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tomriddleslove · 3 months

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Pt 2 - The one that you want.

✩Theodore Nott x Reader

Pt 2 to Hey, trouble (DELETED)

Summary: The one where just as things are beginning to look up, everything comes crashing down. Alternatively: Tension, Fluff, Angst.

A/N: This fic was written very sleep deprived so I ask you to bear with me. The second part is my favourite so just stick with it.

Songs: The Way - Mac Miller, Ariana Grande

Lover, you should have come over - Jeff Buckley

Promise - Laufey

NOTE: I accidentally deleted my account and did not have the first part of this mini series saved! I will probably rewrite it but there is some context you should know, so i’ll try summarise it as concisely as possible:

You and Theodore used to be really good friends when you first joined Hogwarts. Naturally, as you both got older, you changed slightly. Theodore came back one summer and he seemed completely different, he was not only incredibly handsome but he had generally flourished as a person. The girls all loved him and he found a new set of friends, essentially forgetting about you. Time skip a few years and you become friends with Pansy, and the rest of the group. Theodore greets you as though nothing has changed. You habour a lot of resentment to him initially, but realise you really do love chilling with the group and so you set it to the side. In the fic, you’re at a party and you head up to the roof. Theodore appears and you chat for the first time in ages. It gets a bit tense when you subtly call him out but you try brush it off as a joke. He noticed you at their quidditch practice earlier on in the day with mattheos number painted on your face, and he sounds a bit jealous. You assure him it was only for jokes, though you’re confused as to why he’d be upset. Theodore (internally ) alludes to loving you and you’re both emotionally stunted idiots in love.

AND that brings us back to now. Enjoy xx

Friday had finally come, and you couldn't think of a word that could place just how relieved you were feeling. Don't get it wrong, you hugely valued your education, and took pride in working hard, but at the end of the day, there's only so much history of magic one could tolerate before their brain tuned out. The surprise quiz you took in class today told you that you had reached that point many months ago. But it was ok, that was an issue for the future.

You click open the door to your dorm room, tossing your bag haphazardly to the side as you undo your tie, pulling it loose with a groan of relief. Pansy is sprawled out comfortably on your bed because apparently, yours was comfier (they were the exact same thing, she just couldn't be bothered to make hers in the morning.)

You flick a strand of hair that fell in front of your face with a dramatic sigh as you flop down onto the bed, lying perpendicular to Pansy as you rest your head on her lap. She has a half smile of amusement as her hand comes down to pat your head, eyes trained on her book. You raise a brow and shuffle up slightly to catch a glimpse of what she was reading.

You see the word ‘shaft’ once and that's all you need to see as you gasp with fake indignation.

“Pansy… Whilst I'm sitting here?” You groan and she grins, her face slightly red as she shrugs, shameless.

I mean, come on. You weren't a stranger to smut, but right in front of you? You grab the book from her hand and toss it across the room.

“None of that whilst I'm here. Your amazing and beautiful friend is vying for attention so focus on me.’ You say and she playfully rolls her eyes as she lies back on her bed.

“It's disgustingly hot. I can't be bothered for this year anymore. The days are as hot as hell depths and the evening has me freezing my nonexistent balls off.” Pansy moans, and you hum in agreement.

You’re grateful for your friend and her seemingly never-ending talent of speaking because you currently couldn't even muster the energy to speak.

“Do we have to go watch the boys today? Lila told me Madam Pince has charmed the library with a cooling spell. We could go there instead.” Pansy says, sitting up, and the idea is incredibly tempting. You live for nothing more than to get out of this dastardly heat, especially in the comfort of the library (Pansy and yourself had mastered the art of smuggling snacks in. The key was in making sure you triple-checked what you bought in, which you learnt after Pansy had accidentally sat on a Fizzlebees Exploding Sherbet last winter. The poor 1st year who had sat next to you was sure that there was some kind of attack and leapt under the nearest table.)

The mention of practice has your mind thinking back to your most recent encounter with Theodore. Just thinking about it again elicited that strange feeling in your stomach. You were, perhaps, close to a path of redemption (though it was more Theodore redeeming himself.)

With a sigh, you shake your head.

“We promised them we'd come. Besides, imagine the absolute havoc Mattheo will cause when he finds out we ditched for the library of all places. He would get us banned for a month, at the very least.” You say, and Pansy grumbles but ultimately knows you’re right. She sighs, muttering.

“Yes yes, I suppose you're right.” She begrudgingly admits and you grin, sitting up. You walk over to your closet, looking for something else to wear as you felt as though you were positively melting in your uniform. You flick through your closet, cursing the endless void that conveniently was full of sweaters and thick jumpers now summer has come. You dig around and find a pair of black denim shorts towards the back. You don't even know when you got them, but they fit and they'll do the job. You're thankful for the fact that you love the feeling of freshly shaven legs on your bedsheets, because heaven knows you would not bother to shave your legs for a man. You manage to find a green shirt, and you slip it on. It's nothing special really, but you weren't dressing up for anyone. You were long past those days now, you found that it was lovely not giving two shits. Pansy called it alarming, but you liked to think of it as… eclectic.

Pansy brings over her signature red lipstick (which you're sure only she can pull off) and holds your cheek in place to draw a number 10 on it, as standard practice. You reach up to grab her hand.

“Wait. Do 7 instead.” You say. She widens her eyes slightly and wiggles her brows as she looks at you.

“Oh? And why is that?” She probes and you playfully swat her, rolling your eyes.

“Theodore just asked me to. Besides we shouldn't inflate Mattheo's ego too much.” You respond a bit too quickly, and she has a shit-eating grin on her face. Pansy knows you well though, and she knows probing any further will only give her a stinging hex and nothing more, so she simply looks at you with a pointed look as she draws the 7 on instead. You watch as she traces the number 7 on her face too, adjusting her hair as she pouts and blows a kiss at herself in the mirror. You pointedly roll your eyes to tease her and she throws a pillow at you.

“Alright alright, you humble lady. Let's go.” You muse, holding your arm out. The two of you link arms as you descend down to the quidditch pitch. The sun is shining blazing down on you, and you feel uncomfortably hot and sticky within a few seconds of being outside. You truly weren't built for warm weather.

The grass on the pitch is a beautiful rich green and the sky is so picturesquely blue that it seems more like a postcard as opposed to real life. You imagine that this must be their favourite season; you had entertained the idea of watching one match in the winter season and immediately stopped after a gust of wind sent a bird flying into the girl sitting above you (You were sure it had given her that scratch on her cheek.) You couldn't cope with watching a match in such harsh weather, and you couldn't even begin to imagine how it must be to play in such conditions.

Idiots, really. They brought it on themselves. They definitely came to that realisation when they would be dragged out of bed at 5:00 am to go play in the freezing cold whilst you remained blissfully asleep under your warm covers.

You clamber up the stairs of the stands and curse under your breath. For all the beauty and wonders the wizarding world had, was it really that damn hard to have a few escalators here and there? You wanted to watch a practice game, not train to have the thighs of Hercules. You finally reach the top and shimmy down the benches with Pansy, leaning against the railing, The team was already up in the air, circling around whilst tossing the ball to one another. For all the grace and elegance Draco exuded on the ground, you couldn’t help but snicker when you catch the sight of him looking like he had slathered himself in red paint, all sweaty and grimacing; strands of his blonde hair clinging to his face.

“You alright up there Draco? Mummy forget to send you some sun cream?” You call out teasingly, and he sneers at you as Mattheo cackles, swooping down on his broom to greet you and Pansy.

“There they are!” Blaise says, a small grin on his face as he flies down to your level, joining Mattheo. You don’t even have the time to greet him because a loud gasp escapes Mattheo's lips, his hand coming out to grip your chin, tilting your face to the side.

“Traitors!” Mattheo says, eyes flickering between Pansy and yourself. You can't keep the grin off your face as you pry your face out of Mattheo's hands.

“Oh come on Mattheo. We love you all equally and need to express that love as such.” Pansy drawls, a taunting grin on her face.

“Fuck off, I'm the only important one,” Mattheo responds, puffing out his chest as he points to himself.

Blaise has to hold back from rolling his eyes, looking over at you exasperatedly. You exchange a glance with him and you feel your lips curl up into a small smile as you stifle a laugh.

“This was your doing! What did you do to them? Now I'm going to play like shit!” Mattheo whines, as he turns to look up at Theodore.

Theodore.

Your eyes flicker up and sure enough there he is. And god, how dare he look so good in this disgusting heat. His eyes are (and you have the feeling they were like that for quite a bit) trained on you, an unreadable expression on his face. He keeps his gaze on you, and you're sure at that moment he was trying to seduce your soul or play some stupid kind of mind tricks on you to have you thinking of him all day (it was working.)

His lips curl up into that godforsaken smile that borders on a smug little smirk. It has you embarrassingly weak in the knees and suddenly you're very glad it's hot, for you could blame your red cheeks on the heat. He flies down, tearing his gaze away from you as he comes close to Mattheo.

“Come on Mattheo, I’ve got an audience so I need to make sure I beat you embarrassingly quickly today,” Theodore says, egging his friend on.

“Yeah fucking right,” Mattheo says, turning to Theodore as the two engage in the most awful, embarrassing trash talk. You and Pansy exchange a glance and the two of you side-eye them with disdain.

The simple mind of boys managed to amaze you every time. Their attention span was impressively short.

Proving your point, Mattheo flies up to poke fun at Draco and Lorenzo, who both didn't seem to be holding up too well with the heat. You lean your elbows on the railing and stiffen slightly when Theodore flies up next to you. He hovers on his broom mid-air, resting his elbow on the railing in front of you. His face is incredibly close to yours, analysing your face with those sinful eyes of him which should be illegal because

Fuck, you were deprived.

“You wore it.” He says, and he sounds oddly breathless. You were assured by Blaise mere minutes ago that they had barely started practising.

Why did it seem so hard to speak? Why did Theodore seem so surprised? Why did you feel so bashful?

“You asked.” You respond, and his eyes search yours for a second before a smile tugs at his lips. His hand reaches out to cup your face, tilting it to the side as he looks at the 7 on your cheek.

Was this all it took for Theodore to touch you?

You’d have to start drawing 7 everywhere.

His fingers brush against your jaw, and you let out a shaky breath as his thumb runs along your cheek.

His touch leaves a fiery trail in its wake, and you are sure he has to be doing some sort of nonverbal magic because you feel as though you are going crazy. You resist the urge to let your eyes flutter shut because Theodore Nott simply has that effect.

He turns your head back and you stare at one another for a second more before he pulls back, and your mouth feels awfully dry.

“Mattheo smudged it.” He says, and his voice sounds slightly strained as he says so. You can't keep the corners of your lips from lifting slightly as you nod.

“Right.” You breathe out, looking at him. He grins, and this time you have to be sure you have not secured yourself a one-way ticket to the Janus Thickey Ward of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, because you swear his eyes flicker down to your lips for a brief second before he leans back like he's been forced to do so, wordlessly looking at you once more before he grips the broom with one hand, effortlessly flying up to start practice.

You don’t even have the time to process whatever that was because your ever-eloquent and insightful friend speaks the very thoughts running through your head.

“What in the ever-loving fuck was that?” Pansy utters, eyes wide as she stares at the spot where Theodore was standing.

Amen to that, Pansy. What in the ever-loving fuck was that?

Your hand hovers over your cheek, ghosting over the place Theodore had just touched.

You part your lips to say something, but can't even formulate the words, and Pansy recognises that.

“Holy Shit! He- That-” She says, hands grabbing your shoulders as she shakes you. You're ashamed to say you needed it because you were sure you were dreaming.

“What's going on between you two? First, you’re wearing his number to the match. Then he's practically eye fucking you and you're both literally about to make out.” Pansy babbles and you roll your eyes at her dramatics.

“Oh calm down, Pansy. He barely looked at me, and he was just fixing it because Mattheo had smudged it. There's nothing going on.” She says and Pansy narrows her eyes.

“Oh yes, and I’m fucking straight. We both know that's a lie.” She deadpans, and you shake your head with an exasperated smile.

You couldn't tell whether you wanted to crack up with laughter or strangle the shit out of her. With Pansy, the line blurred more often than not. It’s why you loved her so dearly.

“Genuinely Pansy, nothing’s going on between Theodore and me. We used to be really good friends. That's all.” You say, with a tone of finality. She sighs, mumbling under her breath.

“….Painfully obvious”

“Both know that's a lie…..”

“Hopeless idiot…”

You shoot her a glare at her mumbling and she returns the sentiment with a pointed smile, enough to make you roll your eyes with amusement. You rest your head on her shoulder as the two of you watch the match.

The day Theodore had walked past you like you simply didn't exist was the day you swore to yourself you'd never, EVER, let yourself be good friends with him again. You stuck to your word always, yet this was proving to be one time where you didn't.

You prayed you wouldn't regret this, but alas, the universe is cruel at times.

The news of Draco’s father cancelling their annual summer holiday trip came surprisingly as great news to your groups as you all lounged in the library (which was as packed as it had ever been thanks to Madam Pince’s cooling charm. You all begged her to teach you the spell but she refused, and you were sure she kept it hidden to make sure people came to the library. Luckily for the group, you were one of the most conscientious students in your year, so you'd all get away with things due to the teachers favouring you greatly. A few other groups were kicked out immediately.)You all sat in a cosy arrangement in the far back end of the library. Pansy sat on the floor beside you, whilst you lounged in an armchair, feet thrown over one arm. Blaise sat on the other arm of the chair, with Draco and Theodore sitting opposite you. Between the armchair and sofa facing one another was a third sofa and a small round table. Mattheo and Lorenzo sat on that third sofa. Lorenzo stretches, sprawled out as he props his feet up on the table. You reach out and slap him with the book you were reading, and he cowers sheepishly as he puts his feet down.

“I was looking forward to summer in Versailles,” Draco complains, and you sigh. Would be nice to be able to go on such trips.

“Actually…” Pansy says, sitting up as though she’s just had an idea. Knowing your friend, you can't help but feel terrified about what's about to come out of her mouth.

“My parents have a beautiful holiday home down in France and they're going to Australia this year, so it's not being used. Why don't we all spend a week there?” Pansy says.

It's actually a very clever Idea, and a chorus of murmurs of agreement and nods echo throughout the group.

“That actually sounds good” Lorenzo says, and Blaise hums in agreement.

“I have family who live in France so they could sort out travel for us when we are there. I'm sure I can go.” Baise says and Pansy claps her hands excitedly, rubbing them together like some kind of evil genius (sometimes you were sure she was.)

“Draco, Theo?” Pansy says, and the mention of Theo's name has your eyes flickering up from your book. He's looking at you but the second your eyes meet he quickly looks at Pansy and nods, clearing his throat.

“Huh? Oh, uh- yeah.Sounds good.” He says. You lightly smile to yourself as you look down at your book.

“ I suppose I’ll tolerate it.” Draco sighs, and a chorus of groans escapes the group at his melodramatic behaviour.

“Oh piss off Draco, just admit you like us,” Mattheo says and Draco scoffs.

The boys very quickly once again get into a semi-play fight, and a stern hush from Madam Pince as she glares at the group of you sends them both sheepishly quiet. She walks away and it’s your turn to glare at the two boys.

“She may like me now, but if you two don't shut up she sure as fuck won't, and ill set your robes on fire if you force me to get through the summer whilst being banned from the library.” You spit, scolding them.

Mattheo and Draco both look down like children being chastised and Blaise has to hide his amusement as he nudges your shoulder, getting up.

