#like... i feel like the cheerleaders are friendly with her but they don't really Get each other

[isogenderskitty]

i think it's interesting how steph is like... the nerds see her as part of the popular group, and sure we see her talking to the cheerleaders a little, but other than that she doesn't really seem to be one of them in the truest sense? i could fully believe that she feels like the tiniest bit of an outcast there, like she's just cool enough for max to give her a pass but she doesn't really click with them that well. she feels to me like the bridge between the popular ones and the nerds, which is appropriate i suppose for her place in the story.

#idk i just keep turning this feeling around in my brain #that she doesn't Quite feel like she's actually proper friends with that lot #in my mind steph is pretty lonely before she starts talking to pete and by proxy the other nerds #like... i feel like the cheerleaders are friendly with her but they don't really Get each other #or enjoy each other's company That much #maybe even on their side there's some slight intimidation factor of her being the mayor's daughter and it's still a bit isolating #poor girl :( #but it's ok now she has real friends :] #... well. at least one. i honestly can't tell if pete and steph would even hang out with grace after everything #even ignoring The Ending And What That Implies #even if that didn't happen #i still don't think??? they would be besties with her #which is interesting for like. yknow. the main protag group who's been through everything together #npmd #nerdy prudes must die #hatchetfield #stephanie lauter

[sarahisslytherin]

rose garden filled with thorns

peeta mellark x reader

summary: peeta and katniss are just playing their parts, aren't they? sometimes you're not so sure.

contains: angst, jealousy.

a/n: ngl i'm proud of this one. shoutout to @oweninadaydream for being my cheerleader for this fic. gif by @bookcentral.

word count: 840

Just this morning you had woken up in Peeta’s arms; now you watch him glide across the dance floor with Katniss in your place. The Capitol party is in full swing now, pastry-shaped bursts of color flashing past you and music blaring. Snow’s garden is overflowing with people, yet you find yourself with no one to turn to. It seems you’re left with nothing else to do other than seethe in the distance as you sip on what feels like your hundredth drink and your eyes follow the capitol’s “star-crossed lovers”.

You had always been fond of Peeta. You would go as far as to say you might had been harboring a bit of a crush on him all these years. You wished you could’ve told him what to expect at his own games before he was reaped, but you had never found the right moment. There was never a right time to tell him of the horrors he would witness, and learn to live with if he somehow managed to survive. You were thankful for his love for Katniss back then, it is what saved them in the end. But now, after that romance had fizzled out upon their return to District 12, and yours had only begun, you feel the pang of jealousy reverberate in your stomach like the fire of a cannon. 

You can only watch for so long before you feel the need to run off, to escape the scene one way or another. The more you look at them, the more they seem to belong together. Did you really think you would be able to get in the way of their famous love? Peeta swears it’s all an act, that they’re only indulging the public to keep Snow content and the dangers at bay. Part of you wants to believe him, but with the way his hand rests on Katniss’ waist as they dance, the way he seems to gravitate towards her no matter where she is tells you otherwise.

You wander the grounds, your heels sinking into the grass-covered soil with every step. The music from the party fades out the farther away you get, relief washing over you as you realize it. You take refuge in an isolated greenhouse which you find to be brimming with Snow’s signature ivory roses. You try not to pay them mind, beautiful as they may be, because you know just thinking about the man who put you all in this game will make you sick.

Your head is spinning from the heat of the night, from the tight confines of your capitol-friendly attire. You’re in such a daze, you almost don’t notice Peeta’s voice echoing your name until his face is mere inches from yours.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” he scolds you, as if he has any right to. “How could you just run off like that?”

“I’m surprised you even noticed.” you retort, your words slurring a bit. Peeta’s brows knitted as if wanting further explanation. “What with all your attention on your darling fiancé.”

"You can't be serious." he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know it's not like that."

"How do you think it makes me feel, Peeta? Watching you with her. ever since your games it's been painfully obvious. You loved her then and you love her now."

"Y/n." you hear him groan, but you ramble on.

"I don't know why I lie to myself. I tell myself you moved on, that you love me now. It was stupid. I don't hold a candle to 'the girl on fire'." You barely even notice the tear that dribbles down your cheek until Peeta’s thumb swipes it away. When your gaze meets his it’s like being in the eye of the hurricane, in your own personal haven. 

“It’s all for show, baby. You gotta believe me, it’s all for the Capitol.” he pleads with you, crouching down to meet your eyeline. “Whatever feelings I had for Katniss are gone, I swear.”

You sniffle, helping peeta to dry your tears. “How can you be so sure?”

“How can I be sure?” he repeats, laughing incredulously. “Because every moment I’m with her I spend wishing I was with you.” His hands come up to cradle your face, delicate in his grasp. You know your feelings of inadequacy won’t disappear with a few pretty words, but for now it is enough. Your breathing has steadied, your tears have dried. This isn’t just anyone, it’s Peeta; and he’s your Peeta now.

“C’mon.” he smirks in that way that looks like he's got everything under control. He stands, offering his hand for you to take, and you do. You pull him in by his suit and plant a passionate kiss on his lips. “Let’s get back to the party. You still owe me a dance.” 

You giggle at that, hand in hand as you leave the solitude of the greenhouse. “Alright, Mellark. As long as you don’t step on my toes.” He snickers. “I won’t make any promises.”

#peeta mellark #peeta mellark x reader #peeta mellark oneshot #peeta mellark x you #peeta mellark x y/n #the hunger games

[wcbblife]

Can you do a Paige x gfn!reader. OR HEADCANNONS

But her gfn is a gymnast for UConn? Ik they don’t have gymnastics but let’s just say they do😭

Like her gfn preforms in small Leo’s and does huge flips and Paige watches her with her team in a hotel room at an away game and they all cheer for you??

Paige x gymnast!reader

Whenever Paige watches you perform, her heart fills with pride. She wants to brag about you to everyone, like seriously she can't help but feel a rush of love every time you nail a routine, and she often is the one cheering the loudest from the stands which is super cute.

Loves to share pre-routine kisses and she swears that it'll help you relax but she really just wants a kiss. You always have to shoo her away because she WILL ruin your lipstick if you don't.

#1 cheerleader and she's never ashamed. Definitely would use pom-poms (only to embarrass you but she'll definitely get used to them). She's so unserious I feel like she would 100% wear a shirt with your face on it.

Since you guys sometimes have little to no time with each other and are away for competitions and games, she loves surprising you with little gestures of love like leaving hidden notes all over your gym bag and making sure you get food by ordering some food to your hotel room.

Trust she will have the most serious face to concentrate when you do a hard routine and will be gripping the armrest of her seat like her life depends on it whenever you are going to land a difficult trick. You always make fun of her because they catch her reaction on camera a lot when the media finds out you guys are dating. Like girl would be clutching her pearls when you actually do land them too.

Loves to watch you compete while she's away for games. Makes her feel calm to see you and it fires her up when you do a perfect session. She usually watches you alone and texts you as soon as you finish and when she watches with the team she will be prancing you around because she's just so proud of you. Like they'll have popcorn out and everything.

Despite your busy schedules, Paige makes sure to carve out time for romantic getaways whenever she can because although you two love your sports, it feels amazing just getting a secret getaway from the media and expectations.

Of course, being athletes, she also enjoys engaging in friendly competitions with you. From one-on-one basketball matchups after practices to impromptu gymnastics displays in the living room of her dorm, you two would get so competitive bc Paige would just NOT want to lose at all. Even if she looks hilarious trying to do flips (she fails every time).

On the rare chance you two get the same town or area at the same time for a game or competition she would be absolutely insufferable. Like she would beg whoever shares a room with you to trade even if it could get you guys in trouble just so she can sleep next to you.

Will get Geno mad because she would be late to practice because she was watching you either warm up, practice, or compete.

You two do rehab and recovery together. It's something she secretly loves because it's one thing you both can fully bond over. She gets super whiny and dramatic too.

Before you two came out as a public couple, she loved stealing kisses in the locker room after a game or sneaking off to a secluded corner of the gym for a quick makeout session. Like she just couldn't get enough of you.

Injuries are a constant worry for you two, especially for you. She always gets nervous after you land hard in your ankles or just have an overall bad routine. You on the other hand just want to wrap her up in bubble wrap because when she takes a particularly hard fall your heart stops completely. You two take turns in making sure your bodies are healing correctly.

She's OBSESSED with your body. Like girl is full of on salivating at your muscles most of the time. She absolutely loves to watch the way your muscles flex and ripple with every movement in your routines. Like it's something she's not ashamed of. It's frankly what caught her eye about you in the first place.

Lazy mornings after competitions or games>>>

Paige truly marvels at the strength and flexibility of your body. She traces the lines of your toned muscles with gentle touches a lot.

Loves to get home after a grueling practice or game and just melt under your hands since you know just how hard being a D1 athlete could be. She's truly a fool for you and only you.

After you guys are public she literally flexes you wherever she goes. Definitely keeps a pic in her wallet and when they ask her about TRUST she will go full detail about your career.

You loved when you two started hanging out because she knew NOTHING about gymnastics. She looked really cute trying to learn and you guys get closer when you suggest her to come to your competitions. Whenever you did huge flips and tricks she used to just sit back, jaw on the floor.

#wcbb #women's basketball #paige bueckers #paige bueckers x reader #uconn huskies #uconn wbb

[ashwhowrites]

Cheerleader! Reader is insecure because she wants to date Eddie, but he doesn't seem interested in her, one night she's sleeping at Chrissy's and Chrissy starts to talk about Eddie and Reader panicks because she thinks Chrissy likes Eddie, but she's just buying from him, and also she's giving Eddie advises on how to invite Reader on a date, one day, after cheer practice, Eddie waits for reader, and he says to her that he needs to talk with her, but she panicks because she thinks Eddie is gonna ask about Chrissy, so she escaped from Eddie, but he goes to her house because he really wants a date with reader, and he explains to her that he wants a date with her, and they go out and start to date, and Chrissy's happy about them

I AM A SUCKER FOR CHEERLEADER FICS!

I hope this is what you were looking for and you enjoy it :) thank you for requesting

...me?

Beautiful board made by @starksbabie

Y/N was a head cheerleader, which meant she could date anyone in the school that she wanted. Every guy in the school wanted to have a cheerleader on their arm. Except for the one she wanted more than anyone. Y/N had her eyes set on Eddie Munson since last year. But he made it clear that the popular crowd and the jocks were people he despised.

Y/N wanted to ask him out more than anything, but he never gave her another look. She tried to be friendly, and show that she wasn't an enemy. But all her smiles were met with a stone face. Her waves were never returned, and any time she got a tiny bit of eye contact, he'd look away instantly. She knew the crush wouldn't go away, but she decided not to lie to herself by believing he'd like her too.

~~~

It was a Friday night and Chrissy was hosting a sleepover for the team. All the girls wrapped up in their sleeping bags as a game of truth or dare worked through the circle.

"Chrissy, truth or dare?" Lacy asked, Chrissy gave some thought before answering truth.

"Is it true you and Eddie Munson are sneaking around?" Y/N's head snapped to Chrissy. A look of disbelief on her face, Chrissy and Eddie? Her best friend and crush?

Y/N felt her stomach turning in knots as Chrissy stuttered to answer. She hated the way Chrissy's cheeks blushed as she looked caught.

"Just buying his weed! That is all." She laughed, her eyes locking on Y/N anxiously. Y/N almost felt a little betrayed. Chrissy knew Y/N liked him. She was caught, and she was guilty.

Y/N quickly excused herself to the bathroom. If anyone were to change Eddie's mind on the popular group, it would be Chrissy.

~~~

Monday morning rolled around and Y/N still felt sick to her stomach. She hasn't talked much to Chrissy. She didn't mean to be so bitchy, but being around Chrissy reminded her that Eddie was available to Chrissy.

Y/N can't get a wave from Eddie, but Chrissy gets secret hangouts. It was clear Eddie was not interested in her at all. Losing him to her best friend was a tricky pill to swallow.

~~~

The lunch bell rang and Chrissy prepared to meet Eddie in the woods, collecting her jacket as she knocked into Y/N.

"Oh hey!" Chrissy greeted, Ever since that sleepover Y/N was different. Chrissy had a feeling why but couldn't blow Eddie's cover.

"Eddie?" Y/N asked, her arms crossed as she gave Chrissy that sad look.

"It's not like that, I promise. Just weed." Chrissy tried to explain.

"Why don't you buy a bigger bulk if you go through it so fast? You see him like weekly." Y/N said she didn't believe Chrissy for a second.

"Great idea! I will ask him about that." Chrissy smiled, but Y/N wasn't convinced.

She watched as Chrissy snuck out the back doors.

~~~

"You have to do it." Chrissy snapped, her arms crossed as she stared down at Eddie.

"Um, what?" Eddie laughed, lighting his blunt as the blonde paced in front of him.

"Fucking Lacy outed me at the sleepover. Y/N knows we are meeting, and she thinks we are hooking up. I said it was just weed, but I know she doesn't believe me. She likes you, and now she thinks we are into each other. If you want her, do it now." Chrissy explained in one breath.

"But I can't! I still can't look at her without shying away. I still need more time." Eddie panicked.

Y/F/N was the girl Eddie had his eyes on for years. But the status of being the town freak scared him away. She was sweet and nice. She'd smile at him and he'd freeze. She would wave and his body couldn't function.

