#I had a more eloquent thought out post earlier

[nsfwitchy2]

Tbh sometimes I see those posts that are like “I thought we promised not to shit on kids!!” And like they are CORRECT and we should NOT be shitting on kids

But istg I’ve seen at least one or two reference things like “Sephora kids” and “claiming gen alpha can’t read” as shitting on kids and….. idk who you’ve been talking to about this but everyone I’ve seen talk about this are almost exclusively shitting on the parents???

Also those aren’t like. Shitting on kids. They’re legitimate concerns about the way technology and capitalism are affecting childhood and parenting, in my own experience anyway?

[leafy-mints]

normalcy is overrated

2.5k words. 15!skk. fluff (w/ a little angst if you squint).

He was startled by Dazai letting out a strangled noise from the back of his throat and.. dropping to the ground?

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?” Chuuya’s eyes widened a bit in equal parts shock and utter confusion.

He ignores him and starts rolling around.

On the ground.

In an alleyway.

"Okay, seriously, Dazai. What the hell?"

Or, in which Chuuya learns a little more about his partner.

based on this post by @unicornpopcorn14!!

also on my ao3!

~ ~ ~ ~

The first time Chuuya noticed one of Dazai's odd behaviors was an afternoon when they were leaving the arcade.

The (unfortunately) taller boy walking next to him was worrying his bottom lip between his teeth and occasionally pulling his hands out of his pockets to shake his hands or wiggle his fingers. The boy was practically vibrating.

And frankly, it worried him a little. The bastard was biting his lip hard.

"What's up with you?"

Well, he didn't mean for that to come out so harshly, but sue him. He was never one for proper tone anyway.

Dazai immediately paused his shaking, but it took him another second to stop biting his lip. Almost as if he didn't quite realize he was doing it. Chuuya's worry spiked a little seeing how red and irritated his lip was.

"Nothing," Dazai dragged out the word with a smirk, basically begging Chuuya to press further.

The redhead only sighed and rolled his eyes (a common occurrence when talking to Dazai), he wondered if ignoring him would work.

"Well, if you must know," Apparently not, Chuuya thought, "Chuuya did lose yet another bet today and I'm busy thinking of all the weird, insane things I could make him do."

Ugh, he shouldn't have asked.

"Yeah, yeah.. Just quit biting your lip like that before you hurt yourself."

Dazai blinked and looked the closest to surprised Chuuya had ever seen him before quickly fixing his expression to play into their normal banter.

An over-dramatic gasp, "Is Chuuya worried about me?"

Chuuya flushed and stuttered before eloquently yelling, "Fuck you! Bleed out then for all I care!" And crossing his arms.

"Bleed out?" Dazai snickered, "That's a little dramatic, no?"

Chuuya huffed and elbowed Dazai in his side.

"Ow!" Dazai whined, "For someone so small, you sure do pack a punch."

"I'm only fifteen, asshole, and I'm still growing!"

Dazai grinned and faked a yawn, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one before."

Chuuya took a breath since he didn't particularly feel like fighting Dazai today. He took another glance at his bitten lip and his initial worry simmered right back in his stomach.

The only thing he could correlate that to was being nervous, but all they've done was go to the arcade today.. Hell, this is their day off, so what would even be making him nervous?

So, it probably wasn't nerves.

..Excitement was another one, but biting your lip until it almost bleeds didn't seem like a proper way to express that. It confused Chuuya a bit, but Dazai was an odd person. He wasn't gonna question it.

He dug in his pocket and tossed a lollipop at him.

Dazai fumbled a bit before he caught it and curiously turned it over in his palm to examine it. He looked at Chuuya with something akin to amusement.

"Just.. chew on that instead," His face was still a little warm.

Dazai looked from the candy in his hand to Chuuya one last time before shrugging and taking the wrapper off to pop it in his mouth.

From that day forward, Chuuya just so happened to always carry a lollipop with him on their off days. Whenever Dazai would start biting his lip after a particularly good day out, Chuuya would toss the candy at him so he'd have something a bit safer to chew on.

~ ~ ~ ~

The second time he'd noticed was during one of their earlier missions as an official duo. Or 'Double Black' as they were titled.

The basic objective: Sneak into some fancy gala, intercept the message, get out.

At first, Chuuya wondered how on earth two fifteen year olds were expected to sneak into such an extravagant event, but he soon realized nearly everyone was too drunk to care.

It was a fairly easy, lower level mission, so the two were honestly growing bored.

Well, the sneaking in part was easy enough ("You'd think they'd have better security for something as hyped up as this," Chuuya snorted before picking the lock to the back door in a grand total of 40 seconds), it was waiting for their target that was taking agonizingly long.

So the two had taken to indulging in a bit of tomfoolery, if you will.

Who could talk to the most women before the party was over?

A bet Dazai proposed, of course. Chuuya honestly found it a bit stupid seeing as all the women here were probably twice (if not thrice) their age, but he was never one to back down from a bet.

Plus, Chuuya was winning by a margin, so he was honestly feeling pretty good.

That was until he caught a glimpse of their target making his way to the other side of the room in a haste.

He scanned the room for Dazai, but he was nowhere to be found.

Great. Seems he's on his own.

Which, Chuuya found, felt very strange. He doesn't normally separate from Dazai on missions or even go on missions on his own yet. So trailing the guy with no clue where his partner was didn't sit right with him at all.

He was still looking out for Dazai while speed walking a fair distance behind the man. Chuuya was a mix of relieved and upset when he spotted the mop of brown curls in the crowd.

"We gotta go now," Chuuya hissed, "Target's on the move."

Dazai’s brows creased together briefly before he allowed Chuuya to grab his wrist and drag him along.

The two were just reaching an alley a few blocks down from the venue. Both a little out of breath from the running (they barely avoided being spotted courtesy of an argument they ended up having) and taking a short break to reconvene and evaluate the success of the mission.

Chuuya noticed how uncharacteristically quiet the bandaged boy was, but decided not to comment on it. He took this time to focus on slowing his racing heart.

He was startled by Dazai letting out a strangled noise from the back of his throat and.. dropping to the ground?

Scratch that, maybe he should’ve said something.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?” Chuuya’s eyes widened a bit in equal parts shock and utter confusion.

He ignores him and starts rolling around.

On the ground.

In an alleyway.

"Okay, seriously, Dazai. What the hell?"

He briefly thought about kicking the other boy, thinking this was just another joke of his, but it honestly seemed a little serious.

Chuuya just stared on in confusion and slight concern as Dazai rolled around. He looked incredibly silly, and if he wasn’t at such a loss for words, he probably would've laughed.

After another minute or two, he came to a stop, rolling over one last time so he was on his back facing the nearly pitch black sky.

He let out an obnoxiously loud sigh and shut his eyes before whining, “I lost our bet.”

Chuuya blinked before letting out a scoff. He found it hard to believe that was the only thing bothering him.

“And I lost to Chuuya of all people!” Dazai screwed his face up as if he had tasted something rotten when Chuuya’s name left his mouth, which led to the redhead kicking his shin in response.

“Oi, what’s that supposed to mean?!” He raised his voice over the sound of Dazai’s very loud, but clearly fake, shout in pain.

“Oww, Chuuya’s so mean. He knows I don’t like pain,” He pouted.

The older boy rolled his eyes, “Tch. Whatever, asshole, I didn’t even kick you that hard.”

Dazai resumed his staring at the sky and Chuuya worried for a brief moment that maybe he did actually hurt him until his suspicions from earlier resurfaced.

“So, what’s wrong then?”

“What would be wrong?”

“Ugh-! You’re so impossible sometimes, you know that?”

“Thank you, I do try,” Dazai grinned.

If he was dodging the topic this hard, Chuuya wondered if he should even press it any further. Alas, he was (unfortunately) worried about Dazai and something seemed very off.

Chuuya sighed and sat down in front of Dazai.

“Alright, we won’t leave this spot until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Dazai failed to stifle a laugh, “Y’know I could just leave whenever, right? Nothing’s actually keeping me here.”

“So you admit something is wrong!” Chuuya smiled triumphantly and pointed at the dark haired boy who just unknowingly confirmed his suspicions.

Dazai’s brows creased again as he sat there for a minute. He looked like he was debating something.

Then he grinned–that couldn’t mean anything good–and smirked before challenging Chuuya.

“I guess we’ll just sit here then!” The taller boy shrugged.

Chuuya cursed at Dazai before crossing his arms and having an impromptu staring competition with him.

The bastard actually sat there for an hour. An entire hour. Chuuya wasn’t sure if he was more shocked at his own patience or Dazai’s pettiness.

He wasn’t sure what Dazai was thinking about during all that time, but he could practically see something shift in his eyes. Yet another emotion he couldn’t quite place.

“I’ve been having some.. issues.”

His face scrunched up as he looked to the sky, mumbling the statement to the few stars that could be seen. His lips were curled into a small pout.

No shit, Chuuya thought, but he raised an eyebrow at him regardless to urge him to continue.

"Just.. I don’t know, Chuuya. It’s just a lot. For once in my life, I honestly don’t know.” His voice was still hushed, almost as if he was unsure about revealing this to Chuuya.

The redhead just stared for a moment, trying to figure out how to go about this. He wasn’t really the best with comfort and seeing Dazai like this was, for lack of a better description, weird.

But there was also something a little assuaging witnessing him actually be open. Seeing Dazai actually be vulnerable with him, if only for a moment.

“Well, you’re right about the bet, you’re not living that down anytime soon,” Chuuya started with a smirk before being cut off by Dazai rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, very comforting-”

“Let me finish,” He faced a palm in his direction. The brown-haired boy sat up a bit straighter in interest, but went back to pouting.

“I’m not gonna pressure you into telling me what’s wrong, since it’s clear you don’t wanna talk about it,” This isn’t coming out right, Chuuya worried, “Which is fine!” He quickly added.

He met Dazai’s eyes and they were looking right back at him, fully attentive, like he was truly soaking up what Chuuya was telling him.

So he fought down the flush rising to his neck and continued, “Just know I’m here alright? For some stupid, unexplained reason I do actually care about you.. A little.”

“People aren’t always one-hundred percent on their game all the time–nobody's perfect,” Chuuya stood up and offered a hand toward Dazai. He stared at it before looking away and begrudgingly accepting the outstretched hand. “Just be grateful it only happened during a simpler mission,” The red head grunted as he eased Dazai back upright.

Dazai shifted his weight between his feet, looking everywhere but at Chuuya. The redhead caught the faint trace of a smile as Dazai tried to think of what to say. He gave up and only mumbled out a ‘sure’ before the two silently continued their trek to the designated pick-up point.

This night wasn’t ever brought up between the two again, but Chuuya had filed it away in his subconscious where there was an ever-growing folder keeping tabs on his partner’s habits.

~ ~ ~ ~

The third time was during a relatively slow day in headquarters. Chuuya was running an errand for Kouyou when he passed by Dazai sitting in one of the cushioned chairs in the lobby.

Well, laying in would be a more accurate description. His head was dangling a few inches above the floor and his legs were draped over the back of the chair as he chewed on a piece of bright, pink bubblegum.

Chuuya stopped in his tracks at his observation. Now, this particular instance wasn’t too bizarre, but he’s gotten better at reading Dazai as of late and he takes pride in that fact.

