A Forbidden Flame, Helaena Targaryen

hi everyone!

using this blog to up my writing skills and share my thoughts and feelings with you all

hope you enjoy, and i am totally open to requests at any time! i will list the fandoms i write for underneath:

- stranger things

- cobra kai

- twilight

- the vampire diaries/the originals

- criminal minds

- grishaverse

i am open to expanding my list. i do not write smut, and i retain the right to refuse any requests that make me uncomfortable, even though i’m sure it won’t be the case :)

so ask away, my fine friends!

all love, hugs, and mungbeans

darcy <3

ain'tcha just the cutest — miguel diaz

▸summary: you have a phrase that you love to say to your boyfriend. miguel loves when you say it. win-win.

▸characters: miguel diaz, gn!reader

▸tw: fluff and sweet moments and cute stuff

▸a/n: uhhhhhhhhh personally i'm an angst girly but i need to expand my skills

IT IS A well known fact that Miguel is not a morning person. He is a bomb-sleeper. An earthquake could hit and he'd simply switch to the other side and continue dreaming.

This is the reason why you were awake, and he was not. Mind you, it was nine in the morning, but you had nothing to do, so you could kill a couple hours more.

You were not a strong sleeper. You were a lightweight, and once the slumber was gone, it was gone. It had happened a few times, but it was lessening recently, which you were thankful for. It just meant that you still got up early, sometimes at the crack of dawn.

It also meant that Miguel had his arms around you, restricting your options of escape as he snored delicately next to you. You wouldn't move for the world, but you had needs, and unfortunately, his arm was, in fact, pushing down on your bladder.

You tried slipping from his grip. He only tightened it and grumbled. You tried waking him up. He only cuddled more into you. You tried to wriggle out and forcibly remove his harm from around you. He simply slapped your hand away in his sleep and sighed as he placed back around you. It was futile. But it was cute.

But you really needed the bathroom.

So you resorted to an absolute manipulation strategy. You placed kiss after kiss after smooch after peck on his face until her eventually had to rub his eyes open. You took your chance, darting from his grasp before he could secure back to him. You chuckled lightly as you heard him whine into the pillow.

You came out of the bathroom finding him in exactly the same position he was in a couple of minutes ago, breathing deeply and half his head smushed in the pillow. You knelt next to the bed, brushing his very lovely hair away from his face. He grumbled again, grabbing your hand lazily and holding it to his chest.

You chuckled again, getting back into bed in a sitting up position so to be more comfortable as you played on your phone. You stroked his hair after freeing the hand he had grabbed.

"Ain'tcha just the cutest?" you mumbled under your breath. He nuzzled into your ribs, tickling you a little.

There was no reply, but that was the first time you said it.

The next time you said it, it was his birthday. You had wished him a happy birthday, and had given him his gift. It was a bracelet that he commanded you put on him immediately.

After the day went by, you paid him another visit, carrying a wicker basket with a blanket over the top. When you announced it was picnic time, he nearly tripped after trying to put on his best pants quickly.

Luckily, you managed to get to the grassy spot you had meditated on using a few hours ago without harm. He was fine, you were fine, everything was fine. You laughed through the afternoon, you kissing into the sunset, and you ate into the evening.

He must've been ravenous, because when you looked at him after taking a picture of the sunset on your phone, you burst out laughing. This boy had tomato sauce all over his face, and he still continued to devour the plate of spaghetti in front of him.

"Whatcha laughing at?" he asked, his words muffled because of the spaghetti. This only made you laugh harder, falling backwards as you clutched your sides. Poor guy was so confused when you started gasping for breath, looking at you with wide eyes.

When you sat back up, you grabbed a napkin from the basket, bringing it to his face. You held his face in one hand and wiped the sauce from the other. The previous exaggeration was not quite true. It was not all over his face. It was just gathered in the corners of his mouth, like a toddler. He waited patiently for you to finish bathing him, grinning at you when you halted.

