#big but he's just Hopper??? He's tough in a good at protecting us way but he gives in all the time to what people he cares about want and | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

steddieas-shegoes · 9 months

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Request: Steve & El being siblings in front of Hopper. Steve and his younger sisters as he refers to them (El, Max & Erica) being ridiculous together. Max teaching them how to skateboard. Steve teaching El how to take care of her hair & they do martial arts classes together. Erica & Steve being space & rock nerds together. Just Steve & his lil sister's confusing the hell out of their respective parents by referring to Steve as their older brother, once the Sinclair parents, Hop & Susan Hargrove realize who their daughters are referring too its hard for them to not find it both hilarious & charming that Steve is the one their girls go too for comfort.

MY LOVE!!! I didn't quite get ALL of that request in here, but I got the FEELING of it all I think. I love that Steve probably acts like he's just being a good babysitter but these three are ready to kill someone for him in a heartbeat. Erica genuinely loves him more than Lucas, that's what I feel in my heart. Enjoy some cute big brother Steve moments! - Mickala ❤️

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“Okay, what are the rules?” Steve asked the car full of girls.

He didn’t have to look behind him to know that Erica was rolling her eyes.

“My only rule is to not break any more bones,” Max said from the passenger seat.

“That’s not entirely-”

“We have to wear our helmets and pads the whole time,” El said from directly behind him.

“Thank you, El. And?” He put the car in park, staring out at the empty skate park in front of them.

“And stay where you can see us at all times. Check in every ten minutes,” Erica sighed.

“Alright, have fun, don’t hurt yourselves, don’t talk to strangers!” Steve exclaimed.

They all got out of the car and grabbed their boards and protective gear from the trunk, taking a few moments to get ready.

Max was giving them some basic tips for getting started, how to balance when standing still and when moving, and how to take it slow.

Steve set a towel out on the hood of his car and sat on it, watching them all make their way to the flat area for beginners.

He smiled to himself as he watched Max adjust them on their boards, making sure their stance was going to keep them balanced.

As tough as Max was on the surface, she was a soft marshmallow on the inside, especially when it came to El and Erica. Steve loved to watch her share her passions, to show true happiness when so much of her life had been just getting by.

“Steve! I’m doing it!” Erica’s voice rang out.

“I see! Lookin’ great!” he yelled back.

He heard a car pull into the parking lot, but didn’t turn to see who it was. It was most likely a parent with their kid or maybe a couple teenagers with nothing better to do.

He didn’t expect Max’s mom to sit next to him on the hood of his car.

“She said she was coming here with her big brother and I was a little worried that her medications needed to be adjusted again. I’m certainly glad that it’s you,” Susan said.

“Oh,” Steve smiled. “Yeah. She wanted to show El and Erica how to get going. It seems to be going well already.”

He felt Susan’s eyes on him as he kept watching the progress the girls were making.

“You work at Family Video still right?” she asked out of nowhere.

“Oh, yes ma’am. Today’s my day off.”

He finally turned to see her nodding, taking in her nurse’s uniform and the dark circles under her eyes.

“They’re lucky to have you, Steve.”

“I dunno about-”

“They are. Thank you,” she said sincerely before smiling at him and standing up. “Tell Maxine I’ll be pulling another double. She’s welcome to stay with El again.”

“Sure thing.”

He watched as Susan got in her car and left, frowning slightly at the fact that Max would be alone again. Well, not alone. Not if she stayed with El.

He knew Susan didn’t have a choice, had to pay the bills somehow and couldn’t just not work. But it hurt him to know Max’s life was so similar to his in that his parents were never around either.

At least she had good friends.

And she had him.

—----------------------------

Steve was half asleep when the doorbell rang.

It was late, much too late for anyone who would ring the doorbell to be there.

He yawned as he made his way to the door, hoping it would be quick.

“El?”

El was standing on his porch, small cosmetic bag in her hands.

“Steve, I need help.”

“Come in,” he gestured for her to come in, checking behind her for something or someone to be following her.

Of all of them, El was the most likely to be able to defend herself, so he wasn’t sure why she was seeking his help.

He turned to see her sitting on the couch, already taking things out of her bag.

A hairbrush, some rubber bands, a headband, and a ribbon.

“What exactly do you need help with?” Steve asked as he sat down next to her on the couch.

“I need to know how to braid my hair. Max usually does it for me, sometimes Will, but I do not know how to do it myself.”

“And you thought that I could help with that? Why not ask Max to show you?”

“Because she is not a very good teacher when it comes to these things. She just knows how to do it but does not know how to show me. So can you?”

Steve couldn’t possibly say no to her big eyes looking at him like that. She wasn’t even doing it the way the other kids did when they just wanted to bribe him into saying yes. This was just El.

“Yeah. But a comb would be much better for parting your hair. Let me go get one,” he said, trying to shake off any exhaustion he was feeling before.

It was a long process.

El was incredibly smart, but sometimes the simplest thing to someone else would be extremely difficult for her, and her frustration would make it even harder.

But Steve had patience, especially when it came to El.

“Close! You just want to try to do it a little tighter so it doesn’t fall out while you put the band at the bottom,” he smiled at her encouragingly. “Feel how I’m tugging just a little bit tighter while braiding over here?” El nodded. “Try to do that on that side.”

El started over, and Steve could tell this time would be the time she got it right.

“There you go! It’s perfect!” he jumped up and took her hands in his, pulling her off the couch so they could jump up and down in excitement.

“I did it!” she laughed.

“Next lesson: french braiding,” Steve said when they both calmed down.

“The braiding is in a different language?” El asked, confused.

“No, honey, it’s just a different style. It’s a bit harder, but if you practice regular braids more, you’ll be able to do it no problem.”

“Oh, okay!” El beamed at him. “I should go home now.”

He glanced at the clock and frowned.

“It’s close to midnight. Does Hop know you’re here?”

El shook her head.

“He’s working. Joyce said it was okay though. I told her I was seeing my big brother and she did not mind,” El said casually, like the words wouldn’t completely shake Steve at his foundation.

“I’ll drive you home. Don’t want you taking your bike this late,” Steve sighed.

“You look tired.”

Steve startled, but relaxed quickly. Of course, El would notice that.

“I just haven’t slept well lately.”

“Is it because Robin and Eddie are gone?”

“Maybe,” Steve squinted at her. “I’ll take you home and then try to get some sleep before my shift tomorrow.”

“I can sleep in the guest room. Maybe it will help you sleep to have someone in the house,” El suggested, as if it wasn’t a big deal that she offered or that she clearly knew Steve’s problem was that he was alone in this house.

“Only if you call and let Joyce know first.”

Once El was settled in the guest room, Steve got in his own bed and closed his eyes.

It was the best sleep he’d had in days.

—-------------------------

Erica’s birthday party had been mostly family and her best friends from school, but for some reason, she’d invited Steve.

Not just invited, insisted that he attend.

So he did. He switched shifts with Robin for it and everything.

He went to Macy’s to buy her the skirt she’d wanted for months, ended up buying matching shoes, too.

She’d loved them, of course, as he knew she would.

But he got her a third gift, something he didn’t want to give to her in front of everyone. Something that meant a lot more.

He’d asked the Sinclairs if he could stay for a bit after the party, explained to them that the real present he got her couldn’t be given until the sun had fully set.

“Oh, of course, Steve! She likes you more than any of us anyway. Keep her busy while we finish cleaning up!” Mrs. Sinclair exclaimed.

So after everyone left, after Erica was sorting through her gifts and organizing them, after the night set in completely, Steve sat down next to her.

“Hey, littlest Sinclair.”

“Hey, biggest Harrington.”

“I’m…the only Harrington?”

She snorted, but didn’t respond.

Steve cleared his throat, not wanting to stay on something that confused him for too long. Erica would run with it if she thought she could tease him more.

“I got you another gift. You have to come outside, though.”

Erica stared at him.

“If I have to go outside, I don’t think I’ll like it very much,” she said with a raised brow.

“Trust me.”

She sighed and set down the purse she got from her cousin, standing up from her spot on the floor and gesturing for Steve to lead the way.

They went to the backyard, finally stopping where her telescope was set up. She’d gotten the telescope last Christmas, and often had meteor shower parties with Steve and El.

“Alright. So. Find Ursa Minor.” He waited until she gave him a thumbs up. “Now find Kochab.”

She’d been working on mapping constellations since she got the telescope, and had focused on Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. She’d gotten pretty good at locating a lot of things.

“So a bit to the left and a little up, there’s a star. And it’s probably already millions of years old, and will probably be around for millions more. But for right now, that star is named E.S. and was adopted in your name,” Steve pulled the certificate from his pocket.

He’d already found the star a week ago during one of his visits, or at least what he thought was the star. It was close enough anyway.

She pulled away from the telescope and looked at Steve with her mouth wide open.

“What?”

“Sorry it’s not a very creative name. I knew you’d hate if I named it Erica, and I didn’t wanna come up with something even worse.”

“You got me a star?”

The light from the moon was enough to see the tears forming in her eyes, and Steve instantly felt some gathering in his own.

“Well, someone who’s gonna change the world as much as you needs a permanent place in the galaxy, don’t you think?”

Erica fell into him, wrapping her arms around his middle. His shirt was already wet with tears, but he refused to comment on it, knew she would hate it if he did.

“You’re the best big brother,” she whispered, probably trying to hide her emotions.

“You’re the best little sister,” he whispered back.

#steve harrington #erica sinclair #max mayfield #eleven hopper #stranger things #ficlet #request

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erectionsandtea · 3 years

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Poly party summer fun headcanons, part 2 ! 😀 (this got way too long so I��m posting it as it is, and if I get more ideas, or if you guys want to send me anything 😉, I’ll either reblog this post or make a new one.) Enjoy!

(part 1 can be found here)

Amusement park: (these are based on amusement parks I have been to since they're all I know, lol)

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

- they go early so they can do everything (twice) but they also stay until it gets dark bc El wants to see all the lights

- one of her favorite rides is the big ship that swings back and forth because it feels like flying

- Max, Lucas, and Dustin take El on her first roller coaster ride, and it's super scary but she also loves it (Robin and Nancy go, too)

Lucas and Dustin scream like little girls on the roller coaster and become the butt of many jokes about it (most of them from Max)

Max and Lucas would totally try to kiss for the roller coaster camera (idk why okay, stop me) but the photo would look absolutely ridiculous and Max’s hair is fuckin EvERYWHERE

El uses some of her money to buy a copy of the photo (she buys a copy of their photo from every ride, it's a lot of money, but the others help her out with it), and when she gets home, Will helps her make a collage of all the photos that she puts up in her room

- El also wants caricatures, but they don't have enough money for everyone (so she just gets one of herself). Will watches the artist, who gives him tips on how to do it so he can draw some for El later (and he totes does bc good brother vibes)

- they do the ferris wheel last bc it is super romantic (even more so at night), and everyone wants to go with everyone else. Max wants to go up every time someone else does bc she wants to try to spy on them, lol

Groups, in order from side to other side (sitting, not riding order):

for her very first time: Max/El/Mike (her two bffs, aka her bf and gf)

Mike/Will

Max/Lucas

Dustin/Suzie

El/Max/Lucas

El/Mike/Will

El/Mike

El/Max

the guy running the ferris wheel is just like “you kids again???” bc they keep just getting off the ride and going straight to the back of the line to go up again, but eventually they have to stop bc the park is literally about to close and they’ll be kicked out

- there's also a haunted house ride and El absolutely has to ride with Mike bc when she is scared or feels like she's in danger, he's always been the best at making her feel okay again. She clings to him throughout the ride, but ends up laughing at how cheesy not-scary most of the effects are.

- as exhilarating as the drop rides are, El doesn’t like going on them too much but she can do it like, once. maybe twice.

- Lucas and Max, and Dustin and Will, like that ride that’s like the ferris wheel except you’re in a cage and you can manipulate the cage (by spinning it and stuff) to take you upside down. Dustin and Max do it too much, like to an extreme, and Will and Lucas are like “stop, the world is literally spinning” and they’re very disoriented when they get off

- there’s a rapids ride, and since the rafts are big enough to hold 8 people, the whole party is able to go together in one, and then the teens can go together in another one. they totally get sprayed by bystanders.

- there's a shooting game (like where you go through a tunnel on a track, and targets pop up and you shoot them)

Lucas is the best and El rides with him bc the best should introduce the newbie, and she has so much fun, it's nothing like the guns she's experienced in her previous (lab) life.

Max and Dustin fight really hard to be second best.

Mike and Will go together and compared to the others, they suck, but that's okay they have fun anyway, and they joke about their own terribleness.

- Dustin buys those deep-fried snacks (you know the ones I mean) and he is literally the only person in the group that likes them (okay, not true, Robin can handle them, too)

El, against the advice of the others, wants to try those snacks bc she’s never heard of anything like that before, and the first time she takes a bite, her face goes through a range of like 10 emotions bc she’s being assaulted by flavors-

but after she manages to swallow it, she’s like “wow, that was amazing” and the others are like “...you serious??”

Mike is just like “that is disgusting and I’m not kissing you after that lol” and El is just like “but...why?” (he totes does tho, he doesn’t give a f, he’s kissing his gf bc he just can’t resist the cuteness)

Nancy, even though she doesn’t necessarily like it, can totally handle taking a bite and finishing it (like that beer from season 1) and Robin is like “that’s impressive, band geek” and Nancy’s just like “I’m not in band” (idk lol)

- El wanting to try EVERY food but the others have to cut her off bc it’s so expensive and she will get so sick

- Mike being a good bf and holding souvenirs bought by his bf and gf (Will totally buying a sweet little something for his awesome mom) (El totally doing the same thing to remind herself of Hopper, but she keeps it in her room instead)

- Lucas also being a good bf for the same reason but complaining about it, lol

- everyone goes on the log ride (you might know it as the flume) bc there isn’t a person on earth who doesn’t like that ride, and even tho she knows about the impending splash, El is still super surprised when it happens

Groups, in order (front to back):

El, Mike, Max, and Lucas (Max is explaining to El over Mike’s shoulder that “you absolutely HAVE TO be in the front, it’s the best way”)

Suzie, Dustin, Steve, and Robin (irrelevant but don’t tell me Robin sits in front of Steve, there’s no fuckin way, she’s not his gf, also Steve and Dustin just have to sit together bruh)

Will, Dustin (bc obvsly he goes on again), Nancy, and Jonathan

Mike has his arms around El like he thinks he’s going to protect her from the huge spray of water (but his skinny arms won’t protect shit lol) and he somehow manages to make a decent photo come out of him kissing her cheek while she is simultaneously screaming (good screaming)

- everyone loves the bumper cars (Jonathan and Suzie hang back tho, to hold everyone’s stuff and cheer from the side)

Max, as the only one (sans teens) who has actually driven a car before, rides with El so she can teach her how to do it

her and Lucas (with his passenger Will) are automatically in competition with one another (”you’re going down!” “no, YOU’RE going down!”)

Robin, riding by herself, goes after Steve and driver Nancy (who’s surprisingly good at this)

and Dustin (passenger Mike) gangs up with Robin to take on Steve and Nancy, which makes Nancy even more determined now to destroy both of them

Steve’s a little afraid of Nancy when she’s like this, lol

eventually Dustin and Robin are like “okay okay, we’ll stop! jesuschrist, how did you get so good at this??” (but also they are just in total awe of Nancy) and they just go after each other instead

- El doesn’t like spinning rides (too dizzy and they totally make her tummy “feel weird, like there’s a storm in it” “uh oh, you’re nauseous, El” “naw-shus?” “yeah, like sick, here, sit down for a minute”), but Will loves them and he’s there for her

- the sky ride (the one that takes you from end of the park to the other), groups:

Mike and Will on one side, Max and El on the other (the seats are basically little cabins, seats for 4 people)

Lucas and Dustin on one side, Jonathan and Steve on the other

Robin on one side (she totally takes up the whole double space, putting her leg up), Nancy and Suzie on the other

- carousel ride! (during the day)

El wants the prettiest horse

Max gets the most badass thing which is like...a wolf??

Lucas and Dustin ride only bc there’s a game where you can try to throw rings into a hole while going around (they each get one in by pure luck but otherwise suck). they don’t really care what animals they get, they just need ones that move up and down. Dustin gets a cat with a fish in his mouth, and Lucas ends up just picking a rabbit before everything is taken and he doesn’t have a choice anymore. The others fuckin laugh at the image of Lucas riding a rabbit

Suzie gets another horse

Will gets a lion which doesn’t move up and down but he’s okay with that, he’s kinda just going bc everyone else is

Mike gets stuck with a horse bc he was at the back of the group and by the time he gets there, every other non-horse animal is taken (but they joke about how he should have gotten the non-moving giraffe, taken by Steve, bc it’s so tall and gangly like him lol)

Nancy gets a horse

Robin takes the wild boar bc “dude that is the most badass animal on a carousel I have ever seen!”

Jonathan stays behind, no matter how much the others beg, but he takes lots of really good pictures (including the one time Dustin gets the ring in the hole and then cheering, then also him and Lucas high-fiving, and the various couples exchanging really cute looks, and El having the best time ever bc she’s never been on one of these before)

they go on the carousel one more time near the end of the night and this time Jonathan gives in and rides with them, but he sits in one of the benches that’s just there for the parents), and he still takes pictures as best he can without getting up and moving

- photo booth photos! (I’ll leave the silly face ones up to your imagination)

El and Max (one super close hug with faces pressed together, one kiss, one silly faces, and one smiles)

Will and Mike, but Max and El totally burst in for like, the last 1.5 pictures, it doesn’t ruin them tho, Mike and Will just ignore them (one nice smiles bc they’re like “what do we do??”, one hug, one kiss being interrupted by the girls in the background, one candid laughing while the girls wave at the camera)

Will and Mike again (one candid of Mike holding the curtain shut to make sure no interruptions and Will laughing, one kiss (non-interrupted), one silly faces, one just being super cute and close together and leaning on each other)

Max and Lucas (one smiles, one kiss, one of her pretending to look tough by putting him in a headlock or putting a fist next to his face like a punch, one that was supposed to be funny faces but instead is her looking off to the side where Mike has opened the curtain and stuck his head (with his tongue out) in as revenge and Lucas with that look of “dude, really??” on his face)

Dustin and Suzie (one kiss, one smiles, one nose-to-nose, one super close together leaning on each other cute)

Mike and El (one smiles, one kiss, one of him like surprise-trying to pull her into his lap kind of thing idk and her just looking super surprised but happy but also Max is in the background ruining YET ANOTHER picture, and one candid of them giggling about the previous picture with their foreheads pressed together almost nose-to-nose)

Mike and El again bc she wants non-interrupted photos (one with her actually sitting in his lap this time (she did this beforehand so he wouldn’t scare her again with the surprise-pulling thing), one of them pretending to look all hoity-toity like super models, one with her arms around his neck and his arms around her waist and they’re all close and cute sort of candid, and one just like the last one except they’re looking at the camera and smiling)

Will and Mike and El (one with Mike in the middle while his gf and bf give him a kiss on each cheek, one with El hanging over Mike’s shoulders in sort of a half-piggyback and he and Will are laughing, one with Mike and Will kissing while El makes a funny face at the camera, one of them all making funny faces at the camera)

Max and El and Mike (one with El in the middle, Max’s arms are around her waist almost dipping her backwards, her legs are up in the air (as far up as they can go in the tiny booth) and her head is tilting back onto Mike’s shoulder with his arms around her shoulders and he’s pressing a kiss to her hair, one with El kissing Mike’s cheek while he and Max make funny faces, one with Max behind them and her arms over both of their shoulders pulling them all close and their faces squished together with this super big cheesy grin while Mike is laughing at El’s funny face, one with Mike and El kissing and Max sitting next to them making the 👌🏻 symbol and winking at the camera, bc she just has to get sassy)

Bonus, more teens:

- Robin takes Steve on all the crazy rides (aka drags him, makes him go, etc.) They both get a little sick, but for her it's totally worth it (for him...not so much)

- Dustin and Robin get along hella bc he joins them on the crazy rides and is just @steve like “what are you, a pussy?”

- Nancy has to remind Jonathan that the kids will be FINE, and they don't need to hover around them all evening, "let's go enjoy ourselves"

- Nancy likes roller coasters, CHAnGE mY MInD

- Steve and Robin totally scream when they go on the drop ride together, except Robin’s scream is more “holy shit, exhilarating and so exciting! whooooo!” while Steve’s is more “this is fun but also I’m totally gonna die!!”

- Steve is a boss at those games where you have to throw something at/into/onto a target and he wins a stuffed animal

- Robin is p decent at those games too, but she’s not a match for the king (she comes close though, they actually turn it into a competition to see who can win more stuff)

- Nancy kicks butt at that game where you shoot a spray of water and make the target thing rise to the top or race or whatever (any shooting game, really), you know what I mean (Jonathan fucking fails, sorry Jonathan)

- Steve totally wins that game where you swing a mallet and try to ring the bell. Robin doesn’t win but she gets way closer than they thought she would and Steve’s “wtf”. Dustin is also stronger than he looks, and even tho he doesn't win, he can at least lift the (smaller) mallet, which is more than any of the others can do.

- Robin HAS to do that game where you try to climb the flat, almost horizontal rope ladder to the end and she doesn’t even make it halfway before she falls, but it’s hilarious

- Nancy also tries that game after some goading from the others, and she makes it farther than Robin (about halfway) but still fails fantastically. And then she takes a bow.

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okayto · 4 years

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Murderbot Reference: Character Descriptions Part 2

Fandom reference! I tried to note every time a person/thing got a physical description, as well as additional info like how augments work, etc. Please note that there may be spoilers for all five books, but especially Network Effect.

This post contains:

ART’s Senses

ART’s Crew

Three

Rami, Tapan and Maro

Tlacey

Tlacey’s ComfortUnit

Targets (Network Effect)

Barish-Estranza: Eletra, Ras, and Supervisor Leonide

Augments (what they are/how they work)

Other Human Personal Tech (Non-Augments)

Other Bots/Machines: Agricultural Bot, Pathfinders, NE Target Drones, MB’s Drones

Other posts: Part 1; Part 3

ART’s Senses

· Besides cameras, sees ship through internal sensors, “which provided data (heat, density, angles of motions, etc.) that didn’t translate into images, at least not visual images useful to humans.”

