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afewproblems · 4 months

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Angsty dialogue prompts 👀

Number 13 - "Why would you say that?"

-@strangersteddierthings

Ahhhhhh thank you for the request Jess! @strangersteddierthings I hope you enjoy, I took this into a bit of a different direction than even I expected!

***

It takes Robin's foot connecting with his ankle to make Steve realize he was starring.

At Eddie, yet again.

Something that he had been doing a lot over the last few months since everything with Vecna and the Upside Down. Since Steve and Robin had managed to drag Eddie back from the brink, fighting off inky tendrils of death as Dustin led the way while Nancy brought up the rear, shot gun in hand.

Between the four of them, Eddie had actually made it. Torn up and missing about two liters of blood, but alive.

Of course, navigating the aftermath of the earthquakes and the loss of half the town had actually made it easier to avoid the murder charges that had been lobbed at Eddie.

Especially with the way Lucas, Erica, and Max had sworn up and down that Jason had been the one responsible for all of the murders, that they had narrowly escaped becoming his final victims.

And who could argue with the evidence, certainly not Jason after the surge of white hot energy that split the earth had finished with him.

So with Eddie's newfound freedom and the inability to argue with Dustin's insistence that he had been officially adopted into the party, his presence in their lives had become something that Steve looked forward to.

It was nice having someone else his age in the group. Robin was his other half of course, his soul mate, but it was nice having another guy to hang out with, and of course it wasn't because of anything else, Robin.

He let it slip one time that Eddie had nice eyes and was easy to talk to and, do you think he's seeing anyone Bobby, and suddenly Steve is accused of having a crush. Of all things!

Steve feels two fingers suddenly pinch at the outside of his thigh and has to suppress a loud yelp as he bats Robin's hands away from his leg with a glare.

She rolls her eyes and gives him a knowing look before turning back to the conversation.

"Take Stevie over here," Eddie says around the joint between his lips. He takes a long drag before passing it over to Argyle and Steve can't help but watch, transfixed, as the smoke billows out from his nose like a dragon.

"I can guarantee you that he's seen the ocean before while the rest of us land-locked lubbers will probably never get the pleasure," Eddie continues with a wink and kicks his leg up onto the coffee table in Steve's basement.

Argyle blows out a long puff of smoke, he's leaned back against the couch with his head tipped up towards the ceiling, "thats wild man," he says with a laugh in his voice, he doesn't react when Jonathan snorts and takes the joint from his hand.

"Seriously?" Jon asks after a minute, "dude, we lived in California, we literally went to the beach all the time?"

Robin and Nancy both laugh at the noise of recognition that Argyle makes while Eddie rolls his eyes.

"Okay but for everyone else who didn't have the benefit of local geography," Eddie says, gesturing at the girls and himself, "we will be cursed to never feel the sand between our toes and all that shit".

Robin quirks an eyebrow and takes a swig of beer from the can in her hands, the sleeve of her denim jacket brushes against Steve's arm as she moves to set the can back on the coffee table.

They're the only two seated on the floor, Steve having given up the couch so everyone else could be comfortable and Robin couldn't, in good conscience, let her best friend sit by himself.

God he loves her, Steve thinks as he shoots her a soft smile.

He's never had someone that loves him so openly, so unapologetically as Robin does.

Not even when his parents were home for more than a few days a year did they show him the same kind of care that she had in their short time of knowing one another.

Sure, they teased each other, Robin had even made a new scoreboard for his failed attempts at flirting at Family Video --this one with a new section after Steve quietly admitted to her that they had even more in common than they had realized earlier.

But Robin was there, in a way that he hadn't really had from anyone else in years.

"I don't know how you deal with it Buckley," Eddie huffs. He's grinning widely at Robin and Steve, reaching to take the joint back from Jonathan.

"What," she says dryly, "Steve? He grows on you".

"He does," Nancy insists loudly from Jonathan's other side, her cheeks are flushed and her eyes a little glassy. Jonathan lifts his arm to tuck her against his side with a fond grin, he meets Steve's gaze after a minute and mouths, 'still a lightweight,' which makes Steve snort.

"This!" Eddie barks out, lifting a ringed hand to gesture around the basement sitting room, "look there's a fucking Linn LP12 sitting right beside you and a God Damn pool outside".

Steve frowns, looking from Robin back to Eddie. He feels an uncomfortable thrum roll over his skin as Eddie stands up to make his way to the sound system he pointed out.

"Jesus, I think this whole collection cost more than my trailer," he picks up Steve's mothers Joni Mitchell album, turning it in his hands, "must have been nice to have mommy and daddy's money huh? This is like 'fuck you' rich".

Steve feels a faint nervous laugh tumble out of his mouth, even as his stomach rolls at the words.

"Oh my god," Robin laughs, knocking her shoulder into Steve's own, "yes! If I had a nickle for the number of times he asked me why I don't have my own phone line yet whenever my mom answers first, I'd be as rich as Steve!"

Eddie puts the Blue album back and pulls out a copy of The Beatles and now Steve is sweating.

Because Eddie isn't wrong, this is his parents music collection and yes it did cost them a lot of money over the years. But, more importantly, it was off limits to Steve.

The last time his dad had caught him flipping through the vinyls, Steve had been sent to his room with large purple hand prints on the offending arm and two broken fingers.

"Okay, that's my dad's, put it down," he says, hiding the tremor in his voice as he gets to his feet.

Eddie rolls his eyes again but does set the record down on top of the collection. He raises his hands in surrender and raises a mocking eyebrow as he steps back towards the couch, dropping down on the end as Argyle scoots closer to Jonathan to make more space.

Argyle and Jonathan speak quietly to one another seemingly uncaring about the strange tension that begins to bleed into the basement. It's Nancy who is watching Steve, Eddie, and Robin, her mouth set in an unhappy frown.

Nancy had only met Steve's parents once during a very uncomfortable dinner, years back when they had dated. While she may not know the true extent of Steve's relationship with Richard and Cynthia Harrington, she knows it wasn't all sunshine and roses.

"Man," Eddie snorts, shooting Robin a wicked grin, "I knew your parents had spoiled you pretty rotten but I didn't think they needed to buy you a new sense of humor".

"Yeah Steve," Robin pats the carpet beside her, "it's just a joke, lighten up and come sit down".

And that, well, that hurt a bit more than Steve anticipated.

"Why would you say that?" He whispers, the words falling out of his mouth like vomit before he can stop it.

Eddie scoffs from the couch, but Steve isn't looking at Eddie. He's looking at Robin.

Robin who meets Steve's gaze with a slight frown between her eyes, she looks back at Nancy with a laugh in her smile that disappears at the frosty glare Nancy fixes her with.

She slowly turns to look back at Steve, confusion and concern in her blue eyes.

"Oh come on Steve," Eddie takes a drag of the joint, which has dwindled into something resembling a roach before stubbing it out in the brown ashtray on the table, "we're kidding, come on Byers, you get it right?"

Nancy leans up to whisper something in Jonathan's ear and whatever it is, it's enough to make him stiffen slightly and give Steve a long look before he shakes his head, "I think we're going to head home actually".

Steve nods and breathes out, ignoring the way his chest tightens as he refuses to meet Robin's worried gaze.

Eddie slowly stands to follow Nancy and Jonathan, he says something quietly to Argyle that is met with a simple serene shrug

Eddie hangs back as the other three make their way up the basement stairs. He chews his lip and clenches his fist as he looks between Steve and Robin with a frown.

Eddie stands awkwardly beside Robin, spinning one of the rings on his left hand as he looks between Steve and the stairs that the others had used to beat their hasty retreat.

Robin gets to her feet slowly, her gaze never wavering, "Steve?"

Steve winces at the way she says his name.

He knows it was just a joke, he knows he's overreacting, that neither of them could have known about his relationship with his parents.

He knows it's unfair of him to be so upset, but he can't help it.

Because Eddie mocking him, that he could deal with. He could get over it, let go of the fantasies of Eddie's crinkling eyes and warm smile that made Steve's heartbeat quicken.

But Robin?

The way she had laughed, dismissed his discomfort, it was as though he had been transported back to Tommy's basement just a few years back, listening to him and Carol tear him down.

It's just a joke Steve.

He reaches up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, flinching at the sharp intake of air from Robin who immediately makes her way closer.

"Just," he manages to say with an even tone, shaking his head. He closes his eyes and clears his throat, taking a step back from the pair.

"I'm going to bed, got a shift tomorrow, so," Steve says quietly with a shrug. He opens his eyes but drops his gaze to the carpet, knowing if he made eye contact with Robin, he would inevitably ask her to stay.

Robin opens her mouth to argue, a fierce glare in her eyes and a bright flush on her face, he hasn't seen her this upset since the Creel House.

"Steve--"

Robin jumps as Eddie reaches for her arm, pulling her back, hard enough that she stumbles slightly into Eddie.

Steve curls his arms around himself, shying away from Eddie's dark evaluating eyes. He doesn't need to see the judgment there, it's embarrassing enough feeling like he's ruined the evening because of his hangups. He doesn't need the reminder of how ridiculous it is to be angry with them over something so silly.

"Come on Buckley, I'll drive you home," Eddie mumbles as he gently tugs at her arm once again.

Steve hears a harsh sigh, but she doesn't say anything this time. He can feel her staring, as though trying to read his mind like she normally could. But Steve keeps his eyes trained on the floor, until he hears two pairs of feet finally make their way up the stairs, until the front door closes, until Eddie's van roars to life on the Harrington driveway.

Steve eventually makes his way upstairs in a daze, half heartedly getting ready for bed.

He brushes his teeth, washes his face, doing everything he can to ignore the words that echo in his head over and over. He finishes in the bathroom and takes off his jeans, swapping his sweater for an old ratty t-shirt he often used for bed.

It was just a joke.

Steve rolls over until he's facing the window, ignoring the tightness in his chest as he closes his eyes.

Maybe it would be funnier in the morning.

#steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #pre-steddie #stranger things #afewproblems writes #afewproblems answers #platonic stobin #platonic love #hurt steve harrington #steve harrington has bad parents or at least a bad dad

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hitomisuzuya · 1 year

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a/n: All right, here we go. I've had this one spinning in my head while I cooked dinner earlier. This man has me a chokehold just like Scara does. I accidently typed me instead of you a few times, that's how far into brain rot I am😭

Tighnari x fem!reader. Masturbation. Tighnari having dirty thoughts. Slight mention of blood. Predatory! Tighnari if you squint? But also him being sweet and gentle.

Half a year had passed since you'd joined up with the Forest Rangers and met Tighnari. Previously having only been interested in his research and taking care of forest, Tighnari wasn't sure when strolls through the forest with you became more frequent, eventually combining your evening patrols together.

Or when he made it a habit to sniff you out on the air when you weren't with him, feeling peace of mind when he was able to pinpoint where you were in the forest. When he started having certain...urges.

It was on your evening patrols that you two came across a Withering Zone. You two had decided to split your strengths, the Withering Zone being small enough to be controlled by just the two of you. Tighnari, being the archer neutralized the toxic red blooms on the trees.

He also sniped at enemies from a distance, providing support as you neutralized the floating Fungi with your Dendro Vision and catalyst weapon.

You were breathtaking, a sight to behold as you fought, your sweet scent overriding the scorched smell of the Withering Zone. His eyes couldn't help but linger on you, especially on the bite mark he'd pressed into your neck yesterday. It was a moment of uncommon weakness while he'd looked over your shoulder, reading with you about aromatherapy herbs.

You were stirring things to life in him that were a little unfamiliar for him.

Things suddenly started happening so fast. You'd finished up taking out the Fungi, turning to see his progress and what you could do to help him out. From behind a tree, spears of red light shot out towards you.

Tighnari cursed quietly. How had he missed a bloom?! You narrowly dodged it, however not completely, gritting your teeth when you felt searing pain against your skin. You felt dizzy, losing your balance you tumbled down the hill just as Tighnari neutralized the final bloom.

You didn't have time to gasp in pain, your vision going dark once your body connected with the trunk of a tree. Tighnari was by your side in an instant. He quickly assessed your condition, performing any topical first aid you needed.

Sitting down beside you, Tighnari decided it was best not to move you just yet, not at least until you'd woken up.

The sun has started going down, his keen hearing trained on listening for the slightest movement. Nothing, absolutely nothing was going to get near you.

He studied you, noticing that some blood from a scrap next to your mouth welling to the surface. Your blood smelt like tin, metallic, and somehow enticing. Slowly he leaned down, licking his lips. His tongue flicked out. One lick, two licks. A pause to look for signs of movement from you.

It was on the third lick that you stirred, your blurry vision barely being able to make out Tighnari at first. "Tighnari?" You murmured, tired and confused.

He recoiled backwards, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Erm, excuse me..how do you feel?"

His ears drooped slightly in relief when you told him you were only drowsy and sore. Once you determined you were able to move all of your limbs, and follow his finger with your eyes, he picked you up bridal style, cradling you gently against his chest.

It didn't take long for you two to reach Gandharva Ville. From there, Tighnari tucked you into bed, having you smoke something that not only would help you sleep, but also neutralize the toxins in your body.

He decided to keep watch over you all night, explain the situation to your squad when they came looking for you. Again, nothing and no one except himself was getting near you.

Tighnari's eyes racked over your sleeping form. Now that things were quiet, certain urges were bubbling to the surface again. He wanted to nuzzle you, and rub up against you a little bit, mark his scent on you even more.

Sighing, he rested his head against the wall, stretching his legs out on your bed. He cast a sideways glance at you. You were guaranteed to be zonked out well into the morning at least.

Closing his eyes, his cock hardened as he entertained lewd thoughts of you. He didn't feel embarrassed when he put his hand down the front of his pants to stroke and palm himself. You wouldn't see or hear a thing, and he needed a release.

