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ladykailitha · 10 months

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Royal Pain Part 3

Hello! I was going to post this yesterday but I thought I would be busier for WIP Wednesday which only two people participated in (sad author noises). And then I was waffling about putting up a meta about Steve’s parents (I ended up just saving it in my ‘bit of everything’ file). And then I realized it was super late and should put this up before I forget again.

This next part is for @weirdandabsurd42 who mentioned being excited to see Wayne and was thusly added (because I almost forgot to put him there, oops!), thereby creating one of my favorite lines I’ve ever written so...thanks!

Part 1 Part 2

***

Steve closed up his shop with a spring in his step and a grumpy Robin following behind.

“I can’t believe you are dragging me to a metal concert,” she groused as she locked the door behind her.

“You don’t have to come,” Steve said with a grin. “You can stay home on a Saturday, all by yourself with a pint of ice cream and the latest rom-com.”

Robin glared at him. “You know that I have to come with you so you don’t throw yourself at Eddie.”

Steve rolled his eyes as they walked to his car. “I’m not going to throw myself at him.”

Robin clutched her hands to her chest. “Oh that’s right I forgot! You already have!”

Steve glared at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No?” she asked, sliding into the car. “So what do you call offering to do his back tattoo?”

Steve already in the car, hit his head on his steering wheel. “Fucccckkkk.” He hit it over and over. “Why did I do that? Why did he agree? What am I going to do?”

Robin rubbed his back. “I think this is good thing for you. If you do well on his wings then you can start doing large pieces again. And if not, then you know it’s not something you can do and you’ll never do another one ever again.”

Steve sighed and wrapped his arms around the steering wheel. “I just wanted him to like me.”

“As person, as friend or as a boyfriend?” Robin asked seriously.

“All of the above?” Steve said raising his head to look at her. “Apparently the first one has been met. I’d take the second one, but I would love the last one more than anything.”

“Well this weekend will be a great opportunity to test the waters and see how he feels. Because even if he wants to be friends now, there’s still a chance he might want something more in the future. Just don’t bank on it.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay.” He turned the key and pulled out of their parking lot.

“This would be a good time to get a couple of apprentices of your own,” she said after a few miles of silence. “You’re going to be spending a lot of hours on Eddie’s tattoo and you’re going to need someone to pick up the slack.”

Steve let out a shuddering sigh. “I know. I’ll start putting out feelers in the community and see what’s out there.”

Robin nodded. “We’ll put up filers at the local colleges and universities as well as putting it up on our website. I’ll talk to Will and see what he can come up with for both.”

“I know he’ll turn it down but offer him the usual rates for that sort of thing,” Steve agreed.

Robin laughed. “Fingers crossed he’ll accept this time.”

Eddie walked into his apartment and flopped face first into his couch. It had been such a whirlwind day. He wasn’t even sure he could function. That really was the downside to having a full time gig. Having all this free time.

Because yeah, Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin practiced nearly every day, and they were always coming up with new music, it just wasn’t the same as full time job. He didn’t have to do anything but show up and perform two nights a week. He could phone it in if he wanted.

Not that he would. Just...that he could. Which meant on days when his head was spiraling he could stew for days and never leave this couch.

He rolled over and pulled out his phone and dialed that familiar number.

“Munson residence!” came the gruff familiar voice.

“When are you going to at least get a caller ID, old man!” Eddie crowed.

“Shut it, boy,” Wayne growled. “I have one and it works just fine, the greeting is polite. Something I thought I raised you better in.”

Eddie giggled. “You love me.”

“Lord help me, but I do,” Wayne agreed. “You calling to talk or to listen?”

It was something that they had established long before Eddie left Hawkins to live on his own in the big city. Long before before Eddie took three years to graduate. Long before Al Munson abandoned his son on his baby brother’s door step for one last job. A job that would land him in prison. They had this code. Well, not really a code.

Just this thing between them. When Eddie had a rough day, he would call Wayne. But depending on the swirling of emotions going through his head, sometimes he just need to hear Wayne talk about his day. Gossip about his neighbors. Let the words flow over him until he felt at ease enough to go to sleep.

Other nights, though. The really bad ones. The ones where Eddie needed advice, he would talk. Sometimes Eddie would figure it out on his own, other times he would need Wayne to give him advice. This was one of those nights.

“Talk,” Eddie breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Wha’cha got, Ed?” Wayne asked gently.

And Eddie just let it all spill out. The tattoos, Steve, the band, feeling like they had stagnated.

“That’s a lot on your plate, boy,” Wayne said. “I can see why you wanted to share.”

Eddie let out a shuddering sigh. “I don’t know what to do about...well any of it to be honest.”

Wayne hummed. “When was the last time you went out and did something fun? Something for just yourself? And don’t say get a tattoo because that’s part of the tangled mess right now.”

Eddie blinked. When was the last time he had gone out for drinks, saw a movie, or even listened to music other than his own? “I’m not sure.”

“Well there you go,” Wayne said. “Creativity isn’t endless, boy. It’s a well and you’re going through a drought because you aren’t taking in any influences other then that feedback loop you’re on.”

“Oh.”

“It doesn’t have to be with your friends or even that boy you’ve got your eye on,” Wayne explained. “Just go out and have fun for yourself, ya hear?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, already feeling lighter. “Thanks, Uncle Wayne.”

“Rest well, okay?” Wayne murmured.

“You too.”

Jeff shook his head and rolled his eyes as he watched Eddie play with his rings, his knee bouncing up and down.

“Chill!” Gareth growled. “For fuck’s sake. We are professionals, we’ve done this twice a week for years. What’s got your panties in a twist this time?”

Jeff wagged his eyebrows. “This time pretty boy Steve Harrington is going to be in the crowd. With a girl no less.”

“She’s gay,” Eddie bit out. “A literal flaming lesbian. I just have to pass the best friend test with her. And considering she wanted me to get his number, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to work that hard.”

“I noticed you didn’t deny that you’re nervous about Pretty Boy being in the audience tonight,” Brian teased.

Eddie threw up his hands in the air and leapt to his feet. “All right, yeah. I’m nervous. Even when I did have boyfriends that would show up, I knew they liked the music. But I have no idea if Steve is just being nice or if he’s actually interested in hearing us play.”

Jeff cocked his head. “Yeah, I can see how you might be worried he won’t like it. But if he doesn’t, isn’t better you know that now, before your feelings get in too deep?”

Eddie’s lip quivered. “Yes. I mean, of course. But it still makes me feel like crawling out of my skin, okay?”

“Okay,” Gareth said. “So do what you do best and throw yourself into the music. Let it wash over you. You are a consummate performer. So kick ass.”

Eddie nodded and the nod slowly turned into a head bang with him playing air guitar. By the time the knock came to let them know it was time, Eddie was ready to go out there and rock.

Steve hadn’t been to The Nightmare Holes before. It hadn’t even been on his radar at all. That was so weird, especially since it was almost literally doors down from Robin and his favorite club.

Well that was until they were dropped off in front of a large concrete building that didn’t look like a bar from the outside at any stretch of the imagination. In fact the only thing that stuck out at all was a neon sign with a large arrow pointing to a set of stairs leading down proclaiming this to be The Nightmare Holes.

When they got into the bar, Steve realized that they were going to stick out like a sore thumb. With Steve looking prep and Robin looking punk, they were going to be murdered before Eddie even got on stage.

They were saved by a goddess if you believed Robin later. This pretty woman in a tank top and tight leather pants with four inch heeled boots came up to them.

“Hey!” she greeted warmly. “You must be Stevie, right?”

Steve nodded. “I’m afraid you’re one up on me. You know me, but I don’t know you.”

She smiled much to Robin’s chagrin. “I’m Miranda, girlfriend of the rhythm guitarist, Jeff Lawrence. He was worried that Eddie might have forgotten to tell you that wearing your usual clothes might make you stand out.” She waved her hands at them. Both Robin and Steve blushed. “You aren’t too bad actually. I was think you would be much worse the way Jeff was going on.”

“He only saw us at work,” Robin explained once she picked her jaw up off the ground. “He might have assumed that we wear that on the regular.”

Miranda nodded. “You can do this one of two ways. Stay dressed as you are as big middle finger to conformity no matter who’s conforming to what or you come with me and I can tweak your looks enough that you don’t stand out as much.”

Steve looked down at his clothes and tilted his head. “I think I’m going to give conformity the middle finger, thanks. I’ve been bucking what people think a tattoo artist should look like for years. I’m not going to change that for one little concert.”

Miranda nodded appreciatively. “Good on you. How about you, princess? You gonna give conformity the middle finger, too?”

Robin looked down at her clothes and blushed. “I think most metalheads would say a punk is being a step too far.”

Miranda laughed. “You’re probably right. Let’s go see if I can metal you up a bit.”

The two ladies came back a few minutes later. Robin still had her chunky jewelry and smudged makeup. But her billowy plaid pants were replaced by tight black jeans and instead of her vest, she wore a black jacket. Her hair had been tamed to a more relaxed style.

Steve grinned at her. “Looking good, Robs!”

Robin blushed. “I made a new friend.”

Miranda laughed. “Thanks for that.” She looked around and then leaned forward conspiratorially. “Just a little secret between us new besties.”

Steve and Robin shared a glance, but both nodded.

“I don’t like metal music, either,” she whispered and winked. She turned around so she faced the stage. “But I’m here because my Jeffie does. So if you don’t like the music, because hey, you might not, don’t sweat it. They put on a good show and we’re here for them.” She jutted her chin up at the stage just as the house lights went down and the stage lights went up.

Standing the spotlight was Eddie. He wore a slashed up band shirt, tight jeans, and his leather jacket. A jacket Steve was about to learn wasn’t going to feature long. About twenty minutes into the show, the jacket was gone and Steve could see a peek of the new tattoo through the slits in the shirt.

He licked his lips slowly. Ooh...that was tantalizing. And then Eddie threw caution and his shirt to the wind and everyone saw Eddie’s new tattoo.

Robin turned to Steve wide-eyed. “Holy shit, it blends seamlessly into the rest of the tattoos, like it was there first.”

Miranda peered around Robin to look at Steve, too. “Yeah, man. You did a hell of a job. You should be proud of that.”

Steve was. No doubt. But he was prouder of the fact that Eddie wanted everyone to see it. It melted his heart and settled at the base of his spine, like he had drank a cup of hot chocolate all at once.

And that was when Steve realized he would do anything for Eddie. Even if that meant just being friends.

***

My new favorite line? * “Lord help me, but I do,” Wayne agreed. “You calling to talk or to listen?” * It’s just so...Wayne, you know?

Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Epilogue

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#My writing #stranger things #steddie #tattoo artist steve #ladykailtiha writes

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actingwithportals · 11 months

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Disabled queer person in financial need, please signal boost

Heyo, for folks who don't know I'm Awpie and I'm in a bit of a bind. I'm a blind mentally ill queer person without a job or a college degree, getting by pretty much solely on SSA. Over the past couple of months my cat Tiso (pictured below) has been in and out of the hospital with struvite crystals in his bladder, creating blockages and putting his life in serious danger. He is back home now and on a new prescription diet that will hopefully prevent this from ever happening again, but between the two separate instances of urinary blockages and needing to be kept in the hospital for up to 72 hours each stay while the vets had him hooked up to a catheter, I have accrued a lot of medical debt.

[ID: Photo of a large fluffy black cat lying down on a futon with blue sheets and a red fleece blanket. His green eyes are wide and looking directly at the camera. End ID]

Between my parents and I we were able to ensure he got the medical care he needed when he needed it, but it has left us with some very large bills that are going to eventually need to be paid off. Both of my parents are elderly and also surviving only on SSA, and between my mother caring for my ailing father and my inability to secure a stable job, these debts are putting us in a really tight situation. At the same time, I have also been attempting to save up funds to take a trip back home at the end of the year to visit my parents and spend time with them one last time before my father's health completely fails. I don't normally like to do this, but we could really use some help.

If you're able to help us out, even just $5, you can find my PP information listed below. And if you don't want to donate but would still like to help out somehow, you can find information about my art commissions I currently have available here and here.

I would greatly appreciate folks helping me share this around, even if you aren't able to donate. Thanks for reading this far 💜

$0/$7,100

#fundraiser #mutual aid #medical debt #art commissions #signal boost

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nuevialnst · 1 year

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Can you do an angst/comfort Leon x reader where Reader is in a depressed state and while going on a walk, she bumps into Leon. They end up having a cute movie night at Leon’s house with cuddles and food?

I need some love from Leon. >~<

YES OFC I CAN!!

I haven’t done angst at all, so this is probably gonna suck ass atleast I tried though that is all that matters.

Anyways the angst part is about the fem! reader loosing her parents bc I couldn’t think of anything else I am very sorry!’ I didn’t know how to end it but I eventually thought of something.

— Restless Comfort

Pairings: ID! Leon x Fem! Reader

Summary: What the request said.

Cw. Angst to Fluff, death of parents, grieving /mourning of death, kissing, age-gap (The reader is like a couple years younger than him), Leon being shy/embarrassed, reader slowly falling in love w Leon, cuddling, waking up ontop of him, and Leon admitting he loves you and you do reciprocate back. :)

Character Count: 19.9k

On a cold September evening, you were walking arms crossed underneath your chest through the park. The sun had disappeared, leaving only a bitter layer of light in the sky behind the clouds. Your breath left small puffs of cloud in front of your face as you walked. It was getting darker now too. The park was empty except for you and the occasional bird that swooped by from time to time.

You sighed deeply as the cold air brushed against your cheeks, as you thought of attending your parents funeral today. They ’d been married nearly three years already, and yet the loss was still raw to you. They had always been so supportive when you needed it, but now you were alone in this world with no one to turn to, nothing to fall back on. Not for the first time, you wished you had someone at home to take care of you, someone who could make sure you took care of yourself.

Shaking your head, looking down at the pond you sat before. You were watching the ducks swim around lazily, their feathers brushing along each other every now and then, creating tiny waves beneath their surface. Your eyes drifted over them as you let out another deep sigh, the sound carrying off across the quiet of the area.

You decided it wouldn’t be best to attend, but you couldn’t bear to let yourself not say any words to them. After all, they were the people you would have to live with now until you found your place in life.

Besides, never getting to tell them how you been holding up these last few months is not an option either, you reasoned with yourself. So, instead, you turned, making your way toward the parking lot, which you bumped into a tall attractive looking man. As he stumbled backward, trying to regain his balance, you saw he also wore sunglasses. You frowned in confusion before he spoke. “Oh geez, I’m sorry ma’am. Are you alright?” He asked politely, reaching out for you, helping steady you.

“I’m fine thank you. I apologize too for bumping into you. I wasn't watching where I was going,” you apologized, giving him an apologetic smile. His gaze flickered meeting your eyes. You felt heat rush to your cheeks, but pushed away from the uncomfortable and embarrassing moment. You cleared your throat before stepping away, you said, “Well…I’ll just get going now. Goodbye…”

Just as you turned to leave, you heard his voice calling after you, “Wait a minute.” Your eyes immediately shot up, and you saw that he was smiling. You didn’t know what to say as the silence stretched between the two of you. “What’s your name?” he asked finally, breaking the silence. Your stomach dropped at the question, and you felt the urge to run.

What the hell do you tell a stranger?

Should you even give him your real name, or just a fake one?

Oh no, this isn’t good at least not at this time.

You opened your mouth to respond to him, but he interrupted before you got the chance, saying quickly, “That’s okay! No need to answer if you don’t want to. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry for bothering you…I…uh…well…” you watched as he scratched the back of his neck nervously, “Never mind,” and turned on his heel, striding back towards his car that was parked some distance from yours. You watched, slightly dumbstruck as he climbed into his expensive looking car.

A couple minutes later and you heard the engine revving loudly and he drove off slowly, disappearing from view. You shook your head, laughing to yourself silently, amused at his strange behavior.

How did he get so flustered all of a sudden anyway?

Was there something about you that made him seem like a total idiot?

Maybe he was just really awkward?

Who knows, maybe you are just being dramatic, you thought, shaking your head again as you began to drive homewards.

The rest of the night flew by uneventfully, and before you knew it, tomorrow morning arrived and your family gathered in the parlor room, ready for their final viewing of your parents. You had cried during the whole ceremony, though you tried desperately to conceal that fact.

After the service, you sat in the living room, talking to some of your closest friends that had came. Jill and Claire were the one’s always there for you even when you were little, but this event that took place was not merely giving you guilt it was more so a grievance that would haunt you for the rest of your life. Your parents were murdered. You lost your mother, and your father. And yet somehow you managed to try and pull yourself together by going to live with Jill & Claire. It was hard for you to believe sometimes how far you'd come since then. But as you stood there next to one of your best friends, Claire told you she invited one of her friends to join them as well.