· MB guesses that gaps in ART’s memory archives might look like “a giant interruption in the constant incoming reports from subsystems like life support, navigation, etc. It was tricky, because for ART these are not like discrete reports from connected systems, but more like the sensory input I would get from the pads on the tips of my fingers.”

· Does have cameras in many areas, cameras hidden enough that MB didn’t know they existed until ART turned them on and provided access via the feed in NE.

· Likes Amena and talks to her more gently than MB or other humans—it’s more careful of Amena’s feelings. Has talked about human adolescents in a positive way. ART is, on a regular basis, a teaching vessel.

ART’s Crew

· Iris: augmented human. Dark brown skin, wearing a decorative woven bracelet when rescued in NE and a light blue longsleeved T-shirt. Small, shorter and slimmer than Ratthi, but not much bigger than Amena. Dark hair is the curly kind that puffs out a lot, but in NE pulled back and tied up in a band. Hair is long enough that she lifted it up so MB could see her back/neck when checking for an implant. Longsleeved T-shirt and pants and soft shoes are the casual version of ART’s blue crew uniform. Some bruises and scrapes at rescue. Seth’s child.

· Seth: tall, very dark brown skin, “with less hair than most SecUnits,” a mostly-hairless head; earlier description from photograph (later context makes this likely to be Seth) says “no hair on the front half of his head.” Iris’s parent, she calls him “Dad.” Captain of Perihelion.

· Martyn is Iris’s other parent (called “Dad); Seth’s marital partner; earlier description from photograph (later context makes this likely to be Martyn posing next to Seth) says lighter skin than Seth, with short white hair; he/him

· Kaede is about the same size as Iris, but skin is lighter and her hair is yellow

· Matteo is small like Iris and Kaede, and has a lot of dark hair that at rescue had come loose from braids. They/Them.

· Turi is young like Amena. They/Them

· Karime uses she/her

· Tarik uses he/him

· On variation of crew uniform (made for MB): dark blue, pants and jacket of deflective fabric, good quality (better than Station Security), with lots of sealable pockets for weapons and drones. Stability fabric boots, probably tough enough to jam a hatchway. Looks like what human security would wear. ART’s crew logo on the jacket, which also has a collar that folds down.

Three

· SecUnit, with projectile weapon built into arm

· Armor flexes if it shifts its shoulders

Rami, Tapan, and Maro

· All wearing variations on work clothes, no uniform logos. Either Rami or Maro has an implant, but none are augmented. Part of a group marriage of 7 people, with 5 children of various sizes. MB thinks all are young—not far from adolescence.

· Rami: tercera, “which was a gender signifier used in the group of non-corporate political entities known as the Divarti Cluster,” te/ter. Purple hair, red eyebrows, light brown skin. Wearing a jacket.

· Tapan: female. Multicolored braids wrapped up around her head, blue jewel-toned feed interface clipped to ear, slightly darker skin than Rami. Wearing a flower-patterned t-shirt.

· Maro: female. Very dark skin, silver-colored little puffs of hair, “almost beautiful enough to be in the entertainment media.”

Tlacey

· Augmented human female

Tlacey’s ComfortUnit

· Physical configuration doesn’t match SecUnit standard.

· Lots of hair, silver with blue and purple on the ends, pulled back and braided like Tapan’s but in a much more complicated pattern.

· Bare arms show no metal, and no gun ports

Targets (Network Effect)

· When fully affected: look like tall, thin augmented humans. Dull gray skin. Narrow human features, dark brows standing out against smooth gray skin. Colorless lips.

· Not completely identical: one Target on ship is slightly taller and has broader shoulders than the other.

· Targets on ships: wearing formfitting protective suits and partial helmets that initially left a lot of their faces bare. One on the B-E explorer wore “more casual human clothing:” dark green-black pants and jacket, black shirt with a collar. Shoes had heavy treads, designed for rough planetary terrain. Hair looked more normal, with reddish brown tight curls cut close to the head.

· Targets and colonists: gray skin is a progressive condition, not natural or cosmetic effect, some still look like humans who were altered rather than aliens. Not all who still looked somewhat human were fighting on the same side. Most of fighting group wore “the kind of rough work clothing normal for colonies or mining, a cheaper, more battered version of ART’s environment suits with hoods but no breathing gear, or a mix of clean work clothes, plus a random collection of what looked like old uniforms and protective gear.”

Barish-Estranza, Eletra, Ras, and Supervisor Leonide

· B-E uniforms are red and brown with corporate logos

· Eletra and Ras both wear B-E uniforms that are disheveled and torn.

· Eletra has brown skin and dark hair that reaches at least to her shoulder blades.

· Supervisor Leonide has “mid brown” skin “that was common to a large percentage of humans,” with an artificially smooth, even tone that indicated cosmetic enhancement. Dark hair wrapped around the top of her head and she has small metallic and gemstones set in the rim of one exposed ear.

Augments

· According to MB, are “supposed to help humans do things they couldn’t do otherwise, like interface with the feed more completely or store memory archives.”

· Augments that aren’t feed interfaces are meant to correct physical injuries or illnesses.

· Augments are meant to be helpful. Implants are different (MB compares implants to governor modules, something the person has little to no control over)

· Normal augment would have filaments extending directly into the human nervous system. Some augmented humans may have dataports/plug-in interfaces in the back of their necks, since MB is able to pass off its dataport as one of these often.

· Normal augmented human (augmented with feed) has interface built into brain; non-augmented humans have removable interfaces (excluding implants, which seem to be regular interfaces just not removable without surgery).

· Augments and constructs work with “machine-readable code written into human DNA”

· Augmented humans can work more fully in the feed; MB thinks that the drugged-up GrayCris assassins wouldn’t be possible to control with a removable interface, so the controller must be augmented (and this proves correct).

Other Human Personal Tech

· Un-augmented humans can’t access the feed unless their interface is working and attached properly. Tapan’s in-ear interface was taken out while ART’s MedSystem worked, and she had to put it back in before she contacted her partners.

· “Normal external interfaces for humans were designed to look like all kinds of things, from carved natural wood to skin tones to jewels or stones or enamel art pieces to actual plain metal with a brand logo.”

· Human voices on the feed sound like their physical voices, and can show emotions. Humans (and augmented humans) usually subvocalize when talking on the feed.

· During killware attack in ES, Pin-Lee, Mensah and two crewmembers each has portable manual feed interfaces they used to shore up SecSystem; allowing them feed access without using their personal on-body interfaces.

· MB says in AC that killware and malware can’t do anything to humans or augmented humans; the killware attack in ES hurts augmented humans enough that one needs rescue breathing. This could be MB’s lack of knowledge, or it could be because the ES killware is rare, essentially a disembodied bot and an extremely uncommon/unheard of tactic.

Other Bots/Machines

· Agricultural bot: almost 10 meters (~32 feet) tall, covered with spikes. Lower body has 10 long spider limbs for moving around without crushing anything, upper part is a long curving “neck” with a long head also covered in spikes

· Pathfinders: like drone for space. Active scanners that can zip around a planet collecting environmental information and terrain imaging, plus looking for comm signals, possible energy sources, and hostiles. Can relay audio as ART uses it to threaten Targets. Very expensive.

· Drones used by NE Targets: model MB is unfamiliar with. Round and as big around as MB’s head, any holes for cameras or weapons hidden despite size. Made of stealth material (or pattern) that can’t be spotted by camera, but regular vision OK.

· Drones used in ASR, pulled from the hopper: “They were the small kind, barely a centimeter across; no weapons, just cameras.”

· Also in ASR, MB mentions that there also exist drones that aren’t much bigger than the hopper drones but include a small pulse weapon (but as far as availability through the company, you have to get an upper tier package)

· MB’s regular drones: small enough that it can have a flock (at least a couple dozen?) land on it and not impede movement in an EVAC suit. MB mentions technique where it can have drone accelerate a drone straight at a target’s face, and if hit an eye or an ear it goes straight to the brain, so probably fairly small. They are also easy to visually overlook when perched in a room recording people, or sneaking through a doorway. They’re also easy to store in MB’s many pockets.

#Murderbot #Murderbot Diaries #Network Effect #Martha Wells #Reference

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yikesharringrove · 4 years

Note

as a kind of follow up to the abo harringrove thing could u do both billy and steve being their dumb insecure selves and being really scared they’ll be bad parents? and like maybe claudia comforts steve bc i LIVE for fic where claudia basically adopts steve? xoxo

So, in the first one, I mentioned Hop kinda took Billy under his dad wing, so yee. And I LIVE for Claudia adopting Steve.

Here’s the second one

Steve huffed.

He began unraveling the blanket he had been working on, had dropped so many stitches the blanket had holes in it.

“I just can’t do this.” He put down the needles, putting his head in his hands. Claudia shushed him.

“It just takes practice. You’ll get it.”

“No, I just mean, any of it. I’m eighteen, I’m pregnant, living in a shitty apartment with my boyfriend. I don’t, I can’t be a parent. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.” Claudia silently moved the yarn from the couch, shuffling closer next to him. She put one arm around his shoulders, pulling him into her.

“I know what you meant. Nobody is just magically a perfect parent. I mean, no parent is perfect. What makes a good parent is being loving, being kind to your pup. It’s having their best interest at heart in every situation, making sure they’re happy, and healthy. You are going to be a wonderful parent.”

“I just, Billy and I both come from shit. We were abused and, and, what if we become that.”

“It’s possible to end the cycle of abuse. You are going to have bad moments, and it’s going to be tough, but you can do it. You both have changed your lives for this little bean already. I have no doubt you two are going to be loving, kind, amazing parents.”

“What if we can’t give them the life they deserve, though. I mean, we’re barely scraping by on Billy’s paychecks, and he still has another year of high school. Nobody in this town will hire me, and, and I had to drop out. We’re going to struggle, and our pup deserves better.” Claudia shifted, putting both hands on Steve’s shoulders, sitting so she could face him.

“When I was pregnant, we were hundreds of dollars in debt from university. We had an apartment smaller than this one. It was so hard, but we had friends, people that loved us that came to babysit when we needed to work, would bring us meals. When my husband passed, those same people were there for us, brought us meals again, made sure someone was always there to drive Dustin when he needed it. You two are not alone in this. You have me, and Dusty, and Joyce, and her boys and even the Chief, and that little girl of his. You three have got a lot of love in your lives. I’m not saying it will be easy, but you won’t have to do it alone.” Steve slumped into her neck, cried most of the night into her warm hug.

The next day he finally finished a complete blanket.

“How you holdin’ up, Kid?”

Billy was in the kitchen, filling a glass of orange juice for Steve, to big to easily stand up these days.

Joyce had invited everyone over for a small baby shower. The back of the Camaro was already full of baby clothes, of toys and books and packs of diapers, and a high chair and a crib.

“I’m good. We’re getting close. Doc says probably two more weeks.” Billy forced a smile. Hop sighed, taking the glass from him and setting it one the counter.

“Don’t lie to me. How you holdin’ up, Kid?” Billy scrubbed a hand down his face.

“I don’t even fucking know anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I love Steve, I love the little mango, but-” he shrugged lamely. “I’m honestly fucking scared.”

“I mean, honestly, that makes sense. Before, before I had Sara, I would sit up almost every night, just terrified I was gonna fuck this up somehow. But I tried, and that’s all you really can do.” Billy was staring at him intensely.

“What if I become my dad?” He just was able to hear the murmur.

“The fact that you’re so scared you will, just proves to me that you won’t.” Billy scuffed his foot against the floor, watching it.

“My mom had me when she was about my age. And she, she was so young, when shit got bad, she just left. What if I get mean, and I hurt them, and I push Steve away, and Steve forgives way too easily-” he was shocked as Hopper tugged him into a hug, a tight bearhug.

“You’re a good kid. You’re rough around the edges, but you’re good. It makes sense you’re scared of becoming your father, that’s the only father you’ve ever known, but you’re not like him. Your heart’s in the right place.”

He let Billy go, handing him the glass of juice, looking away when Billy wiped at his eyes.

“Besides, we’ve both seen Steve in full protection mode. He wouldn’t let you become your father. That boy is gonna save you from yourself whether you like it or not.” Billy just gave a watery laugh.

“Thanks, Hop. You’re a good dude.” He patted Hop on the shoulder. “You’ve done a nice job with El. She’s a little spitfire.” Hop beamed as Billy returned to the sitting room, kissing Steve’s forehead as he handed him the juice.

#yikes writes #harringrove #harringrove abo #steve harrington #billy hargrove #omega steve harrington #alpha billy hargrove #harringrove fic #mpreg #harringrove drabble #harringrove ficlet #steve harrington x billy hargrove #billy hargrove x steve harrington #also i saw someone put a trans!steve tag on one of these #which like YES #this COMPLETELY could work for trans!steve

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sinfulserpents · 5 years

Note

sunce your now the queen of writing hopper! reader fics, please do one about billy getting the reader pregnant w hops reaction ro finding out his bby is pregnant and billy talking to hop

to say that you were both scared would be an understatement

your hands would shaking as you held the little stick that sealed your fate out to your boyfriend

billy would take his bottom lip between his teeth as he hit the pregnancy test on his palm

he’d shake his head before looking at you

“we didn’t use protection one time and we somehow create a baby”

“whose idea was it to not use a condom, huh?”

“... mine, but in my defence you said it was fine!”

the both of you would be silent for a moment before billy would speak up again

“what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“D-do you, you know... want to keep it?”

“I think so.”

his nod would be small and you wouldn’t have noticed it if you weren’t paying close attention to his reactions

“we need to tell my dad.”

“no! are you insane?! he’s going to kill me for getting his little girl pregnant!”

“well it’s going to be a bit hard hiding my fucking growing belly!”

“yeah, well that’s what baggy clothes are for!”

you’d roll your eyes and cock your hip at your boyfriend who was running his hands through his knotted hair

“we’re really having a baby?”

“yeah B, we’re having a baby.”

Billy would lowkey try to get you to hide the pregnancy for as long as possible

he didn’t want hopper to shoot his balls off lmao

but once your bump started showing at three months billy realised that you couldn’t hide it forever

no matter how much he wanted to

so after discussing it with you, y’all decided to tell your family that friday night during your weekly dinner

the cabin would be loud as the byers arrived

let me ship my babies joyce and hop okay

Billy would be way more nervous than you

his leg bouncing up and down under the table, his clammy palm grasping yours

he’d lean over to whisper in your ear “your dad is going to kill me”

which would make you snicker and give him a reassuring kiss on the cheek

billy probably had a backpack ready under your bed incase hop chased him out

everyone would be tucking into their pizza slices

max would be tossing her tomatoes onto billies plate lmao

el and will would be making a complete mess and getting sauce everywhere

billy would watch as you grabbed a napkin and tilted el’s chin to wipe away the red substance

and then ruffled her hair and gave her forehead a kiss

he’d realise that no matter what happened you were going to be a fantastic mum

so clearing his throat, he’d squeeze your hand to get your attention

you’d look at him and quickly realise that this was the moment

“uh, hopper and byers family, y/n and I have some news we would like to tell you.”

your dad would be on immediate alert

“go on, hargrove”

“we-uh... kind of did a thing that has resulted in another thing that is kind of a permanent th-”

nudging billy you’d roll your eyes before blurting out the news he was dragging on

“we’re pregnant!”

everyone would lowkey be in shock

and no matter how badly joyce wanted to congratulate you both

because she knew that although it was a big step, you and billy were slowly becoming ready for something like this

between billy’s jobs at the pool and mechanics and your internship down at the police station

all you guys needed to do was move into your own house

but she would wait to see hoppers reaction before even getting out of her seat

hopper would take a large gulp of his beer

before looking you dead in the eye, but he wouldn’t say anything

which would make you fucking nervous

“daddy, please say something...”

“what do you want me to say Y/N? congratulations?”

“well, i just told you good news so-”

“gOOD NEWS?!”

the entire house would go silent as your father stood up, with a heaving chest

el would probably lean over to you and cup her hand around her mouth to whisper ‘congratulations’ to you lmao what a precious baby

Without saying anything hopper would grab his pack of cigarettes and storm outside

joyce would get up at the same time as you to go after him but billy would stop you both before following your father

shutting the front door behind him, billy would reluctantly walk over to stand next to your dad who was leaning against his car smoking

hopper would hold out the cigarettes to billy who just shook his head

which would cause hop to raise his eyebrow in question

because, c’mon - billy hargrove never denied a smoke

billy would shrug and put his hands in his jacket pockets

“i’ve got to give up now, you know?”

“for the baby?”

“yeah, for the baby.”

hopper would hum before tossing his to the ground and stomping it out

“guess that means I should too.”

“you’re not going to kill me?”

“oh trust me hargrove, I want to – but my babygirl in there fucking needs you. I don’t know how this happened considering how frequently joyce and I drill into your brains that you both need to be safe.”

Billy would nod, but know better than to say anything while your father was talking

“You both are about to have your lives flipped inside out. a baby is a serious commitment, so you’re going to need to move into your own place, you’re probably going to be the only source of income once she has to take leave to give birth. it’s going to be tough and i need you to promise me that you’re not going to leave her, can you do that son?”

Billy would nod again

“I need to hear you say it hargrove. promise me that you won’t leave my daughter and your unborn child once things become hard - because they will.”

“I promise that I won’t, you have my word sir.”

“good.”

there would be a tense silence that would settle in between the pair, and billy would watch as hop ran his hand down his face

he’d take a mental note that your dad looked fucking exhausted and to get you to tell him to sleep

“I’m scared,” billy would admit. “actually, i’m fucking terrified. i’ve never had a solid father figure in my life - my dad was a piece of shit, beat me and my mum until she left. I don’t want to turn out like him; i can’t turn out like him.”

Hopper would place his hand on the boys shoulder and give him a reassuring squeeze

“i know you have had a childhood that you didn’t deserve, billy – but from the time that you’ve spent here; although you have kept me up at night by sneaking into my daughters room, you’re a good guy and are nothing like your shitty father. I hope that one day you can see me as a father figure.”

“thank you.”

the two would probably ‘bro hug’

but don’t let anyone know because they’re “hardcore”

through the months of your pregnancy you and billy would eventually save up enough to move into your own house

everyone would help you guys move in

but billy and hop would not let you lift anything heavy

no ma’am

hopper would probably become more protective over you than billy jsjsjs

like he’d constantly call you while he was at work and you were home

“dad why are you calling again? this is the third time in the last five minutes”

“i just want to check on my baby, since hargrove isn’t there – is he treating you right?”

“dad!”

el and max would come over for constant! sleepovers!

and they would help you with everything

cooking

cleaning

the whole lot

and when billy would come home he’d try not to laugh as you sat there while el painted your toenails since you couldn’t reach them and max massaged your shoulders

billy would paint the entire nursery!!

he’d probably even paint little fucking ducks on the wall lmao

don’t even mention when you gave birth

holy fuck what a family event

you’d all be having dinner at your house

we love constant friday night dinners

when suddenly you water would break as you stood up to go to the bathroom

billy and hopper would be distracted as the talked about the baseball game that was on last night

and the kids would all be in an intense drawing competition

so joyce would be the first one to notice you bent over in pain surrounded by liquid

and she’d immediately rush over to you and begun yelling at everyone

“Hopper go put some towels down in the car! billy go get the pregnancy bag we made you! kids put on your shoes!!”

y’all would be pilled up in hoppers car

you’d be sitting in the back seat with billy next to you while both hop and joyce sat in the front and the kids were all ontop of each other in the seat next to you

your hand would be squeezing billy’s as el tried to calm you by telling you that you were doing a “bitchin’” job

getting out of the car would be insane

hopper would pull up at the front entrance to the hospital

and wouldn’t even turn off the engine as he rushed inside to get you a wheelchair and tell the nurses that you were giving birth

everyone! would! be! panicking!

but after a gruelling eight hours of labour

and you screaming that you were going to punch billy in the balls so he couldn’t get you pregnant again

your baby girl was finally in your arms

the both of you would be in absolute awe

after a couple of minutes, billy would go and get your family who were nervously waiting

and they’d all pile into the tiny hospital room

they’d take turns sitting in the chair next to your bed and holding your little girl who was cooing at them

el would probably cry :”)

and hop was holding her so gently because he didn’t want to hurt the little angel who just graced his life

he was already making plans of how he was going to spoil his first grandchild

joyce would smile as billy sat in the bed next to you and she put your little girl back into your arms

will would be struggling to hold jonathans camera but would be capturing the moment to the best of his ability

he’d also taking really amazing pictures of his shoes

and max’s

who would sigh and grab the camera from his hands

“you guys got a name for her?” joyce would smile, leaning her head on hoppers shoulder as he hugged her into his side - his hand placed on el’s shoulder

“we were thinking phoebe,” you whispered, not taking your eyes away from your baby girl

everyone would agree that it was a beautiful name :”)))

after a few hours - and the kids slowly falling asleep at the end of your bed

hop and joyce would decide it was time for them to get going

so they’d all begin to pack up their stuff

but your dad would wait until they were out of the room to kiss you on the forehead

“i’m so proud of the both of you. you’re going to be great parents.”

softest grandpa ever :”)

and once everyone was gone billy would immediately snatch your lips into a kiss

pulling away from you he’d give you a soft “thank you”

“for what?”

“blessing me with something that i never thought i’d have – a family of my own. I’m going to do my best to make both you and phoebe proud”

“we’re already so proud of you, B. I love you”

“I love you more, mama”

bILLY HARGROVE FATHER MY CHILDREN

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catharrington · 4 years

Text

@harringroveweekoflove Day 1: Bed sharing

Fighting in the summer breeze.

The job wasn’t done. There was cleaning up they had to do after the battle with the mind flayer. But it isn’t always an easy job picking up the scraps. Especially if the scraps fight back. Steve and Billy can fight as hard as they want but getting outnumbered will win every time.

(3.3 k words. Simple fic of hurt/comfort. Slight blood and gore. Steve does get hurt badly. Mostly boys talking about their feelings and mutual pining.)

