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jmdbjk · 1 year

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Oh, Jimin...

These are my personal impressions, thoughts, interpretations and opinions on Jimin’s solo FACE album. Some of the things I say here are built on things I know from past original content, interviews and what Jimin has shared personally. Some of it is just me reveling in my first experience with Jimin’s long awaited album.

It is such a serious album. Jimin said this is the story of what he was feeling, chronologically, 2020-2022, during the pandemic era. At the beginning of 2020, BTS was rising higher than any Korean artist ever had before and then all of a sudden the momentum came to a halt, and there was nothing. Having the life you’ve known suddenly jerked away from you is traumatizing.

Once the king of social media, Jimin almost ceased by the end of 2020 and never went back. “Oh, he just outgrew it.” No, the man was struggling with his issues and not only did he not need to see the extra crap spewed all over social media but he had nothing left to give, nothing left inside.

I noticed how Jimin looked physically back in 2020. He was downright frail y’all. The man was trying to give us what we wanted at the expense of his mental and physical health. That breakdown he had during the ending ments in Memories 2020 was too much. They were all stressed out, but Jimin... those that said he was being over dramatic... the man was struggling with his mental health.

I wrote this last June, 2022 but never posted it:

After Memories 2020 dropped, we’ve heard Jimin say he struggled after everything got canceled. Days upon days that turned into months upon months and more than two years passed before they finally returned to in-person performances. He stated that during isolation and lockdowns he wondered what was the purpose of his life, or that he had lost his purpose.

Jimin’s struggles were most likely much more severe than he let on and he 100% kept it to himself because he didn’t want us to worry about him. That sounded like solo delusional projection but think about Jimin and how he’s behaved in the past...always telling us not to worry. Always saying things to reassure us that he’s happy, he eats well, don’t worry.

There was no working, no performing, their lives and his life changed drastically overnight just like all of ours did. Would we ever get back to normal? What will happen in the future? When will all of this end?

Face-Off

The album opens with a carnival calliope, it was a little jarring and unexpected. The images it conjured in my brain as the notes played were of a worn out circus winding down. It made me think of the big wild circus that WAS his life, and it just wound down and keeled over.

Knowing the premise of the album, I think the title, Face-Off, implies Jimin is looking at himself. Speaking to himself. The lyrics could also imply he is speaking to someone else, like people he once trusted. But I don’t think so.

He was having a confrontation with himself. Reasoning and bargaining with himself.

Maybe he once trusted himself but in this time and place in which he finds himself, he questions what is he doing? and second guessing himself. Day in and day out, the days are all the same nothingness. Hiding his feelings, faking it, pretending it was all ok. It’s all cool. It’ll be all right. He has said many times he looks back at that time and thinks he could have done more for the fans. Being hard on himself. His own worst critic.

And then this enters the picture: using alcohol to self-medicate. Getting drunk. Numbing the pain. Forgetting. Drink all night. Oh, Jimin...

We know he has a very high alcohol tolerance. He once mentioned that he used to drink a lot. When he declined the champagne during the live after the Busan concert, we all made jokes about it and moved on. Oh, Jimin.

Face-Off feels like it could have been a purging song when he wrote it. A little primal, you know... just scream, get it out. Painful but cathartic.

This is the lyric that was scary: “tonight is a beautiful night, I think I’m close (or I think I have it all/I think I’ve found myself)” were chilling to me because they did not come across as optimistic, they came across as being at the end of one’s rope after becoming a shell of a person. He follows that line with “tonight I don’t want to be sober.” Oh, Jimin.

His vocals open very low and moody then transition to a plaintive cry, punctuated with anger.

Pour it down, pour it out... the anger, the emotions, the words, just pour it out.

Interlude: Dive

Like the calliope that sadly wound down, Dive opens with the melody slowly winding back up to speed. Another day starting. Someone knocks, voices, the ambience of a normal day, breathing, running footsteps. The crowd cheering and Jimin’s voice during his ending ments at the Busan concert, more sounds of people in his life. We hear Jimin’s footsteps trudging, it sounds like we hear him climbing steps, entering his house, closing the door, and first thing he does when he is alone in the quiet is pour a drink and drinking deeply. I am concerned.

Maybe it is supposed to represent the closing of Chapter 1, about a day in the past that was once a “normal” day, since it included the last things he said during that concert.

The music track is dreamlike, repetitive. Living in a dream. Every day. Same thing. Go home. Drink. Do it again. Dive means go deep. In deep. He’s in deep.

There is a very subtle line between drinking in order to make it through another day/night versus drinking to relax and wind down. A slippery slope to walk on every single day.

We’ve transitioned from the world changing overnight to living in a daze trying to pretend everything is ok. Coping.

Like Crazy

(I am going to express my thoughts using the English version of the song.)

Jimin has explained the song is influenced by the movie of the same name.

I have learned that the dialogue from the movie was NOT original to the movie but hired voice actors specifically for the song: “I think we can last forever.” “I’m afraid that everything will disappear.” “Just trust me.” And at the end: “How long again?” “What’s the point?”

He has said the dialogue that was used fit the message of the song. I have not seen the movie. I don’t think the song is a literal interpretation of the movie. I think the song’s basic concept is the emotional struggle trying to maintain a dream. But maintaining a dream is unrealistic no matter what you do to try to make it last. Jimin had to come to terms with that.

Jimin’s vocals begin very light and airy, very dreamy.

[God, he’s fine.]

The vibe of the song is sort of retro, very much evokes the artist, The Weeknd. It has a very 80′s synth beat. It is a very danceable song. Like I said, on the surface.... very dreamy.

Vocals transition and it still seems like he’s having a conversation with himself, or with a voice within himself. A voice telling him to “trust me, follow me... I will make it good for you.” Me: gives a side eye to that voice in Jimin’s head because now I know it’s not trustworthy. “I’ll take the pressure off, been reaching for the stars.” Chasing that high. Go easy, Jimin. Please be careful.

Yes, the lyrics are also very sexy... “give me a good ride,” and “Let me have a taste.” Yep, I’m with ya on all that... ahem...

[Wow]

[side note: I love the make up in the bathroom scene with that stroke of silver under his eye.]

“All my reflections, I can’t even recognize.” ...what he sees of himself is not reality. He doesn’t recognize himself. Don’t try to save me. I want to stay like this.

To me, the mud on the floor, the mud flowing down the walls, the mud on the hand that grabs his wrist at the beginning of the song, the mud on his hand at the end... could represent his perceived imperfections, flawed, therefore dirty: his struggle to cope, his less than perfect thoughts... substance abuse... the struggle that he needs to be perfect on the outside or the attempt to appear perfect on the outside but there’s all this dirt on the inside that he can’t hide any longer.....the huge pile of mud at his feet is out of place in the otherwise normal room of his life. Becoming overwhelming for him.

Some of the visuals of this song are, to put it bluntly, very, not heterosexual. Again, these are just my impressions and opinions. But a friend pointed out the photo on the front of his pants and I went looking for information about the art photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. He was heavily involved in New York’s gay BDSM scene. Some of the things written about him:

“In a rapidly changing society, he fearlessly confronted taboos surrounding gender, sexuality and mortality, seeking to instill beauty and dignity into subjects that lay outside accepted social norms.”

“... a man who consistently brought his audience face to face with the unknown and the unseen.”

The song ends with him reaching toward the camera to smear it with the mud to hide his imperfect self. When Jimin puts his face in front of the camera, he doesn’t want us to see his imperfections. He wants to be as perfect as he can, he says it all the time, he wants to look pretty for us, but I hope he has realized we accept him as a real human being even with his very human imperfections.

Alone

The alarm clock goes off...yet another day...doesn’t trust the people even if they are nice to him...he’s lost...day in day out... passing out drunk and not remembering...what am I doing? am I the only one feeling like this? Alone, pretending to be ok...every day the same...how much more until I can go back to before? Feeling more and more isolated within his own mind, pretending to be ok but losing himself every day. Mayday. The cry for help. Telling himself it will be all right (we all told ourselves this back then). The small nagging voice that doesn’t believe it.

Realizing you’ve changed and you are never going back to the way you were before.

Not gonna lie, that line right there broke my heart. Gives new meaning to Set Me Free Pt. 2′s line: "raise your hands for the past me.”

He was in so much trouble and no one knew. He reassured us over and over that he was fine. Not to be over-dramatic but I don’t want to think about how close he was... I have seen a few people say this song really resonated with them. It is a very powerful cry for help.

Jimin’s vocals blew me away. The vocals start out very subdued, almost beaten down. His vocal fry squeezes my heart. He ends crying out “what do I have to do to end this darkness?” Bad twilight. Night’s can be hard.

Set Me Free Pt. 2

From my post on March 17, 2023:

Going insane to stay sane. Raise your hands for the past me. Now set me free. This is where I literally cried. Oh, Jimin.

Going crazy trying to fake being ok.

Now I know this song is about him saving himself, setting himself free from this prison he was in, the depression, breaking the chains of alcohol dependency, of telling the naysayers out there and his own internal naysayer to go fuck themselves, Park Jimin is back. Strong and beautiful and fierce. The light of the moon shining on us.

We know he still considers soju his joy. He sounds like he’s taken control, not totally abstaining, but in control. I only wish the rest of his days are happiness and stable mental health well-being.

Letter

So unexpected. I was in shock. My heart floated away.

People talk about how Jimin’s album has no collabs on it, unlike the previous member’s solo work. My opinion is, when you are sharing deeply intimate feelings and emotions and struggles about yourself you don’t want or need other people/voices on your song. It’s not appropriate.

The only exception to this was… Jungkook…not exactly a collab, but he’s there. The other songs used background vocalists who are not members of BTS.

This song was hidden. Yes, there have been other hidden songs. But come on...

Letter has a strong stroke of Promise in the “oh, oh.” And when Jungkook starts singing it is like the world is set right because those two voices blend like nothing else I’ve ever heard. And he comes in in the middle of the song gently supporting Jimin’s vocals. But unmistakably Jungkook. I know it’s up to interpretation, but for me, the lyrics from then on take on something a little extra in meaning with Jungkook there singing with Jimin.

You held your hand out to me and now I will hold on to you. So simple and beautiful. The sounds of the surf remind me of the song “Okinawa” that Jimin posted once. Which also reminds me of their pics at Santa Monica beach...

Letter seems to be an actual letter. When the members told him to write it down, put it in a song, maybe Jimin’s first impulse was to write it as if it was a letter. The lyrics are simple and very to the point and convey:

“...though I’m not good with words, I want to sincerely say let’s make each other happier. You who showed me I am bigger than my small self. You've been by my side and I will be by yours. I hope we stay together until the cold winter. Though the future is unknown and scary, let’s stay together. Never forget we’re together.”

There are references to past songs: Sea, Spring Day. Both of those songs were from 2017.

But Jungkook. On a Jimin song. That was hidden. Clever. That we had no idea about...even though Kookie knocked us over the head with it when he played the guitar for us, making sure we knew he’d only had one lesson. Who do you think gave him that first guitar lesson? Jimin... and Kookie blurting out some English in his last live... who do you think he’s been practicing English with? Duh, Jimin.

It was a hidden song AND the credits were hidden on the page in the book. They were printed in varnish only, which is basically shiny, clear ink.

You know what I think? Jungkook knew about this song since Festa dinner. The teasing about not being offered the chance to listen to the song. That little shit. I KNOW IT WAS THIS SONG!! I JUST KNOW IT!! This was the rumored subunit. Or at least one of them. I guess we’ll eventually see if there are any more between the others.

They sound so beautiful together. I love them. And as I keep saying, they are fine… they’ve been fine.

Last words...

Anyway, that was a lot of words. Maybe I got too deep. Jimin explained himself about how the album originated.

As I was telling my friend earlier...everything in this album has peeled a layer, or several layers, away from EVERYTHING I've seen and heard from Jimin and the group since 2020. I had written some things in the past, like last June and even before that, about how Jimin seemed not well mentally. Things that I had no business saying in public because who the hell am I to think I can say something like that about someone I have never met? So I never posted those words. I never thought I would be so close to the mark in thinking those things. He’s been through it, wrote songs about it, and moved on. And I am so proud of him and this album.

#jimin face #face-off #like crazy #i'm so proud of jimin #if they were trying to quash any ships this was not the way to go about it #i said that after hickey-gate too #also jikook #did i mention i am so proud of jimin?#and kookie is so funny

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mysticalrambling · 1 year

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Familial Bliss (H.S)

My Main Masterlist is here.

Harry Styles Masterlist is here.

Summary: Y/N surprising Harry on his concert with their baby.

Warnings: none :)

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Thinking of surprising your husband on his tour, you decided to take your little munchkin with you to his LA concert this time. Normally, you would never do anything like this because you both didn’t want Phoebe to be showcased all over the TMZ articles.

The phone beside you kept popping up with texts but your focus was currently on the two-year-old. Phoebe, who has recently been keen on making posters and family pictures, is currently sitting next to you and trying to make her version of a fan poster.

You come to help her after her mini tantrum of not getting it right. She is a perfectionist like her beloved father. Gently guiding her hands on the paper, you quickly completed the writing part of the poster. Phoebe then comes up with an idea to fill the blank sides with her colored handprints. Soon, the whole poster appears as a unicorn thrown upon it. Some of the letters might have even been caught in the chaos.

Soon, the time to leave for the stadium came so you made sure to double-check all your things. The trickiest part was to get into the stadium without the fans spotting you or Phoebe. However, Jeff always came through and you made it at the exact moment Harry was about to step on the stage.

Instead of going backstage to wish him good luck, you made your way to the VIP section in the pit. Phoebe had her noise-canceling headphones placed the moment you entered the stadium. Safety always came first. You were excited to see your husband’s reaction because this was the first time your daughter was coming to one of his concerts.

“Hey, New York! ‘m Harry and I think y’all are here to listen to m’songs.” The smugness in his voice couldn’t be hidden but the crowd didn’t seem to mind.

Little hands shifted your line of vision towards herself. Looks like she can't share your attention with anyone. After all, she is her father's daughter.

The crowd went wild the moment the ‘Golden’ tune came alive. Phoebe stared out in wonder towards the expanse of the crowd cheering for her father. She has never seen so many people together in her life. The moment Harry’s figure came into view, you tilted your daughter’s head towards the stage.

“Look, there's daddy!!” You hoped that she could make sense of your words a little bit because you didn’t want her to miss Harry’s entrance.

He didn’t notice right away but when his eyes landed on you both, a mixture of surprise and excitement passed through them. Phoebe gave her father a toothy smile and you are glad that Jeff is recording the whole encounter.

“Looks like we have a special guest with us tonight, ladies and gentlemen.” You came into focus on the big screen behind him and the crowd is instantly in awe of the little girl in your arms. Waving at her father, she lay her head on your shoulders. “Alright, you are here for me so all attention should be on me.”

“Ever the narcissist.” You are quite sure that Harry can read your lips because a crooked smirk appeared on his lips.

Harry starts the concert instantly after your little family interaction. You started to lightly dance to TPWK. However, you couldn’t do the whole routine like always because you couldn’t let Phoebe down. Sure, there were not a lot of people in the VIP section but you didn’t want to risk it. The smile didn’t leave your daughter’s lips for one second and you were glad that you thought of this surprise.

