#( i crY )

[mrsjellymunson]

OH DAMN.

I acquired chronic illnesses that are very disabling in my early 30s, and this line cut my heart:

“That last little bit of hope that he could be what he used to be dies, but he's learning to be content with what he does have.”

I felt this in my soul. Thank you for examining Eddie in this way 🙏

Steve and Eddie who kind of flop in life and end up poor, living in a trailer in a different small town living quiet lives of no import.

The kids, Robin, Nancy, and Johnathan all seem to take the small handful of opportunities offered to them by the government in the aftermath of the Upsidedown to take off and make something of their lives. They're off writing headlines, making news, and living their lives to the best of their abilities, but Steve and Eddie find themselves stuck.

Steve stayed in Hawkins until the kids graduated and left for college. By then Nancy, Johnathan, and Robin are all in their second or third years of college. John and Nancy have their own apartment in New York together and don't reach out all that often, only seeing the rest of the Hawkins crew on Holidays and some vacations. Robin is flourishing at an all-women's college in Maine and has a partner and a cat and plans for graduate school brewing. She's always saying Steve can come out and join her whenever he's ready, but when the time comes it feels like he would just be trying to insert himself in the middle of a life he doesn't know how to fit into, so he turns to Eddie instead.

Eddie is permanently disabled in a number of ways following the events of season four. He struggles with chronic pain, has breathing issues due to the loss of part of his right lung, and lost enough muscle mass in his left leg that walking will never be easy or done without the use of a walker or arm bar crutches. The doctors said he recovered as well as he could have. The kids said he would get better with time. Wayne said it didn't matter if he never got better, he could do anything he set his mind to.

Steve is the only person who tells him the truth.

Steve tells him that it sucks. Tells him that it will probably always hurt. Doesn't give him false hope when he's trying to grieve the loss of the life he wanted to live. The goals he wanted to reach. When he falls deeper and deeper into himself, stuck in the muck of depression, Steve is the only person he lets in. The kids try their best but their lives are moving fast, and taking care of someone like Eddie is exhausting, no matter what they try to say. Eventually, everyone but Dustin gives up on reaching out, the younger boy showing up every Sunday to try and get Eddie out of the house. He always leaves disappointed.

When Steve asks him if he wants to use what's left of their partly government payouts and Steve's equally meager Family Video savings to buy a truly shitty trailer in a town an hour and a half south of Hawkins in the fall of 1990, it feels like the first boon he's been given in almost five years. He'll never be who he could have been if he had ignored Chrissy that day in 86', but he's always thought maybe he could be more than a ghost between Wayne's walls if he could just get out of this god-forsaken town full of people who know too much and too little of what's happened to him.

They get the trailer, pack what little they have, let Wayne hug them close, and leave.

Steve has already transferred to their new town's Family Video, moving up to claim the dubious honor of being the opening manager. Mostly he just unlocks the door, signs into the computer, and makes sure nothing catches fire. Eddie hoped that moving would miraculously make him fit to enter back into the world, but he spends most of his days with a blanket on the front porch, watching people pass by. He does, though, finally accept that he needs to apply for disability to help Steve keep the lights on and the water hot. That last little bit of hope that he could be what he used to be dies, but he's learning to be content with what he does have. He starts taking a walk, just ten minutes around the loop of the trailer park saying hi and trading polite nods with his fellow residents. He's not ok, but he's starting to build a new community of people not too different from himself.

The new trailer only has one bedroom. Eddie sleeps on a fold-out mattress in the living room. It had been a major argument when they first moved in with Steve insisting that Eddie needed the bed. Eddie argued that it wasn't fair for him to take the room when Steve was the one working 40 hours a week to keep them afloat. In the end, Eddie was the more stubborn of the two. It helps that Eddie has absolutely no qualms about crawling into bed with Steve on the nights when the couch bed really won't cut it for his aching body. Steve never questions it, just shuffles over a little and lets the other man in.

Steve doesn't question a lot of stuff.

He doesn't question when all their effects are shared between them with no effort to distinguish between yours and mine, Eddie's and Steve's. He doesn't question it four months in when Eddie starts to get his feet under him and decides to take up cooking, always trying his best to have everything done just as Steve walks through the door. He doesn't question when a good chunk of Eddie's first disability check goes to buying Steve a sturdy, if not very fashionable, new watch for his birthday since his old one went bust almost a year ago.

He doesn't question it when Eddie holds his hand for the first time under the stars hanging above their front porch.

He doesn't question it when Eddie introduces him to one of his new neighbor friends with a hand resting comfortably on his lower back

He doesn't question it when Eddie starts sleeping in the bedroom every night.

Or makes him box mix cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

Or kisses him for the first time on the couch that's never a bed unless they want to spend the day binge-watching bargain bin films.

Because really, isn't this how it was always going to go? Wasn't this exactly what Steve was asking when he asked Eddie to skip town with him?

Isn't this what Eddie was hoping for when he said yes?

[einsomeone]

[ilta222]

my child had gifted me art. he calls it "meowlk'

[bloos-bloo]

My Sozo is just a bundle of anxiety as he should be 🫡 Shamura isn’t the trophy spouse- he is

AND YES- HE DOES HAVE A PROSTHETIC LEG >:D THE COMIC IS STILL CANON

I’m testing something with his design- and idk if I like it yet- butttt I blame Kat and Cake for the Sozo brain worms- tee hee-

[frilledcat]

yelling into the void really loud

[ria-neearts]

Nightmares.

[burger-a]

😭😭😭😭😭

“Do you think we’re together in every universe?”

“I hope not”

(Antimachus/sharpwolf)

[kymsys]

let it snow. ❄️ shoko took this photo 😌 this was when they still had happy winter holidays together. this is what they should be doing on every christmas eve instead. im not crying you're crying.

[unadulteratedloathings]

I did know her That is, our paths did cross...

[lucienarcheron]

✨meet me in the afterglow✨

DELIGHTED to share this beautiful elucien piece I commissioned from @/the_megabee33 on Instagram 🥰 Emily (@toastyrobos) took my vision and ran with it and I ADORE how it came out! I’ve been screaming, crying, and throwing up joyfully since I saw it 🥹♥️ I was thinking of saving it until July for elucien week so forgive me because how could I when I can give you some ✨fated mates in their wedding bliss✨ right now!! 

*please do not repost anywhere!

[godmerlin]

Merlin 5x13 Diamond of the Day: Part 2

[ohno-the-sun]

Yall should read @muzzlemouths fic (Don’t) Fear the Reaper

It’s so good I love it so much

And it’s interactive y’all it’s so fun

Scene from chapter 3, just sort of what I imagined

[damntheyare]

Once upon a time there lived a princess. She had the kindest heart in the kingdom. There was not a soul to whom she would offer help and love. She loved to sing, but no one heard her song. Once upon a time there lived a demon. The most terrible demon in the entire kingdom. People said that he had no heart and that was why he was so cruel and scary. He loved to listen to songs, but no one sang to him

[homuraholic]

ほむまど by 193縣道 [pixiv] [twitter]

♡ reprint permission was granted by the artist.

[ro-bee]

Let's do the Time Warp again !!