Ocean

Loyalty pt. 2

word count: 18,116

Fandom: MCYT Pairing: Emerald Duo x Male!Wolf!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Familial/Platonic Occupation: N/A Ability: Wolf Hybrid

The character is that of a wolf hybrid, allowing them to have traits of a wolf. They have abnormal strength and speed with keen senses of smell, hearing and sight, making their nose and ears almost sensitive to anything. They are also granted with an abnormal height and the gift to shapeshift from a human/normal form to a more monstrous form.

Keys: [M/N]: Male Name  [S/C]: Skin Color [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [U/N]: Username

Warnings: character death, vulgar language, violence

the reader has three forms so far. full human form, they stand at 6″10ft tall with only wolf ears, tail and eyes. half/half form: 7″6ft with fur beginning to appear on his forearms and neck, his legs become hind legs but also his entire forearms become claws. full form: 8″2ft is a full werewolf. his body is covered entirely of fur, his face taking the form of a wolf and his body is bulking with more muscles. that would be the final form he has full control over, however, he has one final form. the complete wolf form where he’s on all fours and his animalistic instincts overwhelm his human instincts, meaning he has no control over himself when in this form. in this form, he stands at 9″0ft tall.

will make a pt. 3 after this one, maybe a pt. 4 if I don’t fit what I want into the pt. 3, but whatever. 

this was lagging all over the place because there are too many words.

that is all.

“Loyalty” pt.1

[M/N] hadn’t even known how much time had past since the war; since he lost Schlatt, his mind couldn’t function properly and he was slowly losing that remaining piece of sanity that he managed to salvage. He fled Manberg the moment he saw explosions coming from the country, taking himself and Schlatt’s corpse far away from it and finding a peaceful little area where he could bury him. Sure it was cliché, but [M/N] found a nice little spot on a hilltop where he would have a nice view of the sun rising and falling with each passing day; it was perfect. It was so hard for him to dig up a hole and put his body in it, he couldn’t stop the tears from falling down his face as he lowered his body into the grave, even more so when he had to bury him.

Sure, he was a good couple hundred blocks away from the new L’Manberg now run by Tubbo, but the anguished cries he wailed at the top of his lungs could be heard from miles away. His claws dug deep into his skin to the point he started to bleed, he could care less, he really didn’t care about himself at that moment and allowed himself to wallow up in his anger and sadness. Now the only thing he had left of Schlatt was the ring, he always kept on him as a necklace, never to admit that he left it there so it would always be close to his heart. He raised his hand and held onto it tightly before turning and facing the direction where the sun was slowly beginning to descend as the night took over the day, he took a shallow breath as he leaned his head back to rest against the tombstone.

The next couple of days, or weeks, it followed with [M/N] animalistic instincts beginning to overwhelm his human consciousness. Another reason as to why he stayed in his human form more is because he had more control over his thoughts and instincts than when he’s constantly in his original wolf form, he was slowly becoming more and more like a wolf that he stopped looking after himself. If he were to see his reflection, he would most likely see his younger self staring right back at him. His hair had grown pass his shoulders and was matted from the lack of brushing and washing it, his bangs even grew to the point they shadowed his eyes. His nails grew out and were cracked, he was filthy to the point he could pollute a river or stream if he dared step into one and his hands to his forearms were constantly covered in blood.

Most of the time he spent staying at Schlatt’s grave because he really didn’t know what to do, the only time he ever left was because he was hungry, now this is where the blood comes into play. He was merciless with the way he hunted down animals, he didn’t spare them a chance as he lunged at them, digging his claws into their bodies to keep them from fleeing before eating them raw, tearing them apart before ripping into their skin to devour them. By the time his hunger was satisfied, he would have blood dripping down his mouth and some of it staining his fur, but he didn’t really care. Right now he was asleep huddled by his grave when he heard the sound of flapping wings, his ears flickered a bit as he raised his head and saw a crow was bouncing up and down in front of him.

...

...

*WHACK*

The crow let out a squawk when [M/N]’s tail smacked it when it got too close for comfort, he growled at it as a warning for it to back off but only when he started pushing himself up did it get the message and leave him be. He thought that would be the last time he saw that crow and let himself fall into slumber, but little did he know, the next day he would be swarmed by countless crows. They followed him everywhere he went and were constantly squawking in his ear, some even going so far as to grabbing him by certain parts of his body and fur to pull at him, one even nipped at his ear and pulled at it. [M/N] would try any means necessary to get rid of them but soon he grew to accept that these crows were not going to stop bothering him no matter how many times he threatened to eat them.

That was until--

“Who are you?” [M/N] had one of the crows perched on his forearm as he raised his head, and there he saw was seemed like a middle aged man with blonde hair that just rested above his shoulders while a single braid was seen on the side of his head. He wore a green jinbei, black haori, sandals, and green-and-white striped bucket hat that shadowed his blue eyes “I haven’t seen you around, so you must be new.” he muttered softly before growling at him not to get close, beginning to feel territorial.

“So you’re the one the crows have been hanging around?” [M/N] gave him a confused look but soon noticed that the crows that were always around him started surrounding the unknown man, squawking and cawing at him, the difference was that he noticed the blonde could actually understand what they were saying.

“HE’S THE LONELY PUP.”

“HE SMELLS.”

“OF COURSE HE DOES, HAVE YOU SEEN HIM SHOWER?”

“SOMETIMES HE CRIES.”

“BABY.”

“HE’S ALWAYS AROUND THIS GRAVE.”

”They’ve been keeping an eye on you, saying that you needed a friend.” he snickered when he noticed the wolfman grimace at the thought but couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit grateful that that was the reason as to why they were hanging around, he thought they stuck around because they thought he was corpse merely walking around.

“They’re lucky I haven’t eaten them yet.” he then sneers, standing up and towering over the man, who couldn’t help but swallow thickly at just how tall he was “Now what do you want? You have your birds, now get lost.” his eyes soon moved down to see the grave [M/N] was protecting, briefly seeing the name [JSchlatt] pop up in his view before looking up at him.

“You’re [M/N], aren’t you? The Devil’s Hound.” he sneered at him.

“Only one person called me that, and if you’re here to claim my head, I’ll make sure you regret it old man.” he warned, letting out a snarl as he bared his teeth and claws, showing him that he wasn’t playing around, to which the older man raised his hands to show him that he meant no harm as he took a step back.

“I promise, I’m not here to do anything.” [M/N] didn’t ease up at all, still on edge at the stranger.

“Then leave, I won’t ask you again.” the blonde hums softly, crossing his arms.

“That sounds more like a threat.” [M/N] chuckles rather menacingly, shaking his head before glaring at him.

“It’s a promise.” they continued to stare at each other, [M/N] growing even more agitated before the stranger raised his hands once more, letting out a defeated sigh as he took a step back.

“Alright, have it your way.” with that he turned around and started walking away, only stopping briefly to spare him one more glance “The name’s Philza, by the way, but everybody calls me Phil.” [M/N] only growled, narrowing his eyes on him before letting out a huff and walking away.

“Like I need to know.” he’ll forget his name anyways, knowing that he easily forgets the names of those who have the least impact on his life or if they have no value to him. That was until Philza kept visiting him at odd times of the day, whether it be sometime in the early morning or late nights, [M/N] didn’t understand why he kept coming back. Most of the time he would try and strike up a conversation with the feral wolf, which would end with him having a one sided conversation, but Philza didn’t miss the way [M/N]’s ears perked up in his direction, indicating that he was listening.

Philza wasn’t entirely sure why he was so interested in this lost puppy, maybe it was because of how he already managed to win the hearts of his crows who were usually very picky, or maybe it was because he reminded him of the days he met Technoblade. A lost and scared piglin hybrid who hated the world, who fought against the world until a new light was opened up to him when Philza came into the picture. He just wanted to help [M/N] because he already knew that his parental/fatherly instincts would come to bite him in the ass if he didn’t offer him a hand. Technoblade already told him enough that his father figure, Schlatt, died and that was his anchor from slipping over the edge, so he knew it was going to be a challenge to wriggle his way into the heart of this closed off wolfman.

“Why do you keep coming to visit me, Philza? Don’t you find me slightly disturbing?” [M/N] murmured to himself, gesturing to the fact that he quite literally hasn’t bathed himself in god knows how long now, he was surprised his crows still hung around despite the foul smell coming from him.

“You look lonely.” was all he answered, noticing how he flinched at that before burying his face deeper into his arms. He was in his wolf form and he was curled up on top of Schlatt’s grave, he was in this form because it made laying down more comfortable and it made him more bearable to be around. Philza managed to ease some of the tension off his shoulders by the constant visits, each time bringing a sort of gift (which was mostly food) to reassure him that he meant no harm “I know what constantly loneliness feels like.” he huffs.

“Right.” he raises his head and looks up at where Philza was sitting, watching as he stared up at the passing clouds with some sort of longing look. He remembered the first time he saw Philza’s damaged wing, managing to get a sneak peak from under his cloak and saw that it was beyond any repair and that he was incapable of flying ever again, how tragic “You’ve mentioned you’ve been staying in new L’Manberg, right?”

“Yes.” 

“... can I ask why? I’ve already mentioned that you’re new, mostly because I’ve seen most of the residents of this server during the war between Manberg and Pogtopia, but I never saw you.” he then noticed the way Philza became silent, it usually be the other way around, but he must have stepped onto some boundaries... dammit.

“Wilbur,” [M/N] snarled at the mention of that bastard, he wonders what he was up to nowadays “he was my son.” at the announcement, [M/N]’s eyes widened in shock and a growl erupted out of his throat, he was going to shout but paused at what he said.

“Was?” he nods, he takes a breath as he let his head hang back, [M/N] now noticed the single stray tear that ran down his face.

“By the time I arrived, I tried to stop Wilbur from blowing up his country but ultimately, I was too late.” so that explained the explosions he saw and heard on that day, but that still didn’t expla-- “Wilbur was so far gone into his madness that he... pleaded for me to kill him.”

“Ah... I see.” they both sat in silence until [M/N] let out a bitter laugh, Philza looked at him and saw he had a similar expression on his face “I lost a father figure while you lost your son, a poor way for the two of us to relate to something, huh?” Philza stared at him before bursting out into laughter, sure it was a poor way for [M/N] to make light of the situation, but at least he tried instead of remaining silent.

“I guess so.” the two sat together now but this time, [M/N] had actually gotten up and sauntered over to him, Philza was going to question what he was doing but stopped when [M/N] curled up behind him, letting the older man rest his body against his own. Sure he hated Wilbur’s guts with a passion, but he genuinely liked Philza, so the least he can do is swallow his pride and comfort him “Who knew you could be such a softy.” he laughed when his comment earned him a smack by his tail.

“Watch it, old man. You’re just bearable.” 

The next few days was more light hearted, it took a couple weeks but Philza finally managed to get the wolfman to open up where he was able to touch him without the other snarling at him. [M/N] was a very large man and he packed a lot of muscle and weight, so imagine his surprise when Philza had little to no effort in picking him up and dropping him into a lake. The birdman was quite thankful that the other didn’t fight him as he helped bathe him, discarding his hat and cloak while rolling his sleeves and pants up so he could wash his matted fur/hair. By the time he was finished, he used his wings to help him dry faster because letting out a laugh when the other poofed up, [M/N] deadpanned at him but snickered softly, because it was quite hilarious.

It was when Philza pulled out a pair of scissors did [M/N] start to panic, his hair was unkempt and hard to brush through but when he managed to untangle the knots he whipped out the scissors and cut his hair to a manageable length. His ears would flicker back and worth when they got a little too close but he was able to bear with it, he left cutting his nails to himself because he still wanted them to be pretty long. Philza gave him some clothes and that completed his look, he let out a tired sigh as he pulled out a mirror and there [M/N] gave him a sheepish look at his makeover.

“You really didn’t have to do this, Phil.” the blonde gave him a smile, quite happy that he was calling him Phil instead of Philza.

“Oh no, mate, you needed it badly.” [M/N] pulled a face as he pushed the mirror away, twirling a standing of his hair around his finger and gave him an apologetic look.

“Right, apologies about that.” the other only waved his hand, dismissing it.

“You know... I have no idea what you’re going through, knowing that you’ve been with Schlatt since you were a mere child, along with the fact that he was the one that brought you out of the life of poverty, but,” Philza reached forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze “would he want you to continue living like this? Disregarding your own health and life, just to stay by his side?” [M/N] let out a tired sigh.

“Easy for you to say. Move on, get a life... but I never thought that far ahead. I never had my own mindset, maybe it’s the animal genetics pumping through my DNA that the only thing that was going through my head was to obey him. I never questioned him and I was loyal to him to the very end, and now that he’s gone... I don’t know what to do. He told me to live my own life, but I don’t know the first thing I can do. I don’t know how to live a life beside someone else’s.” the way [M/N] looked up at Philza was genuine confusion, he gave him a sad look before standing up, he goes to question him but froze when he offered his hand to him.

“How’s about I give you that little extra push?” as he stared up at him, a flash of the time when he was a sickly child in that alleyway came to his mind, seeing the reminiscence of Schlatt in Philza’s place as he spoke “Come with me, and I promise you, I’ll show you a path to your future.” though they spoke the same lines, Philza said something different, instead of saying that he’ll be of use to him, he said he could show him a path to his own future.

“W-Will...” he stuttered out, rarely he ever felt nervous, but right now, he couldn’t help but feel like that scared little pup that shivered at the at the sound of loud noises again. Philza noticed [M/N]’s hesitance, the way one of his hands held onto the ring around his neck with a death grip while his other was holding his wrist with the same level of strength “Will I be betraying his loyalty by going with someone else?” he whimpered out, Philza let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head.

“Not at all, I think he would appreciate it if someone else were to help guide you down a path that doesn’t destroy you.” Philza grits his teeth, his own chest tightening up a bit “I wasn’t able to save my son from his insanity, but the least I can do is help someone else from plummeting down that same void.” [M/N] glanced up at him then down at the hand that was still gesturing for him to take it, the hand that was holding his wrist loosened and slowly reached for it, inching back and forward as he still hesitated.

’I have to admire him for his unwavering loyalty towards Schlatt, it’s downright ridiculous to the point he would rather stay by his grave till the day he dies than live a life of his own.’ he felt a glimmer of hope when his hand was almost within reach ’Sure, he and Wilbur didn’t see eye to eye, but I want to help save this boy before it’s too late.’

“I-I--” he swallowed thickly, screwing his eyes closed before taking a deep breath and grabbing his hand “Okay... I trust you, Phil.” Philza let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in once [M/N] finally took his hand, he lifts him to his feet and pats his arm while looking up at him.

“Good, good! I’m glad you do, [M/N]. I know that this is a big step for you, so I appreciate that you trust me this much despite everything you’ve been through.” he chuckled softly when he noticed the younger boy was fidgeting a little, he then tugs him forward gently “Now, let’s go home and--”

“No! Not L’Manberg!” Philza was taken aback when he shouted, he then let out a soft sigh.

“I apologize, returning back to L’Manberg would probably give you bad memories, right?” he pulled a face before shaking his head.

“Not really, it’s just that I’m pretty sure Tubbo will kill me on sight.” he then raises his hand and gently caresses the now healed burn scars “I was the one to kill him during the Festival under Schlatt’s orders, then during the war, he was the to get his revenge on me and gave me these. Pretty gnarly, huh?” the blonde stared at them before shaking his head.

“Sure.” he then pinches his chin “But where do I...” he looked up in thought before a destination came to mind, he glanced at [M/N] and his ears perked up in curiosity at the look Philza was giving him, he lets out a soft whine as he tilts his head to the side.

“What?”

[snow biome]

“No. No, no, no. Absolutely not. Not happening. No.” [M/N] awkwardly stood behind Philza as they rocked up to a snow biome, out in the middle of nowhere, where Technoblade has set up his retirement home and gone into hiding. The blonde had explained to him that there was a place he knew that was far away from L’Manberg where barely anyone knew of its location, but he never mentioned who the only resident was until they arrived at his front doorstep and the piglin hybrid opened to door, at first happy to see his old time friend but grimaced when he noticed who was behind “Why the hell is he here? Why the hell did you bring him here?”

“To make things brief, he needs a place to stay.” this caused both taller men to look down at him in disbelief, Technoblade was the first to react by grabbing his shoulders before thrashing him back and forward.

“No way! There’s no chance I want this guy living under the same roof as me! For all we know, he could kill me in my sleep.” [M/N] narrowed his eyes on the pink haired male.

“Truthfully, I have nothing against you. It’s Wilbur, Tommy and Quackity I loathe. Killing you won’t bring me satisfaction, but I can’t help but agree with him, but for a completely different reason. This house looks rather small and if you hadn’t noticed, we’re both burly men, I highly doubt it’ll be able to fit us both.” Technoblade nods his head, throwing his arm out towards him.

“Exactly. I want my own personal space, and I’m not really up for dog fur getting everywhere.” [M/N] lets out a grunt, clicking his tongue as he gave the piglin an irritated look.

“What about you? You say you’re worried about me killing you in your sleep, but I hear you have hundreds of voices in your head that demand blood. I feel like my life is the one at stake by being in close proximity to you.” Philza sweat dropped when he was in between the two muscular men who were glaring deeply at each other, a spark of lightning erupting between them.

“Please, you two, calm yourselves.” he sighs as he turns towards [M/N], he places a hand on his chest and this caused the wolfman to break eye contact with Technoblade to look down at him, his gaze softening a little “Could you please give me a couple minutes alone to talk with Techno, mate. Just stay in the area, please.” [M/N] had a look of hesitance before nodding his head.

“Alright.” with that he turned around and stood out in the snow, the cold didn’t bother him in any way, he was in his half human/half wolf form and most of his fur covered any exposed areas and kept him quite warm. Philza nodded his head as he watched [M/N] watch the snow fall from the sky before turning his attention back at Technoblade, who made a look of disgust as he watched [M/N].

“I’m telling you Techno, he’s quite harmless right now.”

“Around you, that is. Who knows how long he’ll last around me before he snaps and pummels me into the ground.” the other gave him a smug look.

“So you’re saying he can pummel you?” Technoblade glares at him.

“You know what I mean.” he lets out a frustrated growl when Philza chuckled, he looked back at [M/N] and saw that he raised his head as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as his arms were raised slightly to let the fallen snowflakes land in the palm of his hand.

“The reason I brought him here is because he has nowhere to go. He can’t come with me to L’Manberg because the others would surely kill him if he dared take a step on their lands, and Schlatt was his only family.” he inhales through his nose, eyes looking up at him “He reminded me of you when I first found you all those years ago.” now this caused Technoblade to freeze, he looked down at Philza and saw that he was being honest, this caused him to let out a groan as he crossed his arms.

“You’re guilt tripping me, Phil.” 

“That may be so, but I couldn’t just leave him where he was. He looked horrible and was in need of desperate help.” Technoblade felt his tense shoulders slump at what he said, slowly beginning to fall for his words, he took one final glance at [M/N] and saw he had a soft grin on his face, eyes beginning to open as a snowflake landed on his nose.

“... dammit.” Philza smirked, knowing that he managed to win him over “Fine, alright, I’ll let him stay! But, he has to make his own house somewhere on the property! He’s not staying in my house, that’s my own safe haven.”

“Got it.” Philza grins as he brings his middle finger and thumb to his lips before blowing on them, letting out a sharp whistle that caused [M/N]’s ears to flick up, he turned to face them and saw Philza waving him over. [M/N] tripped over when his feet had got buried pretty deep in the snow, he face planted into the snow but let out a soft laugh as he pushed himself up and jogged over to them, when he stood behind Philza once more he flicked the snow off his body “Technoblade has agreed to let you stay.”

“Eh, really?” even he couldn’t help but be surprised that the Blood God agreed, Technoblade was probably just as equally as surprised as him, probably even more so “Then... I appreciate it.” the piglin merely huffed, waving his hand to dismiss his gratitude.

“Don’t mention it.” Philza clapped his hands his hands with a smile.

“Wonderful. I hope you two can get along without you needing to rip each other’s throats out.” this caused the both of them to flinch “I believe it’s getting late, so before you kick him out, at least let him spend one night in your house before letting him build his own house.” Technoblade goes to protest but held his tongue when he saw the look Philza was giving him.

“Okay.” [M/N] now stood in the middle of Technoblade’s living space rather awkwardly, he was holding his arms as his tail was tucked between his legs, ears pressed to his head as Technoblade and Philza busied themselves. His gaze fell upon the polar bear sitting in front of the fire place, it tiredly raised its head when it felt a gaze upon it and saw that it was merely [M/N] staring at him. The bear let out a soft growl before letting his head fall back onto the ground and falling asleep once more, his ears flickered a bit at that before his own attention drew towards the trap door window “You’re practically leaving me on babysitting duty, aren’t you Phil?” said man let out a laugh. 

“That is slightly true. What I really want is for you to keep a close eye on him.”

“You just said exactly what I said but with different words.” Philza rolls his eyes.

“You’re being overdramatic, Techno.” he shakes his head.

“No. If you were there to see what exactly this guy is capable of, you’d be as reluctant as I am. You only saw the aftermath.” they enter the room they left [M/N] was and saw that he was leaning against the windowsill, his arms resting on the edge while his head laid comfortable on his arms. His ears were flickering every so often as his tail thumped against the floorboards, and yet his gaze was so fixated on the snowflakes falling from the sky he hadn’t even picked up on the fact that he and the polar bear weren’t the only ones in the room anymore.

“You seem to like snow quite a bit, mate.” Philza hummed softly, pulling out a stool so he could sit beside him, who never tore his gaze out from the window.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it.” this caught them both by surprise “Schlatt wasn’t too keen on cold weather so we stirred away from snow biomes and stayed within relatively humid biomes. This is genuinely the first time I’ve seen snow, so I find it quite enjoyable to be honest.” they watch in silence as he pushed the trap door open and extend his hand out, letting out a cheerful yip when a snowflake landed onto the palm of his hand and melted into water. The way [M/N] was behaving right now reminded Philza of a child, because [M/N] was experiencing things without a leash on for the very first time.

[the next day]

Technoblade was kind enough to lend [M/N] some materials and tools, which was actually Philza telling Techoblade to lend him the needed equipment, and the entire day was spent with [M/N] making his home. The piglin hybrid half expected him to make a house near his but was completely mistaken when he saw [M/N] start mining away at the side of the mountain to make himself a house in a cave. True to Schlatt’s words during the preparations for the Manberg Festival, [M/N] was god awful at designing. He had wonderful ideas, but he didn’t have the abilities to apply them to his builds and so he had to have the aid of the other two to make his home look somewhat decent. The finished build was the opening of a cave that had enough illumination to keep wandering mobs from entering his cave, the main room was filled with various chests, barrels and anything else useful, there were various other tunnels that connected to that room that served different purposes. Some were for blacksmithing and enchanting, others were for brewing or just his sleeping chambers.

“I think we did a job well done.” Philza said, hands on his hips as he looked at the entrance to the cave, Technoblade let out a huff as he dusted his shoulder to rid of the pebbles that landed on him whilst they were mining.

“I’m just glad he’s finally out of my hair.” [M/N] scoffed.

“What hair? All I see is fur.” before Technoblade could fire anything back, Philza got in between them both and flared his wings open to create some distance between them both.

“Don’t start.” the piglin gave the immortal being an offended look as he accusingly gestured to the wolfman, who only rolled his eyes while crossing his arms and looking away.

“He started it!” 

“Technically, you did.” this caused him to let out a gasp that Philza didn’t side with him, before he could say anything else, the blonde then turned to look up at [M/N], who flinched at the stern look on his face “And you, don’t antagonize people.” [M/N] lets out a soft whine.

“But what if they start it?”

“Are you not going to let this go?”

“I like to mock people. If they mock me, I should have every right to mock them back.” he grins softly “That’s what Schlatt taught me, and if they go too far, I hit them where it hurts.”

“Physically, or metaphorically?”

“Depends on the person, really.” Technoblade snaps his fingers at that.

“I agree with that.” Philza rolls his eyes, after that day of work, they decided upon the three of them to gather some food to finish that day off. Technoblade and Philza adorn winter outfits to survive out in the winter cold, staring rather enviously that [M/N] only wore a thin layer of clothing for his layers of fur protected him from the snow and he trudged through without any hesitation in his movements. The two led mostly because the wolfman was still unfamiliar with his surroundings and the environment he was in, though they did pay attention to the way he reacted to small sounds and whatnot “So what are we looking to eat tonight?” Technoblade asked, bouncing his axe on his shoulder as they continued to venture deeper and deeper into the woods.

“Whatever we lay eyes upon fir—“ Philza was cut off when he heard a growl, they both turn to face [M/N], only to be pushed aside when he lunged forward and past them. They turn to see what he pounced on, only to freeze when they saw he tackled and sunk his teeth into the neck of a wandering pig. They were even more disturbed, maybe disgusted, when they saw him rip its throat out before devouring it without a second thought. The latter noticed the silence so he raised his head, chin dripping with blood as he continued to chew on the raw flesh of the pig that was whining, practically begging to be put out of its misery, it was a miracle that it was still alive.

“What?” he questioned rather absentmindedly, Technoblade grimaced when he noticed the way he licked his lips.

“Do you mind?” he muttered as he gestured to the poor pig, [M/N] glanced down at it before looking up at him once more.

“What? This your cousin or something?” an irk mark appeared on his forehead, he goes to say something but was pushed to the side when Philza shoved his arm, he goes quiet and so [M/N] watches as Philza approached him, crouching down and gently wiping away the blood that he could with his sleeve.

“Don’t tease him, [M/N].” the blonde snorted when he noticed that the other wore an expression that said he was serious “I understand that the hybrid in you makes you do things like this, and you’ve been living like this for who knows how long, but we can’t help but question you and be mildly disgusted.” he sniffed, wiping away the rest of the blood on his own with his arm.

“You could just look way. I like eating it this way.” he sighs.

“Sure, but it’s not good for your stomach.” the dog in him caused his ears to press against his head, his tail thumping against the snowy ground as a whine rips through his throat, he then slowly nods his head.

“Alright.” he flinched softly when Philza placed his hand on top of his head.

“Good boy.” he ruffles his head before standing up and turning away, he missed his reaction but Technoblade saw and scoffed, [M/N] was blushing softly as he pressed a hand to the spot where Philza ruffled, pressing his lips into a thin line before standing to his feet and following after the older man, not before putting the pig out of its misery… and perhaps finishing his short snack before catching up to them. True to Schlatt’s word, [M/N] was an excellent hunter and managed to find a months worth of food for them, much to their pleasure so now they won’t have to worry about food for that time period. 

“We should probably head back now, it’s starting to get dark.” Philza nodded his head, he let out an oh when [M/N] leaned down so he was hovering off his shoulder.

“Will you return to L’Manburg, or will you remain here one more night? It’s rather dangerous for you to venture back now that the sun is setting, mobs will be out and the distance between that country and here is quite far.” Technoblade nodded his head.

“He’s right, and neither of us can get particularly close before becoming target practice.” they both grimace at that, hearing the concern coming from them both had the older man chuckling before nodding his head.

“Well, alright. I’ll stay one more night then leave in the morning, how does that sound?” he laughs when he saw the looks of satisfaction on their faces, it didn’t take long for them to return to Technoblade’s home, [M/N] was going to return to his own little cave but was stopped by the older man to have him join them for dinner. The blonde snorted when he noticed him freeze up in confusion, so with a sigh, he grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the warmth of the house and together the three of them had a nice meal. 

[a few weeks later]

“[M/N], stop trying to eat the goddamn livestock, please.” said man was mid bite away from chomping a sheep’s head off before pausing in his actions at the sound of Technoblade’s voice, he jaw slowly snapped shot away from the sheep’s head and he looked down at it. Its wool was dyed blue and those beady little eyes were staring up at him, he let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes before flinching when it licked his nose. He sneezed at the action before looking down at it once more and heard it let out a bleep, he pursed his lips before setting it down on the ground and turning away, unaware that it was following him “Now that you’re here, I have a favor to ask of you.” the latter huffed.

“That’s a first.” he comments, he glances away when Technoblade turned and gave him a sharp glare.

“Right.” Technoblade threads his hooves through his fur before looking at him “I need you to go to the Nether for me?” [M/N] raises a brow at the request.

“The Nether? Why me? You’re more suited for the Nether than I am.” he waves his hand to dismiss him.

“Just listen to me, okay? You’re much faster when it comes to getting the job done, so I need you to get a couple Blaze Rods and Wether Skulls for me. If you do that for me, we can spar again.” this certainly got his attention, sparring together was their entertainment and their way to pass the time. As he said, [M/N] was more confident when it came down to hand to hand combat while Technoblade was more versed with weapons, but to make sure that neither side would hurt each other too bad, Technoblade would fight with wooden weapons while [M/N] wore gloves to soften his punches.

“Hmm... I don’t think that’s enough to get me to go to the hot blistering Nether.” he snickers when it got the other to growl, [M/N] was becoming more and more snarkier as time went by as well and it was annoying.

“I’ll be on chore duty for a month.” [M/N] snapped his fingers.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” sure this was Technoblade’s property, but [M/N] did his fair share of work since he was a resident upon his land. He had no problem doing any work to be allowed to stay there, but sometimes he found it downright ridiculous that he had to help Technoblade clean his own house and feed his animals... they were his! Why did he have to help? 

“You’re insufferable.”

“You can just go get it yourself, you fuck.” [M/N] didn’t even let out him finish when he sauntered off to go gather his things from his cave then left to the Nether to get what Technoblade wants, maybe get a few extra things as well because he could. The piglin lets out a sigh as he returns to his home, not even a couple minutes past and he heard a knock on the door... that was rather quick. He was fast, but that was a little too fast, he approaches the door with caution and opened it, only to see someone he wasn’t expecting.

“Ghostbur, what are you doing here?” Technoblade asked, opening his door and expecting to see [M/N] returning from his hunt in the Nether with the needed items he asked for, only to get the ghost of the former President in his place. Technoblade never mentioned to [M/N] about Ghostbur, he didn’t know how the guy was going to react upon seeing Wilbur’s dead counterpart, he still had a grudge upon him, Tommy, Quackity and Dream. Through Philza, his anger was slowly settling down and he was working on his temper that he developed, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

“O-Oh, I was in the neighbourhood and thought I could drop by.” he answered cheerfully, stepping into Technoblade’s house with a bright smile on his face. The piglin let out a sigh before closing the door and following close behind him, the ghost settled by the fire, trying to warm his deathly cold body as he turned to look up at Technoblade “What have you been up to lately, Techno?” he huffs, taking a seat on one of the couches.

“I’ve been left of babysitting duty.” seeing the way Ghostbur lit up almost brought a smile to his face, almost.

“Baby? There’s a baby? Where?” he shook his head.

“Metaphorically, Ghostbur. There’s not an actual baby.” Ghostbur deflates.

“Oh, pity. Then, what have you been babysitting?”

“A puppy.” Ghostbur lights up again and goes to ask where the puppy was “I am being metaphoric again. Don’t take everything I say serious.” this caused him to pout, raising a hand to rub the back of his head.

“I wanna see a puppy.” talking with Ghostbur was a nice change of pace, the forgetful ghost would bring up random topics in hope that it would pique the latters interest, and though most of the time he was speaking and Technoblade would answer with halfhearted or single word answers, he was most definitely listening. Conversations between [M/N] and himself were set upon who can make the first one angry with no ill intent, conversations between Philza and himself were light hearted or spoken about upcoming events and whatnot “Ah, I nearly forgot something important!” he cheers, raising a finger.

“You forgot nearly everything.” he giggles softly.

“Did you hear about what happened to Tommy?” this caught his attention as he raised a brow.

“Tommy?” the sudden voice startled him, he turned around and saw [M/N] standing right behind him smell like the Nether, his gaze immediately snapped over to where Ghostbur was sitting and a panicked expression made its way to his face.

’Shit! How long were we talking for? I didn’t even realize [M/N] was back.’ he looked up and saw [M/N] turned his attention to where Ghostbur was sitting ’No, is he going to kill him? Oh, fuck!’ he held his breath as he watched [M/N] approach the ghost but was surprised to see the happy look of Ghostbur’s face as [M/N] knelt down slightly to place a hand on his head. 

“Hello Ghostbur, it’s been awhile.” the other let out a giggle, nuzzling into his clawed hand “How have you been?” Ghostbur takes his hand and lowers it down, rubbing his thumbs onto the top of his hand.

“I’ve been good, Phil has been taking care me.” he nods his head.

“That’s good.” Technoblade was a little speechless to see that [M/N] was having a calm conversation with the ghost, he wasn’t snarling or glaring at him or making and snide remarks, he was having a peaceful conversation.

“[M/N],” he starts, making the wolfman look over at him “you know Ghostbur?” he lets out a scoff.

“I’ve been hanging around Phil, I was bound to run into this ghost sooner or later since he’s by his side nearly 24/7.” he slowly nods his head at the information.

“And... you don’t hate him.” now this caused [M/N] to pause briefly, Ghostbur looked between the two.

“Ghostbur... doesn’t remember who I am from when Wilbur was around, and sure I can’t stand the sight of him... but it’s Wilbur that I hate, not Ghostbur. Ghostbur is a completely different person to his counterpart.” he wasn’t going to tell Technoblade that the first thing he did when he saw Ghostbur was that he wanted to rip his throat out; that he wanted to watch the way his head was crushed within his claws. That was the thought that goes on in his head every time Ghostbur grabbed his hands, for some reason, he was so fixated on his hands.

“[M/N] and I are friends, Techno!” the latter nods his head.

“Right.” [M/N] gently takes his hand back from Ghostbur, much to his dismay, and hands Technoblade and Ender Chest full of the items he wanted “I went a little overboard so there are a lot more in there than what you needed, Techno.”

“Better more than less.” he nods before turning back to Ghostbur.

“Now, what’s this about Tommy?” Ghostbur claps his hands.

“Right.” he raises a finger “Did you know that he was exiled from L’Manburg?” this caused them both to fall silent.

...

...

“Pft, hahaha!” Ghostbur was taken aback when [M/N] burst out into laughter, it was so bad that he hunched forward while holding stomach. It was rare for [M/N] to laugh like this, but he couldn’t help but laugh “Oh my god, he’s what? Exiled? Again! Wow, what a riot! This is one of the best sets of news I’ve heard in a long time!” even Technoblade was amused.

“What did he do this time?”

“U-Um, I think he burnt down George’s house.” he snorts.

“Wow, who’s idea was it to exile Tommy?”

“Tubbo.” at that, Technoblade and [M/N] look at each other in confusion, the latter looks down before chuckling to himself. 

“Tubbo did, huh? How amusing.”

Later that day.

“Another errand?” [M/N] muttered, he laid comfortably in his den when Technoblade rudely came in, bringing snow in while he was at it.

“I need you to deliver something to Phil.” this caused [M/N] to push himself up from where he was laying, staring up at Technoblade in shock before standing to his feet.

“What are you-- are you serious right now? I can’t just waltz into L’Manburg! Why can’t you give it to Ghostbur?” he exclaims, to which the ghost makes his appearance by poking his head out from behind Technoblade before rushing forward and burying his face into the warmth of [M/N]’s fur, causing him to deadpan.

“Not that I don’t trust Ghostbur, to which I don’t,” this made him let out a whine “I want you to do it because I know you can do it right.”

...

...

“You just don’t want to do it.” he threw his head back with a groan “Goddammit, just give it to Ghostbur, for fuck sakes.”

“I’m afraid he’ll lose it.”

“I won’t.” they both glance at him, he let out another whine as he deflates “I probably will.” [M/N] slaps a hand onto his forehead and looks at Technoblade, noticing that he still wasn’t really up to the task of going to L’Manburg himself just to deliver something.

“How about we draw straws?” he suggests, he scoops Ghostbur up by his armpits to pull him off his body and sets him away so he could find a couple straws of hay, when he returns he opens Ghostbur’s hand and has him hold them “Whoever draws the short straw goes without question, okay?” he nods.

“Okay.” they both grab a straw before yanking it out of Ghostbur’s hand.

And that brings us too;

“I complained, and yet I still lost.” he grumbles to himself, hands in his pocket as he followed Ghostbur. In the end, [M/N] drew the short straw and cried when he lost, to which Technoblade pumped his fist in triumph and mocked [M/N] for his loss, to which the latter mocked him for that fact that he was on chore duty for the next month. That shut him up.

“Oh, we’re going to have so much fun, [M/N]! You haven’t been to L’Manburg in a long time, right? So you haven’t seen the renovations done to the place. I’ll show you around after we deliver the thing Techno wants us to deliver to Phil, okay?” [M/N] so badly wanted to deny the offer but the puppy dog eyes Ghostbur was giving him was so goddamn convincing.

“Sure...” he lets out a sigh as he turned away, ignoring the way Ghostbur cheers as he jogged ahead of them. L’Manburg was just ahead of them so the smaller one of the two charged forward and when he turned around he noticed that the other was still hesitating to step foot onto L’Manburg soil, he noticed him hug himself as he looked around in caution, his eyes scanning the area while his ears darted in every direction.

“Hey,” he whipped his head over to Ghostbur and slowly started to calm down when he reached forward and took his hand into his much smaller ones “you’ll be alright. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you. I promise!” [M/N] stared down at him, not even easing up for a second, he took a deep breath as his hand slowly closed around his as he nodded his head.

“Alright, I trust you.” Ghostbur beams up at him before tugging him forward, Ghostbur made sure to lead [M/N] in the none public areas so no one would catch sight of him. I mean, he was in his half human/half wolf form so it made him an easy target, but it was the thought that counts. [M/N] still hadn’t dropped his guard, looking around in alarm as his hold on Ghostbur’s hand tightened, not noticing the slight flush rising to his grey cheeks at the action.

“Ghostbur?” an unknown voice rose to [M/N]’s ears, this meant they were a threat, he didn’t react yet but his eyes moved and there he saw an 8″5ft Enderman hybrid. He wore a black suit with a red tie around his neck and a golden crown on top his head, his most distinguished features were the fact that his body and hair was black and white, the right side being black and the left side being white, even his eyes were dual colored, one being green and the other red “What are you doing here? And who’s that?” 

“Ranboo! Hello.” the happy ghost greeted, slipping his hand free from [M/N] as he approached the young man. Sure, Ranboo was taller than the other male, but he had more muscle to his body and could easily body him if need be, and the way he was lowering his body as he stared him up and down, he couldn’t help but feel intimidated “I’m here to show my friend around.” Ghostbur added, rocking back and forth on his feet.

“Friend?” he questioned, to which the other nodded his head as he gestured to [M/N], who had an indifferent expression on his face, not dropping his defensive stance, not even for a second “I don’t think your friend likes me.” at the mention of that, Ghostbur turns towards him and noticed that he never broke eye contact with Ranboo, he huffs with a pout before marching over and smacking his arm, causing him to break his concentration and looked down in shock.

“[M/N], I don’t appreciate you glaring at my other friends.” he then looks back at Ranboo, an apologetic look on his face “Forgive him, he doesn’t particularly like strangers... or meeting new people, to be exact.” Ranboo gave a nervous laugh in response to that.

“N-No, it’s fine.” he answers, rubbing the back of his neck. With a stern glare from Ghostbur, [M/N] lets out a sigh as he dropped his defensive stance and stood up straight but not once did he drop his guard, crossing his arms and making sure that Ranboo kept his distance from them “Where are you heading to?”

“We’re off to see Phil! We have something to give him.” Ranboo nods.

“Is it blue?” he shook his head.

“No, actually, Tec--” before he could finish his sentence, [M/N] silenced him by reaching forward and pressing his hand to his mouth, his other wrapped around his body as he pulled him back against his chest.

“Shush, Ghostbur. He doesn’t want anyone else to know, just the four of us, mmkay? Our little secret.” [M/N] felt him purse his lips before nodding his head, looking up at him as he slowly loosened his grip on his body.

“Okay!” he nods his head before letting him go completely, he gave Ranboo a stern look before taking Ghostbur’s hand and together the two of them left the young man alone, he watched them disappear before he turned and fled to report what he saw to his superiors “And here we are!” they made it to the residential areas and [M/N] was honestly impressed with what he’s seen so far.

“I like what he’s done with the place; feels homey.” he comments, Ghostbur nods, a slight blue flush to his cheeks.

“Mm hmm!” [M/N] gave him one of those rare smiles, allowing him to lead him to which house belonged to, only to stop when they hear another voice, but this voice made all sorts of alarms ring in his head.

“Stop!” they both turned to see and there they saw Tubbo, Fundy, Quackity with Ranboo standing behind them with a nervous look on his face. [M/N] grits his teeth but kept his temper under control, it helped when Ghostbur got in front of him when he noticed the tension rising between them and put on a happy smile.

“Tubbo! Hello, what brings you here?” 

“Ranboo told us that a suspicious person was wandering around L’Manburg with Ghostbur, but to think that it was you, [M/N].” the man didn’t answer the child, he simply narrowed his eyes on him as he growled lowly “You aren’t welcome here.” he scoffed.

“I don’t want to be here, but I’m here on an errand. I’ll be out of your hair once I’m done.”

“And what business is it that you have to be here?” [M/N] scoffs.

“It’s none of yours, for your information.” Fundy takes a step forward.

“He is the President of L’Manburg.” [M/N] scoffs again, narrowing his eyes down at the fox.

“And what does that have to do with anything, fox? Is it his business to butt into confidential and personal affairs? I believe not, so don’t bother me while I’m being nice.” he threatens, now it was Quackity that took a step forward.

“How is that being nice?”

“If I wasn’t being nice, little duckling, your face would be in the ground right now, but now I’m restraining myself from committing murder.” hearing that, Ghostbur turned around and grabbed him by his arm.

“Calm yourself, [M/N], here! Have some blue.” he says, reaching down to take some blue dye out of his pocket and handing it to the wolfman, he couldn’t help but hum softly at his attempt to calm his anger, but he did appreciate it as he took the dye from him “Is it working? Are you happy?”

“Yes, Ghostbur, it’s working.” [M/N] watched the dye slip through his fingers and dye the fur on his hands blue, that was going to be a hassle to get out, Ghostbur soon turns back to look at the four who approached them.

“We haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t see the problem here.” Quackity scoffed.

“So you don’t even remember what he has done to you back when you were alive, Wilbur.” [M/N]’s ears perked up at what Quackity called him, he looked down at Ghostbur and noticed he flinched, his hand twitching a little as he muttered “it’s Ghostbur” under his breath “He’s the whole reason why you and Tommy were kicked out of your own country! We went to war against him and that tyrant he called a father, and yet here you are being buddy buddy with him! If you were alive, you’d be disgusted by your actions.”

“B-But that was in the past-- and with Wilbur, not me. I’m not Wilbur, I’m Ghostbur.” [M/N] nods as he leans down, reaching for his hand and placing the blue dye back in his hand.

“That you are, Ghosty.” he whispered softly, raising his hand to wipe away the tears threatening to spill “There’s no need to shed any tears, everything’s fine.” he slowly nods his head, his hand squeezing around the blue.

“Mmkay.” the other three couldn’t help but stare in disbelief, maybe envy. Not once have they ever seen [M/N] behave like that to anyone beside Schlatt, there was the rare time when he was kind towards Tubbo and Quackity, but those were one off things and he didn’t really care about them. He had those eyes that were devoid of emotions towards them, but here, they saw color swirling in his eyes as he stared down at the weeping ghost with concern.

It wasn’t fair.

“I don’t want you here, [M/N].” Tubbo states, this caused the two to glance over at the young boy “You’re... you’re a threat to L’Manburg and I’m afraid you’ve overstayed your visit.” what little confidence he had in him slowly drained out of his body the longer [M/N] stared at him, he snickered to himself as he took a step forward and pushed Ghostbur behind him.

“How amusing, boy.” he flicked his hand to rid of the blue dripping down his finger tips and the three across from them couldn’t help but imagine the blue dye be replaced with blood, the images of the war flashing in the back of their minds about how ruthless [M/N] was during that time “I haven’t even done anything, and you’re firing shots.” at the mention of that, Tubbo flinched and subconsciously gripped his arm, the same arm that was burnt and scarred badly when [M/N] shot him with the firework.

“Y-You--”

“While we’re on the topic, I have to mention Tubbo, your previous actions are reminding me an awful lot of Schlatt. It’s almost as if he never left.” he flinches again, he hangs his head low as [M/N] now stood over him, a wide smirk on his face as a shadow looms over him “Now don’t take that as an insult, coming from me of all people, it’s more like a compliment!” he closes his hands into a tight fist, his knuckles turning white with how hard he was holding them to the point his nails dug into the palms of his hands and they were bleeding. He chuckled darkly at the reaction he was receiving from the boy so he leaned down, his face now hovering a couple inches away from his before raising his blue stained hands and jabbing his finger into his chest “You chose a country over your best friend, how selfish.”

“N-No, I... I did it f-for the betterment of this country.” [M/N] only narrows his eyes on him.

“I don’t like Tommy, and I most certainly don’t like you, so I don’t particularly care about his fate. But if you truly were his friend, then you would at least visit him once. Ghostbur has told me that you hadn’t even seen him once.”

“I-I--”

“[M/N]!” he let out a yelp when he smacked in the back of the head, they look over and saw Philza had left his home to see what the fuss was about, only to see [M/N] and Ghostbur surrounded by Tubbo, Fundy, Quackity and Ranboo “What have I told you about antagonizing people?” he only pouts, taking a step back as he rubbed the back of his head.

“That I shouldn’t...”

“And what did you do?”

“Antagonized them. But they came onto us first, they even made Ghostbur cry, so I had to step in.” at the mention of that, Philza glanced back at his deceased son and noticed the tear tracks as he sniffled, he glanced up [M/N] before letting out a sigh and patting his head.

“I’ll let it slide this one time, okay? Good job.” [M/N] immediately perked up at the praise, his tail wagging side to side “Now get inside, Techno told me you were coming. I’ll handle this.”

“Okay.” Ghostbur takes his hand and rushes to where Philza’s house was, apologizing when he dragged [M/N] through the door and his face slammed face first above the door frame because he was too tall for it. He cradles his face in his hand before hunching down to fit through the door, Philza shook his head before turning and giving the group a stern glare.

“You dare cause trouble with those two?” Fundy couldn’t help but glare up at his grandfather.

“You weren’t there, Phil, you don’t understand what he put us through all because of his damn loyalty towards Schlatt! He’s a problem that needs to be dealt with!” Philza’s glare doesn’t waver as he stares them down.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong, you have no right to call him out on anything when he has done absolutely nothing to be called out for. Tell me, what has he done that you unrightfully stopped him?” this caught them off guard and they glance at each other, he was right, he hasn’t done anything so they can’t exactly do anything regarding him “I understand you’re all angry with him for what he’s done in the past, but he has the same level of anger for you but maybe even higher, and yet he’s being the bigger man and controlling himself. If you saw him during the aftermath of the war, none of you would be standing where you are now.”

“...” Tubbo bit his lip as he looked up at Philza, who wore nothing more but a cold expression, he clicks his tongue as he turned on his heel and marched away “Fine, do what you want.” the other three watch in disbelief that Philza drove him away before chasing after him, the old man let out a breath before turning around himself and making his way back to his home, and there he saw [M/N] leaning against the arm chair that was placed in front of a fireplace with Ghostbur laying next to him rather contently, chattering about anything that came to mind.

’I heard from them and through Wilbur’s letters that the relationship between those two was like oil and water, it’s almost hard to believe now.’ he thinks to himself, remembering the first time when Ghostbur and [M/N] met, he could feel the wolfman’s bloodlust from where he was and was ready to completely obliterate him, but was stopped when he saw those eyes of innocence in Ghostbur’s eyes. Ever since then, Ghostbur clung to [M/N]’s side, much to his dismay but Philza knew that he secretly had a soft spot for the ghost ’To think those two would be so close now.’

”Ah, Phil! Welcome back.” Ghostbur greeted, hearing that, [M/N] turned his head and offered Philza a nod before resting his head on the arm chair once more.

“Dealing with them is always tiring, even more so with how cocky they’ve gotten.” Philza let out a huff, approaching them before taking a seat.

“Tell me about it, they’re pretty relentless nowadays.” [M/N] didn’t intend to stay as long as he did, he was planning on handing the thing Technoblade wanted to give him and would be off, but the company of the old man and ghost was rather comforting to the point he stayed there for a couple hours until the day turned into night. When he decided to leave, Philza offered for him to stay the night, but the former politely declined the offer because he was afraid that Tubbo and his lot would raid his house just to kick him out.

“That was rather refreshing.” [M/N] muttered softly, lacing his fingers while stretching them above his head and hearing them crack, he let out an oh when he felt arms wrap around his exposed torso so he glanced down and saw Ghostbur embrace him from behind “Hello, Ghosty.”

“You aren’t leaving yet, are you?” he hums softly, placing his hand on his head.

“That I am, Ghostbur. I’m not particularly welcome here.” Ghostbur pouts before removing himself, moving so he was in front of [M/N] to grab his arm and tug him forward.

“Don’t forgot that I was supposed to show you around.” [M/N] murmurs softly.

“Now? It’s late, and we might run into those four again.” he dismisses the thought.

“Tubbo knows not to miss with someone twice when Phil gets involved, and I know you won’t be coming back unless Techno needs you to do something for him again, and that’s something we won’t see unless it’s one of those rare days.” he tugs on his arm “I promise it won’t be boring.” [M/N] gives him a look before letting out a sigh and reluctantly nodding his head.

“Well... alright, but when I say I’m leaving, I’m leaving, got it?” Ghostbur lit up.

“Wonderful!” he cheered before dragging [M/N] behind him, who let out a grunt by the fact that he was being dragged around once more. [M/N] wasn’t interested in anything that L’Manburg had to offer, he could care less about the country that gave him nothing but bad memories, but the way Ghostbur’s eyes lit up as he explained certain monuments and who lived where, he couldn’t help but listen. There was bad blood between himself and Wilbur, if he ever go the chance to kill Wilbur, he would take it... but Ghostbur wasn’t Wilbur, and though that was a pity, he was quite grateful. Despite having the face of that deranged man, his heart was kind and soft. Ghostbur was in the middle of explaining something when he glanced up at [M/N], he flinched slightly when he noticed that [M/N] was staring at him “U-Um-- is there something on my face?” he asked, raising a hand to press against his cold cheek.

“No.” [M/N] answered rather bluntly, this caused Ghostbur to deadpan, a bead of sweat appearing on the side of his head.

“Then why are you staring...?”

“Your face is nice to stare at, is all.” his face flushes blue again, he presses his lips together as he turned away, [M/N] erupted into laughter at the way Ghostbur raised his hands to his cheeks to cup them, squishing them together. Yeah, despite the fact he has the face of the person he hates most, this version of his face was quite nice to look at. From afar, Quackity was watching the way [M/N] was laughing wholeheartedly while Ghostbur was waving his hands in a desperate attempt to stop him, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth as his gaze hardened on them.

It wasn’t fair that he was able to be happy and they weren’t.

[a few weeks later]

“Techno, this fucking sheep won’t stop following me.” [M/N] complained, raising his leg when the blue wool sheep nipped at the ends of his pants before letting out a happy bleep “Just let me eat the damn thing!” he shouts, hoping that it would scare the sheep away and convince Technoblade to actually let him eat it, much to his dismay, neither happened.

“No! How many times have I told you?!” [M/N] merely rolls his eyes with a groan before pulling some hay out of his inventory, this managed to catch the attention of the sheep so he hurled his arm back before throwing the hay in a random direction, letting out a sigh of relief when the sheep chased after it. [M/N] kicked the snow off his feet before entering Technoblade’s house, his body shuddering as the warmth within his home enveloped his body, he sniffed as he walked down the hallway and there he saw Technoblade sitting at his dining room table. 

“So, when’s Phil supposed to come around?” the piglin pursed his lips, taking out one of the letter’s Philza had sent him via crow, pushing down his reading glasses as he read through it.

“Hmm, around midday.” the both of them glance at the time and saw it was nearly that time “I wonder what’s taking him so long, he’s not usually one for being late.”

“Maybe his age is finally catching up to him.” they both stare at each other before laughing, as they continued to wait for the blonde man, the two of them worked around the property. [M/N] was helping Technoblade feed the animals and fix anything that needed to be fixed or taken down, Technoblade was tasked with collecting firewood and so he was working by cutting up the wood from the trees [M/N] cut down-- excuse me, punched down. 

“You could help, you?” [M/N] smiled smugly, leaning against Steve that laid behind him as he continued to watch Technoblade chop wood.

“But you look like you’re having fun.” he raises his hand, catching the axe that was thrown at him, and gives him a look “Hey, I did my job, now you do yours.” Technoblade growls as he pulls out another axe and continues chopping wood.

“You just chopped down too many trees!”

“Think of it as training.” [M/N] clapped his hands, leaning more into Steve as he decided that he was going to catch a couple of zzz’s, only to be interrupted when something landed on his head. Opening his eyes in slight irritation, he raised a brow with a hum when he noticed that it was one of Philza’s crows. He sat up straight as he looked around in search for the immortal man, inhaling deeply to try and catch whiff of the man’s scent, only to conclude that it was just Technoblade and himself in the area. The crow bounced up and down on his head and then did he realize that there was a small note attached to its leg so he raised his arm and it perched itself on his forearm, he removes the note from its leg and reads through it. Technoblade lets out a tired huff, wiping away at his sweating forehead as allowing the winds of the winter biome cool down his overheating body, he turned to scold [M/N] for not helping him, only now noticing that his body was trembling as the letter in his grasp was covering his face, his hands tightening and crumbling the letter under his grip.

“[M/N], what’s the matter?” he lowers the letter and there Technoblade saw [M/N]’s face expressing the emotions of anger and anxiousness, he glances down at the letter with his eyes before giving it to him.

“They’ve got Phil.” he whispers out through gritted teeth, Technoblade snatches the letter from out of his hands and quickly reads through it and his face soon matches [M/N], only, his anger was overwhelming his fear “What do we do?” Technoblade crumbles the letter up and throws it away, throwing the axe into the stump he was cutting wood on and starts making his way to his house.

“We prepare for a fight.” [M/N] was on his feet, allowing Steve to follow his master, and his hand closed into a fist. Reading that letter made his still heart thump against his chest and reminiscence the feeling of when he was serving Schlatt. His loyalty as a wolf was resurfacing from the grave and the thought of something horrible having happened to Philza all because of him was beginning to overwhelm his thoughts, he takes in a breath before turning away and rushing over to his home to prepare for the battle with him and Technoblade vs L’Manburg’s Butcher Army “[M/N]! Do you have any strength potions?!” he hears Technoblade shout from his house.

“No! I don’t make potions like that, that’s your thing!” he shouts back, tightening the guard on his forearm as he adjusted the rest of the armor on his body. It was true, he rarely used any potions that boosted up physical strength and speed, mostly using potions to insta heal himself and whatnot, his own strength and speed was superb enough that the potions used on others meant nothing.

“Useless!” he hears the other shout, this caused him to let out an offended gasp.

“Coming from the fool who has to use potions to make himself stronger!” they cease in their verbal argument when [M/N] heard footsteps, peeking his head out of his den, he let out a gasp when he saw who it was “Ghostbur? What on earth-- what are you doing here?” [M/N] has a hold on his forearms as he pulls him into his den, Ghostbur looks up at him and noticed the look of worry gracing his face.

“What’s the matter, [M/N]? Did something happen?” said man let out a frustrated growl, running his clawed hand through his hair as he searched through his chests for potions that would be helpful for himself and other potions that would debuff the Butcher Army.

“Tubbo locked Phil under house arrest and is coming for Techno and I.” his back was to the ghost, his head hanging low as his grip on the chest tightened, his claws digging into the wood “I fear that they’re going to kill us both if we don’t do anything...” Ghostbur noticed the way his body was trembling slightly, whether it be fearing for his life or maybe irritation that Tubbo had the gull to try and execute him out of a grudge. [M/N] flinched when he felt Ghostbur take his hand, glancing down, he saw tears running down his face as the blue dye on Ghostbur’s hands smudge onto his hand and fur.

“I don’t understand why Tubbo is doing this... maybe if you try and talk it through, he might listen.” [M/N] shook his head, slipping his hand free from the ghost and placing them both on his shoulders.

“I don’t believe he wants to talk it out. I feel like he’ll feel the most at ease with both Techno and I out of the picture.” he wipes away his tears before walking past him so he could make his way to Technoblade’s house, he sighs to himself as he shook his head when he heard the ghost following behind him closely. Ghostbur stayed outside, kicking at the snow as Technoblade and [M/N] thought of battle plans for when the Butcher Army showed up at their doorstep, but [M/N] couldn’t help but continue to worry.

“Hey, [M/N]! Hey!” said man lets out a sigh as he turned to look over at the ghost, Ghostbur grabbed a hold of his hand and pointed with his other at the sheep with blue wool “Look, look! It’s a sign, blue!” despite the dire situation they were in, he chuckles softly as he nods his head.

“Right, blue.”

“[M/N].” he lets out a hum, turning to look at Technoblade and saw him cock his head in the direction of the house, the wolfman lets out a sigh as he takes his hand back from Ghostbur.

“As cute as it is, Techno and I need to prepare for the onslaught that Tubbo is going to bring to us. I’d really appreciate it if you could take that sheep and get as far away as possible. Hide over a hill or something! Just get as far away from here as possible, okay? Can you do that for me, Ghosty?” Ghostbur nods, blushing at the nickname.

“O-Okay!” they watch as he goes outside and towards the sheep, attaching the lead to the sheep and leading it away “Come here blue boy. Okay, bye, bye Techno and [M/N]! H-Have fun preparing for the-- for the event.” [M/N] nods, waving goodbye as he watched Ghostbur walk away with the blue sheep following close behind.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about Ghostbur, right?”

“... we probably should.” was Technoblade’s answer before he turned around and watched away to continue preparing, this response caused [M/N] tp purse his lips and deadpan at Technoblade’s retreating form.

“That doesn’t help reassure me at all, Techno.” he was promptly ignored, once they were fully equipped in armor and fully stocked on potions, food and weapons, they took turns scooping outside the safety of Technoblade’s home for any signs of a threat. It was Technoblade’s turn to look outside the trap door window while [M/N] was distracted in sharpening his claws when he heard a groan, he raised his head and saw an annoyed look on his face.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” [M/N] glances at him.

“What?” he points out the trapdoor and so [M/N] peeks his head over his shoulder to see what it was, his jaw dropped at he sight “Oh god, that plan to have Ghostbur hide over the hills did not work!” he shouts, Technoblade grits his teeth as he shakes his head.

“Not at all!” [M/N] soon slaps his hands over his face. 

“Urgh, Ghostbur!” he groans out, [M/N] was over Technoblade’s shoulder as they look through the trapdoor and watch Ghostbur’s interaction with the Butcher Army, they both gasp when Ghostbur looks at them.

“No, no! Don’t make eye contact with me—no, don’t wave at me Ghostbur! No, no! Do not wave at me!” [M/N] slaps his hands over his face again as he shook his head.

“Oh no, they’re punching him. No, oh no... Ghostbur you’re on your own.”

“We can’t save you, Ghostbur.” Ghostbur then starts walking over to them “Oh this is not good—no, no! Don’t walk over to us! Don’t lead them over to us! Oh—I’m starting to hate this guy so bad. I hate this guy so bad.” [M/N] just groans as he presses his hand to his forehead once again when Ghostbur starts waving his hand, Tubbo, Fundy and Ranboo behind him while Quackity was beside him with an axe in hand.

“Hey, hey Technoblade! [M/N]! The—They say they’re going to kill you, Technoblade.” he presses a finger to his cheek as he looks back at them, Technoblade shook his head as he opened the door and looked at Ghostbur.

“Ghostbur-- Ghostbur, why are you—why are you leading them over to my house? Why are you doing this?” Ghostbur looks back at the Butcher Army then back at them.

“What do you want me to say back to them?” [M/N] was over Technoblade’s shoulder again as he points at them.

“Tell them that we’re not here and to fuck off!” Technoblade nods his head.

“Yeah, tell them that they’re at the wrong place.” Ghostbur tilts his head to the side.

“But that would be lying.”

“I-I—I need you to—they're going to kill me! Why are you not okay with lying?!” they both look over and sigh “And they’re all here, they’re all here. They’re all right outside my house.” [M/N] was internally screaming in his head as he pressed his palms together while pressing them to his face, he then glances over at Ghostbur and grabs him by his forearms and pulls him towards his chest.

“Ghosty, the plan to hide isn’t an option anymore, and I don’t want you getting hurt than you already are.” he shakes his head as he pulls Ghostbur back so he could look down at him “It would really put me at ease if you stay inside the house, alright? Out of sight, out of the way, but safe. Do you think you can do that for me? Can you do that for me?” Ghostbur stares up at him, noticing the way [M/N]’s brows scrunched up in concern as he continued to hold Ghostbur’s arms, the ghost soon nodded his head as he gave him a reassuring smile.

“If it’s what you want.” he lets out a sigh of relief, his shoulder briefly settling before they tensed up again when he heard Technoblade talking to the Butcher Army, he inhales deeply before pushing the door open from behind him and gently pushing Ghostbur inside.

“Stay in the house no matter what, and don’t come out no matter what. If you hear someone’s voice that’s neither Techno’s nor mine, don’t come out or answer. This is for your own safety, okay?” he nods.

“Okay.” he goes to shut the door but paused when he felt something nibbling at his pants, he looked down and grimaced at the sight of the blue sheep eating his pants, he lifts his leg and Ghostbur laughs “He seems to like you very much.” he cooed as he took the sheep, [M/N] only rolled his eyes.

“A weird thing for the sheep to like, especially when I tried to eat it.” he ignored Ghostbur when he made a face, cutting him off by closing the door and soon approaching Technoblade from behind, placing a hand on his shoulder as he leaned down “Have you managed to convince them, Techno?” he scoffs, rolling his eyes as he steadied the sword in his hand.

“Of course not, do you really think they would listen to reason?” he laughs.

“No, I’m just glad that we’re able to fight them and I won’t get reprimanded by Phil. But before we start this rumble, let me ask you one thing.” he says, standing up straight and glaring at the Butcher Army “What have we done in these past few months that we deserve to be treated with such unjust? I bet there’s no political reason and you’re simply doing this because we’re too dangerous to have around, because we threaten you just by simply being alive.” 

“What ever happened to serve and protect? Hah, this is giving me more than enough reasons to destroy the government. You use unfair methods to try and get the upper hand, but you still fall short to the point that it’s laughable.” at that, both Technoblade and [M/N] throw their heads back as they burst out into laughter, but this laughter was not the kind you could laugh along to, they were both laughing rather manically and mockingly. Soon, the laughter died down until their was nothing but silence, the bigger two take a deep breath before they glare at the Butcher Army “You’ve made the wrong choice in making us your enemy, L’manburg. We’ll make you regret your choice.”

“We’re only protecting the people from you.” [M/N] scoffed.

“What you should be protecting the people from is yourselves. You’re nothing but uncoordinated fools.” he takes a step back so that he was standing behind Technoblade, the two of them smirk darkly as Technoblade pulls out two potions.

“I choose blood!” he shouts before throwing them to the ground, the contents within the potions splashing on them and granting them extra strength and swiftness but also acting as a smoke screen to block the view of the Butcher Army ahead of them. 

“No!”

“Oh no!” the four brace for impact and wait for the outcome to happen, [M/N] was the first to make his presence known by pushing the smoke back and letting out a loud howl, revealing to them that he was now in his full form and was not planning on letting them get out of there unscathed. Ranboo staggered backwards when he saw that [M/N] locked eyes with him, he grits his teeth and raises his axe in a poor attempt to block his attack but was denied when the wolfman easily punched through the shaft of the axe, snapping it in half and his fist connecting with the Enderman hybrid’s torso. Ranboo was winded immediately as he was sent flying backwards, he collapsed to his knees and wrapped his arm around his stomach, tears leaking from his eyes and burning his skin as some saliva dribbled out of his mouth.

’Messing with these two was a mistake from the very beginning.’ Ranboo thought, gasping for air as he tried to compose himself despite taking such an intense blow from the very beginning, he soon lets out a whine as he closed his eyes ’God, I am in so much pain...!’ he really was, the axe was able to kill most of the blow but he still took a punch to the chest from [M/N] of all people. Still cradling his stomach, he weakly raised his head and shivered in fear when he saw [M/N]’s [E/C] eyes staring down at him intensely before he turned around and charged towards Fundy, who let out a yip before running away. This sort of reaction confused Ranboo, he was told by Tubbo, Fundy and Quackity that [M/N] was relentless and merciless when it came down to killing, so he couldn’t understand why [M/N] left him be.

The answer? It’s quite simple really, though he was already wary of the Enderman hybrid as well as the fact that he was threatening his life that very moment, he could tell that the kid was just roped in because he was new to the server as well as the fact that he knew nobody so he was only trusting the other three because there was nobody else there to teach him right from wrong. There was also the fact that Ranboo hadn’t directly done anything wrong to [M/N] where he needed to beat some sense into him, that one little love tap was more than enough to get him to think twice before raising his weapon against someone who was leagues above him. That being said, he didn’t feel an ounce of guilt when he punched Fundy in the face and watched him collapse to the ground, to which he proceeded to grab him by the ankle as start swinging him around.

“Hey, Techno! Let’s play baseball!” Fundy’s face paled when he saw both men smirk, beginning to break out into a cold sweat when he saw Technoblade kick Tubbo into Quackity as he raised his axe and pulled it back while holding the shaft of the axe like it was a baseball bat “Shoot for a homerun!” 

“Hey! I’m not a damn ball! This isn’t going to work!” Fundy shouts in hopes he could stop the two from doing something insane, [M/N] merely rolled his eyes as he tossed him up slightly so his hand would grab onto the collar of his shirt instead. Now with a better hold on the fox man, he pulls his arm back before slamming his foot onto the snowy ground before throwing him at Technoblade full force, he soon bursts out into laughter when Technoblade swung his axe and the flat side of the blade hit Fundy square in the face and sent him flying into a tree.

“Nice one!” [M/N] cheered as he approached the pigman, raising his paw and the two of them high five.

“Nice serve.” he jokingly bows his head.

“Thank you, thank you.” they soon fist pump before going back to absolutely demolishing the two who were still able to move, Quackity and Tubbo take a step backwards as the two bigger hybrids start closing in on them with little to no remorse in each step, the two of them were ready to dye the white snow red with their blood “You take Tubbo?” [M/N] says, the boy flinches when Technoblade moved his gaze to him before nodding his head.

“Sure, and Quackity’s yours?” he salutes.

“Rightyo.” they switch places before [M/N] starts charging towards Quackity, keeping true to his word, he completely ignored Tubbo in favor for the damned bastard who took one of Schlatt’s lives, that was enough to fuel that anger that he managed to bury deep inside him. [M/N] didn’t even chase after Quackity, the duck fled out of fear while [M/N] simply walked after him, a sickening smirk on his face as he watched Quackity stumble over his footing as he tried getting away from [M/N] “Aw, what happened to all that confidence, Quackity? Weren’t you here to kill us, but right now, it seems the opposite is happening right now.”

“Shut up! We’re still going to kill you both!” he rolls his eyes.

“For what?” he asks once more “Techno and I have done nothing to you guys and L’Manburg for months, and yet now you guys are here because we’re too dangerous? I call bullshit, I just know that there is another reason as to why you guys are doing this. Or perhaps, maybe this was your idea. You do seem to be the one running the show here while Tubbo is in the passenger seat, what’s your motive?” Quackity was now backed into a tree, back pressed flush against the stump as [M/N] loomed over him with a dark expression, a nervous smirk worked its way onto Quackity’s face as he managed to swallow down all his fear as he took a step forward, leaning up to glare straight into [M/N]’s eyes.

“You’re right, [M/N], you’re right. You’re on the hit list, both you and Technoblade, even Dream.” he shoves [M/N] back enough to poke at his chest, a twisted expression now crossing onto his face “I don’t care how long it takes me nor what I have to do to get there, but I’m going to make sure that I’m the one that kills you, the three of you.” 

“Hah, I’d love to see you try, little duckling.” pulling his arm back, he bares his claws and goes to strike Quackity down but the latter was just lucky enough to duck down, sweating a little when [M/N]’s clawed paws took down the tree in one strike. He tries to crawl away but lets out a grunt when [M/N] kicked him down before grabbing his ankle, this time, he didn’t swing Quackity around like a ragdoll like he did to Fundy, nah, he turned around and slammed his body into the ground before throwing him towards the house. That wicked grin appeared on his face as he noticed the way Quackity’s body was trembling in pain, he then looks to the side and saw the fallen tree so he knelt down and managed to get a good hold on it before lifting it up.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Quackity weakly croaked out when he noticed a shadow looming over him and he turned around to see what it was, only to pale when he saw that it was the tree [M/N] was previously holding before he threw it at him. He quickly rolled out of the way and shivered when it landed just where he was, Technoblade noticed and he quickly looked over at the wolfman and glared at him.

“Hey! Watch the house! You’re paying for damages!” the other scoffed.

“Through labour, dickhead!” Technoblade only rolled his eyes, Quackity pushed himself onto his back before rolling away when [M/N] jumped from where he was and was intending to land on top of Quackity, or rather, slam his claws into his body as he descended from the sky. He swallowed thickly as he stared at the damage [M/N] caused and was frantically looking for a way to subdue both men, his eyes soon landed on a horse and an idea crossed his mind, he scrambles to his feet and [M/N] doesn’t hesitate to chase after him.

“Big Q, do something!” Tubbo shouts from where he was, raising his axe one more time to block Technoblade’s sword from slicing his face “Big Q!” he growls and pulls his sword back one more time and goes to deliver the final blow but was stopped when he heard Quackity shout his name.

“Technoblade!” he turned his head to the call and his eyes widened at the sight, Quackity was holding the lead to Technoblade’s most prized horse Carl with the blade of his sword at his neck, he lifted his blade and pointed it in the direction of where Quackity was Tubbo took this distraction as an opportunity to get away.

“You get away from that horse right now!” Technoblade shouts.

“This is how this is going to go, Technoblade. Drop everything you have and come with us, if you don’t, I am going to kill this fucking horse.” [M/N] was just a couple inches away from Quackity and he glared at the little bastard.

“Technoblade, come on.” [M/N] starts, noticing the way the pigman was hesitating “It’s a horse! You can always get another one!” he adds, throwing his arms open to exaggerate his point. 

“We wouldn’t have been in this mess if you hadn’t played with your food!” this caused the other to narrow his eyes at him.

“Don’t play with me, Techno. You do the same!” Quackity and Tubbo sweat drop when they notice the two of them start arguing, Quackity lets out a growl before moving the blade so that it was closer to Carl’s neck.

“Enough fucking around! I promise you, if you don’t drop everyone you have right now, I’ll make sure to kill this horse!” he threatens once more, [M/N]’s shoulders dropped when he saw Technoblade inhale deeply as he looked away, he soon closed his eyes when he witnessed Technoblade drop his sword before removing all his armor and taking all his items out of his inventory, hell, he even took his crown and cape off “That’s right, and you too, [M/N]!” the wolfman glared at the new tyrant when he saw that confidence rise to his face once more, he only shook his head before doing the same thing. Ranboo and Fundy had now regained their composure and were chaining Technoblade and [M/N] up, Ranboo flinched when he placed a collar that was Enchanted with Curse of Binding around his neck with a chain that connected with the handcuffs around his neck. 

“I’m sorry...” Ranboo apologize, this apology surprised [M/N] slightly, his ears and head perking up in confusion when he could tell that Ranboo was sincere about his apology.

“... you’ve done nothing wrong.” was all [M/N] said to the young boy before looking away, flexing his hands and missing the way a conflicted expression worked its way onto Ranboo’s face. Ranboo would sometimes converse with Philza and Ghostbur and both men would say such positive things about [M/N] and the one thing he was working on was his anger management. He could see how calm [M/N] was despite the fact that he was now going to be executed along with Technoblade, who was just as calm as the other as they were being led away. Ranboo soon noticed the way [M/N] kept glancing back towards Technoblade’s house with a worried expression before stumbling forward when Fundy yanked on the chain connected to the collar, he then remembered the fact that Ghostbur was still in the house and was going to go check on him but stopped when he heard Quackity’s voice.

“Let’s go, Ranboo.” he said, no, it was more like an order that he had to obey, so with a nod of his head he followed them.

“Right.” 

[in l’manburg]

“I can’t believe it, you actually got them.“ being led into L’Manburg once more was almost humilating, but that humiliation disappeared when the two men turn their heads at the sound of Philza’s voice and there they saw the older man detained in his own home with a ankle band that was Enchated with Curse of Binding, keeping him from leaving his house but he was able to stand out on his veranda and there he bared witness to seeing his old friend and newest friend being dragged along in chains.

“Phil!” Technoblade shouts, finally acting up and  taking a step forward, yanking at his chains as he looked up at him “What did they do to you?!” he exclaims, gritting his teeth when Fundy pulled at his chains and Quackity grabbed his shoulder. [M/N] was just as shocked but he was shaking in anger, he was ready to burst but the look Philza was giving him made him calm down slightly, however that did not stop the continuous beating in his heart and it only continued to beat. He let out a grunt when he was kicked down onto his knees by Quackity, who was now holding the chains to his cuffs and collar while Tubbo led Technoblade to the cage he was going to be executed in. 

“You’re going to watch Technoblade die in front of you and know that what we do to him will happen to you.” [M/N] only growled in response before letting out a groan when Quackity yanked on the chians once more to shut him up, he growled to himself before his eyes wander up to where Technoblade was approaching his death. 

Walking up the steps to the cage that was to hold him in his cell for his execution was slowly dawning on him, each step he took felt heavy, almost as if he was trudging through ocean waters. It was unsettling that this was where he was going to die, what was upsetting was that Philza and [M/N] were there and they were going to see him take his last breath. He was going to die with his friend and associate, along with his enemies, watching him, Fundy was the one to lock him in the cage and he turned around to face them as Tubbo took his spot on the podium to make his speech.

“Technoblade has robbed this country of what made it special; everything that defined what it was. He stepped in when he shouldn’t have. He caused chaos, he ruined the government! He— Punz is throwing fucking—“ Technoblade wasn’t bothered listening to the blubbering bullshit Tubbo was goin on about because it just meant nothing to him, but at the mention if Punz, he raised his head and saw the mercenary throwing an Ender Pearl down from where he was and made his appearance in the middle of it all. The Butcher Army was confused as to why he suddenly showed up but were taken aback when he threw down multiple potions to boost his own stats while causing a smoke screen, what really threw them in a loop was when he placed down TNT.

“Punz! What are you doing?!”

“Punz, stop!”

“Fucking get his ass!”

“I’ll— I’ll just sit here.” Technoblade muttered to himself, watching the chaos unfold as they all chased after Punz to stop him from doing what he was doing, Technoblade sighed to himself as he leaned against the steel bars of the cage “This is nice.” he then glanced over at [M/N] and saw he made no attempt in trying to get free as he watched the chaos unfold with an equally confused look on his face. 

“Technoblade.” he flinched slightly at the sound of a echoing voice, turning his head, he hummed softly at the sight of Ghostbur and that goddamn blue sheep right behind him, obediently following after him while nibbling on the hem of his yellow sweater “Technoblade!” he cheered once more, to which the latter pursed his lips as he slowly nodded his head.

“Hello Ghostbur.” he greets, rather calmly despite the fact he was about to die.

“I’ve named him— I’ve named him Friend.” he nods.

“That’s fantastic Ghostbur, that’s fantastic. I’m about to die Ghostbur.”

“Okay, fuck it. Fuck it!” Technoblade turned his attention away from Ghostbur when he heard Quackity shouting while rushing back over to where the lever was while the others dealt with Punz.

“Big Q, pull the lever!”

“Heh?!”

“Pull the lever!” Technoblade takes a step back, looking up at the wooden blank that kept him and the anvil intending to kill him away. The thumping in his heart was beating so fast that it was all he could hear, slowly, everything started going slow motion in his point of view. He opened up his inventory and pulled out the one item that he kept hidden from the Butcher Army that would surely save his life, but he also knew that it was going to hurt like a motherfucker. So, holding onto it with a grip that made his knuckles turn white, he closed his eyes shut and waited for the impact of the anvil to kill him. [M/N] winced as he turned away, his ears pressing against his head when he heard the anvil slam onto Technoblade’s head and kill him, however, the sound of confetti reached his ears and he couldn’t help but turn his head back towards the pigman.

[Technoblade has reached the goal Postmortal]

“Heh, Technoblade never dies, huh?” was all [M/N] could say as he watched in amazement and disgust when he saw the Totem of Undying regenerate his skull, how from his bones, to his muscle to his skin was put back together but his face held the scar of a crack that shimmered like gold. 

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“How did he not die?!”

“What is going on?!” amongst all the confusion [M/N] tugs on the chains as he looked at Technoblade.

“Techno, run!” he noticed him hesitate.

“What about you?!”

“I’ll be fine! Just get outta here!” he took a breath before nodding his head and sprinting away, following after where Dream had taken Carl away. Quackity was the only one to leave the scene while Punz was left to fight the remaining members of the Butcher Army, [M/N] then took a deep breath as he looked down at the collar that was keeping him from going ape shit. Tubbo was in the middle of defending himself from an arrow shot by Punz when he heard the low growling, he turned to look at where [M/N] was and his eyes widened in fear when he noticed that he his grip on the collar was so tight as he was slowly breaking it off.

“No... no! Stop him! We can’t let him loose!” Fundy and Ranboo turned to face [M/N] and were frightened that the collar was at the verge of breaking with how  how tight [M/N] was gripping it while pulling it apart. They immediately rush towards him and attempt to stop him but were stopped dead in their tracks by Punz, giving [M/N] enough time to break the collar with his bare claws then letting out a loud howl as he glared at the lot of them from behind Punz. 

“You lot have got some nerve.” he snarled lowly at them, however, he ignored them and raised his head to look up at Philza. Said man took a step back when he noticed how the wolfman pulled his wrists apart to break the handcuffs before he knelt down and launched himself over to his veranda, pushing himself off the walls until he was standing on top of the railing “Let’s get outta here, Phil.” the blonde chuckled softly when he saw [M/N] extend his hand out to him, he took his hand with a shake of his head.

“Yeah, let’s go.” he let out a whoa when [M/N] tugged him forward, he wrapped his arm beneath him and was going to jump away until he heard the sound of Ghostbur’s voice, he looked down and his eyes widened when he saw the ghost.

“Ghosty? Seriously?! Didn’t I tell you to stay at the house?” he exclaims, the other just laughed.

“I was wondering where everyone went and came here to find you guys at the event.” [M/N] only shook his head.

“Goodness gracious.” he knelt down so he could put Philza on his back before launching himself towards Ghostbur, hooking his arm under the ghost then grabbing the sheep before charging over towards Punz, who stumbled backwards then let out a whoa when [M/N] opened his mouth and locked his jaws onto the hood of his jumper before tossing them all up and onto his back as he ran away on all fours at full speed. 

“What about Techno?!” Phil shouts, letting out a whoa when he felt [M/N] pick up the pace, placing his hand on his head to keep his hat from flying off.

“Techno will be fine! That piece of shit Quackity doesn’t stand a chance against Techno despite the odds being in Techno’s favor.” [M/N] noticed Philza was still worried about ihs friend so he looked back up towards him with a look of reassurance “Come on now, Phil. Techno was able to walk off an anvil to the head, he’ll surely be able to walk away from Quackity with Carl in toe.” Philza bit his lip before letting out a sigh as he nodded his head.

“Well... alright.” 

[Quackity was slain by Technoblade]

“Heh, see?” [M/N] started, the message of Quackity’s death appearing before their eyes, relieving them of their stress and worry “Techno will be fine.” with that [M/N] took off without a moments rest, Punz whistled to himself as he held onto [M/N]’s fur with a death grip when the man leapt through the air to cover more ground then landed on the ground with a loud thud before sprinting off as if it were nothing. [M/N] was now collapsed onto his stomach, taking deep breaths and wheezing after running nonstop until he reached the shoreline and was now taking a much needed rest, Ghostbur was by his side petting his head while Philza was watching the forest in search for his friend, Punz doing the same but looking for Dream. 

“You did such a good job, [M/N]. Well done.” Ghostbur praised, Philza snorted when he noticed the way [M/N]’s tail started thumping on the ground, then both he and Punz raised their guards at the sound of shuffling coming from the forest,[M/N] doing the same but instead pulling Ghostbur and Friend close to him to protect.

“Whoa there, it’s just us.” they all let out a collective sigh of relief when they saw that it was only Technoblade and Dream emerging from the forest.

“Took you long enough.” [M/N] pursed his lips as he shrugged his shoulders, looking away from Technoblade growled at him but Philza grabbed his arm to calm the piglin, Ghostbur doing the same with the wolfman but was scolding him softly.

“I’m so glad that you’re alright, Techno.” Philza said before wrapping his arms around the man, who let out a soft sigh as he gently pats him on the back, he then raised his head and his ears perked up when he noticed that [M/N] gave him a thumbs up. 

“Good to see you still kicking, Techno.” he only chuckles.

“You think that was enough to kil me?”

“Of course not.” they both smile softly at each other and fist bump each other, [M/N]’s soon moved towards Dream, a shallow growl emitting from his throat. He still never forgot his promise to Dream about his betrayal towards him and Schlatt, but because of Dream that very night, he probably would have died.

“I can tell what you’re thinking, [M/N].” Dream said rather mockingly, the growl resurfaced at his tone and Dream made sure to change tactics because he knew not to antagonize this man “Since Punz and I saved you two, I hope you guys can return the favor in the future.” Technoblade was the first to answer, a soft smile on his face.

“Of course! Whenever you need it, I’ll be there to setlle the debt.” Dream’s eyes then returned to [M/N], he noticed him narrow his eyes at the green man before throwing his head back.

“Fine, I might be there if you need a favor from me as well.” that was more than enough for Dream, to which he bowed his head towards them, arm to his chest and a soft smirk on his face.

“Then it was pleasure doing business with you lot.” 

Helper pt. 2

word count: 6629

Fandom: FNAF Security Breach  Pairing: Sundrop/Moondrop x Female!Reader  Pronouns: She/Her  Relationship: Romantic Occupation: Daycare Helper  Ability: Animatronic Moon Jellyfish

The character was modelled after a moon jellyfish, so they are an oceanic type animatronic that mostly resided in the daycare to assist when needed within the pizza plex. The appearance they adorn is that of a tall woman and the animalistic part of her design would be, other than a human-like face, they would have a large bell (the blob of a jellyfish is called a bell or hood) on top of their head that would act as a large hat, and attached to the underside of the bell are the tentacles and stingers. They are not stingers, they help the character locate children and feel for their surroundings. The bell on top of their head also glows in the dark.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name [B/C]: Base Color [S/C]: Secondary Color [F/C]: Favorite Color [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: spoilers to those who haven’t seen fnaf sb

“Helper” pt.1, pt. 3

“Sunbite, what on earth are you doing?” [F/N] questioned whilst she was in the middle of cleaning up the clutter of toys the children had left behind when their parents and other guardians had picked them up from the daycare, she turned to face him but soon noticed that he was hunched over a table where he was sitting with a group of children for arts and crafts. She raises a brow when she noticed that he didn’t respond so she put the toys away before sauntering over to where he was, looming over him, she saw that he was staring intently at a drawing “Pft, how adorable.” she giggled softly, her speaking from behind him finally snapped him out of his internal dialogue between himself and Moondrop.

“O-Oh, starshine!” she hums softly, raising a hand to cup her chin while her other held her elbow in place. He turned around to face her and quickly hid the drawing behind him, a flustered and embarrassed expression on his face as his sun rays were acting up. Why was he acting in such a disorderly fashion? That was because while he and the children were drawing, another child had drawn him and [F/N] holding hands together while hearts surrounded them both, oh! And the fact that he was about to kiss it but stopped when [F/N] was behind him, his body was now trembling as he leaned back when [F/N] loomed over his body, leaning closer and closer to his face.

“Whatchu’ got there?” she muses, now leaning to her side so she could get a look at the drawing once more, but Sundrop had it pressed against his back so she had no way of seeing it.

“N-No— Nothing! It’s nothing, starshine!” he was growing even more flustered with how close she was, and because of this, the drawing in his hands was getting crumpled up and he was surprised he hadn’t torn it by now. He jolts up from where he was standing when she placed her hand on top of his head, the rays from where her hand was pressed down.

“Well, if it’s nothing, it better be worth you overheating.” at the mention of that, his system alerted him that he was overheating and it was forcing him to shut down so that he could cool down. [F/N] giggles as she watches his body fall limp but before it could hit the ground, she caught him and now cradled him close to her chest. She always enjoyed teasing him, his reactions were so adorable and at the end of it, he would overheat and his system would shut him down and there she would be allowed to coddle and cuddle with him all she wanted. When his system would reboot and he wakes up, he would wake up and find himself laying in [F/N]’s lap as she sits in resting mode. She gently bonks her head against his, her hat rising so her forehead could press against his, and takes him to a quiet corner, not forgetting to take the drawing and add it to the collection of other drawings she loves.

And so here she was, a couple of hours into the night and now she was concerned as to why Sun hadn’t awoken yet. It did take a while for Sun and Moon’s system to reboot itself, but not THIS long. Perhaps his battery was running low, she glances up at where his room was and was contemplating whether or not she should bring him up there. She remembered in the past when she asked about his room, both himself and Moon started freaking out and pleaded with her to never go up there, whether it was with him or not. Though she was programmed to take care of Sundrop and Moondrop, she was also programmed to never disobey an order and break a promise, but she was worried for the Daycare Attendant. The way he charges was different to the other animatronics, she glances at him and his room before letting out a sigh and deciding to just simply go up there.

Unlike Sundrop and Moondrop, she did not have a hook on her back to connect the cable to, so instead, she called it down and wrapped it tightly around her arm. She tugged on it and when she figured it wasn’t going to come loose, she had it lift her off the ground and over to where Sundrop and Moondrop’s shared room was. She held Sundrop close to her as she landed gracefully on the balcony then allowed the cable to slip from her grasp, she approaches the curtain to his room and pushes it back and there she saw the reason as to why he never allowed her to enter his room. Unlike the Glamgang and even DJMM, his room was a complete mess, and not the type where it needed a simple clean. It’s like management hadn’t even thought of giving him a room that suited both him and Moondrop, she’d compare it to a broom closet, but at least a closet is a bit more organised.

She glances down at him before sighing softly and going over to where she believed was his charging station was. After plugging him and knowing that he was charging, she took a look around his room and frowns at how run down it was. The highlight of the room would be the small corner dedicated to drawings made by the children and other little gifts, she takes out the drawing the child drew of her and Sundrop, picking up a thumbtack and pinning it to the wall, adding to the collection of drawings. She didn’t have a room like the other animatronics, she resided in a small tent that was similar to a circus tent that was white and [F/C] and stationed in a corner within the daycare that is off-limits to the children, it was her quiet corner when she’s charging.

“Oh, my sunbite…” she murmurs, grabbing one of the Moondrop toys and squeezing it, giggling sadly when it let out a squeak. An idea soon sparked to her mind so she quickly glanced back at Sundrop, nodding to herself when she saw that he was still shut down, and then proceeded to scan the entire room to get a general estimate of the room then left. She threw the curtains back and jumped off the balcony, grabbing the cable and descending to the ground, landing with a small thud before bolting out of the daycare. She was allowed to leave the daycare but it was heavily implied that she stays within the daycare at all times just to simply monitor Sundrop and Moondrop at all times, but she could give two fucks at the moment.

“[F/N]!” she stops dead in her tracks and though it did not show, annoyance and dread bubbled in her chest at the sound of that obnoxious voice “What are you doing out of the daycare? You know you’re not supposed to leave.” she was modelled to have a permanent soft smile on her face, and so when she couldn’t properly express her true feelings, well, she usually shows it in her actions or the way she speaks.

“Oh, Officer Vanessa, what an unpleasant surprise.” Vanessa deadpans, she wasn’t sure when [F/N] started to dislike her but she wasn’t going to question it, as long as she didn’t do anything she didn’t like, then they were fine “Aren’t you supposed to be monitoring the atrium at this time?”

“That's beside the point, you still haven’t answered me.” the animatronic rolled her eyes beneath her eyelids before leaning down.

“It may be your job to monitor us animatronics and keep us in check from doing anything we’re not supposed to do, but I am not stationed to be in the daycare all night long. I have free roam around the Pizza Plex just like the other animatronics, so don’t come at me as if I’ve done something wrong.” Vanessa grits her teeth at her words, her grip on her flashlight tightened.

“It’s also my job to make sure you don’t wander off too far from where you’re supposed to be stationed.” [F/N] nods her head, already done with her nonsense as she stands up straight.

“Right, okay.” she leans down once more, making sure she was inches away from her face as she wipes her shoulders “Well then, I’ll make sure to get back to my designated area once I’m done with my business. So you pretend you never saw me and I pretend I never saw what you did.” this caused Vanessa to flinch, her body beginning to tremble as [F/N] leaned away.

“Wha— what do you mean by that?” she smirked softly as she reached forward, grabbing her cap and shaking it side to side before pulling it down then walking away from her, sparing her a glance and her gorgeous galaxy like eyes glared at her.

“You know exactly what I mean.” with that, she left the human employee shaking in anxiety, she shook her head and ignored what Vanessa had to say in favour of making her way to Monty Golf. She hums to herself as she listened to the music that played within Monty’s area, hearing alligators bellow and growl, she searched for the alligator but huffed when she couldn’t find “Now where on earth could that boy be.” she questioned, looking side to side but saw nothing.

“Who might you be looking for?” she lets out an oh at a voice, she glances down and saw it was another employee that was stationed to monitor Monty Golf.

“Oh, why hello there.” the security guard let out a nervous chuckle as they stare up at the animatronic woman.

“Hello there [F/N], what brings you here? You’re quite far from the daycare.” she places a hand on her chest.

“I was looking for Montgomery, I must speak with him this very moment.” the security guard nodded their head.

“Ah, I see.” they turn away and point in a direction “He’s over there. He was told to help us clean up the golf balls from the course, especially the ones that were shot off the course.” she nods her head and together with two of the saunter over to where Monty supposedly was, [F/N] pulls a face, hands on her hips as she pushes one out when she saw bubbles in the water, she can only guess where he is.

“Goodness.” the security guard noticed her staring at the water with unease and mild disgust.

“Oh! If you’re worried about the water, the lighting is set up so that the water looks murky and like a swamp. It’s actually very clean, trust me. I’ve fallen into it a few times.” at that, [F/N] raises a hand to her mouth.

“That must’ve been awful.” they nod.

“Yeah, wet socks really suck.” this caused the woman to giggle softly, the security guard let out another oh when [F/N] placed something on their head, when they moved it up they realized she took her bell off her head and placed it on top of theirs. They were going to question what she was doing but was taken aback when she dove into the water, a hidden feature about her design was that she was also water proof because she was a jellyfish, it’s just that she was always in the daycare so she it was never revealed. Anyways, she swam around for a bit until she finally found him at the bottom of the moat, brow raised when she saw him yelling about how there was a bunch of golf balls at the bottom on the first place.

“Damn this blasted kids! Don’t they know they’re not supposed to shoot the blasted golf balls into the water in the first place! Dammit! I hate this!” she rolls her eyes as she swims over to him, he continued to rage, unaware of her walking over to him after her feet touch the ground “I swear, one of these days, I’m just going to grab one of those brats and stra—”

“Montgomery.”

“Aahh!” he lets out a scream of terror at the unexpected voice and whipped his head around to see [F/N] standing behind him, arms crossed and a stern and unimpressed look on her face “What the? How the heck are you down here?!” she rolls her eyes, hands moving down to rest on her hips.

“Clearly I’m waterproof, just like you. I’m a jellyfish, remember?” he rolls his eyes “Anyways, that’s besides the point. I’m here to ask of you for something.” this gained his attention, [F/N] rarely ever asked him of favours, she mostly turned to Freddy or Chica.

“Alright, whatchu need, cher?” she pressed her hands together and points them at him.

“I need you to do me a favor.” he smirks softly, crossing his arms and leaning his weight onto one of his feet.

“You’ve already got my attention, whatchu need of me?” she huffs.

“How long do you think you can distract Sun and possibly Moon?” his brow rose even more.

“The Daycare Attendant?” he questions, she nods her head, he hums as he looks up in thought “Why? I thought it was your job to keep an eye on him? Why would you want me of all people to distract him?” she chuckles softly, moving her hair out of the way when it started falling on her face.

“I need him out of his room as long as possible, he doesn’t want me going in there but when I was in there, I saw the state of his room.” she then holds her waist while her other hand waves it around “I want to renovate it a bit, it’s quite sad management didn’t give him a proper room like the rest of us, so I want to surprise him.” Monty nods his head then points at himself.

“And that’s where I come in?” she grins, snapping her fingers and pointing at him.

“Now you’re catching on, well done.” he hums, feeling proud of himself.

“What do I get out of it?” she shrugs.

“What do you want?” he looks up in thought, she waits patiently then let’s out and oh when she saw his face light up, snapping his fingers then pointing at her.

“No matter what you’re doing, for three months straight, you gotta rough house with me or play golf with me.” what an odd request, she was going to question him but stopped when he added something else “Also, when I argue with the others for a VALID reason, you can’t scold me or lecture me for something I did WRONG.” she pulls a face when she added quotation marks on specific words, she rolls her closed eyes.

“Is that it?”  “For that, you also can’t tell me off whenever I destroy something that isn’t in my room and help me clean shit out of these ponds when I call for you.” she sighs as she looks down, pinching the bridge of her nose “Is that a deal, cher?” he asks, extending his hand out to her to shake, she looks back up at him before shaking her head and taking his extended hand and giving it a firm shake.

“Alright, you better distract him good then.” he retreats his hand and cheers.

“Great, now give me a hand help me clean out the pond.” she sighs once more, head hanging low.

“Got it.” he only grins and together the two of them clean out the pond that was littered with trash, golf balls, moldy golf balls and other junk. The same security guard stood at the new of the pond, playing with [F/N]’s hat and laughing softly at up big it looked on them, they then let out a yelp and jump back when two figures broke through the surface of the water and hauled themselves out of the water “We should enforce a rule that forbids children and others from throwing anything into the ponds.” [F/N] comments, turning on her heater to dry the water off her body while grabbing a few strands of her locks and squeezing the water out.

“I second that, saves us the trouble of fishing them out.” she chuckles at that, letting out a huff when she managed to squeeze out the last of the water in her hair before throwing her hair over her shoulder, evidently smacking Monty in the face “Do you mind?” he snarls, running his own hands through his wet red locks, a soft smirk raises to her lips as she crossed her arms.

“Not really.” before he could even start, she side steps and lets him run into a prop tree, she shakes her head before taking her hat back from the security guard, giving them a kind smile “Thank you for looking after it.” she says, placing her hat back on top of her head.

“It was no problem.” she nods then tips her hat to them.

“Then I’ll see you when I see you.” she waves them goodbye before leaving Monty Golf to return to the daycare, that was until the lights turned off. She sighs to herself, placing her hands on her hips when the power was converted to the charging stations, so now Moon was out and about, if he was fully charged, that is “Alright, sweetheart, where are you?” she was going to track him down until she heard his iconic sinister giggle.

“My starshine, why are you all the way over here?” she giggled to herself when he lowered himself from the ceiling, wrapping his body around her shoulders and leaning his head against hers.

“Hello to you too, moonlight.” she coos, cupping his cheek and returning the affection “It’s good to see you up and about.” he hums at that, letting her walk around for a bit instead of immediately returning to the daycare.

“While we’re on the topic, why weren’t you in the daycare? Both Sunny and I were a little upset when we woke up and didn’t see you.”

“I had business with Monty so I thought I would drop by while you two were resting, I didn’t think I would have been there as long as I was, but I guess that was because he needed my help cleaning out the ponds.” he raised a brow at that.

“Why would he need your help?” she places a finger on her cheek.

“I’m waterproof as well.”

“You’re what?!” she laughs when she could hear both Sun and Moon’s voices clash together “Why didn’t you tell us?” she hums, grabbing a few strands of her hair and twirling them around her finger.

“You never asked, and the opportunity never arose for me to get wet.” she pulls a face when she could tell that he was pouting as he hung off her shoulder, she shook her head as she lifted his head up to press a subtle kiss on his cheek, this was enough to get him to perk up “Stop being so pouty, though it does make you cute.” she giggles softly when she saw him turn red, his already permanent smile on his face stretching wider as he covered his face with his hands.

“Mm… you’re making me lose all my man cred.” she laughs wholeheartedly at that, placing a hand on her chest to settle herself.

“I can’t believe you just said that, the children have been influencing you in a bad way.”

“That I agree with.”

[a few days later]

“And that’s the last of them.” [F/N] hums, waving the last family goodbye before turning around to see Sundrop already cleaning up. She pumps her fists together and glances back at Sundrop, he noticed her gaze and happily waved his hand, she returned the gesture with a softer wave and kind smile. Operation renovation is now a go, she glances over at the door to the daycare and there she saw Monty ready to play his part “Now all that’s left is—”

“[F/N]!” she lets out a shout of surprise at the loud voice, she looks over and sees that it was Chica who threw open the door to the daycare, evidently throwing Monty to the ground since he was in her way “There you are sugar cube, I need your help.” Sundrop was confused as to why Chica needed help from HIS Daycare Assistant and was ready to question her but his mechanical heart dropped when he saw [F/N] smile and give her a thumbs up.

“Right, you needed help with your baking, right?” Chica nods her head, a happy smile on her face.

“That’s right, I hope I’m not being a bother.”

“Nonsense, you asked me in advance, so I must comply.” Sundrop was immediately by her side, wrapping his arms around her waist and sulking into her back.

“But you’re supposed to be helping me in the daycare.” he whined, she smiles softly, pressing a hand to his back and soothingly rubbed his back.

“I know, but I already promised Chica the night before.” she exhales softly when he wasn’t letting up, only tightening his grip on her “… when I come back, I’ll have a surprise ready for you and for the rest of the night I’ll spend it with you and Moon, how does that sound?” this caused a reaction out of him, he unravelled his arms from her so she turned around and knelt down, holding his hands in her own as he looked up at her.

“You promise?” she nods her head.

“I promise.” she boops his nose and he giggles at the action “I’ll be as fast as I can.” his hands reached out to hers when she slipped out of his grip, she pats his head before leaving with Chica in tow. She waves him goodbye and when she closed the door to the daycare, both herself and Chica press their backs to the wall.

“That was close.” Chica says, glancing up at [F/N] “He was reluctant in letting you go.” she shrugs her shoulders, a sheepish smile on her face.

“He loves me, what can you do?” Chica coos at that, cupping her cheeks when she noticed a soft blush rise to her cheeks “Alright, enough on that. You’re up, Monty.” he miraculously appears, saluting her with a grin.

“On it, cher.” she nods.

“Update me on what happens.” he nods once more before the two female animatronics dash away, he runs both hands through his hair then straightens his star sunglasses out.

“Show time.”

[with [f/n] and chica]

“How did you manage to find another way into the Daycare Attendant’s room? I thought that balcony was the only way.” [F/N] waves her hand as the two of them approach a poster.

“I was going through Parts and Service for a couple things when I found a blueprint of the entire facility, and there I found a secret entrance to his room.” Chica nods her head and quietly watches her approach the poster, Chica smiles sadly when she recognised that poster as the one that promoted the various plays Foxy would have… she really missed him “Dang it, it’s not opening.” she grumbles.

“How did you open it before?” she crosses her arms.

“I had to use the Faz Cam and use the flash on various posters of the four on the poster, quite frustrating because it messes with our eyes at the same time.” she pushes at the poster once more before throwing her hands down when it didn’t budge, Chica was going to make a suggestion but pulled her hands back when [F/N] kicked the door down “Hah, that was much easier and less time consuming.”

“… right.” they walk down the long hallway and when they reached the door at the end, [F/N] opened the door and Chica lets out a sad gasp, raising her hands to cover her beak “Oh, sweet pea…” the other animatronic nods her head sadly.

“Now do you understand why I’m doing this?” Chica nods her head.

“You’ve got a heart of gold.”

“If I had a heart.” Chica laughed with a scoff, shoving her forward.

“You know what I mean!” they both laugh until [F/N] ushered Chica out so she can clean, telling the girl to go to the kitchen in case Sun or possibly Moon go and check if they’re really there, she hopes not. She peeks her head out through the curtains and there she saw Monty talking with Sun who looked less enthusiastic then usual. Monty noticed [F/N] from the corner of his eye and signalled her a thumbs up, she gave him a grateful smile then returned the gesture before going back into Sun’s room to clean it up.

“So, Sundrop,” Monty pulls a face when Sundrop blatantly ignored him, his shoulders dropped “what’s up with you and [F/N]? You two are awfully handsy, aren’t cha?” Monty noticed Sundrop freeze up, the items he had in his arms were immediately disregarded and dropped to the floor with a clatter, his head turning around to stare Monty down and his body following suit.

“Oh, [F/N]? She’s a real doll, ain’t she? What’s there not to love about her?!” Monty was soon pulled into an extremely long conversation about [F/N], though he did like her himself in a friendly/motherly way, the way Sundrop talked about her nonstop was making his ears bled.

“Just bring me up in a conversation and I promise you, my sunbite will be talking nonstop.” Monty scoffed, crossing his arms.

“That’s a little narcissistic, don’t you think?” she huffs, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m just saying, it’s an amazing conversation started with him.” he lets out a silent groan, taking a seat on the ground while slapping a hand onto his face and dragging it down.

‘Dammit, I hate it when she’s right.’ she giggles when she saw the face he was making from where she was, already knowing what he was thinking. She didn’t waste any of them time that was given to her and cleaned up the room to the best of her abilities, questioning why there was a dismantled staff bot in pieces in their room but decided to leave it at that and just throw it down the hallway. She kept all the drawings and stuffed toys in their area along with other items that seemed to have some significant meaning in to Sun. If she had a human nose and eyes, she would have be left in a coughing and sneezing fit from the amount of dust and dirt the room had, it was revolting.

“How could management do this to poor sunny? After everything he’s done as the Daycare Attendant.” she shakes her head and continues to clean his room, when she managed to get it in order, she pulled in the things that she swiped from around the Pizza Plex to decorate his room.

