#and the little suit on him. and the little black ribbon on her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

duskandcobalt · 2 months

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Stargirl: Part Four

Following her last vision, Elain and Azriel navigate the surprise revelation and the frenzy that comes along with it.

...

Well, well, well... my smutty little darling that was only ever supposed to be one part comes to an end. This last part was intended to be just a little dirty short thing but somehow it turned into a 6k word monster soooo???? idk i had fun writing this, I hope you have fun reading it and I'm so thrilled I could get this out just in time for the last day of @sjmromanceweek 💕💗💞

this can be read as a stand alone but if you'd like to see how elain's sexy little visions came to be, you can find the first part of stargirl here as well as all the other parts in my masterlist xx

18+ please, gratuitous smut and a little bit of breeding kink as a valentine's day treat 💌👀♥️

ENJOY XX

Read on AO3

Elain runs a trembling hand down the front of her dress as she takes a deep breath.

She’s wearing a beautiful ivory gown made of delicate lace that’s almost sheer. Only heavy clusters of floral embroidery cover her from the top of the bodice down to the middle of her thighs where it tapers off before picking up again to form a stunning train that trails dramatically behind her. The dress has long sleeves, also covered in embroidery, but her shoulders and decolletage are left bare - an intentional design choice that she and her seamstress had made with a certain someone in mind.

A veil is ever so carefully placed into the crown of Elain’s intricately woven hair by the practiced hands of the twins when a soft knock sounds from the bedroom door, interrupting the mindless chatter she’d been exchanging with Nuala and Cerridwen.

She catches sight of the male in the reflection of her mirror. His tall, lean frame occupies almost the entire doorway. He’s dressed in an immaculately tailored suit and a small dusk coloured rose is pinned to the lapel of his jacket. His violet eyes soften as they meet hers and the very corners of his lips turn up into a fond smile.

“He’s not going to know what to do with himself when he sees you.” Rhysand says quietly. “You make for a beautiful bride, Elain.”

Elain ducks her head in thanks. The warmth of a blush creeps up her neck and blooms across her cheeks as the nerves that she’s been trying to keep at bay all morning finally settle low in her stomach at her brother-in-law’s sincere compliment and at the reminder of the male waiting for her in the garden.

She couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. Couldn’t believe that she was about to walk down the aisle to her mate.

…

It had been two years since she’d had that vision that had hinted at a truth she hadn’t been prepared to receive. A vision that had shown her this day - a mating ceremony to a dark haired Shadowsinger instead of the son of Autumn as the Cauldron had once suggested.

That single vision had come out of nowhere and thrown her entire life into a spiral.

She’d never forget sitting up in his bed, turning towards him and whispering those words that had turned their entire world upside down.

You’re my mate.

Azriel had only stared at her, still as a statue, as she fumbled over her words in a desperate attempt to explain to him exactly what she’d seen.

The offering of cake. A black ribbon binding her wrist to his.

He’d broken down moments later after finally finding his voice and asking her a few carefully curated questions to understand exactly what she’d seen. He’d clutched her tight to his chest as tears trickled from his eyes and into her hair. She’d never seen him like that before but she understood immediately that the overwhelming feeling that coursed through him was relief.

Relief from the knowledge that he hadn’t been forgotten by the Mother or the Cauldron. From knowing that he hadn’t been deemed unworthy of a mate because of all the blood he’d drawn over the centuries.

They’d gone to Feyre first, clumsily explaining what Elain had seen only to realise they would also need to confess to already having been spending time together. They told Rhys next and though it was perhaps naive of them, neither she nor Azriel had expected that the High Lord would react so poorly to the news.

For all the times that Elain had wished she could be with Azriel without needing to hide from the others, opening themselves up to the wrath of Rhysand for daring to mess with intercourt politics had resulted in a world of pain. He’d torn into Azriel for even thinking of pursuing a mated female, let alone a female mated to an Autumn Court male. For daring to bed her while her mate slept in the same house.

At the time, it had seemed that no matter how many times Elain tried to make it clear that the bond in question wasn’t even a real bond - that she had pursued Azriel just as much as he’d pursued her, that they’d never risked sleeping together when Lucien was in residence - her pleas fell on deaf ears. Rhys had stormed out of his office without sparing her a glance, only giving a stern warning to Azriel to stay the hell away from her.

They hadn’t stayed away from each other, of course. They’d simply resumed what they’d already been doing - sneaking in and out of each other’s rooms in the dead of night and only barely avoiding each other during the days.

There had been countless tears and numerous arguments. An entire war had almost been waged over their claim that the Cauldron had been wrong. Iit had taken almost an entire year of working with various High Lords, priestesses, and other contacts and associates of Rhysand to confirm that something had indeed gone wrong when Elain was submerged in the Cauldron - that a spell had been cast in an attempt to hide her bond to Azriel and guide her in another direction.

It had been confusing and messy and terrible for everyone involved but they had somehow come out on the other end, still together and still hopelessly in love. Now, there was a brand new element to their relationship. A bright, glowing tether that connected their bodies, their souls - already so tangible despite the fact that neither of them had formally accepted the bond.

Azriel, usually so reserved and attention avoidant, had surprised her when he insisted on even having a ceremony. She’d had to talk him out of going down the same path as Nesta and Cassian and after going back and forth too many times to count, Elain had eventually relented and they’d compromised on having the small garden ceremony that had come to her in that vision.

The title of mates had never meant much to her. She’d have chosen him a million times over where there’d been a predetermined connection between them or not. But she knew how much it meant to Azriel, knew that he considered the bond to be a blessing unlike any other.

It was why she attempted to look past the, quite frankly, insane behavior he’d been exhibiting over the past few months. Azriel had turned into something reminiscent of the girls that Elain had grown up with. The ones that became obsessive over their nuptials the second a ring was placed on their finger.

Just because she’d given in to his desire to have a ceremony, it didn’t mean that she hadn’t enjoyed torturing him from time to time when he was difficult about place settings or flowers.

“Never should’ve told you about that stupid vision,” Elain would taunt him, if only to feel the delicious trickle of arousal slither down her spine at the way his shoulders would stiffen and the promise of punishment would spark in his eyes.

Not that he’d ever actually deliver on that promise.

It was the one true point of contention between them. The stubborn male was intent on not formally accepting the bond before the ceremony and would hardly touch her, let alone fuck her, for fear of accidentally solidifying the bond between them before they could have it blessed by a priestess. And though she tried, there was no amount of teasing and taunting she could do that would get him to break.

He even went as far as to refuse food made by her whether she handed it directly to him or not.

It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous.

Azriel had made up for some of it though, meeting her halfway by insisting on incorporating certain aspects of a human wedding - starting with a proposal that had come as a complete surprise a few weeks before they’d broken the curse.

They’d been in the garden one evening, Azriel more quiet than usual as he studied her from over the brim of a chipped tea cup that appeared like a dollhouse toy in the grasp of his large hands. She’d only looked up from her notebook when he gently lifted her feet from his lap and shifted until he was on his knees in the grass beside her.

He had said her name so softly, his eyes gleaming with an unfamiliar quality that they’d later identified as nervousness when they laughed together in bed later, recounting the moment while Elain lifted her hand above their faces until the low fae lights caught the surface of the sparkling sapphire that newly graced her ring finger.

…

That sapphire gleams brighter than ever on her finger as Rhysand steps towards her and offers her his arm.

“Ready?”

He’d come to them after they’d announced their intention to have a ceremony and asked if he could walk Elain down the aisle - a sign of peace and a way of offering them his blessing. Something that she knew meant the world to Azriel after the tense year he and Rhys had had.

“Ready.” Elain swallows, slipping her arm through the crook of his elbow.

Apart from Rhys walking her down the aisle, most of what she’d seen in that vision remains the same. A harp plays as Rhys leads her out to the garden. Bright blooms of flowers are arranged on either side of a makeshift aisle. The sun shines and the Sidra glitters behind them. Nesta and Feyre smile brightly, tears gathering in the corner of their eyes. Cassian gives her a bright smile before clasping the broad shoulder of the handsome male standing next to him.

Elain’s breath catches in her chest when Azriel turns and his eyes land on her. She tries to keep from crying but there’s little she can do to stop the tears from falling when Azriel gives her a smile unlike anything she’d ever seen before, his own eyes shining with tears and admiration for his bride.

The sight of Azriel in his leathers was something Elain often dreamed of when she lay in bed at night, but it only takes one slow pass of her eyes over his body before she realises that the only thing better than Azriel in his leathers, is Azriel in a suit.

The suit is perfectly cut to his body and is befitting of a royal prince - the sash draped across his body, the medallions pinned to his chest - she realises that in a way, he really is dressed the part of a high ranking member of the Night Court and something about seeing him proudly dressed like this for her, makes her heart swell.

It feels like an eternity before she stands in front of him, before Rhys kisses her cheek and gives Azriel a hug. Before Azriel’s wonderfully familiar hands clasp around hers.

“Beautiful.” He gives her fingers a gentle squeeze as his eyes roam over her dress - the delicate lace that frames her exposed neck and shoulders. The embroidery that conceals the part of her that only he would ever see. He doesn’t bother to conceal his satisfied hum of approval as his gaze tracks back up the length of her body to her face.

The priestess takes over then, welcoming all their guests and guiding them through a short ceremony that culminates in an exchange of vows that leaves both of them with happy smiles and tear streaked faces.

They exchange rings after their vows - an homage to Elain’s human heritage but also something she’d quietly insisted on because the possessive part of her wanted him to have a physical marker that made it clear that he was taken to any female or male that dared to set their eyes on him.

Before she knows it, Nyx is teetering over to them, a small plate that holds one cinnamon bun haphazardly cradled in his small, chubby hands.

It’s the final point of difference from her vision - a small change she’d intentionally made to incorporate Azriel’s favourite of her homemade treats into their day. A nod to the day this had all started that only the two of them would understand.

She bends down and kisses Nyx on the forehead, gingerly taking the bun in her fingers before standing and bringing it to Azriel’s lips.

“Eat.” Elain murmurs.

Azriel’s lips close around the soft bun, teeth sinking into the sweet pastry. He swallows and Elain swears she feels the bond between them intensify. Unlike the uncomfortable pull she’d felt once upon a time, this is different. This time it’s desire and admiration and pure love that she feels when it tightens around her ribs.

By the way Azriel is looking at her, she knows he feels the same.

The ribbon is the next and final part of the ceremony. Feyre and Nesta both step forward to wrap a length of black satin around the couple’s wrists - sheepish looks on both of her sister’s faces. Rhysand and Cassian take over from their mates- tightening the ribbon and tying it into a firm bow.

“Remember, Az,” Cassian's eyes shine with mischief. “This stays on until you make her come hard enough to cause an avalanche on Ramiel.”

“Cassian!” Nesta groans, pinching the bridge of her nose, at the same exact time Feyre clasps her hands tight over Nyx’s ears even as she and Rhysand fail to stifle their laugh.

…

They don’t last long after the ceremony. It’s only a couple of turns around the small dancefloor and a few congratulatory conversations before the pull between them becomes too much to bear and Azriel bends down, his lips brushing over the delicate point of her ear as he quietly asks if she’s ready to leave.

He laughs at the eagerness with which Elain responds but she can’t bring herself to be embarrassed - not when she’d felt the absence of his touch so thoroughly for over a month now.

She needed to be alone with him. Needed to get away before the desire got the best of them and put them at risk of doing something obscenely stupid like consummating their bond in the middle of this garden, in front of everyone they held close to their hearts.

After a very quick goodbye to their amused guests, Azriel whisks Elain into his arms and flies directly to the townhouse that Rhys had gifted them as a mating present, grumbling that they may as well have it seeing as they’d already spent the last year or two desecrating every part of it.

No words are exchanged as Azriel lands, still cradling Elain in his arms as he wanders up the path and opens the door, carrying her over the threshold once more.

It was funny really, when she looks back at how far they’d come since that very first time Azriel had flown her here, to this place they could now call home.

She’d been a shell of herself back then, clutching to her human life with a desperation that had almost broken her completely. Despite it all, she’d felt a split second moment of reprieve from the intensity of her grief when Azriel, little more than a stranger to her at the time, carried her over the threshold and set her down with such care before he led her out to the one place he somehow knew she might find some sense of normalcy.

She’d felt it then - upon seeing the kindness in his eyes and feeling the gentleness of his touch - the tiniest inkling of hope that maybe one day she could find happiness in this new place, in this new life.

Sure enough, that little drop of hope had been warranted because just a few years later, Elain is the happiest she’s ever been.

The signs had all been there from the start.

That single strand of hair that had snagged right over his heart should’ve told her all she needed to know.

He carries her upstairs, toeing open the door to the bedroom that once belonged solely to her and Elain’s jaw drops as Azriel finally sets her down and she peels her eyes away from his perfect face to take in the room.

She knew that Feyre and Mor had come by earlier to decorate but she didn’t expect all of this. Her usual lilac linens have been replaced by billowing white sheets. There’s blush coloured rose petals strewn across the bed that match the roses that had framed the aisle and candles were scattered around the room, casting the bed in romantic, flickering golden light.

Azriel’s free arm winds around her waist from behind and his lips follow the path of her shoulder up her neck as he pulls her back towards him. Elain tilts her head up to meet him halfway and his mouth travels along her jaw until his lips hover centimeters from hers.

She feels like every bit of her skin is on fire. She could never imagine that the level of her desire for Azriel would surpass what she felt for him in the past but she was sorely mistaken because what she feels in this moment makes her think that if he didn’t do something to quell the ache thrumming between her legs, she might just die.

“Azriel.” She breathes his name, turning towards him fully and breaking the silence that had settled comfortably between them.

“Elain.” He answers. His fingers press into the plush flesh of her hip, the very tips of them venturing low - teasing at the curve of her backside.

“My mate.” Elain says quietly, raising her hand to cup his face. Her thumb drags along his sharp cheekbone.

“My mate.” He repeats. The word is almost unfamiliar on his lips, like he still can’t quite believe the term is his to use. Azriel brings his lips to hers and her entire body is overcome with a desperate need. “My wife.”

Elain can’t help but whimper as her body curves into his by its own volition. She melts into his searing kiss.

“My husband.”

Azriel lets out a soft moan at that and a slight shift of his stance allows her to feel him hard against her hip.

Elain is suddenly nervous as she pulls away to look up at Azriel. She doesn’t understand why she’s suddenly shy, standing in front of him like an innocent, blushing bride even though they both knew that ship had sailed long ago. He stares back at her, candle light catching the flecks of green in his eyes.

She recognises the wonder there as he takes in the sight of her. It’s a perfect mirror to her own emotions. To the disbelief that they’d actually made it to this moment against all odds.

“Not sure how we’re supposed to consummate anything with our wrists bound together.” Elain frowns, her voice shaking slightly. “I won’t be able to get you out of this suit.”

“I think it’s more of a symbolic thing.” Azriel smiles, kissing her once more to ease her nerves. His fingers slip from her waist to their wrists, deftly plucking at the knot of black satin until it comes loose and their hands are freed. He sets the ribbon down and fixes her with a look that sends a shiver down her spine.

He motions for her to turn and then his hands are in her hair, gently removing pins until her hair falls in a gentle, albeit slightly messy, golden wave down her back. He gathers it to the side and more kisses are placed to the sensitive place where her neck meets her shoulder.

Azriel’s fingers find the buttons that run down the back of her dress and he begins to undo them slowly. Elain knows that he’s doing it on purpose. That even on this special day, he wouldn’t dream of missing the opportunity to have her beg.

But Elain, for once, won’t let him win. She somehow finds the will power to hold still as he undoes her dress and drags it down her arms and over her torso until it falls to the floor and she’s left standing in front of him in nothing except for the very expensive scrap of ivory lace that covers her sex and the shiny rings on her finger.

She reaches for his suit jacket and helps him maneuver out of it and then she steps around to his back to undo the buttons of his shirt around his wings. And maybe, just maybe, during the process of ridding him of his shirt, she lets her knuckles smooth over a part of the delicate membrane that has him gritting out her name in warning.

Elain grins, moving back around to his front to reach for the buttons of his fine pants - slowly undoing them as he kicks off his shoes just in time for her to slide his trousers and undershorts down his legs.

She can’t help the way her eyes linger on the proud length of him. On the small bead of moisture gathered at the tip that gleams in the glow of the candles, practically calling for her to put her lips on him. She’s so distracted that she barely even registers Azriel reaching back for the ribbon he’d placed on the desk a few minutes ago.

“I can think of better uses for this ribbon.” Azriel’s eyes flick up to meet hers as he smooths out the ribbon and dangles it from his fingertips.

“I can think of something even better.” Elain plucks the ribbon from his hands and backs him towards the bed with a single finger against his chest until he’s laying down. His eyes shimmer with amusement as she motions for him to put his hands above his head but he silently follows her instructions.

She kneels next to him, leans down and tries so very hard to ignore the sweet press of his lips to her sternum as her fingers make quick work of wrapping the ribbon around both of his wrists before securing the remaining length to the wooden posts of her headboard.

“You have the rest of our lives to touch me whenever and however you’d like. Let’s see how long you can last before you’re begging to touch your wife.”

She moves to settle herself on his lap but he stops her with a slight shift of his knees that sends her sliding further up his torso.

“On my tongue first.”

Elain bites down on her lower lip, her core already tightening in anticipation as she shifts further up and carefully places a knee above each of his shoulders, mindful of his wings.

“Look at you.” Azriel’s eyes are fixed on the damp lace covering her center. On the gleam of arousal that covers her inner thighs. “Such a mess already and I haven’t even begun.”

“So much talking.” Elain grumbles, her face flooding with heat at just how wet she was for him when all he’d done was take her dress off.

“Make me stop.” Azriel challenges. She huffs but slowly lowers her hips until the defined tip of his nose brushes over her, dragging her soaked underwear over her clit in a delicious slide of friction.

It’s far from the first time he’s had her like this but it is the first time he hasn’t been able to use his hands. It’s in this moment that Elain realises just how much she relies on him to guide her down to his face. To pull her hips closer and closer, to help her rock against him as she rides him. With his hands restrained, it all falls back on her to gain the confidence to use him like this.

“Sit.” The single word is laced with pure demand and she can sense that Azriel’s patience is slipping. His need to get his mouth on her overruling any of the previous gentleness he’d shown her this evening.

She does as she’s told and her hands fly out to grasp for purchase on her headboard at the first pass of Azriel’s mouth over the lace that covers her. He doesn’t give her a moment to catch her breath before he uses his teeth to tug the lace to the side as best as he can and then his tongue is on her, eagerly tasting her, consuming her with long, effortless strokes.

“I’ve missed this.” He groans against her skin. His tongue dips inside her. “ I’ve missed you.”

She doesn’t have the words to admonish him. To tell him that he could’ve had her this whole time if only he hadn’t been so stubborn. But a month without having him like this has taken its toll and Elain finds that she’s utterly incapable of forming any words or sounds that aren’t a simple keening moan as she rolls her hips and chases the sensation quickly building low and intense in her stomach. Her thighs tremble, her fingers clench around the wooden posts of her bedframe and before she knows it, the wave of pleasure crests and she slumps forward - the already precarious rhythm of her hips falters as she comes hard and fast on his tongue.

