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#REAL fucked up timing on that one my dude Jesus CHRIST
agirlcandream84 · 2 days
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we need more hc!!!! they're amazing!!!! what about bf!frank when you're mad at him/you two have a fight??? 🤭🤭🤭
Truth is, I'm sorta never not thinking about a next batch of headcanons and you kinda read my mind with the theme! Except I'm thinking of all the times Frank has been mad at YOU.
Times When Boyfriend!Frank Has Been Mad At You
Well, of course, that time your car broke down and his reaction to finding out.
One of the times Frank got mad at you was actually before you even really started dating but that didn't mean Frank wasn't already in deep and when he discovered you hired a Task Rabbit to haul out some old dresser out of your apartment -- he was stompin' down the hall in three steps asking "who's this jerk?" and when you told him he gave you an incredulous look going on about how a "pretty girl like you can't invite some random asshole into your apartment. Gonna get yourself killed like that" before he has you sit in the living room while he tells the confused man that he's got it from here and hauls the damn thing out himself.
Ok so we already know about that time that some dude on a crowded subway car rubbed his junk up against you while you were both smashed in during rush hour but did I mention that you failed to disclose that information to Frank for a week before he overheard your sister ask you if you saw the guy who "rubbed his junk into your ass" again since it last happened. You hear Frank mutter "what the fuck" from the other room before he appears in the doorway and says "Sweetheart, can I talk to you for second?" as he nods his head in the direction of the bedroom. Of course you try to deflect but he's insistent and that's when Frank launches into 1) a check to make sure you're ok and 2) when he's confirmed that you are ok, a lecture about withholding this from him. You try to tell him that you didn't want to make a "big thing" about it because it sadly happens to a lot of women and this only enrages Frank more and he's suddenly mad at All Men™️ for being disgusting assholes and obviously theres very little subway in your future.
Frank somehow got retroactively mad at you for walking home drunk from bars dozens of times in your younger days, before he even knew you. You were telling him stories of your partying days, chuckling at your disregard for good decision making, when you see the smile slide off his face and his signature scowl settles in while he crosses his arms over his chest. "Now hang on a minute sweetheart -- I don't like this shit. You coulda gotten hurt," and you're all "No Frank, I know now, I just--" but he cuts you off, his mind already decided on the next course of action-- self defense classes, taught by yours truly. Your eyes couldn't roll further back in your head but he just says "roll 'em all you want doll-- this ain't negotiable"
There was only one time Frank actually yelled at you -- like he was MAD mad -- and that's when you had gone in search of a cool thrift shop you'd heard about on Tik Tok but walked up to the place and it was inside of an enormous and decidedly creepy warehouse with no particular signage. The address looked right but this place looked all wrong. Against your own better judgement, you went in searching for the shop but it was just endless dark hallways and unmarked doors and the faint sound of men's laughter somewhere in the building. Your heart pounding in your chest, you started to feel incredibly unsafe. You probably weren't in any real danger but the vibes felt so wrong and it was the first time in your life you felt genuine fear. Like the kind that made you think you made a very bad mistake. You finally decided to turn back around and called Frank to come pick you up, bursting into tears. Of course he was there in a flash and vert pissed that you ignored your own instincts. "Your gut tells you to get out, you get out! Jesus Christ sweetheart, I know I taught you better than that." He's right and you know he's right so you're just a hiccuping mess, mad at yourself for being an idiot. Frank can't see you so upset for long so he's quickly tugging you into his chest and murmuring on the top of your head, "S'alright sweetheart. Just gotta listen to your instincts. M'not mad, alright?"
Also that time you accidentally spilled bleach on his favorite hoodie. He was just plain ol' pissed at that.
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andthebeanstalk · 1 year
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Watching The Addams Family 2 (2021) and like, your main climax cannot hinge on the Addamses genuinely fearing death, y'all!!!
They are the ADDAMS FAMILY! At least 2 of them are dead at any given time! Pugsley died for 3 hours just last Tuesday! Fester has 5 necromancers on speed dial and it is unclear if he is dating one of them or one of their undead clients! It is unclear if Morticia is a vampire! Lurch is probably a zombie! Grandmama keeps resurrection tablets next to the Pepto in the medicine cabinet!!
All this is just off the top of my head - this isn't hard! Get it TOGETHER, YOU MINION-ASS ANIMATION STUDIO THIS WHOLE MOVIE WAS WEAK AND YOU ARE WEAK
I WILL SWORDFIGHT YOU AND WEAR A PINSTRIPE SUIT, AND THE UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF THAT FIGHT WILL MAKE FOR A BETTER ADDAMS FAMILY MOVIE THAN THIS SOULLESS SACK OF A FILM
#original#the addams family#like it's not the worst movie I've seen but then I remember the 1991 Addams Family movie and I'm like holy shit#how do you fuck that up that bad#this should not be difficult to do right The Addams Family is interesting even when they're written by someone mediocre#but this was just bad writing that probably got boardroomed to death by the studio#also does anyone else find this animation style really really unpleasant to look at? not quite as bad as The Lorax but almost identical#also the fucking product placement in this sucks so bad. it is not subtle it is not blending#this was just so badly written#the first movie was actually okay. mostly because of the creative animation. but this one didn't even have much of that.#also rip to the voice acting industry. I like most of these actors but there's no reason they had to be in this film#instead of real voice actors#fuckin pugsley at the end of the film going like huh what?? wednesday is gonna do me violence???#like my dude you are pugsley addams read the wiki page ffs#also the fact that they set up this idea that your family is chosen and not by blood was really cool but then#at the end they're like oh no just kidding#blood is most important and we are absolutely wasting what was actually a very cool concept#so many talented people went to school for animation and then had to animate this horse shit#I was having a thoroughly mediocre okay time until the very end there when they really just shat the bed on their theming#which like Jesus Christ can you please just be obviously a bad movie at the start so I don't get invested??#also the entire previous movie was very specifically about Wednesday making a friend and she isn't even mentioned in this movie#why do all the work of establishing an enjoyable canon and then just leave it in the dirt??#and Wednesday is once again the protagonist which is fine but it makes it extra weird that there is no indication#of the arc that the entire previous movie was about. is it cuz it was too gay? or is it just plain incompetence?#maybe it's homophobia. maybe it's maybelline.
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riverside-lavender · 1 year
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if i see one more fucking thing ever about having to be blood related to be siblings/family i am going to fucking SNAP. i don’t CARE if you’re talking about fictional characters and the found family trope- guess what assholes! adoption exists! and step siblings! god who fucking cares if people call themselves family when they aren’t blood related they’re literally minding their own business. maybe stop and think before you say something about a few drawings because guess what dipshit people in similar circumstances might see that!
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wynnyfryd · 6 months
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Trailer Park Steve AU part 6
part 1 | part 5
October
It's Wednesday night, which means dinner at the Hendersons. Steve finally decided to show his face — and no, not because Dustin's doorstep song and dance had any effect on him; it was partly because he was sick of hearing muted metal music from across the street and mostly because he hadn't left the trailer in three days and he was starting to feel and smell like shit.
So, anyway. Dinner. Ma Henderson's pulled out all the stops: prepped a homemade lasagna, stocked the fridge with full-sugar sodas and bought the good brand of key lime pie; invited the Sinclair and Wheeler kids to make a little party of it. (Nancy was 'unfortunately too busy to attend,' thank fucking god.)
But then Ma got stuck late at work, so now it's all hands on deck. Mike and Erica are setting the table — Steve can hear Mike bitching at her because she told him the knives go the other way, dumbass; Lucas is at the fridge filling cups with ice and Pepsi and muttering to himself about how much better Coke is; Steve's got an eye on the oven, waiting for the cheese on the lasagna to bubble up juuust right; and Dustin is using "prepping the salad" as an excuse to corner Steve and annoy the ever-loving crap out of him.
“What do you mean it’s hard?” Dustin whines, dropping a handful of shredded carrots into the wooden bowl. “Just talk to him!”
Steve takes a deep breath. Mourns, briefly, for the night he could have had; the girls he could be doing hand stuff with in the back of the Beemer instead of putting up with this kid's shit. “I don’t wanna Just Talk to Him." He bends to peek through the oven door. "And, also: get off my ass about it, alright? I came to dinner, I'm heating up the lasagna. I'm, like, participating or whatever. What more do you want?”
“For you to talk to Eddie! Obviously!" Dustin's tossing the greens so aggressively that it kinda feels like he wishes he was pummeling Steve instead, and when he throws his hands up, little flecks of iceberg lettuce go raining to the floor.
Steve eyes the leafy green confetti. "You're cleaning that up."
"Come on, dude," Dustin begs. "It's been two weeks! What's the point of having friends who are next door neighbors if they refuse to get along?”
Behind them, Lucas supplies in a weirdly strangled tone: “This really doesn’t seem like the way to get him to talk to Eddie."
Thank you. Steve couldn't agree more. He turns to tell him as much and realizes the reason Lucas' voice sounded like that is because he's trying to make one trip to the dining room at any fucking cost. He's got an armful of drinking glasses and three cans of Pepsi tucked under his chin, and he's about to fumble the whole wobbly stack.
"Jesus Christ, man, cut that out!" Steve swoops in to grab the cans before they can join the lettuce shower Dustin just made. He doesn't care how much he loves Claudia, he will leave without helping if they splatter soda all over this floor. Mews the Second can lick it clean for all he cares, he's so for real. "Two at a time," he says sternly, taking the extra cups from Lucas’ hold and handing him back a reasonable amoint. He sends Lucas out of the room with a knee to the ass.
"Hey!" Lucas pouts.
"Hey yourself," he grins.
Lucas sticks out his tongue like a child (because he is one, Steve reminds himself), and when he shoulders the swinging door to the dining room he almost brains his little sister, who makes a graceful side-step and comes strutting through undeterred.
"Are you two nerds done playing good cop, annoying cop with Steve?"
"Ah-!" Dustin gawps. "I better not be the annoying cop!"
"Uh, yeah. Obviously, you are." She props a fist on her hip, a little tyrant in the making, and Steve’s ribs go tender with a fond, vaguely proud ache. He really loves her so much. "Now scram. I need to borrow Steve."
On second thought.
Surely at some point these kids, like, owe him money or some shit for the amount of weary sighs they've caused him to let out. Like, financial compensation for the years taken off his life? Something?
"Yes, Erica?" he asks, nostrils flared; eyes closed.
"You should talk to Eddie."
"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ." Steve looks up to the ceiling, pleading for anyone to grant him strength, then he turns to pull the lasagna out of the oven and watches the bubbles sizzle and pop in the hot cheese until he no longer feels like blowing up at a little girl. "Okay. Okay. And I should listen to you because…?"
Screw financial compensation.
He deserves a presidential medal for how calm he's keeping his tone.
Erica's glaring fiercely at him when he glances her way, and why is every kid he knows such a brave, confrontational little shit? "Because," she explains, "He's being mean to my brother."
Oh, fuck no. "What do you mean?" he asks, voice dropping to an urgent hiss as he feels his hackles raise. Like hell is he letting some Billy 2.0 hang around his kids. "Is he, like- Is he saying shit about you guys?"
She spares him from trying to find a tactful way to ask what he's really asking. "No," she says shortly. "But he is being a bastard about him joining the basketball team—"
"Language—" Oh, what's the point.
"—and those two nerds out there? Are obsessed with him. Especially Mike. Like, ob-sessed.” She writes the letters out in the air in front of her to really drive home the point. “Mike likes whatever Eddie likes, so you need to convince Eddie to like Lucas before Lucas loses his friends over this stupid 'jocks versus freaks' crap." She lowers her voice and jabs the skywriting finger into his shoulder hard enough to bruise. "And if you tell Lucas I said any of this? It is on. sight, Steve. I will crush you."
"Jesus Christ."
"So, we good?"
"Uh huh," Steve stammers. "Y-yep. Understood."
Wow. So dignified, Steve. Really loved how you let a ten year old intimidate you. He's saved from any further bullying by the sound of keys jangling in the lock.
"Dusty!" Claudia calls out through the door, "Dustybunny, can you come help? My hands are full!"
In the dining room Steve hears Dustin groan while Mike and Lucas start immediately tearing into him for the name, mocking 'Dustybunny; oh, Dustybun!' in stupid sing-song tones.
"So I'm just gonna..." Steve says awkwardly, inching toward the door. "Go get that."
"Mhmm." Erica gives him an unimpressed look. "You do that."
"Oh, Steve, sweetie, thank you!" Claudia says when he opens the door, cheerful and sweet as always. He goes to take her bags from her, but she drops them all at her feet and steps forward to give him a hug, a firm and tender thing that makes an annoying lump form in his throat.
"How are you?" she asks, stepping back to look at him; eyes raking over his face, hands on his cheeks. Really looks. She frowns at whatever she sees. "How's your mom?"
