#and I live in the Midwest so there’s nowhere to GO!!!

[reputayswift]

Hate that I’m at an age where every hairdresser, dental hygienist, etc. asks me if I’m seeing anyone…as if finding someone whose beliefs, schedule, personality, and location are compatible with yours (all while being attractive AND attracted to you) isn’t like. a Herculean task.

[flashlight-smallknife]

Foxing - 2.7.19 // Lynchburg, VA

[evilminji]

You know what would be both Cool(tm) AND Pants Shittingly Terrifying? Eldritch Space Whale Danny!

Except NOT! Because he's not a whale! Just snoozing and Giganto-Fuck-Off HUGE!

Imagine it! Danny. Joint Custody Child of The Ancients Of Time And Space. Space is SALTY AF because their BITCH OF AN EX has used his FUCKING POWERS, AGAIN, to CHEAT. Clockwork how DARE YOU.

You knew he'd be our Son in advance!

YOU SNUCK IN AND STARTING BONDING WITH OUR CHILD BEHIND MY BACK!

YOU [REDACTED]!

Danny? Sitting off to the Side as a Sentient Everything and Nothing made of galaxies and starlight, howls expletives at their Ex, who is being... REALLY snippy back? WOW, Clockwork. I mean, JESUS, man. Danny's from "oh bless their heart" Nowhere, Midwest. And even HE thinks that last one was both backhanded and cold af.

......he should take notes. *continues to eat his popcorn*

Anyway! APPARENTLY, Space Parent has taken him in the divorce. With much huffing. Tucked under their arm Like The Football(tm). And honestly? This is kinda hilarious, so he's cool with it. Byyyyyy~ Clock Dad! See you on weekends~☆!

*Exasperated Time Noises*

It's pretty cool! He learns a lot. Learns he's probably? Gonna be SOME variation of Space Ghost. Might even take over Space's... well, EVERYTHING, should the unforeseeable occur. So obviously, gonna have to learn The Family Business, as it were!

Which?

UNSPEAKABLY HYPED, YES PLEASE.

SPACE AND STAR STUFF! HECK YEAH!

Unfortunately? Still a Halfa. Bleh, squishy need to eat and sleep. Why they get in the way of Hyperfixation? Why no more space dust? Nooooo, don't drag him away from the controls! He can still learn! Sleep is for quitters! Cowards! *whining in Give Me Back My Blorbos, You Monsters*

But, no. He apparently has to "take care of his body" and "not burn out". Eat "real food". A protein bar counts! He probably ate one of those! Give him back his STARS! He doesn't CARE if he sounds like a toddler! That's DIRECT ACCESS TO THE SECRETS OF SPACE ITSELF! He'll BITE, so HELP HIM-! *Is scruffed like a cranky infant being carried off to beddy bye*

Injustice! D:<

But, none the less, body's require sleep. He shovles down his food, washes up, and flops down in his bed. In the nice lil cozy "Safe For My Half Apprentice Who Is Also My Adopted Son" corner. He passes out in that corner. Starts to float, as he has done countless times before, when agitated before bed. Floats OUT of that corner.

That Safe Little Corner.

IN THE CENTER, THE BEATING HEART OF SPACE.

You know... the place ALL OF SPACE connects too. Where Universe Form and Die. The Grand Recycler. Dust to Dust, from the ashes of old, to the creation of new. Where PORTALS are randomly assigned. So that the Omniversal Ectoplasmic Levels may always be balanced at near to perfect levels, allowing free flow of Souls through the various Reincarnation cycles.

Space, of course, doesn't MANAGE the Ectoplasm itself. Nor the Souls! Different Ancient for THAT, but they DO manage the PORTALS. We live in a SYSTEM after all. Everyone has their "departments" as it were. So really, it's quiet... Danny? Honey? Awful quiet back there! You, uh, fallen asleep, Starlight?

*empty room*

(O.O)

*inhale* AAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!!!!

Meanwhile! He be Snoozin'! And Ghostin'! Ghost Snoozin'! Is extra comfy, cause he weightless and got not booooones~☆!

But! He? Is not a child anymore! Has learned to... for lack of a better term, Let Go. To finally ACCEPT his Death. His inhumanity. His Amortality. Death no longer holds him, can no longer let him go. He is... not immortal. He is disowned, by his own doing and his own choice, at his timeless moment of Ending.

When Life let go of his hand and Death kindly offered theirs, he did not take it.

And that's okay.

It took awhile. Talking to older ghosts. Most vague and vast, near formless. Because it's... it's scary. And it's all you know. All, really, you've EVER known. Inherent to your identity, even after you leave that part you behind.

You are "human". "Martian" or "Xy'xeruian", something else, and you never question it. Even when you've left behind everything ELSE. Your name, your eyes, your history and skin. Yet you fly around and pretend. Still alive, still human.

But is that YOU?

Or just the form you found your start in?

And like? It's okay if it IS! Sometimes, yeah, you ARE. You look down deep and find a "don't know what you were expecting, buddy" sign stapled to a mirror. But more often? It's that last hurdle. The final step in Letting Go.

Everyone mourns at their own pace.

And they are the ghosts of who they were.

It helped. Mourning for the kid he was. Who was fourteen and wanted to be an astronaut. Who died and will never have a grave. The longer he exsists, for he can't technically be called Alive, the more painfully young that child seems.

It was okay.

To cry for Danny Fenton.

Then? To let him go. Let his memory, be memory. And his Past be the grave that child rests in. Loved dearly and remembered, but no longer binding his soul.

He doesn't have to wear that face anymore.

No tributes to the Dead.

He got? Kinda... BIG. Like REALLY big. Spiraling, serpentine, cracking ice, and burning galaxies. Like a fourth dimensional dragon, of ice and stars, somehow forcing its way into a three dimensional space. Atop it all, between two vast, impossible horns? Made of glacial ice coating the warping hearts of black holes, who's shape themselves seem to shift in unknowable ways? There burns, like comet trails, with super novas, compressed to decorative gems beneath glittering morning frost, a Terrible Crown.

He? Thinks? He MIGHT have wings.

He can't tell.

Because APPARENTLY he's a fuckin tesseract! Oh, no, sorry. He might me a Zone DAMNED PENTERACT!!! Is THIS what he gets for hanging out with Clockwork all the time? He just liked the quiet! Now his "true form" is PHYSICALLY PAINFUL for most people to look at!

Clock Dad WHAT THE HELL?!

(You see, now, why Space broke up with him? An ASSHOLE)

So! Danny stays, usually at least, in his "Hi, yes, I am Normal Human Man" Ghost form. But NOW? Now it PINCHS. Because it's TOO SMALL. But hey, that's fine! It's not like he has an ingrained habit of transforming when super tired and stressed! To float sleep for Maximum Restfulness(tm).

Ha ha!

Why does that feel like foreshadowing?

BECAUSE IT IS!

Danny? Snoozing! Space? Has LOST THE BABY! Portals? Have done a Jood Gob in Portalling, something they are vaguely sure they are supposed to be doing! Yay them! They have no brain cells but still enjoy helping! They moved a thing! That's helpful right? Yay! Probably!

And on DC's planet Earth?

They? Just choked on their fuckin coffee. One moment? La dee daa~ oooh~ look! Stars! Deep space! Oh, hiiii~ Watchtower! The NEXT? *every alarm in the building starts LOSING ITS SHIT* Giant World OBLITERATING SHAPE completely takes up the screen.

From near PLUTO.

There are NO WORDS TO DISCRIBE HOW FUCK OFF BIG THIS THING IS, MR. PRESIDENT. It will eat our nukes and LAUGH. Call! EVERYBODY!!!

Obviously? Superman. I mean really, OF COURSE Superman. Frankly, all the Supers. Because we would like to KEEP having a planet, thanks. Only? The more reports that come in? The more everyone is getting "oh fuck. This is a Workd Eater" vibes.

A massive, massive, Sleeping Titan of a Planet Destroying World Eater.

That MIGHT BE MAGIC.

*highly stressed Everyone noises*

And WORSE? Superman? Can't TOUCH it! Oh sure, at FIRST he could! But then he apparently pushed too hard in just one spot! And it felt POKED AT. So now, after flicking superman HALFWAY BACK TO EARTH to make him stop? No one can physically touch it!

But! There is hope!

Because? The creature is GREEN. Bright, luminous, Lantern Green! And Earth's Lanterns have already sent for back up. Combined? The were able to move a... hand? Paw? Something. But! With the combine forces of several nearby sectors of Lanterns? They promise the power to either relocate the creature or at least hold it in orbit until FURTHER forces can be deployed!

They refuse to harm the creature until it proves actively hostile, as it could have been seeking a place to nap and chosen one inconvenient to established planetary life. Frankly? Earth doesn't CARE where you relocate the giant Eldritch Space Dragon. Just NOT IN OUR BACKYARD, PLEASE.

....YES WE ARE SURE! We don't CARE if the scientific community of our planet is begging you to set up an area for them to place an "observation satellite"! No giant Eldritch Space Dragons in our solar system! It might WAKE UP!

Naturally, about half way THROUGH this Highly Delicate Operation?

Danny Wakes Up.

@hypewinter @hdgnj @lolottes @babbling-babull @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter @mutable-manifestation

[moonstruckme]

Hey bestie! I hope your day is going great! If you're open to it could I get some comfort from Steddie? I hate storms, always have and I unfortunately live in the Midwest. We are under tornado watch right now and could use something else to focus on. I wanna live vicariously through my beautiful Indiana boyfriends 😩. If you're too busy I totally understand. Thank you!!!

~😈

Hope your day is going even better ml!

cw: reader get anxious during storms

Steddie x fem!reader ♡ 717 words

You flinch when a piece of hail hits the window, and Steve tucks you closer against his side. 

Eddie shakes his head. He jiggles his keys as he stands from the couch. “I’ve gotta go get the van.” 

“No, no way,” Steve says, not for the first time tonight. “We’re all staying here.” 

“The closest tornado’s way off.” Eddie waves a hand, getting his boots from by the stairs and pulling them on. “I’m just gonna bring her here to take cover in your fancy garage so she doesn’t get fucked by the hail all night.” 

“So what, you think you’re gonna walk home and drive back?” Steve is incredulous. “Tornadoes can form anywhere, dipshit. On the road’s the worst place to be.” 

You tense as the winds pick up outside, and he tightens his grip on you as if he can contain your panic. You’re all holed up in Steve’s basement, the constant drone of the weather channel covering up the whine of tornado sirens outside. It’s probably overkill to have gotten out of bed to come down here this early—because Eddie’s right, the tornadoes are nowhere near you yet, you’ve only got the storm that the weatherman on channel 4 says comes before them—but there was no way you were going back to sleep after the sirens started anyway. Steve knows you feel safer down here, where the only windows are small and nearly at the ceiling, restricting your view of the outside to rain-pelted grass and occasional flashes of lighting. You get a bit freaked about this stuff. 

“Don’t go,” you say to Eddie, pleading. 

Eddie hesitates by the stairs, and Steve looks right at him as he says firmly, “He’s not.” 

The other boy heaves a great, dramatic sigh, kicking his boots off and tromping over to flop back down beside you. You’ve got your legs curled up underneath you, and Eddie lays his head on your thigh, looking up at you with his eyes extra big. 

“You’ll help me take care of the dents tomorrow, won’t you, hot stuff?” 

“Mhm.” You nod readily. Steve thinks you’d agree to anything right now if it’d keep him from going outside. 

