#I’ll also put all the custom tags here | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cutielando · 2 months

Text

love in a bakery ~ mick schumacher

instagram au

synopsis: Mick falls in love with a beautiful young baker and doesn’t shy away from showing her off to his fans.

my masterlist

♡♡♡♡♡

liked by mickschumacher, francisca.cgomes and 103,594 others

yourusername ahhhh!!!! a dream come true!!! my very own bakery, my dream ever since i was a little girl!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

view all 29,184 comments

francisca.cgomes sooooo proud of you babe❤️❤️❤️

yourusername ugh i love you !!😭😭

mickschumacher seeing you in your element has been my favorite thing to see. forever proud of you, liebling❤️

yourusername i love you mickie 🩵

mickschumacher i love you more

user1 YES FINALLY!!!!

user2 half of her sales are gonna be generated by me🫠🫠🫠🫠

user3 i just went there this morning!!!!🤭🤭

user4 OMG HOW WAS IT?????

user3 ugh she's so sweet. her pastries are the best thing i've ever tasted. it was packed even this morning, but she took time to make small talk with every single customer and was overall really nice and thoughtful🫣❤️

user5 was Mick at the opening?

yourusername he was!! albeit very hidden away because he "didn't want to steal the spotlight away from me", but he was there!!🥰

user5 we love a supporting Mick🥹🥹

user6 is it normal to feel jealous of Mick for bagging her?

mickschumacher yes.

user6 BAHAHAHAHA MICK

landonorris where is my package? 😔

yourusername almost finished, slow your horses

landonorris i thought you'd forgotten about me

yourusername you spam mine and Mick's phones every day. i couldn't forget if i wanted to

landonorris 😁😁😁😁

corinna.schumacher so proud of you, dear ❤️

yourusername you’ve been the biggest help, thank you for everything that you’ve done for me ❤️❤️❤️

corinna.schumacher you have a gift, people will be lucky to have a taste of your pastries ❤️

yourusername 😭❤️❤️

mickschumacher added to their story

caption: woken up with a lot of love this morning <3

liked by yourusername, estebanocon and 2,194,582 others

mickschumacher special guest in the paddock with me today ❤️ tagged: yourusername

view all 302,594 comments

yourusername i love you🫶🏻🫶🏻

mickschumacher i love you and your pastries🫶🏻

yourusername is that why you keep me around?

mickschumacher basically

user1 OMG DID SHE BRING PASTRIES TO THE PADDOCK?🫣🫣

user2 I'M DEAD she's so precious😩😩😩😩

landonorris thank you for the package😁😁😁

yourusername i'm glad you liked it

landonorris my trainer might want to have a word with you later😆

yourusername thanks for feeding me to the wolves

mickschumacher don’t worry babe, i’ll protect you

charles_leclerc Y/N should receive an award for baker of the year👏👏

yourusername thank you, charles. did you like the eclairs?

charles_leclerc i did...

yourusername wonderful😋

user3 not y/n making fun of charles' name😭😭

user4 i need to taste her pastires. IT'S A MUST🫠🫠

lilymhe she's an absolute goddess🩵🩵🩵

yourusername you're too kind lils🩵🩵

kellypiquet P is in love with Y/N now🫶🏻

yourusername precious little P🥹🩵

maxverstappen1 you're gonna get all of us fat🫣

yourusername don't blame this on me. i just brought them, i didn't make you eat them

maxverstappen1 but they looked so good...

mickschumacher stop attacking my girlfriend😠

user5 mick's instagram is slowly becoming a fan page for Y/N and i'm here for it😩😩

mickschumacher can you blame me?

user5 absolutely not. completely valid

yourusername i'm just too perfect😋🥰

mclaren we'd like to submit a request to have your pastries at our motorhomes from now on

mecerdesamgf1 so would we

redbullracing same here

astonmartinf1 put us on the list

mickschumacher OKAY WE GET IT

yourusername that's a whole load of pastries to bake

user6 every team on the grid has fallen in love with y/n and her baking

user7 watch y/n dominate the entire paddock from now on

liked by mickschumacher, lilymhe and 392,185 others

yourusername my forever favorite company❤️ (look at my precious pookie angie😭😭❤️❤️❤️) also taking a little break from baking because Mick thinks i'm too involved or something tagged: mickschumacher

view all 85,193 comments

mickschumacher i sometimes think you love Angie more than you love me

yourusername that's because it's true

mickschumacher ......

yourusername love youuuuu

mickschumacher you do bake too much lately

yourusername my demand is high. i'm just that good

mickschumacher ugh

lilymhe you’re so pretty 😭😭😭

yourusername staaaawp you’re gonna make me cry😭❤️❤️

landonorris how are my croissants doing?

yourusername you realize i do have a life, right?

landonorris i do. now, the croissants?

yourusername ….

yourusername almost ready

landonorris 😁😁😁

charles_leclerc we cannot wait to see you at the paddock again, y/n😃

mickschumacher are you using my girlfriend to get sweets?

yourusername be nice, mickie

yourusername charles_leclerc don’t worry, i’ll bring you the eclairs as soon as i get there

charles_leclerc you’re the best☺️☺️☺️

user1 the drivers being obsessed with mick’s girlfriend was not on my bucket list for this year 😅😅

user2 she’s being so sweet to the entire grid 🥺🥺

maxverstappen1 P can’t wait to see you either

yourusername my precious sweetheart 🥺🥺❤️

user3 at this point, everyone loves Y/N more than they love Mick🤣

alex_albon that dog is really cute

mickschumacher she is a beauty, isn’t she?

yourusername do you think your pets would be up for a play date?

alex_albon we can arrange something. as long as you bring some cupcakes 😁😁😁

yourusername deal

user4 they look so cute together 😭😭😭

user5 that dog is their child, nobody can change my mind

lilymhe i miss little angie so much😭😭

yourusername she misses auntie lils as well 😭

alex_albon we have so many pets and you're missing someone else's dog?

lilymhe YOU DON'T GET IT ALEX

yourusername MEN.

mickschumacher you messed with the wrong people Alex

alex_albon 😟😟

liked by yourusername, mickschumacher and 493,185 others

mercedesamgf1 Very big thanks to yourusername for providing us with the best pastries in town!!!❤️ tagged: yourusername

view all 59,184 comments

yourusername always happy to provide for the team❤️❤️

mercedesamgf1 ❤️

mickschumacher this is getting out of hand

yourusername relax mickie, it's my job, you know

mercedesamgf1 yeah mickie, don't interfere with the job

landonorris you made mine with papaya cream

yourusername extra special dose of love and kindness for the team

georgerussell63 MINE WAS SO GOOD

yourusername i’m glad you liked it georgie 😁😁

lewishamilton Roscoe was so happy when he saw the cupcake of himself

yourusername his was made with an extra dose of love 😭😭

mclaren thank you yourusername for the delivery!!! you can mark us down as regular clientele from now on 🥰

yourusername of course you guys 🥰🥰

mickschumacher you people do realize she needs to breathe, right?

mclaren no

redbullracing no

astonmartinf1 no

mercedesamgf1 you have a problem with us?

mickschumacher …no

maxverstappen1 P cried from excitement when we showed her the cupcake with her 😩

yourusername 🥺🥺🥺baby P is my favorite client

mickschumacher didn’t realize i would have to share my girlfriend with the rest of the grid…

mercedesamgf1 make peace with is, Mick. your girlfriend is now our girlfriend

yourusername ☺️☺️i love it when you fight over me

user1 this is actually so sweet of her 😭😭

user2 the fact that she spent so much time making these for them just proves how perfect she is ❤️❤️❤️

user3 how did her and Mick get together?

user4 hahahaha funny story. they actually met in a little bakery in Mick’s hometown, ordered the exact same order and then started talking and here they are almost 3 years later

user3 that is so sweet and so fitting for Mick 😭😭

user5 if Mick doesn’t marry her, i will

user6 mickschumacher can you fight?

mickschumacher for her, yes. bring it

user7 mick willing to fight over Y/N’s pastries 😭😭

comments and re-blogs help us grow!

much appreciated!!

JOIN MY TAG LIST HERE

REQUEST HERE

♡♡♡♡♡

Tag list: @outerudeth @f1ln4dr3cl16mv33 @dardouni @saturnssunflower @moony-artemis @blissfulsunsetstuff @samantha-chicago @nikfigueiredo @therealcap @iloveyou3000morgan @daemyratwst @rqlstefanny @bwormie @hangmandruigandmav @kagome45 @enidsinclairaddamsthesecond @tallrock35 @sesamepancakes @boywondrgrayson @evlkking @evie-119 @ijustwanttoreadlols @cixrosie @poppyflower-22 @hiireadstuff @ellouisa17 @paintedbypoetry @hellowgoodbye @lpab @xlinxdax0704 @decafmickey @teti-menchon0604 @ctrlyomomma @sya-skies @likedbygaslyy @booksandflowrs @acidburnsthings @dhanihamidi @mynameisangeloflife @5starl1ght @teamnovalak @ferrarisfailedstrats @basicuniter @jxnellat

821 notes · View notes

its-time-to-write · 7 months

Note

how about a Jamie x reader fic when they go away to Amsterdam they sit together on bus and they wake up cuddling and then there’s an issue w hotel booking and there’s a one bed trope and they end up waking up cuddled together and then they admit feelings and reader goes to game with a tartt jersey on <3

I’ve been thinking about this forever, and I’m terribly sorry it took so long!! I do enjoy being an adult, but I’m at a point in life where I don’t have much free time and if I do, I use it to sleep😂

I really miss the days when Ted Lasso was still airing and the x reader tags had new content every day. I feel like that one meme of Thanos when he’s like “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” Shoutout to all y’all who are still here and reading my stuff! Love you!!

smile at me

It’s straight-up fucked. It really, really is. But also maybe it’s good, as Keeley pointed out, because not having a boyfriend anymore means you can focus on yourself?

Or something.

Of course he had to break up with you right before leaving for Amsterdam. Hell, he broke up with you because you were leaving for Amsterdam.

“I don’t want you going to another country with a bunch of other guys,” he had said. “It’s them or me.”

“It’s literally my job,” you told him.

Apparently, that didn’t matter.

But what-fucking-ever, you’re at Keeley’s waiting for a car to take you to the airport, and she’s promised to make sure you don’t think about your stupid ex even once.

It’s times like these you wish Ted were still here with a spot-on pun and some dad-type advice. All you ever get from Beard is a weird anecdote and a vaguely threatening look.

Keeley chatters on for the entirety of the ride to the airport, through customs, and all the way to the lounge.

“You’re gonna get loads of great content for the socials, babe. Candids, action shots, behind-the-scenes. Friendlies are fucking amazing!”

Last time Richmond were in Amsterdam, they had lost horribly. They’re hoping to make up for it this time around.

The plane is full of Greyhounds, both footballers and coaches alike, with Rebecca at the very front. Keeley plops done in the seat next to her as Dani waves at you from the middle.

“I saved you a seat!” he calls. You smile as Sam takes your bag to put it in the overhead. “Thanks, Dani. You excited?”

Dani grins. “I think this time I am ready to see a whole field of tulips!”

You laugh as the lads roll their eyes. Jamie leans across the aisle toward you and says, “Oi, what’s the twat doing while you’re away?”

You press your lips into a thin line. “Not a clue.”

He raises an eyebrow and says, “You break up with him?”

“He broke up with me.”

Jamie twists his face into a scoff. “And you wonder why I call him the fucking twat. Prick. Bet it was so he could finally fuck his coworker.”

You shrug. Jamie’s never liked your boyfriend. It’s not like you were together long, only a few months. And sure, he was a little bit of a twat, but sue you. You had a special place in your heart for pricks with a heart of gold, only he didn’t even have a heart at all.

“You should date someone better,” Jamie continues.

You glare at him and retort, “Oh yeah, because it’s just that easy. You got some one in mind?”

Jamie gives you his most angelic look and says, “What about me?” which makes half the plane dissolve into laughter, yourself included.

“Cheers, Jamie,” you say as you wipe your eyes. “I needed that.”

A strange look crosses his face, but it’s quickly replaced by his usual cocky expression. “Anytime, love,” he replies as you turn to start a conversation with Dani.

As much as you’d like that, Jamie would never date you. His joke stings a little but you brush it off. Maybe you’ll find another twat in Amsterdam to distract yourself from the fact that you’re half in love with Jamie Tartt.

—

“I’m sorry, we don’t have a booking under you name,” the hotel concierge says.

You tap your nails to your wrist. “Are you positive? I’m with AFC Richmond, they should’ve had one.”

The concierge taps on his computer for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I’m afraid we don’t have anything. And all of our rooms are booked this weekend. Might I recommend the hotel down the road?”

Damn it. There’s no way this is happening. Everyone else has gotten to their rooms without a hitch and here you are, alone in the lobby as you pull out your phone to call Keeley. There’s no way this is fucking happening.

“Everything alright?” asks a voice behind you, and you jump.

“They don’t have a room for me, and they’re fully booked,” you explain.

Jamie looks at the concierge, who shrugs apologetically, then back to you. He asks, “Why don’t you share with me?” and you frown.

“I thought you were rooming with Declan,” you say.

Jamie lifts a shoulder. “Yeah, but he switched with Richard because O’Brien fucking snores and he don’t give a shit.”

You say, “So you’re with Richard, then,” and he shakes his head.

“Nah, Richard’s with Jan.”

“I thought Dani was with Jan,” you say. These fucking footballers. What’s the point in having set rooms if they’re just going to switch it all up.

“Dani is with Jan,” Jamie says patiently, as if this all the most obvious thing in the world. “But Dani’s a cuddler, so he’s probably going to fucking end up with, I don’t know, Isaac or someone. Which means I get a room all to meself.”

“Right,” you say slowly. “Alright, I can do that. As long as you don’t mind.”

Jamie winks. “Sharing a room with a pretty girl for four days? Ain’t a problem, love.”

You laugh and follow him to the elevator.

—

It feels a bit like playing with fire, agreeing to room with Jamie. Especially since you’re freshly single and definitely open to a rebound. But there will be two beds and a lot of space and anyway, you’ll be busy with the match and social media, respectively.

Except as soon as you walk through the door, you realize there’s a tiny little hitch.

“There’s one bed,” you blurt out, so surprised you’re unable to filter your words. Jamie blushes a little bit as he says, “Yeah, um, Cockburn and I hate sleeping alone, so we asked for one. He grew up sharing a bed with his brothers and I just fucking hate being alone. I can sleep on the couch if you want.”

“No,” you say firmly, “you need good rest. It’s not a problem.”

It’s not a problem.

Or at least it wouldn’t have been if Isaac had been a shittier captain.

But as it is he’s great, so he’s got the whole team going out to dinner at a pre-determined location complete with a dress code of no t-shirts and apparently you count as part of the team, so you have to go too. You’re in your massive bathroom trying to curl your disgusting travel hair when Jamie walks in wearing one of those white hotel bathrobes.

He asks, “You mind if I’m in here?” so you shake your head, struck temporarily mute by his bare clavicle. Fucking hell, you feel like a repressed Victorian woman.

Jamie says, “Mint,” and goes about his alarmingly detailed skincare routine. You’re pretty sure you’re done with your hair so you crane your neck in an attempt to check the back.

“Missed a spot,” Jamie says. “Want me to get it for you?”

You shoot him a dubious look but hand him the curler. He runs a hand through your hair, picking up the offending strand and it’s all you can do not to shiver.

“Mum taught me,” he explains and you nod ever so slightly, not wanting him to accidentally burn your neck. Jamie says, “All good,” and runs his whole hand through your hair this time, making the curls bounce.

You choke out, “Thanks,” and hurriedly put away your things, desperate to leave before Jamie can pick up on the fact that you can barely handle being in the same room as him, and that you have great concerns about what the night will bring.

��

“You look fucking hot,” is the first thing Rebecca says when you meet her in the lobby. Keeley looks mildly offended that Rebecca took the words out of her mouth, but she just laughs and taps your arm.

“Gonna break a few hearts tonight, yeah?” she grins.

You’re not sure about that, especially since dinner turns out to be a very domestic affair. It’s loud, sure, but it’s definitely toned down since it’s a pre-match celebration instead of a post-match one. You’re with Sam, Keeley, and Roy with Jamie far, far away. You push all thoughts of him from your brain only for memories of your ex to surface. You frown.

“The fuck’s wrong with you?” Roy says and for a moment, you think he’s talking to you. But he’s actually talking to Jamie who has moved from his place across the restaurant to right behind your chair.

“Fuck off grandad,” Jamie says good-naturedly. “Wanted to tell this one that some of the lads are going out dancing after this. Not too late,” he hastily adds at Roy’s burning scowl, “just for two hours and we’re only allowed one drink.”

You’re pretty sure that’s a bit more liberal than Roy likes, but he nods his head slightly so he must be in a good mood.

“So, you coming?” Jamie asks and before you can reply Sam and Keeley chorus, “Yes she is.”

You give Keeley a Look before turning back to Jamie. “Guess I am,” you reply.

The smile Jamie gives you does more to make your head spin than any amount of alcohol you’ve had in your lifetime.

—

Jamie has taken it upon himself to wipe that frown off your face. He might have been watching you over dinner and that might have been why he chose that exact moment to invite you out, but he’ll never fucking admit it to anyone except Sam. And Keeley. And maybe Cockburn when it was the off-season and they were a little tipsy. (But not drunk, never drunk.)

So yeah, sue him if he’s spinning you around on the crowded dance floor just because it makes you laugh. It’s not his fault that he’s been wildly in love with you since the day Higgins hired you. It’s not his fault that you’re easy to be around and have the most beautiful smile he’s seen in his life.

And fuck, it certainly isn’t his fault you can’t see in yourself what others do. Why you settled for a piece of shit like your ex, he’ll never know. But he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do his best to show you how special you are. He knows you’ll never feel the same about him, but maybe he can help you level up your standards. Maybe if you’re with someone good, it’ll hurt less that it’s not him.

So he lets you hold his hand for the entirety of the two hours that the team is out and doesn’t say a word when you don’t let go in the cab back to the hotel.

You’ve gotten that closed-off look in your eyes again, the one that means you’re thinking about your ex, so Jamie knocks his shoulder into yours and asks why he can’t have the password to the team’s Instagram account, which is a sure fire way to get you to lecture him on irresponsibility and aesthetics and the best way to get your eyes to come back to life.

—

Honestly, it’s easier to fall asleep than you might have expected. It’s a big bed and you’re fucking tired.

You just didn’t expect to wake up in the middle of the night crying, but it’s always fucking like this when you go through a breakup. You go to sleep fine and wake up sad, so you do your best not to wake up Jamie except you’ve both ended up entangled in each other’s arms, so he can feel you shaking.

“Hey,” Jamie says in a soft voice, “You’re okay, love.”

You half expect him to push you away once he realizes you’re so close, but he only pulls you closer and presses a kiss to your forehead. Maybe it’s because you’re both half-asleep, but it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

You sigh and settle into him, drifting off in a matter of moments.

—

You wake up to a pair of blue eyes watching you.

“How you feeling?” Jamie asks, voice gravelly with sleep.

You just blink at him. It’s hard to form coherent sentences within the first ten seconds of waking up, and even harder with the memory of Jamie’s arms around you last night.