"Can you please just talk to me?" Steve begs, shivering in the hallway because they haven't budgeted for turning on the heat just yet. Wasn't supposed to get this cold for another pay cycle. He tugs the ends of his sweatshirt sleeves. His limbs feel stiff and tense, a budding anxiety like there’s a bomb in the base of his spine.
"Steven, darling, not now," his mother sighs as she sinks demurely onto the couch. "Then when!" he explodes. He doesn't want to yell at her, but, "Seriously, when? When are we going to say anything to each other that actually fucking matters, mom? I feel like I barely even know you anymore!"
"Yes, and I feel a migraine coming on; are you quite finished?"
"….She's fine," Steve answers.
Could be true, for all he knows.
The wrinkles between Claudia's brows deepen, like she wants to press the subject but decides to hold her tongue. "That's good to hear," she settles on after a moment, giving him a gentle pat on the cheek before stepping away with a subtle look that’s not mad, just disappointed.
Steve kind of wants to cry.
"Mom! Food!" Dustin hollers from the other room.
Steve rolls his eyes. "I swear I try to teach him manners."
"Well, good luck with that," she grins, the shadow of tension between them dissipating. Her mood is good like that. Resilient. Strong. Immune to outside force.
Steve’s moods, on the other hand, are more like those stainless steel fridges that promise to remain spotless but then end up covered in grubby handprints. (Exhibit A: he’s doing it right now.)
Thankfully Claudia’s got enough sunshine in her for the both of them. “Come on,” she says, extending a hand and wiggling her fingers for him to grab hold. “Let's eat."
part 7
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saerotonins · 4 months
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actor!yuuji & actor!sukuna headcanons
ft. itadori yuuji and ryomen sukuna 
content warnings: fluff, itadori twins au, overall cuteness, implied x reader (separated), jjk manga spoilers, characters are aged up to 20+
wc: 2.3k (jesus christ lol)
note: i miss my little actors so much lol. also, i think this is a bit too long, my bad 😭
jjk actor au masterlist
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as twin actors:
believe it or not, jjk is like one of the roles that had them cast together 
both of them usually like to play different roles in different shows because they just don't want to be known as each other's twins
love that for them, they're so real for that
but when they were cast, they accepted it since the script and plot were interesting 
yuuji is a sweetheart inside out and sukuna is the quieter one between the two, sukuna is soft for his brother though so don't get fooled by his tough persona
yes, he is the older twin LOL and always holds it against yuuji just to be petty
"dude can you get me that can of soda?""why are you ordering your older brother around? have some shame"
yuuji just rolls his eyes but before he gets up and get it himself, sukuna will wordlessly stands up and does it anyway
checks on yuuji whenever he does intense fight scenes
both of them do the stunt themselves since they ate both so physically active
education wise, yuuji graduated as a marketing major and sukuna has a degree in physical therapy 
which explains why him and his brother always practice fight scenes together and he helps yuuji with his stance and warm ups!
it's adorable really and he's so tsundere about it too
"no not like that, put your legs this way dumbass" like that typa stuff
sukuna started off as a model but was later on casted because casting agencies thought he has that great villain face
yuuji started off as a side character and really likes acting (he is the theatre kid between the two and sukuna is the quiz bee kid, their mom is BOOKED and busy) and later on recognized because he's just THAT good
yuuji is usually a romance lead or 2nd lead and a slice-of-life guy so when fans found out he will be in an action show, they are excited!
sukuna on the other hand has been casted as a tsundere in romance shows, sometimes a bully and an antagonist in action shows, but a villain that is literally so powerful??? that is so new so his fans are anticipating 
both of them usually arrive on the set together (sukuna is the one driving btw and yuuji just sleeps during the trip)
yuuji prepares both of their bento boxes btw
sukuna loves it
he can cook, but that's it LMAO
he won't admit it but yuuji is the better cook
lowkey a picky eater so yeah
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ACTOR!SUKUNA HEADCANONS:
sukuna is the intimidating one (obv) so when him and the other casts first met + the first few readings, it was sooo awkward 
turns out he's lowkey a goofy guy
has fun with his costars and helps them with fight scenes too, gotta put that physical therapy degree into good use
both him and nanami have this silent bond because whenever they're together they just don't talk and bask in the silence as they sit, they just peace amidst their crazy schedule
also an avid toji fan so when this guy found out he's in the same show with his idol he's almost shitting bricks
let out a really loud cheer when he found out and only yuuji knew about it LOL
has a deep-rooted respect towards him and it's sooo obvious whenever toji is around
he is such a fucking fangirl
he just thinks he's so badass and feels so honored to be casted in the same show as him
feels bad that he has to beat up almost everyone 😭 he is also a sweetheart deep inside
deep inside, he's such a caring and protective brother for yuuji because even though he doesn't have any scenes to be filmed, he still joins him on set whenever time allows him
he may not show it but he's sometimes lowkey terrified about fans tearing him up into shreds whenever he kills their favorite character 
imagine sukuna dripping big sweats by the time THAT episode with [redacted] aired oh my GOD he was so fucking nervous considering their fanbase is so big
yuuji has never seen his brother THIS nervous before and he's enjoying it
luckily though, not much hate happened and most of the time it's just memes and playful banter
his ass is barely on social media LOL
in the years of his instagram existing he only has like 90+ posts or even below 😭 usually it's just promotion, being an ambassador, magazine shoots— very lowkey 
doesn't have much digital footprint and i love that for him
whenever he posts, his fans are EATING IT UP since it happens every once in a blue moon lmfao
ACTOR!SUKUNA AS YOUR PARTNER:
as tough as he looks, he actually can be quite clingy, just behind closed doors though
lowkey feels bad when he has to beat up children (LMAO) and his co-actors and asks for cuddles from you for comfort
it's actually kind of adorable 
sometimes if his schedule doesn't allow him to have time to visit you, you'll get messages like "babe i just beat up megumi :(" 
since he's not active on social media, he knows some stuff online through you or yuuji
kind of a sad reason why he doesn't go online as much is because as tough as he looks, he's just a guy scared of the hate he's going to have just because he plays a villain or antagonist most of the time
he knows it's not his fault, he just knows that some people just don't know how to separate reality from acting
especially when that scene where he had to off a certain jujutsu sorcerer actor with a huge fanbase
oh boy was he so fucking scared and ran into your arms for comfort :(
he's a softie deep inside ok
when they have to go out of town or even overseas to film, he gets incredibly homesick and misses you so much 
expect a lot of "i miss you" messages, including selfies and candid pictures that he took around the set to
practicing his lines with you is close to impossible, this guy gets all blushy and shit because you're in front of him
and since most of his lines are mean as hell, he just doesn't want to be mean to you
he wants to impress you so bad but when you're around he just becomes a little high school boy with a big crush LMAO
he's such a sweetheart deep inside oh my god
when he decides he wants to post a new photo in his ig, you're the first and only person he'll ask for opinions
so this just means that most, if not all of his posts were handpicked by you
wears your matching stuff like accessories on set and gets sad when he has to take it off while filming
when he learned that his character would have face tattoos, the first thing he did was come home to you with his face makeup on (he had to ask his makeup artist to let it stay) and imitate it on your face
i have this headcanon that sukuna knows how to draw (and is very good at it) so it takes almost no effort to draw the tattoos on your face
you two then have a mini photoshoot (aka just taking a lot of selfies) with the both of you with sukuna marks on the face
it looks so cute that he made it his lock screen
he's lowkey such a sap don't let the character he's playing fool you
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ACTOR!YUUJI HEADCANONS:
THE MAN THE MYTH THE BABY
he is literally a sunshine in or out of acting
so polite and so kind it's hard to hate him (not that he is even worth hating on)
so naturally, everyone on set loves to work with him!
unlike his brother, before acting, he doesn't really know a lot of fighting stance (he's a marketing major ffs lol) BUT ever since he was casted, he doubled up on his working out routine with the help of sukuna
even invested his time learning boxing which later on paid soooo much
can literally make everyone on set "aww" whenever his script requires him so cry or even witness a gruesome death scene *cough* nanami and nobara *cough*
during breaks, him and nobara do tiktok challenges and even those kpop challenges all the time and the crew enjoys watching them do it and the fans like it too
he does it too with choso and todo
this guy literally has 3 older brothers who are protective of him it's so cute
this man is so talented, he can cook, sing, dance, act, and is pretty smart too during his university days, it's so hard not to be in love with him
the greenest of the green flags (just like nanamin!) the girls the guys the folks LOVE him so much, literally the standard 
just like sukuna, he was fangirling so hard when he found out he's going to be in the same drama with THE nanami kento
he's such a big big BIG fan 
has a fan account of him on twitter that is pretty popular but you didn't hear that from me
it's so cute when they're together because they're literally THE father and son duo EVER
has the time of his life whenever he visits nanami and his wife's house and just chill there, sometimes brings his first-year trio besties too (both nanami and his wife don't mind at all)
aside from sukuna, he sometimes practices fight scenes with nanami too!
he is so active on social media 😭 interacts with as many fans as he can and posts all the time on ig and twitter 
has a lot of cute interactions with fans too
by extension, his account is sukuna's behind the scene account LOL
since his brother doesn't post a lot, sukuna's fans tune in to his posts and stories of sukuna behind the scenes or even just some pictures of him that he doesn't post
some of it are just pics of the brothers chilling or going out
yuuji is literally the sukuna fan's saint because of the amount of sukuna content he's giving them LOL
ok but don't get fooled by yuuji's sunshine personality, because he knows how to bite too
whenever he saw hate tweets his brother is getting for playing a villain, he is quick to respond and defend his brother
lowkey a nightmare for the PR team but they know where he's coming from
and despite sukuna telling him to just ignore it, he appreciates his little brother more than anything 
ACTOR!YUUJI AS YOUR PARTNER:
one word: ANGEL
he's literally so lover coded oh my goodness
leaves you some post-it notes on the fridge every single day before he leaves to film
if the trip goes on for days he will leave at least three long love letters for you to read when you miss him and he's busy
creates personal vlogs JUST FOR YOU so if the both of you can't facetime, you'll still know what he is up to
when he was contacted to be the main character of the show, he confided in you whether or not he should accept the offer
don't get him wrong, he is beyond grateful the people think he's capable enough to be the main lead but it makes him nervous 
this is his first main character role and the pressure of it all is heavy on his shoulders 
he asked for his brother's opinion too but he trusts you enough to talk about his feelings regarding this
of course, when you said that you'll be there with him in every step and support him all the time and do everything to keep the communication between the two of you going despite his soon-to-be hectic schedule, his heart is finally set on accepting the role
you are so proud of him! your baby finally getting the recognition he deserves? hell yeah
his busy schedule was never a barrier between the two of you, yuuji never forgets to update and call you whenever his time permits and he always appreciates every cheer you have given him
type of actor boyfie to show you off his social media platform!
he posts your dates and even hangouts with each other
his fans find it quite adorable and is in love with your whole relationship 
likes to do those couple tiktok challenges with you and post them online, you guys even have shippers lol
of course, if you're the lowkey type, yuuji would respect that and will only include you in his online shenanigans when you feel like it or allow him to post it
practicing lines with you is always exciting but never productive LOL
you both just end up giggling and laughing 
in the end you just both opt to cuddle instead (or even make our LMFAO)
yuuji just feels so lucky to have his ever-supporting partner along the way
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loveinhawkins · 18 days
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ao3
A gnawing sense of foreboding creeps up on Steve as they head to Eddie’s trailer, armed with weapons.
He tries to outrun it through action: ensuring he’s the first one to go through the Gate; jumping back and forth between The Upside Down and their world whenever someone forgets something, “It’s okay, I’ve got it!”; triple checking that the cables for Eddie’s amps are long enough; searching for the slightest thing than seizing upon it with an enthusiasm bordering on desperate, “Hey, we could use this, right? Better take it, just in case.”
But that only works for so long, and then Steve’s just standing in Eddie’s kitchen, the real one, staring blankly at the cupboards, all out of distractions.
Out of time.
He hears a grunt of exertion behind him, then an unsteady landing, a muffled curse. Eddie.
“Jesus Christ, Steve. Wanted to fit your aerobics routine in?”
He’s teasing, so light-hearted despite it all; Steve can’t stand it.
Keeps his back turned, gut twisting, opening the cupboards then slamming them shut, thump, thump. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for. He never has.
“Uh, so I was thinking,” Eddie continues, like Steve’s not doing anything weird, “that I could stretch out the, um, the song? My playing? Could buy you some more time, anyway.”
“Sure, great,” Steve says shortly.
He thinks—with a numb kind of calm—that he’s going to be sick.
He gets to the bathroom, tries to shut the door, but his grip slips on the handle.
Turns on the faucet, scoops cold water from his hands into his mouth, and it helps until it doesn’t, until he’s almost choking on it, and he’s been here before, the feeling familiar: a shadow looming over him, just waiting, waiting, and he knows it’ll pass, it always does, but he can’t stop thinking of Robin, it might not work out for us this time, and what if, what if—
He can hear Eddie knocking on the doorframe, just out of view—as if he’d seen Steve’s failed attempt at shutting the door and wanted to respect it.