You giggled, patting his face with the hand that was previously holding it. "Ain'tcha just the cutest?" His face lit up more than it did before, and his eyes could rivals lying saucers.

The most recent time you said it was when there was a rumour going around school about you. Something about you and your relationship history, which was actually over way before it began. But people loved to hold onto things that gave them a reason to poke their nose where it didn't belong.

So, you never let it bother you. Miguel was a little harder to persuade, but eventually, he left it alone. And it was a good decision. The rumour died down, the people lost interest, and you had a good day at school. Until you stepped into the cafeteria to see Miguel and another student tussling on the ground. The two boys were rolling around, and only did they separate when two teachers pushed past the masses of people and forcibly pulled them away from each other. Both were sent to the nurse, and you followed behind. They were sat on the two beds that were there.

You sighed as you stood in front of your boyfriend that had his head down to look at your feet. He was swinging his legs and cracking his knuckles and playing with his fingers.

"Look at me, please." Your voice was gentle and held room for negative response. But he'd never deny you anything, so he looked up at you. You sighed again.

His face wasn't as bad as the other guy's, but it was still roughed up. He was holding a tissue to his bleeding nose, his eye was a little red, he had a scratch on his cheekbone, and his knuckles were spotted like a dalmatian.

You took another tissue, wet it with your water bottle, and held it up to his scratch. You just cleaned it a little, and his twitched his eye a little. You heard the nurse and the other boy talking in the next room.

You finished cleaning the scratch before putting on a plain bandaid. You stroked his cheek.

"What did you hit him for?"

Miguel grumbled. "He was talking about you and the other guys, about how he was one of them and that he made you feel better than I do."

You frowned. You didn't even remember the other guy's face, how could he have—

Oh.

You scrunched up your nose. You'd forgotten about that.

"Miguel, he was a one night stand. Two years ago. We were at a party, and a little tipsy, and we did it." You leaned a little closer to his face. He met your eyes with his own. "I can assure you, I didn't even remember his face until now. How could he have made me feel good?"

He breathed out a laugh. "What about me?" He was blushing a little bit as he asked. "Do I make you feel good?"

You kissed his bandaid, holding his face in your hands, smushing it a little. "You make me feel best."

He grinned. He liked grinning. He had a good grin. "I make you feel best?"

"Yes, you do."

"Even though we don't..."

"Even though we don't."

"I love you lots, you know?"

That made you giggle. "I love you lots too." His eyes shone like stars when you said that, making you bump your noses together. "Ain'tcha just the cutest?"

"I am?"

"You are."

You kissed his bandaid again.

stop my tummy’s fluttering

Eddie x Gareths sisterrrrr????? Like Romeo and Juliet type stuff where Gareth is like my sister is NOT dating you

thanks so much for your request, anon!! i had so much fun writing it!! there isn't much conflict with gareth, but i hope you like it anyway! jealous!eddie x girly!reader (1.6k)

bug's summer fic fest ♡

Gareth picks you up from the mall at six o’clock sharp.

You say goodbye to your friends, all of them wearing the same tank top and pleated skirt duo you’re in, before getting into the passenger seat of his pick-up truck. You’re dressed too nicely to be sat in such a beaten-up thing. Too pretty for it, too.

“Wanna get something to eat?” the boy asks as he pulls out of the parking lot, talking over the Dio song blaring on the radio.

He’s wearing his usual flannel vest over a tattered Metallica tee. The former is riddled with various vintage pins fitting for a metalhead. Down to his skull necklace, ripped jeans, and dirty sneakers — the two of you couldn’t be more different.

You flip down the visor and use the mirror to put on a swipe of glittery lipgloss. You feel almost naked without it. “Slurpees?” you offer before smacking your mouth to spread the sparkly glaze.

“That’s so not dinner,” Gareth laughs as he shakes his sandy curls. 

You arch a manicured brow in his direction. “Got a better idea?”

“Nope,” he concedes, popping the ‘p.’

