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hqbaby · 2 days

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twelve — i think you do

mess it up — gojo x reader & sukuna x reader

⁀➴ when i told you i’m fine, you were lied to. when the love of your life falls for someone else, you decide to move on—by pretending to date your best friend, the campus fuckboy.

previous — masterlist — next

word count. 2k content. profanity, naoya’s annoying, reader and sukuna suck at feelings

You probably should’ve known the way this day was going to unfold with how it started. How did it start, you ask? Oh, with the most appropriate of things: A broken elevator.

It didn’t help that you also had absolutely no time for this shit. You had woken up late after spending most of the night tossing and turning and thinking, against your will, about the kiss you shared with your best friend just yesterday. The stupid kiss that came out of nowhere, the one you did not expect at all, the one you… actually liked.

But never mind that. You can think about that later. All you know is that the shitty domino effect of events has led you here, running into your class’ lecture hall—the class that you’re not quite sure you’re going to pass—only to sit at the very back, where there’s absolutely no way you’re not going to doze off.

“Oh, look at the odds.”

You turn to look at the guy sitting to your right. Fucking Naoya.

He’s looking at you with a wide smirk on his face and it’s taking everything in you to not just punch it off.

You’ve always hated the guy. Ever since you and Satoru started dating and he introduced you to his housemates. You liked the other boys. Suguru, Yuji, and Yuta. They were all sweet and they were all kind to you, the initially nervous girlfriend, so much so that you all ended up becoming friends. You liked Satoru’s housemates. All of them except Naoya.

You don’t know what it is about him that you hate so much. Is it the snarky remarks? Is it the annoying way he keeps showing up in your classes? Is it the fact that he always had something to say about you and Satoru’s relationship? Is it the—

“I heard about you and Sukuna.”

You glare at him. Fuck Naoya.

“Unlike you, I’m actually here to learn,” you tell him quietly, unlike him and his disregard for the people around you. “So if you would just shut up, that would be great.”

You’re able to catch a few of the professor's words, quickly jotting them down on your tablet, before Naoya is leaning over onto your desk and reaching for a strand of your hair. You grab his hand before he touches it.

He just grins at you, all smug and absolutely shitty. “You’d be prettier if you smiled.”

“I will break your wrist.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

You throw his hand away and shove him off of your desk. “Leave me alone, asshole.”

“You sure do have a thing for bad ideas,” he muses aloud, a few of the people in front of him glancing backwards because he is just talking so loud. “You’d think after Satoru, you’d learn your lesson. Guess athletes really aren’t that smart.”

You swallow the lump in your throat. You know he’s just being himself, his obnoxious, mean self, but some part of you can’t help but believe his words. They’re stupid, you know that, but they manage to get to you.

They always do.

You look at him and purse your lips. “I just wanna get through this class,” you say. “I’ll listen to your bullshit after. Just let me actually pay attention so I don’t flunk out of here.”

His grin grows wider. “Okay,” he says, leaning back in his seat. “Who am I to stand in the way of your education?”

The lecture doesn’t last long enough. You usually find these classes to be too much, too tedious, too endless. But today it ends fast and it ends soon. You’ve barely just started to scribble down as much as you can before the professor ends the class, leaving you to pack your things as quickly as possible before Naoya can hold you to your promises.

You’re too slow and his arm wraps around your shoulder as he leads you out of the classroom, like the two of you are just old friends having an absolute blast.

“I have another class to get to,” you tell him, trying to shove his arm off of you. Much to your dismay, Naoya’s stronger than you are, and once he has his grip on you, he has no intentions of letting go.

“I’ll walk you to class,” he chirps. “I wanna hear more about your life. Mai mentioned you were injured at your last game.”

You sigh. There’s no way you can shake him off now. “A sprain,” you tell him. “I’m heading back to training tomorrow, so it’s all good now.”

“A sprain,” he muses before turning to look at you, all giddy and terrible. “You know, that’s how I found out about Sukuna. Mai mentioned that he was there when you went down, had a staredown with Satoru and all.”

“I bet you tormented that information out of her.”

“What does it matter?” Naoya hums. “Sukuna though. Interesting choice.”

You turn the corner and make a beeline for your classroom, forcing Naoya to drag himself along with you as he laughs.

“If I were your boyfriend, I’d be really offended by the fact that you don’t want to talk about me.”

You scoff, finally freeing yourself from his grasp as you lean on the door to your classroom. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re not my boyfriend then.”

Your (fake) boyfriend in question is sitting in a classroom on the other side of campus. Contrary to popular belief, Sukuna isn’t all always out and about, drinking and fucking random girls. For a good chunk of his life, he actually finds it in himself to go to class and not totally suck at them.

Back in high school, he didn’t care so much about doing well in life. He was perfectly fine just coasting by. He’d wonder why that all stopped—replaced by an overwhelming urge to do something with himself, actually be a useful member of society—but he already knows. Somewhere between that one afternoon when he went up to the rooftop of his high school building and now, he’d found his life intrinsically intertwined with yours.

And he hasn’t found a way out since.

“Where are we studying?” he asks Choso, getting up as the professor bids farewell to the class and reminds them of the paper they have to turn in before finals.

The other boy shrugs. “We can go to Mahito’s.”

“That place is gross.” Sukuna wrinkles his nose. “You wanna check out the library? We can just do it there.”

Choso slings his bag over his shoulder. “Yeah, sure.”

They make their way out of the classroom and into the frenzied hall. Around them, students run over to classes, cry to their friends over a low grade, ask each other where they’re going out to drink later that night. It’s a familiar chaos, this chaos. One that Sukuna didn’t think he’d ever come to terms with before.

“I wanna go home,” he grumbled as you dragged him through the quad.

It was the first week of classes and Sukuna really did want to go home. His packed schedule and unlucky pick of horrifying professors was getting to him, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to call it quits.

He’d tried college. Maybe it just wasn’t for him.

But you just tutted and pulled him along. “I have something to show you.”

Sukuna frowned. “I’ve seen everything there is to see. What is—”

“Look!”

The two of you stopped in front of the pond behind the science building. There was a crowd gathered around the water and, in the darkness of the growing night around you, a steady stream of lanterns began to float onto the surface of the pond.

In a matter of seconds, the whole thing was alight with lanterns.

You grabbed his hand and grinned at him. “Magical, right?”

He found himself staring at you as you happily pointed out a few lanterns shaped like lotuses. You were like a kid discovering life for the first time.

He realized he wouldn’t get sick of the sight any time soon.

“Yeah. Pretty fucking magical.”

“You’re quiet.”

Sukuna snaps out of his daze. “What?”

He doesn’t know how, but he and Choso have already found their way to the library. They’re sitting at a table near that one fan that always conks out. There’s a couple basically making out on the table beside them, a boy with his head face down on the one in front, an empty spot behind them.

Choso furrows his brows. “You good, man?”

I don’t know. Am I?

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sukuna says. He flips through the textbook in front of him and finds that he has no idea what he was supposed to be reading in the first place. “Actually, I think I’m pretty fucked.”

Choso looks at him now with amusement. It isn’t every day that he gets to watch Sukuna be more than a little out of it. Who is he to turn down a free show?

“What’s up?” he asks. “You jerk off a little too much?”

Sukuna scowls. “Fuck you. I’m studying without you.”

Choso laughs, prodding at the guy from across the table. “I’m just kidding,” he says. “What’s the matter though?”