“How long do you think you’re gonna be, cher?” she perks up at the sound of Monty’s voice “Sure, he’s been talking about you for nearly two hours and a half, but I think he’s running out of things to say. Give me something else to talk about with him!” she sighs, she quietly puts down the box in her hand and takes a peek through his curtains once more and saw that Sundrop was running out of things to blabber about her.

“Hmm… talk about glitter glue or the children. He’s quite obsessed with that.” Monty pulls a face.

“The glue or the children?” he looks up at her and sees her wink, he grumbles, she ducks away and Monty looked back at Sundrop when he raised his head “A little birdy told me that you like glitter glue, hah, what color?” he was seriously regretting taking this favor, she just shook her head when she heard Sundrop cheer happily about how good glitter glue taste… wait, taste? She is going to need to sit him down for that. She stands proudly at her almost finished masterpiece, she just needed to add a few little things and she’ll be done. She picked up the box of glow in the dark items and trudges over to the makeshift tent she set up but cursed to herself when her legs got caught in a loose sheet.

“Oh shit!” she shouts before collapsing to the ground, both Monty and Sundrop jolt up at the loud noise.

“What was that?” Sundrop questioned, standing up and looking over at the balcony that led to his room “Is someone… in my room?” Monty noticed the panicked look on his face and the sudden urgency to go check what that was took over his system.

“Oh shit, whatever you did cher, it’s got his attention!”

“Then distract him, you lousy gator!” he growls, he looks for anything that could get his attention and talking to him wasn’t going to do anything anymore, soon enough the memory of [F/N] telling him that Sundrop will drop everything to clean up a mess came to mind. Sundrop was in the middle of calling down the cable when he heard something clatter, turning around, he let out gasp when he saw that it was Monty kicking down the pile of blocks.

“Whoops.”

“Ah! Oh, no! What a mess! Clean up, clean up!” Monty lets out a breath when he noticed that Sundrop rushed over to clean up the mess.

“You better almost be finished, because I don’t know how long I can keep him distract like this.”

“I know, I’m almost done!” she rushes to stand up and clean up the mess she made and put the items she dropped in the places they were supposed to go, meanwhile, Sundrop was growing more and more agitated with the constant mess Monty would make just as he cleaned the last one. A visible tick mark appeared on his forehead when Monty threw a table, the contents that were on said table fell to the ground with a clatter.

“What is your problem, Monty?!” he shouts, in return, he grumbles under his breath when Monty merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Butter fingers.” he pinches the bridge of his nose as he inhales deeply.

“You know what? Forget it, you’re wasting my time.” a panicked look immediately washed onto his face when Sundrop gave up cleaning up the messes and called down the cable once more.

‘Cher hasn’t told me if she was done yet, and I don’t think he’s going to respond to anything I do anymore!’ he tried to tackle him down but fell short when Sundrop was lifted off the ground and now flew over to the balcony that led to his room to investigate the noise “Oh no.” Sundrop grumbles under his breath as he pulls the curtains back to see what could possibly be in his room but his body completely froze up at the sight,

“I wonder how this looks…” he turned his head and there he saw [F/N] leaning side to side to get a good angle of the stuff toy of Moon that was sitting on a little box in a corner dedicated to all the drawings and gifts the both of them had gotten from the children. She then shook her head and grabbed the toy, however, she looked at it longer and even caressed it with the back to her hand “I really do hope you and Sun like what I’ve don—”

“Starshine?”

“Kyaah!!” she screamed in absolute fright, not expecting to hear his voice, and even threw the toy in the air, to which Sundrop caught before it hit the ground. She whipped her head around and she was surprised it didn’t snap off with how brutal it was, when she saw Sundrop her jaw dropped before she looked outside the opening to the balcony “Montgomery! You had one job! One!” from where he was laying, he pushed himself up and gave her a look.

“I did what I could, dammit! And I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen!” she lets out a sigh, slapping a hand onto her face.

“Lousy gator…” she looked down at Sundrop and saw that he was looking around his newly improved room, she couldn’t really tell if he liked it or not, he was quiet and it was scaring her “Sur… surprise! Well, it’s not really a surprise because you came in before I could finish, but it’s the thought that counts, no? Um, I know you didn’t want me to ever come in here, but I had to when you were on low power and I needed to put you on charge, and when I saw the state of your room I thought I could give it a touch up. I hope you and Moon don’t mind…” she grew even more nervous when he still hadn’t spoken yet, curiously leaning side to side to try and see if a reaction out of hill

…

…

“Nnngh…” her eyes opened in shock when she heard a whimper come out of his voice box, she gasps when black tears of oil start leaking out of the cracks of his eyes “You did this… all for us?” she nods her head and that was enough for him to burst out into a crying fit.

“O-Oh, do you not like it? Was it wrong of me to change your room up?” she stumbles back a little when he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her neck, kicking his legs back and forth as he dug his face into her neck.

“How could I not like it? I absolutely love it!” he pulls away as he hands hold his waist to keep him from falling, he sniffles as he gives her a tearful smile “This is one of the loveliest things anyone has ever done for me— for us. We would be fools if we didn’t love what you’ve done.” Sundrop’s brows perk up when he saw her face turn a light shade of red as she started overheating, he giggles softly when he heard her fans whirl to cool her down.

“O-Oh, is that so? Then I’m glad.” he hums and leans into her body once more and she didn’t hesitate to return the affection, she then thrusts a thumbs up through the curtain, Monty notices and returns the gesture. She soon puts him down and shows him what she’s done to his room. Not only did she clean it to the point there wasn’t a speck of dust, she managed to set up some wallpaper that matched both his and Moon’s aesthetic. She set up a tent that was similar to her own in the daycare as his resting place that was filled with pillows, toys and blankets with stars and planets that hung from top of it. She even set up fairy lights around the room and tent, she even made a spot that was dedicated to all the gifts he and Moon got from the children, his face grew red when he noticed the one of him and her surrounded by hearts.

“This is so lovely, thank you, [F/N].” she smiles brightly before lighting up in remembrance.

“I almost forgot!” she exclaims, his face drops slightly when she raised her hand and reached over to the light switch, she noticed his change in mood so she raised her other hand to gently grab his hand “I know you didn’t get to marvel as long as you wanted, but this little feature I added needs the lights to be off, and wouldn’t it be fair for my moonlight to get to have his turn to see his new room, my sunbite?” he pouts but nods nonetheless.

“I guess.” she smiles and presses a kiss to his cheek, this was enough to get him to comply.

“Thank you.” she continued to hold his hand as she flicked the light off, when Moondrop came to be, he looked around in awe at the new room before letting out an oh when [F/N] pulled him forward while pointing upwards “Look up.” he does so and gasps softly when she managed to decorate the ceiling with stars that glowed in the dark.

“Starshine…” he whispers, she leaned down slightly, nuzzling her cheek against his.

“Do you like my surprise?” he chuckles, looking up at her with a bright smile.

“What’s there not to like?” she giggles sheepishly when he wrapped his arms around her neck and proceeds to kiss her, she hums into the kiss as she stumbles back into the tent, her back falling into the plush pillows. He laid on top of her as he pulled away, she hums softly as she brushes his cheek with the back of her knuckles, Moon purrs as he takes her hand into his “We love you, our gorgeous star.”

“And I love you two, my twin jesters.”

Headcanons:

they had to open the daycare a little later than usual because they overslept, but also because sun was looking at everything new in their new room.

sun had practically begged [f/n] to move her tent into their room so they could be roomies, plus he just wanted her to be closer to them.

as promised for his work, for three months, [f/n] complied with all his wishes and practically kicked his ass when it came down to rough housing and monty golf.

she won against him for sun and moon.

they cheered like the wonderful boyfriends they are.

sun and moon try to return the favor by adding trinkets to her side of their room.

she would return to her tent and find drawings of the three of them together, and it would make her day.

sometimes she would find a stuffed toy of an jellyfish.

there were no toys made for her so when she asked where they go it from, they admitted that they asked chica to teach them how to sew.

she cried and hugged the toy close.

the stuffed jellyfish was added to the collection of gifts, placed in between the sun and moon plush toys.

sometimes neither side would sleep in their respective tents.

meaning, moon would pull out the pillows and blankets and place them in between the tents so they could snuggle together.

it always did comfort sun waking up in [f/n]’s arms.

parts and service appreciated the fact that [f/n] was sun and moon’s anchor, especially moon, because now moon spent every night with her instead of wondering around the pizza plex and destroying bots.

the daycare has never been more brighter.

Tyrant

word count: 11,246

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Eddie Munson x Male!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Romantic Occupation: Student Ability: N/A

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name  [L/N]: Last Name  [N/N]: Nickname  [H/C]: Hair Color  [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: vulgar language, violence, alcohol consumption

might make a part two, you never know, you never know.

that is all.

“Look, there he goes again.”

“You’d think the teachers would expel him by now.”

“Did you hear? Apparently he jumped Thompson on his way to school and robbed him of all his shit.”

“What an asshole.”

“Oh shit, here he comes.”

The once bustling cafeteria came to silence when Hawkins Highschool delinquent stepped foot inside, those intimidating [E/C] eyes glared at anyone within a five foot radius. Grabbing his own tray of food, he sat down at a random table that was still full of people, but the moment he looked at them they quickly departed from the table in hopes of not being his new punching bag. There wasn’t a single redeeming quality about [M/N] the people of Hawkins could think of, he was rude, dangerous and ruthless, regardless of gender. People remembered a time when some prissy girl tried getting in his business, the type of girl that had a the mindset of “I can change him” or what not, she ended up missing several weeks of school because he beat her black and blue, tearing out some of her hair and knocking some of her teeth out.

Unlike Steve Harrington and Billy Hargrove, both being dubbed as the King of Hawkins, he was called the Tyrant of Hawkins. Billy was scary and intimidating in his own way but he had charisma and a charm to him that made people like him. Steve was just a pretty face with just the charm and no intimidation, all [M/N] had was the intimidation and demanding aura around him that people couldn’t help but obey his every word in hopes on not getting on his bad side. Whether they were the losers, the jocks or the popular people, there wasn’t anyone within Hawkins High that didn’t know the full extend [M/N] will go to keep what he calls peace.

And then there’s Eddie Munson, the freak of Hawkins. Lover of metal and D&D, a man who failed his last year of high school and was repeating the year in hopes of graduating that year. Eddie Munson, the man who wasn’t afraid to express who he was, regardless of who was in attendance. Most people find him downright annoying, some find him surprisingly endearing, but most people just think he’s a lost cause. People just thought he was bound for failure, there was nothing good about interacting with Eddie. Dustin, who was busy eating his food, glanced up from his meal to spare Eddie a look and soon noticed he was staring across the cafeteria.

“Eddie?” at the call of his name, the others sitting at the table, stop what they were doing and look at Eddie “What are you looking at?” he asks and soon they’re all following his gaze, a few of them turning pale when they saw that he was staring at the back of [M/N]’s head.

“Dude, why are you staring at [L/N] for? If he catches you staring, you’re dead meat.” Gareth whispered to him “And I am not up to watching you get beaten to a bloody pulp.” Eddie just lets out a laugh, brushing some of his hair back while waving them off.

“You guys worry too much, I’m not gonna do anything.” they all sweat a little, it totally looked like he was gonna do something, but despite knowing how reckless he was, he wasn’t someone who would poke a sleeping lion. Eddie would describe [M/N] as a person with a button you shouldn’t push instead of having a short fuse, he had a short temper as is and chose to speak with his fists instead of his words, they seem to get the point across better than an explanation “… do you think he listens to Iron Maiden?” Jeff gave him a look.

“Eddie, don’t even think about it. You’ll be met with a fist before he even agrees that he likes listening to them.”

“So you’re saying there’s a possibility.” they all let out a groan, a few of them slapping a hand to their foreheads or squeezing the bridge of their nose. The sound of shouting and gasps caught their attention so they all look over and in horror saw one of the jocks from the basketball team dump their food on top of [M/N]’s head, he looked like a freshmen because he was laughing aloud while the rest of the basketball team watch in disbelief at what the new guy just did.

“AH HAHAHA!! Come on guys, that was funny!” he continued to laugh, missing the way everyone backed away as [M/N] slowly stood to his feet “I don’t see why you guys are so scared of just one gu—” he couldn’t finish his sentence when a fist connected with his jaw, causing him to tumble to the floor as blood sprayed out of his mouth. Each time the punk tried getting up his face was met with [M/N]’s fist, he laid no waste to him as he continued punching his face until he collapsed onto his back by Eddie’s table. The brunette watched as the [H/C] male grabbed him by the collar to lift him up and continue beating his face in with no remorse, by the time he was satisfied, he let out an exhausted sigh, sweat and chunks of food bleeding down his face as his fist was drenched in blood, regardless if it was his or not.

“Carver.” Jason flinched at the call of his name, [M/N] didn’t raise his voice to call him, his voice was scary enough that he could bend anyone to his will “What have I told you about controlling your dogs?” he swallowed thickly from where he stood, shrinking down when [M/N] stood up.

“T-That if they get out of line… you’ll put them down.”

“That’s right.” he starts, looking at the table beside him and grabbing Mike’s tray of food then proceeded to dump all its contents on top of the unconscious jock “I hope you remember this the next time you decide to act like a bitch.” He growled as he threw the tray down, his eyes then wandered over to Eddie, who was staring at him with wide eyes and jaw dropped “The fuck you looking at, freak?” he snarled at the brunette, who in turn swallowed thickly, raising his hands up defensively.

“N-Nothing! Nothing, I swear.” he got a scoff in response as [M/N] turned away, kicking the jock one last time then stormed out of the cafeteria, kicking the doors open and disappeared to probably clean the food off of him. The cafeteria sat in silence and watched as the basketball team hurriedly dragged the unconscious player to the sickbay, when they were out of sight, the students all bustled into chatter at the turn of events that just occurred.

“God, that no good [L/N] is so terrifying.”

“He’s even got the jocks listening to him.”

“I can’t believe that dumbass did that.”

“Nobody warned him?” Dustin and Lucas pat Mike on his shoulder, watching as he took deep breaths to calm his beating heart. He wasn’t going to lie, watching him beat his ass was so satisfying but once he turned those anger filled eyes in his direction, he couldn’t help but pray that he wasn’t next, that didn’t mean he wasn’t sad that his food was now on the floor.

“You good Mike? You look like you’re at the verge of fainting,” he raised a thumb whilst trembling slightly.

“And there he goes.” Dustin says, watching as he revved his engine and drove out of the schools parking lot “You’d think the teachers would have dealt with him at this point, but to think he’s even got them to listen to him.” Lucas lets out a sigh, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I-I’m good.” now with Eddie, his heart was beating just as fast as Mike’s, but for a different reason. The way he watched [M/N]’s face scrunch up in rage, the way he watched his bicep bulge with each swing, the way he watched the sweat run down his neck as he beat his face in. He couldn’t deny the fact that he felt something when those [E/C] eyes glared in his direction as he sneered at him, called him a freak. It was just that tone in his voice and the way he presented himself that made his heart race. 

“That was so hot…” he whispered under his breath. At the end of the day, all Eddie could think of was [M/N] and no matter how hard he tried to think of anything else, his thoughts of the tyrant would just come rushing back. The moment he and his friends stepped out of school they heard the roar of an engine, and there was the man in all his glory starting up his motorcycle, a Kawasaki Vulcan 750. He treated that thing as if it were his child, people said that his bike was the only thing that ever made him smile, and the one time someone made the foolish mistake to mess with his baby, he paid them back by totally their car to the point of recognition.

“Yeah, unfortunately, he does not discriminate.” they each shake their head.

[family’s video store]

“Yes sir, yes I understand… have you ever tried checking to see if the VHS player is plugged in?” Robin Buckley, who was currently on the phone with a customer that recently purchased a movie from the store, had called up complaining that it wouldn’t play “So it wasn’t plugged in? Then that’s probably the reason why it wasn’t working, sir.” Steve walked behind the counter after putting the returned movies back on shelf and saw the look of mild frustration on her face.

“Old man again?” he mouthed to her, to which she nodded while making the finger gun gesture and pressing it against her temple, he snickers softly when she pulled the trigger but continued to speak in way that she’s sympathising with said man. Steve’s head perked up at the sound of a motorbike, leaning back on the counter to take a peak outside and there he saw the infamous [M/N] [L/N], the Tyrant of Hawkins, pulling up into their parking lot. He couldn’t help the bead of sweat that rolled down the side of his cheek as he reminisced the past when they attended high school together, he was the one person Steve knew not to mess with or look at the wrong way. He had a reputation that preceded him, they both did, so they had a neutral relationship between each other. He takes a deep breath when he saw [M/N] get off his bike and start approaching the store, jumping slightly when the doors opened and he came right up to the counter.

“Harrington.” he says, voice uncaring for the man in front of him as he stared at him with that same neutral and unbothered expression he always wore when he wasn’t angry.

“[L-L/N].” he cursed under his breath for stuttering, embarrassed that he was still afraid of the man in front of him “What brings you here? I don’t suppose you’re here to rent a movie?” he swallows his saliva when [M/N]’s gaze hardened on him before ignoring him and looking at Robin.

“Buckley, I need to talk to you.” finally looking at them, she acknowledge [M/N]’s presence but held up her finger, telling him to give her a second.

“I’m in the middle of something.”

“Can’t it wait?” she gives him a look then goes right back into what she was doing before she was interrupted, Steve took a glance at [M/N]’s face and saw he was slowly but surely losing his patience, the way his eyebrows scrunched up as he hand formed into a tight fist. Steve all but recognised this was what [M/N] would do before he completely lost all rationality and started throwing hands, he took a step forward when he saw [M/N] raised his hand but was surprised to see he only pressed the hook set to hang up the phone.

“Wha— hey! You can’t just hang up the phone when I’m talking to customers, [M/N]!” she shouts at him, he just shrugs.

“Yeah, well, that’s not as important as to what I have to tell you.” she raised a brow, they stare at each other in silence until she let out a groan, his face lighting up slightly when she caved.

“Alright, fine,” she gestured for him to follow her into the back room and he nods, jumping over the counter and going in before her “Steve, you can handle things alone up front, right?”

“Y-Yeah, but—” he was ignored, he lets out a sigh as his hands slapped against his hips when he dropped them “Alright, I’ll be here.” Robin Buckley, lover of women, would never call herself anything special. Still in high school, she was just like every other average joe that walked those halls, though she was in band, that was probably the only thing cool she’d say about herself. So, never in a millions years would she have found herself in a sort of friendship with the cold and ruthless [M/N], however, right now he was anything but what his reputation says about him.

“I actually managed to talk to him this time!” he squealed out, hands cupping his cheeks as a bright red blush flushed across his cheeks. There was no trace of the Tyrant of Hawkins, all she could find was your typical high school teenage boy thinking about the love of his life, and his so happened to be Eddie Munson, the freak of Hawkins. Ah, now she can remember why the two of them got along, they both had that sense that neither liked the opposite gender and they became friends from then on. Most of the time it was Robin ranting on and on about a girl that’s caught her eye, but never actually having the courage to speak about her feelings, all [M/N] ever had to talk about how his feelings for Eddie continued to grow since he first saw Eddie.

“Oh yeah, and what did you say to him?” he then slumps forward, a dejected look on his face.

“I asked what the fuck he was staring at, then called him a freak.” she let out a defeated sigh, slapping a hand onto her forehead “I couldn’t help it, I was still angry that that fucking prick dumped his food on me.” his face turned sour at the memory, hand clenching into a fist but softened when she placed her hand on top of his.

“You really need to work on your anger management issues, dude.”

“I’m trying, I swear I am.” he lets his head hang a little, hand clenching and unclenching, showing that he was trying to calm himself “But my therapist is a pain in my ass, telling me shit that I already know is the problem and ain’t really helping me. I’m ready to throw hands!” he shouts as he stands to his feet, to which she quickly grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him back down.

“You can’t hit your therapist, you could get into serious trouble for something like that.” he grumbles at that, soon that lovesick expression found its way onto his face again, he was probably thinking about Eddie again.

“I really want to be about to talk to him, Buckley, but I’m scared that if I approach him, he’ll take it the wrong way. He might think that I’m trying to beat him up, but I don’t want him to be scared.” she rolled her eyes, planting her hand on her hip.

“Well then, I don’t know, give him love letters.” he looked up at her.

“Love letters?” she nods.

“Yeah, if you can’t find the right words to talk to him to his face, write that shit down and put it in his locker.” she then smacks his arm with the back of her hand “Isn’t English your best trait? I’ve read some of the stuff you’ve written, and let me tell you, that shit hits harder than you think.” he looks a little flustered at that, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend.” she shrugs.

“Whatever floats your boat.” he seats there for a couple minutes before nodding his head.

“Okay, I’ll give your idea a try.” she nods when he stood up “I'll tell you how it goes.” she grins and gives him a thumbs up.

“Go get ‘em tiger.” they then fist bump and he walks out of the room, he glanced at Steve and mentally rolled his eyes when he saw him almost fall over. He was totally eavesdropping on their conversation, but he could give less of a shit, he was busy thinking of what to write down to give to Eddie. Robin walks in after he drives off on his motorbike, leaning down to rest on the counter as Steve gives her a look of disbelief.

“Since when were you friends with [L/N], Robin?” she shrugs.

“Since high school man, learn to keep up.”

“Wha— but he had no friends!”

[next day: hawkins high school]

In the early morning, [M/N] was at school with a letter in his hand. Taking Robin’s advice, he poured his heart and soul into what he wrote down that he wished he could say to Eddie. He had a faint blush on his face as he pressed the letter to his chest before finding Eddie’s locker and slipping it in, not before checking that there was no one there to catch him in the act. With his mission accomplished, he laid in waiting for Eddie to arrive, just to catch his reaction. He really hoped that he didn’t take it the wrong way, he didn’t think the letter was a joke and that someone was playing with his feelings.

“Hey, Eddie!” [M/N] quickly fell back behind the wall he was leaning on to hide, peeking out ever so slightly to see that it was Dustin calling Eddie’s name, who had just arrived with that cute little smile spread across his face.

“Hey Henderson! You ready for tonight’s campaign? It’s gonna be a real spectacle!” he cheered, to which Dustin’s face lit up immensely and nodded his head.

“Totally! Mike, Lucas and I can’t wait!” he chuckles softly.

“Well, it’ll be worth the wait, I promise.” Eddie soon opens his locker to get a few things but blinked when something fell and landed on his feet, kneeling down, he raised a brow in confusion to see a letter “Hmm? What’s this?” Dustin peeks over his shoulder then backs away as Eddie stands up straight, flipping the letter to get a look at the front and back.

“There’s no name.” [M/N] scoffed at that, of course he wasn’t going to write his name on it, it’d be even more unbelievable and he’d probably take it as a threat and not read the letter at all “Think it’s a love letter?” both himself and Dustin laugh at the possibility.

“Yeah, I highly doubt it. Don’t get my hopes high like that.” he jokes, he then tears the envelope open and pulls out the letter. Dustin tried to read it as well but couldn’t when Eddie would pull it closer to his face, [M/N] wished to see his face just to see if what he wrote was good or not. His wish was answered when Eddie lowered the letter and there he saw Eddie’s face turn bright red, all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Eddie…?” Dustin softly called out, reaching forward to grab his bicep and shake him “You good?” he stuttered out words, raising his hand to cover his mouth.

“I-It was a love letter…” 

“What?! Let me see.” he exclaimed and snatched the letter from his hands to read it himself, [M/N] wanted to punch the shit out of that little bastard for taking the letter that was meant for Eddie alone, but couldn’t help but feel a little grateful, because there he got to see his flustered and bashful reaction to reading the contents of his letter “Whoa! Whoever wrote this, they’re batshit in love with you.” Eddie bites his bottom lip, shaking his head in denial.

“No, whoever wrote it is probably fucking with me.” he replied, this answer was exactly what [M/N] feared.

“No, no Eddie, I don’t think so.” he then waves it around a bit and hands it back to him “If this was really a joke, I highly doubt it would be written with this much care. Whoever wrote it, they definitely had something they’ve been wanting to say to you for a long time. If this was a joke, I believe it wouldn’t have been written like it was a goddamn novel.” Eddie takes a breath, lifting the letter to read through it once more before pressing it against his lips.

“A-Alright.” he pulls it away and smiles softly at it, making sure to fold it up then tuck it nicely in his front pocket. [M/N] turned so his back was pressed against the wall and the look of joy quickly spread across his face. He internally squealed to himself, hands pressed into his face to hide the huge grin on his face that he couldn’t suppress. Robin’s advice worked and it wouldn’t have worked as greatly as it did if it weren’t for Dustin, he must thank him in some way for clearing up the misunderstanding. He nods to himself, taking one last glance at Eddie before leaving for his first class of the day.

“A mixtape?” he slowed his pace.

From that day on, [M/N] would continue to write letters and leave them in his locker, finding new things about Eddie that had him falling in love with him, it was his favourite thing to do, especially when he got to see the little reactions Eddie would have upon reading the letters. He would always turn a shade of read, sometimes he would twirl a few strands of his hair around his finger as he read through the letters, maybe fidget with a few of his rings, but just seeing him smile was all that made his day. At the end of his day he would always rush to Robin to tell her that it was working, telling her that her advice worked wonderfully and that it was slowly building his confidence to talk to Eddie face to face. Yeah, about that. There were a few times [M/N] managed to build up some of that confidence and was planning on talking to Eddie a few times but at the last minute chicken out a end of sulking about his failures. 

[M/N] was sitting in the cafeteria now, some bit of food hanging loosely on his lips as he stared at his notebook. He twirled his pencil around his fingers then tapped it against his forehead, rubbing the end of it into his temple as he tried to think of other things to put into his next love letter but his mind went blank. He groaned and fell forward with his head hitting the cafeteria table, he was running out of things to say, he needed to think of something quick. He sighs to himself and lifts himself up, closing the notebook and tucking it away then decided he was done in the cafeteria. He swings his legs out and starts walking out that he just so happens to overhear something from Eddie’s table.

“Yeah! I’d appreciate something like that, means they actually took the time of day to make something sentimental, you know?” Gareth scoffed.

“Just as long as they put in songs that actually mean something, if it’s just random songs, it won’t really matter.” Mike raises his hand.

“I second that.” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. I’ll remember what you guys said when I get a mixtape.” [M/N]’s face lit up, now that’s something he could do. With a new goal set in mind, he was going to ditch his last class in favor of making this mixtape when somebody slammed into his chest.

“What the?!” he exclaims, growling when whoever bumped into him spilt their food onto him “Fucking— again?! Watch it punk!” he shouts, grabbing the next victim by the collar of their shirt and pulling them forward, raising his fist to punch them across the face but stopped when he saw that it was Dustin.

“W-Wait, man…! I’m sorry, I d-didn— didn’t see you.” his friend group immediately stood to their feet to defend him, but what could they do against the tyrant, he could easily beat them all after tearing Dustin a new one. [M/N] took a glance towards Eddie, something Dustin didn’t miss, and saw the way he glared at him if he were to even leave a mark on him “I’m sorry, I-I’m sorry…!” he apologises once more, [M/N] looks back at him then closed his eyes, letting out a sigh as he let Dustin go.

“Accidents happen.” he says, grimacing when he looked down at the spilt milk all over his jacket “Just watch where you’re going next time, Henderson.” the cafeteria was brought to silence, absolute silence when [M/N] walked out. Did the tyrant just spare someone? Everyone was sent into an uproar just as Dustin collapsed, Lucas and Mike were immediately by his side.

“Dustin!”

“Dustin! Are you alright?” he was shaking, trying to calm his breathing but he nodded nonetheless.

“Y-Yeah… god! I thought I saw my life flash before more eyes just now.” he runs a hand through his hair as his friends helped him to his feet, what he couldn’t get out of his mind was the way [M/N]’s face showed annoyance but the moment he took one glance over at Eddie his face softened. He seemed to have been the only one to notice because they were all asking if he was alright and how lucky he was to have survived against [M/N], his eyes narrowed at the possibility.

‘He couldn’t possibly be…’

[with [m/n]]

“Mum! Where’s the cassette recorder?!”

“In the garage!”

“Thank you!” he dumps an array of different cassettes onto his desk, sorting them out by genre and splitting them up then grabbed the cassette recorder and player, plugging them with headphones so the residents of the [L/N] household didn’t have to suffer through the array of different songs throughout the night. A cigarette hung loosely in between his fingers, flicking the ashes into an ashtray as he listened to each song, bobbing his head while swaying softly “I hope he likes these.” he muttered softly, by the time he was finished it was two in the morning, but it was totally worth it. He laid on his bed, headphones in and listened to his final product, smiling ever so lightly. The next day felt like any other day, arrive to school early with barely anyone around and slip in a letter for Eddie but this time a mixtape, everything was fi—

“So it is you!” he let out a gasp, throwing himself against the lockers at the unexpected voice. Looking behind him, his face paled when he saw that it was Dustin “I can’t believe you’re the secret admirer!” he quickly slapped his hand over Dustin’s mouth, bringing his other hand up to press a finger to his lips.

“Would you keep your voice down?!” he snarled at him, he takes a quick look around to see if anybody heard, when he saw nobody he dragged Dustin into a supply closet and slammed him against the wall “Henderson! Don’t you know when to mind your own business? I thought you’d think twice about bothering me after yesterday, but I see you’re just as stupid as the rest of this fucking scho—”

“You’re in love with Eddie, aren’t you?” [M/N] sputters over his words, his tough guy façade slowly beginning to crumble when his previous threats went to deaf ears as Dustin smirked up at him “I saw the way you looked at Eddie yesterday, and after all those love letters I thought of the possibility that it could be you. I was really taking a huge gamble on that small little detail, but I guess I was right. You, [M/N] “the Tyrant” [L/N], is in love with Eddie “the Freak” Munson. Just admit it, it’s written all over your face.” [M/N]’s face was twitching as he fought to keep that glare on his face, but in the end let out a defeated sigh as he crumbled to his knees, hands holding a fistful of Dustin’s vest.

“I-Is it that obvious…?” Dustin’s jaw dropped immediately as soon as [M/N]’s true feelings revealed itself, he pushed himself back and saw his bright red face as he pressed his hands to his face “Yeah, I’m really in love with him it’s crazy.” even his voice sounded soft and meek, not a trace of that psycho from the day prior.

“Since when?” he was taken aback when a lovesick grin spread across his face, a look of complete adoration in his eyes as he tried to recounter the first time he saw Eddie Munson.

“Where do I even begin? It was probably during my freshmen year! He’s a year older than me but the moment I set my eyes on him, watching him be himself… ah, I was over the moon.” he then cups his cheeks, leaning into the palm of his hand “I fell in love when I saw him performing one night at a shitty gig that were  willing to let him and his band, Corroded Coffins, play. It was so mesmerising watching him play, I loved every second of it.” Dustin pursed his lips, raising a brow when he heard [M/N] let out a sigh as he leaned his back against the wall.

“Well, if you like him so much, why don’t you just tell him? You’ve shown him just how much you like him, so I don’t see the harm in just saying it to his face,” this caused the older one to let out a groan, throwing his head back then hiding his face in his knees.

“That’s the thing. I’m afraid I might say the wrong thing, I’m scared that I might scare him off. Don’t you remember who I am, Henderson? I’m the tyrant, the school delinquent that isn’t afraid to throw hands with a fucking teacher.” he runs his hands through his hair “I’m afraid when he finds out that I’m his secret admirer… he’ll think I was playing with his feelings as a new way to torture people.” Dustin placed his hands on his hips.

“Eddie always looks forward to seeing those letters.” this caused [M/N]’s head to perk up and look up at him “It’s his favourite part of the day, seeing what new things you love about him.” this caused him to grin sheepishly, closing his hands together and kicking his legs a little.

“Really?” he giggles softly. If Dustin where to mention [M/N]’s true personality to his friends, they would probably laugh in his face and tell him he’s ridiculous. That there wasn’t a single person in this world that the tyrant had a soft spot for, but that was where they were wrong. He’s seen the way Eddie’s face lights up upon reading the letters and now that he knows that they are really truthful— he lets out a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’d like to consider myself a good friend of Eddie’s, like, really close.” [M/N] lets out a hum at that, acknowledging that fact by the fact he’s always seeing the two of them together acting like idiots “So… how’s about I give you a hand?” he gave him a wary expression.

“… what do you mean by that?”

“I think Eddie’s starting to like you, erm, the secret admirer.” [M/N]’s face lit up immensely at that “Eddie also has an interest in you, the tyrant, but it slowly turned sour after yesterday. He probably would have hated your guts if you actually hit me.” he groans.

“I know, that’s why I didn’t.”

“And I still thank you for that, [L/N].” this earned him an eye roll “If I were to have Eddie see you in a better light, and potentially boost up your confidence in talking to him, maybe I can help you two hook up.”

“Really? You’d do that?” he stands up but then stops, looking down at Dustin cautiously “What’s the catch?” Dustin smirks a little.

“Just your protection.” this caused [M/N] to quirk a brow “My friends and I are still losers, meaning we’re still targets in the jocks eyes. We by no means can protect ourselves from those assholes, so, I was hoping you’d keep an eye out for us in return for my services.” he let out a groan at that, why did he have to play babysitter. He genuinely wanted to refuse, but having Dustin as his inside man to help him get with Eddie… dammit, it was an offer he just couldn’t refuse.

“Alright, Henderson, you’ve got yourself a deal.” this caused him to grin, reaching forward to grab [M/N]’s hand and shake it enthusiastically.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” he rolled his eyes. Now, outside the supply closet was Eddie. He arrived a little early to school in hopes that he could potentially catch his secret admirer but upon opening his locker and finding the letter and a mixtape, all was for naught and he woke up early for no— wait, a mixtape? He felt giddy, taking the tape into his hands and opening the case and there he saw a little note written in it.

’I happened to overhear that you’d love to receive a mixtape. Thought I’d give you one as a gift. I hope you enjoy it, Eddie.’

~ secret admirer.

“Oh, what a sap.” the sound of a door opening caught his attention, he leaned back from out of his locker and narrowed his eyes when he saw [M/N] and Dustin walk out of the supply closet. He thought maybe [M/N] was threatening the younger one but was surprised to see Dustin laughing when the other grabbed the end of his cap and shook it a bit before pushing his head back and walking away “What was all that about...?” Dustin raised his head upon feeling he was being stared at, he jumped upon seeing that it was Eddie.

“Hey, Eddie! W-When did you get here?” he asked while approaching him.

“A couple minutes ago.” he then eyed the back of [M/N]’s back before he disappeared “Why were you in the supply closet with [L/N]? Was he threatening you again?” Dustin’s eyes widened before he raised his hands while shaking his head.

“Oh, no, no, no! I just needed advice for... intimidation?” he mentally slapped his forehead, even Eddie looked at him as if he were an idiot.

“Seriously? I’m surprised he didn’t give you a black eye.” Dustin waved his hand to dismiss him.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. We just let bygones be bygones, alright? He’s actually a pretty chill dude.” Eddie rolled his eyes, tucking the mixtape and letter into his front pocket, intending to listen and read through them later.

“Sure, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

And see Dustin kept his end of the deal, Eddie would ramble about anything that came into mind and he would later report it to [M/N], because of this, it gave him more material for his letters. Sometimes he would think of new gifts to give to Eddie, a few times they got a little too big so [M/N] had to break into his locker just to get it in there. But also keeping his end of the deal, whenever [M/N] would catch Dustin and his group of losers getting ganged by anyone with ill intentions, he just stands behind them and give them that infamous death glare. Mike and Lucas have been starting to notice the lack of black eyes they’ve been receiving, and Dustin has been weirdly confident for some reason.

“Dustin, what did you do?” Lucas asked, eyeing him weirdly as he walked beside him.

“Lucas is right, you did something.” Mike agreed, Dustin just gave them a cheeky grin. 

“I’ve gained us, boys, immunity.” they both stare at him weirdly “At first I thought he wasn’t doing his job right, but in the end, it worked out just fine.” Mike and Lucas share a look with each other.

“Oh yeah, how?” they enter the cafeteria, Mike and Lucas intending to sit down with Eddie and the rest, but were confused when they saw that he was walking somewhere else “Dustin? Dustin! Where are you going?” their jaws literally dropped when he confidently walked over to where [M/N] was sitting, dropping his tray of food in front of him then taking a seat across from him, practically startling the poor soul who was reading.

“What the-- Henderson?” [M/N] questioned, looking over at him in confusion, he rolled his eyes when the brunette grinned at him “What the fuck are you doing over here?” he merely shrugged his shoulders, taking his bag off his shoulders and putting it under the table.

“Eating lunch with you.” he scoffed, making sure to bookmark his page before closing his book.

“Shouldn’t you be eating with your friends?” he asked while gesturing with his heads over to them, to which Dustin shrugged “I still have a reputation to up hold here, Henderson. I can’t just let these dorks see me going soft, all because of you--” he stuttered back his words when Dustin raised his finger, he was greatly offended that he was shushed.

“And they won’t, but I think it’ll help Eddie see that you’re not such a bad guy.” this caused him to calm slightly “Like I said before, Eddie was interested in you before and I think you’ll gain his interest again if he see’s you’re not that hard to talk to. And by doing that, you have me.” [M/N] rolled his fingers along the table as he eyed Dustin before letting out a sigh.

“Fucking, fine.” with that Dustin happily ate his food, [M/N] picked at his food “... does he like the mixtape?” the younger one let out a hum at that, he quickly swallows his food and nods.

“Mm hmm, he listens to it all the time.” this caused a rare smile to raise to his cheeks,

“I’m glad.” those who were staring that managed to see that smile were in complete shock, the only face he ever wore was a scowl or sneer, but this was the first time anyone has ever seen him smile like that at something that wasn’t his bike. Eddie, who was watching the entire interaction, felt his eyes widen at how charming that smile was. He couldn’t help but snort softly when he saw Dustin say something and in return [M/N] threw some of his food at him, but there was a smile nonetheless.

“Since when was Henderson friends with [L/N]?!” Gareth exclaimed, Eddie chuckled softly.

“Actually... I remember seeing the two of them together one morning, I thought it was nothing, but I guess not.” at the end of lunch he was hounded for answers by his friends, though they backed off a little when [M/N] walked by them but not without ruffling Dustin’s head.

“Later Henderson.” he happily waved his hand.

“Bye, [L/N]!” he then smirks at Lucas’ and Mike’s dumbfounded face.

“Since when did you gain [M/N]’s favor? I thought that was impossible to do!” Mike exclaimed, hands in his hair and ready to be torn off “Was this during the time you bumped into him?” Dustin just grinned cheekily at them, shrugging his shoulders.

“Maybe, maybe not. Hey, Eddie!” said man looked at him “He does like Iron Maiden.” Eddie’s face lit up.

“Well, if he likes Iron Maiden, then he can’t be all that bad.”

“No, Eddie, just no.”

[time skip: a few weeks later]

Dustin continued to sit at [M/N]’s table, must to the other’s displeasure, and just straight up harassed him because he had the power to do so. Dustin’s time with him actually got him a few ups rather than downs, mostly because he started to learn more and more about him. He learnt that [M/N] was actually really smart and the reason he never put in any of the effort to the schoolwork was because the teacher’s thought he’d end up as a lost cause, so he just gave up trying so hard. But the one thing he did put a lot of effort into was English, Dustin would often ask for his help for his English work and though he thought it was a hassle, the younger of the two could tell that [M/N] was having some fun with it. 

Sure Dustin promised [M/N] he would help him with telling him everything about Eddie, but Eddie wanted to know more about [M/N] as well. Eddie learnt that though the delinquent enjoyed listening to a variety of different heavy metal songs, he quite enjoyed listening to classical music as well via vinyl's. It was a shocker, but it did help calm him down when he was having trouble with his anger issues. The school also noticed the way [M/N] was starting to soften up and act less impulsive, they all had Dustin to thank for that, making the tyrant less tyrannical.

“Whatever you’re doing, Henderson, keep at it.” Eddie said, patting his shoulder and looking up in thought “You think he knows how to play D&D? I’d love to ask him to join Hellfire personally, but I’m afraid he’ll think it’s boring.” Dustin rolled his eyes, recalling the time [M/N] told him that he self taught himself how to play D&D so he could play alongside Eddie one day during one of his campaigns.

“I’ll ask him.” Eddie grinned.

“You’re the best.” he shrugs.

“So I’ve been told.” with [M/N], he was sitting just outside the parking lot reading the Lord of the Rings Book: The Return of the King. He was always a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s works, it was one of the many reasons he ended up loving English a lot, but he took up reading the books again when Dustin told him Eddie tended to make references from the books a lot. He closed the book and chuckled to himself at the amount of page tabs he had on them from the time he marked down the best parts of the book, he believed he believed he read enough and was planning on going home but stopped when he heard shouting.

“Hmm?” he glanced over and saw what he believed was Eddie’s Hellfire Club huddled around, he thought it was nothing until he saw a couple of jocks “Well shit, and here I thought I was going to have a quiet Friday evening.” he puts his book in his bag and leaves it by his bike before marching over to see what ruckus was all about, the students immediately parted upon seeing him and when he saw what was going on his blood ran cold. 

[a few minutes before [m/n] arrived]

“You think you and your lot of freaks are untouchable, huh, Munson?” Eddie laid on the ground, blood running down nose and black eye slowly forming on his left eye as he stared up at the bastard who punched him “You think just because Henderson is in good graces with the tyrant we can’t hurt you? Well guess again, bitch, there’s nothing he will do.” Dustin glared at them from where he stood.

“You’re wrong, you asshole!” he flinched back when another jock took a step forward.

“Oh, yeah? That asshole doesn’t care about anyone but himself! You’ve gotten arrogant because of the fact that you can talk to him, Henderson. But remember this, the moment he sees no more use in you, you’ll be the next punching bag on his list.” Eddie spits out the blood in his mouth and stands to his feet.

“What makes you think we need [L/N]’s protection, huh? I can handle myself pretty well!” he lets out a laugh when he was grabbed by his vest, yanked forward and standing eye to eye with the jock “You guys are just as scared of him as we are, you just hate that he’s close to him.” he winces when the jock reeled his arm back but paused when it didn’t come, he opened his eyes and noticed that the jock was looking down so he followed his gaze and his eyes widened when one of the newest love letters fell out of his pocket.

“What’s this?” Eddie sputtered out his words but let out a gasp when he was thrown back, Gareth and Jeff caught him before he could fall just as the jock bent down to pick up the letter.

“H-Hey man, give that back!” he shouts out desperately, heart dropping when the letter opened and the jock looked at the writing inside it, he soon laughed at what it said.

“Well would you look at that? The freak seems to have an admirer!” he shouts, reading through more of it then looked at Eddie with an amused expression “Do you really think anyone has any feelings for you, Munson? It’s probably nothing more than a joke. Nobody loves you, there’s nothing to love.” Eddie’s hands closed into a tight fist, those words really damaging his heart.

“Y-You’re wrong!” this response made him laugh.

“Wow! You really believe these feelings this person wrote for you are actually true!” he then drops the letter, raised his foot and stomped on it, making sure to twist his foot on top of it “You don’t deserve to be loved.” those tears that were threatening to fall finally fell, though Dustin couldn’t help but feel fear run through his veins. [M/N] always treated those letters with care, and seeing someone stomp on them means that they have a death wish. 

“You’re dead...” he whispered to himself, though the jocks seemed to have picked up on what he said and turned their attention on him.

“The fuck did you say, nerd...” they trailed off when someone stepped out from behind Dustin, he glanced up and there he saw that enraged look in [M/N]’s face that he hasn’t seen in a long time. Eddie also looked up when someone pushed passed him and saw that same expression that charmed him, [M/N] couldn’t see anything but red. He grabbed the piece of shit that had the balls to insult him; to insult his Eddie and stomp on his letter, and pulled them forward “H-Hey, now wait a minu-- minute!” [M/N] pulls his arm back, glaring at the poor unfortunate soul.

“Clench your teeth.” was all the the warning he got that was laced with venom, and for the next couple of minutes, [M/N] was laying waste into him. There was nothing that could stop him now, not the countless of students that were yelling at him to stop, not the people who were trying to pull him off as he beat his voice to the point he laid there unconscious and unable to defend himself. He ignored the way the jock clawed at his face and arms for him to stop but couldn’t, he made his Eddie cry... and he was going to make him pay with his blood.

“[M/N], stop!” Dustin shouted, grabbing at the arm that he was swinging with all he could and pulled it back “You’ve done enough... please, you’ve done enough.” [M/N] glanced back at Dustin and saw the sheer fear in his eyes, he then looked down at the poor unconscious sap and the blooded mess he was in. When Dustin saw his fist loosen up he finally let go of his arm, [M/N] took a deep breath then stood to his feet and looked over at Eddie. The two of them just stared at each other until [M/N] looked down at the dirty and crinkled letter, bending down to pick it up.

“H-Hey, wait--” Eddie was cut off when [M/N] slapped it against his chest as he walked past him.

“Next time, take good care of your valuables, Eddie.” nobody said a word as [M/N] walked away, hopped onto his bike and drove away. Eddie’s hands held onto that note like it was his lifeline as his friends surrounded him, asking him if he was okay, but he couldn’t help but shiver at the way his name rolled off of [M/N]’s tongue. 

’He said my name...’

[time skip: a few days later]

“... wanna talk about it?”

“Shut up, Buckley.” Robin snickered from beside [M/N], the two of them laying outside on the grass at school, though [M/N]  was drinking alcohol out of a flask. [M/N] told Dustin to stay away from him for a couple days because he was afraid he was going to have another outburst and take it out on him if he couldn’t control himself. He really went too far this time, that was on him, but he just couldn’t control himself when he saw Eddie crying; when he saw that motherfucker step on his fucking lett--

“You’re balling your fists again, [M/N].” he lets out a defeated sigh, hands relaxing.

“I think I’ve gone and done it this time, Robin. I think I officially scared him off.” Robin watched him sit up, face in his hands as he shook his head “I just couldn’t stop myself, Buckley. Just-- jesus, I lost all rationality and let out the anger I hadn’t realized I was bottling up all out on him.” Robin rolled her eyes and sat up.

“You’re overreacting, dude.”

“I don’t think I am.” he whispered to himself, she shakes her head and places a hand on his shoulder.

“If you’re so worried, just go talk to Dustin. He’s your inside man, remember?” he spares her a glance and saw she was giving him a look of reassurance “I can even talk to Dustin, that little twerp and I became friends sometime last year.” he makes a face.

“... nah, I think it’d be better if I talked to him.” she grins, punching his arm.

“There you go.” he scoffed with a laugh “Now hurry up, and sick and tired hearing that kid miss talking to you.” he scowls at her.

“Right, I was quite enjoying my peace and quiet.”

“No you weren’t.” he pouts. He was now at his locker, getting a few things out of it, ignoring the people moving around him and whispering bullshit about him again. He stopped caring about what others said about him, some rumors were true while others weren’t, they just put the blame on him because it was easier that wa--

“Hey.” he slammed his locker shut at the sudden voice, turning his head, he started screaming internally at who it was “You think we could talk for a bit?”

’Oh my god, Eddie! You’re talking to me! I can’t believe you’re talking to me! Is this a dream? If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up! What a dream come true! Eddie, the love of my life!’ he had a straight and neutral expression but his thoughts said otherwise.

“Sure.” he cried on the inside at his short answer, fuck sake.

“W-Well, um-- I’ve been meaning to say thank you.” this caused [M/N] to raise a brow.

“Huh, for what? I don’t remember doing anything for you.” this is where Eddie nervously twirled a strand of his hair then moving it so that it was hiding the lower half of his face, something that [M/N] found adorable whenever Eddie felt nervous.

“No. When those assholes took that letter from me...” he trailed off, a pained look on his face “I couldn’t do anything, and their words really stuck with me. But you, you stood up to them. You could have just looked the other way, but you didn’t, and for that I’m really grateful.” [M/N] swallowed thickly.

“Yeah, well-- don’t expect me...” [M/N] stopped himself before he could finish his sentence, shaking his head when he realized he was going to come off as an asshole “No, I-- fuck! I mean, it’s no big deal, Munson. You’re Dustin’s friend, so I couldn’t just turn a blind eye.” he internally fist bumped, nailed it.

“Well, thanks, tyrant.” [M/N] chuckled.

“No problem, freak.” they both laugh. Robin had confronted Dustin and told the young boy to talk to [M/N], he was already way ahead of her and was making his way to his locker but stopped in the middle of his tracks when he saw him talking to Eddie. Wow, what a turn of events. He froze up when [M/N] saw him and before he could say anything, Dustin backed away but gestured for him to keep talking.

“So, [L/N],” Eddie cleared his throat, his little DM persona surfacing up as he gave the taller male a confident grin “you know the Hellfire Club, right?” he nods his head.

“Yes?” Eddie then tugs on his battle vest, a smirk raising to his face.

“So then you know how we play D&D, right?” he was given another nod in response to that “Cool! I-I mean-- ahem. As the Dungeon Master, as a thank you for your services for protecting my friends and I, I would like to formally invite you to Hellfire. Now I hope you understand how valuable this invitation is, [L/N], because not just anyone can be invited into Hellfire. You should feel really grateful.” looking up at him, he was expecting to see an unimpressed expression and was going to be brushed off, but what he got was a look of excitement as [M/N]’s cold eyes sparkled while a red hue flushed to his cheeks.

“Really?” his voice reminded him of that of a child, he wished he could stare at that face a little longer but it quickly disappeared as it came when [M/N] shook his head to knock some sense into himself “I-I mean, uh, sure. I’ll take up your invitation, Munson. No take backs.” Eddie couldn’t help but laugh at that childish sentence.

“Haha, alright.” he then takes a step back, waving his hand goodbye “Tomorrow, at Hellfire after school. Be there early, okay? I need to show the ropes and recap on our last campaign.” [M/N] nods his head, giving Eddie a thumbs up as the metal head walked away.

“R-Right, totally!” Eddie flashes him a bright smile before finally disappearing, [M/N] stood in the hallway for what felt like hours at what just happened. Eddie came up to him. Eddie was the one that talked to him. Eddie thanked him. Eddie smiled at him. Eddie invited him to Hellfire. He couldn’t fight back that huge smile and when he saw there was no one around, he let out a biggest squeal, jumping in the air while pumping his fists then punching his locker “Fuck yeah! I did it! I did it!” he then crouches down, pressing his hands together as he continued to smile.

I did it.

[time skip: the next day]

Eddie wasn’t in the greatest of moods that day. Sure, he was happy when he woke up that morning. Why? Maybe it was because he was finally going to be able to interact with [M/N] [L/N] for the very first time instead of watching him from afar and hearing new things about him from Dustin, he could finally talk to him and look at him from up close. Maybe he was also excited to get a new letter from his secret admirer, things were looking great for his end of the week. He arrived at school with a big smile on his face, he approached his locker and opened it but... there was no letter. He looked through every nook and cranny for it but there was nothing, his heart dropped and he couldn’t help but feel heart broken. The words of those bullies coming back to haunt him. 

“Nobody loves you.”

“There’s nothing to love.” 

“You don’t deserve to be loved.” 

What made things worse was that he didn’t see [M/N] throughout that entire day, he tried asking Dustin but the kid didn’t give him any concrete answers to go off of. When everything was finally looking good for him, it all just went away as fast as it came. Was [M/N] even going to come to Hellfire? God, what was he even thinking? Of course he wasn’t. That guy probably has better things to do than come to some stupid roleplaying game with Eddie “the Freak” fucking Munson! He collapsed onto his chair within Hellfire, the end of the day came faster than he would he have wanted and now he was going to have to do this campaign in a shitty mood.

“Eddie?” a soft voice called out, his head shot up and there he saw the man he hadn’t realized he was aching to see. [M/N] looked nervous where he was standing, he stepped into the room and rubbed the back of his neck, there Eddie noticed [M/N] was holding something behind his back but didn’t question it and stood up in a slightly better mood.

“You actually came, [L/N]! I kind of thought you were going to pull a no show.” [M/N]’s eyes immediately widened, a look of shock evident.

“W-What? Why would I do that?” he then winced when he remember that he hadn’t shown his face to Eddie that entire day, going so far as to not tell Dustin what he was doing, what he was doing had to do with what he had behind his back “I-I was busy this entire day, there’s something I need to tell you.” Eddie fixed his posture at that.

“Yeah?” [M/N] could feel how fast his heart was beating, an eruption of butterflies bursting in his stomach as he thought of countless scenarios in his head. Eddie continued to look up at [M/N], seeing a new expression on his face, one of anxiousness. Before Eddie could say anything [M/N] finally pulled his arm out from behind his back and handed Eddie an envelope, an envelope with his name written on the front of it with a very familiar penmanship “W-Why do you... why do you have that?” he questioned as he snatched the letter out of his hand, did [M/N] steal this out from his locker? Was that the reason why this fucker didn’t show his face the entire da--

“I thought it would be better to give it to you now.” this caused Eddie to pause, what? “I know you might have been confused as to why you didn’t get one this morning, but I've been needing to tell you something face to face. I've always been better at writing down my feelings rather than verbally saying it, so...” he then gestured for him to read it, so Eddie did just that, tearing the envelope open and pulling the letter out.

‘to eddie,

this will probably be my last letter to you. I’ve constantly told you how much I’ve adored you, from the way your eyes sparkle whenever you’re happy, to the way you always have this passion in your voice every time you speak. there isn’t a thing about you that I don’t love. 

the moment you spoke to me, it felt like I was on cloud fucking nine. I nearly blew it and told you to fuck off, but I’m glad I was able to pull my head out of my ass. you have no idea what you do to me, you have no idea what I would do for you.

I love you, eddie munson, and there’s nothing in this god forsaken world that could ever change my mind about that. I just hope that you can feel the same about me now that you know who your secret admirer is. I was always so scared that you wouldn’t like me.

I promise you, I will give you all the love that you want and need. I will give you everything so long as I live, and I promise you that I will always be by your side loving you.

~ [m/n] [l/n].

Eddie looked up from the letter and there he saw [M/N] looking so small, averting his eyes from Eddie’s as he laced his fingers together, twiddling his thumbs while trembling. [M/N] thought Eddie wasn’t going to buy it, he thought Eddie was going to accuse him of stealing that letter from out of his locker and saying that it was from him. He was expecting Eddie to reject him, there wasn’t a single positive outcome to come out of this situation, and when he was going to accept that reality he suddenly felt a pair of arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.

“Thank god it was you, [M/N].” his eyes widened slightly, taking in a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in “I’m so glad that it’s you, [M/N].” he whispered, the latter swallowed thickly at that as he looked down at Eddie.

“W-What?” Eddie pulled away and [M/N] saw he had an expression that mirrored his “D-Do you mean you— you feel the same way?!” he exclaimed, Eddie laughed and nodded his head.

“I always felt a slight attraction towards you, [M/N], and I was quite torn whether or not I should fall in love with my secret admirer or the hot tyrant. I’m so glad you two are one in the same.” he then gently jabbed [M/N]’s side with his elbow “But who’d a thought you’re nothing more than a giant teddy bear. I’ve seen the way you act with Dustin when you think no one’s looking, you’re not very discrete.” this caused the taller of the two to let out a whine of sort, an embarrassed blush rising to his cheeks as he hid his face behind his hands.

“Stop it…” he mumbled.

“You’re really adorable.” Eddie sets the letter down on the table then reaches forward and grabs both of [M/N]’s hands, he rubs his thumbs along his knuckles. [M/N]’s was beating abnormally fast to the point he was surprised he hadn’t fainted from how happy he was, still not believing that Eddie felt the same way about him.

“C-Can I…” Eddie lets out a hum, smirking softly at the flustered man in front of him “… can I kiss you?”

“Hmm, can you, big boy?” he laughed when [M/N] pouted, wearing a face that resembled that of a kicked puppy “Alright, okay! I was kidding, you big dope.” Eddie watched [M/N] slip his hands free from his grip and raise his hands to his face, they gently cupped his cheeks and his thumbs caressed them. He probably would have purred at the affection but instead let out a hum when [M/N] finally pressed his lips against his own, it was a short and sweet kiss but it had Eddie craving for me. So when [M/N] was pulling away he let out a muffled gasp when Eddie wrapped his arms around his neck to pull him back into another kiss, next thing they knew [M/N] was laying on his back with Eddie on top of him pulling him into deeper kisses.

“Eddie… Eddie, please…!” each time [M/N] got a word out he would be silenced by another kiss, he later gave up and just pulled Eddie into a kiss that he poured his heart and soul into “I love you, Eddie…!” he smiled at that, briefly pulling away to rest his forehead on his.

“And I love you just as much.”

Headcanons:

the other members of hellfire came in to find [m/n] and eddie making out on the floor.

eddie sat on [m/n]’s lap with a triumphant smirk on his face while the other continued to lay on the ground, hands covering his face as he wallowed up in embarrassment.

dustin came up to them and held out his hand, [m/n] side eyed him but gave him a high five.

mission accomplished.

[m/n] immensely softened up after finally getting together with eddie, he didn’t mindlessly get into fights with people anymore and just eddie or even dustin’s mere presence is enough to get him to calm down.

robin was happy for [m/n], he literally came running up to her with the biggest smile on his face and hugged her; twirling her around and everything.

this scared the ever living shit out of steve.

[m/n] started sitting with eddie and his lot during lunch, this was enough to get the bullies to back off.

sometimes [m/n] would help eddie with any of his homework, that being eddie openly complaining how hard it was and that he needed help from his hunky and gorgeous boyfriend to assist him.

whenever eddie got an answer right he would be rewarded with a kiss.

most of the time they would get distracted and not even be able to finish the homework.

bike rides are a must.

eddie loved the feeling of the wind breezing through his curly brown locks, often cheering as [m/n] drove down the streets of hawkins.

the first time eddie tried getting on his bike without a helmet [m/n] would just give him a blank expression with his arms crossed and just gave him the most disapproving glare he could muster.

safety first.

when playing d&d, eddie would incorporate [m/n]’s tyrant persona into the campaign.

the others loved it. [m/n] was a barbarian goliah who was a tyrannical king in their latest campaign and they had to strategise how to overthrow him.

they lost epically before he swooned the dungeon master.

they called him a cheater.

he called them sore losers.

dustin believes he’s the greatest wingman because of the fact that eddie and [m/n] are together, the two of them definitely favor him a lot. this sometimes causes the others to get jealous, but all he does in return for their retaliation is hide behind [m/n].

they all though have access to [m/n]’s scary dog privilege.

however, they all know that [m/n] would absolutely do anything for his eddie.

they remember a time they absentmindedly told [m/n] when eddie was being harassed by a few of the jocks in the past. they didn’t see him for the rest of the day until they saw the same guy that harassed eddie run away blooded and crying.

[m/n] turned the corner with blood on his knuckles.

he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

eddie is always flattered, but his heart is always over the moon because [m/n] continued to write him love letters and make him more mixtapes.

they would end up in eddie’s van laying together, listening to the music through his stereo as [m/n] read a loud all the new things he loved about eddie.

he loved eddie.

eddie loved him.

the tyrant and the freak.

Siblings pt. 3

word count: 60,230

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Robin Buckley + Steve Harrington x Female!Harrington!Reader Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Romantic/Familial Occupation: University Student Ability: N/A

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name [L/N]: Last Name [N/N]: Nickname [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: child abuse, character death, violence, vulgar language, alcohol.

“Siblings” pt. 1, pt. 2

this part is going to be dedicated to my friend’s friend @puresass​​.

the unknown guy’s name from hellfire will be nathan, he looks like a nathan to me.

the harrington couple’s name will be richard and lauren harrington. those seem like the most basic bitch names I could think of.

there was a part in here where I just didn’t give a shit and I feel like y’all will be able to pinpoint where.

there’s bound to be a lot of mistakes in here but I a) can’t be fucked fixing and b) I can’t be fucked fixing.

the endings a little anticlimactic and not what I would have wanted but I can’t be fucked and it’s too long so I just needed to put a stop to it. maybe i’ll change it or I won’t, I’ll see how i feel.

that is all.

Steve felt numb.

He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening.

He couldn’t believe that he was attending his sisters and boyfriends funeral. The last time he attended a funeral was the year prior for Barb, and even then he still hasn’t fully gotten over the guilt of what happened to her to the point he can’t even go swimming in his own goddamn pool. Staring at his reflection, he caressed his face that was still recovering from the onslaught his sister and the Russians did to him, but his heart hastened at the sight of his eyes in his reflection. Tears gathered in his eyes quicker than he realised, a sob escaping his trembling lips that he had to cover his mouth and quickly look away before he broke down before arriving at the actual funeral. Peering one last time at the mirror he looked away immediately when all he saw was her staring right back at him, but not his sweet and beautiful sister that he grew up with, but the monster who’s complexion was comparable to that of a sheet of paper, veins as black as tar and a dead expression that glared at him from behind.

Dustin enters the room to check up on Steve, he was taking longer then the allotted time Steve had given him, to find him collapsed on the ground unable to quell the tears and broken cries for his sister. Dustin was quick to rush to Steve’s side, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and letting the older man cry into his shoulder. Dustin didn’t quite understand what Steve was going through, he himself hasn’t met [F/N] like the others did, whether it may be the flayed version of her or not, but he understood that their relationship ran deep. He remembered the rare few times Steve did mention his sister, and when he did, Dustin would have to listen to Steve’s rambling about how cool his older sister was and how she did absolutely everything in her power to ensure he was happy. There wasn’t a bad thing he could say about his sister, everything about her was just praise after praise.

Jonathan was the one to get Steve to calm down, completely understanding exactly what Steve was going through. Before it was him that lost Will, when he FIRST lost Will to the upside down and when the police found his “body” in the quarry. It was gut wrenching to see Steve, who never let anyone see that they got to him, unable to control the tears running down his cheeks or the violent shaking his body was suffering through. But unlike him, [F/N] was really gone, they all saw her dead body along side Billy’s, neither one of them were walking that one off. They weren’t recovering from that wound like they did with others, they were really gone and they weren’t coming back. Robin wasn’t doing so good either. Arriving at the burial, they noted how exhausted she looked with dried tear tracks staining her cheeks. Upon seeing each other, a new wave of anguish washed over them as tears threatened to spill, but they managed to pull themselves together and used each other for support and comfort. Nancy didn’t really know Robin all to well but she offered her comfort, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezing it while Dustin stood at Steve’s side and rubbed circles into his back. It took them everything not to collapse to their knees when they finally lowered the caskets into their craves, Max herself wasn’t doing so great as she stood with her mother with El at her side and watched as Billy’s casket disappeared under the earth. Steve couldn’t stand being there any longer than he had to be, the moment both caskets were buried he didn’t hesitate to turn tail and return to his car where he spent the next couple of minutes balling his eyes out because he just couldn’t believe this was happening.

He didn’t want to believe the fact that he was now outliving his sister, he was now an only child. He pressed a hand to his mouth when a sob rippled out of his throat, pressing the heels of his hands against his forehead while gritting his teeth. God, what the hell was he going to tell their— his parents that she was dead? How the hell were the going to react? He already tried calling for them, others tried notifying the Harrington couple that their eldest child and only daughter had died in the Starcourt fire along side thirty other people, counting Billy Hargrove who was known as her lover and Police Chief Hopper, dubbed a hero for rescuing the surviving few that managed to escape. [F/N] herself hasn’t really spoken or seen their parents in a long time, only tolerating their mere existence for the sake of Steve but the moment she was free of school and their hold, she ditched Hawkins without a moments hesitation. She only came back for Steve, it was always for Steve. Maybe if he hadn’t stuck around because he couldn’t get into a good college out of Hawkins, maybe [F/N] wouldn’t have returned to bum fuck nowhere just to see him. Goddammit, it was always his fault!

She became the disappointment of the family for him.

She laid down her crown for him.

She became the local freak for him.

She died for him, and maybe that might not be true, but he was never going to forget that look of absolute pain she had in her eyes when she realised what she had done. He finally had her back, he was finally in her arms safe and though she was bawling her eyes out because she had hurt him, it was his [F/N]. That was his big sister that adored him with all her heart, but it was exactly what Jonathan said, her love for him is both her weakness and her strength. She loved him too much that she threw her last chance away just to get back at the monster that ruined her life, in doing so she died in the arms of her supposed lover.

Billy, oh poor sweet Billy. Not a single day goes by where knowing what exactly was going on in Hawkins, the guilt of not telling the blonde the details will continue to eat at him until the day he reaches his limit. Things were finally going good for both him and Billy, they finally pushed the events of the year prior to the side and started getting along, but dating? Gosh, Steve wasn’t so sure when he fell in love with Billy exactly, but it felt ethical. He was helping Billy work on himself, helping him think of ways to mend his relationship with Max. He was Billy’s safe haven away from the horrors of his father, that sick bastard that didn’t hesitate to sell all his shit, divorce Susan and abandoned the Mayfield family to flee Hawkins. Maybe he was already planning it from how fast he reacted to the news of his deceased son, but that didn’t matter, Billy was trying and that’s all that matters. He was trying, he was trying to be better, but none of it matters anymore because he’s gone.

“I-I’m not ready…” he mumbles under his breath, sniffling to himself as he tries wiping the tears away but were replaced by more. He lets out a groan, looking over at the passenger seat, his mind began playing with memories of her “I-I’m not ready, [F/N].” she lurched forward when Steve abruptly stepped on the brake, glancing over at her brother, she saw that panicked expression on his face that reminded her of the time she tried teaching him how to ride a bike. Right now she was teaching him how to drive a car after he passes his learners, though perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to teach him in her mustang.

“Well,” she takes a breath, grip so violent on the handle above her while her other was placed on his knee that she would occasionally squeeze “not everyone is ready to drive. You’ve got plenty of time to get the hang of it, I promise.” he lets out a sigh, head bumping against the wheel.

“But Tommy said he understood on his first go.” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“That virgin? Psh, please. Pretty sure he flunked the first time trying for his learners.” that made a smile crack onto his cheeks but that didn’t stop his nervousness, she lets out a sigh “… I couldn’t go to mum and dad to help teach me to drive, and though I was better off teaching myself, guess who I went to for help?”

“Who?” she was already grinning before she answered him.

“Munson.” now she bursts into laughter when he whipped his head so fast she was surprised he didn’t break his neck “Oh, come on now! I was desperate, and though it was a mistake in itself, he did make it more fun to learn. But in the end it was his uncle that taught me, he’s such a gentlemen. Love the guy to bits.” now they burst out into laughter, [F/N] smiled brightly when that managed to calm him down and he didn’t look as nervous as he did.

“Well, I needed that.” she huffs.

“Hey, when you get comfortable enough to drive, I might even let you take my baby out for a drive.” his face lights up.

“Really? You’ll let me drive your mustang?” she rolls her eyes, pushing his head by the cheek to look back out towards the road ahead of him.

“Don’t get your hopes high, first learn how to pull out of the driveway then we’ll talk.” in the end [F/N] did let him take her mustang out for a spin but was quickly banned from driving it again when they blew past Hopper and [F/N] was fined for letting a learner drive and over the speed limit, they never spoke about it ever again. Just the memory of him together with [F/N] made him happy but the bitter thought that she wasn’t around anymore just made every happy memory of her sour now.

*knock knock*

“Hey, dude.” Steve lets out a gasp at the soft knocking on his window, thinking it was maybe Nancy or Robin, he hurriedly wipes his tears away before looking over but was surprised to see who it was.

“Munson?” Eddie gives him a nervous smile followed by a wave, he then gestures with his hand to roll down the window and so he does “What are you— what are you doing here?” Eddie couldn’t help but frown at the state the former “King” Steve Harrington was in, he couldn’t believe it. From that cocky little shit that went humble after newbie from cali, who’s also dead, overthrew him, he didn’t know who was in front of him. Maybe this was [F/N]’s crybaby brother that she gave up everything for, he takes a breath as he rubs his neck.

“[F/N] was my friend, man, there’s no way I’d miss her funeral.” Eddie pulled away briefly to look over at his uncle, to which he was gesturing to the small box that Steve failed to notice until now “Um, I know we’ve never really talked or nothing but… I think she’d want you to have this.” he then hands Steve the box, shoving his hands into his pockets the moment Steve takes it from him. He wants to tug against the suit and tie Wayne forced him into, saying he should at least look a little appropriate for [F/N] and Billy’s funeral, he at least let him wear his ripped jeans if he wore the tie. A reasonable bargain.

“What is this?”

“Open it, and you might find out.” Steve couldn’t help but scoff at his words but heeded them, taking the lId off before freezing up at what he saw. Eddie swallowed thickly, not expecting this kind of reaction so he leaned over to see his expression and his heart dropped when he saw the tears running down his cheeks again. Steve’s trembling hand reached into the box and he pulled out one of the many polaroids that filled the box, the one he had in his hands was of her with Eddie and his frie— their friends laughing together in what he could make out was the hideout. FUCKING KILLED IT, was what was written at the bottom of the photo “Hey man, I’m sorry if that didn’t help or anything— she always mentioned you, you know? She loved talking about you with any chance she got to bring you up to the point it got annoying, but she loved you. Thought you might have wanted to know that.” he raised his hand to caress his arm then looked back towards Steve to see that he was looking up at him with those tear filled eyes. God, he felt his own tears threatening to fall cause looking down at Steve just reminded him of [F/N]. Why the hell did the two of them have to look so alike? He had to same exact heartbroken look on his face the day she and Eddie first became friends, when she begged for him to help fix her relationship with Steve even if it meant destroying her reputation.

“I-I— thank you, Munson…! You’ve no idea what this m-means to me.” Eddie glanced at Steve and saw him looking through the other the other photos, and though he still had tears running down his face, he had a bittersweet smile on his face “She looks so happy in m-most of these.” he muttered softly, he remembered how his sister hated taking photos, especially if it was for their parents. She made it her personal mission to frown or look as miserable as she could in each family photo, so seeing a genuine smile on her face really meant something to him.

“She was always happy around us, called us the family she wished she had.” Eddie cursed under his breath when he noticed Steve flinch “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” Steve shakes his head.

“No, no, I understand where you’re coming from.” he wipes away the tears and some of the snot, sniffling to himself then looked up at Eddie with those red doe eyes, glassy with new tears threatening to fall at any moment “She was the sister I took for granted, and now that she’s gone… I don’t know what to do with myself.” Eddie takes a breath, taking a step back and pinching the bridge of his nose to calm himself down, when he looks back at Steve he places his hands on his hips and gave him the same look he did with [F/N] whenever she was feeling depressed.

“Listen, Harrington.” Steve looks up at him “Your sister and I were close, as I’d like to say, she was my platonic soulmate. She’s told me things that I am more than willing to take to the grave, but I think she would want you to know what great lengths she went to just for the sake of your happiness over her own. So now that she’s gone, I hope you don’t let her efforts die in vain. She would want you to live your life to the fullest even if she’s gone, if not, we both know that she’d kick your ass.” this caused the both of them to laugh softly, Steve looked up at Eddie with a newfound fondness, feeling grateful for his words.

“Thanks for that, I really needed that.” his thumb caressed against a different polaroid, one where she looked drunk and was hanging off of some big guy with short curly hair, though the both of them were laughing happily while Gareth looked confused in the background, at the bottom was captioned with [F/N] + NATHAN HAVING A BLAST w/ GARETH “I’m glad she at least had one friend that understood her; that was there for her when nobody else was on her side. I wish I had that.” Eddie frowned softly.

“No offence dude, but you did have that.” he scratches at his cheek, trying to hide the guilty look on his face but he was struggling “She was always there for you, even when you thought she wasn’t. There wasn’t a single time that she was against you.” Steve swallowed a lump down his throat, feeling a pang of guilt in his heart for every instance he thought [F/N] hated his existence as much as he hated her, but that hate was one sided.

“I really took her for granted.” Eddie presses his lips together and slowly nodded his head.

“Yeah…” his eyes perked up when he saw a small group huddle up, there he saw his friends looked as disheveled and upset as he was standing beside his uncle “H-Hey, I’ve got to go now. But if you ever need to talk, or want to hear some funny stories of how dumb your sister was in high school, you know where to find me?” he offered, not really expecting Steve to take him up on that offer, but he nodded his head.

“I’d actually like that a lot. She hasn’t told me much of what happened in high school, saying it all went by like a blur.” Eddie stuttered over his next words, waving his hands around before rubbing the back of his neck.

“O-Oh, yeah, totally! Then I guess, see you around?” Steve nods his head and waved his hand goodbye, Eddie returns the gesture before jogging back over to his uncle and friends. Steve watched them for a bit, watching the one he knows as Gareth fail to keep his tears under control because the moment Eddie was in front of him he broke down crying, and soon a chain reaction broke out through the lot of them and they were all crying together. He inhales shakily through his nose, he sets the box of polaroid photos on his passenger seat then digs through his pocket, upon finding what he was looking for he pulls it out and grimaces at the sight of Billy’s signature necklace hanging through his fingers. Max was kind enough to give him at least one piece of Billy with him, it wasn’t his ring but this was more than enough to give him some closure. Putting it on, he clutches onto it tightly, his knuckles turning white from how harsh his grip was, before raising it up to press his lips against it.

“I’m sorry we didn’t have enough time, Billy. I’m so sorry.” he lowers it until it sits against his chest, he pats the space over his heart and takes another deep breath, this time to calm the new wave of tears that threatened to fall. Another knock on his window has him turning his attention towards the glass, his eyes lit up slightly at the sight of Robin knocking gently on the glass of the passenger side “Robin…” he called out weakly, she gives him a strained smile before opening his door and taking a seat, moving the box onto the floor.

“Hey…” she greeted in return, the two of them sat in silence. It was comfortable, just the two of them together, simply acknowledging each other’s existence. Robin flinched slightly when she felt something brush against her arm, sparing him a look, she saw that he offered his hand for her to take. Her bottom lip trembled softly but she took his hand nonetheless, giving it a tight squeeze before hunching forward, burying her face into the palm of her hand as her shoulders shook when she started to cry again. Steve, this time, inhaled sharply to stop himself from crying once more. If he knew his sister, and he’d like to think that he did, then she wouldn’t want him crying over her death as much as he was right now “What do we do now, Steve?” Robin asks through her tears, looking at him in a desperate plea.

“… move on, I guess.” Robin knew that was the answer, but god forbid she wished there was another one, where this wasn’t happening to begin with. She wanted Steve to take her to their place and there she’ll find Billy and [F/N] soaking it up in the pool complaining about how hot it is. Maybe her heart wouldn’t ache as much as it did if she never met [F/N] to begin with, maybe she’d feel better if she didn’t get to know Harrington at all. But how could she think that because now every time she looks at Steve she at least sees a part of [F/N] in him, or maybe that’s the reason she’s coming to hate looking at him. They share the same sad little look, resembling that of a kicked puppy begging for attention. “Is that all we can do…?” she muttered softly.

“What else is there to do?” she couldn’t think of anything, he gently squeezes her hand “Do you want to come over?” she nods her head.

“Yeah.” they spent the rest of the day sitting silently in his room, neither one of them had the heart to go into her room because they knew they wouldn’t be able to control themselves from having another meltdown. Robin’s eyes lingered over to Steve and saw that his hand was fiddling with Billy’s necklace, glancing down at herself, her bottom lip started trembling when she remembered she was wearing [F/N]’s jacket despite the intense heat of the summer “Steve, can I take something of [F/N]’s?” “You’ve already got two of her jackets, what more would you want?” Steve then noticed where her gaze was fixed and so he let out a soft sigh but nodded nonetheless, this is where the two of them found themselves standing painfully in the middle of [F/N]’s room. Honestly, Steve didn’t know what to do with her room anymore. The day she moved out and left for university their parents wanted to throw all her stuff out, saying that she was no longer welcome in their house ever again, but Steve was adamant on keeping her stuff there and prided himself on managing to convince them, but now he wanted nothing to do with any of her stuff. Everywhere he looked was just a reminder of what he had done to cause them to drift apart in the first place.

“I’ll be quick, I don’t want to be in here any more than you do.” Steve watches from the door as Robin looks around [F/N]’s room, looking for something specific. He almost felt like it was a preach of [F/N]’s privacy seeing Robin open draws and nearly throw things around in search for whatever she was looking for, she finally stopped at [F/N]’s bedside table, opening up the top draw and pausing in her search. Robin sniffled softly as she pulled out a cassette tape, she smiled sadly as she flipped it around and saw what was labeled on it “for my song bird”. “Song bird?” she hadn’t realised Steve was behind her until he spoke, though she wasn’t startled by his sudden appearance, she just nodded softly as she looked down at it.

“She called me her song bird whenever I tried singing, and though I thought my voice was terrible, she told me she loved it.” her thumb caressed the cassette as she stared at it fondly “She told me she was working on it, even if she already made a tone of mixtapes for me, she told me that this one had songs that told me how much she loved me. I don’t know if it’s finished or not, but I thought I’d take it, finished or not.” she thought back to that memory fondly, she was sitting in [F/N]’s room listening to a different mixtape she made for her, glancing over at the girl occasionally from where she laid.

”What’s got you thinking so hard, [F/N]?” Robin questioned, seeing the way her forehead creased as she stared down at the piece of paper intently. She could always tell when her [F/N] was in deep thought, from the way she was bouncing her leg along with the cigarette that hung from her lips. She always did try not to smoke around Robin, saying how she thought smoking was gross, so she tried to hoard off her addiction but when her mind got too much for her she’d have a cancer stick on her lips, a window was open so the room wouldn’t get too overwhelming for her though.

“Thought of a new mixtape for you, song bird.” Robin blushes softly at the nickname, she always loved the sweet pet names she thought for her revolving around her name “I think this one will be my best one yet.”

“Really? I don’t know about that, I think the last one you made for me was your best one.” Robin giggles to herself as she thought about it, [F/N] labelled that one “rage” that the two of them would play at full blast whenever either one of them was feeling like letting loose because of how shitty Hawkins was.

“Say all you want, but I believe you’re really going to like this one.” she says, pointing the pencil in her hand towards her “Each song is going to represent just how much I love you.” she blinked at that declaration.

“How much you love me?” she nods her, making a little “mm hmm” noise as she took the cigarette from her lips and taps the ash onto her ashtray “How much more can you love me?” [F/N] chuckles affectionately.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I do with any other girl I’ve been with, Robin. You’re very special to me and I just want you to know that.” she looks down at the sheet of paper with jotted down love songs and blushed softly “I really want you to know that you have a special place in my heart… though you do come second to Steve.” Robin’s face fell the second Steve was mentioned, [F/N] snicked and quickly pocketed her list of songs just as Robin jumped to her feet.

“I don’t want to be second to Steve!” [F/N] puts out her cigarette just a second before she was tackled out of her chair to the ground, she burst out into laughter as Robin sat above her, holding her down by the shoulders as she laughed “Why can’t I be your first place?” [F/N] fondly rolled her eyes, hands lingering onto her thighs whilst turning her head to kiss the hands on her shoulders.

“The moment we’re married you’ll be my first place, my sweet. The day you become my wife will be the day I’ll put you before anyone, but until that day, Steve will forever be my first place.” Robin pouts but that didn’t settle the pink flush rising to her cheeks, she scoffed and rubbed her thumbs into her shoulders.

“You’re saying that as if I’ll say yes.” this earned her a chuckle.

“So you won’t marry me?”

“I didn’t say that…” the two of them were thrown into a fit of giggles, Robin collapsing onto [F/N] in the process of it all. A fond smile worked its way onto her face as she reminisces about that night, each time Robin brought up the mixtape, asking when will she be able to listen to it, [F/N] would give an excuse saying how she needed to add a few more songs to it before she’d consider it done, but Robin knew she’d be nervous to give it to her “I wonder what songs she chose.” she muttered softly, placing the cassette into her pocket as she stood to her feet.

“Think she picked cheesy love songs?” Robin snickers at the thought.

“As funny as that thought is, you and I both know she would choose songs with meaning behind them.” the two of them now stand in silence just staring at each other, Robin was the first to break. She throws her arms around Steve and starts sobbing into his shoulder, Steve just stands there motionless for awhile as Robin cried into his shoulder before finally raising his hands to wrap around her torso. Steve offered for her to stay the night if she needed it but she couldn’t handle the thought of being in that house, and though she felt awful that she was going to be leaving Steve all alone in that empty house, she just couldn’t bear the thought of it. She left with an apology with her parents where she now her room clutching the cassette tape, she was nervous after all. This was probably the last gift she was ever going to receive from [F/N] and she didn’t want to use it recklessly. When she couldn’t handle sitting in silence anymore she finally sat up and grabbed her cassette player, taking out [F/N]’s other mixtape for her and replacing it with the new one before putting on her headphones.

’[F/N] and Steve have drastically different taste in music, but I can totally imagine hearing her listen to George Mic—’ her thoughts were caught off guard when she heard the track of an old classic, her eyes started to water at the sound of “So This Is Love” sung by Ilene Woods beginning to play. Robin’s parents peek into her room and their hearts broke at the sight of Robin, openly crying as she held her cassette player close to her chest as classical love songs played one after the other. Robin couldn’t believe she forgot how in love [F/N] was when it came down to classics and orchestra type songs, having seen her punk/alt girlfriend blast music like Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osborne more than sitting down to appreciate classics like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata or even Claude Debussy’s Claire de Lune. The first time she caught her listening to an old classical was when [F/N] had quite a hard time that day and needed to settle and relax and classical music always seemed to calm her down.

”I don’t know, honestly. It’s something about the melody that feels so… euphoric. Maybe one day you’ll feel the same type of love I do for the old classics, huh?” Robin gasped when the tape ended drastically, her trembling lips let out a sob when she came to the realisation.

She didn’t get to finish it.

Steve wasn’t doing any better. He found himself situated in his room, sitting on the floor with the box of polaroids Eddie had given him and was looking through each and every one of them. Each one looked better than the last, her smile getting bigger and bigger whenever she was with her group of friends she called family. In the background he was playing a tape that he and [F/N] grew fond of together when they were young children, “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac was adored by [F/N] despite its meaning but both herself and Steve loved the way it sounded to their ears. He was planning on sharing this with Robin but he probably will on a later date, right now, he just wanted to be alone to reminicent on the good old days by himself.

“I wish I told you what was going on, [F/N]…” he murmured to himself, finding a polaroid of [F/N] by herself this time, she looked the calmest in this one compared to the rest but she still had that genuine smile on her face. MOVIE NIGHT was captioned at the bottom, ah, so that explains the bowl of popcorn that sat in her lap “Maybe if I warned you beforehand, none of this would be happening in the first place. Maybe then you and Billy would still be here, alive and breathing.” he shakily spares a glance towards his mirror but quickly turned away when he saw her once more, whats even worse, he saw Billy standing beside her. Everything was just getting so much harder.

[time skip: a few days later]

His parents coming home was unexpected. He was in the middle of cleaning his room when the front door to the house was unlocked and opened, voices filling the usually cold and empty house. How were they going to react knowing that their daughter was dead? How are they going to react at the sight of Steve’s still healing face? What about how he was involved with the fire that went down at the Starcourt Mall and that he was unemployed? His thoughts were brought to a hold when his door opened, glancing over, he winced at the sight of his mother. Both himself and [F/N] took most of their physical traits from their mother, from the skin tone to the shade of hair to the eyes and moles covering their bodies, so staring at his mother that mirrored his sister almost made it hard to look at her.

“Oh, Steven, you’re home. Good, your father and I need some help bringing our luggage in from the car. Be a dear and give us a hand.” he felt his body twitch, what? How is that the first thing she says to his face? Weren’t they told that their eldest daughter was dead? “Steven? Why haven’t you move yet? I asked for your help, did I not?” she was taken aback when a look of anger flashed across his face.

“Mum, did you not hear the news on [F/N]?” an immediate reaction came from his mother, she let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes.

“What? Did she flunk univesity? I had a feeling she would, she didn’t come crawling back here did she? Your father is going to be upset if he sees her, he’s already irritated that you still haven’t cleaned out her room like you were supposed to.” his hand balled up into a tight fist, weren’t they told that she was dead? Is that why they didn’t come rushing home? Is this why it took them fucking days to get back?!

“Did no one tell you?”

“Tell me what?” she blinked in surprise when tears, whether it be of anger or grief, began to swell in his eyes as he stared down at his mother.

“[F/N] died, mum. We had her funeral a couple days ago.” now she wasn’t expecting Steve to say that, she blinked in confusion as she thought back to what happened a few days ago. She did remember both her’s and Richard’s phones blowing up, people they didn’t know calling them in regards of what happened to their children and what happened while they weren’t in Hawkins. They brushed it off their shoulders, thinking the two of them just simply got into trouble, but looking at Steve’s bruise face and heartbroken expression gave her a different impression.

“She’s— no, she’s not.” Lauren shakes her head “I refuse to believe that your sister is dead, okay? There’s no way that girl could have possibly died, alright? If she’s anything from how I remember her is stubborn. If anything, she’s probably doing it for the attention. You know how much she bathed in the light of everyone’s attention, so that’s probably just it—”

“Mum! I fucking SAW her die!” Lauren flinched back at Steve raising his voice “Why the HELL would she kill herself for attention, mum?! That’s the most self-centred thing you could ever think of when she was the most selfless person to have ever existed! She died and I saw it happen, she died and there was nothing I could do to save her! She was suffering and I didn’t even notice!” Steve was going to fall into a rant but swallowed back his next words when his father walked into his room, standing behind his mother with that disappointed expression that never seemed to change.

“Why are you yelling at your mother, Steven? Much less swearing at her.” Steve let out a shuddered breath, raising his arm to wipe away the tears.

“[F/N] is dead and neither of you knew about it.” Richard’s face surprisingly showed a sign of surprise before quickly disappearing when he shook his head, he then let out a sigh as he crossed his arms.

“Is that all?” Steve flinched back “I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal over that girl being dead.” Lauren wore a saddened face, reaching up to grab at her husband’s forearm.

“Richard…” she murmured softly, Steve adverted his eyes when his father glared at him.

“B-But, she was your daughter. Don’t you care that she died at all?” Richard scoffed.

“That girl hasn’t been my daughter for years, Steven. When are you going to accept that she is no longer a Harrington? I guess her death was the final nail in the coffin, but physically and metaphorically.” Steve’s shoulders slumped as he stared at both of his parents, both unsympathetic that their daughter was dead and their son was grieving over her “Now stop this foolish behaviour at once, Steven. We have more important matters to attend to.” with that. Steve was left in his room alone once more but this time he was feeling a different sort of emotion for the parents that emotionally and physically neglected him… resentment. He didn’t understand why their— his parents came to hate [F/N] the way they do now, he just didn’t understand. Just [F/N] rebelling against them and basically flunking school until her last semester wasn’t a good enough answer for him anymore. Did he really not pay enough attention to his sister? Did he really not know how much she was suffering all because… all because of him? He needed answer, and he knew just the man that had them.

“Eddie Munson!” he shouts at the top of his lungs, Eddie, feeling a sense of deja vu, opened the door to his trailer and raised a brow at the sight of Steve. He felt a pang in his heart when he saw Steve standing at the foot of the stairs leading into the trailer, it hurt because it reminded him of how his and [F/N]’s friendship first began.

“Harrington?” Eddie mutters questionably, about the ask what he was doing there in the first place but caught himself “You here to learn a few things about your sister?” Steve swallowed thickly, he couldn’t find the right words so he just let his head fall, hands behind his back as he sheepishly nodded his head. Two completely different personalities, he thought to himself. With a sigh, he took a step back and gestured with his arm just Steve to enter his humble abode, Steve now found himself sitting on the couch a little nervously while Eddie took his uncle’s favorite chair. Steve looked around the trailer, awing at the impressive collection of mugs.

“Um… nice place?” Eddie huffed softly.

“Well, [F/N] loved the trailer. She didn’t care that it was small, it was less suffocating compared to the literal mansion you Harrington’s got yourselves. She hated the simplicity of it all. Wayne always tried to clean up because he thought it didn’t suit a young lady like her, but she always told him that the trailer was perfect.” Eddie hadn’t realised he was rambling in a bad way because when he looked at Steve he saw the brunette had a guilty yet knowing look on his face “Oh, sorry.” Steve shook his head.

“No, no. I-I get it.” he laughed nervously as he rubbed his hands together, looking up at the ceiling to stop the tears from forming in his eyes “She complained that even with the two of us in the house, the silence felt overwhelming to her. I guess that’s why she was always out and away from the house, even more so having her music on at full blast. It was a comfort, she said.” Eddie nods his head.

“Therapeutic.” Steve laugh so weakly.

“Yeah, that’s what she would say whenever I would complain about her music.” Steve and Eddie soon found themselves sitting in silence, whether it be awkward or comfortable, they didn’t know. Steve sniffled to himself, inhaling deeply as he brought his hands to his face then dragging them down “I didn’t notice a lot of the problems she was suffering, did I?” Eddie pulled a face, that was enough to get Steve to close his eyes and the guilt that was in his stomach started to bubble.

“Dude, there was so much wrong with your sister I was surprised she was able to function properly.” he collapses into the chair, running a hand through his hair then waved his hand around “So, what exactly would you like to learn about your sister? Her first time at a rave? How about the time I let her play my sweetheart and she broke one of the strings for shredding to hard?” Steve felt his hands start to get sweaty, his head hanging in front of his head once more.

“… how badly did our parents treat her?” Eddie felt like the air was knocked out of him, his eyes now staring at Steve in disbelief.

“Come on now, you should know how bad it was.” the pain in Steve’s eyes said otherwise, he let out a breath as he turned away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously “I told you there a few things she told me that I was more than willing to take the grave, right?” Steve nods his head.

“Right.”

“That happens to be one of them.” Steve goes to detest, saying that he should know why their relationship turned into the dumpster fire it is now but Eddie just refused to meet his eyes “She told me if you were to ever learn you’d blame yourself, Steve. She didn’t want you to feel the guilt of it all, so as her best friend, I’m not going to touch that subject. I’lll answer all your other questions, but not that sensitive topic. But if that’s all you want to talk about, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Talking about her hurts my heart too, man.” Steve bit his lip, Eddie watches him close, watches as all sorts of emotions pooled in his eyes.

“… [F/N] mentioned how you two would get into the dumbest shit when you two attended high school together, could you tell me a few of the shenanigans the two of you got into?” Eddie couldn’t help but snort softly, raising his hand to cover the lower half of his face as he thought back to his— their high school days. Where to begin. Steve watched Eddie closely, he watched as his hand slowly dragged down his face before he cupped his own face and leaned into his palm, slowly a smile worked its way onto his face as he thought back to one memory.

“This… was back during our second year of high school.”

”Suck in your gut, Eddie!”

“What gut? Are you calling me fat?”

“Yes! This was your idea, so shut up and suck in that gut!” when you put Eddie and [F/N] in a room together, or if they’re together regardless, they tend to share one single brain cell between each other. It was just like any typical day at Hawkins High where you could find the troublesome duo for once not doing anything too chaotic, they were just causally chatting about anything that came to mind, Eddie himself rambling about his new campaign idea and a few lyrics he managed to add to the song he was writing with [F/N] listening closely to each and every one of his words. Their conversation came to a halt at the sound of shouting and struggling, leaning forward, they see the jocks shoving a poor nerd into his locker and left him in there. The two stare at the poor fellow before turning to look at each other, the same brain cell that they share sparking as they shared the same thought. Eddie, who was now in his locker while [F/N] was pushing at the locker door with everything she had, were being complete idiots.

“Push harder!” [F/N] scoffed at him, pushing herself up so she wasn’t leaning against the locker door anymore, cracking her knuckles then rolling her sleeves above her elbows. She sucked in a breath then proceeded to shoulder the locker to close, when she noticed that it moved she moved so that her back was pressed against it and went back to pushing. She lets out a grunt when she suddenly fell from the lack of pressure, when she fell to the ground she heard a click and laughed when the locker finally closed.

“Haha! It worked!” she quickly rises to her feet and looks at Eddie through the gaps on the door, he too had a big grin on his face “You cozy in there, Eddie?” they both laugh.

“Nope, I’m cramped as shit! Get me out of here.” she rolled her eyes, she grabbed the handle and pulled but her face scrunched up in confusion when it didn’t open “[F/N], that’s not funny, hurry up and open it already.” now she grabbed onto the handle with both hands and started yanking at the door for it to open but it still wouldn’t budge.

“Um… I think I busted the latch.” they stare at each other in silence, moments later [F/N] is now desperately trying to open the locker door but everything she tried wasn’t working “Goddamn, this shit ain’t budging!”

“Try harder!”

“I am!” [F/N] let out an exhausted breath when she tried pulling with everything she had, she then knocks on it “Dang… I guess you’re stuck in there for the foreseeable future, it was nice knowing you.” she then proceeded to turn on her heel as she started walking away, this caused Eddie to cry out for her.

“Hey, wait! Don’t go! [F/N], please! Don’t leave me in here, I’ll die!” she rolled her eyes at his overreaction, she placed her hands on her hips as she thought of different ways to get Eddie out of his current predicament, when a thought did come to mind she lit up.

“Oh, I’ve got an idea. Stay right there, I’ll be right back.” he let out a sigh as she rushed off to do whatever she needed to do, slumping back in what little space he had in that cramped locker.

“Sure, it’s not like I can go anywhere.” [F/N] had gone off to her car to grab a crowbar from her boot to get him out, they were then given detention for damaging school property. Eddie laughs fondly at the memory going so far as to throwing his head back and running a through his hair, his laughter grew louder when Steve joined in. He could think of other stories he, [F/N] and Hellfire had gotten into from their high school days. How [F/N] jumped out of a window because she saw a five dollar bill laying on the ground, or maybe how she and Jeff convinced Gareth that Eddie wouldn’t mind that he sat in his precious throne… he did very much mind, or maybe the time when they performed at the Hideout and Nathan got a little too drunk and proceeded to jump off the stage to go crowd surfacing but instead landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Those were the days he missed.

“Haa… when your sister left, god, it felt like a piece of me left with her.” he felt the tears begin to sting in his eyes, he looks up whilst inhaling deeply to stop the tears from shedding “I honestly didn’t think my relationship with her would become something so deep, but I’m so glad we became the greatest of friends in the end. I am going to cherish the moments I had with her.” Steve stared blankly at Eddie after he spoke those words, he then looks down at the ground once more.

“Cherish the moments, huh?” he mutters softly.

Nightly chats soon became a daily routine between the two of them, each sharing a new story they had about [F/N]. Steve told Eddie how [F/N] allowed him to drive her mustang, to which Eddie was jealous that [F/N] let anyone beside her behind the wheel of her precious car. Eddie told Steve about how whenever the both of them shared a class he would often cheat off of her, they got in trouble because Eddie wrote down her name when it asked for his name. Soon topics changed from [F/N] to Billy, he knew what happened with Billy back in ‘84 and was surprised that Billy lived to tell the tale when she came back to Hawkins to visit Steve, though Steve did tell him that the two of them got into a scuffle until they got along and became pretty good friends. He met Billy a handful of times when the blonde would come buy weed off him, sometimes they’d chat about their favourite song from any metal bands they collectively listen to. Hargrove was a pretty chill dude under all anger and leather, sometimes he’d see that rare genuine smile that he couldn’t help but associate with [F/N]. Those two were so alike he couldn’t help but feel worried for him whenever he had to go home, if he could call that situation he lived in a home.

Soon the stories of Billy and [F/N] changed to normal conversations between Eddie and Steve. Eddie learnt that Steve now worked at Hawkins’ Family Video with his best friend Robin Buckley, Steve learnt that Eddie was writing a new song to perform live at the Hideout with the rest of Corroded Coffin and so on so forth. Sometimes the two of them would share a blunt and sit on top of Eddie’s trailer, chatting about the dumbest of things as they watched the clouds pass by or how the stars shun brightly in the dark sky. Tonight was one of those nights, Eddie glanced over at where Steve was laying and his face softened when the dark circles under his eyes have eased up so now that they were barely noticeable, at least they were making some progress. His brow perked up slightly when a strand of Steve’s hair fell down and was now laying in front of his eyes and without thinking her reached forward, this caught Steve’s attention so he looked over at Eddie and froze up a little when Eddie tucked his hair behind his ear. The two of them wordlessly stared at each other and upon realising what he had done he quickly pulled his hand back, muttering short apologises as he held his hand to his chest.

“I-I’m sorry if I… made you uncomfortable.” Steve blinked at Eddie then turned away, a sudden wave of heat flushing to his face as he tucked the same strand of hair behind his ear, Eddie watched this and felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw the tips of his ears turn a shade of red.

“It’s fine.” wow Steve, no wonder Mike thinks you’re lame.

Similar instances occurred after that.

It started off as small compliments. Steve spiced up his hair by a little? Eddie is the first to notice and tells him that he looks nice. Eddie leaves a jaw dropping cliffhanger at the end of one of his D&D campaigns? Steve applauds him for his excellent story telling and tells him he’d make a great book if he put himself to the challenge. Steve asks him if the outfit he was wearing looked good on him? Eddie is now one of his best hype men (other than robin, of course) and he thrives off the fact that he his face turned a bright pink because of it. Eddie performs a song for Steve that he thinks is lacking something? Steve in return encourages Eddie that it’s perfect and he too thrives off the fact that he made him as flustered as he did and that he pulled his hair over his face. Steve’s happiness was contagious because when he came into work Robin immediately noticed his happy mood, telling by the bright smile on his face and that joyous aura radiating out of his body.

“What’s got you so happy? You cheating on me?” she joked, she raised a brow when it looked like he wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying.

“Huh?” he mumbled in response, she furrowed his brows and looked at him closely “Oh, yeah.” she pursed her lips at that.

“So you are cheating on me?” it took him a second to realise what she was saying, she snickered softly when he whipped his head back to look at her to the point she laughed at the face he was making.

“What? No, no! There’s no one that can replace you, Robin!” she hums with a nod, crossing her arms and leaning to the side so that her hip was resting against the counter “Come on, Robin! Do you really believe I know anyone else that could replace you?” she hums.

“Well, I haven’t felt this sort of happiness like that ever since…” she quickly cut herself off before she could finish her sentence, he himself flinched softly at the remembrance of Billy. Would it be wrong if he moved on from Billy? His shoulders slumped as he thought about Billy and yet he couldn’t help but chuckle softly when he noticed a resemblance between the two of them, three if he counted his sister. He seemed to have a distinguished taste if he really thought about it, his face now drops into the palm of his hands while letting out a groan “You good?”

“… would it be wrong if I found someone else?” Robin’s eyes widened softly at that, Steve managed to find someone else? She hummed softly at the information and leaned backwards, crossing her arms and looking up in thought.

“Well… I don’t think so, no. Just like [F/N], I think he would have wanted you to move on. And as awful as this sounds, there’s no point in waiting for someone if they aren’t coming back.” she reaches forward, grabbing him by the bicep and giving it a light squeeze “It’s okay to move on, Steve.” she says that and her heart can’t help but cling onto that last bit of love she had for [F/N], her eyes lingering to where she left her bag and inside was the same mixtape she’d been listening to on repeat.

“She’s been so hung up ever since that funeral.”

“Well, what do you expect? Her apparent girlfriend died right in front of her, I think I’d be just a distraught as she is if that were you.” Robin closed her eyes at the sound of her parents discussing how depressed she had gotten, still not being able to move on from [F/N[. She had noticed recently that Steve was getting better with each passing day and to say that she wasn’t jealous, that’d be a lie. Steve had someone he could talk to about what happened, all she had was Steve and the times she needed him he was too busy with that other person. She let out a sigh, curling deeper into her blankets and tried so hard to forget about [F/N]; tried to replace her with someone new she could fall in love with and treat her right. But who could that be if not [F/N]? She was the type of girl she dreamed of and now that dream has ended, her heart stilled when the mixtape ended as quickly as it began. A single tear ran down her face when she closed her eyes, sitting in silence for a couple seconds in hopes that something else will play, that this wasn’t the last song, but of course nothing would play. She let out a shuddered breath while wiping away a her tears, raising her other hand to reach for the cassette player but before she could start from the beginning she heard a voice.

“Jesus fucking christ, how do I even use this shit?” she let out a gasp, body sitting up abruptly at the sound of her voice. Was that [F/N]’s voice she was hearing? She pressed the headphones closer to her ears, waiting for something else and she felt her heart beat faster when she heard her laughter “Um, I think I’ve gotten the hang of this…? Yeah, no I don’t. Um— shit.” more laughter followed after that, Robin quickly reached for the cassette player and held it close to her chest.

“[F/N]…” she whispered out, oh how she missed her voice. How she longed to hear her voice, and now she’s got it right here. She never knew there was more to this cassette because she would always replay it before the last song ended.

“Hi Robin, if you’re listening to this then you’ve finally made it to the end of this mixtape. Um, I’m still learning how to use this thing and I’m probably gonna have to cut some of this shit… somehow, whatever!” she sniffles softly, hearing [F/N] shuffle through something then pick something up “Uh, I haven’t done something like this in a long time and I might be a little rusty, but bear with me. This is my little gift to you, songbird.” her eyes widened softly when she heard the swipe of her fingers running along guitar strings, she can play the guitar? Soon she heard the guitar begin to play “I don’t want to set the world on fire” but the moment she heard [F/N] start singing her heart was already on cloud nine, she could sing as well? Robin was slowly coming to realize that she didn’t really know much about [F/N], not really. [F/N] probably knew about her to the point she could right a three page essay about her favourite ice cream flavor and why it’s her favourite, but her? She barely knew anything outside of the fact that she hated her family and that she loved Steve, she was only now coming to realize how little she knew about the one she loved.

“Oh, [F/N]… I’m so sorry.” she muttered softly, falling back onto her pillows and letting her mind drift off at the sound of [F/N]’s voice.

“I’ve lost all ambition, for worldly acclaim. I just want to be the one you loved~” I want to love you as well, Robin thought, imaging that [F/N] was there. She was sitting at the edge of her bed, playing the guitar while singing to her, singing her to sleep to stupid little love song. Robin dreaded the moment [F/N] reached the end of the song and instead of replaying it to the beginning so she could hear it again, she was going to listen to it to the end this time “Haa, how did you like that songbird? Didn’t expect I could sing, could you? It’s not something I’ve done for a long time, but I thought it’d work wonders on you. I love you, Robin. I hope you enjoy this gift from me.” she was then met with silence once more and those tears she was holding back came flooding out, she was beginning to hate the silence. She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head to rid the memory and looked back at Steve who stared back at her, who then closed his eyes, thinking of each passing interaction he’s had with Eddie that’s made him feel giddy like he was still in high school. The times when Eddie would grab him by the shoulder to keep himself together after hearing the most ridiculous joke Steve had ever told, or the few times there fingers would touch when passing a blunt between each other, or maybe the time where he would just watch the way Eddie’s eyes would sparkle whenever he spoke about his music or D&D or his favourite bands or— Robin blinked when his face turned red.