"The longer you wait, the longer she will hate us both," Chrissy warned.

~~~

Eddie paced outside of the gym, waiting for Y/N to come out of practice. As she made her way out of the door, Eddie was quick to stop her.

"Hey! Can I talk to you quickly?"Eddie asked, Y/N froze as his hand touched her arm. Her mind raced with reasons why he would want to talk, and then it clicked. He wanted to ask about Chrissy. She wanted to be a good friend, but she couldn't handle it. She couldn't listen to him ask about her best friend.

"Yeah, just let me change." She said with a smile. Which was a lie, She grabbed her bag from the locker room and ran out the other door.

Eddie paced back and forth as he waited for her to come back out, but every cheerleader wasn't her. Chrissy made her way out and smiled at Eddie.

"Hey, how did it go?" Chrissy asked, a smile on her face as she bounced on her heels.

"Still waiting for her to change and come out," Eddie said he was nervous. He thought he'd have more time to figure out how to ask her out. But Chrissy it was now or never, and he picked now.

"She isn't in there, Eddie. I was the last one." Chrissy explained, confused as to why Y/N would lie.

"She blew me off?" Eddie chuckled, maybe she didn't like him as much as Chrissy thought.

"I know she had a reason. Here is her address, talk to her." Chrissy said, writing the address on a piece of paper and handing it to Eddie.

~~~

Eddie felt discouraged as he pulled up to her house. She ran away from him and now he showed up at her house. What if she really wasn't interested?

He sat in his van, debating in his head if this was a good idea or not. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Y/N walking out of her house.

She softly knocked on his passenger window, he jumped at the sound but smiled once he saw her. He unlocked the door and watched as she slid in.

"You've been out here for five minutes, so I wanted to see if you were alright." Y/N joked, enjoying the way she made him laugh.

"I was trying to figure out if showing up at your house was a good idea or not." Eddie confessed.

"I'm sorry for running away. I just wasn't prepared to handle you asking about Chrissy." Y/N admitted, a pained smile on her face.

"Ask about Chrissy?" Eddie asked confused.

"Yeah... you want to ask her out, right?" Y/N said, matching Eddie's confused look with her own.

But Eddie's face cracked into a smile, a slight laugh leaving his lips.

"You've got it all wrong, gorgeous. I wanted to ask you out." Y/N was shocked at his confession. Not believing him as she looked at him suspiciously.

"Me? Why?" She asked

"Because I've liked you for a year and have been too chicken to look in your direction. Chrissy told me about the sleepover. There's nothing romantic between her and I. Just deals and she was helping me plan to ask you out. But today she told me if I didn't make a move, it would never happen. So here I am. Following you home, like a stalker, to ask you out on a date." Eddie explained, now nervous as his confession was in the air.

"I'm so dumb." Y/N said as she laughed at herself. Covering her face in embarrassment. "I can't believe I ran away."

"Hey, I spent a year running from you. No judgement here." Eddie teased. She felt grateful that he wasn't pissed off at her.

"That's true! I'd look at you and you were gone." She laughed, he joined in and agreed.

