#and part of a fic about vampire eddie being put down

[autizmoeddiemunson]

Anyone wanna proofread my drafts? I have some shit written but dont wanna post it without someone greenlighting it

#we have an explaination of AEMU steve #a backstory for AEMU eddie #part of an OFMD fanic #part of a little steve fanfic #part of a metalocalypse fanfic #part of a fanfic of steve and eddit taking the kids to the pool #a finished sick little eddie fic #and part of a fic about vampire eddie being put down

[scoops-aboy86]

I'll send somethin' for the kiss ask game prompts!

💕

💕 kissing somewhere other than lips

(send a heart to make me write meme)

I'm just going to post this, because it's actually my second attempt. The first I'm going to save for the vampire Eddie fic I'm working on... Both are sad, because this is a rough week/month, and I don't feel like doubling this currently 1.2k word count on this to resolve it into a happy ending right now.

But I am open to suggestions on where to go with it, to keep in my back pocket for finishing it later.

-

They’re not dating, but Eddie spends a lot of time at Steve’s big house for someone who still technically lives in the local trailer park. 

They’re not dating, but he lets Steve dote on him. Eddie shares his weed without even bothering to charge him anymore, which is a friendship perk that historically only his band mates enjoy; Steve, in turn, provides movies and meals and snacks in between. 

They’re not dating, but when they’re both stoned as fuck they twine together on the couch, alternating who’s laying on who because it’s warm and nice and they’re both a little touch starved. It’s started happening even when Robin is there, and she keeps side-eyeing them like she’s waiting for some sort of announcement of What It Means. 

Which is ridiculous because they’re just friends. Steve doesn’t even kiss him on the mouth; he kisses him everywhere else. 

Like now, when Steve is sprawled half on top of him and half wedged in against the back of the couch, mouth on the soft part of Eddie’s shoulder. It’s all soft—all those snacks have done their work, all the lounging around Steve’s living room while still recovering from the Upside Down too, and Eddie is comfortable with this larger, well-padded version of himself. Steve’s kisses work their way gently down to his pecs, sucking one nipple into his hot, hungry mouth while teasing at the other with his fingers, cupping what could just about be called a tit in one hand—and it barely fits. One of Steve’s legs is draped over and shoved between Eddie’s, pressing against the one place he isn’t soft these days, and Eddie’s mouth is free as a bird to spout off whatever suggestive, pleading filth he wants. 

Except he doesn’t, because they’re not dating and Steve isn’t his and he doesn’t know where the line is, doesn’t know where he’d have to stop and self-control isn’t exactly in his repertoire these days or he wouldn’t be not-making-out with Steve fucking Harrington. Eddie is far from silent though, letting out moans and gasps and pleading little whines, wordless but clearly saying keep going, keep doing that, never stop. And Steve, day after day, lazy afternoon after lazy afternoon, keeps obliging him. What had started as helpful belly rubs after a big meal has somehow evolved into this, and Eddie would be lying if he said that isn’t part of why he’s really been packing it on lately, because he’s a weak, weak man and it all feels so good. Feels so good to have Steve in any capacity, touching him, taking care of him, being so sweet and perfect and Steve. 

So they don’t talk while they do things like this, and they don’t talk about it after, and it’s all fine because they’re not dating and Eddie can be content, he can be, with this arrangement. 

Steve's lips are wet with spit and trailing down his chest now, scooting down on the couch, wriggling out and pressing Eddie more onto his back so he can drape over him fully, and it’s good. All the way down to where his shorts are unbuttoned—because that’s all it takes to set this off now, is Eddie reaching down to make himself a little more comfortable, and then Steve is on him—and nipping at where his belly starts to pooch out into a roll, gripping his thighs, sliding one hand up to grip him through the denim, and…

Something in Eddie’s head (or maybe his heart) snaps. It’s not fine. It’s undefined, it’s the elephant in the room, it’s nothing because they’ve never even tried to put a name to it, just shoved it in a corner and pretended it wasn’t there. And Eddie is sick and fucking tired of pretending. He almost died in March and life is too short to wallow in something he wants but can’t ever have, never moving on because there’s some comfort in the suggestion of having Steve like this, at least, but the comfort is ultimately hollow because, at the end of the day, he doesn’t have anything. 

He reaches down, slides his fingers into Steve’s luxurious hair, and pulls. Just enough to get the guy’s attention away from tongue-fucking his belly button—Jesus H. Christ—and is only a little surprised when the tug elicits a moan. “Steve,” he tries roughly, and has to stop to clear his throat. “What are we doing?”

Never before has he seen Steve Harrington look so caught out. And Eddie had been there the day Steve had been caught making out with a cheerleader under the bleachers when he should have been leading the basketball team out into the school gym during a rally. 

“I, uh.” His face is beet red, and maybe he wants to run but he can’t exactly go anywhere when Eddie has him by the roots. “I was just…”

When he doesn’t continue, Eddie sighs and shakes his head, letting go. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He’s trying so hard to pretend that this isn’t devastating, this yanking the plug that he should have pulled a long time ago before his heart filled up with it, and in its absence he’ll have nothing. Not even a friend, probably, because that’s what happens when you let yourself become some straight guy’s experiment. “I don’t want ‘just,’ Harrington, so… I think I’m gonna go.”

Steve is still hovering over him, frozen, but Eddie wriggles out until he can rock into a sitting position and starts to wedge himself back into his shorts—a difficult task, embarrassingly more because his dick has yet to get with the new program than anything else. 

“I,” Steve tries again weakly, but Eddie doesn’t even pause in his efforts to button back up. Forget the zipper, he’s just glad he didn’t wear a cropped shirt today and can let it hang down to cover himself, which… sort of works. It’ll get him back to his van, at least. 

“It’s fine,” he says, standing up without looking at Steve. “Just, next time there’s a movie night or something, be specific with the kids about whether or not you want me to come or they’ll invite me anyway. Wouldn’t want that surprise with all the witnesses, right? And if we do run into each other, I’ll take my cues from you on how to… handle it.” 

As he says all this, he’s gathering up his stuff. It’s not much, a couple of notebooks and his lunchbox, which he’d brought over for their hangout smoke session… Really just code for ending up with an excuse to fool around. Nothing more than that, though. Steve has never even kissed him on the mouth.

Then he’s out of there, all his shit dumped haphazardly in the empty passenger seat and driving home, and Steve hadn’t even tried to stop him. He wonders if the guy is still crouched on his couch, looking shell shocked with his lips kissed red and a tent in his tiny basketball shorts. Wonders if that’s the last time he’ll ever see Steve, if that image is the one that’s going to follow him around for the rest of his life or if it’ll end up being something worse. Maybe he should move. That had always been the plan, blow this popsicle stand the second he got his diploma, but he’d stayed…

Well. He’d stayed for Steve, but he has to wonder now that the point of that was ever supposed to be, because.

It’s not like they’re dating.

now with a part 2 - also on ao3

#steddie angst #wg steddie #chubby eddie munson #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #scoops words #steviewashere #ask #wg not dating

[jo-harrington]

Purgatory - Vampire!Eddie Munson

Summary: The stage is set for the Battle for the Fate of Hawkins. And only the dead have seen the end of the war.

Pairings/Relationships: Vampire!Eddie Munson and Vecna, Vampire!Eddie Munson and The Party, Implied Vampire!Eddie/Fem!Reader

Warnings/Themes: Angst, Graphic Gore and Violence, Major and Minor Character Deaths, Kas!Eddie/Vamp!Eddie, Body Horror, Blood, Transformation, Loss of Soul, Rebirth, Other Biblical and Literary References

Note: Woof, ok this was...a lot. Had to dig in deep for this, as did a lot of our characters. Purgatory is the third prequel to my upcoming series As Above, So Below. This one, once again, could be read as a stand alone. But I would suggest reading Heaven and Hell first. Shit, read all 3 in the same sitting. This one is very heavy, and honestly...just the tip of the ice burg of angst that is coming in this series.

Thank you to @myosotisa @ghost-proofbaby @br0ck-eddie @pastel-pillows @big-ope-vibes for all helping me see to the end of this specific installation. Let alone the countless people who I have edged with snippets of the actual series itself.

That being said, this fic and the subsequent fics/chapters in the series will not be for the faint of heart. Please check the above warnings and ask yourself if you are in the correct headspace to proceed. I am happy to answer any questions via PM or Ask.

You can find the As Above, So Below masterlist here.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

"Demons can exist in purgatory[,] just as they exist on Earth, but they are there to test the soul of the sinner." —A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo (2021)

Hawkins, Indiana - September 8th, 1987

The day the Master called Eddie to action was a day like any other.

For months the creatures of the Upside Down had waited, bored and restless, to be put to use.

Eddie waited, bloodthirsty and ready to strike.

Henry's greatest creation, according to the Master himself, even greater than the Mind Flayer; however, he was still weak, still recovering from the attack that nearly killed him. It wasn't enough to just send his minions out for revenge. He wanted them to be the harbingers to his imminent arrival, to his destruction.

So they waited. They flew and fought and fed.

Eddie no longer needed to learn in order to do these things. He simply knew. Being a part of their collective consciousness was invigorating, relieving. He had been stripped away of all things human...almost...so it was a relief to feel a constant presence at the edge of his mind, to know he wasn't alone.

The day the call was given to strike, the anticipation rolled through their collective connection and then crashed into their minds.

Go. Bring about my arrival. Let them know the end is near.

Eddie couldn't contain himself; he was expected to lead, of course, and he would not let his Master down.

His legs pushed him off the ground and his wings beat most powerfully to let him soar through the skies...and the others followed. The bats with him and the demogorgons raced to follow on the ground below. They dove through the Gate, tore through the membrane, and were birthed into Hawkins to begin the devastation.

But he had a mission.

While the others began their exploration of this new world, their new playground, his eyes followed the outline of the glowing fissure straight to Lover's Lake where he could sense, funnily enough, two lovers waiting.

Eddie closed the distance to the lake with a few powerful beats of his wings and descended upon them.

With his arms outstretched, he grappled the man, pinned him to the ground as he sunk his fangs deep into the pale column of his neck. The woman's bloodcurdling screams didn't stop Eddie from relishing in the feast, nor did her fists upon his back, or the dull knife that pierced his side. It was a nuisance more than anything, and with a vague thought, some others were summoned, and within seconds she was subdued.

The human blood was a refreshing change from the countless creatures that sacrificed themselves for his sustenance in the Upside Down. He could taste memories, taste dreams, taste the imminent death as he pulled mouthful after mouthful of life-force from the man's weakening body.

As the woman screamed again and the man groaned her name, as he used the last bit of energy to reach out for her, Eddie felt it. It was stinging and sickening and he yearned for it.

Love.

Having had enough, Eddie savagely ripped away from the man's throat. The force snapped the man's neck, effectively finishing him off. The woman's sobs tore through the air and Eddie stood and turned his sights on her now.

Her eyes widened in recognition and fear as he took those few calculated steps closer.

Eddie basked in it.

"Hey Wheeler," he hissed. Jonathan's blood bubbled and dripped out of his mouth, over his chin. It sprayed onto Nancy's heartbroken, fear-filled face. "Henry has a message."

September 15th, 1987

"You failed me," Henry croaked as Eddie stood before him.

Eddie should have been afraid. But he was overwhelmed more than anything.

For nearly a year, since he had begged for mercy, he had felt nothing but the will of his master, the thoughts of his brethren, and a great, gaping void. Certain things...pain...hunger...power...they were all he needed to sustain him. To satisfy him. The Upside Down itself worked hard to keep him alive, and life was all he needed.

He had been hollow and it was a mercy.

But when he first fed on human blood...

Feeling exploded within him. Woke up the dormant parts of his mind and his body. Every time he fed it got stronger. Not just the emotions of his victims but the parts of him he thought he had sacrificed for his survival.

First it was pain. His own pain from the endless torture he had endured, amplified. The physical pain echoed through his memories, wracking his body. He had been gliding through the air over Hawkins watching the carnage ensue, and when it shot through him like a pulse and caused him to crash in to someone's yard. He had barely gotten to his feet when the emotional anguish took over.

At first, he had let the pain become anger. And he had lashed out. It was the perfect motivation to wreak havoc on the town that hurt and hated him so. To get revenge.

Then today Henry had given him a special task. The gates had been created, but he still was unable to cross. His body still too weak, but the fact of the matter was...the final lamb had yet to be sacrificed. Somehow she was still alive. And Henry trusted Eddie to take care of it.

And Eddie would have. But those kids...those pesky twerps anticipated the attack.

As soon as he had received his orders, he had taken to the skies, crossed the gate, and fought his way through Hawkins.

Eddie had been instrumental in planning the assault; countless hours of strategic DnD planning put to good use. The creatures of the Upside Down couldn't be very far from their master without becoming uncontrollable so the assault was limited to Hawkins until Henry could cross. The town was cut off from the rest of the world; a perimeter was created: no one in, no one out. No phone lines. Some pesky radio signals but the bats quickly became attuned to it.

The thing about a small town was that they rallied in times of crisis.

The citizens of Hawkins defended their homes. They held a daily memorial for those who didn't survive the night. Some used the church as a makeshift hospital, others took shifts during the day to fortify houses and get supplies, when the creatures of the Upside Down took to the shadows and attacked only when necessary.

Eddie, though, could withstand the sun, withstand the burns, so he attacked when they least expected it.

He cut through neighbors--Mike Lewenski and Pastor Charles.

Mrs. Mayfield had apparently died in the "earthquake," leaving poor Max to live with the Byers. So it was a surprise to find Max hunkered down at the Sinclair's home.

He cut through family--Ted Wheeler and Charles Sinclair.

Might have had something to do with Jonathan's death and Joyce in mourning. Might have had something to do with the fact that the Sinclair's just had a bigger house near the Wheelers so there was more of a chance to defend her. More people around.

He cut through friends--Vickie and Rick.

He propelled his body through the door of the house, only to come face to face with...

Lucas and his wrist rocket. Steve and a god damn bat with nails. Dustin and a spear.

...Max's unseeing eyes that pierced straight through him.

Eddie froze.

And all of the anger that propelled him dissipated.

And the voice started, the feelings, the memories started. They overwhelmed him, overtook him.

Henry was using him. These were his friends. Max was his friend. They had fought alongside him. He fought to protect them. He died to protect them. He sacrificed himself for their salvation.

The guilt and the sadness and the hopelessness and the camaraderie.

The memories of their laughter and their tears.

Lucas let the stone in the wrist rocket loose and it plunked off of Eddie's bare torso and onto the floor.

The screech that Eddie let out was unholy and caused everyone to fold in on themselves and cover their ears in pain.

Eddie propelled himself into flight once again, out of the window and into the sky, back to his Master.

He expected to be cut down by Henry immediately when he arrived empty handed.

A pack of demo dogs waited at his feet, mouths snarling and dripping with saliva, ready to devour him.

Eddie knew them. He knew practically all the creatures of the Upside Down at this point. But he had always had a soft spot for the demo dogs; they were young, acting only on instinct. He played games with them in the infinite boredom of their existence.

And now they would be his executioners.

The Upside Down was an unforgiving place and so was his Master.

"I give you one simple task," Henry groaned. "And you failed me. I didn't create you to fail, Beast."

The dogs shuffled, feeling their master's anger course through them. Eddie could feel it too. But for Eddie, it was buried beneath the buzzing of pain and remorse and guilt and relief. He would die soon, he deserved it.

For as vicious as he was, Henry was also poetic. The creatures of the Upside Down had given him life, they could take it away just as easily.

He stared at the dogs. There was one he especially liked. The runt of the pack--who he had called Cerberus--was right in front of Henry and growling a little less than the others. Cerberus hesitated often, wanting to cross the divide and stand beside his friend.

Eddie could feel it. And it hurt.

"No Master," he finally answered. "You didn't."

"Let this be a lesson," Henry began, his hand raised to strike.

Eddie closed his eyes prepared--

He was meant to die anyway.

--only for the wet, squelching sound of flesh hitting the ground to his ears. A searing pain surged through the collective consciousness and brought Eddie to his knees.

He was not made to kneel. But as he opened his eyes and saw his companions dead, slaughtered before him, he knew that Henry only cared for obedience.

"Go," Henry warned him. "This is your only warning."

September 21st, 1987

They refused to meet with him alone.

He could tell by the sheer number of them that showed up.

Mike and Nancy, Harrington and Buckley, Henderson, Gareth and Jeff and his old pal Mickey, Callahan and Hopper, a tall man with white hair and a severe face, and the girl.

Eleven.

The rendezvous point that he had chosen was his old trailer, half-destroyed by the emergence of the gate. He'd used the trailer as a refuge point before, to hide from the sun, just as he was doing now as his Master rested. As he should be resting, gearing up for another night of warfare.

Only...he didn't want to be in this war anymore.

It was tricky, meeting here, right under Vecna's nose. But after the past week, ever since the dogs were killed, he had decided enough was enough.

He had seen more people die in the last week than he had since his return to Hawkins. By his hand, by the creatures, on Vecna's whim. And just as many of the creatures of the Upside Down, creatures he was responsible for as their leader after Vecna, be cut down remorselessly when they were just...running on instinct, just like he was.

If they had a mind, a soul, they would have stopped.

Although, he didn't have a soul anymore, and for some reason he had stopped.

The guilt was eating at him.

It was the blood, it had to be. It sustained him and also changed him.

But sometimes the voice in his head was too overwhelmingly familiar, there was no way it could have been the blood. And in those times, all he could do was to feed again to quiet it down.

Eddie had...altered his appearance to be more palatable. He knew it was overwhelming; the glimpses he had gotten of himself...were horrifying. In car windows, in broken hallway mirrors, in unseeing eyes. He couldn't glamour his way into a trustworthy facade though, so he broke his body yet again.

And it was painful, but it was a drop in the ocean of pain he had caused in Vecna's name.

He'd bitten back the screams as the pain cut through him again. All of the extra parts he had been given broke and condensed and folded and slithered beneath his skin. His extra teeth receded and drilled deep into his jaw; that hurt the most.

He healed miraculously quickly, he had found, despite bullets and knives and even a crossbow shot through his neck. But he was dead, undead, so nothing could kill him except for his Maker.

This was no different.

He found though, as the skin knitted itself shut after his transformation back into Eddie Munson, that there was an interesting contrast between the emptiness where a soul should be, and the fullness of all his extra parts stuffed beneath his skin. He was full, uncomfortably so, but still craved to fill the void.

Hungered for it.

"If this is some kinda trap Munson," Hopper was the first to speak, cocking his hunting rifle. "Just know that I'll put you down so fast--"

"This isn't a trap," Eddie replied boredly. "It's...a truce."

"How are we supposed to trust you?" Callahan grumbled and Eddie turned to him. "You've been a lying little sneak your whole life. How are we supposed to trust you now?"

"You can ask me whatever questions you want," Eddie grinned, flashing his fangs, taking great pleasure in the rude cop cowering in fear. "I'll answer them all."

The questions came rapid fire.

How was he alive? How was he a bat thing now? Actually how was he not a bat at this moment? Why did he work for Vecna?

He answered them to the best of his ability. Some things he knew. Some things he didn't. Some he speculated. But with every question answered, he felt lighter somehow.

As though every bit of help he gave was a sin being forgiven.

Finally, a voice popped up that he had expected all along.

"How did he let you go?" Eleven asked.

"He didn't," Eddie divulged. "I'm still very much his right hand man. But he's taken too much. I'm done. He'll kill me if I leave him, so I'm pulling a Benedict Arnold. We might as well make my betrayal worth it."

The group chattered amongst themselves again, coming up with different ideas.

Could Eddie tell them Vecna's plan if he crossed over into Hawkins? Could he tell them how many creatures were still in the Upside Down waiting?

"Can you kill him?" Dustin speculated. "You're powerful! And you said it yourself, he's still weak. Can't you do what we tried to do? Cut off his head?"

"He made me what I am," Eddie sighed. "Unlike the...the bats and the demogorgons, I have will. But he isn't going to let me walk up to him and kill him."

"But you're here."

"This is different."

"But you can help us fight!"

"And how do we do that? Vecna has an army," Mike argued, full of doubt.

"Then we need to have an army too!" Dustin exclaimed.

"And where do you think we're gonna get one?" Nancy asked cynically, then glared at Eddie. "More and more of us die every day."

The discussion continued.

There was no way they could call for help, no way for anyone to get in without being killed. Despite all of the supernatural activity in and around Hawkins, even though it had been quiet after the "quake", people tended to stay away. Government interference and all that. No one questioned that the sleepy town had gone quiet 2 weeks ago.

The town was damned and would suffer a fate worse than death. No one would care.

And that's when the idea struck Eddie.

Death.

He cleared his throat to get their attention and when they ignored him, he let out a warning screech that caused them to wince.

"I'll take care of it," he told them, voice returning to normal. And he would have laughed at all the raised eyebrows and doubtful looks. "You'll just have to trust me."

September 23rd, 1987

Eddie stared up at the pillars. At his classmates, at the bodies that had been hung as trophies in the wake of Vecna's triumph at opening the gates.

During Eddie's torture, Vecna boasted about his victory over Eleven and the pesky residents of Hawkins. How had made the landscape of his mind a reality, how he had brought the bodies to the Upside Down to have as a match set along with their souls. They would always be a part of him.

Just like Eddie was.

Vecna barely came back to this place though, having set up a new base at the center of Hawkins where the gates converged. Always ready for the moment he would be able to cross through. So Eddie was free to defile the "palace" as he pleased.

He gritted his teeth and worked tirelessly to carve the bodies loose from the pillars that had been molded around them. His claws splintered and ached, only to heal back tougher when he allowed them to.

Patrick and Fred and Chrissy.

He lured in the creatures of the Upside Down with an infernal howl, and the ones who were desperate to feed responded quickly, knowing that his calls usually meant a meal was imminent.

Instead they only found their demise.

He tore them apart, just as they had torn into him. Carved out the most desirable pieces. He had done this countless times with action figures and such for DnD sessions. How much different could it be to add wings and talons and fangs to a body?

Fred and Chrissy and Patrick.

Vecna hadn't just gifted him with new life, he had made Eddie like him. Unlocked abilities buried within. So far he'd only used it to control the creatures of the Upside Down, to prey on the weak minds of the humans back in Hawkins. But now he would use it for good.

Those abilities were how their skin knitted back together and their bodies accepted all of the extra parts.

When it got to their eyes, he had to dig deep. Summon some part within him that he didn't even know was there. He had to heal them, have their bodies regenerate something that was long gone.

He closed his eyes and his hands hovered over them. He thought of the many times he had written and imagined healers in a strange land for a campaign. What did they think of as they cast healing spells or revived a fallen comrade?

They thought about light, about goodness, about love.

He could feel it filling him and spilling out of his being like a cup overflowing.

And he focused that feeling on them. Willed his hard work to take and for them all to become like him.

Chrissy and Patrick and Fred.

Their eyes were restored; Eddie had blinked and there they were. Different. Not perfect. More akin to a bat's eyes than a humans. Cold and dark.

He reached deep within him once again, searching for that light, and when he found it he concentrated once more, envisioned what they would do when they returned to the land of the living.

He imagined what his own resurrection had looked like. Imagined how he felt when he took those first breaths.

Wings began to twitch, then fingers. Breaths were taken, sounds emanating from their once-quiet bodies. Groaning and hissing and shuffling.

As Eddie opened his eyes once more he saw them.

Chrissy. Fred. Patrick.

Eddie recalls all the vampire movies he had watched over the years. At the theater, on Svengoolie. All the creatures and crypts, the heroes and hunters. He had vaguely considered himself a vampire over the span of the past year.

But for some reason, seeing the three of them returning to life...by his hand...for the sake of salvation...

Reborn.

...reminded him of Dracula and his three Brides.

September 29th, 1987

The plan was not simple.

Any time someone said a plan was simple, they were lying.

The plan to kill Vecna relied on them also killing Max. Again. Let Vecna cross through the Gate into Hawkins, have Eleven kill him once and for all, in a world where he didn't have an advantage over her. And then revive Max once more before her soul was lost forever.

So Eddie found himself, once again, at the Sinclair's house. As a guest this time instead of an intruder.

Eleven needed to be at the Gate, waiting for Vecna's arrival with the others, poised to weaken him and attack as soon as he crossed over.

Which meant there was only one other person with the ability to bring Max back in time.

Eddie.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Dustin questioned as Eddie got settled, his body too big for the tiny room they had holed up in.

"I can do it," Eddie promised. "I've already brought...what...10 people back in the past week?"

"As bat people," Dustin reminded him.

"They're alive, aren't they," Eddie deadpanned. "Most of all they have their sight back too...I'm gonna fix Red up, good as new."

"You're not even sure if you can even fix yourself!" Dustin exclaimed.

"God it's been a year, you'd think that you'd be, I don't know...happy to see me alive or something," Eddie grumbled.

"Kind of hard to be happy when you killed a bunch of my friends," Dustin reminded him.

"He's got a point," Max chimed in from her place in the cushy recliner, causing Dustin to hold his hands up in emphasis.

"Fine," Eddie hissed. "Let's get this over with then, please?"

As he held his hand over Max's face, the same way that he had Vecna do in the visions that were projected into his mind, he should have focused on all the bad emotions that plagued Max. Her sorrow, her pain and loneliness. He should have sapped out all the good and let her fall into a state of hopelessness and despair. Then from there, when she was just a speck of light in an ocean of darkness, he would snuff her out.

Instead...

Instead Eddie thought about his own light. How it had started out as just a speck in an ocean of darkness. How Vecna had submerged him in darkness. Removed all of the parts of him that made him Eddie Munson. Called him a Beast. How over the course of the past 21 days, he had earned his redemption.

He was doing a good thing.