“Hey, man, you okay?” Then Eddie mutters to himself, “Obviously not, get a fucking clue.”
Steve’s laugh is strangled but real. He wipes his mouth dry and shuts off the water.
“You don’t need to talk to a wall, dude,” he says.
And Eddie steps into view, leans against the open door. His eyes flicker across Steve’s face, and Steve doesn’t want to know what he’s noticed, so when Eddie opens his mouth hesitantly, he speaks first.
“We should—they’re gonna wonder where we are.”
Eddie pauses on the verge of speech; Steve watches him reevaluate whatever he was going to say.
“Well,” Eddie says, gesturing to the bathroom, matter-of-fact, “we could be peeing.”
Steve manages a chuckle. “You’re an idiot.”
Eddie grins like he’s saying yup, that’s me, like he’s won a prize.
Steve has seen him wear something close to that expression not even an hour ago: when the kids had started a line to use the bathroom in the RV, and Eddie had snorted, giggled with a childish kind of delight, “You—ha! You all look like you’re on a field trip,” before joining the line himself—calling out that he hoped their plan accounted for bathroom breaks because, “There’s no way I’m pissing in the alternate dimension,” and that had made Nancy break, laughing in a way Steve was certain he hadn’t heard since ‘83.
Eddie steps into the room and shuts the door quietly. Steve gets why: his breathing’s still all wrong, and if Dustin happened to see him, he doesn’t think he’d ever forgive himself.
“Sorry.” Steve sucks in a breath, tries to hold it. Loses it in an exhale that shudders at the edges. He speaks through the tail end of it, hoping that’s enough to conceal the sound, “Gimme, like, two minutes.”
“Make it ten,” Eddie says.
The way he says it makes it seem like it’s already a done deal; he must’ve spoken to Robin and Nancy before he tumbled through the Gate.
Despite himself, Steve feels a wave of relief: just for a little while, he has time; it overpowers the shame, leaves him sinking down to sit on the closed toilet seat.
He closes his eyes, just breathes. In… out… in…
He doesn’t realise that Eddie’s sitting down, too, until he hears the clunk of his boots, the rustle of clothing as he moves.
“Sorry,” Steve says again, and it annoyingly still comes out a little shaky, like he’s in the pool and he’s left it too long to snatch a breath. “You can go back, man, I’ll… I’ll be right there.”
He opens his eyes to see Eddie shaking his head, sat with his back against the bathtub.
“Stop apologising,” Eddie says, and then it’s as if the seriousness of it is too much for him, because he adds, with a self-deprecating smile that Steve hates, “I get it. You’re walking into the dragon’s lair, I’m just putting on a concert.”
“Don’t,” Steve says, and he doesn’t intend for the word to come out as sharp as it does, but that doesn’t change the fact that he means it. He means it.
Eddie’s smile fades.
“Don’t,” Steve repeats, quieter. Not quite an apology.
Slowly, he moves off the toilet seat, until he’s sat next to Eddie. There’s just enough space that they don’t need to touch, but Steve presses his shoulder against Eddie’s anyway, like he can somehow pass on everything he means through that alone.
Eddie sighs, presses back for just a second. “Don’t what?” he asks. He sounds tired all of a sudden.
“Don’t—don’t joke like that,” Steve says. “Like you’re not—” He swallows. “Like it’s not dangerous.”
There’s a pause. Eddie reaches across and puts a hand on Steve’s knee. Squeezes briefly and pulls back; already Steve finds that he misses the warmth of him.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Eddie says. There’s no joke in this, not a trace. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to Dustin.” Another smile. Gentle. “Swear on his mother.”
I’m not worried about that, Steve wants to say, but of course that’s not true; he’s tried hard not to look at Dustin directly ever since they arrived at the trailer, because his throat would start to close up alarmingly whenever his gaze lingered, and he knows the kid’s doing that whole semi-aloof teenager thing lately, but a part of him still wants to hold him tight and never let go.
It’s more that the shape of Steve’s worry is different to what he thinks Eddie’s imagining, covers more than Dustin’s safety alone—that the cold dread in his stomach brings him back to the tunnels in ‘84; to clutching Dustin, who was so small, Steve desperately trying to shield him with his own body, thinking the kid’s thirteen, only thirteen, this isn’t fucking fair; and that if this had to end one way, all he could do was pray that he’d be the only one to…
And Steve hadn’t wanted to die, but he was suddenly facing it anyway, and Christ, looking back at it, that was crazy, the whole damn thing was crazy, but it all made a twisted kind of sense at the time.
Eddie must spot that his train of thought’s gone down a dark alley because he knocks their knees together, but he doesn’t say anything. Just breathes, slumped against the bathtub; it’s probably the first time he’s been still—truly still—in a long while.
He must be exhausted, Steve thinks.
The gnawing feeling digs in, grips his heart.
“I can hear you thinking,” Eddie says quietly. “Listen, Steve, I know I’m new to, uh… all of this shit, but I’m on it, okay? Got it all up in here,” he taps the side of his head, “trust me—”
That’s not what—I trust you, of fucking course I do, but—
“—no deviations, and—”
“Plans change,” Steve says, and he hears himself, the calm decisiveness, just get ready; Dustin’s scream carrying across the junkyard, Steve, abort, abort! “Just… just promise me.”
“Promise you?” Eddie murmurs.
Steve feels the words on his tongue, the weight of them. Don’t do anything stupid. 
He swallows them down—afraid suddenly that if he really puts a name to it, it’s going to happen.
Fuck it, he’s exhausted too, and for a long moment he evades speaking: gingerly rests his head on Eddie’s shoulder. Feels his body heat, the swell of his breathing.
Eddie doesn’t tense up, just lets him rest there. 
If I kissed you, Steve thinks, drained, would you stay?
He doesn’t say it. Instead he lifts his head and asks, “What are you doing tomorrow?”
Eddie chuckles. They’re still so close, Steve can feel his amused sigh.
“Tomorrow? I’ve not really… like, hopefully I’m not in jail. Anything else is a bonus.”
“We’ll fix it,” Steve says fiercely. “Trust me.”
“Oh, I believe you,” Eddie says, grinning fondly, but he sounds genuine. “Shit, man, I think you could do anything.” He gestures outside. “Got the fucking dream team out there.”
“We solved a secret Russian code last summer.”
Eddie laughs. “Did you?” His eyes sparkle with mirth.
You’re beautiful.
“Gospel truth, I swear,” Steve says. He tries to stay light, but he makes the vow anyway. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
I have so much to tell you.
They stand up, and Steve doesn’t know who’s the first one to move—just that they both probably sensed the time dwindling.
And maybe it’s that, the inescapable thought that something’s coming to an end that does it. Steve doesn’t know for sure, just knows that his eyes are burning suddenly—mortifyingly—with tears. He looks up at the ceiling, hurriedly trying to push them back, but Eddie notices anyway.
“Steve, what is it?” he whispers, with a look of utter devastation.
Steve shakes his head. “Just being stupid,” he says, voice brittle, cutting himself off before he can say something ridiculous.
God, Eddie, let’s just stay here and grow old.
“You’re not stupid,” Eddie says, heartfelt—he stops just short of touching Steve; he clearly wants to help so badly, but he doesn’t know how.
Steve wants to tell him it’s fine. He doesn’t know either.
Maybe nothing can help this.
They leave for the Gate in unspoken agreement; at first Steve finds comfort in the sight of Eddie dangling on the rope, not quite in either world. Like every possibility is laid out before him.
I’ll tell you tomorrow.
But there’s a near imperceptible shift as Eddie keeps climbing, and Steve needs to look away, anything to avoid the pit in his stomach: the suspicion that the path’s already been chosen.
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mvnsvn6 · 7 months
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Have a mini fic about Steve annotating books and Eddie finding it really hot🖤
So obviously, Eddie's a bookworm. Before he had any friends, he spent the better parts of his childhood at Hawkins Library after school and Hawkins Middle's library during any recesses and lunches. He constantly read books, this was before Wayne got him a guitar and before he got into dnd, and being a bookworm tremendously helped him fuel both of those hobbies later on. But before then? The library was like a second home to him. 
And so, recently founding out that Steve reads, like a lot, is something of a revalation. It's not that Eddie thinks the guy is stupid, but he figured the guy spent time doing other productive hobbies at home. But the guy reads, and as previously mentioned, Eddie considers himself a literature connoisseur of sorts. Writing book reports and essays were one of the few things he actually excelled at in high school. 
So anyway, he found out that Steve is a book nerd by finding one of Steve's books open on his bed. Not really the strangest thing that Eddie's come across in Steve's room if he's being honest, and not the biggest indicator of nerdiness, until he focuses his attention and acknowledges the bright colors sprawled across the pages. 
A burst of rainbow colors underlining what Eddie guesses are his favorite parts of the story or important stuff he wanted to remember. And obviously, Eddie has to ask him about it. and Steve explains to him that he has a whole color key and it's made up of romantic lines that make him feel warm, sad stuff that makes him tear up, stuff that is word for word undoubtedly Steve Harrington sprawled on a page. Steve won't tell him which color is which, too embarrassed by it, but he lets Eddie read through them, and then he stares at Steve in unyeilding fondness. 
The look reflected on Steve's is not the same, mostly anxiety and insecurity, which Eddie immediately wants to soothe. It's so so sweet he thinks but Eddie's mouth translates the words into, "That's so fucking hot." Which, shit man, it is but he hadn't meant to say it out loud. 
"Shut up, dude, don't make fun of me right now." 
And listen, books are everything to him, this is no joking matter. They inspire his own stories, whether through a dnd campaign or writing song lyrics. It's honestly probably the most attractive thing a person could do in Eddie's opinion, he didn't know how hot until right about now, but he'll die on this hill. Annotating your books is hot. 
"Listen to me when I say this Steve, while that is the nerdiest thing I've ever heard and I'm, ya know, me. It's also about the most attractive thing that's come out of that pretty mouth of yours, like ever."
And Steve folds his arms across his fucking beautifully sculpted chest and narrows his eyes just slightly, raising a judgemental eyebrow at him. 
"You're being serious."
Oh he's never been more serious about anything in his life. 
"Uh...yeah? Yes. Oh my god."
Yeah, real eloquent Edward. 
Whatever, his heart is pounding profuesely against his rib cage because holy shit Steve is a book nerd and Eddie wants to kiss him fucking yesterday. So he gets on all fours on Steve's bed to lean forward and basically attacks his mouth before he can even think about it. 
And when he pulls back, Steve's pupils are blown wide and his breath has picked up pace, and Steve keeps bouncing between looking at Eddie's eyes and his lips. 
"You just kissed me."
It comes out disbelieving. 
"Yeah and with your permission I'd like to continue, like stat, immediately, now."
"You're insane."
And hands weave through curls and pull. 
Eddie tumbles foward, ending fully sprawled on top of Steve, and, jesus christ, body pressed impossibly close to his. 
And after they're romantic, read: nerdy horniness, little makeout session, he forces Steve to read the annotations himself, going through all the books that are important to Steve. He has to stop himself from moaning to really emphasize how hot he finds it, and to make Steve slightly embarrassed, but refrains. Just lets him continue. 
Eddie has never been so in love in his life.
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bubblergoespop · 3 months
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My Top Milo Quotes
i wanna devour this man so bad. the original version of this is at least triple the length omfg. @mrsmiagreer it’s finally here <3
“From one pretty face to another.”
“Bedroom? Oh. Ohhh. [gremlin giggling]”
“Cute?! You’re gonna come here, into my home, uninvited, and tell me I look cute when I’m mad? First of all sweetheart, you’re damn right I’m cute—“
“Jesus Christ who taught you how to do healing magic, a construction worker with a jackhammer?!”
“Me and Ash give each other shit all the time. He calls me a runt, I call him a bitch bottom, we laugh, we move on.”
“Cuddled up with you, in front of a fire? That’s a one-way ticket to sleepytown, USA, population: this guy.”
“I do not spoil him! Well whaddya want me to do? He’s my lil guy.”
“I swear to god, if I’m lyin I’m dyin, he looks him dead in the eye and says “if concerns about the future of your relationship with Amanda are weighing on you too heavily, I’m sure I can get by with just Milo and Asher here.”
“Are you Lasky?”
“Touch me and your life will be measured in milliseconds. I can see myself out.”
“It’s back. I’m back.”
“And next thing you know, boom, you’re sitting here, a broken man, barefoot with no fucking dress socks.”
“‘So Mr. Greer, what was it that ultimately pushed you over the edge?’ Oh, I don’t know officer, might have something to do with the walking terror I call a mate.”
“So what if I am sappy? I’m running on sleepy middle of the night brain, you get what you get. Shhh. Hush. Don’t you be mean to me. I’m trying to help.”