Wait. Not just the memory. The present reality because neither of you have moved.

Jamie misinterprets your silence and begins to extricate his arms.

“Sorry,” he says, “I’m not to trying to like, cross and fucking boundary or something. Should’ve left you alone.”

You’re still not awake enough to talk so you grab him to stop him from moving away. He gives you a questioning look so you say, “I wouldn’t have agreed to share a bed if I thought you were a creep.”

Jamie grins. “So like, if Jan had offered to share a room you’d’ve said no.”

You wrinkle your nose as you say, “Jan’s not a creep.”

“He’s the fucking worst,” Jamie grumbles, “And anyway, can we not talk about Jan fucking Maas this early in the morning?”

“Sure,” you say, “let’s talk about something else.”

Despite your comment, you both lapse into silence. You’re enraptured by Jamie’s blue eyes. You’ve never been able to study them this close before, and you want to take this opportunity to memorize every fleck of green.

Jamie seems to have a similar thought, except his gaze flicks to your lips.

“I have morning breath,” you tell him and he says, “Real men don’t give a shit, babe,” before leaning forward.

It’s softer than you’d expected, sweeter.

It’s also strange to think that you’re making out with Jamie in bed, and that he’s the one who initiated it.

The thought is so absurd that you giggle, mid-kiss. Jamie breaks away and says, “Oi, there’s no way that was a shit kiss.”

“No,” you say between giggles, “it’s just weird that we’re doing this. Like, how are we supposed to look each other in the eye after?”

Jamie moves so he can look at you better, and you roll from your side to your back. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Oh come on, we share a room and a bed, we kiss because I have all these sad feelings and you’re feeling a lot of emotions about the match, and then we have to work together after. It’s silly.”

Jamie cocks his head. “That’s what you think is happening?”

“Yes?” you say. None of this is going how it’s supposed to. “What do you think is happening?”

“I like you,” he says, and there is absolutely no mistaking his meaning.

“Oh,” you reply in a small voice. “Since when?”

“Since before you started dating the twat. When Higgins introduced ya to the team.”

“That’s a fucking long time ago!” you exclaim. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

Jamie rubs his face. “Yeah, ‘cept you showed up to work tellin’ everyone how you started dating the twat. And I ain’t a home wrecker.”

You groan. “Fuuuck. I literally only dated him to try to get over you.”

Jamie shoots up. “What?!”

“Yeah,” you say, “I’ve been like a little bit in love with you ever since you winked at me during that first promo I did.”

Jamie blows out a breath. “Okay. Think that’s enough talking. C’mere. We’re making out proper, like, then we’re going to breakfast.”

You grin as you climb onto his lap.

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt #ted lasso

422 notes · View notes

zhongrin · 5 months

Text

𒆙 the god of commerce

part 3/8 of ⎡∞ / 𝟔 𝟎 𝟎 𝟎 ⁺⎦, a zhongli 2023 birthday event

𖧷 tags ┈ gn!reader, crack, fluff, a sprinkle of angst, this time you’re both a humanboss and a humanfailure (tf is a gn term for girlboss and girlfailure help)

𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓊 ❬ masterlist ❭ 𐫱 𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 ❬ taglist ❭

𝑜mbré dark brown fading to gold was rex lapis’ most favored hair color, and most shop owners would use this fact on top of their god’s bright amber eyes to describe him on his ‘past visitations’, in an effort to try and pull customers into their establishments. having the god of commerce’s approval was a most effective marketing strategy, after all; who would doubt their beloved deity’s judgment when he was the one who had the idea to build a city by the harbor which was steadily getting more and more prosperous with each lunar moon that passed?

and for such a small restaurant owner such as yourself, the decision to put a little slogan next to your shop’s humble sign - claiming how rex lapis couldn’t get enough of your signature dish - was a no-brainer move. it brought in curious customers, and your little shop was located in a not-so-strategic location anyway, so what were the chances of an incognito rex lapis stumbling upon your slightly skewed business ethics, right?

riiiight.

you felt a lump of nervousness in your throat as this particular customer stared down at you with his amber eyes with gold and the slightest red lining his pupils — you sure hoped that was a natural color and not indicative of his anger.

“so you’re the shop’s owner?”

“yessir. i mean god. i mean. um.”

how do you politely address a god to their face? you had no idea. you weren’t educated enough to know and you never thought you had any reason to need to know.

thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind your lack of reverence. instead, his lips seemed to curl upwards.

huh. maybe he didn’t notice my little lie and was just here for a good meal?

“and you started this business, yes? your shop’s name does not ring any bells.”

“well… yeah, uh… my dad was a peddler and mum was a greengrocer, so. yep.”

“ah, i see, i see,” his voice was deep and calming, and you were about to gesture towards the wooden menu to allow him to choose a dish when his next words made you feel like you’d been hit with a petrifying spell — just like the ones the storytellers on the streets would narrate, “then pray tell, do remind me at which point after your establishment’s founding, have i ever said that i was… in your own words - ‘infatuated’, by your so-called signature dish? you see, if my memory serves, it has yet graced my tastebuds.”

fuck.

“ahaha… w-well…… you see…… about that…….,” you coughed and averted your eyes guiltily, trying to rack your brain on how to escape the divine punishment you were sure about to receive, and the effort came out in a jumble of words, “…. look, mister- uh- god. i gotta be able to feed myself somehow and i didn’t think it would hurt anyone but okay fine sorry i was so so wrong but if i let you dine for free will you consider not flattening me and my poor shop with your stone pillars? please? oh great archon?”

rex lapis’s fingers snapped open his folding fan, and for a moment you swore you saw a flash of a smile before the intricately drawn paper covered the lower half of his face. you also swore you saw mirth dancing beneath the elegant lines of his raised eyebrows and the way the corners of his eyes formed a gentle crinkle. this observation, though it might have been the works of your distressed imagination, made you dust your deflated courage off the ground.

“h-how about this,” you proposed, gesturing towards the kitchen, “give me a chance to make the slogan a reality. i promise you i’ll serve one of the best dishes you’ve ever eaten!”

“…. very well,” the immortal chuckled, “your determination and resilience is admirable. a chance is something i am willing to give.”

oh, blessed be rex lapis.

a few minutes of mental breakdown in the kitchen and a series of anxiety-filled food preparations later, you returned to his table with a tray full of side dishes and the main course, steaming hot and still bubbling inside the heated clay pot. you had no money to serve him his favored osmanthus wine, but you do have freshly dried osmanthus flowers, so as he observed the feast, you poured him a fresh brew and placed it right beside the little ornamental vase housing a single yellow hibiscus. you would have silently prayed to your god in the hope that the food was to your guest’s taste, but seeing as how the very same holy being was also the source of your anxiety, it seemed akin to washing coal.

the god of wealth gently picked up the wooden spoon and dipped it into the hot broth, before his lips closed around the utensil.

…..

a thoughtful hum rose from the back of his throat.

you half expected him to turn up his nose in disgust, but you were surprised to see how he repeated the action, as if trying to savor the taste with utmost diligence. it was only when he had properly sampled each of the ingredients inside the soup, he finally lifted his gaze to meet your gaze across the table.

“what a complex, rich flavor,” was his comment, “what is your secret?”

flabbergasted, you nearly spilled your entire cooking process and the detailed recipe like a sinner confessing their transgressions in order to beg for forgiveness - but you managed to refrain yourself at the last second. you did, however, let the rush of dopamine take over the forefront of your mind.

a proud smile not unlike a freshly bloomed glaze lily lit up your expression, “sorry, but i’m not selling my trade secrets! not even to rex lapis himself, hehe! uh- well, maybe if i die with no children or if i don’t have anyone who wants to continue the business, i might tell you- but! for now, it’s a secret!”

“ah, the farseeing mind of a businessman,” he nodded, “fair enough. i suppose it means i have to frequent your shop if i ever crave such delicacy.”

“ha! told you you’d get addicted!” you grinned cheekily, watching him elegantly continue to enjoy the cuisine, “… should i pack one up for you to take back home- palace- uh, wherever your godly abode is? as a birthday present?”

morax felt his temporary mortal vessel heat up, warmer than the indulgent food within his stomach, warmer than the sunny radiance of your smile.

“you need not try so hard, i never had the intention of ‘flattening’ you and your shop for a fairly harmless attempt at dishonest advertising. however, i must implore you to not take such risks moving forward.”

“…. alright, alright, sorry……,” you scratched your cheek sheepishly, “but i’m glad the great rex lapis actually liked my cooking! if you ever decide to stop by again, i’ll feed you other things,” you flashed him a cheerful grin, and unbeknownst to you, the geo archon felt his chest quake.

quickly shaking himself out of his stupor, your patron nodded in approval.

he did eventually learn the secret recipe of your infamous slow-cooked bamboo shoots soup. the handwritten recipe card was tucked neatly within the letter your apprentice-turned-next-owner had given him after your passing. inside it, you had penned down both an abstract yet also tangible step-by-step instructions; quality and care, time and patience, meticulousness and attentiveness.…

yet none of your successors, not even the ones who turned it into a pavillion and the leading beacon of one of the distinct cooking styles that represented liyue, could recreate the same taste of the very dish you cooked for him that day.

…. ah. but of course.

it was only natural, seeing as how he could not see your smile across the table as he ate anymore.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #zhongli #zhongli x reader #rin writes #∞ / 𝟔 𝟎 𝟎 𝟎 ⁺

334 notes · View notes

sailorkamino · 2 years

Text

Chaotic

chaos in us masterlist | moodboard

relationships: steven grant x avenger!witch!reader, future marc spector x reader, jake lockley x reader [gender neutral]

word count: 2.3k

summary: When you move to London you aren't expecting to fall in love. You also aren't expecting an Egyptian god who kind of sounds like Darth Vader to crash your date but that's just your life apparently.

warnings: reader assaults khonshu with bread, enemies to friends w/ khonshu, big bird is kinda rude to steven but u put him in place

a/n: reader uses chaos magic and is also psychic, f/c = favorite color, steven/marc/jake are moon knight but lets pretends the whole harrow/armpit drama hasn't happened yet, thanos never happened bc i said so

Before you even met Steven, you felt him.

That sounds odd but your abilities make you constantly aware of others, which can be a lot. Especially in such a bustling city like London. Of course you didn’t read his mind or anything. It’s a common misconception that telepaths just love to read minds but that’s not true. You only use it on enemies for information, if you just went around listening to people's inner thoughts you’d probably drive yourself mad. People are weird.

All that being said, you decided to go to the London museum, thinking it would be quiet and relaxing. A nice little escape. You didn’t think how overwhelming it would be to be surrounded by history, invading your senses with centuries of stories. Mostly fucked up stories because colonialism. After years of studying magic your mind is like a fortress, but that didn’t stop the artifacts from banging on your mental door. You’re incredibly grateful that you’re able to control your visions now. You do not want to see all this shit first hand.

You manage to stumble into the gift shop, one hand rubbing your temple in an attempt to ward off the coming headache. You sense some kind of power, something looming and ancient. You wonder if it’s from the Egyptian wing you just walked through but this feels more… recent. It’s an odd sensation that isn’t helping your overwhelmed mind at all.

“Are you alright?” A gentle voice acts. Apparently you aren’t doing great at hiding your discomfort. You look up to meet the deepest brown eyes you’ve ever seen, framed with dark eye bags. He's absolutely beautiful. Like a sleep deprived male model. Before you can answer you find yourself stumbling, dots swimming in your vision. He quickly leaves the counter to grasp your arm with large, gentle hands.

His touch burns through your designer coat (a parting gift from Tony Stark) but not in a bad way. His energy is unique. Divided but whole. Chaotic but reassuring. “I’m fine, just a dizzy spell.” You mumble, trying not to lean into his body. Would it be manipulative if you pretended to faint so he would catch you? No, you’re better than that. Barely.

“You sure? Maybe you should sit down. I could get you a drink, or a snack.”

You should tell him that you’re fine but for some reason, you can’t bring yourself to pull away. He’s just so genuine. And look at that hair... would it be weird to touch it? You suppress the urge, managing a polite response, “that sounds nice, but I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble. I think I just need some fresh air.”

“Don’t worry, my boss is always telling me to be more helpful with customers. Lets get you outside, yeah?”

You grin, lidded eyes flicking to his name tag, “thank you, Steven. That’s very kind of you.”

He flashes the sweetest smile you’ve ever witnessed, making you even more light headed. He keeps his grasp on your arm as he leads you to the exit. You can already feel your mind clearing thanks to the distance between you and the artifacts. Once you’re safely leaning against the wall Steven speaks up, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere."

You can't help but dopily grin as he speed walks away. Within a minute he’s back by your side. He presents you a bag of scarab gummies, “here you are.” He pauses for a moment before adding, "I don’t know why we sell these, they weren’t eating stuff like that in Ancient Egypt, were they?

“Thank you.” You smile, finding his rambling adorable. You try not to react when you take the candy from him and his calloused fingers brush your own. “I’m also realizing I never introduced myself, I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N. That’s a pretty name.”

Before you can stop yourself you mutter under your breath, “you’re prettier.” You watch in horror as he tenses up, ears burning red. “I-I think you’re pretty too. Beautiful, more like it,” he fumbles. Suddenly the gummies are out of your hand. You look down to see them floating above your palms, surrounded by a F/C glow. You quickly snatch them from mid air. Luckily Steven is too busy staring at his shoes in embarrassment to notice.

You clear your throat nervously, catching his attention. “So, do you like working here?” Really? That’s the best you could come up with. You mentally facepalm as he nods like a rather adorable bobblehead. “Oh yeah, I love history. It would be nice to be a tour guide though. Maybe one day, right?”

You hum in response, shoving some sweets in your mouth before you can ask any other dumb questions. “Do you, um, like your job?” He asks politely.

You pause. So he really doesn’t recgonize you. Not that you consider yourself famous but ever since you joined the Avengers on a few missions you found yourself thrust in the public eye. You meet a lot of fans but people also tend to be… wary of you. Apparently being one of the most powerful magic users on Earth makes them uneasy.

“I work… in security.” That’s technically not a lie. “It can be stressful but I get to travel a lot so that’s fun.”

“Have you ever been to Egypt?”

The childlike excitement in his voice is absolutely adorable. “A few times, yeah. What about you?”

“No, I wish. I’d love to go someday.” He sighs wistfully. “Enough about me though, are you feeling any better.”

His concern makes your heart flutter. “Much.” You grin, shuffling your bag on your shoulder to look for your wallet. “How much were the gummies?”

“They were only a few pounds, don’t worry about it.”

Thoughtful, gorgeous, and polite? You’re convinced Steven was written by a woman. You bite your lip in a way you hope looks flirty. “Well I need to pay you back somehow. What about lunch?”

He freezes, looking at you incredulously. “Are you… asking me out?” Any confidence you had starts to shatter. “I’m trying,” you mumble embarrassed. He shakes his head vehmently, “no, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just surprised! I mean, you’re so beautiful!”

You smile so big your cheeks hurt. “I think you’re beautiful too, Steven.”

His tan cheeks flame. “Thank you.”

“Can I have your number?”

He nods enthusiastically. You pull out your phone and type in his digits as he tells them to you. “I left my phone in the gift shop but I’ll text you as soon I get inside,” he promises, rocking on the balls of his feet. You grin as you send him a message.

“Stevie!”

A loud, feminine voice makes you both flinch. An aggravated woman pokes her head out the door, popping her chewing gum far too loudly for your liking. “What are you doing out- wait. Are you Y/N L/N?”

Steven looks at you in confusion as you nod with a charming smile. You can tell that she’s Steven’s superior and decide to help him out. “I am. What’s your name, hon?”

“Donna! I’m a big fan. It was so mental when you closed that portal to hell in New Jersey!”

Steven’s eyes become impossibly wider. “Yeah, that was a difficult one.” You reminisce fondly. “Would you like a picture?”

She nods excitedly, pulling out her phone. You take a selfie, trying not to chuckle at her excited gasp when you sling an arm around here. You try to ignore Steven’s bewildered gaze. Hopefully what you’re about to do will make up for your little fib.

“You know Steven here has been very helpful,” you muse after she clicks the photo. She looks at you surprised. You can already tell she doesn’t particularly like the man (which is quite bewildering to you, how is it possible to dislike Steven?)

"Really?”

You nod with an affirmative hum. “I bet he’s your best tour guide, isn’t he?”

“Oh, he actually works in the giftshop.”

You feign shock. “Really? I was hoping he could give me a private tour sometime,” you pout sadly. Donna hurries to comfort you, “oh, he can do that! I’ve been meaning to promote him anways!”

“That’s great!” You grin, turning your attention back to a very confused brunet. “I’ve gotta go but I’ll be looking forward to seeing you, Steven,” you purr, lightly squeezing his (suprisingly muscular) bicep. He nods dumbly watching you walk down the steps.

“Oi, what were you doing with a bloody superhero?” Donna asks him incredulously, the jealousy clear in her voice.

“Planning a date.” He breathes out softly, still wondering if the interaction was just a dream.

____

It’s the day of your date and Steven is ecsatic. Marc and Jake are not. They agree you’re beautiful but are very against the idea of going out with an Avenger, saying it will get in the way of their ‘business’ with Khonshu. But Steven is tired of letting that bloody pigeon influence his life so he ignores all of them, puts on his favorite jumper, and goes to the closest florist shop.

And that’s how he finds himself standing infront of you with a boquet of sunflowers.“These are just beautiful!” You gush, pressing a kiss againt his cheek as you take them. He flushes adorably. You do a quick scan around the park to make sure no one is looking before conjuring a vase with water. Did you do it just to show off? Yes. Yes you did.

You place the flowers in the middle of the picnic blanket. “Now we have a centerpiece,” you hum happily, grabbing the wicker basket you brought. He sits across from you, watching in awe as you pull a variety of noodles, dumplings, rice, and tofu dishes out. Like clowns coming out of a little car.

“Try this,” you offer, handing him one of the containers. “And don’t worry, it’s all vegan.”

He opens it to reveal ball shaped food he recognizes as dim sum. He uses the provided chopsticks to pop one into his mouth, moaning at the combination of steamed vegetables and rich seasoning.

“This is amazing!” You grin in response, working on your own fruit and tofu skewer. “That’s because it’s the real deal. I went on a little trip to Hong Kong this morning.”

He pauses mid bite, resembling a confused chipmunk. You snicker. “I can teleport, remember?” You point at his empty cup, feeling it with juice. “Maybe on our next date I can take you to Egypt?”

He inhales the dimsum in shock, choking loudly. You use your powers to pull the food out of Steven’s throat, looking at him in concern. He quickly swallows the drink you made him.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, aces. Just got a bit too excited.”

“You’re adorable, Steven.”

As the date goes on you open up to each other. He tells you about his DID, which you could somewhat sense already. His mind felt different but you couldn’t put a finger on it. You tell him about how you struggled to control your powers and accept yourself. You used to feel like a weapon but you learnt that weapons aren’t always a bad thing, they can be used to protect others. Instead of a nuclear bomb you started seeing yourself as a shield.

For once Steven doesn’t feel like an outsider. He wants to tell you about Moon Knight. He knows you won’t judge him. Just as he begans to build up the courage a booming, gravelly voice rattles in his head.