He wasn't killing Max. He wasn't damning the citizens of Hawkins to Hell. They would get their salvation.

He would be a hero.

And as she took a final gasping breath as he stole the light from her, and the ground began to quake, Eddie felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Before he became this thing.

Before his body was ravaged in the Upside Down.

Before he had seen Chrissy's body crumble.

Maybe he had never felt it before.

Before he started his senior year for a third time.

Before his only shot at love walked out of his life forever.

Before his mom died.

He felt hope.

The battle had been devastating. The armies of the Upside Down thrived once their Master had joined them. They had permission to do to the residents of Hawkins what they pleased.

But the residents of Hawkins had their own army waiting.

They rallied one last time at the chance to save their town, to save the world, because if Vecna was allowed to win, it would all perish.

Eddie was thankful he hadn't been a part of it. He had seen enough bloodshed. And quite honestly, he had felt enough of the chaos burn through the collective consciousness.

Eddie also felt the triumph in his connection with his own creations. He could feel them subdue their would-be brethren. Could feel the shock from Vecna himself as his Beast had turned around and created more to stifle his efforts.

But Death begets death.

First Mike died; he had always been a lucky little shit, but his luck ran out. The whole Wheeler family, short the littlest Holly, seemed to have a knack for sharpshooting. They were taking pot shots at demobats from the roof of the bakery, when a swarm of them dive-bombed.

His death lit the fuse.

A burst of Eleven's power became uncontrollable as she realized Mike was gone, and it leveled the Hawkins town center. Buildings crumbled, the clock tower came crashing to the ground. The citizens that had taken shelter there had been killed. Both Robin's and Steve's parents had been there.

Vecna had taken advantage of the momentary weakness and doubled down on his assault. More creatures of the Upside Down spilled from the gate like oil and quickly overtook the battlefield.

Mike's death might have lit the fuse.

But Hopper's was the one to cause the explosion as he finally succumbed to the Demogorgons that he had fought time and again.

Vecna didn't stand a chance once Hop's body hit the ground.

Because Eleven, who had already lost so much, had nothing else to lose. The world could burn for all she cared, if only Vecna burned too.

Eleven dug in deep, to the core of the Earth itself, and her wrath tore through Vecna with the force of a thousand supernovae.

He couldn't control it anymore, couldn't fight back.

He simply perished...

And Eddie felt the moment that it all came to an end.

It was a shockwave through the collective consciousness, it blinded him, had his ears ringing. It was a solar flare that disrupted the frequencies of all the creatures bound to the Upside Down.

...and so did Eleven.

September 30th, 1987

The aftermath of the battle was chaos.

They didn't have days or weeks to mourn, it all needed to be cleaned up quickly. What came from the Upside Down needed to be returned.

Max was revived, easily, thanks to Eddie's practice with his own creations. Her sight, however, remained lost.

"I'm sorry Red," he apologized.

"It's fine," she sighed exaggeratedly. "Guess I just have to keep learning braille."

She laughed, but Eddie knew it was just to avoid mourning an even greater loss.

The day for them to mourn would arrive soon. It was just not today.

It had taken an entire day for them to get things in order, get a plan in place.

The town was still destroyed, countless dead. But they had a plan.

There was no government to help them now, no secret agents. No one was coming to help, they had to do it themselves.

The town was still destroyed, countless dead. But they had a plan.

Eddie himself was tasked with wrangling the creatures of the Upside Down back to their realm, and then closing the gates for good as quickly as possible. With the power Vecna had unlocked within him, the responsibility could only fall on his shoulders.

He had asked his three brides--was still funny--to help him keep an eye on the perimeter of Hawkins. They flew overhead scouting as he flexed his ability through the collective consciousness to get control over the creatures running through town.

He led most of them through the gate himself, like a shepherd leading his flock.

It was almost funny now, he was still collecting lost little sheep.

Eddie vaguely wondered how he would fix himself. With this power now, maybe he could undo all that Vecna had inflicted on him.

He could close the gates and fix himself and get back to living a normal life.

Maybe he could get his soul back; the hollowness...the void was almost...itchy now. Like it was waiting for something to fill it, he just had to find the thing that fit.

Maybe he could do the same to Chrissy, and Fred and the others. Get them all their lives back.

Maybe he could resurrect the whole damn town?

He had been known as a devil worshiper for years and now...he very well might be their savior.

Eddie headed back towards the gate, pep in his step despite the ruins of a town, the remnants of lives, that waited on the other side.

He could hear voices as he approached. Dustin and Steve, Patrick and Fred, Murray, and even Nancy, who had lost so much. Chattering about what would happen next.

He noticed something on the ground as he approached. Fallen through the gate at some point, he was sure. There was an ache within him at the sight of it, but he couldn't help but feel it offered him some hope.

A silver necklace, a cross with tiny metal hyacinths wound around the arms.

Eddie crouched and grasped the necklace as well as he could with his claws, intending on reverting to his human form, if only temporarily, to put the necklace on.

He continued his approach to the gate and he could see his friends clearly now.

But he stopped in his tracks.

"Eddie?" Dustin asked him. "You ok?"

He tried to take a step closer to it, willed his wings to propel him forward, but he couldn't.

"I'm stuck," he grunted. "I can't move. I-I'm stuck."

He could feel the buzzing of the collective consciousness echo through his mind. He closed his eyes and prayed for it to disappear but it only got louder.

And the dreadful realization hit him.

There was a price to pay when you entered the Upside Down. When it saved your life.

Vecna had paid it. And now Eddie was paying it too.

The Upside Down could give its gifts, but in return, it needed a Master.

It didn't matter if the gates were still open.

Eddie would never cross through them again.

San Gabriel Valley, California - October 1st, 1987

It was early. The sun had barely risen. But you'd been out here for a good long while.

You didn't make it out to California often, for good reason. The Archbishop always lectured you. You'd always wanted to go to the beach or...to Disneyland and ride the teacups. Something innocent. Something for you.

Something selfish.

But the last time you chose something selfish...someone had died.

A hike in the mountains couldn't be selfish though, could it?

You tried to convince yourself. Time to commune with nature. Commune with God. It could almost be encouraged.

If only the last few days hadn't left a sour taste in your mouth and screams lingering in your ears.

You stopped in your tracks and closed your eyes, thoughts racing.

Why were you still here? Surely you had exceeded expectations by now? Surely you earned some peace. Couldn't you just go home now?

Your throat tightened and you could feel tears prickle your eyes.

Couldn't you go to him now and find peace together?

When your eyes opened, you saw him on the path up ahead.

You'd gotten used to him popping up now. It was never a good sign.

You remembered him showing up at all times throughout your life: a constant companion as a child, a nagging mentor through adolescence, and now a warden.

It was never a good sign when he showed his face.

"What do you want?" you called blankly, shifting to the side of the path to skirt past him. You were done trying to plead. If he wanted something, he had to plead with you.

"It's coming," he replied calmly, serenely. As you shifted past him, he grabbed your arm and his touch lit every nerve in your body alight. "It's coming and you know what needs to happen now."

"What's coming?" you questioned. He stared at you with a small, patronizing smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "You always say some cryptic shit like that. Spit it out or I swear I'll--"

"Fate." He stated simply. Purposefully.

And with a blink he was gone.

You were about to swear, to stomp...

But this was his mountain, and he wasn't about to let you have a temper tantrum on it.

The ground began rumbling beneath your feet. It shook suddenly and violently and sent you to your knees. Rocks on the inclined earth surrounding you started to tumble and roll, bounce even. You ducked and shielded yourself as boulders shattered and the debris scattered around you.

You'd incurred his wrath before. But it had never been like this. If only you listened the first time. If only you accepted what fate had in store like he said. It wouldn't be until later that you realized...

Regretfully realized.

...that the tremor spanned for miles. Buildings shook and crumbled, collapsed. The highways shifted and cracked, faults opened in the ground. People lost their homes, their lives.

And you were bitter.

It wasn't fair. None of it was. To anyone, least of all to you.

But that was the curse that followed you, wasn't it? Your fate was to defy fate.

This time...you really should have listened to him.

"Purgatory surpasses heaven and hell in poetry, because it represents a future and the others do not."

—François-René de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe (1848)

#Eddie Munson fic #Eddie Munson x reader #eddie munson angst #Eddie Munson stranger things #stranger things fic #as above so below #vampire Eddie munson #kas!eddie

[findafight]

WAIT OKAY I just read your supernatural st au and AHHHHH now I need that one too holy shit token human Steve!! Token human Steve!!!

Even here everyone’s just like I love him he’s a neat little guy he’s literally thrown himself around and been mortally wounded for the party when he’s literally the only human and everyone’s just like - him!!!! Selkie Robin and how they find out they’re soulmates!! Aaahh!!!! And that final line…… I am obsessed putting in my little request for a full fic when you can, pretty please!!!

Anon you're spoiling meeeee I love you I love hearing from people who like my writing/ideas!! Original post

This one is definitely something that has high potential of me actually writing too. Because like, yeah. The Party is Marge Simpson "I just think they're neat" potato meme about Steve. He's so shaped.

This has a readmore because it's actually got two different mini scenes in it. Enjoy~~~ (also note I included a bit of another non kinky kinkmeme prompt about supernatural baby sitter Steve in this!)

I imagine a scene where Dustin, early fall of '85, is complaining to Lucas and Mike about another failed attempt to get Steve Officially (as he can't actually be Pack unless he KNOWS he's pack, ya feel? Like he IS their pack but also he doesn't know so not really but yes but no...) In their pack at lunch, and Eddie, who as mentioned is a vampire that feeds off energy and is therefore The Most Dramatic Bitch Ever, overhears and is like

"Steve? Steve Harrington is part of your Pack??"

And Dustin goes "well he would if he stopped being DENSE about it!!! We've been trying to tell him-"

"you've been trying to tell him" says Mike.

"-since before Christmas last year! But he keeps thinking we're-"

"you're-"

"-talking about DnD!!"

Eddie is just a little shocked his newest sheepies have been trying for nine months to tell Steve, King Steve, of all people, that his preppy human ass is such a firm part of their Pack that they haven't given up on telling him.

Lucas pipes up. "To be fair to Steve, he was concussed before Christmas last year, and then again this summer."

Dustin shakes his head. "Need to get the guy a helmet. Protect the braincells he has left."

"did he have any to begin with?"

"oh, can it, Mike." Lucas says. "At least he knows about Robin, now. So maybe you should ask her for help. He believed her!"

Ohhh? Eddie was curious, because he had heard certain...rumours, about a Robin and her possible tie to Steve Harrington.

Dustin scoffs. "Okay, yeah, but she's his literal actual soulmate who he still refuses to date, and she transformed in front of him. But I don't want to freak him out. A seal is one thing, a wolf is another!"

"Dustin, you're basically a dachshund."

"fuck right off"

Eddie waves his hands in front of them. "Wait wait wait. Are you talking about Robin Buckley? The selkie in the marching band with Gareth?" The sheepies nod. "You're saying Steve Harrington, former captain of laundry basket sport-"

"actually pretty sure he wasn't ever basketball captain, just swim team-"

"-former Head Jock, is dorky little Robin Buckley's soulmate? Like full on, Selkie coat magic woo woo, Soulmate?"

They all nod, but it's Lucas who speaks. "Yeah. They worked together over the summer. Became, like, inseparable. She told him in August sometime I think."

Eddie does not know how to process that.

-----

ALSO!!!

I imagine Steves parents sitting him down, after his nineteenth birthday (which I headcanon as April first) and very carefully explaining to him that Monsters Are Real.

And Steve sitting there, nearly eight months into knowing that, trying to pretend he doesn't. Pretending that since Robin told him she was a Selkie and the Party told him about being werewolves, he'd sort of, kind of, become any supernatural beings' go to babysitter. Sort of.

It started with a litter of pups he stumbled across in the woods who seemed really friendly for being abandoned in the woods and welcomed the water he brought them and the ear scritches he gave, that he didn't even realize were werewolf children until a couple came crashing through the trees frantically and stopped to watch as he helped a puppy get a leaf off its paw. And the pups are waggled over to the woman and the man looked at Steve with a twitchy nose and then Steve realized they were scenting him because ohhhh. Werewolves.

And Steve went "uh. I think they forgot how to change back? Good luck?" And left. Because what else was he going to do?

So it became a thing. Little magical creatures were told that if all else fails, Steve Harrington will make sure you're safe and looked after until your parents could get to them. He amassed a Rolodex of the contact info near-human folk of Hawkins, and a reputation for being a damn good babysitter. And also somehow having a gaggle of kids around him whenever he went to the park.

So his parents go on and on about things Steve already knows about and he's wondering why they're telling him all of it and also how they know and then they mention how these things are dangerous. How they must be removed. Destroyed. Killed.

Because that's what Harringtons do, they hunt monsters in the night and keep the good, normal, human folks of america safe.

And Steve, who knows that there are supernatural creatures in Hawkins; who knows what actual monsters in Hawkins look like and has hit them with a spiked bat and an axe; who can't go three blocks before some pup or fae or gnome or whatever decides to follow him like a duckling; who little lost kids of all shapes and sizes flock to in order to get back home; sits there and listens as his parents tell him how to kill them. How to salt and burn the remains.

He grips the edge of the table with white knuckles and purposefully evens his breath. He will not betray The Party, or Robin, or any of the families who have found a safe haven in Hawkins to live their lives peacefully. And isn't it ironic, that the place the Harringtons supposedly live, the place they are barely in because of legitimate business and the family business takes them across the country, is a hotbed for supernatural activity. It happened right under their noses, and their only son and heir was at the centre of it. The Human in a Pack of werewolves, platonic soulmate to a Selkie, potential.... something to a vampire, babysitter of all the little creatures of the county.

So Steve tries to make a plan. He can't let his parents know that Hawkins is anything but a quiet human town, but he can't let them keep hurting innocents either. It's either a long con of taking up his family mantle and changing things from inside, manipulating the system like he did in highschool to his whims, or dismantling it loudly and more dramatically which could back fire.

Either way, as soon as his parents leave again (for human related business), he takes the family Grimoire, his birthright, and calls an All Party Meeting.

He slams the tome onto the table and says, simply,

"we've got a problem"

#anonasaurus #stranger things #steve harrington #dustin henderson #supernatural au #eddie munson #lucas Sinclair #hes barely in it but i love him #finda's rambles #findaanswers #finda writes stuff #i hope this is something of what you were looking for anon!! #also this is an excellent example of if you want me to write more literally just shoot me an ask #tumblr is stinky so i may not answer right away but when i dooooo well. i do this #only vague but definitely hinted at #steddie #human steve au

[fictioncoalition]

In my Steddie fics I always write Eddie's interactions with Nancy to be strained. It's probably me and my own black and white thinking but personally? If you hurt someone I love, you could save my life and I would still hold you at arms length. Like us being the best of friends will not happen 🤷🏾. So every interaction is just: "You are an important person to people that are important to me so i will be civil. But I'm not your friend -_-".

Have some drabbles:

Pool party for the kid's at Steve's. Steve is playing careful lifeguard, still nervous about his pool of course. Eddie is sunbathing half in the shade like the little vampire he is. Joyce and Hopper are manning the grill and making sure everyone is hydrated. Nancy, Robin and Johnathan walk out to the patio. Robin and Johnathan disperse to bother Steve and ask Joyce where to put the cooler, respectively. Nancy tries to talk to Eddie, again.

Nancy: Edwin (said with a soft, questioning smile)

Eddie: *tilts down sunglasses to look over them* Wheeler. *turns back to face the pool*

Nancy: Ah, definitely still doesn't like me 😓

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

Steve and Eddie just having a casual talk one slow evening. Steve mentions Nancy in relation to something or the other. Eddie tries to hide how obviously his interest fades. He fails.

Steve: Eddie~ cmon it was a long time ago. I don't even hold it against her as much as you do!

Eddie: That, my dear, is because you are a kind soul. I am not.

Steve: *eye roll* Can you at least be civil when I mention her in conversation?

Eddie: This is me being civil. I could do so much worse than checking out of whatever anecdote she's a part of. Trust me, I'm the vision of civility.

Steve: You're the vision of melodrama

Eddie: *:O* I resent that!

#steddie #drabbles #listen they coexist. the fact that eddie doesnt immediately begin roasting her eveytime she tries to reach out is self control

[hellfirexclub]

Ohemgee I love how you write fanfics!! And if you take requests, could you please write a ( sorry I'm kinda horny for munsen ) NSFW Vampire!Eddie munsen x Fem!reader ?? ( Just to quench our horny Eddie thoughts please, tho you don't have to💖 and if you do decide to write this vampire Eddie and reader fic please take your time there is no rush💖💖 @cxrps-doodles-shit

Thank you so much!!! And don’t apologise, on this blog we are all horny for munson🙏🏻 so I absolutely love this prompt and had to write it. I am part of the Eddie's death deniers club so I love all the vampire Eddie theories and not to get excited but they actually seem plausible? I pray they do it but if not this is my fixit vamp!Eddie fic because this is what we deserve!!!

warnings: angst and smut, with details of blood and blood drinking obvs

You hadn't truly known love until you'd met Eddie. You became friends with him years ago now, the two inseparable outcasts who didn’t want to be held down by conformity. People always joked you were dating back then considering how close you were, but it was always something you both laughed off, too afraid to confront it and risk losing the other. Things changed on the day of your graduation, Eddie hadn’t passed and a darkness had fallen over you both. It meant the two of you being separated for the first time in years and neither of you were coping with the thought well. Eddie couldn’t stand that things were going to change and decided while you were smoking in the back of his van after the ceremony, talking about what would become of your lives, that he had to finally tell you how he felt. And the rest was history. Come two years later, your relationship is stronger than ever and Eddie was on his third go of senior year. He’d half assed it the year before, he could admit that to himself. But this time was different, this time he was determined to pass. He’d reiterated the same news to you that he’d told the boys earlier that day, that 86’ was going to finally be his year. And you’d beamed at him and kissed him all over, gushing your support and belief in him. More so than just graduating, Eddie wanted to get out of school and start his life with you properly. Actually get a place he could call his own with you. Little did either of you know that everything would change that night, and what the next few days would hold.

The foreshadowing had always been there, hiding in plain sight if you’d have known to look for it. But of course you hadn’t, it wasn’t something you would have known how to even comprehend at the time. This is what you tell yourself as you rock yourself back and forth on your knees, chest wracked by your anguished sobs, the voices around you muffled as hands try to drag you up from the floor to stand. You numb yourself and think back to just a couple of hours earlier, when everything was still okay. You think of the field you were all sat in as you prepared for the battle. 

Eddie had been sat with you putting together his shield, his tongue cutely poking out between his lips as he fixed the last nail to the lid. He lifts it up towards you excitedly, eyes glinting as he shows you the finished product. 

"Check it out baby!" He says, swinging the shield around in the air as he tests its usability. 

"How's she feeling?" You ask with a chuckle while Eddie parades around the grass, seemingly very impressed with his new weapon. He turns to you with a wide grin, thrusting the shield high into the air.

"Light, but durable. Deadly, but reliable. I think I like her" He says with a chuckle of his own, placing it down on the floor as he comes to sit next to you and place a gentle hand on your thigh. He can tell you're being withdrawn, mind plagued with worry about what was to come later. "Whatever happens tonight, remember I love you with all of my heart" Eddie tells you softly, reaching a hand up to cup your face that you turn away from with furrowed brows.

"Stop, Eddie. I don't want you talking like that, like something's going to happen" You say in a shaky whisper, tears threatening to spill past your eyes as you look at your boyfriend pleadingly. "I hate this plan" you say quieter, looking down to the floor sorrowfully as you kick some dirt beneath your feet. 

"It's all going to be okay, I promise you. I'll lure the bats over and then get straight out of there, just like we all planned" He assures you, a sadness in his tone as he cradled your face in his chest gently while you cry against him. "I promise baby, I’m always going to be here with you. It's all going to be okay" he whispers, stroking your hair as you bury your face further into him, taking in his scent and his warmth. Your grip on him is tight and it fills him with a small sense of comfort, as being in your arms always does. Eddie was scared too, terrified in fact to have to play bait to these monsters, and terrified for you to be going with the others to attack Vecna. All of the anticipation of what was to come left a metallic taste of fear and discomfort in his mouth, that he tries to swallow down into his heavy anxiety ridden chest. You pull away to look at Eddie, staring into those beautiful brown eyes as he throws you a loving smile, cupping your cheeks gently with his palms.

“I love you Eddie” You say softly, a small smile gracing your beautiful features that makes Eddie’s heart melt. He smiles even wider at you, grabbing you by the waist and pulling you into his lap while you giggle at his actions.

“I love you too, so much” He responds gently, pressing his forehead against yours and gazing into your eyes adoringly. “We’re gunna get this done, save Hawkins, and then we are going to go start our life together” He tells you happily, the widest grin on his gorgeous features as his thumb grazes your cheek. You smile at him adoringly and pull him down into a soft kiss, both losing yourselves and forgetting the situation for just a moment as you melt into the kiss, until you hear Dustin making gagging noises from across the field. 

“Hey, who you making noises at squirt” Eddie says with a chuckle as he pulls away from you, jumping up in a running attack at Dustin. You laugh and shake your head as the boys play fight, smiling to yourself at how playful and energetic Eddie always was. You’re so glad to see this connection he’d formed with Dustin, Eddie wasn’t like this with a lot of people so it thrilled you to see him open himself up like this. As you watch him a sense of calm washes over you, no matter what had happened these past few days, this was still the reality you knew and nothing could change this. Nothing, you tell yourself with a nervous shudder.

It was all supposed to be okay. You’d all destroyed Vecna’s body as planned and you, Nancy, Robin and Steve were making your way out of the house in relief that it was over. All you wanted was to get back to Eddie and get the hell out of here. Hawkins probably wasn’t an option anymore what with the murder allegations, but you and Eddie would run as far away as you could and start a life somewhere new, together. As long as you were with him, anywhere is home. The four of you were about to celebrate as you walked out of the house, until the ground began to quake violently beneath your feet, the grandfather clock in the house chiming loudly. Your gut twisted in dread as the four of you looked at each other in fear, walking back into the house carefully to inspect the clock. One word from Nancy and you all realised what this meant in horror, and promptly ran out of the house to get back to Dustin and Eddie at the gate. Steve being the fastest had sped off in front of you, and practically knocked down the trailer door trying to get in. You pant as you try and catch your breath, coming to a slow jog as you reach the trailer yourself. You burst into the house and look round to find Eddie and run straight to his arms for a hug, but strangely he isn’t in here with Dustin. Your stomach turns as you look at the two boys in front of you, Steve wide eyed and looking devastated, hugging Dustin with a comforting stroke on his back. You notice Dustin is crying profusely, his brows furrowed sadly as his eyes meet yours.

“No” You say just above a whisper, shaking your head in disbelief as your heart drops into your stomach. “Where is he?” You ask shakily as you clench your fists and dig your nails into your palms, pure fear washing over you. Dustin cries harder and shakes his head, managing to croak out an ‘I’m so sorry’ between his cries. “Dustin, where is he?!” You ask louder, voice breaking as your eyes widen and fill with tears that threaten to slip down your face. Dustin shakily raises his hand to point to the door, and you waste no time in running out of the house, as everyone calls out your name and tells you not to go back out there. You look around frantically once you’re out of the house, the tears blurring your vision as you try and see Eddie. You can’t believe it, it can’t be true, you have to find him now and bring him home. You shake and sob in fear as you run down the road desperately calling his name, Steve emerging from the house behind you to try and run after you. And that’s when you saw him. You couldn’t have been sure from a distance, all you saw was a protrusion on the ground, but as you got closer you could make out his clothes. You can also see how much blood is on them as you begin to cry harder, feeling sick to your stomach with terror. You begin to sob his name louder as you run as fast as your legs can take you, feet burning when you finally reach his side and fall to your knees on the floor. 

“Eddie, baby” You sob out to him, shaking his shoulders while his head shakes slacken. “Eddie please it’s me” You cry, cupping his cheeks and choking out more sobs as your hands are met with his cold, damp skin. You wail loudly, body hunched over his as you cry in your despair, rocking Eddie back and forth on your lap. You feel a strong hand on your shoulder behind you and vaguely hear some mumbled sorrowful words but it does nothing to comfort you while your world is being torn apart. Your soulmate, your best friend and the entire life you had envisioned together ripped out of your grasp so cruelly as this. You’re covered in his blood now but you couldn’t fucking care less, you keep a desperate grip on him while you look into his cold, vacant eyes.

“Eddie please, you can’t leave me you promised” You sob, shaking him some more in your despair. “Please, please, please you can’t” you cry, getting more frantic with your actions and words. Steve is muttering something to you about having to go before everything crumbles around you guys, before you can’t use the gate anymore, but you ignore him as you keep your face in Eddies chest, rocking with him. When you ignore him again he tries to pull you up, to which you shriek in response and hold onto Eddie harder as the tears flood from your eyes. “Let me stay here with him” you tell Steve, voice broken and devoid of any desire, but as the quakes get worse Steve only sighs sadly and begins to pick you up much to your protest, screaming and kicking and smacking your hands against him as he tries to steady you and pull you away. The others have apparently come to help too, Robin grabbing onto you as they mutter about how the gate is starting to split and you all need to leave now. “No! No please we can’t leave him here! I can’t leave him” You sob in protest, voice harsh and wrecked from your crying and screaming. You feel as though you’re about to be sick as they keep dragging you away, Eddie left there on the ground all by himself. “Please we can’t leave him, please. I can’t leave him here” You tell them over and over frantically as they pull you away, the anxiety of being separated from him filling your chest, getting you in a chokehold as you cry and scream. “Let me stay with him, I’m begging you. My place is by his side, always, in life or death. Let me be with him” You ask, broken and trembling as they continue to pull you away from him. Your place is by Eddies side and if he isn’t here anymore, you shouldn’t be either.