“Oh.” he mutters, and now he finds himself sitting in the Munson trailer with Eddie sitting across from him. The brunette was talking about something but Steve’s mind was blanking out and the only thing he was paying attention to were his lips, he suddenly came to a realisation when his eyes snapped up and his lips pulled into a straight line “Oh.” this caught Eddie’s attention, the older one of the two chuckling softly at the face Steve was making.

“What’s the matter, Stevie?” his smile grew when Steve raised his hand, placing it on his neck and squeezing it.

“N-Nothing, just thinking is all.” he raised a brow.

“Really?” he nods, pursing his lips.

“Uh huh, totally!” he hums, where has that Harrington charm gone? He remembered his time when he and Steve attended at the same time and the halls were filled with how good Steve was with his words, always making girls swoon and sink to their knees. The man before him was anything like the rumours detailed, he would have mistaken Steve for one of the many girls he flirted with by how his eyes averted away from his while Eddie himself never tore his eyes off him.

“Eddie, I swear to god if you don’t tear your damn eyes away from my brother I’m gonna use this fork and tear them right out of your goddamn eye sockets.” Gareth and Jeff cringe at the threat while Nathan takes the fork away from her when he saw that her hands were reaching for it, the others doing the same with their own forks “I thought you said you couldn’t stand my brother with how much of a, and I quote, “a prissy little jock boy he is”. And for you information, he’s a great jock.” without her fork she grabbed a handful of the mac and cheese she was eating and stuffed it into her mouth, Nathan cringing once more at the sight of the cheese dripping from her fingers.

“That’s disgusting, [F/N].” he complains and hands her a napkin, to which she takes and wipes her hands “And she’s right, Eddie. It’s not that we’re making fun of you, we’re judging you. I mean, it’s kind of pathetic.” Eddie let out a groan, his pale skin flushed red.

“I know.” he grumbles under his breath, slapping a hand onto his face and dragging it down “[F/N]! Tell me something that’ll immediately kill my interest!” her eyes rolled backwards and they looked up at the ceiling for a couple seconds before landing on him once more.

“He thinks D&D is a nerd game and doesn’t understand why I like it.” she pursed her lips at that, squinting her eyes in confusion while also shrugging her shoulders. Gareth scoffed and smacked her arm, to which she snickered that it was a pretty lame reason “Um, uh, eh… he thinks you could do better with your hair?” Jeff rolled his eyes.

“We all think that way, [F/N].”

“It is the truth, and though I’m not as much of a hair fanatic as my brother, you disgust me with the fact that you use that three in one crap.” they all then give him judgemental looks, he gasps at them and give him an offended look.

“I thought we were… friends!” he cried out, they all just continue to stare at him in silence. He pouts at the memory, his hands subconsciously reaching up to grab some of his hair and play with it. Eddie hated to admit it but back in high school, he too, couldn’t help but swoon for that Harrington charm. That cocky little grin, that perfect skin, his luscious brown locks and those sparkling brown eyes. He was just perfect but there was no way to confirm that he would ever look at a man the same way he looked at a woman and [F/N] wasn’t going to out her brother even if he did swing that way and Eddie asked, she probably would have killed him for even considering asking her “You know, I just thought of another memory of your sister.” Steve’s brows perked up, his flustered face cooling down.

“Another story time?” Eddie snickered at that, yup, any story they could think of was now declared as story time.

“Yeah, but it’s kind of a… bad one?” Steve’s face scrunched up at that “Please don’t be mad at her, she was honestly trying to do it for your own good.” now this really had Steve’s attention.

“What did she do?” he inhaled sharply.

“So, you think you’re good enough to be my brother’s girlfriend?” Eddie and the rest of Hellfire were shaking their heads in slight disappointment at [F/N]’s actions, going and threatening another one of Steve’s “girlfriend’s” all because she didn’t like them. [F/N] and Steve had only just recently fixed their broken relationship and Steve thought it would be a good idea to introduce his sister to his latest girlfriend. [F/N] was only just doing what was best for Steve, honestly, so she tried to give the girl some time to be that so called “loving and caring” girlfriend that Steve had told her all about, but [F/N] could never see that. All she could see was some girl that was only with Steve for the popularity, for the financial gain with being with a Harrington and possibly gain the favor and protection of his sister “You’ve done nothing to prove that you’re a good match for Steve.” [F/N] had backed the poor girl behind the school, looming over and making sure the girl knew that the truth was the only thing that could get her out of that situation.

“P-Prove myself…?” she stuttered out, looking around to find a way out of her current predicament “Didn’t Steve tell you how much he l-loves me?” she shrieks when [F/N] glared at her.

“Him telling me that he loves you doesn’t mean that I trust that you’ll love my brother the way he loves you.” the girl is trembling when [F/N] raises her hand to twirl her finger around a strand of her hair, humming softly as she plays with her in between her thumb and index finger “My brother showers you with love and affection, but also in extravagant gifts because that’s his way of showing love. Giving. He gives, and gives, and gives. But there are only the rare few people that give him something in return, and not once have I seen you return the favor. Whether that be in gifts or love, you’ve given him nothing.”

“T-Then— Then what do I have to do to p-prove it?” she lets out a small cry when [F/N] grabs a fistful of her hair and yanks her up, tears swelling in her eyes when her smile dropped at she was full on staring death in the eyes.

“The fact you have to ask tells me exactly what you’re up to.” her other hand grabs her by her cheeks and she gives it a squeeze “If I ever find out that you’re only with my brother because of his looks and wealth and not because you genuinely love him, I’ll make sure that your heart is not the only thing that gets broken. Do you understand me?” she loosened her grip on her and watched as she weakly nodded, [F/N] was satisfied with that and let her go, chuckling evilly to herself when she didn’t hesitate to get the hell out of there. Eddie approached her and watched as she pulled out a cigarette and let it, letting out a long drag then watched the smoke disappear.

“You know your brother isn’t going to be happy that you’ve been interfering with his relationships like this, [F/N].” she nodded her head.

“Yeah, but I rather he be single than in a one sided relationship.” she inhales sharply “He’ll thank me later for this, and I’m sure he’ll find that perfect someone someday.” Eddie eyes her.

“And if he doesn’t?” for a brief second he saw a frown appear on her face, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared because she was smiling confidently at him.

“I’m sure he will. I mean, who can resist that Harrington charm?” Eddie snickers at that and looks at Steve’s face, he could understand why he looked hurt right then and there. Each time [F/N] gave those girls her version of a “shovel talk” it would always end with them ending things with Steve, and of course she felt and immense amount of guilt because those relationships with those girls barely lasted a month because of her interference, but it was better for him to know that those girls never really wanted to be with him for his love.

“You must be angry with her, maybe even me for never stopping her.” Eddie thought Steve was foolish to never notice that those girls were only using him, but maybe being deprived of love he couldn’t help but cling to the next best thing and he refused to believe that it wasn’t true love; what a hopeless romantic “I’ll understand if you’ll need a bit.” Steve does, his opens his mouth to say something but shuts it and looks away from Eddie to collect his thoughts.

“… I always knew she was doing something.” he started, lacing his fingers together and squeezing his hand “Whenever I mentioned her at all, my exes would all freak out. The ones that stuck around for longer than a month looked like they were ready to have a melt down the moment we were in a room with her, I never knew what she was doing but I always had a suspicion she did something.” it was true, she always had that soft smile on Steve’s face whenever he was around, but the moment he was gone, her face turned cold and she would stare his ex down as if they were the filth of the earth.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that.” he waved his hand to dismiss Eddie.

“Eh, sure I’m a little upset, but in the end she was right.” Eddie nods.

“All those girls were not good for you man, the only one I knew she didn’t give a warning to was Wheeler.” Eddie missed the way Steve froze, flinching at the mention of the one that got away. [F/N] did spare her after she learnt that her friend, Barbara Holland, had disappeared on their property and she knew that that girl was going through it so she let her be, unbeknownst to Eddie, the year she came to visit she got possessed by a monster and nearly killed her “You still looking for a girl? You can freely date them now without your sister scaring them off.” he inhales sharply, wrapping his arms around his torso and leaning backwards.

“Well, there is someone that’s caught my eye.” Eddie lights up at that, a small tinge of jealously bubbling in his stomach.

“Ooo, really~ pray tell.” Steve clears his through, rubbing his hand up and down his bicep.

“Well, I’ve been seeing them frequently and they’ve helped me a lot. They’ve become someone I can really rely on, someone other than my friend. I look forward to each time we’re going to meet and dread the moment I have to leave, seeing them has become the new highlight of my life and I hope that it never ends. Because of them… they’ve helped me come out of a very dark place, even without them knowing it.” he looks up at Eddie, chuckling softly when he was pouting and giving him a confused look “They’re really cute, actually.” Eddie’s pout deepened.

“Cute?” he nods.

“Mm hmm, whenever they’re concentrating they tend to stick their tongue out without realising, and when they’re confused they tend to pout and tilt their head, almost like a puppy. They’ve got the prettiest long, curly brown hair with matching eyes. They tend to be loud and assertive but I know that they’re actually really soft and quite reserved, and they’ve always got a way to make me laugh.” he takes a breath and leans back into the sofa “I’d like to say something but I’m afraid I might scare them off, whether it be because of who I used to be or the fact that I might want something more with them than just a one time fling. You get what I mean?” Eddie’s clenches his jaw and flexes his hand when he realised he balled them into a tight fist.

“If you’ve been daydreaming about them this much, then I’m more surprised that this person hasn’t seen the signs. They’re quite blind if I say so myself.” Steve couldn’t help but squint his eyes at him, uh huh “If you really like them as much as you say, then you should go for it. It’s never stopped you before, so what’s stopping you now? Just go up to them, look them in the eyes, and ask them to be yours.” the two of them sit in silence and Steve can hear the way his heart was beating wildly in his chest, was he really going to do this? Will Eddie take him seriously? Eddie raises a brow when Steve stands to his feet and approaches him, taking a seat beside him and proceeded to look him in the eyes.

“Eddie, will you be mine?” Eddie blinks at him for a couple seconds until he smiles, nodding his head and giving him a thumbs up.

“Yeah, man, exactly like that!” Steve looks away and deadpans, what was he even expecting? “I’m sure they’re going to swoon, man.” Steve shakes his head and takes Eddie’s hand, startling the poor man.

“No, Eddie! I’m asking you if you’ll be mine! You, I want you!” he curses and looks away “Okay, look. Things have been so tough for me ever since my sister and Billy, and I know things have been tough on you since the two of you were really close, but you pushed your feelings aside just to comfort me. I noticed the way you would get sad each time either one of us mentioned [F/N] name and I would try my best to comfort you the best I could, and yet you still chose my feelings over your own. Eddie, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to accept my sister’s death than I would have liked, so I will never take for granted what you have done just for my sake. But the more we hung out, the more time I spent with you I realised the conversations about my sister and even Billy had been becoming less frequent, a-and I was getting to learn more about you. I started to like learning about you and being with you, I liked the stories you told me about you and your friends, about your nerd game and your band practices. I liked being with you, and how I felt like I can just be me without being worried that you’ll judge me. Eddie, you’re a very selfless person and I admire that about you. You’re caring, and sweet, and very charismatic and you’re… amazing. I really like that about you, I really like… you.”

…

…

Steve was beginning to think that this was a mistake, Eddie was just staring at him wide eyed and he hated the fact that he just couldn’t read the emotions he was making. Surprise? Disgust? Rejection? Dread began to fill his heart that he might have jumped the gun, spilling his heart out the way he did was probably not the best idea and Eddie probably might not even swing that way, let alone want to be in a relationship with his best friends brother. He stuttered out an apology and tried to pull away but realised that Eddie was holding his wrist in a rather tight grip, he looked down at where he was holding him then back at his face, blinking in surprise when Eddie’s face turned bright red to the point he’d compare it to a tomato.

“M-Me?” he stuttered out “You like… me?” Steve swallows thickly then slowly nods, his cheeks turning rosy. Eddie stares at him again then looks away, he then looks at their hands and slowly laces their fingers together.

“E-Eddie?” he closes his eyes, his hand squeezing Steve’s hand tightly.

“I liked you back in high school, Steve.” this caught him by surprise “Hah, you could say I couldn’t resist your charm. I told your sister, obviously, and she proceeded to verbally abuse me for a good week, along with the rest of our friends. I tried to get over you, tried to convince myself that my attraction towards you wasn’t going to last and that I was pathetic for falling in love with a guy that would never love me back. Hoo boy, was I wrong! Every time I thought I was over you it would come right back each time I saw you and each time I saw that you had your new toy with you, I would be happy when [F/N] scared them off because then I wouldn’t have to be jealous. Never in a million years would I have thought that you’d return those feelings, if [F/N] were here I’d tell her to eat it. I’d say I’m happy she’s not around because at least I don’t get her infamous shovel talk, but to shove it in her face that you chose me would totally be worth it.” Steve couldn’t help but burst out into laughter at that, even Eddie was laughing along to the point the two of them were leaning against each other.

“You’re totally right about that.”

“Of course I am.” the two of them then fall into a comfortable silence, both eyes staring at their hands that continued to stay connected. Steve pursed his lips and turn his attention back towards Eddie’s face, letting his thumb caress Eddie’s hand.

“Um, I like you, Eddie Munson.” he snorts at the confession.

“Yeah, thanks, like I didn’t realize that after that whole confession.” Steve smacks his shoulder, Eddie snickers “Hey! Haha, I like you too, Steve Harrington.” Steve nods his head, a dopey smile on his face.

“Does that make us… boyfriends?” he mutters softly, his hand subconsciously reaching up to grab the pendant around his neck and thumb at it. Eddie goes to answer but he eyes the pendant in between Steve’s fingers, he narrows his eyes at the jewellery and they widened softly in recognition.

“Is that… Hargrove’s?” he was taken aback at the question, looking down at what he was doing then dropping his hand to his side “Steve, were you and Hargrove… an item?” just that subtle detail had Eddie realize that they was much more to Steve and Billy’s relationship. He found it odd that [F/N] let Billy off the hook for what he did to Steve, he found it more odd that [F/N] let the rumours fly around that she and Billy were an item instead of killing the person who started those rumours, but now he understood it. It was a cover for her brother, for he was the one that was actually in love with the california boy, he felt his heart hurt more for Steve when he realised that Steve not only lost his sister but also his boyfriend on that tragic night. Steve looked like he was in the middle of spiralling now, taking his hand back from Eddie and clutching the pendant in both hands, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he was gripping it.

“I— I-I—” he blinks back the tears when he saw Eddie raise his hands up, he hovers them out in front of him and Steve just watches him closely.

“Steve, can I touch you?” he continued to stare at him, a good few seconds past and Steve slowly nods his head. Eddie’s hands settle down on Steve’s shoulders, they slowly glide down to his biceps, to his forearms then finally resting on his wrists. He’s patiently tapping against his enclosed hands as his thumbs rub into his wrist, when Steve finally manages to compose himself and loosen his grip Eddie slips his hands back into Steve’s and squeezes them reassuringly “So… you and Hargrove, huh?” he nods softly.

“Uh huh.” he answers “He really was a good guy, he just didn’t get his chance to show the world. He died a hero that night, so at least he did something right at the very end.” Eddie clears his throat at that, readjusting where he was sitting.

“Um… you were there, right? On the night they died?” Steve looks at Eddie, already knowing where he was going.

“… he saved us, both him and [F/N]. They saved us, and look where that got them.” Eddie knew that there was more to this story, more to unpack about that night, but he knew not to push it while Steve was this far gone “I will always regret that night, because in the end it was my fault.” Eddie shakes his head.

“You don’t know that, Steve.”

“But I do.” Steve closes his eyes shut, trying not to remember their screams of pain when they were killed by the Mind Flayer. He tried to shut out the way the two of them died in each others arms, tried not to think of their lifeless bodies haunting him or their flayed versions glaring at him each time he looked at his reflection. He was slipping further and further away and when everything was beginning to overwhelm him he felt something press against his cheek, opening his eyes, he saw that it was Eddie kissing him on the cheek to calm him down.

“Steve.” he says firmly, favouring to look him in the eyes instead of the way his face flushed “Whatever you’re going through, whatever you can’t tell me, I’ll be by your side through it all. You don’t need to be alone for this.” Steve wordlessly stared at him then felt himself melt at the sight of Eddie’s eyes, a feeling of warmth bubbling in his stomach that he felt himself lean forward to rest his forehead against his.

“Eddie…” he murmurs, he closes his eyes and hums softly “Thank you.” he gets a hum back, chuckling softly when Eddie nuzzles his forehead against his own.

“No problem, boyfriend.”

Steve felt bad for keeping their relationship only to themselves, he wished he could tell Robin but for Eddie’s comfort he decided that it would be best if they kept it on the down low. Their days now consisted on cuddling in bed or couch, a few quick pecks here and there or the occasional sweet kiss when either was feeling confident enough. Eddie was still quite new to this type of relationship, Steve being his first offical boyfriend that wasn’t a one time fling, so Steve understood that they were going to take things slow, but he wouldn’t take it any other way. He felt special that he was the first to treat Eddie with so much love though it times it did make his heart ache because he felt like he was with Billy all over again, and as shitty as that sounds, it was still taking some time to accept that Billy was never going to come back. Eddie himself noticed at times Steve’s mind would wonder off at times, especially when Steve would run his hands through his hair and would stop to turn away, because in his mins he was picturing Billy all over again. Steve would always apologise whenever he reacted like that, feeling guilty that he still hadn’t gotten over it, he was scolded by Eddie for thinking like that.

“Hey, Eddie.” Steve says, laying on his back with his legs over Eddie’s back “You’re starting school again in a couple months, yeah?” he questions, to which Eddie let out long groan and let his face fall onto his bed.

“Don’t remind me.” he replies, voice muffled under the blankets.

“Heh, well, do you remember those kids I told you about?” Eddie lets out a grunt “Well, a few of them actually play your little Doofuses and Dorks game.” he snickers softly when Eddie pushed himself up immediately, turning to face Steve with an excited look on his face.

“First of all, it’s Dungeons and Dragons, second of all, go on.”

5t“Well, they’re entering high school and I was wondering if, I don’t know, you watched over them? I’m sure they’re going to feel a little nervous and maybe left out, and I’d really appreciate it if you could keep an eye on them. It would really mean a lot to me.” Steve hums when Eddie shimmied over to where Steve was laying, crawling on top of him through his parted legs before letting his body drop on top of him.

“I’d be more than happy to oblige, Stevie. Anything to keep you at ease, mama bear.” Steve let out a chuckle when Eddie booped his nose, Steve readjusted himself when he felt Eddie slide his arms from under his body until his hands were resting at the back of his head, Steve all but purrs when he feels Eddie’s fingers thread through his hair “But don’t you think your kids are going to question why I’m approaching them? I’m still pretty notorious around in school, won’t they get scared?” he almost laughed at that, those kids have been through so much worse that he shouldn’t feel at eased that they won’t get scared if they meet Eddie, but it’s the truth.

“Please, the moment they learn they can still play that D&D game while in high school, they’ll get over their initial fear of you and worship the ground you walk on.”

“Oh, so like that Dustin kid does with you?”

“Heh, you flatter me.” they share a kiss, both smiling into the kiss “Thank you Eddie.”

“No problem.”

[time skip: late in march]

Eight months have past since the Starcourt Mall had burnt down along with the death of his sister and boyfriend, and though he was still mourning the loss of them both, he had definitely gotten better over time. He’s got his best friend at his side and his new boyfriend that he completely adores, so Steve would like to think that he drew the lucky end of the straw even after everything he lost. Eddie also kept his promise to Steve, the moment Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Max had entered high school he made his presence known and welcomed them warmly to Hellfire, and though the same couldn’t be said for Max, the other three joined with open arms. Steve loved hearing stories from both his kids and boyfriend, Dustin telling him with great enthusiasm that they joined a Dungeons and Dragons club, or Eddie telling him how he was right and that Dustin, or rather Mike, was literally breathing in every word he spoke. Robin was another case, since school was back, Robin had to go back to school while he manned Family Video after dropping her off at school, and she found a new girl to crush over ever since they lost [F/N]. This girl, her name was Vickie and she was in band alongside Robin so she had a lot of time to spend with her, so now their conversations were filled with Vickie, Vickie, Vickie! He almost missed the conversations when it was just about [F/N] because at least he could understand.

“It is seven in the morning, we have the stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a corpse.” Robin complains, Steve scoffs softly and looks over at her, seeing her pull her face back as she looks at her reflection through the rear view mirror.

“You’re worried about a pep rally? Expect me to believe that?”

“Yeah, so?” he narrows his eyes on her.

“We both know what this is all about. Not buying that, this is about Vickie.” she whips her head towards him.

“Absolutely not.”

“It is, and you know what else?”

“I don’t care—”

“You gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you’re around her. You just gotta be yourself.” now it was Robin’s turn to eye Steve down.

“You’re literally quoting me to me. You do realize that, right?” he shrugs his shoulders.

“Well, maybe you need to listen to yourself. Ever think about that? I listened. Look at me, boom! Back in business.” she scoffs at him.

“It’s not the same thing, okay?”

“Well—” she shakes her head, cutting him off before he could explain himself. “Look, your ask out a girl and she says no. Big deal, nothing happens. Maybe your ego’s a little bruised.” he makes an offended look but they both know that he wasn’t really offended “I ask out the wrong girl, and bam, I’m a town pariah.” Steve nods at that last part but shakes his head.

“I’d buy that, expect Vickie is definitely not the wrong girl.” Robin sighs.

“Yeah, but we don’t know that Steve, do we?”

“She returned Fast Times paused at fifty-three minutes, five seconds. You know who pauses Fast Times at fifty-three minutes, five seconds?” she shakes her head “People who like boobies!” she cringes at him.

“Ew! Gross, stop! Don’t say boobies.”

“Boobies!” he repeats “Not a big deal, okay? I like boobies, you like boobies. If my sister has taught me anything about stuff like this, I can definitely tell that Vickie likes boobies. My gaydar goes off around her, I’m telling you.” she shakes her head at him, closing her eyes when she hears him say boobies again. After dropping Robin off at school and waving her goodbye he peels off and heads to Family Video, tapping away at the counter in boredom as customers cane in and out, browsing here and there and the occasional few renting out movies for the weekend. He makes yet another successful purchase when the phone goes off, so he waves the customer goodbye before proceeding to pick up the phone “This is Family Video, Steve spe—” he pulled a face when he was cut off.

“Steve!” he pursed his lips at who was on the other line, narrowing his eyes on the phone.

“Oh, it’s just you. What do you want, Dustin? Aren’t you at school right now?” he questions as he leans back to look at the time, squinting his eyes at what the clock said.

“Never mind about that, Steve. I need a favor.” he rolls his eyes, so demanding “So Lucas just pulled out of Eddie’s campaign, it’s the Cult of Vecna and it’s like the finale and everything! It’s gonna be great, and we need a sub because—” Steve cuts him off.

“Because Lucas has his game tonight? Yeah, not gonna happen. I already promise him I’d be there for him.” Dustin lets out a groan.

“Come on, Steve! You and I both know that you’re just going on a date with some girl that doesn’t like you as much as you think, so just move your date this one time!” Steve scoffs, feeling a little offended at the accusation.

“What, to hang out with you and play that little nerd game I told you I’d would never play? Uh, yeah, I’ll pass.”

“You’re just jealous cause I have another older male friend.” jokes on him, he’s actually dating said older male friend.

“Ew, ugh, whatever.” his eyes perked up at the sound of the door opening, a group of people entering the store “Oh, I got some customers. Call you back, bye.” he laughs to himself when he hangs up the phone, knowing full well that he can’t call him back because he’s at school. Hours go by and finds himself at said basketball game, smiling brightly when he sees Lucas and waves his hand when they make eye contact, Lucas’ frown disappeared slightly when he spotted Steve and he returned the gesture. The game went on without a hitch, silently mouthing towards Robin to talk to her about the game while also mocking her previous crush, Tammy Thompson and how he was right that she was just a tone deaf muppet. Though, watching the game play out he couldn’t help but think about his time when he played and sitting out in the bleachers was [F/N]. Their parents never came to their games and though she herself hated being there she was always there to support him throughout his games, even at the ones he never wanted her to be at; she was always there. So here he was, in place of his sister, to support Lucas as he wins Hawkins their first win against their rivalling team. Is this how his sister felt when she watched Steve making the winning basket on all his games? That feeling of adrenaline pumping through his body as the feeling of how proud he was filling his heart while he cheered with the crowd, the only disappointment he felt was how the others weren’t there for Lucas to witness this astonishing victory.

“That was amazing, Lucas!”

“You did great out there!”

“Way to go, Lucas!” it would be an understatement if Lucas didn’t feel overwhelmed, that giant smile stretched across his face as the feeling of winning the game continued to play throughout his mind. Everyone was congratulating him and he was giving his thanks, however, his eyes drifted over to where he heard laughter. His smile died immediately at the sight of his friends laughing together and chatting about the campaign he bailed out on, what stung more was that his sister was walking with them with a proud look on her face. His mood deflated at the sight and before he could begin to sulk he felt himself get pulled into a hug, looking up at how it was his eyes widened.

“Steve?” he questions, Steve had a big smile on his face as he hugged Lucas tight.

“Well done, Lucas! I’m so proud of you!” he exclaimed loudly, when he pulls him back he shakes him lightly “You did great out there, kid, you’re going to be the next star player.” Lucas felt his lips begin to tremble while his eyes started water, Steve hums softly and pats his shoulder.

“Really?” he nods.

“Uh huh, you’ve got serious potential.” Lucas smiles softly, letting his head fall and rest against his chest, Steve smiled and caressed the back of his head to comfort him. Looking up, his eyes met with Eddie who was staring at the both of them. He gave a wave and winked at him, his smile grew soft when Eddie giggled and waved back before getting into his van. Eddie told him after he got off of work that he had a deal to make before coming over to Steve’s so they could hang out, saying that the famous Queen Chrissy Cunningham had wanted to purchase something strong from him. And so that’s where Steve was waiting hours for Eddie to appear, waiting for Eddie to come into his arms and ramble about how epic his grand finale was. He waited, and waited, and waited, but Eddie never came. He felt like a fool for how long he stayed up waiting for him, he felt like a moron for thinking that he’d call him to say that he couldn’t make it. Did he think that Eddie could be getting high off his mind with Chrissy Cunningham? Maybe. Was his heart crushed at the thought that he was getting high off his mind with Chrissy Cunningham…? Perhaps, but— Eddie wouldn’t do that, maybe he smoked a little and got tired after his campaign and went to sleep, forgetting to call Steve that he couldn’t make it. He’ll visit Eddie tomorrow and ask for an explanation, yeah, that’s what he’ll do. Maybe he’s just overreacting and Eddie has a plausible reason as to why he couldn’t come over, yeah, he’s gonna sleep this off and feel better in the morning when he goes see Eddie.

This was not what he was expecting to see in the morning.

His blood ran cold when the news came on and airing on it was that someone was murdered, but the location? The trailer park right in front of Eddie’s house. His heart dropped into his stomach at the possibility that it could be Eddie, that the reason he didn’t come around last night was that he and Chrissy were murdered by some psychopath. That thought replaced his anxiety with guilt that if he wasn’t so hung up about Eddie and called him, maybe even stormed over to his place to see what was taking him so long, maybe he wouldn’t be watching the news that his boyfriend was dead.

“Hey, Steve!” his attention tore away from the T.V at the breathless call of his name, turning towards the door to see Dustin and Max entering the store.

“You see this?” he started, trying to play off the fact that he was freaking out.

“How many phones do you have?” he frowned when he was ignored.

“Someone was murdered.” he continued.

“How many phones do you have?” Dustin repeats, he scoffs slightly and turns to look at Robin.

“Two, why?”

“Technically three, if you count Keith’s.” Dustin and Max nod to the answer.

“Yeah, three works.” Steve and Robin pull a face when Dustin proceeded to pull his backpack off.

“Wait, what are you doing?” they were taken aback when he threw his bag over the counter, the two backing away in surprise and shouting at him “What are you—” “My pile!” he then jumps over the counter himself, kicking another pile of tapes onto the ground.

“No, no, no! My tapes! Dude.” Steve deflates at the chaos that ensued “What are you doing, man?”

“Setting up base of operations here.” “Base of operations? Get off.”

“I need it.”

“For what?”

“Eddie’s friends’ phone numbers.” his eyes widened at that, he then shakes his head to help Robin pick up the things that were knocked down because of Dustin jumping over the counter.

“Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you can play around, but it’s Saturday. It’s our busiest day.” Robin explained, but was ignored by them both.

“Robin, I empathise, but this cannot wait.”

“Oh my god.”

“Calling Eddie’s friends is an emergency?”

“Correct!”

“Want me to strangle him or you?” Robin chuckled.

“We could take turns.” the two of them smile at that, Dustin sighed and turned towards Max.

“Could you fill them in while I do this?”

“Fill us in on what?” Steve felt that same guilt start to bubble in his stomach when he learnt that the murder in the Munson household could possible be linked to the Upside Down, and at that thought he couldn’t help but think back to Billy and [F/N]. Because he didn’t tell them what was actually going on in Hawkins the two of them wound up getting possessed by the Mind Flayer then proceeded to commit several murders then died themselves the moment they broke free. If the same thing was happening to Eddie he really wasn’t going to forgive himself for keeping this secret from him, he was going to die if Eddie got caught up in all this and he got hurt because he never spoke up about it. It was going to be his fault all over again that someone he loved got hurt.

“Dustin, get your shit, we’re going.” the three of them look up at Steve as if he was crazy.

“What? Why?” they watch as he takes off his work vest, throwing it away in favor of his jacket “Where are we going?”

“To find Eddie. I know where he’ll be.” Dustin stares at him in disbelief, nearly ignoring his order but paused when he saw that Robin was doing the same thing.

“How? Steve! You don’t even know him. Steve!” he just ignored Dustin’s comments as he ushered them out of the store, closing the door behind them and flipping the “OPEN” sign to closed before jumping into his car and peeling out of the parking lot. He was anxiously tapping his fingers against the wheel, his mind thinking back to the one time both he and Eddie got high off their mind and how Eddie mentioned Reefer Rick’s place. A nice little house by the lake all the way out of prying eyes, a place perfect for Eddie to go into hiding, all he could do was hope that that was where Eddie went. Pulling up to the house the sun had long gone down, Steve was the last to hope out of the car and watched as the trio approach the house but he ushered them towards the shed at the back quietly, opening the door and peeking in to try and spot where Eddie could be.

“Eddie?” Dustin whispered out as the others searched the room, not noticing how Steve was approaching the boat that was covered by a large tarp “It’s Dustin, are you here? Eddie?” he called out again, Steve should have spoke out to let Eddie know that he was there. It was foolish of him not to at least reassure Eddie that he was there because the moment he touched the tarp he was suddenly being shoved back until his back hit the wall and a broken glass bottle was pressed against his throat. He could see it, that look of absolute terror in his tear filled eyes. [F/N] flashed in his mind, the moment she broke free from the Mind Flayer and how absolutely distraught she was after realising what she had done to him, that same look could be seen in Eddie’s but it was just slightly different.

“Eddie.” he spoke out softly, not tearing his eyes away from how much Eddie’s body was trembling, or how he still hadn’t recognized who exactly was in front of him just yet “It’s me, Eddie. It’s Steve, I’m here.” he whispered out, the moment Eddie started breathing properly he let out a gasp and dropped the broken bottle.

“Steve?” he whispered out, his arms enclosed on his body, his shoulders shaking from each deep breath he took.

“Eddie, can I touch you?” the moment Eddie helped Steve calm down from his near mental break down came rushing back to him, his hands coming up to hover over Eddie’s shoulders. He waited for Eddie to respond to him and when he was given that moment his hands settled down on his shoulders, they slowly glide down to his biceps, to his forearms then finally resting on his wrists. Eddie let out a soft whimper at the feeling of Steve’s touch, still not opening his arms but leaning forward to let his forehead rest against his chest “I’m here, baby. I’m here, and whatever happened isn’t going to happen to you. I know you didn’t kill Chrissy, I’ll believe whatever you say because I know you didn’t do anything.” Eddie finally broke down into tears, his arms dropping from where they were and quickly wrapping around Steve’s neck.

“Jesus, Steve. I-I— I didn’t hurt you, did I? God, I’m sorry I just— everything happened so fast.” he started, his tears beginning to soak into Steve’s shoulder “H-Her body just lifted in the air a-and her body just started to break, her bones man— I’m NEVER going to get that sound out of my head. I-I couldn’t help her, man, I couldn’t wake her up! I fucking left her and ran because I—” Eddie whimpered when he felt Steve’s hands cup his cheeks, his thumbs wiping away his tears and she shushed him.

“You were scared, I get it. I’d be scared if I was in your place, too.” he was scared, each time he was thrown into any situation regarding the Upside Down and he was still terrified “And as shitty as this sounds, I’m just so glad that you’re okay. I’m so happy that you’re safe, Eddie.” he gently pulls Eddie back so he could let their foreheads rest against each other, Eddie’s hands slipping from around his neck to hang around Steve’s wrists.

“Steve…” they were clearly in their own little world of comfort, only then just realising that there were others in the room when they heard someone clear their throat.

“Um, I’d hate to interrupt… whatever is going on right now, but— what is going on?!” Steve winced when he heard Dustin shouting, Eddie flinched and curled up on himself.

“Dustin, cool it.” he said sharply but was ignored.

“No, wait, Steve! How long have you known Eddie? How long have you been this close with him? Is this why you haven’t gone on any dates as of recently?” he holds his tongue when Steve gave him a glare.

“Dustin, I said cool it.” he repeats and this time Dustin listens, he makes sure Eddie was calm before turning to look at Dustin “Since the funeral, a couple months and… yes?” he spares Robin a look and she was just as surprised, maybe a little betrayed that he never told her, but surprised nonetheless.

“Is this the guy, Steve? Is this the guy that leaves you awestruck all the time?” Eddie couldn’t help but snicker.

“I leave you awestruck?”

“Now’s not the time.” Eddie pursed his lips and nodded, raising his hand to wipe away any lingering tears.

“Are you going to explain what’s going on between you two? I highly doubt you coddling Eddie like that is because he’s your former drug dealer.” Steve was really nervous, he never told anyone outside of his sister and Robin, and Eddie found out on his own, that he was dating Billy. He hadn’t really registered his sexuality until his sister explained that it was possible for him to like both women and men, and though he really wanted to tell Dustin for a long time he was still really scared how he would react.

“Steve, you can tell him. I’m sure he’ll be understanding.” Steve looks at Eddie, swallowing thickly, but nodded.

“Well, Dustin… Eddie, uh— he’s my, boyfriend.” Dustin stared up, he narrowed his eyes on him then shook his head.

“But you’re not gay.” he deadpans.

“Yeah, I’m bisexual. Meaning I like both guys and girls.” he narrows his eyes even more, looking between him and Robin.

“But what about Robin?”

“Strictly platonic, dude. Don’t like her like that.” Dustin shakes his head once more, pointing between the two of them.

“But— you and Eddie?” Steve rolls his eyes.

“Oh my god— yes, me and Eddie! Please tell me you don’t have a problem with us, or I swear we’re gonna have problems.” Dustin raises his hands, now shaking his head for a different reason.

“No, no! It’s just that… I looked up to you two as brothers, you know? So know I’m gonna have to rethink that or else it’s gonna look really weird in my brain.” Eddie laughs at that, feeling a little better now that he wasn’t freaking out after everything that occurred. He then looks back at Steve and found it odd how relaxed he was, even after he explained how ridiculous of a scenario he had to suffer through. Steve believed him and didn’t think he was making it up, even he didn’t believe himself… no, no way.

“Steve.” this soft whisper almost fell to deaf ears but Steve just barely managed to hear him, looking down at Eddie and saw that terrified look on his face “What’s going on… is this what happened to [F/N] and Billy?” at the mention of their names they all flinched, Eddie noticed this reaction from all of them and his eyes widened even more, no way. He glanced back at Steve and saw he had a pained expression on his face, his hand reaching up to caress Billy’s pendant while Robin lifted her hand to cover his lips, even Max looked away.

“Eddie, I—”

“I-Is this what you couldn’t tell me? That this shit— this shit is what killed them? They didn’t actually die in a fire, did they? Oh shit, and you had to witness that happen to your sister?!” he couldn’t imagine Steve had to watch both his sister and boyfriend get broken down like that, Steve shook his head once more.

“No, no. What you had to go through, it wasn’t what she suffered through. If I’m being honest, theirs was a little crueler.” Steve didn’t want to have to recall this memory, he wanted to forget all about it but his boyfriend was asking what really happened “Their body’s were possessed by a monster and they had to do some really… gruesome things, and when they broke free they were killed by the same monster.” he toned it down by a lot, not really knowing how Eddie would react to [F/N] and Billy being the actual culprits to all the people that died last year. The other three in the room noticed as well and decided it would be best not to tell Eddie either, for his own sanity.

“Oh…” he muttered softly “I see why you could never bring that shit up in a conversation.” he nods.

“Yeah, not a real good conversation started.” trying to lighten the mood worked a little, he appreciated it, but he was still freaked out “Okay, um, I know you have a shit tone of questions Eddie, but I think we should go to my house. I don’t think anyone would come looking for you there, and if we were able to find you here then I don’t think it would take long for others to find you either.” Eddie felt this heart drop into his stomach at the thought of others coming so he nodded.

“Y-Yeah, good idea.” he nods.

“Dustin call the others and tell them to meet at my house, ASAP.” Dustin nods and pulls out his walkie talkie, he didn’t know who’d be awake to get the message but he’ll have to relay it again in the morning. Driving all the way back to the Harrington household Steve was holding Eddie’s hand, squeezing it every now and then each time he felt it tremble within his hold. They were going to be okay, he thought, everything was going to be okay because Steve was here and he believed him. Everything was going to be just fine.

Everything was not fine.

If Eddie’s week was already shit it just got fucking worse because he was literally staring death in the eyes, or maybe it was the back of his head because he was being pressed against his stomach while someone was holding him down by his hair while their foot was against his back. He’d find it kinky any other day but currently he was in an alternate dimension of Hawkins where everything is out to kill them and said thing above he was going to kill him, so yeah, his week is going pretty shit. As Steve predicted someone did end up going to the lake house to try and find Eddie, but someone died and blamed said death of Eddie despite the fact that he wasn’t even there. They also learned that Vecna targeted Max and he almost got her but thanks to Robin and Nancy’s little investigation on Victor Creel they learnt that music is the key to fight off Vecna’s control, or something like that. They now found themselves at the at Lovers Lake, the children staying at the foot of the lake while he and the other three sat in the dingy little boat followed the direction Dustin’s crazy little compass was taking them, stopping directly in the middle of the lake.

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital “aah”!” while the others continued to watch the needle go bonkers Steve was pulling his shoes and socks off.

“Steve, what are you doing?”

“Somebody’s gotta go down and check this out. Unless one of you three can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then… it’s gotta be me. No complaints, alright?” Eddie furrowed his brows as Steve stands up, not liking that his boyfriend was going down there towards potential danger.

“I’m complaining. I don’t want you to go down there.” he murmurs softly, Steve hums softly as he tugged his shirt over his head, smirking softly when he noticed the way Eddie was ogling at his chest, Eddie shakes his head and takes the little plastic bag out of his pocket and grabbing the flashlight from out of her hands, almost glaring at her when he noticed that she too was ogling at Steve. He flinched when he heard someone clear their throat so he turned and saw that it was Robin, who was just blatantly staring at him. He chose to ignore her and continued what he was doing, putting the flashlight in the bag then handing it over to Steve “Hey, good luck.”

“Thanks.” he let out a grunt when Steve chucked his sweater at him, pursing his lips when Steve winked at him before finally diving into the water. He inhaled deeply and watched the water, waiting patiently but anxiously for Steve to resurface, he didn’t tale his eyes off the water until Robin tapped his shoulder.

“Huh, yeah?” she pursed her lips as she looked him up and down.

“Steve never told me about…” she then gestured with her eyes towards Nancy, who too was looking towards the water as they waited for Steve, but he understood what she meant “Steve tells me everything, so I was a little upset that I finally learnt about it when we found you.” he swallows thickly.

“So, does that mean you know about—”

“Billy? Yeah.” he nod his head, the two settle in silence for a bit “I may not be [F/N], and I may not be as scary as she is, but I’ll have you know this Munson. He’s already gotten his heart broken so many times and his last lover broke it to the point I didn’t think he could pick up the pieces, but you managed to do that and fix it. But if I hear that you smashed it beyond repair, the one who is going to be wanted for murder isn’t going to be you.” he swallowed thickly at the threatening tone in her voice, it only reminded him more of [F/N].

“R-Right, right. No broken hearts, got it.” she only narrowed her eyes on him but was satisfied with her work, only for the three of them to let out startled shouts when Steve broke through the surface of the water unexpectedly.

“I found it!”

“You found it?”

“I found it. Yeah, I found it.” Steve pants as he swings over to the boat, grabbing onto it with one hand while the other swipes along his face “It’s pretty wild. It’s more like a snack size gate than the mama gate, but still, it was pretty damn big.” he let out a grunt when he felt himself get pulled, all three of their heads whipping towards him when he bobbed down and yanked the boat. They’re all shouting when Steve was pulled under, Nancy and Robin were talking amongst each other to decide what they should do while Eddie was freaking out. He just watched his boyfriend get dragged down to the bottom of the lake where he could potentially die, he could practically hear his heart beating in his chest at the possibility that he could be dead. He didn’t know where he got the sudden confidence because he pushed pass the two bickering girls to jump into the water and after his boyfriend. He’ll complain about being wet later, right now he needs to make sure that Steve is okay and alive, he couldn’t stand the thought of losing Steve as well.

If he didn’t know that this was Hawkins then he’d believed he was in hell, perhaps this was hell and it was in Hawkins all along. He shook his head and pulled himself out of the crack like gate and looked frantically for Steve only to find him when he heard his cries for help, his eyes widened in fear at the sight of him being held down by these bat like monsters as they ate at his body. That sudden confidence still hadn’t worn off and he was charging over to him, grabbing an oar in the process as he got closer. He kicks the one eating away at his stomach off first then bats it away with the oar, he swings at the other one on his stomach then zones in on the one holding him down by the throat, evidently choking him, and starts doing a number on it before one of the bats attach itself to his back. The girls finally made their appearance and came to their aid, beating the bat off of Eddie’s back while Steve manages to loosen the hold of the one around his neck before repeatedly bashing it to the ground then pressing his foot to its back and ripping it apart, spitting out blood from his mouth while panting from exhaustion.

“Steve…” Eddie muttered out, quickly rushing to Steve to help him “Oh my god, are you alright?” he questions, his hands reaching up to cup his face, Steve let out a tired laugh and let his face fall into Eddie’s palms, raising another hand to touch his.

“Honestly no, but thanks for coming to my rescue.” Eddie giggled softly, their moment would be cute if not for the fact that they almost died, seeing that Steve was okay everything was finally setting in and Eddie cursed out.

“Jesus H. Christ!” he then throws the broken oar to the ground after doing a little stamping tantrum, Steve found it quite cute. Nancy then came over and looked over the wounds he got from the bats eating him, Robin winced at the sight of them.

“Well, they took about a pound of flesh.” Steve said “But other than that, yeah, never better.” his voice was hoarse from the bat that was strangling him, he coughs a little and spits more blood out from his mouth.

“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies? It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once symptoms set in, it’s too late. You’re already dead.” both Nancy and Steve deadpan at her words, Eddie just looking at her in confusion. They flinch and turn their attention back towards the gate when they heard chittering noises, a new group of bats appeared and were guarding the gate to block their attempts from getting to it.

“Alright, there’s not that many.” he muttered softly as the others huddle around him “We can take them, right?” their heads then look up when they heard more chittering noises, this time a swarm of bats were coming their ways but they jump when they hear a roar in the distance coming from where the bats were. It wasn’t close but it sounded like it was getting closer, they weren’t going to take their chances against the swarm or the incoming monster. Nancy pants from behind Steve and looks around, her gaze settling on the woods.

“The woods, come on!” with that they all take off running towards the woods, they later find themselves at skull rock huddled together and hiding as the bats fly over them. With the coast clear Robin steps out from under the rock and looks around, Nancy follows behind her while Eddie stays beside Steve in case he still needed help, to which he did because the moment he stood up he collapsed against the boulder.

“Oh sh… shit.” Eddie is immediately at his side, wincing softly when Steve clutches at his sides “I’m… I’m fine, I swear.” Eddie shakes his head as he helps Steve sit back down, his hands hovering over his body.

“You’re not, sweetheart, stop acting like you are. You’re losing blood.” he looked at his person and saw that he didn’t have anything to bind his wound, he then looks over at Nancy and saw the shirt she was wearing had ruffles at the end of it so he snaps his fingers in her direction “Wheeler, gimme that. It sounds weird, but your shirt. Gimme it.” she looks down at it and nods.

“Good thinking.” he nods, watching her start tearing it off.

“I know.” while he waited for her to finish Robin knelt down to talk to Steve.

“Okay, so the good news is that i’m pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations and muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know.” he settles a glare at her.

“Robin.”

“Yeah.” “I kinda wanna punch you.” she smiles.

“Sense of humours still intact. That’s a good sign.” he gives her a look and she finally backs off, he then turns his attention back to Eddie. Nancy was able to tear it all off and so she handed it to him, he then looks back at Steve and he wiggles his finger to get Steve to come close.

“Okay.” he starts, kneeling closer and holding the fabric to his wound “You ready?” Steve swallows thickly as he had his hands hovering above his head.

“Just do it.” they both suck in a breath as Eddie pressed it against his wound, Steve winces and stifled a groan, his hands now pressing against the back of his head while Eddie wraps the torn fabric around his stomach. Eddie mutters a soft apology as Steve throws his head back, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to distract himself from the pain and the fact that Eddie was just so close to him right that moment. He wraps it around as much as the fabric would allow him before tightening it, looking back up at Steve to watch his reaction each time he tightened it.

“Too tight?” he mutters.

“No, that’s good.” he nod.

“Good.” Steve relaxes back against the boulder and watched Eddie tie a knot, nodding to himself when he was satisfied with it. Eddie glanced back at the girls and saw that they were looking around the area so with them distracted he gave Steve a quick peck on the lips, Steve looked at him a little bewildered and saw him look away bashfully “That should do it, Harrington.” Steve smiles softly.

“Thanks, Munson.” the two of them look at each other and snicker softly, Eddie pats Steve on the shoulder and leaves him when Nancy came along to look over him once more. Eddie looks around before deciding to scale a different boulder and once at the top he looked around, grimacing at the sight of everything looking so grim and dead.

“So uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?”

“Pretty much.” he pulls a face, looking down when he decided to get down.

“Wait, watch out for the vines. It’s all a hive mind.”

“It’s all a what?” he asked as he looked to Steve.

“All the creepy crawlies around here. They’re, like, one of something. Step on a vine, you’re stepping on a bat, you’re stepping on Vecna.” Eddie shakes his head at that.

“Shit.” he mutters as he now has to watch his step as he carefully makes his way back down, Robin then chimes in.

“But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people?” Nancy nods.

“As far as I understand it, yeah.”

“So. theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate.” Steve scoffs.

“I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But guns, yeah, sure.” Nancy purses her lips.

“Well, we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns.” they all look at her “I have guns in my bedroom.” Eddie makes a face as he stares at Nancy.

“You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom.” Robin’s face lights up.

“Full of surprises, isn’t she?”

“A russian makarov and a revolver.” Steve scoffs softly at the mention of the revolver.

“Yeah, you almost shot me with that one.” she looked up at him with a smirk.

“You almost deserved it.” Eddie’s face scrunched up at the tone she used, he then proceeded to take off his battle vest and chuck it and Steve’s face, who let out a grunt.

“For your modesty, dude.” he raised a brow at Eddie’s direction and if it weren’t for how dark it was he could have sworn he saw Eddie’s ears turn red, their heads all snap up when they heard that roar again in the distance followed by a small earthquake. Steve grabs Nancy while Robin stumbles into Eddie, both men do their best to cover their partners as they wait for the earthquake to settle. They sit in silence for a couple seconds until they hear the bats along with that roar again but this time it was closer “So guns seem like a pretty good idea to me.” Robin nods against Eddie.

“Yeah, me too.” they all quickly stand to their feet and start walking, though the moment they were a distance away from Skull Rock something arrived. It stared at the small stain of blood on the boulder and inhaled the scent of it, a growl rippling through its throat before training its eyes on the footprints left in the dirt.  Steve lagged behind the other three but quickly hurriedly to watch Eddie’s pace, jogging up to him so that they were walking side by side.

“Hey, Eddie, thanks again for coming down to save me.” Eddie only smiled, pumping his shoulder against his.

“I’d say it was no problem but I was scared shitless, and there was no way I was going to leave you down there.” he shakes his head, a sad look appearing on his face “I couldn’t lose you when you were right there.” Steve’s shoulders slumped at that, now pumping his shoulder against his.

“Eddie—” he shakes his head.

“Nope. Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I sense danger and I just turn heel and run. Or, at least that’s what I’ve learned about myself this week.” he inhales sharply “Your sister was so different. She was always full of confidence, but she acted like a stray dog. She didn’t start unnecessary fights unless she got cornered or we were threatened, and when she did, god she was so vicious. Besides, if she were here, I think she’d kill me if I left her brother for dead.” Steve snorted at that.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“No, I know I’m right.” the two were now giggling “Anyways, that was a real Ozzy move back there.” Steve raised a brow.

“Ozzy? Like that Osborne guy you listen to?” Eddie nods his head, face lighting up that Steve remembered.

“Uh huh. He bit a bats head off on stage, it was a real metal move man.” his face brightened when Steve’s flushed up a little, he lifted his hand to gently caress his bicep and winced softly at the torn skin on the entirety of his back and the back of his arms “We really should get you to a doctor after we’re out, that could leave so serious damage.” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Eh, from the year to year beating I get I kind of got used to it.” Eddie winced at that, shaking his head at that.

“No, sweetheart. Just, no.” Steve pouts, he quickly glanced at the girls and saw they were a good distance away from them so he leaned for to give Eddie a quick peck on the lips. He immediately turned away and started speed walking away, giggling softly to himself when he heard Eddie let out a shout of protest then proceed to chase after him. He was waiting for Eddie to grab him from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist and pull him back to smother him in his own barrage of kissed, but that never came. His heart started beating in his chest when it was silent so he turned around and his eyes widened in shock when he didn’t see Eddie behind him, frantically he looked around for him and his gasped when he saw that he was being dragged away.

“Eddie!” he cries out, catching the attention of Nancy and Robin, who turned around and saw that he was running off to where Eddie was being dragged off to. Eddie tried to grab at something— anything to stop himself from getting dragged further and further away but he couldn’t grab the vines unless he wanted to gain the attention of all the creatures in this Upside Down hell or the main monster himself, Vecna. When the thing finally stopped he turned around and kicked it off of him, the thing letting out a whine at the action, he then gasped at what he was staring at. He’d probably mistaken it for a dog if not for its head, it was flower like by the way it opened but inside were rows upon rows of teeth that were stained with blood. He really didn’t want to stick around to be its next meal so he kicked it away when it got close again then turned around so he could push himself onto his feet but let out a grunt when he was kicked in his stomach. Eddie fell back down onto his stomach and grovelled in pain, not being able to handle the growing pain the blow to the stomach gave him, he then let out a grunt when he was grabbed by his hair and was kicked in his back to keep him down.

“U-Urgh… please…” he whimpered around, feeling the tears swelling in his eyes. He really didn’t want to die, not just because he wanted to live, but because now he couldn’t stand the thought of dying and leaving Steve. That man has already lost everything and he couldn’t lose him either, he let out a cry when whatever was holding him by the hair tightened their grip, their heel digging deeper into his back.

“Eddie!” he winched when he heard Steve’s voice, but knowing that his sweetheart was going to come to his rescue made this a little bit better. However, the thing above him flinched at the call and froze up, he then gasped when something slammed beside his head. Peeking to the side his eyes were met with his reflection through the blade of a blood stained axe. The hand that was holding him down loosened its grip and instead was gently caressing his head, the hand then slipped off from behind his head and instead moved his head so that he was able to look over his shoulder. He peeked through his eyelids and was met with those eyes that he had fell in love with, but this thing that was above him wasn’t his Steve, it was—

“Eddie…?” the voice whispered out, the axe was soon abandoned and the figure grabbed him by his shoulders and turned him around so he was now laying on his back. He grabbed at the wrists that was holding him and looked up at the figure, this thing was staring down at him with such intense eyes and he was trying to register as to why it wasn’t killing him. He felt it tug at its hand so he let go and watched as it grabbed at the thing covering its mouth and tug it off, his eyes widened at the face that he was staring up at.

“No… no way.” the tears that began to sting in his eyes appeared but this time for a different reason, his hand reaching up to caress at the face above him.

“Heh, hi Eddie.” Steve was running full speed to where Eddie was dragged off, the tears running down his face at the thought of losing him. His mind flashed back to Billy and [F/N], being helped down by Jonathan and Nancy only to find his lover and sister dead in each others arms. He couldn’t go through this again, not again. His heart wasn’t going to handle another intense heartbreak again, if he lost Eddie then he didn’t know if he was going to pick himself back up like last time; he didn’t know if he could find someone else to glue his heart back together. His blurry eyes widened when he heard the sound of laughter, laughter? Why was he hearing laughter? What could possibly be so funny that he could hear laughter? He finally approached the clearing where Eddie was an his was taken aback at what he was seeing because before his eyes he saw Eddie laughing while twirling someone around, who was also laughing “Eddie, you knucklehead! When’d you get so strong? You were never able to lift me up so easily before!” Eddie just snickered, pulling whoever it was close and squeezing them tight.

“I don’t know, had someone a little heavier than you to lift is all.” they let out a sigh and let their body drape along his body, their head resting against his while his buried into the crook of their neck. When he finally put them down and pulled away they felt his presence and turned to look in his direction, though Steve never met Eddie’s gaze, he was staring directly into the eyes he once remembered were cold and dead.

“Steve…” Nancy and Robin finally caught up to Steve, looking up at him and were confused as to why he looked like he saw a ghost. They finally look over at what he was staring at and froze at who was standing beside Eddie, said person lost that smile they had on their face and it morphed into one of absolute dread. Steve’s eyes, that were already full of tears, felt a new wave of tears run down his face.

“W-What are you doing here…” he stuttered out, dropping the flashlight to the ground and taking a step forward “[F/N]!”

[eight months earlier]

*GASP*

She awoke in a great amount of pain, her entire torso feeling like it was ripped apart before being put back together but in an incredibly shit man. She pushed herself so that she was no longer laying on her back and instead grovelled in pain on her side, coughing up the little spurts of blood that were still pooling up in her mouth. When she finally managed to collect herself she pushed herself up so that she was sitting up straight but now she was taking in her surroundings, she was back in that same hell she and Billy first experienced when that thing— she slapped a hand over her mouth but couldn’t stop herself from throwing up whatever was left in her stomach, her body shaking from the aftershocks of everything. When she was finally able to push herself onto her feet she clutched her arms against her stomach, looking around at what was supposed to be the starcourt mall but it was nowhere to be seen. It was nothing more than a barren land as if it was never built in the first place, damn, not even her car was there. She looked back down at the ground and grimaced at the sight of the axe she used to kill so many people, stained red with the blood of all her victims. She glared down at it and inhaled deeply, kneeling down to grab it and take it with her on her walk home, just in case.

Walking through this literal hell wasn’t exactly ideal in her books, so maybe her car was left at the storage unit where it previously was before she came home and when she made it downtown she was distraught that it wasn’t there either. She was really coming to regret ever coming back to Hawkins, swearing to herself that possibly in her next life she was going to live a different life and never ever step foot in this shitty little town if it still existed. Walking home she thought back to her twenty years of being alive and tried to think of any possible reason as to why she was suffering such a fate, why the fuck was god punishing her so much when she tried so hard to survive? To live? Was it so wrong that she was alive that god still hadn’t put her out of her misery and instead was punishing her further by putting her back in the hell that raised her? She was already exhausted by the time she got home so instead she just pushed open the door to the house she hated since she was young and shuddered at how grotesque it looked, everything was covered in vines and grime, dust partials in the air that she was surprised she hasn’t gotten poisoned by it from how much she was inhaling. She chose to ignore her house’s new interior and just walked up to her room, collapsing onto her bed and just crying silently now that her mind was finally quiet.

“Steve… Robin…” her lips trembled as the last memory she had of either of them was when she was beating them to the point of death, her heart started to ache in her chest as she buried her face into her pillow “I’m so sorry…”

[F/N] Harrington did not believe in god, she did not believe that there was a place that souls moved onto like heaven or hell. She didn’t believe in the nonsense that was written in the bible because that shit could have been edited throughout history to fit the belief of the white man. She wouldn’t believe in god until it was too late and right now, she was almost starting to believe that there was an even greater being out there. She didn’t know whether or not she was dead or alive, she didn’t know what to believe, but all she knew was that she wasn’t going to give Steve or Robin a proper apology for what she had put them through. She wasn’t going to be able to apologise to Nancy or Jonathan for almost killing them all because that monster took away her rationality and really let her express her true psychotic personality. She knew she was mentally unwell, she knew that she wasn’t truly sane in her mind, but that monster pushed her to her limit that she couldn’t control herself. She was a mess and what she had become she was only proving her parents right, that she was just a monster they couldn’t tame. Whatever that thing had done to her, it hadn’t fully disappeared.

As the days rolled by while she was stuck in the remains of Hawkins, she noticed that the things regenerative powers hadn’t disappeared because each time she got hurt her wounds simply healed. Her body was still ridiculously durable and strong to the point she could lift things that were usually too heavy for her body, and though she spent a couple days in her room tending to her torso that was healing much slower in comparison to the rest of her smaller wounds, she kept her guard up in fear of other monsters appearing. If that goop monster came from this world and she and Billy helped built a body in their world, then the real body must be somewhere in this version of Hawkins along with other monsters that can and will kill her. The day she was able to leave the house she explored Hawkins on what her body could handle, Hawkins really was nothing but a barren wasteland, as if this was what the world was going to become when it ends. She didn’t want to think about it, but was this what that monster was trying to achieve while she and Billy were under its influence? A chill ran down her spine at the thought of that thing unleashing hell upon earth, and if it weren’t for that kill and those children, it would have gotten what it wanted and it would have been both hers and Billy’s fault. This was all their fault, all because they didn’t go home.

She let out a gasp when she heard a snarl, whipping her head in the direction she heard it coming from. Her body froze up at the sight of a monster with a large, hulking body that easily towered over her, what terrified her was its flower-like head that had rows upon rows of teeth on each of its “petals” while at the centre of its face was a gaping hole that she could only guess was its mouth. Sure that thing that took control of her body was terrifying on its own and she had a burst of adrenaline that allowed her to swallow that fear and fight it, but she didn’t have that confidence right that very moment. She felt like she was that little girl that was afraid of her father and mother when they raised their voices, her body freezing up and refusing to listen, it felt like that thing was inside her all over again and wasn’t letting her move. It snarled as it got closer to her, she let out a whimper as she fell to the ground. She couldn’t stop her body from shaking when it leaned forward, she shuddered when she felt it breathe on her face, breathing in what she believed was her scent. When she thought it was going to kill her it let out a grunt of sorts before pulling away and stalking off, she continued to sit in that spot, her body continuing to shake in fear as realisation began to sink in. That thing didn’t recognise her as its next meal. but simply as a monster like itself. Has she really lost her humanity and become a monster like that thing intended? She slowly pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them closely as tears ran down her face.

She really was a monster.

To say she became colder would be an understatement, she didn’t know exactly how long she’s been in this hell but it was long enough that she was no longer holding back against this monster. She was no longer hiding whenever she came across them, wielding her now signature axe and swinging it at anything that breathed. Killing things almost became as easy as breathing but it really did fuck her up even more, because all she could think of is when she killed those poor people back at Hawkins. Man, she could really go for a cigarette right about now but she didn’t want to put anything from this place in her mouth if she even found one. Strolling through downtown as she tried to find something to preoccupy herself she came across one of those monsters and thought, why the hell not? Killing a few of them brought some sort of sick entertainment that she was satisfied with for the next couple minutes but she flinched when she heard a noise, turning around she didn’t see anything until she felt something on her foot so she looked down and saw a… slug? She was quick to flick it off but knelt down to inspect it closely, poking at it to see its reaction but recoiled when it gurgled at her. If she really looked at it she’d mistaken it for those dog-looking fuckers.

She lurched backwards when it started jumping towards her, letting out all these noises as it started to follow her when she backed away. Choosing to ignore it she stood up and quickly left, grimacing when it followed her out and continued to follow her no matter the distance. When she thought she lost it she was laying in the front yard of someone’s house but pulled a face when she could just feel it breathing, turning her head to look at it in defeat, if it was an actual dog she could just see its tail wagging while sticking its tongue out for winning this game of tag. Finally, she opens her hand out to this little thing and raised a brow when it happily jumped onto her hand and settled in nicely on her palm. She was never allowed pets, her father was allergic and her mother didn’t want fur getting stuck to anything in the house, not like she was ever around to clean it up herself. Her thumbs gingerly caresses the side of its face and her cold heart couldn’t help but melt a little when it purred softly at the small gesture of affection, hmm. She grinned to herself when a couple weeks later and she had herself three mutated dogs running around her feet yipping happily together, she’d probably get herself more but I think three is more than enough to quell her loneliness. They made things much more fun down in this hell, hunting down the adult versions of her babies was a team thing now and feeding them the carcasses of each of their hunts was more than enough of a reward for them other than her praise.

“Ah, you really are adorable.” she cooed softly, caressing the first little slug that followed her around like a duckling imprinting on the first thing it sees. She chuckled softly and fed it a leg and it ate away at it without question, she smiled and pats its body. She was currently wandering aimlessly around the woods that surrounded the Harrington property as she let her three babies chase each other, going deeper and deeper into the woods to the point she was pretty sure she was getting closer to the Byers residence. She hadn’t really realised how close they were to their home along with the Hawkins Lab, she was going to call her puppies back when they caught the whiff of something and started running in that direction. Thinking it was another one of those monsters she bared her axe and jogged after them but made sure she lagged behind so she could get the jump on the bastard, she paused when she saw them snarling up at something and possibly waiting for her to give them the order to attack. Her hand grips onto the tree as she walks past it to see what exactly has them stuck in place, but her heart suddenly stops at what, or who, exactly she was staring at.

“[F/N]…?” it, or he, muttered out in disbelief. She drops the axe and it lands beside her with a thud, her eyes shaking in shock at who exactly she was staring at. Her lips trembled as tears began to sting in her eyes, she sniffled to herself and instead of saying anything she brought her hands up to cradle her stomach once more as she fell to her knees. She sobbed in silence but didn’t flinch when he approached her, kneeling down and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her into a comforting hug.

“Billy…!” she wailed out, now throwing her arms around his shoulders so she could pull him close, the both of them now clinging to each other in fear that this wasn’t real; that one of them was going to disappear. How the two of them avoided each other for these past couple of months, neither of them will know. How the two of them weren’t found together when they woke up in this hell? That’ll be a question left for another day because right now the two of them just needed each other, like how they only had each other when under that fuckers control. Billy found himself in a similar situation to [F/N]’s when he woke up and instead of going to the Harrington’s he went to his home but it was completely different from when he was last there, it was as if it wasn’t his home and someone else’s. He set up camp in a different house because he couldn’t handle the thought of being in the house that gave him nightmares, hunting down those monster freaks and even adopting his own little mutated dogs, two of them. The two of them now found themselves back in the Harrington household, Billy being somewhat impressed with how much she reinforced it, and the two of them stayed huddled together in front of the fireplace.

“Hey.” she let out a tired hum, holding her side of the blanket that was draped over them while continuing to watch the fire burn “Your parent’s are pretty shit.” she snorted softly.

“Yeah, yours are pretty shitty as well.” he laughed weakly at her, the two of them we surprised they hadn’t found each other sooner, because now that they were together they could feel everything the other could feel; hear whatever the other thought. When the monster took over their body they were more connected to each other compared to the others under its control, so they could hear and feel and experience the other could, but the connection tended to get weaker the further the other was. But since the two of them were always together they only found peace in each other because that’s when things were the most quiet, but it was also where they could each find themselves in each other’s memories. [F/N] tended to relish in the warmth of the California beach while Billy enjoyed seeing the pure joy on Stevie’s little face, the two of them found comfort in each other’s happiest memories, but they also felt each other’s worst. [F/N] knew Billy’s shitbag for a father was a piece of shit, but watching that garbage of a human being beat his mother to the point she abandoned poor Billy and turned his attention to him, was devastating. Billy in turn watched [F/N]’s childhood where she was nothing more than a doll for her parents to play the game of life with to only later throw away when she became outdated, the two of them really were too much alike.

“Hey.” she hums again. letting him know that she was listening “… why’d you really come back for me?” she finally tore her eyes away from the fire and looked up at Billy, who was already looking down at her.

“What?”

“As cute as that answer was, I know that wasn’t all of it. Why didn’t you leave me behind? Everyone else did, I was nothing more than a lost cause and you probably wouldn’t have gone through what you had if you just left me.” his lip trembled when he saw her look away, he does the same but flinched softly when she let her body fall against his with her head resting on his shoulder.

“I never opened my heart to anyone except for the select few, and I must admit that the idea of leaving you did cross my mind, but I couldn’t do that to you. I already left my brother and my friends, I could have left you as I left them, but I wasn’t going to do that again. I made up my mind when we became friends that I wasn’t going to abandon someone again, I wasn’t going to be a coward all because I was scared.” she closed her eyes “And look where that got us, huh? Maybe I should have been selfish, but I wasn’t going to be able to live with the guilt if I did leave you there. I love you, dude.” she looked up at him with her eyes and saw his eyes tearing up, she hummed softly when he let his head full and rest on top of hers.

“I love you too, nerd.” she rolled her eyes but leaned closer into his body, using her other hand to find his and when she did they laced their fingers together and basked in each others presence “What do you think Steve is up to?” she closed her eyes, oh, Steve.

“Probably finding his replacement boyfriend.” she snorted softly when Billy let out an offended gasp, she laughs when he shoved her to the ground “Ah hah! You know I’m just kidding, Billy.” he rolled his eyes, grabbing the blanket and draping it around his body.

“Your thoughts say otherwise.” she scoffed, wrapping her arms around her torso and leaning against his body “… do you really think he’d look for someone else?” she frowns softly, she then inhaled deeply and looked up at the ceiling.

“Well, we’re dead, Billy. Why would they wait for someone who isn’t coming back?” Billy flinched at that, she closed her eyes and brought her hand up to caress his forearm “I think it’d be best for them to move on if they found someone else that could love them, rather than clinging to us.” Billy sighed softly at that.

“I guess.” his body tensed up when he felt her start shaking, peering down at her, he saw tears quickly gathering in her eyes. His body relaxed sadly when he could feel the great amount of guilt and sadness she was suffering through, knowing exactly what she did and now that they were dead she could do nothing to atone for what she had done. He lifted his arm and she was quick to huddle to his side, crying into the crook of his neck when his arm came down and draped itself over her body.

Now that the two of them had each other it made things easier in hell for them, they weren’t alone anymore. Billy decided it was better to hang around at the Harrington home better than his makeshift base, their house was much bigger than what he had, though the two of them decided it would be best if they avoided the pool after what [F/N] found in there. They were also happy that their dogs got along swimmingly, it would have been sad if they didn’t. Now since hunting those monsters was nothing more than a sport to them they turned it into a game; a competition to see who could kill the most and the winner had bragging rights for the day. One thing the two of them had noticed when exploring Hawkins was that they couldn’t LEAVE Hawkins, if they strayed too far somehow they’d be brought right back to the entrance of Hawkins as if they hadn’t just walked from the opposite direction, it was very odd the first time it happened. Billy now found himself sitting on the hood of a car as he stared up at something that was perched on a lamp post, it was another monster, but one that he didn’t recognize.

This thing was new.

“Oi, [F/N].” he called, not taking his eyes off the new creature while leaning backwards in her direction. He furrowed his brows when she didn’t answer but he felt a wave of sadness wash over him, finally breaking eye contact with the creature, he looked at her and saw she had a pained expression on her face when she woke up from her nap “Are you alright?” he asked, she slowly opened her eyes and a single tear ran down her cheek. She stared up at the sky above them and her face turned bitter when she raised her hand, swiping the tear away in one swoop.

“Yeah, I just had a nice dream.” she sniffles then turns her attention from the sky to Billy “What’s up?” he simply points so she follows and furrows her brows at the thing that’s been watching them, she furrows her brows in confusion.

“Is that thing new?” she tilts her head.

“Maybe, I’ve never seen it before.” it screeches at them “Looks like a mutated bat.” she murmurs, Billy nods.

“I agree. Think it’s hostile?” they wait for a bit but came to regret it when a hoard of those things appeared and were charging towards them, they didn’t hesitate to hightail it out of there at full speed, yeah, those things were definitely hostile. Those bats were new, the mutated dogs and monsters tended to ignore their existence on the fact that they were basically the same as them and would only fight them when they struck first, other than that they were merely coexisting when each other. On the other hand, these bats acted on a kill on sight mindset but they tended to attack as a pact, never alone. Those bats acted like some sort of surveillance because whenever they were out and about at least one of those fuckers was watching them wherever they went, it was troublesome when either of them split just a tiny bit of blood, because those fuckers would come hurdling towards them like a moth to a flame.

“Annoying bastards.” [F/N] growled out, lifting her hand and gently patting a few of her dogs “Where the hell did they come from?” Billy shrugged, wiping the blood of one of those monsters off his face.

“Don’t know, don’t care. All we know is where their little hive is.” at the mention of that they look over where they saw the whole swarm of those bats surrounding a house “Do you recognize that house, [F/N]?” she hummed to herself, rubbing her chin.

“Um… I think that’s the murder house.” Billy raised a brow “Oh, um, a married couple with their two children moved into the house. Everything was fine and dandy until one day the father brutally murdered his wife and daughter but spared his son, it was pretty gruesome. Reports said that he broke the bones of each of their limbs, dislodged their jaws and even gouged their eyes out. It’s been left abandoned ever since because people didn’t want to live in the house where a family was brutally murdered.” Billy winced, caressing his jaw.

“Yikes.” she nod her head.

“Uh huh.” her gaze hardened softly at the sight of the bats and house “But I’d guess that that incident wasn’t exactly a murder.” a bead of sweat rolled down the side of their faces at the thought.

“If you’re right about that, how come all this shit is happening now? Didn’t that happen a long time ago? Why would a ghost kill a family, take a break, then come back again? Would that mean it’s killing people again?” she shrugs her shoulders.

“Just a thought.”

“Your thoughts are unsettling sometimes.” she winks at him.

Not even a couple weeks later the two of them, who were sleeping soundly in the safety and comfort of each others arms, wake up abruptly when they felt a surge of power. Their eyes simply snap open as they break into a cold sweat, a chill running down their spine at what they were feeling. [F/N] pulled herself towards Billy, burying herself into his chest as her hands gripped onto the back of his shirt, fear beginning to take over her body. His arms tightened around her while his hand moved up her back and gently held the back of her neck, his thumb caressing her neck in an effort to comfort her. They weren’t the only ones that felt this new power because even their dogs were acting off but they didn’t stray far from their masters, instead they huddled around them to barricade them from what was to come. Neither of them got much sleep that night, not only because of that but because not too long after that happened an earthquake shook the entirety of Hawkins and they weren’t too sure if another would go off. The next couple of days the earthquakes kept happening and that surge of power that shook them to their core happened approximately three more times that had them on edge, they were now being extra careful in what they were doing.

“Hmm? Aren’t the bats acting a little differently than usual?” Billy pants at what she says, blood dripping from his knuckles as he wipes some of the blood that splattered onto his face with his sleeve and looked over at what she meant. They watched as a group of bats left the swarm surrounding the haunted house and flew over to what they believed was Lovers Lake, they look at each other “Wanna go check it out?” he clicks his tongue in thought, leaning back with his hands on his hips.

“Um… yeah, why not. It’s not like we’ve got anything better to do.” she grins, clapping her hands.

“Wonderful.” she then whistles, this catches the attention of the dogs to which they all whip their heads over to her, she then points in the direction the bats went and all five of them went running without question. The two of them are quick to follow and they find themselves at a dried up version of Lovers Lake, [F/N] places her hand on a tree and steps forward to see what was there a saw something flee from the lake into the woods but her attention tore away from them and to what the bats were guarding “What is that?” she muttered to herself, Billy comes up from behind her while placing a hand on her shoulder.

“They’re guarding something, a hole?” she tries to get a closer look but they’re too far away to get anything clear “I’m gonna go check it out, you go chase after the things the bats chased off.” she raised a brow.

“You sure?” he nod.

“Yeah, it’s nothing I can’t handle without these bad boys.” his dogs yip happily at his feet, she chuckles softly and pats her own puppies.

“Alright then, don’t take too long.” her dogs brought her to Skull Rock and they were sniffing at a specific spot beneath the giant boulder, [F/N] approached it and furrowed her brows at the sight. Blood? It was red, her eyes then looked at the ground and saw a barrage of footprints in the mud, who the hell…? She shook her head and swiped some of the blood onto her fingers then brought them towards her favourite baby, it sniffed the blood and let out a growl “Go get ‘em.” all three of them let out a snarl before running off to chase after whatever it was, she bounces her axe on her shoulder as she takes her time to catch up with her puppies. Her brows perked up when she heard shouting followed by a struggle, hmph, they must have gotten someone because over the struggling she heard other voices shouting after the one that was being dragged away. She stepped into the clearing where her three puppies were, she felt anger bubble in her chest when she saw the struggling fool kick at her baby to keep it away twice, now that won’t do. She didn’t hesitate to kick them in the stomach to wind them, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy her current anger, so she kicked them in the back to keep them down then reached down to grab them by the hair and yank them up but still keeping her foot pressed into their back so they couldn’t get up.

“U-Urgh… please…” begging? Pathetic. She readjusted her hold on her axe and raised it above her head, one clean swing should be more than enough to decapitate this foo—

“Eddie!” her eyes widened at the call, quickly redirecting the axe so it missed their head and lodged itself into the ground, her head whipping in the direction that call came from. Eddie? Did they just say Eddie? Her trembling hand let go of their hair as she lifted her foot of their back, she then gently caresses the back of their head before pushing it so she could get a look at their face, her gaze softened when does sweet doe eyes looked back at her.

“Eddie…?” she whispered out, almost not believing that it was true. She was quick to grab him by the shoulders and turn him around so that he was laying on his back, his hands quickly slapped onto her wrists as her fingers started to dig into her shoulders. She saw his eyes flicker while trying to recognize who exactly was above him but couldn’t put a name to her face, she then realised she was still wearing the bandana over her mouth so she quickly tore it off so Eddie could see her face. There… there she saw recognition finally click in his head as he stared up at her, she smiled softly when his hands reached up towards her face, gently caressing her cheek with tears forming in his eyes.

“No… no way.” she giggled sadly, raising her own hand to rest against his.

“Heh, hi Eddie.” he was quick to sit up and bring her into a hug, burying his face into the crook of her neck as he held her tight, she was quick to throw her arms around him and tug him just as tight. She let out a whoa when he suddenly stood to his feet, bringing her up with him, then squealed when he started twirling her around. She’s laughing to her hearts content as she pulls herself closer to Eddie as he continued to spin her around, him grinning the entire time he does this “Eddie, you knucklehead! When’d you get so strong? You were never able to lift me up so easily before!” Eddie just snickered, pulling her close and squeezing her tight.

“I don’t know, had someone a little heavier than you to lift is all.” she let out a sigh and let her body drape along his body, her head resting against his while his buried into the crook of her neck. He finally puts her down but their continued to hold each others hands, she opens her mouth to say something but felt like she was being stared at so she turned her head at where she felt it but soon felt the color in her already pale skin drain.

“Steve…” she whispered under her breath, the dread on her face got worse when she saw Nancy fucking Wheeler and her sweet songbird Robin appear behind him and share the same look of shock and disbelief at the sight of her.

“W-What are you doing here…” Steve stuttered out as tears started rolling down his cheeks, dropping the flashlight he had to the ground and taking a step forward “[F/N]!” Eddie looked down at [F/N] and his eyes widened at the emotion he saw on her face, that look of absolute fear as she stared at her brother. He’s never seen [F/N] wear such an expression on her face, she was the embodiment of confidence, of pride… no, no. He remembers a time when she had this look of fear, this look of vulnerability.

“[F/—” he’s not able to finish his sentence when she takes her hands back from Eddie, taking a step back when Steve took a step towards her. She felt herself start to hyperventilate when Steve kept getting closer and closer to her the more she kept trying to distance herself from him, she looked down at her hands and in her mind she saw Steve’s blood on her trembling hands, looking back at him she saw the damage she did to him when she was under that fuckers control. She saw the monster she had become when she laid her hands on her brother that tried to save her from her insanity, her vision started to get hazy but her eyes snapped up when she felt him reach for her. In her mind she saw it was Steve reaching for her to stop, to stop beating him when he only tried to help.

“Don— Don’t touch me!” she screamed, smacking his hand away before he could touch. She lets out a gasp as she stared at the heartbroken look on his face, she grits her teeth at the sight of him and knew that she couldn’t bear to look at him anymore so she screwed her eyes shut, turned around and started running away. Goddammit, she was running away again. Was all she could do was run away when she was scared? Where had that adrenaline gone when she fought monsters?

“P-Please, [F/N]! Don’t leave! Don’t go away, please!” dammit, she really was pathetic. She just couldn’t muster up that courage to face her brother again, he was probably crying again and it was all her damned fault. When she thought she was far enough she leaned against a tree, hunching over and throwing up the contents that were in her stomach. She felt her stomach start to churn the moment her eyes settled on Steve and Robin, all the memories of what she did to them coming back at her full throttle. She hadn’t realized she pushed all of that into the back of her mind until she saw them again, she let out a whimper when she pulled herself up, crying as she clung to the tree.

“B-Billy…” she whimpered out, lifting her hand to wipe at her eyes “I need you, Billy.” her head shot up when she heard screaming, that sounded like Wheeler? Was it her babies? Were they attacking the group for her reaction? She raises her fingers to her lips to call them back but paused when she saw that they were with her, if that were the case, then what was that girl screaming abou— her eyes widened when she realized just where exactly they were. They were basically in the monsters hunting ground and with all the noise they were making, it was bound to attract a few of them.

Shit.

Steve felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest, chewed up, spat out then stomped on all at once. The anguish he was feeling felt like he had just watched [F/N] die in front of him all over again, like he was at her funeral all over again and that he was reliving the worst moments of his entire life. He cried out for her, like all the other times he did, and when he did, she would always come rushing to his side to comfort him and tell him she was going to be right by his side until he was better. But she didn’t do it this time, he cried for her when she ran away but she didn’t even bother to turn around to see that he needed her. She ran away, she left him, she left him behind like she did when she left him alone in Hawkins. He was in a dire moment when she left for university, her last year was the year when Will went missing and he first got roped into the Upside Down and he fought the Demogorgon after getting his shit rocked by Jonathan. He wanted her to tell him it was alright, that he was okay and that his big sister was going to make sure he wasn’t going to be alone, but she ignored him in favor of studying so she could pass that year and graduate so she could get the fuck out of Hawkins. They had only just rekindled their relationship and she was leaving him all because she was done with Hawkins, all because she couldn’t put up with it anymore.

“[F/N]…” he whimpered out, falling to his knees and clutching onto Eddie’s battle vest. His forehead was pressed against the ground as he sobbed out his heart, his nails beginning to dig into the skin of his hands “Please, don’t go…” Eddie fell to his knees, placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder to calm him down.

“Stevie, babe…” he whispered softly, Steve shook his head as his shoulders continued to tremble.

“If she’s here…” he whispered, his hands now coming up to grip at the pendant dangling around his neck “does that mean BIlly’s here too?” this caused Eddie to flinch, Billy? What are the odds that that blonde is here as well? Would that mean that Steve would want to get back with Billy then? Is he going to break up with him so that he could get back with him? Eddie didn’t want to think that Steve would do such a thing, but he could tell that he still had feelings for the blonde.

“Steve—”

“Steve!” his head snapped up when Nancy screamed his name, his eyes widened at the sight of a Demogorgon appearing out of nowhere. Those demodogs that were here with [F/N] followed after her when she ran away, he looked down at himself and cursed when he realized that the demogorgon was probably there because it could smell his blood. His guess was right because it completely ignored Eddie and came straight towards him, he tried to stand to his feet but his knees where numb from how long he was kneeling down so it was quick to grab him by the throat and lift him up into the air.

“Steve!”

“Steve!” the demogorgon swats them away easily as its grip on Steve tightened, he grabbed onto the demogorgons wrist and flailed in the air to try and get away but his efforts were futile. This one was much bigger than the one he fought back at the Byers house and he didn’t have his signature nailed bat with him to kill it. There was the axe [F/N] left behind but it was nowhere to be see— nowhere to be seen? He gasps when he was suddenly dropped to the ground with a thud, he jumps when something fell into his lap and he saw that it was the demongorgons arm that was cut off. He looked up and tears gathered in his eyes again when he was met with [F/N]’s back, she came running back to see that one of those monsters was holding her sweet little brother up and was getting ready to eat his head in one bite. She noticed that her axe was still lodged in the ground so she didn’t hesitate to rip it out and cut the monsters arm off in one swift swing. Now she was standing face to face with the monster, a dark sneer on her face as she gripped onto her axe that was dripping with its blood.

“You hurt my brother.” she growled out, feeling the veins in from her veins to her forearm along with her neck and the corner of her eyes turn black when her anger started boiling “NO ONE hurts my brother.” she doesn’t flinch when it roared in her face, she in turn roared right back before lifting her leg to kick it in the torso and send it flying backwards. She raises her hand to her lips and blows into them, a sharp whistle calling her three puppies who snarled at the monster that was slowing picking itself up as she twirled her axe around as if it were a bat.

“[F-F/N]…?” Steve whispered out from behind her, hoping— begging that she’d turn around so he could see her face, but she continued to ignore him.

“Billy!” she screams as she charges towards the monster, raising her axe just as Billy finally caught up to her and grabbed the monster by its legs to lift it up, when it started to fall she swung her axe back then swung it forward to swiftly cut its head right off its neck. Both its body and head fell to the ground with a thud and the two just stared at its fallen corpse, watching its black blood pour out of its body and soak into the ground beneath it. She raises her eyes and saw that Billy was staring at the group behind them, he turned his attention towards her and noticed that she was refusing to turn around and just kept her head down, he sighed softly and approached her.

“You okay?” he whispered softly, grabbing her by the forearms and gently rubbing his thumbs into her arms. He tilted his head when he saw that she didn’t want to look at him, he tugs at her and that gains her attention “We talked about this, [F/N].” she sighed, still not looking at him but looking to the side.

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect to actually see them.” his face saddened when she finally looked up at him, tears brimming in her eyes “I’m terrified to face him, Billy. I— I don’t think I can do it.” the axe falls from her hands when he pulled her into a hug, she quickly wraps her arms around him and falls into his embrace.

“Baby steps, [F/N], baby steps.” she nods her head, letting out a shaky breath. Billy raised his head and saw the group slowly approaching them, he loosened his hold on [F/N] but her fingers tug into the leather of the jacket he was wearing “It’s alright, it’s okay.” he whispered softly, though she was still shaking, she nodded her head and loosened her grip.

“B-Billy, is that really you?” Steve croaked out, he reaches his hand out but flinched back when [F/N] let Billy go and instead of standing beside him she actually hid behind him but made sure she was still holding his hand to calm herself “[F-F/N]…?”

“What are you doing here, Harrington?” Billy spoke, this caused them all to look at him “Why the hell are you here in this hellhole?” Billy’s eyes trailed down and widened softly at the sight of his pendant dangling from his neck, his thumb subconsciously rubbing against his ring.

“I-Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be asking?” Billy cocked his head in confusion.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you guys dead like us? Why would a saint like you be in hell?” Robin and Nancy look at each other.

“Billy,” Nancy starts, taking a step forward and placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder “we’re not dead.”

“Then?” she swallows thickly.

“This… might be a lot to take in—” he scoffs.

“[F/N] and I had a monster forced into our bodies, we killed a whole bunch of people and said people melted to form a body for the fucker that possessed us. I think we can handle whatever the fuck you’re talking about, Wheeler.” she takes a breath.

“If we’re here, and you’re here as well, then you’re not dead.” this caused them both to jolt up, what? “This place is an alternate dimension of Hawkins, we don’t fully understand it, but it’s a different world compared to our home. This place is called the Upside Down, and if you two were here this whole time, that means you two never died in the first place. You two are still alive.” she felt a bead of sweat form on her cheek at the blank stare she was getting from Billy, his face scrunches up at the information as he feels [F/N]’s grip on his hand tighten.

“What?” she muttered out, now peaking out from behind Billy and staring Nancy dead in her eyes “What the fuck do you mean we’re alive?” Nancy stumbles back at the dark look in [F/N]’s eyes, and though it wasn’t particularly aimed at her because [F/N] couldn’t control herself, she couldn’t help but swallow thickly as she tried to put her thoughts into words.

“U-Um, what I mean is— I don’t know, and I don’t know how it’s possible, but you guys aren’t dead. You’re alive and you’ve been stuck in the Upside Down this entire time.” anger slowly started building up inside of [F/N].

“Why are we alive?” she muttered, turning away to look down at her hands and her mind flashed once again to see blood staining her hands “Why the fuck do we get to live after everything we did? Why do I get to walk away while everyone that died by my hands didn’t get that second chance?” she soon started to feel an aching pain in her chest and the sides of her stomach, her nails tug into the fabric of the clothes she wore as her mind started to relive the moment that monster tore her body apart because of her betrayal.

“[F/N]—” Eddie speaks, not being able to stand watching his friend in so much pain.

“No! I don’t understand why we’re getting to walk away from this!” she always had a harder time accepting what she did, Billy had a hard time as well but [F/N] knew that her mind was much more twisted in comparison to Billy, that’s why that monster always sent her out to kill people while Billy was left to kidnap people. Her arm wraps around her stomach as she slaps a hand over her mouth, her body threatening to vomit out whatever was left in her stomach but she was able to swallow it down and instead drool and saliva dribbles out of her mouth “Why are we to be spared after all the pain we but those poor people through?” Billy gently places a hand on her back, rubbing circles into her back to comfort her and try to calm her breathing down.

“I know it’s hard, [F/N], but it wasn’t your fault.” Nancy says, [F/N] couldn’t help but scoff at her words.

“Wasn’t our fault? You don’t get it, Wheeler. I always knew deep down I was fucking crazy, that thing just intensified that craziness to the point I lost my rationality. Death was going to be my atonement for what I had done, what I did to you two.” she spared Steve and Robin a look but quickly tore her eyes away before she could look at them for too long.

“.… I forgive you.” she raised her head and looked over at Steve, who never tore his eyes away from her “I forgave you long ago, [F/N]. I wish you’d stop blaming yourself for what happened to me, because it wasn’t you.” she grits her teeth at that, shaking her head.

“B-But it— you don’t understand.”

“[F/N], please, we know it wasn’t your fault.” Robin speaks next, begging for [F/N] to look at them with something that wasn’t just anguish “We know what you did was to keep us safe, but we need you to know that you’ve been forgiven.” Billy knew she was having a difficult time to believe anything they were saying, still so deep in denial that it was going to take a lot for her to forgive herself, so he went back to shielding her from the others and left a comforting hand on her back.

“Alright, fine, we’re alive and shit, but that still doesn’t explain how you four ended up here.” Nancy was the one to answer again, being the more levelled headed out of the three and most knowledgeable by standards.

“Well, a crack of sorts that acts as a gate from this world to ours is open and we came through one.” Billy immediately pulls a face at the information.

“Wait, wait a minute. Are you telling me that there was a way to get the fuck out of this shithole this whole time?”

“Well, yes and no. Is there a way to make these gates? Yes. Is there a way for you to make them? No. It would have been impossible for you to get out of here without a different force from opening one.” [F/N] could feel Billy’s frustration so she looked up at him and saw he inhaled sharply before letting his body fall to the ground, his back landing with a thud.

“Billy, for fuck sakes.” she curses out as she kneels down, placing her hand on his chest while their puppies hovered over him.

“You’re telling me there was a way out of here this whole time?” he repeats, she rolls her eyes.

“Not for us to figure out, no.” she pats his chest twice then looks up at the group.

“So where were y’all heading before I sent my babies out to get you?” she looks at Eddie with an apologetic look “Real sorry about that, by the way. Can’t help but be cautious over anything new when in this hellhole.” Eddie raises his hands while shaking his head, nervously eyeing the one demodog that was growling at him as it stuck to [F/N]’s side.

“We were heading to the Wheelers place.” she raised a brow at the destination, she whistled sharply when she heard her baby growling a little louder while grabbing him by the chained collar around his neck to keep him from pouncing again “Nancy here said that she’s got a couple guns in her room.” [F/N] scrunched her face up in confusion then let out a snort, standing to her feet and dusting her pants off.

“You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom.” Eddie’s face lights up as he points at her.

“That’s exactly what I said.” though it was a little weak, a smile similar to his stretched across her face.

“And this is why we’re best friends.” they both giggle to themselves then high five each other.

“What about us?” she glanced down at Billy, scoffing slightly with a roll of her eyes when she saw him pouting up at her “I thought WE were best friends.” she gently kicks him from where he was laying.

“We’re trauma besties.”

“I can get behind that.” she shakes her head and looks around at their general location, they were still a good few miles from the Wheeler residence and they already look exhausted.

“Were you guys planning on walking?” Steve shrugged.

“Well, what other option do we have?” Billy, who was now up and on his feet, glanced down at [F/N], who in turn looked up at him, and smirked at each other.

“We know a much quicker way.” obviously they were a little nervous at the suggestion, Billy let out a sigh at their reluctance “Well, would you rather walk and risk another encounter with one of those fuckers?” they all glance down at the dead demogorgon, shuddering in disgust at the sight of the demodogs eating at its corpse.

“It better be worth the detour.” Nancy murmured softly, [F/N] chuckled.

“It’ll definitely be worth it, little miss Wheeler.” both she and Billy bring their fingers to their lips and let out a sharp whistle, their demodogs were quick to react and waited for their command. Billy gestured with his head for his dogs to go in the direction he came from while [F/N] snapped her fingers and hers surrounded them “Shall we?” they flinch a little when they see [F/N] lean down to pick up her fallen axe and throw it over her shoulder before they started walking away, they only started to follow when one of her puppies gave them a little nudge from behind. Eddie glanced at Steve and saw that he was staring intensely at Billy and [F/N]’s back, because in his mind, the two of them looked exactly the way they did when they died. Sure they looked a little worse for wear, covered in dirt and grime from being stuck in the Upside Down for the past eight months, but other than the fact that they’re wearing the same torn clothes they were left in covered in some gear they found around in this wasteland, their appearance didn’t seem to have changed that much. [F/N]’s hair might have grown maybe a few inches as well as Billy’s who also started growing a bit of a stubble, but it wasn’t much. It was as if they hadn’t even aged.

“Steve…” he muttered softly, reaching to grab his hand and softly rub his thumb over his knuckles “Are you okay?” he sniffled softly.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m good. I just never thought I’d be given a chance to see them again.” his other hand then reached up to cradle the pendant around his neck, Eddie’s eyes saddened a little at the way he saw Steve was staring at Billy. He then turned his attention towards Billy and [F/N] himself, the two of them were walking shoulder to shoulder in silence as they led the way to wherever they were taking them, Steve let out a noise when Eddie let go of his hand and sauntered over towards the two “E-Eddie?” the two let out a grunt when Eddie practically shoved himself in between the two of them.

“Munson? What the hell?” [F/N] lets out an oh when she felt him link his arms with hers, Billy scowled when he blocked his view of [F/N].

“[F/N], I am quite hurt that you didn’t come visit me when you came around last year. I heard rumours that you were back, so color me surprised when both uncle Wayne and I didn’t even get to see you. Even the boys were sad that you didn’t pop in to say hello.” she smiled sadly at that, gently patting her hand on top of his.

“Eddie… I did some real unspeakable things last year.” his eyes saddened when that same look of terror washed over her face, her eyes fluttered shut as a pained expression appeared “That thing made me kill so many people, man. I-If that thing made me hurt you as well… I-I don’t think I’d be here talking to you. I owe you for everything you’ve done for me Eddie, really.” he gives her a smile at that.

“That means a lot to me, [F/N]. Still a little hurt that you didn’t even come by the say hello, you were still around for quite a long time.” she shrugged softly.

“I was distracted, alright.” he raised a brow.

“With what?” at the mention of that she glanced back towards Robin, who perked up when she saw [F/N]’s gaze. She quickly looked away but her eyes landed on Steve, she gritted her teeth at the sight of the marking along his neck and the small blood spot on the makeshift bandage along his stomach. However her eyes caught onto the battle vest that she for sure knew Steve didn’t own, she then glanced back towards Eddie then back at Steve before settling her gaze on Eddie… Steve flinched when she whipped her head back towards him and stared intensely at him.

“Eddie, lend me your vest, yeah?” [F/N], who was soaked because she got doused in alcohol by a few drunk patrons at the Hideout, asked as she took off both her jacket and her shirt because the smell of alcohol was clinging to both items of clothing and so she was shamelessly left in her bra. At least the other boys were gentlemen because they stood around her to block the eyes of others to gaze upon her half naked body, she herself was quite calm despite the predicament she was in.

“No can do, sweetheart.” she scrunched her face up in confusion, twisting her shirt and gagging at the sight of booze that dripped out of her shirt “This is my prized possession, I can’t just hand it out.” she scoffed at him.

“So you’d rather I flaunt around in just my bra?”

“Yeah.” she let out an offended gasp at his audacity, Gareth was kind enough to take off his flannel and hand it to her. She gave him a thankful look as she put it on but rolled up the sleeves and left a couple buttons undone because it was in the middle of summer and though it was night time it was still pretty hot “Don’t you know the importance of a battle vest, [F/N]?”

“I honestly don’t care.” she was promptly ignored.

“Letting someone wear your battle vest is like claiming them as yours, you know. It’s like when jocks let their girlfriends wear their varsity jackets, to let others know that they’re taken. It’s just the metal head way of claiming what is theirs.” the four of them just stare at Eddie.

“… if you didn’t want me to wear it you could’ve just said so.”

“I bet he’s saying that because he believes he’s going to hitch himself a lover or something.”

“Oh, how sad.” they all laugh at that, causing Eddie to glare at them.

“Alright, fine! Sure, yeah, the only reason you’ll ever see someone else wearing it is because they’re my boyfriend, alright! Just you wait!” Steve felt a bead of sweat roll down his face the longer she stare at him, going a little pale when he saw her smile sweetly at her, though the grip on the axe gave away how pissed she actually was. Billy felt the rise in anger coming from [F/N] so he peeked down at her and raised a brow when she turned her gaze towards the man in between the two of them.

“Eddie.” she spoke softly, he hummed softly when he felt her raise her hand and cup his cheek, leaning into her soft and delicate touch “Do you remember when I told you that someday Steve would find that perfect someone someday?” when she spoke those words Eddie immediately understood what she was doing.

“H-Huh?” her fingers dig into his cheeks as she grabs him by the face and lifts him up off the ground, whether that be by her own physical strength or with the aid of the Mind Flayers left over power, we’ll never know.

“I didn’t mean you, you son of a bitch!” Steve and the others were clearly freaking out because they couldn’t tell if [F/N] was under the control of the Mind Flayer again but since Billy wasn’t reacting like that then it slightly calmed them down… slightly “I love you Eddie, I really do, but what makes you think you’re good enough to be my brother’s boyfriend?” to think Eddie would be at the end of her hand like this, she never thought she’d see the day.

“C-Come on, [F/N], let’s talk about this!” her gaze hardened, her grip tightening and would likely leave bruises.

“No, we’re doing this now! You should have realized that just because you’re my best friend, it wouldn’t keep you safe the moment I learnt that you were his boyfriend! And you two got hooked up while I was in the grave? That’s cold. So tell me, Munson,” his hands grip onto her wrist tightly when she pulled him close to stare him closely in the eyes “what makes you think you’re good enough to be my brother’s boyfriend?” she repeats.

“… he was really sad, [F/N].” he noticed the way her tough resolve break a little, her eyes softening just briefly before hardening again “He looked just like you when you first came to me, there was no way I was going to leave him alone with how vulnerable he was. If he really was like his sister, I didn’t want to take the risk of leaving him alone with all his bad thoughts. I helped pick up the broken pieces of his heart and put them back together, and without me realising it, he was doing the same thing for me. I hadn’t realized just how much losing you hurt me as well, [F/N].” he noticed that it was working because she was slowly losing her grip on his face and lowering him down “I love him, really. I’m in love with your brother and you and I both know that these attractions began far before your funeral. I promise you, [F/N], that unlike all those other girls that you scared off, my love for him in genuine.” she had finally put him down and was giving him a sad look.

“Eddie…”

“i know all you ever wanted was the best for Steve, and I swear I’ll do the best I can to give it to him.” [F/N] sighed softly and gave him a meaningful look, she however made a face.

“Don’t.” she suddenly spoke, her gave her a confused look as he slowly turned around to look at Billy, paling at the dark look on his face “Don’t, Billy. Don’t!” she pushes Eddie away when Billy was getting ready to swing.

“You’re dead, Munson!”

“Fucking run Eddie!” he didn’t need to be told again and so he hightailed it out of there in the direction they were going, she grabbed Billy by the arm when he was going to run after him and before she could even get a word out he pushed her to the ground and ran after Eddie “Ah! Did you just shove me?!” she screamed but was ignored, this pissed her off even more before she chased after them with a shout. So running away really was Eddie’s thing because he was using every bit of stamina he had left to run away from the extremely pissed off Billy that was out to kill him, he took a brief peek behind him and picked up the pace when he saw that Billy was gaining some ground behind the two of them.

“I just wanna talk, Munson!” he shouts.

“Nah uh! No thanks, don’t really feel like dying to the hands of Steve’s ex!”

“Ex?!”

“I’m sorry!”

“Just stop talking at this point, Eddie!” he let out a shriek at the sound of [F/N]’s voice that was slowly catching up to them, Eddie made it to a clearing and stood on the spot because he didn’t know where to go so he turned around and let out a scream when Billy was going to grab him. He jumps to the side when Billy was tackled by [F/N] and the two of them go tumbling to the ground, [F/N] coming up on top with Billy laying beneath her and fighting to get her off “You gotta stop, Billy!” she was pushing his hands away when he tried shoving her off.

“No! He’s a dead man!”

“You’re being dramatic!”

“I’m not being dramatic!” they both just scream at each other at this point with [F/N] holding Billy by the shoulders to keep him pinned to the ground while Billy is holding her wrists.

“We talked about this, Billy!” she shouts and this causes him to waver, she takes a breath “We talked about this.” she repeats and immediately his eyes start to water.

“B-But—” she shakes her head.

“We both know that this was bound to happen. It’s for the best.” he grits his teeth because he knew that she was right, when the ladies and Steve caught up to them Billy had calmed down enough to not attack Eddie when he was back and on his feet “Good, y’all caught up. We’re here.” she then gestured to what was behind her and they were shocked to see what it was.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” [F/N] just grinned. That familiar roar that scared the lot echoed throughout the Upside Down once more but this time they knew where it was coming from, and that was from the engine of [F/N]’s prized mustang. [F/N] explained that instead of it being at the Starcourt Mall, that doesn’t exist there, or in the storage unit she left it in, it was sitting right at home inside the garage where she usually left it. It was an older version of her usual modded mustang that she upgraded throughout the years. She told them that this was their way of getting around Hawkins instead of walking because the monsters, Demogorgons and demodogs from what they call it, would stay away because of the roar the engine gave off, and their “demodogs” would either be sitting in the back or following alongside her car, like they were doing right now.

“Stop it.” the group sitting in the backseat sat in silence when they heard [F/N] speak, glancing up, they noticed that Billy was peeking back towards them, though he was glaring at Eddie. Whenever she caught him looking back at them she would scold him and he would stop but eventually would go back to looking at him, she rolled her eyes as she tightened her grip on the stirring wheel, shifting gears and pressing harder into the gas. The group then notice her raise her hand then strike it across Billy’s face, what took them back was when both their heads flew in the same direction she hit him.

“What the hell!” she scoffed, bringing her hand to caress her stringing cheek.

“I told you to stop it, Billy.” he scoffed at her as he caressed his cheek that was turning red, she perks up when she saw Eddie raise his hand.

“Um, hate to ask, but what the hell was that?” she hummed.

“Oh, why we both reacted when only I hit him.” she shrugged softly as she looked ahead of them “Ever since that thing welcomed itself into our bodies, we began to feel each other’s pain but also thoughts. Now we know exactly what the other is thinking, and you gotta stop thinking about plotting his murder.” Eddie flinched when Billy glared at him through the rear view mirror.

“I will…” she rolled her eyes.

“But since we were the first, we were especially close with each other. That’s why we stuck together, it’s what kept us from seriously losing our minds.” Nancy perked up at that.

“The hive mind.” this caused Billy and [F/N] to glance at her “The Mind Flayer, the thing that possessed you two, shared a mind with everything in the Upside Down. From the monsters to the vines, you hit one of them you get all of them. It happened to Will as well, he acted as a spy for it back in ‘84.” Billy couldn’t help but shudder.

“Damn, poor kid.” [F/N] nods her head.