There was an extra hip in his step today because he wanted to show off in front of his little love. He has been secretly wishing to take Phoebe to one of his concerts for a long time. You have been hesitant regarding this in the past but now it didn't matter. He spends extra time giving attention to the two of you throughout the concert and your daughter is enjoying every little bit.

“This song was written for m’little dove.”

“She knows the routine better than me. But she’s forgiven because of her cuteness.”

“Y'all, don't be jealous but m’daughter is my biggest fan.”

Soon, Phoebe fell asleep due to exhaustion and excitement. Your daughter could sleep anywhere anytime; It is a trait you and her share. You held her in your arms because only the last song was remaining. You really didn’t want to miss the ‘whale’.

“I need y’all to be a li’l quiet because m’princess is taking a nap. Guess she finds her dad born’.”

“Boohoo!” The whole crowd was really eating the small interactions between Harry and his family. It was extremely rare to get a glimpse of the rockstar’s private life.

“Now now, we don’t ‘boohoo’ m’angel. Her sleep is more important than m’concert.” Looking at the crowd, he playfully shrugged his shoulders. “Those are just the facts.” You laughed along the fans at his mischievousness and brought Phoebe closer to yourself.

The moment the concert ended, you made your way backstage to meet up with your husband. After giving you a kiss, he took Phoebe from your arms.

“H, I think I should carry her. You must be tired right now.”

“It’s okay, baby. I missed her so much. Thank y’ for the surprise, I loved it.”

“Anything for you, H.”

"Now let's get her t'bed so I can properly thank you."

"Shh, someone might hear you."

"So wha', this baby in my arms is a living proof that we did it." A laugh escaped his lips after seeing you blush on his crude innuendos. "Let's go home, baby."

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Hope you guys enjoyed it!!

A/N: I have been giving my pre med entry test for the past two months and I have finally gotten around to opening my blog. I know I haven't been the most active but I had to focus on my studies. Now that they are out of the way and I'm about to be done with my uni applications, I finally will be able to focus more on my writing. Thank you for waiting for me guys, I love you. Special thanks to @peculiarpenman for helping me out with life in general; be it writing or my daily mental breakdowns. @pettinesspersonified I hope you like this because you are a part of my writing journey as well. Thank you both❤️🧡

Like, comment and reblog.

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#rachelleblodgettwrites #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles one shot #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fluff #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles x reader #harry styles imagine #love on tour #dad!harry #dad harry styles #harry styles x you #harry styles #imagination

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l-starlight-l · 2 months

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The love of a hero

An old friend

Master list

Part 1, part 2, Part 3, Part 4,

A/n: Oop not me being flaky with posting, my bad y’all!

Description: an old friend has finally found time to hang out with you

Pairing: dick Grayson x reader (platonic)

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:Reference:

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This was your first time living alone in such a big city but it certainly was not your first time living in Gotham. Sure it had been a very long time but that didn’t change much. A long time ago, maybe ten years ago, you had runaway to Gotham. You and your dad had gotten into a huge fight and you were beyond angry with him. You need space and comfort from somewhere other than your home so you decide to go to Gotham. You had some very close friends in the city and knew they would be willingly to let you crash at their place. These people were basically a second family to you. It took some convincing for them to let you stay, but once you were there you lived with them for a little over a year. It was the happiest time of your life you would say. Of course nothing last forever and you had to leave. You would argue you were stolen from them but others would disagree.

You rushed to clock out of your twelve hour shift when your phone rang. The caller id read “boy wonder”, you rolled your eyes and answered. “What” you answered not knowing if you were happy to hear from him or not.

“You free?” Asked the man on their other side, he sounded like he was moving around a lot but wasn’t out of breath.

“Ummm yeah, I just got off of work” you replied while gathering your things from your locker.

“I’m just finishing a job up, do you want to hang out after?” He asked feeling guilty from not reaching out sooner.

Your brows knitted in frustration, “oh so now you want to see me, you’ve blown me off for the past three weeks” you said trying to keep your temper in check.

“I know I know I’m so sor-“ as he was apologizing you heard a grunt and then a big slam on the other side of the phone. You hear dick sigh in pain and then him cheerily saying “damn that one hurt”

“I understand you’ve been busy” you shrug off your anger at him with a soft laugh, “how about you come over when you finish up and I make you dinner”

“You would make the perfect wife you know that” he teased as he nearly avoided a punch.

You let out a soft sigh, “in your dreams boy wonder” you said with a laugh as you hung up.

Some time later you’re busy in the kitchen when you hear a knock at the window. You jump and turn just to see dick sitting on the fire escape holding his wounded rips and waving at you like an idiot. His wide smile smile made you laugh at the sight of him. “Could you have taken any longer” you said sarcastically while letting him in. “I made your favorite” you told him while walking back into the kitchen.

He dramatically stopped mid step and exclaimed, “cookies!” Like he was a child. You stare at him with a smile, he hasn’t changed.

You rustle through your cabinets trying to find your first aid kit, “I just put them in so it will be a few minutes, let me clean you up while we wait” you said grabbing it and leading him to the kitchen. “I have some of your old clothes if you want to change out of your uniform, though I’m not sure if they fit or not” you say scanning his certainly grown up body. The last time you saw him he was just some scrawny teenage. As you admire his gorgeous body you remind yourself that he is a friend, just a friend.

You two spend the night catching up, even thigh you’ve known him since diapers it’s been years since you were in the same room as him. Although there were long phone calls and so, so many texts it wasn’t the same as being able to see him in person. It felt nice having he next to you again.

“How’s the new job?” He asks in-between cookies.

You smile thinking about how much you’re enjoying your time here, “ I love it honestly”. You look at him and his wounded face, “how’s being a hero” you say with a melancholy tone.

He gives you a sad bit understanding look, “hard, as you know” he answers serious. You look away from him as your body tenses. He quickly changes the subject when he notices your reaction, “so when are you going to tell me the recipe Alfred so kindly gave you?” He says with his sweet smile as he holds up a cookie to his lips.

“That is between me and him, you are never getting it” you say with a laugh. The night is till early when he gets called back out, you hug him with a heavy heart. “Be safe” you say worried.

He smiles down at you as he releases the hug, “I always am” he says as he leaves through your window, disappearing into the night.

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#jason todd x gender neutral reader #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #jason todd #red hood #batfam #dc comics #jason todd fluff #jason todd x reader #red hood x you #red hood x gender neutral reader

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moonchildreads · 4 months

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small town

Chapter 24 - Up Where We Belong

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

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

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

masterlist - prev - next | playlist

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

Friday, June 13th - 1986

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Long morning?” Wayne asked, knowingly.

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

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

“Did it wake you up?”

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

“Teenagers, right?”

“Yup. Teenagers.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That’s not- I’m not-” Dottie began.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It was fun! We enjoyed it.”

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

“You know Steve?” Dustin said, curious.

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

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

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

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

“W-what? Nancy and…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What?” he shrugged, feigning innocence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, she’s feisty,” Gretchen said.

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

“How big is that ice cream?”

“Big as you want.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Jesus Christ, Wayne!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, it is.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You okay, honey?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Except Chrissy,” Dottie said.

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

“How long?”

“Huh?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah?”

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

“I know.”

“Yeah?”

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

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

“I will,” he nodded.

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

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

taglist: @munsonology @kurdtbean @every1lovesanunderdog @eg-dr3amer3

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xxspringmelodyxx · 9 months

Text

Betrayal (Ch. III) ~

Hello my lovely readers! Here is the third chapter for y’all! I’m going to keep it short so you can get on to reading this! Enjoy~

A few weeks had passed, and you were healing up nicely. Kai would check up on you every now and then to make sure the wounds were still stitched together, but that was about it. All the other times he came to you were to talk about what has been going on since you were last attacked.

During these past few weeks, you have become much closer to him. You had learned a lot about Kai and his family, and he learned a lot about you. You told him of what happened to you and Morax, about Guizhong, and about what is causing these creatures to reappear. Knowing that people he loved died because of another archon lit something inside of him. He couldn’t believe someone would do something so horrendous just to keep someone away.

After you told him your stories, he then told you his story. You learned that he had an older sister and a mother, Kiana and Amai.. He told you they were wonderful and smart people. His mother was a doctor, which is where Kai learned all of his medical knowledge from. His sister was a soldier, working and protecting their small town from other dangers.

When you asked about his dad, he told you he barely knew him since he died at a young age. He died right when Asuka was born due to an unknown disease. All he could remember was that he was a wonderful dad. He was the commander of the soldiers, telling them where to go and what to do. But he didn't just give orders. He fought along them. He wasn’t scared to fight as he knew he was doing it for the good of his people. He was also known to be a very kind and open-minded man, even after all he’s gone through.

The day of his death was a painful one. Not just for his family, but for everyone else. He was a good man, and an honorable one at that. Many people came to his funeral to give their thanks to him and his family. After he died, Kai’s mother, sister, and brother were all he had left. However, a few years later, this changed drastically when they went to a small forest.

He told you he remembered it like it was yesterday. They were all out scavenging for food to cook. They had been out there for a few hours with no issues. That was until Kiana went to go search for some berries on her own. A good 30 minutes had passed when all of a sudden, he heard his sister scream loudly. Amai snapped her head towards the direction and immediately followed the sound, fearful of what she would find.

She sprinted as fast as she could, but not fast enough unfortunately.

Once Amai made it to her daughter, her eyes widened as tears instantly began to fall. In front of her, Amai saw her very own daughter dead on the ground, bears tearing her apart. She yelled out of instinct, causing the bears to chase after her as well. Amai quickly ran back, trying to save herself so that she could reach Asuka and Kai, but she had tripped over a large tree stump that was out of her sight. She had hurt herself going down, resulting in the bears catching up to her.

Kai heard his mother scream in terror, making him grab onto Asuka. Without thinking, he ran away back to the town, fearing his and Asuka’s life. Tears were streaming down Kai’s face as he knew he had just lost his sister and his mother, leaving only him and his little brother..

He still remembers hearing Asuka’s cries as he wanted his mother. Kai was only 11, while Asuka was only 1.

When he told you, you apologized to him, horrified to hear what he and Asuka had to go through. He told you not to be sorry as it wasn’t your fault. He even said you reminded him of his sister. Very ambitious and strong. That’s when he started to treat you as a sisterly figure, causing him to be protective of you every now and then.

This led you two to have a strong bond together. Not only with Kai, but also with the other two. Even after what happened to them, they still stood strong and worked their way through it. You even thought they were braver than some of the archons you knew, especially Airi.

You knew her parents died due to the wolves that Guizhong created, but you didn’t know how long ago it was.

While you were still new to the area after being severely wounded, Kai told you what happened to her parents. Apparently her mother and father went out to go help buy supplies for the town. They bought things such as food, water, clothing, weapons, etc. They did everything they could to help around. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side this time.

When they went out to buy more items, the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon. Unbeknownst to them, a pack of wolves had already been wandering around, lurking in the dark. When they caught sight of the mother, they gathered up and attacked her. The husband saw this and tried to help his wife, fighting with all he had to stop the wolves. But just two of them were no match to a pack of the ferocious beasts that surrounded them.

The next day had passed, and people all over the town were worrying about them, noticing that they weren’t back yet. A group of soldiers had went out on a search party to find them, only to return back with what was left of them. It was mostly bits of their clothes and accessories. Everyone was devastated, but Airi…she was absolutely torn when she learned her mother and father weren’t going to even make it back to her. Kai told you that she would cry every night as she missed her parents tucking her into bed. Or she would miss talking to them at the dinner table. Or how she would miss the feeling of her mother brushing her hair while singing sweet and melodic melodies to her right before bedtime.

It was definitely a struggle for her, but over time, she slowly became stronger and stronger, and the nights that passed were quieter and quieter.

After finding out about what happened to Airi’s parents, you couldn’t help but act as her other parent. She trusted you and because of that, you two held a strong mother-daughter bond, even though you two weren’t even related in the slightest. She would always hang out with you when Kai and Asuka had to go look for food or medicine. She would always offer you her toys to help keep you entertained…and she would even offer you her food if she thought you needed it. Of course, you always denied her offers, knowing fully well that she needed it the most. But it was nice to know she cared for you so much.

The close bonding all of you made resulted in you all hanging out often. It didn’t matter where you all went, you just hung out any place you could that you knew would be safe.

Now, you were out and about with Kai, Asuka, and Airi playing out in the field. Of course you were just watching, still a little sore from the last incident, but nevertheless, you enjoyed watching them have fun. You watched Asuka and Airi play in the grass, playing with their little toys. Airi had a stuffed bunny, while Asuka had a horse. They were playing house with them, which you thought was adorable.

“Cute, aren’t they?” Kai said, sitting down next to you.

You looked over to him and smiled.

“Very.” You chuckled.

“They absolutely love and cherish those plushies. It’s hard to find something like that around these areas.” He said with a smile

“Really? How’d they get them?” You Asked.

Kai shifted a bit, getting comfortable.

“They got those toys from Airi’s parents as gifts. They were more on the wealthy side before all of this started to happen. They wanted to make sure those two got the best of the best.” Kai said with a small smile

“Oh?”

“Yeah. The Liyue’s were great people. They were always providing anything if someone else needed it. They even helped buy us medicine for those who got injured during the time the wolves stopped by. They helped rebuild small buildings as well when they were torn down.” He said.

You looked at your hands, unsure of what else to say

“It’s a shame what happened to them.” He spoke, finishing his sentence.

You looked down at the kids, watching them play and run around happily. The sun was shining right on them in a perfect manner, creating a gorgeous orange silhouette. They both looked like angels with how they were glowing.

You then looked back at Kai with an apologetic look that he didn’t see.

“They’re very close.” He said, referring to the children. After a few seconds of silence passed, he then turned to you with a sad smile

“I’m glad they have each other to rely on. At least I know they won’t be alone if anything ever happened to me.” He continued, making you stare at him with confusion.

‘What do you mean?”

Another moment of silence passed by you two as Kai looked out towards the kids.

“The creatures…they are starting to get out of hand. I just got word that 10 people in another town nearby were killed by two of them.” he said, making you look down.

You couldn’t understand why Guizhong was still doing this. But all you knew was that you needed to help put an end to this. You couldn’t allow her to keep harming others.

You placed your hand on Kai’s in a reassuring way. He looked at you with saddened eyes.

“Don’t worry. I promise to put an end to this all. I will make sure you all don’t have to keep going through this.” You said with determination.

Kai smiled at you, nodding.

“And I’ll be right there with you.” He said.

You two smiled at each other, your mouth beginning to open to talk.

Before you could respond, you heard Airi scream, making you and Kai snap your heads to them to see what was going on.

You saw Airi picking something up, making you and Kai get up.

“Airi, be careful!” Asuka said with worry.

You and Kai looked at each other hesitantly. Whatever Airi was doing didn’t seem to be hurting her or Asuka, but you two had to be sure.

You continued to watch her, ready to fight if needed.

Suddenly, Airi came back up with the biggest smile you had ever seen.

You looked down and immediately dropped your defense once you saw what she had in hand.

Airi had picked up a small bunny. A real one.

You and Kai both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Airi, don’t go screaming like that. You scared us.” Kai said, rubbing his temples..

Airi smiled as she snuggled up to the small creature, kissing its forehead

You sat down next to her and Asuka, calling for Airis' attention. She looked at you with curiosity, walking up to you.

“What is it Ms. Y/n?” She asked

You smiled and placed your hand on the bunny.

