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skyfallslayer · 21 days

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Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Two

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas, and soon the exception of the girl’s ex-best friend, Steve, must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins, Indiana.

🎲Chapter Summary: Lucas, Mike and Dustin try to talk to the girl they found in the woods; And Hopper questions an anxious Joyce about an unsettling phone call; Steph and Will must continue to survive; And Steve’s eyes get opened in a way he never saw coming.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 11,024 (Oh, my lord)

🎲Date: 5/16/24

🎲Warnings: Angst; Swearing; Implied Broken Friendship; Talks of Kidnapping; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Implying Sex; Lying; Implied Suicide; Death/Killing; Talks of Corpses; Blood; Gun Use; Steve's 'Asshole Era. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N: Jesus. This was a tough one to write and edit (Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes). But, geez. Writing different POVs, everyone's thought was a tough one. But hopefully y'all can understand 😅. Also, I am NOT a D&D player, so some of lore just comes straight from the wiki. Hopefully that's reliable enough. Anyway, sorry for the delay. Enjoy!

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

“What the fuck are you?!” Will heard her scream as the creature tried to outmatch her. The light above them grew brighter and brighter, and he squeezed his eyes shut while gripping her jacket tighter. He prayed this was just another nightmare. Maybe… Maybe he’s getting his wish when he hears the silence. Does he dare open his eyes and see the truth?

He’s scared, trembling, and it heightens when he hears the girl heaving for air. So much so he clenches his grip on the fabric tighter, the strange smelling air going through his nostrils causing him to gasp himself. When his eyes snapped open is when his coughing fit started.

He hears his name being called, and hands coming around his shoulders. He almost jerks away, afraid, until his orbs settle on the silhouette before him.

“S-Steph?” He croaked, a sense of relief flooding his veins. “What just happened?” He could see the confusion on her face, looking around for clues. He followed her eyes, nose crinkling at the sight. “We’re still in the shed. But it’s… gross.”

She swallows. “Stay behind me.” She tells him, and guides herself through the door. They both shivered at the sudden drop in temperature. “Jesus, It’s freezing.”

Will and her looked around, the outside world seemed to be encased in a blue hue, the places around seemed to be tangled with vines and covered in something sticky. There was also a white powder that looked like snow, raining down from the dark skies above. A sky that didn’t even have moonlight like it did a few minutes ago.

“Did you hit your head when we crashed?” She asked after getting his attention away from the sky.

He shakes his head, almost sadly. If that had both just hit their heads, would the situation have been better? He frowns, worriedly thinking away as the older girl tries to stay calm.

“Come on.” She says, gesturing to him to follow. “Let’s go inside. I want to see something.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

The rain was coming down more intensely than before, followed by the grumbling of thunder and lightning. Somehow, miraculously, the boys, mostly Wheeler, managed to convince the strange girl they found in the woods to return home with them, and hid her in the basement.

“Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked, worriedly as the girl looked between the three boys, all scared and confused.

“Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?” Dustin spitted out, genuinely curious.

“Did you run away?” Lucas asked, skeptical.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Mike says, just as his friend questions a red sustain on her shirt. He slaps his hand away quickly. “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!”

“She’s freaking me out!”

“I bet she’s deaf.” Dustin suggested, before taking a quick half step and smacking his hands together. The sound makes the girl flinch, and he frowns apologetically. “Not deaf.”

“That’s enough, all right? She’s just scared and cold.” Mike said, silencing the two before running over to the laundry basket and grabbing some clothes. “Here, these are clean. Okay?”

The girl takes them, taking a second to be grateful before she starts stripping– The boys freak out, Mike running up to stop her while the other two look away.

“See over there?” He points. “Th-That’s the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?” She nods and he shows her inside. Just when he was about to shut it behind him, she grabs it forcibly. “You don’t want it closed?”

“No.” She finally says, surprising him.

“Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well… Um, how about we just keep the door…” He slowly moves it until there’s about three inches of space. “Just like this. Is that better?”

“Yes.”

Mike smiles and leaves her be, rejoining the group who were having a conversation of their own.

“This is mental.” Dustin said, freaking out.

“At least she can talk.” Mike points out, with Lucas shaking his head, replying,

“She said ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Your three-year-old sister says more.”

“She tried to get naked.” Dustin adds.

“There’s something seriously wrong with her.” Lucas said, touching his temple. “Like, wrong in the head.”

“She just went like…” The Henderson boy makes a motion of taking off shirt (and even knocked his own hat off his head).

“I bet she escaped from Pennhurst.”

“From where?” Mike said, eyebrow raised.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County.”

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin teased, getting a dirty look.

“Bite me. Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she’s so crazy.”

“Why she went like…” He does the shirt motion again. In his mind this was helping him and Lucas’ case.

“‘She’s an escapee’ is the point. She’s probably a psycho.”

“Like Michael Myers.”

“Exactly! We should’ve never brought her here.”

“So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?” Mike asks, irritated.

“Yes! We went out to find Will–”

“And Phanie.” Dustin pressures.

“And Steph – not another problem!” Lucas agrees.

“I think we should tell your mom.”

“I second that.”

Mike holds his hand up. “Who’s crazy now?”

“How is that crazy?” Lucas scoffed.

“‘Cause, we weren’t supposed to be out tonight, remember?”

“So?”

“So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom–”

Dustin’s eyes widened. “Oh, man.”

“Our houses become Alcatraz.” Lucas frowns.

“Exactly. We’ll never find Will, or Steph.” Mike says, seeing Dustin make the shirt motion once more, silently asking the question about the girl. “All right, here’s the plan. She sleeps here tonight.”

Henderson perked up again. “You’re letting a girl–”

“Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She’ll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will and Stephanie.”

Lucas and Dustin share a look, until one of them finally shrugged. “I guess that works.”

“Great. We’ll start again tomorrow. Goodnight, guys.” Mike bid them as he went off to start making the mysterious girl a place to rest.

“This is crazy, man.” Lucas said, once they had snuck back out. “What the hell is Mike even thinking?”

“I don’t know. Do you think his plan will really work?” Dustin asked, as they headed over to where their bikes were hidden.

“I’m giving it less than a fifty percent chance of success.” He sighs. “I better get home.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hey, don’t look so sad.” He pats his curly haired friend on the back. “We’ll find them.”

“I just want my sister back. You have no idea.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

In the following morning, in the Byers house, the eldest seemingly was keeping it together, making the morning meal like he always does and hoping his worrying mother would have just a bite.

“All right, Mom. Breakfast is ready.” Jonathan said, while placing the plate down in front of her, her thoughts being interrupted.

“What?” His mother said, before moving some papers. “No, be careful of the poster.”

“Yeah, okay. All right–”

“I can’t eat.”

“I just need you to eat, Mom.”

“Listen, listen. The Xerox place opens in, like…” She looks down at her watch. “30 minutes–”

“Mom–”

“And I don’t want you to go alone–”

“No, I know. I told you, I got it.”

“So I’m gonna have Karen take you, ‘cause I should be here.” She gestures around, all jittery. “Claudia will meet you there, b-but if she’s not, she’ll reimburse us for the copies of Stephanie, I–”

He shakes his head with understanding. “Okay.”

“We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies?” He nods again. “How much is a copy?”

“Mom?”

“Ten cents?”

“Mom?”

“If we– ten cents”

“Mom, Mom!” Jonathan stops her from counting the cash she had laid out, and squeezes her shoulder with her other hang to calm her. “Y-You can’t get like this, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Joyce replies, taking a shaky inhale of nicotine.

“No, it’s okay.” He reassures her softly, just before someone comes knocking on their door. The mother rushed over with her son on her tail, busting the door wide open for the exhausted police officer.

“We’ve been waiting six hours.”

“I know, I came as soon as I could.” Hopper replies, nearly dead on his feet.

“Six hours.”

“A little bit of trust here, all right?” He slides his hat off. “We’ve been searching all night, went all the way to Cartersville.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

Joyce made a choking sound and looked away. “God…”

Hopper frowns, sadly. “Flo says you got a phone call?”

“Oh, yeah.” Joyce nods and shows him their phone.

He picks it, examining the speaker part of it which was charded black. “Storm barbecued this pretty good.”

She took a step back in surprise. “The storm?”

Hopper looked at her like she had two heads. “What else?”

“You’re saying that that’s not weird?”

“No, it’s weird.”

“Can we, like, trace who made the call? Contact the–”

“No, it doesn’t work like that.” He shakes his head, and then looks at her with all seriousness. “Now, uh, you’re sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing.”

“No. It was him, it was Will... and h-he was scared. And then something–”

“It was probably just a prank call. It was somebody trying to scare you.”

“Who would do that?” Joyce questioned, face full of confusion and sickness.

“Well, this thing’s been on TV. It brings out all the crazies, you know. False leads, prank calls, uh–”

“No, Hopper, it was not a prank. It was him.”

“Joyce.” He begins, as she denies him again

“Come on, how about a little trust here?” She laughs dryly. “What, you think I’m– I’m making this up?”

“I’m not saying that you’re making it up.” Hopper looks at her with concern again. “All I’m saying is it’s an emotional time for you.”

“And you think I don’t know my own son’s breathing?”

“Joyce–”

“Hopper, my son’s missing. A-And not only that, someone else’s daughter is missing.” She nervously takes a puff of her cigarette. “And you know what the mess up part about that is? Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!”

She ends with an emotional sigh, tightening the heavy tension it the room. Jonathan worriedly looking at his mother before, locking eyes with the police chief who was trying to find the right words to say.

“You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?” Hopper asked after the small silence.

“No.”

“It’s been long enough.” He puts his hat back on. “I’m having him checked out.”

“Oh, come on!” She sighs loudly, watching him leave. “You’re wasting your time.” Then the door shuts, and rubs her temple. “Jesus. He never listens!”

Jonathan ponders for a moment, before asking, “Mom, how likely is it that Will would actually go to Lonnie’s?”

“I…” Joyce runs a hand through her messy locks. “It’s possible, but he lives a long, long way. Especially on foot. But… I don’t– maybe he would! I…” She sighs again, overwhelmed. “However, I don’t think he would have gone with Stephanie. He’s… W-Will knows your father’s not the best man, and Will, you know, has that heart of gold.”

That got a chuckle out of both of them. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think Will would have risked Stephanie like that.” She shakes her head. “No. She’s an older kid, and older sister. As much as this sounds messed up, she would have done anything to make sure Will was safe. I know it. So… my question is…” She locks eyes with her son. “What would a girl her age think is a safe place for a young boy?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| TWO NIGHTS AGO ||

Stephanie flipped the lightswitch on in the kitchen out of curiosity, but finds herself still submerged in darkness. “Just what I thought. There’s no light.” She says with a frown.

“The flash of light we saw–” Will looks up at her. “Do you think it was a power outage?”

“I don’t think there’s light here, I mean-” She starts walking around, rubbing her shaking hands together. “Look at this place. I don’t think we’re in Hawkins anymore.” She shivers just a smidge. “At least it’s a little warmer inside here.” Then she hears a distressful sound. “Will?”

The boy was pale, pupils blown wide and had a small tremble. “W-What do you m-mean we’re not in Hawkins anymore?” He asked, lip quivering with a slight pant. “B-But th-this looks like my house. D-Did w-we get taken somewhere else? Can we even g-go home? I–”

“Shit… Will–” She rushes over, hands coming up to his shoulders while she gets on one knee. “Will? Hey, bud, listen– hey.” She makes sure his gaze meets hers. “Don’t freak out. I know it’s scary, but we’re going to figure this out. Once we do, I’m going to get us home, I promise.”

The boy sniffles into his shoulder, fighting back tears. “You promise?”

“I promise.” She says it without realizing the fate of those words.

He swallows and extends out a certain finger. “Pinky promise?”

Her breath was nearly taken away by that certain question, taking her far back into a distant memory. But… like hell she’s going to let that memory change her judgment. She interlocks hers with his and repeats, “Pinky promise.”

That got him to crack a smile. “So, what next?” He asks, making her rack her brain for a plan.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

He woke up again to his cat’s crying. The young Henderson frowns, heart clenching at how Mews was wondering where his sister was at. For the urban legend of how cats had no emotions, he’s certainly not seeing it. He rubbed his eyes and wandered aimlessly around, the thought of calling sick into school was still fresh in his mind. Should he? I mean it made sense, and it wasn’t like the school won’t understand, so….

Was that a yes?

He walked through the hallway, curls in his eyes as slows in front of his sister’s bedroom. His cat locked eyes with him, sadness and confusion filled the slitted pupils. Mews meows again.

“She’s not back yet.” Dustin says, getting a chirp. “We’re trying. She’ll be back soon.” He starts walking away, hearing him make a sad sound once more.

“Dusty-bun, I’m going to make some posters.” Claudia said, who were gathering her belongings by the door. “I left you breakfast on the stove.”

His nervous fingers gripped his t-shirt as he tried not to sound so down. “Hey, Mom?” Her eyes meet his gaze. “Is it okay if I… stay home today?”

Claudia’s face softens bittersweetly. “Of course you can, sweety. If you leave the house for whatever reason, just leave me a note where you’re going, that’s all I ask.” She gives him a kiss on his hairline, and is one foot out the door before adding, “Oh! And be back before dark. Okay? Your Mama doesn’t need to worry about another kid.”

“Can do.”

He watches her smile and closes the door, locking it. He frowns at that action, I mean they’ve never locked their door before, and now it was becoming second nature. He was even surprised she told him he could leave the house. Or… did she not expect him to leave this place in the state he’s in? Sounds like something she would do.

He sighs and heads for the kitchen to make himself a plate. He didn’t have much of an appetite, really, but he didn’t want to hurt his mother’s feelings or make her beg for him to eat – he didn’t want to call ‘pot kettle black’ since he was the one that had to convince his mourning mother to eat last night. But it was hard, his fork just picking at the food, cutting it into smaller pieces to stare at before dropping his utensil onto the plate.

Steph… His fingers dug into his pocket and pulled the gold chain out, letting it sprawl out in his palm. He stares at it intensely, thinking. Come on, Sis, give me a sign. What happened to you and Will? What caused you to go off road and run? Run with Will’s shotgun out of all things?

What had got her so scared that they needed a weapon to protect themselves? Both her and Will were the last two people that would resort in violence, so the fact that they decided to arm themselves with a weapon tells him that something sinister was up.

But what? Dustin lays the necklace down next to him, pretending that she was here to eat with him like she always does, before deciding it was time to munch on what was left on his plate.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hopper struggles to keep his mind clear after that conversation with Joyce. His thought always going back to this particular moment:

““Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!””

Of course the woman felt guilty about everything. I mean, your kid goes missing, who else are you going to blame other than yourself? But she also was chipping away at the idea it was her fault that that poor girl was missing too. Blames herself for working later than usual, and wasn’t the one to come across her own son on the road and pick him up. That’s a lot of guilt for someone who’s holding the family together on her own.

He listens to the volunteers shout the children’s names, hoping that they would shout back. Hopper wishes that too. He prays that one of them would yell back for help and get this nightmare over with.

“Hey!” He shouts at the two officers. “Anything?”

Callahan shakes his head. “You?”

“No, nothing but a dead phone.”

“Joyce?”

Hopper nods. “About one step from falling off the edge.”