He watches Eddie realize this, the other boy’s expression sobering slightly before he doubles down on the teasing. His eyes flick up to Steve. 

“Or I guess you could always pay to get any damage fixed, huh?” 

Steve scoffs, using his free hand to brush a curl away from Eddie’s eye. “Yeah, right.” 

“What? Is my old gal not in the budget?” 

“Your gal’s sitting right here.” 

Eddie’s gaze moves back to you, and Steve thinks he sees you going a bit shy as Eddie makes a show of taking you in. Good. You could use a distraction. 

“Nah,” he says after a minute, quiet in an intentional way that makes Steve grin and you squirm. “That there’s my girl. Don’t insult her like that, Harrington, I’m talking about my old gal.” 

You turn to hide your smile in Steve’s shoulder, and he and Eddie share a look. It’s knowing, contented, grateful on one end and shit-eating on the other, and because you can always tell when they’re conspiring without you you mumble a not-unhappy, “I’m too tired for flirting,” into Steve’s skin. 

“Liar,” Steve accuses fondly. You’re basically flirting with him right now, the way you’ve got your arm snaked around his middle, anxious fingers fiddling with the hem of his pajama bottoms. “Why don’t we just spend the night down here?”

“Ooh.” Eddie turns onto his side, getting comfier on your thigh. “I like it. Whaddya think, baby? We can put on a movie, and that way you can stay here and keep feeling Harrington up.” 

You sigh. “That’s not what’s happening.” 

“Sure.” Steve drops a kiss on your head, and when you try to let go of him he holds you close.

Eddie gives your thigh a conciliatory pat. “We’ve all been there.” 

“If we watch a movie,” you say, and Eddie grins at your obvious attempt to change the subject, “can it please be something not scary?” 

“Sure, honey.” Steve rubs your arm, shooting Eddie an apologetic look when the other boy pouts. “Your pick.” 

When the next strike of lightning flashes in the window, you don’t seem to notice. 

[midsummer-semantics]

if the world was ending

Okay, I told myself I wasn't going to write anything for @steddieangstyaugust but apparently I lied (I'm sorry)

Here's for day 1: Second Chance

CW: Slight agoraphobia

[not posted to AO3 but you can find other things there.]

When the earthquake hits, he’d like to say he thinks about his parents first. That he wonders where they are and if they're safe or if they’d hear about it from wherever they are in the world. If they’d call to check on him, even though they never did before.

He'd like to say he thinks about Robin, who's two states away studying for a graduate degree in International relations and communication, and likely doesn't feel the ground moving beneath her feet like he does.

Hell, he'd like to say he thinks about the kids, but most of them are scattered themselves, starting college programs (Will, Mike, Dustin) or sports training camps (Lucas) or exploring the West Coast (Max and El).

No, Steve is alone in his big, empty house when it hits, and the only thing on his mind is that they were wrong. Indiana doesn't get earthquakes, so something else has to be afoot. Six years since they defeated Vecna, since everyone tried to move on with their lives while Steve stayed because that's what he does, he stays.

A touchstone Dustin had called him once. Something to do with foundation and a connecting center. Steve still thinks it might have just been him and the rest of the group trying to make him feel better about still being stuck in the same house, in the same town, doing nothing and going nowhere.

He's alone and he thinks 'This is it. What I've been waiting for.'

He has a 6-year-old emergency pack stored that should have more dust on it if it wasn't for the way he chronically checks it. His trusty bat and a duplicate he made just in case, plus the ax he used the last time, are all near enough to the door. He's not sure what the protocol is for earthquakes, having grown up in the Midwest, but he's pretty sure he's not supposed to be indoors, right?

It doesn't last very long, but it doesn't matter. A few seconds of the ground shaking and rolling beneath his feet are enough to jumpstart him into action.

He's gathering supplies, cursing himself for taking too long, when the phone in the kitchen rings.

He should ignore it, knows that whatever or whoever it is can wait until he's secured the area and alerted the cavalry that something is happening. It'll take days for people to get here and Steve thinks he might he able to hold off whatever's coming out of whatever rift has sprung up until then, but he doesn't have time to think about it too hard.

The phone rings off the hook as Steve takes too damn long to double-check that nothing is in the house before he even attempts to go outside, and Steve knows he can't just leave it. Not in case it's someone who's still in town who knows he's here: Mrs. Wheeler, Claudia, Jim or Joyce.

He nearly rips the cord out of the wall when he answers.

"Stevie?!" comes the frantic voice of the person he least expects to be on the other side.

"Eddie?"

"Steve, oh my god." He can hear Eddie panting. "Are you okay?"

It's the first time Steve's heard Eddie's voice in five years. Since Eddie made good on his promise to run like hell out of here, something he'd repeated to anyone who would listen until he finally did. Five years since Steve had realized he was halfway in love with him after saving the world and never got to say anything because he was a coward and Eddie was leaving anyway so what was the point?

He'd gotten one phone call when Eddie arrived in Denver and it's been radio silence since then. Truthfully, he couldn't blame the guy, but Steve had had... thoughts... feelings... probably brought on by end-of-the-world shit but nonetheless. And then Eddie just—

Vanished.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?" he asks.

"We're good," Eddie replies, and only then does he hear the rough grumble of Eddie's uncle in the background, asking why Eddie's on the phone at nearly 3 in the morning.

"Earthquake, old man," Eddie shouts, still too close to the receiver for Steve's already damaged hearing.

Oh.

So, Eddie's in town. Cool. Steve had no idea. Doesn't know when Eddie got in or if he ever intended to tell Steve he was here at all. That's fine.

"Sorry, Stevie. Woke Wayne up. Shit— did I wake you up too?"

Steve swallows harshly, shaking his head even though Eddie can't see it. "No, I was already awake."

"Me too," Eddie replies. "Jet lag. Just got in a few hours ago. What a welcome home, huh?"

"Sure," Steve says, wondering what the point of this call is. "Look, I'm glad to hear from you, but I really need to—"

"Wait!" Steve shuts his mouth, his teeth clacking harshly. "It's fine. Everything is fine."

"Dude, there was an earthquake just now—"

"And it wasn't You-Know-What related," Eddie states, a bit of his franticness back in his voice. "They're leveling part of the plant for safety issues. Wanted to do it at night so no one would freak out." Steve cringes. Hawkins wasn't exactly magnanimous about the rebuilding efforts last time, but he doesn't go to city council meetings to hear about what the efforts might have been since then. "That's part of why I'm home. Wayne's got an extended leave until they sort out what else to do."

Steve sighs, dropping the emergency pack on the floor and leaning the ax he'd managed to grab against the wall. "Oh. Great. Wish they'd have told everyone else just in case."

"I know, sweetheart. But everything is okay."

Sweetheart.

Steve's actual heart skips a beat hearing that again.

"I'll be back, sweetheart. I promise."

"So... you're here then? In Hawkins?"

There's a beat of silence, some shuffling on the other end. "Well, yeah. I told you I'd come back."

"For your uncle."

"He's part of it."

Steve hesitates, hating himself for even considering getting his hopes up.

"And the other part?"

"My guy is here."

When the earthquake hit, he’d like to say he thought about his parents first.

No, he'd thought it was the end of the world. And above that, all he could think about was Eddie.

[fastcardotmp3]

future!steddie; long haul trucker Eddie; firefighter Steve ~1k words

It makes sense to Eddie, an obvious out when his world's gone to shit and he has to get away, that his escape route from Indiana is the same job his uncle left to settle down there and raise a kid with nowhere else to go.

Driving long haul means there's no one looking that close at a face that made it to the national news during his week on the run. It means living on the move, never stopping long enough to get stuck anywhere.

It means freedom.

It means loneliness.

He calls Wayne twice a week, coins in pay phones at rest stops while he's waiting for his hair to dry post-public shower, and that's enough for him.

Wayne has always been enough for him, and it would be hurtful to suggest otherwise; it would be disrespectful to the life Wayne helped him build, keeps helping him build with all that faith that had him never doubting an innocence questioned by everyone else in that God-forsaken town.

Twice a week. It's the only phone number he knows by heart.

Twice a week for weeks and then months and then years, driving cross-country and back again, it's freedom. He keeps telling himself it's freedom, that it's good, that he doesn't need anything more than that.

But driving long haul means there's a lot of time for thinking.

It means a lot of time for collecting thoughts up together and creating new meaning entirely.

It means that by the time he's twenty-one and twenty-five and thirty that he has tape after tape after tape where he's collected those thoughts aloud in the rumbling loud silence of an overnight drive.

Thoughts like who would I be if I'd stuck around? and thoughts like will they understand that this time running saved my life? and thoughts like I miss them, am I allowed to miss them, am I allowed to love them without ever really knowing them?

It means that when he stops for all but the first time in ten years, coming home to Wayne to find that Forest Hills is home to a couple more familiar faces than he expected, there's space for his words. His endless, looping thoughts.

Steve's got his own trailer these days, brings in Wayne's mail for him on the mornings he comes home from the night shift at the fire station and stays for coffee.

Steve's there across the way when Eddie drives up in a new-used flatbed truck he'd bought with his final paycheck on the day he hung up his hat and decided he'd been gone long enough.

Steve's there in stories Wayne only begins telling now that Eddie is home, endless retellings of a brand-new man who became a friend during a time when the name Munson was still a dangerous thing to carry.

Steve's there when Eddie starts transcribing all his dictated notes into something resembling narrative and character and prose and Eddie doesn't know the guy who jumped headfirst into another dimension, hasn't spoken to him since that week that forced Eddie to flee in the first place, but maybe he doesn't need to have those years under his belt.

Maybe it doesn't matter if Eddie knows a nineteen-year-old Steve Harrington, because he knows the twenty-nine-year-old one starting a matter of hours after he comes crawling back home, knows this grown and steady one who looked after Wayne when Eddie had to leave.

This Steve isn't stuck despite still living in the town that tried to kill him. He doesn't seem lost or without purpose.

He lives a simple life, working at the Hawkins FD and feeding stray dogs with the bowls he leaves out beside his porch. Robin comes and goes, seemingly dating her way through the Midwest's entire sapphic population and sleeping on Steve's couch in between live-in girlfriends.

There are old friends on the phone at near constant intervals in Steve's home, and there's that phone being pressed to Eddie's ear without giving him the chance to be terrified about what Erica or Dustin or Max might say to the guy who hasn't allowed anyone but Wayne access to him for a decade, what he might say back after so many years without proper human socialization.

Eddie has been moving for so long, stayed moving through the bulk of his acceptance of everything that happened to him, but there's a different sort of quiet here than what he found on the road, stillness, amongst the casual chaos.

There's similarities to life on his rig, sure, a certain routine to the comings and goings, only Eddie isn't hiding anymore and he's not thumbing through the same staticky stations anymore and he's not lonely anymore.

He doesn't know how to sit still yet, not really, but he stays up all night handwriting poetry on paper he once spoke onto tape on the porch of his uncle's trailer and sometimes when Steve gets home after dark, he'll sit with him.

He'll eat his dinner still in uniform and listen to the scratch of Eddie's pen and Eddie doesn't know him, Steve Harrington, but he's getting to know his neighbor Steve.

Ten years down the line and he's becoming solid right there in front of Eddie's eyes, becoming real, becoming something that can't possibly fit onto the tapes filled with nonsense and insights alike.

"You're never what I think you're going to be," Eddie admits to him one morning over coffee before Wayne or Robin have risen, before the phone has begun to ring, before the world wakes up and brings Eddie's life along with it, ready or not.