“I just wanted to pet the bunny. She’s very soft, huh?” You replied, feeling the silky soft fur on the bunny.

“Yeah! But I’ve never seen a bunny like her before. What is she?” Airi asked, making you smile as you took the soft animal in your hands.

“This is an Eridasia bunny. They are extremely rare to find due to their slow reproduction rate. But you can always tell what it is just by looking at its eyes.” You said, showing her the different eyes

“Woah! She has two different colors!” Airi said with excitement.

You chuckled and nodded

“Yes. They are very unique to these bunnies. They even glow brightly to scare off any predators that may be lurking around.” You said, seeing how amazed Airi was.

She quickly grabbed the bunny back, hugging it tightly.

“Oh! I’ve always wanted a pet bunny! Can I keep her? Please?” Airi asked, making you smile a bit

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. But unfortunately since they are so rare, it would be dangerous to keep it from its kind. Plus, you wouldn’t want to keep the poor thing locked away from its friends, would you?” You asked, making her shake her head

“No…”she said sadly.

You looked up at her with concern. You knew how much she loved bunnies…but you also knew it wouldn’t be right to keep the bunny away from its place and family. You shifted a bit, getting a more comfortable position as you opened your mouth to speak.

“Tell you what.” You began, making her look at you

“How about you keep the bunny for just today. But by sundown, you have to let her go back to her friends. Does that sound good?” You asked, making her face instantly light up.

“Oh yes! Thank you, Ms. Y/n! Thank you!!” She said as she hugged you tightly. You smiled as you hugged her back, quickly letting her go play with her bunny.

“Come on Asuka, let’s go play with the bunny.!” She said, pulling the boy with her.

They then ran together a few meters away from you, playing with and petting the small thing.

You and Kai looked at each other, giggling at how cute the kids were.

–with Guizhong–

Guizhong was getting more frustrated by the day. Why, you ask? Because Morax still wouldn't stop thinking about you. Yes, it has gotten better since she showed him the evidence of your ‘death’, but every now and then, he would bring it back up. Y/n this, Y/n that. It was becoming infuriating for her.

She had tried so much to get his attention and to make him fall in love with her, but it was no use. She tried baking for him, she tried taking him out for lunch, she even tried to train with him, but nothing was working. Though, that never stopped her. She would do anything if it meant he would fall in love with her.

And that’s exactly what she was trying to do right now. A few hours ago, Guizhong had practically begged Morax to go on a little walk with her. When he finally agreed to go, she was ecstatic. The two got ready and headed down a familiar trail, the one that led to a pathway full of flowers and greenery.

She and Morax sat down near a large tree and talked about little things that were going on. But it wasn’t full of passion like when he would talk to you.. It was just small talk with a large silence between each subject.

Guizhong couldn’t handle it. She just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t give in. This resulted in her walking away. When asked where she was going, she responded that she was just going to walk around for a bit before she returned.

Part of her had hoped that Morax would ask her to stay, or ask if he could go with her. But the more she walked away, the more she realized that wasn’t going to happen. She took one last glance at Morax, seeing his deadened stare as he played with a small flower.

Guizhong rolled her eyes, walking more into the forest they were in. She couldn’t believe she was still struggling to get his attention. What did it take? How far would she have to go? Would she even be able to succeed in-

All those thoughts ran through her head, until she stopped midway to see something shining ahead of her.

Curious, she walked quietly over to the area, kneeling down to get a better view.

She pushed the grass away, seeing none other than a bracelet. A familiar one at that.

She picked up the golden bracelet, observing it.

“To my dearest friend. - Morax”

Guizhong scoffed at the quote, knowing exactly whose it was.

However, before she got back up, she was curious to see what happened to you after she killed you.

She quickly raised her hand, a swirl of dust forming in front of her to create a circle.

“Show me where she is.” Guizhong said sternly, touching the dusty sphere.

Within an instant, an image of you showed. However, it wasn’t you dead. In fact, it was quite the opposite!

You were alive and well! And with others surrounding you!

Guizhong got a better look at who the others were, only to see one familiar face.

“That little brat!” Guizhong yelled, snapping the bracelet in half. She saw the little girl who she had talked to a few months ago.

“She must’ve helped Y/n after I left!”

Suddenly, Guizhong raised her other hand, a sinister smile making its way to her face.

“Well, it doesn't matter. I will finish her off again! What’s a couple of people going to do against 50 of my beautiful creations?” Guizhong said, chuckling to herself.

All in one, dust began to swirl around her, forming numerous circles around her as she created 50 more wolves, seeing what they were seeing.

“Let the fight begin…” She said darkly.

–back with you–

You were enjoying your time with Kai, Asuka, and Airi. It was getting closer and closer to sundown though and you knew you all had better start getting ready to head home.

“I can’t believe how dark it has gotten.” You said, looking at the sky.

“I know. It’s crazy how fast time goes when you are having fun.” He replied

“Yeah. I only wish it did the same for when you were bored.” You complained, making him nod

“Tell me about it.”

You two continued to talk about random things that popped up, when all of a sudden, Airi and Asuka ran over to you with concerned eyes.

“What’s the matter sweetheart?” You asked, seeing her distress.

“The bunny! Its eyes are glowing!” She exclaimed.

You turned over to see the bunny. It was just standing out in the open, not moving a muscle. The only thing moving was the bunny’s fur from the wind. It was very eerie to say the least.

“Stay here.” You said, sitting the kids next to Kai.

You quietly got up, walking over to the small bunny to check on it.

“Hey, are you alright?” You asked, seeing the glowing eyes of the bunny. It didn’t respond to you, however. It just continued to stare. You were alarmed now.

You followed where it was looking and saw a large pile of trees, blocking your view.

“Go back and watch them for me.” You said to the bunny. It looked up and you quickly ran back to the rest.

You walked up slowly to the trees, worried about what was to come.

“Y/n! Be careful!” Airi yelled with fear.

You walked up to the tree and placed your hand near it.

“Move.” You whispered.

Within an instant, the tree moved to the side slowly, allowing you to see behind it.

Although, you wished you hadn’t done that.

Because right in front of you made your eyes widen with fear. In front of you were standing 50 wolves, salivating and snarling at you. But they weren’t just any wolves, they were Guizhong’s wolves.

You quickly turned, running as your life depended on it.

“RUN! THEY ARE BACK! GET OUT OF HERE!” You yelled out.

Kai’s eyes widened as he saw you running from a large group of wolves chasing you.

“Oh shit!” He said, picking up the kids and making a run for it.

You knew that the wolves would eventually catch up to you and the others, so you decided to stay back to try and fend them off.

“Y/n?! What are you doing?” Kai yelled after you

“Just get out of here! I’ll hold them back while you three get to safety!” You said

Kai looked at you with worry, unsure if you were going to make it out alive.

You turned back to see him still standing there with the kids.

“GO!” You yelled.

Kai quickly turned on his heel, making a run for it.

You saw him leave, making you relax a little bit knowing that they wouldn’t get hurt.

You turned your head back to the wolves, inhaling as you got ready to fight them.

You raised your hand, allowing a large tree root to sprout right through a few wolves.

You then grabbed your sword and sliced right through another, kicking one away simultaneously.

One of them pounced on you, catching you off guard. Then another one, and another one.

Soon, you were on the ground, trying to push them away from you.

One of their mouths was right in front of your face as you tried to push it away.

You looked at its mouth, growing angry once again.

“Get away!” You yelled, a large pile of sharp thorns going right through the wolf. You sat up and swiped your hand towards the right, causing a tree branch to whip a few other wolves away from you.

–

Kai ran and ran, fearing his and the others' lives. He felt horrible leaving you behind, but he knew he needed to save the kids.

He almost made it back to the town, but when he heard your scream, he stopped in his tracks. A memory came flooding back into his mind as he remembered the blood curdling scream his sister made when he was only 11. He wished he could go back and stop her from ever leaving their side…but he couldn’t.

He turned back towards the area you were in. He couldn’t let you die, not after all you and him have been through.

He sat the kids down under a large rock, protecting them from any danger.

“Kai?!” Asuka said with alarm.

“You kids stay here! I’ll be right back! I promise!” He said, running back to help you.

He couldn’t save his sister back then, but now he has another opportunity to save you. And that’s exactly what he was going to do, even if it killed him.

–

You struggled to get the wolves off of you, your strength quickly fading away as you tried to hold them back.

“Guizhong, stop! I know you can see what's going on! I know you can hear me!” You yelled, trying to punch one of the wolves.

“Damnit Guizhong! Why are you still doing this?! I haven’t even been near Morax, let alone near any of you! You don’t have to punish others just because of your weird obsession over him!” You yelled.

You weren’t aware of it, but right behind you was a group of wolves running after you, ready to attack and finish you off. They ran after you quickly, not wasting any time.

But just as they were about to reach you, a large sword came hurling towards them, slicing through all of them at once.

You turned around to see three wolves on the ground, slowly turning back into dust. They all had a large hole in them, making you furrow your brows in confusion. You looked back up to see Kai, standing there with pride.

“You came back?” You asked with shock

“I couldn’t just leave you behind!” He yelled, grabbing his sword and running towards you.

You looked at him with a worried look

“Don’t worry about me. I know how to fight.” He said, stabbing another wolf running at him.

You quickly whipped your head around to see two wolves leaping at you with open mouths.

You quickly stomped your foot on the ground, creating two large vines. They wrapped around the wolves and threw them across the field into a large tree. You pushed your hand forward with a fist, causing the vines to slice right through the two wolves.

You turned back to Kai and smirked.

“Then let’s fight.” You said, making him nod.

You two then went all out, protecting one another if needed.

–

“We can’t just leave them out there to die!” Airi complained

“But if we go out there, we could get hurt.” Asuka said with concern

“So what?! They are out there risking their lives for us, again!” She said, making the boy look down at his hands

“Those wolves hurt my mama and papa! I won’t let them hurt Y/n and Kai. I can’t lose anyone else!” She said, tears filling her eyes.

“But…we don’t know how to fight.” Asuka said, trying to change Airi’s mind.

Airi stared out in the open sky, knowing he was right. But she just couldn’t help it. She knew what she was setting herself up for. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But she would do anything to not lose you two. You and Kai meant everything to her.

“Well that’s it.” Airi continued, making the boy look up at her.

She stood to her feet and climbed over the rock to go back.

“Airi?! What are you doing?” Asuka yelled out

“I’m going to help our friends! I’m going to be a hero!” She said, running back to you and Kai.

“Airi!” Asuka complained

“Airi! Come back!” He tried again, but she just ignored him.

He then rolled his eyes, hopping over the rock as well.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He said, running up to Airi, following her back to you guys.

–

“Kai! On your left!” You yelled.

Kai looked to his left to see a couple wolves running up to him. He took his sword and brought it down, slicing through one of their heads. He then brought it back up, cutting the other arm.

“Take this, you fucker!” He said, stabbing the sword right through the wolf’s chest.

Whimpers were heard all around.

“Just a few more!” Kai said.

“Don’t let that make your guard go down.” You said

But he was right. There were only 20 more to go.

You and Kai worked really well together, more than you thought you would.

You took your hand and raised it, causing three large and sharp tree trunks to rise out of the ground. Each one pierced right through three wolves. You then pushed your hand to the side, forcing the trees to swing the wolves to the right. The wolves flew off the trunks and into a large wall that you created out of wood.

The impact between them and the hardened wood caused them to turn to dust completely.

You and Kai were in the groove, getting the upper hand on all of the wolves.

You were both completely focused

That was until you heard a little girl’s voice.

“Airi?!” You asked with fear as you saw the little girl run up to you with determination.

“We are here to fight with you!’ She said

“We?!” Kai asked, seeing Asuka running in behind her.

“What the hell do you two think you’re doing!? Go back!” Kai yelled, not noticing the wolf ready to pounce on him

You did, however, and quickly took your sword and swung it around to hit its back, stabbing it right after.

“Kai, get them out of here now!” You yelled. He nodded and quickly ran for Asuka, carrying him on his back

“What were you thinking coming out here?!” He yelled, making the boy tuck behind Kai’s back.

“We will talk about this later. Where’s Airi?” Kai asked, looking around for the girl.

Meanwhile, you were still trying to fight off the wolves, making sure they didn’t get anywhere near the kids and Kai.

“That’s it!” You yelled.

You took your hand and raised it up, blocking the wolves from coming near you. Tree roots and vines sprouted from the ground, forming hard walls to pass. The wolves tried to gnaw at and climb the walls, but it was no use.

“Y/n, where is Airi?” Kai called out, making you stop to look around.

However, while you were looking around, you didn’t see that there was a wolf that got past your walls. It just barely escaped being trapped with the others.

It lurked its way towards you, quickening its pace the closer it got to you, its eyes turning a brighter red as it was ready to attack.

“Ms. Y/n! Watch out!” You heard Airi say.

You quickly turned around to see Airi a few yards away from you, blocking you from a wolf. Your eyes widened as everything slowed down.

“NO!” You yelled, dropping everything and sprinting towards her.

You heard your heartbeat quicken, your body going cold the closer you got to her.

“AIRI MOVE!” You heard Kai yell.

But she just stood there, determination on her face as she faced the monstrous creature running towards her. She watched as it opened its mouth, seeing the sharp teeth.

“You hurt mama and papa. I won’t let you hurt her as well.” She whispered.

She closed her eyes as she awaited the painful experience.

“I’m coming home, mama and papa. I’m coming home.” She said finally, a tear falling down her face as she felt the painful bite to her leg

“AIRI!” You cried out, tears blinding your vision.

Within the blink of an eye, you saw the wolf grab onto Airi. Its sharp teeth dug right into her leg as it lifted her up.

You heard Airi’s screams of pain, making your heart stop.

“NO!” You and Kai yelled.

You saw the wolf toss her away right into the wall you created. But the wolf threw her hard into the wall and all you could hear was the sound of something cracking.

“You bastard!” You yelled, grabbing the wolf with your hand.

You looked at it with furious eyes as you raised your hand, creating a large group of sharp trees, slicing each of them through the wolf.

You heard its cries and whimpers as you did so, watching it fall to the ground. Its red eyes slowly faded away as it turned into dust.

You took a steak and continued to stab it, letting all your anger out on it. Soon, you were stabbing nothing but the ground as more and more tears fell from your eyes.

You then turned to go find Airi, seeing her lying down on the ground limp.

Your breath hitched as you quickly ran towards her, grabbing onto her body.

“Airi?! Airi, sweetheart, can you hear me?!” You asked desperately as you held on to her lifeless body. Her eyes no longer held that shine they used to have. No, now they were just dull and completely lifeless.

You shook her, seeing that she wasn’t waking up.

“Airi, come on honey! Wake up, wake up please!” You begged, tears falling down your face.

The walls you created slowly started to come down due to your emotions, allowing the rest of the wolves to see you.

“Airi, please! Please! PLEASE!” You sobbed as you shook her body, hoping to see her eyes brighten up. You removed your hand from the back of her head, seeing blood on your palm. You looked down at her with tears, knowing that she was gone.

But you couldn’t just sit there and not try anything.

You looked back at your hand and then back at her body, coming up with an idea.

You placed your hand on her chest, pushing all your energy into that hand.

Soon, a green glow emitted from your hand and moved onto her chest.

A few seconds passed and you were already shaking. Your heart was beating way too fast. You felt your body start to go numb, including your mind. Your vision was starting to blacken as well, making it hard for you to see and focus.