“She’s been a few steps for a while now, hasn’t she?” Powell asked, as he’s met with a stern glare.

“Kid’s missing, man. Show a little class.” Hopper snaps, making them avert their eyes.

“All right…”

He exhales and takes off with the rest of the group, shouting, “Come on, let’s go! We got a lot of ground to cover.” He keeps his fingers crossed that this would be it. That this would be the search that brings them home.

For their mothers' sake.

For his sake.

For every goddamn person out of here’s sake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

Stephanie shifted through the last cabinet and frowns. “Well, we can’t cook anything because there’s no electricity. But we can eat the dry goods. Unless we can figure out how to start a fire” She sighs, and wrinkles her nose. I mean, they can go a few days without eating if they didn’t want to touch the box of crackers covered in goo. But water? How were they supposed to have water if the faucet comes out with something they probably shouldn’t drink.

She rubs her temples, thinking. “I guess we’re going to have to look for some bottled stuff to drink.” She makes contact with the boy who just entered the room. “How you feeling?”

“Fine. I got a bit of a chill, but we can still grab clothes out of the closets if we need it.” Will replies, hugging his walkie talkie close.

“And the call?”

“Nothing. I mean I could hardly ever get reception over here anyway, so maybe we can try finding a different spot.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea." She says with a sigh. “Where’s the shotgun?”

“Oh, uh– Mom’s room.” He points behind him.

“Alright, maybe I’ll take a peek outside. If it seems clear, maybe we can try to find some reception.”

Stephanie leaves the room with Will looking back at his walkie. He had to remain strong, hopeful. He has to get through to someone. His friends, his family, one of them has to be able–

Wait.

Was he hearing things? Was his mind playing tricks?

His eyes trail to his living room where he swears he heard someone talking. It was faint, but you can’t miss it.

It sounds like… His chest tightens at a thought, his brown orbs blown wide as he looks at the yellow phone on the wall. It was probably hopeless, stupid even, I mean… the damn thing didn’t work when Stephanie tried to call for help when they were being chased. But that was the real world, this was… fake? Maybe it different, maybe it’s—

Oh, shit.

Maybe he’s just grasping at straws at this point and hopes it turns out okay.

His fingers latch around the phone, pulling it off the receiver and dials his home’s number, praying with all his might that this ridiculous idea would actually work.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, com–

Oh, he felt like crying when someone picked up.

[ ‘Hello?’ ]

His mother’s voice broke through and poke him in the heart. He couldn’t breath as relief washed over him like a storm.

[ ‘Hello? Lonnie? Hopper? Who is this?’ ]

Say something, say something, say something– His lip quivers as he swallows. “M-Mom?” He can’t wait till Steph hears about this. “M-Mom, I-It’s me.”

She can hear me right? She has to.

[ ‘Will? Will? It’s Will!’ ]

[ ‘Mom, it’s Will?’ ]

He could cry upon hearing the second voice. “J-Jonathan? Mom? M-Me and Stephanie are tr-trap in some weird place! I-I don’t know what t-to–”

Then he was cut off by the dreadful sound of the monster. Will watched as its claws wrapped around the corner, almost like it was pulling itself into the kitchen. He doesn’t even know where it came from. He didn’t even hear it freaking come in!

He froze on sight, his mother shouting something he couldn’t make out as the beast with no eyes looked directly at him. He wanted to scream but it was stuck in his throat. Is this how he was going to die? Die by listening to his mother’s pleas to answer her?

It shrieked and seemed to get bigger, ready to strike him down before it took a bullet to the face. The shot made it fall against the wall, and Will drops the fried phone and backs himself away. Stephanie looked half scared to death too as she cocks the shotgun again and fires one more when it stands up, sending it flying to the living room. As quickly as her buckling knees could hold her, she rushes over to Will, pulling him behind her as she aims the barrel into the direction the beast was. Shaking intensely, she carefully peeks around the corner to find that it had completely vanished like it did earlier. She gasps in shock before sliding to the ground herself, mentally drained.

“Steph!!” Will calls out with worry. He could see her eyes glassing over, her skin becoming paler as she shouts,

“Where the fuck are we?!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

Steve strolls into school, head in the clouds, and an aching feeling in the pit of his stomach. His sleep went to complete shit after the conversation with his girlfriend last night. He still doesn’t understand why it was affecting him so much. It’s not like him and Steph hung out anymore. So why is he losing sleep over this?

You’re not even friends anymore, Harrington. He mentally slaps himself. Get your shit together–

“Boo!” Tommy yelled, jumping out from behind the corner, startling him.

“Jesus, Hagan.” Steve said, holding his chest while the other teen laughed.

“That was so easy.”

“So–” Carol’s arm snakes around him with a grin. “Did you tell your little girlfriend about your party?”

“I-I… not yet.”

“What? You didn’t tell her at her house yesterday?”

“N-No. Never got the chance to.”

“What?!” Tommy scoffs. “Stealthy Stevie didn’t get to use his skills last night?” Him and his girlfriend laughed, but then grew quiet seeing how distant the King was being. “What the fuck’s going on with you, man?”

“Um…” Steve’s gaze gets caught onto someone else, spotting a certain person posting a certain flier up on the bulletin board. He swallows, and masks a fake smile. “You guys go ahead to class. I got to grab something out of my locker.”

“Oh, we can go with you.” Carol begins, trying to follow him but he shakes them off.

“No, no. Go ahead. I’ll meet you there.” Steve ignores the strange looks they gave him before walking away. Deciding this was the ‘only’ way, he rushes over to the oldest Byers kid, ‘accidently’ pushing his shoulder into his, knocking the papers out of his hand while he was leaving. He scoffs, while saying, “Watch where you’re going!”

Jonathan says nothing as he bends over to collect the rest, oblivious to the other teenager sliding a paper away with his foot. Once he leaves, Steve retrieves the flier from under his shoe, reading it over.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Stephanie Henderson Age 16, 5’4” Brown Hair, Blue Eyes, 110lbs. Last seen wearing a brown work uniform, black jacket, white sneakers, and a baseball cap. Reach out to Claudia Henderson or Joyce Byers at #### or ####

Steve stares with a distant look in his eyes, thumb brushing over her picture. Such a gentle smile for a gentle person. God… why did they have to use that picture? It was right before he–

He frowns, throwing his head back.

Fuck…

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the Wheeler’s house, Mike decided to stay home, his parents totally unaware of him doing so. He showed the new girl around his place, acting a bit giggly when they finally got to his room. He was so excited to show off his action figures, and comic books, and anything else that he holds close to his heart. He didn’t even realize she was starting to wander off to where a collection of trophies were. Her brown eyes grew with fascination by them.

“Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year.” Mike’s smile drops just a tad. “Except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political.”

Yeah, it totally was that. He expected some kind of reaction from her, except for the one where her eyes widened and she slowly pointed to the picture of Will in their fair picture together.

Mike perked up, hopeful. “You know Will? Did you see him? Last Night? On the road? Did–” He pauses. “Hang on a sec.” Maybe he’s getting his hopes up as he grabs another photo after shifting around in his drawer. It was a picture of his friends’ families at the lake, posing nicely for the camera.

He points to the girl in the right hand corner. “This is Stephanie. She’s his sister.” He points to Dustin who’s hanging out behind her. “She supposedly gave Will a ride the night he disappeared, and we can’t find her either. Did you see her too?”

The girl studies Steph’s face, slowly the same reaction she had from seeing Will returned as she pointed again. “I–”

Her answer was cut short when they heard something from outside. Mike gets up quickly, peeking through his curtains to see his mother’s car pulling into the driveway. He pales.

“Shit.” He rushes to grab her by the hand and strings her along. “We gotta hide!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Of course the eldest stayed awake for most of the night, the two of them tucked away in the far corner of Will’s room, her eyes trained on the door just in case that wretched monster appeared again. She kept a good grip on the shotgun, one foot planted on the ground for a quick pop up if needed. Adrenaline was pumping in her blood, she was fighting off her exhaustion and hunger, while a tune played on her dry lips.

“♪ Here we stand

Worlds apart, hearts broken in two. Two. Two

Sleepless nights.

Losing ground, I’m reaching for you. You. You

Feeling that it’s gone

Can’t change your mind

If we can’t go on

To survive–♪”

Will stirred beside her, his head resting on her shoulder that was starting to fall asleep, but she refused to jostle the kid. God knows he needs his rest. Well… so does she, but she’ll get around to that.

Her mind wanders back to the conversation they had last night, the one where Will admitted he spoke to his mother on the phone. Shock wasn’t the right word, especially when she examined the phone that had been burnt black, and when asking again if he heard that right, the youngest Byers swears he did.

Is there actually a way to communicate to… well… ‘our world’, I guess. She ponders on that thought, wondering if it’s possible to do so without frying your phone to death. Not to mention Will swears he heard people talking before calling his mother. Can we only communicate to the people we ‘hear’?

She scolds herself. This hurts my head too much.

“♪ –The tide

Love divides

Someday, love will find you

Break those chains that bind you

One night will remind you

How we touched and went our separate ways

If he ever hurts you

True love won’t desert you

You know I still love you

Though we touched and went our separate ways– ♪”

Will stirred again, this time waking up slowly with a groan. “Was it a dream…?” He whispers, his eyes opening at a snail pace.

“I wish.” Steph says, sadly.

“Did you sleep okay?” He asks, rubbing his face.

Her heart skips a beat and a lie slips out. “Uh, yeah. It was fine.”

“That’s good.”

“We shouldn’t stay here.” She says, surprising him. “We should probably move around, maybe lose that monster for a while. And you’re probably hungry too, I know my mom keeps cans and bottled water down in our basement for emergencies. That should tie us over for a little while.”

“Is it even safe to go out?” He wonders, yet intrigued. He’ll admit… he is a bit famished.

“I don’t know. But we got to try. Right?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Whoa, whoa. Careful, careful.” Hopper says as he snags his partner by the collar. “I need you alive for the next few days, at least.”

Callahan smirked and scoffed as he gestures to the Quarry below. “Oh, hell, I could survive that.” He said, making his superior laugh. “What? George Burness made the jump. And he was drunk as a skunk. He did it on a $10 bet.”

“George is a liar. You make that jump from this height, that water turns into cement. Hits you like a ton of bricks.” Hopper smacks his hands together. “Break every damn bone in your body.”

The youngster pondered on that for a second before shaking his head. “Nah.”

[ ‘Chief, you copy?’ ]

Hopper grabs his walkie from his belt. “Yeah, Flo, talk to me.”

[ ‘Hey, Chief, we got a call from over at Benny’s. I think you need to get there right away.’ ]

And those were words he didn’t want to hear. So he and his team rushed over there as quickly as they could, and the first they were met with was the smell of a rotting corpse.

“Ugh, Jesus!” Callahan said, covering his nose.

“Suicide?” Powell asked, after a moment of silence.

Hopper hummed and stared in disbelief at the man laying on the table, pistol in hand and a bullet wound straight through the temple. There’s no way this can be real.

“Missing kid, suicide.” Callahan frowns. “You must feel like a big city cop again, huh, Chief?

“Well, I mostly dealt with strangers back then.” Hopper replies, this particular moment he almost broke down. “Benny was my friend.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Stephanie peeked outside before gesturing to Will to follow. The two of them had backpacks on that they found lying around, going to use them to fill up with anything they could find – But the task that lay ahead was going to be hard. The task was…

Walking back through Mirkwood to the Henderson home.

No lights, just a few bullets to spare, and their pure will to survive (Or maybe it’s the fear that’s fueling that will).

“I don’t like this.” Will mutters, only a few minutes after they left the Byers’ driveway and down a few feet on the road. “What if that thing spawns in front of us again?”

“Then we shoot it and book it again. That’s all we can do now.” Steph replies, carefully looking around. But what if he’s right? What if thing actually just spawns out of thin air? Then there’s not telling where and when not to go.

He stays silent, shaking a tad as they make it further down the road. It took a hot minute for the older girl to notice this and stop briefly, the twelve year old’s eyes confused just as she held out her hand. Without missing a beat, his clammy hand takes it, squeezing it tight. She smiles just a tad, reminding her of Dustin before they started walking again.

She felt him hang on to dear life as they strolled into the darkest part of Mirkwood, the eeriness that was silence was making their hearts race. She came to a conclusion after facing the monster last night that she had to be the strong one here. She has to act like the older sister again, and remain calm, and to keep him safe.

I made a promise. I don’t know how to fulfill it just yet, but I’m going to get him out of here. Steph casts a glance down at him, the poor boy’s face looked so cold. Does hers look like that too?

She grins after a quick thought. “Hey–” His eyes locked with hers. “What does a ‘Ranger’ do in D&D? That one sounds intriguing to me.”

His face lights up. “You actually want to play D&D?”

“Hey, you suggested it, I might as well. So, the Ranger? What’s that like? The lore?”

“Well, Rangers are warriors that explore different civilizations, and they hunt down the deadliest of monsters. They’re trained in many different combat techniques, survival skills, and even some magic.”

“Magic? I like the sound of that.”

“They mostly reside in the forest, or anything ‘nature-y’.”

She chuckles. “I don’t like the sound of that. What else? Aren’t there like… classes… or different types?

“Oh, yeah.” He nods. “I guess it depends on what you prefer. Do you want me to tell you?”

“I’m all ears.” Steph said, making a motion. I’m just glad he’s stopped shaking.

“Well, there’s a lot. The most common ones are ‘Beast Masters’, which are accompanied with an animal companion. Then there’s ‘Hunters’, which are mainly just professional assassins that take down monsters of all sorts. Now, even though all Rangers have the capability of taking monsters down, Hunters are strictly made just to do that.”

She hums. “Interesting.”

“Then there’s ‘Gloom Stalkers’, who live mostly in dark realms, and take down the shadowy beasts roaming the territory. They’re pretty good at ambushing their opponents.” He smiles. “Personally, I find that the coolest.”

“Well, I can see why. What else? Do Rangers get weapons?”

“Of course! The most common is a two-blade or archery.”

“Archery sounds cool.”

“See, I agree. But I know Lucas always says it’s ‘stupid’, so–”

Steph shakes her head with a sigh. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to prove him wrong when I play.”

“So you are going to play with us!” Will said, joyfully, like you just told him Christmas was coming early.

“If that’s how I prove Lucas wrong, then so be it. So how does one newbie play D&D?” She asked, hopefully this will keep him occupied. At least I can keep him distracted until we get there.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

“Are you out of your mind?” Lucas said, as soon as Mike was done with his explanation for them being here.

“Just listen to me.” Mike pleads.

“You are out of your mind–”

“She knows about Will and Steph.”

Dustin perks up after being the silent one here. “What do you mean she knows about them?”

Mike grabs the pictures from earlier and holds them up. “She pointed at them, at their picture. She knew they were missing. I could tell.”

“You could tell?” Lucas asked, looking between the pictures and the girl who was on the bed.

“Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where they disappeared?”

Dustin nodded, agreeing. “That is weird.”

“And she said bad people are after her.” Mike said, with a frown. “I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will and Steph. I think she knows what happened to them.”

“Then why doesn’t she tell us?” Lucas asked, glaring at her direction before stomping over. “Do you know where they are?” He grabs her by the shoulder. “Do you know where Will and Stephanie are?!”

“Stop it, you’re scaring her!” Mike pulls him away, as his friend brushes him off.

