#leaf writes

Evil!Allumos AU 🩸✨🐉

I've made a few posts about this AU outlining the origins, but tbh they're a little outdated to my current perception of the storyline.

To be as succinct as humanly possible: the AU follows the 'what if' idea of "what if Allumos was a villain who believed in Dragon Slayer supremecy?"

The changes begin during s4, when Allumos first possesses Patrick|Pádraig; instead of working together with him and Michael|Melanthios, however, Allumos decided to take full control of the body, effectively erasing Pádraig from existence. Upon doing so, he catches Melanthios off guard — who's incredibly drained of Magic from the transfer — and snaps his neck. Now, no one will ever even know of how Allumos came to be, nor any potential weaknesses it'd have from their stay in the Lacrima. From there, the general ending of s4 stays the same, as Allumos still needs to track down the missing Celestial Spirit to regain full power, which takes a lot of time. In this process, Eden is killed. Unsure whether or not Devin|Zoilos will be killed here too, still deciding that. Also, unlike in my rewrite, Viper gets his eyes clawed out by Bren in this AU; Allumos finds a mortally injured Viper and, with his Magic back to full capacity, decides to "heal" him. For a price. A very, very hefty price.

They go off together for a year, that stays the same, Viper still needs to heal his other wounds and Allumos needs to train its new body. After that, entering the s5 timeline, things get.... Gorey.

They arrive in Atlantide a little later in this AU. It starts with Colin, seeing Viper back, with their eyes miraculously healed, at the hands of this strange... Thing. Colin was confused but when Viper explained who Allumos was, and that he was on their side, Colin was happy to follow along. With Melanthios already killed, Allumos is somewhat unsurprised that the Grimshade Guildhall fell to ruin, however he would still like to track down every last Grimshade member and kill them for allowing it to happen. Colin, thankfully, is spared from Allumos's fury, for now. Allumos made their plans clear, he wants to bring the Dragon Slayers together! How sweet. How truly sweet.

Next it's Bryan|Bryttanos. Viper and Colin told Allumos about the Fire Dragon Slayer who lives among The Protectors. And Allumos just simply had to meet him. Unfortunately that Cat got a little in the way. So Allumos did what any citizen would, when the cat turned its back, he cut off its head. Simply and easy, nice and clean — Allumos is sure he didn't feel a thing! From there Allumos got to meet Bryttanos, the splattered blood on it definitely ruined the mood, but upon a little convincing, Bryttanos was happy to walk with Allumos.

It was beginning to become clear... Allumos had more plans than he let on, but when Colin and Bryttanos asked Viper, it seemed as if it was unable to speak, always covering his eyes.

Then came Divinus Magia, Bryttanos had mentioned and Earth Dragons Slayer resided there, though Allumos smelled another. Word had begun to spread about the attack on the Protectors, 'Four dead, two live to tell the tale', Allumos called the reporters "dramatic". So when Allumos, Viper, Colin and Bryttanos arrive at Divinus's beach, a fight occurs. A deadly, bloody fight — two die. Divinus loses, and their Dragon Slayers, though quite resistant, join them.

Mario fought well, but his collar bone and right arm were shattered from it, Blake being in a similar broken state. But Allumos was so kind to heal them! So very kind....

Seek|Selena mistakenly came across the group, and was immediately brought along with them. Davis, hearing the rumours of a Ghoul 'collecting' Dragon Slayers, hid for as long as possible, but one can only hide their smell for so long...

Okay so I could go on, and in another post I might, but from there on out it gets,,, like it's just torture lmao so I'll leave it there haha, don't want this entire post to be about it!

Dragon!Dragon Slayers AU 🐉💎👑

I've talked a lot more about this AU admittedly, mainly in old artposts, but here's a general updated plot!

Background: 4000 years ago, the world was ruled by a tyrannical Dragon King, Allumos. It was a cruel King, and there was no room for Dragons to step out of line, unless they wanted to die. Thus, a resistance arose, led by the Dragons Aerthus, Mitch, Davis and Zata; aided by the few Human warriors who could possess Magic: Michael, Ritchie, Brandon, Bren, Lo'Pho, Bri, Silver and Reaper. After years of fighting, many lives were lost, but they achieved their goal; the King could not be killed, his Magic forbade it, so they shattered him into parts that would be hidden away, protected, never allowed to join again. His Soul was sealed away into a Lacrima, Their Body drowned, Its Magic scattered across the Sky. The only part that was ever "guarded" — to avoid suspicion — was the King's soul, as it had been proven that even trapped with such strong Magic, it still had influence over the Mortal World. Michael was set to watch over the Lacrima containing its Soul, enchanted to never age again, to be bound to the Temple built to house the Lacrima.

Most of the Mages were lost to the War, but many of the Dragons survived, even if it was just for a little longer. Enough time had passed for Aerthus to have her son, Mario, and teach him of the War, what must never be repeated. Mitch, now Viper, and Davis went into hiding, and supposedly Zata had a child, but he was never seen again. Michael, continued to watch over Mario when Aerthus passed suddenly, and further aided in developing the new hierarchical structure the New Dragons would follow, being the only living being to still remember the time of the Dragon King, and able to tell the tale. Eventually the system of 'Lords' was set up, a powerful Dragon leading a key part of Nature: Earth, Ocean, Spirit and Sky. Mario led Earth, Ocean's leaders were fickle and ever changing, though a Dragon by the name of Pelagia is in rule during the main plot of the AU, Mori led Spirit, and Blake led Sky. However, due to Mario's proximity to Aerthus, the unofficial Leader of the resistance, Mario was dubbed the Dragon King. He rejects this title, fearful that he will fall prey to greed and power.

In the span of these 4000 years, the Dragon King's Lacrima that Michael watches over has grown in power, somehow. Assistance was needed by the Dragon Lords to help reseal the mysterious cracks that would form, despite no one being there to crack it. Michael was hesitant to ask for assistance however, as most of the Dragon Lords had... Opposing ideas for what to do with it: Mario wished to just leave it be, he'd get jittery whenever they even entered the King's Temple; Pelagia and Mori were of the same opinion, to simply destroy the Lacrima, hopefully ridding of the King's Soul entirely in the process; only Blake actually read Michael's letters and offered to help the way he wanted it to be done. The issue with this was... Every time she helped seal the cracks, a little more of them slipped away, something happened whenever it sealed those cracks that Michael couldn't see. And he didn't know how to fix it, so eventually he stopped sending letters for his help unless it was absolutely necessary. This meant, unfortunately, that Michael would have to perform minor versions of the resealing spell himself, except as a Human, he couldn't create as much Magic as a Dragon, even being the powerful Mage he was. This overuse of Magic eventually began to affect his health and his mind, but unable to simply die or go fully crazy due to the binding spell, Michael held on.

Until one day, Allumos stood there before him, in spirit form, and Michael knew that it was the end, and he could only hope the Dragon Lords would not repeat their mistakes.

Gosh I LOVE this AU so much lmao, like I know I made it but I have SO MANY BRAIN WORMS ABOUT IT!!!!!! Genuinely might make some more text posts about it when I get the chance because MMMM delicious world building and such.

FTO: Derecho AU/Rewrite: 🏛️🪽🌌

My rewrite 🥹🥹 I love this it's my baby... This is kinda just me yapping about stuff I'm changing because,, well,, I know I definitely have a focus in my posts but generally speaking my rewrite will try and shine a light on every character within s4 and s5 (mainly s5)

To get the BIG changes out of the way:

World Building

There are Twelve Regions in this world, which is known as Earthland, all of which are 'owned' or looked after by a Patron Celestial Spirit, specifically those of the Zodiac. Each Region has city-states, counties, what have you, but they are all under the one Zodiac Spirit. Atlantide is a city-state within Leo, and is considered the Magical Capital of the world, besides Pisces.