“I’m so, so sorry for what you’re going through but we can’t take him back, it’s too risky. If anyone found his body there is no way to explain all of the bites. And we’re certainly not leaving you here to die” Steve tells you sadly, clearly torn up from watching how distraught you are but focused on getting the four of you out of here before the upside down literally collapsed around you. Once Eddie was out of your sight everything else was a blur, you don’t know how you got out of there, don’t know how you ended up home. You’d just cried until you puked and passed out, waking up in your bed the next morning and sobbing once more as you remember what had happened the night before. This was how you were for the last week, you hadn’t left your bed, you hadn’t gotten up to do anything. The others had come to check on you occasionally, make sure you were eating and looking after yourself. But you were just numb, completely devoid of any emotion but the existential sadness of your loss. Wayne had come to see you as well after his talk with Dustin, bringing you the most comfort anyone had yet as he cried with you, reminisced on some of your favourite memories of Eddie together. He felt this profound loss too, and that was something the two of you could only relate to together. 

“That kid, Dustin, he gave this to me but I think its a better fit you have it. Eddie definitely would have wanted you to.” Wayne tells you gently as he carefully pulls Eddie’s necklace out of his pocket and delicately puts it in your open palm, causing the tears to flood from your eyes all over again. Wayne gives you a sad smile and hugs you as you bawl your eyes out, thanking him for thinking to give it to you. 

The guests came and went for a while, you weren’t keeping track of how much time was passing. You were just in a perpetual state of nothingness, either completely disheveled and sobbing your eyes out thinking about Eddie or sitting there numb and emotionless, wishing you could only join him. It was a cold night about 2 or 3 weeks after the incident, you couldn’t sleep as per usual and had sparked up a joint in an attempt to numb your mind. You were sat by your open window as you smoked, the air bellowing in and causing a draft that creaked your door open and shut of its own accord. The rhythmic sound of it was almost peaceful to your near catatonic mind, anything to distract you from the ever-present thoughts. You were mindlessly blowing out of the window, basking in the breeze against your tear stricken face, when you heard a creak from deeper within the house. You turn to look at the door, which was still creaking as you’d last heard it, brows furrowed as you tried to listen for the noise again. Must just be the draft creeping into other areas of the house. A minute or so passes, and then you hear another louder creak, one that you realise almost sounds like a footstep against the floorboards of the stairs. Then another one, and then another until it sound as though it stops at the top of the stairs, just a few feet away from your door. Your blood runs cold as you try and listen out for the faint noise, skin prickling in fear as you hold your breath and wait for the sound. But all you hear now is the creaking of your own door as you had all night, and after a couple of minutes pass with no other noises, you let out your breath and relax a little bit more again. It’s quite fitting really that you’re losing your mind, you think to yourself. You take another drag of your joint and blow it mindlessly out of the window, palm resting on your cheek as you over the night sky, brightened by stars. The nights are always the most peaceful to you, when everyone is asleep and you can’t see the true extent of the damage upon Hawkins. It's a constant reminder of what happened, and that you can’t even tell anyone about it. You sigh into the silence of your room, feeling the tears prickling at your sore eyes again until you replay what you’d just said to yourself in your head. The silence of your room. There was no sound anymore, despite the fact you hadn’t shut the window so your door should still be creaking. You swallow nervously, breathing in sharply through your nose as you slowly turn to look at the door, which you notice in fear was now wide open. You almost want to call out into the silence, but decide against it, telling yourself bitterly that if someone has come to kill the ‘murderer, cult leaders’ girlfriend you would happily let them. 

“That’s not the kind of attitude I expect from my girl” Comes a deep voice from the darkness, a voice that you couldn’t mistake for anybody else. You scream and your eyes shoot to where the sound came from, a darkened corner of your room, where you see a silhouette leaning precariously against the wall. 

“Eddie?” You ask in absolute disbelief, your voice only a whisper as you try and make out his face in the darkness. Is this, is this some kind of cruel joke? Or some kind of upside down magic shit? Whatever it is, the figure shuffles nervously, fiddling with his fingers just like Eddie always did when he was nervous.

“It’s me baby. B-but I need you to know something before you see me” He says carefully, holding his hands up to keep you from coming closer to him as you furrow your brows in confusion at him. 

“How?” Is all you can manage to whisper out to him, bewildered as to how you could have seen his literal body, felt his lack of pulse yet have him standing here before you.

“Well, I… I remember I had tried to keep the bats away from the gate, lured them off on my bike but there was too many of them. They got me, and Dustin held me while I…” He trails off, voice choked as he tries to find the words. “I woke up in the upside down, after everything had happened. You were all gone, a-and I was so confused. But mostly I was… thirsty” he says to you, unsure of how to even explain it himself, fear in his voice as he continues. “That was when I noticed the fangs. I guess it was from the bites, they do say in legend that being bitten by a bat is… how you turn” He says quietly, swallowing as he looks at you nervously for your response. You say nothing, you just reach a silent hand out to the darkness, brows furrowed and eyes full of love, pleading with him to come out and show you it was really him.

He takes a step forward, and standing there before you, illuminated like an angel in the moonlight, is Eddie. Your Eddie. You fall forward onto your knees as you begin to sob again, looking up in awe that it was really him. Eddie dashes towards you and picks you up in his strong arms, hugging you close as you sob and sob in his arms.

“I thought I’d lost you” you manage to say between your sobs, smiling for the first time in weeks as he presses his forehead against yours gently. You notice his red eyes with wonder, pulling back just a little to cup your face and stare into them intently. They are so beautiful, still the same eyes you fell in love with all those years ago. Then you gently place your thumb on his lips as you admire the sharp fanged teeth that are now on either side of his mouth in awe. Eddie seems embarrassed, ashamed almost, wanting to shrink away from your touch.

“I- I know this is probably very weird for you, and I understand if this is something you need to get used to-“ You shut Eddie up by slamming your lips against his, heart full once again as you kiss your boyfriend, tears still streaming down your face. 

“Eddie, I love you with all my heart and there is nothing in this world that could change the way I feel about you. You look as gorgeous as the day we met.” You tell him assuredly, the sincerity in your eyes filling Eddies heart with joy and love. “Plus you know how much I love Lost Boys, I’ve always found vampires sexy.” You tell him playfully, making the gorgeous boy laugh back at you and brandish those gorgeous fangs your way. You bite your lip as Eddie’s eyes dart to your neck, a hunger in his eyes as they run over your delicate, succulent skin. Suddenly his knees are buckling under him, the smell of you and the sight of your neck consuming his senses too strongly as he struggles to keep himself calm. You help him up, his arm around your shoulder as you lead him to sit on the edge of your bed.

“You said you woke up thirsty right? Have you, have you drank any blood yet?” You ask him in concern, almost wanting to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of uttering those words. Eddie shakes his head solemnly, looking up at you with a desperation in his eyes. 

“You need to drink some, this must be why you’re feeling so weak right now” You say seriously, his eyes widening as you take your hair and tuck it behind your ear, brandishing your neck to him. Eddie wants to protest, but the fucking smell of you has been driving him crazy since he crept into your house. Your blood smelt so sweet, sweeter than anything he could ever imagine, and this ravenous, gut wrenching hunger he felt needed to be sated. 

“But what if I hurt you” He whispers in fear, the last thing he’d ever want would be to accidentally drink too much and risk harming you. You look into his eyes deeply and cup his cheek, assuring him that you know he would never, ever hurt you. That he is in control of this, not the other way around. 

“I want you to bite me, Eddie” You tell him in a sultry whisper, and Eddie can’t hold it in anymore. He leans over you, grabbing your waist and gently leaning you back while he slowly sinks his teeth into your neck, earning a breathy gasp and a moan from you. The taste of you was like nothing Eddie had ever experienced in his life, and the intimacy of being so close to you like this, drinking from you, drove Eddie crazy. You mewled as he gently sucked your blood, eyes fluttering shut as his grip on your body tightens. It hurt, but in very sensual way and there was a pleasant feeling that came from the pain. Eddie was truly a man starved, drinking from you as though you were the last thing he would ever taste. You tasted like the fountain of youth, like the sweet ambrosia of the gods, every delicacy written in legend couldn’t match the taste of you. Eddie pulls away panting, eyes burning into yours as you looked up at him through your eyelashes, clearly getting aroused by his ministrations. He looked so fucking hot with your blood on his lips and teeth that you wanted him to completely ravish you, mark you as his. 

“You taste divine” He says in a strained voice, licking the blood from his lips as his eyes roll back in pleasure. Eddie is quickly pushing you on your back and crawling over you, tongue lapping at the bite mark his teeth had left on you as he savours your taste. He groans loudly as his teeth skim your neck, and then your throat and collarbones as he makes his way down your body, resisting the urge to bite your perfect skin. 

“Please Eddie, I need you” you moan out breathlessly as he teases your body, his hands toying with your panties under your nightdress. 

“Tell me what you need angel” He says in a low voice, wanting to hear you beg him more. You moan in frustration and wiggle your hips, trying to get his hand lower. 

“Please, I need you to fuck me” You manage to mewl out, throwing him pleading doe eyes.

He growls loudly in response and obliges, easily ripping the nightdress off of your body and earning a gasp from you. He grunts as his eyes skim your body, writhing and perfect beneath him. Eddie feels nervous as he goes to pull his shirt off, to expose all of his scars to you for fear of you not finding him attractive anymore. But you wordlessly begin to kiss his scars softly, letting you know exactly what you felt and warming what little heart he had left beating in his body. He pants as he takes his pants off, his straining cock finally bouncing free of its constraints. He ducks between your legs, his teeth meeting the soft cotton of your panties as he pulls them down your legs, his fangs teasingly ghosting over your skin. Your cheeks burn at the sensuality of the sensation, the excitement that roils in your belly as you think about him biting you again. Eddie is quick to position himself between your legs, you instinctively wrapping your legs around his waist and moaning as his tip brushing your wet folds. Eddie looks as though he’s in heaven as he pushes his cock up against your tight heat, hissing through his teeth as he slowly slides into you.

“So tight” He groans as he bottoms out in you, biting his lips as he draws back his hips and slams back into you roughly. You moan at this, obsessed as ever with the feeling of his thick cock filling you up. You dig your nails into his back and throw your head back with a loud moan as he begins to fuck you hard, grunting at the feeling of you wrapped around him. 

“Your pussy feels so perfect wrapped around my dick princess” He groans, eyes feral as he looks down at you “Made just for me wasn’t it baby?” He coos, keeping up his punishing pace as you can only whimper and moan in response. “Tell me baby” He demands in a low voice by your ear, making you shiver in pleasure.

“It was made for you Eddie. Only you” You moan out as he growls at your words and picks up the pace.

You’re completely lost in the pleasure, cockdrunk already as he keeps pounding you and whispering filthy nothings into your ear. His lips find your neck again, breathing heavily against your skin as he sinks his fangs into the other side with a long groan. Getting to both fuck you, feel your tight cunt clenching around him while he sinks his teeth into your neck is too much for Eddie. It pushes him over the edge, his hips snapping harder and more frantically into you as he drinks your sweet blood. The sensation of both prove too much for you as well, and you choke out his name as you cum around his cock, walls pulsing around him and pulling a strangled growl from his lips. He pulls away from your neck, careful not to lose himself and drink too much, as he fucks you animalistically through your orgasm. 

“I’m gunna fill you up baby, are you ready?” He growls, eyes glowing as you nod and whimper, a tear slipping down your face from the sheer pleasure of his dick. Eddie laps at your neck as his hips stutter against yours, moaning loudly into your neck as he pushes deep inside you and spills his seed into your tight walls. His eyes squeeze shut from the intensity of his orgasm, pure pleasure washing over him as he thrusts slowly into your tight heat, relishing in the taste of you on his tongue and the feeling of spilling into you. Eddie pants as he rides out his orgasm, pulling out of you with a grunt before rolling onto his back and pulling you to lay against him. “I love you so much” He says softly, running his eyes over your gorgeous features before they meet your neck and remember he bit you again in his throes of pleasure. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?” He asks in concern, running his fingertips softly over the marks. You smile at him and shake your head.

“It was really hot actually” You say with a giggle, biting your lip as his eyes flash wickedly and he smirks at you. 

“I think I’m really going to enjoy being a vampire.”

#Eddie Munson #Eddie Munson angst #Eddie Munson smut #vampire eddie munson #vampire Eddie smut #vampire Eddie x reader #Eddie Munson x reader #Eddie munson x you #vampire!eddie munson #vampire!eddie

[berenwrites]

Dreams in the Night - Stranger Things - Steddie, Chapter 9 of 9

Dreams in the Night: But Vampires Aren't an Upside Down Thing!

Summary: Steve has been having nightmares, seeing through the eyes of a vampire like creature in Hawkins as it hunts. He puts the dreams down to past trauma and too many horror movies at Family video. He’s checked and no one’s been hurt, so even Robin agrees. However, his world is about to be turned upside down yet again as the nightmares become far too real.

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For: @lady-lostmind (lady_lostmind on AO3)

Relationships: steddie, platonic stobin

Rating: Explicit

Wordcount: ~18600

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tags: vampire!Eddie, Kas!Eddie, hurt/comfort, bisexual!Steve, bisexual!Eddie, platonic stobin, steddie

This fic is a part of the @steddieholidayexchange

Chapter 9: Freedom

“Gentlemen, Miss Buckley,” Owens said as he walked in while they finished breakfast three days after Steve had woken up, “I have good news.”

The first thing Steve noticed was the pile of things the man was carrying. They looked like real clothes.

“We get to go home?” Robin asked hopefully.

Owens smiled.

“Indeed,” he said with a nod of his head. “We would appreciate it if you would come back for occasional observation,” Owens added looking at Eddie and Steve, “but all our tests so far have been conclusive, neither of you are contaminated in such a way as to be dangerous to yourselves or others.”

Robin cheered and threw herself at Steve for a hug.

“What about Eddie’s need for blood?” she asked from within Steve’s arms.

“I believe Eddie and Steve have come to their own arrangement, have you not, gentlemen?” Owens said with that same smile.

Steve felt his face heating up. He’d never really thought what they were doing had gone unnoticed, but confirmation was still mortifying. Frankly he’d been expecting it to be brought up among all the tests they had been through over the past few days, but apparently it was being left un-investigated.

“You knew that’s what this was about,” Eddie accused.

“Suspected,” Owens replied simply, “not knew. It became clear you, Eddie, were channelling energy to Steve while he was comatose, but we had no proof of why. We did not wish to artificially influence either of you, but our observations did suggest the logical conclusion.”

“So, I was right,” Steve said, “I am his perfect donor?”

Owens nodded.

“The average human takes between eight and twenty-four hours to replace a pint of blood, with their red cell count not returning to normal until between four to six weeks,” Owens replied. “From our observations, you are now capable of complete regeneration within three to five hours.”

“Was it my bite that did it?” Eddie asked. “Is this all my fault?”

Steve reached out and pulled Eddie into a one-armed embrace while still holding onto Robin with the other, because he was not having the guilt he could hear in Eddie’s voice.

“We believe it was your bite which was the catalyst in this instance,” Owens replied, “however, it was also our oversight in not testing Steve after the defeat of Henry Creel. Thanks to the injuries he sustained from the bats and the contamination of their bites, we have concluded certain possibilities remained dormant within him until you re-emerged from the Upside Down. It is possible that living in Hawkins, they may have been triggered by something else at a later time, this just happening to be the catalytic event now.”

Steve frowned as he did his best to follow that.

“So, I could have collapsed at any time?” he asked.

“It is a possibility,” Owens said, “however, it is impossible to be certain. You may have gone your whole life without even knowing, or you could have changed tomorrow.”

“But he changed to be my donor,” Eddie said, “why would he have changed otherwise.”

“We don’t fully understand the lifecycles of the creatures of the Upside Down,” Owens said, “especially now Henry Creel’s influence has been removed. Yours appears to be a symbiotic relationship, in that you both gain advantages from the arrangement. Given the hive mind of the creatures of the Upside Down it is possible they also exist in symbiotic terms. If that is the case, there are likely many things which could trigger such a change.”

“Symbiotic,” Steve tried out the sound of the word.

It was one of those terms he was pretty sure he had heard before, but he’d never taken in what it meant.

“Ugh,” Robin said, slumping against Steve’s side, “you’re telling me I’m stuck with both of them forever?”

She put the perfect whine into her voice that made Steve laugh.

“Sorry, Platonic Soulmate with a capital P, but there’s no takebacks,” he said around the laugh.

“You better not have your fangs in him all the time, Munson,” Robin said, “or I will get a hose.”

Eddie’s big brown eyes were wide and shocked, and Steve was pretty sure this would not be the last conversation about this, but he pulled them both in close rather than commenting. Now was not the time.

“I’ll leave these here for you,” Owens said, placing the clothes on the end of Robin’s bed. “When you’re ready, we just have a few things for you to sign and I’ll have someone drop you at your homes.”

Steve internally grimaced at yet more paperwork, but he was very happy to be getting out of the lab.

~*~

Walking into his house, Steve noticed the answer machine flashing at him.

“You guys make yourselves comfortable, just gotta check this,” he said as Robin and Eddie trailed him inside.

They had convinced the driver taking them home to drop them all at Steve’s house so they could unpack what they had just been through before dealing with other people.

Pressing the button, he listened to the tape rewind before it beeped and began to play.

“Steven, it’s your mother, where are you?”

Another beep.

“Steven, it’s your mother again. What are you doing at all hours?”

A third beep.

“Steven, this is ridiculous, I have tried to get hold of you multiple times…”

“You tried twice, Mom,” he said quietly as he listened.

“I suppose I will just have to do this on the answering machine. One of your father’s new business associates has invited your father and I to join him and his wife at their lodge in the Alps over Christmas. I’m sure you understand how we couldn’t possibly turn it down without seeming rude, so we won’t be able to make it back to Hawkins this year. Given how you never seem to be at home, I’m sure you can find something else to do. Your cheque is in the post. We’ll see you some time in the New Year.”

It beeped a final time without even a goodbye.

He breathed out, letting his disappointment go as well as he could. His parents had been home once since “the earthquake” and that had seemed mostly so they could check on the house, not him. It had been just after the Party had finally put Vecna down for good and he’d been battered and bruised, but they hadn’t even seemed to notice. That they couldn’t even be bothered to come home for Christmas wasn’t exactly a shock. He really didn’t know why he cared anymore.

He was pretty sure the only reason they hadn’t sold the house out from under him by now was the fact no one wanted to move to Hawkins, so it wasn’t worth anything. Or possibly having their son living in his car would be a bad look on them.

“Hey,” Robin said, placing a gentle hand on his back, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, giving her a forced smile, “not unexpected, y’know.”

Robin rubbed her hand in a small circle, leaning into him for a moment, because she did know. She was one of the few people who knew just how absent his parents were and how many years he had been looking after himself.

“I could ask my mom and dad if there’s room for one more,” she began to say.

“Robs it’s your family time,” he replied before she could go on, “I couldn’t intrude. Besides it would only make your whole family want to know when the wedding’s going to be.”

Robin’s family always had a big Christmas gathering, which was going to be at her grandparents’ house this year. It was strictly family only because there were so many of them. The only exception being engaged couples.

“At least it would stop them all asking about boyfriends,” Robin complained. “You sure you don’t want to be my beard?”

Steve’s eyes immediately flicked to Eddie, who was also still standing in the hallway. He didn’t look majorly surprised, more like something had been confirmed, but it wasn’t him Steve was worried about. Robin had just effectively outed herself and he wasn’t sure she had realised she was doing it.

“Oh, oh,” she said, eyes going big and round as she remembered Eddie was there.

“Robin, breathe,” Eddie said, holding up his hands. “Your secret is safe, I swear. I know you didn’t mean to tell me, but it’s all cool. You remember I’m banging your very male soulmate, right?”

From the look on her face, Steve wasn’t sure Robin had remembered that in the moment. She took a very deep breath.

“I feel dumb,” she said, looking up at Steve through her lashes.

“Not dumb,” he assured her, “just a baked in reaction.”

“God, it sucks to be queer in small town Indiana,” Robin said loudly, putting her head back.

“Totally,” Eddie agreed.

“Well, I’ve only known I was queer for a little over a week,” Steve added, “but I get your point.”

“What?” Eddie said, staring at him.

It only occurred to Steve at that moment that they hadn’t had any time to have that conversation.

“You didn’t tell him?” Robin asked, seemingly very happy the spotlight was no longer on her.

“When exactly did I have the chance?” he said, putting his hands on his hips. “It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have on camera.”

“What about before … well … before the hot and heavy stuff?” Robin said.

“That was more a primal moment than a talking moment,” he confessed.

“Right,” Robin said in a very decisive manner, “I’m going into the kitchen to make coffee very loudly. You two,” she pinned them both down with a look, “talk.”

Eddie was giving him one of those big doe-eyed looks that had just a hint of guilt to it. Steve walked over.

“I’m the first guy you’ve ever ..?” Eddie trailed off.

“Yes,” he replied.

“And we … you let me … Steve,” Eddie half said, half whined.

“I didn’t let you do anything I wasn’t very, very into,” he said, reaching out and placing a hand on Eddie’s arm.

“After I bit you,” Eddie seemed to feel the need to point out. “Oh god, I did this, didn’t I, I forced you into this. This in on…”

Steve stepped completely into Eddie’s personal space and took the other man’s face between his hands, forcing Eddie to look at him rather than spiral.

“You didn’t force me into anything,” he said slowly and clearly, making sure Eddie was listening. “Has it occurred to you, I was the one who did the forcing?”

Eddie blinked at him.

“I called you here,” he went on. “I tricked you into biting me. I invaded your brain.”

“But…” Eddie said.

“No buts,” Steve interrupted. “That’s all on me, not you. I realised I was dreaming about you, and I grabbed at it. I don’t know what I was feeling at the time, I didn’t stop to analyse it, but I don’t care. I know what I feel now. I want you with every part of me, and I know you want me. I can feel it. That is what I care about.”

For a while, Eddie stared at him in complete silence. It was the scariest few seconds of Steve’s life since Vecna was finally dealt with.

“Wow,” Eddie said, bringing one of his hands up to cup Steve’s.

Now it was Steve who didn’t know what to say.

“You go big, don’t you,” Eddie said with the tiniest smile.

“Um, I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Oh, Stevie, don’t be sorry, never be sorry for that,” Eddie said. “You are a wonder. And you’re mine.”

“All yours,” Steve agreed. “Are you mine?” he added hesitantly.

Now Eddie leaned forward and kissed him.

“For as long as you’ll have me,” Eddie said, and Steve’s stomach did a swoop. “You’re joining me and Wayne for Christmas, by the way, no arguments. Gonna indoctrinate you into our Munson traditions.”

“I wouldn’t want to in…”

Eddie put his finger on Steve’s lips before he could go on.

“You won’t be intruding,” Eddie said. “I suggest we get the whole Wayne grilling you to make sure you’re not some loser who will break my heart over before Christmas eve (he’s protective), because that could be awkward during dinner, but he’s gonna want to give you a slap on the back for saving my sorry ass too. As Wayne says, there’s always room for one more at our table.”

Steve blinked hard. He refused to cry. He wasn’t a crier by rule, his dad had always frowned on it, but it had been a trying few days. It was testing his control.

“Come on,” Eddie said, taking his hand, “let’s get in the kitchen before Birdie breaks something. And I hope you have some food in your cabinets that hasn’t been perfectly balanced to give us all the nutrients we need to be in top condition.”

“I think I have a boxed mac and cheese in there somewhere,” he replied, using the distraction for what it was.

“That’ll hit the spot,” Eddie said in a terrible British accent.

The Upside Down had once again thrown his life in the air to see where bits landed, but as Steve let Eddie lead him through his house, he was pretty happy with how it had turned out. They needed to call everyone. They needed to find out what everyone knew and make sure everyone knew what had happened. They needed to decide if, when, and how he and Eddie were going to come out to their extended found-family.

There was so much to do and still questions to answer. But as far as Steve was concerned, things were looking up.

As he looked out the kitchen window, he realised it was snowing. It was cliched, but he really hoped that was a touch of Christmas magic from the universe, like the movies always had.

“Ooh,” Eddie said, spotting the snow as well and making a dash for the back door.

“Where are you going?” Steve called after him.

“Gotta catch a snowflake on my tongue,” Eddie yelled back. “First snowfall. Big Munson tradition.”

Steve grinned and shared a look with Robin. His boyfriend was a little insane, but that was fine with him.

“Guess we should join him,” he said and gestured for Robin to precede him.

“You are so whipped,” Robin said, but went along anyway.

Stepping out into the first snow flurry of the season, Steve laughed properly for the first time in what felt like forever. Eddie was dancing around trying to catch a snowflake and it simply filled him with joy. Giving Robin a shrug, he joined in.

The End

Thank you so much for reading, I very much hope you enjoyed the story, especially @lady-lostmind . Best wishes and happy holidays to one and all.

#stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #steve x eddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #platonic stobin #vampires #kas eddie munson #vampire eddie munson #eddie lives #fanfic #fanfiction #dreams in the night - steddie

[two-red-lungs]

Ayooo. It sounds kinda cringe but eddie munson x vampire reader???? Or something like that. Or just x GN reader. That would be rlly swag of you :D

NO BC THIS IS PERFECT I was like "man I really wanna write a little about the Lost Boys/Stranger Things fic I'm working on, but IDK if the asker knows the Lost Boys" but you DO so sorry I am taking creative liberties w/ this imagine.