“She should be scared! If you know where they are, tell us! This is nuts. We have to take her to your mom.”

“No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger.”

“What kind of danger?” Dustin asked, his thoughts from earlier about his sister and Will taking a shotgun with them crossed his mind.

Lucas gives him a weird look. “Her name is Eleven?”

“El for short.” Mike clarifies.

“Mike! What kind of danger?” Dustin pushes, his stomach turning.

“Danger danger!” The brunette makes a finger gun and points it between Henderson’s eyes before moving over towards Lucas who demises quickly.

“No, no, no!” Sinclair snaps, rushing for the door. “We’re going back to plan A. We’re telling your mom.”

He pulls open the door only for it to slam shut automatically. Not even batting an eye at that, he tries again, for it to not only to shut with more force but to even lock itself. The boys look back at the only explanation, and they see El standing on her feet with a drop of blood coming out of her nose.

“No.” She said, with a tone that told them not to push it.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the station, Hopper was questioning an anxious friend of Benny’s. Earl was his name, and he was sitting in a chair, eyes full of disbelief as he lit a cigarette.

“Just doesn’t make any sense, Chief.”

“You, uh, notice anything odd about him the last few weeks?” Hopper asked, trying to keep it professional (even though this case was hurting him the most).

Earl shakes his head. “No, we’re fixin’ to go fishing down the Etowah next Sunday. I mean, he was lookin’ forward to it. I know that.”

“He got any enemies you might know about? I mean, people who might not want him around?”

“The exes didn’t like him much. That’s for sure, but… nah.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Yesterday. Lunch, same as always.”

“Just you and the boys?”

“Yep. Me and Henry and…” He pauses. “Well, there was this, uh, this kid. No kid did this.”

“Kid?” Hopper nearly perked up hope. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah. At lunch, uh, there was this boy that, uh I mean, he was trying to steal food out of Benny’s kitchen. Can you imagine that?”

Hopper locked eyes with Callahan who got the silent message. “This kid what’d he look like?”

“Well, he was about yea high.” Earl raises his arm up and out. “You know, tiny like. I didn’t get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen.”

“He look like this?” Callahan asked, coming back with a missing kid poster of Will.

He takes the flier, and immediately shakes his head. “Oh, no, that’s… that’s Lonnie’s missin’ kid. No. This was a different kid. This one had really short hair. I mean, it was buzzed nearly down to the scalp.”

Hopper tries not to let his composure break, and continues to hold on to the slimmer of hope. “Yeah, well, let’s… You know, let’s forget about the haircut. I mean, if this kid had a buzz cut… could it be Lonnie’s kid?”

“Well, I-I… didn’t get a good look at him. About the right height, though. I mean, could’ve been. Yeah, that’s… Could’ve been.”

Hopper frowns, taking the poster back from him. “And, you only saw the boy right? No girl? Teenager? Dark hair?”

“No.” Earl shakes his head once more. “No. I didn’t see a girl.”

The Chief mentally sighs. This is not good.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

[ ‘A party?’ ]

Finally! Steve thought, pumping his fist. She finally sounded intrigued. He was hoping this would make up for his weird behavior at school.

And, no, no, no, It wasn’t because of– well… ‘you know who’. Totally not because of her. Totally, totally, totally not–

[ ‘Steve?’ ]

Nancy’s voice broke through his totally not clouded mind. “Uh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, a party. Well… kind of. It’s just going to be me, Tommy H. and Carol. No parents for the whole weekend, so we wouldn’t have to worry about them coming in and ruining the mo-jo.”

Just my friends and my girlfriend. Just having fun, no worries about–

[ ‘Not much of a party with just four people.’ ]

He laughs. “Okay, I’ll admit, it’s a little sad. But you know, it’s better this way. And, you know, if you want to, you can invite Barbara. If it makes you feel more comfortable. Or not. Or you don’t have to come–”

[ ‘Steve.’ ]

“Yeah?”

[ ‘I’ll totally come. But I’m going to try to convince Barb first if that’s alright.’ ]

“Yeah, Yeah. Totally. It starts at seven.”

[ ‘Starts at seven. Got it. I’ll see you then.’ ]

He smiles. “See you then. Bye.”

[ ‘Bye.’ ]

“Yes!” He said, once he hung up the phone. “Finally.” He feels his spirits get lifted again. “This is going to be perfect.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

“Welcome to Mi Casa.” Stephanie said, upon entering her home. Just as gross and dark as Will’s.

“You said the basement, right?” Will asked, the thought of eating something sounded nice.

“Yep.”

They thought navigating below “sunlight” was going to be hard, but I guess living in darkness for nearly twenty-four hours had its perks. Finding the tote where the emergency supplies were easier than they thought, their stomachs growing when they saw the cans of food.

“Hang on second.” Steph said, disappearing back up the stairs for a sec, and then coming back with some forks and a can opener. She uses her shirt to wipe it clean the best she could before using. “Pineapple or Peaches?”

“Pineapple, please.” Will said, drooling as she placed the open can in his hands. The two of them plop down criss-cross applesauce, sighing with relief that they could finally take a rest.

“We’ll have to take what we can, but don’t make your bag too heavy in case we need to run again. Got it?” She replies, sliding over a bottle of water to him too. He nods, and takes a second to chug some liquid too.

One can was enough for now, since none of them had any clue how long they’ll be here, they’ll need to ration what they can find. Food, water, a first aid kit, some mittens and hats, an extra jacket, socks (And Will was proud to find a half box of matches laying around).

“Do we need anything else?” He asked, making her think.

She hums, and feels around her pockets. “We need more ammo. Or another gun at least.”

“Do you have any?”

“No. I don’t.” She closes her eyes. Now where could we get more nearby?

But the more she thought about it, the more she dreaded. She does know one place they have a gun, and hopefully still does since it’s been so long.

She sighs. “I know… one place that has a gun. It’s far though. Really far. It’ll take us a couple hours to get there on foot. But it’s closer than going to town.”

“If that’s what we have to do, then let’s do it.” Will said, sliding his backpack back on, ready to start their journey again. He flashes her a goofy grin. “I hope I can count this as PE for school.”

If that was a joke to cheer her up then it totally worked.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Now that they might have a lead, the police and its volunteers spread out in the woods behind Benny’s diner, hoping to find some good news (For Hopper’s sake he really hopes so).

“Hey, you think Earl really saw Will?” Callahan asked, trying to keep up with his Boss’ speed. “I mean, what’s he doin’ with a shaved head? And stealing food from Benny?”

“Tell you what, when we find him, we’ll ask.” Hopper replies, with an attitude.

“Can’t ask a corpse questions.” Powell said, getting a glare. Suddenly, one of the volunteers blew a whistle.

“Hold up! You got something?” Hopper shouted and broke into a sprint. “Hey, what do you got?”

“Not sure.” The person said, crouching down next to a drain. “Maybe nothing. I found this. In there.”

Hopper takes a piece of fabric from his hand, before shining his flashlight through the drain, still hopeful that maybe he was lying in there, scared but safe.

“No way a kid crawls through there.” Powell said, in denial.

“I don’t know… a scared enough one might. His brother said he was good at hiding.”

“Yeah, but, just Will?” Callahan asked, conflicted. “What happened to Stephanie? ‘Cause there ain’t no way a teenager’s going to fit through this drain pipe.”

“Maybe they separated?” Powell questioned.

“I’m not so sure about that. Claudia said her daughter would never leave anyone behind.”

“Willingly that is.”

“Come on, you two.” Hopper said, jogging again.

This time, they decided to follow the drain pipe that led them further into the forest. Just as their knees were about to give out, they’re met with an electric fence and a keep out sign for the one and only…

Hawkins Lab.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“El?” Mike announces his arrival into the basement. He had just finished having dinner with his family, and even convinced his mom to let his friends stay the night. All part of his plan to figure out what was happening to his missing family.

“No adults. Just us and some meatloaf.” He continues, placing a tray down in front of the makeshift fort, letting her know to come out. Her eyes trail to him and then to the two boys falling behind. “Don’t worry. They won’t tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?”

“We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers.” Dustin said, before getting hit in the leg by Mike. “Ow!”

“What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared… earlier. That’s all.”

“We just wanted to find our friends.” Lucas admitted, feeling a tad guilty for his actions.

“‘Friends’?” El asked, confused by that word. It was so foreign to her. What does it even mean?

“Yeah, friends. Will? Steph?”

“What are ‘friends’?”

Lucas gave her a weird look. “Is she serious?” Henderson shrugged. “Um, a friend–”

“Is someone that you’d do anything for.” Mike cuts in.

“You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards.” Dustin adds.

“And they never break a promise.”

“Especially when there’s spit.” Lucas also puts in, making sure she was getting it.

“Spit?” El said, tilting her head.

“A spit swear means–” He spits into his palm. “You never break your word.” He holds his hand out for Dustin to take and shake. “It’s a bond.”

Mike nods in agreement. “That’s super important, because friends… they tell each other things. Things that parents don’t know.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Barbara finally pulls the car over to the side after her friend insisted they stop here. She looks over at the brunette with a strange look. “What are we doing here? His house is three blocks away.”

“We can’t park in the driveway.” Nancy said, making the ginger roll her eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, the neighbors might see.”

“This is so stupid.” Barb shakes her head. “I’m just gonna drop you off.”

“Calm down, Barb. Come on. You promised that you’d go.” Nancy pleaded with her ‘baby doe’ face. “You’re coming. We’re gonna have a great time.”

“He just wants to get in your pants.”

Nancy chuckles with disbelief. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Nance… seriously. He invited you to his house. His parents aren’t home. Come on, you are not this stupid.”

“Tommy H. and Carol are gonna be there.”

“Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade.” Barb cringes at the thought. “It’ll probably just be, like, a big orgy.”

“Gross.”

“I’m serious!”

“All right, well…” Nancy takes her seat belt off and starts unbuttoning her sweater. “You can be, like, my guardian. All right? Make sure I don’t get drunk and do anything stupid.”

“Ugh.” Barb said, shaking her head. She watches as her friend takes her top off and starts fiddling around in her purse for another one. “Is that a new bra?”

Nancy pauses. “No.”

“So, obvious, Nancy…”

“Hey.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“What’s the weirdo doing?” Lucas asked, watching her sit at their D&D table and close her eyes.

“El?” Mike said, as they gathered around, waiting.

When she opens her eyes, she slowly gravitates to one of the pieces and picks it up. “Will.” She replies, showing it was the Wizard piece, the one that the boy always plays as.

“Superpowers.” Dustin said, as Lucas rolled his eyes, still not convinced about this whole thing.

“Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?” Mike asks, just before she brushes the rest of the figures off the board and flips it over. She places the wizard piece on the board. “I don’t understand.”

“Hiding.” She replies, the boys looking at one another. She then places another figure down, surprising them.

“Who is that supposed to be?” Lucas asked, as Dustin perked up.

“The Ranger. Is that Stephanie?” He asked, as she nodded. “Are they hiding?” She nods again. “Together.” Another nod.

“From the bad men?” Mike asked, but she shakes her head in disappointment. “Then from who?”

And without saying another word she places another figure down.

It was a beast with two heads.

The Demogorgon.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

It took a while like she said, and luckily they had no trouble getting there, but what was troubling the young boy was that she wouldn’t tell him where they were going. Was she embarrassed by this place? Did something happen? He doesn’t know, but it’s gnawing at him.

“We’ve arrived.” She said, as they were coming up to it.

It was… a pretty big house, much bigger than his and even his friends’ houses. He wonders if this was one of the rich neighbourhoods or something like that. And sure enough… his questions would be answered when he happened to catch the name on the mailbox.

Oh.

Now he understands why she didn’t say anything.

“So this is the…” Was he choosing his words correctly? “The King’s house?”

“Yep.” Stephanie said, hand on the doorknob which miraculously opened. She rolls her blue eyes. “They still keep it unlocked.” They stepped inside, still gloomy and covered in vines and goo like the last two. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Will follows behind, observing everything that seemed a bit foreign for him. “I knew they were rich but I didn’t know they were that rich.” He said after observing art piece after art piece that he knows isn’t locally made.

“Yeah, they got crazy money.” She said, and her pace seemed to quicken without her noticing. She hustles into the parents room, opening the closet to find a safe. “Shit.” She forgot about the lock. “Where did that bastard put the key?”

Stephanie starts running around the bedroom, pulling open drawers, looking through trinkets, his wife’s jewelry box too – A curse word after every failed attempt.

“Steph?” Will said, worriedly.

“Just give me a second.” She snapped, and left the room. She starts opening the drawers from the tables in the hallway, visibly getting more annoyed with each second. “For fuck sakes–”

“Stephanie!”

“What?!” She slammed it shut, rattling everything that was on. The force and her tone seemed to shock him, and even take a small step back. She grips the table, closing her eyes to calm herself. “Fuck. I just…”

And when she opens them she finds herself staring at the boy she wanted to forget about. It was a picture of him on his swim team, the frame saying: Championship 1981. She just stares at with emotions the youngest Byers couldn’t figure out what they were.

“Steph?” He asked, slowly.

“Yeah?”

“What happened to you and Steve?”

She continues to stare at the photo for another minute before pushing herself to stand. “I think he still keeps that knife in his room.” Was what she muttered before heading in the opposite direction to another room.

Will could only wonder what really happened to them…

Just as the lights started to flicker.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

Inside the most “fabulous” party of the year, Barb laid back in one of the pool chairs, listening to the terrible music that’s blasting in her ear as her best friend watches her boyfriend slice a hole into a beer can and start drinking it all in one go.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Nancy asked, as he sat down and lit a cigarette.

“You’re not?” Steve asked, genuinely surprised.

“You are a cliche, you do realize that?”

“You are a cliche. What with your– your grades and your band practice.”

“I’m so not in band.”

“Okay, party girl. Why don’t you just, uh, show us how it’s done, then?” He hands her the knife and a can.

“Okay.” She says, all giggly.

“You gotta make a little hole right in–”

“I got it.”

“Yeah, she’s smart, you douche!” Tommy said, as he crushes his own can on his forehead.

Soon, everyone was chanting “Chug” as Nancy down a whole beer in under thirty seconds. Everyone cheered and laughed, proud at the achievement.

“Barb, you wanna try?�� Nancy asked, holding the blade up.

“What? No. No, I don’t want to. Thanks.” She said, shaking her head. But after a quick back and forth badgering she finally gave in. She rips the items out of the girl’s hand, clearly upset. It wasn’t long before her judgment was clouding her mind and accidentally nicks herself.

“Whoa, Gnarly.” Tommy said, impressed by the deep cut.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked, worriedly.

“Yeah.” Barb said, trying to push her away.

“Barb, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh, it’s– Steve stands up, and starts taking her over to the sliding door. “It’s, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left.” He frowns. Shit of course.

But before he could say anything, Tommy had pushed Carol into the pool and then jumped in after her. Steve then shrugs, and lets a smirk play on his face as he does the same to Nancy before doing a cannonball.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

Steph tries to contain herself as she enters his room. It was taking a lot of strength not to just start flipping things over, and tear those stupid pendants off the wall.

Stupid fucking house. Stupid fucking room. Stupid fucking Harrington. She grits her teeth, fighting back the tears in her eyes as she desperately tries to remember where he hid the blade.

