Unusual, but maybe not in a bad way
Eddie's shoes might look good, but they were never a good choice for summer rains. He kept forgetting that and letting the reality of his fashion choices hit him hard in the face. Or knees.
The bus had a moving plate in the middle that usually wasn't a problem but today wasn't usual. Today the rain was pouring and Eddie's phone was at 15% because he had been too lazy to plug it in before falling asleep. So today he had to switch seats to one next to a charging port and as he was making the short voyage, a few things aligned perfectly to make today unusual, and in a bad way.
The rotating plate was wet from the rain.
The soles of his shoes had no grip.
The bus turned left.
"Shit."
Eddie gathered himself off the wet floor, cursing his shoes, the weather, and the throbbing pain in his knee. Without looking up he fell heavily into the seat that was his destination, afraid of the amused stares he might catch. His dignity? Gone. His pants? Well, they were torn already anyway so one new hole didn't make much difference. His knee? Bleeding, apparently. As he rubbed his knees, one of his hands came out red. He groaned.
"Of fucking course." He just had to hit something sharp on the usually safe and relatively smooth surface.
When he was reaching to plug in his phone, someone grabbed the pipe just above the USB port. Eddie looked up and found a man looking down at him. He also realized the golden frames of his glasses complimented his hazelnut eyes beautifully.
"You should clean this up," the man said instead of making fun of him or asking if he was okay. No, he was holding out a packet of wet wipes like some kind of saint.
Eddie hesitated for a moment but while his dignity might be gone, the gorgeous man in front of him wasn't. He took the offered wipe.
"Thanks," he murmured, wiping the cut and the surrounding skin, cleaning off sand and blood.
The man dropped a backpack on the vacant seat next to him. Eddie eyed the pins attached to it; a couple of dinosaurs, a Hufflepuff crest, ‘protect trans kids’, and… a bisexual flag. Score.
"Pirates, Hello Kitty or dinosaurs?"
"Huh?"
"Band-aid," the man clarified, shaking a small tin can he fished out of his backpack. "I work with kids," he added like it explained everything. Well, it kind of did. Upon opening, the tin revealed an assortment of colourful band-aids.
Eddie hummed in thought, considering his choices.
"Dinosaurs."
"Good choice," the man praised with a smile, probably the same one he showed to the kids. Was he a teacher? Because suddenly all the teacher-student porn scenarios gained a new appeal. Where skimpy pencil skirts didn’t work on Eddie, a soft green jumper just might, apparently.
The man handed him a dino band-aid, apparently expecting him to apply it himself. Well, of course. They were two strangers on a bus, after all.
Disappointed, he put it on the cut, missing the amused tilt of the teacher's lips.
"Do you need anything else? I have some candy; lollipops, gummies…" The man flipped through the contents of his bag.
"Gummies?" Eddie's interest was piqued.
"They have colourful fillings and a tiny dragon on each wrapper," he advertised, offering him a small baggie to choose from. Again, his tone reminded him of an adult talking to a kid. This shouldn't be working on him as well as it was.
"Can I have two?" he asked, looking up into these stunning brown eyes. The level difference was not helping. Has he not sat down on purpose? To tower over poor Eddie's tiny metal heart?
The man smiled as he took a quick conspiratorial look around.
"You can even have three, just don't tell my kids," he whispered
"I ain't a snitch!" he assured and picked up two green candies and an orange one. Because red flavours belonged in the trash.
Or apparently in the plush mouth of a handsome stranger, since he picked one of those for himself. Maybe Eddie didn't hate them that much, after all. He could make an exception. Especially if he could taste them the fun way.
"You sure you don't want a lollipop? Water? Extra band-aid?"
Eddie shook his head adamantly but had a nagging feeling the man was stalling. His gaze dropped to the flag badge, giving him an instant shot of courage.
"Your number?"
The soft teacher's smile turned sly, and he knew he took the right step. His metal heart thumped in his chest, the sound resonating against his ribs. What a fun feeling.
"Better hurry up, my stop is next."
Eddie nearly dropped his phone in his haste to put in the string of numbers.
"What do I…?" he asked when the empty ‘name’ box stared at him from the screen.