Going off of his blank expression and the gum he was chewing (he only chewed gum to have something besides his thoughts to focus on), he could tell immediately that the boy was upset.

“Something bothering you, bandages?”

Dazai let out an exaggerated sigh, “You’ve really been pestering me as of late.. Just cause you’re older than me doesn’t make you my mom.”

Chuuya sputtered (something else he’s been seeming to do around Dazai as of late), “I’m not trying to be your mom, stupid mackerel! Fine, I don’t care then. Wallow alone.”

Dazai huffed out a laugh, “Who says I’m wallowing?”

“It’s incredibly obvious you are,” Chuuya rolled his eyes.

“I think you pay a little too much attention to me..” A pause and a gasp, “Does Chuuya have a crush on me?”

“No, you idiot! I’m just-” Worried about you. But Chuuya would rather kill himself than say that out loud.

Well, doesn’t that sound familiar.

Dazai raised an eyebrow, “Just what?”

“Nothing,” Was Chuuya’s quick reply.

Dazai shrugged, “I’m going to safely assume you stopped yourself from professing your undying love and devotion for me. As my dog, it’s only natural you feel that way.”

Chuuya couldn’t believe this kid.

He wasn’t even going to grace Dazai with an outburst this time.

He settled for an eye roll, “Jeez, self-absorbed much?”

And that phrase must’ve hit a nerve, because Dazai immediately shut back down. His stare slowly drifted back to being blank and empty.

Chuuya momentarily had an internal panic before Dazai continued.

“Had to meet with Mori today,” He grumbled as he absentmindedly bumped his shoes against each other.

Oh.

Yeah, that sentence alone spoke volumes.

Personally, Chuuya’s never had a problem with the man–well, the least amount of problems you could have with the head of the Port Mafia–but he knows Dazai’s hatred for his somewhat-guardian runs deep. He wasn’t gonna push the issue if Dazai didn’t want to talk about it.

“Ah,” Chuuya made a noise of understanding before sitting criss-cross in front of him. He set the black folder he was carrying down at his side and didn’t miss how Dazai’s eyes followed it.

“What’s the Chibi have today?” Dazai teased, yet the smirk he offered didn’t quite reach. Still tip-toeing around the topic.

Chuuya scowled, “I thought I told you to stop with that stupid nickname.”

Dazai just shrugged the best he could with how he was laying across the chair and gave him an expectant look.

Chuuya rolled his eyes before continuing, “Kouyou-san needed me to run something down for her.”

That was all Chuuya was going to give since he didn’t really know what was in the folder himself. Dazai just hummed, not prying anyway.

“Aw, Chuuya’s being such a good doggie!” Dazai reached his hands out, one to pat Chuuya’s cheek and the other coming to ruffle his hair. It was an awkward angle, but of course, the boy made it work somehow.

“Would you quit that?” Chuuya exclaimed as he scowled deeper than earlier. His face went red and he promptly swatted bandaged arms away from him.

Dazai laughed and it sounded so painfully genuine that Chuuya found himself smiling a bit himself. He was glad he could make the younger boy feel at least a bit better.

~ ~ ~ ~

@sakiyaki-sashimi @sleek-peak-peek @m-nerd44 @underthetree845

(hope i didn't miss anyone! 😭)

[lemotmo]

You certainly don't have to post this but I thought the answer was actually pretty good advice 😊

Q. Hello, I haven't been around the 911 fandom long but I think I may have gotten my hopes up about Tommy. It's increasingly clear that Oliver and Lou do not get on and I think I listened to wrong blogs and allowed myself to have expectations that don't appear to be likely. You do seem to understand the show pretty well so in your honest opinion do you think Tommy is sticking around?

A. Hello, anon. I wasn't going to answer this because I promised I wasn't going to post this kind of stuff anymore but I felt like you deserved an honest response. No, I don't believe he is sticking around. I do think we can safely assume that Oliver and Lou are not friendly with one another, but that's part of adulthood. We don't always get along with our coworkers. That's not the reason he's not sticking around though. What I would advise you to do is go back and listen to Oliver's interviews from last season. You can also read Lou's interviews that came out immediately following episode 4, those were show sanctioned interviews so the content would have been approved, unlike his cameo content. They all describe the relationship the same way. A temporary, introductory relationship. It was never billed or promoted, by Oliver or the show, as anything else. Oliver's lead is the one everyone should have been following. I know the consensus seems to be that Oliver doesn't interact with or engage in any B/T content because he doesn't like all the nastiness that surrounds everything now, and doesn't ship the relationship himself. While I think those things are true I think another part of it is that Oliver didn't want to give people false hope. He has spoken on this before in relation to Buddie content. He doesn't want to come across as encouraging something he can't promise. And in this case everyone said was temporary. There is no need for him to engage with the ship. I think he saw certain people were becoming attached and he didn't want to encourage them because he knows it's not going to be anything. I don't mean that in any kind of mean way, anon. But the reality is a certain group of shippers got carried away with something completely separate from what Oliver and the show were saying and they allowed that thing to frame their viewpoint of everything else. Pay attention to Oliver, anon. He is the one who will be honest with you. His silence pretty much tells you all you need to know. I'm sure that's not the answer you were hoping for but it's my honest opinion. Take care of yourself. 💗

Thank you Nonny! I will post this, because this post doesn't have anything to do with the fandom itself.

This is a post about the two actors, Tommy as a character and whether or not he'll stick around in season 8. I'm perfectly fine with topics like this.

This also ties in nicely with a post I made earlier today where an anon asked me a question about the BT pairing and whether or not it had a chance to be endgame.

A lot of the points Ali makes here are the same points I made in that post. The only difference is that she does it so much more eloquently.😉 If anyone is interested in that post, you can find it here.

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[discoduck492]

𝐹𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒯𝒾𝓂𝑜𝓉𝒽𝓎 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. ⚖️💎

If you are coming across this post & you are not aware, in 2017 the former best friend of pop artist; 'Melanie Martinez' came out with her story, claiming that Melanie had assaulted her during a sleepover. This was big news at the time and left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. It all eventually got swept under the carpet with the help of a plethora of false information to create a situation where the public simply didn't know who or what to believe.

Honestly, I'm not a huge 'Crybaby' (as Melanie's fans are often referred to) at all, although I enjoyed some of Melanie Martinez's earlier songs. In fact, I'm not even overly interested in pop culture- but this situation really struck a chord with me. I guess I see myself in Timothy a bit as a survivor of similar circumstances. I've seen a lot of misinformation floating around, and I thought I'd make a lil master-post to clear things up. It appears that a lot of the people who are recycling misinformation & rooting stubbornly for Melanie's innocence are very young and just want to protect the image they hold of their idol, which I empathise with.

To those young fans- if you truly believe Melanie is innocent, there is absolutely no need to create fake screenshots, attack Timothy or anything of that nature. She doesn't need fans to embellish the story to protect her. Her innocence would speak for itself, & honestly it would help Melanie more if her fans portrayed themselves as levelheaded rather than brutish bullies, taking sides like it is a sports game. This situation is delicate, and has everything to do with nuance and sensitivity.

Let's get into it..

1. 'Timothy admitted to lying in 2017 !!?'

This was one of the many rumours spread by die-hard fans. There was a photoshopped Instagram story screenshot spread around online where there is a- horribly written might I add- 'confession' from Timothy. As rumours do- especially when para-social, blindly passionate fans are involved- these false screenshots spread like wildfire.

Note the incorrect formatting of the time of posting in the false screenshot. Instagram has always formatted story post times as eg. '9m' or '9h'. Never 9min. Beyond that, the writing/grammar etc reads very childish, when Timothy typically demonstrates a more eloquent writing ability. Not sure how these kinds of things were believed at the time; but my best guess is because a lot of the fanbase was very young at the time (12-18 mostly).

2. 'didn't Timothy accuse multiple other celebrities of the same thing!?'

No. This was another persistent rumour circulating at the time that was, similarly to the former rumour, entirely fabricated. I doubt Timothy Heller even has connections to Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift or any of the other names that have been floating around. There is absolutely no evidence of Timothy ever making these claims, it's just young impressionable fans parroting one another.

This one is incredibly strange- there isn't even any kind of evidence of Timothy saying this, let alone false evidence. It seems that somehow, obsessive Melanie fans saw the following Timothy tweets and spun a completely ridiculous lie using the names she mentioned. Timothy never once claimed to be assaulted by anyone other than Melanie.

These tweets are actually quite protective and sweet in nature, she is speaking her mind noticing how Billie Eilish who was only 16 at the time was very unprotected in the industry; surrounding herself with grown men, etc. and it was incredibly overlooked due to her celebrity status.

3. 'Timothy messed up the date! Aha! Proof she lied!'

Timothy did indeed fumble the date back in 2017. She explains in her recent video that the reason for this was that she was going off of a photo she remembered taking the day after the event, and unfortunately the photo appeared twice in her camera roll thus confusing the date (it's possible she took a screenshot of the photo later on or something along that vein).

Fans noticed that on the date Timothy gave mistakenly; Melanie was on tour in a different state & fans naively ran with this as proof of a lie.

The truth is, Timothy messing up the date is completely irrelevant. It would be a point of suspicion if Melanie had entirely denied they were ever together, but this isn't the case. It was confirmed by Melanie that this sleepover & the night in question did happen. It was also confirmed by Melanie, that on this night they did have sexual interactions. The date is totally unimportant.

I find it very strange how in image 1- Melanie admits that the night in question happened ie. the infamous 'she never said no to what we chose to do together'. This line of course sounds... convoluted at best, fairly sinister at worst.

However in image 2, Melanie states she 'thanks her 'fans who took the time to research the timeline, analyze past instagram photos, and question the story being told, which reveal her false statements'. This is incredibly strange, as she is implying that fans pointing out the date mix up proves her innocence; yet simultaneously admits that the event happened. Very inconsistent.

4. 'Why doesn't she take it to court rather than TikTok? Clearly she is after fame.'

In the midst of the aftermath of Timothy Heller's recent TikTok video where she resurfaces and speaks on her story again; a lot of people are questioning why she has not taken this to court. For some this is a way of saying 'this is a personal, delicate issue that is bound to get messy and explosive online & not the public's issue' which is an understandable perspective; but for others what they mean is 'she didn't take it to court, that must mean she's not serious about this therefore it is a lie'.

Unfortunately, legal justice is incredibly unlikely with a case like this, and I'm sure Timothy is aware of that.

There is (thankfully for Timothy's sake) no video evidence, no audio recordings- even if some sort of physical test of touch, fluid, etc. was performed, this only proves sex- not assault; and Melanie doesn't deny that they had sex. It also happened years ago, and as time goes on these things become harder and harder to prove.

Timothy likely feels that the best she can do is attempt to speak out and attain some form of social justice. Not only is the legal system feeble and tricky- it's also that Melanie has a disproportionate amount of money to work with. For Timothy, taking this to court would likely be a financially poor & fruitless decision.

Timothy also has stated in the past in this livestream @ 4:11 'I don't want to go to the police because I don't want Melanie to go to jail.'

So, there is also this understandable element where she still cares for Melanie on some level. She has no desire to punish Melanie herself, her coming out had more to do with owning her OWN story and liberating herself with the truth.

5. 'Isn't it suspicious that Timothy only seems to come out with this when Melanie is at a high in her career?'