"Big Storm Coming" (Eddie Munson + LostBoys!Reader)

Your brothers were rabble-rousers. Nare-do-wells. It made settling anywhere... difficult, when the police kept getting on their tails. They set fires, caused public chaos, spray-painted walls. Hell, you spray-painted walls when you were bored enough. Eternal life was excruciatingly boring.

Like clockwork Max would chew them out, probably throwing one of them across the room in anger, and then move all of you to a new town.

Probably for the best. David brought death with him everywhere, he was messy and angry like that, and Dwayne, Marko, and Paul followed his example. Usually leaving you and Star to clean up the disaster.

So, really, moving to Hawkins felt like any other clan migration. Low population, sleepy police force, lots of bored teens "prone to going missing", as David had put it with a tight, toothy smile.

Marko had cackled when Max said he was enrolling everyone in highschool to "keep you outta trouble". He thought it was a joke.

It was not a joke. When you tried to protest Max told you to shut it or he'd lock you out on the porch come sunrise.

You all went straight from Max's van doors to the school entryway. A half-second in the sun, shielded under jacket lapels and long hair.

It was, admittedly, pretty fun, blowing open those doors on your first day. As much as you had a love-hate relationship with your blood brothers, you had to admit they turned heads. You all did. Wild rocker hair, manic self-assured grins, spike-studded boots. Rock-and-roll, baby. The sea of hallway students parted for the five of you.

Paul and Dwayne, as usual, were flirting with any girl that came within five feet of them, taking bets on who'd get a number by the end of the day. But with Star home with Laddie and David glowering at everyone like he wanted to massacre everything and then hang himself, you were pretty much on your own.

Great. School, again. A year of faking interest in American history and just waiting for a drained corpse to be found in the woods.

And then. AND THEN. Hawkins High, shithole in the middle of Indiana, gave you the gift you'd be desperately hoping for.

"Principal's office, NOW, Munson!" A teacher screamed nearby, flinging open a classroom door and shoving out a tall, wild-maned, leather-jacket clad man. The man flipped a double bird to the closed door, shoved his hands in his pockets, and turned around to start trudging down the hall.

Freezing in place when he saw you. Two individuals, nearly identical in style. Outcasts. Lost, maybe.

An incredulous grin spread across his face, dark eyebrows disappearing up into messy fringe. "...Holy shit." He said with a disbelieving laugh. "Look at you. Rock on, man."

He introduced himself as Eddie Munson, blood thumping under his ivory-pale skin and smelling like American Spirit cigarettes, and all at once you were hooked. He was clearly excited to see someone else with a patch jacket sporting bands he knew. He asked you if you wanted to smoke sometime. You blindly agreed, distracted by that warm smile.

And as he walked away down the wide hall, saying "Boo!" to a passing group of freshmen girls and making them literally jump, two things were made utterly apparent to you.

One: Eddie Munson was going to save your high school experience from being the most boring thing ever.

Two: he needed to be protected from your brothers at all costs. None of you were allowed to be happy. To make friends. They destroyed those sort of things out of envy, of jealousy. And you would not let Eddie be a tally mark in David's kill ledger.

Thank you for the prompt: if you guys like this concept, please let me know! I'm considering a longer, multi-chapter crossover fic with Eddie/reader and the Hawkins gang VS Max's boys.

#eddie munson x reader #the lost boys #eddie munson #stranger things imagine #stranger things s4 #my writing

[gttinyprincess]

Fic request where Chrissy is a vampire hunter and the reader is a vampire and they are desperately trying to keep each other from finding out their secret.

Not a big fan of vampire!reader so i switched it for Eddie, hope that's okay.

also using this as a happy early valentine's day fic.

Vampire hunter! Chrissy x vampire! Eddie

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

"That's a new bruise."

Eddie takes a long drag of his joint as Chrissy turns her attention to the bruise poking out from beneath the edge of her cream sweater. The skin is a mottled purple, blue and black. "Oh yeah" she says taking the joint Eddie passes her "I told you, I'm clumsy."

She can feel his eyes on her as she leans back against the couch, inhaling the earthy smoke. He's protective of his friends, it's sweet. But she can take care of herself.

The two smoke on Eddie's couch, catching up on their respective week's as they share a joint. Eventually Chrissy complains about the room being cold "can I borrow one of your jackets?" To which Eddie nods, lungs full of smoke.

She's been in his room plenty of times before, no longer feeling shy about going in there. She makes her way to his bed, planning to grab his leather jacket and head back to the living room when a hoodie catches her eye.

A gray hoodie is haphazardly sprawled across Eddie's floor at the bedside. She pulls the material up to inspect what she had thought was a design on the front. Murky brown blotches spatter the clothing, though she has a feeling their original colour was a much brighter red.

"You good, you've been in here awhile?" The sudden voice behind her has chrissy gasping and turning around. Eddie's eyes drop from hers to the hoodie still clutched in her hands, his expression shifts ever so slightly. Looking almost wary...

"Is this blood?" She asks incredulously, showing the stains to him.

"I uh yeah" he admits, pulling a strand of his hair in front of his face, not breaking his eye contact "I had a pretty nasty nosebleed the other night" his eyes flick to the dried stain "walked into a door Wayne was opening" Chrissy nods. He's not telling her the truth or at least not the whole truth, but she doesn't push him about it.

Instead she grabs his jacket and they head back through to the living room for a bit longer before they call it a night and Eddie drives her home.

Chrissy hugs Eddie as they stand beside his van, outside of her home. "Tonight was great, thank you" she grins, squeezing him tightly. Eddie hums face buried in her neck as he leans back lifting her feet off of the floor. She giggles and shivers feeling his breath hit her skin as he chuckles, finally putting her down. "Anytime" he whispers softly, breathing in deeply as he squeezes her one last time before stepping back and the two part waves with a quick 'goodnight.'

The next night she feels bad when she phones Eddie up to tell him that she can't hang out with him. Making up a lie about cheer practice. It sucks lying to him but the truth is hard to believe. Even for someone as strange as Eddie 'the freak' munson.

Instead of hanging out with Eddie, watching cheesy movies and being a regular teenager, she crouched on a flat rooftop overlooking a sketchy alleyway. Tonight she's staking out at a lesser known venue. 'The hideout' a live metal bar.

Being a vampire hunter isn't easy, it's not even something she picked. She comes from a long line of hunters, so it was inevitable that she would follow in her parents footsteps.

She waits on that rooftop for a few hours, only seeing the odd person stumble out of the bar, drunk and merry. Nothing shifty.

She's about to give up when the door opens up once more. This time there are two people exiting the venue, what looks to be a male figure dressed in dark jeans and a hoodie with the hood pulled up to hide their head and a short brunette woman draped in denim and leather. The brunette stumbles, clinging to the man's arm to stay upright as he leads her into the alley.

He moves her back against the wall, using his body to press her into the wall, cornering her against the brickwork. He has her up against the building Chrissy sits atop. She can't see much from where she is but a glint of pearly white fangs is all it takes to set her in motion.

She gets the drop on the vampire, managing to throw him from the woman. The woman presses herself into the wall, mouth agape and eyes wide with terror. "What are you waiting for? Run!" Chrissy barks at her. The woman's eyes flick from the man on the ground to the hunter. Snapping out of her frozen state she nods, taking off down the alley way "thank you!" She calls back over her shoulder.

Moving her attention back to the vampire, she finds him already standing. Chrissy pulls the stake she has hidden in her jumper's deep pocket, the vampire is still shrouded in the shadows of his hoodie but she knows he's eyeing the weapon.

She charges, getting a solid hit on his cheek, knocking him back a step. She's not as lucky with the kick she tries to follow up with. Catching her ankle in a strong grip, the vampire yanks her closer. The blonde stumbles and has to lean back almost completely in order to avoid the fangs aiming for her throat. Thank God for cheerleader flexibility. She can hear the teeth click together as they catch air and Chrissy throws herself back up, smashing her forehead into the vampires.

His grip falters and she takes the opportunity to pull back, regain her balance and kick out again. This time her foot connects with his chest sending him tumbling back onto the cracked concrete below. He gasps as the wind is knocked out of him. Chrissy gives him no time to get back up, dropping onto him she drives the stake deep into his chest.

"Shit!" She bites out, realising she had missed her mark. She hadn't staked the vampire in the chest, instead she had planted the wood in his shoulder. The vampire beneath her groans in pain, hand reaching up to close around her own on the stakes handle. He doesn't attempt to remove it or throw her off, looking up to his face she pauses.

Now under better lighting Chrissy can see the vampire beneath her. His face is twisted, contorted with pain and those deep brown eyes look almost glossy with unshed tears. His teeth are bared but not threatening, he hisses through fanged teeth as he tries to muffle his grunts of discomfort. Long curly brunette hair frames his face, bangs threatening to fall into his eyes. She'd know that face anywhere.

It's Eddie.

She's shocked by the revelation and it seems he is too. She lets go of the stake as she stumbles to her feet. "Chrissy..." Eddie grunts still clutching the stake as he leans up on his elbow, but she's already running.

The phone rings almost constantly that night, so much so that she leaves the phone off of the receiver. Avoiding his calls completely.

Sleep doesn't come easy, the sky is starting to change colours when she finally manages to drift off.

She spots him leaning up against his van in the school parking lot the next week. His eyes scan the crowd, he's looking for her but she doesn't intend to engage him. Instead she merges into the crowd of teens, using them as cover to get into the building and disappear to the first period.

Chrissy manages to avoid Eddie for most of the morning, catching his eye in the break between walking to classes is a close call. He spots her and wastes no time in making his way through the groups of students between them but once again she dodges him by running into the woman's bathroom.

She doesn't leave back out through the door when the second period bell rings, instead opting to leave through the bathroom window and run to class.

That was an admittedly close one.

In fact she manages to avoid him entirely, that is until lunch. She heads out to the forest bordering the school, she prefers to eat out here away from prying eyes.

However it slips her mind that she had told one other person about her safe space...

Eddie is sitting on the bench seat facing the forest entrance when she arrives at the opening. He looks suprised to see her and the blonde freezes when she spots him.

"Hi" he mumbles, looking nothing like the monster she'd met that night. Panicking she spins on her heels to make a hasty retreat but he's already in front of her when she turns around. "Wait please, let's talk" he holds his hands up in front of him. "There's nothing to say" she dismisses, her guard going up.

Past friend or not, vampires are dangerous and she needs to keep her wits about her.

"You're a hunter" it's not a question, he's stating a fact. "Yeah" she's blunt in her reply but it doesn't deter the vampire. "Why didn't you tell me?" At this the blonde bristles "why didn't you tell me you were a vampire?" She counters crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why didn't you stake me?" She's silent "you had a clear shot, you could've done it if you took a second shot" she chews her lip discreetly. She shouldn't engage him in conversation, but...

"You were my friend."

Were. Ouch, now that hurts.

Eddie's face falls "I still can be" he offers, but Chrissy shakes her head dismissing the idea. "You were just playing me" she replies and Eddie shakes his head frowning "no, never. Chrissy, I swear I had no clue" he takes a step towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder but she backs away.

"Chrissy, I would never hurt you" he pleads. "How am I supposed to believe you?" She says with a glare. He betrayed her trust, she can't be expected to be okay with that.

"If I wanted to hurt you, wouldn't I have done it by now?" He huffs in frustration, throwing his hands up before letting them fall back to his sides. Chrissy stays quiet. "You are alone with me at my trailer constantly" he points out "I could have bitten you plenty of times when you were high and you wouldn't have been able to fight me." That's a scary truth to hear him put bluntly. She could have been drained, there were so many opportunities...but he never did anything.

"But I wouldn't do that to you because-" Eddie bites at the skin of his lips, seeming to struggle with whether he should continue his ramblings or not. "Because?" She probes as he shrinks in on himself, pulling a piece of hair across his mouth. "Because I care for you Chrissy, I really like you" he says edging a little bit closer "hell, I think I might even be in love with you."

Christ's mouth falls open in shock. That wasn't possible, they couldn't do that. It's wrong on so many levels. "I think I might have loved you at one point too." For a moment Eddie brightens at her words before his heart squeezes painfully. Might have, but not anymore. Not now that she knew the truth. A monster could never love her, a monster could never ache to hold her the way he does.

"Right" Eddie steps back, eyes boring holes in the forest floor "oh um before I forget" his head snaps up and he's quickly marching over to his bag to retrieve something. He's back in front of her in no time, hand out towards her. "I think this belongs to you" in his hand is chrissy's stake, the tip is stained in a brownish red but it looks as if Eddie had tried to clean it. He had tried to clean the weapon she had intended to kill him with. Chrissy takes the proffered item, stuffing it into her sweaters deep pocket "thank you" she mumbles before hurrying off. Quick to run away from the situation, from the vampire she had once called a friend.

From Eddie.

It's two am when Eddie is roused from his sleep by hurried knocks on his front door. He groans in annoyance, slipping out from beneath his covers. "I'm coming" he calls out in frustration as the knocking continues. He's at the door now and considerably pissed off as the knocking continues.

"Are you deaf?" He snarls, gripping the handle and flinging the door open "I said I was-" he pauses, anger melting into shock and confusion. Chrissy stands on his steps, one hand raised as if to knock again, her eyes are wide and it looks as if she's regretting her choices as she stares up at him.

"Chrissy" he breathes her name softly as he takes her in. The way she drops her hand and huddles in on herself makes her look so small and fragile. "Can...can I come in?" Eddie nods and steps back to let her past "of course." Always. She passes him and he can't help but spot the stake tucked into the back pocket of her jeans as she enters. He can't find it in him to blame her for wanting protection just in case.

Once they're both standing in the living room and the front door is shut, Chrissy turns to face him. Eddie wears a band shirt that she doesn't recognise, the sides are cut almost completely open and the way it hangs gives her a view of the area she had driven the stake in. She had hurt him, bad.

Chrissy hadn't planned to find him tonight, but everytime she closed her eyes she could hear him writhing in agony. How much had it hurt to remove it? Had he screamed then? Did it heal quickly? Did he drink enough blood for it to heal instantly or had he waited, driving home with a hole punctured through him.

Now she's here in Eddie's trailer trying to find the words that will make everything better, anything to get back what she had thrown away. But her mind is empty, there's no easy fix.

"Eddie I'm..." Chrissy begins but is quickly cut off "wait, please let me explain myself first" he pleads, big brown eyes imploring her to listen "I don't kill people, never have. I just take a little bit to get by and make them forget everything and I know that still sucks but it's the best i can do" he rambles.

"I should have let you explain" she mumbles, watching the tiny spark of hope grow in Eddie's eyes. "I don't want to lose you" the blonde admits "you won't" Eddie shakes his head, taking a step forwards he hesitates eyeing her pocket. Catching the look Chrissy pulls the stake out "it's taboo, I shouldn't feel for you the way I do" she drops the stake onto the coffee table. "I like you Eddie, a lot and I don't think I'm ready to give you up."

The metalhead moves to close the space between them, his large calloused hand cups her cheek as he strokes a thumb over her skin. "If you'll let me...we can try again" he murmurs softly as Chrissy places her hand against his chest. There's a faint pulse beneath her fingers, but it's far too slow to be human. "No more secrets, I promise" but she's already nodding before he can even finish his sentence.

Her breath hitches as he leans down, eyes drifting shut. She pushes up onto her tiptoes, reaching to meet him halfway. To her suprise his lips are soft and gentle against her own, his free hand slipping around her waist to pull her closer.

It's not perfect, not by a long shot. Vampires and hunters are sworn enemies, but as long as it's between them. A secret only they share. Chaste kisses and soft touches could never be as sweet as they were in those stolen moments.

They'll make it work.

Consequences be damned.

#vampire eddie #vampire hunter #vampire eddie x reader #vampire edissy #hellcheer #edissy #chrissy cunningham #eddie munson #vampire x vampire hunter #vampire hellcheer #vampire hunter chrissy #vampire au #stranger things oneshot #stranger things #mild violence

[emy-1895]

Link to parts 1-4

Here’s chapters 5 and 6! Okay so I also realized a bit ago that I had completely left out Argyle and Erica, and that wasn’t on purpose I love them! But at the same time let’s not traumatize Erica anymore and Argyle is honestly just way to high to be fighting inter dimensional beings. So It kind of worked out lol. But for the first fanfic I’ve ever written I’d say it’s going pretty well! And as always if the Kas! Theory becomes cannon this is not the type of vampires we’ll be getting.

Pairings: Kas!/vampire! Eddie X Oc, cannon ST couples

Warnings: we’ve kind of moved past vol. 2 at this point but sure vol. 2 spoilers, violence, lots of blood descriptions, death and descriptions of the dead, Knives, murder, fighting, I think that’s it? Let me know if I missed anything

Chapter 5:

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed. The light shining through the windows into my lonely little room. On the pillow next to me was a note. I sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and grabbed the paper.

I had to leave, couldn’t

Let him wonder where I

Was for too long. I’ll

See you on Friday, I

don’t know what will

happen. But I’ll do

everything I can to stay

in control. He’s going to

have a lot of nasties

with him. Be safe.

I love you.

I sighed, placing the note on my bedside table and getting out of bed. The clock showed it was around 11:30. I needed to be at the Wheelers soon.

I got dressed quickly, a simple black shirt and jeans. I put the necklace I’d found for Eddie in my pocket and headed downstairs. I’d wanted to give it to him the night before, but I knew he couldn’t wear it or Vecna would suspect something.

I inhaled a bowl of cereal before lacing up my boots and throwing my jacket on. It was a cold day, maybe not even fifty out. The sky was dark and grey, the air felt thick. I had an awful feeling it had something to do with the upside down.

I made my way to the Wheelers house, Steve and Jonathan’s cars were already parked out front. I walked in and descended to the basement.

The group was standing over the table again. Nancy’s guns were in the corner of the room. Lucas and Will were making spears again like we had the first time we traversed to the upside down. For a moment my mind went back to that awful moment.

I’d almost gotten the bats away from Eddie, when my spear broke and I got knocked to the ground. Watching helplessly as they tore away at him. I shook the thought out of my head, He’s back now. I thought, everything was going to be okay.

“Hey guys.” I greeted, walking over to the table to see what they were doing.

“Hey king, we’re trying to map out at least a semblance of an attack plan.” Steve told me.

I looked down at the paper, they’d drawn out stick figures to represent everyone. I laughed when I saw the Nancy drawing with a tiny revolver.

As far as I could figure Nancy and El would be going head first against Vecna.

I was with Dustin, Lucas and Steve, facing off against some crudely drawn Vampires. I could point out Eddie by the curly hair and devil horns someone had added in.

Will, Mike and Jonathan were drawn next to some bats. And apparently that was only phase one of the plan. Steve flipped the paper over.

All the baddies were dead, Eddie was drawn behind Vecna with a spear, with El in front of them. The rest of us were standing behind El, weapons at the ready.

“Seems full proof?” I said, ending it like a question.

“It’s still a work in progress.” Robin said, I nodded.

“Eddie said he’d have a lot of monsters waiting for us. I’m only worried that there’s gonna be more than just vampires and bats to worry about…” I trailed off, Nancy’s face darkened.

“You’re probably right, but there’s only so many of us, we’re just going to have to hope we’ll be able to fight them off long enough for Eleven to face him.” She said.

“You might need to lend those other two guns to Steve and Jonathan.” I told her, she nodded.

I put my hands on the table, looking over the plans again, rifling through the papers.

“New jewelry?” Robin asked me. I looked down to my hand, seeing the newest addition to my collection.

“Oh, yeah… just another reminder to get out of this alive.” I told her, she grabbed my hand to look at it closer.

“It’s pretty, I’ve never seen you wear it, you’re always in silver.” She continued, it’s not that I wanted to keep anything a secret, but I didn’t know if telling everyone ’oh yeah I got engaged last night because we have no idea if we’ll survive past Friday!’ Was really what the group needed on their minds.

“Yeah, I just wanted to switch it up.” I told her, pulling my hand away gently. She shot me a knowing glance, but didn’t say anything else. I saw Nancy staring at it too.

“No distractions… our only priority is killing Henry.” She stated, I had a feeling she’d caught on as well.

“No distractions.” I agreed.

We’d spent the rest of the day getting prepared. The guns were loaded and ready. The spears were made. I grabbed all the knives from my trunk that I’d collected since my first run in with upside down monsters.

I always had one with me, just in case I had told my self. But at this point it had become a problem, I had way to many sharp objects just sitting in my car.

“Wow Alex, don’t you think that’s a little over kill?” Mike asked. I shrugged.

“Well, the goal is definitely to kill Wheeler.” I told him.

“I call the one shaped like a claw!” Dustin called, picking up a curved knife. I chuckled, ruffling his hair a bit with my hand.

“All yours. Just, pointy end away from you alright?” I said sternly, he looked down to the blade.

“But, it’s curved…” he pointed out.

“Shit, yeah that’s true uh… mm- damnit Henderson you know what I mean!” I exclaimed.

“I know I knooww.” He laughed before walking away to show off his new toy.

We spent the rest of the day planning and preparing. By the end of the night we were exhausted. Nancy had brought every down blankets and pillows. As far as their parents were concerned we were having a group sleepover. The kids and others still in school like Robin luckily had the week off for “second spring break” considering the last one got interrupted by “earthquakes”.

I stole the reclining chair from Dustin, claiming I was older so I got first pick. He allowed it, but not without some choice words.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

I’ve had a lot of nightmares or dreams I wished I could forget. But this one beat them all, I wansn’t even completely sure it was a dream.

I was back in the upside down, the grey air surrounded me, filling my lungs with toxic spores. Red lightning flashed across the sky as thunder shook the ground.

I was standing infront of Hawkins high. The entrance to the gym in front of me. Hesitantly, I moved forward, opening the doors and stepping In Side.

The first thing I noticed was the blood. The walls, the floors, even the high ceilings were covered and dripping. Spattered across any surface. My eyes travelled to the middle of the room.

There were eight bodies lying on the ground, some face down, some with their eyes glassy and unmoving, looking at but not seeing the ceiling.

I noticed Steve among the group, running over to him, trying my best not to slip on the red covered ground.

“Steve!” I cried, dropping to me knees and kneeling over him. I shook his shoulders relentlessly. “Steve, Steve c’mon man wake up!” I knew it was useless, I looked around, spotting Dustin next.

“Dustin come on! Please!” I yelled as I slid over to him, shaking him as well.

“You know they’re dead.” A voice said from behind me. I froze, knowing exactly who it was.

I turned slowly to the owner of the voice. Eddie was standing in front of me now. He was back in his old Hellfire Shirt. Blood covered his clothes, dripping from his hands. The worst was that it was also covering his face. I looked down at my friends lifeless bodies, then back to Eddie.

“You… you did this?” I asked him, almost a whisper.

“Did you really think… I would want to help you all again?” He growled, walking closer to me. “You left me. Didn’t care enough to even try and bring my body back with you. And then he still won, and none of you seemed to care that I’d died to help you.”

I stepped forward to meet him, taking his blood soaked hand. “Eddie that’s not true. You know it’s not! I contemplated going back for you every day! Not a day went by where I didn’t think about you, where I didn’t get angry at my self that I didn’t try harder.” I cried, hot tears spilling from my eyes.

“YOURE THE REASON IM DEAD ALEX!” He screamed, I shook my head, sobbing even harder.

“No… Eddie I tried… I tried to get them away I…” He leaned in closer to whisper in my ear.

“This is what’s waiting for you. Everyone you love, I’ll have you watch as he tears them apart.” The voice changed, becoming deeper and darker.

I felt the grip on my hand tighten, cutting off circulation, I could feel my bones close to cracking.

“Eddie, stop you’re hurting me!” I yelled.

“Eddies not here…” I slowly looked up to see Vecna standing in front of me, crushing my hand, not letting me out of his grasp.

“You can’t save anyone. Your friends, Eddie, your precious Hawkins… even your self.” He said, before pushing me backwards causing me to trip over the bodies of my friends, landing with a thud next to Lucas’ cold corpse.

I felt a scream rip through my body. Suddenly my eyes flew open, I was shaking, breathing heavily as I took in my surroundings. I was back in the Wheelers basement. Sun shined through the small windows.

“Alex! Hey! Hey are you okay?” Steve was gripping my shoulders, looking at me with concern.

I shook my head. “Vecna… I- I don’t know if it was just a dream or if he was really there…” I trailed off, not wanting to relive what I had just witnessed.

“What happened?” Nancy asked.

Chapter 6:

I told them about the dream, down to every bloody detail (literally). Steve was pacing again, Nancy had a look of worry on her face as well as the rest of the group.

“Do you think he knows? About Eddie?” Robin asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure, maybe he does and that’s why he made a point to tell me he’d make him kill all of you. Or maybe he was just trying to mess with my head because he knew we we’re together before he died.” I told her. “I don’t even know if it was actually him or just a dream, it felt real though.” I finished.

“We have to be on even higher guard when we go in now. If there’s a chance he knows about Eddie we might not have the advantage we thought we had.” She told us, I agreed. But part of me was more worried about if Eddie was okay, if Vecna did know, what was stopping him from killing him immediately.

“What time is it now?” Steve asked.

Dustin checked his watch. “3:30, we slept in a bit.” He told us.

“We’ll leave at six, when it starts to get dark.” Nancy said.

“The closest gate opening is gonna be town hall. It’s only a couple minutes to school from there.” I told them.

The next few hours were spent finalizing our plan. We all geared up to face, well. Whatever Vecna had in store. I kept it simple. Strapping a long knife to my thigh and a shorter one to my arm, hiding a few in my boots for good measure.

Steve and Jonathan had each taken a gun, Steve also sported the old baseball/nail bat, Nancy of course kept her shot gun.

In truth we didn’t want to drag the kids into all of this at first, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer, pointing out that the last time we split up it didn’t go so well.