The year of s4 taking place is 1001, and s5 takes place in 1003. I've mentioned it in this timeline post [link], but after the Dragon War, the calendar was set to zero to mark the New Era.

My pantheon will revolve around the Celestial Spirit system; God's are essentially Celestial Spirits, all of which are ruled by the Celestial Spirit King. Yes, that means Ankhseram, Galrin and Kasathar are all essentially Celestial Spirits, just having a specific domain. Celestial Spirits = Gods, Gods = Celestial Spirits. The only difference is that Gods do not have a Constellation to be tied to, whereas Celestial Spirits do.

I will be adding a lot more festivals and events within my rewrite, however that's still a work in progress unfortunately lol

Atlantide is specifically based on Athenian culture c. The Golden Age (~400 B.C.E.) but broadly the Leo Region is based on Greek culture in general, I may include another city-state inspired by Sparta, who knows!

While Atlantidian culture is based on Ancient Athens, it is quite far past it developmentally, that being said modern technology doesn't exist, they are about in the printing press era, not any further. Magic existing makes it quite hard to really say how far along they are, because in some ways they are relatively "modern" and in others they are not.

Other Languages Exist lol, occasionally I will have a character (likely just Allumos) speak (Ancient) Greek, which is referred to as Old Leo's Tongue; Others will speak their Regional language too, e.g. Blake speaks the in-world equivalent of Japanese, a county variant of Cancer's Tongue. I've made a post about some characters and their languages before [link].

The architecture of the guild halls will be different! It doesn't really make sense to me that the City of Atlantide follows Greek architecture however the guild halls .. don't, so now they will!

I couldn't really put this in any other section but,, I've been working on new guild marks for ALL of the guilds, they're too complicated ok 😭 I need to draw this shit I'm gonna make it easier on myself.

On that ^ note, Guild leaders always wear their guild mark on their shoulder, typically their left, and second-in-commands will typically wear it on their right shoulder. Guild members always wear it on their hands. Members are free to wear their digil on other parts of their body/clothing as well if they wish to do so.

There is a new guild in my rewrite! It's called Sodalitas Hermetis, it's a messenger guild! I'll post more about them when I get the chance to, but I've already posted about its guild master, The Courier, a couple times before! :3

The Grand Magic Games will be a lot more Olympics-ish, as opposed to just a one-on-one fight. There will be several events that test endurance, strength, agility, compassion (!), etc; the fights are the last, but main event!

The Grand Magic Council is one of three branches of law in Atlantide, the other two being The Grand Judicial Council and The Grand Elective Council. Each watch over different parts of Atlantide; the GMC moderates specifically Mages and Magic usage, the GJC carries out punishment and enforces the law, and the GEC creates the laws, acts and schemes, while also updating old ones. They work both independently and with each other.

A law was put in place after one too many irresponsible guild masters, but you have to be at least S Class and the age of 25 to be qualifiable as a guild leader.

Celestial Magic is the Parent Magic, it birthed every Magic Type and Form we see in the series. The Magic Types are:

Sun

Sky

Moon

Nature

Spirit

Arc of Embodiment

Chance

Requip

Each of these have further Forms, which are essentially subgroups of that Type:

Light Fire Combustion Storm Air Lightning Electricity Mist Plant Poison Earth Metal Ice Rain Life Death Shadow Mind Time Dice (aka luck) Dance Song AoE: Illusions AoE: Weapons AoE: Imagination AoE: Takeover Word R: The Archer R: The Sniper

As a few examples (this list is Non-Exhaustive!). Magic Forms can be derived from either one singular Type that was honed in on, or it can be a combination (e.g. Electricity is Sun and Sky).

Plot / Timeline

The s4 plots mostly stay the same (for now), but for s5 there are several changes

I'm generally unsure about the canon timeline, however in my rewrite s5 takes place over the course of a year.

The introductions/arrivals of characters happen at about Spring/Summer.

The GMG always takes place in early Autumn, unless there is a major event preventing it from happening. It takes place over a week.

Future Ritchie happens two days after the GMG, and the attack lasts a total of five days. In this, a good portion of Main Atlantide is destroyed.

It's a month in-between Future Ritchie happening and the trip to Salode; Salode no longer takes three months away from Divinus Magia, what was three days there is still three days in Earthland. Allumos making a sort of deal with the Celestial Spirit King is the reason they made it back.

The Dragon War happens with Every Dragon Slayer. This was a big frustration of mine about the series, it was played up and most of the DS didn't even get to go. So yeah, two days after the trip to Salode, ALL of the Dragon Slayers head to Draconis (might change that name lol) to fight in the war. This took three weeks.

Two months after the Dragon War, it is now Spring, and also S Class Trial time! We all know what happens here:)

Now, a week after the S Class Trials Abraham does still attack Atlantide in my rewrite, but it doesn't go as planned; Allumos is not sealed away (AGAIN.) and Abraham doesn't take it over. Unfortunately Abraham timed it a Little wrong. This plot point is a WIP because I still need to watch the Abraham POV to understand him better.

From here on out, it's no man's land! Fairy Tail Nexus does Not apply to my rewrite due to the many changes I've made, once I've posted more about the main plot points, I might delve into what happens in the future too:3

Character Changes

This section is mainly minor character (arc focused) changes I've made that largely do not affect the main plot.

Grimshade

I've kinda mentioned/alluded to this in both this post and a previous one [link], but Allumos is the cause of Viper losing his eyes in my rewrite; this, of course, means they are very normal about each other and definitely like each other thumbs up.

I've mentioned in my Grimshade mini profiles [link], but Bren and Lily return to Grimshade to work alongside them.

Allumos and Marshie do not get together.

There is a new (OC) member, their name is Itzel Alair (they/he), I've yet to add him to the mini profiles since they're still a WIP, but yay! OC time! His Magic is Arc of Embodiment: Illusions!

I've made quite a few name changes for Grimshade: Michael - Melanthios, Marshie - Menodora, Patrick - Pádraig, Seek - Selena (she/her!!). I have my own reasons for these changes but it was mainly just for fun!

Allumos is 1025/26 in my rewrite, instead of 400, because 400 years is really just not that long of a time lmao.

Jericho still flirts with everyone, but he never gets in any relationships.

Menodora discovers the whole ⅓ Devil thing a bit earlier on in my rewrite.

Allumos gets its own body after Salode, however.... It's essentially a doll [link]. Also he is now technically fully owned by the Celestial Spirit King. Fun.

Davis joins Grimshade a little earlier in my rewrite, like, Just after the GMG takes place.

Allumos is so incredibly mentally ill in my rewrite,,, like just being clear that will be a big theme for them, recovering from his immense C-PTSD. I've mentioned it here [link], but the series itself does a disservice to complex mental health disorders that I intend to fix.

A lot of Viper's plot points and arc is still the same, just further emphasis on how he was forced to become what they did due to circumstances.

Selena doesn't die you can pry her from my cold dead hands.

On that ^ note, s5 Selena and s4 Seek are actually brother and sister. Seek is the brother Selena lost at the beginning of s5, interpret that how you will:3.

Divinus Magia

I've made Brandon and Ritchie a bit older (33). I changed a lot of the cast's ages actually, feel free to take a look at the mini profiles if you're curious.

Brandon is transfem!! She begins her transition after getting back from Devil's Tongue.

^ She always kind of knew but unfortunately,,, she was seriously suppressing it lol, it was only after she encountered her Earthland Counterpart that she actually came to terms with it, however she couldn't really do much considering. Jonathan.

When David and Luca(s) got back from the Devil Book, they did not meet Blake.

It was two days after Tapio was killed that Ritchie returned and apologised, he missed Tapio's impromptu funeral however.

Several of the Divinus Members had temporary lightning scarring because of that battle.

Blake was in Devil's Tongue for a little over three weeks, almost a month. Torture central is all I'll say. Because of this Blake and Plant|Echeveria actually met each other there! So afterwards they kind of knew and stuck by each other.