A common point fans bring up is that Timothy seems to come out with her story at 'peaks' in Melanie's career. I don't have much to flesh out about this one since honestly this point is more of a personal opinion type of thing. Yes, Melanie is on her worldwide 'Trilogies' tour, but her album; 'Portals' came out a year ago.

I honestly feel like people would be throwing out this stale argument no matter when Timothy resurfaced. Whether it was during the anticipation of Portals, when Portals released, in the months after release- hell, during the K-12 era even. I just think this point is very.. empty.

That being said, if you would consider right now a high in her career, this honestly makes a lot of sense. Timothy was driven off of the internet by pure malice the first time she came out with this information- it makes sense that now that Melanie is bigger, she wants to reinforce, 'hey, don't forget about me, don't forget about my story & what I went through'.

6. 'She remained friends with Melanie, dressed up as Melanie, agreed to play a fun sex game with Melanie'

None of these things point to her lying, and in fact are very plainly consistent with Timothy's story from the get go. Timothy always maintained the fact that for some time after the event occurred, it was hard to admit to herself that what happened was assault. Having that realisation took time, reflection & concerned reactions from friends when she would jokingly explain what happened. Therefore she stayed friends with Melanie & in her inner circle. As for the sex game... irrelevant. You can play a fun 'goofy' sex game with a friend but not intend to actually have sex with them.

7. 'Timothy Heller is Jealous & only wants Melanie's Fame & to Further Her own Music Career!'

This one is possibly the strangest of them all, yet seemingly the most prevalent take from hardcore fans.

First of all- being famous for being assaulted by a famous person, does not translate to personal fame in other endeavours outside of a minority of people who have eyes on the situation idly clicking on things out of sheer curiosity. 'Oh, this is 'the girl who was assaulted by Melanie Martinez's' music!'.

It is known that often, speaking up hinders people's careers which is why many in the industry & in life in general stay silent. This is exactly what happened to Timothy Heller- she was bullied, doxxed, threatened, stalked and harassed into hiding; not only doing wonders I'm sure for her mental health; but also putting her potential music career to a complete halt for some time.

Timothy has absolutely nothing to gain from coming out. Truly nothing. Not money, not fame in her personal endeavours, nothing but the possibility of justice on a social level; combined with the risk of further social ridicule & threat to her physical safety. She is putting herself on the line to double down on her story. After all she went through after coming forward the first time, she is completely willing to die on this hill so to speak. That shocked me...

In 2017, though even my younger self was appalled by the way fans were handling the situation and treating Timothy; it really did feel more like a 'he said, she said' situation. However, now after the fact of her making that video, the emotion in her voice, her never straying form the initial story; Melanie's inconsistencies...

I believe her.

& if you don't... touché; it's true that none of us were there. Though I feel that picture is quite clear when all of the misinformation is cleared away; which was the intention of this post.

8. Note that Melanie's tendency to be sexually coercive has been Reiterated by people other than Timothy

Melanie's former stylist, Madeleine Carina came out on Twitter not long after Timothy with the following statement:

“Something similar (not r*pe) happened w/ me and Mel. She begged me over and over again to sleep with her n I finally gave in. She wore me down. I said yes. But it was not the same with Timothy. I will support @timothyheller till the end.”

While Madeleine herself clarifies that she didn't consider her situation assault as she did eventually say yes; it does shed light on this kind of behaviour being a pattern for Melanie.

//

Some closing thoughts: reviewing all of this information, I think there's a strong chance that Melanie herself genuinely doesn't believe that she crossed a line & has a sort of cognitive dissonance about it. There is room for all sorts of shades of grey when it comes to understanding human emotions & intentions, but this wouldn't negate the way this occurrence affected Timothy either way. I read somewhere 'If Timothy wasn't a victim before, she definitely is now considering the way she's been treated all these years'.

Thankyou for reading, & I hope this shed some light on things ✌🏼🤍🤍

[marshmallowprotection]

Mystictober Day 28

Mystictober 2024 | Day 28: JuminxMC/Elegance

"Jumin, you know the eloquent comments you post onto Elizabeth's Outstagram are public, right?"

Jumin paused, loosening his black tie, and glanced over his shoulder to meet your gaze, "Oh, they are?"

"Yes," you turned your phone over to show him the trending posts you'd noticed after checking her account for the day. "People are going wild over your comments now. It's turned into a meme since then, and people use it to talk about anything they love. It's mostly cat owners, but it's now bridged over into fandom spaces. I noticed a couple of the cat ones earlier, but Luciel just sent me examples of other ones."

"So, they're using my comments about Elizabeth and replacing her name to fit whatever they want to gush about?"

"Essentially, yes. That's exactly what they're doing. It's made your name trend on Tripter, too. People are pouring through your history to see what else you've said about Elizabeth the 3rd because they're amazed to see how much love you have for her. Honestly, she goes everywhere with you, I'm surprised people didn't know how dear she is to your heart," you shook your head with a sigh.

You let Jumin flip through your phone to read the memes people had made with his likeness. You weren't sure how he would feel about the comments, since it could get out of hand fast, but when he began to chuckle, you couldn't help but laugh yourself. It was silly, but it was a good thing. People often thought of him as no different than a robot in shut-down mode, so to see his name trending because of the love in his heart felt like...

A relief.

He didn't thrive on other people's attention, not by any means, but you knew how hard it was for him to see people call him cold and outright unfeeling when he was the kindest man you knew. He could have his moments, but his heart was pure.

"I believe I should learn more about fandom culture," he told you once he returned your phone. "It seems there's an online culture I'm not yet aware of outside of what I see on my phone from time to time. I think there's potential to reach people who are often unheard."

You cocked your head, "Oh? What brought you to that conclusion, honey?"

"Many of those comments alluded to their desire to have someone speak about them in that manner because they don't experience a single compliment in their daily life. I can presume that's what draws others to these spaces online, like-minded individuals always meet, whether they're jesting about cat photos or their favorite characters. It seems my words resonated for a reason. Not simply because they were amused by my love for Elizabeth the 3rd."

"You're always quick to think of the big picture," you cupped his cheek. "And you never forget the little details in between. That's something I love about you."

He smiled. "However, some of these edits to Elizabeth are silly. Why would one need text covered in glitter on their picture to express how cute they are? Elizabeth needs no banner. She speaks without a 'caution: cute!' label. What is there to be cautious about? Her cuteness? Is that a new OSHA regulation?"

[straightlightyagami]

decided to make a separate poast too. Um hi I was inspired by this post about how there are not enough Death Note fics about Light being scary/the average person's view of Kira so I decided to do that. but it's about like, a criminal's view of Kira. decided to post on tumblr too. um yeah as I said. it's short (~1.5k words) and (probably not) sweet. i made sure to include a lot of Themes and Literary Devices and stuff like that hope u notice them. (ao3 link)

content warning for a lot of murder (same as canon) also religious themes

There were whispers. Rumors. Even in a facility designed to keep society safe from its worst, its inhabitants were not truly sequestered. Nor cut off enough to be shielded from forces outside it. They did not expect to ever leave – escape is impossible, there are always eyes watching – but once, in another life, they had lived in the shadows, and so could see things others would miss, hidden from the light.

The first time he heard about the thing no prisoner dared to say aloud was from a guard. The guard was new on the job, and young, even younger than himself, barely old enough to be a man. The guard had hesitated a moment after passing him and his cellmate their food through the slot, then said the words quietly. They say God is passing judgment on the scum of the Earth. Like you. Over a thousand dead in the past week. All around the world. Killers, rapists, corrupt officials and executives. All cardiac arrest. Then the guard turned abruptly and left, not waiting for a response. The prisoner shared a look with his cellmate. He may have been stupid to end up with a life like that, but not stupid enough to believe such a story. Yeah, and poorly behaved children get eaten by Baba Yaga.

The scum of the Earth. A fitting descriptor for himself, and for most of the prison’s residents, the staff included. For a member of mainstream society at least. They lived by their own code of honor. But he did not lie to himself.

A fitting descriptor for most of them, but not all. His cellmate, a political prisoner, was such an exception. He was a quiet man, in his early 30s, polite and soft spoken, rather short, just shy of a meter and sixty. He did not speak often, but his few words were eloquent. This and his demeanor and dignified way of carrying himself appeared more characteristic of someone you would find lecturing in a university auditorium, not rotting away in a prison cell. The guards seemed to afford him a greater degree of respect than they did the others. On his part, the man did not outwardly appear to judge the other prisoners for their heinous crimes (though the prisoner suspected this was more of a wise decision made in the interest of self preservation and he had to feel at least a little sick finding out what the other inmates had done). All in all, he was a decent cellmate, if a little boring due to his withdrawnness, mostly opting to spend his days writing letters. It was in the letters received by his cellmate that the second news of the Judgment came.

He was not a religious man, but the day his cellmate wordlessly passed him the letter, he spent the whole night praying. What for, he was not sure. There was nobody left who would care if he died (surely not himself). His cellmate had a wife and a child, but he didn’t need prayer. God would spare his cellmate. The same could not be said for him.

Was it too late to repent? God would not think him worthy of life, surely, if he prayed only to save his own life (did he want to save his own life?). The fact that he hadn’t done so earlier would mean he didn’t truly regret what he had done. If he lived, he would go back to his old ways (he didn’t want to. But not even he himself believed that).

Could this god even hear him? He didn’t know a lot about religion, but maybe this was not God the way the Christians thought of Him. Maybe it was a god of another religion. Why did God wait so long to interfere in human affairs? Maybe it was the work of an angel tired of the evil that plagued this world.

(He was evil.)

***

He was just about to be taken on his daily hour-long walk when the Judgment came to the prison. There was a commotion, guards running down the hall, shouts. His cellmate was sitting and looking around agitatedly.

It must be time. He wanted to die peacefully, so he lay on his cot and closed his eyes. He was struck by a vivid memory of being barely four years old, lying in his bed in a dark room, the branches on the tree outside his window swaying in the night wind, his mom brushing his hair from his forehead and singing a lullaby, her voice clear in his memory as if she was there, in that cell, sitting on his cot a few centimeters away. He wanted to follow that voice.

A minute passed. Five minutes. Half an hour. He was still alive. He opened his eyes.

The door creaked open and a guard came to take him on his walk.

In the courtyard, the bodies were arranged in neat rows and columns. It could be his turn at any moment. He looked away and at the gray sky beyond the barbed wire, breathing in the air. It could be his last time to ever go outside and stand beneath the sky. He thanked God, or whatever this power was, for giving him the chance to say goodbye.

***

Thousands of kilometers away, a seventeen-year-old boy (a person with a very different life, who always ate three meals a day, went to the best schools, had the newest computers, and washed his soft, shiny brown hair with the highest quality shampoo) was sitting at his desk in his two-story suburban house, awake far past midnight, and writing names in a black notebook. After finishing the last line on the page, he glanced at the clock, rubbed his eyes, and put the notebook into his desk drawer. The last judgment could wait until the morning; his sleep was more important. He turned off his desk lamp, climbed under the covers, and quickly fell asleep.

***

Every cell on his floor of the prison was empty. The unusual quiet was unsettling, and it felt even more cold than the usual winter. The prisoner could not sleep that night. He probably did not need to anyway. He decided to pass the time by sifting through more of his memories instead of blankly staring at the ceiling.