Steve and Robin had made more Molotov cocktails, Dustin and Lucas had spears strapped to their backs. Mike and Will raided my knife collection, El didn’t have anything… though I guessed her mind would be enough, Steve made her wear a vest though. Just for extra protection he said.

Nancy and Mikes parents had taken their little sister out for ice cream. Telling us to be good and all that, if only they knew…

“Alright… I think that’s everything. It’s just past six. Are we ready?” Jonathan asked.

We all looked around at each other, the stress and anxiety shone clear on our faces.

I sighed, taking one last look at the group. “Yeah, as ready as we can be.” I said.

The days had been slowly getting longer, but the sun had begun setting as we all piled in the cars and headed to town hall.

It wasn’t in use currently, being split in half and all. The red glow of the gate could easily be seen. I had no idea how the regular people of Hawkins didn’t notice it, or maybe they just chose to ignore it.

We parked a few yards down, not wanting to draw any attention and got out. Making sure our bags and supplies were with us. As we made our way we kept to the walls and alleys of the buildings. I had an overwhelming feeling of being watched, but maybe that could have just been chalked up to my anxiety.

“There it is…” Dustin pointed out as we walked up on the gate. The red fleshy substance glowing and pulsating.

“Alright… we know the plan? Adults go in first, when we’re all on the other side. We stick together, no matter what.” Nancy said, we nodded in agreement.

Steve went in first, ripping through the gates fleshy membrane with his bat, the getting to the ground to try and roll in. He disappeared through the hole (or chasm really).

We all ran to the edge, waiting to see if he’d made it okay.

“Well? Come on.” He said, looking up at us (or down?).

Nancy went next, then Robin, Jonathan after, then finally came my turn.

I rolled through the gate, landing with a thud into the upside down. It was just how I’d remembered it, just how I’d dreamed it.

The sky lit up with red lightning, white spore like flurries fell all around us. The air was thick and grey. I had hoped I’d never be here again. But I had a job to do, and a fiancé to save.

One by one the kids came through, Mike and Will thought it was fun. Lucas looked scared out of his mind. I could tell Dustin was also thinking about what happened the last time we were here, trying to push the memories out of his head.

“Alright. Let’s get moving.” Robin said, taking the lead of the group to the school.

Dustin fell into step next to me. “Can I be part of the wedding party?” He asked, my head snapped over to him.

“What?” I asked in surprise.

“The ring, Eddie showed it to me before… everything.” He said, looking down sadly.

I put an arm around his shoulder as we walked. “Of course he’d tell you.” I laughed. “Yeah, you definitely can, let’s just not jump the gun and start wedding planning all ready okay?” I said as I ruffled his hair. He laughed with me, giving me a short nod.

When I looked back up I could see the school in the distance, the clouds were thicker around it. But unlike I had thought, it didn’t seem to be guarded by anything. No bats, no demodogs, nothing around as far as I could tell. That was probably a bad sign.

“I guess he wants us to go right in…” Steve said.

“Well, let’s give him what he wants then.” Nancy spoke lowly, forging ahead of the group.

We made our way to the front doors of the school, trying to be a bit more sneaky than just walking in to the gym.

The halls were covered in vines, making it hard to just walk through. The worst part were the bodies.

Many of the missing people from after the earthquake hit. They were pinned to the lockers and walls, limbs broken and eyes imploded. I recognized a few people. Katie Greenshaw, head cheerleader my senior year, Ned weller, he worked at the local car shop a few blocks down from my house. And even more people I had once known, all becoming part of macabre decor of the upside down Hawkins high.

Steve stopped to look at one of the bodies, an old buddy of his Kyle Harden. I saw him choke back a sob before looking back to us.

“Come on… we can’t waste any more time.” He said before trudging ahead.

As we kept walking the feeling of being watched only grew, when all of a sudden a saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I stopped, looking down the hall.

“Did you see that?” I whispered to the group, they all looked around quickly.

“See what?” Lucas asked in a hushed tone.

“I- I thought I saw something move, let’s hope it was just one of these creepy ass vines.” I said as I started forward again, I knew I shouldn’t have been so optimistic.

After I took a step forward my legs were taken out from under me. I hit the ground hard, my head slamming down on the tiled floors.

“ALEX!” I heard Mike yell as I was being pulled down the hall way. In the blink of an eye the group was far gone. I was laying face down in some corridor of the school. Head pounding and ears buzzing.

I could hear distant shouts and screams of my name.

“Well hello again.” A familiar voice said, I sat up quickly only to be greeted with the bastard from the alley way.

I was finally able to get a good look at him, his eyes were bloodshot, once green turned dark and red. He was spattered with blood, his face covered in it. He looked like a beginner body builder, not quite Rambo yet, but his shirts were definitely a size too small.

“Ya know, maybe we got off on the wrong foot last time. What do you say we put that behind us?” I tried, hoping he’d say ‘oh yeah! That sounds like a great idea!’

I was very wrong, in a second his foot came down at me. I felt a wave of pain crash over me as he kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying into a trophy case.

The glass shattered all around me, sinking into my skin and hands and I fell hard on the shards.

“Guess not.” I struggled out.

As fast as I could I got to my feet, pulling out the knife I had strapped to my arm.

“Sorry it’s not a wooden stake. But it’ll have to do.” I sneered, he gave me a lopsided grin and charged.

I thought I was doing good for a moment. He was extremely fast, but I dodged his fist go, slashing at his arm as he ran by. He growled in pain, the look in his eyes as he turned to me let me know i’d only succeeded in making him more angry.

He leapt for me again, this time not missing. I let out a yelp as he tackled me to the ground, we rolled away, both fighting for control.

He won, hovering over me as he delivered a solid punch to the face. I heard a crack, something (probably my nose, maybe my jaw I didn’t have time to register where the pain was coming from) was definitely broken.

I rolled away from his next punch, wrapping my leg around him and pulling him under me. My knife had been knocked away, so I grabbed the one from my boot and hacked wildly. He grabbed my arm with his hand, stoping my onslaught.

My other hand came down on his throat, squeezing with all the strength I could muster. We rolled again. This time I was being choked. He was more relentless than last time. Black spots danced across my eyes. I tried to push him away, turning my head to see my knife just within arms reach.

I looked back to him, trying to keep all of his focus on my face, before I reached out for the knife.

“Wouldn’t have had to die like this if you’d just stopped fighting back the first ti-“ he was cut off by my knife plunging into his chest.

“Wouldn’t have to die like this if you just weren’t such a dick.” I choked out.

He struggled to breathe for a moment, quickly choking on blood. His grip on my throat loosened as I watched his eyes roll into the back of his head, he slumped to the side, falling off of me.

I crawled away from his body quickly. Struggling to get to my feet. Grabbing my knives and running the other direction. I didn’t care if I stepped on the vines. It was obvious Vecna knew we were here.

“Alex! Alex!” I heard my name from down the hall.

“I’m here!” I called.

The other came into view, quickly turning the corner and almost running into me.

“Oh thank god!” Dustin cried, enveloping me in a hug, I groaned from the pain in my ribs, but was happy to see him nonetheless.

“What happened?” Robin asked breathlessly. I pointed down the hall to the body.

“The vampire from the alley way, we had a nice chat.” I huffed out, wiping the blood off my knife on my pant leg and sheathing it.

“We’ve gotta keep moving, he knows we’re here.” Nancy said.

“Should have just went to the gym…” I mused, I could tell the others were thinking the same thing now.

We ran through the hallways as quick as we could, staying as close together as possible. We didn’t stop, didn’t look around, just kept running.

We’d finally made it to the doors that led into the gym.

“I just wanna say, if we die… I love you guys.” Dustin said.

I patted him in the shoulder, not looking away from the door.

“Like wise Henderson.”

Steve took hold of the handle, looking back to us quickly, Nancy gave him a curt nod. And with that he swung the doors open, the group rushing in. El took the lead, ready to super hero her way into the gymnasium.

We were met with no resistance, but two figures standing still in the middle of the room. Vecna. And Eddie.

#eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson stranger things #kas!eddie #vampire!eddie #vampire!eddie fanfic #Kas!eddie fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things

[sarcasticfina]

Fic Writer Tag Game

How many works do you have on AO3? 263

What’s your total AO3 word count? 4,901,188

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? including the fandoms on FFnet, that haven't yet been moved over to ao3, that'd be a total of 37. separating the larger fandoms (marvel, dcu) into their individual parts: Thor; Arrow; Smallville; The Vampire Diaries; Glee; Captain America; Supernatural; Teen Wolf; Iron Man; Life with Derek; Firefly; Friday Night Lights; X-Men; Fantastic Four; Harry Potter; Sons of Anarchy; Girl Meets World; Batman; Daredevil; From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; Transformers; Lost Girl; Game of Thrones; Banshee; High School Musical; The OC; One Tree Hill; CSI: New York; Degrassi; Gossip Girl; NCIS; The Unusuals; Criminal Minds; iCarly; Secret Life of the American Teenager; Twilight; and The Listener

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. and I wonder (if everything could ever feel this real forever) - darcy/bucky - Steve tells him that Darcy's harmless. Bucky imagines, on paper, Darcy is harmless. HYDRA wouldn't give her a second glance. But he does. He can barely keep his eyes off her. He's not sure he wants to. | Kudos: 5576

2. I Climbed The Tree To See The World (When The Gusts Came Around To Blow Me Down, I Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me) - darcy centric | darcy/steve - The path to self-discovery, including becoming Coulson's assistant-slash-liaison-slash-bff, Captain America's lady love, and rating fourth on the SHIELD BAMF scale, was like the yellow brick road; it was chaos and confusion around every bend. | Kudos: 3973

3. Take a little piece of my heart (and keep it for yourself) - oliver/felicity - A collection of Olicity prompts on Tumblr posted here for easier access/reading. | Kudos: 3498

4. You put your arms around me (and I'm home) - darcy/bucky - A collection of Darcy/Bucky oneshots, drabbles, and prompt fills. | Kudos: 3293

5. you (anchor me back down) - darcy/bucky - "I'll be right back." Famous last words. | Kudos: 2747

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? not all of them. i do try to keep up on them, especially on longer stories when there's been significant wait times in between chapters, or when a reader is asking a question or is unclear on something. and especially when someone writes a really indepth comment/review, i like to respond to those and talk about motivations and character growth.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I've written a number of fics that either had suicide or major character death, so i'm not sure if one outranks the other in terms of most angsty... hmm... i remember "be still and know that I'm with you (be still and know that I am here)" and "light a match, burn the world to ash (I will watch it die, and hold your hand as I fly)" both got some pretty intense reactions when they were posted. And "It's Your Song That Sets Me Free (I Sing It While I Feel I Can't Go On)" was basically just angst from beginning to end. buuuuut, i think i'll say "so you think you can tell (heaven from hell" was, only because there's a build up of everything going so right, only to pivot at the end, so it feels very bittersweet.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? i loooooove crossovers. i find writing in the marvel fandom makes things quite easy, but also smallville. as long as i can find a common thread, i enjoy finding a way to overlap two shows. i'll say the hardest one to write was "ruby red slippers (unavailable in her size)." I'm not sure why, but i found writing each personality together just felt strange. i liked the idea behind the story, but i definitely remember feeling like i was really forcing myself to keep going, like something just didn't fit right.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh, definitely. you cannot please everyone, it's impossible. for the most part, hate comes and i either argue back, take the criticism for what it's worth, or just ignore it when it's baseless. i think the hate that bothered me the most was a homophobic PM someone sent me re: "you know I will adore you ('til eternity)," on FFnet. i actually went and searched it up. they've since blocked me so i can't read our whole thread back and forth. but i did put part of it on tumblr so i could rant on it a bit, so you can see that here.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? ha. yes. depending on the story, it can be really detailed or really flowery. it depends on the ship, the plot, and how graphic i feel like being. i've definitely become more comfortable over the years with my writing. that said, i think everybody likes something different. i once had a reviewer tell me a sex scene was too much, just too intense. it was a stefan/caroline story and to be fair, that entire oneshot was just them fucking, lol, but it is what it is. to each their own.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Multiple times.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! for the record, i am always happy to have my stories translated and shared. i just like having a link sent to me and to be credited.

What’s your all time favorite ship? i have a list of OTPs, because interests change and as shows come and go, my love for a ship can be shelved for a while before it pops back up at random. currently, i can't get enough of buck/eddie from 9-1-1. and, historically, chloe/oliver (smallville) and felicity/oliver (arrow) have been two of my top OTPs. but i think i'd have to go with bonnie/damon. they had all the potential and the show dropped the ball by not exploring it. at the same time, that's kind of a blessing, because i don't trust those writers to properly explore what they had without eventually destroying it for the likes of de/ena. it means a treasure trove for writing where it could have gone and all the what if's.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? the intention is always to finish. but given how i feel about allison mack and how that impacts my feelings re: chloe sullivan, pretty much anything with her as a main character is not something i see myself returning to.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses? i'm putting these together because my strength is my weakness. i love to write. when i get an idea, i go all in and i will skip eating and sleeping to just write write write. but i also eventually hit a wall and i get so many ideas that i hyperfocus on one until the steam is gone and then i hyperfocus on the next one to maintain that need to keep writing, accidentally leaving the last story in the dust for entirely too long. i also have clinical depression that comes and goes, which hasn't been super great mixed with covid and isolation, so more often recently, i find myself overly exhausted and despite wanting to write, can rarely get motivated to do so. so, pre-covid, wrote so much i left entirely too many stories dangling. during covid, i've just been reading and struggling to get myself focused enough to do what i love.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i appreciate the authenticity when possible, but i've recently been reading more about how native speakers of other languages feel when a) their language is butchered by google translate, or b) it's just not genuine in terms of how bilingual speakers act or speak.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for? it was smallville, but i remember adopting it out to someone else because i wasn't going to finish it. so if you look at my ffnet, the first fandom i wrote for appears to be x-men: the movie, but i remember writing a chloe/oliver story prior to that.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? i have a lot. i mean, on ffnet, i have 576 stories, many of which were transferred over to ao3, with a lot of oneshots and drabbles getting joined together into collections. so there's a ton to pick from that span a 14-ish year timeline.

"you know I will adore you ('til eternity)" and "let me break (the walls that surround me)" hold a special place in my heart.

honestly, each story is important in its own way. there are bits and pieces of each that i love. every time i write something new it feels like my favorite. my best. and then a new idea comes along. there are scenes i've written that i loved more than the whole of what they became. lines that stand out that are almost too good to be a part of the larger picture.

one of my all time favorite passages i've written was bonnie's thoughts on damon and herself in 'if you love me (let me go)":

He is far from perfect. He is a novel of red, corrective ink. He is frayed pages and torn binding. His life, his choices, his mistakes leave lasting effects on everyone he meets.

She is a lifeboat with a hole in it. An anchor that drowns in the sea while everyone else remains steady above. She is both the calm and the storm, and while she screams that she will not be tamed, she cries. Bittersweet tears that go unnoticed and uncared about.

there are other stories, other pieces of dialogue, that i've been proud of. that make me laugh when i re-read them. that make me cry. and i love them. there are others that make me wilt and cringe and regret. it's a process. love and pride and growth, all bound together.

Tagging: @absentlyabbie, @anonymous033, and anyone else who'd like to fill this all out, haha

#fic writer tag game #long post

[fortysevenswrites]

📓📔📒📕📗📘📙📚📖!!!!!!!!!

Okay. 9 books, 9 fics. You're welcome.

1. Kastle/The West Wing Crossover Every time I watch TWW, I think about Karen and Donna Moss being friends, and once I thought of a fic where during the early seasons of TWW, the President and staff go to New York and Karen is moderating one of the series of town halls they're there for (specifically one where Josh Lyman is speaking). And of course that one, because reasons I had not yet come up with, gets attacked by The Hand, and Karen, Donna and Josh (who gets injured, because Josh ALWAYS gets injured) get rescued by Frank and it basically ends with the President demanding to meet Frank to thank him for saving Josh's life and everyone is like, "Mr. President do you not understand that Frank Castle is technically a MURDERER and the Secret Service will n e v e r let you in the same room with him and it's bad enough that you're currently on the same ISLAND?" So, yeah.

Here's something I wrote for it:

“Josh, did you hear?”

“I have impeccable hearing, Donna,” Josh says without looking up from the memo in his hand. “What is it that I am supposed to have heard?”

“Carol told me that she heard from Lindsay in credentialing that Karen Page has been assigned to cover the President’s town halls in New York for the New York Bulletin!”

He waits for her to keep going, but she doesn’t so, he looks up and sees her waiting expectantly, “And?”

“Karen Page? What It Means To Be A Hero Karen Page. She’s connected to half the vigilante-superheroes in Lower Manhattan. She was held hostage by ninjas. She interviewed Tony Stark about the Sokovia Accords. Last year, The Punisher himself may or may not have held her hostage after saving her from that terrorist Lewis Wilson.”

“And?”

“And, would it be inappropriate, as a member of the White House Staff, to ask her for her autograph?”

Kastle: The Big Indulgence

This is one of the first long fics I came up with for Kastle (and come hell or high water I WILL write it one day). Basically, it puts the NMCU actually IN the MCU. Post TPS1, Sarah tracks Karen down and they become friends, and at the same time, Frank becomes friends with Bucky Barnes (yes Emily, I know he's not your fav) by way of Curtis' group (Curt, of course, regrets ever letting them interact ever). Karen gets nominated for an award for her journalism work by the Maria Stark Foundation, where she meets Pepper, Natasha, and Darcy, and befriends them as well. Everything comes to a head and Karen and Frank reunite after the discovery that Sarah Lieberman is related to one of Bucky's surviving family members (the Liebermans are Jewish, Bucky's family is Jewish, it works!). Then, things related to Billy and Hydra happen, there's an incident where a few people disappear into an alternate universe for...an... amount of time, the Avengers meet the X-Men to help get them back, and Frank may or may not be a little psychic. Someone ends up coming from that alternate universe who doesn't belong here, but it's okay because she's [redacted] and also Leo's [redacted].

Leo-Centric, Kastle

Leo gets an internship as Darcy Lewis' assistant (well, technically she's working for Jane Foster, but it's basically working for Darcy), where she meets Karen, matchmakes her with Frank, and also gets a girlfriend. I think the summary says it best:

Summer 2021.

In which Leo Lieberman gets the internship of a lifetime—working for Jane!Freaking!Foster’s soon-to-be former personal assistant, Darcy Lewis—both comes out of the closet AND gets the girl, and helps her long-lost murder-uncle finally reconcile with the ace reporter of his dreams.

If Frank was actually bulletproof, it would totally be just like Superman and Lois Lane.

5 Times Seth Tells Kate He Loves Her

A five-times fic where Seth is just ass over tea kettle in love with Kate, and makes sure she knows it and doesn't care what other people (read: Richie and Scott) think about it. The first one takes place the night they get back from Matanzas, and I just love the little bit I've written so far. I know 2 that I'm going to write so far, so...3 to go.

Kate Meets Vanessa Post S3

So I started writing this around Valentine's Day this year, and I might keep it as a Valentine's Day fic no matter what, but basically, in a grand universal coincidence, Vanessa strolls into Jed's just because she's stopping for lunch on her way to...somewhere. She meets Kate, who is covering the bar for Kalinda and Greer (a culebra OC that I will one day actually formally introduce in my fics, I promise), who are downstairs "checking on inventory" read: screwing in a maintenance closet because it's Valentine's Day, and then Seth comes out and there's a little, very awkward reunion, and basically Vanessa is the MOST amused, Seth is the MOST uncomfortable and Kate's just like...okay? And? Also, Seth is still bitter about Vanessa taking the tire iron to his car back in early S1.

The SK/Detroit 187 Fusion

Seth is a detective in Houston PD, who comes into the office one day to discover they...hired an intern? Said intern is Kate Fuller, a grad student at the University of Houston, who is working on her master's thesis by studying something related to crime (duh). Seth thinks she's a Disney princess in human form and they're very antagonistic with one another, but also he likes her way more than he thinks he should (but feels a LOT better about it when he finds out she's 23, not like...barely legal to drink or anything. Angst happens when a gang (Malvado's, but Carlos' branch of it) attacks Kate's family and kills her parents, and Seth takes her to Eddie and Richie for protection while he and his partner, Ximena, and the rest of the department solve the case and put Carlos' crew away.

SK Post 2x02 AU

After Kate and Seth part ways in 2x02, Kate goes back to Bethel, but Scott isn't there (so Jessica lives). She ends up in Houston for two years, working at a gym and keeping her to the ground looking for word about her brother, until one night, she's attacked by a bunch of Culebras, and is saved by Seth, Richie, and Kisa. She finds out that Carlos and Malvado are after her because she's the key to the way to the Blood Well, and Carlos and Malvado's henchwoman, the one and only Sonja, draws them all back to Bethel by putting Jessica in danger, and...it's all going to come to a head in some way that involves them saving Jessica from Sonja and killing Malvado and stopping the events of S3 from ever having to happen.

SK Season 1 AU

I don't know if i'm ever going to go anywhere with this, but I had this thought of...what is Carlos as Kyle wasn't a dick to Kate, and he took her to Mexico instead of Kate going back with Jacob and Scott. She ends up at the Twister before Seth and Richie do, and spends time with Kisa before she goes out to perform, and somehow it ends up with Kate going through the labyrinth with the brothers? I don't know. Something like that.

The FDTD/The Punisher Crossover That Starts Off In New York

So this is one of 2 crossovers I have for SK-meets-Kastle, but I love it. This is post 2x02, and Kate ends up in New York after not being able to find Scott back in Bethel. She ends up going to work as NM&P's assistant, and befriends Karen. To get to know one another better, Karen takes Kate to Josie's, where Kate discovers that Josie is a culebra, and Josie promises to keep Kate's secret. One day, this...guy shows up at the office, asking to talk to Karen, and Karen kicks Kate out of the office while they talk, and when she comes back, the guy is gone and Karen doesn't want to talk about it. (It's Frank, of course it's Frank). Also featuring one day where Frank is on the roof, Matt gets wind of it and goes up there to confront him about seeing Karen again and comes back with a black eye, and Kate is V confused whereas Karen is 10000000% pissed off at them both. Not long after, Kate and Karen are out one night, and they're attacked by a bunch of culebras. Frank helps intervene while Kate really is the one to save the day...and then she has to explain culebras to them. Of course, Karen saw aliens fall out of a portal above Stark Tower, so...snake vampires? Whatever. Kate calls Freddie to figure out why she was attacked and it turns out Carlos and Malvado are after her (and, later found out Karen too). Kate, Karen and Frank end up in Texas and things all come to a head at the blood well, as it does, and while Carlos shoots Kate in front of Seth, Richie, and Scott (which, BAD IDEA), Kate falls into the blood well, and when she's pulled out, she's healed. But...she also has something inside her that wants to destroy the world, and everyone has to race against time to figure out how to get Amaru out of Kate before she takes over completely and destroys them all. They figure out a way, but it has an...interesting side effect for Kate and Seth. Also, this is the one where Maggie takes one look at Freddie and Ximena and shrugs and says, "You know what? Porque no los dos?"

So yeah, there you go!

(Also, I thought about also including the Amaru isn't evil, she's just cranky and wants to go home, S3 AU, but we just talked about it yesterday, so I figured it doesn't count hahaaha.)

send me a book emoji of any kind and i will tell you about a fic idea i have

#asked and answered #story ideas that i will write eventually i promise

[vintagedaydreams]

True Love Never Runs Smoothly

Twilight Fic this time! I took some liberties with the mating bond - can’t have angst if it’s HEA at first sight, right? Again, this is just a scene! This is not a finished piece by any means.

Carlisle x Female Reader

Warnings: Suicidal thoughts mentioned a few times throughout. Language.

4,406 words

Enjoy!

    Volterra, Italy. A walled city in the middle of Italy, you know, the country that's on the opposite continent of America? Yes, that Volterra, Italy. A place you'd never been to in your life.

    And yet, here you were. With the Cullen family and your mate. Your mate that you didn't know was your mate and who you actually thought was already happily mated to another. Another vampire. Your mate, Carlisle and Esme, his apparent not-mate vampire friend.

    Can you say homewrecker? Ever since you found out that Carlisle was your mate and not Esme's, (the woman who had treated you like another daughter since the day Bella dragged your human self over to their house), you've been practicing that word. Homewrecker. Homewrecker. Homewrecker.

    Carlisle was a great guy...er, vampire, and seriously, he was not only gorgeous, but kind, compassionate, caring, sweet, gentle, (did you already mention gorgeous?), but, he'd been taken! And quite happily for quite some time.

    Then you walk in, unprepared and unawares, and suddenly, BAM!, no more 'I love you, Esme'. Did you ever feel like a heel, or what?

    To make matters worse, assuming they could get worse, you'd all been summoned to Volterra. For multiple reasons. Apparently Bella and you being human still was something of a problem and because Carlisle and Esme had marked each other as mates, even though they weren't "true mates", Carlisle was going to be punished. Supposedly, since you was his mate yet he'd marked another and been marked in return, you were slighted.

    Quite frankly, you felt as if you should be the one getting punished. You'd just destroyed his and Esme's relationship that they'd had for like...decades!

    What if you didn't want to be the bitch who tore people apart?

    A gentle hand on your elbow startled you out of your thoughts and you turned to see Carlisle, looking down at you in concern.

    "There is nothing for you to be worried about, (Y/N)," he said quietly, with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. You'd seen a lot of that recently. The mating pull, as Edward had explained to you, was in effect, making Carlisle super protective, possessive and worried about you.

    But you could see that he wasn't happy about it. He was no longer quite the care-free doctor you'd first met. Now, there was more of a stoop to his shoulders and it weighed heavy on your own heart to know that your mate wasn't content with you.