Blake unintentionally saved Kit while in DT, which led to Kit bringing Blake along back to Divinus Magia.

Inmo did NOT sell their boat aren't we all so fucking happy.

I want Lara and Fuarn to play a little more of an impactful role within the plots pertaining to Divinus (especially through Divinus Deliveries). I like them a lot.

Luca's arc with Abraham will be tweaked a little, however it's still a WIP.

After the S Class Trials, Ritchie isn't dead! However uh,,, he's not exactly alive either...

The fact that Inmo and Mori being brothers rarely comes up is CRIMINAL, I will be going into this a little more!

Mario, my dear, will get more narrative importance I promy.

Devin|Zoilos (still debating that name change AHH) the fandom did you so dirty. That is a grown adult and will be treated as such. Also making Zoilos genderfluid I think it suits them.

The Protectors

Straight off the bat, Tiffy and Selene are being moved to The Protectors, there's too many Divinus Members gosh dammit! The situation in which they were found is still pretty much the same.

Nixilis being a literal Devil and no one realising is incredibly funny to me, so that will be emphasised a little for comedic effect lol

Brick!!!!! Will be explored a little more!! In my rewrite he's got a whole thing going on with discovering he's. A fucking púca possessing a gargoyle so yeah fun times.

Mania is a little more fucked up, surviving a war all their life and just coming to this new world that supposedly never had one (it did but it doesn't know that) kinda. Kinda made it go a little mad. She's still Mania just a little more.... Distant

Jakey|Ephemeris..... Oh boy! I still need to watch his POV to get a good grasp on everything, but I will be nerfing Phemi a lot within the series. Unrestricted Time Magic doesn't go over too well with the Celestial Spirits...

Lo'Pho will also get nerfed a little, primarily through nerfing Ankhseram, because when that guy was being built up as a character it was when lore wasn't a big thing in the creators' minds so they were just kinda fucking around, making Lo'Pho SUPER OP. Canonically Lo'Pho has Ligh, Life and Death God Slayer Magic, this will be brought down to just Life and Death — with a LOT of drawbacks.

I want to give Kay a bit more of a personality — don't get me wrong she's BRILLIANT within the series but it does kinda feel like she's just there to help the men, make cookies and thirst after guys at times which is. Eh.

Eliore my lovely, will also get more plot relevance, cannot believe he didn't have stronger ties with Jericho and Allumos, despite being literally raised by Leo.

Iris likely won't get a ton more plot relevant, however she will get a little more focus, cause I like her a lot hehe.

Bryan|Bryttanos's damn mental health will be considered LMAO s5 did you so dirty ohml..

Just in general I will try to give The Protectors a bit more narrative importance, they had A LOT of their own stuff going on however a lot of it wasn't really "main plot" stuff which I think is kinda sucky!! So yeah I wanna even out the focus.

Also Bryttanos is officially loaded within my rewrite, and a big reason as to why The Protectors can give out so many loans lmao.

I've mentioned her in this post [link] but I've also added an OC for the Protectors too! His name is Anthy, feel free to read about her:3.

La Carnival

Once again, something I've mentioned, but Jazz being like. Actually clinically insane will be something I actually delve into in my rewrite. I'm big into Taking Mental Health Seriously and unfortunately with all the IRL stuff happening to do with Jazz's CC, the series never got to fully explore his psyche, if it even would've.

Flurry,,,,, is also not doing too mentally well, via codependency, so that'll also be looked into.

Flurry is also a changeling within my rewrite, and she uses her Dice Magic to cope with not being able to control that part of herself, which is why she shapeshifts depending on the dice role.

Cecil became Bryan in canon I'm not even lying lmao. Cecil will, in fact, keep his name after he becomes a Spirit because what the fuck.

The fact that Flurry basically bribed a lot of the members to be there just so La Carnival could be taken seriously in the GMG,,,, yeah that's pretty fucking interesting.

Yamitzu!! Who are you!!!! I want this man to have a full proper backstory PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

I always thought Basil was pretty cool, having poison-plant Magic, I think it'd be fun if Viper somehow ended up kinda being xer mentor lol

Juno is so interesting to me I seriously need to watch more of Flurry's POV to understand more about her, but she's an elf with AoE: Weapons Magic and I think that's awesome.

Phil,,,,, they did you so. Fucking. Dirty. Oh. My. God. One of the few Black characters and he's called an orange (by Flurry during her 1 dice role). Gross gross gross I refuse to allow that to happen in my rewrite.

La Carnival also gets an OC, their name is Citlali, a huge WIP, but they have Water Magic and are super cooolll.

Okay,,, so that was,,, a lot . And it's not even everything my lord ohmygod. IVE LITERALLY ONLY SCRATCHED THE SURFACE OF EVERYTHING I HAVE PLANNED. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ahem ahem,,,, I hope you enjoyed my yapping Anon, and that I sufficiently entertained you throughout (even if some of the world building bits may be a bit boring LOL). Overall I think this took me about,,, 3 hours to fully write out? I kinda took my time ngl lol. This is probably the longest lore-dump I've made so far jeez...

“May I ask…” Zelda turns around “Do you really remember me?”

Link stares at her, there’s hope in her eyes, and something else, why is she looking at him like that.

“Please remember” She steps to him taking his hands in hers “please Rinku” she squeezes.

Rinku… Rinku, that name is painfully familiar, yet incredibly safe.

And suddenly he’s pulled into his mind

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Link! You came!” She pulls him inside her room.

“You wanted me here” Link relaxes a bit flopping back on her bed “oh my Hylia your bed is way more comfortable then the barracks” He sits on and removes his boots and belts, then crawls back on the large bed “oh this isn’t fair”

“Link… I am the princess” Zelda gets on and scoots next to him.

“You can call my Rinku”

“Rinku?”

“It’s what my family calls me, it’s my actual name, people just call my Link cause it’s easier” He turns onto his side facing the other blonde.

“Shouldn’t everyone call you Rinku then? Why don’t you correct people?” She tilts her head.

“To be honest it helps me separate work from home, and with this job-”

“You think I’m home?”

“Yeah… I do” his voice is so calm, it feels like if caramel was a sound “you’re safe, and I didn’t think I’d say that about someone again”

Zelda hummed and sat up patting her lap

“I don’t want to intrude more than I already have”

“Put you head on my lap Rinku” he shut up at that and rested his head on her thighs, “what happened?”

“My family is basically all… gone. I haven’t had someone rest with in a long time”

“What do you mean gone?”

“My mother died when my sister was born, my father died in a Yiga attack” Link said those words so plainly.

“You have a sister?”

“I do… I never really got to meet her. I’ve been training for so long, I barely remember what Home was like” Link laughs, a bitter taste in his mouth “and you” he sits up “you… I look at you and I think you’re what home feels like. And I know this is inappropriate you’re the Princess, but it keeps me up at night, you changed me somehow and I don’t know what to do about it-“ Zelda sees rambling and takes his cheek into her hand and kisses him. His lips trembled before he kissed her back, her lips were pillowy and tasted like buttercream frosting. “This isn’t professional Princess-“ she kisses him again “oh your evil”

“Zelda” she move to stratle his lap “my name is Zelda, use it when I’m so blatantly in love with you”

He kisses her “I love you” he holds her “and I know I swore to do this already but I will protect you from any and every thing, you’re more than just my job… I’m afraid you never really were”

“I love you too, Rinku” she coos his name kissing him again “stay just for tonight”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I remember” he pulls her into a tight hug

She clings to her tears spill over “oh I love you” she holds his cheek “I love you so much don’t ever do that to be again” their foreheads make contact “don’t you dare die again, I’ll make sure of that”

A personal vendetta against the fleet, a sabotaged navigational system, an overall messed up patrol flight through the darkness of Deepspace that should have ended more than a day prior.