“Right well, that's our cue to leave anyway. Have the real match tomorrow so we need an early night.” Blaise says. One by one everyone gets up, Pansy pushing off the floor with a sigh as she dusts down her skirt.

She turns to you, raising a brow.

“You coming?” She asks, holding a hand out and you look up, shaking your head.

“Nah. Gonna stay here for a while. Finish reading this.” You say, holding up your book with a weak smile. Pansy shakes her head with a smile, ruffling your hair (much to your dismay).

“My little neek. Have fun!” She says, and you flip her off at the comment. She grins, blowing a fake kiss back at you as she manoeuvres past the wooden bookshelves and out of the library.

You sigh and feel as though you're sinking further into the plush armchair, a pillow held to your chest as you read your book. Everything about the library was so pleasantly calming. The dim lights that cast dancing shadows of the book spines across the wall. The bibliosmia that you inhaled deeply as you lay for what felt like hours, reading whatever you could get your hands on. You’re so caught up in the allure of the library (Pansy might have a point, you definitely were a neek), that you don't even notice the presence of someone coming to sit down on the sofa next to you until the sound of the leather cushions sagging under weight draws your attention up from the pages of the book.

Seriously? Were you actually that oblivious? It was extremely alarming if you were.

You look up and see Theodore moving to take a seat on the sofa next to you. He stretches out his legs, his large frame suddenly making the space seem a lot smaller.

“Hey.” He says, and your lips quirk up in a smile as you speak.

“Hey,” You respond, folding the corner of your book.

“What are you reading?” Theodore asks, and you raise a brow.

Did he really have an interest in the book you were reading? A few years ago the Theodore you knew would never touch a book (though he would listen to you ramble on about them for an hour.)

But Theodore has changed, And so have you. He’s no longer the Theodore you knew, and the reminder turns the feeling in your stomach unpleasant.

You hold up your book, weakly smiling as you show him the cover. It was rather beaten and bruised, but you had owned this copy since your first year. You’ve reread it more times than you can count.

“Little women,” Theodore says, a small smile of recognition on his face. He remembered you, always walking around with that book. Theodore couldn’t comprehend what half the words in the book meant, but he remembered hearing you talk about it and thinking you were truly the most incredible person he had ever met.

That hadn't really changed.

“Mhmm. Must be my 5th time rereading it this year.” You say, with a small smile, and Theodore lets out a low laugh.

He's looking down at the table, and you admire the way the dim light dances along his features, making them look surprisingly soft.

“Love Jo all your days, if you choose, but don't let it spoil you, for it's wicked to throw away so many good gifts…” Theodore starts, gaze trained ahead.

“......because you can't have the one you want” You finish, quietly.

Theodore's gaze drops to his hands, fiddling with the threads on his bag. The air is thick with unspoken words. A quiet dance of regrets lingers in the spaces between your words.

"Little Women," Theodore repeats, his fingers tracing the zip on his bag. "I remember how you used to quote passages from that book like they were sacred verses. It was almost like a religion for you."

You can sense the undertone in his words—the acknowledgement of a shared past that now exists as a distant echo.

The silence that follows hangs heavy.

You shift uncomfortably in your seat, the worn pages of the book suddenly feeling like a fragile shield against the currents of emotion. Theodore's eyes, once familiar and comforting, now carry a hint of regret and a touch of something unsaid.

"Jo March was always your favourite," he continues, his voice soft, almost hesitant.

“Still is,” you say, and he nods, looking up at you. His smile is tight-lipped, and you fight the urge to reach forward and massage the furrow of his brow. He reaches into the side pocket of his bag, pulling out a book.

Little women.

You frown as you take the copy from him, flicking through it. There are scribbles and annotations all over the pages.

You hate the way you instantly recognise his handwriting - another testament as to how Theodore was weaved into everything you did.

Theodore takes the book back, his fingers lingering on the worn cover. He opens the book, thumbing through the pages, his eyes fixing on the annotations.

"I've been reading it," he admits, his voice a low murmur. "Annotating it. I wanted to see it through your eyes, to understand why it meant so much to you."

You watch him, and your heart clenches at his voice. At his eyes, At the way he speaks, and the way he keeps his head down. The realisation that he held onto this piece of you, even as you both drifted apart, is enough to send you into a spiral.

"I see you in these pages," Theodore continues, his gaze locking onto the annotated paragraphs. "I see you in between the lines, and in the words. I see you in Jo, I see you in the witty comments. Every time I read this, It's like a piece of you is still here with me."

A lump forms in your throat, and you swallow hard, trying to push back the tears that threaten to spill over.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry

“Every time I read these words, I feel like I'm back with you, even if just for a moment." He admits, looking up at you.

The devastation in his eyes is surely mirrored in your own.

You want to cry. You want to shout, because how dare he sit here, and speak of you with such reverence, and act like he cares for you when he had forgotten about you so easily? How dare he say he sees you in everything he does when he looked right past you when you stood in front of him?

How dare he act like he missed you when he didn’t?

You can't say anything. You physically can't, because every time you open your mouth it hurts. Grief clings to the pipes, scratching at your throat. It restricts your breathing, it gnaws at you.

Theodore looks at you and clears his throat, quickly looking down. You fail to make out the fact that his own eyes are threatening to spill with tears, as your own teary eyes cloud your vision.

It was always like that with you and Theodore.

Amid your shared tears, the unspoken suddenly becomes the unsayable.

He gets up, and he can't bear to look at your face because every glance of those tears in your eyes eats away at his heart. He grabs his bag and throws it over his shoulder, rushing out for fear of what you might say.

“See you” He murmurs, walking away. You can’t tear your gaze away from where he walks away even as his form disappears, and you swear the boy had taken part of your heart with him.

The quote “Fate was a cruel mistress” Never made much sense to you. Fate was beautiful even in its destructive nature. Fate was unstoppable, she didn't wait for anyone or veer away. You used to admire that about her. You found it to be a beautiful thing. Of course, it's because you also believe that fate would only wait for you. Wait that one extra second. Then, perhaps, Theodore and you would be on the same path. Instead, you were two, walking the same path only a heartbeat apart. As if time itself conspires to teach that love can occur in the same book, but pages apart.

You cannot love the beauty of her tenacity and cower from it too.

#harry potter #slytherin #tom riddle #theodore nott #theodore nott x reader #theodore nott x you #theodore nott x y/n #theodore nott fic #lorenzo berkshire #mattheo riddle #draco malfoy #blaise zabini #pansy parkinson #slytherin boys fic #slytherin boys #theodore nott angst

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heytherecentaurs · 5 months

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Burrow's End is an absolute masterpiece.

In the span of ten episodes Aabria and Co. weave an exciting and emotional adventure story about a family of sentient stoats. It delivers huge laughs, interesting societal criticism, remarkably emotional and well-acted scenes and concludes with a series of epilogue scenes that feel appropriate for each character, some heartfelt and subdued and others bigger than life and all the funnier for it.

Siobhan and Izzy play the perfect pair of siblings. They fight and argue but they also love each other. Jaysohn (Siobhan) looks up to Lila (Izzy) and believes she's the smartest stoat in the world (and by the end she probably is) and Lila hypes up her little brother's athletic skills. They both fully embodied these kids and I could watch them do fun stuff for more episodes. Give me a version of Saved by the Bell with them. Stoat by the Bell.

Brennan and Rashawn, playing sisters, also knock it outta the park, showing a more mature sibling dynamic. Brennan portrays Tula as the quintessential overtired single mother of excitable kids, and Rashawn as younger sister Viola straddles a very interesting line of being intimidating to outsiders but very much more naive and looking to her older sister when she starts a family.

Jasper as Thorn, a guy everyone just lets be a cult leader because he really wanted to, is fantastic. His is a difficult role as the only non-blood relative. Jasper plays Thorn with such real humanity of a guy in over his head and letting his ambition wife call the shots, but also one who agrees with her goal, really loves her and has moments of real menace. He has some very funny scenes, his big speech is perfect, and I just enjoy him.

Erika is wonderful. They play the epitome of generational trauma as many have said but as much trauma as Ava has, she is also loving and willing to learn. The fact Erika took this adversarial role is incredible. The tense dramatic scene primarily between Ava, Tula and Viola is amazing. They act their asses off and make hard choices that I imagine are difficult even for such an experienced player.

Aabria's DMing always feels fun. She doesn't get bogged down in the rules. She knows them. She plays by them. But as a master, she knows how and when to break them too. Her seasons on Dimension 20 have all had a tenseness, a particular edge to them that can give me anxiety during dramatic scenes between two characters. It always feel like one of her NPCs may say something devastating and the tension between characters reaches really thrilling heights. This is present in other seasons, but I don't think anyone does it as well as she does. The first season of hers to have battle maps, Aabria really swung for the fences and gave us some of the wildest maps to date.

Shout out to Carlos Luna's voice acting. He did an incredible job. And shout out to the whole crew who have put together one of the best seasons of D20. They keep finding ways to build on what's come before and they should be commended for it.

Dimension 20 is most successful when the concept is very streamlined. They don't do huge 100 episode campaigns capable of handling huge winding complex narrative, but short focused D&D stories, which is why many of the Side Quests have been so fantastic. They embody this philosophy most clearly, but it's apparent in the most beloved Intrepid Heroes seasons as well—John Hughes/High Fantasy, Game of Thrones/Candyland, Retrofuturism, Film Noir but in a Brain... Burrow's End fits this perfectly. It's streamlined concept paired with great storytellers and great chemistry sets it up to be a smash hit before it begins. And goddamn does it deliver.

Thanks Stupendous Stoats!

#dimension 20 #d20 #burrow's end #aabria iyengar #brennan lee mulligan #izzy roland #isabella roland #erika ishii #siobhan thompson #jasper william cartwright #rashawn scott #rashawn nadine scott #carlos luna #dropout.tv #hey there centaurs

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unfinishedslurs · 1 year

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stonathan fwb (steddie)

this one is inspired by this fic by fivecenturiesverse

“Nancy and I broke up.”

“Shit,” Steve says, somehow managing to sound surprised. As if he and Nancy weren’t teetering on the verge of something throughout spring break. “That sucks, man.”

“It…was a long time coming, I think,” Jonathan admits. There’s a soft thump, like Steve clapping Jonathan’s shoulder in solidarity.

They don’t say anything else, and Eddie almost leaves to go eavesdrop somewhere else when Jonathan speaks.

“Are you…going to do anything about that?”

“About what?” Steve asks, genuine confusion in his voice.

“Nancy.”

“Oh.” Steve doesn’t say anything for a moment, and Eddie braces himself to hear the truth. That he’s going to ask her out, ask to get married, ask her to have his six little nuggets and travel across the country together. “No.”

Eddie’s brain record scratches.

“Really?” Jonathan sounds rightfully skeptical.

“Yeah, I don’t…” he lets out a nervous laugh, and Eddie can picture him raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head. “There’s…someone else, and I can’t…she’s amazing. Nancy, I mean. She’s, like, this huge person in my mind, you know? I wanted to love her so much, and I convinced myself she loved me back because it was easier than admitting I was clinging onto something that wasn’t meant to be. I kind of put my whole future on her. Figured if I could love any girl, it’d be the perfect one right in front of me.” He laughs again, hollow. “She was right, to call it bullshit. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“If it helps, I think she really did love you,” Jonathan says, sounding fake as all hell.

Steve brushes him off. “No you don’t. It’s okay, it was never really real. Not like you guys. That…that really sucks, man.”

“It’s for the best, I think.” There’s a long pause. “You said…if you could love a girl, it would be Nancy.”

“…I did say that,” Steve says warily. Eddie has a feeling he really, really shouldn’t be listening to this, but he can’t bring himself to back away.

“Do you…are you…”

“If you’re going to be an asshole, I should tell you that I’ve been working out a lot since ‘83,” Steve interrupts.

“I noticed,” Jonathan mutters.

What.

“What?”

“I…nothing,” Steve sighs.

There’s another, longer pause, filled with tension that Jonathan decides to take an emotional jackhammer to. “Do you want to fuck me?”

What the fuck.

Oh, God, he’s going to have to save Jonathan Byers from his tragically straight crush. From their mutual tragically straight crush? …their mutual tragically straight crush, who admitted to not liking girls?

Something’s not adding up.

“What the fuck, Byers?” Steve sounds angry, and Eddie prepares to jump in. “What, you think just because I’m queer I automatically want to sleep with you?”

What.

“No!” Jonathan yelps. “No, that’s not it, it’s just…we’re both queer, and stuck here for the foreseeable future, and I’ve never been with a guy but I trust you.”

There’s a stunned silence.

“You’re queer.”

Jonathan doesn’t say anything, probably dying of mortification.

“You trust me?”

“Steve,” Jonathan says gently, and Eddie nearly bites through his tongue. “Of course I do.”

“You and Nancy just broke up,” Steve says, wavering. “And I can’t…there’s someone else. I wasn’t lying about that.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything. You can say no. I just figured I’d ask.”

“Fuck,” Steve mutters. “You realize I’m just as in the dark here as you are, right? I’ve never been with a guy either.”

“We can find out together,” Jonathan says. “Only if you want to, though.”

A heavy silence, where Eddie has to bite his tongue to keep his cool.

“Fuck it. Why the hell not?”

Then Eddie has to leave for the sake of his own sanity. Not before he hears the wet smack of a kiss, though.

Eddie might be going insane.

It’s like everywhere he looks he sees signs of Steve and Jonathan’s… development. Steve leans forward to grab something and his eyes catch on a hickey under his collar. Jonathan sits a little too gingerly one day, and Eddie’s immediately caught up in a fiery inferno of jealousy that he’s not the one sore from whatever Steve did last night. He has to leave the room.

It gets even worse when Steve comes by DND wearing a shirt that is clearly Jonathan’s.

“What are you wearing?” Dustin demands before he can. It’s probably a good thing he did, Eddie might have just started biting him to stake a claim. Which is a useless thought, because Steve isn’t his to claim at all. Steve is Jonathan’s. And stake a claim he did.

He kind of wishes he could hate Jonathan, but he can’t. The guy’s just so sweet with his brother, and it’s obvious in the way he takes care of people that he’s a good guy. The kind of guy who deserves someone like Steve. Someone would have to be a crazy, fucked-up, jealous asshole to hate him.

Eddie is all of those things. He’s also great at lying to himself. If he doesn’t admit he hates Jonathan Byers, fellow freak, for sleeping with the most unfortunately spectacular jock imaginable, he never has to confront his own failure to keep to his code. The doctrine that Steve cheerfully set on fire and then stomped the ashes into dust. All without knowing it, the asshole.

He really can’t blame Jonathan. Eddie’s well aware that he’s made up some weird, one-sided rivalry in his head over Steve’s affections. It’s not his fault that one of them got the guy, and the other got to scream into his pillow at 2am.

Sure, they both said they were hung up on other people, but how long would that really last? He’s fairly sure Steve was lying about having feelings for someone. Eddie can’t help but watch him, and he’s never once seen a sign Steve was interested in any of the other men he hung out with.

Steve colors. “It’s Jonathan’s,” he says, picking at the band tee like he’s self-conscious about it. Which is ridiculous. He obviously knows he looks good in anything. “I…uh…spilled something on mine.”

From the way he talks, Eddie has a pretty good idea what exactly got on his shirt. He takes deep breaths, and tries not to chew through the table. He wishes Steve were in his band shirt instead. He’d look great in Judas Priest merch.

He tries not to picture him in a Corroded Coffin shirt. He fails.