***

“God, stop touching it!” Steve howled with pain, his voice cracking in a way it hadn’t since he was 12, as he was carried into the motel room.

Hopper just rolled his eyes as he followed into the bedroom. “You aren’t going to die, kid!” He growled, closing the door behind them. El watched with wide worried eyes as Steve was lead over to the mattress and laid down, whimpering the whole time. Billy was holding onto his arm and helping him down into the bed, his own body not unscathed.

They had just got away from a pack of demo dogs still loose and running in the woods around Hawkins. El and Hopper were sure they would be destroyed by the portal closing but they just kept showing up like roaches when the lights turn off. There must be something still open around Hawkins that had to be cleaned up. And Billy, even though he had already proven himself as a friend by being a human shield against the mind flayer, volunteered first for the portal closing hunt.

Steve was more drafted by Hopper and the kids. You don’t get much room to not be a hero when you’ve fought these things off with a nail covered baseball bat before.

They had tracked a sighting of a starved looking feral dog to an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. All the evidence pointed to three, maybe two, demo dogs holding up and a small portal letting them come though for hunting, but when they got there it was more like ten. They were almost over run by the numbers. Hopper did his best with his police pistol, and El took care of most, but Billy and Steve caught the brunt of the surprise.

“Don’t talk down to him!” Billy hissed as he laid Steve down sloppily on the bed, “it’s your damn fault he got hurt!”

“Watch it!” Hopper warned. “We did the best with the intel that we had! No one saw that shit coming- even El didn’t see them!”

Billy had one leg crossed over the bed and the other leg dangling down to touch the floor. He was leaned over Steve in a protective hunch that he wasn’t even aware he was doing. “You should have gotten some fucking better intel then, Hop.” Billy pushed his curly hair back from his forehead, it turned red with blood.

Interrupting the tense showdown, Steve moaned loudly as he settled into the bed. His wounded arm laid limp next to him while his left arm griped white knuckled into the remains of his sweater ripped all the way down to his stomach.

El was quietly watching from the sidelines, her eyes going to the people talking for only a moment but mostly staying locked on Steve’s bloodied wound. He had 4 huge gashes dragged over his shoulder and down his pectoral, already bruised black and blue and still bleeding.

With Steve’s bat and Billy’s axe they had stayed to the sides of the formation to catch any straggler or finish off what Hoppers gun didn’t, but that was a perfect target for a group of demo dogs sneaking out of the woods. Steve fought off most of them, skillful with his bat, and nimble in his dodging- but as he crushed one into the ground another jumped on his back and dragged those demonic claws from his chest to his shoulder.

The scream he made is something the group won’t be getting out of their head for a while.

“We did the best we could,” El spoke softly.

Hopper continued to glare daggers into Billy but focused on taking out 2 water bottles from the motels mini fridge. Collecting towels from the bathroom, he placed some under Steve’s shoulder and whispered something heroic to the boy before he flushed out the wound.

Dumping the cold water right into the flayed flesh made Steve howl. He bent his head back into the pillow and let his voice carry until it simply cracked again into a whimpering cry. His face was covered in sweat, blood and something else much darker. His shaggy hair, equally as sweaty, clung to where ever it could catch. The famous volume was mostly lost in its wetness and that broke Billy’s heart.

He brushed a strand from Steve’s ghostly pale face in an attempt to be comforting.

When Hopper dumped the second bottle Steve cried again but only what his used throat could muster. Billy watched in horror as Steve’s eyes fluttered closed and his head fell limply onto the pillow.

“Hop,” Billy gasped, he held onto Steve’s cheek and examined the boys pale face.

“Chill out, kid, he’s just unconscious.” Hopper finished with the second bottle then threw them and the stained towels into a trash can. He took more towels and laid them softly over Steve’s shoulder. The motel owner isn’t going to be happy she’s out of four nice cotton towels but it made Billy happy to see the wound finally covered in something.

Hopper took Steve’s left hand and applied it as pressure to the wound. The room became way too quiet without Steve being awake groaning in pain. The rest of the group took a breath of silence between themselves before Hopper finally moved.

“You have to stay here, watch him! We will be back soon!” He scooped up his sheriffs hat and made for the door, El loyal on his heels.

“We need to go to a hospital now,” Billy sputtered out. “These cuts need stitches- I can tell!”

“Absolutely no hospitals. They can’t be trusted. And before anything else, we have to clean up the shit show of dead dogs all over that cabin so El can close that portal for good.” Hopper rested his hat on his head and sighed. “We gotta stop these bastards or this fight will be for nothing. Harrington is tough. He will last-,”

“That’s really not something you get to decide.” Billy stood up from the bed and marched to the door. He had gotten his share of black blood on his clothing and a few scratches here and there. Most notability across his forearm one demo dog's back leg caught him and left a nasty gash, but Billy hadn't started to feel it yet. “You can’t just expect him to go all these damn rounds for no one to be in his corner. You can’t just-“

Billy’s rant was cut off before it started by a sharp intake of breath. Steve’s soft hair shook as he came awake. “Billy,” he muttered out, fluttering his eyes as he came to terms with the burning irons on his shoulder once again. “...Billy?”

“Yeah, easy Stevie, right here,” Billy rushed back to his side, leaned over the bed a little less close than before, but he wanted to be so much closer.

Hopper took this as his time to leave. “Don’t let him out of your sight. We‘ll be only a minute!” And the door was slammed behind the two.

Billy didn’t have a moment to grumble any discourse before his attention was taken again by the injured boy.

“Jesus Christ,” Steve involuntarily flexed his good hand and shoulders as he tried to sit up only making him hurt more, “Mother fucking Mary!”

“Stop,” Billy pressed his open palm down into Steve’s chest. “Do not get up, it’s gonna hurt a Hell lot more if you keep moving.” From the touch he could feel the boy’s breaths quicken under his ribs, shallow and hard. “Just take it easy, Steve.”

Steve said nothing, but did as he was told.

Working intently on steadying out his breaths, he took a look around the room to try and steady his mind. The motel was familiar, the group used it to ready up before heading into the woods to find the abandoned house, but the spaces between that was a blur. All purple and blue like a bruised spot that wouldn’t stop hurting as Steve tried to remember it.

Billy had taken his hand back from Steve’s chest, carefully keeping his distance. He moved to the very edge of the bed hunched over with his messy blond hair covering as much of his face as he could. The streaks of blood in his hair made it seem a darker shade than it was.

Out of the corner of his eyes Steve watched Billy, half to have something to focus on, and half because he hasn’t seen this boy so far gone since he was drugged unconscious on Byers’ floor. But that time his eyes were not blown wide open. Looking at him now, Billy had a face like he was sitting in the middle of a mine field and couldn’t get out.

“Is that your blood... or mine?” Steve rasped out so weak it was easy to miss. But Billy was listening for it.

“You know, I don’t know.” He balled his hands into the sheets. “I think it’s yours. I’m not really bad off. Don’t think.” Billy knew he was distracted as he replied but couldn’t help it under Steve’s half lidded stare. The gash on Billy’s arm wasn’t bleeding or painful and the darkened blood looked like demo dog guts to him.

Steve hummed and it was pretty. “My blood,” he started, “I’m sorry I-,”

“Don’t you dare!” Billy turned his eyes sharply and dug a glare into Steve. “Nothing tonight was your damn fault.”

Steve kept watching him, kept him trained with those big brown eyes. “I was gonna say, jerk, that I’m sorry you had to actually fight while I was down...,” Steve trailed off to let out a groan, “instead of just getting creamed in the end like last time.” He laughed but it was painful sounding.

“Last time?” Billy was astounded that with his shoulder ripped out and losing so much blood Steve still had the gull to be a bratty little shit. He even had the nerve to let out a small smile. “Last time I single-handedly fought back a three story tall monster made of rat AND people bones? You mean that last time?” Billy enjoyed watching that little smile on Steve getting bigger.

“Yeah, single handed, but I do remember you getting creamed?” Steve’s words were so light and easy. They were a warm breeze in the summer time, kicking up flowers, and Billy could easily be in that breeze forever without wanting to leave.

Billy laughed. “Saving El, saving you too, by getting impaled... that’s not getting creamed, pretty boy.” Running his hand over his chest Billy could feel the scar from the mind flayer right there. Always a reminder of how he fought. And a badge that said he would do it again in a heart beat.

“Hey maybe you’ll get a wicked scar then I can’t call you pretty boy anymore.” Billy said it as a joke but Steve’s smile fell into something else, even something sadder maybe.

Steve clutched the towels over his shoulder with his hand Hopper was kind enough to place over it. His other arm, the one that was holding on with just the bones of his shoulder and not so much the flesh, he only flexed those fingers just to make sure they still worked. But he kept his arm laying down like Billy ordered him to.

Wetting his lips and fixing the other boy with another locking stare, he whispered. “Hum. I don’t know if I would want that. Not really the scar type.”

“Not the type? But you know scars get all the chicks? You’ll be a magnet. I’ll have to use that bat to fend them off.” Billy laughed at his own joke. He lifted his hands and made a goofy swinging motion. Steve gave him a scoffing laugh and Billy felt comfortable enough to laugh with him. Dropping his hands Billy inched a little more towards Steve, trying to get more of that warm breeze on his face.

Steve shook his head in a no motion very lightly so he didn’t hurt himself. It made his wet hair fan out over the pillow. “First of all, don’t use my bat.” Billy raised his eye brows. “Second, don’t really care... about being a chick magnet.”

Billy wanted to ask so many questions. He might not be the King any more but Steve still has game, he still should want to add notches to his bed post. And now that he was out of school his game should be even better. But Billy didn’t ask.

In almost a defensive mode, Billy kept his head down and chewed his inner cheek like his thoughts were getting chewed over inside of his head. But he didn’t back away from how he was leaning towards the injured boy.

Thankfully, Steve’s breathing was as normal as one could get. He only moaned a few times between breaths. Billy had the painful realization that with the scratches across his upper chest it likely hurt to have the rising and falling motion. It made Billy angry that Hopper was taking so long to come back.

“Are you tired?” Steve’s summer breeze knocked Billy out of his thoughts. “You can...,” Steve swallowed hard, shifted a little as he spoke, “You can lay down. If you are tired.”

Billy watched Steve with a hesitant eye. Yeah- his body was screaming to lay down. Yeah- he was very, very tired from fighting off a hoard of demo dogs and then carrying Steve’s limp body to this motel. Shivers ghosted up his spine as he considered it, laying down in the same bed as Steve Harrington, but he was too tired to really pay attention to the reminder of self loathing.

“You don’t care?” He asked for permission.

“It’s a big enough bed,” Steve smiled.

Billy couldn’t help but groan as he let himself lean back into the mattress. His muscles were more tired than he thought. Adrenaline and maybe shock was to thank for that. Billy laid his head down on the pillow right next to Steve’s pillow. However, he kept his eyes trained on the ceiling.

There was a softness in the air, the rhythm of steady breathing slowly syncing up together, so close but looking away. Warmth from that closeness felt like laying in the summer sun.

Steve wanted to turn his head with every fiber of his being but he was scared it might hurt. He did it anyway, turning with a light moan to look at Billy’s direction. The others long blonde hair dark with blood crunched up against the pillow and his chiseled jaw muscles taught under tanned skin was worth all the pain to look at it. Even with his eyes drilling holes into the ceiling, he was an Adonis.

Billy kept his breathing quiet and tried not to make a big deal about laying in a shitty motel bed touching his shoulder against Steve’s shoulder. Sure it was a large bed but they were growing men, and Billy wasn’t going to punish himself with not at least trying to lay enough to the side where he could touch the other. Steve’s skin was flushed under Billy’s touch. In different circumstances Billy would have been flattered. Maybe even if it was different he would have let those questions about Steve and the notches in his bed post surface. But he couldn’t do that to him now.

Instead they just laid there and breathed.

“Hey,” Steve’s voice kept waking Billy from his thoughts. It was like the boy couldn’t keep quiet. Truthfully, he wanted something to distract him from the pain.

Billy turned his head over on his pillow and their eyes met. Big and brown, red with tears, locked into Billy’s sharp and blue, almost glowing with a protectiveness he didn’t knew he had in himself. Those eyes meeting Steve’s felt like the best pain killer.

“Thank you.” Steve smiled.

“What the fuck for?” Billy played dumb.

“Everything,” then those big brown eyes rolled, it was positively endearing. “Saving my life twice. Being here. Being... you.”

Billy felt his breath catch. He had never once been under the lock of an emotion like this. Under the watch of those brown eyes Billy felt real, that his life mattered and his existence wasn’t a burden to anyone. Sure he sacrificed himself and was heralded as a hero, but this was on another level. And to top it off he was swimming in the high of those eyes, that melodious voice, and uniquely sweet summer winds.

“Yeah well...,” Billy’s voice caught for a second so he cleared his throat. He had to pull away from these feelings before his voice left completely. He looked back up to the ceiling and continued, “I’m just me.”

Steve laughed the same condescending laugh he pulled in the drive way of the Byers’ house. The laugh that was so superior and patronizing it would have made Billy crazy back when all he cared about was fighting the mighty King Steve. Back when he needed to pull Steve down to his level, to make him feel Billy’s pain with fists and blood. But now Billy could tell he hasn’t done the pulling, it was Steve who pulled him down. Within all this monster fighting and children helping, Steve showed him there were no levels.

Only here.

Only now.

Only saving those that he cares about. And Billy really did care about Steve. From the first moment he saw him in school he knew he cared so much for this brown haired, spoiled, smug, heroic, selfless hurricane named Steve Harrington.

To make it worse, that laugh was so beautiful.

“You are really a great guy, Billy. I want you to know that.” And just as the last word left Steve’s lips the door opened to a hurried Hopper and El.

The sheriff hesitated for a second as he noticed their closeness but Hopper was in a time crunch. He collected the few things they left around then a large duffel bag to put them in while he ordered everyone for the door. “No hospitals,” he reminded, finger pointed at Billy, “but I know someone from the department who can fix him up.”

Billy was already up moving to help Steve from the bed. Steve tried to stand by himself but he didn’t have the strength. Blood was soaking into the towel making it a strawberry pink, reminding them all that Steve has lost more than was safe by this point. More groans and slight whimpers filled the air as he stood up from the bed to attempt to walk.

El was tired herself, hanging back by the door to keep her jacket sleeve on her bloodied nose. Hopper joined her with full hands by the doorway and expectant eyes telling them to hurry.

Billy looked between them for a second before he lowered his head towards Steve’s ear to whisper, “Thanks for letting me rest up. I feel loads better.” Then in a quick movement Billy scooped the back of Steve’s knees with one arm and cradled the boy around his ribs with the other. On sure and strong legs Billy lifted him off the ground.

Steve’s one good arm kept holding the towels tightly to his shoulder while the other he could only let hang limply. Blood dripped down his pale skin and rolled off his finger tips.

Another time, different circumstances, he would have loved to brace himself on Billy’s strong arms. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t think of anything. For once, his bratty comments caught in his throat. Instead Steve let his head drop and his forehead rest so very lightly against Billy’s neck.

“Don’t pass out on me, pretty boy.” Billy teased as he carried him out the door and started into the parking lot.

“Shut up, Hargrove.” Steve hissed but it held no venom.

Billy tucked Steve into the back seat of Hopper’s sheriff Jeep and stayed as close as he could while they rode back into town.

#harringroveweekoflove #harringrove #harringrove fic #steve/billy #my fic #tw blood #tw gore

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teamhook · 4 years

Text

A Chapter a Day... Savage Heart CS AU

This story will be finished by the end of the month. :)

A love story between a pirate and his savior. An innocent, beautiful, selfless woman meets a man with no manners, no formal education and not even a last name. Will Emma fall in love with Killian once she discovers that beneath his tough exterior lies a heart-wild, but a heart of gold? This is a Captain Swan AU

Beta-ed by the wonderful @ilovemesomekillianjones

|AO3| |FFN| previous chapter

|AO3| |FFN| current chapter

Chapter 9: The Launch

The following day all seems peaceful and calm. Emma is pacing in her small room at the convent. She was unable to sleep the previous night as she'd worried about the situation with Milah. Could she trust her cousin to do the right thing? Should she have made an attempt to extend her stay longer at the Booth Estate? She hopes Milah will heed her warning, no her plea.

What could Milah possibly see in that despicable man? Sure he is a very attractive man, she's not blind, but other than looks, what could it be? What did he have to offer? His reputation is horrible. Even someone as sheltered as she has heard of him.

Tink arrives at Killian's cabin and becomes irate when he explains the reason for the meeting with Archie.

"I don't want to be a nun, Killian!" Tink screams.

Killian sighs and patiently massages the bridge of his nose. "Tink you are not to become a nun. This will only be temporary until Archie finds a nice home for you to work in."

"I don't understand why I cannot stay here with you. I can help you keep the cabin nice and clean. I could cook for you too," Tink says hopefully.

"It would not be proper for you to stay here alone with me. Someday you will find a man to love and eventually marry, and I don't want to be the reason you can't have that."

"I have already found that man," Tink says. "You."

"Tink, sweetheart I'm not that man. You deserve someone far better than me. This will be good for you. Trust me," Killian implores.

"Fine, but when the nuns kick me out because I'm too much trouble, I'm coming to live with you. No matter if it's proper or not, got it!"

"Bloody hell, alright I agree. Now let's go, Archie must be waiting for us."

"Good morning, Killian," Archie greets as he opens his door ready to go. "Tink it's always a pleasure. I assume Killian informed you of the reason for the visit to the convent?"

"Yes, I'm not happy about it," she pouted.

Archie provided Tink with a soft smile. "Your stay will not be long. That is not the only reason for my visit. I'm also going to deliver a letter to Emma Nolan. Perhaps, I will introduce you to her. She is a lovely young lady."

Killian scratched behind his ear at the mention of Emma's name. She had returned to the convent, he mused.

"Archie, perhaps it would be wise for me to not go inside with you and Tink. My reputation will no doubt be off-putting."

"Nonsense Killian, it's a place of worship. You have as much right to be there as anyone else," Archie assures him.

The truth is he is not ready for another meeting with Emma. Especially since she knows of his relationship with Milah, and most likely of their plans.

"I will wait outside. I want Tink to make a good impression," Killian insists when they arrive at the convent.

"Fine, it shouldn't be long," Archie says.

Killian leans against the wall as Archie and Tink walk through the convent doors.

Archie and Tink are guided to an office where Mother Superior looks up from the stack of papers on her desk.

"Good morning Mother Superior. I'm here for two reasons. I would love to deliver this letter to Emma Nolan on behalf of her father," Archie says, holding up the envelope, "and I'd like to speak with you about this young lady."

"I will get one of the sisters to get Emma, please take a seat," Mother Superior says as she stands and leaves the room.

Archie nods in agreement and motions for Tink to take a seat next to him. Not two minutes later she returns. "How may I be of assistance?"

"I was hoping that I could request asylum for Miss Greene," he says, gesturing to the young woman beside him, "she prefers to be called Tink. Her stay would be temporary, and I will pay for her expenses."

Mother Superior nods her approval and the three of them wait for Emma's arrival. Soon there is a knock on the little office door. "Emma, please come in."

"Good morning Mr. Hopper, Mother Superior," Emma says and smiles at Tink.

"Emma, meet Tink. She will be staying with us for a bit." Mother Superior smiles as she makes the introduction and adds, "Mr. Hopper also has a very important delivery for you."

"Nice to meet you, Tink," Emma says and smiles.

"Emma, I will be showing Tink and Mr. Hopper around, please feel free to read your letter here in privacy."

Archie takes out the envelope and hands it to Emma

Staring at the envelope, Emma smiles and decides she'd rather be outdoors to read it. There is a big tree on the side of the convent that shades the window to her room. That spot is so calming to her. She reaches the tree, sits on the grass, and starts reading.

My Darling Princess,

I miss you and your mother so very much. I wish I was there. I have missed so many milestones in your life already. I'm writing this short letter to let you know that I will, in fact, be arriving at Misthaven soon. Hopefully, within a month we will be reunited. I was hoping I could ask for you to reconsider your decision of taking vows. Sweetheart, I believe your heart is broken now, but I know you are so resilient and strong. I know you will find the happiness you deserve. Please don't give up on love just yet. Please, let your mother know we will soon be together again.

Love,

Dad

Emma can't stop the tears from slowly falling. She looks around her new home, and that is when she sees him. She stands and walks toward him, intent on questioning his reasons for being here.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asks coldly.

Killian had not seen Emma approaching him; he had been lost in thought. "Good day to you too, Saint Emma, I'm here waiting for a friend, or is that not permitted to a man like myself," Killian replies.

Emma looks at him and asks, "Who can you possibly know that would have any business here?"

Killian smirks and pushes himself off the wall before he leans into her space. "Well, I know you. Would you rather I visit your lovely cousin? I would gladly comply."

Emma's breath hitches as he sways into her space and she takes a step back. She glares at him and says, "I told you to stay away from her!"

"Calm down. That is unless you would like to draw the attention of the lovely nuns. Would you like the whole sordid story of how a Countess fell into bed with a lowlife pirate revealed? I'm dying of curiosity. May I ask you a personal question?" Killian asks as he stares at Emma.

"What do you want to know?" Emma hisses. She has backed herself up against the wall as Killian continues to encroach on her personal space.

"Why do you still have such loyalty towards someone that simply discarded you? I know you are desperate to protect Booth."

Emma looks at him. "I'm not protecting him. I'm protecting my family."

"I know you are protecting him. 'Tis bad form to lie," Killian says confidently as he licks his lips. He is standing so close to her now he can feel the heat of her body. "What a shame, such devotion wasted on someone that obviously didn't see your value."

"Even if I was to admit that what you say is true, and the only reason I'm asking you to stay away from my family is because of August, that is none of your business."

They are at a standoff and fail to notice Archie has exited the building and is headed their way. Killian is blocking Emma's view as he is standing between her and the rest of the world. Emma's back begins to ache and she realizes she is pressing herself hard against the wall as Killian's body scorches her with the heat that rolls off of him.