He thought of the day his father died. It was in early September of 1989. He had just started third grade. Again. He had received failing grades in almost all subjects the previous year, but was determined not to fail again. He spent all of that afternoon studying for his upcoming math quiz. Sometime around nine in the evening, he noticed that the apartment was eerily quiet. His dad should have been home by then. It was never quiet when his dad was home.

His mother was standing in the kitchen, leaning on the windowsill and smoking. The lights in apartment blocks were turning on and from the distance they looked like stars that had come down to Earth. The wind was still warm and gentle that time of the year, making the curtains billow into the room. His mother was still in her work uniform. Despite the premature graying of her hair and wrinkles on her face, she was beautiful.

“Mom? Will dad come home tonight?”

She turned around. The tears on her eyes were still fresh. “No. Not tonight. Not ever.”

“So he will never hurt you again?”

“Never. He can never hurt us again.” She smiled. “You are his son. But I bore and raised you. So promise. Promise me that you will be a better man than your father. For me.”

“I promise.”

What would she think of him now? He opened his eyes and stood up. If he stood at the correct angle from the tiny window, he could see a bit of the night sky. The sky was clear that night, so he could see a few stars. He hoped that there was no afterlife so his mother could never see who he was.

He shook his cellmate awake. “Promise.”

The latter groggily opened his eyes. “What? Promise what?”

There was a sudden pain in his chest. He tried to gasp for breath. Through his cloudy vision, he could see that his cellmate had gotten up and caught him, gently helping him to the floor.

I’m sorry, mom...

***

Still in pajamas, the boy wrote the name with no hesitation or change in his expression, neat black letters on the first line of the first empty page.

A gangster. Guilty of multiple counts of murder, taking hostages, and who knew what else. 

Finishing the last stroke, he clicked his pen. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the clock as he counted down 40 seconds. Then smiled with satisfaction.

[palfriendpatine66]

I need all of your spoilery thoughts (tagged of course) about Ashoka!

Plus if it was possible (aka an au) what do you think Anakin's reaction would be seeing his children? After seeing both and Vivien Lyra Blair excellent portrayal of Leia my mind cannot help but rot about this and think about it nonstop

I feel like I still haven't collected my thoughts after Ahsoka episode 5 my brain is still just going !!!!!!!! after the latest episodes - and there's probably a ton of people with far more eloquent and thought out things to say but I'll be happy to ramble. See below the cut for Ahsoka series spoilers

The first couple episodes of the Ahsoka series were okay but I've lost my mind over the live action Clone Wars Anakin and I don't know that I'm ever going to recover. Visually - the episode was amazing. And I'm so in awe of Hayden. The way he portrays the duality of Anakin and Vader, because they've are and always have been the same, is perfection. The man understood his assignment from day one, and this shows it. His physicality! His change in tone! His incorporation of TCW/Matt Lanter's portrayal. I could gush/ramble praises forever.

And seeing teeny tiny baby Ahsoka was amazing. I have never been on the Jedi critical aspect of Padawans in the war effort, and that's not what I'm saying here either, but it was such a beautifully done, heartbreaking way to show the realities of war with her middle age perspective and understanding coming through reliving the traumatic experiences of her younger self.

ALSO I know there's specifically some talk around if that was really Vader or Anakin in (or just her unconscious imagination) and here's my poorly thought out and worded take: it's Anakin. Anakin as he is now, post Return of the Jedi/Vader redeemed, balanced in the Force. He understands that both light and dark have always and will always be a part of him. He teaches Ahsoka how to move on from her fear of becoming just like him and falling to her darkest parts by making her confront it - as Vader. He's not actually trying to kill her, he's using the dark as a tool, totally in control, and turns it off as soon as he doesn't need it. [I also think he's not done yet and we're going to see more of him before the season is done]

Finally - I'm not quite sure what you mean about Anakin meeting his kids. Do you mean if he had found out earlier and been able to meet them like...during the Kenobi show? Or as infants before that, and known that he hadn't really lost everything like he thought? I do have thoughts about both of those possibilities. But Force ghost Anakin has met both Luke and Leia as Darth Vader as they took down the Empire, but maybe this is my brain just being stuck on Ahsoka series/Force ghost Anakin!!! I do care about answering your question so please pop back into my inbox and set me straight so I can give it the thought it deserves!

[seeminglydark]

It's not so much an ask but I did want to say (especially as the void is otherwise fairly quiet today) that I have been reading your comics and enjoying them immensely. Both in that they are well made with interesting plots and beautiful illustrations, and also that the content is extremely meaningful to a lot of people -myself very much included. I wish I had come across your work earlier. I wish I could send some of it back to myself at points in the past when I was having a really rough time with a lot of things. I wish I could send you some of the love and appreciation I have for what you do, past just writing you a little note.

But I'm afraid a little note is all I can do for you right now, so in it I would like to say that you have brought warmth and hope and comfort to many people with what you create and we are very grateful for it, for you, to be writing what you do and sharing it with us. It's okay to have an off day and feel bleh, everyone does now and then, but I don't want you to think for a minute that what you share isn't worth sharing, that it isn't loved and appreciated, that it isn't helpful, useful or meaningful to anyone because it really, really is.

I may not be the best writer and I don't know if this will convey well what I want it to, but I wanted to say it and I hope you understand it, and remember:

You are not what your anxiety thinks of you.

Thank you for reducing me to tears in a good way. I wish I had the presence of mind to be more eloquent in reply. I deleted my little vent post cuz I felt embarrassed crying in tumblr tags, you know? It's hard to reach out to friends sometimes, especially when I can't articulate what's actually wrong, and sometimes I just need to get my bad thoughts out of my head and into somewhere else (tumblr tags i guess) . I can't believe someone actually thought to take time out of their day to sit down and write something so kind.

All I can really say is Thank you. So much. I hope you know how much it means to me. It means the world to know the things I make mean something to you too.

[the-rebel-archivist]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @kittlesandbugs, thank you so much!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 24, but there are a lot of things that I've only posted on reddit or kept in a document, I've been trying to upload some old works recently though!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 47,945

3. What fandoms do you write for? Dragon Age mainly, but also Fallen Hero, some Baldur's Gate 3 (not posted to AO3 yet but there is... a decent amount), a bit of Mass Effect and a bit of The Exile

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Some of these are at the top simply by virtue of being older and/or with more popular pairings

Stay - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Cullen's perspective on a late evening reviewing paperwork in the Inquisitor's quarters. He makes a scandalous suggestion: forging her signature

Eloquence - Dragon Age Inquisition, Cullavellan again, also Cullen's perspective, set earlier than the one above. It's very cute, early work but full of words unspoken and gentle teasing

Deliberations on the Inevitable - Dragon Age post-Origins, Morrigan/Amell, from Morrigan's perspective. A mouthful of a title. The Warden is convinced to leave to find a cure for the Calling after Kieran tells him his blood sings louder

Amell Family Letters - Dragon Age Inquisition-ish, letters between the Warden, Kieran, and Morrigan while he's out trying to find a cure and they're at Skyhold

Motherly Love - Dragon Age post-Inquisition, Cullavellan, early work, Lavellan has difficulty bonding with her daughter. The story itself I'm considering retconning but it was really personal to write

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to but I have a habit of bursting with joy when I read them and telling myself "I'll respond when I get to my desk" and then forgetting that I should

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Most of my fics usually end reasonably positively even if the path they take to get there can get rough. I think maybe I am cursed, maybe I am gifted might be the angstiest overall, the PTSD of a war criminal Exile commander still towing the party line before exile

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't know if I have any that aren't at least a little bittersweet, but of them A Father's Legacy is probably the happiest. Colonist Shepard has a long-needed talk with his parents and has a chance to try to learn from their mistakes with his daughter

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not that I've seen

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Only for fun in private with friends. There's some truly silly smut on my drive that will never see the light of day publicly

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Also only in private with friends, but only once. A satirical TWC crossover into FHR

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No I don't think so

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not really, I've started a few collaborations but they didn't get very far

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Anything with Morrigan. It's always great, there's always a little edge to it even in extremely loving fics (as there should be!)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Raynda and Tamaris's Wycome Adventure, a pre-Inquisition short novella-length fic. It's mostly there, kind of. Needs refining and editing and at this point probably a rewrite

16. What are your writing strengths? Period novel-like prose, describing impressions, established npc voices, and I'm really good at writing child POVs

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plotting a longer work, or rather coming up with a compelling problem that will build tension toward a satisfying climax. It's why I trend towards short in-between ficlets instead

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If I know the language maybe, it just has to have a purpose beyond obfuscation and I'd rather not use google translate

19. First fandom you wrote for? Dragon Age

20. Favorite fic you've written? I'm torn between Deliberations on the Inevitable and The Queen but I think it may be The Queen. The courtly love and the metaphors are things I'm still proud of. It also comes as no surprise but both fics feature strong women, Morrigan and Anora.

I'm not sure who hasn't been tagged already so I'll tag @ohmypawsandwhiskers @wolfs-dawn and @plisuu but if you see this consider yourself invited to fill it out

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Ok, so SOOO much to unpack here, brace yourself. I posted prior on as anonymous 🫥 to get some quick info out, but now I’m really hankering in to unpack.

Ok, so I get it, Gojo definitely has valid reasons to suspect Rinko, but also…

I agree with anonymous (ง'̀-'́)ง, I was ready to fight Gojo (and everyone else who’s an ass to Rinko). Congrats, you have turned a group of Gojo simps to an army of Rinko protectors 🛡️

Anywho, back on point here. Gojo suspecting Rinko was valid because literally everything pointed to her, and while they do communicate to each other often, Rinko has proven to not always share everything because of either Clan shit, or I suspect to keep the barrier of friends with benefits with Gojo.

That said, like, Gojo literally out here claiming she’s his “You’re mine”, like it’s nothing. It’s definitely something, and I get Rinko not addressing in the moment, but she has to question it (Right? 👀)

Also, thank you for representing her feels so eloquently 🥹 as someone who’s recently discovered I have PTSD and panic attacks, and trying to recover from, you handled her own feelings so well! Sometimes reading those experiences can make it hard for myself, but I was able to get through it. So thanks 😊

Well hello! I will also address your anon message in this, so everything is below the cut!! 😊😊

If you're new and HAVEN'T already, you can read Another Level on AO3 :)

I'm pasting your Anon message:

I’m so very impressed with the recent writing of Rinko and Gojo’s life. The way you handled Rinko’s breakdown was true to form of the panic instilling, the body dissociating - all scarily accurate. Literally was screaming at Gojo the entire time to help her breathe by breathing. From my own experience with panic attacks, having a loved one help you through it works wonders (even if you may not want it, you need it). Rinko’s story has found a special place in my heart, and you do her justice in expressing it in your writing. Truly impressed

OKAY.

I will first address the panic attacks and how accurately they are written:

I have had panic attacks for as long as I can remember. I have also had PTSD from past relationships. I recently discovered that I am also autistic 🙃 and 'autistic meltdowns' are often mistaken for panic attacks in undiagnosed people. So, there's that.

I have written about my mental health for a long, long time. Many years. If you'd like, I can share those, but I don't want to make you feel pressured to read them! (also don't want to out myself for how much of myself I've accidentally written into Rinko 👀)

AN ARMY OF RINKO PROTECTORS YES.

I can tell you who will be LEADING that army:

Don't you HURT HIS ADOPTIVE MOM COUSIN.