    Apparently, this 'mating pull' went both ways. Super.

    The doors before you all were suddenly opened and you were beckoned into the throne room. You walked in beside Carlisle with Esme, Edward and Bella behind you. You would rather have been just about anywhere other than here under these circumstances.

    Maybe you could just die? You mentally rolled your eyes at yourself. Okay, so that sounded a bit melodramatic. A bit Bella-like, actually. But...everything would go back to normal then, right? Esme, (whom you'd started to think of as another mother), would get Carlisle back and Carlisle...well, he didn't seem too sold on this whole, 'You’re his mate' thing, so it probably wouldn't be that hard for him to bounce back. Bella would understand since she'd already tried dying multiple times for her loved ones and the rest of the Cullen family weren't incredibly happy with you for stealing their dad away from their mom.... This could work. 'Course, you'd have to make sure Carlisle wouldn't get punished again, but if you made it look like an accident and not that you'd actually died because of this whole mating thing, then he couldn't get into any trouble for it!

    You started to think of all the ways it could happen. Your family hadn't spoken to you since you moved to Forks almost six months ago, so they'd be fine. Stuff like this happens all the time. Well, not the whole 'suicide so your mate and his family can be happy like they were before you showed up', but accidents did happen all the time...

    A low noise brought you out of your thoughts and you looked around, a bit startled at the...growl?...that you could hear. Glancing over at Carlisle, you saw him looking back at Edward in confusion and worry.

    Curiosity peaked, you too turned to look at Eddie and your eyes widened in surprise. He was the one growling and he was....glaring at you. With a dangerous glint to his coal black eyes. You could've sworn they were gold when everyone stepped off the plane. His hunger couldn't be that severe! He managed a whole plane flight with you and Bella, so being surrounded by vamps wouldn't make him thirsty.

    "Edward?" Carlisle asked quietly, his hand once again taking residence on your elbow. Pulling gently, the golden eyed doctor drew you closer to him than you were before.

    You willed yourself not to melt into him. He was only doing this because of the mating pull. He really loved Esme, not you. And soon, he'd be free to love her again.

    Edward's growling suddenly grew louder.

    Your eyes widened and all the blood rushed from your face. Oh crap. Edward, the vampire telepath. Stupid, stupid, stupid, you mentally berated yourself. You were a bloody idiot.

    Putting on your own scowl and matching glare, you turned further to face Edward.

    "Would you get out of my head already?" you demanded. ‘And preferably not tell anyone what you heard since it's really none of your bloody business in the first place,’ you continued mentally.

    What a ponce to just waltz into your head and start reading your thoughts!

    "Edward?" Carlisle asked again and when Edward didn't answer, only kept growling, Carlisle turned to you. "(Y/N)? What's the matter?"

    You turned away from Edward and back to the thrones in front of your procession where the three Volturi kings were seated and staring at you. Really. Floor, just open up and swallow you now.

    "Nothing," you murmured to the vampire next to you. "Eddie just needs to learn personal boundaries." The Carlisle you had met before he'd realized the mating pull would've still been concerned, but dropped the subject since you obviously didn't want to talk about it.

    This new Carlisle who was forced to play dutiful mate, frowned and drew you into his side tighter before asking, "What were you thinking to make him growl like this?"

    You tensed and gave the poor doctor a fake, sweet smile. "If I wanted any of you to know, I wouldn't have thought it, I would've said it out loud."

    Cold and kinda bitchy, but you had to distance yourself. And fast. You'd always been drawn to Carlisle since you’d seen and heard of him around Forks before actually meeting him. And even though you knew he didn't love or want you, his concern and the Pull's possessive and protective side to him was beginning to wear you down. If you weren’t careful, you'd actually start to believe he liked you that way! And then you really would be a homewrecker. As it was right now, you were fighting it, just like he was, and so were a victim, just like him and Esme. But the minute you started to let the mating pull win, you'd jump to the category of Marriage Destroyer.

    You just wanted him happy. Even if it wasn't with you.

    Edward's growls suddenly died off and you gave a small smile, thinking he'd finally seen reason with your line of thinking and this was over.

    Boy, were you ever wrong.

    Aro had cleared his throat, focusing the attention on him.

    "A very spirited mate you have there, dear friend," was the first thing out of the vampire king's mouth. Carlisle gave a small smile. That once again was a shadow of his former smiles.

    "Thank you, Aro. She will certainly keep me on my toes." 

    You mentally snorted again. Sure you would.

    Aro suddenly stood and glided down to the group, stopping a few feet away. "My dear friend, I regret having to do this particular ceremony with you, but as is part of our laws and customs, it must be done."

    Carlisle inclined his head. "I understand, Aro. And I appreciate your sentiments on the matter."

    You felt your throat start to close up at the thought of Carlisle's punishment, whatever it would be, just because he marked and was marked in return by the women he loves. How was that fair?

    Your attention was suddenly diverted back to Aro as he took a few steps forward to stand in front of you.

    "My dear, if you would step up next to me?" he asked, holding out a hand. You'd heard about Aro's gift and mentally cursed. Great. All your planning that you hadn't even finished yet, would be heard by yet another mind reader. But maybe there was a way to block certain thoughts? Edward had told Bella and yourself that Aro could hear every thought you'd ever had. Past tense. So maybe if you continued thinking your plans, they wouldn't be able to be seen...?

    It was worth a try.

    So, with a deep breath, and more low growls from Edward, you stepped forward, placing your hand in Aro's.

    Surprisingly gentle, the vampire king pulled you away from the half of the Cullen coven and up towards the thrones. You had made it to the base of the stairs leading up to the other two kings when Aro suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, (no pun intended), and swiftly turned to stare at you.

    Judging by the now tense atmosphere in the room, you were going to hazard a guess to say that this wasn't part of the normal proceedings.

    "Brother?" one of the kings, Marcus you thought, asked in a quiet voice. Still staring unblinking at you, Aro didn't answer for a moment.

    "Aro?" Carlisle asked, worry prominent in his voice. You tried to smother the wince that crossed your face; you didn't want him to be in pain or unhappy anymore! But judging by Aro's suddenly sharper gaze, you figured you'd failed. Apparently, he'd also read your thoughts from just a little while ago, so change that fail to an Epic Fail.

     How wonderful.

    "Brother," Aro suddenly asked, seeming to snap out of his stupor and continuing you both up the stairs to his throne, "what do their lines look like?"

    No one in the room needed to have 'their' clarified and you all waited with baited breath to see what Marcus would discover.

    Seeming to zone out for a few moments, Marcus' eyes suddenly refocused and he answered, "They are strong, brother. But not as strong as other true mates."

    All eyes turned to you. Edward's brows were drawn into a deep glare and you uncomfortably looked away. The family would either hate you because you were with their 'dad' or hate you because you had freed him from your bond. Either way you was screwed.

    "Hm," Aro murmured thoughtfully, "I wonder if it is because she is human or because of...something else." He threw a significant look at you that you ignored the best you could.

    Edward started growling again.

    "Aro," Carlisle's voice growled out, impatient. "What is going on with my mate?"

    "I think, my dear friend, that that is a question best left for said mate to answer. However, first, I believe our ceremony should get underway."

    Immediately, all the Cullen's stiffened. Only Bella and you remained unaware to what exactly that meant.

    "(Y/N)," Aro said suddenly, taking a seat in his throne and gently pulling you to stand beside him, "your mate, Carlisle has marked and been marked in return by another. Now, as a human, you probably do not feel as insulted as a vampire would, for this is one of the worst things that a true mate can do to another. The highest form of cheating our world has."

    Carlisle's head bowed down as if under a huge weight and Esme looked from him to you with shiny eyes. Tears? Great, as if you didn't feel awful before...   

    "As his actual mate," Aro continued when you didn't say anything, "you get to decide how he should be punished."

    It was quiet for a moment before you suddenly blinked and snapped your head down to Aro's. "What? Me?"

    The vampire king nodded. "Yes, you. You were the one slighted and so, you are the one to demand the compensation. We've seen a few cases of this over the years. Some vampires have their mates tortured to teach them a lesson, others have had their mates kill the vampire they mistakenly marked while a few have even had their mates dismembered for a few centuries."

    Your eyes, which had gotten progressively wider now threatened to pop out of your head. Why was everything so violent with these people? You were suddenly even more thankful that you weren’t a vampire... You didn't want to feel the need to have Carlisle do any of those things!

    "Since you are human, my guard is at your disposal for whichever method you choose that you cannot fulfill yourself. Of course, you don't have to do any of those options. You are free to choose whatever you wish."

    You were silent as you stared at the Cullen's, mind racing to try and find a way that would appease the ceremony but that didn't involve hurting anybody. Especially Carlisle.

    "Might I suggest the second option that other slighted mates have used in the past?" Aro spoke up after a few minutes of you trying to figure a way out. Your eyes snapped to his. "The option where you have your mate kill the woman he marked that was not you. I do believe this will solve quite a lot in this case."

    You’re not really sure where you got the guts to do it, but you glared heatedly down at Aro's smirking face. He knew of your plan to get Carlisle and Esme back together and was just saying that to get a rise out of the Cullen's.

    And it worked.

    Bella gasped while Esme's eyes shot to yours. She quickly averted her gaze, though you could see her hands trembling. Edward was looking at you with an unreadable expression and Carlisle... Carlisle looked miserable and heartbroken. He honestly thought...they all honestly thought you would...

    You felt tears sting your eyes. Did they really have so little faith in you? Think so little of you that they thought you would have Carlisle tear apart the women he loves because they had marked each other? Were you really that awful of a person to them? You didn't choose to be his mate! You didn't mean to take him away from anybody!

    A stubborn tear broke free and languidly trailed down the side of your face.

    Edward's face bore the softest expression you'd ever seen pointed in your direction and you shut your eyes to block him out. You didn't need his pity. Or anybody else’s.

    "No," you finally choked out, causing all of your procession's eyes to snap to you. You were sure you looked a sight and you felt a few more tears leak out of your eyes. Well, you'd gotten your wish. You did feel like you were being punished. Seeing how little regard they had for you...thinking you would actually consent to have Carlisle do any of those things...

    "If I don't wish to punish him?" you asked Aro, suddenly tired and worn out. You wanted nothing more than to just be done. With everything and everyone.

    "If you wished to let him go without a punishment for his crime, there is nothing we could do to stop you. As the slighted mate, you have the final word. Our job is only to give you the opportunity to do so," Aro answered you, crimson eyes boring into your own. You nodded weakly, inclining your head.

    "Thank you for the opportunity. But I do not wish to inflict any punishment. On either of them." Aro nodded after a moment and stood, gently grasping your hand and formally announcing it to the court that this particular ceremony was over.

    "Now my dear," he said quietly as you both walked down the stairs towards the others, "I do believe some rest is in order."

    You gave him a weak smile. "I'd have to agree," you murmured back.

    You stopped feet away from the Cullen group gathered and Carlisle took a step forward. Golden eyes tried to search yours, but you let your eyes drop to the floor. It was just the mating pull and curiosity on why you didn't punish him. Nothing more. And you really didn’t want him to see how much he had hurt you. You were going to really need to think long and hard about how to best make your death look like an accident. You weren’t about to stay here with them...with him. First, you’d destroyed his relationship with his wife and apparently that made you enough of a monster to want to have Carlisle kill her. Kill her! As if you would want that to happen!

    “We have rooms set up for all of you,” Aro said suddenly, letting your arm go with a final, gentle pat. He was being ridiculously nice...nothing at all like what you’d heard about him before.

    “The rest of my Coven are already in their rooms, Aro,” Carlisle said quietly, stepping forward to you, “but if you could just direct me to our room, I’d be grateful.”

    Our room. He’d said our room. And judging by the sudden hand on your elbow, he’d meant you and him, not him and Esme.

    Oh dear. That wouldn’t work at all. You wouldn’t, couldn’t, spend any more time together! And why would you want to, anyway? He wasn’t happy about this arrangement and honestly thought you were going to have him kill his wife!   

    With newfound courage and anger sweeping through you, you jerked your arm away from his gentle hold. A flash of something went through Carlisle’s golden eyes, but you refused to try and figure out what it was. Your resolve to distance yourself, and be angry at him, was hanging by a thread as it was.

    “I suggest that Bella and (Y/N) stay together in our room,” Edward piped up suddenly. “It’s been a trying day for the both of them and I’m sure they could use the familiarity of each other.”

    Relief flooded you. ‘Thank you, Edward.’

    To your surprise, a low growl sounded out from beside you and you turned to see Carlisle, his eyes black, glaring at Edward. Your own eyes widened. You’d never seen him look so....feral before.

    It was actually kind of hot.

    Edward’s brows shot up and you sighed. One step forward, three steps back.

    “You would take my mate away from me?” Carlisle growled darkly, hands clenching into fists. Edward drew Bella back behind him protectively.

    “How about Bella and I stay in our room,” you broke in suddenly, causing everyone’s eyes, including Carlisle’s to shoot to yours, “and you go stay in Edward’s room with him.”

    “And what do you have against staying with me?” Carlisle growled at you, eyes turning even darker, if that was possible. Your original plan to just suffer in silence and try and break it off quietly suddenly went up in flames as you snapped.

    “And what do you have against me being without you?” you demanded, feeling anger thrum through your body, making your blood boil. “What, afraid I’ll sentence you to kill Bella too? Because apparently, I’m such a vindictive bitch that I’d make you kill off the women you love as a bogus punishment for a mating I don’t even want!” Carlisle’s eyes were back to a surprised golden and you vaguely registered the dead silence in the room around you and all eyes trained on you. But you were too wound up to care. The dam had broken and all the pent-up hurt feelings and anger at the situation you’d been feeling for the last few weeks came rushing out.

    “I’m not blind, Doctor, and I’m not stupid! I know you don’t love me and don’t want to, but news flash, this wasn’t exactly my idea! Do you really think I wanted to be a homewrecker? Do you think I planned to come walking into your life and steal you away from the woman you loved enough to not only marry a dozen times, but mark as well? Really? Do you think I enjoy having your family glare at me and ignore me simply because our eyes met? Because I don’t! I hate it! In fact, I’ve been thinking of ways to ‘end it all’ just so you can get back to Esme! Because it’s fucking obvious that you don’t want to be with me!” You felt tears well up in your eyes, but you willed yourself to be strong. Just for a few more seconds, and then you could leave his presence. 

    You could have heard a pin drop with how quiet the throne room was. You realized that your normal voice in the beginning had ended up in a shout there at the end and you cringed to think that every vampire in the castle heard it.

    Great. All of the Cullen’s and then some. Well, at least you wouldn’t have to repeat it or risk anything getting lost in translation since it didn’t have to be retold. A small, miniscule comfort.

    Taking a deep breath, you tried to keep the tears at bay, but one rebelled and fell anyway.

    Carlisle took a step forward, a gentle whisper of your name on his lips but you hastily stepped back, swiping a hand across your face.

    “Don’t, please,” you whispered brokenly. Carlisle froze, but your eyes dropped to the floor, not wanting to look at him. You had so little strength when it came to him. You wanted to just fall into his arms and live out your happily ever after, but that looked to have little chance. You had to be strong.

    “Come, Cara Mia,” Aro said suddenly, his hand once again gently taking yours. “I shall have Jane prepare another room for you. Isabella, perhaps you would like to join her?”

    “You should stay with Edward, Bells,” you interjected before she could say anything. “I know you two will be more at ease tonight if you’re with each other. Besides, I just need...some time alone.”

    “Not to kill yourself?” Esme murmured aghast, the first thing she’d said to you in weeks.

    You gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "Esme, please don't insult either one of us by pretending you care."

    Jane was suddenly in front of Aro. “Her room is ready, Master.” You gave her a small, tired smile of gratitude which, surprisingly, she acknowledged with a slight nod.

    “Excellent, my Jane,” Aro praised. Turning to look over at you he called out, “Felix? Do be a good lad a show this lovely lady to her room, won’t you? I believe some council with the Cullen’s is in order.”

    The giant of a vampire known as Felix was suddenly right behind you and he laid a gentle hand on your shoulder. Carlisle gave a low, deep growl, but instead of taking his hand off of you, Felix growled right back, shocking the heck out of you.

    The Volturi were acting nothing like what you’d been told about them. It made you wonder what else may not be true about what the Cullen’s had told you about their world.

    “Edward, you and Isabella are also free to go to your room. We shall discuss your situation tomorrow,” Aro said graciously, giving both Edward and Bella a small smile.

    “Thank you, Aro,” Edward murmured, giving you a final, soft look before gently steering Bella out of the Throne Room.

    “Carlisle, old friend, I think perhaps you, dear Esme and myself need to have a little chat,” Aro continued, stepping forward until he was in front of you and Felix.

    Looking as if he didn’t want to, but knowing he had no choice, Carlisle nodded slowly, Esme following suit.

    “Felix,” Aro said over his shoulder, “stand guard outside (Y/N)’s room. If you hear anything...unusual, let yourself in and stop her, hm?”

    You gave an eye roll as Felix and you headed towards the door. That was the last time you said anything about ‘ending it all’ in front of these people. You weren’t going to get a moments peace from here on out, you were sure.

    The heavy doors shut behind you with a loud thud and you felt all the energy you had while standing up to Carlisle drain from you. But before you could slip to the ground, or even stumble, Felix’s arms were suddenly around you and hoisting you up into his arms.

    “Allow me to carry you, (Y/N),” he said with a small smile. “It’d be faster and easier on you.”

    “No complaints here,” you murmured tiredly, leaning into him. Cripes, you were exhausted. No more emotional upheaval for you, thanks.

    Felix was right, it was much faster. Within a few seconds, he was putting you down outside a large door in a deserted hallway.

    “This is your new room Jane prepared for you,” Felix explained as he opened the door. With all that had just gone on, you didn’t really see the decoration, just vague colors of tan and light blue. Very calming and you sent Jane another mental thank you.

    “Thanks, Felix,” you murmured, stepping into the room and zeroing in on the bed.

    “Of course, (Y/N). I’ll be in the hallway if you need me,” he said lowly and you gave a good natured eye-roll as he shut the door behind you.

    Yeah, next time, no blabbing about killing yourself. You were seriously going to get no peace from now on.

    You kicked off your shoes and flopped face down onto the bed. A shower sounded wonderful, to get rid of both tears and jet lag but, you were so tired...

    Screw it. You could take a shower when you got up.

    Wiggling under the covers, you shucked your pants and burrowed your face into the pillow. Maybe, this was all a horrible nightmare you’d wake up from later.

    One could always wish.

#Twilight Imagines #Carlisle x Reader #Twilight #Volturi #Cullens #Italy

[freekshow17]

Reddie Fic ‘The First Time’

Adult Reddie, ADULT CONTENT, Word count 2.6k, 

[Maybe it’ll be a series?] 

Richie was sitting on the couch waiting for Eddie to be done with his shower, his nervousness was blatant; proper posture was not something Tozier was known for. Actually, it was the opposite; Eddie always told him he'd end up a hunch back with the way he sat slouched with his shoulders rolled forward. Richie would just play it off by dragging his right leg behind him, limping on his left and doing a [bad] impression of Igor, Dr. Frankenstein's right hand man. Today though, you'd think he was soldier. His spine was straight, shoulders back, hands placed palm down right above his knees. He moved his hands back and forth on the top of his legs, trying to keep his palms dry. His left foot would start to bounce up and down and he needed to stare at it, focus, to make it stop. He heard the water stop running which made him turn his gaze down the hall. 

He stared as the steam pooled from under the bathroom door. Eddie always made sure to take hot showers "It kills germs idiot. Taking a cold shower, you, you mind as well bathe in the quarry. You're still covered in bacteria!" Richie could hear the old conversations from when the losers first learned of the hell fire hot showers Eddie took. Eddie steps out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his lower half. Rich couldn't help but stare at the scar on his chest, more prominent now with the flash of red skin around it. He couldn't help but grimace "You okay Rich?" Eddie said breaking his daze. "Ye..yeah, sorry. Just surprised you still have skin." Eddie scrunched his eyebrows in frustration "Clean skin. I have clean skin. It's not even that hot! Here touch it." Eddie took large steps and moved quickly down the hall toward Richie. Rich's eyes went wide with fear what the fuck does he want me to touch?! Why is he moving so fast?! Fuck! Eddie was now in front of him, grabbing his wrist and placing it on his bare skin, right over the scar. Richie could feel his heart pounding, think it probably visible through his rib cage and flesh. Dear god let my palms be dry he thought to himself. His hand had only been on Eddie's skin for a few seconds but it felt like an eternity. I know Ed's works out but DAMN is he tight, he continued in his own head, why did he put my hand here though? Right over the scar? He knows this fucking thing still scares me. Richie had to resist the urge to press more firmly. He can feel Eddie staring which breaks his inner thought, he snatches his wrist out of Eddie's grip and shakes it wildly "I'm getting third degree burns just from touching you!" Eddie rolls his eyes and starts to walk back down the hall to his room "Whatever Rich, you keep all the bacteria friends you want. They're practically the only friends you got! As Eddie walks away Richie can't help but stare at the defining lines down Eddie's back, pausing at the scar on his back and continuing down his spine. His gaze stops at the towel line. Richie tries not to stare, Eddie's never caught him before and today will not be the day he does. Richie sneaks a glance past the towel line, Eddie holds the towel loose so definition is left to the imagination. Richie can't seem to break free until Eddie turns into his room. From down the hall Eddie speaks loudly "tell me again why I'm going to this thing?" Richie smiles as he remembers why he was there in the first place " It's the premiere of my special, and they're suppose to give me some award. They gave me 6 tickets. I was just gonna give yours to Patty but apparently Stan had already bought her one. So now it's yours. And we really should be leaving soon Ed's." Richie can hear Eddie fumbling around "I swear if you make any jokes about me in this special, I'm going to disown you as a friend forever Tozier." The threat just gives Richie a chuckle, because he knows he jokes about Ed A LOT, but he also knows Eddie will still be there after the fact. "Well, there is a joke about you being afraid of pomeranians" Eddie steps into the hallway in just his briefs, giving Richie a more vivid and accurate imagination "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I WASN'T AFRAID OF THE DOG YOU KNOW WHAT I WAS AFRAID O-" as Eddie is yelling waving his hands around as he does Richie can't resist it any longer, the towel, the touching, the briefs. He stands from the couch and makes his way down the hall, Eddie is too focused on his argument to notice the determined look on Richie's face, as Eddie went to lift his hand to gesture as he does Rich knocks it away placing both of his hands on the side of Eddie's face pulling him into a kiss. Richie moves his hands up slightly letting his fingers get tangled in Eddie's wet hair. Eddie pulls back slightly separating their lips just enough to let out "Rich?" He puts his hands up to Richie’s shoulders. Richie takes it as a rejection, humiliation overwhelms him "I.. I'm sorry." He tries to turn to leave but Eddie grips his shoulders pulling him back pressing their lips back together. Richie is still for a moment frozen in fear, is it just a hallucination? Eddie wraps an arm around his neck pulling Richie down to him, his other hands pressed against the back of Rich's head making him lean further into the kiss. Fuck it, Richie thinks letting go of all embarrassment and intimidation, he wraps his arms around Eddie's waist pulling their bodies together. Eddie parts his lips letting his tongue slide across Richie's bottom lip, Richie mimics the move until Eddie presses past Richie's lips, Rich opens his mouth to invite Eddie in. Richie grips Eddie by his hips, curling his fingers into the defined grooves he had admired earlier, as their bodies press closer together Richie feels Eddie is enjoying this just as much as he is. He moves his hand down from Eddie's waist slowly bring it around the front of his thigh and leaving it there for a moment as if asking permission. Eddie moves his leg slightly granting Richie permission. Richie slowly moves his hand barely touching Eddie's skin with his fingertips now brushing slightly against his briefs, bringing his fingers up to the top Eddie's waistband. Eddie lets out a slow, low breath. They lock eyes as Richie moves his fingers under the waistband pulling them down one side at a time. As they hit the ground Eddie begins to unfasten Richie’s belt, with unwavered eye contact Eddie completely undresses Richie. Standing in the hallway naked, they watch each others chests rise and fall in sync with one another. Eddie reaches for Richie's hand and leads the both into his room. As they walk through the doorway Eddie pulls Richie back into a kiss, reaching to bite on Richie's neck and shoulder, Rich fails to hold back a groan and squeezes Eddie's hand that he is still holding. Richie returns the favor by biting Eddie's bottom lip, which makes Eddie wince bringing his eyebrows together. Richie smirks, using his free hand he tilts Eddie's chin up exposing his neck, Rich runs his tongue from the collarbone to the back of Eddie's ear letting a whispered deep moan out then nibbling on his ear. Kissing his way to the other side he bites dead center, sucking in his flesh like a vampire fighting for a fresh meal. "Fuu..." the breath escapes Eddie before he can finish the word. Eddie tries to push Richie back but Rich grabs both of his wrist pinning them against the wall above Eddie's head. Eddie knows he could break free if he wanted to but he didn't. Richie's breathing gets heavy, his eyes seem darker than usual, leaving Eddie's stare he lets his eyes take in every inch of Eddie's body still pausing at the scar on his chest, no longer than a second before looking down further. He watches and smiles as Eddie's muscles go tense. "No reason to be shy Ed's. You look great. Every bit of you." Richie says as he uses one hand to pin both hands to the wall as he uses the other to reach between Eddie's thighs letting the tips of his fingers travel the length of Eddie's shaft. Richie starts to lower himself to the ground, positioning himself on his knees directly in front of Eddie. Eddie looks down as he lowers his arms to his sides, placing one hand on Richie's shoulder. Richie kisses Eddie's thigh up to his hip bone, leaving a bite mark, then kissing his way back down. Holding Eddie in one hand he brings his mouth to the tip exhaling slowly before sliding his tongue along the length, taking him in slowly moaning lightly as he pulls back and moving his hand and neck in unison meeting then sliding back, taking more of him in with each motion. "Rich." Eddie whimpers. Eddie squeezes Richie's shoulder and Richie moves his free hand under Eddie's shaft, massage everything that fits in his hands. Richie looks up to Eddie who is calmly panting with excitement. Richie takes Eddie back into his mouth "Fuck. Richie." Eddie puts his hand on the back of Richie's head, grabbing a handful of hair and pressing him forward, encouraging Richie to take more, all of him. Richie listens to Eddie's command opening his mouth wide, fitting more of him. Richie pulls back looking up to Eddie as he rolls his tongue around the tip then taking all of him back into his mouth. Eddie's thighs tense and Richie can see the definition of his muscles out of the corner of us eye. "Rich. Rich." Richie pulls back and sees Eddie's leg quivering, precum starts to spill out of him. Richie licks it off of him just before Eddie brings himself down on top of his best friend. Richie lies back welcoming Eddie on top of him. Now it was Eddie's turn to show his dominance, biting deep and hard on the side of Richie's neck "Shit!" Richie winces in pain tensing his neck muscles giving Eddie even more muscle to bite, which he does. As Eddie grips more flesh between his teeth Richie grabs the back of Eddie's neck "Ed! Fuck." As Eddie let's go Richie feels something wet running down his neck Eddie slides a finger across the mark he just left showing Richie the blood he just wiped away. "Don't! Do that, anywhere else" Richie says causing them both to laugh. Eddie drops his head to Richie’s chest "Leave it to you to make a joke right now" then Eddie lifts his head and looks up to Richie. Richie can't decipher the look until a grin creeps across Eddie's face "Turn over." He says it in a whisper "What?" Richie asks slightly out of breath. Eddie grabs Richie by his hip while turning him Eddie says it again this time right into Richie's ear, with more power, more demand. "I said. Turn. Over." Richie was slightly nervous, even though he knew he wanted it. He had never been with a man, and never thought he'd get the chance, but it was happening, and with the one man he only ever wanted it to be. Eddie grinds himself against Richie. Richie braces himself for it, clenching his fist. Eddie leans down, kissing the back of Richie’s shoulder and neck as his hands move lower, he grabs Richie's hips arching them up. Using his hand Eddie slowly moves one finger inside of Richie, he watches as Richie clenches his fist tighter. Eddie uses his other hand as a distraction, reach up further to stroke Richie's length, he lets out a moan to let Eddie now he's ready for more. Eddie obliges by adding another finger. This time Richie was ready, he pressed back against both fingers, moving his hips in rhythm with Eddie's fingers. "I want you." Richie panted out "I want you Eddie." It took nothing more, Eddie moved his hand out of the way and pressed himself against Richie's entrance rubbing himself up and down "Ready baby?" Richie nodded and Eddie thrust himself deep inside. "Son of a..." Richie dropped his upper half to the floor which made Eddie laughed "ya, you're a son of bitch." He smacks the side of Richie’s ass, then grips his hips and moves Richie's body in rhythm with his own strokes. Sliding out slowly then pressing himself in deep and hard. Once their bodies are in sync Eddie's pace quickens. "Fuck Richie. Fuck." Eddie says through labored breathing, each word leaving his mouth with the same rhythm as his thrust. "Eds.. fuck, Eddie" Richie moans in a deep shallow breath. Eddie reaches around to grab Richie’s shaft he strokes him with a firm grasp as he pulls back from being inside Richie he presses himself slowly back in leaving himself fully inside he drops his body to fit the curve of Richie's body. Eddie continues to stroke Richie while moving his hips in a circular motion to move himself inside of Richie. Richie presses back against Eddie's body rolling his hips in the same motion. "Eds.. Eddie. I'm gonna cum. Fuck. I’m gonna cum." Eddie struggles to get his words out through the breath caught in his throat. "Don’t. Not yet.. wait." Their bodies glide smoothly against each other from the slickness of sweating skin. "I want to cum with you. I'm close." Richie's body begins to quiver under Eddie. Eddie brings himself back up straight, gripping both sides of Richie’s waist he moves in and out as fast as his hips can move grunting with each thrust back inside Richie. "Fuck. Rich, Rich I'm gonna cum. I'm gonna cum. Fuck." Eddie thrust one last time as hard as he can inside Richie. Both men let out a deep groan as they finish together. Eddie drops his body back on top of Richie. As Eddie dropped back on top of Richie, Richie let's his lower half go limp falling to the floor with Eddie still inside him laying on his back. Lying in silence both men try to catch their breath, Eddie reaches his hand up for Richie’s, Richie separates his fingers letting Eddie's slide in between. "Ed's?" Richie says it like a question, hesitant and nervous, "Yeah" Eddie replies softly welcoming any question Richie could ask. "That's a lot of bacteria don't ya think?" The anticipation drops from Eddie immediately "You're going to ruin this aren't you?" They lay still for a moment before Eddie laughs, sliding himself out of Richie with no warning giving Richie a final gasp, Eddie rolls to be side by side with his best friend. "I love you Rich." Eddie says it matter of factly. Richie turns his head to look at Eddie trying to find the lie, or sympathy plea, but there's nothing but genuine sincerity. "I love you too Ed's." Still holding hands the two best friends welcome each other into another kiss leaving their lips together for a long pause. Eddie breaks away "I need another shower" he goes to stand and walk to the bathroom as Richie grabs his leg to halt him "No time Spaghetti man, we're already late."