Now, Sukuna’s been trying very hard to not think about your kiss. At first, he managed to brush it off as a little mishap. Maybe something you’ll both awkwardly address the next time you meet before things go back to normal. It’s not something he has to worry himself about.

But here he is.

Worrying.

“You promise not to tell anyone?” he says, and he immediately feels stupid. What is he? A middle schooler with a crush? As if.

But Choso indulges him anyway. “‘Course,” he says. He’s used to people coming up to him with stupid ideas. Granted, “people” usually just means his younger brother who has a buttload of stupid ideas, but he’s gotten pretty good at keeping them to himself. “So, what is it?”

“It’s a girl.”

“It always is.”

Sukuna groans. Why is this so fucking hard?

“I dunno. I just—I kinda kissed her.”

At that, Choso can’t help but snort. He can’t help it. He’s heard all about Sukuna’s conquests, he knows more than he wants to know about the nasty details of these encounters. So it tickles him pink to hear Sukuna worrying about a kiss.

“What’s so funny?” Sukuna demands. He shakes his head and looks away, all flustered and embarrassed. “Y’know what? Never mind. Let’s just study graphs or whatever.”

“It’s not funny,” Choso says, laughing, “it’s just I never expected you to be all worked up because of a kiss. That’s all.”

Your best friend sighs. “It wasn’t just a kiss,” he says. “It was who the kiss was with. We just… have a lot of history.”

“Ah, so it was a kiss with feelings. Now I get it.”

“It wasn’t feelings.” Sukuna makes a face, but he soon reverts back to his uncertainty. “Was it?”

Choso shrugs. “Well, I don’t know the girl and I don’t know your history,” he says simply. “But chances are, the reason why you feel so weird about it is because there are some feelings involved.”

Sukuna leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. He considers the thought for a moment. He considers why he did it in the first place. He considers the way you looked, all confused in front of him. He considers the urge, the pull he felt that just dragged him forward. He considers how he kissed you, and considers how you kissed back.

He considers how soft your lips felt against his. He considers how you touched his shoulders, gripping onto him in that scared and nervous way of yours. He considers how he held you. He considers how sweet you tasted, your lip gloss sticking to his lips even after he pulled away.

“You think I have feelings?”

“Yeah,” Choso says, chuckling as he turns back to his book. “I think you do.”

notes. this chap is pretty tame, just a lil look into the aftermath of the kiss 😌 i think this is gonna be chillest chap for a while though 🫣 there are also a few hints of what’s to come if you squint real hard

#hqbaby.miu #hqbaby #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #gojo #gojo x reader #sukuna #sukuna x reader

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zilabee · 22 hours

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Tony Bramwell, on the Death of Happiness:

- Perhaps it was the world’s press taking them too seriously and asking silly questions about the deeper meaning of their songs and about where the words came from that changed them from being simple songwriters. Songwriting became a “creative art” and was reinvented as being difficult.

- For John and Paul, songs were suddenly something that were “crafted” and then taken off to Abbey Road like a half-finished jigsaw puzzle for George Martin to work his alchemy on. It all became serious and expensive.

- Things changed. The passion went. […] I came to see on a regular basis how the four of them would be slumped in a corner at Abbey Road, with cups of coffee and bits of paper and cigarettes and joints, not doing a thing. George Martin and the new engineer, Geoff Emerick (who had replaced Norman Smith), would be sitting in the control room, or the canteen, bored out of their minds.

- I will always remember the twelve empty boxes [Magic Alex] made for George. They contained nothing and didn’t actually do anything, but George told John that they contained some kind of light ray that could recognize bad vibes. “Really? I’ll have some of those,” said John. “Yeah, me too. In fact, I’ll have two dozen. Put ’em on my bill,” said Ringo who was the most cynical of all the Beatles. Alex produced dozens and in all seriousness, they were lined up in key points around the Beatles’ homes, where, as far as I could tell, they continued to do nothing at all.

- The Beatles were under a lot of pressure at that time to prove themselves in the aftermath of Brian’s death. Consequently, the people who worked for them, or for Apple, were under a lot of pressure not to take the piss out of even the smallest of the Beatles’ bright ideas, including their involvement with the Maharishi, Alexis Mardas, or the Fool. They’re looking at you saying: “Go on. Say it. Say what you’re thinking! I can take it.” And you’re going, “No fucking way. One: you can’t take it. Secondly: I like it here!” To disagree would prove you were not tuned in and turned on.

- Denis left for the ashram, where he discovered that the Beatles were too high up in the clouds, literally, to care about films. George so desperately wanted to believe in this new religion that he called Denis into his hut and made him watch while he sat down cross-legged and levitated. When I asked Denis if he actually saw any space between George’s bottom and the concrete floor, he said evasively, “I’m not sure. George was wearing a robe, and it was very dark in his hut.” Denis was always very diplomatic.

- It seemed to me—and from what they said—that they were very earnest about meditation and Indian music, but found the Maharishi a faintly repulsive figure. They argued about it, but in the end they decided to give him the benefit of the doubt just in case he was some kind of magician

- [on hearing Jumping Jack Flash for the first time on the radio, Paul sends Tony to immediately request the station play it again.] There was a very funny look on Paul’s face as I went off to find the phone. As if, not only was the whole world on his shoulders, but now the Stones were about to hit their stride.

- As the sixties gave way to the seventies, the fun left. It was like a carousel on a merry-go-round slowly grinding to a halt, with the music dying and the lights going dim.

- Klein couldn’t have known that John was sensitive about being slightly dyslexic, but he had guessed correctly that John resented being seen as the junior partner.

- Not only was it hard work drumming up sufficient Krishnas to placate George when he wanted them around, but we were all bored to death at having to go along with the bunch of dropouts who marched up and down, chanting, clanging bells and begging for money.

- Previously, the Beatles had tried to get along; now there were factions. It was like walking on a knife-edge of conspiracies and backbiting. I watched the madness and the slow disintegration of Apple as barriers went up and years of lawsuits and wrangling began. […] People who worked for the Beatles and Apple were supposed to be totally faithful, but it was impossible to be loyal to everybody.

#the beatles #tony bramwell #beatles books #paul mccartney #john lennon #george harrison

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irondad-defensesquad · 2 days

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EDIT: Posted on AO3!

“Hey, buddy,” Tony puts away his Stark Pad. “You okay?”

Peter tries not to melt inside at how parental he sounds.

“Y-Yeah,” the boy replies.

Tony is already pulling the covers so Peter can join. The latter shyly lies down on the free spot, and so Tony tucks him in. Thick blankets as well, much like the ones in Peter's room.

“You missed me?” The man half teases, half asks genuinely.

Peter hesitates and nods. Tony smiles fondly, though part of him wonders if Peter has something else in his mind that he’s not telling his mentor.

“I dunno, some nights I just… can’t sleep alone,” the teen admits. “I feel immature for that.”

“That’s not immature.”

“I mean, I’m not a kid anymore. And it’s not like I can ask to sleep with Aunt May because she’s at work, and the reason I’m alone in the first place–”

He stops right there.

He’s not ready to really talk about this with Tony.

“... it’s… my fault.”

Peter stares at the ceiling, feeling Tony’s sad gaze on him.

“Kid,” the latter calls.

Peter tentatively looks back, fearing he might cry.

“I’m glad you came here. You don’t deserve to be alone, even if you might believe that,” Tony reassures him.

The boy sniffs.

“... Do you ever feel cold… even though you’re warm on the surface?” Peter wonders. “And you realize how empty you really feel?”

That seems to affect Tony on a much deeper level.

“... Yeah.”