"Killian, everything is taken care of," Archie calls out.

Killian slowly turns around to face Archie. "Thanks, mate. Were there any problems?"

"No problems, as predicted. Tink will be sharing a room with Emma," Archie paused as the blonde behind Killian was revealed, "oh, I wasn't aware you two knew each other."

"We don't. I was just making conversation with the lass," Killian answers to quickly

"We were just making small talk. I had just come outside for a little privacy is all," Emma agrees.

"Oh, I assumed that you two must know each other, you looked quite engrossed in conversation," Archie says still looking at both of them.

"Thank you for the letter, Mr. Hopper. I should go inside and continue with my chores," Emma says and smiles softly before hurrying to the safety of the convent walls.

That girl is special, Killian. She has such a beautiful soul. It is a shame August called off the engagement. Don't misunderstand me, Milah is a beautiful girl, but Emma is an angel. She is the type of girl that I had hoped you would fall in love with and be lucky enough to marry."

"Sounds to me like the lass already has an admirer." Killian winks at Archie.

Archie turns beet red and says, "I only meant to say that she is a special young woman. If anything, I believe she could be the kind of girl to tame the beast within your heart. Too bad she is adamant on taking the vows."

"I believe the lass would object to the assumption that she would make a good wife for a man like me. I had no idea you were so adamant in playing matchmaker, besides, I told you I've met someone already, and if things work out with August Booth, then I will gladly answer whatever questions you may have."

Killian looks in the direction Emma just headed. If he were an honorable man would Emma look at him with the same fondness as she had Archie? He had only seen contempt in her eyes. He was no stranger to that kind of look, but for some reason coming from her, it made him question his life.

"Before you ask, Tink seemed fine. Let's go to my home and send August a note requesting a meeting. Let's get you started on the right path toward a new life," Archie says fondly.

"Aye mate," Killian replies.

Emma walks into her room later that evening to find Tink sitting on the other bed in the room. "Are you okay?" Emma asks.

"Yes, I hope I don't have to stay long. This place brings back bad memories," Tink answers.

"Oh, if you ever want to share your burdens I will gladly listen."

"Thank you. I can see why Archie thinks so highly of you."

"Well, he has always been very kind. I have known him since I was a young girl. My parents are very fond of him. How is it you know Archie?" Emma asks.

"Oh he is a very close friend of Killian's," Tink says with a dreamy look on her face.

"You seem very fond of your friend Killian."

"I know he doesn't have the best reputation, but he has always been good to me."

Emma just blinks and arches her right eyebrow. "That is good to know." Sensing that she should tread carefully as it might be a sensitive subject, Emma decides to change the subject "How did you like the tour of the convent, Tink?"

"I will only be here for a short time, so it doesn't matter if I liked it or not. How long have you been here?" Tink asks.

"Almost 90 days. At the beginning of next month, I can take my vows."

"I have no idea why you would want to become a nun. You are very pretty and refined. I'm sure you can find someone to marry," Tink says.

"Thank you for the compliment. I was betrothed from a very young age, but things didn't work out. To be honest, I want to help and I feel this is the best way to do that," Emma says.

Tink looks at Emma and smiles softly. "I believe that man is an arse, and there are other ways to help without becoming a nun." Tink likes Emma, she's never had any other friends besides Killian. The girls share a giggle before Emma comments, "Colorful language for such a nice young lady."

"Killian would have said something like that. And I would have told him the same thing I am going to tell you, I'm not a lady," Tink responds.

Emma thinks maybe she has upset Tink. "I was teasing. I've had a long day and I have a feeling yours wasn't any better. Maybe we should turn in already?"

"It takes more than that to upset me, but you are right, today was a very long day."

As they get ready for bed, Emma takes a glance at Tink and wonders if perhaps Killian Jones is not a complete scoundrel like she thought. Emma drifts to sleep and dreams of getting lost in the bluest of oceans.

Tagging:

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#Captain Swan #teamhook SavageHeart #cs ff #CS Crew #CS Mafia

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insideoutstory · 4 years

Photo

Inside Out → Chapter Twenty-Two

summary: Christine struggles with the fallout of their adventure - the victories and the losses. word count: 5.2k warnings: I Very Sad™, injuries, grieving, hospitals

[ masterlist ] [ FF.net ]

On a good day, it only took fifteen minutes to get from the south end of town to Hawkins Middle School. On a busy morning, it might take twenty. On a late Saturday night, it took the four teens a whole half an hour.

Most of this was taken up by Christine. Jonathan had done the best he could to wrap up her leg. He’d packed it with ice, wrapped it tight with a blanket, and given her some pain killers for the time being. When it came time to load her into the car, it took both him and Nancy to carry her out. They had to walk slow to keep her steady. The slightest jostle or trip made her wince with pain, though Christine thought she was bearing it well.

Laid out in the backseat of Jonathan’s car, she counted the seconds in her head and tried to calculate how long it might take an injured Demogorgon to travel the same distance.

Thankfully, Jonathan was easily persuaded into speeding to make up for lost time. Once or twice, he almost outstripped the red BMW that was trailing behind them. Steve still didn’t understand why they were going to the middle school or who Christine was so worried about. He followed them anyway out of loyalty.

But they closer they got to the school, the more they had to slow down. There was an unusual amount of cars on the road for this time of night. Christine would’ve guessed there was some recital or concert for the art department had she not been in the empty school earlier. But then where were all these people going?

When she saw the flashing lights up ahead, her stomach lurched.

“Jonathan…”

“Yeah, I know.”

He heeded her silent request, pressing on the gas a little harder so he could weave through the sluggish cars. The entrance to the middle school had been blocked by a police barricade. He pulled up as close as he could and rolled down the window.

“Excuse me! Officer? What happened here?”

“Nothing you kids need to worry about,” the woman said dismissively. “School will be open on Monday. Just head on home.”

“But what happened?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss. So would you mind pulling forward? In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not the only ones rubbernecking.”

“We’re not rubbernecking,” Nancy snapped, leaning across Jonathan to the window. “Look, my brother is in there and he called me for help. Mike Wheeler? Is he okay?”

If Christine’s foot had been in prime condition, she would’ve kicked the back of Nancy’s seat. It was a huge gamble. They had no way to tell which cops worked for Hopper and which might be in the pocket of the state. What if they were still looking for the kids and Nancy had given them the final key? What if the three of them were about to be whisked away to Hawkins Laboratory and tortured for information?

The officer blinked at the given name. She held up a hand, stepping back to the barrier to converse with one of her coworkers. A moment later, they were moving the barricade aside and waving Jonathan through.

“Go around to the back,” the woman advised. “Be ready to give a statement.”

Jonathan didn’t waste time asking what kind of statement they would need. They pulled into the parking lot, Steve still riding their bumper, and raced to the back of the building.

The parking lot was swarmed with professional personnel. There were police cruisers and fire engines and ambulances galore. Christine was struggling to take it all in from her slouched vantage point in the back seat. There were government vehicles too—big military trucks and sleek black cars. There didn’t seem to be any Department of Energy vans, but that didn’t mean the agents weren’t lurking around and blending in.

“They found her,” Christine breathed, frantic eyes darting between cars. “They found her. They have her. They must’ve…”

“We don’t know that,” Nancy said reassuringly. “The kids are smart. They wouldn’t have done anything to draw attention to themselves.”

“Then what are all these people doing here? What the hell happened?”

“Maybe Hopper called reinforcements,” Jonathan suggested. “To protect them.”

“And the reinforcements called the military?” Christine asked. “Look at that truck. I know those bastards are here somewhere. And if they’re here, they found Eleven, and the cops know about Mike so…”

“Exactly,” said Nancy. “Which means he didn’t disappear. If the scientists got to him first, no one would’ve known they were ever here. We’ll find them, Chris.”

Christine nodded shakily. Nancy was right. Of course Nancy was right. She always was. She was grounded, she was level-headed, and she knew what she was talking about.

Jonathan circled around the edge of the crime scene, scanning the crowd. The doors to the building opened, several cops piling out with stretchers. They were all covered in sheets, the bodies beneath completely immobile. One, two, three, four…

“Nancy,” Christine squeaked. “Tell me that’s not…”

A fifth stretcher rolled out, ending her sentence. There shouldn’t have been five. There were only four of them. Who else had been at the school? Who was under the sheets? What had even happened?

The car was already in park.

“Stay here,” Jonathan ordered, as he slipped out of his seat.

Nancy undid her seatbelt and climbed out after him.

“Nance, help me out. I want to…”

“No, stay here,” Nancy instructed. “I’m gonna go get some answers. I’ll be right back.”

She slammed the door shut on any half-formed protest. All Christine could do was watch through the windshield as Nancy jogged after Jonathan, and then as Steve jogged after Nancy. They were immediately surrounded by a number of cops. There was some kind of argument, Nancy demanding something of one officer while the others exchanged weary looks. One of them took Nancy by the arm, and began pulling her toward one of the ambulances. Jonathan and Steve were dragged off too, split up to different corners of the parking lot for questioning. No one looked back at the car, and no one came over for Christine.

She eyed the door to the school, unattended.

Five minutes was long enough to say she’d waited in the car.

It was tough to get the door open. Christine had to twist precariously in her seat to reach the door near her feet. She was only able to pull the handle by the tips of her fingers, and then kicked it open with her good foot. She slid out onto the pavement, using the car to balance her as she hopped on one foot. Suddenly, the distance between her and the school seemed a lot farther.

She moved indelicately around the car. She winced every time she hopped, praying she wouldn’t wipe out and break her other ankle as well. Her hands had to stay on the car, to take as much weight off her leg as possible. And when she reached the edge of Jonathan’s car, she had to hop quickly across the gap to the next one.

Jumping car to car, she worked her way toward the school. She was about a third of the way there before anyone noticed her.

“Woah, woah! Where do you think you’re going?”

A paramedic grabbed Christine by the elbow, steadying her as she hopped her way toward the trunk of a Buick.

“I’ve got it,” Christine assured her, shrugging off her hands. “Thanks, though. I’m sure you’ve got more important things to worry about.”

“I don’t think so.” She stepped in Christine’s path, inspecting the towels Jonathan had duct taped around her leg. “Is that a broken ankle?”

“Uh…I don’t know. It’s not important, really. I’m fine.”

“Uh-huh. Well you’re not gonna be fine when you face plant on the pavement and break your nose. Come here.”

She stoutly ignored Christine’s protests. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, she escorted her to the closest ambulance. She sat Christine down at the back and disappeared briefly to get her kit. It wasn’t enough time for Christine to make a run for it.

“What exactly did you do here?” the woman asked, cutting the duct tape loose. Christine hissed as the pressure came off her leg. She had been doing a pretty good job of ignoring the pain she was in.

“Kicking something,” she excused through clenched teeth. “Repeatedly.”

“Car break down?”

“Boy drama.”

“For real?” The woman looked up at her incredulously. “What could a boy do that was so bad you broke your leg mad about it?”

Christine looked across the parking lot, where Jonathan was talking to the cop she recognized as Powell. He had his arms wrapped around his torso, and glanced over to Nancy as he spoke.

“Trust me,” Christine groaned. “It would have been worth it.”

She remained trapped in the ambulance as the paramedic examined her leg. There wasn’t much that could be done in the short term. The woman gave her some fresh ice, and wrapped her in compression bandages instead of kitchen towels. She was dishing out advice as she worked, everything from first aid to romance. But Christine wasn’t listening. She kept her eyes trained on the door to the school, monitoring everyone who came in or out.

“What happened here?” she asked abruptly. “I mean, why is everyone at the school?”

“No idea,” the woman said with a dry laugh. “Above my pay grade.”

“Seriously? They didn’t tell you anything?”

“Nothing specific. All I know is that the cops got some kind of anonymous tip, said there was some illegal activity going on. Military beat us to it, so I figured it must’ve been big. Then I saw the body bags and knew it must’ve been big.”

“Who was it?” Christine asked. “Was it—I mean, where they students?”

“No, no,” the woman dismissed. “No, they weren’t kids. I guess it must’ve been some of the government’s people. All adults in suits with their eyes bl—… Well. I don’t think I’m allowed to discuss open investigations, but it was gross.”

Christine didn’t push the subject, sitting back so she could process that information. Maybe—just maybe—that meant Eleven was okay. Adults in suits sounded like government officials, and if they were dead then that meant that something had fought them off. The Demogorgon probably wouldn’t have left the bodies, but Eleven… Christine hadn’t considered whether or not she was powerful enough to kill someone. But after she’d thrown Lucas across the junkyard, it had to be a possibility. If Eleven had been defending herself, she might have had time to run…

The school doors opened again. Several more officers where coming out, and this time, they had civilians with them. Christine nearly kicked the paramedic as she tried to get up.

“Boys!”

They stopped, heads wheeling around wildly until they spotted her by the ambulance.

“Christine!”

There was nothing the officers could do as the boys darted between their arms and escaped their grip. The boys sprinted across the parking lot, dodging officials left and right, until they collided with her in a hug. As usual, Dustin hit her first, knocking the wind out of her.

“Oof! Oh my God, thank God. Thank God you’re okay.”

“Thank God we’re okay? Thank God you’re okay! What the hell were you thinking, going up against the Demogorgon? That was insane! You’re awesome!”

“Demo-what?” the paramedic asked.

“Oh uh…” Christine winced, easing herself back onto the ambulance. “Like I said. Drama. Could—Could you give us a second?”

The woman didn’t look convinced, but she put her kit back in the truck. “Fine, but don’t take too long. You need an X-Ray for that fracture. If I were you, I’d get your butt to the hospital.”

“X-Ray?” Dustin repeated as the woman walked away. “Fracture? Christine, what the hell did you do?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

She turned back to the group. Her brain already knew that someone was wrong, but it wouldn’t let the complete thought form. She looked them over, instinctually doing her head count. One, two, three…

“Where…Where is she?” Christine tried to keep her voice low, just in case they were still searching. “Is she hiding? I mean…”

The boys’ faces fell. Just like that, the fragment of hope Christine had been holding onto vanished.

“No. She’s—She’s not…”

“It was the Demogorgon.” Mike’s voice was barely audible. It wasn’t because he was trying not to be overheard. It sounded like he just couldn’t muster the strength to be louder. “It found us and she—she saved us. But…now she’s gone.”

“G-Gone? Gone like she’s…”

“Gone,” said Lucas. “The Demogorgon kind of disintegrated. The lights were flashing real bad and—and when we opened our eyes she was just gone. We couldn’t find her anywhere.”

“Well, you—you looked, right?” Christine’s voice broke. “She could still be hiding, or—or she could be in the Upside Down! If we go to the lab and find Hopper, he can…”

“Chrissy,” Dustin said softly. She didn’t want to see him shake his head. “She said goodbye.”

“No, but—but she can’t—she can’t have just—I told her—I didn’t get to…”

She couldn’t get the thought out of her mouth. The boys still seemed to understand.

It was Mike who pushed forward. Mike, who was crying just as much as she was, who buried his face in her shoulder and held on for all he was worth. Christine clutched at his jacket and ran a hand over his hair. They were both lost and anchor, comforting and inconsolable.

Eleven was gone. And there was nothing they could do.

The rest of the night seemed to move in slow motion. Christine was despondent as the world moved around her. At some point Nancy had pried Mike from her arms so she could hug him herself. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler had been called as well. They asked questions about the US Marshalls, and government agents that had been to their house. Christine didn’t know how much they knew, but they’d been silenced by other agents pretty quickly. Someone said something about paperwork, nondisclosure, national security. It was all meaningless blabber.

Even after Mike and Lucas had been whisked off, Dustin stayed by her side.

“Can you drive this thing?” he asked a different paramedic. “We need to go to the hospital. This idiot broke her leg and we need X-Rays.”

“What happened?” the man asked, eyeing the fresh wrapping on her leg.

Dustin took the liberty of answering for her.

“She was trying to run here to find us and she tripped and fell off the road. She’s in shock. Her name’s Christine Walcott, she’s fifteen and a half, she lives at 66 Dover Avenue, and she’s allergic to shrimp and erythromycin.”

“And…who are you?”

“Dustin Henderson. 68 Dover Avenue. I’m her next door neighbor.”

“Okay, well I can take her to the hospital, but unfortunately, you can’t come. Family only.”

“Like hell I can’t!” Dustin argued. “Her dad’s out of town, and that means I’m the only family she’s got! Well, me and my mom. I need to call my mom once you get us to the hospital. She’s got the phone number for Mr. Walcott’s hotel. But we can’t wait for that! Didn’t you hear me? They said she needs an X-Ray, stat!”

Needless to say, the medics let Dustin ride in the ambulance. It was mostly to shut him up, but Christine didn’t care. She was just glad to have someone holding her hand.

Once they reached the hospital, a nurse had to forcibly separate them. She escorted Dustin to the front desk so he could use the phone. Christine was carted off the to the emergency room. She had to sit through X-Rays and answer some basic questions about what she’d done. She stuck with Dustin’s story of falling off the road. It was probably the first thing Nancy would say too, if anyone asked her. And it was a better story than kicking someone.

Christine had some trouble focusing long enough to complete the paperwork she had to fill out, but no one seemed surprised. They marked it down to shock from the injury and told her she could call her father later. The doctors gave her some different pain medication, which only made it harder to focus on what was happening. She still cried as they set her leg. She was tired, she was overwhelmed, and she just wanted everything to be over.

At some point, Claudia joined the commotion. She burst into the emergency room with Dustin at her side, shoving through the curtains and smothering Christine with a loving, tearful hug.

“Oh, sweetheart, what did you do? Look at you! Are you alright? Dusty told me everything!”

“He did?”

“Yes!” Dustin smiled with an over-exaggerated nod. “I told her all about how Mike, Lucas and I went to the school to try and use the Heathkit, and how we called you, and how you were so mad that you started running from the Byers’ house, which is where you were, and how you fell off the road and hurt yourself and how Jonathan and Nancy had to drive you the rest of the way because you had all been together to study.”

How his mother never knew when he was lying was a mystery. Dustin was awful at it.

“That was so dangerous!” Claudia scolded her. “I mean, running along the backroads at night? We’re lucky you weren’t hit by a car!”

“Yeah,” Christine sighed. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, don’t apologize. You were just trying to look out for Dusty, as always. Ah! I can never thank you enough, Christine. You are truly the best babysitter in this town.”

“Mom! Christine’s just my friend! She’s not my babysitter!”

“Oh, I’m not?” Christine asked him teasingly. “What happened to desperate times?”

“Desperate times are over,” he said with a shrug. “You’re okay now.”

Christine smiled. She wished she felt better about it.

It was a few hours before she was released. Her leg was in a cast, her arm in a sling for at least the next week. Dustin’s mom needed to push her in a wheelchair, which was about the most inconvenient thing she could imagine. She wanted to be independent, be alone, so she could barricade herself in her room and cry the way she’d wanted to all day. But it didn’t look like that was going to happen anytime soon. Claudia had already told her that her father was taking a rush flight back to Indiana the next morning, and her possible concussion meant she’d have to sleep over at the Hendersons’ for the night. Claudia was probably going to wake her up every hour, and the living room couch didn’t offer a lot of privacy to grieve. If she wanted to do that, she was going to have to lock herself in the bathroom. Even that was going to have to be put off.

The waiting room was full to the brim. Every seat was occupied. Hopper sat next to Mr. Wheeler, who sat next to Steve, who was next to Mrs. Wheeler, Nancy, Mike and Lucas. Before they could even ask, Lucas was out of his seat.

“They found him,” he blurted. “They came back and they found him! He’s alive!”

“He’s—what?”

Dustin gasped, followed by a strangled sound somewhere between a squeal, a sob and a battle cry. He nearly tackled Lucas to the ground. The two of them jumped around like idiots, Mike joining the pile with a weak laugh. Christine knew the sound. Even as relief filled her chest, it was the only kind of laugh she could muster at the moment as well.

“What in the world…?” asked Claudia.

Thankfully, Chief Hopper stepped in before Christine had to come up with another lie.

“Christine,” he said with a short nod. “How’s the leg?”

“Fine. I just tripped running to the school.”

Hopper raised an eyebrow. His sharp eyes reminded her a little of Eleven. One glance, and she was sure he already knew exactly what stupid shit she’d been up to and exactly how she’d broken her leg.

“Chief, what is going on?” Claudia asked, still staring at her son.

“The Byers’ boy,” he said shortly. “He turned up in the woods on the west end of town. Sick as a dog, but he should pull through.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped. “But—But Will was—there was a body! And the funeral?”

“I know. Can’t explain it.”

Hopper had shrugged as he said it, but his eyes were still locked with Christine. It sounded like an explanation, but she knew it was more of a warning. Don’t explain it. Don’t talk about it. Not to anyone. Not at any time.

Christine nodded.

“I guess it’s just one of those things,” she said. “Crazy stuff. Doppelgangers and shit.”

“Doppelgangers?” Claudia repeated, still reeling.

“Yeah, you know. Someone who looks just like you. They’re supposed to be bad luck. Like supernatural omens or beings from a different dimension.”

Hopper glared at her, and pulled out his pack of cigarettes with a little too much force.

“Oh, you—she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Claudia said sheepishly. “Come on, Chrissy, let’s—let’s wheel you over here…”

“I’ve got her, Mrs. Henderson.” Nancy had appeared at her shoulder, waving Claudia toward the chairs. “Here, why don’t you take my seat?”

“Aw! That’s so sweet of you. Thank you, Nancy, honey. Chrissy, are you…?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, Claudia. Thanks.”

Claudia smiled and hurried off to the vacant seat next to Mrs. Wheeler. It looked like she was ready to begin gossiping about the exciting turn of events.

“Water?” Nancy asked, nodding down the hallway.

“Please.”

Nancy wheeled her out of the room. It was a relief to get away from the prying eyes, even more of a relief than finding out Will was alive if it were possible. It made her feel stupid, guilty. But it already felt easier to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Nancy whispered as they walked.

“Considering I was ripped out of an interdimensional portal and thrown across a room by that thing? Yeah, I’m okay. Cast will stay on for a month or two, sling for about a week. I’ll live.”