It all leaves the colonel beyond tired when he finally sets his boot on the busy runway. A sharp gust of wind nearly whips his cap off, which is quickly adjusted in practiced ease. It’s a welcome sensation after days spent in the stagnant recycled air inside the ship. It takes his mind elsewhere for a split second before it returns to the situation at hand.

Hiccups like the recent one have gotten more frequent since the takeover of the Tuum Section.

None of it has been serious or professional enough to become truly worrisome. But the recurrence of similar incidents is wearing his patience thin, steadily gnawing away on his already strained nerves. Worst of all, it costs him precious time.

Time reserved for the one and only person preserving his ceaselessly assaulted sanity.

The colonel leaves Liam to deal with the aftermath, said man all too readily obliging the order despite having shared the taxing experience on ship. The Toring Chip, securely embedded behind the colonel’s right ear, effectively does its job, staving off the onslaught of guilt before it even gets the chance to manifest itself.

After all, there’s no one waiting for his obedient adjutant to come home that night.

Or at all.

'Who cares?' Whispers the chip in a quiet sequence of zeros and ones and preaches logic over emotion in an efficient release of calmative chemicals into the surrounding tissue. No friends, no compassion within the fleet’s hierarchy. Only subordinates and orders.

The chip does not affect, however, that tiny part of grey matter, closely guarded and hidden away behind a barrier of carefully crafted defense mechanisms, with but one desire:

Go home. See her. Finally.

The thought alone is enough to leave behind the 'colonel' for now.

Caleb strips himself of his restrictive uniform in a matter of seconds as soon as he’s boarded his personal aircraft, slipping a comfortable sweater over his remaining undershirt instead.

She loathes the mere sight of the intimidating uniform. He knows by the disdain evident in her gaze whenever it comes across her, whether he wears it or it’s just hanging on the coat rack by the front door. While she’s come to accept things the way they are now, at least he direly hopes she does, she does make no pretense of her despise for it. It leaves an acidic taste in his mouth, knowing that she knows. About the things he does. What he’s involved in. What doesn’t wash off when he showers, no matter how long he remains under the steady spray of water. No matter how hard he scrubs his skin sore.

Nonetheless, she comes to see him every other weekend. Voluntarily.

It soothes his conscience somewhat. That she still seeks him out on her own will. Despite everything, despite his own, now abandoned, aim to keep his distance to guard her safety, he can’t deny that he enjoys her presence. More than anything.

The more the irritation grows that some pesky nuisance dared keeping him away from her for longer than necessary. She had told him she’d arrive Saturday morning. The morning after his scheduled return. Now it’s well past midnight, a day later than planned, and he’s mourning the precious hours lost.

He checks his messages before he departs. A quick glance. To prepare himself.

There’re merely two notifications.

‘I’m at the station’, reads the first one, ‘Where are you?’

The second one, short and crisp: ‘I’m at your place now. Please be safe.’

He'd take any kind of annoyance or accusation over the quiet worry and resignation that echoes in her pick of words.

He can deal with her irritation; with the silent treatment she turns to in her anger that he's endured time and again throughout shared teenage years. What he cannot deal with is her disappointment. Her sad expression when he's yet again failed to keep a promise, no matter how tiny and unimportant it seems in the big picture.

A part of him hopes that she’s long gone to bed when he arrives. That her disappointment morphs into the preferred anger throughout her dreams. That she wakes up staring him down with annoyance in her pretty eyes as soon as she finds him in the kitchen prepping her favorites for breakfast. He can make it up to her then. Pamper her until she forgives him for standing her up.

That thought in mind, he takes to the sky.

The way home - now that he finally allows himself to call it that ever since she’s taken it upon herself to make it one - encompasses merely a few quiet minutes of rumbling thoughts and engine before his aircraft descends through the barriers surrounding his property. The landing is smooth, as it always is, despite the unease brewing steadily in Caleb's chest. The well-known tightness sits at war with a surge of pleasant anticipation to see her as he unlocks the door and steps across the threshold.

The house is as quiet as its owner as he disposes of his leather coat at the door. Quiet enough to make him wonder if she stayed at all.

A treacherous whisper in the back of his mind tells him she would be better off leaving and never coming back. Safe from the danger that lurks in the shadows around his presence. Safe from him and what he has become - Or has always been? He's not even certain of that himself anymore. Blame it on a lack of confidence or the murky spaces left behind by yet another set of (probably) unremarkable memories dissolved into nothing but muddled fog.

But he's too dreadfully egoistic for that. Too dependent on her sweet smiles and fond gazes as his fuel to power onwards.

Too addicted.

It’s despicable in many ways. But guilt and shame have long since faded into the background of his mind. If she comes to him willingly, he tells himself, he may as well allow her and keep her close to shield her from the creeping peril all around.

His silent steps on sock-clad feet carry him through the foyer while he tries not to expect anything, still.

The faint light from the kitchen isle illuminates the living room ahead. He spots half a meal abandoned at the table, cooking utensils already cleaned and neatly arranged to dry in his absence.

A hint that she’s stuck around. He barely shifts his gaze when he spots her barely a few feet away on the couch.

She's haphazardly bundled in a throw blanket, knees tucked to her tummy and hands comfortably curled beneath her chin.

It occurs to him that she must have tried to keep her eyes open until his arrival, regardless of the exhausting mission she had just accomplished herself before setting out to visit Skyhaven. The realization tugs at his heart in an unpleasant way, stirring the captious chip awake again unbidden. He ignores it in defiance and grinds his teeth through the threatening buzz that rattles his mind. Persistent little thing.

Once it quiets down, he redirects his focus to the sleeping girl.

She appears much smaller, curled up like this, much more vulnerable than she truly is these days.

She no longer is the little girl clinging to his sleeve at the faint and distant rumble of thunder. He's well aware that she's grown into a formidable fighter herself. Brave and strong, laughing into the face of danger willingly as she snoops around places that she should definitely not.

His little pip has grown resilient through all the years spent together, blossomed into something bolder and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined.

But that doesn't quell his ever-present desire to protect her. To hide her away from anyone or anything that might dare cause her harm. He's promised her that. So many times, in silence or aloud, whenever her bright mind had been wiped clear, he's lost count. It’s the one vow he will never break, for as long as his stubborn heart keeps beating alongside hers.

He'll keep her safe and sound.

Gentle as he possibly can, he leans down to scoop her into his arms, carry her to bed, lest she wake with a crick in her neck come morning.

Only then does he take notice of the familiar piece of fabric spilling through the gaps between her fingers. Her nose is buried into it, muffling each deep and steady breath she takes.

It’s a worn shirt he'd left on the side of his bed in a hurry. None of the ones he'd brought from Linkon as he left for the DAA. He'd found her snatching those often enough, fresh from the clothesline, claiming them for herself to lounge in. He's used to that, as much as he can be, seeing her in his clothes.

But this one.

This one is recently bought. A necessity now that he gets (and wants) to spend more time out of uniform.

He’d understand she’d grab one of those old, well-acquainted shirts to wallow in memories… but this?

You killed my Caleb.

The echo of her hissed words still stings. It accompanies him, ricochets off the inside of his skull relentlessly. He'd begrudgingly made peace with the fact that she very much rejects who he is now. That she desperately hopes to somehow rediscover the boy that she's known her whole life. But this.

This tiny, unimposing gesture.

He freezes before his fingers touch her sleeping form, emotion welling up, swirling into a dangerous maelstrom of hope and sorrow alike.

A murmur of her name slips past his lips, and she stirs to the familiar sound, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as her sleepy eyes blink open.

Her drowsy gaze finds his in the twilit room and her smile stretches.

"Lebby," she mutters, evidently still half-asleep.

He hasn't heard that one in a while - the age-old nickname kickstarts his brain back into functioning.

"'m here," he affirms, hushed as his unsteady voice allows him to speak, as not to fully rouse her from sleep.