#stonathan fwb au #steddie #stonathan are actually doing this as friends and will remain friends #jealousy #rip eddie's sanity so sorry for doing this to u king #steve harrington #jonathan byers #eddie munson #gay steve harrington #i just think he's neat!#stranger things fanfic

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yumeinati · 4 months

Text

Seeing what my sister knows about the Mechanisms - Spoilers: Not enough

I love my sister, I do. She lets me rant to her about the Mechanisms 24/7. But the real question is whether or not she pays attention to what I say. I decided to quiz her and see how much she retains from our conversations <3

DTTM Spoilers/Talk

Starting off with everyone's favorite Captain First Mate!

Name: Jonny d'Ville | Mechanism: Blood | Role: Master at Arms

"He's cool I guess"

Not really surprised by her response to him, nor am I shocked she got his Mechanism wrong since when I first asked her to do this, she was like "I only know three of them. Jonny d'Ville, Nastya Rasputina, and Jonny Sims" and I had to remind her that two of those were the same person. Speaking of Nastya Rasputina!

Name: Nastya Rasputina | Mechanism: Lungs | Role: Pilot

"My favorite" Proceeded to give a thumbs up.

As I taught her, Nastya is best girl and deserves the whole world. I am rather shocked she got her Mechanism wrong as I once word vomited to her about mercury poisoning when I was plotting for a Nastya-centric fic, but its okay. Next up is Ashes!

Name: Ashes O'Reilly | Mechanism: Eyes | Role: Quartermaster

"They're cool, I like them"

Used the wrong pronouns but immediately realized and corrected herself before I had to so that's a win that she paid attention there. (We stan an ally <3) I talk about Ashes so much so I'm surprised that she got their Mechanism wrong but its okay, I still love her. Now to an Archivist who actually knows how to do her job (this is S1 Jon Sims slander, I am not sorry, he did not know what he was doing)

Name: Ivy Alexandria | Mechanism: Brain | Role: ????

"I don't really know...Ivy I guess is cool."

I don't talk about Ivy as much as I should, which I really should change because Ivy is amazing. When asked about why she was '????' she just went "I don't know...she has those vibes." which is 100% understandable. Time for the drumbot himself!

Name: Drumbot Brian | Mechanism: All but Heart | Role: Engineer

"Cool."

How does she not have more to say about him? He's been the focus of my rants since I got home from Uni on Sunday and all she has to say is 'cool'. Engineer is at least the closest she could get to Pilot, but I'm still a bit disappointed she didn't get all the answers right. On to her...absolute favorite, TS.

Name: Toy Soldier | Mechanism: All but Voice | Role: Archivist

"The Toy Soldier is the best character and there's no doubt about that."

Her answer came so quickly after I asked her how she felt about TS, I honestly can't say I'm surprised though. She thinks it's a silly little creature. Now to the man that I'm like 100% sure she has a love/hate relationship with, Tim.

Name: Gunpowder Tim | Mechanism: Heart | Role: First Mate

"Cool."

Once again, really confused about how she doesn't have more to say about him. He's literally carrying a huge gun so like, a tad confused on my she didn't think he was Master at Arms, but its alright. Funnily enough, she got the next two completely right, starting with Marius.

Name: Marius von Raum | Mechanism: Arm | Role: Doctor

"His arm is cool."

Applause for her getting everything correct. I force her to listen to The Wassailant in the car. There is no surprise she got his stuff right because I talk about Kofi, and by default Marius, so often. And finally, last but not least, Raphaella <3

Name: Raphaella la Cognizi | Mechanism: Wings | Role: Science Officer

"Just take off the wings and she'd be cooler. Just saying."

The disappointment when she said that was at its peak. I cannot believe that she would say that about the Raphaella la Cognizi and I will be making sure she changes her ways.

I'm not too surprised with Nastya and TS being her favorites, seeing as I talked about them most when I first got into Mechs, but the Raph slander was absolutely uncalled for </3

I also asked her some lore questions.

Q: What is the ship’s name? | A: Aurora

Q: Who is dating the starship, The Aurora? | A: Jonny

Q: Which Mechanism Mechanized themself? | A: Nastya

Q: Who was the first Mechanism? | A: Jonny

Q: Who were the last two Mechanisms to join the crew? | A: Marius and Ivy

Q: Who was the first Mechanism to die/leave the crew? | A: Tim

Q: Who was the last Mechanism to die, timeline-wise? | A: Jonny

Q: Which Mechanism died by death by Octokittens? | A: Brian

Q: Which Mechanism has a morality switch? | A: Brian

Q: Who had a ‘best friend’ named Bertie? | A: Jonny

Q: Which one is an arsonist? | A: Raphaella

Q: Which one blew up the moon? | A: Tim

Q: Which one is a cannibal? | A: Marius

All in all, somewhat disappointed in my ability to get this cemented into her brain </3 Glad she at least was able to match names to faces so I'm at least showing her enough photos of them, but I will definitely start talking to her about Mechs lore more because she needs to know and understand it all.

I will still say that a success is convincing her and my mom to do matching Life360 photos with the most iconic sibling duo and their mother <3

#the mechanisms #the mechs #jonny dville #nastya rasputina #ashes o'reilly #ivy alexandria #drumbot brian #the toy soldier #gunpowder tim #marius von raum #raphaella la cognizi

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beanghostprincess · 3 months

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My current favourite crackship that I just created myself is Hiyori×Alive!Kuina. Just because if she can't get Zoro she'll just go for his cousin instead.

You're a genius. Your brain is huge. Please, let me kiss your brain. This is just amazing. I love lesbians. You're SO real-

Hiyori is easily one of my favorite characters and I love her SO much and people won't stop reducing her to her ship with Zoro. I think she doesn't need anybody and if she did want somebody it should be a girl. Because I say so. And Kuina is just,,, She would've been such a great character. Can't stop thinking about this fanart I found because it has changed my life for the better. She's in Wano to train to become the world's greatest swordsman and I'm just thinking about what if Kuina had been there to help them out too and she had been the one to save Hiyori all those times instead of Zoro.... Thinking thoughts. Like, of course, Hiyori and Zoro also have their moments because I do actually like their dynamic and I think she admires him a lot!! But you know. Kuina saves Hiyori a couple of times (when Zoro was going to do it, actually, she just appears like a second before him and ruins his moment) and Hiyori just melts. Because who wouldn't? Kuina would be so tall and strong and a sizeable woman, and I would personally die if she helped me save my country. Besides, I think they'd understand each other because both are women that have been reduced to that role specifically instead of their ambitions and their power and they're so much more. Hiyori was helpless when she had to see her country turn into this mess and she couldn't so anything else but to pretend,, Like-- If somebody knows how being a woman in the world works is Hiyori, and Kuina would understand. She'd admire Kuina so much for her abilities and her personality and ambitions!!!!!! And Kuina would absolutely love Hiyori's kindness and strength for being able to put up with so much!!!

Not to mention that Kuina would be taller than her,,, And bigger,,, And Hiyori would have to look up,, And this is now just the aesthetic part but God they'd look so different. That's Hiyori's guard dog. Wouldn't it be funny if Kuina were all serious and teasing with Zoro and like "*raises eyebrow* seriously?" type of masc girl, and the second Hiyori is around she turns into the happiest person in the world and extremely protective of her? Zoro judges her but he can't say shit because he's literally the same with Luffy (and Kuina teases him even more because she always has the upper hand and it makes him so angry). They're both down bad. Hiyori is just so nice to her and keeps saying she trusts her to become the world's greatest swordsman but even if she doesn't, she'll always have her heart and a place to stay in Wano. And I am weak, guys, I am so weak for lesbians.

Aghhh this is SO good. Somebody make them kiss. I- This is great. Oda could just say "ah yes Kuina actually escaped her hometown on her own and faked her death and traveled to Wano" and I'd believe him wholeheartedly because I want her back. I also want Hiyori back. I miss Wano sometimes a lot.

Also, Kuina sees Zoro with Enma and she goes:

Kuina: Oh cool, you got Hiyori's sword. Good luck with that one. Zoro: Do you want it or what? I am not giving it to you. You'll have to fight for it. Kuina: Nah, when I win our fight I want to win against the king of hell. Nothing less. Zoro: Where's the 'I can't win I'm a girl' bullshit now? Kuina: Stayed with the girl. Now I am a woman and I am going to beat your ass.

And Hiyori looking at them having the biggest lesbian moment in the world kicking her feet and blushing and Momo is next to her like "hehe you have a crush-" and he doesn't get to finish what he was saying because Hiyori hits him so fucking hard he faints. Don't tease her. Poor girl. She's in love, leave her alone.

#please i know i am the first one to explain the meaning behind kuina's death but the way op treats women is just not it and i want her again #also hiyori is the love of my life she's precious to me idc she's my princess i am in love with her #i thought this post would be only about a silly crackship but they're actually consuming my brain oh my god #and when kuina has to go away from wano because she has to go achieve her dream and she goes 'i don't expect you to wait for me but-'#and hiyori just holds her hands and says 'my mother waited. i've waited. and i will keep doing it as long as you come back to me'#or something like that. and i want to cry-#i am vibrating in my fucking chair god please i love them now i need more of them so fucking bad #one piece #kozuki hiyori #shimotsuki kuina #hiyoku??? kuiyori???#i have no idea what to call this ship tumblr do your thing somebody should choose the name for me i suck at this thing #roronoa zoro #zolu #bc zolu mention there and in my head it's a very common topic between kuina and zoro okay she won't stop teasing him about it #+

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bonesandthebees · 2 months

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Hi again Bee.

Thank you for lending an ear to listen even if I just kinda showed up. I really appreciate it. I've actually been reading through some of your other stories and they're very good (I adore the fae works!).

When it comes to Wilbur, I'm just. Very disappointed and upset. Of course I support Shubble and am glad she spoke out, it's very important and I'm glad that it's encouraged others to come forward with their own stories of abuse at the hands of large creators. At the same time though part of me wishes she hadn't said anything, so I could have continued as I was, in blissful ignorance, even if I feel really guilty for thinking like that.

It just saddens me that someone I looked up to so much ended up being this horrible person. It makes me worried that I too am bad, that somehow he has imprinted his awfulness unto me. I used to be horrible too. I like to think I've grown as a person, I was only a kid, but have I? Or was being drawn to Wilbur a sign? Like attracting like?

Y'know, I used to say that my hair style goals were how Wilbur's hair is, and recently I got a haircut. When I took a shower earlier it ended up floofing up in a similar way to his. I don't know how to feel about that. Maybe I should style it differently, even though I like the floof. I don't want to be even a little reminiscent of an abuser.

I am reminiscent of him though, in ways I can't change. I used to feel so seen by him, we're both song writers, and hypochondriacs, and I wanted to be him so badly I would cry. I would cry because he was everything I desperately craved to be as an insecure transmasc, an attractive guy with a beautiful voice and an amazing life. And now he's horrible, and probably always has been, and all of my memories of him are tainted.

I hate that I can't listen to Lovejoy anymore. It feels unfair to the other band members. It isn't their fault Wilbur is awful, and yet I'm taking away a source of their income. I know I'm taking away from Wilbur too, but he's only one person out of the group. Maybe that's just me giving an excuse so that I won't have to stop enjoying their music. It doesn't matter, I can't stomach listening to them anymore anyways.

I keep getting songs from YCGMA stuck in my head. It's like now that I can't listen to it anymore my brain has decided to fuck with me by making me listen to it anyways. I can't even justify listening to that album, that's just Wilbur's music. I was going to cover a song from that album for fun. Now I can't.

Is it bad I still find comfort in Wilbur as a character? C!Tommy is my favorite, but C!Wilbur is almost always a huge part of any C!Tommy story and I love C!Wilbur stories too. I know C! ≠ CC! but I just. It's complicated.

Idek why I'm this upset. I haven't been an avid watcher of anyone in the DSMP in at least over a year. If anything this whole thing has brought me back into the fandom more than I have been in ages. I feel bad about that, but also this situation has introduced me to people like Aimsey, whose content I'm seeing more of and I find myself enjoying.

I've also found more great DSMP fics lately in my quest to binge read them before the mass deletions start. Is it bad to find good things in a bad situation?

I'm sorry for the lack of put togetherness and the length of this ask. I promise I'm usually more coherent and to the point.

-Tech (just call me Tech like a name, "tech anon" feels weird heh)

hey tech, sorry for a bit of a late reply I've been busy the past few days

(sorry about the 'tech anon' thing, it's just a habit since that's how I refer to most of my anons. I'm going to still tag your ask as tech anon though just for my tagging system if that's okay)

I'm so glad you like the fae stories!! I'm still so proud of both of those looking back on them

anyway, yeah, I get that. I get the guilty wish that none of this had ever come out so you could just continue to go on in blissful ignorance. when someone learns something very upsetting, it's only natural to feel like you wish you never learned that. you don't need to feel guilty for that. you're not a bad person for your emotional reactions to things. your actions are what matters.

also, you are in no way a bad person because you were drawn to wilbur's content. the persona wilbur put on for the internet was not representative of who he actually was. you were drawn to the facade. an illusion of the person wilbur could've been, if he actually practiced the things he preached. you said you used to be a bad person, but you've changed. the fact that you are worried at all that you might still be bad shows a level of self-awareness and concern that wilbur apparently did not have. because wilbur was aware he was a bad person and treated the people around him terribly, but he didn't care to try and be better. as long as you're trying to be better, you're already leagues ahead of him.

also, regarding the hair, the floofy fringe is an incredibly common haircut. that is not exclusive to wilbur soot. you do not look like him if your hair does the floof similarly to his, it just makes you look like thousands of other dudes with fluffy fringe.

the day after shelby first streamed I had an MSR song stuck in my head and I hated it so much. it really sucks. you just have to try and drown it out with other music

it's not hypocritical at all to still find comfort in c!wilbur. I know it's complicated, and there's so much discussion I could get into as to why it's so complicated, but we can all separate the guy and the character in our heads. there's no reason to feel guilty about that. and there's also nothing bad about finding good in this situation. I think it's really sweet that you've found so many great fics in this time and I'm so glad you've been getting comfort from them. you're appreciating the authors hard work and that's a good thing! you don't need to feel bad about that

I hope you're doing okay tech

#ask #tech anon #wilbur situation

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abyssruler · 2 years

Text

THE ADEPTI’S GUIDE ON HOW TO NOT CATCH FEELINGS FOR THE STRANGE MORTAL WHO HAS A MASSIVE CRUSH ON YOUR PSEUDO-DAD

step one: don’t go to the statue for healing

pairing: xiao x fem!reader

summary: ever since you were a child, you had sworn to everyone you’ve ever met that one day you’re going to marry rex lapis, and never once has your resolve wavered. so why is your heart suddenly doing gymnastics whenever that weird adeptus fellow shows up?! he should be helping you get with rex lapis, not trying to be cute with that little happy face he makes as he takes a bite off the almond tofu you made him!

note: fem!reader, slight crack, comedy, reader is a dumbass and xiao is moronsexual that’s it that’s the fic, lumine and hu tao being wingmen, every playable character in liyue appears at some point, reader is the biggest rex lapis simp, and no you don’t know that zhongli is rex lapis

series masterlist

next step

People like to say that you’re a weird kid. You much prefer the term unique. After all, it isn’t everyday that someone makes it their life’s mission to marry their Archon.

Besides, you’ve met plenty of other people you can confidently call weirder than you. Case number one: Hu Tao, aka the Funeral Director’s granddaughter, aka your best friend. Case number two: Chongyun, your local popsicle dealer. Case number three: Xiangling, the trauma-inducer who proved to you that not everything is, in fact, edible and you should most definitely be wary the next time she offers you any food.