Pulling his cock from his pants to make it easier, Tighnari pumped his hand along it, practically feeling your hips in his hands, guiding you down to bounce on his cock. His cum and your's would be coating the inside of your thighs, riding him to orgasm until he could offer you no more inside of you.

Panting quietly, he jacked himself off, occasionally whining, his mouth watered thinking about how your mouth would feel, warmly sucking him off, obediently swallowing his cum.

Cum coated his fingers when he thought of bending you over the railing of a lookout point high up in a tree, fucking you raw until you screamed his name, begging him to breed you, to fuck his cum back inside your pussy, creaming on his cock.

You stirred certain urges inside him. Ones he was going to be sure to address in the following weeks.

#genshin impact #genshin smut #tighnari #tighnari smut #tighnari x reader #tighnari x you #tighnari x y/n

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topgun-imagines · 2 years

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Hurting

Requested: no

Summary: After Ice finds out you lied to him he comes to confront you about it, not at all expecting to learn what he does.

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: This story does contain mentions of abuse and although they are not graphic, they are very easily noticeable. Please don’t read if this is something you’re uncomfortable with.

Pairings: Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky x fem!reader

The sound of your hurried footsteps drew the attention of a few of the men in the large hanger, your instructor being one of them. “Trip,” Jester started, addressing you by your call sign. “You’re late. And what on earth happened to you?” He wore a plain expression.

You nodded at your superior. “Sorry, Sir. It won't happen again. And I ran into some trouble on my way home last night. Sir.” you added quickly at the end. Jester nodded and mumbled something along the lines of ‘take your seat.’ Quietly, you made your way to your seat beside Wolfman in the front row. Throughout the entire class you could hear the men around you whispering and occasionally laughing quietly, no doubt at the state you were in. There were a few bruises and cuts littered on your forearms, with more up your neck. On top of that, you had a split lip and eyebrow, along with a very colourful bruise blossoming on your cheek.

One person, however, was not laughing or making fun of you but instead watching you behind his dark aviators. Ice saw the way you sat down cautiously, almost wincing before you settled into your hard chair with a grimace. His eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw was set, remembering how you explicitly told him that you wouldn’t be going to the bar last night.

As you walked towards the beach volleyball court you began to hear the commotion coming from it more clearly. People were gathered around, sat on bleachers on every side of the court where Iceman and Slider were playing Maverick and Goose. Just as you approached Maverick began walking off the court, Goose following him as Ice picked up the ball. Maverick walked away leaving Goose with an exasperated expression before he saw you. “Hey Trip!” he called out, jogging towards you. “Wanna come play against Ice and Slider? Mav bailed.” grinning, you nodded. Setting your bag and water down on the closest bleacher, you made your way onto the court beside Goose. You would take any chance available to kick Ice’s ass.

Ice smirked lightly as he watched you get into position on the warm sand, tossing the ball up in the air before serving it over the net. The game continued like this for another 20 minutes, the ball being hit back and forth until it ended in a win for you and Goose. Cheering loudly, the pair of you walked off the court, Goose moving to collect his belongings while you took a drink of water. You pleaded with Goose when he went to leave, disappointed that you would only get one game now that your partner was leaving. Ice noticed the look on your face when you spun around, tossing the ball at your feet to get your attention. “Yes, Popsicle man?” At your choice of nickname he rolled his eyes.

“Another round?” watching you nod he continued. “Wanna put a little wager on it?” His grin should have been enough of a deterrent not to make a bet against Ice, but you did anyway. With a heavy sigh you watched his grin widen to a full-on Cheshire Cat smile as you nodded. “We’ll make it simple: I win; you buy a round. You win and I buy a round.”

You thought about it for a moment before speaking. “Fine. But it better be the good stuff, Popsicle, not the cheap kind.” You teased, watching him roll his eyes almost fondly before moving into place to start the game.

This game went similarly to the last one, every hit being another close call for both sides. It was tied at game point with you currently serving the ball, it going soaring over the net before Ice passed it back into the far back corner. Spinning quickly, you tried to dive for the ball but narrowly missed it. When you came up from the ground, you turned to find Ice grinning mischievously at you as the on-lookers cheered him on. Sighing you made your way over to him, Ice smiling again when you stopped. “So, I'll see you at the O club at 10 o’clock?”

You frowned slightly. “I’m gonna have to take a raincheck. Sorry, Ice.” When the creative nickname that you had given him hadn't been used he immediately grew suspicious. Ice nodded regardless and moved off the court to slip on his white T-shirt and flight jacket. With a blank expression, he watched you leave the court and gather your things.

Ice remained silent for the rest of the lesson, picking up on every time you winced as you shifted in your seat. His expression was hard set, however, mind running a mile a minute to figure out why you had to lie to him. Sure, you weren't that close but lying? Really?

After what felt like an eternity the class was finally dismissed, everyone leaving the hanger to begin working on the assignments that had been handed out. Instead of following the others to the various workspaces around the base, you made your way towards the change rooms. You would have time to complete your work later.

Once in the change room you headed for your locker and pulled out the few things you would need to cover the bruises along with a disinfectant for some of the cuts. Grabbing a towel off the rack you headed towards the showers, stepping in and drawing the curtain before removing your khaki uniform and setting it on the bench. The water splashed against the tile harshly, drowning out any noise from the locker room a few feet away. Because of this, it was easy for you to miss the sound of the door opening or closing or the sound of heavy boots walking toward you.

15 minutes later you shut off the water and wrapped the towel around yourself before stepping out of the shower. Needless to say, you were immensely shocked to see Ice leaning against the wall opposite your shower. The blond pilot watched you with raised eyebrows but an otherwise blank expression as you tightened the towel and grew nervous. “What are you doing Ice?” He was silent for a few more moments.

“Why did you lie to me?” His question made you freeze as he looked up at you, looking less angry and more hurt. You swallowed slightly as you grabbed your uniform from the bench and bunched it between your hands, ringing it anxiously.

Sighing slightly, you met his eyes as you spoke. “Can I get dressed first?” at his wordless nod you moved to the locker area. You stopped in front of your locker while Ice remained on the other side to give you privacy. Slipping back into your khaki uniform, you contemplated how you were going to explain what happened to Ice. As soon as you were done you walked around the short row of lockers before taking a seat on the bench beside him, leaving a bit of distance between you two.

“The reason I couldn’t come to the bar last night was because my father wanted to see me,” You started, fidgeting with the rings on your fingers. “He and I have always had a rocky relationship but it’s been getting worse lately so I had no choice but to go. When I got there he was pissed. The reason he wanted to see me was because I messed up the exercise two days ago and he obviously wasn’t very happy about that,” Ice sat and listened as you explained yourself, now fully understanding why you had lied.

You opened the door to your father’s home and stepped in, moving to find him in his study with a glass of brandy. “You asked to see me?” you questioned hesitantly. He was silent for a long while, finishing his glass before standing and pouring himself another, this one three times bigger than the previous.

“First of all, I heard about your failed training session. Honestly, child, I thought I raised you better than that,” he started with a shake of his head. “Second, You think I wouldn’t find out about your slutty activities today? What the hell were you thinking, parading yourself around in that skimpy clothing for those men to see?” by now he was fuming, throwing the rest of his drink back before slamming the glass onto his desk and walking toward you.

You spent the rest of the night apologizing, begging for his forgiveness, only for it to fall on deaf ears. He ignored all of it, your screams and cries and pleas for him to stop. Hours later you left the house battered and bruised, barely able to walk a straight line but having grown accustomed to it. That doesn’t mean it hurt any less.

By the time you had finished explaining to Ice there were tears in your eyes. He watched as on fell from your eye and dripped down your cheek and his eyes softened. Reaching up, he brushed it away gently with the pad of his thumb, resting his hand on your cheek as he turned you toward him. “I’m so sorry.”

You shrugged slightly. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault anyways,” Giving him a sad smile you leaned into his hand, your tears falling steadily now.

Ice scooted over, moving his arm around you and bringing you to rest your head on his chest. He sighed and lowered his head. “You’re gonna be okay,” he whispered, pressing his lips to your hair. “You’re gonna be okay. I won’t let him hurt you. I’ve got you,”

Sobs racked your body as you cried into the blond’s chest, his arms wrapped securely around you as he rocked you back and forth. Ice held you tightly, never wanting to let go. He was cautious of the various bruises and cuts, however, as he pulled you up onto his lap and secured you with your head buried in the crook of his neck. You were still hurting, but so long as Ice was around, he’d be damned if he ever let anyone hurt you again.

a/n: Thank you so much for reading! Requests are open.

#ice x reader #iceman #iceman top gun #iceman x female reader #iceman x reader #tom iceman kazansky #tom iceman kazansky fanfic #tom kazansky #tom kazansky x reader #top gun #top gun 1986 #top gun x female reader #top gun x reader #top gun fanfiction #val kilmer

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gerrystamour · 1 year

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i could be honest, i could be human [Chapters 7 & 8]

Rated E | Steddie

[ FIRST PART ] [ PREVIOUS PART ] [ NEXT PART ]

“Dude, are you okay—” “No, I’m not okay, Munson! Why else would you be here?” Steve asked weakly, laughing humorlessly as tears burned his eyes all over again. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Eddie asked, and his voice sounded tight and closed off. “Just figured you have some kind of psychic ability that tells you when I’m miserable and concussed at this point,” Steve replied. CW: You meet Steve's parents in the B-Side, and while nothing physically happens, Steve's dad does come at him. Again, nothing actually happens, but it's a close thing.

Chapter Seven: July 1985

There were a lot of things Steve did that were beyond stupid and alarmingly self-destructive. One of those things was, apparently, driving while suffering from a head injury. He was fine though, and it was a short drive on quiet roads. Steve was just picking Robin up from her place, and they were going back to his house.

It was fine; Steve just had to take it easy.

It was fine up until some dipshit blew a stop sign in front of him and between slamming on his brakes and swerving, Steve narrowly missed T-boning them. There was a split second where the driver and Steve made eye-contact and he knew it was just some dumb teenager.

All Steve saw was Billy Hargrove.

The other driver honked at him as they sped away, but Steve was already pulling over. He didn’t even shut the Beemer off before he all but fell out of the driver’s seat and onto the street. Steve eventually ended up on the curb, bathed in the yellow glow of his headlights as he tried to calm his breathing down.

Not only was there a dead girl in his pool, now there was a dead boy in every near-miss on the road?

“Grow the fuck up,” Steve growled at himself as he screwed his eyes shut against the tears that were flooding them. His face, especially his eye, was very much still in pain from being beaten by the Russians,and staving off his breakdown was sending fresh waves of agony through him. Burying his hands in his hair, he pulled it sharply and hissed, “C’mon, Harrington, get it together.”

Robin was expecting him, and she was going to be worried if he was late. She was going to be upset, and it was going to be his fault because he was having a breakdown on the side of the fucking road. How was he supposed to protect the people he cared about if he couldn’t actually handle doing it? What was the point of having his pain tolerance in a crisis if he was going to be a mess about it after?

And what if they weren’t done? What if somehow the Upside Down came back, with Hopper dead and the Byers’ leaving? That just left Steve, and there he was huddled on the side of the road, barely keeping it together. What use would he be if the world ended again?

“We gotta stop running into each other like this, Stevie.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Munson,” Steve snapped explosively as he startled and tried to jump to his feet, desperate to get back into his car. He didn’t want Eddie to see him like that, unsure of what he was more scared of—the way Eddie laughed at him the first time he saw Steve beaten and bloody, or the sincere concern of the second time.

He was too raw to handle either reaction with any amount of grace.

But his attempt to stand triggered a dizzy-spell so intense it took everything in him not to fall on his face, landing hard on his hands and knees where he dry-heaved roughly.

“Dude, are you okay—”

“No, I’m not okay, Munson! Why else would you be here?” Steve asked weakly, laughing humorlessly as tears burned his eyes all over again.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eddie asked, and his voice sounded tight and closed off.

“Just figured you have some kind of psychic ability that tells you when I’m miserable and concussed at this point,” Steve replied. “What are you even doing here?”

“The drummer for my band? Gareth? He lives nearby and we were practicing. I was heading home when I saw your car pulled over,” Eddie explained before quietly adding, “I thought you maybe got into an accident.”

Steve let out a sigh and climbed to his feet a bit slower, relieved when the world didn’t spin around him. He had missed his chance to escape already, so Steve just turned around to face Eddie, holding his arms straight out and closing his eyes. “There you go, you’ve checked on me.”

“Jesus, Steve, who did this to you?”

Steve jumped when Eddie’s voice was closer than he had expected. Opening his eyes, he found Eddie standing right in front of him, dark eyes wide and searching as he noted every visible injury. The blatant concern felt like a hot knife in Steve’s gut and he had to fight the urge to hold onto Eddie tightly and sob.

“No one did this,” Steve lied, shivering under the weight of Eddie’s searching gaze. He knew the lie was obvious in his voice, but it was the first time he had to fend off legitimate concern from someone who didn’t know the real story of what happened. “I work—I used to work at Starcourt. I got hurt in the fire.”

“So the mall fire, what, hand-cuffed and beat you?” Eddie asked sharply, his eyes flickering pointedly at Steve’s wrists. They were exposed with how Steve was standing, and the nasty bruising on them was unmistakable; nearly perfect bands of purple and black all the way around both of his wrists.

Lowering his hands, Steve fixed his sleeves and stuttered, “That’s not—seriously, some debris fell on me while I was escaping—”

“Listen, I might’ve failed senior year twice, but I’m not fucking stupid,” Eddie snapped and Steve’s gaze snapped back to his face.

Shame flooded his gut at the hurt in Eddie’s expression and for the first time he wished he didn’t have to lie. Normally, lying to everyone after being forced to save the world was the best part. He got to pretend that none of it happened, was encouraged to, even. It was especially comforting to lie this time with how much all of them lost. With Hopper, even that asshole Billy…

“You’re not stupid, you’re right,” Steve said quickly, scuffing his foot a bit, and Eddie’s hurt expression faltered. “And I’m not trying to treat you like you are. Just… I was hurt in a bunch of events that ended in a big fire.”