Azriel’s mouth doesn’t stop working her until she pulls off of him completely but even then, she isn’t granted a single moment of reprieve besides a couple seconds to catch her breath.

He calls in his shadows and icy, invisible hands are firm around her waist, guiding her back down to where she’d started. Her hands find his cock as his shadows stay with her, slipping in between her legs and over her breasts in feather light caresses that have her aching for more despite just having come mere seconds ago.

Elain raises her eyes to look up at Azriel as she lowers her mouth to his cock. At the first slide of her tongue over his head, a particularly daring shadow slips inside her. The feeling of it is one she knows well, so similar to Azriel’s own fingers.

Elain pulls off of him for a second, glaring up at him. The menacing look she’d been going for is cut short when she gasps as the shadow still inside her presses hard against her upper wall.

“You said,” Azriel starts, eyes squeezing shut when she takes him in her mouth again. “You said I couldn’t touch you. You never said my shadows couldn’t.”

“Not fair.” Elain mumbles around the length of him, unwilling to stop the movement of her lips and tongue. She only takes him deeper, relishing in the way his hips lift to push himself further down her throat.

“Did you think I’d forgotten?” More of his shadows are in her hair now, tugging at her roots with delicious pressure. “All those times you’ve taunted me this past month? Did you think I would forget?”

She gives him a subtle shake of her head, hollowing her cheeks around him all the while.

She’d been praying that he wouldn’t forget, that he’d catalogue all those moments until he could finally deliver on that promise of punishment she’d seen gleaming in his eyes each time she’d deliberately taunt him with her words or actions.

“Touch me.” She doesn’t know how the tables have turned so quickly. How in a split second, she’s pulled off of him and has relinquished all control to him - begging him to touch her instead of the other way around as she’d initially planned. “Azriel, please.”

His shadows aren’t enough and too much time has passed. They’ve put it off too long and the thread between them has grown too taut. She wants his hands. His fingers. She wants him inside her.

Elain blinks and Azriel’s hands are free. She blinks again and she’s on her back in the exact spot he had just been. His hazel eyes burn into hers as his hands - those glorious, beautiful scarred hands - smooth over every inch of her body that’s within their reach.

“Please.” She begs again, unsure as to what she’s even asking for. All she knows is that there’s greater forces at play and her wants and desires are careening dangerously out of control.

“Okay.” Azriel nods and suddenly it’s clear as day to her that he’s experiencing the exact same thing on the other side of the bond glowing between them. There’s a new sense of urgency to his words. To his actions. His calloused thumbs drag over her nipples. “Okay, my love.”

He moves a hand inbetween her legs and pushes her thighs further apart and then she feels him, hot and heavy against her sex. He drags his cock over her twice, coating himself in the arousal he’s pulled from her. A moment later he’s inside her and Elains swears it’s the best thing she’s ever felt in her entire life.

“It feels…” She can’t finish her sentence. She’s too overcome by a wave of emotions so intense that it wracks through her body. That thread between them that had seemed so tangible for the past month had suddenly solidified into something else entirely. She could feel it in her blood. In each and every nerve. Could feel him. Each of her emotions - all the joy and the pleasure and the relief - it was all amplified. Doubled. Because she could feel his twin emotions on the other side of this new connection.

It had snapped. The bond had finally snapped into place once and for all.

Elain laughs, high and bright, and full of disbelief because each time she had thought that what she felt for him couldn’t possibly be topped, she had been proven wrong.

“I know.” Azriel sweeps back the hair clinging to her sweat slick forehead and keeps his eyes on hers.

“It just…” Elain gasps, fingernails clawing at his back in a desperate attempt to get even closer to him. To feel even more of him.

“I know.” Azriel repeats, lowering his mouth to hers in an all consuming kiss that renders her utterly useless. “I felt it, too.”

Azriel continues to whisper sweet nothings into her skin as he takes her, his hips meeting hers as he delivers long smooth strokes that have her crying his name.

“Want you to come with me, okay?” He says gently, waiting until her eyes focus on his and she nods that she had in fact heard him before he bends one of her knees to her chest and picks up his pace.

The new position has tears forming in the corner of her eyes from the sheer bliss that courses through her. It’s a feeling that’s only heightened when he brings a hand in between their bodies to thumb at her clit.

“I meant every word.” Azriel murmurs, his forehead pressed tight to hers. “You’re my sun, Elain.”

The smooth movement of his hips stutters and she knows he’s close.

I spent the first part of my life shrouded in darkness with only shadows for company. I thought I’d learnt what it was to live in the light of day again but I didn’t truly know what it meant to feel the warmth of the sun until you looked at me for the first time.

The beautiful words Azriel had said to her earlier in the garden echo in her head and she can’t stop the sob that escapes her at the reminder of the vows they’d made. At the promises they’d sworn - the declarations to love and to cherish each other for the rest of their long, immortal lives.

“I love you.” Her hands land on either side of his face and she holds him to her, kissing him deeply as he spills inside her. Her muscles contract around him, an endless pulsing sensation that makes her ears ring and her eyes go blurry.

He says it back to her - three words chanted over and over again in combination with her name as he fills her.

Her blood pounds through her veins and her heart feels like it’s going to explode out of her chest. No amount of reading and research into mating bonds would have prepared her for the magnanimity of what she felt in this moment.

It isn’t until Azriel pulls out of her and kneels in between her legs that her eyes focus and she regains any sense of who or where she is. He gently pries her legs further apart and his eyes darken at the sight in front of him. She watches as he takes two of his fingers and collects the come smeared on her thighs. It coats his fingers and the sight of a small bit of it sliding off the knuckle of his middle finger and landing over the gold band on his ring finger is so beautifully filthy that it has her holding back a moan.

“Back where it belongs.” Azriel says the words with a satisfied, purely male smirk and Elain’s breath hitches as he slides his fingers back in her, fucking his spend back inside her. She shivers at the sensation of cold metal grazing her skin.

“Sometimes when I see you like this - your pretty cunt so wet and swollen, so full of my come that it drips out…” He pauses for a second, eyes fixated on the easy slip of his fingers in and out of her. “I wonder why I still take the tonic every morning.”

Elain summons the energy to prop herself up on her elbows so she can look at him. She’s shocked at his admission, at all that it entails.

“If you want me to call you daddy, Azriel, all you had to do was ask.”

It’s a weak attempt at humour, a pathetic attempt to buy her some time as she tries to figure out what to say.

Azriel’s head tips back and he laughs in that way that makes her heart ache with love for him.

“I’m serious, Elain.” He gives her a soft smile, his fingers still moving within her. “If you want that with me, I… I’d be honoured.”

“I need,” she gasps when his fingers curl inside her, pressing against the spot he knows will get her where he wants her to be. “To think.”

“Okay.” He agrees. “Whenever you’re ready. If you’re ever ready.”

“After this…” Elain’s back arches off the bed and her legs threaten to close but Azriel holds her open for him with his other hand.

“After the frenzy.” He completes her thought for her and watches, completely enamored as her head tilts back and her slender fingers frantically clutch at the sweat soaked sheets.

“With a clear head.” She barely manages to get out the words. “We’ll talk about it.”

She’d need a clear head to discuss that particular subject because right now, with how unbelievably aroused she was at the idea of his fingers pushing his come back inside her - back where it belongs - she’d do just about anything he asked of her.

Azriel only leans forward, crowding her body with his as he once again sends her falling over the edge. Her moans are swallowed eagerly by his mouth.

“Always take me so well.” He praises her. “So beautiful each and every time you come for me.”

When she finally settles, utterly spent against the mattress, Azriel moves to pull back but Elain clambers to keep him with her and she finds herself startled by her own automatic reaction to him moving even a fraction of an inch away. She buries her face in his neck, drawing in the scent of him - that cedar scent that is now completely intertwined with notes of jasmine and honey- and the depth of her desire terrifies her.

Elain can’t fathom that there will be a time where she won’t need to feel the weight of him on top of her. Couldn’t imagine that there’d be a second of the foreseeable future in which she wouldn’t need to feel the warmth of his skin under the tips of her fingers. The possessive quality that already lived deep within her bones had grown into a whole new monster because even though she’s been told over and over again that it’s the males who get territorial once a mating bond has been accepted, the way in which she needs to have Azriel all to herself makes her feel confident that she could rip someone to shreds if they looked at him for even a second too long.

“I never want to leave this bed.” Elain sighs, fingers slipping down the expanse of his back as she arches upward, her breasts pressing against his chest. She’s delighted when the shift of her body allows her to feel him hard against her stomach again because despite her sore muscles and the tiredness seeping into her bones, she’s somehow immediately ready for him. Desperate to have him inside her once more.

“Too bad.” Azriel’s lips skate up the column of her throat until his lips are right over her ear. “Because I intend to fuck you on every single surface in this house.”

He sinks into her again and Elain is convinced once and for all that this frenzy might never end.

#elriel #elriel fic #sjmromanceweek2024 #elain x azriel #elain archeron #azriel #so very nervous for this to go out bc i've been putting off finishing this for far far far too long #my writing #acotar fanfiction

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bamsara · 2 years

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Halloween's Night (Solar Lunacy! DCA x Reader Drabble)

This was orignally a prompt drabble, but I got carried away so now it's a simple Halloween drabble of it's own without the prompt.

Set in future ARC 2 (lateish) of Solar Lunacy: The DCA's reputation has improved, Moon has been reinstated as the Daycare Attendant and is doing well so far combatting the virus. Fire has not happened yet.

With no prior plans made, you are working the evening to night shift at the Pizzaplex's Daycare on Halloween night, so you practice Trick or Treating Safty with Sun and the kids, and witness a sweeter, softer moment with Moon. Also, everyone is forced to wear costumes. Including you, to which you get teased for.

The reader has a 'themed' costume, but the actaul apperence of the costume is not described, and up to visual interprietation

WordCount: 4,000+ | AO3 Link (preffered for comments!)

Halloween was a favorite holiday, if you couldn't notice from the absolute takeover scary and pumpkin themed decor had over your neighbors lawns and in the front window of every store you pass by on the drive to work. One of the best holidays, something to look forward to all year, and stores know this, jacking up heavy prices of candy for trick or treaters for the special night.

Fazbear Entertaient is no different. The moment the calender struck October 1st, Halloween decor started appearing in every neon hall and nearly everything was spook themed. Even the band members received 'make-overs' or costume changes to help with the Halloween Spirit.

Chica was a vampire, her hunger for pizza now a thirst for blood! (Or so she likes to loudly proclaim) while Roxy was a werewolf hunter, which, you find terribly ironic but she looks great in the typical lumber-jack style with a trench coat, it almost reminds you of pirate themed aesthetic, but you don't bring that part up.

Freddy is a wizard. Really. He's a wizard, complete with wizard hat on top of his original top hat and sparkly cape behind him. He looks goofy, but that was the goal, and the kids really love when he waves his 'magical hands', pulls out candy from his cape (which thankfully hid his chest compartment) and handed them out.

Monty is a zombie, complete with fake painted 'stitches' across his body with new paint that makes some parts slightly discolored from the rest of him. You wouldn't think that he would have liked playing the part, but turns out the Gator actaully likes to jump out and scare people, hands out and threatening to eat little ones as they run, giggling.

All their costumes were cute!

You, on the other hand, were quite surprised when you clocked in for your shift, and a staffbot rolls up to you with a brown paper bag, shoving it into your hands before giving you a quick thumbs up and rolling away.

Inside, to your exact measurements, is a costume that looks like a space themed fairy-type of thing that looks more like it would be suited for a child who couldn't decide what to dress up as rather than for an employee with unreasonable mangment. It even came with shoes.

....actaully, you shouldn't be surprised. Ever since your 'promotions, you should have seen things like this coming. You were hoping you could get away with just the bear-ears.

You change in the employee break room before heading out, and the Daycare, as always, is very busy when you arrive.

You hear them before you see them, children laughing as the Daycare Attendant chases them throughout the jungle gym, dark shapes through the plastic parts until they come rolling out of the tube slides. Even the tykes were in costumes, most of them onsies their parents picked out. Adorable.

Sun's costume change was interesting: a long black cape over his usual clown attire, and two painted devil horns on the appropriate spots on his sunrays. The clown ruffles were missing, and his colorful pants were replaced by puffy black pants, a tight shirt that made his chasis look like a skeleton's ribcage and with long sleeves with bones on the fabric as well.

The ribbons on his wrist remain, and so do the shoes with the bells. There's a hood on the back too and something attatched to his hip, but the hood is down because it would never fit around his rays, and the object is obscured behind the cape.

No where near as colorful as the animatronic usually liked, but he didn't seemed bothered; the kids were having a hell of a time with his new 'scary' apperence.

You take your place at the security desk right as the first parent arrives to come check out their kid, and Sun bounds up right with the toddler in his arms before you even call for him. After formalities, the paperwork (not really nesssasary, since robots can handle all the stuff in their brains anyway, but it makes you feel useful) and waving the two off, he turns to greet you.

Actaully, he gives you a full look-over, hand on cheek and humming. The displeasure on your face is plain, so you know his voice is teasing when he speaks. "Well, don't you look like a doll-!-"

"Shut it." You huff, and amusement flashes across the animatronic's face, and you subconsioudly adjust the straps of the fairy wings you've been tasked to wear with a sour frown. "I didn't choose the costume."

"Really! Because I think it suits you very well-"

You wack him with the clipboard, and Sun fakes hurt. "Boo. What are you supposed to be?"

He grings. "I have no idea! A demon, I think." Sun hunches over, fingers curled to mimick claws and turns from you to yell out towards the gaggle of children who were peering over at you two curiously. "Maybe the kind that eats little boys and girls that don't brush their teeth!"

A small collective gasp, a few giggles, hiding their faces away back into their coloring books as Sun gives them a final lookover and return back to you. "Whatdya think? Scary enough for ya?"

"Terrifying." You smile. "What am I supposed to be doing today? Aside from checkouts." You look towards the children, not many left.Looks like most of them have already been picked up.....That's...earlier, than usual."

Sun claps his hands together. "It's Halloween! Families come to pick up little ones early to start trick or treating! The Daycare will be closing a few hours early tonight!"

Oh, good. Less human interaction for you then. You sit yourself at the Security desk, eyeing the suspisouly full bowl of Fazbear themed candy that's been placed there. "Nice. Are these free for the taking?"

"Not quite yet." A metal hand clasps onto your shoulder, fingers tapping on your clothes. "And you know what? I could really use a little fairy helper right now-"

"Sunny-"

"Trick or Treating saftey! Super important! Some of these kiddos are trick or treating for the first time ever tonight, lets do a test run!" He leans back away from you, giddy and chipper as usual. Pretty sunny guy for being a demon.

You raise a brow, hand inching towards the treat bowl. "So...you want me to play the person at the door?"

"Correct!" Without missing a beat or moving his gaze, he gently slaps your hand away, and you pout as he continues. "I'll help encourage them, you just pretend to be 'answering the door' and give one piece of candy when they're ready-don't give anything with peanuts to Lewis, you see that one? Little one, blue dinorsouar onsie, yes. Good, good-and you can have any remaining candy left over!"

That bit caught your attention. "Can I have some now?"

"It would make the kids sad to see you eating candy when they're only allowed one." Sun's lowers, smile softening. "So no. You cannot."

Your response is a wrinkled nose and a frown. He pats your head in a mock show of empathy and tuts at your impatience.

The kids are giddy when Sun gathers them and tells them the rules as you prepare yourself to be the 'door greeter' in this little scenerio. For this, you crouch underneath the security desk where you can't be seen, await for a child to knock on the 'door' (aka, the wood of the desk) before popping up and going about the scenerio. It's silly, and a few onlookers that are leaving peer through the glass at your shenanigans, but you're smiling anyway.

The first knock comes, two hits on the wood and you pop out from the behind the desk. "Hello! And what are you supposed to be!"

The child, a boy with glasses too big for his face and wearing a skeleton onsie, timidly holds out his hands, eyes big and expectant. He has a slight lisp when he talks, excited. "Trick or Treat!"

You shift your eyes to Sun, and siliently the animatronic returns your knowing gaze. Well, he didn't really answer your question, but it's the enthusiasim that counts. "Oh my, here you go."

You place a piece of candy in his palm, and the boy immediatly turns to run off.

"Now what do we say?" Sun calls out to the boy's retreating form, half sticking out of a sliding tube.

The other children watch intently as the boy freezes, scuttles back out of the tube and running up to you. "T-thank you."

"Veeeery good job!" Sun praises, and you smile at the child to emphsize his praise. "Now what do we do?"

The boy answers, his voice joined by the choir of other children answering with him all out of synch. "Go back to our parents."

"That's right! You're a very smart bunch of fellas, aren't you?" Sun, who stands across the length of the room that would consitute a mock distance of the sidewalk to a front door, nods in approval as the candy holding tyke runs up to him, pinching the little one's cheek and cooing. He played the 'parent' while you were the door greeter, and you watched as he clapped and praised the children for following such a good example before ducking back underneath the desk.

The animatronic gently presses another child in your direction, and the process repeats.

It's cute and silly. They're all very young, more than likely this will be their first Halloween going door to door, and nervous at first when they approuch you, knocking on the desk and looking askew when you come out from hiding. That is, until their good manners and saftey behavior is rewarded with a piece of chocolate or jolly rancher, and their face lights up.

You occasionally have to break character as parents arrive to check out their children, the group dwindling little as the candy in your bowl starts to deplete. Some of them are restraining a laugh or smile at your costume, and possibly Sun's, but appreciate the 'practice' before the actaul trick or treating.

The next child is the quiet one. A little pigtailed girl that never talks, in an alien themed costume with a Moon plushie that's clutched tightly to her chest.

This girl never liked Sun, scared of him, so he doesn't push her too much as he gestures for her to approuch you. "It's okay, it's just practice! You get a piece of candy for trying!"

She doesn't budge from her spot, notably a distance away from the animatronic. Sun's smile doesn't faulter, but you know it probably sucks for him when this happens. "The meeting spot can be where the coloring books are, you don't have to come near me, okay?" His voice is soft, lowered, unlike him like he was borrowing the tone from somewhere else. "Would you like to try?"

She hesitates, looking back and forth between you and the jester, before approuching in small, timid steps. You try to appear as nonthreatening as possible . You don't even hide this time, just smiling as she approuches the desk. "Hello, there."

You see her tense up, and know it's already a failed attempt before her eyes get wet. A knock on the desk isn't even attempted, and the girl takes off, Moon plushie and alien antienna and all, towards the coloring books.

You have half a mind to go after to, comfort her somehow, but Sun is by your side quickly, calling out to the toddler instead. "That's alrighty, starlight! You tried and you were very brave, good job!" His praise feels esasperated, and the animatronic turns to you, head lowered to whisper so the other children. "That one's a touch sensitive. Best not to push it."

He's right, but you still feel a bit guilty. No time to feel it for long, because a gaggle of parents appear at the doorway and your attention is torn away to check out the remaining children to their appopriate gaurdians.

Sun amuses the remainder of the children with cartwheels and handstands that make his cape fly wildly until the children, one by one, are checked out and the Daycare is growing empty.