She had gone out to the lobby fetching him bringing him over to where you were, your eyes began to meet his once again. He seemed just as shocked to see you as you were to see him, but you simply smiled at him warmly. Claire introduced both of you to each other, but you weren’t really listening to them. Your focus was solely on the man you had met earlier, and who hadn’t looked quite as flustered anymore. In fact, he looked almost smug.

His eyes danced with amusement, and suddenly you found yourself unable to take your eyes off him as you continued to smile shyly. Finally, he broke the eye contact, shifting awkwardly, his eyes darting to the ground. You blinked several times wondering if you’d actually seen something pass through his blue eyes, like electricity sparking through the air. When your trance was broken, you tore your gaze away from the man, focusing instead on what Claire was saying.

You nodded absently at her explanation, not even realized what was happening in the conversation until it ended abruptly, Claire having noticed your distraction as well. You turned to look up at the man standing before you with distance once more, feeling a bit sheepish. He must have noticed your glance as he chuckled softly, glancing up briefly, giving you a wink. It was then that you realized that he was gazing at you. Noticing that he was taller than you, much taller than you, with broad shoulders and strong arms. You gulped, taking another quick glance at him, and you felt your body temperature raise.

It took all you had in you not to avert your eyes in his direction, embarrassed by your own reaction. You were supposed to be grieving but you couldn't help the butterflies in your stomach that you felt as he looked at you.

Why do I feel this way?

Why am I falling for a complete stranger that happens to be handsome?

As if sensing your internal turmoil he smirked. He gave you one last lingering look before turning away and whispering something to Claire. She replied to him, giggling. You got up from your seat dusting your skirt off, telling them that you have to take a call and will be back soon, leaving the parlor. Walking to the closest room in the building, it was small, however, could possibly be a dressing room of some sort. Pulling your cell phone from your pocket, you hit speed dial 3 on speed dial, and waited patiently for someone to pick up on the other end.

‘Please pick up, please answer. Don’t hang up, please don’t...’ you kept repeating in your mind, the number didn’t answer. You paced in a circle trying to dual it again, but it was no hope. The door closed behind you, someone coming from behind you grabbing you hand over your mouth, so that you wouldn’t scream as you tried to fight against the person, tears filling your eyes.

They pulled their hand away from your face, letting out a sigh of relief once they saw that it was only you. ‘Thank god…’ you thought relieved, but the person who had grabbed you turned you to look at them. “Didn’t mean to make ya think I was gonna hurt ya..” you heard him mumble. You were still stunned at seeing him again after all you been trying to avoid him, but his apology made you relax. You didn’t trust yourself enough to talk at first as a blush spread across your cheeks. “It’s all right, I forgive you…” you whispered.

He let out a small chuckle before replying, “Good…” he trailed off staring at you intently. Your heart began beating fast as he moved closer to you. You gulped nervously as your breathing increased, “So um…who are you exactly?” You questioned nervously, your fingers rubbing against the fabric of your dress trying to calm your rapidly beating heart. He chuckled lightly before speaking.

“My name is Leon,” he said, “Leon Kennedy…”. At hearing his name you felt like something inside you clicked in understanding, “Oh! You must be Claire’s friend, right?” you asked. “Yeah…that’s me. Nice to meet you.” He responded, a grin plastered across his face. His hands rested lightly on his hips as he leaned down to speak with you, which gave you an unobstructed view of his chest, as well as his eyes. “I never caught your name earlier…I was trying to ask you, but I didn’t want to put pressure on you, you know?” he explained. You chuckled nervously, feeling your cheeks begin to flush red once more. “I see…my name is Y/N….”

“Nice to meet you once again.” he remarked. “What are you doing here anyways? I thought Claire told you it was my parents funeral before she invited you..” He could hear the worry break in your voice at the mention of Claire’s words. He sighed inwardly. “Yeah…I know, Claire mentioned something about that earlier.” He paused, “I guess I should have known that you’d be attending it, since it’s your parents….” He spoke softly, placing his hands around you bringing you into him for a hug. You froze up in his arms, unsure of what you were supposed to do.

For some reason, you felt safe in his arms, like you belonged there. You breathed a sigh of relief as you held onto him for what seemed like forever, enjoying his security.“I…I-“ You said hesitantly wrapped your arms around his middle hugging tightly to him, while letting your tears just come pouring down the sides of your cheeks.

You were grateful that he did not push you away, and you were content that he did not leave keeping you in comfort due to the loss.

Eventually, he gently eased you apart from him, looking straight into your eyes, wiping the remaining traces of your tears from your cheeks. “Better?” he asked. You sniffed nodding your head, “Yeah…thanks…” You said softly, he wiped a few stray tears from under your eyes, leaving you to feeling embarrassed.

There was silence between the two of you. He seemed hesitant to say anything else, but he finally decided to take matters into his own hands. “You know… I haven’t gotten the chance to thank you properly for inviting me to come here…” he said moving to stand directly in front of you.

You looked into his eyes, trying desperately to memorize every feature of his face, “Yea..” you murmured, as the corners of his lips upturned into a slight smirk. He placed one of his hands on your cheek pulling you close towards him, making you gulp nervously, his thumb softly stroking your cheekbone. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you sooner…” he said softly, his eyes searching yours.

You shook your head, “Don’t be sorry…” you said, “I’m glad Claire invited you and that you had even showed up…” you admitted quietly as the both of you stared at each other deeply. Your hands found their way to his chest, resting comfortably on his bare skin, and he gazed down at you as if you were everything he’d ever wanted, and more.

Suddenly, as if a switch had flipped somewhere deep inside of him, his body tensed. His dark eyes widened as a look of horror appeared on his face. You frowned in confusion, “What’s wrong?” you asked worried. He seemed as if he were struggling to breath. “Are you okay? What is it?” you questioned.

“it’s just that esrlier I was going to ask if I could get your number, but I think it is such a bad time this moment…” he muttered almost too low to be heard. His hands began to shake slightly, his knuckles turning white in a visible sign of panic. You narrowed your eyes at his behavior.

‘Why does he seem uneasy?

And why do I feel anxious?’ you wondered in frustration, clenching your fists tightly, ‘Why do I feel like something is going to happen?’ you continued to ponder on your thoughts, not noticing Leon standing beside you. You were too lost inside your own mind to notice the man standing next to you.

“Well..uhhh” you stuttered looking at the male in front of you, “You can have it if that makes it up…maybe we could go grab some coffee or see a movie?” you suggested.

He smiled at the offer, “Sure…that sounds perfect. I think it has been a long time since I went out to dinner anyway.” he said chuckling sheepishly. ‘A date?!’ your mind screamed in excitement, your body becoming lightheaded. ‘I have a date with my bestfriend’s friend?!.' you thought excitedly. “Let me get my keys and say goodbye to Claire so we can head out.” Leon stated, grabbing his keys out of his pockets and opening the door to walk out of the room followed by you back into the parlor.

Saying goodbye’s to your friends and family as well you stepped outside, waiting for Leon to open the car door for you. After saying goodbye to everyone you climbed into the passenger seat and waited for Leon to join you. As soon as he got into the car he started the engine, backing out of the driveway.

A few seconds later you couldn’t help but notice his hands were shaking again, his knuckles white from how hard he was squeezing the steering wheel. You furrowed your eyebrows in concern, deciding it would probably be better for him if you didn't say anything. Instead, you chose to focus your attention outside of the window instead, watching the scenery rush past you quickly. Leon cleared his throat breaking the tense silence. "Sorry, my hands are a little shaky." he apologized, "I've never been in this area before." he explained.

You knew this was a lie, so you just played along.

You nodded in acknowledgement before taking a glance over to him, you were surprised to find he was looking right at you, his blue eyes gazing at you intensely, causing goosebumps to form along your skin.

"Do you live nearby?" you asked, suddenly nervous when he turned his gaze away from you. He nodded, “Yes..in fact, my house is not far from here actually.” You hummed nodding in approval before returning your eyes back outside.

The only thing on your mind now was your upcoming date and whether or not Leon is going to remember you. “So uh…” you began awkwardly. “What exactly are we going to do when we get there?” you asked after awhile of staring out the window, hoping he might be able to give some sort of response to your question. “Well…I suppose I should tell you all about myself first then, huh?” He chuckled as he took one hand off the steering wheel to fix the hair that fell across his forehead. You rolled your eyes smiling fondly at him before answering, “Alright, shoot” you replied.

Your eyes trailed slowly over to the side of him, noticing that he was still holding his hand on the steering wheel. You grabbed your bag strap pulling it tighter against yourself. The air became tense. You didn’t like the way the atmosphere felt, like it was getting darker and darker. When you had arrived to his house, taking off your shoes before you came in. He went to make popcorn and started up the movie.

Once finished with that he walked over to the living table where you sat and set the bowl of popcorn, and drinks down in front of you sitting dowm.

After a few minutes into the movie you fell asleep resting your head against his shoulder, which woke you up once Leon had placed you carefully on the couch. “(Y/N), wake up…” He whispered softly rubbing your arm soothingly.

You blinked your eyes groggily before lifting up your head slightly to see Leon’s face, “mmhm…Just a few more minutes…” you would groan, yet he moved you laying a pillow on his lap as you slept with a blanket thrown over you, his arm on your back rubbing light circles helping you drift back to sleep. Once you were asleep he carried you to his bed placing you next to him, tucking you kissing your forehead gently, “Sleep well, princess.” before resting his eyes taking in some sleep next to you.

*****

It was late afternoon and you woke up half asleep finding yourself lying ontop of Leon’s chest and he was still fast asleep, but his arms wrapped around you. You felt comfortable in his strong hold and your dreams were filled with nothing except him.

When your eyes fluttered open, you realized that you hadn’t dreamed, and that you weren’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. It was definitely a pleasant surprise though. You smiled lightly before shifting yourself to look up at him, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek. That’s when he woke up. His face immediately turning red, as he shot his eyes open.

“Hey sleepy head…” you cooed at him teasingly, running your finger across his chest. He turned his gaze shyly “Good morning...I was beginning to wonder when you would awaken, but I had decided that you were uncomfortable on the couch so I brought you in my room to sleep….ending up falling asleep myself. How embarrassing am I right?” he muttered quickly, averting his gaze. You giggled, “You are so embarrassed. I find that cute!” you grinned letting out a small laugh.

“Oh no, please don’t tell anyone else, they will tease me.. .” he joked laughing at the same time, you rolled your eyes playfully. “Okay I won’t tell anyone…but, maybe you should let me stay with you more often.” you suggested jokingly. He raised an eyebrow at you, “Hmm…are you sure? Because I think Claire might get the wrong idea....” he teased. You gave him a stern look, “And if she does? She can’t do anything about what she doesn’t know….” you smirked, making him raise his eyebrows even higher. Your face turned pink when you realized what you had just implied. He stared into your (e/c) eyes for a while, a smile appearing on his lips, “Don’t worry I won’t push you to tell her about us if you prefer to keep our relationship under wraps.” That smile sent shivers down your spine and caused your heart to begin pounding in your chest, your palms starting to sweat slightly.

Before you had a chance to respond he leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss against your forehead, letting his lips linger there for a second before moving his face closer to yours as your faces were inches apart, you opened your mouth to speak when he spoke. “I’ll always make sure our secret stays between the both of us…no matter what…” he breathed.

Your breath caught in your throat, the heat building up inside of you growing stronger than before. He pulled away, his face blushing slightly while you felt as if you were floating. He leaned back in closer and pressed another kiss against your forehead. Then finally closing the gap between your two faces, he kissed your lips tenderly, brushing them with your own. Feeling yourself melt into the kiss you parted your lips, allowing him entrance. This kiss wasn’t filled with passion but it was gentle and sweet. It was different from any other kiss that you had shared before.

He held onto the back of your neck, gently pushing you further into the kiss. He tasted of coffee and mint toothpaste as his tongue explored your mouth. This kiss was short lived however as the two of you pulled apart, gasping for air. A small chuckle escaped your lips as he laid your down gently onto the bed.

He laid down beside you wrapping his arm loosely around your waist, “I love you, Y/N” He mumbled quietly. “I love you too, Leon.” you responded, giving him a kiss on the lips. The rest of the night was filled with soft kisses and cuddles with his arm draped protectively over your waist. Neither one of you said anything, knowing that there wasn’t really needed to be.

All you could feel is pure happiness with him.

#bl1ss posts #requests to bl1ss #resident evil #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x fem! reader #leon kennedy #resident evil 🚔#leon kennedy fluff #resident evil leon #leon scott kennedy x reader #leon s. kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon s kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x you #leon kennedy x y/n #leon kennedy x fem reader

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holyghostbelle · 8 months

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THE THIRTEENTH STEP

(sponsor!dark!Eddie Munson x recovering!reader)

Oh how I've created the most deliciously terrible pairing, so many warnings and red flags.

if you are under the age of 18 I will make out with you dad >:0 don't make me do that

Eddie Munson is 5 years sober and horribly famous, reader is 60 days sober and has never heard of the bands he's in :) 29 year old Eddie , 21 yr old reader. Fem reader. ALSO STEVE THE ARMY GUY is not STEVE HARRINGTON

Warnings: drug use, addiction, drug addiction, alcoholics, sex addicts, sexual assault(not eddie),power play, the act of thirteenth stepping( becoming involved with newly recovering addict),abuse, victimisation, reader hates herself, reader is suicidal,Gaslighting and manipulation

Masterlist

It's 1994 and you stop smoking, you chew gum instead, sipping dark roast coffees when you crave them.You stop drinking too, stop doing drugs, you're totally clean now and you get tattoos, thousands of them (well you have maybe more than 20) you've been clean for less than 60 days.

Your parents are so proud of you, and you've broken up with ‘him’? So you've got everything ahead of you and nothing to lose. You're living with your parents, back at home, you don't hear the drunks outside,they don't knock on your door and beg. The mail comes and it is never bad news. You thank your rich mum and dad. You pray every night that they are telling the truth when they say how far you've come, but deep down you know they aren't, back at home already and your degree hasn't even finished yet.

You're a failure.

They've spent so much money on you, you want to pay it all back, hospital bills, expensive rehabilitation, one of the new ones, with green tea and yoga and celebrities who have phones you put in your pocket, the one your dad has for work.

You have crystal healing therapy and draw your feelings in big white open rooms with hundreds of plants, and half the time you think to yourself.

‘i'd rather he hit and shout at me all over again before Rachel stands up and hums incredibly loudly at the back of my head for another session of reiki healing, in fact i'd rather be back to lying on the streets overdosing if she prescribes a fucking hug. Id rather have a fucking! stomach pump if she tells me i'm worth it! One more fucking time.``

But you're out now, stuck in the New York suburbs with assholes who take prescription drugs and drink green smoothies and walk tiny dogs and listen to music that makes you want to cut your ears off and shove them down someone's throat.

Your parents buy you a car to get to the NA meetings. It's thirty minutes away. In a church.

You remember going there on Sundays with your family, fresh faced in babydoll dresses and tiny little white socks, with your pink pocket bible and you'd get pancakes with sweet syrup and fresh fruit and your nan would scoop up all the foam on her coffee and let you taste it when your mum turned a blind eye, bitter and milky.

But this is different, you've done this all by yourself.

’Step 1: Admit your life has become unmanageable’

Okay, so it's your first college party right? And you're freshly 18. You've never drunk (the sip of your dads beer doesn’t count) and you're dressed well; slutty. Your roommates pulled something out that's low cut? You're a hundred percent sure it's a nightgown at this point. And you've got boots and a brown matte lip and you look at yourself in the mirror and think.

‘Is this what it's like to be popular?”

So anyway, you show up to this party right, you-look-so-fucking-hot. And you meet this guy, well you meet “him”, He's cute, a little flirty. He makes you smile and he smokes weed. And remember you've never drunk or done any drugs, but you really like him and any common sense gets thrown out of your pretty little head, so you do a shot and smoke.

You end up in his bed that night, he's pressed against you whispering poetry into your ear, you swallow air and cry and you've never been deeply religious because you did give that boy a hand-job in the church graveyard when you were fourteen, so it's not like you're totally a prude or anything because your roommate's dress hangs around your waist as you lose your virginity to him, and all you ask is,

“Is this what heaven feels like?”

You're light and airy.