Eddie’s eyebrows disappeared behind his bangs. “Did you sign some sort of confidentiality thing?”

“Something like that,” Steve replied, chuckling with relief that Eddie caught on. “Sorry, I can’t say more. It’s an insurance thing, I guess.”

Eddie considered him for a few moments before nodding. “So… what were you doing sitting here?” he asked, tilting his head.

“Someone almost hit me, I got nauseous after swerving,” Steve half-lied, shrugging a bit.

“Should you be driving at all like this?” Eddie asked, and he stepped closer as he reached out to gently touch Steve’s cheek. It was like the first time Eddie saw him beat up, yet completely different. That fluttering returned to Steve’s stomach and chest in full-force. He knew with certainty that he wasn’t embarrassed, so why did he feel like that?

“Can you even see out of this eye?”

Steve jolted out of his fuzzy thoughts, blinking up at Eddie who was standing even closer to him.

“What?” he asked, almost dazed when Eddie shifted his hand to hold his chin and turn his head a bit.

“I asked if you can even see out of this eye. It’s basically swollen shut,” Eddie elaborated and Steve finally snapped out of it, stepping back but not completely out of his reach.

“I’m not answering that. I’m fine, Munson. This isn’t my first head injury,” Steve said flippantly with an empty little chuckle.

“Hate to break it to you, Stevie, but I’m pretty sure things get worse with each new head injury,” Eddie said, and now he was starting to sound like Nancy—who, once again, had been insisting that Steve go to a doctor daily.

With the tail-end of that thought trailing off in his mind, Steve looked up at Eddie, who was still in his space and holding his chin gently. He was staring down at him with his wide brown eyes, his dark curly hair framing his face. There was a moment when Steve dazedly thought, ‘more similarities with Nancy.’

That was the moment something clicked into place at the back of Steve’s mind. That fluttering, swooping feeling in his gut wasn’t completely unfamiliar. It was the same sensation he used to have when he would talk to Nancy, when he would hold her hand, when they kissed, when they—

Steve took a shaky few steps back, out of Eddie’s reach completely and put an immediate stop to those thoughts. There was absolutely no way he was about to have that sort of crisis about Eddie Munson while concussed. At least, not on the side of the road with Eddie Munson there to see it. He would wait until he was with someone who would maybe understand, or at least support him, help him work through it.

Like Robin, who was waiting for him.

“Then the damage is already done,” Steve finally replied after a minute of talking himself down from what felt like another panic attack. He started to walk backward to his car, watching Eddie’s face as he said, “Thanks, for the talk.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow at him before giving him a secretive little grin, almost as if he knew what Steve was thinking about. “Anytime, Stevie,” he called back, still grinning as Steve got into his car.

It wasn’t until Steve was nearly to Robin’s that he realized what Eddie had been calling him the whole time.

❖

When he finally arrived at Robin’s, he had decided that he wouldn’t talk about that internal crisis until he wasn’t concussed anymore. Maybe it would go away when his ears stopped ringing and the world stopped spinning?

Bottom line, any thoughts about that were too overwhelming to think about, so Steve put a stop to them abruptly and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Took you long enough,” Robin complained as she threw herself into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Steve flinched at the loud noise and Robin winced apologetically. “I was super worried.”

“I’m sorry, Robs,” Steve said gently, pulling away from the curb carefully. “I had to pull over for a bit.”

“Are you still dizzy? You shouldn’t be driving!” Robin scolded, looking around.

“I’m not always dizzy. There was another car, had to swerve and that got me all fucked up,” Steve replied honestly, keeping it vague enough to tell Robin without triggering another panic attack.

“Oh, okay. Are you okay, though? You seem… weird,” she asked quietly and Steve thought about Eddie. Pushing that thought away, he sighed.

“Can we get to my place before I start answering that?” he asked, trying to sound less like he was about to lose it than he felt, but he didn’t quite manage it.

“Yeah, Steve, of course,” Robin still agreed, and he could hear the tentative, comforting smile in her voice.

Steve loved that about Robin, the way she could push him if she wanted to, and how she often did. But she was also very good at knowing when to back off of him most of the time. Robin went on constantly about how she was bad at social cues, but in his experience she was just fine. Perfect, honestly.

When a hand covered his on the gearshift, Steve jumped a bit but immediately lifted his hand just enough for slender fingers to weave between his tightly. And just like that, they were sort of holding hands while Steve drove carefully to his quiet, empty house.

Upon arriving at the Harrington residence, Robin busied herself with digging through the cupboards, gathering the fixings to make a halfway decent spaghetti while she chattered away about some options for new jobs.

“Melvald’s will be hiring with Ms. Byers leaving at the end of the summer, which might be a good fit for you!” she said, but Steve just frowned.

“What about you?” he asked, and Robin rolled her eyes.

“I have to go back to school in September, Dingus,” she reminded him flatly. “You, however, are a free man!”

“I don’t want to work at Melvald’s,” Steve said with a grimace.

Robin stopped stirring the spaghetti sauce to look over at Steve with an affectionate smile. “You’d really say no to a cushy full-time job to work somewhere with me?” she asked, and he could tell she wasn’t just playing up her skepticism.

“Like I said, I like being your schmuck,” Steve reassured her with a fond smile of his own before dropping a kiss onto her forehead.

Robin grinned and flushed at that then shook her head. “You’re so stupid,” she muttered as she returned to making their dinner.

They ate their food sitting in the middle of the floor of the living room while a movie played on the TV quietly. Once Steve’s busted eye and lip looked less awful, they were going to apply at Family Video together. Robin was convinced that she had an in with Keith, which was a relief because Steve knew that guy hated his guts.

“What’s going on under all that hair, Dingus?”

Steve jolted and looked at Robin, frowning a bit. “Nothing?” he supplied, and she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, maybe right now it was nothing, but what was up with you in the car? You said to wait until we were here, and I did, and I even made us dinner and put on a movie before asking again,” Robin rambled quickly before taking a deep breath. “And you keep going somewhere far away if I’m not talking to you and it’s a little scary. I’m not used to you looking so pensive and serious all the time.”

Steve laughed at that, shaking his head. “Gee, thanks, Robs,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

“It’s true!” she laughed, slapping at his leg.

With a sigh, Steve considered how to broach the topic. He didn’t want to discuss Eddie specifically because that would just focus Robin on the wrong part of his crisis. But how could he bring up the issue without talking about Eddie?

“Can we talk about it in bed?” he asked, and when Robin inhaled to argue, he added, “as in let’s go to bed right now and talk about it, Robs.”

At the clarification, Robin closed her mouth and mulled it over. “Fine, but if you try to get out of talking by pretending to sleep, I’m shaving your eyebrows off,” she said and turned off the TV.

They made quick work of cleaning up after their dinner before hurrying upstairs. They kept their conversation light as they changed with their backs turned to the other, Robin talking about one of her past crushes that Steve agreed whole-heartedly with.

Once they were tucked up under his comforter, shoulder-to-shoulder and heads tilted against each other, Steve knew he was out of time to stall.

“Remember your eyebrows, Steve,” Robin threatened lightly as the silence dragged on and he huffed out a laugh.

“How did you know…?” he asked, faltering before he finished the question properly.

Robin was quiet for several moments, trying to piece together what he was asking. “How did I know… what?” she finally asked and Steve tangled their fingers together between them.

“How did you know that you like-liked girls?” Steve elaborated quietly and he felt Robin tense beside him.

“Why is that what you’re thinking about?” she asked after a bit, and Steve flushed at that.

“Yeah, that’s pretty stupid, and weird to ask. I’m sorry, forget I asked,” he said quickly, shrugging.

“No, stop that, I just wasn’t expecting it,” Robin said quickly before sighing. “I dunno, Steve, for the longest time I thought everybody felt like I did about girls because, like, have you seen girls?”

“For sure,” Steve agreed easily, and he meant it. It wasn’t like his appreciation for girls was fake, but neither was his attraction to Eddie Munson.

“I think I was in seventh grade when I realized I was different. I didn’t get why one of my friends was being stupid about a boy, and she was telling me all about how he made her feel, and she said that she had a crush on him and that’s what all those feelings meant,” she continued, shrugging. “And I realized that I had all those feelings about her, y’know?”

“Yeah,” Steve hummed, squeezing Robin’s hand comfortingly. With a shaky breath, Steve asked, “Do you know if it’s possible, or like, okay to like both boys and girls?”

“I mean, duh?” Robin said with an incredulous laugh that she cut short. Suddenly, she was propped up on an elbow and looking down at Steve. “But I don’t, and I won’t. I’m gay, only into girls. If this is a weird play to get me to date you—”

“What? Ew, Robs, no. I haven’t been attracted to you since you got all mopey about Tammy fuckin’ Thompson,” Steve said quickly, then added, “Like obviously you’re hot, and a catch, and you’re going to make some very lucky girl happy someday, but respectfully, ew.”

Robin narrowed her eyes at him, assessing his expression carefully. “Okay, yeah, people can like both, just like they can like just girls or just boys,” she said. “There aren’t, like, rules.”

“That makes sense,” Steve replied, mulling Robin’s words over in his head.

“Hey, Dingus, care to make this line of questions make sense?” Robin asked, flicking Steve’s nose gently.

“I think… I like guys,” Steve finally said, his voice so quiet he thought that maybe Robin didn’t hear him for how long the silence stretched after. Anxiety clawed at his guts as he stared resolutely up at the ceiling, chewing his lip. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Robs?”

“Oh, shit, I was waiting—sorry, I thought you were going to say more, just—holy shit,” Robin finally babbled in a rush, and Steve looked at her. Shock was evident in her expression, but she was smiling at him. “That must be a lot, huh?”

Steve laughed weakly, a single tear escaping his eye as he nodded. “I mean, yeah,” he replied with an awkward one-shouldered shrug.

“So… are we going to discuss the crush?” Robin asked and Steve felt his face go hot with his blush.

He thought about Eddie, his huge smile and deep dimples. He thought about the gentle way Eddie held his face earlier, the way he straddled him in his van last year, the way Eddie held his wrist on Halloween. He remembered the brief touch of Eddie’s thumb on his lip the first time they talked, the way that lit his whole body up before the contact turned mean. A part of him liked it when the touch turned mean, which he definitely wasn’t prepared to examine.

“Who says I have a crush?” he asked unconvincingly.

“So, you were just casually thinking about maybe liking dudes and came to this realization all on your own?” she asked flatly, her voice dripping in skepticism.

Steve huffed and looked away. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” he admitted after a bit, rolling onto his side. “It wouldn’t work out anyway.”

If he wasn’t brave enough to face his parents or the town to be Eddie’s friend, how would he manage to be his boyfriend? That was even assuming there was a chance of that at all. Eddie deserved better than any half-measure Steve could offer him, platonic or romantic.

“Oh, forbidden love, is it?” Robin whispered loudly, laying back down so their foreheads were pressed together. “I mean, other than your crush being a guy in Hawkins, of course.”

Steve laughed, nodding. “Yeah, something like that,” he said vaguely.

“I’m gonna figure it out though, just you watch,” Robin threatened, and Steve just laughed at that.

“You go ahead and try, Buckley,” he challenged her with a quiet, relaxed smile.

Chapter Eight: B-Side

“Stephen!”

Steve was immediately awake and sitting bolt upright, panic filling his veins with ice water. Robin was a bit slower to sit up, but her eyes were wide awake and clear. Since Starcourt, neither of them were able to sleep very well at all, alert to every noise they heard and waking up constantly throughout the night. It had been getting marginally better as each night passed, but this was the first time they both slept properly.

That’s the only way it was possible that Steve’s parents were able to get onto the driveway, let alone enter the house at all without waking at least one of them up.

Robin took a deep breath next to Steve and laughed a bit nervously. “It’s just your parents,” she said, and she sucked in a sharp breath when their eyes met. “Steve? Are you okay?”

It was a weird question, and it didn’t make sense in Steve’s head. A few seconds later, or maybe minutes, he realized he was holding his breath and his hands were wringing the comforter in his lap in a white-knuckled grip.

“Steve? Steve, c’mon, you’re freaking me out,” Robin hissed, and the fear in her voice finally got through to him. Steve slowly released the breath he was holding, and Robin sighed and dropped her forehead onto Steve’s shoulder.

Both of them jumped when there was a soft knock at Steve’s door.

“Steve? Are you up?” came his mother’s voice.

With a shaky sigh, Steve replied, “Yeah, mom. I’ll be down in a couple minutes.”

“Okay. Your dad was wanting to speak with you before we head out again tomorrow,” his mom said, her voice gentle but not the same way Joyce Byers’ voice usually was. It was gentle in the way you would speak around a dangerous animal.

That told Steve enough about the mood his dad was in.

“I’m just getting dressed,” Steve said, slipping out of the bed and grabbing a pair of jeans and a yellow sweater out of his closet.

“I’ll be in the kitchen, sweetie,” his mom replied, and the endearment brought him no comfort.

It felt like he was moving through molasses, his limbs sluggish as he shrugged out of his pajamas. Steve was going to have to go downstairs and face his dad’s bad mood. To top it all off, Robin was going to hear all of it.

He hadn’t told her anything about his parents, not even how much his dad seemed to hate him, and definitely nothing about his dad’s typical form of discipline. Steve knew enough not to tell anyone about that sort of thing.

For one, who would believe him that Richard Harrington, a well-respected businessman in their town, beat his only son and heir to the Harrington family wealth? Secondly, people knowing just made the punishments worse.