She lets out a groan. “For fuck sake’s, man! Where did you put it?!” She yells, and kicks whatever was near her. She swears something must have fallen out from it, but she doesn’t even want to look.

God damn you, Harrington. She scolds, and rubs her face. How can he–

That’s when the light in his room flickered on and off scaring her half to death. “What the–”

“Stephanie!” Will’s voice shouted, kicking her into high gear.

“Fuck.” She mumbles, and races to find that blade.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

As soon as Barb comes out of the bathroom, she immediately spots a certain someone heading up the stairs. “Nance! Nancy.” She shouts, getting her to stop. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere. Just… upstairs. To change. I… fell in the pool.” Nancy said, feeling like she was on cloud nine. “Why don’t you go ahead and go home. I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.”

“Nance–”

“Barb, I’m fine.”

“This isn’t you.”

“I’m fine. Just go ahead and go home, okay?”

And then Nancy leaves her all alone, confused and heartbroken by her friend’s actions. But despite being hurt, she couldn’t just up and leave her drunken buddy like this. So…

She decides to wait.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Steve had found her some clothes she could change in, and he was grinning like a kid upon the thought of seeing his girlfriend in his clothes.

I’m such a dork. He tells himself as she calls out his name. “Yeah?” There was a look in her eyes that he’s never seen before, and honestly was turned on by it.

But ‘Fuck that’, says the universe, and the home phone starts to ring.

He groans, irritated. “Hang on a second–” He proceeds to run out of the room, and shouts, “Hey! Turn the music down in case it’s my parents.”

Nancy chuckles, cheeks flush because she was ready to lose her– wait. Did something just touch her leg? She looks down to find that a box was tipped over and had opened, and wonders when that happened. Did she accidently kick it without realizing? Or was it already like that? Frankly, curiosity got the best of her as she crouched down to try to fix it. But then, her actions slowed when she saw something.

The Wheeler picks up a paper – a flier – to her surprise was the missing poster of Stephanie Henderson.

“What?” She says, quietly, confusedly. Why was he keeping this? And that’s when she puts two and two together. She starts shifting through the small pile which was made up of photos, movie tickets, receipts from a record store, arcade tokens and– “Oh, my god.”

Suddenly, Steve comes jogging back in, relief on his face. “False alarm. It was just–”

“So who is she to you?” Nancy asked, standing up and flashing the memorabilia at him.

His face falls immediately. “Hey, that’s–”

“Is she the person that was rumored you pushed away?”

“It’s nothing.” Steve replies, trying to take the stuff away from her, but she ain’t budging.

“It’s nothing, or she’s nothing?”

“It’s– W-What? You jealous?” He asked, trying to play this thing off cool, but his girlfriend wasn’t stupid.

“I’m not jealous. I’m just curious.” Nancy replies, honestly. She takes another look at the photos in her hand before looking back at him. “I mean, if she isn’t your friend anymore, then why do you hang on to all this stuff? Or better question–”

“Nancy, stop, it’s just–”

“Why did you break it off?”

His brain short circuits again. “What?”

“I said, ‘Why did you break it off?’ I mean…” She flips through some of the photos he has, memorized. “From what I see, you two remind me of Barb and I. You two look like you were tied at the hip. So why break it off?”

“I…” Why couldn’t he fucking talk all of a sudden? “I didn’t, I–”

“So, she broke it off?” She said, eyebrow raised.

“No. I-I broke it off, she didn’t do anything–”

“So… why did you?”

“Nancy–”

“Look, I just want to understand you. I mean, every time I think I have you figured out you throw me through a loop.” She gives him a reassuring look as she picks up the box, shuffling whatever was remaining around. “I mean, from what I see, you seem like a completely different person then. I just wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad–”

Now it was her turn to look lost (and for Steve to lose all the color in his face). She frowns, slowly pulling out a small casing. “Is this a… bullet?”

“That’s nothing!” He manages to snag at least that away.

“Why do you have a bullet in the box?!” She asks, eyes blown wide.

He swallows. “Nancy–”

“Did you shoot her or something?”

“What?!” He scoffs. “No! Why would I shoot her?!”

“Well did she shoot you?”

“No! Nobody shot anybody, it was just–”

“Then why do you have a stray bullet cas–”

“‘CAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT!! OKAY?!” Steve snaps, startling them both (He can’t believe he just lost his cool like that). He swallows again, head spinning at the memories (Why did he fucking leave the box right there?). “I just… there was an incident and… it… shaped my decision, okay? But it didn’t involve me or her with a gun, it was… s-someone else. Someone I know. I don’t know why I’m holding onto it, I…” He sighs and grabs the box, holding it out for her to put the stuff away.

It takes her a moment to process it all, and she does put all the stuff in her hands away, but she remains silent the whole time. She’s never seen him act this way before.

It honestly concerned her.

Nancy breaks eye contact, and only reverses it when she gathers the right words. “Look, Steve, I’m sorry I intruded, I probably shouldn’t have but… I’m just trying to understand you.”

Steve shakes his head, still confused. “I-I…” He shrugs, and crosses his arms defensibly. “What’s there to understand?”

Nancy gestures to him and says, “Well, for starters, you’re an airhead and–”

“So?” He cuts in, as she holds her tongue and continues.

“And you’re arrogant, snarky, and sweet–”

“Sweet’s fine.”

“Of course. Sweet’s fine. I love how nice you are to me, Steve.” She then frowns for him. “However, that gets overshadowed by your… insecurities.”

He pauses, now it was his turn to take in those words (What the hell did she mean by that? He’s not… no). “I don’t… I don’t have any… any–”

“Steve.” Nancy takes a step closer. “I don’t know why the kid in these pictures decided to change into the one I’m seeing before me, but if that doesn’t have to do with any insecurities, then I’m not sure why you decided to make that change willingly.”

“I… W-Willingly?” He scoffs again. “What do you mean? I never change willingly? What are you even getting at, Nance?” He hasn’t changed. He’s never changed. What is she even getting at?

But Nancy looked at him with eyes full of pity and took another step closer. “I don’t know what the reason was for you two to stop being friends, but all I know, from what I gathered, she wasn’t the one to end it.” She places Steph’s flier on his chest that he subconsciously grabbed, and said one last thing before leaving his room. And that was,

“Maybe there was a good reason for you to end it, but that’s not an excuse for you to stop being who you really are.”

And Steve’s left with an epiphany he’s not sure he can decipher.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

As soon as the lock was broken, she retrieved the gun from the safe and frantically told her companion to get down the stairs. Will and Steph’s hearts were in their ears, and it sped up when the light above the front door flickered.

“Shit–” She pulls the boy to a halt, and redirects them to the back door. “Go, go, go, go, go.”

She throws open the sliding door, and out into the backyard, but as soon as they step foot onto the ground, the lights around the empty pool start to flicker. The two of them stopped immediately and held their breaths. They weren’t sure where the beast was at, but it was definitely nearby ready to snatch them up.

They were afraid to even breathe or twitch. What if this thing really does appear out of thin air?

They both jolted when a loud growl came from somewhere inside the pool. Wasting no time, Steph taps Will on the arm and makes a shushing gesture, then waves him to follow her. The boy understood completely, and the two of them move slowly, so carefully that there’s not way–

The both of them screamed when two human hands grabbed onto the top of the pool ladder.

A girl’s head poked up, face battered and covered in grime, her glasses shattered and splattered with blood. The girl looked so fam–

“Nancy!!” She shouts, as something growls behind her, scaring all of them to their core. And when her eyes landed on the two of them, she desperately yelled for help just seconds before the beast’s claws wrapped around her head and pulled her back.

Will and Steph matched the girl’s scream, and the beast roared in delight that his prey was just right in front of it. Its claws could be seen grabbing the ladder, like it was trying to crawl out and feast.

That’s when the two of them booked it.

The guns rattled in their hands.

The tears in their eyes.

Whatever this place was, they knew…

This couldn’t get compared to hell itself.

(TBC)

-Taglist is Open-

@ladygrey03 @poppet05 @tooearlyforthis @lovesfics @lordzzz

@mirkwoodshewolf @sadbitchfangirl @olivewisp

@emsownuniverse @unspecifiedvisitor @smaryamsstuff @kitty49646

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swdm360 · 1 year

Text

Hanahaki Disease Aftermath - WIP

"... Cough..."

"Need a napkin?"

"Yes, please."

Hanahaki disease.

What an awful disease it was, targeting vulnerable hopeless romantics and one-sided love. Only giving the option to die with their undying affection or forget their affections for survival through surgery.

Now, there are many different after effects for each person when undergoing through surgery.

One will forget any memories they made with their love just to remove all sorts of feelings—these often than not ruins sex-drive and romantic interest along with the fact that patients now struggle to express romantic feelings as they would've been, the other removes any feelings whatsoever relating to loving something romantically—this can only happen when the infected person chooses to do the surgery early on in the process.

The one final one is when the infected person does the surgery very late which is that they can remove their memories by tweaking with the memory side of the brain alongside the emotional side which often than not leads to comas and deaths during an operation.

Most patients in comas often don't wake up or will wake up very very late with no memories of who they are whatsoever.

However because most infected patients are lovesick, they rather die than forget their love.

This was not the case for you, for which you took the surgery as soon as you showed symptoms of the first ever petal. Fortunately keeping you memories of both you and your ex-love...your bestfriend.

They notice that you had changed how you acted around them; more relaxed and calm. At ease and laid back and so very free from any burdens. You no longer looked like you could die any second —an exaggeration considering you hadn't gone far into the process—but you had eyebags and skin as pale as snow and eyes red and coughing every so often, how could they not exaggerate?

You told them about your situation, where you had experienced the disease but quickly had surgery—effectively saving your life but ruining any chances of starting any. Later on, you find that they develop feelings for you way too late. Despite them knowing that you had done the surgery... Your awareness increased, making it easier to sense whether someone liked you or not.... So it was unfortunate to break it for them...

➡ Kazuha

He was a sweet boy and that was one of the reasons you fell for him hard. He had these dimples whenever he smiles and his eyes so soft it squeezed your heart. His fingers were ever so gentle whenever he handled you, be it helping you out, tying your hair or hanging out with you, he was oh so gentle.

He would hold your hand and caress your hair, sometimes lending his clothes just for you. Oh, you would blush and fiddle with your fingers as you felt giddy... When he smiled at a girl called Lumine and started chatting with her happily, your stomach dropped.

That was when the first cough began.

Your coughing fit increased gradually throughout the week and it had not crossed your mind at the time that something was wrong.

How could there be?

It was just a simple coughing fit right? Well, after 3 months of having these coughing fit (2 consisted of blood) the first petal came along with excruciating pain.

You had seen these in the news, the symptoms and the warnings.

You knew what to do and did not hesitate, you loved him but wasn't to the point where you'd sacrifice yourself. When you exited that building, the heavy weight on your shoulders lifted. It felt so nice not having pain everyday.

"Hey MC, Lumine wanted to ask if she could hang out with us this weekend, do you mind?" He asked sheepishly, as if nervous to see what you had to say.

Normally, he'd see you stare at him a couple of seconds and frown...but today you raised your brow and smiled, eyes half-lidded as you agreed.

"Yeah, sure why not? I haven't talked to her in ages anyways."

He blinked, not that there was anything bad with the way you responded but... You were acting unusual from before.

Again, not like there was anything wrong with that. For some reason, his gut feeling told him something was wrong.

(I'm not done yet but here's a sneak peak. This is my first time uploading one of these oneshots since I found I can never finish a fanfictions but here we have it)

#hanahaki disease #hanahaki #kaedahara kazuha #kazuha #kazuha kaedehara #genshin impact angst #genshin impact #oneshot #fluff? ha not really #wip #first time posting

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1-800-pastelskies · 4 months

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and my bestfriend and my crush got into an argument and it looks like they ain't gon make up☠ i have to vent like an amogus imposter real quick

so now i have to ignore my crush (wagyu) for my friend's sake which i volunteered to do ofc GOTTA BE THERE FOR MY POOKIE💓..because obviously my crush is at fault here & he is lowkey victimising himself when he is the villain along with my bestie's ex

so yea now i probably will have to ignore him but he messed up real bad BUT DOESN'T REALISE IT and...i myself have not seen this facade of him before...i mean we could see he had a sorta superiority complex but he is a nice guy but bro i didn't expect him to betray my friend like that☠just because you've been here for someone multiple times does not justify your hypocritical actions...(my friend jokingly called him off as a hypocrite...BUT DON'T GET ME WRONG ITS NOT THE 1ST TIME WE CALLED HIM HYPO...LIKE MANY TIMES WE JOKINGLY CALLED HIM HYPO OR FAKE BUT HE IS HYPO FR...LIKE HE'S THE TYPE TO TALK SHIT ABOUT SOMEONE THEN GO SPEAK AND LAUGH WITH THEM☠) and i can recall that last year one time he told me "i rhink i'm fake" and i replied "everyone has a fake side dw" WE ALWAYS JOKED ABOUT HIM BEING FAKE IN FRONT OF HIM and he always took it lightheartedly....many ppl told him he was fake several times BUT NOW BRO GOT MAD☠ AND THE THING IS MY FRIEND APOLOGISED SEVERAL TIMES ON TEXT AND WAGYU LEFT HER ON DELIVERED

he told my bestie's ex about a guy friend D who had a crush on her (still has) the guy friend was present btw well the ex went "i knew that"...and i heard so i told my friend about it😭and she jokingly called wagyu (my crush) hypocrite and now he is hanging out with my bestie's awful ex...☠and definitely told things to him my bestie trusted him about and said to him while she was dating her ex...AND THE THING IS HE SPOKE MULTIPLE TIMES ABOUT BESTIE'S EX'S BACK TOO AND WAS OPENLY A HATER☠😭

and also BESTIE'S EX BESTIE in parentheses lets say close friend lets call him nokia has a crush on bestie and bestie's ex openly hates him and was trying to get him away from bestie now since its obvious he has a huge fat crush on bestie..HE EVEN GAVE HER A TEDDY AND A LETTER ON VALENTINES🥺they are in a what are we situationship that is not a situationship stage...but nokia definitely likes bestie because he is always around and talks to bestie...and he is a good guy

but bestie's ex THAT LABORATORY RAT LOOKING ASS GOOFY AH ASS BITCH WAS STILL CHASING BESTIE but bestie told him at this bday party to leave him alone and he kept following her and wagyu was her protector and tehy kept running away so then rat (bestie's ex) friends told rat to stop sobhe stopped now and bestie's ex is a huge asshole and bestie took the resolution to enjoy her last year as a minor last year so i don't think she will commit to nokia and she doesn't know yet if she has the feels for him...so i always observe nokia's behaviour and nokia knows i ship them or like "COUGH AND FAKE CHOKE VERY HARD WHEN HE IS MAKING HIS WAY TO BESTIE" and even nokia "coughed" LOL HE UNDERSTANDS THE DRILL🔥🔥🔥hehehe plus nokia fist bumped me after he saw me see him walk chingching bestie to class so he gets bonus points☺

sooo wagyu kinda has a love-hate friendship for D (guy friend) just because of his last name i think☠😭he had a crush on a dude back in 8th grade who had the same last name so now he hates everyone who had that last name☠but guy friend is kinda insignificant in this story

he claims that my bestie is ungrateful because he was there for her alot for her and that my bestie apparently does not know his value😭 yeaaa....

ps:we all ignored him and during first break and while we were descending the stairs wagyu looked at us😭☹️ for a fat minute then looked away...i think he understood we were all gonna ignore him even me☠😞🥺 i do feel bad but also...fuck him

plus after a free period when i was leaving the library he was coming this way➡️

and i was going that way⬅️ so he saw me and i saw him he was with a friend i did not even bother to look at him in the eyes and walked away next to him 😞

yea...goodluck on reading all that

(we don’t got time to unpack all that) alizée and wagyu divorce era

i gotta throw you a single again party

#♡peach’s paint pallet♡#﹄❏♡•peach answers•♡❏﹃#🤍alizée🤍

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solhaechan · 28 days

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as a fellow gemini who doesn't really know much about astrology what are the most common gemini traits? maybe the ones you see in yourself and other people you know irl

Okay disclaimer, not trying to stereotype here, but this is what I've observed in myself, gemini's I know and those I idolize

Adaptable/versatile/multifaced

Tendency to adapt themselves to situations and people around them; what would be acceptable in this situation/with this person? I have many different faces and very few people get to see all of them because I pick what I show you based on what you reflect back at me. If I seek to interact with you, I will mirror you where I find common ground. But then again, if I do not seek to do so, you will be met with a closed door and a sarcastic politeness at most. This is often the case when the social battery is empty or simply because I don't vibe with you. I can clearly see this with Haechan; we often see the bright bubbly personality, but there are some vids where you can see he's tired and speaks only out of duty or to make dry/sarcastic jokes.

