#I SEE HIM AND I BECOME MONSTER FUCKER FOR REAL

[sentiniel]

adopting the curious cat as my fursona i will not be taking questions thank you very much

[pinksilkribbons]

YANDERE! WEREWOLF: REESE

CW/TW: f!reader, werewolves (duh), some minor violence, breaking and entering, kidnapping, (slight) fear kink, breeding/impreg kink, scent kink, one dub-con ass slap, slight nsfw, not full smut, reese is just a pervert idk yall

this isn’t proof read and is kinda rushed don’t get on my ass if it sucks yall 😭 but yes this blog IS monster fucker friendly :)

Yandere!Werewolf whose pack stays deep in the woods.

Yandere!Werewolf who is expected to be the next leader of the pack once he finds a suitable mate.

Yandere!Werewolf who constantly gets in trouble with the elders.

“Reese you know better than to wander off! What if an outsider spotted you, huh?”

“It’s about time you take on a mate, don’t you think? You know you can’t take the throne until you find someone!”

Yandere!Werewolf who thinks all the pack elders are dramatic. He’s an alpha for fucks sake! The strongest there is. Only second to the pack leader himself.

So what if he wants to go beyond the woods sometimes? He can do as he pleases! As for a mate..he’ll get one when he sees fit!

Yandere!Werewolf who went out one night while everyone else was asleep. He was bored and restless.

Just as he was heading near the end of the woods he finds a small cottage that he knows hasn’t always been there.

It was real small, though. Way too small for any werewolf.

‘It can’t be…’

One peek won’t hurt right? He’s just gotta check and make sure it isn’t another werewolf. Gotta protect the pack after all!

With a cautious hand he slowly creaks open the bedroom window. Unfortunately, his long claws created a horrible screeching noise against the glass, definitely alerting the human- er, lone werewolf!

Alerting the lone werewolf of his presence.

Yandere!Werewolf who rushes inside in a panic. If he’s already given himself away it’s better to just hurry up and confirm his curiosity. Then, he’s going back home!

A part of him feels nervous. If it is a lone werewolf he shouldn’t have any trouble fighting them off. A human, though?

He’s heard plenty of horror stories. Especially of the humans who they call hunters. That entire species is the only reason why his pack must conceal their existence in the first place.

He hated to admit it, but the idea of encountering a hunter made his stomach churn.

But, even harder to admit, it made another part of him feel warm. The kind of warmness that made his knot flare up and sent him into an early rut.

“Hello? …Is anyone there?”

Reese felt his ear twitch at the soft, feminine voice. Her voice was smooth and wrapped around his body like a blanket.

He steps towards the voice.

“Please! Who’s there? Show yourself!”

The voice becomes more rushed. More panicked. More scared. Fuck, human girls sure are cute.

“Last chance! Or i’ll shoot you! I swear to god!!”

He’s getting closer. She’s right behind this door, in the bathroom. His hand snaps towards the knob, twisting it with a rush and-

BANG!

A sharp pain crushes his body, sending his body into an instant rage. A smoking hole leads straight through the door and right to his shoulder. Reese turns off his brain for a moment and lets his alpha take control instead.

He rips open the door with an animalistic growl, bits of wood flying everywhere. His eyes dart left and right before finally spotting the human, crouched down and shaking in fear.

She sports a long white dress that reaches her ankles. One that reminds him of maternity wear the women in his pack use during mating season.

His inner alpha chants at him to move.

To pounce at her and claim her for himself. Give her his seed, make her his mate, and give her plenty of pups that they could care for together.

The human smells real nice anyway. Definitely fertile. He doesn’t have a mate yet so…would it be so wrong?

Loud sobs bring him back to his senses. “Please mister, I ain’t do nothing to you!” She sinks further into herself if even possible.

The woman holds a small pistol close to her chest. He’s only encountered human weapons a few times and he’s not familiar with that one. That’s definitely what caused the damage to his shoulder though.

Reese is unsure about what to do. This whole thing went way different than he expected. The original plan was to just sneak inside, look at the human for a bit, then leave.

Now he has a hard dick and a bleeding shoulder. His pack would be in his ass if he came back injured with no head to show for it. Thats like admitting he was defeated by someone else.

Definitely not an option. Maybe he should kill her then?

Take her back home and give her your knot. The elders keep bothering you about finding a mate anyway. Who better to keep the pack safe from humans than a human herself?

“Kill two birds with one stone, right?” Mating the human seemed like the best way to get out of this with no consequences. The entire pack would be real jealous to find out he’s mated a hunter. Plus, she could provide extra protecting with her human weapon.

Reese approached the girl and crouched down to her height. His body easily towered over her, something his alpha really liked.

She’s real small. Smells so fertile. Fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen? Let’s take her home.

He smiled mischievously, sharp teeth sending a chill down your spine. He’s made his decision. “Alright, mate. You can quit crying. I won’t kill ya.”

You sniffled while slowly resting down the pistol. You’re out of bullets and this ..thing clearly isn’t any match for you. A part of you wonders if this is the werewolves your father constantly warned you about.

Werewolves ain’t real though. You a lot of things, but you ain’t dumb. Same way you ain’t dumb enough to believe this intruder isn’t here to kill you. He looked like he was gonna rip your head off just seconds ago.

“Just make it quick please,” You beg, fighting off more tears. Your daddy was right when he said nothing good comes out of living in these woods.

“You got it, baby! I’ll get us back home in no time.”

Reese grabs your frail body with ease, delivering a harsh smack to your ass. He chuckles lowly at the jiggle of skin against his hands.

All the while you’re thrashing against him and begging him to let you go. It actually surprised him to see you still resisting. Youre the one who told him to hurry up and get home!

You sure are confusing. No matter though. He’ll understand humans the longer he’s with you.

Cause one things for sure: you won’t be leaving anytime soon.

Yandere!Werewolf who wakes up the whole pack to alert them of his find. They all snarl angrily at the “hunter”, baring their claws aggressively.

Yandere!Werewolf who has to yell at everyone to back off. When he demands respect for his mate it goes silent. Everyone begins whispering, clearly surprised at his reveal.

Yandere!Werewolf that feels pride swell in his heart as each member bows down in respect. His mate looks shocked more than anything.

Yandere!Werewolf who laughs when you begin freaking out, not wrapping your mind behind the existence of werewolves.

“You’re a hunter, baby. I’m sure you know at least a little about our kind.”

Yandere!Werewolf who laughs even harder when you insist you aren’t a hunter. Only kind of humans that can hurt werewolves are hunters. You’re just a little scared right now!

Now quit lying to him before he gets mad.

Yandere!Werewolf who gets the approval of the current leader without even trying. It’s official now.

You will bear his pups, lead the pack by his side, and stay with him until he ceases to exist. How romantic.

“Hey. I forgot to ask. What’s your name, mate?”

Well, as romantic as Reese can get, anyway.

[cartoon-buffoon]

Okay because I came up with a (in my humble opinion) the FIRE ship name of "Starbuck" which is Monster Frankie X the contestant, I wanna explain why this ship is so good because y'all fr sleeping on it. Unlike Rabbit royale which I've been seeing as portrayed as a toxic yoai situation where neither parties are good for each other, Starbuck is DOOMED yoai and it makes it SOOOO GOOD, now lemme set the scene real quick:

Monster Frankie has been acclimated to being the star of the show. No contestant has ever survived more than a few MINUTES. He's a sadistic killer who fucking GIGGLES when he kills someone, there's nothing the bastard loves more than crushing people and having all the audience watch him do it. A new season starts and the plan changes a bit, he has orders to NOT kill the contestant and this is what bothers him. He's mad, after all this is HIS gameshow, he is Frankie, the star, the one everyone comes to watch kill, and suddenly he's not supposed to do that? I mean, he does ATTEMPT to listen but ultimately he argues with Real Frankie about it because he's pissed, he doesn't want this nobody to survive until Hexa-Havoc, he wants them fucking DEAD! He goes out of his way to kill the contestant yet he's stopped by Real Frankie and this ultimately leads to the final confrontation. When he sees Real Frankie try to help the contestant out he's enraged and grabs him by the springy wrist and effectively tells that smiley bastard to fuck off and he's done, the plan is over, they made it to Hexa Havoc meaning what happens now is FAIR GAME!

And it was a fair game, but THAT'S THE ISSUE! In a fair fight with the platforms disappearing and them giving chase they somehow lose. For the first time in 50-something seasons they actually LOSE, this random nobody comes in and beats them and they get sent into an incinerator. Not only that, but after he comes back to life with his consciousness going into a spare suit they had he finds that same fucker who beat him as a contestant in the NEXT season.

And this is where it starts

Season after season Monster Frankie chases with the contestant running and ultimately beating him each and every time. Obstacles change, renovations are made to the parkour palace, seasons tick by. But never once does Monster Frankie figure out how to beat this masked weirdo who just showed up and asserted themselves as this reoccurring guest. His fame, his fun, EVERYTHING that he had built up as a cruel and relentless killer who the audience bets on to murder is flipped upside down. It's this loss after loss that makes Monster Frankie stop thinking the contestant is some lucky little fuck, he begins to realize what he's losing to is SKILL!

THAT'S WHERE IT BLOOMS! There's this unspoken rivalry that starts between them. Monster Frankie will continue to hunt and the contestant will continue to run, the contestant has this constant thrill of being near death thanks to this giant toothy rabbit and Monster Frankie has this little thorn in his side who continues to best him. He's intrigued, mad, but ultimately he can't help but feel a sort of attraction to this. And maybe it ain't one sided? After all the thrill of getting chased is what keeps the contestant coming back after each season and no one else gives them such a rush expect for Monster Frankie. Even if they don't talk much (at least they don't on camera, what happens off screen is left up to anyone's imagination ╮⁠(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)⁠╭ ) they still fall for each other and find themselves constantly trying to beat the other in this constant hunt.

All good things must come to an end though. As one would guess watching the same person get chased by the same monster may become boring to the audience. You can only change up the obstacles so much before it STILL becomes boring to the watchers. Now's the tragic part: the show has to change. It HAS to, the ratings are starting to drop and then higher ups are demanding things to be shaken up leading both to make a choice. If Monster Frankie and his continuous failures has bored the audience which is gonna force the higher ups to scrap him, they're gonna get rid of him and instead have something else replace him, idk maybe some NEW mascot and he'll be left forgotten and in the incinerator instead of getting a new body. On the other hand the contestant could die, the reigning champ could be dethroned leading to a new champ to possibly rise leading to a new fan favorite the audience can cheer for.

Whatever the case then end is near for the two. One of them is doomed no matter what, one HAS to perish and it's beyond devastating. This rivalry that blossomed into love, what started off as hate that became fondness and possibly even affection is torn away by the same gameshow that brought them both together. It's this tragedy that makes this ship SOOOO FUCKING GOOD! AHHH! I FUCKING LOVE THIS, YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA!

[room-surprise]

IS LAIOS A FURRY? AN ANALYSIS.

(Laios imagining himself transforming into a wolf in Marcille's mindscape.)

(SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ENTIRE MANGA! This is an excerpt and elaboration from The Essay about cultural and linguistic references in Dungeon Meshi)

WHAT IS A FURRY?

The furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters. Some examples of anthropomorphic attributes can include human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes, but not all of these traits must be present at the same time. Warrior Cats, The Lion King, Zootopia and Sonic the Hedgehog all have huge furry fandoms, to give a few examples.

Many furry fans feel a deep connection to these characters and desire to “become” one through designing their fantasy alter-egos (a furry persona, or fursona), making artwork, role-playing, and if they can afford it, building and wearing costumes called fursuits that allow them to dress up as their fursona in real life.

(Laios' ultimate monster design, you could argue this is his fursona that he's been dreaming about, and refining since childhood.)

Ryoko Kui self-identified as a furry on her blog a long time ago, saying that she “was a furry in high school.” I’ve been unable to track down the original artwork or blog post that states this in order to cite it properly, but I think by looking at Kui’s extensive history, interest, and skill in drawing animals, monsters, and anthropomorphic characters, one can clearly see the “furry” influence.

She has a very clear interest in the intersection between humans and animals, several of her characters are furry characters, and a lot of her work appeals strongly to furry fans in ways that work made by non-furries often does not. She even makes an extremely specific joke about the Japanese furry subculture in a comic about Lycion and Laios arguing about authenticity, which I will get to in a moment.

But whether or not Kui has ever considered herself a furry, I think it’s safe to say that she’s on the internet enough that she must be aware of the subculture, and so it’s possible that she wrote Laios with that in mind.

Laios’ intense desire to become a monster, the way he repeatedly fantasizes about being a dog or wolf, his fascination with all animals (but especially monsters), his skill at drawing animals (and lack of skill in drawing people, or anything else), his interest in becoming a beast-man, and his desire to visit a kobold country because they look like dog-people, all paint a very vivid picture of his interests, and his experiences match up astonishingly well with the experiences of many people who identify as furries.

Western fans often call Laios as a “furry,” or a “monster fucker” mostly as a joke, however I think this should be taken as seriously as interpreting him as asexual or autistic, which are other labels fandom commonly applies to him in a more serious manner… And, incidentally, there is a great deal of overlap between the autistic, asexual and furry communities, so if Laios is one of these things, it’s also very possible that he’s some of the others, too… Even if Kui didn’t intend it, and simply modeled Laios after “some people she’s known” without realizing they were furries, autistic, or asexual, or any combination of the three. This happens frequently in fiction.

I think the most accurate broad labels for Laios would be “therian” and “monster fetishist,” because I believe these two terms encompass the canonical behavior we see from him in the manga and extra materials in a way that I think “furry” and “monster fucker” do not.