Steve smiles at him, amused and curious and cocky in the way he responds, "you're exactly who Wayne said you are."

It's an admission all its own, that Steve has thought about Eddie, spoken about him, in the time they've spent apart, even if it was only because he'd dared to keep Wayne Munson's company.

It's still an admission though, that in his absence, in his loneliness out on the road, Eddie wasn't forgotten by the watercolor skies over Hawkins, Indiana.

"Yeah?" Eddie breathes in those very skies, "and what did Wayne say I'd be?"

Ten years down the line and suddenly it makes sense to Eddie.

It makes sense in the morning dew on the lawn; it makes sense in the too-strong Harrington-brewed coffee; it makes sense in the wheels of his truck on a road that does end, eventually, and it makes sense in the collected thoughts and feelings, fears and dreams that he had to go away to decipher.

The freedom was in leaving, sure, but this? The coming home to Wayne and this porch and the man who lives across the way?

"Stick around, Munson," Steve Harrington dares on a morning like any other, "and maybe I'll just tell you."

Well. As it turns out, this might be the thing that saves him.

[oneforthemunny]

the original mafia!eddie blurb. how he and reader met <3

mafia!eddie munson who started moving weight with rick in hawkins like his dad did before. he swore he’d never be like him, be apart of this after what happened to his mother, but everyone’s gotta make a living some how. and rick’s boys are starting to supply to the majority of the midwest, chicago being their main route of business. bringing up far too much money to turn down. no one thinks to look in the middle of nowhere indiana. no one even knows about hawkins. it’s the perfect set up, eddie couldn’t refuse.

“it’s in your blood, boy,” wayne tells him, and from then on, his name is said with a hint of fear.

he’s laundering with the big names of the game, paying off hopper and anyone else who might be a threat. rick’s moved to another city, securing the route while eddie stays in hawkins, ensuring everything gets where it’s supposed to.

he’s the top dog, no one fucks with him. everyone knows but no one wants trouble, so they pretend they don’t know out of fear of one of his boys paying them a visit.

you’re new to town, nancy wheeler’s college roommate come to hawkins for a job at the bank here. eddie comes in one day, all black button down that’s left open, inked skin, and gold necklaces.

“hi, there sweet thing,” he purrs over the counter at you. most would cower under his stare. not you. “charles around?”

“do you have an appointment?” you ask, lifting a brow.

eddie smirks. “nah, baby, I don’t need an appointment. tell him eddie’s here to see him.”

you blink, unfazed by his slinky smile, narrowed eyes. “you can’t see mr. harrington without an appointment.” you give him an unimpressed look. “if you’d like to make an appointment, I can set one up for you-“

“-sweetheart, you must be new here.” eddie’s teeth grit slightly. “I know you’re new here, I’d remember a face like yours.” you blush gently under his grin. “me and charles go way back. I don’t need an appointment to see him.”

“eddie, was it?” you raised a brow. “I’m just doing my job. mr.harrington said no one was to come in without an appointment and as much as I would love to believe you two are old friends, I can’t just let you back there without an appointment.” you huffed, lips pursing in annoyance.

eddie’s eyes were trained on the burgundy gloss of your lips, how juicy they looked. his tongue tan over his bottom lip, fingers tapping against the desk. anyone else, he would’ve flashed his glock on his hip or walked back there ignoring her. but he’d play her little game, if for no other reason than to speak to her longer.

joyce stuttered out your name, a horrified look on her face when you turned, brows furrowed in confusion. “I-I’m so sorry, eddie, she-she’s new here. she doesn’t know yet-“

“-that’s alright.” eddie smirked, looking over at you. “she’s just doing her job. real good at it too. better than the last one.”

joyce let out a nervous laugh, glaring at you when she ushered him back. “she’s not from here.” she whispered to eddie, leading him down the hallway towards charles’ office.

“I know.” eddie grinned salacious.

“I’ll make sure she knows. I’m so sorry about this again.” joyce rambled.

eddie waved her off. “don’t worry about it. don’t go gettin’ her in trouble either. she was just doing her job.” eddie gave her a smile, but his glare was threatening. joyce nodded, watching his disappear behind the door with the frosted window.

when he returned, stopping by your desk, you turned, posture straight and attentive, a little tense. he could tell joyce told you something, what he wasn’t sure.

you assumed he was back to boast, brag and make you apologize for dare doubting him- for doing your job. instead, he stood, palms flat against the counter.

“I need to make an appointment.” eddie purred slowly. “I’ll be back in three days to see charles again. he got anything then?”

you faltered for a moment, looking down at your book, you flipped through the pages of the calendar, scanning a red, manicured nail down the pages- eddie wanted to groan. “how about at one o’clock? after lunch?” you suggested.

eddie smirked. “works perfect for me, angel.”

you penciled it in, already knowing his first and last name without him telling you. so joyce had filled you in.

“I gotta make an appointment with you too?” eddie asked, leaning against the counter. “or can I just ask you out?”

you blushed, surprised. you bit back a smile, looking down at the book to hide your heated cheeks. “that depends,” you quipped, leaning forward. “where you gonna take me?”

eddie rolled his tongue over his front teeth, smirking. “what time you get off? six?” he asked, you nodded. “I’ll pick you up then. take you anywhere you wanna go.”

“anywhere?” you repeated.

“anywhere.” eddie nodded. “wherever you want.”

you twisted your lips. “I’ve got expensive taste. that gonna be a problem?” you listed a brow.

eddie laughed. “not at all, baby.” he winked at you. “see you at six. I’ll be out front.”

your heart fluttered, gnawing at your lip.

six o’clock rolled around, too slow for your liking, and there he was. black, sleek, mercedes with a dark tint that had to be illegal. he opened the door for you, a gorgeous, obnoxiously large bouquet of flowers in the front for you.

he took you to novo dolce, an obnoxiously expensive italian restaurant downtown- your choice. you didn’t know that’s where eddie did most of his deals in the back rooms, and that are his heart only beat harder for you.

he pulled your chair out, opened the doors, ordered you an expensive glass of wine- more expensive than you would’ve ever ordered on a first date, but he let you pick your own entree. he listened to you talk about your hometown, your life before hawkins, how you met nancy and how will got you the job at the bank. you asked about him too, but his answers were short, ominous. it made you only more curious.

he held the door open for you, your hands wrapping around his waist to pull him close to you. you tasted the bourbon he’d drank on his tongue, leaving your head spinning, pulling him in for more and more, until he had you pressed against the cool metal of the car, his tongue exploring every inch of your mouth, hands gripping your hips.

you knew he’d be bad for you, by the way your heart raced when his ring clad hand gripped your thigh, pinky skimming closer and closer up your leg towards your heated core. it made your squirm. you knew he wasn’t good, your better judgements told you to run, but how could you? when he looked this good, talked so sweet, and tasted like heaven.

[ominousvibez]

Okay I'm still thinking about the Amity Park in Ohio thing so here's my proposal for this idea:

Reasons That Amity Park Should Be in Ohio (By Someone Who's Lived In Ohio For 2+ Years)

#1 It's Definitely A Great Lake State

Amity Park has never been stated to be officially in one specific state, just vaguely central United States, possibly somewhere around the Great Lakes area. That specific area is often referenced by other characters in the show. Urban Jungle shows Undergrowth's roots stretching out from this general area, and the Lake Eerie mentioned in the show might just literally be Lake Erie.

Of course it's kinda cartoony and I honestly have no idea if those mountains in the bottom right corner are meant to be the Appalachia area or not but it vaugely looks like the Great Lakes area

Because of this screenshot, I think most of the fandom headcanons Amity Park to be somewhere in Illinois, possibly close to Chicago, but we can basically point at any Great Lakes state and say "yeah that fits".

For my non-American friends, it's this general area of America (specifically Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio)

But I'd also like to say that cartoons do have a tendency to fudge some details about geography (or completely change the states a la Steven Universe) so the map might not be 100% accurate. But with the map, it could technically be any Great Lakes State, so why not OHIO?

Which btw I'm going to be counting as a Midwest state for this analysis. Some people can argue it isn't, but from my experience living here in Ohio there are a lot of Midwestern tendencies. It's more like Ohio is the border state between the Eastern states and the Midwest, so it gets a mix of both.

B*tch H*rtman (as much as we don't like to talk about him) was also born in Michigan, which is a state in the Midwest, so some of Amity Park could be based (consciously or not) on the towns he grew up in there. But because of him I'm ruling out Michigan the state as a whole and Wisconsin for states Amity Park could be in.

#2 It Takes Four Days To Get To Wisconsin, Apparently?

In Season 1, Episode 7, when they travel to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin, Jazz says it will take "four days" to get from Amity Park to Vlad's Mansion (Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin, basically). The geography is a little off for every midwestern/Great Lakes state except maybe New York if you're gonna count that but Amity Park does not feel like it'd be in New York state.

Ohio is the furthest Midwest Great Lakes state from Wisconsin. Case closed there. Of course, it doesn't take four days to get from Ohio to Wisconsin. It can roughly vary from 10 to 15 hours, depending on route options (such as avoiding highways and stuff), but still.

It's a road trip, so it makes more sense that they'd take longer to get there-- plus realistically people don't tend to drive 10 hours on a road trip, they probably stopped through the trip and spent the night in their RV.

#3 They Got Beaches?

Amity Park does exist near a body of water. It isn't clear if it's a lake, river, or ocean in the show. It could be a lake. There's also the area in Frightmare, where Nocturne literally takes up space in some sort of port building/factory that gives the audience the assumption that it's on a pier/port. So they're really next to a body of water.

There is also the summer camp that Danny and his friends attend in Claw of the Wild which is said to be on Lake "Eerie". Which could easily just be Lake Erie, the lake that Ohio is on.

Also Camp Skull and Crossbones?? What an iconic camp name. You could say the name is pretty,,,,,, camp (ba dum tss).

#4 Ohio's Just Like... Very Haunted

Ohio has kinda become a meme recently. Not just one specific part of Ohio, but the entire state. The memes are mostly good fun-- like how the state is mostly just corn -- but I think some of the ~vibes~ of Ohio just fit right.

Like, there's no definite way to say which U.S. State is the most haunted (I think either the New England area or maybe Louisiana could take the #1 spot) but Ohio is definitely something else. Of course, we have the baby bridges and the haunted penitentiaries like Ohio State Penitentiary, but there are some interesting places that could be played with, too.

For one, there's an entire abandoned town called Helltown, Ohio, where rumors are cultists perform Satantic rituals, mutant creatures roaming the city created by an oil spill, and even a giant snake? There's also a place literally called the Gateway to Hell, too, which is right behind a Tim Horton's (oddly fitting).

Bobby Mackey's is also in Ohio! If you've ever seen Buzzfeed Unsolved, you know what I'm talking about.

There are also less hell-related spooky things in Ohio. Like, Lake Erie has its own Monster! We call her Bessie. Danny could definitely befriend Bessie!!!

#5 It'd Be Funny

It'd be funny for Amity Park to be in Ohio. The Most Haunted Place in America to be in Ohio is just kinda funny. With how "cursed" of a reputation Ohio seems to have in a larger cultural context, doesn't it kinda just fit?

TLDR:

Ohio is a very cursed state, has a lot of supernatural lore to it, and I think Amity Park would fit in both thematically and almost geographically. Of course, other Midwestern States like Illinois do fit the bill, too, in this argument. But I am a firm "Amity Park is in Ohio" supporter.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

The debate that's older than I am.

That being; "Eowyn's cooking is awful enough to kill grown men, or is Rohan's cultural food that strange to foreners?"