Curious/inquisitive/noisy

Natural curiosity when it comes to my direct environment; I want to know everything from my direct circle and can even be noisy. What's the latest tea? What did you do the other day? Oh, you're doing something and I don't know what? I'll be looking over your shoulder to see for myself. On the other hand, true to the two faced nature of the gemini, there can also be an utter disinterest in matters that don't spark my curiosity. I can be completely uneducated on certain matters and not care in the slightest bit, nor can you change my mind because I'm stubborn. The change of my mind will occur from my own accord; usually by chance when I come accross something about the matter that suddenly does spark my interest. This is were gemini's can be considered fickle/volatile, because now I've suddenly changed my mind? If interest is necessary, e.g. adult responsibilities or school work, laziness is sparked and things will be explored at a snail's pace or procastinated. This whole paragraph is something I also saw in my ex, a fellow gemini, a lot.

Witty/cocky/smartass/clever/funny/no filter

I have grouped these all together because they often go hand-in-hand.

Quick with responses especially in arguments, to make a point myself or to immediately make yours invalid; the responses/reactions can come so quickly and unfiltered/with no thoughts behind them that it leaves others flabbergasted and often amused. Dry, sarcastic, witty responses, you name it. They come naturally and a gemini will be smug about it; you might experience a urge to punch them in the face (*cough* Haechan *cough*, my father's gemini bestfriend). I have heard so many times in my life that my irl reactions to things are hilarious and I am often a source of unadulturated laughter for my loved ones. A mood lifter if you will. This is also a key trait of gemini's; we can act unhinged, publicly and without shame, if we know for certain it will lead to a desired reaction. The desired reaction not always being laughter.

(Emotional) Intelligence/observant

Can read the room well; goes slightly hand-in-hand with the adaptability. Will observe first to decide how to interact. Quicker to read between the lines and recognize implicit meanings/thoughts; quick to reassure loved ones when these implicit thoughts are self-depreciating (I've seen Haechan do this and I do it myself too). Seeks intellectual matches in their relationships and the ability to have philosophical conversations as these are highly stimulating. These are the people I tend to be closest with. If these matches are found, I find that a gemini is extremely loyal. When this is not the case, for me personally, the popular stereotyped 'easily bored, quick to lose interest' gemini comes out.

#wow this became whole logorrhea #not sure if this makes sense #or if i answered your question at all 😅#i lack knowledge on astrology myself tbh #well this was fun #anon #ask #reply #gemini #haechan

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lilliumrorum · 3 months

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Okay guys weed story time *a new tradition* (Every time I am in an interesting rotation or situation I will post it)

The first time I ever got high I was 14(DO NOT SMOKE UNDERAGE YALL) and my friend had invited me back to his house after we had been in a parade for AFJROTC.

Originally we were supposed to go back to get his money and then walk back to the restaurant (which was all the way across the city from his house). On the way there, I was still wearing my Combo-1 Uniform (cap included) and this important for later in this recount of events. After nearly being attacked by a dog, we made it to his house.

He told me about how he fucked his girl and got caught (my at the time bestfriend) on the couch and I remember looking at him like ???

We went back to his room to get his wallet and I instantly smelled bud. He noticed the lil smile on my face (I had smoked before but never got high) and he was like "You wanna smoke, bubbles?" (Btw this was my nickname bc of an inside joke in ROTC)

And this is how it went:

"Sure, but nothing's gonna happen. 'Never works"

A wicked grin spread across his face as he passed me a wax pen and uttered:

"Something will happen, follow my lead. If you don't feel it you're fuckin immortal."

So as I suck the life out of his cart he puts on Rammstein and blasts it on his fucking speakers, and he makes me hold the hit in for as long as I can before I cough. THEN HE WHIPS OUT A FUCKING PEACE PIPE WITH AN AXE ON IT.

"Now you're gonna hit this, trust me that pen aint shit"

I was already beginning to feel the effects of the wax, but I trusted him.

After taking 8 hits off of the pipe he had me take 5 dabs (Fuckin love dabs) and I was starting to get paranoid.

He just took a picture and laughed at me and said he was gonna send it to his gf (my best friend at the time) and then MADE ME HIT A FUCKING BONG.

After 15 more minutes of fucking around with his guitar and fumbling about, he took me to the garage with a joint (Mike Tyson knockout strain) and a pipe and we finished them both off.

"How's life right now, Lily?"

"Oh its goooooood." I giggled with a dumb-ass smile and a thumbs up.

He laughed for like a minute straight and I was bewildered bc like pls stop this is not funny I'm new to being high and I'm trying my best to breathe rn I'm breathing manually.

So he led me outside and whipped out his phone and was like "What does it look like"

I have the video if yall wanna see it but I looked terrible

"ITS SO FUCKING GREEN HOLY SHIT IT'S LIKE GTA WHEN YOU HIT FRANKLINS BONG AND THE FISHEYE CAMERA MIXED WHAT THE FUCKKKK IM TRIPPING FUCKING TESTICLES MATE."

So anyways I ended up almost getting run over two times bc I was bumbling around and my shoes were making my feet blister and he didnt make an effort to help me. After walking for four miles we finally got to the restaurant and he ordered me a wrap and bought it for me (which was really sweet) and a smoothie, but my eyes were red as shit and I needed to go to sleep so I decided to nap on the table.

There we were, still in our uniforms, but I looked higher than NASA at this point and I eventually was asked if I was alright and caught a few stares.

I ran to the bathroom bc I almost threw up.

After 15 minutes he walks in the bathroom and drags my ass out of the stall and starts fucking hollering laughing and saying shit like HAHAHA I KNEW I COULD WIN or something like that and called himself my weed demon like ?????

He barely even smoked compared to me...

My mum's name flashed on my phone and he picked it up for me and claimed I threw up at his house and I was going home (It was close to the restaurant so I would be home soon) and she was like OKAY:D and all happy bc she thought I wasn't depressed anymore since I was with a friend I guess.

After he walked me home I immediately looked down and averted eye contact with my mom and her ex and just speed walked my ass to my room with my leftovers.

I heard a quiet "I think shes high"

And just said NO. not a yell, just fuckin

NO.

and when I woke up that night I fucked up that food and smoothie and facetimed him and his gf while devouring it.

Experience rating: 7/10

Good food, Almost got killed, almost got my ass beat by my mom, guitar, good music, Indica.

@konigslittleliebling wanna share your experience with a reblog bae?

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gyubby99 · 2 years

Text

Alistar: I'm texting my bestfriend, right?

Alistar: *cough*EX*cough* bestfriend.

Alistar: And I said, "Hey, let me know when to come over."

Alistar: What did she say?

Alistar: "Ok."

Alistar: With the letter O, and the letter K. Not even the full word with a "y", not even a "Kaykay love u <3"

Alustar: so she hates me. And I think I'm gonna get over there and she's gonna be planning on ending our friendship.

Alistar: You know what? I'm terminating it first.

Alistar: ELLA! ELLA MARIA ALDEN! I HATE YOU. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS DOWN THE DRAIN. GO PICK PUMPKINS WITH YOUR HUSBAND.

#the prophecy of immortal fire #HELAPSNAKSA #ellastar

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daisyvramien · 2 months

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Camp Nano (& Health) Update!!

HEY HI HELLO !!! So my headache is low for the first time in 2 weeks so I can actually advance stuff + my coughing got a bit better!! Still sick with covid but I'm capable of working AND focusing which is good!! I have no taste, no smell and I haven't had a coffee in like 6 days (which is a big deal cause I take 6/7 per day SO LMAO) but it's okay, tea is my bestfriend, same for sparkling water. I'm less active in the Fox' Den and everywhere basically (sorry I was trying to survive XD) but I'm planning on being more active now that I'm feeling better. 📝 For Camp Nano, I have the draft for "Of Dusk and Dawn" (Fantasy Romance with Slow-Burn) which is good but sadly it's not the Nano 50k goal (my draft with plotlines and all are 15k, this is not the "story", just the basic plots, subplots, characters and more) and it's not like I can modify it since this is basically like already "locked in" on their website? I also started this paranormal thriller, dark academia ghost story with slow-burn and romance, cold case, enemies to lovers and I'm LOVING the spooky vibes so far! I just need to get into the mood tho to write it cause I'm the one who giggles when the lights start to flicker and I hum "Shake Shake Senora" to calm myself down in Halloween Haunted Houses so- 🤣😭🤣😭🤣

But what I do have, is like a bunch of nice, sassy, funny quotes and here are some cause they made me giggle last night and I hope they make you giggle too (a bit at least):

"If you're looking for sympathy, you won't find it here. Try the kindergarten down the street, they might have some spare hugs."

"If ghosts are just echoes of the past, then I must have some serious fucking reverb."

"I don't believe in ghosts, but I also don't trust empty hallways."

"I see your mouth is in fine working order. Shame that brain of yours doesn't follow suit."

"If you hear the sound of chains rattling, it's either a ghost, or my landlord tracked me down and he's coming to collect rent. I hope it's a ghost."

"Oh, you want to play ghost hunter? Let me guess, you brought your Scooby gang and everything?"

"I don't believe in ghosts and shit, but I do believe in the power of a good exorcism to clear out annoying classmates."

"You think the haunted library is scary? Try finding a clean bathroom, in this place, on a Friday night!"

"They say the dead don't sleep, but neither do the students at this academy. Coincidence? I think not."

"This banshee sounds familiar… Are you sure your ex didn't die, Nate ?"

"If you're going to haunt my damn quarters, at least have the decency to pay rent!" Also hi, we have new people here!! Since you're new, what is the Fox' Den ? Well it's a Discord Group I created for writers!! There are many categories, sections, motivation and more and if you want to join, feel free to send me a dm!📜🧙‍♂️💭

Also, please DO take care of yourselves peeps!!! Like genuinely, creating is great but you cannot create if you're not here anymore so put yourself first and do take care of yourself 🌿📖

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emoassbitch69 · 1 year

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i went over to my bestfriend/ex's house today and it was rlly fun im so gay

like, idrk if i like them anymore, i did for a long ass time after we broke up, but idk, idk if i do anymore

thats kinda scary, ive been in love with them for so long, its like loving them is a piece of me, but now idk

god drink everytime i say idk i dare you

ill prolly just switch after this and someone *cough* quinn *cough* will be all "no we love them sm, wth r u talking abt their eyes, and face, and voice when they speak spanish, and... 🥺😢😍" bc thats 100% what they sound like /hj

anyway im so socially drained omfg

im also rlly bored, and ik we were supposed to do smth the next time we're bored but idr (did life lol 🫠

whatever ig ill just clog our tumblr with my feelings

#nigel

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chibsytelford · 3 years

Text

The Stranger and a Kiss

Requested by @yourwonkywriter Hi babes, can I request: 24) kisses for a cover with Happy

Maybe the reader runs into one of her ex-boyfriends and doesn’t know what to do so she just grabs him and kisses him not knowing who he is and what he does lol 🥺💖

Join my group chat here for updates 😊

The last person you wanted to see right now had just walked into the bar with a couple of his asshole friends. You came here because it was the last place you thought you'd see him, but boy you were wrong. He clocked you straight away, nudging his friends and nodding in your direction before they all laughed and shook her heads.

That was typical of him. He always put you down and made you miserable, and you would always hate yourself for how it had taken you to realize. If it wasn't for your bestfriend you would probably still be with your ex.

You were too busy looking at your ex boyfriend and you had somehow managed to miss the big gang of men wearing leather jackets that must have entered after him. You tried not to stare but you couldn't help it. They looked out of place and everyone was staring at them. They were oblivious to the attention, too busy joking and ordering beers from the bartender. You had your eye on one of them straight away. He had minimal hair on his head, stubble, tattoos that looked as if they covered most of his body and a look on his face that you couldn't quite place. He looked scary, as did they all, but the way his smile filled up his face when he laughed had you thinking that there was more to him than meets the eye.

Your friend dragged you from your thoughts suddenly. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She had a mischevious look in her eye and you couldn't help but raise your eyebrows at her and laughing. "How petty are you feeling on a scale of 1 to 10?" She asked you. You were about to answer when she spoke again. "Don't think I didn't notice dick features coming in with Thing 1 and Thing 2".

You couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped you and you swore that the whole bar looked over at you. "What are you thinking?" You were a bit tipsy so that was your excuse for entertaining her with this question.

"Well, I'm seeing some hotties over there" she pointed to the group of men that you had already seen a few minutes before, "and I'm seeing doofus over there is watching you, so Y/N, let's play a game shall we" your friend winked at you. She grabbed your hand and lead you over to the bar and ordered 2 shots of something before handing you one and downing her own. You copied her and tried your best not to cough as the liquid trickled down your throat.

"What now?" You asked intrigued.

"Now, the game begins". She looked behind you and saw your ex was still watching you. "Now, you're going to pick one of them" she pointed at the men, "and kiss them". You opened your mouth about to protest but then you thought to yourself that it might be a good way to finally get over your ex, and you would be lying if you said you didn't want to kiss the man you'd eyed up earlier.

"Fine" you took a few deep breaths and headed over to the table that the men had now occupied. You tapped the baldish man on the shoulder and he spun around eyeing you up and down.

"What do you-" before he could finish you grabbed onto his leather jacket at the collar and pulled his face closer to yours. You hesitated slightly before closing the gap fully and placed your lips on his. You didn't move them for a few seconds and neither did he so you took the lead and moved your lips against his, once, twice, three times. You gave him one last peck before releasing him and taking a step back.