JAPANESE FURRY FANDOM: KEMONO VS. KEMONOMIMI

Japanese furries use the terms kemonā (ケモナー) to describe themselves, or kemono (ケモノ) to describe the characters they create and love. Both words mean “furry,” as in, covered in fur.

In the What-If comic where Lycion and Laios meet, Laios awkwardly says that Lycion isn’t a real furry because turning into a beast-man didn’t change him into a wolf on the inside.

“Isn’t that just like wearing a pair of animal ears on a headband and saying you’re a beast-man?” Laios asks, to which Lycion derisively tells Laios that he is just a “beast-man wannabe” or “poseur.”

This is a direct reference to one of the major conflicts in the Japanese Kemono fandom: are characters who are mostly human, but have animal ears and tails really kemono, or do they not count? The general consensus in the fandom is that ears and tail alone are insufficient; these characters are called kemonomimi, literally “beast ears”, like the headband Laios references. Most “cat-girl” characters fall into this category.

A real kemono character includes a muzzle instead of a normal human face and/or an animal-like appearance on the body surface, such as fur, scales, or feathers. According to researcher Inokuchi Tomohiro, this is due to the recognition that "disconnection from humans" is a crucial factor that distinguishes between kemono and non-kemono. He then defines kemono as "an animal that is depicted as a non-human being, but with the potential for mutual understanding/communication with humans.”

By this definition, Izutsumi in Dungeon Meshi is a kemono (furry) and not a kemonomimi (cat-girl), since her body is covered in fur, and she doesn’t have human breasts, but a more beast-like torso. The Winged Lion, the Goat, Kuro the kobold, and possibly the orcs are all kemono (anthropomorphic animal) characters as well.

IS LAIOS A THERIAN?

Though the terminology is very modern, and wouldn’t exist in the Dungeon Meshi setting, it’s possible that if Laios existed in the modern world he might identify as a type of Otherkin known as a Therian. Otherkin and Therians are sometimes part of the Furry fandom, but the two subcultures do not overlap completely.

Otherkin are a subculture of people who identify as nonhuman. Some Otherkin believe their identity derives from spiritual phenomena (such as possessing a nonhuman soul, reincarnation, or the will of God), ancestry, symbolism, or metaphor. Others attribute it to unusual psychology or neurodivergence and do not hold spiritual beliefs on the subject.

Therian refers to people who identify specifically as a real animal of the natural world. The species of animal a therian identifies as is called a theriotype. Therians mainly attribute their experiences of therianthropy to either spirituality or psychology, and often use the term "species dysphoria" to describe their feelings of disconnect from their human bodies and their underlying desire to live as their theriotype. The identity "trans species" is used by some.

Therians may seek out opportunities to perform species-affirming acts like wearing costumes, adopting animal-like behaviors such as making species-specific noises, eating species-specific foods, or moving/performing actions that their theriotype would do.

For example, someone with a horse theriotype may experience joy from snorting and neighing, pulling a cart, stomping their feet, or having a vegetarian diet. Someone with a shark theriotype may want to swim every chance they get, or enjoy eating a lot of raw fish. They may have special accessories they like to wear that make them feel connected to their theriotype, like animal ears on a headband, an actual animal’s tail or a symbolic tail hanging from their belt, an animal tooth necklace, or even just a t-shirt that has an image of their theriotype on it.

In Laios’ case, we know that he likes to imagine himself as a wolf, and in the real world he enjoys/is proud of his ability to bark and move like a dog. He’s practiced and performed this dog impression so often and so well that Falin thinks it’s his most noteworthy and amazing skill. He clearly holds hunting dogs in high esteem and admires them, and says that he learned many important life lessons from spending time with them. He enjoys playing with leftovers from monsters they kill (bones, skin, seeds, fur, etc.) and sometimes tries to collect them for either practical or sentimental reasons… And at the end of the manga he takes the pelt of his ultimate monster form and chooses to wear it as a cape, something that he continues to do for the rest of his life, possibly just because he likes to wear it, or because wearing it eases the pain of no longer being the ultimate monster.

It’s also possible that he’s only wearing it because he thinks it is a pragmatic, politically expedient move, but I think Kui very clearly communicates to us that Laios likes his monster cape, and it is the one thing he immediately thinks of when he wants to try and be king “on his own terms.” He’s willing to accept being king… if he can wear his monster cape. Whether or not it’s a good idea to wear it is secondary to the fact that he wants to do it.

Otherkin and Therian are of course both modern names for this phenomenon, but the concept of people strongly identifying with and being fascinated by animals is as old as humankind itself, so it isn’t impossible that Laios may feel this way, since so much of his behavior overlaps with things a Therian might do or feel.

MONSTER FETISHISM

In English, the word fetish originally described an object believed to have supernatural powers. Fetishes are often used in a spiritual or religious context. However, over time the word fetish has been used so frequently as a euphemism to describe a type of unconventional sexual interest that “sexual fetish” has become the primary meaning of “fetish” in English.

Fetishism is a sexual fixation on an activity, inanimate object, living thing, or human body part that is not normally involved in sex. The object of this interest is called the fetish; the person who has a fetish for that object is a fetishist. The current medical consensus is that sexual fetishes are very common, and as long as they do not negatively impact a person’s life, they are harmless.

Like the English word fetish, the Japanese word 趣味 (shumi), has multiple meanings, such as “hobby”, “interests/tastes”, but it is also used euphemistically to refer to “sexual taste, vice, or fetish.” What meaning is intended must be intuited by the context surrounding the word. I believe the other words used to discuss fetishes are the loan words フェティッシュ (fetisshu) or フェチ (fechi), but these are extremely blunt and direct, and shumi is preferred in situations where polite euphemism, ambiguity or plausible deniability is desired, or is perhaps even necessary in order to make a joke.

Shumi is used throughout Dungeon Meshi to describe various people’s interests, including Laios’ interest in monsters.

Meanwhile Namari’s interest in race-specific weapons and gear is never explicitly identified as shumi as far as I’m aware, but she is called 武器マニア (weapon maniac) in the World Guide, and in the Bicorn chapter, Chilchuck labels her as 武具フェチ (armor/weapon fetishist), and uses the English loan word フェチ (fechi) which is very unambiguously “fetish.”

(The official English translation from Yen Press changed this to “armor fiend.”)

It seems odd to me that Namari’s interest in weapons and gear is identified by most readers (though not Yen Press) as a fetish, but Laios’ interest in monsters isn’t always, when their behavior around their special interest is shown to be the same in the manga:

Both Namari and Laios blush while talking about their respective interests, and get embarrassed and/or excited about the subject. In the post-canon comics, Laios blushes, hides his face, and has to be prodded to confess to Yaad, Kabru and Marcille that he wants to have his body eaten by monsters when he dies. He obviously finds the idea embarrassing and titillating somehow, and is too shy to admit it out loud until they force him to do it. He also blushes on several other occasions in the manga while thinking or talking about monsters.

I think this is because having a “weapons fetish” is normalized: many people have a fetish for weapons or armor and find it sexy. However the idea of a monster fetish makes people uncomfortable because in a story were monsters exist and are a type of animal, they assume Laios having a monster fetish must mean he wants to participate in bestiality.

This is not necessarily true. A fetish of this nature can (and most often does, for reasons of morality and safety) exist entirely in the realm of imagination, and the sexual fixation may not even involve the act of having sex with the fetish object.

WHAT IS A MONSTER FETISH?

In a world where monsters exist, a monster fetish could involve a sexual interest in the sight, smell, sound and feeling of a monster (looking at or creating artwork of monsters, observing monsters in the wild, wearing a monster costume, or owning monster pelts or body parts that can be safely touched, smelled, etc.), the experience of hunting monsters, eating monsters, the fantasy of being a monster, or the fantasy of performing sexual acts with or as a monster.

The fantasy element could be Laios simply wanting to be a monster, and that giving him sexual gratification without any further scenario being necessary, or it could be imagining himself as a human having sex with a monster, imagining himself as a monster having sex with another monster, or imagining himself as a monster having sex with a human.

All of these possible scenarios would fit under the “monster fetish” umbrella. We know Laios canonically does at least six out of these eight things, but we don’t know whether or not he derives sexual pleasure from them… However, we do know that talking or thinking about monsters makes Laios blush in a way that interacting with other human beings does not, and blushing is often a sign of intense emotion or sexual arousal. Kui’s meaning is intentionally ambiguous, but both meanings should be acknowledged: Laios might be emotionally excited, or he might be sexually excited and Kui is leaving it up to us to decide which it is.

This is, specifically, why I think “monster fucker” isn’t an accurate label. We don’t have enough evidence to assume Laios wants to have sex with monsters, or for monsters to have sex with him. All we can tell is that he becomes excited by the subject of monsters, and often times it is specifically the idea of eating them or being eaten by them that gets him the most excited.

VORAREPHILIA

Because so much of Laios' interest in monsters revolves around eating them and being eaten by them, and Dungeon Meshi's plot revolves around the very concept of eating and being eaten, let me make a brief side-bar to discuss the extremely popular, but niche furry sub-culture of vorarephilia.

Vorarephilia is often used as the butt of jokes on the internet, and very poorly understood by most people, so I felt taking a moment to explain it would be beneficial. Most people are probably not even aware that a fetish like this exists, and therefore aren't able to identify that the things Laios is interested in are something he shares with an entire subculture of real people.

Vorarephilia is a fetish that revolves around the fantasy of devouring or being devoured by another person or creature. The prey can either be swallowed whole and alive, or killed and then eaten... But the former is vastly more popular, and most fetishists imagine themselves as the prey, not the predator.

The fantasy of being eaten or eating someone else is just an extreme form of power exchange. Since vore is an impossible fetish in the real world, it exists entirely as artwork, writing, or verbal role play.

Like in most sex practices, the majority of people want to be the submissive partner, and have someone else do the work of pleasing them. You could compare the "predator" in a vorarephilia roleplay session to a "dom" and the "prey" to a "sub" in BDSM. Incidentally, most predators identify as women, and the vast majority of prey identify as men.

Kui's personal work seems to involve some themes that are similar to vorarephillic art.

And Dungeon Meshi features a lot of content which appeals to vorarephiles.

Meanwhile, the many tiny Laioses being eaten by the Ultimate Monster is a classic example of Macro/Micro, another niche furry sub-culture that sometimes overlaps with vore... A giant monster eating mouthful after mouthful of tiny humans is a classic theme.

The vore fandom is extremely diverse, some of them are furries, others are not, and the exact element of devouring and being devoured that appeals to every one of them can be totally different.

What the demon does to Mithrun and Thistle, and Laios does to the demon, is specifically a fetish called "soul vore", where someone's personhood/soul/awareness is eaten and (usually) destroyed by the predator via some kind of "digestion"... Often while the prey is conscious and aware of the process.

For many, the fear and pain the prey experiences while dying is essential to their enjoyment... And remember, most people want to imagine themselves as the prey!

The art on these pages is indistinguishable from things you would pay thousands of dollars for if you hired a furry artist to draw them.

It's also very important to note that on the other end of the spectrum, some vore fantasies revolve around the prey wanting to be loved by someone so much that they would devour them completely, so that they can absorb the prey and keep them with them forever.

Sometimes it's about wanting to become part of something greater that the prey admires or idealizes… the way Laios admires monsters. He explicitly states that when he dies, he wants to become a part of the food chain… While blushing furiously.

And although it isn't about Laios, I think it's important to note that Mithrun's desire was for the demon to finish eating him. A key part of his depression is the fact that he felt he wasn't good enough to consume, that the demon didn't love him enough to want to eat all of him.

I won't go further into vore or macro/micro, because I want to keep this post as simple as possible, and it's already quite long... But if one wanted to dig even deeper into what specifically Laios' interests are, beyond the very broad umbrella of "monster fetishism", I think vorarephelia would be worth considering.

DO OTHER CHARACTERS THINK LAIOS HAS A FETISH?

Characters frequently notice that Laios gets very excited when he’s talking about monsters: he talks louder and faster, his pupils dilate, he blushes, and he forgets what he’s doing, where he is, and what the appropriate behavior for his situation is. This behavior almost universally causes other characters to react with intense scorn, disgust and disapproval.

I don’t think it makes sense for everyone in the manga to react as negatively as they do to Laios’ behavior unless they think there is something off-putting, unsavory, or creepy about it. Their reactions mean they must think Laios’ interest isn’t innocent. It isn’t just a hobby, but of course none of them will say this explicitly, it would be much too direct and rude, and also it wouldn’t be funny if they started accusing Laios of wanting to participate in something as horrible as bestiality.

Part of the joke Kui is frequently making is that nobody says what they’re thinking out loud. For example, at the end of the manga, Kabru gives Laios a disgusted look and warns him to “not talk about your hobby (shumi)” while addressing the participants of the feast. I think we can intuit that hobby/shumi in this instance is probably meant as a euphemism for fetish, otherwise why would Kabru have such a disgusted look on his face? If he just meant hobby, his expression would probably be much more relaxed. Shumi being a euphemism is the joke.

Another example is the fact that Chilchuck frequently calls Laios a psychopath, sick in the head, etc. Those are extremely harsh things to say if he thinks Laios has a completely innocent interest in monsters. He doesn’t call Senshi a psychopath, even though Senshi is equally interested in eating monsters… Because Senshi doesn’t engage in any of the other, suspect behavior that Laios does. Senshi’s interest in monsters is perceived as innocent, while Laios’ is not.

For clarity’s sake: I am not arguing that Laios’ interest in monsters is canonically a sexual fetish, I am only arguing that there is evidence that it is, and that other characters in the story perceive it to be a sexual fetish, whether it actually is or not.