And case number four: Xingqiu.

You don’t think that last one needs any sort of explanation. Anyone who’s as filthy rich as him and chooses to spend their time with commoners like you instead of basking in their mora is weird (in hindsight, it wasn’t a very logical reason, but it very much made sense in your ten-year-old brain). That, and he’s a huge nerd, though that can be forgiven since he’s your main source of information regarding your future husband, Rex Lapis.

Which brings you to the conclusion that yes, maybe there’s a little bit of truth in it whenever someone calls you weird, but surrounding yourself with even weirder people cancels the weirdness out in some complex mathematical way. So while they may be, possibly, likely telling the truth, they’re also technically lying.

So, no, you’re not weird. End of story.

“Let me get this straight, you’re trying to hire me in advance as the musician for your future wedding with Rex Lapis?”

You nod, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Of course! Who else would I hire besides the best musician I know?”

“I’m the only musician you know,” Xinyan points out with amusement.

“Details! Once your parents finally get off your back about music, I just know you’re gonna be amazing!” You offer her a high five. “So are you in?”

She stares at your hand for a moment, an unreadable look crossing her face before it smooths out into a wide grin. Her palm slaps over yours in a high five.

“Well, duh! What kind of person would I be to reject a once in a lifetime’s offer of performing in a god’s wedding?” She laughs, slinging her arm over your shoulder. You smile at her easy acceptance, of not calling you weird like the other kids.

Hm. Another one recruited into your band of supporters, aka the only people who actually believe you when you say you’re going to marry Rex Lapis. Excellent.

✧

“Is this really necessary?”

“Of course it is! What kind of future wife would I be if I didn’t at least clean up my future husband’s statues?” you respond, not once pausing in your motions of scrubbing the base of the statue.

Chongyun sighs but makes no move to stop as he sweeps up dead leaves. “You know, if you channeled half as much energy as you did into your studies, you wouldn’t have to constantly beg Xingqiu to tutor you.”

“We’re eleven—wait, actually, I’m eleven, you’re still an eeny bitty kid who’s ten—but back to my point, in a few years’ time my grades won’t matter. Have you ever heard Granny Ruoxin bragging about how she got high scores when she was in school? No. Which is why I don’t have to bother putting in the effort as long as I’m passing.”

“You’re barely passing,” Hu Tao cackles from her seat in the shade away from the sun’s merciless rays, having gotten the easiest task of being the provider of food and cleaning supplies.

You frown. “Well, school’s not really important anyway.”

“Yes it is,” Chongyun argues, ever the voice of reason.

You despair at the lack of Xiangling’s presence. She’d have taken your side. Hell, even Xingqiu and Xinyan would’ve agreed with you. It’s not like grades mattered to a rich kid and a future musician.

Hu Tao suddenly sits up, a look on her face that tells you you’re not gonna like what she’s about to say. “Hey, didn’t the elders finally allow you to attend the Rite of Descension next month?”

Finally, you pause from cleaning the statue. “Yeah, they did.”

Her smile turns positively mischievous. “Doesn’t Rex Lapis give out words of wisdom each year? How about you ask him what he thinks about the importance of school?”

Your jaw drops. “No way! Like I’d ever ask him such a useless question.”

“Oh really? Are you sure it’s not because you’re scared he’ll disagree with you?” she says, egging you on.

Unable to come up with a suitable argument, you concede. “Oh, fine! I’ll ask him that, but you better prepare your apology speech for when I’m proven right.”

✧

Here is how your first meeting with Rex Lapis goes: an incredibly nervous you, the very large, very dragon-y him, and an entire audience’s worth of people at your back, watching your interaction and waiting for their turn to be given wisdom by the Lord of Geo.

It barely lasts a minute. The good thing, however, is that you managed to ask him if he thought school was important with only minimal stuttering, and that he answered.

The bad thing is that Hu Tao does not, in fact, owe you an apology speech.

✧

Within the next two months, your grades skyrocket. Your teachers are all very impressed with your improvement and asked what brought this change on.

“Love, Miss Shu Xian, love has changed me,” you tell your teacher before walking away, feeling like a character from one of Xingqiu’s novels.

“What a strange kid…” your teacher mutters as she watches you place your hand on the balcony’s railings and pretend to look wisely over the surroundings—the surroundings being the large, stained wall of the neighboring restaurant of your school.

✧

“You’ll really do that for me?” you ask, tears forming at the corner of your eyes.

Yun Jin laughs, sounding like an angel sent from above and handing you a handkerchief to dab at your eyes with. “Of course! What are friends for? I promise to sing only the very best songs and dance the liveliest dances of all.”

You blow your nose loudly into the handkerchief. “Don’t pressure yourself! I don’t need it to be the best, even your presence alone would be enough.”

“Ah, but it’s your future wedding, a once in a lifetime event, that would be no time to slack,” she argues, still managing to look graceful even after you’ve ruined her well-embroidered handkerchief with tears and snot. She places her hand on your shoulder. “Now, what has happened? You’re not normally so easily reduced to tears.”

You sniffle. “The usual.” When she purses her lips like a disapproving mother, you’re forced to elaborate. “Just some girls thinking they could pick on the weird kid who wants to marry our Archon. Nothing new.”

Her eyes soften. “I’m sorry.”

You wave her off, forcing out a laugh. “That was no issue. You should’ve seen the look on their faces when I threw a bucket of dirty water at them.” You were in the middle of cleaning another statue, not your fault the nearest thing was the bucket. They should be glad you didn’t hit them with your broom. They should be even gladder Hu Tao wasn’t there to retaliate against them.

“That was a mean thing to do,” Yun Jin says, but the amused smile on her lips tells you otherwise.

You cross your arms. “They deserved it.”

She hums. “They did.”

✧

For your fourteenth birthday, you decide to spend it hunting for geoculus in order to gift them to the love of your life’s statues. Not a very fun activity, especially since it’s your birthday and the gift-giving should be the other way around, but you console yourself with the thought that you’ll have him gift you a pool full of mora in your wedding.

Besides, it’s not like you can throw a party. It’d be very disrespectful to Hu Tao’s grandfather who just passed away, and with your best friend off on a search to find Director Hu’s soul… well, your birthday now consists of you, a bunch of qingxin flowers you picked up on the way, and the three geoculus you managed to find.

Currently, you’re trying to find a way to reach the fourth geoculus without slipping down the mountainside, breaking all your bones, and consequently dying in the process. Why do these things only appear in dangerous and high places? Oh, and now it’s raining. Just your luck.

Life would be so much easier with a vision. Geo, to be exact. No other element would suffice. You might just die if you married the Geo Archon and had, say, a pyro vision instead of a geo vision. Especially since a geo vision would be exceptionally helpful in your predicament right now.

Still, you’ve come all the way up the mountain, a little probability of death won’t stop you. Well, it probably should, but you’re already taking a leap and reaching for the vine that’ll hopefully swing you into the geoculus’s way and into the other side of the narrow gorge. No going back now, not that you ever planned on doing so.

You cling to the vine with all your might while your other hand reaches for the geoculus.

It brushes the tips of your fingers—

The vine snaps.

✧

You wake up to the feeling of your head pounding, scrapes and bruises all over your body. No broken bones though. Thank Rex Lapis.

In your right hand is the geoculus you’d been reaching for. Huh. So falling down to your almost-death wasn’t a waste after all.

Something warm pulses in your left hand. Curious, you unclench your fingers.

Your world falls apart. Tears fall down your eyes in rivulets, sobbing as you curse Celestia and all the gods—except for Rex Lapis, of course—about how awful their sense of humor is. You look down at the accursed object in your hand with betrayal.

A pyro vision.

✧

Hu Tao returns from her self-appointed mission from the afterlife, takes one look at you, your dejected expression, and the pyro vision now hanging in shame by your hip, and she immediately understands.

She points to her own newly obtained pyro vision. “Hey, at least we match!”

✧

“Oh Rex Lapis, please accept this humble offering and exchange it for something more suitable… like, say, a geo vision?”

Nothing.

You continue kneeling in front of the statue with your pyro vision in hand, posing like a man about to offer his firstborn son to the gods in sacrifice.

A few seconds pass. Then a minute, then two, three. Five minutes pass.

You’ve been kneeling for ten whole minutes. Nothing has changed, your vision still glows red. Not even a sign to indicate that he heard your pleas, something like a pebble landing in your head. But alas, there is none.

You hear a snicker carried by the wind from your right. Snapping your head to the source of the sound, you find Xingqiu leaning against the trunk of a tree, a book in hand as he watches your ridiculous display. Sighing hopelessly, you stand up from your position and make your way towards him, storing your vision safely in your pocket ‘cause hey, a vision’s a vision, no matter how displeased you are with its element.

He opens his mouth, probably a greeting, but most likely a quip you’re currently not in the mood to be dealing with, so you speak before he has any chance to.

“Yes, I know, I looked ridiculous.”

He raises his eyebrows at your words. “That was not what I was about to say.”

You lean against the same tree, pushing all your weight into your shoulder. “Then what were you about to say?”

Xingqiu looks away. You follow his gaze and find him staring at the statue of the Geo Archon you’d just been kneeling to moments ago.

“You needn’t be so upset with your vision—”

You laugh. “Because a vision’s still a vision, a sign of recognition from the gods? Yeah, I know. Heard that many times already.”

A crease forms between his brows. “Again, you’ve assumed what I was about to say.” Then he sighs, his expression smoothening out. “No, what I meant to say is that geo or pyro, vision or no vision, it did not change your goal at all, did it?”

“I guess not,” you mutter.

“Then you need not worry, friend. Rex Lapis’s future affections for you won’t be changed by a mere vision.”

You nod, slowly getting invigorated. “Yeah, you’re right.” Then, you turn a cheeky smile to Xingqiu. “You know, for someone who’s younger than me, you sure are wise.”

“Only a year younger, which is barely much of a difference when compared to—”

“Okay, that’s enough! Just remembered that I need to go to the market today and buy some tea for the elders,” you say, pushing yourself up and rummaging your pockets for mora.

“Oh, let me help. It’s been a while since I last spoke to Pops Kai.”

Finding only a couple of mora, barely enough to buy a piece of bread, you agree. “Fine, but you’re paying, rich boy.”

✧

Alright, you’ll admit that maybe you were overreacting a little bit after you found out your vision was pyro instead of geo, but you’d like to blame that one on the raging concussion you probably had after taking a tumble down that deep gorge.

Anything else that happened after your concussion faded away is a result of deliriousness from eating too much of Xiangling’s strange dishes.

✧

On Hu Tao’s sixteenth birthday, the two of you sneak in a few quick sips of alcohol. Unfortunately for you, this leads to the discovery that you are extremely lightweight. Another unfortunate thing for you is that her birthday coincided with the Rite of Descension that year. The same Rite of Descension that you’ve been religiously attending each year ever since you were allowed to.

A little tipsiness won’t stop you from going to the Rite of Descension, or as you liked to call it, the yearly wooing of your future husband.

Hu Tao accompanies you to the Pavilion where it’s held. You wave enthusiastically to Keqing, who you’ve come to know during all those years. She waves back briefly, but then returns to doing all her busy Yuheng stuff.

You stop near the railing, facing Hu Tao with a serious, if slightly dazed, look. Placing both hands on her shoulders, you lean close. “This is the day I propose. Just watch.”

Her face takes on a gleeful turn. Clapping her hands, she gestures for you to line up on the queue of people awaiting their yearly dose of wisdom from the Lord of Geo. “I wish you all the best. Onwards, oh brave soldier of the heart!”

Significantly encouraged by her words, your slightly tipsy self made your way to the line, waiting patiently for your turn. When you finally reach the front, you pull out the large cor lapis you got lucky enough to win on the market the other day, and with a slightly intoxicated grin, you walk your way to the front.

Cor lapis in hand, you raise it in an offering motion and say quietly, because no one else needs to hear what you’re about to proclaim except you and the Geo Archon, “Rex Lapis, will you marry me?”

Unfortunately, due to the previously mentioned inebriated state, you didn’t quite manage to control the volume of your voice. Hu Tao’s laugh can be heard amidst the silence that ensues after your proposal.

Molten gold roots you in place. Rex Lapis’s eyes all-knowing and just a tiny bit intimidating when directed to your mortal self in full force. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking of right now since you’re not exactly an expert at reading dragon expressions, so you stand and wait for a few moments for his reply.

However, due to Hu Tao’s laughter and your ridiculous exclamation, Lady Nigguang seems to think this is some elaborate joke. Really now, the lady should know you better. You remember once telling her your goal of marrying Rex Lapis and how she chuckled at you but never once called you strange for it.

Just before the Millelith can arrive to take you away and probably arrest you, Rex Lapis lets out a loud, hearty laugh.

It’s enough to startle everyone within hearing vicinity, including yourself.

“Hah… It has been many years since I felt such keen amusement,” his voice rumbles, carrying on over the crowd and forcing everyone to listen. “For that alone, child, I shall grant you this: return in a few years bearing that same question, and perhaps I shall answer differently.”

To anyone listening, it was obvious that this was just his way of rejecting your proposal and that he would not, in fact, change his mind even in a few years’ time.

To you, though, it meant the world.

Your smile could almost be enough to light up an entire room. “Okay! I’ll hold you to that!”

A woman somewhere behind you gasps at how casually you’re speaking to Rex Lapis, but the rumbling laughter that comes from him says enough. He doesn’t mind.

Cheerily skipping your way out of the sea of onlookers who have their eyes trained on you, you make your way to Hu Tao who’s been watching you with twinkling eyes. She claps your back with a grin, “Whaddya know, a little liquid courage was all it took to get you one step closer to your goal! I’d call this venture of ours a resounding success!”

✧

You wake up the next day with a pounding headache and clear memories of what transpired the day before.

You spend a good few minutes screaming into your pillow.

✧

They’re selling limited edition Rex Lapis figurines at the market today. To avoid the possibility of them getting sold out before you manage to get your hands on one, you’ve decided to camp out right in front of the shop since yesterday.

No one bothers you. After that little debacle at the last Rite of Descension, you’ve become known in Liyue Harbor as the girl who proposed to Rex Lapis. It garnered a few disapproving looks, especially from the old geezers, but unlike your childhood, quite a lot of people now find it funny instead of weird. It’s probably because of how Rex Lapis himself reacted in that situation.

Even the store owner is giving you amused looks as you lay on the cot you’ve set up beside his store since last night. But that was no matter, he was finally opening his shop. Looking around, you find a lot of people standing in the queue right behind you.

You stand up, grinning to yourself as you realized how much of a genius plan this is. You’re first in line.

Figurine in hand and a couple thousand mora broke, you would have missed the identity of the person behind you if you hadn’t recognized their voice. Turning around, you come face to face with none other than, “Keq—”

She quickly shuts you up by placing a hand over your mouth, her other hand holding a Rex Lapis figurine.

Oh Archons.

After dragging you to a less crowded alley, she finally lets you speak. An excited smile forms on your lips. “Keqing! I didn’t know you were a fan!”

“Not so loud!” She shushes you, then she places the figurine in a bag you didn’t notice before, hidden from the world. “And I’m not a fan. I think his views are a little outdated and Liyue could benefit more from a more modernized outlook. But… I do admire his achievements and all he’s done for Liyue.” She sees the knowing look on your face. “That doesn’t make me a fan, okay?”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

“And even if I was a fan—which I am most certainly not—I’m not like you who would propose to the Geo Archon in front of Liyue’s high profiles.” She places her hand on her hip. “Honestly, I’ve been meaning to ask, but what possessed you to do such an act?”