You wake up in the morning and leave and you start going out every night trying to catch him at the bar that doesn’t ID, you see him with other girls-he leaves with other girls, hunched over in the back alley. Sometimes it's you, in his car, in the bar toilets, in his house, you don't leave for days, your mind is constantly foggy and he is on the phone to his friend talking about drugging the same girl over and over, but you want it so badly so it can't be you, right?

So you start buying off him and suddenly all of your trust fund is gone and your owing him favours, your on his bedroom floor high as a fucking kite you see color's and your pretty sure your on acid, you don't actually know? But it doesn't matter at this point because you’ve convinced yourself he's in love with you.

You've missed all your classes this week because you're too busy getting pounded by the guy that gives you drugs for free and then he stops whispering poetry into your ear and you are actually like together, because you got kicked out of your apartment and you live with him now.

There's no point going anywhere, your mind is foggy, you've lost so much weight and you don't actually know what's going on at this point, he tells you what you need, his friends come and go, he must have hundreds of them because they all look different.

He gets violent, but it's during sex first, he slaps your face and apologises because he's ‘just trying to keep you awake’ he swears. He buys you flowers the next day, and chokes you that evening, it becomes a vicious new cycle.

“Here I bought you chocolate” is cheap shit, but he carves his initials into your skin that night because "you fucking belong to him”

Then he tells you to sleep with his friends and you do. He laughs and calls you a slut and kicks you. “Anything for fucking drugs this girl”

His friends snicker and you sleep with them, the list of sins gets longer. Then one night after a year when your parents get redirected to the place you've been staying because this Christmas you haven't called to say you're coming back and also that expensive ivy league school just sent the third check back as you had dropped out.

They find you outside on a road away from his place, red foam out your mouth, eyes rolled back and bruised all over, your naked and your hair is knotted at the back, so you're rushed to hospital, you never tell them what happened, so they don't ask, no police report is filed, he gets away with what he's done.

What a Christmas gift you think, your mother says its a Christmas miracle and tells all her friends that you've basically been reborn. Your dad is distant like always, and you drink cranberry juice instead of wine at Christmas dinner, everyone pretends that everything is fine.

You think you were set up to fail from the start.

And yeah, you could say your life has gotten pretty unmanageable.

The doctor says you're lucky your parents found you, you had your stomach pumped in the ambulance, but you don't remember much.

Just pain, and a pure black sky.

And you start to miss him, it's been two weeks and he hasn't tried to contact you to apologies like he usually does and you think of the first night you met and how it felt like heaven, and how you couldn't move and speak and it was like you were trapped in your own head and how it didn't feel at all that nice, and how he was whispering ‘it's going to be alright, im just taking care of you’

And you're heartbroken all over again, but you're not allowed to drink so you wallow in your sadness sober, which is actually ridiculously boring and because you're sober you can't make drunk mistakes like kissing random old men or spending hundreds of dollars on a stupid bag, because drunk you would take a knife and stab him right in his heart so he knew how it felt.

You start to wish you died that night, because tattoos are fucking expensive and also you cant get yourself to cover his mark because that would mean someone else would see it there and everything would be true.

So you sit at home and think and cry and cry some more, and then you pack for rehab.

But rehabs over now, and AA, NA, SAA (because sleeping around for drugs is actually considered a sex addiction? And not prostitution? yeah right!), that's your life now, you're fully booked and sober.

It's five pm. You're driving an old Honda accord in silver because your dad thinks if you get drunk and crash the car it won't be a loss of money, have a little faith, your mum hands you three dollars to buy a coffee because apparently coffee is incredibly expensive now.

You pull over and buy a pack of cigarettes, you lean against your car, you breathe in the bitter death and think.

“Is it a sin to smoke next to a church?”

It can't be right?

You check your watch, five twenty five.

A black Chevy truck pulls up to your left, it actually looks ridiculous, its custom so whoever owns it is either extremely rich or stupid and poor.

Metallica blasts through the speakers, it's so loud you can't hear yourself think. The car door slams as you inhale the last of your cigarette. You look up for half a second, but you find yourself gazing at him for a second too long.

He looks back, he nods and smiles at you.

You scoff, stamping out your cigarette.

He follows you into the church.

———————

Eddie's famous, stupidly famous. Old men know who he is famous, and hot women.

Eddie is famous as fuck and rich and an addict.

You know how it starts, smoke a bit of weed in high school, drink a couple of beers. One minute you're trying cocaine for the first time and the next your manager is hand cuffing you to your bed-frame because you have a tendency to get drunk and fuck and destroy the hotel room.

So yeah maybe Eddie spiralled out of control on tour and passed out on stage and then decided to get in the passenger seat with his friend, and take control of the steering wheel, and well you probably know the rest right? you've heard it all before, you've seen it in the papers.

"RICH WHITE ROCKSTAR GETS FUCKING DRUNK AND KILLS LIKE A MILLION PEOPLE!!!!!"

Okay so not exactly that.

On parole for a year, Licence revoked for two. Three years in and he starts making music again, four years sober and all he has is an extreme nicotine addiction, an over customised truck, and bandmates who hate him. But that's rock and roll baby, all the stars nearly kill their friends.

Eddie goes to NA and AA meetings every week, technically he's forced too but he likes listening to rich white mens sob stories, how they were bankers by day and coke addicts by night, because it's so tragic how they cheated on their wives with strippers, boo hoo! Eddie likes to play a game for sympathy, someone tells their sob story about losing a dog because they were drunk and Eddie talks about how his friend was in a coma for half a year.

And so Eddies pulls into the church hall parking lot, and he notices the young lil thing leaning against her car inhaling a cigarette like it's her job, and she dressed somewhat weirdly. In Fact she looks so out of place, she's wearing beige but not in a cool 90s grunge way. More in the way that her mum dressed her this morning, her mum being rich and suburban, married her husband for money.

He switches the truck off, and metallica fades out immediately. He steps out the truck, the car door slams, he stretches, his chest aimed for the sky and he looks at her. He nods and sends her a cheeky smile.

He waits for her reaction but she stares and scoffs , stamping out her cigarette, her eyes roll and she pulls the sleeves of her overly expensive knit jumper down.In the colour of beige, but the store probably calls it caramel coffee creamer or gingerbread cookie fall and even worse cinnamon roll icing, coconut shredded chocolate. Or if it's even higher end, sand one. He follows behind her. Noticing her stained black converse, bloodied, scuffed.

Her mum had definitely dressed her.

———————

The church hall is cold, it always has been.

There's a circle of chairs in the middle of the room, and a table with coffee cups and cheap plastic wrapped muffins, there's four men in suits in the room they’re sweating and you make eye contact with what you think is your mom's friend, she looks away quickly, and then there's the weird army guy with a sign in sheet that your pretty sure came to your high school to warn you about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

You tell him your name and curl up on a plastic seat with a cold cup of coffee. You sip carefully, staring ahead as the curly headed freak pulls up a chair to your right.

“Nice sweater”

You raise an eyebrow and look him up and down, he's wearing a black fitted shirt and blue jeans covered in tattoos.

“It's my mums” you stare at him in the eye, “can you tell?”

“Where are your clothes then?”he points to your chest and meets your eyes.

“I don't know, probably in a skip somewhere rotting, like everything else”

He grins, “You're so cynical” he looks over to the woman next to him “How are you doing today Joan? How are the kids?”

Joans face flushes, and stares at your face,” Oh Eddie, i'm doing fine thank you, Heathers graduating college soon, only a couple of months”

“They grow up so fast, huh”

There's a moment of silence, Eddie leans back in his chair smiling, the business men talk about stocks or money or whatever they actually do, and the big army guy sits down in a chair, his legs spread, muscles bulging.

“Hello, I'm Steve and i'm an alcoholic!"

“Hi Steve” we chant back.

“It's been about seventeen years now, since i had a sip of beer, and i've been thinking, seventeen years, that's nearly a high school graduate, my soberness could drive, next year it could join the army, and every day i think to myself what is this for? myself ? My wife? My kids? “ he sighs

“No, being sober is for myself, i've owned up to my actions, i've accepted god into my life, i've made amends, and now? I go for dinner with my wife and while she has wine I have soda, my kids party and I can pick them up safely, and help them, but I'm happy to help.”

Steve goes on for what seems like hours, but you keep your eye on the clock and only minutes pass, you don't actually know what he's trying to say but you nod along anyway.

“We have a newcomer today, you've probably noticed her. So be nice, why don't you introduce yourself darling?”

You say your name, and they chant it back at you, they wait for you to speak.

“I got out of rehab like a-week ago, and all I could think while being there while they braided my hair and made me pick weeds out of bushes is how I would've rather died from my overdose than be there.” you pause, and the room fills with a flood of sympathy, it's thick in the air, there's a shuffling of feet.

“And like, everyones been telling me to own up to my actions, like it was my fault? Like I went to college and then decided to get hooked on drugs?” you smile but your eyes don't.

There's a scoff on your right, you look at him.

“oh sorry did you want to say something?”

“Look sweetheart, we’re all here for a reason, part of recovery is owning up to your actions” Eddie smiles softly like he's just said the biggest revelation ever .

You nod at him, “yeah i guess you're right, next time someone loads me up with ketamine and rapes me i’ll remember it was my own fault” you stand up straight coffee knocked up and on the floor.

“because I was asking for it, right?”

You drag your chair painfully slowly and it scrapes along the floor, making that awful sound.

You rush out of the building to your car, slamming the door and hitting the steering wheel. You look over at the truck on your left and contemplate.

Fuck it

You get out the car, keys in your hand and you scrape them along his car door , in jagged edges.

Shit. You panic. Can you go to prison for this? you've just vandalised a seemingly harmless guy's car.

“Did you just key my truck?” He's behind you, and you turn to see his face.

“No” you shake your head.

“I just watched you do it, why are you lying?” he questions

“Because ,I-” you sigh“ i've got to much fucking anger and i don't know what to fucking do with it” your lip tremors.

“Im stupid. So fucking stupid, and yeah everything is my own fucking fault, i could have filled a fucking police report, but i was so fucking naive, i found him in a club the next night and slept with him again, and suddenly i'm lying in my own filth waiting to die because ive been rotting away in his apartment for god knows how long, so he loads me up with drugs and leaves me on the side of the road and i think, this is it i'm finally going to fucking die. I'm twenty one and my life is already fucked.”

The wind howls, and the parking lot lights flicker on as it gets darker.

You look up at him “I'm sorry i keyed your car”

“It's fine, i'm stupidly rich and hate it anyway” Eddie mutters.

You smile.

“I want to be your sponsor”

“Huh?” your eyebrows raise "after I keyed your car?"

‘Yeah and well it's me or Joan, and Joan just speaks about her kids so, I'd be helping you out ”

“Joans actually my mom's friend”

“Oh, I get it,” Eddie sighs, fiddling with his keys.

You pause, looking at his brown eyes, you think about what they would've looked like blood shot.

“Can I get your number then? Because Heather was a real bitch to me in high school so i'd rather not hear about her success story”

A/N: hello I got bored and started writing, and this i what I wrote, i am terrible at proof reading by the way so I will give you a kiss if you tell me all my mistakes xxxx

#eddie munson x reader #dark eddie munson #famous eddie munson #rich reader #90s au #recovering addict au #stranger things x reader #stranger things but not strange #heavy topics #what the actual fuuuuuck #slightly older Eddie #eddie munson #edward munson

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anonymous-dentist · 8 months

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hi!! just wanted to come here and compliment you!!! i absolutely ADORE how ur writing style just paints such a vivid picture of like how the characters look, and the whole world itself!! and by that i do not mean what clothes they wear or what hairstyle they have- NO i mean how if ur stories were comics, what artstyle they would be drawn in, like kind of spiderverse, if they were to be transported into real life they would just. be drawn in a specific artstyle i have in my mind,, YKNOW!!!! i may sound crazy, but the point is. your writing makes my brain imagine things VERY VIVIDLY. also weirdly enough i dont really imagine a comic per say but more of a 3d animated movie where the characters are made to be seen 2d,,,,, AA i cant explain it but its just. I CAN SEE IT!!!! I CAN SEE WHAT YOU WRITE, I CAN SEE THE WORLD YOURE CREATING AND ITS AWESOME!!!! also!! this superheroes au is giving me life,,,, pls give us some roier fun facts id love to learn more abt him!!!

All right, let’s do this one more time:

His name is Roier, and he was bitten by an extraterrestrial spider while cleaning out his dad’s garage. Since then, he’s developed superpowers, and now he’s helping save the city from bad guys!

But here’s some actual facts:

He has two very rich parents (Foolish and Vegetta), but he’s trying to make it on his own. So he works at a taqueria near his university and he spends all his money very unwisely

He did gymnastics as a kid, and he is VERY thankful for it now that he’s Spider-Man

He’s been Spider-Man since he was thirteen. He’s twenty-two now. The day he stops is the day he dies

But also he takes pictures of Spider-Man as a side-hustle to pay for his college education (Peter Parkoier)

He and Jaiden are in a qpr, but they’ve kinda been struggling just a little recently now that she’s joined the FoH and he refuses to

He misses his son very much.

#deli superhero au #asks!#anon!

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spiderrrling · 2 years

Text

Anybody have a map? - Chapter 1: Welcome to camp Sunshine

Series Masterlist - Masterlist - General Taglist

Chapter summary - The summer is finally here, and you've arrived at camp, happy to know that your sworn enemy is no where to be seen. Sadly, it doesn't take long before he shows up and bursts your bubble of hope for a happy summer, instead now you are stuck in the middle of no where with the person you hate the most in the world.

Word count - 9.3k

Chapter warnings - Brief mentions of smoking

A/N - thank you guys so much for the support you’ve already shown to this fic, and thank you so so so much to the genuine mastermind behind it @uglypastels i literally wouldnt have been able to do it without you

Day 0 - Sunday, 19 Days before

There was something special about a place like Camp Moonglade. Barely an hour and a half away from the chaos that was downtown Hawkins, and yet a completely different world. There was no rush of traffic in the morning, no peering eyes from pestering neighbours who would rather be caught up in other people's business than their own, and no pressure to maintain the expectations laid on you by the social society of Hawkins High.

All of that was to be exchanged for the happy smiles (and screams) of children seeking out adventures and stories to be told years down the line. An escape from pesky parents, bullies and teachers and where anyone could be whoever they wanted to be. A place where the trees grew tall and the birds tweeted with glee, helping you forget about the worst of times.

It was a complete and total getaway into a lakeside summer paradise. That's what this summer was supposed to be. But the reality settled in hard and was far from the idyllic summer escape you had imagined in the months leading up to what should have been long and lazy summer days. You had been looking forward to it for ages, couldn't wait to see the returning campers again and help them create an unforgettable experience. So, it was infuriating to know that your entire plan had been tainted with something so dark, vile and evil that had taken root in them.

Eddie Munson, your (camp) arch nemesis. Because, even though this was only your second year of counselling at the camp, the one summer of experience had been enough for you to realise two things:

1. You absolutely loved the camp and the job. 2. Eddie Munson was the Devil's spawn.

He was bad news, you could tell it from your very first meeting, and you had all of your first year at Moonglade to prove it… not to mention your shared three years of high school. So, by this time around, there was nothing that could still surprise you. Not that that stopped you from wishing this time would be different.

Eddie Munson wasn’t some bully though, who did things out of malice. He just enjoyed winding you up and seeing your reaction, he was a tease. And ever since last summer you absolutely despised him.

You should have known better, though, than to set up these high expectations for your return to camp. Ever since you had heard that Eddie wasn’t set to graduate, you knew this had been a possibility. He would come back for his third year of Camp Moonglade, just as he would return for his third senior year once the fall semester would start. And in the meantime, in the five weeks of exile, he would make sure to put you through living hell.

Well, he hadn’t directly decided to ruin all of your summer plans, that you knew of, but when Eddie was around one thing was for sure– You would get to spend yet another summer along with a person who hated your guts (not that the feeling wasn’t at least partially mutual). It wouldn’t have even surprised you if he came back solemnly just to spite you. To have yet another summer of wreaking havoc on your cabin and the planned activities ahead.

That is what you knew would happen, but, against all odds, you had really held out hope until the very last second that he wasn’t going to show up. That you would at least get these few weeks of rest away from him.

The first day at Moonglade had not helped your ideals either. In fact, it created a false hope, actually. A glorious 24-hour period had gone by on the camp site and Eddie was nowhere to be seen.

On the second day of preparations, with kids set to arrive just the next day, you and the other counselors were fast at work dusting off the mess hall and the cabins to get ready for the summer ahead. And you were intently working, sweeping out one of the cabins, ridding it of old cobweb and the thin layer of dust that had settled in the past eight months.