So, I'm curious what you think a regular meal is like in Edoras for one. I live in Midwestern America, and a staple is plain but calorie rich food to keep you full longer and to deal with the cold better, and sometimes I wonder if Rohan could be the same way. Of course, making outsiders not used to such a "strange" diet.

But it could also go the other way that people in Edoras (especially Eowyn) do not know what a nice meal looks like, and will continue to cook horrors for generations to come.

Do you have any thoughts? :).

Ah, the Éowyn stew scene….one that I would have on my short list to “discuss” with Sir Peter if the opportunity ever came to pass!

I think if you accept that scene as canonical, then the only thing you can reasonably infer from it is that Éowyn never learned how to cook. (And why should she? From the time that she was 7, she was living in the king’s own household with only him, Théodred and Éomer as family. They had staff for cooking, and she probably would have been shooed out of the kitchens even if that was a place she wanted to be!) 

Anyone who wants to go from there to the idea that Rohirrim food is bad overall or that they’re making things that are so culturally distinct and unusual that their food is off-putting to outsiders is certainly welcome to make that their HC, though I don’t personally see it that way. And I think the books back me up — there are *several* scenes with large groups of people from across Middle Earth taking meals in Rohan, and nowhere in any of them is even a single whisper of a hint that there’s anything strange or unpleasant about the Rohirrim food.

Geographically speaking, a lot of Rohan does seem like the American midwest or central plains — lots of open, grassy land, a full four seasons of weather, landlocked but with rivers. They had wild boar and probably deer and rabbits, since those were in the surrounding lands. They raised “herds,” which probably meant horses but could have also been cows. They had lots of farms — Saruman’s troops burned a bunch on their way to Helm’s Deep! — and could have grown all kinds of grains and produce that are appropriate for that climate (Aragorn says parts of Rohan are only 60 leagues south of the Southfarthing, though much further east, so perhaps their growing options wouldn’t have been all that different from the Shire, at least outside of the mountainous areas!). They could have fished in the rivers. 

So they’d have had access to lots of different types of ingredients, none of which are especially unusual either here or in-universe. And I don’t see any reason why the cooks of Rohan would be uniquely inept or incapable of using those ingredients to make things that were good! I happen to agree with your characterization — a lot of Rohan isn’t *fancy* or *cosmopolitan* so they’re not making really elaborate, complicated cuisine with a capital C, but they’d have things that were hearty and filling and would keep you on your feet for long days of physical work. And that doesn’t have to mean lacking in flavor or skill! And then, of course, there are also plenty of royals and nobility in Rohan, and they could have easily had fancier, more sophisticated food since they’d have resources to get the best ingredients and full-time staff to handle just food preparation.

So that’s my thought! It seems like you and I are probably on the same page here, though certainly let me know if you’ve got other ideas and opinions — I am *always* happy to hear them! And thanks for asking!

[glisten-inthedark]

Will is known to be good at hiding. He physically goes and hides away to protect himself from both mundane and supernatural stressors. He tries to hide emotional things a lot too, to not cause people to worry, like after he saw the Mind Flayer on Halloween and didn’t wanna tell his mom about it. But hiding physically and finding those places to tuck away was still a primary coping mechanism.

Mike doesn’t hide physically. He can go down into his basement, but that’s not the same thing as going someplace where it’s hard to be found. Where does Mike hide? He hides within himself, because he doesn’t have an alternative. He doesn’t have a secondary coping mechanism, a place purely his own to feel safe.

Will has a loving, anxious mother and a brother we barely see him fight with, a brother who always protects and encourages him and shares his interests with him, and a terrible, homophobic father who wanted him to “man up” but who left. Who he doesn’t live with anymore.

Mike has a mother who has a young daughter constantly on her hip (in season 1) and who can come across to her older children as overbearing and nosy, an older sister who loves him a ton but usually bickers with him more often than not, who he can’t easily confide in, and a terrible, apathetic father who has made a few snide and subtle possibly homophobic comments and who didn’t give a rat’s ass that his son’s best friend went missing. Who he lives with, still.

We know Jonathan and Joyce will accept Will. Even Will probably felt more positively about that being the case. Nancy would accept Mike. I like to believe Karen would as well, though I doubt Mike would think so.

We know Lonnie and Ted won’t. Will doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Mike does.

It’s no wonder their repression of their queer identities are so different from each other. How they’re able to cope and hide is different. Their home environments are different. Will hides well, but he doesn’t have to hide from his mom and brother. He chooses to, sometimes, but he doesn’t have to. Mike does.

The Byers are already considered oddballs. The Wheelers are more conservative and prim. They have the whole picket fence American Dream nuclear family image to uphold. They can’t have a queer son in 1980s Midwest America. They can’t let people find out. The shame, the horror.

Mike knows this. Of course Mike knows this. So he hides. Like Will, he hides. But he can’t hide physically, like Will. So he hides deeper within himself than Will does. Because there’s nowhere else to go.

Hello!!!

I have absolutely nothing to add to this ask, you put it perfectly!

Mike hides because he doesn't know what else to do.

Thanks for the ask 💙

[slowdive1994]

⋆ hello and welcome! ⋆ dandy // she/they // minor (15 and a fool <3) // sapphic (questioning bi again)// aus // enfp // leo ☼ libra ☾ pisces ↑ // basic dni // gluttonous user of brackets // in love with everyone and everything a little bit // life's so fun, life's so fun! // know it's for the be-e-e-tter.

⋆ misc ⋆ yellow dandelions and polaroids // matcha addict // this specific shade of green // guitar // obsessed with spotify // certified dog person // silk chiffon is my favourite song ever // music is the loml // always wearing eyeliner // summer is everything // friends give me life // in love with the city // literal golden retriever // poetry - i have a slightly inactive sideblog // laughs too hard and too much // i write songs a bit // my sleep schedule is absolutely fucked // chronic overthinker // tokyo is my fav city ever // in love with my friends // i live in wide leg jeans // strawberry sorbet // psychology // used to drink coffee like once a week and now im a fully fledged lorelai gilmore // headphones // i live for concerts // brown lipgloss <3 // that little black vest // a little selective about who i follow and i usually don't follow people without an intro post/bio :) // if we’re not mutuals and u wanna be js send me an ask pls // i love talking to people - ask box is very open and dms open to minors :)) //

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⋆ albums ⋆ norman fucking rockwell! // ttpd + the anthology // evermore // born to die // did you know there's a tunnel under ocean blvd? // pure heroine // melodrama // folklore // this is what it feels like // good riddance // hmhas // quarter-life crisis // if i could make it go quiet // am // the good witch // the rise and fall of a midwest princess // snow angel // punisher // stranger in the alps // the record // home video // historian // this is why // bury me at makeout creek // puberty 2 // five seconds flat // riot! // guts // bright future //brand new eyes // songs // capacity // masterpiece // stick season // preacher's daughter // live through this // sundays // prelude to ecstasy // wet leg // rae // saturday night wrist // i can // heaven or las vegas // vampire weekend // so tonight that i might see // no burden // brat // the secret of us // everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we? // maggot // charm // among my swan // celebrity skin // AM // around the fur // remember that i love you // a-sides // the rest // be the cowboy // loveless // siamese dream // nowhere // souvlaki // lsd and the search for god // sports // american thighs //american football //

⋆ tv ⋆ gilmore girls // cruella // heartbreak high // 10 things i hate about you // 27 dresses // do revenge // friends // all the bright places // pride and prejudice // how i met your mother // mona lisa smile // never have i ever // gossip girl // pjo // little women // but i'm a cheerleader // now you see me // the hunger games // the breakfast club // murder mystery // the fault in our stars // yellowjackets // how to lose a guy in 10 days // heartstopper // the princess and the frog // knives out // tinkerbell // geek girl // to all the boys i've loved before // five feet apart // the devil wears prada // knives out // anne with an 'e' // atypical // the babysitter's club // riverdale // ratatouille // enola holmes // mean girls // wednesday // the vampire diaries // the perks of being a wallflower // ruby sparks // bottoms // buffy the vampire slayer // juno //

⋆ books ⋆ the invisible life of addie larue // we were liars // the raven cycle // the folk of the air // anne of green gables // little women // daisy jones & the six // the seven husbands of evelyn hugo // the hunger games // red white and royal blue // they both die at the end // pride and prejudice // pjo // the fault in our stars // all the bright places // five feet apart // turtles all the way down // heartstopper // solitaire // loveless // tuck everlasting // one of us is lying // sadie // she's too pretty to burn // caraval // the illuminae files // aurora rising // emily henry books // the bell jar // girl, interrupted // the virgin suicides //

⋆ taglist + sideblogs + notes ⋆ #asks // #incredible remarkable awe-inducing mutuals <3 // #just dandy thoughts // #anon // #tag game // #picrew // #ask bait/#ask game // #dandy.txt // mp3 dvd rumble pack guitar // @path0logical-people-pleaser // @idespisemyrottenmind // @saturn-mo0n // intro post was inspired by @svnflowermoon and @glcive - go check their blogs out, they're lovely <3 // last update: 23 september 2024 // bye and thank you for reading!! //

[lorifragolina]

A Hallmark Christmas Movie in Summer

And now, we're almost there! The poll spoke up and I'm posting the last corner of my first @harringrovesummerbingo card! I had so much fun writing this one, it's my favourite, because both of them are so silly and stupid and funny, and I adored Max, she is a little brat, affectionately!

I love Hallmark Christmas movies and they are perfect for one of them, witha little summer twist!

Title: A Hallmark Christmas Movie in Summer

Square & Prompt: C1 "Caught in a thunderstorm"

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 3679

Major Tags: Idiot to lovers, Hallmark cheesiness, plant shop.

Summary: One is a successful professional person in a big city, probably already an associate, with a healty, handsome neurosurgeon partner. The other is a ripped lumberjack or something similar, living in the same old little Midwest village, maybe not so educated but really good at feeling. One returns home for Christmas and the other turns their entire world "upside down". Now make it in Summer, the one is a bit of a loser and the other is a sort of ripped lumberjack in the same old little Midwest village... Could a thunderstorm draw Steve and Billy near each other?

Read it in AO3

Perfect. Just perfect.

The day couldn’t go worse. 

Not only that, he left his card at the reception of the hotel that morning, so he had to come back  after a three hour drive. Not only he forgot to stop at the last gas station when that red light of the battery turned on, so now the car was at side of the road, out of power, and he just noticed that he left the house’s key inside, but now, the sky was becoming black and silver, the cold air was blowing against him and he could see the lightnings and hear the thunders really near. He was in the fucking middle of nowhere, alone, frightened, and lost.

Well, lost… he probably would prefer being lost. He crossed the “Hawkins” city sign and sighed. 

His parents had sold his childhood home and he came back there to see it for the last time, to take the last things he wanted to keep; he got the chance to take a break from his shitty life in Denver, where his girlfriend had just dumped him for another, less loser, guy, he lost another dead-end job in a insolvent company and he had just to leave the tramp flat he couldn’t afford anymore.

Steve Harrington was coming back to Hawkins in the worst way: heart broken, broke, unemployed and futureless.

And soaking wet, because the dark sky melted down in a cold, heavy and pouring rain in a second, drenching him from head to toe and making him feel even more miserable. 

The city seemed empty and turned off; finally he saw the only open shop along the street that had a light inside and ran to it, opening the door wide at the ting of the little bells, and he took shelter inside.

“Fuck to this shitty city, fuck the rain!” he exclaimed while the door closed behind him, his hair still glued on his forehead and eyes, drippin miserably on the floor.

