#it’s like when you think about the opening to season 2 or the trailer for season 2 like you’ve at least thought about it one time

[cbrownjc]

"I'm the quiet you've been longing for." Or, in other words, Gentleman Death.

So yeah, there are people, rightly, laughing at Armand calling himself the "quiet" that Daniel's been longing for because if you know anything about their relationship, particularly with how it started, it was anything but quiet. Quite the opposite in fact.

But see, I think, when it comes to the moment in the image above, that is actually the whole point. Because this moment isn't from some point when they are romantically together. I think this moment is from when they first really meet and speak to each other after Polynesian Mary's. More importantly, I think this is sometime after Armand had stopped Louis from killing Daniel.

There is a great observation/analysis post here that notes the clothes both Armand and young Daniel are wearing, and how they match up to what they were wearing that night when they first encountered each other at Polynesian Mary's. So this moment above being either later that same night, or maybe even the next night after Louis attacked Daniel matches up.

And this moment is very much Armand offering Daniel an "easeful death." Namely, killing him, probably because of what happened with Louis. Armand likely only stopped Louis from doing so because he knew Louis would feel guilty about it later, as Louis doesn't actually like to know anything about his victims before he kills them. So Armand likely stepped in and stopped Louis to spare him from that and such guilt.

However, Armand probably also thinks Daniel now knows too much to risk letting him live. And so is going to kill him himself. And I think what we are seeing here, above, is one of the ways Armand will sometimes present himself to his victims. And I think it is something he learned from Lestat, which is to be "Gentleman Death."

It's been noted by the writers of the show that they were looking to drawn things from Anne Rice's short story, Interlude with the Undead, for Armand in Season 2. (A short story, btw, which you can read online here and here.) And, of course, the line about "easeful death" that we hear in the trailer can be found in that short story, not once but twice:

But if you notice, during the first passage, Armand also talks about being "Gentleman Death." The same exact thing Lestat said to Armand to explain his outlook on being a vampire during the time period when they first met; and basically upending Armand's entire worldview (and cult) under Les Innocents.

From The Vampire Lestat:

From Interlude with the Undead:

From the opening of Interlude with the Undead, we know that this whole short story was actually Louis telling Daniel something Armand had told him. Well, I think not only has the show cut out the middleman on that, but I think what they are about to do is show how very much Armand, in his own way, embraced Lestat's Gentleman Death mission statement for a time. Probably for a long time.

In the show, I think we are going to see Lestat give Armand his Gentleman Death monologue during the scene when these two images happen:

And I think, by the time Louis encounters Armand in Paris, we will see that he has, in his own ways and methods, adapted to that ethos of being Gentleman Death.

However, time does march on. And I do think Armand will begin to see presenting himself as such is beginning to not fit with the times he is now in. But it will still be one of the things he still will present himself as.

At least until Daniel.

Because I really do think when Armand presents himself in this way to Daniel, being a "quiet" (ie death) that he says Daniel has been longing for? Daniel is going to flat-out reject that.

Because Daniel doesn't want to die, no matter how many drugs he takes or the reckless behavior he may sometimes exhibit (during this point in time). What Daniel really wants is to live forever. The reason Louis attacked Daniel as he did was because Daniel asked Louis to make him immortal.

Death? Quiet? Hell no. Give Daniel Molloy immortality, thank you!

So Daniel is going to ask the same thing of Armand he asked of Louis. Which is for Armand to make him immortal.

And just like in the book? Armand is, at first, going to be taken aback. And then, intrigued by this brash (and beautiful) human:

This human whom Armand is sure is going to go completely mad at some point by the knowledge that vampires actually exist. But hasn't gone mad, no not yet:

So yeah, I feel that the "quiet you've been longing for" moment in the trailer is the moment when Armand presents himself as his own version of "Gentleman Death" and it flat-out doesn't work, probably for the first time ever. And that it doesn't work with Daniel is what starts The Chase between them in the show's universe; the show leaving out the 3-days or so that Armand locked Daniel in a cage before that, of course.

And all because of something Armand has been doing since Lestat first upended his life under Les Innocents centuries ago did not work on this one particular mortal. So, instead, Armand let him go to chase him instead.

And to hell with trying to seduce this human with promises of "quiet" because that sure as hell didn't work last time.

#Armand #The Vampire Armand #Daniel Molloy #Lestat de Lioncourt #Devil's Minion #The Devil's Minion #Interlude with the Undead #The Vampire Lestat #Interview with the Vampire #amc iwtv #iwtv #iwtv meta #iwtv Season 2 #iwtv Season 2 speculation #Daniel Malloy

[mia-ugly]

In honour of Good Omens Season 2

HAVE A SLOW SHOW FICLET with thanks to @weatheredlaw for the amazing graphic ❤️❤️❤️ how we doing fam

It’s a kid on set that first tells him. 

Not really a kid, but anyone less than thirty seems a kid to him these days (ugh, that’s a loathsome thought.) Jiyana’s a queer and pink-haired punk type, rainbow pin on their jacket, trans-pride flag tattooed on their inner wrist. The first time he met them, the whole wirey confident glittery thing made his gut clench with - what was it - joy and gratitude but also envy? Maybe? (because what must it be like to be that young and that certain of yourself? What must it be like to have the whole world open in front of you? Not that there still isn’t a lot of shit to deal with, and in Merry Old fucking England there is More Shit than Otherwise, but. Still. It’s something Crowley thinks about. Sometimes. When he hasn’t had enough sleep or when he’s had too much of it.)

The kid came up to him Day One to mumble about “being a big fan” and once they wore a Warlock t-shirt to an afterparty (“Vintage!” they said cheerily, and Crowley wanted to swallow his own face at the thought of something from the 2010s being considered vintage, good Christ.)

Anyway, Jiyana tells him first.

“Congrats on the new season!” They’re beside him in the makeup trailer. Crowley doesn’t realise they’re talking to him, assumes they’re wearing AirPods or something, until George gives him a nudge with the powder puff.

“Er, yeah, cheers.” It’s too early to talk to anyone this perky. Then his exhausted, coffee-less brain takes a moment to catch up with his exhausted, coffee-less mouth. “Er, wait, what?”

“Warlock. Heard it’s coming back. Did I tell you I wrote a paper on it in, like, Grade 10? So cool, the GSA at my highschool used to have watch parties, I can’t wait to see what they do with your -“

“Wait -“ Warlock? It’s been bloody years. “Where’d you hear this?”

The kid starts to list off some sites or social media whatsits that Crowley has never heard of, so he just nods and pretends to understand, the same way he does when Az’s niece tries to explain some show called “Jojo’s Big Adventure” or something. Validate, validate, empathise. Just like Pepper taught him.

It’s probably nothing right? A rumour.

But it’s a rumour Az has heard too.

When Crowley gets home that night (they’ve rented a house in Buckinghamshire, even though the studio’s not two hours from their cottage) Az is on him immediately. Heard about it from his sister apparently, who got the news from one of the kids.

“Isn’t that exciting?” His face is all lit up and his hair is wet, bathrobe snugly belted around his waist. The house has an indoor pool, and there are little indents on Avery’s nose where his extremely attractive and sexy swimming-goggles must have been resting.

Crowley presses his lips to each mark.

“Not that we’ve been going hungry or wanting for work –” Az continues.

“You work too bloody much,” Crowley murmurs into his cheekbone.

“But I do love those characters. The whole thing wrapped up so nicely though – what more is there to tell?  I wonder what the arc could possibly be.”

“I wonder what you’ve got on under this robe –”

“Anthony!” Az laughs in fake protest, tilting his head back so that Crowley can get his mouth on his throat. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Az tastes like chlorine, and maybe Crowley should join him in the shower after this. After a day in the studio, he could probably use it.

“Would you really want to do a series again?” Crowley asks after he’s finally let his husband go, turned to hang up his coat and thrown his bag on the nearest chair. “Awful lot of commitment. And you’ve that whole run at the Globe coming up, don’t rehearsals start in the spring?”

“We’ll have to see if Helen can mind the goats again while we’re in London.” Az has wandered into the kitchen, turned on the kettle. Crowley looks at the back of his neck (Crowley always looks at the back of his neck. Sometimes he dreams about it.) “If she’s free. I called her this morning to check in, Elmyra’s eating, so her anxiety must be getting better.”

“Cool, yeah,” Crowley says, casual and nonchalant and no big deal. As if Elmyra isn’t his favourite of the bunch and he doesn’t have a song that he made up and no one knows that he sings just to her. As if he didn’t hand feed her all night once because she wasn’t sleeping or eating and neither was he because he was so afraid this tiny rescue goat was going to starve to death, anyway whatever, super cool, who cares. “Is it weird that no one’s reached out to us, though? Do you think?”

“About the goats? Helen has my number –”

“No love, the Warlock thing.”

Az blinks at him, flutters his pretty blond lashes in an attractive, aggrieved sort of way. “You mean you haven’t heard from Beez?”

“I haven’t heard from anyone.”

“Oh.” Az thinks it over. “Well. Neither have I, actually. Do you – is that odd?”

“Maybe they’ve recast us with younger models.”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“Gotta up the sex appeal of the whole thing. Jawlines. Cheekbones. Sexy results.”

“I –” Az goes a bit pink. Glances at Crowley and then away. “Fail to see how they could improve upon perfection.”

Crowley looks at his husband’s bathrobe and the slight scattering of silver chest hair and his hand on his tea cup and fuck off, his neck. His neck, his neck, who gives a shit about Warlock actually?

 “Come over here and say that to my mouth.”

Avery smiles, and sighs, and he does.

ONE YEAR LATER:

Crowley opens the email from Beez.

He fuckin' closes it.

#a slow dumb show for you #slow show #good omens fanfic #fic what i wrote #good omens

[saltpepperbeard]

OBLIGATORY COMPLETE OFMD SEASON 2 TRAILER THOUGHTS AND RAMBLES POST™

Woo boy this is going to be a long one, and I mean, A LONG ONE LMAO. And, of course, all in good fun; i simply just Have To Scream and Incessantly Ramble. So, if you'd like to scream along with me, and read through an ESSAY OF THOUGHTS HERE SHDKJSDHS-

I just have to start things off with my babygirl. With the babygirlest of babygirls. LOOK at that pining. INSANE levels of pining. "When will my husband return from the war" levels of it, quite frankly PFFF. And with the hair back and the slut strands out too like???

I will say, it's very interesting to see him pining like this out in the open. I very much expected him to say locked away in his cabin most of the time, and stay entirely masked whenever he's out. But it seems like he makes STEPS towards healing rather early into the season, as the Kraken Getup seems to drop pretty quick. So, I'm very interested to know how that'll play into his dynamic with other characters (Fang, for example, seems to take notice, based on the comment he makes in the next screenie).

regardless, babygirl you're so strong and beautiful and i'm wrapping you in a blanket, kissing you on the forehead, and express shipping your man RIGHT into your arms. it'll get better, i promise.

but no really i'm going insane because like...just when edward teach couldn't get anymore beautiful, he really decides to pull up with a MESSY BUN???

HIIIIIII FANGY HI FRENCHIE HELLLOOOO MY SWEETHEARTS <3

I don't talk about Fang nearly as much as I should because I love him so much. I think getting a hug from him would Heal Me, actually. Like please hsdjkss he's so sweet- "I've never seen Blackbeard like this 🥺." CAN I GET HIM A PUPPY? I'M GETTING HIM A PUPPY.

Also please are they eating cake hsdksjks. ARE THEY EATING WEDDING CAKE. Imagine your raid is to crash a wedding, steal cake toppers, and then eat what's left of the wedding cake jskdhsdjkls. DREAM JOB???

AND THEN THIS. HOOOOO BOY. HOOOOOOOOOOO BOY.

when i tell y'all i am Foaming At The Mouth over this. Like, it obviously guts me to see Stede crying, but it makes me SO intrigued to know what made him come to the more stark realization, what made him flip from optimistic and bitchy to more somber and pained.

There SEEMS to be some sort of shift sometime around when he sees Ed's wanted poster, because there's that shot of him looking melancholic in the rain. But it doesn't quite seem as stark as THIS.

It makes me wonder if it's a gradual assembly of puzzle pieces, ie finding out about the marooning, then Lucius, then Ed's scourge across the Caribbean, etc etc. And it slooooowly dawns on him that his decision to leave in order to keep Ed happy ended up doing EXACTLY the opposite.

OR, I wonder if this is following the reunion—a PAINFUL one at that. Like, maybe he still was going into it a bit idyllic, and was holding onto the hope that it would still be alright...only for Ed to react poorly/in a way he never anticipated to see. He went into it maybe with a bit of anxiety, but ultimately leaned on the denial...only to have all the fears confirmed.

Or maybe it's a mixture of both. But either way, it's SO so interesting to see him have to SIT with it all. And even though it hurts to see HIM hurt, I'm actually very glad they addressed this and made him feel the heavier weight.

...Only to transition right into silliness here with this shot dHJKSDKLS. ed babe listen i get it. i Get It. i'm right there with you, babe.

BUT ALSO, makes me wonder what he was smoking in his pipe beforehand. Or maybe it was the transition from pipe to a straight BLUNT that got him shdjksd. Or MAYBE it was just ~*~the sapphic kush~*~ that took him out PFFFF. wlw on mlm violence idk.

SPEAKING of which...

here we go, lesbians. here we go, lesbians, come on. oH MY GOD, LESBIANS,,,

do you think anne and mary want me

BUT OKAY LMAO THESE TWO,,,

With that whole shot where it looks like Anne just kissed Stede, and the way they're both 👀👀 at Ed and Stede having their tense little interaction, I have to wonder if their gaydars go off and one or both subsequently decide to stir shit up PFFFF. Like, causing chaos by making Ed/Stede jealous type deal. And maybe Anne kissing Stede is what makes Ed choke on the blunt sdhkshdks WHO KNOWS.

Regardless, very excited to see the pairs interact. WHO KNOWS WHAT SORT OF MLM WLW SHENANIGANS WILL HAPPEN SDKJS.

And ALSO in relation to that scene, I just have to shdjksdhljksdkls over the editing because it took me out. Ed being like "And more importantly, no more Stede >:)" only to show his little wedding topper doll with Stede's subsequent "HULLOOO, IDWAD."

Killed me. KILLED ME DEAD. And also, a neat little way of editing call Ed out on his bullshit REAL FAST HSDJKSL. like, honey, you can try, but you know full and damn well that silly little guy has burrowed into the deepest chambers of your heart. he has your heart and you have his, WHOOPS.

Ricky, right? This is Ricky??

"WHEN I CATCH YOU, RICKY. RICKY, WHEN I CATCH YOU, RICKY..."

So okay, a nose prosthesis is metal as hell, but that means we ALLLLLL know who he got tangled with PFFF. And I believe we see him in the Republic of Pirates talking to Stede and Co??? So I'm very VERY interested to see how that all devolves, and how he goes from vibing to wanting to throw hands.

Unless he was like, on some sort of reconnaissance mission for the British in the first place.

But I digress. RICKY, WHEN I CATCH YOU, RICKY. RICKY, WHEN I CATCH YOU HSDJKLSLKS

...The way I missed this SEVERAL times over, and didn't even see it until someone else pointed it out in another post.

IZZY WITH A HOOF PEGLEG. PRESUMABLY FROM THE UNICORN. BECAUSE WHERE ELSE WOULD THEY GET A WOODEN HOOF HSDKLJS.

But that also has me like 👁️👁️ for SO many different reasons. How did he lose a good portion of his leg? Was Stede the one to offer up the unicorn leg as a pegleg?

And TRULY, WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH HIM AND STEDE ANYWAY HSDKJLS LIKE I STILL CAN'T EVEN WRAP MY MIND FULLY AROUND THAT ONE,,,

My running theory is still that like...Izzy wanted a very specific version of Blackbeard. Izzy wanted someone who no longer exists, or maybe never existed to begin with. And so Izzy thought he was doing right by taking Stede out of the picture and nudging Ed back into a more viscous type of pirating...

Only for that to COMPLETELY backfire, and for Ed to get far more unstable. And like, something something Izzy was already complaining about Ed's "erratic moods" and "questionable decisions" BEFORE Stede came into the picture, so I doubt he's going to be content with Ed's turmoil and all the impulsivity that'll likely come with it.

So maybe, MAYBE, I'm thinking he'll have a bit of growth by realizing that Ed and Stede need each other, or maybe that Ed was way happier when things were smoother between him and Stede, at least. And knowing him and his characterization lol, it might not even be a selfless realization/decision. Maybe he'll only be doing it because he wants a less emotional version of Ed, and thinks that having Stede around and being cordial with him will allow that to happen.

And maybe it leads to even MORE growth when he gets roped into training Stede/the crew idk.

Regardless, REGARDLESS, they are one of the last pairs I ever expected to team up, because they were ACTIVELY bitching at each other all through last season HSDJKS.

HI AGAIN OLU MY SWEET LOVELY OLU MY SWEETHEART DARLING <3

BUT WHO ARE WE FIGHTING, SIR. WHAT'S THE TEA????

I'm not 100% certain, but it SEEMS like this is at Jackie's, or at least in the Republic of Pirates somewhere. And based on Ricky's injury, and also other little tidbits of footage, it SEEMS like something goes down there. Maybe some sort of scuffle between the Navy and our guys or something equivalent that snowballs into even ~*~Larger Problems~*~

SEE BECAUSE YEAH—EXPLOSIONS?? CANNON FIRE??? WHAT'RE Y'ALL DOIIINNNGGG LMAO.

And it's so wild because I definitely see Olu (with the CROCS OFC LMAO) and Pete, and then I THINK I see Lucius and Izzy in that mix too??? So like,,,

WHAT DID Y'ALL GET TANGLED IN SDHJKSKLS. AND WHERE IN THE SEASON WOULD THIS FALL??????

Oh this hurts lol. This one hurts. This one hurts a LOT. Stede Bonnet stop breaking my heart Challenge: impossible.

Because that's his home. That's his soul placed into a ship. That's the conglomeration of his hope, and heart, and adventure, and family,,,

And it's in RUINS.

LIKE, CAN THINGS STOP GOING BADLY FOR HIM ACTUALLY HSDKJS. CAN HE STOP GETTING DECKED BY HIS TRAUMA OVER AND OVER AND OVER. BECAUSE,,,

Fresh off the "you defile beautiful things/you're a monster/you're a failure/you ruin everything you touch" train, and he comes back to this. And if this is after he reunites with Ed and realizes things are bad, then man, that'll be even WORSE.

LIKE, NUMEROUS CHAMBERS OF HIS HEART HAVE BEEN SHREDDED. HIS HOME AND HEART ARE BROKEN.

mmMMmmmMMMMMM DAVID CAN WE MAYBE NOT <3 SHDJKLSKS

BUT, off we go cartwheeling from that footage to a VERY interesting bit of dialogue from Stede:

"The entire escape relies on this."

Escape?? ESCAPE???

Here I was thinking they enlisted they help of the Red Flag Fleet and/or Susan to try and catch up with the Revenge. So, ESCAPE???????

Did they get captured? Snatched up from the Republic of Pirates or something equivalent? Does someone have beef with Ed and holds Stede and Co hostage because they're trying to aid him?

OR, are they voluntarily on that ship to hide/lay low from the Navy or something, but their cover has been blown, and they have to quickly flee back onto the Revenge?

Very very inch resting whatever the case.

...

STEDE. FOOKIN. BONNET,,,

🧎🧎🧎🧎🧎🧎

LIKE SIR, WHAT THE FUCK SHDSKD, Y'KNOW??? WITH THE STIDDIES OUT AND THE EARRING AND THE SCRUFF,,,

GOD LMAO. JESUS CHALUPA. CEASE.

like, you're telling me ed is going to see him like this and isn't going to IMMEDIATELY drop and start tying his hair into a ponytail? mmmMMKAY

BUT OKAY—ACTUALLY, that joke sort of brings me to a more angsty theory, because of course it does lol. I have to wonder if Stede is dressing like this because he legitimately wants to, OR, if it's because he feels like he has to.

Like, something something he's trying to do everything he can to win respect and establish himself and ALSO win back his man. And, something something he is ONCE AGAIN doing what HE thinks Ed wants, as opposed to what Ed might ACTUALLY want. Like, "Oh, he's a notorious pirate. He'll like me again if I have a little more gruff and backbone, right? That's what pirates like, right???"

LIKE NO YOU DOOFUS HSDSHDS HE LOVES YOU AS YOU ARE, JUST AS YOU LOVE HIM HOW HE IS. AND HE DREAMS OF DRESSING IN A DRESS WHEN MARRYING YOU. SO LIKE,,,

IF THAT IS INDEED THE CASE, I'M BEATING ED TO THE CHASE AND HEADBUTTING HIM MYSELF HSDKJLSDS.

*grumbling* even though it's a very VERY good look on him, so i hope it's more on his own volition.

I just want him to feel comfortable as HIMSELF, and feel like he doesn't have to perform/conform to anything. And I think there's something very deeply queer about him and Ed BOTH going through that. They're BOTH trying to figure themselves out and what they're comfortable with and who they want to be. And I hope that, IF this is his look, it's something that HE wants entirely.

((Which makes me raise my eyebrows a bit more because of the Cunty Red Jacket. Because he's CUNT. And also his curls are more pronounced when he wears that too. SooOOOoooOOO?????? VERY interested to see what he wants, and where he comfortably settles))

AND GODDDDDD ONTO YET ANOTHER VERY EYEBROW RAISING PART LMAO.

So, we've seen that shot of someone falling into the water like 80 million times at this point. And this trailer ALSO showed an additional shot of said person SINKING into the gloom. At least, I THINK it was the same person/connected. Again, could be a total misdirect lol.

And then we've seen all the blue-tinted shots of Ed off on his own somewhere, fight someone/something all the while being accompanied by some unknown figure.

And BECAUSE of the tinting/consistent lighting, and BECAUSE of the figure accompanying him, I have to also wonder like others similarly are...

Is this a DREAM???

Is this some sort of unconscious sequence where Ed works through trauma/hurt/demons? Is that person with him the ghost of Hornigold or another significant figure from his past? And does said sequence end with him jumping from the cliff and allowing the Kraken to disappear back to the gloom???

But something that makes that whole theory SUS is the shots we've gotten of someone, presumably Ed, coming up out of the ocean. And it's not tinted blue like all of these other shots are.

So it's just hsdjkhsdjksdhskjdhsjksfs??????

Regardless, REGARDLESS, I think all of this points to Ed going on some sort of journey, some sort of bout of self-discovery and self-acceptance. I think he's going to heal parts of himself, or at least SETTLE with parts of himself, no matter the circumstances. And that would be so good because I want that so badly for him. I want him to be able to do that for himself.

...AND SPEAKING OF HEALING SHDJKSKLS

BUNNY. BUNNET. SIR THAT'S MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT STEDE BUNNET.

but omfg this is yet another case of my brain not being able to piece together timelines. because ed babe where ARE you. "BABYGIRL WHERE ARE YEEEWW..."

He looks so soft, and also has on a different ring??? An emerald/cyan looking ring??? AND THE KRAKEN RING THAT TAIKA ALWAYS WEARS HSDKJS.

So I just hsdjkhdjklsdhdjklshsjkls. "jodi you'e literally going to find out in like less than a month" I KNOW I KNOW OKAY BUT THAT DOESN'T PREVENT ME FROM GNAWING ON MY DESK FOR 18-ISH MORE DAYS HSDKJLS.

Also, as an aside, I SO very hope this leads to Fangy getting a puppy. I SO very hope that the "pets befouling the ship" clause is scratched from the rulebook PFFFF.

LOOK AT MY SWEETHEARTS HAVING FUN. LOOK AT JIM BEING UNHINGED SHDKJSS LOVE THAT FOR THEM. SERIOUS GOOSE IS BACK TO SILLY GOOSE!!! LOOK AT STEDE LOOKING LIKE A PROUD DAD. THIS IS THE SHIT I'M HERE FOR!!!

also hi hello is that archie. dO YOU THINK ARCHIE WANTS M-(GUNSHOTS)

i'll just be in the corner sobbing over being attracted to so many of these damn pirates. like, it's an Issue

...mmMMMMMM ONLY FOR ME TO TRANSITION RIGHT BACK INTO ANGST TERRITORY LMAO. BECAUSE STEDE, DARLING, WHAT IS THAT INJURY???

I've seen people theorize it's a stab wound, a bullet wound, or some sort of wound that was burned/cauterized. Either way, EITHER WAY, OUCH??? CAN MY DARLING PLEASE KNOW PEACE HSDJKSDKL

Also again, this all plays back into my theory that they're having a party, only to get crashed by some sort of navy personal or another pirate bounty hunter of some variety. And Stede gets captured/tortured.

*Banging pots and pans together* WHEEEEERE ARE WE IN THE TIMELINE WHERE ARE WE IN THE TIMELINE WHERE ARE WE HSDJKLSHDLKS

Same shirt, but has his EARRING. And is BATTLING A SHIT TON OF PEOPLE. So I would assume this comes AFTER the party fiasco, but also jsjshdjkshlJKHDKLS????

Also the CONCERN on his face is so striking. It makes me wonder if he's looking at Ed. ESPECIALLY because—

SAME BEACH, SAME BATTLE??? SEPARATED BY THE PARTY FIASCO AND ARE NOW FIGHTING TO GET TO ONE ANOTHER?????