You kept going, however, trying to do everything you could to heal her. To bring her back to life.

You wanted to see her smile at you. You wanted to see her eyes sparkle again like before. You just wanted to see her alive!

But it didn’t happen. You knew she was gone. You knew that she had just died right in your arms.

You screamed out, the power you were using on her weakening you way too much.

You knew you had to stop in order to protect the others, so you did.

Your breath hitched as you let her go, panting as you tried to regain your strength.

The feeling was too emotional. Someone you cared about so much passing away just like that, and at such a young age set something off in you. All you could see was red.

You knew the wolves were coming towards you and you knew you needed to stop them.

You couldn’t let them hurt anyone else. Not again.

You started to feel your energy building up inside of you again, feeling it wanting to burst out of your body.

You looked down at Airi, seeing her bloodied arm. The pain and anger were too much for you. You couldn’t handle it.

You failed. Failed to keep her safe. Failed to keep her alive! And it was all because of the stupid wolves! All because of…Guizhong.

And within seconds, you screamed out.

The energy in your body finally releases, causing the ground to shake violently at the burst you just made.

Hundreds of trees, thorns, vines, etc., flew out and stabbed through each and every wolf. Each of them whimpered and cried as they felt the plants run right through them as if they were made out of paper. They then were pinned down by the plants, getting squeezed to death. The wolves struggled to get out, wriggling around to try and escape. But you wouldn’t let them. You wouldn’t let them live after they just took the life of another.

The wolves howled and whimpered, knowing there was no escape for them. Soon, there was nothing left except for dust.

You cried as you held Airi’s body close to yours, letting everything go.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…” You whimpered out.

Kai and Asuka ran towards you, seeing that Airi was truly gone.

“Airi?” Asuka whimpered out before crying.

Kai knelt down, completely at a loss for words. He placed his hand on her head, tears filling up in his eyes as he felt his heart drop.

He couldn’t believe he had lost yet another person close to him. Another person close to his brother. Another person who he deemed a family member.

He had failed once again to keep someone close to him safe. And that was something he would hold onto forever.

You looked at Kai and Asuka, seeing the despair in their faces. You took them and wrapped your arms around them, letting more tears and cries come out.

You three hugged each other, crying together as you realized Airi was no longer with you.

–

A few days had passed. You, Kai, and Asuka were currently at a funeral for Airi which was widely celebrated by everyone. Tears and quiet sobs were spread throughout the area as we all remembered what a great and sweet person she was.

Her grave rested right next to her mother and father, all three of them back together once again.

Tears flew out of your eyes as you quietly sobbed. She had made such an impact on your life just with the few weeks you spent with her. And now…she is gone forever.

Hundreds of stuffed bunnies, or bunny cards, or anything else bunny related were piled near her grave as others cried.

Kai stared down at the grave with pain and anger, wishing he was the one who died instead of her

She was only 9 years old. A life taken too soon. All because of Guizhong.

“I’m going to take that bitch down.” Kai said, making you look up at him. He looked down at you with red eyes from previous tears.

“I’m going to make her regret ever killing Airi.” He said, balling up his fists.

You looked down at his hands and grabbed onto one, making him look down at you

“I’m coming with you. She has ruined far too many lives. It’s time to stop her.” You said between sobs.

You two then hugged each other, bringing Asuka in as well as you three sobbed together.

All you knew was that Guizhong would be severely punished for this.

–a few days later–

After Airi’s funeral, you and Kai got ready to leave town. You were both fueled with rage as you two left. With no time to waste, you and Kai traveled back to where you first left. The place where all the Archons lived. It took a few days to get there as it was no short trip, but it was nothing to you both due to the determination you both held.

Before you was a large gate, beautifully and elegantly designed. Past archons who had died were built on the gates, showing our signs of gratitude for them. Only Archons were able to pass through. If a citizen wanted to come in, it would have to be allowed by another archon.

You walked up to the gate and placed your hand on the handle.

Suddenly, a golden light emitted from the gate.

A light rumble was created due to the gates opening.

You turned back to Kai and nodded

“Let’s go.”

You and him went in and within no time, you were already forcing others to tell you where Guizhong was.

You grabbed onto one of the older archons and kicked her down, making her gasp.

“Hey! What do you think you are-Y/n?”

“Yes, it's me. Now stop talking and tell me where Guizhong is!” You snapped at her, but she just stared at you with surprise, completely at a loss for words.

“Did you not hear me?” You asked, growing impatient.

“Y-You are alive?! I thought-”

“Shut up! Yes I am alive. Guizhong lied to everyone saying I was dead. Now you’re going to listen to me and I am only going to ask you once more!” You ordered, making her nod

“We are here for Guizhong. We know she is here, now tell me. Where is she?” You asked, glaring down at her.

“Why? What are you going to do?” She asked, making you twist her arm. She cried out in pain. You went down to her ear, talking just barely above a whisper.

“She hurt someone who was very near and dear to me. She hurt her right in front of me. We are here for our revenge. Now where. Is. She.” You said, twisting her arm more and more, her arm on the verge of breaking.

“Ah! She’s over at the Ancient colosseum! There is a ceremony for Morax’s birthday, so they are all celebrating there!” The archon said.

You quickly let go of her, walking away. You knew exactly where to go. You brought Kai with you, dragging him towards the large building.

It was an old building that was hard to miss. It stood about 3000 ft wide and 200 ft tall. It was used for celebrating important days such as birthdays, new archons…or even deaths.

As you both walked to the colosseum, a part of you was nervous to see Morax again. It had been so long since you had last seen him. You wondered if he even thought about you…or if he quickly moved on. But you knew thinking of that would distract you from your main goal, so you quickly wiped it away as you got closer and closer to the colosseum.

“Why is no one outside?” Kai asked, making you look around.

It was completely empty outside and very quiet. It was a bit eerie, but you knew exactly where everyone was

“Everyone else is inside the colosseum. It’s one thing to have a birthday for a lesser known archon, but when it comes to someone like Morax, an almighty and powerful archon, it is something entirely different.” You explained

“What do you mean?” He asked

“Well, a lesser known archon, such as myself, would receive a little party that only a few others come to. Nothing too much, just some cake and drinks and a few presents. But when it comes to someone like Morax, it's the talk of the city. Everyone has to come to show their admiration and thankfulness to him. They have tons of food and the finest of drinks. The party lasts for almost two days and everyone has to provide him with a gift…he always loved the gifts I gave him.” You said, feeling a small pang in your chest as you remembered the days when you and Morax would always hang out after his party. It would just be you and him, walking down a secluded pathway and enjoying each other's company.

Kai looked at you with a sorrowful expression. He knew this would be hard for you, especially after everything these people put you through. He placed a hand on your shoulder, making you look up at him. He smiled softly at you, making you return the look.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” He asked with concern

You nodded

“Yeah. Besides, we need to do this.” You said, making him nod.

You both then continued to walk to the colosseum, your nerves starting to hit you like a bus.

–

After a few more minutes, you and Kai finally made it to the building, seeing hundreds of others inside.

You turned to Kai, seeing him a little nervous as well.

“You ready?” You asked, seeing him nod.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

He sighed, looking towards you.

“I know. But I have to do it for Airi. She meant everything to my little brother and me. And now she's gone because of that so-called Archon. She deserves whatever is coming her way.” He said

You nodded towards him, holding onto his hand.

“Then let’s go raise hell.” You said, both of you running in

–

Morax was laughing as he got together with some of his old friends, enjoying their company. There was beautiful music playing in the background, and large sums of food displayed on a giant table.

Presents were stacked near the center to show Morax how much of an honor he is to everyone else.

Although, every now and then, he stopped and went to a secluded area to be with himself. That was only when he kept thinking of you. He remembered how excited you would get for his birthday, which he thought was adorable. He didn’t really care for these big celebrations. All he cared about was spending time with you, which he did every single year…until now.

This would be the first year ever where he didn’t get to see you or even speak to you.

He wrapped his arms around himself, missing your touch. Missing your scent. Missing your beautiful smile and laughter. No one could match up to you, not even Guizhong.

He knew she was trying to help him move on, but it wasn’t working. All he kept thinking about was you. Whenever he and Guizhong would go out, he just kept thinking about how you would’ve loved it. No matter what he did, you were always on his mind. And that is something he just couldn’t seem to get rid of.

He just wishes he could see you one more time. That’s it. He wanted to hug you tight, kiss you, feel you…but most of all, he wanted to apologize to you. He wanted to pour out everything to you to make you realize how sorry he was. He knew it would be hard for you to forgive him, but he would do everything he could to make you at least think about it.

However, he was snapped out of his imagination when he heard screaming and doors smashing open.

He quickly looked over to see where the commotion was coming from only to see something he thought he would never see again.

“Y/n…” he whispered, his breath hitching as he saw you. He was about to run towards you to hug you, only to stop in his tracks as he saw something that made his heart drop.

He saw you holding another person’s hand…another man’s hand.

He glared at the boy as he saw this, his heart shattering into pieces as he saw you hold him close. Was it possible that you had moved on? All this time while he was struggling to even stop thinking about you? You just acted like it was nothing?

Suddenly, another voice was heard from behind him.

“Welcome back, Y/n.” He heard Guizhong say, coming up from behind him.

“It’s a surprise to see you back.”

____________________________

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@hannya-writes

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desswright29 · 9 months

Text

The Golden Stairs

Pairing: Shuri X Reader

Word Count: 6.3k

Contains: Fluff (hella fluffy), Some angst, and Smut, romantic proposal 🥰, Shuri is in looove!

A/n: I wrote and deleted this several times over the past month. This story stomped me in my chest, grabbed me by my hair and banged my head against the wall! But I wrote it cause I love y’all.

Please enjoy! 😄

Y/n pov

My heart rate increased as I sat in the car releasing short and quick puffs of air to control my erratic breathing. Palms sweaty and limbs shaking, I glanced into the side mirror to see if my eyes had deceived me. They had not. There she stood in all of her regality, stuck in the center of the sidewalk, hands intertwined infront of her body as she stared into space. She rocked a low cut now, making her look attractively mature; and the black and white suit did her all the more justice. Even with all of that, she looked lost. I pulled my eyes from the mirror as they began to burn from the tears threatening to fall. Why was she here? Why today of all days, would she show up! Ofcourse she would, It was classic Shuri to show up and shift my atmosphere on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. No! It is indeed the happiest day of my life! I won’t allow her to get inside of my head. I get a handle on my breathing, remembering how Shuri destroyed me. Destroyed us! I’ve moved on and I’m receiving the love I deserve. So, fuck her!

“Baby.” A soft baritone called from the drivers side of the car, releasing me from my mental torment. A tear involuntarily escaped my eye as I turned to look at my new husband, plastering on the best smile I could muster. “You ok? What’s going on Peaches?” The concern etched onto his face while he comfortingly gripped my hand, caused a slight ache in my chest. He was always so good to me, so patient. How dare I still care for Shuri. “Of course! I’m just overwhelmed my love. This has been such a beautiful day. I can’t believe we’re married now! We made it Mike!” I laugh wiping away the tears that fell for her, trying to lighten the mood as I attempted to push the thoughts of her away. Don’t mistake my shock for unhappiness with my situation. Michael has been nothing short of amazing from the moment he began to pursue me. He consistently handled my heart with care, and gave me grace from the side effects of the trauma my relationship with Shuri had caused. He loved me whole, and never left room for doubt. Still, seeing Shuri after so long, brought long forgotten emotions back to the forefront. Now, I can’t help but think about how this should’ve been us.

—————————————————————————

3 years Ago

No matter how often you’d been granted access into Wakanda, your mind could never quite comprehend the magnitude of its beauty. Your eyes were bright with wonder as you watched the towering buildings of Capital City twinkle in the night sky. They whisked by as you were driven through the city streets in the Royal Rolls Royce. To think that this country was a testament to the inconceivable intellect of your woman always baffled you. The thought of her belonging to you made you swell with pride.

It had been two years and 5 months since she’d placed her heart on her sleeve for you in the parking lot of a club. Likely one of her lowest moments, but she’d put her pride aside to fight for you. Baring her soul, making promises of placing the world at your feet. Fittingly, you were skeptical after all that had transpired. So you made her work for your time and effort. Putting pressure on her that could build warriors. Every grand gesture was met with push back, every slick word, met with skepticism and rebuttal. If she was going to have you, It was going to be pure and honest. All of the requisite steps to protecting your heart had been taken. You kept it up until you eventually broke her.

After months of her pouring her all into the extended apology, you both lie side by side on a plush blanket; one completely disconnected from the other. A navy gradient was the backdrop for a full moon; the night sky so clear you could almost see every crater. You both stared up into a blanket of star’s, as the vodka clear lake shimmered, luminescent in the moons glow. A picnic basket filled with all of your favorites seperated the two of you, along with flowers Shuri had hand picked herself. Fairy lights hung from the trees surrounding you, rose petals spread sporadically across the blanket while four lanterns illuminated each corner.

Another perfectly planed date was coming to an end. Shuri made sure to cross every T and dot every I, and still you showed minimal interest. Hardly engaging in conversation, Nitpicking the food and quite frankly you seemed bothered to be around her. Quiet. The crickets chirped, and the water was still. Staggered breathing, and a sniffle caught your attention; and you turn to look at Shuri just in time to catch the moonlight highlight the lone tear falling down her cheek into her ear. Jaw clenching and trembling as she swallowed, trying to hold back a sob. God! She even made crying look glorious.

“What are we doing?” Her voice trembled and broke, betraying her strong front. She didn’t make a move to look in your direction. “Well, I’m just waiting on you to take me ho-“ Shuri cut you off, sitting up abruptly. “Stop! Stop it y/n!” Her voice raised in a desperate plea. “I c-can’t keep doing this.” Her hands shot up to her uniformed curls, pushing them back from her forehead in a frenzy, as though she couldn’t stand the feel of them against her skin. Her anxiety in the moment causing sensory issues. “I understand I hurt you, but you said you’d give me a fair chance, baby y-you don’t seem to want this. Ndiyakuthanda, ngako konke endinako (I love you, with all I have). Giving so much of myself and watching you not want it. Is killing me.”

“Shuri-“

“Wait.” She released a shaky breath “I’m giving it my all uthando (love), It would tear me to peices to watch you walk away, but I’m doing the work. I need to know will it ever be enough.” Now sitting up, you stared out at the water, tears running down your cheeks. “This.. this is all so perfect Shuri. This date and every other one you put effort into. All of the gifts were well thought out. Nothing gaudy or over the top. You’ve been perfection. What I’m saying is, I see your effort, I see the changes in you, I’ve appreciated and enjoyed every single moment we’ve spent together. But, I’m so scared Shuri. So afraid of the love I have for you. It’s all consuming. I look into those eyes Shuri and I want to melt into you. I want to let go of the fear and breathe you in, bask in this feeling of being loved carefully, and protectively. But every single fucking time there’s this feeling of impending doom.” You look straight into her eyes, wanting to make your next point exceedingly clear. “I can’t allow you to believe that it would ever be ok for you to treat me the way you did before. If you want me, I want it to be only me Shuri. Don’t play games with my heart.” Shuri’s head began to shake fervently side to side.