Peter can see so much in his eyes.

Tony exhales, wrapping both arms around Peter, somewhat sitting on the bed so he can hug him better. There are no other words spoken. Only their breaths, their heartbeats, and their inner coldness being revealed to each other. Them trying to warm each other up.

That’s not the kind of emptiness that’s ever going away, Peter knows that well.

At least he doesn’t have to focus on it now.

Because Tony is here, holding him.

Tony is like his puzzle piece. When they’re together, they fit perfectly. When they’re together, Peter feels like he has nothing to fear on his own.

And when they fit together, Peter might have to adjust. He’s not entirely used to the feeling. Perhaps Tony isn’t, either. But it’s not that bad.

Peter is just surprised how… gentle Tony Stark is.

You’d never read that anywhere about him. Least of all about a man inside a suit of armor.

Unlike all those tabloids and headlines on the internet… Peter can actually hear Tony’s heart. Feel the way it beats. The way it’s hardened but is now loosening up. Opening up. Only the true ones know who Tony Stark is.

And Peter also knows with the way Tony hugs him, in a solid grip that is not letting go no matter what. Not giving up on Peter. Not letting anything awful happen to either, and least of all to the boy.

Just telling him, it’s okay, you can rest, and you can rely on me.

Peter takes a while but he starts relaxing significantly, wishing he could never leave. Well, that’s too idealistic. But he can pretend otherwise.

Tony might rub his back and his shoulders every now and then, sometimes he runs his fingers through Peter’s hair, or nuzzles his face against it. All the while remaining quiet. Just being here for Peter.

Deep, deep in the latter’s mind… he remembers those cold nights his uncle lent him an oversized coat. And Peter would wear them and smell like Ben.

He remembers his smell. Shampoo, some old cologne. Cigarettes but he didn’t smoke, it was mostly the smell of the city.

Peter is never going to feel that smell again.

Tony’s is coffee, oil, and sometimes sweat. He spends a lot of time working, too.

Completely different smells. Peter might not ever be able to describe them properly, regardless of his enhanced senses.

They’re not the same, but Peter being enveloped in this, getting to absorb it and call it home…

He never thought that would happen again.

It’s a coat trying to protect him from his inner cold. Peter is wearing Tony’s old MIT sweater, but he’s wearing another thicker coat now.

Peter inhales and exhales deeply, snuggling his head against Tony’s chest. He might feel Tony snorting to himself. Probably wanting to say Peter is cute, which always makes the latter embarrassed.

Tony is lying down again, but never completely releasing Peter. Then he turns off the light.

The boy tenses automatically.

“I’m here,” Tony notices. “I’m right here, kiddo. Not going anywhere.”

He can hear his smile even if he can’t see it.

Peter smiles back, slipping into the dark, knowing Tony is guiding him in the endless nothing inside Peter, understanding it, not trying to get rid of it or fix it. Because Tony loves him the way he is.

Peter can say the same for him.

In his dreams, they’re flying together, having fun. Everything is okay.

And everything will be okay, one day.

#god my stuff is so repetitive. but okay #lotus speaks #irondad #fics #my fics #drabble #(it became longer than i intended oops)#anti starker #i nearly cried after finishing this. i have issues. i know jdhdjhjfd

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pluralismajestatis · 11 hours

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( send me a Pride Month prompt or I'm replacing you, the reader, with ChatGPT. )

@bonesandbolts / AO3 link

--------

“Come on, I can’t believe this…” The woman brushed back her dark hair, reaching just underneath her bony shoulders revealed partially from underneath her loose, wide-necked shirt. Its sleeves were crumpled up above her elbows, exposing lengths of pale arm, ending in bony wrists and slender hands, one ring on her left index finger and one on the thumb, then another on the right index finger, with a loose brass bracelet to accompany it.

She was giving her phone's screen a despairing stare.

Tim was glancing at her from underneath his cascade of curly hair covering that side of his face. The other, exposed by the undercut, felt cold under the pub’s aircon.

“Who the hell would pass up on a snack like me…? I thought I had it this time. Goddamnit…”

She clearly didn’t know that she was being heard, or seen, by anyone. Tim might as well have been air to her. No matter; he was good at coming out of the shadows. Even now, the way he slid his body around until his knee was facing her and his lap was revealed from underneath the shadows of the counter, the way he relaxed onto the elbow of his right side - he looked natural, and he knew it. He’d been here a thousand times.

“Ghosted?”

“Oh, yeah. Guess I must have hit up a whole haunted house, this is the third time in - doesn’t matter,” she sighed, finally giving him a look. It seemed to change her mind about something, and Tim enjoyed that. He straightened his spine and cocked a brow.

“No way,” he said with an exaggerated look of surprise on his features. “Damn, they don’t know what they’re missing out on.”

“Yeah, right. A cocktail of sweet summer fun and a gallon of bad memes,” the woman half-laughed, half-grunted. She had a faint blush on her cheeks.

“Does that cocktail have a name? I’m Tim, by the way. Short for Timothy. And you can call me whatever you’d like.”

She examined him, and Tim knew she was trying hard to make up her mind about him. He was putting up a good pose, a relaxed, cocky head tilt, letting the soft bump of his lower belly press up against the loose shirt over his otherwise long frame. His fingers, littered with freckles this time of the year like the clothes of a spray painter were marked with collateral, headed for the sharp bumps of his collarbones. His shirt, between hot pink and a shade of fleshy purple, didn’t quite match the way hers hung over her shoulders, but left little to imagination as it was.

“Alice,” she said hesitantly, grinning, “Tell me, what’s a snack like you doing here all alone?”

“Same as you, looks like,” Tim chuckled and gave it a defeated half-shrug. “I was gonna meet someone but they didn’t turn up, and now I’m washing away the pain with piña colada and regret.”

“So it’s just us, then,” Alice noted.

“Snacks and cocktails with no buyers in sight. Seems like,” Tim confirmed.

“Waste of my money, really,” Alice pointed out. “Since I didn’t come here to pay for my own drinks.”

“Funny, because neither did I.”

“Oh, damnit. I was hoping for a Prince Charming.”

“Sorry, turns out I’m a princess, too. But you should have got that by now, since we’re both stuck in this tower.”

She had a nice laugh - the kind of a bitter, sarcastic laugh that Tim knew he’d enjoy listening over a drunken conversation late at night. It wasn’t late, though; barely seven in the evening. He’d have to put in at least some effort to make it stretch further, for science of course, to see if he’d really enjoy it when he was too far off his mind to worry about tomorrow.

“You know what?” Alice said then, breaking Tim out of his early plans.

“No, you’ll have to tell me first.”

“I think you and I,” she carried on, evidently ignoring his quip, “should get the hell out of here and go somewhere much cheaper.”

“Like where?”

“My place? I’ve got some really good movies I’ve been planning to watch.”

Tim snorted. “Wait, are you calling me in for a Netflix and chill?”

Alice let out a raspberrying sigh. “Nah, mate, I’m calling you in for Netflix and beer. It’s the best I’ve got but it’s already paid for and besides, I’m going to look awfully sad if I get to all of that on my own later when I’m already drunk.”

Tim chuckled. “Sold,” he said, then emptied the rest of his drink without really tasting it. “Two heartbroken princesses and a movie night. Who needs a man anyway?”

“Not me,” Alice confirmed, wiped her hands on a napkin and stood up. “I’m done with dating apps for at least another month.”