DOES LAIOS THINK HE HAS A FETISH?

People who have fetishes, especially extreme fetishes that are not normalized, often try to hide them. They do this out of fear of social disapproval, and feelings of shame, because they feel guilty for having abnormal desires. This is true even though the majority of fetishes are completely harmless, and morally neutral.

Most people also know that things which provoke sexual excitement are supposed to be kept private, and it’s not acceptable to express those feelings in public spaces, so even if they see something related to their fetish while in public, they will repress their sexual feelings about it.

Laios, who has difficulty understanding social rules and nuance, is aware that his interest in monsters is socially unacceptable, even though there are many other social things he is not aware of.

Laios has spent most of his life hiding his interest in monsters as much as he can, and it is only during the events of the manga that he starts to express himself openly, because his monster knowledge has become useful for their survival, because Senshi encourages him, and because Falin isn’t there to act as a social buffer for him.

But Laios knows people won’t approve, he knows something about his interest in monsters and the way he expresses it will cause people to react negatively, like in the post-canon comic where he doesn’t want to tell his friends about his desire for his corpse to be eaten by monsters, and the part of the finale where he is hiding in the woods, too ashamed to let people see him because they now know that his greatest desire was to become a monster, and not reviving Falin, which he thinks is the "correct" desire that he should have had.

(This of course ignores the fact that the desires the demon preys on are unconscious, and cannot be controlled by the victim.)

This likely means that Laios has encountered negative reactions to his interest in monsters so frequently, and they have been so intensely negative, that it has trained him to conceal his feelings. It is one of the social rules that he has learned.

Laios thinks there is something shameful, wrong, and inappropriate about his desires related to monsters so he thinks it is something he needs to hide.

IS ANIMAL/MONSTER FETISHISM ANACHRONISTIC?

Some may feel that being a furry, a monster fucker or a monster fetishist is something only modern people do, and therefore anachronistic for Dungeon Meshi’s setting. However humans have been admiring, dressing up as and pretending to be animals for rituals (including fertility rituals) since the dawn of civilization, and continue to do so in the modern era every time someone dresses up in a “sexy cat” costume for Halloween, or wears a multi-thousand dollar fursuit to a furry convention.

There are many instances throughout history of people wearing pelts, masks and tails in order to “become” animals, poetry and art of people fantasizing about either becoming a beast/monster (modern werewolf erotica), or having a beast/monster ravish them (the many, many times artists choose to depict Zeus turning into an animal to have sex with women), or coming of age rites that involve animal sacrifice and the adoption of an animal-like persona as part of the process of becoming an adult.

The stigmatization of this behavior, where “sexy cat costume” is normal and “fursuit” is weird, most likely originates from the disappearance of religious and social context for it. In the past, the admiration, imitation and idealization of animals by humans was part of many cultures, but the modern dominance of religions that forbid the worship of anything other than one, immaterial god has left no room for such things, and so society can only view it as the deranged behavior of abnormal people, who have something “wrong” with them, rather than a harmless, common human impulse to admire, fantasize about, and imagine themselves as animals.

[juletheghoul]

a/n: I saw a post a few weeks ago (if anyone sees it please send it to me and I'll tag it) about a partner turning into a monster little by little and becoming increasingly aggressive and this came to me. Hope you enjoy! 🩷🩷

warnings: a little bite, mentions of sex, language (let me know if I missed anything)

Frankie x f!reader

-

It was only a scratch.

The dog had come out of nowhere, scared him half to death but he’d managed to get away before it bit his leg off. Big fucker, biggest dog he’d ever fucking seen but he’d gotten away. Had gotten in his car and driven the fuck away.

It was only a scratch.

It healed without issue, but he still felt it. The ghost of sharp, yellow teeth gouging out a tiny bit of the skin of his shin. It followed him throughout the week, every day a little more visceral, a little more corporeal.

It was only a scratch.

He dreams about the dog, it haunts him in his sleep. It stalks him as he lays in bed, the one place he cannot get away. The dog is a spectre as the days go by, an omen at the edge of his vision and it slowly heats his blood. It cooks him from the inside and he swears he’s never been so fucking angry in all his life.

It was only a scratch.

Aggression grows, and he’s almost a different person. You notice it, it’s so blatant. The sweet, soft man you’d fallen in love with is hidden behind the curtain of his eyes. He’s still in there, somewhere but as the days turn into weeks, it’s harder and harder to find him.

It was only a scratch.

There’s no more lovemaking. He fucks. He rails and makes you take everything he has to give. He gives you his anger and his terrifying devotion, and as far away as his eyes get you’ve never been wetter. It’s so good, it’s so rough, it’s so fucking consuming you think he might eat you alive.

It was only a scratch.

He disappeared for three days. The moon is full, but your bed is empty and something in you is frozen with fear. He’s never been gone like this, your Frankie has never just left without an explanation. Something howls outside while you worry about him in bed and the sound is so sad, it raises the hairs on the back of your neck.

It was only a scratch.

He comes back and it’s like the sun touches your face for the first time because it’s him. The real him. The smiley, soft, caring man you love and you’re so happy you forget all of the worry, all of the strangeness and bask in the safety of his arms. He keeps touching his shin, rubbing at a spot under his sweats.

“Everything okay?” You ask him.

“Yes, it’s only a scratch.”

-

[izunias-meme-hole]

One Villainous Scene - A Monster Kills His Creator

Been on a fckin' comics hyperfixation/had a love reignited recently, and considering recent events I feel like now is a perfect time to talk about a specific walking magnet who's lived through an actual fascist regime. He's a man who's seen genocide firsthand, and it's impacted how he thinks forever. He's one of fiction's most popular knight templar's, and has almost become as awful as the types of people he hates before dialing it back or just getting stopped on several occasions. I'm talking about the Master of Magnetism, the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, the holocaust survivor himself, Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a Magneto.

X-Men First Class is easily one of the best of Fox's X-Men films, and a lot of that is thanks to it's origin for Magneto, which still keeps his background as a kid who survived the holocaust, but they expanded upon it by giving him a very personal tormentor in the form of Sebastian Shaw, a mutant supremacist who was temporarily aligned with the Nazi party. Shaw pretty much made Erik his lab rat after shooting the kids mom before his eyes just to see what triggers his ability to move metal. Following the end of WWII, Erik would pretty much spend a good majority of life dedicated to hunting ex-nazi's that were connected to this fucker.

Around 2 decades later, Erik, still continuing his mission for vengeance, would find Shaw but would almost be killed by his mutant allies. This is what ends up putting him on the same team as Charles Xavier, a telepathic mutant and the man who he'd become a close friend to. Despite forming a bond with Charles, Erik still had a burning desire for vengeance, except now it was paired with the justifiable fear of a mutant holocaust. Though his thirst for revenge would be quenched during the final act of the film when he and Charles would try to stop WWIII.

Erik once again confronts Shaw, except its mutant to mutant now. Shaw at first overpowers Erik, but when he knocks off the telepathy-resistant helmet that Shaw was wearing, Charles freezes the bastard. Though after this happens Erik apologizes to Charles, before putting on that same damn helmet, cutting off his friend as he proceeded to tell Shaw this:

"If you're in there, I want you to know that I agree with every word you said. We are the future. But, unfortunately, you killed my mother."

Erik then takes out a Reichsmark coin, the same coin that Shaw asked him to move before gunning down his mother and counts down to 3 as he moves it towards Shaw's head. Despite not being able to reach his friend, Charles pleads for Erik to stop. But it's too late. Charles doesn't stop Erik from shoving the coin through Shaw's skull as he feels every inch of agony that Shaw's unable to express. It's a deserved fate for someone that cruel, but at the same time it was the birth of a monster who would carry that belief of mutant supremacy.

This is what Magneto during his time as a villain has always been, and this scene perfectly shows that. A boy suffered through a real genocide, grew up with the fear of another happening, and ironically turned into a similar (Similar not the same) type of person to the ones that ruined his life in his attempts to do good. A prime example of how one who fights monsters can sometimes turn into the monsters they fight. Thank god, he barely avoids truly becoming that awful.

[mochathelion]

hey goopers and gunkers, here is, drumroll please

All of them council quotes from my quotebook (ft markiplier)

"Your blood is worms" -slimecicle

"Eenie meenie miney fuck you" -gillion tidestrider

"This is not the becoming of a prince. This is the becoming of a monster" -shilo bathroy

"I have a lot of opinions, none of them matter" -chip

"You must have confidence in yourself peter. Only then will you slay pussy like you slay gods" -thanatos

"IM GONNA MIGHTY BLOW YOU" -slimecicle

"PRETZEL! JUST A FEW MORE FEET PRETZEL! ITS NOT EVEN A MULTIPLE OF FIVE PRETZELLLL!" -gillion tidestrider

"I've never met God, but when I do I'll break him." -William wisp

"Great rune of the unborn? What is that, like an abortion perk?" -slimecicle

"What if you were like oh let me just check if the floor is real and you kicked it one day and it just disappeared, you'd probably be like of fuck I shouldldnt have done that" -slimecicle

"What do you really want? And just say it so I can fight for it" -gillion tidestrider

"Welp, you know what they say! When life gives you wolves, kill them. Also what? " -slimecicle

"Oh my Lord I smell estrogen" -slimecicles chat

"I'm beans mother fucker" -slmccl

"I'VE MET WAR CRIMINALS MORE DELIGHTFULL THAN YOU" -bizlybebo

"Two Mommy?"-Gillion Tidestrider

"This Jesus guy seems really cool!"-Gillion

"I can't wait to k*ll myself!" -Jay Ferin

"That girl just bit me. and I think I was into it?"-Jay Ferin

"If you zoot one more time im gonna choke you."-Rumi

"…Zoot~"-Peter

"Yippe"-Dakota Cole

"I'm just gonna kms and its gonna be your fault!" -Bizly ooc

"Ahhghduhiejbagci wa"-Kian Stone

"Julian the groomer… has a nice ring to it" -julian

"Its.. sewer ravioli!"-Dakota

"i didn't really think destiny was a thing before i met you, you know everything i had in life was just kinda a shitty hand . i really think it was you that made me feel like we were right where we were supposed to be, you're my friend you know- id drown the world for you" -chip

"CPR THREE LETTERS, WHAT DO THEY MEAN? COMBAT. PATIENT. REPEATEDLY. KICK HIM THREE TIMES GET HIM BACK UP, HE'S GOOD. CURED. Think he had cancer, not anymore" -slimecicle

"That must have been a slant rime because she seemed pretty tilted" -slimecicle

"Be the beans you wish to see in the world" -slimecicle

"A vagina with fangs? Bitchin… What? It sounds stimulating" -grizzlyplays

"Even If it was all inevitable… I'm glad we were written into the same story" -Gillion Tidestrider

"Niklaus is making a deal with russian Goku rn"-Bizly i believe ooc if not Chip

"PRIME DEFENDERS AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION" -William Wisp

"Fuck my fucking gay ass life" -condifiction

"SKIBOMBAY" -gillion tidestrider

"I WAS DRINKING YOU PRICK" -bizly

"He looks like a stop sign and has an ass disorder Its not my fault" -William wisp

"Dude you've GOTTA get advantage on this, dude is built like an among us" -slimecicle

"Beans. Beans. I grow my own beans. They are local and they are green. If you taste them you won't be mean. Come on now and try some beans. If you mean business, then trust my bean business. Have a legume, it won't be your doom. Have a legume, you will enjoom. I see your attitude is kind of mean, but you know what cheers me up? My beans. I grow em in the garden, they don't grow far from my home. Beans. I'm in the BEAN ZONE." -slimecicle

"WHAT THE FUCK??!!! FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S?!??! AEEEEEE AEEEE AE AEEE" -slimecicle

"NO NO NO NO YOUR NOT REAL GO AWAY! AMOUNGUS????!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD" -slimecicle

"I am weaponless but not defenceless" -slimecicle

"Don't play the game, eat the dirt, win." -slimecicle

"FATHER, SON, HOLY TROUT COME ON GET US THE FUCK OUT" -gillion tidestrider

"I WILL ABSORB THIS DEMONNNN. IT IS MY MEALLL!" -dakota cole

"You underestimate the power of SEX" -slimecicle

"aHgiA- FORTNITE" -slimecicle

Demonic rambling -slimecicle

"People will say eating chicken nuggets is bad for you, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS BAD FOR YOU? BEING A LITTLE BITCH. WHAT ARE YOU SPONSORED BY SALAD?" -grizzlyplays

"That's right I got two extra hearts and a wooden sword what the fuck are you going to do about it god" -charlie slimecicle

"I'm grabbing bed knife and I'm grabbing bed spear and I'm duel wielding that shit" -markiplier

[skaruresonic]

Your chat with wood reminded me, this is something that I noticed, but fans and none fans REALLY love to see Sonic get his ass kicked

Like I've noticed this from old 2000s fan stuff, they aggressively make Sonic egotistical and obnoxious, then immediately want to punk him

It's like they're aware those qualities are bad, but then misapply it to actual canon games Sonic. This includes ignoring him actually being a powerhouse. Fucker rips off metal from a military plane, and survives falling from massive heights and flung across mountains

It's ironic since his actual most obnoxious in game would be Colors Wii for boss dialogue, but that's still mild compared to Archie or fan parody (not to mention Sonic notably only is explicitly rude to villains). This also applies to char relations

They'll act like Metal is supposed to be a formiddable threat when...in canon practice, fuck no. Metal is a jobber

Because these perceptions are beyond infesting due to meme culture, none fans are incorrectly thinking "yeah he's an egotistical dick" like reg fans

So the idea of Sonic beating Shadow or Knux 1on1? They'll be pissed! Regardless of actual canon

Sidenote: remembered seeing someone be sad that "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" wasn't used much in 2010s, then miss the point on why. This is literally cuz there was no scenario it'd be appropriate (he doesn't meet a new neutral person besides Rookie, and that was a pressing situation of escaping)

To be fair, Sonic does suffer a lot of abuse in canon. I used to say that knocking Shadow out to advance the plot was a common plot point, but it might be fair to say that knocking Sonic out has become a series cliché at this point as well.