“I wish I’d never been so careless with your heart intombi eswiti (sweet girl). It took some time to recognize my mistakes. To see past my own selfishness, but I would give up everything if it meant I could finally call you mine officially. I’d give the air from my lungs for that honor. Only if it’s what you want too. I could allow you to walk away right now, if that is what would make you happy. However, I’d always be waiting for you. You placed the love back into my heart and then you took it as your own. I belong to you. So, I’m begging you y/n. Be with me. I want the chance to cherish you as my woman. I want to take my time with your heart. Continue learning to give you the love I know that you want and deserve from me. My ego has long been placed aside sthandwa. I love you y/n.”

You’d pulled your legs into your chest, hugging your shins, and sobbing into your knees. Shuri moved in front of you, sitting legs spreading excepting you inbetween them, she grabbed both sides of your face, pulling your head up to face her. Both of your eyes were swollen and red, wet and dry tears coating your faces. “I love you, I love you, I love you” She repeated, you could hear her heart pour from her voice as she stared into your deep brown irises. You finally break falling into her arms. She held you in her arms, pressing your head against her chest. She rocked you like a baby as she continued to reassure you. Kissing your forehead, speaking words of affirmation as you cried together. That night you would officially become hers. Mind, Body, and Soul.

————————————————————————

It’d been two years to the day, and Shuri had kept her word; becoming all you could have asked for and things you could have never imagined. With you by her side she’d become the most noted ruler of Wakanda. Yes, Ofcourse with the worlds obsession with attractiveness, the whispers around the world began from Shuri’s first live press conference in America. It was said that Wakanda had the most beautiful, androgynous Queen anyone had ever seen; who had a swagger that could bring any man or woman to their knees. But then, Shuri consistently began breaking through ceilings of limitations people placed upon her.

Politicians saw her and expected some young suave, conceited, scientist that however intelligent, was unfit to rule. It was an easy and popular consensus. However, She was not only intelligent, she was the smatest person in the world, She spoke with the power and authority of Romanda, She was strong, compassionate, and open minded as T’challa had been, But cross her or her people and she could easily summon her inner N’jadaka. Anyone who had ever doubted her felt regret every moment of her reign as Queen. She OOZED power. But she had a weakness.

You quickly rose to fame. Becoming a Queen in your own right, having a work ethic like no one had ever seen. Being a genius level engineer had worked in your favor in the industry. Not only were you surpassing all other artist in lyricism and vocal ability; Your shows were a site to behold. You and Shuri created the most elaborate sets, and people lined up for miles to witness your greatness. People had tried to account your success with your connection to the Queen, until it became apparent that your talent was undeniable. Your life with Shuri was what dreams where made of. Wakanda loved and excepted you as though you were their own. You created peace for Shuri, creating a calm joy in her that she never believed she would have again. She was grounded by you. The sound of your voice, your innocent smile, hell just the mention of your name brought an uncontainable smile to her face. Your relationship with Shuri became the embodiment of what love should be.

The car coming to a stop jarred you out of your thoughts. As your driver exited the car, you reach for your purse pulling out your compact mirror to check your make up. It was perfection, courtesy of Shuri. You’d flown into Wakanda this morning after celebrating the last show of your 6 month tour with your crew. She hadn’t been able to make the show which wasn’t a rare occurrence for either of you with both of your demanding schedules, but you both always made it up to one another. This time you were pretty sure that Shuri was planning something unecessarily extravagant for your anniversary so you were a bit more understanding than usual. You had been correct. As soon as you’d landed you were greeted with staff whisking you off to a day of pampering. Nakia, and Aneka accompanied you.

There was brunch, massages, mani’s and pedi’s and you decided to get your natural hair in a wash and go. You’d come back home hoping to finally see Shuri but were met with a beautiful nude gown that was covered in Swarovski crystals and had a split traveling all the way up your thigh to the hip. There was a full glam squad waiting on you and you were told you’d be meeting Shuri at a recently opened restaurant in the inner city. As always Shuri had gone above and beyond! You shut your mirror placing it back into your bag and adjust your dress.

The door to the car was opened and you gracefully place your heeled foot onto the pavement below you to exit the car. An unexpected gasp came from your throat as you take in your surroundings. In front of you was the most magnificent grand staircase that appeared to be made of solid gold and vibranium. Various cultural symbols from Wakanda were carved into them. At the bottom of the stairs, Two men in traditional Wakandan garb from the golden tribe waited with single white roses with golden stems.

The driver offered you his arm, and you took it still wide eyed, at the beautifully unique staircase. You met the two men at the bottom of the stairs. The driver released you and stepped back with a slight nod, signaling the men to take over, as he walked away. The men handed you the roses. “Good evening, Ms. Y/l/n” They both say. One offered you his arm while the other stepped behind holding your small train. As you stepped forward onto the first stair, the symbols on the stairs glowed white revealing the symbols were placed strategically, ultimately creating a large portrait of 2 Queens face to face. Violins began to swell, as a holographic wall appears infront of you.

If I Ain’t Got you. Written by Shuri Udaku

Appeared on the wall in front of you as you continued up the steps. It disappeared only to be replaced with a photo of you and Shuri. You immediately giggle at the memory. It was the first official picture taken of you both as a couple. Courtesy of Nakia. You’d spent all night christening your new relationship, and she thought it’d be funny to snap a picture of your irritated faces as she burst in on your “honeymoon” the next morning. You and Shuri’s face both mirrored irritatation, as you sat snuggled into her lap with a blanket covering you both. Various pictures continued to scroll into the night sky with each step you took. Your heart rate was slowly increasing as piano now began to accompany the violins as you ascended the stairs.

At the height of the stairs, your breath catches in your throat and your eyes glass over. “No way this is happening” A large fountain spreads across the massive courtyard of a white and gold building, water jutted out like geysers on both sides of a glass pathway through the center of the pool. The walkway illuminated by lighting, different shades of white and purple, which happened to be yours and Shuri’s favorite color. As breathtaking as the sight was, it paled in comparison to the view of your friends and family surrounding the marble courtyard. Seated on either side of the pool there was a full orchestra, and lines of people waiting for you with white roses with golden stems. Your eyes brimmed with tears.

A voice rang out, causing you to look ahead that’s when you finally noticed Alicia freaking Keys sitting at a piano in the front of the fountain. The lyrics of the song appeared above her like subtitles as she sang. Your friends and family began to walk up to you each handing you a rose smiling from ear to ear. Giving little comments like “You’re so beautiful” or “Get it girl”. Some were already in tears.

Some people live for the fortune

Some people live just for the fame

Some people live for the power, yeah

Some people live just to play the game

Some people think

That the physical things

Define what's within

And I've been there before

That life's a bore

So full of the superficial

Listening to the lyrics your girlfriend wrote, your heart swelled. You almost stopped paying attention to the people handing you flowers, until at the end of the lines of people you see your mother and your sister practically beaming at you. As soon as you see them you let out a soft sob slightly bending at the waist. Your sister ran up to you. Grabbing you into a hug. She pulled tissues from her bag and gently dabbed your eyes. “You look so beautiful sister, don’t mess up your beautiful make up before she see’s you.” She says with a tear escaping her own eye. Your mother reached you both, face beaming with pride as she grabbed your hand squeezing. “Mommy! Dani! H-how?”

“She’s been planning this since you went on tour. Well she got us involved at that point, but something tells me she’s been planning this day from the moment you said yes to being her girlfriend.” Your mother stated gesturing in amazement at the everything Shuri had put together. Her and your sister share an amused chuckle. “How did everyone get here? I was just with my crew before I got on my flight.” You were amazed and confused. “She sent jets Ofcourse” Your sister rolled her eyes and laughed at how casually she was able to say that. Shuri had sent 15 jets to locations only disclosed to the people you held closest to your heart. That would be family, best friends, and your main crew from work that was always with you. She’d made sure they were greeted by her and comfortably housed for their stay. The things your love was capable of. “Come on” She said grabbing your arm as your mother grabbed the other. “Pay attention” She says, as they walk you to the edge of the fountain to continue watching Alicia perform with the orchestra and pictures of you and Shuri continue to appear.

Some people search for a fountain

Promises forever young

Some people need three dozen roses

And that's the only way to prove you love them

Hand me the world on a silver platter

And what good would it be

With no one to share, with no one who truly cares for me

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you, baby

If I ain't got you, baby

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you, you, you

Your head lay on your mothers shoulder as your sister continuously dabs at your eyes, and checks your makeup. The doors to the building opened and twelve Dora file out six heading right and six heading left in single file lines. Once they get in position they faced center. And then there she was. Shuri. Okoye to the left of her and Nakia to the right of her. Your eyes immediately connect with hers as the music began to swell. Shuri began walking towards the other end of the path as the Dora threw their arms across their chest in salute as she walked past. She was stunning in a simple black suit tailored to perfection with a diamond harness, and her heeled boots. You loved when Shuri wore heels. Your sister squeezed your arm, and you lifted your head to look at her, she took your flowers, and they both looked at you eyes watering smiles setting their faces aglow. “Go on, baby. Go get your woman.” Your mother says. You smile, turning seeing that Shuri was standing at the end of the pathway waiting for you. You take a deep breath, and step onto the glass as Shuri does the same. Swallowing, you walk toward the love of your life, your gorgeous gown flowing behind you, as water shot into the sky beside you with each step you both took.

If I ain't got you with me, baby, oh, ooh

Said nothing in this whole wide world don't mean a thing

If I ain't got you with me, baby

You now stood face to face with Shuri. Your body shaking with anticipation. Nerves getting the best of you already. Her eyes were glassed over already holding back tears. She let out a deep calming breath grabbing both of your hands.

“Molo mntu omhle (Hello Beautiful)” Her voice echoed throughout the area so that everyone could hear. You offer her a soft smile as you let out a wet exhale. Her eyes sparkled as she looked down into your eyes. “I’m sure you’ve gathered what is happening by now.” She smiles, and giggles were heard around the yard. “ I was inside the building kind of panicking, because I wanted to do this from the heart.” She let go of one of your hands placing her right hand over her heart. “So I didn’t write anything and my mind was going blank in there because I’m nervous as hell!” More laughter erupted as you let out a chuckle. She grabs your hand again.

“I knew though, that once I was in your presence, everything I needed to say would come rushing at me. You’ve always had that effect on me. In my position I have to always be strong, logical, unemotional. But with you I’m just Shuri. To everyone else I’m The Black Panther, and to you I’m just Kitty.” She shakes her head at everyone’s laughter. “I can’t believe I said that outloud. When I met you, I was searching for something, little did I know it was someone. The girl of my dreams. The one who would unapologetically give all of her love to me. You stood beside me as a friend, and I knew that I could always depend on you, that anything life threw at me you’d be there beside me. You’ve been my strength when I wanted to give in. I could spend a lifetime showing you how special you are to me. You made it easy for me in the loneliest times of my life. I knew the moment I saw you dance I wanted to marry you. Cause damn.”

She bit her lip grinning and nodding to herself. You softly hit her arm. “Move it along perv.” You say as laughter filled the area. “But really, everything about you seemed so familiar to me. The feel of your hands, the way you felt in my arms. If I could go back in time, I’d tell you thank you. Let you know your as beautiful now as you were then. Hold your hands just like I’m doing now. The same hands I’ll hold in front of a minister, the same hands that’ll carry my son and his sister. I’d thank you for the first kiss in three weeks, for when we make love in six weeks. For the ring you’d wear proudly 3 years from then. For when you say I do in fall and for those beautiful children of ours. I know it would sound strange because we would have just met. But I’d be thanking you in advance.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. At this point you were trying not to hyperventilate.

Shuri with her own tears streaming down her face, licked her lips and let out a puff of air before continuing “We’ve been through so much intombi yam (my girl) we’ve laughed, like when you had that show in Georgia and as we left the arena someone in traffic was playing “wipe me down” and you climbed on the roof of our moving car just in time to yell” Everybody in the crowd yells it out as Shuri says it “B.O.O.S.I.E B.A.D.A.Z.Z THATS ME!” The crowd was roaring as you did a little twerk as they sang. Shuri threw her head back laughing. Everyone had saw that video, it went viral and was on every news station across the world. “You pissed Okoye off that day. But that’s what I love about you. You’re fearless and nobody makes me laugh like you. We’ve cried. In the beginning I didn’t go about us in the best way. And I’ll spend the rest of our lives making that up to you, if you’ll have me.” She got down on one knee, and you let out choked sobs. “As Queen and Black Panther. I kneel to no one. But today and forever after I kneel to you humbly. Y/f/n will you do me the honor of being my lifetime partner, my wife, my Queen.” She pulled out a box opening it to reveal one large oval diamond with a vibranium band with clustered diamonds. You were absolutely speechless. All you could manage was a breathless “yes” as you nodded.

Shuri smiled big sliding the ring onto your finger before standing and scooping you into her arms, holding you by your waist as you grabbed her face placing kisses all over before finally connecting your lips as she spun you in circles. Fireworks started to go off as you heard “ Happily Ever After” by Case began to play in the back ground. That was one of your favorite songs. You pull back looking into her eyes. “I’m so in love with you”

“I hope so fiancé.” she says as she finally placed you on your feet. As soon as she placed you on your feet your mom and your sister rushed you. “Let me see the ring!!“ your sister yells. You proudly hold out your hand as you guys scream and jump around together “OH MY GOD that is beautiful sister! You did your big one with this one sis! Big Panther not the lil one!” She said turning towards Shuri and hugging her. Shuri stepped back and popped her lapel “Well you know” You all share a laugh as your mom pops your sisters arm. “Danielle act like you got some sense!” Your mom says as she hugs you. “I’m so happy for you y/n. You seem to be in wonderful hands.” She turns to Shuri giving her a hug. “Thank you for loving my daughter the way you do. I’m so happy to welcome you as my bonus daughter. You’ve got plenty of family now, so visit as often as you can.” Shuri teared up a bit more going in for another hug with your mother. “Of course we will. You won’t be able to get rid of me”

Nakia, Okoye, Aneka, and Ayo all come up and embrace you giving you congrats and gawking at the ring. Nakia pulls you to the side, holding your hand as Shuri and M’Baku teased one another. “Thank you y/n for loving her the way you do.” You gave a soft smile. “I don’t have a regret in the world Nakia.” She steps up and engulfs you in a long embrace.

————————————————————————

The rest of the night was filled with drinking, laughter, music, dancing, pictures and congratulations. You and Shuri had finally entered the sanctity of your second home. Both of you heading straight toward the bedroom upon entering your home. Entering the bedroom you’re surprised once again to see that Shuri had had it decorated for the night while you both were out. Candles lit up the room, with rose petals and balloons. There was a large assortment of fruit with whipped cream, honey, and chocolate sauce lined across the top of the tray, and a bottle of champagne with two glasses, sitting at the center of the bed. “Baby I can’t cry anymore tonight. I’m going to turn into a puddle.” You’d already started crying. She walked up to you pressing her body against yours, placing a soft kiss to your lips “Nwabela usuku lwakho owaqala ngalo iqabane” (happy anniversary fiancé).

“Happy Anniversary sweet lady” You bite your lip as Shuri bit hers smiling and blushing. She began helping you out of your dress and you both collapsed onto the bed. Shuri sat up straight on the headboard as you straddled her lap nuzzling your head into her neck, nothing but your panties on, as she absentmindedly massaged your back.