“That’s good. Everyone’s been so worried. Even Steve. He looked like he was about to pee his pants.”

Christine snorted, but didn’t pursue it. That conversation still felt a little fresh.

“Where’s Jonathan?” she asked.

“Home.” Nancy sighed as they reached the water fountain, and grabbed a cup for Christine. “He’s coming back, he just wanted to grab some stuff for Will.”

“Hopper said he’s sick?”

“Yeah. He was there for almost a week, so…between the starvation, hypothermia, dehydration…I mean I can’t imagine staying there for more than a couple minutes…”

“I know what you mean.”

Nancy stilled, but smiled as she passed Christine her cup. “Yeah. I guess you do.”

Neither of them said anything else on the subject. Both of their thoughts were elsewhere, back in that dark place filled with motes and slime. A shiver went down Christine’s back, and her teeth chattered into her cup.

“Hey,” Nancy said softly. She was picking at the cuffs of her sweater. “I didn’t want to ask, but…Eleven? Is she…?”

Christine shook her head.

“I’m…I’m so sorry, Chris. I know how worried you were, and…”

“Can—Can we not talk about it?” Christine whimpered the question out, and had to put her cup down so she could wipe her face. “Just, not right now? I’m just—I’m gonna start crying and then people are gonna ask questions and we won’t be able to answer them and…”

“No, of course. Sorry, I just…I’m sorry.”

But the damage had already been done. Christine bit hard on her bottom lip, tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling. She’d been hoping gravity would keep the water in her eyes. All it really did was push the tears down the sides of her face. Gravity wasn’t an ally today at all.

Nancy hushed her, kneeling down next to her wheelchair. Her hug was awkward. Her arms were too short to reach all the way around Christine, the sling and the seat. But Christine appreciated it all the same. It gave her enough cover to cry. Just a few tears, for just a few minutes, just before they had to go back to lying.

They waited in the lobby for another few hours. Christine had stopped trying to keep track of the time. No one was speaking to each other. Steve was still there for some reason, sitting in the corner and looking extremely out of place among the other adults. Hopper had come back from his smoke break, and was plucking at an elastic band on his wrist. Dustin and Lucas had straight up fallen asleep. Christine sat next to Nancy at the end of the row, magazine in her lap. She wasn’t reading it per se, but she wanted to keep her mind busy. If that meant reading her horoscope from seven months ago, so be it.

The door opened, and everyone looked up to see Jonathan peeking his head into the room. It was clear he’d been crying, but he was sporting a smile.

Mike was the first out of his chair.

“Guys! Guys, he’s up! Will is up! Guys, Will is up!”

He smacked Lucas and Dustin abruptly into consciousness, then sprinted through the door and down the hall. The other boys groaned and shoved each other, competing to be the second one through. Dustin managed it first, then smacked into Lucas when he turned around.

“Christine, let’s move it! Will’s awake!”

He ran away before she could respond.

“Oh, uh…is that okay?” she asked Jonathan. “I know there’s probably a limit…”

“My brother just came back from the dead,” he reminded her. “I don’t think they can say anything about guest limits.”

“Besides,” Nancy said with a smile. “You’re a patient, right?”

Still feeling a bit uncomfortable, Christine allowed Nancy to wheel her into the hallway. They followed Jonathan down the hall, but they didn’t exactly need a guide. They could have tracked the source of the boys’ excited shouting from clear across the building.

“Be careful!” Mrs. Byers was warning over them. “Be careful with him!”

“Guys,” Jonathan chimed in as they reached the door. “Guys, go easy on him.”

Even with the concern, he was laughing. It was hard not to, the way all of the boys were trying to dog pile onto the bed. They were reluctant to move back, not wanting to risk losing him again. But through the cracks between their shoulders, Christine could see Will on the bed. He looked a little smaller, a little paler, and a little worse for wear. But he was smiling brightly, very much alive. It was more than they could have hoped for.

“Oh—Christine!” Mrs. Byers stepped away from her son’s bed, leaving the boys to chatter excitedly. “What—What happened, sweetheart?”

“It’s nothing,” Christine assured her. She raised her good hand with air quotations. “I tripped on the side of the road. Really, it’s nothing major.”

Still, Mrs. Byers pressed her hands over her mouth. She hurried to help Nancy push the wheelchair into the room, and once she’d crossed the threshold, she kneeled down at Christine’s side.

“Jonathan told me what happened,” she said in a hushed voice. “Fighting that monster and—and trying to get through to Will. I mean, Hopper and I could hear you screaming…”

“You could?” Christine asked in surprise. She hadn’t been sure it worked.

“Yes! We heard you screaming for help, and I was so worried and—and that was so reckless! You kids could have been hurt! You did get hurt!”

“Seriously, Mrs. Byers. I’m fine.”

“I—I know. I know you are, but…still. Thank you, Christine.”

She grabbed Christine’s free hand in both of her own, holding onto it tightly. She almost looked like she was going to start crying again. But Dustin intervened.

“Chrissy! Sorry, Mrs. Byers, can I borrow her? Christine, come on.”

He pushed everyone else out of the way, shoving her chair closer to the hospital bed. The boys parted for her, letting her right up to the handrail.

“Christine?” Will asked in surprise. “Seriously? I thought Lucas was joking.”

“Told you he’s in love with you,” Dustin said to her, making Lucas smack him.

“Hey there, Will the Wise,” Christine offered with a smile. “You made it. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Thanks,” he said shyly. “Are you okay? Why are you in a wheelchair?”

“She was battling the Demogorgon,” Lucas said proudly.

“She was trying to distract it,” Mike explained. “So we could get to you.”

“It was pretty badass,” said Dustin. “She’s pretty much part of the party now.”

“I am?”

This was news to Christine, news that Mike immediately swept back under the rug.

“We have to have a formal discussion,” he said quickly. “Party changes have to be mandated by a unanimous vote. But still, it—it was pretty cool.”

“You should’ve seen it!” Dustin gushed. “She was talking about all these theories about different dimensions…”

“And she knows so much about theoretical physics!”

“And we were keeping Eleven at her house, so it was like safe haven…”

“It was just like that campaign where…”

The boys babbling on around her, Christine couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long week for all of them. They’d been through a lot. She’d hated seeing them so sad about Will, so scared of the unknown, so mad at each other. But for now, they were all back to normal—smiling and grinning and rambling about D&D. It had been worth it, if it meant Will was home.

It had almost all been worth it.

#ocappreciation #fyeahstrangerthingsocs #stranger things #stranger things oc #stranger things fanfiction #chapters #chapter 22

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angryrabbit42 · 4 years

Text

Bonus Tracks 5

All for the lovely: @a-rose-by-any-other-doctor @dwsecretsanta

Read on AO3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925084/chapters/52331086

Track 3: Hurt

“That’s it, open your eyes,” an American woman was saying. Her voice was pleasant, soothing until she shouted, “Doctor! Come quick. I think she’s waking up!”

Doctor? Rose’s head felt like it had been ground up and dunked in water. She blinked a few times to clear grit, her eyes practically glued together. A warm flannel was pressed over them, gently cleaning the lashes. “It’s okay, you’re safe,” the American woman said.

Rose focused on her light brown eyes. They were full of concern. Rose thought she had nice eyes, friendly, and warm. She was beautiful too with her button nose and wavy dark brown hair. Thin and pale, she was wearing a red blouse with a plunging neckline and an adorable white umbrella print. Rose opened her mouth to speak only to have a straw placed at her lips. She sipped, coughing a little. Spasms racked her whole body. Every nerve ending screamed in outrage. Rose grunted.

“Right, sorry, sorry, he said if you woke up before he got back to give you this purple pill.” She offered the pill. Rose opened her mouth. It looked a lot like the pills the Doctor handed out liberally whenever she or Jack had gotten a raging hangover. A pang of longing washed through her for those days. The pill dissolved in a hint of jam taking her pain with it. Rose sank down into the sheets. The woman smiled kindly. “There you go. I took one of those the last time he got into one of his lecture moods… Okay, I’m going to go see what’s keeping the doctor.”

“Wait,” Rose croaked. “What happened...me?”

“Um,” the woman cut herself off, “I-I- you were kind of, well not kind of, you were, you just sort of appeared in the middle of a war zone and got shot. But it’s okay, the doctor patched you up. He’ll kill me if I don’t tell him you’re awake. We’ve been waiting a week...oops. Pretend I didn’t say that, huh? Oh man,” she stood up. “Listen, I’ll be right back. You’re safe. I promise.”

“Who?”

“Oh, right. Peri,” she tapped her chest, “I’m Peri.”

“Rose.”

Peri grinned. “We know. Rest now.”

Rose faded in and out. The pill had taken away all the pain and none of the exhaustion. Her body felt like lead. Speaking had almost been too much. She glanced down at her body to see where she’d been hit. A sheet was pulled up under her armpits. She felt that odd sensation creep up when you realize you are completely naked. “Just the sheet then…”

Falling back, she listened for Peri to slipping back into the room. Her ears, no, her body, no… no, it was in her head. She was hearing… “Tardis?” Rose felt a welcoming warmth trickling into her. There was a flash of worry and reassurance and comfort. Overwhelmed, Rose felt a few tears trickle out of the corners of her eyes. She was home. The Tardis agreed heartily, the lights around her dimming and then brightening.

“Well, I was calibrating the fluid links! It’s not my fault I couldn’t hear your bellow from underneath the console!” A booming, cranky male voice complained. “Besides, the Tardis already let me know that’s why I was in the hall. I can feel her singing.”

“Who Rose?” Peri asked, confused.

“No, the Tardis. She’s pleased that the girl has woken up. She doesn’t normally take too much notice of you lot.”

Rose’s heart sank. If that was the Doctor’s voice than she wasn’t in the right time again. This was yet another incarnation of him. Peri had known her name, the Tardis was here and she still wasn’t where she needed to be. Rose huffed. It was getting harder to keep hope when she kept missing her own time by miles. The Tardis hummed merrily.

“Hallo, how is our patient doing this fine morning?” he asked.

“No morning on the Tardis, Doctor,” she croaked.

Peri laughed. “Oh wow, I like her already.”

“Yes, well, she’s right. There’s no time at all on a Tardis. I just thought it sounded better than ‘how was the coma?’ How was the coma, Rose?” he asked.

Rose’s eyes widened. She tried to sit up, scream about her cannon, and her mission and her…”

“Now, now, don’t worry. I’ve recalibrated your ‘dimensional hopper,’” He explained, thickly emphasizing ‘dimensional hopper.’ “You have a day or two left,” soothed, the robust man with a head of unruly blonde curls as he slid into view. His blue eyes were bright, shrewd and curious. Rose got a hit of that bookstore shop and strange engine oils that she liked so much. He was the Doctor alright. “I feel I ought to tell you that it’s a very irresponsible mode of traveling through the dimensions. You should be in a capsule, young lady.”

“Don’t be such a nag,” Rose muttered.

Peri barked out a laugh. “I like her even more now.”

“Tough crowd,” he remarked to Peri who giggled. “I‘m going to be the bigger Timelord here since you were injured,” he said, sniffing indignantly. “Now before you go getting all worried, I’ve spoken to your ‘Control’ and I told that woman you were injured and she threatened me.”

Rose chuckled. “Sounds like my mum.”

“Yes, your mother is…”

“Be nice,” Peri warned.

“Protective,” the Doctor finished, making a face.

Rose gave him a smile. He smiled back. He slipped his hand into hers, sliding up to check her pulse. Rose enjoyed the cool touch a bit too much. He smirked as if catching the stray thought.

“Now, you are very lucky we happened to be saving the world in your general vicinity…” he began only to be interrupted by Peri scoffing. “Oh alright, I was very lucky you appeared when you did. You saved my life. Thank you.”

Rose beamed. The Doctor’s cheeks flushed. Peri snorted. “Quiet,” he hissed at her. Peri did not quiet, she snorted again, louder this time. “You’ll have to excuse her, she finds this entire experience dripping in incredulity.” The Doctor dripped his own words in sarcasm. Peri ignored it, obviously used to him.

Rose moved to sit up. The Doctor wrapped an arm around her, helping her shift so she was sitting up. The weight in her limbs was lessening. It was a relief to be more mobile. He sat back to regard her. “How’s your head?”

“Mushy.”

“Vision?”

“Mm, normal? There’s only four of you, right?”

“Very amusing, Miss Tyler.” the Doctor said, pulling a penlight from his pocket and checking her eyes. “Pupils are normal and reactive. Muscle weakness? Headache? Spots?”

“Yes. Yes. No.” Rose was enjoying his proximity.

“Good,” he drawled. He hit a pad on the edge of the bed, and Rose felt the Tardis run a passive scan. “Another hour before you can try standing, alright? No acrobatics for another ten. Rest is what you need. Rest and lunch?”

Rose’s stomach grumbled.

“Peri, there’s a meal in the stasis booth behind you. Enough for three. Grab that for me?” He turned back to stare at Rose. “Extraordinary.”

“What’s so incredulous about this whole thing?” Rose asked as the Doctor handed her a what turned out to be sweetened iced tea.

“You fell right into the middle of a battlefield in the middle of one of his speeches!” Peri exclaimed, handing out sandwiches. “He was booming, ‘There’s got to be a better way to solve this conflict than cannons!’ And blamo! They shot at him and you appeared in front of him like a human shield. It was awesome!” Peri enthused. “S-s-sorry you got shot though… But you saved his dumb life.”

“I could have gotten through to them,” the Doctor muttered wistfully, “another moment or two… If Erikson hadn’t decided to shoot at me. The villain!”

“The Leklens killed his mom. He apologized!” Peri argued. “He even let us use that tank thing. You were in purple goo for like a day.”

“Ew,” Rose muttered.

“Yeah, it was real gross,” Peri enthused. “Like ectoplasm. You know? Like in Ghostbusters.”

“Take her to one movie… and it’s all she talks about,” the Doctor grumbled.

“You glowed a bit,” Peri added.

“Peri!”

“She did! I saw it. Right before the beam hit you. You glowed a bit golden and then you crumpled. I thought you were toast!” Peri took a big bite out of her sandwich chewing with relish.

“Americans,” the Doctor muttered.

“And that’s not what I can’t believe,” Peri added as the Doctor turned a bit pink. “I can’t believe that you and he are you know, an item.”

“Peri!” the Doctor admonished.

“S’what you told me. You sensed it or whatever. It’s why you didn’t tell her mother who you were. He’s chicken. Thought she might kill him. But he doesn’t… You don’t…” Peri trailed off, waving a hand in a vaguely lewd gesture. “Well, you don’t!” she shouted when he scoffed.

Rose giggles. “What don’t you do Doctor?”

“Rose,” he drawled. “You’ve traveled with me. You’re brimming with artron energy and I remember you. You and I have met before at a party… for UNIT? I must have hidden the memory. But you and I, we…”

“Nope. I don’t believe it. He doesn’t do that. He never has while I’ve been around and I’ve been around a long time now.” Peri smirked.

“Do I tell you everything?” The Doctor demanded, indignant.

“No, you never tell me anything unless it’s useless facts about gumblejacks…”

“It’s a fish, very good eating,” the Doctor said in an aside to Rose. “And YOU never listen. That’s why you never know anything about me.”

“All I do is listen,” Peri bemoaned, eyes twinkling. “Alright, tell me, who have you dated?”

The Doctor flustered and sweating a bit glanced at Rose and then back at Peri. “I-I ah, freely admit some of my regenerations are more… amorously inclined than others.”

Rose giggled. Peri muttered, “Yeah right.”

“Ah! YES! Yes, you’ve met one of my paramours.” the Doctor announced.

Rose’s eyebrows disappeared into her hair. “Who?”

“Yeah, who? The only other you I’ve met, well, other than the nicer version of you-”

The Doctor scoffed. Peri patted his arm to show she was kidding and he was mollified.

“Wait… Jamie? Really? He was… well, a he.” Peri said.

Rose burst out laughing. The Doctor was beet red now. “Peri! All the traveling we do and that’s the issue you take with it?”

Peri laughed. “No, of course not! It’s cute! Jamie was hot. He wore a kilt,” she told Rose.

“Hush, I seem to recall a certain Pharaoh we traveled with who spent an awful lot of time in your room.”

Peri blushed. “Oh, we were, Erimem and I, she and I were… Shut up!”

Rose was going to die laughing. Great big belly laughs escaped her. The Doctor watched her, faking stern with his twinkly eyes. “My love life amuses her.”

“I’m not convinced you have one, yet. Maybe you regenerate into a real Romeo in the future.” Peri finished her sandwich.

“Tall thin, great hair,” Rose said, “really great hair, not that I’m not loving the blonde curls.”

A yawn escaped Peri. “No offense Rose, but I am going to take a nap. Been watching you for days. Good to meet you. Glad you’re awake. See you later, Doc.”

A long-suffering sigh escaped him. “Don’t call me ‘Doc.’ Insufferable girl!”

Peri hugged him. The Doctor hugged her back. Peri disappeared with a wave.

“You’re a marshmallow,” Rose muttered, leaning back against her pillows.

He harrumphed, sliding his hand into hers and squeezing. Rose’s heart eased. He was always home to her. He glanced at her sharply. “Can you hear my thoughts?”

“No, not as such,” the Doctor murmured. “Just your emotions a bit, leaking through the barriers. It’s not unpleasant, just surprising.”

“Because this regeneration isn’t as ‘amorously inclined’ as others?” she teased.

He smiled softly. “Something like that.”

They sat in comfortable silence for several moments, drinking one another in. “Rose,” he began, voice hesitant. “You were talking in your sleep.”

A frizzle of fear slipped down her spine. “Oh?”

“You mentioned stars going out,” he said, “and needing to find me, not this me, I’m assuming?”

“Sorry, no. I think he, my Doctor is a bit farther into your future.”

“The Byronic hero or the one in the Panama hat? Nooo, couldn’t be the one in the hat. He’s… No.” the Doctor shook his head. “The one in the velvet frock coat?”

“No, he’s sort of pinstriped.”

The Doctor made a face. “I like pinstripes. Never met him. He has yet to be as far as I am concerned. I know the next two after me and the previous ones of course… We meet from time to time. In the direst of circumstances…”

“Because you irritate yourself?”

“Yes,” he chuckled. “I am hard to get on with.”

“No you’re not,” Rose replied.

“Very kind,” he murmured. “Rose? What did you mean when you said… Time War.”

Rose froze solid. “You can’t know.”

“Oh, I can forget…”

“No, not this, you can never forget.” Rose stared hard at this younger Doctor, feeling nothing but sympathy. “It’s far in your future I think. Nothing to worry about.”

He nodded, resigned. “Yes, I quite understand. Rest now.” He patted her hand before withdrawing.

Rose didn’t want to be left alone. But he must have used a hypnotic suggestion in his touch because Rose was drifting off before she could form a protest. When her eyes popped open a while later, she was alone. Voices told her that Peri and the Doctor were nearby, in the corridor? She was more alert. She noticed her room had white walls with glowing round things recessed into them. It vaguely resembled the medbay.

“She was just dreaming,” Peri was whispering.

“I don’t think she was,” the Doctor argued, tone low. “She said they were all dead.”

“That’s crazy! The Timelords are all-powerful. Nothing could bump them off easily.”

“I can think of one species that can and would do,” the Doctor said incensed.

“The Daleks,” Peri agreed. “Yeah, but now that you know, you can stop it, right?”

“No, I can’t! My hands are tied. Rose is from my future. Don’t you see? That’s why she won’t tell me. She’s a good time traveler. She knows it could cause a paradox.”

“What will you do?”

“Nothing. That’s all I can do.” the Doctor said mournfully.

“You can’t just let your people die,” Peri shouted.

“Shh!! I’m sure my future selves will sort it all out…”

“No, you’re not.”

“No,” he agreed, “I’m not.”

He entered the room with a breakfast tray. Rose took in his plaid waistcoat, white button-down, plaid suspenders and yellow pinstripe trousers. “How did I not notice your outfit yesterday?”

“I know, you can see those hideous pants from space. Wait until you see his coat,” Peri said hopping up onto the edge of the bed. “How ya feeling?”

“Like I need to get up,” Rose said meaningfully. Peri laughed and looped Rose’s arm around her neck to help her into the en suite. They tucked the sheet around her like a toga. She came back out to the Doctor's fidgeting. “Out with it.”

“I’ve helped you a bit,” the Doctor said, holding up her recall disc.

“Doctor-”

“I know. I know! I can’t help myself. Your settings would keep you jumping randomly forever. I made some minor modifications to narrow down the jumps to a time closer to your own. I’ve also added an algorithm that will pick Tardis timelines, narrowing it farther. It would help if you had a Tardis to coordinate with but needs must.” He handed it back to her.

“Thank you,” Rose took it and looped it around her neck. Since she was standing on her own, she tottered into the Doctor’s embrace. He hugged back and Rose was reminded that he gave really great hugs. He squished her a bit before releasing her. He kept her hands on his forearms so she could use him to balance.

“You did save my life. It’s the least I can do if you’re going to go on to save the entire Universe.”

“Enough of the heavy stuff,” Peri grumbled. “She’s got twenty-hours left. Think you can take us shopping? Or we could get pizza!”

“Philistine.”

The memory cut off abruptly as the zeppelin dipped a bit. The Doctor was startled and his fingers slipped breaking the connection. Rose turned to regard him. “Alright?”

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t remember any of that. I have a really strange craving for pineapple on pizza though…Oh and those fried jalapenos.”

“California,” Rose murmured. “We got pizza in Malibu… It’s sorta trickling back in. You got mistaken for a busker...The Tardis got a ticket. Images slipped past. I didn’t remember any of that either until now. I remember getting home and Mum was strange. I was put off of the rotation for a week. I was furious. Mum she, didn’t budge. Said the doctor said a week, no less.” Rose beamed. “She meant you, the sneaky old thing!”

The Doctor grinned.

Jackie appeared as if summoned by her name. “We’ve got another hour on this thing. Oof, I miss planes. Can’t say traveling by blimp is all that efficient. You alright? Both of you just been cuddled up here. Thought you’d be talking or…”

The zeppelin dipped again. The Doctor grabbed her hand and peeked out the window. “We’re alright, Jackie. In fact, we were top-notch a minute ago.”