The strong afternoon sun was hanging high in the sky, blaring with the early Indiana summer heat when the beat up, rusty, old van pulled up into the staff parking lot. With the windows rolled halfway down you could hear the blaring music before you even laid eyes on the car.

Jumping out of the driver's side was Eddie Munson, truly he must have believed he was a sight for sore eyes. His messy brown curls pushed back with a pair of aviator sunglasses and combat boots halfway laced up. Flashing you a little too much thigh for your liking with a pair of black home made denim shorts he had clearly cut off himself based on the fraying around the hem. And he was wearing last year's camp T-shirt, or a mutilated version of it, the sleeves and side seams cut off, the shirt hanging together with barely an inch of material. You weren’t sure if it could even be called a shirt, barely covering his chest and you could visibly see one of his chest tattoos peeking out from beneath what little fabric was left.

A half smoked cigarette was dangling between his lips as he swung an old and battered duffel bag over his shoulder, stuffed to the brim with everything he might need for the next month and a half. His other hand was carefully wrapped around the handle on his guitar case, the metal of his rings glinting softly in the blaring sun. Making his way over to the mess hall, completely nonchalant to the fact that he was over a day and a half late to when he was supposed to arrive.

Standing on the terrace to one of the campers' cabins your eyes followed him the whole way to the mess hall where he greeted Zoe with his usual infuriating charm and wicked smile that always made it look like he knew something no one else knew.

You watched as they spoke, and even from a distance you could tell Zoe wasn’t particularly pleased with his late coming, her pen tapping against the edge of her clipboard impatiently as she listened to whatever poor excuse he had managed to concoct.

It was almost fascinating watching him try to flirt his way out of it, while being completely oblivious to Zoe’s dead eyed stare that she was returning to him. Or maybe he just believed in his abilities that much?

You could tell the exact moment she had told him, his face dropped and his mouth made a perfect o-shape before he yelled, “WHAT?!” His eyes wide and frantic as he searched around the camp grounds, and when he happened to find you, you were glad that looks couldn’t kill.

Eddie took a moment to compose himself, clenching his jaw ever so slightly, quickly returning to his conversation with Zoe, And you watched them from a distance, your eyes intently following Eddie as he disappeared into the main building and out of your line of sight. It is what you would have to settle for, for now.

You had decided early on that if Eddie was going to make his appearance, you were not going to sit back like you did last summer, this year you were going to be his problem. You were done letting him play elaborate pranks on you and your campers.

And seeing him just reaffirmed this, this summer you were going to hit back.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, tasks that needed to be done piled up quickly as you worked your way through an already tedious list of chores. You were hiking up the crossroad of paths to the dining hall, the promise of dinner hanging softly in the air as you got closer to the main building.

A low two story building, old and with its red paint chipping in the corners desperately trying to hold on another summer, which housed the dining hall (frequently called the mess hall by the campers), the nurses office (the infirmary), and the office (the base).

“And there she is! My favourite counsellor!” Eddie’s voice sounded and he appeared out of the mess hall as you approached, his voice was like nails on a chalkboard which contrasted with the signature flashy grin he gave you. “How is my favourite happy camper?”

"You're late." Was all you said in response, your eyebrows elevated slightly as you took in the sight of him, close up you could see even more of his chest tattoo and the faint shadow of his chest hair. Even with the sun hanging low in the horizon he was adamant about wearing the horrid tank top.

"And yet I'm still here, and the canoes have been cleaned off and are ready for the water, plus my cabin is in tip top shape and ready for inspection." To underline his point Eddie gave you a military salute and stood up just a little bit straighter, forever the main audience for his own antics.

“Cute- did Mark teach you that?” The reference to your fellow camp counselors managed to place a crack in Eddie’s stone cold facade into a smile for just a split second. "And I suppose that'll be the only time this summer that cabin will look presentable?" Both of you cringed slightly at the thought of what had happened last summer, when one of his campers unbeknownst to him had adopted a pet frog they'd found down by the water. The results of which were not pretty.

"Who's got time for grudges and complaints, we have an entire summer in front of us to enjoy." Eddie slung his arm around your shoulders like the two of you were old friends, helping to lead you into the dining hall, and you had to fight the instinct to flinch away. “But first- dinner I am starving after a hard day’s work.”

You and Eddie were the only counselors who attended Hawkins High, everyone else originated from a couple of different high schools in the surrounding areas. And while you and Eddie knew each other from camp, you didn’t speak in your regular day to day lives. You just saw each other in casual passings in the concrete tiled hallways of Hawkins High School.

All of you were upperclassmen in school and about the same age. All of you responsible for your own cabin and campers.

Everyone else was working, setting the head table with disposable paper plates since none of you were particularly interested in doing the dishes before camp had even begun. With Tiny Sal not set to arrive until tomorrow along with the rest of the campers Zoe and Lisa had taken the executive decision to nurture every last opportunity on your last day of freedom and ordered pizza for the whole gang from the nearest town. Which was still over 20 minutes by car.

Eddie’s grip loosened on your shoulder and his arm fell away from you as he walked off to chat with Connie #2 and Richie without saying a word of goodbye to you. All of you knew each other from the previous summer, and after five weeks of working together they had quickly become your home away from home, your own little camp family.

And even though it was unspoken, your seats around the counselors table had remained the same. Walking over you took your old spot between Joan and Connie #1 who were already deep in conversation.

In total there were ten of you who together ran the majority of activities at Camp Moonglade. There was Zoe, the activities leader and head organiser, you wouldn’t dare cross her in a million years. Joan, who was possibly the sweetest soul alive and helped run the arts & crafts activities. Lisa, a complete sweet tooth and the sole supplier of snacks, and is one part of the music team. Connie #1, sometimes referred to as just Con for convenience, the first half of The Connies, and co-leader of the water activities. And of course, yourself.

Then for the guys there was Richie, Eddie’s partner in crime and helps Joan with arts & crafts. Tommy, your wildlife expert and a mean games strategist. Mark; Zoe’s right hand man and sports director, complete hard ass but with a heart of gold. Connie #2, who you believed no one actually knew his real first name, who helped Con with water activities. Then last but not least, Eddie Munson, resident musician and outdoor survival skills leader.

Along with the ten of you there were three "adults", Lenny the camp director, Tiny Sal the camp chef and Maureen the nurse. Meaning in total the thirteen of you ran and operated Camp Moonglade for the summer.

“Ok but Joan we need you to join our team for capture the flag-” it was no surprise to you that Con was already fast focused on game strategies, and it would be no shock to you if the other Connie was chatting Eddie’s ear off about a team up. “With your strategy and with our energy then we’ll win for sure!”

“Well I suppose I could-” Sadly, Joan never got to finish her sentence.

“You know, I thought we had a strong sense of tradition here at Moonglade, canoeing, capture the flag, and yours truly having Cabin 9.”

Great, you could tell this was going to be another Eddie Munson spectacle. If you were a resident student at Hawkins High, you were probably unlucky enough to have caught at least a couple of them.

Eddie’s voice was loud enough to be ringing off the walls, and as you looked up, he was staring directly at you, truly something only second to rage in his dark brown eyes, mixed with some form of enjoyment he was taking out of having everyone's eyes on him.

The other counselors falling quiet around you, they'd been waiting for this. What they expected to be your moment of reckoning with Eddie. Based on his interaction with Zoe earlier, you figured that Eddie had been informed that you had taken Cabin 9 this summer, but he was yet to confront you about it.

"That is my cabin, you know that is my cabin." Eddie swung his leg over the bench directly opposite you. You did know that was Eddie's cabin for the past two years at Moonglade, and maybe that's the exact reason you had picked that to be your camper's cabin this year, but you weren’t one to kiss and tell. Taking a bit too much pride in snatching it right from under his nose due to his late coming.

"Well now I suppose that it was your cabin Eddie, it isn't anymore," you could feel the smirk tugging at the corners of your mouth and you had to resist to not let them show.

Your eyes fast on Eddie's face, thoroughly enjoying his almost frantic wide eyed stare back at you. The fellow counselors around you were intently listening in on your conversation, not soon about to forget the intense rivalry and nuclear fall out that had occured last summer.

"Besides, it's not like you're staying in the cabin anyway." You were enjoying yourself way too much, but what truly made it worth it was Eddie’s reaction to you teasing him back. “So I don’t see how it’s going to be a problem.”

It was clear he had not been expecting you to be teasing him back, there was some semblance of genuine shock on his face, but he was doing his best to hide it with his sly grin. But you could pick up on that little glint in the back of his eyes that was telling you differently.

“I suppose we’ll see whose problem it really is sunshine,” Eddie said, his smug grin fast plastered to his face and you bit the inside of your cheek, and before you could think of anything to quip back at him, he swung his legs over the bench and went back to chatting with Richie.

“Trouble in paradise.” You heard Connie whisper to Connie along with a soft snicker, but after a quick and hard look from Zoe they both fell deadly silent.

You didn’t stay long after, quickly losing your appetite and not too interested in spending the rest of the evening trying to avoid contact with Eddie. Muttering some excuse about being tired and wanting a good night's sleep before tomorrow you retired back to the counsellors cabin.

Laying on your back in your bed, your eyes were glued to the wooden ceiling above you, slowly counting the slats as you attempted to fall asleep. It was a special kind of atmosphere when it was just you at camp, time almost seemed to stand still when there was no disruption of little kids running around weakening havoc, yet you also couldn’t help but be excited for your campers to arrive and for moonglade to once again be filled with screams of joy and laughter.

Somehow this is where you always slept best, in a small cramped cabin with four other people in the middle of nowhere. With the window wide open you could taste the soft summer nightair, hear the soft sounds of the lake as water hit the shore, the creaking sounds of the forest as the breeze travelled through branches and leaves. There was something oddly calming about it all, which brought you a sense of peace you couldn’t get anywhere else.

It didn’t take long before you finally fell asleep.

Day 1 - Monday, 18 days until

The next morning started with a bang, quite literally. Mark banged on the door to your cabin, at what felt like the very crack of dawn, resulting in a synchronised groan from the ones of you still half asleep inside the cabin.

“Breakfast in the mess hall at exactly eight-hundered hours! Campers arriving today!” How anyone could have this much energy at this hour you could not figure out. But you were glad to know that even though a year had passed, Mark was still insistent on using his military terminology.

Yet you didn’t dare disobey Mark's words, quickly slinging your legs over the side of your bed and jumping out from your top bunk, looking around you could see Zoe and Joan’s beds were already empty. But Connie and Lisa seemed to be quickly falling back asleep where they laid in their bunks.

“Good morning sunshine.” Eddie looked up at you as you stepped over the threshold into the mess hall, and you were immediately convinced that he was the spawn of the devil. You yawned and rubbed sleep out of your eyes, doing your best to ignore him where he was sitting with a half empty cup of coffee.

“What? I don’t get my good morning kiss?” Eddie said as you walked past him, you turned around and raised your hand as to blow him a kiss but you finished by flipping him the bird as you walked backward through the swinging doors into the kitchen, which gave away with a soft groan.

After taking a quick glance at you Joan quickly poured and pressed a mug of steaming hot coffee into your hands to which you muttered a quiet thank you as you gladly accepted the offering.

The hot mug between your fingers served as some level of comfort, the dark and bitter liquid sloshing around. You hated black coffee, but it would have to do for now.

Around you everyone else was either deep in their planning, or having some off conversation, and you swore you heard the Connies discussing their capture the flag strategies, or was it boat strategies? You were honestly too tired to fully tune into what they were saying.

Besides, you had already started your own scheming plans for capturing the flag that you weren’t quite ready to disclose to anyone just yet. You were not about to let Eddie Munson’s team beat yours this year and if you wanted that reality you would have to play your cards just right.

Capture the flag at Moonglade was almost a religious experience, and the winner of the tournament won every possible bragging right over the rest. Last year Eddie’s team beat yours after he played dirty, and you would rather be six feet under before you let it happen again.

Sliding into the seat next to Zoe, she didn’t even notice you. Her eyes fixated on the sheet of paper laid out before her, a pen clutched in her hand, the pen cap stuck between her teeth was littered with bite marks.

“What are you working on?” You took a sip from your coffee, sipping at the hot liquid and savouring the taste as caffeine coursed through your veins, slowly waking you up.

“Finishing the week's schedule…” her eyes were completely glued to the papers in front of you, and you were honestly shocked she heard you, given how in the zone she could get. “Wow this late? Don’t tell me that queen Zoe is slipping from her throne,” you said in a playful sarcastic tone.

“Don’t you have things to finish? You know before campers arrive?” She turned towards you and rested her head against her hand, flashing you that slightly evil Zoe smirk that she always had hidden up her sleeve. “It’s good to be back.” You laughed and glanced down at your wrist, the watch strapped to it read just a little past eight, which meant you had at least a couple of hours to get your schedule and finish preparing Cabin 9 for its guests.

You had cut your morning in The Mess short, grabbing a stray piece of unclaimed toast to tidy you over as you hurried over to Cabin 9.

—

The gravel under your shoes crunched softly as you trekked your way up to the campers cabins, ten of them in a circle and in the middle a massive tree. Cabin 9 stood at the corner furthest down towards the lake. It wasn’t much but you couldn’t help but feel some level of satisfaction as you approached the low wooden building. Knowing that this year Cabin 9 belonged to you and your campers, and not Eddie.

The front deck had a couple of chairs and a table standing in front, on the inside the walls were lined with bunk beds along with a couple of drawers. However what made Cabin 9 so special was that the back window was bigger than the rest of the cabins. Meaning that you could see all the way down to the lake with a proper view, the blue shimmering surface peeking through luscious green leaves just added to the idyllic summer paradise that Moonglade was.

Yesterday you had managed to clear out most of the dust and cobwebs that had settled since last year, so luckily there wasn’t much left to be done. Still you found yourself picking at all the little details, quickly losing track of the time.

A loud bang sounded among the cabins, pulling you from your work and you rushed to the window to see what had happened.

Looking through the front window you could see Cabin 10, the unclaimed cabin that had become Eddie’s by default. He was rummaging around trying to get the last of it ready. His curly hair hanging messily around his shoulders, thankfully forgoing the hideous mutilated yellow shirt for a proper one today. The newly minted green counsellor's shirt hugged the curves of his shoulders as he worked.

Eddie ran a hand through his curls, in what from a distance looked like frustration, before he quickly walked away from the cabin in an almost half jog.

But something caught your eye, a sheet of paper stapled to the inside of the widely opened front door, but you couldn’t read it from a distance. You looked around quickly, checking to see if Eddie was coming back before running across the short distance between the cabins, climbing up the steps onto the deck.

Your eyes reading over the list Eddie has stapled up to the door, chuckling quietly to yourself.

“Curiosity killed the cat?” You jumped at his voice, not expecting him to come back so soon. “Just checking out your cabin, what number is it again?” Eddie didn’t answer you, just shot you a dirty look instead. You turned around and started reading off the list out loud.

“Camp constitution… solid name I’ll give you that… respect other people's stuff, obviously… maintain personal hygiene, good one… no summoning demons?” you read off the last one and turned to Eddie who was grinning from ear to ear. “Without permission and adequate supervision-” he leaned past you and tapped at the appended point at the end of the document, “it has to be done with proper care,” he finished.

“I am pretty sure Mark and Zoe aren’t going to be happy if you decide to summon a demon,” you almost wondered out loud as your eyes grazed his face.

But before he could quip back, you both heard the bell ring in the distance, meaning the first campers had probably started arriving, you cursed under your breath knowing you were late and you still had to pick up your check-in list from Zoe.

Both you and Eddie turned your head towards the sound of the bell and you could hear Eddie curse under his breath before quickly checking the time on his watch.

“I’ll have to catch you later sunshine, our queen Zoe cannot be kept waiting.” With a quick flash of a grin and the turn of his heel Eddie was gone, leaving you standing all by yourself once again.

—

When you arrived at the parking lot there was already a sea of campers waiting for you. Buzzing with excitement and some tears, most of them wearing backpacks larger than their bodies and stuffed to the brim, making them slightly unsteady. Like the slightest miss step would cause a domino effect of falling campers.

“Everyone listen up!” Eddie stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled so loud your ears hurt. Quickly he climbed up on the registration table, his check in sheet in hand.

"Could I have Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler report to me please? Spread the word, thank you, that will be all." He finished off his little charade with a bow to his audience and you swore you could see some of the campers with a sheer look of terror in their eyes, and you couldn't blame them.