Steve could remember a kid in elementary who came to school with a black eye and a flimsy lie about being clumsy. A teacher tried to do something about it, but the kid ended up in the hospital with a broken arm before the whole family left. Most of all, Steve remembered that situation for his dad’s reaction.

“That’s why you don’t leave marks anywhere too visible if your kid needs hands-on discipline. Nosy teachers getting involved in things that don’t concern them.”

Now, Robin was about to go from blissfully ignorant to knowing way too much. Steve couldn’t tell what he was more afraid of; his father downstairs, or Robin knowing.

“Steve.”

He looked over at the bed, taking his time before meeting her eyes. When Steve finally did, the concern in Robin’s expression was overwhelming.

“Can we escape out the window?” Robin asked, and Steve laughed like she was joking, but she didn’t join in.

“It’s a straight drop to the pool deck from my window, Robs,” Steve replied, shaking his head with a sigh. “And my car keys are at the front door. I just have to get this over with.”

“I don’t want you to go downstairs, Steve,” Robin whimpered, her hands wringing the comforter as her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you didn’t even look this scared in the bunker, or even against the big monster, and I’m terrified.”

“Hey, hey, Robbie,” Steve said, rushing back to the bed to pull her into a tight hug. “It’ll be okay, I’m fine. My dad and I just… don’t get along and I didn’t expect them to come home. Usually, they go straight to the next place. That’s all.”

Robin pushed Steve back to look at him. “Y’know, I can tell when you’re lying?”

“Robs, I just need you to stay up here and keep quiet, okay?” Steve said flatly, unable to actually argue her claim. “I’ll deal with this, and then we can leave. Promise.”

He could tell she wasn’t convinced, but she nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Fine, but if I hear anything even remotely scary, I’m coming down there with your nail bat, you hear me, Dingus?” she pressed, and Steve just pulled her back into a brief hug.

“Alright, Robin,” he replied as he kissed the side of her head and stood back up.

The trek to the kitchen went quicker than he had hoped, but fortunately his dad wasn’t there yet. His mom was paging through a magazine at the island when Steve entered, and it took her several seconds to look up at him.

Katherine Harrington was beautiful, dressed like she stepped out of the magazine she was looking at, and it was only ten in the morning. She was always so put-together, her make-up meticulously applied and hair perfect. Steve couldn’t remember a single time where he saw her looking anything less than stunning.

Steve knew his mom was younger than his dad by at least five years and that they met when she started as his secretary. There was supposedly love in the beginning because Steve’s grandfather had hated her, and the only way he allowed them to marry was if she signed a prenup that voided her claim to literally any of Richard’s wealth. Steve hoped that was the only reason she stayed with Richard, even after he could barely stand the family he fought to have.

How would she be able to support her son with nothing? And he knew if she tried to leave, his dad would be cruel enough to fight for custody to hurt both of them.

Steve always concocted these reasons for Katherine, trying to find an explanation for her apathy that didn’t make her a bad person.

When Katherine finally looked up at Steve, she gasped and actually hurried around the island toward him. It was moments like that when Steve felt like he was right. She loved him and cared for him, but she was trapped in a way that even Steve wasn’t or at least wouldn’t always be. He thought he could remember a time when Katherine cared about being his mother, cared about him more than she cared about keeping Richard happy.

“Oh, God, Steve what happened to your face?” she asked sadly, reaching up to gently hold his cheeks in her cool palms. There was something about the way she asked her question that stung, but he tucked that away and tried to get as much of her attention as he could before Richard came.

“Mom—”

“I see the dead-beat has finally risen.”

Richard entered the kitchen from behind Steve, brushing past him hard enough that Steve nearly fell against Katherine.

“Richard, will you look at your son, please?” Katherine pleaded, and the way Richard scoffed gutted Steve even if it shouldn’t hurt anymore.

“How can you possibly be a Harrington— no, my son if you can’t even get into State, Stephen? I gave up on my hopes that you’d go to Harvard when you were in elementary, but for Christ’s sake, this? If it wasn’t for that hideous uniform you have to wear, I’d be teaching you to think twice before humiliating me like this.”

Finally, the older man turned to look at Steve, and his expression of disdain did not even waver.

“What, did you lose another fight, Stephen?” Richard asked coldly, and Katherine’s hands dropped away from Steve’s face. Steve looked down at her, but Katherine was avoiding his gaze.

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you,” Richard snapped, and Steve immediately met his eyes again. “Who did you scuffle with this time?”

For a moment, Steve wished he could just say what had happened to him in the last two years; the Upside Down, the torture in a Russian bunker under the mall, that Billy Hargrove almost killed him last November, everything. He wished he could tell them, and they would believe him.

But that wouldn’t happen. Nothing Steve did or said would make that happen.

“I didn’t lose a fight, dad. I almost died,” Steve said, and he flinched when Richard slowly turned to face him fully. There was a script for these moments, and while Steve never actually knew the lines Richard wanted to hear, he knew one thing for certain; he wasn’t supposed to argue.

“In the fire at the mall, I barely escaped,” he added quickly to make it sound less like a defense and more like an explanation.

Richard’s expression only darkened, and Katherine shuffled her feet nervously.

“What have I told you about talking back, Stephen?” Richard asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“You asked—”

Richard slammed a broad palm down on the countertop, the sound making Steve and Katherine both flinch. “What have I said about talking back?” Richard asked through gritted teeth. “What are you supposed to do, Stephen?”

“Keep my mouth shut, sir,” Steve immediately answered.

“Now, let’s say I believe this claim that you almost died in the fire at the mall, that doesn’t explain what happened to your face,” Richard continued and then gestured at Steve. “Who did you lose to, Stephen?”

Steve took a slow, deep breath in through his nose and rolled his shoulders back. “I was injured during the events that ended in a fire at the Starcourt Mall,” he said flatly, knowing he had sealed his fate. “I signed a bunch of confidentiality paperwork and cannot discuss anything further.”

“That’s ridiculous, I’m your father—”

“And I’m eighteen, a legal adult. I signed legally binding paperwork,” Steve interrupted, baffled that Richard could scoff at Steve being called his son when the expectation was for him to care, but then insist on his paternal entitlement to information.

Steve barely noticed that his mom had taken a shuffling step away from him, moving to get out of Richard’s path if he decided to cross the room.

There was a moment where absolute silence settled over the kitchen, and the ringing in Steve’s left ear was deafening. He had been so distracted by everything else, he hadn’t even noticed it.

Katherine took a full step away from Steve and against his better judgment, he looked away from Richard to watch her in complete shock. It’s not like she would ever get between them to stop a punishment, but Steve had never experienced this, her so obviously getting out of the way for him.

“Mom?” he asked in a voice that was so small, he would have been embarrassed if he wasn’t so deeply sad.

It was either Katherine’s movement or Steve’s voice, but Richard snapped out of his enraged silence and stormed across the kitchen at Steve, hand already lifted for what Steve knew would be one hell of a backhand.

Before Steve could think to defend himself or even run, a slim hand slipped into his and entwined their fingers as Robin put herself in front of Steve. Richard pulled up short with wide eyes, his momentum making him stumble just a step and he quickly lowered his hand.

“Hi Mr. And Mrs. Harrington, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I spent the night last night, and now I have to get to this really important thing, like, right now, so I’m gonna have to borrow Steve,” Robin said in a rush as she put her back against Steve’s front and leaned against him hard enough that he took a stumbling step backward.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met,” Richard said, his expression shifting to something that made Steve think about politicians. It was kind until you looked at it for too long. “I’m Richard, and this is my wife, Katherine.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Robin,” Robin answered nervously, smiling as she glanced at Steve’s parents. Then she looked over her shoulder with one of her fearful little giggles as she said, “It’s funny, Stevie, my dad’s name is Richard, too.”

He tilted his head curiously at that, despite the situation they were in, before squeezing her hand lightly.

“I don’t believe Stephen’s ever mentioned you,” Richard said thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed just slightly.

“Well, I can’t imagine he would’ve,” Robin laughed as she looked back at Richard, leaning against Steve until he took another step back. She shrugged slightly and added, “I mean, we were only coworkers at first.”

“Ah, so you worked with Stephen, and then what?” Richard asked, his tone turning mean now that Robin revealed herself to be too low for his civility. “Did he charm you into his bed like every other slut?”

Robin rolled her shoulders back and stood up straight, squeezing Steve’s hand so tight it hurt. Steve was absolutely overwhelmed by the way she literally squared up with his father standing only three feet away.

“He literally saved my life, and a bunch of kids, too. During the fire. Your son is literally a hero, Mr. Harrington. You can ask anyone! Hell, just look at the newspapers piled on the counter there,” she said, gesturing at the pile Steve kept.

Steve had only actually kept them to reread and remind himself of what he said to the press and keep the official statement of the incident in his head. This concussion had him forgetting things a lot when it was fresh, and he had a lot of holes in his memory during the immediate aftermath.

“So yeah, that’s the deal,” Robin said when the silence stretched a bit longer than she usually allowed. She leaned back, but this time Steve immediately took the step without her pushing him that hard. “I’m just going to go and I’m taking Steve with me, okay?”

Richard blinked rapidly before saying, “I was not done speaking to my son—”

“Actually! You are, Mr. Harrington,” Robin said, and even though her hand was shaking in Steve’s, her voice was like iron. What was baffling to Steve was that it actually worked, at least for the moment, because Richard’s stance loosened, and his disdainful glare fell away.

For the first time in his life, Richard Harrington was faced with someone willing to stand up for Steve, and that person was a teenage girl half his size. She physically put herself between him and Steve, a place where Steve’s own mother wouldn’t stand, and squared her stance against him.

“Now that’s settled, we’re going to go! Right, Stevie?” Robin said after another long silence. Steve could feel her palm going sweaty in his, and he couldn’t have helped the smile that came to his face if he wanted to.

Robin was so brave, and she would never give herself credit for it. She was brave, and smart, and impulsive, and somehow, she was choosing to be all of that for Steve. Not just against Russian generals and giant monsters made of melted flesh, but also his greatest demons he thought were his own to fight. And on top of everything, she was terrified while doing it.

She didn’t want Steve to come downstairs earlier, and there she was, out of the safety of his bedroom and blocking his dad’s path.

Something shifted in the back of Steve’s mind and a little bit of his fear eased.

“Yeah, Robs, we’re going,” Steve agreed, clearing his throat and nodding at his father. He looked at Katherine for the first time since she moved away from him, and there was a pinched look on her face. It wasn’t quite upset, but there was something thoughtful in it.

Maybe she saw something in this that would help her, too. Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he wasn’t going to examine that until much later.

“That car belongs to me, Stephen,” Richard snapped, and Steve was struck by how childish he sounded. Did he always sound like that? What was even better was that Richard was wrong in a way that had a paper trail.

Emboldened by Robin’s defense, Steve looked his father in the eye and said, “No, it’s not. It’s been registered in my name since I turned eighteen, dad. Don’t you remember?”

It had been a shock for Steve when his parents actually returned for his eighteenth birthday, and part of him was excited. That small part of him quickly quieted when the lawyer showed up a few minutes later, however. They were only there to settle legal obligations as quickly as possible, and then they would be leaving all over again.

They had spent the entire day reading and signing the legal documents for everything he stood to gain upon reaching adulthood. Steve made sure to confirm with the lawyer that once the paperwork was all signed and filed with the assets transferred, they were legally his and his father would have no claim to it anymore. He worded the questions in a way that made him appear stupid, as if he just wasn’t understanding the legalese and needed it explained like he was a toddler so Richard wouldn’t catch on.

It worked, and the lawyer explained in the simplest terms that several things were his completely and utterly without any possibility of anyone interfering: the Beemer, the sizable trust left to him by his grandfather, and part of a trust from his father. The rest of his trust from his father was due to come to him when he turned twenty-five, but Steve didn’t care about that. He cared about what was his right now.

Now Richard was staring Steve down, his nostrils flaring just slightly before he put his politician’s smile back on. “Right, of course, I always forget you’re an adult these days,” he said, his voice cool as he looks Steve up and down with barely concealed disdain.

“Yeah, I bet it’s hard to remember your kid’s age when you’re never around, huh?” Robin blurted and Steve could tell that was meant to stay in her head when her shoulders did a hitching cringe upward.

Richard could not conceal his anger when he glanced down at Robin this time, his sneer obvious. “I didn’t catch your family name, Robin,” he stated flatly, his command clear to Steve.

“Didn’t give it,” she replied instead, shrugging one shoulder in the face of Richard’s growing rage.

Steve was sure his father wouldn’t hurt her, but every time Robin talked back that certainty weakened.

“You have me at a disadvantage,” Richard admitted, his voice low and threatening.

“That really sucks, man,” Robin retorted, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout. “Okay, Dingus, let’s go!”

With that, Robin practically dragged Steve out of the house, not even letting them stop to actually put their shoes on. They just grabbed them and ran out the front door. Once they were in the Beemer, Steve went to put his shoes on, but Robin smacked his arm.

“Drive, Steve. Get me away from here,” Robin begged, and Steve immediately started the car and reversed off the driveway faster than he normally would have, then sped out of Loch Nora.

Once they were well and truly out of immediate danger, Steve pulled over and shut the Beemer off. He busied himself with putting his shoes on while everything that had just happened washed over him.

It was overwhelming, how absolute Robin’s love and devotion was, and how he didn’t even have to do anything to keep it? She got nothing out of their relationship except free rides forever and someone to help her through her nightmares, and yet she would stand up to his father. Steve brought nothing to the table, and yet she was willing to go to bat against a man that no one has said “no” to for most of his life.

Steve dropped his forehead against the steering wheel and covered his face with his hands, letting out a laugh that sounded much more like a sob. His hands were instantly wet with the tears streaming down his face, and Steve was baffled. Why was he crying when he felt so happy?

