endearing.

"Okay, Steve, Robin. Follow me, to the kittens!" Like a man leading them to war, he marched off, clearly expecting them to follow. Looking at each other in silent agreement, they did.

They passed a large fenced area, and Steve could make out kennels at the far end of it. Following Steve's gaze, Eddie explained, "This is where our dogs stay. Most of them are allowed out during the day in the fenced area you see there, but at night they sleep in their crates."

Eddie leads them to a large, plain-looking house. "This is the cat house. We keep them behind glass walls because the little minxes would definitely climb through the bars and disappear. Come on in."

Inside, they were greeted with the distinct smell of several animals in a rather small space, but Steve was pleasantly surprised that the smell wasn't that bad or intense. Next to him, Robin immediately started cooing at the cats playing on the other side of the windowed rooms, which caused Steve and Eddie to share an indulgent smile.

Eddie was great, showing them all the cats and telling them stories about where they had come from as far as he knew, what they were like, what they liked and disliked, and was clearly very fond of his charges.

Robin and Steve were both hanging on Eddie's lips, but for very different reasons. For while Robin soaked up every word Eddie said, Steve soaked up every tiny movement of that pretty, pretty mouth, imagining how it would feel pressed against his. He kept nodding along, humming his agreement here and there, sometimes saying "yeah" or "definitely," as if he could hear any of their conversation instead of dreaming of kissing Eddie senseless.

That's the only explanation he has for why, after maybe thirty minutes of looking at cute cats, Steve and Robin both ended up with cats in their arms while Eddie prepared the adoption papers. At some point, Steve must have agreed to adopt a little fur ball, and now Eddie was all excited and happy, bouncing up and down as he explained that they were hoping to find a home for this set of siblings where they could still see each other. Apparently, Steve and Robin had promised to bring them together to play whenever possible.

"You can't believe how cool this is, we had almost given up hope that they would find someone. Chrissy and I had even discussed doing it ourselves, but Cerberus, my dog, doesn't like cats, and Chrissy didn't want to take two cats at once. But she loves Buttercup, so maybe she can visit her sometime? I know she would love that," Eddie adds with a wink in Steve's direction, and Steve begins to feel lightheaded. "And to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing Buttercup and Tornado again either."

Was Eddie saying what Steve hoped? Robin seemed to think so, because she perked up immediately. "Oh, you two could come over this weekend and see how they are settling in. Since Steve and I are neighbors, it would be easy to visit them both on the same day."

And that's how Steve ended up with a tabby cat in his house and the worst allergic reaction he's had since Joyce brought home a stray cat while Steve was over for dinner and some cat hair got into his food.

When he knocked on Robin's door the next morning, Steve felt terrible, not only because his sinuses were shot to hell and his mucous membranes were rebelling, but because he felt like he was letting Eddie down. He knew he was allergic, but when he realized what he had unwittingly agreed to, he felt so stupid and pathetic that he didn't want to back out and explain why he hadn't said anything before.

"Steve, oh my God, you look awful! What happened?" Robin greeted him as she opened the door with Buttercup curled up in her arms. The cat was purring like crazy and Steve was happy to see that at least one of them was doing well with the whole pet adoption thing.

" I might have forgotten to tell you that I'm allergic to cats?" Steve said in a thick, congested voice. To be fair, he thought it wouldn't be an issue because he was so sure Robin wouldn't go through with adopting a cat. Or that he would.

"You're what? Steve! You just adopted a cat. What did you think was going to happen?"

Fair point. It looked like coming clean was his only real option here. It's not like Robin hadn't done stupid things when she had a crush on a girl, okay?

"I didn't want to adopt a cat! Hell, I never thought you would go through with it either, but I certainly never planned on bringing one home myself. I thought we'd get there, talk to one of the attendants, then go home and sleep on it and you'd realize you didn't really want a cat and we'd never go back."

Robin looked extremely unimpressed with him now, and even Buttercup had stopped purring and was looking at him with one eye half open.

"So what happened to change your mind?"

"Eddie," Steve said in a low voice.

"I beg your pardon?" She had heard him, but she made him say it again.

Steve sighed and repeated in a louder voice, "Eddie happened. I didn't even know what he was talking about because I was distracted by his mouth. I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and I didn't want to disappoint him."