You had to at least give him credit for the idea, because as soon as he finished speaking it was clear who his campers were and they quickly shuffled their way over to Eddie’s table to get themselves checked in.

When all campers had finally managed to be situated with their counsellors and parents excitedly drove away to enjoy their few child free weeks, Zoe got up on one of the tables, her trusted megaphone in hand.

“Hellooo happy campers! Could I have everyone's attention for a moment?” When Zoe said it, it wasn’t a question, it was a demand, and everyone there knew it. New and returning campers alike, meaning the crowd fell silent within moments. “Thank you! Now that you all have your cabin counselors and are checked in we’re going to let you head down to your cabins to get settled for a moment, but please could all councillors make sure to have everyone in the dining hall in an hour for camp introduction and rules.”

As it always was, Zoe’s word at camp was law. Even the new campers could feel the presence she had when she picked up that megaphone.

The next couple of hours passed in a blur of trying to get your campers situated in their cabin, answering any and all questions that popped up, and hurrying to make sure that you weren’t late for camp meeting.

The grand circle was finally teeming with life once more, kids running around already enjoying the freedom away from parents, and your poor counsellor friends running after them.

And before you knew it, you had reached the end of the first official day at Camp Moonglade.

Day 3 - Wednesday, 17 days until

Rocks crunched softly beneath your feet as you walked along the shoreline, with the exception of the beach, most of the shore was either covered in big flat rocks or the stretch of grass reached all the way down to the water.

Your sandals dangled from your fingertips as you walked along, letting yourself feel the cool rocks against the rough pads of your feet.

The water gulped softly against the shore with every beat of the waves, and the only light came from the reflected image of the moon. Softly illuminating the night ever so slightly, but you still found yourself needing to squint to make sure you were still placing your feet in front of you.

The overwhelming hot swell of the day had finally faded, letting the cool night air finally seep in and you felt like you could breathe again for the first time. Relishing in every soft breath of night summer air that washed over your exposed skin.

Three full days had somehow already been and gone, passed in a blur of excitement and activities. Which your mind and body ached from, and you already found yourself longing for a break, nothing big but just a little get away.

Which is how you found yourself trekking along the shoreline of the lake, slowing your breathing, and taking in every sound of the lake, of the forest. The creaks and groans of the trees as they shifted with the wind, the rustle of leaves and the soft chirping of cicadas.

Even at night Camp Moonglade was never truly silent. Especially not when you were left with your own thoughts ticking away and churning around in your head.

But your thoughts quickly came to a grinding halt as you came upon the last person you expected, or at least wanted to see tonight. Eddie Munson, sitting by the lakeside.

His shoes were tossed almost carelessly to the side, along with his socks, allowing him to sink his feet down into the cold water. A half smoked lit cigarette dangled from his lips, glowing a soft red in the darkening night with every drag he took.

“Of course, it’s you, you know you’re not supposed to smoke at camp, right? Against camp rules.”

“Ah, my favourite happy camper, come to join me, sunshine?”

You didn’t really think about it, you just kind of sat down next to him, but you made sure to keep a distance between you. Snagging the cigarette from his hand and taking a puff before he could oppose you. The smoke filled your lungs and you immediately gagged, trying to hold back a cough, and failing spectacularly.

“You know smoking is against camp rules, right?” Eddie echoed your words from earlier, and you had to fight the chuckle that threatened to bubble up in your chest.

“So, what’s on your mind this evening, sunshine?” “Nothing-” your voice was calm into the empty night.Realising you were still holding it, you passed the cigarette back to Eddie. And you stuck your feet in the cold water, kicking your feet ever so slightly.

“Oh, c’mon I know there has got to be a reason if you’re desperate enough to sit down with little old me,” Eddie laughed, taking a drag from his cigarette much more skillfully than you did, letting the thin cigarette smoke hang in the quiet air between you, “so please, enlighten me why are you so desperate to be hanging out with yours truly.”

“Did you pack enough cigarettes to last you the next five weeks?” you asked instead to deflect the question, and pulled your thighs up to your chest, wrapping your arms around yourself, trying to fight off the sudden cold that started seeping in now that you were sitting still.

“Hopefully, as long as I make sure I don’t smoke em’ all, then I’ll be ok,” Eddie laughed, and he could tell you were trying to deflect, but hey, he wasn’t one to push. Knowing he was probably the last person you would ever want to talk to about anything running through that mind of yours. Any semblance of trust you might have had in him was long gone after last summer.

You sat there with him for a moment, almost finding some sense of peace in the comfortable silence you shared between you. It was different to anything you had experienced with Eddie. He was always the loud, fidgeting, bold, bouncing off the walls, walking on the cafeteria tables Eddie Munson.

But sitting there by the lake with you, he was calm. Calmer than you think you’ve ever seen any person. Almost as if there was no worry on his mind, despite actively breaking camp rules by insisting on smoking his cigarette. And that, you thought, might be the most Eddie Munson thing, breaking the rules and not breaking a sweat doing it.

“You know Zoe caught me down here once last summer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that pissed,” Eddie said, and you couldn’t help but stare at him with wide eyes, it was almost as if he had been reading your mind just then, “I was sharing a joint with Richie, and we heard her approach, we both panicked and just ran for our lives, not thinking she would still see us the next morning and-”

“So that’s why you and Richie had that unexplained cleaning duty last summer!” you blurted out before you could stop yourself, instinctively clasping your hands over your mouth as you realised you had forgotten your manners and interrupted him. Which Eddie seemed to find immensely entertaining, laughing wildly at the sight in front of him.

“Yes, that is indeed why,” he chuckled at your response, quickly glancing over at you from the corner of his eye. Stumping out the cigarette bud on a nearby rock and throwing the end of it into the lake to be swallowed by the water. “You know- I think the only reason we got away with it is because I’ve known Zoe for so long.”

“Wait you’ve known Zoe since before you were a councilor?” His words puzzled you a little bit, you had no clue they’d known each other before hand, and maybe you found yourself a little bit dumbfounded for judging their interaction on Sunday.

“Yeah- me and Zoe used to be campers here together. My uncle used to send me here for the summers so he could get me out of his hair for a little bit, and so that I wouldn’t get bored and go around getting in trouble.” His eyes were looking anywhere but at you, wandering the scenery in front of them as he spoke, transfixed on the soft slopes of the water that surrounded his feet.

“So… you come here to cause problems instead?” you looked over at him and asked with a rise in your brow.

“And because you’re so much more fun to vex than my uncle,” Eddie finally looked over at you and flashed you his infamous cheeky grin. And there it was again, that same smile he’d flashed you last summer and you were ashamed to say it still elicited the same reaction in you as it had back then, and you hated yourself for it.

“Sooo, what was little Zoe like?” you kicked your feet in the water as you spoke, the water sloshing around gently, adding softly to the sounds of the night.

“Oh- not so different from how she is now. Even when she was little, she had more command than anyone else, even the old councillors back then.” He fished his lighter out of his pocket and fidgeted with the lid, flipping it open and closed rhythmically, lighting the flame every now and then.

“Why does that not surprise me,” you wondered out loud, but it was clear your tone was littered with sarcasm, and you earned a little chuckle out of him.

“Shit, are you cold?” He noticed the soft dusting of goose bumps that had gradually settled on your skin and the way your hands ran up and down your forearms trying to settle into the gentle chill of the night. Eddie shuffled out of the jacket he was wearing and held it out to you, letting the article of clothing dangle between you on the tips of his fingers.

Suddenly, you became aware of just how small the distance between you had grown, and how he offering you his jacket was painfully similar to last summer.

And perhaps, he had felt it too.

“Oh- no thank you I’ll be just fine.”

“You’re shivering like a leaf, c’mon just take it.”

“Eddie seriously I’m not cold-”

“Listen- I know after last year you might not be my biggest fan, and it's pretty clear that you’re still upset-” Eddie started. “Under exaggerating there just a little bit, Munson,” you interjected quickly, making him reconsider his words for a moment before he spoke up again.

A deep crease forming between his eyebrows as he gazed at you from the short distance between you, and you were convinced you could see the tiniest tug at the corner of his lips before he spoke.

“How about I make it up to you? Say if by some incredible, and I mean truly incredible, miracle you manage to win camp championships, I will let you give me a stick and poke tattoo. Whatever design you want, sounds good?” And you absolutely could not deny it, it was a tempting prize he was offering you. Eddie was already covered in tattoos, one more wouldn’t be much of a hassle for him, but one from you?

“And what if I don’t win, what do you get then?” You asked and Eddie bit down his bottom lip and stared at you, simply to drag it out because it was clear he already knew what he wanted. “A kiss,” he finally said and your blood ran cold.

“A kiss?” you raised your eyebrow and fought the urge to bite into your lip in the slight bit of anguish the thought caused you. And in that moment you knew, this is what he had meant when he said you would be regretting taking Cabin 9, but what you didn’t know was that this was only the beginning.

“Y’know it wouldn’t be-” Eddie started, but he never got a chance to finish.

“I know Munson, trust me I know,” you cut him off before he could finish, not wanting to think about what he was insinuating, trying your best to shake off the feeling that had washed over you.

“So what do you say, we got a deal?” Eddie reached out his hand to you, letting it hang in the space between you, and your mind was still running wild with contemplations. Your eyes darting between his hand and his eyes, feeling that little pit of anxiety in your stomach gnawing away at you, telling you not to do it.

“Deal,” you said and grabbed his hand, shaking it quickly. In the end it was too tempting not to take on the challenge. Besides, there was no way that you were going to lose anyway.

“Now will you please just take my jacket? It’s almost painful seeing you this cold.” Oh, right, his jacket. He had placed it in the space between you once the talk of the bet started. And while you had agreed to kiss him, in the slight chance you would lose, his jacket felt way too intimate, way too special for you to take.

“Oh- I’m fine, I really should be going anyway, early morning tomorrow,” you mumbled as you shuffled to get your feet beneath you so you could stand up, grabbing your shoes and quickly, but rather awkwardly, slipping them on. “Thanks for the conversation, and bet, I guess.”

“Good night sunshine!” You heard him call out to you as you were almost out of earshot, and when you looked over your shoulder you saw his jacket was still lying on the ground next to him, but his eyes were fixed on the water in front of him. “And I’ll be looking forward to that kiss!”

Day 5 - Friday, 14 Days until

Finally, Friday night rolled around, another day filled with endless activities in the baking summer sun. While only a couple of days had passed since the beginning of camp, you could already see more than one set of sunburned shoulders, an inevitable case no matter how hard you and your fellow councillors tried, and it didn’t help that some of the councillors weren’t particularly skillful at it either.

Friday nights at Moonglade were always marked by bonfire nights. Late nights around the bonfire, fingers sticky with marshmallows and soft sing alongs being played on guitar. And while most of the campers weren’t particularly vocally inclined, it was still a regular highlight of the week.

The bonfire pit laid down towards the lake side, a big stone pit with wooden benches lined up in two circles around it. The sun had just barely dipped below the line of the horizon, but the evening was illuminated in the soft orange glow of the cackling bonfire and the heavy smell of smoke hung in the air.

Eddie was sitting on one of the inner benches, his guitar in hand and perched across his knee. Picking at the strings to make sure they were in tune.

You knew Eddie liked music, his band played at some run down bar at the edge of town every few weeks, but despite that you had never really heard him play more than at camp.

At camp, the songs he played were far different to the ones you heard him blast from his van at all ungodly hours of the morning in the school parking lot before classes started. His hair was pushed back between his ears, someone had placed a small white flower in the mess of his curls, which you couldn’t help but smile at.

It was such a stark contrast to who he was as a person, a metal head with clothes to fit, now sitting there in cut off denim shorts, an old worn out camp t-shirt and a soft delicate white flower in his hair.

But the irony wasn’t lost on either of you. He knew how silly he looked, but it was part of the fun while being at camp, he could look silly and also have fun with it.

Besides, he was so focused on leading the sing along, his fingers rapping against the guitar with ease as he drew out the melodies. And while his choir wasn’t the most talented, what they lacked in skill, they made up for with volume.

Finishing off the last song with his own personal improvised guitar solo, the need to always be the centre of attention continued to surprise you even though it really shouldn’t at this point. You did attend high school with him, and while you were far from being on speaking terms with each other, Eddie Munson was impossible to miss.

Mostly because he did stick out more than most, with his classic metal head attire, long curly hair and a band of nerds following him. But also because he refused to make himself invisible.

Eddie placed the guitar by his side, scooting down and settling in on the ground, urging the campers closer towards him. “Closer… closer… you too Wheeler-” soon he had them all huddled around him, almost like a herd, every pair of eyes was on him.

Looking across the circle you shot Joan a questioning look, and she simply shrugged in response, having no clue what he was about to do either.

“Everyone’s here? Ok good, then we can begin,” that same evil grin he had was once more plastered to his face, and you immediately feared for what was about to come, absolutely no good could come from a look like that. There was something hidden behind that smile, it was the kind where you could tell he was scheming for something, but you could never quite anticipate exactly what was about to happen.

“What I am about to tell you is the story of a man. A completely ordinary man, who goes by the name of Victor Creel.”

You didn’t have to look, you could practically hear Con rolling her eyes from where she was sitting across from you. Looking around, you couldn’t see Zoe or Mark, which meant Eddie was practically left to his own devices, no one else would be able to stop him.

All the kids were laser focused on Eddie as he spoke, dramatically retelling the story of Victor Creel to the children. The soft glow of the fire illuminating his face perfectly

“And you know what they say, all of this happened not too far from-”

“Ooohkay I believe that is enough for today.” Zoe walked into the circle, up behind Eddie and placing her hands on his shoulders, Eddie’s mouth slid shut immediately and he pressed his lips together.

“I think it’s time for lights, don't you agree Eddie?” Her voice was sweet but heavy with annoyance, and you had to bite your lip to hold back a laugh at the sight in front of you.

“I think that’s a great idea.” You couldn’t tell from the dark night if Eddie was blushing or if it was just the warm light from the campfire.

Half an hour later you were sitting in the mess, after a hassle of getting the campers settled into their cabins and countless questions about Victor Creel you wanted to murder Eddie more than ever.

“Wow, way to go scaring the crap out of the kids just four days into camp," you said as you heard Eddie’s heavy footsteps cross the threshold into the mess, the old wood giving away and squeaking softly as he walked

"What are you talking about! They loved it!" Eddie quickly made his way over to the table where you were all gathered around, and he snatched the deck of cards Mark was shuffling from him.

"I'm pretty sure I saw at least three kids crying…" Con mumbled as she picked at her nails, and next to her Connie gave a soft chuckle.

"I didn't like it either," Joan piped up and put her hand up in the air in consensus.

"And none of you stopped me, so who is really to blame here?" And you all fell silent at that.

"Soo how long do you have cleaning duty for?" Richie elbowed eddie in the side playfully.

"Undecided," Zoe said as she walked into the room, her slightly evil grin just barely tugging at the corners of her lips, but it was clear she was enjoying it, "for now."

Eddie twirled the deck of cards expertly in his hand, shuffling them until he was satisfied enough with his job. He was sitting at the head of the table, the rest of you in a ring around him with a stack of poker chips in the centre of you all.

A more secretive tradition at Moonglade, councillors poker night after bonfires. Where you all repeatedly lost what little money you had to each other, and Connie somehow always ended up winning.

He was just a really good bluff.

With Eddie as the designated dealer you made sure to sit as far away from him as possible. Still not convinced he wasn't rigging the game to make you lose, since you always ended up with the worst possible cards.

Outside rain softly started pattering against the windows, soaking the forest and earth with water. It didn't take long before rain was hailing down while you all exchanged cards and laughs between you continuously.

The rain was still hammering down as you stepped onto the deck, ready to tuck in for the night, eyes heavy with sleep and you longed for the quiet comfort of your camp bed.

Day 6 - Saturday, 13 days until

The rain was hammering down, on every surface it could, creating small echoes which ricocheted around the entirety of camp. Soaking the forest floors and rippling the water of the lake which was now reflecting the dark storm grey of the sky compared to it's normal brilliant blue.

This is what you had all been afraid of last night, but then it had only been soft pitter patters of rain droplets against windows. Now you were struggling to think over all the noise.

It was the kind of rain you couldn't see through, the kind that created a curtain of water and you weren't sure if the water was coming from up or below.

Zoe and Mark had you all called to The Mess, leaving your campers sitting tight in their cabins for the time being.

Lisa was the last through the door, her long blonde hair a couple of shades darker from the rain soaking it.

But all of you were practically dripping onto the wooden floors beneath you.