Rose snorted. “We’re fine Mum, just tired.”

“When we get home, you’ll get all the rest you need. No world-saving for a bit, alright? Give your mother a break, sweetheart. You too, you could use some feeding up and a bit of mothering.” Jackie reached out and patted the Doctor. He enjoyed it for half a second before recoiling. He glanced at Rose to see if she had caught him out and Rose smirked.

“I’m assuming London will be invaded ten minutes after I arrive.”

“Oh, four, surely,” Rose agreed.

“You two!!” Exasperated, the two were left alone.

“Peri, she, it didn’t end well for her…” the Doctor muttered. “Or it did? I have several sets of memories for that…”

“Believe in the good one, Doctor,” Rose advised.

“Yeah.”

#dwsecretsanta #Sixth Doctor #Rose Tyler #TenToo x Rose #Doctor Who

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strangestlosersclub · 6 years

Text

Till Death Do Us Part Part 2

Summary: Y/n, Eleven’s sister, 007 hears about the lab shutting down but has to see it for herself. During her trip she comes across a boy named Steve who she falls madly in love with. When she reconnects with her sister she hears about the troubles they have and decides to help. But maybe everything doesn’t turn out as well as they would like

Warnings: fluff, angst, talks about abuse, talks about death??? um nothing else really

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Female!Reader

You walked into the house and see everyone sitting down waiting for Eleven most likely. You saw a boy get up and hug Eleven he was sitting with a group of kids who you could tell are very close. A police officer got up and hugged her as well, then she brought him over to you.

“This is y/n, my sister.” she says quietly, he looks at you and then at your wrist which you gladly show him. He holds his hand out for you to shake

“Hopper, JIm Hopper.” he says and you shake his hand looking back and forth between Eleven and Hopper

“Is this him?” you ask her, she nods and smiles you look at him and smile “Thank you for watching out for her.” you say. It didn’t matter that you hadn’t known her for long and you weren’t blood family. All the kids in that lab were family, you all went through the same thing. After you met everyone you realized that this group of people weren’t just friends, they had been through something. Something that brought them even closer, this was a family.

“So can anyone tell me exactly what happened to the lab?” You ask

“Well it’s a very long story.” Eleven says

“I’ve got time.” You say grabbing her hand and smiling. As they explain everything, the demogorgon, the demo dogs, the upside down, the mind flayer. You couldn’t understand how all of them survived, you tried to study them how you normally did with people, try to figure them out you were good at that.

“So this mind flayer, you stopped him?” You asked

“Well I closed the gate and the mind flayer can’t come to this side without it being open.” Eleven replies

“Alright but what happened to you? Are you okay?” you ask it was directed towards the boy named will, you read him easily. On the outside he was this scared little boy who seemed absolutely traumatized, but on the inside he was strong, stronger than any of them knew. Going through the possession, it’s not something any normal person just recovers from. He looked at you confused,

“I’m alright.” he says quietly and smiles slightly

“You know, I had a friend who you remind me of.” You say squatting down to talk to him.

“Really? Who?” He asks

“His name was Brian, I met him after I escaped. He helped me build a life but when I met him he wasn’t as strong as he is today.” They all look at you confused

“What do you mean by ‘he wasn’t as strong?’” Noah asks furrowing his brows

“Well, sometimes people think because they aren’t the biggest or the toughest they aren’t strong. Brian was one of those people, I showed him that no matter what size, you can be stronger than anyone if you put your mind to it.” You lightly touch his temple and a blue and purple smoke shows up, everyone looks shocked but Noah was completely intrigued with it.

“What is it?” He asks staring at it, it floated above your palm and you changed it into a little dragon

“It’s my strength, I have the ability to shield but I learned how to do more with it. I can change it into anything my mind wants it to.” You smile at the way he is looking at it

“How did you make Brian strong?” He asks

“I thought him how to fight.” You say with a completely serious face

“Why would he need to know how to fight?” He asks, you chuckle at how many questions he asks

“You ask very good questions, but you aren’t asking the right ones.” You smirk, standing up he looks up at you “Don’t you want to know how he was able to help me build a life, new identity, car, house, everything?” Noah nods as do the rest of the house,

“Well let me show you,” you say but then turn to eleven, “give me your hand,” she reaches her hand out confused. “Now I want you to close your eyes and focus, clear your mind of any thought. Once you have done that open your eyes.” Eleven closes them and then opens them after a few seconds but her eyes are a violet color.

“Woah how did she do that.” Max asks

“Think of me as electricity, I can flow through any circuit but as long as we are connected, Eleven and I are connected so I am giving her some of my ‘electricity’ in order to show you everything.” You say then draw a circle in the air with your finger. You created a sort of projection of what you saw after you got out, a boy shows up

“Is that him? Is that Brian?” Lucas asks

“Yes, that is him.” You say smiling tear forming, you missed him, he was your first and only friend. While you showed them everything you thought about where he was. How he was doing, you wanted nothing more than to see him again.

“So, he was a… cartel guy?” Mike asks confused, it makes you laugh a little, Brian? A cartel person? No way.

“No, he was a man with a lot connections, his family was one of the richest families in New York. He sold things to people all around the world. When i say things i mean everything, drugs, guns, animals, everything. He was 19 when i met him and a shy man which was odd because usually those kinds of people are tough and serious. So i helped just incase a deal went sideways and he needed know how to protect himself and maybe one day his family.” You explained but once you said ‘family’ it hurt you, you knew you loved him and you wanted to be the one who made a family with him. But, how do you make a family with someone who can’t even stay in one place for more than a week?

“You loved him?” Noah says, you look at him a little shocked at how he figured out

“How can you tell?” You ask,

“The way you always look at him, how you trusted him, you were always close to him. It’s obvious.” he explains, you glance behind and see Steve, you looked oddly so much like Brian. He was already staring at you but in the way that you couldn’t explain. After you stayed for a few hours later everyone decided it was time to go.

“So have you made up your mind?” Hopper asks

“What do you mean?” you ask folding your arms as you walk out the door.

“Who you’re going to stay with tonight.” he says kind of shocked you don't know what he meant

“Oh, well, i didn’t really think about it to be honest.” you say rubbing your arm that is next to your side

“Well, my parents aren’t home and won’t be for a while, so if you want to. YOu can stay at my place. I mean, if you want to.” Steve says, you smile at him

“Uh, yeah, that would be nice.” you say smiling at him, eleven looks between you two and smiles

“We will see you tomorrow right?” Eleven asks hugging you

“Of course, maybe i can do what you did and fake being a new student.” you say laughing

“You, be respectful.” eleven says to steve which makes you laugh even more. After Hopper and Eleven leave you get into Steve’s car and begin your trip to his house

“So, why were you at the lab today?” you finally ask looking at him

“Well, let’s just say it’s a place that i go to think.” he says, you furrow your brows

“Why in God’s name would you go there to think.” you say chuckling a bit making him laugh too.

“How about this. Hi my name is Steve Harrington, my ex-girlfriend broke up with me for a guy who used to barely talk. Now i watch a bunch of kids who i love very much and don’t really have any friends my age.” He says not talking his eyes off the road

“Hmm, well Steve Harrington it’s nice to officially meet you.” you say smiling at him

“Oh and one more thing, this is my house.” he says pulling into the driveway of what looks like a mansion, you have never seen a house this big before. When you get to the door way you freeze, last time you went into someone's house you got shot at. Long story but you weren’t used to just walking into doorways just yet.

“So, there are many rooms to choose from as you can tell but i sleep upstairs so. Pick one and i will bring you some blankets and sheets.” He says waiting for you to walk upstairs. You studied it all or at least tried to it was a force of habit to map out all the exits and windows. You found a room that had beautiful view of the small town,

“Is this room available?” you ask, Steve looks down at his feet chuckling

“Actually it is, and it also happens to be right next to my room.” he points to the door barely a foot away still smiling

“Well, i don’t mind being neighbors unless you do?” you question stepping closer to the boy leaning on the doorway smiling.

“Uh,” he clears his throat “Nope, i don’t mind, not at all.” he says clearly getting nervous as you step closer and closer, once you’re almost right in front of him you lean and whisper in his ear

“Can i have those blankets now?” you ask

“Yeah let me go get those,” he says tripping over his feet, you bite your lip trying not to laugh at the boy running away. You turn back to face the window and giggle quietly letting a sigh of relief. You couldn’t help but be nervous as well, there was just something about him that made you feel like a teenage girl in love.

A/N: two weeks laterrrr... im so sorry for the wait but im backkk be ready for some crazy stuff in the next chapters!!! IF YOU WANT TO BE IN THE TAG LIST JUST ASK. im super glad to add you if you would like. OH and thanks for all the cute feedback on this love you guyssss

TAG LIST//

@alonewolfsblog

@marvelkatwoman

@berruneko09

@broadwaysprincess

#steve harrington #stranger things #millie bobby brown #caleb mclaughlin #gaten mazzarato #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagines #finn wolfhard #noah schnapp #sadie sink #eleven #mike wheeler #will byers #joe keery #dustin henderson #Lucas Sinclair

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allonsysilvertongue · 6 years

Note

Can you please do one post season 2 where joyce keeps trying to avoid hopper but then gives in eventually?

Hawkins: The Upside - Broken

When JoyceByers woke up one morning with a heavy arm slung over her midsection and realisedthat there was a very naked Hopper next to her, three weeks after Jane had shutthe Gate, she had been horrified.

She laythere frozen, staring at a brown spot on her wall, wondering how they got here.The initial horror gave way to confusion before the overwhelming guilt washedover her and that made her choke.

Bob, she gasped and covered her mouth. He was just killed trying to protect her andWill. He sacrificed himself for her family and how did she repay him?

By sleepingwith another man.

While itwas true that she didn’t actually planned for this and that it just happened,it was still…. She threw the covers back and started scrounging the room,looking for her discarded clothes.

“Hey.”

His voicewas gruff from sleep and she paused. Joyce turned to look behind, forcing asmile on her face. Hopper was propped on his elbow, watching her warily.

“Joyce – “

“It was amistake,” she blurted out. “I can’t – this isn’t… “

Joyce tookin a shuddering breath.

She likedhim. She enjoyed his company, sharing a cigarette like old times when it gottoo tough. She liked having him around and she found comfort in knowing that ifshe met a brick wall, she could rely on him to stand next to her and bring thewall down together. He was her cornerstone and lately, her strength.

She couldn’tdestroy what they have. This friendship between them…. She didn’t want to ruinit by complicating it with sex or… or emotions.

“You haveto go,” she dumped his clothes on the bed, all the while avoiding his gaze. Shecouldn’t look at him. There was something in his gaze, this intense longingthat always made her a little weak in the knees. There were also always randomflashed of vulnerability just swirling in the depth that made her want to wraphis big frame in her arms just so she could comfort him. “The boys will askquestions and I – I don’t know… You have to go, please.”

The momentHopper heard her plea, he dropped his head and let out a breath. “Alright,” hesaid.

Joyce stoodin the middle of the bedroom, an arm hugging herself as she watched him gather hisclothes and put on his pants. When he was dressed, he stopped in front of her,tugging on her hand to stop her from abusing the nail she was biting in hernervousness.

“Relax,Joyce,” he spoke low under his breath. “I’m leaving.”

“Thisshould be easy for you,” she said without a thought.

“Excuseme?”

“This,” shegestured at them and the bed. “Leaving after the deed is done… You’re used toit. It means nothing.”

Somethingflashed in his eyes and his face scrunched. “Is that what you think?”

It was herturn to look confused. Everyone knew that after his return to Hawkins in ’79,he had been sleeping around with any women who would have him. What this waswouldn’t and shouldn’t be anydifferent than those strings of one-night stands he had. He wouldn’t thinkanything of this, she tried to assure herself. This was something he was usedto. She was just another woman.

“Hop, I – “

“It’s fine,Joyce. You have your opinion of me, same as everyone else in this town.”

His facewas closed off, unreadable, but she could hearthe disappointment in his voice.

Surely,this didn’t mean anything to him?

She couldn’tafford to have anything more between them. She was grieving for the man wholoved and whom she had come to love. She was worried about Will who still wokeup in the middle of the night screaming from terror. She was worried aboutJonathan who stayed awake when it was dark out because he was afraid once hefell asleep, something would come for his brother.

This lefther with very little time for Hopper even if she wanted to. And that wassomething she had been trying to bury for so long. Her boys were herpriorities.

“Ifanything happens you call me,” he told her.

She noddedmutely and watched him leave her house and then she collapsed, head buried inher hands.

For weeksafter, she focused all of her attention on Jonathan and Will. She worked shiftsand tried not to think too much about Hopper. She would see his police truckslow down when it passed by the store she worked, as if the driver inside wascontemplating about coming in before changing his mind and driving off.

Once, Willinformed her that Hopper dropped by after school while she was working to checkin on them and fixed the leaking pipe in the toiler. She had been meaning to getto it but it slipped her mind.

“He askedabout you,” Will said.

“Oh, whatdid he want?”

One nightduring a heavy rainstorm, twenty-nine days after that incident, not that shewas really keeping count, he came knocking on her door with Jane standing nextto him.

“There’s achain collision, bad pile up, at the edge of town. I got to go down to thescene and back to the station. Could you – Could you keep an eye on El until Iget back? You’re the only one I trust,” the last part was muttered under hisbreath.

“Of course,”she nodded and ushered Jane in.

When hecame back nine hours later while they were having breakfast, tired and blearyeyed, Joyce took pity on him. She made him a cup of coffee and Jonathanprepared a plate for him.

“Was itbad?” Jane asked.

“Yeah,” Hoppernodded. “Three injured. They’re in the hospital.”

WhenJonathan left to meet Nancy, Will invited Jane to his room to show her some ofhis record collections that Jonathan had given him. It made Joyce felt a littleself-conscious of herself the moment she realised that she was alone with Hopper.

This wasHopper, she reminded herself. Things between them should never feel awkward.How long was she going to avoid him? She had no one else apart from Hopper and occasionallyKaren and even so, Karen didn’t know her the way Hopper did.

She reachedout for his hand on the table. Hopper stared at it, as if the simple touch wassomething so completely foreign to him.

“I can lookover Jane for a few more hours if you need to go home and sleep.”

“Yeah?” helifted his eyes. “That’s nice of you.”

“Well,” shemanaged a smile. “You’ve had my back all these while, it’s time I have yours.”

His browsfurrowed together. She understood. After the way she reacted, this wasn’t whathe was expecting from her this morning.

“Look,Joyce, I ain’t sorry about what happened. It wasn’t a mistake, not to me. Thetiming was off, I admit, but I – I get it why you’re pulling away and avoidingme. I know – I know you love him and – “

“Hop, let’snot – “

“Point is…if you don’t want anything like that to happen then it won’t. You got your handsfull, I can see that, and I don’t want to be one of your problems. I just….”

“I missedyou, Hopper,” she admitted. “What we have is good enough for me. Can we notruin it?”

“Yeah,sure, yeah,” he nodded, smiling a little.

As if toseal the point, he lighted up a cigarette and handed it to her.

She hadnever had to hold Hopper at an arm’s length. He knew all there was to knowabout her and her family, from the messy divorce with Lonnie to the governmentconspiracy that dragged her son in when everyone else in town had questionedher mental health. She could talk to him about anything. He had already seenher at her most vulnerable and he remained by her side at every turn. Shetrusted him and she held on to the steadfast belief that this was onerelationship, one friendship, she absolutely did not want to screw up and theyboth had an ugly track record of screwing things up.

So as theysat there in her kitchen puffing away, she tried to ignore the way Hopper waslooking at her. They were both lonely, and he might be looking for a way tofill his life but she wasn’t sure if shewas the answer.

How couldone broken person fix another?

You can always leave me Jopper prompts in my inbox :)

#jopper #jim hopper #joyce byers #stranger things #stranger things fic #file under: hawkins the upside #asks

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multiple-fandomimagines · 6 years

Text

Steve Harrington Masterlist *updated 2/15/21*

NONE OF THESE ARE MINE!!! I did NOT write any of these! I believe they are amazing fanfics, written by insanely talented people, and deserve to be shared. ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE AUTHORS!!!

Steve x Billy

Bad by flippyspoon (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington)(Billy Hargrove & Eleven)(Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield) Billy hates the cold but he takes walks in the snowy woods anyway. Never know who you’ll meet there.

Pain, Will You Return It? by shocked_into_shame (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) When Billy gets beaten to a literal pulp by his dad, the police get involved. Billy has to come to terms with what he has done to those around him. He doesn’t want to be like his dad. Especially when he sees Steve Harrington. When he sees Steve, he wants to be good.

Marquee Moons by flippyspoon (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) Billy helps out with some demodog bustin’.

Runaway by ohmbgosh (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington)(Billy Hargrove & Jim Hopper)(Billy Hargrove & Eleven) Jim Hopper just wants to find a Christmas present for his telepathic daughter. He didn’t ask for all these extra teenagers in his home.

Holiday’s at the Henderson’s by ohmbgosh (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) For some reason Steve really wants Dustin to get along with Billy. Since it’s almost Christmas, Dustin reluctantly gives it a shot.

To Build a Home by inkyreveries (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) In which Neil Hargrove dies and Billy and Steve go back to Hawkins.

Saint Anger by maikurosaki (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) Hopper sighed and scratched his beard. “Look, kid, the reason why I'm offering you a second chance is because you need it. You don't deserve it, but you need it. So I got your back.” Or how, on his harrowing road to redemption (because second chances don't come easy), Billy Hargrove loses a good-for-nothing father, but gains a tough little sister, a giant older brother, a preppy boyfriend, and an obnoxious pack of nerds, not necessarily in this particular order.

Angels Come To Us Disguised by AuthorsBane (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington)(Protective Parent Jim Hopper) It's a quiet night in Hawkins. That is, until Chief Hopper receives news he would have been able to live without. What follows is the worst night on call he can imagine once Billy Hargrove and Steve Harrington get involved.

"It's like the Body Snatchers!" by ChangeTheCircumstances (Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield)(Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) Max wonders if her life will ever be normal again, if anything can be normal in a place like Hawkins. She doubts it but there's at least one thing she's sure of: the last person to ever realize what's really going on in this crazy place will be Billy. No way would anything supernatural ever happen to him.

Don't Tell Me There's No Hope At All/ Together We Stand, Divided We Fall by Straight_Outta_Hobbiton (Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield)(Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) Billy's used to being afraid of his father, and he knows he's not the only one scared. But it's one thing to know your stepmother gets smacked around every once in a while and another thing completely to find her body on the bathroom floor.He's a mess, Max is even more of a mess, and Joyce Byers is a queen among mothers, she really is.

Hargrove by petersnotkingyet (Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) “Chief?” “Yeah?” Hopper responded. It was barely eight o’clock; he’d just made it to the office. “Principal Wallace needs you down at the high school. The Hargrove kid’s sleeping in his car again, and they can’t get him to wake up.”

stand (in the place where you live) by Boardingschooled (Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield)(Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington) After the gate is closed, Billy Hargrove has to face the consequences of what he's done, and it's all thanks to Hopper and his habit of taking in strays. Alternatively: Billy becomes a good big brother, learns how to apologize, and makes some very gay mixtapes, not in that order.

Holding Out For A Hero by TumbleTree Billy had never cared for the kids Steve called his own. He had already started tolerating them for Max’s sake and not because she almost busted his nuts that one time with the baseball bat. But when Steve had looked at him with those big brown eyes, begging him to keep an eye on the kids while he was on some ‘vacation’ with his asshole parents Billy couldn’t say no.So fuck Steve for putting him in all the situations that followed that conversation. He owed him a ton of blow jobs for all the shit he had to put up with now.—Five times Billy protected their kids and the one time they protected him…sort of.

We Slip And Slide by CallieB It came from the Discord, y'all.Pure indulgent post-S3 fluff, including but not limited to the discussed concepts of: - Billy moving in with Joyce - The Jonathan/Billy friendship we all need - Grouchy Hopper - Jonathan and Billy smoking weed together and arguing about music. Because punk and metal are two different things. BUT they unite against Steve’s taste - Robin and Jonathan being excellent wing-persons - Hop and Billy teaming up against Mike to protect El - Shovel talks all round - Robin being clever and eating popcorn - The you rule/you suck board

the greatest adventure is the family you’ve searched for coming alive by ThePackWantstheD Billy spends a night fighting monsters with a crowbar in his hand after Harrington knocks him into the Byers’ fridge.In the aftermath, he and Max call a ceasefire.or: Billy Hargrove gets the family he deserves in the form of three children taking up the seats of the camaro, in the form of Billy teaching Max that she can be as badass as she wants without being less of a girl because Billy taking care of himself doesn’t make him less of a man, in the form of the blood and bruises and broken bones that Eleven and Billy share, in the form of Will Byers learning that he’s not the only boy in Hawkins who wants to kiss other boys.

The Great Escape by flippyspoon Hopper’s been in a cell in Kamchatka for three months. He’s got a routine and he takes it one day at a time. And then a certain blonde bad boy from Hawkins shows up.

Limits by That_Is_Americas_Ass Everyone has their limits.Max has just finally hit hers.She’s done with hiding behind closed doors listening to her step-father Neil hurt her brother, his own flesh and blood son, beyond reason and without remorse. She’s done watching her own mother cower in ignorance behind a mask of indifference. She’s done hiding in the dark while Billy takes the abuse to try and save her from the heartless man who dared call himself their father.Of all the monsters lurking in Hawkins, who would have guessed the worst of them all was living in Max’s own home?

Shovel Talk(s) by Invaderdumbass Max wasn’t a great sister, hell she wasn’t even a decent sister until recently. It took her brother dying, El spilling the secrets that lurk in her home, then him coming back to life for her to shape up.Or a bit of a Max Mayfield character study and everyones got an opinion on Billy and Steve getting together.

Steve & The Kids

A Chance To Heal by usa123 (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids)(Protective Parent Jim Hopper & Steve Harrington) Missing scene from the end of 2x09 The Gate in which papa!Hopper is in full swing, Eleven believes Eggos can (help) cure any injury, and Steve gets all the platonic love and affection he deserves.