#tma fic #tmp fic #tma #tmp #the magnus archives #the magnus protocol #alice dyer #tim stoker #This hasn't even SEEN crazy but they got cosy instead

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sadhours · 1 day

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infected boys - 1

billy hargrove x steve harrington

cw: 18+ minors dni, first person pov, mutual masturbation, pining, drug use

He interrupts me, “I feel bad. I can’t stop thinking about it. You like me, Billy. You have a… you have a crush on me.”

“Alright, King Steve, calm down,” I scoff, not wanting pity from the guy. Either he likes me back or he doesn’t. I live either way. “I read you wrong. It’s no big deal. We can be friends.”

“It’s a big deal! Billy, it’s… do you?” He turns towards me.

“Do I what?” I play stupid. I know what he’s asking.

“Like me,” he breathes, sounds like he can’t believe it.

Billy has a crush on Steve but they’re friends now.

read on ao3

Alright. I’m stoned and maybe the acid is starting to kick in. The Marlboro waves in front of my eyes each time I take a hit but I did accidentally squish the box in the door when I was stumbling in to take a piss so now all the cigarettes are kinda crumpled. The particular one I’m smoking has a slight tear in the paper above the stamp but I’m determined to not let it go to waste, though it ain’t hitting like it should. I feel like a dumbass about it. Susan was filling the dishwasher and the dumb thing is positioned in front of the garage door so when I opened it, cheap particle board wedged into the plastic door of the dishwasher. My boots are a little too heavy for my intoxicated state and I swayed against the garage door, smashing the box of cigarettes when I did so. Susan looked at me with angry eyes and like, scolded me. Like she’s my fucking mom. And the bitch doesn’t do housework often, so I told her I didn’t expect her to be doing the dishes. She said something about how l didn’t need to open the door so forcefully. I had to piss.

That’s all besides the point. The cigarette is moving. Or I think it is. I smack the back of my hand against Steve’s Member’s Only jacket and wiggle my brows, eyes trained on the Marlboro perched between my lips. I mumble around the cigarette, “You seein’ this shit?”

Steve’s voice is all out of sorts. Gooey and gargled, like there’s syrup dripping down his throat. Guys gotta be more fucked up than I am. Sounds like he was miles away when he replies, “Huh?”

“It’s moving. Waving,” I inform him before inhaling, watching as the ash stem lights up and burns through the paper. “See?”

“I— no,” Steve murmurs disappointedly, “I think I got a bum tab.” His fingers scratch at his bony knee, eyes trained on my cigarette and he’s squinting like maybe if he tries hard enough the acid’ll work.

“Could’ve fooled me,” I cackle, “You sound high.”

Steve heaves a sigh and sinks in the chair, “Just stoned.”

I shrug and pull the cigarette from my lips, “Give it a sec. Mines working.”

Tommy’s guy usually comes through but to be honest, I don’t know much about acid. I’ve only taken it a handful of times and never was I anywhere near sober before. It’s certainly in the realm of possibility that Steve did get a bum tab. Once I glance up at Steve, I’m sure my acid has kicked in. His hair is waving too. Like the waves I used to glide through back home. It curls and recedes, calmingly. I’m tempted to run my fingers through it but I’m luckily, not that far gone. Especially after the last time we got high and I woke up in Harrington’s bed, boxers around my ankles and a fat hickey on my pec. We haven’t talked about it. I don’t remember what happened and I’m fucking praying he doesn’t. Hawkins is too small. Word like that’ll spread like wildfire and land on the unaccepting ears of my father. And I had fully anticipated on sticking to women when we moved here, but Harrington is pretty and after I tried to rearrange his face with my fists, he became kind of the only real friend I have here. Tommy’s a friend, I guess. But I don’t tell him whatever I’m thinking and we don’t stay up late, sharing secrets and dreams. Steve’s different. At first, I thought we were like, total opposites. Deep down, we’re both just really fucking lonely.

“Wait,” Steve sits up with his eyes wide, “Your hair is growing.”

I smile smugly, shaking my head to illuminate his hallucination, “Everyday.”

“No,” Steve giggles and that smile makes my stomach churn. I kinda want to punch his face again. “Like I can see it growing.”

“Bum tab, my ass,” I quip and kick his ankle with my boot. As I grab for my can of beer, I remember it’s empty and it’s the last one. “Think you can walk, pretty boy?”

Steve hums, sticks his feet out and kicks them like he’s checking to make sure they still work, “Yeah. It’s doable.”

Now normally I’d drive, but the last time I did while on acid, the lines in the road curved when they really didn’t and Hopper pulled me over with a disgruntled look on his face. But when he insisted he drive me home, I told him Steve’s address. And his face got all contorted and scary but he didn’t say anything. Just drove to Loch Nora, knocked on the door and asked Steve, “He live here?” to which Steve replied, “Tonight he does.”

That’s when I decided I liked Steve. And not just ‘cause I thought he was good looking and he was fun to talk shit at. He cared enough to let me stay, and he combed my hair out with his fingers while I laid my head in his lap and told him what I’d been up to that night. We don’t talk about that either.

“‘Kay,” I stand on wobbly legs and announce, “Minute Mart, here we come.”

Harrington follows me through the open garage and out onto the street. It’s the rare occasion we’re at my place. Steve’s is usually safer, but dad’s been on my ass about being gone all the time and I guess maybe, I’m a little attached to Harrington ‘cause I still wanted to see him. And he never turns down a sleepover. I think he’s lonely.

Cherry Lane is dark at night. Not like in Loch Nora where the street lights only shut off when the sun's out. Again, my boots are too heavy and I know I’m stumbling, so I accept when Harrington grabs my bicep to steady me. Minute Mart is the only place in Hawkins that’s open 24 hours a day and luckily, it’s the closest convenience store to my house. It’s like, usually a fifteen minute walk. But I’m seeing like fifty more slugs on the sidewalk than I normally do. I freeze, pointing at them as they wiggle around.

“Those real?” I ponder, leaning into Harrington’s support.

He frowns and purses his lips, “They are now.”

“You’re a dickhead,” I tell him with fondness and he pushes us forward, exaggeratedly hopping over slugs that may or may not exist. I let him do it, like they’re secretly explosive or something and I step over the ones he does.

When the neon lights come into view, I feel excitement dripping down my throat and my mouth waters at the promise of more cheap beer. Most likely free because Harrington doesn’t often let me pay. Which is fine. ‘Cause the money I have is slim and I’ve been saving it from my summer job at the community pool. Once we’re inside, I make a beeline for the cold beer and Harrington dilly dallies around the plastic wrapped pastries. A true opposite in our personalities. The man loves sugary things. Even keeps a damned candy bar in his glove compartment of the Bimmer. I asked him if he was diabetic when I found it.

Once I’ve successfully obtained the sixer, I meet back up with Steve and his hands are full of snacks. He empties them on the counter and beams at the bored cashier. I slide the cans up beside the sweets that make my stomach queasy just at the sight alone and ask for a pack of Reds.

“It’s pretty late, isn’t it, boys?” the cashier points out as he pokes at the register.

“Maybe it’s early,” Harrington offers as he pulls out his wallet. I cackle but the cashier doesn’t seem amused, counting the bills Steve hands him.

“You owe me a dollar,” the guy insists and I rip my wallet from my pocket, racing Steve to hand him the bill. I win and Harrington grumbles but I feel proud I could contribute something.