She hums, sounding utterly content, and winds her arms around his neck as he proceeds to pick her up.

Nuzzling her face into his shoulder, she breathes him in, and his mind teeters dangerously on the edge of the cold abyss again.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Resist.

Relax.

This is what it’s all for. He refuses to give in to the persistent chip, denies it access to this one beautiful gain of his whole twisted situation.

Damn the chip. Damn Ever. Damn fucking everyone that dares messing up what he feels for her. He sears the moment into his memory, sealing it securely behind unbreakable barriers.

Her warmth, her scent, her weight in his embrace. This belongs to him and her alone.

"I'll always come back to you," he murmurs and presses a tender kiss to the side of her head. "For as long as I breathe."

The emotional strain only adds to his present exhaustion, the hammering pain within his head as agonizing as ever, and the brief walk to her room grows slow and sluggish. It so happens that, after he’s carefully lowered her onto the mattress, he doesn’t resist her pull when she refuses to let go of his neck.

“Clingy,” he mutters, but doesn’t mean it, as he gives in and lets her topple him over and straight beside her onto the welcoming bed beneath.

It’s far from comfortable; Limbs tangled, her elbow digging into his ribs, his cheek smushed into the cool case of her pillow. Still, he revels in the onslaught of sensation, savors the dull ache that spreads along his awkwardly arched spine. Silence reigns beyond the occasional creak of bones and bed until her voice breaks once more.

She adjusts herself, curls her arms around his bicep instead.

“You’re late, dummy…”

Her soft voice is muffled against his shoulder, barely clear enough for him to grasp.

“But I’m happy you’re home…”

Yeah, thinks Caleb, I am, and wraps his hand around her smaller one.

Y/N and her mother looked at each other, enjoying the calm before the inevitable storm. They both knew that he would not be in a good mood, he rarely was anymore. Y/N couldn't remember the last time she had seen her father genuinely happy; she only ever saw stress, anger, and frustration. And drunk.

"How was work dear?" Mrs Y/L/N said, placing her book on the coffee table and standing to greet her husband in the kitchen, Y/N following behind. 'Here we go…'

"You know I can't talk about it, the project I'm working on is confidential." The man said dropping into a chair at the table with a thumb and a finger on his temples. "Y/N, how was your first day? You didn't get into any trouble, did you?"

"No dad I didn't, just bombarded with ridiculous questions…but it was actually okay, I made a friend." Y/N smiled to herself, and her mother winked behind her father's head as she caught her eye, making them glare playfully at each other. Mr Y/L/N missed the whole interaction, eyes still shut as he tried to massage away the headache. Without really thinking, the words tumbled out of her mouth, "As a matter of fact, he's picking me up for school tomorrow morning, he left his van here after dinner." This made her mother tense and Mr Y/L/N's eyes snap open.

"He?" the man questioned, stifling his growing anger, "Dinner?" He turned to look at his wife, whose eyes were only on her daughter, before he turned back to Y/N, "Is that whose van is outside? Y/N, I told you not to do this-"

"I know dad." Y/N cut him off, as Mrs Y/L/N laid a hand on her husband's shoulder, giving a warning squeeze. "But nothing is going to happen."

His voice raised a little, "It'd better not otherwise I'll-"

"You'll what dad? What would you do?" Y/N bit back, louder.

"Okay let's all calm down." Mrs Y/L/N finally got a word in, but it was fruitless as Mr Y/L/N stood up and raised his voice further. It was nowhere near the first time this had happened and both women of the household knew it wouldn't be the last.

Y/N didn't react, and Mrs Y/L/N didn't try to step in again, they just listened to the man rant and watched as he paced the kitchen, seething at the prospect of Y/N causing any more trouble. Y/N couldn't remember when he had grown so cold towards her but over the years learnt that it was just better to take it than argue. When he finally ran out of words to target Y/N and sat back down, she silently turned and walked to her room, not letting him see the effect he had on her. He didn't need to see her to know she was sufficiently scolded, and wouldn't talk back for the foreseeable future. She could hear parents muffled talking, knowing not another word would be said about what had just happened and squeezed her eyes shut tight willing tears not to fall.  A pointless pursuit as the tears fell regardless.

Of course, this is how the day ends.

Ruined.

Because you couldn't hold your tongue.

You knew he would react like this.

How stupid can you get?

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Y/N slid down the door, hands pressed over her ears to drown out the thoughts. Once she was sat she let out a choked sob and let all the tears out, holding her body together with arms wrapped tight. She cried and cried until her body physically couldn't and all that came out was heaving, shaky breaths. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve and taking a deep breath she finally relaxed a little. Exhausted, she pulled herself off the floor and started slogging over to the bed until she stood on something small and pointy.

Dice.

"Fuck!" She cursed under her breath and looked down. All of the things Eddie had brought were still scattered all over Y/N's floor. Her lip trembled slightly, remembering how nice the night had been, as she kneeled and put all the things away in the bag he had also left. She would give it to him in the morning. Checking the clock, and seeing it was well past midnight, she groaned. Having vaguely heard her parents go to bed a while ago she knew it was late, but time had escaped her. She needed to sleep. Collapsing onto the bed, and staring at the ceiling, Y/N tried to forget about the sour turn of events and focus on all the good things that were to come. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

Y/N walked down the corridor, anxiously pulling at her school jumper, and keeping her eyes cast down, avoiding all the stares of her peers. Rounding the corner, she ran straight into the last person she wanted to see.

"You should really watch where you're going." He spoke flatly, eyes looking straight through her. The same eyes that had once gazed at her like she hung all the stars in the sky. Not a hint of malice or judgement. Now she saw only disinterest and resentment. He had gotten what he wanted.

Y/N said nothing and tried to push past but he caught her wrist tightly and pulled her back, "Got nothing to say now?" He spat viciously, "After running that dirty mouth of yours you'd think you'd at the very least be able to say something."

As she went to turn and hit him, she found herself surrounded.

Slut. Whore. Greedy bitch. Disgusting. Dirty. Pervert. Freak.

The words echoed around her. Growing louder and louder and louder until-

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Y/N groaned as she sat up and reached to shut up her alarm clock. Blinking slowly and softly shaking her head, Y/N tried to shake off the dream. The memory had been warped over time, but the feeling remained the same. All she felt was shame as she climbed out of bed and got ready for the day. Pulling open the curtains, the sun blazed through and made her squint, shielding her eyes as her body was instantly warmed despite it being February. After changing into something weather appropriate, she collected everything she needed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. Y/N pulled her hair off her face and secured it as best she could then looked herself dead in the eye in the mirror.

"You can do this, it's a fresh start, and you're already doing better than you thought…just breathe…" The pep talk was unconvincing but somehow managed to force Y/N's head a little higher.

Breakfast was silent, Mr Y/L/N had already left for work and Mrs Y/L/N was lost in thought staring into her mug of tea. She knew her mother meant well, but the silence was killing her. Before she could muster up the courage to say something, the honk of a horn sounded from outside. Eddie. With a sigh, Y/N pushed off from where she leant against the counter and gave her mother a chaste kiss on the cheek as she picked up her things, and Eddie's bag of D&D paraphernalia, before heading outside to see Eddie sat in his van, passenger door open and waiting for Y/N, A cheeky grin on his face.

"Morning, Y/L/N." The sound of his voice instantly soothed her and made an unconscious smile appear on her tired face.

"Morning, Munson. I have the stuff you left at mine last night." Y/N said whilst buckling her seatbelt and nodding her head to the bag.