Gojo staking his claim and what Rinko thinks:

I'm gonna be real with you. Rinko thought almost nothing of him saying that for two reasons: 1) He was drunk. 2) She straight up thinks he is the dumbest man alive.

Rinko genuinely thinks that Gojo is just stupid and doesn't realize that things he says and does send messages of more than being friends.

Why, you ask? Let's take a lil trip down memory lane:

We'll start with this bit from Let Me Know You:

“Friends don’t typically do this,” she said quietly, a small laugh escaping when he pouted. “Unless you’re going to tell me this is how all of your friendships are? Because that’d be very interesting.” That made him laugh, his eyes crinkling at the corners, hand moving to the back of her neck to pull her lips to meet his again. Pressing his tongue into her mouth, his other hand went to her shirt again. “I’ll admit this might not be a conventional friendship,” he murmured, unbuttoning the few buttons she’d managed to fasten earlier. “But that’s what makes it fun. We can have sleepovers-”

Then, I Say "Sayonara":

But she couldn’t, she wouldn’t, tell her mother about her ‘unconventional’ friendship with Gojo Satoru. Not the typical friendship, he would always say as he grinned, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple or forehead. Such a contrast to how he would spend the next few hours taking her apart in every way he could.

AND THEN, FINALLY, New Memories:

“You know,” she said, reluctantly allowing him to pull her along with him again. “That isn’t exactly how friends-” “Not a typical friendship, baby,” he cut her off. “Now,” he paused, grabbing her by the waist and warping them to her apartment. “Get changed.”

I'm going to write an Author Discussion once we've gotten through (Please) Prove Me Wrong, so that will break down quite a bit and hopefully answer some of your other questions!! 😊😊

Full disclosure: Gojo's POV was never meant to be as big of a deal as it's become, and I am struggling to write it rn 🙃🙃🙃

Thank you for reading and sending these TWO amazing asks 🥹💕

[gifted-loser]

My Son Absolutely Destroyed a Relative’s Transphobic Tirade

And it was the most eloquent yet brutal flaming I’ve ever seen.

Imagine you had a relative you weren’t close to who’d never met your children before. Now, imagine this relative had formed a negative opinion about one of your children based on their own bigotry and skewed world view — and then actually had the nerve to confront your child the very first time they were introduced.

Oh, I know. The audacity.

Now imagine right before you interjected to put this relative in their place, your child countered their hate speech in such an eloquent, adult, and factual manner as to leave that person so thoroughly outmatched, they collapsed into a fit of childish rage. Reduced to a shrieking harpy, red faced and howling.

I lived this reality a couple years ago when my trans son was just 14 years old.

Ihave a first cousin who’s well known as a religious zealot, saving her brutal judgements for everyone save her own self. We’ve never been close as we lived in different states and are different ages, but I saw her during some holidays growing up and our interactions have always been cordial.

At this particular time, I hadn’t seen nor spoken to her since her sister’s wedding a decade earlier. So, I was surprised when she sent me a message via Facebook and asked for my number. I was even more surprised when she Facetimed me immediately after I sent it to her. What fresh Hell is this? was my first instinct.

I should have listened to it.

We made small talk and she blabbed about her life for a while before approaching the topic she really had called me for in the first place. She noticed my oldest kid going by his new name, Ollie, on Facebook recently and saw a picture I’d posted of the two of us. She wanted to know how I’m “dealing with all that.” Oh, brother.

Before I could answer she launched into the explanation that the oldest of her eight children had come out as trans as well, and that their family was not having it. They would not acknowledge her oldest as anything but the female she was assigned at birth, and their oldest child’s girlfriend was not anything more than a “friend.”

I would’ve loved to just nope out of the conversation and hang up, but I felt so bad for her oldest baby. I thought, maybe she does want advice and I can help her see things in another light.

Before I could get in a word between her blabbing, however, my son stuck his head in my bedroom door to say goodnight. Before he could duck back out, my cousin demanded, “Is that your oldest? Turn the phone around and let me see!”

I knew how this was going to go, and I kind of even willed it to happen. So, I turned the phone around and introduced them. Ollie greeted her and said, “I love your red hair!” commenting sweetly on my cousin’s natural orange-red curly mop of hair. To which my cousin thanked him and said, “You’re so pretty.”

Ollie took the comment with grace and thanked her politely. Then my cousin took it there.

“Yep, so very pretty. Definitely a girl. A beautiful girl. Why would you ever want to be anything else when you’re so gorgeous?”

Ollie’s polite affect dropped like a stage play curtain after the final act. He saw what game was being played, and he could play too.

He flatly replied, “It has nothing to do with wanting to be anything. I am who I am.”

I wanted to pipe in, but I knew he had this covered. I’d had many conversations with him about people like this, and was confident he could handle this conversation with more integrity than I could. I waited.

My cousin let out a sarcastic laugh before commenting, “Oh, I know, everyone just wants us to accept it but no one wants to talk about it.”

“Oh, no. If you want to talk about it, let’s talk about it.” Ollie looked up at me and without a word I knew this was him asking for permission to speak freely. His eyes said she wants to go there, am I free to drop her off at school?

I smiled and nodded, and he continued.

“What would you like to talk about?” he asked her in the same sweetly sarcastic tone she’d been using.

“Well first of all, you know there are only two genders. I can tell you’re smart. You are either born a boy or a girl. You can play pretend all day, but that will never make it true. I can pretend to be a duck all day and quack, but at the end of the day, I’m not a duck!” was her well thought out point. I cringed inside.

Ollie didn’t miss a beat. “Gender and sex are two different things, but let's set that aside for right now. You say there are only boys and girls. I would point out that’s scientifically not true. What about intersex people?”

“That’s such a rare occurrence. It’s not relevant because the percentage of truly intersex people is so small,” she shot back, unprepared for the slam dunk he’d set himself up for. “It’s too rare to even count.”

“Actually, it’s about as rare as being naturally red headed like you. The percentage of intersex people and red-headed people are right around the same. One you can see and the other you can’t, which is why you don’t realize how common it is.”

And BOOM goes the dynamite. I could’ve screamed. She was so taken aback by this 14-year-old that had just made her sound like she didn’t know what she was talking about. She was starting to anger, and her next point had no relevance to the conversation that she wanted to have in the first place. Her voice went up a couple of octaves.

“See — all you kids these days know about is “’science’ and ‘facts!’” she said, as if that were a bad thing. “I bet you can’t even name the first ten books of the Bible, though, can you? That’s the real problem.”

Now, I could not list the first ten books of the Bible if you held a gun to my head, but my kids went to church with my in-laws for years. I let them go to make up their own minds on what they believed, and to do that you need to hear all the sides of the argument. When they did not want to attend any longer, I didn’t make them go. Because my cousin knows I’m not a religious person, she believed I’d indoctrinated my children to my own beliefs — or lack thereof — because that is what she did. She thought this was a sure “win” for her.

Not just irrelevant, though it was that. Also, wrong.

“Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians”, Ollie replied with a smile, while counting them off on his fingers. “Would you like the first 5 of the Old Testament while we’re at it? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Though, I’m not sure why or how that is relevant in any way.”

Oh. My. God.

Excuse the expression, but that was a flawless victory if I’d ever seen one. I stifled back my laughter. Someone, however, did not find it as amusing as Ollie and I did.

“You think you’re so smart!,” my cousin shrieked in rage. Her face was fully red, and she looked like her pointy little head was about to explode. “You’re just a smart-ass kid. I’m an adult! You don’t know anything about life yet! You know I’m right!”

This is when I stepped in, turning the phone back to me.

“Oh, no, sweetie. What we’re not going to do is all that disrespectful screaming and rudeness,” I said, curtly. “Just because you’ve been outmatched by my teenager doesn’t mean you get to call me after a decade and scream at my child who you don’t know — and will never have the pleasure of knowing.”

“I understand you’re having hard time coming to term with reality pertaining to your oldest child, but I’m pretty sure you’re projecting your problems with him onto me and my child. That seems like something you should really reflect upon, honestly. In private.”

I could hear her shrieking intelligibly as I pressed the button that ended the call. I looked up at my kid and smiled. He smiled back.

Me n My Minnie Me <3

[starlightswitch]

Cocktails and Celebrity Couples

@flashfictionfridayofficial Scoop? Ice cream... scoop? The pun wrote itself.

Dara knew the key was going to be Janessa.

The hard part was going to be the balance. She did actually have to talk about the food, since her side hustle– which if she could get it to take off would someday be her main hustle– was about food. But if it was going to take off, she needed a much bigger audience than she was currently getting, which meant she needed something to get people’s attention. And if the whole Taylor Swift boyfriend drama thing proved anything, it was that you could get a lot of people’s attention with celebrity gossip.

Embridge didn’t have Taylor Swift. What it had was Benji Carlisle, star tight end through high school, at the college most of town rooted for, and for three seasons in the NFL until his career-ending injury. And instead of controversial rock music-industry boyfriends, what Benji had was Janessa, his hometown girl who followed him to college, loyally rooted for him on the sidelines (as shown in her perfectly styled social media posts) until he went to the draft and was by his side when he was drafted… and then was broken up with because he didn’t want a girlfriend who was still in college while he was in the NFL.

Or, according to the official story, mutually broke up with Benji because they wanted different things out of life. Or, according to a common theory, stayed in a secret relationship with Benji but faked the breakup because she was tired of the spotlight, or because he had a better chance of sponsorships if he was publicly single, or whatever reason people came up with.

So the best, easiest way to get people interested in Benji Carlisle’s new dessert bar was going to be mentioning Janessa. And if Dara wanted to do that but not get called out for clickbaiting, which she did, she had to get Benji to say something about Janessa.

The place reminded her of an old fashioned soda shop, with booths and a counter lined with stools. They even had a drink called the Soda Shoppe, the main ingredients being cream soda and cherry brandy. Dara thought about getting that one but decided to let Benji pick. She was sort of amazed she’d managed to get an interview with him when she didn’t have official credentials, but then he’d told her when he was working so she could stop in, so he wasn’t really going out of his way for her.

He got her the Christmas Chocolate Orange to drink, basically an old fashioned but with a hint of dark chocolate, and a slice of the raspberry fudge pie (more like a cheesecake, really) with a scoop of Pure Vanilla ice cream. He had to keep the ice cream, he said, when he was talking over the former second location of a beloved ice cream place. “Plus we’re across from the park,” he added, leaning his forearms on the counter. “What’s better after a day in the park than some ice cream?”

The more the conversation went on, the more Dara was surprised he hadn’t gone into broadcasting. Or become some kind of speaker-for-hire. He was a natural speaker, every answer eloquent while not sounding like he’d practiced it, and she felt more like they were just talking than like she was interviewing him.

She had to get to that key to people’s attention, though. She casually worked the conversation in that direction– “So which came first? Did you know you wanted to go into the restaurant business, or did you know you wanted to come home?”

“Oh, I always knew I wanted to come home.” He sipped his drink– the same cream soda that went into that soda shoppe cocktail, a local brand. “Happened earlier than I expected obviously,” he added, with an easy laugh, just a touch rueful. “But when I left for college I knew I wanted to come home.”

“For the place? For the people?”

“All of the above. Almost my whole family’s here. Got back to hanging out with some of the guys from high school, who came back or never left.”