But two things about this shot. Well, three, if you count me absolutely FOAMING at the mouth at getting to see Ed battle because hsdjhsjkhsdjkls bARK,,,

One, his sword is bloody. Love that for him. King shit. Slicing and dicing.

BUT TWO, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE APPEARS TO BE HOLDING HIS RIGHT SIDE. NOT THE LEFT SIDE WHERE HE'S BEEN STABBED LIKE 12+ TIMES, BUT THE RIGHT.

HE GETS INJURED??? DO THEY BOTH GET INJURED?????? DAVID I KNOW WE HAVE LIKE 18+ DAYS LEFT BUT I'M DYING OVER HERE HSDJKSLDS

oh hi izzy lmao the way i did not expect the hardest line in the trailer to come from him.

"You don't know the first thing about piracy. It's not about glory, it's about belonging to something."

God. GOD. I really feel like he's going to end up surprising me so much this season lmao.

((BECAUSE NOT TO MENTION, THE FACT THAT HE'S TALKING TO RICKY, AND IT JUST SEEMS,,, 👀))

oh god y'all lmao. want to see how loud i can scream. because, i missed this my first few watches, and didn't even notice until it was later pointed out in people's posts, but,,,

LUCIUS!!! L U C I U S!!!!!! MY BEST FUCKING FRIEND LUCIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEARD, WOODEN FINGER, AND ALL.

MY DARLING. MY GUY. MY BESTIE!!!!!!!

Listen, I was like 99.9999999999999999% sure he was alive okay lol. Because NARRATIVELY, he had to be. NARRATIVELY, I think his death would have sent things into irreparable places. Also, silly little pirate rom/com; Y'ALL CAN'T KILL OFF ONE OF THE MOST BELOVED CHARACTERS LMAO LIKE NO WAY.

But regardless, I'm so happy to see him. I'm SO so happy to see him. AND I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HIM REUNITE WITH PETE, AS WELL AS SEE HIS REAL AWKWARD INTERACTIONS WITH ED, I'M SURE HSDJKS

Obligatory Wee John in drag mention/shoutout. Because come on now. COME ON NOW. HE'S FUCKING SERVING. ABSOLUTELY SLAYING. THAT BLUE LOOKS SO SO FUCKING GOOD ON HIM TOO. AND IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY FOR KRISTIAN AS WELL LIKE WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

Annnnnnd Obligatory Tealoranges mention/shoutout because goodness, look at them. LOOK at them. LOOK HOW SOFT JIM LOOKS. LOOK HOW SWEET THEY ARE. I'M EATING MY ARM!!!

*Baywatch Theme starts playing*

But okay okay what are we thinking:

Training montage/sequence? Or romantic moment?

STEDE'S ROCKY MOMENT LMAO, OR STEDE'S ROMANTIC HERO MOMENT. RUNNING TO GET GAINS, OR RUNNING TO GET HIS MAN.

OOOOOOO BITCH LMAO. OOOOOOOOOOOO BITCH. *RUBS HANDS TOGETHER*

and also snorting at ed's eyes because, just when i think they can't get any bigger,,, just when i think he can't possibly get even More Eyes than usual,,,

But okay hi hello WOWZERS this sequence. This one REALLY has my brain churning.

And I'm subsequently in the camp of thinking that this is very very soon after their reunion, if not their REUNION PROPER. I'm sort of leaning more towards the former, because something tells me they'd want to keep their reunion proper a secret/save it, since it'll likely be a very pivotal moment.

But regardless, SOMETHING SOMETHING SEASON 1 EP3 MIRROR? STEDE FINDS ED INJURED AND WATCHES OVER HIM???? I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW HYPE THAT WOULD MAKE MEEEEE HURT/COMFORT AND PARALLELS MY BELOVED!!!

Because Ed is DEFINITELY injured. Blood on the side of his head, various cuts and bruises across his face, etc etc. And Stede looks very Concerned when he calls his name. So I'm just 👀

Not to mention also, Ed seems VERY out of it. His eyes are wide/glazed-looking in all of the subsequent shots. And his first reaction is to headbutt Stede away shdkjshdkjs.

So again, the theory that it's right around their reunion seems very plausible, based upon reactions and outfits and the like. BUT WHO KNOWS.

also, for the record, still sobbing at how stede keeps his arm protectively draped over ed during these shots,,,

AND *RUBS HANDS OVER THIS ONE TOO*

,,,and maybe also *wipes tears away* because he just looks so SERENE. he looks so CALM. i have to wonder if this is after a pivotal moment in his healing, be it from his own realizations, an intimate conversation with stede, or both.

i just hope he's legitimately feeling better right here because i want that for him. i want that SO bad for him. I WANT THE WORLD FOR HIM!!!

Annnnnnnd ending it off with this shot because omfg. Three things.

One, JACKIE AND ED GIRLS NIGHT REAL,,,

Two, Ed trying something "different" has me sobbing and throwing up. He just wants to be comfortable. He just wants to be HIMSELF. He just wants to stop PERFORMING AND MASKING.

Three, THE SWEDE AND JACKIE LMAO??? SWACKIE??? THE SWEDE LOOKING SO INCREDIBLY HOT??? THEY WERE NOT LYING WHEN THEY SAID EVERYONE WAS GOING TO BE HOT SHDJKSD

anyway, if you made it this far, then bless you and your resilience LMAO. but also if you made it this far, you're probably just as excited as i am. like, after this trailer, after seeing all of our darlings and seeing the silliness and seeing the interactions...

idk, i'm just feeling THAT much happier. i'm feeling THAT much more confident in our showrunners/cast/crew. and i cannot WAIT to continue feeling happy with all of y'all <3

18 DAYS AND COUNTING. CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HOW WRONG I AM LMAOOOO <333

#OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #OFMD Season 2 #OFMD S2 #OFMD S2 Speculation #OFMD S2 Spoilers #Revenge Rambles #Gentlebeard #Blackbonnet #Edward Teach #Stede Bonnet #Izzy Hands #Anne Bonny #Mary Read #Prince Ricky #Tealoranges #Oluwande Boodhari #Jim Jimenez #Lucius Spriggs #Wee John #Black Pete #Frenchie #Fang #The Swede #Spanish Jackie #WHEW TAGS LMAO #AND WHHHHHEW THIS POST #SO SO MANY THOUGHTS

[projectdrow]

How the Bad Batch can end well

So here are my 5 thoughts on season 3 and what’s to come after. I recommend @eriexplosion if you like reading interesting thoughts, analysis and ramblings, a lot of their recent posts inspired this one.

First of all, the trailer was a work of art. It gave us some really random scenes, but also some very direct information that we can speculate on like crazy, if we want to. Also, the title-episode list comes in handy, I will refer to it.

1.) Episode 1-3 one go

I’ll come back to why the show needs to end before May the 4th later, and that’s another reason for the multiple episode days.

When a streaming service like Disney drops more than one episode, they often do so because they think viewers might be lost, because the single (first) episode does not have the full “boom-bang-drama” potential.

I think we’ll see the liberation of Crosshair, maybe even Omega, in the first three episodes. The trailer makes no secret of the fact that Cross will rejoin the team. So this story will not be the main focus of the whole season and the first episode might built up solely for the climax of the escape/liberation in episode 3. At least something heavy will happen at the end of “Shadows of Tantiss”

2.) Omega as the main character

Omega’s character is a very typical tool in storytelling. Throw a character who knows nothing into an established system, so she learns everything with/for the viewer. Sure, the boys are main characters, too, but Omega is the point of view of the kids(! - I’ll come back to that later)-show we’re watching. She can’t be gone for that long, because I don’t think season 3 will be a “Omega’s adventures on Mt. Tantiss”. I think episode 6 and 7 (“Infiltration” and “Extraction”) the latest will bring her back.

3.) So what’s the story?

Actually, and some might say that’s a big take, a lot of the first episodes will be about Tech. I don’t think I need to elaborate to anyone why it makes no sense for him to be dead and never had.

When we first saw this Clone X, there were some interesting “Undercover-Tech” ideas, but after analyzing the trailer in more depth and especially what appears to be an attack on Pabu led by this Clone, well, I think that’s Tech. And not undercover, no, the full on brainwashed, highly dangerous Imp!Tech. Episode 10 is called “Identity Crisis”, which could very well be Tech’s. But they’ll get him back, don’t worry, also because the second part will be about the BB finally deciding what to do with their lives. Which leads directly to 5.), but first:

4.) (Almost) no one dies

Two reasons. First: We already had that devastating Tech-death scene. He AND Asajj will be brought back from the dead this season. Any further death this season wouldn’t convince anyone anymore, not even the kids.

Second: The kids. It’s still a children’s show. Yes, Star Wars kills of characters in them too, but @eriexplosion made a very good point in this post: That’s not what this show is about. TBB has been about the struggle of Clones finding their place, finding family, finding a meaning. All of that would be for naught, and that’s why I think everyone survives.

Also: The last episode is called: “The Cavalry has Arrived”.

5.) About the future

I think the Bad Batch was intended to be released earlier. As well as the trailer. But with the strikes and Filoni being promoted, their was a lot going on. With the triplet opening and the double episodes, we’ll finish on May 1st. And that would be just to perfect to announce the follow-up-project on May 4th. I see another Clone series on the horizon. The Clones work, the people love them, it’s all there, the characters, the stories, the animation. It’s a safe bet for Lucasfilm. And sure, it would work with Rex, Cody and more as main characters, but the Batch was intended to be and is a stark contrast to the “Regs”, especially if they get Cross and Tech back.

Sure, Omega could be the leading figure again, but… nah. I am writing this because I’m absolutely convinced that we won’t have seen the last of the complete BadBatch after season 3.

Star Wars is about Hope. So I hope.

#The Bad Batch #Star Wars #TBB speculation

[peachoni]

Part of the family

⏤ an: Idk about anyone else BUT Wayne really stuck out to me in season 4. Like I feel like he would be such a sweetheart to Eddie's s/o :3 I’M NEW TO WRITING PLS BE NICE :D

⏤ warnings n' stuff : Fluff, father figure(reader has absent father) Wayne/Wayne just being amazing, make out sesh ig

⏤ pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader

⏤ wordcount: 948

You adored Wayne. You were pretty nervous to meet him at first but over the 2 years you've been with Eddie, you've gotten very close to Wayne. Like Eddie, Wayne would always be the first person to call if you were in a pinch. This particular day ways like any other Friday. You going over to Eddie's trailer and spending the weekend there. You had a key to the trailer so you unlocked the door and smiled once your gaze met Wayne who was sitting on the couch eating his dinner as he prepared for his shift at the plant. "Hey Wayne!" you said happily as you walked to Eddie's room to set all your things down before heading back to him.

"Hey hun. Good day today?" he greeted and you nodded. "Yep! I passed that test I was talking to you about a few days ago." you beamed and he smiled, a small chuckle coming from him.

"See I told you. You needn't worry about it. You're a smart girl and can do anything you put your mind to." he replied which made you smile. "Eddie could take a few pointers from you." he joked before shaking his head.

"Mmm he is trying his best. He actually listens to me when I can tell he is struggling with homework. Soooo that's progress." you replied which made Wayne laugh a little.

The both of you talked about school, your plans after you graduated and minor issues at home, not that there was many but just a few things that were bugging you. Wayne as always assuring you it would all be okay and giving you the best advice he possibly could. Then the question came about. "Wayne... has Eddie ever... talked to you about his and I's future?" you asked vaguely, knowing Wayne would understand what you were asking. "Well uhh. Eddie.. He ain't to open about things of that nature. But just looking at my nephew and how he is around you, I already consider you a part of the family. Eddie may not properly ask for maybe another year but believe you me, he will do it when he thinks you are both ready." he explained to you and you felt tears forming in your eyes before placing your face in your hands.

You were quiet for a few moments before placing your hands down, staring at his ring that used to adorn his right ring finger, which was now on yours. "Thank you Wayne, I really needed to hear that." you said before clearing your throat and walking to Eddie's bedroom. ‘Part of the family....’ you whispered to yourself with a smile.

The end of Eddie's beloved D&D campaign was after school. You swore he loved that campaign more than you sometimes. But you loved seeing him so happy so it didn’t bother you how much time he focused on it. You had a lot of homework to get done so you were a bit grateful that it happened this way. With Eddie here, you wouldn’t be able to get anything done. Eddie being your only distraction from getting anything productive done. So you sat at the small table next to the kitchen as you worked, indulging in conversation with Wayne every now and then.

A few hours went by and you heard Eddie's van pulling into the dirt road, the loud music blasting spoiling any surprise of him arriving. Eddie walked in and he smiled as his eyes met yours. "Hey" you said softly and he wrapped is arms around your waist before hugging you. It felt so safe. Perfect. Eddie pulled himself away from you a bit before waving to Wayne and he got a soft nod in response. Eddie grabbed your hand and he pulled you to his room with him. You laid in the bed beside him, Eddie unable to keep his hands off you after not seeing you since lunch at school earlier in the day. You asked him about how his campaign went and he went on a full on theatrical explanation of the events that unfolded just a few hours previous.

Eddie hummed softly as he played with your hair, causing you to look up at him. Before you knew it, both of your lips were connected. Eddie's hands exploring your clothed body as the kiss got more heated. You soon pulled away for air and looked into Eddie's eyes. "E-Eddie- Wayne is still here.." you whispered and he laughed a little. "Mmm then maybe... We just have to be quiet" he said back before rolling on top of you. He leaned down to kiss your neck, your hands instinctively going into his hair. He laughed softly as one of his hands slid under your shirt, kneading your skin before you heard a knock at the door.

Before you could push Eddie off of you, Wayne had already entered and you looked anywhere but at him. He threw something to Eddie but you were too embarrassed to even see what it was. "I'm headed out. Keep that handy. I ain't tryin' to raise another kid now." he said before walking out.

You turned around and you could have screamed into the pillow. Soon turning around to meet Eddie's more than amused face, shocked to see him laughing. "See! I told you that was going to happen!" you yelled but in a hushed tone before punching Eddie's shoulder. "God you are so unbelievable!!" you whined before Eddie wrapped his arms around you, rendering you immobile. "Aww come now y/n. You know you love me." he said before peppering kisses all over your face. "You are going to be the death of me Eddie Munson." you said before leaning into his touch.

#eddie munson #eddie munson smut #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x f!reader #eddie munson fluff #stranger things #eddie munson brainrot #joseph quinn smut #joseph quinn #joseph quinn fluff

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

i think Helaena can be autistic but also a happy and joyful girl , autism ≠ depression. the way the portrayed the only neurodivergent character on screen as unstable, shunned depressed, and with no importance to the plot feel very ableist and weird , but then they're the ones who made the guy with a foot disability a feet fetishist 🫠

Hi OP, finally answering this because the trailer dropped and still the only Helaena shots we have are from her Jaehaerys' funeral. There is also one still photo of her. If you haven't seen it, here she is, apparently sewing the funeral shroud for her little boy:

So it seems like season 2 is going to continue on this trajectory for Helaena as a character who exists in order to suffer beautifully.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad that the show is going to wring the full emotional effect from Blood and Cheese, not just shock value. The audience will feel the real horror of a six year old child brutally murdered in his own home and the psychological torment of Helaena. It should be terrible, it should be devastating, and I hope they do not pull any punches.

What's disappointing about how the show has handled Helaena is that they didn't really put any effort into building up her character before her tragedy. It's all well and good that she likes bugs and she's touch averse, but what are her opinions? Who is she closest to? How did she react to becoming a mother so young? To what extent does she understand her visions? What does she value? She can be happy and cheerful, or she can be frustrated and angry, and hell, she can be depressed too, but I need to know why. It's telling that I can describe the basic internal motivations for each of the male children, including Luke who was a glorified plot device, but I cannot for Helaena. Aegon wants to feel loved, Jace wants to prove he's as worthy as any trueborn heir, Aemond wants what his brother has, Luke wants to be free from his family's expectations. Helaena? Fuck if I know. I guess she wants not to die horribly.

The ableism is an issue. F&B is full of women who were deemed "simple" -- Gael, Daella, Jaehaera-- without being given much else to define them, and HotD adds another (there's something, I think, to the way the "simple" Targaryens are always women and how disability kind of used as a way to remove them from the narrative and shunt them aside, often tragically). And while it's great to see an autistic person represented on screen, the show consistently has an issue with treating representation as characterization. "Autistic girl who likes bugs" is not a personality. Autistic people, (even those with horrifying prophesies I assume), do have hopes and dreams and feelings about things. The one peek we get into Helaena's life is at the in episode 8 when she roasts Aegon and even that scene is open to interpretation (and gets taken wildly out of context). Now, I can read a lot into the actor performances, but ultimately, lines that could have given a glimpse Helaena personality were cut. It's as if they're afraid that if they give her an opinion on anything she would lose that (frankly kind of infantilizing) "pure cinnamon roll too good for this world" "i would die for her" sympathy from people who are not inclined to be sympathetic for her family as a whole.

(And anon, you're right about Larys. And let me say, turning Larys' clubfoot into the punchline of an OnlyFeet joke also does not inspire confidence that they'll handle Aegon II's eventual disability with any sensitivity either, especially when Mushroom's accounts of his last few months are incredibly mean spirited. We need to start that discourse now so they get the memo).

Sadly, I don't think the show really has any intention of course correcting with Helaena in season 2. I imagine at most we'll have her try to warn Aegon and/or Aemond about Blood & Cheese but they won't understand her warning, and then this will be a vehicle to further their guilt and grief. And while we do need to see Aegon's guilt and his grief, I also want to know if Helaena blames herself, if she wishes they'd run away when they had the chance, if she thinks Aegon could have done something, if she is angry at Aemond for killing Luke, if she wants revenge. I do think, with the public funeral for Jaehaerys, they are going to show that the smallfolk are fond of Helaena, and hopefully that will be expanded upon this season and in season 3 because her death is the catalyst for the revolt that sees Rhaenyra driven from the city, and we should understand why her death has such an impact before she actually dies.

#asks #helaena targaryen #hotd critical #hotd ableism #team green

[the-wild-wolves-around-you]

i can't carry it for you, but i can carry you (an eddie munson fix-it fic)

Pairing: Eddie Munson/Fem!Reader; Eddie Munson/You

Summary: Eddie tries to sacrifice himself and be the hero, but you're not letting him go that easily.

Or

What if there was one more person on Eddie and Dustin's team when they went into the Upside Down? What if they were able to get to him in time?

Rating: M(ature)

Warnings: Adult language, some descriptions of blood and violence. *** Some spoilers for the Season 4 Finale if you haven't seen it.

A/N: Eddie Munson is the new loml. Seriously giggling and kicking my feet just thinking of him. I'm already thinking of writing a smutty ch 2 and another kas fic. anyway, hope you enjoy! <3

Ao3 Link: Here

Update: Links to the smutty sequel - Tumblr / Ao3

“Alright, you’re next, sweetheart!” Eddie shouted, and his elbow shoved you toward the makeshift rope.

You stumbled as you raggedly gasped in the tainted air of this godforsaken place, but you grabbed the length of knotted sheets in your trembling hands.

“What about you?” you asked, snapping your gaze back to Eddie, who was standing between you and the door that the demo-bats were steadily splintering into pieces.

“I’ll be right behind you, princess!” Eddie tossed you a smile over his shoulder, but you could see the stark terror in his dark-brown eyes. “I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I left you behind, now would I?”

You opened your mouth to respond, but an all-mighty crack suddenly echoed through the trailer.

“Hurry, go!” Eddie said as he turned to fully face the weakening door.

“Guys, hurry up!” Dustin yelled from above you, and you looked up to see the boy dancing around anxiously on the other side of the portal.

You knew you couldn’t waste any more time, but you threw Eddie one last look before you started pulling yourself up the rope. Your arms burned from the strain, and the unholy screeching of the demo-bats was making your ears ring, but before you knew it, you felt yourself cross the portal, gravity taking hold of you again and pulling you down.

“Eddie, come on, let’s go!” Dustin screamed as your back hit the mattress, and you looked up through the ceiling of the trailer, seeing Eddie’s pale, terrified, dirt-streaked face staring back at you.

You could still hear the demo-bats shrieking on the other side of the gate, could feel the cold splatter of their dark blood on your cheeks and collarbones. Your chest heaved as your lungs worked overtime, heart pounding a war march in your ears, but your wide, unblinking gaze was locked on Eddie Munson.

The dark-haired man was halfway up the rope, just a full more pull ups, and he would fall through and land on top of you. Dustin was still screaming— Eddie, you’re so close! Eddie! Let’s go!—but Eddie slowed, then stopped, and his eyes found yours.

They were scared, so scared… but also resolute, and realization washed over you like an ice cold wave.

No.

The word echoed through your mind before it fell from your lips.

“No!” you gasped, scrambling to your feet. “Eddie!”

But you were too late.

Eddie had let go of the rope, falling back onto his feet with a thud that shook you to your core.

“What are you doing?” Dustin yelled, and he reached for the rope, but Eddie sliced through it on the other side, the length of sheets collapsing onto the mattress at your feet. “Eddie, no! Stop, stop!”

The same words were screaming through your head, but you couldn’t find the breath to voice them. It felt like a fist was squeezing your lungs into clay. The center of your chest ached, and dots began to dance in the corners of your vision, blurred by tears.

“Eddie, what are you doing?!” Dustin moaned as he frantically gripped his head, and the two of you watched helplessly as the metalhead shoved the mattress on the other side away from the portal.

“I’m buying more time,” Eddie said, glancing up, or rather down, at you and Dustin. His dark eyes settled on yours for what felt like an endless moment, and his face twisted with sadness. “Henderson, get Obi out of here.”

The nickname— that stupid nickname— hit you like a blow to the chest, forcing the last bit of oxygen from your shriveled lungs.

Ever since you offered to tutor him last fall— in the hopes of making this his last senior year— he’d taken to giving you nicknames in retaliation, and not the usual “sweetheart” or “princess” he had been calling you from the moment he met you. No, he said that if you were truly going to be his mentor, then he should treat you with respect… by calling you “Gandalf” and “Master Obi-Wan” or Obi for short. Obi was his favorite, the one he resorted to most, to the point where Dustin and some of the others had started to call you that, too.

You had always rolled your eyes and playfully shoved Eddie every time he called you these things, but secretly, you loved it.

And now, it was tearing you to pieces.

“No, Eddie, please!” Dustin wailed, ripping you out of your reverie and back to the present.

Your eyes focused just in time to see Eddie slip out of sight on the other side of the gate, and the moment he was gone, every cell in your body rebelled.

No. No, this can’t happen. He can’t do this. I won’t let him.

All at once, you were suddenly in motion, shoving past a still screaming Dustin and stumbling toward the back of the trailer.

“Obi, where are you going?” the boy yelled after you, but you ignored him.

There was no time for talking. No time for explanations. No time, no time, notime.

You burst into Eddie’s bedroom, the door rebounding off the wall with a crunching sound. You ignored that, too, and frantically cast your eyes around the disheveled and messy room. The sight of Eddie’s guitar on the wall made your gut churn, the phantom echoes of his Upside Down concert still ringing in your ears. You half-expected demo-bats to come exploding out of the ceiling vent again, but you ignored the terrified skip of your heart as you fell to your knees and started rifling through the mess.

“Come on, come on,” you muttered, shoving aside dirty clothes, stray papers, old magazines.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dustin shouted from the doorway behind you. “Obi! We need to get back there! Eddie’s—”

“Aha!” you cheered in triumph, spotting your prize in a plastic bag beneath the dresser. You ripped it from its hiding place and dumped the contents on top of the dresser, DnD figurines and cassette tapes clattering to the floor.

The several cans of hairspray pinged as they bounced off each other, and you snapped them up, shaking them to estimate how much was left.

Not a lot, but enough. Thank god Eddie was a diva about his hair.

You shoved two of the cans into the waistband of your ripped jean shorts, one at each hip, and the third you grasped in your sweaty palm. Then you searched the mess on the dresser for a glint of metal, one you just saw a moment ago…

“There you are, bastard,” you said, snatching up the Zippo lighter perched precariously on the edge of the dresser. There were always half a dozen lighters in Eddie’s room at any given time, most usually lost and forgotten, but you were so grateful for this fact now as you shoved the Zippo in your pocket.

“Obi—” Dustin tried again, but you were suddenly whirling on him, grabbing his wrist, and sprinting back to the gate.

“Give me a boost.” You skidded to a stop beneath the portal and looked back at Dustin, who was pale and gaping at you.

“W-Wha—”

“Dustin!” you snapped, though you didn’t mean to. “We don’t have the time to build another rope, and Eddie is alone against a fucking army of bloodthirsty bats. Give me a goddamn boost!”

“I-I don’t know if I can,” he stammered out.

You frowned in confusion but then remembered the boy didn’t have fucking collarbones.

“Shit,” you cursed before your eyes fell on a rickety yellow chair. “Here!”

You dragged the chair under the gate and clambered up onto it, the metal legs groaning under your weight, but you were short, an inch or two shorter than even Dustin, and the ceiling seemed impossibly out of reach.

“Jump,” Dustin suddenly said, and when you looked down at him, his eyes were still scared but determined. Like Eddie’s had been. “Jump, and if you can reach the edge, I can push you through.”