At the reminder of your mortifying display, a bit of heat creeps to your cheeks. Thankfully, the wear and tear of time has a way of lessening humiliation, especially when said humiliating act is the only thing you’ve been hearing about for the past few months.

“It may have been extremely embarrassing, but I have no regrets! You’ll see, Keqing, one day I’ll invite you to my wedding.”

She sighs at your hopeless delusions. “There’s no arguing with you, is there? Alright, invite me if you will, but I have somewhere to be right now.” You let her go easily. Turning to you one last time, she says, “And don’t tell anyone about this encounter, okay?”

“Gotcha!”

✧

At eighteen, you meet the first person apart from Rex Lapis who’s ever managed to make your heart skip a beat. (For now.)

“Hu Tao, who is that?” you whisper frantically to the newly appointed Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

“Hm?” She looks up from the papers in her hand and follows your line of sight. “Oh! That’s Mister Zhongli. He’s our newly hired consultant. Very knowledgable in history and very, and I mean very, rich. It’s like he creates mora out of thin air, that’s how rich he is.”

Tall, handsome, smart, older than you, and rich with earthy tones and amber eyes.

Oh no.

He was exactly your type.

Almost too exact, considering your type is, well, Rex Lapis himself.

Until today, you didn’t even realize you had a type until you found yourself faced with the handsome consultant—Zhongli, his name is Zhongli. For some reason or another, you think you’ve seen him somewhere before, but that idea was quickly shot down. There was just no way you’d ever forget seeing a person like him.

Another problem is that you never even knew you were capable of being attracted to anyone who isn’t Rex Lapis, Morax, the Geo Archon, or all of the above.

Hu Tao seems to have caught on to your internal dilemma.

She raises her arm. “Mister Zhongli, come over here for a sec!”

“What are you doing?!” you hiss at her, slapping her arm repeatedly before straightening once your new object of interest makes his way over. You try your best to inconspicuously rake your eyes over him. If Zhongli notices your attempt at checking him out, he thankfully doesn’t say anything.

“Yes, Director, did you need me for anything?” he says, and good lord, even his voice held that sort of richness to it that made you want to listen to him talk all day.

Hu Tao smiles that same smile you once likened to a shark, all teeth and ready to pounce at any hint of weakness, which in this case is your quickly developing probably-but-hopefully-not-a-crush on her new employee. “Nothing in particular. I just wanted to introduce you here to my friend.”

Her hand lands on the small of your back as she all but shoves you in front Zhongli. You manage not to stumble as you’re pushed forward, internally clenching your fist and thinking of ways to retaliate against your best friend slash the bane of your existence.

You have to crane your neck up just to meet his amused amber eyes, that’s how tall the guy is.

“Ah, I believe you are the Director’s dear friend? She has spoken to me in length about you.”

You find yourself uncharacteristically tongue-tied. “Y-Yeah.” You then manage to introduce yourself with minimum stuttering.

“Well met. My name is Zhongli, the new consultant at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.” He smiles, looking very regal and wise and infuriatingly handsome and—NO!

You have to stay loyal. Just because a pretty face appeared doesn’t mean you can cheat on your future husband… even if you’re not together yet so technically what you’re doing isn’t actually cheating.

Oh Rex Lapis, please forgive me for this severe case of adultery. I’ll accept any, ahem, punishment you’re willing to give. I promise I’ll bring you the best offering at next year’s Rite of Descension. And maybe you could, you know, finally give me an answer on my proposal—no pressure though!

Zhongli tilts his head ever so slightly like he just heard something funny.

In order to avoid committing anymore acts of cheating, you bid him a hasty goodbye. “It’s been nice meeting you, Mister Zhongli, but I just remembered I have a, uh, statue to clean up! Gotta go!”

You ignore Hu Tao’s knowing look following you as you quickly make your way out of the Funeral Parlor.

✧

“I heard you’ve finally moved on from Rex Lapis,” Xingqiu says in lieu of a greeting.

“I did not! And who told you that?”

He smiles. You’re not fooled by the slightest. That smile is a devil hidden behind the facade of an angel. “Why, our mutual friend Hu Tao did.”

✧

“You know, forcing yourself to clean up every statue of the Geo Archon isn’t going to make the crush you have on Mister Zhongli disappear,” Chongyun points out, watching you work away as you sweep dead leaves into a pile.

“How about you focus on that big fat crush you have on Xingqiu instead?”

He gasps, but your words do their trick in keeping him silent about your not-crush.

✧

Xiangling hands you a surprisingly normal dish when you next see her. “As a gift of celebration for getting your first crush, I made your favorite!”

“I don’t have a crush on Zhongli!”

She smiles. “Hehe, I didn’t say a name.”

You raise your hands in defeat. “Fine. Whatever. Free food is free food.” You take a seat on Wanmin restaurant’s stool and dig into your food.

Guoba pats your knee consolingly.

✧

It takes a good few weeks before you can stand to be in Zhongli’s presence without becoming a heart-palpitating mess. Another few weeks before you can have a proper conversation without thinking about how mesmerizing his eyes are and how nice his biceps look in his snug suit and how much you want to—

Enough!

After the initial awkwardness that is your first meeting, you find that you actually enjoy Zhongli’s company a lot. For one, he’s very knowledgable, has a good eye for scammers which led to your monthly dose of being scammed decreasing significantly. Two, he’s a gentleman. A true gentleman, not like Xingqiu who’d leave you waiting for hours at a meeting spot ‘cause he got too engrossed in reading his books. Zhongli’s the kind who offers you his coat when it’s cold and opens the door for you to enter first.

And lastly, he’s rich.

Hu Tao wasn’t lying at all, the guy is rich enough to be able to haggle the market sellers into selling their wares for a higher price then buy said highly priced wares. You once asked him why he’s working in a Funeral Parlor when it seems like he’s rich enough to have even his great-grandchildren live comfortable and wealthy lives.

His answer?

“I would like to experience working a normal job alongside the people.”

You didn’t have the heart to tell him that if he really wanted to do that, he should’ve chosen a job where he’d constantly be surrounded by living breathing people, not dead ones.

✧

You didn’t realize it then, but at the age of twenty, you meet the person you will one day be cheesily calling the love of your life.

A person is leaning against the statue of your beloved Archon, blood coating his body and smearing it on his surroundings.

The wounded stranger looks up, a guarded look in his eyes as he supports himself with a spear tipped with jade. Blood drips off a strand of his teal hair and he looks like he’s one step away from death’s door, but even then, there’s no mistaking he could still take you on in a fight and win. There’s brown spots here and there that indicate the blood has dried off, which means he’s probably been here for a while. Or maybe it’s bird poop, who knows.

You should probably help the guy, but you can do nothing but stare in horror at the bloody mess in front of you.

The stranger opens his mouth to speak, but you beat him to it.

“Damn it! Do you know how hard it is to keep that statue clean?! Go bleed out somewhere else!”

the adepti’s guide on how to not catch feelings for the strange mortal who has a massive crush on your pseudo-dad

step one: don’t go to the statue for healing, or you might just meet the aforementioned strange mortal

series masterlist

next step

word count: 4.7k

note: i’d like to clarify that reader is an orphan, which means everything you’ve done so far is indeed fatherless behavior. not much xiao since we’re just establishing your relationships with various characters for future purposes, but starting next chapter he’s gonna be having major appearances. send me an ask or comment if you wanna be added to the taglist! ^^

#genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #xiao x reader #genshin xiao x reader #fem reader #the adepti's guide

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kanmom51 · 9 months

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JK Seven MV making sketch BTB

Yay, the subs are back on. And I got to watch it and even understand what he was saying, lol.

Loved it.

I was just sitting here for the 12 minutes with a huge smile on my face.

Because JK is just so adorable. So genuine. So real.

He had the time of his life, and seeing that just made me happy.

Now let's talk about a few thing I took from the BTB, why don't we?

I think I'll start from the fun and make my way to the more serious.

Not too much went on really. It's mostly him enjoying himself.

Being his own chaotic loveable self.

Trying to keep his eye open with the water pouring down on him, lol.

Can you imagine just how much fun this all was for him, our daredevil?

Funny, just thought about it, but they didn't even talk to Hun Sohee. Not a word. She might as well not have been there. Now I understand that JK is the focus, it's his song, BTBs are about the members, but at the same time, she's a well known and loved Korean actress acting in his MV and not only don't we get to hear from her even once, we also don't really get to see interactions between him and her in the BTB. In a way it feels like they are trying to keep this distance - this is JK, he's singing Seven, he's shooting a MV, but he's disconnected from it. I'm not sure I'm being clear enough here.

Ok, so for example JK explains what the scenes are and says the word girlfriend, god forbid. We know y/ns went into a frenzy over this stupidity. JK explaining the concept of the scene in which he's fighting with his gf, cause that's what the MV is about, and she's his gf in the bloody MV.

But maybe, knowing this fandom, they wanted to keep the delusion to a minimum, not to mention keep Sohee away from the crazy ass fans that are already harassing her by just keeping her off camera as much as possible. Idk, just found it interesting.

JK tells us a little about his acting, lol.

To all those that are still riding the scripted fanservice bandwagon, time to fucking get off it.

Omg, the way he disses Yoongi, he just LOVES to do that with Yoongi. Now I can kind of understand the "even at 60 years old jeon jungkook will be freaking annoying".🤣🤣

JK is wearing THE brand again. I'm telling you folks, JM made a huge online order for the two of them!!

He's just so precious, with this thing he has of checking out his hands, every single time it feels like it's the first time he's seen them, lol. The fascination he had from his water wrinkled fingers. So endearing.

Looks at them in amazement, shows everyone, then back to looking at them again all fascinated.

You'd think the man has never in his lifetime taken a long shower or had a bath or been in the damn swimming pool. Nah, lol. It's just one of those cute loveable oddities of his.

Did we notice the ASSets?

And I thought JM was in charge of that body part in the family.

Well, apparently the competition is on.

Has JK surpASSed JM?

Should we progrASS? Oopsy...progress?

And now I will take a moment to breathe.

I went looking for more pics from the BTB and came across this:

I don't know enough about the movie but do we know of any kind of connection to Jikook? Or this could be the directors tribute to the movie too. In any case it's a fun tribute.

Now for the heavy stuff, or not so heavy just a little more on the serious side.

I wrote a long ass brain fart of a post yesterday. And some of it is very relevant here too.

JK clearly sees the song as a love song. Period.

He did the explicit version for the fun of it (well and also probably because the America market loves a song with profanities in it). But for him it's the fun of not being restricted by the Kpop rules of engagement, the "don't swear because the song will be censored" and "don't swear because it's too adult" or whatever other reasons for it. He's having fun feeling more freedom, and that he's all grown up and can say fucking multiple times out loud.

But when it comes down to it, when asked about it directly, his answer was that he prefers the clean version. Because to him Seven is a love song, not one about the physical act alone. Yes, of course sex is part of it (the song lyrics are kind of loud), but sex is not even half of what loving someone is all about.

We saw JK talking about the love of his life while explaining about the song.

Him in the BTB about the death scene:

And at the end of the BTB explaining more:

And we also have what he said in the interview aired earlier today on Z100 radio.

The more we get of JK talking about the song the clearer and louder it becomes. I just wish people would only be listening to him.

Anyway, the man is beautiful.

Love him.

Not as much as the love of his life does though.

No competition there!!

#Jungkook #JK #JK Seven #JK Seven MV #JK Seven MV BTB

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mdhwrites · 3 months

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The Lumity Kiss is Bad

Which is really weird when the actual, physical kiss is pretty much textbook perfect. However, this isn't a quick kiss or a throwaway one. It's the BIG kiss in a romantic subplot. The second half of the resolution we got in Knock Knock Knocking with the confession and the show frames it that way. As such... The kiss is more than just the kiss and it's every element around the physical action that ruins it, making even the textbook nature of it somehow flawed.

Let's start with the positive though. Now I've actually said I don't like how the kiss is animated and I do kind of stick to that. If you go to the 57 mark of this clip of the kiss, you can literally watch as Amity's face slides back to being on model.

youtube

And kind of like a lot of moments in the show with big budget animation, that's not a HUGE issue but it is deciding that frame rate and smoothness is king for good animation without considering how jarring it is to watch in the show and if it actually fits within the style of the show. I find TOH fights WAY more enjoyable to watch when isolated by themselves because of this because they aren't in an uncanny valley where they feel like a well produced fan animation than something official and I do still hold to that with the kiss itself. I just wish I could better describe why.

BUT! I said I had a positive to talk about and I do. For three seconds, the scene is just right. Luz says the date will be perfect before then Amity, looking at Luz, the person who the mere thought of was comforting her and who she's been worried about for a week, decides to go in and kiss her. Her hands are gentle as they take Luz's face and she leans in. Luz is shocked that this is happening but then quickly gives into the bliss and holds Amity's hand in her own. It is sweet, quick but incredibly impactful. It is a textbook example of how to do a kiss that one half of the pair didn't see coming and the couple are meant to be deeply in love. It's nothing new but doing the classic spot on is never a bad thing.

Those three seconds die the second Luz says, "Crikey," let alone the fact that it's in an Australian accent. And don't get me wrong: You do not have to make a kiss like this sappy. I Was A Teenage Exocolonist has a romance route with a very clinical, scientific person and when you two get together, she snarks at you if you ask what next. That I should know her well enough to know she has a logical decision deduced from what is correct for the situation.

"So are you going to kiss me or am I going to kiss you?"

Great. Amazing. Silly and not taking itself too seriously but above all else IN. CHARACTER.

I'm sorry to break it to you all but Luz is NOWHERE NEAR "Lol, random" enough for this. Hell, in both this scene and Looking Glass Ruins, the writers point out how Amity is driven to act on emotion and on what her brain pulls her towards more than Luz, especially on this topic. It's why Amity is ALWAYS the one to do the firsts in their relationship. Meanwhile, Luz's only times where she blurts out something random is "Snorses" which had a clear correlation to what was happening and "You damn rat!" which also was explicitly tied to the stimuli causing it.

What stimuli here makes her go "Crikey" and turn FUCKING AUSTRALIAN!? The only reasonable excuse I could even think of is to say she's a huge Crocodile Dundee fan but Luz was born theoretically somewhere around 2006, literally TWENTY YEARS after that movie came out and I don't feel like Camila would push something like that for her to watch or really fits in with most of what else Luz seems to enjoy.

Fucking BAZINGA would have been more in character because at least nerds still mock Big Bang Theory. Other options for a random word or reference would have been "Excelsior!" or "Wahoo!" as she jumps into the air like the hyperactive gremlin she's supposed to be.

Neither one would work though in general because the tone and framing of the scene isn't right for a joke, let alone this sort of joke. Part of what makes the kiss feel so justified in this moment is the setup... Though only on Amity's side. I'll get to the problems with Luz's setup for the kiss in a bit.

Amity has thought Luz might be dead for a week. She hasn't heard back from her, she's scared, distressed and strung out. She wants things to go back to simpler times like in Season 1 when things weren't so scary. She's emotional and is actively using the thought of Luz as a way to comfort herself. Then, out of nowhere, Luz comes in, promising romance, better times and safety, all while proving she herself is safe.