“And a good day to you too, Harrington”.

Steve’s heart skipped a beat, and he slowly raised his head, moving his wet hair with a hand.

He tried to say something, but words died in his throat and he stayed there, still like a statue, mouth opened, totally blanked.

His enemy, his nemesis, his senior year nightmare… his secret high school crush was there, at the other side of the bar, smirking at him with those perfect blank teeth, his pink lips, his soft flawless skin, his sparkling blue eyes and his blonde curls covered by a hanky, a short sleeves shirt that showed his tattooed toned arms, and a tattoo peeking out  from the collar too, and a black apron cover him and a bouquet of colorful flowers in his hands.

Steve looked around furtively, during an instant that seemed to last forever, to the shop he just entered; buckets of flowers in the floor, shelf with vases with various shades of green and in many shapes, a light floral scent of dried flowers and fresh water. 

He just invaded a plant shop, and Billy Hargove was in charge of it. 

Outside, the storm continued.

“Billy?” he finally murmured, and Billy smiled more, becoming more bright, if possible.

“Hi, Harringrove. Long time no see,” Billy finished the bouquet and smiled again, making Steve blush, and he noticed it, giggling. “Back home, finally,” he added.

Steve shivered, the water still dropping from him. “Just… just visiting my parent’s house… they… they…'' he looked around. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to take cover…”

Billy waved a hand. “Don’t worry. Typical summer thunderstorm”.

Steve could barely breathe, everything Billy said sounded terribly hot and flirty, but it was surely his fault because he didn’t expect to find him here, working between flowers and making a bouquet. He was golden tanned, and he wondered how he could get a color like this in a shithole like Hawkins.

“My car broke and I have…”

Billy smiled again and opened his mouth to answer, but in that moment the door opened again with the jingle of the bells. 

“Jesus Christ, everything happened to me! It always rains when I do some deliveries by foot, damn shit… oh”.

A short figure, covered by a yellow raincoat, dripping like Steve, had entered the shop cursing with a high pitch voice.

Max took off the hood, shaking off the water, and stared at Steve with the same surprise as him staring at her.

“Steve?” Max eyes darting to Billy.

“Hi… Hi, Max…”

“What’s going on?”sShe asked, while Steve was asking the same thing to himself.

“Steve’s car broke and he got caught by the rain like you,” Billy said in a warm, soft voice, and Steve shivered again. “He’s just visiting, right, Harrington?”

Steve nodded. “Yes, I…”

“Well, it’s late and I think nobody would come at this hour, so, what if we just close the shop for today?” Billy continued. 

Max hung the raincoat and took off the boots, smoothing her soaked hair. She shrugged and nodded, turning the sign on the door on “closed”.

“I better get going…” Steve took a step to the door, but Billy snickered a little.

“Oh, not at all, you can’t go around like a drowned rat. Max, can you tidy up while I help Harrington?”

Billy showed a door to Steve, and looked at Max with a crooked smile.

“Slut,” she mouthed.

Billy guided Steve upstairs stairs to the first floor.

“Do you live here?” Steve asked to break the ice.

“Yeah, it’s convenient with the shop. I thought you wanted to dry a little, you seem frozen”.

In fact, Steve felt the water dunking his hair and his clothes and he was beginning to teeth chattering. His hands were ice cold. 

“The bathroom is right there. I’ll get some more towels, if you want to take off those wet clothes”.

Steve kept telling himself that it was probably his fault because he was surprised and nervous, but Billy’s tone seemed really flirty.

He took off his shirt in the bathroom and opened the pants button, but he looked behind him and saw Billy standing there, looking at his narrow waist, some towels in his hands and a smirk in that pretty face.

“Please, don’t mind me, Harrington,” he purred. “We used to be teammates after all, don’t we?”

Steve blushed furiously. Yes, they used to be teammates and change in the same locker room, and he had a hard time in his senior year having Billy around. It took ages to understand that a part of this hate and intolerance against Billy was due to a little attraction too. It took ages for him to come out and accept his past crush on Hargrove.

And now he was half naked, embarrassed, in Billy’s bathroom, in Hawkins, the last place he expected to see Billy again, with his nasty look on his back.

“I’m afraid I don’t have many things that can fit you… but I can borrow you a tracksuit,” Billy entered the bathroom, closer to Steve, and left some clothes for him. “Do you need some underwear too?”

Steve felt his cheeks on fire. “No… I’m fine,” he tried to hide his face, dressing up quickly and drying a little more of his hair. 

“So you stay at the old Harrington manor?” asked Billy from the kitchen. 

“Yes… They are about to sell it and I’m checking…” he nervously went near the door. “I have to go now, I have to return to the car”.

“No way. I’m going with you and I’ll check on it.” Billy took his keys and made it clink, winking at Steve. 

“There’s no need…” Steve tried to brush aside Steve, but Billy nodded.

“Of course. I’m glad to help”.

Steve sighed and got in Billy’s car. He wasn’t surprised to see the infamous blue Camaro and to hear the roar of the gas that Billy liked so much in the old times. 

“It is the battery, nothing serious,” he said after checking the dashboard. “Luckily I have the jumper cables”.

Billy restarted Steve’s car and then cleaned his hand in his jeans, smiling at him. 

“Thank you so much, Billy”.

“No big deal,” Billy leant to his car but he didn’t feel like going away. He shared a little to Steve, who sat in his car, hands on the wheel, too embarrassed to stare back at him. 

“Well, Harrington, have a good time at Loch Nora,” Billy sighed finally, patting Steve’s car and opening the Camaro’s door. 

“Wait, Billy…” Steve gripped the wheel. “Can I… well, I’d like to… do you have plans for dinner?”

“I could cancel, why, Harrington?” he grinned, with sparkles in his eyes. 

“Well, I want… I want to thank you… maybe we can have dinner together?I… I have nothing at the house, anyway…”

Steve sweared internally and cursed himself. Why did he start stammering and begging so pathetically? He bit his lips. 

“Deal,” smirked Billy. “You buy,” he blinked again. Steve nodded. “Can you pick me up in an hour?” 

Steve nodded again and started the car, trying to go away before doing some other screw-up.

Billy had just the time to take a shower and fix his hair, then he dressed up a little bit and bathed in aftershave, as Max noticed in a loud voice when he stormed out the door at Steve’s arrival.

Hawkins didn’t have a lot of fancy restaurants, but fortunately one of the prettier has a table for them. 

Billy ordered a glass of red wine and Steve had the sensation that his way to drink it was too sensual for a simple thank you dinner, and he felt goosebumps all over his body. They chatted nicely about trivial things for half the time. 

“So, what is your life in Seattle, Harrington?” Billy asked abruptly in the middle of the second course.

“Denver,” corrected Steve.

“Denver,” nodded Billy. “Living the best life, right? How are you doing with your girlfriend?” he blinked. 

Steve gulped, swallowing a mouthful. There was no need to tell his whole pathetic story, but there was no need to lie either. They’re chatting about this and that.

“Well my girl dumped me recently, so not very good but one always survives, am I wrong?” he snickered, trying not to seem too miserable.

“Oh. I’m sorry, but I’m sure you’ll find someone better, plenty of fishes in the sea”, Billy smiled again to him. Obviously he hadn’t an idea about how King Steve had sunk so low lately. 

“And you?” Steve teased, raising his eyes at him behind his beer.

Billy scoffed. “Oh, no boyfriend at all,” he stopped a little, letting the word sink between them. “The dating pool is absolute shit, you know…” 

Steve pursed his lips. No, he couldn’t really understand how Billy was single, every man, woman, boy or girl, old or young, any gender and orientation should throw themselves at a stunning beauty like Billy, especially there, in Hawkins, where he should be surely one of a kind. He himself would jump on him either…

“I’m bi,” he shot suddenly, almost without filtering from his brain to his mouth.

Billy choked, blushing a little.

Steve praised the earth to open and swallow him. 

Billy finally smiled, slipping his hand near Steve’s on the table, without touching it, but making the move evidently. He grinned and changed the topic.

When they left the restaurant, the air was warmer than in the afternoon, the heat had already dried the fleeting rain of the thunderstorm, and Billy put his jacket on the backseat of Steve’s car. Steve left him in front of the plant shop and Billy waved him goodnight with a big smile, sighing while the car went away.

The next day started as a hot, shiny and clear summer day, and Max and Billy were working in the shop with the door open to let some fresh air enter. 

Steve appeared in the doorframe in the middle of the afternoon, waving Billy’s jacket as a shield.

“Hello… you left it in my car yesterday…” he lent the jacket to Billy. Max startled looking at Billy, surprised: it was his favorite jacket and he would never forget it. 

“Slut,” she mouthed behind Steve’s back, and Billy grinned at her. 

“Thank you, Steve. It had been a funny night and I wasn’t thinking about the jacket…” he purred, and Max rolled her eyes, while Steve blushed. 

“No problem… Well, I have to go, I… I have some paperwork to handle…,” he turned his back, but Billy stopped him.

“Hey, Harrington, your pantry’s still empty?”

Max sighed, and Steve turned to him, confused.

“Well, yeah… why?”

“What about a homemade dinner… to thank you for it?” Billy whispered softly to him, rubbing his jacket. 

Max wished to be abducted in that very moment: Steve babbled something unintelligible for a long, pathetic minute, before nodding and accepting, bright red like a pepper. 

“Great,” Billy stared at Steve’s eyes until Steve had to lower his gaze and stormed away.

Max stood with her hands on her hips. 

“Harrington, eh? You’re such a slut”.

Billy didn’t look at her face, but took his car keys. 

“I have to go for groceries. Ah, sleep out tonight, I need the house”.

Max shook her head. “What?”

“I need the house, so stay at El’s or Sinclair or whatever, understood?”

Max smirked. “You seem a little bold to me for someone who needs a favor”-

Billy rolled her eyes. “Jeez, ok, fine, please, could you please leave me the house for tonight? Please? ”

”You’ll have me for Thanksgiving and the spring break next year!”

“Are you nuts?”

“And Lucas. And El too,” insisted Max.

“You’re kidding,” Billy looked angrily at her.

“You’re the one who wants to get laid, not me”, Max returned to her work, waiting.

“Ok, ok, fine, you three at my house, whatever!” Billy snapped, and Max smirked. “So you’ll stay at El?”

Max nodded. “Ok, deal, I’ll sleep out tonight. I’ve already planned to stay at El’s, anyway,” she made him tongue, and Billy opened the door with rampage. 

“Bitch,” he snapped at her.

“Slut!” she yelled in return.

Billy opened the door and Steve entered the apartment, welcomed by soft light, a chill music and a delicious smell from the kitchen. The first time he didn’t notice many details, but now he could see a lot of house plants that seemed obvious, and some pictures of Max, Max’s graduation, a portrait and a photo with her and Billy eating an ice cream. 

Billy reached him with a glass of wine and Steve felt a little nervous.

“Is…. Max living here too?”

“Yeah, it’s me and her at the moment…” Billy read the worried look in Steve’s face. “She’s out for dinner,” he smirked, inviting him to sit on the sofa. Steve, instead, followed him in the kitchen where he was giving the last touches to the dinner. 

He had tied his hair up in a bun, with some blonde lock on his neck, a silk shirt, red, and Steve had to awkwardly admit that he had imagined it, the sleeves rolled up on his arms; he had already seen Billy’s tattoos last night at the restaurant, but now they were even hotter with the extra care he put in his outfit. 