“Don’t tell them anything, worm!”

You both flinch. A shiver runs through you as your hair stands on end. All your instincts are telling you to get ready for a fight. That sense of ancient power you felt in the museum is back tenfold. “Did you hear that?” You ask Steven.

He looks at you in complete shock. “What?”

“Can the witch hear me?”

“Okay, where is that Darth Vader voice coming from?” You groan, eyes glowing F/C. Your powers mean you’re always aware of your surroundings, you don’t like this sudden uncertainty. Especially not when Steven is at risk.

Suddenly a large mummified being with a bird skull appears behind your date. Because this is what your life has come to apparently. “Can you see me, witch?” Without saying anything you use your abilities to send a roll flying, hitting him square in the beak. He flinches back in surprise. Steven watches on, not knowing if he should laugh or shake in fear. Maybe both.

“Does that answer your question?” You ask sassily. “You’re some kind of deity right? I’m getting Egyptian vibes,” you muse outloud. Despite having no real facial features he manages to look unimpressed. “I thought you had magic, yet you can’t figure out who I am, little one?"

You squint at him for a moment, reaching out your consciousness. “Khonshu? I think I’ll call you cashew.”

“You will not!” He bellows. Poor Steven flinches at the volume but you just purse your lips. “It’s not fun being called stupid nicknames, is it?”

He pauses, tilting his skeletal head at you. “Excuse me?”

“You called Steven a worm. That was very rude,” you huff protectively. “You should really treat your avatar better.”

“You know about avatars?”

“Magic, babe,” you remind, wiggling your fingers as sparks dance between them. “I want to be in Steven's life, and his alter’s if they’ll have me. We’ll be spending time together so we might as well get along, don’t you agree?”

The god nods reluctantly. “I suppose.”

“Good,” you beam up at him. “But if you ever disrespect Steven again we will have words,” you promise in a sickly sweet voice.

Steven looks at you in absolute awe. ‘I changed my mind. I like them,’ Marc speaks in his head. ‘That was fucking hot,’ Jake adds on helpfully. For once the system agrees on something.

____

taglist: @jallerentrags @huitzilinthebudgie3 @wintergirlsoilder2 @dreamerkim @jupitersmoon167 @n1ght5h4d3-24 @darkened-writer @sunipostsstuff @bex-tk1 @musicconversedance @nemtodd-barnes1923 @thegotfangirl @your-frenly-emo-rat @dadstarkblacksoul @certifiedhunter @tagakalat @galactic-galabee @yoongiwithglasses @theyaremorethanjustfictional @booksandbenbarnes @faefanatic @ness-is-vanillabean @lovesickollie @kemisuu @missdragon-1 @ristare @jck-r @brekkers-desigirl

if ur name is highlighted i couldn't tag u :(

a/n #2: i've never had such a long taglist! thank you for giving my work so much love before i even posted it🥹

#steven grant x reader #moon knight x reader #steven grant fluff #moon knight fluff #platonic khonshu #khonshu x reader #marc spector x reader #jake lockley x reader #steven grant x witch!reader #steven grant x avenger!reader #marc spector x witch!reader #marc spector x avenger!reader #jake lockley x witch!reader #chaos in us #moon knight #moon boys

5K notes · View notes

certifiedlovergirlsstuff · 10 months

Text

The Mall Rats

pairing: steve harrington x female byers!reader

WC: 7.2K

warnings: cursing, light fighting, arguing, and (amateur) smut at the end

summary: The Russians are invading!

A/N: ALL PARTS UNDER THE TAG - The Byers Harrington Story-

im only gonna do one episode this season and probably for season4 instead of mixing two like i did for 1&2.

@alecmores❤️

series masterlist / steve harrington

previous chapter next chapter

“Have a nice day.”

You watched the couple leave the store with cones in their hands and slid up to the counter to face the pouting Robin.

“What’s wrong with you today? Is it your period?” You whispered the second question, not wanting anyone to overhear.

She just scoffed, “no bozo.” And before any other comment could leave her mouth, a new customer walked up to the counter.

“(Y/n)!” Dustin’s high-pitched voice greeted you.

You immediately rounded the counter and pulled him into a tight hug, swinging your bodies side to side, “Dustin! I’ve missed you so much!”

You pulled away from the embrace, hands resting on Dustin’s shoulders to look him over. He’s only been gone a few months, but he already looks older. His tight curls squished under a new yellow cap with the words Camp Know Where ‘85 with a chunky computer in the middle, the only indication that he went out of town for most of the summer.

Dustin looked away from you and flashed a gap-toothed smile at Robin’s bored expression, “hi.” His voice was high-pitched and cheery, as usual.

“Hi,” was her monotone response.

“I’m Dustin.” “I’m Robin.” You watched their quick introductions.

“Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is- is he here?”

“Is who here?” Robin questioned the boy, but you already knew who he was talking about.

And just before you could answer Dustin’s question, the parlor doors swung at lightspeed, with Steve’s shining happiness making his presence known.

“Henderson!” Steve threw his arms above his head, giving you just a glimpse of his waist. And then when he got more excited at seeing Dustin’s face, he jumped over to him, hands waving above his head and putting his stomach on full display for the store, it made you flush a bit.

With your arms crossed over your chest and hip digging into the cool counter, both you and Robin watched Steve and Dustin do an intricate handshake, one that you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing before this moment.

“You got the job!” Dustin pointed out, something Steve must have mentioned to him.

“I got the job! And all thanks to this gorgeous gal,” Steve walked behind Dustin to then walk behind you and throw his arms over your shoulders and pull you into his chest. “Probably wouldn’t have gotten it, if it wasn’t for her.”

You flicked the back of your hand into his shoulder and threw a scowl his way, “Steve, you showed up when we were filming the mall commercial. Also our actual boss knew that a guy would bring in girls.”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged his shoulders, “still wouldn’t have gotten the job if it wasn’t for you.”

“So, you’re saying you’re a stalker and obsessed with me?”

“Yes.” His immediate response.

You ignore the “ews” coming from Robin and Dustin as you turn your head to give a kiss to Steve’s jawline, just as obsessed with him.

With a lull in the conversation, Robin spoke up, “how many children are the both of you friends with?”

“Hm, well, there are the boys. Will, obviously, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, so that’s four. Then we have Max and El, so that is six. Adding you and Eddie, that’ll be eight for me. Nine sometimes because of Steve.” You answered back with sincerity and sarcasm.

A pinch to your arm jolted you away from the counter and you promptly turned to Steve, who was acting like it was a gremlin that touched you rather than the obvious. You just huffed at his game.

“Dustin, why don’t you go sit down and I’ll bring you some ice cream. On the house as your welcome back.” A flashing smile brightened the teen's face at your words.

“Awesome! Thanks (Y/n), you’re the best. Can I get a banana split?”

“Aye aye captain,” a mock salute before you rounded the counter.

Robin hurried to the backroom when you told her to take her fifteen leaving only you and Steve on the floor. You hummed quietly to yourself as you started to build Dustin’s treat and only stopped when noticed Steve standing beside you, right hand resting on the counter with his left hand resting on his hip. You gave him your attention with a slight rise of your brow, a slight question of, “yes?”

“Nothing, just admiring.” He tilted his head and licked his lips before flashing a smile knowing he got your heart racing.

You bit your bottom lip to suppress the giant smile wishing to form and just rolled your eyes before going back to your task, “don’t you want to catch up with your friend?”

“You mean our friend?”

“Yes, our friend, but pretty sure that’s your best friend. You even have a special handshake.”

Steve stepped closer, your elbow brushing his uniform top, and dropped his head to be closer in height, “are you jealous? Of a thirteen-year-old?”

“No.” Your answer was sure and quick as you worked to add the toppings.

You heard the chuckling and without looking at his stupid (pretty) face, you knew he had either a shit-eating grin or one of the annoying smirks that made you want to slap him (you would never though). His arms slid and wrapped tight along your abdomen, a firm and comforting squeeze causing your back to be firmly pressed along Steve’s chest.

“No displays of PDA at work, Harrington. You know the company policy and Buckley’s rules.” You gave two quick taps to his forearm.

He didn’t give any type of response, but as quick as a breeze, he left a kiss on the side of your head before removing his arms and leaving you behind the counter, heading over to Dustin’s booth. You stood frozen for a moment, fully and slowly letting your body and mind catch up to what just happened in those few seconds, and when it did register, your face felt hot.

Once the sundae was crafted you grabbed a spoon and headed over to the corner booth and as you walked closer you could hear bits and pieces of Steve and Dustin’s conversation.

“Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No.” “Mm-hmm.”

“Who’s hotter than Phoebe Cates? Gotta be someone special, she’s a babe.” You placed the treat in front of Dustin and slid beside Steve.

“Oh, just my girlfriend,” Dustin smugly replied as he dug in.

Your eyes widened and you turned your head towards Steve, he just gave a tight-lipped smile.

“Brilliant, too. And she doesn’t even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth.”

You opened your mouth to say something but closed it when nothing came to mind. Again you just glanced at Steve and saw he held a similar expression at this new information regarding Dustin and his new relationship.

“Well, I’m- I’m proud of you, Dustin. That’s ro- that’s kinda romantic. Right, (Y/n)?” His voice stuttered for your help. “Yeah, yeah. You’re really growing up, Dustin. Gonna be a real chick magnet when you’re older, just know it.” ‘Tone it down a little idiot’

Dustin grinned at both your praises and continued with his food, “so, do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?”

“Yeah. I mean, sure. It’s not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies.”

“Oh, and where are these ladies you talk about? I would love to meet them.” You faced Steve head-on with your fist digging into your cheek as your elbow sat on the table.

You saw how Steve’s ears burned red at the tips and how his mouth was opening and closing, only stuttering sounds leaving the void. Dustin was just grinning as he dug his spoon for another scoop of ice cream.

“He’s struck out a few times when you weren’t here,” Robin voiced from a few booths away.

“Oh really?” “She’s cool.”

“Ignore her. She’s not.” Steve responded to both of your statements, “so, where are the other knuckleheads?” His attention was back on Dustin.

The question caused Dustin’s mood to drop a bit, “they ditched me yesterday.” He shoved the plastic spoon into a banana.

Both you and Steve gasped, “no,” Steve replied in disbelief. “My first day back. Can you believe that shit?” “But Will was so excited to see you again, told us himself that morning.” Now you were upset on Dustin’s behalf and upset with Will.

“They’re gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don’t get to share in my glory.” His light was back. “Glory?” Steve looked at you for a second then back to Dustin, “what glory?”

Dustin licked his lips of leftover ice cream, looked around at the pretty empty dining room, and scooted a bit closer to Steve. You and Steve both leaned in closer as well, wanting to know what this glory Dustin was talking about was.

“So, last night we were trying to get in contact with Suzie…”

Steve made a phone gesture and Dustin nodded. “Cute name,” you blurted out. Dustin hummed in agreement.

“And, uh…” he leaned his elbow on the counter and covered his mouth with a hand. He took another glance around the store, customers in seats or booths talking while Robin was at the counter taking orders. Then it seemed that Dustin said something, but it was too low for you to hear a word. Even Steve looked confused, and he was sitting beside Dustin.

“What?” Steve after a moment of processing the nonexistent words.

Dustin clicks his tongue and swipes at his nose, “uh…” he inhaled deeply and once again covered his mouth making his words unintelligible.

“Dude we can’t-“ “Just speak louder.” You and Steve spoke at normal volumes. It seemed to piss Dustin off as he banged his fist on the table and shouted.

“I intercepted a secret Russian communication!”

You sat up straight as all noise died off and heads turned your way. Nervous laughs spilled from your mouth and you threw your hands up, “sorry, my- my friend has bad humor. Please, as you were… please.” You gritted the last word through clenched teeth.

Luckily everyone turned away, a few still eyeing your table, Robin included with her brows raised. You pushed hair away from your face and looked at the boys.

“Dustin, what the hell are you talking about?” “Yeah. What- what does that mean?” The tween rolled his eyes, “it means, Steve, (Y/n), we could be heroes. True American heroes.”

“Huh.” “Mm-hmm?” “No.”

Their eyes turned to you as you shook your head with a scowl. Your nails tapped the counter the longer you thought about Dustin’s words.

“What? You don’t want to be a hero?” Dustin questioned.

Still, you shook your head no. “We’ve done enough ‘heroism’ in the last two years. I’m not getting involved in anything more.” You were putting your foot down.

“Woah, okay, let’s just- what’s the catch?” Steve threw an arm atop the booth behind you.

“No catch, I just need your help.” “With what?”

Dustin grabbed something from his backpack, a book. “Translation,” and when you looked closer it was a Russian-English English-Russian dictionary.

“Do either of you even understand Russian? Cause I don’t. And Steve you barely passed Spanish, which again, isn’t Russian.” Telling the boys the one problem standing in their way. Steve opened his mouth like he was ready to defend himself but closed it and cocked his head in surrender.

“We’ll manage.” Dustin said with an air of confidence.

You just shrugged and left the booth needing to help Robin with the growing crowd.

You sat in the food court with your headphones covering your ears as a cassette played music while your eyes focused on your book in hand. Occasionally you would take sips from your soda and scan the crowded dining area.

You tried to distract yourself from earlier with Dustin and Steve. Dustin instantly thinks about being heroes, American heroes, that is, trying to take down Russians. You saw how Steve’s eyes lit up at the idea, of getting some fame and glory. Probably thinking this would show his dad something or just get him off his back, you weren’t sure.

You wanted no part, not even a finger involved in this little idea that’s festering in their brains. The past two years have already been enough, you don’t need to be doing something for the limelight. Even though Russians are a lot better than interdimensional monsters trying to rip you apart. You would like to just put all that behind you and move forward with your relatively good life.

With your eyes so focused on an invisible point, you didn’t notice the person standing before or even waving their hands in front of your eyes until you were given a light push to the shoulder. You blinked a few times and then when you saw the culprit, they blew wide. You thought it was Steve or Robin just annoying and telling you to head back, but instead, someone you completely forgot about stood before you.

You slipped the orange foam coverings off your ears, “Tessa.” You sounded breathless in your ears.

The girl who stole your first kiss stood tall in the loud mall. Her hair lightened and was full of volume and bounce, a shine to her lids and lips while her lashes were curled in black. She wore tiny gold hoops, a few gold necklaces stacked together, and some rings littering her hands. She wore a flowery summer dress that was designed with flowers in white and orange, it stood bold against her dark skin.

She looked as beautiful as ever.

“Hi, (Y/n),” her smile curled around your name, “how have you been? It’s… it’s been a while.” She held her arms behind her with her shoulders pulled back.

‘did it suddenly get hotter?’ ‘were you sweating?’

“Uh… I’m- I’ve been o- okay. Didn’t think you- I thought you didn’t want to be around me?” You leaned forward a bit, trying to keep that line as private as you could in a crowded and loud shopping mall.

Her head dropped and she rolled her lips, you couldn’t help to follow the motion. You looked away and at your lap, it was like she had a magnetic pull on you. You didn’t like it.

“Yeah… kinda shitty of me to just… leave you in the dust. I’m sorry,” you looked up at the apology, “I- I didn’t want my parents to find out… and with the way you acted at school the following day- I knew to keep my distance. For both our sake’s.” She sat down in the empty chair at your table. She put a hand on the table and stretched towards you.

“I was wondering… if there’s any way we could… be friends again? I do miss you, and Will. He was like a second brother to me.” She gave a comforting smile, her eyes shining from the light.

With hesitation, you jerkily move a hand from your lap and set it over hers. It’s been so long since you shared the same bubble.

“I would- I would like to be friends again. But I think… I think it needs to be done slowly. I can’t just- just cannonball back into it. And, I think we should think about it a little, to see if we do.”

She nodded with understanding, she always understood without many words. She patted your hand with her free one before standing up and walking away, a smile threw over her shoulder and she disappeared into the moving crowd.

‘what the hell just happened?’

You didn’t do much reading after that. You just slipped the headphones back on and reset the cassette. You checked your watch and rolled your eyes as you saw you only had five minutes left of your break so you gathered your things and headed back to your ice cream parlor.

Distracted by the beat and lyrics of your music, you, once again, don’t hear the snickers of girls trailing behind you or hear the rapid clicking of heels. When you’re just a foot from the store, a sudden push to your back made you trip over yourself and hit the square linoleum floor.

Your book smacked the floor, your walkman and headphones crashed with a terrible sound, and thankfully, your empty soda cup didn’t spill anything. Your elbows and knees hurt a bit.

The laughs behind you made a scowl paint your face. You pushed yourself off the floor and turned at the commotion and felt yourself freeze up at the main person, but pushed through it.

“What the fuck is your problem, Carol?” You stepped close to her.

She stepped back and bumped into her followers. Her red hair was curled and styled as usual with shorts and a tight shirt as her outfit. Her eyes raked your work uniform and she laughed even harder, hands holding her stomach from pain.

“Oh,” she sighed, “you are so entertaining to watch. That whole thing with Tessa… what would Steve think?” Your shoulders get tense.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A stiff reply. She continues her snarky giggles. “Oh really? You looked just about ready to ki-“

You shoved her shoulder, hard, making her lackeys hold her for support. You felt the eyes on you but kept yours trained forward.

“How about you mind your fucking business, Carol. Steve and I do, and you’re not a single thought in our heads. Could’ve give a shit what you and Tommy are doing, but from what I’m seeing, you’re still a bunch of jackasses who are pathetic losers that enjoy other's misery.” You hissed the words close to her face before turning away.

You were the bigger person. You weren’t looking for a fight, you just wanted to put her in her place and walk away as she floated away from your thoughts once again. But it was never that easy with mean girls who are looking for a fight.

As your eyes caught the storefront, you saw Steve standing near the entrance with a worried expression. One hand on his hip while the other gripped the doorway, a cleaning rag slung over a shoulder. And then he started moving forward, quickly and you didn’t know why until you felt her claws yank your shoulder and a burning touch spread over your cheek.

Carol just smacked you.

You stood stunned for a second before you leaped towards her and grabbed a fist full of hair and started pulling as she cried like a baby. It didn’t last long, Steve wrapped his arms around your waist, and her friends, with great effort, pried you off her. Steve turned you away from the fight and walked you away as you screamed profanities at her. He went back for your fallen items when you were settled in the back room.

And that’s where you stayed for the next four hours of your shift.

“Do you… wanna talk about earlier?” “Nope.” “Okay.”

The constant ringing of the desk bell pulled Robin away and you heaved a sigh with closed eyes, a thank you to the heavens. Your head gave a small thump on the table in the back room, arms limp at your sides.

Dustin was originally in the back room when Steve dragged you through the double doors, the boy's eyes blown open at your seething energy. Then Robin came through the doors and shooed the two out, Steve tried to talk back but Robin shoved him away and told him to man the counter for a few minutes.

Now you were alone and cooled down, knowing you’ll need to tell Steve about earlier, especially Tessa. You hated that you instantly succumbed to her presence, it’s like you unintentionally cheated on Steve. You love Steve too much to withhold those thoughts and feelings that needed to be said.

You heard the swoosh of the doors and footsteps coming your way, two sets. Then you heard the scraping of a chair being pulled out and stuff being set on the table, guessed it was Dustin and the other person was Steve. And even with your head still down, you had a feeling they were communicating through looks and silent gestures.