It is perfect setup in a story like this for the first kiss. Honestly, they could have gone one step farther and mentioned that they haven't even had a big kiss but they went with the missing out on the date element, which works just as well. It's nothing new but it's correct. It's good. However... It's also genuinely serious. Like this is effectively Amity laying out exactly why she likes Luz. The strength she gets from Luz. Why this relationship is important to her. It is great setup for an "I love you," or a first kiss.

It is a REALLY bad setup for a joke. However... as bad Luz's joke is... Amity's is actually worse.

"I can't believe I just did that!"

Yeah and I can't believe that in this moment that should show how far Luz and Amity have come as a couple, the strength and joy they've gained after being a couple for half a season, you're literally reacting the EXACT same way as you did when you kissed her on the cheek back in Looking Glass Ruins. It doesn't matter that you have nicknames now. That you two keep twirling each other about. Have had deep conversations about Luz's pain while Luz ignored yours. *eye twitch at Reaching Out* And it doesn't matter that in this moment, you have EVERY justification to be confident in this choice. To simply happy and overcome with emotion that your partner is simply ALIVE.

Her response should have been, "I'm so happy to see you," not literally going back an entire half a season for a cheap, repeat gag.

To be fair though, while this entire scene, from the moment it cuts to Amity talking to Emira and Edric, is obviously paying reverence to how big of a deal this is and trying to make the kiss be correct... The jokes are in keeping with how quite literally the rest of the episode treats Lumity. Remember, this episode starts with Luz claiming she'd like to pull a romantic rescue but deciding to opt out because despite having literally nothing to do with the plan, and likely being detrimental to how stealthy they need to be because fewer numbers are better here, she would rather be prepared to help Eda and King than actually break her girlfriend out from being grounded by the EC. This is despite, in Luz's own words, "You know me. I'll always choose the chaotic option." That... Isn't a good starting point.

Then the rescue is comically easy and Luz doesn't actually do any of it. It's all Gus, Willow and Hunter. Luz just gets to take the credit and get the big hero kiss, which this ABSOLUTELY IS. Amity was a damsel in distress for Luz to save, complete with a kiss for doing so. That's also without getting into how pathetically easy the save is. Like Willow doesn't even have to try to bury one dude and an abomaton ALIVE under ground. Frankly, I'm amazed that guard is still alive.

It's just a lot of stuff way too easy to be leading into what is the final payoff for your romantic subplot, let alone one that has taken up a THIRD of your story so far.

The rest of the episode isn't any better though. This should be an episode about Lumity. It starts with talking about Amity in trouble. Then it saves Amity and does the big, climactic kiss... But we haven't gotten Luz's side of the relationship yet, have we? We haven't gotten her speech like we did Amity's. We haven't gotten anything to show her deeper care for Amity and while Amity is talking about Luz's quirks and her kindness and the strength she gets from her, Knock Knock Knocking is really the closest we've gotten with "Awesome and pretty" which is vague and shallow. This is your chance to fix that.

There's even a perfect moment. Odalia threatens their relationship and says Luz isn't worthy. Have Luz agree... But then say it doesn't matter what her or Odalia think. That she is lucky to have someone as smart, dedicated, and passionate while having a sweet center that despite all her fears, anytime she's with Amity, she knows Amity is going to give her the chances she needs. Is going to understand what she's trying to say instead of looking at how weird she is and rejecting her. Take ten, twenty seconds to do that... While in the background, we can see Gus obviously thinking about something, glance at Luz, and then start working on a spell circle.

The shield comes down, get the dramatic reveal of Alador and then cut back to where Hunter is holding Amity's hand. Same effect as the show but allow Gus to make the plan of his own volition because he wants to protect his bro and this was the best he could think of. He thought Luz would be more capable of defending herself due to glyphs and that Belos was less likely to kill her than Hunter. Also, it was in a panic and the best he could think of.

INSTEAD, we get Luz ignoring Amity's problems with her parents for the THIRD FUCKING TIME and focusing on the white boy in the cast instead. In fact, I don't think Lumity talk to each other ONCE after the kiss scene. The focus is too much on the plot and Amity's angst and I could do an entire blog about how little Luz actually engages with Amity's character arc and plot elements. It makes it real rough analyzing old episodes for Amity's arc when you realize how much Amity jumps in her arc without almost any input from Luz on elements that are suddenly gone.

And this would be OKAY... But it makes the kiss feel like... Well, honestly like a gag. We're at a point in the show after all where very little of it is trying to be funny. Even Gus and King are being taken seriously now and Amity will be a joke for most of S3, especially in Thanks to Them. Even her standing up to her mother is lightly mocked by Alador sounding like he's just saying sweet lies in telling Amity that she was close to breaking the barrier. It's WEIRD the treatment of it when it has consumed so much time and the framing of the actual moment is so serious.

And I want to be clear: I am happy they kissed. I am not against this because it's two girls or anything like that. I'd criticize this no matter the gender, race, etc. of any element here because it is just flatly bad romance writing. The only parts that function are either cut off at the knees or the one part that has the characters too silent to actually harm the moment.

And I think the last thing any of us wanted for Lumity was for it to be treated like a joke.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

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#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #Lumity critical #Lumity

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darlingvernon · 1 year

Text

day 18: family | hong jisoo.

↳ the one about joshua introducing you to his family

◇ hong jisoo x female reader ◇ fluff | established relationship ◇ warnings: mention of baby making. please let me know if i missed any! ◇ 423 words

authors note: apologies for the delay but this is for day 18 of @svthub december prompt challenge: family. please let me know what you think. i hope you guys enjoy!

“What’s on your mind?” Joshua asks, one hand on the steering wheel and one your thigh, stealing you from your thoughts. The drive back home from his family party has been quiet and he isn’t sure how you’re feeling about it.

“I’m just thinking about the party,” you smile in response, yet he can’t help but feel nervous.

What if it was too much for her? What if she didn’t like my family? What if she—

“Shua, get out of your head,” you laugh lightly. “Everything is fine and I had a great time.”

“Really?”

“I promise.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Joshua grabs your hand and kisses the back of it. “How did you find it though?” he queries curiously.

“Hmm,” you contemplate, “honestly, it was overwhelming at first and I was a nervous wreck, especially since you have such a huge family. I was especially nervous about meeting your mom.”

“And?” he prods.

“She’s lovely,” you reply, “and very welcoming. So, was the rest of your family. It was really nice to see how close you all were as a unit and I was amazed at how good you were with the kids. They seemed to love being spoiled by Uncle Shua.”

Joshua laughs, “I can’t help it. They’re really adorable.”

“They are,” you agree. “How are you feeling, by the way? Are you okay? You gave lots of piggy backs and airplane rides.”

“Well, that’s what these muscles are for,” he laughs again, throwing a wink your way as you playfully smack his arm. “Was that all you were thinking about? You seemed pretty deep in thought.”

He can tell the question makes you nervous, as your free hand starts to fiddle with the hem of your dress.

“I was thinking about how great of a father you’ll be,” you say nervously, “and how I can’t wait to have a family with you.”

Joshua’s brain short circuits for a second and luckily he’s stopped at a red light. “Should we get started tonight?” he teases. “How far away from home are we? Should we have kids one after the other?”

“Shua, stop!” you punch his arm, laughing all the while. “We have all the time in the world.”

“That we do,” Joshua affirms.”I can’t wait to spend it all with you.”

The rest of the drive home is spent in silence filled with warmth and love. At least until Joshua breaks by saying, “We can continue practicing making babies though, right?”

He happily accepts another punch to his arm.

[ Challenge Master List ] - link to be added at a later date!

TAGLIST: @teamwangs

pls do not copy/repost my work

#svthub: prompts #seventeen fluff #svt fluff #joshua fluff #seventeen x reader #svt x reader #joshua x reader #seventeen scenarios #svt scenarios #joshua scenarios #seventeen #svt #hong jisoo #joshua hong #kpop #kpop fluff #kpop fanfic #kat: writings

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thefatedthoughtofyou · 1 year

Text

All My Sunday Scheming

Summary: Eddie notices Steve noticing dresses and decides to give him an early Christmas gift.

Word Count: 7691

Warnings: Steve in a dress (if that needs one? i dont really think so but just in case), use of the pet name Babygirl. Max is blind, its only mentioned but not in sad ways really. i think that’s it but let me know if it needs something else. I FINALLY WROTE FLUFF! oh wait there’s a tiny moment of misunderstanding but its resolved immediately!

Ao3

Eddie notices it when they’re helping Robin get ready for prom. Well, Steve and Nancy were helping, Eddie was lying upside down on Robin’s bed watching, supervising, really. He’d been supervising as Robin twirled for them and then stepped in front of her mirror. Steve had planted himself behind her, zipping her up, and that’s when Eddie saw it. Steve’s fingers tangled gently in the skirt, worrying the fabric together as he stared at Robin in the mirror. Or rather, stared at Robin’s dress.

Because he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were roaming over the dress she was wearing. And not in any sexual way at all, he was just, taking it in, his fingers still touching the poofy fabric near her thigh. Eddie pushed himself up, his eyes locked on Steve. But his change in position made him visible just over Robin’s shoulder, and the motion caught Steve’s eye. It was only a fraction of a second, but Steve caught the frown on Eddie’s face and immediately moved away from Robin, his hand pressing into his thigh as he paused and hovered near the window.

Robin caught Eddie’s eye in the mirror, her face doing acrobatics, silently asking Eddie what he’d done. Eddie shrugged silently, glanced at Steve, looked back to Robin, and tried to convey they he didn’t know what he’d done. But that he was terribly sorry he’d upset Steve. That was his least fucking favorite thing to do. He tries to move subtly, but the smallest movement pushes him too close to the edge of the bed and sends him tumbling to the floor with a squawk, his limbs flailing. He hears Steve snort and feels a bit better.

He pushes himself to his feet and walks up behind Robin, his hand moving to the skirt where Steve’s had been.

“Holy shit. This is so soft.” He breathes, genuinely surprised as he pets at the fabric.

“Staaahhpp! You’re gonna wrinkle it!” Robin admonishes as she swats his hand away. Eddie makes a few half-hearted grabs after the dress but lets her go.

“What’s it made out of? I’m only ever gonna wear that fabric from now on.” Eddie falls back onto her bed, butt hitting the mattress and bouncing a bit.

“How the hell should I know? I look like a fashionista to you Munson?” Robin snorts, leaning closer to the mirror to adjust a small smudge in her make up. Nancy tells Eddie what it is with a shake of her head. Eddie nods, makes some noncommittal comment and falls back onto Robin’s bed again. He closes his eyes, hears Steve take a few steps back towards Robin and takes a peek.

His heart flutters in his chest as he watches Steve stare again. He watches Robin twirl, smiles and gives her a sweet comment when she asks if she looks okay. And Eddie wants to be polite and do the same but he’s having trouble with his mouth. It’s not working. Because every part of his brain is currently being used to beam exactly one thought through his head. One huge, amazing, wonderful thought.

Steve Harrington likes dresses.

~*~

They’re at a party a few months later when he finally has the guts to mention it.

To Robin. Not Steve.

And “party” is a strong word. It’s more of a gathering. The teens and the kids all at Steve’s house, they’d been using his pool for the last warmish day of summer. The kids were all inside now. Eddie was lounging by the pool in the dark, sunglasses still on as the full moon shown down from above. He was alone. Enjoying the quiet. Or mostly quiet. He could hear Dustin, Steve, and Max arguing inside.

He smiled to himself as he heard footsteps approach. He opened one eye to see Robin looking down at him, her hair a curtain around her face.

“Aloha.” She said, bending more to smack Eddie with her hair before dropping down on the chair beside him.

“The kids are about to leave. You got any-“ Eddie raises his hand, joint pinched between two fingers as he holds her request out to her before she requests it.

“I take back every terrible thing I’ve ever said about you.” She smiles, reaches for the joint, Eddie pulls it away, snorts when he sees the exaggerated frown on her face, her hand still stretched between them, and hands it back. She takes it and tucks it behind her ear as she lays back in the chair.

They’re silent for a few moments, quite the feat for the two of them, and then Eddie opens his mouth and asks the question that’s been running rampant in his mind since he’d watched Steve watch Robin in her prom dress.

“You think Steve likes dresses?” There’s no… extra emotion in his voice. The world doesn’t end. Or come crashing down. Robin just, turns her head and looks at him. Eddie pushes his sunglasses up into his hair and turns to look back.

“Does Steve…”

“Like dresses. Yeah you heard me.” Eddie nods. Robin’s brow twitches.

“Like… does he like girls in dresses or does he-“

“Wearing them. Does he like wearing them?” Eddie huffs, had hoped she’d be more help, or at least be more clued in.

“I swear. It’s like pulling teeth getting a straight answer around here sometimes.” He shakes his head and lets his eyes fall closed. Not particularly expecting Robin to answer. Not that he needs her too. He knows what he saw. He was just hoping for… a little… encouragement? Maybe.

“I’m not sure the answer you’re looking for is particularly straight. But I don’t know. Never asked him.” She says, her voice low. As if Steve might possibly hear them, even over the shriek that Mike Wheeler had just filled the house with.

“Straight guys can like dresses.” Eddie says, almost a scoff, he’s met with more silence.

“But you saw it right?” Eddie asks, looking back to Robin. She studies his face, for a long time. Eddie hears the kids leaving as she stares at him. He stares back, determined to pass whatever test it was she was giving him. There’s silence from inside the house for a moment. And then soft music. She nods. Once.

“I saw it.”

And that’s that. Steve pops his head out the door to call them inside, tells them the children are gone and that Jonathan and Argyle brought some adult refreshments to liven up the party. Eddie can hear Steve rolling his eyes as he says it, smiles before kicking his feet dramatically off the sun chair and standing up. He gives Robin a little bow as he lets her go in front of him.

They don’t talk about it again. And if Steve had thought something seemed fishy, he’d had the good grace not to mention it. Though Eddie was pretty sure he hadn’t noticed anything. His cheeks had been flushed when Eddie had passed him going back into the house, but he was sure that was from wrangling children. Eddie had poked his cheek gently, making a popping sound with his tongue. His own cheeks heating up as he watched Steve raise his hand to his face when he thought Eddie wasn’t looking anymore.

~*~

He was nervous. He’d been working on this whole… thing, since fall began. And now it was two days before Christmas, there was snow blanketing the town, he was driving to Steve’s house, and he was nervous.

His hands shake as he slams his van into park in front of the Harrington house. Steve’s parents aren’t home. They rarely are. But Eddie still refused to park in the driveway. It felt wrong somehow. He slid out of the driver seat, tugged his jacket and vest tighter around himself, and trudged up the little path Steve had clearly shoved at god only knows what hour this morning. He knocks on the door and shoves his cold hands under his arms as he waits, his heart pounding in his chest as the door swings open.

“Eddie? Hey.” Steve leans out the door, looks around.

“Just me. That okay?” Eddie tilts his head, smiling playfully.

“Yeah. No yeah of course. Did you… wanna come in or…?” Steve draws out the “or” but steps back to let Eddie inside. Eddie shakes his head and does his best to ignore the look of disappointment that flashes across Steve’s face as he steps back into the doorway.

“Um actually… Are you- are you busy right now? Like, expecting anyone or anything today?” Eddie asks, rubbing at the back of his neck. Steve’s eyes widen a bit but he’s shaking his head slowly. Eddie looks at him, raises his eyebrows.

“No! Sorry. No I’m not doing anything. No plans.” He shakes his head again, with purpose this time. Eddie nods. Steve nods back. Looks at Eddie expectantly when he says nothing.