There wasn’t time to think of alternatives, so you nodded quickly and shoved the third can of hairspray down the front of your shirt, in between your breasts and under the center band of your bra. The metal was cold against your skin, and you swore you could hear your thundering heartbeat echoing through the canister.

“Okay,” you breathed as you wiped your sweaty palms on your shorts. “Okay, I’ll go on three. Ready?”

“Shit,” Dustin said, his expression tortured, but he nodded. “Ready.”

You swallowed sharply as you looked up through the portal, the dark reflection of the Munson trailer staring back at you. Fear started to crawl up your spine like a million ants, but you ignored it as you bent your knees and prayed the wobbly chair beneath you held out.

“Alright, one,” you started, heart in your throat, flexing your fingers to get some feeling back into them. “Two… Three!”

On three, you jumped up with all your might, the chair screeching across the floor beneath you, but then you were in the air, your fingers extending, reaching…

And latching on to the edge of the gate.

The slick vines almost made you immediately lose your grip, but you dug your nails in deep, grunting as your shoulders strained against your body weight. Your legs kicked in the air, finding no purchase, until they smacked into something solid.

“Ow!” Dustin hissed. “Stop kicking!”

“Sorry,” you gasped, but that was all you could get out, because your arms were already starting to shake. You did stop kicking, though, and just hung there for a moment before you felt Dustin’s hands wrap around your feet and start to push.

You gritted your teeth and heaved yourself upwards, and with Dustin’s help, you started to breach the gate. First your head, then your shoulders, but as the Upside Down’s gravity latched onto you, you realized you forgot one important detail.

The landing.

“Oh, shit!” you yelped as your hands lost purchase, and you felt Dustin’s hands slip from your ankles as you plummeted toward the trailer floor.

“Obi!” Dustin yelled.

Your body flailed through the air, and you had just enough time to turn your body so your shoulder— and not your face— took the brunt of the fall.

The impact still knocked the breath and the sense out of you. You also heard a dull crunch as your shoulder crashed into the shitty linoleum tile, and a moment later, red-hot pain lanced through your body.

“Fuck!” you gasped, rolling onto your back and squeezing your eyes shut. A kaleidoscope of colors danced across the back of your eyelids, pulsing in time with the pain radiating from your shoulder.

You must have broken something. At least fractured it. The pain was so overwhelming, your mouth started to fill with saliva, but you swallowed it down, along with the bile rising in the back of your throat.

Eddie. Eddie needed you. He was alone. He needed help.

“Obi!” Dustin shouted again, and your eyes flew open as you sucked in a deep breath.

“I’m fine,” you croaked, dissolving into a cough and then a groan as the motion aggravated your shoulder.

You didn’t have time for this. Eddie didn’t have time for this. It had already been several minutes since you’d seen him. And since you weren’t being eaten alive, the bats must have left the trailer. But you could still hear them screeching, so they weren’t far off, which meant Eddie was still close by.

You could save him.

The thought had you rolling upright, biting through your tongue to keep from vomiting. Somehow, you ended up on your feet, though your vision was blurry with tears.

“I’m… gonna go find him,” you grunted out as you fixed your eyes on the splintered front door of the trailer.

“No, Obi, wait for me,” Dustin pleaded, and you heard him start to scrape the chair back into place.

“Can’t,” you said through gritted teeth, but then you suddenly heart a faint shout coming from outside the trailer.

A very human shout.

Eddie.

You were moving before you realized it, stumbling and then jogging out of the trailer, Dustin’s voice growing fainter and fainter behind you.

“Obi, wait, stop!”

But you couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t. The pain in your shoulder even felt distant at this point, removed, muffled. As you staggered down the road, you reached into your shirt with your good arm and pulled out the can of hairspray that had somehow stayed snuggled under your bra. You were distantly grateful that the cans hadn’t exploded when you crashed into the trailer floor, but then Eddie’s voice echoed out across the trailer park again, and all other thoughts evaporated from your brain.

Because now, he was screaming.

The sound tore at your insides, infinitely more painful than a busted shoulder, and you rounded a corner to see a fucking tornado of bats circling the middle of the road.

Circling Eddie.

He was trying to fight them off, but they were so many, too many, and you watched in horror as one lashed its tail around his neck, yanking him off his feet. You saw him hit the asphalt before more of the bats descended and blocked him completely from view.

No, no, no.

Now, you were running, sprinting, gripping the can of hair spray in your fist like a sword as you used your good hand to dig the Zippo out of your pocket. The bats were so focused on Eddie, they didn’t even notice you approach, and within the blink of an eye, you were upon them. Pain flared through your shoulder like a supernova as you used your bad arm to flick open the lighter, and then you lifted the hairspray in front of it and aimed blindly at the cyclone of bats. You hit the striker as you simultaneously pressed down on the hairspray nozzle, and a column of fire erupted from your hand.

Your distantly heard Eddie’s voice at the back of your head, cackling. Obi uses fireball, anndddd that’s a hit!

And a hit it was.

The demo-bats directly in front of you immediately went up in flames, screeching and shrieking an unholy cacophony. They flailed and pinwheeled into each other, spreading the blaze, and one-by-one, they started to fall out of the sky and crash into the asphalt, little more than piles of smoldering leather skin and ashes.

But more importantly, a path was suddenly cleared before you, and you could see Eddie lying on the ground less than thirty feet away.

Adrenaline was making every nerve in your body buzz and sing, drowning out the terror, so when the hairspray can in your hand abruptly sputtered, empty, you didn’t miss a beat as you tossed it away and yanked another one from your waistband.

The bats were wailing as they burned, and you kept the column of flames going as you stumbled over their smoldering corpses. Some of the flying bastards were starting to catch on, though, and they dive-bombed you as you reached Eddie. You turned your back on his prone form— refusing to look down, refusing to see if he was still breathing because he had to be— and you lifted up your arms as you aimed for the eye of the winged storm.

“Fuck youuuuuu!” you bellowed, spinning in a circle to roast every demo-bat that came within five feet.

One of the bats directly above you shrieked so loudly your ears popped, and you aimed for the fucker just to shut it up. Its ugly snarling face was swallowed by the inferno, and its screech cut off as it suddenly went limp and plummeted from the sky.

You gasped but then remembered Eddie lying at your feet, and you didn’t even have to think about it as you turned and threw your body over his.

The grunt that escaped his chest when you landed on him would have made you weep for joy— alive, alive, he’s alive— but an instant later, you felt the corpse of the demo-bat slam into your spine while still on fire.

You cried out wordlessly as the flames scalded your shoulder blades, the smell of burning hair filling your nose, and you immediately rolled off Eddie. The bat carcass flopped to the side, and you kicked it away, rolling on your back again to put out any residual embers.

The pain in your shoulder was worse now, rearing its head past the adrenaline rushing through your veins, and now your back felt like a charred grill.

But you couldn’t think about that, couldn’t give into the pain, because the demo-bats were still screaming around you, and now they were pissed.

You scrambled to your feet and pulled your third and last can of hairspray from your waistband. You’d lost the previous one in your fall, and there was no time to look for it amongst the smoldering bodies surrounding you. Thankfully, you’d kept hold of the Zippo, because there were still dozens of bats circling overhead, and in the brief reprieve from the flames, they decided to get bold again.

They dive-bombed you in unison, and your heart lurched into your throat as you stood in the face of what now seemed like countless winged nightmares. Their snarling maws, filled with teeth, descended on you like a plague, and you just barely got the Zippo and hairspray up before you were torn to pieces.

Flames exploded into life a moment later, and most of the bats veered off, but one fucker wasn’t deterred, and it swooped and raked its talons across your arm before spiraling off, burning.

“Shit!” you screamed as white-hot agony raced up your arm, and a gush of your own blood arched through the air, glinting in the lightning and flames flashing around you.

The bat had gotten you across your good forearm and bicep, and now both of your arms felt heavy as lead. Your body ached to drop them, to give up, but you refused.

You weren’t going to die. Because if you died, Eddie was going to die, and you were not going to let that happen.

“Come on, you sons of bitches!” you roared at the sky, baring your teeth at the demo-bats.

They screeched out their own war cry and dove once more, and you were there to meet them with flames and rage.

What felt like an eternity passed as you roasted the bats left and right, but then you felt the hairspray sputter in your hand, and your stomach dropped into your shoes. You only had a brief instant to panic before the flames died out all at once, and you stared at the can like it had personally betrayed you. But then you tossed it away like you had the others, shoved the lighter in your pocket out of habit, and gasped for breath as you searched for something, anything, to keep the bats at bay.

A flash of lightning illuminated the gloom around you, glinting off some metal half buried under the embers of a demo-bat corpse. Recognition hit you like a bus, and you lunged forward, dragging Eddie’s handmade shield and spear into your hands. Your busted shoulder screamed as you hefted the shield up in front of you, spikes pointed out, and the fingers of your opposite hand were slick with your own blood on the haft of the spear.

You crouched defensively like you had seen Eddie and Dustin do when they were fucking around in that field what felt like a lifetime ago, and your heartbeat was so loud in your ear, you almost didn’t hear Eddie’s voice.

“Obi,” he rasped behind you, but his voice sounded wrong, wet, and your insides froze. “O-bi… run.”

“No,” you said right before the bats seemed to realize you were out of fire, and then there was no more time for talking.

The cloud of them descended upon you, blocking out the sky, and you stepped back to protectively stand over Eddie’s body as you lifted you shield, closed your eyes, and braced for impact.

The first demo-bat to slam into the shield nearly knocked you off your feet, but you widened your stance and shouted wordlessly, extending your shield arm out until the pain was so great in your shoulder that you almost couldn’t feel it anymore. Bats kept slamming into the metal disk, one after another, and you lifted your spear, expecting one to swoop at you from behind.

But they didn’t.

In fact, after a moment, even the impacts against your shield stopped, and suddenly, it was eerily quiet. The demo-bats weren’t shrieking anymore, they were almost… whimpering. And the sound wasn’t coming from above you. It was coming from… below.

You tentatively peeked beyond your shield, bringing your spear in front of you, ready to impale anything that moved. But when you looked around, your eyes widened. The breath stilled in your lungs.

The sky was clear, and the demo-bats were… dead. Or dying. They twitched and writhed on the asphalt around you like worms after a big rain. Most of them were scorched in some manner, but some of them looked whole and unblemished, like they had just dropped out of the sky.

What the fuck?

You stood there panting for several seconds, but no more nightmares came swooping down out of the black clouds. The vines on the trailers around you didn’t come alive, a Demogorgon didn’t sprout of the ground and attack. There was… nothing.

Was it… was it over?

Before you could think any more about it, Eddie coughed behind you, and you whirled around.

“Eddie,” you gasped as you stumbled forward, your arms going limp at your sides. The shield and spear clattered onto the road, but you barely heard them, your eyes and all your attention focused on the man sprawled out at your feet.

It was the first time you had really looked at him since you started to attack the bats, and your breath immediately caught in your chest.

“Eddie,” you said again, but this time it was more of a whimper, your voice as weak as your buckling knees. You dropped into a kneeling position beside him, the hot asphalt digging and burning your bare skin, but it was all so very distant.

Because there was just so much blood surrounding Eddie.

His Hellfire shirt was torn to shreds, the gaping holes in the fabric matching the gaping holes in his skin. Blood trickled out of the jagged wounds, pooling on the road beneath him, spreading like oil slicks. You could feel some of it warm against your kneecaps, but the rest of you felt cold, ice cold.

“Well,” Eddie said, and his lips were red with blood as they flickered into a faint smile. “You… really proved yourself the master now, huh, Obi?”

“Shut up,” you replied reflexively, your go-to response when he was teasing you, but your voice cracked halfway through as tears blurred your vision. It felt as if you were watching this scene from outside your body, like you were seeing it at the end of a very long, dark tunnel.

Eddie laughed, which was his go to response, but he choked on a groan, coughing, blood now staining his teeth.

His pained noise snapped you back into your body, and you were suddenly moving, shuffling forward on your knees and pressing your hands into his gut. His hot blood pulsed through your fingers, slow and getting slower, and panic started to crawl up your throat.

“Goddamn it, Munson,” you said through your tears, keeping one hand on his stomach as you used the other to unknot the flannel tied around your waist. “Why’d you have to go and be such an idiot?”

You balled up the flannel and then quickly replaced your hand with it. Eddie groaned as you pressed down hard, but you needed to stop the bleeding.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you still muttered, hating the fact that you were hurting him.

“Eddie!”

Dustin’s voice was like the crack of a gun in the otherwise silent trailer park, making you flinch, but you refused to turn and face him. You listened as he stumbled across the bat-strewn asphalt, and a moment later, he was collapsing onto his knees on the other side of Eddie.

“Oh, god,” the boy whimpered, tears already streaking down his face. “Oh, god, Eddie.”

“Bad, huh?” the metalhead grunted beneath you, and you could feel how he struggled to get the words out.

Panic had latched onto the back of your tongue, pulling itself hand over hand upwards, and you knew you were moments away from screaming and never stopping.

“No, no, you’re gonna be fine,” Dustin said as he reached out and gently stroked the top of Eddie’s head. “J-Just gotta get you to a hospital, okay?”

Hospital. The word rang through your head like a bell. You needed to get him to a hospital. If you could get him back through the gate, it was less than a ten minute drive, especially while speeding. He could make it.

He had to.

“Yes, yes, a hospital, we gotta get to the hospital,” you mumbled, the filter between your thoughts and words nonexistent now. Eddie’s blood was still burning your hands like a brand, but the flannel hadn’t soaked through yet. If you kept applying steady pressure, everything would be fine. “Dustin, I need rope, your shirt, anything that I can use to tie this flannel against him.”

“Y-Yeah, of course, here,” Dustin said, immediately shucking off part of his outfit. He handed you something that was part mesh, part ghillie suit, but it was elastic and flexible, which was what you needed.

“Okay, Eddie, I’m gonna have to shift you a little,” you warned, keeping one hand pressed to his torso as you slid your other one— the one holding the mesh fabric —underneath his side.

“Sure,” the dark-haired man mumbled, but his voice was very light, little more than a breath, and his eyes were starting to flutter.

You couldn’t waste any more time, so you shoved your arm beneath him. You skin scraped across the asphalt, tiny pinpricks of pain, but they were so easy to ignore as the you shoved your hand out on the other side of him.

“Dustin, grab it,” you ordered, and when he did, you quickly withdrew your hand and pressed it beside your other one on the man’s stomach. “This might hurt, Eddie, I’m sorry.”

“Wait, wait.” His dark brown eyes flickered open, finding yours. They looked so tired. And scared. “I-I think I just… need a second, okay?”

Dustin stifled a sob beside you, but your eyes were dry as you glared down at the man bleeding out beneath your fingers.

“Eddie, we don’t have a second,” you said. “We need to stop this bleeding before we can even move you, and then we have to somehow get you through the gate, and the hospital is still like ten minutes away, and goddamn it, why did you do this Munson?”

You gasped for breath at the end of your rant, your throat constricting, and the backs of your eyes started to feel hot again.

No, stop it, you couldn’t cry. You couldn’t cry because Eddie wasn’t going to die. You kept repeating this to yourself, even as Eddie coughed again, the sound wet, and smiled weakly up at you.

“I-I didn’t run away this time, though, right?” he asked, a begging for validation behind his dark eyes.

“No, no, you didn’t run,” Dustin said, voice choked.

“You’re… gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, okay, Henderson?” Eddie’s eyes slid from you to the boy on his other side, and his resigned tone suddenly infuriated you.

“No,” you snarled, Dustin sobbing out the same word. You pried one of your hands off Eddie’s stomach, leaning forward and grabbing both of Dustin’s. Your fingers were tacky with blood against his skin, but you ignored it as you met the kid’s eyes and maneuvered his hands. “Keep applying pressure. Hard. Here and here. Don’t let up.”

“W-What are you doing?” Dustin asked, but he did as instructed while you half turned and groped behind you.

You didn’t respond as your fingers closed around the haft of Eddie’s makeshift spear.

“Henderson,” Eddie coughed, but you refused to look at him. “Say it. Say ‘I’m gonna look after them.’”

“No, you’re gonna do that yourself,” Dustin sniffled as you turned back to face them.

You glanced down and saw blood was starting to drip from the flannel.

“Say it.” Eddie’s face was pleading.

“Don’t say shit, Dustin,” you growled, and then you leaned over and down so your face was hovering just over Eddie’s. “Do you hear that, Munson? I’m not letting your ass die, so shut the fuck up.”

Eddie’s bloody face twitched, too many emotions to name rippling across it, but you tore your eyes away and turned to Dustin.

“When I tell you to, move,” you said as you dug around in your pocket for the Zippo. Once it was in your hands, you flicked it open and laid the homemade spear across your lap.

“B-But I thought you said not t— what are you doing?” Dustin cut himself off, his wide eyes staring at where you were now running the Zippo’s flame along the knife used as the spear’s head.

“Pressure isn’t enough, he’s still bleeding,” you said in a flat, robotic tone, your eyes never leaving the lighter’s flame. “We need to cauterize the wounds. It’s the only way we’ll get him out of here in time.”

“Shittttt,” Dustin whined, and you knew if his hands weren’t glued to Eddie’s gut, they would be tearing at his hair.

“That… doesn’t sound fun,” Eddie rasped quietly.

“It won’t be,” you snapped and finally tore your eyes away from where the flat edge of the knife was beginning to glow orange. “That’s what you get for being stupid.”

“Aww, come on, princess.” He cracked a bloody smile. “You… can’t give me my hero moment? I-I think I was pretty badass. Let me go out in a blaze of glory.”

“No,” you spat, your voice cracking again as tears abruptly returned to your eyes with a vengeance. “No, because what about me? What the fuck am I supposed to do with you gone, Munson?”

Eddie blinked slowly at you, a numb sort of surprise flickering across his features.

“You’ll… be okay,” he said after a moment.

“No, I won’t,” you countered vehemently, and tears started to slip down your cheeks, dropping onto Eddie’s face and neck. “I won’t be okay. Because you’ll be dead, and I’ll spend the rest of my life in love with a goddamn ghost.”

You didn’t mean to say it, had told yourself you would take your embarrassing crush to the grave, but your mind was starting to spiral in desperation.

Eddie’s dark-brown eyes widened, but you snapped your head up to glare at Dustin.

“Move!”

The boy ripped his hands away and fell back on his ass, and you dropped the Zippo, using your now free hand to shove the bloody flannel and Eddie’s Hellfire shirt up and out of the way. His pale torso was soaked in blood, the crimson blocking out some of his tattoos, and you could see where it was still oozing from. Jagged bite and slash marks littered his ribs and sides, but your eyes quickly identified the two worst ones, the ones that were making him lose too much blood.

The spearhead was still glowing as you maneuvered it over Eddie’s torso, and you couldn’t help but find his eyes again.

They were still wide with fear and surprise, but you thought you saw trust there too in the dark depths of his gaze.

Without thinking about it, you leaned down and pressed your lips to his. Eddie drew in a ragged gasp, and you briefly darted your tongue into his mouth, tasting blood. Then you pulled back and stared into his eyes.

“Don’t you fucking die on me, Munson,” you murmured in the space between your mouths.

“Y-Yes, ma’am,” he exhaled, and you seized the moment to position the hot spearhead over the worst of his wounds and press down.

The sound and smell of sizzling flesh hit you, and Eddie yelled out wordlessly as his back arched.

“Stay still, stay still,” you begged, trying not to stab him with the knife pressed to his skin.

Dustin leaped forward and pressed down on Eddie’s shoulder and thigh, anchoring him to the ground and whispering reassurances.

You counted to ten in your head and then carefully pried the knife away from his side. The skin was still streaked with crimson, and now it was red and raised in an angry, jagged pattern that matched the serrated edge of the knife. But no new blood trickled from the wound, and relief made your head swim.

You would still need to get him to a hospital for any internal injuries, but if you could stop the external bleeding, it would buy him some time.

“Okay, okay, just one more,” you panted, picking up the Zippo in shaking fingers to reheat the flat of the blade.

“You hear that, Eddie?” Dustin asked and shook him a little. “Just a little more.”

Eddie choked out a laugh, his eyes glassy and unfocused as he stared up at the dark sky. “’S’all good. It… doesn’t even really hurt anymore.”

Dustin whimpered, and you gritted your teeth, burning the tips of your fingers as you all but pressed the flame into the knife.

“Hey, Munson? Munson! What year is it?” you asked frantically.

“Hmmm, ’86, baby,” Eddie hummed, his voice sleepy. “My year. I think it’s finally… gonna be my year.”

“That’s right.” The flat of the blade was now orange, so you dropped the Zippo again and zeroed in on the second-worst bite. “So you gotta stay alive. It’s your year, and you’re going to graduate, and the second shit settles down, you’re taking me on a date.”

“Am… I?” His dark eyes refocused a little and found yours.

“Yes,” you said and steeled yourself. “So, keep breathing and focus on me.”

“Second part’s n-not hard at all, sweetheart.” He smiled weakly at you, but then his face contorted as you pressed the hot metal into his skin once more. “F-Fuck! Shitshitshit.”

“Shhh, I know, I’m sorry, so sorry,” you babbled as Dustin whined but held Eddie down.

You counted to ten again before pulling the blade away, and again, the skin was ugly and raised, but sealed. Your eyes danced over Eddie’s torso, but the rest of the bite and slash marks were shallow, most already clotted over. It was like the bats only got two good bites in before you started barbequing them.

Thank fucking Christ.

“Okay, okay, that’s it.” You dropped the spear and then hurriedly tugged your flannel and his shirt back over his stomach. You pressed the flannel against his gut, grabbing the mesh ghillie suit that was still underneath him and quickly tying it around his waist.

Eddie groaned, but when you were done, his torso was bound good and tight, and with the worst of the wounds cauterized, you should be able to move him.

He just needed to stay awake and keep breathing a little while longer.

“I-Is it done?” Dustin asked, his voice quiet and sounding much younger than he actually was. “Is he… gonna be okay?”

“I’ve done all I can, and most of the bleeding’s stopped,” you said, and you glanced from the curly-haired boy to the panting man beneath you. “We still need to get him to the hospital. ASAP. Do you hear that, Eddie? We gotta move.”

“I… don’t think I can,” he sighed, eyes fluttering, struggling to find yours. “S-So sleepy.”

“Hey, hey.” You reached out and cupped his face, trying to keep him awake, and his gaze cleared a little as it met yours. “What’s that line, from the Return of the King? The one Sam says to Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom? When Frodo says he can’t go on.”

Eddie blinked up at you, a small crease forming between his eyebrows, but Dustin beat him to it.

“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you,” the kid recited from memory, and a smile bloomed across your face.

“Yeah, that one,” you said, shifting so you were crouching on your heels instead of kneeling. “I can carry you. But I need you to at least sit up for me. Can you do that, Munson?”

Eddie stared at you with an expression you couldn’t place. He looked on the precipice of either breaking out into tears or into a smile, but his eyes were steady as they held yours.

“Obi,” he breathed, but you could already hear it in his tone, so you started shaking your head.

“Nope, nuh-uh, I’m not hearing any arguments. Can you sit up, yes or no?”

Eddie pursed his lips before jerking his chin down once.

“Alright, Henderson, help me sit him up,” you said, gently tucking your fingers under Eddie’s right shoulder while Dustin did the same on the left. “Slowly!”

Together, you and Dustin painstakingly levered Eddie upright.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” the metalhead hissed through gritted teeth, and then he slumped against you once you had him in a seated position. His breath was hot and damp against the skin of your collarbones, his forehead pressed into the crook of your neck.

“Still with me, Munson?” you murmured as you wrapped your left arm around his back.

“Present and accounted for,” he groaned, rolling his brow against your good shoulder.

“Good, good. Now…” You shifted a little in your crouched position, your thighs and knees beginning to burn. “I need you to drape your arm around my shoulders, and I’m going to wrap mine around your waist. On three, we’re going to stand up, and Dustin’s going to slip under your other arm. Alright?”

“M’kay,” Eddie sighed as he nuzzled his nose behind your ear. “You smell good, Obi.”

Any other time, that sentence would have made butterflies explode into flight in your stomach, but you could hear the slur in his words, and you knew he wasn’t going to stay conscious much longer. The three of you needed to get back through the gate before he passed out.

“You can smell me all you want later, yeah?” you said and jostled him. “Drape your arm over my shoulder, Munson.”

Eddie hummed wordlessly but listened, so you made sure your hold on him was secure before you took a deep breath.

“Okay, one, two, three!”

You shoved upwards, body aching from the strain of Eddie’s additional weight. He was practically limp against you, but you got the pair of you upright, and he managed to somewhat stay on his feet.

“Alright, good,” you grunted, swaying, and you dug your fingers into Eddie’s opposite hip. The hand you had wrapped around his back was the one that demo-bat slashed, and you could feel your own blood still dripping down your skin, but you ignored it as you looked at Dustin. “Grab that spear. Something weird happened to the bats, I didn’t kill them all, so more might come back.”

“Shit, I hope not,” Dustin said, but he picked up the spear anyway before he moved to Eddie’s other side.

It was then you noticed his limp, and your eyes narrowed.

“Henderson, what happened to your leg?” you demanded.