Found Families by darkangel86 (Jonathan Byers x Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler)(Protective Steve Harrington)(Steve & The Kids) One year and six months had passed since Lonnie had last set foot in Hawkins and in everyone's opinion that was still too soon for him to show his face again. So, of course the first time he shows up at the house, its Will who's home. Alone. For one of the first times since he'd been back from the Upside Down.

Misplaced Kids by StrangerStars (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids)(Protective Steve Harrington) In which Steve can't find the kids and freaks the hell out.

The King of Hawkins High by el_spirito (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids) (Protective Parent Jim Hopper) Just some missing scenes/an episode tag to the season finale because Steve got the crap beat out of him and there were just so many opportunities for our strange little family to bond and angst and persevere together. Featuring slightly-delirious-but-still-a-mom Steve, protective Dustin, snarky children, and paternal Hopper, among other things.

Common Cents by StrangerStars (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids)(Parent Jim Hopper & Steve Harrington)(Joyce Byers & Steve Harrington) Making a will at eighteen seems incredibly morbid. The lawyer stares at him long and hard the entire time. She acts like he's contagious, like she might catch her death from him or maybe he'll ruin her rug by dropping dead in her office. Steve figures she has nothing to worry about. If anything's going to kill him, it's probably going to be a monster from the Upside Down. In which Steve hunts monsters, becomes a deputy, makes a will, and finds a family. Among other things.

The Steve Harrington Guide to Babysitting by UnoriginalToast (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids) Steve has been tasked with babysitting El after the Gate is closed, which sounds like an easy enough job. After all, she's too tired to be much trouble, right? But what Steve doesn't factor in is the trouble her four nosey friends and that girl with the shitty brother can get themselves into.

Icebreaker by futureboy (Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids) Steve’s annoying new eighth-grader friends officially induct him as an ally to their party. It’s a prime opportunity for him to get to know that superhero buddy of theirs who keeps saving their skins.

"It's like the Body Snatchers!" by ChangeTheCircumstances (Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield)(Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington)(Steve Harrington & The Stranger Things Kids) Max wonders if her life will ever be normal again, if anything can be normal in a place like Hawkins. She doubts it but there's at least one thing she's sure of: the last person to ever realize what's really going on in this crazy place will be Billy. No way would anything supernatural ever happen to him.

proud by mercytio (scundtrack) (Billy Hargrove & Max Mayfield)(Steve Harrington & Max Mayfield) max graduates and steve tells her exactly what she needed to hear

Steve x Reader

I Want You To Show Me by v_writings (Steve Harrington x Reader) Steve finds you in your secret place after dropping Dustin off at the Snow Ball, and talking about how he’s feeling leads you to do something neither of you could have expected.

#archive of our own #masterlist #stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington masterlist #stranger things masterlist #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x billy hargrove #harringrove #strangerthings

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immortalpramheda · 6 years

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Stranger Things ‘Chapter Nine: The Gate’

Well, we’ve come to the end of an awesome season! Seriously, this episode had me either on the edge of my seat in fear, crying because of how emotional it was, or not being able to wipe the smile off my face.

Eleven is back! She has an emotional reunion with Mike. He tells her he called her everyday and she says she knew. She heard. Awww!! But then Mike finds out that Hopper has been hiding her for almost a year, and he lashes out at him. It broke my heart when he broke down in tears. He’s been missing her so much and this whole time Hopper has known where she is. I know that must be really tough for him to comprehend.

El reunites with the rest of the gang, and Joyce, which was so sweet! But she gives the cold shoulder to Max, which I think is a little harsh. She doesn’t even know her.

They all split up. Hopper and Eleven go to the lab, where they need to close the gate. Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy take Will to Hopper’s cabin. And Steve stays with the kids at the Byers.

Will’s journey this episode was intense. I could feel his pain through the screen. His screams gave me chills. That actor is phenomenal. He’s tied to the bed and heaters are put on and fires are set. The room is boiling to try to kill the minster inside of him. But it seems to slowly be killing him and that was tough to watch.

Joyce got so mad and just wanted her son back. And she was remembering Bob, and how this monster inside her son is the reason he died. She turns up the heat to immeasurable temperatures, almost killing Will. Jonathan is really worried, but Nancy gives the final push and places a hot knife on him an the monster leaves him. Fuck!!!! That whole scene was fucking intense and made me squirm and cry, but Will is back! He’s himself again. After all that kid has been through, it’s really great for him to finally be back.

Steve has taken over the role of babysitter of the kids. He promised to keep them safe, and that’s what he’s going to do. He doesn’t want to indulge in their crazy plan to lure the monsters away from the lab to give Eleven time to close the gate.

Billy goes to the Wheeler’s house in search of Max. This scene was hilarious! He full on flirts with Mike’s mother, who just took a bath. I was both cringey and ridiculous but i loved it. Well, he finds out Max isn’t there, so he goes onto the Byers house next.

Billy turns up at the Byers and starts a huge fight. But Steve protects the kids, like he promised he would. Although it doesn’t go very well for him. The fight was brutal, and Steve was getting his ass beaten. But he didn’t give up. The kids are cheering on, and Max has the brilliant idea of jabbing a sedative into her step brother. He’s down and Steve is barely conscious. Max tells Billy to never mess with her or her friends again, and almost hits him with the nail laden bat. Good on Max! She finally stood up to her brother.

Steve is completely out of it, so the kids take things into their own hands and head to the tunnel. Max drives, even though she’s 13 and doesn’t know how to drive. She somehow manages to get them there safely. Steve freaks out when she sees this kid driving a car! It was hilarious when he woke up he thought that Mike was Nancy!

They go into the tunnels, Steve taking the lead. He does eventing he can to protect the kids. They spread gasoline and then set it on fire, causing an explosion. The demodogs go away, except for one. Dart.

It turns out that Dustin did have a special connection to Dart, and he does remember him. This scene warmed my heart. This monster from another dimension actually did care for its caretaker. He feeds him some nougat and they safely pass by him.

Steve helps the kids up out of the tunnels, but then a horde of demodogs come running at him and Dustin. But, luckily they run right on past, because Eleven has been working on closing the gate and they’re all in a rush to get there.

Eleven and Hopper made up on their way to the lab. El tells him that she found her mother. She doesn’t say anymore, except for the fact that she looks ‘bitchin’ with her new makeover. Her new favourite word. Oh I love their relationship! Hopper tells Eleven that he had a daughter, but now she’s gone. He locked El up because he didn’t want to go through the pain of losing Sarah all over again. Such a beautiful moment between the two of them.

Eleven bravely enters the lab, considering it’s where she went through years of torture. They head down the pit to the gate. Hopper keeps watch as Eleven uses all the power she has, channeling all of her anger the way Kali taught her to, into closing the gate. This scene was incredibly powerful. The red lighting, and El working as hard as she can to close the gate. I was holding my breath the whole time and got goosebumps when the gate finally closed.

Eleven collapses into Hoper arms, blood coming out of both nostrils because of how much power that took out of her. She is completely exhausted, but she’s alive. She’s alive and she closed the gate.

It’s all over, and things start to conclude. Murray’s watered down story has made the news. We finally get real justice for Barb. It’s reported that she was killed by toxic chemicals that leaked from the Hawkin’s Lab. It’s not quite the truth, the truth is a lot messier, but it’s something. She’s finally been given a farewell.

Hawkin's Lab is shut down, which is a huge victory! They’ve gotten away with way too much stuff, and this is just so damn satisfying. For El and for everyone else who was put though hell because of it.

Dr Owens gives Hopper a birth certificate for Eleven. It says that he is the father and Eleven’s name is ‘Jane Hopper’. She now officially has parents, and Hopper is her legal guardian! That makes my heart so happy!

The Snowball Dance! Dustin got some Farah Fawcett hairspray, and Steve gave him some advice. He dropped him off as if he’s his own child, which was so adorable. I did feel bad for Steve when he sees Nancy, and then sadly drives off.

Dustin is declined by all the girls, but he gets to dance with Nancy, who he’s had a crush on for years. That was so sweet and nice of her. Will got to dance with someone, and Lucas and Max danced together, and Max even gave him a quick kiss.

And finally, Mike and Eleven have a dance. They both don’t really know how to dance, but it’s so sweet. They share a kiss too. That whole final scene made my heart smile. The music, the atmosphere, it was the perfect ending for these kids.

Everything is peaceful and back to normal… or is it? Everything turns Upside Down and the shadow monster is lurking over the Upside Down version of the school.

What a fantastic ending to this phenomenal season! This episode was damn near perfect. The conflict of the season was resolved, and everything ended on such a positive and beautiful note.

My favourite parts about the season were Eleven and Hopper’s relationship and Steve’s transformation from douche to dad of these four kids. I didn’t really like Steve in S1. I mean he got redeemed a little towards the end, but this season just completely changed my view of him. He’s my new favourite character.

Hopper and Eleven’s relationship is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. They act like a real father and daughter. They fight, and Hopper does eventing he thinks is best for her, even though she doesn’t see it that way. And he admitted that he was a little harsh and in the wrong sometimes. I just love the dynamic of those two.

The kids were fantastic as ever. I loved the whole Dart storyline. Max was a great new character for the show, and I hope next season she really becomes in with their group.

Bob Newby, superhero. We all knew he wan’t going to last when he was intercede, but that didn’t make his death hurt any less. He deserved so much better.

Will was incredible this season. He was barely in S1 so it was great to get see more of his character, and the ramifications of what he went through last season. He was full on possessed for quite a big chunk of the season, and Noah Shnapp was absolutely phenomenal playing the role. He completely blew me away.

Mike and Eleven’s reunion was so beautiful and touching. I’ve grown attached to these characters and seeing them reunite really pulled at the heart strings.

I’ve wanted Nancy and Jonathan to be together since the start of the show, and I think they got together at the right time. As much as I feel bad for Steve, I’m sure he’s want Nancy to be happy, and she obviously wasn’t with him.

The only thing that brought the season down was ‘The Lost Sister’ episode. It just took me out of a world and stalled the momentum of the season. I appreciate the back story and extension of the world, but it just felt completely out of place.

Overall, a fantastic season full of so many great moments. I look forward to seeing what Season 3 has to offer!

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gloriousgwendolinechristie · 7 years

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Recap: "Game of Thrones" - 7.02 'Stormborn'

Be a Dragon.

EW – Game of Thrones delivered on its promised faster pace of season 7 with an episode so crammed with major events, reunions, a riveting battle, deaths, and twists that it almost played like a season finale — yet this is only episode 2! After last week’s foreboding and stately premiere, “Stormborn” floored the narrative pedal, with nearly every scene delivering some kind of major consequence for our characters, setting the stage for a cross-section of battles and major power-player meet-ups. We start with:

Dragonstone: It was, quite literally, a dark and stormy night. Daenerys unexpectedly grills Varys about his loyalty because, let’s face it, on paper, his resume admittedly doesn’t sound very reassuring. That he’s a far bigger fan of King Robert than he was of her father doesn’t help either. “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty,” shoots back Varys, in what sounds like a rare bit of modern political commentary from GoT. “You wish to know where my true loyalties lie?” he continues. “The people.” Tough to argue with that, and Dany doesn’t — though also threatens to burn him alive if he ever betrays her.

Hey, speaking of burning people alive, here’s Melisandre! She was last seen banished by Jon Snow and told to head south for killing Shireen. She went south all right, straight back to her former home that she used to share with Stannis Baratheon. I wonder if she still has some clothes there she wants to pick up.

The Red Woman is brought before Dany. She fills her in on the prophecy of Azor Ahai — a messianic figure in her Lord of Light religion; lived thousands of years ago, forged a flaming sword which he used to defeat evil; he’s prophesied to be reborn as the Prince That Was Promised, etc. etc.

Or perhaps it’s Princess That Was Promised? Experienced translator Missandei corrects Melisandre’s prophecy description.

Melisandre explains she thought Stannis was The One. Then she thought it might be Jon Snow. Now she’s not ruling out Dany either. For being some powerful Lord of Light sorcerer, Melisandre’s less confident in her Azor Ahai theory than most Game of Thrones fan blogs. Not to mention, Stannis would be so pissed if he died because of a grammar mistake.

Matchmaker Melisandre successfully gets Dany’s curiosity up about Jon Snow. Tyrion notes that he’s a decent man. She has Tyrion pen a letter to the King in the North requesting to see him and ordering him to “bend the knee” (and the Jon-Dany shippers lean forward). As much as I’d love to see Dany and Jon Snow meet, anything that Melisandre suggests based on prophecy I’m inherently wary about.

Winterfell: But not as wary as Sansa! Jon gets Tyrion’s letter — yeah, just like that. I’m pretty sure Westeros is now using FedEx instead of birds. There’s a subset of fans who always pay very strict attention to how much time characters should realistically take to get from one place to another (they’re still annoyed about Varys getting from Dorne to Meereen so fast last year). But if you try to apply your own Waze travel time estimates to characters in Westeros you’re going to go nuts. It’s probably best to just roll with it and appreciate that we’re not seeing a lot of horse-riding and campfire scenes this season.

Jon talks to Sansa about whether he should go and see her. Sansa says he shouldn’t do it, because Sansa is wrong about everything now (I kid — if we didn’t know Dany, we’d be rather wary about meeting her too; after all the fatal Stark blunders in recent years, “pulling a Stark” is probably Westeros slang for getting yourself stupid-killed).

At first, Jon is talked out of going. But then he gets another r-mail, this from Samwell, informing him that tons of precious dragonglass can be found at Dragonstone (which sounds like one of those facts that you hear and immediately feel stupid for not knowing it already).

Given the chances of scoring loads of White Walker kryptonite, Jon tells the lords in the Great Hall his plan to meet Dany. Everybody hates this idea, especially Sansa, who channels Admiral Ackbar to trap-warn him. Even cute Lyanna Mormont, who everybody loves every time she speaks, yells at Jon for knowing nothing.

Jon won’t be swayed. Frankly, he probably wants to get the hell out of there and have some new adventures anyway. He’s been looking miserable moping around Winterfell making tough political decisions while Sansa explains how stupid he is.

He does leave Sansa in charge, though, which seems to please her. One suspects this decision disappoints all the lord-bros who hang around that hall drinking all day because you know she’s going to make some changes around there.

Before he goes, Jon pays a visit to the family crypt. In slinks Littlefinger, who starts purring sweet nothings in Jon’s ear, and you can see him getting increasingly annoyed. Don’t think for a second Jon hasn’t noticed the conniving twerp’s smirking and eye-rolling in the back of his class.

Then Littlefinger creepily goes, “I love Sansa as I loved her mother,” which triggers the protective big brother in Jon to slam Baelish up against the wall and warn him to never touch his sister. Now it’s the Jon-Sansa shippers who lean forward (you pervs).

Jon Snow mounts up and takes off. We’re not sure if he’s ever going to see Winterfell again. But we’re confident now that Jon will meet the Dragon Queen who is also — we are led to assume from last season’s Bran-guided flashbacks — his aunt. This seems pretty important. Can’t Bran send Jon a letter since everybody else is sending him letters?

The Citadel: Ser Jorah isn’t doing so well. His greyscale has spread and the maesters aren’t very helpful. Sam tries to convince the grumpy Arch-Maester to let him try some radical treatment, but he won’t approve anything without several phases of successful FDA trials and suggests Ser Jorah just go kill himself. He explains this along with a bunch of facts and logical reasoning but I’m really starting to hate this guy despite being played by congenial Jim Broadbent; he’s like the epitome of an Ivory Tower out-of-touch elite.

Sam tries to cure Ser Jorah anyway because he’s awesome and believes in actually trying to do things. What follows is one of the grossest scenes in Game of Thrones, which is saying quite a bit. Sam peels off the greyscale with a knife in a procedure that looks super painful and pus-squirting disgusting. (I wonder why Sam doesn’t give the man some Milk of the Poppy; surely they have some of that laying around?) Sam finishes, but it’s unclear if this experimental Dr. House M.D-evil operation was successful. Perhaps every episode this season will have Sam tacklin some new revolting task, like a Westeros edition of Dirty Jobs.

Riverlands: Arya stops by a tavern and runs into a character we never expected to see again — Hot Pie! He’s arguably the luckiest person on the show. Everybody else is scheming and plotting and fighting and dying, while Hot Pie just continues riding out the action and making his meat-filled pastries You would think this is the last dish Arya would crave after chopping up Freys and baking them into a pie herself, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat.

Hot Pie also has a side gig as a Game of Thrones recapper, and he fills Arya in on seasons 2 through 6 (he does a decent job, though I would have thrown in Tyrion’s trial and Oberyn Martell’s arc because those parts were really cool). Arya is unsurprised about Cersei’s season finale mass-murder plot, while Hot Pie marvels at Arya, who’s now all hardened and gulping wine. “You’re pretty,” he coos, and Arya looks slightly struck; she’s not used to getting compliments.

But it’s learning that Jon Snow is back at Winterfell that really throws Arya for a loop. You can see her brain-gears turning: Hmm, murder Cersei or return to my home and reunite with my family after being kept apart for years? … That’s a toughie.

Later, Arya is accosted by wolves, but not just any wolves. Is it…? It is. Nymeria! Her long-lost direwolf who bit Joffrey that she was forced to chase off in the first season. They regard each other. “I’m finally going home; come with me,” she pleads. But Nymeria just looks at her impassively like a dog at a human who doesn’t have any snacks. Nymeria and her pack turn away.

“That’s not you…” Arya says, which is such a great line. Because the direwolf is Nymeria (and Arya knows it) but it’s also very much not Nymeria, because so much time has passed and the direwolf has changed so much. So has Arya, as we just saw in the scene with Hot Pie. The scene not only answers a long-time fan question but, even better, is used as a metaphorical mirror for Arya. As the episode’s writer Bryan Cogman says in this week’s interview with Williams about this scene, “they’re both lone wolves” (interview links are at the end of the recap).

So Arya continues her journey home. You know if she actually makes it to Winterfell, she’s going to be super pissed if Jon is gone and she’s stuck with Sansa.

King’s Landing: Cersei summons her lords for something she’s not typically very good at: trying to win people over that she considers beneath her. It’s a bit like Hillary Clinton trying to hang out with local voters in a swing state diner; this isn’t really her thing. Present are Randyll and Dickon Tarly — Samwell’s jerk father and his sorta-okay brother — whom we first met last season (Dickon was recast, by the way: Freddie Stroma played him in season 6; Tom Hopper stepped in for season 7). I love that Jaime mistakes Dickon’s name for Rickon, as if even Jaime Lannister have a tough time keeping all these damn character names straight.

Cersei smartly brands Daenerys as the return of homicidal Targaryen crazy, just like ol’ Mad King Aerys II. Sure Dany’s got a huge army and three dragons, but she’s also nuts and will kill everybody if they don’t stand up to her. Cersei is basically doing a negative campaign ad: Vote Lannister or the Targaryen Will Burn You Alive. Of course, Dany hasn’t hurt anybody in Westeros (yet) while Cersei blew up a Sept full of church-goers and her daughter-in-law. If anybody has been playing the role of Mad Queen around these parts, it sure ain’t Dany.

Mad scientist Qyburn takes Cersei down into the dragon skull room. This gorgeous set is a terrific treat for readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels. This room is described in detail in the very first A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Game of Thrones. The show didn’t have the budget to portray this in the first season, but it does now.

Qyburn reveals they have a dragon-killing secret weapon, a large spear-firing crossbow-like device that, if aimed just right, can pierce through a dragon’s eye into its brain — sorta like how that guy in the disappointing Hobbit trilogy took out Smaug. Cersei just found a way to potentially even the playing field.

Dragonstone: Daenerys has a strategy meeting with her advisors, the Greyjoys, Olenna, and Ellaria Sand. Hot-headed Ellaria wants to wipe out Cersei in King’s Landing, but Tyrion has warned against that strategy. He’s thinking that sending dragons to nuke a city probably isn’t the wisest course of action to rally the great houses to their side, and Dany agrees.

Instead, this is the idea: Strike the Lannister stronghold of Casterly Rock with the Unsullied and Dothraki army, thereby seizing Cersei’s homeland while she’s holed up in the Southern capital. Also, send the Greyjoys and Ellaria to lay siege to King’s Landing to starve out Cersei into surrendering (thereby avoiding the apparently lousy PR optics of having “foreign” forces attack the capital).

This sounds like great plan! Too bad it all goes to hell in just a few minutes. But great!

Olenna and Dany share a nifty scene together where she warns the queen against putting too much faith in clever men like Tyrion. “Commoners won’t obey you unless they fear you,” she warns. “The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.” Olenna is an upper-crust blue-blood who believes you need to govern with strong-arm tactics and crush your enemies at any cost. Dany is trying to break the wheel as a reformist. But Sansa would totally retweet everything Olenna is saying.

As Tyrion said, Dany in “the great game” now. But the same could be said for nearly all our favorites. After six seasons of watching characters try to rule — and fail miserably — the core cast have gradually all stepped up into leadership roles to make the big decisions. We wonder if they’ve learned the right lessons.

Meanwhile, Missandei and Grey Worm might never see each other again. This leads to an extremely touching scene whereby stern Grey Worm finally opens up emotionally to Missandei about his feelings for her. “You are my weakness,” he says. Missandei appreciates that, but also wants more than nice words — she wants to get physical. The Unsullied commander is hesitant. This is like being asked to joust without a lance, so to speak. But he overcomes his shyness to lay with her. As Nathalie Emmanuel says in our interview, “amongst this chaos they’re like this beacon of something sweet and pure and beautiful.” We hope they are as satisfied as they can be given the limitations involved.

Greyjoy Ship at Sea: We get a moment with the Sand Snakes bragging about who they’re going to kill. This moment plays a lot better after you know what’s about to happen. Then it’s Ellaria and Yara flirting in a cabin. Theon tries to leave, but Ellaria wants to make him stand there and watch. Poor Theon, everybody always wants him to be an awkward voyeur for some reason.