“Oh! I talk now. Um… did you- would you um… do you wanna come with me somewhere? I uh… I have something I kinda wanna show you.” Eddie grimaces, never in his goddamn life has he stumbled over his words so many fucking times.

“It’s not a dead body is it?” Steve asks, deadpan. Eddie smirks.

“Steven. It’s almost Christmas. If I was gonna show you a dead body I’d do it on Christmas Eve, obviously.” Eddie rolled his eyes as Steve laughed and nodded, his hand smacking the door twice before he took a step away.

“Lemme get dressed man and we can go.” He stepped back into the house and Eddie almost ruined it.

“Oh you don’t need to-“ he clamped his lips shut as Steve turned to look at him, an amused look in his eyes.

“I don’t need to… get dressed?” Steve asked, looking down at himself and his sweatshirt and pajama pants. Eddie bit his lip and cleared his throat.

“I mean yeah get dressed. It’s just- you don’t need to be fancy or anything. Just ya know, regular clothes is… fine.” He finished slowly, grimacing again as he turned to look at the tree in Steve’s front yard, silently willing himself to shut the fuck up.

“Nothing fancy. Ya know Munson, no offense, but I didn’t hear you say you wanted to show me something and think “fancy”.” Steve chuckled, starting up the stairs.

“Hey! I can do fancy. It’s just that this particular thing doesn’t require fancy. I can do fancy!” he shouts after Steve, watching him disappear down the hall toward his room with a laugh. Eddie groans when he’s out of sight and leans face first into the door frame, thumping his head a few times before straightening up just before Steve jogs back down the stairs, shoving his arms into a thick looking jacket.

He stops in front of Eddie, eyes wide, expectant. Eddie blinks at him.

“Ready?” Steve asks, patting Eddie’s shoulder as he walks out the door past him, Eddie stumbles a few steps and chases after him. Shaking his head at himself as he follows Steve down the little path to his van.

~*~

Steve breaks the awkward silence they’ve been driving in with a well-timed cough.

Eddie glances at him. Says nothing.

“So um… is this… about last week?” Steve asks. Eddie’s head whips to the side, he swears he hears his neck pop.

“What?! No. No this isn’t… this isn’t about that.” He shakes his head dismissively, looks back to the road. There’s no one else out. Everyone is either cozy in their warm homes or visiting relatives out of town for the holiday. Eddie drives slower than he normally would anyway. Doing his best to be careful in the snow.

“Oh. Okay.” Steve sounds… sad? Maybe. Eddie isn’t sure, can’t look at him right now to find out.

“We should talk about that though. I think.” He continues, quiet.

“Yeah no we will. Just not right now.” Eddie says, waving his hand at Steve, dismissing him, again. And he knows he’s not paying enough attention, should be giving Steve better answers. But he’s nervous, and there’s snow, and Steve is talking to him about things that just set his nerves more on edge.

“I just- it’s kind of important.” He’s trying not to push, Eddie can hear it. It makes his heart pound harder in his chest. This was already so goddamn stressful. He was about to possibly fuck up… whatever it was they had between them. Because he couldn’t just ask Steve about something, he had to just dive fucking head first into the deep end, and was about to shove Steve into the deep end as well, and hope he knew how to swim. Eddie squeezed the steering wheel harder, his knuckles turning white as he tried to keep his breathing even.

“Eddie.” It was said with a sigh. Eddie hit the brakes, harder than he meant too, both of them jerking forward as he slid to a stop at the corner.

“Steve. Listen, I know you want to talk about what happened. And that is absolutely understandable. But right now, my head is pretty far into this… thing… I’ve been planning. And it’s literally taking all the energy I have in me, to not just blurt it out.” He rolled his eyes and put the van in park so he could turn and look at Steve properly.

“I want this to be a good surprise. And I’m trying really hard not to ruin it by talking too much like I always. Fucking. Do. But you keep making me talk. And I get it. You wanna talk about the kiss! I get it! Accidental make outs are usually high up on my talking points too, trust me. But I really really reallyyyyy need to just not talk right now. I need to shup up. Because I want this to be perfect and it won’t be if I keep talking. I will fuck it up. Is that-“ he settles his hands back on the wheel from where they’d been flailing, Steve’s eyes are wide. Eddie takes a deep breath.

“Is that okay?” he asks, face scrunched up. He knows he sounds like a looney toon, but he’s worked so fucking hard to make everything perfect here, and he’d punch himself in the face if he ruined it now. Steve swallows, nods, and watches Eddie until he nods back and puts the van back in drive.

Steve stares out the window for a while before he speaks again.

“I thought I messed up.” Eddie slows, turns into the trailer park slowly.

“You didn’t.” he says, shaking his head. They’re parked outside his trailer now and his hands are shaking on his thighs. But he forgets about all that when he looks at Steve and sees his hands shaking too. He’s not looking at Eddie. Or the trailer in front of them. He staring out the window, his hands trembling in his lap.

“Steve?” Eddie’s hand twitches, he wants to reach out to him, but he curls his fingers into his palm instead. Steve shakes his head, wipes at his face and then turns to Eddie.

“Fuck.” Eddie whispers. Steve’s crying. And trying very hard not to be.

“I thought I really messed up.” Steve sniffles, still doesn’t look at Eddie.

“You didn’t. Hey. Look at me.” Eddie does reach out now. His palm settling over Steve’s knee. Steve sniffles again and finally meets Eddie’s eyes.

“You didn’t mess up. Okay? Everything’s okay.” Eddie nods, trying to reassure Steve and simultaneously figure out how the hell this had gone so wrong.

“It was just a lot. And I thought it was a mistake, kissing you.” Steve whispers it, like it’s a secret. And it… kind of is. But not like that. Eddie had told one person. Only one. Because he had to tell someone. Or he’d have fucking sung it from the goddamn mountain tops. He’d told Max, as he drove her home from the party. She’d been happy for him. Told him she could hear him smiling. But it hadn’t been a mistake.

“Hey. No. I said accidental. Not mistakenly. Different things. It wasn’t a mistake. It was just-“ he doesn’t have the words for this, not a great verbalizer when it comes down to the wire. Steve grimaces and he knows he’s taking it wrong.

“It was a lot. I basically jumped you. I mean Jesus, I shoved you into a wall and just-“ his hands flail toward Eddie, he tries not to smile.

“And I just- shoved my tongue in your mouth. Shit.” He sighs, covering his face.

“Yeah no I know. I enjoyed that a lot.” Eddie was nodding at the memory. Steve jerked his head up and looked at Eddie. He nodded more enthusiastically. Steve’s brow furrowed but Eddie could see him relaxing.

“But you… you’ve been avoiding me.” Steve says it slowly, like he’s working through a problem. Eddie scoffs, shakes his head.

“What? No I haven’t.” he’s shaking his head, his hair shaking into his face.

“Um. Yes. You have.” Steve argues.

“No. No. I have not. I got home that night. Went to bed giddy as hell. And then I called you the next day. And yeah, I mean, it’s been a few days since then, but I’ve been busy putting together this-“ he bites his lip, catches the words that almost tumbled out of him.

“I’ve been planning this surprise. And so I didn’t really have time to call again. But I have not, been avoiding you Steve Harrington.” Eddie is pointing at him now, accusing finger nearly right in his face. And Steve, well…

“What the fuck is that face for?!” Eddie nearly shrieks, his voice going high as Steve fucking smiles at him.

“I think… I think you should walk me through that next day. Just, you went to bed. You woke up the next morning aaand…” Steve holds his hand out, offering the floor for Eddie to continue. Eddie drops his hand to his thigh, narrows his eyes with a huff.

“I don’t see the point here.” Eddie grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest, Steve is still smiling at him, all happy eyes and toothy grin. Eddie doesn’t like it. He only looks at Eddie like that when he’s got something on him.

“Humor me.” Steve says, flatly, his smile dropping as he says it.

“Judging by that look you were giving me, I already have.” Steve smiles again at that and Eddie huffs, settling himself further into his seat.

“Come on. For me. Take me through your day.” Steve says, nose scrunching up a little, and how could Eddie deny that.

“Ugh. Fine.” He sighs, resituates himself again.

“I woke up. I made breakfast for me, dinner for Wayne. I went to the phone to call you. Wayne asked me to take out the trash. I grabbed that and took it to the end of the drive and oh my god I didn’t call you.” Eddie’s mouth drops open and he slaps his hand across it. Steve snorts, shakes his head.

“You did not call me.” He says, his voice dry. But he’s smiling again. Looking fond as Eddie releases a strangled sound before dropping his hand again.

“I thought I called you. I meant to call you. I am so sorry.” His voice is a whisper. Steve’s smile has gotten impossibly bigger.

“I got-“

“Distracted.” Steve finishes for him. Eddie nods.

“Steve I am so sorry. I really meant to-“

“It’s okay.” Steve moved his hand to Eddie’s wrist.

“Of all the possibilities I somehow forgot to run that one through my head. That you just, got distracted.” Steve shrugs, gives Eddie’s wrist a squeeze. Eddie’s shaking his head.

“I shouldn’t have. Not from that. It was important. And then I didn’t even notice that I hadn’t talked to you, what the fuck. I’m a goddamn idiot.” He shakes his head again.

“Hey. Don’t say that. You’re not. I like that you get distracted by stuff. You show everything your full attention it just gets sidetracked sometimes. It’s okay.” Steve nods, pulls Eddie’s hand into his lap.

“I’m not mad. Especially now. I was just scared I fucked this up. Ya know, whatever this is.” He shrugs, tangles his fingers with Eddie’s.

“Yeah. Maybe hold that thought.”

Steve’s brow furrows in confusion.

“You didn’t fuck it up. But I might be about to.” Eddie winces, points to the trailer. And for the first time since he’d parked, Steve looks out the windshield. Eddie watches his face light up in awe when he sees the trailer all decked out in its Christmassy best. He thinks he might see tears in his eyes again. Steve looks back to him, confusion in his eyes.

“How’s this-“

“It’s not the lights. What might fuck it up is inside. Come on.” He jerks his head, turns the van off, and hops out. Steve follows, ducking into the trailer cautiously as Eddie holds the door for him. Once they’re both inside, jackets discarded, shoes left by the door, Steve looks around until his eyes land on Eddie. He shoves his hands into his pockets and takes a deep breath.

“It’s in my room. I’m gonna stay out here. Let you just, go and see. Maybe save me some of the possible embarrassment.” Eddie mumbles, his eyes darting around, having a hard time landing and staying on Steve.

“Eddie I-“

“It’s okay. I want you to go alone. I don’t want you to feel pressured to react a certain way or anything. And when you’re ready you can come back out. Tell me if you liked it. Or you can like, punch me in the face or something. Whatever works for you.” Eddie shrugs, pulls his hair across his mouth as he finally looks up at Steve through his bangs. More confusion fills Steve’s eyes but he nods and takes a step towards Eddie’s room.

He turns, before he gets there, looks back at Eddie.

“Nothing that’s in here would ever make me hit you. Or hurt you. You know that right?” Eddie’s heart flutters, he’s so serious. And yeah, Eddie knows that. He nods, his heart thundering against his ribs as Steve smiles at him and disappears into Eddie’s room.

~*~

Steve’s shaking again. His mind racing after Eddie’s talk. He has no goddamn idea what could possibly be in Eddie’s room that would make him say any of those things, or make him so nervous. Most people love watching people open their gifts. But Eddie had sent him in here alone, so he didn’t feel pressured. Steve flipped the light on, his eyes roaming over Eddie’s room before they land on his bed. And nothing could have prepared him for this.

Steve takes a shaky step toward the bed, the yellow fabric there calling to him. His knees buckle when he reaches the bed and he sits down, hard, on the edge of it. The air in his lungs both too much and not enough.

The dress is simple. A sleeve-less, old timey looking number. Steve swears the yellow matches one of his sweaters. There’s a nice black trim around the sleeves, the neck, and the bottom. It buttons up the front. Steve runs his fingers slowly over it and gasps, he knows that fabric, its what Robin’s prom dress had felt like. Soft, with a little give, like the softest t-shirt Steve had ever felt. His hand is about half way down the dress when he notices the note sitting on top of it.

A simple white piece of paper, with his name scrawled across the front. There’s a small sketch of two snowmen having a snowball fight in the right-hand corner, one of the snowballs being thrown is the decapitated head of a third snowman. His snowball head looks alarmed, to say the least. Steve smiles, moving his fingertips over Eddie’s doodle before flipping the paper open and reading what he’s written.

Steven,

So um, I hope I didn’t just fuck up monumentally. And I wish I could say this to you out loud, but you know my head gets going and then my mouth gets going and it’s like a competition to see who can fuck it up first. But I didn’t wanna fuck this up. Because it’s important. To me. And you, I think.

I saw the way you looked at Robin’s dress. She looked good in it. But that’s not why you were staring. You liked it. Liked it the way you like those stupid fucking soft sweaters you’re always wearing. But I was pretty sure you didn’t have any dresses. I saw you when you saw me looking. You thought I was judging you. But I wasn’t. I was just… calculating. My thinking face just makes me look bitchy. But I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I don’t want you to ever feel that way when it comes to things you like.

So here’s… this. I hope it fits. It was sort of trial and error. But I think I got it all right. Nobody else knows about this. That’s why I did it before Christmas. (maybe should have done it after, in case it backfires and I ruin the holiday mood… oh well. Hindsight an all)

I just want you to know. It’s okay to like dresses. And to wanna feel pretty. I know your parental situation sucks. But I can keep this here for you. And when, or if, you wanna wear it, you can come over and wear it. Whenever you want. I just want you to be happy. And comfortable being you. Whatever that means. You deserve it.

Merry Christmas Steve.

Yours always, Eddie.

Steve’s crying by the end of the letter, his hand fisted in the soft material of the dress. He remembers the moment Eddie talked about. Him seeing Steve looking at Robin’s dress. And Steve freaking out when he’d seen Eddie looking. And he hadn’t realized it then, but he should have.

Eddie wasn’t his father. Eddie would never scold him for liking something feminine. In fact, he’d seen Eddie sit down for a make-over with Nance and Robin when they were teaching El about make up. He’d let El do his whole face, as wild as she wanted. He’d looked like a rainbow had thrown up all over him by the end. Steve never told anyone, but he’d thought Eddie pulled it off.

He finds his way to his feet eventually. Pushing himself up off the floor, where he’d slid while reading Eddie’s letter. He carefully picks up the dress, steps in front of Eddie’s mirror and holds it up.

He presses the dress to his front, smooths down the front and looks up. A watery laugh bursts out of him at the sight. His teary eyed, but happy, face, above a simple dress. Simple, but the most beautiful fucking thing Steve has ever seen.

He presses the dress closer, trying to mold it to himself over his clothes. It’s perfect. And it’s beautiful. And it’s his.

The music drifting in from the living room breaks the trance he’s in. He lets his eyes drift, listening to the music, it’s something soft, not like Eddie’s usual tastes. Steve recognizes the voice before the song, it’s Sam Cooke, singing something slow and sweet.

Steve turns, gently sets the dress back on Eddie’s bed and wipes at his face. He folds the letter, tucks into his back pocket, and moves towards the music, his thoughts overtaken by one overwhelming thought.

Eddie.

~*~

Eddie can’t stand the silence. He rummages around in the box of tapes next the radio. Smiles softly when his fingers move over the tape he and Wayne had made a few years ago. A tape full of sixties music. Music is mother had loved. Music his mother had danced with him in the kitchen to when he was teeny tiny. Wayne had made a list for him. And Eddie had immediately made a tape of all her favorites. And then he’d made separate tapes for slow songs and pop-y songs. He was nothing if not musically organized.