“Yeah, it was so painful when that thing was there.” she felt her hands tremble, shaking her head to rid the thoughts of that thing invading her mind all over again “Would not like that to happen again. Besides all that shit, what’s been happening since we’ve been dead? Especially with you, Eddie. You look like hell.” he let out a groan.

“I’m wanted for murder.” the car falls silent until Billy and [F/N] burst out into laughter to the point they were shedding tears, they only stop when they realized that they were the only ones laughing.

“W-Wait a minute, you’re serious?” they share a look “Seriously? Dude, you’re like the biggest softie I know, if anyone would be wanted for murder, it’d be me. And this would be before I actually did kill a bunch of people.” he let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I was dealing with a girl back at the trailer when Vecna, the guy behind all this voodoo shit, killed her. I ran away because I didn’t know what the fuck was going on.” [F/N] let out a sad sigh, reaching back to pat his knee.

“It’ll be alright… hopefully.”

“Thanks.” she let out a breath, looking back at the empty roads.

“Damn, maybe you can ask Hopper to let out off with a slap on the wrist.” [F/N] and Billy notice them flinch, she let out a sigh “Well, shit, what the fuck is wrong with him. Don’t tell me he’s dead.” she closed her eyes with a sigh, already knowing that their silence confirmed the fact that he is, in fact, dead.

“I don’t believe that.” Billy says, leaning back into the leather seats “If we’re not dead, then surely he’s alive as well. We survived getting our intestines ripped out of our chest, surely whatever killed him didn’t actually kill him and he’s just somewhere else.” Nancy goes to rebuttal his theory but paused when he did have a point.

“If, your theory is correct, would that mean he’s here as well?” [F/N] shook her head.

“If he was we probably would have found him already, we’ve searched the entirety of this shithole and even our babies haven’t found anything. Besides, with those bats on constant surveillance, there’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed them swarming his ass.”

“Maybe he was kidnapped by the Russians.” Robin snapped her fingers.

“Yeah, he did go down into the Russian base.” Eddie, Billy and [F/N] look at them.

“Excuse me, what? Russians?” Steve and Robin share a look and decided that yeah, maybe they shouldn’t mention the fact that they were tortured by Russians before [F/N] beat the ever living shit out of them “Hey, hey now! You can’t just say something and not finish yourself.” they shake their heads.

“Sorry, we’re already living through traumatic events. We’re not reliving another one.”

“What?” [F/N] didn’t even want to think about it anymore, her head perked up at the sight of the familiar road so she lifted her foot off the gas but proceeded to show off by drifting into the curb and parking the car flawlessly with a screech of her tires. She laughed a little manically at the screaming coming from her backseat while Billy just laughed, already used to her reckless driving now that she didn’t need to follow the road code and could basically do whatever the hell she wanted “And we have arrived at our destination, as promised.”

“T-Thanks.” she winked at them through the rear view mirror, she hops out of the car but leans against it as she waits for the four of them to stumble out so she could follow behind them. She closes the door behind Nancy and pushes herself up to follow but a wave of anxiety bubbled from inside her stomach so she lagged behind while the others went ahead, leaning her head back to peak inside the passenger side and saw Billy hunched over and trying to control his breathing.  Billy was anxiously bouncing his leg, nervously grasping his hands together and occasionally squeezing them to ground him, he didn’t even flinch when [F/N] opened his door and knelt down.

“Hey… are you okay?” he let out a shuddering breath.

“Being here… I don’t like being here.” her frown deepens, already seeing the memories of each time Karen Wheeler had harassed him. His thoughts went straight back to 84′, the night his father threatened him in front of that Susan woman to find that Maxine girl. When arriving at the Wheeler residence, Karen couldn’t even control herself and made it obvious that she was staring at Billy with such a lustful gaze and wouldn’t even give Billy a clue as to where his stepsister was until he gave her what she wanted. From then on she continued her antics, getting close to him, touching him and trying to get the two of them alone, going so far as to try and sleep with him but he always declined her advances “I just— I can’t— I don’t…” she shook her head, placing a hand on his knee and rocking it a bit.

“We don’t have to go inside, we can simply sit out here and wait for them to be done. They’ll be in and out.” he slowly nods his head.

“R-Right, in and out.” he let out a shaky laugh when his demodog came into view, whining softly while caressing its body against his in a way to comfort him “Yeah I’m alright, you dope. Don’t have to worry about me.” she smiles softly at him, standing to her feet and leaning against the side of her car once more “… do you really believe there’s a way out of here?”

“There goddamn better be, I need a shower.” he snorts.

“Yeah, this place has fucked up my curls.” she laughs “But seriously, [F/N], do you think we can actually get out of here?”

“Honestly, I really hope so… think my parents are gonna use my death as clout?” he nod.

“One hundred percent.” she nods with a purse of her lips “They’re grade a assholes.”

“Yup.” what [F/N] thought was going to be an in and out situation turned out to be much longer because she found herself laying on the ground staring up at the lightning, dark clouds, the passing demobats, more lightning and even more clouds as they waited for them to be done with whatever side quest they were on. She only sat up when she heard rushing footsteps from inside the house until they came barging out, kicking the door open as they rushed towards them.

“Jesus, what took you so long?” Billy complained, she was slowly getting up but Eddie pulled her to her feet and pushed her to the drivers seat.

“What’s the rush? Why are you pushing me?!”

“Dustin believes he’s found a way out of here!” he shouts, she stared at him in confusion “Oh, um, Dustin? He’s one of Steve’s children, and maybe one of mine. Anyways, this kid that’s been in this kind of shit longer than I have thinks he knows a way out of here and if you want out of here then lets get a move on!” she nod her head and his words but continues to lean against her car.

“That’s fascinating and all, but we can’t go anywhere if I don’t know where we’re going.”

“My trailer! Take us to my trailer!” she was even more confused but listened nonetheless, she cocks her the moment she slips into the car seat and the demodogs understood, letting out barks and ran ahead so she could follow after them. She was going a moderate speed as she drove to Eddie’s trailer, glaring back at them when they told her to drive faster but warned them that at the speed they were going it was quiet enough to not get the bats on their case She really didn’t want to have to deal with those fuckers, they were annoying as is and she and Billy would have a tough time fighting against them while having to protect the other four.

“So what exactly is at your trailer?” Billy questions when [F/N] pulls up to the trailer park, screeching directly in front of Eddie’s trailer, the two of them sputtering a little when the four in the back quickly hop out “Or don’t tell me, that’s fine as well.” [F/N] just shook her head when they step out, leaning against her car again to watch them rush to his doorstep.

“You’re not gonna tell us what’s here?” Eddie rushes back over to her, grabbing her by the hands and tugging her to come with them.

“I told you, [F/N]. There’s a way out of here.” Eddie saw the look of hesitance on her face as she looked at Billy.

“Eddie… I-I, I don’t know.” he’s quick to hold both her hands in his, rubbing him thumb along the top of her knuckles.

“I don’t want you to hate yourself even more than you already do, [F/N]. I understand that you’re conflicted whether or not you should stay here to repent your sins or some shit, but I want to you and Billy too to come with us.” he gives her a tug “Come on, man. I know you don’t want to stay here when there’s a way out.” she stared at him, Eddie chuckling when he saw her eyes tear up.

“O… Okay.” Eddie thinks she’s going to follow but stopped when he saw her throw herself onto her prized mustang, crying a little as she hugged the hood of the car “I’ll miss you, my baby! My totally rad apocalyptic mustang!” she cried out, Billy in turn started patting their demodogs and giving them a sad look.

“It was nice while it lasted, but this is probably for the best.” Eddie pouts softly when he saw them cuddling their pets, giving each one a hug before having a group hug “I’d say see you later, but I hope that day never comes.” [F/N] nod her head, standing to her feet and approaching Eddie.

“Honestly, same. Unless they can survive in our world, let’s hope we never have to come back here again.” they fist bump, Eddie was the last to enter the trailer to make sure the two didn’t run off while he wasn’t looking, there they found Steve, Nancy and Robin were staring up at a hole in the ceiling that certainly wasn’t there before, though he shuddered softly as he stared up at it.

“This is where Chrissy died.” he muttered softly, [F/N] looked at him but reached over to take his hand, pausing when she noticed Steve doing the same thing. She stared for a couple seconds before deciding to leave it be, she’ll let him have this moment to help calm him down “Like, right where she died.” they all flinch a little when they noticed that there was something moving inside the fissure.

“I think there’s something in there.” they were a little startled when [F/N] and Billy made sure to get in between them, [F/N] raising her axe to get ready to swing at whatever comes through that crack in the ceiling. Something seemed to be poking through it from the other side, causing it to dip down.

“What the hell is that?” they continue to stare at whatever was causing it to move before jumping backwards with a yelp when the fissure burst, Steve grabbed Billy and [F/N] when they didn’t move but was shaken off by them who weren’t startled in the slightest. Billy was the one to take a step first before [F/N] followed suite and eventually the others did the same, he peeked his head under the opening then his eyes widened at what he saw on the other side, [F/N] gave him a questioning look before doing the same, only to have the same reaction.

“Well shit.” she muttered, the other four take a peek but have a different reaction from the other two, letting out breaths of relief at the sight of Eddie’s trailer, along side Dustin, Lucas, Erica and Max, to which Max was staring intently at her brother that was supposed to be dead.

“Hi there.” Dustin greets with a laugh followed by a wave, Steve mirrors it and gives a little wave.

“Hi.” Dustin continues to laugh before shuffling away with Erica, leaving Lucas and Max to stare at the four along with Billy and [F/N], to which they couldn’t believe they were actually seeing them.

“Billy…” Max murmured under her breath.

“And [F/N]…” she crossed her arms and looked away, Billy let out a breath and did the same, Eddie and Steve were quick to comfort them. Max didn’t stay there for long and left to help Dustin and Erica with whatever they were doing, Lucas doing the same thing because he couldn’t look at the two who caused him the most pain, both mentally and physically. In their world, Dustin was getting to work with making a makeshift rope with some sheets while Lucas and Max were hauling Eddie’s mattress out from his room, pushing it over so it was directly under the fissure. They all narrow their eyes at the different stains on the mattress, Eddie squirming a little.

“Those stains are, uh…” Robin is already giving him a look when he looked at her, he quickly look away “I dunno what those stains are.”

“Mm.” [F/N] is giving him a look, crossing her arms.

“Whore.” she murmured, he whips his head to glare at her but she’s ignoring him to look at Steve, who was avoiding her gaze and caressing his bicep “We’re gonna talk about this later, trust me.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Don’t test me.” she kicks him, they’d get into a scuffle if it weren’t for Billy getting in between them and stopping them, she lets out a huff and looks away. Dustin and Erica collect the rope they made and bring it over to the fissure, everyone watching in anticipation for what Dustin was going to pull of.

“Not quite sure how these physics work, but, uh… here goes nothing.” the group take a step back when he tosses an end through and it lands in front of them, they look back up at him and see he was still holding his end before slowly letting go and the rope dangled perfectly in between both worlds “Huh, abracadabra.”

“Holy shit.”

“Alright, pull on it! See if it holds!” Robin looks at Steve and he gestures for her to give it a go, so she grabs it and gives it a nice couple tugs, the rope holds still.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit.” Erica says, she looks down when she sees Dustin raise his hand so she high fives it.

“So… who’s first?” [F/N] raises her hand.

“Me! I want to get the fuck out of here, no offence.” Eddie chuckles softly and takes a step back.

“By all means, ladies first.” she shoves him back and he laughs a little, the children on the other side back up when she throws her axe through first then climbs through rather effortlessly, she was a little startled that when she entered through the real world the natural law of physics started up again and she was falling through but managed to flip her body around and land on the mattress with a thud. Lucas and Max take a step back when she stands up straight, grabbing Dustin and Erica to pull them back to moment she stands at her full height. They didn’t know exactly how it was possible that she was alive and back and standing right in front of them, covering in dirt and blood while wearing clothes that’s seen better days, but they didn’t want to take any chances that she could possible kill the—

“Oh my god, I never thought I’d be so happy to see your trailer, Eddie! Still a massive pigsty, as usual. I’m sure you’re making Wayne do all the work while you laze around.”

“Hey…! I do some work to help out.” she rolled her eyes.

“Sure, sure.” she then turned her gaze to look down at Dustin, swaying side to side then putting her hands on her hips, if Dustin didn’t know any better he’d think it was Steve in front of him because of the iconic pose she was doing “So you’re the infamous Henderson that I’ve heard so much about, from both my brother and Eddie.” he clears his throat, standing up straight while [F/N] stood rather relaxed.

“R-Really? Why’d they— ahem, what did they say about me?” she chuckled, lifting one of her hands and reaching towards them. She didn’t react when Lucas and Max flinched, going so far as to grabbing Dustin and tugging him back but he tore his arms free from them, letting out a gasp when she grabbed him by his cap and started pushing and pulling his head back and forward.

“Said you’re a real piece of work, a pain in their ass, really.” she laughs with a shrug of her shoulders after pushing him backwards lightly, though the shirt he was wearing certainly caught his eye “Hellfire, huh? That club still going on? I’m surprised the teachers allowed it to continue.” Dustin stared up at her in wander, straighten his cap out when it sat awkwardly on his head.

“You know Hellfire?” she nod her head, grinning at him and pointing her thumb at her chest.

“Uh huh! I’m an honorary member, kiddo! One of the few originals, beside Eddie and Gare-bear. Oh, I miss Gare-bear.” she wipes away a non-existing tear and saunters over to the trailers kitchen, pushing past the group of children and leaving Dustin to gawk at her.

“You were apart of Hellfire?! You played D&D!” she nods her head, glancing over at the wall and smiling when she saw the photo that Wayne probably framed.

“Yeah, I’ve been friends with the Hellfire boys since high school.” she then gestures to the photo and Dustin was quick to look at each, taking it off from where it was hanging to get a closer look. There he saw Eddie, Gareth, Jeff and Nathan smiling and grinning like idiots and in the middle of them was [F/N] with her arms around Jeff and Gareth’s shoulders, all five of them wearing the Hellfire shirts and it looked like they were in the drama room “I think that was the day we had our very first D&D campaign, was pretty shit because Eddie was still a newbie at DMing, but he got better.” Dustin nods his head.

“Yeah, he’s really great.” she smiles at Dustin, such an innocent smile that she was glad she didn’t seem him the year prior, that was because Lucas and Max were staring at her in fear; waiting for her to snap and reach to kill them. She clears her throat and looks down at her axe, picking it up but throwing it on the counter then approaching the fridge.

“Eddie, I’m raiding your fridge! I’m hungry as shit!”

“Wha— no!” she ignored him, letting out a squeal when she saw that it at least had food in it when she opened it.

“Yo! Billy! Get your ass in here, man! There’s beer!” she laughed when she heard shuffling from the other end, she grabs a couple and cracks open one to down it in less then a couple seconds. She was in the midst of chugging down a second one when Billy falls through the fissure, she grins and makes her way back over to him, setting her beer down and offering a hand to him “Welcome to the land of the living.” he chuckles, taking her hand.

“It’s great to be back.” she let out a grunt when helping him to his feet, well, that was until he wrapped his arms under hers and hoisted her up into a hug. She looked down at him but smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly and shedding a couple tears, when he put her down her hands slid down to rest against his cheeks “We’re alive.” she nod her head.

“We are…” they only pull away when they realise Robin was coming out next, she and Billy were eating Eddie’s food when Robin falls through and was laughing after experiencing such a disorienting feeling.

“That was fun.” she giggled out, taking Dustin’s hand to help her to her feet. Robin looked over at [F/N] when she felt her gaze on her but the other quickly looked away, going back to chugging down what seemed to be her fourth beer “[F/N], I—” she shakes her head.

“C-Can we talk about this later?” she asked, she closed her hand and let it drop to her side.

“Okay, but we will talk about it later, right?” her eyes dart to hers a couple times but she made sure to keep them down as she nods her head.

“Yeah.” she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. Their heads whip over back towards the mattress when Eddie falls through, just as disoriented as who also laughed when he took Dustin’s hand.

“That… was fun. Shit.” when he was on his feet his attention quickly moved to Billy and [F/N], who were still eating his food and drinking his beer, [F/N] gave him a cheeky grin “Stop eating my food, man! Some of it is Wayne’s, come on!” they just ignored him and continued to eat.

“You try living off of shit in the hellhole and not eat like a starved man when there’s actual food presented to you. Your basic diet is beer, chips and Wayne’s famous pork chops.” she then flipped him the bird and drank her beer, Robin ignores their squabbling in favor for Steve and Nancy who still haven’t left the Upside Down.

“What’s taking them so long?” Robin muttered, Billy’s head perked up at that as he left [F/N] to defend herself against Eddie, who was trying to steal his food back from her, and took a spot beside Robin to look back into the Upside to see Nancy standing idle. A chill suddenly ran down his and [F/N]’s spine, this caused both their heads to look back towards the fissure.

“Nancy?” Steve murmurs softly, approaching Nancy when she didn’t answer him “Hey! Hey! Stay with me, Nancy! Hey!” his shouting is what caught all of their attention, the rest of them approaching the fissure to see what was going on “Nancy, wake up!” Max swallows thickly.

“Vecna.” Billy and [F/N] look at each other.

“Who?” they whisper, soon they’re left in the living room while the others rushed to Eddie’s room to do who knows what “What’s going on? What’s happening?” [F/N] questions them as she enters Eddie’s room, leaving Billy with Erica to watch Steve and Nancy, who was now cradling her face and gently shaking her to try and wake her up.

“Vecna— he’s— we can’t explain! Just find something!” Dustin thrusts a box of Eddie’s tapes into her hands and she nearly drops it but manages to catch it, she looks at them and saw they were grabbing random tapes, Erica then comes running down the hall to shout at them.

“Steve says you need to hurry!”

“Yeah, no shit!” Dustin screams as he and Lucas are looking through another pile of tapes.

“We’re trying, we can’t find anything!”

“What is all this shit?!” she then scoffs and sets the box down, kneeling down to start searching as well.

“What are you even looking for?” she asks, Robin then starts fumbling with a bunch of tapes in her hands and drops a few of them.

“Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!” Eddie was quick to grab one of the tapes she still had in her hand, glaring at her.

“This. Is. Music!” [F/N] just shakes her head, giving up knowing that they weren’t going to find anything that Nancy liked within the Munson residence, knowing that neither Wayne nor Eddie listened to any of the trending pop songs that everybody normal liked.

“Well we might as well give up, Eddie doesn’t listen to that shit! And I highly doubt little miss Wheeler listens to Iron Maiden.” she drops the tapes on the ground, grabbing Eddie and shaking him “We’re fucked! Why can’t your taste be more diverse, Eddie?!”

“Shut up!” they soon resort into arguing because they had nothing, absolutely nothing to help Nancy through this possession thing and they were running out of time. That feeling she and Billy felt was intense, it was as if that Mind Flayer fucker was back and she was feeling nauseous again, cutting her argument off with Eddie to control her breathing so she didn’t end up throwing up again “Whoa, whoa, [F/N]! Are you okay?” she shakes her head, leaning against the wall to calm the throbbing headache exploding within her brain.

“Y-Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Just need a minute.” Billy was having the same reaction but not as bad as hers, he was just caressing his forehead and keeping his eye on Nancy and Steve. The moment the headache went away they knew that Nancy was free from whatever hold that Vec-bitch had on her because she gasped and fell backwards, but Steve was quick to catch her.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Nancy was gasping, trying to catch her breath as Steve caressed her face to comfort her, pushing her hair out of her face “It’s okay, I’m here. I’m right here.”

[time skip: in the morning]

“He showed me… things that haven’t happened yet. The most awful things.” the group now found themselves huddled in Max’s house that was across from Eddie’s trailer, listening to Nancy as she recounted what Vecna had shown her when he had her under his control “I saw… a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… giant creature with… a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn’t alone. There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighbourhoods. Our homes. And then he… he showed me my mum. And Holly. Mike. And they… they were all…” she lets out a shaky breath, [F/N] was watching her talk before looking away and letting her head fall against the wall.

“That… Mind Flayer, was it? It would show Billy and me things to keep us in line, to keep us under its control. It would show us things to scare us, Wheeler, to make sure we didn’t defy it. So, what I’m saying is, this Vecna guy, he’s just trying to scare you.” Billy nods his head, caressing her leg from where he was sitting on the floor.

“Right, I mean… he only showed us things that could possibly happen, but it didn’t, because none of it was real. They were only possibilities.” she shakes her head.

“Not yet. But there… there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie’s trailer, but… they didn’t stop growing. And this wasn’t the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home.” Billy and [F/N] share a look, what she was talking about, they had seen that future. They had seen it when they were building the Mind Flayers its body for it to move from the Upside Down to their world, and it really wasn’t a pretty picture.

“Four chimes.” Max suddenly spoke, causing them to look at her this time “Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.”

“I heard them too.”

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.”

“Four kills. Four gates. End of the world.”

“If that’s true… he’s only one kill away.” Eddie was quick to panic, burying his face into the palms of his hands.

“Oh, jesus christ, jesus christ.”

“Try ‘em again. Try ‘em again.” Billy and [F/N] are zoning out when Max walks over to the landline to dial a number, a chill runs down their spines and they sense somewhat of a presence. They look over at Max and were a little startled to see that same little girl the Mind Flayer tasked them to kill, [F/N] opened her mouth to say something but that girl, El if she remembered correctly, seemed to have noticed they were both looking at her and quickly raised her finger to her lips to shush them both. They narrow their eyes on her but do so, shutting their mouths as she continued to watch them before finally disappearing.

“Did you see her as well?” she whispered to Billy, who nodded and continued to look in the spot where she was previously.

“Uh huh.”

“But the others didn’t see her?”

“Uh huh.” he then bats her leg lightly “Must be because she visited us that one time.” she nods her head, humming softly.

“We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down.” this immediately got everyone’s attention, protesting because the thought of going back in there was crazy.

“Whoa, no, no, no. What?”

“Nope. Nope.”

“Wheeler, think this through.” [F/N] spoke after pushing herself off the wall.

“What is there to think through?”

“Y’all barely lasted a couple hours inside the Upside Down. What makes you think you can last long enough to get to Vec-bitch to kill him?” Steve nods his head, standing to his feet and approaching Nancy.

“She’s right, we barely made it out of there.”

“Yeah, because we weren’t prepared. But this time, we will be. We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him. We even have Billy and [F/N] to help us, the most experienced inside the Upsi—” Billy interrupts her, holding his hand out to cut her off.

“Are you crazy? We just got out of there after, how long has it been?” [F/N] mouthed out eight months to him “Eight months? Eight months! We’ve been STUCK in there for eight months and you really expect us to waltz straight back in there? You’re crazy, Wheeler. You can count us OUT.” Steve sighed at the thought of the two most experienced sitting this out, but he couldn’t help but nod his head to agree with what Billy said, maybe feeling a little relieved that they’ll be as far away from this war as possible.

“Yeah, or he’ll kill us. The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He’s not scared of us, maybe those two, sure! But not us.”

“And for a good reason.” Robin speaks, standing up from where she was sitting on the ground “We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One. Sorry, what are we calling him now?”

“One.” Lucas and Dustin say.

“Vecna.” Erica says.

“Henry.” Nancy says . “A bitch.” Billy and [F/N] say, Robin just shook her head at the two of them.

“Right. We’ve learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One.” the two pout when she didn’t include their name “He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my… my point is, he’s super powerful. Could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight.” at the mention of that, [F/N] looked down in thought.

“Then why fight fair?” she murmured, eyes trailing off to the side when she could feel that gaze again “If what you said is true, that he’s similar to the Eleven girl, then doesn’t he have the same powers as her? Didn’t she have that power where she could leave her body and some shit to visit people, it’s what she did to Billy and me when we were… flayed? Wouldn’t that give us the upper hand? You know Eleven’s strengths, but you also know her weakness.” Dustin seemed to understand where she was coming from.

“She’s right. When El remote travels, she goes into this sort of trance like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna.” Lucas nods.

“That would explain what he was going in that attic.”

“Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenceless.” Steve shook his head, gesturing to his neck as he spoke.

“Defenceless? What about the army of bats?”

“True. We’ll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow.” Eddie raises his hand.

“Didn’t [F/N] and Billy mention something about how they’re attracted to noise? We could use that to our advantage.” Dustin snaps his fingers.

“Good idea. And once they’re gone, he doesn’t stand a chance. It’ll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin.”

“That all sounds good in theory, but there is no pattern to Vecna’s killings. Not one that I can decipher. We don’t know when he’s going to attack next.” [F/N] raised a hand.

“We don’t know if this is much to contribute, but we can feel when he’s going to attack.” Max shook her head.

“That’s not enough, but… we do, we do know. when he’s going to attack. I don’t know about you two, but I can still feel him. I’m still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me.” Billy looked around the room when he saw they were all protesting the idea of Max giving herself up just to be a distraction.

“Max. You can’t. He’ll kill you.”

“I survived before… I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just… whatever it is… whatever you do… try not to miss.” no one speaks up.

“Are you seriously going to let her do this?” Billy questions “You’re seriously going to let that fucker into her mind just so she can distract him? Are you out of your damn minds?!” [F/N] shakes her head, grabbing him by the arm.

“Billy, not now.” he quickly shakes her hand off him.

“What will happen if you miss your chance? What happens in that measly little split second that you’re late and he’s got her? What will happen then?” Nancy shakes her head.

“We won’t let that happen.”

“Yeah, but you can’t guarantee that! There’s still a chance that something could go wrong and she’ll be killed! Or even worse, mutilated and she’ll end up suffering far worse than we did.”

“Billy stop it.” Nancy couldn’t help but scoff a little as she stared at Billy.

“I don’t see why you’re worrying, Billy.” she crosses her arms, not wavering when he glared at her “Do you think just because you died and survived you’ll get your chance to be her brother again? Even before you were flayed, you did a lot of unspeakable things.”

“Nancy!”

“It’s the truth.” she takes a step forward, looking up at Billy as his glare hardened on her while his hands balled into tight fists “You don’t get to be her brother after everything you’ve done. You don’t get to be worried when we know you didn’t care in the first place.” [F/N] sucked in a breath when she could just feel Billy’s anger boil over, she rushed over and hooked her arm around his to stop him from evidently punching Nancy across the face, pulling him back when he started fighting against her.

“Fuck you, Wheeler!” he shouts “You don’t what I had to put up with to keep her safe! You don’t know what I had to do to keep my dad from laying his hands on her!” [F/N] yanked him back.

“That’s enough!” she pushes him back then points to the door “Cool yourself, Billy.” he stared at her for a couple seconds before storming out of the room, nearly kicking the door off its hinges from the amount of brute strength he put into it. With him gone, she started to feel uncomfortable surrounded by them all, with the people she hurt, the people she scared and the strangers. She raises a hand to caress her forehead, feeling a headache forming from the shared anger and frustration from Billy “You stepped over a line, Wheeler.”

“I-I— I just—” she shook her head.

“You don’t know what went on in that house, not a damn thing.” she looks at Max “He cares, he really does. It might take you some time for you to accept it, but he worries for you. Just like what any other older sibling would do.” she spared a glance at Steve but then quickly averted her gaze, grabbing her axe that was leaning against the wall and leaving to go check up on Billy, leaving the others to settle in that tense and awkward air. She sat down on a nearby law chair and watched Billy tear up and trash pile, only coming over to her to grab her axe and proceed to axe at anything and everything he laid his eyes on. After what felt like ten minutes he finally begrudgingly returned back to her side, dragging the axe behind him and then sitting on the ground by her legs.

…

…

“Have you calmed down now, you big baby?” he scoffs at her, tossing the axe in front of them.

“I don’t like the way she talked about me like that.” she let out a hum.

“She had a point, Billy.” he turned his glare to her but she raised her hand before he could get another word in “But that doesn’t necessarily make her right either. Your father was a mean piece of work, and with how stubborn that Maxine girl is, you knew that the moment she crossed your father he’d turn his attention from you to her. So you made sure that he never took that attention away from you, you made sure she made no faults. That’s why you threatened her friends, especially that Lucas boy, and why you were so mad at my brother that you beat the shit out of him.” he grimaced at that.

“[F/N], I’m sor—” she shakes her head.

“He lied to you, you had every right to be mad, but just let me finish.” she takes a deep breath, leaning back into the lawn chair and stretching her legs out a bit “You scared her, man. You threatened her to keep her in line, and though it was out of the betterment of your heart, she didn’t know that. We both know your father pitted the two of you against each other so you’ll both feel isolated within your own home. You were angry at both her and your father, even that Susan woman because everything was against you. They can’t trust your words, Billy, and even that one moment where you saved that girl, I’m sure it’s not enough to redeem a whole year’s worth of torment.” she stared down at him as he silently listened to her words, he then hikes his knees up to his chest but let his body lean against the chair.

“I’m… I’m trying.” she nods, reaching down to gently pet his head.

“I know you are, I feel you. But the others don’t, so it’ll be harder for them to accept that you’ve changed for the better. Steve and possibly Robin are probably the only ones that will understand, but the others will take time.” she lets out a shaky breath, looking up at the clear skies that she hadn’t realized how much she missed “I of all people should know that shit like this… it takes time.” she raised a brow when he went silent.

“… I could really go for a drive right now.” she closed her eyes, going for a drive meant that he needed to clear his mind, it helped clear his mind; helped him think. She scanned the area for something until her eyes settled on it, he let out a grunt when she abruptly stood up and started walking away, kicking the axe up as she went. He sat by and watched as she approached a car, a beat-up 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Convertible, but drivable. He raised a brow when he saw her jump into the car and tears open the underside of the steering column, exposing the many wires for her to play around with. Billy was finally by her side and saw her cut a couple wires to expose the conductors from the cable jackets, striking two specific ones together a couple times until the car roared to life, some smoke spitting out of the exhaustion pipe, but it was on nonetheless “You, [F/N] Harrington, know how to hot wire a car?” she winked at him, making sure to wrap the two different conductors together to keep the car alive.

“Uh huh, a jack of all trades and a master of none.” she raises her hands to grab the steering wheel but stopped when she saw the eager look on his face, she let out a chuckle “You can drive.” she smiled when she felt his excitement.

“Finally. You never let me drive your car.” she let out a laugh, jumping over the centre console to get into the passenger seat as he tosses the axe into the back seat and then jumps into the driver's seat.

“You can go get fucked.” he laughs with her, he switches the gear to drive but didn’t even pull out when she sat up “Oh, wait a second!” he watches her search around the car for something, watching her manage to find a crumpled up piece of paper and a marker that looked like it was at the verge of dying. She writes something down then jumps out to slap it on the door before rushing back, jumping back into the passenger seat “Now they should know where we’ll be.”

“And where are we going?” she gives him a grin.

“I wanna see our gravestones.”

[with the party]

“Check this out. The War Zone.” Eddie says, slapping down the newspaper onto a table and pointing at a specific section, the others leaning over to get a look at it “I’ve been there once. It’s huge. They’ve got everything you need, for, uh… well, killing things, basically.” Robin scoffed lightly, leaning in closer to look at the ad.

“You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?” she narrowed her eyes at it, pointing at it “Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?”

“Well, lucky for us it is, so… this… this place is just far outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and, uh, angry hicks.” Erica rolled her eyes.

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called the War Zone.” Nancy shook her head.

“Normally, I’d agree, but we need the weapons. So I think it’s worth the risk.” Lucas nods.

“Me too.” Dustin shook his head, letting out a sigh.

“But is it worth the time? It’ll take all day to bike there and back.”

“Who said anything about bikes?” Steve cocked a brow, scoffing slightly with a smirk at Eddie’s words.

“What? You got another car I don’t know about?” Steve questioned, Eddie rose up to Steve’s level with a smirk of his own, tilting his head to the side when he saw his doe eyed boyfriend give him such a baby face.

“It’s not exactly a car, Steve. It’s not exactly mine, but, uh… it’ll do.”

“Um, I’d hate to interrupt.” Max suddenly spoke up from where she was standing away from the others, they all turn to her and saw she was peeking outside “But it’s been far too long since Billy and [F/N] left, and I can’t see them outside anymore.” Steve stood up straight.

“What?” he’s quick to go around the table and to where Max was, throwing open the blinds, jaw dropping when he saw no sign of his ex and sister. He then draws back and opens the front door, whipping his head around to find any trace of the two but saw neither, his eyes then caught the piece of paper attached to the door so he tore it off to see what it was, groaning at what he saw “They’re gone!” he shouts, Robin was by his side the moment he said that.

“Gone? Where could they have gone?” he sighed, handing her the note, to which she read it and immediately recognized it as [F/N]’s handwriting.

“They’ve gone to the cemetery to look at their graves.” Nancy slaps a palm on her forehead.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” she then looks at Eddie, who was laughing because that was so like [F/N] “Eddie, we’re gonna need whatever vehicle you’ve got in mind and we need it now.” he nods.

“Got it.”

[with [f/n] and billy]

“Ooo, score! There’s booze in the back!” Billy chuckled as he looked through the rear view mirror to see [F/N] hanging over her seat to search through the backseat, finding said booze and turning back over to show him “Ooo, it’s gin. Somebody has taste.” she’s quick to take the cap off and take a long swig from the bottle, Billy eyes her from how long she was chugging it before she finally pulled it away from her lips with a gasp.

“Struggling alcoholic, I see.” she chuckles, voice a little hoarse from the sting of alcohol that she hasn’t drank in over eight months.

“Recovering, actually. Went to rehab once for how bad it got.”

“You’re horrible.” she raises the bottle.

“I am.” when he pulls to a stop light she offers the bottle him, jiggling it slightly when she saw the look of hesitance on his face “Come on now, I know you want some.” he scoffed at her as he looked back towards the road.

“You know it’s illegal to drink and drive?” she rolled her eyes.

“You know it’s illegal to murder people?” her gives her a look as she gives him one back, she heard him mutter fuck it before taking the bottle and gulping it down, she snickers and starts looking through other compartments for anything else. He lowered the bottle when he heard her squeal, sparing her a glance when he saw her pull out a pack of cigarettes “I’m in heaven.” they were red marlboro cigarettes, she was quick to pop one out of the pack and light it with a lighter that was conveniently hiding in the glove compartment.

“Hey, don’t hold out.” she settles one of his lips and lights it, the two of them exhaling the smoke then letting out a deep and satisfying sigh “That… that definitely hits the spot.”

“It really does.” they were taking the long way to get to the cemetery, while they were [F/N] was taking in the scenery, head resting on her arms on the door. Her mind would flashback to the Upside Down each time they passed a significant part of Hawkins, and all she could think of is how if they let that Vecna bitch have his way, the Upside Down will become their reality. They were stopped at another stoplight and [F/N] was looking ahead this time, bobbing her head as Motley Crüe blared through the shitty speakers the car had. Though it didn’t take them long to reach the cemetery because now they were standing over their graves, wow “Damn, I wish I had a camera.” Billy shakes his head.

“Why?”

“Because I’m standing over my fucking grave?” she then kicks at the stone “If we’re here, then the fuck did they bury?” he shrugs, taking another puff from the cigarette.

“Don’t know, don’t care.” he watches her lower down to her knees, placing her hand on her headstone.

HERE LIES [F/N] HARRINGTON. BELOVED FRIEND, SISTER AND DAUGHTER. 07/12/65 - 04/07/85

“Daughter, huh?” she scoffed, taking the cigarette from her lips and putting it out directly on DAUGHTER “I haven’t been their daughter in years.” Billy could feel her disdain where he stood, that anger that dwindled away seeming to resurface just at the mere thought of her parents. She didn’t move when he placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

“Steve deserves to know.” she closed her eyes at that, turning her face to the side at the thought.

“He doesn’t need to know.” he let out a sigh “Y-You don’t get it, Billy. You don’t know Steve like I do, a-and I know he’s going to take it the wrong way and end up blaming himself.”

“So you’re going to let him live on, not knowing the reason as to why his parents disowned their daughter in the first place with only Eddie and I knowing why?” he squeezes her shoulder once more “He deserves to know.” he repeats.

“It’ll do more harm than good.” he let out a sigh.

“… Steve is tougher than you think, [F/N]. You’ve clung too hard onto the Steve you think is so fragile, further damaging him. Whether or not you tell him, I think it would be best for the both of you if you tell him the truth.” with that he backed away and let her contemplate her options, she let out a sigh and let a hand drag down her face. She watches from the corner of her eye as Billy approached his grave and stopped directly in front of it, she raised a brow when she saw him kneel down and pick something up.

“What are you doing?” she turned her body towards him and saw he had a letter in his hands addressed to him, she crawled over to him and draped herself over his body to read the contents with him, her eyes following the words as he read them aloud.

“Dear Billy, I don't even know if you can hear this. Two years ago, I would've said "that's ridiculous, impossible." But that was before I found out about alternate dimensions and monsters, so I'm just going to stop assuming that I know anything. So much has happened since you left. Your dad was a total mess. He and my mum started getting into fights. Bad fights. I don't think he could stand being here without you. So he left. And he didn't leave mom much. She's taken an extra job, and we moved to that lovely trailer park off Kerley. Basically, ever since you left, everything's been a total disaster. And the worst part is, I can't tell anyone why you're gone. I can't tell them that you saved El's life. That you saved my life. I play that moment back in my head all the time. And sometimes I imagine myself running to you, pulling you away. I imagine that if I had, that you would still be here. And everything would be right again. I imagine that we could've become friends. Good friends, like a real brother and sister. And I know that's stupid. You hated me. I hated you. But I thought that maybe we could try again. But that's not what happened. I just stood there and I watched. For a while, I tried to be happy. Normal. But I think that maybe a part of me died that day too. And I haven't told anyone this. I just can't. But I had to tell you. Before it's too late. If you can even hear this, and I really hope that you can. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Billy. Love, your shitty little sister, Max.”

[F/N] scoffed a little when she read the part where Billy’s father was apparently “a total mess”, saying how “he couldn’t stand being here without him”, what a load of bullshit. Other than that, it was pretty heartfelt and genuine, especially the part where she wished the two of them could be like real brother and sister. Her eyes drifted to look at his face and saw that his bottom lip was trembling, eyes becoming glassy once more at the possibility of him and Max rekindling their relationship. She pats his back in a comforting manner as she stands to her feet, hand pressed to her mouth as she rubs her fingertips into her cheeks. Maybe… maybe she should—

*HONK*

*HONK*

“Hmm?” she raised her head while Billy turn his head to the right, there the two of them saw some RV honking its horn “Is it honking at us?” she murmured as she looked around for any other residents but saw no one, her eyes widened when she saw her brother stick his head out of the window and waving his arm.

“Come on, you two! We’ve got shit to do!” they stare incredulously at him.

“… did you steal an RV, Harrington?!” Billy shouts.

“No, I just— I’m just driving it!”

“So it’s stolen?” he deadpans when [F/N] starts slow clapping “I knew you had it in you, a true Harrington.” Billy slaps her leg.

“So your parents have stolen a car before?” she purses her lips.

“You’d be surprised.” Dustin pops his head out from around the RV, waving his arm rather erratically.

“Come on! We got to get going before the roads get busy!” they just stare for a couple seconds before shrugging their shoulders, Billy wipes his arm under his nose when [F/N] offers her hand to him. He stares at it then up at her before chuckling softly and taking her hand, they share a hug before letting go and walking over to the RV “You guys are taking forever, hurry up!”

“You’ve got quite the attitude for a child.” [F/N] says to him when she and Billy finally approach the RV “We could hurt you at any given moment.” he laughed, crossing him arms.

“You wouldn’t knowing that you’d upset Steve and Eddie.” this definitely startled the two of them, he smirked knowingly at them before hoping back into the RV.

“I wanna strangle him.”

“Wanna take turns?” she chuckles, the air immediately tensed the moment she stepped into the RV but she didn’t settle into the back yet, popping her head into the drivers seats and looked at Eddie, who say in the passengers seat “So where are we heading?” Eddie grinned, eyes glancing backwards when he saw Billy come in and take a seat on the floor.

“We’re heading to the War Zone.” she cocked a brow.

“The War Zone? Hah! I haven’t been there in ages.” this caused several heads to turn but she just ignored them.

“You’ve been to the War Zone? Why?” Nancy asked.

“If it makes you feel better, it wasn’t when I was flayed.” at that she turned on her heel so he back was facing Billy, who opened up his arms when she started falling backwards while taking another swig from the bottle of gin. She let out a long sigh at the feeling of the alcohol burning in her throat once more, offering the bottle to Billy who didn’t hesitate to drink it.

“How did you guys even get here? I highly doubt you walked.” Erica asked.

“Hot wired a car.” this turned even more heads.

“You know how to hot wire a car? How?” she offers a hand to Eddie, who chuckled nervously.

“I’m friends with Eddie Munson, was bound to learn some useful skills if I hung around him.” she then leaned back deeper into Billy’s chest, humming softly when she felt him wrap his arms around her waist to keep her close “I also know how to pickpocket, use slight of hand, gamble, pick locks, steal gas. A whole lot of illegal stuff, basically. Oh! I also know how to tend bar, and some other shit.” they all stare at her in disbelief, if Billy hadn’t seen all the crimes she’s committed when they shared a mind he too would have been just as shocked.

“You’re related to that, Steve?” she snickered softly at that “Your sister seems awesome!”

“I literally tried to kill your friends and my brother the year prior, and yet you think me doing illegal shit is cool?” he nods.

“I didn’t get to meet you last year, not this version of you or even the flayed you. I don’t really have an opinion on you except for how much Steve loved you.” the soft smirk on her face dropped at the mention of that, her eyes looking up to see that Steve peeked back at her before quickly looking away, she too averted her eyes.

“Right.”

[at the war zone]

“I’m hungry.” [F/N] suddenly spoke, Eddie, Lucas, Dustin and Billy who were left in the RV while the others went into the War Zone to buy whatever they needed, turn their heads to look at her, watching as she laid on her back and tossed the now empty bottle of gin up and down “Do you think they’ll bring back food?” Lucas sighed at the compliant.

“I highly doubt the War Zone has food.” she let out a dramatic groan, this caused Eddie to roll his eyes.

“Why are you so hungry? You weren’t satisfied with what you ate back at my trailer?” she scoffed.

“You try going eight months with eating nothing but whatever we could salvage.” Dustin raised his hand.

“On that note, what exactly did you guys eat?” both Billy and [F/N] paused, their faces turning pale then a shade of green as they tried not to remember what exactly they had to eat in order to not die of starvation, Lucas and Dustin wince when they see [F/N] turn away and try not to throw up.

“You really don’t wanna know.” they decided to leave it at that, a few more minutes go by when [F/N] lets out a sigh as she stood to her feet.

“Fuck it, I’ll just go myself.” Dustin was quick to stand in her way “What are you doing?” he shakes his head, she chuckled softly when she saw him place his hands on his hips, perhaps he was trying to imitate Steve when he was putting his foot down.

“Sorry, Steve and Nancy told me to keep you and Billy in check while they were gone. I can’t let you leave my sight.” she hummed softly, placing her own hands on her knees and lowering down to meet his eyes.

“You are so adorable.” they stare at each other for a couple seconds until [F/N] pushes his hat down so it blocked his view, he let out a cry when his vision was block and she took that as he chance to push him to the side and leave the RV with Billy by her side. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Dustin wasn’t too far behind them, the RV door being thrown open when he rushed out to chase after them “See? We’re still within your sight, are we not?” he let out a tired huff, grabbing her arm.

“Well, you need to stay within five meters of me.” she rolled her eyes.

“Sure, kid.” he let out another cry when Billy shoved his hat down again to cover his eyes, the two of them laughing as they walked ahead of him when Dustin stopped to fix his hat.

“Five meters!” Dustin was in between them, holding them by their forearms to ensure they didn’t go too far “How exactly are you going to buy food when you don’t have money?” Billy nods.

“I, too, would love to know.” she chuckled, her eyes already zoning in on a poor chap.

“Then I guess you two weren’t listening.” she pats Dustin’s arm to let her go and he reluctantly did so, watching her lace her fingers together then crack them “Watch and learn.” they watch as she walks by the man she was eyeing before but purposefully walked into him, Dustin was startled to see her face immediately change into one that was apologetic.

“Oh my—”

“Oh, I am so—” they’re both laughing as they stare at each other, he’s holding her by her biceps while her hands were resting against his chest “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” she then places her other hand on her chest, giving him an understanding look.

“Oh, no, it’s not your fault. I’ve been feeling a little under the weather as of lately, felt a little dizzy and accidentally walked into you. Terribly sorry about that.” he gives her a reassuring look, his hands dropping from her biceps to his sides.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can see why.” she looks down at herself and huffed slightly with a laugh “You look like you’ve been through hell.” she gives him a look.

“You could say that again.” they exchange a few more words until he finally walks off, she immediately drops the facade as the two of them approach them “Well that was exhausting.” Dustin taps her arm.

“What was all that about?” she grins at him and pulls out a wallet, causing him to gasp at the sight.

“I told you, mama can pickpocket. It’s all about the slight of hand.” Dustin was now staring up at her in awe but she chose to ignore it and approach a very convenient convenient store, opening the wallet and snooping through it, chucking out anything unnecessary, scoffing a little what she saw his license then whistled at hefty amount of cash “Hello gorgeous.” she then throws the wallet over her shoulder without a care in the world.

“Wish I could do that. I used to just threaten people to give me money.” she rolled her eyes at Billy, slapping the back of her hand into his chest.

“That’s so classic high school bully, dude.” Dustin was laughing as he grabbed her arm again.

“You gotta teach me how to do that.” she laughs.

“I think my brother would kill me if I taught you something like that.” he shrugs his shoulders.

“He doesn’t need to know.” she hummed softly, ruffling his head with a smile.

“And I’m beginning to like you, Henderson.” her smile grew when he smiled at her, teeth and all, she can see why Steve and Eddie liked this kid so much. When they enter the store Dustin told them that they should still feel wary despite there only being a few people in the store, they were still legally deceased so it would be rather awkward if someone from Hawkins was there and recognized them “Get whatever you want kid, we’re going to do something very dangerous so you should fuel up.”

“Energy for the journey.” she chuckles.

“Sure, whatever floats your boat.” despite him being the one to set the five meter rule he didn’t hesitate to leave her side to get “whatever he wanted”, felt like she was the one keeping an eye on him.

“Think they’ve got beer?” she scoffed at the question.

“We’re in america, I believe they do.”

“Just asking.” she just shook her head and pats his shoulder, Dustin was more or less just getting junk food than proper food, not like they had to time to actually prepare the food. He glanced over at where [F/N] and Billy were and saw they were where the drinks were, he let out a sigh with a shake of his head when he saw [F/N] pull a drink out and crack it open then drink it. He really didn’t know much about [F/N] other than the stories Steve had told him about, nearly talking his ear off about the countless tales [F/N] Harrington ventured on. He didn’t know whether or not he was lucky that he didn’t get to meet her the year prior, the one that traumatised them all to the point they couldn’t even look at her without a hint of fear or sadness, Erica was rather neutral but mad because she did hit her brother, but he had a positive feeling about her. To him, she was the overprotective yet doting older sister that was funny and cool, she was a literal mixture of both Steve and Eddie; the female version of Steve with the personality of Eddie.

“I hope she and Steve make up.” he mutters to himself, he returns to [F/N]’s side and she looks down at him, letting out a chuckle when she saw his arms were full of junk food.

“Is that all you want?” she raises a brow when she saw him look up in thought, she let out a gasp when he abruptly dropped everything into the basket she grabbed and rushed off.

“There’s one more thing I want!” she rolled her eyes when he just disappeared, Billy shakes his head.

“I don’t see what Steve and Munson likes about that kid.” she shrugs her shoulders.

“The kid brother they never got?” they decide to leave it at that, Dustin was looking for something in particular and yet he was having a hard finding it, his hands were on his hips as he looked back and forth for it until his face lit up when he finally found it. He reaches to grab it but was suddenly yanked back by the scruff of his shirt, thinking it was Billy telling him to hurry up, he was ready to lash out but froze when he saw that it was none other than one of Jason Carver’s lackies.

“Henderson.” his hands immediately fly up and grip onto the wrist that was holding him in place, nearly fumbling with his footing when he was being manhandled “It took a lot of time and trouble finding you.” he let out a nervous laugh, sweat beginning to bleed down the side of his face.

“O-Oh yeah? What for? I don’t remember doing anything to piss you guys off.”

“Right, right, but you’re friends with that Freak, aren’t you?” he swallowed thickly at those words, he takes a quick glance towards the counter and saw that [F/N] was completely oblivious to the harassment while Billy was nowhere to be seen, typical “Your other friend Sinclair ditched us as well to protect that murderer; to protect you.”

“Eddie’s not a murderer!” he let out a grunt when he he was pressed against the aisle roughly.

“Oh yeah? Then how come he was the last with Chrissy, and in the morning she was dead in his trailer?” Dustin couldn’t say it, he couldn’t tell this egotistical jock that Eddie wasn’t the one that killed Chrissy but that it was some supernatural force that killed her in order to open the four gates of hell. If he were to say that, he would be labeled as crazy along with him jumping to conclusions that Eddie was in fact a satanist like everyone in this shitty town made him out to be “Huh? Got nothing else to say? You were so quick to come to his defence, and now you’ve got nothing to say.”

“B-Because… because—”

“Because what?!” the jock was yanked back, letting Dustin go out of surprise from the violent treatment. He glares back at the individual but froze at the sight of who was in front of him.

“Because Munson is too much of a loser to kill anyone.” Billy grinned maliciously as the jock trembled a little, his tongue peek past his lips to glide along the ends of his teeth “If it was anyone, it’d be that mentally unstable boyfriend of hers.”

“H-Hargrove? You’re dead.” Billy raised a brow at that, now beginning to sneer at him.

“Dead? Is that supposed to be a threat?” he yanks him forward and glares straight into his eyes “Do I look dead to you, dumb bitch? What part about me looks dead?” he shakes him a little and he sputters, his hands flying up to grab at Billy’s shoulders to try and rip himself free from his frighteningly strong grip. His mind went back to the rumours about how he beat Steve Harrington black and blue, the evidence all over his bloodied and bruised face when he was ballsy enough to show it the next school day. Billy Hargrove was a psycho, someone that wasn’t to be missed with no matter who you were.

“Billy…” Dustin muttered out softly, not really expecting Billy to come to his rescue, not after how he was ready to beat the ever living shit out of Lucas and instead did that to Steve. [F/N] was in the midst of paying for everything but paused when she remembered Dustin still hadn’t something he wanted, she let out a groan and turned her head to search for him only to see Billy manhandling some guy.

“Goddammit.” she murmured to herself, she goes to shout at him but stopped when she saw Dustin’s tousled shirt but what angered her was when this stranger freed himself and roughly shoved at Dustin, oh, that was it. She looked around the store until her eyes settled on a part of the convenient store that served fresh, hot coffee… that’ll do “You didn’t see anything.” she casually says, grabbing the cashier by their own collar gently to slip the entire wod of cash into their breast pocket, giving it a light tap before turning on her heel and heading over to the coffee pot. The cashier watched in confusion as she grabbed a coffee pot that was full to the brim of hot, scalding coffee, nodding to herself when she confirmed that it was indeed at a dangerous temperature before making her way over to the arguing boys. None of them noticed her approaching them until she grabbed the jock by his shoulder and spun them around, they didn’t expect her to throw the hot, scalding liquid into his face. He screamed in pain, hands flying up to his face in an effort to quell the burning sensation in his face but was suddenly kicked onto his back then someone climbed on top of him. Dustin shivered a little as he watched start to beat his face in with the coffee pot, not even flinching when he clawed at her to pull her off or how he cried out for her to stop.

[F/N] was the real psychopath.

She finally stopped when he was no longer moving and laid limp on the floor, usually when she did this type of beating she’d be breathless and left panting, but she had barely broken a sweat. Perhaps the eight months of hunting demodogs and demogorgons had improved her stamina a little, she looked at the pot hanging loosely by her fingers and saw blood staining the glass, she just let out a huff and tossed it to the side as she stood to her feet. Billy just shook his head at the helpless pile on the floor, kicking at his unconscious body while [F/N] turned her attention to Dustin. She didn’t miss the way he flinched a little upon her gaze but that was to be expected, however, she merely reached forward to fix up his collar and shirt, straightening it out then dusting his shoulders off. His eyes widened softly when she gave him a gentle smile, her hands now resting on his shoulders.

“Are you alright, Dustin?”

“U-Um, yeah. Billy actually helped me out.” said man let out a scoff, kicking her gently in the shin.

“Yeah, there was no need for you to go that far.” she rolled her eyes, now standing up straight then gesturing to the bastard she beat cold.

“Oh, please! He laid his hands on the kid, the last thing I need is Steve breathing down my neck because we let someone put their hands on his kid.” she shakes her head, she then messes with Dustin’s head before finally going over to their neglected groceries “Sorry for taking so long.” the cashier shook their head.

“N-No, it’s fine.” she smiles, Billy grabs the bags as she waves her hand.

“Remember what I said?” they nod their head.

“I didn’t see anything.” she winks.

“Good.” she gives their cheek a little tap before finally leaving, grabbing Dustin by his wrist and walking out of the store. Dustin spared her a look and saw her pull out a cigarette and goes to light it but noticed that Dustin winced “Sorry, do you not like the smell of cigarettes?” he gives a little nod.

“Yeah, the smell is kind of overwhelming.” she gave him an apologetic look and took the cigarette from her lips “Thanks.” she gave him a kind smile.

“No, I should have known not smoke around a child.” he scoffs.

“I’m fifteen years old.” she laughed.

“Yeah, still legally a child.” Billy laughs when he saw the way Dustin pouts, she gently pats his shoulder as they make their way back to the RV, Dustin now relaxed and casually talking with [F/N[ and even Billy. Meanwhile, the gang that went into the War Zone were quick to rush out when Nancy accidentally came across Jason Carver. Eddie and Lucas’ head shot up when the door open and instead of seeing [F/N], Dustin and Billy enter it was instead the others, oh no, this wasn’t gonna be good.

“What happened?”

“We gotta go.” they all come rushing in, Eddie was startled when Steve threw his battle vest into his lap before rushing into the drivers seat and everyone else filled into the back of the RV.

“Your old friends are here.” Robin comments as she passes Lucas, Eddie’s face dropped at that and quickly tried to hide himself.

“Shit!”

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“I’m going! I’m going! Sit down!” Nancy settles in the back but takes a quick mental roll check as she scans the RV for everyone but fell short; they were missing three people.

“Wait, where are Dustin, Billy and [F/N]?” this caused the others to look around, her eyes settled onto Lucas and Eddie and saw how they just wanted to shrink in on themselves and disappear “Eddie, where are they? They were supposed to be here waiting with you while we were in the War Zone.” he gives a nervous laugh, raising his hands and shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, you see—” he quickly looks away when she glares at him “They were hungry.”

“Oh my god.”

“They’re unbelievable.”

“I told Dustin to get an eye on them.”

“Well technically he is… he went with them.” they all collectively let out a groan, Steve unbuckles his belt because he knew that he was the one that had to go get them, Robin and Erica follow after him and left Nancy to scold Eddie and Lucas for letting them leave in the first place. They turn the corner and they see [F/N] talking with, goddammit, Jason Carver of all people. They were quick to pick up pace when they noticed the way she was holding him by the arm though they broke out into a sprint when they saw her shove him down and start beating the shit out of him. And what brought us to this predicament? Well—

“Hargrove?” Dustin and [F/N] turn their heads, the former paled at the sight of the head jock while [F/N] merely raised a brow in confusion, who was this guy? She looked at Billy and saw how he immediately got irritated the moment he set his eyes on him, she looked him up and down and saw that he was wearing a similar outfit to the same poor sap she just beat down and left in the store “You’re… alive.” Billy let out a laugh.

“Yeah, what great observations, Carver.” [F/N] placed her hand on Dustin’s shoulder when she noticed he was getting nervous, she then leans down.

“Who is this guy?”

“U-Um, he’s Jason Carver.” she raised a brow, that still didn’t answer her question “Oh, right, you probably weren’t around when he started high school. He’s the captain of the basketball team, he was Chrissy boyfriend and he harassed Eddie and the rest of us a couple times during school.” that definitely caught her attention, harassed? She remembered when she was still apart of Hellfire no one dared touch them because they knew how unhinged she was, she literally bit someone’s ear off because they called Jeff racial slurs.

“Harassed? So bullied?” he nods, now she was even more confused “Why the hell would they bully Eddie? Didn’t he graduate?” Dustin pulls a face.

“Well—”

“Henderson.” Dustin froze up when Jason turned his attention from Billy to him, Billy felt a little offended when Jason ignored him in favor of getting to Dustin. [F/N] was still behind him and watched to see what this guy was going to do, she was taken aback when she saw Jason quickly grab Dustin by his collar and yank him forward “You. You’re the one who’s always hanging around Munson, where is he?”

“I-I—”

“Hey!” Billy was quick to yank Jason away while [F/N] grabbed Dustin and pulled him back, pushing him behind her as they got in front of Dustin, the discarded bags of food laid behind them as they glare at Jason “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you’ve got some nerve.” she turns her back to him to straighten his shirt out again, sighing sadly when he was scared again.

“Get out of my way, I need to find Munson. He’s going to kill someone again and sacrifice them to his satanic cult.” she couldn’t help but look back at him like he was crazy, scratch that, he probably was crazy.

“What?” was all she could say, Billy just shook his head.

“He’s religious.” she rolled her eyes.

“God, not another one.” she’s had to handle and talk with so many different religious people that it was ridiculous, saying how she was straying from the path of god for even being friends with the wayward, trailer trash freak known as Eddie Munson “If I believe anyone was going to kill anyone, I would think it was you.”

“I am.” they blink at his statement “I am going to kill Eddie Munson.” Dustin peeks his head out from behind [F/N].

“We won’t let you!” [F/N] felt a chill run down her spine at the look in Jason’s eyes.

“And how are you going to stop me?” he reaches for Dustin again but this time [F/N] grabbed him by the wrist, he growled at her and tried yanking his hand free from her hold but she only tightened her grip “And who the hell are you? What relationship do you have with Munson and Henderson that you’re protecting them? Why would you protect that murderer?!” she glared down at him, her gaze cold.

“Eddie Munson is my best friend, and Henderson?” she hummed softly then glanced back at Dustin “Hey, kid, does my brother see you as his brother?” Dustin didn’t understand the question entirely but he thought hard before slowly nodding his head.

“Y-Yeah, I’d like to think so.” she hummed again, her shoulders giving a little shrug.

“Well, then I guess that makes you my little brother then.” Billy’s brows quirked up at the statement before letting out a chuckle he knew was she meant, Jason tried ripping his arm free again but let out a cry when she twisted his arm in a way it shouldn’t go while pulling her other arm up “And nobody hurts my little brother.” she shoves him back and he fell back into his car, he starts to get back up but she smashed his nose in with her knee, promptly breaking it. The other jock that was just watching finally got up and decided to help Jason when [F/N] grabbed him by the tufts of his hair and repeatedly slammed his head against his car before smashing it against the concrete ground, jesus, is this really what she did what someone made fun of Steve. Dustin let out a whistle at how absolutely mental both [F/N] and Billy were, how glad he was that they were on their side.

“[F/N]!” Dustin whips his head to the side and grimaces when he saw Steve, Robin and Erica rushing over “Dustin, we’ve got to go!” Erica grabs Dustin’s arm to tug him back while Steve and Robin approach [F/N].

“You okay, nerd?” he nods.

“Yeah, they made sure I didn’t get hurt.”

“Well, you better hope Wheeler doesn’t tear you a new one.” he winced at the thought of getting yelled at by Nancy. [F/N] heard her name but chose to ignore it, forgetting how exhilarating beating the shit out of someone was and reviling in the feeling. She finally did stop when Steve told her that it was enough, she let out a huff and looked at the blonde who was hanging loosely within her hold.

“If you really want to do your girlfriend a favor, instead of chasing after an innocent man maybe you should just go kill yourself and go see her in the afterlife. Though, you probably won’t find her where you’re heading.” she lets his body drop to the floor and stands up, laughing when Billy hands her the jacket he stole from the other motionless jock so they could wipe their hands of their blood.

“Did you really have to go and say that? It was pretty morbid.” she laughs, throwing the jacket to the ground and going so far as to walking on it.

“Please, I could have said something far worse. Besides, if that Chrissy Cunningham is anything like you described her as, revenge is probably the last thing she would want her boyfriend doing.” she spares Steve and Robin a glance but ultimately ignores them, walking past them to pat Dustin on the shoulder “Shall we go? We took up a little bit too much time.” he scoffed and smacked her off, to which she let out a laugh.

“Yeah, no thanks to you! Now I’m gonna get in trouble.” Billy shrugs, leaning down to pick up the discarded bags of food.

“And whose fault is that? Stop being such a target, loser.” Dustin shoves at Billy when he messes with his head walking past him, [F/N] laughed and they’re walking back to the RV as if nothing happened, leaving Steve, Robin and Erica speechless. Dustin was indeed scolded by Nancy, so were Billy and [F/N] but they didn’t really care, they just stared at her with amused expressions and just ate in her face. The gang now found themselves out in the fields out of sight, preparing themselves for the battle they were about to fight. Eddie and Dustin were nailing nails into rubbish bin lids, Steve and Robin were making molotovs, Max was beside Nancy as she was sawing a Winchester Model 1200 so that the barrel was shorter and Erica and Lucas were making spears, meanwhile, Billy and [F/N] were sitting on a hill away from the others and thinking about their options “So what are you doing after all this?” Billy asked, she scoffed at the question.

“Well, I’m definitely getting the fuck out of dodge! There’s nothing left for me here, why bother stay.” she sighed when he gave her a knowing look.

“Nothing?”

“You know what I mean.” Billy noticed her eyes were settling on Steve and Robin once again, a feeling of regret and guilt rising to her chest once again the longer she stared “It’ll be better for the both of them and myself if I just stayed as far away as possible.” he hummed.

“But is that really what you want, [F/N]?” she doesn’t answer him, he huffed and pulls out the letter Max wrote him, his thumbs caressing the paper lightly “Well, I’m going to apologise to Max. I’ve been meaning to do that since we got out but couldn’t really find the right moment to pull her aside and do it. It’s the least I could do.” she, however, remained silent. Ever since they visited the cemetery and he found that letter, he could feel [F/N]’s doubts on whether or not she should keep a relationship with Steve and Robin or whether to just remain a bystander within their story despite how much they want her to be involved in their lives. He could tell that she was struggling to reveal the truth to Steve, that being her biggest concern.

“That’s… good for you.” she finally spoke, he hummed with a nod before both their heads snapped over to where Eddie and Dustin were when they heard laughter. [F/N] chuckled when she saw that it was just Dustin and Eddie roughhousing, reminded her of the time when she would just randomly tackle Eddie in the middle of school, him doing the same thing when she was in the middle of a conversation with someone and he would come running down the hall and tackle her to the ground. She hadn’t realized how long she was watching them until she noticed that Billy was no longer by her side, she was quick to look over to where Max was and saw he was making his way over to her and Nancy. Nancy noticed his approach and jumped to her feet to keep Max and him separated, she was talking to him but she could feel that he was calm throughout the entire exchange, and when she was finished talking he just pulled out the letter and waved it a little to get Max’s attention. She pushed Nancy to the side so she could grab the letter from Billy’s hands but he pulled it back and out of her reach, they shared a couple words from simple banter, to shouting, to crying then to promises. At the end of their conversation Billy goes in for a hug but she stopped him and instead grabbed his other hand to give it a shake, Billy had a look of understanding and instead just nodded his head and shook her hand with a smile “Fuck.”

“Honestly, this feels like a perfect time for that little pull of the rug because…” from a conversation that started with Steve talking about that guy that was kissing Robin’s crush to the possible end of the world, Steve and Robin sat together and spoke about both their troubles in romance and Vecna “in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low.”

“Yeah, I mean, I get you there, but… I still have hope.”

“Not everything has a happy ending.”

“Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know.” at that he spares Billy and [F/N] a glance, noting how Billy was now casually standing next to Max while watching Nancy testing out her new shotgun with a shortened barrel, he turned away to find [F/N] but narrowed his eyes when she was in the last spot he saw her in “Where did she—”

“Steve?” his head snaps up when he saw [F/N] standing right in front of him, he swallowed thickly as he stared right at her “C-Can we… can we talk? Just the two of us?” he noticed the way she tried to keep her eyes on him but she couldn’t keep it up for long because she quickly averts her eyes away, he spares Robin a look but she nods and gestures for him to go.

“Y-Yeah, sure!” maybe he was a little bit too enthusiastic but he didn’t care, it was her coming to him to talk instead of the other way around. Robin let out a sigh when [F/N] led him away from the others so they could speak privately, feeling a little bitter that she was talking to him first, but she could wait. [F/N] promised they would talk, so she was going to wait. Billy felt nervousness so he looked towards [F/N] and a faint smile graced his lips when he saw that [F/N] was finally going to talk to Steve, good for her.

“Why are you smiling, Billy?” he raised a brow as he looked down at Max, he let out a chuckle and messed with her head.

“None of your business, shitbird.” Steve now found himself standing across from [F/N], he nervously rubbed at his forearm as she stood with her back to him. He didn’t know what was going on in her mind as she stood with her hands to her hips while her foot tapped on the ground, he knew that she was nervous, that he could tell. She was so confident, and arrogant, and crazy like her usual self but now… now she wasn’t the sister he was so used to seeing. This was the fragile part of his sister that he rarely got to see, only on the very rare occasions did he see his sister’s mask slip from her face and the true [F/N] Harrington would show itself.

“[F/N], before you say anything, I just… I just want to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice how much you were struggling when we were kids. How badly mum and dad treated you after you threw everything away, I’m sorry I did nothing to help you. I don’t get— I don’t get why you stayed behind or why you came back.” he let out a sigh, bringing a hand to drag down his face “I don’t— I don’t get why you did it for me when I told you I hated you. You stuck around for so long despite how much I hated you when we were young, I was delusional and selfish that I didn’t understand. I know there’s something that you’re not telling me, something that Eddie knows and he swore he’d never tell me because of how bad it wa—” he was cut off when she was suddenly on him pulling him into a tight hug, he could feel his body begin to tremble when her hands slipped up his body to wrap an arm around his shoulder while the other was soothingly threading through his fingers. It was something she used to do when they were kids and he was scared of being alone, it was something she used to calm him down from nightmares.

“I should be the one apologising, Steve.” she spoke, she was fighting down every urge in her body to not let him go so soon while also trying not to tremble with him in her hold “I was so scared of you knowing the truth, that you’d take it the wrong way and that you’d hate yourself for what happened. But Billy told me that you deserved to know that truth… that you should know the truth.” Steve sniffled then quickly brought his arms up to wrap around her and keep her close, not knowing how long this embrace was going to last so he was going to milk it for everything that it was worth.

“N-No, I get it. It’s fine, I jus—” she shakes her head and let him go, giving him a smile when he whined at the loss.

“No, Steve. You should know.” she turns away again, bringing her arms up to hug herself “You should know what drove me away.”

[the hideout, 1983]

“Once had a love and it was a gas~” it was late at night and it was Corroded Coffin’s live performance at the Hideout, what made that night so significant was because [F/N] had agreed to sing for them that night. Since she worked at the Hideout just to get some extra cash here and there, she was always there to watch their performances and though they weren’t as popular as they wished they were, they were still pretty great. [F/N] wasn’t an official member because they were Corroded Coffin long before they met her and she didn’t want to feel like she was stepping in to steal one of their spots, mostly because she was pretty musically talented all thanks to her mother’s insistence. But tonight was different, Eddie had lost his voice and the other boys were pretty tone deaf when it came to singing so since they knew [F/N], who was pretty well gifted in singing, they begged her to take the spot as their lead vocalist to sing for them. She obviously declined the invitation because a) she hasn’t sung properly in years, and b) they were out of their damn minds, she hasn’t sung in years! They were begging; pleading to get her to agree so when they finally did get her to agree she wanted to be the one to choose which song, if not, they can go get fucked “It soon turned out, I had a heart of glass~” and what better song than “Heart of Glass” by Blondie. They obviously refused because they didn’t want to sing some pop song but that was the only way she’d agree, so when they relented she taught them to play it differently so the patrons of the Hideout didn’t entirely hate them.

“Wow, I didn’t think I was going to like a Blondie song, but they’re pretty good.”

“Yeah, and the vocalist sounds great.” he raises his glass, gaining [F/N]’s attention “Hey! You should sing for those guys more often! You’re great!” she gives him a grin, [F/N] was quickly drawing in a crowd and Eddie couldn’t help but admit that this was the best crowd they’ve had in a long time. [F/N] was having a great time, not remembering the last time she’s felt this exhilarated.

“Riding high on love's true bluish light~” the mic stand stood in between her legs and with each time she sung out “whoa”, her body went lower and lower until her knees were touching the ground while her head was thrown back, mic stand in between her legs as she continued to sing with the mic in her hands “Once had a love and it was a gas. Soon turned out, to be a pain in the ass~” [F/N] was laughing the moment the song was over, panting wildly as she was helped to her feet by Jeff and Nathan, having to be held up by them after losing the feeling in her legs after being on her knees for too long.

“That was fantastic, [F/N]!” Gareth cheered from backstage, she laughed at his enthusiasm from where she was sitting “You should preform for us more often! We basically got a full house!” at the mention Eddie was peeking from behind the curtains, face bright and sweaty.

“You know that this is temporary, Gare-bear.” she thanked one of the waitress’, a friend of hers, when they brought them a round of beers for their great performance “This was a one time thing only since Eddie lost his voice, don’t expect me to relent next time.” as she’s saying this Eddie was grabbing one of the beers but it was taken from him and replaced with a glass of water with a slice of lemon on the rim of the glass, he glared at her and she gave a stern one back.

“But come on, [F/N]! They loved you, don’t you miss performing?” Jeff asked, she made a face.

“Eehhh… maybe.” she answered truthfully, bringing the beer to her lips and taking a sip “But this is your thing, Corroded Coffin? I wouldn’t want to step in on something made and started by the four of you.” they watch Eddie move his hands a little wildly to try and mime what he was saying, luckily for them, they speak Eddie quite fluently so they understood what he was saying.

“Eddie’s right. You’re not coming in uninvited, we’re asking you to join us. You’re a jack of all trades, like if one of us is down, you can take over while we recover. A perfect backup.”

“Y’all are insufferable, you know that right?” they laughed when she walked off, saying she was going outside to get some fresh air or to smoke, she couldn’t remember. She past many drunken patrons but each one of them gave here their compliments on her performance, to which she thanked them with a laugh and smile before finally managing to squeeze her way outside. [F/N] was leaning against a wall outside the Hideout, smoking a cigarette while bobbing her head to the muffled sound of the music inside, today was great. Waking up and not seeing her parents, to her and Steve actually having a good conversation, to now where she actually enjoyed herself singing in front of a crowd. Maybe, just maybe, today will end on a great no—

“[F/N]!” damn, she spoke too soon. The shout of her name startled her, lurching off the wall and coughing up to smoke she had just inhaled into her mouth while also dropping her cigarette. She fans the smoke away while coughing into her fist to see who could have shouted her name, only for her heart to drop into her stomach to see that familiar White 1976 Buick Regal Turbo (this honestly seems like a car he would own)… that was her father’s car.

“D-Dad!” what was he doing in Hawkins? What was he doing on this part of town? He wouldn’t be caught dead here, how did he know that she was there when he basically neglected her entire existence? The only person that could have any clue on where she was would be— ah, goddammit, Steve. She really didn’t want to be alone anywhere near her father, the last time the two of them even acknowledge each other was when they were literally screaming at each other for something she couldn’t remember, probably something about her failing grades or some shit. She saw her father step out of the car along side her mother, but instead of striding up to her like her husband she remained by the car “W-What are you— what are you doing here, dad?”

“I think we both know why I’m here, [F/N].” she hadn’t been afraid of her father in years, he was nothing more than a joke in her eyes, but there was something in his eyes that frightened her that very moment. He stood before her, looming over her as he glared down at her while she struggled to keep her eyes on him, just the haunting look in his eyes made her nervous.

“I-I— I don’t—” she was startled when he grabbed her wrist and started tugging her towards his car “What are you— dad! Stop!” she tries tugging herself free but the grip he had on her was tight and definitely going to leave a bruise. Lauren frowned at the rough treatment but it had to be done, their daughter just wasn’t listening to them anymore and she needed to be taught that the consequences of her actions have finally caught up with her.

“Richard, is this really necessary?” she asked, he only scoffed at his wife’s thoughtless question. 

“If we don’t punish her accordingly, she’s never going to learn.” punishment? What the hell were they planning on doing to her? She was roughly thrown to the ground a few meters away from her mother, wincing when the rough concrete scraped at her hands and arms from the rough landing, she turns her head to look up at her father until her head was thrown in the opposite direction. Why, you ask? Well, that was because Richard Harrington struck his daughter across the face. Lauren flinched when she saw the red mark blossom on that side of her cheek and she could even feel the sting, her own hand subconscious lifting up to caress at her cheek. [F/N] was in disbelief that he father had actually struck her because he didn’t dare do it again when she stormed out of the house and the first person she saw the moment she stepped out of the Harrington household was Jim Hopper himself, and though he could easily have thought that it was just [F/N] picked another fight at school or some random person off the street, the look in her eye said otherwise.

“D-Dad—” she let out a gasp when he grabbed her by her hair and yanked her up, her hands flew up to grab him by his wrists to try and lessen the pain but there was just so much she could do.

“You’ve embarrassed me enough, [F/N]. I feel embarrassed having to be in this part of town just to come find you.” this time he punched her in the face, leaving her to grovel on the ground when he let go of her hair. She tries to push herself up but was only to be kicked down again, he scoffed as he watched his daughter grovel, pathetic “What did I do to have you as my daughter?” Lauren gave [F/N] a pitied look.

“R-RIchard, please—”

“Be quiet, Lauren!” she flinched back, [F/N] looked up at her mother in hopes that she would at least get her father to calm down but her heart dropped into her stomach when she looked away. Ah, so that’s how it is, huh? She grits her teeth when he grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around so that she was on her back, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt before proceeding to beat her face in. Sure, she’s taken beatings from people at the Hideout and the few random strangers looking for a fight, but her father was by no means a weak man. He was big and if he really put his mind to it, he could beat you in a fight. Lauren was struggling to keep her composure each time Richard struck her face, her hands balling into fists each time his fist connected with her face, she let out a breath when Richard stopped for a second to catch his breath “I really didn’t want to have to come to this, [F/N], but you left me no choice.” [F/N] let out a groan when he pulled back to shake his hands, her blood splattered over the concrete floor.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little… drastic? That Sheriff is going to question why she looks like… that in the morning.” Richard scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“This is all because she can’t control herself, Lauren.” [F/N] manages to weakly lift her hand up to caress her face, let out a whimper at the amount of pain she was suffering through, she then weakly pushes herself onto her stomach tries to drag herself away to create of distance “Because of her, Steven is beginning to act rebellious! He’s starting to ignore us just like she did, and who knows how long till he stops caring! His grades are beginning to fall and he’ll end up just as much of a failure as our daughter who will never amount to anything! Because of her, Steven is started to act up towards us that he even told us to think of her!” [F/N] paused at what he said, Steve did… what? She knew that he was probably doing it out of the kindness of his heart, but because Steve stood up to their parents— to their father, he was taking his anger out on her? God, these were the times she wished Steve would just stay out of her business. She didn’t need his help for something as useless as mercy from their father, this never would happened if he just kept his goddamn mouth shut!

“Where did we go wrong?” 

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll just make sure she doesn’t get any future ideas.” her heart dropped into her stomach when she realised he turned his attention back to her, but she wasn’t going to take it anymore, not this time. The moment she felt him grab her by the shoulder she let out a grunt elbowed him hard in the nose, causing him to cry out in pain when she managed to break his nose, Lauren was quick to his side as [F/N] pushed herself so that she wasn’t on her stomach anymore and pushed herself away “You little brat!” she was panting wildly as she stared up at her parents in fear, but slowly, it turned into a burning hatred. She weakly pushes herself onto her feet, swaying a little after the continuous blows to the face, but manages to stand tall and glare at her father.

“You’re pathetic, mum.” she sneered out, spitting out the blood that pooled up in her mouth and wiping away the blood dripping from her nose “Fuck you too, dad. You’re an asshole and you’re both terrible parents.” she stared at them for a couple seconds before finally turning her back to them and walking back towards the Hideout, she didn’t bother giving them the satisfaction of looking at them when her father shouted at her.

“I’m no father of yours, [F/N]! From this day going forward, you’re no longer my daughter! You’ll never become anything without the Harrington name! You’re nothing!” she scoffed. “I was never your daughter to begin with.” she grits her teeth when she was left alone in the car park when she heard the tyres from her father— no, from Richard’s car screech when they pulled out and drove off. Her bottom lip trembled but she refused to cry, refused to give them the satisfaction that they got to her, so she held her head up and—

“[F/N]…?” her eyes widened when they met with Eddie’s, a look of absolute horror on his face. Did he… did he see all of that? His words fell to deaf ears because she was looking everywhere but at his face, her eyes started to blur with tears while her arms brought her hands to her face in an attempt to hide the damage Richard did but there was nothing she could do when Eddie grabbed her by her wrists and tried to pull them away so he could get a look at what he did to her “[F/N], oh my god, I’m so sorry I did— I heard you shouting and then I saw— I’m sorry I didn’t step in! I’m sorry!” he winced at the sound of how hoarse his voice was but he had to speak, he had to apologise that he couldn’t help her. He watched as that terrified look on her face melted away and was replaced with one of deep sadness, she let out a whimper until it turned into full on sobbing. Eddie pulled her into a hug and she cried into his chest, her arms weakly wrapping around him. He didn’t care if her blood mixed with her tears were smearing on his t-shirt, he could always get a new one, just right now he knew he needed to comfort his best friend.

“I-I don’t know what I did… I don’t know what I did to deserve this, Eddie.” he shook his head.

“You didn’t deserve this, [F/N], not at all. They just weren’t made to be parents, they didn’t know how to value you and your brother. Don’t even think for a second you deserved to be beaten like this.” she let out a cry and pulled herself closer to him, her fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt “You’re better than what they say you are, you are perfect and you are amazing.” she whined into his chest, when she finally pulled away she wiped at her face but winced at the pain.

“H-How much— how much exactly did you hear?” he frowned at her.

“Everything.” she grimaced and looked away, he tilted his head to get a look at her face “You gonna tell Ste—” a panicked look immediately appeared on her face.

“No! No, you can NOT tell Steve, you can’t!” she pressed a hand to her mouth “We only just fixed the damage of our relationship, if I tell him that it was because of what he said to them then he might not forgive himself, he might never look at me the same.” “But—” she shook her head.

“Eddie, promise me that you’ll NEVER tell him. I’ll take this to the grave if I have to, but he can never know about this from anyone but me.” he knew by that that she was NEVER going to tell him, but that desperate look in her swollen eyes got him to nod his head, albeit reluctantly.

“Alright, fine. I promise.” she softly nod her head.

“Good… good.” he catches her when she starts to sway again, he finally takes that as a sign to bring her back inside to help tend to the wounds he knew how to aid.

[present time]

“M-Me…? It was me?” the moment she finished her story Steve was staring at her in shock, he remembered that day. He remembered that day when their parents gave them their surprise visits, how their father complained about their useless daughter and how he couldn’t wait for the day she moved out so he didn’t have to house filth like her, though he shouldn’t have his expectations high for the one that was probably going to fail. Steve remembered how he finally raised his voice to their father, yelling at him that he shouldn’t talk about [F/N] like that when she used to be their pride and joy until they noticed how she had no more value to them and that they only had him because their first born was a mere daughter, something insignificant to them. He remembered how their parents left and soon as they returned and in the morning he was shocked to see [F/N] beaten and bruised at school, everyone thought that she had gotten into a fight at the Hideout because that was usually the reason as to why she’d ever look like that, even he thought that was the case “D-Dad, he— he did that to you?” she meekly nodded her head.

“I thought… I thought he was going to kill me, honestly.” she felt tears in her eyes “I was so scared, Steve. And I was angry because— because I just— fuck! I hate him, I hate him so much, Steve! And I hate mum because she went to him when I fought back! She didn’t even try to help me, and so I hate her for not trying! And I hated you, Steve! Because of you my life fell apart because I loved you, I loved my baby brother that hated me! I don’t know why I tried, but I knew if I gave up I’d just be letting them win! I just— I just wanted what we had before everything went to shit. I just wanted us to be siblings.” her face fell into her hands and she started to cry, wrapping her arms around herself and cried in front of Steve. She felt Steve approach her and instead of pulling her into a hug he just simply placed her hand on her shoulder.

“I… I’m glad you told me, [F/N]. I can tell that this is the first time you have been honest about your feelings.” he gave her a nervous laugh, looking away while scratching his cheek “I was a real asshole, I don’t know why you stuck around when you did. I don’t know why you loved me when you had every right to hate me, so in every twisted way, I’m glad you at least hated me.” she stared at him weirdly before bursting out into laughter.

“You’re weird, Steve.” soon he’s laughing with her after her claim, now they’re staring at each other breathless with silence falling over them. She flinched lightly when he raised his arms as an indication for a hug, she stared for a couple seconds but sighed and hugged him, and this time… this time she was able to relax into it, the two of them smiling brightly in their embrace. She let her head rest on his shoulder, her head leaning against the side of his head while her eyes closed. Her eyes opened and there she saw Billy staring at her with a warm smile, his hand lifting up to give her a thumbs up then turned his attention back to Max “I’m sorry, Steve.” he nod his head.

“And I’m sorry too, [F/N].” they stand there a couple seconds longer before letting each other go “Will you talk to Robin? I think she really needs it.” [F/N] takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and pinching her nose.

“Steve, taking to her might be a little harder for me.” her hand moved to her cover her mouth “I cheated on her, man, and she saw me doing it. Then I left her alone after breaking up with her and threatening her.” he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“And as much as I hate you for it, you and I both know you did it to protect her from the Mind Flayer.” she closed her eyes.

“But… you didn’t see the look in her eyes. I really am… our father’s child.”

“There’s no need for you to stoop so low just to insult yourself, [F/N].”

“But it’s true, isn’t it? I’m so much like him that it’s almost scary.”

“Then be better than him, because unlike him, you actually apologise.” he watched for a couple seconds when she finally nodded her head.

“What about you?” he raised a brow “You gonna talk with Billy about sort of relationship you’re going to have after all this? He still loves you, man.” she raised a brow when he let out a sigh, rubbing at his neck.

“I-I don’t know, I love Eddie, but Billy…” he shook his head, she pats his arm.

“Talk to him— them, talk to them both and see what to do from this point forward. If I’m talking to her, then you’ve got to talk to him. You’ve been dodging him as much as I’ve been dodging her. It’s only fair.” 

“… alright, fine.” she smiles, they both go off in opposite directions and [F/N] found herself taking Steve’s seat beside Robin. She was startled when she took a seat beside her, to which she thought it was Steve at first, so imagine her surprise when she turned to ask how his conversation went with [F/N], only to see her herself in his spot.

“[F/N]…” she muttered out softly, [F/N] still didn’t look at her and just looked up at the sky, her eyes closing as she felt the sun shining down on her.

“I missed the sun.” she spoke “Spent eight months in the dark with nothing but dark clouds and red lightning, We couldn’t even tell how many days went by because we had no sun to show if a day went by, not even clocks worked. I’d honestly rather not help with this suicide mission, I’d honestly rather just lounge around and bask in the sun, feels more productive if I’m being honest.” Robin nodded her head.

“I agree.” [F/N] hears Robin shuffle around for a couple seconds before settling down, she heard something rattle and only turned to face her when she spoke her name “[F/N], I have something of yours.” she looked down at her hands and her eyes widened when she saw what it was.

“That— I wasn’t finished with that!” it was the mixtape that she made her, she tries to take it but Robin pulls it out of her reach before she could take it “Robin, I—”

“I got pretty depressed, [F/N].” her eyes widened slightly at that “Maybe I would have gotten Vecna’ed if it weren’t for your mixtape, I didn’t know you sang at the very end because I would constantly replay it just because it was the last gift I got from you. It was the only thing I had left of your voice, and I’d be lying if I didn’t crave more. Man, I haven’t even told Steve about it.” [F/N] dropped her hand to her side.

“I-I’m… I’m sorry.” she takes a deep breath “I didn’t want to do what I had done, Robin. Believe me, I didn’t. I did everything to divert its attention on others so it wouldn’t target you and Steve, but that once instance you saw us in that alleyway and you were within arms reach… it made me want to strangle you and watch as the color would drain out of you.” Robin looked down and saw how one of her hands closed into a tight first, her other hand clamping down on her wrist “I couldn’t let it take you away, so I did the only thing I could think of to drive you away… even if it meant I’d lose you forever. I’m [F/N] Harrington, the one who lost everything.”

“I’ve forgiven you, but I can’t lie and say I didn’t hate you. I thought you loved me, that the rumours that the eldest daughter of the Harrington couple was a heartbreaker wasn’t true. You clearly loved me more than all those other flings, but that instance broke me, because you made me feel like all those other girls she tossed aside. I thought of was different from those other girls, that we were simply meant to be and you were my dream come true. I want us to work, I want us to be together… but I don’t know.” 

“Why would you want to be with me again?” she asked “I… I heard yours and Steve’s conversation before I took him away. You’ve clearly met someone else, Robin, don’t you want to try and work it out with them first before giving me a second chance?” she let out a sigh.

“I don’t think it’d work out with her, I saw her at the War Zone kissing her boyfriend.”

“Oh.” wow, what a way to rub salt into the wound. 

“Besides, I don’t even know if she swings that way to begin with, so I can’t take any real chances.” she nod her head and neither one of them know how to continue the conversation so they settle in silence once more, [F/N] flinched when she felt Robin’s hands bump against hers, she looked over and saw her offering her hand “It will take a long time for the both of us to love each other the way we did before, so before that, how’s about we settle with being friends again?” [F/N] looked down at her hand then at her face, Robin saw the way her hand hesitated to take hers, it flinching back when it lightly touched hers before finally settling down into the palm of her hand. Robin closed her hand around her and gave her a tearful smile, she could feel [F/N]’s hand tremble within hers so she squeezed her hand reassuringly. 

“Yeah… yeah, I can settle with being friends again.” they’re holdings hands and smiling nervously at each other, yeah, this will do. Robin noticed her flinch once more before turning her head in the direction where Steve, Billy and Eddie were. They watched the inaudible conversation to see that Steve was doing most of the talking, keeping a hand on Billy to keep him calm as he spoke to them both, they could only guess that Steve still had a bit of love left for Billy and unlike [F/N] who did break up with Robin, Steve and Billy’s relationship statue was a little unknown. In the end it was Steve pulling Billy into a hug then Eddie joining them with a big smile, Eddie felt eyes on him and saw it was [F/N] staring. She gave a questionable thumbs up but her face brightened when Eddie smiled and gave her a confident thumbs up, she grins and nods her head “Aw, it looks like they worked things out… hopefully.”

“Hopefully?”

“Remember how I said Billy and I feel the same thing?” she nods her head “I still feel a tiny bit of anger inside of Billy, though that’s probably just the possessive side of him and how he just wants Steve to himself. Unfortunately for him, he’s going to share now. I told him it would happen.”

“Would you be angry if I moved on?” she shook her head.

“I would have preferred it, because at least you would have found happiness with someone else instead of clinging to me who could no longer give it to you.” they enjoyed the rest of the time they had left together, still holding hands until Nancy called out to them that it was time. They first dropped Lucas, Erica, Max and Billy off at the Creel house, though [F/N] was a little hesitant to let Billy go because they haven’t been apart since they found each other in the Upside Down. She called him lucky that he didn’t have to go back in there, but he reasoned that someone had to keep an eye on his stupid little sister, so why not him? The others in the RV immediately noticed [F/N]’s change in character, how she settled herself in the back and was gripping her axe pretty slightly that could hear the wood begin to snap from the constant pressure they were sure she was going to snap it in half but was calmed down when Eddie moved from his spot beside Steve to comfort his friend.

“You doing alright?” she let out a shaky breath, her grip loosening for a second before going tight again.

“No.” she spoke, her voice strained “Throughout everything that happened with us, we were always together. I was losing my mind when I was in the Upside Down all alone, and now I’m going in there again without him. I’m anxious, Eddie.” she growled softly when he smacked her in the arm, glaring at him for doing such a thing but her gaze softened when he gave her a confident grin despite the nervousness seen in his eyes.

“But… you’ll have me.” her face softened at his words “And Dustin, but— you get the point, right? You won’t be alone, and you won’t be possessed/brainwashed/flayed. You will be you.” she stared at him then chuckled, dropping her face into her hands and shaking her head lightly.

“Sure, alright. You’ll make do, I suppose.” he gasped, placing a hand on his chest in an offended way.

“Is my presence not enough for the [F/N] Harrington? Why, I never.” she laughed and pushed him, Steve glanced back at the two through the rear view mirror, grinning himself when he saw Eddie wrap an arm around [F/N]’s shoulders and shake her around, at least he managed to calm her down. When he returned his gaze towards the road he let out a shaky breath.

“We’re here.” he announced, the mood immediately shifted and they hastily got ready.

“Okay. I wanna run through it one more time.” Nancy speaks, all eyes on her as she goes through the plan one more time “Phase one.”

“We meet Erica in the playground.” Robin starts “She’ll signal Max, Lucas and Billy when we’re ready.”

“Phase two?”

“Max baits Vecna.” Steve adds “He’ll go after her, which’ll put him in his trance.”

“Phase three?”

“Me, Eddie and [F/N] draw the bats away.” Dustin adds, to which both Eddie grabs places his hand on Dustin’s head to ruffle his head while [F/N] grabbed his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“Four.”

“We head into Vecna’s newly bat free laid, and… flambé.” Robin finishes.

“Nobody moves on to the next phase until we’ve all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?” they all nod their heads and with that they collect their gear and head out to Eddie’s trailer. Steve’s the first to enter the trailer, taking his bag off and tossing it to [F/N] who walked in behind him.

“Be careful.” she warned, he nods his head.

“Thanks. Here goes nothing.” they watch as he climbed through the fissure and when he was inside the Upside Down and gravity did its thing, he managed to flip his body around and land on his feet.

“Copycat.” [F/N] murmured, Robin chuckled.

“What does he want us to do, applaud?” this caused [F/N] to laugh and lightly tap her arm.

“I think it’d inflate his ego.” this caused them all to share a laugh, when Steve disappeared she cracked her neck and through her axe through and followed right after Steve, landing perfectly on her feet inside the Upside Down and giving Steve a smug look just as he came back into the room with another mattress.

“Show off.”

“Says you.” she picks up her axe, throwing it over her shoulder and watched Steve put the mattress under the fissure so the others could have a softer landing. Nancy was next through, Robin going to a knee so Nancy could step onto her thigh and lift herself through. She let out a grunt when she landed on the mattress and when she opened her eyes she was met with both [F/N] and Steve offering her a hand to help her up, letting out a yelp when she was literally thrown to her feet by the both of them. Next to go through was her stuff then Eddie, [F/N] let out a giggle as she hovered over his face with a grin to which he slowly mirrored it when she offered her hand to help him up. Followed him was his stuff then Robin, being helped up by Nancy and Steve and lastly the rest of the stuff and Dustin, who was yanked up by Steve and Eddie “Oh my babies! Mummy’s back!” [F/N] cooed as she kicked the door to Eddie’s trailer open, her arms wide open as she stepped out to greet her babies that waited patiently by her car.

“She’s got demodogs?” Dustin shouted at Steve, watching as [F/N] dropped to her knees to coo and coddle the five demodogs that were chittering and jumping around in excitement, happy to see one of their owners again.

“Yeah, she and Billy trained them better than you could ever.” Dustin let out an offended gasp, [F/N] just shook her head and pulled out some beef jerky and feed them to the demodogs.

“I’m sorry daddy isn’t here, but he wants me to send his love to you.” they whine at that but were happy nonetheless to see her after being separated from her for so long, she goes a few gestures with hands as she stood up then pointed her fingers to where Steve, Nancy and Robin were, they understood and left her side to stand with them “I told them to go with you to help take down Vecna, they should listen to you, Steve. And if they act smart, tell them they’re being bad.” Steve nervously looked down at the demodogs that stared up at him, he wished they had a face so he could tell if they were thinking of eating him “They’re not gonna eat you.”

“I wasn’t thinking that!” she just nodded her head.

“Right.” she shook her head and went over to where Eddie and Dustin were, Steve let out a sigh and turned towards them.

“Hey. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep ‘em busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna. Don’t try to be cute or be a hero or something, and I’m looking at you, [F/N].” he takes her hands and rubs his thumbs over her knuckles “I-I can’t… I can’t lose you, not again.” she gave him a soft smile.

“Yeah, I promise, I won’t do what I did last time. You’ll come back and I’ll be right here in one piece.” he raises his head and saw she was giving him a big grin, he let out a shaky breath, Eddie smiled himself and placed his hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. You can be the hero, Steve.” Dustin says from behind him, to which Eddie nods.

“Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes.” he nods at Eddie’s words but still hesitates to leave, scared that this was going to be the last time he saw Dustin and Eddie… that this will be the last time he was seeing [F/N]. He let out a breath when [F/N] pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and letting him relax into her hold.

“I promise you Steve, we’ll be right here waiting for you.” she feels him nod and though reluctant she let him go, she gives him a nod and gestures for him to go. He slowly nods then finally turns to leave with Nancy and Robin, well, that was until Eddie stepped forward and spoke.

“Hey, Steve?” despite only calling his name, they all turn around and look at Eddie. Steve raised a brow to indicate that he was listening, and though he felt like he was on the spot, he glanced back towards [F/N]. She gave him a look but she could see in his eyes that he was asking for permission to— she stared at him and likely glared at him for even thinking about— oh what the hell, she let out a sigh but nodded. He gave her a grateful smile before surging forward and grabbing Steve by the collar of his jacket, yanking him towards him and pulling him into a kiss. Nancy and Robin respectfully looked away while [F/N] rolled her eyes and lifted her hand to cover Dustin’s eyes. They were panting when they pulled away but chuckled softly together, letting their foreheads rest against each other as they caught their breath “Make him pay.”

“You’ve got it.” Eddie finally lets them leave, he watched him a little longer than he should have because when he turned around he was met with [F/N] glaring at him with her arms crossed.

“What?” she rolled her eyes.

“Make him pay.” she mimicked in her best Eddie voice before scoffing “Real smooth, romeo.” he shoved her.

“Oh, yeah? Like you can do better!” she raised a brow at him, giving him a incredulous expression.

“Please, you reek of virginity. Despite being with Steve for as long as you did, I know you’ve gotten no dick nor ass.” she snickers when his face turned bright red, she ignored his shouting but stopped when she heard panting, looking down only to see one of the demodogs had stayed behind “You— I told you to go help Steve and the others! Go!” it only let out a whine while tilting its head to the side, she let out a sigh as she kneeled down to pet its head “Oh, how could I stay mad at you. Staying by my side till the very end, such devoted loyalty.”

“Shall we get started?” Dustin asked from behind her, she glanced in the direction Steve at them went and let out a sigh.

“Yeah, let’s do this.” the two use bolt cutters to clip away at the wires on the fence while [F/N] effortlessly tears it off herself with her barehands, she glares at the two when they forced her to carry the heavy stuff they needed to barricade Eddie’s trailer. She’s holding Dustin by the scruff of his jacket so he could help Eddie screw sheets of iron over the windows, she gave up helping them and in the end sat on the hood of her car feeding her demogorgon bits of beef jerky while eating some herself.

“You going to help us?!” she looked up at them.

“Nah, you got this.” they groan at her, she got up when she saw they were done and stood beside Dustin.

“Not bad at all.” she hummed.

“Well done, doesn’t look like it’s gonna fall apart.” he glare at her.

“No thanks to you.” Eddie shook his head.

“Now for the fun part.” he spoke and rushes to his room, the other two lagging behind. He came to a stop at the sight of his prized guitar, a gift both herself and Wayne pitched in the moment he desired to own such a beauty “Jesus chr… it’l like… she was destined fo ran alternate dimension. What do you say Henderson, Harrington?” he spoke, slowly approaching his guitar before grabbing it and picking it up from where it was hanging “Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?”

“That a rhetorical question.” [F/N] chuckled at him.

“Let’s do it.” they’re back outside setting up the rest of the stuff on top of Eddie’s trailer, him leaving the technical stuff to the two smart people but stopped [F/N] so he could talk with her “Hey.” she smiled softly at him.

“Hey. What’s up, dude?” she looked down when she noticed he had something behind his back before revealing it to her, her eyes widened slightly at what she saw “E-Eddie, no. I can’t—” what he was handing her was a microphone he found laying around.

“It’s been years since the last time I’ve heard you sing, [F/N].”

“And you know why I don’t.” he nods softly. 

“Yeah, and I don’t want to overstep, but I’d love to hear you sing… even if it’s for the last time.” he pushes the mic into her hand and walks off, she stares at his retreating form then glares at him.

“Are you guilt tripping me, you son of a bitch?” he didn’t answer her and left her to mull over the option of singing as he played, she was sitting over the edge of the trailer and felt a tug on the end of the mic to see that it was Dustin plugging it in, he gave her a thumbs up and she thought, fuck it, why the hell not?

“She’s in. Move on to phase three.” hearing Robin’s voice through the walkie talkie caused them all to look over at each other, they share a nod and get ready as Dustin brings it to his lips to speak.

“Copy that. Initiating phase three. Let’s hope they hear this.” [F/N] lets out a yawn as she stands to her feet, grabbing at the mic stand and setting up the mic while grabbing at the discarded bottle of alcohol she brought and took a swig from it then throwing it away.

“Don’t worry about that, they’ll hear it for sure.” Dustin plugs in the amp and nods at Eddie, who returns it.

“Chrissy, this is for you.” he rips his pick off his neck and strikes his guitar, the intro to “Master of Puppets” by Metallica beginning to play, both herself and Dustin smile and bob their head to Eddie shredding on the guitar and absolutely having the time of his life but paused for a second to look over at [F/N]. They stare at each other for a couple seconds before she rolled her eyes and looking down at the mic, she let out a sigh before grabbing it and screaming into it.

“Yeeeah!” the shout definitely startled Dustin because he wasn’t expecting it but Eddie grinned, this was the [F/N] he knew and missed. The gang heading into the Creel house heard from where they were Eddie’s guitar but they didn’t expect to hear [F/N]’s voice singing along to Eddie’s playing, Robin and Steve look at each other and smile. [F/N] was grinning, tapping her foot against the ground and head banging to the sound of music in her ears, her mind going back to the time when she wasn’t so afraid of performing, this was something she definitely missed “Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings~” at the break of the song she lets out a pant and looks over at Eddie, their eyes meet and they start laughing. She steps towards him with the mic and then they’re singing together as if it were old times, not like they were about to get eaten by a flock of deadly demobats.

“Eddie! [F/N]!” they look over at him “We gotta lock down in t-minus thirty seconds!” they nod and keep going.

“Master, master! Just call my name ‘cause I’ll hear you scream~” both her and Eddie then shake their heads, hair flying everywhere when Eddie starts to shred of the guitar as Dustin gives them their countdown and they only stop when Dustin screams out one, the cord of the last note echoing through the now empty Upside Down but then they’re screaming when they realised a lot of the demobats were heading their way. [F/N] immediately drops the mic and grabs Eddie by his arm and shoves him forward, to which he drops his guitar and the both of them are rushing over to grab Dustin and push him back.

“Move! Move! Move!”

“Let’s go!”

“Hurry it up!” she brings her fingers to her lips and whistles sharply, her demodog shooting past the lot of them and waiting by the door.

“Eddie, come on!”

“Hurry!” Dustin was the first in the trailer followed by [F/N] and her demodog, leaving Eddie to close off the fenced gate he and Dustin made before finally jumping into the trailer and closing the door right behind him. [F/N] is panting, trying to catch her breath after just singing and then running away while also checking on her demodog, leaving Dustin and Eddie to geek out after their performance “Dude! Most metal ever!”

“Oh my… oh my god!” she just shook her head, her hand gently petting her baby “Dude, [F/N]! You were great! I’m was so happy to hear your voice again.” she just shrugged her shoulders.

“Eh, it was nothing. You sounded great on your guitar, never lost your touch.” he pulls her onto her feet and hugs her, smiling when he felt her drape herself over his shoulder and lazily hug him back. They both raise a brow when they felt something else so they look over and see that it was Dustin wrapping his arms around the both of them and leaning into their hug, they shake their head and include him. The three of them now found themselves underneath the fissure back to back, slowly moving and watching for anything, any sign of one of the demobats breaking through the barricade as they banged at the walls and screeched. [F/N] furrowed her brows when the screeching stopped, even her demodog snapped its head up when it noticed the lack of noise.

“Hey, dipshits!” Dustin’s sudden screaming startled her and Eddie, causing the two of them to whip their heads towards him “Give up that easy, huh?!” [F/N] slams her hand on top of his head and shakes it while Eddie hisses at him.

“Shh! Is that really necessary?”

“Don’t try and be brave, kid.” they hear clattering and look up, [F/N] grimaced at the realisation “Just great.”

“Shit, shit, shit.”

“They’re on the roof.” they’re following the sound though [F/N] made sure her demodog went ahead of them as they stuck close to Dustin, they were making all sorts of noise on the roof that they all grimaced at the thought of them somehow getting inside. They stop when her demodog was growling at the vent, Dustin paled and look back at them.

“They can’t get in through there, can they?” their eyes widened when one of the bats broke through the vent and snarled at them.

“Oh yes they can! Move!” she shook her head when they both started yelling, she grabbed her demodog and pulled him back to allow Eddie and Dustin to stab at the thing through the vents.

“Die! Die!” it was a little funny watching them jab at the thing while continuously screaming “die” at it, it was amusing “You gonna help us or what?!” she just shrugged.

“You guys look like you’ve got this handled!” it was startling to see how calm she was in this situation, well, what did they expect from someone who survived in the Upside Down for eight months, half of it spent alone while also fighting monsters bigger than herself. She wasn’t scared in the slightest, the only thing that made her nervous was Eddie and Dustin getting hurt. Her eyes then settled on the nailed shields and thought of an idea, she leaves their side and picks one up “Move, move!” they move and she blocks the vent, the nails digging through the ceiling and allowing it to stay in place.