"Now that neither of us can run, can I take you out on a date?" He asked

"I'd love to."

~~~

Chrissy was more than pleased when she got calls from both of them about how amazing the date went.

Tags!

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @somethingvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @manyfandomsfanvergentreblogs @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616 @loving-and-dreaming @eddiemunsonsbitch69 @thegemaqua @ashlynnkennedy @strangerthingsstories5255 @harringt8ns @pleasinghellfire @whoscamila @stusdollface93

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson request #eddie munson angst #eddie munson angst x reader #eddie munson fluff x reader #ashwhowrites

[qprstobin]

Stobin Different First Meeting AU where they go to prom together. This was meant to be an au post and turned into a mini fic oops (written completely within a tumblr post so sorry for the poor quality)

(edit: realized I should link the fic I was inspired by for those who don't follow me and so didn't see me reblog it earlier)

Steve doesn't necessarily want to go to prom, right? Like yeah, he'd been imagining it for a while, but now that he was very, very single it just didn't have the same shine that it used to. And he really wasn't ready to start dating yet. However, he didn't want to just, not go to prom, and also knew it would seem really weird (and pretty fucking sad) if he didn't go.

Which leaves him in a conundrum.

He thought for a while that maybe he would go with one of the junior cheerleaders. While he didn't have any close friends anymore, he was still friendly with plenty of people. There were girls that wouldn't be going to prom unless they had a senior boyfriend - some he had even gone on dates with in the past who wouldn't think a single prom date meant that he wanted a new girlfriend.

However, he is pretty sure most of those girls would have... other expectations for the night. And honestly? He isn't quite sure that he was ready to get back on that horse either.

... Not that he thought women were horses.

He's pretty sure men are normally the ones called horses in riding metaphors.

Anyway.

That left him stuck. He couldn't just not go to prom, but also didn't want to wind up trapped on an actual date with someone. So who could he ask?

His solution ended up coming from an odd place.

Robin Buckley was... quite honestly, kind of a weirdo.

She was cute, in an alternative sort of way. She never took any of his shit (he wasn't completely sure she even liked him) but also reluctantly laughed at the snarky shit he said under his breath during their Film History class. And not in the fake giggly way girls did when they were flirting, but didn't actually care about what he was saying, just the way he said it. She actually seemed to think he was funny. Even if that revelation seemed to piss her off.

The only reason he was even in Film History that semester - and therefore, knew who she was - was for the easy A. He got to watch movies in class, and watch movies for homework. He was willing to plow through a couple of shitty essays in exchange for a class that he didn't feel like a complete idiot in.

(Well, he was pretty sure Robin thought he was an idiot about movies, but just because he had trouble remembering the names and shit of characters, didn't mean he couldn't analyze the themes, fuck you very much, Buckley.)

They had gotten assigned a project together early on, and it hadn't been completely terrible. She had quickly taken over doing most of the writing portions, but hadn't thought all of his ideas were terrible. By the end of the project he thought they were even sort of having fun together.

He'd always been one to try his luck, take a little more than he was given. So, after that assignment was over, he started sitting next to her in class, not wanting that easy, if sharp, camaraderie to end. Robin rolled her eyes at him and asked him what he thought he was doing the first time he did it, but she never sent him away.

They ended up chatting more and more during down times, passing notes to each other and sharing sly comments under their breaths during the movies. Steve often had trouble paying attention at school, his mind easily wandering away, and it was almost as bad during most movies, but Robin helped keep him on track.

The class turned into one that was done for the easy grade, a last ditch effort to improve his already hopeless GPA, and became one he actually enjoyed.

The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of going to prom with Robin. It made the night seem a little less unbearable.

He thought about making a big deal out of asking her, because he knows that's what girls (and even Nancy) had enjoyed for past dances. He quickly scrapped that idea, however, because not only did he not want to put pressure on her like that, but also she seemed to hate public spectacles like that.

Or at least when aimed at her, they both enjoyed watching drama unfold in the halls a bit too much to say she hated it completely.

So Steve waits until the end of the day, their film class being their last, to pull her into an empty classroom. She follows him without question in a show of trust he didn't realize she had in him. The notion warms him, and for some reason makes it more difficult to get the question out.

"Why do I feel like you're about to try to sell me drugs or something?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He squints at her in offense.

"Why is that your first assumption?!"

"I don't know! Why else are you pulling me out of the hallway all secretive like, making sure no one followed us, into an abandoned classroom," she asks, throwing her arms into the air.

"The classroom isn't abandoned, it's the end of the day! Also, who does drug deals on campus, that's just stupid?" He asks rhetorically, before waving one hand through the air, as if trying to erase the current thread of conversation. "That doesn't matter, you're distracting me."

"Well then, get on with it! Some of us have practice we need to get to."

"It's like talking to the kids," he mutters to himself, "Whatever. I wanted to ask - will you go to prom with me?"

That stops Robin up short. There's panic in her eyes now, though Steve isn't sure what exactly put it there. Was his reputation that bad that even band geeks are terrified of getting asked out by him?

"You want to go on a date? With me?" she asks slowly, disbelief coloring her voice, though it doesn't hide her unease.

"No, I want to go to prom with you," he scoffs, "Not go on a date with you."

"That is a date, dingus! The person you go to prom with is literally called your date!"

"Okay, sure, maybe, but I don't actually want to date you," he said, rolling his eyes at her.

Like, okay, he understood his reputation for being... what did she call him last week? A 'huge effing rake'? But that didn't mean that he was trying to date any girl that looked in his direction. A lot of girls looked in his direction. That was too many women, even for him.

Robin relaxes a little at that.

"Then why are you asking me to prom instead of someone you actually want to date?"

"Because!" he says, resisting the urge to flail his hands back at her. "I don't want to date anyone right now. Most people I ask are going to expect all these things from me - they're going to want dinner, and at the very least a kiss at the end of the night if not more, or another date the very next day. Because Steve Harrington is supposed to want those things!" He takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his hair to calm himself. "But right now? I really don't."

"Well then, what does Steve the Hair Harrington actually want?" She had relaxed fully at this point, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"I want to go to prom with someone I consider a friend, someone who makes me laugh," he says after a moment of silence. "I want to dance badly to really corny pop music and drink just enough spiked punch that I don't remember how much I hate wearing any sort of tie. Then I want to go get milkshakes or go see a really trashy midnight horror flick, just because I'm having so much fun I don't want the night to end."

That small smile has grown into a reluctant grin on Robin's face. It makes her eyes shine and her freckles pop. Steve thought that if he was in a better place, if they had met at a different time, he could have fallen in love with her.

But they had met now instead, in some shitty public school elective course, and she was the closest thing he had to a friend that wasn't a snotty middle schooler.

"That sounds... like a lot of fun, actually," she says, mischief sparking on her face. "Who would've known the hidden depths hidden behind all that hair."

"Hey!" he protests half-heartedly, unable to keep a grin of his own off his face. "So what do you say? Wanna go to prom with me?"

"I guess," she sighs, acting like it was such a trial to go to prom with him. Him! But her next words make up for it. "Since we're friends, and all. However, I still expect you to buy me dinner, though you can keep the kiss goodnight to yourself."

Steve can't help the giddy laugh from spilling out of him. For the first time in weeks, he is actually looking forward to prom.

#stobin #platonic stobin #st fic rec #mini fic #steve #robin #my writing #writing tag #this was got out of hand #all of the stuff about prom is pulled loosely from my own experiences with prom #both from it being seniors only (juniors at my school had their own dance) to what people did after prom #(i went to two proms and one group went and saw a bad horror movie after prom and i went to a diner with the other group) #also this is barely editted so there is some weird tense switches in here im sorry! #this wasnt meant to be an actual fic i had just meant to throw out the idea of steve asking robin to his prom #and steves voice got away from me quick #this was inspired by the fic i reblogged earlier today about steve taking robin to her prom

[singularattitudeofasafetypin]

If you wanted me, you really should've showed

Masterlist

Summary: Eddie is head over heels for Reader but there’s one slight problem. Her boyfriend, Adam. Despite this, Eddie tries to settle for being a good friend instead but when Adam gets possessive, Reader has to figure out what she really wants out of a relationship.

Word Count: 7k

Warnings: Bullying, insecurity, controlling mildly threatening boyfriend.

A/N - Inspired by this scene from the Princess Diaries II, and a song my dad listens to that I don’t know the name of. I had fun with this one, I hope you enjoy it!

Please don’t steal my work

It was no secret. Eddie Munson was in love with you!

He wasn't shy about showing it either. Many a weekly rant on social conformity was interrupted to proclaim you the prettiest, cleverest girl in Hawkins, always accompanied by a deep bow and a dazzling smile. He held every door for you with that same love-sick smile plastered across his face. Handwritten notes and slightly crumpled flowers were a common occurrence but never failed to bring a rosy blush to your cheeks. Head over heels was an understatement.

There was just one small problem.

'Hey- I uh… I was thinking… maybe we could go out tonight?' Having run the length of the hall to catch up with you, Eddie struggled to keep his breathing steady. At least he told himself that was why. His arms were folded to keep his hands from shaking. He’d been psyching himself up for this all week! 'There's this new milkshake place opened at mall and then I thought we could watch a movie together or something. Kind of like a date? But it doesn't have to be if you don't want!' He garbled the rest, cheeks bright red and his voice quavering slightly.

Your face fell, heart aching with the answer you had to give him. 'Oh Eddie,' the least you could do was make it easy for him, 'I'm so sorry, but I-'

'Hey babe!'

An arm slung around your shoulders and your boyfriend pulled you in for a kiss. He shot a dirty look at Eddie when you broke. 'I was coming Adam,’ you reassured. 'I was just...' you looked back at Eddie with apology written in your expression.

His eyes flicked between you, taking in the green jacket emblazoned with a tiger Adam wore. It didn’t take long to put two and two together. 'You know what? Don't worry about it!' he tried to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes and he stumbled over his words. 'I'll see you round!' And with that, he spun on his heel and walked quickly away.

'Was that freak bothering you?' Adam demanded. He didn’t care that Eddie was still within earshot.

'Don’t call him that!' you frowned, an awkward sensation twisting in your tummy. 'We were just talking!'

Adam shrugged, ignoring your reproach and steering you in the opposite direction. He chattered on about the next big game and the huge afterparty that was planned. You nodded and agreed at intervals but his words washed over you.

You couldn’t stop thinking about the heartbroken look Eddie had been unable to hide.

*

You didn’t stop thinking about it all weekend!

He'd looked so crushed. There wasn’t anything else you could have said but still, you'd have liked to let him down a little more gently.

Walking into school on Monday, you were greeted by cheerleaders coming out of practice, a novel experience for you. Since Adam had asked you out, the cheerleaders had started paying you more attention than you liked. They were friendly, you supposed, but it didn’t feel genuine. Before Adam noticed you, you were a nobody. You belonged to no particular group and didn’t have many friends. Now all of a sudden, they cared? They treated you more like a pet. The poor, ill-fated girl lucky enough to be made holy by the hands of the basketball team. Still, you couldn’t help but feel obliged to them.

You made your way to your locker as they trailed behind, gossiping amongst themselves. You fiddled with the combination and felt a pang of disappointment. There would be no note from Eddie this morning. Until they were gone, you hadn’t realised how much you relied on them. Perhaps it was selfish but those few scribbled words of encouragement had always brightened an otherwise cloudy day.

It was to your surprise then, as you opened it, a carefully folded piece of paper tumbled out and fluttered to the floor. You recognised the familiar spiky scrawl instantly. Eddie's handwriting traumatised his teachers but you could read it like a second language.

Unbeknownst to you, Eddie watched from across the hall. He smiled to himself as your lips curved softly upwards. Of course, you had a boyfriend! He'd been stupid to think you wouldn’t! At least he knew he hadn’t screwed things up between you by being foolish.

'The world is lucky to have someone as tender hearted as you!'

You folded the note carefully, moving to tuck into your bag when a sharp, shrill voice startled you.

'That freak isn’t still harassing you, is he?'

Jessica Vaughn, captain of the cheer squad and self-proclaimed Queen of Hawkins High sported a look of pure disgust, 'Doesn’t he know you have a boyfriend?'

Your skin crawled at the cruel insult uttered so casually. 'He knows,' you mumbled, ducking your head and clenching the note protectively in your fist.

'Oh honey!' a fit of giggled ensued, 'He must think he can win you over or something!'

A few of her friends joined in, their voices dripping with faux sympathy and disgust interchangeably.

'Oh, you poor thing!'

'As if you'd ever choose him over a member of the basketball team!'

'You shouldn’t lead him on,' one advised, 'He might get the wrong idea!'

'Yes, you shouldn’t let him think he's got a chance!' Jessica giggled at the thought as the bell rung. Nobody saw you wince at their words.

You made your way to homeroom in silence, letting the crowd pull you along while you tried to make sense of your predicament. Sure, you weren’t about to dump Adam, but for all their cruelty and arrogance, they were right about one thing. You shouldn’t lead him on.

It wasn’t fair.

You made up your mind to talk to him in English. The two of you sat next to each other in the back, but how to say it consumed your thoughts all day.

'Hey, Eddie?' you whispered, keeping an eye on Mr Boushebel so as not to get caught. Eddie looked over the moment he heard your voice, his adoring smile unknowingly twisting the knot in your stomach tighter.

'Yeah?'

'I want to say thanks... for the note this morning! Thank you for all of them really...'

'You're welcome!' he beamed like nothing had changed.

You sighed and grimaced. Why did he have to make this harder? 'It's just, I'm with Adam and that's probably not gonna change anytime soon... and I don't want you to think I'm leading you on or anything-!'

'I don’t think that!' the swiftness of his reply caught you by surprise, and so did the honest reassurance in his eyes. 'Look,' he leaned closer, keeping his voice low as he fiddled with the silver rings adorning his fingers, 'I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable the other day. I'd really like to stay friends if that's okay with you?'

'Oh no! You didn’t...'

'Mr Munson!' Mr Boushebel’s nasal voice rang clear through the room, 'Kindly refrain from distracting your peers and focus on the lesson at hand!'

Eddie made a show of apologising earning a disapproving eyeroll as the teacher turned back to the board. You couldn’t help but laugh as he rolled his own eyes, slumping back in his seat, but behind his antics, he was still waiting for an answer.

'Yes,' you whispered and Eddie's smile softened. ‘It’s okay!’

*

More or less, things went on as they had.

Maybe it was selfish, the relief you felt? You weren't infallible; the attention was nice. A nice change. You contented yourself with the fact you'd been honest with him. He knew where he stood, if he still wanted to be kind to you, who were you to stop him?

Whether you admitted it or not though, things were different now. You hadn’t exactly bandied it about before, but now you found yourself taking care the girls you were supposed to call friends didn’t know about the continued affections you received from Eddie. You took to pressing the flowers he gave in the back of your notebook instead of threading them through your hair or the buttonholes of your cardigan. Instead of drinking in the thoughtful compliments he wrote, you stuffed them into your pocket, waiting until you were alone to read them and feel your heart lift.