“He’s a good little dude. Isn’t that right, bub?
“I got to hold my favorite person in the whole world. And only occasionally had to threaten to choke them out.”
“Mmm. You’re cute. Yeah, I called you cute. What are you gonna do about it? Get grumpy? Just makes you look cuter.”
“Do not call them my ‘titties’ you asshole!”
“Personally, I think I’m better at getting clothes off a ya than putting em on, but I’m ever at your service, baby.”
“No no no, don’t do that button. Yeah. Yeah, leave that one undone.”
“There’s my sweetheart.”
“Yeah. Well, it beats for you, sweetheart. A little more sappy shit for the road.”
“There ya go, that looks perfect! Yeah, what you’re wearing right now! You look fucking incredible in it. Yeah, I know you haven’t even started changing into the next look, what’s your point?”
“When I say you’re my mate, I mean it with every inch of me. When I say it, my core lights up like a firework. And when I feel your core answer it, and mirror it back, it feels like the fourth of fucking July in my chest.”
“I mean, obviously we’re gonna look fucking great no matter what, it is us after all”
“Hey, I know Ash is your mate, but would you mind if I use that choke collar you have for him real quick?”
“The power couple”
“And the energizer bunny takes a tumble.”
“And you won’t believe this next part but, uh, as a wolf, I don’t have hands.”
“You don’t have to ask, baby, I trust you. I know you’ll be gentle.”
“You feel like forever in my arms.”
“Oh my god, do they think my house smells weird?”
“I don’t want this for you, baby.”
“These muscles got more knots in em than you had wrapped around you the other night. And that’s saying something.”
“You run through my blood like oxygen, sweetheart.”
“Whose mouth is this?”
“And do not wear that belt, how old is that thing? It looks awful!”
“You’re not alone. I’m here. The pack’s here.”
“You want to see a hissy fit, bootlicker?”
“Cmon, head up. Up for me. There you go. I wanna see this pretty face.”
“Kissing my palm like that… you’re too fucking cute.”
“I just wanna feel you.”
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acowardinmordor · 7 months
Text
You Left Me, You Miss Me - Five
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five
Continuing immediately from part Four. And I hear your screaming, and enjoy it, but I am pretty sure that I'm not going the direction you expect me to.
------
“Huh?”
“I asked them to,” Eddie repeated, quieter.
It didn’t make more sense the second time.  His kids were stubborn. They were obnoxious, and someone asking them to do, or not do something had never once changed anything. Steve spent the last few years asking them not to leave crumbs in his car, and to call before coming over, and to please, just once, let him choose the movie on a movie night. Plus the part where everyone asked them not to put themselves in danger when monsters crawled out of the ground. 
Threats didn’t work on them, law enforcement didn’t work on them, like hell was something as delicate as asking going to do a damn thing. 
“Yeah, no, I heard you, but I don’t get it. So you, what? You sat them down and asked them to ice me out? And they said ‘sure why not!’ Man, even if you asked them to, they’re still the ones that did it. Shit, you’ve never liked me. There’s no way that you didn’t tell the boys to stop hanging out with me last year during your game meetings before everything happened.” Eddie shrank further into the seat, so Steve added, “So, it’s not your fault, but I guess I forgive you if that makes you feel better.”
Eddie gnawed on the inside of his cheek, wincing at what felt like every other word.
“Shit, Steve, it’s -- Shit,” he cursed as he sloshed some of his coffee over the brim. His eyes were clenched shut, and he was curled in on himself. “I didn’t sit them down and tell them to stop talking to you. That -- no way that would work. You’re right. They wouldn’t just -- Like I said, they’re crazy about you. It’s more, it’s all of the, I told them about how ever since -- shit. Look, it doesn’t matter why or how I did it, just trust me, I’m the reason. It’s my fault, and I fucked up, and I didn’t mean it to make -- but you left, and it’s killing them, and so you gotta forgive them, at least talk to them, cause its not their fault.”
“Yeah,” Steve stalled, “still don’t get why you think this is on you, dude.”
“At the beginning it -- shit, no. Doesn’t matter. Jesus Christ, Munson, don’t make this about that. Okay. I asked them not to invite you if I was around, cause I wasn’t -- I didn’t want to see you, and then I made sure they were always around me because -- because I wanted them to. And then I, you know, kept poking at them about it when they’d bring it up, reminding them that you don’t like D&D and that you wouldn’t want to watch the new Star Trek movie, and when they said anything I just kept telling them that -- Shit, just believe me. I’m the one that made them do this, it’s my fault, it’s not them.”
Okay, so Eddie was pushier since Spring Break than he was before it. Or the kids listened to him more. Or they were trying to take care of him. So Eddie was the prompt for them cutting him out of everything. Fine.
Still didn’t make it the guy’s fault. 
Steve got close with Robin after she found out about the Upside Down. But he didn’t get close to Jonathan. Dustin became, for a while at least, his brother. Steve would die for Mike, but they didn’t hang out if it wasn’t a group thing. All of them were tied together, and any one of them could make a call, and everyone would come to help, but that didn’t make them all automatically into friends. 
God, Eddie looked like he was on the edge of a breakdown in a booth in a diner. 
“Look, it’s,” Steve spun his coffee cup, “you’re real close with the guys in your club right? The ones in your band?”
Eddie went tense, then nodded awkwardly.
“You’re close because of that stuff, though. Not just cause you had some classes together or were next to each other on a bus. You got pushed together for some random reason, but  that happened with a lot of people. But you had shared interests, right? You like that game, and you got bullied at school and you like the same loud screaming music. So you got to know each other, and you had a bunch in common, and so you guys are friends. You’re close, so even though you graduated, and you don’t have class and lunch together anymore, you’re still friends.
“Christ, Steve, no,” he protested. 
Steve ignored that and kept going.
“I never had that with the kids, or any of them. Shit. Never had that with Nance either, but I didn’t know it back then.” His inner Robin glared, and he stayed on topic. “It wasn’t as simple as sharing some classes, there were monsters and all that, but that’s what kept me and them around each other. No more monsters now, so.”
His stomach twisted, like it always did if he got too close to thinking about this. 
He only barely managed to talk about this with Robin, because when it was Robin he was honest, and when he was honest, really honest, he ended the night quiet and hurting and picking apart the past year trying to find what he could have done differently. Shoving all of that back into the dark of his mind, he conjured up a casual shrug and a smile. 
“I get that they’re probably freaking out right now, but they’ll get over it. Give it another month or two and it’ll be fine. Start one of your campaign -- your big story things and distract them if they’re bugging you about it.” 
He wiped up the coffee Eddie spilled on instinct, and shoved the napkin in his now empty cup. 
Time to get home and get a nap before he went to the stockroom that night. He wouldn’t see Robin until he picked her up for work, but they were scheduled alone, so he could talk all of this through then. Trying to pretend this day didn’t happen would last all of eight seconds of contact with his best friend. Maybe she could make sense of how he was feeling. 
“Wait, stop, you can’t leave yet.”
“Munson, I’ve been here since before dawn, I wanna leave.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but you have to talk to them. They miss you.”
“They didn’t six weeks ago, did they? Or for the holidays? Or for the months before that, huh?” Steve finally snapped, then took a breath. “Sorry. Answer’s still no.”
He bussed their cups and the creamer to the pass through and grabbed his coat and gloves. Steam rose off Hopper’s truck where he had the engine running to keep warm. They exchanged a single nod before Steve turned towards the road to walk home. 
“Steve!” 
It wasn’t a shock to hear, but Steve had hoped that Eddie wouldn’t follow. 
“Okay, I get that you’re not going to just forgive them, and that you don’t want to talk to them, but--”
“No. I don’t. And I know you think this is your fault, and I’m telling you it’s not, and I told you, I’m not mad at you about this. We weren’t friends. I’m not mad at you for not wanting me around or whatever. That’s fine. And? They’ll get over it, and everyone can just move on with their lives with the people they actually like.”
Steve’s stupid voice betrayed him, cracking, and he cut off the rest of what he might have said. Anger was the fastest way to shut down weakness, and it was easy for him to sink into it.  
Eddie had his hands in his hair, clutching at it near his temples, looking borderline hysterical. 
“Would you at least listen if they talked?”
“They don’t have my phone number, and if you tell them where I live, I’ll send Mrs Buckley after you. And Hopper.”
“You could call them.”
“No.”
It wasn’t about who placed the call. If he heard them, if they said a fraction of what he wanted to hear, he’d cave, immediately and entirely, and then both the real life Robin, and the mini Robin in his brain would give him hell. 
“Steve come on, something, anything. Letters? If they write letters?”
“I’m not giving them my address, and Hopper already asked about mailing stuff through him instead. No.”
It was cold and he was tired. Just about the only person in the party that he didn’t care had abandoned him was trying to pull Steve back into the vat of slow simmering pain he was still climbing out of. 
“Look, Eddie --”
“I’ll drive them. The letters. You don’t even have to answer, or read them. Let me tell them that I can bring you letters, and I’ll drive them up here. If you do want to answer I’ll wait and then drive whatever it is back. As many times as you want.”
“Come on, man.”
“I won’t even -- I don’t have to know where you live, or your number, anything. I can come here. To the diner. Won’t even come inside, just drop them off and wait. You won’t have to talk to me, or see me. Just, come on. Even if you never forgive them, or answer them, let them have this. Even if you don’t read what they say, let them think they got to apologize.”
The wind shifted, and Steve tucked his chin into his coat to wait it out. 
Eddie was shivering two steps away, gloveless hands shoved under his arms, hair tangling into more of a mess than usual. 
“That’s a stupid idea, Munson,” he said when the gust stopped, “If they know that you know where I am, and you don’t tell them, they’re going to hate you. They’d drive you insane trying to get you to tell them, and they’d be horrible the whole time. They already ditched me for you, so, don’t make them hate you too.”
“They already hate me.” The response was immediate and defeated.
“Dude, they don’t.”
“They do. They figured it out a few weeks ago. That I was the reason. Just cause you don’t get it doesn’t mean they don’t. This is my fault. They already hate me. They won’t even talk to me long enough to yell. They act like I don’t exist.”
“Christ, Munson, is that why you’re up here, freezing your ass off in a parking lot and bitching at me? So you can get them to like you by getting me to talk to them?”
Eddie flinched. Didn’t say anything for a minute as he shivered with wide eyes. Then, without any of the dramatics the guy was known for, “Please, Steve. Even if you throw them out right after. Let them write to you, and let me tell them the truth when I say you got them. I think they can survive if they don’t hear back. They’ll blame me, but that’s fine, they should. The silence is what’s killing them. They need to say how -- they need to believe that you heard how sorry they are.”
It was so fucking cold it was making Steve’s eyes water. That was the only reason for it. The cold front that came in overnight.
“I’m not gonna promise to read them,” he caved.
The tension collapsed out of Eddie, and he slumped forward, hiding his face in his hands. 
“I work here in the mornings Monday through Wednesday every week. You should drop them off then. M’not saying I’ll read them, or write anything back, but if they want to write, fine.” 
Eddie nodded over and over, hiding behind his hands, and whisper-mumbling something that Steve couldn’t catch. He was shaking again. The kind of full body wracking that meant the cold was sinking deep.
“Christ, go get in Hop’s truck before your fingers freeze off or something.” 
Without waiting for a response, or checking that he listened, Steve turned and kept walking. Another gust of wind tore through him, loud enough that he wouldn’t have heard another call of his name. It was a good thing that John messed up the big combo that morning, and Steve had eaten it during the lull after breakfast. He wasn’t going to manage anything else until tomorrow at the earliest. 
That was assuming Robin didn’t kill him on the spot for his stupid, stupid decision. 
Ten steps down the road, and he already regretted it. Even if he didn’t read anything, even if they never sent anything, the choice would sit like a rock in his gut; a new ache, a new bruise, and Steve was dumb enough that he’d keep poking at it. 
---
I'm sad that this is two chapters without Robin. That's some kind of a crime. Can guarantee that Robin has Strong Opinions about this when she talks to Steve that night.
I don't do tag lists or regular updates, and I have no shame about that.
>>>>>Part Six
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Text
A flock of elephants
Written for the November warm-up round of the @steddieholidaydrabbles
Prompt: Bakery AU
Rated: T
CW: some sexual tension and innuendo
Tags: Baker Steve, Rockstar Eddie
Notes: Can be read as a continuation of this microfic
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“You don't understand how huge a deal this is, Steve,” Dustin says. He’s wiggling in the passenger seat, trying to take in every bit of their surroundings as they pull up to the concert hall. 
Steve huffs and squints at the signs. There's security and fans and staff everywhere and he can feel a headache coming up. 
"A guy asked me to bake a cake, so what? It's literally what I do for a living, nothing-" 
"A guy asked you to-" Dustin sputters. "Excuse me, what did you say? Eddie Munson commissioned you to bake a replica of his world famous Warlock, do you have any- Do you even know who Eddie Munson is?" 