Steve had tried to appear at the best too, and after all he hadn’t completely lost his touch, but he almost passed away when he saw the front, the shirt lazily unbuttoned and the tattoo that peeped out on Billy’s pecs, while his golden medal captured the warm light of the room. 

Billy led the conversation during the dinner, and Steve tried to relax, with difficulties, because it seemed that Billy could flirt so naturally that Steve couldn’t even try to resist. After all, an invitation like that had an obvious purpose. 

The food was delicious, another skill that Steve didn’t expect from Billy, but he was distracted by the charming conversation and Billy’s lips, along with more than a couple of the fresh white wine that matched perfectly to the shrimp pasta and the delicate sauce of the meat. 

When they finished, Billy tempted him with a stronger wine and they moved to the sofa. Again, Steve felt nervous for Billy’s proximity, their knees were lightly touching each other, and trying to guess how to carry on with the date.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, will Max…”

Billy shook his head. “Oh, she’s busy, she’s out for the night. A pool party or whatever”.

“Oh.” Steve nodded. 

“A pity you couldn't throw a pool party here again, right?”

Steve shrugged. “It’s life, I guess”.

Billy chuckled softly. “Although I can only imagine how big is the pool in your mansion in Denver,” he said, in a tone that Steve couldn’t read. He blushed, thinking at the dump he had called home for the last two years. 

“Well…” he considered putting all his cards on the table or maintaining a little dignity, at least for the moment. “Actually I don't exactly have a pool… actually I’m leaving my… my apartment, I need a fresh start, I guess”.

“Well, it’s good too. It’s a classic, right? The little city golden boy who leaves the Midwest and lives the best life in a big city…”

Steve bit his lips. 

“I guess you can make it successfully whenever you want…” again, Steve couldn't really read Billy’s tone, and it seemed a little mocking to him, but how could Billy know he was all but successfully and rich and that he had had a miserable life since when he left Hawkins without any idea? “Do you already have a plan?”

Steve shrugged again. “I’d always wanted to see California, but lately I was thinking of staying here for a while… like, downshifting a little”.

“Yeah, it’s like a movie, right? The successful man who returned to the shitty little place and made it a big win”. “Well if you’d say living in this shithole is a win...”

Billy blinked, and Steve cursed himself, wondering if he hurted his feelings in any way.

“I mean… there’s nothing wrong with staying here, of course… it’s not a matter of running away or failing, I mean… I’m happy to be there and…”

Steve forced himself to breathe slowly and stop the tornado of thought inside his head. He was better than that, and he could do better. 

He raised his eyes and looked Billy straight in his’. 

“It’s a matter of luck, too,” he said softly, smirking a little.

Billy smiled lightly and put down his glass, hanging out towards Steve; his hand slipped sweetly on Steve’s thigh.

“It’s a matter of opportunity too,” he whispered, closing the distance between them and kissing him. 

Steve released a whine of relief and answered gladly and fiercely to the kiss; he grabbed Billy’s forehead and felt Billy’s hot hands tucking directly under his polo. 

Billy’s chest was moving fastly, and his curls were loose and ruffled on the pillow. His lips were wet and parted, and he was looking at Steve topping him with a feral shine in his blue eyes; Steve shivered, although the contact between their naked bodies was almost scalding. He was about to zone out, he would never, ever imagined in his wildest fantasies he could find himself there, between Billy’s Hargove’s legs, his prohibited high school crush, balls deep inside him and making him squirm and whimper. 

Billy arched his back even more and clinged his legs on Steve’s back.

“I have been waiting for it since I was seventeen..“, moaned Billy. 

Steve blanked out. 

He woke up with the soft touch of Billy’s arms around his waist. It took a moment for him to remember where he was and what happened before falling asleep after the most perfect sex of his life.

Billy suggled on his neck, purring and kissing it softly, and Steve felt his considerable manhood, half hard, against his legs. He moaned of pleasure; his girl didn’t like morning cuddles, but he was a fan. 

Billy kept brushing his naked skin, burning him where he touched, and Steve reached out for a kiss, then two, and laid down on his back, taking Billy between his own legs, this time. 

Billy whispered, satisfied, trying to catch his breath, smiling in the curve of Steve’s neck. It was something he could get used to, Steve thought, if he had to stay in Hawkins, an advantage he had never considered.

After a while, Billy got up and put his briefs on, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“So, you’re thinking of staying in Hawkins for the moment?” he asked, and Steve blinked a little, surprised by the odd and abrupt question. 

“Uhm, yes, I think so…”

Billy stared at his eyes, grinning. “Well, if you come to California one day, you can stop and say hello,” he smiles, satisfied with the clueless expression on Steve’s face.

“What do you mean? I thought… you lived here. The shop…”

Billy chucked sweetly. “Oh, no. I’m just helping Susan for the summer, the shop is hers. She’s on honeymoon right now… this is her apartment. I live in California,” he enjoyed Steve’s astonishment. “I work there… modeling. I actually have a pool. Maybe you could enjoy a little party, if you’d come visit”.

Billy smiled slyly, while Steve was speechless. It took a couple minutes for him to regain his senses.

“But… I thought you lived here…” he repeated dumbly. 

“Well, I hope it’s not a problem,” Billy whispered, bending a little towards him. “Does it change things?”

Steve shook his head. He wasn’t surprised that Billy was successful and that he was a model, he was even prettier than when he was eighteen. Steve lost the opportunity once, and he was tired of feeling like a loser. 

He smirked, smiling at Billy and pulling him closer, grabbing his underwear.

“It’s not a problem. Not at all”.

[blade-that-was-broken]

For the soldier on AU, how do John's former squad mates react when they find out that he's been taken in by Bruce and is finally reconnecting with his family?

Depends on who it is.

Overall, they are really happy that John has been reunited with his brothers and that his brother took him in without fight. Like, they know very well that their estrangement was never either of the brother's fault or choice.

That being said, they are a family to him too (cept maybe Chaz, idk yet about him) and they are protective of one another.

Note: This is gonna get long... and as always, open to suggestions

PETE

Pete is retired and he's kind of an ass. When Bruce meets him, he doesn't know it's him and thinks he is either a bounty hunter after a criminal... or a criminal himself. It's a common misconception.

Pete also doesn't really care for Hawaii in general so there is that. He and Bruce do not get along, generally, and Bruce thinks he's condescending and a jackass. This is partially true. What Bruce doesn't quite realize is that Pete has a very certain way of showing affection and it is very difficult for others to understand it.

I'm not really sure how much Pete would come around but JD might eventually go and visit him. He'd live out in the middle of nowhere, probably either in the west/plains area of the U.S. or maybe the upper Midwest, idk yet. If JD did go visit him, Branch might come along or perhaps even one of his other brothers.

CHAZ

Chaz doesn't give a shit. At least not on behalf of JD. Those two do not get along. And I am not talking in a "siblings being assholes to one another" kind of way but a literal I would rather punch you till you're purple and never see you again if I could kind of way. This isn't one sided. They both don't like each other.

So IF Chaz ever met his family, which actually he might, he'd be kind of a manipulative jerk. Kind of that almost hypnotizing way of making JD's family like HIM over John's own company.

Which now that I think about it, that seems kind of on par with him, you know, with the whole "smooth jazz ruling" thing that he has in canon or even the tv series. So okay, chances, are he'll visit, mostly to be an annoying jerkface. And well, he's easy to get along with when he wants to be. He is hypnotic and charismatic and manipulative soooooo.... yeah....

It'll drive John nuts.

DICKORY

(Ft. Hickory)

Dickory is... apprehensive. Which is not abnormal for him. He has a way of looking at things and he is fairly naturally apprehensive and careful about people. Not people in general, but people close to the people he's close to.

Like, he's not careful about random people or even friends, but mostly friend's of friends and he also tends to look deeper into things, which makes him careful. This has something to do with him being naturally protective of the people he cares about. Or music. Ya know.

These people - John's brothers- are not the people that John knew when he was young - they are adults, with their own lives and all the things. They are different than how John remembers them and sometimes John seems to forget that. It's not entirely his fault, there's not much John can do about that. He's spent the last fifteen years kind of daydreaming about them sometimes.

However, Dickory knows how much this means to John - and how much these people mean to him - but he also has a lot of mixed feelings. He doesn't want JD to get hurt emotionally more than he already has with the time and forced estrangement. There is also the thing about none of the other brothers ever even attempting to try and find John that makes Dickory once again, apprehensive. He's protective - of yodeling, his brother, and his best friend - and so it can make him seem kind of mean to the others.

The only one who gets a pass with this is Branch due to his age and how he was far too young to really hold any concrete memories, although Dickory is practically heartbroken when he hears that Branch was never even told of JD's existence growing up. That makes him kind of dislike the brothers even more. It takes him quite a bit of time to warm up to them.

But since Dickory is John's best friend, the brothers do make an effort to try and get on his good side. I think Floyd and perhaps Clay kind of want to have his "approval" or whatever.

Hickory, on the other hand, jumps at the chance to befriend people. He and JD get along just fine and whenever Dick and JD are stateside and JD stays with Dickory nad his family, Hickory has been known to tag along. The brother's parents rather like JD too, he's always interested in whatever they have to say and the food they make. They also have this thing about yodeling. JD cannot do it well but he is always one to hear it. They trust JD to protect Dickory (even tho Dick is older) and aren't exactly like parental figures to JD but kind of a view on what parents are kind of supposed to be like.

Hickory thinks that JD will help him convince Dickory that Hickory joining the military is a good idea. He's not correct, as JD would never betray his friend in that manner. Anyways, when Dickory and eventually Hickory, meet John's family, Hickory is super excited. He's heard some things about them and he is very happy for JD that they have found him. He's not nearly as apprehensive and stoic in this manner as his older brother but faltered just a little bit when he found out Branch didn't know about JD. He's kind of between the age bracket with Floyd and Branch. He actually ends up kind of getting along with Floyd a bit but the brother outside of JD that he bonds with is actually Bruce. He loves running around the resort and playing with Bruce's kids. He's never had a younger brother or younger cousins or anything so he is rather fond of it.

Hickory does meet Tresillo probably. Not sure how they are going to be yet or if they get along. Tresillo is a bit more of Branch's friend so there is also that.

TRESILLO

Okay, I'm not entirely sure how this is all going to go.

It takes a while for Tresillo to go visit John. He feels guilty and even that John wouldn't want to see him (logically he knows JD doesn't blame him but the brain sometimes be that way) and I'm not even sure how he finds out where John is or how he gets to Hawaii to see him.

Tresillo absolutely LOVES that John has found his family again. At the same time, he kind of loathes it too.

Because if John has his real family now, what is the rest of them to him? What is Tresillo to him now? Does he matter anymore? Was Tresillo just kind of a stand in for one of his younger brothers?

These fears are quelled when he does face John in Hawaii. The guilt feelings don't entirely go away but he is made extremely aware that John absolutely does not blame him and the moment John sees him, it's like nothing has changed. He introduces him to whoever is there (probably at least Bruce) and since Bruce has heard plenty about Tresillo already, he kind of has an idea of how things work and how they are.

Bruce and Tresillo get along fairly well. They both like to cook and Tresillo is very interested in learning to surf. After he leaves the military, he will definitely grow out his hair to be more like canon but in the military, it's probably short at this point. It is entirely possible that Tresillo would try to get himself and his sister over to Hawaii at some point. This would be after Tresillo really feels like part of their family. He is a little apprehensive and awkward around Bruce's children, but he can usually sidetrack them with his dance moves and linguistic speaking skills.