"Goddamn it, now I don't have a reason to come by after school with the excuse of getting my shit." He said playfully as he started the engine, pulled out of the spot in front of the house, and turned on a mixtape – Black Sabbath pouring out through the speakers. Y/N chuckled slightly at the predictable choice and watched him drive for a while, taking in how the sunlight made his skin glow and highlighted the soft curls of his wild hair. His hands gripping the steering wheel accentuating the lean muscles in his forearm, the bat tattoo rippling slightly making the wings look like they were moving with each subtle flex. Having felt her eyes on him for minutes uninterrupted, he smirked cheekily and said, "Stop staring, you're gonna burn a hole straight through me."

"Shut up." He laughed as she rolled her eyes, "As if I would actively stare at you Eddie, you flatter yourself."

"Yeah sure, you definitely weren't checking out my sick tattoos." He pushed back and glanced at her, with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

If she was bolder, and more truthful, she would have said "I really love your tattoos and was completely fascinated by the way the bats look like they're flying as you drive," but she wasn't that bold so, Y/N scoffed and moved her eyes to the horizon, and instead said, "You wish."

The conversation stopped for a good few minutes before either spoke again, just enjoying the music and each other's company, Y/N breaking their silence with, "Do you think we could do a one-on-one, private D&D game?"

"Sorry, what?" Eddie had to blink a few times to fully register what she had said, "Can you say that again, I zoned out listening to the music."

"I said," Y/N chuckled, "Do you think we could do a one-on-one, private D&D game? I was thinking just a little homebrew- is that the right word? Just so I can fully get used to the mechanics and maybe level up if you're feeling generous before my first game with the party…I don't want to embarrass myself in front of them, especially if you're all experienced players…I understand if you can't it was just a passing thought. I'll shut up now."

Once Y/N's short ramble had stopped, she took notice of Eddie's reaction and couldn't help but smile. The man was practically buzzing in his seat, wide grin and fingers drumming excitedly against the steering wheel, eyes sparkling a little at the mere thought. She hadn't realised how close they were to the school, so when he parked the car and fully turned to face her, Y/N was startled a little.

"First of all, yes homebrew is the correct term, well done, and second - that sounds like a great idea, I'm annoyed that I didn't think of it first." Eddie finally answered, the excitement practically dripping od his tongue at the prospect, "I'm going to spend the rest of today thinking of a small campaign we can start and finish before Hellfire, do you want to do something classic or a little darker, or we can do something a little more whimsical if that's more your speed or-"

"Remember to breathe, Munson." Y/N giggled, cutting off his run-on sentence, his arms that were flailing in front of his face as he spoke froze as she interrupted his flow, "I'll be happy with anything, I'm excited to see what you come up with."

He was completely bewildered by her, nobody had ever been this interested not only in D&D but also in wanting to spend so much time with him, except for maybe Dustin. Beaming as he spoke, Eddie replied, "This is just so great, I'm so glad you are into this. If I'm being honest, I was kind of worried that I'd scared you off a little, you seemed a little disgruntled when I picked you up."

"Oh," Y/N scratched the side of her neck slightly, resisting the urge to just tell him everything, "I just didn't sleep very well, nothing to do with you."

He nodded, and though he was unconvinced, he didn't push. Eddie wanted to ask her what was actually wrong, sensing there was something but chose to let it go, she would tell him when she was ready, he hoped. As they hopped out of the van and shut the doors behind them, Y/N tried to shake off the growing nausea in the pit of her stomach, suddenly being hit with vivid memories of the night before and the nightmare that woke her up. Eddie rounded the front of the vehicle and met her at the passenger door, leaning against it slightly. He stood close, looking at her intensely, as though trying to read her mind. Her eyes were shut tight, and her bottom lip caught within her teeth, her knuckles cracking between her palms.

"Hey, you okay?" Eddie eventually asked and stepped a little closer, concern knitting in his brow, before he jumped back a little when her eyes popped open with a fluttering blink and locked gaze with him.

"Yeah, sorry. Just lost in thought." Y/N tried to laugh it off, but he just raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour. Not wanting to linger on the topic, she quickly asked, as she pushed off from the van and headed towards the school, turning to face him and walking backwards a little as she asked, "Can we do yours tonight?"

"Umm, yeah I guess, my place is a bit messy but I don't really see an issue," Eddie replied, following after her and quickly catching up.

As she turned to face front again when he was by her side again, she smiled at him over her shoulder and commented, "I don't mind a little mess."

He smiled back, dimples poking out a little, "We can do it straight after school if you want? I'll make you dinner this time, though it'll be nowhere near as good as your mom's cooking, I apologize in advance."

"You're forgiven," her laughter rang through the air, as they pushed through the doors of the school.

The day ran smoother than the previous, most people no longer cared that there was a new girl now that she had chosen to associate with the nerds and freaks of the school. She managed to slide right past any of their gazes as she walked through the corridors, waving briefly at Dustin, Mike and a friend of theirs she didn't know as the pair passed them. Dustin grinned and gave a quick "Hi, Y/N", and Mike gave a tight-lipped smile, their friend giving an acknowledging nod. Although there were still a few that didn't want to leave her alone, Jason being one. As soon as Y/N and Eddie walked into homeroom together, laughing at a story Eddie was telling, he scowled and stared with a slack jaw.

"You should close your mouth, you're gonna catch flies," Y/N said in passing, patting his shoulder firmly to shake him out of his stupor. His jaw quickly snapped shut as Eddie laughed at her snide remark. Jason turned in his chair to make a comment back but the bell rang and Mrs O'Donnell walked in right as he opened his mouth. No other incidents happened for the rest of the morning, and by lunch, she had all but forgotten about why she woke up in a bad mood.

Dustin and Mike's friend from that morning, Lucas Sinclair, had joined them for lunch, Y/N quickly learned that they had been friends for years along with their other friend Will Byers who had moved to California along with his older brother – who was dating Mikes sister - and adoptive sister of the same age Jane, who they affectionately call El – who was dating Mike, his eyes lighting up at the mention of them, talking animatedly. Dustin's eyes crinkle with a grin as he adds details and Lucas smiles as he nods along to the stories of their childhood. They didn't need to say it, but they had formed a bond as close as family, and quite clearly deeply cared for one another. As adorable as she found them reminiscing about their friend, Y/N was caught up on one detail.

"You have a girlfriend?" Y/N interrupted, unable to stop the words from coming out and shutting up the boys instantly, and she backtracked seeing their furrowed eyebrows "That came out ruder than intended, sorry."

"It's okay," Mike reassured before adding, "we've been dating for almost a year, but we've known each other for 3 years. She's pretty cool." He says with a knowing smile and the other boys agree. "Dustin's got a girlfriend too though, they met at nerd camp."

"Camp Know Where." Dustin corrected before grinning with pride, "Suzie's awesome, she's a genius."

Lucas then added, "And I did have a girlfriend, Max, who's amazing, but she broke up with me before school started and kinda stopped talking to me…she kinda stopped talking to everyone actually…but she's great. A total badass." He still adored her.

"So you're telling me, that all three of you have girls that you like and they like you, and you obviously have a solid friend group and yet you still get labelled as outcasts and nerds?"

"Yup."

"Pretty much."

Dustin giggled at Y/N's disbelief, "But we are nerds. They're not exactly wrong."

"Is that why Lucas here joined the basketball team?" Y/N raised an eyebrow at the boy, who bristled at the accusation but didn't deny it. "Look, if you honestly enjoy it and it makes you happy then I'm all for it, but if you're just doing it to try to gain some popularity and status…" she bit her tongue, it wasn't her place, so she finished by saying "just don't sell out, cause from the sounds of things you're pretty popular in your own right." He sits back in his chair and mulls it over in silence.

Eddie whistles lowly, having listened in. "Damn."

Y/N feels her cheeks heat up, the gaggle of boys all processing her words. They had all been listening in. "I'm sorry, you don't need to hear my opinion on it…"

"Don't be," Lucas immediately pipes up and his warm brown eyes reassure her that she didn't overstep, "You've just given me some stuff to think about."