He’s got too much of a soft spot for you to deny you of anything. Perks of being the youngest sibling, you suppose.

You feel butterflies fluttering like crazy in your stomach, their wings brushing the edges of your ribcage as he pulls into the gas station — and it’s not because of the $1 Slurpees. Your stepbrother’s best friend, Eddie Munson, usually deals drugs in the back parking lot on weekends. Like the absolute dreamboat he is. 

It’s been days since you last saw him. Six of them, to be exact, but it’s not like you’re counting or anything.

While Gareth waits in line to pay for your drink and his food, you decide to quell your yearning. It’s much more like a hunger, though. Whatever innocent crush you used to have is far more salient now. You miss Eddie like a dinner you didn’t get to eat — noticeably empty, weakened without his smile to bring you back to life.

You round the corner to the back lot and find him flipping through a wad of cash. He leans against the brick wall with one dirty sneaker kicked up against it. Despite the middle of summer head, he hasn’t yet forgone his leather jacket and dark denim jeans duo. He looks killer, as usual — so you could only imagine how he’d look out of them.

When he hears the sound of footsteps scuffing against pavement, he looks at you from the corner of his eye. His gaze is halfway hidden beneath his fluffy bangs before he turns to face you wholly. 

He grins at the sight of you, and you fill whole again.

“Hi, Teddy,” you greet with a smile, stained blue from your raspberry Slurpee.

He rises on both feet and tucks the money into the back pocket of his baggy jeans. His head tilts to his shoulder as he looks at you, too cute for his own good. “Whatcha doin’ out here, princess?”

Your stomach flutters at the nickname you’ve heard too many times to count. 

“Came to see you,” you shrug innocently, curling your smile around the straw of your drink.

Eddie beams, brows raising in amusement and cheeks reddening at your answer. He hopes you’re too far away to see his cheeks glowing as pink as they are now. He’d just blame it on the summer heat, anyway. 

“Really?” he lilts, voice light and airy with mirth.

You shrug as you swallow down the fruity slushy. “Gareth brought me for Slurpees.”

“How sweet.”

“Right?” you hum with a blue-tinted smirk, slowing when you finally reach the boy. His weed-tinged, woody musk envelopes you completely — he might as well be embracing you. “Best brother ever.”

Gareth isn’t really your brother, despite how often you call him that. You’re related by marriage, not by blood. You’ve known him your entire life, though, so you figure you might as well be.

Eddie knows this, so he smiles and takes a rather dramatic step back from you. “And that is exactly why I have to stay approximately three feet away from you at all times, princess.”

“Why’s that?” you squint at him.

When you take another step closer, he takes two more back.

“‘Cause he’s been threatening to beat my ass about dating you since we were thirteen.”

A smile quirks the right side of your lips. “Well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” you lilt.

Eddie’s brows raise at the mischievous inflection in your words. This time when you step towards him, he stays in place. “You’d really do that to him? To the ‘best brother ever?’”

You take another daring step towards him. Your chin tilts up to look at him in your ever-shortening proximity. “I’ve done far worse things than think his best friend is hot, Teddy.”

“Yeah?” the boy coos, chocolate eyes dancing with amusement as his chin dips to his chest to peer down at you. He makes the mistake of looking lower — at your breasts in your pretty little tank top and the silver of your stomach showing beneath the hem. He wants so desperately to hold you, despite everything that tells him he shouldn’t. His best friend, namely.

“And what’s that, princess?” the boy croons to you.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” you blink innocently up at him, then shrug. “Sorry.”

Eddie knows he shouldn’t be jealous, but he is. 

You’re not his, but god, you were so good at making him feel like you were. You were around so often, always so sweet in your way — sometimes, it felt like you really did belong to him. The thought of his girl with someone else makes him feel like puking.

Jealousy radiates from him like steam, palpable enough for you to feel. 

You grin.