The walk back is brutal, it seems longer than the way there but that’s probably because it’s uphill on the way back and now our hands are full. But once the pulsing porch light my dads been bugging me to replace forms into view I’m antsy. We have to sneak back in. And go to my room. The doorknob vibrates as I stare at it. Harrington is the one to twist it open. Walks through the living room without a care in the world and I’m jealous, know I could’ve done the same thing but I just couldn’t. Don’t trust the quiet and the darkness.

He collapses on my bed as I shut the door, sprawls out on it and his polo rises up enough that I can see the trail of curly brown hairs leading down to what I’ve been too chicken to really think about. Now, in the isolation of my room and the weed, booze and acid clouding my judgment, I think about Harrington’s cock. How I’ve seen it soft in the showers at school. And worse, how I’ve potentially seen it hard and don’t remember. The fact that I want to see it, want to touch and taste it.

“We have to be quiet,” I whisper, more to get out of my sinful thoughts than to warn him.

Harrington hums, eyes closed as his hands scratch at his stomach and result in exposing more of his abdomen to me. My stupid, gay thoughts run wild and I imagine getting my lips on that soft, mole speckled skin. I really wish I could turn on my stereo, drown out these thoughts but dads voice in my head helps enough. Faggot, on repeat has me avert my eyes and grabbing a beer. I don’t allow myself to sit on the bed with him, instead I lower to the floor and rest my head on the mattress. My eyes flutter shut without really trying, I’m starting to feel exhausted from the short walk to the Minute Mart. The sound of Harrington’s steady breathing fills my ears and it’s almost like a lullaby, I can feel myself starting to slip away while waves of brown hair flood my closed lids.

I don’t realize I’ve fallen asleep until the sun starts peeking in through the blinds and birds start singing a symphony of early morning alarms. I’m unrested, bones aching everywhere and I wonder if I even slept or if the acid hallucinations just felt like dreams. I look at the alarm clock, it’s 6 am. Dad’s probably already left for work so I figure it’s safe to crawl into bed with Harrington. His skin is warm. I don’t mean to press into him but he’s in the center of the bed, sprawled out like a starfish. I turn on my side so my back is pressed to him. He makes a gargled, sleepy noise and wiggles around. Which gives me more room but now our skin isn’t touching which I’m only a little bit bummed about. God this is stupid. It’s a bad idea being friends with Harrington. But hey, being friends is better than hating each other. He turns.

His arm hooks around my waist and I fall back asleep easily.

—

Harrington has an impressive skin mag collection. It would be creepy, but they’re pristine. Organized chronologically. Playboys, Hustler, Penthouse. He’s got them all. Stacked neatly in a plastic tub hidden in his walk in closet. He showed it to me about a month ago and we haven’t brought it up since. But now we’re sitting in the living room, skunky air permeating from the joint we shared. And weed makes me horny. I think it makes everyone horny. It makes Steve about ten times dumber which I didn’t know was possible but it is, he pants like a dog when he’s stoned. His eyes look thoughtless and I have to call myself a fag so I stop staring at him. Harrington doesn’t notice when I stare at him or if he does, he doesn’t say anything.

“How long you been collecting them nudie mags?” I try to ask casually, hoping Harrington can’t tell from my voice that my stomach and thighs are tight and warm with arousal.

His eyebrows shoot up as his face contorts deep in thought. Mouth pursed as he tilts his head, counting behind his eyes. Up in that empty little head of his. Except Harrington has a huge head. All square. I chew on my cuticle as I look at him, waiting for him to answer. His hazy mind is making it harder for him to remember, I can tell by the way he scrunches his face up before he finally replies, “Got my first one when I was like thirteen? Kinda got obsessed after that. Not even like for the porn part, they’re just pretty.”

“The girls?” I assume and Steve laughs softly before shaking his head. His chestnut hair bounces with the motion. His hair moves a lot.

“The photos. The girls too but they’re just cool. I like the ads a lot,” Steve explains as he reaches for his can of Coke.

I laugh, “Gay.”

Steve rolls his eyes before reaching his hand out and shoving my bicep. I ignore how his touch lights my body up. It’d be pretty fucking embarrassing to pop a stiffy right now, though I could blame the weed. ‘Cause it’s definitely the weed making me feel this way and not because Harrington’s eyes look green with all the red clouding the whites.

“I literally jack off to them, how is that gay?”

“To the ads? That’s super gay, Harrington,” I cackle, leaning back against the couch as I bring my beer to my lips.

Steve groans, “No, dickwad, I jerk off to the girls.”

“You got a favorite?” I ask, eyeing him over the rim of my beer. I’m itching for a cigarette but Mrs. Harrington can somehow tell if someone smoked inside. And what particular model has Steve’s dick hard is more pressing than my need for nicotine.

“Yeah, obviously,” he laughs, though it sounds nervous. Am I making him nervous? And why does the thought of that have my balls tightening?

I smirk at him, “Go get ‘em. Let’s see if your taste in women is as piss poor as your taste in music.”

“You have no respect for the classics,” Steve kicks my ankle as he stands and hops up the steps. I do, but my dad would actually like it if I listened to Sinatra instead of Tank. And that would make me sick if my dad approved of anything I like. It was funny when I asked Harrington what he listened to besides the radio. And he said big band. I almost hacked up a lung laughing and choking on the bottle of whiskey we were sharing. He insisted it was good and put on a Sinatra album super loud. The worst part is he sang along and Christ, Steve can sing. Crooning up to the ceiling and I hated how sexy he sounded.

I hear Steve’s heavy feet down the steps before I can cock my head around to see him. About ten magazines in his arms. He drops them carefully on the coffee table. More than half are Hustlers which makes me chuckle because I know those are the actual filthy ones. It’s not just chicks, you get to see cock in pussy. I don’t own any. I have a pathetic collection of Penthouses. And a tried and true VHS tape stashed where dad or Max won’t find it.

“Alright, Harrington, who is the girl that gets your dick hard, let’s take a look,” I say with a sigh, like he’s burdening me with this stuff and I didn’t ask.

Steve makes a face at me, mock offensive but his long fingers grip a magazine and he then he narrows his eyes at me. “Listen, this is vulnerable and I’m just warning you, I haven’t looked at this spread without getting a boner.”

“Like Pavlov,” I chuckle and nod for him to continue but he looks at me confused.

“Pavlov?” his nose wrinkles, “Is that a model?”

“No, like the scientist,” I explain, thinking that might clear things up but his face still looks puzzled, “Like Pavlov’s dog? Ya know… he conditioned dogs to—“ Steve stares at me blankly so I wave the thought away, “Nevermind, show me this smokeshow.”

Harrington has a goddamn sticky note marking the place of the centerfold. He flips it open and points with his hand, “She’s my favorite.”

It’s a blonde. She has big and bright blue eyes, long and curly black lashes and pretty pink, plush lips. She is hot. I can’t deny Steve’s taste. Funny though, this is a Playboy. It’s the most tame you can get. Steve just finds this girl pretty enough. She’s nude, but she wears knee high black boots. Her bush is thick so you can’t even see her pussy but she has full, round tits and pink nipples. I take a glance at Steve’s face and it’s flushed, just from looking at her.

“Why don’t you hang it up in your room if you like her so much?” I wonder, lowering my arm down over my crotch. My cocks filling out quick. The girl is hot but the fact that Harrington beats his meat to this photo is the real reason my own dick is getting hard.

Steve gasps and laughs, “My parents would kill me. Plus, I’d fucking get hard every time I walked by it. Isn’t she a babe, though?”

“Oh, yeah,” I muse, looking closer at the spread, “Her tits are massive.”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes, “But like her face… she’s pretty.”