"Of course I know," Steve grouses. "I don't live under a rock." 
"Oh yeah?" Dustin levels him with an unimpressed look. "Name one of his songs." 
"Please," Steve rolls his eyes. "You're blasting that shit on repeat, it's practically seared into my brain. Especially the one about the elephants." 
Dustin stares at him. Steve resists the urge to pinch his nose.
"You know the one! What was it? Flock of Elephants?" 
Dustin crumples into the car seat and slaps both palms to his forehead. "It's A Court of Sycophants, Steve! Oh my God!"
"Synchro-what?" Steve ignores the way his neck prickles and takes a sharp right. "You just made that up. Now help me look for the delivery entrance or we won't have ourselves a deal at all." 
*
Once they find the entrance, it turns out he forgot the ID badge that the label sent, because of fucking course he did. He spends about half an hour trying to convince the grumpy security guard to let them in while Dustin has a complete meltdown. Just as he's ready to give up, they're rescued by the appearance of a tiny blonde in a pink cardigan who cheerfully introduces herself as Eddie’s manager. 
"Sorry about Hop," she says for what must be the fourth time, while Steve sets up the guitar-shaped cake at the center of the buffet and Dustin inspects the backstage lounge with awestruck eyes. "He takes his job very seriously." 
"Yeah, I noticed," Steve mutters. She seems nice enough, but he really doesn’t wanna engage in smalltalk right now. The bustle of the stage hands and the hot air of the venue are making him squeamish. All he wants to do is get this over with and go home.
Unfortunately fate must hate him, because that is the exact moment that a familiar voice says, "Hey, Chris. No matter what Hop tells you, I didn't order hookers to the venue. I dunno where he got the-" 
Dustin starts squealing. 
"Oh my God, you're Eddie Munson!"
Eddie squints at him like a confused cat. 
"Last time I checked, yeah. And you are?" 
"Dustin," says Dustin, like that explains everything. "I'm with Steve." 
Eddie’s eyes flit over and his face breaks into a delighted, dimpled smile. 
"Baker boy, hi!" 
Steve's mouth goes dry. 
He doesn’t know why, but all of the easy confidence of their last meeting is suddenly gone. 
Maybe it's because they were in the bakery, on his own turf, and now they're on Eddie’s, where the lights and the noise and the hum of the crowd in the auditorium are grating on his nerves. 
Maybe it's because last time, Eddie looked like just some guy in his ripped jeans and ratty hoody, unwashed hair piled in a chaotic bun, and now …
… now he's in a pair of leather pants that are so tight they may as well be spray-painted on and what looks like a fucking harness, hair cascading around his face and shoulders in a halo of messy curls and is that eyeliner? 
"Woah," Eddie breathes, eyes growing large, and yup, eyeliner. Definitely eyeliner, Jesus fucking Christ. With two long strides of those impossibly long legs, he's beside Steve and ogling the cake with an awestruck face. "This is fucking incredible, dude, it looks just like the real thing. You did all that from the photos?" 
By some miracle, Steve manages to channel the incoming blush into a sly pop of his hips and a smug eyebrow quirk. 
"Told you I was the best." 
Eddie is looking at him like he didn't bake a cake but hung the moon, which … in combination with the eyeliner and the leather and the harness of it all? Steve squirms in his jeans.
"Okay, erm … if that's all, I'll send over the bill by-" 
"Wait, what? You're not staying for the show?" Eddie swivels to Chrissy, all righteous indignation. "Why are they not staying for the show?" 
Chrissy shrugs, at the same time that Steve says, "That's really not necessa-" 
"We'd love to stay!" 
Dustin shoves himself between them, elbowing him in the kidneys. While Steve is still coughing, Eddie turns to Chrissy. 
"Show the young man to the backstage area, Chris?" 
Dustin looks like he's about to die of happiness, so Steve resigns himself to his fate. 
"Will you play the one about the psychopaths?" he asks as they trail after him. "It's his favorite." 
"Psycho-" Eddie’s brow wrinkles.
"Sycophants, Steve!" Dustin hollers from ahead. "Jesus!" 
"Anyways," Steve says over Eddie’s rumbling laughter. "You really didn't have to-" 
"I know I didn't." Eddie accepts his guitar - the real one - from a stage hand and slings it over his shoulder. "But I saw what you're best at, so I figured I'd return the favor." 
"Careful there," Steve huffs. "All you've done is ogle my cake. You may wanna try it first." 
"Oh, I'm planning to …" Eddie's smile is sharp as he leans in, close to his ear. "Preferably with less people around, though." 
And then he's gone, stepping out on the stage, making his guitar wail. 
Steve can't quite tell if the roar in his ears is the crowd or the sound of his own blood.
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ghost-proofbaby · 1 year
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twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)
HOUR FIFTEEN
in which Eddie learns what it means to be honest, and you learn that some answers can only lead to more questions.
→ tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
→ warnings: strong language, smut, upside down does not exist, minors dni
→ wc: 4.7k+
→ a/n: this chapter is my enemy. that's all. all the homies hate this chapter for the hell it gave me both in writing it and posting it
masterlist.
spotify playlist.
◁ previous part, next part▷
15:00 ────────ㅇ─────── 24:00
SIX MONTHS EARLIER
You were so caught up in your own disappointment, you never saw the flash of recognition that crossed Eddie’s face. Only the anger that followed.
“Is that the dude who stood you up?” 
His voice is weak as he asks the question, a breath that barely reaches your ears as you jump at the unexpected proximity. 
“What?” you spin around to face him, “Jesus Christ, why are you creeping over my shoulder at my phone? Trying to see who else doesn’t follow me on Instagram?” 
He cringes at your bitter tone, all the vodka you’ve turned to venom in your hurt, “You didn’t answer my question – is that him?” 
“Why do you care?” 
It’s the short version of the real questions binding you. A million different threads of confusion, and each one constricts you tighter than the last, all of them tangling together in the confusion. 
Why do you care when you dislike me so vigorously? Why do you care when you’ll only use my answer as ammunition against me? Why do you care to hurt me so badly tonight? Why do you care if Nancy and I are friends? Why do you care to point out how I don’t belong in this group-
“I don’t,” he interrupts your internal panic, pausing the restless twisting of anxious twine. 
You take a deep breath, you let your eyes wander over him, taking him in. He’s ditched the soft-spoken act, his voice coming out powerful finally. The confidence is almost overdone; he sounds as if he’s trying to make up for something not there. 
You crave for distance to be put between the two of you, but he makes no move to step away as you ask, “Then why do you keep asking me?” 
You can’t begin to understand him, completely unsure of where to ever start with the task. He’s a hollow stranger of the man you’d initially met that night in the bar. You’ve seen how he acts with the others, how he treats Nancy like royalty at times and how he’s warm with Argyle. You’ve seen him share joints and laughter alike with Jonathan. It’s hard to miss when he and Steve both begin to get overly passionate about a topic, Robin always finding a way to join in. Eddie is capable of warmth and care, of friendship and genuine love, but not when it comes to you. 
“I was just curious, sue me.” 
“If I had a good lawyer, I would,” you snap back quickly, patience wearing thin. 
It makes him grin – a damn grin. Shit-eating as ever as he replies, “I know a guy if you’d like one,” and he keeps grinning, and you don’t even notice when a line is crossed and that faux glee no longer meets his eyes as he continues,  “Speaking of knowing a guy – do you know the guy on your screen?” 
The threads are twisting again, and the friction is leaving your blood boiling. “Fucking obviously.” 
“Is he the one who stood you up?” 
“Fuck off, Eddie.” 
You can’t handle this right now. You’re drunk – not so drunk you won’t remember the night, but still damn drunk – and you’re overthinking. Letting the threads cut off circulation to your brain, letting yourself only be consumed with overthinking about your place within the group. You don’t even have the capacity to question why Eddie is so persistent in finding out about the bartender who left you looking like a fool the night before; you miss his genuine, burning curiosity and the anger that still broods in him as your anxiety bubbles up. 
Were you and Nancy friends? Maybe Instagram did matter. Surely, she followed everyone else in the group, didn’t she? 
“Why won’t you just answer the question? Why are you so damn stubb-” 
“You don’t care!” you nearly scream, throwing your hands up in defeat, slamming your phone down onto the counter beside you, “You don’t care, you’ve made that clear, so I don’t understand why you need to hear me say it so fucking badly. Why do you need to hear me admit how pathetic I am? We both know where this is going – I say yes, you use it against me, I end up looking like a fool for a second night in a row,” your chest heaves and your eyes burn, but you won’t look at him. You can’t bear witness to him watching you bleed in the middle of Steve’s kitchen, “I’m not doing it. Not tonight.” 
He looks as if you had slapped him. Stunned, aghast, taking a step back to finally give you the space you had so desperately craved. You don’t even really care about it anymore; the damage is done and you’re already spiraling, thanks to him. 
“Do you think so little of me?” 
His voice is small again. Deceptively soft, a treacherous whisper you know you can’t look into. He’s not really hurt. It’s all probably an act, a guise to get you to play into how he wants the night to go. 
“With what you’ve given me to work with?” you scoff, still blinking your eyes rapidly, trying to stave off the waterworks, “Yeah. Yeah, I am starting to think that little of you.” 
“Have you considered I was just trying to be friend-” 
You’re not sure how his sentence is going to end, whether he would claim to be trying to be friendly or trying to be friends. You’re not sure which one makes you more livid.
It’s the second one. “You just mocked me, made me doubt if I had fucking friends all because of Nancy not following me on Instagram. Don’t you dare say you were trying to be friends with me right now.” 
If you were more sober, you would have cursed yourself for blatantly revealing to him that he’d gotten to you. Your wounds were now on display for him, and you stiffened as you realized and awaited the expected handful of salt he’d be rubbing into them. 
We thought he wasn’t going to come, so we invited you instead.
The fight’s only just begun and you’ve already lost – not just this battle, but the entire war.
You know they would choose him. If your friends were given the choice between you two, they’d choose him. And it shouldn’t sting, it’s expected given how long the group has known each other, but Eddie’s animosity towards you has done nothing to soothe the ache stirred by that truth. You would never ask them to choose, you know better, but you’ve always known the answer.
It’s him, not you. 
“I was joking-” 
“No, that was not joking. It wasn’t funny. It was mean.” 
Mean, cruel, ruthless. What Eddie did rings sharply in your chest, in your brain that’s currently running on overtime to process your waves of emotions. The threads are so tight, you expect to see a puddle of blood at your feet on Steve and Robin’s kitchen floor. 
“As if you’re any better,” he sharply laughs in disbelief, shaking his head, “You want to talk about mean? Let’s talk about my date with Chrissy and you’re fucking fiasco.” 
Your stomach drops. The battlefield lurches into uneven ground, because what you did really was unfair. But you had been bitter, and you had been mean, and you had been…. 
You had been jealous. Jealous not of the romance that was honestly leaving much to be desired between him and Chrissy, but that platonic friendship. The kind you had yet to earn from him. The kind you were starting to doubt if you ever had, genuinely, with the rest of the group. 
“I’m-”
“Sorry? Yeah, well, sorry don't make her call me back.” 
This is where, if you were speaking with anyone besides Eddie, you offer a real, genuine apology. 
But you’re speaking with Eddie. You’re burnt out from a long week, your pride still remains wounded, you’re suddenly questioning if you even have any friends, you’re drunk, and you’re speaking with Eddie. 
A genuine apology would be like terrible shards, dredged up your throat and being clung to desperately by your whining pride. You’re bleeding enough as it is without that. 
“My apologies, friend. I am so terribly sorry you weren’t able to get your dick wet.” 
You both deserved what was coming, really. You deserved it. Because suddenly, just as it always ended up between you two, hateful words were exchanged. The worst part isn’t when Eddie snarks about how at least he can get his dick wet, unlike you, nor is it when you spit out how being a slut isn’t something to be proud of. It’s a blur of sharp tongues and jabbing knives, both of you swiping for any which way to make the other bleed. 
It’s the cruelest you’ve been to each other yet, because somewhere below all of the surface-level insults, there’s real pain pulsing there. There’s your bloodied threads of anxiety, wretched thoughts and doubts as to if you should even be in this apartment tonight. There’s something more in the lines that form between Eddie’s furrowed brows as he matches your anger. His volume raises right along yours, and whenever his voice breaks over certain quick-dagger remarks, you don’t look into it. Especially not when it happens as he brings up the bartender again. All the failed dates, as he so kindly reminds you of. 
“For someone who claims to not fucking care, you sure do talk a lot about those ridiculous fucking dates,” you seethe finally. Somewhere in the argument, you’d downed the rest of your drink, leaving an empty glass beside you. 
“Because they prove my point!” he shouts in exasperation, “Because you… you… you can’t take a fucking hint.”
A final thread wraps around your throat. You feel as if you can’t breathe. 