The hours are shorter because of the holiday, so the automated lighting system is supposed to go off earlier than usual. Parents and families are clearing out from the Pizzaplex, save for a few lingering souls, one of which still sits by the coloring area, scribbling on a page underneath one of the toddler tables in quiet contentment.

You frown, and pull out your phone. "The Daycare closes in five minutes."

"Her father must have forgotten the holiday hour change." Sun interjects, quickly gathering up all the little plastic candy wrappers the children threw onto the floor and tossing them into the garbage bin, muttering about keeping the place clean. "Good fello! Busy quite a lot, I think. He'll show up, no worries."

"The lights will go out." You say, and this time, there's no worry in your voice.

Sun salutes you, saying nothing. But he does tug at your wings as he passes by, and you try to step on his cape to make him trip and fail, causing him to snicker as you stumble.

As time would have it, the lights go out at the exact time Naptime is scheduled, but the Daycare is no longer taking check-ins for the holiday and is officially closed. Funny how the shortened hours would eradicate the Naptime schedule from the end of the work day, but there was no time for sleep on Halloween's Eve.

You don't flinch anymore when the lights go out, but you still look up from your phone and desk towards the girl that has yet to be picked up. She's not coloring anymore, instead curled up against a giant plushie and picking at the threads from her own plush.

Poor thing. You consider getting up and going to try and talk to her-

-but a blur in the corner of your vision comes around to your front, something silver colored and shiny pressing up against your neck. You freeze, instictivly, at the sycth's blade up against your skin.

A low, familier voice whispers next to your ear. "Slow down. You'll get sick."

Immediatly your face deadpans, and your hands drop the series of candy that you oh-so-weren't-totally-stealing from the candy bowl. "I'm an adult, Moon. I can have as much candy as I want."

Moon says nothing, but you can practically hear the grin as the plastic, wobbly blade drags across your neck harmlessly as the animatronic makes a 'scccchhhh' sound to mimick slitting your throat.

"Dying. Dying super hard. Blood gushing everywhere right now.." You jest, and the 'weapon' disappears, allowing you to spin on your heel and take the animatronic in fully. "....The Grim Reaper?"

Moon stands there in costume, the same as what Sun wore, but the hood was up over his hat, and a toy scycnh that's more suited for a child in his grip. That must be what was attatched to their hip you didn't see earlier.

He looks...unbothered, and his behavior was playful. But then again, you've known the Daycare Attendant long enough that it was easy to hide a face when your face's default setting is 'smile.' "Managment really didn't think the whole costume thing through, huh?"

His eyes are white, the one on the darker half of his face darkening to a red hue, only briefly. He holds the scyth up, pulling down one end and releasing it so it wobbled like rubber. "Try not to look too much into it."

"As long as you're having fun." You offer a smile in comfort, and Moon's response is 'stabbing' you through the gut with the fake sycnh, to which you snatch from him and bonk him with it as he snickers. "You dolt! There's a kid still here!"

"I know." Moon is unaffected by the plastic bonking, unmoving and plain faced as it hits him right between the eyes.

"Well?" You pull your 'weapon' back and glare at him.

Moon has no pupils at the moment, but you feel his gaze drift up and down your body before meeting your own again.

"Moon." You stress.

"Nice costume." He chuckles, fingers coming up to pinch at your wings. The straps press against your skin as he pulls them, humming like one was inspecting a caught butterfly. "Can't have you flying away though-"

You bonk him again. "Stop that."

"Hurtful" He's snickering. He's mocking you, damn him. "I let you get away with too much."

"Okay, now you're just being mean-"

He catches your next hit, your hand in his palm, curled fingers enclosing your own. A frown on your face, you open your mouth to question it before you pause. He's not looking at you, rather, peering off towards the other end of the Daycare, and you follow his vision.

Right as you look over, you spy pigtails dart back behind one of the cylinder towels. Moon drops your hand, and you keep your voice low when you talk to him so she can't hear. "You're supposed to be her favorite. I don't know why she hasn't come over to say hi to you, yet."

Moon hums. "Because the adults are flirting."

You whip your head back around to him, face hot. "We are not 'flirting'!"

Casually, he adjusts the wings back into proper position. "Sure."

"We're not!"

"Okay." He taps the corner of his faceplate, near his smile that's been teasing the entire time.

You pause, hand coming up to wipe your mouth. He leaves you there while you scrub at the space around your lips furiosuly until you're convinced he only tricked you into thinking you have chocolate around your mouth just so he'd get the last laugh, but he's approuching the girl before you can retort.

You huff at him, but settle back into your spot against the security desk, where the light switch remains nearby and you have a full view of the scenerio. You won't need to use it. You only remember it's there for your own memory.

Pulling out your phone, you check the time again and a few messages and emails wishing you a safe and happy halloween from a few stores that want to capatilize on the holiday. More than likley, the father of the child will arrive at his usual time to pick up the girl, which is typically an hour before closing, but due to the shortened hours of the holiday, would be another thirty minutes from now.

So you eat candy and pass the time. You don't mind it, helps you organize your notes. Occasioanlly you'll look up from the desk out of habit and see the animatronic sitting criss cross on the floor, hands in his lap with the little girl who's too afraid to interact with anyone else.

It's funny, you think, as you pop a smartie in your mouth, that the little girl afraid of everything else's favorite is a robot with a old reputation for blantant murder.

She's showing him a drawing you can't see from this distance, and Moon takes it in his hands and says something softley that you can't hear. You smile, and return to your phone and candy. He's come a long way.

It's a few minutes later as you close out of all of your tabs do you feel a presence around you. You look up, Moon standing a few feet away, cloak fully closed and hood pulled over so only the bottom half of his face is visible, with the glow of two white eyes staring at you from the dark.

The moment you notice him, he shuffles forward, except it's weird. Like penguin walking, in fashion that reminds you that underneath the 'grim reaper' costume, he's still a freaking clown.

You raise a brow. "Wha-"

He cuts you off. "Trick or Treat." You furrow your brows, squinting in confusion, and so he repeats himself again. "Trick. Or. Treat."

You're about to jest that robots don't eat candy so you'll have to take trick instead, but a small shape catches your sight. Hands, small and shaky, push out from the bottom of the cloak. The body attactched to them are still hidden by the fabric, but they are cupped and outstretched towards you.

You understand instantly. There's not a lot of candy left in the bowl since you've been eating them all, but there's three or four pieces left, which you scoop up and gently plop into the child's palms. "Bravery gets a reward, doesn't it?"

The child only makes a positive sniffle, but the hands pull back into the cloak and you immediatly hear the sound of a wrapper being torn open.

"Thank you." Moon grins.

Then, much to your amusement, you watch as the animatronic quite literally turns on his heel, and waddles all the way back to the designated 'safe zone'. It is, by all accounts, the funniest thing you've seen all night and takes a considerable amount of effort not to laugh at the retreating figure penguining away.

The father arrives a few minutes after that, and the girl is very easily presuaded from that point to come out from her hiding. Your suspisions were correct; the father simply didn't realize the Daycare's hours were working on a holiday schedule, and apologized greatly for the trouble. You're the one to reassure him that it's fine, you're going in the daycare all night anyways, and that his daughter caused no trouble.

Moon does not stand with you at the door. He still has....trouble with older adults sometimes. So he stands as a cloaked silohellte at the far top end of the jungle gym, cloaked in shadow save for his eyes, and his hand when he pulls it out to wave back as the girl waves at him once, and they're gone.

There. The Daycare is offically closed and empty. The Pizzaplex in full will be following suit soon, and you can relax.

The sound of bells jingle behind you as your lock the exit. "You're going to stay."

It's less of a question, more like a statement, but you give him a response as you turn anyways. "Yeah. I didn't have any Halloween plans, so I agreed to a full evening and night shift. I get bonus pay for it being a holiday."

"We could do scary things." He starts, mischief in his grin. He walks around you in a circle, oddly and dramatic in the fashion that a jester knows best, whipping the other side of your head as you turn to and fro. "I can show you scary things. Tell stories."

"I can show you scary things and stories." You refute. Pulling out your phone, Youtube and a few streaming services are pinned to your homescreen. "Never had a horror movie marathon, have you, Starboy?"

Moon pauses, and thinks for a long time.

You narrow your eyes at the silence. "If you joke that your life is a horror movie, I'll be disappointed."

"Not anymore." The animatronic spins his head, once, twice, as the wire comes down to attatch. It hooks onto his back, which is hilarious to see because you realize the cloak must have a small hole cut out the back for that to even work.

"Our room. Comfortable there." His hand extends towards you. "Feel like flying, fairy?"

Your nose wrinkles, taking his hand and scoffing at his amusement. "Okay, that's it, I'm taking the costume off as soon as we're up there."

#Solar Lunacy #Bytes of Lunacy #fnaf sb #fnaf moon #fnaf sun #drabbles #moon x reader #sun x reader #self insert #moondrop #sundrop

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maddascanbe-blog · 5 months

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"Well M' Lady Noire, guess your playing the easy part today?"

"Stay focused Mister Bug."

Personally I would have called him Lord Bug to match her, but I'm not planning to change any of the names if I can. Some of the later ones though... We'll see.

I like Lady Noire a lot on paper, it's just how they rendered the suit that throws me off. I also agree that she looks better with blue eyes, so I switched her accents to a teal color to still kinda keep to the green. Also adding ribbons and bows because Marinette is adorable.

Meanwhile Mister Bug gets a more orange-red with a gradient to an orange shade to reference ladybugs with yellow and orange patches. Also switch to the black mask like his lady. and of course little antennae ribbons of the ponytail

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous redesign #mlb redesign #mlb fanart #ladybug miraculous #ladybug #chat noir #lady noire #mister bug #black cat miraculous #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #marinette redesign #adrien agreste redesign

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audhd-author · 9 months

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Charity Ball

Yet again, you and Tony have been invited to attend another event. However, he intends to make this one less boring, surprising you with a gift before the pair of you leave.

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2125 words

NSFW (18+)

Public play, sex toys, praise kink, orgasm control, edging, dirty talk, remote controlled vibrator, multiple orgasms.

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You always enjoy the tedious hours spent with the hair and makeup artist teams before events with Tony. The makeup itself, you could take it or leave it really but the company is always nice. "Alright girl, finishing touches and you're all good to go." Alicia grins, applying your mascara with years of experience. "And may I just say, damn girl. You're looking beautiful!" Ryan laughs, undoing the clips holding your hair up, your ivory locks draping over your shoulders in luscious waves.

"I can't thank you guys enough." You grin, admiring yourself in the mirror as Alicia lightly sprays the setting spray over your face. "Anytime for you, future Mrs Stark. That ring be looking ex-pen-sive!" Ryan says, excitedly glancing at the engagement ring hugging your finger. You chuckle, looking down at your hand, serene happiness filling your veins with warmth. "I suppose it is a bit but you know Tony."

"Am I not allowed to spoil the love of my life?" Your fiance's deep voice sounds from the doorway as you grin, looking over at him. "I never said that." You laugh as Alicia gives you a warm squeeze on the shoulder, Ryan leaning in for a hug. "We'll leave you two lovebirds to it. Honey, you're looking stunning." He says before walking out of the room, Alicia follows close behind as she calls back over her shoulder. "Have a good night you two!"

"I believe Ryan bet me to say it but you do indeed look stunning, darling." Tony smiles, strolling over to you with his hands in his suit pocket. "Why thank you, you don't look half bad yourself." You smirk, placing your hands on his chest as his hands pull your body flush to his. If anything, he looked a lot better than just half bad, not that you were going to say it openly. His black suit hugged each curve of his muscles, accompanied by his signature red tie.

"I do try sometimes, you know." He laughs before pressing a gentle kiss to your lips. "I've left a gift for you on the nightstand and a dress in the closet. I suggest opening the gift and putting it on before you put the dress on." Raising an eyebrow, you look up at him, confused, extracting a chuckle from him. "Just go. I'll wait for you in the foyer. Happy's bringing the S7 round for us." He says, pulling away from you as you walk into the bedroom.

A black box tied with a delicate silver ribbon lay on the nightstand, undoing the ribbon, a gasp escapes you as you see its contents. Your core burns in anticipation as your eyes land on a hot rod red vibrator, no doubt one of his own creations. "Tony, you cheeky little minx." You chuckle under your breath, grabbing the sleek toy from its packaging.

Walking around the bed, you walk into your closet, seeing the new addition hanging amongst your other expensive ball gowns. A slit up the thigh, the red satin sparkled with jewels embedded in the upper half, a cut just above the padded cups of the breasts. Sliding the toy into your matching lingerie, your own little gift for Tony, you let your dressing gown fall to the ground as you pull the dress from the hanger. Pulling it on, it accentuates every curve of your body. To say you look divine is an understatement. Quickly slipping your feet into your heels, you fasten the clip of your diamond pendant necklace, yet another gift from your fiance from the night of your engagement. Taking a moment to admire yourself in the mirror, you proceed to exit the room, walking down the stairs to the foyer.

Tony knew the dress would look stunning on you but as he turned towards the sound of your heels clicking on the marble stairs, he struggled to maintain his breath. "Wow." Is the only word that he can manage to say as you walk up to him. His hands grab your hips, pulling your body close to him as your arms wrap over his shoulders. "I wasn't prepared for how gorgeous you look in that dress." He admits, his eyes devouring your body as he looks you up and down.

"I must admit, the gift is a very nice addition." You tease, giving him a cheeky wink as his pupils dilate at your words. "You're going to be the death of me, woman." He mutters, pressing a kiss to your forehead as you grin. "Uh guys, I'd hate to break up the party but you do have an event to attend." Happy chimes in awkwardly, holding the Saleen's keys up to Tony. Looking over at Happy, Tony grabs the keys, giving him a singular nod.

"Right, cheers." He says before turning his attention back to you, offering out his arm. "Shall we?" You grin, wrapping your arms around his. "We shall." You reply, letting him lead you out to the passenger's side of the car as he opens the door for you. Getting in the car, he shuts the door behind you before walking around to the driver's seat. His hand immediately finds home on your thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze before turning the key in the ignition.

You and Tony both would have rather stayed home than attended the charity ball but seeing as the Avengers were all attending, it would've seemed unprofessional to not show up. Pulling onto the open road, Tony hums along to the music playing through the speakers as he fiddles with a few settings on his watch. "Eyes on the road, darling." You remind him as he narrowly avoids a car that had stupidly decided to pull out in front of you. "I will in a second, I just need to… there." He says, pressing a final button on his watch. A startled moan falls off your lips as the toy begins to vibrate inside you, the second part of it gently massaging your clit. A smirk pulls at Tony's lips as your hands grip the edge of the seat.

"Tony…" You breathe, the toy rubbing against the sensitive spot inside you. "As much as I love to hear you moaning my name, try to keep the noise to a minimum while at the event, my love." He grins, the both of you knowing that he's not going to make it as simple as that.

_____

The minute Tony pulls through the gates of the event's grounds, it seems as if all cameras are on the two of you. White flashes surround you as he pulls up to a stop next to the red carpet leading down the middle of the barricades stopping the paparazzi. Getting out of the car, he chucks his keys to the valet as he walks over to your door, offering you his hand as he helps you out of the car. You gratefully accept his hand, using him to help steady your quivering legs as the toy continues its ministrations. Reporters immediately call out to both you and Tony, attempting to bombard you with questions as bodyguards quickly usher the pair of you inside.

Tony's hand slides possessively around your waist, pulling you close to him as you try to control your breathing. Your nails clench into his hip as pleasure courses through your veins. A smirk pulling across his face, Tony lets a singular chuckle escape him as he leads the two of you over to where the other Avengers had gathered at a table in the corner. "Tony, Y/N," Bruce says, smiling warmly at the two of you as you take a seat next to Natasha. "Hey." You flash what you hope is a smile at them as Tony walks over to the bar. "So, how's everything with you guys?" You manage to ask through the pleasure emitting from between your thighs. Your hands tighten their grip on your thighs as you glance over at Tony. Did he just turn it up? The smirk on his face, as he watches your thighs clench together, tells you your answer.

Trying to ignore the ministrations of the vibrator over your sensitive bud, you look, maybe too intensely, at Wanda as she replies. "Yeah it's been alright, but I hear congratulations are in order. Tony was nervous for weeks before he proposed." Ah shit, you were trying to keep the attention away from yourself. Forcing a smile on your face, you nod. "Thank you. It was all incredible, he made everything so utterly perfect. I'm a lucky woman." You grin, feeling Tony's hand on your shoulder as he places a champagne glass on the table in front of you. Taking a seat beside you, his hand covers yours over your thigh, entangling his fingers with yours as you thank him for the drink.

Taking a sip, you attempt to swallow the moan sitting in your throat, your core tightening as an orgasm approaches. Your hand squeezes tight around Tony's as your thighs shake beneath the table, the back of your hand coming up to cover your mouth as a wave of pure bliss crashes over your body. His hand gives yours an affirming squeeze before he adjusts the settings on his watch, the vibrations stopping as you breathe a silent sigh of relief. The toy still stretches your walls, your core tingling with the lack of vibration as the conversation moves on.

_____

The speeches were long and tedious as always but this time for an entirely different reason. Tony focused his boredom on playing with what seemed to be his new favourite toy for the two of you. You can feel your slick coating your legs as he continues to adjust the settings, letting your body come close to the sweet release you so crave, then turning the vibrator off, edging you over and over again. Your clit throbs from over-stimulation as you choke back silent sobs of desperation into your hand, trying to focus your eyes on the stage. “Thank you all again for attending, we hope you all have a great night. The dance floor is open to all, as well as an open bar. Enjoy!” The host concludes the introductory speech as guests stand up to refill their now-empty glasses at the bar.

The music begins playing through the speakers and a soft smile pulls at your lips as you recognise it. “Is this?” You begin to ask, looking at Tony who already has his hand extended. “Our song.” Taking his hand, you force your quivering legs to stand, grateful when his arm slinks around your lower back to help you. The two of you walk over to the dance floor, turning to each other as he places a gentle kiss on your hand before intertwining your fingers. Your other hand rests on his shoulder as his hand moves to your lower back, pulling your body flush with his as you sway to Crowded House’s, ‘Don’t Dream, It’s Over.’ “Hold on, one sec.” He murmurs, pulling his hand away from your back to adjust the settings on his watch, your knees nearly buckling as the vibrations dance over your sensitive bud. Your head drops into his shoulder, muffling the moan you’ve wanted to release for nearly two hours now.

“Can I cum this time or are you going to edge me again?” You ask, your words coming out in a shaky breath. A satisfied chuckle escapes Tony as he rests his head on yours. “Sorry about that, I got bored.” You can’t help the laugh falling off your lips at his response. “Really? I couldn’t tell.” His grip pulls your body impossibly closer to him as he leans down to whisper in your ear. “Careful darling, I’m feeling generous at the moment but with an attitude like that, it might disappear rather quickly.” A shiver runs down your spine at his words, his lips brushing over your earlobe as he does. Leaning further into his chest, another shaky moan escapes you, your orgasm quickly approaching yet again. If it wasn’t for Tony’s hand on your back, holding you up, your legs would’ve given out. He can feel your body twitching in anticipation as your breath hitches in your chest. “Cum for me, love.” He murmurs, gently nibbling your earlobe as you let yourself go. Pure bliss crashes over your body, euphoria filling your veins as your body shudders with delight against him. “That’s my girl.” You can barely hear his affirmations through your light-headedness, fully relying on him to keep you upright as your body pulsates with divine pleasure.