“Shuri”

“Hm”

“You’re beautiful. Everything about you.” You sit up looking into her eyes. “You never cease to amaze me, and I am so proud of you and how far you’ve come my love. How far we’ve come together. Today was beautiful. I couldn’t have dreamed of a proposal more perfect. You caught me completely off guard. I’m so thankful that I get to call you mine for the rest of our lives baby. You have my heart forever.” Shuri with tears in her eyes closed the distance kissing you with a slow passion. Gently, she laid you onto your back as the kiss became hungrier, hands roaming your body with intention. Every touch meant to cause pleasure. “I’m going to give you my all tonight.” Is all she said before she pulled away from you completely. She removed her harness and her suit jacket and you weren’t surprised to see there was nothing underneath. But all the same your core leaked with want and your mouth began to water.

Shuri hovered over your body, bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she lowered herself onto you maneuvering her head to settle into the crook of your neck. She inhaled deeply taking in your scent, slowly she began licking the area where your neck and jaw connect. She lapped at it like a cat three times before giving it a hard pulsing suck. Drawing out a long moan from your throat. She pulled back and stared deep into your eyes. You looked up at her; your juicy lips slightly ajar, want written all over your face. That’s when you witnessed it. Her usual deep dark brown irises, turned green. Pupils turning vertical, like slits as her inner feline came out to play. You gasped. Heart rate increasing in excitement. This was new.

Suddenly, you hear a ‘KHOOOAAA’ sound and a cool sensation hitting your nipples. You gasp looking down to see Shuri applying whipped cream to your breast. You’d been so distracted by her eyes that you’d totally missed her reach for the can. “Baby w-what are you doing?” “Making a sundae.” she says with a wink as she placed down the cool whip and grabs the honey. She takes the bowl of honey and the honey dipper from the tray. Using the honey dipper she placed honey over top of the whipped cream. And then with a sly smile made a trail all the way down your body. You looked at her as you bit down on your lip. “Baby I’m gonna be all sticky”

“Kulungile (it’s ok). I want to get sticky and wet tonight” She winked, and you let out a moan.

“You like that huh, my dirty dirty girl” Shuri grabbed a half of a peach from the tray placing whipped cream and honey on top of it as well.

“Shuri what are you doing?” She looked over at you and tsked twice.

“Patience is a virtue my dear.” In seconds she’s back over top of you with the peach placed on your lips. “Open for me.” You opened your mouth like a good girl. As she places the peach inside. “Have a snack, while I have my meal” You bite into the peach as Shuri starts on your breast still holding the peach to your mouth. You moan looking down at her as she cleaned up the pretty mess she made all over your body. You take the peach from her hand so that she could concentrate on her meal. “Fuuck Shuri” you whisper. She looks up at you mouth messy with whipped cream and honey. Her cheeks sucked in as she gives your nipple a hard suck and releases it with a pop, getting rid of the last bit of cream. “Haaaa” you moan out. “That must be one delicious peach.” Smirking at her you take another messy bite of the peach. It’s juices running down your chin. Cream coating the corners of your mouth. Staring right into her hungry eyes you give each side of your mouth a lick.

Shuri comes up only for a moment to suck the juice from your chin and bottom lip, before continuing her path down your body. Making it down to your lace panties she took them between her teeth and with a low growl she gave one hard yank pulling them from your body. Sitting up with your black lace panties trapped between her teeth, mouth shiny from honey and traces of whipped cream. She looked sexily rabbid and you wished you could take a picture and hang it on your bedroom wall. Turning her head to the side, not taking her eyes off of you, she opened her mouth allowing the panties to drop out of her mouth. You felt your slick pool out into the crack of your ass.

“Mmm. Panther I need you please! Please fuck this pussy Queen Panther!”

“As you wish.” Shuri immediately lowered herself to your pussy, spreading your lips apart, she used the tip of her tongue to lick directly through the center of your pussy. Her head tilted to the side eyes closed as she enjoyed your taste. Moving her head up and down she went from your clit to your hole, arms wrapped under your legs holding you wide open. “Damnit! Eat that shit! Queen! More please More!”

She smirked in your pussy. Then she began to concentrate on your clit taking into her mouth giving it pulsating sucks before she started to suck and release. Building pressure at the tip of your clit. She released one of your legs placing her fingers at your entrance. “Kaninzi? (More)” Before you could answer her fingers entered you. Her other hand still wrapped around your thigh reached over to your pussy pushing back the skin above your clit giving her full access as she continued her pulsating sucks, while simultaneously massaging circles into the area above your clit, leaving no area of your pussy unsatisfied. “F-FUCK! W-what are you doing to me! W-what I-is Aaah.”

Shuri nodded her head “Mhmm” You were thrashing as Shuri easily held your legs opened, one with her forearm as she pumped, her arm wrapped around the other. As the tip of your clit began to pulse. Shuri pulled back. “Whatever you feel sthandwa let it go for me. Soak my face”. With that she placed her tongue underneath your clit and closed her mouth around it. She moved her tongue in and out of her mouth as she sucked. Your mouth fell open, but no sounds came out as your eyes rolled back into your head. Your body began to convulse and she then began to shake her head from side to side as a fountain of liquid poured from your womanhood.

————————————————————————

When you opened your eyes. You were confused. You were still in bed but had been cleaned up and placed under a new cozy comforter. You were facing Shuri’s side of the bed. But she wasn’t there. It didn’t take long to figure out where she was once you felt a light breeze. Both doors to the balcony where open and Shuri sat on her knees infront of them. Just as you were about to get up to walk toward her, her voice echoed through the room

“Bast, I know I don’t talk to you as often as I should. But, I wanted to properly thank you. I was so lost when y/n came into my life. And I know I’ve been careless with her. That is unmistakable. I was young and confused. I wanted to feel anything. I don’t understand everything about what you did. However, I am eternally greatful for you sending her to soften the blow. For giving me a love that stands through any and everything.” Her voice caught in her throat as she choked back tears. As she stretched her arms to her sides. “With open arms, I promise to give her my all, every part of me, because I know she is my destiny.” She let go of a sob. “I finally know. I’m so glad. I thank you Bast for showing me the one, I am no longer searching, She’s so perfect, Bast. Please don’t take her from me. Please.” She ended in a whispering plea as she let the dam break. Covering your mouth as tears poured from your eyes. You let her have her moment with Bast.

————————————————————————

Present

It was 2:14 am, and you sat on the edge of the hotel bed next to your sleeping husband. You were crying for her. The memory taking a hold of your heart. Sliding down the side of the bed with your face buried in your hands. You grabbed your phone from the nightstand and took it into the bathroom. Your palms were sweaty as you searched for a number. You found what you were looking for and your thumb hovered over the contact until you got a serge of bravery and hit the call button. The phone rang three times before you got an answer.

Nakia: Y/n?

“Where can I find her?”

Taglist: @imjusthere2readbruv,@6-noir,@oceean,@sleepynggafr,@blacksapphhicmaddonna,@bbbbbbrilliantly

A/n: If you’re a fan of the Shame series you have more than likely realized that this is Part 6 to the series. If you’re not. Welcome. I hope you enjoyed! Part 7 will be out soon and it will be the FINAL CHAPTER!

#letitia wright #letitiawright #shuri udaku #spotify #shuri x reader #shuri fanfiction #shuri x you #shuri angst #shuri fic #shuri smut #shuri black panther #shuri imagine #Spotify

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contentconsumer · 2 years

Text

but you don’t like coffee?

a/n: just something to get me back into writing and rn i’m crushing so hard on steve harrington, maybe a future series? just some fluff lol, not my gif!

word count: 1k(ish)

requested?: no, requests are closed but ships are OPEN

pairing: steve harrington x reader

warnings?: usual stranger things vibes/warnings, steve being wholesome,

summary: mutual pinning between the scoops ahoy worker and the barista across the food court.

robin was sick and tired of watching steve stare at the new girl across the mall. ever since you started working at a cafe opposite scoops ahoy in the food court, steve had suddenly taken a new found enthusam for being on the front desk - and robin wasn’t stupid, she had noticed his ‘slightly creepy’ staring at the poor girl who she remembered from their shared timed in high school. what was also creeping robin out was the fact steve was now early to his shifts, steve was many things but early was not one of them. robin’s breaking point was when she picked up on the fact steve had stopped trying to hit on every teenage girl who entered a 5 foot radius.

on this particular wednesday robin could make out your figure clearing tables, simply minding your own business, with a sigh she turns to face steve who’s eyes are already following you, “why don’t you just talk to her?” “talk to who?” steve tries to play dumb, “the cafe girl you’ve been ooggling for the past 2 weeks” “her name is Y/N” “oh, she has a name!” robin claps her hands sarcastically, “brillant, so enlighten me - why do you know her name?” “because we went to high school with her” steve raises an eyebrow finally taking his gaze of you to stare at robin, “steve, do you really expect me to believe you remember a girl from high school who you probably never spoke to.” “how do you know i never spoke to her?” steve counters “did you ever speak to her?” “no, but-” “there is no but, why do you know her name? oh my god- have you been stalking this poor girl?” “what? NO! i just may have started visiting their cafe everyday before or after my shift” steve admits somewhat sheepishly “so you’re telling me that you’ve spoken to this girl” robin gestures wildly with her hands, “but not asked her out of made a move? thats not very king steve of you” she uses quotation marks with her fingers, “look, i’ve tried but she’s just” steve looks around exasperatedly, “different” robin gasps, “she makes you nervous” “no, i never said that!” “but that’s what it is, isn’t it? isn’t it?” robin repeated over and over poking steve in the side causing steve to lose his temper and bickering to occur, what they don’t realise while caught up in their argument is you walking into the store, in fact neither of them have any clue you’re there until you cough slightly and mumble a very quiet, ‘excuse me’.

the pair in front of you physically jump apart at the sound of your voice, “sorry i um didn’t mean to scare y’all” you cringe, “i was just wondering if you guys had any spare whipped cream we’ve ran out? i know it sounds so stupid but theres this kid at the cafe i work at right now having a full on meltdown because i said i couldn’t put any on his hot chocolate and i swear to god if i have to listen to a 2 year old screech in my fucking ear one more time i’m gonna loose it” you press your lips together offering a smile after your small rant.

for once in her life robin decides to actively help steve out by giving him the chance to reply to you yet after an awkward amount of silence she glances at him out of the corner of her eye to find his cheeks a deep crismon, he is nervous, she thinks before deciding to cut in to help whatever the fuck is going on, “uh yeah we do, i’ll go grab some!” she wanders off leaving you and steve again in silence, slightly cursing him to do something - anything.

you cannot take much more of steve’s gawking at you, “so how's it going?” you offer a conversation starter, this helps snap steve out of his daze, “uh yeah, it’s um, it’s going - h-h-how are you?” he slightly stumbles over his words and you can see a red creep up his neck, “yeah i’m good” and soon you fall into a small conversation in which you decide to ask, “i was actually wondering if maybe you want-” “i got it!” robin reappears cutting off your almost-date proposal, with a sigh you slap on a smile and take the cream from her, “thanks so much,” you start to back out of the store, “oh and steve? i’ll have your regular ready for you tomorrow” you smile, “you’re a lifesaver” steve calls after you, his mind racing through what just happened and if you were going to ask what he thought you were going to, “your regular?” robin cocks an eyebrow, “black coffee.” steve mumbles, “steve!” robin exclaims “you don’t even like coffee!” “i might” “no you don’t and that’s a fact! once i let you try some of mine to which you said and i quote it tastes like ‘satans asshole’” “well maybe it’s grown on me” “no,” robin tuts “Y/N has grown on you” robin teases, “yeah well you ruined that chance,” steve pouts slightly, “what?” his best friend stares blankly at him, “she was gonna ask me something but you cut her off with your stupid cream!” “she asked for the cream!” “well you couldn’t wait 5 minutes?” steve shrugs with wide eyes waving his arms manically.

you wander back across the mall, and a sigh escapes your lips once you get back to your cafe, where your friend and co-worker is staring at you with an expectant gaze, “well?” she asks, to which you shake your head, “i didn’t get to ask him, i got interrupted.” “ah too bad kid,” Y/B/F says ruffling, “well there's always tomorrow, when he comes in for his coffee which he throws away after talking to you” “yeah” you giggle, “there’s always tomorrow” “and once he says yes to going out with you please stop staring at him across the food court, you’re making many families and myself uncomfortable with you eye undressing” “hey!” you get defensive “i don’t eye-” “yes, yes you do Y/N” a blush covers your face, “in my defense, i think it’s the hair” this leaves both you and your coworker in an abundance of laughter all while robin and steve are back in another argument, going back and forth about how ‘robin ruined the moment’.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things masterlist #stranger things ship #contentconsumer #steve x reader #steve imagine #robin #robin buckley #stranger #things

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stormyoceans · 1 month

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top5 puentalay kisses/hugs?

im pretty late with this but i would never pass up a chance to be annoying about vice versa so here we go!!!!!!! (also im not sure if i was supposed to pick only one of the two but again I SIMPLY CANNOT PASS UP A CHANCE TO BE ANNOYING ABOUT VICE VERSA IM SORRY)

TOP 5 PUENTALAY KISSES

1. greyllery kiss in episode 8. this is their first mutual kiss after two one-sided kisses, three almost kisses, three cheek kisses, and one forehead kiss. not to mention the hugs, the cuddles, the promises, the sleeping in the same bed, the taking a bath together, and i could go on but imma stop here before i get involuntary committed. we waited so long for this kiss and when it finally happened it was everything we could have ever asked for and MORE: the confession, the music, the parallels with the glasshouse kiss, the fact that it happens when the lights are out because they love each other for who they really are and not for the body they inhabit, puen's single tear......IT'S PERFECT.

2. glasshouse kiss in episode 4. i know having a one-sided kiss for second place doesn't seem fair but in my defense this kiss makes me go through such a plethora of human emotions that i feel like i need to go lay in the dirt for several hours to climb down from the sheer manic unhinged rabid energies that got me going on. y’all must be tired of hearing me say the same things over and over again about this kiss but. the build up!!!!!! the emotions!!!!!! the music!!!!!! IM NOT EVEN KIDDING WHEN I TELL YOU THIS KISS IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE.

3. beach kiss in our skyy episode 2. our skyy may have given us only one kiss but WHAT A KISS IT WAS. it feels like a sum of all their previous ones, the cycle closing with a recollection of the past and a promise for the future, as the kiss itself lets us know that no matter what's gonna happen from that moment on, they will always love each other like the very first day. and if the reminder of the drunk kiss in episode 2 wasn’t enough to drive this point across, the song they used during this scene is the same as the one they played during the greyllery kiss, which you know. [FEMALE HYSTERIA]

4. foggy glasses kiss in episode 12. honestly can't think of any other scene in television history that was able to so perfectly portray a fictional character being left breathless, lightheaded, and weak at the knees by a kiss. the way puen is holding talay's head with BOTH OF HIS HANDS to keep talay in place which barely gives talay any time to take a breath...... the way they're so close and entangled in each other that you can barely tell where one starts and the other ends...........this kiss literally be turning both me and talay into the 🥴 emoji every single time.

5. reunion kiss in episode 11. it was a tough choice between this one and the bathtub kiss in episode 10, but in the end i had to go with their first kiss in their real bodies, not just because of this, but because there's so much love and comfort and reassurance packed in it. this kiss is the meeting of two souls who have missed and found each other again. it's the promise of being together for the rest of their life AND I FEEL SO NORMAL ABOUT IT IT’S HONESTLY INSANE HOW NORMAL AND HINGED AND SANE AND FINE I FEEL ABOUT IT.