“Good thinking.”

“Thanks.” Dustin’s panting on the floor when a thought comes to mind.

“Are there other vents?” Eddie and [F/N] look at each other.

“Oh, shit!” [F/N] was quick to leave his side and rush to his room with the other three following, when she got to his room a swarm of them burst through the air vent and were quick to fill up the room. She let out a growl and quickly closed the door before any could get any further, she grimaced as she backed away and kept her eyes on it, pushing Eddie back into the living room where her demodog was tugging Dustin back.

“That’s not gonna hold!” he shouts.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Eddie looked at [F/N] and saw she still hadn’t moved yet, her grip violent on her axe that he was sure it was going to snap in half. She jumped when he grabbed her by the arm, she looked back towards him and he gently tugged her arm “Let’s go.” he gestured with his head towards Dustin and there they saw the terrified look on his face, she looked back at Eddie and nodded her head.

“Alright.” they let Dustin go through first, her kneeling down and cupping her hands to give him a hand, she didn’t want her demodog getting torn to shreds either so she chucked him through and went to follow. She didn’t bother catching herself this time and instead landed on the mattress, laying on it for a couple seconds before rolling off it and letting out a tired groan “This better be over.” she pushed herself up so she was leaning on her hands, chuckling softly when her demodog rubbed his head against her shoulder.

“Eddie?” she looked up and noticed the way Eddie stopped climbing as he looked back at them then back at the door to his room, some sort of realisation dawned on his face that caused [F/N] to stand to her feet when he moved away from the rope connecting them to the Upside Down.

“What are you doing?” she called out to him, her eyes widening when she saw him grab his spear “Eddie, no!” he then cuts the rope, she reached forward and their half dropped into her hands.

“Eddie! Stop, what are you doing?!” Eddie goes so far as to move the mattress so if they did manage to get through they had nothing to break their fall, he comes back into view and gives them an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, but I’m buying more time!”

“No!”

“You’re going to get yourself killed! You don’t stand a chance against them alone!” he gave a shrug and turned, her hands were in her hair as she tried to think of anything to get him to stop “Ste… Steve loves you, Eddie!” this was enough to get him to pause, she took that as her chance to keep going “He loves you, Eddie, and I do to. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him if you’re gone… he already lost me and Billy, I don’t want to be there to tell him he lost you too. Please, don’t do this.” Eddie looked up at her.

“Are you saying that to guilt trip me?” the sadness in her voice immediately dropped as she gave him a glare.

“Is it working?”

“Yeah, it almost did.” he turned his back to her and started walking away, laughing softly when he heard her shout at him.

“You motherfucker! I’m gonna break your goddamn legs when I come get your ass! Just you wait, you piece of shit! I’m gonna kick you ass if you walk away, Eddie! Don’t you fucking dare, Eddie!” and with that he was out the door and drawing the demobats away liked he said he would, her hand closed into a tight fist as a deadly look washed over her face.

“[F-F/N]! What are we going to do?” he flinched back when he saw how livid she was.

“I’m going after him, that’s what I’m doing.” she whistles and her demodog was at her feet, he jumps into her arms to which she quickly but as gently as she could chucked him back through into the Upside Down, letting out a breath of relief when he didn’t get hurt too badly because there wasn’t a soft landing to break his fall.

“A-And what about me? What am I supposed to do?” she ignored him to find a chair.

“You’re staying here.” was all she said when she found a chair high enough to help her jump through, she sets it down when Dustin grabbed her arm. “No! I want to help! Let me help you!” his breath hitched in his throat when she turned back towards him, grabbing him by his biceps and shaking him softly.

“YOU are staying right HERE!” she gave him a sad look by the terrified look her gave her, she shook her head and let him go “You have to stay here, because if you get hurt Steve will have my head that I wasn’t able to protect both you and Eddie! We’re supposed to be waiting right here for them… but he just had to go off and save this shitty town that doesn’t deserve him!” she left him with that, turning away to jump onto the chair then pull herself through the fissure, letting out a grunt when she landed on the ground on her side. She dusted herself off and quickly stood to her feet, not sparing Dustin another look despite him calling her name, throwing the door open and grimacing at the sight of the swarm of demobats following after Eddie. Her face relaxed when she saw that her car was still where she left it so she reached into her pocket for her keys, only to pale when she didn’t feel them anywhere so she desperately pats at all the pockets she had and didn’t find them anywhere. Where were they? She always kept them in her pocket, she couldn’t have— she paused when she remembered him pulling her into that hug, that bastard must have taken them then.

“Ah!” the pained scream caused her to whip her head around to see that Dustin have followed her, spraining his ankle in the process from the awkward landing.

“What are you— why did you follow me? I told you to stay back!” she rushes to his side to turn onto his back, he grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled himself up so that they were face to face.

“Like hell I was going to be left behind, you’re taking me with you!” she stared at him, he saw her face twitch as she debated her choices “We don’t have enough time, come on!” she let out a groan.

“Fucking, fine!” when she stood up he expected her to help him up but instead she picked him up and threw him over her shoulder, kicking the door open and whistle again to get her demodog to follow her. She opens the passenger side door and plops him down in the sit, closing the door behind him then going over to the drivers side. Dustin watched as she punched through the underside of her stirring wheel and rip out a couple wires, using her axe to cut through a couple to expose the conductors, striking them a couple times and gritting her teeth when her engine sputtered but didn’t roar “Fucking asshole! Stealing my keys. Making me hot wire my own car. I’m gonna kill him! He’s gonna be revoked of his best friend rights.” she and Dustin let out a cheer when she finally managed to get her car to start, her hand slapping against her console before jumping in.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” she didn’t hesitate to change gears, her foot slamming down on the gas and driving like crazy to where the bats and hopefully still Eddie were. Right now she didn’t care about how much noise she was making, driving cautiously in the Upside Down didn’t matter because she needed to get those fuckers attention so they weren’t swarming Eddie as much, but the roar of her car did little to nothing in comparison to a real meal being presented to them. She slams on the breaks when she finally finds Eddie, her heart dropping into her stomach at the sight of him being held down by those fuckers as they ate away.

“Eddie!” she cried out over his own screams, she grits her teeth and kicks her door open while grabbing her axe. She’s running over as quickly as she could to get to Eddie before it’s too late, her demodog running ahead of her to get to the demobats holding him down. Eddie lets out a gasp at the sight but was astonished when the blade of [F/N]’s bloodied axe comes into view, her veins now black as she let out an animalistic roar at the monsters. She’s killing them easily, the blade of her axe splitting them in two and their blood smearing all over her face and clothes, she goes so far as to picking up his fallen spear and breaking the blade of it off, stabbing at one of the demobats that was holding him down and ripping another in half after grabbing a hold of it “You’re a lucky son of a bitch, you bitch.” he let out a wheeze, coughing up blood but still managing to laugh.

“I knew you’d come...” she scowled at him, leaning down to grab him by the waist and hoist him onto her shoulder. 

“I’m still telling on you.” that was enough to get him to shut up, now she was aimlessly swinging to keep the bats away from her, using her arm to bat them away as well. She ignored the few that attached themselves to the few exposed spots on her body, biting into her flesh and ripping her skin off, but she ignored them and hurried along to get Eddie in her car and safe. Dustin was shouting at her to run, for her to hurry, and alright kid she was trying her damn hardest, but she finally managed and threw him in the back sit but before she could even get in she was suddenly grabbed by her ankle and dragged back.

“[F/N]!” she let out a grunt when they were. really beginning to swarm her, raising her arms so they didn’t get too close to her face. She grabs at the fallen dagger and stabs it through the mouth of one of the bats that was aiming for her face, she would have been in real trouble if her demodog wasn’t there as her sidekick. It fought off the remaining few surrounding her before grabbing her by the back of her jacket and dragged her back to her car before jumping in himself “Y-You’re okay…” Dustin breathed out, arms reaching forward when she got in, bloodied and breathing heavily, but otherwise alright.

“Yeah, but not for long!” the screeching of the bats snapped their heads up, now the two boys in her car were shouting at her to drive, she didn’t need to be told that twice. Losing the bats were easy, they were no match for her mustang, but losing them they couldn’t afford. They still needed to do their job and distract those fuckers long enough for Steve, Nancy and Robin to put that Vecna bitch in the grave so she had to keep a fair distance from those bastards until they were done. So for now her arm reached back to where Eddie was laying and started hitting him “You motherfucker!”

“Ah, hey! I-I’m bleeding back here!” she hits him again. 

“How fucking dare you, Eddie! How dare you put me in that situation! You were going to be killed and I was going to have to be that person to tell him that you were gone! You were going to die for something so… dumb!” her eyes started to get blurry with tears, she sniffled “He told you not be a hero, dammit. Why didn’t you listen?” he stared at the back of her head, his own vision getting blurry from the lack of blood along with his new wounds. 

“Don’t know… wanted to be like you.” she looked at him through the rear view mirror “Strong… brave… confident. You’re amazing, [F/N],” she let out a shuddered laugh.

“I’m anything but that. I’m weak, fragile and scared. I’m angry and broken, and I’m about to shatter if you die so if you die I’m snitching on you.” he laughs weakly.

“You’re snitching regardless.”

“Yes, I am.” at this point she was just driving around aimlessly, those fuckers weren’t getting tired and they certainly weren’t giving up any time soon, persistent bastards. She started to slow only when she noticed they were beginning to fall like flies, she came to a halt when they were all beginning to drop from the sky and die, she let out a tired huff and dropped onto her wheel “They did it…” Dustin hobbles out of the car and let out a relieved smile at the sight of all the bats dying.

“Whoo! They did it! They actually killed Vecna!” he let out a scream when a bat landed on the car, he then noticed that [F/N] was in the backseat and giving Eddie basic aid to try and stop his wounds from bleeding. She rolled her eyes when he started complaining that she was making it hurt, oh yeah? Keep complaining and she’ll make sure it hurts even more “Eddie, you asshole! I’d hit you if you weren’t practically dying right now.”

“Hit him, I’ll patch him up.” Eddie and Dustin share a look, she chuckles when Eddie was left groaning because Dustin managed to kick him in the shin “Well done, now sit still you bitch.” she tightens the makeshift bandages she was using out of her torn shirt and try and stop the bleeding.

“Nnhh, I’m tryin…” she frowned when he was started to slur his words, they needed to get him to a hospital quick or at least get him cleaned up and properly stitched up. She knew a thing or two about fixing wounds and shit, but this was seriously out of her hands.

“C-Can’t you do something?” Dustin asked from beside her, she raised her hands.

“Billy and I got wounds from these bastards many times, but we could easily heal from them. See?” she shows her arm and Dustin noticed that the bite marks from the bats healed over as if there was nothing wrong to begin with “I don’t know how much I can help him other then basic first aid. We NEED to get him to a hospital.” Dustin shakes his head.

“N-No! They’ll arrest him.”

“But he’ll die otherwise. I’m no doctor, but he could die if these wounds aren’t treated.” Dustin looked down at his pained face and frowned, knowing that what she was saying was right “But right now, let’s get you both out of here. Let’s get the others and get the fuck out of here.” he slowly nods.

“Okay…” she nods and helps him back into the car, taking off her jacket and laying underneath Eddie’s head, Eddie taking off his own little shawl to lay it on top of Eddie. [F/N] drives quickly but carefully as to not injure Eddie any further to the Creel house, letting out a breath when it comes into view along with the other three. She comes to a stop right in front of them, her window coming down and giving them a nervous grin.

“Get in bitches, we’re getting out of here.” Steve laughs at the sight of his sister and let out a breath of relief when he saw Dustin in the passenger seat, did he manage to fight Eddie for the seat? He opens the back door and he gasped at the sight of his boyfriend, bloodied and wrapped in makeshift bandages who was barely conscious “Just for the record, it wasn’t my fault.”

“[F/N]!”

“And if you don’t want him to die, I suggest you get in the car so we can get him some real help.”

“[F/N]!”

“Just saying.”

Helper pt. 3

word count: 7262

Fandom: FNAF Security Breach Pairing: Sundrop/Moondrop x Female!Reader Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Romantic  Occupation: Daycare Helper Ability: Animatronic Moon Jellyfish

The character was modelled after a moon jellyfish, so they are an oceanic type animatronic that mostly resided in the daycare to assist when needed within the pizza plex. The appearance they adorn is that of a tall woman and the animalistic part of her design would be, other than a human-like face, they would have a large bell (the blob of a jellyfish is called a bell or hood) on top of their head that would act as a large hat, and attached to the underside of the bell are the tentacles and stingers. They are not stingers, they help the character locate children and feel for their surroundings. The bell on top of their head also glows in the dark.

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name  [B/C]: Base Color  [S/C]: Secondary Color  [F/C]: Favorite Color  [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: spoilers to those who haven’t seen fnaf sb.

“Helper” pt. 1, pt. 2

“[F/N]~” said woman chuckled softly at the sing song voice coming from the child that sat in her lap, hearing the child trail her name off while leaning backwards so they could look up at her. [F/N] hums in response, placing her hand on their back and pushing them up gently so they wouldn’t fall “You’re not exactly… alive, right?” this question caught her off guard, she wasn’t really expecting to hear those words come out of a six year olds mouth, but she nods her head.

“If you mean I’m not exactly a human, then yes.” the child nods their head, looking forward and letting [F/N] brush their hair “Why do you ask? Does me not being a human make you uncomfortable?” she halts in her brushing once more when the child turned around.

“Nah uh! I like you, I like you a whole lot!” they exclaim as they hug her, she pats their back just as they pull themselves off her “It’s just that my mama told me that machines are incapable of falling in love.” [F/N]’s mood dampens a little, her hand caressing the small child’s back.

“Well… I wouldn’t say she’s wrong.” the child now tilts their head to the side in confusion.

“But aren’t you and Mister Sunny in love?” this question caused her to flinch, her internal fans starting up when she started overheating “Mister Moon as well! Sometimes, when you put us to sleep, I see you two acting like how my mama and papa act. I think it’s very romantic~” [F/N] pressed her lips into a thin line, her hand now beginning to fan her face.

“Don’t you know when people are being intimate it’s only right to give them privacy and not peek?” this caused the child to giggle, she then presses her hand onto her forehead, shaking it lightly “Goodness child, I would appreciate it if you would look in the other direction in the future.”

“Hehe, no promises.” [F/N] playfully rolls her eyes under her eyelids before beginning to tickle their stomach, their laughter was enough to get Sundrop’s attention and he came skipping over.

“Hey, hey, hey! How’s my favourite lady? Are you guys having fun over here?” a few of the children that were following Sundrop came over and started playing with [F/N], a few draping themselves over her shoulders and others settling themselves in her lap, the remaining few were playing with her hair and hat.

“We’re just talking, sunbite, ain’t that right?” the child covers their mouth, trying to contain their laughter.  “Must be a good conversation if y’all are laughing this much!” [F/N] noticed that most of the children were distracted amongst themselves, except for the one child that started it all, so she covered their eyes with one of their hands before reaching forward to cup his cheek and turn his face towards her so she could press and kiss to his cheek “Uwah— what was that for?” he asks, pressing his hand to his cheek while flustered.

“Just showing you that I love you.” the moment she dropped her hand from the child’s eyes, they noticed how lovey dovey they were acting again. They were pretty sure that if none of them were there, they would act even more affectionate, telling by how [F/N] held Sundrop’s smaller hand in her own and was gently caressing his knuckles before the both of them lace their fingers together.

“Oh, stop it, starshine. The children are still here…” she just giggles, her head perked up when a notification went off in her head.

“Oh, it seems like it’s nap time.” she starts to laugh when Sundrop pouted “Don’t worry, you’ll be back before you know it. Nap time only lasts an hour or so. And besides, it’s Moony’s turn.” she kisses the backside of her hand, when she lets go, she couldn’t help but blush a little when he pressed his own lips to where she kissed him.

“Alright, let’s round up all the children.”

“They’re not cattle, Sunny.” this caused them both to laugh. Of course there were the few children who didn’t want to settle down for nap time, but after being promised a snack time right after nap time was enough to get them to comply. [F/N] gives Sundrop a kiss on the forehead and coos sweet nothings into his ear to calm himself down, it always did hurt sometimes when the two would switch, but it’s been getting better. She was in the middle of playing a lullaby when the lights turned off and Moon appeared, she didn’t hesitate to welcome him with a kiss, to which he leaned into the affection before the two of them went to work.

Moondrop watched [F/N], watching as she sung beautifully to the sleeping children, he now come to love nap time. Children were a nightmare, especially the rowdy ones and those that just downright refused to sleep because they still had so much energy, but [F/N] made his job so much easier, and he even go to spend time with the animatronic woman that stilled his usually cold mechanical heart. He flinched slightly when he felt a stare so he looked down and saw the same young child smirking slightly at him, wriggling their eyebrows at him when they noticed the way he was staring at her. That child had a pillow thrown at them for that, causing them to laugh but shushed immediately when he leaned down and glared lightly at them.

“Silence child, and go to sleep. I want some time with her, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go to sleep and not speak a word.” they nod their head and zip their lips before rolling onto their side and closing their eyes to sleep, he nods his head as he stands up straight “Good.” he keeps his eyes on them for a second longer before skipping over to her.

“Are you done over there, Moony?” she giggles softly when he draped himself over her shoulder, leaning his cheek into hers.

“Yeah, they’re all sleeping soundly. Now it’s our alone time.” she giggles again, face turning a slight shade of red as he takes her hands a pulls her away from the nap area.

“Hehe, what are you doing, moonlight?” he leads her to the centre of the daycare and tells her not to move, he then proceeds to move everything out of the way until everything is clear. He then hurriedly returns to her and when he he reached her, he took a bow, one hand behind his back while the other was outstretched to her.

“Would you do me this honour and sharing a dance with me?” he raised his head and watched as her eyes opened, emotions swirled in those gorgeous galaxy like eyes and it was making him fall in love all over again, she then laughs and takes his hand.

“It would be my pleasure.” her other hand lays in his other hand and soon they were standing close together, however, she tilts her head in confusion when Moondrop was staring up at her “What's the matter?” he frowns slightly.

“… sometimes I forget how tall you are.” she snorts.

“That’s your concern?” she looks down at him and watches as he tries to think of a solution, his face then lights up when he got an idea and he snapped his fingers. He slips from her grip once more, raising a finger to tell her to wait once more and watch, and so she does. She holds her arms together and watched in mild confusion when he called down his cable and clipped it to his back, she slowly raised her head and laughed quietly to herself, covering her mouth with her hand when she understood what he was doing “Really?” he now hovered in front of her, one arm to his back while the other was outstretched to hers once more.

“May I?” she shakes her head but takes his hand.

“You may.” his already permanent smile grew as he held her close, now looking down at her, despite the fact it was the cable that was giving him that advantage. A melody started playing out of him and together the two of them slow danced around the daycare, she was giggling every so often because it was her that was leading them around but he would often twirl her around, what she loved the most was when he dipped her, hand firmly on her back and hand to hold her up and her hair and the strings of her bell hat was hanging beneath her and touching the ground, one leg kicked up as well.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” she looks up at him, her galaxy like eyes staring in his void black ones, she then snorts as he pulls her back up and so she let her head rest on his chest, hearing the gears in his body turn as she hummed softly.

“There isn’t a single day that doesn’t go by and I’m not deeply in love with you— with you both.” she looks up at him “I can’t be more happy that I was made to be yours.” he stares down at her before he starts laughing wholeheartedly, dipping her once more but this time he was leaning down, laughing into her neck.

“You have no idea how much this means to Sundrop and I!” she starts laughing with him, arms wrapped around his neck. When he pulled her up, he made sure to hold her tight as he lifted her off the ground and twirled her around and together the two of them danced for the rest of nap time until it was over “I’ll see you again soon, my love.” she giggles, giving him a final smooth until the lights turned back on, and when she pulled away, she as met with Sundrop.

“Hello, sunbite.” he giggles, cupping his cheek and waving his hand.

“Hello~” she rolled her eyes with a chuckle then went back to gathering snacks for the children while Sundrop woke them up, for the rest of the time until closing, [F/N] was monitoring the energy drained children and keeping them entertained with bracelet making while Sundrop was playing around with the more energised children.

“Miss [F/N]! Look at my bracelet.” a young girl cheered, rushing up to the animatronic woman and holding out the bracelet “How does it look?” she carefully takes the bracelet into her larger hands and inspects, the girl looks up at her with a nervous look before a bright smile washed onto her face when [F/N] smiled at her.

“It’s wonderful. You have a natural gift for jewellery making.” she takes the young girls hand and ties the bracelet around her wrist then gently kissed the top of her hand “It would greatly please me if you could teach me.”

“Y-Yes, certainly!” [F/N] already had numerous programs on jewellery making and various other programs, but having children teaching her in exchange was always nice. [F/N] made two friendship bracelets by the time the young girl made her second, the ones she made were themed after Sundrop and Moondrop and she couldn’t help but smile at her accomplishments “Are you going to give those to Mister Sun and Mister Moon?” she nods.

“Indeed, do you think they’ll like it?”  “Of course! They were made by none other than you, Miss [F/N]!” she nods once more, that light flush rising to her cheeks. [F/N] watched her stand to her feet and rush off, she was going to question what she was doing but giggled to herself when the girl grabbed Sundrop by his hand and was dragging him over to where she was sitting “Mister Sun, Mister Sun! Miss [F/N] has something to give you!”

“Something for me? Daw, you shouldn’t have!” she holds her hand out to him and he places his in hers, she then proceeds to tie the sun themed friendship bracelet around his wrist, being careful around about the bells around his wrist as well, but when it was done, he pulled the bracelet close to his face to inspect it.

“What do you think? I made matching ones for you and Moon.” she says, revealing the second one so he could see one that looked similar to his but was themed after Moon “Do you like it?” Sundrop let’s out a squeal of sorts as he stares at it before clapping his hands.

“Absolutely, and I believe Moon will like the one you give him.” she hums at that, holding the one she made for Moondrop in her hand.

“I do hope so.” time flew by so quickly that it was already the end of the day and parents were coming to pick up their young ones, it was Sundrop’s turn to start cleaning while [F/N] was there to monitor the guardians that were there to pick up the children. There have been a few incidences where complete strangers would try and take one of the children, but they never got far with her and Sundrop there to stop them, but that is a story for another time.

“Thank you again for taking good care of our child, we appreciate it.” [F/N] nods her head.

“It is our duty to take care of the children, and besides, he was a dear to have around.” she cooed softly while caressing the young boys cheek with the back of her hand, the boy giggled and leaned into her affection before being pulled away by his mother.

“Yes, well, we must get going now. Come on now.” 

“Aw, but mum! I wanna say bye to Miss [F/N].”

“No buts! Off we go.” he pouts as he’s ushered away but he makes the effort to take a quick glance back towards her to wave her goodbye, she smiled at the gesture and waves goodbye. It was obvious that some parents hated the fact that their children adored both her and Sun/Moon over them at times, telling by how a young child would cling to the both of them begging not stay, but of course, they’re not allowed to keep the children there for long.

“I swear, my son’s birthday was ruined tonight.” she heard a mother complain from afar while handing over another child to their guardian.

“Yeah, I wasn’t there to see the performance, but I heard that Freddy had a malfunction and collapsed during his performance.” her eyes shot open and she turned towards the gossiping mothers.

‘Freddy collapsed?’ she thought, that sounded impossible. Freddy has the most daily maintenance out of all the animatronics because he is the face and star of the Mega Pizza Plex, so she couldn’t accept the fact that he had a simple malfunction during his performance.

“Miss [F/N]?” she lets out a soft gasp then glanced down to see the young boy she was holding in her arms looking up at her in concern “Are you alright?” she blinks owlishly at him before closing her eyes and smiling at him.

“Why I’m alright, thank you for worrying about me.” she says, leaning down to place him on the ground, she grimaced a little when the boy still looked worried but simply gave him a light push on the back to get him to go to his father that was waiting for him “You better get going, we’re closing soon and your father is waiting.” she stands up straight and waves him goodbye and though he was hesitant, he hurried over to his father, holding his hand and waving her goodbye.

“See you again, Miss [F/N]!” she nods and watched them disappear, unbeknownst to herself, the grip on her hands grew tight to the point she could feel herself dent.

“I hope to see your faces soon!” [F/N] exclaimed happily as she waved the last family goodbye, she looked side to side in search for anyone else before turning on her heel and speed walking over to where Sundrop was, who had his back to her as he was at the table that had the equipment for the bracelet making “Sunny, darling! I need a favor of you.” she says, not noticing the way he hid the things on the table when she approached.

“Oh, starshine! What can I do for you?”

“Do you mind holding down the fort for me? I just heard that Freddy isn’t feeling well, and I thought I could check up on him. I hope you don’t mind.” she thought that he would disagree, he never liked them being so apart, so guess how surprised she was with how easily Sundrop agreed with her.

“You're absolutely right, sunbite! You’re such a good friend to worry about your other friends, so go on right ahead and pay that big ole teddy bear a visit just to see if he’s doing alright!” he says, going to so far as to pushing her out.

“A—Are you sure?” she questions, glancing back at him and being mindful of her step as not to tumble over “I’m not being troublesome, am I?” she adds, now out the door and holding it open to look at him, to which he shakes his head.

“Not at all! We got this, so go say hi to Freddy for us!” she pulls her hands back when he quite literally slammed the door in her face, she stares blankly at it for a couple seconds before snapping out of it, leaning backwards in confusion.

“… well, I didn’t expect that.” she stands there a second longer until she turned on her heel and made her way towards Rockstar Row, leaving Sundrop and Moondrop in the daycare.

“I didn’t expect her wanting to leave, but we’ll take her absence as our opportunity to make her a gift.” he cheers as he returns to the table, Moondrop nodded his head within their shared mind.

“There’s not a moment to lose!”

[with [f/n]]

“Look, mummy! Look, it’s the Daycare Assistant!” [F/N] heard a couple of the children call out, to which she greeted a few of the leaving guests before picking up the pace so she could see Freddy without having to see Vanessa. It was strongly advised that they didn’t roam around while the Pizza Plex was in the middle of closing, but she was just a little bit too anxious. She waved at the last child she saw then hopped into the elevator in the Atrium and pressed the floor to take her to Rockstar Row, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground a little impatiently. Finally the doors opened to the floor she needed and she stepped out, she glanced around and saw a couple Security and Caution Bots, greeting them with a wave before something caught her eye. Glancing over, she briefly saw the door to Freddy’s room open then close.

“How odd.” she muttered but shrugged her shoulders, she’ll see soon enough, she approached his door and it automatically opened as she approached it “Freddy!”

“Aahh!” she rolled her eyes when he screamed, what caught her attention was when she saw him quickly close his chest cavity, he turned around and saw [F/N] and quickly that panicked look disappeared and he raised his hand “Oh! Why hello there, [F/N]! What brings you here? You’re usually helping Sundrop clean up the Daycare at this time.” he fidgeted under her watchful eyes, hands carefully caressing his chest, she then sighed as she shook her head.

“I’m here to see you.” his head perked up.

“Me? What for?” she scoffed, taking a step forward and grabbing him by his forearms.

“I heard you malfunctioned and collapsed during your performance.” his eyes widened.

“How did you know?” she huffs.

“World travels fast amongst complaining parents.” she then shrugs, she sighs and caresses his arm with her thumbs “What I don’t understand is why YOU of all animatronics malfunctioned. Monty I understand, even Roxanne and Chica dearest, but you? Management takes extra care of you, so I’m confused as to why you malfunctioned.” she raised a brow when he slowly slipped out of her grip, his hands now holding her forearms.

“All I can say is that it was a simple slip up on my end, I thank you for your concern, friend, but I must rest.”  he retracts his arms and holds them “I haven’t fully recharged yet, and I feel awfully tired.” her head perks up and soon nods.

“Oh, yes! Forgive me, I’ll leave you to charge! I need to head back to the Daycare, I feel awful for leaving Sunny on his own to clean. You know how children can be, such a pain to clean up after at times.” he nods his head, pumping his fist.

“That must be a hassle, so you better get to it.” she nods, patting his arm and turning to leave but stopped when Freddy called out to her “But before you go… was a child missing from the Daycare any time today?” this caused her to pause, he watched her look up as her AI looked through the data of each child that attended the daycare that day.

“No. I did a thorough headcount and there wasn’t a single head missing.” she approaches him once more “May I ask why?” he noticed her move her eyes from his face and down to his chest cavity, poking it, he immediately raised his hands to cover his chest and turned away.

“No, was just wondering, is all.” she knew he was lying to her, but he must have a reason as to why, so she just let out a deep sigh as she shook her head.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it.” she gives him a hug, holding tight before letting go and leaving him alone. Unbeknownst to her, he let out a breath of relief as his chest cavity opened up to reveal the missing head he was talking about, the young boy named Gregory that was hiding in his chest cavity the moment she stepped in.

“She’s gone now, superstar.” Gregory lets out a exaggerated sigh.

“Dang, that was a close one!” he exclaims, he rushes over to the window and saw her walking into the elevator doors “Who is she? I think I’ve heard of her, but I’ve never seen her before.” Freddy approached Gregory from behind and glances through the window to see the elevator doors closing just as he approached.

“She is the Daycare Assistant, she helps the Daycare Attendant care for the daycare. She is a wonderful friend, and I believe you would like her a lot, she is very fond of children and cares for them as if they were her own.” Gregory scoffed, throwing his head back as he rolled his eyes.

“If she could even have children, that is.” he waves his hand “She’s still just a machine, so she can’t exactly conceive a child.”

“W-Well, it’s that thought that counts, is it not?” he just shakes his head.

[at the daycare]

“Sunbite, darling?” [F/N] pushes the door to the daycare open and peeked her head inside, she was a little impressed that Sundrop cleaned up the daycare thoroughly while she was gone, but now she was a little concerned because she couldn’t see him “I’m back, Sunny!” she called out once again, her shoulders slumped, however, when she didn’t get an answer. She entered the daycare, placing her hands on her hips and was ready to call out to him again but gasped when he hung from above her, upside down and a wide smile on his face.

“You’re back, starshine! Welcome!” she smiles softly, nodding her head.

“I’m back.” he rights himself but made sure he was still hanging in front of her, hands behind his back as his hands held something “Sunbite?” he giggles softly, legs kicking gently in front of him.

“I have a surprise for you.” he muses, waving his finger around then pointed at her face.

“Aw~ how sweet.”  “Close your eyes…” he trailed off when he realised her eyes were already closed, how she saw without her eyes being open, he’ll never know… but whatever! “Well, um… make sure you can’t see!” she chuckles and covers her eyes with her hands.

“Alright, okay.” she heard him muttering to himself, probably talking with Moondrop, something then jingled in front of her that made her tilt her head.

“You can open your eyes now!” she does so by removing her hands from her face then opening her eyes, and there she saw a necklace Sundrop and Moondrop had made that was themed after her but had sun and moon beads mixed into it as well with her name “Moony and I made this for you, we hope you like it!” she takes it into her hands and inspects it closely, she then laughs softly and holds it closely.

“I love it, you two, I love it very much!” she gives them both a big smile and holds it out to them “Put it on for me?” they didn’t hesitate to swipe it from her, she removes her hat and moves her hair so they wouldn’t have trouble putting it on, and when they did, she grabbed a miniature mirror to look at it. She was made and styled in the Victorian era, so it didn’t match her at all, but she loved it nonetheless “It’s perfect.” Sundrop claps his hands.

“Terrific! We’re glad that you love it.” she continues to admire it before putting the mirror down and offering her hand to them.

“Hows about we call it a night? My battery is finally catching up to me and I desperately need to charge.” Sundrop nods his head.

“Oh, absolutely! We get to cuddle!” she chuckles at that, she wraps her arms around Sundrop’s waist and he lifts them over to their now shared room. She enters first and takes her place by the charging port, when Sundrop enters, he turned into Moondrop because the lights were off and he approached her.

“Can I get my gift?” she giggles.

“Of course.” she takes out the one she made for him and puts it on his other wrist, he marvels at them both before pulling her into a hug and together the three of them look at their matching jewellery “Now we all match.” she nods her head, nuzzling her nose against his head.

“We do.” she sits on her knees and one of the stingers attached to her hat slithered over to the charging port, she pats her lap and Moondrop didn’t hesitate to rest his head on her lap so they could snooze together.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” he smiles, nodding his head.

“Yes, and we’ll see you.” and with that, the moment that stinger plugged into the charging port, her system shut down and she was in charging mode. He takes a deep breath, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face plate into her lap, but not without taking one final glance at his and Sundrop’s bracelets. He couldn’t contain his bashful smile as he fell asleep in her lap, neither of the two unaware of the events that were going to take place throughout the night.

[an hour later]

EMERGENCY WAKE UP CALL.

DAYCARE LIGHTS OFF.

BOUNCER MODE… ACTIVATED.

PHYSICAL RESTRAINTS… DEACTIVATED.

[F/N]’s eyes opened, her system booting up at an hour they weren’t supposed too. When she was on recharge mode, it would take several hours for her to reach fully charged mode where she can last a few days without having to enter a charging station. But she had woken up from her slumber way to early, and the only reason that were to happen was when the daycare lights turned off at a time they weren’t supposed to… or if Moondrop was running amok, something like that hasn’t happened in the longest time. Similar to DJMM, Parts and Service installed a Bouncer Mode into her system that would activate when unruly guests make a scene, but it was used to subdue Moondrop when the staff couldn’t handle him.

“Sunny…?” she murmured out first, the stinger that connected itself to the plug disconnecting and returning to her as she slowly stood up and scanned the area for the animatronic “Moony? Where are you?” she closed her hand into a fist and grimaced when she felt her initial strength to take down animatronics like Monty was activated… something must be wrong, that restraint was activated for a reason. She exits their tent and noticed the lights in the daycare were indeed off, she looks at the time and was confused to see that the hourly mark for the power to convert to the charging stations hadn’t hit yet. With that in mind, she stepped out onto the balcony and looked around, only to hear Moon’s sinister chuckle.

“Naughty, naughty~ bad children must be punished.” her eyes immediately flew open as she slammed her hands onto the railing of the balcony, leaning over to see that he was chasing around a little boy who was frantically going through the playground and making a mess to distract him.

“Please! Just leave me alone!” her eyes locked onto the child and scanned him quickly before he disappeared into the playground while Moondrop cleaned up the mess he made.

CHECKING GUEST LIST… UNKNOWN.

CHECKING DAYCARE REGISTER… UNKNOWN.

CHECKING LOST AND FOUND… UNKNOWN.

CALCULATED RESULTS… LOST CHILD.

“Lost child?” she questioned, soon the conversation with Freddy came back to mind when he asked her if she was missing a child. She rolls her fingers along the railing, hearing it tap against the metal, but that child was completely unknown. There was no data of him anywhere, she shakes her head, that doesn’t matter that very moment, Moondrop was acting far more aggressive than he usually is and she was afraid he was going to do something neither of them were going to like. She calls down the cable just as she jumped over the railing, grabbing it and allowing it to lower her to the ground, she was careful to quietly land on the ground, as not to alert Moondrop of her presence.

“Dang it, where are those stupid generators?” Gregory hisses to himself, getting lost in the playground yet again “Why the heck are generators even in a children’s playground? Talk about a hazard.” he freezes up when he heard the bells on Moondrop’s costume jingle, oh god, he was crawling around in the playground as well.

“Where are you? Children aren’t allowed to stay after hours.” he pressed his back against the wall, covering his mouth to quiet his breathing but the beating in his heart beat so loudly it was giving him away “Come out, come out, wherever you are~” oh god did he want to just curl up into a ball and disappear, a small whimper escaped his lips when he saw Moondrop’s fingers appear around the corner of the wall. There was nowhere for him to go, he was trapped and that freak was going to get him. He closed his eyes and was ready for his life to flash before his eyes but they suddenly shot open when Moondrop let out a yelp, he looked over and saw that Moondrop was gone.

“H-Huh?” wiping away the stray tears, he looked around the corner and his eyes widened to see the same animatronic jellyfish that came to Freddy’s room holding Moondrop as if he were a cat.

“Moony? What are you doing playing around in the playground? You know that’s only designed for children, and don’t you remember the last time you went in there?” she giggles fondly at the memory, remembering how his limbs got stuck and he was screeching at her not to look “You know I can’t fit in there, so color me surprised when I had to yank you out of there.” yup, that’s what happened. The moment she saw the opportunity to grab him through one of the openings, she leaned in and pulled him out before he could see the young boy.

“You don’t understand, starshine. There’s a child!” he exclaims, throwing his arms up, to which she rolls her eyes while nodding her head.

“Right…” he sighed when he knew she didn’t believe him “Remember the last time you said that? And when we checked to see what it was it, it was only Roxanne and Montgomery playing tricks on you. Perhaps they’re doing it again.” he pouts as she lowers him down, she giggles to herself when he crossed his arms and started to sulk.

“I’m telling you, there’s a boy running around.” she smiles fondly at him, placing her hands on his shoulders and giving them a light squeeze, her eyes then went over to where Moondrop was and there she saw the boy. He flinched backwards and was going to hide but paused when he saw her jerking her head to her left, her stingers raising up and pointing in the same direction. He was confused at first but looked in the direction and there he saw another generator, she gave him a look of reassurance but quickly looked away when Moondrop looked at her.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but the last time we jumped to conclusions… we were barely let off with a warning.” this caused his shoulders to slump, she then turned him towards their room and gestures to it “Why don’t we go back to sleep? Perhaps you’re just anxious to see the children again that your AI is playing tricks with you.” with his back to the boy, Gregory peeked his head out from the play structure and his face lit up when her stingers pointed out all the generators, saving him the trouble of actually finding them.

“Maybe you’re right. The children have only recently started liking me again.” she smacks his arm, moving from time to time to block his view of Gregory as they continued to talk.

“They’ve always liked you, my love, they’re only shy.” she caresses his cheek and kisses his forehead “Now let’s go back and cuddle.” he giggles at that.

“Hehe, I like that idea for mu—” he was cut off when they both heard something fall, turning their heads, there they saw Gregory had accidentally tripped over a chair after he was staring at the two of them acting lovey dovey “So I wasn’t making it up!” he exclaims as starts making his way over to him, Gregory did not hesitate to pick himself up and run over to the other playground to get the last two generators.

“Ah, please! I don’t even want to be here!”

“Moon, what are you doing?!” [F/N] shouts as she chases after Moon, ducking down to avoid hitting a few of the obstacles in her way while Moon easily manoeuvred around them and was getting closer to Gregory “Moon! Stop right this instant!”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but no can do.” Gregory crawled into the playground and Moon was right behind him, [F/N] tried to grab him but she failed when he just slipped out of her reach and she couldn’t crawl in after him. She cursed under his lips, taking a step back and using her enhanced eyes to see through the dark and locate where both Moon and Gregory were in the playground.

“Moondrop, I swear if you hurt that boy you’re never going to hear the end of it from me!” she shouts, she managed to find Gregory and saw that he was backed into a corner after getting one of the two generators and Moon was hot on his tail “I will NEVER forgive you if you do anything to that boy, Moondrop! I swear on it!” this caused Moon to stutter in his movements, momentarily freezing in place, she took that opportunity to rush over to where Gregory was and pull him out of the playground instead.

“Hey! What’s wrong with that guy?!” she shook her head.

“I should be the one asking you that.” she whispered “My Moony doesn’t act like that, much less threaten a child and refuse to listen to me.” Gregory noticed black tears swell in her eyes as she stared at where Moon was before turning away and finding the last generator, however, she was tackled to the ground and evidently dropped Gregory.

“[F/N], dearest, hand over the child while I’m being nice.” she looked back and Moon and saw he was holding her by her waist, she glared at him as she pushed herself on her back.

“When my moonlight is being nice, he doesn’t threaten me!” she shouts and proceeds to kick him off, this time, she was going to keep Moon distracted while Gregory climbed into the playground to get the last generator “Little boy, if you climb in through the slide at the back, you’ll find the last generator!”

“The last in the back? Got it!” he quickly did as she said and followed her directions, her ears perked up when she heard a wire so she looked back and saw Moon connected the cable to his back and was planning on flying over her and after Gregory.

“Oh no you don’t!” she exclaims, kneeling down then jumping up and grabbing him by his waist. The cable wasn’t able to handle the weight and snapped, causing them both to fall to the ground. Moon gets up immediately and tries to get to Gregory once more but couldn’t when [F/N] picking him up, arms wrapping around his arms and his torso, keeping him apprehended “Moon, don’t make me break you.” he lets out a grunt when he felt her tighten her grip, his metal body starting to dent a little.

“I know you can, but I know you won’t. You love me too much to do that.” he feels her loosen her grip so he was going to slip out of her grip but suddenly she tightened her grip once more, making it impossible for him to free himself.

“True, but unfortunately for you, my system is telling me to do everything in my power to stop you from doing something stupid.” he glances back at her and saw that her iris’ were red instead of white “My feelings for you will be suppressed until you are under control.” finally, Gregory managed to get the last generator and the lights were switched back on. You glanced around then took a look at Moon only to see that he switched back to Sundrop, she lets out a sigh of relief and loosen her grip but hugs him instead.

“[F/N]? What are you doing awake? You’re supposed to be asleep.” she shook her head and buried her face into his neck.

“You and Moony were gone so I got worried…” they heard a creek so they turn and see Gregory trying to leave, now this set Sundrop off and stomped over to Gregory, [F/N] following behind him to make sure he didn’t do anything.

“Rule breaker, rule breaker!” he shouts, picking Gregory up and carrying him out of the daycare “You are BANNED from the daycare!” he adds, dropping him on the ground, [F/N] peeks her head out from behind him and waves Gregory goodbye.

“Have a good night, little boy.” she says.

“Security alert, security alert! Woo, woo, woo!” she pulls a face, looking down at him as they both retreat back into the daycare, him slamming the door behind him for good measure.

“Was that necessary?” he stomps his foot, crossing his arms.

“Absolutely!”

Headcanon:

watching him angrily write down BANNED in all caps on a wide white piece of paper was very entertaining.

several BANNED signs.

she couldn’t help but laugh that he seriously banned the boy from the daycare.

he told her not to laugh.

he also asked her to draw “angry eyebrows” and a “frown” on his face to display his anger.

she told him he was being over dramatic.

he told her she needed to take this seriously.

he then proceeded to cry to her that he just wanted to look after the boy but he turned the lights off and brought out moon.

she asked him if there was something wrong with moon because he was acting off.

he went silent.

she decided not to pry.

now, when the lights would go out and moon was lurking about searching for gregory, she would not be too far behind to keep moon under control.

when freddy and gregory were in the elevator and frantically pushing the buttons to get the elevator to close, [f/n] appeared and tackled him to the ground.

this had happened on several occasions, but it was very effective.

when [f/n] found gregory and freddy on their own, gregory, no matter how many times he was saved by her, was still just a little wary of her.

could you blame him? his life is literally on the line and the only one he can trust that moment was freddy.

he calmed down when [f/n] broke down crying about how that wasn’t her moon.

her moon was calm and kind, sure he was stern, but he would never hurt children no matter WHAT they do.

she even showed them the necklace they both made.

freddy let her cry into his shoulder and pat her back to calm her down.

now-

when freddy needed to charge, [f/n] would take over monitoring gregory.

she was a walking nightlight and you could see her from far away, she was also big so he could easily hide behind her.

if he was tired, they would find a place to rest and she would hide him under his bell hat and he would be out like a light.

a thing gregory also noticed was that where she was, none of the security bots would come over to where she was.

she said that the security bots won’t monitor the area where she is because she was more then enough to handle the situation that was happening there.

the same cannot be said for the animatronics.

that didn’t mean she didn’t bodyslam monty when he chased after gregory.

he forever stuck to her side.

[f/n] and freddy: the overprotective parents that will fight you on site if you dare hurt their child.

Contract

word count: 27,331

Fandom: Gravity Falls Pairing: Stanley Pines x Alvah (OC) Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Platonic - Romantic Occupation: Guardian Ability: N/A

Keys:

n/a

Warnings:

spoilers to those who haven't seen the show, violence.

"Contract" pt. 2, pt. 3

had to split this into two parts because I wrote too much and hit the word limit, which is bullshit because a different post has over 60,000 words while this was about 30,000. so now I've just split them into seasons one and two, despite me wanting them to be together.

it was going to be broken up into two parts between season one and two but I reached the word limit again in the second part, and I didn't want it to be three parts because then the third part would be too short.

was gonna publish this when I finished the second part but literally screamed "fuck it", so now I hope I don't surpass the word limit again but I'm nearly done.

bound to be a lot of mistakes that I haven't fixed but fuck it. might fix it later.

season 1, episode 1. tourist trapped

Ah, summer break.

A time for leisure, recreation, for taking her easy.

Unless you're me.

We are now met with a scene with twin siblings fleeing for their lives in a golf cart while an unknown monster follows close behind them, knocking down trees in its pursuit for the siblings.

My name is Dipper, the girl who is about to puke is my sister Mabel. You may be wondering what we're doing in a golf cart fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror, rest assured. There's a perfectly logical explanation for this situation.

Let's rewind. It all began when our parents decided we could use some fresh air. They shipped us up north to a sleep town called Gravity Falls Oregon to stay at our great uncle's place in the woods. My sister tended to look on the brighter side of things, but I was having a hard time getting used to our new surroundings. And then there was our great uncle Stan, that guy. Our uncle had transformed his house into a tourist trap called the "Mystery Shack", the real mystery was why anyone came. And guess who had to work there.

It looked like it was going to be the same boring routine all summer, until one fateful day.

"He's looking at it, he's looking at it!" Dipper, who was currently cleaning, looked at his sister oddly as she watched a boy open a letter she left out "I rigged it."

"Mabel? I know you're going through your whole boy crazy phase, but I think you're overdoing it with the crazy part." he comments as he sprays a jar and wipes away the dust.

"What? Psh, come on Dipper, this is our first summer away from home. It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance."

"Yeah, but do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?" they then recall each time she flirted with any passing guy, to the point she actually scared a boy guy whilst he was working.

"Mock all you want, brother, but I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now." and out walking through the door was none other Stan, looking disheveled and everything, holding his stomach as he burped "Argh, why?" Dipper laughed at her misfortune.

"Alright, alright. Look alive, people. I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest."

"Not it."

"Not it." the twins immediately protest, behind them, the handy man Soos, raises his hand.

"Not it."

"Nobody asked you, Soos."

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Stan turned his attention to the young lady working at the cashier, Wendy, ignoring Soos when he pulled out a bar of chocolate and started eating it.

"Wendy, I need you to put up this sign." Wendy, who was leaning back in a chair with her legs perched on the counter while reading through a magazine, raised her hand and lazily reached towards where they stood without taking her eyes off the page.

"I would but I, urgh, can't, urgh, reach it... urgh." he glares at them.

"I'd fire all of you if I could." he then looked back towards the twins "Alright, lets make it... ennie, meanie, minie... you." he stops and points at Dipper.

"Ah, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods I feel like I'm being watched." the older man rolled his eyes.

"Urgh, this again." Dipper shook his head.

"I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town. Just today my mosquito bites spelled out beware." he then showed his arm to Stan, to which he leaned down and squinted his eyes to take a look at the text.

"That says BEWARB." Dipper awkwardly scratches his arm "Look kid, the whole monsters in the forest is just local legend. Dumbed up by guys like me to sell merchandise to guys like that." he then gestures to a guy weirdly staring at a bobbly head figure that was of Stan, he then chucks the signs at Dipper "Now quit being so paranoid!" Dipper sighs in defeat.

A half hour later Dipper returns back to the shack after putting up all the signs but brought back something he managed to discover hidden out in the forest, a mysterious journal that was labeled three in the centre of it. Upon reading it, the author had logged down discoveries of creatures that plagued Gravity Falls from gnomes to flying eyeballs. He enthusiastically confesses everything to Mabel, who didn't quite share the same amount of interest as he did, but she did listen nonetheless as he babbled about everything that the journal had, that was until they heard the doorbell ring.

"Who's that?"

"Well, time to spill the beans." she then promptly spilt a can of conveniently placed beans, she then proceeds to point at herself with both her thumbs "This girl's got a date, woo woo!" she then falls back on the sofa, laughing to herself.

"Let me get this straight, in the half hour that I was gone, you already found a boyfriend?"

"What can I say? I'm just irresistible." the doorbell then rings again "Ooo! Coming!" she shouts and rushes to the door, Dipper than takes her spot of the sofa and opens the journal to start reading it, only for Stan to come walking in drinking a can of soda.

"Whatcha reading, slick?" caught off guard, he quickly shuts the book and hides it behind the sofa cushion and grabbing a magazine off the dino head beside the sofa.

"Oh, I was just catching up on uh..." he narrows his eyes on the page he opened to and saw it was of gold jewelry, he then closes the magazine to get a look at the cover to see what on earth he was reading "Gold chains for old men magazine?"

"That's a good issue."

"Hey, family." the sound of Mabel's voice caught their attention, causing them to stop what they were doing and look over to the girl who entered the living room with someone by her side "Say hello to my new boyfriend." turning around to face them, they were met with a boy(?) with ridiculously pale skin as he wore a hoodie with the hood over his head and his hair covering his left eye, he had a rather unsettling feel to him and what made them feel even more uncomfortable was the red stain on their cheek.

"Sup."

"Hey."

"How's it hanging?"

"We met at the cemetery, and he was really deep." she spoke as she caressed his arm "Oh, a little muscle there. That's... what a surprise."

"So... what's your name?"

"Uh, normal... man!"

"He means Norman." Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"Are you bleeding, Norman?"

"It's jam." Mabel gasps and shoves him.

"I love jam! Look at this!"

"So, you wanna, go hold hands or whatever?"

"Oh, oh my goodness." she giggles softly "Don't wait up." she then dashes away, Norman does the gun gesture to them before oddly walking away from them to follow Mabel, smacking into the doorframe in the process and crashing into something on the way out, causing Dipper's eye to twitch.

There was something about Norman that wasn't right. I decided to consult the journal. Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for... teenagers! Beware Gravity Falls' nefarious... zombies! At the revelation, he puts the journal down and looks out the window, eyes widened in shock when he saw Mabel sitting rather unbothered on a bench while Norman approached her, arms stretched out and groaning with each step he took.

"Oh no, Mabel!" he let out a scream when he saw Norman slam his hand down on her shoulders, when he backed away it was revealed that he had placed a necklace made of daisies around her neck "Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?"

"It's a dilemma to be sure." Dipper gasps in fright at the unsuspecting voice, looking up, he saw that it was only Soos changing a lightbulb "I couldn't help but overhear you talking to yourself in this empty room."

"Soos, you've seen Mabel's boyfriend. He's gotta be a zombie, right?"

"Hmm, how many brains did you see the guy eat?"

"Zero."

"Look dude, I believe you. I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town, like the mailman? Pretty sure that dudes a werewolf, but you gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people are gonna think you're a majority coo coo clock.'' Dipper lets out a sigh, hands on his hips, as he nods to Soos' words.

"As always, Soos, you're right."

"My wisdom is both a blessing, and curse."

"Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!"

"I am needed elsewhere." after readjusting his cap he backs away into the darkness, and by that, he backs away until he walks out of the room.

My sister could be in trouble. It was time to get some evidence. And after spending the entire day recording everything he could get on Norman he concluded he had gotten what he wanted, from the way he collapsed after getting hit by a frisbee, to punching through a glass window to open a door and struggling to walk straight, to even them frolicking through the cemetery and him falling into a grave and scarily bursting through the dirt... like a zombie.

I'd seen enough.

"Mabel, we've got to talk about Norman."

"Isn't he the best. Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!" he screams in fright at the large red circle on her cheek, she then laughs "Haha, gullible. It was just an accident with the leaf blower. That was fun."

"No, Mabel, listen! I'm trying to tell you that Norman is not what he seems." he starts as he pulls the journal out from his vest, she gasped softly.

"You think he might be a vampire? That would be awesome!"

"Guess again, sister. Shabam!" he then proceeds to open the book to the page about zombies, she screams at the page, he looks at where he opened it too and saw it instead was on the page about gnomes "Oh, wait. I'm sorry, shabam!" she tilts her head to the side.

"A zombie? That is not funny Dipper."

"I'm not joking! It all adds up! The bleeding, the limp! He never blinks! Have you noticed that?"

"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking."

"Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? Trust no one!"

"But what about me, huh? Why can't you trust me?"

"Mabel! He's gonna eat your brains!" he shouts as he shakes her back and forward, this was when Mabel's face hardened as she pushed Dipper's hands off of her.

"Dipper, listen to me. Norman and I are going on a date at five o'clock, and I'm gonna be adorable and he's gonna be dreamy and I'm not gonna let you ruin it with your crazy conspiracies." she shouts as she jabs her finger into his chest until he backs out of their room and slams the door shut in his face. A few hours later, Dipper is in the living room when Mabel rushes down from the attic to answer the door where Norman was waiting for her and so the two were off for their date.

"Soos is right. I don't have any real evidence. I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and-- wait, what?!" after going through the footage he found a clip of Norman and Mabel together, but what caught him off guard was Norman's hand falling off and him picking it up and reattaching it "Ah! I was right! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Stan! Grunkle--" he runs out of the living room in search for Stan, when he makes it outside he accidentally runs into someone and falls to the ground.

"Oh?" looking up he was met with the eyes of a kind woman, she chuckled softly at his disheveled self sprawled on the ground, so she kneels down slightly to offer him a hand to stand "Good evening Dipper, what seems to have you in a rush this fine afternoon?"

"Alvah!" to Dipper, she seemed to be the only sane person in the quiet town of Gravity Falls but he didn't seem to understand why she would ever associate herself with a man that was his uncle. Alvah was a middle-aged woman with long blondish grey hair that she had tied up in a braid with pale but sharp green eyes that held a warmth like an early morning day, despite coming out into the forest to visit the Mystery Shack daily she always wore rather elegant clothes wherever she went. Upon meeting the Pines twins she became somewhat of a maternal figure towards them, always being so calm, kind, and patient with the two of them and they would tend to run to her whenever she came to visit. He didn't know what sort of relationship she and Stan had but the only thing their uncle would tell them was that she was a long-lasting visitor of the Mystery Shack that just stuck around, she grew on him that he always expected to see her anytime throughout the week "You aren't-- Mabel is-- there's a-- I need--" she places her hand on his shoulder and gave him a comforting smile.

"Slow down, sweetheart, calm yourself." she takes a breath and he follows her, when she exhales her smile softens when he managed to calm his nerves "Now, tell me, what's gotten you so worked up?" she was still kneeling down when he stood up straight, hands waving around wildly as he spoke.

"Mabel's got this boyfriend and I believe he's a zombie! He's gonna eat her face!" she raised a brow.

"And what makes you believe that? Don't you think you're being a little overprotective of your sister to be throwing wild accusations like that?" she jerks back a little when he thrusts a video camera in her face, he then plays her the exact clip of Norman's hand falling off and him putting it back on "Well... that could just be a prosthetic, you know?"

"Alvah!" she chuckles softly, pulling her hands up in surrender.

"I'm pulling your leg, sweetpea." she then boops his nose "If you believe that this boy is a zombie, then you should go and prevent your sister from becoming his next meal." she then gently pushes him to where the golf cart was.

"So, wait, do you believe me?" she gives him a shrug.

"Whether I believe you or not, what matters is if you believe in yourself, first and foremost. If you think your sister is going to get hurt, trust your gut feeling before it becomes too late." she then nudges him once again, tossing him the keys that she managed to snag off of Soos "Now get going, I'll distract your uncle from questioning where you guys have wandered off to." he gives her a thankful smile.

"Thanks." she winks and waves him goodbye, by the time he drove off Stan had finished his spiel on a rock that looks like a face and dealing with the tourist and their stupid questions on it, they rushed into the Mystery Shack to look at the attractions while Stan approached and stood by her side.

"What's got him in a rush?"

"He said he needs to go save Mabel from her boyfriend that could possibly be a zombie." he laughs and slaps his knee.

"Woo, that kid is a riot!" she smiles.

"You aren't worried about them getting hurt, Stan?" she asks as they both turn to enter the Mystery Shack, her following behind as he led her through the gift shop to where the tourist were currently looking at a couple taxidermized creatures.

"They'll be fine. If I know anything about those little twerps, they wouldn't get themselves into any situations that would get them killed." this caused her to raise a brow at him.

"... tell me Dipper's real name." she stifled a laugh when she saw him pause, he folds his arm and looks up in thought before letting out a groan and hitting her shin with his eyeball cane.

"Irrelevant." she shakes her head while soothing her shin, for the rest of the afternoon she spent it observing Stan lying through his teeth to the unsuspecting tourists who awed at each other his words. Whenever he'd tell a joke he'd look to the back and see he'd get a laugh out of her, that prompted him to tell more jokes before he continued the tour, they were now back in the gift shop where Stan was showing them a new item, which was nothing more than a spiral on a stick that would spin and the gimmick was that it was a "very distracting object". The sound of screaming and something big approaching caused her to look out the open window, there she saw a giant... gnome amalgamation that was chasing after Dipper and Mabel? She turned away while closing the shutter doors to the window, yeah, no thank you "What's got you spooked?" her eyes move to Stan, who was staring at her questionably, she shook her head.

"You would be better off not knowing." he raised a brow at her.

"Well, alright." he then pushes her off the wall she was leaning "Anyways, man the cash register. Wendy isn't here and Soos is busy."

"I don't work here."

"Yeah, but you come here every day like you do. Enough chit chat, I don't pay you to stand there all pretty and talk." she deadpans when he walked away.

"... you don't pay me at all." she doesn't complain though, taking care of all the costumers who came up to pay for what they wanted to buy from the gift shop, no matter how absurdly overpriced everything was. She let out a sigh when the last of them finally finished looking around and left, stating that they were definitely coming back again. She was sitting on the counter, having a pleasant conversation with Stan while he was counting the cash they earned for the day when Dipper and Mabel walked through the door, both adults look at the children in amusement and concern.

"Yeesh, you two get hit by a bus or something?" she shakes her head at Stan when he laughs, smacking him on the shoulder before looking down at the twins, she smiles fondly and gives the boy a thumbs up. Dipper smiles at her as they both ignore Stan's comment and start making their way to their room so they could clean themselves up, the older man noticed their indifference to him and so he quickly changed up "Uh, hey! U-Uh, wouldn't you know it? Um, I accidentally overstocked some inventory so, uh, how's about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, you know?"

"Really?"

"What's the catch?"

"The catch is do it before I change my mind. Now take something." Stan elbows the cash register so it would open but then felt like he was being stared at, looking up, he flinched under the softened gaze that was Alvah warmly smiling down at him.

"That was sweet of you, Stan." he just rolled his eyes, quickly averting his eyes away from her gaze.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I overstocked is all." she just hums.

"Sure." she was smacked in the leg this time, in retaliation, she kicked him in his side. Looking over she saw Mabel looking through boxes while Dipper was looking at hats, upon noticing, she only then just realized that he had lost his old raggedy hat and now replaced it with a blue one with a pine tree in the middle of it.

"That oughta do the trick."

"And I well have a," she pulls something out of a box and holds it to her chest, when she does a twirl she reveals it to them "grappling hook!" they all stare in bewilderment.

...

...

"Wouldn't you rather have like, a doll or something?" she then shoots the grapple and hoists herself off the ground, knocking over a couple boxes on her way up.

"Grappling hook!"

"Fair enough." she and Stan are left in the gift shop alone once more after the children picked out what they wanted, she hops of the counter and turns to speak again with Stan but stopped when Mabel ran up to her to give her a hug before finally leaving with Dipper.

"They're such sweet kids, don't you think?" he scoffed.

"They're unappreciative."

"Other than the fact you're giving them a roof over there heads, I don't think there's much you've given them to appreciate." she raises her hands when he narrows his eyes on her, she gives him a laugh "You should spend some quality time with them."

"I do." she deadpans.

"Forging bills is not family bonding, Stan. I was not pleased when I had to bail you out." he just laughs.

"Well, I'm way ahead of you, toots!" she raised a brow when he stashed the cash and walked over to where he had a calendar, his finger goes across the days until stopping on a specific date that was circled "It's fishing season on this day, so I plan on taking them fishing!" this made her smile and start clapping her hands.

"Ooo, how fun. I'm sure they'll love it." he nods.

"I know. Will I see you there? I'm sure the whole town will be out." she shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm not sure, I don't really know how to fish." his jaw dropped at the information.

"You're kidding?" she shook her head "Now you gotta come down! If I see you, I'll be sure to teach you a thing or two! I'll impress you with my killer fishing skills." she chuckles, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sure you will."

"Is that a challenge?" they grin at each other before bursting into laughter.

This journal told me there was nobody in Gravity Falls I could trust, but when you battle a hundred gnomes side by side with someone, you realize they've probably always got your back. Our uncle told us that there was nothing strange about this town, but who knows what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked.

--

season 1, episode 2. the legend of the gobblewonker

"Stan!" Alvah shouts, bringing her fingers to her lips and blowing hard so a sharp and loud whistle would rip through the air, she smiles when she saw the old man perk up at the sound of her whistle and the call of his name. She smiles as she waves her hand to greet him from the docks, she saw how he smiled when he saw her and waved his hand while mirroring her expression, as he made his way over to where she was she noticed how neither Dipper or Mabel were with him.

"You made it, toots." she crouches down so she wouldn't need to look down at him and so he wouldn't need to crane his neck just to look up at her, she then looks around in search for the twins.

"Where are the kids?" he huffed at the question.

"They decided to spend their time with Soos, rather than their old man." she raised a brow.

"You jealous?"

"Hah! Me? Jealous? Of what?" he flinches under her gaze, arms folded and eyebrow raising even higher, telling by that he could tell that she didn't believe a word he said "Sure, I brought them out here so we could have a family bonding moment, and sure it hurt a little that they preferred to go on an adventure with Soos instead, but I'll show them I don't need them to have a good time myself!"

"Sure you don't." she laughs when he splashed her with some water.

"Are you going to ridicule me or something? I thought you were supposed to be nice."

"I'm just teasing." he watched her stand up and shrink in on himself when she walked off, he sighed to himself when he was left on his own once more but perked up when a shadow cast over him. He glances up and saw Alvah standing over him with a basket of what he could only guess was food and a case of Pitt Cola, she dangled them in front of him "Don't you gotta show me your "killer fishing skills", Stan?" he smiles up at her.

"I'll knock your socks off." he takes both the basket and case from her, sitting them down in the boat, before standing up so he could help her into his boat. He gently takes her hand and guides her into the boat, being careful so she wouldn't fall with how jankey his boat is, and smiles when she settles in across from him "You ain't afraid of getting your hair wet, are you?"

"Of course not." she answered while readjusting her sunhat "Now let's go, I wanna see a trout." he raises a brow as he starts the engine.

"You know fishes?" he watches as she pulls a book about fresh water fish, she grins at him and flips through a couple pages.

"Did you know that there are nine species of sturgeon that are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act? They are considered one of the world's most endangered groups of species." he makes a face when she continued to ramble about different species of fish, listing down from the most common to the rarest "Did you also know that catfish are a diverse group of ray-finned fish? Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers--"

"Sweetheart, if I wanted to learn about fish I would have stayed in school." she pouts.

"It's good to know what you fish, because you could get fined for fishing endangered species. But that's only if you knowingly fish them out." she lowers the book and saw the way he was muttering about selling an endangered fish, he was promptly hit over the head by the book. She was currently eating a sandwich while watching Stan trying to tie a thread through a hook, laughing quietly to herself as he struggled to get it through the hole "I thought you said you could tie a knot with your eyes closed." she looked away when he glared at her.

"If you think it's so easy, why don't you give it a shot?" he shoves the thread and hook into her hands, knocking her sandwich out of her hands and into the lake.

"Hey!" she shouts, glaring at him for the loss, he just laughs as he takes a sandwich from out of her picnic basket and lounges in the boat.

"It's all you, toots." she narrows her eyes on him, she doesn't break eye contact as she sits back and holds both up in front of him. In the blink of an eye, she manages to loop the thread through the hole before tying a uni-knot "Wha-- how'd you--" his face hardens when she pulls out another book, this time it was about fishing; specifically how to tie knots.

"Boom." she giggles when he snatches the book from her and starts reading through it, she looks at him when he lowered the book then picked up another hook.

"Show me how to do the trilene knot." she grins. After patiently teaching Stan how to tie a trilene knot they finally threw out their lines into the water, Alvah quietly listening to Stan ramble on and on with stories from his youth, she'd ask a question here or there and laugh a little. They would both cheer when they'd catch a couple fish, Stan muttering about cooking them for dinner later, then they would settle into a comfortable silence as they basked under the sun's rays "Hey, Alvah."

"Yeah?"

"Wanna hear a joke?"

"Psh, sure." he clears his throat.

"Here goes. My ex-wife still misses me, but her aim is getting better!" she tears her eyes away from the water and stares at Stan, who was looking at her with the biggest grin on her face "... but her aim is getting better!" his grin slowly starts to drop the longer she stared at him.

"... today at the bank, an old lady asked me to check her balance." he stares at her "So I pushed her over." they now both stare at each other in silence before bursting out into laughter, Alvah has her hand hovering over her lips while Stan slapped his knee and laughed to his hearts contents.

"I didn't know you were a comedian! That was comedy gold! Here, here! I got another one! How much does a chimney cost?" he makes a face that begs her to ask, she chuckles and decides to play along.

"I don't know Stan, how much does a chimney cost?" he giggles to himself.

"Nothing! It's on the house!" they're both laughing hysterically once again, getting odd looks from others nearby but neither paid any notice "Woo, I gotta go out fishing with you more often! I haven't had this much fun in years!" she giggles.

"As flattered as I am, that sounds a little sad."

"You're a riot." she turns her gaze back to her line and frowns when she wasn't getting any bites as often as she did when they first started, she looked across the lake and saw the Corduroy family, her eyes specifically on Daniel Corduroy, aka, Manly Dan. She watched as he kept his eye on the water before grabbing a fish with his bare hands, yanking it out of the water then proceed to crush it in between his biceps.

"Hmm." she looks at Stan and saw he pulled another sandwich out from the picnic basket, she then proceeds to take it from his hands and turn back towards the water.

"Hey! What are you--"

"Shush." he huffs, crossing his arms and watching in amusement as she concentrated on the movement in the water. She wriggles her free hand as she hovered the sandwich closer to the water, her eyes dancing across the water to detect any sort of movement. Her head then snaps in a direction before reaching into the water, Stan raised a brow then his eyes widened in shock as he watched her drop the sandwich in favor of the king salmon she managed to pull out of the water.

"Wow! A king salmon! What a beaut!" he looks back at her and sweats a little at the bright look on her face, hair a little disheveled after staring at the water so closely for what seemed like ten minutes.

"Haha, did you know that they're called chinook salmon and that it is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon? Salmon is rich in vitamins B6, B12, D, phosphorus and omega-3 fatty acids and that they play an important role in the culture, diet, economy and religion of several Northwest Tribes."

"Didn't know, don't really care." her face drops at that "Dang, if only we had a camera. Would love to take a photo of this monstrosity."

"Maybe you should catch the next one, Stan."

"I'll make sure to catch a bigger one!"

"Didn't I just say that they're one of the largest?"

"Then I'll catch an even BIGGER king salmon!"

"Go right ahead." he laughs at her and stands to his feet, he's getting ready to toss his line out when something blows right by them at great speed, then something even bigger that forms a giant wave. The king salmon that was in her hands got caught in the wave and swam to freedom while Stan and Alvah got completely soaked, Alvah stared rather owlishly at nothing in particular while Stan had an angered expression, he tore his hat off and threw it on the ground before letting out a defeated sigh and sitting down "Well, that was certainly... something." she mutters to herself and attempts to flick the water off her arms then grabbing a fist full of her dress and squeezing some of the water out.

"Today has been a disaster." Stan admits, she tilts her head to the side.

"Really? I thought you were having fun." she says, taking her hat off and cringing when she felt more water drip down her face "Did I bore you, Stan?" he immediately shakes his head.

"Oh, no, no! You definitely made everything all the more fun, honestly! It's just that..." she then finally noticed his gaze on the few boats still out on the lake, which all consisted of one thing, they were families spending time with each other "I really, REALLY wanted to go fishing with those knuckleheads, instead they wanted to go hunt some sea monster while I got stuck with you." she huffs with a laugh, grabbing strands of her hair and twisting it to squeeze the water out as well, she then throws her hair over her shoulder.

"That better be a good thing." he only smirks.

"You wish. I want them to know that I genuinely want to spend time with them, like a family."

"I'll say it again, Stan, but that's really sweet of you." she picks up his hat he threw to the ground and squeezed the water out of it then placed it on his head "I'm sure they'll come around eventually, at the end of the day, you're their great uncle Stan. I'm sure they'll see the error of their ways and come back to spend the rest of what is left of today with you, just like that." she reassures as she snaps her fingers, she then leans down to grab two cans of pitt cola, handing one to him to take.

"... you really know what to say to mellow a fella out." he says and takes the drink from her, she just gives him a soft expression in return. They both crack their cans open, thrusting them together then taking long gulps from their fizzy beverages. The rest of the day is spent with them lazily drifting with the water in a comfortable silence, it was only when they started to get cold that Stan decided it was time to head back and wait for the kids to return. She looks at Stan and saw he had a blissful smile on his face, a smile of her own stretched across her face the longer she gazed at him before she looked behind him to gaze at the lowering sun.

"Hey, over here!" both are caught off guard at the sound of Dipper's voice, looking behind them, they were taken aback at the sight of what was left of Soos' boat, they were surprised that it was still floating.

"What the... kids?" a flash from Dipper's camera made Alvah jump, not expecting it to go off, though it was more or less aimed at Stan so her eyes were spared "I thought you two were off playing spin the bottle with Soos."

"Well, we spent all day trying to find a legendary dinosaur."

"But we realized the only dinosaur we want to hang out with is right here." Stan scoffs while Alvah chuckles.

"Save your sympathy! I've been having a great time without ya! Making friends, talking to my reflection," Alvah was caught of guard when Stan raised his leg and saw an ankle monitor that she didn't not notice the entire "I had a run in with the lake police! Guess I gotta wear this ankle bracelet now, so that'll be fun."

"When did you get that? How did I not notice that?" he ignores her.

"So I guess there isn't room in that boat for three more?" the older two share a look then look back at the three in the sinking boat, Stan's eyes narrowing in on them. His gaze faltered when he saw the two put on fishing hats with awkwardly sewn names of "MABEL" and "DIPPY" on them, she thought they were real cute.

"... you knuckleheads ever seen me thread a hook with my eyes closed?"

"Five bucks says you can't do it."

"You're on!"

"Five more bucks says you can't do it with your eyes closed plus me singing at the top of my lungs!"

"I like those odds!" they had to rearrange a few things on the boat for the three of them to fit but they made it work, Stan, Mabel and Dipper sat together while Soos and Alvah sat across from them.

"Soos, what on earth happened to your shirt?" she questions, only now just questioning it.

"Long story dude." Dipper than pulls out his camera again.

"Alright. Everybody get together and say fishing!" Soos, Stan and Mabel get close, he then looks up at Alvah "You too." she chuckles and takes the camera from him, gently pushing him towards his sister.

"Let me take the picture, sweetpea." though hesitant, he was reassured by the older woman that she did not mind and so he joined his sister's side. The rest of that day was spent with Alvah capturing sweet moments of them having a great time, Stan indeed trying to thread the hook with his eyes closed but Mabel was covering his eyes when he started to peek, Soos and Mabel laughing as Stan read through a book of jokes with Dipper looking less than amused, Dipper actually catching a fish with Mabel pointing at it, Soos took the camera from her and snapped a shot of Stan with only half his face then proceeding to try and get one of Alvah to include her but missed up the timing because she was taking her hat off and so he only got the side of her, the next two were of Stan helping Mabel steal fish from another family by cutting their net then them fleeing from the lake police.

"Ahem." if it weren't for the fact that they were sitting next to each other he probably wouldn't have been able to hear it over the engine, he looked to his side and saw Alvah with a brow raised as she snapped her fingers "Just like that." he huffed, laughing to himself as he shook his head.

"Don't go getting a big head."

--

season 1, episode 3. headhunters

she doesn't really play a significant roll in this episode, only really appearing when stan reveals his wax stan.

scolds stan about lying to the people who came that there will be no free pizza, that being the reason they actually came.

she was thoroughly impressed with mabel's wax carving skills, getting every detail of stan.

alvah helps stan set up a memorial for wax stan, encouraging the twins on their search for the killer.

she did find the wax figures unsettling during the funeral and left to "comfort" stan when he ran out of the room crying, followed by soos.

when they return to the destroyed room and the children say it was because they "came to life" and what not, the adults laughed and stan thanked them for finding his head.

season 1, episode 4. the hand that rocks the mabel

doesn't really appear in this episode.

she thinks gideon is a little creepy, from his song to the way he pressures mabel into going on more and more dates with him, taking advantage of her kindness.

she alongside wendy, albeit the latter unaware, help mabel realize that she should be honest about how he makes her feel.

mabel laughs when alvah threatens to strangle the little boy if he decides to do anything to retaliate against her.

she appreciated it.

was standing beside stan when soos became a human disco ball, staring questionably at the man as he spun in circles.

season 1, episode 5. the inconveniencing

not really present.

season 1, episode 6. dipper vs manliness

is at the diner when the pines family come to get food.

they join her at her booth where she is drinking a cup of coffee and eating a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

when stan was being a cheapskate, she tells them that it'll be on her and to get whatever they want.

mabel is ecstatic to be getting pancakes that morning.

when dipper says "pancakes are on me" and is laughed at by stan and mabel, and a small laugh that leaves alvah, the former doubt him.

when stan brings up his little "disco girl" fiasco, alvah tells him it's alright to listen to pop music while being a boy.

he asks her if he's plenty manly, she could only look away and silently sip at her coffee.

when dipper does the whole "test your manliness" contraction and fails, alvah is the only one that comforts him while he was being teased by the other patrons for getting the weakest score.

though she couldn't help but be impressed when manly dan broke the machine and impressively the stack of pancakes landed on other patron's plates.

when dipper leaves and it's just the three of them left, stan embarrassingly admits that he has a small crush on lazy susan.

alvah teases him about it.

she's with mabel helping her "spruce" up her uncle who's a "cranky, cross, weird old man" with the power of mabel.

she laughs at that.

she's really enjoying mabel, wendy and soos do their best to help the poor old man.

at this point she's not even helping, she's just laughing at their failed attempts honestly.

trying to get him to smile?

failed.

give him a facial?

failed.

try and shave his outrageous chest hair?

don't even remind me.

etiquette?

doesn't exist.

by the end of all mabel's "training" he looked even worse than when they first started, which only frustrate mabel.

"Your niece is SO adorable, Stan. Never knew she would be quite the cupid." Alvah teases from where she was, he just huffed at her, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms "Come on, she's doing you quite the favor if you're asking me. You could learn a thing or two from your love obsessed niece." he waves his hand at her.

"You've been nothing but a bother ALL day, Alvah! Just tell me I don't gotta shot and be done with it." Mabel, who was in the middle of a rant, briefly looked up when Alvah left their side to approach Stan. Wendy and Soos were chattering about other stuff that could help so they didn't notice how Alvah approached Stan, hands on her hips as she stood a little too close to him.

"Not at all. I heard back in the day you were quite the charmer, I believe you've got a good shot with her." she says and leans in close, he scoffed and leaned in, not backing away despite the small distance between them "Shoot your shot, I'm sure you'll hit a home run if you just be yourself."

"You're only saying that because with how perfect and pretty you are, you can just do or say about anything and people will gobble it right up." she laughs as she leaned back, hand to her chest and face flushed with how much she's been laughing that day.

"You think I'm pretty~?" his hands are now on his hips, eyes averting her teasing gaze, his own face flushing a little.

"I would be a fool if I said no."

"Oh my gosh!" Mabel suddenly squealing caught them off guard, the four of them all looking down at her when she sprung off the sofa with her hands to her cheeks "Grunkle Stan and Alvah! Alvah and Grunkle Stan! You two, you're perfect!" they both share a look then burst out into laughter.

"That's really nice of you sweety, but I'm way out of her league." Alvah raised a brow, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.

"Really? And here I thought I was, and I quote, "perfect and pretty". Your words." he laughs.

"Yeah! But I'm irresistible and dreamy! No woman would deny me!" she jokingly rolled her eyes with crossed arms, she hummed softly when she felt Mabel tug on the skirt of her dress, when she spared her a glance she winced at how shiny her eyes were.

"What do you think of my grunkle, Alvah? Is he dating material?" she looked at Stan once more, eyes looking him up and down as she took in his character, and Mabel was graced with a soft and serene look on her face as she didn't break away from him.

"I think he's perfect for her." the sincerity in her tone was enough to satisfy Mabel, though the young girl did not miss the longing in her eyes the longer she stared at him.

"That's good enough!" she shouts then rushes out of the room, they all wait because not even a minute passes when she comes back "Grunkle Stan, come with me! And leave your pants at home."

"With pleasure." the two disappear and left Alvah, Wendy and Soos alone in the living room, to which Wendy and Soos look towards Alvah.

"You know, Mabel isn't wrong." Wendy quips.

"Hmm?" Soos nods his head.

"You and Stan, well, you two are like two peas in a pod! He doesn't get mad at you like he would at us."

"You laugh at his jokes."

"He enjoys being around you."

"You don't barf whenever he's next to you." as they continue to list more things about them, she just laughs at waves her hand.

"Me and Stan? As flattering as that is, I don't see him like that." she admits as she picks up the photo Mabel dropped, laughing at Stan's poor posture in the photo "He's just a really good friend, honestly." Wendy huffs with a smile, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes on her.

"With how you two dance around each other? Yeah, right."

"Believe what you wanna believe."

season 1, episode 7. double dipper

alvah probably wouldn't have gone to stan's "party" if it weren't for mabel's insistence that she just had to be there to keep stan company, or whatever that means.

she argues that she didn't have anything to wear for the occasion, but that doesn't stop mabel from making an outfit out of nothing but left over fabric.

that kid never ceased to surprise her.

"How do I look, Stan?"

"Same old, same old, I promise you that." upon seeing her he felt his words get caught in his throat, staring owlishly as she tugged on the scarf wrapped securely around her neck "W-Where did you-- ahem! Where..." she sighs to herself.

"I don't know how I feel about sequin, but Mabel insisted that I wear them so I could shine." upon that they notice the way some of the lights that shun down on her reflected off the glittery-like pants and sparkled "I don't quite like the way it feels, but I'll put up with it if it makes her happy. So Stan, I ask again, how do I look?" she asks once again and opens her arms, going so far as doing a little twirl with a giggle.

"You look..." she slowly raises a brow, waiting for an answer "you look real pretty, doll face." she continues to giggle when he shoved his hands in his pockets, face turning red while her own cheeks turned pink.

"Thanks, you look quite dashing as well." he clears his throat as he tugs on his collars.

"D-Don't I? I'm glad you noticed." he then holds his hand out to her, the other rubbing the back of his neck nervously before gesturing towards the dance floor "Wanna dance?" she looks down at his hand and noticed that it was shaking, if she took his hand would it be sweaty?

"You are so adorable, Stan." she coos and takes his hand, and it was indeed, sweaty "What are you, Dipper?" he gasps, hand to his chest.

"I am offended. Alright, toots, I may not be as young as I was before but I'll show you I still got it."

and he most certainly did.

at first she wasn't so sure when he led her to the dance floor and shouted at soos to play specific songs, but as the night went on she noticed that he was a really good dancer.

he was light on his feet and definitely had rhythm.

he knew just how to guide her, how to hold her.

she's laughing to her hearts contents with every swing and every twirl, the both of them ignoring when they hear mabel squealing in the background when she found them.

with how smooth stan was she hadn't even realized that she was dipped until she opened her eyes and saw her vision was upside down.

stan is grinning down at her when she looks up at him, panting softly at how long they've been dancing for.

"Speechless?" he laughs some more, hands holding her by the waist while one of her hands goes to her chest while the back of her other hand is pressed to her forehead, head leaning to the side.

"You've swept me completely off my feet." he laughs when he hoists her back up and the two of them are spinning around together, her hands resting on his shoulders while his stayed on her waist "This is fun, thanks for tonight." he chuckles.

"We oughta thank Mabel for this, you wouldn't even have come if it weren't for her."

"You're right." he leads them over to where the food was when Soos announced it was time for the competition between Mabel and Pacifica Northwest to continue, she's drinking from a cup while Stan was unnecessarily taking a lot of marshmallows when a bill strung from what she guessed was a fishing line hung in front of him.

"Right, like I'm gonna fall for that." she doesn't say anything as she watched Stan ignore the money dangling in front of him... for about a second before jumping for it, taking out the table and knocking everything to the floor then cashing after it, leaving her alone "Gimme that money, sonny!" she sighs, deflating a little.

"And there the night goes."

season 1, episode 8. irrational treasure

shows up at the end only to make fun of stan.

season 1, episode 9. the time travelers pig

shows up at the end to make fun of stan... again.

season 1, episode 10. fight fighters

helps mabel with stan's fear of heights.

and by help she's just in the background, encouraging stan that he doesn't have anything to be afraid of.

is with stan and mabel on top of the water tower, nonchalantly leaning against the railing while stan's gripping onto it like his life depends on it.

"Take off your blindfold, now!" when he does he's met with the daunting sight of being meters off the ground.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I was expecting." Alvah snickers at Stan's frightened face, eyes widened in fear as he couldn't tear his eyes away. Stan briefly looks at Alvah and saw the way she was casually leaning against the handrail, arms crossed without a single care in the world "You're enjoying this too much." she nods.

"I am."

"You're doing better than I thought! Now let go of the handrail." Mabel instructs, Alvah stifles her laughter by how much he was trembling.

"No!" he answers back, voice all strained, that was enough to get Alvah to burst out into laughter.

"Hey, do you smell anger and hormones?" as soon as she said that they look behind Mabel and saw Robbie, who's supposed to be off fighting Dipper, climbing up onto the water tower.

"Finally, I'm safe!"

"Hey, Robbie, get your own water tower!"

"Shh! Keep it down! He'll find us!" she raises a brow at his sudden appearance and leans back to get a look at what he was fleeing from, she squinted her eyes when she saw a pixelated figure at the bottom of the water tower. Before she could do anything he kicked the supporting beams, causing the water tower to shake.

"What was that?!" Mabel shouts, Stan's grip on the handrail tightens as sweat bleeds down the side of his face.

"Oh boy!"

"We're safe, right?"

"Of course not! This thing is on stilts high, high up!" whoever the pixelated figure was managed to break the support beam, Robbie unfortunately fell off while Stan and Mabel were able to run to the opposite side from where it was falling, but Alvah was too also unfortunate and fell off but managed to catch herself.

"Alvah!" she looks down and breaks out into a cold sweat at the distance between herself and the ground, sighing nervously to herself.

"Well... this is an unexpected predicament." whatever was going on below them quickly moved elsewhere, she looks back up and quickly reaches her other hand to grab a hold of the railing to pull herself back up. She grows a little nervous when she felt the tower sway due to it now only being supported by three beams, she starts to pull herself up but cringes when she heard the handrail itself creak "Uh... a little help, please!" she shouts.

"Hang in there!" she sighs to herself.

"I already am." when she felt a hand she thought it would have been Mabel to come to her rescue, instead when she looked up she was met with Stan instead. He takes one of her hands first to pull her up and when she was above the handrail he grabs the back of her legs to swing them over and pull her back to safety, he was still a little weak to the knees so they collapsed to the ground with her laying on his chest, the both of them unmoving after the drastic turn of events "Thanks for helping me, Stan." his chest rumbles as he laughs weakly.

"Right back at cha, toots." she rolls her eyes and pats his chest, she finally manages to push herself up and stand to her feet, albeit with shaking legs, and helps Stan to his feet "I finally got over my fear of heights."

"So you actually WERE scared of heights."

"Don't push your luck."

season 1, episode 11. little dipper

makes a brief appearance to tell dipper that it's okay to be short and that he shouldn't need to be insecure about it.

soos points out that she and stan are about the same height when she wears heels.

they tell her to take off her heels.

she takes her leave.

season 1, episode 12. summerween

wears a simple angel costume and gives the children candy in stan's stead while he was scaring the children.

or attempting to scare them.

joins them at the end of the night for the horror movie marathon.

season 1, episode 13. boss mabel

finds it real cute how both mabel and dipper are similar to stan.

season 1, episode 14. bottomless pit

doesn't fall in like the other four do.

hears their screams fade out into existence and kind of just sits there and waits to see what happens.

not even a couple seconds later and the screaming returns and the four of them are thrown right back out.

she greets them like nothing even happened.

shakes her head when stan falls back in.

season 1, episode 15. the deep end

is just casually sunbathing.

season 1, episode 16. carpet diem

only appears to stare weirdly at soos, who's technically waddles, as he passes by.

season 1, episode 17. boyz crazy

not present in this episode, only at the end to comfort wendy after her break up with robbie.

season 1, episode 18. land before swine

joins them on their rescue mission to save waddles, and because stan called her so she could help comfort mabel.

she was always good at that.

after being told what happened by stan, she gave him a skeptical look and knew that he was lying to mabel about how waddles disappeared.

following the trial of yarn, it led them to what they believed was an abandoned church out deep into the woods.

"Okay, the red yarn leads to..." she trailed off when she saw at the end of the church was old man McGucket rocking back and forward in a rocking chair while playing a banjo... rather creepy that he was there in the first place "Old man McGucket?" he turns at the sound of Mabel's voice, smiling at them and waving his hand to greet them.

"Howdy, friends!"

"What are you doing out here?"

"You'll never believe me. So I was doing my hourly hootenanny..." Stan scoffs, rolling his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"Ohh! This guy."

"When this enormous wingly critter stole my musical spoons and flew lickety split into the abandoned mine down yonder." they all lean over to take a peek down the hole in the floorboards where the red yarn was leading, Alvah reached forward to grab Dipper by his shoulder when she noticed that his hat was going to fall in.

"Looks kinda hairy down there."

"Come on, Grunkle Stan, you can handle it. You punched a pterodactyl in the face, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Haha! I did do that, didn't I?" Alvah side eyes him, she looks away when he glared at her.

"My! What a suspicious laughter!" he then looks at Alvah, who looks back at him with a kind smile, she leans back a bit when he points directly at her face "I remember you! I remember you from all the way back then!" he shouts, she tilts her head to the side.

"And I remember you from, like, last week?" he laughs wildly.

"I know what you are!" Stan and Soos got in front of her, making sure to make some distance between her and McGucket while the kids pulled her away "You can't fool me!"

"Knock it off, loon." Stan growls.

"That ain't cool, dawg." Soos says disappointedly, Dipper and Mabel look up at Alvah all worried.

"Are you alright?"

"Why's old man McGucket acting more crazy then usual?" Alvah just gave an innocent shrug.

"Perhaps I remind him of someone." that seemed like a logical answer, though when the others turned their attention back to the hole, they failed to notice the way both Alvah and McGucket stared at each other.

they go down with dipper first, then mabel, soos, alvah, stan and unfortunately mcgucket tell about how he kissed raccoon or something. none of them were really paying attention.

when the rope snapped and they all fell down into the chasm, they were lucky that they landed on a mushroom to break their fall, though alvah did land on top of soos.

following the trail of red yarn deeper into the mine shaft they found interesting plants, skeletons but what really caught them off guard were the dinosaurs trapped in tree sap.

from the famous tyrannosaurus rex to the stegosaurs, this cavern seemed to have them all.

but then they found where the pterodactyl was supposed to be, but due to the summer heat, the tree sap melted and it broke free.

they grew nervous when they found where a raptor was, its claw wiggling free.

they should probably hurry up.

alvah is with mabel when stan admits out loud that it was actually him that let waddles out and was the reason that he was snatched up in the first place.

mabel threatens stan that she'll never talk to him again if they don't find waddles, which causes an argument to break out between the two of them.

soos tries to mediate by reassuring mabel they could just continue to follow the yarn, but accidentally wound it back up into a ball.

mcgucket stands beside her when they all start arguing with each other, looking up at her when he saw that calm demeanour that she usually wore start to drop as they yelled at each other.

"Enough!" she shouts, shocking them all into silence. Not once have they heard Alvah raise her voice so angrily before that it echoed through the cavern, or with such an angered look on her face that if looks could kill they'd all be dead "I understand we're all under a certain amount of stress, but acting like children aren't going to get us anywhere!"

"Listen, we just--" Stan raises his hands, flinching back when she directed her fiery glare at him.

"Stan! It was wrong of you to lie to Mabel about what happened to Waddles. Mabel, you have a right to be angry but now isn't the time. Soos, I get that it was an accident but we're in a bit of a bind now that we've lost both the trail and the lantern. Dipper, he's doing his best so take a step back." she lets out a deep sigh, squeezing the bridge of her nose to calm her nerves "You guys are going to shut your mouths, we're going to go down that tunnel because that's where the yarn was leading to last, we're gonna find Waddles and do our best to avoid that pterodactyl because our lives damn well depend on it."

"Hey! Cheer up fellers!" her intense gaze turned to look behind her and it dropped immediately at what she saw "I fixed your lantern!"

...

...

"Oh, dear."

alvah was already running away with the kids in her arms, prioritizing their safety first while leaving the other three behind to catch up.

they're all hiding behind rocks when the tunnel they fled down led them to a cliff where a railway led to what seemed to be a nest.

the rocks they were hiding behind were shaped oddly like them.

she smacks stan when he suggested they use soos as a human sacrifice.

she glares at them all when they were going to start arguing again, that shut them right up.

the sound of oinking caught their attention and so they peek out of their hiding spot to find waddles in the nest along side a giant egg, that doesn't look good.

alvah was the first to chase after mabel when she left their hiding spot to go and retrieve waddles, carefully chasing after her as she crossed the rusting railway tracks.

she ushers the young girl to hurry but keeps close as she looked at the pile of skeletons that surrounded the nest, but kept a closer eye on the looming egg beside them.

the sudden appearance of the pterodactyl startled waddles, which caused the pig to run out of her arms in his harness and towards stan, who was still on the tracks.

they all watch in horror when the pterodactyl nose dives for them but missed and instead destroyed the tracks, causing the two of them to fall towards the wilderness below.

"Oh, no!"

"Stan!"

"Mister Pines!" Alvah slaps a hand onto her forehead when Stan disappeared into the jungle below them, she could only hope that he managed to survive that fall, but she has other things to worry about. She pushes the two children down then yanks Soos down to avoid being caught by the giant prehistoric lizard flying above them, now beginning to stress a little.

"This is just... wonderful." she says through gritted teeth, they all then gasp when Stan's hat fell into the nest "And I say it again, this is just wonderful."

"Guys, we've gotta save them!"

"McGucket, do you have an invention that can distract the pterodactyl?"

"Do I?" he pulls his hat off and starts rifling through it, when he didn't find anything he slumps down "Nope!" Alvah squeezes her temple again, the sound of crackling turned their direction towards the egg that was shaking and when it fell over they all pushed themselves as far away from it as possible.

"Aw..." Mabel cooed when a baby pterodactyl peeked out from the top of the egg, its beady little eyes staring right up at them, but Alvah got in front of Soos and the kids and kept them away.

"McGucket..." she spoke, reaching for him as well, but he just slipped through her fingers.

"Well, welcome to the world, little feller." she closes her eyes when the hatchling snapped its beak shut and proceeded to swallow him whole, she shook her head.

"He will... probably not be missed."

what stood between them and getting out of the nest was the baby pterodactyl, and with the looming threat of being eaten by either it or its mother, they were limited on options.

that was until soos suggested they get in a straight line, since a pterodactyl's vision is so far apart it won't be able to see them.

dipper doubts their theory, but with the apology and reassurance of soos, they eventually agree and get in a straight line.

alvah had to admit, she was very impressed when soos' theory was correct because the moment it laid its eyes on them, it was as if they were invisible.

"I gotta admit, that was real wise of you Soos." Alvah praised as they hid behind the rock formation once more, the young man smiles at her praise.

"Haha, thanks." a distant screech caused them to jump and peeking out of hiding spot to see what it was, they were met with the sight of... you can't be serious.

"Was that?"

"Stan?" right on the back of the pterodactyl with Waddles strapped to his chest was Stan, repeatedly punching it in the face "Waddles!"

"He's punching him in the face!" she couldn't help but whistle at the astonishing display of strength, not expecting Stan to pull of such a stunt.

"From heck's heart I stab at thee!" he shouts as he brings down both his fists to the top of the pterodactyl's head, the mighty creature lets out a screech before crashing into the cliffside and falling in its demise. Stan managed to jump off in time and pull himself up so he didn't fall with it, Alvah whistles again.

"Oh, yes! Haha!"

"You're alright, Stan?" he's panting tiredly, worn out after punching the living daylights of the flying lizard, he perks up when he hears clapping.

"I guess your story was true after all, Stan. I guess I've got to cross "watch Stan punch a dinosaur in the face" off my bingo card." he just laughs tiredly, rubbing the back of his head as she approached him.

"Ah, you're just saying that, but flattery won't get you anywhere." she knocks his shoulder, they then look down to see Mabel wearing Stan's hat, beady little eyes looking up at him "Here's your pig, kiddo." Alvah awes when Stan waves Waddle's hooves, how adorable.

"Ooo, Waddles! You saved him for me."

"Yeah, well, sometimes you just gotta... look out!"

stan takes alvah by the hand when the pterodactyl climbed back up from where it had fallen and started to chase after thme again.

they found themselves back where they had fallen in the first place and realized they had no way of getting out.

upon seeing the geysers shooting up debris, dipper points it out and says they can ride the water up.

however, when they got in the water was still.

they all scream out in terror when the pterodactyl was right before them, but soos screams "bros before dinos" and slams his fists down to get the geyser to activate and shook them straight through the room but out of the mineshaft.

mabel landed in the chandelier with waddles.

soos and dipper ended up in a piano.

stan with alvah on top of him landed in an open casket, with his hat somehow ending up on her head.

the destroyed ceiling collapsed and filled up the hole, hopefully sealing it up where the dinosaurs can't get out.

they all left that day, with alvah feeling satisfied that this experience brought stan and mabel closer, as well as soos and dipper.

she did, however, glance back towards the destroyed church before shrugging her shoulders.

she wasn't forgetting anything, right?

season 1, episode 19. dreamscaperers

"Hmm?" Alvah entered the shack and it was eerily quiet, usually, there would at least be some noise whenever she came by, especially at this hour. Entering the living room, she was met with the odd sight that was the Pines twins and Soos laying unconscious in front of Stan as he sat on the sofa, were they having a sleepover or something? She leaves the room and returns to drape blankets over their sleeping bodies and put pillows under their heads, when she reaches Stan, she throws the blanket over his lap and reaches to take his hat off when she felt something. When she removes his fez her fingers gently brush his hair out of his face, her hand recoils back when she hears a familiar laughter ring out through the room "Now that's a laughter I haven't heard in three decades." she mutters to herself, her hand reaches for his face again but this time she takes him by the chin to turn his face so she could get a good look at him.

"Ah... wha..." he muttered in his sleep, well, at least he still seemed sane. She pulls her hand back and laces her fingers together, pushing them forward to crack her knuckles then pushing her head up to crack her neck. Her fingers brush against his hair that fell over his forehead and she moves it to the side, her index finger presses against the center of his forehead as she whispers a few words under her breath and his face visibly relaxes.

"That should be enough... hopefully." she gently flicks his nose before turning on her heel to leave them be, she's done enough.

the dream demon summoned by gideon gleeful was running amok inside stan's mind in search for the code to stan's safe that secured the deed to the shack.

dipper, mabel and soos jumped into his mind to prevent that from happening but bill was just a force to be reckoned with.

unaware of how to defeat this demonic being, when dipper separated from them, bill was unleashing mabel and soos' worse nightmares.

soos' nightmare was a talking british dog man, odd.

mabel's nightmare was losing her cuteness and looking grotesque.

the two brightly colorful men, previously imagined by mabel, were erased from existence.

bill was having the time of his life bringing misfortune to these two humans.

"And now to finish you off, once and for all!" he points his finger at them, ready to blast them out of existence as well when he felt a presence he had long forgotten about. Dipper arrives after learning that they were in Stan's mind and that anything is possible, he flies up to confront Bill but instead, he was met with the demon slowly lowering his hand "Is that who I think it is?" they all look to where Bill was staring and saw in the distance an abnormal storm approaching them, the once star-filled sky was covered in dark black and red storm clouds where you could hear disoriented and agonizing screams.

"Cipher." the humans within Stan's mind tremble when the voices within the storm cloud came together and spoke, somewhat of a body formed that took the shape of a shadow and loomed over them "I didn't expect to see you here." Bill, whose body was red itself, turned back into its normal yellow color and his jolly personality returned.

"Well, well, well! Shouldn't I be saying that? You aren't one to enter a human mind, much less one so pathetic." the voice let out a deep chuckle.

"Well, my contractor states I must keep those they hold dear alive. Knowing you, you'd cripple this mind beyond saving." Bill let out a laugh as straightened his tie.

"Is that why you've been gone for thirty-odd years? Hah! I gotta thank this contractor of yours for keeping your butt out of the nightmare realm for this long!" he raised his hands in surrender when the figure raised its own hand, the outline of it glowing a bright red to charge up an attack "Hey, hey, now! Knowing that you're still around, I'm not dumb enough to mess with stuff you've claimed. I was on a job as well, and since these dummies thwarted my plans, I was dealing with them." he lowers his arm to take aim at them again but paused when the figure reached down, its own hand getting in front of them to protect them.

"Unfortunately, they're under my protection as well. So I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Dipper looks up at the figure, not expecting some supernatural being to come to their rescue. If he picked up anything from their conversation, this creature was in a contract with someone to protect Stan; to protect them. But who could it possibly be? "This form of mine may not be as powerful as my original, but I won't hesitate to erase you out of existence." they stare at each other in an unsettling silence until Bill starts to laugh so hard that a tear forms out of his singular eye.

"That's so hilarious! You and I both know that I can't be erased!" the red storm huffed.

"Yeah, but it's a threat nonetheless. So long as I am around, you will not be able to kill the humans under my protection." Bill huffed himself, he straightens his tie once more then his hat.

"Fine. Alright you kids, I'm gonna let you guys off the hook because of this old bat. Though, you might come in handy later. But know this. A darkness approaches, a day will come in the future when everything you care about will change." he tips his hat to bid them farewell "Until then, I'll be watching you. I'll be watching." and when he disappeared, a circle surrounded him that had various symbols that flashed until he was gone.

"Well he's annoying to deal with." the voice speaks, it then looks down at them, Dipper specifically "You better watch yourselves, Pines family. Now you've got a serious stalker on your hands." with that the storm started to disappear like, but Dipper reaches his hand out.

"Wait! Who are you?" the voice chuckles.

"That journal should know."

"Ah!" Dipper, Mabel and Soos wake up with a shout, shooting up from where they were lying down, they all then cheer when they realize they had awoken after such a confusion ordeal "We did it!" Mabel cheers, they then hear a groan coming from behind them and see that it was Stan waking up.

"What? Did what? What are you all doing here?" he asks confusingly, rubbing his head "And why was I dreaming of two brightly colored and radical young men?" the three of them stand up and approach him, though it was Dipper who rushed to his side first.

"Grunkle Stan, you're okay!" he exclaims, jumping up to hug him.

"What is this, a hug?"

"Nope. It's a chokehold." Dipper then maneuvers himself around him, wrapping his arm around his neck and proceed to lock him in a chokehold, causing the others to laugh as Stan struggled in his hold.

"Not bad, kid." he praises after being released from his hold, smiling at Dipper "Not bad."

"Oh?" they all perk up at the voice, looking towards the doorway, they were met with Alvah "You guys are finally awake? Were you having a sleepover, or something? I came in earlier and saw you guys sleeping, so I brought a couple blankets in so you'd be more comfortable." they all then finally noticed the blankets and pillows littered across the room.

"Alvah!" she watches in mild confusion when Mabel runs up to her, kneeling down so the young girl could leap into her arms "You won't believe how crazy our dreams were!"

"Really? I'm almost jealous I didn't join you." she lets Mabel go and watches as she lets out a breath of relief.

"I'm just glad Gideon didn't get into the safe. I really love this old shack." they all look up when the shack suddenly shock, a loud rumble being heard in the background.

"Hey, do you guys feel a..." they were all suddenly blown away when the wall exploded, Alvah was lucky she was behind Mabel so she wrapped her arms around the girl so she could shield her from the debris.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Pines family, did I wake you?" walking out of the hole in the wall was Gideon, with the safe destroyed and the deed to the shack in his hands.

"But we defeated Bill."

"Bill failed me! So I switched to plan b. Dynamite."

"What? Bill? Who... wha-- what are you guys talking about?"

"Spoilor alert, Stanford. I've got the deed! The Mystery Shack belongs to me! So, get off my property!"

season 1, episode 20. gideon rises

alvah apologizes to the pines family, not being able to house them because she lives in a small one bedroom apartment that charges her a ridiculous amount of rent.

her small apartment definitely didn't have room to house the twins and stan himself, so she was deeply sorry that she couldn't provide a roof over their heads.

she helps them however she can, whether it be giving them money or food, she'll do whatever she could for them.

she visits them when soos offers them a place at his abulita's home, and comforts stan when he was having a crisis about not being able to provide for the twins.

she isn't with them when they sneak into the "grand closing" of the mystery shack, she's watching behind the fences and cringes when they get caught and thrown out.

she was there when stan admits to the children that he couldn't take care of them, telling them that they had to go back home and that he bought them their tickets; it wasn't up for discussion.

they plead with him, even with alvah, but she couldn't do anything to help them and said it would be for the best.

"Bus fifty-two departing Gravity Falls. All aboard." the twins board the bus and take the seats at the very back where they looked out the window to see Stan, Alvah, Wendy, Grenda and Candy outside waving them goodbye.

"Sorry kids, it's for the best." he then turned around, not being able to face them after all that they've lost, Alvah placed her hand on his shoulder in a form of comfort as she looked up at the twins in the bus and gave them a sad wave goodbye. He does look back at them when the bus drives away but he quickly turns away, not being able to handle the look of sadness on their faces "What should I do now, Alvah? I've got no job, no house, I've got nothing." he looks up at her for a sign of hope but saw the conflicted look on her face.