Although Tresillo is closer to Floyd in age, he ends up bonding with Branch instead. He teaches him to dance and Branch takes it up real quick. They talk about their families and growing up a bit lonely, even with siblings, and do a lot of things together. Surprisingly, Tresillo doesn't feel super awkward with Branch or vice versa, despite the age gap, but then again, neither of them really had much in the way of friends their own age growing up either. Tresillo and Branch learn a lot about traps and Tresillo teaches him Spanish and they make things together sometimes. Mostly Branch making things. Tresillo is one of the first people who find out about Branch's crush on Poppy and kind of becomes Branch's wingman when he can. Tresillo gets his own crush on girl, which might be another reason he may move to Hawaii as well.

He's still a work in progress with things.

DELTA DAWN

His partner in crime/the law, his girl, his bff, right hand gal, go - to girl, all the things. These two are tight. Sometimes it's hard for people to really see it, since Delta sometimes has a tendency to be a little uptight and not fun, to some people, but there is something about the two of them just balance each other out. They are a fantastic team that definitely got some attention from higher ups, which led to them being stationed together - and then within the same squad when in an active-ish war zone. Growly Pete might have been the oldest with seniority, but Delta and JD were the ones that led the squad and kept them together.

Anyways, Delta comes when she can to Hawaii. She wasn't there when the accident happened and sometimes blames herself a little bit for not being there. As if she could have stopped or something. Once again, logically, she understands this is ridiculous but she's very close to her squad, JD in particular, and with them being such a close team, each other's faults tend to be shouldered as their own (this goes both ways).

Delta is extremely happy for John that he is reunited with his brothers. She has far less of the apprehension of Dickory and the assholeness of Pete, although she is very disappointed in his brothers that their families/friends don't know about him. It was like he had been erased from their lives and that breaks her heart.

Delta and Bruce generally get along. She's very grateful that Bruce took him in right away, Delta is helpful and dedicated and not bad of a cook. Bruce is unconvinced that Delta and JD don't harbor feelings for one another but after some awkward conversations and encounters, he doesn't say much about it, just kind of gives them weird glances. Bruce, however, is rather jealous of her hair. He's got some great hair but he also works at it. Delta... works less. However, they do kind of bond over this a bit. Delta is pretty good with the kids too, although not quite as much as John. She's very used to one crazy child - not several lol

Brandy and Delta get along very well and they talk quite a bit. They keep in contact with one another a lot and become pretty close friends. They do a lot of woman-typical things that Delta hasn't been able to do much of. She also goes to Brandy for advice when it comes to her sister and Claudia/Clampers.

Clay is kind of intimidated by Delta a little bit. Not entirely sure why - I don't even know if he's entirely sure why.

Floyd loves Delta's voice and immediately wanted to do a song with her. She's a little wigged out by it but flattered too. This is kind of how they bond, through music and such. I'm not sure on their relationship yet since I don't know what Floyd is as much like in this au yet. Suggestions, as always, welcome.

Branch goes through a short phase of being a bit jealous of Delta. He has, historically, not been very close with people/had friends/ been able to connect with others. John is one of the first that he really feels like he can be himself around, enjoys his company and connects with. Seeing Delta and how close she is with John, well, part of it dislikes how easy it is for them and part of him feels a little robbed. Delta has gotten to spend well over a decade being friends with John and Branch has only been able to start. He feels almost behind.

it's mostly when Delta goes out of her way to befriend Branch, that this starts to go away. Delta tries to bond and befriend all of the brothers. John is a huge part of her life - and always will be - and she wants to be involved, she wants his family to like her. Branch is absolutely no different. This helps their relationship and Branch's feelings. One; she might recognize a bit of how she's feeling. Two; he sees her as actually wanting to be his friend instead of just doing it because of John. Three; he really starts to see how different John and Delta's relationship is with each other rather than with Branch.

So they end up getting along fairly well. They are both pretty outdoorsy, just like John so the three of them will go on hikes, biking, camping, etc. But she also teaches him a bit of other things and they learn things together. It gets to the point where they will keep in contact, call and/or Skype each other. There is a bit of slight jealousy on John's part too at one point, but he also loves how they are getting along too.

These are just the squad mates I have right now but there are spots that are applicable to be filled so suggestions are welcome.

I know that was super long so if you got to the end of this, have a cookie lol

[subbyfoxelf]

gencon 2024 after action report, part 1: pregame (wednesday) & day 1 (thursday)

under the cut for anyone who doesn't care about all the cool indie rpgs i played over the weekend lmao.

the players!

me!

mommy! ( @vi-the-deer )

grammy! (my & mommy's partner)

cj! (grammy's husband, our metamour)

grammy & cj go to gencon nearly every year, and as grammy had accompanied us to magiccon chicago she figured she'd return the favor by having us along for this year's gencon!

mommy & i flew to st. louis tuesday night to meet up with grammy & cj. our hotel that night was pretty nice in a weird way, it kind of reminded me of a really upscale college dorm with a very modern/ikea aesthetic? it's one of those hotels that's trying really hard not to look like a hotel. but yeah, it was nice! not weirdly, shockingly bad. ([hbomberguy voice] foreshadowing is a literary device--). we belatedly celebrated mommy's birthday with some cake and got some rest to get ready for an awesome roadtrip followed by an awesome convention.

on wednesday we originally wanted to go to the st. louis science center, which i had been to & loved decades ago when i went to college in springfield illinois, but sadly it is not open on wednesdays! so instead we went to the st. louis zoo, which is apparently the biggest free zoo in the country? and i gotta say, it offers an experience that's pretty comparable to most non-free zoos i've been to. (also, yeah, i'm a bit ethically dubious about zoos, but my going to them or not going to them isn't really going to affect whether they exist or not, and from what i could tell this one was very well-run by people who genuinely care about the animals there.)

we saw a number of awesome animals, but i think my favorite part was probably the bird house as birds are among my favorite animals. we spent a few hours having a very pleasant (other than it being extremely hot outside) walk through the zoo, but eventually it was time to get on the road.

i'm not necessarily going to talk about everywhere we stopped for food, but i would be remiss if i didn't mention that our day 1 dinner stop was the burger king. no not a burger king, THE burger king, a tiny restaurant in a tiny town in illinois that won a lawsuit to keep its name because it existed before the larger chain that shares its name. (well, minus the "the.")

i will admit that while i lived in illinois for fully more than half of my life, and even having spent my college years in central illinois rather than the comparatively more progressive chicago area, i was somewhat unprepared to be back in a small town in the middle of nowhere where 90% of the population is white and it feels like you're being stared at when 3 of the 4 of you are very visibly trans. it kind of felt like being back home in a not entirely pleasant way, but no one was outright hostile. and to be honest if you like extremely unhealthy cheeseburgers you can do MUCH worse than the original burger king. the food was kind of incredible.

anyway, we got back on the road, and crashed at a hotel most of the way to indiana. this was another totally normal hotel that wasn't weirdly bad with a staff that was weirdly preemptive about it being weirdly bad. (foreshadowing is a literary dev--)

we got up super early thursday morning, and headed for the con. i've actually been to indianapolis for multiple conventions because when i used to live in chicago the two furry cons (yes i used to go to furry cons & it's not inconceivable that i will do so again at some point) it was the easiest for me to get to were midwest furfest (which was in chicago and huge) and indyfurcon (which was in indianapolis and not nearly as huge, especially considering i went to the first few iterations of it, no idea what it's like these days if it's still a thing). this is the first gencon i've ever been to, and it's markedly larger than any other con i've ever been to. i'm used to a con taking up a fairly large conference hotel or (at most) part of a city's convention center. gencon took up an entire convention center plus multiple nearby hotels plus a literal nfl stadium??? (see the pic above the cut lmao.)

that also wasn't even the only way in which it was larger than any other con i've been to before? it's also the first con i've been to that had a full slate of thursday events as well as the more typical all-day friday/all-day saturday/half-day sunday. heck, most furry cons i've been to don't even have all-day fridays since the first thing that happens is usually an opening ceremony in the early afternoon.

mommy & i booked a couple mtg events on saturday because of course we did, but i was really looking forward to playing a bunch of indie rpgs considering that we have a rather embarrassing pile of them at home considering we've never actually sat down and played one. (tbf i am working on a solo run of the almanac of sanguine paths, but i think that's the first rpg i've played that isn't d&d apart from playing like one session of shadowrun that ended up not going anywhere.)

the first thing mommy & grammy & i did on thursday was play a session of yazeba's bed & breakfast. already we were starting with a game that's drastically different than any i've played before. it's sort of a cozy, queer, story-heavy roleplay experience with predetermined characters & scenarios. you keep track of character progress by making physical changes to the book & character sheets with stickers and such, and you can "unlock" different characters & scenarios & features of the hotel as you play through various chapters.

the vibe of the game is very much that you're taking on roles of already-existing characters and playing through their choices in a storybook, and i have to admit that prior to playing this game i had never really understood the appeal of these sorts of games as creating a very specific character to express myself has always been a big part of the appeal for me with rpgs. this reminded me more of the kind of enjoyment i got from one of my favorite pc games, beacon pines. it's less of a big world where you have adventures and more of an already-written story that you get to participante in and shape with your choices.

the chapters in the book are intentionally given fairly arbitrary chapter numbers and arranged in the book in a pretty random order, which resulted in our gm saying the highly enjoyable words "we'll go ahead and start with the first chapter in the book, which is chapter 3."

each chapter starts with a pretty detailed prompt that reads like the opening few pages of a chapter in a book, ending with a jumping off point for the people playing to take over deciding what their character is doing. there doesn't seem to be any kind of initiative or turn order, but everyone at our table was pretty polite about making sure everyone was getting roughly equal chances to make their choices. the game is also diceless, with chapters having some kind of fixed way of resolving their various actions including taking & giving tokens, flipping coins, picking playing cards, etc.

after you've played through the chapter, there's a passage for the gm to read depending on how successful you were at whatever mechanic the chapter is based on, and you might unlock some boons for your characters, the hotel, or unlock new characters & chapters altogether.

the game also seems to actively encourage you trying out different characters. each chapter seems to have one or two mandatory characters and then allows you to pick any characters you've unlocked, though our gm was super nice and offered to let me use a character who wasn't technically unlocked yet because they had come up in my brief research of the game and i liked the sound of them, but i was too shy to take them up on that in our first chapter.

for the first chapter i played gertrude, and while she wasn't as natural of a fit for me, me playing a moody, anxious teenager also certainly wasn't the biggest stretch anyone's ever asked someone to make while roleplaying.

the character i really enjoyed playing, though, was the moon prince.

i know a big part of the game is probably "trying on" different characters, and i do genuinely want to give more of them a try, but i feel like if i get a chance to play this game a lot more i'll likely end up "maining" the moon prince in a similar way to how i mostly played mercy when i played overwatch but side-mained d.va or lucio at various points in my "career." (yeah, cannot imagine anyone else is out there comparing this rpg to overwatch, but it's the point of comparison i have for this specific aspect, leave me alone.)

i really do enjoy the vibes of this game so i do hope i get to play more of it! mommy did buy the book so there's a decent chance we'll be playing more of it. fingers crossed!

after this, which was our first scheduled game, we kind of flailed around looking for stuff to do. we did end up spending a good amount of time in the exhibition hall but that was hella overwhelming so i was only able to tolerate it for so long. we did get to see wyrmspan being demoed and i get what people are saying when they say it's more crunchy than wingspan. while "wingspan but draogns" is still a phenomenal concept for a game, i will admit that as i saw it being demoed no matter how cool the new mechanics seemed, i kind of found myself missing the cozy vibes & lightly educational aspects of wingspan? i especially wish they had replaced all the bird facts with fake dragon facts rather than just using the whole card for gameplay stuff, but ah well. i'm sure i'll enjoy it if i get around to playing it.