TOP 5 PUENTALAY HUGS

1. reunion hug in episode 11. LITERALLY THEE SINGLE MOST SCENE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION IT CHANGED THE TRAJECTORY OF MY LIFE THE FOUNDATION OF MY PERSONHOOD AND THE CHEMICAL MAKE UP OF MY BRAIN. puen says "you must be very tired. from now on, things will be okay," and that's exactly the feeling this hug conveys: everything will be fine, you're home now.

2. comfort hug in episode 6. my grasp on the english language is too limited to even attempt to put into words what this hug did to me the first time i've watched it. it made me mentally deranged in ways so profound they will only become apparent years down the line. to this day there are people out there wondering why talay even likes puen and the urge to shove this scene under their nose is immeasurable. FIND YOURSELF A PARTNER WHO WILL LISTEN TO YOUR FEARS, GIVE YOU COMFORT, AND HUG YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT TO MAKE YOU FEEL SAFE!!!!!!! (@GOD ME WHEN)

3. reconciliation hug in episode 7. I NEEDED THIS HUG JUST AS MUCH AS PUEN DID TBH. talay initiating any kind of physical affection always feels incredibly special and precious, and it is so much more here because this is him finally realizing that puen's feelings are sincere. this hug is the turning point of their relationship as talay implicitly accepts puen's love and confesses his own. it’s just so emotionally satisfying [SOBS]

4. back hug in episode 12 and in our skyy episode 1. LOOK I KNOW IM CHEATING BUT. THE DOMESTICITY THE COMFORT THE TENDERNESS THE AFFECTION THE ADORATION THE SOFTNESS THE WARMTH THE PARALLELISM THE ROMANTICISM THE SOULMATISM THE TRUE LOVISM OF IT ALL. YEARS LATER THEY'RE STILL THE SAME.

5. hourglass hug in episode 12. the hourglass with the sand that doesn’t fall!!!!!!! i don't want time to go by without you!!!!!!! from this moment on it's you and me!!!!!!! ‘city’ playing in the background!!!!!!! the moon watching over them!!!!!!! WAILING WEEPING HOWLING SCREECHING CRYING SOBBING SCREAMING--

#sorry again for the late reply and thank you so much for asking!!!!!!#hope you're having a wonderful day!!!!!! 💜💜💜#vice versa #puentalay #my top 5 #m: ask

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caffernnn · 10 months

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Free! Anniversary Fic Recs 🦋🐋🐬🦈🐧 Can you share your fav fics from each year (2013-2023) Free! has been around?

This is a very fun ask!! Lemme root through my bookmarks and see what I can find 😅

2013 - A lot of the stories I have saved from this time are shorter lil one-shots like “Never Leave” by Shimegami (classic mh hug-it-out interlude fic) and “The Sound of Settling” by teke (feelings realization stuff), but one other one I liked was “The Ocean You Gave My Heart” by miaoujones. Smut warning for that one (if that’s not your thing), but something about desert-bound Makoto learning to swim and indulge in water with Haru, thinking upon meeting him that he’s a wonder whether he’s really a mermaid or not, that’s neat!!

2014 - starting to realize the ones I kept any note of from the early years are some of the popular mh fics probably already recommended 10 times over, but there’s a reason why people sing their praises. If you haven’t checked out fics from tide tothemoon like 2/13189000 (mhtokyo my beloved), their writing is *chef’s kiss* delightful. Another AU I haven’t been able to bring myself to revisit was orihime’s reincarnation stories from “I cannot be without you, matter of fact.” There are two different stories, one where Makoto remembers their past lives and a follow up where Haru remembers, and oh that made me ache dude.

2015 - Speaking of suffering, have y’all checked out Heart’s Departure yet? I think we’ve referenced and talked about that story enough for it to speak for itself 🥴 heartbreaking circumstances but still cosmic and so so beautiful. Then, once you’re done crying about that story, hop over to “Shake the Heavens” by Ad_Astra to break down over (what I described in my ao3 bookmark) Makoto and Haru’s “inherently cataclysmic devotion.” I guess 2015 was the year of shoving the boys into tragic AUs and seeing how much they were willing to give up to get back to each other. A whole vibe

2016 - let’s goooo gamers, more AUs!! “I’d Create Oceans For You” by trashness is a fun fantasy adventure that has both tender moments and interesting action (and some banger art from donguris omggg). If you want something more future-fish-flavored that shows that happily-ever-after doesn’t save you from your grief, “Sublimation” by RedScribbler was great. You can find more of my thoughts on that one if you scroll back a bit in my “fic recs” tag — one of y’all sent it in and yeeees it was so up my alley!

2017 - Alright fellas, there are so many to choose from, because now we’re getting into the macbetha years! Who would I be if I didn’t mention “Eyes Wide Open All The Time” tbh?? It’s a long one with its own hard-hitting involved lore and world-building, but Beth builds this unique story in a way that pulls from the characters we know and love so effectively. I’ve sung the praises for this story multiple times (and could so do it again bro don’t tempt me) but I’ll end off with saying that if you’re fascinated in watching deeply-wounded people who’ve been put through hell learn how to make a life in the aftermath, there’s something special for you here. Aaaand, if you want something about 1/10 the length and not as heavy, “159 (Architect/Interior Designer AU)” by intoxicatedcinnamon has some fun moments 😌 that’s another one where you can find more of my thoughts somewhere in the fic recs tag (love when y’all send me stories 💚💙)

2018 - “Coral and Bone” by Macbetha my beloved!!!! Wanna play mermaids and fight the gods? Maybe try to find that summer magic that makes you want to keep going and accidentally fall in love on the way? I am puuushing you toward this story bestie. Everyone’s here and everyone’s having fun! OH ALSO I’m throwing in “Night Changes” by SEMellark because I love stories where Makoto and Haru actually figure out how to talk to each other. (Side note — a lot of these are probably gonna be things I’ve rec’d in the past, so feel free to scroll my tag for more details and consider this list an extra endorsement 😅)

2019 - (drops basket full of love for mutuals) OOPS OOPS OOPS!!! Don’t mind me, just popping in with some “Let’s Get Married” by sagesprouts and “Anthropocene” by testosterogna, nothing to see here but some classic natsunao shenanigans and one of the sickest elemental bender AUs out there 😌✨ I also have some fics from Svana saved from this year, but I’ll be mentioning her again later so hold on okay!!

2020 - alright, now the list is getting longer with everyone jumping back in during the early pandemic days 🏃🏻‍♀️SO FIRST OFF “green eyes, you’re the one I wanted to find” by infinite_always is an absolute FLUFF FEST of a soulmate AU! Unbearably tender moments but who doesn’t love that every so often? OH AND we have another one of my all-time ultimate fic recs here!! “Reaching” by CupNoodles55 has shaped and reshaped how I look back at Eternal Summer in the way I’d want any great canon-compliant fic to. Big love for interlude scenes and extra bits that help recontextualize or deepen what a moment could’ve meant in the show. Gonna end off 2020 with “The Sea Aflame” by Dizzydodo because even though this urban fantasy story is unfinished, I was super drawn in by the prospects of dragon!Makoto and whatever god stuff was going on with Sousuke. An interesting universe I love thinking about again from time to time.

2021 - Starting off strong with “love on the water, love underwater (and so on)” by rudimentaryflair because we love introspection here!!! Lovely writing style with lines that make me want to scale the walls. This take on Makoto is so so special. Also gonna rec “To Clear Away Today” by suhmayzooka (omg hiiii) if you want to be thrown into another hard-hitting intricate AU with loads of potential. Love exploring what we’ve got to see of the world so far 💞 and OOOH IT’S TIME!! “Extraordinary” by Svana_Vrika is basically canon to me at this point. Svana has a lot of sweet shorter stories with Makoto and Haru (look here, look here), but this one is everythinggg my guy. Similar appeal to “Reaching” mentioned earlier: a story of interludes that bring the story we already know to life in a delightful new way. Required reading for mhtokyo fans forreal. ONE LAST ONE OKAY!! “Teacher” by VeloxVoid is a great future fic with teacher!Makoto and artist!Haru (and I’m not biased just bc it was a gift exchange for me with details fit to my specific tastes wdym🧍🏻). Domestic blisssss

2022 - Ooh we’ve almost caught up y’all ☺️ gonna start with “All This and Heaven Too” by SocksAreArgyle because sometimes the bestie crafts a smorgasbord of smut with a delicious throughline of character/relationship development baked in. If you want your choice of spicy makoharus or some character exploration, you’re SET with this one. Next is “I Let My Heart Go” by martincrieff because sometimes the bestie looks at poor pining Makoto and goes “you know what would be messed up?” AND I JUST !!! So full of love and now full of flower petals. Hanahaki!Makoto my dearest boy!! Aaaand ending off the year with some tender mh (to Ikuya’s detriment) in “The Night Train” by Lizzyboo. They’re so softtt with each other and UGH this story is so nice. Love watching people take the crumbs from FS/FS2 and make a meal 💜

2023 - The year is young! And old! So here’s some more, with who knows how many bangers yet to come 🎉 First going to throw in the Makoharu Week 2023 collection for your perusal because I saw some fantastic stories emerge from that event. If you have twitter, I’d recommend also seeing some of the threadfics posted over there from the event as well 💚💙 and I thiiink I’m gonna close off for now with “just like it was always meant to be” by tonfea because they’ve been putting out banger stories that deserve all the love. Haru introspection is one of those things that isn’t always done very well (which is especially hard to reckon with in older fics) but tonfea’s stories all have an intimate understanding about Haru’s mind and journey that just makes sense.

Alright hello we made it to the end!!! Might’ve thrown in more than expected but I hope makoharu enjoyers find something on this list that fits their fancy 🥲 (and if anyone wants to rec something or ramble about a story here that they loved I’m all ears)

#fic recs #makoharu #oops all makoharu #a wonderful stroll through the past decade #(also I didn’t tag people but quite a few of the people I mentioned are here so uhh hiiiiii)#thanks for sending <3 #anonymous

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littlemissheavenonearth · 3 months

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The Dancer and the Rockstar Pt 4 {Joe Elliott x Reader}

Sorry for making y’all wait for part 4. Here it is now! I hope you like it!

Y/N woke up at around 8 in the morning, the boys seemed to be asleep. Joe is really pretty when he is sleeping, Did I say that out loud?

She went into the main cabin and tried to find something to eat in the fridge. She found some toast and a little container of butter. This was her favorite breakfast, Tahlia made it for her all the time.

While spreading the butter on the toast, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist.

“Good morning, my love,” Said the all too familiar voice of Joe Elliott, as he rested his head on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Joey,” She whispered to him, “Want some toast?”

“I’d love some toast,” She nodded and handed a slice to him. They both sat at the table and ate in silence.

“I’m excited for the rest of the tour, now that I'm with you, I will surely enjoy it a lot more,” Joe grinned. That stupid smile, the stupid adorable smile. She couldn’t deny that she was developing a crush on her bestfriend. God, I love him.

“I’m excited too,” The girl smiled. It came out a little more high-pitched than she had hoped.

“You ok?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine…” She trailed off, which didn’t make it anymore convincing.

“Good morning,” Said a sleepy Steve with a light red almost pink robe on and dark red slippers.

“Mornin’” Joe and Y/N respond at the same time. Joe sat on the couch as the dancer cleaned the dish that once had toast on it. She hummed a little bit of “High N’ Dry (Saturday Night)”.

“Saturday Night,” She hummed, “High…”

“Saturday Night, high n’ dry….” Joe sang with her.

“You two sound good together,” Steve smiled and sipped on his tea.

“Yeah, you do,” Sav said as he walked out into the main cabin.

“Thanks guys,” The girl smiled and went to sit next to Joe on the couch, “So, where is the next show?”

“We are leaving to go to London for the show tonight, so we are on our way over there now.” Sav responded and Y/N looked out the window. She loved London, even though she had only been once before her mother died.

“I haven’t been in years,” She whispered. Suddenly, all of these memories rushed back to her and she sighed, “I had gone with my family and we had good times,”

“Wait,” Joe started, now realizing that he hadn’t seen Y/N’s mother or father when they went to the apartment, “Where are your parents?”

“Oh, you don’t know,” The girl looked down, “Mother died a few years ago and father didn’t want to deal with me alone, so he left.”

Joe went to hug his bestfriend, her mom was a wonderful person. He loved her and hearing this news felt like he was stabbed in the heart. Joe began to cry, he had never cried in front of the boys, but he did not care. Y/N also began to cry, she loved her mother. She was a very kind woman, she loved to bake and take care of animals, yeah, Y/N lived with 3 dogs and 4 cats.

“Joey, it’ll be ok, she’s still with us, in here.” The girl pointed to her heart, Joe nodded as the tears he cried began to decrease.

“I know, it’s just, I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to her,” Joe stated.

A 13 year old Y/N and her father rushed to the hospital to see her mother. She was in the hospital because she had cancer. Y/N almost refused to go to the hospital knowing that her mother was going to leave.

“Dad, I don’t want to go,” The girl whispered.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye?”

“Yes, but it’s hard, I wish I didn’t have to say goodbye,” The girl’s mother had made her feel safe in a world so truculent. A sort of emptiness filled her life after that day.

Y/N and her dad entered the hospital room and noticed that mother was awake.

“Oh, Y/N, baby, come here,”

“Mom!” Y/N rushed over to the bed and hugged her mother, “I love you, I love you, I love you!” She repeated over and over, as if she hadn’t said it enough in her past.

“I-I know you do,” Her mother stated, “I love you more than you will ever know!”

“Mom….” The girl whispered, tears falling on the bed.

“Don’t cry, my love. I will always be here,” Her mother struggled to point to the girl's heart.

“No, no, no…..” The girl trailed off.

“Tell your bestfriend, Joe, I say bye,” She said and grinned weakly. The last moments of Y/N and her mom came quicker than the girl ever imagined. Her mother passed away while holding the girl's hand and there was a special feeling about that.

“Good bye, my love,” Her mother said and closed her eyes, letting herself go. Then, all of a sudden, the world went dark, the vacuous feeling filled her world.

For a week she lived with her dad, but he really did not want to have to deal with a teenager, so he left. The girl woke and went to find her dad, but he just wasn’t anywhere around the house. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she left the house to go to her dance studio. She then found Tahlia at the front desk, Tahlia was kind of like Y/N’s second mother. She was the woman that the girl trusted most after her mother.

“Sweetie, you don’t have practice today, what are you doing here?” Lia questioned. The girl began to explain all that had happened in the past week, again tears, and lots of them. Tahlia tried to comfort her, but it only made her sadness worse. At the end of the conversation, Tahlia asked Y/N something that made her smile again after so long.

“Y/N honey, I can possibly arrange for you to move into my apartment and you can live with me and my husband.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The dancer cried, she was so lucky to have found Tahlia. She went in to hug the woman and then she whispered, “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem, honey,” Tahlia loved the fact that she could help young kids going through things like this. Y/N made Tahlia happy and she wanted to see the girl happy.

“I am so sorry, love,” Said Steve, holding the girl’s hand. The boys all nodded in agreement to Steve’s statement and they all went in to hug the girl and Joe.

“That’s all in the past now, I miss mother, of course, but she would want me to be happy,”

The rest of the morning the group finished eating breakfast and got ready. Three hours later, they made it to the venue in London, but the group went for a walk instead of staying at the venue.