If Eddie noticed these small deceptions, it didn’t deter him. Every morning, without fail, you were met with a posy of handpicked wildflowers and a few heartfelt lines observing some hidden jewel of your character.

Some of them bordered on poetry.

*

Things weren't exactly unhappy with Adam. Unsure perhaps? Indefinite?

To tell the truth, he was your first real relationship; you were still getting to grips with exactly what that meant. Everyone else seemed to understand. Why couldn’t you?

Most of the jocks and cheerleaders you sat alongside were paired up together. It was rare for them to venture outside of their group for a partner; you were an exception so you tried to follow their example.

Frankie was always perched on Chase’s lap, her arms around his neck, fingers trailing along his collarbone while his rested on her waist. That felt a little bold for you but you tried to sit as close as possible, opting to rest your cheek on his shoulder but he didn’t seem to notice.

Every time you saw Becky, she and Ryan were locked in conversation. What they spoke about was a mystery to you but both seemed to be consumed. As the general chatter lulled, you took the chance to try the new approach.

‘I’ve been reading this really lovely book Adam! It’s called Little Women and-!’

‘Wow, boring much?’ Jimmy Davis cut you off without a second thought. ‘You aren’t gonna bring all that nerd stuff over here, are you?’

You couldn’t speak. With a simple look, all the confidence was knocked out of you. He turned to Adam and laughed, ‘Next thing you know, she’ll be bringing her homework to lunch!’

Tears pricked in your eyes as Adam laughed along with him. Their discourse resumed like nothing had happened. You blinked them away. No one saw.

Jessica and Tony were all over each other. Making out in the hallways, feet touching in the aisles of the classroom. His hand always seemed to be somewhere near the hem of her skirt. It was still early in your relationship and you weren’t completely sure you wanted that yet, but it was worth a try. You tried to reach out, to shower him in affection the way the other girls did but almost every time he brushed you off. Pulled away and scowled as though you were inconveniencing him.

So instead, you fell silent. Ate your lunch with your head down and gave affirmative answers when a question was asked. They took no notice.

Your eyes tended to wander over the other tables; people-watching had become a habit during lonely lunchtimes. More and more often, you gaze came to rest on Hellfire. They were always animated and lively, often talking over each other in their excitement but never leaving any member out.

Unconsciously, your attention was drawn to their leader. He was no stranger to conversing loudly himself but you noticed how quickly he stopped to listen. The way a brotherly fondness fell over his features whenever one of the younger ones spoke and he sat forward to hang onto their words.

Perhaps that day a kindly angel was looking out for you. As you stared over at them, your head propped up in your hands, something made Eddie turn his head and his eyes met yours. Under anyone else’s gaze, you would have looked away quickly, pretending to find interest in the floor but you didn’t. He offered a soft smile and, in that moment the world blurred around you. It was like there was no one else in the room. Instantly you felt better, heart lighter. You couldn’t help but smile back at the silent reminder you weren’t alone.

‘Helloo?’ Jessica waved her hand in front of your face, breaking the spell and bringing you crashing back down to earth. The whole table was staring at you, teasing smirks warping at many mouths. ‘What’s the matter with you?’

You tried to brush them off, forcing yourself to shrug despite the heat burning in your cheeks. ‘Nothing, sorry, what were you saying?’

Frankie was looking behind her, craning her neck to see what you’d been staring at then leaned in close with an expression of sordid delight on her face, ‘You aren’t sweet on the freak are you?’

‘What? No!’ you protested as they erupted into giggles. ‘I was just daydreaming that’s all!’

‘Is he still sending you love letters?’ Jessica asked through hysterical tears.

Adam pricked up at this, ‘What?’ His expression turned from confusion to anger in a matter of seconds. Jessica stopped laughing.

‘You didn’t know?’

‘It’s nothing, I promise!’ you hurried to explain, guilt nagging in your tummy as you downplayed your interactions to reassure him. Your account seemed to assuage him and soon he too fell to teasing you while you tried to laugh along.

*

After lunch, you walked with Adam to class. His arm seemed tighter around your shoulders than normal; it was probably just your imagination. As he dropped you off at your classroom, one of his friends piped up, ‘We’re still on for extra practice tonight, right?’

The boys all replied to the affirmative and surprise hit you when Adam joined them. ‘I’ll be there!’

‘But I thought we were going out tonight? We planned it a week ago!’ you’d caught his hand but he only shrugged, pulling out of your reach.

‘Sorry babe! We can do it next week or whatever!’

‘Adam, you said you’d take me home tonight!’ Your house was an hour’s walk away.

He was losing patience now, ‘Just wait around!’ he snapped, ‘I’ll take you after practice! It’s not that big of a deal!’

And then he walked away.

*

You sat in the hall, back against the lockers and long since abandoned homework laid out in front of you as your eyes devoured the pages of ‘Little Women’ searching for solace. School had ended almost two hours ago. The lights were starting to hurt your head.

Somewhere down the corridor, a door opened and a flurry of excited voices broke the silence.

‘No way did you include a secret passageway!’

‘I did not see that goblin hoard coming!’

‘Can’t wait to see what happens next week Eds!’

The small gaggle passed by and Eddie caught sight of you alone. He quickly excused himself, promising more plot-twists and epic battles before making his way over.

‘Hey! How come you’re still here?’

You brightened instinctively at the sound of his voice. ‘Adam had extra practice,’ you explained. A look of impatience flashed across his face. Just for a moment, then it was gone. Eddie stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled.

‘Well, Hellfire’s done now; do you want a lift home?’

You hesitated. You did, you really did, but Adam would go ballistic if he found out. ‘It’s okay, he won’t be too long!’ You hoped.

Eddie nodded, sitting down beside you, ‘Can I wait with you then? Far be it from me to abandon a fair damsel to solitude!’

You nodded, laughing along at the funny voice he put on. You had no idea how glad Eddie was to make you smile; his eyes never left your face. Sunshine seemed to spill from every pour.

‘Tell me about your book!’ he requested, tucking his legs up and settling back against the lockers.

Forty minutes later, the doors to the gym swung open. Perhaps practice had gone badly. Perhaps he’d missed the last shot or coach had been especially tough that night. Adam had forgotten all about the teasing at lunchtime but when he rounded the corner and saw you sitting with Eddie Munson, when he saw him making you laugh and smile, it all came flooding back. Harmless jokes transformed to threat and trespass. You never smiled like that for him. Pride gave way to rage.

‘Back off Munson!’

His voice made you flinch. Eddie jumped up, taking a step back as Adam barrelled down the hall, spitting venom. He was angrier than you’d ever seen him. You stumbled to your feet, stepping in front of your boyfriend, hands stretched out, hoping to calm him down.

‘Adam, what are you-?’ he caught you, his hand sealing around your upper arm and jabbing a finger at Eddie.

‘She’s my girlfriend, freak! You stay the hell away from her!’ His fingers were so tight they began to bruise your arm. You tried in vain to subdue his fury but that only seemed to rile him more. ‘Crawl back to your trailer where you belong, trash!’

Eddie stood silent; his mouth half open like he wanted to say something but thought better of it. He glanced at you, a wordless apology heavy in his eyes, then walked away without a fight.

You breathed out.

Adam glared after him ‘til he was out of sight before he released you and stormed off in the other direction. For a split second, your heart was torn. Then you scrambled to pick up your things, stuffing them into your bag and running after him.

‘What the hell was that?’ The cold night air hit your face as the double doors swung shut behind you. Adam scoffed at the question but didn’t stop. ‘Why are you being so mean?’

‘What was he doing near you!’ the fury in his tone made you falter. He’d never sounded so cross.

‘Nothing!’ you were nearing the car. Clutching the bag on your shoulder, you stumbled over to the passenger side. ‘He just asked if I needed a ride and we were talking! That’s all!’

‘No! He’s trying to get it on with you!’ Adam jabbed a finger in your direction as he yanked the door open.

You almost laughed at the accusation, following suite and throwing your bag in the footwell, ‘Don’t be ridiculous! He was just being nice!’ He pulled his own door closed with a slam. ‘You don’t have to get so jealous!’

‘Jealous?’ That was the wrong thing to say! Adam was seething, ‘Of him? Of that freak?’

‘Look, Adam, I’m with you! It’s harmless, I promise!’ your own anger sparked, ‘Why don’t you trust me?’

He wasn’t listening. ‘You tell him to knock it off or I will!’

You hesitated. The look in his eyes was one you’d never seen before. Something like fear stirred in your chest. No, not fear! You pushed that thought away, he was your boyfriend, he wasn’t going to hurt you! But in the same second, you realised who he would hurt.

You swallowed, as he backed out of the parking lot faster than normal. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tight they turned white.

Neither of you said a word on the way home.

*

‘I’m sorry Eddie-!’

‘You don’t have to be sorry!’

The sounds of the cafeteria echoed down the deserted hall. Eddie sighed deeply, ‘I’m sorry!’

He knew this would happen eventually. He should have left you alone the moment he found out you had a boyfriend. Sure, it would have hurt, been unbearable even, but now you were mixed up in it all too. Now you would have to untangle the mess he’d made; manage the tempers he had riled.

‘It’s okay,’ you gave him a small smile, ‘You’ve been so kind. I’m grateful, really!’ You paused, ‘I just… I know what he’s like and I really don’t want you to get hurt!’

He smiled wryly. Eddie knew what the basketball team were like too and while he’d gladly withstand any punishment they decided to inflict, he didn’t want to cause you more pain than he already had. The time for dreaming was done. He nodded and left with all the grace and pleasantries he’d always afforded you.

He hoped you didn’t see the heartbreak in his eyes.

*

Life went on.

Gone were the notes and trinkets in your locker. No longer brightened by secret smiles and whispered compliments, the world turned grey.

You tried to pretend as if nothing had happened. As if clouds hadn’t blocked out the sun, as if all its warmth hadn’t drained away. He was never uncivil, never unkind, but now the two of you existed on different plains. Without Eddie, a gaping hole had been left behind and now you had to find something to fill it with.

Constant surveillance became the norm. It seemed Adam was always watching you somehow. From the corner of his eye at lunch, one of his teammates moving next to you in a lesson, or a cheerleader looping her arm through yours.

Try as you might, in the beginning you couldn’t help looking up when Eddie walked in. He hardly ever ate in the cafeteria anymore and when he did, he was silent. Picking at his food while his friends tried to pick up the pieces on their own.

Adam was quick to notice and settle an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer and shooting a look which told you his patience was wearing thin.

You tried instead to listen to the conversations at your own table. The cycle was endless. Gossip and sports and who was going out with who. Whose social suicide would make the headlines today. It was mind-numbing.

You ought to be grateful really. People dreamed about this life. Popularity, fame, and all the rest of it. You sat among kings and queens, had earned the honour of their interest. Adam had given you all this. Most girls would kill to be in your place. You were indebted to him.

Time went on, each day more soulless than the last.

Adam began to be more affectionate, or at least put on a convincing performance for everyone else. He must have sensed people thought there was trouble in paradise. Doubt would not be tolerated.

It started out as small things. His arm dropped to rest around your waist for instance, holding you snugly against him. Things you might have enjoyed in the beginning, but now you couldn’t shake the idea that he had some ulterior motive.

One day, you were walking down the hallways. Arm in arm, and actually talking for once, only about Adam’s hopes for the basketball season, but it was a start, when out of nowhere, he pushed you up against the lockers and started kissing you with a force. One hand on the side of your neck, tangling itself in your hair and manoeuvring you with ease.

After the shock, you tried to kiss back. Maybe this meant things were alright again? Maybe this meant you were forgiven?

His other hand trailed down your ribs, slipping deftly under the hem of your shirt. ‘Adam, stop!’ You broke away in surprise, pushing on his arm, ‘We’re in school! You protested.

And just like that, he stopped. Turned and carried on walking without explanation. Without a word.

Confusion flooded your mind as you smoothed your shirt and glanced around to see if anyone else had witnessed his strange behaviour. Searching for an answer to such violent yet fleeting passion, you felt your stomach drop at the sight of a familiar leather jacket disappearing around the corner.

‘Oh,’ you thought, guilt and shame burning in your cheeks.

That was why.

*

It was late one Saturday night. Lamplight enveloped your room as you sat alone in the warm, comforting glow. A tangle of emotions weighed on your heart.

You and Adam had argued earlier. These days, it seemed all you did was argue. He’d insisted you come to some big party this evening.

‘I just don’t feel up to it!’

Everyone would be there, but you were tired and really didn’t feel like being around a bunch of drunk teens groping each other while Adam tried to convince you to go and make out upstairs.

‘Why do you have to be so boring?’ he’d complained, ‘It’s just a party!’

‘I’m not going! You go ahead if you want to!’

He’d left in a huff, muttering under his breath and you biked home by yourself. Were relationships supposed to feel like this? You wondered all the way home. You didn’t exactly have a wealth of experience to draw on. Somehow you didn’t think Jessica or the other cheerleaders would give the advice you needed.

Love was hard. So many people had told you that. It’s not like the movies. You sighed; was that all that was wrong? Were your expectations too high?

A tap on the window roused you from your thoughts. You jumped, half thinking you imagined it but there it was again. A sharp, swift tap like something hitting the glass.

Swinging your legs off the bed, you crept over and pulled back the curtain just in time for a third pebble to hit the pane a few inches from your face.

You flinched, then leaned forward, searching the darkened street for the attacker. Shadows and streetlights outlined a figure wincing at the indignation on your face. ‘Sorry!’ they mouthed.

Fond astonishment bubbled up and you pushed the window open. ‘Eddie?’ you whisper-yelled. Were you dreaming?

He beamed up at you, dropping a handful of pebbles and throwing up his hands in defence, ‘I know! I know you said to knock it off, but I have to show you something!’

‘What?’

He motioned, ‘Come down!’

You leaned back into your room and glanced at the clock by your bedside, ‘It’s eleven fifty-one, Eddie!’

‘I know!’ he nodded impatiently, ‘We’re gonna be late!’

You sighed. You really shouldn’t, but one look at his hopeful expression made the decision for you. ‘Alright!’

With many complaints and a few close calls, you climbed down from your window. They definitely made this look easier in the movies! You jumped the last few feet and Eddie grabbed your hand. He’d parked his van a block over and held the door as he helped you in.

‘Where are we going?’ you asked, but he only laughed.

‘You’ll like it! Trust me!’

So, you did.

Eddie drove quickly down the deserted streets, constantly checking his watch. He was expert at maintaining an air of mystery. For once the radio sat silent, limited conversation between the two of you filling the space.

He pulled up on the outskirts of town, stopping at the base of the hill. Weathertop, as it was affectionately nicknamed by the nerds. Eddie hopped out, getting your door. Once you’d jumped down, he rummaged in the back and pulled out a blanket and what looked like three couch cushions. At your obvious confusion, he flashed a smile, shifting the bundle in his arms so he could offer his hand.

‘Come on!’

The climb was steep, almost pitch black away from the houses and streetlights. Your only guide was the vague silhouette in front of you, hiking with a spring in his step and leading with the warmth of his touch. Nervous excitement mingled with curiosity.

What was his game?

‘There!’ Eddie flapped the blanket, spreading it on the summit and arranging the cushions with meticulous care. He nodded his head expectantly.

‘What?’ a bemused smirk preceded a hesitant giggle at his antics.

‘Sit down!’

You sat, tucking your legs and waiting eagerly. Eddie’s eyes were fixed on his watch, his fingers crossed behind his back as you stared at him.

‘Three… Two… Look up! Now!’