“(Y/n)? Baby?” Steve’s low voice was right next to you, “are you okay?” His hand rubbed along your spine.

You didn’t want to look into his eyes, cause the second you do it will either be two things; Steve instantly knowing what’s swimming in your thoughts or you crack and start spilling everything. And you don’t want to have that conversation at work.

By the grace of some angels, Robin called for you up front and you shot up from your chair, the legs screeching against the tile. You push through the doors and stand beside Robin, hands on your hips and a sigh out your mouth; you had to withhold the eye roll.

“Hello, Erica. How may we serve you today?” You plastered on a fake sunny smile and your even faker sweet voice.

Erica Sinclair was in the colorful parlor practically every day since summer started. Always comes in with her group of friends and asks for a sample of every flavor. At first, you allowed it cause she was Lucas’s sister, but just after a week, you were over it.

“I would like to try the peppermint stick, but one of your workers won’t allow it.” Her steely eyes set on Robin who had a bored expression on her face.

“Erica, I’m sure you’ve tried peppermint stick plenty of times to know how it tastes. It’s peppermint.” Your customer voice slipping up.

“Yes I have, but I would like to try it again. Are you refusing me service?” Her hands sat on her hips as she cocked her head. You closed your eyes, having to stop another eye-rolling.

“Robin, why don’t you head to the break room.” And she didn’t have to be told twice. Your attention is fully on the head-strong girl.

“Erica, I was very lenient with you at the beginning. But you can’t come here every day and abuse our sample policy, you’re technically robbing us.” You leaned against the counter.

Erica stood her ground, not making a move and you weren’t either. You weren’t in the mood today. When you saw people entering the store and getting in line, your customer service voice perked high. “If you’re not planning on buying any ice cream today, may you please move out of the way so I can attend to the paying customers behind you?”

She stayed in place and you were worried you would have to give in and get a stupid sample of peppermint stick for her. But she rolled her eyes and walked away, you held your chin high at the small win today.

As you helped the last customer in line, you turned around to head through the doors and you could hear the boys and Robin talking. And just as you entered you heard the end of a sentence she was saying, something amazing as Steve and Dustin wooed in awe.

“That was pig Latin, dingus.” And Steve smacked Dustin with his banana peel, “Idiot.” “But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I’ve been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me.”

Steve looked up your way, arms crossed over your chest as you leaned against the door frame. Your brows were raised, giving him a silent ‘what are you gonna do?’, he eyed Robin with a cautious look as he held the tape recorder.

“Come on, it’s your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don’t even want credit. I’m just bored.” She leaned in with her hand held out.

The bell wouldn’t stop dining, but you couldn’t move. You just stared as Steve debated in his head, eyes closed with a pout on his lips as he tilted his head side to side, before sighing and swapping the recorder for the scooper in Robin’s hand. With an eye roll, you pushed through the doors and back to the counter to help with the restless customers. Steve joined a minute later and posted behind the cash register as you scooped the desserts.

You hated this stupid situation. How you were having a good summer and then when Dustin returns, saying he has a Russian message, Steve jumps into the action. And now Robin’s being lumped into the mess, you wanted to kick something. Why can’t these types of things leave you alone, why is there always something happening in Hawkins?

You slipped away from the counter and started to bus tables. Spray bottle and towel keep your hands busy as you let your mind go blank, or at least you think your mind goes blank when in reality you’re scrubbing hard at an invisible spot with a scowl painting your face.

“Everything okay?” Steve’s sneakers entered your eye line. You didn’t bother looking up, “peachy,” you gritted out.

“(Y/n), come on. Look, it's not that big of a deal. It’s just translating.” He huffed and it just made you angrier. You scrubbed harder at the clean table, “I don’t care if it’s just translating, Harrington. I don’t want Robin roped into you and Henderson’s stupid, heroic crap or whatever. Even just something as simple as listening to that tape could have horrible effects and I don’t even want to think about the-”

Steve pulled you into a hug with a hand holding the back of your skull, keeping your face close to his shoulder. He whispered reassurances about how everything was gonna be fine and that the upside down is gone. You wanted to believe his words, but you couldn’t. You pulled away from Steve, dropping the cleaning supplies beside you.

“Uh… can- can I go on a break? I- I think I need some air.” Eyes focused on your dirty sneakers.

Steve’s hands rubbed along your arms before slipping to hold your hands, “yeah. Yeah, I can cover up front.”

You slipped from his touch and rushed out of the loud and crowded mall.

After sitting at the entrance for ten minutes, you cooled down enough to head back inside and plow through the rest of your shift. As you shuffled through the crowds of people, there was a strong slam to your chest and it knocked the air from your lungs. A hand came to your chest as you were preparing to tell the person to watch it, but instead, you saw three dipshit kids.

“What the hell are you three doing here?” Daggers pointed at their shocked faces, “You know, Dustin’s at the store right now. Even told me how you guys left him yesterday, he’s been gone for three months.” Fist on your hips.

“Woah, okay, it’s not like that.” Mike spoke up first, “We helped set up his radio tower so we could hear from his ‘girlfriend’.” quotes around the word. “Plus, Mike and El left right away. Max and I, along with Will stayed into the night.” Lucas added.

“Hey! Screw you, man!” “It’s true!”

“Okay!” You held your hands out to stop the arguing boys, “look I don’t care about that. Why don’t you go apologize to your friend while you’re here for… whatever reason. Actually, what is your reason for being here?”

“It’s the mall, why do we need a reason?” Will asked. You watched the three boys, “Cause you’re all up to something. I can tell, and it’s nothing good. Plus where’s Max?” You knew Hopper didn’t allow El to visit the mall, which you thought wasn’t fair, but didn’t comment.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders, “we’re on a break, so she hasn’t called.”

“You mean, you’ve called, but she hasn’t picked up.” Will retorted. Lucas gave him a quick punch to his bicep.

‘stupid boys’

“Whatever. Just stop by the store and talk to Dustin and you all better be home before dark, especially you Will.” You ignored the eye-roll from Mike and gave a quick kiss to Will’s hair as you continued your walk to the store.

Steve was behind the counter serving a couple of girls as you walked over to him. He turned his body towards you, head tilted with a tiny smile. “Feeling better?” “Eh.” He chuckled.

“Oh! Guess who I ran into a few minutes ago.” “Hmm… Daisy Jones?” You shoved his shoulder, “No. Thing one, thing two, and Will. Pretty sure they almost rowed me down when they were running away from something.”

His brows furrowed, “huh.” “What?” He pointed a finger lazily, “Max and El were in here earlier. And then giggled when I asked if El should even be here before they ran out.” You squint your eyes, “huh.”

“(Y/n)!” Robin called your name through the open divider, her elbows on the counter. “We have one sentence translated, The week is long.” She said in a poor Russian accent.

“Oh… great.” You weakly gave thumbs-ups, a strained smile.

“The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west.”

The four of you gathered your belongings and Steve pulled the metal gate down to lock the store, “I mean, it just… it just can’t be right.” “It’s right,” Robin reassured.

“Honestly, I think it’s great news.” “How is this great news?” Steve scoffed, “I mean, so much for being American heroes. It’s total nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense. It’s too specific. It’s obviously a code.” Dustin argued.

“Great. Feels like I’m in a James Bond movie now. Dealing with Russian codes and shit. Something bad in the plot is gonna happen and we’ll all be in deep shit.” Hands flared in the air at your dramatics. Robin and Dustin just shook their heads at your antics while Steve grabbed your hand closest to him.

“Yeah, it could be a code or Buckley’s translation skills are just crap.” “No, they’re not, Harrington. It’s correct and obviously, they’ll use codes over radios. They aren’t gonna blatantly say, Fire the warhead at noon. So them saying The silver cat feeds- why would anyone talk like that unless they’re trying to mask the true meaning of their message?”

“Exactly.”

“And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?”

“Exactly.”

You stayed quiet and zoned out as Robin and Dustin talked back and forth, also missing the mocking face Steve was pulling at their words. It’s been a long day, you don’t even want to think about Russians invading Hawkins.

“I can’t do evil Russians. I just want one normal year.” You muttered. Only Steve heard you as Dustin and Robin conversed and continued walking.

With your brain on auto-pilot, you didn’t notice Steve’s abrupt stop until there was a sharp yank to your arm making you stumble. Your sneakers squeaked against the tile as you looked at your boyfriend as he dropped your hand to begin patting his pockets as he stared at a horse ride. He pulled his pockets inside out and loose change spilled to the floor, but he just shook his head.

“Steve?” You stepped closer, “what’s-” “Steve, what are you doing?” Robin called to him

“Uh, it’s a quarter. I need- Does anyone have a quarter?” He looked at you and you just shook your head no. He called for Robin and Dustin again and they joined the two of you.

“Sure you’re tall enough for that ride?” Robin jokes. “Quarter!” Steve voiced again and Robin threw in one. He spun as he caught it out of the air. Then he placed the coin in the slot and the golden horse started its gallop as its cheery music followed.

“You need help getting up, little Stevie?” A gentle shove to Robin’s arm was your silent ‘stop it’ and Dustin chuckled at her teasing. Steve just shushed everyone as he was focused heavily on the melody.

“Would you two just shut up and listen?”

They quieted down and continued to listen. You looked between the three of them, Dustin’s face changing as the music played longer. Your brows were creased in confusion.

“I don’t-” “The music!” and Dustin stripped his backpack and pulled the recorder out. He played the tape just as the ride ended.

“I don’t understand.” Robin finished your earlier thought. “It’s the exact same song on the recording,” Dustin answered. “Maybe they have horses like this in Russia,” Robin supplied.

“But it’s called the ‘Indiana Flyer’. I don’t- That wouldn’t make sense.” You inputted. Steve shook his head, “This code, it… didn’t come from Russia. It came from here.” His eyes are on the three of you.

A wave of uneasiness crashed over you.

You scrubbed your hands over your face then carded your fingers through your messy hair, “god dammit.”

The car was silent. Just Steve driving the both of you to your house, radio so low it wasn’t even playing music. An elbow propped against the window with your fist digging into your cheek as you stared at the fast-moving trees. Your lips were sealed shut since leaving the mall and saying a meek goodbye to Robin and Dustin.

“Baby?” Steve spoke quietly, a hand on your thigh, “what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” His thumb rubbing your knee.

You kept quiet, thoughts in space with glazed-over eyes. Russians were in Hawkins. Evil Russians were doing something in Hawkins and now it was basically up to your little group to figure out a code. Why the fuck were you suddenly given the Spider-Man treatment? With great powers must also come great responsibility, the responsibility to fight demons and find hidden Russians.

“Why didn’t Dustin go to Hopper?” Your first words after half an hour. You didn’t turn your head, but you felt Steve’s eyes looking your way and the quick squeeze he gave to your skin.

“Well, you know Dustin. Always ambitious, and he wants to be a hero.” “But this is something that the government should be handling. This isn’t something we can just stick our noses in for fun. It’s Russia for fucks sake-” “We’ve handled Demogorgans, I think we can handle decoding a Russian code.”

The maroon BMW pulled into your driveway, headlights shining bright on your dark house. Jonathan and Joyce’s car was parked so everyone was home and asleep right now. Steve cut the ignition and you instantly grabbed your things and left the car.

“(Y/n)!” Steve shouted before you heard his door slam shut and his fast steps against the gravel. You walked through the front door and headed straight to your room, already knowing Steve is just a few steps behind. You threw your things on the floor, kicked your shoes off and grabbed a pillow from your bed, and turned around just as Steve walked in and closed your door. You started to smack him repeatedly with the pillow in hand.

“Wha- (Y/n)...” “You’re being a dick right now, Steve.” A huff and you stopped hitting him. “Okay, what’s going on? You’ve been off all day.” Steve stepped closer. You dropped your pillow and curled your fingers into claws.

You gripped the hair at your scalp, “everything, Steve! This whole day has been a fucking mess and I feel like no one is listening to me! I- I don’t want to deal with shit like this anymore! I can barely sleep at night, Steve. Nightmares sink into my brain if I were to close my eyes for more than a few minutes. And- And with today… how Dustin mentioned being American heroes- oh I knew you took his simple bait into helping him.”

An empty chuckle fell from your lips as you turned your back to Steve, “and then fucking Tessa Anderson walks up to me in the food court and… and my heart skipped a beat. And I hated myself during our conversation cause I just thought about how beautiful she looked and I stuttered on my words, I- I even said I would be willing to be friends with her again, but I don’t even know if she was part of the whole Carol incident.”

Small tears dropped from your eyes and rolled down your cheeks and off your chin, you turned back to a motionless Steve and his wide eyes.

“Steve… I- I,” you took a step towards him with your hands clasped in front of your face, “please, please know that I love you so much. It was just old feelings, I- I- I’m a fucking idiot and- and I understand if this ends our relationship-”

Your words were cut off by the force of Steve’s lips, his hands holding your face. You unravel your twinged hands and fisted them into the cotton of the scoops uniform that the both of you were still wearing. Your bodies were so close that your feet stumbled as you leaned back to contact as Steve leaned in further.

Steve pulled away first, his hands still holding your cheeks. You chased after him, scared that it was a final kiss, but he gave two quick pecks before moving out of reach. Your eyes blinked a few times before fully focusing on Steve who held such a gentle gaze.

“I love you so fucking much,” he all but sighed out, “and I’ve been a blind idiot all day.” Your eyes squinted and pursed your lips.

“Wha-“ “I wasn’t paying attention closely to how you were feeling or acting. I just brushed it off like it was nothing, that’s shitty of me. At least with the Russian stuff, I mean. The Tessa stuff… I’m glad you told me, I- I mean I knew you would tell me. Cause you mauling at Carol had a reason behind it- other than her slapping you.”

With closed eyes and a sigh, “Steve… I feel like I’m being a shitty girlfriend.” “How so?” Fingertips ghosting over your earlobe.

You licked your lips, “well, firstly, Tessa. I wasn’t gonna leave you for her, never in a million years. But just- the way she made me feel is how you make me feel and you not being the cause made me feel sick.”

Steve nodded at your words, “wanna know something?” You slipped your hands from his shirt to the band of his shorts and you looked into his eyes.

“Last year… when we started to get closer, and Nancy was drifting away from me… you started to make me feel things. My heart would race and my stomach would form knots, and it was because of you. Nancy used to cause that feeling and when it changed to you… I was worried. But then they stopped completely at the sight or even thought of her one night and soon-“ Steve leaned close, “do I consume your thoughts? Every waking moment? Every dream you have at night? Cause you do.”

His voice dropped in octaves, a shiver sprinted over your spine and you released a shaky sigh, “you do. Your smile would flash in quiet moments and sometimes I hear an echo of your laugh. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you fill my thoughts even if I’m with you. And at night, if I’m alone-“ you moved a hand to hold Steve’s neck as you pushed his face towards your shoulder so your lips would brush the shell of his ear, “I imagine your hands touching me. Your palms slide over my arms and stomach, fingers squeezing my thighs or boobs as you trail wet kisses any place you can reach. And when my heart is racing and my bare chest is panting with want, I set my index finger to my collarbone pretending it’s your tongue. And with a teasing pace, I’ll slowly trail it between my lonely breast, passing my belly button, and stop just before-“

Suddenly you were lifted into the air, the world turned upside down. There was a swift smack to your ass and then you bounced against the springs of your bed with Steve hovering over you. He pulled his scoops shirt off in that attractive way boys do, and then his shoes followed before setting a knee on the bed. His fingers tugged at your top so you leaned forward to permit him.

His fingers sunk into your hair as your lips melted together, bodies moving automatically. You bent an arm behind your back and easily unclipped your bra and slipped the straps from your shoulder and flung it away. You let your fingers tangle in Steve’s messy locks as he trailed his lips toward your neck, making you lean it to the side for more access. Your eyes were squeezed shut and your lips were parted as light pants sang into the quiet night. Your grip tightened on Steve’s hair as you gave small tugs, his groans vibrating on your body.

Your nails scratched his scalp as he dipped his head lower, sucking purple bruises along your collarbone followed by the wet trail of his tongue to the valley of your chest. You laid on the bed as Steve moved his hands, his left going to your right boob and his forearm keeping him propped up.

His mouth latched onto your left breast, tongue wetting your nipple until it was hard and you were arching your back. His thumb swiped over your other nipple and it made you sigh from pleasure.

“Steve…” you moaned quietly.

He gave a kiss to the perked nipple before latching to your lips again. Your knees bent on the side of his hips, trying to push him closer.

Steve pulled just a hair away from your open mouth, “I’m gonna show you just how much I love you.”

He kissed your lips, then your neck which followed to your two breasts that he took more attention towards. His left hand slid further down your waist and stopped at your shorts. His mouth set simple, quick pecks over your stomach that was moving with your fast pants.

One more kiss to the skin above your waistband and he set his eyes on you. Propped on your elbows with your head thrown back before jerking at his stopped motions. His brows rose and he did a quick tug on your shorts, you quickly nodded your head. In one pull he took your uniform shorts and underwear off, leaving only your white socks. You pulled your knees closer to your body before Steve crawled over and set his hands on your calves, pulling your legs down a bit and then pushing your thighs open.

“Steve…” Your fingers curled into your sheets as Steve’s pretty brown eyes just stared at you. His chest was bare and displaying his dark mess of hair along with his thick thighs straining against the seam of his shorts.

He laid on his stomach and pressed kisses to the inside of your right knee, his supple lips dragging further up your thigh. The air of his breathing ghosted over where you needed him most.

“Steve-“ A more desperate whine.

“Don’t worry, baby. Just gonna lull you into sweet dreams.” And he gave a lick of his tongue.

...

taglist: @heartyhope / @preciousbabypeter / @dessxoxsworld / @piper3113 / @animiacorn / @burn1ngw00d / @drxwstxrkxy / @m-rae23 / @noisyeggsmoneystatesman / @yournan69 / @thats-s0-ravenn / @ameliabs-world / @mayonesavegana / @gracella0709 / @gengen64 / @alecmores / @choclate32 / @stvrdustalexx / @redheadedfangirl / @agustdeeyaa / @yappydoo / @liberhoe / @hehehehannahthings / @ladybug0095 / @sweeter-innocence-fics / @j-6o / @voteforevilthoughts / @harrysflowercrownrry / @ilovereadingfanfics / @sorrow-has-a-place-here / @80strashbag / @sunsumonner / @sweet1peach / @cierrajhill / @we-out- here-simping / @nix-rose-a / @x-theolivia /

*striked out means tumblr wont tag you*

#The Byers Harrington Story #steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington reader insert #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x byers!reader #Steve Harrington x female reader #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #stranger things series #stranger things season three #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine

152 notes · View notes

penaconys-hound · 1 month

Text

Obligatory RP Blog intro post

(Warning: Contains Spoilers for the end of 2.1 and 2.2 and was initially created before 2.2)

———

Making a drink is a sensory skill. In dreams, creating fizzy concoctions requires adding a bit of your mood. Heavier if you're troubled, a touch sweeter if you're in high spirits... It's not just about mixing beverages. It's about mixing the experiences of life.