"I... I really don't know." she muttered to herself "Everybody in this town is unwilling to see the truth that's in front of them because of the story Gideon wrote out unless we're able to help them open their eyes... there's nothing we can do about it. I am so sorry Stan, but I don't know if there's anything I can do to help you." his shoulders slump in defeat.

"I expected that." she finally looks down at him and gives him a weak smile.

"I may not be able to do anything to get you out of this, but I won't leave your side. Until you're able to get back on your feet, I'll be sure to see it through the whole way with you. I promise you, you've still got me by your side." she pats his shoulder and gives him the best smile she could muster, he looks into her eyes and despite the tears glistening in her eyes at the loss of the Pines twins, he could tell that her words were genuine "It'll take you dying to get rid of me." she let out a soft grunt when he pulled her into a hug, her eyes widened in surprise when she felt his fingers cling desperately to her blouse but she eventually relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him and leaned into him. 

"Thank you..." she gently rubs her hands up and down his back to comfort him.

"Don't mention it." when she finally managed to calm him down she bid Wendy, Grenda and Candy farewell and led Stan back to Soos' home. They were sitting on the couch with Alvah continuing to comfort him as he buried his face in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well, Stan, this is it. Rock bottom. No family, stuck watching infomercials for that is." they both briefly look at the television to see an infomercial about an "owl trowel", or whatever that is, he then picks up the Gideon pin on the coffee table "How did you do it, kid? Why are you always one step ahead? Maybe he really is psychic after..." they both wince when a high pitch ringing went off, Alvah's eye twitched as she stuck a finger in her ear and twisted it around.

"Ah, what was that?" Stan jumped when the ringing went off due to his hearing aid.

"What keeps causing that?" she confusingly looked at him when he glanced down at the pin and a sudden realization dawned on him "Wait a minute. That's it! I know Gideon's weakness!" she still didn't understand what was going on when he sprung to his feet as he took her with him, she goes to question him but when he suddenly grabbed her by her biceps what happened next stunned her to silence. She let out a muffled gasp when Stan pulled her into a kiss that didn't last more than a couple seconds, when he pulls away he let out a cheer and quickly ran out of the room, leaving her standing there in shock. Abuela entered the room when they shared that intimate moment and looked up at Alvah, their brow raised when she saw her face slowly turn red.

"Are you alright, senorita Alvah?" her face finally crumbled, that gobsmacked expression crumbled and she was left looking flustered and embarrassed and shocked and-- she slowly raised her hands to her lips, still remembering the feeling of his chapped lips against hers and the brush of his stubble "Senorita?"

"I-I'm-- I'm alright." she let out a gasp when Stan ran back into the room, taking her hand and dragging her outside to where his car was.

"Come on, toots! We got a brat to expose!" will only music to make up any noise, the car ride was relatively quiet. Stan took a quick look at Alvah and saw she was just staring ahead of them, he would have guessed she was fine by the composed look she had on but telling how red her face was, it was giving her away. He glanced down at her lips and saw they were slightly smudged from where he had guessed her, well, guess he smudged it from when he kissed her rather out of nowhere "L-Look, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or whatnot. But it was just a spur of the moment, and the sudden shot of adrenaline got me going and-- what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't have to mean anything. It doesn't..." he looked at her again and saw the way her face turned a shade of pink this time, her thumbs fiddling together.

"... I didn't, NOT, like it." she murmured, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear "You just... caught me off guard, is all. I wasn't expecting it." she narrowed her eyes on him when he stared rather smugly at her, wiggling his eyebrows a little.

"Oh? So are you saying if I were to kiss you again, you wouldn't protest?" he teased as his hands extended out to her, they were promptly smacked away.

"Don't push your luck, Stan. Just because I said I liked it, doesn't mean you'll get a taste anytime you want." they were both smirking at each other now, luckily they were at the red light or else Stan would have likely crashed the car, but Alvah noticed something in the distance behind Stan "Is that..." she started then grabbed Stan by his face and turned him around, they both squint their eyes at it.

"... Gideon?" they muttered, if either of them remembered back to the shack, Gideon was constructing a giant mechanical statue of himself and it looked like this thing could move. 

"Drive."

"Wha--"

"I said drive!" he was quick to ignore the law of the road and gun it down the road, he watched as she looked through his car and she surprisingly found a pair of binoculars... odd, she wasn't serious about finding binoculars, but Stan was a jack of all trades that just seemed to have anything and everything. He let out a shout when she threw herself over his lap so she could look out his window, he struggled to drive and went to shout at her but caught himself when she gasped "That little brat!" 

"What? What is it?!" she lowered the binoculars as a look of horror took over.

"He's got the kids!" she was thrown back into her seat when Stan took a sharp turn, she looked at him when she saw the serious look on his face.

"Buckle up, Alvah. We've got our kids to save." she was quick to buckle her belt and grab ahold of the handle above her head, gripping it rather tightly. By the time they arrive at the scene, after following it for some time and seeing it explode from a distance, Alvah's nails were digging into the handle but also the center console between herself and Stan. She was as pale as a sheet of paper when Stan came to a screeching halt, taking out the police cruiser in the process, he then throws his door open and steps out "Wait! Wait! Stop everything! I've got something to say!" he rushes ahead as Alvah shakily exits the car, using the side of it to steady her trembling legs.

"Gideon... is a liar!" she shouts weakly, now placing a hand on her chest to soothe her beating heart. She yelped when he grabbed her hand once more and dragged her over to the wreckage that was of Gideon's giant robot, she dusted herself off as they now looked at the crowd.

"You guys all think Gideon is so perfect and honest! "Oh, I could never tell a lie! I'm Gideon!" Pah!"

"He's more honest than you! And we expected more from you, Miss Alvah. To think you'd take his side." 

"Yeah! And he's psychic, too!" she chuckles softly, hand to her chest.

"That's where you're wrong, officer." both she and Stan look at each other and nod.

"How's this for psychic?" he kicks a loose panel while she hits it, and when it comes down it reveals a dozen monitors that have secretly recorded the lives of the many townsfolk of Gravity Falls "Bam! Take a good look!"

"Wait a minute! Is that me?"

"The secret ingredient to my coffee omelette is coffee!"

"And me!"

"I can verify that that birthmark is indeed disgusting."

"Hurray!" slowly everyone started pointing at monitors that had recorded them unknowingly.

"That's right!" Stan then pulls out the pin he had and pointed it at them, behind them, they got live footage of the crowd as it scanned them "These pins are hidden cameras! And my hearing aid was picking up the feedback! Who's the fraud now?" Alvah crushed the one in her hand and saw the camera lens, after the reveal, they all threw the pins to the ground and then turned their attention towards Gideon Gleeful.

"Gideon, we gave you our trust."

"You lied to us!" Gideon backed away from the crowd as they approached him with angered expressions, he then backed into the debris that was his robot and fell to the ground.

"Please, I... it's not what it looks like. What are you gonna do with me?" Deputy Durland raises his head and looks behind him.

"Tyler?" said man sniffled, wiping away the tears that started to shed.

"Get 'em... get 'em!" Alvah is giggling softly behind Stan, a hand placed on his back as she watched over his shoulder when Deputy Durland pulled out tiny handcuffs and slap them down on Gideon's wrists. She let Stan rush over to them when they started taking him over to a different police cruiser, she let out an oof when something ran into her, and when she looked down, she smiled happily when she saw that it was Dipper and Mabel.

"Are you two alright?" she asked as she knelt, opening her arms to them so they could fall into her embrace. She held onto them so tightly, her hands rubbing up and down their heads while nuzzling into their cheeks "I'm so sorry we didn't come to you in time. I'm sorry we gave up on you." they let out weak laughter, tears of relief slowly running down their cheeks.

"Don't worry, Alvah, Dipper had it all under control." Mabel says with a cheer, said boy sniffled as he pulled himself closer into Alvah's embrace "You should have seen him! He punched Gideon right in the face!" she pulled away so she could get a look at Dipper, astonished at what she just heard, and there she saw Dipper's face turn red from embarrassment.

"Oh, psh, it wasn't anything too crazy."

"Dude, you jumped off a cliff. I think that's pretty crazy." they both let out a startled cry when she ruffled their heads.

"Sounds to me you take after your uncle." she lightly punches him in the arm, winking at him "I'm proud that you stood your ground and protected your sister. I'm glad you followed your gut." Dipper's lip trembled at her words, eyes swelling up with tears again before throwing his arms around her neck.

"Thank you, Alvah." she chuckles and brings them back into a hug once more, gently carding her fingers through their hair.

"Don't mention it, kiddo." she briefly looked up and saw Stan standing in front of a camera, posing after he managed to retrieve the deed to the shack back from Gideon. She pulls away from the twins and gestures for them to be by their uncle's side, it was their moment. Stan meets her gaze as she stands in the back with the crowd, waving for her to join them, but she politely declines with a smile. As she watched them celebrate, the longer she stared the more she felt something eat up inside of her.

What was it called again?

Oh, right.

Guilt.

season 2, episode 1. scary-oke 

"Welcome to the grand re-opening of the Mystery Shack!" the crowd starts cheering, applauding at Stan's announcement that they could finally return "We're here to celebrate the defeat of that skunk Lil' Gideon." the mention of his name caused them to boo as Stan pulled out a makeshift doll that was of Gideon "Please, please... boo harder. But I didn't catch that pork chop all alone. These two scamps deserve some of the glory. Well, most of the glory." Toby, the local news reporter, raises what they believe to be a camera. 

"Smile for the camera." Stan deadpans at him. 

"Your camera's a cinderblock, Toby." the man immediately sulks. 

"I just want to be a part of things." Shandra Jimenez, the real news reporter, gets in front of them with an actual camera. 

"Smile for a real camera." 

"Everyone say "something stupid." 

"Something stupid." the flash of the camera goes off after they do funny poses "And don't forget to come to the after party tonight at eight." Mabel smiled as she knelt to grab a karaoke machine from below her. 

"We're doing a karaoke bonanza, people. Lights! Music! Enchantment! And an amazing karaoke performance by our family band, Love Patrol Alpha!" Dipper and Stan are immediately reluctant, not remembering about agreeing to do something like that. 

"Oh, I don't know about that." 

"I would never agree to that ever." 

"Too late, I wrote your names on the list." she then holds the sheet to her face, eyebrows wiggling up at Stan "I even got Alvah to agree." this caused him to flinch and look out into the crowd to try and find her, shoulders slumping a little when he wasn't able to spot her. Wendy bursts into the room with an airhorn and gets them to follow her outside so they could buy tickets to the party, when it was just them in the gift shop, Stan let out a sigh of relief with a smile on his face. 

"Ha! The town loves us. We finally got that Gideon smell out of the carpet. Everything is finally going my way." 

"Hey, Grunkle Stan," Stan let out a hum, looking down at Dipper "now that we have a moment, I've been meaning to ask for my journal back." Stan raised a brow. 

"What? Journal?" he pats himself for it then knelt down and lifted up the counter to pull the journal out from underneath it "Oh, you mean this old thing? It was so boring I couldn't even finish it." he then thinks back to how he photocopied the pages, he shakes his head as he hands it back to the young boy. 

"Wait, you're just gonna give it to me? Just like that?" 

"What else do you want? A kiss on the cheek?" Dipper was quick to flee with Mabel. 

"... I wouldn't mind a kiss on the--" 

"Not gonna happen." 

"What about me?" turning his head, he was met with Alvah, who was leaning against the counter with her chin resting on the back of her hands while she was kicking her feet back and forward. He felt his lips crease into a smile once his eyes landed on her, she winked at him "Think you can spare me a peck?" she giggled when he pulled at his tie to loosen it. 

"Thought you'd never ask." she tilted her head to the side and giggled again when she felt his lips press against her cheek, they were both laughing like high school students on their first date. Since the day where Stan kissed her they've become a lot more open about affection, there isn't a definite label for them, but they're more openly flirtatious than they were in the beginning "So, Mabel tells me you're doing a song for karaoke tonight." he laughed when her face dropped. 

"I am?" she then looks off, scratching her cheek in thought "I don't ever remember agreeing to something like that." she hums softly when he leans against the counter, their faces inches away from each other. 

"Well, I'm sure you've got the voice of an angel." 

"Mm? Then you better kill it, Love Patrol Alpha." she snickered softly when his face turned a shade of pink, she reached forward and pinched his cheek "Your adorable little niece told me about that one." she laughed when he smacked her hand away, pushing himself back and rubbing his cheek. 

"That ain't happening. Nope. Nah dah. Never." she walks out from behind the counter and drapes herself over his back. 

"Oh, come on. You don't wanna disappoint Mabel, do you? Do it for her." he lets her hang off of him but their attention goes over to Soos, who is currently looking out the window. 

"Hey, Mr. Pines, what's that code word I'm supposed to yell when I see a government vehicle?" the moment Stan heard "government", Alvah was thrown off him as he rushed over to the window. 

"Wait, what? Government vehicle?" the moment his eyes landed on said vehicle he quickly pulled himself back inside and quickly closed the windows, he then rushed over to the intercom and spoke into it "The Mystery Shack is now closed. Everybody out! I will not hesitate to use the hose on the elderly." Soos helps Alvah to her feet just as Dipper and Mabel run back into the room. 

"Grunkle Stan, what's happening?" 

"Yeah, you never shut down the gift shop." Alvah is ushering the kids to the side as Stan paces back and forth, Wendy and Soos watch in concern when the doorbell rings and Stan approaches the door. 

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, gentlemen. What can I get you? Key chains? Snow globes? These rare photos of American presidents?" the two men at the door pull out government badges, each displaying their ID. 

"My name is Agent Powers. This is Agent Trigger. We're here to investigate reports of mysterious activity in this town." 

"Activity." 

"Mysterious activity in the Mystery Shack? You got to be joking." 

"I assure you I am not. I was born with a rare disorder that makes me physically incapable of experiencing humor." Stan lets out a nervous laugh "I don't understand that sound you're making with your mouth. Now if you'll excuse us, we're conducting an investigation." they then brush past Stan, who started to sweat nervously as they searched the gift shop. Alvah was holding both Dipper and Mabel by the shoulders as they watched the two men look around but she let out a gasp when Dipper slipped away from her. 

"Did you guys say you're investigating the mysteries of this town?" 

"That information is classified. But, yes. Look, between you and me, I believe there is a conspiracy of paranormal origin all connected to this town. We're just one small lead away from blowing the lid off this entire mystery." Dipper's face brightened. 

"Are you kidding me? I'm investigating the exact same thing. I found this journal in the woods which has almost all the answers. If we work together, we could crack the case." the agents share a look. 

"If you have evidence of these claims, we should talk." Agent Powers starts as he pulls out a business card. 

"We can talk right now. Please, please, come in. I have so much to show you!" it was at that moment when Stan and Alvah interfered, Dipper didn't expect Alvah to get in between him and the agents and push him backward while shaking her other hand in front of Agent Powers, a casual but warm smile on her face as Stan got behind her to usher Dipper away as she captured his attention. 

"Isn't his imagination just something? If you ask me, there isn't anything weird going on around here. Probably just the locals playing pranks and whatnot. You shouldn't believe the rumors that circulate around this quiet little town." both she and Agent Powers stand up straight, both their eyes locked on each other "There is no mysterious activity going on around here. Stuff like that just... doesn't exist. If I were you, I'd forget all about this town and get as far away as possible." the two of them just stare at each other, neither breaking eye contact until Stan got in front of her. 

"She's right, agents. Kid has an overactive imagination, and, like, a sweating problem." 

"Zing!" Mabel shouts from the background and Alvah giggles. 

"Paranormal town stuff, like Alvah here said, it's just part of the gift shop lore. Sells more tickets, you know." he snaps his fingers and Soos proceeds to put bumper stickers on their chests and headbands on their heads. 

"We have other spots to investigate. We'll be on our way." Agent Powers leaves while Agent Trigger grabs a couple of bobblehead dolls his arms can carry. 

"I'm confiscating this for evidence." 

"Smart move." she let out a breath of relief when they left, having them around was going to be a pain in the-- 

"Wait! No, wait! We have so much to talk about." they were already gone by the time Dipper reached the door, but Stan placed his hand on Dipper's shoulder and turned him around. 

"Hold it, kiddo. Trust me, the last thing you want around here at a party is cops." he then takes the business card from Dipper's hands "I'm confiscating that card. And how's about you go be a normal kid? Flirt with a girl, or steal a pie off a windowsill." 

"But Grunkle Stan, you don't understand." 

"And don't go talking to those agents." Dipper looks at Alvah for help, eyes pleading for her to talk to Stan and convince him, but she just gives him an apologetic look with a shrug and follows after him. She was the last person he expected to side with Stan, well, not really, but whenever it came to anything that Dipper was passionate about or set his mind to, she was always the first one to encourage him. But weirdly enough, she was openly against the idea of those government agents being around, going so far as to claim that there was nothing weird going around in Gravity Falls. It was hours later and Alvah was helping set up for the after-party, helping Mabel set up her karaoke machine. 

"You look cute, Mabel." the young girl giggled and did a little twirl. 

"Thanks, Alvah." she then gestures for her to step aside, pulling out some sort of glittery gun, she then witnessed her shoot confetti out of it at Stan "Boom! Well, the confetti cannon works. And the karaoke machine has all the best songs. "We built this township on rock and roll", "Danger lane to highway town", "T8king over midnight" by &NDRA." Alvah hummed softly, what old songs. 

"Listen, kid, you do not want to hear this voice singing. Trust me." 

"Grunkle Stan, karaoke isn't about sounding good. It's about sounding terrible, together." 

"Together." Alvah echoes before letting out a grunt when Mabel hugs her face, Mabel is standing on the stage so she had the elevation to do so. 

"And Alvah wants to see you sing as well, don't you?" they look at each other and she gives a cheeky smile. 

"Scared?" Stan scowls at them, he opens his mouth to say something but instead closed it and stomped off, the two laugh "Surely he won't back down from this fight." she hummed softly when Mabel kissed her cheek. 

"You're just the best, Alvah." she winks. 

"I know." she stands off to the side as guests start pulling up, she greets the few people who walked past her and quietly enjoys the party. Soos and Mabel were having fun at the party, Stan was outside at the admission stand, but she couldn't spot Wendy or Dipper anywhere. 

"Hey, toots!" she perks up and looked over to see Stan approaching her, she smiled and waved her hand "Have you seen Wendy and Dipper anywhere?" she shook her head with a shrug of her shoulders. 

"Nope, was just questioning that." she looked towards the crowd and spotted Mabel, she lifted her fingers to her lips and blew on them "Mabel!" the girl paused in her movements and looked to where she heard the sound of her name when she spotted Alvah she grinned until she noticed she was waving her over, so she quickly rushed over. 

"What's up?" 

"Have you seen your brother anywhere?" she snorts. 

"Yeah, he went inside with Wendy." she then wiggles her eyebrows at them "Hopefully they're not doing you know what." they both look at each other. 

"I hope they're not doing you know what." Stan rushes inside, Alvah snorts at the panicked look he had on his face and ushers Mabel back to enjoy the party. After a couple of minutes, she only sees Wendy, and still no sign of Dipper, perhaps he wasn't feeling up for a party after what happened that morning. She should probably apologise to him about not having his back, but it's for the best if government officials are left in the dark about what's going on in this quie-- she let out a whoa when she suddenly felt rumbling, she then glances over at the food bar and her eyes widened when she saw the bowl of punch splashing around as the earth shook. 

"I think it's an earthquake!" Wendy shouts as she blows an airhorn "Hey, everybody! We got to get out of here!" as soon as she announces that everyone starts fleeing back to their cars, Alvah tries pushing past the crowd to get to Mabel but is unfortunately carried off with the panicked citizens. It was only when the crowd dispersed that she was able to run back to the shack to check up on the kids when she saw... zombies? 

"What the...?" she muttered under her breath as she saw the zombies surround the shack, she panicked when she couldn't find Dipper or Mabel anywhere, what made it worse was she saw a zombified Soos, who was now looking at her. 

"Hey, dude. Would it be cool if me and my new buds eat your brains?" she gave him a scrutinizing stare, gaze hardening the longer she stared at him "I'm not hearing a no." 

"Soos!" she yelped when they started approaching her so she was quick to run away, she tried opening the doors but they were locked so she went to try and find an open window but they too were closed and latched shut. She didn't have any time to properly find a way inside because the zombies were beginning to surround her, she backed away from the window then rushed forward and jumped through the window, breaking through the glass while shielding her face from any broken glass. She let out a sigh when her clothes got caught in the broken shards and tore a little, but that was the least of her worries, what she needs is to find those ki-- she gasped when a zombie appeared out of nowhere, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her into a door hard enough that it broke and they both fell in. She managed to kick the offender off of her but it was crawling back with the determination to eat her face, she looked around the closet for anything to defend herself and her face lit up at what she found "Oh, Stan, you shouldn't have." back to Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles, the two of them were cornered in the gift shop with nowhere else to go. 

"Dipper, isn't there something in the journal about defeating zombies?" 

"No! There's nothing in here about weaknesses. This can't be happening. I wanted answers so badly that I put everyone in danger. Now we're toast. It's all my fault and no one can save us." Dipper gasped when he was grabbed by the zombie and pulled off the ground "No, Mabel! I'm sorry!" 

"Dipper!" he screams as he's faced with a groaning zombie but is suddenly released when the zombie was hit in the head, he falls to the ground and Mabel was quick to rush to his side, looking up at their savior they are met with a disheveled looking Stan. He was missing his fez hat, his tie was loosely hanging from his neck, he had several tears in his suit and zombie blood splattered over him. 

"You two, attic. Now!" 

"Grunkle... Grunkle Stan?" 

"I said now!" they didn't need to be told twice, they quickly ran past him to get upstairs while he swung a bat down on the wave of zombies that surrounded him "Alright you undead jerks, ready to die twice?" he's panting as he's backed into the living room, taking down a few more zombies "The only wrinkly monster who harasses my family is me! Take that, and that!" it was only when the kids were safely upstairs he stops to take out a couple more zombies, shoving the bat into a zombie's mouth and went it snapped in two he punched it wearing his brass knuckles "Anyone else want a piece?!" he punches down a couple more just as the front door is busted down, he dodges a couple of swipes but was nicked in the stomach, he pulls his fist but stopped when he heard a shout. 

"Get down!" he quickly falls back into the staircase just as the zombie's brains are blown right out of its head, turning his head, he was met with Alvah just as disheveled as he was. Her dress was torn and was covered in dirt and zombie blood, and her hair was still tied in a loose braid but some strands of her hair were sticking out, what did it was the double-barreled shotgun she held followed by the shotgun shell strap wrapped around her body "I'm gonna get that kid, for sure." she pants, she let out a grunt when one of the zombies that was on the ground grabbed at the end of her dress so she pointed the barrel at its head and shot it dead. 

"Alvah, are you--" he sputtered out his words when she grabbed her dress and tore it down the side, spreading her legs a little wider for more leg room. 

"That's much better." she muttered as she flipped the latch to open the barrel of the shotgun, she flicked the empty casings out and slipped two new shells down the barrel before snapping it shut and pointing at a new group of zombies "Where are the kids?!" 

"Um, um-- uh, they're, uh--" 

"Stan!" she snaps, shooting a few zombies at once and quickly reloading "Now is not the time to gawk! Where are the kids?!" she asks again, he shakes his head to get a hold of himself. 

"Right, they're upstairs!" she nods. 

"Good! Let's go join them." they stand back to back as they punch and blast the zombies away, he pushes her up the staircase first then follows after her, they look at the father clock and proceed to push it down the first flight of stairs to create some distance before rushing up towards the attic. The door is closed when they reach it, she's standing behind Stan as he bangs on the door to open it, keeping an eye out for any zombies that could appear anywhere and when he finally got the door open she quickly pushed him inside and shut the door behind him. 

"Grunkle Stan, Alvah!" he gently pushes her to the side as he grabs a chair and lodges it beneath the door handle, Dipper lets out a nervous laugh as he approached the two tired adults "Well, at least, you can't deny magic exists anymore, right?" the two of them take a second before letting out sighs. 

"Kid, I've always known." 

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Alvah stands behind Stan as she turns around, a guilty look on her face. 

"I'm not an idiot, Dipper. Of course, this town is weird and the one thing I know about that weirdness is that it's dangerous." Alvah let out a scream when a hand broke through the door and grabbed her by her hair, Stan punches her free and grabs her when she fell forward, pushing her backward alongside the kids "I've been lying about it to try to keep you away from it, to try and protect you from it." when another zombie burst through the window she let out a growl and shot it right back out, she and Stan peek out and grimace when the shack was surrounded "It looks like I didn't lie well enough." Dipper then looked at Alvah, waiting for her explanation. 

"Ignorance is bliss, Dipper. Some people just don't need to know about all this supernatural stuff, and the less I know the better it does for my mental well-being." she fell to the floor and leaned against Mabel's bed, the young girl hurried to her side, and held her arm when she started rubbing her scalp where she was yanked back by the hair "I know it's not ideal to ignore it, but if I think about it, I find it hard to sleep at night. And if you tell the wrong people, welp, I guess tonight is a great example of that." Mabel was now applying rainbow band-aids to the open cuts on both Stan and Alvah as they try thinking of ways to get out of their current predicament. 

"What do we do? What do we do?" Waddles takes cover under Mabel's bed beside Alvah, who rests her hand on top of the pig's head to comfort him. 

"Normally, the journal would help us, but there's nothing in there about defeating zombies." Dipper says as he opens the book and flips through pages before showing them, and under the UV light, there they see words written on the blank page. 

"Wait, wait, wait, the text. It's glowing in the black light." 

"What?" he turned it around and under the light as he flipped through pages he saw words written in some sort of invisible ink "All this time I thought I knew all the journal secrets, but they're written in some kind of invisible ink." 

"Invisible ink." Dipper quickly goes back to the chapter about the zombies and sees instructions on how to defeat the zombies. 

"This is it! "Zombies have a weakness! Previously thought to be invincible, their skulls can be shattered by a perfect three-part harmony." Three-part harmony? How can we create that? I have a naturally high-pitched scream." 

"I can make noises with my body. Sometimes intentionally." 

"Whoop, whoop!" they looked towards Alvah, who was bumping her hands in the air "Love patrol alpha!" she cheered then giggled, trying to make light of the situation despite the possibility that their faces could get eaten, Mabel grinned and snaps her fingers. 

"Exactly." they all find themselves standing on the ledge of the second floor window, well, Alvah was casually sitting on the edge as she leaned against the karaoke machine while Stan and Dipper stood as stiff as a board holding microphones, Mabel was the one that looked like she was having the time of her life despite her life being in danger "Zombies and gentlemen, I'm Mabel, they're Dipper and Stan and together, we are Love Patrol Alpha!" 

"Whoop, whoop!" Alvah goes off in the background, she laughed when Stan glared at her to be silent. 

"I never agreed to that name." Dipper says quickly. 

"Hit it!" Alvah quite literally hits the top of the karaoke machine and "Taking over Midnight" by &NDRA starts playing, she giggles softly when Stan squints at the screen. 

"Uh, Mabel, our lives may not be worth this." Dipper pursed his lips and tried getting into the beat. 

"Friday night, and we're gonna party 'til dawn. Don't worry daddy, I've got my favorite dress on-- Mabel, this is stupid." she ignores him and sings the next part. 

"We roll into the party, the boys are looing our way. We just keep dancing, we don't care what they say. And all the boys are ganging up in my face--" Mabel let out a startled scream when a zombie climbed up, Stan pulled her back just as Alvah stepped forward and shot it off. 

"Come on you guys, you have to sing together or it won't work." she urged while reloading the shotgun, Dipper and Stan swallow their pride. 

"Boys are a bore, let's show 'em the door." 

"We're taking over the dance floor." Alvah couldn't help but smile when they all started singing together "Oo-oo, girls do what we like. Oo-oo, we're taking over tonight. Oo-oo, girls do what we like. Oo-oo, we're taking over tonight. We're queens of the disco!" Alvah laughs and claps her hands but notices that it's actually working, looking over at the horde of zombies, one by one their heads started exploding. 

"You're doing it! Keep it up!" as she watched them she saw that they were actually having a good time, perhaps it's because no ones around that Dipper and Stan aren't embarrassed. 

"Oo-oo, girls do what we like. Oo-oo, we're taking over tonight." 

"Taking over tonight!" she quickly pulled Dipper back when a zombie climbed up once more and punched it in the face, knocking its head right of its neck and it landing in a bowl of soda, she winced and shook her hand. 

"Ow." she let out a whoa when Stan pulled her close and that was when she noticed that all the zombies were dead. 

"Thank you! We'll be here all night!" 

"Deal with it, zombie idiots!" 

"Pines! Pines! Pines! Pines!" Alvah only laughed, they were back inside and she managed to find Stan's fez hat and placed it on top of his head, he thanked her and adjusted it himself just as Dipper started apologizing. 

"I'm sorry about this, guys. I totally ruined everything." 

"Dipper, are you kidding me? I got to sing karaoke with my two favorite people in the world. No party could ever top that." she stands back as Stan crouches down to Dipper and Mabel's level, hands on their shoulders. 

"Kids, listen, this town is crazy. So you need to be careful. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you got hurt on my watch. I'll let you hold onto that spooky journal as long as you promise me you'll only use it for self-defense and not go looking for trouble." 

"Okay, as long as you promise me that you don't have any other bombshell secrets about this town." 

"Promise." 

"Promise." Alvah pulled a face when she noticed both Dipper and Stan cross their fingers behind their backs, she sighed while shaking her head, Stan then let out a sigh. 

"Man, we have got a lot of zombie damage to clean up. Where's my handyman anyway?" they look up when they see Soos enter the room, still zombified, Alvah aimed the shotgun at him while Stan picked up a chair "Holy moses!" 

"Wait!" they both paused and looked down at Dipper to see him pull out the journal "There's a page in here about curing zombification. It'll take a lot of formaldehyde." 

"Ooo, and cinnamon." 

"Come on, Soos, let's fix you up." Mabel takes the chair from Stan and starts pushing Soos away, scolding him when he kept muttering about brains, with Dipper following behind and leaving Stan and Alvah alone in the living room. Stan looks at Alvah and saw she was rocking back and forth on her feet with her hands behind her back, he looked away when she spared him a glance and whistled. 

"So..." he cleared his throat, placing a hand on the back of his neck "you were pretty cool back there, with the shotgun and all." she gave a nervous laugh herself. 

"Hehe, yeah. I found it in one of your closets when a zombie fell into me, I got real lucky." she says as she tosses the gun on the sofa "You looked pretty cool as well, punching those zombies left and right. I think I hurt my hand a little." she admits as she waves her hand once more, her knuckles a shade of red after punching the head off the zombie. 

"Well, your hands are pretty delicate, toots." Stan says as he takes her hand into his, rubbing his thumb along her knuckles while blowing cool air onto them "Thanks for protecting the kids." she gave him a reassuring smile. 

"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for those kids." she then bumps her hip into his "Including you, Stan." he just laughs, his eyes then landed on the karaoke machine that Mabel left behind. 

"Well, sweetheart, you heard my magnificent singing voice, now it's time I heard yours. You even got a performance out of me." she scoffed jokingly, placing a hand on both her hip and chest. 

"And you think that's enough to convince me?" 

"... pretty please?" her resolve broke a little at the plea, he watched her raise her leg before kicking the karaoke machine and a song started to play, she raised a brow at the song but shrugged, nonetheless. He watches as she grabs a bundle of her dress, lifting a hand to her chest and lowering her head to curtsy. Stan couldn't help but chuckle and return the formal greeting with his own awkward little bow, she giggled softly before reaching a hand forward for him to take just as she started singing.

Mabel returns to the living room, leaving Soos in Dipper's care, upon realizing she left her karaoke machine and went to retrieve it, only to pause and hide in the hallway when she heard music followed by the most beautiful voice singing alongside laughter. Peeking into the room, she gasped softly when she saw Alvah and Stan dancing alone in the living room, he held one of her hands above her as he spun her around then pulled her into his arms, her back to his chest as he held her close. She looked up at him over her shoulder and continued to sing, turning around to throw her arms over his shoulders and pull herself closer. Mabel covered her mouth when she saw Stan kneel down a little to grab Alvah but her waist and hoist her up, she planted her hands down on his shoulders to stable herself and let out a squeal as Stan spun her around before gently tossing her up, catching her bridal style in his arms as he continued to spin, she giggled as she kicked her feet and threw her arms around his neck and hid her face in the crook of his neck. 

"Ooo, Dipper's going to flip when I tell him this." she whispered under her breath before running back to where she left Dipper, missing when Alvah pulled herself out of his shoulder and how both herself and Stan stared into each other's eyes. 

"Try once more, like you did before. Sing a new song, chiquitita~" they continued to stare at each other as the song slowed down before she let out a gasp when Stan laughed just as the music started picking up again, he placed her down and grabs her hands so they could spin around. Since the song had ended she was just laughing as they spun around like idiots until they collapsed on the ground, panting softly and staring at the ceiling "That... was really fun." Stan chuckled from beside her. 

"It was." he stared at her from where they lay, he looked at her and saw that one of her hands was resting on her chest while the other lay motionless between them. They were already so close when they were dancing together, he held her close to the point he could feel her breathing against his neck and the way her heart was beating like crazy, hell, he held her hand the entire duration they were dancing, so why the hell was he getting nervous now? Was it because the adrenaline was finally dying? He taps his fingers against his chest as he continues to stare up at the ceiling before going for it, Alvah flinched at the sudden contact and looked down to see Stan placed his hand on top of hers. Her eyes trailed up his body and they saw the way his eyes refused to move away from the ceiling but she could see the way his neck to the tips of his ears had tinged a shade of red, he gulped when he felt her hand move from under his but instead of taking it back, she simply twisted her hand around so she could intertwine their fingers together and give his hand a squeeze. 

"All you had to do was ask, Stan." she giggled quietly when she saw him turn his head away from her, throwing his other arm over his face to hide the embarrassment flush across his face. 

"Shut up." she hummed softly, but that feeling of guilt started to eat at her once again as she looked away. 

season 2, episode 2. into the bunker 

only appears at the beginning with stan, helping guide the construction workers where stuff goes. 

season 2, episode 3. the golf war 

joins them to play mini golf and is pretty good at it, that is until she hits the golf balls too hard and sends it flying. 

stan laughed at her when accidentally hit someone in the head. 

mabel gave her a sticker that said "be PAWsitive". 

she'll take what she can get. 

she comforts mabel when pacifica insults her once more but couldn't help but burst into laughter when mabel fires back and calls her a "walking one-dimensional bleached blonde valley girl stereotype". 

she was so proud. 

season 2, episode 4. sock opera 

mabel is begging on her hands and knees for alvah's help with her sock puppet show, knowing how good the older woman is when it comes to sewing. 

she has to pick mabel up to get the girl to cease, mostly because they were in public and it was making alvah look bad. 

she laughed at the sock puppet mabel made of her, she thought the likeliness was almost uncanny. 

as the days grew closer to mabel's puppet show, she noticed with each passing day dipper's desperation to unlock the laptop they found in that underground bunker was getting to him. 

she told the boy to take it easy, that the laptop was going anywhere and he could put his focus on it when he isn't so busy helping his sister. 

she found it sweet that he was helping her in the first place. 

"Oh, hi, Dipper. There you are." Alvah was with Wendy and Soos, planning on going to the theatre with them since Stan's car was full with the girls and the stuff for her puppet show, they walk out of the shack and find Dipper standing outside. 

"What up, dude?" Wendy greets, Alvah herself smiles at the boy as she waves. 

"You excited for your sister's play?" she felt a chill run up her spine when they approached him, she patted her chest and looked behind her but ignored the feeling when she didn't see anything "You're not catching a ride with Stan and the others? Guess they didn't wait for you." 

"We're headed to the theatre." 

"Need a ride, Dipper?" the boy let out a laugh. 

"Anything for you, Red." Alvah raised a brow at the odd nickname Dipper gave Wendy, she decided to ignore it and takes a seat in the backseat of Soos' truck, leaving Soos, Wendy and Dipper in the front. They arrived at the theatre and had taken their seats, Stan was to her left with Soos, Dipper and Wendy to her right, and the entire time she kept her eye on Dipper because he was just acting weird "Ah, nothing like the theatre, huh, toots? Hey, Soos, want to hear the exact time and date of your death?" Soos laughs. 

"Okay." she opens her mouth to say something but then Mabel appeared, looking happy upon seeing them. 

"Hey, guys, you all made it." 

"Are you kidding me? I would never miss, whatever this is." Alvah elbows him in his side. 

"By the by, Mabel, where'd you put my journal again?" 

"I used it as a prop for the big wedding scene. I still need a reverend though." 

"Hey, what if I play the reverend? I mean, someone's got to hold that journal, right?" 

"Great, let's go." that feeling of a chill running up her spine returned again the moment Mabel ran off with Dipper to get behind stage, she pulled a face but instead of doing anything she crossed her arms and leaned back into her seat. Stan looked down at her and saw the way her face twisted with concern, she let out a hum when he elbowed her. 

"You alright, toots?" she let out a sigh. 

"I don't know. Dipper's just been acting... off? He's become so desperate to find the author of that journal of his that he's losing himself, you know? I'm worried about him. Maybe you should talk to him that this summer is not just about uncovering the mysteries of this town but about having fun, it's like he's almost forgotten." Stan let out a huff. 

"Yeah, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have given him that journal back, but uncovering mysteries is how that kid has fun. He's just got to stop taking it so seriously." he then places his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him "Alright, I'll talk to him and try and get him to settle." she smiles. 

"Thanks, Stan." he chuckles. 

"If I didn't know it, you're acting more and more like the kid's guardian than me." she laughed and shoved him gently. 

"Oh, how could I replace you, Stan? You're their great uncle Stanford." they're both laughing but quiet down when the play begins. 

alvah, no matter how confusing the play was, was quite impressed with the story and found herself applauding throughout the night. 

she made a few comments here and there but other than that she was enjoying herself. 

it was during the wedding scene when everything seemed to fall apart. 

alvah let out a gasp when mabel and dipper fell from above and crashed onto the stage, she was confused as to why they were fighting over the journal. 

she side-eyed stan when he pulled out a camera and started recording them, saying how he could "sell this". 

she pushed him off his seat. 

the "fight" lasted a couple seconds with mabel slamming the journal on dipper's face before running around in circles and dipper eventually tiring himself out then collapsing. 

soon enough they were all ducking when a box of pyrotechnics went off and fired off into the crowd, one even landing in the box of sock puppets and exploding all over the stage. 

the stage was promptly destroyed. 

season 2, episode 5. soos and the real girl 

only really appears to tell soos that he's a really swell guy and that he'll find a girl perfect for him. 

smacks stan when he says he doesn't like soos' chances. 

is also really creeped out about "old goldie". 

season 2, episode 6. little gift shop of horrors 

doesn't really appear in this episode. 

season 2, episode 7. society of the blind eye 

only appears at the end of when the children, soos and wendy return with old man mcgucket after their fiasco with the society of the blind eye. 

after discovering that mcgucket was the owner of the laptop they suspected that he was the author of the journals. 

so they went on this whole adventure to the museum so they could recover his memories. 

that was when they stumbled upon the cult that was "the society of the blind eye", who were erasing people's memories of the paranormal activities that were going on. 

when they were finally able to defeat this club of freaks and get a hold of mcgucket's memories, that's when they discovered his past and his connection with alvah. 

"Alright, McGucket. Are you ready to see your memories? Find out who you really are?" Dipper asks as he switches the machine on that allows them to play back the memories that were unrightfully stolen, McGucket doesn't look all too thrilled, or nervous about what he is going to see. 

"I'm not so sure. What if I don't like what I see?" Mabel places her hand encouragingly on his arm. 

"We've come all this way. Go on." with his memory tube in hand, he approaches the machine and slots it into place. The television spurs to life and they wait a couple seconds before it reveals a younger less crazy version of McGucket. 

"My name is Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, and I wish to unsee what I have seen." they all gasp, finally seeing who exactly the old man-- or rather, Fiddleford McGucket really was "For the past year, I have been working as an assistant for a visiting researcher. He has been cataloguing his findings about Gravity Falls in a series of journals. I helped him build a machine which he believed had the potential to benefit all mankind, but something went wrong. I decided to quit the project. But I lie awake at night, haunted by the thoughts of what I've done. I believe I have invented a machine that can permanently erase these memories from my mind. Test subject one. Fiddleford." 

"It worked! I can't recall a thing." 

"I call it "The Society of the Blind Eye. We will help those who want to forget by erasing their bad memories." 

"Today, I came across a colony of little men. Very disturbing. I would like to forget seeing this." 

"I accidentally hit another car in town today. I feel terri-bibble. Terrible. I've been forgetting words lately. I wonder if there are any negative side effects..." 

"I saw something in the lake, something big!" 

"My hair's been a-fallin' out, so I got this hat from a scarecrow. Hey, are my pants on backwards?" 

As they watched the days go by with each clip, they saw how Fiddleford descended into madness and by the time the days reached ??? he had become the senile old man McGucket they all knew today who had laughed maniacally at the end while spouting out senseless words, the screen was filled with static. The room fell into silence as they looked at the once renowned inventor become a shell of his former self. 

"Oh, McGucket, I'm so sorry." 

"Aw, hush. You kids helped me get my memories back, just like you said." 

"But did you want those memories back?" 

"After all these years, I finally know who I am. Maybe I messed up in the past, but now that I seen what happened, I can begin to put myself together again." he reaches for his memory tube when the TV spurred to life again, causing them to jump back in surprise. It wasn't over yet? McGucket takes a step back and watches the TV once more and they heard the audio first before they saw any visual of what was going on, but from what they could tell, whoever McGucket was talking to he didn't seem all too pleased. 

"Get away from me! I don't want you anywhere near me!" they hear a clatter followed by glass shattering as Fiddleford tried getting as far away from whoever was with him "I know what you really are! I know you're just a wolf in sheep's clothing! You're a monster amongst us lesser beings!" they hear a sigh. 

"Fiddleford, you're being overdramatic." the voice was of a man that they could not recognize, it was hard to determine who it could possibly be "I'm not here to hurt you, I just wanna apologize for what happened back then." 

"So, you're acknowledging the fact that you did it on purpose!" 

"No, I didn't! You just appeared unannounced and caught me off guard! How on earth is that my fault?! It's not my fault you saw something you weren't supposed to see. Now look at you, you've started some... some, some cult!" 

"It ain't no cult! We're helping people, you see? We're erasing the bad things that people don't wanna remember." 

"And what if you're erasing too much? What if people start to forget who they are? And what about you? I know you've been using that thing one too many times on yourself to the point you're forgetting who you are. Do you even remember what you were doing in Gravity Falls in the first place?" 

"U-Uh, I was... I-I was--" the sound of a slam caused Fiddleford to shriek, they all then noticed how a picture started to form and at first all they saw was a still somewhat decent-looking Fiddleford looking absolutely terrified as he stared at the looming individual who was slowly approaching him. 

"What happens when you start to forget about your wife? And your son? Do you even remember their names? What if they come up from California and they see something they weren't supposed to see? Are you going to erase their minds as well? How selfish can you be?" the individual takes another step just as the picture is formed and their eyes widened when they saw a pair of uniquely colored red eyes that held nothing but disappointment "How do you think he'll feel if he saw the state you've fallen into?" he didn't flinch when he pointed the gun at him, his gaze only hardened. 

"Don't-- Don't come any closer or else I-I'll... I'll use this on you!" he rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, you don't have the guts to shoot me with that thing." Fiddleford's shaking got worse with each step he took "Now put that thing down before you hur--" their eyes widened when he shot him with the memory gun, even he was surprised that he actually shot him, he stumbled back in surprise and fell into the table behind him while clutching his head. They saw a wave of confusion wash over his face as he looked around before looking back over at where Fiddleford was, when he saw the way, he was panting as he stared at him, his face hardened with anger. 

"I-I... I warned you." he let out a shout when he lunged at him to smack the gun out of his hand. He brought his arms up to shield his face from what he believed he was going to attack him, but instead he let out a frustrated huff. 

"Fine then, have it your way. I'm only checking up on you as a request from your old friend, but I have no obligation to actually care for you." turning around and despite the TV failing to capture a high-quality image they were able to distinguish a fairly young man dressed in rather odd clothes, it was someone that they didn’t recognize from anywhere. Not from the town, not a tourist who could have visited the Mystery Shack. It was a total stranger to them. Who were they? They mentioned a friend. Could that friend the author or someone else entirely? "Perhaps when you come to your senses, I'll be nice and fill in the few blanks of what you can't remember. But that'll be until then." the video cuts off and they're left in silence once more, they all look at McGucket and see him shaking. 

"I... I remember him. I still can't remember everything exactly, but... but he's one of the reasons I became like this. But he didn't do it intentionally, I think?" 

"Does that mean whoever the man was had his memory erased? Does that mean his memory is somewhere here as well? Maybe if we find it, we might get some more answers." 

"Oh, you kids can go do that without me. I've got some remembering to do." they were hesitant to let him go but he reassured them that he’d be fine, he took a pair of glasses he found on the TV and left them to search for the mystery man’s memory tube. 

Meanwhile... 

"Stan... Stan, s-stop it!" Stan laid on top of her, laughing alongside her as he kissed up her neck and all over her face, his hands holding her by her waist as she did her best to push him away by his face and shoulder "I'm ticklish! Hahaha, stop it!" he only continued his attack just so he could continue to hear the melody that was her laughter, his grip on her tightening as she squirmed underneath him. 

"Nah uh, sweetheart. I don't know how long those kids are gonna be, but I wanna spend the rest of my night with you." she smiled up at him, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck and pulling herself up so she could press her lips against his and he welcomed it warmly. His hand moved up to her lower back to lift her closer to him so she tightened her hold around his neck, they both pulled apart to take a breath and before they could dive in for more, they heard the front doorbell ring. They break apart and look to where the door is, waiting breathlessly for it to ring again, they think they're in the clear and go to continue until it rings again "Urgh, dammit! I'm gonna strangle whoever's at the door." she giggled softly when he lifted himself off of her, grumbling to himself as he went to answer the door. 

"Go easy on them." she teased, she hums to herself as she waits for Stan to tell whoever it was to get lost but jumped when he instead shouted for her. 

"Alvah, it's for you!" she raised a brow, oh? She shrugged her shoulders and pushed herself to her feet, cleaning herself up a bit before leaving the room. She had her calm and kind demeanor as she peeked over Stan's shoulder, greeting whoever it was with a smile but her face twitched a little when she saw who exactly it was "How old man McGucket knew you were here, I'll never know." she and McGucket stared at each other, similar to how they stared at each other back at the mineshaft, but she saw a different glint in his eyes the longer they held their stare. 

"I'd like a word with you, Miss Alvah." 

"Well now, wait just one moment bus--" 

"Of course, perhaps we'll settle the feud between us." Stan stared at her in shock, giving her puppy dog eyes to get her to come back inside, but she simply patted Stan on the head and pushed him gently inside "I promise we won't be too long, just go back inside and wait for me. I'll even stay over, if that's what you want." he stared at her before throwing his head back with a sigh. 

"Urgh, fine! But don't take too long! We were just getting to the fun part." she laughed and ushered him inside. 

"I won't!" she leaned her head inside and waited for him to be fully gone before closing the door behind her, her face completely changed as she leaned against the front door, arms crossed and attention back on the man in front of her "So, Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, what would you like to remember?" a smirk stretched across her face when she saw Fiddleford glare up at her. 

"Everything." she chuckled cruelly. 

"Oh, with pleasure." 

season 2, episode 8. blendin's game 

the children don't bring up knowing that alvah and mcgucket have history amongst each other. 

either that or they just don't want to believe that alvah did something bad that caused mcgucket to spiral the way he is. 

in the episode, alvah knows the history behind soos' tragic tale of his birthday and, despite the heartache it gives him, encourages the twins to make this birthday worth it. 

she was also there ten years ago when stan first hired soos, patting his head with a smile. 

season 2, episode 9. love god 

doesn't involve herself with stan when he tries to appeal to the "hippy weirdos" during the festival. 

she does laugh when she saw his failed attempt at making a hot air balloon. 

she quotes "I heart kids" for the rest of the day, irritating him. 

season 2, episode 10. northwest mansion mystery 

doesn't make an appearance in the episode. 

season 2, episode 11. not what he seems 

"What happened here?" Alvah arrived at the Mystery Shack when the Pines twins were putting out a fire with water balloons, she greets the twins when they came running up to her with hugs and looked over at Stan, who was casually sitting on the outside sofa while drinking a pitt cola. She waved her hand and perked up when he waved his hand to greet her back before gesturing for her to come over, she ruffles their heads before making her way over to him and taking a seat beside him "Good morning, Stan. You seem to be in a chipper mood." he lets out a laugh. 

"I'm in an even better mood now that you're here." she giggled softly. 

"Stop it." they're laughing together until they're both looking out at Dipper and Mabel, she snickers softly when Dipper throws a balloon rather weakly that it barely makes it a foot from him, he's immediately wiped out by a balloon to the face by Mabel "But seriously, what's gotten you smiling this morning?" he clears his throat as he rubs the back of his neck. 

"Well, do you remember how I told you I've been working on something for the past thirty years?" she raises a brow but nods her head "I think... I think it's coming together now. I'm so close to it now that I'm not gonna let anything get in my way from my greatest achievement." her gaze softened as she placed her hand on his knee. 

"Then I hope everything goes your way, Stan." he smiles at her and places his hand on top of hers, however, her eyes widened in surprise when a water balloon was thrown at her, soaking her. They look over and see that it was Dipper who had thrown it, whose face was frozen with horror. 

"O-Oh my gosh, Alvah! That was meant for Stan!" said man was howling with laughter, she stared at Stan and promptly shoved him off the sofa, which caused the kids to laugh, and then proceed to shower him with water balloons. 

"Alright, alright! Hahaha! I tell ya, it's unnatural for siblings to get along as well as you do." Mabel lets out a laugh. 

"Haha! Don't worry, we've still got plenty of summer left to drive each other crazy." she cheers as she grabs a hold of Dipper, he then pushes her back and splashes her with a water balloon. 

"Heh, yeah... plenty of summer left." she grabbed his hand from behind him after hearing the way his voice dampened a little, he squeezed it and smiled when she squeezed his hand "Kids, there's something I... something I should tell you. It's, um... w-well it's complicated. I..." she was startled when he abruptly took his hand back from her "I'm gonna go refresh my soda." she and the children watch him rush off in a hurry, they look up at her to see if she knew why he fled the way she did but even she looked confused. 

"Alvah?" her face saddened when he disappeared but she shook her head and smiled at the kids. 

"I'm sure whatever he has to tell you is just hard for him to expl--" she shot up to her feet when she heard shouting, immediately getting in front of the kids to protect them "Stan? Are you alri--" she lets out a gasp when a group of armed men came out from around the corner and pointed guns at her, the kids jumped back when she was tackled to the ground. 

"Alvah!" she lets out a grunt when the man above her grabbed her by the wrists and slapped handcuffs around them. 

"Target secure." she turned her head and her eyes widened when she saw the soldiers surround Dipper and Mabel. 

"Kids are secure." she was lifted to her feet as a squadron of government soldiers broke into the house through the windows, she glared at the man who was handling her. 

"Hey! I haven't done anything! I know my rights." she turned her head when she saw Stan was being escorted by another government soldier "Stan! What's going on? Why am I being arrested?!" 

"Alvah, I-- hey! Hands off, you stooge! I don't understand. What did I do that warrants this much arresting?" Stan shouts as he was held down on the boot of a car, she was treated nicer than him and was left standing, she scoffs when she saw Agent Powers and Agent Trigger appear. 

"The government guys? I thought you got eaten by zombies." 

"We survived... barely." 

"I used Trigger as a human shield. He cried like a baby." she deadpanned, she didn't need to know that "This is security footage of a government waste facility. At 0400 hours last night, someone robbed 300 gallons of dangerous waste." 

"What? You think that's me?" 

"Don't play dumb with us, Pines!" 

"But I actually am dumb! Last night I was restocking the gift shop... I swear!" he was then taken into the car, leaving Alvah with the kids still handcuffed. 

"Why am I being arrested? What did I do?" she leaned back as her face scrunched up with anger when he got close to her. 

"We've been keeping an eye on Mr Pines ever since that zombie incident and we've noticed that you have a close relationship with him." she let out a gasp when she was being led away to a different government vehicle, her eyes not leaving Agent Powers "We might not have any video evidence of you helping, but we can't write you off the list just yet." 

"I'm being arrested for mere association with him?! I swear, this isn't going to end well for you!" 

stan finds it slightly amusing seeing alvah get a mugshot but is silenced when she glares at him from across the room. 

she and stan are separated into different interrogation rooms but she could just hear him fumbling over his words, trying to say "he's innocent until proven guilty", but failing. 

they really had no need to take her in as well but from what they've observed, she and stan were nearly always seen together. 

what's to say she wasn't with him during that ordeal? 

they asked her questions to get her to talk, to get her to prove that it was indeed stan who stole the nuclear waste. 

but throughout the interrogation, she was eerily quiet. 

giving short or one-worded answers. 

what really disturbed them was how calm she looked, her eyes and voice devoid of any emotion. 

from what they got from the locals, alvah was a walking ray of sunshine. no matter who saw her she always had some way to make them smile. 

she was kind, nice, and polite and the type of person who you could talk to no matter the topic. 

but the woman sitting in the interrogation room, a singular light hanging above her head as she stared at them without blinking... it terrified them. 

"She's a lot creepier than I would have thought." 

"Let's get some air. Her answers are getting us nowhere." Alvah watched them leave the room before slumping back in her seat, she knew this day was coming but she didn't expect she'd be arrested like Stan, it was a little humiliating if she was being honest. She hoped the kids were alright, she knew Stan was fine telling how the agents left him alone in the room, but she was getting a little frustrated that they were holding her here all because she and Stan were close. She began to scowl but let out an oh when everything, including herself, started floating a few feet off the ground before dropping back down with a notable thud. 

"Huh, now ain't that interesting." unlike Stan, she was handcuffed to the table in front of her so she tugged it back when it dropped a few inches away from where it originally was. This was going to get a lot more fun, a few hours rolled by and the group of agents came back into the room with determined expressions. 

"Look here, lady. You may not be guilty of any crimes unlike Mr Pines in the next room over, but you could get into serious trouble for withholding information. If you tell us what you know, you can go home." she just raised a brow at him. 

"Uh huh." she answered boredly, leaning back against her seat while letting her head hang back, looking up at the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing she's seen all day. She didn't flinch when the agent slammed his hand onto the table, she simply raised her head to look at the agent, expression indifferent "Struck a nerve?" she snickered when he grabbed her by the collar of her chest, yanking her out of her seat and scowling at that smug look on her face. 

"You're stepping on thin ice, lady." 

"Ooo, I'm so scared." she let out a laugh when he threw her back into the chair and she waved her hands from where they were chained "Now that ain't a way to treat a lady. Have you no manners?" she then started laughing rather manically, this was the first emotion they got out of her that entire time and it really freaked them out, with how far her smile stretched across her face and how her laughter echoed throughout the empty room. 

"God, you're creepy. I don't know why this town likes you so much." she winked. 

"Thanks. I take that as a real compliment." she grinned cheekily at him when he slumped against the table, she glanced over at a clock and saw that it was seconds away from nine o'clock "Hey, do any of you guys get motion sick?" they look at her with confused expressions. 

"What? No?" she chuckled. 

"Good, then you'll be just fine." the moment the clock struck nine everything in the room started floating just like before, but this time it lasted much longer and the agents in the room began freaking out. She continued to sit calmly in her seat while the other men tried their best to find anything stable, she glanced to the side when she heard in the room over a whole lot of shouting, she figured Stan had managed to free himself and was effortlessly getting himself out of the room. The moment the gravity came back everyone fell to the ground with a grunt, she just looked down at them amused, she perked up when she saw something run across the window of the door before coming back. 

"Alvah! Let me--" she raised her hand and shook her head, gesturing for him to leave. 

"You clearly have somewhere to be, Stan. I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you later." she winked at him and though he seemed reluctant he dashed out of the police station, now that Stan was finally gone, she inhaled deeply while rolling her shoulders "Finally, the day of his return has arrived." the agents were slowly peeling themselves off the floor when they finally noticed Alvah stand to her feet, the one that was being violent with her pulled himself up by using the table but noticed that when she stood up the handcuffs that kept her secured to the table snapped off. 

"Hey, lady..." he paused when he saw her lace her fingers together and push them forward so she could crack her knuckles, followed by rolling her neck before finally settling her eyes on him "y-you can't just--" he was cut off when she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, the same way he grabbed her, and pulled him until they were inches away from each other's faces. 

"What happened to that big boy attitude from before? Don't tell me that was all for show." that same grin that scared them stretched across her face again but this time her eyes held a sort of viciousness, or rather, insanity "You should have left us well alone, and maybe then you wouldn't have to suffer such a gruesome fate." the next couple of minutes the room was filled with cries and screams followed by maniacal laughter that slowly died out as time ticked by, the agents in the next toom quickly burst out of the room the moment they collected their bearings and ran out to chase after Stan but first checked up on their fellow agents interrogating Stan's part-- they all recoil back at the stench of death lingering out of the room, how blood was splattered across the floor and walls and even the ceiling, and at the center of it all was Alvah, holding the broken arm of the same man who was acting up on her. 

"Y-You..." her head snaps towards them like a doll, they flinch back at the sight of blood dripping down her face as she presses the heel of her boot into the agent's head to keep him still. 

"You should have heeded my warning, Agent Powers." she spoke, she took a step forward but raised the leg that was on the agent's head, they flinched back when she slammed her foot down and crushed his head "If I were you, I'd forget all about this town and get as far away as possible. But now... I can't let you leave. You know too much." Agent Powers takes a step back when she snaps her head again, her pupils moving erratically within her eye socket. 

"We should have kept our eyes on you, not Stanford." 

stan was running as fast as he could back to the mystery shack, hoping that soos did as he was asked and protected the vending machine. 

little did he know that dipper and mabel found his stash of fake id's, the newspaper article that proclaimed he was dead and the code that unlocks the vending machine to reveal the hidden door that leads to the basement. 

soos, dipper and mabel venture down into the basement and in horror found exactly what the government agents were searching for. 

the machine that could potentially destroy the world. 

with only a minute to go, the trio found a manual override that could possibly shut the machine down and stop it from tearing the universe apart. 

turning the three keys at the same time, it powers up a button directly in front of the machine that could shut down the machine. 

they quickly rush over to it, intending to shut it down for good when stan finally made it back. 

"Don't touch that button!" they all whip their heads towards the door and see a panicked look on Stan's face as he shouted at them to stop, he saw the way they stared at him with mixed feelings. Betrayal, anger, confusion, Dipper's hand was hovering over the button that could potentially ruin thirty years of his progress "Dipper, just back away. Please don't press that shutdown button. You gotta trust me." the boy's gaze hardened on him as he looked between him and the button. 

"And I should trust you, why? After you stole radioactive waste, after you lied to us all summer! I don't even know who you are!" 

"Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on. If you just let me explain--" his head snapped towards his watch and started beeping, indicating that another gravitational anomaly was going off "Oh! Oh, no! Brace yourselves!" the machine that Stan had been working on spurred to life, a gateway of sorts opened up as they were lifted off the ground, this anomaly was much more powerful than the previous ones because it started to lift the shack off the ground along with the other buildings within Gravity Falls. 

"T-Minus thirty-five seconds." they're all floating off in different directions, Mabel, however, got her foot caught in the wire attached to the shutdown button. 

"Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down!" Stan panics when he saw her pulling herself towards the button, he manages to plant his feet on the wall he was thrown into and push himself towards her. 

"No! Mabel, Mabel, wait! Stop!" he let out a grunt when Soos slammed into him to stop him "Soos, what are you doing? I gave you an order!" Soos tightened his hold on Stan. 

"Sorry, Mr Pines, if that really is your name, but I have a new mission now, protecting these kids!" 

"Soos, you idiot, let me go!" Dipper manages to throw himself at Stan, sending the three of them flying through the air. 

"Let me go!" 

"Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!" 

"No, you can't! You gotta trust me!" 

"Grunkle Stan, I don't even know if you're my Grunkle! I wanna believe you, but..." 

"Then listen to me. Remember this morning, when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?" they briefly looked away when the timer went off, saying that they had twenty seconds, the gateway surged with energy and threw the boys back into the wall opposite to where Mabel was, she raises her fist to push the button but stopped when he started speaking again "I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of 'em are true, but trust me, everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family." 

"Mabel, what if he's lying?! This thing could destroy the world! Listen to your head!" 

"Look into my eyes, Mabel! You really think I'm a bad guy?" 

"He's lying! Shut it down, now!" 

"Mabel, please!" Mabel looked between Stan and Dipper, her head swirling with all kinds of thoughts. Mabel didn't know who to choose-- who to believe. On one hand, Stan was pleading with her to not push the button? But what did he gain from this machine being on and possibly destroying the universe. On the other, Dipper was telling her to push the button to prevent such a catastrophe from happening. The timer slowly counted down as her hand lowered towards the button, she looked back at Stan and saw how much he was begging her not to do it. 

"Grunkle Stan... I trust you." with that she raised her hands above her head and allowed herself to float away from the button. 

"Mabel, are you crazy?! We're all gonna--" the moment the timer struck one a blister of white light exploded out of the machine and enveloped the entire room, this lasted for a couple seconds before gravity returned and everything fell back to the ground. Looking towards the machine, it was completely destroyed at this point but the gateway was still powered on and Dipper saw through the smoke a figure walking through. The figure approached them but stopped right in front of one of the journals, Dipper watched as he placed his six-fingered hand on top of the cover before lifting it off the ground and putting it in his coat "W-What? Who is that?" Stan, who lifted himself off the ground and adjusted his hat, stared up at the figure with disbelief. 

"The author of the journals... my brother." 

... 

... 

"Is this the part where one of us faints?" 

"Oh, I am so on it, dude." with that Soos fainted, but as they all slowly took in what just happened in the span of a minute, the sound of someone slowly clapping echoed through the room along with their footsteps. Looking towards the entrance, through the dust, Stan recognized the figure as she slowly approached them. 

"Well, well, well. You did it, Stanley. I just knew you could." Stan's eyes widened at the sight of Alvah, he had completely forgotten about her at the police station, but now she was here... different. She had blood splattered across her face and dress, the ends of her hands dripping with it while the end of her dress looked soaked along with her boots. As she gets closer he reaches his hand out to her but she completely ignored him, her eyes fixated on the man he proclaimed as his brother "Welcome back, Stanford." 

Siblings

word count: 15,200

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Robin Buckley x Female!Harrington!Reader Pronouns: She/Her Relationship: Romantic Occupation: University Student Ability: N/A

Keys:

[F/N]: Female Name [L/N]: Last Name [N/N]: Nickname [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [F/S]: Favorite Song [F/F]: Favorite Flavor

Warnings: slight angst, misunderstanding

“Siblings” pt.2, pt.3

I didn’t mean to make it this long, jesus christ.

that is all.

“Why the fuck did it take you so long to come get my ass, dipshit?”

“I wasn’t that long, you’re just overdramatic.”

“I’m overdramatic? Weren’t you the guy that cried to me that they didn’t have your branded hairspray and that you wouldn’t use some off branded knock off because it wouldn’t have the same effect in your hair like the original?”

“Hey…! You swore you wouldn’t bring that up.”

“You’re such a child.”

[F/N] Harrington, the elder sister of Steve Harrington. There weren’t many things that tore the two apart appearance wise, other than the fact that [F/N] was a woman, but they definitely shared the same eyes. [F/N] was away for University in another state and came back for summer break to visit her favourite brother and the shitty little town they both grew up in. Seeing her brother made her very happy, when they both saw each other after she got off her plane, they both jumped each other and couldn’t stop hugging each other while they both wore the biggest grins. [F/N] was telling Steve everything that’s been going on in the state she was studying in, telling him all the friends she’s made and how much better it was in comparison to Hawkins, telling him he’d like it if he was planning on leaving Hawkins any time soon.

Steve in return told his sister everything she missed out while she was out of Hawkins, though he was smart enough not to bring up anything revolving around the Upside Down. She was stunned to hear that he made friends with children that were about five years younger than him, this earned her a smack to the arm when she said that because they weren’t that young… maybe they were, but that’s not the point. She was more than happy that he was managing on his own, he even got a job scooping ice cream at the new mall Hawkins had called Starcourt, she definitely wanted to see that later.

“So,” she started, the two of them sitting across from each other at the dinner table as Steve served her some food “still single?” she snickered to herself when he jolted in his seat, he then glared at her and threatened her with a spoon, to which she raised her hands in defence.

“You… be quiet you.” she shrugged and started eating, he lets out a sigh and starts picking at his food “After Nancy and I broke up, I’ve been having some trouble finding a new girl I want to spend my time with, I can’t seem to be able to find the one, you know? I’ve been flirting with girls that come and order at the store, but it never seems to work anymore. Maybe I lost my touch, or…” he trailed off when he heard snoring, he deadpans and looks over at [F/N] to see she was resting her face on the palm of her hand as she snored.

“… oh, you’re done bitching?”

“You’re unbelievable.” she scoffs, throwing her hands up.

“So are you!” she shouts with a laugh, pointing at him with her fork “You’re not in high school anymore, Steve. These girls aren’t going to fall for your one liners or your status as King Steve. Right now, you’re just the average joe Steve, the civil citizen scooping ice cream. You need to stop thinking with the mindset that every girl that you flirt with is going to fall head over heels for that bullshit, no offence. Just find a girl that makes you feel like you’re on cloud nine, makes you think that “god, she’s the one” and do everything in your power to make sure she’s yours.” she sighs softly when he sulks a bit, head hanging low as he processed her words.

“You’re right.” she smirks, bringing her food to her mouth.

“I know I’m right.” she chews on her food and points at him once more “You gotta treat a girl like a goddamn queen or else you’ll lose a fine piece of meat because you weren’t careful ” his face scrunched up at the way she was wording it.

“Why do you know so much about how to treat a girl?” she deadpans at him.

“I’ve had many relationships with girls, Steve, and I failed each and every one of them.” he pulled a face at that, nodding his head and then the two of them sat in silence for the rest of the night. Right, he forgot that his sister was a lesbian and the two of them together were the biggest flirts of Hawkins, but of course she kept her sexuality on the down low, Hawkins was the shit hole it was and simply didn’t like things that weren’t… normal. Sure, Steve was an asshole in the beginning of high school, but he loved his sister more than some stupid popularity to out his sister for liking girls more than men. Though because of her attraction towards the female population, the two of them would often gossip about which girls they found cute.

“I’ve got work tomorrow, so I won’t be able to entertain you.” she waves her hand to dismiss him.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll just visit the Starcourt if I get bored.” he chuckles softly.

“Alright, stop by Scoops Ahoy if you wanna talk.” she salutes him.

“Will do.”

[the next morning]

“Why are you in the pool this early in the morning?” summer was always hot, even in the morning, so [F/N] was soaking in the Harrington pool on top of a float. She was probably going to soak in the sun for a couple minutes before doing a few laps around the pool when she heard footsteps, knowing that it was Steve, she chose to ignore him until he spoke up.

“Because it’s hot, dingus.” she hears him sigh, she then turned to get a look at him before squinting her eyes when she saw what he was wearing, she grabbed the side of her sunglasses and pulled them up as she looked him up and down “What the fuck are you wearing?” he grumbled under his breath when he saw that she was silently mocking him for his choice of clothing.

“It’s the uniform, I’ve got no choice but to wear it.” she snorts before pulling her glasses back down and laying back, moving into a comfortable position to sunbathe.

“Fucking loser.” he scoffed, kicking his feet.

“I’ve got work now, so I’ll see you later.” he turned to leave but stopped when he remembered something “The Starcourt Mall is pretty far out, so you’ll need to find your way there.” she raised her hand, not bothering to look over at him.

“Is my car still in storage?”

“Yes.” she snaps her fingers, dropping her hand into the water.

“Well then there you go.” he sighs but did smile a little when she waved him goodbye “I’ll see you later, Steve.”

“Bye, [F/N].” and with that he was gone, she inhaled through her nose before going slack on the pool float, what’s a few minutes napping in the pool? She shrugged and eventually lolling to sleep, later regretting it when she subconsciously turned and fell into the water of the pool, groaning as she resurfaced. She now found herself at a storage unit where her brother lovingly put her precious car while she was off at university, they would have left her car in the garage but they both knew that it would collect nothing but dust so they put it in storage once every few weeks someone would come in a check on it.

“Hey, look who’s back!” the owner of the storage unit exclaimed when [F/N] walked in, she waved her hand with a grin as she waved her hand to greet him “It’s nice to see you! How have you been?” she snorted softly, leaning against the front counter with a grin.

“I’ve been good. University has been kicking my ass lately, but it’s great to be back in the place I grew up in. I see nothing much has changed while I was gone.” this earned her a chuckle.

“Yeah, just the same old shit.” she nods to that and watched as he went through documents to pull out the one that has of her car, when he found it he lit up and separated it from the rest “Ah, here we go. Your car is in unit 83, I’ll have the key to the unit it just a bit.”

“Wonderful.” the moment they got to the unit and he unlocked it, she had the biggest smile on her face at the sight of her car “Oh baby, mummy’s back~” she cooed and quickly ran over to her car, throwing her arms over the hood off the car and hugging it as best as she could, the owner let out a chuckle as he watched her.

“It’s almost as if you care more about your car than your brother.” she laughed, waving her hand.

“Please, he’d do the same.”

“You’re right, it is a 1976 Ford Mustang Cobra II.” she saved up a lot of money for this baby from all the part time jobs she had, allowance money their parents gave her and even birthday money, all so she could afford this beautiful son of a bitch she took pride in “Well, she’s all yours. She was well taken of while you were gone, so if I see even a scratch on her, I’ll have your head.” she winked at him.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” throwing a cassette tape into the cars stereo and pumping the volume to max drowned out all the noise as she drove through Hawkins, bobbing her head to the music of [F/S], shouting and hollering like she was a teenager again during her high school days. Oh how she missed those days, but there wasn’t anything she could do to have those days back, so she was making the best of the time she had now. She was now sat at a red light, drumming her fingers against the stirring wheel to the music as she waited for the light to turn green, that was until she heard the revv of a car so she turned her head to see a gorgeous blue 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z-28, she couldn’t help but whistle at the sight of it “What a beaut.”  “Thanks.” she glanced at the driver, a blonde with sun kissed skin and the prettiest pair of blue eyes she’s ever seen… it’s a shame he’s a man because she definitely would have jumped him if given the opportunity “You new around here?” he shouted, she chuckled and leaned into her seat.

“Not really, just recently came back.” he nods his head to that “What about you? I’ve never seen you around.”

“I moved here last year from California.”

“What a mistake on your part.” he snorts at that.

“I agree.” he glanced back towards the light to see if it turned green yet and when it didn’t he spared her another glance with a smirk “I’m Billy, Billy Hargrove! I hope to see you again, mustang.” her eyes widened slightly at that, Hargrove? She remembered seeing that name when Steve would send her letters, she was pretty sure that Steve wrote he beat the shit out of him, Billy raised a brow when he saw her snort a little.

“Hargrove, huh?” pushing her sunglasses up, he narrowed his eyes on hers, where has he seen those eyes before? “The name’s Harrington, [F/N] Harrington. See you whenever, camaro~” she sent him a wink followed with a kiss, she let out a laugh at his shocked expression before flicking her glasses down then driving off when the light turned green. His reaction was priceless, Steve was going to love this. She now stood outside the Starcourt Mall, leaning against her car and whistling at the sight of it, pushing her sunglasses onto her head to take the full view of the mall. Now this was something Hawkins should be proud of, Hawkins was nothing but a hick town out in the middle of Indiana but this was definitely something to be proud of “I wonder where Hawkins got the money to pay for this.” she muttered before chucking softly, pushing herself off her car and walking towards the entrance of the mall, ignoring the lingering stares of the people around her.

She was even more impressed of the inside, everything was bright and vibrant, there was just so much to look at. What the fuck did she miss that Hawkins had this place made? She wasn’t going to question it anymore than she has to, now she wants to find Scoops Ahoy just so she can make fun of her brother. Looking for it was actually quite the challenge, having to ask a couple people then thanking them when they actually answered her. She stirred clear from boys because when she asked one they thought she was asking them out or something, she turned around immediately and asked the closest girl who was actually helpful. Meanwhile at Scoops Ahoy, a girl who just wanted the day to be over was leaning against the counter and waiting for the next unsuspecting customer to come up and make her day even more horrible for being indecisive.

“Just end me….” she groaned out, taking her hat off to run a hand through her hair before plopping it back on “Harrington! What the fuck are you doing that’s taking this long?” she shouted from the front counter, turning around to through the window open to view into the back where she found Steve looking through the freeze.

“We ran out of a specific flavor and I’m looking to replace it, alright? I just can’t find it, so cool it Robin!” he shouts back as he dug deeper into the freezer, she rolled her eyes then groaned when she heard the jingle of someone entering the store.

“Well, hurry it up! We’ve got customers and I’m having to do everything all by my…self.” she trailed off when she saw who exactly walked through the doors, god… she ain’t ever seen anyone more attractive in her life. [F/C] finally managed to find the shop and was practically dying from all the walking she had to do, she took her sunglasses off once more, throwing her hair back when some of her [H/C] locks fell over her eyes and safely tucked her glasses in her shirt. Robin continued to gawk at this very attractive girl, mouth agape as [F/N] pursed her lips and nodded as she looked around the store before finally locking eyes with Robin. Her body froze up when those piercing [E/C] eyes landed on her but she started sweating when [F/N] started approaching her, her breath getting caught in her throat when she was finally in front of her.

“Hi.” she greets with a smile, Robin swallowed thickly.

“H-Hi.” [F/N] couldn’t help but chuckle softly when the cute girl in front of her stuttered, she looked her up and down then raised a brow when she was wearing the same uniform her brother was wearing, but she looked cute in hers “U-Um, welcome to Scoops Ahoy. H-How can I— how can I help you?” Robin stared up at the slightly taller girl and watched as she looked at the variety of ice cream out on display.

“Hmm… could I just get two scoops of [F/F] please? No toppings.” she found it adorable how she couldn’t stop staring at her, absentmindedly as she nodded her head.

“O-Of course, coming right up.” she almost felt bad with how much this girl was trembling under her gaze, she felt like a predator watching its pray before feasting upon it, but she just couldn’t help it “Alright, two scoops of [F/F].” she said, standing up straight and handing the cone to [F/N], breath hitching when she felt her hand briefly touch hers when she took it.

“How much do I owe you?” [F/N] asks, taking a couple bills out of her back pocket to pay for her ice cream but was startled when Robin pushed her hand away.

“O-Oh! It’s on the house.” her eyes widened at that, she couldn’t hide the smirk that rose to her lips.

“Really?” Robin couldn’t mutter out any words and only hummed as she nodded, [F/N] chuckled as she started to put her money away “Okay, but I feel bad, so have this.” it wasn’t much but she kept a twenty and tucked it into Robin’s hand, she then turned and winked at her followed by a click on her tongue before walking away. [F/N] let out a hum as she at her ice cream, thinking back to the way Robin looked at her, before pausing “I completely forgot the entire reason I was there.” she let out a sigh as her head dropped… well, at least she got ice cream out of it. Meanwhile with Robin, her hand tightly held onto the twenty dollar bill to the point it was crumbled up in her hand, face a bright red as she tried to remember that lingering feeling of [F/N]’s touch.

“Her hand was so soft…” she sighed out dreamily, body going slack on the counter. This stranger had the most beautiful [Long/Short] [H/C] hair she’s ever seen, it looked soft to touch, even those eyes had her getting lost when they looked directly into hers. But, there was just something about her eyes that had her thinking, she’s seen eyes like those but she just can’t remember wher—

“I found it!” her day dreaming was cut short at the sound of Steve’s voice, her smile dropping when he came out from the back with a tub of ice cream “I found it.” he repeats.

“Yeah, I can see that.” he huffs at her tone.

“Grouchy much.” he says as he replaces the empty tub “Did anything exciting happen while I was in the back?” she pretends to think then shook her head.

“Nope, nothing happened.” he shrugged and took over the front counter, flirting with the first girl he saw and left Robin to think about the gorgeous girl she managed to see before Harrington.

[end of the day]

“Welcome home, Stevie!” [F/N] greets from the couch, muting the television and waving her hand as Steve walks in through the front door “How was your day at work, sailor?” he lets out a sarcastic laugh, collapsing on the couch beside her and throwing his legs over hers.

“Honestly, it could’ve been better.” she purses her lips, nodding her head.

“Too bad, so sad. Anyways-” he groaned, his head falling into the arm rest of the chair “I saw the cutest girl when I came into your store to see you, I got so distracted that I completely forgot that I came in to see you.” his head immediately perked up at the mention of a cute girl, to which she rolled her eyes at the sudden interest.

“Go on.”

“It was your coworker, I didn’t manage to catch her name.” his jaw dropped.

“You mean Robin Buckley?” his face cringed when hers lit up.

“So that’s her name, Robin.” her face dropped when she saw him gag, turning away and pointing into his mouth at the mere thought of her having an attraction towards the girl “Why the fuck you reacting like that, dipshit? Is it cause she’s your coworker and you don’t want your sister sucking faces with her?” he lets out a dramatic sigh, throwing his head back.

“No! What’s there to like about her?” she shrugs.

“I don’t know, you tell me. She’s your coworker, tell me about her.” he scoffs.

“Where’s the fun in that? Isn’t the whole point about being infatuated with someone is getting to know them? You’d be cheating if I were to tell you everything I know about her.” she raised a brow at him, watching as he had a triumphant smirk on his lips while crossing his arms.

“Does that mean you’re infatuated with her as well?” it amused her how face his face changes, she kept a straight face as he glared at her.

“Me? Infatuated with her? Pah! I wouldn’t even dream of it. She’s not my type, not even on the ballpark. I know what my type is, alright?” she rolled her eyes, moving to get more comfortable on the sofa.

“What’s your type again?” he scoffs at her.

“For your information, she’s still in school, and she’s weird. She’s a weirdo, and she’s hyper. I don’t like that she’s hyper, and she did drama! That’s a bad look, and she’s in band? No.” she scoffed when he starts shaking his head.

“It’s only been a day, and we’re having this conversation again. Steve, now that you’re out of high school, which means technically you’re an adult, don’t you think it’s time that you move on from primitive constructs such as popularity? Instead of dating somebody because you think it’s gonna make you cooler, why not date somebody you actually enjoy being around?” he slumps into the couch at her words then flinched when she slapped his leg “And besides, I don’t even think you’ve got a chance to be with her.”  “What’s that supposed to mean? You saying I’ve lost my game?” she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Steve, Robin Buckley is the gayest girl I’ve ever seen ever since being back in Hawkins, and it’s only been a day.” they both sit in silence for what seems like an hour before Steve finally processed what she said.

“She’s gay? But I thought that term was used for men.” she slaps a hand onto her forehead “So you’re saying she’s a lesbian? That she’s into girls?” she nods her head.

“Yes, you simpleton, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” she then points at him “Don’t even think about asking her either, Steve. Asking someone about their sexuality is like asking whether or not you want to live.” he pulls a face.

“Wha—”

“I’m serious! It’s either life or death, and I’d rather choose death.” he raises his hands.

“Alright, alright! I won’t say anything.” she nods her head when he understood, the two of them sit in silence until he speaks up again “So, you can just tell when someone isn’t straight?” she closes her eyes in mild disappointment.

“You know what, yeah, some people can. It’s called a gaydar, and you, my sweet little brother, aren’t exactly the straightest man either.” she took great pleasure in seeing the look of confusion cross his face before it changed to panic, she always had fun teasing him.

“No, no!”  “I’m never wrong, brother!”

[time skip: a few weeks]

“Great, just great.” Robin muttered under breath, if her day couldn’t get any worse, it just did. Not only was she late to work, but her bike decided to pop its tire, the bus was late and it was raining. It’s like god decided to pick on her that morning and he was fucking winning. She collapsed onto the seat behind her, her bag dropping onto the ground as her face fell into her hand, she just wished the world would just give her a break, give her something to look forward to “Please, god, just give me one good thing.”

“Buckley?” she heard, her head shot up and she didn’t know whether she should thank god or kill him when she saw [F/N] looking at her through the passenger side window of her Mustang “You good? You look like you’re having a shitty morning.” Robin, who hadn’t realised she was tearing up, hurriedly wiped her tears and hoped [F/N] hadn’t noticed them.

“It could be worse!” she answers, only to flinch when lightning struck followed by the sound of thunder, [F/N] chuckled softly when Robin deflated “I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.” she mumbled softly, [F/N] nods her head as she leans back into her seat before looking back at her.

“Need a ride?” Robin’s head perked up.

“What?” 

“I’m asking you if you want a ride to work? I was on my way to the Starcourt Mall to watch a movie, so it wouldn’t inconvenience me.” she pressed her lips together when Robin raised her hands whilst shaking her head to reject the request.

“No, no, I’m fine. Thank you for offering, but I think I’d be much better off taking the bus instead. I just don’t want to dirty your car, I mean, it’s a very nice car and I think I’ll make a mess. I mean, I’m wet and if I get in your car, I’ll wet the seat. Besides I’m already late and you have a movie to catch, so I think it’ll be better if I just wait.” [F/N] deadpans when Robin started to ramble, what started off of her not wanting to dirty her car somehow turned to how she can dodge the raindrops. Man, when Steve said she talks a lot, this was not what she imagined.

“Get in the damn car.” she says, stopping Robin mid sentence but evidently making her nod.

“Yes, ma’am.” she laughs when Robin picks up her things and hurries over, thanking [F/N] when she opened her passenger door. When Robin was in her car, she rolled up the window and waited for her to fasten her seatbelt, she looked her up and down and noticed that she was shivering even under the hoodie she was wearing so she graced her with the warmth of her cars air conditioner “Thanks.” her face flushed when [F/N] winked.

“No problem.” Robin jerks back when [F/N] shifted gears then slammed her foot on the gas, smirking softly as she drove through the rain to the Starcourt Mall. The two sat in silence as music played through the cars sound system, [F/N] bobbing her head while tapping against the wheel.

“Um, [F/N]…” she lets out a hum, letting Robin know she had her attention as her eyes concentrated on the road ahead of them “This is probably the first proper conversation we’ve actually had where it isn’t me asking for what flavor of ice cream you want, but can I ask you something?” she hums again.

“Sure, what is it?” Robin bites her lip, she was really risking a lot asking her this.

“A-Are you… seeing anyone?” [F/N] purses her lips at that, Robin flinching softly when [F/N] spared her a glance.

“No I’m not, why? You making fun of me?” Robin quickly raises her hands, shaking them and her head to deny the thought,

“N-No, not at all!” [F/N] was still looking at her, waiting for her to explain why she asked “Um, I was asking because, uh… Steve? Yeah! Steve wanted me to ask you if you were single?” that smirk she wore on her face quickly washed away into a look of confusion.

“Steve Harrington asked you to ask me if I was seeing anyone?” she nods her head, fully confident that she bought the lie. She found it very amusing that both herself and Steve have failed to inform Robin that they were siblings, and as much as she wanted to tell her the truth…. she found it more hilarious to see how long it’ll take for her to realise they were in fact related.

“Yes.” she confirmed, [F/N] licked her lips.

“Well,” she starts, shaking her head in mild amusement before shrugging her shoulders “tell him h-he’s weird for asking.” [F/N] lights up when she heard Robin giggle.

“I’ll make sure to tell him.” they both then laugh together, Robin dreads the moment [F/N] pulls up to the mall, knowing that their time was cut short and she knew she didn’t have the confidence to strike up a conversation with her again. She hadn’t even noticed [F/N] stepped out of her car until her door was opened, she looked up and saw [F/N] holding her hand out to her while her other held an umbrella.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Robin’s hand hesitated a little but eventually she managed to take her hand, [F/N] helped her out of the car then held the umbrella over her head as she waited for her to collect her stuff, when she did she kicked the door closed then locked her car “Come on, lets go.” as they were walking to the entrance [F/N] noticed that Robin kept some distance between them and her shoulder was getting wet, she lets out a hum at that. Robin wasn’t paying attention to [F/N] as they walked together but she jolted up when [F/N] placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her close so now they were shoulder to shoulder.

“W-Wha—”

“Your shoulder was getting wet, and there’s plenty of space under the umbrella.” Robin couldn’t look her in the eye as [F/N] side eyed her with a soft smirk on her face “I’m not gonna bite.” she has to hold back a snicker when she saw Robin’s face flush red, she can only imagine what’s going on in her head. When they were finally under the shelter of the mall, [F/N] had her back to Robin as she shook her umbrella dry of the rain while Robin’s hands clutched the sleeves of her hoodie.

“Um, thanks for the ride, [F/N].” hearing this caused [F/N] to look over her shoulder at Robin.

“Don’t worry about it.” she reassured, when her umbrella was dry enough she closed it then threw it over her shoulder and turned to face Robin once more “If you don’t have a ride home, do you want me to drop you off?” Robin’s head perked up at that.

“Huh? You want to drop me off home?” she nods.

“Well, yeah. Don’t you finish until the mall closes? That’s pretty late, and I don’t like the thought of you walking home at night. Besides, I highly doubt Steve is gracious enough to give you a ride home.”

“You don’t mind?” she shook her head.

“Of course not, in fact,” Robin watches in confusion when [F/N] pulls out a small notebook and pen and starts writing something down, when she was done she tore it out and handed it to her “call me if you ever need a ride or if you just wanna talk.”

“Y-You’re giving me your number?” [F/N] nods with a chuckle.

“Yeah, why? Don’t want it?” she teased and pulled the piece of paper back, laughing slightly when Robin quickly snatched it back.

“No, I want it!” Robin now had the biggest smile on her face as she clutched the small piece of paper “No take backs!” [F/N] only nodded.

“Alright, then I guess I’ll see you tonight.” she nods then scurries off to get to Scoops Ahoy, finally god has graced her with one good thing. [F/N] smiled as she crossed her arms while watching Robin run off, probably wishing that time would hurry up so the two of them could talk again.

“There you are, mustang.” she let out a whoa when she was grabbed by the waist and pulled into someone, she scoffed when she realised who it was and smacked him in the chest.

“Watch who you’re touching, camaro.” Billy Hargrove and [F/N] Harrington have established an… interesting relationship. The moment the two of them met again, it was on fucking sight. Billy didn’t hesitate to throw hands with [F/N] and she in return didn’t hesitate to fight dirty, she was angry at the blonde for nearly beating her brother to death so she returned all that pain tenfold, but he was definitely stronger than her in terms of strength. He didn’t pull his punches and the first punch to the face he delivered made her rethink her choices, though at the end of their fight, [F/N] had Billy’s neck locked in between her legs while he himself was holding her by the neck. When the two of them finally calmed down they both sat on the hood of Billy’s Camaro, all bruised and bloodied, while smoking a cigarette. They both sat in silence though [F/N] raised a brow when Billy held his fist out to her, she stared at it before bumping it with her own, and from then on the two of them have had a mutual understanding with each other. When [F/N] got home though, Steve was shocked to see her beaten up and when he questioned her, she just told him to not worry about it.

“So freckles there, that’s the girl you’re into?” he asks, he raised a brow when he heard her sigh and lean into him.

“Hell yeah, she’s just so fucking adorable that I can’t help but tease.” she let out a whoa when he shoved her off, she scoffed when he tucked his hands into his pockets and started walking over to the cinema.

“What’s there to like about girls? Men is where it’s all at.” she rolled her eyes, straightening out her jacket then following after him. Another reason to two of them got along, the two of them noticed that they were more alike than they let on.

“Ew, men.” they both stare at each other before bursting out into laughter, now walking beside each other as they made their way to the cinema to watch a movie. The people of Hawkins were always one for gossip, so when they spotted the two most attractive people of Hawkins together, they immediately let their minds begin to believe that they were a couple. The moment that rumour hit their ears they couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous claims and just let them talk, though, it was better than being labeled as queer.

“So what’s this movie about again?” Billy questions, pulling out a pack of gum to replace his need to smoke a cigarette, [F/N] hums at the question, squeezing her chin in between her thumb and index finger.

“If I remember correctly, it’s about some guy who goes into the past…?” she trailed off when she couldn’t remember the plot of the movie, he rolled his eyes at her piss poor description of the movie.

“That sounds like a dumb movie. Why are we watching this again?” she rolled her eyes, paying for both their tickets while he bought them food.

“I wanted to watch this movie alone, you invited yourself, remember?” he deadpans at that, the two of them later found their seats and continued to chatter through all the ads “Besides, the main reason we’re here together is so we can bother Stevie later.” he purses his lips, nodding his head.

“Now that’s something I remember agreeing on.” she scoffed.

“You’re unbelievable sometimes, Hargrove.” he snickers at her.

“Right back at ‘cha, Harrington.”

[at scoops ahoy]

“Hello and welcome to Scoops Ahoy, today I’ll be your captain, Steve Harrington.” Robin rolled her eyes from where she was, scooping ice cream for the nth time that past hour whilst Steve flirted with every female customer that came in through the doors. Her mood was slightly better than usual, Steve noticed this as well, telling by the way she had this soft smile on her face even despite getting yelled at by a mother for scooping the ice cream wrong. Scooping the ice cream wrong? How do you even do that? “You seem to be an awfully good mood, did something good happen this morning?” he raised a brow when he saw a wishful look crossed her face.

“This cute…” she paused mid sentence, looking up at Steve and hesitated to finish “guy gave me a ride to work this morning and he even offered to drop me off after I finish.” she felt like she threw up in her mouth saying that, turning away from Steve to let out a slight gag, Steve on the other hand furrowed his brows in confusion at her words. Guy? Didn’t his sister suspect that Robin was a lesbian? Though she also did say that people who weren’t entirely straight wouldn’t nonchalantly say their sexuality, so he just nodded.

“Do you like this guy?” he asked, leaning against the counter and waited for her response.

“… I’d like to say I do, he’s just so perfect.” his gaze on her softened a little, he remembered a time he had that same expression when he thought of Nancy. Now his heart got a little bitter at the memory, he shook his head to rid his mind of the thoughts and gave her a grin followed by a thumbs up.

“You should shoot your shot.” he tells her, she shot up a this words “Do you think this guy is into you?” Robin pursed her lips, rubbing her hands together as she thought of the few short encounters she’s had with [F/N]. Whenever she started rambling without being aware of it, [F/N] never stopped her and just listened to her speak. [F/N] was often very sweet and kind with Robin, giving her little compliments and even putting big tips in the tip jar despite getting one small thing. Then that morning, she went out of her way to drive her to work in the piss pour rain and even drop her off home, going so far as to giving her her phone number to call her if she needs anything.

“Well, he doesn’t seem like he’s not into me.” Steve hummed softly when he saw Robin raise her hand to twirl a strand of her hair around her finger “I’m just scared that I’m looking too far into this, and that if I say anything, I’ll lose him.” she runs a hand through her hair, he nods his head and glances towards the door, when he didn’t see anyone coming towards the counter he put his attention back on Robin.

“Take this from someone who’s had plenty of people crushing on me, and vice versa.” she scoffed at him “You won’t know if they’re the one or not until it’s too late. I understand that it’s scary to confess your feelings to the person you’re in love with, but it feels a lot worse when you don’t say anything and you watch them go off with someone else without even trying. The thought of not saying anything when you could have is much more terrifying, and though you might lose them, it’s better than keeping those feelings to yourself.” she stared up at him in slight disbelief.

“Wow, that was the best thing I’ve ever heard you say, Harrington. Who knew you were capable of saying such good advice.” he rolled his eyes at her.

“Well, take it or leave it, I just want to meet the guy that’s got you all worked up in the future.” she pursed her lips at the thought of actually managing to score [F/N], maybe it was the look on Steve’s face when she pulls up with [F/N] by her side that makes her smirk.

“Whatever you say, Harrington.” they were both smiling at the end of their conversation, perking up slightly when they heard the chime of someone entering the store. Before they could greet the newest customer they were both shocked to see [F/N] walking in with Billy by her side, neither two noticed the shocked stares as they chattered about the movie.

“She totally had a thing for her son, right?” [F/N] questioned “I mean, I understand that she didn’t know that was her son, but imagine her surprise when so plus years later her son looks exactly like the guy she met all those years ago. Those should have set off some alarm bells.” Billy laughs at the assumption.

“No, it was the fact that she named her kid Marty. If I were her husband, I’d be pretty fucked off that my wife named our son after a guy she was attracted to.” she snaps her fingers, pointing at him.

“I know, right?” they both laugh together, they now stood at the counter with smirks on their faces, both individually staring at Steve and Robin. The two of them continued to stare at them in disbelief, [F/N] then leaned against the counter, hand resting down on it whilst her other was placed on her hip “Hi Buckley~” she cooed softly, Billy snickered softly when he noticed the tip of Robin’s ears flushed red, he then turned to Steve.

“Hi Harrington~” Billy said in the same tone [F/N] had, she noticed this and turned back to scoff at him, Steve then scoffed at the both of them.

“What are you two doing here?” Billy raised his hands in defence.

“Why the hostility, Stevie? Besides, this is an ice cream store. We’re here to buy ice cream, duh.” Steve sends [F/N], to which she just snickered with a shrug of her shoulders “Mustang here was in the mood for something sweet, so we came here.” she nods her head and pushes herself up so she was standing beside Billy again, crossing her arms and leaning her weight into one of her feet.

“Mm hmm, I just love the ice cream here.” she makes sure to wink at Robin at that, Steve looks between the two then notices the way Robin was bashfully smiling while trying to hide her red face behind her hair “There ain’t nothing more sweet then what this place has to offer.” whether or not that was directed at the ice cream or Robin, Steve just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What do you want?” Steve was almost done with his sister flirting with his coworker while he was there, was this how Robin felt whenever he flirted with girls every five minutes? Man, this sucks.

“You first, sweetheart.” Robin flinches a little at the pet name Billy called [F/N], she awaits her reaction and her heart sunk a little when she saw her playfully roll her eye as she smacks him in the chest.

“Such a gentlemen.” he shrugged his shoulders, she then glanced at Robin and gave her a soft smile “Could I have my usual, Robin? I’d appreciate it.” 

“R-Right, of course! Coming right up.” whilst [F/N] was busy watching Robin with her order, Billy leaned against the counter and had a thoughtful look about what he should order, to which Steve was growing more and more irritated at the smug look on both of their faces.

“Hmm, how about two scoops of vanilla and chocolate?” Steve just nods, when Robin finishes with [F/N]’s order he goes over and makes Billy’s, growing slightly flustered with the way Billy just continued to stare at Steve “What’s the matter, pretty boy? Am I making you uncomfortable?” [F/N] glanced at her brother and noticed the way he tensed up a little, his usually pale skin turning a shade of pink.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Steve felt her gaze on him so he turned and lightly glared at her, it hardened when he saw her smirking at him as she ate her ice cream.

“Called it.” is all she says, he grumbles under his breath when he knew what she was talking about. The two of them were already eating away at their ice cream as Robin tallied up their total, when the estimated amount came back Billy slapped down a twenty dollar bill.

“Keep the change.” [F/N] snaps her fingers and points at Robin.

“I’ll see you after work, Buckley.” she winks at her before the two finally walk out, sparing the two one last glance before they finally left. Both Steve and Robin let out a breath they hadn’t realised they were holding in and fanned their faces, they then look at each other.

“… we never speak of this.”

“Never speak of what?” meanwhile, Billy and [F/N] were sitting a little ways away from Scoops Ahoy and watched the two spiral into both a lesbian and bi panic, [F/N] laughs as she threw her head back.

“Damn, it’s so funny watching him question his sexuality.” [F/N) says, licking at the melting ice cream that ran down her cone and onto her fingers “I appreciate you flirting with my brother, it makes my fucking day.” Billy chuckled at that, eating away at his own ice cream while remembering the flustered spectate he left Steve in.

“Don’t mention it, flirting with him is almost like a sport, and I just love winning.” they both laugh at that. Hours later and Starcourt Mall is finally closed, Robin let out a sigh as she walked out of the mall a little more exhausted then usual but her head perked up at the sound of loud music. A smile graced her lips when she saw [F/N] sitting on the hood of her car smoking a cigarette, bobbing her head to the music while exhaling the smoke circulating in her lungs, breathing it out and watching it blow away in the wind.

“[F/N]!” she jolted up from where she was at the call of her name, turning her head towards the entrance of the mall then smiling when she saw Robin rushing over to her while waving her hand, this made her smile softly as she pushed herself off the hood and go over to the passengers side, opening the door and bowing her head.

“Your chariot awaits, my lady.” Robin giggled softly, shoving [F/N]’s face away, causing her to laugh at the gesture.

“Real smooth.” [F/N] closes the door the moment Robin got in and hurried over to the drivers side, taking the cigarette from her lips and tossing it away before jumping in. She lowers the volume for Robin when she noticed her wincing at how loud it was before starting her car then driving off, she continued to bob her head to the music as she drove out of the malls parking lot before turning her head towards Robin but not taking her eyes off the road. She asks the girl she lives so she knows where to drop her off and pick her up on future occasions, upon telling her address, [F/N] smirks softly and changes gears then slamming down on the gas “You sure like driving fast.” she laughs at that.

“Hell yeah I do, it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to drive my baby so I’m making the most of her.” at that she reached forward and gently caresses her dashboard “Besides, this isn’t even as fast as she can go. I’d go faster, but then I’d get pulled over. That Hopper guy is a real pain in my ass.”

“I’ll say.” Robin pats her hands against her legs and occasionally glances at [F/N], watching her tap her fingers against the wheel, mouthing the lyrics to the music and sometimes watching as her tongue poked out of her mouth to lick her dry lips.

“You know I feel you staring at me, Buckley.” Robin flinches at that and quickly turns away and faces ahead of them “You can keep staring, I don’t mind.” she chuckles when she could feel her grow flustered, it was always so fun teasing her.

“Can I ask you something?” she hums.

“You’re asking me a lot of things today, Robin. But sure, go ahead.”

“Um… is there anything going on between you and Billy?” this was enough to cause [F/N] to shoot forward, her once relaxed body tensing up at the thought.

“Me and Hargrove? Hah! That’s the funniest shit I’ve heard all day!” she laughed while throwing her head back “If this was because we walked in together acting closer than friends, or due to the fact that the people of this town have nothing better to do but spread false rumours, than you’re wrong. I thought I told you this morning that I wasn’t seeing anyone. Why? Was Harrington feeling threaten that I was with a guy that was more gorgeous than him?” she laughs again, she’ll have to bring this up to Steve, she glanced over at Robin and saw her raise her hands and shake her head.

“N-No, no! It isn’t like that!” [F/N] stared at her, slowing raising a brow “… alright, it’s kind of like that, but! You two looked awfully close.” [F/N] just shook her head, eyes looking back towards the road ahead of them.

“Rest assured, Robin, Billy is the last person I’d date, the same going for him. We’re nothing more than very good friends…” she trailed off at the end of her sentence, the two of them together were nothing but chaotic menaces that fed off each other’s tomfoolery.

“Oh, good, good. That’s good.” [F/N] shook her head, Robin was so obvious. Robin internally groaned when she saw [F/N] pulling up to her house, she almost didn’t want to leave because she wanted to spend just a few more minutes with [F/N].

“Do you have work tomorrow?”

“Huh?”

“I was asking if you had work tomorrow. Thought I’d ask just in case you needed a ride.” Robin swallowed thickly at the offer, her bike was still need of repairs and she didn’t really like the option of taking public transportation or bothering her partners for a ride.

“… you don’t mind?” she shook her head.

“No, and I told you before, if you ever need a ride, I’ll be just a phone call away.” Robin bites her lip at the thought of seeing [F/N] every morning and night instead of the few occasions when she came into the store, she can have longer conversations with her instead of the brief ones in the store, she can just spend some more time with the girl she really likes “So, you want me to pick you up in the morning?” she nods her head, clutching her bag to her chest.

“I’d like that a lot.” [F/N] smiled.

“Alright, then I’ll see you in the morning, freckles.” she had to hold back her laughter when Robin all but threw open the passenger door, nearly falling over in the process, before closing the door and rushing towards her house. [F/N] waited until she was in the comfort of her home before pulling out of her driveway and driving back to the Harrington household, then she was met with Steve staring her down like their disappointed mother “Now whaaat?” she groaned out, taking her shoes off and entered the kitchen.

“Why are you hanging around Hargrove?” she smirks at Steve.

“Psh, you sound like a jealous girl mad at her friend for spending time with the guy she likes.” she rolled her eyes when Steve threw his head back while throwing his hands up “Jesus, calm down. Billy and I have established a neutral but nice friendship… after I beat the shit out of him, and him doing the same to me that ended us both at a stalemate.” she then nods her head to him and proceeds to grab a drink from the fridge, watching as the shock in his face grow.

“Was that the reason you looked beat up weeks ago?” she shrugs, closing the fridge and opening the drink in her hands.

“No comment.” he groans, she then snickers “You never told Buckley we were siblings?” he gave her a confused look, sitting at one of the chairs by the counter.

“No? I thought you would have.” she laughs again.

“I figured, you know what she asked me this morning?” he raised a brow “She asked if I was single, when I asked why she was asking me, she told me that you told her to ask me.” now it was his turn to freeze up before bursting out into laughter, his laughter was contagious enough to get her to start laughing as well.

“Really? Ew!” she nods her head “Maybe we should bring this up?” they then look at each other, sharing the same devious smirk as they both shook their head.

“Nah,” they said in unison, the both of them laughter aloud once more “Oh! That just reminded me, I believe Robin was talking about you earlier this afternoon. If you dropped her off this morning, she was in a ridiculously happy mood to the point she was telling me that she might have a crush on this “cute dude that’s just perfect”, aka, you.” Steve chuckled softly when he noticed his sister’s face grow bright, leaning forward.

“Really? What else did she say?”

“I asked if she liked this guy, and she said yeah.” he hums when he saw [F/N] fall back against the fridge “But she’s afraid that you don’t like her the way you do, to which I understand, because she doesn’t know you’re a lesbian like her.” this caused her to smile at him.