There was a pause, while Dara tried to think if it would be too transparent to ask if there was anyone else special. She took a bite of her ice cream, which was fantastic, creamy with strong vanilla flavor.

“And of course my first love is here.”

Dara stopped with another bite of ice cream halfway to her mouth.

“There is that,” Benji added thoughtfully.

The thoughtfulness sounded… a little bit practiced.

Dara raised her eyebrows and took a risk. “Are you telling me what you think I want to hear?”

“I think everybody wants to hear it,” said Benji, and his voice was back to breezy and natural. “So I might as well say it. You might as well say it.”

Which was when Dara realized she wasn’t the only one willing to fish for attention with a little celebrity gossip.

[berenwrites]

Beyond the Battle - Chapter 45 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Beyond the Battle­: Action & Consequence

Click here for All Posted Chapters

Summary: Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Other Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steve & Dustin, Eddie & Dustin

Rating: Teen

A/N: Multi-chapter story, updated regularly. Honestly not sure how many chapters it will have yet because it's still a bit hand wavy in the middle, but definitely more than 12. Thank you to my beta for find my mistakes and to all those who read/like/reblog.💖 Follow #st:beyond-the-battle for updates.

Also on AO3

Chapter 45.    Happy Talk

“Mom,” Steve said as he leaned into his father’s study where his mom was working at the desk, “do you have a minute.”

After the press conference there had been a lot of chatter on the walkies and phone calls and the usual chaos, only with parents involved this time. His mom had invited the Buckleys to stay another night if they would like, which, after Robin had rambled about going home if they wanted in a clear sign she didn’t really want to, they had accepted. They’d finally returned to their house after breakfast, at which point Steve had spent some time with Eddie until he had plucked up the courage to go and talk to his mom.

She looked up and smiled.

“Of course, Darling,” she said. “What is it?”

His dad had disappeared off half an hour earlier after mentioning something about talking to Hopper, so Steve knew he and his mom would not be disturbed. He still walked in and shut the door behind him, however. As he made his way over to the desk all his carefully prepared opening words dissolved as his heart decided to beat so hard he could feel it in his toes.

“Um,” he said with all the eloquence of a baked potato.

His mom gave him a gentle, questioning look.

“Yesterday,” he finally said having to take a quick breath after just that one word, “at breakfast.”

Light dawned in his mom’s eyes, and she put down the pen she was using. Standing slowly, she came round to his side of the desk.

“Yes, darling,” she encouraged, standing close, but not in his personal space and not reaching out.

Not pressuring him.

He’d faced down Demogorgons and Vecna, but just looking into his mom’s eyes at that moment was one of the hardest things he had ever done. His heartbeat was rabbit-fast and his palms felt clammy and sweaty. If felt like the whole world was staring in on him.

“When you said,” he started, voice dying for a moment, “did you mean…”

Words were incredibly hard.

“Steve,” his mom said when he failed to say anymore, “I meant everything I said at breakfast yesterday. If your father and I ever gave you the impression we believed anything different…”

“No,” he interrupted, because honestly they hadn’t, he had just never really considered it, “no, you didn’t.”

He mentally kicked himself as he opened his mouth to tell his mom the truth and couldn’t say it.

“Darling,” his mom said, finally reaching out and, ever so gently, taking his hand, “you can tell me anything, absolutely anything, but,” she paused for a moment, making sure she was looking in his eyes, “you don’t have to, not until you’re ready. That’s not why I said what I said.”

He took a deep shuddering breath.

“I’m bisexual,” he blurted out and for a second, he thought he might faint.

A rush of adrenaline coursed through him and made his whole body go cold.

“Oh, Darling,” his mom said, bringing her other hand up to cup his cheek, ”thank you so much for telling me. I love you and I will always love you and it makes me so happy you have trusted me with this.”

The tiniest, somewhat hysterical laugh escaped him at that, as relief made his legs feel weak. It was ridiculous. After everything his mom had said, how she had acted, it had been obvious she wasn’t going to hurt him because of this, and yet hearing her actually say it made his head feel full of air.

“I’m also in love with Eddie,” he admitted, since he was on a roll.

“Well, he is quite loveable,” his mom said with a small smile.

“You can’t have him, you’ve got dad,” he replied before he thought about it.

He was picking up bad habits from Eddie and Robin. His mom laughed and pulled him into a full-on hug. It never even occurred to him not to hug back.

“I’m so proud of you, Darling,” his mom told him as she held him close, “so proud of everything about you.”

Words were hard again, so he just held on. He finally understood something of what it must have been like for Robin when she came out to him on that bathroom floor at Starcourt, and however brave he had thought she was, he owed her an apology for underestimating it by a long way.

“Come on,” his mom said eventually, “let’s sit.”

He let her lead him over to the small couch opposite his dad’s desk.

“Do you mind me asking how long you’ve known?” his mom asked as they sat down. “I feel like I might have failed you more than I already did.”

“Oh god no, you haven’t,” he replied, leaping to make sure she didn’t think that. “It’s all kind of new actually. About a week, maybe just over. I’ve lost track of time. At least that’s how long since I realised, but according to Robin it started back at the end of March.”

“Robin?” his mom asked.

“She says I get this look when I’m into someone,” he replied with a nod, “and apparently I had that look when we were in the Upside Down when everything started this time.”

“Ah yes, I know that look,” his mom said with a smile. “When you were smitten with Nancy is was very obvious. You have a big heart, Darling, and when you give it away you don’t add strings. I’m glad you’ve finally found someone else worthy of it.”

“You don’t think I’m letting my emotions get ahead of me?” he asked hesitantly.

He knew he fell hard and fast, but it was just the way he was made.

“No, Darling,” his mom assured him, patting his hand. “I have to apologise, you get that from me, and it can be hard on your heart. I fell for your father that very first day in the rain, although I kept telling myself I wasn’t allowed to for a long time. I would never have dreamed of stealing him from Marie, but I knew how I felt, even though it hurt. Your grandfather is exactly the same. Our family has a long history of over the top romantic gestures going back generations, although I think you may have us all beat with bringing someone back from the dead.”

“He wasn’t dead,” Steve said, because that was his default response to that now.

His mom smiled and squeezed his hand. As the adrenaline wore off, he could feel himself trembling, but at least his heart had slowed down. He was pretty sure the conversation was nowhere near over, but it was so much easier from here.

~*~

Eddie was nowhere in sight when Steve finally left his mom to get back to her work, so he assumed Eddie was still talking to Wayne. All but bursting at the seams, he headed up to his room and picked up the phone.

“Buckley residence,” came the answer after he dialled the familiar number.

“Robs,” he said, “I told my mom.”

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” came back from the other end. “You’re okay? Everything went as expected?”

“Yeah,” he replied, unable to keep the grin off his face. “So much better than I imagined.”

“Tell me everything,” Robin said, so he did because he was pretty sure if he didn’t one of them would vibrate right through the phone line.

He had no idea how long he was on the phone, but they cycled through Robin wondering if she should test the waters with one of her parents, and her Vickie shaped problem as well as all of Steve’s news before they finally hung up. He felt like he was floating like a weight had been taken off his mind. The only thing bothering him was that Eddie was still a no show.

Wondering if Eddie was just giving him some alone time, he went looking. When the only place left he hadn’t checked was the basement, he had to conclude that his boyfriend was still with his uncle. A little bit worried, mostly because he kept wondering if the talk was going on so long because of him, since Wayne already knew about Eddie’s queerness, he headed into the kitchen. Figuring out what they could have for lunch would keep him occupied.

He almost dropped the bowl of salad he had just put together when he turned and found Eddie standing in the doorway. What caught all of his attention was the way Eddie’s eyes were red-rimmed.

“Are you okay?” he asked, dumping the salad bowl on the nearest surface and hurrying over. “What happened?”

“I’m good,” Eddie tried to assure him, but the smile that came with the statement was a little watery. “More than good, actually,” Eddie went on. “These are good tears, promise.”

Steve discovered he could breathe again at that.

“You cannot leave me hanging like this,” was what he chose to say, because he knew it would make Eddie smile and he really needed to see that.

“Came straight to see you, promise,” Eddie replied, giving a tiny little laugh at the same time.

“You look like you need to sit down,” Steve said as Eddie took a deep breath.

“Wayne wants to officially adopt me,” Eddie blurted out, rather than responding to his suggestion.

For a second Steve did not process that because he completely wasn’t expecting it, but when it went in, he felt the biggest smile burst onto his face.

“Oh Eds,” he said, “that’s amazing.”

He couldn’t help himself after that, he grabbed his boyfriend and dragged him in for a hug. Eddie laughed and let him, but when they pulled apart, Eddie had tears in his eyes again. Steve reached up and stroked away the couple that had escaped with his thumb.

“Said he’d been thinking about it for a long time, ever since I came out to him actually, because my dad is a homophobic piece of shit. But he didn’t know what to do, thought we’d have plenty of time,” Eddie explained. “Then, after everything, he asked your mom about it. She put him in touch with one of her college buddies who specialises in family law. Apparently, because my dad abandoned me and then got himself sent to prison, he forfeited parental rights, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the paperwork and both of us signing it.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Steve told him.

“Wayne’s been more of a father to me than my dad ever was,” Eddie said, happy smile bringing out his dimples, “now it gets to be official.”

“The hotwiring a car did come in handy once though,” Steve said and made Eddie laugh again.

“Yeah, I’ll give you that,” Eddie replied, still smiling. “God, Stevie, I feel like I’ve been to hell and walked out straight into heaven. I’ve got you and I’ve got Wayne and I … it’s …”

Steve gathered Eddie back into his arms as his boyfriend began to cry. It felt amazing to be doing it for good reasons for a change.

“I don’t know why I’m crying,” Eddie mumbled into his shoulder.

“Too many emotions,” Steve replied, holding him close. “Keep it up and you’ll set me off.”

Eddie laughed through his tears, but still clung to him. In the end Steve managed to make it through without crying himself and he sat Eddie down, making them both a special hot chocolate.

“So,” Eddie said, “now I’ve blubbed all over you, how did your talk go with your mom?”

“So good,” he replied. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack at one point, but it went better than I ever could have imagined. She thinks you’re, and I quote, ‘quite loveable’, so I told her she couldn’t have you, she’s got Dad.”

“You didn’t,” Eddie said, eyes going big and round.

“I did,” he replied. “I must be picking up bad habits from you and Robin.”

“Fair,” was Eddie’s response to that.

“We talked for a long time,” Steve went on, sobering somewhat. “One of the things she told me was that Dad was the one who brought it up between them. She had her suspicions, but he was the one who wanted to talk about it. She said the only thing he was worried about was how hard it might be on me, on us. I hope it’s okay, I gave her permission to tell him he was right.”

“Of course it’s okay,” Eddie replied without hesitation. “Should I prepare for a shovel talk about looking after their baby boy from both your parents?”

That startled a laugh out of Steve.

“God, I hope not,” he replied. “Oh hell, you’re not saying I’m going to get one from Wayne, are you? I mean he’s awesome, but also a little terrifying.”

“Nah, I think the whole raising me from the dead gets you a free pass on that one,” Eddie replied in a far more nonchalant tone that was technically justified.

“You weren’t dead,” Steve said, because it was expected.