“When we get home, I’m not going to stop until the only word you can scream is my name.”

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

A/N:

Tried writing something a lil bit different from my typical smut, I hope you guys like it!

Let me know if you want a Pt 2 regarding when you and Tony get home. 🤭😏

#tony stark fanfiction #tony stark smut #tony stark x reader #tony stark #marvel smut #marvel fanfiction #marvel #audhdauthor

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tachimichishrine · 4 months

Note

ppssps..hey bae 😍😍😍❤️❤️🙈🙈🙈

cute and sexy request!!! IF YOU COULD WRITE A MISTLETOE CONFESSION FOR TACHI x READER THANKS U I LOVE UR WRITING KEEP GOING AND FEED ME ALL THIS TACHI CONTENT AS ALWAYS🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

heyyy babygorl 🤪😳🥵🥵😻🙉🙉 oh my god this is indeed extremely cute and sexy, just imagine...

tachihara around the holidays, a sense of nostalgia for something that never existed as he watches families with shopping bags in their arms. they look happy in the way he'd never felt with his own, and it's got him looking down for most of the season.

tachihara catching himself staring at you for too long, watching you give small gifts to the other members of the black lizard, even speaking with the nameless suits about their plans with their families like you really were a goddamn angel.

tachihara daydreaming about you in the middle of missions, distracting himself with the thought of you to the point where he accidentally bumps into santa cosplayers and has to threaten to beat them within an inch of their lives as soon as they start singing carols merrily at him.

tachihara who is stupid in love, head over heels even before you started asking him about his holiday plans and he begrudgingly admits that he doesn't talk to his family; you pouted sadly and promised that you'd try to make up for it, whatever that was supposed to mean.

tachihara strolling into his office, finding a small box of chocolates wrapped in a red ribbon with a note saying "from santa", even though it was obvious who it was from. it took him a while to stop blushing before he could stash the box in his pocket and pretend like he didn't just get shot by cupid's arrow all over again.

tachihara trying (miserably) to return the favour, having no clue what you like and needing hirotsu's advice. he made the old man swear not to tell anyone about this because if word spread through the black lizard that he was buying gifts for someone, he'd look weak and mushy and he didn't want you to know that this was what you did to him.

tachihara not knowing how to ask you out, painfully terrified that you were just being nice to him because that's who you are and not because you had any interest in him. he thought the mistletoe maneuver was cliché and stupid and soft and perfect for you.

tachihara using his ability to carry the mistletoe around with him, feeling dumb as he waits for you to stumble across him all the while trying to psych himself up to actually kiss you.

tachihara who turns around for one second to yell at an underling, leaving the mistletoe in the air as you, hirotsu and gin stroll in.

tachihara watching in agony as you point out the mistletoe above your heads and kiss hirotsu right in front of his eyes (you said that you would've kissed gin but she had her mask on).

tachihara giving up and heading home after a long day, the stupid thing in his pocket serving as a reminder that he's a coward and can't even do this one simple thing right.

tachihara hearing you call out "wait up!" while he walks home, hands in his pockets and about to throw the world's biggest tantrum at the sight of lovers holding hands and laughing at all the christmas lights put up around the neighborhood.

tachihara slowing down his pace but not stopping as you talk to him, saying things that he barely processes because your smile is so beautiful and you look so excited.

tachihara following you on your little detour, taking him to decorated squares and clinging onto his arm when night fell and it got too cold. he would've suggested buying you a hot chocolate but he didn't want you leaving his arm anytime in the foreseeable future.

tachihara's confidence slightly restored, taking a deep breath and looking around while you babbled about loving the spirit of the season, his eyes locking in on the mistletoe in front of a small shop.

tachihara suggesting to you that go in and explore the shop, then trying (awfully) to smoothly point out the mistletoe on the sign above. he swore that he was a spy, a trained, high-level spy that could infiltrate even the most dangerous of organizations, but you made him nervous and it came out wrong.

tachihara listening to you giggle, pointing out what a coincidence it was that this was the second time today that you found yourself under the mistletoe.

tachihara not believing it when you grabbed him by the front of his jacket and kissed him like it was nothing, not giving him any time to say how he really felt or process the feeling of your lips on his.

tachihara trying to kiss you back but the kiss was short and you were already giggling and ushering him into the shop.

tachihara yelling out "stop! just... wait. just wait," with a lot more desperation than he wanted.

tachihara unable to say anything coherent, describing his appreciation for your gifts and thoughtful words and time you spent with him spontaneously like right now and how gorgeous you looked and how your smile made him feel and just about a thousand other things he never thought he'd say out loud, to your face.

tachihara breathing heavily after his rant, face hot enough to warm up half the city and unable to look you in the eye.

tachihara growing hotter once you grabbed his chin, tilting it so he would look at you, then you said "you know, we're still under the mistletoe... dontcha think we should kiss again?"

tachihara not believing his senses when you did just that, this time pulling him in deeply, hands on his shoulders and body twisting the slightest amount as you kissed him like he'd never imagined before.

tachihara feeling drunk on your lips once you told him that you followed him on his way home not just because you didn't want him to be alone during the holidays, but because you barely saw him today and missed his company, because you missed him.

tachihara getting himself dragged to your home that evening, condemned to plans of baking, house decorating and cuddling whether or not he wanted it. but you both knew that he did, more than anything.

tachihara walking with you like he was in a fever dream, your fingers intertwined while you occasionally kissed his cheek and watched him blush when you got closer to him or asked if he was the one who planted that mistletoe in the port mafia hq this morning.

tachihara making sure he discreetly tossed the mistletoe in his pocket in a garbage on the way there because he denied this morning's "accident".

and most importantly, tachihara getting spoiled the entire holiday season, especially since you made sure to hang dozens of mistletoes across your home and agreed that he would have to comply with each and every one of them, not that he was complaining.

#im dubbing you the hungry anon (in my head at least) cuz ur always askin to be fed/pos (ily btw<3)#didn't write a whole fic bc I'm behind on reqs so just take my very short downbad™ thoughts #TRYING OUT A NEW FORMAT BC THIRSTS AND IMAGINES RAHHH #tachihara michizou #bsd tachihara #tachihara x reader #bungo stray dogs tachihara #tachihara michizou x reader #bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd christmas #bsd christmas special #bsd x reader christmas #tachihara x reader christmas #bsd imagines #bungo stray dogs x reader #tachi fics #im unwell for them

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livingformintyoongi1 · 5 days

Text

ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*Maid Dressﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Pairing: Taehyung x Fem! Reader

MDNI

wc: 2.2k

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

You grimaced as you looked at the suit for what felt like the thousandth time. Actually it was only the fifth, but it felt like the thousandth. You tried to think of the pros and cons of wearing the suit. Among the pros was the fact that it didn't look as revealing as you thought it would, among the cons was the fear that you would scare your boyfriend away by wearing such a controversial outfit. You didn't even know if he liked this kind of thing, but Soyeon swore to you that it would do the trick, and that Taehyung would definitely fall for it instantly when he saw you wearing it. And you believed her, she was the expert on the subject after all.

You took the suit out of the red velvet box it was kept in. It was a little shorter than you were used to wearing, but you weren't going out wearing it anyway, so you didn't care much. You took off your clothes and put on the short maid costume that Soyeon had given you. It took you a little while to fasten the back, but you still managed it. You walked over to the full-length mirror in Taehyung's closet and looked at your reflection.

The suit was black with white lace, and there was no fabric underneath, so there was nothing covering your skin on the lace side. The black parts were translucent, but it covered enough that you didn't feel completely exposed. In addition to the costume, there were black fishnet stockings and two other white lace ribbons adorned with a small black ribbon in the center; one of them went around the neck, the other around the thigh.

The suit as such didn't look so bad on you, indeed, it seemed to be made to fit you, and that made you feel much more confident than at the beginning. However, that didn't change the fact that you were terrified of the idea of Taehyung seeing you alone with this on. What if he felt uncomfortable seeing you like this? What if he was embarrassed to have sex wearing such a strange outfit? You didn't want to scare him away, but you also didn't want him to get bored of you, so you asked your friend for advice on what to do to keep the relationship fun. It never crossed your mind that she would opt to buy you a see-through maid outfit.

"Y/N? Are you...?" Taehyung stood in the doorway, static, running his gaze all over your body.

You had no idea at what point he had arrived, you hadn't even heard the door or Yeontan barking for his return. It took you a while to react and realize that you were wearing a translucent maid's dress, and that he was watching at that very moment. You don't think you've ever been as embarrassed as you were at this moment.

"What are you doing here!?" you squealed, covering your chest with your arms, feeling your cheeks getting even hotter. You were dying of embarrassment.

"T-this is my house!" he replied in alarm. You hadn't noticed because of your embarrassment, but he was just as flushed as you were, maybe even more so.

"Right, sorry" you stirred in your place, trying to use your hair to cover the lacy part. "God, this is so embarrassing, if I had known you'd be here earlier I wouldn't have tried it on" you mumbled, completely avoiding your boyfriend's gaze.

He hadn't taken his off you since he saw you.

"Why...?" he said quietly, pointing at you. You knew what he meant even if he didn't put it into words. You'd be wondering the same thing too if you saw Taehyung in a maid outfit.

"Soyeon told me you'd like it" you said almost in a whisper, looking at your hands, "but I can't help but feel it's too... I don't know, weird?" you let out a sigh, looking at your boyfriend, "and I wasn't a hundred percent sure you'd like the outfit either."

"I love it!" he hurried to say, nodding his head quickly, "obviously I like it, it looks perfect on you" he clarified, moving closer to you and taking your hands, "it's just that I was a little surprised, and I also didn't want to, you know, overwhelm you too much."

He brought your hands up to the height of his face so he could kiss your knuckles. His gaze was once again fixed on you, but this time it seemed a little more different than before, a little more clouded and dark. You couldn't help but shiver at them, because you were so damn sure of what that look meant.

He wanted you, right now, in this moment, in this place, and in those same clothes, and you were more than willing to satisfy him, because his pleasure was your pleasure, and that would never change.

"Can I touch you?" he whispered huskily next to your ear. You barely nodded and he already had his hands on you.

You never quite understood what Taehyung's obsession with your waist was, but you didn't question it either, you just enjoyed how good his hands felt on your body. It made you feel so small and helpless, but, at the same time, important and secure. You couldn't help but wonder what you had done to deserve such a perfect man like this.

He spent a few minutes caressing and giving light squeezes on your waist while his lips took over kissing, marking and biting any empty space on your shoulders and neck. During those minutes you just devoted yourself to enjoying his attention to you. You hugged his waist, caressing his back and scratching him gently each time he bit or marked your skin a little harder.

"Let me see how well it fits you," he said, lifting you in his arms to carry you to the bed. All the way there, Taehyung took neither his eyes nor his lips off you. "Well, let's see" he smiled meanly at you, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt. "Where should I start?" he sighed dramatically, leaning over you and holding both your wrists above your head.

Your breath caught in your throat at the sight of his face so close to you. You couldn't help but lick your lips, they felt so dry and useless without Taehyung's on them.

He was still face to face with you, but his gaze was no longer on your face, but on your chest. He loved watching it rise and fall in an accelerated fashion, and all just because of what his closeness provoked in you. He took such fucking pride in making you feel that way without any kind of prior stimulation.

"Would you rather I start at the top..." he whispered over your lips, barely running his free hand down the middle of your breasts. If you hadn't been too stunned, you would have been embarrassed at how your body reacted almost immediately to his touch, causing your breast to move even closer to his hand. "...Or underneath?" he said as his hand moved down your abdomen to your sensitive area. You couldn't help but let out a moan as you felt his hand so close there.

You weren't thinking straight, being honest, you weren't even thinking in the first place. It's not like it was that easy to turn you on, but Taehyung was making the task too difficult, and you saw no reason to stop your desires. The two of you were a couple, you'd been together for almost two years, what would be wrong with just one of his glances making your head instantly go blank? He had that effect on you even before you made it official. Sometimes you wondered if you managed to have that same effect on him.

"Well?" He looked up as his hand travels down your leg until it reaches your knee, where he took the opportunity to flex it so he could wrap it around your waist. You almost choked as you felt his member against your center. You didn't expect the dress to excite him so much.

"Uhm, over the top?" you mumbled, trying to think as clearly as possible. It was too hard being aware of how big and excited Tae was right now.

"Okay" he smiled, bringing your hand up to touch the straps of your dress and fiddle with them. He lowered his face until it was in front of your collarbones, kissing and nibbling on the bone that was barely peeking out, eliciting moans and gasps from you.

Taehyung had already released your hands, but only momentarily, unable to pull your dress down with your arms up. You rubbed your hips against his, needing more of his attention, needing him to be as close to you as possible.

He just smiled as he sensed how needy you were. He pulled the straps of your dress down until they were completely off your arms and, as soon as they were off, he held your hands again. With the hand he still had free, he slowly lowered the top of your dress, just until your breasts were exposed.

He licked his lips, sighing as he watched you shiver at the cool air hitting your bare nipples. He couldn't help but give a slight lunge against your hips. You weren't the only one losing control being in a situation like this.

He let his mouth take over your right breast, while his free hand played with your left. You tried to grab the sheet and be able to hold on to it, but Tae still had your hands wrapped around his, so you just clenched them into a fist and moaned in a gasp.

You felt ashamed of how sensitive you could be.

You closed your eyes, letting pleasure flood your every sense. You leaned your head back against the bed. You felt good, so good.

You bit the inside of your lip as you felt Taehyung's kisses slowly drift down, causing your whole body to writhe beneath him. His hand kept fiddling with your left nipple, pinching and squeezing it as he pleased.

Taehyung let your hands free the moment his mouth gathered on your lower abdomen. He finished removing the dress, leaving you alone with your underwear on. Now his hands took over gripping your hips firmly. He kissed the edge of your black underwear, then moved directly to your inner thigh. He had released the right side of your hip so he could lift your leg and rest it on his shoulder.

You clung to his hair, pulling on it every time you felt the pleasure was too strong to bear. The inside of your thigh was too sensitive, and he knew it well enough to use that against you. You weren't going to complain about it anyway.

"Honey, could you lift your hips a little?" he whispered, nibbling on the skin of your leg gently enough not to hurt you, but hard enough to make your whole body tremble under his touch.

You did as he asked, feeling a little embarrassed as it sunk in how exposed you were before him. Yes, you had been together for a long time, but almost every time you were intimate you did it in very dim lights, you felt much safer if he couldn't see something that might upset him.

Taehyung seemed to notice your insecurity, or so you thought as he moved up to face you, taking your lips between his. The kiss was deepening as he moved down your underwear, but you were too focused on him to worry about how you looked at the moment. You didn't understand how someone could kiss so roughly and intimately at the same time, but you were pleased at the idea that you had discovered it with Taehyung and not some random man. You loved the thought that Taehyung would always, in some way or another, find a way to give you your first times, and make each one of them the best experience of your life.

You moaned slightly annoyed as you felt him pull away from you, but the annoyance dissipated almost instantly. He couldn't kiss you while his shirt was off, and the idea of kissing him with his shirt off was much more tempting than kissing him with it on, so you forgave him.

You looked at his abdomen, now much more marked than the first time you did it, and for the first time you thought it was kind of attractive on a man. Your fingertips itched from the desire you had to touch him.

"Keep your gaze on me, honey," he took your chin, forcing you to look up so you could see him. Air caught in your throat as you saw his dark gaze on you. "I want you to be aware that the one who is going to make you feel so fucking good is me, to think of me and only me" he strokes your chin gently, his gaze shifted from your eyes to your lips. "I don't want you to think about anything else but me for the next few hours, understood?".

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

Masterlist

#bts x reader #bts #bts x y/n #bts x fem!reader #taehyung x reader #taehyung x you #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts x you #taehyung x oc #taehyung fic #taehyung #taehyung fanfic #kim taehyung #bts fic #kim taehyung x you #kim taehyung x reader #taehyung scenarios #taehyung smut

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blackopals-world · 4 months

Text

Character Profile: Jojo and Koko Trappola

Children of Jester!Yuu and Ace Trappola

Other ocs: Molly Schoenheit, Regent Hunt

Age: 8

Birthday: April 1 (Aries) Assigned silly at birth

Clubs: Gymnastics(Koko) and Theater (Jojo)

Hobbies: Juggling and acrobatics (Koko)

Comedy and magic tricks (Jojo)

Best Subject: Physical Education

Favorite Food: Gumdrops (Koko)

Lemondrops (Jojo)

Least favorite foods: Lemons(Koko)

Caramel (Jojo)

Pet Peeves: Rainy days, lack of colors (Koko)

Cloudless days, flashy colors (Jojo)

Appearance:

Jojo and Koko are twins with ginger hair.(the orange is stronger than previously thought) They tend to dye the tips of their hair in corresponding pink or blue but are known to change to random colors often.

Koko has blue eyes and usually wears bright colors like yellow and pink. She keeps her hair short to keep it out of the way during Gymnastics. She enjoys festive designs with polkadots. Koko ties ribbons to her wrists to use for later.

Jojo has pink eyes and usually wears muted black and white clothes. He has long hair he keeps tied up with a colorful ribbon given to him by Koko. He prefers clothes that are elegant. He loves ruffled sleeves.

Personality:

Koko is energetic and bubbly. She loves to play pranks and showing off any trick she learns. This leads to causing a lot of trouble. Koko enjoys doing slapstick with her brother where she pranks him.

Jojo is more reserved, he tries to entertain people but getting pied in the face or popping his balloon animals just makes people laugh. He actually likes this.

Backstory:

The twins are the only children of their family after Ace swore off risking having multiples again.

The twins grew up traveling with their parents. Ace was a celebrity magician and toured around the world for shows and Yuu is still a certified jester who performs in select venues for parties.

The twins naturally took after them. Koko wants to be an acrobat and Jojo wants to be a Pierrot.

If people were to describe them you'd compare them to those happy and sad theater masks.

Koko being the expressive and joyful one with her love for sunshine and rainbow. Jojo being morose and gloomy with his love for all things deary and foggy.

Koko takes after her father more and often tries to sneak into his stage shows. She will sometimes appear under a disappearing trick in place of the missing prop. Jojo is often at Yuu's shows playing the role of the little sad clown where Yuu comedically tries to cheer up their son.

Koko however is firm that her brother isn't actually depressed. He just likes things this way. Koko is extremely supportive of her brother and goes to all his comedy shows. Even when he fails to get a laugh she still cheers the loudest.

The twin enjoy riding goats and having headbutt competitions with them. They loved goats and you will often have one of the baby goats following them around and chewing on their clothes.

Ace and Yuu are both fun parents who raise their children to be free-spirited. Discipline isn't their strong suit. They have a prank war that's been going on for years. Ace thought the pregnancy was also a prank for a solid week. He treasured that first dad joke.