"Well, Y/L/N, if you've done interrogating my disciples," Eddie cuts in with a lazy smile, leaning back in his chair, and the freshmen scoff, making Y/N snicker, "do you wanna go for a quick smoke before class?"

"Where? Smoking isn't allowed on school property." She leans back, challenging him and he doesn't back down.

"I know a place." He says it flippantly as he pulls out a cigarette and places it behind his ear and pulls out a second for her.

"Well, that isn't ominous at all."

"Don't you trust me?"

She smiles. His eyes twinkle. "I probably shouldn't but I do."

Eddie stands and holds out his hand. "Then follow me."

Without a second thought, she takes his hand and picks up her stuff with the other before he leads her out of the rooms and away from his gawking friends. His grip on her hand dropped, only to gently place it on the small of her back to guide her through the corridors and out the back of the school towards the tree line. Confidently striding through the greenery, Eddie eventually stopped at a small clearing in the tall trees, a lone picnic bench sitting in the middle, paint peeling away and the wood splintering, but appearing sturdy as it blended into the darkness of the bark, grass growing around the foot of the benches. Eddie turned to face Y/N and gestured to the table with a 'ta-da'-like flourish, a wide grin on his face, a dimple popping out.

The table creaked slightly beneath them as they sat opposite each other, Y/N leaned across the table as Eddie lit his cigarette and stole it from his lips before he could take a drag. His eyes widened at the nerve of her, his eyebrows raised incredulously as she laughs behind a cloud of smoke. "You little shit..." he mutters which only makes her laugh more before she takes another drag and places the cigarette back between his lips, her fingertips brushing them slightly. She stays leaned in towards him, face resting on her hands as he shakes his head at her before he blows smoke in her face, making her nose crinkle. "Should I light the other or…?"

"Save it for later," she answers, and he furrows his brow as he places it back in the packet.

"You don't want one?" he asks in rebuttal, and she shakes her head between her hands, and he matches her stance leaning in towards her on one hand, cigarette hanging from his ringed fingers. "Then why did you follow me out here?"

"You asked me to."

His confused gaze softens into one of awe before quickly turning smug, "You really do like me, don't you?"

"Meh." She replies with a cheeky grin and a tilt of the head as he pretends to be shot in the chest, having mildly bruised his ego. "Well, if I'm being completely honest Munson, you've charmed me and it annoys me to no end. But don't let it get to your head."

"No promises." He grins widely, the contagion of his joy forcing a grin onto her face. "You know, most people are scared of me. Think I'm a satanist cult leader or something I don't know." They laugh at the ridiculousness, "And yet you, after one day, you trust me for whatever reason, probably a terrible idea by the way I'm a horrible influence-"

"Eddie, are you trying to tell me not to be your friend?" Y/N interrupts, her eyes dropping from his gaze and her heartbeat picking up a little, mind racing with questions of if she's come on too strong.

So desperate for people to like you, you cling to the first person who shows you kindness? How pathetic.

"No! God no!" He answers just a bit too loudly, scaring her out of her train of thought a little and looking back at his slightly wild eyes. "I'm just not used to people wanting to be my friend, especially pretty girls."

"Pretty?" She sees the panic in his eyes as he registered what he'd said and tries to ignore the incessant fluttering in her stomach, "You flatter me, Munson, you should see yourself."

He blushes. She thinks he's pretty.

She pushes the thought away.

"I erm-" he clears his throat, and regains some of his composure, "I don't want you to not be my friend."

"Good." They lock eyes for a lingering moment before he takes a drag of his cigarette, flicking off the ash and placing it in between her lips again. She gulps as his hand brushes the skin of her face gently before pulling away and leaning against his hands again. Smoke surrounds them as she talks but he isn't deterred in the slightest. "So, any ideas for tonight? Or is it a surprise?"

"Well, I was thinking, 'cause it'd be your first time, we do something special," Eddie says, faking a sweet smile but a smirk can't help but creep up onto his face at the insinuation.

"Ha ha." She deadpans in response, trying and failing to stop a smile from gracing her lips, Eddie instantly noticing and allowing the wry smile to stay.

"Seriously though, I want you to enjoy it so I've created something small, heavily influenced by Hobbiton, where you can learn the mechanics without any real threat." The smile turns genuine as he talks, watching her get more and more excited as she thinks about the possibilities.

"That sounds amazing! God I can't wait, I'll spend the rest of the day noting down little character traits for my one-shot halfling and-" she interrupted herself, "-wait, I don't have any dice."

He seems unbothered by the thought, and waves the thought away as though it was a fly getting too close to his face, "Don't worry about it, I got you covered."

Y/N didn't have any time to think about it further before they heard the bell signalling the end of lunch in the distance, and groaned in unison, neither of them wanting to go back to being around other people so soon. Eddie took a long drag of the cigarette, smoke filling his lungs and blowing it into the air before passing it to Y/N to finish. Once she had, she stubbed it out on the table, the little black ring joining the collection that Eddie had left over the years. Wandering back towards the school, a sneaky thought crept into her head – was this a kind of…date? Did he share his cigarettes with everyone? Or was she somehow special to him? Her head was already filled with him after only 36 hours of knowing him, but she never wanted him to escape her mind.

The day passed smoothly after their impromptu escape into the woods but her stomach fluttered with anticipation of what the evening would bring. By the time their last period literature class rolled around she was practically buzzing in her seat but tried their hardest to keep it contained. However, the pretty blonde cheerleader next to her took notice and giggled to herself. Y/N was about to say something snarky but the girl spoke before she could.

"I don't think ever seen someone so excited for school to be over," she said in a saccharine tone that on anyone else would seem fake but on this girl, it seemed to be genuine. "You must have after-school plans!"

"Actually yeah, I do." The girl grinned and looked at her expectantly, "You don't wanna know, it's pretty nerdy."

"Yeah, I gathered, since you and Eddie Munson have basically been attached at the hip since lunch yesterday." There was an underlying edge to her voice, but it was surprisingly non-judgemental. "Jason thinks he's a complete freak but all his friends still go to him for deals. It makes no sense to me!"

She did not need to explain what she meant by 'deals', Y/N understood immediately, connecting the dots to his 'meeting' before he went to her house the previous night. "Hypocrites."

The girl laughs, and Y/N could swear the room got a little brighter, "Exactly! I'm Chrissy by the way."

"Y/N," she replied with a smile right as the teacher walked in and they both turned to face the board to pay attention. The class dragged after that, time mocking her as she waited for the final bell to ring. Although, she and Chrissy did exchange thoughts on the book they were analysing and discovered that they both found it exhausting, sparking a brief, joined rant over the dubious morality of the author. When the bell did finally ring, Y/N all but threw her books and pencil case into her backpack, forcing another giggle to sound beside her.

"You're gonna break your bag at that rate!" Chrissy commented through giggles as she packed up her own stuff. "You know you never did tell me what you two had planned for tonight…?"

"Oh," Y/N let out an awkward half-laugh-half-cough, then perched on the edge of her desk facing the blonde who mimicked her, "we're just doing some D&D stuff, and he's gonna cook, nothing that special really."

Chrissy didn't seem to think so, a wide grin spreading across her face, "He's taking you back to the trailer?!"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, he likes you." Y/N blanched, words caught in her throat, as Chrissy continued, "Nobody ever really goes to the trailer, even his deals are out in the woods somewhere apparently. He doesn't trust easily, and honestly, I don't blame him, with the way he's treated by-"

An arm suddenly draped around Chrissy's shoulders as Jason appeared next to her, "What are we talking about over here, ladies?" Chrissy shrinks into him but still smiles at Y/N, giving her a small wink.

"Nothing that concerns you," Y/N answers smoothly, despite the flurry of emotions running through her. "Ladies have their secrets, you know? Do you tell Chrissy what you and your boys talk about, hmm?"

His eyes narrow as he glances between his girlfriend and apparent new annoyance in his well-crafted life, "You two have secrets?"