He popped in the slow songs mix, hoping it would calm him like it always had.

And it works. For a moment. He sways along to the music. His fingers moving over the rest of the tape collection, for something to do, to keep his thoughts occupied by something other than: Steve. And then Steve says his name, close behind him, and he twitches and knocks the tapes off the shelf as he turns.

He curses and bends to pick them up. Steve rushes forward to help, and when Eddie looks at him, a grateful smile forming, it drops immediately. Steve’s been crying again. Eddie’s hands freeze. He stands, the tapes forgotten on the floor. He can feel flush rushing over his skin as Steve stands too, tossing a tape gently into the little basket they’d been in. Eddie looks at him, swallows hard.

“You- you didn’t like it.” Eddie says, his eyes falling to Steve’s shirt and pants, then jumping back to his tear covered face, brow furrowed. Steve’s brow mimics his as he looks at Eddie.

“Like it? No. I didn’t like it.” Steve says, quiet. Eddie grimaces, his eyes squeeze shut as he looks at the floor.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I thought- I don’t know what I thought.” He sighs, is about to kneel down and pick up the rest of the tapes, let Steve get out of here while he’s busy. But Steve catches his wrist, holds him gently and tugs him forward two steps.

“I didn’t like it.” Steve repeats. And Eddie huffs. Did he really need to rub it in?

“Eddie.” And that’s… Steve said his name like it was something precious. Like he, was something precious. Eddie looks up from the floor then, his eyes flitting across Steve’s face, finding the softest smile there waiting for him.

“I loved it. I love it.” Steve says, nodding when Eddie raises his brows in question. Steve tugs him forward the rest of the way and wraps his arms around Eddie like he’s afraid he might disappear if he doesn’t hold him tightly. Eddie shakes himself in Steve’s arms, fully realizing the situation, he scrambles to grab onto Steve too. His arms wrapping around his middle and pulling him closer. Steve laughs at the desperation in his fast-moving hands, but Eddie lets it go, because Steve is still holding him.

He pulls back, Steve untangling himself from Eddie, he wipes at his face again. Eddie moves carefully, pulls his sleeve down over his hand and uses it to dry Steve’s face. Steve laughs but leans into his touch.

“I’m glad you like it.” Eddie whispers, Steve’s fingers curl around his wrist as he cups Steve’s cheek. Steve closes his eyes, swaying a little as Etta James’ voice fills the living room.

“You made it?” Steve asks, licking his lips as he opens his eyes to look at Eddie.

“The dress.” He clarifies when Eddie stares and says nothing. Eddie nods slowly, his eyes wide as he watches Steve’s fingers move in slow circles on his wrist.

“Yeah. I um- I tried making it with sleeves, and I just couldn’t get them right. So I settled for a sleeveless pattern. Wayne had a bunch of old fashion magazines my mom used to look through for dress patterns. He let me use ‘em. Took me forever to find the perfect one. Finally got it right. But one of those inseams is a bitch. Took me forever to get that one.” Eddie’s rambling now, his eyes locked on Steve’s hand as his mouth runs away from him.

“There was this pattern for one with longer bell sleeves, and it was so pretty. But I couldn’t even get the short sleeves to work so I didn’t even try. But I think if I just practice, maybe get a book from the library, I think I can do it. You deserve a pretty dress like that too. Not just a simple little mmph-“ Eddie cuts off as Steve grabs his shirt and yanks him forward, pressing his lips to Eddie. He moves his hand up into Eddie’s hair and pulls him closer, Eddie hums into it and lets Steve lead him.

He licks across Eddie’s lips and into his mouth and Eddie fucking whines when he pulls back.

“Stop talking.” Steve whispers against his lips. Eddie nods, his hands gripping Steve’s hips tightly as Steve moves back in, kissing him deeply. Eddie isn’t sure how long they stay that way, but he knows that when Steve pulls back again his knees are weak and his hands are shaking. Again. Steve brushes their noses together and rests his head on Eddies.

“Did-“ Eddie starts, stops himself, doesn’t want to ruin the moment. Steve’s hand moves down his arm slowly, fingers curling around his elbow.

“Did I what?” Steve asks, dropping his head to Eddie’s shoulder and nuzzling his cheek into his shirt. Eddie gulps, his hands pressing into Steve’s back gently.

“Did you wanna put it on?” Eddie asks, knows he sounds hopeful, can’t keep it from his voice. The kiss at the party had been nice. But this had been something else entirely.

Steve moves again, only goes far enough to see Eddie’s face. Eddie smiles, softly, reaches up and moves Steve’s hair out his face. Steve melts into the touch and nods, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile. Eddie moves his fingers over it, has to touch it. The smile grows under his touch and Steve kisses his fingers before he pulls away, fully this time.

“Stay here.” He whispers, dipping close to kiss Eddie softly again, a sweet press of lips, and then he’s gone again, jogging down the hall and ducking into Eddie’s room.

As soon as he’s out of sight Eddie nearly collapses. Has to brace himself on the table. He takes several deep breathes, busies himself with cleaning the tapes up. And then hears Steve call his name again. Gentle. Questioning.

Eddie walks to his room. Stops outside the door. Doesn’t want to just barge in.

“Steve? You okay?” He knocks his knuckles against the wall.

“I’m good Ed’s. Just… need some help.” Eddie hears his voice shake with a laugh and he smiles before turning the corner into his room. His breath catches in his throat when his eyes land on Steve.

He’s a vision. The yellow makes his skin look warm. And with no sleeves there’s so much fucking skin to see. Eddie feels a little faint as his eyes trail up and over Steve’s arms, tracking every single new freckle as they go. Steve clears his throat and Eddie shakes his head.

“Yeah. Sorry. What?” Eddie clears his own throat and rubs at the back of his neck, a dorky smile on his face as he looks at Steve, his face, this time. Steve is beaming, a flush high on his cheeks that makes him fucking glow.

“I can’t um-“ he breaks on a breathy laugh, gesturing with his hands to the buttons running down the front. Eddie laughs too, walking closer, his skin tingling, his whole body feels light.

“I can’t do the buttons. My hands won’t stop shaking.” He laughs again as he tries to push a button through and his hands twitch. Eddie laughs, pushes close, his hands moving over Steve’s arms, up his forearms, down over his wrists, he gives Steve’s hands a gentle squeeze and moves them out of the way.

“Not sure why you think I can do any better. I’ve been fucking shaking since I got to your house.” Eddie shakes his head, but manages to push the rest of the buttons through. His knuckles brush Steve’s throat as he does the top button and then both freeze. They stare at each other for a few seconds before laughing giddily. Eddie smooths his hands down the front of the dress, stepping back, away from Steve so he can step in front of the mirror.

Eddie watches as he steps slowly in front of it. His teeth dig into his lip at he looks at himself. And Eddie takes the time to look at him too.

The hem of the dress rests about mid-thigh, and Eddie had made it a bit longer than the pattern had suggested. Wasn’t sure if Steve was taller than the model or not. He can see so much of Steve’s legs. He watches Steve move his hands down his chest, over his hips. Watches his fingers curl over the bottom of the dress as he sways a little to the music drifting from the living room. Eddie takes a deep breath and moves.

He steps up behind Steve and wraps his arms around him. Steve stills, briefly, but Eddie feels it. Steve had forgotten he was being watched. Eddie presses a kiss to his shoulder.

“You look beautiful.” He whispers, his lips ghosting over Steve’s shoulder, making him shiver.

“You think?” Steve asks, his hand moving over the dress again.

“Definitely.” Eddie nods, his hands wandering, his fingers brush Steve’s thigh and he jumps in Eddie’s grasp. Eddie smiles into his neck and nuzzles his nose behind his ear.

“Probably look better without those fucking basketball socks.” He mutters into Steve’s skin. Steve snorts and shoves at Eddie. But he bends down and takes the socks off, and then pulls Eddie back to him, both of them looking into the mirror.

“Much better.” Eddie says, digging his fingers into Steve’s sides playfully. Steve yelps and tuns in his arms, draping his own arms over Eddie shoulders.

“Maybe I should get some tights.” Steve says, innocently, his eyes on the ceiling as he thinks about it. Eddie groans and drops his head onto Steve’s shoulder.

“You’re killin me Harrington.” He shakes his head, looks up to see Steve looking at him, that cute confused expression on his face.

“Are you kidding? You already look this hot in a dress and now you wanna add tights to the equation? I’m not gonna make it out of this alive.” Eddie explains, his fingers dancing over the bottom of the dress, his knuckles brushing Steve’s thighs again as he wiggles his eyebrows. Eddie watches with glee as Steve turns a delicious shade of red, his nose scrunching before he tries to hide his face in Eddie’s shoulder.

“Ah ah ah! Nope! Don’t hide from me babygirl.” Eddie teases, tickling Steve to keep him visible. The pet name slips out. Both of them freeze. Steve goes impossibly redder, his eyes wide.

“I am so sorry. I don’t know where that came from it just slipped out I-“

“I like it.” Steve blurts, his fingers dig into Eddie’s shoulder hard as he admits it, holding on to Eddie tightly as he tries not to hide from his admission. Eddie nods, moves his hands over Steve’s arms slowly, soothing him.

“Okay. Just between me and you, yeah?” Eddie whispers, presses a kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth, watches him nod, his eyes still wide as he stares at Eddie.

“You okay? Lookin a little overwhelmed.” Eddie teases, his hand moving to Steve’s neck, thumb brushing over his jaw. Steve melts into the touch, his eyes falling closed.

“Mhm. Feel good. Happy. Safe.” He opens his eyes, looks at Eddie when he says it. And Eddie can feel himself about to cry now. His throat is burning. He smiles. Nods at Steve and bites his lip.

“That’s all I wanted to give you.” He shrugs. Steve watches him shrug and he presses into Eddie’s space. He curls around him, arm snaking around Eddie’s waist as he cuddle close, his face buried in Eddie’s neck.

“Thank you.” He breathes, his breath hot against Eddie’s shirt. Eddie swallows around the lump in his throat, holds Steve close.

“Anytime.” He says, and he means it. Hopes Steve knows he means it. The way Steve’s fingers clench into his shirt seem to suggest that he does.

The song changes, Etta James’ voice fills the air again. Wayne had said she was always his mom’s favorite. And A Sunday Kind Of Love was her all time favorite. Eddie smiles into Steve’s shoulder when he hears it. He pulls back, moves his fingertips over Steve’s cheek and then takes his hand.

“Come on.” He tugs Steve toward the door. He hesitates.

“Are the blinds closed?” he asks, pulling at the bottom of the dress. Eddie nods, pulls him closer.

“Yeah. The only person around here who’d peek through them is Max. And it’s not like she’d see anything.” Eddie smiles. Steve frowns.

“You shouldn’t say stuff like that. Teasing her about it.” Steve admonishes. Eddie softens, looks at Steve.

“She likes when I do.” Eddie assures. Steve lets him pull him slowly through the doorway.

“She likes when you remind her she can’t see?” Eddie tangles their fingers, keeps pulling Steve towards the living room, but he shakes his head.

“No. She likes that I tease her the way I would anyone else. Makes her feel normal.” He yanks on Steve’s hand, tugs him close, moves Steve’s arm up over his shoulders. Steve lets out a little “oof” as he collides with him, his frown dissipating at Eddie’s explanation, he relaxes against him.

“Guess that makes sense.” Steve shrugs as they start to sway together. Eddie nods, takes Steve’s hand and twirls him, smiles as Steve laughs when he pulls him back to his chest.

“Plus asking her “how’s the view?” every time someone parks her in front of a window is funny. Every. Fucking. Time.” Eddie says, his hands moving slowly up and down Steve’s back as they move in small circles across the floor, Steve snorts and shakes his head.

“They do that to her all the time! It’s so weird.” He moves his fingers into the hair at the back of Eddie’s neck. He nods, his eyes fluttering closed at the touch.

“I know. That’s why I point it out every time. More fun than just telling them to stop.” His eyes open again and he looks at Steve, he looks at Eddie as he guilds them both across the floor, nice and slow.

“Whatcha lookin at Babygirl?” Eddie teases, laughing when Steve hides his face in his neck for a moment. When he pulls back, he’s looking serious again, though still a bit red.

“You just care about her a lot.” Steve says. Eddie nods.

“I care about all of them. Just like you.” Eddie says it like it’s obvious, but maybe Steve hadn’t meant that. Or maybe he’d meant exactly that. Eddie’s not sure. Can’t tell. Can’t think with the way Steve’s looking at him right now, his eyes all soft, his lips tilted just so in that smile that drives Eddie crazy.

“I care about you too, ya know?” Steve whispers.

“Oh yeah?” Eddie twirls him again, both of them laughing as Eddie’s arm snakes back around Steve’s waist. He sobers and nods, looking at Eddie with those beautiful eyes.

“Yeah. I think I-“ Steve stops, swallows hard, lets Eddie keep swaying them to the music. Eddie doesn’t press this time. Doesn’t try to change the subject. He just keeps them moving, slow and sweet, and he waits.

“I… I think I might be in love with you.” Steve breathes it out into the space between them, like he’s not sure he should be saying it. Eddie smiles, his heart fluttering at Steve’s nervousness, and he finds he no longer is.

“You think?” he teases, taking Steve by surprise when he dips him low and then yanks him back up, their faces maybe an inch apart. Steve nods, his eyes moving wildly across Eddie’s face. Eddie nods back.

“Hey Steve. Can I tell you a secret?” Eddie asks, his hand moving up Steve’s arm slowly, his hand coming to rest on Steve’s neck as he nods, his eyes wide and waiting. Eddie nods again, moving closer, closing the distance between them slowly.

“I love you.” He whispers the words against Steve’s lips, hovers there, just about kissing but not quiet, sharing breath. He feels Steve gasp, his hands trembling as they move to hold Eddie’s waist.

“Yeah?” Steve asks, his question breathed into Eddie’s mouth. Eddie nods.

“Yeah.” He breathes, closing the distance as Steve whimpers against him, his hands tugging on his hips to pull him closer. It’s a slow kiss, soft, and sweet, and perfect. Eddie pulls back, his thumb moving gently over Steve’s jaw as Steve looks at him, eyes glassy, love drunk.

“Hey.” Eddie breathes, Steve smiles.

“Hey.” He breathes back. His arms snake around Eddie as he rests his head on his shoulder. The music keeps playing, and Eddie keeps them swaying, Steve feeling relaxed in his arms as they move. Steve snuggles closer, his hand in Eddie’s hair again as his nose presses into Eddie’s neck.

“I love you.” Steve whispers, sure this time as he presses a kiss to Eddie’s throat. Eddie smiles, his hand moving to the back of Steve’s neck, he gives it a gentle squeeze, pulling Steve closer.

“I love you too.” He presses a kiss into Steve’s hair.

“Merry Christmas Steve.” Eddie smiles as Steve shifts again, wrapping both arms around Eddie’s neck, hugging him close as they sway in the Christmas lights lighting Eddie’s trailer. Eddie can feel him trembling again as he buries his face in Eddie’s shoulder.

“Merry Christmas Eddie. And thank you.” He sniffles, Eddie wraps his arms around Steve, his fingers curling into the soft material of the dress as he holds him close.

“Like I said. Anytime.” He presses a kiss to Steve’s shoulder and holds him as they move across the floor, his mother’s favorite music guiding him as he feels Steve Harrington smiling into his shoulder, happy, and safe, and completely himself in Eddie’s arms.

#steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington x eddie munson #My writing #mine

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