The twins are very clingy. When Ace and Yuu wake up they have two little monsters on top of them.

Yuu calls them their little "Chucklets" and Ace calls them "Two of Kind" like two of a kind.

The twins are likely going NRC but there is a chance they might end up at different schools. They end up befriending Rollo's son (I know I'm surprised too) Quin and they torment him relentlessly. The twins love to tease and prank Quin. Quin isn't the best at knowing if people are joking or being mean but he doesn't have to worry, the twins are protective of their favorite toy.

#jester!yuu #twst oc #yuuniverse #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #ace trapolla x yuu #twst ace #ace trappola x reader #ace trappola #twisted wonderland yuu

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silent-raven13 · 8 months

Text

P FKN R!!! 🇵🇷 (Warning Harsh Language!)

Miles is always proud of his Puerto Rican side. Hell, he's the first one in Spider Society to burst out his Boricua music out loud. He wears his flag on his back when there's any Puerto Rican holidays or parades. Hell, he made a special suit with the Puerto Rican flag on it when he felt like showing off his culture, his Pride!

Yet today a racist asshole test him! Miles flew in the air using his venom strike, absorbing energy to give him a boost to do a flip before launching his webs to swing! The 19 year old wore his black, and red suit with the Puerto Rican flag on his chest to his torso.

Miles blasting Bad Bunny song "P FKN R" as he sings out loud as he swings from building to building: Si no sabes de dónde soy, no me ronquen, no -getting pump as he fight a rodder trying to steal from an elderly woman- Si no sabes de dónde soy, eh-eh, (ey) eh-eh, (ey, ey, ey)! -he beats up the robber as he give the purse back to the older woman before going up in the air to look for more crimes-

He sings along to his music: Yo soy de P fuckin' R (hoo)! -bangs his head as he swings- WHOA! Bad Bunny, you know me so well! -he chuckles as he went on a building keeping watch on the City's mainstream. The roads were closed off for Puerto Rican Day parade, he knew he needs to be home early to celebrate with his family. His mom took the day off for this occasion. Little Billie is probably wearing a cute dress with the Puerto Rican flag and her hair with ribbons matching the flag's colors- I should get a closer look to see if everything is good! -he saw the parade is about to start, so he should make sure no hate crimes were gonna be committed-

A familiar voice: Luv, what are you wearing? -Miles turns around to find Hobie standing behind him-

Miles happily smiles underneath his mask to find his boyfriend: OH hey, bae! -he went to hold his partner's hand- I'm glad you came! I thought you would miss today!

Hobie arched his eyebrow being masked: I never missed anything you invited me to. Now, what is this? -he eyes on the flag- A bit too Patriotic?

Miles chuckles giving him a kiss on the cheek with his mask on: Mi amor, it's my Puerto Rican pride.

Hobie: Isn't it a bit much?

Miles pouts: No! I think it's cool! -sounding a bit upset- You don't like it?

Hobie quickly change his statement: I meant, to be devoted to a country... the government, I meant. You know, how I feel about it. -he looks down at the parade seeing massive crowds- Isn't America's way to manipulate Puerto Ricans to appreciate being part of America? When they colonize your country and set up a military base! -he did a quick research on his partner's country and it's history-

Miles understood what he meant: Well, that may be true, but! -he hugs his partner's arm- Look, mi amor! You see how everyone is excited to celebrate being Puerto Rican! It runs in our blood, our pride, our culture is who we are! We may lost too much, hell Puerto Rico never had independence, but we're still here. Still Boricua! Still proud of our flag! It's who we are, and we throw the craziest parties, baby.

Hobie hears the loud music and many families gathering around to celebrate: I guess so.. you know how I am.

Miles: Hey, you're here so you're gonna get the full effect! Come on, let's check around. I know, you may judge America for their crazy ass colonization, but remember, you love protecting POC! There might be racists trying to commit hate crime!

Hobie became alert: Oh! I have no problem beating up a racist! -he grins under his mask, he follows his partner. As they got lower to the parade. The crowds cheers as they saw their Spiderman swinging by-

A random woman: Look! Mira! Mira! Es Spiderman! Boricua Spiderman!

The crowd in the parade cheers playing louder music and getting hype: Spiderman! Spiderman! Te amo!

One guy shouted: He's Puerto Rican?

Miles laughs: Por supuesto que soy puertorriqueño! -as he got low taking a balloon to give a little boy being carried by his mother-

Hobie saw the crowd wearing their flags in outfits, makeup, all sorts to show their pride. He follows Miles through the parade seeing no crime, yet. The music plays outlaid from the parade: Yo soy de P fuckin' R (P fuckin' R) Eh-eh-eh-eh-eh (ah)!

Miles turns around swinging backwards to look at his partner while singing along: Los maliante' con la' R! Prr-prr-prr-prr-prr -he chuckles- Come on, bae! Mejor que la boca cierre, ey Ah-ah-ah-ah

Some of the crowd started to sing or dance getting hype for their parade: Antes que los mío' te entierren (oye) Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh (yeh)

Hobie chuckles: You know what, I get it.

Miles smiles under his mask: I'm glad. You know, my mom made a lot of food so you can try.

Hobie: Yum, I didn't eat just to be prepare. -The two swing side by side-

Miles laughs: She made a lot of food! So you better eat like five plates! Also everyone is coming by for the roof top party! Isn't it exciting! -The loud Bomba music plays as they watch the parade starting having the female dancers following the rhythm of the music. Everyone enjoying the large floats, organizations, and other groups walking as they wave their flags.- Wow, it's bigger than last time!

Hobie saw a small group of men looking a bit suspicious: Aye, luv. Looks like we found a couple of muppets...

Miles looks over seeing them holding up microphones: Huh oh! Let's check it out! -being quick to get over the group-

The hate group had a leader preaching out about God and shouting at the Puerto Ricans: GO back to your countries! This a hate on America! You don't belong here -causing the crowd around to get upset-

A woman speaking in Spanish: No tienes derecho a estar aquí! ¡Estás arruinando el desfile! Déjanos en paz, Puñetas! Pendejos! Mama a tu culos! -some of the other crowd tried to held her back seeing they didn't want the cops to come in or worst stop the parade-

Miles flew down seeing the group of men: Hey fellas, what's going on here?

The hate group scowls at Spiderman's outfit with disgust. The leader had his microphone on: You are an American! You are disrespecting our country's belief! USA! USA!

Miles could only scowl under his mask: Hey man, people are allowed to celebrate where they come from!

The leader kept over talking Spiderman: Your just Spiderman 2! You're not even the real Spiderman! WE WANT SPIDERMAN!

Hobie crosses his arms getting super pissed off. Miles stops him: I got this. -he turns to the group- I kinda suggest you all to leave! Your ruining-

The leader of the hate group: FUCK YOU! GO BACK TO MEXICO! -the crowd behind Miles started to get super mad, almost riling up with anger. The racist insult was enough to cause them to shout back. MEXICO? Miles got mad too. This group is testing him- You and all your Mexican, pals should go back to your country! USA! USA! -the hate group chanted wearing their American flags-

Miles: I'm giving you one chance to apologize to me and my people! Before-

The leader over talks him: Or WHAT? You're gonna hit me? I'm using my first amendment! FREEDOM OF SPEECH, BUDDY! YOUR NOT EVEN A REAL SPIDERMAN WITH THAT TACKY FLAG YOU HAVE ON! -The older leader grins widely to pissed off Spiderman-

Hobie took out his guitar: That's it. I'ma beat this bloke! -the crowd behind him agrees-

Miles push him back: NO! We are better than them! -He turns to the group- you left me no choice!

The leader said: Oh yeah! You're nothing but a dirty sp- -Miles quickly uses his webs to shut up the leader then quickly uses his webs to tied the group, then he swing them high on the building-

Miles smiling happily: Ah-ah-Ah! Tsk. Tsk. I give you a chance to apologize and to go home, but since you want to harass me and everyone here. I think I have the right to shut you up! -the crowd cheers out loud as they saw the hate group being web against the building up high. Some took photos and laugh out loud-

Hobie grins widely seeing one of the dumbass racist pissing himself crying about his fear of heights: Wonderful, luv! -He slouches on Miles being a bit handsy with him-

The leader of the group shouted spotting the two Spidermen being a bit too close for his liking: UGH! YOUR NOTHING BUT A FUCKING FAGGOT! UGH, DISGUSTING! YOUR GOING TO HELL TOO!

Miles arched his eyebrow under his mask: Oh yeah? Well -He lift Hobie's mask to reveal his lips, then he lift his own mask to show his lips. A bit of his nose showing his pierced Septum. Then his lips pressed against Hobie's without a care who was watching. When he pulled his lips away then to hide his lower mouth- I RATHER BE A FAGGOT THAN A FUCKING RACIST!

Hobie froze being too in shock by his partner's action, he felt Miles' hand pulling down his mask to hide his mouth. He could've never love any more than he already did- No, he's falling in love with Miles all over again! Miles grab the Pride flag from one of the civilians having to tie it around his neck, flaunting it. Hobie could only awe at his boyfriend.

The crowd cheers having mix reactions from being shock to joy about the scene. Hell, most of their reactions were positive. The hate group were making loud taunts, until Hobie shut their mouths up with his webbing. Then he got close to the leader: Aye, mate. You're lucky if it wasn't me! I would've throw you in the Hudson River and let you all drown! -his voice low and menacing- I'll left you off with a warning, mate. Start another racist shit, and I will fucking kill you myself, huh? -the men looked horrified.- So you will stop this crap and not bother my darling, do you hear? -they all nodded- Good! -he harshly patted the leader's cheek almost slapping him-

Miles shouted: Come on, we gotta patrol some more, bae! -he launched his web shooter causing the to swing as he wave at the crowd-

Hobie follows him seeing the crowd being so happy, they can have a peaceful parade. The hate group being stuck on the building to be made an example of. As they made their rounds, the two got up on a building to watch one last time. Miles being happy by the parade, then he heard Hobie being breathless: I love you, Miles.

Miles being surprised: Huh, what made you say that? -he giggles being so bashful-

Hobie pulls Miles close to him for a close hug: You were amazing! No Spiderman would've done what you did!

Miles: Hahaha are you implying not even you would've stop them racist assholes?

Hobie shook his head: You know, what I mean. You kissing me in front of the crowd? Heh, New York City is gonna go crazy for you being bisexual, Sunflower.

Miles snorted: Pfft, good! Let them know that this bisexual boy issuing their asses! AND HE'S PUERTO RICAN! DOUBLE PUNCHES! -he chuckles- I love you, too Hobie.

Hobie: Can I get another kiss, Brooklyn?

Miles chuckles: Do you have to ask?

Hobie holding his love: Consent is important, luv.

Miles smiles widely: Sure, baby! -The two lift their mask to reveal their lips to kiss again. This time Hobie holds Miles like his special gem, being oh so gentle. The parade being loud and proud as the crowd celebrates their Puerto Rican Day while Yo Soy Boricua, Pa'Que Tu Lo Sepas by Taino plays in the background.-

(Sorry for the harsh language! Was listening to Bad Bunny and saw a post that made me inspired @babyhellboy post and comic photo also another comic post of Hobie Brown saying he rather be a F-word than a Fascist. Hehe, you know his Sunflower is heavily inspired by him😉.)

#punkflower #flowerpunk #miles morales #hobie brown #spiderman #spider-verse #spider verse #across the spider verse

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mrsundays · 5 months

Text

TADC GANG REDESIGN

I finally finished the redesigns. It took me a long time, but they are done, and that's all that matters. Now I'll proceed to talk about each of them because if I don't, I'll implode.

I approached the designs with the idea of not straying too far from the original designs, although I can't deny that I went a bit overboard with Pomni's design.

AND NO, THEY HAVE NOTHING UNDER THOSE CLOTHES, ZERO, ABSOLUTE VOID, LITERALLY LIKE A BARBIE OR KEN. But who knows, maybe one day I'll wake up feeling crazy, ahem.

POMNI:

She has undergone the most changes compared to her original design, the most noticeable being the hat. The reason is simple; I find it funny that the hat itself is larger than Pomni, making her look even smaller than she already is, which brings me to the other change.

This Pomni is much smaller than the original, reaching only to Ragatha's shoulders compared to the redesign, which barely reaches her waist.

The third change is the suit. The only things I kept were the pattern and colors, along with the bells on her torso. I liked the idea of giving her a design that constantly makes her appear smaller than she is, with only her head and forearms visible. Now she wears a "tunic" that also serves as a small skirt. In addition, her sleeves and pants are now loose, not to mention a more prominent "collar."

Finally, the pupils - one is red, and the other is blue, both accompanied by black. I don't have many reasons for this; I just liked how the black looked in her pupils when I sketched it, so I decided to keep it in the final design.

Now, a few details or ideas I have:

The bells on her suit make little sounds when she moves. They're not very loud, but somewhat annoying.

Pomni remains just as nervous and anxious, but now a bit more aggressive and impulsive. Why? Who knows.

During the first few weeks at the circus, she develops an intense fear of physical contact. Not only because of the strange sensation her own skin gives her but also due to other events that I can't talk about yet.

She's quite elusive, like a cartoon mouse. This is the only reason she can land punches on Jax without him expecting them.

RAGATHA:

SHE'S THE SAME, SHE'S THE SAME—There are only a few changes. To be honest, I really like the original design, and I didn't feel the need to change much. So, I decided to add a few more things because I enjoy adding silly details that end up saturating things, haha.

The most noticeable change is the white apron. Now it has certain seams all around her body, from her arms to her face, including her neck. Lastly, a small bag hangs behind her with all the tools a seamstress needs, out of necessity, like herself.

Other than that, there are no other significant changes to her design.

Now, with the little details/ideas:

Originally, she was slimmer, but after a small adventure in the circus, she discovered that firstly, she had polyester fiber filling, and secondly, if she added a bit more filling to her arms, she gained more strength.

Yes, she has the kitchen knife/machete, not just to scare a certain rabbit but also to cook meals sometimes with Bubble, the meals they eat after their adventures, with all the affection a ragdoll can give.

She once tried, along with Gangle, to make clothes for Zooble. It didn't turn out well...

Currently, she is the second-longest-serving person in the circus, only surpassed by Kinger. That's why Jax sometimes calls her grandma.

GANGLE:

Same as with Ragatha, her red ribbons and mask are intact, with the only additions being the French beret befitting an artist of her caliber and a small cape that covers the top part of her ribbons. I don't have much else to say; I didn't have many issues designing her—it was just something I thought fit perfectly with her personality.

Little Ideas :D :

As the entire fandom agrees, she's an artist and probably watched a lot of anime before ending up in the circus. Yes, she has one of those pillows with a character printed on it in her room.

Every now and then, she draws the circus members, including Jax, and gives them as gifts. Although she has currently put this practice aside due to recent abstractions...

She has been in the circus for less time than Jax, and despite everything that has happened, she has been enjoying her time in the circus more than she expected.

She can take any form with her ribbons as long as they remain connected to her mask.

Pomni asked her to teach her how to draw. The reason wasn't given, but Gangle gladly accepted.

JAX:

The purple rabbit, yes, he was a bit more complicated. Originally, I had the idea of giving him a shirt with a vest—a contrast between formal wear and his asshole attitude. However, I ended up discarding that idea and decided to go for a 60s fashion style.

The beret was something I seriously considered almost at the end of his design, and at least in my opinion, I think it works well with the rest of his clothing. I had to keep the jumpsuit; it was too characteristic, so I had to work around that piece, leading to the integration of the turtleneck sweater.

And finally, I made him furrier, and yes, he has a tail—a fluffy tail that he doesn't let anyone touch.

Now, you know what's coming:

See that pocket on his jumpsuit? It serves as a hammer space, so if he wanted to, he could store something comically huge there.

He's the best at carnival shooting games. No one has managed to beat him even once. The only one who used to give him competition was Kaufmo.

Don't tell anyone, but he has Gangle's drawing saved. He thinks it's a cute detail, but no one can find out, okay?

Before Kinger's wife's abstraction, he used to play chess with him or accompany him on bug-hunting missions, mainly with the goal of finding one to bother Ragatha.

Once, Zooble called him a furry. Jax locked himself in his room for three days because of that comment.

ZOOBLE:

Zooble… was the main reason I took so long with this. I spent days trying to think of any changes, anything—giving them clothes, didn't like the idea; maybe changing their form, nope; a total redesign… no. And so, I was stuck for days until I decided to change absolutely nothing. They're perfect as they are.

But, but, but in the end, I made a few small changes. I decided to play with the idea that Zooble is a toy with removable parts, and none of the parts are from the same toy brand; some aren't even made of the same material, with their right arm being the prime example, a ragdoll arm with filling, something similar to Ragatha.

Also, now they have a built-in voice box in their torso. You just have to pull that light blue thing on their chest, and you'll hear a phrase that varies between "I love you," "You're the best," and "Friends forever."

I won't repeat myself with this, huh:

They were the one who had been in the circus for the shortest time before Pomni's arrival.

The limbs they have now are not the original ones; it took some time for them to find a combination that was comfortable to move with.

They strangle Jax at least twice a week; it has become a habit.

They dislike the lake, mainly because they don't have aquatic parts, making swimming very difficult for them. Plus, they have lost some parts at the bottom of the lake. Caine returned them, but something tells them that the ringmaster gave them duplicates.

KINGER:

He's perfect, simply that. His original design, despite being simple, I think is one of the best in the series. But I had to do something, so I decided to add two very small things.

First, a ring. No need to explain; I think it's quite obvious what it refers to.

And second, a belt to highlight the excellent figure he has, even if that belt isn't his…

Don't bug me, you already know what's coming:

Sometimes, he hums a song when lost in his thoughts, but it seems like some parts of the melody are missing.

He has managed to create a small encyclopedia with data on all the bugs he has captured, even with drawings made by Gangle at Kinger's request.

He knows what you are.

He takes long walks around the lake on his days off, perhaps in an attempt to revive memories of a better time, although he says he does it in search of an aquatic specimen to add to his collection.

Sometimes, Caine challenges him to an arm wrestling competition. Oddly enough, he effortlessly manages to beat the AI.

#tadc #the amazing digital circus #pomni #tadc pomni #tadc ragatha #ragatha #jax #tadc jax #gangle #tadc gangle #tadc zooble #zooble #kinger #tadc kinger #tadc fanart #artists on tumblr #art #idk how to tag this

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celandeline · 3 months

Text

Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC (31)

Farleigh and I fly back to England for Venetia’s funeral. I book us a hotel room a short drive from the church it’s being held at for two nights - the quickest turnaround time for a flight back home. Neither of us want to stay there longer than we have to.

Dressed head to toe in black, we sit at the back of the church. The pews are scattered with people - most of whom I don’t know. I spot some of the Henrys near the middle, and of course the Cattons at the front. I’d sort of expected Elspeth to greet us when we arrived, but so far no one’s spoken to us. Farleigh doesn’t seem surprised at all.

“Do you know who all these people are?” I mutter under the music of the pipe organ so that only Farleigh can hear me.

“James and Elspeth’s friends, mostly.” He mutters back. “I don’t know about those girls over there though.” He nods to our left.