Usually it's done to establish the threat du jour as srs bsns. To "yes, and" that last point, the trope cannot work without the baseline assumption that Sonic is strong:

In several instances you can see Sonic wavering on the edge of unconsciousness and still struggling to stand. bro's got that fighting spirit The important part is that he always gets back up no matter what.

What an inspiring message! Unlike the Gary-Stu folks usually try to portray him as, Sonic has never been completely infallible. You don't need to be invincible; you just need to pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and keep trying.

Not to turn this into another culture war discussion, ofc, but I really feel as though folks who dismiss Games!Sonic as some perfect Gary-Stu who never suffers are dismissing the entire crux of the character.

Games!Sonic suffers all the time. He gets beaten; he has doubts; he makes mistakes. He just doesn't let setbacks get him down for long. He's an inspiration, an ideal to strive toward, rather than someone who is supposed to be #relatable.

---

They'll act like Metal is supposed to be a formiddable threat when...in canon practice, fuck no. Metal is a jobber

Kind of? Depends. Without any bells or whistles, Metal Sonic tends to blow his fuse on charged attacks and burn out pretty quickly.

He also admits he transformed his body with his own two hands because he could never seem to defeat Sonic. Sonic mocks the fact that he had to turn into a monster just to get a leg up over him:

However, he's not nearly as much of a jobber as IDW portrays him when Surge and Kit fry his circuits. There's no way that tactic should have worked; Metal is both waterproof and can be revived with large amounts of electricity.

The other half of this Spicy Meatball Take(tm) that fandom tends to struggle with is "Metal doesn't have an existential crisis, and it's illogical for him to have one if he believes himself to be the real Sonic."

Even when he's ranting in the Metal Madness and Overlord fights, his motives are fairly easy to understand as ego. He has one (1) line about no longer "being afraid," but it's so nothingburger compared to his other bluster about building a robot kingdom and lacks so much context (when, exactly, was Metal shown being afraid...?) that we can easily discard it. It's clear from the surrounding lines that Metal is just bullshitting because he's butthurt that he can never defeat Sonic. Why do you think Sonic rubs it in his face at the end of the game? lol

I'm almost convinced Iizuka imported his existential character arc from the OVA and forgot that it doesn't suit Games!Metal's character.

Metal mimicking Sonic's finger wag a grand total of once in Sonic CD (funny; never see anyone argue that Metal bullying animals mimics Sonic's mannerisms) doesn't inherently mean he believes himself to be the real Sonic. It just means Eggman programmed him to do so, for whatever reason.

Furthermore, if he genuinely believed he was the real Sonic, then he shouldn't have that much self-doubt to begin with. At least when Shadow got Sonic's goat in SA2, it was because he framed him and got the military on his ass. Shadow's interference came with concrete consequences that directly affected Sonic. What has Sonic done to threaten Metal's sense of identity, other than exist?

Why does a being that believes itself to be the "real" Sonic want to build a robot kingdom? A being that looks at itself in the mirror and says "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog" also turns around and says "Dictatorship under my robotic thumb is good, actually"?

There's also the paradox of "Why would a 'real' Sonic ever serve Eggman?" He wouldn't. Metal is bound by his programming because he's a robot. The implication that Eggman curtails his free will should further cement his status as Walking Toaster.

---

Because these perceptions are beyond infesting due to meme culture, none fans are incorrectly thinking "yeah he's an egotistical dick" like reg fans

People paint Games!Sonic as a boring Gary-Stu because his dickery isn't as pronounced as it is in Archie. Which is funny because Games!Sonic could stand to be a bit more sensitive, all things considered.

You need only look at his treatment of Knuckles in the Adventure era for proof:

Sonic parries Knuckles' "What about you?" with an insult.

Sonic sweet-talks Knuckles into searching for the keys even though he doesn't want to. Maybe because of the ghosts roaming about. They got Larry, after all.

Deeper's lyrics also suggest that Knuckles wishes Sonic were a little more considerate of his plight by having him imagine a scenario where Sonic acknowledges how important the Master Emerald is to Knuckles and offers to help him find it:

lol "wouldn't of." tfw the editors are asleep at the wheel

Note how surprised Knuckles looks here. Clearly this isn't something he expected Sonic to say. And before anyone is inclined to think Knuckles was the only one, Sonic's insensitivity would also annoy Tails and Amy on occasion:

---

So the idea of Sonic beating Shadow or Knux 1on1? They'll be pissed! Regardless of actual canon

Sonic kills demigods on a regular basis and pulled off Chaos Control so well that it surprised Shadow. Why is it a surprise that he probably could kick their asses lol.

---

Sidenote: remembered seeing someone be sad that "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" wasn't used much in 2010s, then miss the point on why. This is literally cuz there was no scenario it'd be appropriate (he doesn't meet a new neutral person besides Rookie, and that was a pressing situation of escaping)

tfw you complain about no "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog" when "long time no see" is right there

[ambyandony]

Illuso monster au concept sketch (very very sketch quality)

Illuso (probably his first name but idk his last)

mirror ghost

presumably dead human - definitely dead (thats most ghosts most ghosts are dead. non-dead ghosts are classed under spirits) i've established that he's dead

COD unknown (he doesnt like to talk about it) (most ghosts do not like to talk about it. I recommend not asking ghosts about the circumstances of their deaths.)

whatever it was was probably fairly traumatic and he misses being alive. he is spiteful towards prosciutto, who is a lich (basically voluntarily zombified himself with necromancy in a bid to achieve immortality) LEARN TO DIE LIKE A REAL MAN FUCKHEAD I DIDNT DIE A GRUESOME DEATH TO SEE SOME PASTY-ASS BLOND FUCKER EVADE DEATH LIKE A FUCKING COWARD

He is only able to appear in mirrors / reflections. While he's able to be outside of mirrors, he is invisible / inaudible (unless under certain conditions). When seen inside of mirrors, his skin and particularly eyes appear to be shattered, so it's possible that when he manifests in a mirror, he's accompanied by a cracking noise when he moves as the mirror breaks. The mirrors only appear broken where he is, so they probably repair themselves when it comes to specifically this.

his fingers are often seen broken off in a jagged fashion, which makes his body appear to actually be glasslike or maybe statuesque. Which fingers are broken may not always be consistent, and the extent to which they are broken can differ, but his hands are never fully intact. Sometimes they are missing completely (though never both at once... at least hopefully, ‘cause that would fucking suck for the poor bitch).

other parts including his arms and legs (and maybe even his ponytails on rare occasion) can sometimes also be seen 'broken off'. whether this affects him directly in terms of him "actually" missing those parts is questionable. but if he's manifested and his leg appears damaged it does seem to impact his mobility, and its not entirely clear when or how these breakages occur / repair / change / etc

his ponytails also appear jagged somehow

illuso likely spends a lot of his time in the mirror world because it's the only place where he actually exists as a physical entity and can (possibly?) make physical contact with people. hes actually very lonely and really misses the ability to hug people under normal circumstances but of course he would never fucking admit that.

Being in the mirror world isn't necessarily the same as manifesting inside of the mirrors, though it appears similarly; when manifested inside of a mirror, he sort of becomes part of the mirror, whereas when in the mirror world, he can actually move around independently from where the mirror is despite being ‘inside’ the mirror still. In both cases, he is visible, but intangible outside of the mirror world itself, since he's inside of the mirror, and not just being seen reflected in the mirror. He can therefore be outside the mirror, wherein he's 'semicorporeal': he can kinda be made contact with, but is completely invisible and would mostly just get in the way, and only his reflection is actually being seen.

Sorbet's Stand (Super Trouper) has an ability that is light-based (it pretty much uses light to knock people out). This could be a bit troublesome considering Illuso has to be in a mirror to manifest which perhaps risks redirecting Super Trouper's light which was funny once (despite Gelato's rage) but problematic the second time

There's most likely at least one mirror in almost every room of La Squadra's Hideout, because Illuso would be unable to interact or communicate properly with the others otherwise. illuso everywhere system

Formaggio has used Little Feet to shrink down mirrors for easy illuso transportation and im not sure if theyve just forgotten that compact mirrors are a thing orrrr……..

[mysteroads]

Chapter 8: Epilogue

Summary: The shopping trip comes to an end, and several important conversations are had.

Excerpt:

The quiet came back, but only for a minute. It was Lydia's turn to ask the uncomfortable question, which she did with her usual bluntness. “Beej, what was the Broker talking about? The ways and doors, and that Lovecraftian title instead of a name?”

Beetlejuice sat up with a groan, looking at her with exasperation. “Couldn't just let that go, huh?”

“He also said that freaky things might be coming to earth, so no,” Lydia said, unrepentant.

Beetlejuice sighed, running both hands through his hair. “Okay, big fat exposition time. Sorry folks at home, info-dump incoming.” Addressing Lydia again, he said, “Look, I explained to you that the barrier between the Neitherworld and the Living World is kind of like an airport, right? Certain gates open for a short time, then close.” Barbara and Delia leaned in; this was all new to them. “Usually, it's related to the stars and other celestial shit like that. Yah know,” he deepened his voice, “When Venus is ascendant in the ninety-ninth house, the moon is a waning crescent, the ambient temperature is ninety-nine degrees, and a bear just shat in the woods, The Blob will come forth and devour Pennsylvania.” He flapped a hand at Delia, silencing her automatic protest of his butchering the fine art of astrology. “Stuff like that. Halloween used to be a really big day for the supernatural, same with the solstices and equinoxes, but that's slowed down a lot the last thousand years.” He frowned, shuffling his boots, then crossing his ankles. “It's really bad news if the barrier between here and Neitherworld is thinning. Plenty of Neitherworlders are nice enough, but there's also plenty who wouldn’t play nice with fragile humans. One of the reasons the Enlightenment Era came around was ‘cause monsters got put on the endangered list here on Earth. Which is cool, yay scientific method and indoor plumbing, but you mortal types aren’t equipped to handle fuckers like me anymore.” He sighed heavily, hair turning pale again. “As for The Lovecraftian name guy… Far as I know, Creator of the Doors Beyond is one of the ones who made the barrier in the first place. Hence the title.”

“And why did Broker warn you about him?” Lydia pressed.

Beetlejuice didn't answer for a long moment, then said, “‘Cause a guy like that might not care for a demon hopping the fence as often as we do. After Chuck and Adam get their suits and I send the fairy snob home, we may need to take a break from our little adventures for awhile, Babes.”

Lydia bit her lip, but nodded. “That's okay, Beej. I don't really want to attract attention from things scarier than the freaking King in Yellow.”

Barbara and Delia exchanged relieved glances behind the two ‘kids.’ Every responsible adult in the house worried about what Beetlejuice and Lydia got up to in the Neitherworld, and meeting the Broker had just broken their worry dial. They would not be upset at all that their ‘kids’ would be staying in the human world, even if it meant more pranks and becoming closely acquainted with the local police force. Better that then real, life and death dangers.

Beetlejuice relaxed slightly at Lydia’s ready acceptance, and a tiny smile snuck back onto his face. “I’ll make it up to you. We'll go to Vegas!”

“Beej,” Lydia said, patting his shoulder, “you don't have to ‘make up’ for wanting to avoid the wrath of an eldritch monstrosity.” She paused, then smiled in a way that made both Barbara and Delia's developing parent-radar start beeping frantically. “But we can take a trip later, if you want. Could be fun to see how many people in Vegas believe in ghosts.”

Beetlejuice’s eyes began to gleam. “Not a bad idea. Maybe we can visit other cities too. Compare and contrast.”

Lydia nodded. “For science.”

He nodded solemnly, then offered his hand for a fist bump. “For science!” When they fist bumped, there was an actual explosion noise that made the two adults startle, and set Lydia and Beetlejuice to cackling.   

[devildomditzy]

My General List of OM! Headcannons

If it’s listed here, you can assume my fics/drabbles/headcannons are compliant to it unless stated otherwise. I’ll keep adding to this as I think of/remember more of them that’ve popped into my head at some point.

Remember these are my opinions, it’s cool if you don’t agree with them, but please don’t write a multi-paragraph essay about why I’m wrong on this post.

It’s chill. It’s cool. It’s a mobile app. I’ve managed a gamestop. I’m a certified gamer. You can trust me.

so, without further ado…

Belphie is also a red head (bc twins), but he dyes it because he likes to be dark and brooding

The white stripe grows naturally and is from an accident back when they were still angels, but he thinks it looks cool so he makes a conscious effort to not cover it up

After the events of chapter 16, Mammon rarely wants anything to do with Belphie, causing major tension when either of them have to be in the same room

Riding off that, Mammon does not let Belphie get anywhere near MC, and will make sure he never has a chance to be alone with them

Mammon gets those gold streaks in his hair whenever in his demon form because it’s sexy and i say so

Lucifer is not an extreme sadist, he’s a tired old grandpa trying his best to keep his energetic siblings in line, because if he didn’t, who would?

Asmo is a LOT more fucked up and evil than in the cannon game but not is a psycho way, in a Jennifer’s Body way you feel me?