“Well, what happened to your shoulder?” he shot back, raising his eyebrows at the shoulder Eddie wasn’t collapsed against, the one that was starting to ache something fierce now that the adrenaline was beginning to fade.

You winced and then sighed. You couldn’t reprimand him for something you had also done.

“Okay, fine, but never mind helping us,” you said, and you tucked your fingers into the belt loop on Eddie’s opposite side. “I can get him. Just… keep an eye out and lead us back to the gate.”

Dustin frowned, but his leg must have really been hurting because he didn’t argue. He just nodded, spared Eddie one more glance, and turned toward the Munson trailer.

“Alright, Munson, just put one foot in front of the other for me,” you murmured as you dragged your left foot forward.

Eddie stumbled after you, his weight dragging you down, but he stayed upright, his head lolling against your shoulder.

“’M so tired, Obi,” he sighed into your ear. “Can’t I nap first? I’ll study after, promise.”

His words were both slurred and nonsensical now, and you swallowed past the lump in your throat and quickened your pace as much as you could.

“No can do, Munson. We gotta get back to your trailer first.”

“Hmmm… and you gonna spend the night? Got this… new strain from Rick. ‘s killer.”

You’d spent the night at his place before, usually when you were too stoned or tired to drive back to your mom’s house and have her new boyfriend bitch at you for coming in so late. Of course, nothing had ever happened between you and Eddie, besides you drooling on his shoulder or on his couch, but the memory of being so close to him, his warm body pressed to your side while you watched some cheesy horror movie, made you want to scream.

Because his face felt so cold where it was pressed into your neck now.

“Yeah, I’ll stay the night,” you said in an effort to keep Eddie awake. “We can get as high as you want, and I’ll even let you practice Master of Puppets again.”

“I’ve almost… nailed the solo,” Eddie sighed into your hair. “So close. It’s going to be so m-metal.”

The memory of him playing on top of the trailer, rocking out even as an army of bats descended on him, made a slightly hysterical giggle slip from your lips.

“You’re right, it was so metal,” you said just as he stumbled, and you grunted as you caught him. “Hey. Hey, Munson. Eddie!”

“Hmmm?” he hummed, but he started walking again, and you could see his trailer in the distance.

“We’re almost there, so close, just keep walking for me, okay?” You met Dustin’s eye from where he was limping a few feet ahead of you, and while he still looked scared shitless, there was a hint of hope in his gaze now.

“H-Hey, Eddie,” Dustin stammered out, his voice high-pitched. “I-I was thinking, after you graduate, to celebrate, the club should have a one-shot night, and one of the other guys can DM. That way, you can be a player again a-and see that the torch has rightly been passed on. Obi wanted to play too, right, Obi?���

“Y-Yeah,” you said, though this was the first you’d ever even heard of this idea. “I’ve watched you guys play long enough. What do you say, Munson? Help me build a character?”

“You’re a Rouge,” Eddie laughed before he coughed again, and his feet tangled. You managed to keep the two of you from falling over, but his breath was ragged in your ear.

“Really, why?” The question just fell out of your mouth, anything to keep him talking, and Eddie could talk about DnD for hours.

“Sneaky,” he muttered, head lolling against yours, his arm that was draped over your shoulders weighing down on your neck like a yoke. “Sneaky little thief.”

“When have you ever seen me steal something, Munson?” The trailer was so close now, the steps just yards away, the remnants of the front door hanging from its hinges.

“Sneaky,” Eddie said again, but it was more like a sigh. “Snuck into my chest and… stole my heart. Whisked it away and hid it somewhere.”

Now, your feet tripped against each other. You knew he was delirious, barely conscious, speaking nonsense. But a part of you— a very small part buried beneath all the fear and anxiety and fading adrenaline— couldn’t help but wonder.

Did he… share your feelings?

Unfortunately, your brief trip to fantasy land was abruptly cancelled, because Eddie suddenly went completely limp against you and started to pitch forward.

“Eddie!” you gasped, trying to grab him, your arms screaming in pain.

Luckily, Dustin lunged back and helped catch the metalhead, but the two of you couldn’t keep him upright, so you lowered him onto the ground just in front of the steps to his trailer.

“Shit!” Dustin cursed, and he started to hyperventilate. “Shit, no. I-Is he--?”

“He’s alive,” you sighed in relief as you cupped a hand in front of Eddie’s mouth. His breathing was slow but even, just like his pulse when you groped under his neck to check. “I think he just passed out. His… body’s been though a lot.”

“Oh, okay,” Dustin said before he took a deep breath to recompose himself.

Of course, that was when the ground started rumbling beneath you, the Munson trailer creaking ominously.

You and Dustin stared wide-eyed at each other for a long moment, but then the rumbling worsened, followed by red lightning cracking across the sky again, and Dustin grasped at his head.

“Shit, what do we do?!” he wailed.

You glanced down at Eddie’s slack and bloody face for the briefest instant before you started moving.

“Grab his feet and help me get him in the trailer, Henderson,” you ordered, shifting so you could pick up Eddie’s shoulders. “Then you’re going to find whatever sheets or fabric you can in under thirty seconds and tie them together. Ready? On three.”

Dustin scrambled to comply, and as the world continued to shake at the seams around you, you focused on the rise and fall of Eddie’s chest.

He was alive, alive, alive, and you were going to do whatever you had to in order to keep him that way.

~*~*~*~*~*

Two Days Later

Another yawn cracked your jaw as you slumped in the hard plastic chair, and you shook your head, trying to wake up a little.

The sunlight coming through the windows behind you was an orange bordering on red, and the clock on the wall said it was just past seven pm. The sun would set completely soon, and you knew you needed to eat something for dinner, having skipped breakfast and snagging chips from the vending machine for lunch. Your stomach gurgled in agreement, but your heavy eyes and sore body kept you glued to your seat.

The steady beating of the heart monitor wasn’t helping either, the even rhythm like a metronome trying to lull you to sleep, and you scrubbed your face with your right hand, since you left was bundle up in a sling.

As you tiredly dragged your fingers down your cheek, your gaze drifted over to the still form on the bed. In front of you lay Eddie Munson, still breathing, still alive, but pale, his cheeks lacking their usual color, his lips cracked and peeling. He looked… smaller wrapped in bandages and a hospital gown, tucked under sterile white sheets. He also hadn’t woken up since he passed out on the steps of his trailer in the Upside Down. The doctors assured you he would. He’d had some minor internal bleeding, like you expected, but it only took you fifteen minutes after he passed out to get him through the doors of the hospital.

You’d almost killed yourself getting back through the gate, and then almost fallen into a miles’ wide sinkhole, and then nearly crashed the car as you were speeding down the road in a stolen vehicle while the earth quaked to the foundations of Hawkins, but you got Eddie here in time. The doctors said so. He would have some bad scarring— part of that your fault— but once his body recovered from the blood loss, he should be okay.

He just had to wake up.

You glared at Eddie’s sleeping face as you willed him to move, twitch, anything, but he stayed still and silent, and you sighed as you painstakingly got to your feet. You’d been sitting in that chair for hours now, like you had all night and the previous day. You needed to stretch.

Even though it somewhat pained you, you tore your eyes away from Eddie and moved to the window, staring impassively at the orange sky streaked with what look like black smoke, gray ash fluttering down to build upon the windowsill.

Steve had already called to tell you what was going on. Apparently, Mike, his superhero girlfriend Eleven— who you had yet to meet— and some of the others had seen the gates worsening with their own eyes. They were holding a strategy meeting at the Wheelers’ at eight, which Steve invited you to, and you wondered if there would be food there.

You knew you should be more worried, more scared, but all you felt was tired and numb. Everything kind of felt… suspended around you, like the deep breath before a plunge. You were waiting. Waiting for Eddie to wake up. Once he did, you could worry about the gates and the end of the world and whatever else. As long as he was awake.

You continued to stare blindly out at the sky and wondered how it had come to this.

You’d actually grown up in Hawkins. Had fond memories of biking around town, playing in the woods when you were young. Then, when you were about ten, your father got a new job in a bigger city, and he moved you and your mother out of Hawkins for this “great, new opportunity.” That lasted a few years, but when that job fell through, like they always did for your father, your mother finally had enough. She divorced him, and he signed away all his rights, so your mom moved the two of you back to her hometown, completely ignoring that it was your senior year.

She definitely regretted that now.

Small towns were pretty close-knit, so for the ten months you spent at Hawkins High, you mostly kept to yourself. You got good grades since you were good at memorizing and regurgitating information, but your mother was too busy with her new boyfriend to notice. They’d gone to your graduation, though, so that was something at least.

But you didn’t have the money to go to college. At least, not right away. So, you got a summer job at the mall slinging ice cream with Steve “the Hair” Harrington. You’d seen him around school since he was in your graduating class, but since you kept to yourself, you’d never had any interactions with him. He was actually cooler than his reputation made him out to be, in a kind of dorky, endearing way, and you had fun shooting the shit with him, Robin Buckley, and the children that just seemed to flock to Steve for some reason. You’d especially liked Dustin Henderson, specifically because he seemed to get under Steve’s skin in the most hilarious, annoying little brother way.

Then, of course, you got pulled into the whole “Russian spy/Oh-yeah-monsters-are-real” game, which wasn’t how you accepted to spend your summer last year.

But it wasn’t all bad. For the first time in your life, you had real friends. Friends who would literally die for you, and vice versa. Even after the world had been saved— or so you thought at the time— they still stuck around. Robin even helped you get a job at Family Video, and despite some reoccurring nightmares, you were… happy.

Then Dustin and the other kids started high school, met the Hellfire Club, met… Eddie.

Steve always complained about how much Dustin went on and on about this Eddie, but you thought it was sweet. You’d heard of Eddie Munson during your time at Hawkins High, but you never had any classes with him, and you always kept your head down in the halls and left immediately after school. Steven scoffed and rolled his eyes, said Eddie was just a stoner loser, which made Dustin heartily protest, and it always devolved into an argument either you or Robin had to break up.

You could admit you were curious about this Eddie Munson, but it was a mild curiosity.

Then, one rainy day in the fall, when Dustin blew out one of his bike tires and needed a ride home after Hellfire, you offered to pick him up since Steve had a shift that night. You’d run into the room where the club was wrapping up their session, dripping water everywhere, and when you finally shook your wet hair out of your face and looked up, your eyes immediately locked onto dark-brown ones that were staring at you with interest.

You suspected that was the moment you fell in love with Eddie Munson. But the next moment— the one where Dustin introduced you, and Eddie slid off his throne and onto his feet before dipping into a graceful, flourishing bow— was a close second.

For the next several weeks, Dustin had asked you to pick him up from Hellfire, but after Mike let it slip that Dustin’s bike was already fixed, you’d asked the curly-haired boy why. He’d reluctantly admitted that Eddie asked him to bring you around, so the next time the club met, you drove up to the school. Dustin was already leaving with Lucas and Mike, the three of them waving from their bikes, and Eddie had blinked at you in shock when he saw you leaning against your car. Then a wide smile bloomed across his face, crinkling his eyes, and it was all downhill from there.

You started spending time with Eddie in the afternoons or evenings or on your days off from the video store, and you quickly discovered that the hardcore metalhead persona was just a mask. The real Eddie Munson was a nerd through and through. But he was also sweet, funny, quick to smile and quicker to make you laugh.

The two of you spent hours talking about everything and nothing, passing joints back and forth until they were just ashes. You learned that he was actually pretty smart and well-read. His dog-earned copies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were worn from use and even annotated, and one night, when the two of you were really high, he read a passage from one of the books, doing all the different voices. You had dissolved into giggles at some point, pushed over the edge by a particularly ridiculously voice, and Eddie had looked so proud of himself, dimples prominently framing his wide grin.

His DnD campaigns were also incredibly complex and compelling, and you told him he could honestly be a writer someday. He had blushed and laughed you off, saying he was probably never even going to graduate high school, and the defeat in his voice had twisted your heart. So, you’d offered to tutor him, help him study, in the hopes of getting him to graduation. Eddie moaned and complained at first, but he let you quiz him with flashcards, started taking notes, and his grades had gone up a little in the last few months. As he’d crowed to the Hellfire Club numerous times, he had just needed to pass Ms. O’Donall’s final.

Of course, none of that mattered anymore. Half the town had already fled, and the school was being used as an evacuation center for those who remained. You’d heard rumors that the school administration was just going to pass all its students for the year, to make the paperwork for transferring easier, but you weren’t sure if that was true or not.

You hoped it was. Eddie deserved some good news when he woke up.

You sighed again and knew you needed to start heading for the Wheelers’. With one more glance at the darkening sky, you turned away from the window and went to pick up your jacket from the back of your chair.

But when you looked up, your eyes clashed with dark-brown ones, staring at you with interest.

“Jesus H. Christ!” you gasped, stumbling back a step as your right, bandaged hand flew to your chest.

Your heart was pounding in your ears, and Eddie Munson was staring back at you from the hospital bed. His gaze was glassy and a little disoriented, but it was focused on you, and after a moment, his dry lips parted, his tongue snaking out to wet them.

“Hey, Obi,” he rasped, and a faint smile tugged at his mouth.

You exhaled a sound halfway between a sob and a choke, and then you were stumbling forward, shoving the chair out of the way so you could sit on the edge of the bed.

“H-Holy shit,” you stuttered out, tears blurring your vision as you took Eddie’s hand in yours. His palm was warm against your own. “Fuck, Munson. Y-You took your damn time waking up.”

“ ’M sorry,” he sighed, but his fingers squeezed yours, and a tear finally escaped and trailed down your cheek. Eddie frowned at the sight, and his glassy gaze cleared a little bit. “Why… are you crying, princess?”

You choked out a laugh, more tears spilling down your cheeks. “Because you’re in the hospital, dingus. You almost died.”

“Oh, yeah.” He blinked placidly up at you for a moment, but then his eyes widened, and you heard on the monitor as his heart began to race. “Shit, wait, what happened? I-I remember the bats— Fuck! Where’s Henderson, is he okay? And what about Harrington? Wheeler? Sinclair? And the redhead, oh, fuck, did Vecna get her?”

“Eddie,” you tried to cut in, but he was fully starting to panic now, his fingers digging into your hand, his breath coming out in shallow pants.

“A-And am I in the Hawkins hospital? What about the cops? Fuck, are they on their way? Do we need to start running? I—”

“Eddie!” you said, this time louder, and he cut off with a gasp, his wild and terrified eyes staring into yours.

“Y-Yes?” he asked, his voice quiet and timid.

“Take a deep breath, Christ,” you sighed, and you would have run a hand through your hair if one of them wasn’t in a sling and the other held in a death grip by long, slender fingers, rough with guitar callouses.

Eddie inhaled shakily through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, and his eyes never left yours.

“Good,” you said, a weak but genuine smile stretching across your face. “Now, one thing at a time. What do you want to know first?”

“Henderson,” Eddie blurted without hesitation. “Is he alive?”

“Yes.” You nodded. “Dustin’s fine, just has a sprained ankle. Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Lucas are also fine. And Max is… alive.”

“I don’t like that tone, Obi,” Eddie said as he frowned at you. “What happened?”

He could always read you too easily.

“Vecna… did get her,” you sighed, eyes dropping to where your hand was intertwined with his. “Partially. Mike’s superhero girlfriend Eleven was able to beat him, but… Max is in rough shape. The doctors aren’t sure if she’ll wake up again.”

“Shit,” Eddie breathed, his face twisting. “That… sucks.”

His response startled a snort out of you, and his cheeks flushed a light pink.

“I-I’m sorry, that was stupid to say, I’m just drugged up—” he started to ramble, but you squeezed his hand and smiled at him again.

“No, you’re right, it sucks,” you agreed. “It fucking sucks royally. But apparently there’s a chance Eleven might be able to wake Max up, so there’s some hope.”

“Well, that’s good,” Eddie said, but then he shifted slightly and flinched.

“Are you okay?” you immediately asked, your eyes falling to his stomach, half-anticipating to see him bleeding through his gown.

“Fine, fine, just… sore,” he groaned and pressed his head back into the pillow, his long hair a dark halo around him. “Everywhere.”

“Welcome to the club,” you scoffed, awkwardly waving your sling-bound arm like a chicken wing.

Eddie frowned at your arm before his eyes found yours again. “How did that happen?”

“Well…” You bit your lip. “How much you do remember? From right before you passed out.”

“I… remember jamming out on top of the trailer,” Eddie started slowly as a crease formed in the middle of his brow. “I remember the bats, running from the bats, the bats getting into the trailer, and… oh.”

He flinched again, a little guilt beginning to leech into his eyes, and you knew he’d remembered his “decision.”

“Yeah, oh,” you repeated, your voice taking on an edge as you glared down at him. “You, Edward Munson, decided to fucking oh-so-heroically sacrifice yourself.”

“Aw, come on, Obi.” He tried for a smile, but it withered as your glare increased. “Okay, I know you’re angry, but I couldn’t just let you get eaten by monster bats. Y-You and Henderson, I mean. I was trying to give you both enough time to escape.”

“Did you honestly think we would just leave you there?” you demanded. You tried to sound angry— were angry— but you voice came out a little hurt.

“Well…” Eddie said as he chewed the dry skin off his lower lip. “I’d hoped you would. Especially after I cut the sheets down.”

“All that succeeded in doing was making it harder for Dustin and I to get back, which resorted in his sprained ankle, and my fractured fucking shoulder.” Your words were sharper than you meant them to be, and Eddie winced like you’d struck him. He averted his gaze and started to extract his hand from yours, but you clamped your fingers down around his. “Wait, no, I—”

You cut yourself off, sighed, and took a deep breath.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m sorry,” you muttered, running your thumb across the backs of Eddie’s knuckles. “I just… god, Munson. Do you know how fucking terrified I was when I saw those bats circling you? And don’t get me started on how much blood you lost. I nearly lost my goddamn mind trying to stop the bleeding.”

“You… burned me,” Eddie said, and his eyes narrowed as he fought to remember.

“Yes.” Now, it was your turn to flinch. “To stop the bleeding. I-I didn’t wanna hurt you, but it was the only way—”

“Calm down, sweetheart,” Eddie chuckled, and that lopsided grin you loved so much spread across his face. “You obviously did everything right, since I’m sitting here talkin’ to ya.”

You exhaled shakily because he was right. You’d kept him alive. That was the important part.

“Yeah, well, lugging your ass through that gate certainly wasn’t easy,” you scoffed, but you flashed him a smirk to show you were partially joking.

“How’d ya do it?” Eddie asked, settling back into the pillows as he absently played with your fingers.

“Well, the earthquake certainly didn’t give us a lot of time—” you started.

“Wait, what earthquake?”

“Would you let me finish?” you teased, narrowing your eyes at him, and he sheepishly smiled.

“Sorry, go on,” he muttered.

“Like I said,” you sighed. “Right after you passed out, it felt like the Upside Down was trying to shake apart. So, Dustin and I carried you into the trailer, and Dustin tied together any fabric he could find while I used the furniture to prop up the mattress vertically beneath the gate. Dustin helped tie you to my back in the weirdest piggyback ride ever, and then he clambered up the mattress and through the portal. You and I more fell through, but Henderson made sure we had a landing pad this time, so minimal injury on that front. Then we hauled ass to the hospital. But…”

You trailed off and bit your lip, unsure of how to break the bad news to him.

“But what?” Eddie asked with a furrowed brow.

“But the earthquakes didn’t stop,” you went on as you tightened your grip on his hand. “The gates… grew. They fucking split Hawkins in half. And… they swallowed your trailer.”

“Oh, shit,” Eddie breathed, his face paling, and then his nails dug into your skin. “Shit, Wayne?”

“Wayne’s fine,” you quickly assured him. “He was at the plant when it happened. He was actually here just a while ago. Went out to find something to eat.”

“Thank fucking Christ,” he sighed as some of the tension fled his body, but his eyes quickly found yours again. “So, the trailer’s just… gone, huh?”

“Yes.” You nodded and stroked your thumb across his knuckles again. “Along with half of Hawkins. Butttttt… Henderson was able to grab a few things while I was starting up the car.”

Eddie cocked his head at you curiously, his bangs trailing across his forehead, and you fought the urge to brush them back.

You smiled instead and tried to extract your hand from his, but his grip clamped down around you, and his brown eyes went a little panicked.

“It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere,” you soothed. “Just need to reach under my chair, and I only have one hand at the moment.”

A blush stained Eddie’s cheeks, and he reluctantly released your fingers. “Sorry.”

You just continued to smile at him as you stood and turned around. A small box had been stashed under your chair, but you’d kicked it out of your way when you’d rushed to Eddie’s side earlier. The cardboard box was shoved against the wall beneath the window, and you stifled a groan as you bent down and picked it up with one arm.

“It’s… not a lot,” you grunted as you set the box on the edge of the bed, pressed to Eddie’s thigh. “Mostly just what Dustin could sweep or throw in a box in under ten seconds. But it’s something, and I’d thought you’d like to have something familiar when you woke up.”

Eddie wiggled a little in the bed, wincing as he struggled upright.

“Here, let me help,” you said, leaning over to press the button on the side of the bed. The head of the mattress started to slowly raise, but you didn’t want to put too much pressure on Eddie’s gut yet, so you left the bed in a half reclined position. Then you hit another button to turn up the lights since the sun had fully set by this point, and Eddie blinked in the sudden brightness.

“Alright, what do we got here?” the metalhead asked as he peeked into the box, but his teasing expression turned soft when he saw the contents.

Slowly, he pulled out a few cassettes— Iron Maiden, Megadeath, Judas Priest— along with faded Metallica t-shirt, one of his favorites. Next was his DnD binder, stuffed full of notes, campaigns, and character sheets. And lastly, there were his copies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

“Goddamn Henderson,” Eddie muttered with a fond expression, and his eyes grew glassy again, this time with tears.

“He also managed to grab your guitar,” you added and grinned, saving the best for last.

“Are you fucking serious?” Eddie gasped as his gaze snapped to yours.

“He’s got it at his house,” you chuckled. “Said he’d keep it safe for you until you got out of the hospital.”

“That fucking kid.” Eddie grinned and shook his head, but his smile slowly faded.

“What?” you asked as you studied his troubled face.

Eddie slowly put all his things back into the box and nudged it back at you, so you took it and set it on the ground at your feet.

“Obi, be honest with me.” He met your eyes dead-on. “Am I going straight to jail from here? Are the cops just waiting for me to wake up to arrest me?”

“Not… exactly,” you said, pursing your lips. “It’s complicated.”

“Oh, you’re killing me, princess,” he groaned. “Am I bound for the gallows or not?”

“You’re not,” you clarified. “All of Hawkins, the police department especially, have more pressing matters to focus on at the moment. Plus, um, Lucas kind of pinned the whole thing on Jason.”

“What?!” Eddie’s voice rose in pitch, and his eyes bulged out of his head. “And the cops believed Sinclair?”

“Well, they kind of had to.” You shrugged. “Especially since Jason couldn’t defend himself. Given the fact he’s dead. But he’s half the reason Max got hurt anyway. He found her and Lucas, attacked Lucas, and broke Max’s Walkman. Then he apparently got cut in half by the gate widening, so Lucas told the cops that Jason was the one who killed Chrissy. He thought Chrissy was cheating on him with you, so he killed her and framed you for the murder. Then he just went psycho, killing more people, and he confessed all this to Lucas before he tragically died in the earthquake.”

Eddie’s eyes grew larger and larger as you spoke, and when you finished, he exhaled sharply.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, his gaze growing distant. “So does that mean… I’m free?”

“For the most part, yeah.” You smiled. “Half the town has fled in the last couple days, and the ones that are left are too busy worrying about the rest of Hawkins just falling into hell. The police exonerated you yesterday at an emergency town meeting, but no one seemed to really care anymore.”

“Fucking figures,” Eddie grumbled, and he rolled his eyes. “They were all up in arms to drag me through town and burn me at the stake, but now they’ve probably already forgotten my name.”

“Good,” you said as you reached out and took his hand again. “Those fuckers don’t deserve to utter your name anyway.”

Eddie seemed taken back for a moment, face slack with surprise, but he quickly covered it up with a smirk.

“Damn straight, sweetheart.” He winked before dropping his head back with a sigh. A moment of silence passed between the two of you, and then Eddie snorted before he started laughing.

“What?” you asked, his laughter contagious, pulling your lips upward.

“Nothin’.” He shook his head, still chuckling. “It’s just… guess I’m not graduating this year, either. ’86 wasn’t my year after all.”

“Actually,” you said as your smile grew, “I heard a rumor the school is just going to pass everyone. You know, in the wake of the ‘disaster.’ So I wouldn’t throw your towel in yet, Munson. I still think ’86 is going to be your year.”

Eddie grinned, a full grin this time, every inch the lively, crazy boy you’d known for months. His brown eyes sparkled with that mischievous glint you loved so much, and he abruptly lifted the hand that was intertwined with yours and pressed a smacking kiss to the back of your knuckles.

“’86, baby,” he crowed. “My year. And it’s all thanks to you, Obi.”

“Shut up.” You rolled your eyes, falling back into your usual song and dance, but Eddie suddenly grew serious.