I wonder about Steve fucking girls. If his eyes are on their faces. I look at their bodies. So I ask him, “That where you look when you fuck?”

“Faces?” he asks, my eyes catch his palm moving down to press against his crotch.

“Uh huh,” I say and because he’s doing it, I also rub my palm against my cock. It makes my eyes roll back. I didn’t even realize how turned on I was until now.

“Yeah,” Steve breathes out harshly, “I like to watch how they react. Like the pleasure on their face.”

It occurs to me that Steve and I have sex with girls very differently. It’s more about me getting off, I don’t really care if they do. I’m selfish where Steve gets off on his partner's pleasure. I have to grip my cock through my jeans then. Christ. That’s stupid hot. This is bad. But Steve flips the page and the centerfold is exposing herself. Red acrylic nails spread her folds for Harrington and I to see. My eyes scan the other photos and yeah, this is as nasty as it gets.

“Kinda tame,” I note, “What else ya got?”

Steve chews on the inside of his lip as he reaches for a Hustler. Again, there’s little sticky note bookmarks sticking out of the pages. This is his spank bank. And he’s showing it to me, completely unashamed. It’s way different than looking at Tommy’s collection. Tommy’s isn’t taken care of like this. His pages stick together. And Tommy has more tapes than magazines.

“This one’s nice too,” Steve mumbles as he peels open the magazine, it’s a couple. Guy with a huge cock, girl on him. Reverse cowgirl. Holding herself open for the guy. I can’t help but glance at Steve again. His face is so flushed. And for some reason his lips look… bigger. Begging to be bit. But that’s gotta be my dumb, gay imagination. C’mon Billy. Focus on the porn, not the fucking bimbo of a man beside you. Except Steve’s knee knocks mine and fuck. Alright. We’re doing this.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” I mumble as I unbutton my jeans and shove my hand into them, gripping my cock. Steve seems to take that as a cue and does the same, I try my fucking hardest not to stare at him stroking himself under his jeans. I really try.

It shouldn’t be as hot as it is. Steve’s hand moving under his jeans. I’m setting the pace here so I push my jeans down to my calves, lazily palming myself in my underwear. Steve follows suit and I can’t help myself, I gotta ask.

“What would you do? With that blonde,” I mumble out, moving to cup my balls.

Steve inhales sharply and out of the corner of my eye I can see the head of his cock bobbing up and down against his white briefs. Alright. It’s not a problem. I’ve looked at his cock in the showers. I’ve seen it soft. And it was hanging then. From the small glimpse I’ve got now, there's no fucking doubt that Harrington is packin’. There’s heat in those stupid whitey-tighties. I have to look away because if Steve catches me looking this is all over. Eyes on the porno. That cock is huge. Stretches the woman out. Her face says it all, and well, I’ve learned that’s where Steve looks. Alright, Billy. Look at her face. You can do it. Christ, that makes me last longer. Maybe that’s why Steve does it.

“Ah,” a moan, soft and pretty, slips from his lips and I cannot react. Christ, that was hot. He’s vocal right now, he has to be with girls. Fuck, I can’t think about that. I’ll bust. I squeeze the base of my cock and push my underwear down to my thighs. I spit in my hand and return it to my cock, slow strokes up and down.

Steve whimpers as he tugs his underwear down and exposes himself. I glance. I have to. I have to look. He’s huge. Bigger than mine. Bigger than Tommy’s.

“I’d…” he swallows, “I’d eat her out. I— I’m good at that. I been told.”

I’ve heard. There’s rumors about what the hell King Steve meant and I heard more than once it was about his tongue and not his cock. The thought of watching Steve make out with a girls’ pussy has me squeezing my cock.

“Yeah,” I laugh because I can’t help myself, “You like eating pussy, pretty boy?”

“Uh huh,” he moans, stroking his cock faster like my words are fueling his arousal. This is definitely gay but I don’t care. Our knees keep knocking together.

“You ever make a girl cum? With your tongue?” I’m not entirely curious but I can see this is getting Steve going and I’m inclined to push the boundary.

Steve whines, squeezes the head of his cock and I pretend I’m not focused on him in my peripheral. “‘Course, how d’you think I even got that name?”

I laugh because I don’t really know how else to react. I wonder if he’s done this with Tommy. I have and Tommy and I don’t talk during it. Solely pretending to be focused on the porn but I’m not completely new to this shit and Tommy’s adoration drips from him like grease. It’s obvious the dude’s into me and it’d be so easy to pursue. Unlike Steve. In Steve’s head, this is two straight dudes too horny beyond means, hanging out. Casual.

“Are you about to cum?” he asks and well, his strained voice is what got me there but I wasn’t close before that.

“Yeah,” I gasp and then he busts before I do. Lets it shoot everywhere. Neither of us comment when some of Steve’s spunk lands on my thigh but it’s where my vision focuses as I cum, trying to catch it all in my palm as I do so. Steve pulls his pants up and disappears for a moment. Into the kitchen, I think.

Do it, that gay little voice in my head urges and I swipe up the glob of Steve’s cum that landed on my thigh with my clean fingers. Bring it to my lips and lick it off. It’s cooled by now and it’s salty but not all that bitter. My cock twitches sadly against my thigh and my chest and stomach swell with fucking butterflies. I can’t believe I just fucking did that. I try to look natural as Steve returns and hands me a paper towel and then works to clean up the mess he’s made. He’s neat about collecting the magazines and lugs them up to his room. I get up to throw away the soiled paper towel he gave me and then the two of us sit on the couch and watch TV like that didn’t just happen.

—

Steve shows up at the pool one day. It’s weird. But he’s with that lesbian who takes the title of best friend. Even though Steve spends more time with me. I’m not jealous or anything. She’s gay. Not out but I don’t know, I can just smell it on her, I guess. I can confirm it when she’s dreamily staring at a redheaded girl from across the deck. Must be why they’re here because Steve has a fucking pool. I watch as he schmoozes with a handful of people we knew from school. People who talked shit about Steve to me but smile at him like he’s the fucking bee’s knees. And maybe he is.

His eyes meet mine and I smirk, raising my hand to flip him off. Smack my gum to accentuate the tease. Knowing Steve won’t see it like I mean it. Friendly to him, flirtatious at heart. He returns it, both hands lifted up to gesture at me. Then he follows his lesbian friend to a pair of loungers and I patiently wait for him to strip out of his dumb polo.

I’ve got the closing shift and I wonder if Steve’ll hang around until the end of it. Maybe I fantasize a little bit about fooling around in the showers. Maybe I fantasize a lot about Steve. I can do that as long as I don’t act.

Heather’s at my feet, looks up at me incredulously and laughs, “Harrington’s here.”

“Uh huh,” I poke her side with my toe, “Time to make your move.”

“Oh, please,” she rolls her eyes dramatically. “Been there, done that.”

“Yeah? That’s new information,” I scoff, but maintain my smirk to keep it playful.

Heather’s face contorts as she gazes up at me, “Steve’s fucked the entire female population of our graduating class, it’s hardly news that I fell victim to it.”

“Christ, even I have higher standards,” I joke, though it stings. Which is fucking pathetic. He grew up here. Plenty of time to explore his options.

Heather pinches my calf, “Gee, thanks, asswipe.”

“I didn’t mean you,” I kick her softly in retaliation.

Heather is a good friend but she really wants to hook up and doesn’t hide the fact. She’s my type, too. Brown hair with big brown eyes. For some reason, I don’t want to sleep with her. Couldn’t be the boy across the deck. Nah, maybe I just don’t get that vibe from Heather. And I’m gonna ignore the fact that I don’t exactly get that vibe from any of the bitches in this shit hole.