“Don’t worry, Teddy,” you singsong, taking another goddamn step closer. Eddie knows he should be taking a thousand more backward, but your chest brushes his torso and he forgets how to walk. “I only have eyes for you.”

The boy swallows through a tightening throat. He nods for a moment, trying to work up the courage to use his voice. He’s scared that it’ll break, and he’ll lose all cool points with you. And he’s the rockstar, the older brother’s best friend — he can’t possibly have that.

“Good to know,” Eddie finally nods.

“Don’t keep me waiting too long, though. Might have to find some other metalhead to give me attention.”

Your smile widens when his jaw clenches, honeyed glaze hardening at the thought of you finding someone else. Your heart flutters when you realize that he sees you as his. He’s already been yours for a long, long time.

Gareth calls your name from a distance, muffled and far away. It’s nearly inaudible, but it knocks Eddie from his stupor all the same. “You should go, princess.” 

“My parents usually go to bed around nine. Gareth’s usually sucking in the ceiling by eleven,” you maunder suddenly, wide eyes sparkling with roguishness. “If you park your van a few houses down around midnight, no one will be the wiser…”

“You want me to sneak into your bedroom?” Eddie laughs softly to himself. He hasn’t done that since he was sixteen. He thought he was over chasing girls like that. Turns out, he wasn’t really. Not when it came to you, at least.

“Uh-huh,” you hum with a firm nod, lips wrapping around the red straw of your slushy right after.

“And what’s in it for me, huh?”

Truth be told, Eddie couldn’t give a shit. He already knows he’ll be at your house at 12 o’clock sharp, climbing up your trellis like some kind of offbeat Spiderman. He just wants to hear you tell him something, anything — a wish for him to go on for the next several hours while he’s stuck dealing in the heat, thinking about you.

You don’t answer him with words.

You rise on the tips of your toes, holding onto your Slurpee with one hand and using your free one to cup his cheek. You usher the boy softly towards you as you press your mouth to his. And it’s not the most heated kiss in the world or anything — just a languid, honeyed thing that makes your lips lock like they were made to do it.

Eddie’s idling hands rise to your waist. His ringed fingers squeeze the bare skin of your sides as he sighs against your mouth. You taste cold and sweet — like blue raspberry and ice and lipgloss — his savior in this heat. The tip of his nose smushes against the side of yours, desperate to melt with you entirely. He thinks it might be close to possible, having you so close in the sweltering summer evening.

He’s breathless when you pull away from him.

“More of that,” you answer through labored breaths. “And maybe a little extra, if you’re good.”

Eddie doesn’t bother denying his want for you anymore. Fuck it, he’ll just fight his best friend. He can take a punch if he has to, but he’s not sure Gareth could even throw one — especially not at the boy he’s known for practically half his life.

“Your bedroom’s the last window on the light, right?” Eddie asks through rosy, kiss-bitten lips.

“Yeah,” you grin, backing slowly away from him. “I’ll leave my light on.”

He nods until the words catch up with him. “Okay.”

“See you then, Teddy.”

When you turn the corner for the main parking lot, Eddie can finally breathe again. 

The air is noticeably less sweet without you around.

harry potter materlist

𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥

𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘺

⤑ characters

remus lupin | 

𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥

𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘺

⤑ remus lupin

puppy love & flowers

he's absolutely sure he loves you. he's absolutely sure you love him. flowers aren't given to just anybody.

𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥

𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘪 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦?

stranger things masterlist.

we’re talking away

i don’t know what i’m to say

⤑ characters

eddie munson | steve harrington

i’ll say it anyway

today is another day to find you

⤑ eddie munson

 i beggest thou pardon

you have an issue. eddie has a talent at acting. you have to get rid of a really sketchy guy. he has to get people to stop making up rumours about him and chrissy. a perfect problem. 