“I mean it,” he said, all traces of laughter gone from his voice. His dark-brown eyes bored into yours, and your breath hitched in your chest. “I would have flunked out months ago without you pushing me to study, and I would have bled out in that fucked up place if you hadn’t saved me. I owe you. More than I can ever repay. But once I get out of this damn bed, find a place to live, and get a job, I’ll figure out how I can start. You know, if the world doesn’t end before then.”

“Excuses, excuses, Munson,” you teased but averted your gaze, uncomfortable with how deeply he was staring into you. You cast your mind about for something, anything else to say, and words tumbled from your mouth before you could fully process them. “M-My house didn’t get swallowed by the gate, so you could just stay with me, you know. J-Just until you find something else. Or the world ends. Whichever comes first.”

You laughed awkwardly, but you could still feel Eddie staring at you, and when you darted a glance in his direction, his eyes were wide. He quickly cleared his throat when he caught your gaze, but you could see your offer had surprised him.

“W-Well, that’s awfully kind of you, princess,” he stuttered out before plastering on a smile. “But I’m sure your mom won’t be thrilled to have the Munson men move in. And I can’t leave Wayne by himself.”

“Wayne can come, too,” you blurted out, dropping your gaze again. You stared at your scraped up knuckles, intertwined with Eddie’s, and tried to fight back your blush. “A-And my mom won’t be a problem. She… left.”

“She… left?” Eddie repeated in an incredulous tone. “What the hell do you mean, ‘she left?’”

“She left.” You shrugged, still refusing to look at him. “Yesterday morning, after I got done talking to the police, helping Lucas to corroborate the Jason lie, my mom showed up. She and David had already packed up the cars and were ready to get the hell out of Dodge. But I wouldn’t go with her. I couldn’t just leave you. I-I mean, you and the rest of the gang. Shit’s only gonna get worse before it gets better, and I know we’ll need all hands on deck if we’re going to keep the Upside Down from swallowing up the real world. So, I refused to go with her. She got upset, and David got pissed, but I’m nineteen. They can’t make me do anything. So… they left.”

Several beats of silence passed, and when it grew too much for you, you chanced a glance at Eddie’s face. His expression was caught between gaping shock and incandescent rage, and you blinked in surprise.

“Are you… are you alright?” you murmured, squeezing his hand.

Eddie seemed to snap out of it, and his gaze found yours again.

“Am I alright?” he scoffed, voice tinged with hysteria. “I should be asking you that. Your mom just… fuck, I’m sorry, but I can’t believe she just fucking abandoned you in the middle of this shitstorm. What a goddamn bitch. N-No offense, of course.”

“No, you’re right,” you said with a wry smile, and you shrugged again. “She is a bitch. We’ve never had the best relationship, I always reminded her too much of my father. But… at least this way she’ll be safe. David might be a dick, but he actually seems to care about her, and I know my mother would kill him if he tried to lay a hand on her. So… she’ll be fine. And who knows? Maybe, once this shit is all over and Eleven saves the world again, my mom will come to her senses and apologize.”

You and Eddie stared at each other for a long moment. You were the one to break first, poorly stifling a snort, and then Eddie caved after you, and soon the two of you were giggling and gasping for breath.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Eddie hissed as he grasped at his side, but he was still laughing. “Ughh, that hurts, Obi, don’t make me laughhhh.”

“Sorry, sorry,” you snickered, and your cheeks ached from smiling so wide.

The pair of you lapsed into silence again as Eddie caught his breath, and then he flopped his head to the side to meet your eyes.

“So… your house, huh?” he asked, lips twitching up at the corners.

“I-If you want,” you stammered as you felt heat rise into your cheeks. “Granted, it might also get swallowed up at any moment, and you and Wayne would have to decide who gets the other bedroom and who gets the couch, but… yeah.”

You bit your lip and would have picked at your fingers if Eddie wasn’t still holding your hand. His face was soft and thoughtful as his brown eyes considered you, but then nervousness started to creep into his expression for some reason.

He seemed to take a moment to build up his courage, and he licked his lips before he spoke again.

“Can… can I ask you something, Obi?”

The seriousness of his tone made you sit up a little straighter.

“S-Sure.”

“It’s just… my memory is still a little spotty, after the bats got me,” he started, and his thumb started brushing over your knuckles again, like he usually played with the rings on his fingers. “I remember… some things, b-but I can’t tell if they actually happened or if I was just hallucinating from blood loss at that point. I— Look, I’m just gonna come out and ask, and you can’t laugh at me because I’m very injured and fragile and might cry. Alright?”

“A-Alright,” you said, swallowing past your suddenly dry throat.

You had a sneaking suspicion you already knew what he was going to ask.

Eddie took a deep breath, and then his chocolate-brown eyes stabbed into you, pinned you to the spot.

“Did you kiss me?”

Your breath hitched in your lungs, panic sparking along your nerves. You didn’t think he would remember. He’d been dying and delirious, and you were just trying to keep him alive, would have said whatever you needed to in order to keep him alive.

Part of you wanted to lie, save yourself the embarrassment, but you couldn’t with the way Eddie was staring into your soul.

“Yes,” you whispered, confessed, and you braced yourself for his rejection.

You’d never said anything about your feelings because you were sure they could never be reciprocated. Eddie had never made a move in all the months you’d known him. He was always affectionate, touching you in innocuous ways, playing with your fingers, tugging gently at your hair, throwing his arm over your shoulders, but it was never sexual, even when you passed out in his bed with him that one time, too stoned to move. So, he obviously didn’t see you like that, and you were too scared to risk your friendship by saying anything.

Besides, Eddie always talked about wanting to get the hell out of Hawkins and never look back, and you didn’t want to be the thing that got in the way of his dreams. You told yourself you would keep your dirty secret, take it to the grave, and yet here you were, on the precipice of spilling your guts.

“And… did you say that you… loved me? Like in love with me?” Eddie asked as he stared at you intently.

You couldn’t read his expression, his tone, your brain too busy setting itself on fire in embarrassment.

“Yes,” you said again, voice no more than a breath, and you dropped your gaze, unable to bare the rejection that would soon appear in his eyes.

“And did you mean it?”

It would be better to lie. To laugh it off, say you were just spouting nonsense to keep him awake. Tell him that of course you loved him, he was your best friend and nothing more.

You couldn’t, though. You were just so tired, and this secret had been weighing you down for so long. It was time to give it up.

But you couldn’t find your voice now, throat hot and tight with building tears, so you just nodded your head silently.

Eddie inhaled sharply, so sharply it sounded like he was in pain, and you just started babbling.

“I’m sorry, look, we can just forget all about it, really. It doesn’t have to mean anything. I’m just so happy you’re still alive, and I don’t want to lose you. Y-You’re my best friend, Munson. Besides, we still have all this gate shit to take care of, and—”

“Obi,” Eddie cut you off. Then he said your name. Your real name. He hadn’t used it in months, and it caused a shiver to roll down your spine.

You snapped your head up in shock, your mouth hanging open in a small ‘o.’

Eddie was still staring at you, but now he was smiling, so wide that his eyes crinkled and the dimples besides his mouth almost leapt off his cheeks. Tears dotted his eyelashes, but he looked so happy, you didn’t understand.

“What’s with the surprise?” he laughed when he saw your face. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know, sweetheart.”

“K-Know what?” you stuttered, trying to piece things together.

“That I’ve been in love with you since the moment you walked into Hellfire, dripping wet, last fall,” he said simply, easily, his smile going a little lopsided. “I had to bow to you to keep from falling to my knees.”

“What?” It felt like the breath had been knocked out of you. Your ears started to ring, and your vision darkened at the edges until all you could see was his face.

“Seriously, Obi?” He smirked. “For a Jedi master, you can sometimes be a little slow. Why do you think I asked Henderson to lie to you about fixing his bike? I wanted to see you. At first, I was worried you were just showing up out of obligation toward the kid, but then there you were that day, leaning against your car in the parking lot, waiting for me. That was probably the happiest day of my life. If you discount all the other days I’ve spent with you since then.”

You gaped at him wordlessly, his words echoing around your skull but failing to process.

He… he loved you? He loved you back?

“B-But you never… you never said anything,” you stuttered. “Never gave any indication…”

“I thought I was pretty obvious, the way I’m always hanging all over you,” he snorted. “But I couldn’t help myself. I just… always want to be around you, Obi. You make the chaos in my head a little quieter. You were like this one spot of bright light in this ugly town. But, like you said, I-I didn’t want to ruin what we already had. Besides, I’m Eddie the Freak, and you’re like lightyears out of my league. Why would you ever go for someone like me?”

“You’re not a freak,” you immediately countered, your voice strong in your surety. “Don’t call yourself that. You’re… you’re Eddie the Brave, not the Freak.”

“Wait, I thought you were the Samwise to my Frodo,” Eddie quipped, so he apparently remembered a lot of what you said while he was dying.

“I’m serious.” You frowned. “You were willing to sacrifice yourself for Dustin and me. You’re a hero, Eddie. A truly metal hero.”

Eddie flushed at your praise, dropping his eyes so his long lashes brushed against the tops of his cheeks. He played with your fingers, and after a moment, he raised one of his shoulders in a half shrug.

“Yeah, well, it’s easy to be a hero when you’ve got such a beautiful maiden to save,” he said, eyes darting up to yours, and a smirk tugged at his lips.

“You are seriously the worst,” you groaned and pulled your hand from his, but he caught it again, brought it to his lips, and pressed a kiss to the center of your palm.

“True, but you love me,” he said, but you could see there was a question in his dark eyes, and you couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face.

“Yeah,” you breathed, cupping your hand over his warm cheek. “I do.”

Eddie nuzzled into your palm and grinned so brilliantly it was like looking into the sun, and you thought that you could handle any nightmare the Upside Down tried to throw at you, as long as you could see his smile every day for the rest of your life. However long it might be.

“Hey, Obi?” he muttered.

“Hmm?”

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, voice quiet and reverent.

Your stomach bottomed out inside you, and it felt like bubbles had replaced the blood in your veins. You felt light, weightless, like you would float away at any moment.

There was only one answer you could give.

“Yes,” you whispered.

Eddie smiled again, softer but no less happy, and he lifted his hand and gently tucked it behind your head. He played with your hair for a moment before his palm slid to the back of your neck, and then he was slowly tugging you down to meet him, and you were leaning the rest of the way to bridge the distance.

His lips were still dry and chapped when they brushed yours, but just the knowledge that it was him kissing you made every hair on your body stand on end. You tilted your head slightly to get a better angle, opening your mouth to let your tongue trace over his lower lip.

Eddie made a small, surprised noise that trailed off into a groan, and then his grip on the back of your neck tightened. He opened his mouth under yours, his tongue darting out, and the kiss deepened, grew more urgent. His other hand reached out to grab your waist, and he tried to pull your even closer, even though you were already half lying on his body.

You didn’t care, though. In fact, you also wanted to be closer, and you were just considering the logistics of trying to straddle him without exacerbating his wounds when you heard the door open behind you.

“Oh!” a voice gasped.

You ripped yourself away from Eddie, but his hand on your waist tightened and wouldn’t let you go far. You shot a quick glare at him before you glanced at the doorway, and your cheeks filled with fire when you saw the middle-aged nurse standing there.

“H-Hello,” you stammered, trying to stand up and failing when Eddie’s hand flattened against the top of your thigh.

“Hello,” the nurse said as she raised an eyebrow at the pair of you, and though her face looked disapproving, there was a hint of amusement in her gaze.

“H-He just woke up a minute ago.” You cleared your throat, and in your peripherals, you could see Eddie smirking up at you, unbothered. “I was… just about to call someone to check on him.”

“Of course,” the nurse said, but she didn’t sound or look convinced. “Well, I’ll need to give him a quick exam, but it should only take a minute. Then I’m sure you and your boyfriend must be hungry, so I’ll have someone bring you guys dinner.”

“Thank you,” you muttered, your cheeks still on fire.

The nurse hummed and approached the opposite side of the bed, but then she paused and raised an eyebrow at you again.

“I’ll need you to get off the bed for the exam,” she said and looked pointedly at the chair shoved against the wall.

“R-Right,” you stuttered, and then you shot a narrowed-eyed glare at Eddie.

He smiled innocently up at you, but he did remove his hand from your thigh, and you hurriedly got off the bed and moved to sit in the chair.

The nurse was quick and efficient in her exam, and she said Eddie was recovering nicely. If he could keep some food down and sleep through the night, he should be able to discharge in the morning.

“Alright, I’ll go see about getting you some dinner,” the nurse said as she made her way to the door again.

“Oh, wait,” Eddie called out, and when the nurse turned to him, he plastered on his most charming, dimpled smile. “Could you make sure we get the red Jello? That’s my girlfriend’s favorite.”

The easy and casual way he said ‘girlfriend’— not to mention the fact that he remembered which Jello was your favorite— made a heat wave flash through your body, and it felt like your heart had been replaced by humming bird wings.

“Sure, hon.” The nurse nodded before she shot the two of you a look. “But I will say that a hospital is a place for healing, so I expect the two of you to be respectful of that.”

“Of course, ma’am,” Eddie said with a completely earnest expression, and he raised his right hand. “Scout’s honor.”

You were too embarrassed to actually say anything, but you nodded your head all the same. Thankfully, the nurse seemed satisfied with that because she left without saying anything else.

But the moment she was gone, Eddie snapped his head toward you and smirked.

“Yeah, Obi,” he teased. “You need to be more respectful of the sacred hospital. Keep it in your pants.”

“That’s it, I’m leaving,” you deadpanned as you rose from your chair. “Goodbye, Munson.”

“No, no, I was just kidding,” he laughed, but when you stepped toward the door, his voice dipped into a whine. “Nooooo, Obi, don’t be mean to meeee. I’m wounded. A wounded hero!”

You shook your head but couldn’t keep yourself from smiling, and somehow, you ended sitting on the edge of his bed again. You were too nervous about the nurse coming back to do anything ‘untoward,’ but Eddie seemed content to hold your hand and ask about everything else that had happened in the last few days.

The nurse soon returned with two trays of food, and while hospital food wasn’t exactly gourmet, it filled the aching void in the pit of your stomach. Eddie also had fun feeding you since he insisted your arms were too injured to move, and some of the mash potatoes did end up smeared across your cheeks, but Eddie was quick to lean forward and lick it off, silencing your complaints and setting your cheeks aflame.

While you two were eating, Wayne came back, and the poor man nearly fainted from shock when he saw Eddie awake, upright, and eating. Once he recomposed himself, he rushed forward to pull his nephew into a hug, and you subtlety slid off the edge of the bed to give them some room. You mouthed to Eddie over Wayne’s shoulder that you were going to make a phone call, and while the metalhead seemed reluctant to let you out of his sight, he nodded.

You left the two Munsons to reconnect in private, and you made your way to a payphone in one of the waiting rooms. You called the Wheelers’ place, and Dustin picked up on the second ring. He’d apparently been waiting for your call, wondering where you were since the strategy meeting was about to start. You regretfully informed him that you wouldn’t be making it to the meeting, but before he started to complain, you told him Eddie was awake.

The boy nearly blew out your eardrum with how loudly he cheered, but the relief and excitement in his voice only made you grin. Dustin rambled out a million questions before he cut himself off and said he was coming to the hospital, but you told him to stay at the Wheelers and go ahead with the meeting. He tried to argue, but you reminded him that Eddie still needed some rest, which he reluctantly agreed with. You assured him that he would be the first person you and Eddie went to see once Eddie was discharged tomorrow, and Dustin said he would hold you to that.

The two of you spoke for a few more minutes before you hung up the phone, and it had been about ten minutes since you left the Munsons, so you slowly made your way back to Eddie’s room.

Wayne was sitting in the chair beside Eddie’s bed when you eased open the door and slid silently into the room, and judging by his disturbed, slack jawed expression, you assumed Eddie was giving him an edited recap of all the Upside Down shenanigans.

“So, yeah,” Eddie finished in an incongruously chipper voice. “That’s the long and the short of it. I know, it’s fucked up, but it’s the truth.”

Wayne was silent for a long moment, and then he sighed and ran a hand over the top of his head.

“Few weeks ago, I might have called you crazy, but now… I believe you, kid,” he muttered and shook his head. “I’ve seen these… gates. Nothing of this world should look like that. So, I believe you.”

“Good,” Eddie sighed as he relaxed back into his pillows, but then he saw you standing by the door, and a grin broke out over his face. “There you are, sweetheart. I was just talkin’ bout ya.”

Wayne looked up as you hesitantly approached the bed. You’d met him in passing a few times, mostly when you would come over to get high with Eddie and Wayne was on his way out the door for his night shift, and you flashed the older man a tentative smile.

“Hi, Mr. Munson,” you said respectfully.

Wayne didn’t say anything in response as he slowly rose from his chair, and he rounded the end of the bed to stand in front of you, still without saying a word.

“Uhh…” Your eyes darted to Eddie, who looked just as confused, but before you could say anything else, Wayne suddenly pulled you into a tight, crushing hug.

“Thank you,” Wayne rasped into your ear, his voice sounding choked. “Thank you for saving my boy.”

Your eyes widened in surprise, but you slowly returned the man’s hug.

“O-Of course,” you stuttered before you cleared your throat. “I-I love Eddie, Mr. Munson. I wasn’t going to let him die, no matter how stubborn he was being.”

Wayne chuckled as he released you, wiping his eyes and flashing you a wry smile.

“That sounds like him,” he said.

“Hey!” Eddie protested from the bed, which you and Wayne ignored.

“Also, just call me Wayne,” the older Munson added.

“Alright, Wayne.” You smiled.

“Can we stop playing the ‘Ignore Eddie’ game?” Eddie pouted from the bed, and when you looked over at him, he made grabby motions in your direction.

You and Wayne shared an eyeroll, but Eddie’s uncle stepped to the side so you could reach the side of the bed. Eddie immediately grabbed your hand and tugged you down to sit on the mattress, and he smiled like he hadn’t seen you in years.

“Hi,” he breathed, already playing with your fingers.

“Hi,” you giggled back.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Wayne grunted behind you, and you turned to see him pulling on his jacket. “The, uh, power plant has asked the people left to take on extra shifts if they can, just until the government aid fully arrives. My shift ends around 3am, so I’ll catch some sleep at the high school before I come pick you up after they discharge you, Ed.”

“Oh, actually,” you interjected as you pulled your hand out of Eddie’s. He made a noise of protest, but you ignored him as you dug around in your jeans pocket and pulled out your keys. Then you turned and extended them out to Wayne. “The key with green paint on the top is my house key. My house is still intact, and, um, there’s no one living there at the moment besides me. I already offered this to Eddie, but you both can stay with me until we… figure out what to do about all this… mess.”

Wayne stared at you incredulously. “I-I don’t think—”

“Really, it’s fine, Mr. Mun— Wayne,” you corrected with a smile. “My place isn’t much, but I know a real bed is a right sight better than a cot stuffed in a high school gymnasium. I’ll, um, probably stay here at the hospital tonight anyway, just in case, so, really, you’ll have the place to yourself. And I can drive Eddie home after he’s discharged in the morning. Just leave my car keys.”

Wayne blinked at you, then at the keys, then at Eddie.

“I’d just take them, Uncle Wayne,” Eddie said over your shoulder. “If you think I’m stubborn, Obi is like an immoveable object. Or an unstoppable force. Or both, really.”

You turned and narrowed your eyes at Eddie, and he immediately raised his hands in surrender.

“See?” he stage-whispered to his uncle out of the side of his mouth, and you rolled your eyes and turned back to Wayne.

The keys were still dangling from your fingers, but after a moment, Wayne reached out, took them, and started to work the green painted key off the ring. When he was done, he returned the others to you, and you smiled up at him.

“Thank you,” he grunted. “This is very… kind of you.”

“Kind is Obi’s middle name,” Eddie teased, causing you to blush.

Wayne spent a few more minutes saying goodbye, and you gave him directions to your house. You also told him which bedroom used to be your mothers, and where to find clean sheets.

Once he was gone, Eddie sighed and subsided into the pillows.

“Man, I’m tired,” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

“Almost dying will do that,” you said, and though you hadn’t meant to be funny, he laughed. The sound was infections, and you smiled slightly, leaning down to press a quick kiss to his brow. “Why don’t you lay back and get some sleep? I’ll be right here.”

“Will you lay with me?” Eddie asked as he looked up at you through his lashes.

The bastard. He knew you were powerless against his puppy dog eyes.

But you still tried to be sensible.

“You’re still injured, Munson,” you pointed out rationally. “Plus, the bed is like two feet wide, and the nurse is going to rip us both a new one if she finds me in that bed again.”

“Don’t care,” he muttered, tugging at your arm as he fought through a yawn. “I don’t even feel any pain cause of the morphine, and fuck the nurse. I just want to feel you close. I always sleep better with you close.”

The simple confession evaporated the rest of the fight in you, and you sighed.

“Fine,” you relented, like you always did with him.

“Yay.” Eddie grinned and scooted over until his opposite shoulder was pressed against the guard rail.

You shook your head at him as you toed off your shoes, but when you saw the cardboard box half stashed under the bed, you got an idea. Bending down, you rifled through Eddie’s few remaining possessions before your fingers closed around the thing you were searching for, and then you stood up with your prize.

“Ooooh,” Eddie said when he saw the book in your hand, and his brown eyes lit up with delight. “You gonna read me a bedtime story, Obi?”

“Maybe, if you can be quiet long enough,” you huffed as you handed him the book. “Hold this.”

He dutifully took the book from you, and then you spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how to clamber up into the bed without harming either of you. In the end, you were both lying on your backs, hips and shoulders pressed together. Thankfully, your busted shoulder was on the outside of the bed, and you pulled up the guardrail again so you couldn’t roll out of bed in the middle of the night and fully break your already fractured bones.

“Hmm, this is nice,” Eddie hummed as he snuggled his face against your shoulder, his long hair brushing against your neck. “You smell good, Obi.”

“Stop it, you’re tickling me,” you giggled, trying to crane your head away, but he just chased after you.

“Nuh-uh, sweetheart. You said I could smell you all I want if I stayed alive, and here I am, still kicking and breathing. Are you going back on your word, princess?”

“No,” you grumbled and just gave in.

Eddie made a happy noise as he pressed his nose to the column of your throat and inhaled, and then he pressed a quick kiss there that made goosebumps erupt over your skin.

“Okay, I’m ready,” he announced as he plopped the book back into your lap. “You may begin.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” you teased, but you picked up the worn book all the same. “Do you want me to pick up at a certain spot?”

“Hmm, nah,” Eddie said, snuggling up more against you, and his eyes were heavy when you looked down at him. “Just start at the beginning.”

“Alright, but I’m not doing all those ridiculous voices you do for the dwarves,” you warned as you flipped to the first page.

“That’s okay, that’s where I’ll jump in,” Eddie snickered and pressed another kiss to the curve of your shoulder. “Because I know how much you love it.”

You couldn’t even deny that. You loved it because Eddie was always so passionate, just like he was about everything else.

“Deal,” you chuckled, and then you cleared your throat before you began. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”

You had to admit, as much as your related to Bilbo and the other hobbits, you didn’t find comfort in a hole, or a house, or any one place.

No, your comfort was the man lying beside you, and no matter what lay ahead for the two of you, and for the rest of Hawkins, you knew you would always have a home as long as Eddie Munson was at your side.

#eddie munson #eddie munson fix it fic #eddie munson/reader #eddie munson/you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson/fem!reader #stranger things #dustin henderson #stranger things fic #my writings #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson oneshot #angst #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson/female reader #eddie munson x f!reader #eddie munson/f!reader

[and-claudia]

Just Wait in the Truck (Rip Wheeler x Dutton! Reader

Based on the song "Just Wait in the Truck" by HARDY

Yellowstone Taglist

Warnings: mention of abusive relationship (not with Rip), gun violence, death (let me know if I missed one)

A/n: this is my first time writing for Rip or anyone in Yellowstone. I just started season 2

Word count: 744

Rip’s PoV

I was driving through town, heading back to the ranch for the night. There was a nasty storm out and I could barely see 10 feet in front of the truck. I had just made it to the outskirts of town when something had me hitting the brakes. Someone was walking along the side of the road. I threw the truck in reverse and carefully backed up. 

It was a girl. Shit, it was Yn. I reached over and opened the passenger door for her. She looked terrified. 

“Climb in.” I said gently, trying not to scare her any more than she clearly was. 

She got in and sat silently. She had bruises appearing along her arms and her face and her nose was bleeding slightly still. Her shirt had a tear in it and blood stained it in a few spots but I couldn’t tell if it was all hers. 

“What happened?” I asked. 

“What do you think?” She said quietly, before turning to look at me, “Please don’t tell my dad. I don’t need him worrying about me.” 

I gave her a single nod before putting the truck in drive but keeping my foot on the break as I looked at her. 

“Where is he?” I asked. 

She told me his address and I started driving that way. The rain had soaked through her clothes and she was shivering, so I carefully reached behind her seat to grab the jacket I had tossed back there before handing it to her. She took it and covered herself up with it, tucking her knees to her chest trying to make herself as small as possible. 

When we pulled up to his trailer I put the truck in park before grabbing my pistol. The rain had let up a little and I opened the door and got out. 

“Wait in the truck.” I told her. 

She looked at me, the fear had returned to her eyes slightly. 

“What are you going to do?” She asked, though, I knew she knew the answer. 

I took a deep breath and sighed, “Just wait in the truck.” 