#reddie #adult reddie #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #richiexeddie #fixing tht damn clown movie #reddie au #IT 2019 #stans alive #eddies alive #because thats exactly how it happened

[berenwrites]

Dreams in the Night - Stranger Things - Steddie, Chapter 7 of 9

Dreams in the Night: But Vampires Aren't an Upside Down Thing!

Summary: Steve has been having nightmares, seeing through the eyes of a vampire like creature in Hawkins as it hunts. He puts the dreams down to past trauma and too many horror movies at Family video. He’s checked and no one’s been hurt, so even Robin agrees. However, his world is about to be turned upside down yet again as the nightmares become far too real.

Tumblr Master Chapter Listing | Also on AO3

For: @lady-lostmind (lady_lostmind on AO3)

Relationships: steddie, platonic stobin

Rating: Explicit

Wordcount: ~18600

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tags: vampire!Eddie, Kas!Eddie, hurt/comfort, bisexual!Steve, bisexual!Eddie, platonic stobin, steddie

This fic is a part of the @steddieholidayexchange

Chapter 7: Possessive

“Are you okay?” were the first words out of Robin’s mouth after the others left.

He nodded, turning, and walking towards the kitchen, even though all he wanted to do was wrench the door open and stop Eddie leaving. It was completely irrational and selfish, but it was so hard to push away. Eddie deserved to see his uncle again as soon as possible. It only made sense, especially with Eddie wanting to tell Wayne everything.

That didn’t stop the almost feral feeling in his chest.

“Dingus,” Robin said as he started to make coffee he didn’t even want.

He didn’t respond as he tried to distract himself.

“Steve,” Robin’s voice was very quiet and gentle as she touched him lightly on the shoulder, but it still made him tense up. “Talk to me,” she added.

Stilling, mug in hand, he did his best to just breathe.

“I’m just being possessive,” he said, staring at the wall. “Looks like I jumped straight from we got him back to he’s not allowed to leave. Guess the spoiled brat is coming out to play.”

“You’re not a spoiled brat,” Robin said, not removing her hand, “I doubt you ever were. How about we go for some of the fancy hot chocolate I know you’re hiding in the back of the cupboard, because I don’t think you need more coffee.”

She gave him a quick hug from behind as he tried to push the irrational feelings down.

“Okay,” he said, reaching for the small saucepan hanging from its hook.

At least getting the milk from the fridge, heating it up and then making the drinks would give him something else to think about.

However, by the time he was done, he still felt incredibly on edge. Given the slightest excuse he was pretty sure he would be in his car trying to find Eddie. It was irrational, even for him.

“Come on, Dingus,” Robin said, leading him over to the small kitchen table, “sit down and tell me everything.”

“I don’t think you want me to tell you everything,” he replied, staring at the marshmallows bobbing in his hot chocolate.

“I need to know what’s going on in that head of yours,” she countered, “so, yes, everything. Now spill.”

So, he did. He started with the not-dream, trying to explain how different it had been from the others and went from there. Everything that had happened was still do fresh and raw, but he was still surprised by how much it helped to talk about it. Robin grimaced several times when he got to the sex part, but it felt important to mention it even though he glossed over the details.

Of course, she was supportive as he talked through his personal revelations, although she did grumble that he had managed to land his first boy before she had even kissed a girl. That had lightened the conversation somewhat as he ribbed her about her lack of progress with Vickie.

By the time they had talked it all through, he was feeling more comfortable with everything that had happened and what it meant for him, but he still couldn’t shake the ridiculous possessiveness. In fact, he was regretting more and more that he had let Eddie go, or that he had not gone with him at least.

“Why don’t you go then?” Robin suggested when he confessed his feelings.

“I’d be intruding,” he replied.

“This could be the whole bat thing,” she said. “You two just upped the connection between you in ways we have no clue about, maybe that’s why you don’t want to be apart. I mean, Eddie looked as reluctant to leave as you were to let him.”

“But he’s with his uncle,” Steve pointed out.

“And his uncle is going to have to get used to you sooner rather than later,” Robin said, “because you are so gone it’s silly. I remember what you were like in school with Nancy and, oh boy, this is way worse.”

“It’s only been a day,” he protested.

“Steve, other half of my soul, brother from another mother, I know you and I love you,” Robin told him. “This is so weird it boggles the mind, but you’ve been living weird since 83 and I’ve been living it with you since Starcourt. Everything you have told me points in only one direction and, for you, that direction is Eddie. So, get your butt moving and go claim your man. You can drop me home on the way.”

There wasn’t a lot he could say to that, not when Robin was right.

“Thanks, Robbie,” he said, placing his fingers on hers for a moment.

Standing up to take their long empty mugs to the sink, Steve instantly realised something was wrong. He had to make a wild grab for the centre island as the room span alarmingly. His legs felt like jelly as the world looped the loop around him.

“Robs,” he said kind of desperately as his frantic grip on the countertop began to fail.

“Oh shit,” Robin said, and he felt her arms come round his chest, but not a lot else made any sense.

He really did try and stay upright, but it was hard to tell what that was. As his vision tunnelled and up and down failed to remain where they were supposed to be, he was pretty sure he was falling.

“Steve, dammit, Steve,” Robin’s anxious words followed him.

There was no horrendous impact, so he guessed Robin had stopped him hitting the deck too hard, but the real world didn’t make a huge heap of sense. He couldn’t be sure of anything.

“Steve, Steve, shit, wake up Dingus, please,” Robin’s desperate plea was the last thing he heard as everything went grey before fading to black.

After that there were only flashes.

A sharp pain in his hand dragged him from the darkness for a few seconds. He could vaguely hear voices and he felt like he was moving, but it didn’t last long. Someone held open his eye, waving something bright in it, and he tried to object, but he sank back into blackness before he managed much of anything.

The next time was much less frenetic. He kind of floated up towards the real world, like being underwater and slowly coming up to the surface. Something was beeping and he could feel fingers wrapped into his. He was comfortable and warm, but something was missing. He didn’t have enough brain power to work out what. The need to find what wasn’t there filtered through his brain, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

He managed to squeeze the hand in his, just a little, but then the darkness was reaching for him again.

The third time was much louder. People were shouting. Something was growling and suddenly he was moving. Strong arms wound around him, pulling him against a firm chest. He could have cried as the relief flooded through him. The missing thing wasn’t missing anymore. He curled into those arms against the owner of the chest, bringing his own arm up and draping it wherever he could reach.

One simple move took whatever strength he had. He couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t do much more than moan quietly as he was once again sucked under. It felt different this time though. There was warmth in the blackness.

When he floated up towards consciousness yet again, it felt much more real, much more solid. The first thing he noticed was his pillow wasn’t that soft, the second rather explained the first when he realised his pillow was breathing. He was asleep on someone, someone who was not wearing a shirt, and there were strong arms holding him in place.

He didn’t need to open his eyes and look to know it was Eddie. He could feel it.

For a while he lay there, soaking in the sensations and the sounds but reluctant to push himself the final step into wakefulness. Everything was calm and simple in his half-awake state. The little voice at the back of his mind was pretty convinced it wouldn’t stay that way if he opened his eyes.

Eventually, however, his mind was moving just enough that he began to feel guilty. No doubt Robin at least had to be waiting for him to wake up. He didn’t know how long he had been out of it. It seemed selfish to just lay there when he was pretty sure he was quite capable of waking up.  Finally, he forced his eyes open.

Nothing made much sense, and it was way too bright. Squeezing his eyes shut again, he scrunched up his nose, hoping that would help as he tried again.

“Steve,” Eddie’s deep voice rumbled through his head where it lay against Eddie’s chest, “Sweetheart, are you awake?”

Blinking, he hummed a reply, because, no matter what he had thought, it appeared pushing through into the conscious world was a process of stages. What he had assumed would be easy, was a bit tougher than he had imagined.

When he finally convinced his eyes to focus, he found himself looking at Robin. She was leaning down beside what had to be a bed, her face only a couple of inches from him. The moment he managed to focus on her she smiled.

“Hey, Dingus,” she said, “how are you feeling?”

“Confused,” he admitted, or at least tried to, but his tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of his mouth.

He was about to try for more, but fingers slid into the hair at the base of his skull, massaging gently and it felt so good he lost all train of thought.

“Edward, you’re distracting him,” Robin complained.

“Nice,” was the best Steve could manage.

“Oh no you don’t,” Robin said, reaching out and patting the side of his face. “You’ve been asleep for nearly five days, Dingus. It’s time to wake up.”

That sent sparks of shock through him, which were much more effective in waking him up than Robin’s patting.

“Five?” he asked incredulously, lifting his head from Eddie’s chest.

“Take it slow,” Eddie told him as he tried to push himself up.

He wasn’t feeling overly coordinated, which reminded him far too much of the various concussions he had had over the years. Luckily Eddie seemed more than willing to help him sit up when he failed to do it himself. The way Eddie effortlessly sat up himself, still cradling him, helping him to turn while supporting him the whole way was kind of hot, actually. Not that Steve let himself dwell on that for too long.

He realised pretty quickly he was wearing a hospital gown, and he was attached to various medical devices. Eddie, on the other hand, was in sweatpants and appeared to be free of other adornments.

It also occurred to him that he didn’t feel like he thought he should feel after a five-day coma. His body was working fine, perfectly strong, it was just his coordination that was all off. It was as if his brain hadn’t had time to align with his body properly, which was what was giving him trouble.

“Where are we?” he asked, looking around at the white tiled walls.

“Hawkins Lab,” Robin replied, at which point he noted she was also wearing a grey sweatshirt and pants rather than her usual clothes. “We’re in quarantine.”

He frowned, doing his best to assimilate that information.

“Why you?” he asked.

Him and Eddie he could understand, but not Robin.

“I wasn’t letting you out of my sight,” she said simply, crossing her arms and glaring up at the corner of the room.

There was a camera looking at them.

“They tried to quarantine you and Eddie separately,” Robin added, “but Eddie didn’t like that.”

“The growling,” Steve said as at least part of what he remembered made sense.

When he looked at Eddie, who was still mostly holding him up, he realised Eddie was blushing. He’d have put money on Eddie hiding behind his hair if his hands hadn’t been occupied.

“We collapsed at the same time, you in your house, me in Wayne’s new trailer,” Eddie said. “When I woke up, I had a very urgent need to get to you. I may have insisted on the matter.”

Robin laughed at that.

“What he means is he flattened three goons with guns and broke down two reinforced doors,” she said.

“For me?” Steve asked, which made Eddie blush even more.

It was adorable and only added to the warmth exploding in his chest.

“Awww, you two should come with a sugar warning,” Robin said, but she was smiling when he glanced over at her.

He held out his hand, which she immediately took.

“Did they say how long we’ll be stuck here?” he asked, thoughts turning serious again.

“Nothing specific,” Eddie said.

“But Owens came in here yesterday without all the gear on,” Robin replied, “so I guess they’ve figured out you’re not contagious. I’d prepare to be prodded within an inch of your life, though. You’d think they were the vampires with the number of holes they poked into me.”

“You’re okay?” he checked as soon as she said that.

“I’m fine,” she said, demeanour softening, “just being dramatic. I think they’ve been using me like a control or something.”

“Control?” He didn’t know what that was.

“Baseline,” she told him.

“The normal one,” Eddie added.

“Robin’s not normal,” was probably the stupidest thing he could have said, but that’s what popped out of Steve’s mouth.

That cracked up Eddie as Robin said; “Hey!”

“Normal is boring,” he added. “You wouldn’t be my platonic soulmate if you were boring.”

“I’ll take that,” Robin said, smiling at him again.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

“You’re the one with the key,” Robin called across the room.

Clearly, she was fed up of being cooped up. The door opened to reveal Owens. Steve had met the man a couple of times now because of the whole end of the end of the world, but he couldn’t say he knew him.

“Ah, Mr Harrington,” Owens said with a smile, “it’s good to see you’re awake.”

“Steve,” he put in. “Mr Harrington is my dad and he’s an asshole.”

Owens’ smile grew a little a that, which was a least one point in his favour.

“Steve,” the man said with a nod, “how are you feeling?”

“Surprisingly good,” he admitted. “Have I really been asleep five days?”

“Indeed,” was the immediate response.

“Why?” he asked the obvious question.

Owens glanced at Eddie and Robin in a questioning way.

“Anything you tell me I’m going to tell them,” Steve said simply.

“As you wish,” Owens said. “From our observations we believe your system went into a kind of hibernation to allow you to undergo a metabolic shift.”

“And that means?” he asked.

“Due to the residual bat venom in your body, your metabolism has altered,” Owens explained.

Steve couldn’t help glancing at Eddie.

“Am I..?” he started to ask.

“No, nothing so drastic,” came back quickly before he could panic. “From what we can tell, Eddie’s extreme changes were due to Henry Creel’s influence. Yours appear to have made you, shall we say, more robust.”

“Robust how?”

“Of course we will need to do more tests, but our initial conclusions are that your metabolic functions have shifted to be more efficient,” Owens told him. “We are unsure exactly how. It should be easier to ascertain now you are back with us. If you are feeling up to it, I will send in one of our medical staff to make you more comfortable.”

Steve glanced at the IV in the back of his hand and the other medical devices attached to him.

“That would be good, thank you,” he replied. He wasn’t going to trust a government doctor as far as he could throw them, but being free of everything sounded like a great plan.

End of Chapter 7

On to Chapter 8

#stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #steve x eddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #platonic stobin #vampires #kas eddie munson #vampire eddie munson #eddie lives #fanfic #fanfiction #dreams in the night - steddie

[sydneysageivashkov]

Fic: Buried With Our Past (3/4)

Sydney and Adrian have had five years of peace, living happily ever after with their adopted son and extended family.

And then a spirit experiment goes very wrong, and Sydney wakes up in Russia, seven years earlier. The Alchemists might think they control her, but Sydney’s got a family to reunite.

Parts 1, 2 | AO3 | FF.net

Sydney opened the door on her apartment to find Rose watching TV. She had somehow arranged herself to be upside down and half hanging off the sofa, her long dark hair sprayed out on the ground. As Sydney entered, Rose twisted and somehow ended up the right way round in one smooth movement.

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me who Abe Mazur is,” said Rose. She wasn’t quite sulky in the way she said it, but she did seem put out at being left out of the loop.

“I’m guessing Adrian and Jill are refusing to tell you the specifics?” asked Sydney, crossing to the kitchen area to grab some food.

Rose coughed and shifted awkwardly. “Of course they tell me. They just got busy with your phone call, that’s all.”

Sydney laughed and turned around. “Rose, I’ve known you for seven years. I can tell when you’re lying.” Rose huffed dramatically at that and flopped back into her seat.

“They say that relationships should be allowed to develop naturally, instead of being stunted by their interference,” grumbled Rose, crossing her arms across her chest.

It wasn’t something that Sydney had needed to consider before then. She might have technically been surrounded by people – the other Alchemists, her contact with her family – but she either hadn’t known about their future relationships or hadn’t been in a situation which would have allowed for her to interfere. But it had been a logical call for them to make: if someone from the future had told her about her marriage to Adrian too soon, she certainly would have reacted badly.

“I just don’t know what the relationship could be,” continued Rose. “I don’t even know who Abe Mazur is!”

Sydney covered her amusement by taking a bite of the muesli bar she had picked out. After she was sure she could control her smile, she swallowed and said, “He’s a mob boss who happens to be interested in your reasons for being in Russia.”

Rose regarded her suspiciously. “Do you know why I’m in Russia?”

All of Sydney’s good humour vanished as she thought of Dimitri. Good, kind Dimitri Belikov, always ready with his steadfast support or words of wisdom. Dimitri Belikov, who was currently a Strigoi. She hadn’t ever seen Dimitri as a Strigoi, but she’d heard Dimitri pretending to get information, and she had seen reports of Rose’s condition in the aftermath of her escaping him. She put the museli bar down, suddenly no longer feeling hungry. “I’m so sorry, Rose,” she said, quietly.

“Adrian says I can save him,” said Rose, almost to herself. She was staring at nothing in particular, expression dark. “I’ve just got to lure him out first.”

“You did save him.” Sydney cleared her throat. “Him and others.” She thought of Sonya, who was probably in the house by the lake at that very moment, still tending to flowers even though she had forgotten the love that had once driven her. Of Olive, for the few precious months she’d gotten back. Even of Lee, who had been given a second chance, even if he had thrown it away.

“Apparently I’ve got to piss Dimitri off first,” said Rose. She smirked a little. “I’m pretty good at that.”

Sydney bit her lip and sat down next to Rose. “I don’t think anyone ever knew exactly what happened,” she said. “But I did read the report from after you escaped… You have to be careful, Rose. It took Dimitri a long time to forgive himself for what he did as a Strigoi, especially what he did to you.”

Rose swallowed. “It doesn’t matter. If it’s possible to save him, I have to take that chance.”

Sydney wondered, briefly, what it would be like to have friends who didn’t regularly charge into life-threatening situations with little to no regard for their own safety because someone they loved was in danger. It would probably be a lot like the life she’d been living for the past month, to be honest.

“I thought you might say that.” Sydney stood back up. “Grab your bags. We should get to the train station,” she added over her shoulder, grabbing her keys off the bench. Rose shook herself and blinked at Sydney. Sydney prayed that it would go better for Rose this time.

-

“You know, whenever I thought about the future, I always thought it was going to be me or Rose who shocked the delicate sensibilities of the royals,” said Christian, flopping down on to Adrian’s couch. Lissa sat down next to him, watching her boyfriend with an indulgent smile.

“Oh, you did,” assured Adrian. “Lissa did too, just by associating with you both.”

“Looks like you blew us all out of the water, though,” said Lissa. Jill quietly slipped out of Adrian’s room and handed him back at his phone.

“I’ve missed her,” said Jill. Her voice was quiet and a sad kind of happy.

Adrian rubbed at her shoulder before looking back at Lissa and Christian. He briefly considered deflecting to Jill – hey, what about one of the last Dragomirs getting engaged to a dhampir – but that definitely went against their relationship spoilers rule, even if Eddie wasn’t there.

“How does she even know about vampires?” asked Lissa. She was running her hands through Christian’s hair, who had somehow rearranged himself so he was lying with his head in Lissa’s lap.

“She was – is, I guess – an Alchemist. They’re humans who help cover up for us: getting rid of Strigoi bodies, pulling strings and covering stuff up if humans ever see anything. They started dealing with the humans who served the Strigoi, too, once they were proven to be out there,” explained Adrian.

“Huh,” said Christian. “I never thought about that, but I guess they had to be out there. Alchemists, I mean.”

“Yeah, well, most of them are awful,” grumbled Jill. She leant back and crossed her arms.

Lissa raised her eyebrows. “Aren’t they helping us?”

“Only because they want to keep humans separate from ‘evil creatures of the night’,” said Jill. “And they makes everyone toe the party line or they get sent off to re-education.” The righteous fury in her voice was only barely masking the worst of her worry.

“Two more months,” said Adrian, pulling Jill into a hug. “Two more months, and she’ll be back in the States, and we’ll get her out.”

“Two months,” repeated Jill. “Which escape plan are you going to use?”

Adrian smiled, although his face was obscured by Jill’s brown hair. “I hear Rome’s nice this time of year.”

Jill snorted and pulled back. “Okay, you can stop being a dad now. I’m good.”

“Being a dad is a natural state at this point,” admitted Adrian, earning outright laughter from Jill. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t as worried for Sydney as Jill was, but after raising a child, it was a lot easier to lock down the panic and comfort someone else. The medication still allowed for some of spirit’s natural, non-magical benefits, like charisma and a greater sensitivity for other people’s emotions, making it easier still to distract others from the worst of their fears. It was easier to do with someone like Jill, who he knew so well and who trusted him entirely. It was easiest with Declan.

Had been. Had been easiest with Declan.

Jill touched his shoulder gently. Her gaze was empathetic as he met her eyes. “I’m fine,” he promised. Jill didn’t look convinced but didn’t press him. He turned back to Lissa and Christian. Christian was fidgeting awkwardly, and Lissa was watching him with a compassionate stare that was identical to her sister’s. “Anything else you’d like to know?” he asked.

“How much longer until Rose comes home?” asked Lissa.