⤑ steve harrington

fear

you expect people to do die with honour, with bravery, with courage. you died with fear. steve can't know.

ain’t no sunshine

steve just wants cuddles. and he'll play the song on repeat until he gets them.

shyin’ away

oh, i’ll be coming for your love, okay?

fear — steve harrington

▸summary: you expect people to do die with honour, with bravery, with courage. you died with fear. steve can't know.

▸characters: steve harrington x gn!reader, eddie munson, dustin henderson

▸tw: angst. like, really bad. it's an issue.

▸a/n: i don't actually know what goes on inside my brain. for some reason, i just really like angst.

LOVE HURT.

IT was something that multiple people agreed upon. Steve Harrington was one of them. 

The whole party had some semblance of loss somewhere in their hearts, but Steve… 

It just seemed like something was gunning for him, sucking the happiness one loss at a time. 

Steve had never before known what love could’ve been until he met you. There was always something about you that never seemed to leave him alone. Whether it was that stupid grin, the stupid hair, the stupid arms, the stupid hugs, the stupid sappy words. Everything that Steve missed out on was being passed onto him like he was a reject shop, which was what he felt like. You gave him love, gave him hope, gave him life even. 

Then you died. 

When Dustin and Eddie came back through the portal without you, Steve freaked out. When Dustin couldn’t scream the words without them catching in his throat, Steve begged him to keep them there. When Dustin said he wasn’t strong enough to carry you and Eddie was on his way to collapse, Steve screamed that he was. He was strong. He could do it. He could, he promised he could. With tears in his eyes and dirt on his face and his hand on his chest, he promised he could carry you back. With his knees on the ground and his voice lost in the wind, he promised he could. 

So he ripped himself up like he wanted to rip his heart out of his body, ignoring the cries and begs of the people behind him. He had never moved faster in his life than when he was climbing into that portal, throwing open the caravan door, sprinting to the figure that lay in the dust. His voice returned as he screeched, flailing his arms to rid the area of any of the bats that might have smelled the meat, the fresh kill. There were no bats flying. They had all dropped a while ago. He knelt next to the person he had recklessly given everything to, shaking your shoulders and begging you to wake up. He didn’t stop asking the favour, even when he claimed it was too cold for you here, dragging you body upright into a standing position. He didn’t stop asking even when he began walking, praying that your legs would move the same way. They left tracks in the dirt as they dragged. He didn’t stop begging even when he screamed at Nancy to pull you through. She could feel the toll that death had taken on you. The loss of muscle, the eerie stillness. Yet, Steve still didn’t stop begging even when he said that you were safe now. 

Wake up now. You can’t sleep here. You have to wake up.

Your eyes were open. 

There was no such thing as peace at that moment. Nobody was blessed with the grieving silence. Steve wouldn’t let that happen. He didn’t want it to be silent, not when you loved to make noise. Not when you would laugh at his lame jokes. He couldn’t be silent in his efforts to somehow make you wake up. 

Eddie sat on the ground, his back propped up against the wall. He stared straight ahead, his facial expression not changing even as there was a tear. Nancy and Robin didn’t even try forcing their faces still. They twisted and sobbed and cried no matter how hard they tried to stifle it. They didn’t want to add to Steve’s pain. Dustin was in worse shape. He didn’t know what to do. Does he hug Steve? Does he leave him alone? Does he cry? Does he stay strong? What does he do? So, he stands there. He stands there, and he cries, and Steve doesn’t see. He can’t see. The blurriness of his vision paired with the agonising pain in his brain and his heart just makes it so that he doesn’t see anything. He can’t even remember how they got your body to the hospital. 

Telling your parents sucked. Steve couldn’t actually do it. He stood at one of the tables, folding clothes for the people packed in the stadium, the ones that had their houses crushed in the ‘earthquake’. He stood there, and he looked horrible. He was pale. He had bags under his eyes. He was thin. His eyes were red and his nose was raw. He couldn’t even talk properly. His hands shook. His knees trembled when your parents walked over. 