eventually we ended up checking out the "games on-demand" room, and ended up playing a game i've seen a bunch of times at work but never actually played, untitled ghost game.

this game is normally gm-less, but at the convention with players who had never played it before, we had a really awesome gm facilitating it for us. and honestly i think that was a big part of why the game went as well for us as it did, because mommy & i were matched up with an extremely normie couple one of whom unironically said "just don't call me late to dinner" when asked for pronouns which is basically the 20s equivalent of the 90s "i just don't see color" for those who are fortunate enough not to know.

that being said, we managed to tell a really great story together thanks largely to the guidance of our gm but also just... not to get too hippy-dippy (that's for a later game! you'll see.), but this really reminded me of the way games can often bring wildly different people together. everyone is just here to have a good time, and... i don't know, there's something really encouraging about that.

so yeah, basically you all take turns describing different aspects of the setting and then us as a ghost and then the person or place being haunted, you decide if you want to intensify the feelings that the person or place is having or if you want to help them overcome them, and then you flip a coin to see how you do. and in the case of our game we very quickly established an identity as a ghost who, while somewhat mischievous, really did want to help, and it ended up being incredibly wholesome.

i don't know that this is necessarily a game i'll come back to unless i end up thinking someone else will really vibe with it, but i really am glad i had the experience i had playing it. it was genuinely lovely.

once we finished that, grammy had finished her gm shift and it was time to meet up for dinner and chill until the first game all four of us were playing together, weird heroes of public access.

whpa is a 2d6 game in which the players take on the role of a host of a local public access tv host in a town that's about to experience some supernatural fuckery. your can host something like a cooking show, a variety show, a talkshow, etc. i named my character kenny kaiju and gave him a monster movie review show called kaiju kino.

our scenario saw the town being taken over by some kind of demon who was using the station to hypnotize its denizens into slaves. i had very normal feelings about this!

our gm (sorry, "station manager") was pretty cool and i had a lot of fun with this game. it wasn't my favorite of the weekend or anything, but i think it solidly delivered on its premise and i wouldn't mind playing it again sometime.

anyway, that was a wrap on day 1! i was pretty exhausted thanks to a combination of jetlag and getting up early to drive the rest of the way to indy, and i think all of us were in a similar boat (even though grammy & cj weren't dealing with jetlag, having only crossed one timezone). so we headed to the hotel which was... pretty awful tbh.

like, it's genuinely fine, it's not like we were going to spend much time there doing anything other than sleeping, but the weird preemptive defensiveness of the staff made it much worse. my favorite part was when we were surprised that there wasn't an elevator and the front desk clerk who was nowhere near us yelled that um actually this was built before the americans with disabilities act so it didn't need an elevator. um, ok, cool? really set a tone there. (they also made some really weird choices like actively removing chairs from the breakfast area on sunday like they were actively trying to shoo all the convention attendees out of the hotel faster. like, y'all, DON'T worry. we were NOT planning on lingering.)

again, it was fine, it wasn't wildly unsafe or anything, i don't want to come off like i'm being overly complainy. but i will say that it is NOT very obvious from their website that the hotel is completely inaccessible to anyone with mobility issues. which fortunately isn't really any of the four of us, but like... i've literally seen events be more clear about the accessibility of buildings they do not own than this hotel is about the place you're relying on being able to sleep at? (heck, i've ORGANIZED events at older venues that unfortunately weren't accessible, and we were always VERY clear about that in every form of advertising. as far as i can tell, literally the only way you can tell that about this hotel on their website is that there's a small tab on the features that's greyed out instead of white. i know most people with mobility issues likely check very closely for this kind of thing so hopefully no one has ended up in an unfortunate situation, but like... seriously, do better.)

and like, yeah i get that it would be kinda difficult to install an elevator in a building that wasn't meant to have one, but you know what's not difficult? adding as many power outlets as a modern hotel should have. having walls that don't have holes in them. having mattresses that aren't lumpy & stiff as fuck. bringing new towels a single time? or failing that, when we ask for more towels at the desk giving us towels rather than not being able to find any and just giving us bathmats instead??? having dressers that aren't literally missing all their drawers?????? this was a hotel owned by a large hotel chain. there is no reason it should be this crummy & depressingly poorly maintained.

again, it's fine, but absorbing all this while we were all super sleep deprived and overwhelmed from the con was kind of a... Moment. we did our best to take it in stride, though, and crashed to get ready for another day of gaming!

[plussizefantasia]

Thank you so much Again for all those drabbles ❤️

They Really made my Day..

And for Moon knight I can imagine Nr. 1 And 14. (Marc Spector in front)

And i sure it wont be trashy, because you dont write like that, i love your style of writing ❤️

Sending so much love and hugs And thank you Again 💋

Coming Home

Pairing: Marc Spector x reader

Summary: You leave Marc to keep him safe, and he comes to take you home.

Word Count: ~700

A/N: I've never written for any of the Moon Knight boys before but I actually really like how this turned out! Thanks for all the requests during this drabble marathon, I've got a few new ideas for full fics that I'd like to write and more desire to get some of my WIPs wrapped up!

He had always said you were paranoid. Coming from him though, it meant absolutely nothing to you. Marc Spector was the picture definition of paranoia and you wouldn’t be taking any shit from him on that front.

Maybe he had a point though. A deal gone wrong had put you on the first plane out of Cairo and to some random little town in the Midwest. You had used all your contacts up getting documents faked, new bank accounts anything to get you off the grid. You were good at what you did, when you didn’t want to be found you wouldn’t. But no matter how good you were Marc was better, especially when it was you on the line.

You and Marc had a complicated relationship, you loved one another that was never in question, but your astonishing commitment issues and Marc’s never-ending stream of trauma had caused issues between the two of you. You would do anything for him and vice versa but sometimes you just couldn’t stand the man. He had told you about Steven about a year into your relationship, the two of you had never met but you did everything you could to reassure Marc that it was okay, this didn't change the way you felt about him. He didn’t want to seem vulnerable and you understood that so you never pushed. But you left, you didn’t want to put either of them in danger so you packed up what you needed, left Marc a note telling him not to come looking for you, and left.

It was a random Wednesday when you woke with an intense feeling of dread in your stomach. You were tempted to pack up and move along based on that feeling alone but, something told you that that would be a bad idea, plus you didn’t have any more favors to call in.

Your feeling was proven correct when someone kicked out your door in the middle of your dinner. You immediately reached for the gun stashed under the Ikea dining set that had come with the palace and pointed it at the intruder.

It took you a moment to fully register the sight in front of you. It was Marc, but he was dressed in some ancient-looking supersuit, with a moon-shaped blade in his hand.

“How did you figure out where I live?!” You yelled at the man you hadn’t seen in months not lowering your weapon. Marc did a quick scan of your apartment and stored his blade back in his weird chest cavity thing.

“It wasn’t easy.” he tried to joke

“That’s kind of the point dick-head.” You scowled in his direction

“Why are you in the middle of nowhere anyway” he tossed back at you. Slowly making his way toward you and lowering the gun in your hand. You let him.

“I enjoy the view.” you deadpanned at him.

“Ha. Ha,” he dryly replied.

“What are you doing here anyway?” 

“I’m here to take you home.” 

“And where is that this time” you questioned him, knowing the habit of moving around that the two of you shared.

“London, I have a place. And a fish.” You sighed deeply and made your way to the bedroom without a word.

“Where are you going?” he called after you, making no attempt to follow you.

“London apparently,” You returned with a black duffle bag full of the things you couldn’t replace. You stopped walking and faced Marc “I missed you.” You weren’t looking for a reply, you knew you wouldn’t get one.

Marc just lifted the corner of his lips into what you considered to be a smile. He leaned down and grabbed your bag in one hand, offering you the other.

Taking his hand in yours the tension in your chest eased. You might still be in danger, hunting and selling artifacts would never be a completely safe career anyway but you knew that Marc would do anything to protect you. After all, if he would follow you to the Midwest, he would follow you anywhere.

“So are we going to talk about the weird suit?” You tried.

“No.”

“Okay.”

[myemuisemo]

Gorgeous wilderness description opens "The Avenging Angels," part 12 of Letters from Watson. I wonder how much was inspired by Sir Richard Francis Burton's The City of Saints, recounting his travels in the west and visit to Brigham Young.

Our fleeing party is initially in the Oquirrh Mountains west of Salt Lake City.

The modern highway route skirts the Oquirrhs, in favor of a straight run across the salt flats.

If Ferrier, Lucy, and Jefferson Hope really made 30 miles in their first days, they reached the Cedar Mountains, which are less terrifyingly craggy but very much a desert. Deseret Peak is the pinnacle of this range, though any route across would look for a lower pass.

Were they to make it into what's now Nevada -- with Carson City clear the other side of the state -- there'd be a lot more of this. It's not hospitable country even today.

The big horn sheep is exotically western! And genuine! I am distracted from Jefferson Hope's wasting much of his kill by the discovery that the Sierra Nevada mountains (California - Nevada border, nowhere near our fleeing party yet, but important to me IRL) have their own genetically distinct big horn population.

Hope's slaughtered big horn is likely a Rocky Mountain big horn.

Of course, it's all a disaster. Everyone had to be doomed by the narrative in some way.

But we get an exact date: August 4, 1860.

Camp Floyd, the U.S. Army camp for the occupation of Utah following the Utah War of 1857-8, was right at the south end of the Oquirrh Mountains. Jefferson Hope had the option of hiding Ferrier and Lucy in the mountains and walking them right into the protection of the U.S. military. Maybe there were too many LDS settlers in the low spots in between (though I think Doyle didn't know or remember that the Utah War had happened).

Now comes the crucial moment that chafes me hard.

As the young fellow realized the certainty of her fate, and his own powerlessness to prevent it, he wished that he, too, was lying with the old farmer in his last silent resting-place. Again, however, his active spirit shook off the lethargy which springs from despair. If there was nothing else left to him, he could at least devote his life to revenge.

What about rescuing Lucy after she's married? Okay, Jefferson Hope can't get back to Salt Lake City in time to prevent a forced marriage. However, we're told later that she was a marriage prize primarily for control of her father's property. Once that's in the hands of her husband, would he bother pursuing her? In this period, marriage would make it his and eliminate her rights to it. (I'm assuming nobody is disputing the legality of polygamous marriages in this universe.)

Jefferson Hope really seems to buy in that once married (against her will), Lucy is legitimately another man's property. Admittedly, it's an era when pressuring an heiress into marriage was seen as fairly acceptable, if one's table manners were good. The burden was on the young woman to be too wise and firm to give in, and yet when Lucy shows fine judgment and takes action to avoid the match, she's taken by force. The system is so completely rigged against her; no wonder she can't find any hope to live for.

The schism that sends Drebber and Stangerson on their merry way appears to be fictional, as the Reorganized LDS under Joseph Smith III in the Midwest is too early (1861) and the Godbeites in SLC is too late (1869).

By the end of Jefferson Hope's epic pursuit from Russia to France to Denmark to England. we have now accounted for Drebber's existence in Cleveland, his employment of Stangerson, the gold ring, and the note about how Jefferson Hope is in Europe.

We have not accounted for why Drebber would go arm in arm with his enemy into a vacant house.