I subtly turn, glancing in the direction he nodded. I recognize a few of the faces - girls from Cambridge that had only pretended to be friends with Venetia because of her family name. None of them liked her really - they just liked her allowance. I scoff louder than I mean to, and a few of them turn to look at me.

“Cambridge groupies.” I say.

Farleigh rolls his eyes. “I think we might be the only two people in this room who actually cared about her.”

A sad longing flares up in my chest, and I start crying. It’s really all I’ve been doing for the past week. I’ve started carrying around travel packets of tissues in my pockets. Farleigh pulls one out of his suit jacket and passes it to me. I wipe away my tears - black streaks of makeup come away with them. I have no doubt I look like a mess.

“Okay?” Farleigh asks.

“Yeah.” I sniffle. “You?”

He nods as the organ swells, the song changing to a proper funeral dirge. My heart sinks as I hear the vestibule doors open behind us. Slowly, Venetia’s casket comes into view, a floret of dainty white flowers placed on top, ribbons streaming down the sides. My vision blurs with tears again, and I pull another tissue from the packet. I loved her. I really loved her.

The congregation begins to sing as the pallbearers bring her up to the altar, where a priest awaits with open arms. A sob forces it’s way out of me, and I’m glad that the organ is loud enough to mostly mask it. Farleigh places a hand on the small of my back, steadying.

“I really miss her.” I say, wiping at my face with another tissue. “I think I’ll miss her for the rest of my life.”

“I know.” He says, and I know he does. I can tell just by the sad way that he looks at me that he feels the same. Probably more, considering that he’d known her for much longer than a year. She was his sister in a way.

I sniffle, forcing the snot trying to run out of my nose back. “I would have loved her.” I say, my voice falling hoarse. “If she’d let me.”

His free hand comes up to brush away a few tears from his face. “I know.”

I pass him a tissue, my attention returning to the front of the room as the priest begins the service. The words float in one ear and out the other. I really would have loved her - I think, since I met her, I’d always been a little in love with her. How could I not be, when she was as beautiful as she was pitiful? She was unlike anyone else I’d ever met. I could talk to her for hours at a time and not get bored. I should have never left her.

My vision blurs, and tears drip off the end of my chin.

“Please stand.”

I rise up from the pew as the organist plays the first few notes of a song. There’s a rustling of pages as the congregation ruffles through their songbooks, and then the singing begins, a dampened chorus. I don’t bother - if I try to sing right now, I know I’ll just end up sobbing. I’m so tired of crying.

“There’s no fucking way.”

Farleigh’s hiss draws my attention away from the altar, and I wipe my eyes. “What?”

“It’s fucking Oliver.” He almost snarls it, staring at the front of the church, where James and Elspeth are sat. I blink a few times, until my vision clears, and tilt my head so that I can see around the people in front of us. Sure enough, a few feet away from Elspeth, a small figure at the end of the pew. For a minute, it just look like anyone, but then he turns, and I would recognize those icy blues anywhere.

“What’s he doing with James and Elspeth?” I whisper.

“I’ve no fucking idea.” Farleigh says, his stare filled with rage.

“You don’t think he’s…?” I trail off, unwilling to even really entertain the idea. There’s no way that he’s still at Saltburn, not after Felix died.

Farleigh just huffs out a spiteful laugh, and shakes his head.

I don’t have time to really think about it before the song is coming to an end, and the priest rises from his seat, his voice booming out over the church. “In the name of the father… the son… and the holy spirit…”

“Amen.” My voice melds with the rest of the congregation. It sounds a lot like ‘I miss you’.

< previous post | next post >

#farleigh start x oc #farleigh start x reader #saltburn #farleigh start #farleigh x reader #saltburn x reader

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ggomos-maribat · 18 days

Text

Soul-Stitching: The Heir and the Guardian

Masterlist

Chapter 7: an end and a beginning | AO3

Clark nearly spits out his coffee when he sees a face hovering outside the Watchtower. At first, he thinks of it as a figment of his imagination, brought on by the stress of the current crisis the Justice League is facing. But the longer he looks, the more permanent the figure seems: Chat Noir himself motioning for him to open the nearby hatch.

And he does, while pinging a message to the rest of the members on board.

The first thing he notices is that he can't detect the hero's heartbeat with the suit. His X-ray vision doesn't work either.

The second thing he notices is the similarities between the beaming Chat Noir in front of him and wannabe defense attorney Adrien Agreste are so striking, now that they have ID'd the former Parisian heroes.

“Um—”

Before Clark can gather his words, Chat Noir thrusts a box into his hands—a smoothly-wrapped package complete with the Ladybug spot pattern and a black ribbon around it lined with neon cat paws. “What is . . .?”

“Marinette's clear of charges, right?” Chat asks, the grin not faltering on his face.

“Of course she is,” Clark clears his throat. He picks up on a handful of League members standing just outside the door of the room they're in, perhaps unwilling to disturb the both of them. “We're collating the evidence right now and we'll send them soon to the Parisian government. Since we can't expose her identity, we're building an alibi for her as Ladybug's aide, which should explain why she was tight-lipped during the trial.”

“Right, okay.” Chat points to the box. “We decided to make your jobs easier and send you these. They're all the records, written evidence, and photos pointing to the real identity of Hawkmoth.”

Clark gawks at him.

“Ladybug's only condition is that you don't reveal this to the public.” Chat scratches the back of his head. “Her worry is that people might start blaming those associated with his civilian identity, even if he was working alone most of the time.”

“This—this is—”

“Oh, and I'm not sure how you can punish him on your own ‘cause he's in a coma right now.”

“Huh?” Clark mentally kicks himself at his lack of words, but this seemingly cheerful boy just has no filter.

“Yeah, it sucks. In the final battle, I managed to Cataclysm the actual Butterfly miraculous but then he used it—there are serious consequences if you use a broken miraculous by the way—and then bam. Coma,” the Parisian hero narrates, “We're keeping an eye on him right now but I don't think he's waking up soon. I guess that's his punishment in itself?”

“So . . . this Hawkmoth. Who was he?”

Chat pauses. “Do you know Gabriel Agreste?”

“. . .”

Clark stares at him.

“. . .”

Chat Noir stares back.

“But that's your father!” Clark suddenly exclaims in horror.

“I know right?! It's such a small world!”

Clark doesn't know what to feel. He's seen this before; too often in fact, in Bruce's many children—little bunches of young pent-up trauma masked with lighthearted humor and smiles. He now has half the mind to fly this boy to the nearest therapist.

“Well, if you don't have any more questions, I'll be off!” Chat looks around at the interior design of the Watchtower. “Cool satellite base by the way! I've been wanting to see inside since forever. We only have rocks and broken domes in our base.”

In the blink of an eye—before Clark can think of an excuse to make him stay—he opens up the hatch and flies out into space.

---

Damian steps out into the ruined temple, with Marinette closing the portal behind him. In the daylight, the place looks much friendlier, potentially a historical artwork even if it is half-destroyed. He did not expect to return so soon, but Marinette suddenly visited him in his bedroom, saying that she and the team will be moving soon. She wants to talk one more time as well, since they didn’t have much of the opportunity during the attack.

“What will you do now?” Damian eyes the boxes piled up against the curved wall.

Marinette smiles and stretches her arms. “Now that I’m a free woman?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong in the first place.”

“Killing isn’t wrong?”

“Marinette,” Damian sighs.

“Just teasing.” She smirks. “We’ll be around, don’t worry. There are still links to the Order everywhere.”

“They’re not completely wiped out?”

“You’ll be surprised.” Marinette shakes her head. “It’s a network almost as big as the League of Assassins. They’re not all monks—there are miraculous-adjacent dealers, collectors. All sorts of people. We’ll be infiltrating and destroying the adjacents.”

Damian figures it’s a problem the Justice League can look into too, but she assures him that it’s her responsibility to deal with and she’ll be using her powers for miraculous-related attacks only. He knows the JL is looking to recruit her but they’ll have to be utterly shameless to ask that of her. Fortunately, the heroes are giving their attention to Paris’ rehabilitation instead.

“They haven’t given a formal apology to you yet.” He crosses his arms. “Father will be given my cold shoulder for an entire month for that.”

“That’s because I haven’t responded to their calls,” she laughs. “They can say sorry when they see me by chance but I think they’ve learned their lesson.”

He remembers the JL facing public backlash about imprisoning an innocent when they finally publicized the (half-true) evidence supporting Marinette as an aide and not a villain. He hasn’t seen his father that overwhelmed by guilt, not to mention the other Justice League members. Barbara even reported once that even Constantine is looking for a talisman to guard himself from miraculous magic (which Adrien and Marinette found absolutely hilarious when the news reached them).

“Tt. They have not.”

“How stubborn, habibi.”

Damian feels his cheeks go warm.

He clears his throat. “Will you keep in contact while you’re away?”

“Of course! I can give you my number. Your phone?” She holds out her hand.

He stares at her dumbfoundedly before digging through his pocket to lend her his phone. Marinette chuckles while typing. “What? You think we won’t use phones while traveling the world?”

“N—no . . . I just thought it would have been confiscated when you were arrested.”

“It did, but Kagami and Luka kindly stole it back for me when I was in prison.” She gives back his phone. “It does have classified information after all.”

While Damian tries to control his grin at having her number (which none of his siblings nor Barbara probably have!) he’s suddenly enveloped in a tight hug. He freezes, but instinctively places his hands on her waist.

“You’ve come so far, Damian, I’m happy for you,” she whispers against the crook of his neck. “Thank you for trusting me again.”

“I thought you were gone.”

“I know. I’m sorry. ” Her grip tightens. “I’ll stay this time. I promise.”

←Previous Chapter

That wraps up Soul-Stitching! Thanks so much for reading this fic <3 I know there are plot points I didn't get to address in the story, but in case you were wondering: 1. How did Fu get the Miraculi, and later on give the jewels to Marinette and Adrien? Marinette was able to destroy the Order, but not all of them so some had escaped with the real miraculi and a whole stock of adjacents. They reestablished a stronghold elsewhere, the whole Feast thing still happened, but Fu didn't know about the Guardian well enough and unknowingly gave the earrings to Marinette (later on proclaiming her as guardian, as with canon). However, the Peacock and Butterfly were pawned off to Gabey beforehand, and therefore were already missing from the box before Fu had them. 2. If Marinette was so powerful as the Guardian, why did it still take years to find Hawkmoth? Marinette's powerful, but she didn't have full knowledge or control over all the powers yet. Plus, a real miraculous' power is on par with hers, so it was still hard to defeat HM despite that. If I missed anything else (nope, you didn't see that!) , please feel free to ask in the comments.

Taglist: @noisydreamlandkoala

#tw child abuse #tw suicide #maribat fanfic #dc x mlb #mlb x dc #maribat #maribat fic #daminette #marinette dupain cheng x damian wayne #tw blood #ggomoz #maribat damian wayne #maribat marinette dupain cheng #SS:H&G

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moonchildreads · 4 months

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small town

Chapter 24 - Up Where We Belong

IN THIS CHAPTER: Graduation gowns, strawberry milkshakes, and Wayne asks a question [9.9k]

WARNINGS: dealing with grief (nancy, dottie, eddie to a less extent), writer not knowing how graduations are in the us

A/N: happy new year!!!! i hope everyone is having a wonderful start of 2024, here's your belated christmas gift from yours truly. if you read this and think "that's not how that works", then i don't know what to tell you bestie but i tried. i watched a TON of graduation ceremonies on youtube and i pulled heavily from those, aside from borrowing things from my own not-american graduation. i hope you enjoy it anyways! (and let me know if you wanna be added to the taglist!) <3

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All we have is here and now All our life, out there to find

Friday, June 13th - 1986

Wayne Munson had walked the halls of Hawkins High School several times throughout recent years courtesy of his nephew’s misbehaving, but never making it past Principal Higgins’ office was turning out to be a problem. Resigned, he stomped on his cigarette gently before following a family that looked like they knew where they were going, regretting not taking up Eddie’s offer to escort him inside before he disappeared in search of his friends and fellow graduates. Graduation. Ain’t that a funny thing to think about, Wayne mused. The auditorium, he noted as he finally found it, was decorated in bright orange and calming forest green, a Class of 1986 paper banner hanging from the dark curtain that was doing its job as an unassuming background at the very back of the room. On the stage, there was a regal-looking wooden lectern, and a small table with stacked up rolls of paper tied with orange and green ribbons; next to it, a bunch of black chairs where teachers would probably be sitting during the event had been carefully lined up into a single row.

Excitement filled the air. It was in the murmurs of the people taking their seats, skimming their programs to proudly find the names of their kids printed on the semi-matte paper. It was in the way the school’s faculty could not stand still, barely having time to say hello to everyone walking in before they were off to check yet another little detail so everything could go as smoothly as possible. Wayne walked down the central aisle trying to find a good spot to sit in while feeling a bead of sweat go down his back. The last time he’d worn a suit, any suit, had been to his mother’s funeral eight years before; in fact, he still only owned that one suit. The temperature in Hawkins was steadily rising as June turned into July, and Wayne felt incredibly stuffy in his clothes but he didn’t dare wear anything less for such a special day. Eddie had defied all odds and was now a High School Graduate, the first Munson to walk to stage in three generations. Truth be told, his Uncle was willing to bet that he was actually the first one to do so in their entire family history, and thus, Wayne wore the suit, and the shirt, and the tie, and searched for a seat near the front to witness his nephew doing the exact opposite of what the whole town had always expected him to do: succeed.

Bianca, Donny’s mom, was fussing over her youngest grandson, Francesco, when she saw Wayne looking a little lost in the crowd and waved at him to wordlessly invite him to sit with them. The eldest Munson approached them with a smile, settling himself on the row behind the Vitale family who was so very busy trying to keep little Francesco and his (barely) older cousin Marco from running down the aisles and bothering other families.

“Good to see y’all made it,” Wayne commented, shaking Donny’s dad Angelo’s hand before turning to Vittoria, Donny’s heavily pregnant older sister. “Though I coulda sworn I heard you were on bed rest, missy.”

“I am, but what my doctor doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she laughed, hand resting over her swollen belly. “This little lady hasn’t stopped kicking me all day, I think she’s more excited than I am to finally be outside the house!”

“It’s a special day, I’m sure the doctor won’t mind too much as long as we take it slow,” her husband said, kissing the side of her head. “Say hi to Mr. Munson, Marco.”

“Hi!” the little boy said, standing between his parents’ seats. “Whose Grandpa are you?”

“Marco!” his dad exclaimed, but Wayne laughed loudly.

“That’s not a grandpa, you dummy! That’s Eddie’s dad,” said Francesco, before grabbing his cousin’s hand and leading him towards Nonna Giulia down the row in search of the candy she always kept in her purse.

“I’m sorry,” Vittoria said with an apologetic smile. “They read this picture book about families at pre-school and now he thinks all men with white hair are grandpas.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I know I’m not gettin’ any younger,” Wayne joked, his eyes straying to the side of the auditorium where the seniors were finally getting ushered into formation.

The Vitale family craned their necks to see their boy, and Wayne in turn searched for his: Eddie was standing near Jeff towards the middle of the line, the two of them engaged in conversation as they waited for everyone to get into their respective places. It wasn’t that Eddie wasn’t paying attention to what his friend was saying; he was clearly answering back and keeping the chat going, but it seemed to his Uncle that he was searching for someone in the crowd, eyes scanning rows of unknown family members for a face he hadn’t yet found. Wayne was about to lift his hand to let him know where he was sitting, but it soon became apparent that Eddie hadn’t been looking for him - he had been looking for the short haired girl who had just ran into the auditorium with a panicked look on her face and an askew cap on her head.

Dottie hurried over to where her classmates were standing, enveloping a curly haired girl Wayne wasn’t familiar with at the very back of the line in an enthusiastic hug before doing the same with Donny. Wayne saw with an amused smile how Eddie waited patiently for his turn while she hugged Jeff, and how all his anxiety looked like it was melting away as he embraced her, eyes closed and face buried in her hair. After saying their hellos, Dottie kept walking to the front of the line where she greeted a strawberry blonde girl with excited hops and shared an equally loving hug with both her and Gareth. Her dad watched her with a fond smile from his place near the doors, a program held tightly in his hands. Taking pity on the poor man who Wayne knew was attending the event alone much like he was, he motioned for James to join their mismatched group who gladly took the offer, walking briskly towards the still empty seat next to Eddie’s uncle. James greeted Donny’s family before getting comfortable on his wooden chair and let a long breath out. Finally.

“Long morning?” Wayne asked, knowingly.

“Be grateful you don’t have a teenage girl in your house, Wayne. It was near impossible to get here on time,” James scoffed.

“Can’t be worse than Ed’s allergy to his damn alarm clock. It went off for a whole 15 minutes before he got up today.”

“Did it wake you up?”

“Nah. Was already up reading the paper but I wasn’t about to turn it off for him. He just rolls over and keeps sleeping if I do,” he said, and James shook his head with an affectionate smile on his face.

“Teenagers, right?”

“Yup. Teenagers.”

Over the few short months Wayne and James had known each other, they had learned to appreciate the quiet but hard work the other did for their respective kid. It wasn’t easy to be a single father, and even though Wayne wasn’t Eddie’s biological dad, there was no doubt in James’ mind that he fulfilled that role wonderfully in the boy’s life and heart. The Munsons and the Burkes had gone through a lot over the years, that much was undeniable, but on that hot Friday morning both fathers could be proud that their kids had made it to the other side relatively unharmed, all the while somehow finding each other to rely on along the way. If Dottie and Eddie were going to be inseparable all summer as they had been since the day they met, it was only fair James and Wayne got to compare notes on parenting and commiserate over the little annoying things they’d miss once the kids had left the comforting safety of their family homes.

Before they could continue their talk however, teachers began herding the seniors into a neat single file and getting into their places on the stage, Principal Higgins taking his spot behind the lectern. Excitement amplified as the crowd hushed - only suppressed coughs and a few little children’s voices could be heard in the quiet room. Wayne saw Higgins approach the mic and took a deep breath letting the pride he’d been feeling all morning take over him. The heat of the almost-here summer was forgotten outside in the parking lot, along with his smushed cigarette butt and the heavy weight he’d been carrying since a CPS agent left a scared 8-year-old Eddie on his doorstep all those years ago.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Hawkins High School Principal Thomas Higgins,” the man began, voice booming across the room with the aid of loudspeakers; Dorothy peered at him over the shoulder of the taller girl standing in front of her. “On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration of Hawkins High, we’d like to welcome family and friends, and most importantly, to our seniors to the Commencement Exercises of the Graduating Class of 1986.”

Higgins paused for effect and the crowd followed his cue by breaking into happy applause - the aforementioned seniors gleefully waved to the few family members they could find within the sea of heads straining to look at them. The Class of ‘86 stood patiently to the side towards the back of the auditorium, waiting to be called into the main aisle where their names would be announced one by one and they’d go up the stage, accept their diploma, and go back downstairs to the rows of chairs at the front left that had been reserved for them. The full graduating class was small, no more than 40 students, and Dottie wondered how different things would have been for her if she were graduating with her New York classmates in a year that comprised around 400 kids instead of doing it in Hawkins, Indiana.