Your head jerked upward; adrenaline triggered by his frantic tone.

But nothing happened.

Puzzlement seeped in. It was a pretty night, beautiful even. Away from civilisation, the stars were a little brighter than normal, the moon full and ghostly full but that was all.

‘Come on… Come on!’ Eddie bounced on his heels, praying silently and trying not to lose hope. Just this once! Let me have this one!

You sighed, gaze falling back to him, ‘Edward Munson, if you’ve brought me out here for nothing-!’

‘No, look! Look now!’

He pointed.

You followed.

And all the breath left your lungs.

Out of the darkness, out of the midnight sky came streaks of bursting light. First one, then another, and another. Then a thousand!

Slicing through the firmament like papercuts, drawing bright white blood then fading to nothing.

You shot to your feet, craning your neck as far as you could and laughing in pure, open-mouthed delight!

They kept on coming! Daubing the night with silver and pearl for almost five minutes before the flow stemmed as suddenly as it had begun. Starlight faded leaving you in darkness, breathless with awe.

You looked back at Eddie. A crescent smile stretched over his face, ‘Did you like it?’

‘Like it?’

You laughed, giddy and weak at the knees. You stumbled closer and threw your arms around him, ‘Eddie, that was wonderful! Wonderful!’

He laughed with you, hugging you as the sound reverberated through his chest. Then as if a switch had been flipped, he pulled back, suddenly apprehensive. ‘There uh… There might be some more,’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck, ‘… If you wanna wait, I know it’s late!’

You beamed, ‘I want to stay out here all night!’

He smiled.

Side by side, in the comfort of the cushions and each other’s company, you watched the night sky as its contents danced and glittered. Between showers of falling stars, you laughed and talked with ease, cutting each other off with a yelp of excitement when more appeared.

Somewhere around two am, you glanced back at Eddie. It took everything in you not to gasp.

The bright stars sparkled in the reflection of his eyes. Twinkling and shining an endless brown nebula with some with some ethereal power. There was a whole universe inside of him and you got to catch a glimpse!

You stopped watching the sky after that.

*

As the night turned chilly, Eddie’s jacket found itself draped around your shoulders. The conversation turned deeper and more meaningful than anything you’d experienced in months.

Over the course of the night, you’d moved closer. Mere inches existed between you now but it wasn’t until, on the verge of sleep and against your better judgement, you laid your head on his shoulder that his arm settled around you.

Gently. Loosely so you could pull away whenever you chose.

The veil of tiredness thinned as you observed that it was always like that with Eddie. Always making sure you were perfectly comfortable before he made a move.

Not like Adam, the admission tasted bitter. Adam whose hands wandered every chance they got. Who kissed you when he liked then shunned you with no explanation. Who brushed you off with ease. Who cared more about keeping up appearances than resolving actual problems between you.

The familiar churn in your stomach resurfaced. You pulled away from Eddie feeling suddenly guilty. He was your boyfriend! You shouldn’t be making comparisons like that…

Shouldn’t you?

‘Why are you doing this?’ the question was unprompted, but you needed to know, ‘All these nice things, why are you still doing it?’

Eddie gave a crooked smile, trying to hide how much he missed the closeness. ‘I think I’ve made it pretty clear it’s because I’m in love with you!’ You didn’t look away, so he had to. Your searching eyes and the late hour threatening to pry the truth from his lips. ‘And because…’

‘Because what?’

Eddie fought a battle in his heart. He shouldn’t interfere, he had no right! It wasn’t his place. If he did, he could lose even the fleeting moments he was allowed with you. He couldn’t risk ruining what was left by opening his big mouth.

But you wanted to know… and he couldn’t deny you anything.

‘Can I say something?’ he managed, struggling to find the words. He laughed a little, ‘And you can totally slap me and tell me to get lost if you want!’

You breathed a smile. He never missed a chance to put you at ease. You nodded.

He paused, breathing deep. He had to get this right. When the words came, they were plain and simple.

‘I don’t think he’s good for you!’

Silence. Eddie thought his heart might beat right out of his chest.

‘Oh?’ your voice came out thin. You didn’t sound surprised. Maybe you shouldn’t have said the next words. Maybe you should have turned around and gone straight home. Or maybe, more than anything, you needed to hear his answer. ‘Why not?’

Eddie let out a breath, wetting his lips nervously. ‘You don’t smile when you’re with him… Not really! And he doesn’t notice when you’re faking it.’ Once he’d begun it was hard to stop. Until now, he hadn’t realised just how much he’d pent up. ‘He doesn’t do the things a boyfriend should! He doesn’t listen to you. He doesn’t even think about you unless you’re standing right in front of him! Unless he thinks he might lose you…’

He stopped himself. You hadn’t moved, your eyes staring through him as you listened. The words stung but you knew in your heart they were true. Tears began to blur your vision.

‘I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-,’ he reached for you hand then dropped it with a sigh, ‘This isn’t a ‘dump him and date me instead’, I swear, I just…’

It was maddening. He wanted to hold you. The sight of your pretty eyes glistening with unshed tears was too much to bear. He wanted so badly to draw you close and comfort you properly but he knew he couldn’t.

‘I just think you deserve someone who knows you deserve the world!’

There it was. Out in the open.

Your breath hitched slightly. No one had ever said anything like that before. It was like you were seeing him for the first time. Away from the insults and expectations at high school, away from the cruelty and the caricatures. All this time, he’d been right here in front of you. Out here in the twinkling starlight everything was clearer. Why hadn’t you noticed before? You wanted to say something though where to start, you didn’t know. Before you could open your mouth, Eddie spoke.

‘Come on,’ he dropped his gaze nodding to the sky. ‘I think that’s the last of them.’

Eddie got to his feet and collected the cushions. You rolled up the blanket, a sense of reluctance tugging on your heartstrings. Neither of you spoke as you wandered down the hill. Eddie helped you into the passenger side and started the van. The ride home was silent. The sky above beginning to lighten.

He drew up to your house, hopping out to open your door one last time. He held your hand as you stepped down. You didn’t want him to let go.

As you looked up at him, a thousand thoughts revolved in your mind. A million questions you needed answered, a million more things you needed him to know, but a whispered, ‘Thank you!’ was all that came out.

Eddie looked at the ground, a small smile twitching at the corner of his mouth, ‘Thank you!’ he echoed.

You shrugged off his jacket, handing it back as the early morning air bit at your bare arms. He took it and for a moment you stood together. Neither of you wanted to go first.

‘I’ll see you Monday?’ he asked tentatively, looking at you through his eyelashes.

You nodded, a shy smile gracing your lips,

‘See you Monday!’

The walk to your front door was lonely and cold but hope’s bright spark flickered in your heart. You weren’t afraid anymore. You knew what you wanted and you had the strength to go after it.

You didn’t look back. You didn’t see Eddie watch you all the way up the path then slowly raise the jacket to his cheek. The fabric brushed against his skin. You didn’t see him sigh and smile as he breathed in your scent.

*

Your heart was pounding; palms sweating. You made your way through the crowded hallways, silently hoping your resolve wouldn’t crumble.

You caught sight of him crowded around his locker with his friends. With a deep breath, you started toward him. You couldn’t change your mind now.

‘Adam, I think we should talk!’

Your boyfriend rolled his eyes, reluctantly pulling his attention from the conversation he was immersed in, ‘What now?’

You bit the inside of your cheek, praying for the strength to stand your ground. ‘I mean in private.’

‘Oh, come on babe! It can’t be that important!’

Just like that. Like you were a nuisance. A mild inconvenience he was forced to live with. Well, who were you to burden him?

‘Fine!’ you retorted, tact and empathy worn thin, ‘I’m not happy! This isn’t working; I want to break up!’

The group fell silent. Shock and horror covered every face but you couldn’t care less. Adam’s expression morphed from amusement to surprise, then outrage. ‘What?’

You folded your arms, forcing yourself not to quail under his gaze. ‘You heard me! I’m breaking up with you!’

In one swift movement, he seized your arm, pulling you away from the others into an alcove. ‘What the hell are you playing at?’

‘I’m not happy!’ you repeated, shaking yourself free from his grasp, ‘You don’t care about me! You won’t even talk to me unless it’s about sports or parties! You ignore me and then get mad when I make friends with someone else! You don’t want me, you just like the idea of having someone on your arm! Well, I don’t want that! I’m done!’

Adam was seething. ‘This is because of him, isn’t it? That freak, Munson!’

‘No, you aren’t listening!’

‘I’ll kill him, I swear!’

‘You won’t go anywhere near him!’ a surge of anger flooded your voice when he threatened Eddie, ‘He has nothing to do with this! All he did was make me see what was standing right in front of me!’

Fury tensed his every muscle. Fists clenched, all but frothing at the mouth. Suddenly, he looked nothing like the person you’d been in a relationship with.

‘You were nothing before me!’ his voice was low and shaking with barely restrained anger, ‘A pretty face and nothing more! If we break up, that’s exactly what you’ll go back to!’

Once upon a time, that thought would have terrified you. Perhaps then you’d have reconsidered, grovelled for his forgiveness and been content to live in misery. Not anymore.

With that threat, he confirmed every doubt you’d ever had about him.

‘I’m done Adam.’

He swallowed, a muscle twitching in his jaw. He could hardly comprehend your words. ‘Have fun being a nobody again!’ he spat, knocking your shoulder as he stalked away.

Relief hit you in the chest, forcing tears while your knees shook. There would be consequences for this, of that you had no doubt.

But for the first time in months, you could breathe easy.

*

With no one to sit with at lunch, you ate in the music room. You really weren’t up to facing the flying rumours and disapproving stares so your fingers teased a familiar tune from the old piano between bites. A tear or two slid down your cheeks every now and then, landing on the keys as you sniffed and tried to wipe them away.

You knew you’d done the right thing but somehow it still hurt. Who knew what they were saying about you in the cafeteria. You’d slapped a great big target on your back and probably Eddie’s as well!’

‘Oh, sorry! I didn’t think anyone else would be in here!’

Speak of the devil.

You stopped playing abruptly turning to find Eddie Munson standing in the doorway. He caught sight of your red-rimmed eyes and stepped closer, pulling over a chair.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ he asked in that gentle, caring tone only ever reserved for you.

You sniffed, giving him a rueful smile and gesturing vaguely, ‘We broke up!’

Eddie’s face fell. He cursed under his breath, ‘I’m sorry! I shouldn’t’ve… I didn’t mean you had to-!’

‘It’s not your fault!’ you shook you head and sighed. Closing the piano lid, you leaned an elbow on top, head in your hand. ‘I guess you just made me realise…’ you trailed off.

Silence fell once more and Eddie didn’t disturb it. He wished he could comfort you, banish the storm clouds and shadows but he couldn’t shake the guilt of being their conjurer. He couldn’t ignore how glad he was that you were away from Adam, and the selfish inkling that now he might finally have a chance with you.

As if sensing his torment, you managed a small chuckle, ‘I’ll be okay!’ you nodded to yourself, ‘I’m gonna need some time… a few weeks, a month maybe, I don’t know,’ you shrugged.

Eddie nodded quietly. His eyes fixed on the floor. Yours never left him. ‘But someone told me there’s a new milkshake place at the mall… I still haven’t been!’

Eddie looked up, a hesitant smile tugging at his mouth, ‘Yeah? Me either.’

You nodded and shrugged again nonchalantly, ‘We should probably go check it out… If you still want to…’

‘I’d love to!’ Perhaps he replied too fast. Perhaps he smiled to wide and looked too eager but you didn’t seem to mind.

You opened your mouth to say something but the school bell rang. It’s harsh tone signifying the end of lunch. Stuffing your things back into your bag, you slung it over your shoulder as you both stood. Now, face to face, you appreciated the warmth of those brown eyes more than ever before.

‘I’ll call you?’ you asked, suddenly unsure if you were worthy of such patient kindness as his.

Eddie fought every urge to lean forward and kiss you right then and there.

‘When you’re ready!’ He smiled. Sunshine through the clouds.

‘Maybe everything would be okay?’ you thought. ‘Maybe everything would be wonderful!’

***

Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it! Please reblog and leave a comment if you did! It gives me such a boost and encourages me to keep writing when people do leave feedback!

Check out my masterlist for more of my stuff

Taglist: @sadbitchfangirl, @neewtmas, @idathereader, @ladymunson

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x reader fluff #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x you #eddie munson imagine #eddie x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x reader angst #amber writes #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things

[ultrone]

more jock/fuckboy Amber PLEASE i'm begging you 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

You were heading back to the locker rooms after cheerleading practice had ended about half an hour ago. However, the coach asked to speak with you, so it took some extra time before you could reach the locker room. By the time you finally got there, everyone else had already left.

As you were placing your cheerleading uniform in your backpack, having already changed, a voice caught your attention from behind.

"Hey there," Ethan said, his tone dripping with flirtation.

Ethan was the co-captain of the football team, known for being friendly and well-liked by everyone. You used to think he was nice too, until a couple of weeks ago when you turned down his advances. Since then, things had become uncomfortable. Ethan's behavior had taken a strange and intense turn whenever you were alone, making you feel nervous and unsafe in his presence.

"Hey Ethan," you replied, forcing an uncomfortable smile while hastily packing your things to leave as quickly as possible.

"Didn't cheerleading practice end like half an hour ago? What are you doing here?" He asked with curiosity, stepping closer towards you.

"Yeah, practice ended a while ago," you answered, trying to keep your tone casual. "I just had a talk with the coach, so I got delayed."

"Oh, I see," Ethan responded. "Well, since I'm heading home too, I can give you a ride if you'd like."

"Oh, no, Ethan, don't worry about it," you said, your voice wavering slightly. "I appreciate the offer, but it's just a few blocks, and I could use the walk. It was nice seeing you though."

You made your way toward the door, hoping to exit the situation, but Ethan suddenly positioned himself between you and the door, blocking your path. Your heart rate increased, and you felt a surge of unease.

"Come on," he insisted, his tone becoming more insistent. "I don't mind at all. It'll be fun, I promise."

You tried to remain composed, but the situation was making you increasingly uncomfortable. "I appreciate the offer, Ethan, but really, it's okay. I'd rather just walk. I don't want to bother you."

You hoped he would understand and let you go, but the persistent look on his face made you even more apprehensive.

"You wouldn't bother me at all," he said, his hand inching closer toward your arm, disregarding your clear refusal.

But before he could make contact, a sharp voice cut through the tension, causing both of you to turn in surprise. "Don't fucking touch her," Amber's voice rang out, as she swiftly slapped Ethan's hand away from you. "Didn't you hear her? She doesn't want your ride. Back off."

Ethan seemed taken aback by Amber's sudden intervention, his expression shifting from persistence to annoyance. You felt a surge of relief that Amber had stepped in just in time to diffuse the situation.

"Hey, Freeman," Ethan responded, attempting to mask his annoyance with a smile. "Chill out, I was just offering her a ride, no big deal," he said nonchalantly.

"Well, she doesn't need one, so get the fuck out of here," Amber snapped back, her tone firm and unwavering. Ethan knew better than to mess with Amber, aware of her reputation. Reluctantly, he obeyed without further protest.

"See you around, Y/n," Ethan smiled at you, though it felt forced, and then turned around, exiting the locker rooms. You let out a sigh of relief, grateful for Amber's intervention.

Amber turned to you, concern etched on her face. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice filled with genuine care.

You nodded, a small smile forming. "Yeah, Ambs, thank you."

Amber's gaze shifted to your bare shirt, and she immediately took off her bomber jacket. "Here," she said, gently placing it on your shoulders. "It's getting cold outside. Put this on." Without waiting for your protest, she made sure the jacket was securely wrapped around you. The familiar scent of her surrounded you, bringing a sense of comfort.