Diavolo is up to…. something… his charisma and charm hide some very ulterior motives for dragging you down here

Barbatos knows about them too

Lucifer does too but does not agree with them to a full extent so he goes out of his way to secretly keep you from harm

Solomon can probably do some form of mind control which makes him 1000 times scarier to think about

Their lives as angels were just as hard and painful, if not MORE than what they are experiencing as demons

The hardest part of the fall was adjusting to becoming the avatars of sins, they were like almost feral there for a moment

They are always under tremendous amounts of pressure and self control to not revert back to that state

but it is possible :) and if they do :) run :)

On God they have hideous eldritch monster forms be not afraid fucking demonic ass beasts

That’s their real form ^^^

And MC sees them and goes “…eh.”

And they are floored

MC is monster fucker supreme

They can shape shift into whatever form they’d like

What you see (their cannon designs) is the product of years and years of figuring out what they wanted to look like, they can change overtime

That’s all I got at the moment! I’ll update this over time.

[an-theduckin]

Billy Hendricks Character analysis

[DISCLAIMER: I am not justifying or condoning his actions, I am merely showing that he is not just a mindless villain and I'm exploring the depth of his character. This is probably obvious but yeah please don't come after me for this]

Billy Hendricks, kidnapper of Mark. He's a terrifying villain who has no redeeming qualities. Let's dissect that fucker cuz he's got a LOT of layers and depth.

First, let's see some context.

Billy Hendricks was a child actor, starring in 'my dear monster'. He was groomed and made into luring children into Big monster's sewers where Big monster kill them. When Big monster was caught, Billy's mom got him out of the show, saying she doesn't think a life in the spotlight is for her son. In that newspaper poster, Billy Hendricks is seen to be crying. In the poster above, Billy is smiling. Showing how he views Big monster as an inspiration and loves acting. Keep in mind that he was just a child when this all happened, he was supposed to become famous. This was supposed to be the film that make him really get famous in the film industry. He was about to get everything he ever wanted, but than in a flash, everything was taken away from him. He was taken away from what he loved most, acting. Now imagine how this would make him feel. Billy was a kid when this happened and he was an adult when he kidnapped Mark, this suggests that his hatred for Big monster (who's the reason he can't act anymore) has been burning for many years. He is still hung up on his dream, a dream that was shattered long ago and would never be possible to achieve again. This suggests that he cannot move on from the past. (Plus he's a theatre kid and theatre kids are dramatic as hell. Trust me I'd know, I'm a theatre kid too)

The way he act and treat Mark

I think it's obvious that Billy hates Mark, his hatred for Big monster transferring to Mark just because he's Big monster's nephew. His hatred for Mark just grows more and more episode, this can be seen because in the earliest episodes, he refer to Mark as his "best friend". For example, in the first episode he starts off with, "Hello kids! And welcome back, meet my best friend, Mark!" But he stops doing that in later episodes, just referring to Mark as his "friend" instead of "best friend". This subtle change hints that Hendricks is getting more and more impatient with Mark. He also constantly silence Mark for small reasons, in the first episode he just shook his head when he didn't want Mark to say that he want to see his parents, but in later episodes he go as far as to shutting up Mark by putting his hand on his mouth. He doesn't just normally do that too, in the picture below you can see that his grip on Mark is strong. That must hurt Mark. He probably does that on purpose as he resents Mark and is very impatient and hateful towards him.

Billy Hendricks feel as though he is achieving his childhood dreams by doing all this. This may be true because of the way he act. In the rain day episode, when they do those activities such as building a pillow fort, Hendricks actually look genuinely excited for it. He could just be good at pretending to be excited for camera, but it actually felt real. Him acting childish like this reinforces the idea that he is living in the past and hasn't move on from it. Even though he's not a kid anymore, he never grew up. This is also furthur proven because of the fact that he has a "signature outfit" and wears the same set of clothes since he was a child, showing how he never grew out of his childhood. Anyways so, in that episode they do three activities. Building pillow forts, making paper cut pictures, and playing hangman. In the first activity, he looks genuinely happy when Mark says he like the pillow fort that Billy made for him. He could just be acting to be happy, but I don't think that's the case. Because in the other two activities where it starts having a twist of him taunting Mark, he did look "happy" but not as geniune as he did in the pillow fort activity. The comparison can be seen in the pictures below. It's subtle but you can see it, the smile on the right picture looks fake. This implies that he sometimes forget that this isn't what he wanted, and has to remind himself that he isn't just doing this to make himself happy but to also torture Mark and get revenge.

His attitude switches up very fast. Most of the times he talk in a singing-ish tone, mimicking kids shows where they do that. But when he's angry, like for example when Mark tried to escape, his voice becomes firm and serious. This shows how he struggles to stay "in character" sometimes, because his hatred runs so deep that it can be hard to pretend to be this cheerful kids show host. When his voice is firm and he calls out for Mark, he usually emphasises on the 'k' sound of his name. This creates a plosive sound, illustrating that he is being rough in the moment.

Billy Hendricks is dedicated to make Mark suffer. Besides the very obvious tortures that he make Mark go through, he torment him in other more subtle ways too. Here are some examples where he does that.

In the Staying healthy episode, they look at the anatomy of a Little Monster. When Billy said that "It's important to stay healthy so your brain continues to think!", Mark continues the advice by saying, "and your heart continues to love!". But then Billy corrects him, saying, "Pump blood, Mark!". This illustrates Billy as shattering Mark's innocent view of life, contrasting how his childhood dream got shattered too (even though this is a less extreme extent of it)

In the Pet episode, Mark says that he knows alot about pets and suggest that maybe he could lead that episode. But Hendricks shut him off by saying, "I know alot about pets too, Mark". You can sense the anger in his voice when he says that line, suggesting that he gets mad when someone else gets the attention and not him. This ties in his whole character of him getting so much attention from his classmates because he was a child actor and people loved him, but then he got thrown off the spotlight later because of Big monster. His mother's line, "I just don't think a life in the spotlight is for my son" suggests that he doesn't get attention anymore. (Plus he's a theatre kid and theatre kids are attention seekers- yeah okay I'll stop bullying theatre kids now). This idea is further reinforced in the positivity episode, when Mark says that he made a sticky note saying "Yes you can!", Billy tries to get the attention back on him by saying "I wrote some sticky notes too Mark!". This shows how he wants the attention and spotlight on him, and gets mad when Mark tries to get attention too.

Billy Hendricks doesn't just torture and torment Mark himself, he forces Mark to do things he doesn't want to too. For example, in the cooking episode he pressures Mark into killing the paperbag monster, "Are you gonna skin it Mark? Or do I have to do it?", he says the second sentence with a hint of anger in his voice, implying that Mark will probably get tortured if he doesn't do what he ask him to do.

Billy even goes as far as to hurting himself to hurt Mark. Like in the episode where they go to sleep, he brushes his teeth until they're bleeding. He hurt himself just to scare Mark. This portrays him as someone who's dedicated to taunt Mark, and would do it at his own expense.

He also seeks to control Mark, like in the drug episode he says that he'll give drugs to Mark if he's good and go along. This may be because he was forced out of the film industry and it was all out of his control, so he wants control back.

Recurring themes

There's a lot of scenes where Billy Hendricks monologues. All of those monologues portray a pessimistic and negative view of life. He constantly puts a negative spin on things that Mark enjoy too. Some examples are in the Halloween episode where he put razorblades in Mark's candy and ask if it's still his favourite holiday, in the pet episode where he carelessly gave Mark a pet that he wanted who died of neglect, and the biggest example is the career day episode where he puts a negative spin to the jobs that Mark said he wanted to do. This links to how he was going to be a famous actor, but it didn't work out.

Billy Hendricks is presented to have a weird obsession with death and wasting your life. This can be seen especially in the career day episode, where he monologues, "There's only 2169 days until you have to choose a job and it creeps up on you fast. 60 years will pass and before you know it you'll be lying in your death bed wishing you had picked a different career to waste your life on". This may suggest that during the time between after he quit being a child actor and before he kidnapped Mark, he had 'wasted' the years by doing a job that he didn't enjoy. He believes that he would have been happy if he was an actor, but now he couldn't be one. This may be one of the reasons why he is portrayed to be very pessimistic.

His obsession with death is further explored in the kids episode where he says that a child is your peak because "you get showered with adoration and have lots of fun". He wants to be a child again because now he's miserable as an adult, but instead of trying to improve his adult life and moving on from the past, he took away another child's childhood. In that episode, he also taunts Mark by saying that in the adult world, life goes by very fast and that before he know it, he's gonna be too old to work and die. There are many more instances where he monologues about this, but these are the main ones.

There's also a recurring theme of toxic positivity. This is obviously shown in the last episode, the positivity episode. Where his 'inspirational' sticky notes say that everything is okay, while it's not. This is further shown in the posters where he says that you can do dangerous things because "everything works out".

The theme of toxic positivity is also seen in other episodes, like for example in the feelings episode where Billy asks Mark if the pictures are happy or sad. When Mark said that the picture of a dead penguin is sad, Billy says "No silly, all these images are happy". This may be because he was forced out of his dream yet he had to pretend to be okay with it at that time.

People who influence him

There were two people who were a major influence on him. His mom, and Big monster.

Let's talk about his mom first. She just wanted what was best for him, and she got him out of the film industry because she thought it was best for him. She was just looking out for her son, but she didn't realise the negative consequences that her actions would bring. Billy was just a kid and didn't fully understand why his mom would do that, she probably could have explained it to him better. But even if she did, Billy most likely would have just turn out this way anyways because his ambition was too strong. But still, if she did explain it maybe he could have turned out differently. Maybe he wouldn't have this much resentment in him.

Now let's talk about Big monster. He tricked Billy into luring his friend's brother, Johnny Hackett, into the sewers so he can kill him. He was Billy Hendricks' idol, Billy probably saw him in a rose-tinted light and never saw anything bad about him as he idolised him too much. But then he turned out to be a murderer who used Billy to get his victims. This may turn Billy into a pessimistic person, linking back to my point earlier, and would make Billy just expect the worst of everything. He's the main reason why Billy Hendricks became a kidnapper.

Ashur's acting skills

Ah yes, the very necessary ramble about how cool Ashur is. Skip this part if u wanna, I added this solely for myself <3

ASHUR IS SOOOOO GOOD AT ACTING LIKE WTF??? HE SLAYS THE ICONIC BILLYS THREATENING SMILE FACE LIKE HOLY SHITTT THAT MAN IS TERRIFYING!! HE EVEN SOMETIMES SCARE ME GENIUNELY LIKE HOLY FUCKING SHIT HES AMAZING. BILLYS VOOCE RANGE IS JUST SO PERFECT TOO AND NOT 2 MENTION THATS LIKE HIS FIRST TIME ACTING USING VOICE?? (HIS PREVIOUS ACTING SERIES ARE JUST TIKTOK POVS WHERE HE DOESNT TALK) HES LITERALLY SO COOL BRO HES LIKE MY NUMBER ONE INSPIRATION FOR ACTING!!! LIKE THIS MAN LOOKS ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND I LOVE IT!!

The cycle of abuse

The backstory of Billy Hendricks is very tragic. He was an abused child who turned into an abuser. It is important to recognise him as a human too and not just a cruel villain, this does not mean justifying his actions. I firmly believe that dehumanising villains is a bad thing to do, because if you so that you will separate yourself from them and won't recognise it when you're being an accidental asshole. So while I hate him for everything he has done to Mark, I still think we should also see him as a hurt person who continued the cycle of abuse. Let's just hope Mark doesn't do the same thing.

End notes

Ahhhhh I've been planning 2 make this post for so long now! And even though this post is like, VERY long, I still feel like I've only barely scratch the surface of his character. He's a very interesting and complex character n should be treated as such. Also, this is just the way I see him, you are allowed 2 disagree with me ofc! You can have a different opinion on him than me, and you can express it, but please just don't be rude about it! If you'd like 2 discuss his character further or is confused abt smth I said here, feel free 2 ask me abt it! I'm more than happy 2 do it (if you're nice with it ofc) :3

Anyways yeah I hope u enjoyed this character analysis of him, and please reblog if u did (no pressure) cuz it took me such a long time 2 make this TwT

[screaming2thevoids]

I’m not just a bitch, I’m a bitch with a backstory

My review no one asked for

I didn’t think I would like this one as much as I did, which surprised me!

Asha who, at first, seemed like a one dimensional “antagonist rival” gets a chance to be more developed and proves the point that you really don’t know what someone is going through. And damn, was Asha going through it.

Let’s get into it! Spoilers ahead:

This is where having the women serve as unreliable narrators kind of pays off—you get new perspectives with each new point of view.

I was pleasantly surprised even still, when Claire hopped in! 3 POVs worked well enough to give us more insight about Asha and her friendship. I was also shocked when the epilogue mentioned a 3 year time jump!! Like, tell me why I’m so invested in what this means, culturally for this group?

So let’s dig in with what I specifically loved:

-the center of this book was about making friends, and some pretty valid explanations for why Asha was the way she was in previous books

-I enjoyed the slow, rekindled romance, and the work the main couple needed to do when communicating with one another

-I appreciated Asha expressing how she was afraid of resonance’s guarantee of a second child. It really highlighted something I felt was realistic for a woman who isn’t ready to have another kid—I’m glad this was brought up

-Overall, Asha was really interesting as a character, she is so introverted and yet it was fun to see how she began to open up to Claire and grow as a person

Here’s my critique (some less fair than others):

-there was a HUGE opportunity missed for some kink. Asha could have shown some real brat behavior? Dom/sub play!? Hello!?