“It’s just as beautiful as I remember it…” Y/N smiled. Joe walks right next to her with a smile on his face. Y/N notices and smiles again, but she also puts her hand in his and he squeezes it. There was a kind of spark when he held her hand and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

She blushed, I hope he likes me back….

#def leppard #joe elliott #steve clark #phil collen #rick allen #rick savage #joe elliott x reader #Rocksy’s fic #Part 4

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miscfandomwrites · 9 months

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Mama Chapter Nine

A/N: SO I WANT SOME THIRST and y’all are gonna get it. Just a small hint: the next few chapters will be more action and angst. As usual, if you want to be on the taglist please let me know. Also, sorry for the half-month hiatus, I’m not doing too well in school and mentally. Working on it.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Mom! Avenger! Reader

Warnings: Language

Words: 3.4k

Tagging: @tyler-t0t

“I love you Mom!” was Lillith’s only reply as she ran towards the playground, her red backpack bouncing along with her each of her steps.

I chuckled as she immediately dumped her backpack on the ground and went for the slides. I stood and watched her for a bit, before turning and getting in my jeep. Per Lillith’s request, she wanted to come to school in my old wrangler. That thing was older than me and that was definitely saying something.

I started it, feeling the entire frame shake as if my jeep was not in fact, a machine but a living breathing beast that had just woken from a ten-thousand year nap. Damn, this thing needed to be fixed. I hummed along to the radio as I drove back to the tower, enjoying the cool fall morning.

As much as I hated to admit it (I didn’t hate it) I would miss my kid. She was definitely the light of my life these past few years. It’s a wonder that she’s basically a little human and had thoughts and-Wait, I was starting to dissociate. I turned my focus back onto the road, and was delighted to find that I was less than a block away from the tower, instead of halfway to Poland.

I parked and got out, deciding to work in my workshop rather than face my empty floor. After making sure my phone and other miscellaneous belongings were with me, I headed to my main work area.

Dumping my coat and eventually my shirt on the island, I kept going through and loggin my ammunition. Someone had fucked my systems up, and I had been dutifully working on organizing things. The one thing that really fucking pissed me off was the fact that my experimental batches of my 45 ammo were mixed. It seemed like someone just took the trays and dumped them in a spare ammo can. Like seriously? Every batch had different power and some had different primers and oh-was this frustrating!

I decided that it was better to get rid of them than to deal with having ammunition that wouldn’t work out in the field. I’d rather not rest my or anyone else’s life on defective ammunition.

I kept muttering to myself about how stupid someone had to be to just mix ammunition without looking at labels as I retrived my old 45 from my gun cabiniet and grabbed some empty magazines.

I’d used the gun range in my workshop before, but I wanted to see what the tower had to offer, after all it was made of steel and glass. In fact, I was surprised I hadn’t seen the tower’s range yet.

I took out my personal 45 from its place at the small of my back and replaced it with my old one, and started loading the magazines. Bullet after bullet, magazine after magazine. I was roughly halfway through the box when I decided that two guns would be more fun, and I grabbed one of my thigh holsters and slid my personal 45 in.

As much as I’d like to not fuck with my concleled carry, I had nothing better to do the rest of the day. I was still figuring out some things as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. went to pay me, and was mostly trying to figure out if I’d need an actual job or not. Besides, I had the parts needed to make another 45 on hand.

I finished loading the magazines and counted them as I placed them back in the ammo can.

“Seventeen? Damn, I thought there’d be more…” I quietly said as I placed the last one in. I grabbed the can and headed to the elevator, where I asked FRIDAY to take me to the range.

Not even two minutes later I arrived on the sixtieth floor, which only furthered my anxiety. Glass windows surrounded us on all sides (Although they were mirrored so we could see out, but no one could see in) and there were the standard targets and stalls. Thankfully, most of the team was up here anyway. Steve was talking with Sam and Bucky around a table that held various revolvers, and Natasha was showing Wanda how to hold a handgun properly. I headed over to the boys and set my can down on the table before turning towards the rest of the room, trying to figure out how we could shoot in it.

“What’s in the ammo can?” Sam questioned me as he pulled it over to him. He opened the lid and nodded to me. “Looks like you’re gonna have some fun.”

I only grinned wolfishly in response. “So, the glass windows won’t break if we shoot them?” I asked Bucky. He nodded as he held one of the revolvers on the table, examining it carefully.

“Good to know.” I replied as I headed to the farthest range away from everyone. I grabbed a pair of headphones as I walked past Natasha and Wanda, and didn’t stop even as the both turned and stared. It’s been too long since I’ve been able to shoot. To feel the recoil. The cold metal of the handle… The smell of gunpowder. Man, I miss it all.

I set the can down on the shelf next to me in my stall, and sent my first target down the line. I pulled the 45 out of my back holster first, and grabbed a magazine. Muscle memory had me snapping it in place and sending the slide forward. The metallic click brought me back, and I centered my feet and took up my stance.

I focused down the sight of the gun to the center of the target and took several breaths, focusing my heartrate and my body. I curled my finger on the trigger and the muffled bam! had me already craving the recoil.

Breath in, pull. Breath out, pull. Breath, pull, breath, pull, breath, pull….

The same pattern had me going through magazine after magazine after magazine. I paid no mind to the burning hot shells as they occasionally hit my arm, nor did I feel anything besides the recoil and the steady calmness that accompanied it.

It was only until the seventh magazine in which I stopped and took a breath. I lowered the now-smoking gun and ejected the magazine, and pulled back the slide and set it on the side table. I stood there for a minute or two before deciding to send the target towards me.

The target was almost torn in half; I had shot at the midsection of the outline and there was just a huge hole, or rather several smaller ones that made the target almost completely obliterated.

“Jesus Christ, (Y/N)...” Came Steve’s voice from behind me.

I turned to see everyone just….staring. What, like this chaos wasn't what Natasha and Barnes inflicted upon the enemy every mission?

I shrugged and took the target down, balling it and tossing it into a nearby bin as I grabbed a second one.

“I think I should reinforce those windows some…” Stark muttered as I loaded a handgun and stacked more magazines next to me. I sent the new target down the line and I repeated the cycle of emptying the magazines. I swear, next time I’m just going to move everything by myself. Although this is fun.

Everyone eventually went back to what they were doing before, and before long it was only the boys and I on the floor. Eventually even they left for what I was assuming lunch. I finished emptying the magazines and headed back downstairs, gun oil and the scent of gunpowder sticking to me. Either way, I needed to keep myself moving. Pausing gives time for my anxiety to reappear, so it was better that I keep myself busy.

I set the handguns on the reloading bench as a reminder to clean them later, and restacked the ammo can where it belonged. I turned off the lights and headed up to my floor, skipping lunch. Once there, I changed into a pair of black workout pants with a baggy sleeveless shirt and my pair of running shoes.

Grabbing my water bottle and wireless earbuds, I took the elevator down to the gym floor. The gym floor, or, floors rather, were two floors merged together in the middle. All sorts of expensive exercise machines and weight bars, along with punching bags and mats scattered the space. The middle of the floor had ropes that hung from the ceiling of the second floor and had the largest mat. Thankfully we had a multi billionaire that paid for this place, and Stark went all out with it.

I started with stretching, then moved to the punching bags for a bit, then decided on pull ups. I haven’t really been able to take time out of my day to work out, rather the afternoons and mornings.

That was the great thing about being my own boss-My company was my own. I did a little bit of everything, or as I liked to refer to it: Freelance Hacker / Creator.

Yup. I checked servers for weak points and helped people create websites and platforms. Hell, I even took down a few...unsavory websites when I could. I had my own hours that I adapted as I needed. Especially with Lillith, it was easy for me to look after her when we were at home.

Shit, I need to clean up the space. I remembered. I stayed up late last night making a draft of a site for a client….which I had to make a meeting with tomorrow.

I drifted off into my thoughts as I ran through my cycle of sit ups, push ups, pull ups, and bench presses. Twenty per each set, five per each round. Damn, when was the last time I took a self care day? I let my brain sort out ideas and organize my thoughts for a few more minutes before focusing on what I was doing. I finished two rounds before heading over to the left wall and grabbing a pair of heavy chains.

Natasha and Wanda were sparring, with Natasha pushing Wanda back with offensive moves. Hand-to-hand combat wasn’t Maximoff’s strong point, but after insisting from both Strange and I that there might be a point where she would need to use physical combat despite her showing practically limitless magical abilities, she started.

First it was with both Strange and I, with my abilities making me a bit more resilient to her magic and Strange being….strange. Then her and Natasha started sparring when my long days turned into longer nights, and I’m fairly certain Barnes is taking some part in the cycle.

I finally watched Wanda get a solid hit on Nat’s torso in, and the assassin didn’t even flinch as she swept Wanda’s legs out from under her. The redhead was panting heavily, her hair tied back in a short ponytail with some hair framing her face. Wearing a black t-shirt and some black leggings, and black tennis shoes (Not going to lie, black looked really good on her). I tore my gaze away, albeit with some difficulty as I turned the mental list of tasks into a digital one on my phone.

After doing that and sipping some water, I used the hem of my shirt to wipe away the sweat on my forehead. Deciding to forego the shirt entirely I peeled it off and tossed it next to my water bottle. Draping the chains over my shoulders and grabbing the bar, I pulled myself up.

First few rounds of ten were easy, but the added weight of the chains (about twenty pounds, if the labels were correct for each) soon slowed me down. Which was fine, it had my arms and shoulders using more effort than usual. I looked up and was surprised to see both Natasha and Wanda looking at me. Both girls were by the water fountain, Wanda holding her water bottle and phone, and Natasha sipping hers with a towel over one shoulder. If it wasn’t the fact that they both were working out, I would swear that Natasha’s face was red. I could feel the sweat dripping down my chest and stomach, and was eternally grateful for the serum that kept me at a decent four pack.

I winked, and Natasha choked on her water. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she cleared her throat and headed towards me. Wanda stayed there, and started scrolling on her phone again.

She practically sauntered over, and my face slipped into a grin as she stopped right in front of me. Not bothering to pause, I kept going, making sure to keep my chin above the bar when I went up.

She stopped and crossed her arms, smirking at me. I returned her smirk, along with “Anything I can help you with, Ma’am?”

She grinned, before walking straight in front of me. She stopped, not even a half a foot away as I was about to pull myself up again. She gently ran her fingers along the chain of my dog tags, and tugged them out of my sports bra. I kept them in there so they wouldn’t make noise and so I had them close to my heart.

There were three tags in all on there, two of them being mine. She held the third up to read it and I stayed still, almost stiff as she smiled softly. It was my wife’s tag.

She let the tags fall back onto my chest and pulled them straight, and as she let go she gently, almost ghosted, her hand over my stomach. I stiffened more, and then dropped from the bar. She backed away a bit as I took the chains off and returned them to their spot on the wall, then as I wiped away the sweat on my face with my discarded shirt.

“I think….” She started as I opened my water bottle. Facing her, I gestured for her to continue. “That is something that is honorable. There’s no other word to say it, but it is. It’s out of love and respect, yes?” She questioned, pointing to the tags. I nodded, setting my water bottle down.

“Hey, do you want to come pick up Lillith from school with me?” I asked her, throwing my shirt over my shoulder and grabbing my water bottle. I checked the time on my phone and tucked it in my pocket.

“Sure. Can we get coffee?” She said as she walked besides me to the elevators. I selected both of our designated floors as we got in, and we started chatting about my little human.

Her floor was first, and with a wave and a “I’ll see you in the garage in fifteen minutes” she got off and headed towards wherever her room was.

I ran a hand through my hair, tugging it out of its ponytail as the elevator stopped at my floor. Getting off, I headed towards my room. Grabbing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and some new undergarments, I quickly took a shower. Brushed my hair, teeth, and decided on a bit of eyeliner and mascara for the rest of the day. Pulled on some boots and grabbed my black leather jacket, making sure I had everything I needed for heading out. Finally, I grabbed my silver aviators and headed downstairs, before almost tripping over the shoes that littered the front entryway. Damn, my entire floor needed to be cleaned.

I met Natasha by my car, wearing a white, loose sleeveless tank top and leggings. Along with sneakers. Her hair was damp and down, and she had a black duffle bag over her shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I questioned as I popped the trunk to the challenger.

“I was hoping you could take me to my studio, if that’s alright.” she said as she shut the trunk lid with her duffle in it.

“Yeah, that’s no biggie. Coffee first?” I asked, starting the car.

“Please.” She sighed as she leaned her head against the seats. I smiled and pulled up to the open street.

We got our iced coffees and I made sure to get a frappuccino and cookie for Lillith, and I drove towards where Natasha said her studio was.

“I’ll just be about forty minutes. I need to get some stuff done and it might be a bit.” She said as she leaned in the car door frame, her duffle over one shoulder and a hand on the car door.

“That’s fine. I’m going to go pick up Lillith and then I’ll drive back here. Is that alright?” I asked, looking at the redhead. She smiled and nodded, shutting the car door.

I picked up Lillith from school, who excitedly told me that she made not one, but four new friends in her class. Her happy shriek had me laughing as I gave her the frappuccino and cookie. “I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!” She yelled as she grabbed said drink from my hand.

“Careful with it please.” I chucked as she quickly sipped on it. She hummed in response, staring out the window.

I shook my head and shifted the car into drive and headed downtown. Not even halfway there, and already….

“Mom I have to go pee” Lillith said, scrunching her nose and the bag the cookie came in.

“Okay. We’re almost there to pick up Natasha and then we can go inside and you can go pee.” I replied as I turned another corner.

I had no idea if her studio had a bathroom, but I had the idea that my toddler couldn’t hold it very long. That girl drank more water than I did, and that was saying something.

We pulled up and immediately she was getting unbuckled and wiggling her way out of the car. I got out and tucked my keys in my pocket, and helped her out of the car.

I gently kicked the door shut and led Lillith through the doors with a hand on her back, and followed the signs to where the bathroom is. Other than the fact that this place looked completely deserted, it was nice.

No outstanding decorations, and there was little furniture. An old cork board held flyers and photos of various ballet dancers and activities. I paused at that, remembering what Nat had said that one night.

I dance.

After having Lillith wash her hands (Which she complained about, but did anyway) we walked around until I found a half wall, half window point.

Lillith was short enough to where she couldn’t see in, but thankfully I wasn’t. It must’ve been a two way mirror, judging by the same pattern around the walls. A set of hip bars in the middle on a hardwood floor, and one of the most beautiful women lightly dancing to music I couldn’t hear.

My grip tightened on Lillith as I took in the sight before me. Natasha was wearing a black leotard with black tights, and the thing that caught my attention was the shoes. Pink, with the ribbon wrapping around her ankles. The way she moved reminded me of all of the ballet shows I went to in school when I was a kid. There was something majestic about how she moved, how delicate she seemed.

Of course, it was Natasha Romanoff. She may appear delicate, but she’s the complete opposite.

She turned on her heel and bowed down to the floor, hands barely brushing the wood. She went up, arms gracefully moving out in a way that kept my focus on her. That was, until Lillith yelled at her.

“HI NATASHA!” She yelled, jumping up and down and aggressively waving at said women. Natasha didn’t start, rather smiled at the small child and waved.

I facepalmed, dragging my hand down my face as I tried to fight down the flushing of my face.

#avengers x reader #miscfandomwrites #natasha romanoff #black widow x reader #mama #marvel x reader #marvel #natasha x reader

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