"I don't want to say it and you guys don't want to hear it, but we have to cancel," Zoe said as she boldly drew a red marker through 'capture the flag' on today's itinerary, she wasn't the kind to sugar coat anything but right now you really wish she would. Her declaration, a bold one at that, practically led to an uproar of complaints from the lot of you.

"It's tradition!"

"Cancelling because of a little rain?!"

"What about camp championships!?"

You also couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment in your stomach. This was supposed to be your first real match up against Eddie since last summer, and you would have been lying if you said you weren't looking forward to it.

The wooden floor creaked beneath you as you swayed softly against it.

"We know you're upset!" Zoe said in an almost useless attempt at calming the group. "But it would be a hazard to let them play in these conditions!"

"It's just a little rain!" Connie #2 insisted again.

"Do you want to be in charge of bandaging scrapes and cuts afterwards, Connie?" Zoe asked simply, and Connie's face immediately faced the crooked floorboards.

"Please inform your campers about the schedule change, well try to reschedule for another day ok? In the meantime let them know they'll have the afternoon session off instead before dinner. Morning activities will resume as normal.”

At least she didn't bring out the megaphone this time, you thought. The tiniest victory.

You pulled the hood of the rain coat well over your forehead and zipped up the jacket until only your eyes were visible through a small slit.

"You know you look ridiculous right?" The only thing that could be worse than capturing the flag being cancelled had to be dealing with Eddie.

"Well at least I'm dry." You gave him your best cocky smile, which was completely lost given most of your face was hidden by your coat and Eddie chuckled softly. "In comparison to some other people, forget to pack your jacket, Munson?"

It was clear Eddie hadn't brought his jacket with him, his shirt drenched in rain water, enough that you could see through it.

"No, this is simply a fashion choice…" "Besides, I'm not scared of a little rain."

"Well, I'm not making you soup when you get pneumonia," you laughed as you looked at him, he really did look ridiculous, even though his shirt was practically glued to his chest. His curls were dead and flat, sticking to his face and you couldn't help but think he looked like a rain soaked dog.

The whole group tracked back to the circle of campers cabins, a couple of you huddled together under a couple of too small umbrellas, to deliver the unavoidable verdict to your campers.

"Hey! Don't shoot the messenger, Zoe's verdict!" You threw your hands up to proclaim your innocence in the matter, truly one of the scariest demographics on the planet had to be middle schoolers. Just as you expected, no one was happy about the cancellation of capture the flag. And you couldn’t blame them, you had been looking forward to this more than you expected to.

However with morning activities still scheduled to take place like normal, there was no time to hang around. Quickly gathering your campers and hurrying them off the regularly scheduled arts and crafts. Always the same pleasant mix of glitter and craft glue.

But as you looked around Eddie was nowhere to be seen, which quickly created an unsettling feeling in your stomach. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here?

All of his campers were here, they were fairly easy to spot all things considering, but their so-called fearless leader was nowhere to be found.

However, you didn’t have to worry for long. You had sent your campers back with Con, staying back to help with the inevitable clean up of almost forty kids doing arts and crafts. Finally, after what felt like hours, the arts and crafts room was left in a somewhat decent state, you had settled in with your campers in their cabin, a deck of cards being passed along you all with soft laughs drowned out by the roar of the rain still raging outside.

And you were finally dry. After misplacing your raincoat and having to walk back to the cabin without it you were completely soaked head to toe. But now you could appreciate the feeling of dry clothes against your damp skin as the warmth slowly returned to your body.

But your peace was not long lasting. Eddie’s voice sounded from outside your cabin, the door cranked slightly to let fresh air in, and somehow he was so loud you could still hear him over the thundering of rain outside.

“Hey Sunshine!” Sunshine, ironic nickname considering the weather conditions. But Eddie stuck with it, knowing whenever he said it you got just a little crease at the corner of your eye. “Could you come out here for a second? I need your help with something.”

You shut your eyes to keep yourself from rolling them, and reluctantly got up from your comfortable position on the floor, pushing the door to the cabin open all the way.

The freezing shock hit your body before you could even react, the water that washed over you made you cold to the bone and it took you a moment to realise what had happened. The bucket fell to the ground with a hollow clang, and you were once again soaked completely head to toe.

You wiped water from your face and had to resist the urge to scream until you cried. When your vision finally returned to its fullest, you could see Eddie standing leaned against one of the support beams on Cabin 10s deck, with probably the biggest smile you had ever seen plastered to his face.

“Nevermind- I think I’ll manage on my own.” Behind him in the window you could see his campers lined up along the still to look at the play out of what they must be considering the funniest prank ever pulled considering their inability to hold in their snickers and laughs.

Then and there you knew, the game was afoot.

Mutuals - @uglypastels @catastrofhe @eddiemunsonbrxinrot @eddiemunsons-girl

Taglist - @pastel-abyss-x @fayetheenthusiast @obi-wanakenobi @starbeambo @chloebeansack @a-villain-vying-for-attention @meaganjm @prettytoxix @magicalxdaydream @ghoulsgraveyard @emmaginanni @eddie-munsons-girlfriend @munchabunch @kaydancegilr0y @eateraa @satorix @avery-needs-more-fics @kbakery @milly-louise @salome-c @hopebaker @moonlight-and-stars @sweetpeapod @eddiemunsonsfuturewife @cherrypieyourface @theglitterymess @eddieshellfireshirt @lovelyladymayy @hellfire-state-of-mind @itsmoonyhere @missriverred @crabravee @escape-in-time-x @eddiemunsnon @alternativelit @nightless @ruinedbythehobbit @evilunicorn4minions @bohemian-war @lili-pond @hb8301 @emotionaldreamer @eddies-lover @audrie-bryant @munson-burner @luvbug8 @love-conqures-everythingg @shamidreamer

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mochinek0 · 1 year

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Daminette December 2022: 26-Honour

Marinette looked back at her phone, trying to follow the directions to Cosmic Threads. She was new to Gotham, but it had been listed as one of the best fabric stores in the city. She couldn't wait to create her latest design.

As she turned the corner, she was bowled over by a group of older boys.

"Sorry!" they shouted, as the continued to run down the street.

Marinette sighed as she picked up her phone from the floor. As she picked it up, she noticed a black wallet on the floor.

'Must belong to one of those boys. I can drop it off on my way back from the store.'

Suddenly, her arm was grabbed and she was face to face with The Penguin.

'Son of a bitch! No wonder why they ran! They at least could have warned me!'

The batboys winced when they saw the girl they had run into, in the arms of The Penguin. He had his umbrella gun pointed right at her and she didn't look happy. She didn't even look scared; she looked pissed off. Once they entered the fight, it wasn't hard for him to claim her as a hostage. All it had taken was a well thrown batarang to knock the umbrella out of his hand, but he had quickly tossed her off to the side. Red Hood protected her and told her to run through a side exit and was gone. No more distractions. Marinette quickly ran out only to run into the cops.

'Looks like I can't go shopping today. Guess I might as well return the wallet.'

Marinette looked inside and saw a Gotham ID. The wallet belonged to Damian Wayne.

After Marinette had given her statements, she turned to leave. She turned towards the crowd and saw the boys from before. Marinette walked up to them and threw the wallet at them.

"Thanks for the tip, Assholes!" she shouted.

Damian picked up the wallet and looked inside, "So, how much did you steal?"

Marinette was quick to punch him in his face, breaking his nose.

"You-" he cried out.

Jason and Dick held Damian in place, as she glared at him.

"How honorable you are, Coward." She sneered.

Marinette turned away and quickly let the scene. Jason let go of Damian's shirt and started laughing. Dick called for a medic to come look at his youngest brother. Tim sighed, and looked down.

'Blood? Was she injured by the Penguin?'

Tim left to follow. It hadn't been that hard to catch up with her.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine." she growled and continued walking.

Tim looked her over and noticed a gash on her leg. Rapidly, he picked her up. Marinette started struggling, trying to break free.

"Hey! Put me down! Help! Help!" Mari began to scream, as Tim took her back to the crime scene.

"Hey!" Tim called out, "She needs medical attention. She's just stubborn!"

"I can take care of myself" Marinette cried out.

"Oh, really?" Damian questioned, as he held a cloth to his nose, "What were you going to do? Stitch yourself up?"

"Yes." Mari answered.

Damian recoiled in shock. He looked her up and down. The gash was the length of her inner calf and appeared deep.

"I doubt you have the medical training to handle something of that magnitude." Damian declared.

"And I doubt you know how to be a gentleman!" she replied, "Oh, wait! You already proved that."

Damian glared at her as Drake hesitantly set her down.

"I can do it myself." Marinette explained.

"I can't allow that!" the EMT stated

"I was brought back against my will and do not wish to receive medical attention." she spoke, crossing her arms.

"Where are your parents?" the EMT questioned.

Marinette smiled, "Isn't emancipation the best."

The Wayne boys and the medical attendant looked at her in shock.

"Can anyone look after you?" they asked, "I have to accept you refused treatment, but I'd rather not have you go later to a hospital for blood loss."

Marinette rolled her eyes and picked up the cleaning solution from the ambulance. After she sprayed the solution on her, she grabbed the stitching needle with the thread. She quickly and easily stitched herself up. She wrapped her leg with cotton and gauze.

"Like sewing a shirt." She quipped.

Marinette hopped off the back of the ambulance and walked away.

Damian quickly grabbed her hand. Mari turned and glared at him.

"You are right. I should have spoken up as we rushed by, even grabbed your hand." he stated, "Let me do the honor of walking you home."

"I don't know." Marinette spoke, "You might attract more rouges along the way."

"Dinner then?" he suggested, "Come have dinner with us and I can make sure you are given a ride home."

She sighed, "You're not gonna stop until you redeem yourself, are you?"

"I'm told I stubborn." Damian declared.

Marinette looked at him and relented.

"Fine, but if I don't go home by seven, I'm calling the cops for kidnapping." she answered, "I'm already behind work because of you and have to get up earlier to get what I need now."

"Your injury won't hinder you?" he questioned, "Can't your boss give you a break?"

"I'm my own boss." Marinette smiled, "I do comission work from my own home. I was on my way to Cosmic Threads for some fabric."

"Maybe I can pay for your fabric then." Damian inquired.

Marinette winced, "I take hours to shop. I know exactly what I need and I'm picky when it comes to the quality of my work. It also won't be a frugal purchase."

"Don't worry." he smirked, "I can pay for it."

"Your wallet's funeral." She smiled back.

TAG LIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl @a-star-with-a-human-name @meme991001 @vixen-uchiha @abrx2002 @alysrose-starchild @fandom-trapped-03 @dood-space @moonlightstar64 @saltymiraculer @marveldcedits20 @09shell-sea09 @icerosecrystal @animegirlweeb @insane-fangirl-of-everything @blueblossombliss @nickristus-dreamer @megawhitleycalderonpaganus

#daminette december 2022 #daminette december #marinette dupain cheng #wayne boys #the penguin #oswald cobblepot #dc x mlb #bat boys #damian wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #first impressions #apologies #stubborness #mochinek0

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waitmyturtles · 1 year

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Well — I can’t believe it’s over. Moonlight Chicken was… I’ll get the words for it. Satisfying is the first one that comes to mind. And MC was my first beginning-to-end fandom on Tumblr. The big brains, the META, the psychological and cultural analyses! I’m a peon in a sea of passionate geniuses here. I love this community so much.

Where do we start. Moonlight Chicken, episode 8/finale thoughts and impressions. As usual, quick hits first, then the big thinks.

1) So much wonderful fan service. And I know that fan service can often take a show out, and when fan service is included in a script, I’m sure that at times, it makes directors and screenwriters grit their teeth. But I’m REALLY THANKFUL for all the fan service with all the couples, and yes, I’m including First and Khao here, because — come awn, the way these two almost OVERACTED their relaxedness at the bank and the food truck at the end, I was giggle-crying. Had we seen Alan smile any bigger at any other point in the show than at the food truck? THE SWAPPING OF THE CHAT IDs? THOSE CUTE LOOKS? KHAO’S little head shakes? THE TURN AFTER RECEIVING THAT MYSTERY CHAT? THANK YOU, AOFFFFF, thank yoooouuuu! Thank you for knowing exactly what you were doing for us and our ships, ha.

A dear anon recommended My School President to me, and I’m gonna definitely watch it, because I’m officially a GemFourth stan. More on this later, but I absolutely adored that their storyline took up a huge chunk of screentime. Besides the storyline interweaving beautifully with the major theme arcs of this last episode, their chemistry just could not be better. It’s been well documented how Fourth has been EATING his role, but Gemini, too! The TEXTS! The knowing looks! How much Gemini is able to communicate just by looking at Fourth. SO SATISFYING AND FULFILLING, GAAAHH.

And, and, and — forgive me for being sentimental. Because I’m still so new to this wonderful world of Aof’s work and Thai BLs, I didn’t have to wait as long as so many of y’all in the family for Earth and Mix to reunite in such a good script. But I was still feeling the nostalgia early in the series at seeing these two together, and I felt it so strongly in this episode. Jim FINALLY breaking out of his shell. Calling Wen his boyfriend. Leaning in to make a move (on the wonderful couch). Holding Wen’s hand and squeezing it in response to Wen. Gah. Too great.

Just, like….. how are these GMMTV couples SO GOOD? HOW ARE THEY SO GOOD TOGETHER? (Yes, not quite accurate to call AlanGaipa a couple, but shhhhh.) Anyway, sighs of happiness.

2) LENG. Gossipy. Luv u. Sneaky b.

3) I know we kinda despise her (and by “we,” I mean all of my inner children who want to grab these guilt-stricken, “what do I do nowwwww” whine-whine parents by the throat), but umm, Jam’s a 10! She cute! I liked her mall outfit, I cannot lie.

Jam came full circle. She admits to her shit. She figures out how to come thru in the most sensible way she can. I’ll offer more thoughts in a bit, but I’m actually a little glad that we didn’t get the rage scene that I so WANTED to see in episode 7. She’s ready to pony up for school. That’s the best way she can help, and I’m glad she was written as figuring that out.

What did I see happen to Jam? She leaned into the kind of parenting and family building that she could manage at this point in her life. What she was CAPABLE of, she did. She created a family table for ALL her family. To show that kind of blended family, eating all together, at peace, with a small child in their presence…. to have created a warm environment where Jim could finally, comfortably come out without judgement. She replicated the same table that Jim himself had created at his diner. She’s paying her dues back to BOTH her brother AND her son, both of whom she rejected and abandoned.

I have to hand it to Aof. My inner child’s heart is wrecked at this, but I have to hand it to him. He treats bad parents with compassion. ATOTS, Bad Buddy, and now here. He doesn’t blame bad parents for who they ARE — he instead skewers WHERE THEY CAME FROM, the culture from which these styles of parenting are borne. God, Aof. That’s not necessarily emotionally purging for Asian kids traumatized by the unexplored impact of filial piety. But it’s much more of a realistic artistic meditation, a FAIR one. I see what he did with Jam, and I ultimately have to appreciate it, even if I was dying for a rage episode. I appreciate that Aof, as an artist, will not succumb to base emotion simply because it’s the surface feeling. He will always dig and layer what ends up truly working as an emotionally balanced meditation.

4) Big themes. Once again — a return to the balance between old and new cultures and perspectives, and how us oldies get pulled along into the new age. But also, in this episode, we were reminded of what youngsters bring with THEM, from THEIR pasts, into their future.

This episode focused on Jim’s movement and Li Ming’s movement. Oh, my heart. I’ll start with Li Ming.

Li Ming is really a hero of mine — I think what he demonstrates for me is that youthful FEARLESSNESS towards change that we admire youngsters for so much — while us oldie parents are also worried about them, we fear for them, because we know that there are potholes and pitfalls when change can happen quickly and blindingly.

I think that's what Jim was referring to when he says to Jam that Li Ming helped him (Jim) find his maturity. That was at the core of the night talk that took place in episode 7. I think Jim saw, in Li Ming, what Jim *needed* to see in Li Ming to trust Li Ming with Li Ming's own growth. Jim needed to see that Li Ming could consider his options, and be more emotionally sophisticated and aware than Jim ever has been.

And, I think -- that helped Jim TRUST Li Ming. That wonderful short conversation between Li Ming and Jim, where Jim confirms with Li Ming that Jim is just *worried* about Li Ming, like a parent.

When Li Ming says, "love isn't that big of a deal." When Li Ming talks about other ways that life needs to be sustainable.

Li Ming KNOWS Jim, and knows HOW TO TALK TO JIM.