With that, I shut the door and made my way up the steps to his front door. I banged on his door. Nothing. I did it again. Nothing. So I kicked it down and walked in. He was sitting in a beat-up, old recliner with a bottle of whiskey hanging from his hand. 

“What the hell man?” He slurred his words as he yelled at me. 

“What’d you do to her?” I asked. 

I didn’t hide the fact that I had a pistol in my hand, I didn’t need to. But the moment he saw it he was reaching for his rifle. Before he even got to it, I raised my gun and shot him. His body fell with a thud. I took my phone out and got some backup to come and help me with the body so I could get Yn home. I stepped over his limp body and into his kitchen, over to his fridge. I grabbed two beers before leaving and going back to the truck. 

Reader’s PoV

I heard the gunshot from inside and flinched. It felt like years passed as I watched the door waiting to see who walked out. A breath of relief fell from my lips as I saw Rip walking out. He came around the other side and climbed back into the truck. He didn’t say anything just offered me a beer he had clearly stolen. 

“Gotta wait for help to come.” He said and I knew what he meant. 

I took the bottle from him and opened it. 

“Thank you.” I said, though it wasn’t for the beer. 

He nodded. 

Not too long later, headlights pulled up behind us. It was my brother Kayce. He got out and so did Rip. I stayed where I was. 

Rip’s PoV

“Is she okay?” Kayce asked. 

“Bruised and bloody. I didn’t load her down with questions. Give her time.” I said. 

He nodded and glanced into my truck to check on his sister, “Did she see anything?” 

I shook my head, “I told her to wait in the truck.” 

“Good. Get her home. Take care of her, Rip. We’ll handle this.” He said. 

“Yes, sir.” I tilted my hat at him before getting back into the driver’s seat of the truck. 

I looked over to Yn, “Come on, let’s get you home.” 

Rip Wheeler Taglist:

#yellowstone #rip wheeler #rip x reader #rip x dutton! reader #rip wheeler x reader #rip wheeler x dutton! reader

[smolbean-17]

SEASON 3 THEORIES

Part 1 (Episodes 1-3)

I never made any theories for Season 2, but quite a few of my theories from Season 1 were really close to what actually happened, so I figured I’d give my shot at theorizing Season 3.

I can’t really guess how exactly these plot points will land and in which episode, but I think these things will happen in the first 3 episodes, in no particular order. We’re getting all 3 eps in one night so they’re going to be establishing quite a bit.

Ep1 - Confined

This is the episode where we will see Omega and Crosshair confined at Mt. Tantiss together. Omega has her Season 2 hair, and seems more optimistic than she does later on in the trailer.

At this point I don’t think Omega is treated as a prisoner. I think she’s restricted of course, but it seems to me from the trailer that she’s serving as more of an assistant to Nala Se with limited freedom. Hemlock promised her she’d be treated well, and I feel like he was telling the truth. And maybe Omega has chosen to behave herself (for now) and has made a plan of luring them into a false sense of security so she can find a way out.

And then she sees Crosshair up and alert and not being tortured (and being escorted to another part of the facility? More cloning experiments?) and she decides to escape with him somehow.

Crosshair is disheartened and incredibly sad, maybe because he found out about Tech and perhaps believes his other brothers were captured/killed. Who knows. Someone either screwed with his emotional state before this shot, or maybe he’s just drained from his captivity. But I think it’s the former.

It will show more of the inner workings of what’s going on at Mt. Tantiss, but it won’t reveal too much. I think it will mostly establish what Omega is doing there.

Ep2 - Paths Unknown

As for the boys, we will see that there’s been a passage of time. How much time, I’m not sure. But probably a few months. That’s when we hear Hunter say the famous “Omega’s been waiting for us a long time. I’m not making her wait another day.” (pretty sure that’s all one quote that’s been sliced up)

It’ll establish that Echo has left again with Rex, probably to liberate more clones and look for hints about where Omega is along the way. Hunter and Wrecker are alone. They set up base on Pabu, recruiting help from Phee who is more than willing to help. But they never stay there long, and they run themselves ragged trying to find Omega and not getting any closer. Both Hunter and Wrecker are more angry and determined than we’ve ever seen them.

Ep3 - Shadows of Tantiss

Meanwhile, Omega finally hatches her plan to escape…

Things obviously don’t go according to plan, and she doesn’t get too far before she’s stopped. Just in case, they inject her with a tracking implant…

and she gets imprisoned.

It looks like this little cage situation is the same as this one from the leaked trailer:

Omega’s hair situation is really the only thing throwing me off lol.

So she meets Crosshair again. She tries to get through to him and show him that she hasn’t lost hope. He argues and Omega gets through to him in the way only she can. She finally gets him to agree to an escape.

The episode could end with Hunter and Wrecker getting a call from Rex and Echo that they finally have info on Omega, thus leading into Ep4, A Different Approach (which would make since if you consider they have new information).

So these first 3 episodes will be jam packed with information, and maybe not a ton of action, but will be establishing episodes to move the story along.

Another thing I noticed from the leaked trailer…

Are we getting a flashback(s)? That looks like Hunter’s old armor paint job, and that backpack and helmet to the left is very distinct and only belongs to one person…

I would seriously love to see Clone Wars era Bad Batch again. Maybe flashbacks are interspersed throughout the season for extra exposition/character development/emotional damage. Maybe the first episode opens on a flashback!

Let me know what you think! Part 2 coming soon!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

#the bad batch #star wars #clone wars #sw tbb #tbb #the bad batch spoilers #bad batch #star wars the bad batch #bad batch theories #star wars tbb

[hexiewrites]

on romcommunism, bisexual ted lasso, and the mumford-and-sons of it all

TLDR: this ENTIRE SHOW is about subverting expectations, expecting one thing and ending up with another, trying and trying and trying and ending up with something you never expected but is exactly what you need.

I've been thinking about this a lot, especially in regards to the amsterdamn episode which I think is the show finally 'coming out of the dark forest' so to speak, so I wanted to revisit the romcommunism speech and how it interacts with the theme song and with the other mumford references I see throughout the show, and why I think it points to a possibility of bi!ted, or at least, of a ted ending entirely different than what the majority is expecting it to be.

first off, as a reminder, the rom-communism speech from season 2 episode 5:

"If all those attractive people ... can go through some light-hearted struggles and still end up happy, then so can we. (...) Gentleman, believing in Rom-Communism is all about believing that everything's gonna work out in the end. Now these next few months might be tricky. But that's just 'cause we're going through our dark forest. Fairytales do not start, nor do they end, in the dark forest. That's something that only shows up smack dab in the middle of a story. But it will all work out. Now it may not work out how you think it will, or how you hope it does, but believe me. It will all work out. Exactly as it's supposed to. Our job is to have zero expectations, and just let go."

I've highlighted one of the most important parts of this speech for my analysis here, because when @stevecarrington and I were discussing it they pointed out where that sentiment comes into ted lasso again and again and again:

sound familiar? yup! it's right out of the theme song itself.

I have a lot of feelings about the theme song in general, but specifically the fact that it's... it's not exactly a sitcomedy theme. it's not actually a hopeful song on first read through, but it also kind of is. because one of the unfortunate and inexplicable truths in life is that it's pretty much assured that you might not get what you want, but, as the rolling stones and the season 3 trailer itself tell us, you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time you just might find you get what you need

I'm viewing this very much from a point of, Ted is going to find what he needs this season. he doesn't know yet what that is (winning the whole damn thing? moving back to his son?) but it's our job as the viewers to have no expectations, to not assume that things are going to work out in any specific way but that they will work out. and that you're going to keep trying, you're not going to know what to expect, and what you end up with may be something entirely different than what you thought when it started.

(kind of like having a giant bi awakening, no?)

I also have a lot of personal feelings about mumford and sons (and marcus mumford's) influences on ted lasso. I've started writing that post a hundred times but it's kind of a mess so I haven't posted anything (in the meantime, go watch the hopeless wanderer video, which exists because jason sudeikis is a close friend of marcus mumfords), but the one I come back to over and over is the song believe, and how the lyrics fit so perfectly into this romcommunism concept to the point that I think the entire central theme of the show is built off of mumford&sons lyrics:

and again. this drags it home so hard for me, on all of this. I could do a literal dissertation on what I think are other major mumford and sons influences on the show but this post isn't that. instead, I just want you to think about how the believe lyrics fit in with everything we're seeing. "your world's not all it seems" <- ted is not all he seems. he doesn't know if he believes yet, he needs someone who can "open up [his] eyes, tell [him he's] alive" and it needs to be someone who communicates openly, who talks to him

ted doesn't yet know if he believes. and he might not get what he wants (his marriage to be fixed, an easy relationship, an ending where everything is perfect), but he is going to get what he needs. he is going to try, and try, and we as the audience will go in with zero expectations and trust that it is going to work out.

I think different people will read this differently, but to me, it's a great subversion of the obvious idea that ted and rebecca are going to end up together. the cast has already said again and again that people seem to expect tedbecca to be A Thing, partially because they're both attractive, or they're both leads, because romcoms have trained us to expect this. ted is in a lot of ways some of what rebecca has been in need of, and there are some great posts about rebecca as the rom com heroine and what that means for her arc. but for me, the writers and cast saying that their relationship is strictly platonic, that they're brother and sister, is an excellent example of 'you can't always get what you want, but if you try you get what you need'. they might have some thoughts, they might start to think they'd be right for each other, and they are, but not in the way we might be primed to expect.

what ted and rebecca both NEED in each other is that confident. that platonic love and support that they're both craving in a lot of ways. sure, ted has some of that with beard, and rebecca has some of it with keeley. but their relationship, their connection, is so powerful to me from a platonic place, and this season is going to show them that's what they need from each other and always have.

and what ted needs is someone who can open up his eyes, who can, as mumford say in "white blank page" (which is also a very ted coded song):

he needs someone who can lead him to the truth.

perhaps... someone we might not expect? someone who built his career on finding the truth, and who destroyed it to do just that, to give ted the truth even at the cost of his job and the life he had built?

perhaps now that we've come out of this dark forest, we're going to start to see those expectations shifting, and we're going to see ted get exactly what he needs, even if he doesn't yet know what he wants.

(I want to be clear that I think you can also view this very strongly from the angle of 'ted does not need to end the show in a romantic relationship, he just needs to surround himself with love and truth and platonic support' and truly I think that's more likely to be what we actually see. I just couldn't help the tedtrent implications slipping in a little at the end here.)

#this post is honestly a mess im so sorry enjoy??? #ted lasso #bisexual ted lasso #mumford and sons #ted lasso is mumford and sons fanfiction no i wont say more #ted lasso season 3 #trent crimm #kind of at the end there #tedtrent #tedependent #sorry for this mess of a post #what am i doing

[etherealperrie]

Stuck With You {pt. II}

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader: In which Class President!Reader is paired with Stoner!Eddie Munson for a class project. Despite their general hatred for one another, Reader and Eddie find out there might be more to one another than they first thought. And…Hey, wait, you’re actually kind of sweet and misunderstood?

Word Count: 2.1k

Contains: Explicit language | Enemies to friends to lovers | Class President!Reader | Knowing glances | Heavy flirtation & banter |

A/N: Story takes place pre-season 4, so no spoilers for the newest season (aside from Eddie being a character and existing in the ST universe). This is part 2 of the "Stuck With You" series, if you'd like to read part 1, you can do that here. Hope you enjoy <3

...

Hellfire Club. A week ago you would have laughed in the face of anyone who told you that you’d somehow wind up in room 321-B after school to see Eddie Munson play Dungeons and Dragons. And yet, here you are. 

“Halt!” Dustin Henderson jumps out in front of the doorway, stopping you in your path. You step back, hands raised in innocence. 

“What business do you have here?” he asks, crossing his arms. Glancing over his head you spy Eddie surrounded by a group of other kids all sitting around a large table covered with a black velvet tablecloth and an elaborate looking game board, complete with those little figurines you spotted in his room a few days ago. 

“I – uh,” you stammer. 

“Hey! Henderson, cool it, she’s with me.” Eddie’s gaze connects with yours from across the room, an excited, puppy-like grin spreading across his face. He rises from his seat – throne, rather – at the head of the table and crosses the room to greet you. 

He couldn’t be that happy to see you, no, you’d been nagging at him all week about how you needed to practice for the presentation you’d soon be giving in class. That was during the time your spent together in class, which mostly consisted of you begging Eddie to focus, a request he only obliged to after copious amounts of flattery or the promise of your chocolate chip cookie during lunch. Outside of that, your schedules almost never aligned, which was how you ended up agreeing to meet with him after Hellfire Club. But, when your Student Council meeting got canceled on account of the principal catching a cold, you decided to drop by early. You had other things to do, sure, but you oddly wanted to see him. Well, not him, definitely not…Admittedly, you'd always been curious about what went on here. You were calling it research – after all, it is important for the Class President to know about all campus-affiliated clubs. 

“Hi, sorry I’m early, is this okay?” You look back down at Dustin who still stands between you, looking between the two of you, clearly confused. Eddie must not get a ton of visitors, maybe none at all. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’re just about to get started.” He gestures vaguely to the scene behind him before tucking his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. 

“No, wait,” Dustin interrupts, turning to glare at Eddie. “Is she playing? What happened to the ‘no watchers’ rule? This is a sacred campaign!” 

You raise an eyebrow at the kid, shocked at his tone. Bold for a freshman. 

Eddie bends down just slightly to make direct eye contact with Dustin, his smile slowly fading. 

“Henderson, remind me who brought you into the Cult of Vecna?” 

There’s a beat of silence. Dustin opens his mouth to respond, but thinks better of it. 

“Oh, right, I did. We showed you that high school didn’t have to suck and while you are the future of Hellfire, as long as I am here, crawling my way towards that D in Ms. O’Donnell’s class, this club is still mine. My club, my rules. She stays.” 

This was more so what you expected of Eddie, more like what you witnessed when he made faces at the basketball team and flipped off teachers in the hallways. Vaguely threatening and rather harsh. Still, it surprised you after seeing him so soft and kind that night in his trailer. It was even more shocking he was acting this way on your behalf. To save you from the criticism of a fifteen year old. 

Eddie stands back up and Dustin groans, dragging his feet back over to the table. 

“I didn’t know I was entering a sacred space,” you joke, leaning your head against the doorframe. Each of the kids in the room stares at you and Eddie and you’re not sure if it’s in awe or disbelief. Hell, you can’t even be sure if they’re looking at you, him, or the two of you together, smiling. 

Eddie shakes his head. “Sorry about him, you can come in, but I’ll warn you, it’s gonna get pretty fucking intense…I’m about to rock their worlds.” 

Laughing, you follow him into the room (much to the chagrin of his friends) and perch yourself on the edge of the windowsill on the far end of the room. You dig around in your backpack for your book and open it to where you left off, letting the noise of the room fade into the background as Eddie and his friends begin their game. 

Well, at least, you tried to let the noise fade and keep focused on your book. 

Speaking candidly, you weren’t familiar with Dungeons and Dragons. You’d only heard your parents talk about it in passing after watching the news one night. Of course, you’d heard the rumors around town of the game being an elaborate ruse for devil worship, but what you were witnessing was nothing of the sort. 

You didn’t fully understand what was going on, what with all of the character names and fantasy scenarios, but you didn’t care. The book could wait. You wouldn’t have been able to stay focused anyway, not with the scene before you.

Eddie was right, this game was pretty fucking intense. 

The only thing you could comprehend was the way Eddie was practically glowing. His voice rose and fell with emphasis as he weaved a complex story of combat, challenging characters to battles, each of his friends hanging on his every word. With each new scene, Eddie changed character, pushing himself up from his seat to circle the table and create fantastical displays, his words charged with electricity that seemed to transfer from him and flow into the room full of anticipation and unfettered energy. He looked almost regal as he commanded the room, everyone – including yourself – mesmerized by his recital. 

In fact, you’d almost forgotten about the book in your hands until it hit the floor, loudly echoing through the room during a rare lull as the players thought through their next move. You mouth a quiet “sorry”, at which Eddie chuckles and Dustin glares. 

An hour and a half later, you hadn’t even turned a page of your book nor thought about the impending project, too caught up in Eddie, his story, and its conclusion. 

“You weren’t lying Munson, that was intense!” You rise from your place in the corner of the room, watching as he marks the page in his game book before carefully shutting it. He looks up at you, his dark brown eyes glinting playfully under the classroom lights. The sun had almost set by now and the majority of the club members scurried home, leaving you and Eddie to clean up.

“I thought you were studying,” he says, eyeing the book in your hand. 

You shake your head, crossing the room and leaving the book behind to stand at the opposite end of the table from him. He starts collecting the little figurines and you reach forward to help, grabbing a set of dice. 

“I couldn’t focus with all the shouting.”

“I warned you, shit gets intense during Hellfire.”

He holds his hand out for the dice and you relinquish them, your fingertips brushing his palm. A breath catches in your throat and he pulls his hand away quickly, his eyes low. In the brief second your fingers grazed his palm, you noted his soft skin. Glancing at his hands, now sliding the dice into a red velvet bag, you wonder if his skin is soft elsewhere; you imagined his fingertips would be rough, what with his guitar playing. You consider the juxtaposition of his smooth skin and dark tattoos littering his forearms, the stubble on his cheeks and the silken look of his pink lips. Much like his hard exterior and seemingly gentle interior. Eddie Munson truly was a walking contradiction.

“It actually looked kind of fun,” you muse. 

He raises an eyebrow. “Madame President, am I luring you to the dark side?” He places both hands on either side of his head, poking two fingers up to mock devil horns. 

“I’ll admit, I totally forgot about all the work we still have to do.” 

“Oh shit, you’re definitely in trouble.” He runs around the table to where you stand and takes the makeshift devils horns from their spot on either side of his head and moves them to you, his hands brushing your temples, fingers tangled in your hair. “Mhmm, just as I thought. Our president’s been fully corrupted.” 

“I said the game looked fun, not that I was going to run off and join your cult of nerds.” You smack his hands away and the room fades into silence, a stupid smug grin on his face. 

“That’s a shame, having a president who plays D&D would be hot.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Munson.”

He looks down at you through long lashes, his eyes moving down you like they did that night at his trailer, but this time they’re less filled with concern for your health, seemingly darker as they track down your face, stopping briefly to linger on your lips, only to continue down your neck only to stop once again at your chest. 

“You’ve done everything but disappoint me, Madame President,” he whispers, swiping his tongue across his lips.  

You snap your head back up to look at him, that all too familiar heat spreading across your chest, licking up your neck and at your cheeks. His eyes don’t move from you. His body is still dangerously close to yours – he hadn’t moved back when you shooed his hands away. Your body senses him and beckons you to move closer, just an inch, god, he was magnetic. It’d been a mere week and three days since that night in his trailer and he’d been on your mind every one of them. You’d never thought of Eddie Munson this way before, but something about him here, so in his element, draws you to him.  

Your brain gets the better of you though, forcing you to step back and get a little bit of space from him, no matter how much you wanted to step closer and place a hand to his cheek, perhaps feel the velvet of his lips against yours. 

“No,” you whisper, more to yourself than anyone else. You couldn’t get involved with someone like Eddie Munson, you couldn’t derail the next month before graduation, people like you and Eddie were walking different paths, going different places.  

Eddie exhales a breath, one you didn’t realize he was holding in, and shakes his head. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “Shit, I didn’t mean to…” 

“No, I didn’t mean to, I was just, uh…” you mutter, trying to form some coherent string of words. You glance back at your book still sitting on the windowsill. “I mean, we should probably focus on the, uhm, the project.” 

“Sure, yeah, whatever you think.” His voice wavers as he finally steps back, walking around to sit down across from you at the table. He watches you as you grab the book and a notebook and sit down, opening both of them and sliding the notebook across the table to him. He stops the little spiral notebook in its path. 

“That was a bad idea, wasn’t it?” he asks, rubbing his thumb against one of his silver rings. “Trying to kiss you?” He looks up from the paper and you feel your heart drop into the pit of your stomach when his eyes connect with yours. 

You swallow hard, nodding. “I think so, yeah.” 

“Then why do I still want to do it?” 

“Fuck, Eddie,” you breathe, “we shouldn’t.” 

He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, leaning forward in his chair. You find yourself leaning forward, too, inching your way closer to his lips. The small space between you shrinks, the scent of his cologne once again flooding your senses. 

“Eddie!” someone shouts. 

You scramble to your feet and Eddie does the same, both of you deploying a safe distance. You rush to grab the closest pencil and start scribbling down some nonsense onto the open page of the notebook, desperate to look preoccupied with something other than Eddie.

Dustin, this time accompanied by Mike Wheeler, bursts through the classroom door. “Dude! You let me forget my game binder!” he yells, running forward to grab the navy blue binder from the table. Mike stops under the doorway, his eyes darting between you and Eddie. 

Your act must not have been believable, the tension palpable to even a fifteen year old boy. 

“Holy shit, did we interrupt something?” The kid laughs and Dustin’s eyes grow wide, his mouth dropping open, clutching his binder close to his chest as he backs toward the door. Mike punches his arm, both of them bursting into laughter. 

“Eddie you’re a fucking legend!” Dustin shouts as Mike pulls him out of the room.  

Eddie curses under his breath. “Fucking hell, Henderson, you have the worst timing.”

#eddie munson x you #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson #stranger things 4 #stranger things fic #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #class president!reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #stranger things x reader #etherealperrie #shannon muses #my writings #i really hope this lives up to y'all's expectations lo #*lol

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Bad Batch 3.4 ‘A Different Approach’ Recap

Gif from this post by @azertyrobaz because despite my efforts, the Tumblr gif search function is trash and I couldn't find any gifs from this season.

They’re back together again! But oh boy, is that going to be one tense and fraught conversation when they finally stop staring at each other from across the large space between them that is doing an excellent job as the visual metaphor for the vast chasm that’s opened up between them. Obvious symbolism aside, onto the live blog reaction recap part.

Well that shuttle isn’t going to last long

Aw, the first thing Omega thinks to do is contact Hunter T_T

“I can see that.” — LMAO the sass XD

This shuttle feels a lot bigger than it looks. How does it have 2 levels? Tardis shuttle?

Down we go!

That’s the shot of Omega piloting a ship from the trailer

A cold planet and all they’ve got is what they’re wearing? Not good

Yus, Omega wants to go back to free the other clones! I’m glad someone hasn’t forgotten about them. They’re totally going to go back to Mount Tantiss, though Crosshair absolutely (and understandably) does not want to. I still think a theme for this season is going to be something related to what Rex is up to and freeing the clones from the Empire.

Crosshair just magically acquiring a backpack somehow

That’s the shot of the crashed shuttle from the trailer

Still really curious as to what Scorch and all the commandos with the glowing visors are up to

Nala Se regretting her life choices

“That is most surprising.” — LMAO, suuuuuuuure

Hemlock is not falling for her nonsense at all

“False positives are to be expected.” — ahahahahahaha that is a desperate deflection. She is are so screwed

“Your future, however, is less certain.” — yes good excellent tear the bitch apart

Well that clothing on the line is totally going to get stolen

Painfully clear in two shots that the locals are friendly with the Imperials

It's Star Wars, so of course that means, ponchos!

Omega and Crosshair are wearing Imperial clothing. How are they not getting spotted immediately?

“The hound” — Crosshair, her name is Batcher. He’s totally going to slowly warm up to her over the season though, culminating in finally calling Batcher by her name. Similar to Crosshair finally calling Omega by her name.

Lol called it. Clothing stolen off the line

“No.” — CACKLING 

Crosshair, wtf are you wearing?!

I think we had that shot of the shuttle flying over the town in the trailer as well. They’re really going through a lot of what was in the trailer, which is to be expected as Disney has a track record of only putting footage from the first half of a season in trailers.

Crosshair is very keen to shoot first and ask questions later

“I can hardly wait.” — More cackling. Loving Crosshairs utterly done sarcastic sass

Lmao subtle Omega xD

Crosshair is looking very dystopian sci-fi zombie apocalypse in his natty little outfit with ridiculous head tube thing

“Sounds like a you problem.” — Lol which writer has been on the internet far too much?

“Well that went well. Stow it.” — CACKLING

“Then quit wasting time complaining.” — ahahahah I’m loving Omega’s sass as well. She’s not taking any of Crosshair’s nonsense

“Of course you do.” — LMAO Crosshair is so done XD

Hmmm, that street urchin is definitely going to be important later

Crosshair is so unimpressed. What have they been teaching her while I was gone?

Really like how the only thing you can really see clearly of Crosshair’s face in his outfit is the reflection of his eyes. That’s also plenty for the tapetum lucidum fandom headcanon to run with.

Omega’s making excellent use of appearing like a cute, sweet, innocent little child in her scamming.

Why is the bartender droid Scottish?

Crosshair lurking in the shadows with about as much subtlety as Rex was in Cid's bar in season 1

Are these stormtroopers clones or natborns? I don’t think we’ve seen any clones in clone trooper armour yet this season. They do turn up eventually because you can see some of them behind Wolffe in that shot of him during the trailer. I’m guessing they’re using this as a way of visually representing the difference between the clones and stormtroopers? 

Crosshair clicking his tongue 👀 That’s going to send the Crosswhores absolutely wild.

“Never seen you or your dad around before” — He said the thing! He said the thing! CrossDad confirmed!