“Steve? Steve, I’m so sorry if I fucked up,” Robin was saying, and Steve was filled with even more confusion. Why would she think she fucked up? And why couldn’t he stop crying long enough to reassure her? “I was so scared just waiting up in your room and I heard this really loud bang, and I couldn’t just sit up there if he was going to be hurting you, so I came downstairs and you looked so fucking scared Stevie, I just couldn’t—”

Steve couldn’t make his voice work, so he just reached across the center console and dragged Robin into a crushing hug, sobbing into her neck and shoulder. Immediately, her arms were around him, just as tight, and he could feel her shaking with her own tears.

“Robs, you are literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Steve managed to say, the words a bit garbled and wet with his tears, but he could tell she understood when she laughed.

“The feeling’s mutual, Dingus,” she replied, and Steve pulled back, frowning.

“Why, though?” Steve asked weakly, trying to calm himself down but failing when the look Robin gave him was painfully fond and sincere.

“Even before the Russians and saving Hawkins, you were interesting and funny, and yeah I made fun of you for all the children you were friends with, but I could see the way they looked at you and I knew I was missing something huge,” Robin explained in a rush. “I could tell you were important to them, even if they made fun of you constantly, and yeah, I was pissed about it because I had decided to hate you for eternity. And then when we got stuck down there with the Russians… you were going to sacrifice yourself for all of us. Even me! And you barely knew me!”

“Anyone would’ve—”

“No, Steve, stop that!” Robin shouted, her voice uncharacteristically angry for a second. “You always do that! Someone gives you a compliment and you downplay it so much, when honestly, no! No one else would’ve done what you did, you just have a skewed perspective of what’s normal behaviour because your only friends are also self-sacrificing idiots!”

Steve blinked at her and with a wobbly smirk he said, “you know you’re one of those self-sacrificing idiots then, right?”

“Exactly!” Robin cried, throwing her hands up before she took a deep breath. “Anyway, you threw yourself between us and danger the entire time we were in that bunker. Every single time, you were between us and danger. I think you drew the short straw in being tortured first thanks to misogyny—”

Steve laughed at that, a proper laugh that started in his stomach and bubbled over which made Robin smile brightly.

“I’m being serious! I looked up that word he was calling me the whole time! He was a sexist creep!” Robin insisted, her grin ruining her outrage just a bit.

“I believe you, Robs,” Steve said instantly, and his face settled into a fond, vulnerable little grin that he reserved just for her. “I believe you.”

“And then there’s that! That thing you do, where you look at people like they’re the whole universe, like they’re actually worth all the pain, like they’re so important,” she added, tears filling her eyes. “And that nothing could ever change that, no matter what. It’s so—if I’ve learned one thing since becoming your friend, Steve, it’s that having you? On your side, or your team, or your corner or whatever? It’s so overwhelming and it makes me want to be brave and outgoing and bigger because I know you’ll be right there, always. Y’know?”

“Of course, Robs,” Steve immediately agreed, reaching over to hold her hand and squeeze. “You’re stuck with me until you tell me to get lost.”

“And that’s never going to happen, Dingus. I love you, so much it’s stupid, and tenth grade Robin is chewing glass about it,” Robin said through a laugh that knocked a few tears free from her lashes. “There’s this tiny part of me that wishes I was into guys, too, because I would date you in a heartbeat, Stevie.”

“Yeah, right,” Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You say that, but the moment it’s my turn to pick the movie we’re going to watch—”

“Steve Harrington, I’d marry you,” Robin insisted, reaching over to poke his cheek. “Bad movies and all. You make me kinda scared that I won’t find someone else who loves me just as much as you do,” she confessed after a bit and Steve frowned at that.

“You will,” he promised. “She’ll love you in ways that I can’t and more—don’t make that face, get your head out of the gutter! I’m trying to have a genuine fucking moment here—”

Robin burst out laughing and shook her head. “I know, Steve, I know. It was just too good to pass up,” she giggled and then sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me about your dad?”

Steve grimaced at that and glanced away. “I don’t know. Seemed like my problem? Mostly, I thought everyone’s parents were kind of like that. It wasn’t really until I actually got to know the Wheelers and Ms. Byers that I… realized my dad hated me, y’know?” he admitted, shrugging as he tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “And then I just… figured you’d leave if I told you.”

“Steve, I wouldn’t—is there something I did that made you think that?” Robin asked, and she sounded so upset that he felt that way. He couldn’t look at her because he knew he’d lose his composure all over again.

“No, Robs, you didn’t. Not at all. I think just… when you live under someone’s boot like that your whole life, the things they say about you stick, y’know?” he replied quietly, closing his eyes. “He always said I was only good for three things: my family name, my car, and my looks. That I brought nothing else to any relationship, and that’s why nothing worked out for me. So, if I brought this to you, you’d leave.”

“That’s—he’s wrong, Steve. You bring so much more—”

“Robs, I love you, and I’m—I don’t want you to reassure me, okay? I just need you to listen,” Steve interrupted, and Robin closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth.

“Right, of course, yeah. Sorry,” she said quickly and squeezed Steve’s hand.

“I’ve never had anyone defend me against him, Robs. Literally, no one has ever told him off or stood between us, so I never had a reason to think anyone ever would, y’know?” Steve continued, taking a slow breath as his eyes began welling up with tears again. “Which… I figured I deserved it. If no one stood up for me, he had to be right. And then I guess I just didn’t want to find out that people agreed with him, so I hid it from everyone.”

“Wait, so no one knows?” Robin asked, her tone alarmed.

Steve shook his head quickly. “I think Tommy Hagan knew, because his dad’s a lot like mine, but he never—yeah, no one else knows,” he replied sadly.

“Not even Nancy?” Robin pressed and Steve laughed.

“Especially not Nancy,” he said, finally glancing over at Robin.

“What does that mean?” Robin asked, baffled. “You were in love with her, you wanted to marry her, Steve.”

“I was trying so hard to keep us above water back then, with Barb dying and the rest of the Upside Down stuff, I couldn’t put this on her, too,” he explained, chewing the inside of his cheek. “Then she dumped me, and…”

Steve trailed off at that, his brain finally making a connection now that he was actually talking about everything to another person.

“Steve?” Robin pushed, squeezing his hand and bringing him back to the present.

“Yeah, sorry, just… when she dumped me, she called me ‘bullshit’ and it just…” he stopped as a new wave of emotions choked him up. It was like his heart was breaking all over again, even if he wasn’t in love with Nancy anymore.

“Confirmed what your dad said about you,” Robin finished for him, her voice small and sad, and Steve nodded as he held back a sob.

“It’s not like she knew, and she’s already apologized so much for that, and she’s honestly one of my best friends even if things are kind of weird between us right now,” he said in a rush, wiping his tears away hurriedly. He moved a bit too quickly and touched the bruising under his eyes too hard, but he barreled on. “And I didn’t even fucking realize this was—”

“Steve, you don’t want me to reassure you right now, right?” Robin interrupted, and Steve looked over at her. “You just want to tell me how you’re feeling, no comfort and no solutions, yeah?”

“Yeah?” he replied slowly.

“Then stop reassuring Nancy,” she said sternly, and Steve frowned at her.

“She’s not even here,” he argued.

“Exactly, so what does it matter that she’s apologized and is your best friend, or whatever? What does that have to do with the conversation?” Robin pressed, and Steve floundered for a response.

“I don’t want you thinking she’s actually like my dad,” he finally said, quietly.

“So, you were reassuring me?” Robin asked, raising an eyebrow when Steve clenched his jaw. “Because Steve, all that stuff you said about Nancy? It just sounded like something you would say if she was sitting here instead, and she started crying because you said she confirmed all the nasty little things your dad made you believe about yourself.”

Steve couldn’t argue that now that it was framed in that way, and he looked away from her. “Okay,” he conceded. “You have a point…”

“Of course, I do,” Robin said brightly, then she added teasingly, “I’m the smartest person you know.”

“You are,” he agreed immediately, looking at her and catching the surprised expression on her face when what he said sunk in.

“Don’t let Dustin hear you say that,” she laughed, and Steve shrugged.

“He’d agree with me,” he said simply, sighing heavily.

“Back to what I was saying, though,” Robin said seriously. “I want you to promise that when we’re talking about feelings? And all that? We don’t make ourselves small, okay? We don’t reassure anyone, especially if they aren’t even there. Deal?”

Steve chuckled and nodded. “Deal,” he replied.

“Pinky-swear it?” Robin asked, holding up her pinky.

Steve rolled his eyes affectionately and let go of her hand so he could hook his pinky with hers. Leaning in, they sealed the pinky-swear with a kiss to the side of their fists, before pulling away from each other.

Just as Steve sat back properly in his seat, his stomach let loose a ferocious growl that startled both of them.

“Are you hungry or were you Flayed? Holy shit, Harrington,” Robin laughed, and Steve immediately joined in.

“Let’s go to that diner on Main. They have the best hashbrowns,” Steve said, starting the car again.

“Sounds perfect, you’re buying though,” Robin said brightly.

“Of course, I—shit, my wallet’s back at the house,” Steve groaned, anxiety spiking at the thought of going back there while his dad was still home and angry.

“Nope, it’s not,” Robin said, grinning when Steve looked back at her with confusion. Then she got a bit sheepish and looked out her window. “When you went downstairs, I pretty much immediately got dressed, and I was scared so I like… emptied my bag so I could, like, fit as much of your clothes in it as I could?”

“Robs—?”

“That’s so dumb, I know, but it made a lot of sense when I was doing it, because I figured I’d be going home anyway and it was only like, two outfits, which I could get back when they eventually left again, but you would need clothes sooner than that,” she continued on before taking a deep breath and shaking her head. “Anyway, all of that just to say that I have your wallet in my bag.”

“Robs, why did you pack my clothes?” he asked quietly.

“Because you’re staying at my place until that asshole leaves again,” Robin answered instantly, and Steve gaped at her.

“Your parents—”

“They already know I’ve been spending the night at your place, Steve. They might get a bit intense because they think we’re dating, and…” Robin trailed off and then shook her head. “Whatever, they won’t care.”

“What were you going to say, Robs?” Steve pushed, catching the break in her sentence.

“Ugh, I was going to say that if we told them that your dad hits you, they would literally not even hesitate to take you in, Steve,” Robin said quickly, and before Steve could get a word in edgewise, she was talking again. “My mom’s, like, a psychologist and she works with social workers and kids with rough homes a lot, so she would probably burn the Harrington name to the ground if you so much as hinted you wanted it done.”

“Robs—”

“And my dad—he goes by Ricky, by the way—is this huge teddy-bear of a guy, but he looks kinda scary when he wants to, and he would be so scary on your dad’s front lawn if you asked him to,” she pushed on just as quickly. “And—”

“Robin, it’s fine. You don’t—” Steve took a deep breath as he rubbed his uninjured eyebrow nervously.

He was trying to be better, to be open and vulnerable and genuine with more people. Steve didn’t want to be like his parents, and he didn’t want to be roped in with them anymore just because he was quietly hiding under their shadow. Robin saw him and supported him, and that made him feel just a little bit braver.

“I don’t want them to go after him,” Steve said after a few beats of silence. “I don’t think he’d hurt my mom, but I don’t want to risk it either. But we can tell them…”

“Okay! Great! I mean, not great, obviously. It all sucks a lot—”

“I get what you meant, Robin,” Steve laughed, cutting off her backtracking before it got truly spectacular.

“That’s kinda why I thought I messed up, though. My mom is always telling me to be careful if you’re getting involved in a situation like that because you might think you’re helping but you’re actually making it worse,” Robin babbled, and this time Steve let’s her get it out of her system. “But then I thought, hey, I’m not just confronting the asshole out of nowhere, or I’m not retaliating, or calling the cops, or anything like that, I’m just getting in the middle and taking you away from there, so that’s okay, right?”

“It was definitely okay, more than okay, Robs,” Steve agreed, smiling at her quickly, and the way she preened under the praise was adorable. “Thank you so much for not doing what I asked you to.”

“Anytime, Dingus,” she promised, and Steve chuckled with an affectionate eyeroll.

Steve knew he was eventually going to come down from the high of standing up to his father and escaping unscathed, and it was going to suck. He knew he would be full of anxiety about Robin’s love for him and the gnawing doubt that she would actually care that much.

But right at that moment, Steve felt loved and important because his best friend’s bag was stuffed with his clothes because she had decided to hide him for as long as she had to. She faced down his greatest demon and still wanted to be around him, to protect him. Robin did all that, and Steve didn’t even have to ask her to.

Any sad or anxious thoughts would have to wait their turn because Steve was getting breakfast with his best friend, and the two of them were going to have a good day.

[ NEXT ]

[ AO3 LINK ]

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#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddie fic #stranger things fic #gerry writes #i could be human fic

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kasienda · 6 months

Text

Just An Ordinary Girl

A love square remix of A Friend Like That by @trainsinanime. Written for the @mlsquaredance. This fic was so much fun write. Do please read the original first. It makes this one more fun! Read on Ao3 ...

“We need to stay together!” Viperion called out. “Splitting up does not end well.”

The sheer exhaustion in Viperion’s tone didn’t bode well either. Carapace didn’t want to know how many loops Viperion had gone through this go around especially considering it was his third time loop this battle.

Even from Carapace’s less than fifteen minutes of experience, this battle was awful.

The akuma was like Miraculer - he could steal their powers. But he was worse because it could split into four clones of himself.

“Okay then!” Chat Noir called. “Ryuko, Rena, and Carapace, protect our backs. Tigress and I will guard the gap! Viperion stays in the middle.”

Carapace missed Ladybug. There was nothing wrong with Chat’s orders. Carapace didn’t disagree with any of his calls. This akuma just sucked. And Ladybug just had this insane creative genius for hare-brained schemes that seemed to be able to cut through anything.

The akuma struck. Carapace narrowly yanked Rena Rouge aside and they both fell to the ground hard. His elbow took the majority of the impact, which hurt like a bitch, but he was glad it was him who took the brunt of it instead of her. And it worked.