Steve does stay until close but so does Robin. Steve’s her ride. But Steve’s standing at the foot of my lifeguard stand while Robin impatiently waits by the loungers.

“Why don’t you go drop your friend off and we can go do something fun?” I suggest and Steve smirks.

“Yeah? Like what?”

I wanna kick his face because it’s so handsome. I manage not to do so but the urge is still there. I have a couple of suggestions of what fun things we can do but I don’t wanna scare him off so I shrug. “Get drunk. I have tomorrow off.”

“Yeah. Me too,” he says and gazes up at me. “The quarry?”

“I’ll meet you there in an hour,” I tell him.

“Kay,” he smiles before pushing himself off the stand and walking towards Robin. I watch his ass as he walks away. Don’t think Steve’s aware of how big it even is. Kind of unproportionate to his body but it’s… attractive. Like most of him is.

I close up quicker than I should. Skipping stuff I’ll be scolded for later but I’m eager to see Steve again. Always eager to see him and it’s pathetic. I think I need to go on a date to beat down my sexual frustration but I’m worried it’ll be Heather and the whole time I’ll be thinking about how Steve’s been inside her. I think Steve and I are already tunnel buddies as it is.

He’s at the quarry when I get there. He’s on the trunk of the bimmer. Long legs bent at the knee. Changed into jeans and a baggy sweatshirt. He smiles all big when I pull up. Leans back and holds up a fifth of whiskey, shakes it in his hand. We drink too much. We have fun. I like Steve. He’s fun. I don’t get why Tommy hates him so much.

“Hey, pretty boy,” I say as I walk up, sixer in my hand.

We talk about our days, though it was inadvertently spent together. Steve tells me about Robin’s crush. How she’s too scared to talk to the girl I don’t know. But Steve thinks she should just go for it and I get why Robin doesn’t. Because if I took that advice I’d kiss Steve and he’d punch me square in the jaw.

“Truth or dare,” Harrington says before pulling from the bottle of cheap whiskey, grimaces after the shot.

“Truth,” I say ‘cause I don’t trust Steve and I don’t feel like getting up.

Steve hums, leans back against the back windshield of his car and folds his hands over his stomach. He’s deep in thought, I’m pretty sure he had a dare in mind and I’ve muddled it up with going with truth.

“How did you lose your virginity?” he settles on, looking at me with raised brows and smug smirk on his face.

“Huh,” I laugh, shaking my head, “I was thirteen.”

“Jesus Christ!” Steve furrows his brows, looking concerned and maybe he should be.

“She was my babysitter, she was like I don’t know, nineteen maybe?” I continue, “my dad worked a lot. Or drank. I don’t know. He didn’t come home until midnight most nights.”

“Nineteen and thirteen is uh… bad,” Steve mumbles and I ignore the judgment as I continue.

“Anyways, she taught me everything. Started with kissing. Then second base and then third base and uh, one night, we made a home run,” I tell him before sipping my beer.

Steve stares at me slack jawed for a while and it makes my skin crawl so I justify it, “She was a fucking knockout. Huge tits. Fell in love. Then ya know, she started bringing friends around. Before I knew it, I was a fucking Casanova.”

“Wow,” he looks like he’s chewing on it, like he’s not sure what else to say. Things feel weird so I ask him.

“Truth or dare, Harrington?”

“Uh, truth, I guess,” he replies, face pensive but still handsome.

“How’d you lose yours? Wasn’t Nancy, was it?”

Steve laughs, “No, not Nancy. I uh, I was sixteen. It was Heather, actually.”

“No shit!” my eyes widen, shock prevalent on my face, “She literally brought you up today. Didn’t tell me she took your V card, though.”

“I took hers, too,” Steve rolls his eyes, “Summer camp. Awkward. Super awkward.”

“Ya know, Heather said you’ve fucked everyone in our graduating class,” I inform him, knocking my knee into his.

Steve snorts before taking another swig, “That’s an overstatement.”

“I figured as much,” I mumble, turning to look at him. Flushed cheeks. Glassy eyes. I could kiss him but I won’t.

“Like ninety percent of ‘em, before Nancy. I literally haven’t had sex since her. And she and I only had sex twice,” he mumbles, running his palms over his thighs. He looks antsy from this conversation so I pass him a cigarette. Steve takes it hastily, bringing it to his lips and I’m quick to light it with my lighter.

“I fucked Tina at the graduation party but that’s the last time I’ve had sex,” I say and then purse my lips, “Guess we’re tunnel buddies.”

“How did you know I slept with Tina?” Steve snaps his head toward me all indignantly and I cackle.

“You just said ninety percent. Tina’s hot so I figure she’s included,” I explain, lighting up a cigarette for myself.

Steve exhales smoke in my face, then moves to wave the smoke away and I grab his wrist ‘cause he almost smacks me in the face.

“Why are you so obsessed with Nancy if you only hit it twice?”

“I’m not obsessed with Nancy,” he argues.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s more than sex,” Steve mumbles, “I was in love with Nancy. She’s beautiful, first of all and she’s so smart. And like, really strong willed—“

“I’ve heard it all before, dude. I don’t get it but whatever, yeah, you loved her,” I interrupt.

“Haven’t you been in love?”

“I thought we were playing a game,” I divert but Steve’s slick.

“Ok, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you to tell me if you’ve ever been in love?” Steve looks smug as he says it. I roll my eyes but I’m impressed, though I should’ve expected it.

“Diane Smith,” I say, “She was my girlfriend back home.”

“Why’d you break up?” Steve asks, flicks the butt of his cigarette with his thumb.

“Couldn’t wait to see what Hawkins had to offer my cock,” I say in an exaggerated low voice. It makes Steve roll his eyes but he laughs. “I’m a man,” I finish and grab my crotch crudely.

He shoots me a bratty look that almost has me confessing I might be in love with him right now. But instead I continue telling him about Diane, “She’s a babe, Steve. California bred. Gorgeous blonde hair. Bleached from the sun. Big ‘ol lips and bright blue eyes.” I whistle lowly and remember I still have a photo of her in my wallet so I lift my asscheek up and pull out the leather, filing through until I find the photo of Diane. She’s in a bikini, sitting on a towel on the beach and she’s smiling bright and pretty at me.

“That’s her,” I say as I pass it over. I know he can’t see it well under the moonlight but it’s fine. “Can’t do long distance. As much as I wanted.”

“She’s pretty,” Steve says, looking at the photo. My chest feels tight talking about her… thinking about her. So I have to be a dick.

I snatch the photo away and smirk, “Much hotter than Nancy Wheeler, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, shut up. Nancy’s pretty.”

“Indiana girls are livestock compared to California girls,” I quip.

Steve shocks me then. Asks me a weird question.

“You think that’s why Lucas and Dustin fought over Max?”

I grip his stupid sweatshirt and clench it in my fist, bringing his face closer, “The fuck are you saying, Harrington?”

“Woah, cool it! It was just a question,” his eyes are all wide and worried.

“Nah, come to think of it,” I shake him, “You never told me what the fuck was going on that night I rearranged your face. You got a thing for my kid sister, Harrington? ‘Cause I swear to god, I’ll fucking kill you right now.”

“No! No! I— Billy, nothing like that, I swear!” Harrington worriedly babbles, eyes looking so scared.

I let go of his sweater but I’m still wired, looking at him all crazy by the way he scoots away and exhales sharply, “I… I was just babysitting.”