How brilliant is that, to see that in someone so young, just dominate you, an older person, by way of emotional knowledge and sophistication? Jim had no choice, in my read, but to trust Li Ming -- and, maybe, take some inspiration and take that sophistication, and internalize it, so that he (Jim) could begin to relax and find happiness as well.

5) The other story about Li Ming's movement is between him and Heart, and as I said before, I'm just totally sold on GeminiFourth as a pairing, because their dynamic was really perfect for the growth that needed to be demonstrated between the two of them.

HEART! We saw Heart shoot his shot, dang it! HEART! With his wanting a boyfriend, with his parents learning sign language, with PEOPLE AROUND HIM LEARNING HOW TO TALK TO HIM. On multiple levels, even if we didn't see all of it actively (like with Heart's parents), Heart made demands and shot his shots, just like Li Ming did with his own family.

GOOD GOD -- could Aof have used this motif more wonderfully, so EFFICIENTLY? Young people get shit done! No holds barred, they can bolt through their own obstacles, their own barriers, to get shit done. Young people aren't held down by the past, like some old uncles we know.

And yet. Young people CAN ALSO RESPECT THE PAST, AND BRING LONG-STANDING CULTURE WITH THEM -- as Heart and Li Ming showed at the temple, as Li Ming danced as a lion, bringing in the Lunar New Year (FULL CIRCLE from when the series premiered, y'all!) AND THAT'S GROWTH. That's how the world spins, that's how Pattaya spins -- a place caught in the middle between the old and the new, the historic and the modern. Just like Li Ming and Heart, they are always growing, always maturing, and fast, like young people do, before they get stagnant-ish and older-ish, like Uncle Jim.

6) And then we see the growth paradigm with Jim, as reflected in the mirror of Li Ming. We see Jim -- finally -- loosening up. We see Jim come out as paired up with Wen to his sister. We see them on a date, a romantic date on the beach. (Sure, Jim is still an old dad, complaining about the food or whatever, geez, Jim.)

We see him close the old place, and open a new place. We see that new place as a new and modern way to hold over the old culture -- khao man gai, outside, under the stars, the way it's supposed to be eaten in an equatorial country.

I'm borrowing the following screencap from @hummingbirdsinjune:

We see Jim, finally, reflecting. We see him reflecting on how people were able to move forward, people like Jam and Gaipa, while he reflected on how he was held back. We see him figuring out how he won't hold himself back, and won't LET HIMSELF BE HELD BACK, anymore. He cancels the lease to let go. He, finally, wants to be in control. He sells the car, one of his last links to Beam. And commits to moving forward in so many ways.

And he stays in Pattaya. So we know -- he's still going to be connected to the old ways, the historic culture, of Pattaya.

And when Wen choose to decline the job. When Wen -- AND JIM -- decide to build a home together. Home isn't anything modern. Home is HOME. Home is history. Home is building history together. Jim is both leaving things behind.... and leaving nothing behind. Because he's building all he needs in his life once more.

The building of home with Wen. That's what ultimately took me out about this episode.

7) I believe I finally got the khao man gai analogy to the show that I long wanted before the show premiered. As with Jam's table at her husband's house, when the guys were sitting and eating at the diner before the diner closed. Jim's family, Jim's community. How food brings everyone together. That was a presage, I think, for the home he was going to eventually build with Wen. Y'all know I wanted this, and I'm so glad I got it. Yay, chicken rice.

I'm totally going to have more thoughts over the next few days, but this is what I got for now. I'm so in debt to Aof as an Asian fan of his dramas for giving us such unbelievable commentary on culture and family. We are INCREDIBLY LUCKY to have this artist making these shows. They are so important to me as an Asian, as a lover of my culture and Asian cultures, as an Asian child and mother also struggling with the balance of old and new values and cultural rituals. Aof's shows teach me so much, about extra- and introspection, and Moonlight Chicken was absolutely no exception.

#moonlight chicken #moonlight chicken meta #earthmix #firstkhao #earth pirapat #mix sahaphap #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #geminifourth #fourth nattawat #gemini norawit #jim x wen #wen x jim #alan x gaipa #gaipa x alan #li ming x heart #heart x li ming #moonlight chicken episode 8

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againstacecilia · 1 year

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No More Wasted Time (Rewrite)

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female reader (modern!AU)

Word Count: 6.4k

Rating: E for sure. No minors.

Warnings: Childhood-friends-to-lovers, unprotected p-in-v, alcohol usage, break-up, hurt/comfort, heaps of emotion, overall smut warning.

A/N: We've come full circle here, folks! This is a rewrite of the first fic I ever wrote/posted, just wanted to try my hand at elevating my writing now that I've had some more practice. Please let me know what you think through reblogs and/or coming to yell at me in my asks! Here's the link to the NMWT universe masterlist if you wanted to peruse more of these two goofs. 🥰

Thank you for reading, and May the 4th Be With You. 💖

You had known Poe your whole life. For most of it, he’d just been the pesky older brother of your best friend. Your parents had been friends with his since long before you were born and the boys had just come built-in to the family they created.

Honestly, the dynamic had always worked; he teased and pestered his brother and it just sort of rippled over to you. It didn’t matter that you had snuck glances in high school at Poe as he pulled himself out of the pool, learning to admire the shift of muscles in his back or the strength of his arms. The hours you spent with him in their garage keeping him company and occasionally helping him fix his beat-up old car was just a way to pass the time when you had nothing better to do, and nothing to do with how just talking with him made you feel… Awake. Even in your darkest moments, the easy flow of conversation had been a light that opened your eyes and lifted a weight off your shoulders. Even the nights of teasing and poking fun at dive bars that never checked your fake IDs were just friendly. Never anything more.

And then you left. Went off to college and grad school and figured out who you were outside of the boxes of youth. Had experiences and grew and decided that coming home wasn’t such a bad idea. Especially when your boyfriend, Mark, had been so enthusiastic about joining you and starting your lives together.

It felt right to be back home. Six years and what seemed like a different life later, it felt right to be sitting on the back deck with your family, your parents and the Damerons sipping cider in the warm September afternoon.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” your mother starts, her hair blazing in the later afternoon sun, “Poe will be stopping by. Said he wanted to say hi.”

“I’m not surprised,” you roll your eyes with a smile, “he’d never miss an opportunity to be a pain in my ass.”

“He said he misses you.”

You hum a non-committal response, taking another sip of your drink. “You know what, I’m glad he’s coming by. It’ll be good to see him. I don’t think I’ve seen him since Christmas last year.”

The conversation continues around you and you take a moment to close your eyes and breathe in the late summer air. Two years in a colder, northern state made it clear that you never wanted to be without the sun again. Its strong, constant presence at home was a sign to you that being here was right. Being home was right.

As you begin to doze the creak of the screen door signals Poe’s arrival. You sleepily open your eyes and turn to shoot him a grin. “Well finally, Mom said you were coming by. I’ve been waiting for hours.”

He sketches a playful bow, “So sorry to have kept you waiting.” He swiftly makes his way to the parents, dolling out hugs and greetings before settling down in a chair next to his father.

The afternoon progresses, laughter and chit-chat filling the air. Poe pushes as many of your buttons as possible, as usual, but it feels like home. You playfully threaten to kick his ass out, laughing as you stand and make your way toward the door to get another drink from the kitchen.

Just as you open the refrigerator door, your phone buzzes in your pocket. A tipsy giggle falls from your lips as you pull it up and see your boyfriend’s name flashing across the screen.

“Hi baby,” you answer brightly, “everything go okay getting the UHaul?”

Mark is quiet for a moment, static crackling on the line. He finally begins to speak, the minutes blurring together as he feeds you excuse after excuse. Finally, he tells you he isn’t moving home with you. He isn’t coming. You hang up the phone in a daze.

The living room is silent as you stare at nothing for a minute, not fully remembering how you’d gotten to the couch. Shock has locked up your mind and the backlight on your phone fades to black in your still-hovering hand. He isn’t coming…

The feeling of being watched shakes you from your haze but you don’t turn to the form you feel hovering in the doorway to the kitchen. You aren’t sure how long he’d been standing there, but it’s easy to assume he’d heard enough of the conversation to know what’s going on.

“You can come out of there, Poe, you’re a terrible snoop,” you say quietly.

“Who says I was snooping?” You finally turn to shoot him a weak glare. He’s standing against the doorframe, arms clad in his favorite olive green hoodie crossed over his torso. “I heard a raised voice and thought I’d come see what all the commotion was about.”

“Save it, Poe,” you sigh, slumping against the couch, “I’m not in the mood.”

He looks at you with an all-too-knowing gaze. The one downside of knowing Poe as long as you had: he’d known you just as long. “Alright, alright. I know you aren’t mad at me specifically, so I’ll play nice. Wanna talk about it?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Wanna drink about it?”

You look at the half-empty drink in your hand and give it a shake. “Sure. Go make me another one. I’ll be done with this one when you get back.” He leaves with a nod, disappearing back into the kitchen.

By the time Poe returns with two fresh drinks and, to your surprise, a bottle of whisky, your drink is indeed gone. “Figured I’d bring the whole bottle, assuming I heard that conversation correctly. What was this one’s excuse?” He sits down next to you on the couch.

“He said something along the lines of, 'You just have so much going for you and I’m only going to bring you down.’ I told him I wasn’t in the business of fixing broken men anymore and if he wanted to break up with me then he needed to just come out and say it. Then he got mad at me for quote, 'not giving a shit’, called me a bitch, and told me it was over.” You hold your hand out for the drink, only to have Poe put the open bottle in your palm instead.

“What a stupid kid.”

“Maybe I’m the stupid one,” you scoff as you take a swig, the amber liquid burning its way down your throat and honing your shock into something sharper. “How do I always attract these kinds of guys?”

Poe looks at you for a second, an unfamiliar emotion on his face. You blink and it’s gone, replaced by the cool, nonchalant mask he usually wore. “Like I said, stupid kid. Might be time to set your sights on a man.”

“Oh sure, bring on the men in their suits with a 401k and a car they didn’t haggle off a junk lot. Where could I find them? I’m sure they’d be interested in a girl fresh out of grad school who still doesn’t have a job. A real catch.”

“You’d be surprised at what people see as attractive. Me, for example. I don’t do too badly. But I’m incredibly attractive so that isn’t too surprising,” he says with his trademark smirk.

“Shut the fuck up,” you mutter, half-heartedly throwing a pillow at him. Surprisingly, he does, and you fall into an easy silence, the only sound coming from the quiet news story on the tv.

After a few minutes, your parents and the Damerons come in and begin gathering up their things to go out. “We decided to grab a cab to Mauri’s for dancing, you kids want to join?” Your mom asks, slipping her shoes on in the entryway.

The hometown bar was legendary for Friday night dancing, but the usual draw just doesn’t tug on you. “Nah, Mark just called and told me he isn’t coming. Not really in the mood for dancing.”

“Oh honey,” your mother sighs, “I’m so sorry.” She walks to your side and perches on the arm of the couch. “Do you want us to stay?”

A warm glow momentarily fills your chest at her concern. “No, please go have fun. I’m just gonna hang here and go to bed early.”

Your mom kisses the crown of your head and pulls your gaze to hers. “If you need anything, we’ll come home right away.”

“Don’t worry, I have to work early so I’ll keep her company,” Poe gallantly offers. You subtly send him a grateful glance. He winks back with a grin.

“Okay, if you’re sure…” Your mom begins before your dad gently pulls her away, reminding her that you’re an adult and that you’ll ask for help when you need it.

The taxi pulls up and your parents file out the door, already bubbling about what songs they hope the band plays and what friends are already there waiting for them. The house quiets down again and you sink back into your seat.

Damn, the couch is small, you think to yourself, realizing how slight the distance is between you and Poe. Was he that close the entire time?

Shaking your head, you turn your attention to the windows overlooking a tidy front yard. The sky outside is on its way to twilight and, in the companionable silence, your mind wanders back to the phone call with Mark. There goes a year of my life… What do I do now?

Poe abruptly speaks up, pulling you out of your moping. “Alright, time for a change of scenery. Want to go sit on the back porch? Get a fire in the fire pit going?” he asks, turning to face you. That man never could keep still long enough to even get through a commercial break.

"Sure. I don’t have a jacket, though. Packed all my cold clothes so they’re sitting in storage.” A small pang rings through you as you remember who you packed all your things with. Looks like I won’t be unpacking with Mark after all…

Whether he sees the hurt in your eyes or not, he doesn’t acknowledge it. “You can wear mine, ya baby,” he scoffs, taking off his hoodie in one swoop and handing it to you, “It isn’t that cold yet.”

You ignore the jab and head towards the back of the house.

The night is starting to cool off. Leaves are starting to turn but not fall, summer is starting to yield to autumn. You pick the oversized chair closest to the fire pit and climb into it, curling up and putting on his sweatshirt as you go. He doesn’t say anything as he grabs some wood from the shed and piles it into the fire pit. Sure, steady movements show just how many times he’s done this, strong arms and dexterous hands building up the logs around the smaller kindling. It doesn’t take long before he’s got a crackling fire going, the flames dancing in the twilight glow. He settles into the chair opposite you. Some time passes in silence before you finally say:

“I’m such an idiot.”

Poe holds space for you to figure out the emotions warring inside you. He doesn’t try and fix the problem, just stares into the flames and waits for you to continue. Usually the picture of calm, you can’t help but notice the muscle flicker in his arm as his fingers tense into a fist. Almost like he’s wanting to argue with the words falling from your lips. From the truths that flow as alcohol plies your tongue.

“I should have seen this coming… Who am I kidding? Of course the only guys who are interested in me end up having mommy issues or daddy issues or something and I, ever the rehabilitator, can’t seem to just let them see a fucking therapist. I have to fix them. So, apparently, I deserve this. Just doomed to a life of bouncing from guy to guy until I’ve given them all the second chances they don’t deserve. I’m a fucking mess.”

Your voice breaks on the last word and you at last let the tears come. The dam breaks and you bury your head in your hands as the last of the shock wears off and your mind comprehends what’s happened. Soft steps walk toward you and Poe slides into the oversized chair next to you.

Just as you pull your legs up to tuck into yourself, Poe slides his arms around you. Both strong and steady, he slides one under your knees and braces one behind your shoulders to pull you into his lap. As soon as you’re settled, you release the tight grip on your legs and slip your arms around his shoulders, leaning into his embrace and letting him hold you as you cry. You don’t worry about why you’re suddenly letting yourself be so vulnerable and exposed emotionally with him, you just let him comfort you with soothing strokes down your back. He lets you cry and, eventually, starts humming. It isn’t any song in particular, he just hums and works a beautiful melody that you can feel in your whole body. You’re familiar with the timbre of his voice, rich and warm, helping you through the sobs rather than trying to stop them. Weathering the storm with you. Finally, the tears stop, your breathing evens out, and you both just sit there for a little while.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, pulling your arms from around his shoulders and wiping your eyes, “I guess it all just kind of caught up with me.”

“You don’t have to apologize, we’ve all been there,” he squeezes you in a small hug but doesn’t let you go. “Although, I’ve never seen you like that.”

“We’ve known each other our whole lives and you’ve never seen me cry?”

"No, I’ve never seen you doubt yourself.”

You don’t respond for a moment before asking, “What do you mean?”

“In all the years we’ve known each other, I’ve never seen you stop believing in yourself. You’ve always been this confident, albeit stubborn, person who was actually known to give me a challenge every once in a while.” You look up to see a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Why do you think I never complained when you came over?”

“Uh, because we were kids and didn’t have a choice in the matter?”

“My brother was always having friends over. You’re one of very few I didn’t ask my parents to bar from the house.”

“Sweet talking me right now, Dameron?”

“Just thought you could use some perspective.”

Throughout the entire exchange, you didn’t move and he didn’t let you go. It’s dark now, mellow in the September evening. The crackling of the fire and the wind in the mature trees are the only sounds as you decide to sneak another look up at his face, your breath snatched away by what you see.

He’s staring into the fire; eyes and face unburdened by facade. The flames light up his dark brown eyes, brows slightly furrowed as if in some deep thought. Thick stubble, maybe a couple of days’ worth, peppers his strong jaw, his mouth set in a thin line. A scowl, so unlike the roguish smirk you’ve seen light his face for as long as you can remember. You can’t stop yourself as you reach up to lightly run a finger over those full lips, some emerging part of you demanding to be noticed in this intimate and uncharted territory.

His eyes snap from the fire to yours, just as surprised as you are to find your fingers brushing from his lips up his jaw and down his neck, savoring and memorizing the lines of his face; the flames in his eyes that aren’t entirely just reflections from the fire pit in front of you.