“I don’t know. Her goal’s different, her meeting with Sydney is different – and I don’t know much about her trip to Russia to start with, so I don’t know how much those differences will matter,” replied Adrian. He shrugged, gesturing widely with his hands. “Maybe she’ll get to where she found Dimitri earlier, before even he got there, and she’ll move on before he arrives and she takes a lot longer. Maybe the things Sydney and I said about Russia will make her react differently when she meets him. Maybe Abe will actually succeed in packing her in a box and sending her home. There’s no way of knowing.” Lissa nodded, looking down towards the floor.

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell us who this Abe Mazur is?” said Christian. Now that the emotional displays were over, he had stopped fidgeting and returned to his lounging position. “Promise I won’t tell Rose.”

“Nope,” said Adrian, popping the ‘p’. Christian grimaced a little, but otherwise looked like he had expected the answer. “You just want to be able to know something that Rose doesn’t.”

“Knowledge is power,” said Christian, voice lofty.

-

Travelling with Rose was the first time Sydney had spent with any of her friends since she’d found herself in the past, and she should be enjoying it unreservedly. It wasn’t like she wasn’t enjoying; it was just that Rose was so frustratingly young sometimes.

Rose was eighteen. Sydney didn’t begrudge the dhampir girl her youth, but sometimes she’d say something, expecting the reaction twenty-four-year-old Rose would have given, and get nothing. It wasn’t Rose’s fault, but it hurt anyway.

And it wasn’t even like this was normal behaviour for eighteen-year-old Rose. Rose had just lost Dimitri to the Strigoi, and was probably still coping with the deaths of anyone else she had known who was lost in the attack on Saint Vladimir’s. Sydney had been through a lot in her life, but she had never experienced the sheer amount of loss that Rose and the others at Saint Vladimir’s had experienced. Rose seemed horrifically sad so often. Sydney didn’t think she fully believed that Dimitri could be saved.

Sydney wondered how Adrian and Jill had dealt with it all this time. At least they had each other, she mused, staring out the window of the train. Their absence still felt like a physical ache, and she couldn’t decide if it had gotten better or worse since she had spoken to them.

“So how did you and Adrian meet?” asked Rose. She was lying on her bed, propping her head up with her hand and one leg leaning off the side. “I can’t picture him in Russia.”

“I got posted back to the USA eventually,” said Sydney. Rose raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting a story to follow. “But I’m pretty sure the story is going to fall under the spoilers rule.” She hated to turn down Rose when she was in one of her better moods, but there were definitely some aspects of the previous timeline that Sydney wanted to keep.

Rose groaned and dropped her head into her pillow. “All of the good stories are covered by the spoilers rule.”

“What makes you think it’s such a good story?” asked Sydney. “Maybe we met at a windmill museum.” She, personally, thought that windmill museums were perfectly interesting, but based off the general reactions her dates with Brayden had gotten, it was apparently the most boring thing in existence to most people.

“Well, first of all: Adrian? In a windmill museum? Even the new and improved future him wouldn’t be caught dead in there,” said Rose, flicking up one finger. Sydney hid a smile. She couldn’t exactly argue that point. “Secondly, we’ve been keeping track of references to future relationships, and we’ve definitely established that something interesting happened with you, Jill, Eddie and Adrian. And finally, whatever caused the Adrian Ivashkov of a month and a half ago to settle down must have been spectacular.” Rose had kept holding up additional fingers as she made her points, and now she waggled the three fingers at Sydney pleadingly.

Sydney laughed. “It wasn’t that amazing, okay? There wasn’t some big moment where the stars aligned and we were both madly in love. It just – happened. Over slushies and investigating and crosswords, because we were right for each other.” She paused. “It wasn’t anything about us that made our story eventful or spectacular. It was the rest of the world having a problem with it that did.”

Rose had looked down, and Sydney almost sighed. She’d made Rose think about Dimitri again, and with all that stuff about ‘being right for each other’, she couldn’t blame anything but herself for this. She picked up her book and started reading.

It was another twenty minutes before Rose spoke again. “Okay, I know you’re not meant to be giving me any spoilers, but when you talked about Dimitri as a Strigoi… What did you mean? What did he do?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, Rose. When I said that I don’t think anyone but you and Dimitri knew, I was telling you the truth. And all the injuries in the reports could have come from just you fighting your way out,” said Sydney.

“You and Adrian and Jill keep talking like it’s set in stone,” said Rose, quietly. “It’s  kind of… I don’t know. It’s like I have a destiny all of a sudden. I want to stop asking you guys about it, but I just can’t stop.”

Sydney sighed, turning to face Rose, letting her legs swing off the bed. “I don’t know how to make that better,” she said, honestly. “I know that the first time I was on this train with you, if someone had told me where I was going in my life, I would have freaked out. I can stop telling you things about the future, but – that’s my past. It’s a huge part of my life. I can’t guarantee I won’t reference it sometimes.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Rose, “and you shouldn’t have to stop being you for me. I just wish there was a middle ground here.”

Sydney shrugged. “Maybe there is one. We just have to find it.”

-

Sydney woke to a dark and empty room.

That normally wouldn’t be that bad a thing. Except they were travelling along a road that Strigoi were known to frequent, and Rose was missing.

She sat up, unable to shake the uneasy feeling. She went to peer through the window and felt her heart stop at what she saw. Rose, alone, fighting three Strigoi.

Sydney threw the door to the bedroom open and ran down the stairs, two at a time. She burst out of the house to see that Rose had managed to stake one Strigoi, but a second gave her a nasty backhand and Rose staggered back, giving the Strigoi an opening.

Sydney hadn’t used magic since she found herself in the past. The chances of her tattoo turning silver before she got out of Russia were slim, but she hadn’t wanted to take any chances.

Now, she had no choice. Rose was in danger. Sydney had to act.

She summoned a fireball into her hand and threw it at the Strigoi. The two remaining Strigoi had barely even noticed her arrival, so focused on dispatching Rose. But the Strigoi she had hit screamed, his head enveloped entirely by the fire. Both of the Strigoi had stopped their advance, too astonished (or too busy burning) to move.

Unfortunately, that also applied to Rose.

“What the hell,” breathed Rose, staring at Sydney like she’d never seen her before.

“Hurry up,” Sydney shouted back. Rose blinked and startled, turning her attention back to the Strigoi. She staked the flaming Strigoi and engaged the last, who had also been spurred back into movement under threat of Rose’s stake.

Rose dodged the Strigoi’s attempt to grab her, slipping down and around. The Strigoi turned to follow her and Rose dragged her stake across his arm. The Strigoi let out a loud noise, half a scream and half a snarl.

They were moving almost too fast for Sydney to follow, but at last Rose got an opening, and the last Strigoi received a stake to the heart.

Rose staggered back, her breathing ragged. “You threw a fireball,” said Rose, turning to face Sydney. “You threw a fireball. That’s impossible. I’m hallucinating, right? I’ve finally cracked.”

“You’re still sane,” said Sydney. “Witches generally prefer not to show themselves to the Moroi world if they can help it. I don’t think there are many Moroi or dhampirs who know.”

“My entire perspective of the human world has changed in the past week,” said Rose, running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t think that could happen, since I’d already lived there.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. So you’re Adrian’s human wife from the future who can also throw fireballs and maybe other stuff and spends her time hiding vampires from humans. Did I get everything?”

Sydney thought about it. “No, I think that’s it.”

“I really didn’t think Russia was going to be this eventful,” said Rose. “Oh my god. I can actually see it. I can imagine you two. I bet you caused all kinds of grey hairs.”

“I think we scandalised the Ivashkov family beyond repair,” admitted Sydney, and Rose choked on a laugh.

“I can imagine. Oh, man. This is awesome.”

-

Rose felt like she was floating.

All the pain she’d been experiencing seemed to have disappeared, subsumed by the feeling of bliss that was still pumping through her veins. She thought she had been scared, a little while ago, but she must have been wrong. What was there to be afraid of? There was no one even here, and the only one who came was Dimitri…

Dimitri.

She remembered a voice, unbidden: “It took Dimitri a long time to forgive himself for what he did as a Strigoi, especially what he did to you.”

Rose made a face. Dimitri hadn’t done anything to her yet. They must have gotten it wrong.

Except…

Well, Sydney hadn’t gotten anything else wrong. Everything Sydney had talked about, every interaction they’d had – well, it was hard to deny that Sydney knew Rose. She’d even made it sound like she’d known Dimitri.

Well, Dimitri was Dimitri, she supposed. (Dimitri was a Strigoi.) Nothing changed that. Except that something had.

Rose groaned and turned over, screwing her eyes shut. She didn’t want to think about this. She wanted to sleep instead.

But there was no peace to be found in sleep, apparently, because a world materialised around her. She was in a bright, flowering garden, and she almost groaned as she recognised it.

“Adrian, I’m fine,” she said, turning around to face him. “I’m great! Didn’t Sydney tell you?”

“Rose, Sydney hasn’t seen you since she left Baia, and you missed check-in by a full day,” said Adrian. His expression was serious, and Rose frowned. Why was he so solemn? “Where are you?”

Rose shrugged. “With Dimitri.”

Adrian froze, his eyes widening with horror. “Fuck. Fuck, Rose, are you okay? Has he hurt you?”

“I told you! I’m fine!” she exclaimed. He frowned and leant towards her, brushing her hair off her neck. She tried to rear away from him, but it was too late. He stared at her neck, and swallowed, hands curling slowly into fists.

“God, I remember this,” he muttered. “I wondered, but I guess I didn’t want to know. You have to get out of there, Rose.”

“Why would I do that?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. “Dimitri’s here. I only just found him again.”

“That’s not Dimitri, Rose!” snapped Adrian, throwing his hands into the air. He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself. “That’s not Dimitri, okay? You’d understand if you’d ever heard him or Sonya or Olive talk about it. It’s like when they get raised again as Strigoi, everything that makes them capable of goodness is just stripped away from them. They might act like they did before, but it’s only to prove that they still can, not because they’re the same.”

Rose blinked, her eyes stinging with tears. “That’s not what he says.”

Adrian scoffed. “He probably doesn’t even realise. That’s how it works. Rose, please. Come back. Come home.”

“I can’t!” exclaimed Rose. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get past the doors.”

Adrian regarded her very seriously. “You did last time.”

Rose scoffed, turning away. “Last time! You and Jill and Sydney say that all the time. I’m not the same person as last time, alright? I’m not that Rose Hathaway! Stop looking at me and seeing her!”

“Rose, please -”

“Send me back, Adrian,” said Rose. “Send me back!”

“Rose!” shouted Adrian, but the garden was dissolving around her already. She blinked awake and sat up. She wanted to go back to that floaty feeling to return, but all she could feel was that same resentment that had caused her to push Adrian away.

She gritted her teeth. She just wanted to be seen as herself, not as some mysterious Other Rose who had apparently always made the right call. Maybe that Rose had run, but that didn’t mean she would.

Except she trusted Adrian. She trusted Jill. They had never hurt her. All they had done, the whole time that they had been back, was try to help people. They had warned her about the ghosts and the school about the Strigoi. They hadn’t done a single thing to earn her mistrust. She even trusted Sydney, despite how little she knew her.

All three of them said the same thing. They said she could save Dimitri, and they said he had regretted his actions as a Strigoi.

Well then. She was just going to have to make sure he had one less thing to regret.

-

Rose Hathaway arrived home from Russia almost an entire month before she had done last time round. She walked straight into Adrian’s arms at the airport and started crying.

“I killed him,” she said between the big, heaving sobs. “You told me I could save him and I killed him instead.”

Adrian didn’t know what to tell her. He could say that Dimitri had survived, but he didn’t know that for certain. Who knew? Maybe Rose had actually succeeded in staking him this time round.

So he didn’t say anything. He just hugged her back until her sobs subsided. When her cries had been reduced to a few silent tears running down her face, he pulled back and gently lead her to get coffee.

“You and Sydney never did say why Abe was so fond of me,” said Rose, hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. She was curiously still, like she had cried all the emotion out and had been reduced to a rather soaked doll.

“Huh,” said Adrian. “If he didn’t tell you, then I’ve got absolutely no idea where you found out. You knew when you came back.”

She blinked. “How did Abe change? You and Jill never met him, and Sydney barely did. How did you guys change his actions?”

Adrian shrugged. He knew that Sydney had probably had considerably more interactions with Abe than Rose knew of, but if Sydney hadn’t said anything, he wasn’t about to betray her. “Maybe we aren’t the only people to come back. Or maybe you’re the one who changed.”

“Me?”

“You’re back a month early, Rose. Part of that was Sydney picking you up so much earlier, but the rest was all you,” said Adrian. Rose’s mouth opened a little, and she leant back against her chair. “I guess you really aren’t that Rose Hathaway after all.”

“What I said in the dream…” said Rose, voice soft. “It was out of line, Adrian. I was angry because you were making me think past those endorphins. I’m sorry.”

Adrian shrugged. “You were right, though. I talked about it with Sydney and Jill. We look at you and Lissa and Eddie and everybody else that we know, and we want – expect, sometimes – you to be the people we left behind, but you’re not. We need to stop treating you like you are.”

“So maybe we all just stop resenting each other for the whole time travel thing?” suggested Rose. “It’s not like any of this was under our control, or our choice. We just have to make do.”

“Sometimes, Rose Logic can be very wise,” said Adrian, lifting his mug up to her. She smiled and clinked her own against it. “I do have one favour for you when we get back to school, though.”

“What?”

“You should punch Avery Lazar for me,” said Adrian. It was unexpected enough that Rose barked out a laugh. It was a harsh, almost choking sound, like it had been torn out of her against her will. Adrian wondered if it was the first time she’d laughed since she may or may not have killed Dimitri.

“Punch a royal? I thought I was meant to be able to get back into school after this,” said Rose.

Adrian huffed. “Fine. Not right now, then. But you’re definitely going to have to punch one of them at some point, because as proud as you were of Lissa for punching Reed last time, some actual physical back up could be nice in the upcoming spirit battle.”

“Doesn’t this fall under spoilers?” wondered Rose, sipping at her hot chocolate.

“This is the kind of thing that requires advanced warning,” explained Adrian. Rose nodded understandingly, then paused abruptly.

“Wait. Lissa punched someone?”

-

“Okay, so,” said Lissa, sitting cross-legged on Adrian’s couch, “let me get this straight. Avery Lazar is a spirit user, who is masking the gold in her aura and pretending to be an air user.”

Adrian nodded. “Affirmative.”

“And her brother and her guardian are both bonded to her.” Adrian nodded again, so she continued. “And she wants to kill me and bond me to her, so she gets all my spirit power, and she wants to compel you into falling in love with her, so she gets all your social influence.”

“Except I’m already married and will lose all my social influence once wider society finds out about it, so joke’s on her,” said Adrian. Lissa nodded.

“And last time we dealt with her by frying her with spirit?” asked Rose, who was sitting with her back against the couch.

“Yeah, I’d rather not do that again, because she doesn’t deserve spirit insanity, even if she is kind of evil,” said Adrian. “Pretty sure Reed and that guardian definitely don’t. They didn’t ask to be bonded to an evil spirit user and take on all her spirit darkness – and there’s got to be a lot of that, because I’ve done some serious stuff with spirit, but I never worked out how to mask an aura.”

“Did we ever get a break in the future?” asked Lissa.

“Not really,” admitted Adrian. Lissa and Rose both groaned loudly. “But if I get my way, Lissa becoming queen is going to be put off for several years, so you will get a break in this timeline.”

“So long as I get to go to college first,” said Lissa, lying back on the couch and stretching her legs out. “Seriously, I have no idea how I did both in your timeline.”

“By being a total nerd, probably,” said Rose, and promptly dodged a half-hearted kick from Lissa.

“You know you’re going to have to do it all with me,” said Lissa, and Rose wilted a little. “Maybe you’ll be glad I’m such a nerd sometime.”

“What, when I’m failing all your classes?” asked Rose.

Lissa grinned mischievously. “You said it, not me,” she said, the end almost drowned out by an outraged yowl from Rose.

-

It took another week for Avery Lazar to arrive at Saint Vladimir’s. Lissa deposited Avery in guest housing and came straight to Adrian’s door.

“Now what?” asked Lissa, after explaining where she’d come from. “You talked about how to protect ourselves from her compulsion, but how do we stop her without hurting her or letting her hurt anyone else?”

“I don’t know, Liss,” sighed Adrian. “Spirit magic is hard to get around. I don’t know how to except -” He broke off. Lissa straightened, noticing his expression.

“Except?” she prompted.

“Except through human magic,” said Adrian. “Alicia made charms to make her immune to my compulsion. Maybe there are charms to stop vampires from using magic altogether.”

Lissa’s eyebrows had been climbing skyward the entire time Adrian was speaking. “Human magic?” she said, voice faint.

Adrian waved her confusion away. “Yeah, that’s a thing. We were surprised, too. I have to talk to Sydney.”

“Human magic exists,” murmured Lissa, looking like she needed to sit down.

“Someday, I’m going to tell you about the future and you’re not going to look like you’re about to pass out,” Adrian said, picking up his phone.

“Hi, Adrian,” greeted Sydney. Her voice was lighter than he’d heard in a long time and he blinked in surprise. “Guess what?”

“What?” he asked, mildly bewildered.

“I’m coming back to the USA early,” she exclaimed. “Rose organised it with Abe. Apparently she made it one of her conditions for him shipping her back to the USA.”

“When?” he asked. He felt lighter than air.

“A week,” said Sydney. “We’re so close, Adrian.”

“This is incredible, Sage,” breathed Adrian. He caught sight of Lissa shifting weight. The movement wasn’t quite impatient, but it reminded him of why he had called. “For more reasons than you know.” He filled her in on his theory about human magic and Avery. Sydney listened patiently.

“I’m pretty sure it’s possible,” said Sydney. “I need to talk to Mrs Terwilliger about this. She’ll know. Inez if not.”

“That will be a very odd conversation,” said Adrian, earning a laugh from Mrs Terwilliger.

“‘Hi Mrs Terwilliger, I’m your apprentice from the future, and I need advice on how to stop an evil spirit-using vampire, please and thank you’,” quipped Sydney.

“Maybe phrase it a little better, and you’re golden,” said Adrian, and she laughed again.

“I have to go,” she said. “Ivanov is expecting me. Give me two weeks – a week to get back to the US, then some time to get dirt on my father, contact Mrs Terwilliger, get the spell parts and get to Missoula.” Sydney’s voice grew quiet, almost reverent. “Then we’re home free.”

-

When Sydney touched down in Utah, it was her mother waiting to greet her.

Technically, Sydney was meant to be making her way to New Orleans, but her assignment wasn’t due to start for another four days. The Alchemists had already sorted out the apartment and most of her living costs. She didn’t see any harm in spending a few days with her mother and sisters before she made her way to New Orleans.

Besides, Sydney didn’t have access to the Warriors of the Light this time around. That meant she had to find dirt on her father another way, and this was the best way she could think of. Once she found some evidence of her father’s dirty dealings, she would make her way to New Orleans, and disappear from there. It would take longer for someone to notice she was missing if she left from New Orleans, and she could use her father’s dealings to blackmail him into keeping her free from the Alchemists.

But that was still hours or days away. Now, Sydney’s mother was waving excitedly at her and Sydney couldn’t help but grin as she walked into her mother’s arms. Sydney’s relationship with her mother was one of the few that hadn’t been damaged by her relationship with Adrian. She might have been married to an Alchemist, but she had never internalised the Alchemist teachings in the same way that Sydney or her sisters had.

“So how was Russia?” asked her mother, hooking her arm through Sydney’s.

Sydney laughed. “Eventful.” Honestly, that didn’t even begin to cover it.

“I want to know everything that happened since I saw you last,” said her mother. “And I don’t want any excuses about Alchemist business or the like.”

Sydney’s smile faded. Since her mother had seen Sydney last? The best part of a decade had past from Sydney’s point of view. From Sydney’s point of view, Katherine Sage was a grandmother and mother-in-law (twice over, at that: Marcus and Carly had tied the knot only a few months before Sydney found herself in the past). But from Katherine’s point of view, of course, Sydney was barely eighteen.

“I met some vampires for the first time,” Sydney said instead. “One was called Rose. She was nice – you know, for an evil creature of the night.” The last part she said in a sardonic tone, and her mother laughed.

“I’m glad your Stateside again,” said Katherine. “You always said you were fine, and Jared said that all of the reports he was getting said you were doing good job, but I worried anyway. Now you’ll only be a few hours flight away, rather than half a world away.”

Sydney worked her jaw for a second before trying to settle her face back into a neutral expression. Of course her father’s main concern was that she was doing a good job as an Alchemist. “It’s nice to be home again,” she said. Her mother glanced at her, face concerned, but Sydney managed a smile. Katherine looked away, hopefully dismissing Sydney’s response as Alchemist diplomacy.

“Zoe will be excited to see you,” said Katherine. “She and your father were busy with lessons but they should have finished up by the time we’re home. And Carly’s home, too! She heard you were coming home and flew home for the weekend. She was just finishing up an assignment.”

That earned a genuine smile. This Carly would be closer to the Carly she remembered than anyone else in her family except her mother. She had been away at university, working through her traumas in a healthier environment and growing into the activist Sydney knew. Would she be the same sister who had sat in Sydney’s living room only two months ago, holding Declan in her arms and pretending to teach him to dance? Of course not.

But she would be closer to the sister Sydney had known than Zoe, still timid and eager to please their father. She would certainly be closer to the sister Sydney had known than to the father Sydney had known, who was God knows where and probably only thought of Sydney with loathing and disgust.

Apparently even something as simple as visiting your childhood home and family couldn’t be an easy, happy occurrence when you were a time traveller, Sydney noted, annoyed.

“It sounds like Carly’s having a good time at college,” said Sydney, because it wasn’t like she could tell her mother any of her thoughts.

“I would have liked it if you could go to college, too,” said Katherine, irritation leaking into her voice.

“I would have loved to go to college,” said Sydney, honestly. College had been wonderful. Soaking in all that knowledge, and not having to hold any of it back, either, because everyone was there to learn the same the things she was – because they wanted to, not because they had to, like at Amberwood.

What had come after had been good, too. Working at the museum had been lovely, and having a steady income had certainly made budgeting easier. But that didn’t lessen how magical college had been for her.

The drive home was quiet, but when the car pulled into the driveway, the front door to the house was flung open and Carly poured out of it, wrapping Sydney in an embrace almost before Sydney was out of the car.

“I’ve missed you so much,” said Carly, voice fierce.

“I’ve missed you, too,” said Sydney, leaning into Carly’s hug. “Are you okay?”

Carly pulled back and smiled at Sydney. It still wasn’t as bright as it had been before Keith, or as it would be in the future, but it was a smile. “Getting there.”

“I’m glad,” said Sydney, hugging Carly again. She longed to tell Carly everything, suddenly: how Carly healed but never forgot, that Sydney had ensured Keith was punished without breaking her promise to Carly, that Carly had been wonderful and brave and had saved so many girls from spiralling into the despair Carly herself had experienced and had helped a lot of the victims of re-education rebuild themselves. Carly had built a good life for herself, with Marcus. Sydney loved them both.

Zoe was waiting for them in the kitchen, and she lit up as Sydney walked into the room. Sydney felt her heart lift at the sight. It hadn’t been since she left for Amberwood that she had seen Zoe so happy to see her. It had been almost as long since she had seen Zoe with an unadorned cheek.

“How was Russia?” asked Zoe, jumping off her stool and hugging Sydney tightly. “I heard that you met all kinds of vampires! I heard you saw Strigoi,” added Zoe, her voice dropping low on the last word.

Sydney couldn’t help but laugh at her sister’s eagerness. “Only from a distance. Rose – she’s a dhampir, Rose Hathaway – took care of them. I only had to deal with the bodies, like usual.” A lie. Her first words to her sister were a lie. It stung, but it was necessary.

Zoe bounced a little on the balls of her feet. “Still! And you had to spend so much time with that dhampir! I don’t think I could have done it. You’re really brave, Sydney.”

It was quite a difference from six years ago, when Zoe had been accusing Sydney of spending too much time with vampires. Six years ago, it had been fraternizing and had gotten Sydney shipped off to re-education. Now it was brave.

But that wasn’t entirely fair. There were no black marks on Sydney’s records at the moment, and their father hadn’t been pitting her and Zoe against each other. Of course Zoe wasn’t suspicious of her.

So Sydney shrugged delicately and wrapped an arm around Zoe’s shoulders. “Just doing what had to be done, Zo.”

“As should we all,” said Jared Sage, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. All of Sydney’s good humour vanished at the sight of him. “It’s good to see you again, Sydney.”

Sure it is, Sydney thought, unable to control her resentment. But Jared was probably telling the truth: Sydney was being a good little Alchemist, so he was proud of her. He did love her. It was just that his love was conditional.

“It’s good to see you, too,” said Sydney, forcing herself to keep smiling. Jared smiled and stepped forward to hug her. Sydney accepted it with none of the eagerness she’d had with her sisters and mother, skin crawling.

“Ivanov told me you were doing well in Russia,” said Jared, pulling back. He ran a disapproving eye over her. “Evidently, there was plenty of food in Saint Petersburg.”

Sydney gritted her teeth. It had taken her a long time to fully recover from her eating disorder and the unhealthy standards her father had set for her. She wasn’t going to let herself spiral again because of Jared Sage, dubbed by Adrian the World’s Worst Father of 2007 (And Probably Other Years, Too). Sydney had been unable to disagree with his assessment.

“Just taking in the culture,” said Sydney, keeping her voice light. She turned to Carly, trying to dismiss her father in a way that her father wouldn’t take offence to. “You’d love it there. The architecture is so beautiful.”

Carly grinned. “Only as a tourist, though,” she said. “Alchemist work sounds awful.”

You’ve got no idea, Sydney thought darkly.

#sydrian #bloodlines #vampire academy #fic