Except one of the other clones clipped him.

A mud brown impenetrable dome manifested around all six of them immediately.

Purple Tigress punched it with her power. Nothing.

Cataclysm dissolved it, but it was immediately replaced with another.

“Crap!”

That was one word for it. Carapace might have had a far less kid-friendly one ringing through his head. The six of them were getting their butts handed to them by this akuma.

Carapace took personal offense to the barrier that stood as a mockery of his own power.

“Viperion?” Chat called.

The snake hero shook his head. “We’re on loop number 1703. This is the best possible outcome. Trust me.”

Chat Noir winced.

Carapace really missed Ladybug.

“I think we have to call Ladybug,” Rena Rouge said, turning toward Chat Noir.

“No! We can’t!” Chat objected.

Rena raised an eyebrow. “We can’t let the akuma win. We’re trapped.”

“She only asked for one weekend off! She deserves to have one weekend off! We can handle it.”

“I hate to break it to you, but we’re not handling it,” Ryuko added dryly.

“We will not be calling Ladybug,” Chat declared firmly.

The other five of them exchanged a look.

“We can get help from someone else!” Chat insisted.

“Like who?” Rena Rouge demanded. “You’d need someone who is willing to pull off crazy stunts, who is a tactical creative genius against so many, and someone who is not intimidated by akumas.”

“Marinette!” Chat exclaimed, his face lit up in excitement.

“How do you know Marinette?” Ryuko asked, her eyebrows furrowed together.

“You think Marinette can do what six fully equipped superheroes couldn’t?!” Carapace asked.

Rena’s eyes narrowed. “Why Marinette?”

“Are you kidding? Marinette could kick any one of our asses,” Chat said. “Marinette is the only person I know who has gone up against an akuma as a civilian.”

Seriously?! Did the cat have selective memory? But it wasn’t like Carapace could remind everyone that Nino had gone up against Anansi as a civilian.

Of course, he had lost, but that wasn’t the point.

“You’re crazy,” he said instead, crossing his arms.

“I’m in.” Rena said.

“What?!” Carapace turned to her in shock, feeling more than a bit betrayed.

Viperion and Ryuko nodded in agreement as well.

Was everyone insane? He turned to Rena. “You’re going along with this? You’d throw Marinette—“ her best friend went unsaid, but Rena understood what he was saying. “—out there unsupported against an akuma?”

His girlfriend shrugged. She shrugged . “If Ladybug’s not an option. Marinette is the next best thing.”

Carapace stared at her incredulously.

Chat clapped his hands together, clearly pleased with this so-called solution. “I’ll call her!”

“You have her number?” Carapace asked. What the actual fuck?

But obviously he did because he had the cat phone to his ear and it was audibly ringing. “Hey princess!” Chat greeted enthusiastically, turning away from the group like it was a private conversation.

“Princess?” Carapace echoed. What kind of relationship did Chat Noir and Marinette have?

“No.” Marinette’s firm voice echoed throughout the dome.

“I haven’t even asked for anything yet.”

“The answer is still no! I only have twelve hours before this project is due. I cannot take a break.”

“But Paris needs you.”

“The answer is no. Call someone else! Call Ladybug!”

“No! Marinette! I can’t! Last week was terrible for her. I promised I could handle one weekend. She deserves and needs the time off. Plus, we don’t need her. I know you can do this. You can do anything . Remember Kwamibuster?”

Chat Noir spoke to Marinette like he was trying to sweet talk her. Carapace didn’t like it. Chat had always been flirtatious, and Marinette deserved someone loyal and sincere.

Someone like Adrien.

“What do you expect me to do against an akuma without a miraculous?” Marinette asked.

“Whatever it is you did against Evilustrator and Hack-san.”

“I can’t do this. Not today.”

Chat only grinned at her refusal. “You always say that, and then you do it anyway.”

“What do I get out of this?”

“Your friends and family safe and sound, free to feel their own feelings and pursue their own dreams.”

Marinette groaned. “Chaaaat!” she whined. “You’re gonna owe me so much for this.”

“See you soon, Princess!” Chat sing-songed, and turned his attention back to the group. “She’s on her way.”

As if that solved all their problems.

“Shouldn’t we… I don’t know… come up with a back up plan?” Carapace asked.

Purple Tigress looked at the other four expectantly, as if agreeing with him, but the others just exchanged glances and shrugged. They honestly thought Marinette was the solution.

Carapace really hoped they were right. Marinette was amazing, but did that mean she could get through an akuma that Viperion had just spent who knew how many weeks fighting unsuccessfully across three time loops?

“You don’t need to worry so much,” Chat Noir assured, and it was galling that Chat Noir could read him so well.

“How can you be so confident? Aren’t you worried about her at all?”

“Marinette would kick my ass into next Sunday if I worried about her. She can take care of herself, and she knows what she can handle and what she can’t. I’ve learned over and over again not to underestimate her. Kwamibuster was an akuma where Ladybug and I both lost our Kwamis, and therefore our transformations. Marinette pulled off a stunt the old Guardian thought was impossible with all the remaining miraculouses using the mouse to protect her own psyche. She was brilliant.”

“But she doesn’t have an entire box right now.”

“She doesn’t need an entire box. She defeated Hack-San without any powers at all. Her super power is in how she thinks!”

Carapace held his hands up. “I know firsthand that she’s brilliant. I’m just scared for her too. That akuma handed our asses to us.”

“She’s doing fine,” Rena commented, projecting a video from her flute into the air for all of them to see.

Chat Noir flipped around the projected image, so he wouldn’t be seeing the mirror image like Nino from the back.

“Some girl just took out an akuma with a trash can and a fire hydrant,” Chat read aloud. “She ran off before anyone could thank her.”

In the video, Marinette hid in the trash can and when the akuma was overhead, she leapt out of her hiding place and tackled the clone onto the ground where the fire hydrant went off in its face. Marinette used the distraction to snatch the clone’s sash, and the thing dissolved underneath her. Then she was running away before the other three could grab her, her pigtails bobbing behind her.

Chat’s expression was completely besotted. “The way she lured him in like that?! She’s just amazing!” Then he turned toward Carapace triumphantly like a proud boyfriend. “See! She just has this way of cutting to the right idea at the right time! I could watch her working on a problem or project for hours!”

Did Chat Noir realize how he sounded?

And it wasn’t fair because Nino was certain that Adrien was finally starting to realize that he was crushing hard on Marinette.

What if Chat Noir got there first?

“You think she’ll clear this up before sunset?” Purple Tigress asked.

“Why? Got somewhere else more important to be?” Viperion asked.

“Well, not more important . But something I’d like to do, yes.”

“A hot date?” Viperion teased.

“What’s it to you?” Purple Tigress growled back.

Viperion held his hands up in surrender. “Just teasing! You deserve to get to go on your date. Hopefully Marinette pulls through. She usually does.”

“I never said it was a date,” Tigress muttered. But clearly it was.

“I have another Marinette update,” Rena announced, playing another video from the Ladyblog’s fan submission page.

“This girl is insane!” the narrator exclaimed, his camera flashing toward two bungie cables dangling from the overhead railing with two suitcases attached on either end. “She set up a pulley system with two guys’ luggage and a plastic bag to set a trap for a friggin’ akuma and she won!” The video angled back to his face. “Where the hell are Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“Wow! That’s super cool!” Tigress said, watching the video with wide eyes.

“That’s Marinette for you. She never sits out a fight when she can do something,” Chat said.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Ryuko asked, smiling fondly.

“Oh yeah, she’s absolutely amazing! Have you ever seen her designs?” His face was as bright as the moon as he spoke.

Carapace shook his head. Chat Noir didn’t just know about Marinette’s designs. He had seen them! Nino wondered again how much time Chat Noir spent with Marinette on the regular? Even Nino had only ever caught glimpses of her work and he was in almost all of Marinette’s classes.

“You know, even if Marinette manages to take out all four clones, how is she gonna break through this barrier?”

“She’ll figure it out,” Chat insisted. “She always does. I wish we had something in here to give her to show our appreciation.”

Rena smiled at him. “I’m sure she’ll know we appreciate her.”

“I just feel so bad for interrupting her project right before a deadline. I’ll have to make it up to her.”

Yeah, Chat Noir had it bad, which wasn’t good. Nino didn’t want him swooping in right before Adrien was finally seeing her.

“Ah! We have an update on the akuma,” Rena announced, projecting the post into the air again.

“My little girl almost got hit by an akuma! Luckily, this girl knocked it out of the park before it touched her at all. And then she stayed and danced until my girl was laughing again! What an absolute angel!”

“Wow!” Purple Tigress said. “Marinette’s usually so clumsy.”

But Chat was shaking his head. “Not during emergencies or akumas. Then she’s graceful. And yeah, she trips and stumbles constantly–” he was smiling fondly as he said this. “-- which can be really adorable, but she’s really good at catching herself! She kind of has this unique way of pinwheeling her arms to regain her balance. And her gestures are so creative and expressive… Honestly, I could spend hours just watching her.”

That description was remarkably specific. “Aren’t you supposed to be in love with Ladybug?” Carapace asked.

Chat turned to him, his eyebrows furrowed in total bafflement. “I am in love with Ladybug.”

Carapace crossed his arms. “Are you sure? Seems like you have a thing for Marinette.”

“Oh, he definitely has a thing for Marinette,” Rena interjected, studying the feed on her flute before flashing him a smirk. “But then who doesn’t?”

“Right?!” Viperion chimed in.

Even Ryuko was nodding. “I admit I hold more than a passing affection for Marinette as well.”

Carapace hated that he couldn’t even argue. He had harbored a crush on Marinette for months . But he buried his hooded face in his hands anyway. This was ridiculous.

“I don’t have a thing for Marinette!” Chat objected.

“God! You’re worse than my best bro!”

“What does that mean?”

“You’re totally oblivious.”

And Nino hoped it stayed that way at least until Adrien had a chance to say something.

“No, you don’t understand. I can’t have a thing for Marinette! She’s in love with someone else. You should have heard her confession!”

“She confessed?!”

“She practiced it anyway. It was silly at first, but then just so sincere. I wish someone would confess to me like that.”

Chat’s shoulders were slumped, and his gaze downcast. Carapace stared at a dejected Chat in disbelief. Did Chat Noir really not get that he had feelings for Marinette?

Chat looked up straight at Carapace. “Do you think anyone will ever love me like that?”

Nino froze. Chat Noir, one of the two primary heroes of Paris who pranced around in a catsuit and flirted with every other person he encountered, was looking to him for reassurance?!

Today was just absolutely wild.

“I’m sure there’s someone out there for you, dude,” Carapace reassured.

There was a loud bang, and they all tensed, flipped around facing the barrier read to fight.

But the dome just faded away. Marinette stood on the other side, holding out a clear glass bottle with an akuma fluttering angrily inside.

Chat Noir plucked the bottle from her hold, smiling at her like she hung the moon. He released the akuma just far enough to cataclysm it.

“See! I knew you could do it.” His eyes were so soft, he could give Adrien a run for his money.

Marinette scowled at him, crossing her arms. “You know who else could have done it? Ladybug!! She has actual powers! Do you know how hard it was to go after an akuma without enhanced agility?”

Chat took her hand. “May I offer the princess a kiss in gratitude?”

“I think I’m the knight in this scenario,” she replies petulantly, but she didn’t pull away.

He pressed a lingering kiss onto her hand.

Marinette didn’t even blush. “You owe me bigtime!”

Chat nods. “Thank you for bailing me–” he gestured to all six of the present heroes, “–I mean, bailing all of us out.”

“Why’d you ask me? I’m just an ordinary girl.”

He shook his head. “There’s nothing ordinary about you, Marinette.” He said her name with absolute reverence.

Nino shook his head in exasperation. There was no way in hell Chat Noir wasn’t in love with Marinette. Nino would have to warn Adrien to get his game on. He had competition, even if he didn’t know it.

The other heroes surrounded her and offered thanks and congratulations. “Marinette! You are amazing!” Carapace told her. “Like you pulled off an impossible feat!” And then he bent down and whispered. “And I think if you’re not careful you’re going to break a certain black cat’s heart.”

Marinette’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about? Chat’s way too obsessed with Ladybug to ever really see me.”

#miraculous square dance 2023 #marichat #miraculous ladybug fan fiction #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #adrien is oblivious #marinette is awesome #nino is just done #heroes are trapped #marinette to the rescue #ladybug just wanted a weekend off #my own content

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ddejavvu · 2 years

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dbf!hotch who you run into the mall and you ask him to shop with you since you need some opinions, then you shop for underwear/lingerie/swimsuits and he gets very hard 🥴 and maybe he asks you to help relieve it 😩

It's hard to miss the brooding, stony-faced man storming through the mall like it's personally offended him. You know those furrowed brows, and the dark eyes below them that get impossibly sharper every day.

He's carrying a sleek black bag, matte and stuffed with what you realize are dress shirts. Of course, you scoff, does he wear anything else?

Right now, though, he's in a quarter-zip. The zipper is crooked where it lays against his chest, bouncing as he steps forwards through the crowd. You only have to shift over a few people to reach him, and you call out a jovial, "Aaron!" before stopping in his path.

He stops short to avoid crashing into you, and it means that his designer bag knocks into your victoria's secret one. He's bewildered, eyes roving over you for a split second before he recognizes you.

"Y/N!" He exclaims, a warm smile sliding over his face. It makes him look even more handsome than he already does, and that's saying something.

The crowd in the mall moves fluidly around you two, and you narrowly avoid getting your foot stomped on by a passing stranger. Aaron tugs you sideways with a hand on your bicep, glaring sharply at the man as he hurries off.