Dustin had spoken to them. Told them how you died. Or, how you ‘died’. You were caught saving him and Eddie in the ‘earthquake’, and you had died. He chose to keep the fact that you had stood alone, surrounded by a swarm of bats after pushing Eddie out of the fray into Dustin’s arms. 

The funny thing was, you didn’t die from the wounds from the bats. You didn’t even sustain many. Sure, you had enough that it would’ve put you in serious danger, but it wasn’t the wounds that killed you. Dustin may have been a little delirious, but he didn’t imagine you clutching your chest and dropping like a sack of potatoes. He didn’t imagine the jerk your body made as you breath caught. He didn’t imagine you dying standing up. He may not have been a doctor, but he wasn’t stupid. He was a nerd, and nerds read. 

You had a heart attack. The fear had actually killed you. You had been scared to death. 

That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was when the bats began to swan dive straight onto you. That was the worst part. That was the part that got Dustin screaming himself awake at night. That was the part that pushed Dustin to drag Eddie away, away from you. You didn’t feel it, at least. Steve didn’t even know how you died. Dustin knew that if Steve knew, he’d actually go mental. So, he and Eddie swore never to tell anyone else. Not family, not the party, no-one. 

So when your mother came walking over to the Harrington boy, tears collecting in her eyes as she stretched her arms out, his knees finally gave out. He collapsed in her arms, filling her ears with never ending apologies. She shushed him, sobbing. Soon, your father joined the hug, and the three of them cried over your heroic sacrifice. 

Meanwhile, Dustin and Eddie looked on from opposite sides. They exchanged glances, and went back to their own work. They never had to know that your death was so out of place, that you died with that much fear. They never had to know that you had cried that you didn’t want to be there. They didn’t have to know that you had asked Eddie to take you home. They never had to know that you asked Dustin for one more hug. 

Love hurt, but they didn’t have to know how much worse it could get. 

They kept their mouths shut.

cobra kai masterlist. 

𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦 

𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥

⤑ characters

miguel diaz | 

𝘪'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 

𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘱, 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

⤑ miguel diaz

nothing like this

you believed you were ready for anything. anything did not mean this. nothing like this.

ain’tcha just the cutest?

you have a phrase that you love to say to your boyfriend. miguel loves when you say it. win-win.

𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩 

𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥

#fancy a bit of brain surgery he says #like ??? #😭😭

dodgerfox in every episode ♡ 1.03 “dead men's secrets”

thank you so much this is such high praise 🥹🥹🫶🫶

ain't no sunshine — steve harrington

▸summary: steve just wants cuddles. and he'll play the song on repeat until he gets them.

▸characters: steve harrington x gn!reader

▸tw: tooth. rotting. FLUFF

▸a/n: i did not die. have some happy words.

HE MUST'VE HAD the song downloaded four-hundred times on his cassette tape, because you were just about ready to bash your head in when the beginning notes played from Steve's bedroom. 

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, it's not warm when she's away.

You were in the living room, finishing up some writings that you had due for your classes when you gazed unamused at the ceiling. He'd been playing the song on repeat, singing along badly in order to coax you into giving him some love and affection as you always did on a Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, this deadline was currently taking priority, and Steve was being a drama queen about it. 

You still had about four pages to write, as well as some questions to answer before anything else took over your mind, so you had to suffer. 

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, and she's always gone too long, anytime she goes away.

You'd practically memorised the words and melody to this song, mouthing them with good ol' Bill Withers as he provided sustenance to feed Steve's dramatics. You could hear Steve's faux grieving voice as he sang along, making the song a whole heap more dramatic than the original recording. 

Wonder this time where she's gone, wonder if she's gonna stay.

Trying to persevere through the loud stereo blasting muffled music above your head is a lot more difficult than you might imagine. Ever since you had gone to his place in a tizzy that you had things to do before a deadline and couldn't afford any distractions, you had banished him to his room, and for about an hour, had some quiet. 

That changed when the second hour became the third, and the music started when the sun began to go down, reeling on loop as though it was a broken record. 