-another huge missed opportunity—Sa’khui women don’t have clits?! There MUST be a reason, Ruby Dixon— you have a monster fucker situation here, take advantage—have funnnnnn with it!!!! You hinted at the tails being sensitive but wrote little to none of that in the scenes! Also how do fangs work with blow jobs? I had assumed that was a reason Sa’khui women hadn’t done that before?? Ugh I was starved for some real freaky shit. Why are they vanilla as fuck?

-what the fuck is happening with this metlak side plot?? Are they sentient?? They seem to be a nonverbal species, but they are treated like animals?! Why does this feel racist 😂 WHY are we spending time with this side plot?

-Claire is frustrating sometimes with her whole “ew Beck don’t give me gifts” like, he’s not into you, he said it a billion times, just take them. I’m MORE curious why the sa’khui didn’t think this was weird—they were the ones who made gift giving mean something significant. They should be the ones who have a problem, or think it’s weird?? As soon as they were chill with it Claire should have backed down. He wasn’t giving her a bikini, it was baby stuff!

-Hemalo’s “I’ll just leave” noble bullshit. Dude….idk, I don’t want to be “understanding” that Asha was pushing him away, this trope of “I hope she comes back to me” fruuuustrates me. But it makes sense with how hurt and bitter Asha was. There’s just something about how others also kept telling her “he lost a daughter too” just irks me for some reason. But this is why at the end it’s so satisfying to see him grow too and be more vocal. Still though, at this point the tribe needs to invest in someone becoming a therapist. Train a metlak or something.

So what’s my overall rating:

🌶️2/5

I’m not mad that a majority of the book lacks spice—when it’s there it definitely isn’t fade to black, so it gets a 2. When it finally happens, it’s pretty passionate and fun. I appreciate the books focus, like the one before, was about Asha rekindling her relationship, and they realistically take their time with it

⭐️3.5/5

I really liked this one, I’d even go as to say that I would reread it for the warm, fuzzy, girls supporting girls vibe that it built. The holidays were cute and afterwards I really liked Asha as a character. It wasn’t my absolute favorite of the series so far—but I liked it more than the last few I’ve been reading.

Thanks for reading! I’m on to the next one, and I’m dying to see where this 3 year jump is taking us!

[rosalind-hawkins]

Diceshipping for the ask game?

Ask Game

1. What made you ship it?

The short answer is: my own imagination.

It's one that I've only recently given serious thought to, so this is a new one that I'm playing with. I like to think that if Yami Bakura had met Duke during Duke's villain phase, they might have teamed up, not because Bakura would have seen Duke as an asset to him, but because he thought he could use Duke as a distraction for Yugi and co while YB does his own thing. I think he would have found Duke too interesting to toy with to get rid of after that. As villains together, they would have very Fatal Attraction vibes and be a super possessive, fucked-up couple in a way that's fun to watch but horrible for real life. Duke keeps trying to prove he should be Bakura's focus instead, and as a result keeps getting in the way. Bakura is his mentor in villainy. Duke will absolutely turn on him if he ever finds out that Bakura killed Pegasus, and then it becomes a "if I'm going down, I'm taking you down with me" mutual-destruction-but-at-least-we're-together kind of thing.

All evil and villainy aside, I think YB (esp the Season Zero version) would actually really enjoy Dungeon Dice Monsters. Then he sees the hottie who invented it, and in the most unhinged way possible, he says "I want to devour you" (because that's him trying to flirt) and Duke sees it for exactly what it is but laughs and says, "Get in line, pal, you're not the only one," and Bakura realizes he has to prove himself worthy of his attention (that's always going to be a theme with this ship). So he does his usual attempts at getting to know someone: digging through their trash, stalking them online, breaking into their home—and decides that since DDM means so much to Duke and us something Bakura also enjoys, he's going to prove him myself by winning a DDM tournament. Duke is present at the tournament of course and sees Bakura's efforts and realizes that he isn't just one of his fans and is seriously interested, so Duke decided to give this raccoon of a man a chance. You know they shop at Hot Topic together to be their fabulous goth selves and bond over dice collecting.

2. What's your favorite thing about this ship?

Goth dice dorks bonding over complex dungeon games.

Duke is the bad bitch that Bakura pulled by being autistic.

Duke doesn't care about Bakura being an eldritch magical monster of destruction, he will still call him Babygirl~ and Bakura gets flustered just trying to process that.

And if we go with Duke x Zorkura, you know Dukey Boi becomes a certified monster-fucker, and is proud of it.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't know that this rare pair even has popular or unpopular opinions on it, but I do think it might be uncommon for people to consider both the villain and non-villain potentials for this ship, because I think most people forget about Duke's villain phase (or Duke entirely 😭).

I did just realize that they lowkey have the same vibes as Thiefshipping without the toxicity or the mind control, and I feel like that opens up a whole new world of possibilities. 👀👀👀👀

[wonderousmonarch]

Kamen Rider Wizard Thoughts #4

he really is showing off his sorcery...

Episode 10

- got the girlfriend in call for this one, she hasn't watched any of it but it's still fun

- bro got the totem of undying

- Phoenix is crashing the FUCK out

- "He's shown his true colors: Red!"

- do the government have a fucking Chaos Emerald?

- Koyomi has hella drip

- uh oh the cops are here

- THEYRE GETTING HIS ASS!

- why this guy's face in the center of his damn body

- he rock!!!

- BIG! PLEASE!

- worlds worst vacation

- oh hey. this is one of the places from The Museum in Double

- leave it to the government to see the hero as a potential threat.

- ooh, Naoki has been a Gate before???

- why are the phantoms restricted to Tokyo?

- Naoki's dad was probably killed by a phantom

- mmm. classic underground factory...

- OH SHIT

- Did this phantom kill his dad? and was his dad also a Gate?

- Haruto coming in clutch

- oh he's busting out the big guns

- BIG SWORD LMAO

- time for his T-Pose Beam

- I'm very intrigued as to what Kizaki did to Naoki's dad

Episode 11

- what is this guy's deal. can he get off Haruto's ass for one second

- this show is making me want donuts

- government man is too stupid and stinky to use the rings

- the rings don't make a wizard the wizard makes the ring

- oh that is not the real Naoki. they're definitely setting a trap for Haruto

- your feeble guns are useless

- fold this man like an omelette. pack him up like a suitcase

- did they just not have Naoki's actor for this episode? he isn't saying anything either

- wuh oh phoenix time!

- oh I was right. that wasn't actually Naoki.

- I love Haruto's fit in this episode. it goes hard

- they made a pact over the chaos emerald so Kizaki would protect his son.... how nice

- dad of the year 2012

- Kizaki you dumbass.

- ATTACK OF THE LITTLE GUYS!!!! THE LITTLE BLORBOS

- THEY CAN FUSE???

- Damnit Rinko. you can quick draw faster than that

- Rip Naoki's Dad, what a goat.

- oops despair time

- hm. y'know I like Kizaki a little more now. not so much that I want him to keep showing up but he's got some points back.

- two guns!

- oh I thought he did the devil may cry pose

- HIS BIG BEAM ATTACK!

- holy shit the fucking hand monster

- I love this thing

- oh this is the first dragon usage since they became a real team. that's nice :D

- time for dragon to become a big foot... why can it do this

- down low, too slow, fucker.

- HE WANTS TO BE A FED??? BAD ENDING!!!!

- oooh new ring ... oh NVM it's still a rock

- earth, fire, water, air, and.... green

Episode 12:

- I need a donut...

- NEW RING TIME :O

- woah! Duos ring!

- oh... stupei ace defective is on the case

- what kind of style is Haruto wearing. i love his little shawls

- oooh I like Valkyrie's design

- ooh sweets shop? call Shoma

- uh oh the ghoul has appeared. he wants the scrumptious treats

- Valkyrie is being so polite.... oh NVM

- THE TREATS!!!!! NOOOOOOO

- Shoma would fucking kill this guy in a second

- man I gotta stop watching shows with major food content at times when I cannot get food. I'm fucking hungry

- damn the food industry sucks. the monsters don't help

- Shunpei sweep

- Haruto should learn some kind of repair spell. it would solve so many problems

- holy shit. this guy is totally the phantom. no one asks for that much

- yeah. he's the phantom. what a fucker

- WAIT THE OWNER WAS THE GATE!!!! FUCK

- oh hey it's that one street where Tycoon and Buffa have a friendly interaction

- I love Haruto's big stupid gun. such a doohickey. thingamajig ass weapon

- copy is such a cool spell

- ooooh GREEN MODE

- gun Shunpei a gun too. let him help

- taking a hostage. what a bastard.

Episode 13

- next I get to watch the movie ;3

- i simply wouldn't be taken hostage. just wouldn't happen to me

- damn he just gave up

- oh they're going to kill Tetsuya

- Shunpei sad arc :(

- uh oh. devious woman has heard

- oh she's about to fold him like paper. she's about to turn his ass into a crane

- funky ass camera angle

- DAMN. STRONG ASS PLASTIC CHAIRS

- "Haruto's my hope" bro in any other context that is the most homosexual thing you can say. although it still is.

- LOCK IN TETSUYA. make the most banger treat ever

- he's making the hope manju qahhhhahahhseh

- awwawawawawaa this is so sweet

- Valkyrie is about to show up sometime soon. this might be bad.

- THE STEAMER THING IN THE BACKGROUND AS HE TURNS FIRE HEHEGEH

- Shunpei! Lock In!

- oh hey it's the place where Gemn tried Hyper Muteki that one time. How Interesting.

- MY GOAT! HE CAUGHT IT

- my boys. I love them.

- THE WINGS!!! HOLY SHITTT

- this series is so fucking cool man.

- the fucking Cyclone.... my goat.

- he got hired :D yayyy

- officially the assistant now.. oh joyous day

I love this series so much. it is so heartwarming and fun and I love just watching Haruto fight.

next up is Movie War Ultimatum.

[daydreamingfuel]

Freak Like Me

Chapter 5

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

AO3 // previous // next

Y/N has just moved to Hawkins from England with her parents and is starting at the high school in the final term of her senior year. Eddie immediately takes a liking to her and they become fast friends, deciding to take her under his wing and falling to her charms. This is Hawkins however and things are never quite as they seem...

WHOLE FIC TAGS & WARNINGS: gratuitous use of Y/N (I'm not sorry), friends to lovers, slow burn, mutual pining, eventual smut, semi-fix-it-fic, angst, injury, canon dialogue and events used, canon graphic violence, no main character death :)

Chapter Tags & Warnings: lying to the Police, Y/N has Eddie brainrot (same babe, same), important conversations, use of the word 'slut' in the form of intrusive thoughts, panic attack, Eddie trying his darndest, smoking, a lot of swearing, canon-compliant events and dialogue used, heavy flirting and moves being attempted again (these fuckers just can't catch a break)

Chapter Word Count - 6.4k

A/N - so, apparently I can't write anything in a time period shorter than two months. to make up for it this chapter is incredibly eddie-heavy after the last update, so you're welcome for that.

They didn’t try to stay in the fishing shed for much longer as fatigue set in quickly, though Y/N doubted she would get any rest at all. Eddie, desperately trying to make things right, tried to convince Y/N to stay with him, so they could talk about everything, to no avail.

“Don’t, Eddie.” Y/N pulled away from him. “We have a lot to talk about, but not right now.”

“But Y/N-” Eddie pleaded but Y/N cut him off.

“I’m exhausted, I haven’t slept. And the news about alternate dimensions and monsters being real? I need to be alone for a while.” Y/N’s voice cracked as she spoke, and Eddie’s face fell, “Plus, the police are probably going to want a statement from me so I should probably be at home for when that happens.”

Eddie sighed and shook his head, “Why would they want to question you?”

“If Max saw us both go into the trailer with Chrissy, and only you leaving, chances are others did too.” Y/N reasoned, and he sat back against the wall. Y/N started to walk away, to where Steve was holding the door open for her – trying to not eavesdrop, but paused. She bit her lip in thought for a second before turning back and crouching down in front of him. Lifting up his chin, she forced him to make eye contact, “Hey, I’ll be back as soon as I can. There’s a conversation we need to finish.”

With those final words, she left the shed and found her way back to the car. Somehow, the journey back into central Hawkins felt quicker than it had last night, though that may have been just because she was in and out of consciousness; awake enough to let Steve know where to drop her off and pick her up in the morning, but not enough to remember getting there. As Steve pulled up to her resting tree, she could see her mother in a dressing gown on the front porch with an absurdly large mug of what she assumed was tea. They bid her goodbye, Dustin giving her a big hug and Steve squeezing her hand gently, and let her know that they’d be there around 8am to pick her up for a supply run.

Y/N stumbled up to the house and into her room, collapsing on her bed and passing out fully dressed. She was abruptly woken up by harsh knocks on the front door and a shout that it was the police when they didn’t get an answer. Groggily, Y/N pulled herself up, glancing at the clock reading 7am and cursing to herself before wandering to the door.

“Miss Y/L/N? Can we come in? We have a few questions.” A man asked the second she opened the door. Giving him a quick scan, she noted the chief's badge and nodded, allowing him and his fellow officer to enter without a word. At the sound of people, Mrs Y/L/N soon entered the kitchen and took a silent place next to her daughter at the dining table when she read the situation she had just walked into. “I’m Chief Powell, this is Officer Callaghan. I just have a few questions, answer with honesty and there won’t be any trouble. Are you aware of the events that have taken place at the trailer park two nights ago?”

“I have heard that there was a body found in the Munson trailer, yes,” Y/N answered as calmly as she could, though her heart was beating out of her chest.

“Can you tell us where you were on Friday night?” The chief asked, and Y/N nodded before telling her story.