She then grabbed your bag with one hand, interlacing her fingers with yours in the other. Tenderly, she placed a small kiss on the back of your hand. "Let's go. I'll drive you home."

You smiled and nodded in agreement. Hand in hand, you walked out of the locker rooms together.

#writing this at 4:00 am so i won't proofread i’m so tired lmaooo #pookie jock amber 🤭🫣 she's so cute #amber freeman #amber freeman x reader #amber freeman x you #amber freeman x y/n #amber freeman imagine #scream 5 #amber freeman fluff

[mjlovescm]

Can you do Rodrick x reader who is like Eddie Munson from stranger things

The freak and his cheerleader, Rodrick Heffley

A/N: I really hope you mean Rodrick is like Eddie and not reader is like Eddie because thats how I wrote it. But if that is what you mean I'll be happy to write one for fem black Eddie type reader or of black male Eddie type reader. I needed some practice, so I wrote this in first person. I hope you like it.

To say Rodrick and I were an unlikely pair was an understatement. But what can I say, opposites attract and me and him are very opposite. He was the loud, trouble making drug dealing drummer who stayed back. And I was the friendly social head cheerleader. And as if the clash of our personalities and interests weren't confusing enough, there was our appearances.

Rodrick loved to wear dark, simple things while still adding his own spin on them. Like when he cut up his dad's old jean jacket and painted the Löded Diper logo and name on the back. Me, on the other hand, I can't get enough of bright colors, short skirts and my cheerleading uniform. Although Rodrick was strongly against any and everything that represented our school, he made an exception for my uniform. And, of course, for me.

“Do you really have to drag us to every one of these things?” Chris complained as Rodrick led him and Ben up the bleachers.

“Seriously, Rodrick, I really don't think she'll mind if it's just you in the crowd.” Ben agrees.

“Come on, guys, she's always at our shows. Just smile and cheer her on.”

“Fine.” The two put it to a rest.

Confused and bored, the three boys watched the game with absolutely no knowledge of whether our school was winning or not. Rodrick had no idea what the score was, nor did he care. He only really came to see me perform.

“There she is.” He pointed to me, smiling, as I led our school's cheer team.

As we perform, I can hear him screaming my name. Praising me and my moves, as if he hadn't seen me practice them for weeks on end.

Although a small part of me understands people's perplexity with me and Rodrick. A bigger part sorta liked the differences. With Rodrick being someone who was “weird” and okay with it, it brought out a different side of me. One I only showed to him.

“Do you maybe wanna talk about it ?” Rodrick's small suggestion was all that was needed to set me off.

The past few days, hell weeks, had been rough. Everyone was always expecting something from me. If it wasn't my teammates, it was my teachers. If it was my teachers, it was parents. Usually I could stay on top of things to keep a healthy balance to make everyone and untimely myself happy. But sometimes I slip and when I slip I just start falling. And suddenly everyone was convinced that I only make mistakes and excuses. I tried to explain, but I know they didn't want to listen to my troubles. So I just didn't tell them. Sometimes it really does feel like Rodrick is the only person who I can complain to.

“Math sucks for everybody, okay, It's not just you.”

“I know it's just he wants me to take it when I have cheer practice. But I was already sick and missed the last one, and I tried to tell him, but he said I take it then, or I don't take it at all.” I complain, frustrated.

Climbing onto Rodrick's bed, I bury my face into his pillow. Rodrick is quick to join me. Laying on his side beside me, he pressed a kiss to the back of my head.

“How about we just sleep it off for now.” He whispers against my head. “Then we can study and practice your cheers, okay?”

A bit more calm, I agreed with Rodrick. “Okay.” I said, lifting my head slightly from his pillow.

Rodrick didn't put me on a pedestal the way other people did. And I didn't put him down the way everyone else did, either. I think that's what makes us work so good. Sure, Rodrick would always be a freak to some, and I'd always be a golden girl. But when it's just me and him, we were just each other.

“I don't think I'll ever get used to this.” Rodrick told me as he took his blunt from my fingers.

I looked at him with a curious expression as I blew the smoke to the side.

“Get used to what?”

“You.” He took a deep inhale from the blunt, holding the heavy smoke in his lungs before releasing it. “This.”

My curious expression stayed, and Rodrick tilted his head slightly.

“I don't get it.” I admitted and he smiled before laughing.

Setting the blunt aside, he pulled me into his arms.

“I mean you and me.” He clarified. “I don't think I'll get used to the queen b of our school smoking with me or being my girlfriend.”

I rolled my eyes at the title “queen b”. I hated it.

“I hate when you call me that.” I told him pulling away only to be pulled back to my boyfriend's body.

“Yea I know. I know.” Rodrick plants his face in the crook of my neck. “I mean, I don't know, I guess it's just like weird you're dating me and not some muscle for brains athlete.”

“You're only saying that because I'm a cheerleader. That's such a boring clique.”

“And what the popular girl and the weirdo in the band isn't?”

Materslist Drum Lesson, 🍋 She keeps to herself

#mjlovescm #rodrick heffley #rodrick x reader

[nyaagolor]

What is Geeta like as a person? What's her relationship with Nemona?

I couldn't think of a way to organize this so it's just a bunch of bullet point headcanons now, sorry. Also it got really long so it's below the cut :)

I always saw Geeta as someone who was extremely intelligent and pragmatic but who has very poor social skills. She's graceful and smart and appears extremely put-together but she has the same obliviousness and pushiness that Nemona does. I actually think they're extremely similar, but while Nemona is just friendly and extroverted in nature, Geeta is more quiet and unnerving

Nemona and Geeta actually share many of the same qualities, both positive and negative. The same things make them excel in their respective fields (drive, intelligence, workaholic syndrome) and the same things cause them to be isolated from their peers (poor social skills, obliviousness, strong personality). I think they're both ultimately friendly, but come across extremely strongly and are accidentally intimidating because of the power / talent they hold in comparison to those around them

Geeta is extremely ambitious and goal oriented, which makes her an excellent administrator and somewhat painful to be around. I think she's very nice, don't get me wrong, but she's just hard to deal with because she's a bit Machiavellian and not always the most considerate of others' feelings (in the same way Nemona can be)

A huge part of the gym leaders' Issues (tm) with her is because of her strong personality. She's not mean or even a bad boss, but she's so intimidating by nature that no one is willing to air their grievances because they think she'll punish them. Unfortunately, Geeta is as oblivious as Nemona in that respect, and doesn't ever pick up the hints they drop about things they want changed. Gym leaders think Geeta is ignoring them or doesn't care, but she has no idea about this and thinks everything is dandy. She needs them to be blunt, but she's so unnerving that no one feels like they can be with her

The OTHER reason she gets along so poorly with the gym leaders is because she's a huge micromanager. She's quite nice, but getting a million checkups and reminders about things from your weird boss, no matter how well-meaning, is enough to drive anyone nuts especially when you're a full grown working adult

Something else that Geeta doesn't realize pisses off her coworkers is her tendency to not explain herself. She has very clear and logical reasons for all the things that she does, from how she distributes work to when and why she'll ask someone to take over for her in certain tasks. She never actually explains this to her colleagues, however, so it comes across as senseless, lazy, or random, which isn't really a good reputation to gain when you're the boss

Geeta is a complete workaholic and one of those people always trying to "optimize" everything. Woman who needs a chill pill and a vacation so badly. I'm convinced she sleeps in her office a few nights a week because "I can use that time to do more work instead of wasting it going home and back"

She sucks at battling and knows this. She is here trying to do the bare minimum as champion for the Paldean League to function so that she can save money until they can get a proper champion. She'll never say it, because she thinks admitting so would be bad PR, but she's *fully* aware of her team's issues and has zero intention of changing it. It's gogoat or bust she will die for that thing. It's always chewing on her hair in her office

Geeta adores Nemona, and genuinely wants her to be the next Top Champion once the position is uncoupled from the League. However, that requires more money than they currently have so she's waiting, since she knows that Nemona is not very good with paperwork and would rather focus on being the best battler she can. In the meantime, Geeta is her biggest cheerleader: she's always there for her, gives good advice, helps Nemona not make the same mistakes she did, and just otherwise keeps an eye on her. Geeta is fond of everyone in the academy, but Nemona reminds her of herself and she wants to see Nemona turn out better than she did

Ok ngl I think Geeta is just a bit of a weirdo (I mean this in the most affectionate way possible). She's not evil or hiding something or an alien or a robot or a pokemon or whatever she's just Like That

Geeta 🤝 Nemona Autism.

#geeta #nemona #pokemon sv #mod vex #ask #these are two of my faves so I had a lot to say haha

[valentine-writes]

Hello hello!!! I heard you were taking request so...

May I please have some HCs about how GR Freddy and the rest of the gang would be as S/Os? 👉👈

i could use a love of some kind

↳ ft. the glamrocks + sun/sunnydrop, and moon/moondrop

「 gn! reader, romantic relationship <3 」

author's note: the song iz just.... so sweet ^_^ i thought it would b nice 2 listen 2 while writing this, so i added it so u can listen while u read!!!! if u wanna!!!!! ty anon 4 tha fun req, and i apologize 4 not writing it sooner luv <3 also he/it moondrop my fav ever.....

GLAMROCK CHICA headcanons:

▸ she's your best friend before anything else. the minute she met you, she couldn't help but get attached

▸ ultra energetic whenever you're with her. your presence really refreshes her. can't help but be buzzed with energy when she's with you

▸ chica is beyond sappy. you two are an adorable duo, it's undeniable- but man do roxy and monty tease you so much. this does Not Stop chica at all

▸ enjoys being physically close. you don't even have to be actually touching- even like. sitting near her makes her happy

▸ adores you. chica is the best hype girl ever and will b ur cheerleader when u need it!!! gives you that extra bit of motivation when you need it.

▸ she may not be all that threatening, which is expected, since she's sweet as sugar and incredibly friendly- but swears she would throw hands for you.

▸ likes receiving gifts! even if it's something small and simple like a trinket, giving her something tells her you were thinking of her. small gestures like that mean the world to her

more hcs under the cut !!

GLAMROCK FREDDY headcanons:

▸ in my head, the healthiest relationships you could have are with chica and freddy. i think it's mainly because these two aren't so emotionally constipated- for lack of better term (´꒳｀;)

▸ so completely genuine and honest. willing to communicate when there's something wrong and is very gentle w/ u

▸ that being said, maybe he's just a little. tiny bit. protective. not incredibly or overwhelmingly, but definitely needs to know that you're doing well for his peace of mind.

▸ pays attention to you. remembers the little things you tell him about yourself. he especially likes hearing about what type of music you enjoy! if there's anyone who knows your music taste as well as you- it's him

▸ likes dancing with you!!! idk why i just feel like this is a thing. if you insist you can't dance- he'll try to teach you!!!! (he wants 2 spend more time with you so badly (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ) freddy's rly trying &lt;;/3)

▸ incredibly patient with you. if you're in emotional distress of some sort, always willing to comfort you first.

▸ secretly gets very nervous around you. he has this natural ability to have good conversational skills, doesn't have trouble getting along with others, and is generally likeable- he doubts ALL OF THAT around you. just a little. he seems to falter or get flustered very easily. freddy gets a little shy around u aw ^_^

ROXANNE WOLF headcanons:

▸ her insecurities can sometimes turn into jealousy- roxy just needs that extra bit of reassurance when it happens, she just wants to be good enough for you </3

▸ it's a little hard for her to let her pride down and actually express her emotions for you. her "i love you"s are often in the form of gestures and not verbal

▸ only ever really shows her soft side to you. it takes some time but she really does seem to melt around you. she's scared of being overly vulnerable with you- but give her time and you'll be the first person she opens up to when she needs some comfort

▸ WOOO SCARY ROBOT WOLF GF PRIVILEGES!!! if you ever feel in danger or uncomfortable in a situation, roxy 2 tha rescue!!!!! :] if someone's messing with you, they're gonna have to deal with her.

▸ she just thinks you're the cutest thing to ever be on the face of planet earth. likes watching your face light up when you tell her about things that you're passionate about- even likes how expressive you get when talking about things you despise. a good listener when you need one.

▸ compliments. so many. just casually. she wants to appreciate you like you appreciate her. she's a little bad at giving them at the start but give it time. they're from a place of sincerity.

▸ misses you very easily when you're not around. you could be gone for a day and the next time she sees you, she'll act like you've been away for decades.

MONTGOMERY GATOR headcanons:

▸ ough boy i write for this silly guy so so much. i am runnin outta monty juice but oh babey!!!! u two are just tha perf pair

▸ actually starting the relationship was the hardest part..... he's kind of emotionally guarded. slowly but surely he learns that he can trust you

▸ it might not be easy at the start- like, actually trying to get to know him. he's got some issues with anger and is very short tempered. little things throughout the day irritate him so much and he takes his anger out by thrashing his room and on people who don't deserve it.

▸ if he ever gets mean to you becuz of this anger tho?? oh man. he'll struggle through a million apologies just to make you feel better again. he wants to be nice 2 u, really. he's not bad. just a little troubled :(

▸ once he trusts you, you're one of the only people he's really soft for. you really just melt him into a sappy puddle. but also. still wants 2 b cool in ur eyes. so tries to hide it. (it does not work!!!!! he cannot hide how much he adores u)

▸ you get a million names and are always called them. like. always. so much so that like the entire pizzaplex probably thinks ur lil nickname from him is ur legal name. he likes recieving sweet little nicknames too :] however. he loves to hear your voice saying his name most.

▸ bonus: when talkin abt when u first saw each other, he's all like "it was love at first sight ;]" and ur like "...u looked like u wanted 2 kill me the first time we met." he recalls being absolutely head over heels. you recall how he stared intensely as you walked past, wondering what you had done to make him glare daggers ur way. (he remembers that heart eyes were practically forming under his shades. perhaps thats for him 2 know.)

SUNDROP headcanons:

▸ ok so he's fully and completely in love. his words, not mine. probably because that was one of the first things he said when meeting you. kidding! i think. but it's certainly no secret sunny liked you the minute you met. and how couldn't he?

▸ he tried so hard just to be friends with you. drew you a million drawings of you and him holding hands just to get the message across. guess it worked eventually!! and better than he thought it would <3

▸he puts so much effort into the relationship you two have- he secretly fears being replaced for someone better but shh its not the main reason he does all this- because he's never had this type of thing with anyone. he make sures to cherish you and give you all the attention and care you need. you will never go neglected by sun.

▸ you will however, have to be there for him too. he can get a little erratic and he needs someone to get him to calm down. offering him some patience and time is really all he asks for when he's being a little much.

▸ physically affectionate!!! so much!!!! he's not very shy about wanting a hug 24/7 or holding your hand- but if you aren't a very touchy person, he understands!! looming over your shoulder like a terrifying shadow works for him too. he just wants u there with him.

▸ knows every little detail about your likes and dislikes! keeps a list probably. just like. a t-chart with one side that says "good! fun!" and the other that says "ick! not enjoyed >:[ !!" stuff like favorite colour, genres of music you listen to, movies you love are there, yeah- but there's also like. specifics. incredibly niche details about yourself you've mentioned once or twice which he will keep and remember! the list was just for sun to keep track of what could be good conversation starters to talk to you when you two first met aw