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, and this house just ain't no home, any time she goes away.

You smiled slightly, though. For all of Steve's dramatics and ridiculous behaviours, he loved you, and you loved him. All of his quirks made him special to you, and you loved to be with him no matter what was happening around the world, especially when the whole Upside Down thing began catching up to him, mentally and physically. Now, he was a cuddly baby that loved hugging you. He always said that he felt safer to sleep in your arms. 

And I know, I know, I know, I know...

He must've given up on singing, because Steve's voice could no longer be heard. Probably ran out of oxygen. Good. He needed to rest after the whole Russian situation. You only had one page left to write and a few more questions to do before you could give your Steve what he needed so desperately. 

A hug. And a fat nap.

You sighed as the tape continued playing the bridge, scrawling your pencil over the paper. You had started with gorgeous cursive, and had evolved into writing chicken scratch to speed up the time. Two questions down, half a page to go...

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone, but ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

Three lines, two sentences, aaaaand...

Done.

Throwing the pencil down and thudding the book shut, you pushed yourself to a standing position, practically bounding up the stairs, dragging yourself up by the handrails. 

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.

You came to the first floor landing, stepping onto the carpeted floor with your socked feet and beelined for Steve's room. The door was shut, but Bill's soothing voice carried through the wood, almost getting impossibly loud as you inched closer. 

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone, and this house just ain't no home, any time she goes away.

Stepping into the room as you swing open the door, the final outro of the song is echoing through, fading away. You smile to find Steve on his back, staring at the ceiling as he waits for the next loop to begin. 

You are silent as you halt the tape, crawling onto the bed and giving him a big ol' smooch. He looks at you with innocent and wide eyes, a big fat smile settling on his face. 

"All done?" he asks. 

You nod, confirming. "All done."

You yelp as he flings himself at you, wrapping his arms around your waist and tumbling over the other side of the bed. He's quick to bring the covers over you both, leaving the bed side light on. A new habit, but it didn't bother you. 

You tussled for a little, finding a comfortable position that agreed with all parties and bones. You settled on bear hugging him as he tangled your legs together and kept his nose near your hair. 

You giggled, running your nails down his back. "You big baby." 

He grumbled. "Ain't no sunshine when you're not here."

^^^^

From Under the Rubble... I Write My Story 🌿

I never thought I would write these words… 😔

I never imagined waking up to endless screams,

Running barefoot through smoke and fire,

Searching for my mother among the rubble,

Only to find nothing but silence… a heavy silence telling me that no one will answer me anymore. 💔

In one moment, everything changed.

Our home became a memory, my mother’s embrace became the past,

And my father's face, now absent, is the last thing I hold in my memory.

They’re gone… and left my heart burdened with unspoken grief. 😢

But despite everything, we are still here… trying.

I survived with my younger siblings.

Yes, we survived… but who are we after survival?

Children without warmth, without a roof, with no place to return to.

We were displaced to an unknown place, carrying a bag empty of everything… except pain. 🥀

We slept in the open, waking every morning to a life that holds nothing for us,

But despite everything… we keep trying. 💪

I write to you today not to cry, but to ask for hope. 🌱

I ask you to be a small light in this vast darkness,

To extend a hand that can mend what the war has broken in us.

Your donation will give my siblings a chance to sleep safely,

It will provide us with food, shelter, and maybe even a new beginning. 💖

Chuffed

Help Naser & His Brothers Rebuild Their Future

My name is Naser AbuThaher , and my world has been shattered by war. I lost my beloved mother and sister in an attack that took them away fr

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #586 )✅️

Any amount, no matter how small, is big for us

It’s a prayer, it’s love, it’s life. 🌟

In conclusion...

From my heart, and from the hearts of my little siblings,

Thank you to everyone who has donated,

Thank you to everyone who has read,

Thank you to everyone who has shared.

You are the proof that goodness does not die, and that humanity has no boundaries. 💚