“And what is that hint, exactly?” your tone shakes as you ask it, past anger and past heartbreak. 
Why do you still care what he thinks? Do you still care what he thinks?
The vodka says yes. 
Yet Eddie says no, shaking his head immediately.
“Oh, so now you don’t want to speak your mind?” you hate how vulnerable you are, the lilt of your voice with unshed tears and the crack in your chest that you’re sure he can hear. You want to scream, you want to pound your fists against his chest. You want to throw a proper tantrum, like an absolute child. Like a little kid on the playground who no one wanted to play with, “You had all this shit to say, and now you bite your tongue? Fuck you, Eddie.” 
“You don’t want to actually know,” he says flatly. He’s emotionless, and it burns you even further. Here you are, overflowing your cup with all your emotions, and his well has run dry. Even the tick you had managed to get out of his jaw is gone. All the anger, all the false signs of him actually caring have vanished.
You bite down on your lip, struggling to take a deep breath. Trying to even your anger, to bring yourself down to his level. You’re tired of the uneven battle ground. “I don’t? I never knew you were a mindreader.” 
“Don’t have to be a mindreader to see the way you’re about to burst into fucking tears.” 
You suddenly wish you could take the glass on the counter beside you and just toss it at him, full force. Make him physically bleed as he continues to stab at your pride, your ego, your emotions. 
You’re not even sure he’d bleed at this point. Maybe he’s a fucking robot designed to do nothing but hurt you. 
“Fuck you,” you state plainly as the first tear falls, repeating yourself with a more vindictive tone, “Fuck you. It’s not like you care about my fucking feelings, so just say it.” 
 “Fine,” he’s still so indifferent, still so emotionless, “You’re so dense, you never realize that you’re not wanted. Not by those assholes, not here-” 
It’s your final breaking point. You don’t care to hear the rest of his sentence, temper taking the reins as you reach for the glass beside you. 
You throw as hard as you can. 
You tell yourself it’s dumb luck and bad aim when the glass shatters against the wall behind Eddie and not his shocked face. Not mercy. Not the ghost of hope, evaporating with a whisper of glass shards as the final shovel full of dirt falls upon the grave. You can see it clearly, the gravestone that marks the fresh grave: Here Lies Possibility. Here Lies All That Could Have Been. 
It’s over. Eddie knows it – his emotion finally shows, but you don’t stick around to see it. 
Eddie’s wrong. For once, you see you’re not wanted, and make the choice to leave.
HOUR FIFTEEN - 6:00 AM
“It was about you. I got banned because of you.” 
You don’t know how to respond at first. Honesty hangs heavy between the two of you, suffocating in the morning light. 
You asked him for honesty. He gave you honesty.
It should be a celebration, but all it does is build a pit in the bottom of your stomach that threatens to weigh you down to the bottom of his ocean. 
When you finally respond, you enunciate each word carefully, “Eddie. What do you mean?” 
“I got banned. From the bar. Because of you.”
“No, yeah, I gathered that,” you stress, the crease between your brow deepening, “But…. I… elaborate?”
You can hear the cars on the street below, echoing honks and engines thrumming. Songbirds sing in the distance and shops are opening; the entire world surrounding you two is awakening with a long yawn and a gentle stretch. 
Your world feels as though it is coming to a full stop, but life is carrying on. 
“Which part?” he breaths out a humorless laugh, “The part where I got banned, or the part where it was because of you? Because the ban is pretty straight forward – I threw a punch at a guy, he threw a punch back, now I can’t step foot in Fat Tuesday on Mill Ave-”
“The part where it’s because of me, you idiot,” you interrupt him in exasperation, “What the hell do you mean you got banned because of me?” 
Silence. You’re met with silence. 
Maybe honesty has run dry, just like that. 
You search his face and count your luck, at least he admitted this much, before sighing, “Okay. You don’t have to tell me-” 
The honesty comes bursting out of him. The well of it is anything but dry, “It was the bartender that stood you up. He was there that night after our fight, after the party at Steve’s.” 
The bartender. 
You hadn’t thought of that guy in ages, had long since forgotten his name and face since he’d bruised your ego. 
“I…” your voice trails off, unsure and unsteady as you take tentative steps away from the balcony’s railing, “I’m… honored?” 
Honored isn’t quite the right word. You really don’t know how to feel right now. Should you be thanking him, assuming it was in your honor that he started the fight? Or should you press on, test the limits of honesty and figure out if you’re interpreting this entire confession incorrectly? 
Eddie chuckles dryly before he suddenly walks over to one of the two lounge chairs on the balcony, a small table separating them adorned with a crystal ashtray, “That’s all?”
“Should I not be?” Confusion bursts and blooms across your face, and Eddie’s only reaction to it is furrowed brows as he sits down, “I mean, you just told me you not only threw a punch, but took a punch from some dude who stood me up on a first date once. I think at the very least I should be-”
“I expected you to have more questions,” Eddie cuts you off as he taps his carton of cigarettes on the table beside you, more of a habit than a necessity. His knee is bouncing with each tap, an invisible beat you try to track and end up failing miserably before you take the other chair beside him, “You always have more questions.” 
I do, you think immediately, I have a million and one questions I can’t ask.
Each question flurries past you in a blur, and you’re sure if they’re capable of making you dizzy that there’s no way Eddie could handle them all being thrown at him. There’s also a small part of you still terrified that pressing too far will send him running; ask one wrong thing, and Eddie will retreat to his tall, defensive walls, once again separating him from you. Progress, no matter how minimal, is progress. You can’t risk backtracking. 
“Of course I do,” you repay his debt of honesty in a quiet tone, nimbly picking at the hem of his sweatshirt as it brushes your thigh. 
“Then ask them.”
“If I ask you more questions, are you going to shut me out?” 
The entire morning stills. The breeze turns stale, the sounds of the Sunday hustling and bustling seemingly pause. 
You can’t help but look into his big, brown eyes. You try to communicate with a single look, a silent plea for him to please say he isn’t. 
“I won’t shut you out,” he’s hardly louder than a whisper, but that’s enough for you.
You don’t know where to start: Did you punch him because of me? Did he say something first? Did you have an ulterior motive? Did you know about my date with him before that night? Did you guys talk about me?
The final one sparks a chill down your spine, uncomfortable at the thought of Eddie having discussed you with the bartender, having been the one to tarnish the man’s view of you enough to leave you stranded at a restaurant alone. 
Normally, you’d slowly ease him to the point of your actual question. But your patience has vanished as you look at him now, as you watch him under the promise that he won’t shut you out.
“How did you know him before the fight?” 
His lips twitch with a grin, “I was a regular, he was a bartender. Can I make it anymore obvious?” 
“Are you quoting Avril Lavigne to me right now?” you ask, flabbergasted before shaking your head in an attempt to clear your thoughts and move past this joke, “You know what? Forget I asked – so he served you often? Were you…. Were you friendly?” 
“Well, he once took me out behind the bar and kissed me, but he never got around to buying me dinner. Might have been because of my mean right hook, but who knows-”
“Eddie,” Your voice cracks in desperation, “Please, be serious. Just for one minute.” 
It kills you to say it, because part of you is convinced this is a vision of the boy you’ve been chasing after for so long. This is the boy who is best friends with Nancy. This is the boy who is always invited without hesitation to smoke with Jonathan and Argyle. This is the boy that Steve and Robin had ranted and raved about in all those classes before you’d met him. This is the boy you’d met that first night in the bar in brief passing, and had been seeking out ever since. 
A boy who felt like coming home after a long week.
It kills you to tell him to quiet down all the grins and jokes that are making your heart ache in such a terribly peculiar way.
“I’m sorry,” something in you gleams with gratuity when his grin takes it’s time fading, him throwing up his hands in faux defense, his playful tone still woven carefully. He’s not shutting you out. “I can be serious. I- Give me a second. Scout’s honor, I can stop fucking around.” 
“You better,” you jilt, caving into the joking ever so slightly. 
It’s easy to do when he looks at you this way. His eyes sparkle as if the honesty has freed him of some great weight. However he had expected you to react, it wasn’t this way. 
All at once, he has become something brand new to you. You’re in his sweatshirt, barefoot on his balcony as you can still smell his last cigarette lingering in the air, and you wonder if you’ve never considered yourself a morning person because you’ve never experienced a Sunday morning with Eddie. If you had felt his morning light like this before, even in a sleep-deprived haze, you would have certainly enjoyed the early hours sooner. 
“Okay, okay,” he takes a deep breath, forces away the grin you can still see in the crinkles beside his eyes, “To answer your question, no. We weren’t really friends, I didn’t even know his name and I’m pretty sure he didn’t know mine. He just knew my order.”
“Whiskey and coke,” you whisper, pulling a knee up to your chin, resting it and looking at Eddie with unbridled softness. Fifteen hours ago, you couldn’t have known nor cared about his go-to drink.
“Whiskey and coke,” he confirms. It’s in the pull of his lips – he’s fighting another smile, feeling just as soft as you are at the way you’ve learned something new about him, “Not that it’s hard to remember. Definitely easier than an amaretto sour.” 
“Amaretto sours are not hard to remember,” you shake your head ever so slightly, chin slipping and lips dragging across the skin of your knee. Eddie’s eyes waste no time focusing on the movement, “Okay. So you two weren’t really friends, that’s good to know. I guess my next question would be, was he working that night?” 
Eddie leans forward, elbows pressing into the tops of his thighs, “Are you asking if I’m badass enough to storm into a bar and throw a punch at the bartender on duty to defend your honor?” 
His words paint quite the picture for you. “Did you?”
“No. Lower your expectations of me, please.” 
It takes everything in you to not just throw your head back in laughter, having to settle on giggles suffocated against the skin of your knee still. You wrap your arms around your shin tightly, keeping your leg folded up into you as you shake with the soft laughter. 
“Okay, one last question - who threw the first punch?” you sigh. The image of how fearful Eddie had looked when he’d first admitted to this entire ordeal is silly now. You already know the answer to this question, he wouldn’t have been so nervous to tell you if he hadn’t been the one instigating the entire thing, but you ask it to humor the two of you. 
It’s a good distraction from the buds and blooms alike, all awakening along your vines. The vines don’t feel so constricting anymore. As a matter of fact, you think you’re able to recognize their beauty for the first time. Verdant greenery lined with splashes of reds, of violets, of yellows that are almost the same brilliant shade of gold that his eyes seemingly flash every time the sun hits them just right. 
“I did,” he answers just as you expected. He also shrinks into himself, just as you had also expected, “I just saw him there, and- actually, I don’t know if this next part is just an insult to injury but I…” he trails off, not taking a single breath as he meets your gaze. You’re sure he’s searching for anger, for repulsiveness, for hurt. He’ll find none. You only nod your head and encourage him to keep going, “Okay, he was there on a fuckin’ date, sweetheart. A date, the night after he stood you up. So I just…I just decked him. And honestly? I don’t regret it. He deserved it.” 
When he’s finally finished spilling his guts, you’re left fighting a grin and an overflowing chest of blooms. He’s flushed and nervous and goddamn it, he beat the shit out of some dude in your honor. You should scold him or be more upset, but you only start laughing again. 
“Why are you laughing?” Eddie scrunches up his face, continuing to lean forward, almost as if trying to get closer to you, “Seriously, what’s so funny about that?” 
You’ve thrown your head back in delight now, just as you had wanted to earlier, and release your hold on your leg as it falls back down from your chest, “Jesus Christ, I wish I could have seen that in person.” 
Eddie’s stunned. But you mean it – if your heartbroken self from six months ago had witnessed that, you would have considered Eddie your best friend immediately. This entire feud would have been cut six months short just from one simple punch. 
“I’m sorry,” you gasp out, desperately trying to compose yourself once more, “I really shouldn’t condone violence. I just – man, I cried over that guy. A whole month of those stupid, cheesy, ‘good-morning-beautiful’ texts, and he had just left me hanging, y’know? I mean, I’m sure he’s not a bad person-”
“No,” Eddie interrupts, smiling right along with you, “No, as far as we should be concerned, he’s a fucking asshole. Fuck defending him, we’re never going to see him again anyways.” 
 We’re never going to see him again. 
Eddie probably has no idea what he’s done, referring to the two of you as a joint unit for the first time in a future tense, but it makes you ache all over. That heartache and warmth you felt for him is no longer secluded to just your chest; you feel it from your toes all the way to your scalp, traveling and leaving kisses of goosebumps in its trail. A sudden yearning floods your entire nervous system, the entire roadmap of your heart and your veins and your arteries – you like the image of you and Eddie, Eddie and you, still being a resemblance of a pair beyond just these measly twenty four hours. You like to imagine being able to call him up out of boredom some time next week. You like the thought of him joining on bar crawls with you and the girls. You like the thought of spending every Sunday morning with him from here on out. 
Some of those are reasonable. Some of those aren’t. The yearning rushes through you all the same. 