Scottish bartender droid has turned into exposition droid

“You seem to have misunderstood your enemy.” — hmmm, why do I have a bad feeling about this that this is going to come back and bite everyone in the ass later on in the season? 

Does anyone know what this card game is? I not sure if it’s sabacc

This Imperial Captain really is a ridiculously OTT caricature of a slimy, corrupt officer. And why does he sound like a character from Wallace and Gromit?

Those 5,000 extra credits are totally going to get swindled out of them

Crosshair ready to throw down with a kid 

Lmao doubly called it! That street urchin was gonna turn up again and the extra credits were lost almost immediately

What on earth was that cockney street urchin accent anyway. What is this, Oliver Twist?

Crosshair don’t even kid yourself, there’s no way you’re going to abandon Omega

Why is the Empire keeping even more animals in cages?

Lol of course he wasn’t going to abandon her

“But my skills are being wasted.” — Crosshair really wants to shoot things

“Noted.” — LMAO

Did the machine operator just spot Omega and Crosshair?

“Shouldn’t we free the other animals too?” — She’s totally going to free the other animals. Omega’s already done that once before when she freed Muchi as a distraction during season 1. Crosshair sounds so done XD

Well that’s gone well, and predictably

Lau? What’s Lau? Who’s Lau? Is Lau the planet they’re on? Or the town they’re in? Or is Lau the name of the Wallace and Gromit captain? What is this Lau?

The upside down cone hats on the locals look familiar. They kind of remind me of some of the hats the Neimoidians wore

We keep getting shots of that stormtrooper at the top of the tower. Are they going to be important?

Noticed that the stormtroopers seem to have 2 small vertical grey lines on the top left side of their helmets. I wonder what these signify? Or if they signify anything at all?

“Let’s try things your way.” — Time for Crosshair to shoot some things! That “Finally” was almost purred

Oh no, shaking hand. It is the one he shoots with as well

Lol called it again, Omega frees all the animals so they can escape in the chaos that ensues

Was that a rubber chicken noise?!

More shots of that stormtrooper on the top of the tower. Hmmm, who are you?

Rip the Wallace and Gromit captain. The tentacles got him

Lol @ the stormtrooper getting blasted off the top of the tower

New ship acquired! +10 space grand larceny points

Is this still Scorch talking to Hemlock at the shuttle crash site? Scorch, what are you doing? What are you up to?

“Notify all our operatives” — What operatives? Is this where the bounty hunters come in?

“I’m heading to a remote location,” — nooooooooo not Pabu

Omg are they actually going to reunite in this episode?

That was surprisingly gentle from Crosshair

Oh, not Pabu then. Random isolated moon? Where is this? Omg what if this is the same moon the Tribunal crashed on?

Aw, there’s the Marauder! Though not for long, going off what was in the new short trailer that was released today.

The music here is beautiful

Omg they’re actually reuniting. Legit tearing up

Aaaaaaah the way Wrecker hugged Omega *sobbing*

Aw they’re both crying

“Five.” — oh fuck

All the tears

Bad Batch theme?

“I had help.” — here we go

Omg the look on Hunter’s face as he looks over Omega’s shoulder

The long shot of Crosshair descending the ramp of the cargo ship on the left side of the frame and Wrecker, Omega, and Hunter on the right side of the frame is so, so good. The cinematography and framing in this is just fantastic

…Wrecker?

Oooookay, this is tense. Omega’s picked up on it too.

You can see Crosshairs face briefly look almost open before he immediately hardens and closes himself off and almost braces for a fight

Asd;flkj you can’t leave it there! Talk to each other!!!

Tbh I wasn’t expecting that reaction from Wrecker. Hunter, sure, but not Wrecker. Cautious and wary maybe but not almost openly hostile. That is going to be one awkward and fraught conversation next episode.

I’m really glad they actually showed Wrecker crying. That it’s ok for men to cry and show emotions.

#the bad batch #star wars #tbb #tbb s3 spoilers #bad batch #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch season 3 #tbb s3 #tbb season 3 #sw tbb #star wars the bad batch #tbb omega #tbb crosshair #tbb wrecker #tbb hunter #omega #crosshair #hunter #wrecker

[neomujinjja]

With every me is every you

Pairing: Dino x reader

Genre: Mulitple Universes, Drama, angst with happy ending

Warning: not edited, super long (i'm sorry), i really mean long (you've been warned) 1st universe: rejection, going seventeen content reference (going company) 2nd universe: police brutality, going seventeen content reference (ego episodes), spoilers if you haven't watched going seventeen ego episodes, Vixx's error mv references, possible graphic description, Dino is "k*lled"(?), cloning 3rd universe: scamming, being scammed, crime, financial talk, Dino's character (Pi Cheolin), going seventeen content reference (2023 Best Of Going Seventeen 2) 4th universe: Dino's wait references (lyrics and mv)

Synopsis: "Me and him. We have met thousands and thousands of times. Sometimes it seems like a love story, sometimes it seems like a drama, sometimes it seems like a indie film. But whatever the genre is, it's still 'him' that I 'fall for'. Every movie has an end; even if this is the last chance, I will turn it into a happy ending"

Note: Inspired by the trailer for EveryYou, EveryMe. And the synopsis is the majority of the narration from the trailer as well. The quote in the banner is from the original (Norwegian) SKAM tv show, season 3/ Isak season. The flowers mentioned in the 4th universe actually mean constancy, goodness, and lasting affection; i thought it was a good fit plus i think they're the flower that you see in the mv so bonus points.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

˗ˏˋ Universe 1: Co-workers ˎˊ˗

"They're staring again" a voice said from behind you. "You know, staring isn't gonna help you?" it asked, this time addressing you. You turned around to be met with your team leader Cara and co-worker Mr. Yoon.

"Well, not all of us can be lucky to date our co-worker like you are, team lead" You responded. Cara was dating another co-worker named Joshua Hong. The two had joined the Going Company at the same time and began dating not long after that.

"But you could. Didn't you say out of your group, you're closest to Mr. Lee.?" Mr. Yoon joined the conversation as he sipped on his Americano.

"But that's only because of the teams we're in. So it's only because finance and promotion departments work closely together" you pointed back out to the male.

"Either way, just staring at the poor boy isn't going to make him like you back. A piece of advice, make a move" Cara told you with an annoyed look. Mr. Yoon nodded in agreement as he patted your shoulder on the way back to his department. You know the two are only trying to help you with your crush on Mr. Lee but you were fine with the way things are. Staring at him in secret and being work buddies was good enough for you.

-

"L/N, just the person I was looking for!" A voice you knew well, Mr. Lee's, called out for you in the hallway.

"Hey, Mr. Lee!~ What's up?" you asked, your voice slightly cracking when you said the male's name.

"I was thinking we could go out after work. I wanted to run some ideas by you and get your opinion" He told you as he flashed a bright smile in your direction. Your heart skipped a beat at the sight and you felt like flying at his request.

"Of course, we can go to that cafe down the street."

~

You and Mr. Lee walked together to the Green Room Café, it wasn't far from the company so many of the employees were familiar with it. You were hoping that Mr. Lee hadn't seen any of the encouraging gestures from Mr. Boo, Mr. Chwe, Mr. Yoon, Cara, and even Mr. Hong. It had been embarrassing enough that all of them were making a big deal out of the situation, you didn't need the male questioning you on top of it.

"So what did you want to talk about exactly?" you asked the male as the two of you sat at an open table. Mr. Lee picked one that seemed to secluded from the others which piqued your curiosity as to the reason why.

"Like I said earlier, I have some ideas I want to go through with you. I'm not as good as Seungkwan but bear with me on my slides" Mr. Lee said as he pulled his computer from his bag. You felt a fit disappointed that the male only wanted to talk about work. But this is what you should have expected, the two of you were work buddies and nothing more. Mr. Lee went through his ideas to advertise products, asking about their financial estimates and your opinion.

-

The one-time event had became a weekly routine for you and Mr. Lee. The two of you would go to the cafe to go over the male's ideas, and he'd message you if there was any updates. Cara was worried that he was using you to get ahead but you reassured your team lead, that wasn't the case. Mr. Lee walked over to your desk, placing a small treat on it. He had been doing that often too causing the butterflies in your stomach to increase.

"I have something I want to tell you. Meet me on the roof top during lunch break" he told you before winking and walking away. You felt giddy at the thought of meeting him on the roof type. It was rumored within the employees that it was the place to go to make a confession.

~

You were met the sight of Mr. Lee looking out as you walked through the doorway. "Mr. Lee!" you called out to him. You had decided that you were going to confess to the male as the occasion seemed to call for it. "I actually have something to say to you as well. Would it be alright, if I go first?" you asked, walking up to where he stood. You waited for him to nod before speaking. "I like you" you said, keeping it short and simple.

"Oh. Um," Mr. Lee awkwardly laughed. His response was making you grow more nervous. "I- um, I don't feel that way about you" he said with an awkward tone.

You hummed as you nodded your head and looked to the floor. You knew that you wouldn't and couldn't change the man's feeling. "So, what did you want to talk about?" you asked the man as you tried to hide any hints of your feeling in your voice.

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me. I've been able to gain more recognition in my department, the department head said I might be able to earn a promotion if I continue" Mr. Lee informed you before clearing his throat. It was obvious that he was feeling awkward about how the situation turned. "Um, so thanks" he coughed before turning to walk away and leaving you alone. As you heard the door close behind him, you allowed for yourself to began crying.

˗ˏˋ Universe 2: Clone Dino ˎˊ˗

You watched as the male on the table opens his eyes. "Y/N? Is that you?" he asked with a confused face and hoarse voice.

"Yes, it's me, Dino" you answered, helping him to sit up from his original position. "How are you feeling?" you ask him as you hand him a glass of water.

"I've got a slight headache but I just feel confused for the most part".

"That's okay. The headache will go away and you won't feel confused for long" you explained to the male as you grab his left arm. "Let's try standing up and walking" you said, helping him off the table. You put his arm around your shoulder before slowly walking out of the room.

"What happened?" Dino asked. He looked around the area as if he didn't recognize it. You only hummed in response, ignoring his question as you brought him into another room. "Y/N?" he asked again, this time his voice raised upon entering the new room. In the middle was a pile of bodies, ones that if closely inspected looked similar to him. Your actions made it seem like this was a normal thing which only added to Dino's concern.

"I'm sorry, my sweet boy. I'll figure this out" you said as you caressed his cheek and giving him a kiss on the other.

~

I wonder what the problem is? Why was that one so confused?" you asked to yourself, turning your head as you looked at the papers laid out in front of you. Shaking your head, you resolved to trying again. You were determined for this to work. It needed to work; you couldn't live without your boyfriend, Dino, by your side. Loading up the data again, you threw yourself back into creating.

-

You watched as the male on the table opened his eyes. He didn't move or try to say anything making you feel worried. "Dino?" you asked, leaning in closer to him. "Are you okay?" you continued as you brought your hand close to his face. As you brushed his hair out of his eyes, they suddenly opened like he had been shocked. You back away just in time before Dino sat up, narrowly avoiding smacking your head onto his. Still saying nothing, Dino brought you into a hug. His head laying on your chest and his arms tight around your waist. "Dino?" you asked once again as you stroke the hair on the back of his head.

"I'm okay" he said, looking up at you with his twinkling eyes. You sighed, feeling relief, and leaned over the male. It felt like you finally had the love of your life back. You missed this, you missed him.

"I missed you" you whispered, deciding to tell him how you felt at this moment. He pulled away from you, although still keeping his hands on your waist.

"why? I didn't go anywhere".

You just sniffly laughed before nodding your head. It was best that he believed that rather than knowing the truth. Suddenly the door burst open interrupting the moment between reuniting lovers. Before you had a moment to understand, they were pulling the two of you apart. Two officers detained you while three surrounded Dino, who was still on the table, forming a wall. The next events happened too fast and suddenly you were pushed onto your knees while being yelled at. The wall of officers separated and Dino sat with his head facing downward. He had a hole in the side of his neck and his hands were limp. You let out a gut wretching scream at the sight before further falling onto the ground. You had just gotten him back and yet again he was taken away from you.

˗ˏˋ Universe 3: A Scammer & his Lover..or a Victim ˎˊ˗

"Don't you think you should be more careful with your money? I mean your first card declined, that's not like you" your best friend, Cara, mentioned as the two of you walked out of the store.

"Yeah, typically you're the frugal one out of us. Is something going on? We can help, you know that right?" another one, Cubi, joined in, their face showing their worry. You laughed and waved them off.

"No nothing going on. Remember I told you guys, I got a boyfriend. I've just been helping him out" you told them with a shrug.

"And that's the problem. P- what was his name again?" Cara starts again, her pace quickening to match yours. Cara and Cubi flanked you, theirs gazes still filled with worry.

"Pi Cheolin" you answered her before continuing non-chalant. "And there's no problem with partners helping each other out when they need it. I honestly glad that he trusts me enough to tell me his problems". Your face heated up at the thought of your relationship and your boyfriend. Cubi shook their head, you were seemly to innocent, more like naive, and love blind to see what was happening.

"Tell me, honestly, do you think this Pi Cheolin would do the same for you?" Cubi asked, stopping the three of you from walking any further. You nodded adamantly but you were growing annoyed at your friend's accusations. You knew your boyfriend; he loved you and right now, he was just going through a rough patch. As if sensing your annoyance, your friends stopped their questioning instead reassuring they were there if you needed help.

-

"Cheol, you won't believe what Cara and Cubi was telling me today!" you yelled out into the small house. Because Pi Cheolin was struggling, you let him stay at your place despite how small it was just for one person. The place was dark and quiet like there was nobody occupying it. That was odd because your boyfriend tried to cook around this time as a form of payback. "Cheolin!" you called out again as your finger fumbled for the light switch. Nothing happened as you flipped the handle up and down. "What the hell? I gave him the money for the bills?" you whispered to yourself confused as to why the lights weren't working. It wasn't a power outage because your neighbors had working lights but you definitely gave Pi Cheolin the money to pay the bills. Maneuvering in the dark to find your entry table and stumbled for the flashlight stored there. Now with some form of light, you were met with a disaster. It looked as if a storm had gone through your home, items were knocked over and cushions overturned. Worry grew inside of you at the sight; where was Cheolin within this mess. You couldn't help but think that someone had gotten to him. Taking out your phone, you hurriedly dialed 119.

~

"Hey, the police send there was no sign of a two-person struggle or breaking-&-entering. I'm sorry to say it but they believe this guy scammed you" your friend Cara said to you after speaking with the officers. They had tried telling you earlier but you didn't believe them. Cubi brought you in for a hug, holding you close to their side.

"You can stay at my house until you get your money together again" Cubi offered with a small smile. Cara nodded as they looked back over at your small place with polices filing out.

"And we can go to the bank to see what we can do. It'll be okay" they reassured you, placing a hand onto your shoulder.

˗ˏˋ Universe 4: Please don't tell me wait ˎˊ˗

You looked at the pressed flower you had hidden in your recipe book. You caressed the page it sat on with your finger before letting out a sigh. "I thought you said that the date went well?" Nara asked you from their spot at the front counter.

"It did" you told her as you looked up from the book. "And we've been talking but our relationship status is still up in the air" you continued after a moment of hesitation. You grimly smiled as you thought back to the few dates you had been on with Chan.

"Hmm, maybe you just need to wait" Nara said, turning back around to face the front of your bakery.

"I don't want to wait though~" you whined but it fell on deaf ears. You poured at your friend's back before humphing and turning back to to your recipe book. "I don't want to have to wait" you said again, this time whispering to yourself as you continued to look at the pressed flower. The oven beeping distracted you from your wallowing and pulled you from your seat. You had become busy checking on the pastries causing you to miss your phone screen that lit up with a message.

'Can I see you tonight?'

•

"Y/N's not replying to my text" Chan whined to his hyungs. He had texted the baker about 30 minutes ago and yet his phone was still showing delivered.

"I'm sure you can wait until they reply" Wonwoo pointed out to the youngest male. Vernon just patted the other's shoulder before returning his attention back to something else.

"I don't want to wait" Chan slightly whined at the response. "I mean what if Y/N loses feelings or worse thinks I don't have feelings" he continued with his eyes growing wider at the thought.

"If you don't want to wait then go to them" Jeonghan advised as he looked to him. At Chan's confused face, he continued. "If you're so worried then go. It's as simple as that". Jeonghan and his statement made it seem like it was simple math (which it was). Chan nodded his head and got up from the table. He felt determined to not leave it to fate. As Chan left to get dressed, he sent another text out.

'I'll see you later tonight ◡̈'

-

"Are you sure that you're okay closing alone?" Nara asked as they hung up their apron and replaced it with their coat.

"Yes, I'm sure. There's one more order left and then I just have to clean up a bit. It'll be fine" you told them, waving them out of the door. Watching Nara walk down the street, you let out a sigh before looking at the clock. You let out another sigh at the time; another day passed and you're still confused about your standing with Chan. You walked to the back, turning off the lights as you went. You didn't bother to keep the lights on as all of the chairs were put up and no one else should be coming in. You began preparing the last order and the start of a long cleaning process.

•

Chan stood outside of the bakery, trying to see if anyone was inside. It was dark inside but he felt the need to double check. He had changed into a leather jacket on-top of a grey shirt and bought a bouquet of red Zinnias. Chan walked through the unlocked front door, he'd warned you about being more careful later. He looked around in the dark bakery, the only light coming from the streetlights and the light he could now see spilling from the back. Taking a deep breath, Chan tapped the bell on the counter separating the two areas.

•

You looked up at the sound of the bell ringing. From your spot, you could see Chan waiting which caused your nerves to rise in anticipation. You hadn't expected from him to show up, especially unannounced and at this time. Rushing to your recipe book, you took out the pressed flower and then grabbed the last order. You clipped the flower onto the bag with the item sheet. Giddiness was running through you as you walked to the front counter, but you tried acting nonchalant to the male there. You placed the bag down before pushing it in his direction. Your heart was beating wildly and you hoped he understood what you were trying to convey. Rustling from his side made you look up, only to be met with a face full of flowers.

"I don't want to wait anymore. Would you date me?" Chan said, putting the flowers down just enough for you to make eye contact with him. You nodded as a laugh spilled out of your lips and watched as a smile grew on his face. Not caring for the counter in between the two of you, Chan embraced you as close as he could. There was no need for the either of you to worry about your relationship, someone just need to make a move.

#kpop #kpop x gender neutral reader #kpop x poc reader #kpop x reader #kpop imagines #kpop angst #kpop fluff #seventeen #seventeen dino #svt dino #dino x reader #lee chan #lee dino #chan x reader #seventeen fluff #seventeen x reader #svt x reader #svt #svt fluff #seventeen imagines #seventeen angst #svt angst #svt imagines

[dakotalun]

Want Part 2 | Eddie Munson

pairing: Eddie Munson X Fem Reader

summary: PART 2-- Eddie hangs out with someone and you confront him about it. Eddie shows up again with a surprise.

warnings: oral (f. receiving), praise kink, pet names (good boy, baby, ma'am, babe), sub!eddie, fingering, swearing

word count: 2.9k

a/n: been a whole month...whoopsies. But I am coming back with a nice and long fic for y'all. I also have a few things in the works that will be multi parted. I hope y'all enjoy and have an amazing day!! :)

*******NOT MY GIF, CREDIT TO OWNERS*******

Eddie's been gone for what feels like hours, I’m completely broken and hurt while he's probably off with Chrissy again. Out of all the things I could've done today, I chose to ruin my relationship. I slowly raise to my feet but upon seeing the plate that Eddie had haphazardly thrown to the counter I start to feel sick. I rush to the bathroom and throw up.

Hours pass by. I'm sitting on the cold bathroom floor, refusing to move. I've thrown up twice since Eddie left me, once when I realized what he had been doing for most of the day and again after throwing up everything that was in my stomach. He still hasn't called or texted me. I really fucked this up. And I have no clue how I'm going to fix it.

My stomach tightens again as I feel another wave of vomit come up. And that's how I spend the night, laying on the bathroom floor occasionally barfing as I cry over Eddie. I can't believe I've made such a big mistake.

I wake up the next morning feeling drained and exhausted. The events from last night are still fresh in my mind and I can't seem to get myself out of bed. I turn over, a sliver of hope that Eddie came home last night. But all I find is the empty, cold space where he should be. I grab my phone from the nightstand and check for any messages, nothing. A sigh leaves my mouth as I come to the full conclusion that I should maybe leave for a while, this was Eddie's trailer first after all.

I peel myself out of the sheets and trudge to the bathroom. Getting back I search the messy closet we share for my duffel bag, finding it under a mess of dirty clothes and an old amp Eddie keeps saying he'll throw out. I pick out some comfortable jeans and a few t-shirts, stuffing them into the bag and slipping my feet into a pair of sneakers.

After grabbing my phone charger and headphones I grab the keys from the counter and walk outside. A cold gust of wind blows in my face as the seasons change from summer to fall. I plug my headphones in but just as I'm about to put them on I hear a loud boom of music coming from the street entrance of the trailer park.

I look up to see none other than Eddie driving his van, music blasting and flowing through the open windows. He's driving with little regard for anything around him, nearly hitting the neighbor's fence before parking. He shuts the van off and hops out, stumbling slightly. Yeah he's clearly drunk, or at least he was at some point since I last saw him. His face is red and slightly swollen, stains line his face from tears.

He finally looks up to see me standing on the porch of the trailer, staring at him a broken look in my eye still. He slowly and hesitently steps towards me.

"Hey," Eddie reaches up and rubs the back of his neck, a nervous tic.

"Hi."

The two of us stand there for a few seconds just looking at each other taking in the events of last night. I'm the first to talk.

"I'm gonna stay with Rob for a few days, just so we can kinda, you know," I don't finish the sentence, too scared to make this a reality.

"Don’t. Please," His eyes are softer now, no anger or resentment behind them. Just pure love and adoration, "I need you here. Please stay."

"Eddie," I look down at my feet, now finding the slowly rotting floor boards more interesting, "Look, I wish I could stay with you. I really do, but after last night. After what you said, what I said. I just don't think it's a good idea."

I don't notice how his face drops, a small frown taking place on his lips. He takes a few more steps closer to me, now at the bottom of the porch.

"Please. I don't want to lose you too. Not after all this time. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." His words break my heart all over again, "You coming into my life was the besy thing to ever happen to me. I wouldn't have ever had the courage to really try and finish high school without you." 

He speaks he walks up the steps, getting closer to me, enough to finally smell the alcohol on him, "If I could go back in time and not hang out with Chrissy I would, in an instant. But I can't," He's finally reached me. He brings his hands out to hold mine, I look at him. Really look at him for the first time since yesterday. I can see how much he means this, and how much he wants me to say I'll stay.

"I don't know if I can trust you anymore Eddie. You lied to me about where you were, and what you were doing. You're still selling even after I told you not to," I scan his face, trying to find something, anything, "And then there's Chrissy-"

"There's nothing going on between me and her, I promise! I really was just catching up with an old friend."

"Then why did you leave?" There it was. The question at the top of my mind ever since he walked out that door, why. If she was just an "old friend" then he shouldn't have felt the need to leave me. To let me cry until I was physically ill.

I pull my hands away from his, missing the warmth of them. I start to head towards my car, needing to be out of here, out of his space, away.

"Wait, please," He turns with me, following, "Babe, I love you with everything I have, and ever will have. You are the only person on this planet for me. You're the only person I can open up to. The only one I can be myself around, I need you."

He's saying all the right things except for one, the one I really need to hear from him. I stop and harshly turn to him, "I know Eddie! I know you love me and need me and all that bullshit but that's not what I asked you! I asked if you want me? If I will be enough for you, if I'm just another girl for you to fuck and pretend to love before you throw me off to the side like trash? So, do. you. want. me?"

My hands are shaking, both from the cold and my anger. I wait for him to answer, wishing he would just say yes so we can go back to normal or no so I can move on and get away from him.

"I- OF COURSE! I want you more than anything!" He runs up to me, placing his hands on my cheeks, shielding them from the cold. "Could you come with me?"

"What?" I’m confused by the sudden change in questions. Where could he possibly want me to go right now?

"Just come with me? I need to- I want to show you something, please," He's begging. Eddie Munson has never begged for anything in his life and yet here he is, practically on his hands and knees for me.

"Fine," I sigh.

His eyes light up, hands falling from my face to interlock with mine. He pulls me to his van, opening the door like he always does. Forever a gentleman. He all but sprints to the driver's side before quickly starting the old van and driving out of the lot he just came into.

We drive to the other side of town, where all the rich kids live. We trun the corner and Eddie looks over to me.

"Close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Close your eyes. It's a surprise," A grin has spread across his face, crinkling the sides of his eyes.

I groan lightly before shutting my eyes, wondering what the hell Eddie is up to now. Not long after, we are parking and Eddie's grabbing my hand to lead me wherever we are at.

I giggle a little as he all but pushes me through a doorway, "Eds what are you doing? Where the fuck are we?"

"You'll see, just keep those pretty little eyes closed alright?" He walks me a few more steps before postioning me in place, "Alright, open."

I open my eyes and am momentarily blinded my the bright florescent overheads before noticing we are standing in front of a door.