“Ah, so you agree she’s a lesbian despite her describing that it was a guy that made her happy?” he nods.

“I saw the way she was looking at you, the way she thought about you. She’s definitely in love, [F/N].” between the two Harrington siblings, [F/N] was the more wilder sibling of the two. The moment their parents knew that there was no controlling her from her random spurs of violence (never at them or her sweet brother), they gave up on seeing her as anything more than a problematic troublemaker. She in turn loved to run free and do whatever she pleased, but she still thrived to be the best at Hawkins High School and going so far as to getting accepted in a top of the notch university in a different state. She was chaotic and always held her head high, a look of cockiness and pride seen on her face, but that was just merely a facade she puts up. Under all that arrogance was the sweet elder sister of Steve Harrington that loved him like any other sister would, the kind girl that grew up a little to fast when their parents did mother but neglect them from a young age. Steve saw that rare soft smile on her face when she thought of the fact that Robin liked her just as much as she did, it made him happy that his sister has found someone that makes her smile like that “You’re smiling.” that smile only grows as she raised her hand to cover her face.

“Shut up…!” she managed to say through a soft laugh.

[time skip: a few weeks later]

[F/N] was now trying harder, flirting with her at any given chance she could take, going so far as to taking her out to different places instead of driving her home. Robin wasn’t complaining at that, she was having fun spending more time with [F/N], heat rose to her cheeks when she remembered the time when a chill ran up her spine when a gust of wind blew past them. [F/N] obviously noticed this and removed the jacket she was wearing and offered Robin to wear it, she hesitantly took the jacket from her hands and put it on, reviling in the way it brought warmth to her body but also the way she could smell [F/N] on it. She was definitely not getting her jacket back any time soon, besides, it looked better on her anyways. Steve and Robin also had to put up with the fact that [F/N] and Billy always came by the store, whether it be to terrorise them through merciless flirting or just being straight up annoyances, it didn’t matter.

“Robin~” she all but jokingly groans at the sound of [F/N] singing her name, she turned her head to look over her shoulder and there she saw her, resting her elbow on the counter with her chin laying on the palm of her hand “Yoohoo, sailor~ you’ve got a customer in dire need of assistance.” she adds, twiddling her fingers in her direction to get her attention before dropping it down to her hip, Robin chuckles softly before striding over to her, resting her own hands on the counter and leaning forward.

“Why ahoy there, straggler. How can this sailor be of assistance?” [F/N] all but coos at Robin, she then pushed herself up so that she and Robin were eye to eye with each other.

“Are you busy this Saturday?” Robin perked up slightly.

“Why?” the woman opposite her takes a breath, lacing her fingers together and pressing the pads of her thumbs against each other.

“There’s a fair going on in the state over, I was wondering if you wanted to join me on Saturday. If you’re not busy, that is.” she gets a little nervous, rubbing the back of her neck the calm her down “I know it’s a bit of a drive, but I heard that it’s where the fun is at! I’d love to go with you, but if you can’t, I’ll just ask someone el—” she was cut off when Robin grabbed her hand, pulling her forward with an excited look on her face.

“Yes! I’d love to go with you, [F/N]! I’d love nothing more than to go with you!” she shakes her hand up and down, the bright shine in her eyes never disappearing “I’m not busy on Saturday, so I’d be happy to go with you!” [F/N] honestly didn’t think Robin would be this enthusiastic enough to go with her, so she lost her composure a little after Robin accepted her invitation before clearing her throat.

“W-Well, I’m glad you agreed to go with me! There wasn’t really anyone else I’d rather go with.” that’s a bit of a lie, she would have liked to go with Steve or maybe even Billy if Robin didn’t agree, but she was glad she did so she can have fun while being alone with her, maybe even pretend it was a date between the two of them “I’ll swing by your place around nine, alright? So be ready by then or else I’ll be honking in your driveway.” Robin laughs at that, shaking her head.

“Don’t! My parents will kill me.” she pulls Robin’s hands towards her and presses her lips on the back of her hand, lips still against her hand while he eyes glanced up at the red face girl.

“Then don’t make me wait, pretty girl.” she winks before skipping out of the store, thankful that she didn’t trip over her feet in the process. She glanced back at Robin and grinned when she saw her jumping up and down on her feet with the biggest smile on her face, [F/N] in return pumps her fist with a victorious grin on her face “Nailed it.” the day [F/N] was taking Robin to the fair came a lot faster than she anticipated because now she found herself standing in front of her full body mirror, wearing her best outfit and styling her hair in a similar fashion to Steve’s. She caresses her cheeks as she continues to stare at her reflection, she was quite nervous to spend a day with Robin instead of an hour or two, honestly, she was very excited. She now sported a big smile on her face, tugging on her jacket then turning to grab her keys from her nightstand and out the door “Stevie! I’m gonna be gone for the whole day, so don’t expect me to be home until really late or maybe tomorrow!” she called out as she sprinted past Steve’s room, only to stop and back step and lean back to peek into his room.

“That’s alright! I won’t be home either.” she raised a brow when she saw he was also getting ready to go out, sporting on a nice outfit that looked similar to her own while he was spraying on some hairspray and lightly pushing his hair into place “Have fun, [F/N].” she continued to stare at him, raising a brow when she saw him smiling softly.

“You getting for a date, Steve?” she noticed him flinch a little, he glanced at her through his own mirror and saw her raising a brow, now leaning against the doorframe while crossing her arms “Did you finally find someone that would give you the time of day?” he lets out a hum, looking up in thought.

“Somewhat?” she was even more curious, she would have pressed for more information but she didn’t want to be late picking up Robin so she raised her hand, waving him goodbye.

“Well, have fun on your date!” she exclaims then rushed downstairs and out the door, sliding over the hood of her car to get to the drivers side and hopping in. The drive to Robin’s house was a cruise as she now parked by the curb outside her house, drumming away on her stirring wheel as music blasted through her cars speakers once more. She perks up when she sees Robin kick open the door to her house and rushes over to where [F/N] was parked, her heart hastened when she saw Robin hurriedly trying to tug her arm through the sleeve of the jacket she gave her.

“I’m not late, am I?” [F/N] shook her head, smiling softly as Robin took her spot in the passenger seat.

“Not at all, you ready?” Robin nods.

“Totally!” she and Robin share a big grin before letting out loud cheering as [F/N] drove out of Hawkins, Robin was rambling about different little things they could do while they were are the fair as music played in the background. [F/N] let Robin make her own cassette tape so she could play music that she liked whenever they went on little drives together, sometimes she would blend in songs they both liked and they would often sit in silence as music played. It was a three hour drive to the state over but they didn’t mind how long it was going to take, they were enjoying the sight seeing that was better than the boring old bland Hawkins. After a few stops to get gas and some snacks, they finally found themselves at the fair.

“And the worst part about all this was finding a parking spot.” Robin pats [F/N] on the back when she finally managed to find said parking lot, slamming her head into the stirring wheel after nearly fifteen minutes of no luck, almost getting out of her car to cuss out a guy who nearly rear ended her when she had to abruptly slam on the breaks when some other douchebag stole her spot.

“Well, all that matters is that we’re here.” she calmly said, [F/N] pushed herself up and took a deep breath to calm herself, she then faced Robin and smiled at her “Now that you’ve calmed down, let’s get out there and have some fun.” [F/N] chuckled and nodded her head.

“Alright, you’re right!” they smile at each other before getting out of the car, Robin closes the door and goes around to stand beside [F/N] after she locked her door, she starts walking off but paused when she saw [F/N] extend her hand out to her. She stared down at her hand then back up at her face and saw she had a sheepish look on her face as she rubbed the back of her neck, her own hand twitched before it settled down into [F/N]’s, who looked more than relived that she took her hand. The two of them were blushing as they walked hand in hand into the fair, sure they got a few funny looks here and there, but that didn’t matter to them at the moment. [F/N] laughed when Robin rushed ahead, dragging her along with her as she pointed at the few attractions with a big smile on her face. She nods to herself, bringing Robin here was definitely the right decision. Neither one of them were paying attention to the time and they spent most of the day going on the rides, playing some games while winning prizing or just simply lazing around eating food and talking about anything that came to mind.

“I’m glad you invited me to this, [F/N].” she looks at her before snorting when said girl was stuffing her face with a hotdog, she laughs as she hands her a napkin and her drink to help her swallow it down, when she calmed down she beamed at the taller girl “I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy myself as much as I did if I were with anyone else, but I had the most fun I’ve had in ages because I’m here with you.” [F/N], who’s face was still stuffed with food, blushed softly at the confession but smiled.

“Oh, I-I’m glad you’re having fun!” she internally face palms, cringing at herself. I’m glad you’re having fun? Jesus fucking christ! You could’ve said anything else, and you went with that. Wow, way to go, nice one, she shakes her head at herself then swallows her food before speaking “A-Anyways, I was wondering, in the near future, would you like to do something like this again? Just the two of us together? Whether it be hanging out by the quarry, or maybe eat out at the diner. I don’t know, and I don’t care, you can pick if you want. All I know is that I want to spend more time with you, Robin.” she then reaches down to take Robin’s hands into her own, rubbing the pads of her thumbs over her knuckles, smiling softly when she felt Robin tighten her own hands around hers, blushing a soft shade of pink.

“I would love nothing more than to do something like this again.” her smile grew bigger and Robin mirrored her expression, Robin then moves slightly to suggest something but [F/N]’s gaze went to a familiar face that was lingering in the crowd. She tried to keep her eyes on Robin but whoever caught her eye made her glance back so she tilts her head to the side to look past Robin and her brows shot up when she saw Steve, she would have left it at that but her eyes widened in shock when she saw Billy fucking Hargrove walking beside him and the two of them were laughing together, going so far as to Steve leaning into his side to calm himself. Steve’s sister wasn’t too far off when she questioned if he was going on a date, it was just a little hangout between him and Billy when the latter invited him to go out of state to some fair. He didn’t think much of it, he totally didn’t put a lot of thought into his appearance, not at all. He totally wasn’t having a great time having fun with the guy that beat the shit out of him the previous yeah, no way. So why is he laughing his heart out with the blonde to the point he had to hold his arm from collapsing to the floor, even Billy had to hold him up.

“Whoa there, pretty boy, can’t have you falling on me.” Steve rolled his eyes as Billy helped him up, he runs a hand through his hair but stiffened up a little when he felt like he was being watched. He looked around to find the gaze that had him frozen in place and when he did his face fell, there he saw his sister staring right back at him with her eyes widened and jaw dropped. She raised her hand and pointed at him while he shook his head and mouthed “this isn’t what it looks like”, Billy noticed his silence and looked at him to see him staring at someone, so he followed his gaze and he himself paused when he saw [F/N]. She looked at the two before shrugging and giving them a thumbs up, Steve’s face fell into his hands while Billy let out a laugh.

“Isn’t something wrong?” [F/N]’s gaze snapped back to Robin when she spoke, noticing she had a concerned look on her face and she was beginning to turn around, her face flushed up when [F/N] quickly grabbed her by the side of her face and turned her eyes back onto her, her hand still resting on her cheek.

“No, no! There’s nothing wrong, don’t worry about it.” when she realised her thumb was caressing into her cheek she yanked her hand back, Robin in turn placed her hand on her cheek to feel the lingering warmth of what was left of [F/N]’s touch “There’s still a lot of things we’ve yet to do, Robin. Lets go enjoy the rest of our day before it’s over.” Robin wanted to say more but was quickly yanked onto her feet and dragged off to ride the rest of the fair rides they have yet to try. A few hours later [F/N] was found leaning against a post as she waited for Robin, who had left to go to the bathroom, she laced her fingers together and cracked them over her head while letting out a yawn.

“[F/N]!” she nearly falls over when her name was called, she looked over and laughed when she saw that it was Steve speed walking over to her “What you saw before… there’s nothing going on between us, alright? We’re just hanging out like two friends!” she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and clearly not buying.

“Uh huh, that’s not what the Steve from before was saying.” he scoffed, crossing his own arms then stared down at him.

“What do you know about the Steve from before?” she rolled her eyes, pushing herself off the post to reach up and grab the collars of his shirt, neatly folding them out when they were messy.

“I know that in his eyes that he was having the best time of his life with the guy he previously hated. I know that he was smiling ear to ear like he used to when we were just children. I know that he’s slowly falling in love with Mister Billy Hargrove because he has the same look in his eyes like mine whenever I’m looking at Miss Robin Buckley. But I also know that he’s afraid to admit it because he hasn’t properly processed his sexuality like his dearest older sister.” she sighed softly when she noticed he was slowly processing her words, sigh, he always was a slow thinker. She takes a step forward, reaching up so one hand was on his shoulder while the other gently cupped his cheek and offered him a soft smile “I know it’s hard Stevie, I know, but you have me and maybe even Billy to help you through this crisis. I’ll be right there with you, to help you, every step of the way.” he weakly nods his head, leaning his cheek into the palm of her hand.

“I know, you were always there for me when I needed you most.” her smile grew  at the memories. She remembered the time when she was teaching him how to ride a bike, terrible decision on both of their parts, because it ended with Steve falling off and crying because he scrapped his knee. [F/N] carried him on her back to a neighbours house, to which said neighbour stood in slight concern because both children were crying. She remembered the time when he called her while she was in university and over the phone she could hear him trying to talk through tears, it was incoherent that she could barely make any words out but heard him blubber how his girlfriend Nancy Wheeler broke up with him. Oh, she could just imagine the look of heartbreak on his face when he poured his heart out to her, saying how he thought she was the one he was going to marry and spend the rest of his life with, only for her to rip his heart out and spit on it. How she wanted to go back to Hawkins that very moment just so she could comfort her brother, how he wanted to be held in her arms as she comforted him, how she wanted to beat the fuck out of that fucking Wheeler for breaking her brothers heart, but she held back for Steve “I know you would do absolutely anything for me.” she nods her head.

“That’s right, my sweet little baby brother.” he rolled his eyes at that but didn’t stop her when she pulled him down to press a kiss to his cheek “I love you, I love you very, very much! Don’t you forget it.” he laughs at her before proceeding to press his own kiss to her forehead then wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her up into a hug.

“And I love you too!” she laughs as she wraps her arms around his neck, letting him twirl her around before putting her down, but neither sibling let go just yet until they hear a soft gasp. [F/N] lightly pulls away, her hands slipping down to rest on Steve’s chest, and her eyes widened when she saw Robin standing a little ways away from them, a look of heartbreak on her face as tears swelled up in her eyes “R-Robin!” Steve stuttered out, knowing that look all to tell when he saw Jonathan and Nancy together in her room, and he knows the exact thoughts and feelings that were going on in her head right that moment.

“Robin, I swear, it’s not what it looks like!” [F/N] shouts out and reaches for her but the girl broke down into tears and quickly ran away, [F/N] didn’t hesitate to shove her brother off of her and quickly run after Robin. She usually would have apologised to people if she shoved past them or pushed them aside, but she could really give a rats ass at the moment as she ran after Robin, her heart breaking at the sight of tears running down her freckled cheeks “Robin, please! Wait!” she called out, this only made the other girl shake her head and let out a sob.

“No!” being a little athletic than the other, [F/N] easily caught up with Robin, wrapping her arms around her so she couldn’t get away. Robin obviously fought against her hold but couldn’t do much as the other was much stronger than her, so she was dragged into a more private part of the fair “Let go of me, [F/N]! Let go!” not wanting to hurt her, [F/N] does let her go but when she tried to leave she would move in front of her so she couldn’t leave.

“Robin, please let me explain myself! What you saw with me and Steve? There’s nothing go on between us, please, I swear there’s nothing going on.” she tried saying, but Robin wasn’t listening to her words and instead just shook her head,

“No! I heard you say “I love you” to Harrington! I saw you kiss him! In return, he did and said the same thing you did!” she raised her hands and pressed the heels of her palms against her forehead, gritting her teeth at the scene she stumbled upon. She was coming back from the bathroom, ready to enjoy the rest of her time with [F/N], only to find fucking Steve Harrington and [F/N] together. She didn’t think anything of it, she thought that it was nothing but a mere coincidence but then she saw the soft and tender look on her face as she coddled Steve like any other girlfriend would do when their boyfriend was upset. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw [F/N] press a kiss to his cheek and him doing the same thing, what hurt the most was hearing them say I love you to each other, nothing hurt more than watching the one you love very much look at someone else “Steve, that motherfucker, he was right! I wouldn’t know if they’re the one until it’s too late, and I guess that applies to right now!”

“No, Robin, it’s not too late.” [F/N] reassures, taking a step forward and wanting nothing more than to hold her but kept her hands back “Steve and I, we’re nothing more than—”

“The prettiest couple? Yeah, I’ve heard people talking. How about you and Billy? You said there was nothing between you two, but I’ve seen how touchy the two of you get. Sometimes you’re hanging off of him whenever I see you two together, or maybe when you and Steve are holding hands. I’ve seen all the signs, but I ignored them because of the way you looked at me, the way you talked to me! You were just leading me on this whole fucking time, and I fell for it! I fell for you, and this is what I get for trusting someone as beautiful as you…!” she takes a breath, threading her fingers through her hair and nearly yanking at them “I want to go home now.” [F/N] lets out a breath, shaking her head.

“How will you get home, Robin? We’re three hours away from Hawkins, I drove us here and you can’t drive! It’s also getting late and I don’t want you taking a bus all the way back to Indiana.” Robin scoffs.

“I’ll do what I want, so don’t try and stop me!” she yells “Maybe you can go spend the rest of the night with Steve, I bet he’ll love that very much.” she scowled when Steve suddenly appeared, clearly out of breath, behind [F/N] and placed his hand on her shoulder “Oh, look! Here he is now!” Steve shakes his head.

“Robin, please, you’re misunderstanding the whole situation.” he tried saying, he flinched back when she glared at him, tears rolling down her cheeks as she points at him.

“Shut up, Harrington!” she lets out another sob, holding her arms in her hands “I hated the thought of you stealing [F/N] from me! You’re just so perfect, you two are just perfect for each other! Steve Harrington who got all the ladies, who was the King of Hawkins High School that everyone wanted! I was so afraid that I’d lose her to you, and I guess I did, because I can’t fucking have anything!” her fingers did into the fabric of the jacket, her jacket, and she wanted to tear it off her body but didn’t want to lose the one thing close to her “I can’t have anything because I’m just fucking different!”  “Robin!” they both shout but she ignored them both, shaking her head but that didn’t stop them “Look at us!” she sneered at them when she did and through the tears she looked at them, she didn’t understand why the said that but as her vision cleared up she saw a bit of a resemblance that she never did see before. Now that they were standing together, the little moles and beauty marks Steve had along his neck and face, [F/N] had a few on her as well. They had a similar jaw line and nose, even their hair looked similar, but what was a dead give away were their eyes. She remembered when she first met [F/N], she remembered that her eyes reminded her of someone, and she couldn’t believe that that someone was Steve.

“Y-You…” [F/N] let out a breath when she noticed Robin was finally calming down.

“Robin,” she says softly, taking a step forward but not moving any closer when Robin flinched back “Steve and I, we’re siblings. Steve is my younger brother.” Steve waved his hand, nodding his head.

“Yeah, she’s my older sister that went to university.” Robin remembered hearing Steve mentioning that as well in a passing conversation but thought nothing of it, not really giving a shit about Steve at that point of time.

“My name is [F/N] Harrington.” she gently says, she and Steve look at each other and smile softly “We were the Harrington siblings, don’t you ever remember hearing people talking about us?” she scoffed, sniffling as she tried wiping away her tears.

“Y-Yeah, but I never got to see who the female Harrington was, all I knew was that she was a wild child that couldn’t be controlled.” [F/N] chuckled weakly at that, remembering being called that as well “B-But if you guys are related, why didn’t you mention this to me?” they both respectively wince.

“Honestly…” Steve starts, pausing for a second “we both kind of forgot.” Robin gasped and looked at [F/N], who guiltily glanced down at the ground while nodding her head, pressing her lips into a thin line.

“Yeah.” she mutters under her breath, Robin scoffs, throwing her head back along with her hands.

“Then what was going on between you two?”  “Steve was going through a crisis so as his sister I was comforting him.” this earned her a smack on the arm, she growled at him and smacked him back “I’m being honest! It’s the least we can do after we bamboozled her for as long as we did, dipshit!” he just rolled his eyes, Robin then watched the two of them bickering like siblings. Argh, how could she not see it? Now that she’s watching them, seeing them together side by side, it’s as clear as day that they’re brother and sister. She then starts to panic, remembering everything she was saying when she thought that Steve and [F/N] were secretly a couple.

“U-Uh, [F/N]…” he stuttered words caught their attention, Robin was now crying for a different reason, now at the thought that the friendship—the relationship she had with [F/N) was going to be damaged because of her foolish mistake of not hearing them out “what I said before, can you forget everything I said? I-I was being foolish and clearly I wasn’t in the right state of mind. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you guys, and I’m sorry for my outburst. But just please, forget everything I said.” Steve reached forward, ready to apologise to himself but held his tongue when he saw his sister step forward. Robin was shaking her head, lips trembling and body ready to collapse at any given moment. God, she wished she could have just heard them out, now the both of them knew. They knew that she wasn’t like them, that she was just some queer that neither of them wanted to be associated with. She flinched, letting out another sob when she saw [F/N]’s shoes in front of her, and when she stuttered out another apology, she gasped when [F/N] grabbed her by the forearms and pulled her into a much needed kiss. Steve let out a huff, turning around and making sure no one was peeking in on them, but glanced back when he saw Robin’s eyes widen in shock before they gradually calmed down and fluttered shut. [F/N] was the one to pull away and though Robin wanted to avert her eyes from her gaze, she reluctantly met her eyes and saw nothing but love and reassurance swirling in those pretty [E/C] eyes.

“Why would I ever want to forget you ever calling me beautiful?” she shook her head, her hands sliding up from her arms and resting on her face so she could cup her cheeks “I’m so sorry that neither of us told you that we were siblings, I’m sorry I had you thinking so awful thoughts, I’m sorry that I made you cry. I’ll make it up to, I promise you that I won’t ever make you cry, that is unless they’ll be of tears of joy.” she says, wiping away the tears that stained her pretty little face, going so far as to leaning forward to kiss away the few stray ones.

“[F/N]…”

“I love you, Robin.” she confessed, reaching down to grab her hands once more “I love you and I want you to know that I would love it if you would be my girlfriend, that is if you’ll allow me to be your girlfriend?” she held her hands softly, not in a way that’ll keep her from jerking away, just enough to ground them both. Robin’s lips trembled once more, she then let out a weak laugh as she lifted her hands, that were still being held in [F/N]’s grip, and pressed them against her forehead and nodded her head.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes! A thousand times, yes!” Steve smiled fondly upon seeing his sister let out a loud cheer, throwing her arms up then wrapping them around Robin and lifting her up, twirling her around in a similar fashion he did to her. Hah, the two of them really are sibl— his thoughts were cut off when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder.

“There you are, pretty boy.” twas Billy, having looked nearly everywhere for Steve, only to find him along with his sister and that Buckley girl in a corner away from prying eyes “What’s going on here?” he asked, Steve chuckled and cocked his head over to them, Billy hummed then raised both brows when he saw [F/N] and Robin share a kiss, a sweet and loving kiss.

“My sister got herself a girlfriend.” he nods his head, smiling softly.

“Good for her, now I don’t have to hear her bitching about freckles.” Steve rolled his eyes, smacking Billy’s arm with a laugh, the blonde pursed his lips, the way he did it was in a similar fashion to [F/N] doing it “Wow, like sister like brother. You two are so alike.” hearing this, [F/N] turned her head over to look at them and gave them a cheeky grin.

“You can say that again.” [F/N] now ignored the two boys in favor of her new girlfriend, she finally put her down and she stared down at her with nothing but love in her eyes. Robin blushed and didn’t hesitated to throw her arms around [F/N]’s neck, who couldn’t held by wrap her own arms around her waist, and together they held each others tight, as if they were going to disappear if they let go for just a second “I love you, Robin. Do you love me?” Robin giggled, moving just slightly kiss her temple.

“I do love you, female Harrington.” the both snort at that before pulling each other into another kiss, clearly the two of them were in love with each other.

Headcanons:

the rest of that night was spent with the four of them on a double date.

[f/n] and billy were being menaces all night long, shamelessly flirting with steve and robin with no remorse.

the two of them together were the biggest flirts and sometimes they said the most unhinged things of existence that earned them the cutest and most flustered reactions out of the two.

they high fived each other.

steve and robin started getting along better now that robin was basically dating his sister. she hated it mostly because now that she’s seen the resemblance in the two of them, she can’t be that big of a jerk to him because a. [f/n] loves her brother and b. it’s like she’s staring at [f/n] whenever she looks harrington in the eyes for more then five seconds.

she hates it.

nothing too drastic changed between [f/n] and robin.

she still picked her up and dropped her off at work.

she still took her out on nightly drives.

the big thing that changed was that [f/n] no longer had to hold back all the affection and love she was storing up in her heart that was meant for robin.

robin had to sometimes tell her no or calm down when [f/n] was expression a little too much pda, but the harrington didn’t care. she loved her girlfriend to bits, and she didn’t give two shits what this shitty little town had to say.

steve and [f/n] were now officially the disappoints of the harrington family.

they didn’t give a shit, not one.

what made it funny was whenever billy or robin mentioned they were dating a harrington, especially not mentioning which one, people would always assume the other one.

when robin told one of the few friends she had she was dating “harrington” they immediately thought she managed to hookup with steve, to which they congratulated her for such a success.

to which she just nodded her head and silently nodded with a “yeah, totally”.

she later told steve, [f/n] and billy and they all had a laugh about it. though it was definitely for the best for the four of them.

[f/n] goes out of her way to express her undying love for robin.

sometimes she gets a little insecure that she might be overdoing it, but seeing how robin never pushed away each gift she’s given her, or shied away from her affection, she believes she’s doing a great job.

the four of them would also often have double dates or shared date nights at the harrington household.

it was the biggest house and definitely better than their own rundown, shithole of a house they live in. and besides, billy and robin just love that harrington siblings give them so much attention.

[f/n] has totally threatened billy about being with steve.

steve is her brother. her brother that’s been neglected by both their parents to the point she’s had to fill in that role as somewhat as a parental figure so she knows just how touch starved and desperate for love he is.

billy understands where she’s coming from and wishes for her to have done faith in him, and though she does by how much her brother now sings praises about billy, she can’t help but give him a lecture.

to which billy listens carefully.

anyways-

sometimes billy and [f/n] would be arguing about who’s girlfriend/boyfriend was cuter. better. sweeter. and list every single detail that just made them perfect and why they love them so much.

said girlfriend/boyfriend are in the background telling them to shut up, sporting a nice little blush on their cheeks as they tried to stop themselves from smiling.

sometimes things would get physical but the two never had hard feelings and always laughed it off.

this earned them a smack across the head.

steve and robin, in the end, just love their wild, hotheaded, temperamental, violent lovers that will only be soft and gentle with them around.

billy and [f/n] in return love their sweet, quirky, fun loving lovers and would do just about anything to keep them from feeling anything but the amounts of love they have for them.

and when I mean anything; I mean anything.

hah! I’m kidding.

but don’t get me wrong, billy and [f/n] will fight anyone that makes their cuties cry.

Soulmates

word count: 8339

Fandom: IRL!MCYT Pairing: Dream x Male!Reader              Sapnap x Male!Reader              GeorgeNotFound x Male!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Romantic Occupation: College Student                      Professional Skateboarder                      Traveler Ability: N/A

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [S/C]: Skin Color

Warnings: n/a

“Soulmates” pt.2

Soulmate AU: When both soulmates look into a mirror at the same time, they see their soulmate’s reflection.

word count: 2659

DreamWasTaken:

It was one of those rare occasions where Dream was streaming on his twitch account and it wasn’t for MCC, it was just some casual talking with his friends and fellow twitch streamers as they played Minecraft. No lore or challenges, just simply playing around in either survival or creative mode, it was entertaining nonetheless because it was Dream after all. [M/N] was one of those in the audience that was very entertained, watching his stream on one of his monitors while another monitor displayed his work that had to be finished. [M/N]’s attention kept drifting away from what he was supposed to be doing before eventually giving up and putting his full attention on the stream, a smile worked its way to his face at the sound of Dream’s iconic wheeze laughter when Quackity cracked a joke.

“Hey~ while we’re on the topic of Dream’s nonexistent love life,” Quackity started, snickering when he heard Dream let out a shout ”Let’s talk about soulmates!” he cheered, this earned many people in each of their chats to agree, even the others in the Discord call agreed. Soulmate; a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner. It was quite a common occurrence in this world, each person had a different way to find their ideal partner that was meant to be theirs ever since they were born, but the thing that made each person different was that many people had different ways to find their soulmates. Some had the iconic “Red String of Fate”, some had more complicated ones like “having the first letter of their name” on your wrist, and the lucky few who had “timers” located on their wrist.

[M/N] was one of the unfortunate few who had no clue how he was supposed to find his soulmate, he could see colors perfectly, he had a perfectly normal physical appearance and he couldn’t hear any voices ringing in his head, not even marks. He was often teased by his peers and sometimes his family over the thought of him being alone forever; that he was destined to never find his soulmate or that he never had a soulmate, to begin with. He often detested conversations regarding the subject but spoke to not be rude, when asked how he was supposed to find his soulmate... he’d lie through his teeth. It always did hurt that he didn’t know how or who his possible other half was but as he grew older and older, he slowly began losing hope of ever finding a soulmate.

”Soulmates, huh? Has anyone found their soulmate yet?” George asked halfheartedly, grabbing his water bottle and taking a sip, he lets out a refreshed sigh as he places it down before looking into his camera ”Hey chat, how have you been able to find your soulmates? I wanna hear some stories.” Karl lets out a giggle, nodding his head as he looked over at his own chat.

”Same here! I’ve heard some really cute stories.” [M/N]’s interest immediately deteriorates and for some odd reason he was able to focus on his work once more, he pushed through hearing them read out some people’s experience on finding their soulmates, it irritated him as he typed away at his bored, he could only hope that the conversation would stir away from that topic sooner rather than later.

”Enough of the cliché bullshit! I wanna hear some uncommon ones.” Dream says this caught the attention of many 

”I’ve read that there are some rather unique ways to find your soulmate in comparison to some boring ones like their name is on your wrist. Jesus, I want someones where you have no fucking clue who they are.” the chat for all of them went quiet for a couple minutes, all viewers thinking if they’ve got a unique one or not.

dilfking_ donated $10

i think i have one thats odd. this isn’t mine, but rather my cousin’s. he said that the way he was able to find his now current wife was when he looked in a mirror and there he saw her reflection instead of his own

”Mirror?” Sapnap questioned, leaning forward because he was quite intrigued by the story ”Wow... that really is odd! Yo, dilfking_, jesus, you so far take the cake on this one.” Karl let out an ooo sound, clapping his hands.

”Hey, since it’s so uncommon, why don’t we all pull out some mirrors and look into them, hmm? Including the viewers, maybe they might find their soulmate.” [M/N]’s fingers paused from what they were doing, hovering over his keyboard as he listened to his favorite streamers agree, some getting up so they could pull out a mirror. His gaze dampened a little, he was getting desperate by the second and his mind was debating whether or not he should do it as well... ah, what the hell? He lets out a sigh as he pushed himself back a little and there he saw his full body mirror leaning against his wall, what are the chances he’ll actually find his soulmate? There are two outcomes that could occur.

1. he sees himself and he just wasted his time and got his hopes high for absolutely no reason.

2. he actually sees his soulmate and he freaks the absolute fuck out.

If he gets either he’ll cry.

”Why don’t we all do it at the same time, yeah? I think that would make things even more interesting for us as well.” Dream suggested, Quackity laughs at the idea as he claps his hands.

”Ooo, I like that idea very much! If Dream finds his soulmate, they’ll be the first person to see his face in his entire fanbase and they’ll know just how ugly you really are.” Dream rolls his eyes at that as he laughs.

”Oh, come on now. I assure you, I’m actually quite attractive.” this earned him a huff from Sapnap.

”As much as I want to disagree with you, I can’t help but confirm that he is a very sexy man.” now that got them all to laugh, even [M/N] couldn’t help but snicker at that, but just what are the chances someone would be lucky enough to be paired with him through this way? [M/N] would be lucky to get anyone.

“Way to lighten the mood.” he hummed softly, George pats his desk before waving his hands.

”I hope you all have gotten your mirrors ready because we’re about to see if we can find our other half in three... two... one!” at the final countdown, everyone that was participating looked into their mirrors. [M/N] was still very hesitant before he let out a deep breath and leaned back once more to look at his mirror, however, what he saw was different from the last time he glanced at it. He nearly fell out of his chair when he didn’t see his reflection, instead, he saw the reflection of someone completely different that looked just as equally surprised as he was. Gorgeous dirty blonde hair and a noticeable stubble with a unique shade of green eyes, he wasn’t wearing anything extravagant, only a hoodie and some sweats along with a headset, and yet despite the casual attire, this stranger was quite attractive.

For the person in the mirror, he was just as shocked as [M/N] was. He wasn’t really expecting to see anything other than his own reflection, but imagine his surprise when he saw someone elsewhere his reflection was supposed to be. This attractive man has short/long [H/C] hair with [E/C] eyes that just seemed to suit him quite well, he was wearing casual attire but instead, he wore a shirt and a pair of shorts. The two of them continued to stare at each other, not even realizing that they were even doing that until he noticed that [H/C] male started tearing up before letting his head drop a little but his hand came up to catch his head.

“So you’re real...” [M/N] muttered to himself, hand pressed to his forehead as his tears slowly started falling from his eyes “After all this time, you were actually real.” the stranger on the other side of the mirror couldn’t hear what he was saying, he could only see him, it felt like he was on mute and it irritated him that he wasn’t able to comfort his soulmate.”Hey Dream, why’d you go quiet all of a sudden?” Karl questioned, Quackity lets out a laugh as he leans back in his seat.

”What? Did you find your soulmate or something?” he jokes, he expected Dream to laugh with him but was only given silence as a response. He laid in his chair for a couple seconds before sitting up straight, leaning into his mic as he stared at his camera ”Dream? Why aren’t you answering me, you son of a bitch?” he heard the other stutter out noises before finally giving him a verbal response.

”I actually did...” he murmured softly, [M/N]’s eyes widened when he heard Dream speak, whipping his head around to look at the stream ”Huh? He’s looking at something now.” [M/N] was in utter disbelief as he looked back over at his soulmate, his heart thumping against his chest when he heard Dream through the stream say that his soulmate was looking at him again. [M/N] was having a mental crisis. Not only was he actually able to find his soulmate, but he was that lucky motherfucker that got the Dream, the famous YouTuber and Twitch streamer known for his crazy Minecraft plays, as his soulmate!

“Holy shit.” was all he could say, a soft blush rose to his cheeks when he heard Dream laugh.

”I think they just swore, aw~ do you find me that attractive?” he cooed, not really expecting to get a response, but was thoroughly surprised when he saw [M/N] nod his head ”Wait, can you hear me?” [M/N] nods his head once more, he then perks up as he looks around his desk for something, when he finds it he grabs it before scribbling on it and presenting it to Dream.

‘I’m actually watching your stream right now.’ it read, [M/N] chuckled softly when he noticed Dream squinted his eyes as he read the message, his eyes drifting off for a couple seconds before he jerks back in surprise.

”So wait-- fuck, Sapnap called it.” he hears Sapnap let out a cheer, Dream slaps a hand onto his face before dragging it down his face, even though he couldn’t hear him, he couldn’t help but flush a little at the sight of [M/N] bursting out into laughter “No fair, you can hear me, but I can’t hear you. Plus, you already know my name, can I have yours?” the others in the Discord lean forward, rather interested in the fact that Dream managed to find his soulmate, much to their dismay.

“How cute~” he cooed softly, he tears the page off, crushing it into a ball before throwing it into a bin. With a fresh new page, he thinks for a bit before writing down what he wanted then showing Dream his message. At first, he read the first part then paused a little, he sat there for a couple seconds before muting himself.

”Hey, Dream, where did you go? Dream?” they all let out groans when they realized that Dream wanted to see what it said, muting himself in case he accidentally reads it out loud.

’Hi Dream, I’m a really big fan and I’m quite shocked to know that you’re my soulmate. I always thought that I didn’t have one, but I’m so glad that I do. I was quite lonely because I was never sure if I was ever going to find my soulmate, so thank you for the reassurance. Also, thanks for the sneak peek, by the way, you really are a sexy man. From yours truly, [M/N].’ when he noticed Dream had finished reading it, he lowered it and waited anxiously for his reaction. Now that he couldn’t hear him anymore, he was even more worried, he twiddled with his fingers then perked up when he noticed Dream laugh. Dream rummaged through his own desk before pulling out a notebook, scribbling down his reply then showing it to him.

’Hi [M/N], I’m quite glad that you’re a fan of mine, if not we probably would’ve never been able to see each other, huh? Don’t go blabbering about what you know to others, okay? I’m still planning my big face reveal, so no spoilers. Plus, you’re quite attractive as well. I believe I scored big time.’ Dream smiles when he noticed [M/N] grow flustered, pressing a hand to his temple as he tried to suppress his grin but ultimately failed. Dream noticed [M/N] soon rise to his feet as he approached the mirror, so he did the same thing, there they both noticed small little details they couldn’t see from where they were sitting. The former pouted softly when he noticed that the latter was just a couple inches taller than him and was a bit more muscular while his [S/C] skin was a bit tanner, for [M/N], he noticed that Dream had freckles scattered across his face and though he was wearing a hoodie, he noticed some more dancing along his neck.

The two continued to stare at each other before [M/N] raised his hand and pressed it against the glass, Dream didn’t hesitate to follow suit and pressed his hand where his hand was, the both of them smiling softly when they could just feel a soft warmth beneath the palms of their hands. To them, it was quite comforting that they were finally able to find their other half.

Headcanons:

dream immediately ended the stream and left the discord call. [m/n] felt a tad bit guilty for killing everyone’s joy but he was a little touched that dream dropped everything so he could talk a little to him.

they exchanged numbers and discord usernames so they could privately chat amongst each other, it was genuinely quite fun.

sometimes [m/n] would hear sapnap in the background screaming at him to stop talking to him and hangout, to which he would be ignored in favor of talking to him even more.

dream wanted to visit him or for [m/n] to come visit him, but realized the exact distance between each other.

[m/n] resided in hawaii, explaining why most of the time dream always sounded so tired whenever they chatted (florida is five hours ahead of hawaii)

other than that, dream would mostly flaunt about how he was able to find his soulmate.

cue quackity saying it was his idea to talk about soulmates.

cue george saying it was his idea to ask the chat their stories.

he ignored them.

[m/n] was later invited to their discord, much to his excitement because he was still quite a fan to the dsmp.

[m/n] would often laugh when he would hear sapnap saying how dnf was now dead thanks to the fact that dream was now taken and all his love and attention was now directed a him.

at least dream shut up about george now.

when [m/n] decides to visit dream, he would keep it a secret and would surprise him. though, he would tell sapnap the plan and the guy would hands down drop everything to help him.

sapnap quite liked [m/n].

when [m/n] was in florida, sapnap would smuggle him into dream’s room and when the latter does appear in his room, he would tackle the poor man to the ground and embrace him. 

the both of them would feel a type of warmth swell in their chest and as they laid their on the floor, dream would push himself off the ground so he could finally kiss the lips of the man destined to be his.

Soulmate AU: A tattoo that represents their soulmate is on their body and it blooms/grows when they meet.

word count: 2448

Sapnap:

“Karl, what the fuck man?” [M/N] murmured to himself, glancing at his phone that was pressed to his ear in confusion. His younger cousin, Karl Jacobs, was currently on the phone with him as he sat in the skate park with a couple of his friends, he was currently sitting down with his feet hanging over the edge of the cradle, board beside him as he watched other skaters go by but his attention was fully on his cousin on the other line.

”Oh, come on! I’ve told him about you and he’s been dying to meet you, mostly because he wants to show off how good he is at skating.” [M/N] hummed at that, hmph, sure. [M/N] was a professional skateboarder who’s performed in many skateboarding competitions, winning his fair share and even being lucky enough to be sponsored by MrBeast, courtesy of Karl.

“I thought you two lived in different states?” he said, giving his friend a death glare when tried kicking his board down the cradle, only for him to react quick enough to move it away then flip them off.

”You clearly don’t look at social media, do you?” he only rolled his eyes in response to that ”He came from Florida to meet up with me, we’ve done a couple things and I mentioned visiting the skate park you always go to. He seemed to remember that in a passing conversation and asked if you would be there.”

“My fame is nothing in comparison to yours, Karl. Why does he want to meet me so bad?”

”... he’s a fan?” [M/N] purses his lips, face drawn a blank as he leans back in where he’s sitting, he hums in thought before shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, alright. I don’t understand why he’s a fan of mine, I’m not that popular.” he could tell that Karl waved his hand to dismiss him.

”On the contrary, cous, you are popular. Remember who’s sponsoring you?” he pulls a face at that, right ”Since I’ve been given the go too, I’ll see you in a couple hours, okay? Don’t bail on me now.” [M/N] rolled his eyes at the playful tone in Karl’s voice.

“I won’-- hey! Fucker, give my board back!” Karl winced, pulling the phone away from his ear when he heard [M/N] start cursing from his side of the line. He starts laughing when he could hear his cousin screaming at his friends for stealing his board and skating away from him, he hears [M/N] growl before bringing the phone back up ”I’ll see you when I see you, right now I need to beat some ass.” Karl snorts.

“Alright, don’t commit murder.”

”No promises.” with that he hung up, Karl jokingly rolled his eyes before glancing over at where Sapnap was, to which the latter had an excited grin on his face as he bounced up and down on the couch like a child on christmas day.

“So, what did he say?” he eagerly asked, standing up and approaching his taller friend.

“He agreed, but we might want to be quick because I think he might take a life.” this caused Sapnap to look up at Karl in a confused manner. Sapnap, the mighty Texan man and skater boy, was in disbelief when he learned that Karl Jacobs was related to the renowned skateboarder, his cousin to be exact and that they were really close. He bombarded Karl with questions because he wanted to know so much about him, being one of his biggest fans, he found watching him compete in competitions so thrilling and exciting he feels his heart skip a beat each time he sees him perform tricks for beginners to complex tricks for pros. His mind soon drifted off to a time when [M/N] won a competition and was doing an exclusive interview, the topic? Soulmates.

”Soulmates?” he questioned, everyone, watching whether in person or in the comforts of their homes, couldn’t help but be curious to his answer ”Well, finding my soulmate isn’t particularly my main priority. I think it’ll be great if we meet, but I’m not in any rush to find them.” the interviewer nods their head.

”I see. But, do you know the method to find your soulmate?” [M/N] nods his head, for context, he had stripped his shirt off because the blistering hot sun was shining down on them all but after performing all those tricks under it and the pressure, he took his shirt off to cool himself a little. Back to the topic at hand, there, he pointed at flame tattoos that started at his left shoulder that spread up to the bottom side of his neck, took up the left side of his collar bones, and traveled down his arm a bit but stopped at his bicep ”The moment I meet my soulmate, my tattoo will spread further along my body and my soulmate will have a tattoo similar to my own personality.” people in the crowd clapped their hands.

”Wow, such a unique way to find his soulmate.”

“I’m jealous.”

“The tattoo looks cool on him.”

“His soulmate makes him look even cooler.”

Watching that interview gave Sapnap hope that he was his, mostly because he had the same type of way of finding his soulmate as [M/N], but that could purely be a coincidence... he hoped not. The tattoo he had was on his back, it started from the right side of his back and it seemed to be a flower of sorts that was going to bloom but traveling down his back and nearly covering his entire back was vines coming out of the flower-filled with thorns. By the time Sapnap’s thoughts came back he realized that he was sitting in the passenger seat of Karl’s car as he drove to the skate park where [M/N] currently was committing first-degree murder.

“Should I watch what I say?” Karl rolled his eyes at that.

“No, he’s one of the most vulgar people I’ve ever met, even more, vulgar than Tommy.” that caught Sapnap by surprise “He acts polite when he needs to be, but behind closed doors, he’ll curse like a sailor. Though he’s attentive when the time comes.”

“Attentive?”

“You should see him with my cat, one time he came to my house just to take my cat. I swear.” he nods his head at that.

“Okay.” it didn’t take long for them to arrive at the skate park, Sapnap was a little nervous and it showed by the way he was huddled to himself with his board in his hand as he followed closely behind Karl, who smiled and greeted the local skaters who recognized him as [M/N]’s cousin.

“Yo, Karl’s here!”

“Hey, Karl!”

“Who’s your friend there?” a few people asked, said man grinned as he pats Sapnap’s back and pushes him forward slightly.

“A friend of mine, who’s also a fan of [M/N].” one of them laughed, kicking his board up before pointing behind him.

“If you’re looking for him, he’s back there. We had to stop him from sending the guys to the hospital after they stole his board, you know how he sees that fucking board as a child.” this caused Karl to roll his eyes once more.

“That’s because it was custom made... and was also a gift from me.” he muttered the last part to himself, feeling a little touched that his cousin treasured it, he remembered the first time he saw [M/N] use the board in one of his competitions and he was absolutely over the moon. They all go over to where [M/N] was and there they saw him, Sapnap watched in awe when [M/N] performed a kickflip onto some railings, effortlessly grinding on them before landing on the ground and casually skating around. Karl goes to call him out but they all pause, watching as he skated over to where another railing that kept the skate park gated from the water on the other side, there, when he got closer to the railings he jumped off his board and into the water “Wha the-- what the fuck?!” Sapnap was just as equally shocked but the other skaters merely laughed.

“The fuck did he do that for?” one of them shouts, the ones closest to where [M/N] was were laughing as they recorded what happened.

“We bet [M/N] wouldn’t do that, before saying that he ain’t no pussy and doing it.”

“That sounds like him.”

“Mm hmm.” a couple minutes past and [M/N] finally emerged from wherever he came from, he was laughing wholeheartedly as his friends gave him pats on the back, he then swiped away the money they bet on. They spoke amongst each other until they told him that his cousin and his friend were finally there and so [M/N] looked over at them, he offered them a smile followed by a wave before approaching them.

“Sapnap, calm down. I can feel your nervousness all the way from here.” Karl glanced down, letting out a soft sigh when he noticed that Sapnap was trembling from anxiousness as [M/N] got closer and closer.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t control it.” he had a gay panic when he saw Karl’s cousin reach down to grab the ends of his shirt before pulling it over his head, Karl rolled his eyes at how overdramatic that was while Sapnap was fighting everything just to keep his face from turning completely red. His eyes were looking down at his feet but he couldn’t help but steal glances at him, mostly at his tattoo that nearly covered his entire left side.

“Hey Karly, it’s been a while.” the taller of the two of them greeted, Karl huffed as he poked his chest.

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that.” he snickers.

“It’s cute, and I know you like it.” he smiles when he noticed Karl was trying to fight down the grin that was threatening to spread across his face as small giggles came out of his mouth, he then dropped his shirt to the ground before leaning down slightly to wrap his broad arms around him to pull him into a hug “It’s good to see you, it’s been a while since the last time I got to see your ugly mug.” they both share a laugh as [M/N] put him down, this allowed Karl to smack his arm.

“You are you calling ugly?” he shakes his head before turning then raised his arm to gesture to Sapnap “This is the friend I was telling you about, his name is Nicholas, but he usually goes by Sapnap.” Karl moved so that he was standing beside his taller cousin, [M/N] looked down at him and noticed that the expression he wore was a mixture of excitement and anxiousness “He’s a big fan, by the way.” Karl whispered in his ear, this didn’t go unnoticed as Sapnap glared at him.

“Quit it, Karl!” [M/N] only laughed.

“A fan, huh? Well, I can’t help but be a fan of yours as well, Nicholas. I’ve watched a couple of Karl’s streams and other videos on YouTube and I’ve grown quite fond of your appearances.” he chuckled when he noticed that spurred a bit of a reaction out of him.

“Tha-- Thank you.” this action earned [M/N] another smack to his arm.

“Stop torturing the poor guy.”

“I’m not.”

“Are too.” he shook his head, not even answering him because he knew this was going to be a back and forward argument between the both of them, so he offered his hand towards Sapnap.

“Though you already know, my name is [M/N]. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nicholas, or should I call you Sapnap?” teasing him felt so fun, watching his face flush an even deeper shade of red, he then watched as Sapnap shakily reached for his hand to return the handshake,

“You can call me whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

“Alright, Nicholas.” the moment the two of them grasped each other’s hands, [M/N] felt a burning pain that spread from the left side of his torso and arm and traveled over to his right and now there was a symmetrical flaming pattern on both sides of his body. For Sapnap, he felt the thorns and vines on his back begin to cover his back as the flower bud bloomed into a gorgeous flower and other flower buds on the vines bloomed as well, littering his back with flowers and flower petals. Everyone stood in shock at what had happened, [M/N] glanced down at his chest and saw how the flames on his body spread the moment he shook Sapnap’s hand so he glanced down at the other and saw his face was completely read.

...

...

“What a revelation.” he murmured.

Headcanon:

the moment sapnap saw how it was him that caused his tattoos to grow even more, he quite literally fainted.

by the time he came down to earth, he noticed that he was laying down on a bench with [m/n] sitting by his side, using his hand fan his face to keep it cool.

[m/n] felt him shift so he glanced down and noticed how he was covering his face, he found it absolutely adorable so he didn’t hesitate to lean down and press his lips to the back of his hands.

his friends called him gay.

karl told him to get a room.

the next following days was [m/n] visiting karl’s house unannounced just so he could spend some time with his cute soulmate, to which he would flirt and tease with relentlessly.

karl would sometimes have to throw [m/n] out of the house because he would find it annoying whenever he would find his cousin making out with sapnap on the middle of the couch.

speaking of which, [m/n] would feel absolutely honored to be sapnap’s first kiss, he would make sure that their kiss was filled with some much love that the other would be craving him.

sapnap would try to fluster [m/n] with everything he had, but the other was just a professional and whenever he did attempt to do something, it would just come back and bite him in the ass.

sometimes literally.

other than that, cuddling with this beautiful specimen of a man is absolute paradise.

despite being taller and more muscular, [m/n] can’t help but be the little spoon between the two of them.

sapnap ain’t complaining, he quite enjoys the feeling of his arms wrapped around this much larger man as the other held him close.

these were the small moments these two loved to bask in.

Soulmate AU: The location of where they meet their soulmate appear at a certain time in their life and when they meet their soulmate they appear in the picture.

word count: 3232

GeorgeNotFound:

To George, the way he had to find his soulmate was exactly like GeoGuessr. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he held the polaroid picture within his hands, the picture held the location of where he would meet his soulmate and he could just recognize it as Miami Beach in Florida... he was dreading the thought that he was actually Dream's soulmate. He shook his head as he glanced at the other photos and noticed that they were all popular places within America, from Texas to Washington, even places out of American like France and Italy.

"They sure like to travel a lot." he muttered to himself, placing down another photo when he recognized the famous monument in the background. He groaned to himself when he realized that Dream lived in Orlando, which was a two to three-hour drive from Miami Beach, why did it have to be that far? He lets out a sigh as he tosses the photo down onto the table he was sitting at, leaning his cheek against his closed fist but he couldn't help but stare at the photo. His curiosity would eventually get the best of him once he gets to Florida but until then, he pushed it into the back of his mind as he collected each of the photos and put them away in a box for safekeeping.

Eventually, the thought of his soulmate slowly drifted out of his mind and he focused more on posting videos onto his YouTube and Twitch accounts to satisfy his viewers. However, when the due date for him to travel to America to visit his friends in real life started to preoccupy his thoughts, the thought of coincidentally meeting his soulmate at the same time couldn't help but make his pale skin turn a shade of red. Whenever that kept happening, he would pull out the box of blank photos and stare at them for hours on end, feeling a tug on his heart each time and feelings of excitement taking over his heart. He was getting rather eager to leave for America with each passing day, then soon that day finally came, he packed his things, the box of photos too, and hopped onto the next early flight to Florida.

"George!" he was a little flustered upon meeting Dream, this 6″3ft of a man who opened his arms wide and enveloped him in a long hug, managing to lift him up and swing him side to side. The two of them laughed when Sapnap came from behind them and hugged George from behind him, squeezing them both with the strength he had in his arms "You're finally here, I'm so happy." Dream cheered, Sapnap wore a similar expression as he released them from his side of the hug.

"Yeah, we have the spare room prepared and everything, all you need is to put your stuff in and you're all set." Dream nodded his head as he grabbed a couple of his bags, Sapnap doing the same.

"We'll even give you a hand." George scoffed with a laugh, rolling his eyes as he elbowed Dream in his side.

"Gee, thanks." they all share a laugh, they threw his luggage into the boot of their car before Dream took the wheel, Sapnap fighting George for the passenger seat, before taking off for Dream's house. When arriving, George was greeted with the sight of cute little Patches curled up in a ball on the couch, the younger duo laughed when they saw George shuffle over to where Patches was and so they left him to pet the cat while they brought his stuff to the spare room. Petting Patches felt like paradise, he was quite scared Dream's cat wouldn't like him but seeing her melt within the palm of his hand made him think otherwise.

"Hey, George!" he let out a groan, whining a little when Patches got up and sauntered away at the sound of Sapnap's shouting from upstairs "Give us a hand at unpacking your shit." now this caused him to react.

"Wait, hey! Don't touch my stuff!" he then heard laughter coming from the two before rushing upstairs, throwing the door open, there he saw the two looking through his suitcases "Man! You nosey dicks." he shouts, rushing over and swiping his things from them.

"We're just giving you a hand." he rolled his eyes, he helped them organize his clothes and other belongings he brought the way he wanted, he was in the middle of refolding one of his clothes when he heard Dream let out a hum.

"Hmm? Hey George, what's this?" he glanced over his shoulder and there he saw Dream opening the box full of photos, he sighed, shaking his head as he put the folded pants into the draw as he approached them.

"Jesus, don't you know curiosity killed the cat?" Sapnap scoffed, peeking over Dream's shoulder as he took one of the photos.

"And yet, satisfaction brought it back." Dream raised a brow.

"Wait, isn't this Miami Beach?" he questioned, taking a closer look at it, recognizing the shorelines of the beach "Yeah, it is! How do you have a polaroid photo of Miami Beach? I thought you said you've never been to America." he just waves his hand to dismiss the thought, snatching the photos back from them both and putting it back in the boat.

"That's because I haven't been to America, they're just the location of where I'm going to meet my soulmate." he casually answers, getting ready to put the box away but Dream took it out of his hands once more, taking out the same one he was eyeing and holding it above his head and out of his reach.

"Wait, your soulmate?!" Sapnap snatched it from Dream and eyed it, letting the taller male to sulk, he then laughs.

"Hah! DNF is officially dead." George just rolled his eyes.

"So dramatic." he takes it back once more but this time he eyed it for a good couple of seconds, not noticing the way Dream and Sapnap loomed over his shoulder to look at the photo.

"We can go find them, you know?" this caused George's face to turn red, bringing the photo close to his chest as he shook his head.

"N-No... we don't really need to." they both lean back and eye each other before wrapping an arm around his shoulder, causing him to let out a yelp when he was pulled back, he felt the two press their cheeks onto his as they grin at him.

"Oh, but we really do. We need to see if this chump is worthy of you."

"Mm hmm. Maybe we can invite Karl and Quackity to help." George sighs, but in all honesty, he quite appreciates it.

"Haa, sure." the plan to find his soulmate soon turned into a trip between them and the other two, a little road trip from Orlando to Miami. Sometimes the main objective as to why they were traveling to Miami would be thrown out the window by Sapnap and Dream because it was a road trip between their little group and even if they couldn't find his soulmate, they were going to enjoy themselves and have fun. The day to set out was when Quackity and Karl rocked up to Dream's place, they exchanged their happy greetings before jumping into the car and starting their three-hour trip from Orlando to Miami.

Dream was the first to drive, George in the passenger seat while Sapnap, Quackity, and Karl sat in the back, in that order. Most of the ride was George sitting in silence as he thought of countless scenarios in his head, what is he supposed to say when he meets them? Are they going to like him? How was he supposed to act with a complete stranger? How was he going to explain that he was their soulmate? He groaned as he buried his face into the palms of his hands, he was having a mental breakdown but the sound of his friend's encouragement managed to lift his spirits.

Just a bit.

"Damn, that was a long drive." Sapnap groaned out, placing his hands on the lower side of his back and leaning backward, letting out a sigh when he heard a crack. The others made noises of agreement, stretching their aching bodies as they filed out of the car and looked around. Quackity lit out a cheer, inhaling deeply through his nose to inhale the scent of the salty ocean water, grinning to himself when he felt the blistering sun shining down on him.

"But it's all worth it, don't you think?" Karl giggles to himself while nodding his head.

"Mm hmm, even if we don't manage to find them, we can still enjoy ourselves, right?" they all turn to George and saw he wasn't really listening, his attention back on the photo. Dream was the first to approach him, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze, this caused the brit to finally raise his head to look up at his friend.

"We'll do our best to find them, okay? We won't stop until you want to, okay?" he slowly nods his head.

"Okay. Thanks for the help." they each give him a grin.

"Without a doubt, George!" he mirrors the expression they gave him before they left the parking lot, finding the location where the picture was taken was a hassle. They were at Miami Beach, a popular beach and a tourist attraction within Florida and finding that one specific spot from that photo was most likely going to take forever. Though, keeping to their word, half of the time they spent that day looking for his soulmate while the other was spent relaxing under the sun, playing in the water, and greeting a couple fans that recognized them... to which Dream sped off and jumped into a bush to hide since he hadn't really face revealed just yet and only left his house for moral support for George, also to meet the fucker who was his sou--

"This is taker forever." George groaned out, slapping his hands onto his face and dragging them down. He and the other four sat on beach chairs, each with a beverage in their hands while laying down, though George was the only one sitting up straight "What if we don't find him them?" Quackity rolled his eyes, pushing his glasses up.

"You're being dramatic and impatient, Gogy. Plus, meeting your soulmate is all about fate. Finding them is all about luck... and it is a coincidence." with that, he flicked them back down before relaxing into his chair, Karl was the next to comment, raising his head and nonchalantly waving his hand.

"He's right. You can't rush the system." George rolls his eyes.

"You guys are enjoying this too much." he grumbles, he just sighs before standing to his feet and walking off, muttering that he needed some time to be alone. This time, he was walking around with no destination in mind, just simply letting his feet carry him to wherever they needed to go. The thought of never being able to find his soulmate was slowly beginning to plague his mind and negative thoughts were circulating within his thoughts, he pulled out the photo once more, his full attention on it as he continued to walk.

What if I can never find yo--

"Incoming!" he was startled at the shout, he raised his head, only to let out a shout when he was brought to the sandy ground when someone landed on top of him. If his day couldn't get any worse, it just did. His hand closed into a tight fist and so he goes to lash out at the person in front of him but paused when they were already on their feet, a look of guilt on their face as they extended their hand out to him "Ah, shit! I'm so sorry!"

"Nice going, dude!" a voice shouted from behind the stranger, to which an irritated took over his apologetic one as he turned his head around to shout and glare at the individual.

"Shut the fuck up! It's your fault for not being able to receive it properly! You didn't even score us a point!" the group behind him laughed as he just shook his head, he then looked back down at George once more and laughed nervously "I really am sorry about crashing into you, I just get pretty competitive when playing sports." George continued to stare at the hand extended out to him before hesitantly taking it.

"Don't worry about it." George was yanked to his feet, stumbling forward by the amount of force the other put into it, and that landed him in his chest. George grew flustered and pushed himself back, cursing himself with how easily his face flushed a shade of pink.

"Are you alright there?" he reached forward, noticing how his face turned pink that reached to the tips of his ears.

"I-I'm fine, I swear." though the other was still concerned, he nodded his head. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the adrenaline that was bursting throughout his entire body slowly begin to fade away and that awkwardness between strangers start to rise up, he wanted to start a conversation between himself and the rather pretty man before him, but before he could start, a volleyball was spiked into the back of his head that made his head jerk forward, this also caused George to gasp "Holy-- are you okay?" he shouts, reaching forward before flinching backward when the other glared at his snickering friends.

"Oh for the love of-- you're fucking dead meat, you hear me!" he shouts, the blush returned to George's face when he saw the taller man pull his shirt over his head, and there he saw his muscular and toned body that was covered in sweat, sand and seawater "Sorry again." he apologies before rushing off to kick his friend's ass, George meekly waved goodbye before backing away. He slaps his face to regain his composure and let out a sigh, he then pulled out the photo to see if it was damaged during the fall but he froze when he saw that a person finally appeared in the picture.

There, he saw the image of the man who crashed on him, a bright smile on his face as he offered his hand to what he believed was him, and a soft blush tinted his cheeks. George felt his heart start racing, his breathing and the little words falling from his lips stuttering as he raised his head in search of the man that was walking away from him. Before he knew it, his legs were moving on their own once more to chase after the attractive and tall man.

"Wai... wait!" his voice spoke for him as his arm reached towards him, the latter was just about to reach his friends when he felt someone grab his wrist and yank him backward. He had a confused look on his face as he turned around, and there he saw that pale yet gorgeous brunette before him once more.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, leaning down to gently grab at the arm that was holding his wrist, George was panting slightly as his grip on his wrist tightened.

"I-I'm... you're my-- dammit, I..." he couldn't speak, when he managed to collect himself, he raised the photo with trembling hands, and the male within his hands stared at it closely. There was silence between them once more and George was regretting the fact that he was being so clingy to a stranger, but in all honesty, he was getting restless and just wanted to know if he was the one "I think you're my soulmate."

...

...

"Damn, we knew you were gay." George gasped silently when he heard voices, raising his head, he paused when he saw that the man in front of him had a flustered expression on his face, a blush on his cheeks while his friends stood behind him and stared at the photo "Can't say I'm not jealous though."

"Your soulmate is quite pretty."

"Talk about pretty privileges." he just growled at them, they snicker before running away, but one of them handed his phone to him. The stranger gently slipped his hand out of George's grip so he could remove his phone case, there, he pulled out his own polaroid photo and looked at his closely. He slowly nods his head before showing George, and there he saw that the picture revealed him with a flushed face, a soft and nervous smile on his face as he hands one hand to his chest while the other was slowly reaching forward.

"So you're my soulmate..." he mumbled softly, to which George slowly nodded his head "Um... my name is [M/N], quite an awkward way to meet your soulmate, don't you think?" George giggled softly.

"Yeah, I suppose. I'm George, by the way." [M/N] runs a hand through his [H/C] locks, messing with his hair before extending his hand out to him.

"Would you like to, I don't know, get to know each other?" he offered, George stared at his hand, [M/N] urging him to take it, the former took a breath before giving him a nervous smile and taking his hand.

"I'd like that very much."

Headcanons:

the two of them spent the rest of that day getting to know each other.

george learnt that [m/n] traveled a lot, explaining as to why there were so many photos of random locations.

he also learnt the reason as to why [m/n] was in florida in the first place, it was because that was where he was going to meet george.

wow, what a damn coincidence, it wasn’t just because [m/n] was planning a trip to miami beach but to damn find him.

[m/n] learnt from the other that he was from britian, this caused the bigger one of the two to clap his hands and saying that he’s been planning on visiting britian but now won’t because george was in america.

the two of them hadn’t even realized how long they had been talking for until george’s phone started ringing because his friends were wondering where the hell he was.

cue george bringing [m/n] back to his group of friends.

cue the look of shock on their faces as the 6″5ft shirtless man stood next to george.

quackity wanted to square up with this tall hunk of meat.

dream was totally not jealous that this guy was actually really attractive.

karl was clapping.

sapnap was laughing.

at the end of the day, [m/n] and his group of equally tall friends invited george and his friends back to their hotel room to hang about so that they wouldn’t have to drive elsewhere to find accommodations.

[m/n] and george were quite perfect together. 

they both had their own way with showing affections, and since neither of them were very forward or showy about PDA, holding hands was enough for them that very moment until they were ready. 

but george couldn’t help his heart from fluttering each time he saw [m/n] smile at him and press his lips to the back of his hands and knuckles.

this trip to america was totally worth it all in the end.

Obvious

word count: 7501

Fandom: Stranger Things Pairing: Will Byers x Male!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Romantic Occupation: Student Ability: N/A

Keys:

[M/N]: Male Name [L/N]: Last Name [N/N]: Nickname [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color

Warnings: bullying, vulgar language, blood

“Get him out! Get him out!”

“Strike him!”

“Shoot for a home run!”

“Get the win!”

Being the last batter for a really important baseball game puts a lot on your shoulders, especially when you’re the up and rising star of your team while representing your school. He takes a deep breath, tensing his muscles while tightening his grip on his baseball bat. Himself and the pitcher never broke eye contact, that pitcher was out for blood and he was going to make sure he didn’t give it to him. He licked his lips, taking a deep breath when he saw the pitcher finally get ready to throw the ball. He blocked out all the cheering as he focused on the ball hurdling towards him, when it was finally inches away from him he slammed his foot on the ground and let out a grunt, swinging the bat and upon contact with the ball, he managed to send it flying out of the field. He didn’t fight down the huge grin that stretched across his face when he sent that ball flying, letting out his own cheer as he threw down his bat and ran to each base.

“And there you have it folks, Lenora Hills High have won against their rivalling team for the first time in nearly a decade! And all thanks to their new rising star, [M/N] [L/N] who granted them their winning home run!” by the time he returned back to home base, he was greeted by his team and school huddling around him, grabbing a hold of him and lifting him up.

“That’s our [M/N]!”

“Way to go!”

“You did it, [M/N]!” he just laughed as they threw him up and down before finally letting him down, grabbing their jug of water and pouring it on him. He usually would have yelled at them for doing that but it felt refreshing on his hot and sweaty body, he took his helmet off and threw his head back, running a hand through his sweaty hair but grinned nonetheless and threw his fist into the air. After the game he was met with bustling students and parents congratulating him for getting the winning shot, he smiled and thanked them and was approaching his pick up truck but was stopped by a familiar face.

“H-Hey, [M/N]!” turning to see who it was, he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of one of the Byers siblings “Congrats on the win.” his smile grew at his words, he readjusted the shoulder strap of his duffel bag and approached him.

“Thanks, Will. Did you see my swing? I’ve been putting a lot of effort into my swings as of lately.” the Indiana boy nodded his head, his face lighting up as he waved his hands around.

“Yeah, I was watching from the crowd! It was pretty tense, but I knew you’d get it.” [M/N] chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully “Um, now that you’re here, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the after party with my lot.” Will tensed up when he saw [M/N] point over to the boys who were jumping into his truck while hooting and hollering.

“Come on dude! Lets get going!” he laughed and waved at them to wait.

“Gimme a sec, alright.” they groan but do, [M/N] then glanced at Will again and give him a hopeful look “So? Will you come?” he inhaled sharply, raising his hand to rub his arm.

“I-I’d love too, but I—”

“Will! We gotta go man, come on!” they both glance over and saw the eldest Byers, Johnathan, waving his brother over while his sister Jane and their friend Argyle sat in the van “Mum wants us home, like, right now.” Will closed his eyes in disappointment as he turned back to look at [M/N], who looked just as disappointed but he chuckled softly.

“Ah, that’s a bit of a shame, but it can’t be helped.” he murmured softly “I guess I’ll see you at school next week?” he asked, Will nodded his head.

“Y-Yeah, totally.” [M/N] smiled and sent the brunette a wink, causing him to fluster. [M/N] found the reaction adorable but latter groaned when he heard his friends shouting at him to hurry up, he waved Will goodbye then finally went back to his truck, chucking his shit at his passenger “See you later, [M/N]!” he exclaimed, this caused the [H/C] boy to grin and wave him goodbye before he turned on his radio and drove off with his friends and himself screaming to the top of their lungs to the music.

“Will.” he jumped at the call of his name, turning around, he saw Johnathan giving him a look “You good?” he nervously nodded his head.

“Y-Yeah, I’m spectacular.” Johnathan nods his head slowly.

“Yeah…”

Will couldn’t explain when his attraction towards [M/N] [L/N] first arose. Maybe it was because he was different in comparison to the other students of Lenora Hills High School. He was apart of the popular crowd, and how could he not be? He was gorgeous, athletic, smart and did I mention nice? It happened when Angela was bullying Eleven, there wasn’t much he could do to stop it because he didn’t have that kind of presence to do anything about it, but that was when [M/N] appeared. He didn’t hesitate to put Angela in her place, giving her a clean smack across the back of her head and sternly telling her not to bully poor little Eleven. Without a doubt, despite the both of them being sophomores, they were already declared to be the next King and Queen of the school.

Anyways, [M/N] just had Will swooning. He always stuck up for him and Eleven, he was always so nice to them and the way he would always send a smile his direction, how could he not fall deeper? But the moment he asked if they could be friends, gosh, he was over the moon. He wished things could’ve worked out with Mike, he wished he had to courage to tell Mike his feelings, but he knew they wouldn’t be reciprocated, Mike already had El and he knew he had to move on. Now his eyes were on the boy that every girl had a crush on, god, he was fucking doomed. He was cursed for crushing on the wrong people, Mike was taken and [M/N] was wanted by everyone. Maybe he was making a mistake for falling in love with the most popular guy in school, maybe he was better off digging himself a hole and burying himself—

“Will!” he jumped, slamming his locker door closed then turning to see [M/N] waving his friends off then jog over to where he was “Hey man, how was your weekend?” Will waved his hand.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old. I wouldn’t say anything exciting happened, but, you know?” he laughed nervously, this caused [M/N] to chuckle softly while running a hand through his hair.

“I get it, it’s still a shame you couldn’t come to the after party, would have loved it if you were there.” ah, there he goes again saying stuff that makes his heart flutter “We couldn’t do anything too chaotic, but we had fun nonetheless. Maybe I should win our next game, then maybe you’ll be able to attend the after party with me.” Will snorts softly, punching his arm.

“Don’t go getting arrogant, [M/N], that’ll cost you the win.”

“Haa, you’re right.” he then leaned back a little so that he was standing on the heels of his feet, a slight flush rising to his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck once more “Actually, I was wondering if you were busy this weekend? I was hoping we could, um, hangout?” how badly Will wanted to say yes, this was a chance for him to get closer to [M/N] that wasn’t simply over help with schoolwork and actually hanging out with his crush, but he couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, [M/N], but I can’t.” this caused him to deflate.

“Well, why not?” he gave him a sheepish grin, now rubbing the back of his own neck.

“My friend, from Indiana, he’s coming here to visit my sister and I.” [M/N]’s shoulders relaxed a little, looking up in thought to remember the friend Will was referring to.

“Oh… right, Mike Wheeler, right? I remember you mentioning him in w passing conversation.” he then lets out a huff, kicking his feet like child “Then I guess it’s alright, wouldn’t want your friend feeling lonely while in a completely different state.”

“Right.” [M/N] then let out a grunt when someone elbowing him, he gave them a soft glare when he saw that it was his friends coming to collect him.

“Come on, dude. We’ve got math first, and that’s on the other side of the building. I don’t want to be late because you were too business talking to Byers, let’s go.” he scoffs and kicks them in the back of their leg, this caused them to stumble forward but they managed to catch themself and laugh as they scurried away, he shook his head.

“Well, duty calls. I’ll see you later?” Will nods.

“Yeah, see you later.” [M/N] nods with a grin then runs off to catch up with his friends, when he was finally alone, he let out a deep sigh as he collapsed onto his locker and probably would have slid down it if there weren’t people around him. He silently cursed in the back of his head, if only Mike was coming a week later then maybe he could have the chance to be with [M/N] “Dammit.” [M/N] himself curses under his breath, walking beside his friends to their class.

“Do you think I’m being pushy? Every time I’ve tried to ask him to hang out, he’s always got an excuse.” his friend let out a groan, slapping a hand onto their face and dragging it down.

“Dude, you’re overthinking it. You said his friend is visiting from Hawkins, right? That run down little town out in the middle of the sticks? A friend that he hasn’t seen for about a year?” he nods his head “Then let the guy see him, man. You’re acting like a boyfriend who’s upset that his girlfriend is meeting a childhood friend, who is a boy, after a long time and worried that he’s going to steal your girlfriend.” he immediately grows flustered, the tips of his ears turning red as he smacked his arm.

“I am not.” he sneers, this earned an eye roll.

“Are too, mister drama queen.” [M/N] sighed and continued to walk to math class, rubbing his face when the blush on his face continued to color his cheeks.

The moment [M/N] saw Will Byers, gosh, to him it was like love at first sight. He knew that it was wrong for a boy himself to fall in love with another boy, but his heart would not beat for another. It was during the beginning of their sophomore year and he saw Angela picking on the quiet but sweet girl of Hawkins who had recently moved to Lenora Hills, he quickly disciplined Angela and comforted the new girl, but then his gaze went to the brunette that was her brother. Will Byers, a soul just as sweet and had him melting. He was always on the back of his mind that he couldn’t just ignore anymore, so he asked if they could be friends, he was internally screaming when he said yes. He took every chance he could to be with him, whether that be lying that he needed help with his schoolwork that he had to come over to his house so they could study, he was basically a regular in the Byers household. He was odd and it certainly was creepy, but he just wanted to be as close to Will as he could.

Before he knew it it was already lunch and he was being dragged out of class by his friends, he laughed as they threw him onto his feet and he bounced a little before finding his footing. Being apart of the popular crowd, [M/N] was greeted by many students and he politely greeted them back, not being a fan of being rude to people. Because of this [M/N] was generally liked by both students and teachers, and so here he was sitting at a table with various people fighting to sit with him, but of course his friends always got dibs to sit at his table. He was in the midst of eating his food but his eyes continuously scanned the cafeteria, one of his friends noticed so they let out a sigh and smacked him in the back of the head, this caused him to spit out some of his food and let out a yelp from the pain.

“Dude, what the fuck?” another friend that sat across from him gave him a incredulous expression.

“Yeah dude, what the fuck? He spat his food on me!” he groaned, face scrunching up in disgust at the bits of food on his jacket, causing a few of them to snicker, the one that smacked him rolled his eyes.

“You’re so obvious.” [M/N] cleared his throat, looking at him in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” he scoffed softly, [M/N] raised a brow when he passed him a note, he eyed it before sitting up straight and taking it from his hand. His friend side eyed him and sighed softly when he saw that scared reaction, [M/N] was trembling as a look of panic could be seen in his eyes.

’I know you’ve got a thing for that Byers guy.’

”W-What…?” he could tell that [M/N] was trying not to break down and make a scene so he reached over and grabbed the note, crumbling it up and tucking it into his pocket, this made him look up at him with the same scared expression.

“You’re so obvious.” he repeats “If you thought I, your best friend since we were toddlers, wouldn’t notice, I’d have to kick your ass.” [M/N] glanced around at the others, who surprisingly didn’t notice what was happening between the two of them, and gave him a cautious look.

“You’re not… grossed out?” this caused him to roll his eyes.

“No. I’m more upset over the fact that you thought I wouldn’t accept you, you’re my bro, and I care more about being your best friend than your goddamn preference.” [M/N] would probably start crying if he wasn’t in the middle of the cafeteria, he wipes his eyes with his forearm whilst his friend gently rubbed his back.

“You’re a true bro.” he chuckled.

“I know, and don’t you forget it.” his eyes then lingered up and his lips curved into a smirk at who he saw, so he grabbed [M/N] by the back of his neck and pulled him up “And look who just came walking in~” he cooed, snickering softly when he saw that lovesick gaze [M/N] always had on his face when Will Byers came into view.

“Do you think he’ll sit with us?” he questioned.

“Doubt it.” [M/N] slumps on disappointment “You know he always sits with his sister, doesn’t want her being alone. And if you try and invite her over in hopes of getting him to join us, she’ll be uncomfortable because I’m pretty sure half of the people here have taken part in tormenting her.” he slumps even more.

“You’re right.”

“I know I’m right, I’m always right.”

“You are.” he grumbles under his breath, he then briefly glanced at Will again and lights up when their eyes meet. He happily waved his hand to greet him with a big smile, his smile only growing brighter when Will mirrored his expression and returned the gesture before turning to sit with his sister, [M/N] then sat back down in his seat with a look of content but it dropped when he could feel his friends gaze on him “Stop looking at me like that.”

“You’re gay.” he whispered quietly, he laughed sarcastically before throwing macaroni in his face, causing the others to laugh.

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, genius.” he winked.

[time skip: roller shaking rink]

If Will wasn’t already having a pretty awful day, it just got worse. He thought he’d be happy to see Mike when he got to California, he thought they’d get to talk like they used to when they were kids still living in Hawkins, but he’s been too busy oogling Eleven to even hold a conversation with him. What makes matters worse is that she’s been lying to him ever since they’ve got there, saying things about being friends with the same people who has been bullying her and going to that roller skating rink to the point she forgot an important detail. It sucked being the third wheel, watching as Mike and El held hands as they skated around while he lingered in the back and watched in dismay as they looked happy while he was forgotten.

’Maybe I was better off taking up [M/N]’s offer to hang out then being stuck being the third wheel.’ he thought to himself, just the thought of the [H/C] boy made him smile but he frowned when he knew that it was already too late and since he was already here he was just going to have to suck it up until six when Jonathan and Argyle came back to pick them up ’At this point I don’t even know why I’m here.’ he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his noise as Mike and El blubbered on about something, not that he was listening, but he was completely unaware of that fact he was being stared at.

“No fucking way…” a voice muttered, he hears a slurp but didn’t pay it any mind as the owner of the obnoxious slurping came to a rolling stop beside him.

“What’s the matter?” ‘twas [M/N] holding two large cups of soda in his hands, he sniffled as he took another huge gulp from his drink while his friend tore his gaze away from the bored Byers to stare up at his friend “Did you see someone, dude?” he rolled his eyes, grabbing [M/N] by the jaw and turning his head in the direction he was staring in.

“Yeah, the guy that rejected you.” he furrowed his brows at that and tried searching to see who he could be talking about before freezing up when he saw Will, he probably would have crushed the drinks in his hands if his friend let him go “His sister is here too, along with some guy with god awful taste in fashion.” at this, they both cringed at what the guy was wearing.

“It must be that Mike Wheeler kid he talks about.” his friend glanced up at him once more, noticing the way he was fidgeting as he stared at Will.

“You gonna go over there and say hello, or are you gonna stay here gawking like a fish?” [M/N] swallowed thickly, his grip on both drinks growing tighter before he let out a sigh and relaxed.

“Nah, he’s with his friend. I think I’d be intruding if I just suddenly went over there. Let’s go, the others are waiting for us.” his friend nodded and was going to leave it at that, they both turned away and planned on skating away but he stopped when he saw that familiar looking blonde making her way over to where the Byers siblings and their friend were.

“Wait.” [M/N] does and looks over at him in confusion “We’ve got trouble.” he hums then glanced back over to see what he was talking about before visibly getting angry at the sight of Angela approaching the three with her goonies following closely behind her.

“Get the boys, I’ll deal with her.” he snarled out and proceeded to skate over to the table.

“[M/N], what are you— you better not hit her!” this caused him to laugh.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” [M/N] wouldn’t publicly punch Angela in the face, without any context he just looks like an asshole, but he’s got a plan to humiliate her without looking like a douchebag… well, he’ll look like a douchebag if it was an accidental regardless. He popped off the cup covers and sped up a little, this was going to hurt a bit, the moment he was close enough he purposefully tripped up, causing the drinks in his hands to spill all over the poor unexpecting soul.

“Oh my god!” she screamed out, feeling the soda drench her completely “What the hell is wrong with you?!” she exclaimed, everyone in attendance to witness what happened were in shock, [M/N] stifled a chuckle as he pulled himself onto his feet while Angela’s friends comforted her.

“Oh man, I am just so sorry, I’m still quite new when it comes to skating.” Jane felt a sense of comfort when she saw [M/N], smiling softly when she felt him place his hand on top of her head and ruffle it around while giving Angela a smug grin when she turned and glared at him “Accidents happen, you know?” his grin grew bigger when she grew agitated while a few of her friends took a step forward.

“Man, you’re such a clutz, [M/N]! Why can’t you be good at skating like you are with baseball!” he let out a soft grunt when his friend appeared behind him, slapping a hand on his back with a laugh, Angela and her friends backed down when [M/N]’s friend group appeared and gave him threatening smiles “Forgive him, he’s still learning.” Angela growled, hand closing into a tight fist before glaring at the both of them.

“This isn’t over.” with that she skated away, [M/N] let out a breath before smacking his friend in the arm.

“Still learning? Dude! Nice one, didn’t you face plant not too long ago?” this caused him to make a face.

“Now let’s not get arrogant here.” [M/N] rolled his eyes, he then looked at the residents of the table and grinned, waving his hand to greet them.

“Hey Jane, hi Will!” he said happily, the Byers siblings returned the greeting with a happy wave of their own, he then glanced over at the ravenette and gave him a confused expression “And hello… Mike, was it?” he gave an awkward wave of his own,  Jane stood to her feet and grabbed his hands while gesturing with her other to Mike.

“Yes, this is Mike! He is my boyfriend.” this caused a few of them to be surprised, a few of his friends whistled.

“Wow, little miss pretty has herself a boyfriend? Never would have guessed.” this earned him a smack behind the head.

“Stop it.” Jane giggled softly, always appreciating it when [M/N] reprimanded his friends from making offhanded comments “Will told me how he was coming down from Indiana, you two must be really happy that he’s here after not seeing him in a long time.” Jane nodded her head, [M/N] glanced at Will and noticed he didn’t look as enthusiastic as his sister.

“Yeah, totally.” [M/N] and his friends noticed Will’s less than thrilled response and glanced at each other, his friends spare each other a glance and nod in unison before one of them wrap an arm around [M/N]’s shoulder and pull him in, causing him to look at them in confusion.

“Well, why don’t we leave the lovebirds alone to catch up?” he suggested then glanced at Will, who flinched when all eyes were on him “Hey Byers, why don’t you join us? Don’t want you being stuck as the third wheel!” Will looked a little hesitant but he didn’t even get a choice when they grabbed him out of the booth and started pushing him away, he couldn’t even stop them even if he could because of the skates.

“Have fun you two!” they exclaimed, [M/N] was confused at to what they were doing and was going to question them but froze up when they pushed both him and Will together and into the skating ring. He glared back at them with a bright red face but it dropped when he saw all of them giving him encouraging looks followed with thumbs up, one of them grinned as they leaned against the barrier and continued to watch [M/N] panic as he held Will from evidently falling over.

“He’s gay, right?” one of them questioned, another nodded.

“Oh, totally! Without a doubt.” they each share a laugh and place bets to see if anything will happen before the day was over, now back to the two, [M/N] was apologising profusely for putting Will on the spot like they did while untangling himself off of the poor boy.

“I’m so sorry, Will! I don’t know what’s wrong with them.” a soft blush settled on his cheeks when Will looked up at him with that oh so cute smile on his face.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I get where they were coming from, and it did suck a little being the third wheel back there.” [M/N] gasped softly, bringing a hand up to hover over his mouth.

“No.” Will chuckled at the reaction, nodding his head.

“Yeah, while those two were glued together, I just hung in the background.” [M/N] hummed softly before lightly shoving him with his shoulder and skating ahead of them, Will let out a whoa and quickly caught himself before he fell over then glanced over at [M/N] and saw he had a big grin on his face.

“Well, now you have me! Lets have some fucking fun, Byers!” he cheered, holding his hand out for Will to take. He looked hesitant once more but the way [M/N] had an eager look on his face, his eyes practically begging him to take his hand, how could he possibly refuse. He lets out a laugh and took [M/N]’s hand, laughing even louder when he was pulled towards him and together the two of them spun around before skating a few rounds around the ring then leaving and going over to the arcade. Will watched as [M/N] went over to the game where you had to knock clowns over to rack up points, he grabbed the baseball and tossed it up a few times “I may not be as good as our pitcher, but I’d like to think I’m second best.” he comments, this caused Will to jokingly roll his eyes.

“Your arrogance is showing.” he flushed up when [M/N] winked at him.

“Only for you.” at the end of the game he won a lot of tickets, throwing his fist up with a victorious grin. [M/N] continued to win the games, a few times playing some with Will until they were holding too many tickets that it was ridiculous. They both glance at each other before bursting out into laughter and going over to the ticket stand and trading the tickets for prizes, though in the end they couldn’t think of what to get and gave their winnings to the kid behind them and went over to get some food “You know? I didn’t think I was going to see you today, but I’m glad that I did.” he said, grabbing a few fries and throwing them into his mouth.

“I agree, you made my day a little bit better.” [M/N] grinned at that, as the two of them continued to talk he glanced behind Will and his face scrunched up when he saw his friends from afar making those same encouraging looks along with kissy faces, he wanted to kick their asses. He panicked when Will noticed that [M/N] was staring at something so he turned around to see what it was but his friends luckily ducked down before they could notice, when Will turned to look back at [M/N] he just got an innocent smile on his face “Well, um, I’m really glad I got to spend some time with you.”

“Same! At least you weren’t stuck in between your sister and your friend.” Will had a bittersweet expression on his face.

“I know he just got here and that El— I mean, Jane, is his girlfriend… but I’m his best friend. I wish he talked to me just a little bit longer instead of ignoring me, it really hurt.” [M/N] gave him a sympathetic smile.

“I’m sure things will get better, like you said, he’s your best friend! I’m sure things will get better before you know it.” he reassured, this caused Will to smile.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” he nods.

“Anytime.” they stare at each other for a little longer then jump when a hand suddenly slammed down on their table, they then glance up at the owner and [M/N] couldn’t help but grimace a little when he saw that it was none other than Mike Wheeler.

“There you are, Will! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” he then gestured with his hand for him to stand up “I need to talk to you about something, so can we go?” Will pulled a face and looked at [M/N], he looked just as saddened but gestured for him to go.

“Don’t leave the guy waiting! I’ll be right here if you come back.” Will smiled before leaving, the moment Will was out of sight he let out a breath he was holding in and slumped into the seat, not even moments later his friends arrived and took over the booth.

“Well that was a disaster.” one of them said, a few of the other eating the food that was forgotten “You should have seen the way that Indiana guy was staring at you, dude. We were watching for a long time and that guy was giving you a dirty look.” another then dramatically held a hand to his forehead and fell back, one having to catch him before falling onto the ground.

“He must’ve been jealous that he was replaced and couldn’t stand the thought of his friend talking to a much better looking, well dressed, and friendly guy that isn’t him.” [M/N] rolled his eyes, grabbing his drink and taking a long slurp from it “We’re being serious, [M/N]. That guy definitely didn’t like the fact that you were with Byers, man.”

“You should shoot your shot.” this caused [M/N] to glare at the one friend he knew that knew about his sexuality, before he could say anything, he raised his hands and gestured to the lot of them.

“Dude, like I said, you’re so obvious.” he glanced at the others and saw they were all nodding their heads “Why do you think we were encouraging you that whole time, dumbass?” they all laugh when his head fell and thumped against the table.

“We’re your ultimate wingmen, trust us.” their heads shoot up when they all hear shouting, they look over and saw a crowd forming so they scramble to their feet and rush over, and there they saw Angela’s face bleeding due to the fact that Jane had hit her with a skate “Holy shit!” 

“You go Byers!” [M/N] shakes his head.

“Now’s not the time.”  “Sorry.” he shakes his head, he then glanced over at the siblings and saw they both had a panicked look on their faces before rushing away “Well that was anticlimactic, I didn’t expect her to do that.”

“Well what can you do? After all that torment that bitch has put her through, I was wondering how long it was going to take until she finally snapped.” he then claps his hands “Good for her, the wrong way of standing up for herself, but good for her.”

“Stop it.”  [time skip: later at night]

Today was just a fucking disaster. Will collapsed onto his bed and let out an exhausted sigh, if he thought the day couldn’t get any worse, he should probably shut the fuck up at that point. All was going swell when he was with [M/N], he had fun and it felt nice to be included, even more so being so close to the guy that made his stomach do flips. Mike had to ruin the moment but let it slide when he realised that Angela came back for revenge and evidently humiliated El before running off, Mike only coming to find him to help him find El. What made matters worse was when El slammed the roller skate into Angela’s face and it started bleeding profusely, god, he needed a break. He pressed the soles of his hands into his eyes and twisted slightly, dragging his hands down his face then throwing his arms open.

“What a disaster.” he closed his eyes and let his body relax into the bed, growing slightly irritated when he heard a subtle tapping, he lifts himself and glared over at the window. It stopped when he looked over at it so he let his body fall back onto the bed but not even a second passes when the tapping returns so he jumps off his bed and marches over to his window, ready to punch it but froze up when he saw that it was [M/N], who lit up upon sight.

“Will!” his voice was muffled through the glass but he definitely heard it as the boy waved his hand “Hi.” he shook his head with a laugh and opened the window.

“What are you doing here? It’s late.” he holds his hand up in a gesture for him to wait so he does with a slight giggle, watching as he ducked down to get something before shooting up with something in his hand. Will looked at in confusion then let out a sputter of words when [M/N] pushed it into his hands, he chuckled when he saw the excited look on his face “What is this?”

“It’s a gift. It’s for you.” Will furrowed his brows in confusion, a gift? He was going to question him again but [M/N] gestured for him to open it “Go on, open it!” [M/N] reminded him of a child on Christmas Day, so he just shrugged his shoulders and opened the nicely wrapped gift. He raised his brow in confusion at the sight of a box that was close shut by two latches, he looked at [M/N] and saw the eagerness in his eyes as he nodded at him for him to open it, so he did with a shrug. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw was inside, he couldn’t believe it as he lowered the lid to look at [M/N].

“I-Is this…?” he smiled and sheepishly shrugged.

“An oil color box set? Yeah, it took awhile to find this specific one, and it was really expensive as well, but what’s a few weeks allowance can’t do?” Will was at a loss for words, stuttering out a few that he managed to say as tears threatened to spill from his eyes “I remembered you saying that you were looking for one so you could paint while you were out, so I thought I would get you one and save you the trouble.” Will sniffled, raising a hand to rub at his eyes.

“But why? Why did you get this for me?” [M/N] looked at him in confusion, scoffing softly but realised that Will was serious,.

“Dude, Will… it’s your birthday.” Will couldn’t help but gasp softly at that, he completely forgot that it was his birthday, but that also meant that everyone else forgot about his birthday. He got a little bitter at that but what made it better was the fact that [M/N] remembered. A guy that he met in California, a guy that he told the date of his birth once and he remembered, a guy that was so popular that he was sure would forget, but he didn’t. He remembered and he even got him a gift. He then remembered to the start of that week that he tried inviting Will out to hangout, was he inviting him out for his birthday? “I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now, Will, but I hope you know I’m here for you. Happy birthday, Will.” he couldn’t remember what happened, what was going on in his mind for him to react the way he did, but he pushed the gift to the side and grabbed [M/N] by the collar of his shirt and yank him up. [M/N] let out a whoa, hands planting down on the windowsill to stabilise himself then let out a muffled gasp when Will pulled him into a kiss. He stared down at their connected lips in shock then his gaze fell upon Will’s eyes when he pulled away, a look of disbelief as they stared at each other.

…

… “Oh my god, what have I done?” Will muttered, still holding [M/N] by the collar of his shirt as he looked away, not noticing the lovesick smile that grace his lips as he let him go, letting the boy slump against the windowsill. All sorts of thoughts were circulating through his mind, thinking that he possibly ruined the best friendship he had in California forever and that he was going to lose a friend that meant the world to him and also the love of his life. He hadn’t even noticed [M/N] pull himself up until he was yanked forward, [M/N] having reach forward to grab Will by his cheeks and pull him into another kiss, this time, he was making sure Will felt that the kiss he gave him wasn’t one sided. When they finally pulled away, they stared into each other’s eyes before laughing.

“Will?” said boy let out a gasp and shoved [M/N] back and slammed his window shut, grimacing when he heard a loud thud followed by an oof and grunt but he ignored it as his mother opened the door to his room “Are you okay in here? I heard you pacing.” he gave his mother a reassuring smile, waving his hands to dismiss her.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Don’t worry about it, mum.” she gave Will a soft smile, blowing him a kiss before closing the door when she left. He waited until he couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore before turning around and throwing his window open and peeking out, he giggled to himself when he saw [M/N] wearing the biggest grin on his face as he covered his eyes with his hands “Are you okay?” [M/N] pushed himself up by his hands and gave Will a dopey grin.

“Am I okay? I’m fan-fucking-tastic!” he covered his mouth when Will shushed him for being loud, he quickly stood to his feet and returned to where Will was resting his folding arms on the windowsill and smiled “I can finally tell you that I’m in love with you. Your response?” Will laughs, pressing a hand to his cheek.

“I love you too.” they’re both smiling to the point it hurts, Will throws his arms around [M/N]’s neck and pulls him up into a hug, to which the latter reaches up and wraps an arm around his head as his other arm held the windowsill. When they pull away, [M/N] and Will stare into each other’s eyes once more and share a short and tender kiss, [M/N] winks and Will giggles.  “I’ll see you at school next week?” Will bites his lip, glancing back towards his door then back at [M/N].

“Do you want to stop by tomorrow? I’d love to spend some time with you.” he whispered the last part to himself but it didn’t fall to deaf ears because this earned him another peck on the lips, he looked at [M/N] and saw him grinning as he nodded his head.

“Yeah, I’ll totally stop by tomorrow!” he cheered “I’ll see you tomorrow!” he takes a step back but accidentally trips and falls back, Will leaned forward to see if he was okay but giggled instead when [M/N] shot back up but had a few leaves and twigs in his hair, but he didn’t mind it and waved his hand goodbye,

“Goodnight, [M/N].”

“Goodnight, Will.” he blows him a kiss followed by a wink, to which Will blushed but didn’t hesitate to catch the kiss. The moment Will pulled himself back into his room and close the window [M/N] let out a cheer as he threw his fists in the air, running back to his truck with an extra skip in his step “He said he loved me!” he shouts, he then heard cheering from his truck and saw his friends cheering for his accomplishment.

“Nice one, [M/N]!”

“Another win for you!”

Headcanons:

[m/n] is so in love with will that his friends have to tape his mouth shut if they don’t want to hear him talking about will this, or will that. it gets annoying.

the guys love will, don’t get me wrong, they just hate [m/n] for making the conversation all about his boyfriend. he’s in a relationship, they get it. no need to shove it down their throats with every chance he gets.

[m/n] told will that his friends know that they’re dating.

he was a little on edge to know that will wasn’t, well, straight.

[m/n] reassured him that they were cool, I mean, it was because of them they basically got to have a date back at the roller skating ring.

it made will feel happy to be accepted by a large number a guys.

it makes him even more happy that they’re happy [m/n]’s happy with someone that makes him feel the way he does. they tell will they’ve got his back if he ever needs it.

[m/n] more than once has will wearing his lettermen jacket, regardless of what people say.

will refused to wear it the first few times [m/n] asked him to wear it but was forced to wear it when [m/n] threw it at his face and ran away before will could give it back.

now [m/n] doesn’t get it back unless there’s a game.

totally worth it.

will totally shows up to [m/n] and his teams practices and their games. they all appreciate his attendance and whenever he’s there, they’re all at that a-game.

when [m/n] sees will in the crowd, especially if he’s wearing his jacket, it’s already over for the rivalling team.

he’s all the motivation they need.

will is totally their number one supporter.

jane noticed will has been happier as well, and without asking she already knew it had something to do with [m/n].

she saw the way will would look at [m/n]. he had that look in his eyes that sparkled whenever the boy was in the same room they were in or if he was brought up in a conversation. 

she might have accidentally caught the a few times together when will would sneak him in through the window so they could relax together or will would be sneaking out or back in from wherever [m/n] took him.

they had a sibling agreement to never bring this up.

joyce and jonathan had also noticed that will had being going out more and more.

they’d question him where he was going but fall short when they saw that oh so familiar lettermen jacket along with the sound of a honk.

peering out the window, there they saw their will rushing over to [m/n]’s pickup truck so the two of them can go out on a date. of course they don’t know that, but they’re happy will’s going out more.

will totally has [m/n] model for him when painting.

[m/n] blushed when will called him his muse, muttering the word under his breath more than once.

will always shows him what he’s working on and though [m/n] doesn’t have the best knowledge when it comes to art, he always shares his thoughts with will about what he likes about it.

will appreciated it.

together, the two of them are just so in love.

[m/n] doesn’t waste a second to show how committed he is to this relationship, always showering will in all the love his soul could pour out until he knew that will knew the extent he was willing to go to just to get a point across.

will also wanted to show [m/n] that what he felt for him couldn’t easily be replaced, that the only thing on his mind whenever they were together were the endless thoughts of how deeply in love he was with [m/n].

the two of them made it obvious that they were meant to be.

Loyalty

word count: 23,866

Fandom: MCYT Pairing: JSchlatt x Male!Wolf!Reader Pronouns: He/Him Relationship: Familial/Platonic Occupation: Bodyguard Ability: Wolf Hybrid 

The character is that of a wolf hybrid, allowing them to have traits of a wolf. They have abnormal strength and speed with keen senses of smell, hearing and sight, making their nose and ears almost sensitive to anything. They are also granted with an abnormal height and the gift to shapeshift from a human/normal form to a more monstrous form.

Keys: [M/N]: Male Name [S/C]: Skin Color [H/C]: Hair Color [E/C]: Eye Color [U/N]: Username

Warnings: character death, vulgar language, alcohol consumption, violence

I don’t know if I’ve seen this anywhere but this is my own headcanon on the three canon lives thing the dsmp have. when their first two lives are taken, their bodies are reduced to dust and they return back to spawn or their bed, but on their last and final canon life, their body doesn’t reduce to dust and they die the regular ol’ way.

that is all.

“Loyalty” pt. 2

“Don’t touch that thing, you might catch something.”

“What a disgusting little thing, can’t it go somewhere else.”

“Ugh, I wish someone would do something about that thing.”

Those were the constant words that made their way into the ears of the young wolf pup hybrid, there was nothing that didn’t go unheard with his enhanced senses. No matter how irritating those words were he couldn’t help but wince when they were all true. His hair was overgrown and any other patches of fur that were visible were matted, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had a bath so there was a foul stench coming from him along with the dirt covering his [S/C] skin. Even his nails were overgrown and cracked with dirt beneath his nails, such an unsightly appearance. A weak growl mixed with a whimper erupted out of his throat as he clawed at the ground beneath his collapsed body, he really was pathetic that he could do nothing to make the situation he was in better. He had nothing but the worn-out clothes on his back to his name— name, huh? It’s been so long since someone has called his name that he can’t even remember the name his own mother gave him.

He was so alone he craved for any sort of attention; any sort of affection just to make him feel better, but what fool would take pity on this waste of life who was nothing but a bag of bones? He let out another whimper as he hung his head low, his hands resting on his head as tears of frustration finally started rolling down his cheeks. The cruel reality was bearing down on him and he just didn’t want to face it, he didn’t want to live in this kind of situation anymore but what can a scrawny little brat like himself do when he was nothing more than an easy target for anyone who preyed upon him? He just wanted a chance to make things right, he just wanted a chance to live a life that wasn’t so pathetic.

“Hey kid.” he let out a gasp at the sound of a voice, he raised his head and started to tremble at the sight of a figure looming over him. He couldn’t see who it was but with their intimidating height and the horns on his head, he couldn’t cease the fear in his heart as he pushed himself against the wall behind him, his ears tucking back to show his fear.

“Are you the devil…?” he croaked out, his voice so dry it made him wince and start coughing, he flinches when he heard the man above him laugh.

“The devil? Now that’s a new one.” he comments, the boy doesn’t hesitate to push himself further into the wall of the alley when the man before him knelt down, there, he was able to get a better view of the man’s face. He looked quite young, he had a scruffy beard and messy brown hair but what stood out were the goat horns and ears, another hybrid. It had been so long since he’d seen another hybrid, though the species was different, he was a hybrid nonetheless “What are you doing out here on your own, kid? Where’re your parents?” at the mention of that he looked down.

“… my mother died, and when my father saw no value in me, he left me to rot.” he answered weakly, the goat hybrid hummed at that, squeezing his chin “If you’re not here to ridicule me or kill me, it’s best if you’d be on your way, wouldn’t want to catch a disease I might be carrying.” the man only hummed again, the boy was confused when he saw the man back away slightly only to offer his hand to him with a generous smile on his face.

“Your father is a fool to see no value in you.”

“Huh?” that generous smile turned into a smirk.

“Come with me, and I promise you, you’ll be of use to me in the future.” his eyes widened slightly at that, how could this stranger know if he could be valuable or not? Such a ridiculous claim that had him sneering slightly, but his ears slowly relaxed as he stared at the hand before him, the offer was tempting but how could he trust this man? “Listen, kid, don’t take this offer as pity. I can and will leave you here to die if you don’t decide quickly, but I know you’ve got the potential to be something bigger. So, what do you say?” he swallowed thickly as he continued to stare at the hand before finally reaching forward and taking it.

“I hope you can show me how I have potential.” he laughs at that.

“It sounded sappy, didn’t it? You can just say I’ve got a good eye for valuable things.” he stands to his feet and the boy let out a yelp when he was yanked up, the man noticed this and put him down “Sorry about that, you’re just a skinny little thing.” the boy let out a sigh.

“Right.” he raised his head when he noticed the man raise his hand and slip off a bland gold ring off his finger, he turns towards him and flicks it towards the boy, he opened his hands and caught the ring before looking down at it in confusion.

“Then name’s JSchlatt , but call me Schlatt. From here on out, I’m your owner. The ring will signify my ownership over you, so don’t go losing it or else I’ll kick you to the curb, got it?” he let out a gasp as he nodded his head, Schlatt merely chuckled with a scoff before walking off, the boy gasped again as he quickly rushed after him “What about you? Do you gotta name, or do I have to name you?” he lowered his head once more, his ears pressing flat against his head.

“I don’t remember my name…” Schlatt pursed his lips at the sound of that, what a hassle.

“Hmm, well… how does [M/N] sound?” the boy's ears perked up at that “Take it or leave it. I’m not particularly good at naming things so it’s either that or you go by boy.” Schlatt paused when he heard him yip, he turned around and his eyes widen softly at the sight of the small amount of joy circling in his eyes, his tail wagging softly.