Then… disaster. Euron has found them. What follows is a thrilling sequence from director Mark Mylod. One of my favorite things about GoT action scenes is they’re always unique from one another; this frantic fiery ship battle plays like nothing we’ve seen on the show before. The energy feels like a reflection of Euron, who gets one helluva entrance: His ship The Silence pierces the side of the Greyjoys’ vessel, then a manic screaming Euron rides its jaw-like walkway that clamps down on the ship, both preventing the ship from escaping and providing a way to board.

It’s apparent from the outset that the Greyjoys are being overrun. Euron is a bloody nightmare of psychotic rage-joy. Ellaria and her daughter Tyene are captured below decks, and Ellaria’s request for death is denied while Obara and Nymeria fight Euron (yes, the Sand Snake played by Jessica Henwick is named Nymeria… only Game of Thrones would have two characters with pivotal sequences in the same episode who are both named Nymeria).

Their fight is raw and brutal, with Euron turning their signature weapons against each other, piercing Obara with her spear while strangling Nymeria with her whip. Two of the three Sand Snakes are down, their bodies left to decorate the ship.

Euron also captures Yara despite her Glow-like flying pro-wrestling leap down on top of him. Theon spots them, and Euron tries to bait him into attacking. Euron has no fear. Theon is full of fear. Hot Pie and Nymeria the direwolf aren’t the only long-lost characters to return this week. Reek is back. And Reek does what Reek does — he flees, jumping over the side. Yara is heartbroken at the betrayal. But it was probably Theon’s wisest move given Euron’s fighting skills. Theon rushing at Euron would totally be pulling a Stark.

Recap: “Game of Thrones” – 7.02 ‘Stormborn’ was originally published on Glorious Gwendoline

#gwendoline christie #game of thrones #got cast #Brienne of Tarth #star wars #Captain Phasma #The Force Awakens #Mockingjay 2 #Commander Lyme #THG #The Hunger Game

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himacchu · 7 years

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アハサ地方へようこそ！Welcome to the Ahasa Region!

She’d only meant to spend the afternoon gardening, but the weeds were especially tough today, making her work into the night! Delia wiped the sweat off her brow, before taking a deep breath in and grabbing at the base of the troublesome plant. She’d even dug around it best she could without disrupting her other crops—how’d this one get this bad in the first place?

“Hhhhhrrgh….!” Try as she may, she just couldn’t pull it out. Her grunts of “Heave! Ho! Hoppip!” just happened to mask the sound of the front gate opening, and footsteps creeping up behind her.

“Rrr…HOOTHOOT…” It was all she could do to keep herself from swearing; not that it would matter, she was alone—or so she thought.

The boy behind her took a deep breath in, and as loud as he could….

“BOO!”

She yelped, so surprised that she yanked the stubborn weed right out of the ground! And, well, fell over on her back, staring wide-eyed at her son’s grinning face.

“I’m home, mom!”

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Geez, this sure was a lot of vegetables—you’d think the garden was a farmer’s market all by itself! Ash thought. He could barely see over the top of this giant paper bag—probably not the safest way to walk into the house—as his mom chattered away excitedly.

“You know, I watched the whole Kalos League on TV! There were so many strong Trainers, weren’t there, I mean that’s obvious, isn’t it, since it’s a League tournament and all, but wow, you plowed through all those like…like…” She just couldn’t express herself while holding all these vegetables, so clearly the obvious course of action is to dash to the kitchen, plop that big ol’ bag onto the table, and rush back to her son to give him a big Ursaring hug and squeal like a schoolgirl.

“I’m so, so proud of you, sweetie—” Gosh, it was hard to hug him with the vegetable bag in the way.

“Well, I didn’t plow through all of ‘em, Mom, I came in second—“

“Oh, whatever! It was still amazing, you know?” She plucked the bag out his arms and set it on the dinner table next to the other. “I’ll wash these later—first I’ll get started on dinner. How’s my special deep-dish chili dog and pizza pot pie sound to you?”

“Awesome!” One of his favorites! “Hey, I can help wash the vegetables, if ya need it?” He got up to go find the bins and brush she used to clean them, while she stared.

“My Ash, offering to help with chores?” She gasped dramatically, and pretended to blow into her potholder. “He’s growing up! So mature!”

“Mom.” He rolled his eyes, and got to work with scrubbing down those vegetables. Pikachu tried helping too, doing its best to pat them dry with a towel. The mother and son chatted over their work, about the things that happened while they were apart, with Pikachu occasionally pitching in with a story of its own. Not that anyone could understand it, but it was cheery conversation nonetheless.

“So Ash,” Delia asked over dinner, resting her chin on her hands. “What’s next? Anything planned from here?”

Ash blinked, and chewed his mouthful of cholesterol thoughtfully. He swallowed.

“Dunno.” He shrugged and sucked the sauce off his fork. “Maybe I’ll stay here with you and train for a while.” It was the only thing he could think to do. Maybe he could spend time with his other Pokémon, the ones he left back in Professor Oak’s lab.

“Well, as much as I’d like that,” Delia pointed her own fork to the phone. “Brock called earlier and said he wanted to talk to you.”

That got Ash excited. He suddenly stood up from the table. “Brock?! Really?!” He hadn’t seen his old friend in forever! “How is he? What’d he say?”

“Well, why don’t you go ask? It’s not too late; he should still be up.”

Ash stuck his fork upright into the half-eaten dish and dashed to the phone, flipped through their contacts for Brock’s number, and dialed it.

“Ash!” Brock’s grinning face showed up on the monitor of the machine. “How ya been? I saw the Kalos League on TV—those were some hot battles!”

“I’ve been great! Mom said you wanted to talk to me about somethin’?”

“Well, Ash,” Brock’s figure went offscreen for a bit, to rummage under his desk. “You ever heard of the Ahasa region?”

Ash blinked. “I sure haven’t.”

“Oh, here it is! Ow.” Ash jumped a bit when he suddenly heard a loud thump! come from the monitor. Brock emerged, rubbing the back of his head—and holding a pamphlet. He opened it up for Ash to see. Photos of a lush, tropical region decorated the pamphlet, along with magnificent futuristic architectural structures.

“Whoa.” He whispered. This place seemed cool! His eyes jumped between all the Pokémon photos on the page, some of which he´d never seen before.

“I’m planning on doing an independent study on the medicinal plants there. And Ash, there’s Gyms and a Pokémon League there! So I was wondering, you wanna go travel together like the old days?”

Gyms, a League, new Pokémon, and travelling with a good friend! Ash thought excitedly. He didn’t need any more convincing than that! “For sure! I’m in!”

“Great! Let’s meet at the Vermillion airport the day after tomorrow. You can take the train there, right?”

“Uh, yeah!” He glanced over his shoulder at his mother—she’d already pulled out her laptop and was booking plane and train tickets. Wait, when did she get a laptop? Pallet did train tickets online, now? Just when did this little town in the sticks get so high-tech? Well, that was a mystery for another day.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Perfect! I knew it’d look good on you, Ash!” Delia had him strike some “cool” poses, to model the outfit she’d made for him. Pikachu joined in on the posing—after all, a Trainer wasn’t complete without their Pokémon! “Ooh, black suits you! You look so grown-up! But one more thing, young man.”

A dark glare came to her face, and Ash gulped. That couldn’t be good, but where was this coming from? She lifted up his arm, pointing out his skinned and calloused elbows. Ash thought back to the times he’d played outfielder for his Pokémon, like when he caught Noibat falling out of the sky.

“You,” She huffed. “Are going to need to be more careful. Which is why I got you these,” She handed him a pair of elbow guards, the kind used for sports. “I could see those scratches and bruises even on TV. There’s no sense in skinning yourself alive, so make sure to wear them.”

“Wow.” He had to admit, it wasn’t fun running his elbows through gritty dirt. But he’d never thought to protect them. Ash stared at the elbow guards curiously, and took them in his hands to slide them on. They were pretty comfortable! Plus, they looked kinda cool with the outfit. “Thanks, mom!”

After some more mandatory motherly fretting, Ash headed over to Oak’s place to drop off his Kalos Pokémon, and made his way to the train station with Pikachu. Little did he know, he was being watched.

_________________________________________________________________________

Leo was all packed up. Brushes, massage oils, Pokémon-friendly shampoos, soaps and conditioners, his notebook—they were all tucked neatly into his bag, and he headed out of his room. He peeked into the kitchen to see his dad preparing a breakfast of milk rice and egg hoppers. The ten-year-old really wanted to hurry up and go out, but…much to his disdain, his growling stomach was telling him to wait. He reluctantly sat down at the table, carefully and neatly folding the egg hopper to eat it, when his father set down a lunch box for him and ruffled his hair.

“Good luck out there, kiddo.” Leo looked annoyed and quickly combed his auburn hair back in place with his fingers, but he couldn’t help but smile once his dad’s back was turned.

Professor Magnolia’s lab was just a fifteen-minute walk from his house here in Kalawa Town, but this was his first time going there—Magnolia had a reputation for being a little bit kooky, and, quite frankly, he was downright scared. The Professor was often seen talking to herself, not making any sense, conducting explosive and vile-smelling experiments--who knows what she did to Pokémon? Or kids? Would she experiment on children? Leo didn’t know and he didn’t want to find out. But there was no other choice if he wanted to get his first Pokémon. Definitely not trembling, he slowly opened the gate, and knocked on the door.

“Hello? I’m Leo, here to get a Pokémon?”

With a creaking sound, the door opened by itself, and Leo shrieked—only to see a Purrloin purring at his feet.

“Mrraaaow.” The Dark-type Pokémon turned around and looked at Leo pointedly, as if asking him to follow. He exhaled, relieved, and followed it into a dark room, with only a little electric lamp lighting up a wooden desk. A woman with big, round glasses was hunched over it, mumbling to herself.

Purrloin scratched at her lab coat, meowing loudly, and Leo stepped closer cautiously.

“H-hello? Professor Magnolia?”

The Professor stood up suddenly, knocking all her papers to the floor. “Oh! Oh, the new Trainer…Yes, yes, I’ll, um…Where did I put…” She was practically tripping over her own feet, looking around for something. She finally pulled out three PokéBalls, juggling them—yes, like a freaking clown or something-- as Leo stared at her, utterly confused.

She tossed them each, one by one, releasing three Pokémon. “Now, you can pick from Leafrupp, the Grass-type, Flambunny, the Fire-type, and Bluguana, the Water- and Ice-type.” Her glasses were sliding down, and she pushed them up. “So which one—“

Before she could finish, Leo was already crouched in front of the Grass-type. “I already know I’m going with Leafrupp!” He took the puppy in his arms, its tail wagging excitedly.

“Oh, er, okay. Umm, there was something else…” As she pondered over what she might be forgetting, Purrloin sauntered in, carefully holding a tray with a Pokédex and PokéBalls in its mouth. “Oh! Right. That.” She bends down to take the tray from her Pokémon, hands it to the newbie Trainer then turns around to pick up her fallen papers. Leo just stands there, holding Leafrupp. Wasn’t she supposed to give advice, or something? A pep talk? But she doesn’t say anything, not even acknowledging his existence, so he tiptoed his way the heck out of the place.

Outside the gates, he held up a happily panting Leafrupp and smiled at it. “I’m Leo! We’re gonna be partners from now on, so let’s take care of each other, okay?”

Leafrupp barked in agreement.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Ash!”

The young Trainer looked up from giving Pikachu a belly rub to see his friend waving and running toward him. Brock held out a fist, grinning. “It’s been a while! You got everything? Man, I’m glad I made it to the gate in time.”

Ash bumped his own fist with Brock’s. “It sure has! And yeah, I’m all ready to go!” Pikachu hopped up to its usual perch on Ash’s shoulder before he stood up, clutching the straps of his backpack.

They passed the long plane ride mostly chatting and sleeping (and for Brock, attempting to flirt with the flight attendants). But when they finally landed in Ahasa, the second they stepped out of the airport, Ash was met with a puff of smoke right in the face!

“Whoa!” Startled, Ash fell backwards onto his rear. “Ow…” As he cringed, a note fluttered in front of him, landing on his nose.

“What was that all about?!” Brock held his hand out to help his friend up, but Ash was reading the note.

Hi, Ash! I’m a fan of yours. Let’s have a battle! I’ll be waiting at the Pokémon Center. I look like this -->

He blinked. At the tip of the arrow was a cutesy little scrawl of a girl with pigtails, making a peace sign, and a tiny Pikachu head beside her.

“What the…”

_________________________________________________________________________

“You have fans?!” Brock was looking over his friend’s shoulder, mouth agape. “Well, I guess, with that show at the Kalos League…But, it’s a girl! Man, I’m so jealous!” He sulked. Pikachu was more interested in the tiny drawing next to the girl. It looked like him, but with…was that a Butterfree, behind it? What could that mean?

Ash looked the paper over, again and again, for some sort of explanation. It just…appeared in front of him! Did it fall from the sky? Then, what was that puff of smoke? The questions running through his head distracted him from the word that would have normally stood out—battle. It finally came to him as he read it over the fifth time.

“Hey! Whoever this is…they wanna battle!” That was something he understood for sure. “The Pokémon Center, huh? Brock, where is that?”

“Well, let’s see.” He opened up his map and stuck his nose in it. “It looks like there’s two here in Weralle, since it’s a pretty big city. We go…this-a-way, and then, uh, that-a-way…Okay! Follow me, Ash-man!” His face flushed red as he daydreamed. What would Ahasa’s Nurse Joys look like?

Leo could have kept Leafrupp in its PokéBall, but he didn’t want to be walking around in the big city alone. The pup trotted at his side, looking this way and that at all the new sights. Tall, modern buildings, hotels, fancy shops, and even an impressive beach made up the magnificent Weralle City.

Even with the breathtaking view, the newbie Trainer was extremely nervous—not that he’d ever admit it. He’d wanted to go find the route to the forest, stopping at a Pokémon Center first, but this place was just so darn big he couldn’t make heads or tails of which way to go. He walked along the beach at a loss. Was he going to have to ask for directions? Ugh. Gathering his courage, he walked up to a sunbathing couple with a Meowth.

“Um. Excuse me?”

The young red-haired woman twitched. She had better things to do than talk to some snot-nosed twerp. Like working on her tan. She continued to lay there on her stomach, hoping that if she ignored him long enough he’d go away. But Meowth poked a sharp claw at her arm.

“WHAT, you cretin?!” Her shriek made Leo jump, and he started to back away slowly.

“Ssshh!” The feline beckoned her closer and whispered into her ear. “That twerp there’s got a rare Pokémon!”

“Huuh?” She looked over her shoulder, squinting. “That thing?”

The lavender-haired man next to her sat up and explained. “We saw it in the briefing, Jessie. One of the Ahasa region’s beginner Pokémon, Leafrupp. How can we help you, tw—I mean, young man?” He rested his chin on his hand, with his best “you can totally trust me” smile.

Leafrupp whimpered and pawed at its Trainer’s leg. Something was weird!

“Leafrupp, stop that!” Leo scolded. “Um, do you know where a Pokémon Center is?”

“Oh, yes!” The man crooned cheerfully. “In fact, we’ll take you there ourselves? Isn’t that right, Jessie?” Jessie got up and forced a smile, tying a sarong around her waist.

”Of course. Just follow us.” She strutted off in some random direction, and the rest trailed after her.

The trio led Leo around the city, their surroundings becoming increasingly isolated. Leafrupp couldn’t take it anymore. It had to get its Trainer away from these people! The pup suddenly leaped out of Leo’s arms and ran off, hoping he’d chase after.

“Hey!” What’d gotten into it? Was his first Pokémon attempting mutiny already?! He started to run towards it, only to be caught by a net and fall down. Confused, he looked behind him. The three who were supposed to be helping him were grinning, and....the Meowth had a hand-cannon in its paws?! Another net was blasted from the cannon, and Leo heard a distressed yelp. The man and woman ran past him, and stuffed his Leafrupp in a bag!

“Leafrupp! Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!”

“Silly little boy, didn’t your mommy tell you not to go off with strangers? Sayonara, sucker!” Jessie stuck her tongue out at him before the three ran off, with his Pokémon in tow.

“Brock, are we sure this is the right way? I mean, there’s just an alley here.”

“Yeah, uh, I think we might’ve taken a left somewhere instead of a right…”

“Aw, man....” A big sigh escaped the Trainer, while his Pikachu’s ears twitched. He could hear something!

“Pika!” Pikachu sprung off Ash’s shoulder and ran deeper into the alley.

“Pikachu?!” Ash and Brock started after the little Pokémon—it wouldn’t just run off for no reason. There had to be something wrong.

“—elp!” Up ahead was a boy struggling to get out of a net. “Help, somebody!” Alarmed, the two rushed over to help him. The net was in a tangled mess—it was definitely going to take a while to get him out.

“Hey, calm down and stay still,” Brock instructed. “It’ll be easier if you don’t tangle it up more.” The kid complied, but he was sniffling and trembling. Ash and Brock worked to untangle and break through the net, while Pikachu tried chewing through it. Finally, he was free, and the two helped the sobbing young Trainer to stand up.

“Man, what a mess! How’d ya end up like this, anyway?”

“Wahh…hic.” Leo took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, teeth clenched as he tried in vain to hold back tears. Why did this have to happen on his very first day as a Pokémon Trainer? “It was…it was these two people and a Meowth, and they…” He looked up at the older boys with a panicked expression. ”They took my Leafrupp! I gotta get it back!” To their surprise, he suddenly rushed past them.

“Hey, wait, hold on!” They ran to catch up with him, Pikachu jumping back on Ash’s shoulder. “That must be Team Rocket! They’re bad guys who steal people’s Pokémon—they’re always after my Pikachu! If they got your…your Pokémon, we’ve gotta get it back quick!”

Leo didn’t say anything, and just kept running. How did he know he could trust these people? He’d literally just gotten tricked by bad guys who he thought were helping him! But at least these guys had helped him out of the net, and��it wasn’t like things could get any worse, right? He slowed down to a stop and looked at the two of them.

“But…how can we find them? They could be anywhere!”

“Well, they’ve usually got this big hot-air balloon shaped like a Meowth…” Ash illustrated the point by stretching out his arms above him. “Hard to miss somethin’ like that.”

“Or we could ask around, if anyone’s seen them.” Brock added.

“Ah, I’m Ash, by the way!” The black-haired boy said cheerfully, pointing at himself. “And my buddy here is Pikachu! What’s your name?”

“Pikachyuu.” Pikachu smiled at their new friend. Maybe looking at his cute squishy face would cheer the kid up!

“Oh—okay.” Leo adjusted his glasses. “I, uh. I’m Leo.”

“And I’m Brock!” The eldest of the three chimed in. “The best place to find out who’s seen something suspicious is police station, so let’s head there first.” Taking the lead, he opened up his map and marched onward—secretly grinning to himself. Ahasa Jenny, here I come!

“A hot-air balloon?” They’d managed to get to the police station properly, at least. Officer Jenny put her hands on her hips and frowned, concerned. “Lucky for you, one of our officers happened to see one during patrol today. It was parked on the outskirts of the city, near the forest entrance. We’ll go right away to check it out and see if we can find your stolen Pokémon.”

The chief officer made several commands through her walkie-talkie, artfully organizing the positions of her colleagues throughout the city. She leaned down, hands on her knees, to make eye contact with Leo.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do everything we can to find your Leafrupp!”

He hated the way adults did that—literally looking down on him. But they were helping him out, so the least he could do was force a smile. “Thank you, ma’am!”

“Come on, let’s do what we can to find them, too!” Ash rushed out of the police station, in pursuit of Team Rocket himself. Not hearing Jenny’s protests, Leo quickly followed behind. Up in the sky, they could see the Meowth-shaped balloon, but it was so far away! Suddenly, a patrol car pulled up to them, the window sliding down to show Officer Jenny at the wheel, and Brock in the passenger seat.

“I know you kids’re worried about the Pokémon, but you might as well get there fast! Hop in!¨ Ash and Leo did just that, and the police car raced to catch up with the balloon, when the police radio crackled, a panicked voice coming out of it.

“Chief! The balloon was just a decoy—there’s no one in it! Just an automatic steering device.”

“What?!”

Jenny brought the vehicle to a screeching stop when two people holding a rather excited canvas bag suddenly ran out in front of the car. Recognizing them, the three passengers all cried out at the same time.

“That’s them!”

The trio of villains shrieked and started for an escape, as everyone in the car rushed out to catch them. Jenny was just about to throw a Poké Ball when a girl’s voice cried out.

“Sparkles, use Thunder!”

A powerful blast of lightning struck right in front of Team Rocket, scaring them enough to stop them in their tracks. An angry female Pikachu with a pink ribbon around her neck stood on all fours, tail raised in apprehension, and snarled at them. The trio, shivering, backed away slowly, only to have the bag with Leafrupp plucked from behind them!

Jessie spun around to see a girl with long black pigtails flashing a bright smile at them. She turned on her heel to skip over to Ash and the others, but not before issuing a command to her Pikachu.

“Sparkles, finish it, okay?” she chirped.

Sparkles smirked, and started to charge up for another powerful attack.

“Yeek!” Team Rocket rushed to get the heck out of there--sure they were used to Electric attacks, but they were going to avoid it if they could help it!

“Hey, you get back here!” Jenny ran off in pursuit of the criminals, her Yungoos running at her side. The pigtailed girl, meanwhile, opened up the bag to free Leafrupp, who excitedly dashed back to its Trainer.

“Leafrupp!” Leo cried out and spread his arms out wide to hug his Pokémon. The little green puppy yapped and licked his face all over.

“Ash!” The girl ran up to him and started chattering away. “I was waitin’ for ya at the Pokémon Center, uh-huh, but then I saw you guys got into some trouble so I came right away! Uh-huh!”

“Uh...” Ash blinked. “Who’re you? Oh, wait!” He hastily pulled the note from earlier out of his pocket, while Sparkles hopped back up onto her Trainer’s hat. Ash held up the note--a girl with pigtails and a Pikachu! “That’s you?!”

“Uh-huh! I’m Himashi, and...” She grinned. “I’m from outer space!”

#[i'm not used to writing idk what im doing]#[just wanted to poop this out]#{ahasa region}#{v: pokemon planet}

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