“What are you doing?” he asks, his voice as rough as the stubble under your fingers. His pulse hammers through the vein in his neck, tempo nearly matching yours as blood thunders through your body. You wonder if he can feel it in the lingering touch of your fingertips.

“I honestly don’t know.” You quickly take your hand away and start to push out of his warm embrace. “I’m so sorry.”

“Wait.” He doesn’t let you get up as he gently adjusts you so he can see you a little better. “I didn’t mean that to sound like stop. Just… please. Stay.”

So you do. Wrapped up in his sweatshirt, in him, the smell of him familiar and somehow entirely new now. After your heartbeat settles a bit you whisper, “Tell me what you’re thinking?”

He continues his silent vigil, staring at the flames and tracing circles along your leg. He’s quiet for long enough that you begin to think he didn’t hear your silent request. As you’re about to ask again, he speaks:

“I’m thinking… I’m thinking that I don’t want to ruin this.”

Your heart drops, waiting for the blow to land. The fear that you’d misread the situation and that the connection you’d felt flickering in the fading light wasn’t reciprocated surges up and you prepare for him to disappear when, suddenly, words are tumbling from him like he’s afraid he won’t be able to get them all out if he doesn’t do it all at once.

“I don’t want to ruin what we have, what we’ve always had. I know I’ve always been a bit of a bully, picking on you the way I’ve always picked on my brother, but underneath it all I’ve always known you had a hold on me. You worked your way into a fundamental part of who I am without even trying. I almost asked you not to leave a couple of years ago, but you were set on going to grad school and I knew I couldn’t get in the way of that dream. And when you brought that Mark guy home for Christmas…”

The memory flashes in your mind. His parents’ snow-covered house, lights flickering merrily in the deep winter night, glowing as you opened the door and greeted everyone. The night had gone well but… Poe had left early that night, muttering something about seeing friends from out of town before slipping out the door. The realization must’ve been clear on your face because he nods and says, “That’s why I bailed that night. Seeing you flushed from the cold walking through the front door, eyes sparkling from all the Christmas cheer, I felt lighter than air. Our eyes met and I could’ve sworn I saw something spark… But then I looked behind you and saw him, saw the way you looked at him throughout the night, and I couldn’t take it. I had to get out. I told myself that night that I would never be anything more to you than what I had always been and to move on.”

The glistening in his eyes breaks your heart, the urge to comfort him enough to bring your hand back up to his face. You cup your hand around his jaw and he sighs, closing his eyes and leaning into the contact. Without opening his eyes, he whispers, “I’m sorry. I promised myself I wasn’t ever going to tell you any of this.”

“I’m glad you did, Poe.” Your free hand rests on his chest, savoring the heart beating solidly beneath. “I really am.”

“Please tell me what you’re thinking.”

Now it’s your turn to be quiet for a moment. You pull your hands back to tuck into your chest and lay your head on him once again. After a couple of steadying breaths you say, “Do you remember the last night I was here before I left for school?”

Of course he did. You didn’t think either of you could forget that night. You and your families, along with some other friends, got together for karaoke at your favorite bar as a send-off. People steadily trickled out all night but you, Poe, and a couple of other friends straggled behind until it was suddenly one in the morning. You had spent the night singing with him, song after song, harmonizing and coming up with your own lyrics to songs you both knew by heart.

“I do. That’s when I almost asked you to stay.”

“There was a part of me that wanted you to. I went to the bathroom while Henry was singing some terrible rendition of "Runaway” and, as I was washing my hands, I heard you start “Wonderful Tonight”. The whole world stopped, Poe. I snuck out of the bathroom to watch you sing and I couldn’t breathe… I wrote it off as the night of drinking making me goofy but I swear to God, Poe, I’ve heard you sing that song a million times and never heard it that way before. And then you looked at me. You looked right into me and saw all of me and I couldn’t look away. The memory of it all pops into my head sometimes and I’m still left breathless by it. By you.“

As you stop speaking, you could swear the wind and fire stop making noise too. Nothing exists outside the shaking breaths and thundering heart you can hear, unsure if they’re coming from you or Poe. You can feel it; the freefall you were about to be in. Was it really only an hour ago you were upset about some boy breaking up with you over the phone? Some kid who wasn’t ready for everything you wanted for your future? And here, right now, was a man. An honest-to-God man, willing to keep his needs hidden so you could choose your own path…

You lift your head up and look at his face to gauge his reaction to what you just told him. He looks down at you with starlight and flames in his eyes as he meets yours and then, slowly, as if expecting you to disappear, Poe closes the small distance between you and kisses you.

It’s… Soft. Almost hesitant, a silent invitation without expectation. He’d never put you in a situation where you didn’t have a choice and, even now, even after both of you let down your walls and shared these tender secrets, he’s still giving you a choice. There’s no doubt in your mind as you deepen the kiss, putting all the words you’d been holding back for years into the contact. He lets loose his breath in a sigh and sends trembling hands to tentatively explore your body. The timid touches, feather-light and careful, make you smile as you pull away.

“I want this, Poe,” you promise him, your hands cradling his face, “I want you, and I have for a long time.”

His smile in return sends sparks through your veins and he wastes no time threading his fingers into your hair, sending you crashing back together. His free hand, strong and sure and steady now, freely roams every curve of your body. His mint and cedar smell wraps around you as your own hands grasp at his sweatshirt. Wanting- needing- more, you playfully nip at his bottom lip.

His sharp intake of breath makes you pause, worried you’ve done something wrong, but a laugh rumbles low in his chest. “So that’s how you want to play?” he mumbles into your lips.

A conspirator's grin lights your features, “I don’t have the faintest idea what you mean.” Before he can respond, you turn your attention to his neck, kissing a trail down the side. You nudge the collar of his t-shirt away enough to gently graze your teeth over the soft spot where his neck meets his shoulder, his entire body shivering at the sensation.

“Careful,” he breathes. “Careful, sweet girl, we’ve got ti- oh fuck.”

Interrupting whatever train of thought Poe had started, you shift your body over his and straddle his legs, pinning him to the chair and stopping his words with a searing kiss. After a moment, you pull back to look into his face. His eyes burn with emotion; those beautiful, dark eyes, almost black with desire in the glow of the dying fire. No one has tended to it in a while and it looks like no one will for a while longer…

“Tell me you want me,” you softly request.

“I want you.” His hands tremble with restraint against your hips.

“Again.”

“I want you,” he responds again, the quivering spreading to the rest of his body.

“Then have me, Poe,” you whisper, reaching for the hem of his shirt, “because I want you, too.”

A low growl escapes his lips as the internal leash snaps. His lips find yours again and you part for him easily, his tongue hungrily sweeping through. The lingering taste of whisky tickles your lips and adds to the fire burning in your body. Every touch, every noise and place your body meets his surges with wildfire, the driving demand for more, more, more pounding in time with your heartbeat. He tears away from your lips to find any piece of skin not buried in his hoodie, kisses nearing desperate as your hands explore the planes of his chest. The muscles flex and shift, your nails finding purchase as you grasp the soft fabric of his shirt.

“Poe, please…” You’re not entirely sure what you’re asking for, the pulsing need in every corner of your body taking control of your tongue and nearly begging for more. More of this, more of him. Taking the hem of his shirt in your hands, you begin to tug it up and off of him when he senses the shift and takes over.

In one swift motion, he has you in his arms and stands. His long legs eat up the distance from the deck to the door, then inside to the guest room you’re staying in. Once inside, he lays you reverently on the bed and kneels on the ground next to you.

“Wait,” he pants, forcing himself to take a breath and remove his hands from your body. You whine at the loss, sitting up and grabbing for him. He stops you and asks, “You’re sure? Earlier this afternoon you had a boyfriend and now… I just don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”

The sincerity of his words fills your heart to near bursting. Had you really been treated so poorly that this moment of true decency felt like a gift? Taking your own steadying breath, you rise to your knees and pull him up to face you, wrapping your hands around his. You’d told him you wanted him, you had no other words to give him. So, instead, you guide his hands to your lips to kiss them while your gaze stays locked with his and nod.

“Good,” is all Poe says with a heart-breaking smile before gripping your waist and tossing you back onto the bed. Your laugh tangles with his in the air, a shimmering melody and harmony you’ve been practicing your entire life.

The wildfire burning in your veins flares back to life at the gleam in his eyes. He climbs onto the bed over you and hovers there, eyes drinking in your body spread out underneath him. He hikes the hem of his hoodie over the waistband of your pants and traces a finger over the sliver of skin peeking through. Agonizingly slow, he ghosts his hand up, up, up your torso to graze over the fabric of your bra.

“So many layers,” he muses, hand never stopping its movement as he leans down to brush his lips over yours.

You’re beyond words. The promise of him touching you, really touching you, striking you dumb. You can only focus on where his hand is and, if you move just right…

“Come on, baby, tell me what you want,” he whispers, voice skittering over your bones, full of silken promise.

“Touch me,” you manage to whine, too entranced with the way his body feels over yours to be embarrassed at the begging mess you’ve been reduced to.

“Yes, honey, but where?” Stubble scrapes gently along your cheek as Poe dips his mouth to your neck.

You get ahold of yourself enough to grab his hand over your layers, pressing down and responding with a breathy, “Here.”

“That’s a good girl.” Heat flares in you again at the praise. He nips at your ear while pulling his hand out of your shirt and grabbing the hem, taking both the layers and pulling them over your head. His long fingers, lightly calloused from years of work and playing guitar, slip the straps of your bra off of your shoulders and he slides the garment away from your breasts, exposing the heated and tingling skin to the cool air. His eyes spark with awe and lust as he cups both of them with his hands.

Your legs press together seeking any release from the tension building in your core and a small whimper sneaks its way out of you. The movement isn’t lost on Poe and he takes momentary pity on you, pressing a deep, lingering kiss to your lips. “I’m going to enjoy,” he murmurs, “Coaxing every one of those noises out of you.”

“Promises, promises,” you chide, finding a little more of your voice.

“There she is.” Poe’s smile lights the dim room and brings a smile to your face as well.

If your heart didn’t already feel like it was full to bursting, the vulnerability on his face would’ve done it. Your friend was here, the boy you grew up with was now the man making you feel safer and happier than you had in years. The realization helps you bring down that final wall, any hesitation or fear falling away and clearing your mind.

This. This was why none of your relationships had worked in the past. Why there was always that little something that felt like it was missing. You had crawled through deserts of heartache and sorrow to find that the oasis was here, with him, all along.

Flinging every scrap of self-consciousness to the wind, you take his lower lip between your teeth and nip it gently. His appreciative groan urges you on, encouraging you to grab his shirt and yank, pulling it off his lightly muscled torso. His hands make quick work of the clasp to your bra and, within a few heartbeats, the garment falls to the floor. Fumbling hands open his belt and pants. Your body aches with the promises his hands make along your skin.

“Get your… Get your pants off,” you demand between kisses.

He laughs, pure and rich, before quickly acquiescing to your demands. You take his moment of distraction to maneuver out of your own shorts and underwear. When Poe looks back at you, he pauses, eyes taking in every inch of your skin laid bare before him.

The look in his eyes when his gaze finally meets yours is like coming home.

Beyond words, Poe dives back into you with a fervor. It’s an unleashing. He grips the back of your neck with one hand while the other skates down your body and lands on the outside of your thigh, pulling your leg up low around his hips.

The tension in your body has you about to break. Your hand seeks him out, winding between your bodies and wrapping around the proud length of him. His hips surge forward at the contact, silently begging you for more. There’s no hesitation as you languidly pump him up and down, his arms beginning to shake from holding himself above you.

“Sl- Slow down,” he shudders, “You’re driving me wild here.”

You don’t respond, only keeping that gentle, tantalizing pace going, savoring the way his body responds to your touch.

Pulling away from your lips, Poe’s hand surges down to grab your wrist, halting your teasing. “Someone isn’t very good at listening,” he growls.

“Someone is taking his sweet time,” you fire back, mischief lacing your words.

Poe settles onto his knees and your leg falls from where it’s been curled around his body. He brings your hand up above your head, taking its twin and crossing your wrists in one hand, pinning them to the pillow. “You’re going to regret that,” he promises, sending a wave of excitement through you.

His hand releases your wrists and he slowly eases down your body, eyes never leaving yours as he settles between your legs, shoulders settling under the backs of your thighs. His face, sun-kissed and as familiar as your own, framed by your legs, it all makes your breath hitch and heart pound with anticipation.

A wink is the only warning you get before his mouth is on you, kissing and licking and drinking you in like a glass of fine wine. Your hands jerk to the covers next to you, grasping for purchase to keep you from flying out of your skin. His tongue dances through every inch of you.

“Poe…” His name is the only word you can utter, the only prayer you can muster as he offers his own kind of worship. Sparks light your vision as you barrel towards release and your hands weave into his curls, begging him to stay right there…

You get one more breath before the orgasm is tearing through your body. He never breaks away from you, rather, his claiming grip on your thighs keeps you tight to him. He never falters through the waves rolling down your spine that send you shaking.

It could’ve been hours or it could’ve been seconds, but, as the tide recedes and your mind drifts back into the present, Poe rises to his knees and brushes a hand along the side of your face. “You still with me, baby?”

You summon a nod, glazed eyes finding his above you.

“That’s a good girl,” he croons, lifting each of your legs up and over his shoulders once again. He kisses the inside of each knee as he settles your legs.

Like a marble sculpture, chisled by the hands of artists and imagined by the minds of poets, he kneels before you, eyes burning in the soft lamplight of the room. “Tell me you want me,” he asks softly, echoing your demand from before.

“I want you.” You’ve never wanted anyone or anything more.

“Again,” he echoes again, slowly notching himself at your blazing entrance.

“I want you.” Your voice is bright and clear.

“Good,” he responds, and slips easily into you.

Like a puzzle piece gently settled into place, your soul feels just how right it is for you to be here. It isn’t just sharing your body with someone, it’s a homecoming. The way your bodies meld and match is secondary to the echo of contentedness at the realization that your paths have finally led you here.

He starts gently, allowing you time to adjust to the fullness of him. A gentle rise and fall as he rocks into and out of you. His hands grip your thighs while his lips kiss anywhere he can reach, unable to completely hold back. And you don’t want him to. You want to feel every inch of skin and muscle you can. The need burns through you as you reach for the sturdy legs beneath him, just out of your reach.

“Please,” you gasp as he begins to pick up the pace, “I need… I need to…”

“Anything,” he says, letting your legs fall so he can lean into your reach. “Anything, it’s yours.”

You pull him over top of you, not caring as his full weight crashes onto you, and wrap your arms over his shoulders. Scorching kisses brand your collarbone and neck as he wraps around you as well and flips over so your body lies on his. All the gentle touches and movements are lost as he picks up his pace, punishing and overcome with need.

“Yes,” you sigh, burying your face in the crook of his neck and panting against his sweat-slicked skin.

From his lips pour praise, drunk on the feeling of you wrapped around him. Draping loving words around you like silk and lace, he punctuates each word with kisses and bites and doesn’t stop holding you through it all.

The edge of another orgasm looms before you, but you hold back as much as possible, wanting to tumble over the edge with him. You lift your head just enough to look into his eyes, the beginning of laugh lines etched into the skin around them. “Let go, Poe, I’m ready.”

Pressing a kiss to his lips, you rest your forehead against his and shift your hips in time with his. The angle threatens to overwhelm you but you hold on, freeing your hands to slip into his hair. Energy sparks around you and, with one final thrust, Poe tips over the edge and pulls you with him.

Shattering is the only way you can describe the feeling of the waves burning through you, Poe half a breath ahead of you. Panting and shivering from the exertion, you fully collapse on top of him, heartbeats pounding in call and response to each other. You’re fully content to lie like this forever, wrapped in his arms and the smell of him, skin to skin and souls laid bare to one another.

He kisses the top of your head, finally adjusting to roll you over next to him. He looks into your eyes, something unsaid burning just below the surface of his intense gaze.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” you say quietly, never looking away from him.

“I’m thinking,” he pauses for a moment, “that I wasted a lot of time not telling you how I felt. And that I don’t want to miss any more time.”

“Then we won’t.” You smile brightly up at him, taking in the excitement and joy on his face. “You’re stuck with me, Dameron.”

He kisses you again, sweet and gentle and unhurried. You kiss him back, trying to put all the words you held yourself back from saying into it. Making up for lost time. He pulls away, looking you up and down, wonder shaping every feature.

“No more wasted time. You and me against the world,” you say softly.

He pulls the covers over both of you and, as he pulls you in close to his chest, he repeats reverently, “No more wasted time.”

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