“No, no! I like it.” he looks down at his feet, holding the golden ring in his hands while his tail wagged happily “I like it a lot.” Schlatt scoffed again before walking again but was grateful that the boy— [M/N] liked the name, and he genuinely did. He didn’t favor the name his father gave him, it was a pretty half-assed name because his father could give a damn about naming a child who had no value to him. He raised his head to stare at the back of his new owner and a newfound loyalty started to swell in his chest, maybe it was the DNA of the wolf hybrid coursing through his veins that was making him behave in such a way, but he didn’t care. This man saw something in him that he couldn’t even see, he’s given him a chance and now he was willing to die for this man to live up to his expectations. 

[present time, years later]

“Hey, [M/N], are you even listening?” said man felt his ears twitch at the sound of his name, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around to see he was standing in the dressing room backstage awaiting their cue, he sniffled before turning his head in the direction of the voice that called his name.

“I apologize, I was simply resting my eyes.” his ears flickered a bit when the man laughed.

“Yeah, that sounds more like you taking a nap.” he hums at that, he then lets out an oh when he offered him a tie “Give me a hand with that, would you? You know how bad I am at putting those things on, but I need to look professional.” he nods his head as he takes the die from his hand, approaching him swiftly.

“Of course, but at least this time you aren’t swearing.” now he couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“True, true.” it takes him no time tying that tie around his neck, he’s probably gone and done it over a hundred times that he could probably do it with his eyes closed. When it was securely tied around his neck, he nodded his head before reaching over and grabbing the blaze to his suit and handing it to him, when he puts it on, he buttons it up for him before standing behind him and the both of them stare at their reflection.

“Don’t you look dapper, JSchlatt? Or should I say, Mister President?” he laughs again as he looks up at the boy standing behind him through the reflection.

“Oh, please. I always look this good.” now he snorts, Schlatt smacks him in the shoulder, only to wince himself when the back of his hand was met with his sturdy body “Damn, it only feels like yesterday when you were nothing but a skinny little brat. Now look at you, you’re even bigger than me now.” it was true, looking down at himself, [M/N] now towered over Schlatt and stood at least 6″10ft tall. His body was broad and stern that it would take another hybrid similar to him to knock him down, if not, there was no way the average person could take him down. 

“Hmm, is that why you appointed me as your bodyguard? Must I address you as sir now?” Schlatt shrugged his shoulders, pulling out a cigar from the pocket in his blazer.

“Nah, call me what you want.” [M/N] nods his head, pulling out a Zippo lighter to light his cigar “Actually, when we’re alone, call me Schlatt. When we’re around others, address me formally.” he nods his head, pocketing the lighter before putting his hands behind his back.

“As you wish, Mister President.” Schlatt smirked at that, taking a puff from the cigar but blew the smoke away from [M/N], knowing how sensitive his nose was when it comes to certain smells.

“You know, that has a nice ring to it.”

“I’ll try not to wear it out, knowing how much it inflates your ego.” his smirk only widens, taking another puff from his cigar.

“Damn straight.” he rolls his eyes, Schlatt raises a brow when he notices [M/N]’s ears stand up as he turns his head towards the door to the dressing room, his tail and other tuffs of fur visible standing on end “What’s the matter, kid?”

“Someone is approaching the room.” they hear a knock at the door and [M/N] was already on the door before the person could knock a second time, he throws the door open, and there stood Quackity, hand raised to knock once more but froze at the sight of the giant wolf hybrid looming over him.

“U-Uh...” before [M/N] could do anything, Schlatt hovered his hand over his chest to stop him.

“Stop, it’s just Quackity. He’s with us, remember?” Quackity gave a nervous smile as he looked up at [M/N], who snarled when he continued to stare, the duck hybrid flinched at it while Schlatt merely laughed “Don’t mind him, he gets like that with people he doesn’t know are around me. An overprotective dog.” [M/N] huffs as he stands up straight behind Schlatt but refused to drop his stance, Quackity just nodded his head and nervously removed his gaze from the taller man to Schlatt.

“Ri-- Right.” he clears his throat then gestures behind him “They’re ready now.” Schlatt hums at that, [M/N] notice him raise his hand so he grabbed an ashtray and let him put out his cigar in it before tossing it away, Schlatt grins as he straightens his blazer.

“Well then, let’s get this show on the road.” he laces his fingers together before cracking his knuckles, Quackity steps to the side to allow Schlatt to walk off. He lets out a short laugh and goes to follow him but looked back to see [M/N] staring at him, he flinched at the intense glare coming from the taller man, he laughed nervously again when he heard a low growl come from him “[M/N], come!” his head perked up at the order, he glares at Quackity one last time before rushing off to where Schlatt was patiently waiting for him.

“J-Jeez...” he shuddered out, placing a hand to his chest and feeling the rapid beating of his heart “I feel like he was going to eat me.” Schlatt looked up at [M/N] when he noticed him unconsciously lick his lips.

“Don’t even think about eating him.” he snorts when he noticed him jolt up.

“I wasn’t thinking that.”

“Uh huh.” he pursed his lips as he looked away, he chuckles at the reaction before pulling at the collar of the blaze, he looks up at [M/N] and spread his arms so the taller man could get a good look at him “So, how do I look?” the wolf hybrid stared at him before chuckling, shaking his head and buttoning his blazer up again and straightening his tie.

“Like you mean business, sir.” Schlatt nods at the answer, raising his arm to tug on the end of the sleeves of his dress shirt then throwing his arms out to loosen the sleeves a bit.

“Good.” they stood by the sides of the stage, still backstage away from the prying eyes of the citizens of L’Manburg, and awaited their cue to go on stage to greet the crowd. [M/N] continued to stand behind Schlatt but was on guard when he sensed two individuals approaching them, he glanced to his side and noticed that it was simply Quackity and that guy with those white frame sunglasses with black tinted lenses, he didn’t even bother to remember his name, maybe he’ll ask Schlatt later. On the other side of the stage stood the representatives for POG2020, that being Wilbur Soot and his little brother TommyInnit, he started growling once more but stopped when Schlatt gently hit him in his chest “Quiet.” he bowed his head.

“Sorry.” he chuckles softly, shaking his head.

“There’s no worry, besides, the win is ours.” [M/N] nods his head at that.

“Right, they don’t even know they’ve been had.” Schlatt smirks, they’re all soon called onto the stage, Wilbur being the one to stand at the podium to read out the votes of the elections while Schlatt’s party stood to Wilbur’s right while Niki’s party and Tommy stood to his left.

“I am now going to read out the number of votes each party has gained.” he clears his throat as he reads through the sheet of paper in his hands “With 9% of the vote, being, 20,000 people or so. In fourth place, is Coconut2020.” there was some applause coming from the crowd as Niki and Fundy cheered.

“20,000 people!”

“Thank you, Eret for your support!” [M/N] just rolled his eyes, they came forth and they lost by a landslide, so why the hell were they celebrating?

“The pity votes.” now he couldn’t help but snort, stifling his laughter at Quackity’s unexpected comment, the duck hybrid grinned when he made the usually neutral wolf hybrid laugh.

“Are you laughing, [M/N]?” Schlatt asked, rather amused that he was, he just pressed the back of his hand to his lips while shaking his head as he tried not to laugh.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting that, sir. I was caught off guard, but it was pretty funny.” the ram hybrid just chuckled at the reaction, shrugging his shoulders before turning his attention back at Wilbur while crossing his arms.

“Now, with 16% of the votes, coming in third place, is Schlatt2020.” they all whispered various comments about Schlatt, but he and his party didn’t react like the people who placed third, they were rather neutral and had an indifferent reaction because they knew the outcome of that election “That means there are two parties left. Big Q, look at me.” Quackity looked out from behind [M/N] and saw Wilbur staring at him, Schlatt gestures with his head towards Wilbur and so Quackity approaches him and now the two stood in front of each other “This leaves the two major front runners as the final option here.”

“Right.” they both nod their heads before Wilbur turns to look at the crowd once more.

“In second place, with 30% of the votes, is... lead by the party leader Quackity.” Tommy and the rest who were supporting him and his brother were quick to celebrate when Wilbur announced that Quackity was second place in favor of POG2020, however, Schlatt and [M/N] smirked when they saw that look of confusion and disbelief on Wilbur’s face when he was having to reread the votes over and over “Wait, Tommy, listen, Tommy!”

“What? We won didn’t we?” Wilbur took a sharp inhale.

“Well, uh... two nights ago, on the night of the election, after the announcement of Schlatt2020 and Coconut2020... Quackity made a deal with the leader of Schlatt2020 and, uh, Mister Jschlatt stood beside me. Quackity said that no matter what happens, Quackity would pool SWAG2020 votes onto Schlatt2020 votes.” the crowd gasped at the announcement as Quackity took his place behind Schlatt once more, the four of them mockingly smirking at the rest of them as Wilbur read out the rest of the votes “POG2020 got 45% of the votes, meaning that the coalition government of Schlatt2020 and SWAG2020 got 46% of the votes. Meaning that tonight, ladies and gentlemen, on Tuesday the 22nd of September 2020, Schlatt2020 has been inaugurated.” everyone gasped in shock at the way things had turned out while Schlatt and Quackity were laughing at the results, [M/N] was smiling softly and clapping his hands, as for George, he was doing the same thing but rather tiredly.

“See, the win was ours from the beginning.” [M/N] nodded his head.

“Mm hmm, had no doubts sir, that’s why I was calling you Mister President even before the results were announced.” Schlatt grinned when he saw Wilbur swallow thickly, practically nervous under the eyes of the ram hybrid but gave him a forced smile.

“Well, u-uh, Mister JSchlatt, it was a real honor competing against you. But I-- uh, please step up to the podium and deliver your inauguration speech.” they were all promptly kicked off the stage as Schlatt took his place in front of the podium, [M/N] was behind him and glaring down at the crowd below him while Quackity stood to his right and George to his left.

“Well,” Schlatt started, tapping at the mic before leaning against the podium with a giant smirk on his face "that was pretty easy. And you know what I said the day that I got unbanned from the Dream SMP and the day I said I was running? An election that I won, by the way. I said, "Things are going to change." I looked every citizen of L'Manberg in the eyes and I said, "You listen to me: This place will be a lot different tomorrow." Let's start making it happen.” Schlatt chuckled at the looks he was getting from the crowd, he turned back to [M/N] for a brief second to nod at him before finishing off the rest of his speech, the taller man understood and got himself ready “My first decree as the president of L'Manberg - the EMPEROR of this great country - is to REVOKE the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit!” the crowd immediately went into hysterics at the announcement.

“What?!”

“NO!!”

“No way!”

“Is he serious?!” Schlatt looks back at [M/N] and saw he pulled at his Firework Launcher, George and Quackity notice this and pull out their bows, Schlatt just laughs maniacally before throwing his arm out.

“Get them out of here! Get them out of here! You're no longer welcome!” [M/N], who’s face was indifferent, pushed Schlatt behind him and knelt down while he aimed the rocket in the direction of where Wilbur and Tommy were standing, finger on the trigger and eyes locked on.

“Yes, sir.” pulling the trigger, the crowd immediately dispersed to avoid the rocket while Wilbur and Tommy turned tails and ran, however, [M/N] didn’t stop and continued to fire rockets at them while George and Quackity shot arrows at them, one actually managing to hit the two and lodge into the back of Wilbur’s shoulder as they fled. George and Quackity lowered their bows while [M/N] raised his crossbow, his keen eyes continuing to scan the area until a hand was gently placed on his shoulder.

“That’s enough, you did your job splendidly, [M/N].” his ears went flat against his head at the praise before standing to his feet, returning to his place behind Schlatt “Oh, that was so easy! Until further notice, Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are merely a memory of L'Manberg. A relic of the past. A reminder of the darkest era this country has ever seen. And I guarantee you all, dear citizens... Tonight, that changes. We are entering into a new period of L'Manberg, a period of prosperity! Of strength! Of unity!” [M/N] smiled and clapped his hands gently once more, he then went on a rant and saw that he was going to lower the taxes and even fill the fountains up with Hawaiian Punch.

“Seriously?” he whispered to the ram, he just shrugged.

“Meh, it was in the spur of the moment, but I’m gonna do it anyway.” the wolf shrugged his shoulders and leaned back “Anyways, Tubbo? Where’s Tubbo?” the boy raised his hand from within the crowd.

“I’m right here.”

“Tubbo, get up here! Get up here on my podium.” now [M/N] was confused, why on earth was Schlatt calling up Tommy’s friend? “Don’t you want the job?” Quackity snickers as he leaned towards Schlatt.

“I don’t think he wants the job.” Tubbo’s eyes widened as he stood up from where he was sitting with a panicked expression.

“N-No, no! I’m on my way.” he sputtered out repeatedly while trying to find a way up to where they were standing, when he managed to climb up to the stage, after repeatedly dying to fall damage, he stood nervously beside Schlatt while trying to avoid looking at [M/N], who was snarling while glaring at him.

“Stop it.” he scolded, the man huffed as he looked away “Tubbo, you, as my secretary of state, as my right hand man of L’Manburg!” Schlatt ignored the whine coming from [M/N] when he said that, he sighed and gave the man a look before smiling down at the younger boy “I need you to do something for me, Tubbo.”

“What Mister President?”

“I need you, to find Tommy and I need you, to show him the door. Rumor has it, he’s somewhere around. Perhaps, uh, perhaps on top of a building.” at the mention of that, [M/N] turned his head to the right and saw on top of the tower was a frightened Wilbur and standing beside, though he couldn’t see because of the potion, was undoubtedly Tommy, probably with an expression just as frightened as his “Tubbo, bring them here at once.” [M/N] looked away from the tower as he looked down at Tubbo, he looked hesitant to do Schlatt’s bidding, I mean, of course, he would, he was going against his best friend and the man he previously fought a war with.

“I-I...” Tubbo looked up and paled when [M/N] glared at him, he swallowed thickly before nodding his head “I’ll do my best, Mister President.” [M/N] relaxed at that and turned away, Schlatt smiled as he pats Tubbo on the shoulder.

“Good, now, you best be on your way. Go get 'em.” he nodded his trembling head before rushing off, Schlatt grinned as he straightened his tie and waved at the people, [M/N] pursed his lips as he leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Why didn’t you send me, sir? You know I’m better at tracking than anyone else, it was illogical to send him.” Schlatt only chuckled, turning around and gently patting [M/N] on the cheek.

“Yeah, I know that, but you’re my bodyguard. Your job is to stay by my side and protect me from potential dangers, and I can’t exactly have my bodyguard leave my side just to gather a bunch of rats.” he gave him a smile “I’m counting on you to protect me from here on out, that’s your first order from me as the President. Don’t disappoint me.” at that, [M/N] had stopped listening to Schlatt ramble on about other things he had planned for L’Manburg as his heart thumped in his chest once more. He hadn’t felt like this ever since Schlatt had first picked him up when he was just a little cub, this feeling of loyalty swelling in his chest for this man, he smile with a newfound resolve as he stood behind Schlatt with a prideful gaze.

He was going to carry out that order until his last breath.

[a few days later]

“Ma-- Manberg, sir? You’re going to change L’Manberg to Manberg?” [M/N] asked, reading through the papers Schlatt had handed to him in confusion, he lowered the papers as he stared at the man “Why? L’Manberg sounds fine as is.” Schlatt merely laughs, leaning back in his seat as he holds a glass of whiskey, spinning the glass around with his wrist and watching the liquid sway before looking at his bodyguard.

“Well, this country no longer takes any L’s.” Schlatt grinned when he got the man to snicker at that, he downs the whiskey as he lets [M/N] read through the other decrees he thought of. The first one was obvious, it was revoking Wilbur and Tommy’s citizenship to L’Man-- oh, no, Manberg. The second was to remove the walls surrounding the country that were built since the beginning, the third was renaming L’Manberg to Manberg because he claimed the country isn’t taking L’s anymore. [M/N] scoffed with a laugh, shaking his head when he saw that Schlatt wanted to replace many of the longstanding structures of the city with tall apartment buildings and a monument of himself.

“Really? A monument of yourself? Quite egotistical, don’t you think?” Schlatt laughed at that, throwing his head back as he placed his empty glass on his desk.

“What? Don’t you think it’ll give this country a nice touch to it?”

“Whatever makes you happy, sir.” he shuffles through the rest of the papers but he stopped when his eyes landed on the last one, Schlatt watched as he furrowed his brows as he read through it “You want to raise the taxes, but only for the female residents of Manberg? Sir, you do realize that Niki Nihachu is the only woman residing in Manberg, right?” he chuckles.

“Of course I know. Because I kicked her friends out, she’s been acting out and even stood up to me at one point.” he slams his hand on his desk and glared at [M/N], though the latter was not affected by the gaze because he knew that it wasn’t directed at him “I’m just putting her in her place so she learns not to go against my authority.” he hums, eyeing the page carefully before looking at Schlatt once more.

“Are you sure? This isn’t going to look good for you, makes you seem prejudice against women.” Schlatt waves his hand to dismiss the thought.

“You’re overthinking it, kid. You’re simply not looking at the bigger picture!” [M/N] raised a brow.

“And that would be?” Schlatt looked at him before looking away.

“I’m still imagining the picture kid, don’t put me on the spot like that.” he snorted at the response he got, he lets out a breath as he rearranged the papers once more before bowing his head.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your duties and hand these to Vice President Quackity.” the older man nods his head, swiveling in his chair before raising his hand and motioning for [M/N] to come. The man looked at him in confusion before approaching him from behind his desk, he leaned forward before jolting up, his ears and tail shooting upwards when Schlatt placed his hand on top of his head and gently pat his head.

“I really do appreciate you sticking by my side throughout the years, kid, never forget that.” [M/N] raised his head, Schlatt laughed when he noticed that his pupils had blown out as his tail was wagging behind him. He remembered he would always do that to him when he was a kid and it really pleased the kid, [M/N] stood up straight with a flushed face as he pressed his hand to where Schlatt’s hand previously was.

“I-I...” he couldn’t even say anything, he was just too flustered, Schlatt had to hold back his laughter when [M/N] turned tail and ran, nearly tripping over but instead slammed into the door before throwing it up and slamming it shut behind him. [M/N] had his back pressed to the door as he tried to calm himself down, he just couldn’t stop smiling, he always did enjoy getting praised by Schlatt, maybe that was the wolf side of him that made him react like this. He took a deep breath, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair to straighten it out, when he composed himself, he slapped on his straight face before walking down the hall to where Quackity’s office was.

“Hey, [M/N]!” his ears perked up at the call and he looked over to see Fundy waving his hand, he narrowed his eyes on him to remember what his place was in the White House. Um, if he remembered hard enough, Schlatt said that he was the...  Archbishop/Right hand man? He really couldn’t be bothered remembering all these names that meant nothing to him, though, he did stop so Fundy could approach him, with caution, of course. Fundy knew how vicious [M/N] was with people who weren’t Schlatt, he really was just Schlatt’s hound dog that wouldn’t hesitate to carry out any of his orders, no matter how malicious they were.

“What do you need, sir?” he answered, Fundy laughed as he shook his head and pat him on the arm.

“Come on now, since we’re working together, don’t you think you should drop the formalities? We’re friends, aren’t we?” Fundy flinched when he noticed [M/N] was glaring at the hand that was touching him, he laughed nervously as he removed his hand.

“Friends?” he questioned, holding the papers in one hand, he raised the other to wipe his arm where Fundy had touched him “I don’t remember us becoming such a feat. We’re nothing more than associates, nothing more, nothing less.” he awkwardly laughed at that when the taller man kept a stern look on his face as he stared him down.

“Ah haha, r-right.” [M/N] sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Anyways, do you know where the Vice President is? Mister JSchlatt asked me to deliver these papers to him so he could take a look at them.” Fundy’s ears perked up at that.

“Quackity?” he then pointed off in a direction “He’s currently in his office with George.” he nods his head at the information.

“Thank you, and with that, I’ll be on my way.” he was polite enough to bid the fox hybrid goodbye before leaving him, it didn’t take long for the man to reach Quackity’s door and so he politely knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

“Oh, come in!” he heard the voice from within the office, he pushed open the door and there he saw Quackity sitting on his desk while talking to George “Oh, it’s you, [M/N]. What brings you here?” he raises the papers in his hand as he approaches the two.

“The President asked me to hand these to you. He wants you to read through them before handing them back to him, saying that he also wants your opinion on what he wants to do to this country.” Quackity nods as he takes the papers from [M/N]’s hands, giving them a brief skim through before setting them down on the desk beside him.

“Alright.”

“He would appreciate an immediate response because he would like those decrees to happen immediately. I don’t wish to rush you, but the President gets quite fussy when people make him wait.” Quackity nods his head once more at that.

“Got it, I’ll try and have it done before later tonight.” [M/N] bows his head at that.

“Much appreciated, Mister Vice President.” he then bows his head to George “Ambassador. Have a good day gentlemen.” with that he took his leave and returned to his post in front of Schlatt’s office door, no one was to come in without him mentally noting down who it was that entered and who left. Anyone that passed by was impressed that he never moved from his spot, didn’t fidget or twitch, he only made a reaction when someone was approaching before turning them away when Schlatt didn’t want to see them.

“U-Um, excuse me?” he raised his brow as he looked down, there, he saw a nervous looking Tubbo waving his hand to try and get his attention “Schlatt told me to meet him in his office, telling me he had a job for me.” [M/N] furrowed his brows before looking up in thought, he did remember him mentioning that Tubbo was going to meet him later in the day, so he nodded his head.

“Right.” he opened to door and looked over at where Schlatt was “Sir, Tubbo is here as you wished.” Schlatt raised his head at the announcement, a grin on his face as he stood up from his desk.

“Wonderful, wonderful! Let him in, why don’t you?” [M/N] nodded his head before stepping to the side and gesturing with his arms for Tubbo to enter the room, when he walked in he was planning on closing the door behind and wait outside the room but stopped when he noticed Schlatt give him a look that told him to stay. He glanced back at Tubbo before nodding his head and stepping into the room, closing the door behind him and standing in front of the door, and let the two talk. He didn’t bother listening to the conversation, it really wasn’t anything that concerned him, it was the usual political bullshit that Schlatt pulled out of his ass while using different tactics to intimidate and frighten the child into submission, to which it worked because Tubbo could barely look him in the eye. Only when he heard Schlatt mention Tubbo’s first job did he ask him to do, was when [M/N] started to listen “I thought I told you to find Tommy and bring him here, Tubbo.” the boy swallowed thickly.

“I-I’m trying, really, Schlatt.” he licks his lips “They’re not here in L’Manberg--”

“It’s Manberg, Tubbo.” he raised his head in shock at what Schlatt had said “Because you didn’t know that I was changing it, I’ll let it slide just this one time. I hope there won’t be any more slip-ups.” he nods his head.

“R-Right.” he takes a breath to calm himself “Anyways, they’re not here in Manberg, sir. I don’t know where else they could have gone.” Schlatt hummed at that, circling him while clicking his tongue.

“That is not the answer I wanted, Tubbo. You know him better than anyone, so I expected you to find them first.” he then gestures to [M/N], Tubbo looked over at the wolf hybrid and saw he had his neutral expression on his face “[M/N] is my most trusted companion, he’s been with me for a long time so I know him like the back of my hand, as he is with me.” Tubbo nods his head.

“Yeah...?” Tubbo stands in his spot as he watched Schlatt approach the man, dragging his hand across his shoulders before wrapping an arm around his torso and leaning his weight into his body.

“So I know how great of a tracker he is, as well as a hunter.” Tubbo flinched, know understanding where he was going “He is a wolf hybrid, a grey wolf at that, making him an apex predator, meaning that he is at the very top of the food chain. When he’s got a whiff of your scent, it’s all over, there isn’t a place on this earth that you can hide and he won’t be able to find you.” he nods slowly.

“T-That sounds like a really good assist, sir.” he nods.

“It is.” he then leaves [M/N]’s side as twirls around the room, throwing his arms open before pointing at Tubbo “Now you must be thinking, why I didn’t send [M/N] off to find your pesky little friend and that former President? Well, it’s simple. I don’t want him to leave my side, he’s the one person I trust with my life and I don’t want him to go off just to do a trivial job. That’s why I left it to you, because you know your friend Tommy better than anyone else, so you must know what he’s planning.”

“I... I--”

“Tubbo, listen.” Schlatt was by Tubbo’s side, wrapping an arm around him and leaning down close to his face “I’m going to tell you this one last time so you can get the job done right, okay? Go and find Tommy and kill him, or else I’ll send [M/N] to get the job done right, and I know neither of us wants that. He can be quite merciless when it comes down to doing hunting jobs to the point that even I can’t tell him to stop. He does a messy job, but at least he can get it done.” Tubbo was really being put on the spot at that point, he hasn’t seen what [M/N] is capable of, and he really doesn’t want to find out either.

“I...” he lowers his head “I understand, Mister President.” Schlatt smiled at the response, raising his hands to let him go.

“Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear that.” he pats Tubbo’s back and raises his arm to direct him to the door “Now that you understand what happens if you don’t do your job properly, off you go. Report anything you find to [M/N], okay?” he nods.

“Got it.” with that he leaves the room, [M/N] goes to follow him out but was stopped when Schlatt grabbed his arm.

“Before you go,” he raised a brow when he noticed his expression darkened “keep an eye on him, won’t you?” [M/N] only smirked, showing off his canines.

“I was going to do that whether you ordered me or not.” he cracked his knuckles as the other man laughed.

“Right, that is so you.” he takes a breath as he leans against his desk “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, eh?” [M/N] salutes him.

“Yes sir.”

[weeks later]

“You’re... married?” [M/N] questioned as he looked at Schlatt and Quackity in confusion, the latter looked proud of the accomplishment while the former looked just as confused as he did “We-- Well... congrats?” he lets out a confused whine as he tilted his head to the side, he scratches the back of his neck as he tried to continue his work but the fact that Schlatt got married to this... guy, really rattled him.

“Don’t think about it, even I don’t understand why he wanted to marry me.” Schlatt said as he waved Quackity goodbye, to which the duck hybrid waved his hand enthusiastically before running down the hallway, [M/N] pursed his lips as he looked down at the golden ring on his finger before glancing away “Anyways, how’s keeping an eye on Tubbo been lately?” he asked, the both of them entering his office to speak about the matter privately.

“As you’ve instructed, I continue to make quick observations on him whenever he comes and goes. When he’s around others he’s calm and relaxed, but that persona immediately drops when he’s around me, sir.”

“Maybe that’s because you scare the kid, pup.” he laughs when [M/N] flushes at the pet name, it had been a long time since he called him that, he cleared his throat “Sorry, continue, please.” 

“Thank you, anyways, as I was saying, he’s always on edge whenever he’s around you or me.” he raises a hand as he taps his cheek “He’s gone frequently during the day as well, sometimes I ask Fundy where Tubbo goes and he doesn’t know, not even Quackity. George is no help, he’s never around or he’s always asleep, so he’s completely in the dark. But the times he passes by me, I take a whiff of his scent and I smell rubble, gun powder, oddly potatoes, and something else that I just can’t place.”

“Do you think he’s purposely covering his scent to throw you off?” he purses his lips.

“Perhaps, but I’m close, I can feel it.” Schlatt nods his head.

“Alright, when you manage to find something, I give you permission to leave my side and follow after him.” [M/N]’s eyes opened at what he said.

“P-Pardon? You want me to... leave your side?” Schlatt rolled his eyes at the reaction he gave him, he knew he was going to react like this, knowing how protective this damned mutt can get when he isn’t by his side.

“You’re the only one I trust to accomplish this job, [M/N]. You’re efficient at what you do, so be quick. Get in, and get out before they notice and return to me with the results I want, okay? You’re the only one that won’t be able to mess this up, yeah?” [M/N] was hesitant, of course, he was, he fiddled with the hem of his dress shirt as he kept his head low. Schlatt let out a sigh as he stared at the man before him, he would always do that whenever he was nervous, he still hasn’t changed from when he was just a kid “Come on now, stop being so worried, I’ll be fine.”

“... really?” he nods his head.

“Of course, I’ll be waiting for you here, mmkay?” he takes his hands and gently pats his head, laughing when he saw his tail wagging behind him.

“O... Okay.” he soon pats his arm.

“That’s the spirit! Oh, would you look at that, I have a meeting to get to with someone important.” he rolls his neck as his hands slip away from [M/N], to which the man quickly straightened himself out before following Schlatt out. Many things had occurred since the day he had become President, he ordered Fundy to burn down the L’Manberg flag and to create a new Manberg flag made of obsidian and crying obsidian to make it harder to control, he banished Niki from Manberg after refusing to pay her taxes and had every other resident of Manberg to raid her bakery and steal everything she owned, so now she owned nothing. [M/N] felt a bead of sweat form on his cheek as he listed every bad/horrible deed Schlatt had done to the country, making him look even worse than he did in the beginning. He wasn’t going to admit it, though he totally would, he knew if Schlatt continued with the path he was going down... he wasn’t going to die an easy death “Ah, we’re here. They’re already inside, so I want you to stay out here and keep anyone looking for me out, okay?” [M/N] nodded his head.

“As you wish, sir.” he winks before throwing the doors open then letting them close behind him, with that, [M/N] turned around and kept his back to the door. With his hands behind his back, he kept his posture and expressionless face on as he watched people walk by, some greeted him and he greeted them back briefly. He wasn’t really paying attention to how much time had gone by but his ears did go up when he saw Tubbo approach him.

“Hey, [M/N], is Schlatt in there?” he nods his head.

“Yeah, he’s having a meeting with someone and told me to keep anyone looking for him out. Must be really important.” Tubbo nods his head.

“Oh, okay. Then I guess I’ll wait out here with you if that’s alright.” he shrugged his shoulder.

“Do what you want.” Tubbo nods again before proceeding to stand beside the taller man, he rolled his neck as he fixed his stance until his nose twitched. An unknown scent caught his attention and so he sniffed the air to catch a whiff of the scent once more before it disappeared, soon his head moved down to where Tubbo was standing and the younger boy was looking up at him in confusion.

“U-Um, [M/N], what are you--” 

*SNEEZE*

Tubbo was taken aback at the loud sneeze coming from the man, it was completely unexpected that he jumped in surprise before he approached [M/N], backing away when he sneezed again.

“No, go away!” he shouts “Why do you smell like pollen?! Why the hell are you even covered in that shit from head to toe?!” he shouts, sneezing again and covering his nose so he wouldn’t pick up the smell of pollen.

“You can smell the pollen off of me?” he questioned.

“Of course I can, I have a sensitive nose and I can pick up on various smells, dammit!” he shouts, sniffling and rubbing his nose when his nose started getting runny. Though that part was true, he caught wind of Tommy’s scent as well, though his meeting with the small child was brief, he has a memory bank of all the different types of smells he had smelt in the past. He just had to find a reason to cover up the fact that he was blatantly smelling Tubbo, thank god for his hay fever. Tubbo was still quite taken aback by [M/N]’s reaction but he was in a state of panic that he forgot how good his sense of smell was, how on earth could he forget, he just felt fortunate enough that he was playing in a field of flowers with bees that he was covered in pollen to fool him.

“O-Oh, um, sorry?” he apologized questionably, handing him a handkerchief to blow his nose.

“Just-- please go away, I beg.” 

“Ye-- right! I can just show this to Schlatt later!” he exclaims before running away, he blew his nose in the handkerchief, grimacing at the amount of snot on it before folding it up and pocketing it then running his finger under his nose to control him.

“Hey,” he shrieked at the voice from behind him, turning around, he saw Schlatt cracking open the doors by a bit to peek his head through “what was all that noise about?” he sniffed.

“Tubbo was here waiting for you, but he was covered in pollen when I tried sniffing him and I started sneezing.” Schlatt nodded his head.

“Ah, your hay fever.” he nods, he goes to enter the office once more but couldn’t when [M/N] places his foot in between the doors to stop him, he then leans down to whisper in his ear.

“But I did manage to smell Tommy off of him.” now this caused Schlatt’s blood to run cold for a bit before it started to boil, though, he managed to keep his composure as he smiled up at [M/N].

“You know what to do.” he bows his head.

“Of course.” he waited until his meeting was over to take Schlatt back to his office, he looked into the room Schlatt was in and briefly saw the color green but ignored it to take Schlatt back. When he safely returned to his office, he nodded his head to him before closing the door behind the man then turning on his heel to find where that little bastard had slipped off to his. His gaze caught the sight of Quackity, who was flaunting his wedding wing to Fundy, who just looked downright confused “Excuse me, Quackity, Fundy!” he called out, the two raised their heads and Quackity greeted him enthusiastically while Fundy was still nervous under his eyes.

“Hey, [M/N]!” he cheered.

“Y-Yeah, hey.” Fundy added, [M/N] only sighed.

“Yes, hello. I was just wondering if you two knew where Tubbo was, he was waiting for the President beside me when he was having a meeting with someone else before he ran off when he realized he was the cause of my little... accident.” he sniffled once more “Anyways, the President has returned to his office and I was wondering if you knew where he was so I can tell him that he’s free now.” Fundy let out a hum as he looked up in thought.

“Well, I haven’t seen him in the past hour, he said that he was going out on a stroll.” Quackity nodded.

“I saw him go east from where the White House is, saying he wanted to collect some bees before talking to Schlatt. If you hurry, you’ll probably catch up to him.” he notes, [M/N] nodded his head to what they said.

“Thanks.” they bid him adieu as he walked off, when he was outside the White House, he stretched his arms and legs, crouching down a couple times before turning his body east from where the White House was before kneeling down and pressing the tips of his fingers onto the ground. He bends his knees as the soles of his feet dig into the ground, with that, he shot forward and sprinted off to find Tubbo. It was a little difficult because he could smell the pollen mixed in with his scent but as Schlatt had said, once he’s got a whiff of your scent, there’s nowhere you could hide on this earth that he wouldn’t be able to find you. He launched himself into the air before catching himself in the trees of a forest somewhere outside of the borders of the Dream SMP, he landed on the ground before sprinting forward, however, he didn’t know how long he was going to have to search to find anything suspicious but then he came to the opening by a hill.

He raised a brow at the sight of a small dirt shack embedded within a hill, he tilts his head to the side before approaching it. He opens the door and looks around in confusion before inhaling the lingering scents within the shack, now he smelt an assortment of different scents. He was onto them, the shack had a bed, a couple chests with furnaces, and other things but what he saw that really mattered was an opening that was leading underground. He rolled his neck, planning to go down it but stopped when he saw a dog.

“...”

“...”

“Hey.” he greeted, raising a hand, he smiled when it gave him a cheerful yip in return, he ruffled its head before heading down. He soon found himself in a ravine, looking around, it was mostly a system of caves, made of stone and wooden stairways with torches along the walls. He pursed his lips when he saw a huge potato field... now that explained the smell of potatoes, he scoffed, such a downgrade, he thought to himself before crouching down when he heard voices. He drank an Invisibility Potion before peeking his head down and there he saw Tubbo talking to Wilbur, Tommy, and some piglin hy-- oh, shit. He recognized that piglin hybrid, the Blood God Technoblade, an anarchistic pig, now he was going to be a problem.

“I’m sorry Wilbur, I panicked and came here as fast as I could.” Wilbur shook his head as he held Tubbo’s shoulders.

“That doesn’t matter, just tell us what happened.” he let out a sigh.

“I think I nearly got caught.” Tommy was up on his feet immediately, he shoved Wilbur away as he checked Tubbo all over.

“What? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” he shook his head to wave Tommy off.

“I’m fine, it’s just that Schlatt’s bodyguard.” now this caught their attention, Tubbo told them how troublesome his bodyguard is, Tubbo could never get close to Schlatt without [M/N] being in the same room sneering down at anyone that thought they could touch him. Not only that but because he was a wolf and that if he even caught a whiff of their scent he would be on them immediately and Tubbo’s job as a spy for Pogtopia would be exposed.

“What did he do?” 

“I had work to show to Schlatt but couldn’t because he was in a meeting, course [M/N] was also waiting outside the door as he usually did and this time I decided to wait beside him. But he suddenly started sniffing me, I panicked there and then but before I could do anything he started sneezing.” Tommy snickered at that.

“Sneezing? Why?” Technoblade questioned.

“I was covered in pollen and he said he had hay fever.” Tommy was laughing now, this caused [M/N] to purse his lips at that the boy who was laughing at him “I think the fact that he has hay fever saved my butt, who knows what would’ve happened if I didn’t play with the bees.” Technoblade now rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. I thought we warned you to roll in the dirt or have a shower after you visit us, that guy is our problem. The moment you get caught, we’re all in trouble.” he scolds before freezing, pulling out an axe from his inventory and throwing it over his shoulder.

“What? What’s the matter, Techno?” Wilbur asked, watching the anarchist on alert as he looked around.

“I smell a dog.” [M/N] huffs while the others freeze.

‘Dog? Now that’s rude.’ he shakes his head, he got what he needed so he no longer needed to stay, he goes to stand to his feet but winced when he noticed that when he shuffled his feet a couple rocks fell, he then fell to the ground to avoid the axe that was thrown at him ‘Jesus!’

"You led him to us!” he shouts, he goes to pull out another weapon but paused when he heard a bark, they all look up and see that it was simply the same dog that [M/N] passed on his way into Pogtopia.

“Heh, you’re overreacting, it’s just L’Mandog.” [M/N] was silently crying when this damned dog came out of nowhere and saved his skin, [M/N] knew he was strong, strong enough to handle the three and Technoblade if he was alone, but there was no way he could take on those three and Technoblade at the same time, that was too much. He silently thanked the dog before rolling away and rushing out of that ravine, Technoblade looked back over at the spot he threw his axe before looking at Tubbo.

“You should stay away from Pogtopia for a couple days, Tubbo. We’ll wait till this all blows over and if he acts out of place, then we’ll know.” Tubbo slowly nodded his head.

“Yeah... yeah, okay. I don’t want you guys getting hurt just because of my slip up.” Tommy grinned, giving his friend and thumbs up.

“Don’t worry, Tubbo, everything will be fine.”

[the next day]

“A festival?” Quackity questioned, putting down the sheet of paper Schlatt had handed to him and the other members of his cabinet. They were all in the meeting discussing Schlatt’s upcoming event for Manberg which was going to be a festival, but they were all confused as to why he was pulling such a stunt, they couldn’t find a reason as to why he was throwing a festival. [M/N] was also in the room so they look over at him to see his reaction, Schlatt tells the man everything, so he must know what’s going on... instead, they saw him scrunch his face up in confusion as he continued to stand behind him, whispering festival under his breath “W-Wha... what for, sir?” he laughed, throwing his arms back.

“Can’t we throw a festival to celebrate? It’ll be in the name of democracy.” [M/N] pulled a face as he leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“But you are against democracy, sir.” he shrugged his shoulders, smacking the back of his hand against his chest.

“Oh, lighten up, will you?” [M/N] sighed before standing up straight, wiping his chest where Schlatt had smacked him before rolling his shoulders and looking at the other three who were attending the meeting, maybe he should kick George just to make him come to at least one meeting “Anyways, I am placing Tubbo in charge of the planning.” said boy jolted in his seat before looking over at Schlatt in shock.

“M-Me?! Why?” he grinned at the young boy.

“Other than Fundy and Quackity, you’re the person I trust the most with such an important event, plus I believe you’ll be pretty decent in coming up with plans for the festival.” they hear a whine and look over at [M/N], jumping in surprise when they saw his ears dropping down, his bottom lip trembling. He then leans down once more, grabbing Schlatt by the shoulder while pointing at himself.

“W-What about me? Don’t you trust me enough, sir?” he rolls his eyes, smacking [M/N]’s hand off his shoulder as he pulled a cigar out of his pocket and puts it to his lips, letting Quackity light it.

“You can’t plan for shit, I know that from experience.” they sweat drop when they saw him turn around and start sulking, Schlatt took a puff from his cigar before waving his hand “I’m trusting you, Tubbo, to set the whole event up and I am also giving you the role as a key speaker.” Tubbo swallowed thickly at that before nodding his head.

“Okay, I won’t let you down, Mister President!” he felt nervous when Schlatt smiled at him.

“I know you won’t.” Tubbo shuddered, not really knowing how to take that last comment, soon, Schlatt stood to his feet as he straightened his blazer before snapping his fingers, causing [M/N] to snap out of his sulking and have him straighten his posture “That’s all we have to discuss, [M/N], come.”

“Coming.” with that the two of them left, and when they were alone, [M/N] immediately dropped the confused face “Do you think they fell for it?” he questioned, Schlatt laughed as he took another puff his from cigar before letting it hang from his lips so he could look up at [M/N].

“Without a doubt, pup.” he throws his arms up and lets them rest behind his head, lacing his fingers together as he walked down the hallways of the White House “I never knew you had a thing for acting, fooled them pretty good.” Schlatt laughed when he saw [MN] raise his head, his nose comically becoming pointed and longer.

“Perks of knowing how to lie on the spot, sir.” he rolls his shoulders “All I really need is to not act up in front of Tubbo, once he notices something wrong with me, he’ll tell Wilbur and his lot that we’re on to them.” Schlatt nods his head and gently knocks on his chest.

“Then act like you usually do, a lost puppy following his owner.” [M/N] briefly stopped in his tracks at what Schlatt called him, practically calling him out, his tail gets tucked between his legs before he chased after him when he noticed the distance growing between the two when Schlatt continued to walk.

“H-Hey! I’m not lost.” 

“So you admit you’re a puppy?” his cheeks flush pink from embarrassment.

“Please stop teasing me, sir.” Schlatt only chuckles.

Surprisingly, the preparations for the festival went rather smoothly. Tubbo kept a watchful eye on [M/N] just in case there really was something underhanded going on with the festival but the latter made no moves that were deemed suspicious. The only times the wolf interfered with the planning was when Schlatt ordered him to help with heavy lifting or to input his own opinions and thoughts to the plan, to which he was more than reluctant to do such a thing. Sometimes [M/N] would make sure there was some decent distance between the two of them in case Tubbo was playing in a field of flowers or with bees again just so his hay fever doesn’t act up while he’s working, it would be such a hassle.

“Um, what do you think of this, [M/N]?” Tubbo asked, showing the man a design for one of the decorations. He stood nervously in front of the taller man, trembling slightly when he stared intensely at the design for what seemed like a hot minute before leaning away and giving him a thumbs up.

“It’s not bad, but remember to keep the flow consistent throughout the entire design, okay? You’re going with a simplistic theme, right? There’s no need to overdo the decorations, it looks fine as is. You’re doing a good job.” Tubbo was taken aback at the feedback he got from him, he wasn’t really expecting it but he did appreciate it.

“T-Thank you for the input, [M/N]! I’ll take that into consideration.” [M/N] merely nods his head, giving him another thumbs up before watching the younger boy rush off to get the things he had in mind ordered. He glanced down at his hand and watched it relax before it slowly closed into a tight fist, poor kid, he was a pretty decent kid and it almost made him feel bad when he knew about what was going to happen to him during the festival.

Almost.

[day of the manberg festival]

“Got to hand it to him, he did a wonderful job.” [M/N] murmured under his lips, clapping his hands as he saw the festival come to life. Many people had come to attend such a wonderful day, even the few who were previously banished from Manberg. [M/N] stood to the side as he scanned the area where the festival was taking place for anything suspicious but he also where he still had a clear view of where Schlatt was, he sniffed the air for the lingering scents of Wilbur and Tommy, scrunching his face up when he could just faintly sniff them out but he couldn’t spot them “They’re somewhere... I can feel it.”

“Who’s here?” he looked down to see that it was Quackity that asked him, [M/N] merely scoffed as he straightened his posture, crossing his arms as he continued to scan the crowd of happy people.

“Rats.” Quackity rolled his eyes as he elbowed [M/N]’s arm, which promptly earned him a snarl from the taller man, only for him to ignore it as he laughed and ate some of the food that was provided for the festival. Quackity had long gotten over his slight fear of [M/N], growing used to the glares, snarls, sneers, growls, and scowls that he could touch him and get away with it. Maybe it was the fact that he was married to Schlatt that [M/N] eased up on him... maybe-- hopefully “Anyways, how long till the President gives his speech? He told me he had it planned to start a few hours after the festival began.” he waved his hand nonchalantly.

“Hmm, maybe in half an hour.” he offered some of his food to [M/N], to which he raised his hand to block it from getting anywhere close to his face as he shook his head to deny he wanted any, Quackity shrugged as he nibbled on his food “Schlatt also told me to tell you that he wants you to enjoy the festival too.” [M/N]’s ears perked up at that as he looked down at Quackity.

“What?” he nods his head.

“Uh huh. He told me to tell you, saying that even though you know what’s going to happen today, he still wants you to enjoy the evening. Whatever that means.” he explained with another shrug of the shoulders, he purses his lips as he glanced over at Schlatt, it took a bit of time for the older man to notice his glancing but when he did, he smiled softly and gave him a thumbs up along with a nod.

“Really?” Quackity looked up at him and raised a brow when he saw a soft blush flush across his face “He remembered...” he whispered softly.

“He remembered what?” he glared down at the latter.

“You’re really nosey, you know that?” he laughs.

“It just shows that I care.” he rolled his eyes as he began to walk away.

“Yet I do not care for you.” with that he left Quackity alone to sulk at the harsh statement, he wandered around the festival trying to find something that would preoccupy himself before the main event started. He didn’t really participate in any of the attractions that the festival offered nor eat any of the food... well, maybe he did swipe a couple candy apples that were selling. A soft smile spread across his lips as he munched on the treats before looking up at the sky, he liked festivals because he remembered when Schlatt took him to one when he was just a kid.

‘I wonder if we weren’t trying to execute that kid, maybe he’d enjoy the festival with me like he did when I was a child. My fondest memory with him.’ he thought, hearing the sound of his laughter ringing in the back of his head as the memory played out in his head... oh, he could only wish to go back to the good old days where he hadn’t had to worry about getting stabbed in the back.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: hey, kid, where are you?

He let out an oh when he saw the message pop up in the lower left side of his vision, he let out a hum as he expanded the message board and read through the message Schlatt had sent him.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: just enjoying the festival like you told quackity to tell me, sir.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: you having fun?

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: quite frankly, I am.

<JSchaltt> whispers to you: good, but right now, I need you to come back to my side. I’m about to start.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: I’m on my way.

“Hmm.” [M/N] stood to his feet immediately, though he did look down at his candy apple before opening his mouth wide enough and chomping down on it, eating it completely before taking the stick out of his mouth and jogging away, throwing the stick behind him and it actually landing in a trash bin. He was in the middle of making his way back to the stage where it was going to happen when he accidentally walked into someone, he caught them by their arm before the both of them could stumble to the ground and helped straighten them up “Oh, I apologize for walking into you.” he says, when the person looks at him, his eyes widened briefly, but not enough for them to notice his shock.

‘Oh, fuck.’ in front of him was none other than the Blood God himself, Technoblade ‘The hell is this guy doing here? So does that mean Wilbur and Tommy are here after all?’ he brings his arm to his chest and bows his head.

“I apologize once more for bumping into you, but if you’ll excuse me, I must go.” and with that, he rushes off, Technoblade dusts the arm [M/N] had touched off as he watched the taller man flee, he raises a brow.

“That was not what I was expecting.” he muttered, he imagined [M/N] to be more intimidating from how Tubbo described him, but after seeing him up close, he looked a bit like a pushover “Hmph, for a guy that Tubbo warned me about, he’s quite polite.” [M/N] now stood beside Schlatt as Quackity started off his own speech, gathering the crowd so he could start things off, the man leaned down so that he was hovering by his ear so their conversation would be hushed.

“Technoblade is here.” this set off alarms in Schlatt’s head but he didn’t let it show, he just continued to smile at the crowd “So that can only mean that the other two are here as well to see what the hell is going on.” Schlatt briefly tore his eyes away from the crowd to look up at [M/N].

“Think you can find them?” he stands up straight as his eyes wandered the crowd.

“It’ll be a little harder because there’s so many people, food, and other stuff that’s messing with my nose, but I know they’re here...” he muttered quietly, Schlatt nods his head and pats him on the back.

“Just make sure they don’t get close, okay? Especially that Technoblade, I know that you’re strong, but I don’t want to take any chances of you getting hurt.” Schlatt furrowed his brows when he could feel [M/N]’s puppy dog eyes staring at him, so he smacked his arm “Drop the gaze, you’re supposed to be a wolf, not a puppy.” he smiles softly.

“You’re the one that calls me pup, sir.” he rolls his eyes.

“I’m gonna call you mutt if you don’t shut your mouth.” he lets out a whine before eventually falling silent, [M/N] stood silently beside Schlatt as he sat down in his chair and the both of them silently watched Tubbo give his own speech to the people (I was gonna write his part of the speech but I couldn’t be fucked and I didn’t have the patience to watch the video/stream just to find exactly what he said), however, [M/N] let his eyes wander a little bit during the speech and his ears perked up at the sight he was looking for.

‘There you are.’ he thought to himself, dropping his gaze just in case Wilbur and Tommy stopped looking at Tubbo just to keep an eye on him ‘I’ve got them now.’ he discretely tapped the side of Schlatt’s seat to gain his attention and when he moved his eyes to look he nodded his head, he could almost read Schlatt’s thoughts when he saw that dark smirk spread across his face before he soon started to chuckle.

“W-Wha... what’s wrong, Schlatt?” Tubbo asked as he looked back at the man, to which he shook his head.

“No, I was just thinking about it, Tubbo.” he then stands to his feet as he slowly approached him “Tubbo, would you like to have fun?” Tubbo glanced back at [M/N] and saw that the dark aura that usually surrounds him came back as he glared at him, he shrunk back as he looked back up at Schlatt.

“Y-Yeah, we like-- what’s up, Schlatt?” he shook his head.

“Nothing, nothing. But, is that it? Is that the end of your speech?” he slowly nods his head, Schlatt hums before he goes over to Quackity and hands him yellow sand and so the two of them make a box surrounding Tubbo, they then turn the sand into concrete so Tubbo had no way of getting out. The crowd grew anxious and confused as to what Schlatt and Quackity, to which he was also was confused, were doing “Okay, Tubbo, I’ll cut to the fucking chase.”

“S-Schlatt...?”

"Tubbo, Tubbo... I know what you've been up to.”

“What have I been up to?” 

“What have I been up to' he says! What have I been up to? You've been CONSPIRING! With the IDIOTS, with the-- with the TYRANTS! That we kicked out of this server, that we kicked out of this great country!" [M/N] didn’t need to peek into the box to know that the color drained out of his skin as a panicked expression grew on his face as Schlatt raised his voice “Tubbo, I don't know if you know this, but treason isn't exactly, uh... isn't exactly a respectable thing around here. I know what you've been doing, IT ALL ADDS UP, BUDDY! The fucking TUNNELS, your ABSENCE from GREAT events, I mean, you walked off in the middle of THIS one! You walked off in the middle of this one, Tubbo! Don't try and tell me you've done nothing wrong! Because everybody knows it! I see it with my own two fucking eyes, what you've been doing!" Schlatt takes a breath as he stops in front of the only opening to the box and he glared down at Tubbo “Do you know what happens to traitors, Tubbo...?” he swallowed thickly.

“N-No...” Schlatt chuckles darkly.

“Nothing good." he takes a step back and raises his hand “[M/N], you know what to do.” Tubbo pressed himself into the wall behind him, fear circulating in his eyes when [M/N] came into view with his Firework Launcher in hand.

“[M-M/N]...?” he couldn’t stop his body from trembling, he was just so goddamn terrified as the wolfman stared down at him with such a cold gaze “W-Why are you-- what’s going on?” tears started swelling in his eyes when he saw a malicious smirk spread across his face.

“Don’t you know?” he said, loading the crossbow with a firework and raising his arm to aim it at Tubbo, ignoring all the cries behind him, begging and pleading for him to stop “This whole festival was for you, Tubbo. Schlatt thought it would be funny to see you plan for your own execution.”

“Execution...?!” [M/N] winked.

“Mm hmm.” he steadies his arm, finger on the trigger “Now, you’re relived of your duty, sir.” he chuckles before pulling the trigger and letting the firework fly, colors flying everything as it exploded onto Tubbo. 

[Tubbo went off with a bang due to a firework shot by [U/N]]

Sure, it was a little messed up that the smell of burning flesh met his nostrils along with the sight of his skin burning to the fireworks, but it really meant nothing to him. He slowly lowered his arm as Schlatt placed his hand on [M/N]’s shoulder, patting it softly with a dark grin on his face, Quackity looked at the two in slight fear at what he just witnessed. He couldn’t believe that not too long ago, he remembered seeing [M/N] with such a puppy dog look on his face and even Schlatt looked happy and calm, to think that the true meaning of the festival was to actually kill Tubbo because he was a traitor and these two knew all along.

“You two are sick.” Schlatt dusted his shoulder off when a few sparks got on him while the smirk never left his face.

“Well, you’re married to me, so you better get used to it.” Quackity swallowed thickly before fleeing the stage, Schlatt merely shrugged his shoulders and goes to leave as well but was stopped when he heard a shout.

“You bastard!” before he could react, [M/N] pushed him behind him just as the former turned around and grabbed Tommy by the neck then slammed him into the ground. The boy threw an Ender Pearl towards them and tried to strike [M/N] down, only for him to sense him way before he could even deal any damage, he thrashed and kicked at the taller man to get him to let go but only let out a grunt when he felt [M/N] tighten his grip on his throat.

“There you are, you little rat.” he sneered, leaning forward and hovering away from his face “I knew you would appear, it was only a matter of time.” Tommy sneered at him.

“Oh, fuck off you twat! I’ll kill you for what you did to Tubbo!” [M/N] merely scoffed, leaning back but keeping his grip on Tommy.

“Oh, please. You can’t do shit. If you really cared about him, you would’ve been there to stop me, but you can only do something when the deed has been done. Both you and Wilbur are just pathetic, you two just can’t seem to do anything.” mocking him only added fuel to the flames, [M/N] put his Firework Launcher into his inventory then pulled out a sword “I’m not really a fan of using weapons, my expertise rely more on my fists, but I’ll make this a quick death.” Tommy felt a bead of sweat form on his cheek, nails digging into [M/N]’s wrist as he saw the blade of the sword glisten in the light.

“W-Wait...!” Schlatt chuckled, patting [M/N]’s shoulder.

“Proceed.” he nods.

“Yes sir.” there wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in his eyes as he raised his sword “Your third life is mine.” he swings it down and before it could even land on Tommy, an Enchanted Axe blocked the attack.

“Hmm, to think I mistaken you for a pup.” looking up, he was met with the condescending gaze of Technoblade using his axe to block [M/N]’s blade from meeting Tommy’s face “I think I have to stop you right there, mutt.” [M/N] bares his teeth as he tries putting more pressure into his sword, Tommy noticed both weapons were trembling by the amount of pressure the two hybrid men were putting into it.

“And the pig finally decides to step in, huh?” he lets out a grunt when Technoblade had enough and kicked [M/N] in the chest, kicking him off of Tommy and giving him enough time to pull the younger boy up onto his feet “That was quite rude, I was busy with that boy and I would have appreciated it if you didn’t interfere.” Technoblade chuckles, pushing Tommy behind him while also watching [M/N] stand to his feet, he threw his axe over his shoulder while [M/N] rolled his neck and shoulders.

“Well sorry to break it to you, but this guy is with me.” Tommy smiled up at Technoblade while [M/N] merely scoffed, cracking his knuckles as he got in front of Schlatt.

“Right, to overthrow the government, right?” Technoblade laughs, bouncing his axe on his shoulder.

“Yeah, are you going to stop me from completing such a feat?” 

“Honestly, I could care less about the government, I am only here because I am following the man who is the President. All I care about is staying by Schlatt’s side, and if you are here to threaten his life, I can’t help but see you as an enemy.” Technoblade lets out a breath, lowering his axe and holding it in both of his hands.

“With the way you think, I feel like the both of us could have been friends.” [M/N] rolled his eyes, lowering his body and letting his arms hang in front of him, eyes never leaving Technoblade.

“Who needs friends when you have that one person that makes you happy?” now this made Technoblade think of that one person that made him happy, he shook his head.

“Yeah, we really would have gotten along.” [M/N] flexes his fingers as neither side took their eyes off each other, it was a long stare off but as soon as Technoblade saw [M/N] presses his hands into the ground, the soles of his feet digging into the ground, he readied himself. He was startled at the speed [M/N] went when he shot towards him, he lets out a grunt as he swung his axe but [M/N] easily slid under the heavy swing and was now behind him. Tommy let out a cry when he was kicked off the stage though he was luckily caught by the audience below before he could die to fall damage, Technoblade immediately turned around and swung at him again but [M/N] tackled him off the stage and the both of them fell to the ground but he was lucky because he landed on top of Technoblade so he barely lost any hearts.

“Now that hurt...” he let out a grunt when Technoblade kicked him off but he managed to stick the landing, his claws digging into the ground beneath him to bring himself to a stop “Need a second to catch your breath, Blood God?” Technoblade licked his lips as he stood to his feet, wiping away some of the blood that ran down his lips from out of his snout.

“Please, I can do this all day.” a growl emitted out of [M/N]’s throat as his animalistic traits started to take form, from his forearms to his hand's fur overlapped his skin as his hands turned into razor-sharp claws while from his legs changed into hind legs “Now that’s not fair.”

“Please, I haven’t even shown you my true form yet.” 

“Psh, that sounds cringey.”

“You just made it cringey.” [M/N] closes his hand into a tight fist, his knuckles cracking under the pressure he closed them, before flexing his fingers “Are you ready to rumble?” Technoblade wipes his nose of any more blood, swiftly drinking a regen potion and pulling out his sword this time, getting ready to strike [M/N] down.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” [M/N] lets out a howl before charging forward, yet before he could even land a scratch on Technoblade, a message appeared in the bottom left corner of his vision that made him freeze up.

[JSchlatt was shot by WilburSoot]

Technoblade was also taken aback by the message but he didn’t freeze like the man in front of him, he took his distraction as an opportunity to hit him with the pommel end of the sword. [M/N] went down, his hands planting on the ground to catch himself, before raising his head to where he left Schlatt, and his heart shattered at the sight of an arrow piercing through his chest. Despair surrounded his heart as he watched him collapse to the ground before his body evidently turned to dust, a new body ready for him at his spawn point where he know only had two lives left.

“I didn’t take you as the type to get distracted by trivial things.” Technoblade said as he approached his shaking body, he raised his sword and goes to strike him down but fell back when [M/N] ran away. Technoblade was going to chase after him but stopped when Tommy and Wilbur got in front of him, the both of them having a smirk on their faces at the sight of the biggest troublemaker fleeing.

“Talk about running away with his tail between his legs, huh?” Tommy mocked, laughing at the sight of the big bad wolf running away “Nice shot, by the way, Wilbur. That really did it.” Wilbur nods his head as he pats Technoblade on the shoulder.

“It’s thanks to Techno distracting [M/N] that I had a clear shot on Schlatt, the man wasn’t even paying attention to his surroundings.” Technoblade let them blabber about what was happening as he continued to look where [M/N] ran, his eyes widening softly when he realized which direction he went in.

[with the reader]

There was only a single thought that was running through [M/N]’s head as he ran on all fours towards the White House, tears in his eyes as he ignored the aching pain in the side of his face.

‘I fucked up! I fucked up! I fucked up!’ he didn’t bother wiping the tears from his face as the White House slowly came into view ’I had one job and I fucked it up!’ he skid to a stop as he stood on his hind legs, he actually kicked the door down before rushing down the hallways to find Schlatt’s room that was located somewhere in this build. He had one job, he had ONE job and that was to protect Schlatt, and he fucked that up by getting too caught up in his fight with Technoblade that Schlatt lost one of his lives and he watched the man he grew up with turn to dust. When he was finally at his room, he threw the door open and there he saw Schlatt sitting in his bed with a confused look on his face, his lip trembled as the older man raised his head to get a look at the person who entered his room.

“[M/N--” he couldn’t even finish when the younger one let out a sob, rushing over to his side and grabbing a hold of his hand, tears running down his face.

“I’m so sorry, Schlatt! It’s all my fault that Wilbur killed you!” he cried out, his form trembling as he pressed his forehead into his hands “If only I didn’t focus on Technoblade then none of this would have happened! I failed you!” [M/N] couldn’t stop himself from crying no matter how hard he tried, the tears he wiped away were only replaced with more tears. This scene reminded him of the time [M/N] accidentally shoved him off a cliff and he narrowly avoided death by landing on a hay bale, and though it did save him from losing a life for a pathetic reason, it still did some heavy damage. [M/N] wouldn’t stop crying no matter how hard Schlatt reassured him that he was fine, it just showed how much this kid really worried for him.

“I’m fine, puppy, really.” he let out a whine as he shook his head.

“B-But... you only have two lives left because I got reckless.” Schlatt hummed, slipping a hand out of [M/N] grip to press against his head, ruffling it softly.

“We only live once, kid, I just have to make my next two worth it.” his hands slip down to cup his cheek, a soft smile graced his lips when the wolfman leaned into his touch “I don’t blame you for what happened, I would never.”

“You should.” he chuckles as he shakes his head.

“I should be worried about you too, puppy. That was an insane fall you dropped from, you even took a hit from Technoblade. I’m proud that you stood your ground against him.” he sniffles, sitting up straight and wiping away some of his tears with the back of his hand.

“He’s not all that tough, I can take him.”

“Yeah you can, you’re not even in your true form while he’s in his.” now that was enough to get [M/N] to snicker weakly, [M/N] really chose to be in his human form because he got fewer stares and he looked intimidating enough as a human, plus he could do more. [M/N] stood to his feet, backing away when he noticed Schlatt wanted to get out of bed. The man threw the covers off his body and stood to his feet, [M/N] keeping close in case the man collapsed, respawning into another body really did take a lot out of you.

“What are going to do now, Schlatt?” he clicked his tongue.

“What do you mean what do we do?” he said with a scoff “We make sure we bite them back.”

[a few weeks later]

[M/N] let out a deep sigh when he heard shouting coming from within Sclatt’s office followed by loud thuds and glass shattering, the older man has been going through a lot to the point that he was drinking more and sleeping less to cope with the fact that he was slowly losing it all. The people he thought he could trust were abandoning him to join the rebellion that Wilbur and Tommy had formed to overthrow Schlatt’s rule, and it wasn’t helping the fact that the more that he drank the more he let his anger overwhelm him. [M/N] would no doubt stay with him till the very end, but he was quite surprised that Quackity was still sticking around despite everything he’s done, but he was pretty sure that was going to change very soon with how Schlatt has been treating him lately.

“Is this all you can do, you fucking worthless waste of space?! I ask you to do one simple thing, and you can’t even do that right?! Why do I still keep you around if you can’t do anything?!” Schlatt shouts, slamming his fist onto the desk, causing Quackity to flinch at how loud he was shouting.

“I-I’m sorry...”

“You think a sorry is going to cut it?! What I want from you is to get it right! We’re in a time where I want results, not mistakes!” he lets out a sigh, running his fingers through his hair before collapsing into his chair “Whatever, just get out of my face. I’ll deal with you later, so just leave me alone.” Quackity didn’t hesitate to rush out of the office, clutching the side of his face that was brutally slapped across by the man, it was still aching and he could feel some blood pooling up in his mouth.

“Marrying him was a mistake...” he whimpered out, sniffling and wiping away the tears that threatened to fall, when he opened his eyes he let out a startled yelp when a bottle was in front of him. Looking up, he was surprised to see that it was [M/N] offering him a regen potion to help heal the bruise that was beginning to form on the cheek that was slapped “U-Uh... thank you.” he hesitantly whispered as he took the potion into his hands.

“Don’t mention it.” Quackity awkwardly stood there, contemplating what to say next, he opened his mouth to speak but was stopped when [M/N] raised his hand “Don’t say anything. I didn’t give that to you because I cared, because I don’t care about you. You could just say that I’ve been where you’ve stood.” Quackity’s eyes widened at that.

“R-Really...?” he nods.

“I’ve done some really dumb shit to get him angry, and I rarely got him angry because I was obedient to the very end.” he closes his eyes as he thought back to the past “To be honest, I deserved it, so I took the punishment. The difference between you and me when it comes to him, though, is that he actually cares about me.” the duck man flinched at that, his wings flaring up, and though he really wants to retaliate, he knew what [M/N] was saying was the truth.

“You’re right.” [M/N] scoffed.

“I know I’m right.” he soon lets out a sigh, he pats Quackity on his back and gives him a light shove to get him moving “I’m really the only person that can get him to calm down from his temper tantrum, so get going and don’t visit him for the next couple of days or else he might use you as his punching bag.” [M/N] turns towards the door, hands on each handle to pull them open but he paused, he turned his head to where Quackity was walking away and spoke up “And if you really know what’s good for you... you’ll divorce him.” this caused Quackity to stop in his tracks.

“What?! Are you insane? He’ll kill me if I--” he shakes his head.

“I’m telling you this for your own safety. You’ve already seen what Schlatt can do, imagine what he will do within arms reach.” Quackity started to tremble at the thought, he looked down at the golden ring on his finger then back up at [MN] who took a deep breath “I can handle him because I’ve been with him for such a long time to the point he’s the only person I need, but you still have a variety of different people to help you. Don’t waste your time on someone who isn’t going to treat you the way you want to be treated.” he couldn’t help but feel touched by the way [M/N] spoke to him, he never really speak to him in such a way to comfort him, and it felt nice. He wanted to say something but couldn’t when [M/N] opened the doors and entered Schlatt’s office, he felt the confidence in his chest deflate and he could only pray that he’ll be okay.

[M/N] took a breath as he stepped into Schlatt’s office, closing the doors behind him as he looked around. He saw the shattered glass by the door where he could only assume Schlatt had thrown his glass cup at Quackity out of a fit of rage, chairs were thrown, books were scattered and he could only describe the state of the room as if a tornado had blown through it. He glanced over to where Schlatt was and grimaced when he saw that he was chugging down a bottle of whiskey as if it was water, he felt nauseous because of the strong smell of alcohol coming off of that man. It pained him seeing Schlatt doing this to himself, he understood what all of this was doing to him, it was overwhelming him to the point he had to use alcohol to numb the pain.

“Schla--”

“Didn’t I tell you to fuck off?!” he didn’t flinch when Schlatt turned around and threw the bottle at him, the glass shattering upon impact on his head. Despite the intoxication messing with his head, he slowly began to register that the man in front of him wasn’t his poor excuse of a husband, but instead, he was met with-- “[M/N]...?” he slowly slurred out, he let out a gasp when he saw him raise his hand when not only liquor ran down his face, but also blood “O-Oh, god, I’m so sorry, I--” he raised his hand to stop him from talking, shaking his head.

“No, it’s fine, Schlatt, you know this barely hurts...” he says that, and yet his body sways a bit, Schlatt immediately sobered up enough to get out from behind his desk to approach the man, reaching up and cupping his cheeks.

“No, you dumb dog, it’s not fine!” he shouts, he quickly pulls him by his hands and sits him down in his chair. [M/N] could have easily dodged that bottle, but it’s at times like these where he lets it happen just to see how Schlatt would react to him accidentally hurting him. He sat in silence as Schlatt quickly grabbed anything that could help bandage the wound, he first fed him a regen potion before cleaning up the wound and bandaging it up. [M/N] would always get himself hurt in the past to protect Schlatt so the older man knew exactly what to do to help the younger man, [M/N] noticed his hands were shaking so he slowly raised his own hands and grabbed them “I-It was an accident...! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was you...”

“It’s fine, Schlatt, it’s better me than Quackity. You probably would’ve done more damage to him in comparison to me.”

“It would’ve been better if it were him than you.” sure it was harsh, but [M/N] couldn’t help but feel flattered that he cared for him that much. He placed his hand on the bandages around his head, a soft blush tinting his cheeks, he raises his eyes but his head shot up when he noticed that Schlatt pulled out another bottle of liquor, this time it was a bottle of vodka. He popped the bottle cap and poured some in the glass, he was going to down it in one go but couldn’t when [M/N] stood to his feet and grabbed the glass, pushing it down so that it was on the table.

“Schlatt, no.” he scoffed and tried lifting the glass once more but [M/N] pushed it down once more “You know exactly why I am not letting you drink.” he let out a sigh and let the glass go, this time he tried to down the bottle but [M/N] was quicker and took the bottle from him.

“Hey, what gives?!” he ignored his whining and complaining, putting the cap onto the bottle once more and putting it away so the man wouldn’t try anything again. He opened a chest and pulled out some wonder, emptying the glass of vodka and instead replacing that with water.

“Drink that along with some painkillers, it’ll help ease your hangover that is surely going to come from the amount you’ve been drinking as of lately.” he huffs and snatches the water, opening his drawer to pull out the painkillers and plopping them in his mouth then downing the water. Schlatt collapsed into his chair and soon the two fell into silence was once, [M/N]’s ears twitching every so often to hear the way Schlatt was breathing to the beat of his rushing heart slowly coming to a soft beat.

“Sometimes it feels like I’ve become the one that needs to be looked after, I remember it used to be you all the time.” [M/N] frowned.

“That is because you NEED to be looked after, Schlatt. If I’m not around then who will take care of you in my stead?” he lets out a sigh, running a hand through his hair “I’m going to tell you this again, but you know exactly why I don’t want you drinking as excessively as you did before. Your heart can not take it anymore.” he says in a stern tone, the other merely rolled his eyes as he leaned his weight into his chair.

“You say that as if you know my body.” his ear twitched.

“I do know your body, almost better than you.” a shallow growl comes from his throat before he kneels down, taking his hands and rubbing his thumbs over his knuckles “I can’t help but worry for you, Schlatt. You’re not as youthful as you used to be when you drank, it’s going to come to bite you in the ass and I won’t be able to help you.” he grits his teeth, his grip on his hands tightening a little as his head hung “I NEVER should have let you do this stupid job, we NEVER should have gotten ourselves involved in the first place. None of this would have happened if we just kept to ourselves.”

“... but, it was fun, wasn’t it?” [M/N] paused at that, raising his head and looking up at him to see that he was giving him one of those genuine smiles “You and I against the world?” he could tell that Schlatt was trying to make light of the situation, he laughed sadly while cracking a small smile.

“Yeah, it was fun...” Schlatt lowered his head as the alcohol that was still left in his system started to overtake his emotions and mind, [M/N] heard a sniffle so he turned his head to get a better look at the man above him, only to be taken aback at the tears that were beginning to run down his face. 

“[M/N], I-I... I don’t like anything about me.”

“What?” Schlatt took his hands away from [M/N] and looked down at them and they slowly started to tremble as his emotions started running wild.

“I don’t like who I’ve become. Everyone around me is slowly disappearing, they all hate me, and who knows how long until you leave me.” he immediately stood to his feet, this causes Schlatt to panic as he rises to his feet, his hands grabbing onto [M/N]’s jacket in a desperate attempt to get him from what he thought was leaving “No, you’re going to leave me too, aren’t you?! I won’t let you leave! I can’t handle the thought of you leaving me! That thought is too painful!” [M/N] started to cry at the same thought.

“No! There was never a time in my life when I was with you that I would leave your side!” he shouts, grabbing his wrists and making him look up at him “I would never leave you, I will stay by your side until the end of the world. I’ve told you this time and time again, but what I am saying is the truth, I would NEVER live without you.” now that was enough to break down Schlatt’s walls, tears slowly started running down his face as he sobbed into [M/N]’s chest, his body trembling as his grip on his shirt tightened. [M/N] sniffled before wrapping his arms around him, burying his face into his hair while trying to be mindful of the horns protruding out of his head. He hadn’t paid attention to how long the two of them just simply cried in each other’s arms but it was long enough to the point that Schlatt had actually fallen asleep, [M/N] looked him over before letting out a sigh and picking the man up bridal style. Carrying him to his bedroom was an effortless task, what startles him was the fact that Schlatt was getting lighter and lighter each time he’s had to carry him, it scared him. He tucks him in bed after removing his jacket and shoes and decides to stay by his side, he let out a frustrated groan as he ran his hands through his hair and messed with it.

’Everything is just in shambles. The stress is soon going to overwhelm Schlatt to the point his heart won’t be able to handle it, and he keeps turning to alcohol as a solution to dull the pain.’ his hands slowly drag down his face until he brings a fist to his mouth and bit down on one of his knuckles ’I don’t know what to do to help him, and before I know it I’ll lose him. I just want to help him... but I don’t know how.’

”Oh, what a sight.” [M/N] stood to his feet at the unsuspecting voice, hand out and hovering over Schlatt in case the intruder dared try to bring him to him, his eyes scanned the room as a threatening growl comes out of him “Hey, hey now. There’s no need to show aggression, I’m only here to visit.” [M/N]’s gifted eyes could easily see through the darkness that covered the man’s body, he didn’t ease up, even when he knew who it was.

“What the hell do you want, Dream?” said man just gave a chuckle, knowing that nothing could get past [M/N] and his keen senses.

“I’m here on business, and the man I want to do business is currently sleeping.” he took a step forward but came to a halt when [M/N] continued to growl at him, his eyes glaring at him through the darkness, Dream raised his hands “Come on now, you of all people should know I wouldn’t dare to hu--” [M/N] snarled this time.

“Just cut to the chase, smiley man. I don’t give two shits about your false words of sincerity, all I know is that you’re in an alliance with Pogtopia.” Dream couldn’t help but flinch when he bared his fangs at him “All I know is that you could be here to threaten Schlatt’s life, and if I even think for a split second that you are deemed as a threat, I will not hesitate to smash your skull in.” Dream lets out a nervous laugh at that, knowing full well that [M/N] was capable of such a feat

“W-Well, no, actually-- whatever, the alliance between me and Pogtopia is nothing but a farce.” [M/N]’s raised a brow at what he said, not believing him 100%, he let out another nervous chuckle “Well, it’s not too far off, actually, because--” [M/N] let out a sigh as he slowly relaxed, crossing his arms and keeping a close eye on him to make sure he keeps his distance.

“Get to the point already, I’m losing my patience here.” Dream sighs, relaxing when he saw him ease up and wasn’t able to eat his head.

“I promised to help Schlatt, in return, he would give me something important.” Dream noticed a change in [M/N] facial expression, his ears perked up in alert before he glanced down at Schlatt “I can only assume you know about our deal.” he licked his lips out of nervousness.

“I could...” he taps his fingers on his arms “He did mention to me that you might show up unannounced, and if he weren’t available, that I could take his place to negotiate.” beneath his mask, his eyes slowly lit up when he saw [M/N] slowly think it over before rolling his eyes, throwing his head back while letting out a groan “Ugh, fine. Give me a minute.”

“No, no, take your time.” he flinched when [M/N] side-eyed him before rolling his eyes, he reluctantly left Schlatt’s side in search of what Dream was looking for. Said man watched as [M/N] approached a bookcase, pushing a few books to the side to get to the button that was hidden and pressing on it. The bookcase soon revealed an Ender Chest that was hiding and [M/N] opened it up, he sorted through it before finding exactly what he wanted and pulled it out, turning away and allowing the bookcase to return how it was before.

“I’m the only other person to know about what the contents of this book contains, he only ever trusted me. Sure, he kept secrets from me, but he never lied to me. He was always straight with me, so don’t even try with me when it comes to this book.” Dream nods his head as he reaches forward to grab it, however, [M/N] grabbed a tight hold on his hand and yanked him forward, leaning down so he was hovering over his ear “I also want to inform you, though, the moment you take this book from me seals your fate with me. If you even have a thought of betraying Schlatt, there won’t be a single place on this server that will keep you safe. I will find you, no matter where you are, and fucking kill you. Do you understand me?” Dream gulped, seeing the look in his eyes that told him that he was not joking around, he took a breath and nodded his head.

“I understand...” [M/N] stared at him before leaning back and offering him the book, he didn’t miss the look of hesitance Dream had before taking the book from his hands.

“Now that you got what you wanted, fuck off. I’ll report to Schlatt that you swung by and I took care of it.” Dream could only nod his head before leaving through the window he entered in, it really frustrated him how Schlatt had such an obedient dog that followed his every command no matter how violent or extreme, he did it with not an ounce of hesitation. Dream was also frightened by the man, there was no way he could take him on when it came down to PVP, sure he was a legend himself alongside Technoblade, but the latter was much easier to handle because at least he was a little predictable. [M/N] was the literal definition of a wild beast, a feral wolf that would and most definitely could snap his neck the moment he deemed them a threat.

“Fuck.”

[manberg vs pogtopia]

“We’re fucked.” was all [M/N] said as he looked at the people who were going to fight for Pogtopia “Sir, we might as well throw in the towel, we are going to lose without a doubt.” Schlatt only laughed, punching his chest and gesturing to the people who were allied with them.

“Oh, come on, there could be a chance.” he inhaled deeply, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

“What chance? There is literally you and I, plus those four fuckwits, verses Pogtopia, the Badlands, the Slums, and Purpled’s Cabin! How on earth are we going to win against those odds?! We’re fucked, I tell you! Fucked!” seeing [M/N] panic, who was mostly known for being composed, really set them off and they couldn’t help but get nervous themselves.

“Stop panicking pup, you’re ruining the atmosphere.” he let out a groan, dragging his hands along his face as he looked down at Schlatt.

“I am being logical, Schlatt. There’s no way we’re going to win.” he takes Schlatt’s hands and gives him a desperate look “Let’s just give Manberg to Wilbur, there’s nothing left here for us. Everyone left and this country has no significant meaning to us, just-- please, just give it to him. We are going to die in vain for a country that means nothing to us.” he winced back when Schlatt ripped his hands out of his own and gave him a stern glare.

“And give him the satisfaction of besting me? I’d rather die.” that response caused [M/N]’s ears to press against his head, his tail falling limp behind him “Since you’re quiet, I can only guess that you’ve finished spitting out nonsense?” a whine came out of him as he slowly nodded his head.

“Yes, sir.” the four who were in an alliance with Manberg watched as [M/N] followed behind Schlatt, but they couldn’t help but agree with the man, Schlatt was just too goddamn stubborn to admit that he was at the fault at that very moment and that Manberg was going to fall in the very end. They were practically just wasting their time with an idiot.

“Hey! I see them marching up!” Sapnap called, they all rush outside and looked down where they saw the number of people on the side of Pogtopia, [M/N] pursed his lips as he looked down at Schlatt with a knowing look, to which the older man pressed his hand to his cheek and turned his face away.

“Those are... those are a lot of people.” he rolls his eyes, leaning down on the stone brick as he watched the people of Pogtopia and their allies rock up.

“You think?” he was smacked across the head, he lets out a huff as his eyes locked onto three people. Wilbur was the first, growling at him as he remembered he was the one that took Schlatt’s first life; Quackity was second for taking Schlatt’s second; Technoblade... because he had an annoying face and knew he was going to be the one to give him trouble.

“[M/N], think you can handle them?” he pulls a face at the request, the four that were foolish enough to form an alliance with Manberg look at the duo in confusion.

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep them all back, maybe a handful, but I am pretty sure a few will slip by me.”

“That is more than enough.” [M/N] cracks his knuckles as he rolls his neck and shoulders, Punz leans into Dream’s ear as they watch him stretch.

“What is he going to do?” he shrugs his shoulders.

“Beats me, he’s Schlatt’s dog, not mine.” they both flinch when he whipped his head around and glared at them, he huffed as he stared down at Pogtopia that was slowly but surely getting closer. He stands on top of the stone blocks that made a makeshift railing to prevent people from falling off before jumping off himself, immediately, the allies of Manberg rushed over to the edge and watched as [M/N] descended down the large stone tower, Schlatt slowly approached the edge without a care in the world.

“Go get 'em pup, don’t hold back.” [M/N] landed on the ground with a loud thud, the ground itself cracks upon impact, he stood up straight and slowly started walking forward as the people of Pogtopia came to a halt.

“Look who it is, it’s Schlatt’s lapdog.” Fundy mocked, [M/N] rolled his eyes at the lame insult.

“Oh, look who it is, the guy who got abandoned by his own father, how sad.” Wilbur pulled a face while Fundy turned red “Shut your damn mouth if you aren’t ready to shoot your shots, mmkay? Mmkay.” Tommy then steps forward, pointing a sword in his direction.

“Why are you here alone, [M/N]? Here to wave the white flag?” he raises his hands while shrugging his shoulders.

“Personally, yeah. I know a battle I can’t win when I see one, but it’s rather unfortunate that I’m following the orders of a stubborn man.” he laces his fingers together and cracks them above his head “I’m not afraid to admit when I’ve been beat, but I also don’t go down without a fight.” Tubbo now steps forward, fear still lingering in his body at the sight of [M/N], he swallowed it down as he readies his Firework Launcher.

“Then why don’t you join us, [M/N]. You clearly see that following him is pointless.” he was really hoping [M/N] would refuse the offer, then it would give him an excuse to blow his head off the same way he did to him. [M/N] glared down at Tubbo, beginning to strip out of his Netherite Armor as he started approaching them.

“Well, unlike you, I don’t betray those I’ve already sworn my loyalty to.” after removing the vambrace from off his forearm and dropping it to the ground, he rolls his neck once more before taking a deep breath and relaxing his body. He felt his breathing pick up along with the beats of his heart increasing at a rapid pace, he lets out a grunt as his body started to change shape. He plants his hands on the ground when collapsed to the ground, slowly but surely, his body was beginning to change into the shape of his true form as a grey wolf. He tore off his jacket and shirt when his torso was too big for it, he was lucky enough that the pants he was wearing only ripped and tore but not completely off, so he’ll be okay if he wants to return to his human form. He now stood at 8″2ft tall, no traces of human features in sight as he stood tall on his hind legs, he was growling down at them, flexing his claws as he growled at them before taking a deep breath and letting out a loud howl that made their ears ring.

“What the fuck?! That’s what he actually looks like?!”

“What the fuck is this?!” a deep chuckle startled them, he looked down at them, his [E/C] eyes glaring down at them as he lowered his body.

”Really, I have nothing against most of you people that are here.” he speaks, the depth of his voice sending shivers down their spines ”I’m only out for Wilbur and Quackity, and maybe Technoblade because you’re the one I deem as the biggest threat.” Quackity took a step back at how his main targets were ”I’d let the rest of you go, but I have a job to do, and that is to be a literal feral menace.” Wilbur clicks his tongue as he throws his arm out.

“Attack!” [M/N] let out a loud roar as they charged forward, he presses his hands into the ground, digging his claws and the soles of his feet into the stone path before launching forward. He easily pounced over the vanguard and aimed towards Technoblade, who was surprised and took a step back but couldn’t dodge the claw that brutally landed on his chest and shoved him back. Schlatt had a smirk on his face as he watched a group of them try and take [M/N] down, but he knew they weren’t going to accomplish it, [M/N]’s true form was his trump guard because the man was rarely in that form. He said that it was too intimidating and he takes up too much space being in that form, says he’s more comfortable being a miniature-sized human.

“He should look like that more often, would keep people off our dicks.” Dream looks at Schlatt.

“So that’s what he really looks like?” he nods.

“Mm hmm. Sometimes I’m surprised with how long he can keep up his human form, it takes a lot out of him and it’s usually at night where he takes the appearance of his true self.” they hear another roar so they look down and see that he grabbed Jack Manifold and was swinging him around, using him to hit the others that got too close before throwing him full force into Niki.

“Quite the upper hand.” Sapnap laughs as he leans over to see that he was actually handling himself pretty well.

“I’d hate to be at the other end of those fists.” he says, watching as [M/N] grabbed a hold of Awesamdude’s head, his grip so tight that he lifted up him and slammed it into the ground before beginning to ruthlessly plow blow after blow under he didn’t move “So glad we’re on his side.”

“Mm hmm.” [M/N] was currently having a standoff with BadBoyHalo, their hands were locked together and both sides were trying to push the other back. [M/N] was being pushed back because Bad had more height in comparison to him, but that meant nothing because he managed to stop Bad from pushing him back. He growls as he takes a couple steps forward before tightening his grip on his hands then throwing his arms back, causing the other to stumble back a bit, leaving him wide up. [M/N] didn’t take any chances before proceeding to wrap his arms around his torso then lean back, performing a german suplex on him and slamming his head into the ground.

“He’s fucking insane!” Skeppy shouts, watching as [M/N] stood to his feet and let out another roar, causing a few of them to step back “I didn’t sign up for this!” Technoblade let out a chuckle as he dusts his shoulder off, walking past the frozen few to approach the feral dog.

“You say that, but haven’t you noticed? He’s starting to get tired.” he grimaced when Technoblade was telling the truth, [M/N] was beginning to pant as he tried to calm his breathing by taking deep breaths “Need to take a breath, Devil’s Hound?” said man couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head as the words he said during the festival came out of Technoblade’s mouth.

“That’s surely a new one, but I can’t help but agree. Schlatt tends to be a devil when he gets too rowdy.” he lets out a groan as he cracked his knuckles, stretching his back before letting his arms hang in front of him as he lowered his body. Technoblade got himself ready when [M/N] charged towards him again, he swings his axe when he got close but was taken aback when he bit the head of the axe right off its shoulder before spitting it out and punching Technoblade across the face. The piglin hybrid staggered backward but didn’t stop and instead threw what was left of his axe to the ground and pulled out a sword, the two disputed in their own battle, and [M/N] cursed to himself when he noticed that many of the people he didn’t incapacitate were slipping past him and making their way up the tower.

“You aren’t going to stop them?” Technoblade asked, grip on his sword tight while his other hand was pressing against the flat side of his blade to not get pushed back when he blocked one of [M/N]’s clawed attacks.

“I’m more focused on you, Technoblade. I already took care of the most troublesome ones, and when I take care of you, I’ll go deal with them next.” he laughs and manages to throw [M/N] back, Technoblade rolls his shoulders before holding his sword in front of him with both his hands gripping the hilt.

“Then I guess I’ll have to keep you here as long as I can.”

“Heh, we’ll see.”

[insert fight scene, I was going to write the fight scene between techno and the reader but I just wanted to get to the main part where schlatt was getting drunk in the drug van]

“Schlatt? Schlatt!” [M/N] called out, looking around in distress for the man. His fight with Technoblade wasn’t fair from the beginning, both he and the piglin man were so absorbed into the fight neither side noticed Tubbo taking aim at [M/N], firing a Firework at him and he hadn’t noticed until it was too late. Technoblade backed away just as it hit [M/N] and it exploded on impact, it didn’t kill him, but it did some serious damage. It managed to burn through his fur to his skin before he could put it out, he was sure it would leave a scar from the left side of his arm, a bit of his torso and face. He would’ve continued fighting if it weren’t for the message he got from Schlatt.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: hey, kid, I need you.

You whisper to <JSchlatt>: need me? what do you mean? I’m kind of in the middle of something, so I hope you can wait.

<JSchlatt> whispers to you: I don’t think you understand, I NEED you right now.

”Hey, don’t tell me you’re getting distracted again.” Technoblade taunts as he saw [M/N] not paying attention, he raised his head as he clutched his left shoulder before turning around and running off “Wait, what?! Why are you running again?!” he spits out the blood in his mouth as he turned his head to look at Technoblade.

“Wouldn’t you do the same thing to protect the person you care about?!” he shouts before launching himself into the air, Technoblade was once again frozen in place at his choice of words. He couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly, shaking his head at the thought of that one person he would give his life for, so he understood where [M/N] was coming from. Back to the man in question, [M/N] was looking around frantically for Schlatt, he wasn’t in the last place he left him so where could he be now? He managed to catch a whiff of his scent and ran off in the direction it was coming from, he raised a brow in concern at the sight of the Camarvan before shaking his head and kicking the door open, there he saw Schlatt wallowing away while drinking alcohol “Schlatt?! You can’t be serious!” he exclaims as he approaches the man, collapsing to his knees as he inspected his body.

“Ah, there you are, [M/N]~ I was wondering when you’d show up.” he slurred out, [M/N] grimaced as he shook his head, knowing that the man was already drunk out of his mind and all rationality was out the door.

“Why on earth are you drinking while in the middle of a war, Schlatt? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Schlatt ignored all his words, he raised his eyes and they slowly widened at the sight before him. The left side of his body was burnt horribly and was continuing to bleed, but he pushed through that pain as he looked Schlatt up and down, god, sometimes he wished this damned kid would hate him just as much as everyone else did.

“What... what happened to you?” he whispered, [M/N] looked down at himself and just laughed bitterly.

“Call it karma, I guess. Tubbo got his revenge on me while I was focused on Technoblade, but enough about that, stop drinking that!” he shouts, smacking the bottle out of his hands then standing to his feet “We’re obviously losing this war, sir, so let’s just get outta here!” he exclaims, Schlatt just laughed as he let his head rest on the thing that he was leaning against.

“And go where? We’ll be living the rest of our lives as the cowards who fled during a war.” [M/N] grits his teeth.

“So you would rather die in vain for a country that meant nothing to you?!” he shouts, he runs his hands through his fur and growls “There is nothing left here for us, let’s just leave this all behind and restart our lives! We’ve done that before, so why can’t we do that again? What’s stopping you from continuing your journey?” he closes his eyes before turning his head to look up at him.

“I’m dying, [M/N].” he noticed [M/N]’s shoulders slump at what he said “You and I both know that I am, so what’s the point in living when my time is almost up?” [M/N] felt his body tremble as the news hit him, of course, he knew that Schlatt was dying, but he just didn’t want to accept it.

“Why not live the rest of what is left of your life doing what you love?” Schlatt chuckled weakly, shaking his head once more.

“I’ve done all I’ve ever wanted with my life.” [M/N] noticed Schlatt was reading for him so he knelt down and leaned forward, he flinched when Schlatt cupped his noninjured cheek and gave him a weak smile “It’s your turn to live your life, [M/N]. Get out of here and leave me behind.” he knew that [M/N] would never do such a thing, he knew that he meant everything to him, but he just had to tell him. 

“No... no! I can’t just leave you behind!” he shouts, tears beginning to swell up in his eyes “I won’t leave you behind! I told you I would stay by your side until the end of the world!”

“Then is me dying considered the end of the world?” he fell silent at that, he let his head hang low as the tears slowly ran down his face, he let out a huff as he looked up at the big wolfman “As my last order to you, I want you to forget about me and leave this place behind to live your own life.” he sniffled, collapsing to his knees again, burying his face in his hands.

“But what is my life without you?”

“Your own.” his vision on Schlatt got blurry because of the tears, he could never picture a time in his life when he wasn’t by Schlatt’s side, the only time that ever occurred was when he was nothing but a lowly beggar in an alleyway. He wouldn’t have had a life to live if it weren’t for Schlatt.

“See? They’re right here.” Schlatt looked behind [M/N] and they both saw both forces storm the room they were in, [M/N] immediately stood to his feet and stood protectively in front of Schlatt, baring his teeth and growling at them to not take a step forward. It didn’t take long for the two of them to be surrounded, however, he didn’t quite care at the fact, his eyes zoned in on the masked fucker that had double crossed him.

’Now you’ve signed your death waiver, you son of a bitch.’ his attention soon changed over to where Wilbur was, said man looked the wolf hybrid up and down before raising his hands. 

“Easy now, [M/N], I just wanna talk.” he let out a tired scoff.

“Talk about what? How you want to kill Schlatt and I? Is that it? You know how stubborn this bastard is.” Schlatt looked up at him.

“Did you just call me a--”

“You are one, just admit it.” this silenced him, [M/N] sighed deeply when he saw ram hybrid reach into the chest he was leaning against to pull out another bottle of alcohol, Tommy couldn’t help but snicker at the sight.

“So, that’s your leader, [M/N]? That’s who you’re bowing down to?” he snarled at the boy.

“Shut your damn mouth. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re not at arms length, I would no hesitate to punt you, child.” 

“You wouldn’t.” he raised his brows as he stared at Tommy.

“Don’t make me.” Wilbur sighed as he got in front of [M/N] once more, shutting Tommy up from making anymore unnecessary comments, [M/N] let out a grunt when Schlatt grabbed his arm and pulled it down as he looked out from behind him.

“Fundy! Wha... what are you doing here?” Fundy only gave him a confused look as he let out a sigh.

“Schlatt... are you fucking serious?”

“Fundy are you--” Schlatt pushed [M/N] back with all the strength he had and smashed the bottle of alcohol on Fundy, who managed to react fast enough and block the blow with his arm. The others reacted immediately so [M/N] took a step forward, wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulling him into his chest, he wrapped his other arm around his body when he felt him slowly slip into a drunken rage but calmed down within the arms of the wolfman.

“Listen! Schlatt, you’ve fucked up the country! You fucked up everything! You had a dream and I followed it, but you brought it downhill. Everything-- you’ve ruined it. You ruined everything we had!” he then looks up at [M/N] “And if he wasn’t so goddamn loyal to you, he probably would have left you just like everybody else!” Fundy took a step back, his ears pressing against his head when [M/N] glared at him.

“Don’t spout out nonsense that will never happen.” Fundy took a breath, swallowing the amount of fear lingering in his heart as he took a step forward and glared up at [M/N], who didn’t waver at his poor attempt to intimidate him.

“I thought you were something! The both of you!” [M/N] only rolled his eyes while Schlatt laughed, the wolfman looked down at the man within his arms and saw him gripping the arm around his shoulder.

“Yeah... yeah I am something! I-I’m what you’re not, Fundy!” he took a step back so he could look at Schlatt.

“What am I not?” he chuckles.

“I am a man!” now it was Wilbur’s turn to step in front of his son before anything else could escalate, chaos began to erupt as they were all now planning to kill the both of them together, [M/N] took a breath to calm himself but the hand around Schlatt’s body pressed against his chest and there he could feel the increasing speed of his heart thumping against his chest. 

“Schlatt, that’s it! Are you ready to die?” [M/N] immediately pushed Schlatt behind him in order to shield him “Are you ready to fucking die?!”

“Fuck you!” he slurred out, Wilbur only rolled his eyes.

“Tommy. Tommy, look at me.” the young boy looked at the former President “Do you still have Dream’s bow?” he scanned through his inventory before pulling out said boy, pulling the wire back and clipping it into place.

“Yes.”

“Tommy... I want you to put it between his eyes.” Schlatt laughed at that, [M/N] glowered and didn’t hesitate to get in his line of shot but was shocked when Schlatt pushed past him and got in front of Tommy, not a shred of fear in his eyes as the crossbow was pointed directly between his eyes.

“Are you guys really going to kill him?!” Karl shouted.

“Well, there’s no other way.” he starts “Victory, or death!” Schlatt only laughs.

“You know... if I die, this country goes down with me.” the room erupted into chaos once more, it didn’t help when Technoblade was chanting “kill” repeatedly, it probably would have annoyed him if not for the fact that the ongoing nonsense was taking its toll on Schlatt. His ears shot up in alert when he noticed him beginning to sway as beads of sweat began started forming on his head, he takes a step forward before letting out a shout when he noticed him stagger forward, using the chest to his side to stabilize himself before collapsing.

“Schlatt!” he shouts, rushing forward to catch him before he completely collapsed to the floor. Everything was fading from black into white from Schlatt’s point of view, he was violently gripping his chest to the point his knuckles turned white and he was surprised that he hadn’t torn his shirt. He was out of breath and he was trying his damned hardest to swallow some oxygen into his lungs but it was really difficult, his vision was blurry but he could just make out to image of [M/N] looming above him. The boy had turned himself into his half human/half wolf form and there he saw the tears threatening to fall down his cheeks but also the injured side of his body from taking the full blast of the firework, but what caught his attention was something glistening in his eyes, he looked down and there he saw the golden ring he gave [M/N] all those years ago hanging from his neck.

’Heh... after all these years, he still kept it.’ he wheezed, he was shouting something but he couldn’t make out anything he was saying ’Damn, now I feel bad for leaving him behind.’ he managed to give [M/N] a weak smile as he gently tapped his arm despite the amount of pain he was going through.

“I’m sorry for being a disappointment, my son...” [M/N] let out a shallow gasp as the tears finally started rolling down his cheeks.

“Y-You’re so cruel...” he raised his hand to grip onto the ring while his other held his hand “Calling me that after you stopped all those years ago... dad.” Schlatt gave him gave him a regretful, tear filled smile before his heart attack finally got the best of him and claimed his final canon life.

“Did... did he just have a heart attack?!” Tubbo shouts before the room erupted into laughter at the anti-climatic turn of events, but the only one who wasn’t laughing was Technoblade. His eyes never left [M/N] as the hybrid wept in silence, cradling the deceased body of his father figure in his arms, but he couldn’t really tell if his body was trembling out of anguish... or anger. He was astonished to see that he hadn’t lashed out yet, if he were ever to be in that kind of situation with-- he closed his eyes, shaking his head to rid the thoughts plaguing his mind before looking back over to where [M/N] still had yet to move.

SCARY

POOR PUPPY

WE SHOULD KILL HIM

PUT HIM OUT OF HIS MISERY

HOW SAD

WHAT A SHAME

The hundreds of voices ringing in his head agreed that it would be better to put the man down, just the few brief encounters with him and how he would drop everything just to see if Schlatt was alright was enough to know that this wolfman would not be able to live with himself over the fact that he could not protect his owner. His hand was on the hilt of his blade as he took a step forward but paused when he noticed that Quackity was the first to approach [M/N], he remembered that the duck hybrid was the closest when it came to Schlatt and even [M/N] to the point that he kept his hands and fingers whenever he got close to either one of them, so perhaps Quackity thought he could be the one to talk some sense into [M/N].

“Hey, [M/N], I know just how much Schlatt meant to you.” he starts, reaching down and placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze “But you have to know that the guy that you were following around was a terrible person and that he wasn’t going to change, this was for the better.”

“...” Quackity’s ears perked up at the sound of [M/N] mumbling under his breath.

“What?” he stumbled back when [M/N] suddenly stood up, this caught the attention of everyone and they all turned to face the duo but were shocked to see [M/N] reach forward and grab a fistful of Quackity’s hair through his beanie and hold it in a tight grip as he pulled his other fist back.

“Grit your teeth.” before he could react, [M/N]’s fist repeatedly slammed into his face with little to no hesitation, each punch being harder than the last that they were all surprised that Quackity was still conscious. Sam and Bad rush forward to grab a hold of [M/N] while Fundy grabbed the arm that was holding Quackity so Wilbur could pull him back “You fucking piece of shit! Don’t go saying that when you don’t know anything me; when you don’t know anything about him!” he turns to look at Bad so he punches him in the face, causing him to stagger backwards before reaching back and grabbing Sam by his head then throwing him over his shoulder.

“Dammit! Take aim!” Wilbur pushed Quackity behind him and watched the others load their crossbows and aim them towards [M/N] who still didn’t back down, tears ran down his face as he glared at the lot of them but his eyes zoned in specifically on Quackity.

’[M/N] is really valuable, he’s strong enough to go on par with Technoblade in a battle to the point he might be even stronger. I would have thought that once Schlatt died, it would’ve been easier to get him to follow the orders of someone else, maybe even Dream.’ he clicks his tongue ‘To think that their relationship ran that deep. Shit.’

“What the fuck do you know about the both of us that allows you to run your mouth like that, huh?! You don’t know anything!” he shouts, he grits his teeth as he slams a hand to his chest “You may have been able to marry Schlatt, but he didn’t love you the way he loved me! You may have been able to get close to us both, but there wasn’t a time that when you were with us that I didn’t hate you! I fucking HATE you! I hate you all!"

“You’re overreacting, [M/N]!” Fundy shouts, [M/N] didn’t hesitate to snarl at him and growl when a few people started getting closer to him.

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t get to talk when you can’t even decide which side you want to be on.” his head lowers a little as he threads his fingers through his hair and fur, pulling at them as his pupils shrunk and started to shake, eyes bloodshot as the tears refused to stop falling “You have no idea what I’m going through, so don’t even try to sympathize with me. You don’t know what it was like watching the person who raised you slowly descend down into madness as the world was against him; you couldn’t even fathom what it was like being at his side and not being able to do anything to help him. You have no idea what it feels to be so powerless despite being within arms length!”

“[M/N]...” Niki muttered softly, she flinched when he turned to glare at her.

“I don’t want your pity... I have nothing now. You took the last thing that was worth living for from me, so I have nothing to live for.” their fingers were now on the trigger when he raised his head to look at them all and they all saw that broken smile on his face, eyes hazy as the tears continued to fall, his arms were slightly raised to show off his claws “There’s nothing stopping me from taking at least one of you down with me.”

’There’s nothing holding me back. There’s nothing stopping me from killing at least a few of them before dying myself. I have nothing to live for, so why good would it do if I just continued to live on?’ he takes a step forward but his eye twitched when the golden ring reflected the sun’s rays into his eyes, this caused him to look down at it and his eyes briefly caught the sight of Schlatt’s deceased body.

“It’s your turn to live your life, [M/N]. Get out of here and leave me behind.”

..

...

“As my last order to you, I want you to forget about me and leave this place behind to live your own life.”

...

...

‘I can’t die yet.' the last bit of rationality, or rather sanity, returned and the haze in his eyes disappeared, he glanced down at Schlatt one more time before closing his eyes ’The least I can do is respect his last request.’

”Fire!” he raised his at the order and countless arrows were fired at him, he managed to dodge most of them while using his arm to block them from hitting anything vital, not even wincing when they pierced through arm. He ignored them all as he turned his back to them, kneeling down and softly picking Schlatt up and cradling him close to his chest.

“Wait.. no! Stop him!” they all couldn’t react fast enough when [M/N] knelt down before leaping forward and using his shoulder to bust down the wall, he fell to his knees when he was outside of the Camarvan as the adrenaline was slowly beginning to fade away as his fatigue and exhaustion caught up with him, but he shook his head as he fought it down and fled the battlefield. By the time he was far away, he collapsed to his knees and was panting rather heavily, he looked down at Schlatt’s motionless body and cried softly as he buried his face into his shoulder.

“I’m not ready yet, dad... don’t leave me behind.” he sobbed to himself before laying Schlatt’s body down, he then took a deep breath as he looked up at the sky, leaning against the tree before removing the arrows still in his arm. His arm throbbed in pain but it eased away when he pulled out a few regen potions and some golden apples, the wounds healed up instantly, he stared down at the arrow before crushing it, snapping it in two.

’What am I to do with my life now? There was never a time where I did something on my own accord without taking orders, that’s just how I lived my life up to the age I am now.’ he exhales deeply.

“Now what?”