~*~

It was finally over, well mostly. There were still a few loose ends Steve had his eye on, like pinning Hopper down so he could finish fixing the stubborn man. Seeing his face on newspapers and on the TV was weird, but the fact it was right next to everyone else’s made it bearable. He’d tried to go grocery shopping once, only to find people following him around the store, so he wasn’t doing that again for a while.

Eddie still hadn’t been out in public, but not having to worry if people saw him seemed to be making him a lot happier. Which in turn made Steve happier as well. Owens was making noises about making sure Eddie and Wayne had their own place again, but that was in discussions, so they were both still living at Steve’s.

His dad had reluctantly returned to New York the previous day, after Steve had assured him that they would all be fine. They’d had several heart-to-hearts in the days since Steve had come out to his mom and given her permission to confirm to his dad what they had both suspected. They had a way to go to fix everything that had gone wrong with their relationship over the last few years, but they were getting there. That his dad had an explanation for some of his son’s somewhat odd decisions seemed to have helped a lot.

His mom was staying in contact with his dad via phone and fax for the merger information, but she was staying in town, in her words ‘to keep an eye on the government’ for a while. She had insinuated herself in the efforts to rebuild Hawkins and everyone seemed very happy about that. It meant she was out of the house a lot, however, so Steve was getting used to only seeing her at breakfast and dinner. She’d always been something of a workaholic, so he was quietly keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t spread herself too thin.

Family Video had not yet reopened, but it was getting closer. As was reopening the schools. The local rumour mill was talking about the following week. Things were settling down and Steve felt like he could breathe again. Nothing was ever going to be the same, but that’s just what the Upside Down did every time it barrelled into their lives. This time felt final though. He’d never realised it before, but there had been something hanging over Hawkins that they’d all sensed, even if they hadn’t known it. At last, it was gone.

It made him feel lighter than he had in years. He could finally look to the future. And part of that future was Eddie, but he still had one secret from his boyfriend, and he wanted to fix that.

“Come on,” he said, taking Eddie’s hand after they finished a leisurely breakfast, “I’ve got something to show you.”

“Aren’t we mysterious,” Eddie replied, but didn’t resist Steve’s gentle pull.

“Well, you are only the second person I’ve shown this,” he replied.

“Let me guess, the first was Robin?” Eddie asked.

“Damn, I’m getting predictable in my old age,” he said.

“So not even Nancy saw this?” was Eddie’s next question.

He shook his head.

“Probably says a lot now I come to think about it,” he admitted as he reached up onto the hallway shelf with the hideous modern sculpture on it that he had always hated.

He came back with the key that was hidden there.

“Are you taking me into your secret sex dungeon?” Eddie asked as Steve led him to the basement door.

“First of all, I literally discovered my first kink when you sank your fangs into me, and second, ewww, why would I have shown Robin a secret sex dungeon?” he replied.

“For all I know you might have let Birdie borrow it for her kinky girl orgies,” Eddie replied.

“I’m going to tell her you said that,” he said with a laugh.

Eddie made a face.

“Please don’t, sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain,” Eddie requested.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Steve replied, and leaned in to steal a kiss, just because he could. “Come on,” he said as he broke away, flicking on the light switch inside the door.

“Still can’t believe you have carpet on your basement stairs,” Eddie asked, tone incredulous.

It wasn’t as if it was the first time Eddie had been down there because he’d been down to Wayne’s room on more than one occasion, but being shocked seemed to fill Eddie with glee, so Steve was happy to play along.

“It hasn’t been used like a basement in years,” he explained. “We use the second garage for storage. Mom had this converted when I was six.”

Eddie mouthed second garage at him and made him laugh.

“Yeah, I know, rich people eh,” he said with a laugh. “Welcome to my sanctuary,” he said grandly and unlocked and opened the door at the bottom of the stairs with a flourish, reaching for the light switch as he did.

Eddie stepped through the door and just stopped.

“Stevie,” Eddie said after a few moments, “why do you have half an orchestra and a baby grand in your basement? Shit, is that a Gibson?”

“Um, yeah,” Steve replied as Eddie walked across the room as if drawn like a moth to a flame.

Reaching out, Eddie ran his fingers over the electric guitar on the wall reverently, before spinning on the spot and pinning Steve down with his gaze.

“You play?” Eddie asked.

Steve nodded.

“Which instruments?” came the next question.

“Um … well … a few of them, some are my mom’s though,” he admitted.

Eddie blinked before looking round the room again.

“You play the piano, the cello, the guitar, the flute, the oboe, the drums, the…”

“Not all of them, my mom’s the one into woodwind,” Steve replied, “but mostly just the piano, guitar, and cello. I tried out some of the others, but I’m not great at them.”

“Oh my god, my boyfriend is a musical genius,” Eddie said, walking back towards him. “And I thought you couldn’t get sexier.”

“Says the man who can play anything he sets his mind to on the guitar in one sitting,” Steve countered.

He was not expecting to get grabbed and kissed as if his life depended on it. Not that he was complaining, given how fast he gave in.

“How does no one know this about you?” Eddie asked, eyes alight with curiosity when they finally broke apart.

“Robin knows,” he offered weakly.

“And I bet she completely freaked out when she found out, didn’t she,” Eddie said.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed.

“So, back to why does no one know,” Eddie prompted.

“My dad always wanted me to be an athlete,” he admitted, “and jocks and band do not mix. My mom has always encouraged me in music and, don’t get me wrong, my dad never tried to stop me, well except when I wanted to major in music in college, but no one would have got it, so I kept it private. All rich kids get sent for piano lessons or something like that when they’re young – it’s a thing, and unlike my friends, I really enjoyed it.”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie said, eyes open wide with wonder in his voice. “Did you really flunk out of college applications like the school rumours say?”

“Out of the ones my dad wanted me to apply for, yeah, I did,” he said. “I have trouble with numbers, especially when they’re written down. I get them mixed up when I read them. It’s got a name, but I can never remember what it is. It’s only mild, but it gets worse if I’m under stress, so I mess up in tests. I can get by, but my dad wanted me to do a business major and my grades weren’t good enough. Got accepted for music though, but Dad blew his stack because he was worried I wouldn’t be able to use it for anything. That’s why he made me get the job as Scoops, thought it would help me understand what the real world was like. It wasn’t like I could just leave anyway, not until I knew it was really safe for the kids, so I didn’t fight him on it.”

“So, what about now?” Eddie asked. “I have it on good authority that the apocalypse has been and gone.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “So much has happened. Kind of having to re-evaluate a lot of things. Exploring the idea of toyboy to a rockstar boyfriend.”

“Oh really?” Eddie replied with a laugh. “I am only one year older than you and you might be a few years ahead of the curve on the whole rockstar thing.”

“Eh, details,” Steve said and moved in for another kiss. “Did I mention Aunt Marie has some really high-profile fans who buy her art? Some of them in the music industry.”

“You’re joking,” Eddie said.

Steve shook his head.

“I was telling Mom about your band, and she reminded me,” he explained. “Mom did mention maybe all of us (and yes, that includes Robin because she will combust if she doesn’t get to meet my lesbian aunts) taking a trip over the summer, once you’ve graduated.”

Eddie’s growing smile shrank a bit at the last part.

“How do you know I will?” he asked. “They might not even let me go back.”

“Oh, they will. Even if they don’t want to believe you’re a hero and failed deliberately the second time, they have no choice,” Steve said with complete certainty, he’d also been talking to his mom about that. “And you’ve got Nancy and Robin to help you keep up now. It might be a bit painful towards finals, I know, I’ve had Nancy on my case in the past, but it’ll be worth it.”

“I feel like maybe I should be afraid,” Eddie said, narrowing his eyes.

“Nah, just be prepared for caffeine, lots of caffeine, or in your case caffeine and sugar,” he replied with a grin.

“Do you think the government would let me be a famous musician?” Eddie asked, growing more serious again. “What with the fangs and shit.”

“Can’t think of a better cover, actually,” he replied, pulling Eddie close again. “If you slipped up for any reason, you could just blame it on your stage persona. No one would ever believe you really are a sexy vampire.”

“Hadn’t thought of it like that,” Eddie said, before leaning in and claiming his mouth in another kiss.

Music clearly really did it for Eddie, which wasn’t that much of a shock. Steve decided there and then he would move heaven and earth to help Eddie reach for his dream even as he got lost in the kiss. He whined in loss when Eddie pulled back. His devil of a boyfriend just grinned at him.

“Okay, you have to play me something,” Eddie bounced towards the instruments again. “Which is your favourite?”

“The cello,” Steve told him without hesitation. “I love the way the sound reverberates through me. It helps me relax.”

“When was the last time you played?” Eddie asked, touching the instrument reverently where it was on a stand.

“A couple of days before Vecna started his campaign,” he admitted. “There hasn’t been time since, or I wasn’t in the right headspace.”

“Saving the world and getting powers and then a house full of people?” Eddie said.

He nodded, walking over, and picking up his cello with a small smile.

“What shall I play?” he asked.

“You pick,” Eddie replied and sat on the piano stool while Steve made himself comfortable on the chair next to the cello stand.

He checked his bow and the tunning on the cello as he considered what to choose, smiling as he thought of something. Picking up melodies by ear was something he was good at, one of the reasons he had been useful during the Starcourt debacle. He had come to realise Eddie was similarly gifted over their time together, given how quickly Eddie could figure out how to play something on his guitars. It was one thing they actually had in common. Closing his eyes, he brought up the tune he wanted to play in his head, lifted his bow and began.

At first, he was thinking about performing for his boyfriend, but he quickly became lost in the music. He’d only heard it a couple of times, so he wasn’t sure he was getting it all correct, but the notes flowed through him. The vibrations of the cello were calming, even as the melody sped up, increasing in volume and speed to an almost obnoxious pace. It was freeing and thrilling, and he couldn’t help the smile that bloomed onto his face.

He played with complete abandon in a way he hadn’t in ages, all the weight of the Upside Down and everything that went with it disappearing in the melody. It wasn’t until the final note reverberated through the air that he even remembered he had an audience.

Eddie was standing there, his soft brown eyes wide with his mouth in a little ‘o’.

“I think I might die,” Eddie whispered without moving.

“Was it okay?” Steve asked, suddenly worried.

He knew Eddie had very particular views on certain things. He hoped he hadn’t just stamped all over them.

“Okay?” Eddie asked, voice rising. “Oh my god. Was it okay, he asks. Stevie, Jesus Christ, you just played Master of Puppets on a cello, and you killed it. I didn’t even know you knew it.”

“I heard you play it on your acoustic and you’ve had the full song on the tape deck a couple of times while you were here,” he replied.

“And I didn’t think there could possibly be more to love about you,” Eddie said, bouncing towards him, eyes sparkling. “Have you ever considered joining a metal band?”

Steve laughed, because he was pretty sure cello did not go with a metal band’s sound. But Eddie didn’t laugh back. In fact, his boyfriend had his plotting face on, which Steve had mostly only seen when Eddie was planning DnD. He had a worrying feeling Eddie was being serious.

End of Chapter 45

Epilogue

[neverwritewhatyouknow]

Hi! It is the anon that rambles, and will now calling myself Padma! (Because I am kinda tired of typing that out every single time) I meant to send this in way earlier but I wanted to verify everything I was saying before sending it in.