"You doing some weekend shopping?" Aaron asks, glancing down at your bag. He clearly wasn't expecting the one you're holding, though, because his eyes go wide and you find his cheeks dusted with just the slightest hue of rose. He does a good job at hiding it, glancing away so that you can't see his eyes, but not a good enough job.

"Sort of," You huff, clutching the bag like your lifeline, "I'm exchanging this. I want something that fits me better. This one's a little too tight," You mourn, swinging the bag around, "Which, I mean, it looked fantastic, but it hurt."

You're doing it on purpose. You're monitoring Aaron's facial expressions, he'd probably congratulate you in any other scenario for profiling. But not now, now he clears his throat and checks his watch, bag shifted to hang in front of his torso.

"Well good luck finding your size," He moves to step around you and you side-step him.

"Wait!" You cry out, trying terribly hard not to glance down at his cheeks to see if they're still blushy, "I could use a second opinion."

"What?"

"A second opinion," You wave your hand around, accentuating your rambling, "A fresh pair of eyes, a critic. Would you come with me?"

"Come into-" He pauses short, blinking rapidly, "You want me to come.. bra shopping with you?"

His brows are furrowed, though not with anger. You're able to detect a hint of confusion in there somewhere, but it's mostly panic. And yes, you discover, his cheeks are still pink.

"Oh, come on," You urge him, the final push, "We're both adults here, right?"

He's trapped. If he says yes, he'll be watching you model lingerie. If he says no, he'll admit he has feelings for you. Both work in your favor.

"Right," He decides slowly, stiffly letting you grab his wrist and drag him across the mall. The pink store stands glaringly obvious between a home goods outlet and a toy shop, bralettes displayed in the window.

You march through the rows and rows of matching sets until you come to the lacy, sheer collection you're looking for. It's strictly for looks, there's no cups under the mesh. It's exactly what you want Aaron to see.

"I'll be back," You yank one of the bras from the stack, pushing lightly on Aaron's chest to lower him into a chair outside your dressing room. It's poofy and pink, and lets out a hiss of air as the leather molds to his body.

"This one fits much better," You call, nonchalant about anyone who could be overhearing you, "It doesn't pinch anymore."

Stepping out of the dressing room is your final challenge. Sure, it's easy flirting. But are you ready for the look on his face when he sees your practically-bare tits?

You are, you decide, as you push the door open, shorts hanging low on your hips and exposing the sides of your matching panties. Aaron's eyes start at your tits, work their way down, then snap back up again to the maroon lace. Then he realizes that he's probably been looking for too long, and locks eyes with you, keeping his bag of dress shirts firmly in place over his lap.

"Well?" You turn slightly, watching his eyes trace the curve of your back from over your shoulder. You swear they linger on the lace for longer than they need to, and the bob of his adam's apple in his throat doesn't go unnoticed by you, "What do you think?"

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goldenteaset · 8 months

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Trigun 1998 Appreciation Week #2: "Lady-Killers Miss Each Other By Five Minutes, Narrowly Avoid Stopping Traffic"

(I spent so long trying to narrow down my favorite episode the week is almost over! D: Here's a combo of "Favorite Fight/Favorite Episode", because they wound up being too connected to split.)

After (too) much consideration, I think Demon's Eye is my favorite episode, with my favorite fight. It's got everything, really: great jokes, great atmosphere, Legato being humanized enough to be more terrifying, Vash being a scoundrel (and also multilayered), and Dominique the Cyclops. There's also a growing sense of paranoia and dread throughout, utilizing ambiguity to eerie effect.

I've talked about this episode before, so I'll try not to repeat myself but make no promises.

...All of which is to say, I actually like every fight in this episode, even the ones that aren't a fight in the traditional sense at all. I could go on and on about the bar scene with Legato, and how he makes a point of not killing any civilians despite all the bullets flying around. I could talk at length about the later scene that heralds the Gung-Ho Guns' introduction, and how he actually sounds happy throughout it. And how he and Dominique have something going on. Only one man can get Dominique to wear a dress and it's not Vash...

^"Oh, you~ <3"

And then there's Vash VS Dominique the Cyclops, and how it both feels genuinely tense while also making me laugh. (As usual, your mileage my vary.)

There comes a point in Trigun's plot where the fun banter between fighters begins to understandably fade, and this fight is one of the last that really feels like both sides are enjoying riling each other up. Even when Vash is getting more desperate, that sense of fun remains. There's even a "theme" at play, Poker, and it sticks around until "game's over".

Here's where the YMMV comes in: I find Vash's chauvinistic remarks here really funny. (Except for "I should slap you", because that line's delivery is deathly serious.) Mainly because Dominique doesn't even bat an eye at them, even when her buttons come off, and when she does blush it's when he has her at gunpoint. We love characters with warped concepts of romance in this house! :D

That aside, though, I love how Dominique's Demon's Eye is depicted, from the jaw-clenching crunching/clicking sound that heralds its activation to how Vash overcomes it and only escapes due to her moment of fair play. Dominique just...makes a great showing here. She's so cool.

And then, of course, there's the end, where Legato does his paranoia-inducing visit to Vash in the distance and smiles at Vash's growing resolve to hunt him down. It's arguably the final "fight" of the episode, and one that Legato wins. Vash forces Meryl and Milly to leave, cutting himself off from humanity just like Knives wants.

@trigunsource

#trigun 1998 appreciation week #trigun #legato bluesummers #vash the stampede #dominique the cyclops #legato x dominique #(mentioned and YMMV)#This very nearly became a Legato's Smiles Compilation; consider yourselves lucky XD

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figs-oliomedley · 1 year

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March of the Oni good

@ninja-guy-yo ‘s post about Crystalized got me thinking about how good of a sendoff March of the Oni was. It wrapped up all the main characters’ story arcs while giving them all something to do.

Lloyd Fresh off the heels of Hunted and SoG, Lloyd initially doesn’t trust a word his father says. But when they get 1-on-1 time on the Bounty and in the city, whenever Garmadon shows the smallest hint of humanity (saving Lloyd from an Oni, looking wistfully at a pic of his past self), Lloyd immediately clings onto it, looking for the good in him that Garmadon swears doesn’t exist. He only backpedals whenever Garmadon does, angstily claiming “fine, he doesn’t care either >:’I” in an attempt to mask and push down his own feelings as well (it doesn’t work lol he’s too sweet). I think the perfect summation of their relationship is the scene on the Bounty. Garmadon looks at a past picture of him and Lloyd, struggling to remember the memory and what it felt like before ultimately brushing his feelings aside and throwing the image, cracking it and claiming that feelings of the past are useless to cling onto or something like that. Lloyd spitefully (angstily) yells back in agreement and throws the photograph in the trash, only to return a few seconds later and pull it out again. Despite everything Garmadon’s done to him, done to the world, Lloyd still loves and wants to trust his father (Crystalized FUCKED my boy what the fuck).

Jay Jay gets a subplot of trying ask Nya to be his Yang. After the rollercoaster of buildup and all the shit they and their relationship have been through, he’s finally ready to pop the question... iff he wasn’t so bad at it. In true Jay fashion he fusses over the “perfect moment” and getting it “just right”, his own awkwardness and anxiousness often contributing to ruining the mood (though his horrible timing doesn’t help either). He finally asks her in the final episode, and it’s a very nice cherry on top of their relationship that’s been building since before Season 1. He finally found the confidence to ask Nya while being himself, wrapping a bow on this ongoing plot thread in a heart-wrenching way (look I’ve been a Jaya fan ever since I was a kid, that scene hit me hard).

Pixal Pixal gets the chance to be badass as she dives head-first into a cloud-covered Ninjago City to save Lloyd and Garmadon, risking her life while she burns through her suit’s fuel above the cloud. Without her being there, the ninja wouldn’t have been able to save the others at the NGTV news building while also getting the Garmadons out of there. The scene where she narrowly avoids the building is so cool because like, they could’ve just had her miss the building. It would have been easier to animate, as they wouldn’t have had to worry about the effects of the sparks, or the Garmadons reacting to the impact, or the camera shaking and sound effects, or anything, but they did that for us. They had Pixal nearly collide with the building for dramatic effect and put in the extra work to really have us feel the tension. Just a really great moment for Pixal, she’s come such a long way from Season 3.

Cole Cole’s role in this season is actually HUGE, WAY bigger than you’d initially think. After his fearful encounter with the Cloud and death fake out, you think, “oh that’s it, just a cheap trick to create an emotional reaction.” But NO! Cole’s supposed fall to the cloud is super important in the way the story splits after this. The loss of Cole creates a huge gap between Garmadon and the others, which leads to his introspection and question about the meaning of life. It leads to the moment between Kai and Nya, which is super emotional and sweet. Even when Cole is revealed to be unfrozen he gets to do something. By getting to his car outside the building, he forces himself to face his fear of the cloud, harkening back to his initial fear of dragons in the Pilots. He forces himself to confront his fear and risk asphyxiation for the sake of his friends who need him, and I dunno how to end this, I just think it’s really cool and neat. :>

Zane While not as big or impactful as the others, Zane gets a little moment when he tells off Garmadon for thinking he’d be the “logical one” as a Nindroid, instead getting the chance to display just how human he is. He isn’t just “the smart one” or “the robot”, he’s Zane, and he won’t just avoid greiving his friend just because he’s the most “”intelligent””. This defiant stand is a real culmination of Zane’s identity problems.

Nya Nya gets a sweet moment with Kai after she blames herself for Cole’s fall. It’s probably the first genuinely good sibling moment they’ve had since like, ever. Kai comforts Nya in his own Kai way, stumbling over his words but still managing to say the things she needed to hear. After the encouragement, Nya then gets the idea to recreate the golden weapons. There’s a really nice comedic moment when she’s explaining it to Kai, who doesn’t quite get it the first few times, but after he does, she turns the encouragement back on him when he doubts that his blacksmithing skills could recreate the weapons. It’s a really sweet moment where both siblings contribute emotionally to the conversation and perfectly leads into the recreation of the weapons while acknowledging and discussing Nya’s guilt. She also gets a cool moment with Pixal as they speed towards each other, claiming “I’m not gonna lose another one today!” Fuck yeah girlbosses fuck it up

Kai The main man who’s no longer the main man and keeps getting sidelined lol. Ignoring Kai’s visceral reaction to Cole falling (I don’t think I could take it right now that scene is really good), Kai returning to blacksmithing after 10 seasons is a really, REALLY good way of having things come full circle. It perfectly shows just how far he’s come as a character by having the patience and experience to recreate these important and powerful weapons. Some may find it bogus or whatever, but in the pilots, the advice Nya gives to him while blacksmithing is to “be patient”. While Kai still has the firecracker energy sometimes, he’s grown, and now knows how to stifle and control the fire when he needs to, slowly and meticulously working to recreate the golden weapons. It is just, such a good way to circle back to the beginning of his journey and the entire series as a whole guys you have no idea.

Garmadon Evil daddio himself. At first you think, haha, this’ll be fun, Garmadon being a comedic and morbid foil to the ninja with his cynical take on life. But then after Cole’s “death” there’s a shift. Lloyd’s snap at him causes Garmadon to contemplate the real “meaning” of life. Up to this point there were a few hints that he’s not all evil, and the Cole event is what pushes him over the brink. They beautifully follow up on Garmadon failing to kill Lloyd during Hunted, being held back by feelings deep within his being, by showing him awkwardly trying to understand the others and be more “human”. The scene where he tries to smile at Lloyd becomes so much more sad and impactful when you realize that he wasn’t giving him a “haha I’m totally gonna betray you and run away just you watch”, it was a “you can trust me” smile. The way his attention holds on the picture of his past self is really impactful, and that conversation with Vinny man, *mwah* perfection incarnate, perfect blend of comedy and emotion, with a laid-back attitude thanks to Vinny’s way of speaking mixed with solemn contemplation thanks to the mood, music, and the stoic way Garmadon reacts, pure brilliance. And if you still didn’t get it, Omega taunts Garmadon for being more human than he lets on, trying to grapple (and in some cases, suppress) that side of himself that yearns to understand mortals that he pushed down in order to be an effective conqueror, but has been slowly coming to light.

And finally, the Monastery, the place where it all began. Having the fog start at ground level was the perfect way to ensure that the final stand be at the Monastery, high up on the mountain. The weapons are back, Cole reunites with the others, and everyone gets in a bit of butt-kicking before they’re forced inside. They once again believe this may be the end, reminiscent of their conversation in Season 2 when contemplating if this battle would be their last. Jay proposes to Nya and she accepts, which, <33333, and Lloyd gets the idea to try the Tornado of Creation against beings of Destruction, even getting Garmadon to join in (really cool to have Lloyd come up with the idea, since from the beginning he’s usually the one to offer a different point of view [the idea to look for the Serpentine underground]). There’s a really sweet moment where, as Garmadon’s watching the others begin the tornado, wondering is he should, or can, join in, he looks to the murals and sees the green Lloyd get covered by the darkness, hardening his resolve and finally spurring him into action (looking too far into it, but it’s also the first time he’s used his father’s art after being revived I think). After Lloyd meets the FSM and is brought back to life, there’s a sweet moment where the others bring him inside while talking with him, real found family stuff, you love to see it. Finally, before Garmadon leaves, he and his brother share a look, as Garmadon leaves. You don’t know where he’s going, but you get the sense that he isn’t going to bother them again, instead leaving to find his place in the world. Though him and Lloyd don’t make up by the end of MotO, I don’t think they could’ve satisfyingly with all the damage Garm’s done. But just standing by his son’s side once again is enough to signify that at least a little, their relationship is healing. I could keep gushing about the final mural they make, the side characters we’ve gotten to know celebrating with them, the pan up to Firstborne, etc., but I think the scene speaks for itself. While a bit rocky in excution, March of the Oni was a perfect sendoff for Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and the characters within it, giving each character an emotional and narrative contribution to the story while wrapping things up.