Gallagher's the name, I'm one of the local "Hounds" around here. Step into Penacony, the Land of Dreams, Nameless one.

Tired? Just find a place to sit and rest for a while. Let’s have a talk and I’ll mix something up for you.

But a few words of advice…

Don’t get lost in dreams, and not everything’s as it seems.

Guidelines, Key, Tags and Notes from the mod:

Guidelines:

-Fellow RP Blogs are allowed, uh hiii Star Rail RP community

-This is my first RP Blog after like a year or so (previous ones just died) so I may be rusty so apologies for that -Using tonetags would be appreciated, not required but appreciated, especially if you say something that could come off as rude but you don’t mean it in that tone, the mod can’t read tone through text.

-SFW only please, Suggestive themes are allowed with a warning however

-Gore’s on the table though, but only if the meme gets involved, or you somehow get a good reason for it, I don’t think Gallagher would just maul you out of nowhere- However since this takes place in the dreamscape blood will be described as water and that’s all that’s gonna spill out-

-Shipping is allowed, I’ll allow any ship unless it’s pr*ship or with Sunday, with the former it’s obvious on why I wouldn’t, gross. You’ll get hit on the offense side of Gallagher’s Ultimate if you try that.

But on Galladay it’s simply cause I’m just not super comfortable with Gallagher x Sunday-

But yeah, as long as you’re follow the shipping rules the sky’s the limit, especially since I see Gallagher as bi

-Mod uses the CDT Timezone and is in education, but otherwise doesn’t have a life, and also has adhd with rapid changing hyperfixations so answer times can range from a minute to over a week

-Anything related to, but not limited to, racism, homophobia/transphobia, sexism, ableism, etc. Is not allowed here.

I’m serious if you come into the askbox with that you’ll get the “Dog” after you:

-Anons are welcome, you can even have a custom tag if you use a sign off and show up enough

-Magic Anons are allowed however only one can be active at a time and they have a 2-5 ask cooldown depending on what the effects where

-You can technically also ask the Meme on this blog, but don’t expect it to say anything other then *STABS YOU STABS YOU STABS YOU STABS YO

Key:

“ “ (Just plain text): Dialogue

“ “ (Same as above but in bold)/“ “ (Purple bold text): (what’s used is dependent on what’s exactly being said) Dialogue where Gallagher puts on his Reaper Robe

(The text for that was originally red however I changed it to purple for two reasons: Reason one being in the lore Acheron uses Red text sometimes and I think it’d be weird if I interacted with an Acheron and she also used red text,

and I changed it to purple specifically cause it matches Sleepie)

“* *” (Asterisks around text): Action/Movement

“// //“ (Two slashes around text): OOC/Mod talking

Tags:

#🥃bartenders rambles : In character posts/asks

#🐺barred fangs : In character posts/asks when Gallagher is playing the role of “The Reaper/Death”

#🌀don’t fear the reaper. : Fanart reblog tag

#👁️ The Dog. : Mentions/Discussion of the Memory Zone Meme “Something Unto Death”/“Sleepie”

#🐾mods yapping : Posts from the mod/OOC posts, not counting OOC moments in the tags of ask posts

#💫care for a drink under the stars? : Interaction reblogs/RPs, whatever with fellow Honkai: Star Rail RP blogs, can be in or out of character

#🪶hounds prey : Interactions with Sunday and/or Robin/Mentions of Sunday and/or Robin

#🧹the bellboy : (there was no mop emoji) Interactions with Misha/Mentions of Misha

(Tags may be added for specific characters and art RBs if I decide to do that, but for now that’s the tags)

Anon Tags:

#🍸 anon

#🥂 anon

#🍀 anon

Side Notes:

-If you’re wondering on the Mod’s pronouns if you didn’t read the bio, the Mod uses Any/All pronouns (like he/she/they/it etc. Idrc-)

-This will include headcanons, if it wasn’t obvious from the “I see Gally as Bi” comment

-It could possibly get OOC at times while I’m in character, I made the blog before 2.2, but I’m trying to stick to the character as well as I can, and if 2.2 changes his character again I’ll attempt to pull something to fit with that

-Mod will refer to himself ether as “The Mod” or “Mod Werewolf”

Other Blogs the Mod Runs if you’d like to check those out:

(disclaimer they’re not all gonna be for the same fandom in the future)

@the-coolest-character-in-hsr (Hanu from Honkai: Star Rail)

@trash-president-real (Trash President (OC) Honkai: Star Rail)

Anyways hope you enjoy the blog, and avoid getting stabbed by the meme

#🐾mods yapping #Why am I slightly nervous about doing this-#But it’d be a waste to take the username then just. Not launch the blog #So here we go #Plus there are like no Gallagher’s I’ve seen in the RP community-#Guess I need to be him #honkai star rail #honkai star rail roleplay #hsr rp blog #hsr rp #hsr gallagher #gallagher #gallagher hsr

48 notes · View notes

thedivinershiddenarchive · 1 year

Text

"cupid's dilemma: valentine's madness"

information.

Cupid, the God of desire and erotic love, making people's fantasies come true on this year's Valentine's day. Send him a letter with a target you aspire and with enough time, the contents of your letter will turn into a reality.

terms and conditions.

Follow the Cupid's terms and conditions in order for your love letter to be accepted and granted to come true. Do follow the format provided in it in order for him to clearly understand what your desires are and pick two prompts to finalize your request.

format; (1.prompt) + (2.prompt) + character + (context/story) + (kinks) + (extra.)

example of format; may I request cupid's weapon to be the windblume ode with refinement 3 targetted at Al Haitham? Both reader and Al Haitham are a married couple going through their honeymoon together! Maybe with some dacryphilia and breeding and virginity taking?

all these prompts belong to thelonelyempath

cupid's mailbox is: closed!

This event is mostly NSFW. 17 under, please do not interact at all costs and don't request anything SFW because my event isn't for that.

Female readers only. I do not write for gender-neutral or male readers so please do not request them. I will proceed to remove them if you do.

Do not request for characters that are not listed + anything in my "I will not write"

Please have your request be understandable so I can write it accurately and to your liking.

Writing requests may take longer so please be patient with them when you send one.

One character per concept/request only.

Update: Request the available characters. Give them chances on getting a fic because I'm only open for 4 requests. Check what characters I've already written for by searching the "cupid's dilemma ; valentine's madness" tag.

Run your mind wild with imagination! Don't hold back but also consider my rules still!

cupid's trusty weapon [1.prompt]

Alley Hunter ― "When I open the door, I better see you naked and on all fours for me."

Amos' bow ― "I don't think I can cum anymore."

Aqua Simulacra ― "Done already? We just started!"

Blackcliff Warbow ― “You better keep the volume down or I’m gonna go even harder.”

Messenger ― “You talk too much. How about we use your mouth for something else?”

Polar Star ― “I’m gonna fuck you so good you forget all about that bastard.”

Windblume Ode ― “Is that gonna fit?” “I’ll make it fit.”

Elegy for the End ― “Ooh, you’re not wearing any underwear. Trying to tell me something?”

The Stringless ― “Quit eyefucking me and get over here so you can actually fuck me!”

Skyward Harp ― “Go and lock the door for me. I don’t want anyone to walk in while I’m balls deep.”

The Viridescent Hunt ― "I know it hurts, but be a good girl and take it."

Thundering Pulse ― "Wanna see what I'm wearing under this?" "Hopefully it's nothing."

Hamayumi ― "Do you think you can take more of me in?"

Royal Bow ― "I don't know where the fuck you think you're going. Get that sexy ass on the bed and take your clothes off."

Rust ― "Let me dominate you so you don't have to do any thinking."

Prototype Crescent ― “I saw you naked once. And now I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Sacrificial Bow ― "“I love that we both already finished and your legs are still shaking.”"

Mouun's Moon ― “Would you rather make out or make love? Me, personally, I’m up for both.”

Fading Twilight ― "You've been playing that stupid game for hours. I'm horny, damnit!"

Favonious Warbow ― "No one else is home, which means we can be as loud as we want."

Hunter's Path ― "Is there room for two in that shower?"

End of the Line ― "Oh yeah, you like when I touch you like that, baby."

Compound Bow ― "I'll only put the tip in. Unless you want me to go deeper."

Predator ― “I called in sick. Now we can stay in bed and fuck all day.”

Mitternachts Waltz ― "I'll be a good girl/boy! I'll be good for you!"

Recurve Bow ― “Your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner doesn’t need to know about this.”

Hunter's Bow ― CUSTOM. Pick a dialogue prompt that isn't in the list of bows.

bow refinements. [2.prompt]

Refinement 1 ― Friends with Benefits

Refinement 2 ― Hybrid!Reader or Hybrid!Character (specify which and what Hybrid they'll be)

Refinement 3 ― Domestic Relationship

Refinement 4 ― Mafia AU

Refinement 5 ― Perverted Stalker AU

Refinement 6 ― Yandere AU

Refinement 7 ― Vampire AU

Refinement 8 ― CUSTOM. Pick a dynamic that isn't in the list of refinements.

masterlist.

[AL HAITHAM] - Fondful Graze.

[DILUC] - Partners in Virtue.

[TIGHNARI] - A treat for two.

[CAPITANO] - Addicted.

288 notes · View notes

tartigglez · 1 year

Note

HELLO!! the bubble emoji anon here. on pc.. so no emojis for me today [heart breaking emoji]. what do i do without emojis??? die?? yes.

ANYWAYS. saw u in need of fluff. me too.

diluc and reader who r absolutely pining for each other but aren't together. the little things. omg. the long hugs. the quick glances. the denial to coworkers/friends.. "no we are nOT together!!" (pls date me diluc) brushing of the fingers in public. trying to squeeze out every last minute together. SECRET EYE CONTACT AT THE SAME TIME!!! BLUSHING!!!! aaAAAAAHAHAHAHAH

per standard, i went off prompt, forgive me.

"if you need me"

diluc x gn!reader

genre: fluff (ish)

word count: 1.4k

tags: kaeya jumpscare, also venti kajhdjfak, farts (don't ask), diluc probably has problems with his emotions (if i write him, when does he not?), lil kisses cuz why not

tw/cw: alcohol, reader refuses to address their emotions (oops), also reader cries at one point (immediately comforted)

a/n: when will i ever stick to a prompt...

when you discovered that angels share was hiring, you were the first to jump upon the opportunity. after all, who wouldn’t want to work somewhere with decent pay, such a social environment, and under such a handsome boss…

1 day

“you’re the new employee, right?”

“uhm, yeah! that’s me!”

“right… your résumé is… impressive”

“thank you, master diluc”

“just diluc is fine”

“o-okay”

“most of your shifts will be shared with charles, but i will be working alongside you too. remember to wipe down the bar often, check the stock after each shift et cetera, i’m sure charles will keep you right”

“yep, okay!”

as he turned to go out of the bar and back to the winery, he snapped his head back towards you while you were putting your apron on.

“oh and, if a little green man with a lyre comes in here, kick him out by eleven, lest mondstadt experiences some sort of unfortunate wind”

“unfortunate… wind?”

“no it's- not like that”

diluc seemed to turn a little red, having accidentally suggested that lord barbatos had some sort of issue with his bowels.

“haha, no worries. i’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“yes, good luck. if you have any questions, ask charles”

3 days

“y/n, are you settling in well?”

“ah, hi! i've started getting used to the customers, that’s for sure.”

“have you run into any problems with them?”

“no, no, not at all. it can just be rather busy in here sometimes. between the knights and the guild, people really drink like crazy”

“hm, i suppose that’s one thing the knights are good at. if you need me, i’ll be in the back”

2 weeks

this is your fifth shift with diluc. he can be quite tense at times, but once you manage to initiate a good conversation with him about something he’s interested in, he can be quite chatty. you had encountered this the last time you had a shift together, when he began talking about some specialty wine that the winery was producing, it was actually quite pleasant, watching the man talking about this interest of his, although he did get a little embarrassed when he realised he had gone off on a rant.

the events of todays shift however, included…

diluc accidentally making eye contact with you, at least four times (it was not an accident, he was very intentionally looking at you)

the pair of you touching hands multiple times whilst trying to serve customers

and also, for some reason, diluc getting somewhat annoyed at a random knight captain who happened to waltz into the tavern and begin trying to sweet talk you.

4 weeks

by this point you’ve already learned that diluc and kaeya -as you now called him- were brothers, but had some sort of tension between them, which you also figured would be best not to meddle in. they were always at each others throats, but when they were apart, were both quite pleasant to be around. you had even hung out with kaeya once, sharing a meal at good hunter.

this would prove to be a mistake though, because he did nothing the entire time except continually asking if you were “canoodling” his brother. of course you denied it, feeling rather flustered. why on earth would someone date their boss? even though things did seem a little flirty between the two of you, it was a definite that nothing could happen, right? of course diluc made you only seem more suspicious, as he saw you and kaeya at lunch, immediately approached you both, and sat way too close to you, almost as if he was jealous or something! what an awkward meal.

2 months

personal issues were not something you had to deal with often, but when you did, you tended to shut them down, ignore them, and continue with life. you weren’t one to dwell. however, on the particular day in question, you were pretty upset, and this only seemed to get worse the more people asked you how your day was going whilst ordering a drink. you also knew that diluc would be coming in for his shift later, and you really didn't feel like dealing with his stoicism today. of course he’s nice to be around, just… a little awkward? he doesn’t make you uncomfortable or anything, he’s just not very chatty, and wouldn’t be great about distracting you from your feelings.

you could eventually hear some noise in the back, and realised this was diluc, probably sorting stock, or taking inventory, something along those lines. you, however, were still serving customers, taking drink orders, the usual.

of course, the later it got, the drunker customers became, your mood began to slowly get worse. you were exhausted, and honestly just wanted to go home and cry. it's been a rough day. you also happened to notice that the fridge below the counter was running low on bottles, so you’d best go stock it.

as you entered the back room, you saw diluc at the desk, filing paperwork. he’d been there for hours, and still hadn’t gone out front to say hello to you.

“y/n”

“diluc”

gosh, the silence could be cut with a knife.

“y’know, it's common practice to greet your employees when you feel like gracing them with your presence”

“i know, i'm sorry, it's just that i got caught up with something and i- are you okay?”

“huh- what? yeah, yeah, i’m fine”

so it seems that the tears in your eyes were still noticeable after all…

he slowly got up from his seat, coming to stand beside you at the shelf.

“i’ll ask again… are you okay?”

this time, you were choked up. you feared that if you spoke, the lump in your throat might dissipate, and you may just begin spilling tears. so, you opted for shaking your head, thinking this would work better, but it didn’t, you still began crying anyway.

“hey, hey, it’s okay. whatever it is, it's okay, i’m here”

he pulled you towards him, allowing you to sob into his chest. what on earth…?

“you should’ve told me, y/n”

“i know but, i thought maybe i’d get distracted and i-”

“it’s okay. i assure you. do you want to go home?”

you just nodded against his chest, breathing in his scent, because you knew you’d have to let him go.

“alright, you can go out the back”

he somewhat awkwardly let go of you, before sending you on your way. how strange. how is he so nice one minute, then as cold as to send you home the next?

“see you tomorrow, y/n”

“s-see you…”

2 months, 1 day

a ringing of your doorbell woke you up, as opposed to your alarm, which was worrying in itself. you quickly checked the clock in your room. shit! 1pm? late for work... how on earth could you have slept this much? and what did this mysterious person at the door want?

you slothed your way out of bed, hair awry, pyjamas…wrinkled, going to the front door to see what this person could possibly want at this time on a tuesday. approaching the door, you saw a tall figure, clad in a red jacket, with something in hand… it couldn’t be… is it…

“diluc?”

“diluc? hi- yes- diluc- me!”

he sighed at himself, meanwhile you were wondering what he was doing with such a massive bouquet of flowers.

“hi”

“i um… wanted to… bring you flowers… because…”

“because…?”

“uhm… would you like to go to dinner tonight? I mean- we can- just- not... if you don't want to... i mean-”

“i’d love to.”

“oh, um… okay! great. here you go…”

he handed you the flowers gently, looking beyond anxious at this point, a blush to compete with the colour of his hair dashed across his cheeks.

“they’re beautiful, diluc”

“you’re- uhm… never mind”

“hah, see you tonight?”

“see you tonight”

he smiled into the words he spoke, before turning around to depart from your doorstep. this however, was interrupted when you grabbed his wrist, turned him around and pecked him on the cheek. he was about to explode. literally. however, his spontaneous combustion was interrupted by someone yelling across the street…

“i knew it!”

of course, you and diluc responded in sync…

“SHUT UP KAEYA!”

hehe

#cael is talking to 🫧 anon :0 #dilucatdeeznuts #diluc fluff #diluc #diluc ragnvindr #genshin #genshin x reader #diluc x reader #diluc imagines #genshin impact

162 notes · View notes

obsessedtomone · 5 months

Text

Unravel Yourself Before Me ⛓️ Chapter 3 - Avoidance▸Shigaraki x femReader

Summary:

◤Why the fuck do you feel like you did something wrong? You thought you’d buried these useless feelings all the way down, but apparently not.

Which prompts you to do something really stupid.“Hey,” you whisper. Why? “Hey, dude.” You test his patience again, a little louder this time and he turns his head, glaring daggers at you. A look you seem to be getting a lot lately◢ Setting: University AU - No quirks (unless degenerate personalities count) Tags: Slow burn, Eventual Smut, Unhealthy/Toxic Relationships, Humiliation, Mentally Ill Reader, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to ??? Warning: Dead Dove – Do Not Eat | Mind the tags TW: Implied Su/Self H, Dubcon, Reader has a super shitty past like actually, Shigaraki Tomura is his own warning.

AO3 Crosspost | Chain Divider by firefly-graphics

Chapters: One • Two • Three • Four

Chapter 3 - Avoidance

Ding!

The front door to the store opens and a customer walks in, politely getting in line behind the customer you were about to serve.

“Hello, how may I help you today?” you say, with your fakest smile and the most saccharine high-pitched voice that would put discord kittens to shame. It’s Wednesday, and this marks your 3rd shift at Cinnabon. You had to look for a job after buying one too many League skins and your scholarship not being enough to cover your bills.

That’s if you didn’t want to get your ass kicked on the streets mid semester in autumn and make buddies with the bridge hobos. You really couldn’t afford that and unlike most people, you lacked a safety net to fall back on. No family on standby, ready to jump whenever you sink. If you really thought about it, you could probably rely on Taylor, but you’d be too proud to ask them for help. You don’t need anyone to save you.

Not anymore.

Which brings you to the part-time where you work from 5 to 11 pm.

“Anything else, sir?” Gene assists, while bagging the delicious cinnamon buns for the customer to take home. You got sick of the cinnamon smell pretty much by the end of your first shift on the job.

It was currently 10:45 pm and the mall was about to close down. Most of the footsteps are dwindling down and setting pace towards the exit. Gene shoots you and Mary, your teenage(?) coworker, a pointed look.

“You guys can start cleaning up, I’ll do the inventory.”

He’s in his late 50s, with a forehead for days, and he’s the legend who hired an ambitionless brat like you. He said he “Saw potential in you, kid.”, whatever that meant. You didn’t argue, though, took the job and now here you are, trying hard not to beat the living shit out of every second asshole who walks in here and acts like they owned you.