The whole table erupted into loud laughter except for the man you had just kissed. He was staring at you like he wanted to murder you. "I'm really sorry" you started to say feeling a tad nervous, "I don't know why I did that, my friend over there kinda dared me and I thought you were super good looking and-"

This time it was his turn to cut you off. He stood up from the chair and placed his hands on each side of your face. He dipped down and placed his lips on yours moving them straight away. This time the kiss was deeper, slower and you felt your knees becoming weak. You begrudgingly pulled away and caught your breath. "That was-"

"Happy" the man answered in a gravelly rough voice.

"I've never had my kisses described as happy before" you weren't sure if it was a compliment or not.

"The dumbass means his name is Happy" the man with curly brown hair piped up.

You couldn't contain the small giggle that left your lips. "I'm Y/N".

"I'll be seeing you around, Y/N" Happy answered and he turned away from you and sat back down at the table. You walked back over to your friend but not before glancing over at where you last seen your ex. He looked angry and you knew then that your mission had gone to plan. It was petty of you, you knew that, but it was also the best kiss you had ever had and you wished it could happen again.

"Well well well, how was it?" Your friend greeted you laughing.

You lifted your hand and gently touched your lips smiling. "Incredible" you answered. "He is... Let's say fascinating".

You looked over your friends shoulder and looked at Happy again who was staring at you. You could see the cogs turning in his head and you wished you knew what he was thinking.

@pancakeisreading @phoenixhalliwell @rebelwrites @mrsmarvelous1995 @withmyteeth @redpoodlern @queenbeered @yourwonkywriter @est1887 @encounterthepast @louisianalady @lexondeck @kid-from-new-zealand @meteora-fc @angelreyesisdaddy04 @justjuiceyboy @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindo @peaches007 @jadesamhart @starrynite7114 @talicat713 @anangelwhodidntfall

#happy lowman #happy lowman x reader #sons of anarchy #happy lowman fanfic

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ks-dreams-fantasies · 3 years

Note

Rio smut?! Where the reader is married with 3 kids but she is currently going through a separation. She is in friend group with Beth,Annie, and Ruby. They all work for Rio and reader calls Rio over one day to talk about “business” and he’s confused on why she wants to talk and when he comes over to her house she asks him to fuck her and Rio delivers🙂🥵. Please

*GIF NOT MINE*

As you wish boss -Rio (Good Girls)

Hey love ! Thanks for your request, hope you like what I wrote ☺️ Enjoy some smut 👅 This is a longer one and I wrote it late at night , it’s not proofread sorry in advance

Also this takes place in season 2 before Ben transitionned so that’s why there is mention of Sadie

Warning: Language, Smut

Word Count : 3k

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“I need to get Stan out of there” Ruby said panicking as you and Annie tried to comfort her. Turner had arrested him Tuesday morning and Ruby couldn’t stop crying.

“I know we said we were out, but it’s the fastest way to get the money to bail him out” You called out looking at the both of them

“We could do it!” Annie said confidently “Plus we could all use the money, my sister doesn’t have to know” she continued

“We can’t go behind her back Annie” Ruby replied shaking her head disapproving of the idea. She didn’t want to do that to her bestfriend, but part of her was in need of the cash. “We need to tell Beth”

“We can’t, she’s an addict Ruby, it would be like giving a drink to an alcoholic. She’s trying her best and it wouldn’t be fair of us to bring her back in after all the effort she has done. It would only be one time, enough to get Stan out, enough to help (Y/N) with the divorce and enough for me and Sadie”Annie said trying to convince her.

“I mean, how would we even do it? Did you forget about the fact that we’ve been banned for every wholesale store? Beth’s the one who came up with the idea”

“As much as I love my sister, we don’t need her for that, we all have brains, let’s use them and find a way, it’s shouldn’t be too hard” Annie answered

“And how do we even find this guy, I mean Beth’s always been the one contacting him. Do you even know how to get to the man?” Ruby couldn’t believe she was even thinking about it

“I’ll do it” you said, finally speaking “I’ll get in contact with him”

“And how will you do that?” Ruby said finishing her coffee

“Let me take care of it” you replied, taking her mug to fill it in.

“Don’t” she said motioning to your hands “I have to go get the kids from school, we’ll catch up later”she continued standing up, picking up her purse before leaving

“Ok, so we’re really doing this?” Annie said excitedly

“I guess so, it’s going to help all of us, especially Ruby” you sighed “Anyway, anything to take my mind off of my stupid ex” you said rolling your eyes

“How are you doing by the way, with this whole situation?”

“I’m fine, the kids are starting to get used to it slowly, they’re often talking about his new girlfriend though, it’s kinda pissing me off. I mean he’s the one who fucked up and he gets to be happy with someone else? Like don’t get me wrong, I’m good without him, I wasn’t happy anymore, I was staying with him for the kids. It’s not like we had sex often, but it’s the only thing I miss, you know?” You asked shrugging your shoulders. Of course, you were taking care of yourself when you felt the need to, but you couldn’t help but admit you were missing the touch of a man.

“I get it” she chuckled

You talked for a bit before she left, leaving you all alone as you washed the dishes. When the kids came back from school, you prepared their bags for the weekend as they were going on a camping trip with their father and his new bimbo. He was coming to get the two little ones while you were going to your eldest’s baseball game.

“You have everything? Don’t forget I’m dropping you off at your dads after the game and he won’t be happy if you’re missing something” You said to him as you both hopped in the car, fastening your seatbelt.

“Don’t worry mom, I have everything. Can we go now? I don’t want to be late, Marcus said we could practice together before the game” He said as you drove off.

You never told the girls before, but your son was on the same team as Rio’s son. You didn’t see each other often, most of the time, Rhea was taking him to his games, but when you did see him, you would glance at each other from across the bleachers. He was a totally different person when Marcus was around. He still looked intimidating, but you could see his softer side when he would smile and clap as his son made a good play, encouraging him.

As you arrived at the field, your son went running to Marcus as you looked through the bleachers trying to find a familiar figure. Today was just your luck, as you saw Marcus’s dad sitting there, typing on his phone, probably taking care of business as he waited for the game to start. You made your way towards him, while other women stared at you as you sat next to the man dressed in black. He lifted his eyes from his phone, watching you, as you played with your own fingers.

“How you doing mama?” he said, his voice deep, hearing a gasp coming from a lady behind you. Rio was attractive and you weren’t the only one agreeing to that. Maybe it was the confidence, the danger, the relationship he had with his kid or even the neck tattoo, but you were not the only mom swooning over him. The difference with you, was that you didn’t let it show. They were always trying to get his attention, by sitting next him or trying to make conversation. Some of them even brought juice boxes and snacks for Marcus, trying to make him like them by gaining his son’s appreciation. You, on the other hand, never sat close to him or even spoke to him. Your relationship was strictly business related but it didn’t stop you from thinking about him in a different aspect. You didn’t want to admit it, but you sometimes happened to be thinking about him while pleasuring yourself. You couldn’t help but think about his dark seductive eyes or even his plump lips, and the fact that a man hadn’t touched you for what felt like years made you wish he would roam your body with his strong veiny hands.

You coughed softly “We need to talk” you said looking towards the field

“Yeah? About what” he replied smirking down at you

“Not here” you answered, not wanting to meet his amused eyes “Tonight, my house” you whispered as the game started. You didn’t talk after that you could feel his eyes on you from time to time and you could hear the bickering from behind you making you roll your eyes internally. As the kids won their game, Marcus and your son came running towards you two, looking happier than ever.

“Dad did you see that?” Marcus asked his dad, jumping around excitedly

“I did pap, you did great, who’s your friend?” he said looking at your son

“That’s Lucas, we always practice together”

“Well nice to meet you little man” Rio said smiling at Lucas “We have to go, but I guess I’ll see you around yeah?” He semi asked diverting his gaze towards you, winking, before leaving

You proceeded to go back to your car, heading towards your ex’s house, dropping off Lucas for the weekend

You later got ready as you opted for a more revealing but still classy outfit, waiting for Rio to come over. You were coming down the stairs as you heard a knock, taking a deep breath before opening the door, surprised to meet your ex’s figure.

“Are you going somewhere? You look hot” he said eyeing up and down as you scoffed, rolling your eyes

“What do you want David?”

“Lucas forgot his headphone, he needs them for the ride”

You sighed “Wait here” you got to your son’s room, picking what he needed before going back downstairs, shoving them on his chest “Goodbye David” You said slamming the door to his face. You walked through the kitchen as you grabbed a glass pouring some gin into it. You took a sip as you heard the door open again

“Ok David, what do you want now I told you I-“ you stopped dead in your track as your eyes laid on the tall criminal that stood in front of you.

“That’s not a very nice welcome mama” Rio smirked, his voice thick and croaky, sending shivers down your spine

“You could’ve knocked” You responded your voice laced with attitude as you tried to sound unfazed by his actions

“That’s no fun though” Rio threw back avoiding your remark, stepping closer to the kitchen island as you stood on the other side, fixing him a glass. As you made it slide across the countertop. He took it, nodding at you, before taking a sip himself

“Why did you want to see me (Y/N)?” he questioned you as you tried your best not to look surprised that he actually knew your name. It was the first time you heard him say it and it made you quiver slightly. “We want to do business” You said trying to sound confident as you took another sip of your drink

“I thought you said you were out” he looked amused as he gazed at your fidgeting fingers

“Well, you see, Beth is out, that doesn’t mean we need to stop doing business with you” you swallowed the remaining of your drink, hoping it would give you a boost of confidence. “Of course, no need to mention, it would stay between us” You said stepping a few feet closer to him but not close enough to reach him

“And how would you wash the money” he asked downing his glass, looking deeply into your eyes, a grin plastered on his face

“Why don’t you let me take care of that, you just need to provide the money, and we’ll do the rest for you” You managed to say with a pleasant smile, proud by your assurance

“Ok so 500 g’s to start, and we’ll see how it goes” He shrugged, his voice filled with pure enjoyment as he watched your eyes grow slightly bigger

“500 grand?” You gulped. How would you do that in a week, you didn’t even know how you would proceed to wash all the money

“If you can’t handle it, I can find someone else for the job” he said stepping closer to you

“We’ll handle it” You responded immediately, almost cutting him off. You turned around as you filled both of your drinks, taking a sip right after you put the bottle back on the kitchen counter.

He stared at you, an amused smile on his lips as you almost gulp down the entirety of its content

“Good” he said looking at his glass, now full. “Was there anything else you wanted from me?” he said as he took in your outfit. You were dressed in all black, his favorite color and he couldn’t help but admit that you looked amazing. Beth was good looking, but he always found you breath taking. He took another step forward, facing you completely, your chest almost touching as you hold in a gasp, now feeling nervous. You breathed threw your nose, processing the words that would next come out of your mouth before looking straight at him.

“I want you to fuck me” you said trying to sound confident and demanding. He looked at you closely trying to find one thing that would indicate that you were messing with him

“Don’t joke around mama” He stated raising his left eyebrow, eyes filled with lust, licking his lips softly.

“If you’re not the man for the job, I can always find someone else” you managed to say, surprising yourself with your boldness, as you rephrased the words he said earlier. A smirk appeared on his lips as you went to take a step back to get away from him. He decided otherwise, grabbing your arm, pulling your body to him as you slammed against his firm chest, crashing his mouth to yours, almost gasping startled by his actions. His lips were soft and sweet but at the same time so rough. Your hand moved to the back of his neck wanting more, as you felt him smirk withing the kiss. You had been fantasizing about this for a moment now, and by the looks of it he had been too. His touches were hungry and intense, his hands grasping your waist tightly as you let a muffled moan past your lips. You both pulled away to catch your breath as you diverted your kisses to his neck. You’d always dreamed of putting your mouth on the dark ink covering his throat and you were finally being able to do it.

“Fuck” he murmured as your hands moved up his back, taking his shirt off interrupting your kisses on his neck for a few seconds. Your lips went right back to it, now having more skin to touch. Your hands made their way to his belt, undoing it, looking up at him biting your bottom lip. His eyes were filled with lust and desire, his hand grabbed your neck slightly as you let out a small gasp

“Do I need to remind you who I am sweetheart?” he asked, not liking that you questioned his competence

“Maybe you do” you said with a devilish grin. Your words were enough for Rio to turn you around and to bend you over the counter. His hands found the waistband of your jeans pulling them down, growling at the sight of your almost bare ass. Rio yanked your underwear leaving the bottom half of your body completely naked. You could feel the warm fluid slowly leaking out from your fold as you anticipated his next move.

“Never question my abilities mama” he said in a husky tone as he slapped your ass hard. You let out a loud moan already feeling the sting his hands left behind. He pressed his growing crotch against you lowering his mouth to your ear whispering.

“Am I clear?” He slapped your ass once again when you didn’t answer, making you whimper. You felt him take a step back as he dropped his pants coming back to press his erection against your bare skin. You pushed your body back to get even closer to him, but his hands steadied your figure, grabbing your hips firmly.

“Did you forget who’s in charge here?” He said teasing your slit with his erected member. “Let me show you” he continued as he pushed his tip inside of you slowly stretching you out making you moan. He groaned lowly as he rammed into you making you shriek in pleasure. It felt better than anything you’d ever imagined before. His tip was brushing your deep spot and you couldn’t contain yourself anymore, screaming as he pushed in and out of you at a fast pace. The pleasure was immaculate as you stood on your tiptoes giving him an even better access to your aching core. He slapped your ass one more time before grabbing a fistful of your hair, bringing you to him as he started kissing bellow your ear.

“Fuck, you’re soaking wet for me” He stated, moving his hand to rub your needy clit. The way he was playing with the bundle of nerves between your shaky legs, brought you closer to the edge.

“Is that what you wanted mama? Am I fucking you good enough?” He asked as your eyes rolled back making you see stars from the pleasure he was giving you. Each stroke was getting deeper and deeper as you grabbed the kitchen counter, moaning loudly, encouraging him to keep pleasuring you like he was doing. He rubbed your clit a little bit faster and before you could even comprehend what was happening, you were coming undone, clenching around him.

“Yes! Oh my- fuck Rio” you moaned, tears welling in your eyes as your orgasm took over you. He didn’t stop, but you could feel his thrusts getting sloppier indicating he was close to his release. The sight of your ass bouncing back against him was all it took for him to spill his loads into you, letting out a throaty groan. He pulled out of you slowly taking a step back pulling up his pants. You stood up, making your way to the bathroom, cleaning yourself as you put on a pair of shorts. As you came back in the kitchen, Rio was still there, finishing his drink, staring at you with a slight smirk on his face

“What’s with the smirk?” You asked trying to sound like someone who didn’t just get railed on the kitchen countertop. He downed his drink, putting it back on the island as he walked forward, standing in front of you. He looked you up and down, meeting your gaze, pulling a piece of your hair back from your face

“I got the job done, didn’t I?” he smiled cockily as you rolled your eyes

“Whatever” he laughed at the way you tried to ignore his previous question. You both knew you were satisfied with what had just happened moments ago even if you tried to hide it.

“I’ll contact you for the drop off” he said as you smiled content that the deal was still on

“As you wish, boss” you answered teasingly as he slapped your ass one last time before exiting throught the front door, leaving you shocked and alone. You liked it and you were scared to admit that you would like for it to happen again. That night, as you got into bed, your mind couldn’t help but wander to the man always dressed in all black. You couldn’t help but to think about his eyes, his hands, his mouth, his cock… Oh how he made you feel so good was not even understandable. Why would you even question his ability to please you? How was he so good at it? Everything he did was just … perfect.