And then Season 11 opened with a fart joke :p

P. S. No hate to Season 11! I’m just joshing.

#thanks for reading all this if you got this far #I've got a problem when it comes to rambling heheh #this isn't even all my thoughts of MotO (obviously)#but I really needed (wanted) to express all the thoughts I suddenly had while thinking about it #and then Crystalized came and SUCKED ASS /hj #usually it takes me a rewatch to notice the flaws in something but gawt DAMN #at some point during Crystalized I realized it felt un-fun in a way #also when neither Jay nor Nya were turned into zombies while she was trapped any and all tension immediately evaporated #they should have just given the crsytal dudes short-ranged weapons it would have made so much more sense #but n a h #ninjago #ninjago spoilers #ninjago march of the oni #ninjago crystalized #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago lloyd #ninjago cole #ninjago zane #ninjago jay #ninjago garmadon #ninjago pixal #ninjago dragons rising

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stray-kaz · 2 years

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Butterflies on Fire : a Frank Castle x reader drabble

A/N: This was supposed to be something quite different, but it wrote itself, so you get two kisses for the price of one!

Your day started like any other, but it ended with Frank Castle waiting outside on the steps of the elementary school library you spent 8 to 4 at, a bouquet of wild flowers hanging loosely in his grip. You couldn’t help but smile as you raced to lock the doors. Frank glanced around a little warily as a few late afternoon stragglers walked by, staring at him and then at you.

“Is he your boyfriend, Miss?” one of the brave ones shouted.

You reached Frank and took the flowers, replacing them with your hand in his.

“Bit old for you, ain’t he?”

You saw Frank’s shoulders tense beneath his jacket and felt his fingers tighten around yours. You looked up into his face and saw the defenses in his brown eyes building walls faster than you could think. So, before you could second guess yourself, you hooked the arm holding the flowers around the back of his neck, leaned up on tiptoes, and kissed him. Kissed him hard.

For a split second of surprise, he did nothing. Then he growled, audibly, and used his free hand to grip your jaw, tilting your head to a better angle so he could do what he does best: dominate.

You hadn’t been expecting it, hadn’t been anticipating the fierce scrape of his teeth on your bottom lip or the push of his tongue stroking the tip of yours. Hadn’t expected butterflies exploding in your stomach. They weren’t like your normal, everyday butterflies either. No run-of-the-mill wings here. They were butterflies on fire, fingers locked in his hair, hips shifting of their own accord, a complete betrayal of your sanity.

And when he pulled away to allow you air, to witness the blown out pupils and the pink tinge to your face, he grinned, a wolf’s grin.

“Yeah, well, if I’m an old man, I’m your old man” he said, voice very low in your ear.

You cleared your throat and turned slightly away, suddenly remembering that you had a very young audience. The kids were gaping at the two of you, and you realised what they would be seeing: their librarian, stern with the rules but quick with a smile or book recommendation, and a dark, trouble looking man roughly ten years older. They were too young to really know who Frank Castle was; they might have known him by another name, but not the one his parents gave him.

You suddenly giggled at the absurdity of the situation, tugged at Frank’s hand, and ran.

Later that night, upon leaving the restaurant, with Frank’s hand in the small of your back, your wallet was snatched out of your hand, drawing a surprised scream from your throat. The snatcher was quick, but Frank was faster. He was on the man before he could escape more than six feet, the wallet falling from panicked fingers as Frank’s curled fist impacted several times with his face.

“Frank!” you shouted, fearing an overreaction.

He stopped and looked back at you; sensing hesitation, the thief cracked Frank across the mouth, splitting his bottom lip instantly, and sprinted away.

Frank grunted as you hurried to him and carefully wiped the blood off on his jacket sleeve. He picked up your wallet from the sidewalk and held it out to you. He looked, almost, apologetic.

“Sorry, sweetheart” he mumbled. “Sometimes I forget I don’t have to be...him...all the time.”

Surprising him all over again, you reached up to cradle his jaw between your palms and brought his mouth down to yours. You were gentle, kissing him lightly, nothing like your first kiss earlier in the day, but you could still taste his blood.

“My hero” you teased gently.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed your hand.

“Just don’t tell anyone” he replied. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

“What? Biggest badass on the block?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

You rolled your eyes and squeezed his hand.

“Biggest baddest teddy bear, more like.”

Frank eyed you narrowly.

“I’ll kiss you again if you don’t shut up” he warned.

You grinned.

“Teddy -”

You didn’t even get to finish.

PSA: Frank Castle is a teddy bear with women he cares about, and I will die on that hill.

#frank castle #frank castle x reader #frank castle drabble #marvel #the punisher #liss writes

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sweetestlamb · 2 years

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I'll Look After You

Summary: Jun-ho deals with the aftermath of his fight.

Author's note: Things got sadder and more introspective than I expected 😂 but I just wanted to delve into Jun-ho's feelings after the last episode and give him some comfort because poor boy has some terrible friends and deserves a hug.

His head is swimming, his emotions chaotically shifting between frustration, rage and deep disappointment. He feels fatigue that penetrates down until his bone ache and he sways on his feet with lethargy.

His knuckles are bruised.

Not yet properly healed from that disaster dinner and now this, Minwoo's shock about his secret crush had almost instantly morphed into an ugly hate so visceral he had taken a staggering step back when all that filth had started to fall from his lips.

You can't be serious? Her? Why does everyone keep choosing her? You could have anyone and you want that..... that freak!

Thud!

His fist had gone flying without his knowledge but in all honesty with his fill consent. He'd known on a base level that his roommate had issues with Young-woo that stemmed from his own insecurities and prejudice but he wouldn't stand for anyone speaking about her like that. He would fight all of Korea if it was necessary.

Red swirls down the drain alongside water, a mix of the blood that dripped from Minwoo's busted lip and his own raw knuckles, the skin splitting open with the hard impact.

You punched me! Are you insane, are you really doing this over her? After everything we've been....

He ached. Minwoo was an idiot- one that thought the world was only difficult for him and didn't see the merit in helping others at his own expense. Minwoo was the very antithesis to him and everything he sought to be, yet he couldn't deny that it hurt him to make someone that he had once considered a friend bleed and look betrayed.

They'd been through a lot. Almost faced eviction once, both having to work their asses to keep this little space in the world they called their own.

But, none of that justified any of the horrible things he had done or said to Young-woo. He had chosen to overlook the post on the bulletin board, gossip traveling faster than the speed of light- mainly because Suyeon had handled that far better than he could ever manage. Effectively putting both Minwoo and anyone who agreed with his backwards logic in their place. He had listened from the break room with a proud grin on his face.

I'd do a lot worst to you for her. If you ever put me in a position where I have to choose, I hope this has made things clear.

He prayed to see some remorse or regret on his friends' irate face but that hope sizzled out as ugly hatred grew in its place, a cold sneer and then Minwoo was gone with a pounding slam of the door.

Now he was alone with his own regrets. It seemed he wasn't a great judge of character, he had no friends to share his happiness with- no one that understood that he cared for Young-woo without pity or conditions.

Had he simply overlooked their previous biases and bigotry, and if so what did that make him?

Loneliness fills him with its cold dredge seeping into his limps and making his heart throb painfully.

He misses her.

Wishes he could see her but he dreads putting all his baggage on her, she was the true victim here after all.

It was best to handle this alone and go back to work with a disarming smile the told nothing of this day off.

He splashes water on his face, narrowly missing the vibration of his phone on the counter too lost in his own sorrow.

Absently leaves the bathroom to collapse on the couch and lets a mindless variety show distract him as he pointedly thinks of nothing and no one.

He loses track of time sitting alone in the now darkened room, no clue when the sun also abandoned him. He starts to clean up the containers of food littering the coffee table- they had been enjoying a meal before the fallout- throwing everything back into a bag and walking to dispose of it in the trash.

He doesn't expect Minwoo's return so the sudden sound of the bell catches him off guard, mid step.

Looking between the door and the trash, he places the bag on the floor before walking over to the sound.

Ding dong!

His brows furrow as he looks at the door, contemplating his next move.

But the anger that still burns deep in his belly answers the unasked question.

He wasn't ready to see Minwoo again. His mouth wouldn't be the one doing the talking.

So he turns to walk away, finally taking what people deign as the high road.

"Jun-ho ssi? Are you home?"

His breath wheezes out at the sound of her voice.

She was here.

But they hadn't made any plans and he hadn't even heard from her today so her appearance confuses him.

Was she okay? Had something happened? Was she hurt?

Those thoughts flooding his mind drive him to spin around and tug the door open before deciding if now is the best time for company.

Immediately he surveys her body for any clear indications of her being hurt but thankfully finds nothing.

She looks perfect. Too pretty in a soft lilac sweater and gray skirt.

He tries to fight the tears that pool as soon as he sees her but all the fight that was ravaging his body dissipates instantly, he clings to the doorway trying to stay strong in the face of her surprise.

He couldn't cry. He couldn't cry in front of her. He needed to be strong for both of them. He could face any and all obstacles if it meant he was allowed to be with her.

This was nothing.

This pain was nothing.

Her hands fills his vision, hovering near his cheek with a light tremble before she touches him, wiping away the stray tear that traitorously falls.

Her own eyes are large and wavering now too. He closes his own ashamed to have ruined her mood and fallen apart so quickly in her presence.

"You're crying Jun-ho ssi."

He sniffles trying to pull them back in but it's too late once the first tear falls the others follow like copycats.

"You're bleeding."

He's a mess. He can't imagine what she must see when she looks at him but he's embarrassed to show her this side of him so early in their courtship.

He feels pathetic.

"You need a bandaid. I'll look for one."

With a trembling hand on his shoulder after darting away from his hand, she lightly pushes him into his apartment and closes the door behind them.

"Can I look in your bathroom?"

She hesitates at the door after bringing him to sit on the couch.

He looks up at her, tears blurring his vision.

With a tight nod he gives her permission and then looks away.

Her first time in his apartment and he's a blubbering mess, this would be hilarious if it weren't so pathetic. Would she even still like him after this?

"Jun-ho ssi. I found a bandaid, I'll put it on now."

She circles the room, joining him on the couch with a modest distance between them.

"Can you lift your hand?"

He does, placing it on the cushion between them. It's been very long since anyone has done anything like this for him. Cared for him.

Her hands are tender on his own, an alcohol pad swiping across the already clean wound and then the crinkling of the bandaid being opened and gently placed on his raw skin.

"Was this what made you cry? Did it hurt so much you couldn't help it?"

She moves closer, peering up into his eyes for an answer her fingertips still lingering on his raw flesh. The touch only lasts for a few seconds though.

He thinks about Minwoo's head whipping back from the impact of his fists and the cold of the floor as he tackled Jang to the ground, body writhing helplessly as his screams filled the restaurant.

He wasn't a violent person. Been called soft his entire life. Yet in those moments, fury and violence seemed like his only options. As if his body was set aflame and there was no going back.

He blinks realizing he never responded to her apt questioning.

He nods heavily, "Yes. That's why I cried, it hurt so much."

She nods in understanding meeting his gaze before closing the inches of space separating them.

"Do you....Do you want me to kiss it better? My father would offer me that when I was younger and I got hurt. While there's no medical research to support this method, he said it was meant to heal my heart not the pain and that made more sense to me."

He stills at her words, letting the implications of each syllable wash over him.

She wanted to heal his heart.

It makes him ache.

Instead of words, he lifts his hand in reply presenting his bandaged hand to her with his heart firmly lodged in his throat.

Her thin warm fingers waver in the air before bypassing his hand and wrapping around his wrist.

With a gentle pressure she tugs the limb closer to herself, he watches in awe as she puckers her lips and draws him nearer in her gravity, breath suspended before those too plush, too perfect lips are on him.

Kissing his pain away.

Smooch. Smooch. Smooch.

She kisses each bruised knuckle, maintaining eye contact with him throughout the spell binding moment.

He can feel more tears dripping down his cheeks, the storm barely beginning.

"Jun-ho ssi, can I...hug you?"

He's nodding before the question is even fully in the air, moving into her space with his wrist still in her grasp. It falls limply as she takes a deep breath of air in before opening her arms for him.

It looks unnatural to her, her arms awkwardly suspended in the air and he wonders if she has ever offered this comfort to anyone else before.

With a small smile he slips into her embrace, lips ticking up further when her arms remain open around his much larger body.

"Is this okay?" Her voice is small but firm, always so inquisitive.

"Can you close your arms a little more?"

She hums at his instructions, nodding-he can feel the movement on his shoulder- before bringing her arms around him in a tighter embrace. He hums in satisfaction, the scent of her body calming his frayed nerves.

He considers where to place his hands before settling on her hips. She releases a small gasp but otherwise doesn't react to his grip.

He closes his eyes, for once allowing someone else to keep him afloat.

But old habits are hard to kill and he feels a twinge of insecurity penetrating his resolve.

Forcing him to ask, "Young-woo ssi, do you....do you still like me? Even after seeing me like this?"

He knew that men were allowed to cry, to feel whatever emotion overcame them but, there is a hard voice in his mind undermining what he knows to be true.

Be a man boy!

He forcefully drives that voice back into the crevices of his mind. That was where it belonged.

"Yes. I think I might like you even more than I did before. You are always helping me and I'm happy that today, I could help you Jun-ho ssi. I want to keep helping you."

His heart flutters at the innocuous confession. It feels like a reply to his own, oh so long along.

I want someone like you on my side.

I want to be the one who helps you.

He just wanted her in anyway he could have her.

“Thank you.”

He whispers in the still air between them, all his fear and insecurities dissolving as she holds his broken pieces together in her arms.

Maybe he didn’t have to be strong when he felt weak. Maybe he could lean on her. Maybe this was enough.

#extraordinary attorney woo #woo young woo #lee junho #whale couple #comfort fic #i can't help it I'm obsessed #i just want to hug them both #eaw

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