"Of course!" Chrissy interjects, placing a delicate hand on Jason's. "All friends have secrets."

Friends.

Chrissy had claimed her as a friend.

Y/N had somehow managed to weasel her way into being friends with not only the school outcasts but also managed to charm the school golden girl, much to the chagrin of her boyfriend. Despite everything that Chrissy represented, a deep-rooted part of Y/N genuinely liked the girl, recognising an old part of herself in the perfectly styled, candy-coated haze of a blonde in front of her. Y/N raised an eyebrow at the jock, daring him to say another word but he plastered on a smile and held Chrissy tighter, biting his tongue.

"Chrissy, let me walk you to practice," Jason redirected his girlfriend towards the door gently, before glancing back towards Y/N, "head of the team can't be late."

"See you tomorrow Y/N, have fun tonight!" Chrissy called over her shoulder as the couple left the room, leaving Y/N alone with her thoughts. Snapping herself back to her senses, she quickly grabbed her things and all but ran out the door, making a beeline towards the car park.

Eddie, paced back and forth next to his van, kicking around a rock, whilst he waited for Y/N. Part of him believed that this was all one elaborate joke she was playing on him, that she couldn't possibly have any interest in him. But then he felt a tap on his shoulder and whirled around to see her leaning against the van, smiling at him, and all those pesky thoughts vanished.

"Ready to go? Or do you want to play with yourself a little longer?" Y/N quirked her head at him a little and watched as a blush grew on his cheeks slightly and kicked the rock out of sight before rounding the van to get in the driver's seat.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the trailer park and Eddie shut off the engine of his van but didn't hop out of the car, instead, he simply turned in his seat to face Y/N. He licked his lips and fiddled with his rings in his lap, leg bouncing where he sat. Y/N scanned him, then reached out a hand to rest on the skin of his knee poking through his jeans, "What's wrong?"

Eddie swallowed and glanced down at her hand on his knee before meeting her gaze, "I just- it's ridiculous, you've been nothing but kind to me and I selfishly don't want to believe that you're anything like anyone else in this fucking town, but- I just-" he closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the seat, "I don't want you to judge me on where and how I live. God knows I want out of here, 'much as the next person-"

"Eddie…"

"-I know it's nothing compared to where you live but I was raised here and-"

"Eddie."

"-It's my home and God I-"

"Eddie, oh my God, shut up!" Y/N finally managed to stop his rambling to make him look at her, eyes wide like a scolded puppy, but it softened when he saw not a single trace of judgement on her face, "I don't give a fuck where you live, or what state it's in – as long as it's not making you ill," he chuckled and she continued, "point is, I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be, so shut your ass up and let's go play D&D."

"Point well taken." Eddie unlocked the door and ran around to open the door for Y/N, giving her a hand as she hopped out of the van, squeezing it slightly as he led her up the doors to the trailer and let her in.

"What do you mean I died?!" Y/N was exasperated as Eddie rolled over with a fit of loud laughter. The hours had flown by as Eddie guided her through her first game, gifting her a set of his old dice for her to use until she got her own, the gesture making her stomach knot. The dice were simple black acrylic with white numbers but Y/N immediately promised herself to cherish them like gold.

"You failed your acrobatics check jumping off a table and took too much damage cause you're a level 1, then rolled a crit.1 on your last death saving roll, you're dead - them's the rules, honey!" Eddie managed to choke out through his raucous laughter.

"I blame the dice..." Y/N muttered with a pout, arms folded across her chest, glaring at the little acrylic demons.

"Aww, don't pout honey, it's not the dice's fault you're comically shit at this." He mocked, leaning on his arm with a dopey grin, earning him a gentle push so he laid flat. "Hey! No violence towards the Dungeon Master!"

"Oh shut up!" she nudged him again but he caught her wrist and locked his eyes on her, a single eyebrow raised.

"I didn't take you for a sore loser." He sat up, her wrist still caught in his grasp, his voice dropping to a low timbre, sending shivers down her spine. If he kept looking at her like this, she thought she might explode. "Now, because I'm having too much fun watching you get all...passionate, let's say, about the game, I'll let it slide, just this once, and bring you back to life."

She grinned and went to speak but he held a finger to her lips to stop her, before adding, "Just don't tell the others, can't have them thinking I've gone soft as DM. It's our little secret."

She silently held up her pinkie for him to take as a promise and he snickered but locked it in with his pinkie. With his face this close to hers, she could see all of the little details on his skin and ultimately got lost looking into those deep brown of his eyes. Feeling her heartbeat skip, she knew she was fucked.

"I should probably call my mum; tell her I'm not coming home for dinner…"

"Yeah probably."

Nobody moved an inch. Eyes and pinkies locked.

"Eddie?"

"Yeah?"

"You need to let go of my hand."

Eddie cursed under his breath and let her hand go, "Sorry,"

"Don't be," Y/N smiled and left the room to phone home, whilst Eddie collapsed back on the bed, running a hand across his face with a frustrated groan.

Outside the room, Y/N was leaning back on the wall, mind racing, trying to figure out what had just happened. Somehow, they had immediately fallen into a natural flirtation and it confused them both, but neither wanted it to end. It just felt so right, but so utterly terrifying. Pulling herself off the wall by his door, she quickly located the phone and dialled home, the phone barely ringing once before being answered, as though her mum had been sat by the phone, waiting.

"Y/N please tell me this is you. I've been worried sick." Mrs Y/L/N frantically said, the distress clear in her voice.

"Mum calm down, please, I'm fine, really I'm fine," Y/N twisted the cable around her fingers as she spoke, brows creased.

Her reassurance did extraordinarily little to calm her mother, "Then where the bloody hell are you?!"

"With Eddie." Silence. Y/N continued, "I'm at his trailer, we've been going over some D&D stuff, lost track of time I guess."

"Well, I'm relieved you're safe at least, I take it you won't be home for dinner?" Her mother sounded a little less tense, but it was strained, trying not to let Y/N know just how stressed she was. Y/N replied with a hum of acknowledgement before letting her mother continue, "Just make sure you're home before your dad, we don't need a repeat of last night." The thought sent an anxious chill down Y/N's spine, nodding subconsciously even though her mum couldn't see it. "Have fun, I love you."

"I love you too, mum. See you later." Y/N hung up and took a few deep breaths.

She needed to shake off this feeling before going back to Eddie, not wanting to ruin another perfectly good night. Once she felt a little more stable, she willed a small smile back onto her face and re-entered Eddie's room to find him playing absentmindedly with the dice, peering up through a curtain of hair as he heard the door move.

"So she knows, but we should probably get a move on, I need to be home before my dad otherwise he'll flip," Y/N said as casually as she could whilst leaning back on his door, arms folded across her chest.

He nodded in understanding whilst making his way over to her, crowding her personal space again, as he leaned in with one hand in his pocket and the other on the door by her head, "So dinner, are you prepared for a wonderful gourmet meal of canned soup and a bottle of beer?"

"And dessert?" Y/N asked looking up into his eyes with a quirk of her eyebrow.

If he was nervous he didn't let it show as he mirrored her expression and poked his tongue out in thought, before answering, "Well that depends, sweetheart," her heart skipped at the pet name, "What's your preferred popcorn flavouring?"

"Sweet and salty."

Why is he so close to me? Fuck, I want to kiss him.

"Excellent."

He suddenly pulls away and she has to blink quickly to readjust and shake the inappropriate thoughts away that had started to creep in again from him being so close.

Just friends, that's all we are, idiot.

For anyone who saw this post and replied enthusiastically, thank you for inspiring me to do something that I've been longing to do for years. Having the availability, the inspiration, and the support to write is something I haven't had in a long time.

This is dedicated to everyone who wanted to know when I finished and to all the Zukka writers who have altered my brain chemistry (/pos). I hope to make something half as good as the work I've read.