“You girls can leave after you’re done, I’ll close up. Good work today.” he says every time and without fail you also routinely respond with an “I can stay and help.”. Hana had already bounced by now, saying she had to catch a movie with a friend or something similar. You didn’t really listen and you didn’t really care.

“Nah, it’s part of my routine. Go home and sleep, kiddo. You look like you need it.” he dismisses you with a smug smile, and you almost want to tell him that you won't, and you’ll probably sink countless hours in some video game instead like you do every night, but you don’t dare to bite the hand that feeds you.

Instead of arguing, you nod, grab your things and leave dressed in your work uniform. You’re too tired to change your clothes, so you’ll just catch the tram like this, smelling like a cinnamon factory. You couldn’t wait to get home and shower this shit off.

─────────

The cool air of humid rainy weather hits your warm oven-baked cheeks first, as you step outside the mall. It’s already so dark, but this is the posh part of the city you lived in, which meant you were unlikely to run into as many weirdos as you would in your own neighborhood alleyway.

On your way to the tram station, you see a small arcade and wonder if you should go in for a round. Unable to resist temptation, you reach in your pockets to feel for coins, and when you finally find a (very) small fortune of today’s tips, you step inside.

The arcade greets you with a certain muffled old carpet smell, exciting electronic sounds and neon lights from familiar and forgotten games. You could feel your heartbeat pick up for the first time in a while. Immediately you go ahead and rush to find your favorite arcade game, Sunset Riders. That game was like your bread and butter when you were a kid, while your shitty foster parents were too busy knocking each other's teeth out to notice when you slipped outside of the house with some of their cash and ran to the local arcade.

Walking around the few rows of game machines, you almost give up, when you finally see it shining all the way in the back in all its glory. To your dismay, the machine was already occupied by some fucking guy. This place was almost empty, what was the chance the one customer hogged your favorite game? Astronomical, you decided.

He side-eyes you for a second and when you turn on your heel to leave, he speaks up. “Oh, umm. Don’t have to leave.” he scratches the back of his head and mumbles. He had long purple hair and was wearing a black jacket on top of a (probably) white hoodie. Or at least you thought it was, since the many flickering neon lights made it hard to tell.

“I was just about to quit anyway. You can have it.” he finishes his round and turns to you. “Have you, uh— have you played this before?” he asks semi-nervously after having an internal debate. “Ah, fuck. That was a stupid question, wasn’t it? Ha ha…” he says, scratching his head some more. “Sorry for that.” There’s no way you’d walk all the way to the back of the arcade for a game if you didn’t know about it beforehand, he quickly realizes.

For some reason that was his tipping point that pushed him to abruptly take his leave, walking past you. But before he was out of hearing range, your mouth opened to answer his question.

“I used to play this a lot as a kid.” you throw a thumb back towards the machine.

At the sound of your voice, he ceases his movement and turns around once again.

“Y-Yeah?” the man smiles. “Same here. I used to play this shit all the time, actually! It’s my favorite a-arcade game.” he stutters and you wonder if it was because you were intimidating to him, but that wouldn’t be surprising. Many had told you they felt afraid of talking to you, because you came across as a bitch. Most of the time, it served you well.

Other times, not so much.

“Yeah.” you reply with a smile, “It’s my favorite too and honestly, I didn’t expect this tiny random arcade to even have a copy.”

He frowns at you as though you’d insulted his ancestors. “Huh? I-It’s not that small, man! They have plenty of games, I could show you!” arcade guy speaks up, if a little too loudly. “Ah! Fuck—I mean, if.. if you’d like. My name’s Iguchi.” he stumbles on his words, blushing.

“Okay, Iguchi,” you say, letting out a rare giggle. “Lead the way.” you cock a brow and his eyes go wide in shock. You had actually said yes to that word vomit and didn’t up and leave. Something that took you by surprise too, if you were honest with yourself.

But you rarely ever are.

Time passes by, as you guys proceed to spend the next few hours, showing each other ‘epic’ strategies and tricks for different machines, as well as taking mental notes of the games that looked interesting and you thought about trying to play again another time. You haven’t been in an arcade in a really long time, simply because you have a pretty good rig at home—and because you are a social recluse. The world’s biggest hermit as Taylor often refers to yourself.

You were genuinely having fun. Like tons of fun.

However, the clock was hitting two in the dead of night and you did have classes at nine tomorrow morning.

“Hey, dude?” you ask, slightly distracted by the co-op game you guys were playing for the past half hour.

“Yeah?” Iguchi replies, half-listening and struggling to keep up with you. He didn’t expect to be bested at one of his favorite games—or close to all of the games you guys have tried for that matter.

“Gotta bounce after this round.” you squint, trying to catch the last few aliens that were escaping your aim.

“Oh.” he freezes and his character idly walks into a wall, getting swarmed by aliens before it dies. “C-Can I...” he mumbles something.

“Hm?” you ask with an encouraging nod in his direction.

“Can I have your number? Or discord tag? Or e-mail or…or anything?” the purple haired boy asks using way too many words, but you didn’t mind.

“Sure, here,” you throw him your ancient phone for him to write his number. “I’ll text you when I’m home.”

It takes him a second to process it, glancing at your device after which he bursts out laughing, if a little too loudly. You cock a brow in response.

“Do they even manufacture these anymore?” he asks between his fits of odd giggles.

Your brows go down in a frown. “Hey, it can call, text and it plays music” you say, knowing Spotify did freeze half the fucking time. “It’s not that bad.” you roll your eyes, his contagious laughter infecting you and making you giggle as well.

“Sure, sure. Here, take it back before it falls apart in my hands and you ask me to buy you a new one. Pretty sure it’d cost me a fortune, since you own the last of its kind.” he says, his remark making you snort and you snatch your artifact from him, putting it back in your pocket.

“Whatever dude, catch you later.” you smile fondly, turning to leave.

“W-Will you text me back? I—uh…it’s gonna sound super lame, but I don’t often make friends and you were so much fun to play with.” he admits shyly. You found it slightly amusing that his appearance looked nothing like his shy personality was.

“Sure,” you lie. “I had hella fun too, man. See ya.” you wave at him, finally make your way home, a tinge of sadness oddly lingering in your heart.

This shit again.

─────────

Class was almost full as usual and you took your seat in the back as usual. It’s Comp-Sci again and you half-wonder if that weird guy’s gonna show up today or if he was going to skip.

The two of you shared CS classes about twice a week, with you last seeing him on Monday, where you left him hanging. In your (totally unbiased) opinion the jerk deserved it, but if you thought about it really hard, you would admit that your antagonistic nature didn’t quite help the only few encounters you two had. Too bad that you didn’t generally think too hard.

Unless it was about video games—or money.

The bell rings, the professor enters the classroom and you realize you might not be seeing your creepy acquaintance today. A relief, honestly. You didn’t know how to deal with his weird mood-swings last time and you didn’t know if you wanted to deal with them this time.

But you’re never lucky as you see a pale, tall, lanky figure slouching amongst other students. You observed carefully and fortunately for you, he seemed to aim for an open front row seat—as far as possible from you. Your best guess was that he couldn’t stand sitting next to you again after the last interaction.

Good riddance, you think.

But you didn’t mean it.

And yet again, you’re never that fucking lucky, so after one of the students first gets startled by his mere presence and then denies him the seat (maybe in favor of their own friend coming in late), he begrudgingly makes his way to the last row. The asshole wouldn’t sit anywhere next to you this time, though, leaving a considerable gap of three whole open seats between the two of you, god forbid you infect him with something. You feel an indescribable feeling twisting in your gut and you roll your eyes.

Why the fuck do you feel like you did something wrong? You thought you’d buried these useless feelings all the way down, but apparently not.

Which prompts you to do something really stupid.

“Hey.” you whisper. Why? “Hey, dude.” you test his patience again, a little louder this time and he turns his head, glaring daggers at you. A look you seem to be getting a lot lately.

“The fuck you want, tramp? Buzz off before I break that stupid little face of yours.” he spits at you in a low, cold voice while tapping away at his phone. Alright, he definitely closed himself off after last time, lock and fucking key.

Scoffing, you reply with a “Whatever.”, and turn back to your seat with a scowl.

It makes him raise a brow that you don’t notice.

No witty come-back? No bite? No dumb threats?

His carmine eyes observe you carefully for just a second longer, like you were some anomaly—a glitch in the game, after which he ignores you completely for the rest of the class, the blatant gesture aggravating your already bad mood.

“For the next project, you’ll work in groups of four. I’ve uploaded the name lists and your project themes. Make sure to reach out and cooperate, team effort will be key here.” your professor spoke, gesturing at the class. “Deadline is in two weeks from now and tardiness will not be tolerated. All groups will get enough time to present in front of the class.” he clarifies, and then your class ends.

You don’t even bother to check the teacher’s briefing as you beeline for the exit.

For some reason, you feel kind of upset—no, really fucking upset at the earlier interaction, and you don’t understand why.

The universe, however, wouldn’t allow you to dwell on this feeling for much longer.

#shigaraki x reader #shigaraki x y/n #emotional hurt/comfort #shigaraki tomura #unhealthy relationships #dead dove do not eat #trigger warnings #shigaraki tomura x reader #shigaraki fanfiction #shigaraki x you #tenko shimura #tomura shigaraki #college au #reader is female

21 notes · View notes

generic-whumperz · 1 month

Text

OC in 3

Choose 3 pics to represent your OC

Oops, I got overly excited and made 10 three-picture collages

Omg thank you @mj-iza-writer for the tag! I am honored that I came to mind! 🥹

No pressure (& open to anyone interested!) tag: @rainydaywhump @eatyourdamnpears @clairelsonao3 @dresden-syndrome @lights-out-knives-out @snakebites-and-ink

Soooo, I know I’m supposed only to pick three pics, but honestly, I simply cannot (I know, no surprise there). I have been wanting to do a vibe photo dump for The Aid (the Whumpee & title of the story) but have yet to do it (hello, my ever-expanding Pinterest boards), so I’ll take this chance to explore The Aid’s past phases he’s gone through (pre & post-Wyatt {Whumper #2}) and give some explanations because it’s a lot. However, I don’t know if explanations are necessary for this tag game, but I’m famously too much, so of course, I’m going to over-explain myself because of my crippling fear of being misunderstood!

Ironically (ironic because his real name reveal doesn't come until around chapter 25-ish), I call his time with Madame Eleanor (technical Whumper #1) his “Aid Era” because that’s when he becomes this character we are introduced to and currently know him as. Yet, this is the part of his life he is phasing out of. **Insert something-something about being haunted by your past.**

In the current storyline, he is going through a succession of more changes, and his world is about to be turned upside down yet again, but I’ll hold off on showing those for now because they’re spoilers, and I have more than enough here!

Starting from the top, here we goooo—

P.S. The people in these pics are not what the characters look like, this is simply vibes only!

Day 1

1. As soon as The Aid arrives at his new home, Madame Eleanor gets custom-made Gucci uniforms made for him that looks like this. This is his go-to everyday attire. (I spent too long looking at scrubs and hospitality uniforms on and off for over a month—tell me you like it and think it’s cool and sleek.)

2. He has a special built-in in his closet specifically for all his fancy, jewel-encrusted collars Madame Eleanor gifted him throughout the years, but this is what the facility's standard-issue collar looks like for his designation (Grand Servant: Domestic Aid).

3. His favorite Prada frames Madame Eleanor also got him that he bitches reminisces about in Chapter 6 (Wyatt breaks them because he’s an asshole, leaving him straight up blind for several months).

Fancy Threads

Eleanor Sullivan was a Rich Bitch™️ (I will make a separate post at some point about her house and The Aid’s room specifically because I spent way too much time obsessing over these deets), so best believe she had her servant dressed to the 9s in designer fits when out and about or for Family events and the like. She may also put him in a butler uniform from time to time when they were hosting a party at their residence—which was often, Eleanor was known for her soirées. (To clarify, he’d still wear a collar even when dressed up, and all those attending knew who and what he was.)

The Host

He loved a good party just as much as Eleanor did! He likes serving and seeing people have fun and enjoy themselves (people-pleasing empath). He was known for his food displays and had a knack for creating a proper afternoon tea spread that garnered attention from all those present. I also have Pinterest boards of some appetizer spreads and cool drink tables he would put together because I was really trying to understand him as a character.

Speaking of Empath…

We can’t talk about him without bringing up his not-so-secret secret! Lil’ homie has a gang of abilities (telepathic empathy, hyper intuition, premonitions, and psychometry) just bubbling up inside him at all times. His relationship with himself and his sixth senses is complicated, to say the least—he finds them burdensome, yet he cannot function without them, despite how much he argues otherwise. It’s a whole thing, but for a certified Telepathic-Empath™️, he sure is dead inside (which only gets worse after Wyatt OFC).

*Sorry for the shitty upload quality of the Emotional Sponge, idk why it looks so bad!

Domestic Duties

Not only can he slap together the best charcuterie board you’ve ever seen and easily untangle Christmas lights, but he’s also a man who can cook, clean, and keep a house. What can’t he do?

Hobbies? Interests?

Don’t be ridiculous, he didn’t have time for leisure activities! But when he had some occasional downtime, he would spend an ungodly amount of it doing facials and grooming himself. He also loved to go to the spa with Madame Eleanor. As far as reading went, he wasn’t into novels, but he would occasionally peruse short-story myths and legends, old fables, or read picture books in funny voices to Eleanor’s grandchildren. Primarily, he’d like to read trashy magazines, comics, and cookbooks. But let’s be real, he considered cleaning, gossiping, and baking his primary hobbies.

RIP Madame Eleanor Sullivan

(She’s been dead for about a year and a half when they story picks up)

First and foremost—above everything else—The Aid was Eleanor Sullivan’s literal live-in medically trained caregiver, which is why she bought him in the first place. They had a very close relationship for five years, and he did everything for her. When she died, his world was shattered, and he took her death really hard. Wyatt was jealous of his Mother’s relationship with her servant from day one, which is where part of his animosity comes from. Quick note—Eleanor was a posh, vintage-Chanel-wearing Grandma and would never be caught dead wearing a bathrobe outside. Eleanor was Queen of being That Bitch.

Enter: Wyatt Sullivan

These pics are pretty tame all things considered, but after Eleanor’s death, The Aid is now in a World O’ Hurt and the subject of Wyatt’s drug-and-alcohol-fueled rage. The Aid went from a high-class servant loved by his Madame and respected by her friends, associates, and family (besides Wyatt) to a human punching bag overnight. The beef between these two runs deep and maybe Eleanor isn’t as innocent as she seems. Stick around and you’ll find out all the Sullivan family tea.

To: Wyatt

Just some memes directed towards Wyatt and The Aid being painfully aware of his shitty situation (I got too many of these and had to sprinkle some in).

Where We’re at Now…

Quite the fall from grace, wouldn’t you say? Our boy is currently bed-ridden and zombified while having the worst time imaginable. He’s drugged up, fucked up, and can’t move half of his body! But don’t be fooled, this stay-cation is no fluffy recovery arc and you’ll meet some more distasteful Sullivans soon to come!

This took me an embarrassing amount of time to assemble, but I went the extra mile because this doubles as a reference guide. I had a lot of fun making this and I may make more (and way more chill ones that are just three pics, I swear) after I write Part 2 and introduce a gang of other characters alongside my most favorite-favorite guy!

12 notes · View notes

thesparklingwriter · 1 year

Text

a moment to ourselves

“I never said I would be the only wearing the face mask, did I?”

tags: pet names, Zhongli is very pure, soft Zhongli, fem!reader, Zhongli and reader are in a relationship, reader works a lot and zhongli wants his wife back, this does not follow the slight plot that was emerging so no amber, sorry :(

masterlist | ao3 link | taglist | next

everybody say thank you rin for this chapter :)

You’ve been quite busy with work the past few weeks, so you often go to bed late and wake up late to an empty bed. Zhongli resists the urge to wake you up every morning before he leaves, but he knows you need your sleep, so he never does. But today is a little bit of an emergency.

“Love, may I ask you a favour?” He asks softly, running a hand through your hair. He feels horrible for waking you up, but he’s also feels horrible because he’s barely spoken to his wife properly in weeks.

You stretch as you wake, confusion in your eyes. “Did I oversleep?” You yawn, and Zhongli laughs, lowering his head to kiss you lightly.

“No, you’ve about an hour.” He says. “I wanted to ask you for a favour.”

“I’m listening,” you smile. Ordinarily, you’d be upset that your sleep has been affected, but all in all, you’ve missed your husband. So you don’t complain. Zhongli is pretty much dressed for work, his long silken hair falling over his shoulder as he sits next to you and begins to talk, his voice husky.

“We have an important customer coming into the parlour today, and he very much values traditional Liyuean customs. I thought it might be suitable to ask you to do my hair.” He clears his throat as he awaits your verdict.

“That’s very sweet.” you smile.

Zhongli clears his throat again, surprised by your compliment. “Attention to detail is simply very important at the parlour. I’ll take you out to dinner to reimburse you for your time.”

“Li, my love, not everything has to be give and take, you know.” You chuckle. “I’ll do it for you, free of charge.”

Although you’ve told Zhongli this thousands of times, he still seems slightly unconvinced by your words. “Alright,” he sighs. “I’ll go and get the brush.” He disappears into the bathroom, for longer than is strictly necessary for a man who is simply collecting a brush.

“Are you drowning in the cabinets or something?” You call, chuckling to yourself.

“You’re quite the jokester,” Zhongli calls back. “Hu Tao gave me some face masks last week. I’ve been intending to give them to you, but we seem to have been a little out of sync lately.”

You chuckle to yourself. The distance has been palpable—although neither of you are mad at each other, the fact remains: you’re asleep when Zhongli is awake and when you’re awake, Zhongli is asleep or also working.

“I don’t know if I have time…” you sigh. You want to stay here, you really want to, but you can’t be late. Not again.

“You have time. I took the liberty of rescheduling some of your duties this morning.”

“Zhongli!” You groan incredulously. He usually doesn’t intrude into your life like this—he just asks you to do things and hopes you’ll pull through with it. He has been asking you to ease up on the work for a while now. Maybe you pushed him a little too far.

“I will not apologise. You deserve a break.” He hands you the pot, and you can’t even be mad at him. The face mask smells really good, and it’s cold to the touch. It’s just what you you need right now. You want to be mad at him for taking liberties, but you know you need the break.

“Alright. You win. I’ll put the face mask on and I’ll do your hair, and then I’ll go to work. Deal?”

Zhongli hums, as if he’s weighing up the pros and cons of this deal in his head before he agrees. But him saying no to you was never really an option. You shovel your hand into the face mask and smother it on his nose, making him blink in surprise. “I never said I would be the only wearing the face mask, did I?” you tease.

Zhongli retaliates by doing the same, but he manages to get most of it on your mouth.You drag your hand across your mouth to try and get it off, but you only smear it further, causing him to chuckle heartily at you.

“You're such a cheat.” you complain, but Zhongli pays you no mind, reaching out to wipe your lips with his thumb, which, unsurprisingly, doesn’t work. You open your mind to complain once again, but you’re silenced by Zhongli pressing his lips against yours. He kisses you gently, as if he has all the time in the world, and for the first time this week, you feel like time has stopped for you.