“Please, rise from your seats and join us in singing the National Anthem, followed by the Hawkins High School Spirit Song,” Higgins announced, and the sound of creaking wooden chairs filled the air as everyone followed his request.

Dottie sang along to the National Anthem without thinking too much about it, but when the first notes of the Hawkins High school song came through the speakers, she realized she had no idea what the lyrics were. No one had told her they’d be singing it during their only rehearsal, and certainly no one had spared a moment to teach it to her in the last six months. She wasn’t even sure she knew a spirit song even existed before that very moment. Eyes surveying over the crowd of family members, she saw that most if not all were singing along - the only ones not joining in were probably those who hadn’t attended Hawkins High and lived in a different town, perhaps even in a different state altogether. Heat rising up her chest under her dark green gown, she turned her head to the front, feeling very much like an outsider amongst her peers for the first time in months. Bryan Butler right behind her sang louder as the song was ending and she tried to not call attention to herself to let him take the spotlight. Once the music stopped, Principal Higgins neared the lectern to continue his speech.

“Thank you, you may be seated now,” Higgins said, and the wooden creaking resumed for a second as everyone sat back down to watch the rest of the ceremony. “The Hawkins High School Class of 1986 has experienced many memorable moments over the last four years, and Hawkins is proud of how these young graduates have worked and persevered through hard times to get to this day. We as faculty could not be prouder or more thrilled to celebrate with them, and we look forward to sending them off onto the next chapter in their lives. Parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and other family members, we are honored to have you here today as our guests to celebrate our graduates and we thank you for your support. Please clap along as the Class of 1986 proceeds to their places.”

The speakers began playing Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 in D and the crowd broke into fervent applause once more, Michael Allen leading the way for his fellow seniors to stand in the central aisle right below the middle set of stairs where they’d wait to be called to the stage. As they fell into their designated spots, Dottie finally recognized who had been assigned to stand right in front of her; it was Robin Buckley, the shy band nerd she had met at Family Video a few weeks earlier and briefly bonded with over their shared love of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She was wearing white Converse sneakers with little drawings in blue and black ink, and the edges of her black rolled up jeans could be seen poking below her gown. She’s so cool, Dottie thought, not knowing that Robin was desperately trying not to scan the audience lest her nerves paralyzed her. Not even painting her nails bright orange had saved them from being chewed on this time around.

“Hawkins High School’s Class of 1986 was given the opportunity to choose a member of our staff to read their names as they cross the stage today,” Principal Higgins explained as three people already on stage stood from their seats. “I am honored to announce that this year, our Assistant Principal Mrs. Elaine Chandler will present the diplomas to our newest graduates. Mrs. Suzanne O’Donnell, Mr. Leopold Hauser, and myself will present them with their diploma cover, graduation medallions, and honor cords if applicable. Elaine?” he motioned for her to switch places with him.

“Thank you, Principal Higgins,” said Assistant Principal Elaine Chandler, adjusting her glasses on her nose as she looked down the list of names in front of her. “Allen, Michael,” she called first from behind the lectern, and the crowd clapped as Michael went up to her and received a hug and a rolled up certificate before moving down the stage towards the other teachers to shake their hands.

Dottie’s palms began sweating as more names kept being called and her time as a Hawkins High student slowly came to an end. Even though she had felt very much like an intruder looking in through a window during her first few months in the town, she had to admit that was happy here now - certainly much more happier than she’d ever been back in New York. Here all the teachers knew her name without having to read it from a file. Here she had a group of friends she’d go to literal Hell and back for, and she had a boyfriend who loved her the way she’d always thought love should be: easy and gentle. Here she had attended the best prom of her life, and her face would be permanently attached to a club that had given her the safety she’d never gotten anywhere else to finally, truthfully, be herself. Here Dottie had been at home.

While Barnes, Kathleen was getting her extracurricular honor cords for being part of the cheerleading team, Mrs. Chandler called upon Buckley, Robin and Dottie suddenly found herself at the front of the line. Robin climbed the steps with as much grace as she could muster while being pretty much mortified, and Mrs. Chandler soothed her with friendly pats on her back before presenting her with her diploma. The tall girl accepted it with shaky hands, her rings glinting under the stage lights, when a loud cheer rang above the polite applause of the crowd. Robin laughed, half embarrassed and half grateful, and when Dottie turned to see where the sounds were coming from, she found not only Dustin and Erica hooting and hollering besides a couple who were clearly Robin’s parents, but also that Steve guy that worked at Family Video with her, the one that Robin had described as her strictly platonic best friend with a capital P. It looked like retail did bond you forever after all.

Mr. and Mrs. Buckley looked between confused and amused as Steve pinched his bottom lip and let out a loud whistle - a chortle escaped Robin’s mouth while a cheerful Mr. Hauser, who had been her favorite teacher all four years of high school, put her graduation medallion around her neck, nerves all but forgotten before she skipped her way down to Mrs. O’Donnell to receive her extracurricular honor cords for being in band. Huh, that’s curious, Dottie thought distractedly. Didn’t know Dustin and Erica were such good friends with her and Steve. I wonder how they met.

“Burke, Dorothy,” called Mrs. Chandler through the speakers, jostling Dottie out of her musings.

This was it. The moment of truth. Dottie climbed the stairs and accepted a hug from Mrs. Chandler, hearing her friends cheering for her loudly in the background when her damp fingers came into contact with her diploma. She glanced at the crowd and time seemed to stop when her eyes found her Dad, a proud smile on his face and his program tucked under his armpit so he could clap loudly for his daughter. She waved at him and Wayne, who had also stood up to cheer for her, and time resumed after a blinding flash went off and she was whisked along to where the rest of the teachers were standing. She shook hands with both Principal Higgins and Mr. Hauser even though she hardly knew both men, and accepted her diploma cover and her graduation medallion before turning towards Mrs. O’Donnell. She was about to hug her teacher when the old woman presented her with her own honor cords, entwined green and orange ending in delicate tassels dangling from her manicured hands.

“That’s not- I’m not-” Dottie began.

“You have one of the highest GPAs in your year, besides being involved in two extracurriculars. Congratulations, Miss Burke. You’ve earned this,” O’Donnell said, and it was perhaps the only time in the whole semester Dottie had seen her genuinely smile.

“T-thank you,” she managed to get out, letting the woman drape the cords on her shoulders and rushing to her seat before she began bawling on stage.

“Hey, congrats!” Robin whispered once they were both seated next to each other, shaking her own cords lightly. The ceremony continued with no regards to their little chat.

“You too! Didn’t know I had qualified for any of this, I think everyone saw me have an aneurism up there.”

“Nah, everyone’s too nervous about not tripping down the stairs on their way back, don’t worry about it.”

“Coleman, Gareth,” Mrs. Chandler announced, grabbing Dottie’s attention.

Carver, Jason hadn’t even reached the sidestage stairs to go down after accepting his diploma when Gareth, in his haste to get everything over with, tried to climb two steps at a time and got his feet tangled in his dark green gown. Cunningham, Chrissy, who was right behind him, quickly caught his arm before he could lose balance and hit the floor. He quietly thanked her with red cheeks and embarrassed eyes before he finally went up the stairs, one step at a time. Chrissy went back to the front of the line while other classmates around Dottie and Robin snickered at the little mishap; Gareth accepted his diploma and other paraphernalia, and got the hell off the stage as quickly as humanly possible.

“Thank God that wasn’t me,” Robin muttered, and Dottie grimaced in agreement.

Gareth ended up awkwardly sitting between Jason and Chrissy, but much to his relief, they had all been assigned to the row behind Dottie. Taking advantage of the proximity, he leaned forward to talk to his friend as the ceremony progressed and Chrissy quickly joined, stopping to give Dottie a kiss on her cheek from her seat behind her as a second greeting. Jason watched the scene unfold and asked himself when had his girlfriend started hanging out with people he didn’t know. He thought he knew everything about Chrissy - when had that changed and to what extent? Selfishly, he couldn’t help but think about what the future would look like for them when they left for college. Chrissy was headed to OSU and he would be at Indiana State, almost four hours and more than 250 miles between them. Would this be their last summer together? He didn’t like to entertain that thought.

Davis, Monica, Foster, Kyle, and Hanson, Randall were some of the names they didn’t pay much attention to until Humphrey, Andrew was called to the stage. Jason distracted himself from his anxiety over his relationship possibly having an expiration date by clapping loudly for his best friend. Dottie and Gareth shared a mischievous look: Andy wasn’t wearing any bandages on his nose anymore, but the dark purple shadow under his eye was still very visible with the bright stage lights illuminating his face. After him came Hurley, Marcie, one of Dot’s colleagues from the newspaper club, and Kemper, Lucy, the girl who had sold almost everyone their prom tickets. Morgan, Theresa was on stage when Dottie realized she knew almost all the people in her graduating class by name now, even if they had never spoken to one another before. In New York, she’d never known the names of all the people within a single class, not since elementary school at least. She wondered if they remembered her, but then decided she didn’t care that the answer was probably a resounding no.

When Munson, Edward was called to the stage, Dottie and Gareth stood up to make as much noise as possible, both infinitely proud of the long haired boy with the charming eyes who was accepting the one piece of paper that had seemed so elusive all this time. Dustin and Erica hollered at him, and the rest of the Hellfire Club, still in line waiting to accept their diplomas, joined them in their antics. When Principal Higgins went in for a handshake, Eddie pulled him into a hug; the older man laughed and let it happen, a sort of fondness for the metalhead’s unwavering resilience present in their interaction. He accepted his medallion and his own honor cords for being the Chapter Leader of a student organization, and just before he climbed off, he approached the edge of the stage with a dazzling grin.

“Here it comes,” Dottie muttered, anticipating her boyfriend to give the middle finger to the entire town and bolt as he had declared he’d do on multiple occasions.

What Eddie did instead was find his Uncle in the crowd and bow deeply in his direction as people clapped for him like it was the end of a play. Wayne pretended to not be choking back tears as his nephew got off the stage, lips pursed behind his fingers trying to hide the grin threatening to break out on his face.

“Coward,” Gareth said, and Chrissy hit him in the shoulder.

There was no time for Eddie to do anything more but find his seat, because immediately after him came Patton, Jeffrey, and exactly ten names later, came Vitale, Donatello. The teachers laughed and cooed at his excited nephews jumping up and down the aisle, cheering for his favorite Uncle. One day in the not so distant future, they’d probably be handing them their diplomas too. Just how many faces in the crowd had walked through these same halls, attended the same classes, and some of them even had the same teachers as the Class of ‘86? A much younger and recently married O’Donnell, a Higgins as a History teacher prior to his Principal days, a Kaminski after his eldest son had just been born. Never before had the kids in the Hellfire Club felt as much part of the Hawkins High community as they did now - it almost felt unfair that they had to permanently leave the place to finally feel that way.

“And last, but certainly not least,” said Mrs. Chandler when there was only one person left to climb up the stage. “-Wheeler, Nancy, the valedictorian for the Class of 1986 who will say a few words for us and her fellow graduates after receiving her diploma.”

The crowd broke once again in loud applause as a red cheeked Nancy in her dark green gown and bright orange valedictorian stole greeted all her teachers with a few flashcards containing her speech in her hand. Karen Wheeler looked at her daughter with shiny eyes, infinitely proud of her little girl that’d grown into a smart, capable woman right in front of her. In a few months she’d be far away, following her dreams, and taking a piece of her mother’s hopes with her as she did so, but none of her fears. Holly raised her arms, silently asking to be lifted up so she could see better, and Karen picked up her youngest daughter, pointing at her big sister in the distance so she could wave at her. Nancy took her place behind the lectern and looked at the audience, a carefully put together mask over bittersweet eyes that Dottie had almost become used to seeing on her friend. If she stared into a mirror too deeply, she could recognize the dents in her skin of her own mask, now laying shattered at her feet.

“Honorable guests, Principal Higgins, Hawkins High School faculty, academic and supporting staff, friends, families, and graduates - good morning,” Nancy began, voice soft but pleasantly clear. “It is with great pride that I stand here before you on such a special occasion to deliver this speech, which I promise I’ll try to keep short and sweet,” she lightheartedly smiled at her audience before she grew solemn once more. “However, before I start, I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silence to commemorate the students and family members who could not be here today with us, and to remember the victims of the Starcourt Mall Fire on July 4th, 1985.”

Not a sound could be heard for a few heartbeats, and Dottie watched the faces of the town she’d come to love morph from amused to weary. There was real mourning here, a deep gash left open in a community that couldn’t heal properly because some wounds were just too deep to scab over. Eddie had told her everything he knew about what had happened, the official story everyone that hadn’t been involved in the tragedy repeated when asked, and her heart constricted when she saw Dustin and Erica in their seats with their heads down. They looked downright haunted. Steve sat next to them, watching over them with such turmoil in his eyes that Dottie had to wonder if there was something they were all missing about what happened. Had Steve also been in the mall with them? Had Robin, who was quietly sitting next to her like she was reliving a horror movie behind her eyes, her fingers absentmindedly tangling and untangling themselves in her honor cords?

Karen, sitting next to her unaware husband and emotionally closed off son, took a few deep breaths to keep her tears at bay and gently kissed Holly’s head before shifting her baby on her lap to hold her against her chest more tightly, like someone could snatch her off her arms at any given moment. Dottie twisted her mom’s engagement ring on her left middle finger and bit the inside of her cheek while blinking away the wetness gathering on her lash line. Not now, she scolded herself. Later.

“Thank you,” Nancy said, breaking the silence and moving onto her next flashcard. “Four years ago, we arrived at Hawkins High as children, and we are now leaving as young adults with our whole lives ahead of us. Some will go on to college, others will enter the workforce, but all of us will take the lessons learned here and let them guide us to become who we were always meant to be,” she turned to look to her side. “I'd like to thank our teachers for sharing their knowledge with us, for being patient and pushing us to achieve great things. With their help, our Hawkins High Mathletes reached their first ever state finals and brought home the silver medal earlier this year.”

There was a loud cheer coming from somewhere in the auditorium that sounded very much like Rick Stewart, exiting Captain of the Hawkins High Mathletes. Some people laughed goodnaturedly and joined in, the teachers clapping proudly at their labor being recognized. Nancy smiled and continued, knowing the applause would only get louder as she read the next part of her speech.

“I'd like to thank our coaches and counselors for making school more than just homework. You taught us about discipline, teamwork, and integrity, which led our basketball team to win the 1A North Central Conference Championship for the first time in 22 years,” the applause that followed was deafening, and it took several minutes for it to die down before Nancy could keep going. “I'd like to thank our families for supporting us in more ways that we could ever count, for chaperoning our dances and field trips, cheering for us at our sporting events, and attending all our plays with so much love and commitment, that our Drama Club was able to extend their winter run of West Side Story with a packed audience every night until their closure.”

The cheers this time were much more subdued, yet polite and sustained enough to not be embarrassing to the Drama Club members and their families in the audience. It was clear, however, where the town’s loyalties stood: Indiana’s love for basketball was known throughout the country, and Hawkins wasn’t the exception to the rule. Nancy looked at her graduating class and grabbed the last two flashcards in her pile.

“No one achieves success alone, and we are truly grateful for the help and guidance we’ve received during our years as Hawkins Tigers. However, if my classmates indulge me for a second, I’d like to ask each of you to think about a moment where you felt proud of yourself. Think about the things you’ve accomplished here, and the challenges you’ve overcome. A great woman by the name of Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote, you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Our time as Hawkins High School students has come to an end. We did it, Class of ‘86. We did the thing we thought we couldn’t do, and we’ve learned that we can take the next thing that comes along, so keep moving forward. I’m proud of you, and I hope you are too. Thank you, and congratulations to us all.”

Dottie followed Nancy with her eyes as she shook Principal Higgins’ hand once more and left the stage towards her seat. Her hands were shaking lightly, and her lips were pursed, but she almost looked lighter, like she’d left significant weight behind that had nothing to do with public speaking related nerves. Nancy’s speech had been beautiful, there were no doubts about that, but it was strange to think about someone like her looking at her high school years as something that had been horrific to live through. She was popular enough to not have been bullied, pretty enough to have been desired and looked up to, smart and well-off enough to never have to worry about not fitting in.

High school was certainly hard for almost everyone, but the way Nancy had spoken about it left a familiar bitter taste in Dottie’s mouth. If Eddie had been right when retelling her the town’s recent strange happenings, Nancy had probably been thinking about her friend Barb when writing her speech. She would have most likely graduated alongside her, maybe she’d be headed to a nearby college where the two girls could still see each other often, or to a completely different one across the country and they’d have to call every weekend with updates on their new lives. Holland, Barbara should have been called up to the stage between Hall, Suzanne and Humphrey, Andrew, but now she was just another name added to the always-growing list of people who ought to have been there, but ultimately couldn’t be.

“Thank you for that inspiring speech, Miss Wheeler,” said Principal Higgins, returning to his place behind the lectern to close out the ceremony. “Graduating is an amazing achievement for these students, and we here at Hawkins High are excited to see the things they’ll accomplish in the future. By the authority vested in me by the Governor of the State of Indiana, Mr. Robert D. Orr, I confer the appropriate diplomas for the Class of 1986. Graduates, please move your tassels to the left,” he smiled at his now former students. “Congratulations Tigers, you can now throw your hats!”

As they had been instructed during rehearsals, they threw their hats directly above them, not wanting to lose them on the way down before they could take pictures with them but in the excitement and elation of the graduates, some caps ended up on the floor, prompting kids to search for the lost items under their chairs while their classmates cheered above them and congratulated one another. Dottie hugged Robin again while Principal Higgins said his goodbyes through the loudspeaker without anyone really hearing him, families eager to leave the auditorium and get into their cars quickly to avoid the inevitable bottleneck at the entrance of the parking lot.

“Thank you all for coming and being part of this special moment,” Higgins said, voice ringing above the loud chatter and scraping of chairs. “Please drive safe and have a good weekend!”

“Dad!” Dottie called upon seeing James talking to Gareth’s family near their cars. He waved at her in acknowledgment and she turned to her friend to say her goodbyes. “I’ll call you as soon as I have my new schedule down, okay? We can go to the movies some day!”

“I’m gonna go see family up North next week, but I’ll call you when I get back,” Chrissy said, arm still tangled with hers. “We have to go see the new Karate Kid coming out soon, Ralph Macchio is so cute.”

“I’m not even gonna correct you on that because I do wanna see it with you, but just know I think you’re crazy,” the brunette said, laughing at her friend.

“Well, excuse me, bad boys aren’t everyone’s type,” the blonde retorted, a secretive grin gracing her fairy-like features before she pulled her into a goodbye hug. “I’m gonna miss you!”

“We’ll see each other soon! You go have a great trip, forget about this boring town for a while.”

After the girls said their goodbyes and went in separate directions, Dottie watched Chrissy greet her family with curious eyes. She didn’t know much about the Cunninghams and was surprised to see that her newest and most unlikely friend had a little brother she had never mentioned before. He must have not been the right age to be in high school yet or he’d probably be under Jason’s overprotective wing, especially if he was athletic like his big sister.