▸ can get a little protective. again, he's a bit worried he's too much for you, or that you'll find someone better. he doesn't get jealous in a possessive sense but he def needs a bit of reassurance. he'd hate to be something replacable in your eyes. this is the first time someone has cared for him like this- losing you would hurt more than anything in the world.

MOONDROP headcanons:

▸ BASTARD WHO STICKS HIS COLD METAL HANDS ON THE BACK OF UR NECK. it's his way of showing affection. or bothering u. same thing when it comes to moon /hj

▸ i don't know how you managed. but hey congrats. you're stuck with it now! and moon fully intends to let you know that. clingy, yes- but not in the way sunny is. ok. kind of like how sun is. but more of the "looming-over-your-shoulder-like-a-terrifying-shadow" sense rather than the cuddles and handholding.

▸yes, when the lights are out, he will be following you around. he likes being in your presence. he doesn't undestand what draws him to you at first, but finds himself trailing your footsteps often. (this is. very anxiety inducing for you, who probably hadn't even talked to him at this point. like?? where are those weird bell noises coming from?? are those... eyes in the distance or- oh no wait it's gone in a blur wtf)

▸ though very reluctant to talk to anyone, you two somehow become close. it likes the fact you never really gave up on it- despite the fact it can be a bit offputting and unnerving.

▸ likes picking you up. greeting ritual where moon just kinda- hoists you into the air on sight. he decends down on his wire when he sees you enter and just. swoop.

"hi."

▸ will fight and kill and murder and bite and slaughter for you- just. your dynamic:

moon: why do you think i don’t like you? i do. i would kill for you. 

moon: ask me to kill for you. 

you: ...first of all, calm down-

^^THATZ U TWO. ITS CANON NOW. so like... yeah his chill is. very low. moon just tends to be very intense in every way possible and it shows. he's got the right intentions (for the most part) with all his fervour. he puts all that energy into showing you and letting you know you are loved and safe with him :] no one will hurt you. no one can.

#security breach headcanons #fnaf security breach headcanons #fnaf security breach #montgomery gator #roxanne wolf #glamrock chica #glamrock freddy #fnaf sundrop #fnaf moondrop #glamrock chica headcanons #glamrock freddy headcanons #montgomery gator headcanons #roxanne wolf headcanons #sunnydrop headcanons #moondrop headcanons #glamrock chica x reader #glamrock freddy x reader #montgomery gator x reader #roxanne wolf x reader #sunnydrop x reader #moondrop x reader #no thoughts just bastard moon #sunny is JUST as chaotic and intense as moon but kinda keeps it on the downlow letz b real #umm umm itz been 4ever since i wrote i hope u like it

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

HCs about any of the girls?

rahh!!! yes!!

Wendy:

genderfluid and polysexual

she's a part of the big nose gang💪🔥💯

gets glasses in middle school and joins debate and senate in highschool

celiac (constantly ranting about the fad dieters because they make it difficult/unsafe for her to find food that fits her dietary restrictions)

on and off with stan in elementary and middle school, has a fling with Bebe in highschool but it doesn't last

shes a renowned reporter/journalist when she's older and shes still in touch with Kyle. they meet up sometimes for coffee to discuss politics and have friendly debate and discussion. its like enrichment in their enclosures

Bebe:

lesbian. she never liked Clyde lmao. anyone she dated in elementary was to get something (like free shoes)

she goes out with Wendy for a short time in highschool but its not for her

she goes through a lot of flings in highschool bot really knowing why it's never hits, finally figuring out shes aromantic but allosexual

in cheerleading and theater in highschool

when she grows up she goes into acting and modeling. mostly acting, but she takes up modeling and cameo type gigs as well

is very vocal about her support of sex workers and sex positivity. goes to protests with Wendy for sex worker rights.

Heidi:

hippie herbalist

im gonna make a lot of people mad with this one, but she gets sucked into the terf/radfem/trad circle in highschool because of spirituality and herbalist stuff on tiktok

she pushes a lot of people away because of this, kinda like when she went out with Cartman and changed a lot

she wasn't like that in elementary or middle school, so its a pretty shocking change from an outside perspective

sometimes wendy tries to regain contact as adults but it's no use. shes fallen doen that toxic rabbit hole and shes too deep in now to see sense

she may get out of it eventually in her older age but who knows. she's kinda drifted away from a lot of the people in southpark

Nichole:

i don't really have a lot of hcs for her, but i feel like shes very successful when shes older. maybe with a government position or something

Henreitta:

lesbian she/he/it

had a fling with Kenny in highschool

proud lesboy/genderfucker

gets into a lot of flings in highschool. like, sexual flings.

one of these is with Bebe

explores a bit of the punk scene in highschool and college, eventually being more a mix of goth punk

does sex work and tattooing in adulthood. loves it

sells prints and patches on tumblr

literally such a baddie what else do i say

#colby rambles #south park #southpark #sp #sp wendy #wendy testaburger #sp wendy testaburger #sp bebe #sp bebe stevens #bebe stevens #sp heidi turner #sp heidi #heidi turner #sp nichole #sp nichole daniels #nichole daniels #sp henrietta #sp henrietta biggle #henrietta biggle #cloby's headcannons #sp girls

[jellyfishloveletterghosts]

Carnations Say It Better Part 2 (Harringrove)

Part 1 (Hellcheer) separate stories just happening on the same day in the same universe.

Carnations Say It Better

Billy does not think about it for long before he is marching over to the pep squads booth at the end of lunch. He spent most of lunch watching Steve Harrington sulk while pushing food around his tray sitting across from his ex and her boyfriend because for some reason they are friendly. When people start filtering out he makes his move. This morning they were set up out front of the building. Now they are in the cafeteria with even more construction paper hearts decorating the walls behind them.

There is only one cheerleader left dark hair pulled back in a high poney as the others all haul their deliveries to their destinations. She eyes him, chin resting on her balled up fist popping bubble gum.

"What can I do for you handsome"? She asks, tone bored and eyes lingering on going ons behind him. Billy glances behind him and all he sees is Carol throwing something at Tommy. Those two are broken up and still weirdly friendly while also constantly snipping at one another. Billy does not get it.

He doesn not answer with words, just opens his wallet and pulls all of the bills under twenty out. He slaps them on the table and slides them across drawing her attention back to him. She raises a bored eyebrow and pops her gum again before picking the money up and counting it out.

"You want thirteen dollars worth of carnations?" She eyes him with a little more interest as she gives a whistle. It feels more mocking than genuine, makes Billy clench his jaw. "Who's the lucky girl big spender?" Billy does not answer, just waits her out eyes glancing at the clock hanging overhead. He has about seven minutes before he misses his window.

She gives a heavy sigh tucking the money into a little lock box before reaching into one of the boxes full of carnations. She pulls out two fists full up and ties them together with red and white twisted string. It is when she pulls the form in front of her one hand holding the flowers, the other tapping a pen on the table that she speaks up again. "Fraid your going to have to spill, we can't deliver them if you don't tell me who they're for."

Billy scrunches his nose up, he is absolutely not about to tell her who they are for. "Just give them to me. I'll deliver them personally." He glances at the clock again impatiens growing in him.

She purses her lips giving him a flat look. "That's not really how this-" Billy does not have time for this, he only has a few minutes left to get to the locker rooms. He snatches the flowers from her hand and runs. "HEY!" She shouts after him but does not bother with anything else, she is getting real tired of dealing with people today.

-

Billy makes it to the locker rooms just in time to see Steve at the door to the gym. He is always the last one out, always taking the longest both before and after class. Always takes the time to primp even though the sweat of a game is going to have his hair matted down in his face by the end of class.

Billy does not think. He just needs the flowers to get to Steve and his arm is moving before he fully comprehends throwing one of the bouquets at the back of his head. Steve's hand falls from the door as the flowers hit him and he flinches forward. His hands come up scrubbing over his head like he expects to feel what hit him even as the bouquet hits the ground with a soft noise.

"What the fuck man?" Steve hisses as he turns around taking a step forward. His shoe starts crushing the flowers underneath his sole before Steve’s eyes land on it and he slowly lifts it up. "What's this?" Steve kneels, gently picking the flowers up, fingers brushing over damaged petals.

"They're for you.” Billy says it angry like a threat, hand clenching around the second little bouquet he is still holding.

"You got me flowers?" Steve asks, head cocking, eyebrow raised and his mouth is hanging in a little open o.

Billy finds the look all too appealing and instead of being charming like he intended to be. That whole route is already at a loss after smacking Steve in the back of the head. He still manages to make it worse. "You seemed sad as hell at lunch, it was pathetic."

Steve's face goes from curious and maybe flattered to offended in five seconds flat. Fingers curling tightly around the stems of the little bouquet, as he drops his hands to his side, barely resisting placing them on his hips. "Gee what a sweetheart you are." He spits out the tone scathing but the endearment has Billy going red in the face as his gut flutters despite the intent. Not that it matters, this whole stupid thing is going down the drain fast.

Steve is still here though, still watching him, features shifting again as he looks back at the flowers. "Wait, is this supposed to be some sort of apology again? Like the weed and ibuprofen you left in my locker last year?"

"No. That wasn't me." Billy lies, it was him, leaving weed and pills in Steve’s locker after beating him up, once a week like clockwork until Christmas break. His way of apologizing, actions always having more weight in his book than useless words.

"Oh right of course not.” Steve has the audacity to roll his eyes making Billy huff and puff as he takes a few menacing steps closer annoyed as his gut continues to flip. This is not going so bad after all. “It must have been Tommy, maybe I should go see if he wants to-" Billy closes the distance.

"Don't." Billy curls a hand in Steve's shirt."Don't bother with him." Tone pissy and hand shaking a little, worriedly looking at Steve through his lashes, waiting for him to flinch or yell for help. Show he’s afraid.

Steve does none of that, snorts a laugh and smiles at him making the fluttering in Billy’s stomach worse, like a swarm of butterflies are all tickling his insides. "Alright, alright no Tommy.” Steve brings a hand up, the flower petals brushing Billy’s wrist before he drops them back down at his side, chewing his lip for a long moment. “Do you want to hang out later? Say seven my place? I can order pizza."

Billy nods, slipping one carnation free from the second bouquet before slapping it against Steve’s chest. "It's a date." Billy turns, slipping the single carnation into his lapel as he heads for the door.

"A date? Like a real date? Wait where are you going?" Steve shouts after him, technically they have gym but there is no way Billy is going to survive grinding up on Steve when they have a date later.

Part 3 (Carobin)

#harringrove #jellyghostfic #fanfiction #st fic #billy hargrove x steve harrington

[kokomatdoroshi]

wyd when an otherwise harmless confrontation with your gf's other gf becomes a bloody standoff incited by some fuckass walmart brand cthulhu freak and ultimately ends in your death ? 🤨

and wyd when you miraculously come back at the hands of some obscure entity that acts like they don't want anything from you but deep down you know that everything comes with a price; especially these crazy abilities you suddenly have? 🤔

Meet Zar!

(she/they)

Zahara "Zar" Hawthorne

pronouns: she/they

age: 18

dob: December 17th, 2005

death date: January 1st. 2023

resurrection date: January 8th, 2023

orientation: biromantic, aegosexual

general fc: amandla stenberg

starkid fc: tiffany williams

facts n things:

was That Girl™️: popular cheerleader, but nice enough to have a plug in every clique; in the top 10 of her class; had the perfect girlfriend, etc. etc. very sweet girl, just had the worst friends

was (and is) deeply strange by normie standards. hangs out in graveyards and develops parasocial relationship with some of the tombstones. has a serious fascination with life, death, anatomy, bugs, the supernatural, etc.

initially kept that shit to herself bc it's social suicide—total grounds for being a nerdy prude. dying changes ur outlook a bit, though. release ur inhibitions, feel the rain, etc, etc

can be very blunt and outspoken. despite being well meaning and friendly, she'll sometimes say things without thinking but they always apologize as soon as they realize she's stuck a foot in her mouth. all but abandoned her peppy sunshiney half after coming back. she's still in there, somewhere. but it'll take a lot for them to fully trust someone enough again

so, what happened?

their gf's other woman, who I'll name Lou for simplicity, got her to come out to the ol' Waylon place so they could "talk"

many things lead to many other things and an "intimidation" attempt turns into a murder attempt, with Lou being under the influence of Wiggly

ruh roh! snapped out of it, Lou is in a panic and decides to call the mutual gf for advice

mutual gf is the worst person ever, actually. instead of turning Lou in, she helps her cover things up and they dump Zar's body deep in the Witchwood Forest

but wait, there's more! Zar's not quite dead and eventually succumbs to a combination of their wounds and the freezing January night

but not before weakly calling out to somebody, anybody for help

seven days later and She Has Risen! with the help of a currently undetermined entity, but renewed life comes with a price and, in order to live, Zar must do their bidding

it's not all bad, though. they don't ask for things super often (but when they do, there's absolutely no objections. ever.) and have been super helpful in both Zar's revenge plot and honing her newly gained abilities. sometimes she uses her powers for good tho

anywayy, Zar dropped out of Hatchetfield High after being murdered—fair tbh. who needs a GED when you can work at the seedy occult store in town and also be an immortal witch of ambiguous moral standing 🤷🏽‍♀️

but tbh - at the end of the day, they're still just a 18 year old girl. imagine all the cringe 18 year old quirks and throw them into a vat of powerful murder gremlin soup. that's Zar

(after)life goals:

get revenge ✅

join smoke club ✅

resurrect the Victorian Dandy whose grave she hung around the most—they had a tryst in the afterlife and are saur in love 🔳

go on a tour of all the most haunted places in the world 🔳

see Gossip, Babymetal, and MCR in concert 🔳🔳🔳

Zahara and her story draw heavy influence from Jennifer's Body, Lisa Frankenstein, Poor Things, every other goth horror queen and a myriad of tropes I really enjoy. they're my manic murder goth girl, but she's so chill if you're cool 😌

Pre-Death Pinterest

After-Death Pinterest

#blood tw #hatchetfield oc #oc: zar #uhm if there are typos...............................nuh uh #my art

[kanazawa-division]

It was early afternoon when a certain former cheerleader picked up Kyler from his job at the police station. Beside her was her boyfriend, who had a small, yet still viewable smirk on his face. The reason: because of a white cloth that he used to disable the CIA operative's vision. Normally, he would have refused, but after Evelyn insisted, he begrudgingly cooperated.

"I hope you know I'm only doing this because of Evelyn. Under ordinary circumstances, I'd never let anyone blindfold me like this. ...Especially you of all people, Ace."

"Oh, I know. That's why I'm choosing to enjoy this as long as I can."

Kyler grunted as he could practically feel and see the shit-eating grin on his friendly rival's face. Being led from behind by Evelyn, he stopped as she placed his hands on his shoulders and was told to 'watch his head'. Bending down, he could feel himself getting inside a vehicle. He could only surmise that Ace was the one driving since he couldn't recall Evelyn ever driving anywhere. Did she even have a license for that matter?

But those thoughts ended as he could feel the car start and drive on. He sighed as he heard some cheesy pop song and heard Evelyn singing to it. As he sat there in the back seat, he could feel his eyelids getting itchy, no doubt due to the cloth covering his eyes.

"Hey, can I take this blindfold off now?"

"No."

"No!"

Kyler sighed once more, though he didn't know what other answer he was expecting.

"Well, can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"If we did that Kylie, it'd, like, ruin the surprise!"

"Yeah, but still..."

"Cool your jets, birthday boy. You'll see when we get there. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"Tch, if it's you driving, I'd be better off taking my chances walking."

"You want to? Cause I can stop the car. It's no trouble, whatsoever."

"Yes, please do."

"Hey!"

At this, both men felt one of their ears being pulled tightly, as if they had reverted back to their childhood.

"Ah!"