“Swear to me right now, you ain’t some fucking pervert, Harrington.”

“I’m not. Billy, I’m not.”

#billy x steve #harringrove #billy hargrove x steve harrington #steve harrington x billy hargrove #harringrove fanfiction #harringrove fic #billy hargrove #steve harrington #steve x billy

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dream-brutus · 2 days

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Destiny HCs that I think about a lot!

A lot of these are from Discord chats, but I decided to crosspost these here! Enjoy the crumbs!

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

• No warnings for these for the most part, all of these are mostly just fluff but there are some HCs for physical intimacy at the bottom!

If Kai is wearing any sort of hat or head accessories, you best believe Morro is going to pull it down to mess with him

morro has insomnia and sometimes Kai has too much energy to sleep (adhd go nyooom) so they stay up and have sleep-deprived jokes or conversations until they pass out, curled next to each other.

One time Kai had gotten so drunk that he started blabbering about how much he loves his bf.... to his bf. Morro will never let it down and Kai suffers from embarrassment every time it’s brought up.

Morro is severely emotionally constipated so whenever Kai does something nice for him he internally explodes. It literally could be the most minuscule thing like giving him a tiny flower or placing his plate in front of him and Morro would be internally punching the air and thrashing around.

Morro has a big sweet tooth but only for baked goods, they can't stand candy or anything hard/sticky like taffy. Their favorite is lemon meringue but anything with citrus is on the top of their list. Kai, with more cooking prowess from cooking for Nya, indulges him, especially on days when Morro is in a mood.

While Zane is an exceptional cook, making various gourmet levels of food, something about Kai’s cooking strikes a cord within Morro. It sparks so many memories of their youth, the days when he would eat with his father Wu after a long day of training, days of mirth, days of home. Food that might not stand for a 5-star restaurant, but works for comfort and warms the heart like a fire. So whenever Kai cooks for the day, Morro always eats whatever he makes and asks for seconds.

Morro and Kai would have fake arguments, from elaborate soap opera levels of drama (bad acting and all) to 5-minute jokey spats that they try their hardest to be serious about but end up falling apart the more ridiculous it gets. They’re both dramatic assholes and having someone else that can feed into both their theatrics is more than sufficient. Sometimes it’s hard for other people to tell if they’re joking or not but once they notice the small little quirks they make, like how the corner of Morro’s lips slightly twitch up into a smile or how Kai exaggerates his movements, it gets more obvious. It makes for great banter and inside jokes, the most common one is how they’re gonna file a divorce soon (they’re not even married).

Kai suffers from having his clothes taken and never seen again. there have been multiple occasions where Kai has bought a new hoodie/shirt/sweater and had it gone the next week. Morro is the culprit for said thefts. They can’t help themselves really, they like the way they’re baggy on him from the obvious size difference and of course, the smell of Kai that lingers on each article of clothing. The scent of sun-dried linen from the way he does his laundry, the wood spices from his perfume, and a hint of something smokey from a fire is distinctly Kai and hard to confuse it with anything else. It honestly has Morro acting like a fool and getting giddy over it like some schoolgirl which is so not like them.

There’s this additional layer of possessiveness to it as well. Something that subtly says “He’s mine <3” to anyone. And oh lord there is no short supply of possessiveness when it comes to Morro. Although it’s not as bad as before in general, not even in a romantic scene, just in general, it still pops up every once in a while, the clothes being an example of one.

One of Morro’s biggest faults is their jealousy and oh boy does it show. They have gotten better and mediating it to a degree thanks to the help of everyone and resolving grudges but it’s hard to overturn a bad habit that has been festering for years. It seeps out uncontrollably at times, making them act on impulse a lot. In some instances, it’s not bad or catastrophic, just something to laugh at afterward or teasingly chide them for. Like spontaneously kissing Kai, or wrapping a hand around his waist to send a message, but sometimes in other instances, it can get nasty. When that happens both of them need to step back and talk it out before it becomes a problem. What’s important though is that Morro is trying and doing their best to get better at it.

Kai is more physically affection while Morro is more words of affection due to them being so touched starved that they don’t know how to enact things like hugs besides asking, which even then they have several aneurysms because asking for things as asinine as “Can you kiss me?” is SO embarrassing for him and his big ego. So instead they opt to just let Kai take the reigns in terms of anything physical and welcomes it. Kai does know of Morro’s predicament and even though he teases Morro for it from time to time, he understands and doesn’t mind.

Physical intimacy:

The PDA between them is atrocious. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't see them smooching or holding hands. They’re that annoying couple that will make their love known in public.

Speaking of which, if Kai isn't holding Morro in some capacity he will Explode™. No seriously, he gets antsy and fidgety if he’s not holding Morro’s hand or something. He just simply doesn’t know what to do with his hands now! Not when his handsome partner could be holding it instead!

As much as Kai whines about getting his hair messed up, he really does like it when Morro runs their hands through his hair, or anyone in general. Especially when he's lying down snuggling or resting his head in Morro’s lap. It always manages to help relax him and ease some tension that he didn't even realize he had, even going as far as making him sleep. Just something about it, the sensation he feels when Morro combs through it with their fingers, just feels right. Sure his hair might be an uncontrollable mess of strands afterward but he finds it worth it.

In the same vein, Morro, the ever-touch-starved, absolutely loves it when Kai touches his back, especially when it’s skin-to-skin contact. The feeling of Kai’s calloused hands from years and years of working in the forge, hammering away to make blades and carving leather to make hilts, softly and gently ghosting his fingers against Morro’s spine; Being so delicate with them in fear that he might hurt them if he was too rough but it was tender enough that he could feel the love ebb and seep from every touch. And even though Morro was as tough as nails, it was the sheer care and consideration that made Morro’s throat tighten and the obvious love that made their stomach curl into knots.

Morro likes to kiss Kai practically everywhere since the latter enjoys being pampered in kisses even though he will FEVERISHLY deny it. Every single part of Kai’s skin has been kissed at some point by them, but Morro especially loves to kiss his hands, just below the plender gap, and their personal favorite, in the middle of Kai’s throat. The last one always makes Kai's breath stutter and sends a shiver through every bone in his body. It’s a naughty trick that Morro’s learned and considers it their greatest ace.

Kai's favorite place to hug is from the back, wrapping his arms around the smaller’s waist and embracing them and like Morro, Kai also has favorite places to kiss. Leaning down from his hugs, he kisses Morro softly along their neck or the nape and keeps his head buried in the crook, staying there for as long as Morro lets him. Kisses and hugs like that are more frequent if he’s tired (either by just waking up or needing sleep) or mentally strained. Depending on the circumstance it could be an indication that he wants something like snuggles or any sort of physical affection, in which Morro will try his best to comply.

Also just, as a side tangent, Kai picking up Morro like they weigh nothing. Like that one cat image. That’s all.

Despite the differences in their height, Morro is the big spoon! Usually at least. They’ll hold Kai close to them, as close as they physically can, and for Kai, it feels quite nice to be the one being held for once. But for some nights Morro likes to sleep on Kai’s chest because dear lord something about that man’s chest is like touching the divine. Morro would also be lying if they didn’t admit that something about how warm Kai is eases something in their bones too. They both know that nothing will happen to them if they’re in each other's arms and that’s why, no matter who’s the big spoon, they always feel safe.

#ninjago #ninjago kai #ninjago morro #destinyshipping #kai jiang #kai x morro #kai smith #ninjago hc #im so normal guys #i say in my padded room

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