“Yeah,” you agree softly, “We’re never going to see him again. Fuck him.” 
Eddie hums and leans back in his chair, finally beginning to relax, leaving you a moment to reflect. 
He was telling the truth, he had been honest; he had gotten banned from a bar for you. He’d seen the bartender who stood you up, and he’d decided to defend your honor. Even after that night. Even after that fight. Even after the glass you had thrown. 
Even after the cruel words he had said. 
The yearning stops in its tracks, coming to a rough halt as you glance up at him sharply. 
Even after the cruel words he had said, even after claiming you weren’t someone who was wanted, he’d defended you. 
“You know what?” he suddenly says, but your mind is still whirling and you can only hum in response, “I kind of like honesty. I sort of dig it,” you wish you could muster up more than a smile as he boyishly grins at you, “What else do you wanna know? Hit me, sweetheart.” 
Sweetheart. The yearning rushes past the floodgates, the pink strikes your cheeks, the ache rings out from the very hollows of your bones. 
You know what you really want to ask him can’t be answered right now. Because even with the change in him, the one that weakens your knees and has you wishing for things in the future, he was still once the man from that night. He still once made you bleed, made you cry. And even if he’s apologized, and you know he means it, it can’t erase that fact. 
And it worries you. Because as all the feelings swell in your chest, you’re left with yet another unanswered question. 
Why would you defend me after that fight?
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presleyanswrites · 8 days
Note
Hey I got a request for jj
That jj is a single dad to a baby girl and he is to scared to hold because he will think he will drop her and John b everyday will try and get jj to hold her then one day jj was holding her on his chest then he takes her everywhere With him hope that make sense
Koala Care
dad!jj x fem!reader x daughter
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a/n ahh this is so cutie! thank you for the request anon, love you bunches!
desc JJ holds his baby girl for the first time
wc 1.2k
warnings cursing, grammar, fluff
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"Peaches?" JJ comes in through the back door of the chateau, carefully shutting it behind him as he walks through the kitchen to set down a box full of baby supplies.
The usual. Diapers, baby food, her favorite yogurt melts, more of his old band & surf t-shirts to wrap her up in.
He notices Aria crying her eyes out behind him in between the white rails of her bed. he must have forgotten to change her when he left. He also noticed it was pissing off John B who was trying to work on something probably useless and he caught the hint that he's been listening to her cry for at least an hour.
"Shit," he mutters, messing with his backwards hat as he turns his attention away from Aria for a split second to glance at John B. Turns out he was fixing a cooler for the boat.
"Bro." he goes over to him, kicking him in the leg slightly, "You seen Y/n? I really need her help knowing what measurements of tit milk I'm supposed to feed mini me."
John B rolls his eyes to the ceiling as he screws in the side of the cooler handle.
"First of all," he says through a gritted tone from a bolt in between his teeth.
"You gotta stop with the teenage boy, language wording shit."
He spits out the bolt and screws another nail into the bottom.
"You're like a dad now. Its your dick and your daughter, buddy. You really want your kid to go around saying, tit milk?"
JJ tuts. "Bro she cant even talk yet. Plus, I don't remember half the shit i said as a fucking baby. Maybe thats cause my dad probably beat the shit out of me where I like- lost half my cells, but i ain't changing. Plus, daddy will raise her to be the best hooker of man kind. Shes a Pogue, shes not gonna be a goody two shoes if my life depends on it."
John B turns his head around and gives him a look.
"Jesus Christ JJ, did anything click when your girlfriend popped a living thing out of her ass?" He purses his lips.
JJ points his lips downwards and shrugs.
"Or are you always gonna be known as the dad who raised a stripper?" John B rolls his eyes again, taking a weird clear plate out of his box, "Y/n is a doctor for fucks sake, she's the only hope for raising her I swear to God."
John B shakes his head, "I've told you everyday now. You haven't even held her yet."
JJ grips his hat, "Thats because im gonna drop the kid!"
John b slaps his forehead.
"You're litterally her DAD, JJ! Y/n popped a baby out of her kitty sack and you seriously didnt even touch her the day she was born." John B raises his eyebrows. "Do you remember that? Y/n cried in Kie's room FOR AN HOUR thinking you didnt want the kid!"
JJ opens his mouth to respond then stops.
"Whatever. Go back to fixing your cold box and shit," He turns his back to walk away.
John B changes the tip on his screwdriver, "You're gonna have to hold your own ass daughter eventually, dude."
"I hope you screw a nail in your dick!" JJ calls out and tuts again, mumbling under his breath, "teaching me how to handle my own kid..."
"im the one fixing this goddamn cooler so you can drink your shit ass blue moon chilled!" John b yells back, JJ opening the door and slamming it shut to try and find you again.
"y/nnnn," he groans, calling out your name, finding you sitting on the steps outside.
He kneels down and wraps his big arms around you, kissing the side of your head gently.
"Hi baby," he mutters, "How was work?"
you felt your head pulsating before forcing yourself to give a response.
"Hmmm fine. it was busy."
"Yeah?" he strokes your head, "Real quick."
You sigh slightly, "Hmm?"
"how much ti-" He stops, and clears his throat.
"How much milk do I need to feed Ari?" He says in a soft voice, knowing you had a blaring headache from your shift.
You exhale, leaning your arms on your knees.
"theres about 7 oz in the fridge."
He nods, "thank you sweets," he kisses your hair one last time before leaving you in peace to rest your mind.
He goes back inside the chateau, opening the fridge and taking out the bottle, reaching over Aria's crib and putting the tip to her mouth.
"there we are, sweet girl.." he holds the back of her head while she drinks gently, her cries settling down.
After Aria is finished, he stares at her for a moment.
Why was it so hard for him to hold his own daughter? He feels a wave of guilt floods over his spine.
He reaches his hands out, then stops.
"God damnit," He sighs.
"Okay." He stares at Aria one more time. "3, 2.."
"Fuck this."
He picks Aria up gently in his arms, his heart jumping as he does so.
"Holy shit," he breathes. "Oh my God."
He holds her to his chest, making sure to support her back, something he learned in a parenting book he found online as he feels his soul melt in his stomach.
"There we go," he coos softly, rocking her up and down gently.
"Hi love." he holds her up to look in her eyes with the biggest grin on his face.
"You have your mommas eyes, don't you?"
It's like he fell in love with you all over again. Just this time, it was a baby. And it was his baby.
He holds her to him again, hearing you opening the screen door to come back inside the chateau as he looks at you with the stupidest smile on his face.
"JJ.." you breathe, a grin full of your white perfect teeth filling the room as you jog over to him.
You rub his arm gently as you stare at Aria in JJ's arms.
"im so glad." You said, tears slightly filling the bottom of your eyes as your breath catches in your throat.
"She has your eyes," He repeats the observation he made earlier.
You nod with a sniffle, chuckling slightly.
"She has your lips."
JJ presses another soft kiss into the side of your neck.
A few days later, you noticed that JJ dorkily bought one of those baby carrier things to attach to your chest, and you had to admit it was pretty cute seeing Aria giggle with him, taking her everywhere he went.
John B was relieved her finally built up the balls to hold his kid, and if you were honest, you were relieved too.
Kiara bullied him everyday for taking Aria with him everywhere because the baby holder he chose was literally hot pink. Really hot pink.
He was so happy everyday. To be the dad that he never had. The one he had prayed and wished for everyday as a kid.
JJ was such a tough guy, tough face, tough love, tough soul.
but I guess not when it came to you and Aria. You and her were his new world and there was nothing in the entire universe that could take that away from him.
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☆ divider & gif credits to @viixcyre @baby-bearie
my navigation ♡
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m2m-author · 9 days
Text
The Right Groom
I've been helping my best friend plan his wedding for the last few months. The theme was 'Anyone But You', and at first glance it seemed to be an easy theme, with our powers and all, but the wedding is a month away and we still can't decide the body.
He accepts my call, and a stranger answers.
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"Hey, man, what's up?" he says, the voice uncharacteristically chipper for a voice that deep. I immediately recognized that as Nathan, my best friend. 
He spins and fixes his bowtie, the man grinning. "What do you think?" He gives the man's bulge a stroke.
"I don't know," I say. "He's cute, but I'm not sure he's groom material, you know what I mean?"
He sighs, "Yeah, I guess. I really don't know what to do! Steven already chose a body—before you ask, he won't tell me—and he smirked real hard, so I knew he chose someone good."
"Hey, hey, don't worry." Nathan, still in the stranger's body, was looking at me with brows furrowed and eyes shining. "You spot any more possible choices?"
He perks up a bit. "I actually do." He moves out of frame for a second. Even as his best friend, he still won't let me know the way he transforms. Geeze.
The phone moves rapidly for a moment until we reach his bathroom. Nathan has transformed into another stranger. He tries to smile, but only sighs in frustration. "What do you think?"
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He flexes his arms and twirls the man's mustache. "I can see it. He's handsome. It's still up to you," I say.
"Come on," he whines, and it's amusing seeing this mature body acting like that. "My mind's been blank for months. I need help."
"Okay. Don't Steven like hairy guys? Maybe you can find someone like that?"
"Wait! Check this out." He starts taking off the suit, revealing the body's furry chest and belly. The body's cock is long, and Steven doesn't shy away from stroking it.
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With one hand on the phone, he strokes his chest, closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth of the body. He moans, the body's voice smooth. I grin at him, my hand reaching down to massage my bulge.
"Oh god," he moans, pinching his nipples. "I think I want to fuck him in this body. Or maybe he fucks me."
He lets his mouth hang open, staring at his reflection in appreciation. "Jesus Christ. I wonder who he is in real life."
"I can call you back," I say with a grin.
He smiles sheepishly, the body's pearly white teeth on full display. "Right. Sorry. So this one's definitely in the runner up, right?"
I nod. "Looks pretty good to me. His voice is hot too. You got another body?"
"Yes! Glad you reminded me. I saw this man in the mall a few days ago. I couldn't resist."
He sends me a photo of a bearded man taking a photograph in what seemed to be a bathroom.
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"I didn't get to stay for too long," he continues, but the man's hairy, and he got a pretty thick dick. I'd love to ram that dick down Steven's throat." Nathan, still in the hairy man's body, sticks out his tongue and bobs his head up and down.
I laugh. "Maybe that could be your honeymoon body?"
He grins. "Just look at this thing! Even just looking at it makes me want to fuck somebody with it. There were too many people in the mall, but I did pee using that thing. Could barely hold it with his hands."
He sends me a dick pick, and sure enough, it's a monstrous 10-incher, as thick as a beer can.
"Goddamn," I say, breathless. I had a pretty modest cock, but even though I've spent my time in countless dudes with giant cocks, it always made me wonder how they're able to keep to keep that monster hidden.
He stared at the phone for a few more seconds, uncaring, as the hairy man's mouth started drooling. A faint thought of wanting to catch that saliva passes through my mind. He shakes out of his reverie and says, "Wait a minute. Have you found your body? The best man needs to have the best body too!"
"I'm glad you asked."
I have it easier than most people, and I can transform into anyone using only a photograph. Some people need body touch, possession, vials, spells or some other tactic, but I only need a photograph and I can transform into that person instantly. Or at least the person they were when the image was taken.
I move off-screen (mostly because I'm mildly annoyed at Nathan still keeping his tactic a secret) and glance at the photo on my table. The change is instantaneous, and I immediately feel lighter. My head rang for a moment, a drawback for a transformation as quick as that, but years of practice left me fully able to lessen that migraine.
I smile at him in this new body and say, "I saw him online, and I just couldn't resist."
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Nathan rolls his eyes with a smile. "Lucky."
I take the time to explore the body once again, enjoying the strange sensations all over my body. One thing people don't mention enough when changing bodies is how literally every single thing changes: your senses, your visions, even the way you perceive things. This body, for example, has excellent health, but slightly blurry eyesight.
I open my shirt, reaching for his pec. His warm skin sends a ripple down my body, and I'm acutely aware of the growing bulge in this body. My other hand has reached his pants, massaging them, through the fabric making me moan harder.
Nathan doesn't say anything, continuing to change bodies as I explore every single inch of this body.
"Hmmm…" I whisper. Even his voice sends tingles down my spine. I massage his big thighs, the fabric of the pants feeling oddly satisfying against his skin. The thought of the real body seeing himself doing this sends a thrill. Sometimes I daydream about pretending to run into him with his own body, trying to seduce him using his own voice. I imagine using his hands to slowly massage his body, kissing the original man's lips using his own. I've already released his cock, stroking it in all its glory. It's veiny, pre-cum making it all shiny. I stroke the guy's cock faster, blood rushing in and making his dick even harder. It pulsates, my knees losing strength as I think of sucking the man's cock using his own mouth. I grip the side of the table as I gasp, closing my eyes as cum shoots up and onto my clothes and on my face.
"Finally got that out of your system?"
I'm still closing my eyes, breathing up and down, relishing the feeling of hot cum on my face. When I open my eyes, I gasp at Nathan.