“Well, after school finished, I played a long game of Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, like we do every Friday,” I thought for a second then said, “Afterwards I went to the trailer park with Eddie and Chrissy, to pick up a notepad that I had left there whilst studying on Thursday and then I came home and had dinner with my mother. Usually, I’d stay at the trailer with Eddie on a Friday - but my dad left for a business trip that morning, so I came home to spend the night with my mum.”

Mrs Y/L/N, smiled at the story though she knew it wasn’t the truth, and placed a hand on top of Y/N’s on the table. Powell and Callaghan exchanged a glance before proceeding with their next question, “Can you tell us why Chrissy was at the trailer park?”

“I assumed it was to pick up some stuff for the championship party, she’s head cheerleader and her boyfriend is on the winning team, I didn’t question it.” Y/N answered, leaning back in her chair, a quizzical raise of an eyebrow accompanied her fidgeting hands, “Why? What’s Chrissy got to do with any of this?”

Y/N allowed the world to go numb around her as Chief Powell gave her the earth-shattering news that Chrissy was dead, the memories of her murder haunting her again like they had been since it happened, more tears falling. She hadn’t been certain that she could cry any more over this, but she was proved wrong. “Do you know where Eddie Munson is?”

“What?” Y/N was pulled out of her stupor at the question, blinking tears away as she looked between the Chief and the Officer in front of her, “You think Eddie, my Eddie, did it?”

“The boy’s van was gone when we got there. There are multiple witnesses seeing the three of you entering the trailer, but not a single one saw you leave.” Officer Callaghan spoke, and his voice immediately made Y/N’s skin crawl. It seemed to Y/N like he wanted Eddie to have done this; like it would be so easy for him to lock him away without another thought. At least nobody had seen her leave. “All the evidence points to-”

“Evidence? What evidence?” Y/N questioned before she could stop herself.

Well done, this isn’t going to end well for you.

Chief Powell was taken aback by the abrupt questioning, “Miss Y/L/N, we cannot disclose case detail during an ongoing investigation, it’s-”

“Have you found a murder weapon?” she cut him off, pushing further, knowing they had nothing on him.

It was Callaghan who answered, to the shock of his Chief, “Well, no but-”

“A motive then? Or signs of a struggle in the trailer?” The pair stared back at her unsure of what to say, she had put them on the spot unexpectedly. “No? So, all you have is circumstantial ‘evidence’.” Y/N knew that would be enough to turn the town against them, but she stood her ground anyway. They were innocent. “He didn’t do this. He couldn’t have, he’s completely harmless. Yeah, he’s a bit much for most people but he would never actually hurt someone maliciously. And he definitely doesn’t have it in him to, to kill.”

Callaghan, having grown increasingly agitated, stood up and towered over her, “Do you know what I think? I think you’re covering for him. I think you know he did it and are hiding him somewhere.”

“What’s your proof?” Y/N bit back, rage consuming her at the, not-completely, false accusation.

“Tell us where he is!”

“That’s enough!” Chief Powell stood up as well slamming his hands on the table. “Callaghan, take a walk.” Callaghan huffed and stormed out of the room, Chief Powell sat back down and spoke more calmly, “Miss Y/L/N, I get the feeling you’re not telling me something. Any small detail could help us solve this.”

“I- There’s nothing to say, I don’t know what happened after I left.” The lies were bitter on her tongue but there was no other way around this. Feeling her mother's hand on her’s gripping it slightly, she took a deep breath and continued. “I told Chrissy to have fun at the party as I left and hugged Eddie goodbye, saying that I’d make it up to him for ditching our movie night tradition and that’s it.” Chief Powell sighed in defeat. Y/N couldn’t help a small scoff from escaping her, as she added with a little more bite, hoping that it stuck, “Do an autopsy, figure it out. Cause I can’t explain this any more than you can.” They stared at each other for a second before Y/N collapsed back in her seat, “I just know that he’s innocent. I just do.” Y/N pleaded with the chief, hoping to any God that would listen that she sounded like a distraught friend in shock and disbelief, instead of a lying suspect, “Why would he kill my best friend?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

By the time Steve arrived with the others, the paranoia had started to creep up on Y/N – re-running the conversation again and again until she had the whole thing memorised, dissecting every last detail in an effort to convince herself that they had believed her and weren’t going to be back with a warrant for her arrest. Having restocked her own backpack with everything she thought she could possibly need for the day, she headed out to the car where the others waited. Mrs Y/L/N had whispered a small ‘be safe’ in her ear as she kissed her cheek goodbye, but Y/N had the feeling she couldn’t make that promise, not knowing when she’d be back. Sliding into the backseat again, the group settled into an uneasy chatter, trying to embrace the brevity of the morning before the inevitable manhunt for Eddie began throughout town. Robin fiddled with the radio until a news station reporting on the incident made her turn it off altogether.

“They have no fucking clue,” Y/N muttered under her breath, covered slightly by a deep sigh, but they all heard it.

“Who doesn’t?” Dustin immediately piped in, Robin turning in her seat to look at Y/N quizzically and Steve eyeing her in the rearview mirror to let her know he was also listening. Even Max moved a headphone off one ear so she could listen.

Groaning and massaging her temples, Y/N closed her eyes for a second to collect her thoughts, before ultimately saying, “The police. I had a visit from them this morning before you guys arrived.”

“What?!” Steve exclaimed from the driver's seat, sounding vaguely parental in his scolding, “Why did you not tell us as soon as you saw us?”

“I’m sorry!” Y/N, befuddled by his concern, apologised to Steve, who gave her a look that said, ‘you’d better be’. She continued, “Look, they have nothing on me or Eddie, nothing tangible that would hold up in a trial anyway, but it was still fucking scary to have to lie to them, about where he is and what’s going on, at 7am after a horrible nights’ sleep.”

“They really have no idea?” Robin asked for confirmation and Y/N shook her head, “Well that’s something at least, I mean when we were messing with Dustin’s Cerebro and listening in to the scanners they’re certain he’s still a suspect and they’re absolutely going to pin this on him either way but-”

“If it goes to trial somehow, it’s unlikely he’ll be charged.” Y/N finished the sentence and Robin nodded. “If we survive whatever this is anyway.”

“We’ve survived before, we can do it again,” Robin reassured her, though it sounded more like she was convincing herself. The rest of the drive to the store was mostly silent, barre Dustin going over details under his breath and occasionally asking Y/N for clarification on what happened again. As she wandered through the aisles, absentmindedly picking up Eddie's favourite snacks and drinks, her mind drifted to the what if’s.

If only you didn’t suggest that Chrissy buy something for her nightmares.

If only you’d asked earlier about what was going on with her.

If only you’d kissed Eddie in the drama room after Hellfire like you wanted to.

Maybe it wouldn’t have happened.

Maybe Chrissy would be alive.

Maybe Eddie would be with you right now.

She was still mystified that he’d abandoned her, and she was going to make him work for her forgiveness for that, but the more and more she thought about him, the more she just missed him and wanted to make it right. And the more she desperately missed Chrissy, weighed down by how she contributed to her demise.

You’re not innocent.

“Y/N? You okay?” Steve’s voice suddenly sounded in her ears, and snapped her out of her thought-spiral, shaking it off and smiling at him.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He wasn’t convinced. “Is this too much?” Y/N referenced the growing pile of snacks in her arms.

He cocked his head looking at it then smiled back at her, “Whatever he doesn’t want, we’ll split between us.”

She laughed lightly, “Deal.”

Another hour passed in the car and they were back at Ricks’ fishing shed. In the daylight, Y/N could really see just how dilapidated the building was - dented, marked up and covered in a weird moss or algae growing from the lake brine, the few windows in desperate need of a clean, and worst of all the smell was a lot more pungent under the sun.

“Jesus!” Eddie exclaimed, panicked as they too loudly kicked open the heavy metal door, bags in hand, five of them huddled together in the doorway.

Dustin grinned cheekily, “Delivery service!”

Eddie sighed, looking at them all in exasperation, seeing them all grinning back at him, Y/N feeling Steve lift up an arm to give him a little wave. Carrying over the bags, Eddie immediately took them from Y/N with a small thanks before digging through them like a racoon in the night, smiling to himself somewhat at the plethora of things she had obviously picked out. He collapsed into a half-exposed boat and pulled a box of honeycomb cereal to his chest, diving in with handfuls, interspersed with chocolate milk. The rest of the group had dispersed themselves around the room, finding their own places to perch or lean on, but Y/N moved to sit next to him, giving him a small smile before he shifted up to give her enough space. Despite this, she elected to sit as close to him as possible, craving his presence and leaning her head on his tense shoulder as he continued to eat.

“So, we got, uh, some good news and some bad news.” Dustin broke the silence, “How do you prefer it?”

Eddie didn’t stop eating to respond, “Bad news first, always.”

“All right. Bad news.” The teen searched for the correct phrasing for a second before breaking the news to Eddie, “We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy.”

“Like, 100% kind of convinced.” Max added, looking from Eddie to Y/N, urging her to speak.

Eddie looked down at Y/N, eyes wide and accusatory, where she rested her head on him and she pulled herself up to sit straighter, “Yeah…They came for me this morning, tried to get me to rat you out and throw you under the bus- I just mixed my metaphors, anyway-” Y/N rambled, fidgeting with her hands in her lap, and flicking her eyes between all of them between looking down at her shoes, “-Obviously I didn’t say a thing…Actually no, that’s not true, I basically told them to do their jobs better, probably really reckless of me but maybe now they’ll actually do a full autopsy and realise there’s no way you could have done it-”

“You lied to the police? For me?” Eddie cut her off, cutting off her ramble with a long blink to process it all in complete disbelief, which turned quickly to awe as she gazed up at him – not needing to say a word to let him know it was the truth. “And the good news?”

Y/N gave him a weak smile, “Your name hasn't gone public yet.”

“But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do.” Robin, then added gravely,  “And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you.”

Y/N could see him deflate slightly as he took in her words, “Hunt the freak, right?”

Robin could only confirm, and Eddie cursed to himself before Dustin tried his hand at reassurance, “So, before that happens, find Vecna, kill him,1 and prove your innocence.”

“That’s all, Dustin?” The dry sarcasm dripped off Eddie’s tongue, exhausted just at the sound of the ‘plan’, “That's all?”

Dustin just grinned sarcastically back at him, “Yeah, no, that's pretty much it.”

Before Eddie could bite back another retort, Robin jumped in, “Listen, Eddie, I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before.” The pair in the boat gave her a look of confused disbelief, so she continued, “I mean, they have a… a few times, and… and I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this.”

At this point, Steve, who had been listening in decided to pipe up with further explanation, as though it was the most normal thing to discuss, “Yeah, see, usually we rely on this girl who has superpowers. But, uh, those went bye-bye, so…”

Robin volleyed, “So we're technically in more of the-”

“Kinda…” Steve searched for the right words when Max found them for him.

“Brainstorming phase.”

Steve clicked a point at her, “Brainstorming.”

“There…” Dustin splutters as he tries again to give Eddie peace of mind, “There's nothing to worry about.”

Steve scoffs lightly in agreement, and gives Eddie a calm and confident smile, but it quickly fell as the wail of sirens sounded. Steve cursed, “Shit.” As the sirens grew louder and closer, Robin urged to cover the boat with Eddie and Y/N were sat in with tarp for them to hide, and Eddie immediately complied by grabbing the bright blue tarp with one hand and pulling Y/N closer with the other as he covered them.

Y/N then found herself pinned to Eddie’s chest, laying uncomfortably on the bottom of the boat, the cereal he’d dropped surrounding them as it spilled from the box. Face to face, mere centimetres apart, they got to finally look at each other properly for the first time in days. Eddie was paler than usual, eyes tired and lips reds, presumably from nervous biting, hair a tangled mess a top his head. She was sure he could see that she wasn’t doing much better, if the bags forming under her eyes from restless nights weren’t evidence enough, the way she clung to him in fear like she had before would be solid reminder. The tight grip around her waist loosened slightly as the sound of sirens died down but still the tarp remained until Steve called the all-clear.

Lacing their fingers together, Y/N pulled Eddie back up to sitting with her, pushing the tarp of with her other hand. Steve was pacing, hair dishevelled from running his hands through it but it still managed to look perfect somehow, which annoyed Y/N greatly. After a few more seconds of pacing as the sirens fully died off, Steve stopped and pulled his car keys back out of his pocket.

“I think we should follow them.” He finally spoke, “Just to make sure they’re definitely not on Eddie’s trail.”

Robin shrugged and started collecting her things, followed quickly my Max and Dustin, who added, “We should probably also loop Nancy and Lucas in on what’s happening, if it is the Upside Down again, we’re gonna need all the help we can get- Y/N? You, okay?”

Y/N hadn’t moved an inch as the other made their moves to leave, “I think I should stay here with Eddie.”

“Absolutely not. Nope. Not happening.” Eddie protested, squeezing her laced hand as he turned to her. “You can’t stay here, your mom-”

“My mum told me to come look for you.” His eyes widened and mouth gaped as she stopped his rant with a hand to his chest. “She believes in you, and more importantly she believes in me. She told me to bring you home. If I don’t come back she’ll assume I’m still looking, at least for a little longer, before she starts to panic. Besides, weren’t you the one begging me to stay here with you just last night?”

Eddie lets out a sigh that turns into a frustrated groan, “Harrington, just- just go, do what you need to do.”

The man didn’t need to be told twice, shepherding Dustin, Max, and Robin back out to his car. As he reached the door he paused and turned back to the pair in the boat, locking eyes with Y/N, “Stay safe.”

The door slammed shut, leaving Eddie and Y/N alone. Silence, tension palpable in the air the longer they sat, fidgeting, hip to hip. Eventually, Eddie broke the uneasy quiet, with a hushed whisper of, “Are you still mad at me?”

