Summary: a chance meeting, a wobbly ladder, and an utterly smitten metal head. warnings: none- pure fluff ahead. Eddie being a soft boi
You weren’t exactly a social pariah of Hawkins High but to say you were anything near popular would be far and away overselling your social status. You were comfortably in the middle of the pack, sticking to your small group of friends and on the fringes of parties and events. But to Eddie there may as well be a chasm between the two of you socially. You weren’t a cheerleader or Miss Queen of Hawkins but you were at least liked, which was more than could be said for Eddie. Normally, that wouldn’t bother him. He thrived on pissing off the status quo and the dull ring leaders that kept it alive and well. Or at least, he told himself that. He just never questioned it until he saw you.
Okay, well he already saw you plenty before this, he’d had his eyes almost constantly on you since you first bumped into him in the halls that first day of your freshman year, his junior year. You bounced right into his chest with your nose buried in a weathered book in your hands, the cover faded and worn down enough that he could just barely make out the words “Pride and Prejudice” in loopy font. He stilled, expecting the normal vitriol to spill forth whenever anyone had decidedly become “unlucky enough” to get close to his presence, a common enough occurrence that it happened even with adults outside of school much to Wayne’s dismay. But instead you blinked up at him with this pretty eyes of yours; startled by the sudden stop, before offering a wide and apologetic smile.
“Oh, shit I’m sorry!”
Eddie stood there for a second, his own eyes probably as wide as yours as it took a second for your words to register in his brain. A pretty girl was smiling at him. She had bumped into him and didn’t even get disgusted or shove him, instead she was smiling up at him and suddenly his throat was so tight and he was pretty certain he forgot basic english as he stammered. “N-no problem,” he winced, trying to clear his throat before he offered a breathy chuckle. “When a book is good, can’t pay attention to anything else, right?”
Was that charming? He hoped it sounded like it, he wouldn’t know, the only books he devoured were decidedly not as proper and romantic as he guessed yours was.
At the flush that erupted across your cheeks Eddie felt like fucking pumping his fist in the air in glee while your smile turned sheepish. “Yeah, sorry it’s a constant problem for me,” you winced, scratching your cheek timidly. Shit, was he making you nervous? Was that a good thing? It looked like a good thing, it didn’t seem like you were afraid but more just…shy?
“Well feel free to use me as a bumper any time you need,” he grinned down at you, dimples peeking out from his cheeks from the force of it. “I promise to soften the blow and point you back into the flow of traffic.”
You giggled and Eddie could have kissed you right then. The soft little noise shot through him with such force, his body flushed warmly like he was basking in the sun. “Thanks I-” the shrill sound of the bell cut off your response and the smile fell from your face, taking away the warmth bubbling in Eddie with it. “Shit, I’m gonna be late. Sorry again for bumping into you!” You didn’t leave time for a response before you were racing off to class through the throng of students, leaving Eddie to stand there and watch you disappear in the crowd. He didn’t get to even catch your name.
i’m both dumber and smarter than you think so don’t underestimate me because i’m actually smart about a lot of stuff but also don’t be surprised if i’m dumb about some other stuff hope that helps
“This reads like fanfiction (it feels like it was written by a preteen, and most of such things posted publicly are fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it has a focus on character and relationships, like the style of a lot of modern fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it keeps referencing people and events with the assumption that the audience is already familiar with them, like how fanfic doesn’t need to rehash the source material)”
Some further suggestions from the notes:
“This reads like fanfiction (it’s a love story for the ages as long as you can overlook that the author keeps misspelling ‘you're’)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (you can tell the author was having a blast writing this and now so do you reading it)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the author is clearly info-dumping about a very niche hobby of theirs that they’re passionate about)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the characters keep getting put in increasingly weirder situations which you’d normally only find in fanfic)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (the author felt the need to rehash the characters from when they were first introduced instead of after several years’ worth of character growth)” vs “This reads like fanfiction (it feels like it had no editor)”
What about
“This reads like fanfiction (there’s just. that one word(or phrase). it’s the fanfic word. it’s there.)”
Alternatively (but in the same spirit)
“This reads like fanfiction (the stylistic choices made by the writer are reminiscent of a style that is found largely in fanfic because of the community’s language use echo chamber in which all fanfic eventually becomes like all other fanfic)”
Pairings: Steve Harrington x reader Warnings: not proofread, pure fluff
You had known Steve for years, or at least you knew of him.
It was hard not to, being King Steve and all.
You had spent your time in school so completely off his radar that when you when popped into Scoops Ahoy to see Robin over the summer he literally asked your name as if you didn’t have three different classes together while he was in school and even partnered together on a project for Mrs. O’Donnel.
You probably should have been insulted or offended but you could only laugh it off because really, what else did you expect from him? You were a band geek with cropped hair and a nose ring, why would he ever take notice of you? At least this time he made sure to remember your name as you came into the ice cream shop often to bug your friend Robin. You became a stable loiterer around Scoops over the Summer, doodling on their white board of the stupidest things Steve said that week, debating them both on the best ice cream flavor (it is coffee). You joined in on her teasing as Steve crashed and burned every attempt at picking up a date on his shift. You had to admit, it was hilarious to see the once confident and untouchable king of Hawkins struggle to even get a name from a girl, let alone a number or time of day.
And then there was his strange friendship with the Henderson kid and his friends that had you absolutely losing it. It was like the image of the cocky jock from school melted away into an overwhelmed soccer mom that no one listened to. You wondered if he was always this guy behind the popular homecoming king facade or if somehow the heartbreak of Nancy leaving him that transformed him. Whichever it was you decided you liked this version of Steve, much to Robin’s constant ribbing when he was distracted with customers.
It was nice. The summer was unfurling in a pleasant surprise with a new bonding friendship forming between you all.
A nice detail about the game is after you visit the Scriptorium and get Salazar Slytherin’s book, you’ll notice the once blank chalkboards slowly fill up with Sebastian’s research in the Undercroft.
You can see him desperately looking for a cure and angrily drawing X’s, scribbling everything he can and erasing some parts. You can even see the symbol of Ancient Magic.
He writes in Ancient Greek, Phoenician, Aramaic (an older sister language of Hebrew aka the language Jesus spoke), Cyrillic and other languages I can’t make out. As well as Alchemy symbols (a “secret” subject reserved for older students at Hogwarts.) You can tell both of his parents were professors who passed down their love of learning to him.
He also seems to have an interest in Astronomy (this could be where Sebastian and Amit being friends comes in handy), as well as Geometry and other esoteric things. You’d think he was a Ravenclaw looking at it.
Interestingly, Sebastian’s name is also Ancient Greek in origin. (Sebastian comes from the Greek name Σεβαστιανός / Sebastianos.) His uncle Solomon’s name is Hebrew derived from Aramaic and Ancient Greek as well. (Solomon’s name stands for “Peace” = shalom, which could probably be ironic in this case. But it could also stand for Sebastian literally destroying the peace between himself and Anne after he kills his uncle.)
In fact, the spell “avada kedavra” is a different spelling of the Aramaic phrase “avra kehdabra” = “I will create as I speak” or “perish as I speak.” (This is where the magic term ‘abracadabra’ comes from.) It’s fitting that Sebastian was the one to cast it, considering he’s fluent and it could possibly tie into his family’s background.
Anyways we stan a smart and multilingual king. 😂
(To add one last detail to this thread, Anne’s name is also Hebrew and it stands for “Forgiving, Merciful, Grace.” Which if it’s intentional, it’s a good bit of writing and it’s promising for the future.)
It fits into Anne covering up Sebastian’s murder and leaving a letter saying she loves him but has to run away.