Chrissy might have looked small and dainty, but there was a certain fierceness cheerleaders had in their step - their aura had been painstakingly trained to command a room and demand attention. And yet, Dottie noticed that as Chrissy turned from her unassuming Dad to her elegant Mother, the brightness she radiated seemed to dim ever so slightly, even if her charming smile stayed in place.

“There you are! I was looking for you everywhere,” James exclaimed, her thoughts instantly lost to the wind. “Congratulations, honey. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dottie melted into his hug, knocking her cap even more askew with his shoulder. “They gave me honor cords, did you see? I didn’t know I had earned them!”

“I’m seeing them now! You worked so hard, good job.”

“Congratulations, sweetie!” Lydia, Gareth’s mom, said, pulling her into a hug. “Have you met Gretchen yet? Gare’s big sister?”

“Hey, congrats,” Gretchen said with a polite smile on her face.

“Thank you, hi! It’s nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Likewise,” Gretchen said, eyes sparkling with mischief as she saw Gareth approach with two more kids toddling behind him. “I’m always really curious to meet any girl who would even talk to my brother in the first place, but you seem normal enough.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Gareth said, and Erica snickered.

“Honestly, he’s lucky we’re nice to him,” the middle-grader joined in, making Gareth groan in annoyance.

“You’re my friend, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Congrats, Dot!” Dustin said, hugging the older girl from her right side, prompting Erica to cuddle up to her on the left. “We’re super proud of you.”

“Aw, Dus,” she pouted, leaning her head on his. He really was like the little brother she’d always wanted and never had. “Thank you, you’re so sweet. I’m happy you two could be here!”

“It was fun! We enjoyed it.”

“I saw you guys with that Steve guy earlier, did you come with him?”

“You know Steve?” Dustin said, curious.

“Yeah, he works at Family Video with Robin!” Dottie said.

“You know Robin?” it was Erica’s turn to ask.

“Uh, yeah, we’re classmates? She was sitting next to me throughout the ceremony- wait, how do you know them? What am I missing here?”

“Nothing! Steve’s, uh- Steve’s our babysitter!” Dustin hurried to say. “Did you know he used to date Nancy a while ago? That’s how we met, through Nancy. And we know Robin through Steve. Hawkins is a very small place.”

“W-what? Nancy and…”

“Yeah, she dumped him in front of everyone at a party and he’s been all mopey and sad since then,” Erica said, prompting Dustin to elbow her. “What? Just the facts!”

“Uh…,” Dottie looked at Gareth, dumbfounded.

“Anyway,” Dustin continued, aware that multiple eyes were on him. “He’s our babysitter.”

“Dustin, you’re fifteen,” Gareth laughed. “You’re a little old to still have a babysitter.”

“My Mom’s protective of me, okay? I’m an only child.”

“And he’s a good babysitter?” Dottie asked, amused.

“The best. Steve’s… yeah, Steve’s great. More like an older brother figure than a babysitter,” Dustin smiled, clearly fond of the older boy. “You should hang out with him, I think you’d like each other.”

“Stop. Just stop,” said Erica, knowing where Dustin was headed.

“What?” he shrugged, feigning innocence.

“Alright, let’s take some pictures!” said Lydia, not having paid any attention to the kids’ conversation.

While they were in the middle of taking photos, the remaining Hellfire Class of ‘86 joined the group with their respective families. Eddie snuck up behind Dottie while she was distracted taking a picture with Jeff and picked her up, arms encircling her middle and spinning her around while she giggled unabashedly, hands coming to rest on his forearms when he put her down but didn’t let go. Wayne had to hide a chuckle while he talked to the other parents; his nephew really wasn’t as smooth and mysterious as he thought he was, and Wayne had been around the sun too many times to not recognize what he was seeing between Eddie and his little lady friend. Gretchen, in turn, looked at Donny and lifted an eyebrow at him quizzically.

“What have I missed?” she quietly said, a smirk lifting the corner of her lips. She’d always liked Donny the best out of all his brother’s friends, and was aware that as much of a good confidant as he was, he never shied away from gossip.

“He said he wanted to wait until after graduation to ask her out so I don’t think anything has happened yet,” Donny muttered back, crossing his arms and leaning closer to her friend’s big sister. “They’re totally gone for each other, though.”

“You don’t say,” Gretchen said and turned to Erica who looked very interested in their conversation. “What do you think?”

“I think he’s too chicken to ask her out,” Erica laughed. “But they have been looking really cozy lately. That’s suspicious.”

“Eddie knows she’s into him,” Donny said, making Erica’s eyes widen. “Forgot to tell you about that.”

“You bastard, I thought we had a good thing going and you’re withholding information from me? Nuh-uh, this is betrayal. I want reparations.”

“Oh, she’s feisty,” Gretchen said.

“Come to the restaurant this weekend, I’ll give you ice cream and we can catch up and compare notes,” Donny offered, genuinely interested in keeping his friendship with the fiery younger girl intact. “But it has to be this weekend, Dot starts working with us on Monday.”

“How big is that ice cream?”

“Big as you want.”

“Deal,” she put out her hand for them to shake on it, but it was merely a formality - Donatello Vitale had no intentions of ever crossing the one and only Erica Sinclair again.

As families began saying their goodbyes and heading to their cars, it soon became clear that Eddie and Dottie did not want the festivities to end so fast. They’d already taken multiple photos with everyone and with each other, waved Dustin and Erica off as they climbed into Steve’s red BMW, and even said hello to the Wheelers, but they would just not leave each other’s side, always fluttering around one another no matter what was happening. If James thought anything strange about it, he didn’t mention it, but as Wayne looked at his nephew’s beaming smile, he realized he didn’t have the heart to cut his happiness short when there was such an easy solution to their problem.

“You two have any plans for lunch?” Wayne asked James, finishing up another smoke.

“Not really, no. I was thinking of picking up some burgers to celebrate. Why? You have any suggestions?”

“Well, me an’ Eddie like to go to the diner down on Randolph on special occasions. Thought you might want to join us,” he smiled at the kids who were now both staring at him expectantly.

“Can we go, Dad?” Dottie asked with hopeful eyes. “They have crinkle fries - you love crinkle fries!”

“That’s really kind of you, Wayne, but we don’t want to intrude,” James was saying, but Eddie hurried forward.

“You wouldn’t be intruding, sir. We both graduated today, we can celebrate together!”

“Come on, Dad, they wouldn’t ask if they didn’t want us there.”

Both older men looked at each other with knowing eyes and James sighed theatrically before conceding, his daughter cheering happily at the new impromptu plans. The teens quickly headed in the direction of their cars deep in their own happy little world; their parents amusedly looked as Eddie opened her door for her and helped her in while they talked about burger combinations and debated about their orders.

“Meet you there?” James asked Wayne, also getting into his car.

“You bet. Come on, boy, quit the yappin’. You’ll see her again in ten minutes, she’s not gonna run away from you!”

“Jesus Christ, Wayne!”

Eddie and Dottie had already been to the diner down on Randolph a few times; some of them before they’d begun dating and once after, but never with their parental figures as unofficial chaperones. The booth at the back they loved to sit at was occupied, so they chose a table near the front instead - the diner was bustling with energy as multiple families had had the same idea as them and got a headstart on their kids’ summer holidays. Eddie helped Dottie with her chair, thoroughly enjoying how shy she’d get whenever he did something remotely gentleman-like, and plonked himself next to her, quickly engaging in conversation about the menu she was holding. James had no option but to sit in front of his daughter as Wayne took the seat in front of Eddie, both of them also busying themselves with their own menus.

The teens tried to act normal in front of their elders, they really did, but it was such a lovely day, and they were celebrating one of the biggest achievements in their short lives that it was as if they’d forgotten that friends didn’t usually look so smitten with one another. Wayne took little peeks at them over the bright laminated piece of paper in his hands, catching how Eddie was stroking the side of her arm resting on the table with his pinky finger while she talked; he loudly coughed when James put his menu down and took his reading glasses off, the unexpected sound making them jump and separate instantly just in time for him not to see them. A young and friendly looking waitress approached their table, pad of paper and pen in her hand.

“Hi! Are you ready for me to take your order or are we waiting for the wives to arrive?” she said with a perfect customer-service smile. Dottie blinked up at her twice, her face morphing into a blank expression.

“No, thank you, it’s just gonna be us four today,” James said politely.

Today, he’d said. Like Margaret and Maureen were off doing other things, like working or shopping or attending a jazzercise class, and couldn’t join them for lunch but they’d probably be around later. Like they weren’t gone forever. Like they were still alive. Nancy’s speech rattled around in Dottie’s brain, her eyes glazing over and her ears filling with invisible cotton. James and Wayne ordered their food, and Eddie ordered for both himself and her, very much aware that something was bothering her. Her sight was stuck to her Dad’s hand resting on the cheap laminate tabletop. The gold band that had been there on his finger since Margaret and him had said I do all those years ago taunted her, glinting under the fluorescent lights of the diner. They’d promised each other forever, and what did they get? What did she get?

“Dot,” Eddie muttered, hand sneaking down the table to settle on the exposed skin of her knee. “Darling, can you hear me?”

“Huh?” she turned to look at him in a daze.

Behind him, there was a table where a family sat: a father, a mother and a daughter, barely older than she’d been when she’d lost the most important woman in her life. The baby gurgled in her Mom’s arms, and the woman cooed at her, noses nuzzling against each other’s. Dottie turned her head towards the other side of the diner where a mother was cleaning up a little boy’s face, chocolate staining his chubby cheeks.

She had just graduated from high school and her mother wasn’t there. She hadn’t been there when she got her first period, during her first heartbreak, or when she won a spelling bee at age seven. She wouldn’t be there when she graduated college, when she got her first job, when she got married to the boy who was holding onto her leg with worried eyes. She would never be there, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. It was always going to be just them.

“Honey, are you okay?” James asked, leaning forward.

“I-I’m sorry,” she managed to get out before she stood up and bolted outside and into the parking lot, her chair scraping against the floor in her haste to get out of the diner.

“I’ve got it, sir,” Eddie said before he sped after her, his chains rattling with every long step he took to catch up with her.

In silence, James and Wayne watched their kids through the huge windows next to their table. When Dottie saw Eddie running behind her, she turned her back on him, hugging herself as she tried to keep her emotions together. She lifted a hand to wave at him over her shoulder and said something - probably that she was okay, that she didn’t need help so he should go back in - but as he came closer, it was evident that the storm that had been brewing inside her all morning was on the brink of overtaking her. All it took was feeling his hand hovering on her shoulder for her knees to buckle as she folded onto herself, Eddie instantly rushing forward to catch her and pulling her into his chest, her back rising up and down violently as she sobbed into his graduation gown. He chewed on his lower lip as he held himself together, never one to cry in public where people could see him and judge him for it. He muttered something into her hair, his chin resting onto the crown of her head, gently rocking her side to side as her sobs subsided.

“She was really lonely until we came here, y’know,” James said, breaking the quiet that had fallen on their table. Wayne could only look at his nephew, the gentleness he’d always known he’d possessed perfectly on display. “All her new friends are great to her but Eddie… you’ve got a good boy there, Wayne.”

“They’re both good kids,” Wayne said, matter-of-factly. “It’s a damn shame they’re so young and been through so much already.”

“Yeah, it is.”

In the parking lot, unaware that they were being watched, Dottie lifted her head from Eddie’s chest, an embarrassed smile on her lips as she fanned her face with her hands in an attempt to dry her tears without ruining what was left of her mascara. Eddie, still holding onto her, blew on her cheeks; she laughed, heart feeling equally heavy and light at the same time. There was joy and levity to be found in shared grief, that was something new she had learned from him.

“Sometimes I feel like Eddie understands her better than I do,” James admitted, fingers toying with his wedding band.

“They understand each other in ways that you and I never will,” Wayne mused. “That ain’t a bad thing. Actually, I think it might be healthy.”

“Mhm,” James agreed, half lost in his own thoughts.

Dottie squeezed Eddie one last time like she was mentally preparing herself, gathering strength for whatever came next, and nodded once to let him know that it was okay to let her go. Eddie followed her inside quietly, holding the door open for her as they filed in and sat once again at their table. They both looked very tired, and perhaps even a little bit flustered at having to face their guardians after bolting out of the diner so unexpectedly. Dottie leaned forward to grab a napkin to blow her nose.

“M’sorry,” she said, eyes low. James grabbed her hand gently.

“You okay, honey?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. S’just a lot, you know?”

“I know,” her Dad said, watching her glance at Eddie next to her.

“Can I… is it okay if Eddie and I go to the lake after lunch?” she asked, shy. “We want to burn some cards.”

“Yeah, of course,” James said, knot tightening at the base of his throat and fingers tangling with his daughter’s.

Eddie was silent through the entire interaction, hands hellbent on shredding the paper napkin in front of him to minuscule pieces. Wayne could feel their table shake as he bounced his leg frantically, something he had long understood as his nephew’s tell when holding back tears. The waitress, unaware of what had just transpired, came back at that moment with their drinks and two milkshakes for the teens. Dottie smiled at them with wet eyes, and Eddie had the indecency to look sheepish: she hadn’t mentioned to him she wanted one, but he knew she loved strawberry milkshakes from this specific diner because they made them with real strawberry ice cream and not the powder. He must have ordered them when she blanked out. The simple gesture felt like balm for her anguished soul.

“Well, I’d like to propose a toast,” Wayne said, dissipating the remaining uncomfortable tension at their table. “To the Class of ‘86.”

“To the Class of ‘86,” James joined him, clicking their bottles of Coke together in the air.

Food arrived shortly after, and as an easy conversation sanded whatever edges were still sharp for the moment, Wayne observed the tender behavior of the kids sitting in front of him. It wasn’t as playful as it had been before, no, this felt much more… intimate. Considerate. Muted, yet still softhearted. Not missing a beat in the story she was telling to her Dad, Dottie grabbed the cherry on top of her milkshake and left it on top of Eddie’s. He gave her a toothy grin before popping it into his mouth, and she shook her head at him fondly. Yeah, this ain’t a bad thing at all, thought Wayne, taking a bite out of his food and laughing along with James at the ridiculous gossip Dottie and Eddie were sharing about their now former classmates.

“Okay, hold on a second before you run off,” Wayne said, as his nephew ushered his friend towards his van.

After lunch was done, it was decided that Wayne would drive Eddie and Dottie back to their trailer so they could get Eddie’s van and head to the lake for what they were calling The Card Ritual. The eldest Munson didn’t really understand what it meant, but it seemed that James knew what they were talking about so he didn’t ask too many questions about it - all he knew was that the kids were going to buy some cards at Melvald’s and then burn them, and that Dottie was emotional over the whole thing. If burning some paper brought peace to her heart, then who was Wayne to judge? He’d indulged in far more destructive coping mechanisms throughout his youth, evidenced by his unshakeable smoking habit.

After they’d said goodbye to James, they climbed into Wayne’s truck and headed to Forest Hills, graduation caps, gowns, and his suit jacket now discarded into the backseat. The heat kept rising in the early afternoon and Wayne just wanted to get out of his clothes, drink a glass of icy cold water, and take a nap in his undergarments next to his trusty fan, but he felt like there was a pressing conversation to be had before he went in and could finally relax on his day off.

“What’s up?” Eddie asked, Dottie coming to a stop next to him.

“I just gotta know, kid,” Wayne turned to her. “Does your Dad know about you two or do I have to play dumb with him?”

“W-what? What do you mean?” she asked, nervously.

“I may not be young, but I ain’t blind, sweetheart,” he smiled. “You’re not in trouble, I just wanna know how to act around your old man, that’s all.”

“He doesn’t know,” Eddie muttered, grabbing Dottie’s hand and surprising her with how quickly he confessed. “No one knows, we haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Except Chrissy,” Dottie said.

“Except Chrissy,” he conceded. “She knows because I asked her for advice, but she’s the only one.”

“How long?”

“Huh?”

“How long has this been going on?” Wayne asked, pulling his lighter out of his pocket.

“Uh, like two weeks? We’re not, like- we’re not official yet,” Eddie scratched his neck uncomfortably.

“Not offi- Edward,” his Uncle hardened his stare. “I taught you better than that.”

“Shit, I swear I was gonna do it today! Wanted to wait until after graduation, I’m not trying to be a flake-”

“It’s okay! We talked about it,” Dottie said, hanging onto his arm. “I don’t mind waiting, we just thought it’d be best to keep it a secret for now,” Wayne turned to look at her, wary. “Mr. Wayne, please, I’d announce it at the next Town Hall meeting if he’d let me.”

“We share all the same friends,” Eddie explained. “They’ll wanna know all the details, and I just- she breaks up with me and I’m the biggest loser in Hawkins, you know how those assholes are.”

“Oh my god, stop calling yourself a loser!” she whined.

“Don’t break up with me, and I won’t be!” he argued back, but it was clear he was being silly about it.

“Okay, so what’s the situation here? You two dating or not?” Wayne asked, getting back on topic.

“Yeah,” Eddie said, smiling down at her with hearts in his eyes. “We’re dating. I was gonna ask her to be my girlfriend officially later today but I might as well do it now since you’re so nosy.”

“It’s not like anything’s changing anyways,” Dottie said. “We just didn’t put a label on it, but I’ve kinda been his girlfriend since that party we went to a couple of weeks ago.”

“Hell yeah you are. And I’m your boyfriend, right?”

“No, you’re my private driver,” she deadpanned. “Of course you are, Eddie, what kind of question is that?”

“Just making sure, darling,” Eddie said, and Wayne snorted at how smug his nephew looked.

“Well, then… you two can go now, I guess. I’ll keep the secret.”

“Thanks, Mr. Wayne,” Dottie said, coming to hug him. “We’ll tell people soon, we just want a little bit of privacy for now. The guys can be so nosy sometimes.”

“Don’t I know that, kid,” he chuckled. “I’m real happy for you two.”

“I’m really happy too,” she whispered to him, a bashful smile on her face.

Eddie finally let her into his van, her white sundress and summery sandals a stark contrast against his ripped jeans and chains. They were an odd couple if one only looked at their clothes, but it was so clear that they vibrated at the same frequency that Wayne couldn’t help but think that he should have expected this development sooner. He didn’t know why he’d chosen to believe them when they’d said nothing had happened between them the night of the party. His nephew went towards the driver’s seat when he called to him again.

“Ed, a word,” he was dead serious as Eddie jogged to where he was standing.

“Yeah?”

“You treat that girl right, okay?” Wayne said, voice low so she wouldn’t hear from the van. “I don’t wanna hear shit from her Dad about you bein’ stupid with her.”

“I know.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not gonna fuck this up, Wayne. I love her,” Eddie told him, so sure of what he was saying that it knocked the wind out of his Uncle’s lungs for a bit.

“Love, huh?” Wayne laughed softly, and Eddie shrugged with red ears but looked so very happy. “Go, have fun. And take care of her.”

“I will,” he nodded.

“I’m proud of you, son,” Wayne said, ruffling his hair roughly like when he was just a boy barely taller than his own hip. “And your Momma would be too.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, eyes full of unshed tears. “I’m proud of me too.”

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