"Eddie. What the hell is this?" I turn to look at him, his signature shit eating grin plastered on. He holds up his keys, searches for the right one then opens the door in front of us. He leads me inside, looking at my every facial movement.

"This," He gestures to the large empty living room, "is our new apartment. That is if you're not still mad at me?" His face is soft and sweet, waiting for my answer.

"Eddie this is- how did you? I don't understand," I shake my head slightly trying to understand what's going on here, "What do you mean this is our apartment?"

Eddie stands in front of me blocking my view. He reaches for my hands and holds them in his, taking away some of the anxiety I have right now.

"I've been working extra hours at the auto shop down on Main, and selling a little bit too," My face drops, "I know you told me to stop! But I saw this place a while ago, when Wayne was house hunting. And I just knew it was perfect for us."

He squeezes my hands, pulling me to the large windows on the other side of the room, it overlooks Main Street and all the little shops he knows I love, "Every dollar I’ve earned this past year has gone into a down payment on this place. It took a lot of haggling with Ted on my wages but I finally had enough. Then we had our fight last night," He looks down, ashamed at himself for what happened, "When you asked if I wanted you I don't know what happened but I just knew that now was the time to finally pay for it. So I raced down here and payed the guy, because I want nothing more than to have you in my life forever."

As he's talking, I realize I'm crying, I can't help it, I feel so much joy and pain all at once. Eddie's hands grip tighter, keeping me from falling to the floor, "If you don't want this just tell me, give me the word and I won't bother you again," He places his finger below my chin to make me look at him, his eyes are rimmed with tears just like mine are, "But before you do just let me tell you what I did last night was stupid and I promise I will never do that again. I love you with everything I have and I always will. But if I hurt you too much just tell me and I'll back off."

I can't think straight when he looks at me like that, his big brown doe eyes staring at me with all the love a person could ever hold. I look around the apartment one last time, out the big window to our right, and finally back at Eddie.

"Alright."

"What? Alright? Like you'll live here with me?!" His smile has returned, eyes finally letting the tears fall.

"Yes, Eddie. I'll move in here with you," He picks me up off my feet in a giant bear hug, spinning us in place as he yells in excitement, "On one condition."

He puts me down, hands still around my waist, not letting me move any further away, "Anything. Just name it."

"No more selling. You focus on school and I'll focus on the bills."

"Baby I can't-"

"This won't be for forever Eds. Just until you graduate then we can both pay the bills, just please promise me that?"

"Yes ma'am." He smiles and pulls me into a searing kiss. One that feels like we haven't kissed in years, and won't ever get the chance again. The kiss makes me weak in the knees and I can feel the wetness growing in my pants.

Eddie groans into the kiss before pulling away, "I gotta stop kissing you or else we'll be ruining this place before we even move in."

"And what's so bad about that? It seems like it needs a good cristining don't you?"

"Babe," Eddie's eyes grow wide and look to the side of us, where the floor length windows stand, uncovered, "We can't. What if people see us?"

I walk over to the window and look out onto the street. It's a quiet day, only a few people walking around. "So what? They'd all get to know that you're mine and I'm yours. Forever."

I can feel Eddie's chest on my back as he presses against me, his boner growing slowly, "My naughty girl," His hands go to my hips but before they can travel anywhere I turn around and pin them to his sides.

"That's ma'am to you. Got it?" I don't know where this confidence came from but I’m enjoying it. And so is Eddie, he nods his head vigirously, "Sorry I can't hear you."

"Yes ma'am."

"That's my god boy," Eddie's eyes close at the nickname, his body shivering, "You like that don't you? You like being called my good boy?"

"Mhmm. Yes ma'am."

I stand on my tiptoes to reach Eddie's ear and whisper, "Then get on your knees and show me just how good of a boy you are."

Before I can even blink Eddie is on his knees in front of me, unbuckling my jeans and pulling them down to my ankles. The sight of the wet patch on my panties has me in pieces, slowly losing all composure.

He looks up to me as he hooks his fingers into the waistline of my underwear, "May I?" I nod and he pulls them down, the slick from me making them stick to my folds. He groans and starts kissing up my thighs, towards the place I need him most. His kisses are featherlight, slowly making me dizzy, I wish he would go faster.

"Eddie," I sigh as he finally plants a kiss to my clit, so soft it's almost missed. Once he gets a taste of me he dives right in, licking a stripe up my folds to collect the juices. He moans at the taste, licking me like a dog starved.

I unravel above him, my knees becoming weak and numb. The way he eats me out is heavenly and I’ve never wanted a thing to stop less than right now. Moans and sighs are falling past my lips with each lick and suck of Eddie's mouth. I begin to feel that wonderfully familiar knot tightening and begin tightening around Eddie's tongue. He feels it and moves his ministrations up to my clit and shoves two fingers into my entrance.

"Fuck!" I keel over on top of Eddie, one hand braced on his head and the other on his shoulder, "Just like that. I'm so close Ed." Eddie picks up speed and bends his fingers to reach that spongey spot inside with every thrust of his fingers.

"Come on baby. Cum for me, let me taste you. I missed the way you taste so much. Please come for me, please."

His words send me over the edge, white lights blinding me as the string finally snaps and I’m cumming all over Eddie's face and fingers. He doesn't stop his movements, he pulls me through my orgasm, spewing words of affection and love the entire time. Once he notices that I’m starting to slow down he releases his mouth from me and removes his fingers, eliciting a whine from my lips.

"Thank you, thank you so much," Eddie slowly stands, holding me as my leg strength still haven't come back.

"That's my good boy," I pull him in for a kiss, tasting myself on him. He pushes into me making his erection rub against my exposed thigh. His eyes squeeze shut at the feeling.

"Can I fuck you now?" His eyes are pleading and full of lust.

"Take me home first, Eddie," I look into his eyes and feel nothing but love for this man. The way he treats me with so must love and attention makes me want ot hold on nad never let go, no matter what happens to us.

"We are home sweetheart. This is home now."

"I know. I just love the sound of it," I pull Eddie in for another kiss, this one sweet and gentle. Nothing like the ones from before, only love and adderation fills this, as I try to show him how much I feel for him.

I’m so caught up in the kiss that I don't even notice Eddie dip down quickly and place his hands on my thighs, but before I can question he lifts me up. I instinctivly wrap my legs around his hips and circle his neck with my arms.

"Eddie!" I squeal from my upward position.

"What? I wanna take you to the bedroom, it's got a walk-in closet," He smirks at that last little detail before walking down the hall toward the rest of the apartment.

Eddie Taglist: @ali-r3n @dixontardis

#eddie stranger things #munson #eddie munson #eddie my love #eddie my beloved #female reader #oneshot #smut #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x you #stranger things #stranger things 4 #st4 #stranger things season 4 #eddie x reader

[kaminocasey]

Hello my dear, congrats on the followers. They are well deserved! And thank you for opening up for some requests.

I’m thinking number 2, “I think I might be in love with you.” with our favorite smarty pants Tech.

So often he’s written as a bit oblivious emotionally and that could be played here. But I do think he’s in touch with his emotions, I love seeing hints of him caring about and for Omega in the season 2 trailers. I think he would show that same care for his partner, maybe they are the oblivious one in the relationship? Just some afternoon Tech Thoughts for you to ponder.

Thank you, mouse <3 I appreciate that!!! Thank YOU for sending in a request!!!

You're absolutely right! I LOVE seeing him so caring and sweet. And we've definitely been blessed this season!!!!

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI; sex mentioned, FLUFF, jealous Tech

WC: 1.3k

Walking the streets of Pantora with the Batch, you lean against Crosshair. The two of you were closer than close lately. What you don’t notice is Tech slightly slouching at the sight of you and his brother looking rather cozy, jealousy tinging his heart in a way he’s not used to. The brother who doesn’t just show emotion… Does Crosshair like you? Or perhaps more? Does Crosshair care for you in the way that he does? 

“Oh, a bookstore.” You stop to look in the window at the small cozy bookstore. “Can we go in?”

“I have no desire to look at books.” Crosshair starts to walk away.

“I’ll be in and out.” You start to go in. 

“Tech, why don’t you wait with her. This is your kind of store, right?” Hunter smirks. “We’ll meet you back at the Marauder.”

“Um… yes. I can do that. I’ll stay with her.” Tech nods and you smile brightly at him enough to make his heart do somersaults in his chest.

“Thanks, Tech.” You go into the bookstore and don’t notice the wink that Hunter gives Tech. 

As you browse the shelves, Tech lingers near, also glancing at the shelves, but mostly admiring the way your eyes light up at the sight of a book that looks interesting to you. 

Tech had tried and failed to stuff his feelings for you deep down. Feelings weren’t his forte, right? He based things off of knowledge and factual data. But the moment that you’d walked into their lives, knowledge and factual data didn’t seem to matter anymore.

“I admire your love for books.” Tech gives you a small smile and you look up at him, already holding a small stack of books. “Have you always enjoyed reading?”

You nod. “Ever since I was little. My mother and father used to read to me before bed and I think that’s where my love for books probably stemmed from.”

“That would be the logical conclusion.” He fixes his goggles.

You can’t help the grin. “How much reading do you do for joy?”

“All reading brings me joy, I suppose.” He starts to walk past you to look at the books behind you, brushing against you softly.

You close your eyes at the feeling. You’ve been in love with the man since you’d patched him up after getting hit by a blaster shot that was meant for you. 

“I mean, reading that doesn’t require thinking.” You turn toward him. 

He picks up a book and turns it over to read the back and then sits it back on the shelf.

“All reading requires thinking, does it not?” He gives a soft smile, but still doesn’t look at you. 

You go over to a shelf and pick up a book that definitely has smut in it and then hand it to him.

“I don’t think at all when I read these kinds of books.” You tease. 

He opens it and the book immediately starts out by the female protagonist getting intimate with her partner. He looks up at you, warm in the face.

“You read these books?” He asks. 

You nod with a shrug. “Sure.”

He closes the book and hands it back to you, unable to get the image of you reading sex scenes out of his head. 

“Sorry… if that made you uncomfortable… I don’t know why that was the first book I picked up…” You quickly apologize, feeling terrible, turning to go look at the shelves across the store. 

He can hear you cursing yourself about something. But the pressing feeling against his codpiece is blocking out his ability to think clearly. 

“Do you need any help?” The store clerk asks you. 

You shake your head. “Just looking, thank you. I really like your store.”

“Thank you so much. It’s been in my family for three generations.” The Pantoran man tells you. 

Tech wasn’t blind to the attention you got anywhere you went. Your smile and personality alone were infectious and almost anyone you came across was completely taken in by your charm. But still… The jealous feeling still makes itself too known.

“Oh wow! How neat! I’m so glad we were able to stop in.” You smile widely.

“We?” The store clerk looks up in time to see Tech knock over a stand with books on it. 

You can’t help the small laugh that escapes as you go over to help him, apologizing to the clerk. 

“Happens more than you realize.” The clerk chuckles. “You guys are a good looking couple.”

“Oh we aren’t-” Tech starts but you look at him and his heart nearly stops with his words. 

The look on your face isn’t that of disgust, but a soft look of… adoration, maybe? He can’t tell. But the fact that it isn’t disgust is a win, right?

When you get all the books picked up, you go to the front to check out, Tech following closely to you. You pay the clerk and Tech takes the bag for you.

“Thanks.” You smile on your way out. 

“You’re welcome.” He nods. 

As you walk down the sidewalk, passing all of the other stores, you make your way back to the Marauder.

“I wasn’t uncomfortable with the book you showed me earlier, by the way.” He glances down at you.

“Oh good.” You let out a breath.

He debates whether or not to bring it up now. It was beginning to get more and more difficult to keep these emotions bottled up like he’d been trying to do for the last year. 

“I… I found myself wondering… what it’d be like.” He struggles for words for the first time ever. 

“The sex?” You ask.

Tech has found that you understand him more than anyone in the Batch. He seldom has to explain himself more than once with you. 

He nods. “But… with you.” 

You stop in your tracks. “Me?”

Did you just hear that right? He’s not looking at you, though. He’s watching the ground, trying to gather his thoughts.

“While I know it’s not required to have intimate relations with someone, of course… I think that I might be in love with you.” He finally looks at you and you can’t stop smiling. 

All this time, you were afraid your feelings would be completely unrequited, you hadn’t entertained the thought that Tech might feel the same way as you.

“I know that Crosshair would be a more suitable choice, of course. I just could not keep these-” He starts but you cut him off with a nervous chuckle.

“Crosshair? What does he have to do with anything?” You ask.

He pushes his goggles up again. “Earlier, the two of you… well, I just assumed. I know you two are very close.”

“Oh, Tech…” You murmur, closing the distance, taking his hands. “I don’t think of Crosshair like that. He’s like a… best friend I suppose. It’s you that I… well that I…”

You struggle to find words, but Tech just smiles.

“I understand now.” He nods, squeezing your hands. 

You reach up, nervously, on your toes to brush your lips against his. He catches your lips with his and pulls you closer. Warmth spreads throughout both of your bodies.

When you pull away, you’re both panting slightly. 

“I should have done that sooner.” He smiles.

“Agreed.” You laugh as you kiss him once more before making your way back to the ship, arm in arm, his hand over yours. 

When you get back to the ship, Wrecker and Omega start grinning goofily. Echo and Hunter smirk and Crosshair who knew about your feelings for the genius before anyone did, winks at you. 

Echo gives up his copilot seat for you when they get into hyperspace. You assume that it’s so you can spend more time with Tech since everyone is suddenly out of the cockpit. 

“Why don’t you read one of your books to me.” Tech offers.

You lean over and kiss him on the cheek. “Deal.”

TAGS: @twistedstitcher27 @rebel-finn @grievouus @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @brynhildrmimi @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @agenteliix @padawancat97 @hated-by-me @sleepingsun501 @crosshairmylove587 @idlenesses @redheadgirl @dnxgma @themcuwriter @ashotofspotchka @sunshinesdaydream @crosshairsimp73 @ariadnes-red-thread @rosmariner @heyitsaloy @starstofillmydream @high-ct5555 @echos-girlfriend @sleepywych @nekotaetae @justanothersadperson93 @brownstalebread @aconstructofamind @book-of-baba-fett @chopper-base @palliateclaws @501st-rexster @dead-poolz @nahoney22 @where-is-my-mind-tho @greaser-wolf @moonstrider9904 @tubble-wubble @lirinck2

#kc700 #tbb tech #tbb tech x reader #tbb tech x you

[kakiwrites]

the eventful internship

Genre: fluff??

A shuntarou chishiya x reader

Warning: manga/season 2 spoilers!! This story is tied to chishiya's backstory so please look away

Synopsis: shuntarou chishiya is the most interesting person on your first day of internship. Why was he always smirking? Why did he always hang back and stay far from the others? Why does your heart beat out of your chest when you see him?

a/n: GUESS WHO'S BACK!! I have chishiya fever bcs of that stupid trailer with our lovely boyyyyy!! So here, have this little intern romance fic! Sorry if the pacing/flow is wonky, i’m a bit rusty-

They say the first day is always the hardest.

You've always wanted to be a doctor. It's been your lifelong dream. After how many years of med school, you were finally able to get an internship at a hospital in Tokyo. To say you were nervous would be an understatement. It was your first day. Anything can happen. Your hands were shaking and sweaty as you entered the hospital, excited and anxious to see the place you'll be staying at and meeting your fellow interns.

Surprisingly, things were going smoothly. You introduced yourself to your fellow interns flawlessly. Your resident was nice and showed you the ropes, and your rounds were silent. The patients were understanding and nice. There wasn't really anything noteworthy that day. 

Well, there was someone.

You took notice of a long, blonde-haired man who stood in the back of the room most of the time. Chishiya, the other interns called him. He kept his distance from the group, always wearing some sort of smirk on his face. It was interesting, to say the least. Why was he always smiling like that? Did he think he was better than everyone else? Is he actually better than everyone else?

You wanted to learn more.

So you decided to ask the other interns about him. "oh, chishiya?" one of them asked, subtly gesturing to the blonde male for confirmation. You nodded your head at them. "He stays a step behind everyone, but you'll be surprised he's already answering the resident's questions and giving diagnoses without a hitch. He always has this smirk on his face and," the intern shivered. You assumed the cocky look on chishiya's face flashed in their mind. "I don't know. He's just so intimidating. You should stay away from him,"

You knew you should've listened. They've been with him for longer than you have. but you couldn't shake the growing feeling of wanting to get to know him. You wanted to talk to him, see what he's like with your own eyes. 

That leads you to your current predicament, you and Chishiya standing in the back in silence while you watch the resident perform a couple of tests on a patient.

You wanted to start a conversation with him, maybe a hello and introduce yourself but his dead eyes were fixated on the procedure in front of you as if he didn't notice your presence lingering beside him.

You glanced at him from time to time. Maybe he was just a passionate guy, absorbed in the lecture. Maybe he was just ignoring you, not wanting to deal with the curious, naïve fresh meat or maybe-

"you should keep your eyes on the procedure instead of staring at me, newbie," chishiya said, his brown eyes still fixed on the resident's movements. His tone was just what you expected,  light and mocking. With his hands stuffed in his white coat and his smirk never leaving his face, his whole demeanor gave off a sort of superior vibe. He felt like he was above everyone else. With that confidence, he just might be.

You didn't know if you were more intimidated or interested.

You opened your mouth to apologize only to be interrupted by the louder voice in the front. "so, can anyone tell me the next step of this exam?" the resident asked, their eyes scanning all the other interns who diverted their gazes to avoid being called. Those eyes finally landed on you. Your throat felt dry as you watched the resident open their mouth to call on you. You definitely weren't paying attention. What was the procedure anyway? Can you just make up your answer? Maybe you can answer it with common sense. You quickly try to remember what the procedure was and its previous steps but came up empty. You braced yourself for your first embarrassment of the day.

Before your name could even leave the resident's lips, the tall blonde beside you spoke up, the air growing light as he recited the next few steps in great detail. It was like he was reading it straight from the textbook. He was just repeating everything from the top of his head.

Wow, he really was above everyone else.

You only realized you were staring when Chishiya turned to look at you, his smirk growing wider and his stance growing taller, it was like his ego was growing every second you kept your eyes on him. "am I really that interesting?"

You were taken aback at the question. "wha-"

"You've been staring for quite a while. Can't take your eyes off me?"

You feel your cheeks heat up. He just saved you from humiliation, and you had the audacity to stare at him like he was some kind of painting. You tried to explain yourself, but the words kept getting stuck in your throat. Chishiya laughed at your struggle.

Before you could say something, your group began to head off to a different area for your rounds. Chishiya followed behind them, leaving you in the dust as you tried to regain your thoughts.

What the fuck just happened?

You quickly scrambled to catch up to the group. You glanced at Chishiya once more. He must’ve felt so cool with his antics earlier. You wanted to tell him off. You wanted to to tell him that showing off his knowledge was unnecessary, that you could've handled it, and that his cocky, high attitude is why the other interns are so afraid of him. But you couldn't bring yourself to do that. So you went with the next best thing.  "sorry… for causing you trouble," you apologized, keeping your gaze on the floor. Chishiya didn't bat an eye at your apology, seemingly ignoring you.

"I'm (y/n) by the way," you said, wanting to change the subject. Chishiya only chuckled at your attempt.

"if it'll get you off my tail, I'm chishiya," the blonde said, not even glancing at you. "now, let me tell you something, newbie," he stopped in his tracks. You looked up from the floor, confused. What did he just call you? You stopped to look back at him.

"the name's (y/n)-"

"right, I don't care," he brushed it off, swatting the air carelessly. "why don't you waddle back to the other interns and stuck-ups, listen to the resident, and finally leave me alone, yeah?"

Chishiya took a second to savor your stunned expression before heading off to catch up to the other interns.

The next few weeks went by like a blur as you were swamped with new patients, more paperwork, and more interactions with Chishiya.

Despite his words on your first day, he didn't seem to mind your presence when you chose to keep standing beside him in the back of the group.

After that close call with the resident, you vowed never to embarrass yourself like that again. You kept close attention to what they were discussing and made sure to hit the books every once in a while. You were able to answer a handful of the resident's questions before Chishiya could even show off.

"looks like I have my work cut out for me," Chishiya muttered with that same sing-song tone once again after you beat him to the punch. You turned to glance at him. He was sporting his usual smirk. Only this time, you can see a notable scrunch on his brow, his eye twitching in annoyance.

You would do anything to see that frustrated expression again. 

And so the rivalry began.

To other interns, you and Chishiya had been as close as ever. You would be seen sitting at the same table together, studying, talking to one another in hushed tones, and standing next to one another as you took turns answering the resident. In their eyes, you were the new dynamic duo. If one of you were there, the other wouldn't be too far away.

Everybody wanted to have what you have.

If only they knew what was really happening.

What looked to be innocent study sessions were actually heated quiz bees where you placed a set amount of time on reading as much as you could from the textbook and then rapid-fire questions at one another until the timer ended. Whenever one of you gets the answer wrong, which is rare, the other would gloat hard.

"pfft," chishiya chuckled mockingly at you, watching you struggle to answer his question. "it's such an elementary question, newbie. Here i was thinking we were equals,"  The timer on your phone was close to 0 but your brain doesn't want to recall the answer.

"i'm trying, okay?" you said, frustrated. Your alarm hit 0, the beep irritatingly loud in your ears. You looked up from the table to see chishiya smirking at you, amused by your failure.

"dear (y/n) can't even remember that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?"

"IT WAS ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE OKAY?"

The hushed whispers were actually just the two of you taunting and annoying one another. At first, it was hard not to let chishiya's teasing remarks get on your nerves, but with time, you could start living with it.

"aww, you couldn't even get a word in earlier~" you said, nudging him as you walked to your next patient.

Chishiya could only snarl at you as he silently continued walking, not wanting to give into your teasing.

He retaliated by speeding and leaving you in the hallway, where you proceeded to get lost for the next thirty minutes. 

Finally, What looked to be simple acts of chivalry were actually the two of you fighting tooth and nail to answer the resident first.

"you bitch, I know this. move," you said confidently, shoving chishiya out of the way to be seen over other interns’ shoulders. That method seemed to work as the resident called on you and you recited your answer.

 You were shocked to see the resident shake their head. "ah, but you're missing something, (y/n)," the resident pointed out, looking around for any other hands wanting to answer.

You could feel chishiya's amused stare burning holes in the side of your head as he slowly raised his hand and got called.

With his grating, teasing voice, he answered the question. The resident greeted his answer with a smile and a confirming nod.

You weren't sure why the other interns want to have what you have.

Maybe they wanted someone to annoy them every second of the day. Maybe they want the privilege of getting an academic rival.

Or maybe they want to experience the unintentional touches, the longing gazes, and feel their heartbeat quicken when he gets close.

You dismissed that last thought. That was what you felt. Chishiya would never let himself feel that way, right?

Right?

You didn't want to take any chances. You needed to ride your feelings out before they get worse before chishiya catches on and gets affected.

Before he uses your feelings to his advantage and breaks your heart.

So you did what you thought was best.

You started to distance yourself.

Instead of standing next to chishiya during your rounds, you chose to stand in front of the group. Instead of bugging him like you usually do, you kept silent and avoided his questioning gaze. And Instead of barging into his little bubble during your breaks, You chose to sit at a different table this time, leaving him alone with his textbooks and notes.

It didn't take long for chishiya to catch on.

He didn't know why but he felt empty without your teasing smiles and your soft voice. He felt empty without your nudging and your competitive spirit.

He felt empty without you.

Your plan of avoiding him was short-lived, however when Chishiya pulled you out of the group and into one of the quieter hallways.

Chishiya could only let out a soft, irritated breath. "mind telling me why you stopped bugging me?" he asked. 

"Maybe because I want to stop bugging you?" you answered with common sense. That wasn't the answer Chishiya was looking for.

"that's the thing," Chishiya said, annoyed at your answer. "you always make it a point to bug me one way or another. You stand next to me in the back every day even though I specifically told you not to. You sit at my table and insist we study together when I can study just fine on my own. You always start bickering in my ear, and it just annoys me to no end-"

"If you're annoyed, why are you looking for answers? I'm already leaving you alone; isn't that enough?"

"I want to know why. Why did you suddenly stop? Why now?"

You crossed your arms over your chest. Should you tell him the true reason why you were distancing yourself from him? how your heartbeat begins to quicken every time he gets near? How your breath hitches every time he smirks at you?

Should you tell chishiya that you fell for him?

You finally looked at the blonde man in front of youu, looking into his expectant brown eyes. You willed yourself to open your mouth, to spill your thoughts, your symptoms, your feelings. You willed yourself to tell the truth.

 only to be interrupted by the loud crackle of fireworks and the bright hospital lights suddenly turning off.

CLIFFHANGER WOOP WOOP- sorry if the ending seems a bit rushed. I've been working on this piece for a while and I am honestly running out of writing juice- sorry if this isn't on par with my normal writing- I'm still a bit rusty! Hope you guys enjoyed!!

General taglist (don’t be shy to comment your tumblr @ below): @tokyoghoose @macaronnv @reogou @midnightangelfox @wumboho @seiijixcia @tessabrown101

#alice in borderland #aib #alice in borderland x reader #aib x reader #shuntarou chishiya #chishiya #shuntarou chishiya x reader #chishiya x reader #kaki writes