I am kinda oblivious when it comes to western media unless someone is like super super famous, so I had no idea that any of these actors were famous at all. Yeah, if they were casting randomly, they would have probably not chosen two famous actors. And like I totally don't mind aging up with actors as long as they look the age they are meant to be playing. But they clearly look far older than 22 and 23. (Also there is fear of June being not in the movie and like June plays such an important role, she is constantly pushing Alex to push for his own independence. Like she is so important and they potentially took her out??)

Madhuri covered pretty much what I was going to say about British Colonialism, and probably much more eloquently than I ever could say it.

What bothers me more than Shaan working for the monarchy is that he doesn't have a character outside of it. Like with Amy, we know that she enjoys embroidery. We know nothing about Shaan except that he's Henry's equerry and his relationship with Zahra. (And while it's nice and all, I think Zahra and Shaan fall into the pair the spares trope and I'm pretty sure the only reason why they are dating is because CMQ needed a reason for them to have personal numbers. Just my opinion though.) With the example you gave with the West Wing character, I took the liberty of searching him up and he has an entire backstory - we know his family, his backstory, etc. He has an entire life outside of the president. He serves the president directly in the story but his entire life to the viewers does not revolve around the president, while Shaan's revolves around the monarchy. (I don't really count Zahra and Shaan, again while being lovely, is entirely only in the story, in my opinion, to assist Alex and Henry.)

I absolutely think that CMQ wasn't thinking about the implications and she noticed that there wasn't a character of South Asian heritage and just made Shaan that character. I don't think they meant to do harm, but that doesn't change the fact that it does. I think it comes down to authors thinking diversity is something easy to include while not doing the research. As one blog put it, "Diversity shouldn't be easy, it takes research. And if you aren't willing to do the research, don't include that ethnicity. We aren't something to just throw in because you want brownie points from the audience." (I can not for the life of me remember who posted that) And for minor characters, I think there's four questions that if you answer helps avoid harmful stereotypes and tokenism and you can just research there. (I got this from one of my writing professors and it might be generalizing, but it's at least a good jumping point for writing and researching recurring minor minority characters) 1. Is your character the only one of that ethnicity? (If so, proceed with caution) 2. Is your writing of that character a stereotype or containing negative connotations of that ethnicity? 3. Are they just in the story to help one character's storyline? 4. Are there any cultural/religious elements mentioned outside of their appearance in the story? Again, I do think that CMQ didn't mean to hurt people and did it on accident, but it doesn't change that it happened.

So this got way longer than expected, sorry about that! Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on Nora and the way CMQ wrote her!!

💙 Padma

Hi Padma!!!

Yeah, literally the entire cast is famous. Some more than others, but everyone has been in at least a couple of things already. They normally will pack the cast like this if they’re worried that nobody will watch, it’s relying on the fans of all those actors wanting to see their new movie. It just makes it very obvious that they were never considering any other actors besides the ones they hired, like maybe they had a small handful of (already well-known, named) actors per each role who they reached out to, but they definitely weren’t looking around. And exactly, I totally agree with you. If an actor is 23 and playing 17, but LOOKS 17, then go for it. If an actor is 27 and playing 22 and LOOKS 22, then that’s great. But if you’re, like nearly 32 and trying to play a decade younger and you look easily mid-late 20s… Maybe you can start telling your agent to only submit you for roles you fit. I’m an actor, like professionally, so I know how this is. I’m in my early 20s, I look early late teens (17-19)/early 20s (mid-20s with makeup). I had to talk to my agent and tell her that she can’t submit me for roles where the character is 15, because I don’t look 15. It was hard to let go of that job market, but I didn’t fit in it anymore, and that’s okay. Honestly, a lot of actors need to take note on that.

I totally agree with Shaan. He is super undeveloped as a character, and yeah, I think the relationship was just for the cell phone number thing, because there wasn’t really a pay off with the relationship was there? It’s been a minute since I’ve read the book. I know Shaan and Zahra got engaged at the end, but we know nothing about their relationship, they literally live in two different countries for work, yes it’s implied they talk all the time, but I would’ve liked to know more about the guy who’s marrying someone who’s a rather large character. Yeah, Charlie in The West Wing is a huge character with a super full backstory, personal life, and personality (I love him and Dulé Hill so much), even though his job is to serve the president like Zahra and Shaan (monarchy). I feel like Casey could’ve thrown anything in about him other than that Alex thought he was hot. Why does he work for Henry? Does he enjoy his job? Is this what he’s always wanted to do? Where did he go to school? How does he really feel about Alex and Henry? Maybe in a Henry POV this would all be revealed, and we’d know Shaan on a deeper level, but that could’ve been done in RWRB easily too.

Exactly. Even though I don’t Casey meant harm, it doesn’t negate the fact that something can be harmful. I truly just don’t think CMQ has a global and diverse worldview, due to their upbringing in a religious Christian school where education and societal stuff would be skewed, and I’m not saying those schools are wrong, just that it sets you up in a sort of bubble, and you have to be willing to go out and see what else is around. I’m not too sure Casey has, based on everything I’ve seen.

I love those diversity questions! Super important and true! I also don’t think Casey meant any harm when writing the book, just that it was ignorance that ended up having implications. The movie on the other hand is a totally different story, where I do believe there was a little more effort into not caring about certain characters solely because Casey wanted a big paycheck and a movie.

[itsjustthechems]

Excerpt from the fic I'm working on about Deacon's origin story (spoilers!)

If you haven't reached max affinity with Deacon, this post contains spoilers about his final affinity dialogue.

This fic is going to cover his time as a gang member in the University Point Deathclaws, meeting and falling in love with Barbara (who I've decided is a caravan trader), avenging her murder, and finding his place in the Railroad. Later chapters will include his escapades with my fem!Sole Survivor OC, Georgie. Or maybe I'll just post drabbles and random chapters out of order, lol. Who knows. Anyway, enjoy this little excerpt, and let me know if anyone would be interested in reading more.

Context for this scene: Deacon is about 20 here - nearly two decades before the events of the game. Keep in mind that he is young, stupid, and brutal with ass-backwards views at this point in his life. He was sent on a dangerous solo mission to purloin munition from a poorly-manned Gunner stash in Jamaica Plain (a careless decision by the reckless leader of the Deathclaws), and Barbara's trading partner has fallen ill, leaving her to manage business on her own. He encounters her being harassed by a chem addict shaking her down for a fix, and the encounter turns violent. Afterwards, since night has fallen, they hole up together in an empty house, eager to avoid any further conflict until sunrise.

------

“Hey.” Barbara’s voice was soft and tentative, an abrupt change from the goofy timbre of her storytelling.

“Howdy.”

“Thank you for…not killing that guy earlier. He would have had it coming to him, but I’m glad you let him live.”

Deacon froze. That guy didn’t bite it? That was news. She must have seen him still breathing before they fled the scene. “Anytime, toots. For you, I’d let a thousand slimy crooks live.”

The air fell silent and somber, and he hoped to Atom that his feigned flirtatiousness didn’t set her off. He tried to be clearly ingenuine when he made those jokes to her. The fact that she was alone, vulnerable, and holed up with, well, a slimy crook wasn’t lost on him. He knew the sort of fear and disgust he probably instilled in her. Much to his relief, she gave a quiet snort and let it slide.

“I’m serious, though. I want you to know that it doesn’t go unnoticed when you do the right thing. You’ve been cleaning up your act lately and I…I like it.” Her usual eloquence was clearly stunted by the liquor, bashful awkwardness on full display for his enjoyment. Boy, did he enjoy it.

“Yeah?” He egged her on with a chuckle, hoping she’d keep rambling. Preferably about him. If all it took to earn a little attention from her was not swiping from other traders in front of her - which was clearly the new habit she was referring to, then he’d gladly take the threats and glares it earned him for coming back to camp empty-handed. So what if it made him look soft? He wasn’t soft! Or maybe she was talking about that time he’d thrown a kid a few caps to buy an issue of Grognak the Barbarian off her...uh oh.

“Yeah.” Her cheeks burned pink as she studied the floor like she was going to be quizzed on it later. “Knowing you, it’s probably some kind of elaborate prank that you’re pulling on me, but I hope that isn’t the case. Integrity looks good on you.”

“Thanks, I suppose, but I’m unfamiliar with this ‘integrity’ you speak of. Is it French?”

Barbara groaned, the couch creaking in protest as she fell against the back of it, looking dramatically defeated. He took that as encouragement to continue, his grin wide and shit-eating.

“Besides, everything looks good on me. As a matter of fact, you should see me in my birthday suit.”

He watched smugly as she tilted her head back up to fix him with a glare, though it lacked any malevolence. The glare was brief and gave way to an expression of discomfort, or perhaps anxiety.

There’s the nausea, Deacon thought. Heh. Lightweight. If he wasn’t close enough to smell the spirits on her breath, he would attribute the cause of her sudden queasiness to his jokes, but he knew she rarely drank, let alone straight liquor.

He grunted and pitched forward onto his feet to fetch her some kind of receptacle to defile instead of her own clothes and bedroll, but to his bewilderment, he was met with a hand on his chest, tipping him back to his seated position before her. Oh. She’s not sick at all.

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Hey hon, I know I posted an answer to your ask, but I wanted to tell you how much I'm thinking about you right now. I sat down to start writing on a Doctor Strange piece and had to pause when I mentioned him thinking about the reader being beautiful. It made me think about you and how happy your ask made me earlier. I wish I could find the words to express my gratitude completely, but there would be much too long of a paragraph left in your inbox for you to read. I think about you daily and pray for your safety and happiness, just as you do for me. I really consider you a huge inspiration in my life and one of my most treasured friends, whom I know I could turn to if I ever needed support for any reason. I only wish we could speak outside of here so that the shadow ban would not be in our way. Seriously Tumblr, what the hell? I was out on Monday, looking for place mats for my dining room table for the holiday and I paused when I saw a mug sitting on a shelf. It's a yellow, white speckled mug, big enough to fit in both of my hands and usually that wouldn't make me pause, as I'm not usually a big coffee drinker. But when I saw the words on it - those three simple words - I began to cry. It was a message, I knew, and I felt in my heart it was from you.

"So Very Blessed." It sounded like your name, and I immediately said, "Oh my god, Beauty." I grabbed that mug off of the shelf so quickly that I think I scared the woman that was down the aisle from me. Hopefully she's okay haha! Now that cup sits here beside me, steaming full of tea and warming me both heart and soul as I write about our shared muse. I don't believe in coincidences, so I knew that this mug was meant for me and I had to tell you. Thank you, V.

I'm so humbled by this, and have marveled over it for days, dumbfounded for a reply eloquent enough to suit your lovely thoughts and stellar opinion! Honestly, I don't think I've done anything special--except perhaps as the gift of internet anonymity frees us to be our best selves if we dare, I've let my heart and better angels lead me (when in the 'real world' I falter daily!). I can't imagine being anyone's 'inspiration', but I do my best to give comfort where it's needed--yet the kindness and understanding you've shown me outshines all, especially at this challenging, at times demoralizing, point of my life. You have a deep heart and you love without hesitation, and even though you've suffered pain and loss, you will continue to. That takes courage and the ability to hope, which I admire greatly, my friend!

The Mug- have to say I heartily believe that the Universe gives us affirmations when our eyes and hearts are open to accept them. I've had many such experiences (again, many since I've been made homeless and am working to find my way back to equilibrium). I will treasure your story and your friendship, and because of these and more, know that I too, am

So Very Blessed🥰