"You're such a Dingus, Dingus." Robin thankfully didn't sound angry or mocking, just exasperated and fond. "So what do we do now?"

"Keep the cat and hope it doesn't kill me?" Steve tried, already knowing that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"Steve."

"Robin."

Putting Buttercup down and grabbing her keys from the small table next to her, Robin stepped forward and closed the door behind her. With a reassuring hand on Steve's shoulder, she said firmly, "Listen, we have to get Tornado back. You look like you're going to keel over any minute."

"But Eddie -"

"Wouldn't want you to die either. He looked at your ass way too much to want you dead."

That made Steve perk up. "He did?"

Smiling indulgently at him, Robin nodded. "He did. So let's get you cleaned up and pick up some allergy meds on the way to the shelter."

That's exactly what they did, and by the time they got there, Steve was feeling a little better. Tornado was in his crate in the back seat, strapped down, and when Robin took him out of the car, Steve's heart broke a little at the sight of him. He really wished it wouldn't literally kill him to have Tornado living with him.

Chrissy greeted them as cheerfully as yesterday, if a little more confused.

"Hey Robin. Steve. What brings you back, is everything okay with Buttercup and Tornado?"

Explaining the situation to Chrissy would have been bad enough, but Eddie had to choose this exact moment to walk by and see them. He walked over to them, greeted Steve with a warm and dimpled smile, and Steve had half a mind to just tell Robin 'never mind' and go back home to his slow death by asphyxiation.

He would have done just that if Robin had not known him too well. When Eddie asked the same thing as Chrissy, she walked over to Eddie and gently placed Tornado's box in his hands. "Steve had a bad allergic reaction to him this morning."

It warmed Steve's heart that Eddie's first reaction was genuine concern. He took a step toward Steve before remembering that he was holding the cause of Steve's condition.

Setting the box on the floor, he closed the distance between them and placed a hand on Steve's arm.

"Oh God, are you okay, Steve?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now, we picked up some meds on the way and they've already kicked in."

Eddie's thumb traced his shoulder under his shirt and he wasn't sure if the lightheaded feeling was a lingering effect of his allergic reaction or just the way he was reacting to Eddie.

"So you didn't know you were allergic?" Eddie asked and Robin snorted beside them.

"Oh, he did," she muttered, and Steve wanted to kill her. The impulse intensified when Eddie raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Um, well, yeah. I kind of knew?" It sounded like a question, and Eddie's eyebrows had completely disappeared beneath his bangs. "I just didn't say anything," Steve added, aware that he was digging a deep, deep grave for his dignity if it ever came back from getting cigarettes with his smoothness.

"But why?" Eddie sounded genuinely confused, and Steve couldn't blame him. Saying it like that made him sound a little crazy.

"I was... distracted and only realized what I had agreed to when it was too late. You were so excited and happy that I couldn't bring myself to tell you that it was all just a small misunderstanding."

Even now Steve couldn't help but stare at Eddie's pretty and very kissable lips as he said this. Maybe he should see a doctor about this.

Or maybe not, because it almost seemed like Eddie was looking right back at Steve's now. "Distracted by what?" he asked, suddenly even closer than before, his eyes still on Steve's mouth. When did this happen?

Licking his lips impulsively, Steve felt a thrill run through his body at the way Eddie's eyes darkened as they followed the movement of his tongue.

"By...you," he admitted softly. "Your lips. They are very distracting."

A dimple winked at him as Eddie smiled at his words. "Are they?"

"Yeah.'"

They were so close now, breathing the same air as they talked, and Steve could feel Eddie's words as much as he heard them.

"Yours too, you know?" Eddie replied and why were they still talking?

Without thinking, Steve closed the last few inches between them and kissed the lips that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He was willing to forgive Eddie, though, because by God the man could kiss, his lips as soft and supple as they looked, and his tongue warm and wet as it skillfully licked into his mouth.

They only broke apart at the sound of two people clearing their throats in unison.

Maybe Steve wouldn't take a cat home after all, but something told him he'd get something better to keep.

#steddie #steddie fanfiction #steddie fluff #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #chrissy cunningham #buckingham #steddielovemonth #day 28 #Love is when you look at his lips for half the conversation because you can’t stop thinking about kissing him #my writing

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