The real question was: was there something he wasn’t good at?

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Thanks for reading

Hope you liked it, let me know what you think

-K

#rio #rio x reader #rio good girls #rio imagine #daddy rio #good girls nbc #good girls fanfic #goodgirls #good girls rio #manny montana

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channiebbang · 3 years

Text

courting

synopsis: y/n has a massive crush on renjun and renjun has too much going on to care, or alternately, y/n courts renjun and gets him to like her, with a small misunderstanding in the middle.

characters: Huang Renjun, Na Jaemin, Main Character and a lil bit of Lee Jeno and Lee Haechan.

pairing: collegestudent!renjun x collegestudent!maincharacter

genre: fluff and a lil bit of angst

word count: 6.7k

warnings: noneeee

author’s note: it took me whole damn minute to write this lol initially i wanted the story to go differently but i kinda forgot along the way lmaooo this was supposed to be a han jisung one shot at first but then renjun inspired me more 🤠 i hope you enjoy reading this! let me know what you think about it! 🥺💛

she still remembered the first day she saw him. the first day she knew what love at first sight was.

renjun had always been a very reserved person. he liked to keep to himself and only hangout with his few friends. that ofcourse didn't mean he had no popularity around campus because holy shit did everyone know the boy.

he was known for being donghyuk's bestfriend, for being a clever student, for being a witty genius, a straight A student, a bookworm. but most of all he was knows for being the handsome dude that like silence, and being by himself when he wasn't with his friend.

y/n, like everyone else, knew of a huang renjun, but she had never had the honour to see him. see, y/n too was always immersed in her studies, and when she wasn't she liked to chill with her friends or be home with her family. she was a simple girl.

so imagine her surprise when one day, as she waited for her friend, she saw the most beautiful, handsome boy walk by. she was surprised because how could she, in her last two years of being in the same campus, not have seen this beautiful man. he must have been new, he had to. spoiler alert: he wasn't, she just never paid attention to her surroundings.

it was a few days after that she had seen him again and thanks to her friend she got to know that he was the huang renjun.

so, being the smart person she was, she decided she would court him. yes, court. like they did centuries ago. she would court him. despite not knowing anything about him, other than what people told her, she wanted yo get to know him and hopefully date him. simple as that.

huang renjun on the other hand, couldn't careless when word got around that a certain y/n had a crush on him. it never bothered him when other people came up to him so he didn't see how she would be any different. he just wanted to be chill.

he already had a lot on his plate with trying to balance his studies, art assignments, work, social life and family back at home to care about some fleeting crush someone had on him.

with having to live alone for so long he had already too much stuff going on and really couldn't be bothered to add more to it.

with the start of the new semester came the news that it was recommended to take another course for some extra credits and as much as renjun didn't want to he resigned himself and took a photography course. now, don't get him wrong, he loved photography. but he had already so much on his plate he didn't know how he was going to balance it all. thankfully, his friend jaemin was taking the course with him. and jaemin, being the sweetest, most caring, friend he was agreed to renjun's request to always group together if there was need. payment fee: be his model for the fashion course he was taking. renjun begrudgingly agreed. it was only just trying on clothes after all.

so on the first day of the new photography lesson the two boys walked in and sat somewhere in the middle, waiting for their professor to arrive.

"don't go back on your words," jaemin sent renjun a pointed look, his hands working on taking out his stuff.

"yeah, yeah," renjun muttered not looking up from his bag.

the sound of laughter made him look up towards the door, his eyes shifting back down to his bag when he saw a few girls walk in.

"oh, that's y/n," he heard jaemin mutter. renjun only hummed while finally putting his bag down by his feet.

"what?" jaemin asked as he turned towards his friend, brows furrowed in confusion. renjun shared the same look.

"what what?" he asked, kinda lost.

"that," jaemin subtly nodded towards the group of girls that sat a few seats in the front, on the side, before continuing, "is y/n," renjun followed his gaze only to look back at his friend.

"so?" he asked, not knowing where this was going. jaemin scoffed rolling his eyes.

"just showing you who your admirer is," he explained, renjun smiled before shaking his eyes.

"thank you for you kind service, sir," sarcasm dropped from every word, jaemin turned to him with a smirk.

"hmm kinky. call me that more," he slightly nudged him with his shoulder, leaning his elbow on the desk and resting his head on his palm. renjun's smile disappeared and he faked a punch to him, jaemin flinching away.

"get lost."

it took her a few more days for y/n to build up the courage to approach the boy.

she was nervous but she also told herself that if she got rejected then, well, it was a new experience. i mean, she had a 90% chance he would reject her. how she knew? well for starters, he was known for rejecting people, he made it very clear he wasn't interested in a relationship at all. people also said he was basically unapproachable, intimidating and cold.

she had mixed feelings about the last few; she had seen him multiple times with his friends, and he always seemed to have a soft smile on his lips and a glowing aura. so how could he be cold and intimidating?

but. now that she was standing a few feet away from him she could totally understand why they said he was unapproachable.

the boy wasn't with any of his friends. his expression was set to stone, to say the least.

y/n gave herself a little cheer before she started walking towards where he was going.

it's alright, just be yourself. people like bright people, right? it's gonna be okay. she told herself.

renjun's head snapped to the side when someone fell in step with him. he turned his gaze forward again thinking they might be walking by.

"hi!" y/n smiled brightly at the boy. renjun turned towards her again, his eyes looking around him in case she was talking to someone else but they were the only two walking. he slowly came to a stop.

"are you talking to me?" he asked, finger pointing at his chest. y/n giggled before nodding. she raise a hand, waving.

"hi, I'm y/n," she introduced herself. renjun sent her a skeptical look before nodding.

"renjun," he spoke uncertainly wondering why she was approaching him.

y/n felt at a loss of words after that. honestly speaking, she had never flirted with anyone or even tried to win anyone over really.

now, it's not like she had never dated, that she has, but she never made the first more.

her exes had told her that she tended to be a bit oblivious when people flirted with her, what with her being always friendly.

so being on the other end felt a bit nerve wrecking. she had a lot of respect for people that made the first move all of a sudden.

"i don't know if you heard about it, people really seem to like gossiping around here but i kinda like you," she said with a smile on her face.

renjun blinked. once. twice. a third time, before coughing awkwardly.

"what?" he spluttered caught off guard. y/n snorted.

"i like you," she repeated, the smile never wavering. she hiked up the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

suddenly her name clicked in renjun's head and he remembered seeing her in his photography class. he cursed under his breath before turning forward again.

"not interested," he muttered under his breath before stepping around her and walking towards where he was going before. y/n cursed under her breath before stumbling after him. the both unaware of the stealing glances people were giving them.

"i know you aren't," she fell into step beside him again. renjun took a deep breath before speeding up. y/n watched him before clumsily shuffling and taking two steps every one stride he took. renjun noticed and a smirk pulled up the corner of his mouth, before falling just as quickly.

"i will court you, if that's okay with you," she started again, "i know you're not interested in me. i will put in the effort to get you to like me," she giggled facing him as she followed.

renjun threw her a confused look before shaking his head. y/n checked the time on her phone before her eyes widened.

"shoot! my class starts in a bit, i gotta run! i'll hear from you again, bye renjun!" she waved before turning and running away, without waiting for the boy to say bye back. renjun scoffed at her childishness before getting in the hall where his class was going to be.

so that's how occasionally renjun would find chocolates or flowers on his desk in photography. jaemin had made it his job to tease him every time the two came into the class to find the little gifts. the blue haired guy even telling their other friends about it.

renjun had made it a routine to hand over all the chocolates he got to jaemin everytime, even though his favourite was among the little bunch. upon jaemin's question as to why he wouldn't eat at least the ones he liked, renjun's answer was, "i don't want to give her false hope and think i appreciate it."

and as much as he liked the flowers he gave those to jaemin as well, only to take them back saying they would be nice as props for art inspiration.

just like every other photography class, y/n had walked into the class with a few girls before they all walked to their spot. she looked over where renjun and jaemin usually sat, smiling when she saw the both sitting there. she fished out the little sketchbook and small flower ensemble from her bag before putting the latter on the desk and getting up.

"why do you do this all the time? it's clear he doesn't like you," one of the girls inquired, a smile on her lips. y/n shrugged, her eyes trained on one person only.

"i know he doesn't, but he also doesn't like anyone else," she winked down at the girl before stepping out of the desk, "which means, i still have a chance," she giggled as she turned around before walking towards the two boys.

"hi!"

the two bickering boys looked up at the sound of the chirpy voice before renjun rolled his eyes and jaemin smiled big at the girl.

"hi, y/n, what a surprise," jaemin teased as he winked at the girl. y/n giggled, a slow blush creeping up her neck.

"hello, jaemin," she politely waved before turning her eyes towards renjun, "hi, renjun."

renjun looked up towards her before averting his eyes again, "hi," he politely said.

his eyes shifted to his desk when y/n put down her small gift on his desk, his brows furrowing.

"why are you giving me this?" he asked, a slight tone in his voice. jaemin nudged him with his knee.

"thought you'd like a small sketchpad to have on you wherever you went. just in case you got a sudden burst of inspiration," she explained, the smile never leaving her lips. renjun looked up at her, a stoic expression on his face. y/n's smile faltered a small fraction but she hoped she masked it before her could notice.

renjun's eyes remained on the girl as he picked up the sketchpad and slowly pushed it aside on the desk, on jaemin's side.

"i don't need it," he deadpanned. y/n cleared her throat before brining up her smile again.

"then throw it away," she shrugged her shoulders before turning away and going back to her seat as renjun started after her, jaemin snickering beside him.

"well," he chuckled, "didn't see that coming."

it was at the end of the day, when renjun was walking around campus on his way to the library, that someone fell into step with him. he already knew who it was as a slow breeze wafted a floral scent his way.

he threw her a fleeting glance before making a double take. he felt his breath hitch in his throat before he masked it away.

the girl beside him looked ethereal in her baby blue shirt and high waisted loose fitting gray pants. her hair flew softly around her shoulders and face as the wind blew. the golden hue the sunset casted on her making her skin glow in contrast to her top. the cherry lip stain she had on brought accent to her lips in the most beautiful ways. renjun looked away as her eyes met his. she giggled. and renjun would never admit that to jaemin or his other friends but the sound was slowly growing on him.

"the weather is very nice today," she spoke taking a big breath, "want to get some ice cream?" she asked hopefully. renjun turned towards her only to be faced with big, bright eyes, shining in a way he could not put into words.

clearing his throat he turned away again as they made their way down the sidewalk.

"what are you doing?" he asked, his voice low and calculated, genuinely curious. y/n threw him a look before stepping behind him as a woman with a stroller passed by them. she peeked from behind him as she stepped beside him again.

"courting," she spoke with an obvious tone as they stopped in front of a streetlight.

"why?" he asked as they crossed the road. he came to a stop on the side of the street when he realized she had been following him.

"well," she started, "of course because i like you," she nodded, adjusting her bag strap.

"you don't even know me," he deadpanned. y/n rolled her eyes, an exasperated sigh leaving her lips and renjun's brows furrowed.

"well, of course not, that's the whole point of me courting you, dummy," her voice dripped incredulity as if he had asked the most obvious question.

he rolled his eyes as he started walking again, ignoring her words. she scurried after him as she tried keeping up with his steps. five seconds passed before she nudged him with her shoulder, grinning. a groan left his lips in response.

"so," she stretched out the word, "can i? court you i mean," her eyes went big as she waited for his answer. he let out a big sigh.

"it's not like you haven't been already doing it," he murmured. y/n's brows furrowed.

"you're right, i'm sorry about that," she apologized, and renjun could hear the pout before he even turned to look at her, "i'll stop if you want to. i really want your permission though. i wouldn't want to do anything you wouldn't like," she grumbled, upset she had unintentionally invaded his space.

renjun stared at her clear upset pout before he sighed again. he had been doing that a lot lately.

why am i agreeing to this, he thought as he closed his eyes for a second before he opened them again and turned a corner, y/n turning a second late.

"you can," he muttered as he stopped walking. y/n's eyes grew big as she gasped. her eyes lit up and a smile stretched over her lips as she looked up at him with big eyes.

"i can?" she asked in wonder.

"sure, be my guest," he shrugged his shoulders.

"really?" she asked again and renjun only nodded, his expression blank.

"but," he brought his index finger up and she looked at it before nodding, "i won't put aside my studies, job or anything just for your delusional attempt at flirting."

"courting! COURTING!" she corrected him after a loud groan and an eye roll. renjun doing the latter as well.

"yeah yeah whatever, that," he waved at her dismissively. she smiled at him.

"that's okay, but don't shut me out. you have to give me opportunities to court you, you have to be fair," she pointed at him as she pouted. renjun looked from her face to her pointed finger before he pushed it down. y/n's eyes shifting to the finger before muttering a sorry.

he glanced at her sideways a snort leaving him, "yeah, okay."

she smiled before a confused look took over as she looked at their surroundings.

"uhh, where are we?" she asked unsure, renjun looked back at the store they stopped in front.

"didn't you want to get ice cream?" he asked and y/n's eyes lit up a cheer leaving lips as she bounced on her heels.

"yes yes! let's go! it's my treat," she laughed as she pushed him aside and walked inside.

"sure," renjun muttered following her inside.

and that's how her courting began. sometimes it was ice creams, other times it was afternoons at the library, evenings in the art lab. and it went on for a few months. renjun's friends would sometimes tease him about y/n and he would begrudgingly tell them he wasn't dating her. he had explained times and times again what y/n said she were doing and they had told him the same thing every time.

yeah yeah dating, we get it.

word was getting around campus that the renjun was dating y/n and it was safe to say it was the hottest news. renjun, who had never cared about what they ever said about him, this time too, didn't bother to correct anyone.

y/n checked her phone as she speed walked. she was late to meet renjun and she knew how much he hated tardiness. she cursed under her breath as she skipped around the corner. her eyes searched around in hopes to catch a glimpse of the ash brown color haired guy. a smiled adorned her lips as she saw him. she was about to call out his name when she noticed him talking to someone. she jogged up to him and smiled as his eyes shifted to her.

"you're-," he started before she interrupted him.

"late. i know, i know. i'm sorry, i had to talk a bit to the TA," she giggled in apology and he rolled his eyes as he bid goodbye to the girl he was talking to.

"i'll get back at you about it. try to find as much as you can about the topic," he stretched his lips in a make shift smile for a second in greeting and the girl nodded, a teasing smile on her lips.

"don't get too lost in your date. i won't do the whole project on my own because you're out dating," she smiled jokingly. y/n pressed her lips together as her big eyes watched between the two.

the stranger's smile slowly fell as she noticed renjun wasn't smiling in the least, his face stone serious.

"don't worry about my date, worry about doing your part, bye."

and he turned and started walking away. y/n watched between his retreating back and her baffled face, an embarrassed blush adorning her cheeks.

"he's like that with everyone, don't take it too at heart," y/n sent an encouraging smile.

"y/n!" her head whipped to see renjun waving at her to be quick. she smiled for a last time to the girl before she ran up to him.

they walked in silence for a few minutes as she pouted. renjun took a deep breath before he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"what?" he asked already knowing why she was pouting. she sent him a narrowed stare.