"No fighting! Not, like, today! It's Kyler's birthday, Acey. So, be nice!"

"Ugh, yeah, yeah."

Rubbing both of their ears, the two men chose to just keep quiet, while their female compatriot continued singing along with the radio. It was approximately a 45-minute long drive until the car finally slowed to a stop.

"We're here!"

Hearing the back door open, Kyler carefully stepped out of the car, being guided by Evelyn.

"Yes, but... where is here?"

Kyler could smell and hear the ocean, so he could only surmise that he was near the beach. And if he was a betting man, he could only educate that he and his friends were now in Okinawa.

"Stay here, okay? I gotta go make sure everything is, like, set up!"

Before he could say anything, he heard a pamper of feet getting further off in the distance, meaning he was alone with just his "oh-so-good friend" Ace, still blindfolded.

"So you are going to let me in on what this big surprise is exactly?"

"There's a reason it's called a 'surprise'., birthday boy."

"Well, can I, at least, take this stupid blindfold off now? I already know that we're in Okinawa."

"Hey, feel free to take it off. But if Evelyn gets upset at you, don't look to me for help."

Grumbling, the CIA official stood there his arms crossed. He could feel Ace standing somewhere around him, but the diplomat was silently playing with his phone, not paying his childhood rival much attention. They stood like that for up to three minutes until Kyler heard a slight vibrating sound close to him. He then felt Ace's car shake as the American ambassador hopped off of it.

"Alright, Evee says she's ready. Follow me."

...

"...Well?"

"How do you expect me to follow you when I can't see, genius?"

"Aren't you a CIA operative? Just put those handy skills of yours to use and follow my voice."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Ugh, fine. Give me your hand."

Though he really didn't want to, Kyler obeyed, holding his left hand out for Ace to take. With that, the diplomat led the operative to their 'secret' destination. After a brief walk, Ace told Kyler to 'stop' as he stepped away. The investigator heard the sound of a door opening and was once again led. He felt a rush of cool air hit him, which told him that he was inside a building. Feeling his hand being let go, Kyler then felt the bandana on his face come unloose. He was prepared to see light again, but to his surprise, it was dark even inside the building.

...That is, until Ace gave the 'thumbs-up' to someone, which prompted the lights to turn back on. As it did, the next thing Kyler heard was:

SURPRISE!!!

Kyler jumped back as he looked at a group of his friends and acquaintances all jumped out of their hiding places in Eagle's Nest. Namely: Evelyn, Rashaad, Joey, Wataru, and a few others from Kanazawa that he had worked with. Still surprised, Kyler looked as the bar was decorated with balloons, party planners, a banner with his name on it, and the piece de resistance, a birthday cake, which made the CIA operative shake his head with a grin.

He smiled as Joey continued singing 'Happy Birthday' until Wataru promptly told him to 'shut it'. He then looked as all the members of the Liberty Guild gifted him something for his birthday:

From Rashaad, it was a gold and black cigarette holder that made Kyler blink, surprised. Looking at it from all sides, he promptly thanked the bartender, promising to reciprocate.

From Evelyn, it was a watch with a thin blue line on it. Slipping it on, Kyler smiled as it was a perfect fit for his wrist. He promptly thanked his childhood friend, who gave him a small kiss on the cheek as thanks.

Lastly, the last gift was from Ace, which put Kyler on his guard, as he suspected something mean-spirited from the diplomat. Rolling his eyes, the American ambassador simply handed him his gift. Looking at it, Kyler, at first, thought it was a book of some sort. Upon opening it, he looked as it was a photo holder. But what made it even more special was that inside it was a picture of him and the most important person in his world, his finance, Roxanne. Though he came close to crying, he managed to hold it in, refusing to cry, especially in front of his rival. Giving him a 'thanks', he turned around, still staring at the picture of the love of his life.

...God, he missed her...

Kyler looked around as he took a bite from the piece of his birthday cake that had been nicely cut by Rashaad, his cheeks were staring to hurt from how long he had been smiling but honestly who wouldn’t? Granted he knew Evelyn was gonna pull something like this sooner or later but it still warmed his heart to know and see that his childhood friend still cares a great deal about him even after all the years that had passed.

He was also grateful for his new friends too and Ace but not as much, he shook his head fondly as he watched Joey wearing two party hats as horns on his head and trying to put a party hat on Wataru’s head, who looked like he was getting more annoyed by the second with Rashaad trying to keep the peace.

Truth be told, Kyler never thought he could end up like this. Surrounded by friends and people that cared about him, things were bad when he woke up from his coma and had gotten progressively worse afterwards, the blonde agent didn’t want to admit it but there had been times where he wanted to give up, that he couldn’t go on anymore…

But then he thought of parents, of Evelyn and his friends, of-

A buzzing sensation brought him out of his thoughts, fishing out his phone from his pocket, Kyler looked to see who exactly would be calling him before his eyes widen upon seeing the caller ID “Roxie ❤️”. Excusing himself and telling everyone he’ll be right back, Kyler headed towards the bathroom before answering the call.

“Happy Birthday, Kyler, baby! I love you!”

“I love you too Roxie, so much. Thank you.”

Thank you for the gift!

#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #hypnosis microphone #kyler aaron #wataru sasaki #joey kurusu #justice shield #okinawa division #liberty guild #ace douglas #evelyn rose #rashaad young #happy birthday kyler 2023 #gift #taito-division

[docholligay]

I love your discussion today. How do you find your people? Any tips and tricks, or did you get lucky? My people are out there! I want to find them!

There is an element of luck in all our lives, up to and including the fact that we're all still this side of the dirt, so yes, i would say I've been lucky, and I do think of myself as a scandalously lucky person, but some of that is luck and some of it is how I look at life.

ANYWAY, I cannot do anything about your luck, but I can tell you some of the things that have made me more likely to enjoy a wide group of found family, close friends, casual friends, and friendly acquaintances, all of whom have a valuable part in my life and my enjoyment of it. I am largely a very happy person I do in fact credit a lot of that to the fact that I have a lot of positive social interactions in my day to day.

So, how do you find your people?

Firstly: What makes you a great friend? I talk a lot about being aware of why you're fucking annoying, and I do believe that and try to practice it--it helps me understand why someone might not want to be my friend--but it's also important to recognize why you're fucking GREAT as a friend. What do you bring to friendship?

I, for example, am an extremely enthusiastic person. Win an award? Get a paper accepted? Get married? Run a new time? I am absolutely the one who will be like, "Oh that's so cool! That's fucking awesome, I had no idea you were so smart/fast/sexy." I will want you to tell everyone, I will tell our mutual acquaintances, I will be your cheerleader. I also love to plan parties and trips! I am so delighted to plan an outing for us together, I just want your company. I am very generous, and a great cook, and when my friends need help, I can and have moved heaven and earth to go help them. I am funny and great at small talk and not boring, for sure. These are areas where I fucking SHINE. I try my best to show them to my advantage when I'm making friends. Like yes, it will take me 4 months to send a package I've had ready for you, but once you get it it will be lovingly packaged and also very thoughtful, and it wasn't something you were expecting, so.

Secondly:

I regret to inform everyone that, much like is constantly told to lesbians on her about getting a girlfriend: In order to make friends, you have to talk to people. People cannot love you if they do not know you.

And I don't mean, 'venting about your life online' that will give you, of course, friendly contacts, but I'm going to tell you the truth of that matter: Every person you meet online is only a sliver of that person, not even in some intentional underhanded way, just, we have so much more distance to craft what we want to say and how we want to say it, how we want to present ourselves. We all do it. They also are MUCH less exposed to what might make you a challenge. Which we also all have! But you cannot feel known, and loved, and really treasured, until you've gotten the opportunity to get under someone's skin. The love is truly in that. You'll all hate me saying that. That's fine.

This is not to say online friends cannot become real, in some sort of Velveteen Rabbit via our Google Overlords! There are people I knew online, some of whom I barely fucking knew, REALLY, and I met them in person and came to like them a lot! Some of them I count as very close and would drop everything to help, immediately. BUT, the opposite has also been true. I have met up with people I very much liked online, and in person I was like, "Having to live with your individual quirks and annoyances is too much for me. The vibes are not there." And people have felt the same of me!

Anyway, back to an actual tip: Be open to friendship and opportunity. These people I am now friends with? Some of them I wasn't even close online to, they just hit me up when I made an open call to meet up. And we hit it off splendidly! But I had to be open to the opportunity of making an open call, and they had to be open to the opportunity of answering it. They had to show up.

In this vein, so, I just saw someone at my boot camp class yesterday, who I was friends with in high school but I hadn't seen in forever. We chatted, and he still seemed like a very cool guy, and so...we made plans to go get a drink. Not vague plans, but, "Oh hey, I'll be back in town next Saturday." I am very well known for jumping on these moments and opportunities. An acquaintance had a book on her to-read list I really liked, so I asked her to tell me when she starts reading it, and I'll reread it, and she can come over to my house for wine and a chat. She was touched and delighted.

So, if you are chatting with someone and they're like, "Oh, I've always wanted to try 'x cafe'" that is a fucking stellar opportunity to go, "Oh, me too! We should go next week, are you free Thursday?" I legitimately credit my social circle to my expansive and, somewhat daring (we'll go into that in a minute) seeking of chances to discover someone wonderful.

You CANNOT wait for someone to court you. You have to pursue their friendship. The people I like to be around, I make it an effort to be around when I can, though of course I am not perfect at this. I drop balls too, I'm human! But I make time for zoom calls and visits and coffee dates and also. Also! I send people emails of little things that make me think of them, or notes, or postcards.

Okay onto being daring. The hard part of this is that, being this open to opportunity means you are also open to hurt. To rejection. And it hurts! It hurts badly, but it is part of the cost of finding your people, is giving people the opportunity to say, 'You are not my people." If someone doesn't answer any of your efforts to connect, you may have to let it go, and that of course is very sad. I have gotten my feelings hurt badly because I thought someone was SO cool, and they thought I was just, annoying and argumentative, which, I mean obviously, but they did not find it charming ahaha. It is allowed to hurt, but it also has to be okay for people. There’s someone in my congregation who really really wants to be my pal because we’re both Under the Rainbow, and I just DO NOT CARE for the cut of their jib. I feel bad about that, but, I could never actually be their friend. It happens to everyone who tries to make friends, at some point.

So, look for people who like some of the things you do, or who you find interesting to talk to. I met people through writing, through autocross (competitive driving car club thing), through running, through wine tasting, through travel. Be an interesting person with interests that require you to do things, and you will be far more likely to meet people like that. Join meetup groups, library book clubs, one of my greatest tips for finding friends is to get out there and do things.

Also, the more people you meet, the better you’ll get at figuring out if you’ll hit it off with someone. Or at least I have! I have figured out what I TEND to like in people, and what people TEND to respond to in me, and what makes me just too nuts.

But yeah, you can’t hit if you don’t swing.

If you meant something more specific, let me know!

[kotlc-deleted-scenes]

Flashback Deleted Lines (Raw text, screen-reader friendly)

Any relevant description provided by Shannon on the quote image will be included before the quote itself.

1. Deleted Keefe Line. Quote text:

Deleted Keefe "But I believe in the all-mighty Fitzphie! Or, I guess I should say I believe in the Mysterious Miss F, and Wonderboy can be her cheerleader or something."

2. Quote text:

"Thanks," Sophie mumbled trying—and failing—to smooth the abundance of ruffles. "I'm never going to stop hating these stupid gowns."

3. Deleted Tam line. Quote text:

Tam rolled his eyes. "That's because your murcat is evil."

4. Deleted Grady line. Quote text:

"Oh good," Grady grumbled, adding something under his breath that started with, "That Boy."

5. Deleted Edaline line. Quote text:

"I'll admit—the mom in me wishes you could rest a little longer before jumping back into the fight. But I do understand why you're eager to dive in. And...I'm really proud of you."

6. Deleted Edaline line. Quote text:

"Well, as long as it also freaks out the Neverseen, I can live with that." Edaline told Sophie.

7. Deleted Elwin line. Quote text:

"Well," Elwin said, brushing his messy brown hair out of his eyes, "on the Sophie scale of injuries, I'd say we're somewhere in the middle."

8. Deleted Elwin line. Quote text:

"You have a pet murcat?" Elwin asked, cracking up when Linh nodded. "Bet that's an adventure."

9. Deleted Elwin line. Quote text:

"If I don't see you heading to the Leapmaster in the next five seconds," Elwin cut in, "I'm dragging you there by your ears."

"Am I the only one who wants to see that?" Ro asked.

"I'll drag you too." Elwin warned.

"Now that I need to see," Ro told him.

10. Deleted Ro line. Quote text:

Ro snorted a laugh. "Elves are such wusses."

11. Deleted Ro line. Quote text:

Ro yawned. "Yeah, I know. You elves are the wonder of the universe. Nothing can stop you—oh except anyone with claws or fangs or battle training or weapons or—"

12. Deleted Ro line. Quote text:

"And how is this little anecdote proving our sweet little Blondie is tough?"Ro asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong—it's an adorable story. It's like Team Foster-Keefe: Where it all Began! But as far as toughness goes...meh."

13. Quote text:

Bo snorted. "Elvin senses are worthless. The only thing worse are goblin senses."

Sandor growled.

Elwin chuckled. "Sounds like everyone's getting along as well as I expected."

"I don't need to make friends in order to fulfill my duties," Bo argued.

"I suppose not." Elwin handed Sophie a vial of medicine. "But it's usually a friend who saves your life when you need it."

Bo flashed a cold smile. "Then I guess it's a good thing I won't need saving."

14. Quote text:

Tiergan smiled. "Well. It sounds like you two are almost ready for the next level of Cognate training.

Keefe groaned. "There's another level?"

"There are many levels. The Cognate Connection is one that can always be built upon." He turned to Fitz and Sophie. "I'll bring the next workbook to you once you've finished your recovery."

"Why can't we start now?" Fitz asked. "We can practice in the Healing Center."

Tiergan shook his head. "The next level of Cognate training is much more intense."

"Ugh. I feel a, Fitzphie nightmare coming on," Keefe grumbled.

15. Quote text:

"That's why she's the moonlark," Flor said quietly, and Sophie spun toward the tiny gnome, wondering when she'd joined them. Flori's gray eyes studied the dagger in Sophie's hand before shifting to Bo when she added, "The moonlark excels at whatever she puts her mind to."

Sophie wasn't sure that this was something she wanted to excel at. But the pain coursing through her arm reminded her why she needed to.

"Don't worry," Flori told her. "You can be gentle and formidable. My aunt always told me that. Then she'd sing a song about roots tearing deeper into the earth, shredding everything in their path in order to keep their tree strong."

16. Quote text:

"Hey! Foster's the toughest person in this room." Keefe argued. "I knew it the moment I met her."

Sophie shook her head. "Uh, when we met, I was about to have a meltdown because I thought I'd just failed alchemy."

"Actually, you were about to have a meltdown because you were afraid to go to the Healing Center and get your burn treated," Keefe corrected.

Elwin whistled. "That was a nasty wound."

"Yep. And Foster barely noticed it. She barely noticed anything—including the guy with the best hair in school! I'll never forget it. I was sitting there, bored out of my mind—as always—and then wham!" His eyes locked with Sophie's. "I'd never had emotions hit me like that before—without contact. Without even seeing you. All I could think was, 'that's new.' And then the mysterious girl everyone had been gossiping about rounded the corner and I knew nothing was ever going to be the same again."

#flashback #kotlc deleted lines