"Steve," the man offered, just in time for the bus to stop. The doors swung open, and he was gone, but while the physical distance between them grew, Eddie now had the comfort of having him in the palm of his hand, hidden behind a number.
>> Thanks for the candy! 🖤 - Eddie
[Steddie masterpost] [Ao3] [ko-fi]
424 notes
·
View notes
“Hey,” Lance whispers, brushing his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “Keith, baby. You up?” There’s no response. Not even a twitch. Keith remains completely out, mouth open and snoring, mumbling something every so often with a twitch of his hands.
Lance smiles softly. He runs gentle hands over Keith’s forehead, for a long time, just gently stroking the skin. Then he trails his fingertips over the bridge of his strong nose, thumb brushing over his cheekbones, memorizing the path of his faint, barely-there freckles.
“You’re my everything,” he whispers, completely awed. Keith is no more beautiful in sleep. There is crust on the corner of his eyelids, his hair’s a rat’s nest, and a trail of drool has just started to drip from the corner of his mouth.
He is every star in Lance’s sky. He is the sun cresting quietly over the horizon. He is the anticipation of the inhale, the relief of the exhale, the bubbling exhilaration of laughter and the burning feeling of a gentle touch.
He is everything.
Slowly Lance settles back onto the pillows. He’s not sure what woke him up, what dragged him awake, what compelled him to twist out of Keith’s hold and prop himself up on his elbows to stare.
He’s glad he did. He doesn’t always have the time to sit and watch, to caress rough and calloused skin, to sit with the stuttered beat of his heart and realise, startlingly, as if for the first time, that he has the unbelievable fortune to have Keith in his bed, in his arms, in his heart.
He’s startled, although he shouldn’t be, at the drip of tears down his cheeks. He lets the salty water blaze a hot trail down his skin, dripping onto their duvet, onto the pillows, onto Keith’s face.
“L’nce?” Keith mumbles, dragged from his slumber by the steady drip of Lance’s tears. “Y’good?”
“Yes,” Lance mumbles, hoarse, smile stretching his mouth almost painfully. He feels his love bubbling up through him, almost painful, choking in its hugeness. “Go back to sleep, mi alma.”
“‘Kay,” Keith says. He cracks one eye open, beautiful and indigo and dark, just as warm as it is bleary. “C’mere.” He opens his arms, wide and welcoming, and Lance doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t even pause. He falls into them easily, back to Keith’s chest, legs tangled together. Keith’s arms tighten around him immediately, even though he’s asleep again, easily cradling Lance like it’s reflex, like it’s automatic.
Like Lance is precious to him.
“Sleep,” Keith mumbles, pressing his lips to the back of Lance’s next and keeping them there.
“Okay.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
418 notes
·
View notes
ok actually building more on the idea of jigsaw apprentice grocery shopping trips and the various reasons they all suck at it (John doesn't go out bc he's too ill and also way too recognisable)
Amanda - It's not really Amanda's fault that she sucks at getting the groceries, she struggles with chronic nausea as a side effect of her sobriety so she ends up buying lots of small, bland snack foods and forgets to get actual ingredients for big meals. She does eventually start buying more fruit to make smoothies for John as his cancer gets worse and she flips her shit when she catches hoffman stealing it for himself later
Lawrence - Lawrence should be the best at getting the groceries but he forgets that basically only hoffman and himself can cook (and hoffman sticks to simple staple meals.) He buys a lot of fancy preserved foods and fresh ingredients assuming the other apprentices will cook with them only to find Adam eating feta out of the jar with a fork.
Mark - Hoffman is usually the one to actually get the groceries as he does buy a decent amount of food and he's an okay cook (he used to have regular family dinners with angelina where he'd cook her comfort foods.) He cooks a lot of pasta bakes and roasts, tends to stick to stodgy, hearty meals. The rest of the stuff he buys is usually microwave ready meals and those big chunky meat soup cans for big boys. One year Amanda buys him one of those super cheap kiss the cook aprons as a joke and he now unironically wears it every time he cooks.
Adam - They let Adam buy the groceries one single time and he ended up bringing home seven bags of frozen potato gems, four litres of mountain dew and a pack of darts. John doesn't talk to him for two weeks.
76 notes
·
View notes