"I think I found the one."
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thefatedthoughtofyou · 10 months
Text
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Saw this meme and iiiiii did a thing... a steddie thing... obviously
( Eddie has a small dick in this if you don't like it don't read it. We support small dick supremacy in this house thank you for your time. 😊 )
😅😅😅
I'm picturing them at a bar. I wanna say maybe Steve is the bar tender, and he's been seeing Eddie around. He comes in. Talks a little, he's kinda quiet. Like he's stuck in his head, like he comes there to think. He's always scribbling things on napkins. Steve thinks they might be song lyrics, the way Eddie hums and taps his fingers as he writes.
But Steve obviously sees him looking at him sometimes. It's a gay bar, it happens, but Eddie doesn't leer at him, or chat him up in that way. It's always just friendly conversation.
Steve kind of loves it. Loves being able to just chat and not worry about getting stalked out to his car by a creep. And then one day some drunk dude is hitting on Eddie HARD. Leaning into him and grabbing at his arm and just when Steve is about to say something the guy actually says the words,
"how big is that dick?" Like... in real life. Out loud. And grabs for Eddie's thigh, and Steve watches Eddie catch his wrist, easy, watches him shove the guys hand back at him, saying,
"small. Leave me alone." Without even looking at him. And Steve fucking barks a laugh because that was... fucking hilarious. But also... kinda hot. Like, he's known he likes Eddie for awhile but seeing someone come on to him had sealed the deal, jealousy crawling over his skin, but then seeing Eddie shut it down, in the funniest fucking way Steve had ever seen, had just slammed it into place.
The guy scowls, says something rude, and stalks off. But Eddie is looking at Steve cuz he's still chuckling. Doing that cough thing like he's trying to cover it up but the laugh is still extremely prominent through the coughing. And Eddie watches him with raised eyebrows cuz like... damn okay. Cute bar tender thinks he's funny. And Steve is like,
"Sorry man. That was just, fuckin hilarious. Not the guy grabbing you, obviously, just, how you delt with it. Like that was... the best thing I've seen in awhile. Just... just sayin." He shakes his head to stop himself rambling more, he needs more friends to hangout with besides Robin, she's rubbing off on him. So he just reaches into the cooler and grabs Eddie his usual beer, slides it over the bartop to him, tells him it's on the house.
"Thanks." Is all Eddie says, but he looks happy, small smile still on his face.
And when the bar's closing, and Eddie is still there, just idly talking to Steve all night. Steve takes a chance. Says some cheesey line about letting Eddie walk him home. And Eddie flushes red to his ears but nods, takes the last sip of his beer and helps Steve flip the chairs onto the tables so he can do a quick sweep. Steve's locking the door when he hears Eddie clear his throat awkwardly, like he wants to say something. Steve looks at him, waits.
"I uh... look I know you thought I was being funny... earlier." Eddie scratches his head, nods into the bar. Steve nods, lets him continue.
"But I uh- I was also being serious?" He grimaces, eyes on the ground.
"So if that's like... a deal breaker? That's- that's totally okay. I just uh... I dont know. Thought I should maybe warn you before- before anything...happens?" His eyes widen and he takes a step back.
"Not that anything was gonna happen! Like I wasn't expecting... THAT. I just... oh my god I don't know. People can be assholes about small dicks so I just wanted to be up-front about it in case you thought I was kidding when I told that guy that. Cuz I was being serious and I'm gonna stop talking. Jesus christ." He breathes the last part, shaking his head at himself, his face twisted in what looks like pain. Steve thinks he's fucking adorable.
He steps closer, puts his hands on Eddie's hips and pushes him gently against the brickwall of the bar. Rests his head against Eddie's as he laughs a little, Steve's fingers pressing into his hips tickling a bit.
"I don't care. Honestly I uh..." he pauses, pulls back to look at Eddie, his eyes are wide, his cheeks are a deep pink now.
"I was kinda hopin you weren't kidding." Steve tilts his head, smirks at Eddie, just a little. A light smirk. Not the full thing, doesn't wanna overwhelme him. Yet. Eddie sucks in air, blinks at him.
"Oh. Yeah?" He asks, his voice breathy, pitched higher than usual. Steve nods, sinks his teeth into his lip, and brushes his nose against Eddie's.
"Yeah. Still wanna walk me home?" Steve asks, staying close. Eddie nods, his hands moving to Steve's shoulders.
"Yeah. Yes absolutely. I'd love that. I'd love too." He rambles, swallowing hard.
And Steve can't help himself anymore, ducks forward and presses a soft kiss to his lips. Eddie makes a little sound in his throat and Steve fucking adores it. Already in so deep for this guy. But it's been months. Eddie's not a new thing in his life. Just, this part of it is new.
Eddie blinks at him when he pulls back, steps away from Eddie but holds out his hand. Eddie smiles, reaches out and takes it, lets Steve drag him away from the wall and down the sidewalk. Their fingers laced together, hands swaying between them as they walk through the dark.
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Text
Worst Video Game Song Tournament - Quarterfinals Match 1
This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy - Project Sekai - Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku
youtube
VERSUS
Title Screen - Crazy Bus
youtube
FIGHT!
I would recommend listening to as much as you can of each song before voting, but how you choose is up to you! Remember to be civil in the tags and replies!
Propaganda under cut:
This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy:
"holy shit this song was suppossed to be what vivid bad squad (one of the bands in the game) was trying to surpass their entire first story arc. also this song was pulled out right after taiga (guy singing this song) told them that their idol is dead. and then they lost to Caucasion Destination Boy. jesus christ."
"[This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy] is so bad lyrically it's funny. Like, truly a monsterpiece."
"#I'M SORRY THAT'S THE SONG VBS IS TRYING TO SURPASS???? 💀"
"#I KEEP FORGETTING ABT THIS 'SONG' #same energy as im in the house like carpet"
"#HAHA YES IM SO HAPPY CAUCAISAN DESTINATION IS ON HERE #NO WONDER TOYA’S DAD HATES MODERN MUSIC 🔥🔥🔥"
"#HOLY SHIT THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE CAUCASIAN ON THE DASH #AHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA #EVERYONE LOSING THEIR SHIT OVER THAT SONG WHEN IT DROPPED WAS SO FUNNY"
"#[This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy] brought me to tears"
#i thought the title of [This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy] was a joke until i played it
"#LETS GO CAUCASIAN #TIME TO THROW YOUR FURB"
"#oh god [This is Where You Are Caucasian Destination Boy] sounds like if imagine dragons had a lobotomy"
"#THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE CAUCASION DESTINATION BALLING SWEEP"
"#dude This Is Where Youre Caucasian is just so bad"
Crazy Bus Title Screen:
"couldn't even listen to three seconds of the crazy bus music. god fucking damn who QA'd that"
"#crazy bus better sweep this tournament hi crazy bus"
"#crazy bus title screen is so fucking funny#i lose my shit every time i hear it"
"#literally just. listen to the crazy bus title screen #for literally a second"
"#is there any real contender against crazy bus?"
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loveinhawkins · 1 year
Text
Part 1
Silently, they swap seats. It feels ridiculous, how perfectly the whole exchange goes, how no-one else stirs, how the RV glides smoothly with Eddie's hands on the wheel.
“What about, uh, the walkman?” he asks, tries to sound matter-of-fact. Time for a new plan, time to think.
“No,” Steve says. There's a finality to his tone. “Max should keep it.”
Eddie exhales. “Okay, okay. There's—here, there's a radio.” He doesn't mention the fact that he's closer; knows that his hand would shake if he tried to reach for it. “Be great if you'd develop an emotional attachment to, like, all of the Top 40 right now, Harrington.”
There's a soft sound that might almost be a laugh. Eddie listens to Steve quietly moving around then returning to his seat, hears the static of the radio being turned on—volume low, as if Steve doesn't want to wake anyone up. The thoughtfulness, even now, makes something in Eddie's chest hurt.
But there's nothing, not even a whisper of a song, and then even the static stops. Steve has turned the radio off.
One second.
“No signal,” Steve says, and even though he's not looking at him, Eddie knows he's shrugging again, like it is what it is.
The panic Eddie had briefly kept at bay while trying to strategize comes flooding back. “Jesus Christ, this—this can't be happening.” There's another long pause, and Eddie inhales shakily, remembers how he hadn't noticed when Chrissy fell silent. “Hey, man, you've gotta—keep talking to me, okay, or I'm gonna lose it.” Let me know you're still here. Please.
“Sorry,” Steve says. “Talking. Um.”
“Um,” Eddie parrots. “Wow. Didn't finishing school teach you conversation skills?”
Steve laughs again—hushed but real. “Fuck off.” He sighs, then says, “God, this might be a weird thing to say—”
“Colour me intrigued.”
“—but I'm so relieved, dude, you have no idea.”
“You're right. That's an extremely fucking weird thing to say.”
“I didn't want it to be Max,” Steve says, so heartfelt that Eddie tightens his grip on the wheel. “Didn't want it to be... anyone, you know? It's—yeah, it's better like this.”
“‘Better’ is a strong word for it.”
“Mm. Like, come on, what's the worst he could have in store for me? The summer our AC broke, that was pretty rough—”
“Don't,” Eddie says sharply, and all at once the joking tone they'd built up evaporates. “Don't do that.”
“Do what?”
“Don't...” Eddie swallows. Recalls when he'd cut through the gym to get to Drama Club, how he'd glance over at Cheer Practice and think, They've all got it made, haven't they? Shiny fucking picture-perfect lives. “Don't bullshit me, all right?”
“...Okay.”
Eddie scoffs weakly, tries to regain the banter they were sharing. “Hey, if you can't be honest now, when can you?”
“Sure, that's—that's fair.” Steve shifts in his seat. “I was talking to Max, about the... when it happened to her. And she said she thought of happy memories, so. Got an idea of what to expect, at least.”
“Cool,” Eddie says, the mild tone only barely covering his anxiety. “Know what you're thinking about, then?”
“Yeah,” Steve replies. He's smiling; Eddie can hear it. “Got a few things in mind.”
“Good, that's... that's good.”
The road is getting more familiar: it won't be long until they're nearing the Welcome to Hawkins sign.
“Kinda impressed with you, Munson. Was expecting you to drive like a bat out of hell.”
“Ha, ha. Special occasion, and all—”
A pained gasp cuts through the air, and Eddie's stomach lurches. “Shit, shit, Steve—”
“I'm fine,” Steve says quickly, “I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.”
“Tell me the fucking truth. Please.”
“It's just my head. Hurts a bit. Not a big deal, I've had worse.”
From the clipped way Steve is speaking, Eddie knows it's more painful than he's letting on.
He slows and brakes at a stop light before taking the chance to, finally, look over.
Steve is staring straight ahead, eyes in focus, and Eddie suppresses a sigh of relief at the sight. But then he sees how Steve's jaw is clenched.
“How's the clock?” he says cautiously. Prays for a miracle.
“Still there. It's closer. And, um...” Steve's mouth opens, closes, opens again. “I'm guessing the black widows on the dashboard aren’t actually...?”
God, he says it so easily. Eddie can't comprehend the bravery of it. “No, there’s nothing there,” he says.
“S'okay,” Steve says, “I'll just look at you.”
“I've been told I'm a sight for sore eyes,” Eddie says dryly.
“Oh, I’d believe that,” Steve returns, somehow both matching Eddie’s tone and sounding completely sincere. He turns to Eddie and smiles. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“This bit really isn’t so bad, Eddie,” Steve says gently. “Just some spooky pictures, really. That’s kids’ stuff. And you’re—you’re good company.” The light changes. Eddie looks away with reluctance, starts up the engine again. “I try my best,” he says lightly, and wonders how someone can be so close to… to… (he can’t say it; he won’t say it). So close to that, and still smile about it.
You’re incredible, Steve Harrington.
“Home sweet home,” Eddie murmurs as they pass the Welcome sign. “Hey, we made pretty good time, too.”
“I didn’t mean to be late,” Steve says nonsensically.
“What the—?”
“I didn’t, Dad, I didn’t. I’m not lying.”
There’s ice in Eddie’s veins. “No, no, no, stop—stay with me Steve,” he says, which is so fucking stupid, what, did he think he could solve this through sheer force of will? No matter how many times he begged, Chrissy never woke up.
But then Steve gasps, and it sounds like he did at Lover’s Lake, just before he got dragged back under. “Sorry, sorry. I’m still here.”
“Jesus. We’re—we’re here.” “We’re…? Right, yeah.” A deep breath. “Okay. New plan. My place first,” Steve says firmly. “We'll drop the kids off.” There's an unshakable resolve in his voice.
Eddie takes the next turning, doesn’t even enjoy the double take that Steve does at that, the fact that Eddie already knows his address. When he glances over, he sees beads of sweat on Steve’s face. Eddie speeds up.
Please, please. Just hold on.
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