“I’ve missed you,” he says softly. “I really have. Would it be cruel of me to ask you to work less?”

You pretend to contemplate as you layer some more of the mask onto his face. “Not if you ask nicely, I suppose.”

“Was that not asking nicely?” Zhongli grins playfully.

“I think you can do better.” You laugh, standing up to go and wash your hands so you can do his hair. Zhongli pulls you back to him by your hand, settling you on his lap. “What’s this about now?”

“I’m not letting you go until you agree to lower your hours. You’re over working yourself, it’s not healthy.” Zhongli litters your hair with kisses as he tries to reason with you. Little does he know you’ve been convinced since the moment he opened his mouth.

“You’re getting the mask in my hair,” you groan. “I’ll sort it out, okay? As long it makes you stop whining.”

“I am not whining.”

a/n i really just wanted someone to tell me to work less so i made Zhongli say it lol

#[🐉]—sponsored by rin #tswzhongliflufftober #genshin #genshin x reader #zhongli x reader #zhongli fluff #zhongli flufftober #zhongli #genshin impact #genshin fluff #flufftober #zhongli fanfic #flufftober2022 #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction

190 notes · View notes

bluetintcore · 2 years

Text

shopping headcannons ᥫ᭡ the gang.

synopsis ↝ in which you live through the chaos of shopping with nancy, steve, robin, and eddie. :)

pairings ↝ stranger things gang x fem!reader.

warnings ↝ swearing, eddie and steve being eddie and steve

notes ↝ just finished season 4 and i swear if they kill off my wife nancy wheeler i will not be watching the show ever again !! (creds to gif owner)

the real question of the night is how in the hell did you convince them all to go.

you first brought up the idea to nancy, and she was actually excited to go; because she thought it was going to be the two of you.

little did she know, you invited all of your closest friends to tag along with you guys.

steve actually also didn’t mind the idea of shopping, but he also didn’t know nancy was tagging along with you guys.

robin said no at first but after some convincing from you and steve, she eventually gave in.

eddie said no.

“no way, (y/n), that’s probably the dumbest fucking idea you’ve ever came up with!”

“why is it dumb? it’ll be so much fun, pretty please?”

“no.. and stop looking at me like that.”

“i’ll pay you.”

eddie raised his eyebrow at you, “how much?”

“i’ll give you all of my birthday savings,” you smirked.

“deal.”

were you actually going to give him your birthday savings? absolutely not.

nancy was completely surprised when you told her about inviting the other three. she wasn’t necessarily mad more like “damn girl you really invading our plans” because it was you and nancy’s plan in the beginning.

steve and eddie are absolutely chaotic, looking after them in the mall was LITERALLY like looking after 10 year olds

“eddie, stop touching things if you’re not going to buy them!”

“buying things? with what money? i’ve been forced here against my will!” eddie whined.

“me too,” robin said, grabbing a pack of gum from the shelf.

this was actually a very nice time for nancy because she’s constantly working her ass off, so getting to go out and buy things for herself felt nice.

to be completely honest, nancy was the only one who even bought things.

she’s the mom of the group as well, so she was literally yelling at the four of you like a real mother.

during your guys time at the mall, you, nancy, and robin were exiting a store. you guys had told the guys to stay put outside and that you guys would be right out.

the three of you weren’t even in the store for more than two minutes ..

once you guys are out you immediately notice steve and eddie missing so obviously you’re like “??”

your confusion was soon answered as your eyes meet with a running eddie munson with steve hot on his trail

these mfs were racing. in the mall.

the concerned looks of the other customers made robin laugh and cheer them on but you and nancy are like “bitch you fr rn”

but all hell breaks loose when steve goes to grab at eddie’s hair but instead of succeeding, falls smack on his ass

eddie stops and turns around wide eyed, before laughing at steve trying to pick himself up

how you guys didn’t get kicked out of the mall is beyond me

“since we literally cannot trust two grown adult men to not have supervision inside a mall, you guys are coming with us while we shop!” nancy said.

groans were heard from eddie, but steve was just glad the embarrassment of falling was wearing off

“do you guys think this dress would look pretty on me?”

“no, eddie, put that down.”

“why?”

“because it’s literally a children’s dress.”

meanwhile robin is rubbing a soft blanket before turning to nancy, “imagine shaving your legs and then covering up with this.”

nancy smiled, “that would be just magical.”

steve just standing there like🕴🏻

“you guys wanna go get slushees?”

“fuck yeah!”

you, nancy, robin, and eddie sat at a booth in the corner while steve ordered your guys slushees

after a few minute wait, the four of you heard a loud screech

you turn to look at the counter and see steve with wide eyes and a worker with blue slushee stained all over her top.

“shit, i am so sorry!” steve said, frantically trying to wipe her shirt down with a napkin, but that just ended up smearing

the lady reported you guys and turns out, people had reported your guys group before the slushee incident

while steve and eddie were racing, many people reported you guys

and the lady reporting you guys must’ve been the last straw because you guys were kicked out

“great going, harrington.” robin said as you guys all sat on the curb outside.

“yeah, yeah.”

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #headcannons #stranger things #stranger things headcannons #stranger things x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #nancy wheeler #nancy wheeler x reader #robin buckley #robin buckley x reader #nancy wheeler imagine #robin buckley imagine #stranger things x fem!reader

633 notes · View notes

preciouslandmermaid · 2 years

Text

nothing’s gonna hurt you baby (carmy x f!reader) - part 10

Note: I have an order for Yearning, table of 1. Also, I love the trope where the man is so in love that it makes him a pathetic loser. I love that shit.

Warnings/Tags: None

Synopsis: It's fourth of July and Richie invites you to come see some fireworks with everyone. You decide to go even if Carmy isn't. Some secrets can only be told the dark, in the space between bursts of color, when everyone else is distracted.

(Read on Ao3) /// (Masterpost)

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

Most businesses were closed for Fourth of July. You, however, were not. You were on custom-orders only, which meant no one could enter without proof of an order slip, but somehow—Richie got in. He swaggered into your office with a big grin, opening his arms like he’d hug you, before dropping them at your cold, serious look.

“What, no love for the guy who beat up your dad?”

You rolled your eyes, pointed to the invoices on your desk with your pen, “I’m working.”

Richie stepped behind and leaned over you while holding the back of your desk chair. It wobbled a little with the new weight and pressure. You resisted the urge to elbow him off.

“Doesn’t look as grim as Carmy’s office.” He said with a snort before pushing away and you caught yourself against the edge of your desk before your chair could roll forward. You frowned at his words. How much trouble was Carmy in? You still didn’t know even after helping him with the IRS situation. All you had were hints and clues and none of them boded well. If only he’d ask you for help, you could probably help him arrange for a first-time business owner loan or a bailout.

He peered at the whiteboard on the wall, grabbing a marker without asking, and wrote ‘I love Richie’ in bold letters. You sighed and reorganized your paperwork into a neat, color-coded folder.

“Are you just here to annoy me because the Beef is closed?” You asked. “Because if so, I’ll put you to work. Unpaid.”

Richie’s laughing blue eyes cut to you, mid-drawing of Fak holding a dick, “Hah! Nice try, but that’s illegal. I’m not here to be your bitchboy.”

“What a shame.” You joined him at the whiteboard and started erasing his artwork. He leaned his shoulder against the wall, folded his lanky arms across his chest and grinned. You noticed he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring anymore.

“Oh yeah? You into the dom-stuff?” He asked with far too much interest for your liking. Was he trying to flirt with you? Or did Richie still assume you and Carmy were together? You huffed through your nostrils. You and Carmy were friends. That was it. You hoped to pursue something romantic with him, but not now. Everything was too chaotic, too stressful. If you tried a relationship, you’d be a mess, and he deserved someone more put-together, more perfect, more healed.

You said, “I’m into you leaving my office.”

“Rude.” He replied without heat, “What’re you doing tonight?”

“Oh my god! Richie?!” You dropped the eraser and placed your hand over your heart, “Are you asking me out?” You mocked with fake surprise and glee.

“You wish, sweetheart.” His grin widened. “Nah, we’re having fireworks at Seward Park. You know it?”

You nodded and Richie said, “You should come.”

You eyed him dubiously, “You got a permit to launch fireworks?”

Richie laughed.

“Fuck no.” He peered down at you, “I just know the beat cop working the area and asked him to look the other way.”

Richie came all this way just to invite you to an illegal firework celebration. Incredible. Your phone was heavy and silent in your pocket. Why didn’t Carmy tell you about it? Did he think you wouldn’t want to go? Was he going? You tried to imagine it, Carmy in a state of relaxation, and your nose crinkled even as a smile pulled at the corners of your mouth.

“Oh, I know that dopey-eyed look.” He teased.

You lightly shoved him, “Shut up, Richie, and get out of my office.”

He took a pointed step backward, hands up in surrender before tucking them into the pockets of his track pants.

“Just come, alright? Bring some fucking crêpes or whatever.” He backpaddled out of your office and you heard him yelling farewells to your staff. The marker left residue on the board, like an echo, a faded ghost of Richie’s shitty drawings, and you chuckled to yourself with a small shake of your head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You decided to go to Steward Park even if Carmy wasn’t there. Because otherwise your evening would consist of take-out and watching re-runs of the Great British Bake Off. It’ll be good to get out of the rut of routine and be social for one night. You could afford it. It would be good for you (or so you hoped).

You trekked across the damp grass toward the cluster of people silhouetted by camping lanterns and the tiny, telltale reddish glows of lit cigarettes. You’ve got a tin of cookies tucked under your arm and a special cupcake with extra frosting for your favorite annoying string bean of a man. You noticed Carmy among them, talking to a blonde woman, and you quashed the unnecessary jealousy that burbled in your stomach.

Marcus was the first to notice you, his smile bright and welcoming, “You made it!”

“I made it.” You placed the tin of cookies onto the white, folded table on the grass. The food laid out is standard Beef affair—hot dogs with toppings on the side, roast beef sandwiches, and a cooler with ice and cans of pop. Eva, clearly up past her bedtime, immediately grabbed for the cookie tin with her mom trailing behind.

Marcus asked, “Did you make these?”

You shook your head. “Dani.”

“I’m sure they’re fire.”

“Try ‘em first.” You replied, shrugging, though your grin is proud and earnest. You recognized nearly everyone here—except for the blonde woman talking to Carmy a few feet away and the dork in the sweater vest. The needle in your chest dug deeper. You ignored it. Tina introduced you to her son. Angel introduced you to his sister. Syd introduced you to her dad. Everyone had someone with them, and you bit the inside of your cheek. Richie didn’t mention shit about bringing guests or dates.

Speaking of Richie….you find him in the crowd.

“Hey! Richie!” He looked to you, “I brought you something.” You announced, holding his cupcake aloft and raising both eyebrows at him.

He chortled.

“Sweetheart! You shouldn’t have.” His hand extended for the treat, and you pulled it out of his grasp while grinning.

“Open your mouth.” You said, giddiness building in your chest, with a desperate attempt to hold back your smile in case he caught onto your plan.

“Wow!” Richie looked to the others with a toothy grin. “All this time you’ve been holding a torch for me, angel? Goddamn.”

He tilted his head, “You know my ex-wife is here, right?”

“Are you going to chicken out because she’s here or are you going to let me feed you this cupcake?” You challenged.

Richie leaned forward, getting to your eyelevel, and you wasted no time whatsoever—you smashed the cupcake into his cheek and only barely hitting the corner of his mouth. The circle of Beef employees that were congregated around you burst in uproarious laughter.

You found Carmy’s laugh, like a frayed thread in a ball of yarn, and held it close to your heart.

“God!” You laughed, tears springing to your eyes at Richie’s shocked expression. “I’ve been dying to do that since the day we met.”

“Oh yeah!?”

Richie wiped some of the frosting and crumbs from his cheek with his fingertips and swiped at your face. You laughed harder and stumbled backward, hitting someone’s chest as Richie smeared icing against your temple, and it caught in the hairs at your scalp.

“it’s actually pretty good though,” He declared while sucking the frosting from his fingers.

You spun, meeting Carmy’s eyes, and realized it was him who you bumped into. Even in the low light, you saw the amusement dancing in his blue eyes, the lines that crinkled around them. Your heart illuminated like a firework, sending phosphorus smoke through your veins.

“Hi.” You couldn’t think of anything more eloquent or witty to say.

“Hey.” He responded softly, “You’ve got—” His fingertips grazed across your temple, dusting away crumbs and icing, and your breath caught inside your chest.

“Yeah, yeah.” You choked out, your mind went haywire at his casual, intimate touch. “Worth it.”

“Hm.” His lips flattened into a thin smile, “Totally.”

The unknown blonde and guy in the sweater vest approached you. You angled your body away from Carmy, forming into a semi-circle, and offered them a neutral smile. Was this Carmy’s date? And if so, who was the guy with her? Maybe the reason Carmy didn’t tell you about the fireworks was because he was bringing someone. Your stomach twisted and you wished you had something to fidget with between your hands.

“Hi, I’m Natalie.” She offered her hand to you.

You were the world’s biggest idiot. It wasn’t his date. It’s his sister.

She gestured to the dorky man next to her, “This is my husband, Pete.”

“Howdy.” Pete said, “Nice to meet you.”

He started babbling about your grandfather, citing magazine articles, and popular restaurants in the area. You rubbed the back of your neck and adjusted the weight of grief on your shoulders. You foolishly thought that no one here would bring up your granddad tonight. You hoped to have a reprieve. Apparently, no such luck existed in the world. You tuned out Pete, listening, instead to snippets of conversation around you: Richie talking to his daughter about Dinosaurs, Syd talking to Tina about mashed potatoes, Ebra explaining to Fak that he doesn’t want to celebrate Forth of July and is only here to see if Richie lights himself on fire.

“Anyway, I guess what I’m really trying to say is that it’s really cool—what you’re doing, I mean.”

You blinked, surprised, “W-what?”

“The bakery.” Pete clarified, albeit sheepishly, “He never tried to do that, right? So, you’re kind of like, trailblazing, huh?” He said while nodding.

“I – yeah? I guess.” The back of your neck tingled. You glanced to Carmy beside you and his smile was light and faintly hidden by his knuckles as he scratched under his nose.

Carmy said, “Hm, he’s right.” The subtle, white glow of camping lanterns softened Carmy’s curls falling across his forehead and painted gentle shadows of his eyelashes across his cheekbones. His golden chain peeked out from the collar of his pristine shirt and your heart somersaulted.

“It’s incredible.” He said with a meaningful look to you. One that made you feel like you were stripped bare, rearranged, and reconfigured like you were a well-loved recipe carved into delicate, coffee-stained paper. All the atoms inside your body electrified and vibrated beneath his stare and your tongue was heavy and wordless between your teeth.

“Alright!” Richie clapped his hands, breaking the moment, “Get comfortable! The show’s about to start.”

“Yes!” Ebra clapped louder, “Yes! Go white boy!”

Carmy and Pete moved away, leaving you alone with Natalie, an opportunity which she took full advantage of.

“I’m glad he has you.” She blurted before you could join the others on the blankets. You stared at her, wide-eyed, before regaining your composure.

“It’s good that he has friends.” She continued, “Even more so that those friends are people outside of work.”

“I am across the street.” You said, in case she didn’t know, or had forgotten. In full view, you could see the similarities between them now. They carried the same shadow of grief below their eyes. Although Natalie’s eyes were softer, and the faint lines on her forehead that suggested she often furrowed her brow. You wondered how the family dynamic played out now that Mikey was gone. Natalie was the eldest, did she feel responsible to Carmy?

“Yeah but,” She shrugged, “That place is a black hole.” She didn’t even try to hide the sadness or the anger from her voice. “And he needs people—good people—to lean on.”

You smiled. “What makes you assume I’m a good person?”

Natalie doesn’t miss a beat. “I know you were the one to call in the favor at the IRS.” She said, “And believe it or not, it takes a lot for us Berzatto’s to let people in, let alone someone like him and…”

She trailed off, her gaze drifting across the lawn to Carmy sitting alone on a blanket, his arms resting on his bended knees. His hair blew softly in the breeze. You clenched your fingers into fists at your side with shameless longing to walk over and card your fingers through it. Even surrounded by laughter and sparklers, Carmy appeared forlorn and pensive, and your chest rattled with sympathy.

“Anyway,” She cleared her throat, “I’m happy we finally had the chance to meet in person.”

You dug at the grass with the toe of your sneaker, “Maybe you’ll see more of me.”

Natalie reached out and squeezed your forearm, “I hope so.” She said with a quick, friendly smile.

She left you to join Pete and you stood in a weird pocket of space, watching the blankets and lawn chairs fill up, your hands numb and quiet at your sides.

Tina tossed a blanket over her sons’ shoulders and kissed his cheek, muttering something in Spanish, and he groaned—embarrassed—in reply. Tiffany sat on a woven, red lawn chair with Eva in her lap. Pete put his arm around Natalie after opening a can of pop for her. Syd draped a blanket over her dad’s lap, talking low and quiet, before laughing at something Marcus said. Fak and Ebra were at the table, still chatting, while scooping condiments onto their hot dogs—their paper plates balanced precariously in hand.

The word came to mind like rainwater to glass: Family.

Your throat tightened and an itching desire to turn and walk away before anything started buried under your skin. With a strange, magnetic force, your gaze pulled to Carmy – sitting alone. You hesitated at the edge of everything and considered your worthiness to sit among them. You took a cautious step forward.

Richie shouted, “Here we go!”

Carmy’s head turned away from the fireworks and toward you. His profile illuminated in a burst of red, hissing light. His large nose, and greasy curls were briefly set alight, washed in crimson like an ambulance siren. An emotion swelled in your chest, too big and too terrifying to name, as the park erupted in loud golden sparkles and a chorus of ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ echoed through the dark, smoky air.

You were at the precipice of cowardice and desire. You could turn, flee into the shadowed park, and tell Richie something came up. Or you could step forward, into the bright unknown, into the messy future.

The world flashed with color and bright, booming sound.

Carmy’s hand twitched, a quick motion that you almost missed in the erratic light of the fireworks, and you realized with a mind-numbing surprise that he was beckoning you. His eyes met yours, honest and expectant.

A firework whistled, arching across the sky like a shooting star, blue and white and lovely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carmy’s heart thundered inside his chest. The distance between you was less than ten steps, but it felt like a hundred miles.

Every firework cast a sudden, colorful radiance to your skin. Your eyes glistened and crinkled softly at the edges, like the pages of a worn cookbook, when you smiled at him. He doesn’t use the word ‘beautiful’ often. But there was no better way to describe you. You were beautiful. His beautiful, ambitious, and achingly wonderful friend.

He only came tonight because Richie mentioned he invited you. Now, he couldn’t help but feel grateful that he did. He wanted to remember this moment forever. He ignored everything else—the laughter, the exclamations of delight, the faint smell of smoke in the air and cars drifting down the street.

There was only you, and him, and the footsteps that separated you. A firework blazed green and blue and the tightness in his chest unraveled as you started walking toward him. He scooted to make room for you on the warm, flannel blanket.

Your shoulder brushed against his, but you didn’t move away. The sky sizzled, smoke trailing like the exhaled breath of a great monster, and you tossed the extra blanket over your bare legs.