"you didn't have to be that rude," she sighed as she grasped the bag strap across her chest.

"yeah, well she was being nosy," he shrugged his shoulders.

"she was trying to be friendly."

"yeah, well she was trying to be friendly by being nosy and i don't like it."

y/n snorted at his pouted reply.

"ah!" y/n suddenly remembered as she rummaged into her bag, renjun watched her with curious eyes.

"here, this is for you," a small bag was pushed towards her and renjun carefully took it before opening it.

"what is this?" he asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"what do you mean? it's food, silly!" y/n giggled.

"yeah, why?" he asked, slowly fishing out one of the corndogs in the bag. y/n rolled her eyes jokingly.

"because you like them," she said after a sigh left her lips, wondering how he could be so oblivious. he nodded not feeling like arguing with her. no matter how many times he had told her not to spend money on his she never listened.

when he realized she just was a giving person he figured he would just buy her ice creams on the times they would go together.

"this is my stop, i'll see you around," renjun nodded at y/n as they stopped in front of the bus stop. y/n smiled as she nodded and waved. the bus stopped in front of the two and y/n watched as he walked up to the doors and into the bus, not once looking back.

as the doors closed and went away, so did her smile. she took a deep breath wondering if she had been too forceful on renjun.

was I too pushy? should I have backed away when he said he didn't like me?

and somehow she figured that really, renjun didn't need to like her. he had never said he liked her. it was all her.

she had been the one to push herself into his life, she had been the one wanting to court him, she had been the one to always wait for him after his classes, she had been the one dragging him to the ice cream parlor every other day.

renjun had always been clear on his feelings. he had said it in the beginning he didn't like her. he had only agreed to it all because he was nice, only going to get ice cream because she dragged him.

"hey! why the long face?"

y/n turned towards the sudden voice, her smile back on her lips as she crossed eyes with jaemin. she shook her head.

"got lost in my thoughts," she smiled, "it's getting late, i'll see you tomorrow!" and she was gone jogging to her bus stop.

jaemin let out a deep breath, wondering if she knew she was very bad at concealing her feelings from showing on her face.

golden rays seeped through the curtains in the silent home. a sweet melancholy atmosphere buzzed in the atmosphere. the silence creeped up the walls and enveloped the whole apartment.

the beeping of the main door unlocking sounded like a shrill sound in the otherwise mute surrounding. feet shuffled in before closing the door. soft steps sounded loud, the switch being turned on illuminated the whole flat in a bright light.

a sigh left her lips as she let her bag fall on the couch, walking to the bathroom.

twenty minutes later she was sat on the couch, a towel in her hand as she dried her hair. the silence made her ears ring, she hated it. hated this feeling.

she hated not being able to trust anyone, hated that she had nobody she could call friend at college, hated how she knew the people she hung out with during those few hours talked behind her back, called her naive, stupid, loser. she knew it all but she hung out with them either way.

y/n thought about calling her boss and going to work, being busy sounded like a thrilling idea instead of sitting in this silence, but she knew they were full.

she took a deep breath willing her mind not to fall in the deep hole she knew it was going to if she didn't busy herself fast.

so she got up and discarded her damp towel on the rack in the balcony before walking to the kitchen, wondering if cooking something would take her mind away from memories she wanted to keep locked away.

"renjun ah!"

jaemin walked into the room in search of his friend, his mind set on getting his words across the thick headed idiot.

he closed the door behind himself, his narrowed eyes set on the boy playing a game on his couch. renjun's eyes fled to jaemin before focusing back on the game.

"jeno and haechan said it will take half an hour and then they'll be here," he informed the blue haired male as he angrily pressed the buttons on his controller. jaemin nodded before taking four strides in front of the tv and turning it off.

"bro! what the fuck!" renjun shrilled, mouth hanging open in surprise.

"you're losing anyway," jaemin deadpanned before looking him straight in the eyes, "we need to talk."

"about?" renjun threw the controller aside, wondering what was this serious.

"y/n."

"what about her?" renjun sighed as he leaned back against the couch, curious where this conversation was going.

"don't you think you're being a bit unfair to her?" jaemin asked, his tone calm.

"how? i didn't do anything," his brows furrowed as he stared at his friend. a slight sliver of irritation hit him as he wondered if she had gone to whine to his friend about him.

"exactly, you don't do anything while she does everything!" jaemin exclaimed, his arms spreading before falling by his sides again.

"i don't know what you're reaching at, jaem," renjun sighed as his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose.

"what i'm trying to say, jun, is that the poor girl has been trying to woo your ass so hard for so long and you won't do anything about it!"

"what do you want me to do!" renjun exclaimed, suddenly feeling attacked, "she was the one that wanted to do all this courting bullshit! i never asked to do it! i told her i didn't like her!" he defended himself and jaemin rolled his eyes at his friend's stupidity. and he was supposed to be the top student huh?

"at least tell her again before she falls more for you while you don't care then! the poor girl has tried everything to make you like her! she knows your habits, your order at the café, pays attention to what you say, what you do. hell! she even knows when you crave your stupid milkshake because you had a bad day at college!" jaemin tried to reason with him.

"did she complain at you about all this? i swear!" renjun groaned as he stood on his feet, beyond angry that she had the audacity to complain when she was the one to start all this. jaemin looked at renjun as if he grew a second head.

"what? no! why would she say anything to me? it doesn't take a genius to figure all this out when the moment she's not with you she has sadness written all over her face."

"oh so now i'm the bad guy, great!" renjun laughed mockingly.

"nobody said you're the bad guy, jun," jaemin's voice softened up as he stared at his friend, clear anger on his features, "all i'm saying is to take into consideration her feelings too, and if your feelings still haven't changed for her then to tell her so she can move on."

renjun snatched his jacked from the armrest of the couch before storming towards the door.

"where are you going?" jaemin asked, his tone alarmed at the anger renjun was displaying.

"tell her to fuck off and not complain to my friends," hw muttered as he pulled away the door.

"oh! hey guys," jeno's eyes widened as renjun pushed away from him and haechan on his way out of the door. the two standing on the door stared as he walked away before turning towards jaemin.

"what's going on?" haechan asked as they stepped inside their den. jaemin waved his fingers in his hair as he let out a frustrated sigh.

"i think talking to him was a bad idea."

it was almost 11pm when y/n's phone rang. she was almost falling asleep on her couch when it started ringing, waking her up right away. she smiled softly as she read the name of the caller, clearing her voice as she picked up the call.

"hello? renjun?" she softly asked, wondering why he called her at this hour.

"send me your address, we need to talk," his cold tone made a shiver run down her spine as she muttered an okay before he hung up.

thirty minutes later he texted her to come out front. in the chilly breeze he stood in front of her apartment complex. she was wearing a hoodie and sweats as she walked out. she smiled at him as she stopped to stand in front of him.

"hey, it's cold, you can come inside-,"

"what do you want from me?" he interrupted her. a look of confusion fleeting across her face as she stared up at him.

"what?" her voice was small as she spoke. renjun rolled his eyes.

"why would you go and rant to my friends about shit that you could've told me?" he accused, and her confused expression just angered him more as he scoffed.

"ah yes! now comes the 'i don't know what you're talking about'. you wanted to do this courting crap, i told you before that i didn't like you! i don't understand why you would antagonize me to my own friends when i never even wanted this in the first place!"

"what? renjun that's not-"

"i don't care! just stay out of my life, will you? stop whatever you're doing, i don't care about any of it. this was stupid anyway," he mutter the last few words before turning away.

he had taken just a step before y/n grasped his arm.

"renjun," she called him, "i don't know what happened but this is not what-"

"are you saying my friends lied to me?" his head whipped back and y/n let go of his arm right away at the nasty look he threw at her. she softly shook her head.

"that's not what i said," she muttered adn renjun scoffed before turning away again.

"then stay the fuck away," he spat as he walked away and y/n stared after him as she felt a sharp pain on her chest, the familiar pain of heart break happening all over again.

she had stayed away from his as he asked. she didn't reach out anymore and she didn't approach him either. figured out if she was forcing herself on him, the least she could've done is listen to him and stay away.

jaemin regretted talking to his stubborn friend when he had pushed his shoulder against the girl's and greeted her just to receive a tight lipped smile and a soft hi before she had speed walked away. seconds later renjun had stood by his side, his eyes on the girl as he scoffed.

"what did she want?" he sneered and jaemin's furrowed his brows as he turned to face his friend.

"renjun," he called his attention and the latter turned around to face him.

"she never said anything to me," jaemin went straight to the point and when renjun made to say anything he held up his hand.

"i'm not covering for her. she never said anything to me or anyone. hell, she never even talked about you to me. all i know about what you teo had going on was from what you told me," jaemin took a deep breath at renjun's furrowed brows.

"that day you wouldn't listen to me. I don't know why you were that angry but she really didn't ever say anything. whatever i talked to you about was all because i wanted to say it. so if you have feelings for her tell her and if you don't then at least apologize to her," jaemin tried to reason with him

"we're best friends, i'm gonna tell you when you're wrong and being an idiot. and now, you're both," jaemin smiled at renjun before clapping his arm and walking to their photography class. renjun didn't say anything, too immersed in his thoughts.

they walked into the room and renjun's eyes were right away on y/n. she sat in her usual seat, surrounded by her friends as they laughed about something. y'n smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, she laughed but it didn't sound genuine and renjun wondered how he was able to tell. he shook his head and walked behind jaemin to their seat.

"hey, aren't you going to say hi to renjun?" one of y/n's friends. y/n's smile dimmed a little before she masked again and shook her head.

"i'm not doing that anymore," she shrugged her shoulders as to not seem too sad. the girls around her snickered and y/n felt a chill run down her spine.

"why? did he reject you?" one asked and y/n sent a tight lipped smile as she hummed.

"y/n! come here for a moment, please!" the professor called her and she thanked the heavens she got saved like that.

she got off her seat and walked down the steps carefully. what she didn't miss is the girls next words. they intended for her to hear it and they also wanted renjun to hear.

"of course he would reject her, she was so pushy with it."

renjun's brows furrowed as he heard those words, wondering how did friends talk about their friend like that, but what angered him more was that it was obvious y/n had heard them but she had just kept walking to the professor.

renjun shook his head telling himself he shouldn't care. he knew he had to apologize at some point but he also knew he didn't care for her, he had no feelings for her... right?

but as he watched the girl talk to the professor with her smile painted on, his heart tightened.

it was late at night when renjun lied in his bed, facing the ceiling, his body aching from slaving away at work, his shoulders in pain from the hunched evenings he spent in the library and the heavy feeling in his chest from having to balance so many things at once, that he longed for someone to rely on. finally he was coming to terms with the truth.

the truth was that y/n had been that one person that made it all go away; the aching, the pain, the heaviness and the emptiness. she had taken all of it away without even trying to. renjun thought back at that evening when he had went to a shop with his friends and as his eyes caught sight of the little fluffy keyring he had grasped it and with a small smile he had thought 'y/n will like this' only to remember y/n wasn't there anymore. he had pushed her away.

renjun's brows furrowed as he suddenly sat up, a determined look on his face. he had to make it right. he had to apologize.

so with a new found adrenaline pumping through his veins he got up from his bed and quickly threw on a hoodie and his shoes before running out of his home.

y/n secured the lock on the convenience store she worked at, shaking the door to check if she had locked it correctly, before taking the short walk to her building.

the chilly breeze felt refreshing against her cheeks as she walked the uphill street.

she stepped under the streetlight in front of her building when she noticed a crouched figure in front of her main door. she slowed down as she got creeped out, wondering where the security guard was.

the sound of footsteps made renjun snap his head up only for his eyes to cross y/n carefully stepping up to him, her eyes unsure before realization dawned on her.

"renjun?" she asked confused and surprised. renjun stood up before dusting off his jeans.

"hey," he whispered before realizing y/n was probably waiting for an explanation, "uhh, i rang up but nobody answered s-so i just thought about waiting here for you," he stuttered before clearing his throat and looking away, his eyes shifting to look around himself in emberassment. y/n smiled comfortingly and nodded.

"did you need anything?" she asked softly, and renjun stared at her for a moment before his brows furrowed.

"don't smile," he murmured and y/n's eyes widened before she blinked away.

"uhh sorry?" her tone unsure before renjun shook his head at the misunderstanding and waved his hand in front of him.

"no no, that's not what i meant. i meant like- if you don't mean it then don't. you don't have to fake it," he explained and y/n nodded her smile returning.

"i'm not faking it, i couldn't with you," she giggled before nodding with big eyes, encouraging renjun to continue.

"i- uhh, i wanted to apologize," he took a big breath, "for the way i snapped at you that day, without knowing anything. i shouldn't have been so rash on you. jaemin cleared things with me and i have to say, it was a total dick move of me to just assume you did something," he rambled on and y/n nodded.

"it was," she interrupted him and he nodded, looking down.

"but you don't have to worry about anything, i won't bother you anymore. i'm sorry too for pushing myself on you like that."

renjun's head snapped up at her words, his brows furrowed as she shifted on her feet, her fingers tight around her bag strap.

"no," he muttered and y/n's brows raised in question, "let's- let's try again, this time i'll meet you in the middle," he nodded and y/n stared at him, her lips parted so renjun took it upon himself to elabprate.

"i realized," he licked his lips as his eyes looked around before settling on her, his eyes screaming determination, "that i didn't realize how much you helped me until i pushed you away. i didn't realize how much i relied on you for comfort. until you were gone. you were there for me in so many ways, a-and i realized how much i liked having you around, how much i thought about you, until you weren't there anymore. i realized how much just the thought of you brought me calmness until i couldn't turn to you anymore. and calmness is what i needed, is all i needed to balance my crazy everyday life, and i want you in it again, but this time for good, and the right away," renjun took a deep breath after being done, feeling like if he didn't say all that at once he wouldn't be able to make her realize how much he needed her.

y/n's eyes shone as she looked at him.

"jun," she whispered and her tone panicked renjun. it was so quiet, so frail and it sounded like she had just given up, "you don't have to force yourself to make me feel better, i can handle rejection. it will hurt for a bit but i'll be okay," she reassured him and renjun shook his head.

"no, no, i'm not doing this because i feel bad for you," his brows furrowed and his tone laced with offence. he took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her all of a sudden. y/n's eyes widened as her hands rested on his sides, taken by surprise at his sudden hug. renjun wasn't really known to be affectionate, "i really wanna give this a try. this time the right away, please, let's try," he murmured against the side of her face.

y/n slowly pulled away and looked at his eyes, shining like the stars above, he was absolutely breath taking. and she smiled, her usual soft smile as she reached up a hand to shift away a loose hair strand falling in front of his eyes.

"okay," she nodded and renjun smiled as he nodded. his cheeks suddenly went up in flames when he noticed his arms still around her frame and she giggled, slowly pulling away.

"have you eaten?" she asked as she turned away to put in the password to the building doors, and renjun smiled as the heaviness that once settled on his shoulders felt lighter and his chest hurt less.

"are you inviting me up?" he asked hopeful and she turned her head around to throw a funny look his way, "i'm telling you, i'm so exhausted i will eat everything in your fridge, sure you wanna risk that?" he teased as she opened the door and stepped aside to let him in.

"i'll take my chances," she smiled as he took a hold of her hand and pulled her towards the elevator, a smile adorning both of their faces.

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