Y/N sighed, “Yes.” But then squeezed his hand, “And, no.” Eddie closed his eyes in slight relief, “I’m a little confused about how I’m feeling right now.”

“Do…do you wanna talk about it?” The question posed, though heavy, was asked so awkwardly but with such sincerity that Y/N’s heart skipped a beat. She knew that he was always ready to lend her his ears if ever she needed it, he had told her as much on Friday before all the chaos started but she didn’t quite believe him, part of her thinking he just said it out of courtesy, until now. “We’ve nothing else to do whilst we wait to be hunted down by townies.”

Unable to speak as her mind raced, trying figure out how best to phrase everything she needed to say, debating how much to say and devising ways to get around the whole thing, she just nodded. He unlaced their hand momentarily as he made himself a little more comfortable in the boat, straddling the bench to face her, before reaching for her hand again. Taking a few shaky breaths, she folded one leg under herself to face him and let her hands fall into his. His thumbs rubbed circles into the backs of her hands to soothe her as she collected her thoughts, opening her mouth to speak before thinking better of it and closing it again a few times over.

“Eddie…” Y/N sighed his name softly, “Look...on Friday night, before all this happened, I had this plan, I guess, to tell you everything that was going on with me – secrets from my past, plans for the future and where you fit in to it, and I had a surprise for you that I was – am! – still really excited about but it all feels…not meaningless, just…not as important anymore, not when your livelihood is at stake.” He didn’t interrupt. Though he was fidgeting, it was the quietest she’d ever seen him. Eddie was trying desperately to pay attention and hang on to every word she was saying. “All cards on the table - when you ran, it all just fell apart and I’ve been spiralling ever since. Furious that you ran. Confused about what I did wrong. Hopeless in the thought I wouldn’t find you. Mind-numbing fear that what killed Chrissy was coming back. But mostly, I’ve just been sick to my stomach thinking that you weren’t okay, that I’d find you dead, mutilated like Chrissy and I- What happened?”

Eddie licked his lips, blinking few times as he thought back to Friday night, “Y/N, no amount of explanation is going to justify me just leaving you there, believe me I know that, but please believe me when I say you did nothing wrong, I fucked up. Big time. And I’m so, so unimaginably sorry,” His big brown eyes pleaded with her to understand that he was truly remorseful, as he gripped her hands tighter, “I wanted to stay, every bone in my body willed me to stay there with you and as soon as I left, I wanted to come back, but my stupid fucking brain was screaming at me to just get the fuck outta there at all costs. Survival instincts I guess, to flee. Run away.”

Y/N looked away, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back indignant tears, taking a few breaths. Still, her hands never let his go, clinging on to him for dear life. She urged away the thoughts to snap at him again for she knew it would be of no help, no matter how badly she wanted to. Being mad at him caused an ache in her chest that made her nauseous, but full forgiveness wasn’t quite on the table yet but wasn’t far off. Her concern for him far outweighed the spite brewing in her anyway.

After a small sniffle, she finally looked back at him. Eddie was tense, chewing on his lip as his eyes racked over her again and again for any sign of her pushing him away, but found none. “I can’t stop thinking about why ‘Vecna’-” She scoffed sightly at the name Dustin had given the killer as she said it, thinking back to his notebook where she had caught the word ‘Demogorgon’ and realising that it was probably how they referred to the monsters they had previously fought and not notes from a D&D campaign like she’d initially thought, “-came for Chrissy in the first place.”

“I’ve got no idea…” He looked haunted by the memory for a second before he spoke again, “Well, she was your best friend, apart from me - though I’m not sure I deserve the title anymore,” Eddie looked down at their entwined hands in shame, before meeting her eyes again, “did you notice anything weird going on before Friday? You know, like signs that we missed?”

The nightmares and late-night phone calls came to mind. “I mean, she was having horrific nightmares, had to call me to calm her down on Thursday night. She said that they felt too real. Like they were actually happening to her. It was driving her crazy. I thought it was down to stress, she doesn’t- didn’t have the happiest home life…her mum’s a colossal bitch, trying to keep her ‘perfect’”.

“Her life seemed pretty damn perfect from the outside. And she was actually nice, unlike the preppie dickheads in that school. Where do the nightmares fit into that picture?” Eddie questioned, perplexed. He hated most of the preppies because they despised him, but Chrissy never had a bad word to say about him, so he grew fond over the limited time they spent together. But he never truly considered to be a friend, until she died, and he realised just how much he liked having her around - the girly bubble-gum blur that she was. Regret had consumed his every waking moment, for many reasons since that night, but not talking to her more niggled at the back of his mind like an itch he would never be able to scratch.

Y/N sighed before gently explaining Chrissy’s issues with food and her mother’s pressure to look and act perfect, the rage and regret bubbling up inside her again. “I should have recognised it sooner. She was always skittish whenever we ate together, and her mum always gave me the stink eye whenever we were at her house, bringing home snacks for movie nights. I assumed she just didn’t like me and didn’t pay any mind to it. But obviously there were some other reasons she didn’t want me and my cookies around.”

Eddie was simmering with the same rage that Y/N was, “And I’ll bet anything that she’s going to act like they were as thick as thieves to the press, knowing that she made her own daughter sick.”

“Chris deserved better,” Y/N muttered to herself, “Eds, I’m such a bad friend, I should’ve-”

“Sweetheart, you did everything you could.” Eddie cut her off, the familiar nickname spawning a flurry of butterflies in her stomach despite the gnawing guilt in her mind, “The fact that she even told you any of that, trusted you enough to call you in the middle of the fucking night, says how much of an effect you had on her.”

She couldn’t look at him, anxiety still crawling all over her, “…I think, apart from the guidance counsellor, I was the only one she told about any of it.” He hummed in acknowledgement.

“And,” His voice dropped, slightly hushed, testing the waters, “speaking from experience, you are not a bad friend.” Making a bold move in their reconciliation, he reached out and tilted her head up with two fingers under her chin to make her meet his gaze. She didn’t push him away, but leaned into his hold on her instinctually, “Alright, enough of the heavy for now. I need a smoke, you want one?”

An olive branch, a gesture of normalcy. She nodded as much as she could with his grip still on her jaw. Lightly dragging his thumb down her neck slightly and watching as her eyes fluttered closed for a split second, an easy smile graced his lips as he reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He lit up his own before placing a second between her slightly parted lips and lighting it, receiving a face full of smoke as a thank you. “D’ya wanna know why I came up here? Rick’s 'outta town' for a while, told me I could use the house whenever I wanted, ‘needed an escape’ or some shit like that.” Eddie scoffed at his friends’ words, making wild gestures with his hands as he spoke. It felt almost…normal, to sit and talk and smoke. Easy. Familiar. Comfortable. As though they weren’t in hiding, “I was actually planning on kidnapping you for a few days, bring you up here…just us, to hang in peace, uninterrupted…” he let the implication hang in the air - Y/N getting more and more flustered by the second as ideas flooded her mind as the memory of their previous private unfinished moments ghosted over her - before he continued “well, it doesn’t really matter anymore, anyway my point is, when I ran, it was still in my head – the idea of us here - and I guess my body kinda drove me here on autopilot.”

“You know that doesn’t absolve you, right?” Y/N said, half teasing but the underlying seriousness didn’t go unnoticed.

Eddie snickered, “Yeah, I know.” He flicked off the ash of his cigarette onto the floor beside the boat before taking a long drag and blowing it into the air. The sight of his exposed neck on display made her cheeks heat unexpectedly, not quite believe how attractive she found the simple action. Leaning into her personal space he murmured, “M’gonna do everything I can to earn your forgiveness, sweetheart, just tell me what you want.”

You.

Just you.

“Just don’t run from me again, you sure do know how to bruise a girl’s ego.” She whispered back, slightly breathless from the proximity.

The smirk he was holding back was thinly covered by the furrowed brows of a serious façade as he nodded, “You got it, no running. As for your ego…well, being stuck in this shithole whilst on the run from the police is a hell of a lot better with your sweet company.”

“Why thank you darling, that’s what I’m here for.” Letting out a sharp laugh, she lightly pushed him away, prodding her cheek with her tongue in exasperation.

Eddie laughed a little too loudly before remembering where they were and looked back at Y/N sheepishly, “You know what I meant, you just…things are easier when you’re around, is all.”

She did know exactly what he had meant. Since that first day, when he had made her feel so welcome, when they had instantly clicked, the air had felt lighter whenever he was around. Every menial, monotonous task became a game with Eddie there that ended in fits of laughter. Every study session felt less like reading a drill manual when he read the textbooks aloud like he was presenting a campaign. Seemingly simple movie nights in held some of her favourite memories, his head thrown back in carefree laughter, the sound reverberating in her ears like a symphony for her soul. Whenever he was around, the stress and anxiety simply washed away in calming, happy waves with every condescending smirk; every mischievous glint in his eye; every squeeze of his hand on her thigh; every soft breath that fanned over her lips when he crowded her space.

Her gaze softened as she gently brushed his cheek with one hand, cigarette held limply between her fingers, as the other reached for his hand to lace their fingers again, “Yeah, I know what you meant.” As he leaned in slightly, eyes scanning her face, Y/N pulled away slightly, “Eddie…I want to, I do,”

“Good, ‘cause I do too,” Eddie muttered, free hand sliding up onto her waist, before he sighed and dropped his forehead against hers, “But not right now, right?”

Y/N silently nodded against him, fingers still laced as the other hand on his face slid down to hold the nape of his neck beneath the tangled mess of curls, “Somehow it feels inappropriate, couldn’t possibly guess why…” voice low, resisting the urge to groan as he let his hand rub along her side.

“Yeah, it’s not like I’m a fugitive or anything, that’d ruin the mood,” He snickered, wrapping his arm around her back, and sliding closer to her on the bench, “One day, one glorious day, there won’t be any stupid fucking thing in the way.”

“No interdimensional monsters framing you for murder, no running from the police…” He hummed in approval, nose bumping against hers, “just me, telling you how much of a dumbass you are for waiting so long.”

“Well excuse me for trying to be a gentleman,” The statement completely undermined by the sharp squeeze to her hip, pulling a choked gasp from Y/N.

He smirked as Y/N tangled her hand in the curls at the nape of his neck, “Yeah, cause you giving me the ‘fuck me’ eyes ten times a day and almost defiling the Hellfire room on Friday, was completely gentlemanly, I feel sufficiently courted.”

“If I recall correctly, sweetheart,” condescension oozing with every word, staring her down, “you have been just as eager, dare I say needy, for me as I’ve been for you,” Y/N gulped at the phrasing, hating the immediate effect it had on her, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you checking me out every chance you get and giving me the ‘fuck me’ eyes, as you so succinctly called it, whenever I’m DMing or playing guitar or driving - so cut the bullshit, princess.”

Make me. The phrase itched on her tongue.

Fuck, I want him.

Slut.

Your best friend dies, and Eddie is on the run and you’re horny?

You completely insensitive bitch.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Suddenly everything became too much - his hands on her, the proximity, her spiralling thoughts – and she couldn’t breathe. “I uh- I’m sorry, I just…” Y/N completely pulled away, standing up and walking away to lean on a nearby work bench, trying to calm her ragged breathing. Her hands shook slightly against the hard wood of the table, eyes clenched shut as she attempted to focus on her breathing, counting to ten over and over again inaudibly.

“Y/N? What- are you okay? Sweetheart?” the metalhead scrambled up and out of the little boat, rushing over to where she was stood, trembling. “Oh god, was it me? I went too far I’m sorry.”

“Eddie…” Y/N’s voice, soft and weak made him pause, calling out for him as the panic consumed her, “Can’t- I can’t breathe.”

He buffered, arms frozen mid-air, half reaching for her and half wanting to give her space, “Uh…try, try taking some deep breaths. I’ll do it with you. In and out, in and out.” She tried to follow his lead but the voices in her head were getting louder and louder. Overpowering her. Collapsing under the pressure, Eddie immediately crouched down beside where she was curled into a ball on the grimy floor. “Jesus, fuck, Y/N talk to me, what’s going on?” The boy’s voice shook as he cradled her to his chest, her hands balling up his shirt in her fists, holding on for dear life.  

Disgusting little slut, you deserve to feel like this.

Did you really think that this would be okay?

You’re pathetic.

He’s just playing you, feels bad for you.

Chrissy is better off dead than being your friend.

“Shut up, shut up! It’s not true…It’s not true, get out of my head.” Y/N held her hands to her head, as if to squeeze the horrific thoughts free from her mind, sobbing whilst being rocked back and forth by Eddie as his strong arms circled her protectively.

His head dropped down, to rest his cheek atop her head, “C’mon darlin’, breathe with me, don’t listen to it.” Though his voice was shaking with intense concern, Eddie tried his best to calm her down. After another fifteen minutes, Y/N breathing finally started to regulate and she was able to lift her head to lock eyes with him, following his breathing. Once she was stable, he asked softly, still holding her tightly, “There you are, where’d you go, huh?”

“Panic attack…that one was a bitch,” she sniffled through a small laugh, “My head can be pretty damn cruel sometimes.”

“What was it saying?” The question hung in the air for a couple of seconds, “Sweetheart, I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

Playing with the fabric of his Hellfire shirt to distract herself, she took another breath to soothe herself before talking again. Though she had planned on telling him everything on Friday and had already done the mental gymnastics of how to say it all, actually having to say it all out loud made her stomach twist horribly.

He already has too much to deal with, he doesn’t need my baggage on top.

Before she could get another thought run wild, his hand on her face brushing away a few stray tears brought her back to reality.

“Okay, so…”

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