You asked, “What truck bed did Richie buy these fireworks from?” During a brief respite of Richie setting up the next round.

Carmy scoffed, “Like he’d tell any of us.”

“Hm. Good point.” Your lips pursed, and he’s never wanted to kiss you more than in this moment. And it’s not just because you slept together in the past. It’s something else. Something newer and scarier and less defined. It would be so easy to incline his head forward and brush his lips against yours.

Carmy tore his eyes away from your mouth before he did something outrageously stupid. He wanted to keep your friendship more than he wanted your affection. He tugged at the edge of the blanket over your legs, adjusting it, so he’d have something to do with his hands.

You said, “I talked to your sister.”

“Oh yeah?” He couldn’t imagine what Sugar would want to talk about after Pete’s weird fanboy moment. Although he could begrudgingly admit that Pete’s admiration of you mirrored his own and he supposed that wasn’t the worst thing to have in common with his brother-in-law. You were amazing. He wanted more people to recognize that, to see you beyond your family, and all the things they accomplished. You deserve to have that.

“She said she was glad we’re friends.”

“Mhm, well, I’m a loser.” He gestured to his chest, “I don’t usually have friends.”

“You have me.” Your voice was soft, and oh-so-gently teasing that his jaw clenched. Yes, he had you. His chest warmed and he peered over at you through heavily lidded eyes. Your front teeth pressed into your lower lip, a tempting sight, and Carmy forced himself to look into your eyes.

He muttered, “Present company obviously excluded.”

A fresh display of brilliant fireworks erupted in the sky, cutting your conversation short, though Carmy only half-heartedly watched them. He kept glancing over to you, seeing your face illumed in a rainbow of colors, brief and gorgeous flashes of pleasure in the relaxed slack to your jaw and the slight widening of your eyes. He savored every second with a subtle, quiet smile affixed to his lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nerves danced in your heart, walked a tightrope across your stomach, but the curiosity would burn you up from the inside-out if you didn’t ask. You leaned into Carmy, pressing your face into the side of his head to speak into his ear, as fireworks boomed overhead. Their noise was your courage and your protection. No one would overhear this. This question was for him and him alone.

“So, no…girlfriends or boyfriends then?” You asked. You could assume his answer, but you wanted—needed—to know for the sake of the future. For when you were healed enough, and less broken, and less messy and you could ask him out properly and do things that couples do. Your breath quieted inside your lungs as you awaited his answer.

Carmy snorted with laughter, shaking his head, “No way.” He paused, swallowing. “You?”

The sky was silent with tendrils of smoke and scattered stars.

Maybe his answer meant he liked you, maybe his answer meant he didn’t like serious relationships, or maybe it meant nothing more and was simply a statement of a fact. Regardless of what could be read between the lines, hope took root inside your chest, twining around your ribs, and refused to let go.

“Nah.” You shrugged. In the gesture, his warm, solid forearm skimmed across yours and your skin prickled with goosebumps. He was so close, yet he wasn’t close enough.

“But…um…that might change in the future.” You admitted softly. “I mean I hope it does. I’d—I’d like it to.”

You searched his face, watching his clear, blue eyes register with shock and his brow crinkle.

He looked toward Richie in the distance setting up for the finale.

This was your confession, your secret, and you offered it to him on a blanket beneath a sky of ghostly fireworks. It’s not that you wanted a random relationship in the future. You wanted one with him. You twisted your fingers in your lap, knuckles popping, as Carmy’s silence continued for an agonizing amount of seconds.

Carmy nodded, “That’s—that’s good.” He said finally.

You blinked, swallowing your disbelief, and tilted your body away from his. You drew your knees to your chest, arms wrapping around them, and joined everyone in clapping for the final display of fireworks. You could feel Carmy’s eyes on you, but you refused to face him, because you were afraid he might see the hurt and confusion on your face.

You were lost in the enchantment of the moment and lulled into believing that he felt something more for you. Especially after how he looked at you when the fireworks began. You crawled back into the protective shell around your heart. It was better like this, wasn’t it? It was better to be his friend than to be nothing at all.

Richie ran across the grass, cigarette dangling from his lips, and barreled onto your shared blanket with Carmy. He nearly headbutted you in the process. You and Carmy shouted with surprise and annoyance as Richie literally shoved himself between you.

You pushed at his shoulder though it was like pushing stubborn stone, “Richie! Fuck off.”

He groaned, “You have the best seats.” He stretched out and puffed smoke around your head.

“Come on, cousin!” Carmy snapped, “What are you doing?”

“I don’t need you sucking face in front of Eva.” He said before Fak lit the fireworks and all conversation was drowned out through the dazzling lights and sound. You stole the cigarette from Richie’s mouth, ignoring his shout of alarm, and took a fortifying inhale of nicotine. He smoked the same brand as Carmy, and your heart fluttered with the memory of his mouth on yours and tasing like this.

You blew smoke to the stars. You took that fragile, rooted hope in your chest and buried it like a promise. A promise to heal, to grow, and learn from this. You would be the best possible friend to Carmy notwithstanding your romantic feelings. You caught Natalie smiling at you from her spot. You smiled back, hearing her words: ‘I’m glad he has you’ repeated inside your head.

You were glad to have him. You weren’t going to lose him.

“You’re such an asshole.” Richie said, chuckling, when you returned his cigarette back to him.

You smiled. “Takes one to know one.”

Richie squinted, holding the cigarette to his lips, “Hmph. You’re not wrong.”

“She rarely is.” Carmy muttered, casting his gaze heavenward, the smoke from Richie’s cigarette curling around his eyes and obscuring them.

“Cousin, you are so whipped it’s not even funny anymore.”

You and Carmy said, “Shut up, Richie!”

“I rest my fucking case.” Richie stood, flicking ash on the blanket, “G’night, simps. You’re welcome for the whole fucking show. Maybe next time have a little gratitude because otherwise I’m not inviting you to shit. Capisce?”

You rolled your eyes, brushing ash away with your hand. “Dick.” You said once Richie was out of earshot. You caught Carmy’s eyes, “Was he always like this?”

He looked at you questioningly.

“Before…” You let the words hang unsaid in the empty air. Before Mikey.

“Yeah, I – I think so. It was just…” Carmy frowned, “Mikey was always the loud one, you know? Richie’s gotten louder since he’s—he’s been gone.”

You nodded. The voids people left behind are complex and nuanced and hardly straightforward. You only know pieces of Michael through Carmy, and through Richie’s personality, but you have a rough sketch of the eldest Berzatto. You imagined the void Mikey left behind must be massive. Like a black hole, you thought, remembering Natalie’s words again.

You tapped your fingers against the flannel, “Can I ask a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Walk me to the L?” You asked sheepishly as if he might say no.

He swallowed and you allowed yourself to marvel at the muscles of his throat.

Quietly, he said, “Can I walk you home?” His words were so unbelievable that you wonder if they’re a hallucination. “I know your station, but – um – it’s a holiday and people are crazy and—”

“Okay.” You interrupted before you thought better of it and before you could talk yourself out of it.

“Sure, sure, yeah.” You shrugged, wearing easy confidence and nonchalance like glass armor, and hoping your true feelings don’t shine through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stairwell creaked beneath your sneakers, and you fiddled with your apartment keys. The L train had been one of the fastest in recent memory. You talked about the day-to-day at the bakery, sharing some of the core moments, like Leslie’s ex-girlfriend ordering a wedding cake. He shared with you a story about Mikey, and Richie, an agricultural goddess known as Ceres and featuring guest star Bill Murray.

You held this story close to your chest and recognized it as precious. Any story with Mikey, in your eyes, was to be treasured because Carmy spoke so rarely about him.

“Here we are.” You unlocked your front door and pushed it inward. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’re going to murder me with one of your fancy chef knives.”

You hadn’t anticipated him following you all the way up here. But he did and a very selfish, quiet part of you wanted him to stay.

You looked back at Carmy. He was leaning his temple against the wooden doorframe and gazing at you with his exhausted yet mournful, pretty eyes. You squashed the desire to touch him. Your keys jingled loudly in your grasp, their cold metal teeth bit into your skin. He looked so fucking tired.

Selfish desire won out against rationality and the question fell from your lips, “Do you need a couch to sleep on?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes, with a soft exhale. “No, no, no. I’m good.”

“Damn.” You clicked your tongue, “I was really looking forward to our first sleepover. We could stay up late talking about boys and I could braid your hair.”

Carmy managed a brief, fragile smile. “Maybe next time.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” You slowly opened your arms, “Goodnight?”

To your immediate surprise and immense relief, Carmy stepped into your embrace. His arms encircled your waist and his face buried into your shoulder. You clung to him, sank into his warmth, and the faint aroma of cigarettes and sweat. Your body hummed with desire for more even with the knowledge that you’d never have it. You wanted to remain here until sunrise. The temptation to beg him to stay wrestled between your teeth and your heart burned with it.

Carmy sighed, his muscles relaxing, his weight leaning into you a little more. You held him with unwavering strength, rooted to the hardwood floor of your entry hallway, and smiled softly against his warm cotton shoulder.

“’m glad I came tonight.” He murmured. “Almost didn’t.”

“Me too.” Your eyes fluttered close, savoring this, savoring him. His sinewy biceps, his solid chest, and his hair tickling your cheek. His grip lessened. He pulled away, fingertips trailing across your hips, an innocent touch that painfully reminded you of decadent ones. You stopped the low whine in your throat.

“Goodnight.”

You held the doorframe, “Get home safe.” You didn’t shut your door until you couldn’t hear his footsteps on the creaky, wooden stairs anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus Author’s Note: Reminder, this fic has the tag “lack of communication” LMAO. But this is our last yearning chapter. Promise. The slow burn is almost done.

#carmy x reader #carmen berzatto x you #carmy berzatto x reader #carmen berzatto x reader #the bear fic #carmen berzatto #carmy x baker #carmy berzatto x you

286 notes · View notes

ronancexists · 7 months

Text

Hello everyone, and welcome to Day 4 of Ronancetober! I hope y'all have been enjoying everything I've put out so far, because I've got another one coming your way! This one's got a healthy dose of Platonic with a capital P! Stobin, because those two are the best thing that could've happened to Stranger Things aside from Byler and Ronance becoming canon. It's also got a tiny bit of Stonathan as well, but it's only a brief mention. Anyways, here's my submission for day 4, and I hope y'all like it!

Day 4: Kiss

Robin sighed as she glanced up at the clock for what had to be the umpteenth time within the past five minutes.

“Robbie, if you sigh one more time I’m going to chuck this at you,” Steve threatened, looking at his best friend with exasperation written all over his face, the thing he was about to throw being one of the many VHS tapes he was currently putting back on the shelves.

It hadn’t been super busy today, though Keith neglected to do any of the actual work involved with being a manager whenever he worked with one or both of them. She and Steve knew more about the job than he did. The two of them were essentially running the place, but Keith had the official name tag stating he was in charge.

They had managed to convince him that Steve would most definitely muck something up if Robin weren’t there with him to keep an eye on him, which is how they ended up working most, if not all, of their shifts together, without Keith's supervision. It worked out perfectly for the two of them, because that meant neither one of them had to do anything on their own. It didn’t hurt that it gave Robin even more opportunities to poke fun at Steve.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is my suffering bothering you? I’ll be sure to keep it down in the future.”

Steve rolled his eyes as Robin smiled brightly, her nose crinkling in happiness as it always did when she managed to rile him up.

After doing a quick lap around the store, Robin determined it was safe. She hopped up on the counter, legs swinging back and forth as she watched Steve stack the tapes on the shelves.

“You know,” Steve grunted as he finally reached the top shelf in one of the many isles, placing the tape down as gently as possible. “You could help me instead of just sitting there, watching me do all of the work.”

Robin couldn't help the snort of amusement that escaped as soon as Steve had finished talking. “You’re one to talk. You left me to rewind all those tapes,” she gestured to the ones stacked up in his arms. “So you could have a make-out session with Jonathan in the back room.”

“Shh!” Steve hushed, eyes darting around frantically to search for prying ears.

“Relax, dingus. I already took a lap. I wouldn’t have said anything if we had customers.”

“Well you could warn a guy next time,” he grumbled.

“Such a baby.”

Steve stuck his tongue out at her in response.

“Who are we calling a baby?”

The nineteen-year-old had to stifle his laughter as Robin practically turned into a puddle where she had been sitting at the sight of Nancy. He knew after everything with Vecna that Robin had developed what she deemed was a minor crush on Nancy, though he would label it as infatuation. Regardless, Robin hadn’t been able to stop babbling about the girl, everything about her crush on Vickie simply flying out the window after the events during the school year, where she had gotten to know Nancy from Nancy herself rather than through all of the stories Steve had about her.

Steve couldn’t blame Robin for falling for Nancy even if he wanted to. Hell, he probably understood the enigma that was Nancy Wheeler better than anyone. After all, he had been lucky enough to date her before everything with the Upside Down transpired. He was brave enough to acknowledge that he had hurt Nancy badly, and she was brave enough to acknowledge that she had hurt him as well. The two of them had a long, rough talk about everything that had transpired between them, and they came to the conclusion that they were much better off as friends than they ever were as a couple.

Needless to say, Steve was quite surprised when Nancy had confided in him that she was crushing on Robin, and crushing quite hard on her at that. He’d had to hold in his laughter when she said she couldn’t discern if Robin was into her the same way. He thought it was quite obvious, but he supposed that could be because he knew Robin better than Robin knew herself. Plus, if Nancy was too worried about not making her own crush apparent, he figured that would occupy most of her attention, enough for her not to notice the heart eyes Robin was constantly shooting her way.

He was between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, if he told one girl how the other felt, it could result in them getting together and earn himself a pat on the back. On the other hand, the girl he told could become furious at him for revealing the other's secret, and when the girl he told told the other girl, he’d probably have two very angry, very determined, and very capable of hurting him women gunning for his head. It was a win-lose situation, so he resolved to keep his mouth shut. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t intervene in other ways.

“Robbie?”

“What’s up, Stevie?”

“Could you grab me the ladder from the back room?”

Robin arched an eyebrow at him, internally pleading for him not to actually be interrupting her lovely conversation with Nancy. Times with the other girl were far and few between, especially since she had begun working almost everyday to save up so she could move the fuck out of this town.

“Please?” He asked, turning the puppy dog eyes and everything. He knew she could never say no to him when he used the puppy dog eyes.

“Ughhhh. Fine,” she grumbled, apologizing to Nancy before turning around and hopping behind the counter, heading for the backroom.

“You should just tell her, ya know,” Steve said as soon as Robin was out of earshot, placing the tapes down on one of the bare shelves and walking towards Nancy.

Nancy scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

“I’m serious, Nance. She’s ready to leave everything behind. We’ve defeated Vecna, we got rid of the Upside Down for good. She doesn’t have a reason to stay.” The words unless you give her one remained unspoken, but they both heard it loud and clear.

“I know,” Nancy muttered, her gaze bouncing around everywhere but at Steve, finally landing behind the counter on the door to the backroom, where Robin was.

“Go,” Steve said quietly, squeezing her arm. “I’ll cover up here.”

Nancy grasped his hand in hers. “Wish me luck.”

He nodded, watching as Nancy walked behind the counter. “You won’t need it,” he muttered, a wide grin settling onto his face as he shot a fist in the air, overwhelmed with joy that he had actually done it. Oh, he couldn’t wait to see the look on Jonathan’s face when he told him he'd won their bet.

“Robin?” Nancy called out, unable to hide the quakiness of her voice.

“Nancy, thank goodness. I can’t find this freaking ladder anywhere. Come help me look,” Robin said, turning to look at Nancy when she didn’t get a response. “Hey, is everything ok? You’re looking a bit pale. And you’re trembling too. Oh God, you aren’t sick, are you? Cause if you are, I can get Steve to drive you home. I’ll come over with soup and ice cream and your favorite movies as soon as I’m done with my shift. We can lay in bed and watch them in your room together. Or I don’t have to stay. I can just drop it off for you and—”

Robin was cut off when Nancy rushed forward, pressing their lips together in an urgent and desperate kiss. Nancy pulled away when Robin didn’t reciprocate, dread slowly filling her chest when the taller girl simply stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Shit, I knew this was a bad idea. I’m so sorry, Robin. I understand if you never want to talk to me again. I-I’ll leave you alone,” Nancy said, turning to walk away, stopping when Robin’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm. “Rob, what—”

Robin tugged on Nancy’s arm until the other girl was facing her, a smile threatening to bloom as her eyes shined with happiness. “Did you mean it?”

“What?” Nancy asked, breathless.

“The kiss. Did you mean it?”

“Of course I meant it, Robin. Why—”

Nancy gasped in surprise as Robin brushed their lips together, eyes fluttering shut as Robin’s hands settled on her waist. She moaned when the taller girl pulled on her hips until they were flush against one another. She reached up, tangling her hands in Robin’s hair, loving the feeling of the soft, curly strands between her fingers.

Robin flicked her tongue against the seam of Nancy’s lips, groaning in pure delight as Nancy’s lips parted, allowing her access to the other girl’s mouth. She started walking Nancy backwards until Nancy’s back was pressed against the door, their mouths never parting.

“Rob-Robin,” Nancy whimpered, a strangled groan leaving her lips when Robin broke their kiss off, only to begin trailing kisses down her neck. She tilted her head, grasping Robin’s hair tightly to hold her in place as she nipped and sucked at her pulse point.

“God, Nancy. You smell delicious,” Robin husked in her ear.

“Kiss me,” Nancy panted.

Robin didn’t need to be told twice. The two of them moaned as their mouths met once again, tongues and teeth clashing together in a messy, passionate kiss. Gradually, the kiss slowed down, ending with Robin sucking Nancy’s lower lip into her mouth, releasing it with a pop. She pressed their foreheads together, unable to hide her massive grin as she looked into Nancy’s eyes. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Really?” Nancy inquired, her hands splayed across the back of Robin’s neck, thumbs rubbing up and down in a soothing manner. “Me too.”

The taller girl stared at Nancy in disbelief. “Wait, seriously?”

Nancy laughed, eyes sparkling with delight. “Seriously,” she confirmed.

“Wow,” Robin whispered, completely in awe of the woman in front of her. “I can’t believe Nancy Wheeler is into me. Me, of all the people in Hawkins. Please tell me I’m not dreaming.”

“You aren’t dreaming,” Nancy whispered, standing on her tiptoes to press a light kiss to Robin’s lips.

“Nancy Wheeler is into me,” Robin repeated, a dreamy look on her face.

Nancy shook her head in amusement. “You’re such an idiot, Robin Buckley.”

“But I’m your idiot. I mean, if you want me to be. If not, then just let me know so I can begin working on mending my broken heart. Because I don’t think I could handle it if this was just you experimenting or doing it because of a dare or some shit like that.”

“It’s nothing like that. I like you, Robin. More than all of those people I’ve dated in the past.”

“Even Steve?”

“Even Steve,” Nancy confirmed. “In fact, I’d like to ask if you, Robin James Buckley, would do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

“The honor would be all mine, Nancy Anne Wheeler.”

They sealed the deal with a kiss, as they would with everything from that point forward.

27 notes · View notes